Daily Dose 36 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

12 February 2013

1272 views

vs. Serpentarius

Using Bolas for a Better Tomorrow.

Game 1

Enemy wins the toss and plays first. He keeps his opener.

Caley keeps an opener of Swamp, Island, Think Twice, 3x Tribute to Hunger, and Dreadbore.

That's a lot of death.

Turn 1

E plays Mountain and passes.

RDW lacking a one-drop was my first guess.

C draws Murder, plays Swamp, and passes.

Based on my guess above, it makes more sense to prepare for Dreadbore than for a potential Counterflux down the line.

Turn 2

E plays Island for Illusionist's Bracers and passes.

I have seen this kind of a deck twice now. It uses Illusionist's Bracers to power things like Izzet Staticaster and some assorted pieces from the old U/R delver deck.

C draws Dragonskull Summit, plays Island, and passes.

Turn 3

E plays Mountain, then Mindshrieker. He passes.

Fascinating! I have never seen anything like this previously; I can see how this would be terrifying with a Bracers on it. Also, I forgot to think once about Think Twice this turn, and only remembered after playing my land the subsequent turn. Oh well; hopefully not a huge error.

C draws Swamp. He plays Dragonskull Summit, then he passes.

Turn 4

E plays Steam Vents tapped and equips the Illusionist's Bracers to Mindshrieker, but C casts Murder on it. E passes.

I would have loved to see how terrifying that can get, but I really can't allow it when he could potentially kill me in one turn with that. (By activating it twice (four times with the Bracers), revealing two Bolas and a total of 4 CMC other stuff in the other two cards).

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

Turn 5

E plays Sulfur Falls, then casts Mindshrieker, then Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. E passes. End step, C casts Tribute to Hunger, and E sacrifices the Delver. (C 21, E 20).

I have so many kill spells that I might as well.

C draws Gilded Lotus. Then he casts Dreadbore on the Mindshrieker. Then he passes.

Time to play "Still" by the Geto Boys. This might make him think that I am low on kill spells, but of course I still have three left after this.

Turn 6

E plays Mountain and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, picking up a Mountain.

C draws Counterflux and plays the Mountain. He passes.

I could cast Gilded Lotus here, but I am in a position where patience is possible, and the best policy to boot.

Turn 7

E plays Mountain and passes. C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Mystic Retrieval.

C draws Island and plays it. He casts Gilded Lotus and passes.

Now I can Counterflux if need be.

Turn 8

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Think Twice, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 9

E plays Sulfur Falls and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice and flashes it back, drawing Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and Mystic Retrieval.

C draws Dreadbore. He does nothing and passes, discarding Mystic Retrieval to get to 7.

I could try to cast Bolas here, but I have such overwhelming card advantage (7 cards to 3, and I have Mystic Retrievals) that it makes more sense to just wait until I have more mana to back it up with.

Turn 10

E casts Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. End step, C Murders it.

C draws Dragonskull Summit and plays it.

One more mana before I can play Bolas with enough reserve mana for a Counterflux.

Turn 11

E plays Mountain and passes.

C draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, but E hits it with Counterflux. C passes.

Counterflux giveth and Counterflux taketh away. Actually, I guess it only ever taketh away.

Turn 12

E casts another Illusionist's Bracers and passes.

Definitely can't let him get another Mindshrieker going now.

C draws Island and plays it, then passes.

I'm just coasting here. I don't think he'll have enough counterspells to be able to stop all my Bolases AND some potentially-fatal Rakdos's Returns, so I'm happy to just sit back and answer stuff until I draw a win condition.

Turn 13

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Counterflux, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 14

E plays Sulfur Falls and passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern, casts it, and passes.

Turn 15

E plays Izzet Staticaster and then tries to equip it with an Illusionists's Bracers. C casts Tribute to Hunger in response. (C 24, E 20). E passes.

This is a worthwhile play just to make him think I have creatures that need to be protected from this. Maybe it will affect his sideboarding choices. When I cast this, though, he started to tap some mana, but then changed his mind, either faking a counterspell or actually having one.

C draws Counterflux, does nothing, and passes.

Having three Counterflux late in the game is a great feeling.

Turn 16

E plays an Island, then taps out for Enter the Infinite, which resolves. He passes.

With three Counterflux in hand for next turn and 24 life to rely on, his Enter the Infinite just became my new win condition.

C draws Drowned Catacomb and plays it, then passes.

Turn 17

E plays an Island and casts another Enter the Infinite, but it runs into Counterflux.

My opponent, who was an incredibly good sport and awesome dude throughout the match, here let out a mournful "wa wa waaaaa"

E casts Delver of Secrets  ^Flip.

It's cool; he's got this.

C casts Tribute to Hunger. (C 25, E 20).

Awwww.

E concedes.

Sideboarding

C boards in 3x Slaughter Games, 2x Curse of Death's Hold, and 2x Lone Revenant. He boards out 3x Think Twice, 2x Murder, 1x Mystic Retrieval, and 1x Barter in Blood.

The boarded-out cards aren't particularly bad against this deck, but they seemed like the best cuts to put in the exceptionally-good sideboard cards.

Game 2

E plays first and keeps his opener.

C keeps an opener of 2x Island, Swamp, Tribute to Hunger, Counterflux, Mystic Retrieval, and Slaughter Games.

A potentially very, very evil starting hand for my opponent.

Turn 1

E plays Steam Vents tapped and passes.

He probably could have sideboarded his deck to make it more aggro or make it more controlly, and has, with this play at least, made it more probable that it was controlly.

C draws Drowned Catacomb, plays Island, and passes.

Turn 2

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Turn 3

E plays Mountain and passes.

C draws Mountain. He plays Swamp and passes. End step, E flashes in Izzet Staticaster

Swamp? SWAMP? What the hell was I thinking? I have a Counterflux in hand for god's sake. Terrible play.

Turn 4

E plays Island and casts Izzet Staticaster. Then he casts Illusionist's Bracers. C casts Tribute to Hunger, which resolves. (C 23, E 20).

I know I need fear nothing from the Staticaster (or as I like to think of her, the Straticaster), but this play a - keeps the field free for further Tribute to Hungers, b - Hopefully reinforces the illusion that I might have creatures to worry about, and c - Gets 3 life, which is excellent.

C draws Mountain and plays it. He casts Slaughter Games naming Counterflux. E casts Syncopate on it for 1, which resolves, but has no effect since Slaughter Games is uncounterable.

No shame in that. I did that the first time I had Slaughter Games cast on me, but I sure as hell haven't done it again. Read the cards, everybody, read the cards.

Slaughter Games resolves. C exiles 2x Counterflux from the library and 2x Counterflux from the hand. The hand also contains Gilded Lotus. C passes.

Ouch. This is really bad for him, not only because he lost most of his hand, but because I can cast Slaughter Games two more times! Highlights from his deck also included Devil's Play, Zealous Conscripts, Syncopate, Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets  ^Flip, and Captain of the Mists. There were also 1x Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift, and, very interestingly, Increasing Confusion. Devil's Play is the most annoying for me since I want to first get rid of things I have to use counterspells to deal with, so I'll probably hit that next.

Turn 5

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Dreadbore. He casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Slaughter Games, and passes.

Turn 6

E plays Sulfur Falls and casts Gilded Lotus, then passes.

C draws Rakdos's Return then casts Slaughter Games naming Devil's Play. He exiles two copies from the deck and sees Gilded Lotus in hand. He passes.

Turn 7

E casts another Gilded Lotus and passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He plays Island. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Slaughter Games. Then he passes.

My opponent found this both terrible and hilarious, and I have to agree.

Turn 8

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Counterflux. He casts Slaughter Games naming Delver of Secrets  ^Flip. He exiles four copies from the library and sees a hand with Cyclonic Rift and Syncopate. C passes.

Turn 9

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Mountain and plays it. He casts Rakdos's Return on E for 2, but E Syncopates it for 4. C passes.

Turn 10

E plays Steam Vents tapped and passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval.

Oh boy.

C casts Mystic Retrieval on Slaughter Games.

I actually felt compelled to apologize at this point; this is pretty silly.

C passes.

Turn 11

E plays Steam Vents tapped and passes.

C casts Slaughter Games naming Captain of the Mists, exiling three copies and seeing a hand with just Cyclonic Rift. C passes.

Turn 12

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Lone Revenant. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Slaughter Games. Then he casts Slaughter Games naming Zealous Conscripts, exiling four from the library and seeing that Cyclonic Rift again.

Those guys could have been very troublesome. Now, having boarded out the third one, I am sadly out of Mystic Retrieval, although two more copies of Slaughter Games lurk in my deck somewhere.

Turn 13

E plays Mountain and passes.

C draws Murder. He casts Lone Revenant and passes.

Turn 14

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Curse of Death's Hold. He attacks with the Revenant. E responds with an overloaded Cyclonic Rift, returning the Revenant to hand. Post-combat, C casts Curse of Death's Hold targeting E. He passes, discarding Barter in Blood to get to 7.

Turn 15

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Island and plays it. He casts Lone Revenant and passes.

Turn 16

E plays Steam Vents untapped. (C 20, E 18). He taps out for 18 mana. Then he announces Increasing Confusion for 0.

This is a very clever play, especially online. He could, of course, have just tapped one land to cast it for 0 and then proceeded, but this maximizes the opportunity for mistakes from me. An inattentive player might just see all the lands tap and a big X spell come out, and counter it. However, if I had chosen to counter this spell, I would have lost the game despite my hilarious Slaughter Games shenanigans, and my opponent would have had a brilliant swindle. It works even better online because you don't actually have to SAY "for zero;" your opponent actually has to be paying attention to see that. Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for this game's already-high humor value, I respond correctly.

Increasing Confusion resolves, milling nothing. Then E flashes it back with x = 16. C responds with Counterflux. E passes.

That's why you don't concede, folks. If he had caught me without a counterspell, or if I had played that badly, he would have won INSTANTLY from a seemingly hopeless game.

C draws Dreadbore. He attacks with Lone Revenant and hits (C 20, E 14), drawing Gilded Lotus with it and putting Dreadbore, Dragonskull Summit, then Mountain on the bottom. He casts Gilded Lotus and passes.

Turn 17

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. E Syncopates it for 7.

I can afford to let this resolve since I still have two more Bolas, the unopposed Revenant on the board, and don't really have anything left to worry about in his deck. My opponent conducts a valiant and stubborn defense in this essentially-hopeless situation.

C attacks with Lone Revenant and hits. (C 20, E 10). He draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker with it, and puts Tribute to Hunger, Dragonskull Summit, then Swamp on the bottom. He passes.

Turn 18

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Mountain and plays it. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. E flashes down Snapcaster Mage, which dies immediately to Curse of Death's Hold, but gets back Syncopate, which is cast for 7 on Bolas, countering it.

Again, I could counter this with Counterflux, but why do so with a win already on the board? It's always possible that I was mistaken about what he had or overlooked some hidden resource of his, so best to stay safe and keep the counter in hand since I'm already winning.

C passes.

Forgot to attack with Lone Revenant, though.

Turn 19

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts it and Gilded Lotus. Then he attacks with the Revenant, drawing Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and putting Drowned Catacomb and 2x Swamp on the bottom.

Turn 20

E casts Gilded Lotus and passes.

C draws Swamp, plays it, and casts Bolas, who resolves. Bolas blows up a Gilded Lotus.

Turn 21

E plays Mountain and passes.

C draws Swamp, plays it, blows up another Lotus, and passes.

Turn 22

E casts Illusionist's Bracers and passes.

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He activates Bolas' -9 ability (C 23, E -1), and wins. C wins the match 2-0.

Thoughts

• In some games, you cast a single copy of Slaughter Games five times. This has been one of them.

• Always, ALWAYS be on the lookout for unexpected resources and traps that, while technically losing if your opponent plays optimally, might just bait a mistake in an otherwise hopeless situation. Sometimes you can indeed salvage victory from the jaws of my defeat, as my opponent nearly did here!