Daily Dose of Standard - Ep. 13

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

15 December 2011

1345 views

vs. Sigmaa

Sorry about the lack of a DDS yesterday. I spent the time finalizing and acquiring the pretend internet cards for a NEW DECK.

NEW DECK ALERT

I have decided to put Crawling Chaos, brought to you by Hipster Nyarlathotep, on the back burner for a bit while I try a new standard idea; also Hipster Nyarlathotep has pulled his sponsorship temporarily in a move that he claims is "double-reverse ironic" in a way that I "can not - and must not - understand."

Meet The Doom That Came To Sarnath, brought to you by Bokrug - "The Mean Green Mnar Machine"

The Doom That Came To Sarnath

Modern* KrazyCaley

SCORE: 17 | 35 COMMENTS | 4142 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

This deck is another insane homebrew that I cooked up in the methMagic lab. It is a midrange/control hybrid. It uses its seven counterspells to stop most of the larger threats while ramping up reasonably quickly using Birds of Paradise and Rampant Growth. It uses Skinshifter, Viral Drake, Ambush Viper, and Cudgel Troll for early-to-mid game beats and defense, then steps it up to Acidic Slime, Moldgraf Monstrosity, Chancellor of the Tangle, and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Volition Reins is also available for general purpose tomfoolery. The sideboard mainly has it out for artifact decks, though Autumn's Veil and Nihil Spellbomb provide important protection against other common problems.

Let's see how it did in its first match!

Game 1

Enemy wins the toss and plays first. E keeps their opener.

Caley mulligans a hand of 2x Island, Ghost Quarter, 2x Acidic Slime, Ambush Viper, and Volition Reins.

This is where I contacted Bokrug for sponsorship. In return for.....well, let's not talk about what he gets in return, but he's GIVING me green lands. So that's good.

Caley keeps a hand of Forest, Island, Rampant Growth, Stoic Rebuttal, Dissipate, and Garruk, Primal Hunter.

This is a decent starting hand that will let me stall forever. Hopefully my opponent's deck is not fast aggro.

T1

E plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Looking good for "not fast aggro."

C draws Forest.

Ia, Bokrug!

C plays Island and passes.

T2

E plays Darkslick Shores and casts Spellskite, then passes.

I've never liked this creature. He's just too unreliable an answer.

C draws Hinterland Harbor, plays Forest, and casts Rampant Growth to find an Island, then passes.

T3

E plays a Mountain for Treasure Mage. He finds Steel Hellkite with it and passes.

Grixis Tezz?

C draws Birds of Paradise. He casts it, plays Hinterland Harbor, and passes.

T4

E attacks with Treasure Mage, which hits. (Enemy 20, Caley 18). E casts Phyrexian Metamorph using life (Enemy 18, Caley 18), but Caley casts Stoic Rebuttal on it. E passes.

Even though there's nothing great to copy, I countered this because I noticed he led off with Drowned Catacomb, a rare play unless you're low on land. He hadn't played a land yet this turn and I thought perhaps he was thinking of copying my Birds to fix the problem. Since I had a counterspell to spare, I tried to mana screw him. I read him correctly, as it turned out.

C draws Forest, plays it, and casts Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk makes a beast. C passes.

T5

E casts Phyrexian Metamorph using life. (Caley 18, Enemy 16) It copies Birds of Paradise. E passes.

As expected.

C draws Island and plays Ghost Quarter. He uses Garruk's -3 ability to draw 3 cards, which are Skinshifter, Forest, and Ambush Viper. He casts Skinshifter and passes.

T6

E casts Grand Architect. Caley Dissipates it. E casts Galvanic Blast, destroying Garruk. E passes. End step, C flashes down Ambush Viper.

That burn spell was unexpected. Re: architect- Unusual for Grixis Tezz to have this card, but it is a completely sensible modification. You can cast big fatties quickly and pump your artifacts. Plus we know he has Phyrexian Metamorph to copy it, so that can get quickly out of hand.

C draws Stoic Rebuttal and plays Forest. He attacks with Skinshifter and the beast token. The token gets blocked by Spellskite. C turns Skinshifter into a 4/4 rhino and it hits. (Caley 18, Enemy 12). C passes.

T7

E casts Solemn Simulacrum. C Stoic Rebuttals it. E passes.

No land for you!

C draws Cudgel Troll and plays Island. He uses Ghost Quarter on Drowned Catacomb, and E fetches an Island.

With a safe amount of land out for myself, I decide to thin out his land draws a bit.

C casts Cudgel Troll. He attacks with Skinshifter, Ambush Viper, and Beast token. Spellskite blocks beast, and Treasure Mage blocks Ambush Viper. Skinshifter is rhino'd and hits. Mage and Viper kill each other. (Caley 18, Enemy 8). C passes.

T8

E casts Treasure Mage, fetching Myr Battlesphere. E passes.

C draws Chancellor of the Tangle and casts it. He attacks with Skinshifter, Cudgel Troll, and beast token. Treasure Mage chop blocks the troll, Spellskite blocks the beast token, and Skinshifter hits as a 1/1. (Caley 20, Enemy 7). C passes.

Only had 1 mana to spare, decided to save it to keep regen open for Cudgel Troll.

T9

E draws and concedes.

Sometimes you have to help your opponent remain mana-screwed, kids.

Sideboarding

Caley inserts 3x Creeping Corrosion and removes 3x Ambush Viper.

Treasure Mage and Grand Architect means that a little artifact wrath will not go amiss.

Game 2

E plays first and keeps the opener.

C mulligans an opening hand of Island, 2x Skinshifter, Creeping Corrosion, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Dissipate, and Cudgel Troll.

Again, I had to sacrifice the blood of the innocent ask my corporate sponsor Bokrug to step in and deliver some mana.

C keeps an opening hand of Hinterland Harbor, Island, Ghost Quarter, Skinshifter, Viral Drake, and Volition Reins.

T1

E plays Darkslick Shores and passes.

C draws Moldgraf Monstrosity, plays Island, and passes.

T2

E plays Island and casts Sphere of the Suns, then passes.

C draws Volition Reins, plays Hinterland Harbor, and casts Skinshifter, then passes.

T3

E plays Island and casts Grand Architect. Then he casts Phyrexian Metamorph paying life (Caley 20, Enemy 18), copying Grand Architect. Then he casts Sphere of the Suns. Then he passes.

Good old Grand Architect spam! Just like mama used to make.

C draws Island and plays it. He passes.

Disturbingly slow performance so far with this pressure building up.

T4

E plays Sulfur Falls and casts another Phyrexian Metamorph using life to be another Grand Architect. (Caley 20, Enemy 16). He attacks with one Grand Architect. Caley blocks it with Skinshifter turned into a plant. Then E casts Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, using the +1 to find Sphere of the Suns.

C draws Creeping Corrosion. He casts Viral Drake and passes.

Boy would I like to have one green mana right about now.

T5

E uses Tezz's +1 to find another Sphere of the Suns. He casts two Sphere of the Suns then passes.

C draws Acidic Slime and concedes.

He will almost certainly hit me for lethal damage next turn with Tezz' ultimate plus attacks, and even if he doesn't, I am in no position to get anything going soon. Even if I draw out, he will kill me shortly. Perhaps a bit premature though; my survival chances are greater than zero, though not by much.

Sideboarding

No changes.

Game 3

C plays first and keeps an opener of 2x Hinterland Harbor, Forest, 2x Cudgel Troll, Garruk, Primal Hunter, and Moldgraf Monstrosity.

E keeps their opener.

T1

C plays Forest and passes.

E plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Ooh, land-screw again?

T2

C draws Garruk, Primal Hunter, plays Hinterland Harbor, and passes.

E plays Blackcleave Cliffs and passes.

T3

C draws Rampant Growth, plays Hinterland Harbor, and casts the Growth, getting an Island.

E plays Island and casts Grand Architect, then passes.

T4

C draws Creeping Corrosion. He plays Cudgel Troll and passes.

Cue Emperor Palpatine.

E plays swamp for Wurmcoil Engine and passes.

T5

C draws Forest and plays it, then casts Cudgel Troll. He passes.

Wait for it. Kill Wurmcoil first.

E plays Mountain, then casts Phyrexian Metamorph copying Wurmcoil Engine. He attacks with the old engine. Caley double blocks it with trolls and regenerates one troll. The other troll and the engine die. (Enemy 24, Caley 20). E casts Solemn Simulacrum fetching Island and passes.

T6

C draws Stoic Rebuttal, then casts Creeping Corrosion, leaving E with his Grand Architect and the 3/3 remainders of the Wurmcoil Engine. C passes.

E plays [[Blackcleave Cliffs] and casts Wurmcoil Engine and passes.

T7

C draws Forest and plays it. He casts Garruk, Primal Hunter and makes a beast. He passes.

E plays Island and attacks Garruk with everything that isn't Grand Architect. He double-blocks Wurmcoil Engine with Cudgel Troll and Beast token, regenerating Cudgel Troll. E pumps the lifelinking Wurmcoil 3/3 token. The beast token and the Wurmcoil Engine die. The Wurmcoil remnants hit Garruk, killing him. (Enemy 35, Caley 20).

T8

C draws Birds of Paradise. He casts it and Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk immediately uses his -3 and dies to draw C four cards, namely Acidic Slime, Birds of Paradise, Viral Drake, and Skinshifter. C passes.

E plays Darkslick Shores, then attacks with all the wurmcoil remnants. They all hit after they're all pumped by the Architect. (Enemy 43, Caley 4). E passes.

T9

C draws Forest and plays it. He casts Birds of Paradise and Acidic Slime destroying a deathtouching wurmcoil 3/3 remnant. C passes.

E plays Sulfur Falls , then attacks with the 3 remaining wurmcoil remnants. Caley blocks the last deathtoucher with [[Cudgel Troll], then blocks the 2 lifelinkers with Acidic Slime and Birds of Paradise. C regenerates the Troll. The deathtouching 3/3 dies, as do one of the lifelinking 3/3s, the slime and the birds. E pumps the lifelinkers with Architect. (Enemy 51, Caley 4).

Life- irrelevant until you reach 0. I have now scrapped much of his good stuff, which he got all up front, so he's paying for it with a period of inactivity I can use to rebuild the walls and bring out Mr. Moldgraf.

T10

C draws Volition Reins, casts Skinshifter, and passes.

E casts Wurmcoil Engine. C Stoic Rebuttals it. E passes.

No, I think that's enough for one day.

T11

C draws Forest and plays it. He casts Moldgraf Monstrosity. C attacks with Cudgel Troll, which hits. (Enemy 47, Caley 4).

E casts Solemn Simulacrum fetching Mountain. He plays Sulfur Falls and passes.

T12

C draws Hinterland Harbor and plays it. He attacks with Moldgraf Monstrosity, which is blocked by Solemn Simulacrum. (Enemy 41, Caley 4).

E plays Sulfur Falls and passes.

T13

C draws Dissipate. He attacks with Moldgraf Monstrosity and Viral Drake, which hit. (Enemy 33 1p, Caley 4). C passes.

E plays Darkslick Shores. He passes. End step, Caley proliferates. (Enemy 33 2p, Caley 4).

T14

C draws Hinterland Harbor and plays it. He attacks with Viral Drake and Moldgraf Monstrosity, which hit. (Enemy 25 3p, Caley 4). C passes.

E plays Island. He passes. End step, Caley proliferates. (Enemy 25 4p, Caley 4). C passes.

T15

C draws Ghost Quarter and plays it. He activates destroying one of his own Forests and finding an Island.

Good to thin out your own land draws this last in the game.

C attacks with Viral Drake and Moldgraf Monstrosity, which hit. (Enemy 17 5p, Caley 5). C passes.

E plays Island and concedes. Caley wins the match 2-1.

Thoughts

1 - I like this new deck. It has a wide range of answers and brings some of the nicest pain in green that currently exists. Moldgraf Monstrosity is fun when played correctly. It doesn't have shroud, but what are you going to do, kill it? It's even more fun with a bunch of nasty other creatures around. If he, a Chancellor of the Tangle, and something nasty like a Cudgel Troll are hanging out, your wrath will net you one creature.

2 - For those of you wonering why Tezzeret decks are so dangerous, see Game 2. I liked the idea of Grand Architect in Tezz Grixis. Without the great fun that is Creeping Corrosion, this deck would have overwhelmed me.

3 - Pay attention during the game and look for unusual plays that are appropriate to the game state. Game 1 was probably won because I took pains to ensure that my opponent remained mana-screwed; getting free time with my deck is VERY valuable, and I'm willing to make really otherwise crazy plays (like keeping a Clone from copying a Birds of Paradise) if that's what I need to do.