Daily Dose 41 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

26 February 2013

1311 views

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vs. a Community Deck!

Today we bring you the following matchup:

Bolas for a Better Tomorrow by KrazyCaley

Piloted by KrazyCaley

vs.

The Power of a Dragon by Sweet-Nightmare

Piloted by Sectoid

As usual for community deck matchups, the non-Caley deckbuilder had the option of using cockatrice to duel Caley personally, or to designate a champion among people Caley has on tap. Both Sectoid and Caley know the contents of both decks in advance, to avoid unfairness. Let's begin! Comments from KrazyCaley are in italics. Comments from Sectoid are in bold.

Game 1

Sectoid wins the toss and plays first. He keeps an opener of Island, Swamp, Drowned Catacomb, Invisible Stalker, Call of the Nightwing, Chromatic Lantern, and Counterflux

this is a good first hand. Tribute to Hunger might be a problem, but if he doesn't have it, or if i can protect the stalker with Counterflux, he'll be in early trouble.

Caley keeps an opening hand of Drowned Catacomb, Mountain, Chromatic Lantern, Rakdos's Return, Counterflux, and 2x Think Twice.

Two Think Twice is always a good opening hand except against the most severe aggro decks.

Turn 1

S plays Swamp and passes.

in case i get Dragonskull Summit.

C draws Mountain, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

Turn 2

S draws Tribute to Hunger, plays Drowned Catacomb, casts Invisible Stalker, and passes.

C draws Gilded Lotus, plays Mountain, and passes.

Turn 3

S draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it and attacks with the Stalker. (S 20, E 19). He passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Island.

C draws Barter in Blood. He plays Island and passes.

Turn 4

S draws Island. He plays it. He casts Call of the Nightwing targeting Invisible Stalker. C Counterfluxes it.

This is not the best use of a Counterflux, but I can't allow this since Barter in Blood would leave him with the ciphered Stalker.

he doesn't have Tribute to Hunger.

S attacks with the Stalker and passes. (S 20, C 18).

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He plays Mountain and passes.

Turn 5

S draws Swamp. He plays Island. He attacks with Invisible Stalker. C casts Tribute to Hunger. S Counterfluxes the Tribute and the Stalker hits. (S 20, C 17). S passes.

he must have draw that this turn. good thing i have counterflux. now he doesn't have many tributes left to deal with my stalker.

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

goddamn it it better not be bolas time already

Turn 6

S draws Invisible Stalker. He plays Swamp and casts Chromatic Lantern. He attacks with the stalker. (S 20, C 16). Then he passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Island.

i just remembered he has Barter in Blood, so probably not a good idea to play the other stalker yet.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays Island. He casts Rakdos's Return for 4 on S. S discards Invisible Stalker and Tribute to Hunger. (S 16, C 16). C passes.

damned if you do, damned if you don't. he probably still has a Counterflux.

Turn 7

S draws Island and plays it. He attacks with the stalker and passes. (S 16, C 15).

I think he should have kept that Island in hand to feign a counterspell. His thinking is probably that I might Rakdos's Return the Island away, and he needs it and a red land to cast Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, but still, it's at least worth considering to feign a counterspell.

C draws Gilded Lotus. He plays Dragonskull Summit. He casts Chromatic Lantern, then Gilded Lotus. Then he passes.

This is a slightly risky play given the presence of another Call of the Nightwing in the deck, but it's a rather small chance, with many outs for me even if it does happen. Still, given the play back, I might have just Barter in Blooded the stalker away, given a Think Twice in hand.

Turn 8

S draws Invisible Stalker. He attacks with Invisible Stalker. (S 16, C 14). He passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Island.

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He plays Island and passes.

Turn 9

S draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it and attacks with Invisible Stalker. C responds with Tribute to Hunger. (S 16, C 15). S casts Invisible Stalker and passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Mountain.

To paraphrase Darth Vader, "You were wise to hide the Invisible Stalker from me." Of course, I suppose it's pretty easy, hiding an invisible stalker.

he has two cards and I have none, but I have a stalker out. hopefully what he's got isn't good and it'll come down to the topdecks.

C draws Swamp. He casts Barter in Blood, killing the stalker. He passes.

With three copies of Invisible Stalker now dead and only one left, and with all the other creatures vulnerable to Murder, I can afford to do this, and am now probably pretty far ahead. Even if he pulls Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker off the top, I still have 11 outs with 40 cards left in the library; not bad odds. (The outs are 1x Rakdos's Return, sufficient to kill a Bolas, 3x Mystic Retrieval, which can get BACK Rakdos's Return and, if drawn early, still kill a Bolas before he ultimates me, 4x Dreadbore, and 3x my own Bolas. Add to that my three remaining copies of Counterflux if I draw it first, and the fact that there are only two copies of Bolas in the enemy deck, and I feel fairly comfortable, though certainly I am still in danger.

Turn 10

S draws Dimir Charm.

gotta use this on myself. going to do it right now. if he counters it, not a huge deal since he wasted a counter. if not, hopefully i can find a bolas or something good.

S casts Dimir Charm on his own library. He sees Nightveil Specter, Dragonskull Summit, and Last Thoughts. He keeps the Specter and casts it. Then he passes.

Not the best topdeck, but not a bad one either.

C draws Swamp. He passes.

Urgh. Need a kill spell. Or Bolas. Bolas would be nice.

Turn 11

S draws Dragonskull Summit. He attacks with the Specter and hits, exiling Dragonskull Summit, then playing the Summit. He passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He casts it and passes.

Not efficient, but I really can't afford him drawing out of my library every turn, essentially.

Turn 12

S draws Hands of Binding. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 13

S draws Guttersnipe and casts it. He passes.

if only he had a creature.

C draws Murder. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 14

S draws Dimir Charm. He attacks with Guttersnipe. C Murders it. In response, S casts Dimir Charm on his own library, dealing 2 damage with Guttersnipe's ability. (S 16, C 13). He sees Dimir Charm, Swamp, and Drowned Catacomb. He keeps Dimir Charm and casts it immediately, hitting again with Guttersnipe. (S 16, C 11). He sees Call of the Nightwing, Invisible Stalker, and Blood Crypt. He keeps Invisible Stalker, casts it, and passes.

wish i could keep two cards.

This is not good news, as a lot of my sacrificing kill is in the garbage, and he's now got half of his library gone, with Rakdos's Return and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker still to come. Getting tense now.

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He casts it targeting Tribute to Hunger and then casts Tribute to Hunger, killing the Stalker. (S 16, C 12). Then he flashes back Mystic Retrieval targeting Counterflux, and passes.

A very good draw. Now I've cleaned out his creatures and have my shields back up.

Turn 15

S draws Steam Vents. He plays it tapped and passes.

C draws Island. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Turn 16

S draws Hands of Binding. He does nothing and passes.

where's the friggin bolas.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He casts it. Bolas blows up Steam Vents. C passes.

man i didn't mean his bolas.

Turn 17

S draws Guttersnipe. He casts it and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He steals Guttersnipe with Bolas, who goes to 6. He passes.

that's what i was hoping for. either that, or drawing a bunch of instants and sorceries.

Turn 18

S draws Rakdos's Return. He casts it for 8 at C, but C Counterfluxes it. S passes.

gotta get rid of it.

C draws Dragonskull Summit.

I'm getting really flooded this game, but no harm, no foul.

Bolas destroys Chromatic Lantern, going to 9. C passes.

Turn 19

S draws Steam Vents and concedes.

aw no bolas in time.

Good game! He had outs with the other Rakdos's Return and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Sideboarding

S boards out 4x Hands of Binding and 3x Dimir Charm. He boards in 3x Slaughter Games, 3x Witchbane Orb, and 1x Rakdos Charm.

leaving in Tribute to Hunger because Lone Revenant. Witchbane Orb is good against Rakdos's Return, Tribute to Hunger, and Curse of Death's Hold, which would really suck.

C boards out 2x Rakdos's Return, 1x Murder, 1x Mystic Retrieval, and 1x Think Twice. He boards in 2x Pithing Needle and 3x Slaughter Games.

Even though they are excellent cards in this matchup, Rakdos's Return and Lone Revenant are going to sit out because he will inevitably board against them. Sectoid knows all too well my trick of sneaking the Revenant in when least expected.

Game 2

S plays first. He keeps an opener of 2x Steam Vents, Blood Crypt, Island, Swamp, Gilded Lotus, and Chromatic Lantern.

this is a really crappy hand, but it has a LOT of mana really fast in it, so i might win a bolas race. i really don't want to mulligan and give caley more card advantage than he's already going to have by being on the draw and having all those card advantage cards.

C keeps an opener of Mountain, Swamp, Dragonskull Summit, Slaughter Games, Chromatic Lantern, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and Think Twice.

Slaughter Games and decent mana = keep.

Turn 1

S plays Steam Vents tapped and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays Swamp and passes.

Turn 2

S draws Tribute to Hunger. He plays Steam Vents tapped and passes.

C draws Murder. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Turn 3

S draws Rakdos Charm. He plays Swamp, casts Chromatic Lantern, and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Swamp.

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Mountain, casts Chromatic Lantern, and passes.

Turn 4

S draws Swamp and plays Blood Crypt tapped. He casts Rakdos Charm destroying Chromatic Lantern, then passes.

good way to put him behind. wish it was Slaughter Games though.

C draws Swamp and plays Dragonskull Summit. He casts Slaughter Games naming Slaughter Games, exiling 3x Slaughter Games from the library. C passes.

Now I feel a little better.

goddamn it. sometimes it feels like whoever casts Slaughter Games first wins in this kind of matchup.

Turn 5

S draws Witchbane Orb

oh, hilarious. where were you last turn. at least he can't do that again, and i'm safe from Tribute to Hunger and Rakdos's Return and Curse of Death's Hold.

S plays Island. He casts Gilded Lotus and then Witchbane Orb. He passes.

With that play, he's still in very good shape, especially if he draws a Rakdos's Return followed by a Bolas in the next few turns, or has those cards in hand.

C draws Barter in Blood. He plays Swamp and passes.

Turn 6

S draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Swamp and casts it. Bolas blows up C's Drowned Catacomb. In response, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Tribute to Hunger. Then he passes.

now he has no blue.

C draws Swamp. He plays Swamp. He casts Dreadbore destroying Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He passes.

He is wearing my defenses somewhat thin. I have Barter in Blood still in hand to stop the likely creatures that will be coming soon, but my Tribute to Hunger is useless, I have no blue mana, and he still has a mystery card in hand.

Turn 7

S draws Witchbane Orb.

that is annoying.

S does nothing and passes.

C draws Pithing Needle. He does nothing and passes.

Not going to deploy the anti-Bolas weapon unless he has a Bolas and I don't.

Turn 8

S draws Dragonskull Summit. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Pithing Needle. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 9

S draws Invisible Stalker. He casts it and passes.

C draws Dreadbore. He casts Barter in Blood, killing the Stalker, and passes.

Absolutely cannot risk it, not with Tribute to Hunger down for the count. I like to rag on Witchbane Orb a lot, but it certainly works well against MY deck.

Turn 10

S draws Rakdos's Return. He casts it for 7 at C. C discards Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, 2x Pithing Needle, Dreadbore, Tribute to Hunger, and Murder. (S 20, C 13). S passes.

Not looking good now.

i actually expected this to get countered.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 11

S draws Swamp. He plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

Well, at least he doesn't seem to be able to kill me quite yet.

C draws Think Twice. He does nothing and passes.

Hey, maybe I can use it to find a blue lan-- oh wait.

Turn 12

S draws Counterflux. He plays Swamp and passes.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

I normally scream at people to hold needless lands in their hands as bluffs. Why am I now playing this land, which does not really help me at all, since only blue lands help me in the slightest? Well, playing this land, given that he knows that I normally hold one land in hand, implies that I am holding on to ANOTHER land and a third spell. This makes him less likely to waste a Rakdos's Return on me, and I really don't want to get Rakdos's Returned with a Bolas in hand. Thus the play.

Turn 13

S draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it and passes.

C draws Island. He plays it and passes.

damn.

Turn 14

S draws Nightveil Specter. He casts it and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice. S Counterfluxes it.

A debatable play at best. True, I have represented my hand as being trash, but even so, countering a Think Twice nets -1 card advantage. Still, it might be worth it since he is clearly ahead. He will regret it if I draw blue mana, though. Unless he has another counterspell, which he probably does if he's willing to counter this.

C draws Island. He plays it and casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Bolas steals Nightveil Specter. C passes.

crap, that was a bad play. sorry, person whose deck this is, you probably would have done that a lot better.

So he didn't have another counter. I really think countering Think Twice was a bad play.

Turn 15

S draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He casts it, destroying both Bolases. S passes.

close call.

On the plus side, he's now completely out of Bolas, and I have a very useful Nightveil Specter.

C draws Mystic Retrieval.

Usually a good draw. In this kind of situation, I normally hang onto it until something particular is needed, unless I can get back a Counterflux, which I can't.

C attacks with Nightveil Specter. S responds with Tribute to Hunger and the Specter dies. (S 23, C 13). C passes.

Turn 16

S draws Island and plays it. He passes.

C draws Counterflux. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 17

S draws Drowned Catacomb. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He does nothing and passes.

Be nice if I could kill that Witchbane Orb. Then it would be Slaughter Games hilarity time.

Turn 18

S draws Guttersnipe and casts it. He passes.

C draws Island and plays it. He casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Murder and passes.

Can't cast the Murder this turn or I'll be short of Counterflux mana. Nasty side effect of holding onto this Dragonskull Summit as a fake-out.

Turn 19

S draws Rakdos's Return. He casts it for 12 at C. C responds with Counterflux, but takes 2 from Guttersnipe. (S 23, C 11). S attacks with Guttersnipe and hits. (S 23, C 9). S passes.

mayyyybe i can get him on damage.

Wow, that ended up being really important.

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He plays Dragonskull Summit. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Counterflux and Murders Guttersnipe. Then he passes.

Just barely keeping up here.

Turn 20

S draws Invisible Stalker and casts it. C hits it with Counterflux. S passes.

With Bolas and Rakdos out of the enemy deck, and with Tribute to Hunger disabled, this is an excellent use of a counterspell.

just need a few more creatures to bring it home. maybe i should have boarded in Skullcrack.

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Counterflux. He passes.

that's so demoralizing. one Mystic Retrieval is basically two Counterflux.

Turn 21

S draws Tribute to Hunger. He does nothing and passes.

I have one more card in my library. Neither of us is using Nephalia Drownyard or anything similar. I have one Bolas left, and he has plenty of counterspells left in his deck or hand. Thus, this might be a mill-out situation, and I don't want to use the Think Twice sitting in my graveyard.

C draws Mountain and plays Drowned Catacomb. He passes.

Turn 22

S draws Dragonskull Summit and plays Drowned Catacomb. He passes.

C draws Slaughter Games. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 23

S draws Guttersnipe and casts it. He passes.

C draws Counterflux. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval to fetch Murder, then Murders Guttersnipe. In response, S casts Tribute to Hunger targeting C. C sacrifices no creatures, but Guttersnipe deals 2 damage. (S 23, C 7). C passes.

He might be able to nickel and dime me to death; this is a clever play.

think if he had put in Lone Revenant i would have seen it by now. why would he leave it out though?

Turn 24

S draws Chromatic Lantern and casts it. Then he passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb and plays it. Then he passes.

Turn 25

S draws Steam Vents, plays it tapped, and passes.

C draws Barter in Blood, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 26

S draws Island, plays Dragonskull Summit, and passes.

I would have held on to that. He really doesn't need any mana at all right now.

C draws Island, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 27

S draws Tribute to Hunger. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Mountain. He plays it and passes.

To get down to 7 cards.

Turn 28

S draws Witchbane Orb. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Slaughter Games. He plays Island and passes.

Turn 29

S draws Call of the Nightwing. He does nothing and passes.

this is really good if i can get a creature out.

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Mountain and passes.

Turn 30

S draws Nightveil Specter. He casts it, then casts Call of the Nightwing encoded onto it, bringing out a 1/1. He passes.

C draws Murder. He casts Barter in Blood, killing all the creatures. He passes.

shoulda known.

Turn 31

S draws Guttersnipe. During the first main phase, C casts Murder on the Guttersnipe. S responds with Tribute to Hunger, killing no creatures but letting the Guttersnipe deal 2 damage. (S 23, C 5). S passes.

C draws Gilded Lotus and casts it. He passes.

Turn 32

S draws Counterflux. He does nothing and passes.

awesome. i am actually not doing bad since he only has one bolas left.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 33

S draws Drowned Catacomb. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it and passes.

With 18 cards each left, but him drawing next, I am in good shape for the mill victory unless he still has Dimir Charm in there. Fortunately I have two Counterflux in hand.

Turn 34

S draws Invisible Stalker. He casts it, but it runs into Counterflux. S passes.

i'm sooooo clooooseee

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Dragonskull Summit. He casts Bolas. S Counterfluxes it. C passes.

Amazingly, that's five copies of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in the two graveyards, without any Slaughter Games or other such effects. I must now rely on the mill victory, which is tenuous if he's hanging on to Dimir Charms, since I'll have a tough time answering those AND creatures.

Turn 35

S draws Drowned Catacomb, plays it, and passes.

Looking through his graveyard, I see that he must only have two creatures left, one of which is an Invisible Stalker. I have two copies of Barter in Blood and two copies of Counterflux in my library, plus a Counterflux already in hand, so those are good odds. Plus, the mainboard of his deck has 3x Dimir Charm and I really suspect I'd have seen at least one in the first 44 cards of the deck. Doing some quick and dirty mental math puts those odds at somewhere less than three percent. So I feel pretty good, and will definitely use my Counterflux on Invisible Stalker. These kinds of matches are really making me like the idea of Nephalia Drownyard; they're happening with increasing frequency.

C draws Mountain. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 36

S draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays it and passes.

c'moooon creatures.

C draws Island. He does nothing and passes.

Turn 37

S draws Nightveil Specter. He casts it and passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He casts Dreadbore targeting Nightveil Specter and passes.

With this draw of Barter in Blood, I win unless he does have those Dimir Charms, and can draw two and cast them before I draw another Counterflux. He can also stay alive by preventing a Barter in Blood to kill his Invisible Stalker with his own Counterflux. To do this, he would need to make sure the Stalker resolves by casting at least one Dimir Charm first to draw out my own counter; otherwise I would counter the Stalker. Other than these possibilities, he's drawing dead.

only five damage! gotta be five damage left around here somewhere.

Turn 38

S draws Counterflux. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Mountain and passes.

Turn 39

S draws Island. He plays it and passes.

C draws Counterflux. He plays Island and passes.

One card away from guaranteed victory. The only way he wins now is to draw two Dimir Charms, cast them into my counterspells, and then to draw and cast Invisible Stalker and kill me with it before I can draw my last Barter in Blood. Even this scenario vanishes if I can just draw that last Barter in Blood.

Turn 40

S draws Last Thoughts. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb, plays it, and passes.

Turn 41

S draws Island. He plays it and passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He does nothing and passes, discarding Slaughter Games to get to 7.

Turn 42

S draws Guttersnipe. He casts it but it runs into Counterflux. He passes.

This was shocking! I apparently miscounted his mainboarded and not included this Guttersnipe. All that confident puffing above about certain victory should be discounted. Still, any victory for him does rely on his having Dimir Charm or Skullcrack (which I also forgot about until just now), which I don't think he has. I had to counter Guttersnipe, as any instants and sorceries he has mostly turn into Shocks in that case, and I am at 5 life.

C draws Island. He plays it and passes.

Turn 43

S draws Last Thoughts. He does nothing and passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts it and passes.

Turn 44

S draws Invisible Stalker. He casts it and passes.

C draws Counterflux. He casts Barter in Blood, killing the Stalker, then passes.

Ok, NOW I think I win. Even if he has nasty spells hiding at the bottom of the deck, I can now counter up to 2 of them. The odds of him having Skullcrack and/or Dimir Charm and having them all in the last seven cards of the deck are statistically insignificant.

Turn 45

S draws Counterflux. C shows S his hand, and S concedes. Caley wins the match 2-0.

i know i don't have more than 2 threats left in the deck.

Thoughts

Wow, what a match! It was 2-0 but it felt much closer, as it was nearly 70 turns of Magic! I learned a lot of lessons from this match, namely:

1 - Pithing Needle is not a great choice for me to board in when the only thing I really want to stop with it is an enemy Bolas.

2 - Nephalia Drownyard looks increasingly good.

3 - Witchbane Orb is probably better than I give it credit for. Especially combined with Invisible Stalker, it can be a real nightmare for my deck.

4 - It's subtle, but against other controlish decks, Mystic Retrieval might be as valuable as any other card in the deck.

5 - Counterspells. Win. Games. In case you didn't know that I think that.

I think Sectoid made a few play errors; one of them was particularly bad. Back in the first part of game 2, he countered Think Twice, then got really unlucky as I drew Bolas the very next turn. Still, you should basically NEVER counter Think Twice unless you can guarantee an immediate win by doing so. You are LOSING CARD ADVANTAGE to your opponent (unless you use Dissipate, in which case you break even), and why counter Think Twice with the almighty Counterflux when you could just use the Counterflux on the nasty thing being drawn? In this case, it proved REALLY bad for him because I got the first Bolas off, and if he hadn't drawn his own Bolas immediately afterward, he would have lost at once. Furthermore, if he HAD countered my Bolas, he would have been in an excellent position to win the game with his own Bolas casting. That more than likely cost him game 2.

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i totally screwed this one up; should not have countered Think Twice. as far as thoughts about the deck go, i like it! game 1 was a pretty bad run because of all the Hands of Binding and stuff, but that's probably really good against a lot of decks. once i boarded it out things got much better. we really should have probably won game 2, and i think we would have had the advantage in game 3, except for the dumb countering. i might have also made bad sideboarding choices, but they all seemed good at the time. i think your deck, once the sideboarding is right, is really good against caley's deck. if i had another shot at it with this deck i think i'd be able to win.