SpeedBrewers #1: A New Frontier

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Spootyone

8 September 2014

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Hello all! I welcome you all to a new series I'll be running here that will be called "SpeedBrewers." Speedbrewers is an exciting challenge match that I have been working on trying to implement into an article series for a while now and I'm excited to say that it has finally come to fruition! It is a great way to hone your skills as a deck builder, a great way to learn how to build outside the box, and a ton of fun. I was in need of someone who would have the desire to be my opponent in these matches and I also wasn't sure if I had what I needed to make this work. Luckily, blackmarker90 offered his help and liked the idea, so please everyone give many thanks to him for his help and support! Hopefully I have everyone's attention now, because it's time to explain the rules in detail.

When deciding on the rules for this "format", I knew I wanted a couple things. First off, I wanted this to be a challenge. I wanted every match to be difficult no matter the deck choices. This way, it would be exciting for the viewer and offer a way for the opponents to grow as players. Second, I wanted there to be an ever-changing environment/meta. The biggest thing I wanted to gain from this was a better understanding of other cards, other archetypes, and other ways of building decks. Here's what I finally came up with.

To begin, each player will come up with a set of rules that the other must abide by when deckbuilding. One example of this could be something as simple as "you can only play with blue cards" or as complex as "you must use red and white cards all with cmc of 3 from time spiral block" to as wacky as "you can only use cards that have legs visible in them from Ravnica block." That player can then veto certain cards that they feel might make deckbuilding too easy or too degenerate. The point of this isn't so much to screw over the opponent as it is to give them an environment they have to work to overcome.

Once both players have given the chosen requirements to each other, they will have a designated time frame to build in (typically ranging from 15-30 minutes). They can use as little or as much of this time as they like. However, there will be no sideboarding allowed and they must try to build a powerful deck that can outmatch the opposing strategy they gave to their opponent. The real challenge is here, since you are under pressure to build with cards you're not used to building with and you have to try to guess what the opponent is going to be doing to outmatch you. The addition of a strict time limit just adds to the stress and hilarity!

Now that both decks have been built, it's time for the match. For this first article, me and blackmarker90 decided to do a best of 3 match. Let us know in the comments afterwards if you'd rather see that or a best of 5 match. This is something we can alter depending on viewer request. To conserve space and time, I will not be doing my normal play-by-play writing style. Rather, I will create a synopsis of each game and denote the results thereafter. Finally, a winner is declared and both players can discuss the conclusions they drew from the match!

This is how the "format" of SpeedBrewing will be held. Most of the challenges will be played with Standard cards, but there will also be occasional Modern, block, and even more quirky formats that we delve in. I hope you all enjoy!

Spootyone's Challenge:

Two-color featuring First Response, Elspeth, Sun's Champion banned, standard.

Neither of us had a ton of time to come up with the challenges for each other when we decided to begin this, so I went with something not so complicated. One card that I liked from M15 was First Response, and I figured if there were any time to get someone to brew with it, it was now. He was allowed to use anything currently in standard, but he had to make it a two-colored deck. I also banned Elspeth, Sun's Champion, because that card is good. Too good. grumble grumble I probably should have banned a number of other cards or limited the number of rares he could use, but again I didn't have a ton of time for this first one. I'll get more strict for episode two.

blackmarker90's Challenge:

Two-color deck featuring Goblin Rabblemaster, no other rares/mythics besides lands, standard.

I chose the restrictions for Spooty because... 1. Goblin Rabblemaster is my favorite card in standard right now. 2. The no rares, besides lands, was to force more of a creative approach other than just shoving him in a Jund/ G/R Monsters list. 3. The two colors also forces more of a creative view other than mono red.

Deck Building with Spootyone:

Knowing that I would be building around Goblin Rabblemaster, the very first thing I did was shove every copy of decent goblin creatures into my deck. I wanted to be able to maximize Rabble's efficacy and adding more goblins just seemed natural. I was unsure of my second color for a while. I thought of making the deck Boros to add in Boros Charm and other Boros goodies, but things became obvious to me once I remembered about Burning-Tree Emissary. I already had cards like Goblin Shortcutter and Lightning Strike in my deck so I knew the card would allow for some very explosive starts, as it is prone to do. Green also gave me access to Naturalize (later, Reclamation Sage) to take out his enchantment when needed. Ghor-Clan Rampager also seems like a good addition, and I added Electrickery to take out his tokens if that was the sort of strategy he chose. Here's my list:

4x burning-tree emissary 4x foundry-street denizen 4x frenzied goblin 2x ghor-clan rampager 4x goblin rabblemaster 4x goblin shortcutter 4x rakdos cackler 2x reclamation sage 2x electrickery 1x gruul charm 4x lightning strike 3x magma jet 6x forest 10x mountain 4x stomping ground 2x flames of the firebrand

Deck Building with blackmarker90:

Based on the card I was given to build around I went with a “cheat into play” strategy based around Genesis Hydra and Chord of Calling. I figured that if I am going to take damage I can use the tokens to make more, bigger and better creatures. I went with this strategy because I was not willing to take the cheap way out and run Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow against Goblins (I wanted this to be interesting.) That being said here is the decklist:

2x arbor colossus 1x avacyn, guardian angel 2x brimaz, king of oreskos 4x courser of kruphix 4x elvish mystic 4x genesis hydra 2x hornet nest 1x hornet queen 4x sylvan caryatid 4x first response 4x chord of calling 4x ranger's guile 6x forest 6x plains 4x mana confluence 4x temple of plenty 4x temple garden

• Spootyone Keeps a hand of 2x Burning-Tree Emissary, Frenzied Goblin, mountain, forest, Gruul Charm, and Goblin Shortcutter.

• blackmarker90 Mulls to a 6 card hand of 2x plains, Temple of Plenty, forest, Arbor Colossus and Mana Confluence.

blackmarker90 wins the dice roll and goes first. Spooty gets a T2 double BTE into a Foundry Street Denizen to start things off in a very aggressive manner. blackmarker90 has trouble making early plays but manages to get a First Response out on turn four to start giving him some soldiers to use as blockers. By the time turn 5 rolls around, an Arbor Colossus has made it to the field, but a Goblin Shortcutter and Frenzied Goblin activation means there are no available blockers to keep him alive. Spooty takes Game 1.

• Spootyone keeps a hand of 2x forest, 2x mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, Burning-Tree Emissary and Lightning Strike.

• blackmarker90 keeps an opener of 2x plains, Hornet Nest, Genesis Hydra, First Response, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, and Hornet Queen.

blackmarker90 is on the play. Spooty gets a T2 BTE into a Lightning Strike, but is immediately walled off by a Brimaz. Goblin Shortcutter manages to stall him from blocking for a turn, but his attack followed by a caryatid means getting anywhere will be tough. A Gruul Charm helps things out for a turn but a Hornet Nestdropped by Marker, followed by another Brimaz swing really left the board a mess for the aggro player. After a Courser of Kruphix was dropped, and an Avacyn, Guardian Angel was revealed, it all came down to drawing some burn. Spooty loses the game after he didn't manage to draw into an out. blackmarker90 takes Game 2.

• Spootyone keeps a hand of 2x forest, Burning-Tree Emissary, 2x Magma Jet, Lightning Strike and Gruul Charm.

• blackmarker90 keeps a hand of Genesis Hydra, forest, Temple Garden, First Response, plains, Mana Confluence and Arbor Colossus.

Spootyone is on the play and starts off with no red mana, but a BTE into a Magma Jet to try to set himself up. This isn't enough however and a red source of mana isn't found after scrying away twice and drawing another 3 cards. By this point, an Arbor Colossus has made it onto blackmarker90's side and is looming over the field -- unable to get past. A Genesis Hydra for 5 follows this up and brings a First Response onto the field for him. Spooty is able to get a Goblin Rabblemaster online, but it's a bit too late with so many big creatures on the field. Spooty goes ahead and concedes after a Hornet Nest hits the field. Lesson learned: don't keep a hand with no red sources in it. blackmarker90 wins the third game and the match.

Spootyone's Conclusions:

Maaannn...I thought I had that one easily. Well, after I began playing a realized a couple grievous errors to my deck. I had no Mana Confluence or Stoke the Flames -- both of which I originally intended to include. I really felt the pain of missing both of those in these games, as a stoke could've rid me of the opposing Brimaz in game 2, and a confluence would've given me the red mana I so needed in game three. I'll just say that was nerves during deck building haha. I really enjoyed this. I was quite surprised by the direction that blackmarker90 took for his building, but it ended up that he chose quite a number of good cards against me. His deck was fairly slow, but mine was unable to outspeed it enough to win the match. I didn't get to see Goblin Rabblemaster as much as I wanted to, but I think it goes without saying how powerful a card he is.

blackmarker90's Conclusions:

After playing the match and drawing First Response in every game, I noticed that if you are ahead it really does nothing for you, and if you are behind it can’t really dig you out of a hole because it is only one soldier no matter how much damage you take. There is a benefit to having multiple copies out, but it may be too late by the time they get rolling. The real star of this matchup was actually Arbor Colossus, but that being said I can’t believe I forgot to put Polukranos, World Eater in my list.

That'll do it for this first edition of SpeedBrewers! I genuinely hope you all enjoyed this as much as we did as we plan on making this a commonplace article series on the site. We look forward to seeing the feedback you all have for things. Voice your ideas and opinions! I can't promise all things will be taken into account but we are open to hearing your thoughts. And if you have an idea for a challenge, feel free to post it! It may end up being chosen if it's cool enough!

There was an overwhelming amount of support regarding my wondering about asking for donations. As requested, I am now doing so! From now on, there will be a button below for you to do so if you desire to. All donators will be thanked in the following article unless they specify they would rather not be.

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

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2x arbor colossus 4x courser of kruphix 4x fleecemane lion 2x genesis hydra 4x heir of the wilds 3x hornet nest 2x hornet queen 4x polukranos, world-eater 1x reclamation sage 4x sylvan caryatid 4x blossoming sands 9x forest 2x nykthos, shrine to nyx 2x plains 4x temple of plenty 4x windswept heath 3x setessan tactics 2x ajani, mentor of heroes sideboard:1x ajani, mentor of heroes