Daily Dose Ep. 24 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

3 March 2012

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There was a new one yesterday too. Go check it out if you didn't see it.

vs. Shpookum

Caley's deck - The Doom That Came To Sarnath

Game 1

Caley wins the toss and plays first.

Caley keeps an opening hand of 2x Forest, 2x Island, Ghost Quarter, Predator Ooze, and Acidic Slime.

Enemy keeps their opener.

T1

Caley plays Forest and passes.

Enemy plays Island for Ponder, chooses to shuffle, and passes.

T2

Caley plays Forest and passes.

Enemy plays Island, then Gitaxian Probe paying 2 life and passes. (Caley 20, Enemy 18)

T3

Caley draws Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. He plays Island and casts the Mayor, then passes.

I'm surprised that resolved. I cast it specifically to draw out a counterspell.

End step, enemy Vapor Snags the Mayor. (Caley 19, Enemy 18)

Oh. It's THAT deck.

Enemy plays Moorland Haunt and passes.

T4

Caley draws Stoic Rebuttal. He plays Island and casts Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, then passes.

Enemy casts Ponder choosing not to shuffle. Then he plays Evolving Wilds and passes.

T5

Caley draws Ambush Viper. He plays Ghost Quarter and attacks with the Mayor, hitting. (Caley 19, Enemy 17). He passes. End step, E cracks Evolving Wilds for a Plains.

In E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip transforms. E plays Island, then casts Gitaxian Probe paying 2 life. (Caley 19, Enemy 15).

I'll be the first person to tell you that life can very much be traded for other resources in Magic, but this seems extreme. He has five mana open, and he can't spare 1 to avoid shocking himself? Maybe his math is if I cast something, he wants to Mana Leak it while still having enough mana open to pay for a Mana Leak from me.

T6

Caley draws Hinterland Harbor. He plays Island. He passes. End step, he gets a Wolf token and E casts Vapor Snag on the Howlpack Alpha. (Caley 18, Enemy 15). E also casts Midnight Haunting end step.

Would have been better to do this BEFORE I got my free wolf. Also, I decided not to attack just in case he was packing some kind of attacker-killing effect.

Enemy attacks with both spirits, hitting. (Caley 16, Enemy 15). Enemy plays Moorland Haunt. He passes. End step, Caley flashes down Ambush Viper.

T7

Caley draws Garruk, Primal Hunter. He casts Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. In response, E casts Vapor Snag on the Wolf token. (Caley 15, Enemy 15). Caley attacks with Ambush Viper and passes. (Caley 15, Enemy 13).

Enemy attacks with one spirit token and passes. (Caley 14, Enemy 13).

T8

In Caley's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip transforms. Caley plays Hinterland Harbor and casts Predator Ooze. In response, E casts Dismember paying 4 life on Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. Caley casts Stoic Rebuttal on the Dismember. E responds with another Dismember paying 4 life on the Mayor, which resolves. (Caley 14, Enemy 5). Then Predator Ooze resolves. C passes.

I bet he wishes he had that 2 life back from when he cast that Gitaxian Probe.

E casts Sword of War and Peace and then casts Geist of Saint Traft.

Weird play. Probably is expecting to hook it up next turn.

T9

Caley draws Dissipate. He casts Acidic Slime blowing up Sword of War and Peace. He attacks with Predator Ooze, which hits. (Caley 14, Enemy 3). C passes.

Enemy attacks with Geist of Saint Traft. Caley double blocks with Acidic Slime and Ambush Viper. Enemy orders Acidic Slime to receive lethal damage. Geist and Slime die. Angel token hits. (Caley 10, Enemy 3). Enemy casts Ponder choosing not to shuffle, then Snapcaster Mage targeting Midnight Haunting, then Midnight Haunting from the graveyard, then passes.

T10

Caley draws Stoic Rebuttal. He casts Garruk, Primal Hunter and makes a beast token. He attacks with Ambush Viper and Predator Ooze. E throws a spirit token in front of each. The spirits die, as does Ambush Viper. Predator Ooze becomes a 4/4. C passes.

E attacks with both spirit tokens and hits. (Caley 8, Enemy 3). He casts Delver of Secrets  ^Flip then passes.

T11

Caley draws Predator Ooze. He uses Garruk's -3 ability to draw four cards, which are 2x Birds of Paradise and 2x Viral Drake. He casts a Viral Drake and E concedes.

Sideboarding

No changes.

Game 2

Enemy plays first and keeps his opener.

Caley mulligans down to 3 cards before he finally gets a land, but then concedes.

I hate that.

Game 3

Caley plays first and keeps an opening hand of 2x Forest, Birds of Paradise, Rampant Growth, Dissipate, and Stoic Rebuttal.

Perfect. Love it.

Enemy keeps their opener.

T1

Caley plays Forest for Birds of Paradise and passes.

Enemy plays an Island. Then he plays Gitaxian Probe twice, using 2 life each time. (Caley 20, Enemy 16).

Dude. You're allowed to pay the regular cost when using Phyrexian mana. For real. You're a quarter dead and I haven't even done anything yet. Gotta save up for that Vapor Snag or Ponder I guess.

T2

Caley draws Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip. He plays Island and casts it, then passes.

I'd love to save mana for a counterspell, but this play is just too annoying for my opponent to let go.

Enemy plays Glacial Fortress, then casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Gitaxian Probe. He casts Gitaxian Probe from the graveyard using 2 life. (Caley 20, Enemy 14).

T3

Caley draws Ambush Viper. He plays Forest and passes.

E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip transforms. E plays Island, casts Ponder, chooses not to shuffle, then casts Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. C Dissipates Delver. E passes.

T4

C's upkeep, Howlpack Alpha re-mayors. C draws [Dissipate]]. He passes.

E's upkeep, a very confused Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip is a werewolf again. E plays Island and casts Snapcaster Mage. C tries to Dissipate it but runs into Mana Leak. Snapcaster resolves, targeting Gitaxian Probe, which is then cast using life. (Caley 20, Enemy 12). E passes.

T5

C's upkeep, Howlpack Alpha re-mayors again. C draws Ambush Viper and passes.

E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip re-alphas. E plays Island and passes. C casts Ambush Viper in the end step. E responds with Snapcaster Mage targeting Mana Leak, which is recast targeting Ambush Viper, countering it.

Seems inefficient to me.

T6

C's upkeep, Howlpack Alpha is Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip again. He draws Rampant Growth and passes.

Hm. Where's my land?

E's upkeep, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip dances once more to Howlpack Alpha status. E passes after playing Moorland Haunt. C flashes down Ambush Viper in the end step.

T7

C draws Hinterland Harbor. Howlpack Alpha stays a friggin' werewolf for once. C plays the Harbor, then passes and gets a Wolf token.

No need to Rampant Growth yet. With an advantage on the board, it's more important against this guy that I make him paranoid by leaving all my mana open.

E plays Seachrome Coast and passes.

T8

C draws Garruk, Primal Hunter. He casts Rampant Growth for an Island.

Ok, NOW I want him to cast spells, so I'll lower my shields halfway here, plus I do get the land. Preferably he'll try to cast something and I'll Stoic Rebuttal it, and maybe he'll Mana Leak it, and whatever. Point is, I want him to try and cast stuff next turn so he'll hopefully tap out, making Garruk, Primal Hunter safe to cast.

C attacks with Wolf token and hits. (Caley 20, Enemy 9). Then he passes, getting a Wolf token.

This is the first time I'VE dealt him damage.

T9

E draws and concedes.

Thoughts

• I don't like that enemy deck. It's so lost in fancy expensive cards, card quality advantage, and cutting edge efficient tech that it really feels like it forgot to have a main idea. I mean, he's casting three spells a turn, and to do what? Cast a Delver of Secrets  ^Flip or a Midnight Haunting at the end of it? I know Geist of Saint Traft is in there and the idea is to Vapor Snag away the opposition, but man, it's tough to make just that ONE PLAY stick even so. The rest of the deck just feels like it doesn't do enough.

• I felt like he would have done a bit better if he had made more conservative use of Phyrexian mana. You don't ALWAYS need to pay the life. He lost about half his life or more in that first game to Phyrexian mana alone, and maybe a little less in that last game.

• I am less and less a fan of Geist of Saint Traft. The things you have to do to make him work really seem to suck up a ton of spots in your deck, and he is still quite vulnerable, hexproof or no, to a bunch of different possible solutions.