Dies to Removal

1-2 so far in the second FNM.

Played against Boss Slight (1-2), Temur Monsters (2-1) and Jeskai Control (0-2) so far.

Boss Sligh feels very close to unwinnable in pre-board games and post board games where you don't draw Scouring Sands.

Temur Monsters is easy to fly over and out tempo.

Jeskai control was a loss to variance. I drew 9 lands in 15 cards game 1. Game 2 kept 2 land hand (with temple) and never hit my 3rd land. My opponent had 9 lands when I scooped.

Will update about the last two rounds later. Leaning toward the first deck at the moment though. Roc feels much better than Stormbreath at the moment.

@ LP I was thinking about Hammerhand too. Worth the slot?

Thoughts on Banishing Light as a 1 of? Dragon Mantle seems ok sometimes but pretty bad other times. I think 1 of BL might be better.

Wait, banishing light isn't an Aura? Wtf.

I don't believe banishing light is fetchable by pilgrim.

Mantle is pretty meh as a card, but is there for purely for value with pilgrim and is awesome enough of the time that I want it there as an option.

There's also the fact that I hate banishing light as a card which plays into the equation.

Stupid pilgrim couldn't just say enchantment...

What was you opinion of hammerhand?

Beat Temur Monsters (2-0). That match up feels very favourable.

Went 4-0 then split with my friend at FNM running the Pilgrim version.

Beat these decks:
Mirror match
Temur Monsters
Sidisi Whip
Temur Monsters.

Its hard to judge the pilgrim as whenever I had him, I usually already had a chains.

Lost the final round to Jeskai tokens (1-2).

Drew too many Erase vs no targets game 2.

Flooded badly in game 3.

Likely playing the first deck tomorrow.

I went 4-0-1 with my list last night (I drew with a buddy of mine in round 4 so we could keep drinking).

I think I do want the 25th land but I'm unsure of what to cut. The Magma Sprays are definitely staying in, as I respect little aggro too much in my neck of the woods.

My most memorable round of the night was against my friend Byron, who played in PT Honolulu last year, and he completely punted the game. He was on Abzan Aggro ( a la BBD) and we're in Game 3. I had both Ashcloud Phoenixes out with 6 mana open during his turn. He sighs as he misses a land drop, goes into the tank, and plays Drown in Sorrow. After returning my birds back as Morphs, he thinks for a minute, curses loudly, and says "Bile Blight on the tokens?" I say, "Sure, which one?" And that's when it's blatantly apparent the fucker just played his spells in the wrong order. He died a few turns later after I un-Morphed by flying beatstick and pecked his eyes out.

Why should I play this over Mardu?

Because Mardu sucks.

Copied from Holiday's article -

"Why not play blue for Jeskai Ascendancy and Treasure Cruise, or black for Crackling Doom, Butcher of the Horde, and Sorin?

RW(x) decks are not as powerful as the green decks, therefore tempo is crucial. Because there are no red fetchlands for Jeskai, blue cuts off access to Chained to the Rocks, one of our main sources of tempo. Although the black cards are good, playing straight RW gives us fewer enters-the-battlefield-tapped lands and better mana, allowing us to curve out more frequently."

Proabably because this deck is doing well and mardu isn't.

Because Mardu sucks.

Agree. I got tired of arguing that "this four drop isn't good enough to get there", and it goes beyond butcher of the horde honestly.
Though if you're not running Butcher then why play it at all? Crackling doom? Sorin? Honestly, there's nothing particularly amazing that Azban doesn't get.

So at that point its like "Why not just play azban?" Frankly the decks aren't the same thing so one isn't just a simple matter of "lets play X".

2-2 in the PPTQ (eliminated from contention).

Being deck checked now for reasons unknown.

Played mono green devotion (2-0), Abzan Whip (2-0), jeskai tokens (1-2), UW control (1-2).

I'll post a more in depth report later.

Round 5 was Mardu Control / Superfriends (1-2).

0-2 vs UW control. I strongly dislike that deck. I thought that deck was done, unfortunately it's back.

The variance gods were not on my side today.

More thorough report later on.

I'm having the worst tournament ever lol

Currently 0-3 and flooding out every game.

I blame the shuffler lol

It's Brimaz. He's put a curse on you all for turning your back on him.

Phoenix has been incredibly kind to me. I'll gladly forsake the cat daddy every time.

If I spike this PTQ next week (with not nearly enough testing), you must put him in.

[deck]Creatures:15
4 Seeker of the Way
2 Eidolon of Countless Battles
3 Heliod's Pilgrim
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Wingmate Roc

Spells:21
4 Chained to the Rocks
1 Dragon Mantle
1 Hammerhand
2 Lightning Strike
3 Raise the Alarm
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Stoke the Flames

Lands:24
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Mana Confluence
9 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard:15
3 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Lightning Strike
3 Scouring Sands
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Banishing Light[/deck]


Round 1 Vs Mono Green Devotion (2-0)

Game 1 my opponent manages the T6 Hornet Queen with Arbor Colossus and Polukranos on board at 1 life. Too bad he didn't read Ashcloud Phoenix and killed it with his Polukranos going monstrous. Untap, morph, getcha. He goes on tilt, hard.

Game 2 my opponent continues to tilt off, after mulling to 5. I keep a hand with a chain and no mountain and proceed to draw chains for days (next three draws). I Scouring Sands, hitting 2 dorks, the durdle with my dead cards in hand and a Phoenix. My opponent plays Genesis Hydra for four, flips into Polukranos and Disciple of Nylea and thinks he's back in it. I topdeck a mountain on T6 (finally) and chain his board. He proceeds to cuss me out for the duration of your match.

Round 2 Vs Abzan Whip (2-0)

Game 1 He never sees whip and I fly over with Phoenix and 2x Roc.

Game 2, timely Erase on his Whip + 3x Chained (one care of pilgrim) and Glare keep his bard clear and Dragon Mantle'd Seeker makes quick work of him.

Round 3 Vs Jeskai tokens (1-2)

Game 1 I stomp.

Game 2 He draws a burn heavy draw and points it all at my dome. I beat him down with Goblins and Scouring Sands his. He tops the Jeskai Charm for exactcies.

Game 3 He lands Ascendancy and I don't draw an answer. I stick on three mana with 2 Rocs in hand. I try to Scour his goblins and he blows me out with a lightning strike to the dome, saving his goblins. Feels bad man.

Round 4 Vs UW control (1-2)

Worst match I've played in a long time.

Game 1 I stomp with my tempo plays and just beat him down with fliers. Was not close.

Before Game 2, he discovers that he did not unsideboard and call the judge. He already had a warning for it earlier, but the judge did not give him a game loss and gave him another warning. That's fine.

Game 2 I mull to 4, just to get a hand with lands and spells. I keep 1 land, 3 spells and draw lands off the top. I get him to 1, and stoke at end of turn. He has the counter. I untap, stoke, he has the counter. I untap, strike, he topped another counter. Tilt.

Game 3 I mull to 6. 3 lands and 3 spells. Draw 9 lands in my next 11 draw steps. Tilt.

Round 5 Vs Mardu Control / Superfriends (1-2)

Game 1 Stomp him hard.

Game 2 He has the foil to literally everything I play. Chandra on Ultimate reveals stoke and kills me.

Game 3 See above, but swap Chandra for Elspeth. He shows me his board, which contains 3 Magma Spray, 3 Arc Lightning, 3 Anger of the Gods, 2 Utter Ends, 2 Additional Chandra, and an additional Elspeth. Difficulty: Nightmare Level.

Round 6 Vs UW control (0-2)

Game 1 I keep a Seeker + Burn Spells hand and never hit another creature. Flood to 11 lands. Tilt.

Game 2 Keep 2 lands, never draw another.

Pretty high variance, but the deck does show promise.

I do not like Eidolon of Countless Battles. It was bad all day, and almost always got boarded out. I will not be playing worth it moving forward.

Pilgrim was a champ. Probably the MVP.

Wingmate was good, but I wished it was stormbreath vs control.

Sideboard felt perfect, except Sarkan. Open to other ideas for that slot.

Hammerhand never really came up, but I still think it could be very good.


Next week at the PTQ, unless something significant changes, I'll be playing this:

[deck]Creatures:14
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Heliod's Pilgrim
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Wingmate Roc

Spells:22
4 Chained to the Rocks
1 Dragon Mantle
1 Hammerhand
4 Lightning Strike
3 Raise the Alarm
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Stoke the Flames

Lands:24
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Mana Confluence
9 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Temple of Triumph

Sideboard:15
3 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Lightning Strike
3 Scouring Sands
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Stormbreath Dragon ?
1 Banishing Light[/deck]

Any feedback on that list? Stormbreath might be better than Roc, but I'm unsure. at my LGS, Roc was better, at the PPTQ, due to UW Control, Dragon would have been better. Not sure what to do there.

If I spike this PTQ next week (with not nearly enough testing), you must put him in.

I'll consider it if (and only if) you spike the PPTQ and then the RPTQ.

This is not a PPTQ.

That sucks.

This is not a PPTQ.

I don't understand

There are still a couple PTQ's floating around this season.

@L_D: For your sideboard, I'd add the other 2 Chandra's. Per Blacks article, I decided to try boarding up to 4 Chandra's against most everyone and I've been very happy with it. She's fine in every matchup, but with your board plans of bringing in lots of narrow removal spells, she helps you keep up on cards ensuring that you aren't flooded on dead erases/glares while maintaining threat density.

If you watch gp coverage, a lot of these decks are being featured. Right now, Wescoe is playing a version of the token deck vs. Pardee playing the Stormbreath deck.

Nevermind, wescoe's playing some naya madness.

There are still a couple PTQ's floating around this season.

@L_D: For your sideboard, I'd add the other 2 Chandra's. Per Blacks article, I decided to try boarding up to 4 Chandra's against most everyone and I've been very happy with it. She's fine in every matchup, but with your board plans of bringing in lots of narrow removal spells, she helps you keep up on cards ensuring that you aren't flooded on dead erases/glares while maintaining threat density.

Which decks would you bring the 2 extra Chandras in?

Literally everything.

Seriously?

Why not just run 4x main then?

Is Pardee playing the same deck as he wrote about in his article?

Why not just run 4x main then?

Because that's not good sideboarding?

The reason you want all of them in your boarded games is because the games are longer, more interactive, and you lower your curve. Chandra's shines in games like that, but in your game 1s, you need your deck to be more proactive and focused, so you stick to the token, tempo, wingmate plan.

Is Pardee playing the same deck as he wrote about in his article?

Yes.

Caught the tail end. I'm torn between Stormbreath Dragon and Wingmate Roc.

Caught the tail end. I'm torn between Stormbreath Dragon and Wingmate Roc.

I was talking about that earlier, its just a pro-khan situation.

Puns aside it in some ways comes down to pro hero's down fall or pro azban charm