Written by kendiggy on February 19, 2007
I am a Horrible Magic Player: BW Aggro *13th*
by kendiggyYeah, apparently I’m just not good at this game. But, if I am this bad and can do as good as I did, imagine what would happen if I was good!
Deck Name: KDW – Kenny’s Deck Wins! AKA - KDWHWIKWGATG - Kenny’s Deck Would Have Won If Kenny Was Good At This Game! BKA – BW Aggro.
Final Record: 5-2 Final Standings: 13th out of 112
| BW Aggro | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck | Sideboard | |
|
4 Chrome Mox 4 Duress 4 Gerrard’s Verdict 4 Vindicate 4 Smallpox 3 Rancid Earth 2 Funeral Charm 1 Darkblast 4 Dark Confidant 4 Nantuko Shade |
4 Hypnotic Specter 2 Jotun Grunt 1 Undead Gladiator 4 Godless Shrine 4 Swamp 3 Flagstones of Trokair 3 Bloodstained Mire 3 Polluted Delta 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea 1 Tomb of Urami |
3 Cabal Therapy 3 Kataki, War’s Wage 3 Pithing Needle 2 Withered Wretch 2 Darkblast 1 Rancid Earth 1 Jotun Grunt |
This article is another extended PTQ report for a tournament in Boston, MA. I’ll give you a brief description of the events leading up to the PTQ:
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006:
Me: Hey Scott, guess what? I’m moving to Massachusetts!
Scott: Wow, you’re leaving Buffalo!?! You don’t own any cards, what are you gonna do for a deck if you ever want to play in a PTQ?
Me: Guess I just won’t play.
Scott: Well, I’ll be a friend and ship you a 75-card deck if you really want to play, how about that?
Me: Hey thanks Scott! You’re a real pal!
Sunday, February 11th, 2007:
Me: Hey Scott, remember you said you would ship me a deck? Well, there is a PTQ on the seventeenth, I have done zero testing and I have no idea what to play.
Scott: Dude, play that UW Gifts Tron Rob Feldman and Zac Hill were talking about on SCG.
Me: I’ll give it a whirl.
Monday, February 12th, 2007
Me: I don’t know, it’s not really my style and it seems to lose if it doesn’t draw Gifts and even then you have to get Tron if you don’t already have it which means you don’t get the slaver lock and you’re left top-decking into one of three win conditions.
Scott: Then play affinity.
Me: I’m not a very good affinity player.
Scott: (laughing) How can you not be a good affinity player? Are you a moron? You just play a bunch of guys, attack and Shrapnel Blast their face!
Me: Alright, I’ll see what I can do.
Later that evening:
Me: Dude, I just lost to a double Ancient Grudge/double Vindicate draw, I’m not playing this deck. I don’t want to lose to Ancient Gudge all day.
Scott: Yeah, Ancient Grudge is a bitch. They don’t draw two very often, though.
Me: That doesn’t sell me on it.
Scott: So play tooth.
Me: Interesting. Got a list?
Scott: That has to be the stupidest question you’ve ever asked me.
Let me interject and tell you a little about myself here: I really do suck at this game, yet somehow I have two PTQ top-four’s, two PTQ top-eight’s and a top-four in teams under my belt. For a while my constructed rating was in fourth place in Western New York. I am notorious for never having my own deck. I haven’t had my own deck since my Ravagers got stolen. I get criticized a lot for it. There are many reasons behind this. Partly because I suck at trading, partly because my roommates somehow always manage to spill beer on my cards while I’m not home and they turn into a giant brick. Many cards have been stolen from me, too (I really ought to keep a better eye on my cards). I also didn’t have a job for a while and sold what was left of my collection so I could draft and play poker.
Continuing on, I chose TNN to be the deck I play for the PTQ and spent the rest of the week practicing with it. Meanwhile, Scott tells me that our esteemed friend and colleague Mike Dio - mentioned in stevegoode’s report - is driving to Boston for the event as well as to meet up with his hot flight-attendant girlfriend, so he’ll just give the deck to him instead of sending it UPS. I contact Mike, work out all the details and meet him in Boston at his grandmother’s house the night before the event.
Dio: Tell me again why you’re playing TNN?
Me: (coughs) Because, um, I suck at all the other decks, I don’t want to have to deal with all the hate going around and I figure a random turn-three or four win can’t be bad.
Dio: Scott has no idea why you want to play the deck either.
Me: I’d feel more comfortable playing a deck I know than a deck everyone else knows better than me.
Dio: Why don’t you play this? (hands me BW Aggro) I 4-2-1’ed the last PTQ in Toronto with it. Got the list off of Magic-League - some guy in one of the trials. Changed a couple cards though.
Me: (glances at the deck, uninterested) Seems underpowered.
Dio: Just try it, it really isn’t.
Me: I don’t know man, come on, Smallpox?
Dio: Best card in the deck.
Me: Whatever. I’m playing TNN. (Affectionately shuffles up and begins goldfishing)
Three goldfishes and no TNN later:
Me: Man, I’m not playing this deck. I lose if I don’t draw TNN. I’m not dealing with that all day.
Dio: Dude, BW…
Me: Lemme see that.
Dio: (begins explaining the decks powers to me)
Me: Alright, but I’m pulling a Smallpox. Four is too many.
Dio: (shakes his head) Dude, it’s the best card in the deck!
Me: Fine. But I’m pulling Tomb of Urami.
Dio: No! Please, just try it as is.
So, I decide on a couple last slots in the deck which were the Gladiator and the Darkblast and get some sleep. Mike decides he’ll play Steve’s Gifts Rock. In the morning we did breakfast and coffee and eventually find ourselves at the venue getting ready for round one. For some reason during the first two rounds of this tournament, I had Jethro Tull’s Aqualung stuck in my head and was constantly whistling it.
Round One: Aggro Loam by Danny. 2-0
Danny seems like a good guy and we exchange a couple pleasantries while we shuffle up.
Game One: I win the die roll, and he mulligans and I keep on Mox, Duress, Confidant, Vindicate and three lands. Not sold on Mox yet and not wanting to imprint the cards in my hand, I play turn one Duress, pulling a Duress. I didn’t write down his hand, so I don’t remember what I left him with, I know he had a bunch of land and cards I wasn’t worried about - like Terravore. He plays a fetch-land and plays his top-decked Cabal Therapy and names Vindicate. Hit. I draw land, play Confidant and pass. He plays Burning Wish for loam and passes. I get Mox for Confidant and draw another Confidant, attack for two, play him and a land and pass. He plays Devastating Dreams for two, discarding Terravore and Seismic Assault, plays a land and passes. I draw Jotun Grunt, play it and pass. He sighs, draws, plays Life from the Loam and a land and passes. No cycle lands yet. I put Life from the Loam and a land on the bottom, attack and pass. He plays nothing and passes, I put a couple more cards on the bottom, draw Verdict, play it, attack and pass. He draws Putrefy, does some shenanigans with Ghost Quarter, plays Putrefy and passes. A couple turn later of drawing Vindicate after Vindicate, keeping him off lands, I draw Shade, he has no answer and scoops to my Rancid Earth.
Side in Therapy, Jotun Grunt, Rancid Earth and Withered Wretch. Out Funeral Charm, Darkblast, Gladiator and three Shades.
I don’t quite remember what I started with other than I played first-turn Verdict with a Flagstones, he plays Bob, I play Smallpox, sacking my Flagstones and it’s just all downhill from there after I Vindicate, Vindicate, Rancid Earth, hippie/Jotun Grunt him out of the game.
1-0
Round Two: Goblin Bidding by Random Player. 2-1
Game One: I seem to have lost the page that documents this round, but I know I totally lost game one due to not having the anti-aggro hand. After winning the die roll, I think I kept Duress, Bob, Hippie, Funeral Charm, and three lands. He had double Prospector, double Matron for Warchief and Sharpshoot
er, even though I kept killing them, and he eventually drew Bidding and won anyways. Game Two: I side out Hippies, Gladiator and bring in Darkblast, Wretch and a Grunt. We both keep seven cards, I go land-go, he goes land-Prospector-go, I end of turn Funeral Charm it, play Flagstones/Confidant go. He plays Piledriver-go. Hit land with Bob, attack, no blocks then Smallpox during my second main-phase discarding Darkblast and sacking Flagstones. He doesn’t have a second land, and I begin Vindicating, Rancid Earthing and Smallpoxing him out of the game.
Game Three: This game is very similar with my first turn Duress, second turn Mox, Smallpox sacking Flagstones, Vindicate, Rancid Earth, Jotun Grunt, Shade. Yeah, I won that one.
2-0
Now I’m feeling pretty confident in the deck and laughing hysterically about how I wasn’t going to play Smallpox. Mike lost both rounds and dropped. He spent round three talking to his Hot Flight Attendant Girlfriend outside on the phone and eventually went to meet her. At some point in between rounds, I heard Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and was singing that for the rest of the day.
Round Three: BW Aggro by Peter 0-2
Mirror Match! Wow, didn’t see that one coming! His deck was ten times more aggro than mine and after the match we spent some time talking about card choices. He was playing Isamaru, Descendant of Kiyomaro, Serra Avenger and Jotun Grunt. I’m not going to write about this round other than I got beat silly and was totally confused the entire match. I kept drawing Smallpox the turn after he played a Flagstones. I never dealt a single point of damage to him either game. I barely remember it. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t test with a deck.
2-1
After this round I run to Dunkin Donuts across the street and get myself an onion bagel with cream cheese and a coffee. That was quite possibly my worst visit to a coffee shop ever, as they didn’t put the cream cheese on the bagel and they put sugar in my coffee after I specifically said no sugar. Thank you, Dunkin Donuts.
Round Four: Flow-Rock by Douglass 2-0
Game One: I win the die roll again and mulligan into Duress, Bob, Vindicate and three lands. I duress into his perfect hand of Bird, Troll, Flow, Baloth and three lands, he plays Birds and passes. I play Bob and pass. He plays Troll and passes I Bob into Flagstones and draw Smallpox. Attack with Bob, play Flagstones and Vindicate his Bird. He goes land-go, no attacks with Troll. I Bob into Rancid Earth and draw Jotun Grunt. I play Smallpox, sacking Flagstones and floating a white and play Jotun. He goes land-go. I Rancid Earth and Verdict him the next two turns and he scoops it up.
I side out Darkblast, Funeral Charm and one Grunt for Rancid Earth and Therapy.
Game Two: He mulls to five and I mull to six. I think this went something along the lines of him missing on Therapy, me first-turn Verdict, him land-go, me Vindicate followed by Shade and another Verdict.
3-1
At this point I’m very excited about the possibility of top-8ing, and I’m having a love affair with my deck. Between rounds, Mike shows up with his hot flight-attendant girlfriend, and we talk about the last two rounds while she looks around in disgust at all the smelly, dirty, scrubby, nerdy magic players around her. She actually did seem to be pretty cool, though you could tell she really didn’t want to spend her day off hanging out with a bunch of nerds. Pairings are posted shortly after and Mike takes off telling me he’ll be back after the tournament and wishes me luck.
Round Five: Affinity by Gabe. 2-0
Game One: I win the die roll – again! – and keep Mox, Shade, Rancid Earth, Vindicate and three lands. I play first, playing Mox, imprinting Rancid Earth, land, Shade. He plays Vault
of Whispers, Arcbound Worker go. I draw land, attack with Shade, he takes two, and I Vindicate his Vault. He plays another Worker, swings and passes. I draw Vindicate, play a land Vindicate his land and attack, he blocks with Worker and I pass. He attacks for two with Worker, plays Ornithopter and a land and passes. I draw Rancid Earth, swing, no blocks, pump, kill his land and pass. He has no land, attacks for two and passes. I draw Verdict, attack, he blocks with ‘thopter and I play Verdict. He plays ‘thopter, attacks and passes. I swing, he blocks, I play anther Verdict and pass, he draws, sees no land and scoops it up a turn later. At some point in this game he did try to Therapy me and continuously stated as I waited for it to finish resolving that he had no idea what to name. I love that! I side out Hippies, Gladiator and a couple Shades for needle, Kataki and Darkblast.
Game Two: I keep fetchland Mox Bob Shade Kataki, Vindicate and Smallpox, he plays first going land/Worker/go. I play land/Mox Kataki. He has no answer and simply fails to play a single spell for the rest of the game. He never drew a black source for the Darkblast I Duressed out of his hand.
4-1
Now I’m very confident in my ability to top-8 because I’ve been watching the top tables and it’s mostly Aggro-Loam, UW Tron, and Affinity. All are good match-ups for me. At this point I discover that there are a total of four BW players in the tournament and all four are at the top three tables. Three of us were checking in with each other after each round while we were outside smoking.
Round Six: UW Post by Brian. 1-2
Here’s where my over-confidence began taking control and I started screwing up. I win the roll. Game one I wrecked him with a third-turn Smallpox followed by a Vindicate, Rancid Earth and Shade cleaned up.
I side out Funeral Charm, Gladiator Darkblast for Therapy, Kataki and Rancid Earth. I put in Kataki because he was playing Mox and Talismen.
Game Two: I duress a repeal from his double Wrath hand on the first turn hoping to draw Therapy to hit them. He plays post-go. I play land Verdict and he just so happened to draw Spell Snare the turn before. Good for him. He plays land-talisman-go, I play land-Kataki-go. He plays Descendant of Kiyomaro with and equal amount of cards in hand and passes. I play Shade and pass. We exchange blows for a while, him gaining life and me basically netting three damage a turn. Eventually I draw Therapy for Wrath and it resolves after a Remand, I attack and play a second Shade. His turn gets him a Thirst for Knowledge and he discards Mox and plays Vesuva, copying his post, attacks and passes. I draw Smallpox, attack, play Bob, cast Pox, sac Bob and Flagstones, and sac Kataki to Therapy hoping the last card in his hand is Wrath. No, it’s Thirst. He plays Thirst and next turn plays Triskelion while I’m tapped out, killing both Shades. I continue to draw lands for a several turns in a row while he drops a second Descendant and I scoop it up after seeing a Mox on my draw step.
I swap Kataki for two Pithing Needles.
Game Three: I opt to play and go turn-one Shade, turn two Vindicate his hollowed fountain. That left me with Needle and two lands in my hand. He does post-go I draw Smallpox but don’t want to play it because I have him on a clock, so I needle Flooded Strand, hoping to keep him off mana and draw more LD. I should have needled Trike. He plays Vesuva, Mox, Talisman and passes. I attack him down to four, and pass, he plays Trike while I have two mana up because of playing around Repeal, so he lets me untap. I go land-go. He plays another trike, and I just have no way to beat it. I should've needled trike. There were also another series of play mistakes that I made afterward, like splitting a Fact or Fiction incorrectly and Duressing the wrong card, but I doubt it mattered that much.
4-2
Now that I’m out of contention for top-8 I’m a little unhappy and don’t care that much about winning anymore, but Mike isn’t answering his phone, and I don’t want to drop and just stand there watching other matches while waiting for him.
Round Seven: Aggro-Loam by James. 2-1
Before the match, James asks me to scoop to him because I’m only playing for prizes and he’d like to get a rating bye into GP Dallas. I opt to play it out because I don’t know him and I’m not doing him any favors. I make him work for it.
Game One: I lose the die roll for the first time and mulligan into a six-card, one-land hand with Duress and double Verdict. He Duresses me and takes my Duress, I draw Funeral Charm, play my land and pass, he plays Therapy naming Verdict, plays a Bird and passes, I end of turn charm his bird, draw flagstones and pass with nothing to do. He plays Terravore and passes, I draw nothing of consequence and pass, he play Life from the Loam, cycles a couple lands, dredging the whole while and has an 8/8 Terravore that ends up going the distance.
I side the same way I did in round one.
Game Two: I go first-turn Confidant with another one in my hand. He goes land-go. I go Vindicate-go. He goes land-go. I go Duress/Verdict go. He goes land Life from the Loam, go. I go Therapy/Jotun Grunt, go. He scoops it up a couple turns later.
At this point he is very frustrated with me because I kept asking rules questions related to paying Jotun’s cumulative upkeep.
Game Three was a long one. I don’t remember most of it except when he had a 1/1 Terravore and Bob in play and during my upkeep I d-blasted his ‘vore, hoping to dredge it back and kill his Bob, not realizing he had a fetch-land in play. I do this often. I don’t always look at the whole picture. He responds by sacking the fetch-land. I opt not to dredge Darkblast because I have Withered Wretch and Jotun in my hand anyways, silly me. I cursed myself a couple times, made a bunch more play mistakes, killed his ‘vore with wretch, wrecked his hand and graveyard while he depleted his life-total with Bob. Eventually I’m at four and he’s at two after Bob-ing himself with Devastating Dreams. He now has two cards in hand, one of which is dreams. He attacks with Bob and I block with Wretch since his job was done, I’m somewhat afraid of the card-x in his hand which very well could have been Putrefy or Smother, plus he had a wall, so attacking was useless. He passes the turn because his
dreams will do no good. Now mind you, I have Tomb of Urami in play this whole time and I’ve been pinging myself pretty good with it. I also have two Rancid Earths in my hand while I’m at threshold and I finally draw my fourth land, play Rancid Earth, putting him at one and passing. He plays Life from the Loam and cycles a land to dredge it, plays it again getting back Ghost Quarter and plays it. There goes my Rancid Earth play. But I play it anyways just to keep him busy, having no other options other than Vindicate which I figured I’d save for something more threatening. He Ghost Quarters his land in response, just like I figured he would and I pass. He does some shenanigans with loam and passes, his board looking the same as it did last turn. I draw a fetch-land, opt not to use it there and pass because of his Ghost Quarter. Now that I know he has no Smother or Putrefy, Tomb of Urami is actually a winning option, so I have to be careful. If I sac the fetch-land, he quarters my tomb in response. So I pass. He dredges, cycles, dredges, blah blah, then attempts a main phase Ghost Quarter targeting my tomb. I win. I sac fetch-land, getting a swamp and activate tomb, sacking all my lands. He sadly looks down at his hand and says, “You got me.” I go to sign the slip, as I’m filling it out I’m thinking to myself that he played ten times better than me and deserved the win more, I just lucked out, and was getting ready to fill it out in his favor when he looks at his friend and starts complaining that he’ll never reach 1900 rating, mainly because my rating must be somewhere around 1400. 2-1 me I report. After a couple other random unnecessary comments by him I pack up and walk away, ready to go. I actually checked my rating while I was writing this and it’s 1777. It should go up to somewhere around 1850-ish after that PTQ. Ha! In your face!
And that finishes up my report. I don’t know what decks made top-8 as I didn’t stick around long enough to find out the exact list, but I do know that one BW aggro list did make it to the top-8. I was watching his match vs. Boros when Mike showed up to get me. I couldn’t stick around because his hot flight-attendant girlfriend was waiting in the car.
Things I would change about the deck after playing would be, first of all, dro
p funeral charm and gladiator. They did me absolutely no good all day. I never once even drew gladiator. I would probably drop the Darkblast, too and simply add a full compliment of Rotlung Reanimators, a card I saw the BW deck that top 8-ed playing. It has good synergy with smallpox. Hippie seems quite underpowered, too. The only match I was happy to see hippie in was, believe it or not, Aggro-Loam because of their Wall of Roots. I would drop the hippies and play Smother in that slot. The sideboard could use a little tweaking, but the preferred cards will come with time. I’m hoping to play this deck again at the next PTQ a month from now. I am totally sold on it. Smallpox is, quite possibly, the best card in the deck. And with the addition of Rotlung Reanimator, theoretically it just gets better. The deck has a lot of room for error, so if your new to the format, it’s a very good choice, as it has very few bad matchups, Solution probably being the worst of them and that’s not even played that much anymore. I didn’t play against TEPS at all, but according to the other BW players at the tourney, it’s a cake-walk, which it should be. The fact that it has a lot of room for error means that a good player who doesn’t make mistakes can turn it into a lethal weapon. I know I’m going to practice the crap out of it. Good luck to all of you in your PTQs and I’ll see you in my extended minis!-kendiggy
Tird_Ape on 2007-02-19 09:33 MDT 1st boo yah
by
ElvenTitz on 2007-02-19 09:40 MDT 2nd
by
noThx on 2007-02-19 09:41 MDT gj, ur first, no need to get excited, next person can say third... I dont want it. GJ on article, didnt sound like u suck that much
by
Pekken on 2007-02-19 09:45 MDT Easily one of the most entertaining articles i've ever read here.
by
kendiggy on 2007-02-19 09:58 MDT Lessons Learned:
Funeral Charm gives creatures swampwalk.
Don't drink coffee from Dunkin Donuts.
The City of Boston needs to learn how to put up street signs.
by
ringman on 2007-02-19 09:59 MDT congratz 5-2 at a ptq w/o testing is good
by
Ashmatan on 2007-02-19 10:28 MDT congrats on ptq finish! With no test it's real good! Might use b/w aggro as a deck choice for my ptq!
by
Vodka_drink on 2007-02-19 10:37 MDT that sucks how the guy was talking smack..i really like how you were going to give it to him anyways your a good guy
by
Samyueru on 2007-02-19 10:57 MDT Well done!
I'm not a great player myself, but if you want some advice, think about each play before you go through with it, and assess the whole board, not just what your problems are. Hope this helps you out.
by
Eldariel on 2007-02-19 11:28 MDT Well done, glad to see this deck doing decently on PTQ-level too. I'm the fellow whose list that originally was and I've come to much the same conclusions as you, Hippie has gotten the axe (although I'm trying out different things to replace him with, everything from Plague Sliver to Serra Avenger). Also, it's funny how absolutely everyone wants to cut Smallpox and Tomb of Urami at first, and after a couple of games would never give them away. I'm especially fond of Tomb and the flying beats he provides, evasion is the solution so often. I haven't so far liked the idea of Rotlung since he's a mere 2/2 (the same reason, Hippie ultimately got the axe). Shade, Grunt (a 4-of in my build since graves fill fast and just about all decks in the format presently utilize their grave to some degree. Saves SB-space too) and Urami all finish the game very fast, but Hippie/Rotlung, being a 2/2, doesn't really feel impressive among the giants (Confidant, obviously, draws you into more beaters so his poor power is forgiven).
Also, ironically, the one bad match-up I've come across for the deck is WWb. I don't know why it's so bad, but I've never won a match against it. It's just somehow the combination of their threat density and the ability to strip you of your removal before you can truly get it on.
Also, Gladiator I find to be a horrible alternative seeing how damn slow he is, and Mikokoro I've dropped for a second Tomb (I'm also at 24 lands with 4 Flagstones). I've been happy with those changes.
by
sc4rs on 2007-02-19 11:40 MDT Things I would change about the deck after playing would be, first of all, drop funeral charm and gladiator. They did me absolutely no good all day. I never once even drew gladiator.
Not drawing a card does tend to make it fairly useless. :P
I'd probably test a few hands with Gladiator before you toss it out, just in case it is helpful when you, yknow, draw into it?
by
SOAD on 2007-02-19 11:47 MDT Well done, go LAET TEAM!!!^.^
Record until now:
Kenny top 14 PTQ.
Twilight top 4 PTQ.
SOAD top-16 PTQ. ^.^
by
Rotstejn on 2007-02-19 13:11 MDT I really really like this report ...
by
DESTRUCTOR on 2007-02-19 14:13 MDT nice report, you don't seems like such a bad player
Drop hyppies, charm, and gladiator, add at least 1 more jotun, 2 plagued sliver, 1 darkblast and smother, but i havent tested th deck yet so my oppinion is not that important
by
DS_McWerp on 2007-02-19 14:35 MDT I didnt know you could top 14 a trial :P. Doesnt that just mean you got 14th and want to make it sound better than top 16?
by
Vodka_7up on 2007-02-19 14:40 MDT I heard Infest is good in this type of deck if you expect to run into troll ascetics. Also how would braids work out in this?
by
Rawrer on 2007-02-19 14:46 MDT Don't be so modest, you're not that bad :)
by
HollywoodThr on 2007-02-19 15:21 MDT by Vodka_7up on 2007-02-19 16:40 EST
I heard Infest is good in this type of deck if you expect to run into troll ascetics. Also how would braids work out in this?
why run infest when u can run sudden spoiling instead? That card was made for trolls+baloths...
by
Alpha_n1 on 2007-02-19 16:11 MDT 3th =D
by
Vodka_7up on 2007-02-19 17:11 MDT That's so true Hollywood.
by
kendiggy on 2007-02-19 17:18 MDT infest isn't bad and is another sideboard option I've been debating. Sudden Spoiling dosn't outright kill the creatures, it's a neat combat trick but just dosn't do what is ultimately needed. infest has good synergy with rotlung reanimator so that'll be one of the cards I try out between now and then. It's actually very good against boros as well as troll ascetic.
by
cjthedude on 2007-02-19 17:44 MDT You seemed to complain a lot but I liked the article.
by
Eldariel on 2007-02-19 18:37 MDT Infest is incredibly nice card to have. Not only is it good against Boros, it also punches Opposition- and Goblins-decks all over and around the face. I wouldn't bring it in against Ascetics though, I usually either win past them or Smallpox them, either works really. Equipped Ascetics can be a bitch though, but the fact that Infest is a dead cards against their usual board makes me not want to play it (Elephants, Baloths, Phantom Centaurs, all the nonsense).
by
ChristPunchr on 2007-02-19 18:39 MDT Whatever, you don't suck. At least you place well most of the time. Some people ALWAYS end up ninth.
Good article. Post pics of your buddy's gf, I demand you let the people see an mtg geek's potential gf, I always thought I was one of the only ones.
Is BW really that awesome? I'll have to actually test it, I guess.
by
Arathomir on 2007-02-19 19:37 MDT Well congrats on your finish of 13th at the PTQ. I would have likely finished 5-2 had I not made a mistake against a player playing Goblins with 2 Pyrostatic Pillars with me playing TEPS ( I grabbed the wrong card with Burning Wish, because I would have been able to Tendrils him out without worrying about him discarding, then saccing his two goblins in play to activate Barbarian Ring to deal the last 2 on the next turn I had to kill him). From the store I play at, two other people showed up, and several other people I know were also there. I also saw _Bouncyer_ there and the last I heard about him was that he was 4-1 going into the 6th round.
by
Quantumdemon on 2007-02-19 21:42 MDT GJ, another Kenny posts a PTQ Report. Well on the brightside of things, Eldariel's deck is doing pretty well, at the Vegas PTQ a player who hadnt even heard of Magic-league or Eldariel finished 11th with Eldariel's deck.
by
TD on 2007-02-20 01:56 MDT It sounds like your R1 aggro-loam opponent made a pretty big mistake; had he simply dropped his Seismic Assault on the table, he would have won G1 pretty readily. Yeah, you'd have a fistful of cards, but his assault + loam would have been capable of pretty much keeping you off the table, as he knows your hand and you don't have enchantment removal.
Still, not too bad.
by
facelessman on 2007-02-20 11:08 MDT Making 5-2 when u were 0-2 is very diferent than making 5-2 when u were 3-0 for example. So there is no point about "if i play better, bla bla bla..."
by
_bouncyer_ on 2007-02-20 12:02 MDT Btw, I'm the James you played in your last round, a couple of things, when i referred to the 1400 hundred rating, i was referring to thats where i should be after misplaying my ghost quarters. I should have simply waited and hoped that you popped the fetch in which case i could blow up the tomb, so if you got offended, that was not the case. But yea felt liek chiming in.
-Bouncy
by
_bouncyer_ on 2007-02-20 12:16 MDT Also,
Your round 6 opponent was brian lynch, probably the best active constructed player in massachussetts.
by
twodioz on 2007-02-20 12:38 MDT Yes my GF is good looking. No I will not post a pic.
Good article kenny, I'll tell scott if he already hasn't seen it.
I don't know what we should add to the deck with PC for dallas, but we'll work on it this week. Give me a ring later I'll try to be around for some play testing if you want.
by
kendiggy on 2007-02-20 16:27 MDT sup mike.
bouncy, that was you? Ha! man I wish I'd have known that when I was playing you.
by
Revik on 2007-02-20 18:34 MDT November 8th is my birthday, and i used to live in Buffalo. Nifty.
by
TheDandyFop on 2007-02-21 06:31 MDT Okay, how about you take the original list, cutting out...
-4 hyppie
-2 funeral charm
-1 undead gladiator
-1 darkblast
-1 mikokoro
+4 rotlung reanimator
+3 braids
+1 flagstones
+1 swamp
Braids seems pretty good here. Rotlung works well with her. I upped the land count by one to accomadate her higher casting cost. One more land over a Rancid Earth or a Rotlung could help.
Other ideas I think would be worth testing include the 3rd Grunt, Isamaru, Cabal Therapy over Duress(w/Rotlungs + probably Isamaru), Jitte or Smother for some creature control.
by
Noob3 on 2007-02-21 12:40 MDT I think braids & rotlung are too slow when you could be running Plague Sliver + more grunts.
Grunts, Plague Slivers & Shades seem to keep the aggro aspect of the deck alive, as they all are vicious clocks by themselves. In all the games I've played with the deck, if you have a Sliver & a Shade out, or a Grunt & A sliver, or a Sliver & a shade out, you win the game.
I can't see myself running Braids over Plague sliver, and I think rotlung is just too menial.
by
Eldariel on 2007-02-21 14:01 MDT I used to run Braids. She was awesome when dropped turn 3 or so, but she really requires me to be already winning to work. 5/5s feel just better. And yea, Grunts are good. I run 4 and haven't regretted it yet.
by
MadMageQc on 2007-02-21 17:24 MDT Nice deck ! I knew BW aggro-control in general was quite good in extended, but there are so many ways to build it, and that one is the most heavy on mana control I saw yet. It truly is the brainchild of Pikula's Dead Guy Ale in that it pushes the synergy of land destruction, discard and graveyard hate to the max. Smallpox is land destruction, dicard and removal all at once; I never tought about playing it in extended, but I must admit that deck is the perfect home for it.
by
TheDarkMan on 2007-02-22 11:36 MDT Having a rating of 1850 means you're NOT bad at Magic...lol. And 13th is still better than I would have done, with or without the same deck.
by
TheDandyFop on 2007-02-22 23:50 MDT I can see that Braids could be viewed as win-more. When your plan isn't working out it'd be a lot better to rip Plague Sliver. I am not a huge fan of Rotlung Reanimator, but I do think it could be more useful than Hypnotic Specter. Hyppie is a slow clock and generally, if you're losing, I can't see it being likely to save you, whereas if you're winning, most of their hand is already dead, as it cannot be played.
Since Odyssey block I've had a love affair with Braids, so I think I will try out a Braids build to see if it is any good.
It would definately have a high degree of focus given the Chrome Mox, Smallpox, Flagstones, Vindicate, Rancid Earth package. I'll probably try out Rotlung due to synergy with Smallpox and Braids. Given the inclusion of Rotlung Reanimator Cabal Therapy starts to pick up more strength. With Therapy I'll probably try out a 1-drop.
No idea if this will be any good. I'll post results and a list after I try some things out.
by
SkaTista on 2007-02-25 07:35 MDT Nice article.
BW >> all
by
mrwegle on 2007-02-25 10:59 MDT Why not to play Calciderm ? I agree that 2BB more than 2WW but i don't think that u need it turn 3-6 and after this mana not problem.
