Daily Dose Ep. 21 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

8 January 2012

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Statistics!

First, let's review some statistics for the performance of The Doom That Came To Sarnath, which I find I enjoy playing much more than Creeping Chaos, though that deck is also quite fun.

Match Record: 59-32-0 (65% winning percentage)

vs. Solar Flare - 5-4 - Won 13 games (9 post-sideboard) lost 11.

vs. Burning Vengeance Delver - 3-0 - Won 6 games (3 post-sideboard) lost 2

vs. U/W Humans 3-1 - Won 7 games (4 post-sideboard) lost 4

vs. U/G Humans - 1-0 Won 2 games (1 post-sideboard), lost 1

vs. Tokens - 2-0 - Won 4 games (2 post-sideboard), lost 1

vs. Tezzeret - 1-0 Won 2 games (1 post-sideboard), lost 1.

vs. U/W Control/Blade - 0-1 Won 1 game (1 post-sideboard), lost 2.

vs. U/B Control - 2-2 Won 6 games (3 post-sideboard), lost 5.

vs. Bloodhall - 2-1 Won 4 games (2 post-sideboard), lost 4.

vs. Tempered Steel - 6-3 Won 14 games (12 post-sideboard), lost 11.

vs. 5CC - 1-0 Won 2 games (1 post-sideboard), lost 1.

vs. Wolf Run - 5-2 Won 11 games (6 post-sideboard), lost 6.

vs. Pod - 3-1 Won 6 games (5 post-sideboard), lost 2.

vs. RDW 3-3 Won 9 games (8 post-sideboard), lost 7

vs. Mono-Black Control - 1-2 Won 4 games (2 post-sideboard), lost 4.

vs. Heartless Summoning - 2-4 Won 8 games (8-post sideboard), lost 8.

vs. Poison decks - 4-1 Won 8 games (4 post-sideboard), lost 4.

vs. Splinterfright - 2-0 Won 4 games (2 post-sideboard), lost 0.

vs. Grixis Control - 1-1 Won 2 games (1 post-sideboard), lost 2.

vs. Non-Horrible Rogue Decks - 8-6 Won 20 games (14 after sideboard), lost 15.

vs. Noobish Rogue Decks - 4-0 Won 8 games (4 after sideboard), lost 1.

Hands from 7 mulliganed - 45

Hands from 6 mulliganed - 8

Hands from 5 mulliganed - 2

Hands from 4 mulliganed - 0

Encouraging stats, especially indicative that the sideboard is functioning well.

vs. Jetsam

KrazyCaley's deck - The Doom That Came To Sarnath This deck brought to you by Hastur - Hail to the King, baby.

Game 1

Caley wins the toss and plays first. He keeps an opening hand of Island, Forest, 2x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, Ambush Viper, Dissipate, and Volition Reins.

Enemy keeps their opener.

T1

Caley plays Island and passes.

E plays Island and passes.

Well played. You are a worthy adversary.

T2

C draws Acidic Slime, plays Forest, casts Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, and passes.

E plays Forest, casts Deranged Assistant, and passes.

Oh please let this be a Laboratory Maniac deck. I do so wish for some awesome Maniac deck archetype in standard. But that Forest probably means it's boring ol' Splinterfright.

T3

C draws Volition Reins. He attacks with Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. E blocks with Deranged Assistant and both creatures die. C casts another Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip and passes.

I am willing to make this otherwise short-end-of-the-stick trade to slow him down a bit, especially because I have another Mayor. I am currently mana screwed and must buy time; killing off his ramp is the best way to do that right now.

E casts another Deranged Assistant and passes.

Without a substitute, I will now, of course, not be trading my Mayor for this guy.

T4

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

In E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip flips to Howlpack Alpha. E casts Dream Twist on himself, milling Swamp, Hinterland Harbor, and another Dream Twist. E casts Postmortem Lunge for 2 targeting Deranged Assistant, which returns. (He uses Phyrexian mana and Deranged Assistant to do this, milling Hinterland Harbor in the process). (Caley 20, Enemy 18). He taps the new, temporary Deranged Assistant, milling Splinterfright. E passes, and the temporary Assistant is exiled. End step, C flashes in Ambush Viper.

Not the most impressive play by itself, but good in that it will transform Howlpack Alpha.

T5

In C's upkeep Howlpack Alpha reverts to Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. C draws Rampant Growth. He attacks with the Mayor and Ambush Viper; both hit. (Caley 20, Enemy 15). C passes.

There are many reasons not to use Rampant Growth this turn. Most importantly, I leave open mana for a counterspell against the one-trick pony that is a Splinterfright deck. Second, not casting the ramp will re-transform the Mayor, hopefully.

In E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip is back to being Howlpack Alpha. E casts Armored Skaab using Deranged Assistant, which mills Island. C Dissipates Armored Skaab.

I chose to use my counterspell against the Skaab rather than saving it for later because I sense that my opponent has no real defense against my current board other than the Skaab. I have an excellent chance to win the game just by controlling him for a little while and beating him to death with what I already have. Both players are mana screwed, and I have a good chance of getting to Acidic Slime in a couple turns to slow him down further, so this play made the most sense to me.

E concedes.

Bit of a ragequit. Game's not over yet, bud!

Sideboarding

Caley sideboards in 3x Nihil Spellbomb and removes 2x Viral Drake and 1x Birds of Paradise.

Nihil Spellbomb is one of the many ways to stop a Splinterfright deck. Also good choices are: any counterspell or any removal. Man, how is this a deck archetype?

Game 2

Enemy plays first and keeps the opener.

Caley keeps an opening hand of 2x Hinterland Harbor, Forest, Birds of Paradise, and 3x Rampant Growth.

Whoa.

T1

E plays Hinterland Harbor tapped and passes.

Not a good sign for him.

C draws Garruk, Primal Hunter, plays Forest, casts Birds of Paradise, and passes.

I love playing ramp-heavy decks. Turn 1, end with 2 mana. Turn 2, end with 4 mana. Turn 5, cast Garruk before your opponent can do ANYTHING.

T2

E plays Drowned Catacomb tapped and passes.

C draws Ghost Quarter, plays Hinterland Harbor, casts Rampant Growth for an Island, then passes.

T3

E plays Drowned Catacomb tapped.

Too much non-basic, man!

E casts Deranged Assistant and passes.

C draws Nihil Spellbomb, plays Hinterland Harbor, and casts Garruk, Primal Hunter. Garruk makes a beast. C passes.

T4

E plays Drowned Catacomb tapped. He casts Mulch, revealing no land cards, and milling Splinterfright, Fume Spitter, Dream Twist, and Postmortem Lunge. He passes.

C draws Forest and plays it. He uses Garruk's -3 ability to draw Birds of Paradise, Nihil Spellbomb, and Acidic Slime. He casts Acidic Slime destroying Hinterland Harbor, then casts Nihil Spellbomb. E does not concede, but rather disconnects in shame.

Nihil Spellbomb is a pretty convincing deathblow to a Splinterfright deck that has no answer for it.

Thoughts

1 - Friends don't let friends play Splinterfright standard. This deck would be ok if Splinterfright had hexproof, but it doesn't. This deck would be fun if it somehow worked in Laboratory Maniac as a secondary win condition and had ways to protect both creatures, but no one seems to think that's viable. I appreciate that sometimes you're swinging with a 20/20 trampler, but there are so many ways it can go very wrong. Hang on to this deck idea, Splinterfright fans, until you get some better cards, or can think of some better tech to make the deck work.

2 - Friends also don't let friends ragequit. The second concession (such as it was) was perhaps justified, but the first was WAY too early. Total counterspell barbe-QQ.