Showdown #9: D-D-D-Double Feature!

Showdown

Spootyone

21 November 2013

1950 views

Hello all and welcome back to another episode of Showdown where I pit my current standard deck against other standard builds that have been sent in to me. This installment we've got a double-header (because I love you all <3) that will showcase a super aggro matchup as well as a good 'ole control matchup. But why so specific on the matchups? Well...there's some big news...some sad news.

I think it's time to retire Archangel of Thune. I know, I know...It's the freakin' name of the deck! It's been my foundation for so long now and on top of all that It's one of my favorite cards by far!!. The sad truth is that she doesn't have a good home in standard right now. I love her ability to fly and take games away, but...there's just so much removal out there right now. Lately it just feels like she reads "Pay five mana and sacrifice Archangel of Thune: opponent discards removal spell". It's very unfortunate, but her time has come to sit and wait for the possibility of another appearance somewhere else down the road.

She looks sad, right? Like she might cry? Or punch me in the face?

Okay, well I've rambled on for long enough now. The fact at hand is that I've got a new version of my deck now. And besides needing a new kick-ass name, it's ready to take on competitors. So let's take a look at who we have this time.

First off, we shall have a classic aggro matchup featuring boston89's RDW deck:

Return of RDW

Standard boston89

SCORE: 20 | 39 COMMENTS | 4344 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS

This deck shows off the normal army of red creatures we've come to love (or loathe?) in mono-red builds. The main difference is the 4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. This deck is less about "guy, guy, guy, guy, guy, Fanatic of Mogis" and more about maintaining through the game with late game beaters like Stormbreath Dragon and of course Purphoros, God of the Forge. My biggest concerns are not drawing into my removal (after side boards) and obviously the dragon...It essentially has pro-Spootyone. Let's see how it goes!

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.

Match 1 -- Game 1

Boston wins the flip and is on the play. The kept hand contains 3x mountain, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Rakdos Cackler, Madcap Skills, and Frostburn Weird. I wish we had one less land and one more creature, but beggars can't be choosers.

Spooty decides to mull a hand with 4 lands, Selesnya Keyrune, Mistcutter Hydra, and Selesnya Charm. This is pretty much only cards that suck against this matchup. Especially on the draw it must be mulligan'd. The kept hand contains 2x plains, forest, Selesnya Guildgate, and 2x Fleecemane Lion. This is also land-heavy, but at least I have ways to help me survive early threats.

B1: Mountain, Rakdos Cackler enters unleashed and with a counter. pass.

S1: Draws forest. Ew. plays selesnya guidgate tapped. pass.

B2: Draws mountain. Also ew. swings for 2 with Rakdos Cackler. (s 18/20 b). Plays mountain. Plays Frostburn Weird.

S2: Draws forest. Oh good lord... Plays forest. casts Fleecemane Lion. Pass.

B3: Draws mountain. WHAT IS THIS? CRAZY MANA TOWN? collects self Plays mountain. Casts Madcap Skills on the cackler. (we need to keep the pressure on). Swings with the now 5/2 and currently unblockable cackler. (s 13/20 b) pass.

S3: Draws forest (... ... ...). plays plains. casts Fleecemane Lion #2 and passes.

B4: Draws mountain. (You can't make this shit up...) Plays Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Okay so now I only have 3x mountain in hand and attacking with the cackler is just 2-for-1-ing myself without dealing any damage. Not ideal. Pass.

S4: Draws Temple Garden mentally flips table Plays Temple Garden tapped. pass.

B5: Draws Rakdos Cackler. Well...at least it's not a land...I guess. Plays mountain. Casts the cackler and unleashes him to make him a 2/2. Still no profitable attacks. pass.

S5: Draws Mistcutter Hydra. Huh. Can we actually make him work in this matchup? All I know is that I'm going to attempt to monstrous these lions. Otherwise I will find myself in a horrible position soon enough. Plays forest. Attempts to monstrous Fleecemane Lion #1. No responses. It gets a counter and becomes hexproof and indestructible. I don't want to open myself up to his field yet. No attacks. Pass.

B6: Draws mountain. The amount of mana flood in this game on both ends is utterly insane. plays mountain. We REALLY can't attack now. I just hope we draw into Stormbreath Dragon before it's too late. pass.

S6: Draws forest. As expected. Plays plains. Attempts to monstrous lion #2. No responses. Once I get this super huge hydra in play I'll begin attacking, but until then no dice. Pass.

B7: Draws mountain. Should I go play the lottery? Should I avoid the lottery? Plays mountain. Nothing going. pass.

S7: Draws Mistcutter Hydra. I love how this is a RDW matchup and I'm happy about drawing these guys right now hahaha. Plays forest. Taps out to play Mistcutter Hydra as a 6/6. Swings with the hydra. There are no blocks since both cacklers are unleashed and the Frostburn Weird is part blue. (s 13/14 b). pass.

B8: Draws Purphoros, God of the Forge. Oh thank the heavens! (pun intended). plays mountain. casts Purphoros. He is a creature. This pretty much gives us a blocker for the hydra right now and nothing much else. With 2 hexproof/indestructible 4/4 creatures on the other side of the field, we really can't push through damage like I'd wish to. Pass.

S8: Draws Selesnya Charm. Well...that was a beautiful top-deck. Plays forest. Casts Selesnya Charm on Purphoros, God of the Forge and exiles him. Uses remaining mana to cast a 5/5 Mistcutter Hydra and swings in with everything to deal a minimum 15 damage. Lethal!

Spooty wins game 1!#

Sideboard tech with Spooty: That was probably the silliest match against mono-red I've ever been in. Who beats RDW with Mistcutter Hydra?? Anyway, we're going to ironically be boarding out the playset of that hydra because -- typically -- he is a fairly dead draw that clogs up the hand early game. We are not the aggressors here, Boston is. Also, Selesnya Keyrune is not meant for this matchup. paying essentially 5 mana for a 3/3 blocker isn't the most ideal way to handle the opponent's deck. We will be boarding in 3x Unflinching Courage to both pump up our guys as well as heal ourselves, and 3x Last Breath so we can try to get rid of some of the early threats and keep his devotion down.

Sideboard tech with Boston: Alright so we lost in a ridiculous way but the truth is that we couldn't get out fast enough to get past the early blockers. Hammer of Purphoros feels like a card that helps more against control than midrange. Especially against a deck that has little to no removal. Those will come out in favor of 2 more copies of Mizzium Mortars. I also really like Chandra's Phoenix in this matchup so I will remove 2x Madcap Skills and 1x Magma Jet for 3 of them. The mad skills can easily result in a 2-for-1 -- especially post board. And the Magma Jet wouldn't really hit much of what we saw.

Match 1 - Game 2

Boston chooses to be on the play and keeps a hand of 3x mountain, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, 2x Ash Zealot and Fanatic of Mogis. Okay so once again we have a larger number of lands than I'd like, but we have nykthos and 2x Ash Zealot. If we draw into more devoted cards before dropping the Fanatic of Mogis we could be sitting very well this game.

Spooty keeps the opening hand of 2x forest, Temple Garden, Soldier of the Pantheon, Selesnya Charm, Advent of the Wurm, and Scion of Vitu-Ghazi. This hand isn't spectacular, but I'm hoping we can get out early with the soldier to defend against Rakdos Cackler and gain a bit of like here and there. I guess we'll see!

B1: Play mountain. pass.

S1: Draws Selesnya Guildgate. That's a bit awkward. Shocks self to play Temple Garden untapped and then casts Soldier of the Pantheon. Pass. (s 18/20 b)

B2: Draws Chandra's Phoenix. Plays mountain. Casts Ash Zealot and attacks for 2. No blocks.
(s 16/20 b). Pass.

S2: Draws Soldier of the Pantheon. Hmm... I'm okay with running this out now. I know Ash Zealot is bad for me with these but as soon as multicolored spells are played, I think it'll even out a bit. plays the guildgate tapped. casts Soldier of the Pantheon #2. Swings with the first one for 2. (s 16/18 b). Pass.

B3: Draws Magma Jet. Look! Good targets for Magma Jet! Though I think for the moment I'd rather play the Chandra's Phoenix since it can benefit from the Magma Jet in the future. Plays mountain. Casts Chandra's Phoenix. Swings with it and the Ash Zealot for 4. (s 12/18 b) pass.

S3: Draws Selesnya Charm. Plays forest. I think we need to worry a bit now. With a potentiality of a Fanatic of Mogis or Purphoros, God of the Forge next turn, we need to be prepared. I'll have to keep these Selesnya Charm ready to strike whenever they can patch up the bleeding we have going on. Pass.

B4: Draws purphoros, God fo the forge. Once again, he comes in just in time! Plays Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. The shrine doesn't do anything spectacular this turn, as far as I can tell. Alright well originally I was going to play Ash Zealot and Magma Jet here, but with a God in hand I think we have to go for that first. It will enter as a creature, though, and the opponent has mana up for Selesnya Charm. However, the truth remains that if he has it, he's going to play it as soon as we play purphoros. The potential to play purphoros and then follow up next turn with many creatures including Fanatic of Mogis is too much to pass up. Swings with the Ash Zealot and Chandra's Phoenix. As Spooty, I can potentially block with a soldier and then use Selesnya Charm to make the block matter. If he decides to play either the God or the fanatic after, I at least help against by killing a creature of his. Plus, I have another charm in the waiting. Spooty blocks the Ash Zealot with a Soldier of the Pantheon and then casts Selesnya Charm on it to give it +2/+2. In response, Boston casts Magma Jet on the same soldier and deals 2 damage to it. Magma Jet and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx are scry'd off the top. I don't really want either of these at the moment. They both go to the bottom. Spooty's soldier is killed in first-strike damage and the Chandra's Phoenix gets in for two. (s 10/18 b). Second main Ash Zealot #2 is cast. Pass. so much typing...

Okay, I know you cannot target Soldier of the Pantheon with Selesnya Charm. That was a play mistake and this is currently day two of my writing so there's no way to accurately go back and fix it. It's alright, don't worry :P

S4: Draws Unflinching Courage. Good but is it too late? Plays forest. We need to play the Advent of the Wurm here and survive (hopefully) to put Unflinching Courage on it. pass.

B5: Draws mountain. plays mountain. Good news! We can now play both Purphoros, God of the Forge and Fanatic of Mogis! Activates Nykthos to make 6 red mana. 4 is used to cast Purphoros, God of the Forge. He is a creature. The last 2 mana is used with the last 2 mountains to cast Fanatic of Mogis. As Spooty, I could charm the God to avoid the 2 damage, but it doesn't matter, because I'm dead anyway. Fanatic entering deals 2 dmg via Purphoros and then 8 more due to devotion. And that's lethal!

Boston wins Game 2!

We got pretty overrun there. I hope I'm able to draw into some Voice of Resurgence, Last Breath and/or Fleecemane Lion this next game. I've come to find that Scion of Vitu-Ghazi is silly for this matchup. So I board the 2 out for 2x Celestial Flare in an attempt to have more early game removal.

Let's see what happens!

Match 1 - Game 3

Spooty chooses to be on the play and draws an opener of plains, forest, Soldier of the Pantheon, Voice of Resurgence, Fleecemane Lion, Loxodon Smiter and Last Breath. Wow. Now THAT'S a hand! :D

Boston draws an opener of mountain, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Rakdos Cackler, Burning-Tree Emissary, Ash Zealot, Fanatic of Mogis, and Stormbreath Dragon. Okay this is a scary hand. All we need is one mountain to get the ball rolling. And we're on the draw, so it's fairly likely. This is a hard call, but I'm going to risk it (for science!). I guess we'll see soon whether or not this is a good idea, eh?

S1: Plays plains. plays Soldier of the Pantheon. pass.

B1: Draws Madcap Skills. C'monnn.... Plays mountain. Casts Rakdos Cackler and unleashes him. Spooty gains one life from the soldier. (s 21/20 b). pass.

S2: Draws Last Breath. Nice! plays forest. Plays Voice of Resurgence. Swings for 2 with the Soldier of the Pantheon. (s 21/18 b) pass.

B2: Draws Purphoros, God of the Forge. Crap. Well now I feel like an idiot. Plays Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Casts Madcap Skills on Rakdos Cackler and attacks with it for 5 dmg. (s 16/18 b). pass.

S3: Draws forest. plays forest. I really wish I'd had mana up for Last Breath so I could've killed the Rakdos Cackler last turn but it's alright. Plays Loxodon Smiter. pass.

B3: Draws mountain. phew. plays mountain. Unfortunately, Burning-Tree Emissary doesn't really have any outlet's for her mana gift, but Ash Zealot reallly isn't going to be attacking here. That being said, the latter doesn't heal my opponent. Casts Ash Zealot. Attacking here is bad, m'kay? Pass.

S4: Draws Loxodon Smiter. Okay, so I need to use Last Breath either now or on the opponent's turn. Removal is almost always best served instant-speed, right? Well, I beg to differ here. I can see the nykthos clear as day and I noticed that my opponent is top-decking for lands. We need to avoid shenanigans with mana at all costs. Since we cannot respond to a Nykthos activation, I choose to use Last Breath on Ash Zealot here and now. Boston gains 4 life and Ash Zealot is exiled. Swings with Loxodon Smiter. No blocks. (s 16/20 b). pass.

B4: Draws Boros Reckoner. This guy is good, but we have to be wary of what we do right now. We can play Burning-Tree Emissary here and use the mana she gives to activate Nykthos for four, allowing us to play Purphoros, God of the Forge. This (I hope) will get us back in the game. As BTE is cast, Spooty gains one life (s 17/20 b). Purphoros enters as a creature. Pass.

S5: Draws Fleecemane Lion. I wish that had been a plains... Well, once again we need to handle the opponent's devotion abundancies. Casts Last Breath on Boston's Burning-Tree Emissary. Boston Gains 4 life (s 17/24 b). Swings with the Loxodon Smiter (s 17/20 b). pass.

B5: Draws Boros Reckoner. So basically, we play the reckoner here using Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and then begin our assault with our God. Nykthos is activated to make 3 red mana which is used to cast Boros Reckoner. Spooty gains 1 life (s 18/20 b). Purphoros is now a creature again and is going to attack. swings with the God for 6. Voice of Resurgence is chumped to him. An elemental token enters the field. Pass.

S6: Draws Last Breath aww c'mon... Well things suddenly look bad. The opponent's devotion is getting through the roof and without a Selesnya Charm we really won't be dealing with their god very much. Casts Fleecemane Lion and passes.

B6: Draws Chandra's Phoenix. Okay, so Nykthos activates to make 6 mana, which can be used for antoher reckoner and the phoenix we just drew. Then, we can next turn play Stormbreath Dragon and Fanatic of Mogis for the victory. Sounds good! Activate Nykthos and uses the mana to cast Boros Reckoner #2 as well as Chandra's Phoenix. Spooty gains 1 from Soldier of the Pantheon and takes 4 from the God's ability (s 15/20 b). Swings with Purphoros and Chandra's Phoenix. The elemental token chumps the God and Spooty takes 2 (s 13/20 b). pass.

S7: Draws Loxodon Smiter. poop. Casts the smiter and passes the turn.

B7: Draws Chandra's Phoenix. Activates Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to make 11 mana. 5 is used to cast Stormbreath Dragon. Spooty takes 2 (s 11/20 b). 4 is then used to cast Fanatic of Mogis, which deals lethal.

Boston wins the match!

Afterthoughts

Well, that was a surprise. I expected this to be the easy matchup, quite honestly. I guess where I was wrong in my judgment was in thinking of Boston's deck as a typical RDW deck curving out into Fanatic of Mogis and expecting to win by turn 4. This is not the case. In fact, this deck plays well into turns 6 and 7 and when I didn't draw exactly when I needed, I was in much trouble. Lands were a little light game three for me. I also could have kept mana up for the original Last Breath to use on the Rakdos Cackler that was going to get the Madcap Skills on him. I think that is what screwed me the most. I could've potentially gotten through for a lot more damage and put him in a bad board position when instead I had to be on my back heel well into my decks "territory" of turns 5-8. Also, Last Breath wasn't as effective as I assumed it was going to be since a lot of my opponent's threats were either too powerful or...well, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. That stupid land... -_- They should make one that only counts..like...selesnya devotion. Yeah. Yeah, then I'll win.

DOUBLE-FEATURE

Game 2 time! And the next one will be, as mentioned previously, against control. Now, I typically don't like redoing deck archetypes very close to each other but really we all know that right now that esper control is one of the most powerful control decks out there -- if the THE most. I was thinking about doing mono-blue devotion in this slot but no one has sent in one lol. hint hint

So, next up we have a nice esper deck by Apoptosis:

Heisenberg

Standard Apoptosis

SCORE: 64 | 78 COMMENTS | 11815 VIEWS | IN 16 FOLDERS

So I know I just lost to mono-red but typically my hardest matchups should be against control. Thus is the nature of midrange. Because of this, I've tailored the deck to mainboard a lot of answers to control like Mistcutter Hydra and Selesnya Keyrune. From what I've heard from others, the keyrune is not a favorite. I get that. It's weird. But I've really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to put it to good use here so I can say I told you so :P Let's do this!!

Match 2 -- Game 1

Spooty wins the flip and chooses to be on the play. The kept opening hand contains 2x forest Temple Garden, Selesnya Guildgate, 2x Voice of Resurgence and Soldier of the Pantheon. I'm not crazy about the number of lands here, but the creatures are great for the matchup.

Apoptosis mulls a hand of Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 2x Supreme Verdict, Far / Away, Negate, Temple of Silence and swamp. Not enough lands to consider playing I'd say. The next hand contains only one land. I simply cannot feel right playing this deck with low lands in hand. Mull #2. This hand contains Temple of Silence, 2x Supreme Verdict, jace, architect of though and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Still bad. Guess this might be a derp game. We'll play it out regardless.

S1: Plays Temple Garden untapped (s 18/20 a). Plays Soldier of the Pantheon. pass.

A1: Draws Hallowed Fountain. Plays Temple of Silence and scrys Supreme Verdict off the top. It goes to the bottom. pass.

S2: Draws plains. Attacks for 2 with the soldier. (s 18/18 a). Plays forest. Plays Voice of Resurgence. Pass.

A2: Draws Jace, Architect of Thought. Plays Hallowed Fountain tapped. Pass.

S3: Draws Advent of the Wurm. Plays the guildgate tapped. swings for 4 with the soldier and voice. (s 18/14 a). Plays Voice of Resurgence #2. Pass.

A3: Draws Thoughtseize. Meh. Not land. Also not very good to be taking damage right now...I'm just going to hold ont oit now and hope we survive long enough to play a Jace or something to avoid..like...dying? Idk, it looks bad haha. Pass.

S4: Draws Sylvan Caryatid. plays plains. Swings for 6 with all creatures (s 18/8 a). passes.

A4: Draws Supreme Verdict. This is silly. Concedes.

Spooty wins? Game 1!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: Okay that was a lame game. I'll do an extra one at the end to make up for it. Apop is running 26 lands so this shouldn't normally happen. In fact, Apoptosis, I had a friend pilot your deck against me a few times to judge how my deck was before this article and mana screw was not very prevalent. No worries. As for sideboarding, we know this is esper and thus we need to bring in our pithing needles. 3 will do, right? (I wish I could run like 768543 of them). Since Sylvan Caryatid isn't very strong here because of Supreme Verdict, I'll just remove three of those. And that's it! All the rest of our control hate is already in here ;)

Sideboard tech with Apoptosis: That was dumb. Let's brush it off and keep going. I, personally, don't like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver in almost any matchup. And in previous esper matchups it proved not only ineffective but to be a dead card. Thus, I'm going to board them out. So much of the sideboard is good against the opponent. We must find room for Blood Baron of Vizkopa since it essentially shuts down the entire deck. Glare of Heresy can replace 2x Negate since negate doesn't seem as good as a straight up kill spell when most of the opponent's creatures will likely be creatures. And Lifebane Zombie is made for this matchup. Ultimately, the changes are as follows:

• -2 Negate

• -3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

• -1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

• +2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa

• +2 Lifebane Zombie

• +2 Glare of Heresy

I hope these changes are approved. It was hard to remove things, honestly.

Match 2 -- Game 2

Apoptosis chooses to be on the play and keeps an opening hand of island Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hero's Downfall, Negate and 2x Supreme Verdict. I like having verdict and I actually have lands!

Spooty keeps an opening hand of forest, Temple Garden, Selesnya Guildgate, Loxodon Smiter, Soldier of the Pantheon, Fleecemane Lion and Selesnya Charm. I like having creatures and lands. It's nice.

A1: Plays Godless Shrine tapped. Pass.

S1: Draws Loxodon Smiter Yay! More smite! Plays Temple Garden untapped (s 18/20 a) and casts Soldier of the Pantheon. pass.

A2: Draws Dissolve. We could potentially have something like Call of the Conclave up next so it's best to be vigilant. Plays island. pass.

S2: Draws Advent of the Wurm. I hope we draw just one more land next turn. And not a gate. Please? Swings with the Soldier of the Pantheon (s 18/18 a). Plays forest. Casts Fleecemane Lion. No responses. pass.

A3: Draws Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Ug. We also need land here. I'd like to verdict soon. Well, now we want mana up for Hero's Downfall or Dissolve. Plays Watery Grave untapped (s 18/16 a). pass.

S3: Draws Pithing Needle. plays Selesnya Guildgate. Swings with the soldier and Fleecemane Lion. As Apop, I could kill the lion right now to avoid damage, but I really feel like a Supreme Verdict is going to be possible very soon. I'd rather save the kill spell for after that happens, personally. I could then leave up mana for negate if necessary. No responses. (s 18/11 a). Pass. (I'll just play Selesnya Charm at his EoT after he possibly board wipes.)

A4: Draws Glare of Heresy. Gah. Alright we didn't get there. But you can't balme a guy for trying to get value can you? I say we go ahead and pass again and then play the Dissolve or Hero's Downfall when possible, regardless of the value. pass. EoT Spooty plays Selesnya Charm to make a 2/2 knight. I could play Negate here, but that leaves me wide open to anything we wants on his turn. I'm going to forego that in favor of killing the Fleecemane Lion or countering something better.

S4: Draws Sylvan Caryatid. That's...like a land? Honestly, I still want to play around Supreme Verdict. And yet...I think we should smite here with Loxodon Smiter. They may only have counter magic up, and he hoses that. Attacks with the soldier of the pantheon, [[fleecemane lion, and 2/2 knight. As Apop, I said I would kill. I will. Casts Hero's Downfall targeting the lion which dies.
(s 18/7 a). Casts Loxodon Smiter. pass.

A5: Draws Hero's Downfall. Where's my mana? Well we have the same hand as before and we're in the same position. Pass.

S5: Draws forest. Plays forest. Swings with the 2/2 knight token, Soldier of the Pantheon and Loxodon Smiter. Apop casts Hero's Downfall on the smiter which dies. (s 18/3 a). I think if we play advent of the wurm at the end of his turn, we win no matter what. pass.

A6: Draws [[supreme verdict. Funny joke, Magic. Concedes.

Spooty wins the match!

That was once again due to mana screw I'd say. A well-placed Supreme Verdict would have helped a lot, though I did have many more threats to come that may have given me the win regardless. It's hard to say. But as I mentioned, I feel another game is fair to make sure the mana screw isn't consistent. Let's go to Game 3!

Match 2 -- Game 3 (for funzies)

Spooty wins the flip and chooses to be on the draw. (I want to give myself a challenge). I keep a hand of plains, Selesnya Guildgate, solier of the pantheon, Voice of Resurgence, Advent of the Wurm, Mistcutter Hydra and Selesnya Charm. Lands are a bit awkward, but it's not horrible.

Apoptosis mulls a hand with 2 lands and nothing cheap to cast in their colors. I feel kinda bad. I don't believe it's always this way but if it keeps happening it might be a sign of...something. I mean 26 lands seems like plenty to me but...The kept hand contains island temple of deceipt, Temple of Silence, Detention Sphere, Lifebane Zombie and Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Good enough.

A1: Plays Temple of Silence and scrys Jace, Architect of Thought off the top. I'm okay with that. It stays. pass.

S1: Draws Mistcutter Hydra. Not very good at the moment. Plays plains. Casts Soldier of the Pantheon. pass.

A2: Draws Jace, Architect of Thought. Plays temple of deceipt and scrys Hero's Downfall off the top. Hmm...Not sure about this. I really want land. and Lifebane Zombie can act sort of like a kill spell. It goes to the bottom. pass.

S2: Draws Temple Garden. Thank god. Plays Temple Garden untapped (s 18/20 a). Swings with the pantheon soldier. (s 18/18 a) Casts Voice of Resurgence. pass.

A3: Draws swamp. yes! Plays island. casts Lifebane Zombie and Spooty reveals his hand. One of the Mistcutter Hydra are exiled. pass.

S3: Draws forest. plays the guildgate. The zombie is annoying, but not horrible. I'm okay with a trade if he offers it. Swings with the Soldier of the Pantheon and the Voice of Resurgence. Apop blocks the voice with the Lifebane Zombie (To better set up a wrath if it happens). Spooty plays Selesnya Charm on the voice to pump it. The lifebane zombie dies. I DONT TARGET THE SOLDIER WITH A SELESNYA CHARM..eh,eh? (s 18/15 a) pass.

A4: Draws [[godless shrine. Well, now we have mana for the Blood Baron of Vizkopa next turn at least. plays swamp. Plays Jace, Architect of Thought and uses his +1 ability. pass.

S4: Draws Mistcutter Hydra. Plays forest. Okay...I want to keep up the death, honestly. taps out to make a 3/3 hydra. swings with everything at Apop (s 18/11 a) pass.

A5: Draws Temple of Silence. Plays Godless Shrine untapped (s 18/9 a). Casts Blood Baron of Vizkopa. (s 19/9 a)Uses the Jace -2. This reveals Elspeth, Sun's Champion and two lands which are put in a pile and not taken. pass.

S5: Draws forest. plays forest. taps out to make a 4/4 hydra and swings all at Apop. The Blood Baron of Vizkopa blocks the 3/3 hydra. (s 19/5 a). pass.

A6: Draws Lifebane Zombie. Plays Temple of Silence and scrys Dissolve off the top. That's okay with me. It stays. Uses Jace's +1. Casts Lifebane Zombie and Spooty reveals his hand. There are no creatures. pass.

S6: Draws forest. Plays forest. Swings with the Soldier of the Pantheon. It trades with the Lifebane Zombie. Pass.

A7: Draws Dissolve. He wants to play Advent of the Wurm. We should totes counter that shiz. Uses Jace's +1. passes. EoT Spooty casts Advent of the Wurm. Apop counters with Dissolve and scrys Negate off the top. Eh...Sure, why not.

S7: Draws Fleecemane Lion. Plays fleecemane lion. No good attacks. We're pretty much waiting to be killed now. I might concede soon to save my fingers the agony. pass.

A8: Draws [[negate. Casts Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Uses Elspeth's +1 to make 3 1/1 soldiers. Uses Jace's +1. passes.

S8 Draws Advent of the Wurm Plays the advent. Makes a 5/5 wurm token with trample. pass.

A9: Draws Glare of Heresy. Casts Glare of Heresy on Voice of Resurgence who is exiled. Casts Detention Sphere on Fleecemane Lion who is exiled. Attacks with the blood baron. It is blocked by the wurm token and dies (s 19/9 a). Uses elspeth's -3 and destroys the hydra and wurm token. Uses Jace's +1. pass.

S9: Draws Voice of Resurgence. I don't see a way to come back from this so I'll save you the time haha. Concedes.

Apoptosis wins the game!

Afterthoughts

Overall, I think this is a great esper deck. I don't personally like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver but maybe I'm wrong for some reason. And obviously mana screw is lethal. But when it works? It works, man. I did all I could that last game except for killing off jace when I had a chance to try it, but even still Blood Baron of Vizkopa kills me unless I've boarded in Celestial Flare, which I hadn't. I'm glad I got to play the third game to see what the deck can really do!

Thank you to both Apoptosis and boston89 for their entries and thanks to everybody else who continues to support this article series and submit decks. I will do everything I can to get through all of them eventually, but please understand that I'm getting more and more each week and I just can't playtest them all haha. And now for some new additions!

The Question of the Week (QOTW)

When I was putting this deck together over the past two weeks or so, I had a hard time deciding to run Loxodon Smiter or Boros Reckoner. Ultimately, I did choose the reckoner since I wanted to have lots of control hate, but do you all think? Which one do you like better? And this means in general, not in my deck particularly. One is a 15 dollar card and the other is a 4 dollar card. According to Bard Narson, we've "never respected" the old smiter. I want to hear your thoughts on all this.

Magic trivia

One card in Apop's deck is the ever-present AEtherling. But where did this powerhouse of a card originate from? It had a fairly well-known (to veterans) predecessor. The answer will be revealed next week!

Thank you for reading!