Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede
Standard*
SCORE: 71 | 64 COMMENTS | 19532 VIEWS | IN 32 FOLDERS Top 8: 05/10
4/12 FNM Report! —April 13, 2013
So the minor change I made to the mainboard probably costed me many games tonight. Therefore, I am reverting back to the previous setup by making the following changes:
+1 Thragtusk
I was greedy in wanting a second Angel in hopes that my other support card could do well enough job in stalling the game. Turns out, that fourth Thragtusk really made a difference. I wasn't hitting Thragtusk as much as I used to and that costed me most of the games tonight. No bueno.
Sideboard is also getting changed:
+1 Abrupt Decay
Selesnya Charm was too awkward to side in and Appetite for Brains almost does the same intended job just more proactively and less conditionally. Abrupt Decay is way too good of a card to pass up. With the abundance of aggro in my meta, this card wins me games. They're back in.
Ok so that concluded the new changes (or rollback) made after tonight's results. I went 2-3 out of 5 rounds but it was a fun and productive night nonetheless. I was able to trade for over ~$230 worth of cards thanks to my modern and legacy collection (and some of the cards whose prices I had no idea was that high) so my binder is now full of RTR block staples and am ready for the next set.
R1: RDW (W2-0)
This is the same RDW kid that I played against last FNM. He was able to get me down to 4 in game 1 before I started lifelinking with Restoration Angel and Loxodon Smiter and put myself way out of his reach. Game 2 was much quicker but in the similar manner thanks to Thragtusk.
R2: Naya Midrange (L 0-2)
Ah. This is the same guy (still a good friend of mine) I played against in the finals last FNM. Of course, he finished me off with a topdecked Bonfire of the Damned both games. All of the games I've played against him so far, he's been able to kill me in the exact same manner. I was about to turn game 2 around too! Oh well. It was hilarious for both of us.
R3: Naya Humans (L1-2)
Lost game 1 to a swarm of humans plus Frontline Medic with no answers. Won game 2 when he scooped after being stuck on 2 lands and I Golgari Charm whatever creatures he had left on the board. Game 3 was textbook blitz. Having found only one Thragtusk was not good enough to stay alive.
R4: Gruul Aggro (L 1-2)
At this point my only hope was to win out to top 8. Won game 1 after a relatively long game in which I eventually stabilized after a barrage of animals he sent at me thanks to Lingering Souls. Lost game 2 to a hard blitz, once again, no Thragtusk. Lost game 3 after having found just one Thragtusk and taking a heavy wave if loaded Hellrider to the face for more turns than I can handle. In games 2 and 3 he managed to hit Mizzium Mortars on my Loxodon Smiter right after he hit the board. It was quite annoying.
R5: Orzhov Heartless (W 2-0)
Since both of us are out of the money, we decided to just play anyway. She ran a monoblack with splash white, running Heartless Summoning and big black creatures. It was an easy matchup as I was able to easily deal with her relatively slow pace and I was under no pressure from the 1 or 2 big creatures she ended up hardcasting.
So tonight was not the best night for the Circus, but I learned my lesson of not ever cutting Thragtusk again until I can find a reliable way to efficient replace him without hurting my stabilization. Thank you all for the support and comments! The Circus will be back in town next Friday!
warofgnomes4 says... #2
I don't know what that dude is talking about because this deck looks awesome its got all of the good standard stables with the exception of Thundermaw Hellkite , Snapcaster Mage and Geist of Saint Traft . I disagree with him and +1 for sweet description I could not do that long of one to save me.
April 10, 2013 11:52 p.m.
I hope your bringing the circus to town again this Friday! This deck looks so much fun to play. I bet it would hold some heavy weight in my meta which is slightly less professionally challenging than yours.
Curious why the 1-ofs for both Obzedat, Ghost Council and Unburial Rites ? Also, how often do you get use out of the Staff of Nin ? I know when it was in my orzhov midrange deck it was just too slow...that and I hardly drew it since there was only 1
April 11, 2013 10:23 a.m.
mrbloo1848 says... #4
The 1-of Obzedat, Ghost Council is there to diversify my threats in game 1. Resolving him against control means the game is pretty much over since now they will have to choose between dealing with the ghost dad or my other creatures since in most cases he can't deal with both parties at the same time. He also gives me the reach and sustain I need in longer games. He's too good to not run mainboard but not versatile enough to cut something else to add to his count, hence the second one in the side against control.
I used to run Unburial Rites at first, then cut them. However, Ertl nagged me to give it another try even as a one-of and so I decided sure I'll give this another shot at an FNM. That card actually won me a game once. It basically gives me an extra one or two copies of whatever I need to win the game. Being able to reanimate Angel of Serenity in a long game will usually finish it for me. In the end, this card earned its spot even as a singleton. Once again, it gives my deck flexibility and an opponent seeing the one copy may even lead him/her to wrongly assume that I am running a Junk Rites list and adjusted his/her play incorrectly.
Staff of Nin , believe it or not, gets drawn more often than it statistically should during games and usually at a pretty good timing too. You play it as you're going into late game to start digging through your deck for answers or finishers. Getting to draw one more card per turn than your opponent is a HUGE advantage. The damage on it is just a minor pressure to add to whatever you're drawing into. I side it out against faster aggro decks since I usually won't have time to play it.
The main difference between your deck and mine is the ramp. Having 5-6 mana by turns 4-5 or even earlier makes a huge difference in what cards you can consider running. That's why Prime Speaker Bant can afford to run more big spells than most decks dare to run, it's because they usually run at least set of mana dorks plus a set of Farseek which gives them a potential for fast mana acceleration.
Another difference is how each of our decks work its way to stabilize. My deck just dumb a few tokens to chump block until I start throwing down bigger stuff and gaining tons of life and then start swinging for win. Your deck basically does the same thing but since you can't gain a stupid amount of life or play ginormous creatures like green can, you focus a bit more on actually removing whatever is threatening your life total and play creatures that your opponents can't trade favorably with.
Since I didn't play last week, I'm pretty pumped to put the Circus back in action this week.
April 11, 2013 11:17 a.m.
I just wanted to let you know. I tried out Staff of Nin . It does wonders with card advantage. However, it's doesn't fit in my version of GBW. It is over kill with Garruk, Primal Hunter and Griselbrand in main board.
April 11, 2013 10:37 p.m.
mrbloo1848 says... #6
Staff of Nin is clutch. Extremely hard to remove in current standard. Of course the other side of the argument is that some people prefer the investment to pay off up front, hence Griselbrand , Garruk, Primal Hunter , Prime Speaker Zegana , and of course Sphinx's Revelation .
Btw, how has Ground Seal been working for you? It should works better with my deck than Rest in Peace but it still can be removed so I've been running Purify the Grave against graveyard tech. I wish I could run Memory's Journey .
April 11, 2013 10:46 p.m.
GureiSeion says... #7
Are you as excited as I am that Putrefy is in Dragon's Maze?
April 12, 2013 1:02 a.m.
mrbloo1848 says... #8
You have no friggin' idea. It's like Christmas all over again!
QueenBloodqueef says... #1
How is this possibly in the Top 8 for decks..? What is the world coming to.. ugh..
April 10, 2013 6:30 p.m.