Our FNM was held on Wednesday this week, due to Christmas being on Friday.
I'm going to do as much of a match report as I can, but a lot of the games were over very quickly so I'm not always sure what their strategy was.
2-0 Blue Green Eldrazi
I remember this being an Eldrazi deck but not much else.
Mardu Ascendancy and Butcher of the Horde came out both games and, with a handful of other Allies, the Goblins overran the board then Butcher finished everything off.
A couple of times he would play a larger Creature but I would just kill it in my first Main Phase then hit with nothing blocking me.
He wanted to side stuff in to have a third friendly game. I think he had some stuff that could deal with fliers in his Sideboard.
I beat him again, mostly because I hit his flying Creatures with Valorous Stance. I think one of them was Tide Drifter.
2-0 Mono-Green Eldrazi Ramp
Pretty standard fare here. Lots of Green mana dorks eventually ramping into Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
I had played against this deck a couple of weeks back when I was trying a janky build that never did anything. At the time I had regretted not playing my Allies for two reasons:
-
It's Battle for Zendikar. Allies versus Eldrazi is the whole theme of the expansion.
-
I thought my deck could have beaten his.
It turns out I was correct. Butcher of the Horde came out early in both games and smacked the crap out of him. With support from Expedition Envoy and Kor Bladewhirl in the second game I got him down enough to kill him the turn before he could play Ulamog.
2-0 Dark Temur (Black / Red / Blue / Green Overrun)
That's the best way I can describe this deck. It's very different from anything I've played in a long while.
His strategy was to get Woodland Wanderer out ASAP and keep adding +1/+1 counters to it. He also had Thunderbreak Regent in the mix to get some avoidance through Flying.
First game he played Duress on me as his first play and took my Mardu Ascendancy. Fortunately I picked up another one a couple of turns later. By that time I had Kor Bladewhirl and a couple of Zulaport Cutthroat on the field and was whacking away to get Goblins out. It got to where if he blocked I would win through the Cutthroat ability, and if he didn't I would hit for lethal damage.
He did play Thunderbreak Regent one turn but I shut that down with Valorous Stance.
He Sideboarded between rounds.
Next game I had not much in my hand I could play for a couple of turns.
He got out Jaddi Offshoot then Herald of Kozilek, Kozilek's Channeler, and Silent Skimmer.
I had picked up a few Valorous Stance along the way so I was able to kill Kozilek's Channeler, and Silent Skimmer. He got me down to 7 health. Then I picked up a Drana, Liberator of Malakir. I had my first blocker. He only had
Jaddi Offshoot and Herald of Kozilek by that stage.
Next card I got out was Butcher of the Horde. I decided to leave it as a blocker and not sack Drana, Liberator of Malakir to give it Haste. I did hit with the Drana.
He got out Thunderbreak Regent. Next turn I hit with Drana and Butcher and he chose not to block with Thunderbreak.
I think he thought that he'd let me hit him, then just race me blow for blow. With two hits from his Thunderbreak I'd be dead. He didn't block Drana in case I had something up my sleeve that could kill blockers.
With both my fliers tapped he was free to hit me with Thunderbreak Regent on his next turn.
So in my Second Main Phase I got out another Butcher of the Horde.
From that point I hit with Drana and one Butcher, leaving the other Butcher as a blocker.
Closest game I had all night.
2-1 Black Green Elves
This was the match I had been both dreading and looking forward to all night. It was a rematch of the game I lost in last week's final.
My Opponent went out to have a smoke and the shop owner came over and said that he was barracking for me to win the match. That made me a bit nervous, but I settled myself and got ready to focus on the games ahead.
First game was mine, as I got my Allies engine cooking with Expedition Envoy, Kor Bladewhirl, and Firemantle Mage.
I put out a Mardu Ascendancy instead of another Ally and hit with everything, hoping that he would be silly enough to block. I always make people read Mardu Ascendancy who aren't familiar with it, so that they realise I can sack it. They usually forget.
He forgot.
He lined up his Elves to block my Allies. I sacked Mardu Ascendancy giving them all +3 Toughness. His Creatures died, mine didn't.
He then had hardly anything on the field. I hit each turn and got him down to 0 pretty quickly.
I Sideboarded out Valorous Stance and 'boarded in Boiling Earth, which I had added to the Sideboard just for this matchup.
Game 2 he got his Elves on to the field really quickly and did a big hit at one stage. I blocked with a Kor Bladewhirl and two Zulaport Cutthroat hoping that the life loss and gain would hold him off for a while. In response he CoCoed two Shaman of the Pack onto the field which ended that game.
We drew cards for our next game and I was happy with what I had in hand. He made it clear that he was unsure whether to keep or to fold.
[ Lesson: Table talk gives your Opponent information. Don't do it. ]
Knowing that he had fuck all I went in aggressively with my Allies, and got Mardu Ascendancy out as well. He had bugger all on the field by the time I got out Butcher of the Horde and then it was all over.
I HAD WON!!
I went and high fived the shop owner.
The speed and power of this deck, the fact that it can go wide with Goblins, the fact that it can ramp up the Power of Creatures with Drana, Liberator of Malakir, and the First Strike, Menace, and Haste Ally engine you can set up with Chasm Guide
+
Firemantle Mage
+
Kor Bladewhirl
make this deck killer.
It's not a Tier 1 build by any means, but it is fun as hell to play.
In this case the Allies defended Zendikar from the Eldrazi.
Go you good thing, Allies.
