Daily Dose Ep. 18 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

21 December 2011

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KrazyCaley vs. "FrostNova" of MTGO

Caley's deck - The Doom That Came To Sarnath. This deck brought to you by Cyaegha- "Every move you make, every step you take, Cyaegha will be watching you."

Game 1

Caley wins the toss and plays first. He keeps an opening hand of Hinterland Harbor, Birds of Paradise, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, Ambush Viper, Volition Reins, Dissipate, and Cudgel Troll.

Questionable keep, but this is a GREAT starting hand to put on early pressure against a control deck. Much of the meta IS currently control. Against RDW though, I might be toast.

E keeps their opener.

T1

C plays Hinterland Harbor and passes.

E plays Island and passes.

Good.

T2

C draws Acidic Slime, casts Birds of Paradise, and passes.

E plays Glacial Fortress and passes.

T3

C draws Acidic Slime, casts Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, and passes. End step, E casts Think Twice

I was expecting to draw a Mana Leak out with this, but I'm fine with it resolving too.

E plays Seachrome Coast and casts Oblivion Ring exiling the Mayor.

That's even better, really. I'm so happy with the Mayor in this deck. He is solely there to draw out all the hate. I just send him into the other deck's stadium wearing my deck's colors, and tell him to get drunk and be really abusive towards all the hometown fans.

T4

C draws Forest and plays it. He passes.

E plays Moorland Haunt and passes. End step, C flashes in Ambush Viper. E Mana Leaks it.

My opponent is burning through his answers pretty quickly at this rate. Fortunately I'm slow on land this game, but if I can survive a while, I'll have him at a relative disadvantage.

T5

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

Arguable. Day of Judgment is probably coming, and perhaps I should save this for until I have one more land. Still, I felt like I needed to keep up the pressure and hopefully run this card into another Mana Leak, which unfortunately did not come.

E plays Ghost Quarter and casts Day of Judgment, then passes.

T6

C draws Forest, plays it, and passes.

E plays Seachrome Coast and casts Neurok Commando. C Dissipates it. E passes.

Can't have him drawing cards. I'd rather see Sun Titan.

T7

C draws Cudgel Troll and casts it. C passes.

E casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Day of Judgment. He casts Day of Judgment, plays Island, and passes.

I was shocked at this play. The whole point of Day of Judgment is card efficiency. This play nets you one card for one card, PLUS it wipes your ability to use this Day of Judgment from the graveyard later. Very questionable.

T8

C draws Forest and plays it. He casts Acidic Slime destroying Moorland Haunt.

I could hit the Oblivion Ring, but I have an Acidic Slime in reserve, I don't want to have to deal with Moorland Haunt, and perhaps I can get him to burn yet another answer on this first.

E casts Neurok Commando, plays Island, and passes.

T9

C draws Stoic Rebuttal and casts Acidic Slime, which runs into Mana Leak. C passes. End step, E breaks his Ghost Quarter to destroy C's Hinterland Harbor. C gets an Island for it.

E plays Island and passes.

T10

C draws Birds of Paradise, casts it, and passes. End step, E flashes back Think Twice.

E casts Ponder without a shuffle. Then he casts Phantasmal Image. C Stoic Rebuttals it. E passes.

Don't want to lose a critical land. Also, I wish I had Dissipate for this instead of Stoic Rebuttal.

T11

C draws Island and plays it. He passes.

E casts Neurok Commando and attacks with the old commando. C trades Acidic Slime for it. E passes.

Now he has board position. I need an answer; one that won't involve Volition Reins.

T12

C draws Rampant Growth and casts it for an Island. He passes.

Rats.

E attacks with Neurok Commando. C chop blocks with Birds of Paradise. E casts Geist of Saint Traft.

This situation is not improving.

T13

C draws Chancellor of the Tangle, casts it, and passes.

E casts Sun Titan retrieving Phantasmal Image, copying Sun Titan, retrieving Snapcaster Mage, giving Ponder flashback. Then he casts Ponder, shuffling. He plays a Seachrome Coast. E passes after playing another Moorland Haunt.

My Volition Reins patience has paid off and I should be able to survive this situation.

T14

C draws Moldgraf Monstrosity. He casts Volition Reins stealing the original Sun Titan, then passes.

E does nothing and passes.

Chancellor of the Tangle being a 6/7 is really important right now.

T15

C draws Ghost Quarter and plays it. He attacks with Sun Titan retrieving Ambush Viper. E trades his Sun Titan for C's. C passes.

E plays Plains, then attacks with Neurok Commando, Geist of Saint Traft, and Snapcaster Mage. C blocks the Neurok Commando with Chancellor of the Tangle and Geist of Saint Traft with Ambush Viper. Snapcaster and St. Traft's angel hit. (Enemy 20, Caley 14). E casts Day of Judgment and passes.

Again, not the best use of Day of Judgment. I suspect he expects to win with Moorland Haunt?

T16

C draws Viral Drake. He casts Moldgraf Monstrosity and passes.

E casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Day of Judgment, then casts Day of Judgment. Moldgraf Monstrosity retrieves Chancellor of the Tangle and Cudgel Troll.

Ok, that's just poor play, right? This did absolutely nothing for him. Perhaps he was gambling on better retrieved creatures from the Moldgraf.

T17

C draws and plays Island. He uses Ghost Quarter to blow up Moorland Haunt. In response, E uses the Haunt exiling a Commando to get a spirit token. C attacks with Troll and Chancellor. Chancellor is blocked by a spirit token. (Enemy 16, Caley 14). C casts Viral Drake and passes.

This is probably a misplay. My thinking at the time is that most of the Day of Judgments have to be gone, but I forgot that 2 of the 4 cast were via flashback.

E casts Sun Titan returning Phantasmal Image returning Geist of Saint Traft. He passes.

My board position is such that this is not really a problem for me. All he has to flashback with the Sun Titans are Snapcaster Mages and a Neurok Commando, and there's nothing threatening for Snapcaster Mage.

T18

C draws Hinterland Harbor, does nothing, and passes.

E plays a Plains then attacks with everything. He returns a Neurok Commando and chooses not to return anything else. C blocks the real Sun Titan with Chancellor of the Tangle, the fake Sun Titan with Cudgel Troll, and Geist of Saint Traft with Viral Drake. The angel token hits. (Enemy 16, Caley 10). The original Sun Titan dies. C regenerates Cudgel Troll. E passes. End step, C proliferates with Viral Drake, finishing off Geist of Saint Traft.

This was not a good attack. He loses a Sun Titan and a Geist of Saint Traft, and in return deals 4 damage and gets a Neurok Commando.

T19

C draws and plays Hinterland Harbor. C casts Volition Reins targeting the fake Sun Titan, killing it (because it is really a Phantasmal Image ). C attacks with Chancellor of the Tangle and Cudgel Troll, hitting. (Caley 10, Enemy 6). C passes.

E casts Phantasmal Bear and passes.

Random creature for this deck.

T20

C draws Dissipate and attacks with everything. E blocks Chancellor with Neurok Commando and Cudgel Troll with Phantasmal Bear. Drake hits. (Caley 10, Enemy 6 1p). C passes.

E draws and concedes.

Lethal swing next turn.

Sideboarding

Caley removes 1x Birds of Paradise, 1x Ambush Viper, 2x Viral Drake, 1x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip for 3x Autumn's Veil and 2x Nihil Spellbomb.

Not so sure about this now. Probably more spellbomb would have been better.

Game 2

C keeps an opening hand of Island, Forest, Birds of Paradise, 2x Rampant Growth, Acidic Slime, and Stoic Rebuttal.

Raaaaaaamp.

T1

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Hinterland Harbor, plays Forest for Birds of Paradise, and passes.

T2

E plays Island and passes.

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

T3

E casts plays Seachrome Coast for Neurok Commando and passes.

C draws Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. He plays Forest and casts Acidic Slime blowing up Seachrome Coast.

Wheeee! This puts me even further ahead in development than my opponent.

T4

E plays Seachrome Coast and attacks with Neurok Commando. C trades Acidic Slime for it. E casts Geist of Saint Traft.

Very smooth play by my opponent. I didn't expect the Geist because he led with Commando.

C draws Birds of Paradise. He plays Island, casts Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip and Birds of Paradise, then passes.

A transformed Mayor is my only current shot at stopping the Geist.

T5

E plays [[Glacial Fortress], then attacks with Geist, hitting with it and its angel. (Enemy 20, Caley 14). E passes.

During C's upkeep, Mayor transforms to Howlpack Alpha. C draws Forest and plays it, then casts Rampant Growth for an Island. C passes and gets a wolf end step.

Not attacking was out of Rebuke paranoia. Probably a little TOO paranoid, but it makes sense, just in case.

T6

E attacks with Geist of Saint Traft.

Oh boy, here comes a Day of Judgment.

C blocks with Howlpack Alpha. Geist dies. Angel hits. (Enemy 20, Caley 10). E plays Glacial Fortress and casts Day of Judgment. C casts Stoic Rebuttal to stop it.

This is a weird play to buy myself yet more time. Now he will have to spend another turn or three to finally deal with my creatures and bring out a threat. That time is worth a counterspell to me right now, plus I could be lucky and have my Howlpack Alpha go unchecked if his draws are bad.

C draws Nihil Spellbomb and plays it. He attacks with the Alpha and a Wolf token. (Enemy 14, Caley 10). C passes.

T7

E casts Day of Judgment. In response, C activates Nihil Spellbomb, paying a black mana with Birds of Paradise to draw a card: Dissipate. E passes.

One could argue that I should have waited to do this until I could net more cards with it, but I really wanted to draw a card.

C draws Ghost Quarter and plays it, then passes.

T8

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Volition Reins, does nothing, and passes.

T9

E plays Island, does nothing, and passes.

C draws Island, plays it, does nothing, and passes.

T10

E casts Phantasmal Bear and passes.

Nice little threat for him now.

C draws Chancellor of the Tangle, does nothing, and passes.

I am not about to run this into a Mana Leak AND get tapped out with a Dissipate in hand. Patience.

T11

E casts Phantasmal Image. C Dissipates it. E attacks with Phantasmal Bear and passes. (Enemy 14, Caley 8).

Excellent target for the Dissipate. I would actually rather use it against this than Sun Titan because Sun Titan is better to steal, and this way I keep the Image from BEING Sun Titaned.

C draws Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. He casts it. E Dissipates it.

Bait successful. He only has one mana open. Green light. Take the shot. Green light.

C casts Chancellor of the Tangle (floating an Island mana and then Ghost Quartering it into a Forest) and passes.

T12

E plays an Island and casts Oblivion Ring on Chancellor of the Tangle.

Oof.

E attacks with Bear and hits. (Enemy 14, Caley 6). E passes.

Man, this guy won't even have the good manners to cast a Sun Titan for me to steal.

C draws Island, does nothing, and passes.

I am waiting until I have 2 life before I resort to using Volition Reins on a damn Phantasmal Bear to kill it.

T13

E attacks with Phantasmal Bear and passes. (Enemy 14, Caley 4). E passes.

C draws Ambush Viper, does nothing and passes.

T14

E attacks with Phantasmal Bear. During the declare attackers phase, C tries to flash down the Ambush Viper, but E casts Snapcaster Mage to flashback Dissipate on the Viper. Bear hits. (Enemy 14, Caley 2). E passes.

C draws Dissipate. He casts Volition Reins targeting Snapcaster Mage and passes.

Forced.

T15

E casts Ponder. Then he casts Oblivion Ring. C Dissipates it. E attacks with Phantasmal Bear and C blocks with Snapcaster Mage. Both die. E passes.

Never say die.

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

THAT'S what I'm talking about.

T16

E casts Sun Titan retrieving Phantasmal Bear.

I wonder why this and not Snapcaster Mage for Ponder. Maybe he wants to save it for something else, or figures he'll do it after his current Ponder runs out.

C draws Acidic Slime. He casts it, destroying Oblivion Ring and returning Chancellor of the Tangle to play. C uses Garruk to draw 6 cards. They are Hinterland Harbor, Birds of Paradise, Autumn's Veil, Acidic Slime, Island, and Moldgraf Monstrosity. C passes.

For some reason I thought it would be a bad idea to attack with the Chancellor and possibly lose it. Not sure why that would be a bad trade for me.

T17

E casts Day of Judgment and passes.

Fine by me. I'll just make a few more beast tokens. This guy's Game 2 has seen a lot more skill from him than in game 1, but his wrath sense is still pretty bad. He has plenty of life to work with still. He is just hitting the panic button way too early, over and over again in this match.

C draws Acidic Slime. He makes a beast with Garruk and casts Moldgraf Monstrosity. E tries to Dissipate it but C casts Autumn's Veil and it resolves.

Maybe he'll wrath it. That would be AWESOME.

T18

E casts Sun Titan returning Oblivion Ring to play, exiling Moldgraf Monstrosity. He passes.

C draws Forest. He uses Garruk to make a beast token (Garruk is at 3). He casts Acidic Slime destroying Oblivion Ring and returning the Monstrosity.

Though he can recur Oblivion Ring next turn, this play is still good because I now have a very efficient kill block on Sun Titan that requires only my little 2/2 slime, and he will HAVE to make this bad trade, or else I'll have both a Moldgraf and a Garruk sitting there. Plus, I have yet another slime waiting to deal with the Ring when it comes back.

C passes.

T19

E casts Oblivion Ring targeting Moldgraf Monstrosity. He then attacks with Sun Titan, recurring Oblivion Ring and exiling Garruk, Primal Hunter. Acidic Slime blocks Sun Titan, and they both die. E casts Neurok Commando and passes.

Unexpected, but no problem at all.

C draws Volition Reins.

I LOVE playing this deck because I love basically all the draws I get.

C casts Acidic Slime destroying the O-Ring with Garruk under it, returning Garruk to play. Garruk makes a beast token. C attacks with 2 beast tokens, which hit. (Enemy 8, Caley 2). C passes.

Note that I am not playing a Forest in my hand because it is better used as a decoy counterspell.

T20

E casts Lord of the Unreal and passes.

This is a very strange U/W build, combining elements of several decks. Probably a budget build that omits Gideon Jura and Jace, Memory Adept in favor of more creatures. I like it.

C draws Forest. He uses Garruk's draw ability to draw 3 cards; Forest, Cudgel Troll, and Autumn's Veil. He plays a Forest and casts Cudgel Troll. He attacks with three beast tokens. Two get chop blocked by the Commando and the Lord, the other hits. (Enemy 5, Caley 2). C passes.

T21

E draws and concedes. Caley wins the match 2-0.

Thoughts

1 - What a battle! Two games of Magic both going 20 turns. Both of us were struggling for control of the board throughout both matches, and there was a lot of back and forth for us both. This was a pretty epic duel; there were counterspells, wraths, Planeswalkers, lots of creatures fighting in the red zone, spot removal, and big fatties beating the crap out of each other. This duel really had something for everyone.

2 - While I definitely tip my cap to my opponent for that amazing duel, his play was not the very best. His poor use of Day of Judgment may have cost him Game 1, and was generally very impatient with his removal. In my experience, this is a phase that most Magic players go through when they first try to handle a control deck after long experience playing more aggressive decks- they are way too eager to play with the control toys. It's possible my opponent is an experienced control player, but if so, I'll bet he's been playing another way more aggressive deck a lot recently. Control is a mindset that has to be developed.

3 - Remember that Wrath of God-style effects are only good because they are EFFICIENT. You should be aiming to trade a lot of cards for your wrath, and the higher quality the better. Pulling a Snapcaster Mage down to Day of Judgment away one moderately-threatening creature is more or less trading 2 cards for 1. Maximize efficiency. My opponent was at 20 life when he made most of these hasty plays; he had plenty of life to spare to see if he could get a better value for his wrath. When I win games playing control, a big reason I do is because I am quite willing to give away other resources in the game (like life) to make sure my cards count big.