Daily Dose of Standard - Ep. 7

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

8 December 2011

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bman5604 vs. anaesthetic

Today I thought I'd bring you a Standard match from someone BESIDES boring old me. bman5604 is on the case. He is running a mono-green variant of Wolf Run Ramp called Wolf Run Green, using Birds of Paradise etc. to get his red Kessig Wolf Run mana. Comments from bman5604 will be in bold . Comments from KrazyCaley will be in italics. Notation of what actually happened in the game will be in plain type.

Game 1

Bman (B) wins the toss and plays first.

B mulligans a hand of: Mountain, Solemn Simulacrum, 2x Garruk, Primal Hunter, 2x Birds of Paradise, 2x Rampant Growth.

Way bad hand to start with on a wolf run green.

Change that Mountain to a Forest and you've got a good gambler's hand, but this is an easy throwaway.

Enemy keeps the opening hand.

B keeps a hand of Forest, Mountain, Inkmoth Nexus, Rampant Growth, Green Sun's Zenith and Beast Within.

Better, but not by much.

T1

B plays Inkmoth Nexus and passes.

Why I did that is throw off my opponent to what I am playing. His first thought might be infect deck or at least that is what mine would be. Now if I actually had a turn one play obviously inkmoth nexus wouldn’t have been my first play.

I am unsure if this is fooling anyone, but different players have different ideas of what is common. Wolf Run is now, I would wager, a bigger deck archetype than normal infect, and when I see Inkmoth Nexus, Wolf Run is the first thing that comes to MY mind anyway. I would play Mountain first for maximum fake-out.

E plays Island and passes.

T2

B draws Birds of Paradise, plays Forest, and casts Birds of Paradise. E then casts Dismember on it paying 4 life. (Bman 20, Enemy 16). B passes.

My thought is that he is running illusions off of that play, or possibly u/w humans, let's see

E plays a Plains and casts Honor of the Pure, then passes.

I was completely right. He is playing u/w humans most likely with geist. I am in trouble now since humans is my worst matchup. And Mirran Crusader is the best card that white has to offer against wolf run green decks.

I don't think it's as bad as all that for Wolf Run. Other than Ghost Quarter, most human decks have few answers for Inkmoth Nexus, and if you can power through to 10 poison before they kill you (which yes, they will eventually), bingo. You're more or less racing them.

T3

B draws Green Sun's Zenith, plays a Mountain, and passes.

Why didn't I Green Sun's Zenith or Rampant Growth or blow up his Honor of the Pure with Beast Within? Simple, I want to take out his land. Him casting a turn three threat either Geist of Saint Traft or Mirran Crusader is good game from me and on to game 2. My best bet is to pass the turn and at the beginning of his, blow up a land with Beast Within, bringing him back down to one and giving his beast summoning sickness. I am hoping that I draw into something that will give me a some board advantage.

Board advantage is a game that this deck will never win against U/W humans, and trying to control the U/W player this way with this deck is playing much too reactively. I am unsure about reserving the Beast Within for a land- it may save a turn of beating with Mirran Crusader or what have you, but you ARE giving him a 3/3 beast in compensation, so you're not saving that much damage, and thus you're not gaining much time in what needs to be a speedy ramp deck. Even if Rampant Growth is unfavorable, another option deserved consideration- activate Inkmoth Nexus and swing with it. Could he have another Dismember? Possibly. But trying to stay ahead of him on the board isn't going to work. I would try to race to the finish in the situation, either by swinging with Inkmoth, or casting Rampant Growth.

On E's turn, during the upkeep, B casts Beast Within targeting E's Plains, destroying it and making a beast. E plays Glacial Fortress and passes.

T4

B draws Buried Ruin. He plays it and casts Green Sun's Zenith for one, but it runs into Mana Leak. B activates Inkmoth Nexus and swings for 1. (Bman 20, Enemy 16 1p)

I had another Green Sun's Zenith in hand.

E plays Moorland Haunt and plays Geist of Saint Traft. He attacks with the beast token and passes. (Bman 17, Enemy 16 1p)

Probably doomed no matter what now.

T5

B draws Acidic Slime. B casts Rampant Growth fetching Forest. B activates Inkmoth Nexus and attacks with it. (Bman 17, Enemy 16 2p). B passes.

Only have 4 mana.

This is a consequence of the decision to reserve Beast Within for land destruction on turn 3 rather than ramp then. Otherwise Acidic Slime would be available to destroy Moorland Haunt and block Geist of Saint Traft for a kill. It's looking pretty grim either way though, and Rampant Growth earlier probably would not change the outcome.

E plays Glacial Fortress and casts Mirran Crusader. He attacks with all available creatures, and B concedes.

I have no way to stop Mirran Crusader and friends next turn.

It was probably worth at least drawing another card, but things ARE looking beyond repair at this point.

Sideboarding

B removes 2x Batterskull, 2x Garruk, Primal Hunter, 2x Llanowar Elves, 1x Wurmcoil Engine, 1x Solemn Simulacrum. B inserts 2x Thrun, the Last Troll, 2x Blasphemous Acts, 2x Arc Trail, and 2x Naturalize.

I presume Naturalize is there to stop Honor of the Pure, but I wonder if more defenders or removal wouldn't be a better idea.

Game 2

B plays first. He mulligans a hand, but then keeps 2x Forest, Mountain, Solemn Simulacrum, Green Sun's Zenith, and Beast Within after E keeps the opener.

Not sure what the opener was for bman.

T1

B plays Forest and passes.

E plays Plains for Doomed Traveler and passes.

Underrated.

Not by me! Great creature.

T2

B draws Inkmoth Nexus and plays it. He casts Green Sun's Zenith for 1 and plays it, fetching Birds of Paradise. B passes.

E casts Doomed Traveler and attacks with the old Traveler. (Enemy 20, Bman 19). E passes.

No land drop, which is good for me, bad for him.

T3

B draws Kessig Wolf Run and plays it. He casts Solemn Simulacrum and gets a Forest with it. He passes.

E plays Plains and casts Leonin Arbiter. He attacks with both Doomed Travelers, which go unblocked. (Enemy 20, Bman 17). E passes.

Leonin Arbiter is the best sideboard card white has to offer against wolf run green besides Mirran Crusader. I am not too worried yet about the Doomed Travelers so I let them go.

Many U/W human decks actually mainboard Leonin Arbiter AND Mirran Crusader.

T4

B draws a Forest and plays it. He activates Inkmoth Nexus, then attacks with it and Solemn Simulacrum, and both hit. (Enemy 18 1p, Bman 17). B passes.

I knew he would not block with Leonin Arbiter considering he wants him out there for his ability. So at the beginning of his turn I will blow him up with Beast Within.

I would have played this situation a bit differently. It is true that Leonin Arbiter is annoying as hell for this deck, but he's currently not a big deal because there are no ramping effects available. Furthermore, holding off with Solemn Simulacrum and using him as a potential blocker for the Arbiter is, I think, better, and here's why: As played, this situation will result in the enemy having a 3/3 beast and 2 Doomed Travelers. We will be able to draw a card in a few turns when our Simulacrum dies to the beast, but after that, we'll be taking 5 damage a turn, all else equal. If we leave the Simulacrum on the board, the enemy will definitely NOT attack with Arbiter unless he is very foolish. We will thus only be taking two per turn, and at one point we will be able to take one per turn by blocking a Traveler with our Simulacrum, again, assuming nothing else happens.

Now of course, many things could happen. Our opponent might Dismember our Nexus. He might cast some other creature. So on, so forth. However, we currently have board advantage. This means that we should NOT use our answers on stuff, I think, until our opponent shows us we need to.

During E's upkeep, B casts Beast Within destroying Leonin Arbiter and making a 3/3 beast. E attacks with the Doomed Travelers and passes. (Enemy 18 1p, Bman 15).

T5

B draws Thrun, the Last Troll.

I decide to wait to cast him since I have a Mountain in hand and all the tools to get a really beefed up inkmoth flying in in for some serious infect damage. I decide to go aggressive on this turn.”

Could not agree more. THIS is how you wreck some face with this deck. Inkmoth them to death before they even know what happened. This is a good solid play that required a lot of discipline to make, since it must have been tempting to cast Thrun as an unstoppable defender.

B plays Mountain. He activates Inkmoth Nexus and pumps it for three. He attacks with it and with Solemn Simulacrum. Simulacrum is blocked with a beast token and dies, drawing Birds of Paradise. Inkmoth Nexus goes unblocked. (Enemy 18 5p, Bman 15). B passes.

I don't think attacking with Simulacrum was necessary, though. The opponent would have attacked us with the beast token on his turn anyway and we'd STILL get to draw our card. We gain nothing by drawing it on our turn since we can't cast it, and we accelerate the damage dealt to us by 1 turn- we now lose in 3 turns! Fortunately we win in two, but this is a dangerous situation.

E draws and concedes.

This is very premature. We know he has Dismember. Drawing it stops the threat instantly, and he's not dead for another turn! Might as well roll the dice, since a dead Inkmoth Nexus swings the tide dramatically in his favor.

Sideboarding

No changes.

Game 3

E plays first and keeps the opener.

B keeps a hand of 2x Forest, Rampant Growth, Primeval Titan, Birds of Paradise, Arc Trail, Solemn Simulacrum.

T1

E plays Plains and passes.

B draws Kessig Wolf Run, plays a Forest, casts Birds of Paradise, and passes.

T2

E plays a Plains and passes.

I know on his next turn will most likely be Geist of Saint Traft or Mirran Crusader. Unless he just so happens to miss another land drop like he did last turn.

B draws Naturalize, plays Forest, and casts Rampant Growth fetching a mountain. B passes.

T3

E plays a Plains and casts Fiend Hunter exiling Birds of Paradise, then passes.

Very interesting choice of play there I know it’s a good one but I personally would hold him for the big stuff. One thing you have to keep in mind when you run a human deck is you are always the aggressor. The moment you go into survival mode and make play to keep people at bay you will be beat.

Good points all from bman. Most likely the human player is frustrated by not drawing anything he really needs and decides to slow him down by exiling Birds. He will almost certainly regret this if Primeval Titan arrives.

B draws Forest, plays Kessig Wolf Run, and casts Solemn Simulacrum finding a Mountain, then passes.

T4

E plays Moorland Haunt, casts Hero of Bladehold, and passes.

This makes Fiend Hunter on Birds even more puzzling, unless he just drew the Hero. The Fiend Hunter should have been saved for the likely large Titan that is en route so that it can't block the Hero.

B draws Green Sun's Zenith. He plays Primeval Titan, retrieving Inkmoth Nexus and Forest. B passes.

T5

E plays a Plains and casts Mirran Crusader and Honor of the Pure, then passes.

If Fiend Hunter had been reserved for Primeval Titan, E could be swinging for 10 this turn and next. This would have killed B, all else equal, faster than Inkmoth Nexus could kill E, even with a Naturalize on Honor of the Pure.

B draws Dungrove Elder. He Naturalizes Honor of the Pure and Arc Trails Mirran Crusader, dealing 1 damage to E. (Bman 20, Enemy 19). B attacks with Primeval Titan, fetching two forests. Titan hits. (Bman 20, Enemy 13). B casts Dungrove Elder at 6/6 and passes.

T6

E plays Seachrome Coast and casts Oblivion Ring targeting Primeval Titan, then passes.

Too late! Now Inkmoth Nexus will kill you, and the Titan found enough land to make Dungrove Elder an effective blocker. Only Dismember saves now.

B draws Inkmoth Nexus and plays it. He activates the old Nexus and pumps it for 6, then attacks with it, hitting. (Bman 20, Enemy 13 7p).

T7

E does nothing and passes.

My thought is that he has a Dismember in hand or wants to activate Moorland Haunt to make a spirit token to block.

Moorland Haunt does not help anything at this point.

B draws a Forest and plays it. He activates Inkmoth Nexus and E concedes. Bman wins the match 2-1.

A worthy bluff. But where was this die hard attitude during Game 2, when it might have actually saved him if he had been lucky?

Thoughts:

bman: I was really nervous with these games human decks more importantly Mirran Crusader is the best card against wolf run green. With the lack of lands on game 2 I knew I could push it to game three. And with wolf run having multiple win conditions I was able to seal the deal in a well played game on both sides.

KrazyCaley: The match was well-played on both sides, but play errors did lurk in a few critical places. Most egregious was the opponent's use of Fiend Hunter on Birds of Paradise in Game 3. If that Fiend Hunter had been saved for the almost-certain Primeval Titan to follow, the opponent would have likely been able to overwhelm Bman with Hero of Bladehold in short order, though it would have been a close thing with giant Inkmoth Nexus swings from the other side. Even when playing a midrange deck, patience is very important! It doesn't pay to try to stall Wolf Run decks from ramping- they are GOING to ramp. The questions as U/W humans are: can you kill the Nexus? And if not, can you do 20 damage before you take 10 poison? Losing the thread of these basics and letting emotion take over your game leads to plays like Fiend Hunter on Birds of Paradise. Maintain focus!

Thanks to bman for sharing this game with us!

Your turn!

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