Baneslayer
Pioneer*
SCORE: 43 | 27 COMMENTS | 10133 VIEWS | IN 13 FOLDERS
FNM —May 25, 2018
1st Place win tonight!
I did lose against a Saproling tokens deck in my second match that just went super wide and I never got a decent handle on the board, but I made up for it the rest of the night and went undefeated when we cut to the Top 8.
Tonight my Angels beat out B/W Knights, B/G Constrictor, and R/G Dinosaurs in the first four rounds.
My first match-up in the Top 8 was against a U/W control that I figured I would lose to since it's proven to be the toughest match-up for me so far, but I did pull off a 2-0 win and it was beautiful! Game one had pretty much the ideal aggro hand with 2 mana sources, a Llanowar Elves, Merfolk Branchwalker, 2x Steel Leaf Champion's, and a Blossoming Defense. I drew in to another Blossoming Defense, Shalai, and Lyra was revealed with my Branchwalker, so he knew I was holding on to her. I got my Branchwalker and Steel Leaf out early, he bounced the Steal Leaf back to my hand and eventually countered it, but with the merfolk on the board I was just chipping away at his life while he waited to counter more spells. Eventually he was forced to Settle against a branchwalker to which I played Shalai and the second Steel Leaf I was holding on to. The protection from Shalai got me the win as my Steel Leaf (and Llanowar) finished with lethal damage. Game two opted down to six cards for the better hand, but the crowning moment of the match for me was casting Heroic Intervention against his Fumigate with a Llanowar, Steel Leaf, and Shalai on the board. With his mana spent, I dropped a Lyra and it was over after that. It was likely the best match I've played against a U/W control deck and it felt pretty good to beat that in two short rounds. I think the key to beating out U/W Control is to get a creature on the board early, have some protection to keep it alive, and hold on to your wincon's until they spend their mana for a planeswalker or board-wipe ... and luck.
The second match was against another R/G Monsters deck. No real surprises there: Seal Away and Cast Out the tough cards, play my own big creatures to finish the game. The problem any red deck has against this deck is that it requires at least 2x burn spells to get rid of an angel and I run enough to usually get another one out before they can recover. Unblock-able Champions don't go over well either since they can't be chumped ... neither do indestructible gods ... neither do 12/12 dinosaurs that come out for only 2x green mana. I don't usually struggle against those decks.
My buddy and I drew for the win since we wanted to split the prize pool. He was playing an Approach control deck that I've beaten before. He doesn't run as many counters as most other control decks and instead runs W/B removal with U draw and Gearhulk spells which means I usually get my creatures cast and resolved to the board and with Shalai out he can't Settle my creature attacks, so that's my wincon against his deck, as long as he doesn't get to cast Approach too quick.
Anyway, I feel like I'm really getting the hang of this deck and how it plays against other competitive decks in the meta and I'm drawing more and more to the conclusion that I love this Green/White Angels combo!