Showdown #7: Rockin' Ya Socks!

Showdown

Spootyone

2 November 2013

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Showdown #7: Rockin' ya' socks!

Hello all and welcome to another installment of my showdown series where I pit my current standard deck against other standard builds that have been sent in to me. This week we've got a nice looking Golgari build focusing heavily on black devotion to get everyone's favorite merchant, Gary, all the value he can handle! Here's Nigeltastic's build:

deck-large:green-black-kill-smack

I have two big fears against this deck: Desecration Demon and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The former can single-handedly take me out if I don't draw into removal for him, and the latter can come in out of nowhere to either turn the game around or completely kill me. We'll have to be overly cautious in this one.

Disclaimer: Both decks are piloted by me, Spootyone. I am not a magic pro. This testing series is just as much for me as it is for the viewers, so please remember I'm learning, too. I'm bound to make mistakes or "bad" judgment calls, so bare with me.

Onto the match!

Game #1

Spooty (s) wins the flip and keeps a hand of forest, plains, Voice of Resurgence, Sylvan Caryatid, 2x Advent of the Wurm and Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. This is basically a nut draw assuming we immediately draw into a good land.

Nigel (n) mulls a hand with 2 forests and all high-cost cards that need black. The kept hand contains 3x forest, swamp, Lotleth Troll and Hero's Downfall. This hand isn't spectacular either, but I'm hoping we get lucky to draw into some gas.

S1: Plains. pass.

N1: draws Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Hopefully useful later. swamp. pass.

S2: draws advent of the wurm. Jeez that's three already. forest. Sylvan Caryatid. pass.

N2: draws forest. Quite possibly the worst thing we could have drawn. forest. Lotleth Troll. pass.

S3: draws forest. This is such a nut draw lol. forest. taps lands and caryatid for Trost and passes.

N3: draws Reaper of the Wilds. Alright at least it's a creature. Forest. No good attacks. pass.

S4: draws Unflinching Courage. Time for advent nonsense I suppose. pass.

N4: draws Dreg Mangler. well, obviously I wish the past two draws had been reversed, but that's not under much of our control. We're really hurting for black mana. having another would mean I would leave up regen for the troll AND play the mangler. The opponent is almost definitely playing a wurm EoT so mangler's haste really goes to waste. I guess the reaper is our best bet. forest. plays Reaper of the Wilds. passes. EoT Spooty casts advent of the wurm, makes a 5/5 wurm token with trample, and gains five from Trost. (s 25/20 n)

S5: draws Fiendslayer Paladin. Not necessary lol. We have enough wurms to last a lifetime. Swings with wurm token. No profitable blocks available honestly so it goes through. (s 25/15 n) pass.

N5: draws dreg mangler. Plays forest. Without the second black mana we really don't have much of a chance. The opponent could have another advent or could just be leaving up mana to populate the wurm on the field, but either way the tempo advantage trostani plus wurm tokens brings is impossible to get around without kill spells, and the only one we have right now can't even be played. In an effort to maximize the chances of survival, I choose to cast a dreg mangler and pass, hoping to get a couple scrys with the reaper. EoT Spooty plays advent of the wurm and makes another 5/5 wurm token. (s 30/15 n)

S6: draws voice of resurgence. Same deal as before: Swing in and make more wurms on the opponent's turn. Swings with 2 wurm tokens. One is double-blocked by the troll and mangler, killing all three and the other gets through for a total of 6 dmg. (s 30/9 n) Reaper's ability activates 3 times, giving 3x scry 1. first scry reveals forest. HA! very funny. it goes to the bottom. Second scry reveals Abrupt Decay. I love this card, but with the field, trostani is the biggest threat so I'd rather have another black mana. Therefore, it goes to the bottom. Third scry reveals Whip of Erebos annnnd that'll do it folks...it goes to the bottom.

N6: draws Golgari Charm. No, but seriously...the black mana...where is it? As far as I know, another wurm token doesn't mean death, but really I think it's too far gone. casts dreg mangler and passes...and gives the opponent the evil eye... EoT Spooty casts third advent to make another wurm token and gain 5 (s 35/6 n).

S7: draws forest. plays forest. It's all downhill from here. swings with two wurms. One is double-blocked by the opposing reaper and mangler and 5 goes through. The reaper dies and the one wurm dies. Reaper's ability activates, granting scry 1. the card revealed is another hero's downfall, which is placed on the bottom. Caryatid and lands are tapped to play 2x voice of resurgence, gaining 4 life (s 39/4 n) pass.

N7: draws Whip of Erebos. Goodness. scoops.

Spooty wins game 1!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: As much as she shined, Trostani is actually a bad card for this matchup I've found. Golgari decks like this typically have tons of removal and she might as well read "skip your turn. Opponent discards a removal spell." So, she'll be coming out for 3x Celestial Flare, which does a good job of giving me answers for this type of deck's major threats. I may take out the angels too, but I need to see how the opponent's deck is supposed to play first.

Sideboard tech with Nigel: I took a look at Nigel's description of the sideboard and he didn't have any direct noted answers for my type of deck. That being said, I know from experience that things like Thoughtseize REALLY throw me off my game. Gaze of Granite is another good one since it easily deals with all the tokens I play as well as my many 2-drops. Both Golgari Charm and Lotleth Troll really felt clunky in the matchup, but I'm willing to give them another chance. I decide to remove 2 of each as well as 2x Hero's Downfall for 4x Thoughtseize and 2x Gaze of Granite. I think removing the downfalls are okay since we want to be hitting threats from the hand with TS, and we'll have GoG to clean up any messes.

Game #2

Nigel decides to be on the play and grabs an opening hand of 4x swamp, Overgrown Tomb, Reaper of the Wilds and Hero's Downfall. This hand is just so ironic after last game that I had to share it. I can't keep it though. Too land heavy...sigh. The mulligan hand contains 2x swamp, forest, Abrupt Decay, Golgari Charm and Reaper of the Wilds. Seems much better.

Spooty keeps a hand of 2x Temple Garden, 2x plains, forest, Voice of Resurgence and Fiendslayer Paladin. This is possibly the most land-heavy hand I would keep. The only reason I decide to is because I can play both the other cards early and they both seem good for the matchup. plus, I am on the draw.

N1: swamp. pass.

S1: draws Celestial Flare. temple garden tapped. pass.

N2: draws abrupt decay. Nice. forest. pass.

S2: draws Selesnya Charm Plays plains. Casts Voice of Resurgence. pass

N3: draws Lotleth Troll. Swamp. Plays troll, leaving mana open for regen. pass.

S3: draws Temple Garden. I could try some shenanigans to get the opponent to sac the troll, but it seems illogical that the opponent would block as they'd normally recognize we have something up our sleeve. Swing with voice, no blocks. (s 20/18 n). Plains. casts Fiendslayer Paladin. pass.

N4: draws Dreg Mangler. alright that's fairly nice here, but I really need more land...again. I would like to use an Abrupt Decay on the voice, but I think it's smarter to run out the mangler. casts mangler and swings with it. no blocks. pass. (s 17/18 n)

S4: draws Mistcutter Hydra. This looks like a decent board time to play the hydra. The opponent is tapped out and missing mana. That's when to put the pressure on. plays forest. taps out for a 3/3 hydra. swings with the voice, paladin and hydra. Still not a single profitable block. I could trade with the voice but lose the troll with no regen. It would allow me to play these abrupt decays a little better as well, though. I kind of wish the golgari charm were another creature so I could discard two and make the troll big enough to do things. This is one of those hard calls. Ultimately I decide to trade the troll for the voice since we have other threats in our hand and we're going to have to kill the voice eventually.
(s 19/13 n) pass.

N5: draws forest. perfect! plays forest. passes turn. I plan on killing the token and hydra with decays.

S5: draws temple garden. well, that's all four...damn. plays temple tapped. I can only assume the opponent has something to play here. Could be anything from a Boon Satyr to a Doom Blade. Not really an excuse to stop being aggressive. We'll have to just push through. swings with all. Before blockers, Nigel casts abrupt decay on the hydra, then casts abrupt decay on the elemental token. The paladin is blocked by the mangler. Before damage, Spooty casts Celestial Flare causing Nigel to sacrifice the mangler. still (s 19/13 n) pass.

N6: draws swamp. plays swamp. casts reaper of the wilds. pass.

S6: draws Archangel of Thune that's mah girl! haha. plays temple garden tapped. casts archangel of thune and passes. We're hoping for no kill spells on the angel, here.

N7: draws Overgrown Tomb ick. plays the tomb tapped. The opposing archangel is a HUGE threat if we cannot get a demon or kill spell. And the former can be answered fairly easily in various ways. We have to leave the reaper back to defend from the paladin attacking and hope. pass.

S7: draws Advent of the Wurm. plays temple tapped. I don't quite know what the opponent has in hand, but I hope it isn't a kill spell. I kind of want to race by attacking with all and then "flashing" in the wurm before any counters are gained. we lose the paladin, but we get more boost for the angel and then a 7/7 wurm. Seems okay to me. swings all. As Nigel here, I can almost entirely assume there's some reason why the opponent swung with the paladin, but we can't just take damage right now, so we block with the reaper. Before damage is done, Spooty plays Advent of the Wurm and creates a 5/5 wurm token with trample. The paladin deals first-strike dmg and everyone gets a counter. After normal damage, the paladin dies and everyone gets another counter from the angel.
(s 25/9 n) pass. As Nigel right now, I can scavenge the mangler onto the reaper. Unfortunately, I don't think that helps much. We can't race at the moment. With one attack, the wurm is bigger than us again, and we put ourselves at risk of Selesnya Charm. And that's why I decide against it. (phew!)

N8: draws Read the Bones. As much as I dont want to take damage right now, we need to play this. casts read the bones and scrys Putrefy and forest off the top. the putrefy stays and the land goes to the bottom. Then the putrefy and a Gaze of Granite are drawn (s 25/7 n). pass.

S8: draws Archangel of Thune. Oh my. This bodes well. Alright well the opponent probably got what they needed off the top. Otherwise, this would be game over. I think it's best to play safe and attack with only the angel. In response, Nigel casts putrefy on the angel. 2nd main Spooty casts archangel of thune and passes.

N9: draws Whip of Erebos Not horrible. Kind of wish I had scavenged before, but there was no real way of knowing this would present itself right now. We can either whip and try to use the lifelink to help survive and bring things back to attack, or we can kill the wurm with the GoG and hope for another kill spell for the Angel. The former seems like an offensive play and the latter seems life a defensive play. It's obvious we're on defense here so I GoG for 0 and kill the wurm. Pass.

S9: draws Celestial Flare. Swings with the angel. (s 28/4 n) It gets a counter. pass.

N10: draws Overgrown Tomb not a kill spell. Plays the whip and attacks with the -- now lifelinked -- reaper. After attackers are declared, Spooty casts celstial flare and the reaper is sac'd. plays tomb tapped. pass.

S10: draws Unflinching Courage attacks with angel. Nigel casts Golgari Charm giving everything -1/-1. In response, Spooty pumps the angel with the Selesnya Charm. And that's lethal.

Spooty Wins the Match!

Afterthoughts

Ultimately, this matchup looked one-sided, but I assure you I was concerned in that second match -- especially before top-decking two angels in a row! Before side-boarding, there were obvious mana problems in addition to a complete curve-out of perfection on my end. That felt like an obvious slaughter. But after sideboarding, I felt a lot more confident playing Nigel's deck. I assumed I'd see at least 1 Thoughtseize but unluckily did not. The Gaze of Granite did help out like it was supposed to, but it wasn't enough. I suppose I could have not taken out those two Hero's Downfall, but based on what I'd seen of the deck in game one, they didn't seem necessary.

The biggest problem I felt while playing the Golgari deck was the numerous mana issues, ranging from too little lands to almost zero black mana. Both of which caused big problems. Some advice I'd give would be to find a spot for another land or two. And I'd make them both swamps. The deck is very black-heavy with numerous double-black costs and zero double-green costs. That's something to keep in mind. Also, Lotleth Troll didn't feel like it fit very well. I would've preferred some Sylvan Caryatid in that slot to help ramp while providing more sources of mana and fixing, which were those big problems mentioned earlier. Desecration Demon was unfortunately never seen in the matchup which goes to show why only running 2 of them can be an issue. I'd look to find room for more if possible.

Overall, I'm happy with how my deck played. The Celestial Flare coming in for game two did what I wanted it to and I'm glad I kept the angels in. Also, wurms. Seriously...so many wurms...Love it...

Thank you for reading this edition of Showdown! Please take a chance to check out both decks for upvotes, suggestions, comments or anything you'd like. And if you'd like to be the next deck showcased, do me a favor and stick your suggestion in the comments below (Not my wall, plox) and I'll choose the next week's challenger from those results.

deck-large:green-black-kill-smack

deck-large:archangel-of-thune-tempo-breaker

Written by: Spootyone