Ye Olde Deckbuilding Challenge #14- Combo Winter
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Sept. 6, 2013, 2:09 p.m. by doinitwrong
Combo Winter? What's a combo?
Made that one to live up to my pledge to 'go Boros in every format.' haha Will have another one, most likely pretty soon. Not sure though.
September 10, 2013 5:42 a.m.
Is there time for more submissions? I could probably work something up in a day or two if so.
September 17, 2013 5:05 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #6
Oops, I can't believe I forgot about this challenge.
sewellius yeah, since there are only 4 submissions so far, the deadline has been extended to September 22nd.
September 17, 2013 5:33 p.m.
Ah, great. That gives me time to make the second deck. I was wondering if you had been ill or some such as you are usually right on the nose with the deadlines. haha
September 17, 2013 5:55 p.m.
Okay, I've got my submissions ready:
Deck #1: Azoritog
Deck #2: Flickering Garden
September 19, 2013 1:42 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #9
3 days left, everyone!
If there's an odd number of submissions, I'll add Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things.
September 19, 2013 1:43 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #10
Sorry, man. I'm too far behind testing decks right now for next weekend. Please don't forget to ping me on the next one.
September 21, 2013 1:01 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #11
fluffybunnypants sorry, you'll be missed.
1 day left everyone! Will there be any more submissions, or is everyone too busy prereleasing Theros?
September 21, 2013 1:19 p.m.
potatoedoughnut says... #12
Sorry, been a combination of busy and not really being keen on Urza's block. Will try for the next one.
September 21, 2013 5:12 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #13
I probably shouldn't have agreed to help for SCG testing. The time spent proxying cards alone was a couple of hours.
September 21, 2013 5:18 p.m.
Its 11:11 here, just incase it should matter to the official time limit. I'm trying to sneak a last one in under the wire. Hope that is allowed!
September 22, 2013 2:11 a.m.
Beefy Creature? Thats a combo. is my last minute addition. Hopefully it isn't too awful haha.
September 22, 2013 2:45 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #16
Dritz there's no real "official" deadline time. I just close submissions at whatever time I feel like. Usually it's around noon eastern.
September 22, 2013 10:09 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #17
Time's up! Let the games begin!
Round 1 Pairings:
September 22, 2013 9:32 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #18
Round 1 Results:
atreyujames's Brownies vs. Azure124's Combo winter control
G1: Brownies slowly sets up his mana as Control starts slowly beating with Faerie Conclave . An attempt at a lethal Fireball gets countered. Treachery and Remove Soul neutralize all Metalworker s that appear. The Conclaves and Palinchron are 1 turn away from victory when Brownies topdecks Stroke of Genius . He ramps with Hurkyl's Recall , Strokes for 11, ramps with Hurkyl and Rebuild , draws the rest of his deck, ramps some more, and hits Control with a Stroke for 76. Control is tapped out and hellbent, and thus cant respond.
G2: Counterspells hold Brownies at bay while Control plays and swings with Morphling . Brownies can't untap his monoliths fast enough to try comboing again before Superman crushes him, forcing game 3.
G3: Control has to mulligan to 5 and has to keep a hand without any counters. He pays for it as Brownies combos off on turn 3, ramping with Hurkyl's Recall , drawing with Stroke of Genius , and hitting a Fireball for 32.
Brownies wins 2-1
atreyujames's Encore, en-Kor vs. sewellius's Flickering Garden
G1: Garden starts drawing early with Verduran Enchantress and attacking with Skyshroud Falcon . The attacks are stalled temporarily by Angelic Protector until Flickering Ward arrives. Encore is down to ten when he makes the Protector a 2/100 with Nomads en-Kor , About Face s it, and Fling s for lethal.
G2: Encore can't use Angelic Protector for defense as he can't find a fourth land. 2x Elvish Archers s and Skyshroud Falcon blitz and give Garden the win.
G3: Both players' reliance on pain lands promise a short game. Elvish Archers starts early, but blockers soon arrive. Flickering Ward allows the Archer through the blocks. Soltari Champion buffs him whilst using Maze of Shadows to avoid dying himself. Encore's Kor and Angelic Protector , however, outnumber Gardens creatures, and they start racing to see who gets the win. Encore's flyers give him the victory.
Encore, en-Kor wins 2-1
Dritz's Beefy Creature? That's a combo. vs. doinitwrong's Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things
G1: Beefy gets Exploration and Birds of Paradise T1, but Phyrexian gets a T2 Phyrexian Processor at 7. Defense of the Heart , however, obligates Phyrexian to pace himself with the tokens. Beefy can't do much against the 7/7, but 2x Plow Under makes sure Phyrexian cant do anything else for the time being. However, Wasteland hitting Treetop Village and BoP forced to chump block leaves Beefy 1 mana shy of Multani, Maro-Sorcerer potentially stopping the offense. Phyrexia wins.
G2: Phyrexian's T1 goes Wasteland , Mana Vault , 2x Voltaic Key , untap Vault, cycle a land, untap Vault. His second turn sees Phyrexian Colossus played. Two attacks and a Fireball later, Phyrexia scores the decisive victory.
Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things wins 2-0
Dritz's Combo Winter? What's a combo? vs. sewellius's Azoritog
G1: Azor steals Paladin en-Vec , but Disenchant gets it back. Antagonism hurts Azor, but not Winter thanks to Soltari Foot Soldier . 2x Azoritog manage to outgun Winter's blockers, but Winter has enough Shadows to outrace him and pick up the win.
G2: Shadow creatures and Crusade swarm the field, and Azor is down for the count before he knows what hit him.
Combo Winter? What's a combo? wins 2-0
Round 2 Pairings:
September 24, 2013 12:50 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #19
Round 2 Results (Part 1):
Azure124's Combo winter control (0-1) vs. sewellius's Flickering Garden (0-1)
G1: Garden starts swinging early, but Control soon recovers using Morphling for defense and stealing Soltari Champion with Treachery . Garden keeps Morphling from attacking with Flickering Ward on Skyshroud Falcon . Propaganda slows the Falcons attacks, and Broken Fall + Birds of Paradise holds a second Morphling at bay until it gets countered. Palinchron and Treachery grabbing BoP ends the stalemate in favor of Control, and he goes on to win.
G2: 3x Howling Mine give both players huge hands. 4x Propaganda get played, preventing almost all offense from Garden. 2x Soltari Champion get grabbed by Treachery . After losing half his life, Garden finds the Maze of Shadows needed to stay alive. He then sticks Flickering Ward and 2x Conviction on Killer Bees . Unfortunately, by then it's too late, as the Mines and Opportunity deck Garden out.
Combo winter control wins 2-0
Dritz's Beefy Creature? That's a combo. (0-1) vs. sewellius's Azoritog (0-1)
G1: Burgeoning and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary get Beefy an early Endless Wurm , but Dominating Licid borrows, swings, and sacrifices it. Greater Good and Weatherseed Treefolk makes a great draw engine for Beefy. Plow Under messes with Azor's mana, and Defense of the Heart finds Endless Wurm and Child of Gaea . Knight of Dawn blocks the best he can, but the onslaught proves too great.
G2: A T2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary gets countered. A second one gets hit with Volrath's Curse . Child of Gaea dies to a buffed Auratog . Azor plays a second Tog, and Beefy proceeds to play 2 Defense of the Heart . Azor gets trampled in the ensuing flood.
Beefy Creature? That's a combo. wins 2-0
September 24, 2013 9:56 p.m.
Bummer, I would have thought Treachery an easy thing to clear off with Flickering Ward . Either way my decks are having a pretty sad game record. :(
September 25, 2013 12:58 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #21
Round 2 Results (Part 2):
atreyujames's Brownies (1-0) vs. doinitwrong's Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things (1-0)
G1: Phyrexian gets an early Phyrexian Colossus , but a clever combination of Hurkyl's Recall and Memory Jar puts it in the grave. Brownies combos into a Fireball for 17, but it gets countered. 2 turns later, a would-be lethal Stroke of Genius also gets countered. Phyrexian gets a 7/7 Phyrexian Processor token and starts swinging away. Brownies doesn't have the pieces to try another combo and is defeated.
G2: Phyrexian taps out for a T2 Grim Monolith and is thus unable to counter as Brownies proceeds to ramp, draw, and hit Fireball for lethal.
G3: Both players start slow; Brownies because he doesn't have a draw spell, and Phyrexian because hes keeping the mana for Counterspell open. Brownies tries comboing, but Fireball gets countered. Phyrexian plays Phyrexian Processor and makes a 10/10 with it before the Processor can be bounced. A last chance effort to combo out is countered, and Phyrexian wins the most interesting match I've seen in quite some time.
Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things wins 2-1
atreyujames's Encore, en-Kor (1-0) vs. Dritz's Combo Winter? What's a combo? (1-0)
G1: Both players attack each other nonstop. Winter gains the advantage in this race thanks to Incinerate . Encore doesn't draw the About Face he needs to win, and is defeated.
G2: Encore gets Kor, Angelic Protector , and About Face early. Winter doesnt have any flyers and is clobbered.
G3: Encore takes too long acquiring combo pieces, and Winter's Shadow blitz takes him down.
Combo Winter? What's a combo? wins 2-1
Round 3 Pairings:
September 25, 2013 4:20 p.m.
atreyujames says... #22
Well this is troubling. Two wins then two losses, and now my decks are facing each other. I guess only one will move on to the top 4.
September 25, 2013 6:16 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #23
Round 3 Results (Part 1):
sewellius's Azoritog (0-2) vs. Flickering Garden (0-2)
G1: Azor gets manascrewed, and Garden crushes him in a wave of early attackers.
G2: Azor can't get enough blockers or the right CoPs out to stop Garden's onslaught. The game ends quickly.
Flickering Garden wins 2-0
Azure124's Combo winter control (1-1) vs. Dritz's Beefy Creature? That's a combo. (1-1)
G1: Control does a good job of countering Beefy's big threats and slowing attacks with Propaganda . When Defense of the Heart triggers, the creatures are grabbed with Treachery . They and Morphling pick up the win.
G2: Control has an answer to everything Beefy throws at him. He even neutralizes Scragnoth by sticking Treachery on a Wall of Blossoms . Eventually a fleet of Palinchron s and Morphling s take off and take down Beefy for the match win.
Combo winter control wins 2-0
September 26, 2013 12:03 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #24
Round 3 Results (Part 2):
atreyujames's Brownies (1-1) vs. atreyujames's Encore, en-Kor (1-1)
G1: Brownies spends the early game waiting to topdeck a draw spell. Encore waits for enough mana to play Angelic Protector and Spirit en-Kor . Encores wish is granted first, and swings with an 800/2 Protector.
G2: Encore is waiting to topdeck About Face and get the kill when Brownies combos out, hitting a Fireball for lethal.
G3: Encore again has to wait for About Face . Brownies cant get a draw spell and is 5 mana shy of a lethal Fireball when Encore finds About Face and swings for lethal.
Encore, en-Kor wins 2-1
Dritz's Combo Winter? What's a combo? (2-0) vs. doinitwrong's Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things (2-0)
G1: An early Phyrexian Colossus gets Disenchant ed, but a second is played right after. Winter kept a slow hand and can't get enough creatures out fast enough to block and save himself.
G2: Phyrexian Colossus gets Disenchant ed early. By the time a second is played, Winter's aggro onslaught has done enough damage to outrace Phyrexian and force game 3.
G3: Phyrexian gets only mana, nothing to spend it on. Winter rushes him with a lot of Shadow creatures and takes the match.
Combo Winter? What's a combo? wins 2-1
The Top 4:
September 26, 2013 8 p.m.
Aww, yeah! Boros in every format, FTW! haha
Definitely kudos to everyone who participated!
Pity about that last game, I feel like my deck snuck out of a pretty bad match-up there by sheer luck. I suppose that sort of thing happens though. :P
September 26, 2013 8:38 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #26
I have to admit, both of these results surprised me.
Top 4 Results:
doinitwrong's Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things vs. atreyujames's Encore, en-Kor
G1: an early Phyrexian Colossus does 16 damage easily, but then Encore gets a third blocker. Spirit en-Kor and Angelic Protector can easily survive blocking together, then Encore sits and waits to topdeck a red source so he can About Face / Altar of Dementia for lethal. He can't find one, however, before a second Colossus is Tinker ed for. The 2 Colossi take the game.
G2: Phyrexian Colossus starts swinging early. Encore tries to keep 3 creatures alive to block, but 16 damage still gets through. Then, Wildfire and Wasteland leave Encore with just Altar of Dementia and a single Shaman en-Kor , not enough to stop a lethal attack.
Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things wins 2-0
Dritz's Combo Winter? What's a combo?vs. Azure124's Combo winter control
G1: Winter gets manascrewed out of white, preventing him from playing many Shadow creatures. Control hits every land drop, and gets Palinchron before Limited Resources sees play. A lot of Winter's creatures get countered, and a couple of them are stolen with Treachery . Winter can't outrace Palinchron and succumbs.
G2: Winter gets Soltari Priest out before Control has enough mana to counter. Control cant topdeck Treachery in time and doesnt have the mana for Palinchron , and thus is defeated by a 2/1.
G3: Howling Mine gets Conrtol a lot of counters and Treachery s. He uses them to completely shut down Winter, stealing the creatures he allows onto the board. Palinchron , Paladin en-Vec , Soltari Guerrillas , and Morphling beat Winter down for the win.
Combo winter control wins 2-1
September 27, 2013 1:28 p.m.
Seems like the most appropriate place to ask is here, but now I"m wondering how the Spirit en-Kor and Angelic Protector combo function specifically. There seem to be two possible scenarios on how it works;
The Spirit en-Kor (or other damage redirecting creature) has to be taking damage to redirect in the first place in order to boost the Angelic Protector . Each damage it redirects triggers the angel's ability separately, of course.
The redirect ability of Spirit en-Kor can be activated with or without incoming damage to boost the angel arbitrarily. This would make it possible to generate enormous numbers, like 3/800+
Which way is right, or should this go to the Q&A section?
September 27, 2013 2:01 p.m.
I was thinking about that combo while reading the match of Encore against the Phyrexian Colossi... but then I realized the Colossi couldn't have been blocked by less than three creatures anyway, so how/when the combo worked didn't matter in that case.
September 27, 2013 2:03 p.m.
Shucks, I was hoping that the Impatience and such would end up being more helpful agianst Combo winter control and similar. Good games, regardless.
September 27, 2013 2:38 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #30
sewellius Spirit en-Kor doesn't require immanent damage, it can be done any time.
Dritz Impatience and Antagonism were both played multiple times, but they were always countered.
September 27, 2013 11:20 p.m.
doinitwrong says... #31
Final Result:
Azure124's Combo winter control vs. doinitwrong's Phyrexian Guys Doing Phyrexian Things
G1: Control suffers from manascrew, only getting 2 lands in the first few turns. He counters Phyrexian Colossus , but doesn't have another counter for the ensuing Phyrexian Processor . As 10/10 tokens swing away, Wasteland makes sure Control doesn't get the mana for Treachery .
G2: Phyrexian wins counterwars, letting Phyrexian Processor and Mind Over Matter resolve. Control can't find a way to deal with the flood of 10/10's that come his way, and succumbs.
September 28, 2013 10:26 a.m.
doinitwrong says... #32
Thank you to everyone who participated. I hope you will all sign up for Ye Olde Deckbuilding Challenge #15… Standard?.
Azure124 says... #2
Combo winter control
September 7, 2013 10:43 a.m.