Dies to Removal

Game Day report.

[DECK=YP$'s Value Train]
Creature (8)
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Instant (25)
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Boros Charm
4 Skullcrack
4 Warleader's Helix
1 Stoke the Flames

Enchantment (4)
3 Chained to the Rocks
1 Banishing Light

Land (23)
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Silence
2 Battlefield Forge
11 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Boros Reckoner
1 Pillar of Light
1 Chained to the Rocks
1 Banishing Light
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Keening Apparition
2 Glare of Heresy
[/DECK]
It was a small turnout (8 people), so we had a 3-round tournament. The meta was not super competitive, so I could get away with not having Mutavaults.

Round 1: vs. Naya Hexproof

Yay, randomizer. The good news was that my opponent was not running Gore-Clan Rampager (!), so blocking was slightly more predictable and
their deck was considerably less explosive.

In Game 1, his Madcap Skills + Gladecover Scout attacked into the Young Pyromancer + Boros Charm for indestructable trick. By the time he managed to play a second creature, it was too late for him to recover.

Sideboarding: -4 Shock, -2 Chain, -2 Skullcrack, +1 Banishing Light, +2 Keening, +2 Glare, +3 Reckoner

I added more ways of establishing board presence (Reckoner and Keening), as well as additional ways to remove auras (Banishing Light, Keening, Glare). I knew I had to keep some number of Chains in for the inevitable Fiendslayers; Glare serves double-duty in removing Fiendslayers and all non-Madcap auras.

In Game 2, he boarded in Fiendslayers and managed to get two of them out, but I had the Turn 2 Keening to discourage auras from being played. I built up an army of Elemental tokens in the mean time, and narrowly won on the return attack after he went all in on a Fiendslayer attack.

1-0

Round 2: vs. Dega
Devotion

Weird Athreos + Mogis brew complete with Boros Reckoner, High Priest of Penance, and Brain Maggot, piloted by the saltiest player in the store.

In Game 1, the salt flowed freely as he mulliganed to 5. He gets stuck on 2-3 land for a while and attacks with Brain Maggot as I proceeded to burn his face. Oddly enough, he was also burning my face with Lightning Strikes and Boros Charms as a desperation attack, but to no avail.

Sideboarding: -4 Shock, -4 Boros Charm, -1 Skullcrack, +1 Banishing Light, +1 Chain, +2 Keening, +2 Glare, +1 Pillar, +2 Chandra

I wanted more answers to Desecration Demon, while also introducing answers to gods, Ram, and Whip. I predicted he would board in Obzedat and Blood Baron, so Skullcracks needed to stay in.

In Game 2, He got off to a slow start, while I was stuck on 3 land for a while. He didn't manage to play too many threats,
other than a Reckoner that was removed shortly after it hit the table. I whittled him down with YP, Elemental tokens, and Phoenixes.

Post-match saltfest commenced as he complained that he didn't draw any of his sideboarded cards.

2-0

Round 3: vs. American Control

This match would decide who gets the playmat, so I had to put my tryhard pants on. My opponent played against Burn in Round 2 as well, but the other Burn player had a much more aggressive playstyle (with Ash Zealots in the main and sideboarded playset of Spark Troopers), as opposed to my grindier playstyle.

In Game 1, I was on the draw. He missed his land drop on Turn 3, and it basically sealed his fate. I carefully attacked with Phoenixes while leaving up Skullcrack mana every turn. When he tapped out for Jace, I removed it with a redirected 4-point burn from Boros Charm and a Phoenix hit. Phoenix, YP, and Elemental tokens slowly won as we competed in the "who is better at doing nothing" contest.

nSideboarding: -4 Helix, -1 Stoke, -3 Chain, +1 Banishing Light, +2 Keening, +2 Glare, +2 Chandra, +1 Mortars

I wanted to board out my 4 mana spells and Chains in favour of more catch-all removal (Banishing Light, Glare) and removal for DSpheres and Rams (Keening, Glare). I knew that he was running Stormbreath and AEtherling, but was not sure if there were any other creatures in his sideboard, so Mortars had to come in.

In Game 2, I had a Turn 2 Keening, which proceeded to swing in and provide some early board presence. He eventually casts Stormbreath at a time where I didn't have any answers to it, hits the Monstrosity ability, and then proceeds to beat down while I sit there helplessly.

Sideboarding: -1 Shock, +1 Mortars (In hindsight, I should have removed another Shock to bring Stoke back in, as another safety measure against Stormbreath)

In Game 3, I had a Turn 2 YP, and forced him to 1-for-1 trade Verdict for a lone YP. He taps out for
Stormbreath, but this time, I was ready with a Chandra +1 and Lightning Strike to kill it on my next turn. YP and Phoenix do their thing while I leave up Skullcrack mana each turn.

Oddly enough, I never saw him play a single DSphere or Rev through all three games. He just didn't draw them, I guess.

3-0

With three match wins, I won my first Game Day playmat!

How are you all determining what will be played at these events? The only thing I can think of is looking at some of the last major events in my area (GP Portland was just here, so I will probably use that).

Looking at past results and asking people from the area what the meta is like.

Didn't get there with burn at the Standard Open but I apparently ran the deck back in the modern event.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdata ... ckID=71448

I assume this was a mix-up?

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... y=Syracuse

2 r/w burns in the top 16. Jets, Bloods, and Chains in mainboard. Firedancer sideboard.
That's about where I'm at right now as well, but I run 4 Stokes and 4 Shocks cutting skullcracks.

Didn't get there with burn at the Standard Open but I apparently ran the deck back in the modern event.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdata ... ckID=71448

I saw that! I was looking at the top 16 lists and I see 1st -17th and a 39th place decklist. Saw it was Standard deck and thought to myself, "Man, that guy had some balls to run that at a Modern event."

Good job, dude.

Currently testing out some new technology for Rw Burn which I've stolen from dauntless268 so far it seems promising, if it makes it through the grinder it could make for an interesting twist in a way we can tackle all three archetypes at once (without just being better or how my opponents like to say luckier)

Ooh, give us a hint?

Didn't get there with burn at the Standard Open but I apparently ran the deck back in the modern event.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdata ... ckID=71448

I saw that! I was looking at the top 16 lists and I see 1st -17th and a 39th place decklist. Saw it was Standard deck and thought to myself, "Man, that guy had some balls to run that at a Modern event."

Good job, dude.

Sorry to disappoint but it was just a mix-up. I ran Affinity in Modern and they posted my Decklist from Standard. I got my invite though which is what I was after.

Filthy Affinity.

Currently testing out some new technology for Rw Burn which I've stolen from dauntless268 so far it seems promising, if it makes it through the grinder it could make for an interesting twist in a way we can tackle all three archetypes at once (without just being better or how my opponents like to say luckier)

Spark Trooper or Wild Richochet?

Its something different - here is the hint: Its basically a card which can 2-for-1 Small aggro decks, help deal with MoW and DD and has synergy with YP and Stoke the Flame, I'm running 3 of them over CTTR MD (I have chains in the SB) + I'm running 12 4 damage spells .

I need to test it more though so it might just be horrible, dauntless268 can reveal or I'll do it after next week more testing

Raise the alarm?

Green eats you up but it's a neat surprise against the red, blue, or black decks.

Hmm... still loses to legion loyalist in the red decks... and I don't think I'd like to see it over a chains vs a desecration demon... but I definitely wanna see how your testing comes out.

The idea is that it's more proactive than a Chained to the Rocks while still serving some of the same functions, albeit not as efficiently.

I am doubtful that 2 1/1's will be strong enough to outperform the sheer efficiency of Chained but I eagerly await MDU's testing results nonetheless.

Raise the alarm?

Green eats you up but it's a neat surprise against the red, blue, or black decks.

You got it

Its basically a card which can 2-for-1 Small aggro decks, help deal with MoW and DD and has synergy with YP and Stoke the Flame, I'm running 3 of them over CTTR MD (I have chains in the SB) + I'm running 12 4 damage spells .

Vs green its just another blocker which is always good

I was looking for a proactive t2 play as we often don't want or cannot play YP out on that turn. I've had a couple of games where Raise the Alarm into YP into Stoke (for 1 Mana) can put me pretty far ahead so that's nice.

That said, I'm not exactly sure if how good that card is if people see it coming (plus Golgari Charm is a card) and what cards in our MD it should or could replace. I think you want to combine it with Satyr Firedancer in the SB as this shores up those matchups where RTA is potentially worst G1.

Let's just say we try to be a little creative here...

I can't say I like Satyr Firedancer with Rabble Red in the format, but yes T4 YP into RTA = 0cc Stokes.

- - - - -

I just wanted to mention, if anyone is struggling against diverse meta game I suggest picking up MTGO for some serious practice - while I'll admit my timezone meta game is leaning towards BW and Walkers, I also get control and aggro every now and again as well (this will help you develop your tactics and sequencing based on MUs) .

@ MDU: TBH, I'd rather have them play Electricity than PE in their Board but it raises the question if and how many BC we should leave in
postboard. What's your opinion?

Rabble Red runs Electricity, while RDW runs PE - I keep 2x Boros Charm vs RDW since Chandra is can be slightly weaker here.

I dont know how impressed I am with the whole Mana-denial plan with Peak erruption. Ive even had a Jund Planeswalker deck fire off some weird Ravnica sourcery for RG3 i think? It destroys target land and gives you one from your library onto battlefield. Flooding is more of an issue with me than being screwed. And everytime my opponent tries to screw me with either TS on Magma jet or destroying lands on T3 or T4-5... It doesnt work out well.
We dont very often plan our actions and sequencing with: "ok if he whiffs on land next turn, then Im good." Why should this work any better for any other deck? And getting back a denizen or crackler by killing of a chains is usually just a minor nuicance. This is also why we only kill the first or second mana dork vs green-

I can't say I like Satyr Firedancer with Rabble Red in the format, but yes T4 YP into RTA = 0cc Stokes.

- - - - -

I just wanted to mention, if anyone is struggling against diverse meta game I suggest picking up MTGO for some serious practice - while I'll admit my timezone meta game is leaning towards BW and Walkers, I also get control and aggro every now and again as well (this will help you develop your tactics and sequencing based on MUs) .

@ MDU: TBH, I'd rather have them play Electricity than PE
in their Board but it raises the question if and how many BC we should leave in postboard. What's your opinion?

Rabble Red runs Electricity, while RDW runs PE - I keep 2x Boros Charm vs RDW since Chandra is can be slightly weaker here.

Based on a lot of the popular streamers on Twitch this seems to be the norm in the US time zone as well.

@Val: interesting, based on what I heard from board members they seem to never face BW and rarely see Jund Walkers (which strike me a odd as well since they're in the top5 for most finishes).

@Testing: Well I went through four events finish 3-0 three times and dropped 0-1 once (beating BW, Bg, Walkers, Rabble Red, UW Control, R Devo), I'll be hitting the books again starting tomorrow so I won't be able to do any testing again anytime soon.

Here is the list for those interested:

[deck=MDU's Fire Alarm (stolen from dauntless268)]Lands 23
8 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mutavault

Creatures 07
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Other 03
3 Raise the Alarm

Burns 27
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Boros Charm
4 Warleader Helix
3 Skullcrack
4 Stoke the Flames

Sideboard 15
1 Skullcrack
1 Wear // Tear
1 Deicide
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1
Glare of Heresy
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Toil // Trouble
3 Chained to the Rocks[/deck]

*[card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card] should be a 3rd Mizzium Mortars but I'm running her because I think its a cute wincon vs Gx Devo, I'll post up a rough guide tomorrow (videos will follow the week after).

EDIT: Put WLH back into the list

Interesting.

@Val: interesting, based on what I heard from board members they seem to never face BW and rarely see Jund Walkers (which strike me a odd as well since they're in the top5 for most finishes).

@Testing: Well I went through four events finish 3-0 three times and dropped 0-1 once (beating BW, Bg, Walkers, Rabble Red, UW Control, R Devo), I'll be hitting the books again starting tomorrow so I won't be able to do any testing again anytime soon.

Here is the list for those interested:

[deck=MDU's Fire Alarm (stolen from dauntless268)]Lands 23
8 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Mutavault

Creatures 07
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra's Phoenix

Other 03
3 Raise the Alarm

Burns 27
4 Shock
4 Magma Jet
4
Lightning Strike
4 Boros Charm
3 Skullcrack
4 Stoke the Flames

Sideboard 15
1 Skullcrack
1 Wear // Tear
1 Deicide
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Glare of Heresy
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Toil // Trouble
3 Chained to the Rocks[/deck]

*[card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card] should be a 3rd Mizzium Mortars but I'm running her because I think its a cute wincon vs Gx Devo, I'll post up a rough guide tomorrow (videos will follow the week after).

What did you lose to?

Think you are missing helix in your list.

I don't hate the Elspeth in the sideboard. When theros first came out I was running a midrange burn that md reckoner and stormbreath, had her in the side. It was fun and worked well back then... wonder how it would hold up now though

I went 3-0 at a local standard event today (my first time playing m15 standard!). I think this is a really good deck. Being a modern and legacy player, I find standard to be boring and straightforward. I am glad to have found a deck that rewards tight play and planning a few turns ahead. The match I had against Ivan Floch's UW list was super fun.

Definitely running boros burn for WMCQ season.

Raise the Alarm is a little confusing for me. I played some games with it and still not sure about them and correct number of them in maindeck.
Meantime i am testing 2 [card]Titan's Strength[/card]. Good when dealing with blocking Caryatyd, Courser or Nyx-Fleece Ram. In most cases [card]Titan's Strength[/card] = Lava Spike+Scry 1

Titans Str is bad, read the thread to find out why.

What did you lose to?

Well I lost the roll vs Gr Devo, he goes T1 Elf, T2 BtE into Courser and T3 Garruk - for the second match I was stuck on two lands, both were painlands.
Standard SE Report 7364839
G1 BW Control vs Rw Burn Standard SE 7364839
G2 Jund Walkers vs Rw Burn Standard SE 7364839
G3 BW Control vs Rw Burn Standard SE 7364839

Notes:
New players or those who don't get too sink in much hours should play Sperlings deck, you minimize your decision tree and can focus mainly on playing a good game of magic (this is excellent for learning sequencing)

Experienced players or those who know every
single T1 deck (not that many and hasn't changed much in months) should play with Magma Jet and extra Scry Lands, this will allow you to sculpt better hands based on your game-state and meta knowledge (it can also get you killed if you sculpt poor choices so its a double edge blade).

Raise the Alarm is still just a lightly tested experiment I'm not recommending it yet - I do however enjoy 2-for-1'ing Small Aggro, Ambushing MoW, Tapping down DD and the synergy with YP and Stoke the Flame (T4 you can play both Alarm and Stoke EoT, if you have YP its even better).

BW Control, Walkers, B Devo, U Devo, R and Control are big game online come join our online so come join our online clan and play against the best

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=7978&d=245922&f=ST

This certainly can't be where we want to be? Reprisal over Pillar of Light, StormbreathDragon over MizziumMortars.
I don't see how this deck beats monoUdevotion or BW postboard

The dancers murder monoblue, and our game is already strong vs BW, all he really needs is the blight, 2x reprisal and maybe Chandra.

The dancers murder monoblue, and our game is already strong vs BW, all he really needs is the blight, 2x reprisal and maybe Chandra.

I agree dancer murders Ux devo but do you really believe BW is a good MU?

I haven't lost to it in a while, so maybe I feel a little too confident against it... but I don't think its our worst matchup at all.

I don't find it to be bad with the Sperling list. You have a lot of ways to ruin their day. My favorite was double Searing Blooding a BBoV. Felt good man.

oh man this reddit thread.... http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments ... _for_wmcq/ ... that guy is back... I'm not the only one who remembers him I hope

"UW control is actually one of my best match ups"

Yep, he's full of shit.

I have found U/W control to be a really decent matchup with sperling's list. You just need to run circles around their counterspells and sphinx rev and the matchup is very winnable. I haven't lost any rounds to it, but my testing sample is small. I can foresee more difficulties with the magma jet/chained to the rocks lists.

"UW control is actually one of my best match ups" Yep, he's full of shit.

Not defending the guy or anything since I agree that UW Control will never be the "best" matchups without ruining many other matchups, but why is it that in the past when people like Zem and many others in the forums rated control as even or favorable (without running dedicated SB cards mine you) no one batted an eye-lid (this was the period when control was much more diverse in its threats (making SB'ing really hard) because the Jund decks were not huge yet so they had more walkers, more counters and more cards which effected our gameplan).

Nowadays most controls decks are running the Planar route because its better at dealing with walkers and all
the annoying underworld connections, this version runs less counters, less walkers and more cards which don't really matter to us... the SB is also more universal and predictable but even with all this somehow the MU went from even and favorable into HORRIBLE and UNWINNABLE .

Can someone explain why this happen?

Edit: Typo

"UW control is actually one of my best match ups" Yep, he's full of shit.

Not defending the guy or anything since I agree that UW Control will never be the "best" matchups without ruining many other matchups, but why is it that in the past when people like Zem and many others in the forums rated control as even or favorable (without running dedicated SB cards mine you) no one batted an eye-lid (this was the period when control was much more diverse in its threats (making SB'ing really hard) because the Jund decks were not huge yet so they had more walkers, more
counters and more cards which effected out gameplan).

Nowadays most controls decks are running the Planar route because its better at dealing with walkers and all the annoying underworld connections, this version runs less counters, less walkers and more cards which don't really matter to us... the SB is also more universal and predictable but even with all this somehow the MU went from even and favorable into HORRIBLE and UNWINNABLE .

Can someone explain why this happen?

I honestly have no idea. Extremely tight play makes the matchup very winnable.

That said, you are oftentimes walking a fine line where a small slip-up can cost you the game. 90% of the matches I lose to UW are to a small mistake which gives them an opening to Rev for a million.

I feel that I am somewhat favored against the Planar Cleansing list but the underdog against the "Last Breath, Az Charm, DSphere, Jace, screw you" version.

oh man this reddit thread.... http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments ... _for_wmcq/ ... that guy is back... I'm not the only one who remembers him I hope

"I don't care what you say about YP. It doesn't DO anything relevant in the format."

Also I'm getting reamed by Jund Walkers. Between Duress and Magma Spray as early interaction, I can never keep up with their walkers.