Round 1 vs Mardu Warriors Aggro: 2-1
This deck is a variant of Rabble Red that takes advantage of splashing black and white for other warrior creatures. It gets a better sideboard and sometimes Sorin for some reach.
First game, my opponent mulliganed to 5 and still whooped me.
I took a hand with some lands, thoughtseize and a Master of the Feast.
Thoughtseize is even worse against aggro these days, and taking the Crackling Doom (which could kill my only creature) maybe wasn't the best idea.
Akroan Hoplite put me out of my misery.
Sideboarding:
+4 Pharika's Cure
+3 Drown In Sorrow
+2 Despise
-4 Thoughtseize
-3 Sign In Blood
-1 Hythonia, The Cruel
-1 Silence the Believers
Game 2 was removalfest, and I celebrated the newly made up festival by tempo playing the hell out of my opponent with Pharika's Cure.
The board was empty most of the game, as my opponent had some nice removal too.
It was very important that I used my removal before my opponent declared attackers to both prevent Rabblemaster making a 1/1 and his Raid trigger bringing the various
Bloodsoaked Champion copies back into play.
I eventually won with a whip and demons.
Game 3 went the same.
After the match my opponent exclaimed "HOW MUCH REMOVAL DO YOU HAVE?!
" and I gladly listed off my plethora
Round 2 vs Jeskai Burn: 2-1
This matchup threw me a bit off, as I've only seen this deck on livestreams, but never in person.
I mulligan to 6 and then kept a hand with 4 lands and 2 hero's downfalls. I regret that decision.
I was able to kill my opponent's few creatures, but I got burned too much without any lifegain and quickly went to game 2.
Sideboarding:
+2 Empty the Pits
+1 Liliana Vess
+2 Pharika's Cure
-2 Thoughtseize
-3 Sign In Blood
I wasn't sure what the best plan against this deck was, and I believe that I was underprepared for the matchup. I figured that I should minimize my life loss in the postboard games, and that luck would bestow me a better hand than that which I drew in game 1.
Game 2 went very similar, except for when my life got low, I was able to cast a Liliana Vess and tutor for Gray Merchant and gain some life. Eventually an unanswered Squelching Leeches won the game.
Further Sideboarding:
+2 Pharika's Cure
-2 Thoughtseize
Game 3, my opponent mulliganed to 6 and I got a nut draw. I destroyed them.
Turn 1 they play a land, I thoughtseize away a stoke the flames.
Turn 2 they play a temple, and I play a swamp and pass.
Turn 3 they play Mantis Rider and I Bile Blight it. I then play a Master of the Feast on my turn.
Turn 4 they play a land and pass, I attack for 5 and cast a second Master of the Feast. My opponent seems helpless and just throws a stoke the flames at my life total.
Turn 5 they play a land and a Seeker of the Way and pass. I attack for 10 and cast a Gray Merchant with a devotion of 6.
Round 3 vs Rabble Red: 2-1
This was a much tougher version of round one and went almost exactly the same. I expected to lose the first game, and did. Even on the play, this is a hard deck to beat post board, and it's exactly why one would play it.
The key to this matchup, once again, is to kill Rabblemasters pre-combat, and playing around Swiftspear's Prowess trigger when trying to cast a Bile Blight. Try to get some card advantage via removal if you can ( killing pumped creatures, or ones that are being targeted). You should definitely kill Akroan Crusader pre-emptively.
Sideboarding:
+4 Pharika's Cure
+3 Drown In Sorrow
+2 Despise
+1 Liliana Vess (worked out better than one might expect)
-4 Thoughtseize
-3 Sign In Blood
-1 Hythonia, The Cruel
-1 Silence the Believers
-1 Murderous Cut
This matchup is almost solely winnable when we're on the play, and is probably only winnable if you draw your sideboard cards.
Game 2 was almost lost as a Herald of Torment took my life down by 1 each turn.
It also hurt that I took a 2 swamp hand and couldn't draw a 3rd land until turn 4.
Drown In Sorrow on turn 4 rather than turn 3 makes a huge difference in this matchup, surprisingly.
I got down to 5 life, knowing that my opponent had a stoke the flames in his hand from a previous Despise.
Luckily he only had 3 lands.
He casts a titan strike on my on herald, post-combat, solely for the scry. He bottoms the card, confirming that it wasn't the ever-so-lethal mountain.
He draws a card and scoops.
Further sideboarding:
+1 Murderous Cut
+1 Silence the Believers
-2 Herald of Torment
I remember this game clearly. Opening hand was Swamp, Swamp, Swamp, Bile Blight, Hero's Downfall, Whip of Erebos, Liliana Vess.
I kept the hand, because such a defensive start isn't something to gamble away with a mulligan.
Opponent mulligans to 6 and keeps it.
I bile blight, and downfall away the first 2 creatures. Turn 4 I Drown In Sorrow away a Rabbletmaster and its token.
Turn 5 Liliana Changes the Game. I cast her with 2
Whip of Erebos, and an unwanted Swamp in my hand.
The board is empty, so I take a risk and -2 her to tutor a
Squelching Leeches to the top of my library. Squelching Leeches is definitely the new Pack Rat, in the sense that it can bring a ton of power to the board out of nowhere. I figured, no matter what my opponent's turn 6 is, it wont be able to beat my 5/5 who's guarenteed to turn into a 6/6 via my formally unwanted Swamp.
They cast an Akroan Crusader and pass.
I draw my Leeches, play a Swamp, cast my 6/6 for 4, and tutor for a Gray Merchant, as I don't see my devotion going down anytime soon.
I pass to them, they play Rabblemaster, and throw the crusader and the 1/1 goblin token at Liliana to finish her. I block the crusader and let Lili die.
Next turn, I draw Gray Merchant and play my whip. I switch to offense and attack to net 6 life.
Opponent plays a land, and attacks for 6 with a Rabble master and 2 tokens.
I play a Swamp, and then Gary, drain 6 life points, and attack with my 7/7 and gain 7 life. My opponent is now suddenly going from threatening my life total, to fearing for his own, as he's now only at 1 life.
Next turn, he only attacks with his 3 tokens( because he has to) and I block one with Gray merchant, which nets me another 2 life.
Next turn I attack for lethal.
Round 4 vs Abzan Midrange: 2-0
The Ari Lax list.
Beginning of game one, we thoughtseize and despise each other hands to pieces the first 2 turns.
Master of the Feast makes it out but the cards he gives my opponent eventually fuel removal to kill him.
I kill a Siege Rhino pre combat on turn 5 to prevent an expected Wingmate Rocc.
Eventually, it's
Herald of Torment vs the 3/4 Bird.
I attack into it, he blocks, and I bile blight it. My opponent asks if this was after blocks, and I say yes. He's clearly worried about his life total, which is indicative of his hand, while I'm just trying to clear the skies.
He play's a Sorrin, and I keep pressuring it's loyalty, as he blocks with it's token.
A new Master of the Feast comes down and puts me over the top.
I win.
Sideboarding:
+1 Extinguish All Hope
+2 Despise
+1 Liliana Vess
+2 Empty the Pits
+1 Erebos, God of the Dead
-4 Bile Blight
-3 Sign In Blood
Bile Blight couldn't really kill any of his creatures, and the damage race was too close in the first game for me to want to use Sign In Bloods the second game. We're both going to play aggressively, with him on land, and me in the air. However, I want to respond to his heavy removal with empty the pits, or potentially board wipe him with Extinguish All Hope which doesn't kill my important creatures. If Gray Merchant goes to the graveyard, I'll happily whip him back.
By the way, the first game ol' Gary and the Whip never even showed up. I kept wishing that I'd draw a whip. Would have made it much easier.
Anyway, this game for me goes Despise, Despise, Master of the Feast, Whip, another Master after the first got killed, and then I bestowed a Herald onto the living Master.
I dominated the game via life totals, though my opponent still had Siege Rhino, a Courser, and some mana dorks."
He casts a
Reclamation Sage, but has to kill my whip rather than the Master, because my life gain is really taking over the race. My opponent also still defiantly believed that the card disadvantage of Master made it a bad card. His mistake.
Turn 9 I cast a Gray Merchant for a 4 point life swing. He casts a sorin, and +1 it for lifelink. His Rhino comes in and I gladly block with Gary. I have a second whip in hand, and play it the very next turn to whip back Gary for 6, and then attack for 7 with Gary and Master.
Round 5 vs Naya Walkers: 2-1
This was late into the night, and the deck was so crazy that I barely remember what happened.
Instead of a spare recollection, I'll just tell you about my opponent's brilliant control deck, and how I boarded against it.
Now I think he is on to something( he was 4-0) and has found a fantastic control deck.
I guess that his deck consisted of approximately:
2-4 Chandra, Pyromaster
2-3 Elspeth Sun's Champion
1-2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Ajani Steadfast
4 Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker
3 Courser of Kruphix (amazing synergy with Chandra and G/W Ajani)
3-4 Fleecemain
2 Hornet's Nest
4 Chained to the Rocks
1 Banishing Light
4 Stoke the Flames
3-4 Anger the gods (great synergy with Hornet's nest which are in his board as well)
2-4 End Hostilities
Hornet's Nest makes it impossible to attack against and his boardwipes are fantastic.
Also, most creature removal is rendered useless against him, as he has no real creatures
I would have won the first game with whipped-back Squelching Leeches if I had one more land, as Sarkhan cant block, and my opponent had 8 life when I had 7 swamps.
I sideboarded:
+2 Empty the Pits
+1 Liliana Vess
+2 Despise
+1 Erebos
-4 Bile Blight
-1 Murderous Cut
-1 Silence the Believers
So yeah, sorry this came so late. My computer is broken and I'm trying to replace it.
I had fun with this deck, recommend it to all midrange and control players, and I would only change a few cards.
Deck Changes
Mainboard
-1 Hythonia the Cruel
+1 Muderous Cut
Sideboard
-1 Empty the Pits
+1 Despise
, I decided early on not to use it.
).
