Pattern Recognition #233 - Slow Grow, Week 6 and 7

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

31 March 2022

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

We're almost done. This article will be published at Noon Eastern on Thursday, 31 March. Tomorrow, it will be the last round and I will know my final standings. Let it all be resolved in Mortal Combat!

But before then, let's go over Weeks 6 and 7 shall we?

WEEK 6

IN: Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip, Hammer of Nazahn, Holy Day, Stave Off, Path to Exile
OUT: Relentless Assault, Master Warcraft, Comet Storm, Volcanic Fallout, Kor Cartographer

This week was me shoring up my defenses a little bit, as I have been focusing on my offense a bit too much, to my detriment. Even cards that have worked before, such as Master Warcraft are not pulling their weight in a multiplayer game. It's a finisher, and I am rarely in a position to exploit that fact, even when it's a card in my hand.

As such, Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip, Hammer of Nazahn, Holy Day, and Stave Off are various degrees of protection, either Protection itself, damage refusal, or indestructibility. Path to Exile is included as redundant removal.

Honestly, at this point, pulling cards from the deck is effectively at random. I'm not sure what to pull at this point any more, so it tends to be an impulse decision.

ROUND 1

Yet another Aesi player goes first, Miss Partners is Second, Wilhelm (I know about the Scream, thank you. That's my joke now), then myself in last. The Aesi Player has more points than me, so taking him out first nets you points! First Blood goes to the Zombie deck, thanks to an on-curve Gravecrawler. However, Sram, Senior Edificer drops on Turn 2, and I'm away to the races.

Actually, things get out of hand. You see, I drop Shadowspear on turn 4 and equip to Wyleth, which means I start drawing cards. Lots of cards. Too many damned cards, and I'm forced to make tough choices about what to keep and what to toss at the end of each turn as I advance. But given what's at the table, I decide to keep 1 mana open at all times to threaten Shadowspears activated ability.

Then Aesi casts Mana Drain on Wilhelm's first casting. In the words of our resident Spike, playing said Zombie Deck, "OK, Shit just got Real". Then the two of them go to town on each other.

Did I happen to mention that Aesi is sitting in first, Zombies second, myself Fourth, and Miss Partners is wondering openly about why she was put at the Power Table.

What follows is those two leaders going at each other, with Miss Partners and I caught in the crossfire. Sadly, Shadowspear is collateral at one point, and I can't keep my life total high enough to avoid coming in last place.

ROUND 2

I'm first, Obuun is second, Kaalia is third, and Elfball is fourth.

Sadly Kaalia is a very new player, and we had to stop the game to explain Multi-kicker to him, even as he played his deck. And Elfball is Elfball. You can have a cardboard cutout sitting where that player was and still get the same result. No insult to the player, it's just that kind of auto-pilot deck that requires no thought.

Anyway, Elfball gets first blood, thought not on me as I had a blocker. I'm also the highest player at the table, so I got to watch out. Then on Turn 5, I cast and equip Blackblade Reforged, the one from Gideon's special artwork, not the Dominaria version. I get two swings before everyone goes "DIEDIEDIE". Which is a perfectly reasonable response to an unleashed Blackblade, to be fair.

Then Kaalia drops a surprise Sephara, Sky's Blade and uh-oh. Then drops an equally surprising Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and that's a definite UH-OH.

It's hard to keep Wyleth in play, so I wind up going with my emergency backup, Danitha Capashen, Paragon, who has Sunforger and Sanctuary Blade set to on her. She's busy beating on the Elfball for lifegain, and Kaalia pushes my "Sunforger into Settle the Wreckage!" button to get around Indestructible.

Last turns, and Elfball is about to go off with the spell that doubles all his creature tokens, so I Word of Seizing on Lathril himself to avoid everyone losing life, and he's stuck more conventional attacks with very few creatures that aren't sick to try and affect the boardstate, but it's not enough. I don't win, but I still have enough life to not come in last. Danitha MVP!

ROUND 3

Sevinne has replaced their Commander with Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, which to be honest, is a very good choice. They're first, I'm second, Leinore, Autumn Sovereign is third, and a non Slow-Grow Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, despite being a viable Commander for the tournament.

And the Meltis Men drop Rites of Flourishing on Turn 3, and because of that, I'm able to use Oreskos Explorer on Turn 3 for 2 Plains, including Sacred Foundry.

From there, the game sorta stalls out until K&T reveals his grand design. You see, he's not playing a GroupHug/Slug deck. No, he's playing something worse.

He's Playing KINGMAKER.DEC. What is that, you ask? Well, it's a deck that builds up to an awesome resource base, but nothing to end the game with. So it looks around the table, casts Sky Swallower, and points at a person and says "You Win."

He choses the Hinata deck, who is instantly paralyzed with indecision, and I have to apply my real world leadership skills to get him moving. "You've won," I said. "But I haven't!" he replied. "You have card draw, and your mana base is YES," I tell him. "Now, name a win-con in your deck." "I'm still deciding!" "Name. A. Win. Condition." "Ah... Comet Storm!" "Excellent! You just cast it for an absurd amount of mana and burned everyone else out. You get 4 points for coming in first, Leinore gets 3 and I get two based on relative life totals. We all get 2 points for not being assholes. We all get 1 point for not going to time. You get 1 point for First Blood, and another for taking out the highest player. You also lose 1 point for killing all players at the same time, and 1 point for taking out the lowest player at the table at the same time. Math's done!"

Sometimes, a take charge attitude and knowing how to get to the core of the issue is all that is needed. But that's that for this week, as that was the last round, I didn't get to do much of anything, and this deck is really dependent on Wyleth swinging to get anything done, isn't it?

WEEK SEVEN

IN: Sheltering Light, Beaming Defiance, Reflexes, Angelfire Ignition, Onward / Victory
OUT: Oreskos Explorer, Mask of Avacyn, Tiana, Ship's Caretaker, Brass Squire, Blazing Sunsteel

So, in all honestly, I'm at the end of my rope here. What is going in and what is going out is at the point where this deck could and should be working toward a total rebuild, rather than further modification. I toss in some more protection for Wyleth, a cheap source of First Strike (as Battle Mastery is too mana-expensive for the way this deck is rolling, Onward / Victory is another source of Double Strike, and honestly if I can hit both sides on the same turn, Wyleth could do some serious damage. And the Ignition is there because why not? At least it has Flashback and hands out +1/+1 counters to stick around.

This is also the week where format fatigue is setting in, and those that are left playing are mostly those still in the top half and are jockeying for position. Me? I'm still in fourth, and looking to hold that spot.

ROUND 1

A non-format Grolnok is going first. Actually, he's an out-of-towner who dropped in with a couple of his friends, and he was cool with an evening of free Commander and no prizes. I made sure he understood how the points would be scored around him, showed him the sheet, and he was cool with it. I'm second, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher *f-etch* is third, and a non-format Trostani, Selesnya's Voice rounds out the table. Myself and Prossh fist-bump as even the loser gets a guaranteed 2nd.

Anyway, I get Mirror Shield on Wyleth, and swing at Trostani, as I know his deck from the last time he was here. I'm not focusing on him, mind, it's just that he's open and I know that his deck can explode in life total so a love-tap of 2 damage isn't anything to write home about. He blocks with Trostani, and I Valorous Stance his Commander, letting the two Trample damage through. First Blood for me! I draw Bonesplitter and equip it next turn.

He responds to the developing board state with a Day of Judgment and I 'counter' with Boros Charm. With the shields down, and me with a 4 power Commander, I tap him again (having tapped everyone else at this point, bringing his Commander Damage up to 6.

I draw Onward / Victory on the draw.

Now, I have a serious conundrum on my hands. If my turn rolls back around, and Trostani is still defenseless, I can take him out. Prossh has 4 damage, Grolnok has 2. But I have 5 mana on the board, and one more in hand. The math is simple. If Trostani doesn't drop a blocker, I use all six mana to cast Onward / Victory, doubling Wyleth's Power to 8. Then I cast Onward / Victory from the Graveyard at Sorcery speed mind you, giving him Double Strike. That's 16 damage.

I can do it. Do I?

The answer, is Yes, but with an immediate caveat. I go through with it, and hit the magic number, and before the dust has had time to settle, I say, "Keep playing, man. I'll just take the 2 points for the Commander Kill, you take the damage, and keep playing. I'll lay off you." But Trostani isn't having that, and despite both other players at our table agreeing with my suggestion without hesitation (it's just Slow-Grow points in the end), Trostani packs up and leaves the table.

And the store.

That... You know, I like having fun as much as the next guy, and I knew that effectively one-shotting him on Turn 6 was a bit on the rude side. And yes, this is the same Trostani player I Commander Killed previously in this same tournament. Which is why I made the offer to keep playing and just Rule Zero him still in the game. That's what it's there for, right? But I still feel bad for it, and talked to the manager afterward. He told me that some players take Commander Damage very personally, and I shouldn't take it personally. Sorry, but I do. I love this game, and I don't want to drive people away because they got blindsided by someone else. That's not what I'm here for.

But what's done is done, and I'm sure people will offer their opinions below. But I'm not going to hide what I did either.

Moving on, I hit Grolnok, and so he blocks with a 4 power creature as I lack First or Double Strike. So I Path to Exile it, and trample over the invisible defender. I hit him again next turn, bringing him up to 18 Commander Damage as I couldn't delete a defender this time. He's on the ropes and he knows it. But he has answers in his Exile, and Prossh and myself both know it. Of course, Prossh has hit be for 7 with his Commander as well, so that's on the table.

So Prossh looks at his hand, and casts Mass Mutiny. Which is to say, he grabs Wyleth and Grolnok itself, and moves to combat. I'm tapped out and can't do anything so I watch as he swings, and Grolnok recognizes that he has to block Wyleth, and block everything, just in case. Wyleth only needs to get three damage in, so he throws a 5/5 and a 2/2 in the way. Wyleth only has Tample and Hexproof at this point, so he casts Deathsprout on the 5/5.

I look at him. "That's my thing!" I tell him as I've already done exactly what he did twice this game. So he grins right back. "I know, that's how I knew to do it," he replied. Grolnok is down, and by the rules of the tournament, I get the additional +2 Commander Kill points as it was my Commander that did the job. I then conceded because he earned that first place victory. I still earn 11 points total on that round though.

And only when I'm editing this article do I realize that Wyleth still had Mirror Shield attached, meaning he had Hexproof, and thus couldn't be a Target Creature.

ROUND 2

Non-SG Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty (one of the visitors) is first, I'm second, Aesi is third, and this Aesi player is actually reading these articles! HEY! If I forgot to ask you on Friday, could you fire me off a copy of your spreadsheet? Please? And fourth is a non-SG Lathil deck.

Oh, that's going to be a problem.

I mill to six to get a viable hand, the first hand had no lands, the second one had 2 Mountains and five white cards. The third hand was viable. Imoti goes down to Four. But all that means nothing as Aesi smiles, and drops a Strip Mine. I look to Aesi as say "Slow Grow Buds?" to which Aesi agrees.

Aesi then plays Crucible of Worlds.

I come in second.

No, seriously, it's like shooting fish in a barrel when one player can wipe three lands a turn, and one of said victims is all about Cascading off of cards that cost and up.

Lathril decides to kill himself with Sylvan Library rather than let me finish the job for a Commander Kill though, and I don't contest it. Not worth it.

ROUND THREE

I'm first, Obuun is second, Eva-1 is third and Miss Partners is back for fourth.

I 'steal' First Blood from Partners with a well-drawn Energizer Bunny on Turn 2, and then while I'm building Wyleth, he gets On Serra's Wings and a Faith Unbroken that hit his Obuun the first time, Reflexes and Spirit Mantle. Miss Partners is doing her best to argue that I'm the biggest threat on the board when Obuun agrees with her, and decides to prove her wrong.

Eva-1 forms Voltron, the Mechtitan Core going online.

Obuun drops Moraug, Fury of Akoum, then on his next turn, and I'm pointing out what he's about to do, that I'm not the big threat here, he gets FOUR Landfall triggers.

Combat 1 sees him throw Obuun and a 9/9 Land at me. I block Obuun, but I can do math, and I know I'm going to lose. It's just a matter of when. And how much he loses in the process. Second combat step, he attacks with a 10/9 Obuun, a 10/9 Land and a 9/9 land.

I block Obuun again, and then Deflecting Palm on the 10 power Land. Then my brilliance comes into play, and only now does he realize that combat damage stacks across multiple combats, so my Wyleth just killed his Obuun. But I had to take 19 more damage in the process. On the third combat step, he attacks me again and while I can block some of the damage, it's not enough and he finally takes me down.

I come in last place, and at that point, I decide to head home for the evening and pack up, extracting promises from Eva-1 and Miss Partners to avenge me. But given that thanks to needing to do a lot more to me than he expected, and not having enough land-mans to finish the fight, Obuun was in a very fragile position with the Mechatitan staring at him from across the table.

And so that ends Week Seven. Tomorrow I will go into the last week, the last three games with my head held high. I won't be writing up the finale for next Thursday, it will be the week after as that will get me time to go over things in a bit more detail and provide a post-mortem of my participation. Instead, join me next week for a different subject. What it is yet, I don't know.

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!