Well, not to say I told you so or anything, but I did indeed tell you so. I went 0-3 at the ptq yesterday, losing 1-2 to Aggro Loam, 1-2 to monoblue (like Next Level Blue but without Tarmogoyfs) and 0-2 to Astral Slide. The deck was not the problem, except perhaps in the 3rd round, when I twice was one card off from a turn one kill, and I couldn't get the damn thing to cough up a burn spell. There were some interesting stories though and I got to play some more EDH and extend my losing streak through the entire day, casual and sanctioned. Oh! Also, I finished my EDHs, so i am 100% proxy free. Dealers are nice, if mercenary.
The deck is Blazing Saddles of Fury!
4 Blazing Shoal
4 Serum Powder
4 Myojin of Infinite Rage
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Fury of the Horde
4 Spark Elemental
4 Lightning Serpent
4 Raging Goblin
3 Shard Volley
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
10 Mountain
I didn't run a sideboard.
This is Blazing Saddles, sped up by including Fury of the Horde. Fury is pitchable to Shoal, so it improves your odds of getting something big to pitch to the shoal, but it's not dead alone.
Round 1
Game one I blast him for 12 turn one. He stabilizes with a couple Wall of Roots and I am kind of wondering what he is playing, until his friend walks by and he points to his board and says, "No second red." So I put him on Aggro Loam with Countryside Crusher. I burn him out with Rift Bolt, Shard Volley, Shard Volley.
Game two I keep a hand which needed something (I think a red card) and I kept it since I had gone to six. He wasn't going to play anything relevant on turn 1 (no moxen) so I wasn't particularly concerned. I didn't draw what I needed until he had Crusher (tapped) and Wall of Roots in play (and I had 3 lands, what the heck am I doing with 3 lands). I had a Cajun and I thought I had enough to Shoal and Fury in the same turn. And I did. If I didn't cast the Lightning Serpent. Then, once I made that mistake, he of course blocks the Serpent with the Wall and I proceed to Shoal the cajun instead of the Serpent. Cause the extra 5 damage is totally more important than getting rid of the blocker. Sheesh. So he goes down to 5, then I Lava Spike. Then he Devastating Dreams for 4 and kills me.
Game three I keep a no lander. I rip it on turn 2, blast for 10 and proceed to not draw burn or further shoals. But he's playing around it. I am fidgeting in my chair and I realize that the floor feels slippery. The carpeted floor. I look down and there's three of my cards. I had dropped a couple cards in my lap when I was side shuffling between games and picked them up and put them back in my deck. Unfortunately, I had also apparently dropped some on the floor and missed them. So I called a judge and told him I had presented an illegal deck for game 3. I just conceded to my opponent, but this is not quite right. I should have actually sat there and had the judge enter the penalty and give me the game loss officially. This judge just ignored it because I conceded but they really are supposed to give me a game loss and if he was doing what he was supposed to, I would have started a game down in round 2 if I had conceded in round 1. So don't concede.
Round 2
Turn one blast for 12. Opponent playing monoblue. Turn 2 suspend Rift Bolt, getting Lightning Serpent Counterspelled. I assumed he didn't have it since he had let me bolt him down to 5. Oops. He was tapped out so I Lava Spiked him. Turn 3, he lays a Chalice for 1. Well frack. I just blew the two cards that avoid that (that would be Lightning Serpent and Rift Bolt). I die with him on 2. Incidentally, Fugie's Lightning Helix tech would have saved me here. One, because it's a 2, but also because he went all in to deal exactly enough with Meloku tokens. Helix over the top would have done it.
Game two. This was a moment I got to live in fear. When I put this deck together, I didn't think a monoblue opponent could do anything relevant turn one. So I let him go first. He lays Polluted Delta and says go. I lay Sparky, and put Shoal on the stack. He cracks the delta! Oh crap I forgot about Force Spike. He searches, finds an island, shuffles his deck, looks at me and says, "resolves." Whew. He lays a Tolaria West and I double Lava Spike to kill him turn 2.
Game three. I get him to two. I get a Gargadon down. I again play the card that I need to power my Fury of the Horde. He had Meloku and two mana, so he could have made double chump blockers for two gargadon attacks, but as it was, I just died. I need to test more.
Round three
I play against some fool playing Astral Slide. This is what happens when you punt yourself into the 0-2 bracket. He draws a bunch of Renewed Faiths, and I am a single card off a turn one both games. I had him as low as 3 game one and 6 game two. It's irrelevant though, as the games lasted too long. Once turn 3 arrives, I lose.
The End
Changes to the deck. Well, now I know what to run for a sideboard. If I did, it would look something like
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Shattering Spree
4 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Tormod's Crypt
I'd also change 2 Shard Volley and 1 Lava Spike to 3 Magma Jet. It's nice to have a little diversity of mana costs and the card selection doesn't hurt. Last, I'd go up to a full set of fetches. Your life total is almost completely irrelevant. I would not try to splash a second color. If I did, it would only be off Rav duals. Topdecking a land that doesn't produce red is stupid. Even stupider than topdecking a land at all.
Showing posts with label PTQs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PTQs. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Gaea's might get where?
Is this really the Zach Stratton I'm thinking of? I haven't seen him at the store in a while, maybe he moved south. Or drove. Or maybe "Zach" and "Stratton" are actually pretty common names. Anybody know?
T
T
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Scooptastic!
Ever since last weekend I have wanted to write a post regarding my concession in the second round, on turn five of extra turns. The more I thought about writing the post, the more I realized it would be both long AND boring, something I’d like to, you know, avoid, so this post is a compromise. I will go through the ten seconds of decision making before I conceded in loose detail, then close with some other thoughts. Just so you know; this is not a defense of my scoop. This is just a discussion of how I’ve come to feel about the issue. Feel free to critique in the comments.
So here’s the deal: I’m playing Chris Richter in round two. I am 0-0-1. He is 1-0. He’s playing an interminable merfolk deck that eventually gets dubs Judge of Currents out. Yes, I misplayed to get to this situation, in case you were wondering, but I didn’t know it until after the game. My misplay didn’t affect my decision. Chris asks me if I would like to concede. Here are the next tens seconds transliterated to print.
My immediate response is, “No.” I say this out loud. I am annoyed that he would ask me this. It is round two, and he appears to be grasping at straws for a win.
I think about my record. 0-0-2 is the same as 0-1-1 for top 8 consideration, either way I have to win out. I am also out of prize range at this point. (Aside: This is a complete falsehood! The prize payout is very deep! I just did not know this at the time!)
He has been a decent opponent. He pressured me to play faster in game three when I felt it was his deck that was slowing the game down, but other that, he seemed more nice than he had needed to be.
I don’t want to look like a dick in front of this judge.
I decide to concede. Immediately Richter starts making comments about how he had board position and probably would have won if we were untimed. He also describes his merfolk stall deck as “beatdown.” Obviously these points are irrelevant on many levels (i.e. the match WAS timed, and regardless of what he called his deck, it was not “beating down” game three, etc, etc). These comments make me feel like he wasn’t as nice a guy as he appeared to be. I replied that playing a lifegain deck hardly qualifies as beatdown, and he would need do to more than double his life total to stay out of the draw bracket in future rounds. He retorts that he had six power of islandwalkers main against me (I was playing islands.) I walk away with a really bad taste in my mouth. Was this guy nice during the match just as a strategic consideration, letting his cocky true colors show after he got what he wanted? As in, “On the off chance this guy might otherwise cut me a break I need down the road, I might as well chitchat with him for now.” If so, that would be the lousiest reason to be sportsmanlike ever. As I walk through the venue I am sick just thinking about it.
***
This was pretty much my line of thinking about the whole scenario until the end of the day. Strategically (as far as I can tell) I am worse off with a loss instead of a draw. I know that competitive Magic players are by both nature and training always taught to make choices based on the best probable strategic outcome for themselves, and by that logic I made the wrong decision by scooping. If I by some miracle win out, I am more likely to get in the T8 with two draws than I am with a draw and a loss. At best I cowardly conceded because I was afraid of looking bad in front of a judge who may in the future rule unfavorably toward me in retaliation, and at worst I was manipulated into a concession I wouldn’t have otherwise given because my opponent saw a potential strategic advantage in being a decent human being during the beginning of the match. Either way, it was “a mistake,” to say the least. However, the next day I thought about the situation some more. I decided that maybe what happened had actually been a good thing. Here’s why: I would rather be seen as being too merciful rather than being too much of a dick. I would rather be called gullible, or too nice, or even sycophantic rather than have an opponent walk away from a match against me and say, “Man, that TooSarcastic guy was a real asshole.” We all know asshole gamers. And I don’t mean folks like you and me, although we’re assholes, to be sure. But generally we’re only dicks between rounds of Magic. Having played against you guys many times I can say that you’re all sporting opponents. No, you know the guys I’m talking about. The guys who get banned from stores, the guys who rip off kids when they trade, guys who MONEY DRAFT, for Christ sakes! I do not want to be one of those guys. And if it means sometimes making a mistake and scooping to a guy I shouldn’t, then so be it. At least I’m not the guy who looks his opponent in the eye and says, “Yeah, I’m out of the running, and I could scoop to you to keep your hopes alive, but I’m going to fuck you over because I don’t want to lose the four extra DCI points. Strategically it’s the right decision for me.” Ya’ll can disagree with me, but that’s where I ended up after this whole deal.
So here’s the deal: I’m playing Chris Richter in round two. I am 0-0-1. He is 1-0. He’s playing an interminable merfolk deck that eventually gets dubs Judge of Currents out. Yes, I misplayed to get to this situation, in case you were wondering, but I didn’t know it until after the game. My misplay didn’t affect my decision. Chris asks me if I would like to concede. Here are the next tens seconds transliterated to print.
My immediate response is, “No.” I say this out loud. I am annoyed that he would ask me this. It is round two, and he appears to be grasping at straws for a win.
I think about my record. 0-0-2 is the same as 0-1-1 for top 8 consideration, either way I have to win out. I am also out of prize range at this point. (Aside: This is a complete falsehood! The prize payout is very deep! I just did not know this at the time!)
He has been a decent opponent. He pressured me to play faster in game three when I felt it was his deck that was slowing the game down, but other that, he seemed more nice than he had needed to be.
I don’t want to look like a dick in front of this judge.
I decide to concede. Immediately Richter starts making comments about how he had board position and probably would have won if we were untimed. He also describes his merfolk stall deck as “beatdown.” Obviously these points are irrelevant on many levels (i.e. the match WAS timed, and regardless of what he called his deck, it was not “beating down” game three, etc, etc). These comments make me feel like he wasn’t as nice a guy as he appeared to be. I replied that playing a lifegain deck hardly qualifies as beatdown, and he would need do to more than double his life total to stay out of the draw bracket in future rounds. He retorts that he had six power of islandwalkers main against me (I was playing islands.) I walk away with a really bad taste in my mouth. Was this guy nice during the match just as a strategic consideration, letting his cocky true colors show after he got what he wanted? As in, “On the off chance this guy might otherwise cut me a break I need down the road, I might as well chitchat with him for now.” If so, that would be the lousiest reason to be sportsmanlike ever. As I walk through the venue I am sick just thinking about it.
***
This was pretty much my line of thinking about the whole scenario until the end of the day. Strategically (as far as I can tell) I am worse off with a loss instead of a draw. I know that competitive Magic players are by both nature and training always taught to make choices based on the best probable strategic outcome for themselves, and by that logic I made the wrong decision by scooping. If I by some miracle win out, I am more likely to get in the T8 with two draws than I am with a draw and a loss. At best I cowardly conceded because I was afraid of looking bad in front of a judge who may in the future rule unfavorably toward me in retaliation, and at worst I was manipulated into a concession I wouldn’t have otherwise given because my opponent saw a potential strategic advantage in being a decent human being during the beginning of the match. Either way, it was “a mistake,” to say the least. However, the next day I thought about the situation some more. I decided that maybe what happened had actually been a good thing. Here’s why: I would rather be seen as being too merciful rather than being too much of a dick. I would rather be called gullible, or too nice, or even sycophantic rather than have an opponent walk away from a match against me and say, “Man, that TooSarcastic guy was a real asshole.” We all know asshole gamers. And I don’t mean folks like you and me, although we’re assholes, to be sure. But generally we’re only dicks between rounds of Magic. Having played against you guys many times I can say that you’re all sporting opponents. No, you know the guys I’m talking about. The guys who get banned from stores, the guys who rip off kids when they trade, guys who MONEY DRAFT, for Christ sakes! I do not want to be one of those guys. And if it means sometimes making a mistake and scooping to a guy I shouldn’t, then so be it. At least I’m not the guy who looks his opponent in the eye and says, “Yeah, I’m out of the running, and I could scoop to you to keep your hopes alive, but I’m going to fuck you over because I don’t want to lose the four extra DCI points. Strategically it’s the right decision for me.” Ya’ll can disagree with me, but that’s where I ended up after this whole deal.
Monday, November 12, 2007
CBG's PTQ deck
I know it's dangerous to throw your 4-4 ptq deck up for everyone to criticize but I felt really torn when building this one and wouldn't mind some input. Did I punt before we even started? Let's find out.
The Deck
1 Adder-Staff Boggart
1 Aethersnipe
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Giant's Ire
1 Incendiary Command
2 Inkfathom Divers
1 Jace Beleren
1 Lash Out
1 Merrow Reejery
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Shriekmaw
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Stonybrook Angler
2 Tarfire
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Whirlpool Whelm
8 Island
5 Mountain
3 Swamp
In the Sideboard
White
1 Avian Changeling
1 Changeling Hero
1 Entagling Trap
1 Hillcomber Giant
2 Judge of Currents
1 Kithkin Greatheart
2 Lairwatch Giant
2 Soaring Hope
1 Wispmare
1 Wizened Cenn
Blue
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Mistbind Clique
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Faerie Trickery
Black
2 Bog Hoodlums
1 Boggart Loggers (yes, I did sideboard this vs. Treefolk)
1 Boggart Mob
1 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Nectar Faerie
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Peppersmoke
2 Spiderwig Boggart
1 Thieving Sprite
Red
1 Boggart Forager
1 Ceaseless Searblades
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Crush Underfoot
1 Faultgrinder
1 Flamekin Brawler
1 Inner-Flame Igniter
2 Needle Drop
1 Rebellion of the Flamekin
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
Green
1 Bog-Strider Ash
1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Elvish Promenade
1 Fertile Ground
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
2 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Sylvan Echoes
1 Treefolk Harbinger
1 Warren-Scourge Elf
and 1 Herbal Poultice
Wow, it's amazing what typing a pool can do for your senses. I realize now I got pulled into red by the Incendiary command and convinced myself I couldn't play the Mistbind Clique due to lack of faeries. I should have played all the black faeries, the Clique, the trickery and the blue changeling. If I needed to splash, I could have done 1 Lash Out, but I am not sure it would even be necessary. I obviously would if I had a Dreamspoiler but I don't so...oh well. What do you guys think? I feel like the green is powerful but not synergistic.
The Deck
1 Adder-Staff Boggart
1 Aethersnipe
1 Cairn Wanderer
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Giant's Ire
1 Incendiary Command
2 Inkfathom Divers
1 Jace Beleren
1 Lash Out
1 Merrow Reejery
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Shriekmaw
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Springleaf Drum
1 Stonybrook Angler
2 Tarfire
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Wanderer's Twig
1 Whirlpool Whelm
8 Island
5 Mountain
3 Swamp
In the Sideboard
White
1 Avian Changeling
1 Changeling Hero
1 Entagling Trap
1 Hillcomber Giant
2 Judge of Currents
1 Kithkin Greatheart
2 Lairwatch Giant
2 Soaring Hope
1 Wispmare
1 Wizened Cenn
Blue
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Mistbind Clique
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Turtleshell Changeling
1 Faerie Trickery
Black
2 Bog Hoodlums
1 Boggart Loggers (yes, I did sideboard this vs. Treefolk)
1 Boggart Mob
1 Lys Alana Scarblade
1 Nectar Faerie
1 Nightshade Stinger
1 Peppersmoke
2 Spiderwig Boggart
1 Thieving Sprite
Red
1 Boggart Forager
1 Ceaseless Searblades
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Crush Underfoot
1 Faultgrinder
1 Flamekin Brawler
1 Inner-Flame Igniter
2 Needle Drop
1 Rebellion of the Flamekin
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
Green
1 Bog-Strider Ash
1 Elvish Branchbender
1 Elvish Promenade
1 Fertile Ground
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
2 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Sylvan Echoes
1 Treefolk Harbinger
1 Warren-Scourge Elf
and 1 Herbal Poultice
Wow, it's amazing what typing a pool can do for your senses. I realize now I got pulled into red by the Incendiary command and convinced myself I couldn't play the Mistbind Clique due to lack of faeries. I should have played all the black faeries, the Clique, the trickery and the blue changeling. If I needed to splash, I could have done 1 Lash Out, but I am not sure it would even be necessary. I obviously would if I had a Dreamspoiler but I don't so...oh well. What do you guys think? I feel like the green is powerful but not synergistic.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Kuala Lampur Ahoy!
So type 2 states is finally behind us. This means that you serious Magic folks will be focusing on Limited again. Awesome. I have a suggestion. We have this here site. What if, in training for the PTQ in two weeks, we open up a sealed pool each, post the contents (yes, lots of writing, so what?) sans build, and then people can each post their own suggested deck in the comments. We could even then test out our optimal builds IRL (say CBG's dungeon, Friday night?). Learning is fun!
T
T
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)