I took a vacation from magic more specifically standard because pre-M15 I just found the format to be pretty stale but I decided to give it a shot last night as I was also wanting to poach people for a trip to the Modern IQ in Great Falls, which was no bueno :(. It didn't occured to me until I uploaded my list I'm not playing anything out of M15 other than lands. That's kind of a shame, but the beauty of the last 3 months of a standard format is at least we have the lands to play whatever we want. Now that M15 is out I'm hoping people will start stretching their legs. I'm wrapping my head around a Jund aggro list I'll try and add a primer for at the end of this post.
Watching the SCG open this weekend in KC it's not too interesting but it's nice to see Genesis Hydra getting the love I was predicting. It's currently sitting at a buck or two on TCG. It could just be a cheap staple like Mistcutter Hydra but I don't think it'd hurt you to grab a set now if you can skip hardee's just this once in case it goes up later.
I 4-0'd last night with the following list.
As a deck builder I was recently inspired by a guy who took a G/W conversion deck to a top 8 scg open finish a few months ago. If I can find the deck I'll post it but the basic concept was a G/W aggro deck in the main and then a bunch of enchantments in the sideboard like ethereal armor and unflinching courage.
The MTG meta is now heavily affected by the availability of decklists online. It's funny they even mentioned today about how a protour 12 years ago was group deck testing and skill based where as today you don't need a dedicated testing group the internet does it for you. The reason I bring this up is because after game 1 in a competitive environment an opponent can make a general assessment of what archetype you're playing and sideboard accordingly for the rest of the match. So what now? well you just sideboard as best you can to respond or you can try and fake them out making no changes other than replacing dead cards. Well I say fuck that...
Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may. - Tyler DurdenI already posted about my top 8 at states with Naya Transformers but here's the list if you're interested. Frankly I've just gotten tired of sideboarding in one or two cards and praying you draw your one answer to Obzedat, but at the same time you can't brew silliness and expect to win consistently. So why not just throw your opponent for a loop? Use your sideboard as a tilt mechanic.
I did really well with Mono-red devotion at a GP in Louisville ky and it's always held a soft spot in my cackles but it's a little dated. Since you don't really care about your life total the first change I made was to bring in the R/W ouchie lands and add boros charm to combat control. Then I thought about Tom Ross's success with boss sligh. I decided I wanted to be somewhere inbetween. I kept the Eidolon of great revel in the side board because after game 1 I don't want them to sideboard around it. the Legion Loyalist is in the sideboard so I can bring him in against any exceptionally slow deck or supreme verdict decks.
Round 1: This match was uneventful. 2-0 versus a casual B/U deck.
Round 2: A local guy named Jeremy playing Bant Mid-range. Game 1 he quickly moved out of reach with lifegain triggers and Courser of kruphix before I could get the train out of the gates. My opener had two lands 3 chanda's pheonix a lightning strike and Fanatic of mogis. the two problems with this hand is that it's incredibly slow in the dark and mono-red wants an explosive game 1 because most opponents playing anything but aggro will just keep any playable hand in the dark. Unfortunately my 6 was unplayable and even my 5 was garbage. Game 2 I was able to get an eidolon out early and he kept a hand with 2 mana confluence and ended up killing himself trying to catch up with me. Game 3 he managed to get walls up and assumed I was playing boss sligh. I allowed him to play out board control while I added devotion. Once he fell down to 10 I just slammed Fanatic for the kill. 2-1 me.
Round 3: Greg playing Junk midrange with a life gain tilt. Game 1 I was able to whittle him down to near death but at the same time he curved out into 4 courser of kruphix. Each time I was almost in kill range he pulled just out of reach gaining life off lands. Game 2 I ran him over with legion loyalist before he could ever get anything online. Game 3 I got him in a headlock with eidolon into madcap skills making it impossible for him to even begin to put anything on the board.
Round 4: Sump playing Slivers 2-0. His curve was ok but without any kind of protection slivers tends to be a glass canon. Both games I was able to remove his key slivers with magma jet and lightning strike while keeping consistent pressure on. I actually like slivers a lot and I think it's capable of being a competitive deck, but I think that people look at it wrong. People seem to assume that slivers exist in a vaccum and that it should for just contain slivers and lands for the most part. I don't really agree with this. Junk Midrange doesn't just contain Archangel of thune and courser of kruphix. It contains abrupt decay and other tools. Decks aren't either tool boxes or combo decks. There's room for both. I mean part of the combo literally is your ability to play up to 5 colors consistently so why is selesnya charm and boros charm not in the deck? I don't know, when I have some time to dedicate to it I'll try and present my impression of what a modern and standard slivers deck should look like.
(I want to clarify I tied with michael sump for 1st. Regardless of doing that I try to wager cards or what not with my fellow winner in an actual match so that we both play our best and I can post a clean report at the end of the night. I defeated michael after the event in a side game.)
Montana events
GP Trial Salt Lake City at Know Dice in Great Falls Today 7/27/2014
Today at 12:00pm
Know Dice
512 Central Ave, Great Falls, Montana 59401
$25 entry fee. 2 packs per player in the prize fund! Sealed format. Winner also gets 2 byes at GP Salt Lake City!!
TCG Player Modern States - Missoula
When
Saturday, Aug 2, 2014
Where
Ruby's Inn & Convention Center, North Reserve Street, Missoula, MT, United States
Description
Entry: $25
Registration from 9:00 - 9:45
$13, 8-man, Win-a-Box (Standard, Modern, Legacy) side events!!!!
Prizes:
1st Place: TCGplayer State Champion Playmat + 50 Points + 2 Author Tokens
2nd Place: TCGplayer State Top 8 Competitor Playmat + 20 Points + 2 Author Tokens
3rd/4th Place: TCGplayer State Top 8 Competitor Playmat + 10 Points + 2 Author Tokens
5th-8th Place:TCGplayer State Top 8 Competitor Playmat + 5 Points + 2 Author Tokens
9th-16th Place: 2 Points + 2 Author Tokens
Format: Modern
STARCITY GAMES STANDARD IQ TOURNAMENT
Saturday, August 9at 10:00am
KAB Sports Cards & Collectables
2059 Broadwater Ave Suite C, Billings, Montana 59102
SATURDAY AUGUST 9TH. $25 ENTRY FEE
REGISTRATION AT 10AM. TOURNAMENT STARTS AT 11AM.
Bonus Deck Jund Aggro Standard
Pretty self-explanatory, beat the shit out of them tell the doctors you fell down some stairs. Wasteland viper and deathrite shaman belong in here somewhere. I'm not sure where yet. You're probably wondering why mutavaults are in there. If you want you can take Exava out as well as some lands and lower your curve to out aggro the aggro cause aggro.
aaand I'm out.
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