Post by strider9820 on Aug 8, 2014 23:51:47 GMT -6
Thought I'd crank this out before I end up forgetting all my brilliant/bonehead plays of the evening.
So I'm piloting my brand-spanking-new B/G Midrange in the first-ever event of the brand-spanking-new Peasant Magic Minneapolis league. I found this sweet and user-friendly Swiss-system pairing app earlier in the day, I've stocked the fridge with some homebrew and cleared all the detritus from my luxurious wooden dining room table. Stage set.
Round 1
I'm paired with Edward "Ed," a guy I had met only moments earlier as we were getting pairings set up. I find out we both served some time in Conservation Corps Minnesota, so we've also got chainsaws and buckthorn punctures in common. Rad.
I discover via turn 1 Duress he's playing lots of burn. Ulp. Forgot burn was a thing. I'm fuzzy on the details of this round, but suffice it to say: I lose game 1, but games 2 and 3 Hymn to Tourach buys me some time to find Blastoderm and Brindle Boar (from the SB) which prove to be the threats to which direct damage has no answers. I take the round 2-1 feeling lucky but singed.
Games: 2-1
Round 2
Now I'm up against Alex, an old friend of mine from my B-town days, and he's also playing burn -- the kind that rides into Dodge strapped to a 3/3 or a 4/2. Game 1 ends quickly -- I can't find enough removal and when I do, I get burned for it. Game 2 I'm able to keep his dudes at bay and squeak in a victory with a Derm of Blasts, but game 3 we both end up drawing out roughly 80% of our lands, and I can't find a creature to save my life. Figuratively.
Games: 3-3
Rounds: 1-1
Round 3
Final round of our six-man tourney, and I'm sitting across from Ryan, a coworker of mine from both CCM and currently at Tree Trust. He's playing a list of his own creation using the Orzhov-only "extort" ability from Return to Ravnica. I've rumbled with this deck before (though not while piloting B/G Mid), and I'm fairly confident that if I can keep sending his dudes underground I can take the match.
Game 1 I mull to 5 and he drops two Basilica Guards and a Thrull Parasite in quick succession. The Parasite eats a Disfigure, but I still need to kill those Guards so he can't keep extorting. It's critical that I end every creature he drops or the extorts will snowball out of control.
Well, the Rock calls upon his Millions and serves up a second Echoing Decay to compliment the one in my opening hand, which I promptly lay atop the poor, hapless Guards. You read it right: double Echoing Decay for a cumulative -4/-4. Probably my most satisfying play of the night. Ryan can't find much of anything but land for the rest of the game, and I swing for lethal with two Deadly Recluses and (surprise!) a Blastoderm.
For game 2 I sideboard +3 Brindle Boar for -2 Deadly Recluse and -1 Rendclaw Trow, and I decide to keep a sorta-bad hand with two of the three little piggies. It pays off when I'm able to Read the Bones twice without losing much ground. I draw into more Blasties and a Vampire Nighthawk, which is just downright mean, and my tourney play ends shortly thereafter.
Final record: games 5-3, rounds 2-1
Stars of the show were Blastoderm and Brindle Boar, hands down. In fact, I'm thinking of maindecking 2-3 of them instead of some combination of Deadly Recluse, Rendclaw Trow, and Kessig Recluse. Like I said, burn was kind of in a blind spot for me when building this deck, and Brindle Boar won games for me tonight. I'm also planning on a full compliment of Blastoderms instead of the 2-2 split with Imperiosaur -- I mean, dinosaurs are cool and all, but they die to asteroids. Or Flametongue Kavus and a well-timed Staggershock. Blastoderm just keeps on swingin' -- come hell, or high water, or asteroid-impact apocalypse.
Overall I love the style of this deck; it's got answers to almost everything. I'm shocked none of the other Pauper/Peasant forums I've looked at have come up with a strategy like this before -- instead they all seem to be focused on dredge and mill cards like Commune with the Gods or Grisly Salvage. All of the critical cards in my build are common and none of the uncommons I've included are irreplaceable (though I would miss the Vamp Hawks).
Looking forward to many more such evenings with the Peasant Minneapolis crowd. And hoping to play in bigger events to come, so call more dudes!
Thanks for reading.
So I'm piloting my brand-spanking-new B/G Midrange in the first-ever event of the brand-spanking-new Peasant Magic Minneapolis league. I found this sweet and user-friendly Swiss-system pairing app earlier in the day, I've stocked the fridge with some homebrew and cleared all the detritus from my luxurious wooden dining room table. Stage set.
Round 1
I'm paired with Edward "Ed," a guy I had met only moments earlier as we were getting pairings set up. I find out we both served some time in Conservation Corps Minnesota, so we've also got chainsaws and buckthorn punctures in common. Rad.
I discover via turn 1 Duress he's playing lots of burn. Ulp. Forgot burn was a thing. I'm fuzzy on the details of this round, but suffice it to say: I lose game 1, but games 2 and 3 Hymn to Tourach buys me some time to find Blastoderm and Brindle Boar (from the SB) which prove to be the threats to which direct damage has no answers. I take the round 2-1 feeling lucky but singed.
Games: 2-1
Round 2
Now I'm up against Alex, an old friend of mine from my B-town days, and he's also playing burn -- the kind that rides into Dodge strapped to a 3/3 or a 4/2. Game 1 ends quickly -- I can't find enough removal and when I do, I get burned for it. Game 2 I'm able to keep his dudes at bay and squeak in a victory with a Derm of Blasts, but game 3 we both end up drawing out roughly 80% of our lands, and I can't find a creature to save my life. Figuratively.
Games: 3-3
Rounds: 1-1
Round 3
Final round of our six-man tourney, and I'm sitting across from Ryan, a coworker of mine from both CCM and currently at Tree Trust. He's playing a list of his own creation using the Orzhov-only "extort" ability from Return to Ravnica. I've rumbled with this deck before (though not while piloting B/G Mid), and I'm fairly confident that if I can keep sending his dudes underground I can take the match.
Game 1 I mull to 5 and he drops two Basilica Guards and a Thrull Parasite in quick succession. The Parasite eats a Disfigure, but I still need to kill those Guards so he can't keep extorting. It's critical that I end every creature he drops or the extorts will snowball out of control.
Well, the Rock calls upon his Millions and serves up a second Echoing Decay to compliment the one in my opening hand, which I promptly lay atop the poor, hapless Guards. You read it right: double Echoing Decay for a cumulative -4/-4. Probably my most satisfying play of the night. Ryan can't find much of anything but land for the rest of the game, and I swing for lethal with two Deadly Recluses and (surprise!) a Blastoderm.
For game 2 I sideboard +3 Brindle Boar for -2 Deadly Recluse and -1 Rendclaw Trow, and I decide to keep a sorta-bad hand with two of the three little piggies. It pays off when I'm able to Read the Bones twice without losing much ground. I draw into more Blasties and a Vampire Nighthawk, which is just downright mean, and my tourney play ends shortly thereafter.
Final record: games 5-3, rounds 2-1
Stars of the show were Blastoderm and Brindle Boar, hands down. In fact, I'm thinking of maindecking 2-3 of them instead of some combination of Deadly Recluse, Rendclaw Trow, and Kessig Recluse. Like I said, burn was kind of in a blind spot for me when building this deck, and Brindle Boar won games for me tonight. I'm also planning on a full compliment of Blastoderms instead of the 2-2 split with Imperiosaur -- I mean, dinosaurs are cool and all, but they die to asteroids. Or Flametongue Kavus and a well-timed Staggershock. Blastoderm just keeps on swingin' -- come hell, or high water, or asteroid-impact apocalypse.
Overall I love the style of this deck; it's got answers to almost everything. I'm shocked none of the other Pauper/Peasant forums I've looked at have come up with a strategy like this before -- instead they all seem to be focused on dredge and mill cards like Commune with the Gods or Grisly Salvage. All of the critical cards in my build are common and none of the uncommons I've included are irreplaceable (though I would miss the Vamp Hawks).
Looking forward to many more such evenings with the Peasant Minneapolis crowd. And hoping to play in bigger events to come, so call more dudes!
Thanks for reading.