Went 5-0 in a varied meta at my local FNM. First time testing it out besides a match against a Grixis Control Deck.
Round 1: BW Exalted(2-0)
The kid I played kept gaining life from Nighthawk, but that doesn't stop unblockable infect. Easy win.
Round 2: UW Tempo(2-1)
This one was against a friend of mine who is much more advanced than me. Some highlights include game 1 dealing 17 infect in one turn. Game 2 I was abused by Blade Splicer and Restoration Angel. Game 3 he mulled to 6 and kept, which was a no land hand. I drop Blighted Agent and he uses Gut Shot EOT. -_- Pulls an island and uses Ponder and ends up blind drawing instead, no land. Felt bad, but 2-0 so far.
Round 3: BR Vampires(2-1)
Game 1 was a pure race 100%. He ready has me at 13 some how, then drops Vampire Nocturnus revealing another one, so I am put to 1 life. He has one flyer to block my animated Inkmoth Nexus, so Artful Dodge plus Rancor for lethal.
Game 2 he destroys my 1 threat, drops Bloodline Keeper
Flip and Vampire Nocturnus which equals GG.
Game 3 was a ROFLstomp upon him. Inky plus Wild Defiance in the first 3 turns, he has Vampire Nighthawk. Turn 4 animate Inkmoth Nexus, then Artful Dodge flashback, Mutagenic Growth X2, and Ranger's Guile take 21 infect...boom 3-0!
Round 4: BR Zombies(2-1)
This was the game whole matchup was a complete race. He had a ton of removal, so Ranger's Guile was awesome here along with the lands not being permanently animated. Nothing too exciting happened this match except false hope for winning the tournament 4-0.
Round 5: Bant Control(2-1)
Gideon Jura...I was already the only undefeated person, but for some reason there was still a 5th round available. Once Gideon hits the field against infect there is almost nothing you can do without having a Wild Defiance in play, so that was my 2nd game's experience but nothing will stop me from remembering. His purpose was to stall until he found a threat with a card like Feeling of Dread to stall, it got old fast.
At the end of the day I ended up 5-0 with my first actually games played with that deck. Here is what I experienced from last night.
Studs
- Inkmoth Nexus - Dodges removal, flies, and is an artifact creature what's not to love?
- Rancor - When first creating this deck, this card wasn't legal in standard, but since it has been lately it turns any creature into a beating.
- Ranger's Guile/Mutagenic Growth - Both pump spells are awesome in their own ways both can protect or kill
Duds
- Proliferate/Tezzeret's Gambit - This card/strategy used to be in the deck, but it was just too slow. Turn 3 I wanted to be dropping Wild Defiance or getting ready for the kill, not drawing 2 cards and proliferating...pass on it.
- Hunger of the Howlpack - I basically picked this card as a cheap pump that can be more of a permanent boost to the creatures it's used on because of the morbid trigger. I realized usually both sides never interact with the creatures, so there are never morbid triggers or there is an opportunity, but they have just killed my creature after I was tapped out. The bigger versions of this card are in it's place.
- Rot Wolf - Only have 1 in the deck so it may not be completely fair in my judgment, but there was never a situation I would want to windmill slam a Rancor on this instead of an Ichorclaw Myr.
