A Selesnya Showdown
Standard forum
Posted on Sept. 17, 2013, 3:09 a.m. by Spootyone
Hello all. Here I have a playtest I did. I wasn't sure where in the forums it could be posted, so I figured here was best. If you desire to, give it a read!
A playtest between my brew and boston89's Holy Union. I controlled both decks.
PLAYTEST 1: Holy Union Version 2.0 vs. deck:archangel-of-thune-tempo-breaker
Game 1
Spooty (s) wins the flip and is on the play.
Boston89 (b) mulls a 1-land hand to keep a hand of 2x forest, plains, Fabled Hero , Fleecemane Lion , and Archangel of Thune . Seems solid. 3 lands and we can play the lion. Hopefully we draw into that second white source before things get too intense.
(s) keeps opening hand of Selesnya Guildgate , Temple Garden , Voice of Resurgence , Fiendslayer Paladin , Witchstalker , Archangel of Thune and Unflinching Courage . Oh wow this is a great hand. regardless of the color, drawing into any land nets us more plays than the opening voice.
S1: selesnya guildgate tapped. pass.
B1: draws fleecemane lion. Not horrible. forest. pass.
S2: draws Bow of Nylea . shocks for temple garden. (s 18/20 b) plays voice of resurgence. pass.
B2: draws selesnya guildgate. That's...not what I was looking for in a second white source, but it works. plains. plays fleecemane lion. pass.
S3: draws plains phew. I want to play the bow here, but if I dont put pressure on that lion soon, he'll overrun me in no time. I need my own creatures to be doing things right now. plays plains. taps out for fiendslayer paladin. passes.
B3: draws fleecemane lion (seriously?). swings with lion (since we have so freaking many). no blocks. (s 15/20 b). guildgate enters tapped. taps out for second lion. pass.
S4: draws Sylvan Caryatid . that's a bit awkward right now but not too bad in the whole scheme of things. We need to get this paladin kicking ass. taps out to enchant paladin with unflinching courage. swings with paladin. No blocks (B needs blockers to get rid of this thing next turn potentially). (s 19/16) pass.
B4: draws Ordeal of Nylea . This may help soon if we play the field correctly, but we must be careful. I'd like to play the fabled hero now and get this on it next turn if the situation allows for it. Plays forest. casts fabled hero. pass.
S5: draws voice of resurgence. I'd have preferred some mana here. That fabled hero is going to be a problem, but I think playing the bow here is the right thing to do, giving us a first strike lifelink trample deathtouch attacking 4/4 every turn (lol?). taps out for bow of nylea. swings with paladin. There's no way to reasonably block this guy now. (s 23/12 b) pass.
B5: draws fabled hero. We must outrace to win now. enchants fabled hero with ordeal of nylea, activating heroic and making the guy a 3/3. swings all in with 2x lions and the hero, activating the ordeal making the hero a 4/4 (damn...). We chump the voice to the hero and take 6 (s 17/12 b). Voice token enters the field. Casts third fleecemane lion. passes.
S6: draws sylvan caryatid (sigh..cmon now...I really couldve benefitted from another land right now). Well, we must keep the pressure on while leaving up blockers for the fabled hero. swings with paladin. no blocks (s 21/8 b). plays voice of resurgence. pass.
B6: draws plains (WE CAN THUUUNEEE). Actually, we can turn monstrous a lion. Perfect! That might be enough to tip the tables in our favor. swings with 2x lion and the hero, activating the ordeal making him a 5/5, sac-ing the ordeal and placing a plains and forest onto the field. S chumps the voice into the hero and trades the voice token for one of the lions, taking 3 (s 18/8 b). plays plains. taps out to make the newest lion monstrous making it a 4/4, hexproof and indestructible (S cringes). pass
S7: draws archangel of thune (this is getting upsetting...) We really need mana to make things work out here. I need to play blockers, but I also need to activate the bow. We're not looking good. taps to cast sylvan caryatid. pass.
B7: draws plains. (s glares at it menacingly, but it refuses to join his forces...sad). I think we can continue the pressure while making all our lions monstrous over time, so let's do that. swings with fabled hero and monstrous lion. voice token chumps the hero. S takes 4 (s 14/8 b). second main b makes another lion monstrous. plays plains. taps out for second fabled hero. pass.
S8: draws witchstalker (yeah, we're just not going to be able to overcome this by now, I feel). Let's see what we can do here. taps to cast another sylvan caryatid. Taps original caryatid, plains and bow to put a counter on the paladin making him a 5/5. We're at risk of getting selesnya charmed, but it's our only chance right now. passes turn.
B8: draws Selesnya Charm (Yep, that sounds about right lol.). Casts the charm to exile the paladin. makes the third lion monstrous, and alphas in for the victory.
Boston89 Wins game1!
Alright so that went a little crappy near the end there for me. And as it turns out, my next two draws were lands... I'm certainly not going to contribute the victory strictly to mana screw (because this deck was insane to go up against in that game regardless), but I do think that I was just too limited to make anything work. Those monstrous lions are what did me in since I couldn't get other things out fast enough to cope. Well done!
EDIT: I just caught a mistake I made. I had traded the token for a lion, but never removed the lion from the field. However, I honestly think you just had too much for me to overcome even if you had one less of them, so I'm not going to fret too much over it.
Sideboard time! A.K.A. "Let There Be Needles!!"
My deck likes to board out all the enchantments for other things game two if I suspect the opponent will be bringing in enchantment-hate. In this situation, I definitely feel like this is justifiable, as G/W has access to tons of enchantment removal. Also, we are ABSOLUTELY bring in Pithing Needle here. those lions did us in and we at least know it'll handle them. For consistency, I want them all to come in. I dont fear much in the way of enchantments yet so we'll wait for the Fade into Antiquity .
Spooty side changes: -4x Ethereal Armor , -2x Bow of Nylea , -2x Pacifism , -3x Unflinching Courage , +2x Selesnya Charm , +2x Scavenging Ooze , +3x Pithing Needle , +3x Advent of the Wurm , +1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion .
Boston's sideboard had a mistake in it, I realized (extra copies of Selesnya Charm where I'm sure he didnt mean there to be). However, I think we'll be alright with what we have. We have seen tons of enchantments, so the 2x Sundering Growth are definitely coming in. Pacifism seems to be a better choice for removal than Selesnya Charm , so we'll swap those. Pithing Needle and Rest in Peace could have some use but ultimatley, I dont think we need them. I also worry about getting Angel of Serenity onto the field, so we'll remove her for now.
Boston side changes: -2x Angel of Serenity , -3x Selesnya Charm , +2x Sundering Growth , +3x Pacifism .
Game 2
Spooty decides to be on the play. Mulls and hand with no lands in it. Keeps a hand with temple garden, forest, 2x sylvan caryatid, witchstalker, and archangel of thune. I really dont want to mull to 5, and this hand has potential, especially if we draw into some more lands and (please!!) a Trostani.
Boston mulls a no land hand. Keeps a hand with 2x forest, selesnya guildgate, Hopeful Eidolon , Gods Willing , Unflinching Courage . This hand isn't too crazy good, but it has lands and things we can do. We just have to hope we draw well and don't get overrun.
S1: temple garden tapped. pass.
B1: draws forest (yuck). selesnya gate tapped. pass.
S2: draws selesnya gate (not horrible here). plays forest, taps out for sylvan caryatid. Pass.
B2: draws unflinching courage (honestly, just another bad draw, I feel) casts hopeful eidolon and plays a forest. pass.
S3: draws temple garden (alright well at least I have mana this time haha). taps sylvan caryatid and lands to cast witchstalker. guildgate enters tapped. pass.
B3: draws gods willing (yeah, okay now I feel redeemed after last game.). I'm not quite sure what the most logical play is at this point, but I decide to play a forest and equip the eidolon with unflinching courage. pass.
S4: draws selesnya guildgate (really, deck..REALLY?? I take back what I just said). temple garden shocks for 2 (s 18/20 b). taps out with caryatid to play archangel of thune. I can probably benefit from attacking here, honestly. Trading is fine. Swings with witchstalker. B cant lose only creature and take 3 damage (s 18/17 b). pass.
B4: draws plains. (oh boy...). Well, I guess the only way to overcome now is to simply push our luck and set ourselves up for an everything-for-one on this eidolon. plays plains. casts courage onto eidolon and leaves plains open for gods willing if need be. swings with eidolon. No blocks (s 13/22 b). pass.
S5: draws trostani, selsnya's voice (THERE WE GO!! :D). taps out for trosani. Swings with witchstalker and archangel for 6, gaining 3 life and giving all creatures a counter. (s 16/19 b) Plays guildgate tapped. pass.
B5: draws plains (guess this one is pretty much over, sadly) Plays plains. passes turn
S6: draws Scavenging Ooze . Casts sylvan caryatid, gaining 3 life off trostani and giving everyone a counter. (s 19/19 b) Having the ooze in hand means I can pretty much just bash things in with no recourse. Swings in with witchstalker and archangel of thune. B block the stalker with eidolon and then casts gods willing on it, giving it pro green. B scrys 1. It is a fleecemane lion. That's just not going to cut it at this point. It goes to the bottom. Witchstalker dies, B loses and gains 5 life, S gains 5 life from thune and everyone gets a counter. Things are getting a little ridiculous over here with massive blockers and lifegain. (s 24/19 b) Pass.
B6: draws ordeal of nylea. Nope that won't cut it by now. We're very quickly going to be overrun. Plays forest. Passes.
S7: draws Pithing Needle not necessary by now, but hey I'll take it. Just in case, I'm going to avoid overextending by playing the ooze right now. Swings with archangel and trostani. B blocks trostani and plays gods willing to give eidolon pro green. B loses 6 and gains 5 life. S gains 6 life and everyone gets a counter. B scrys 1. selesnya guildgate. uhh...no. (s 30/18 b). pass.
B7: draws plains (my goodness...). Well we have no other outs for this turn. we'll have to take the next attack on the chin. plays plains. passes.
S8: draws voice of resurgence. Now, this card, I'll play. casts voice, gains 2, everybody gets a toaster, refrigerator and jet plane from archangel of thune. (s 32/18 b) Attacks with archangel and trost. trost is chumped with eidolon. B gains 5 and loses 8. S gains 8. Everyone gets a nice pat on the back from Archangel. (s 40/15 b) pass turn.
B8: draws plains. scoops.
Spooty wins Game 2!!
That game was a bit one-sided, I regret to say. Worse -off was the fact that it was because you just got mana screwed really bad and didnt draw into any of the removal spells you had. One could argue that selesnya charm and angel of serenity wouldve helped that fight (and they would have), but remember Boston would not have known about the archangels or trostani, etc (despite my deck name). Onto the final round!
Sideboarding
Spooty sideboard: I didnt see much in that game and my deck performed well. We'll keep all the same.
Boston sideboard: Alright we know a bit more now. The pacifisms are back out and the selesnya charms are back in. We didn't see any enchantments that game, but just in case, I'll keep the sundering growths in. I'm not a huge fan of the angelic accord in here (even though we havent yet drawn it) so I'll side those out and bring back in the angels of serenity. Hopefully we dont regret that decision. Ultimately, we really need to win before an archangel gets dropped.
-2x Angelic Accord , -3x Pacifism , +3x Selesnya Charm , +2x Angel of Serenity
Game 3
Boston chooses to be on the play. Mulls a hand with 2 forest, but nothing to play. Keeps a hand of 2x temple garden, plains, selesnya guildgate, archangel of thune, and angel of serenity. I know this hand isn't spectacular. It might be a mistake to keep this, but I fear mulling to 5 and getting an unplayable hand. At least with this we may draw into some cheaper creatures that we can play. It's all up to luck.
Spooty mulls a 1-land hand that reallly had some potential if all lands were drawn. We dont want to take those chances, though, against this aggressive deck. Keeps a hand of selsnya guildgate, plains, forest, scavenging ooze and 2x archangel of thune. Again, this hand doesnt scream keep, but it has a play, and we can hopefully draw into what we desire.
B1: guildgate tapped. pass.
S1: draws Advent of the Wurm . Well, at least it's not another archangel. guildgate tapped. pass.
B2: draws fleecemane lion. Hey HEY! theres the card we wanted! plays plains and taps out for the lion. pass.
S2: draws voice of resurgence. muuuch better. plays plains. taps out for voice of resurgence. passes.
B3: draws hopeful eidolon. not bad. swings with lion. S chumps the voice. Voice token enters field. temple garden tapped. passes.
S3: draws archangel of thune (I just had to say it, didn't I? -_-). Plays forest. casts scavenging ooze. swings with voice token for 2 damage (s 20/18 b). Passes.
B4: draws guildgate (nice). plays gate tapped. As much as a trade here looks reasonable, I dont want to lose this lion since it has late game potential right now. pass turn. EoT S exiles voice from own grave, gives the ooze a counter and gains one life.
S4: draws fiendslayer paladin. I'm not very happy about that. my hand is screaming more land right now and if I dont draw it soon i'm going to be overrun. taps out for the paladin. swings with the token. no blocks. (s 21/15 b). pass.
B5: draws selesnya charm. shocks self with temple garden (s 21/13 b) taps out to make the lion monstrous, giving it indestructible and hexproof with a 4/4 body. swings with the lion. S chumps with the paladin and gains two. (s 23/13 b). Pass turn.
S5: draws hopeful eidolon. Seriously, should I be running more than 24 lands? I feel like I get mana screwed very often, so perhaps. All well. S exiles paladin from the grave with the ooze, getting a counter and gaining one life. (s 24/13 b). Casts eidolon. swings with token and ooze for 7 damage (s 24/6 b). it's close to a victory, but that's probably about to change.
B6: draws archangel of thune (ouch) That's going to hurt Spooty quite a bit here, soon. taps out for archangel of thune. To be safe, we dont attack right now. Pass.
S6: draws forest. Okay! now maybe we can start a comeback. We still need more for all our archangels though...and we cannot attack into the opponent's board right now. plays forest. passes.
B7: draws plains (only one more land until serenity obliteration!) taps out for archangel of thune. swings in the air with archangel of thune and deals 3 damage, gaining 3 life and giving all the guys 2 counters because of having 2 archangels out. (s 21/9 b). Plays plains. passes. EoT Spooty casts advent of the wurm creating a 5/5 wurm token with trample.
S7: draws temple garden. alright we're in business. I just hope its not too late. I fear against 2 archangels, I'm pretty much already doomed. shocks self with garden and taps out to cast archangel of thune. (s 19/9 b) Nothing else we can do right now...damn. Pass.
B8: draws sylvan caryatid. It's not a land, but it's close enough. We should have this in the bag now. B bestows eidolon onto the lion, giving him +1/+1 and lifelink. Then taps out for sylvan caryatid. Swings with one archangel and the lion. Angel gets through and the lion is chumped by the eidolon. B gains 12 life and all his creatures get 4 counters (jeez...) S gains 1 life and loses 5. All his guys get 1 counter. (s 15/21 b). pass.
S8: draws plains. Concedes. There's just no way to outrace by now.
Boston wins Game 3 and the Match!
Ultimately, Boston's deck came out victorious. I'll admit that I'm a little disheartened by how my deck performed. I feel like 24 lands shouldn't have given me so much trouble with mana, especially when the opposing deck had 23 and the only mana trouble it has was flooding out. It's all about random chance, I suppose and that's just part of the game. I can accept that. That being said, I think I may have been wrong in thinking 4x Archangel of Thune was okay. If I drop a single one, I could run a 25th land. But why run 25th land when I can just run Fleecemane Lion ?? Seriously, that guy kicked my ass today. I feel many are going to underestimate this little powerhouse. If he's unable to be killed early on he WILL become a threat that you simply cannot ignore. I think that I will be swapping out my Witchstalker for these guys, as it seems a better choice to me. I may also drop a single Eidolon just so I can run a full set of these little guys.
Many, many thanks to boston89 for his deck:
Holy Union Version 2.0
No problem! It was my pleasure and I had a great time getting to do this since I've never done a playtest write-up before. I did end up saying no to land 25. I think it was just an unfortunate run of bad luck at the time. It's always easier to remember the times you don't get any mana as opposed to those where you get just what you need haha. I do think taking out that fourth Archangel of Thune was a good change, though. and I did some swapping to allow for a full set of those Fleecemane Lion . My god were they a pain to go up against without access to tons of removal haha. Much easier to cast than Witchstalker , too, which I'm really happy about.
Overall, I learned a lot from this and I hope I've made changes to myself and my deck for the better! :D
September 17, 2013 4:12 a.m.
Nice, I've been building my own Theros GW list, check it out: The Selesnya Paradox
Not sure how well it plays yet though
boston89 says... #2
Pheewww! That was a close match all around. Thanks for play testing fair and playing well on both sides. While I do think that the game one mistake was kind of an advantage for my deck the way I laid the board out at that moment it would still have been very close. If you don't mind I advise against putting in the 25th land. Not saying that I know any better than you, because you seem very competent, but I would like to look over your decklist again to make a good suggestion at a later time. Thanks again for putting my deck out there. I made some changes before this came out that I am interested in trying. Lmao and I did catch the charm mistake. Thanks bro. Be in touch soon.
September 17, 2013 3:59 a.m.