#teamswag: magic the gathering

Showing posts with label magic the gathering. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

How Would You Build It? Episode 1

In this installment of How Would You Build It? we're looking at a Born of the Gods & Theros sealed pool involving 3 of each packs.

The pool (in .dec format) can be found here.

For those interested in a text list of the cards, they can be found here:

Click here to expand

1 Aerie Worshippers
1 Akroan Conscriptor
2 Akroan Hoplite
1 Annul
1 Anvilwrought Raptor
1 Ashen Rider
1 Asphyxiate
1 Battlewise Valor
1 Borderland Minotaur
1 Boulderfall
1 Cavalry Pegasus
1 Chosen by Heliod
1 Cyclops of One-Eyed Pass
1 Deepwater Hypnotist
1 Defend the Hearth
1 Divine Verdict
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
1 Excoriate
1 Fated Infatuation
1 Feral Invocation
1 Flamespeaker Adept
1 Fleetfeather Sandals
1 Flitterstep Eidolon
1 Floodtide Serpent
3 Forsaken Drifters
1 Glimpse the Sun God
1 God-Favored General
1 Great Hart
1 Grisly Transformation
1 Guardians of Meletis
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Hold at Bay
1 Karametra's Acolyte
1 Karametra's Favor
1 Last Breath
1 Leafcrown Dryad
1 Marshmist Titan
1 Meletis Astronomer
1 Mindreaver
1 Necrobite
1 Nessian Asp
1 Nessian Courser
2 Nimbus Naiad
1 Nylea's Disciple
1 Nyxborn Eidolon
1 Nyxborn Rollicker
1 Nyxborn Shieldmate
1 Odunos River Trawler
1 Pharagax Giant
1 Pharika's Mender
1 Prescient Chimera
1 Purphoros's Emissary
1 Pyxis of Pandemonium
1 Rage of Purphoros
2 Reckless Reveler
1 Returned Centaur
1 Sanguimancy
1 Scholar of Athreos
1 Scourgemark
2 Scouring Sands
1 Sealock Monster
1 Servant of Tymaret
1 Setessan Oathsworn
1 Setessan Starbreaker
1 Spearpoint Oread
1 Sphinx's Disciple
2 Stratus Walk
1 Sudden Storm
1 Sunbond
1 Titan's Strength
1 Triton Shorethief
1 Unknown Shores
1 Voyage's End
1 Wavecrash Triton
1 Weight of the Underworld
1 Wingsteed Rider
1 Witches' Eye

(Michifus) Based on this pool, my immediate gut reaction was to go with Azorius. With a good number of flyers, two of the Inspired token makers, Voyage's End, Glimpse the Sun God, two gods, and some removal and tapdown, it seems like a slam dunk. My devotion for Heliod is a bit on the low side to hit consistently, but giving all of my flyers Vigilance AND having a source to dump mana into to get guys is a pretty sweet deal. That said, this is the build I came up with:

The curve on this thing is a little wonky, but after goldfishing a few hands, it definitely seems to get going and never looks back.

Witches' Eye was a strange inclusion, but with Heliod not playing nicely with the four Inspired Creatures, it was a backup to tapping down the creature(s) I needed when and if I needed them.

With Ephara and Heliod, as well as consistent Scry and draw action, I should be able to dig through a pretty good chunk of my deck. Having several sources of producing tokens with extra mana is also a really tough threat to deal with, especially with Heliod being Indestructible.

Once the board state is stalled and I can gain presence, Glimpse the Sun God is more than likely going to be Sea God's Revenge 2.0 preceding an alpha strike for the game.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

(Michifus) Podcast Episode 1: Born of the Gods Set Review: Rares and Mythics

Episode can be streamed or downloaded below:

In Episode 1, Willis, Pieter, Penn, and Kyle discuss the rares and mythic rares from the upcoming Born of the Gods set coming out in February.

I am looking into hosting options or publishing to iTunes, so bear with me until that is worked out.

Monday, January 27, 2014

(Michifus) SCG Open: Baltimore - Standard Recap

This weekend saw three of us making the journey down to Baltimore for the SCG Open for the Standard portion of the tournament on Saturday and Legacy on Sunday. I'll have a followup post for the Legacy portion after this post and Pietart should have his recap up shortly, as well.

For whatever reason, I decided taking pictures was for nerds, so I don't have any photos from the events.

The Deck

Boros Midrange

This deck has seen decent success in the past few weeks, and I liked its mix of on-board aggression and relevant answers for most decks in the format. It can usually pull ahead of Monoblack, can shut down Monoblue, and has enough recurring threats to give UW players a headache.

With that said, it was time to play ten rounds of swiss in a pool of 643 players...

Round 1 - Win, 2-0 (Jund)

Both of these were fairly easy games, as I didn't take any damage in game one and was dropped to 12 in game two.

After getting Thoughtseize cast in game one, the rest of my opponent's disruption blanked, as Duress and Lifebane Zombie failed to hit targets. The triple threat of Young Pyromancer, Chandra's Phoenix, and burn kept the board filled and my threats recurring as Chandra sealed the deal by plinking Lifebane Zombie and keeping Desecration Demon in check.

Game two saw the Pyromancer on board with Purphoros along with plenty of burn in hand. Two Reckoners on board also kept the board completely under my control.

Round 2 - Loss, 0-2 (Boros Devotion)

This deck seems like a bit of a problem for me, since I ended up losing to it twice this tournament. It also seems to be making a bit of a comeback, so it might be worth testing this matchup.

In game one, the Hammer of Purphoros, high devotion, and a Fanatic of Mogis was able to punch in for a big chunk of damage out of nowhere.

Game two was much closer and came down to a lucky topdeck on my end. I was able to swing in for 8 of the 10 needed and drew a... Purphoros. The Magma Jet would have been next, but my opponent's Hammer + golem token took care of Chandra I had that would have drawn me the winning card.

Round 3 - Loss, 0-2 (Boros Devotion)

Again, this game came down to a huge swing in damage thanks to a Fanatic of Mogis being dropped on top of a Boros Reckoner and Hammer of Purphoros. I had used my removal at that point to keep the early-game devotion under control.

Game two saw a Stormbreath Dragon drop when I didn't have an immediate answer for it and then it become monstrous and was well out of reach.

Round 4 - Draw, 1-1-1 (Prophet Bant)

Both of these games were super, super grindy as my damage was being blanked by his Sphinx's Revelations, but he was unable to keep any board pressure due to my removal. Thankfully I had the burn in hand for Prophet of Kruphix and he wasn't holding any creatures to flash in as a response.

Game two saw an Advent of the Wurm, Armada Wurm, Archangel of Thune, and a Primeval Bounty beating me within an inch of my life. I held on as long as I could, but his creatures got out of reach in a hurry.

Game three started with only 7 or so minutes on the clock. We chipped each other down to 10-12, but Stormbreath Dragon was able to hold off the assault and some play errors on my opponent's end kept it to a draw instead of a loss.

Round 5 - Win, 2-0 (Orzhov Midrange)

Mizzium Mortars stole the show by answering the Blood Baron of Vizkopa while two Chained to the Rocks shut down the Pack Rat and "in response" token. From there, the board was mine as I could ride Assemble the Legion to the win.

Game two was looking bad for me, as Blind Obedience and Obzedat, Ghost Council made things a headache for me. Reckoner was a huge board denial though, and Purphoros along with cheap guys hitting regularly won the war of attrition for me.

Round 6 - Win, 2-0 (Orzhov Aggro)

Both of these games were pretty much smooth sailing, as Pyromancer plus burn kept me rolling in blockers for the flimsy creatures that could have been thrown at me, which Boros Reckoner kept the threat of a 2-for-1 real. With the ground stalled, Chandra's Phoenix chipped in damage until the Stormbreath Dragon came in.

Round 7 - Win, 2-0 (Monoblack Devotion)

With one of my Assemble the Legion picked away due to Thoughtseize, I had to keep Desecration Demon under control with Chandra while chipping away with a Reckoner and Chandra's Phoenix. With plenty of burn to keep the Phoenix coming back as Demon food, game one was no problem.

Game two saw Assemble the Legion and Chandra, Pyromaster removed from my hand, but Purphoros, two Phoenix, and a Stormbreath Dragon punished my opponent for getting greedy with an attack of Lifebane Zombie and two Mutavaults.

Round 8 - Loss, 0-2 (Naya Monsters)

Both of these were very close games, coming down to 6-4 life in both before my opponent got the best of me. Xenagos pumping out satyrs along with a Stormbreath Dragon was had to deal with when there was no removal in hand for them.

Round 9 - Win, 2-0 (Opponent no show)

Woot. Time to play some Pokemon.

Round 10 - Win, 2-0 (Monoblack Devotion)

Pithing Needle naming Mutavault held the early game down as I watched his board get more and more clogged with Pack Rats. Boros Reckoner, however is a stud against the rat swarm, guaranteeing a 2-for-1 with every combat. After dropping three Reckoners, the board was stable enough for me to wait for Assemble to Legion to turn things back in my favor.

Game two was much of the same, with Purphoros, Reckoners, and burn holding down the fort until Elspeth showed up to machine gun in six damage with her +1.

Wrapping Up

I finished up 90 of 643, which wasn't too bad, but ultimately disappointing, as I was under-prepared for the Boros Devotion match up and it showed.

That said, I finished the day feeling really good about the deck. It can be quick and brutal when it needs to, or it can ride the grind train and try to win the war of attrition with some hard to answer threats. With no Standard on the horizon for the next few weeks, I might have to shelve this temporarily, but I think it will definitely be making a comeback.

Coming Up

On Tuesday night, we should start working on a set review for Born of the Gods, so keep an eye on the blog for our first podcast!