Daily Dose 43 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

2 March 2013

1134 views

vs. altaran2

My weapon of choice:

Bolas for a Better Tomorrow

Standard* KrazyCaley

SCORE: 107 | 506 COMMENTS | 23119 VIEWS | IN 42 FOLDERS

It's recently improved!

Game 1

Enemy wins the toss and plays first.

Enemy keeps their opener.

Caley keeps an opener of Swamp, Mountain, Watery Grave, Sulfur Falls, Dreadbore, Devour Flesh, Mystic Retrieval.

Turn 1

E plays Watery Grave tapped.

Almost always indicates Esper control. Could be a dedicated mill deck though.

C draws Barter in Blood. He plays Watery Grave tapped and passes.

Turn 2

E plays Glacial Fortress, then casts Augur of Bolas finding nothing. He passes.

Very probably Esper Control. Fortunately it's a good matchup for me, at least after I sideboard, and I can put up a very nice fight even in game 1.

C draws Slaughter Games. He plays Sulfur Falls and passes.

Given the choice, I would have drawn that card above all others.

Turn 3

E plays Glacial Fortress, then attacks with the Augur. C casts Devour Flesh. E responds with Azorius Charm returning the Augur to the top of his library. E passes.

Good play. It's slower than just using the Charm to draw a card, but it saves his creature and gets him a better quality of draw, assuming he can find a spell with the Augur.

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Swamp and passes.

Another great draw. Two copies of Dreadbore will give any Esper control player fits.

Turn 4

E casts Augur of Bolas, finding Dissipate. He plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

If not for this I probably would name a Planeswalker with Slaughter Games, but I always attack the hand with that spell if I know I can get rid of something.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Mountain and casts Slaughter Games naming Dissipate.

E's hand contains a Dissipate, which is exiled. The rest of his hand is Restoration Angel, Azorius Charm, and Supreme Verdict.

E's library has only one more Dissipate, which is exiled. It also contains:

3x Augur of Bolas

2x Azorius Charm

2x Devour Flesh

1x Dramatic Rescue

2x Obzedat, Ghost Council

2x Planar Cleansing

2x Restoration Angel

2x Snapcaster Mage

4x Sphinx's Revelation

3x Supreme Verdict

3x Think Twice

1x Ultimate Price

and a bunch of land, including 4x Nephalia Drownyard.

I haven't seen the sideboard, but the mainboard is nearly a direct copy of that of Ben Stark's Pro Tour deck, which is probably the future of Esper control. This guy has added Obzedat, Ghost Council and messed with the numbers a bit. Nephalia Drownyard is by far the most dangerous card. Alas, I have no answers to land. Well, I have ONE answer to land, and it's Bolas. Fortunately, this decklist has a weak chink in the armor, and that's its lack of counterspells. Essentially, this deck has very limited answers for Bolas (I think the sideboard only has 2x Duress and that's it), and that makes this a good matchup for me IF I can get to Bolas and dodge those Planar Cleansings.

C passes.

Turn 5

E casts Restoration Angel flickering Augur of Bolas, who finds Azorius Charm. E passes.

Well, at least I have something to do with Barter in Blood.

C draws Counterflux.

Interesting situation with two control decks stuck at four land. If it stays that way I'll have the advantage, since I can pick apart his deck two more times with Slaughter Games using Mystic Retrieval, albeit slowly.

C casts Barter in Blood and E's creatures die. C passes.

Turn 6

E casts Azorius Charm. Then he plays Isolated Chapel tapped and passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Slaughter Games. E responds with Azorius Charm, drawing a card.

Turn 7

E plays Hallowed Fountain untapped. (C 20, E 18). Then he casts Sphinx's Revelation for 3. (E 21, C 20). He passes.

C draws Murder.

He is getting uncomfortably far ahead on land. A Nephalia Drownyard played pretty soon will be troublesome.

C casts Slaughter Games naming Obzedat, Ghost Council.

Since I can't get the Nephalia Drownyards out, this probably makes the most sense.

C exiles two copies of Obzedat from the library. C sees a hand of Think Twice, Nephalia Drownyard, Snapcaster Mage, 2x Supreme Verdict, Restoration Angel. C passes.

Turn 8

E plays Nephalia Drownyard and passes.

Ok, we're going to need to get going now, deck.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts it and passes. End step, E flashes down Snapcaster Mage targeting Sphinx's Revelation, then casts the Revelation for 2. (E 23, C 20)

Now Gilded Lotus.

Turn 9

E plays Plains and attacks with Snapcaster, hitting. (E 23, C 18). He passes.

C draws Watery Grave. He plays it tapped. He casts Dreadbore on Snapcaster Mage. E responds with Restoration Angel, but C Counterfluxes it. Dreadbore resolves and kills the Snapcaster. End step, E drownyards, hitting a Devour Flesh and two land.

As intended. I can pick the Counterflux back up with Retrieval flashback later, too. My real problem is that Drownyard, though.

Turn 10

E casts Augur of Bolas finding Think Twice. He casts Think Twice. He plays Watery Grave tapped. He passes.

C draws Sulfur Falls and plays it. He casts Dreadbore on Augur of Bolas. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Counterflux, then passes. End step, E Drownyards. One of the milled cards is Think Twice.

I am a mana short of casting Counterflux, but I want him to think I have Negate, and this is a good way perhaps to make him think about it.

Turn 11

E plays Isolated Chapel, casts Think Twice, then Augur of Bolas, finding nothing. He passes.

C draws Mountain and plays it. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. In response E casts Sphinx's Revelation for 2. Bolas blows up Nephalia Drownyard. C passes.

One down, three to go. They are the only real threats remaining. I have six more cards than he does in the library, 36-30. I am vulnerable this turn if he drew Planar Cleansing at some point, but will win if he does not cast it.

Turn 12

E attacks C with the Augur. (E 23, C 17).

That's not good.

E plays Isolated Chapel, casts Planar Cleansing, destroying the Augur, the Lantern, and Bolas.

Losing Chromatic Lantern too is annoying.

E passes.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He does nothing and passes. End step, E flashes back Think Twice.

I'm 1 mana short on casting Mr. B. due to the loss of the lantern.

Turn 13

E plays Isolated Chapel and passes. End step C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Gilded Lotus.

I am fortunate he hasn't replaced Drownyard yet.

C draws Barter in Blood. He casts Gilded Lotus and passes. End step, E flashes back Think Twice.

Turn 14

E plays Nephalia Drownyard. E casts Augur of Bolas finding nothing.

Rats. But I have another Bolas!

C draws Think Twice. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, who destroys Nephalia Drownyard. In response, E activates the drownyard. One of the milled cards is a Mystic Retrieval.

I have 29 cards left; he has 22. He's been drawing a lot.

Turn 15

E attacks with Augur of Bolas and hits. (E 25, C 16). He casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Planar Cleansing. He plays Drowned Catacomb, then casts Planar Cleansing and passes. End step, C casts [[Think Twice drawing Watery Grave.

Killed a lot of his own stuff, but it's unimportant. He just needs to kill Bolases. Fortunately, he's now out of Snapcasters AND he only has one Cleansing left in the deck.

C draws Island. He plays Watery Grave tapped, then passes.

I have two drownyards of my own right now that would be quite handy...

Turn 16

E plays Island and passes. End step C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Counterflux.

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Island and passes.

Turn 17

E plays Hallowed Fountain untapped and passes. (E 23, C 16)

C draws Devour Flesh, does nothing, and passes.

Turn 18

E plays Island and passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit, plays it, and passes.

One more mana and I can cast a Bolas and protect him with a Counterflux simultaneously.

Turn 19

E does nothing and passes.

C draws Gilded Lotus. He casts it and passes. End step, E casts Sphinx's Revelation for 4, then casts Think Twice, then flashes back the Think Twice.

Now it's just a question of whether he can draw a Drownyard and mill me to death before I can get a Bolas, or my own Drownyards. Him drawing a ton of cards lets him find his drownyard faster, but it also puts him dangerously close to milling HIMSELF out; he only has 12 cards left after this and I have 22.

Turn 20

E plays Glacial Fortress. He passes, discarding two lands, Supreme Verdict, and Devour Flesh to get to 7 cards.

C draws Nephalia Drownyard and plays it. He passes.

I now win by force.

Turn 21

E plays Nephalia Drownyard. He activates it, milling nothing relevant, and passes. End step, C activates his Drownyard and E concedes.

Sideboarding

C boards out 3x Devour Flesh and 2x Barter in Blood. He boards in 2x Pithing Needle and 3x Dissipate.

The needle is, of course, for Nephalia Drownyard.

Game 2

E plays first and keeps his opener.

C mulligans an opener of Island, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Chromatic Lantern, 2x Dreadbore, Think Twice and Counterflux.

Agh, even one land makes this very playable.

C keeps a six hand of 2x Watery Grave, Swamp, Slaughter Games, Gilded Lotus, and Dissipate.

Much better.

Turn 1

E plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He plays Watery Grave tapped and passes.

Turn 2

E plays Isolated Chapel and passes.

C draws Pithing Needle. He plays Watery Grave tapped and passes.

Not playing the Needle just yet.

Turn 3

E plays Isolated Chapel and passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays Swamp and passes.

Turn 4

E plays Nephalia Drownyard. He passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it, then casts Slaughter Games. E responds with Restoration Angel. C names Augur of Bolas. He exiles four from the library. He sees a hand of Snapcaster Mage, Obzedat, Ghost Council, another Restoration Angel, Watery Grave, Island.

His deck had been modified to include Jace, Memory Adept, Negate, Dispel, Witchbane Orb, Psychic Spiral, and Angel of Serenity.

C passes.

I am in a really bad spot. Ordinarily I'd love to see that hand from him, but incredibly, I have drawn zero kill spells! I did board out five kill spells, but there are still 10 left.

Turn 5

E plays Watery Grave untapped and casts Obzedat, Ghost Council. (E 20, C 18). He attacks with Restoration Angel then passes, exiling Obzedat. (E 20, C 15).

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it, casts Gilded Lotus, and passes.

Need to pray for a Murder here. Or Bolas, of course..

Turn 6

Obzedat returns, then E attacks with everything and hits. E passes, exiling Obzedat. (E 22, C 5).

C draws Counterflux and concedes.

Sideboarding

C makes no changes.

That's right, no changes. You think a fluky all-creature hand from the opponent is going to scare the all-powerful Bolas? 10 kill spells should be sufficient against his limited creature count.

Game 3

C plays first.

With the annoyingly-flash-enable Restoration Angel as well as the four-cost Witchbane Orb, this is important! I would like to get to Slaughter Games before he can start up those shenanigans.

C keeps an opener of Dragonskull Summit, Drowned Catacomb, Sulfur Falls, Island, Murder, Slaughter Games, and Chromatic Lantern.

Love it.

Turn 1

C plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

E plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

Turn 2

C draws Think Twice, plays Island, and passes.

E plays Glacial Fortress and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice drawing Desolate Lighthouse.

Turn 3

C plays Drowned Catacomb and casts Chromatic Lantern. Then he passes.

E plays Drowned Catacomb tapped. Then he casts Augur of Bolas. C Dissipates it. E passes.

Don't want him drawing instants and sorceries.

Turn 4

C draws Counterflux. He plays Sulfur Falls and casts Slaughter Games naming Restoration Angel. He exiles one from the hand and two from the library. He sees a hand of Witchbane Orb, Dispel, Planar Cleansing and Jace, Memory Adept.

He had made no sideboarding changes after game 2 either. This hand of his is actually nice for me; he will cast Witchbane Orb next (IF he draws a land), which I don't really care about because I've resolved Slaughter Games already, boarded out Devour Flesh, and can blow up the Orb with Bolas to enable his ultimate. Then, next turn, he'll probably try to cast Jace, Memory Adept and run into my counterspell. So things are pretty smooth sailing for me for a while.

E casts Think Twice. Then he plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

Turn 5

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He casts Chromatic Lantern and passes.

E casts Witchbane Orb.

Without the Slaughter Games, I might be somewhat tempted to counter this, but with Jace behind it, it's a no-brainer to let it through.

E passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Drowned Catacomb.

Turn 6

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

Perfect! Planar Cleansing costs 6 and he only has four lands! The only thing that can stop me now is a counterspell. I found myself hoping he'd avoid mana screw and get a land, because then he'd tap out to try and resolve Jace, Memory Adept, which would let me get Bolas through unchallenged.

E plays Isolated Chapel. He does nothing and passes.

Darn. Either he drew a counterspell, or he's a veteran control player who knows the score about situations like this.

Turn 7

C draws Counterflux. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes. E flashes back Think Twice, end step.

E plays a Plains. He casts Jace, Memory Adept. C responds with Counterflux. E passes.

I wonder why he changed his mind.

Turn 8

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Only thing better than Bolas in hand with 8 mana out is 2x Bolas in hand with 8 mana out.

C casts Bolas. Bolas blows up a land. C passes.

The next turn will lose the game for my opponent if he does not draw a land. Even if he does, he will then need to draw ANOTHER Planar Cleansing and resolve it, since I have another Bolas.

Turn 9

E draws and concedes. Caley wins the match 2-1.

Thoughts

• Heavy Nephalia Drownyard Esper Control is a nasty archetype, but it is weak against my deck due to its lack of counterspells. It HAS to stop Bolas and has few ways of doing so.