Showdown 2.0 #1: Cytokinesis

Showdown

Spootyone

2 July 2014

1424 views

Hello all and welcome back to another edition of Showdown! Well, sort of.

As I have previously mentioned, I am slightly too busy to be making these articles weekly as I once used to. I will be sticking to my bi-monthly schedule as par the last few articles, but thankfully Apoptosis has offered to take up the slack on the off-weeks. Assuming he is willing and you all enjoy it, he will be doing this long-term. This is still to be determined, but I hope you all will join me in welcoming a new face to the Showdown community. After all, you all wanted more content right? :P

Now, I should probably mention that I cannot have this become a situation where everyone gets the chance to do showdowns like Apop will hopefully be doing. Allowing that would quickly have the situation degrade into poor quality, difficult to follow series -- This is not what I desire for these articles. Not to mention the fact that not just any article can make it onto the site willy-nilly. I have and will continue to give the once (or thrice) over these to make sure they are continuing in the same basic structure and quality I've been attempting to facilitate. So while I do wholeheartedly appreciate any further help, I will be turning down any further requests to assist unless Apop is unable to continue on as mentioned. No hard feelings <3

I will be back in a week, but until then I hope you all enjoy Apoptosis's first Showdown 2.0 article!

Until next time, may you never be mana-screwed. And as always, thanks for reading.

Hello, tappedout community and welcome to another weekly addition of Spootyone’s weekly showdown. I’ve stepped in to substitute this week to help keep the matchups coming, as that pesky thing called real life sometimes gets in the way of an otherwise perfectly unhealthy Magic addiction.

I make all the disclaimers that Spooty makes, that is to say: I screw up like everyone else. But I will do my best to pilot both decks as well as possible and not allow foreknowledge to affect my gameplay. To help facilitate this, I will try to avoid using any of my control builds.

My current standard deck doesn’t have that issue. It is a Naya hexproof brew that honestly I was excited about until it got trashed last night at my LGS and I am starting to think is really nothing more than a glass cannon. Nevertheless, it’s the build I’m using until I decide otherwise and I may tweak it to see whether I can make it better. Strategy is simple, drop dudes that can’t be targeted by removal, pump dudes, pound face, and gain a little life as needed. Here it is:

Twisting the Hexbolt

Standard Apoptosis

SCORE: 10 | 14 COMMENTS | 1644 VIEWS

My opponent’s deck is beckhr’s:

Fallen Stars (BG Constellation Dredge)

Standard beckhr

SCORE: 11 | 26 COMMENTS | 2813 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

which I think is an interesting build. It’s strategy is to fill the graveyard and then make you pay for it. I faced 2 golgari decks and one MBD decks with my deck yesterday at my LGS and went 1-2, and while those decks were not dredge decks, they did give my deck fits.

Apoptosis wins the flip and keeps a slightly dangerous hand of 2x Temple of Plenty, 2x Madcap Skills, Chained to the Rocks, Witchstalker, and Gift of Orzhova

beckhr mulls a 2 Forest hand with nothing castable before T4 (looking through what he would have drawn had I kept the hand: it would have been 3 turns until he would have drawn a Temple of Malady). He then keeps a dangerous hand of swamp, 2x Brain Maggot, Satyr Wayfinder, Nylea, God of the Hunt, and Pharika, God of Affliction (ok, while dangerous he has 2 draws to hit the 2nd land and the satyr could help a lot too).

A1: Temple of Plenty, scry Mana Confluence (keep)

B1: draw Nylea, God of the Hunt Strike one, plays swamp

A2: draw Mana Confluence, play Temple of Plenty, scry Witchstalker (keep)

B2: draw and play Temple of Malady, scry Mana Confluence looking good (keep).

A3: draw Witchstalker, play Mana Confluence, cast Witchstalker (A19/B20)

B3: draw and play Mana Confluence, cast Brain Maggot to exile Gift of Orzhova madcap is dangerous and the obvious choice but Apoptosis has 2x and one will resolve. Also gift’s evasion is really tough to beat and lifegain could be worse.

A4: draw Gladecover Scout cast Madcap Skills onto Witchstalker and Gladecover Scout when I see black I gotta think Devour Flesh and having a sac outlet neutralizes that. Attack (A18,B14)

B4: draw Nyx Weaver, not helpful, I don’t really like this card. When I see it in my hand it doesn’t make me happy. Casts Brain Maggot to exile Madcap Skills.

A5: draws and plays Temple of Triumph, scrys Witchstalker really? My third one? It seems that online play matches my real life results... anyway, I keep for possible pressure. Attacks with both, no blocks (A18, B7) Second main casts Witchstalker.

B5: draws Doomwake Giant. Casts Satyr Wayfinder sending Sylvan Caryatid, Strength from the Fallen, Kruphix's Insight, and Commune with the Gods to the yard.

A6: draws Witchstalker, attacks with everything. beckhr triple blocks the Witchstalker with Madcap Skills all 4 creatures die and Apoptosis gets back Madcap Skills and Gift of Orzhova (A18/B3). Second main phase casts Witchstalker

B6: draws Mana Confluence and concedes.

Apoptosis wins game one!

Sideboard tech: beckhr’s deck has no sideboard. To keep it fair, I won’t use my sideboard either.

Game 2, beckhr on the play keeps 3x Temple of Malady, 2x Satyr Wayfinder, Eidolon of Blossoms, Doomwake Giant. Looks good!

Apoptosis mulls a 1 lander and keeps Temple of Abandon, Temple Garden, Sacred Foundry, Unflinching Courage, Gift of Orzhova, and mapcap skills. We’ve got the pants, now we need a big boy to put them on.

B1: plays Temple of Malady, scrys forest (keep, I want that T2 wayfinder).

A1: draws Boros Charm, plays Temple of Abandon, scrys Madcap Skills as much as I hate to throw it away, I need a creature more, to the bottom.

B2: draws and plays forest, casts Satyr Wayfinder, keeps Overgrown Tomb and sends Swamp, Nyx Weaver, and Eidolon of Blossoms to the yard.

A2: draws and plays Temple Garden tapped.

B3: draws and casts Brain Maggot, exiles Madcap Skills, plays Temple of Malady reveals Forest (keep) I want to T4 Eidolon, T5 Doomwake and need the guarantee that the lands come into play untapped. Attack with satyr (B20/A19)

A3: draws and plays Temple of Plenty yuck, no one wants to wear the big boy pants? WTF?, scrys Bassara Tower Archer (keep).

B4: draws and plays forest, casts eidolon of blossums, draws Nyx Weaver attacks with maggot and satyr (B20/A17)

A4: draws and casts Bassara Tower Archer, plays Sacred Foundry (tapped)

B5: draws Commune with the Gods, shocks self with Overgrown Tomb (B18/A17), casts Doomwake Giant, Bassara Tower Archer dies, eidolon trigger draws Strength from the Fallen. Attacks with all three (B18, A13)

A5: draws Mana Confluence, plays Temple Garden tapped. really screwed now, breckhr’s engine is starting to roll. I need Chained to the Rocks to have any shot at all

B6: draws Whip of Erebos, casts Satyr Wayfinder drawing forest and sending Courser of Kruphix, Doomwake Giant and Nylea, God of the Hunt to the yard. Plays forest. Casts Commune with the Gods revealing Nighthowler (to hand), and to the yard: Sylvan Caryatid, 2x Overgrown Tomb, and Mana Confluence. Casts strength of the fallen to give a dude +6/+6, draws forest (eidolon trigger). Attacks for 14 and the game!

Beckhr wins game 2!!!!

Wow what a difference between games. beckhr’s deck goes off like a bomb while Apoptosis drops lands and looks stupid. Onto game 3!! In hindsight, keeping that hand was a bad... bad idea.

Onto game 3:

Apoptosis on the play draws: Temple of Plenty, Mana Confluence, Temple Garden, 2x Madcap Skills, Gladecover Scout, and Unflinching Courage. pretty much a nut draw

beckhr draws: 2x forest, 2x Satyr Wayfinder, Brain Maggot, Eidolon of Blossoms, and Nemesis of Mortals pretty solid especially if I get that swamp

A1: plays Temple Garden untapped (A18/B20), casts Gladecover Scout

B1: draws Strength from the Fallen, plays forest

A2: draws Chained to the Rocks, plays Mana Confluence, casts Madcap Skills and attacks (A17/B16)

B2: draws Nighthowler, plays forest, casts Satyr Wayfinder revealing: Kruphix's Insight, Nighthowler, swamp, and Temple of Malady, keeps swamp, rest to the yard

A3: draws Sacred Foundry and plays it untapped (A15/B16), casts Unflinching Courage (A14/B16) and attacks (A20/B10)

B3: draws Overgrown Tomb, plays swamp, casts Brain Maggot to exile Chained to the Rocks, attacks with the satyr (A19/B10).

A4: draws Gladecover Scout, plays Temple of Plenty scrys Madcap Skills (keep), casts Gladecover Scout and Madcap Skills (onto first scout) (A18/B10) and attacks (A27/B1)

B4: draws Pharika, God of Affliction, casts Satyr Wayfinder sending Nyx Weaver, Strength from the Fallen,Sylvan Caryatid, and Courser of Kruphix to the yard. Plays Overgrown Tomb (tapped).

A5: draws Madcap Skills and casts onto Gladecover Scout #2 (the one without auras) and attacks with both for lethal.

Apoptosis wins the game and match 2-1.

Thoughts on the match. My deck seems a bit like a glass cannon, when it goes off it’s really hard to beat, but when it flops, it flops badly. I need to think hard about how to make it more consistent and resilient. Right now I’m leaning towards removing Boros Charm to the side (it really only plays a role against the control matchup) in favor of more pressure: perhaps Godsend (which I always wanted to play, but this is more an emotional call) or Ajani, Caller of the Pride.

beckhr’s deck did what it was supposed to do, but wasn’t fast enough to deal with early pressure. My first thought was that at 21 lands he would hit mana screw (even with the satyrs and Sylvan Caryatid, but that never happened. The simple fact is that his deck could not respond to the pressure to stop the T5 win. Having some removal would be key to help allow him to get the dredge machine into place: Abrupt Decay, Devour Flesh, Hero's Downfall (not for this matchup of course), and Drown in Sorrow all come to mind. Another idea to get massive constellation triggers is to run 4x Mana Bloom, I played against a guy who did this to great advantage in a golgari constellation brew, triggering Eidolon of Blossoms for massive card advantage and a very effective wrath for Doomwake Giant.

If breckhr goes that way, I would up the giants to 4x (2x in the sideboard) and remove the less efficient creatures (like Nemesis of Mortals)... Of course, beckhr needs a sideboard. Golgari Charm comes to mind, since it deals with enchantments and can protect from wraths. Also, this deck screams Pack Rat over some of the other discard mechanics that don’t directly affect the board state. Why not discard creatures for the dredge while building an army? Yes, Pack Rat isn’t as fast, but this deck isn’t going to get a T5 win and Pack Rat is a real threat that still advances your larger strategy. Also, if you bump the land count to 22 you might be able to sneak in a few Mutavault (2-3).

Ok, that’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed. Of course, comments, suggestions, and feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading.

-Apop.