Showdown #12: Reset

Showdown

Spootyone

17 December 2013

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Hello all and welcome back to another episode of Showdown where I pit my current standard deck against other standard builds that have been sent in to me. We've got a good matchup this week, but first I'd like to talk a bit about the recent changes made to my own deck. For those of you who missed it, I wrote a fairly descriptive article on the newest changes I made to my deck. It can be found here

A lot has changed since my last playtest -- and things have even changed since the above article. I've been doing a lot more playtesting off-screen (off-article?). For those of you who may have seen me on cockatrice, thank you for the games! They helped a ton. And I'll hopefully get to see more of you there for further testing. So far, I've been very pleased with the outcomes. While I've by no means tested against every type of deck available at the moment, I've have had very good matchups against MBD and MRD, as well as blowouts against Gruul aggro and various other random brews. Esper has been a tough match but it was tough before. And I still do manage about a 50% win rate from my minimal experience testing against them with this deck.

Polukranos, World Eater was removed shortly after the update article went out. Without ramp, his ability was much less available or useful, and I found Ajani, Caller of the Pride nice as a finisher. Strangely enough, Voice of Resurgence has proven to be not very necessary and -- in many cases -- a bad draw or a not as good draw as I'd want. I move them to the side and went down to 2 copies. I think the reasoning is that it blocks poorly against a lot of the major threats in standard. Most things have first-strike or are flying or are just...bigger than voice. The only things that aren't are 1-drops usually (who often have 2 power at this point), and things like Fleecemane Lion and Call of the Conclave do a better job of blocking them anyway.

I also removed Celestial Flare and Plummet. I don't know if this was a good decision or not seeing as it causes me to lose all removal against things like Blood Baron of Vizkopa and Stormbreath Dragon, but the reason I did this was to see if I need them. Because if I don't, then that's fantastic! MBD was giving me a really hard time, so I tried out Witchstalker and boy do I love him. He's amazing in that matchup, especially if you learn to play him at the right time. Similarly, Boon Satyr has been added in as he does amazingly against Esper and any other deck taking advantage of Supreme Verdict. I've been absolutely loving flash as a mechanic lately. Rest in Peace may seem a little silly right now, but I needed it against that crazy Golgari grave deck that's been floating around. That's always a bitter matchup...

Mistcutter Hydra was replaced with Skylasher since the former has no reach -- a big issue. Plus I removed those mana dorks -- He hardly get's big anymore. And lastly, I added in things like Unflinching Courage and Ratchet Bomb to help with the most aggro-ey of aggro, as well as MBD. A number of these ideas were gathered after reading an article by Craig Wescoe, seen here.

I've been very pleased with my deck as of late, and my W/L ratio has gone up quite a bit due to the changes I've made. I'm certainly not sure if this is the final iteration of this deck til BOTG, though, because there is still much to test out. Is Ajani necessary with so many fliers in the meta? Can I survive with only 4 removal spells for fatties? Just how necessary is voice? Should I splash blue for Storm Crow? We will hopefully see answers to these and more in the coming weeks.

Now, I've rambled on for long enough about my own deck. You people came here to see who I'm facing! Without further ado, I present an awesome build by kyuuri117:

deck-large:tax-bear-aggro

Many of you don't know this, but the first deck I began using and building "competitively" (I use quotations since the deck was pretty bad) was actually an esper aggro deck. I've since abandoned that journey, but luckily this guy hasn't! Tax bear aggro is a deck that can go from a life-rich aggro deck using some of the most interesting esper creatures available, to a much more mid-range deck utilizing some of the most effective removal spells available. It has seen a large amount of praise on this site and I've had multiple people ask me to playtest it so I simply had to give it a go.

What am I afraid of in this deck? 3 things. First, Blood Baron of Vizkopa. This guy has been wrecking my selesnya decks since he first came out. Luckily, I packed my -- wait...where did I put my Celestial Flare...?

Second: Archangel of Thune. Ouch. All of the heresy. Unfortunately for me, this deck has a much more easy time running and utilizing the archangel. Access to removal means that its fairly easy to survive til you can drop her, and my deck has no way to interact with her at all til she has grown her and the team...twice.

Funny...I seem to have misplace my Plummet as well...hmm...

Lastly, we have sideboarding. Have you seen that sideboard? 12 of the cards might as well read "Bring in against Spooty's deck". Desecration Demon and eight removal spells will probably be seeing play in games 2 and/or 3 and that worries me a ton. As I mentioned, this deck doesn't do fantastically against Esper control. I hope I can manage to pull out a victory over this beautiful brew! Let's see how it goes

Disclaimer: Both decks are piloted by me, Spootyone. I am not a magic pro. This testing series is just as much for me as it is for the viewers, so please remember I'm learning, too. I'm bound to make mistakes or "bad" judgment calls, so bare with me.

It seems many enjoyed the music I added last time, so I'm going to try it more often. Here's a song I enjoy. Happy listening!

Here ya go

I couldn't get it to embed correctly. Perhaps someone could generously help me out with that so I know for future articles, plox?

Game 1

Kyuuri wins the flip and keep an opening hand of Godless Shrine, Thoughtseize, Soldier of the Pantheon, Thrull Parasite, Azorius Charm, Vizkopa Guildmage and Lyev Skyknight. This is about the only time I would ever keep a one-land hand. There are three one-drops here so I think I can take this risk as opposed to risking a 2 land and 4 5-drop hand.

Spooty keeps an opening hand of 2x forest, 2x plains, Temple Garden, Fleecemane Lion and Witchstalker. 5-land hands are rare for this deck. Being on the draw and the fact that we're likely not going to draw a land make this a very keepable one.

K1: Godless Shrine untapped (s 20/18 k). Thoughtseize is cast, discarding Spooty's Witchstalker. (s 20/16 k) Pass.

S1: Draws Boon Satyr. Alright we're already on the back foot here with that T1 Thoughtseize stripping one of our very few threats. Hopefully it doesn't result it a game loss though. Temple Garden tapped. Pass.

K2: Draws Tithe Drinker. I wish that had been a land, but we still have what I consider to be ample time to draw it. Casts Soldier of the Pantheon. Pass.

S2: Draws Selesnya Charm. Glad we're continuing to draw spells here. This one can be used to trade with the soldier, or if that's not necessary it can be used to eliminate a large threat. Since he knows we have Fleecemane Lion, let's run that out. Plays plains. Casts Fleecemane Lion. Kyuuri gains 1 (s 20/17 k).

K3: Draws Godless Shrine. Alright land #2! Too bad it isn't blue but all well. Plays Godless Shrine tapped. Casts Thrull Parasite. Pass.

S3: Draws plains. Plays forest. We'll probably flash in a Boon Satyr at the end of their turn, but for now we have no good attacks. Pass.

K4: Draws Archangel of Thune. Not playable. I guess we can play out the tax bear now. Casts Vizkopa Guildmage. A lot of our creatures do very little in the ways of combat, which is unfortunate. I mean we still can't even kill the lion without being 2-for-1'd. So I feel like I'm not really increasing my board presence at the moment which is very scary against an opponent with so many big creatures. Pass. EoT Spooty flashes in Boon Satyr.

S4: Draws forest. Hmm. Plays forest. Our opponent is clearly stuck on lands right now. Lion cannot attack profitably. But if I attack with the boon satyr I can use Selesnya Charm to get damage in and possibly a kill in the process. I wanted to wait to exile something, but nothing exilable is coming out any time soon. Swings with Boon Satyr. As Kyuuri, I know the opponent could have any number of things that make blocking a bad idea, but I don't want to take 4 damage either, so I'll just chump with the Thrull Parasite. Now as Spooty, there's no reason to use the Selesnya Charm. Pass.

K5: Draws Duskmantle Seer. Ahh cmon. Funny how the hand without lands draws almost exclusively spells and the hand with the ton of lands draws almost exclusively lands. Oh magic...You so crazy. Guess we run out the Tithe Drinker. Casts Tithe Drinker. Now we really are behind. Turn 5 with only 2 lands and of only 2 of our three colors is a bad position to be in. Pass.

S5: Draws Selesnya Charm. Plays forest. We can monstrous. Or we can get some good damage in with the satyr. Swings with Boon Satyr. Kyuuri blocks with Tithe Drinker. Spooty casts Selesnya Charm on the satyr to pump him. Kyuuri gains 1 form the soldier, 2 form the lifelink, and then loses 5 from the trample damage. (s 20/15 k). Pass.

K6: Draws swamp. Hmm...well it's land which is good but we needed it to be blue for it to mean anything big here. Plays swamp. Pass.

S6: Draws Rootborn Defenses. Another means of blowing out the opponent. Swings with the satyr. As Kyuuri, I still don't want to lose that much life...but we can't chump with the guildmage just yet -- he may be of greater use to us later on. No blocks. (s 20/11 k) Pass.

K7: Draws Temple of Deceit. Gah so close! Plays the temple and scrys swamp off the top. It stays. Pass. EoT Spooty uses the Fleecemane Lion monstrous ability.

S7: Draws Call of the Conclave. Plays forest. Casts Call of the Conclave and makes a centaur. Swings with the lion and the Satyr (Just being as aggressive as possible). The Soldier of the Pantheon blocks the lion. (s 20/7 k). Pass.

K8: Draws Swamp. Plays swamp. Casts Archangel of Thune. I hope we can stabilize. Pass.

S8: Draws Advent of the Wurm. That's really nice here. Swings with the lion, satyr and centaur token. As Kyuuri, I really just need to make sure I don't die, but I think this is going to be really bad. The soldier blocks the lion. The guildmage blocks the satyr and the centaur token is blocked by the archangel. Spooty casts Selesnya Charm on the centaur token to pump him and then casts Rootborn Defenses to populate that token and make everything indestructible. Kyuuri gains 1 from the soldier and 3 from the archangel. And then he takes 1 damage from trample. The guildmage and archangel die and the soldier gets a counter from the angel. Pass. (s 20/6 k)

K9: Draws Hallowed Fountain. Plays the fountain untapped. (s 20/4 k) Casts Lyev Skyknight and detains the Boon Satyr. Pass.

S9: Draws Advent of the Wurm. Swings with the lion and two centaur tokens. The solider blocks the lion, the skyknight trades with one of the centaurs and the last one gets killed by Kyurri's Azorius Charm putting it on the top of the library. Pass.

K10: Draws Godless Shrine. Casts Duskmantle Seer. Pass. EoT Spooty makes a 5/5 wurm token with Advent of the Wurm and now Kyuuri is dead on board. He concedes.

Spooty wins game 1!!

Edit: On S8, the lifegain from the Soldier of the Pantheon should have caused the Archangel of Thune to trigger and give everyone a counter before damage. All this would have changed is one less life gained, and I would have still been victorious, but I did want to point out I saw the mistake there

Sideboard tech with Spooty: Well, that game felt fairly easy since the opponent was stuck on lands a majority of the game. However, it was easy to see the aggro and lifegain elements. I'm going to replace my 3 Last Breath with 3 Ratchet Bomb so that I'm able to much more quickly take out the small guys without giving the opponent a bunch of life as they want to happen. Knowing I'm up against esper, I know there must be removal somewhere -- even if it's being boarded in. After all, it's fairly necessary against my deck. However, knowing they have small creatures means they likely have spot removal and not wraths. I'm going to replace 1 copy of Rootborn Defenses with a second copy of Gods Willing. Lastly, I'll replace my 2 copies of Ajani, Caller of the Pride with 2 copies of Voice of Resurgence.

Sideboard tech with Kyuuri: Duskmantle Seer is a fairly bad card in this matchup. It kills us and helps the opponent fill up their hand. Thus, the playset will be replaced with a playset of Desecration Demon. We also need more removal, and Thrull Parasite with Tithe Drinker hardly can do more than chump block or 2-for-1 us. They will be replaced with 4x detention sphere and 4x [[hero's downfall to give a good mix of spells. Here's to a better hand!

Game 2

Kyuuri chooses to be on the play and keeps an opening hand of plains, Hallowed Fountain, Watery Grave, Vizkopa Guildmage, Detention Sphere, Hero's Downfall and Desecration Demon. Very much a beautiful hand.

Spooty keeps an opening hand of 2x forest, plains, Selesnya Guildgate, Call of the Conclave, Witchstalker and Advent of the Wurm. Lands and spells!

K1: Watery Grave tapped. Pass.

S1: Draws Call of the Conclave. Plays Selesnya Guildgate tapped. Pass.

K2: Draws Hero's Downfall. Good but hopefully we get the double-black soon. Plays plains. Casts Vizkopa Guildmage. Pass.

S2: Draws Plains. Plays forest. Plays Call of the Conclave and makes a centaur token. Pass.

K3: Draws Temple of Deceit. There we go! Plays the temple tapped and scrys Hero's Downfall off the top. It stays. I'm completely okay with 3 copies of that in our hand. Pass.

S3: Draws Temple Garden. Plays plains. Swings with the centaur. No blocks. (s 20/17 k). Casts Witchstalker. Pass.

K4: Draws Hero's Downfall. So it looks like the only way we can get rid of the Witchstalker is to force the opponent to sacrifice him using our Desecration Demon. Plays Hallowed Fountain untapped and casts Desecration Demon (s 20/17 k) Pass.

S4: Draws Temple Garden. Ew. That's the last thing I needed right now. In fact, what I absolutely need to win this game at this point is Selesnya Charm, I feel. Plays Temple Garden tapped. Casts Call of the Conclave to make another centaur token. Pass.

K5: Draws Godless Shrine. Plays it tapped. Well, a 2-for-1 is possible here (This was a mistake a just made as Spooty). Casts Detention Sphere on the centaur tokens, destroying them. Moves to attacks. No sacrifices. Desecration Demon gets in for 6. (s 14/15 k). Pass.

S5: Draws Forest. Yeah, it looks like we're going to flood out this game, unfortunately. Plays forest. swings with the Witchstalker and there are no blocks (s 14/12 k). Pass.

K6: Draws swamp. Plays swamp. Moves to combat. No sacs. The demon gets in for 6 (s 8/12 k). Pass. EoT Spooty makes a 5/5 wurm token using Advent of the Wurm.

S6: Draws Voice of Resurgence. Oh well hey that may buy us a couple more turns. Casts the voice. In response, Kyuuri plays Hero's Downfall on the wurm token, killing it. Witchstalker get's a counter. Spooty attacks with the witchstalker. It is chumped with the guildmage but before damage, Kyuuri activates its ability to give it lifelink, healing him for 2. I would have been activating this earlier on the demon, but I wanted to have mana open for 2 copies of Hero's Downfall just in case I really needed them. Plays Plains. Pass. (s 8/14 k)

K7: Draws Detention Sphere. More perfect draws, I'd say. Casts Detention Sphere on Voice of Resurgence and exiles it. Moves to attacks. No sacs. The demon gets in for 6 (s 2/14 k) Pass.

S7: Draws Boon Satyr. Plays forest. Swings with the Witchstalker. Before damage, Spooty flash bestows the Boon Satyr onto the Witchstalker and it gets in for 8 (s 2/6 k). Pass.

K8: Draws Godless Shrine. Plays the shrine tapped. Moves to attacks and Spooty sacrifices the Witchstalker to tap the demon and give it a counter. Pass.

S8: Draws Temple Garden. Sigh. Swings with the Boon Satyr. In response, Kyuuri kills it with Hero's Downfall. I have nothing left to protect me from the demon so I concede.

Kyuuri wins game 2!!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: That was frustrating but what is important to take from that match was the fact that even with all the mana we drew into we STILL managed to almost win that game -- even through a torrent of demons and kill spells. We CAN win this game three, but we need more protection against spot removal along with a bit of luck in our favor. I swap the last copy of Rootborn Defenses out for Gods Willing.

Sideboard tech with Kyuuri: We appeared to be very fortunate in that game with how many kill spells we ended up having, but that's the entire point of running so many -- it shuts down the opposing deck. What I'm looking for in this last game is a hand of lands, kill spells, and a good bomb.

Game 3

Spooty is on the play and keeps an opening hand of 2x forest, plains, Temple Garden, Fleecemane Lion, Boon Satyr, and Advent of the Wurm. This is a familiar looking hand. Hopefully we draw more spells than last time.

Kyuuri has an opening hand of 2x swamp, Watery Grave, Thoughtseize, Vizkopa Guildmage, Detention Sphere and Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Oh mannnnn. This isn't fair. This is the most imperfect-perfect hand I could have been given. It has every single thing I asked for except for the fact that I can't actually play any of my non--thoughtseize spells without drawing into white mana. As much as I hate to do so, I will mulligan this. The risk of losing to mana screw is too great for this last game. Hopefully you all can agree with me on this. The kept hand contains 2x Temple of Deceit, Hallowed Fountain, Soldier of the Pantheon, and 2x Vizkopa Guildmage. I'm much less happy about my spells in this hand, but at least I can play them.

S1: Temple Garden tapped. Pass.

K1: Draws Thoughtseize. Woot! Unfortunately, we can't play it this turn. Plays the temple and scrys Watery Grave off the top. It's not a bomb, but it's fuel to play those bombs we hope to draw into. It stays. Pass.

S2: Draws Temple Garden. Plays plains. Casts Fleecemane Lion. Pass.

K2: Draws Watery Grave. Plays Thoughtseize and forces Spooty to discard Advent of the Wurm. Then he plays Hallowed Fountain untapped and uses it to cast Soldier of the Pantheon. Pass.
(s 20/16 k)

S3: Draws Boon Satyr. Good! Plays forest. Swings with the lion. Kyuuri blocks with the soldier. Pass.

K3: Draws Hallowed Fountain. Plays Temple of Deceit and scrys Archangel of Thune off the top. It stays. Casts Vizkopa Guildmage and passes since we know the opponent is going to flash in a Boon Satyr that we will want to probably block. EoT Spooty flashes in Boon Satyr.

S4: Draws Centaur Healer. Not very useful in this matchup but it's a creature nonetheless. Swings with the satyr and the lion. The lion is blocked by the soldier and the guildmage trades with the Boon Satyr. Pass.

K4: Draws Archangel of Thune. Plays Hallowed Fountain tapped. Casts Vizkopa Guildmage Pass. EoT Spooty flashes in another Boon Satyr.

S5: Draws Selesnya Guildgate. Plays forest. Swings with the lion and the satyr. Once again the lion is blocked by the soldier and the satyr is blocked by the guildmage. Before damage, Spooty makes the lion monstrous. Pass.

K5: Draws Detention Sphere. Plays the Watery Grave untapped and then casts the Archangel of Thune. Pass. (s 20/14 k)

S6: Draws Ratchet Bomb. Plays Selesnya Guildgate tapped. Swings with the lion and it's blocked by the soldier. Then plays the Ratchet Bomb. Pass. We could play the Centaur Healer, but with an Archangel of Thune on the field I'd rather not activate it when I don't have to.

K6: Draws Spear of Heliod. Casts Detention Sphere on the ratchet bomb and it is exiled. Swings with the angel for 3, gains three and everyone gets a counter. (s 17/17 k) Pass.

S7: Draws plains. Plays plains. Casts Centaur Healer and gains 3, opponent gains 1, all his creatures get a counter. Pass.

K7: Draws swamp. Plays swamp. Plays the Spear of Heliod. Swings with the archangel, gains 6, everyone gets a counter. Pass. (s 11/24 k)

S8: Draws Centaur Healer. Gah. Plays the healer, gains 3, opponent gains 1 and all his creatures get a counter. Pass. (s 14/25 k)

K8: Draws plains. Plays plains. Swings with the angel for 8, gains 8, blah blah blah. You all know the drill by now right? (s 6/33 k)

S9: Draws plains. Scoops

Kyuuri wins the match!!

Afterthoughts

AAHHHHHHHHHH NOOoooooOOooOoOOOO!!!! Killed by Archangel of Thune?? No! D: Not allowed. Not. Ever. Never again.

Now that that's out of the way, I would like to say I enjoyed this match. It wasn't a victory but I at least won 1 of the games. It's blatantly obvious to me that taking out my kill spells was ill-advised. I've been feeling like removing Ajani, Caller of the Pride for a little bit now, so for now he has been replaced with 2 copies of Celestial Flare. From my experience, the low-drops in this deck honestly seemed unnecessary. This was especially true of Thrull Parasite who really didn't do much of anything except get to be killed by anything. If there were any recommendations I could give about this deck, it would be to replace them with perhaps 2 Detention Sphere and 2 Hero's Downfall MB. But, of course, it's not my place to be making corrections to a deck I lost to haha.

Game 1 was won based on the fact that I kept a 1-land hand and failed to find the mana I needed quick enough. Would I keep that hand in the future? Actually, yes. I stand by my decision to keep that hand. And the reason remains that we had 3 one-drops that really need to be played early to be super-effective. But I do wish I had drawn better...

Game 2 was also a rough one for mana -- for me, at least -- as I continued to draw land after land when all I really needed was just one kill spell (another reason to add back in the Celestial Flare.). I'm not saying I lost due to mana screw, though. kyuuri simply had a god draw that game, running through many, many kill spells while having Desecration Demon out already to keep the pressure on me. That's essentially the best way to kill my deck.

Game 3 was a close one that ultimately hinged on Archangel of Thune. Even though I had continual board presence of fairly large creatures, there was nothing I could do to stop the onslaught of the angel. Again, not seeing my Selesnya Charm in that game was what sealed the deal. I really do wonder if I'd been able to take on this deck better with those copies of Celestial Flare, but I'm certainly not going to use it as an excuse. After all, that's what testing is for right?

Many, many thanks for those of you who suggested this deck. And kyuuri? You keep makin' the epic homebrews, dude. You've got yourself a fan right here. #taxbears4life #Idonteverusehashtags

Anyone who wants to be in the next showdown, don't forget to enter your deck below! I think I'm going to try to go for more meta-esque decks for the next couple weeks to better showcase the deck in that light, so please keep that in mind when entering decks.

The Question of the Week

All green decks have been scrambling for ways to deal with MUD decks since they first became popular at Pro Tour Theros. Luckily, green is home to some of the most extensive Blue-hate there is! So today I have a debate on two select cards: Mistcutter Hydra and Skylasher. Which is more effective? The former can get in right after a wrath, soak up all the collected mana you've been harboring, and get in for those last bits of damage or burst through all the opponent's blue creatures to put some serious pressure on. However, it lacks reach or flying. The latter, however, takes card of this in stride. Skylasher has flash, a mechanic that allows green to play a more intellectual game against control decks. It has reach, which allows it to block anything that MUD can swing at it (that hasn't been made unblockable by Thassa) and can remain alive after doing so due to its blue protection. But it really puts on little to no pressure on the deck that likes to win on turns 5-6. Which do you prefer?

Magic Trivia

Let's take a look at a card I know and love -- Duskmantle Seer. I actually used to have this card in my standard deck back when it was 4-color aggro (INN/RTR standard was a hell of a place, I tell you...). A 4/4 flyer for 4 mana is pretty decent on all accounts and is certainly above the curve. New players may wonder why he has such a bad downside -- giving your opponent access to cards and making you and them lose life. But in reality, this ability is a very good upside. Card draw is insanely powerful. Losing life is just the cost. And it's fairly easy to build a deck around him to make it so you lose as little life as possible. And this is why I believe he is a mythic.

BUT!! He is not the first of his kind. In fact, Duskmantle Seer is utilizing an ability made famous by a card that is a staple for many modern decks. Who's that poke--er...magic card??

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