Showdown #24: Come Fly with Me

Showdown

Spootyone

3 September 2014

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Hello all and welcome to Showdown, where I pit my current standard build against those submitted by you all, the members of TappedOut. Apologies for having a week without content! Apop was quite busy and I didn't have enough time to get one of these out before last Wednesday. Last time you and I were together, I showcased the results from my first ever Showdown challenge: The Doom Challenge. It took a while to get done, but after running all the numerous matches and creating synopses for them all, we found some results about the Doom-blast combo. Mostly that it was good but not always the easiest to pull off.

This time we're just doing the old-fashion article you've all come to know and love. I'll once again be piloting my Conclave's Revenge build that I've been running for the past handful of episodes. Rotation is almost here people! And this will be the penultimate article from me while running this build :( Due to my love of midrange strategies and certain color preferences, I think I'll be choosing to run Temur Midrange come rotation. However, if GW Mid proves to somehow be viable still (and it might with the announcement of Windswept Heath!) we may see the Conclave continue to trudge on through the plane of Tarkir. Before I ramble on unnecessarily about my own builds, let me introduce this week's challenger: Dalektable's Mono Blue aggro build.

deck-large:mono-blue-devoflyers

This deck looks sweeeet. I don't necessarily enjoy playing aggro in the RDW frame of things, but tempo aggression? Dude, sign me up. Bounce effects are mah jam. Dalektable's deck here consists of a large number of incredibly cheap flyers to bring the pressure quickly, with a number of ways to keep up the pressure in the midgame, be it through bounce removal in the form on Void Snare or through card advantage with Military Intelligence. There's also the possible combo of Ensoul Artifact + Ornithopter that we've all come to know. I think that Archangel of Thune will by and large be my biggest help in this matchup, but if I cannot draw into one, I'm desperately going to need a good Setessan Tactics to help me out, because I don't have cards right now to deal with aggressive flying-based decks. Let's see how it goes!

Dalek wins the flip and will be on the play. I choose to have him keep a hand of island, Ornithopter, Judge's Familiar, Cloudfin Raptor, Void Snare and 2x Illusory Angel. I do wish one of those angels were another island, but I think we will be alright. Keep.

I keep an opening hand of 2x forest, Mana Confluence, Elvish Mystic, 2x Banishing Light and Garruk, Caller of Beasts. Also not the greatest hand, but I'm hoping that those removal spells can allow me to keep up until I draw into some gas.

D1: Island, coudfin raptor. He could play thopter here, but I'd prefer to keep that in hand to successfully cast Illusory Angel. Pass.

S1: Draws Courser of Kruphix. Instantly rewarded! I play a forest and my elf before passing.

D2: Draws Springleaf Drum. Hmm...that makes this next turn a lot more thought-provoking. Do I play the drum to better his chances of having enough mana? Or do I just blindly hope the deck will cough it up and get the attacking going now. At this point, all I'm missing out on is one point of damage with the raptor attack, so I'll play a little conservatively this turn. He plays out the Springleaf Drum and then uses its ability to tap the raptor and play Judge's Familiar, evolving the cloudfin. Pass.

S2: Draws Polukranos, World Eater. That's also great. I play a forest and tap out for my Courser of Kruphix. She reveals Sylvan Caryatid from the top. Pass.

D3: Draws island. Oh thank goodness...things are okay for him now. He plays the island, casts Ornithopter, taps it for mana with the drum along with the two islands and casts Illusory Angel, evolving the Cloudfin Raptor. He attacks for 3 with cloudfin and the judge's familiar. Pass. (s 17/20 d)

S3: Draws Sylvan Caryatid and reveals Polukranos, World Eater. So many threats to take care of so soon...I guess it's good I had these Banishing Lights. I play my confluence, gain a life, then lose that life to use it and cast a Banishing Light on the opposing Illusory Angel. I attack for 3 with my elf and courser before passing. (s 17/17 d)

D4: Draws island. Hmm...Polukranos is going to be coming up very shortly. That's going to be a pain. Of course, I can delay that by Void Snare-ing the banishing light and forcing myself to replay it or try to race. That seems smartest to me with my limited knowledge of the deck. It'll also help out the raptor. He uses Void Snare on my Banishing Light to return it to my hand. Illusory Angel re-enters the field and evolves the raptor. He then plays the island, uses the ornithopter-drum to help make 3 mana, and casts the other Illusory Angel, evolving the raptor a fourth time (eesh!). He swings for 5 and passes. (s 12/17 d)

S4: Draws Polukranos, World Eater and reveals forest. I plays the forest and gain a life, revealing Temple Garden. Well, this is rough. We're actually staring lethal in the face right now. I am forced to lose a life to cast Banishing Light on the Cloudfin Raptor and then play a Sylvan Caryatid. Pass. (s 12/17 d)

D5: Draws island. He attacks for 9 with his flyers and passes. (s 3/17 d)

S5: Draws Temple Garden and reveals Sylvan Caryatid. Huh...I'm dead. I concede.

Sideboard tech with Spooty:

That...did not go so well. We even got a T2 Courser...I need to overload my aggro hate. Nylea's Disciple, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, Setessan Tactics, get in here. All my Garruks, all my Elspeth's and 1 of my Ajani's are leaving in your stead. Hopefully being on the play helps me out a little bit here.

Sideboard tech with Dalektable:

That was honestly really kick-ass. I love tempo decks. Alright so my game plan for siding in this matchup is to bring in the fourth copy of Void Snare and to bring in the 3 copies of Rapid Hybridization. Archangel of Thune is a threat that needs an answer, and bouncing away other things as we try to get in those last points of damage seems incredibly necessary and useful against midrange. Military Intelligence doesn't seem particularly amazing in this matchup since the creatures are rarely getting killed and things are more about speed than card advantage. I'm going to board that playset out for this game. I might be wrong there, but it seemed like the best choice and removing creatures feels like nonsense.

I am on the play. I keep an opening hand of forest, Temple Garden, Courser of Kruphix, Fleecemane Lion, Setessan Tactics, Archangel of Thune and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. Seems pretty alright. It'll be a shame if we draw no lands though...and knowing me that could happen...

Dalektable keeps an opening hand of 2x island, Ornithopter, Cloudfin Raptor, 2x Faerie Impostor, and Ensoul Artifact. Is this a nut draw? Because this feels like a nut draw.

S1: Tapped Temple Garden. Pass.

D1: Draws Illusory Angel. Yep, it's a nut draw for sure. I already think I know who's going to win this game. He plays island, Cloudfin Raptor and Ornithopter, evolving the raptor. Pass.

S2: Draws Temple Garden. I play a forest and cast my Fleecemane Lion. Pass.

D2: Draws Hypnotic Siren. Island, Ensoul Artifact on Ornithopter, swing 6 flying. Pass. (s 14/20 d)

S3: Draws plains. GOOD FREAKIN--....this is crazy. I guess I need banishing light pronto? I totally should have brought in Reclamation Sage. I don't know why I didn't. That's a slight punt on my part and I'm going to pay for it right now. I need to like..not keep taking 5 damage a turn. But I don't have a way to do that right now. I play Setessan Tactics on my fleecemane and use it to kill the opposing raptor. I play a tapped Temple Garden and pass the turn.

D3: Draws Illusory Angel. He attacks for 5 in the air. He then plays Hypnotic Siren, and follows that up with Faerie Impostor, returning the first to his hand. Pass. (s 9/20 d)

S4: Draws Supreme Verdict. Oh thank goodness. I thought I was done for...what? You don't believe me? Yeah, okay, I drew a forest. I play my Courser of Kruphix and reveal Temple of Plenty from the top. I play it, gain a life, and scry Nylea's Disciple. I can't keep it unless it kills the thopter. It goes to the bottom and another courser is found on top after. I attack for 3 with my lion and pass. (s 10/17 d)

D4: Draws Cloudfin Raptor. He attacks for 7 with his two creatures. Then he follows this up with a Cloudfin Raptor into a Hypnotic Siren, evolving the raptor. Pass. (s 3/17 d)

S5: Draws Courser of Kruphix and reveals Mutavault. I play the mutavault from the top, gain a life and then tap out for Archangel of Thune. I attack for 5 with my lion and courser. No blocks. Pass. (s 4/12 d)

D5: Draws Rapid Hybridization. That'll do it folks! He turns my beautiful angel into a stupid frog lizard and then attacks for way more than lethal.

Holy hell dude that was unbelievable. That was an old-fashioned beatdown. I've been on a bit of a winning streak as of late (if you don't include the Doom challenge, I guess), but that's over now. A lot of people act like I'm crazy when I say that this deck actually has a bit of a tough time against aggro occasionally. "But you look like you'd do great against aggro.." is what I usually hear. I do! I agree! But when it comes to decks like this things get absurd quickly. When could I have done differently? Well, for one, I could have boarded in my Reclamation Sage instead of leaving in my second Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. That was pretty dumb of me, admittedly. And I guess since I opened with Ajani in my hand, having had the sage in his place would've helped me a ton in that matchup. That said, I think it still would've remained a struggle. A T2 attacking 5/5 flyer is just...not okay.

I seem to rarely play against MUD anymore for whatever reason, which is why I don't have Skylasher in my sideboard. Skylasher is obviously the go-to trump card for this matchup and could've easily given me a better chance at winning. But that's how it goes sometimes, right? Sometimes you go to a tournament unprepared for the meta. If this deck was to be facing MUD or other blue aggro decks I'd probably have a full set of the little bug in my board. Alas, this was not the case.

Dalektable, your deck is sweet dude. I'm honestly going to have a pretty hard time coming up with any advice for you considering I'm still trying to pull feathers out of my hair. Let's look at the sideboard, though. I notice you have 3 copies of Hour of Need in there. Mind if I ask what that's for? I did a little testing with the card in some other brews and found it to be awesome, but lackluster. On that same note, you do need a way to get past something like Skylasher post-board. Might I suggest a few Thassa instead? Seeing as there's no cheap way to remove the bug, why not just go through it? Bonus points if you manage to make her into a creature as well. Of course, I know this probably puts a bit of a issue in the whole "budget deck" thing. But, hey, sometimes cards are expensive for a reason! I guess a more budget-friendly choice would be something like Aqueous Form, if that piques your interest.

Alright. I want to talk to you guys about something that is kind of hard for me to discuss. And that topic is unfortunately money. I want to talk about a couple things here and hopefully you can read this section without getting upset at me for whatever reason (the topic of money really grinds some people's gears...).

Allow me to start off by saying that I did not begin doing this to try to make money. And to be clear, I'm still not doing this just to make a quick buck, either. A few months ago I took a bit of a leap and decided to branch off from TappedOut to seek possible new horizons writing for other sites on the premises that I would be compensated for my time. I'm very passionate about this game and about creating good content so I tend to want to spend a lot of time and effort doing things involving those two things. I simply needed a way to justify spending that much time doing so. After all, a young adult with thousands of dollars of student loan debt breathing down his neck needs a way to make a living.

I was fortunate enough to be picked up by LegitMTG.com. Even more fortunate was I that you all were so very accepting and understanding why it was I decided to do that. My initial intention was to put all content I created there (Showdowns, deck techs, etc) so that every time I wrote something I was compensated for it, and therefore I could justify doing so. Due to certain circumstances, however, I was not able to keep up with my regular Showdown articles in the way that I wished to do so, and I honestly felt weird not placing them here when that's what they're really for. And so I've been splitting things up between here and there.

Over the past month you may have noticed that my articles from that site have dipped to almost nothing. Why is that? Well, I think a big portion of it is simply that my enjoyment does not come from making money while doing this. It comes from the interaction between you all in the comments and the creativity and fun I can have designing my own stuff. I don't get that anywhere else. And so I've stopped writing for them, basically. I've just focused on getting my content here to be of a higher quality and making sure it's consistent. And I've been so much happier doing that...but now I find myself at an impasse.

Sometimes in life you have to balance fun and financial stability, right? If I only write for TO, I enjoy the community, the fun, and the environment I've come to love. But I simply cannot spend as much time doing so since that same time is probably needed to be spend trying to get extra hours at work to pay off rent and other expenses while saving to pay off my loans/get a car/move out...blah blah blah. If I write for Legit only, I get compensation and therefore all of my money gained from working my real job can go straight to bills and savings, but it becomes more of a chore than a hobby. And I would essentially have to cancel doing this type of article because there isn't the community over there.

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with an answer to all this and there isn't an easy one. But I know one thing is for certain -- I don't want to stop. And I don't want to stop writing these articles for TO. Hell, I actually have a new series in the works right now that I think could be better than this one right now (I'm currently calling it "Speed brewers", and if I can afford to do it I think it'll be awesome). And so the only thing I can think of right now is to set up a donation link. No, I'm not asking anyone to pay me. No, I don't want anyone to feel obligated to do so because they feel bad for me. And no, my content will not become a "pay me and I'll release the next article" situation. But it's the only thing I can think of to help eradicate this problem.

Perhaps it isn't a good idea. And perhaps you all think I'm a big sellout. But hopefully I can get some thoughts from you all about this conundrum. If people would feel offended by me posting a donation link (probably like paypal or something) at the bottom of the future articles in a non-invasive way, let me know and I'll be done with it. But if you guys and gals think it's a reasonable idea or even want to pitch in, I can do that too. Again, I'm not trying to get pity money out of people. Anywho, I've rambled on far too long about this. Let me know what you think, please. I appreciate you all as my readers. Doing what I do here has changed my life for the better and I owe it all to you.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

For more articles by me, check out legitMTG.com!

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