Round 1: v. Mono Blue Mill (2-1)
Game 1: For whatever reason, after pulling Rapid Hybridization off on my own Strangleroot Geist with a Cloudfin out, I had a terminal brain shutdown and forgot about Jace, Memory Adept's 0 ability. Twice. Got milled.
Game 2/3: Game started strong both times with the initial drop of Cloudfin and a smooth curve all the way up. No real data collection.
Round 2: v. GW Humans (0-2)
Game 1: Got stomped by a turn 3 Wolfir Silverheart. I had previously Hybridized a Champion of the Parish, but now had a 7/7 and an 8/8 stomping over me with red splashed for Kessig Wolf Run. Ow.
Game 2: Effectively the same as Game 1, except it was Silverblade Paladin this time.
What I learned from this game is that direct creature removal is big. Having not seen any Pit Fights yet, I couldn't directly handle his threats and avoid their combat abilities to end things early.
Round 3: v Naya Zoo (1-2)
Game 1: Fun things happen with Rapid Hybridization and Angel of Serenity. In response to her main ability, you can Hybirdize her and successfully get the opponent to leave things either exiled or not bother at all with it by putting her exits the battlefield effect on the stack above her enters.
This game also saw Pit Fight show itself as a go-to creature removal spell. In the end step, I was using Strangleroot Geist to clear dorks and things that normally wouldn't attack, allowing for an easy win.
Basically, it was a slowly more-in-my-favor kind of game. I like those, because that's how this deck should run.
Game 2: Opposite of Game One. He got off to a great start and there's little that the deck has that lets it stabilize against a consistent flood of creatures coming from the other side.
Game 3: Finally, Master Biomancer made the field and after bioshifting off of a deathtouched Cloudfin Raptor, I had myself a 5/7 Biomancer that would gladly usher in gigantic creatures for cheap.
Enter my first ever brush with a Miracled Bonfire of the Damned. He casted for 6 across the board, and had two 2/2 Wolves on the field. I decided that, with my biomancer at 1 toughness, it was an OK trade. facepalm. Ended quickly after that.
Round 4: v. Naya Lifegain (1-2)
Game 1: Went easily in my favor. Even after eating a double Boros Charm, I was in pretty good shape. Zameck got to play with all three Strangleroot Geists that wrecked havoc across his field. Simic Charm and Pit Fight were the stars of the show, allowing for massive swings in damage mid-blockers step.
Game 2 and 3: Mana screwed. The important thing to note here is all that it takes to fix your mana is Gyre Sage and a drop above. You can make up for missed turns as long as you're able to find ways of evolving her, even if it means sacrificing existing creatures that are doomed.
Round 5: v. Naya Humans (0-2)
Game 1: Deck never really got off the ground.
Game 2: Though there were some moments, the deck put out a blazing number of combat tricks with Bioshift that allowed for surprise kills of important Binders like Silverblade Paladin. The deck is capable of picking what lives through the Combat Step, which is very, VERY important in a creature heavy, aggro meta. If the format shifts to control, this will see some oddities.
Things learned:
=The deck is a modified variant of tempo. The deck plays more like a waltz than a rock song. There are lulls and fast moments all together, and it requires a LOT of thought.
=The Decktype rewards planning and trickery. Bioshift, Pit Fight and Simic Charm all proved to be multi-use all stars, allowing for the handling of some inconvenient creatures quickly before they could do their thing. Huntmaster of the Fells
Flip was a favored target for my Raptors tonight.
=Even with my build, the deck's ability to modify combat quickly put a lot of solid decks in bad, complicated spots. This seems to be Simic's advantage. Bioshift is a key combat trick, as well as the Giant Growth option on Simic Charm.
=Pit Fight is killer in this deck, as the extra Toughness your creatures have lying around is often enough to balance out the combat step on the fly. Plus, with Undying creatures, you can trigger Evolve on one or more creatures, and remove an opposing creature all for 2 Mana. Pretty good deal.
=Ooze Flux is a little clunky. I never found myself anywhere where I felt this was good, as a lot of people weren't familiar with what I was doing and left the Guildmage alone. Perhaps this will change in time, but for now, this feels extra, plus it costs a lot to get out there.
