Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede
Standard*
SCORE: 71 | 64 COMMENTS | 19532 VIEWS | IN 32 FOLDERS Top 8: 05/10
Playtest #9 —March 6, 2013
In Professor Farnsworth's style
Good news, everyone!
Holy crap, did the change make a difference. Playtested tonight against a WR weenie humans aggro deck, Knights of the Blood Oath (the list was either exact or extremely similar), to favorable results. Granted, the person who played the deck was relatively new to the game, but he knew almost everything there was to know about how to play that deck and I helped and corrected him so that he makes the best possible plays (without having the information on what he has in his hand, which means the plays could also be better still). Since it's a pretty darn fast aggro deck, this playtest is still perfectly valid and can accurately reflect how my deck will do against similar aggro decks in competitive setting to a degree.
Anyway, enough of the jabbering. The junk list, newly dubbed Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede, ran reasonably well against the aggro. I feel that the new land count of 25 really helped me hit that land every turn, which is extremely important especially against aggro decks since I need to accelerate into bigger creatures and stabilize before being overwhelmed by the legion of shin-kicking midgets (with double strike).
I was almost always able to either playing Farseek or leaving my mana open for the one or two removals that I usually have in my hand to deal with early threats like Champion of the Parish and War Falcon. After that, Vampire Nighthawk or Liliana of the Veil hits the field and slows the advance by a good degree until I play my 4th land, which I usually can either leave open for a couple removals, or play Restoration Angel or Garruk Relentless Flip. The gears really start turning on turns 4 or 5 when I am able to cast Thragtusk (which seemed to always find its way into my hand by then tonight) and the lifegain and another body (with another body behind it) usually slows the aggro to a stop and begins to shift the tempo in my favor. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben was a female canine to deal with, but then everything was 'kay when I just Abrupt Decay for 1GB. Disciple of Bolas really showed to me that night that this overlooked and forgotten heck of a card really does deliver, getting me even more life gain to shake off the race and the card draws to fuel my removals and stampedes. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, I'll miss you. But it's not you. It's me--I mean Disciple of Bolas.
After all the card draws and showcasing of my tusks, Angel of Serenity stole the show when she seemed to show up at just the right time, taking most of their board and paving a way for my circus show to commence.
In conclusion, the change was in the right direction and I can't wait to test the list further and more vigorously. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is one of the best if not the best planeswalker around and his power definitely rubbed off some on his disciples.