Daily Dose of Standard - Ep. 9

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

10 December 2011

1046 views

vs mfsoccer7

This match was played for PRIZES on MTGO. I made one modification to the deck: I decided to switch up Doom Blade and Go for the Throat, moving the Blade to the mainboard and the Throat to the sideboard. If only Mirrodin would just rotate already.

Deck - Crawling Chaos. Crawling Chaos is brought to you by Hipster Nyarlathotep: "The Dunwich Horror was way cooler before it got big."

Game 1

Enemy wins the toss, plays first, and keeps the opener.

Caley keeps an opening hand of 2x Darkslick Shores, Drowned Catacomb, Swamp, Reassembling Skeleton, Think Twice, Rune-Scarred Demon.

T1

E plays plains and casts Gideon's Lawkeeper, then passes.

Hello, humans.

C draws Island and plays Darkslick Shores, then passes.

T2

E plays Island and casts Honor of the Pure, then attacks with Gideon's Lawkeeper. (Enemy 20, Caley 18). E passes.

C draws Island and plays Darkslick Shores, then casts Reassembling Skeleton and passes.

T3

E plays Moorland Haunt and casts Oblivion Ring targeting Reassembling Skeleton, then attacks with the Lawkeeper. (Enemy 20, Caley 16). Then he passes.

Ok, if you say so.

C draws Army of the Damned. C plays Island and passes.

T4

E plays Island, then attacks with Gideon's Lawkeeper. (Enemy 20, Caley 14). E passes. End step, Caley casts Think Twice, drawing Think Twice.

Don't you HATE it when that happens?

C draws Darkslick Shores and plays it tapped, then passes.

T5

E casts Doomed Traveler and attacks with Gideon's Lawkeeper. (Enemy 20, Caley 12). E passes. End step, Caley flashes back Think Twice, drawing Dissipate.

Thanks for showing up two hours late again, Dissipate.

C draws Rune-Scarred Demon. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

T6

E attacks with everything. (Enemy 20, Caley 8). He casts another Doomed Traveler, but it runs into Dissipate. E passes. C casts Think Twice during the end step, drawing Reassembling Skeleton.

C draws Island. He casts Reassembling Skeleton and passes.

T7

E attacks with everything. C blocks Lawkeeper with Skeleton and takes the Traveler damage. (Enemy 20, Caley 6). E casts Gideon's Lawkeeper and passes. End step, Caley returns Reassembling Skeleton to play.

C draws Island and plays Island. He casts Rune-Scarred Demon finding Black Sun's Zenith. He passes.

T8

E casts Fiend Hunter exiling Rune-Scarred Demon. He attacks with everything available. Caley blocks Lawkeeper with Reassembling Skeleton and takes the rest. (Enemy 20, Caley 2). E passes.

Caley draws Army of the Damned. He casts Black Sun's Zenith for 4, wiping the board. This returns Rune-Scarred Demon to the board and puts a 2/2 (with Honor of the Pure ) spirit token into play. Caley finds Doom Blade with Rune-Scarred Demon.

Otherwise I lose instantly to any removal.

T9

E does nothing and passes.

He is finally out of gas. I have weathered the storm and now have a turn to prepare for his inevitable Moorland Haunt secondary onslaught. Fortunately he only has enough colored mana for one Moorland Haunt activation a turn.

C draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Rune-Scarred Demon finding Sorin Markov. He passes. End step, E brings in a spirit token with Moorland Haunt exiling Gideon's Lawkeeper.

T10

E plays Seachrome Coast and passes.

Still out of gas, though he'll be able to bring in two spirits if necessary next turn. However, I am now in full swing.

C draws Black Sun's Zenith. He casts Sorin Markov and kills a spirit token. (Enemy 20, Caley 4). In response, E brings in another spirit token by exiling Doomed Traveler with Moorland Haunt.

I cut Back from the Brink from an early build of my deck, but it is clearly still with me in spirit.

T11

E draws and concedes.

Caley- clearly winning from 2 life to his opponent's 20 since 1994.

Sideboarding

Caley inserts 3x Go for the Throat and 3x Deathmark, and removes 3x Reassembling Skeleton, 2x Rune-Scarred Demon, and 1x Evil Twin.

Increase murder levels by 300%, deck.

Game 2

E plays first and keeps the opener.

C keeps the opening hand of 2x Swamp, Darkslick Shores, Doom Blade, Think Twice, Sorin Markov, Volition Reins.

T1

E plays Plains and passes.

C draws Darkslick Shores, plays it, and passes.

T2

E plays Moorland Haunt for Honor of the Pure and passes.

C draws Swamp and plays Darkslick Shores, then passes.

T3

E plays Plains and casts Sword of Body and Mind, then passes. C casts Think Twice drawing Island.

Well. Now I really want those kill spells.

C draws Black Sun's Zenith. He plays Island and passes.

T4

E casts Champion of the Parish and plays Plains. He equips Sword of Body and Mind to it, but it gets hit with Doom Blade in response.

C draws Think Twice and plays Swamp, then passes.

T5

E casts Doomed Traveler and equips the sword to it, then passes. End step, Caley flashes back Think Twice drawing Army of the Damned.

C draws Go for the Throat. He casts it targeting Doomed Traveler. He passes.

Inexcusable play. I have no idea what I was thinking. I recall that I figured on casting Black Sun's Zenith and hitting the spirit token with it, but there is NO reason to do so on my turn, except perhaps that he's tapped out now. Still, that is no significant issue. This absolutely should have been done on his turn.

T6

E casts Hero of Bladehold then attacks with spirit token. (Enemy 20, Caley 18). He passes after playing Seachrome Coast. End step, Caley casts Think Twice drawing Dissipate.

Late to the party as always. At least I got away with my misplay since he didn't hook up the sword anyway.

C draws Swamp and plays it.

Tough call here. I am one mana away from being able to Black Sun his board, but I really don't want to leave myself open next turn, so I decide to steal his hero, even though it might turn out to be a less efficient play later.

C casts Volition Reins targeting Hero of Bladehold. C passes.

T7

E equips the sword on the spirit token and swings, hitting. (Enemy 20, Caley 14). E gets a 2/2 wolf and C mills 2x Island, 3x Evil Twin, Skinrender, Dissipate, Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, Think Twice, and Darkslick Shores. E passes.

C draws Island and plays it. He attacks with Hero of Bladehold. It hits, along with its soldiers. (Caley 14, Enemy 13). C casts Black Sun's Zenith for 4, wiping the entire board. C passes.

He only has 3 cards in hand. With any luck, I'll be able to turn the tide now.

T8

E casts Hero of Bladehold and passes.

Kill spell, kill spell, kill spell. C'mon, I have like 10 and I've drawn one.

C draws Skinrender.

NOT what I needed.

C casts Skinrender targeting Hero of Bladehold.

This is probably not the best play. Think Twice flashback to gamble on getting a kill spell was probably a better idea. I really need another Black Sun's Zenith now.

C passes.

T9

E attacks with Hero of Bladehold, which is chop-blocked by Skinrender. The tokens hit. (Enemy 13, Caley 8). E casts Mirran Crusader. E passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice

Black Sun Black Sun Black Sun.

Think Twice draws Darkslick Shores.

Try #2!

C draws Volition Reins and concedes.

Alas, the sword gives pro-blue.

Sideboarding

No changes.

I ain't 'fraid of no Honor of the Pure.

Game 3

Caley plays first. He keeps a hand of Swamp, Island, 2x Dissipate, Deathmark, Doom Blade, and Volition Reins.

Risky, but a great starting hand if I get enough land.

E keeps the opener.

T1

C plays Island and passes.

E plays Plains for Doomed Traveler and passes.

T2

C draws Swamp, plays it, and passes.

Not quite what I needed, but better than no land.

E plays Plains and casts Honor of the Pure, then attacks with Doomed Traveler. (Enemy 20, Caley 18).

T3

C draws Think Twice and plays Swamp, then passes.

E plays a Plains and casts Doomed Traveler, then passes after attacking with the old Traveler. (Enemy 20, Caley 16) End step, Caley casts Think Twice drawing Skinrender.

Not what I want to see from him, but Skinrender is nice if I get a land.

T4

C draws Volition Reins.

DAMN it. This is slowing me down way too much.

C passes.

E attacks with both Travelers. (Enemy 20, Caley 12). E plays a Seachrome Coast and passes. End step, Caley flashes back Think Twice drawing Island.

T5

C draws Skinrender, plays Island, and casts Skinrender destroying a Traveler and generating a token. C passes.

E plays Moorland Haunt. He casts Geist of Saint Traft, then attacks with a spirit token. (Enemy 20, Caley 10). He passes.

I really wish I had that turn back where I didn't draw a land.

T6

C draws Think Twice.

Augh.

C casts Skinrender targeting the spirit token, which dies. C passes.

E plays Oblivion Ring and throws a Skinrender under it. He attacks with both the Traveler and St. Traft. C blocks Geist of Saint Traft with Skinrender, but the Traveler and the temporary angel both hit. (Enemy 20, Caley 3). E passes.

T7

C draws Island, plays it, and passes.

E attacks with Doomed Traveler. C kills it with Doom Blade, bringing in the token. E casts Mirran Crusader and plays a Plains. E passes. C casts Think Twice in the end step.....

Black sun black sun black sun

....drawing Skinrender.

Damn! Take two!

C draws Doom Blade and concedes. Enemy wins the match 2-1.

There is no answer for Mirran Crusader.

Thoughts

1 - U/W Humans is a strong deck. I feel like I had its number in game 2, but then just got worse draws than his and couldn't catch up. Game 3, my deck got swamped after I missed a critical land draw that was needed to stop the bleeding and set up a counterspell wall.

2- I'm modifying the deck to include more wrath. I've needed it so very many times in this and other matches that 2x of ANY wrath just seems like a bad idea, even if it is Black Sun. I've also noticed that Rune-Scarred Demon ALWAYS gets sideboarded out. I am replacing my two copies of it with Life's Finale and we'll see how that works.

3- General rule that I broke, that I should know better about- do not cast tricky instants on YOUR turn. Wait for your opponent's turn! Make them think you can counter stuff and give them less information!

4- I'm now a disappointing 2/2 against mainstream archetypes, though I have a good record against homebrews. I feel like Life's Finale will make a difference, especially against human decks such as this, Tempered Steel decks, and Solar Flare.