Extended and Two-Headed

This past weekend I played in some interesting events. At First Pick Games's First Birthday, we ran a mock Extended tournament for Gurney and Gavin Verhey who are probably in Berlin already for the Pro Tour. I ran this Demigod Stompy deck. Loads of fun seeing people's faces as it went off on Turn 1. Against Affinity I went off on the first turn, but then he goes land, thopter thopter, worker, Frogmite. I still won that game, then lost the next two because this deck scoops to Ethersworn Canonist.

Next round I played against Jon wrotesforbrainburst Loucks playing Krark-Clan Ironworks, went off T3 on the draw after pitching a Demigod and then recurring it, then he tried to Charbelcher one of them to stay alive. Next two I drew a whole bunch of nothing and he went off on schedule.

I played Death Cloud next and won two quick ones. I then played Mind's Desire, and played a turn 1 Deus, and still nearly lost when he went off on 1 land (hooray Rite of Flame counting all graveyards!) but couldn't do anything with his Plunges since he was at 2. Game 2 I thought a lot about my first turn on the draw staring down 2 suspended Lotus Blooms. I could either play land and wait until turn 3 to play Deus of Calamity, or do nothing, pitch 1 of 2 Demigods and draw anything but land for my Mox and swing for 10. I did the latter, got lucky (had things go as expected/as they should), and won. Finished 2-2, and Zoo won the 14-man Mock. Extended is really really messed up with Top and Counterbalance missing. I think Top could have stayed around, but judges and players would have to be more vigilant about slow play. The good players aren't getting unintentional draws when they play the Top (I remember watching LSV play a feature match in Philly and I couldn't believe is speed of play!) and at the PTQ level, the Countertop mirror is no different than, say, the Teachings or Wake mirror. And I don't think it was as unfun to play against as Mind's Desire is right now. We'll see what R&D thinks about the format this weekend.

Sunday at Games & Gizmos in Redmond I played Two-Headed Giant Sealed. I wasn't planning on playing at first, but I decided to show up since it was still Magic, and I teamed with a fairly decent regular. We butted heads in deck construction a little, then got blown out in the first round because my deck wasn't cooperating. He said we got mana screwed, but I think we misbuilt it, so we made some changes (for the better), and won the next one, then lost to Zaiem and Loucks (unofficially Team usedtowrotesforbrainburst) who had pretty good decks, then got paired down against the 0-X and won. I was a little frustrated at some of the plays my partner made, like running out Panorama on Turn 1 (I can't think of a reason you would ever want to do that), insisting on keeping a hand of 2 Druids, Panorama, and 4 lands (maybe it's actually not that bad, especially since we were on the draw), and a few other things. I don't know the guy that well, and the other two times I've played the format, I played with someone else I didn't know that well at the time, and a friend who had been out of competitive Magic for a while but wanted to try 2HG. I guess the next time one of these rolls around I will try to find someone I know, like, and I can trust.

Frustration in Drafting with Shards of Alara

(That title is for Google, because apparently a lot of people end up here trying to figure out how to draft Shards of Alara. Lol.)

Anyway, drafting this set has been pretty frustrating for me. I think I generally know how to draft it decently, know what cards are powerful and how certain archetypes are supposed to go. I'm still making tons of play mistakes, which is my own damn fault. But man, am I getting manascrewed a bunch! And so are my opponents! It is the least fun way to win at Magic, because no one likes not casting their spells, and I certainly can't assert that I played better than an opponent that did not cast their spells either.

My drafting strategy has been to take any first pickable cards, but otherwise take tri-lands and panoramas as they come around (even regardless of color). One draft I took 5 lands in the first pack because I really really wanted to fix my mana. Yet I still get mana-screwed a whole bunch. What the hell is going on?

The thing with Panoramas is that they are actually pretty bad when your two-drops are multi-colored. If I have a whole bunch of RG haste guys and Steward of Valerons, I really don't want to be playing 4-5 Panoramas, which is why I don't value those creatures as highly as others.

Also, which has been said by numerous writers, when figuring out mana sources, you shouldn't count, say, Naya Panorama as a White, Red, and Green source because it's never both: it's a white, red, OR green source. But then how do you figure out splashing? If I'm splashing, say, White in my RGB deck for say.... Oblivion Ring, Naya Charm, and Bull Ceradon (Naya Charm maybe a stretch, but the other two I think are acceptable splashes, tell me if I'm horribly wrong.) and I've got say... two Naya Panoramas, and let's say I'm equal parts Black, Red, and Green for the most part. Do I play one Plains because I've now got three ways to get White, or do I need to play 2 or more because I will probably be needing those Panoramas to get my main colors? Similarly, if I've got 3 or 4 Panoramas and I want to play three colors plus a splash, what are my options? Could go 1-4-4-4? 1-5-4-3? 2-3-4-4?

Maybe I value the Panoramas too highly, and there is an upper bound on the number you can play if you want to cast your early drops and your gold cards in the early game. Maybe I just need to be stricter with my colors when I draft and never "need" the Panoramas.

As for Constructed, I think I'm now leaning toward Five-Color Control, because I actually need a lot of cards for the Red Deck. But Red has favorable matchups against Five-Color and Faeries, so I'll keep thinking about it and still be ready to throw down some cash to build that deck. At first I thought Manabarbs would be really sick to play against Five-Color, but I'm afraid Runed Halo (which is coming from the Board anyway to fight Demigod) will make it very very bad, especially if they can Wrath and stabilize and actually put you on a clock. I also think I want to try Jund Charm in the Red Deck, because of the obvious instant-speed Pyroclasm, but also pumping your guys and dealing with Mannequin, Reveillark, Persist and Unearth guys.

I've been wanting to make some changes to the Five-Color list I've been playing. Bant Charm has been okay for me, but it seems Condemn is almost strictly better than it. The only artifact I think I care about is Loxodon Warhammer, but I can just kill creatures (which Condemn does), and paying 3 to counter a Cryptic Command (or worse, Negate) isn't terribly exciting. Esper Charm is fine as card draw and pretty good as discard, and it gives me an edge against Faeries. Jund Charm is surprisingly versitile, because it gives me another go with a Kitchen Finks, and it can stop Demigod recursions. That card is definitely staying in. I want to throw in Nucklavee (I guess just 1) and some mix of Remove Soul and Negate. Probably more Remove Soul because I want things to fight early aggro (Stigma Lasher really hurts me!) and maybe 1 or 2 Negates. I kind of just want to run Chris Woltereck's winning 5-Color deck, but it doesn't run Mannequin and I really like Mannequin, especially on Empyrial Archangel. Oh, and Resounding Thunder is HOT, definitely throwing 4 in the sideboard!

Seattle PTQ

So I scrubbed out of another PTQ yesterday. I thought my pool was okay, I was RGW splash Blue for Stoic Angel. I left Vein Drinker in the board because there were too few playable Black creatures. I of course misregister my deck and leave out a Rakeclaw Gargantuan, which I realize in Game 2 of the 1st round. What happened was I layed out RGW in the beginning, really liked it, and then started laying out the other decks. With around 8 minutes to go I lay out RGW and start registering. I knew something was weird because I was short a playable, so I threw in something terrible like Incurable Ogre. (I need to join the "Incurable Ogre sucks" bandwagon really soon.) Ughhhh...

Round 1 I throw away Game 1 by Time Walking myself via an onboard Vithian Stinger against an aggressive start. Round 2 I lose to a pretty tight player and I don't think there was a lot I could do. 0-2, but I'm going to ride it out.

Round 3 I blow someone out. Round 4 I lose in three, both times to Flameblast Dragon, but in Game 3 he needed help from Spearbreaker Behemoth. I really love Sealed deck...

I still decide to stay in because I want to keep playing with the pool. My opponent doesn't show up Round 5, but it becomes a bye so I don't even get rating points. Round 6 I blow someone out who got flooded. Round 7 I beat a newer player. Round 8 I pretty much get blown out. 4-4, but I still got a draft set out of it for 60th out of 196.

I have no idea what to do to make myself stop playing awfully. I wish I could play Limited as much as I can playtest for a Constructed format, because I don't make nearly as many mistakes in Constructed as I do in Limited. This three weeks will be glorious, getting to test out a new Constructed format.

My thoughts right now on Standard are
- I hate the 5-Color mirror.
- I hate Kithkin because it cannot win against 5-Color.
- I (right now) hate my Bant deck because it cannot beat Kithkin.
I think I can tune up my Bant deck to have a little better game, because even if the matchup is terrible, it won't make up a huge part of the metagame. It played surprising well with "fair" decks like Doran. I've also ran the mono-Red deck a couple times on Magic-League and kind of like how that plays out.

Current thoughts on Standard

I've started playing a little more Magic Workstation this weekend, just trying to get a feel for the format and where my Bant deck stands. I played a couple of games against Five Color Control and I thought the deck was okay against it. If I get a T2 Finks or War Monk (preferably War Monk because he trumps their Finks), I can sit on my own counters as they try to deal with it. Treetops in the mid to late game are great too because they are Wrath resistant. I just have to avoid getting Cruel Ultimatum'd because I cannot recover from that huge card disadvantage because they're bound to find an answer to my Treetop Villages.

I played a couple games against Kithkin. The deck has huge problems against the swarm, and the worst card for me is Spectral Procession. The other day I ran a 10-game set of this matchup in solo mode plus a paper deck in front of my computer and it was 7-3 in favor of the White deck. Stillmoon Cavalier is a beating for my deck that I cannot deal with besides Colossus, and Stoic Angel was okay sometimes.. Stillmoon can still jump in front of her. The matches were dreadful enough that I almost want to dump the deck.

The more I look at the Five-Color list that I'm running, the more I want to run it. I also like the idea of a Doran update with Tidehollow Scullers and Thoughtseizes in the main, and with some other splash, probably Blue. I could just run Kithkin, since I'd prefer playing 8 rounds with a beatdown deck than a thinking deck, but I don't know how much tuning that deck can do to beat Five-Color. Maybe I'll try Marsh Usary's Chatoic Backlash list.

PTQ

I went 1-4 in the PTQ. I think the deck I registered was wrong as I was between two different decks. I won the first, lost the second to Ryan Fuller, lost the next one to Jon Loucks who I rode up with, threw away the next, then got blown out the last and I decided that enough was enough. I did a sanctioned side draft and 1-1'd with a pretty bad deck then won a 3v3 with a pretty good deck. I'll write about the sealed deck tomorrow probably.

I went and drafted at Games and Gizmos today and went 3-2. I started 3-0 and beat Gurney on a mana screw Game 1, then absolutely punted two straight games in the next round after casting my bombs but being a coward/dumbass. Round 5 I lost because my deck was short on removal and couldn't deal with Scavenger Drake soon enough. Pretty disastrous weekend.

I'll still PTQ this weekend and I'll still draft this week, but I'm starting to look toward Standard for States. I'm proxying up the gauntlet (I think it's Kithkin, Five Color Control, Faeries, and maybe BG, but I'd be thrilled running a deck that has game against those first 3.) I played my Bant deck against another homebrew, and I'm not sure if people watching thought my deck was casual, but I like how it plays and I'm excited to throw it against the format. Time to wear out my Sharpie and commons.

PTQ'ing

About to head up for the first PTQ of the season in Vancouver, BC. Report at the end of the day or tomorrow.

Drafting

I went to draft tonight at First Pick. My first pick was a Sanctum Gargoyle over a Naya Charm and a Deft Duelist. I got passed a Deft Duelist (not sure if he's a high pick... I sure do like him and they didn't seem to come around really late), then an Agony Warp, so I was going to bias toward WUB.

The deck I thought ended up okay.... I got greedy again in the beginning of the second pack and picked a Rhox War Monk and Sigil Blessing hoping for a splash, but not doing so in the end... the packs were relatively weak in my opinion, but there were options that I thought I could get later. Guess not, next time I draft I should try sticking to my guns for once no matter what gets passed in the second pack.

Here was my deck:
1 Akrasan Squire
2 Tidehollow Strix
1 Sighted-Caste Sorcerer
1 Deft Duelist
1 Knight of the Skyward Eye
1 Blister Beetle
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Esper Battlemage
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Fatesticher
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Skeletal Kathari
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Steelclad Serpent
1 Kederekt Leviathan

1 Courier's Capsule
1 Esper Charm
1 Resounding Wave
1 Resounding Silence

1 Bant Panorama
1 Arcane Sanctum
6 Island
4 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Forest

Not making the cut:
Welkin Guide
Windwright Mage
Rhox War Monk
Sigil Blessing
Obelisk of Esper
Angelsong

Won't go into a whole lot of detail about the matches, because I either got blown out, mulliganed a lot, or they got mana screwed. But here are some highlights:

In Round 1 against Charles D. I made a swing with a Sanctum Gargoyle and an Esper Battlemage, knowing he probably has Branching Bolt, so I was going to save the Gargoyle with a bounce spell and get pack Strix... but he plays out a second Branching Bolt in response. Frown town :(

That same match I couldn't deal with a Algae Garial, I thought my only way to deal with it would be my big Upheaval guy or the Fleshbag Marauder. So I started trying to swing with my Deft Duelist... when he turns out to be an excellent way of holding him down. His deck was amazing though and I think he won the draft.

My last round I had only a Deft Duelist out and some pretty crummy cards in hand so I held him back when he had a clear board but a forest and a Naya Panorama. Ambusher's an uncommon, but I could have passed it to him in the draft (he was 2 to my right), and the game is over if he hits the board and sticks. I 2-2 dropped after that.

Maybe my deck was underwhelming, maybe I really was just getting mana screwed, because I mulliganed a lot. (I don't know how many times that freaking Forest was in my opening grip.) Not sure... I could have stood to play better in the first round, but the fourth round I mulliganed both games and were absolute blow outs. Le sigh... I'll debate my card selection later today.