Daily Dose 30 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

6 February 2013

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vs. Rawdealmark, MTGO

MTGO is being awful and eating games so that they don't show up in the recorded history, thus, I can't play them back. After playing about 7 matches, I finally played a match where it left me with at least a few games. I may have to move to something more technologically superior, like video casting. So far FRAPS does not agree with me; anyone have any other suggestions?

Without further ado, the match for today. The deck I ran was Bolas for a Better Tomorrow.

Game 1

MTGO ate this game, so sadly I can't show it to you. From what I recall:

I drew a reasonable-but-not-great opener that had three lands, only one of which had black mana, and a bunch of black kill cards plus Counterflux and Bolas.

Enemy immediately started playing a pretty fast rat deck, forcing me to discard a bunch of stuff. I went 2 turns stuck on three land and started to get overwhelmed as I ran out of kill spells and had the wrong mana for others. Finally I drew a couple of lands and got out a Gilded Lotus, but he played so many creatures the following turn that even getting out Bolas, which I could have done, would not have saved me. I conceded and sideboarded in 2x Curse of Death's Hold and 2x Pithing Needle for 4x Counterflux, which was far too slow against this deck, and not particularly valuable. The Pithing Needle was for the dangerous Pack Rat.

Game 2

Caley plays first and keeps a hand of 2x Dragonskull Summit, Mountain, Murder, Curse of Death's Hold, Barter in Blood, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

I had only seen one creature with greater than 1 toughness in his deck, and that was a single copy of Vampire Nighthawk, so keeping the Curse seemed like an excellent plan.

Enemy keeps their opener.

Turn 1

Caley plays Dragonskull Summit tapped and passes.

Enemy plays Swamp and passes.

Turn 2

Caley draws Dreadbore, plays Dragonskull Summit tapped, and passes.

Enemy plays Swamp and casts Ravenous Rats. Caley discards Dreadbore. E passes.

Turn 3

C draws Mountain, plays it, and passes.

My main priority should be to protect the Curse of Death's Hold in hand. I will even discard Bolas before Curse; it's more or less a game winner.

E plays Swamp and casts Sewer Shambler. Then he attacks with Ravenous Rats and passes. (Enemy 20, Caley 19).

Turn 4

C draws Dreadbore, plays Mountain, and casts Barter in Blood, then passes.

A debatable play. My thoughts: I may or may not have enough mana to cast Curse of Death's Hold next turn (or the turn after that), so

In retrospect, I think I misplayed this situation. I'm at 19 life and can afford to take a few turns of 3-damage hits.

E plays Swamp. He casts Pack Rat and Drainpipe Vermin. Then he passes.

Turn 5

Caley draws Tribute to Hunger. He casts Dreadbore targeting Pack Rat, then passes.

Of course, Death's Hold kills Pack Rat even if he makes a bunch of subrats, but letting him get away with such nonsense is dangerous if I continue to run into mana screw. I could also kill the Drainpipe now and avoid the discard, but I'm not too worried about that at the moment.

E activates Sewer Shambler from the graveyard, turning Drainpipe Vermin into a 3/3. It attacks and hits. (Enemy 20, Caley 16). E then plays a Swamp and passes.

Turn 6

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays it, tapped. Then he passes.

Curse of Death's Hold next turn, so for now I'll use the opportunity to keep the Vermin from bothering me.

E casts Sign in Blood targeting himself. (E 18, C 16). Then he casts Ravenous Rats. C responds immediately with Tribute to Hunger, which puts Drainpipe Vermin in the graveyard. (C 19, E 18) Ravenous Rats resolves and C discards Murder.

My opponent's bad habit of casting all his stuff before attacking catches up to him. If you're a less experienced Magic player, note the advantages I have reaped by being patient and not casting a kill spell on MY turn. By waiting for his turn, I had an opportunity to kill the annoying Drainpipe Vermin while he was tapped out, and now I'm a card up as a result. ALSO note his mistake - he should have attacked before tapping out, knowing that I run a bunch of kill spells. This would have forced me to choose between a- taking the damage and gambling that he might tap out so I could kill Drainpipe Vermin in peace (which is what I likely would have done), or b- Killing the Vermin immediately and discarding a card, to save 3 damage. As he played it, I had to make no such choice. IN GENERAL, if you're going to attack, it's best to do so BEFORE you start casting things not relevant to the attack.

Turn 7

C draws Mountain. He plays it and casts Curse of Death's Hold targeting E. Ravenous Rats dies. C plays Mountain and passes.

I could have conceivably held Mountain in hand to protect Bolas, but with two copies of Bolas left in the deck, I'm not sweating that problem too much. I just want to make sure I get the mana out to CAST Bolas.

E casts Sign in Blood targeting himself. (C 19, E 16). He passes after playing a Swamp.

Turn 8

C draws Swamp, plays it, and passes.

Now I MUST have a blue mana to cast Bolas, and if I draw lands that don't produce blue, THEY will be fit to use as discard armor for Bolas.

E does nothing and passes.

Curse of Death's Hold working well.

Turn 9

C draws Mystic Retrieval, does nothing, and passes.

E plays a Swamp and casts Drainpipe Vermin, which dies immediately. He pays to make C discard, and C discards Mystic Retrieval. E passes.

Turn 10

C draws a Swamp. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval targeting Dreadbore and passes.

The purpose of this play is to ensure that I don't have to discard Bolas; he has 7 cards in hand and I bet a few of them can make me discard.

E casts Vampire Nighthawk. Then he casts Sewer Shambler, which dies immediately.

Putting it in his graveyard for later use.

Turn 11

C draws Think Twice. He casts Dreadbore on Vampire Nighthawk and passes.

E casts Gravepurge targeting Vampire Nighthawk, Pack Rat, 2x Ravenous Rats, and 2x Drainpipe Vermin. He casts Vampire Nighthawk and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice drawing Gilded Lotus.

Now I'm on the clock; he could force me to discard my hand if he had the mana. Fortunately, Gilded Lotus puts me one turn away even if I don't draw blue this turn.

Turn 12

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He casts Gilded Lotus and passes.

By my count, with the six mana he has, he can make me discards three cards. I have three cards in hand including Bolas, but can draw an extra by flashing back Think Twice, so I should be ok.

E plays Drainpipe Vermin, which dies, and pays to force C to discard. C discards Swamp.

At this point, he thought for a long time, apparently pondering whether it would be better to make me discard more or to pump up his Vampire Nighthawk.

E activates Sewer Shambler from the graveyard, making Vampire Nighthawk a 3/4. He attacks with the Nighthawk and hits. End step, C flashes back Think Twice and draws Murder. (E 19, C 16).

Turn 13

C draws Swamp. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Bolas destroys a Swamp (8 LC) and C passes after playing Dragonskull Summit.

With a Murder in hand, I do not fear the Nighthawk at all.

E casts Sign in Blood targeting himself. (E 17 C 16). He attacks Bolas with the Nighthawk, but C Murders it. E casts Ravenous Rats, which dies immediately, but not before forcing C to discard Swamp. E passes.

Turn 14

C draws Mountain and plays it. Bolas destroys a Swamp (LC 11) and C passes.

E does nothing and passes.

Turn 15

C draws Mystic Retrieval. Bolas uses his -7 ability, destroying E's board and emptying his hand. (C 16, E 10).

There then followed two 4-turn cycles of C pumping up Bolas by destroying either E's land or his own land, then activating Bolas' ultimate to deal 7 damage. C wins game 2.

Sideboarding

No changes.

Game 3

E plays first. He keeps his opener.

C keeps an opener of Swamp, Mountain, Pithing Needle, Gilded Lotus, Tribute to Hunger, and 2x Mystic Retrieval.

Kinda meh, but Tribute to Hunger is good, Pithing Needle will alleviate any serious Pack Rat worries, and 2x Mystic Retrieval is at least great to discard.

Turn 1

E plays Swamp and passes.

C draws Swamp, plays Mountain, and casts Pithing Needle, naming Pack Rat. He passes.

Turn 2

E plays Swamp and casts Knight of Infamy, then passes.

Since this is the first I've seen of him, this is probably a sideboard choice, but it's a puzzling one. Against a non-white deck with a lot of kill spells that has broadcast that it intends to Curse of Death's Hold you into defeat, this is not the best choice. Of course, perhaps he boarded in everything better that he had, and found that he still needed to get rid of Murders and other kill spells that are useless against my deck. If that is the case, his sideboarding was wise.

C draws Curse of Death's Hold and plays Swamp. He passes.

If I could Silence my opponent for one turn in the entire match, it would be the next turn, but alas, it is not to be.

Turn 3

E attacks with Knight of Infamy and hits. (E 20, C 17). He casts Vampire Nighthawk and passes after playing a Swamp.

Without any blue to cast Mystic Retrieval, all I have to defend myself with for now is just Tribute to Hunger. Ironically I am starting to hope he makes me discard so I can flash back the Retrieval.

C draws Island and plays Swamp. He passes.

There's my blue. One more mana and this will all hopefully be moot.

Turn 4

E plays a Swamp and casts Mark of the Vampire targeting Knight of Infamy. Caley responds with Tribute to Hunger. E sacrifices Vampire Nighthawk. (E 20, C 20).

Figured I might as well cast it then and give him the most tempting opportunity to make the mistake of sacrificing the Knight instead of the Nighthawk, but he played it properly.

E attacks with the Knight and hits. (E 25, C 15). E passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern.

Now I have a decision to make. Choice 1 is to play my Island and cast Mystic Retrieval on Tribute to Hunger, which will hopefully stop the bleeding next turn. Choice 2 is to cast Chromatic Lantern to guarantee the playability of Curse of Death's Hold next turn, but which will leave me otherwise defenseless for a while. I didn't like choice 1 because the Tribute to Hunger will not work very well if he casts a Ravenous Rats or whatever during his next turn. That possibility seems highly likely, so....

C plays Island and casts Chromatic Lantern. He passes.

Turn 5

E plays a Swamp and casts two copies of Ravenous Rats. C discards both Mystic Retrievals. E attacks with the Knight and hits. (E 30, C 10). E passes.

Now I'm REALLY glad I didn't go for that Tribute to Hunger. My plan now will be a- Get out Curse of Death's Hold to prevent further weenie shenanigans. b - Either draw a kill spell or flash back the Tribute to Hunger to deal with the pesky knight. c - Smooth sailing to Bolastown, Population 777.

C draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Curse of Death's Hold and the Rats die. He passes.

I'll be walking on thin ice here for a while. His next attack will take me down to 6, and if he manages to get out another creature that can survive the Curse, I'll come dangerously close to zero before I can flash back Tribute to Hunger a second time. Still, the two Mystic Retrievals in the graveyard SHOULD be sufficient to keep me alive, and Tribute to Hunger's lifegain is always very helpful.

Turn 6

E casts Ravenous Rats and C discards Gilded Lotus. E attacks with Knight of Infamy and hits. (E 34, C 6). E passes.

C draws Curse of Death's Hold.

I could play it now, which would also slow down the damage I'm taking, but this seems to tempt fate. Safest to ensure the death of the knight before I make such a marginal-value play.

C flashes back Tribute to Hunger and casts it; the Knight dies. (E 34, C 8). C passes.

Turn 7

E does nothing and passes.

Nothing feels better for the Control player than the feeling of finally having all the game's variables more or less managed, and all of your opponent's play killed.

C draws Dreadbore. He casts Curse of Death's Hold and passes.

Turn 8

E casts Sewer Shambler, which dies, and passes.

C draws Murder, does nothing, and passes.

This is getting kind of existential. It's like Waiting for Godot, only it's Waiting for Bolas.

Turn 9

E casts Sewer Shambler, which dies, and passes.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. C does nothing and passes.

Impeccable timing. Now I just need a couple of mana sources

Turn 10

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Mountain and plays it. He passes.

"Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Bolas."

Turn 11

E casts Vampire Nighthawk and passes.

True, it's a 0/1, but he has plenty of Sewer Shamblers to pump it up with.

C draws Dreadbore, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 12

E casts Mark of the Vampire targeting Vampire Nighthawk, but C responds with Murder. E passes.

Strictly speaking, the most efficient play would be to wait for him to also use the Sewer Shamblers on the Nighthawk, but with my life at 8, I'm a bit cautious.

C draws Dreadbore, does nothing, and passes.

"Mr. Bolas told me to tell you he won't come this evening but surely tomorrow."

Turn 13

E plays a Swamp and passes.

C draws Tribute to Hunger, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 14

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Mountain, plays it, and casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Bolas blows up one of E's Swamps and E concedes. C wins the match 2-1.

Thoughts

• Mostly good play from both sides, though my opponent has that bad habit of casting sorcery-speed stuff prior to combat. I also made a few mistakes, as noted above.

• I liked my opponent's deck. The only thing really missing was a way to punish me for having no cards. A Shrieking Affliction seems nice for him, perhaps.

• My deck continues to perform well, if a bit clumsily at times. The mana base is in need of some repair if I ever get the cash for shock lands, and I continue to ponder whether more targeted removal would be superior to the Tribute to Hungers.