So I was supposed to write up a tournament report this past week on my new adventures with Jund. I recently gave Plated Geopede a start out of the bullpen and I was to write about my experiences with the local FNM especially with May 22nd being Magic : Gameday with Rise of the Eldrazi. Well I set of lost notes and one cold later here I am. Instead I talk about "GeoJund" how it performed for me and compare and constrast different styles of Jund and what version might be right for you the reader.
There was sadly only 29 people that showed up which is a smaller crowd than our shop is getting used to. Six rounds of swiss is becoming more and more of a normal occurrance in Lancster, but today is only 5.
I ended the swiss rounds 3 - 1 - 1 with the draw being intentional in round 5. My top 8 match was against Sarkhan the Mad Jund. I would have had to play the matchup round 5, but since we decided to draw we just played a few games, sadly this helped me more than him as I figured out my sideboard plan (little to nothing as opposed to a lot of stuff) and promptly overwhelmed my opponent before he could get Sarkhan online both games. I do remember getting a lucky Goblin Ruinblaster topdeck in game 2 as well.
Top 4 was against the only person to beat me in swiss, (even though I almost forced a draw through a triple Vengevine draw with some insane top decks) and he ended up getting there again in a close three games. The deck was Vengevine Naya and he ended up in first after splitting the prizes and took down 26 packs.
Anyway onto my deck choice.
4 Savage Lands
4 Raging Ravine
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Plated Geopede
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Borderland Ranger
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
Sideboard
4 Sedaxris Specter
1 Vapor Snare
1 Island
2 Consuming Vapors
2 Deathmark
2 Doomblade
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Bituminous Blast
The blue sideboard plan was ok. It really only made a difference round 1. Would have like to commit less cards to accomplish the same effect.
The deck has essentially the same shell as a normal Jund deck but is fundamentally different. You sacrifice a lot of the decks reach in order to accomplish a quicker kill. Plated Geopede is a monster under certain conditions, and when I open the game with a turn 2 Geopede I feel confident that I can go the distance.
The weakness hear is quite different from a "stock jund" or something similar to it though. Jund's inherent weakness is its mana base.
Accomplishing a tri-color mana base in today's standard format is difficult and cards that attack a Jund player's mana such as Goblin Ruinblaster, Spreading Seas, Tectonic Edge, and Ajani Vengeant are incredibly effective. I have lost many a game on turn 2 when that Spreading Sea's comes down and locks me out of a color. If a Jund player can establish a stable mana base his/her threats create so many issues and can attack a player in a variety of ways. Fighting through the mana disruption is key the the survival of the Jund player.
The difference with the Plated Geopede version is quite different. The mana base is easily developed. Nine fetchlands provide the colors necessary and make the Geopede a viable threat the bust through that early Wall of Omens or to eek out those extra points of damage. The trade-off as I mentioned before is a lack of reach. Without a viable late game, decks like Vengevine Naya, Mythic Conscription, U/W control, and Super Friends, can win handily provided they can weather the initial storm. Lacking more of that inevitability with cards like Sarkhan the Mad, and Broodmate Dragon definately is a pain.
No matter what version you play you need to consider a few things.
1. How do I fight through Spreading Seas?
2. How do I establish my board presence?
3. How do I kill my opponent?
4. How will I construct my sideboard?
Jund is slowly moving away from that "stock list" and branching out to find different ways to fight through all those bad matchups. Grand Prix DC showed us very distinct versions of the deck.
Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Owen Turtenwald
2nd place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
Maindeck:
Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
1 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
Instants
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
Planeswalkers
2 Sarkhan The Mad
Sorceries
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse
Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
Lands
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
2 Prophetic Prism
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Pyroclasm
Very close to a stock list, the few changes are a 4th Maelstrom Pulse, and 2 Prophetic Prism to fight the Spreading Seas.
I especially like the Prism because not only does it help vs. Spreading Seas it cantrips, negating the card gained by Spreading Seas.
Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Joshua Wagner
4th place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
Maindeck:
Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Broodmate Dragon
4 Putrid Leech
2 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
1 Thornling
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
Planeswalkers
1 Sarkhan The Mad
Sorceries
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse
Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
Lands
1 Dragonskull Summit
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
4 Pithing Needle
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Royal Assassin
2 Deathmark
This is more of a heavy removal build. Thornling is something I was thinking about but wasn't sure about the green investment, nice to see it work here.
The item I really like here is the Royal Assassin in the sideboard. I've seen some people talk about a Cunning Sparkmage plan for Jund I was highly opposed. Not only was it clunky at best, you had no way of finding both cards aside from drawing them. Royal Assassin however solves this problem. Resolving this against Mythic should be game over. Dauntless Escort becomes critical against you and your 12 maindeck removal spells should help you fight through that.
The last list I want to talk about is probably the most "outside of the norm"
Jund
A Standard Magic deck, by Bradley Carpenter
7th place at a Grand Prix tournament in Washington, District of Columbia, United States on 2010-05-23
Maindeck:
Creatures
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Borderland Ranger
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
2 Siege-gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Vengevine
Planeswalkers
3 Sarkhan The Mad
Sorceries
4 Maelstrom Pulse
Basic Lands
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
Lands
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Raging Ravine
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
3 Cunning Sparkmage
2 Terminate
4 Blightning
4 Consuming Vapors
2 Forked Bolt
Holy Vengevine Batman! This deck is either going to play multiple dudes and get a Vengevine back or kill your dudes and still get damage in. Turn 3 Siege-Gangs and Sarkhan the Mad seems pretty effective as well via Lotus Cobra.
These four lists I've shown you are pretty much the different ways to go with regards to Jund. So if you want to start cascading just ask yourself those 4 questions and figure out which list answers them best for you.
Later
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
CA Nat Qualifier 5/15/2010
The air was thick with the stench of burning corpses. I stood alone in front of the massive dragon who held my princess captive, the beautiful Ellen Page. I glared at the dragon waiting for him to make his move. A thousand warriors met a cruel fate standing in this very same spot, but I would not meet the same fate. No sword, no shield I was prepared for nothing but ready for anything.
The dragon lifted his head high into the air and took a deep breath. I bent my knees and prepared for his fiery breath. He lunged forward opening his massive jaws spewing fire everywhere. As the dragons head extend towards me I leaped into the air landing on the top of the beasts head. I slid down the creatures back launching off of its tail into the air towards the princes!
I landed in front of her and released her from her prison. The dragon turned and took another deep breath. I held the princess in my arms as I ran from the beast. She put her arms around my neck and begged me to keep her safe. I looked into her eyes and grinned, "of course I will" *WINK. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I looked over my shoulder to see the dragon flying into the air letting loose a burst of flames that nearly engulfed the princess and I. The fire dissipated and the dragon was gone! "My hero!' princess Ellen cried as she pulled my head down to give me my reward.
Suddenly the sound of reality came screaming into my ears just before I attained my glorious, and well deserved reward. It was the sound of my alarm clock attempting to drag me out of my perfect world at 5:30 in the damn morning on a Saturday morning. I was laying in bed wearing my boxers half covered by the sheets. Starring straight through the ceiling. My gaze peirced the heavens cursing the gods for their cruel and malicious sense of humor. I rolled out of bed got ready for Nat qualifiers 2010 and met up with the rest of the crew. We made our way to the Radisson hotel in southern California.
There was around 250+ people attending the event. Our group from the antelope valley consisted of about 10 people. I was playing Mono red Devastating Summons. It went a little something like this.
Main Deck 60 cards:
Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
Spells
4 Lightning bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Burst Lightning
4 Devastating Summons
2 Forked Bolt
2 Stagger Shock
Lands
12 Mountain
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
Side Board 15 Cards
3 Dragon's Claw
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Earthquake
4 Unstable Footing
I was familiar with most of my match ups, but my testing period with this deck was short. I literally picked the deck up less then 6 days prior to the tournament. The deck was not only consistent it was fast, like every red deck should be. I was happy with the deck, but I wasn't expecting to do anything phenomenal today since I had been out of the big tournament seen for quite some time.
Round 1: Mirror Match
Game1: It happens every time I play mono red. I run face first into the mirror match every time! I normally get face rolled by the mirror as well. This guy was running almost the same build minus 3 dragon lords. He ran 1 plains and 4 path to exile side for bane slayer. I liked his sideboard, but his main deck choice for replacing the dragon lords was not acceptable at all. Some 2 casting cost red creature that got +3/+0 every time you played a sorcery or an instant. Its not even worth remembering, because the dragon lord is just better in every way. First game he was mana flooded, and I burned him out by the 5th turn. Nothing special.
Game2: I side in dragons claw and take out the forked bolts and a stagger shock. I got mana flooded and he burned me out by turn 6.
Game 3: I open with goblin guide swing for 2 he reveals a land and draws it. He plays a land says go. I rip another guide off the top and swing for 4 like a boss. He bolts a guide after revealing a stagger shock. He untaps draws and drops a land then passes the turn to me. I untap drop my land float 3 red cast D.S. sack 3 lands and cast a bushwhacker kicked and proceed to swing for 13. To my surprise he takes all of it and drops to 5. He draws and scoops up his cards.
In the red mirror match you can expect the person who wins the die roll to win the game most of the time.
AFTER ROUND 1 WE TOOK A LUNCH BREAK WTF MATE!
Round 2: Poly morph
Game 1: I burned every little token that hit the field. and he swallowed 2 damage from goblin guide until he was at 6. I cast double bolt and we went to game two.
Game 2: I took out forked bolts(because they are sorcery speed) and stagger shock. I put in 4 earthquakes. The plan was to wipe his field if he had multiple 0/1 tokens coming into play. I shuffled up and mulligan to 5. The keep able hand was 2 mountain 1 goblin guide 1 kargan dragonlord and 1 bushwhacker. I did not draw one burn spell and he poly morphed into a 15/15 fatty turn 5.
Game 3: I shuffle up and keep a hand that has a potential turn 3 bushwhacker D.S. combo and some burn spells for those little tokens of his. I play a land and say go. He does the same. I rip a goblin guide and drop him followed by a teetering peaks. Picking tempo back up and swinging for 4 turn two. I passed turn he dropped a land played explore and played another land after drawing a card. Turn three I draw a searing blaze and drop an Arid Mesa. I swing for 2 put the poly player at 14 and pass the turn. He draws a card drops a land that puts a 0/1 token into play and attempts to cast poly morph. I simply laugh and crack the mesa get a mountain cast searing blaze followed by a lightning bolt like a boss. He goes to 9 and passes the turn. I draw my card. It is a mountain! I burst lightning him to 7 float 3 red cast D.S. for 2 4/4 elemental tokens kick a bushwhacker and swing for 15. It was overkill, but I owed it to this guy to make up for our pitiful game 2.
Round 3: Mythic Conscription.
Game 1: I knew what this guy was playing before I even took my seat in front of him, because he played a good friend of mine round two. They had been sitting next to me, and I took a peak at their game. I'm sure he knew what i was playing as well, but that didn't bother me at all. I win the die roll and play first. Mountain goblin guide swing pass. He plays a forest followed by a Bird of Paradise. I untap slam another goblin guide down followed by a teetering peaks swing for 6. He chumps the 4/2 guide with his bird. He is sitting at 16 with another bird on the top of the deck. He draws plays an island and a Bird. I untap drop a mountain float three cast D.S. sacking 3 lands and kicking a bushwhacker (I do this all day) I swing at him for 16. He points at my bored and looks at me kinda funny. I just smile and say its 16 would you like to chump something? He picks his cards up and begins to sideboard.
Game 2: He plays a forest and a noble hierarch. I keep a hand that looks decent enough. Turn one goblin guide again. I swing and he picks up a land and I pass turn. He drops an island and a Rhox war monk. "Oh joy." I said in a very depressed voice. He passes and I draw and drop a land. I don't have an answer for the war monk yet. I cast Geopede and say go. He plays a land and yet ANOTHER war monk. I wanted to cry. he attacks gains some life and I go to 16(monk had +1/+1 from exalted). I draw a fetch land put it into play and sac it going to 15. I searing blaze and burst lightning the untapped monk and swing for 7 total. He goes to 15. He draws a card and plays a fetch land going to 14 searching for a plains. He drops bane slayer angel and proceeded to tear me apart with life linkers.
Game 3: Turn one goblin guide swing. He plays a man land tapped and passes. I play a second goblin guide and come in for 4. He reveals a land, draws it and reveals a noble hierarch. He untaps plays a forest and a lotus cobra. I untap, burst lightning the cobra and swing for 4. He reveals 2 lands and draws them. He plays a fetch land land and the hierarch. He ends his turn, and I respond casting burst lightning on the little fart. I draw and drop a land. I play a bushwhacker kicked and swing for 8. He reveals a cobra for the first guide, and cracks his fetch to shuffle it away. Reveals a hierarch for guide #2. I end my turn. He is at 6 I have a bolt in my hand and a D.S. He draws and picks up his cards.
Something very interesting happened in game 3. When I swung for 8 he revealed a lotus cobra with 3 land in play, one of which being a fetch land. His friend pointed out that if he had left the cobra on top of his library and drawn it he would have been able to cast bane slayer that turn. This is how. He untaps and draws cobra. Plays the cobra followed by a fetch land adding 1 white manna to his pool. Then he cracks both fetch lands gets 2 more white mana and two basic lands. At this point he will have 3 white floating and 2 untapped lands. He could tap and cast bane slayer, which I would have been unable to deal with in the current game state. Sucks for him, but awesome for me.
Game 4: vampires
Game 1: Game one I didn't know what I was playing exactly because I killed him so fast. I saw a couple vamps and assumed it was vamps. /shrug? I didn't test against vamps and I am pretty new to the current meta game so I was completely unfamiliar with this match up. I sided in Quakes and sided out fork bolts and stagger shocks. He duresses me turn one and turn two after I mulligan to 6. I am left with 2 land in play and 2 searing blaze in my hand with my opponent at 16. he slow rolls the game for a long time. Eventually I have him to 8 life with a bolt and a quake in my hand. He has 2 bloodwitches in play one that was tapped after attacking and one untapped, because it had just been cast last turn. I drew a 5th land and cast quake for 4. Dropping my opponent to 4 and me to 14. He untaps and swings for 8 I go to 6. I need to draw anything to kill him, anything but a land. I drew a land. My mistake was casting the quake for 4 instead of bolting him first. That would put him at 5 when I drew my 6th land and I would have the quake in my hand. I would have won. I lost the third game on sheer principal and swallowed my first lost in round 4.
Round 5: Some blue white allies deck.
Game 1,2. I crushed him. I still don't know what his deck was supposed to do.
Round 6 : Blue White control
Game 1: I explode on him taking him to 1 life by turn 4. he untaps drops a bane slayer and I don't draw a burn spell. I proceed to loose game one.
Game 2: He gets a triple bane slayer draw I deal with 2 of them but run out of steam before the third bane slayer can be dealt with. I loose 0-2
Round 7: Grixis Control
Game 1: I pulled off double goblin guide bushwhacker D.S. by turn three and he scooped. It seems that most people scoop to this.
Game 2: I don't side in anything because I don't know this match up at all, and I don't know what would be of any use. He had an answer for every creature I played and I simply couldn't draw enough burn to ride to victory on spells alone.
Game 3: I mulligan to 5 and keep a 2 land 3 creature hand. I knew what was coming.
He had a kill spell for all the creatures and he countered most of my burn. He tried to take a Jace2.0 to ultimate but I decided to throw all my burn at Jace2.0 and not allow him that pleasure. He ended up casting earthquake for 9 to kill me.
Round 8: Vamps
Game 1: I take him to 12 with goblin guides and finish him with burn.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no land hand. I draw lands off the top like a boss, but to my dismay he draws every removal spell in the book and consuming vapors was enough life gain to keep him out of the red zone an kill me with bloodwitch.
Game 3: nothing special happens... I beat on the poor guy with 2 goblin bushwhackers for a good 8 turns while he draws nothing but land. I eventually kill him with a few burn spells after he draws land for 10 turns in a row. Sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles, and sometimes cookies are delicious when they crumble like that!
Round 9: Mirror match
Game 1: This is not exactly a mirror. Hes playing red black only splashing black for blightning.
He had ball lightnings hells thunder and hell spark elemental. I did not approve of this non devastating summons build. I was saddened by its simplicity. It got him this far but he stood no chance in this match up. Mono red D.S. has to much power in comparison. I ran through him both games by casting bushwhacker/summons no later then turn 4 both games.
I finished 29th with a 6-3 record. A personal best! I ended up doing the best out of the AV group we came with and I was pretty happy with myself. I feel I could have taken a top eight spot had it not been for my round 4 play mistake that cost me the round. I plan to hit the PTQ's with this deck and I will keep you all posted on the future event results.
Until next time folks!
~Nick
The dragon lifted his head high into the air and took a deep breath. I bent my knees and prepared for his fiery breath. He lunged forward opening his massive jaws spewing fire everywhere. As the dragons head extend towards me I leaped into the air landing on the top of the beasts head. I slid down the creatures back launching off of its tail into the air towards the princes!
I landed in front of her and released her from her prison. The dragon turned and took another deep breath. I held the princess in my arms as I ran from the beast. She put her arms around my neck and begged me to keep her safe. I looked into her eyes and grinned, "of course I will" *WINK. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I looked over my shoulder to see the dragon flying into the air letting loose a burst of flames that nearly engulfed the princess and I. The fire dissipated and the dragon was gone! "My hero!' princess Ellen cried as she pulled my head down to give me my reward.
Suddenly the sound of reality came screaming into my ears just before I attained my glorious, and well deserved reward. It was the sound of my alarm clock attempting to drag me out of my perfect world at 5:30 in the damn morning on a Saturday morning. I was laying in bed wearing my boxers half covered by the sheets. Starring straight through the ceiling. My gaze peirced the heavens cursing the gods for their cruel and malicious sense of humor. I rolled out of bed got ready for Nat qualifiers 2010 and met up with the rest of the crew. We made our way to the Radisson hotel in southern California.
There was around 250+ people attending the event. Our group from the antelope valley consisted of about 10 people. I was playing Mono red Devastating Summons. It went a little something like this.
Main Deck 60 cards:
Creatures
4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Kargan Dragonlord
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
Spells
4 Lightning bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Burst Lightning
4 Devastating Summons
2 Forked Bolt
2 Stagger Shock
Lands
12 Mountain
4 Teetering Peaks
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
Side Board 15 Cards
3 Dragon's Claw
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Earthquake
4 Unstable Footing
I was familiar with most of my match ups, but my testing period with this deck was short. I literally picked the deck up less then 6 days prior to the tournament. The deck was not only consistent it was fast, like every red deck should be. I was happy with the deck, but I wasn't expecting to do anything phenomenal today since I had been out of the big tournament seen for quite some time.
Round 1: Mirror Match
Game1: It happens every time I play mono red. I run face first into the mirror match every time! I normally get face rolled by the mirror as well. This guy was running almost the same build minus 3 dragon lords. He ran 1 plains and 4 path to exile side for bane slayer. I liked his sideboard, but his main deck choice for replacing the dragon lords was not acceptable at all. Some 2 casting cost red creature that got +3/+0 every time you played a sorcery or an instant. Its not even worth remembering, because the dragon lord is just better in every way. First game he was mana flooded, and I burned him out by the 5th turn. Nothing special.
Game2: I side in dragons claw and take out the forked bolts and a stagger shock. I got mana flooded and he burned me out by turn 6.
Game 3: I open with goblin guide swing for 2 he reveals a land and draws it. He plays a land says go. I rip another guide off the top and swing for 4 like a boss. He bolts a guide after revealing a stagger shock. He untaps draws and drops a land then passes the turn to me. I untap drop my land float 3 red cast D.S. sack 3 lands and cast a bushwhacker kicked and proceed to swing for 13. To my surprise he takes all of it and drops to 5. He draws and scoops up his cards.
In the red mirror match you can expect the person who wins the die roll to win the game most of the time.
AFTER ROUND 1 WE TOOK A LUNCH BREAK WTF MATE!
Round 2: Poly morph
Game 1: I burned every little token that hit the field. and he swallowed 2 damage from goblin guide until he was at 6. I cast double bolt and we went to game two.
Game 2: I took out forked bolts(because they are sorcery speed) and stagger shock. I put in 4 earthquakes. The plan was to wipe his field if he had multiple 0/1 tokens coming into play. I shuffled up and mulligan to 5. The keep able hand was 2 mountain 1 goblin guide 1 kargan dragonlord and 1 bushwhacker. I did not draw one burn spell and he poly morphed into a 15/15 fatty turn 5.
Game 3: I shuffle up and keep a hand that has a potential turn 3 bushwhacker D.S. combo and some burn spells for those little tokens of his. I play a land and say go. He does the same. I rip a goblin guide and drop him followed by a teetering peaks. Picking tempo back up and swinging for 4 turn two. I passed turn he dropped a land played explore and played another land after drawing a card. Turn three I draw a searing blaze and drop an Arid Mesa. I swing for 2 put the poly player at 14 and pass the turn. He draws a card drops a land that puts a 0/1 token into play and attempts to cast poly morph. I simply laugh and crack the mesa get a mountain cast searing blaze followed by a lightning bolt like a boss. He goes to 9 and passes the turn. I draw my card. It is a mountain! I burst lightning him to 7 float 3 red cast D.S. for 2 4/4 elemental tokens kick a bushwhacker and swing for 15. It was overkill, but I owed it to this guy to make up for our pitiful game 2.
Round 3: Mythic Conscription.
Game 1: I knew what this guy was playing before I even took my seat in front of him, because he played a good friend of mine round two. They had been sitting next to me, and I took a peak at their game. I'm sure he knew what i was playing as well, but that didn't bother me at all. I win the die roll and play first. Mountain goblin guide swing pass. He plays a forest followed by a Bird of Paradise. I untap slam another goblin guide down followed by a teetering peaks swing for 6. He chumps the 4/2 guide with his bird. He is sitting at 16 with another bird on the top of the deck. He draws plays an island and a Bird. I untap drop a mountain float three cast D.S. sacking 3 lands and kicking a bushwhacker (I do this all day) I swing at him for 16. He points at my bored and looks at me kinda funny. I just smile and say its 16 would you like to chump something? He picks his cards up and begins to sideboard.
Game 2: He plays a forest and a noble hierarch. I keep a hand that looks decent enough. Turn one goblin guide again. I swing and he picks up a land and I pass turn. He drops an island and a Rhox war monk. "Oh joy." I said in a very depressed voice. He passes and I draw and drop a land. I don't have an answer for the war monk yet. I cast Geopede and say go. He plays a land and yet ANOTHER war monk. I wanted to cry. he attacks gains some life and I go to 16(monk had +1/+1 from exalted). I draw a fetch land put it into play and sac it going to 15. I searing blaze and burst lightning the untapped monk and swing for 7 total. He goes to 15. He draws a card and plays a fetch land going to 14 searching for a plains. He drops bane slayer angel and proceeded to tear me apart with life linkers.
Game 3: Turn one goblin guide swing. He plays a man land tapped and passes. I play a second goblin guide and come in for 4. He reveals a land, draws it and reveals a noble hierarch. He untaps plays a forest and a lotus cobra. I untap, burst lightning the cobra and swing for 4. He reveals 2 lands and draws them. He plays a fetch land land and the hierarch. He ends his turn, and I respond casting burst lightning on the little fart. I draw and drop a land. I play a bushwhacker kicked and swing for 8. He reveals a cobra for the first guide, and cracks his fetch to shuffle it away. Reveals a hierarch for guide #2. I end my turn. He is at 6 I have a bolt in my hand and a D.S. He draws and picks up his cards.
Something very interesting happened in game 3. When I swung for 8 he revealed a lotus cobra with 3 land in play, one of which being a fetch land. His friend pointed out that if he had left the cobra on top of his library and drawn it he would have been able to cast bane slayer that turn. This is how. He untaps and draws cobra. Plays the cobra followed by a fetch land adding 1 white manna to his pool. Then he cracks both fetch lands gets 2 more white mana and two basic lands. At this point he will have 3 white floating and 2 untapped lands. He could tap and cast bane slayer, which I would have been unable to deal with in the current game state. Sucks for him, but awesome for me.
Game 4: vampires
Game 1: Game one I didn't know what I was playing exactly because I killed him so fast. I saw a couple vamps and assumed it was vamps. /shrug? I didn't test against vamps and I am pretty new to the current meta game so I was completely unfamiliar with this match up. I sided in Quakes and sided out fork bolts and stagger shocks. He duresses me turn one and turn two after I mulligan to 6. I am left with 2 land in play and 2 searing blaze in my hand with my opponent at 16. he slow rolls the game for a long time. Eventually I have him to 8 life with a bolt and a quake in my hand. He has 2 bloodwitches in play one that was tapped after attacking and one untapped, because it had just been cast last turn. I drew a 5th land and cast quake for 4. Dropping my opponent to 4 and me to 14. He untaps and swings for 8 I go to 6. I need to draw anything to kill him, anything but a land. I drew a land. My mistake was casting the quake for 4 instead of bolting him first. That would put him at 5 when I drew my 6th land and I would have the quake in my hand. I would have won. I lost the third game on sheer principal and swallowed my first lost in round 4.
Round 5: Some blue white allies deck.
Game 1,2. I crushed him. I still don't know what his deck was supposed to do.
Round 6 : Blue White control
Game 1: I explode on him taking him to 1 life by turn 4. he untaps drops a bane slayer and I don't draw a burn spell. I proceed to loose game one.
Game 2: He gets a triple bane slayer draw I deal with 2 of them but run out of steam before the third bane slayer can be dealt with. I loose 0-2
Round 7: Grixis Control
Game 1: I pulled off double goblin guide bushwhacker D.S. by turn three and he scooped. It seems that most people scoop to this.
Game 2: I don't side in anything because I don't know this match up at all, and I don't know what would be of any use. He had an answer for every creature I played and I simply couldn't draw enough burn to ride to victory on spells alone.
Game 3: I mulligan to 5 and keep a 2 land 3 creature hand. I knew what was coming.
He had a kill spell for all the creatures and he countered most of my burn. He tried to take a Jace2.0 to ultimate but I decided to throw all my burn at Jace2.0 and not allow him that pleasure. He ended up casting earthquake for 9 to kill me.
Round 8: Vamps
Game 1: I take him to 12 with goblin guides and finish him with burn.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no land hand. I draw lands off the top like a boss, but to my dismay he draws every removal spell in the book and consuming vapors was enough life gain to keep him out of the red zone an kill me with bloodwitch.
Game 3: nothing special happens... I beat on the poor guy with 2 goblin bushwhackers for a good 8 turns while he draws nothing but land. I eventually kill him with a few burn spells after he draws land for 10 turns in a row. Sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles, and sometimes cookies are delicious when they crumble like that!
Round 9: Mirror match
Game 1: This is not exactly a mirror. Hes playing red black only splashing black for blightning.
He had ball lightnings hells thunder and hell spark elemental. I did not approve of this non devastating summons build. I was saddened by its simplicity. It got him this far but he stood no chance in this match up. Mono red D.S. has to much power in comparison. I ran through him both games by casting bushwhacker/summons no later then turn 4 both games.
I finished 29th with a 6-3 record. A personal best! I ended up doing the best out of the AV group we came with and I was pretty happy with myself. I feel I could have taken a top eight spot had it not been for my round 4 play mistake that cost me the round. I plan to hit the PTQ's with this deck and I will keep you all posted on the future event results.
Until next time folks!
~Nick
THIS GUY!?
The name is Nicholas Gallagher, but everyone calls me Nick. I am 21 years of age, and I have played competitive Magic since I was 14. I have known the Reckless Bear crew since the first day I showed up at my first magic tournament. I have played a variety of decks throughout my magic career including all aspects of control, combo, aggro, and mid-ranged.
At heart I am a true aggro player, and I will always be an aggro player. I feel control is over rated and a smart aggro player will be able to control the control player. I have always been compelled by the mental game of Magic. Things like "Jedi mind tricks" and what not. The game has several aspects and angles to explore and research. I hope to bring to this blog, articles that can help players both understand the basics to being aggressive and winning with aggro in control dominated formats.
I will be posting tournament reports, as well as articles pertaining to other aspects of the game I feel are important to a competitive Magic Player.
~Nick G.
At heart I am a true aggro player, and I will always be an aggro player. I feel control is over rated and a smart aggro player will be able to control the control player. I have always been compelled by the mental game of Magic. Things like "Jedi mind tricks" and what not. The game has several aspects and angles to explore and research. I hope to bring to this blog, articles that can help players both understand the basics to being aggressive and winning with aggro in control dominated formats.
I will be posting tournament reports, as well as articles pertaining to other aspects of the game I feel are important to a competitive Magic Player.
~Nick G.
Regarding deck choice for a tournament.
So I recently traveled to the California National Qualifiers with a bit of trepidation. Why is this? Well my deck was no longer viewed as excellent in the current type 2 format. I played Jund, while I wanted to play the new version with Plated Geopede and a blue sideboard plan to make use of Spreading Seas, I didn't get the required cards until about an hour before the tournament. I decided to stick with what I knew and played my regular list.
This proved costly as I went 1 - 4 and finally dropped after I had gathered enough info about my card choices and had enough of getting my butt whooped.
This brings me to a very important choice a Magic player faces with a big tournament coming. That is deck choice. Does one play a deck they are comfortable with or play something better. This is a bit of a gray area in terms of what is the correct choice. Do you stick with something you know or do you play the better deck? Well sometimes, like my situation the correct choice is unfortunately only clear after you play the tournament.
For example, I was constantly outdrawn and consistently outclassed in card quality with the exception of my only match win (which was against vampires). What this tells me is that I needed a better deck. Something to withstand the constant barrage of land disruption that I must deal with being a 3 color deck.
The Plated Geopede Jund or "GeoJund" was probably a better option. With 9 fetchlands I had a somewhat slower but far more consistent mana base to work with.
Results like mine are definately disappointing but should not be discouraging. It is all part of the learning experience. I might never be a top level pro. But I will always try to improve at this game and will work to get better and hopefully help others along the way.
Anyway, Magic Gameday is coming up at Battlegrounds, and I have narrowed my choices to "GeoJund" and Polymorph. Hopefully my choice works this time around as I expect fairly decent competition.
This proved costly as I went 1 - 4 and finally dropped after I had gathered enough info about my card choices and had enough of getting my butt whooped.
This brings me to a very important choice a Magic player faces with a big tournament coming. That is deck choice. Does one play a deck they are comfortable with or play something better. This is a bit of a gray area in terms of what is the correct choice. Do you stick with something you know or do you play the better deck? Well sometimes, like my situation the correct choice is unfortunately only clear after you play the tournament.
For example, I was constantly outdrawn and consistently outclassed in card quality with the exception of my only match win (which was against vampires). What this tells me is that I needed a better deck. Something to withstand the constant barrage of land disruption that I must deal with being a 3 color deck.
The Plated Geopede Jund or "GeoJund" was probably a better option. With 9 fetchlands I had a somewhat slower but far more consistent mana base to work with.
Results like mine are definately disappointing but should not be discouraging. It is all part of the learning experience. I might never be a top level pro. But I will always try to improve at this game and will work to get better and hopefully help others along the way.
Anyway, Magic Gameday is coming up at Battlegrounds, and I have narrowed my choices to "GeoJund" and Polymorph. Hopefully my choice works this time around as I expect fairly decent competition.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Rant:Wizards and the secondary market
I'm ranting because I'm feed up with my constructed standard cards going over $40.
First it was Tarmogoyf.($50)
Then Wallet Slayer Angel.($50)
And now Jace 2.0.($70)
I know wizards doesn't care about the secondary market. I know the secondary market is a great way to move merchandise. But enough is enough $70 for Jace really? I thought wallet slayer angel was bad at $50. I never thought in my wildest dreams that she would go over $25. Stupid mythic rarity pushing cards way past what they should be on the secondary market. I wish I knew a solution to this problem but all I can think of is for wizards to actually put good cards in there theme decks. 1 mythic, 2 rares, and give the planeswalkers there own theme decks more expensive then normal theme decks with a fancy alt art holo. I love magic but with travel expenses and gas I don't want to chose between a bill and a set of Jaces because the bill will always win.
First it was Tarmogoyf.($50)
Then Wallet Slayer Angel.($50)
And now Jace 2.0.($70)
I know wizards doesn't care about the secondary market. I know the secondary market is a great way to move merchandise. But enough is enough $70 for Jace really? I thought wallet slayer angel was bad at $50. I never thought in my wildest dreams that she would go over $25. Stupid mythic rarity pushing cards way past what they should be on the secondary market. I wish I knew a solution to this problem but all I can think of is for wizards to actually put good cards in there theme decks. 1 mythic, 2 rares, and give the planeswalkers there own theme decks more expensive then normal theme decks with a fancy alt art holo. I love magic but with travel expenses and gas I don't want to chose between a bill and a set of Jaces because the bill will always win.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Still Livin' The Dream : Just at an FNM - 1st
I wasn't even going to play...
So Friday night my friend and Reckless Bear editor Beau invites yours truly and my lovely girlfriend Mercedes to a late showing of Iron Man 2. My buddy Nick and Lauren decide to join us all and just like that we have a nice group outing. Aside from my 5am work time that is.
So as the credits roll Lauren needs Benadryl for an allergic reaction. While we wait for them to return it starts creeping towards 1 am and I start really wishing I drove.
When it is all said and done I manage about 2 hours of sleep. I stumble through my morning an decide to nap for 45 minutes on my lunch break. Only I sleep about 90 minutes instead, whoops. On the plus side I felt great after. Now with such a lack of sleep I was going to skip the Saturday tournament but that extra 90 minutes had me feeling like Finkel at world's. I was down to cascade tonight. I roll up about 5 minutes to start time and shuffle up the former menace to standard.
Without further ado, here's is what I brought to the table.
4 Savage Land
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Raging Ravine
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Rootbound Crag
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Broodmate Dragon
1 Sarkhan the Mad
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Blightning
1 Momentous Fall
Sideboard:
3 Deathmark
1 Vendetta
2 Jund Charm
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Pithing Needle
2 Duress
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Consuming Vapors
I haven't seen many lists with Sarkhan or Momentous Fall let alone any Jund discussion. So I decided to try things on my own.
Round 1 Vs Naya
Lots of Ramp and Control here. Not sure what to expect.
Game 1 : I keep and he plays 2 Trace of Abundance and Luminarch Ascension by turn 3. Ajani Vengent and Transcendent Master are turns 5 and 6. I peel Momentous Fall turn 4, decide after the Transcendent Master that now is as good a time as any and Fired Netting 3 life and Siege-Gang Commander, Broodmate Dragon, and Bloodbraid Elf, which power me to victory.
Game 2: Starts off with Oran-Rief, the Vastood for more power out a 3/3 Putrid Leech. A turn 5 Siege-Gang Commander, forces Day of Judgment. This intriguing part for me was Naya charm kept recurring the DoJ. Bloodbraid into blighting gets his to 1 and next turn I get it.
On a side note I did almost punt myself the game by forgetting to use the Oran-Rief on the Bloodbraid as another Ajani Vengent could have possibly forced me into a Game 3. Sometimes I lack focus. Sigh .
2 - 0
1 - 0
Round 2 Vs Vampires.
I'm positive this is budget vamps as I saw zero Nocturnus and/or Bloodghast. But nonetheless, he still has threats, threats that must be dealt with.
Game1: I see Duress, followed by Blood Seeker, Pulse Tracker, and Vampire Nighthawk. My team of Double thrinax and Double Bloodbraid probes the stronger
Game 2 : I do punt this one. I keep a bad hand and sit there as one pulse tracker whittles me to 10. Turn 5 Anowon the Ruin Sage prompts maelstrom Pulse. He answers to my Siege- Gang Commander with Vampire Nighthawk, Kalastria Highborn, and a kicked Gatekeeper of Malakir. A turn later I deal with everyone but the flier and sit at 1 life, with a Leech staring down Vampire Nighthawk. I peel Sarkhan the Man. After bringing him to the battlefield, I Jedi Mind Trick myself into using his 0 ability to draw a blightning with him at 24, I immediately shuffle for a game three where I just flat out outrace him.
2 - 1
2 - 0
Round 3: U/B Control
I really must cover this deck at a later date as a future post. Its good and has major potential "post Shards". But in the meantime, I have a Match to win. Time to focus as my opponent is one of the more skilled players in the room. And only one with a pro point.
Anyway I'm too aggressive game 1 with a Leech and Elf turns 3 and 4. Game 2 I duress a negate, follow with a Leech. Double Blightning pretty much seals the deal afterwards.
2 - 0
3 - 0
Round 4 Open The Vaults
This one is against my buddy Steve. He's been beating up on me lately, so I was determined to get this one.
Game 1: We both mull to 5 and my hand is 3 land double blightning. A Bloodbraid Elf nets me a third blightning and helps send me to game 2 up a game.
Game 2: Perimeter Captain and Wall Omens starts the game for Steve and puts me in a bad spot after I had mulled my 7 into a mediocre 6. Jace turn 4 and Sphinx of Lost Truths signals a game 3.
Game 3 : I keep my 7 this time while Steve takes a mulligan.
I curve out perfect turn 2, 3, and 4 with the Bloodbraid Elf getting me a Blightning. The key to the game was Consuming Vapors turn 5 that clears the way for my team.
2 - 1
4 - 0
Round 5 : Intentional Draw
Top Eight vs Open the Vaults
Rematch Time!!!
Game 1: Very Quick. Turn 2 Putrid Leech and turn 3 Blightning are all I need.
Game 2: I fight through a turn 2 Spreading Seas with Putrid Leeches turn 3 and 4. My friend sadly knows my play style well enough to know I am ultra conservative with my Leech. That approach plus a Bloodbraid Elf with a failed cascade gets him to six. It gets tough from here though. Two Perimeter Captain and a Wall of Omens followed by a Sphinx of Lost Truth gets him back to 24 . I fight through two of the walls and clear the way with Consuming Vapors again to make it to the top 4.
Top Four Vs Super Friends (U/W/R Planeswalkers)
Just got to say that this was a tough match.
Game 1: I mull on the play and keep a decent hand. He has Wall of Omens turn 2,3, and 4. While I chip away at the walls he tries getting planeswalkers to stick. I think I gain the upper hand with a Sarkhan the Mad making a dragon off of a Sprouting Thrinax, but he has all the answers. He assumes control and just doesn't finish me off. Game 1 lasts way too long and he finally finishes me after I mount a last ditch effort to Garruk him out.
Game 2: The thing I hate most is mulling on a play down a game. I have early aggression though, and Garruk and Sarkhan finish the job.
Game 3: This match wouldn't be complete without another mulligan by me. My 7 was keepable but lacked early aggression. The mull is a mixed bag with the early Leech and Duress but no red source. He gets his mojo going a little and he wont path my Leech so I can fix my mana. I chip away at his life and eventually play stuff and start trading blows. I end the game on 3 life staring down a lethal Celestial Colonnade.
This match was intense and put me a bit on tilt so the finals are a bit fuzzy.
Finals Vs Naya
Round 1 rematch
Game 1: I trade blows with a Raging Ravine, but Putrid Leech and Bloodbraid Elf with my own Ravine is just too much for him.
Game 2: I try to get off tilt and fail. I play Pithing Needle naming Raging Ravine instead of Ajani Vengent and that ends up costing me the game.
Game 3: Very fuzzy but I only took damage to 2 of my Verdant Catacombs. VICTORY!!!
So I made some bad plays, made more good plays, and had some good cascades. But what did I learn? Well hopefully I learned to focus and RTFC (read the fucking card). I learned that I can go on tilt and win. I learned that I love Momentous Fall, I don't talk about it too much but the card was great for me all night.
But where do I go from here? Well I know Jund needs to adapt to the changes of standard. Here's a card combination I like.
4 Savage Lands
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Raging Ravine
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Oran-Rief the Vastwood
3 Swamp
3 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Broodmate Dragon
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Momentous Fall
2 Trace of Abundance
4 Blightning
This isn't very special but it does replace Garruk with Sarkhan.
I did see a PTQ winning Jund build from Santa Clara that caught my eye. It turns Spreading Seas into a plus.
Jund by John Pham
1st Place at a Pro Tour Qualifier in Santa Clara
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Plated Geopede
4 Putrid Leech
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax
2 Bituminous Blast
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard
4 Sedaxris Specter
1 Bituminous Blast
1 Burst Lightning
2 Doom Blade
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Chandra Nalaar
3 Consuming Vapors
1 Island
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Deck Help:Eldrazi Ball
Deck Help Operation:Eldrazi Ball
A friend of mine he wants help with his so I will do my best.
Original Deck List
Land
Mountainx9
Forestx10
Swampx4
Kazandu Refugex1
Creatures
Nest Invaderx4
Kozilek's Predatorx4
Emrakul's Hatcherx3
Rapacious Onex3
Spells
Growth Spasmx4
Awakening Zonex4
Terminatex3
Brood Birthingx4
Fireballx3
Artifacts
Coat of Armsx4
Initial thoughts
For a constructed deck its missing a lot of power. But I do like the synergy of all the cards to make a big fireball. And his alt win condition of Coat of Arms but unfortunately Coat of Arms will always be bad.
The Cuts
Rapacious One- A 5/4 for 6 is not gonna cut it in a world of big gaint fat finishers. His ability is also just win more and if your doing damage with this guy you should be winning.
Coat of Arms-Never been good in constructed in a world full of wraths and pulses this has gotta go maybe for something less symmetrical.
Terminate and Swamps-The swamps will have to go there only place in the deck is for the terminates. Without the swamps the deck will only have to worry about its two main colors of mana. Which should make it much easier on wallet.
Fireball-Needs to become Bane Fire right now but until he cuts some will just cut it for now.
So this leaves us with 18 spots 14 nonland spells and 4 lands(will also change up the mana base as well).
Cards I want to Add
Broodwarden-This guy turns all those tokens into a threat and only gets better in multiples.
Lightning bolt-Anything running red needs this.
Hand of Emrakul-Good fat and can be a nice use of tokens if things go bad.
Kozliek, Butcher of Truth-Also good fat and nice draw my favorite eldrazi.
Vines of Vastwood-Nice way to protect some of your creatures.
Skittering Invasion-5 tokens+5mana=options
Eldrazi Temple-Auto include
Next Week:How does the new deck do? Do the new cards help? Or should the idea be scraped?
A friend of mine he wants help with his so I will do my best.
Original Deck List
Land
Mountainx9
Forestx10
Swampx4
Kazandu Refugex1
Creatures
Nest Invaderx4
Kozilek's Predatorx4
Emrakul's Hatcherx3
Rapacious Onex3
Spells
Growth Spasmx4
Awakening Zonex4
Terminatex3
Brood Birthingx4
Fireballx3
Artifacts
Coat of Armsx4
Initial thoughts
For a constructed deck its missing a lot of power. But I do like the synergy of all the cards to make a big fireball. And his alt win condition of Coat of Arms but unfortunately Coat of Arms will always be bad.
The Cuts
Rapacious One- A 5/4 for 6 is not gonna cut it in a world of big gaint fat finishers. His ability is also just win more and if your doing damage with this guy you should be winning.
Coat of Arms-Never been good in constructed in a world full of wraths and pulses this has gotta go maybe for something less symmetrical.
Terminate and Swamps-The swamps will have to go there only place in the deck is for the terminates. Without the swamps the deck will only have to worry about its two main colors of mana. Which should make it much easier on wallet.
Fireball-Needs to become Bane Fire right now but until he cuts some will just cut it for now.
So this leaves us with 18 spots 14 nonland spells and 4 lands(will also change up the mana base as well).
Cards I want to Add
Broodwarden-This guy turns all those tokens into a threat and only gets better in multiples.
Lightning bolt-Anything running red needs this.
Hand of Emrakul-Good fat and can be a nice use of tokens if things go bad.
Kozliek, Butcher of Truth-Also good fat and nice draw my favorite eldrazi.
Vines of Vastwood-Nice way to protect some of your creatures.
Skittering Invasion-5 tokens+5mana=options
Eldrazi Temple-Auto include
Next Week:How does the new deck do? Do the new cards help? Or should the idea be scraped?
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