Daily Dose 49 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

28 March 2013

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Community Matchup

Bolas for a Better Tomorrow

Standard* KrazyCaley

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

vs.

deck-large:blood-is-its-own-reward

Piloted by Elaine, comments in bold.

Game 1

Elaine wins the toss and plays first. She keeps an opener of 2x Plains, Swamp, Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, 2x Blood Artist, Geralf's Messenger.

Caley mulligans an opening hand of Desolate Lighthouse, Barter in Blood, Murder, Devour Flesh, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Dreadbore, Counterflux.

Caley keeps a 6 hand of Watery Grave, Drowned Catacomb, Nephalia Drownyard, Think Twice, Dreadbore, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

E plays Swamp and passes.

C draws Island, plays Watery Grave tapped and passes.

E draws Swamp, plays it, casts Blood Artist, and passes.

C draws Desolate Lighthouse, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

E draws Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, plays Plains, casts Blood Artist, and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Barter in Blood.

C draws Island and plays it. He passes.

E draws Disciple of Bolas. She casts Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip and passes after playing Plains. C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Staff of Nin.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts it, then casts Dreadbore targeting Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip and passes after playing Desolate Lighthouse. (E 20, C 18).

Not really how I wanted to get rid of that, but eh, I'm lucky to even be alive.

E draws Swamp and plays it. She casts Geralf's Messenger and passes. (E 20, C 16).

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Nephalia Drownyard, then casts Staff of Nin. The staff kills a Blood Artist (E 20, C 14), then C passes.

E draws Isolated Chapel and plays it tapped. She casts Disciple of Bolas sacrificing Geralf's Messenger, which returns with undying. (E 23, C 11). She draws Faith's Reward, Disciple of Bolas, Swamp. She passes.

C draws Murder and Staff of Nin. He kills Blood Artist with Staff of Nin, (E 23, C 10) then casts Barter in Blood to wipe the board.

He has cleared the field, but fortunately I refuelled. That damn staff is going to refuel him too, though.

E draws Vampire Nighthawk and casts it, then plays a Swamp passes. C Murders it in the end step. E responds with Faith's Reward, bringing it back.

C draws Sulfur Falls and Gilded Lotus, and plays the Falls. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, who steals the Nighthawk. C passes.

E draws Killing Wave and concedes.

Can only cast one creature. He'll steal it, then blow something up, and draw two cards, and I lose, basically.

Sideboarding

E boards in 3x Knight of Glory and 3x Oblivion Ring. She boards out 3x Killing Wave and 3x Bloodflow Connoisseur.

Killing Wave is useless, while the Connoisseur is basically a 1/1 for three against his deck. Very useful replacements, though.

C boards in 3x Slaughter Games and 2x Grafdigger's Cage. He boards out 2x Gilded Lotus, 1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, 1x Think Twice, and 1x Mystic Retrieval.

Game 2

E mulligans an opener of Swamp, 2x Undying Evil, Oblivion Ring, Knight of Glory, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, and Thrull Parasite

C keeps an opener of Watery Grave, Mountain, Swamp, Devour Flesh, Barter in Blood, Think Twice, and Slaughter Games.

E keeps an opener of Plains, Swamp, Knight of Glory, 2x Disciple of Bolas, Undying Evil.

E plays Swamp and passes.

C draws Murder, plays Watery Grave tapped, and passes.

E draws Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. She casts Knight of Glory and passes.

I might want to cast it with three mana so that I can Undying Evil it, but I don't have any other lands in hand and this guy has pro-black, which might make him a little resilient until next turn.

C draws Island and plays Swamp. He casts Devour Flesh and passes. (E 21, C 20).

Orrrrr not.

E draws Knight of Glory and casts it, then passes.

C draws Murder. He plays Mountain and passes.

E draws Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. She attacks with the Knight and hits. (E 21, C 17). She passes. End step C casts Think Twice drawing Drowned Catacomb.

Ok, now the undying mess can work. Hopefully that will keep the pressure on until I can get some lands.

C draws Watery Grave. He plays Drowned Catacomb. He casts Slaughter Games naming Geralf's Messenger, and exiles three of them from the library. He passes.

That probably actually helps me right now.

E draws Isolated Chapel. She attacks with the Knight and hits. (E 21, C 14). She passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He casts it targeting Slaughter Games. He plays Watery Grave tapped and passes.

E draws Swamp and plays it.

This is a crappy, crappy situation. If I don't do anything, he's going to Slaughter Games me for two of my creatures. If I cast any of my creatures, I'm tapped out and can't use Undying Evil, and I might run into Barter in Blood. I think the best idea is to make him burn some time to cast that Slaughter Games, and use Undying Evil if I can.

E attacks with Knight of Glory and hits. (E 21, C 11). She passes.

Obviously she wants to use that Undying Evil, but I think she's forgetting that it has pro-black.

C draws Nephalia Drownyard and plays Island. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Devour Flesh and passes.

I always forget that that card goes TWICE.

E draws Isolated Chapel and plays it. She casts Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. C responds with Devour Flesh. E responds with Undying Evil. She tries to target the Knight of Glory but C points out that that is illegal. E undoes the casting and sacs the Knight. She passes.

Fuuuuuuuuuu

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Nephalia Drownyard. He casts Slaughter Games. When it resolves, he names Disciple of Bolas, exiling two from the hand and one from the library. He passes.

E draws Thrull Parasite. She casts Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip and passes.

C draws Watery Grave. He casts Dreadbore on Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. In responds, E uses Undying Evil on it. C casts Barter in Blood. In response, E makes a vampire token with the old Keeper, then sacs the token and the new Keeper to the Barter. C passes.

E draws Vampire Nighthawk. She casts Thrull Parasite, then Vampire Nighthawk with extort and passes. (E 22, C 10).

Now I'm out of range of Barter in Blood problems.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts Murder on Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, who makes a token in response, then Murders the token, then passes.

E draws Blood Artist and casts it. Then she attacks with Thrull and Nighthawk and hits. (E 22, C 7). She passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He casts Chromatic Lantern, then plays the Summit and passes.

He's almost out of cards!

E draws Faith's Reward.

Hell yesssssss.

E attacks with Nighthawk and Thrull and hits. (E 22, C 4). She passes. End step C flashes back Think Twice drawing Dragonskull Summit.

C draws Dreadbore. He casts it on Vampire Nighthawk. Then E casts Faith's Reward with extort and C concedes.

Solid run from the other side; tough to keep up with that. Going to need some Grafdigger's Cages next time to win, I think.

Sideboarding

Neither side makes changes.

Game 3

C keeps a hand of Sulfur Falls, Dragonskull Summit, 2x Dreadbore, Murder, Slaughter Games, and Grafdigger's Cage.

E keeps an opener of 2x Swamp, 2x Thrull Parasite, 2x Oblivion Ring, Disciple of Bolas.

C plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

E plays Swamp for Thrull Parasite and passes.

C draws Murder, plays Sulfur Falls, and passes.

E draws Blood Artist, plays Swamp and casts Thrull Parasite with extort. (E 21, C 19). She attacks with the old Thrull and hits. (E 21, C 18). She passes.

C draws Murder. He casts Dreadbore on a Thrull and passes.

E draws Plains. She casts Blood Artist with extort and passes after attacking with the old Thrull. (E 22, C 17).

C draws Grafdigger's Cage.

Don't need this many, thanks.

C casts Dreadbore on Thrull and passes. (E 23, C 16).

E draws Thrull Parasite and casts it, then passes.

C draws Barter in Blood. He casts Grafdigger's Cage and passes.

Whenever I get mana-screwed, Stevie Ray Vaughan songs play in my head.

E draws Disciple of Bolas. She casts Oblivion Ring on Grafdigger's Cage. Then she attacks with Thrull and hits. (E 23, C 15). She passes.

At least she's also a bit screwed. Also, maybe I DID need that other cage.

C draws Devour Flesh. He casts it. E sacs Blood Artist. (E 23, C 14). C passes.

E draws Geralf's Messenger. She attacks with the Thrull and hits. (E 23, C 13). She passes.

C draws Swamp and plays it. He passes.

E draws Blood Artist. She casts it. In responds, C Murders the Thrull. E passes.

C draws Think Twice. He casts Grafdigger's Cage and passes.

E draws Vampire Nighthawk. She casts it and passes.

C draws Counterflux. He does nothing and passes.

E draws Geralf's Messenger. She attacks with the Nighthawk, but it gets Murdered. E passes.

I wouldn't mind being stuck on three lands so much if they weren't all swamps.

C draws Think Twice. He does nothing and passes.

E draws Vampire Nighthawk. She casts it and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice drawing Barter in Blood.

I did have lands in here, right?

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays it and casts Barter in Blood, then passes.

That feels so much better.

E draws Lingering Souls. She casts Oblivion Ring on Grafdigger's Cage and passes.

I have three cards that get stopped by that right now.

She really cares about that if she's going to let me use Think Twice again.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He casts Slaughter Games naming Geralf's Messenger, exiling two from the hand and one from the library.

That sucks.

C passes.

E draws Undying Evil. She casts Lingering Souls and passes.

Where's the laaaaaand

C draws Nephalia Drownyard and plays it. He casts Barter in Blood and passes.

E draws Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. She flashes back Lingering Souls and passes.

This really sucks, but I'm actually still ok.

C draws Desolate Lighthouse and plays it. He passes.

E draws Isolated Chapel and plays it. She casts Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, but he runs into Counterflux. E attacks with the spirits and they hit. (E 23, C 11). She passes.

C draws Watery Grave and plays it tapped. He does nothing else and passes.

E draws Lingering Souls and casts it. She attacks with the two older token. C casts Murder on one. The other hits. (E 23, C 10). E passes.

If only Undying Evil worked here.

End step, C flashes back Think Twice to draw Counterflux.

C draws Slaughter Games. He casts it naming Disciple of Bolas, exiling two from the hand, one from the library. Then he passes.

Sucky, but I still have him.

E draws Undying Evil. She flashes back Lingering Souls, but that runs into Counterflux. She attacks with her spirits and hits. (E 23, C 7). End step, C casts Think Twice drawing Mystic Retrieval.

C draws Dragonskull Summit and plays it. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and destroys Isolated Chapel with it. Then he passes.

E draws Blood Artist and casts it. She attacks C with her spirits and hits. (E 23, C 4). She passes.

C draws Counterflux. He steals Blood Artist with Bolas, who goes to six. Then he casts Mystic Retrieval for Barter in Blood, then casts Barter and passes.

Craaaaaaaap.

E draws Swamp and plays it. She attacks C with a spirit token and hits. (E 23, C 3). She passes.

C draws Chromatic Lantern and plays it. Bolas steals the spirit token and goes to 4. C passes.

E draws Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. She casts it, but it runs into Counterflux. She passes. End step C flashes back Think Twice to draw Devour Flesh.

C draws Watery Grave and plays it tapped. He flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Counterflux. Bolas blows up Plains and goes to 7. C passes.

E draws Swamp and plays it, then passes.

C draws Murder. Bolas blows up Swamp and goes to 10. C passes.

E draws Swamp and concedes.

Comments

That was a rough ride there, but Mystic Retrieval once again proves its worth.

Pretty sweet job with the vampire deck. Just really bad luck in game 3 when we couldn't get any mana out, and in game 1 was just Bolas beast mode.

I only notice on writing this that Elaine never gave herself life with Blood Artist, not that it was super relevant. Always watch your triggers carefully, kids. That includes ones that benefit your opponent - making sure she gained the life she should have was my job too, so long as she remembers to make me LOSE life.