Showdown Playtest: G/W mid vs Naya mid
Standard forum
Posted on Sept. 27, 2013, 4:31 a.m. by Spootyone
Showdown #2: "A Mountaintop Rematch"
Hello all! I have for you, again, a write-up I've done between me and boston89. As before, I piloted both decks and did my best to play things out fairly and as if each "player" had not yet seen the opposing deck. This is to better emulate an FNM or tournament mindset.
This edition will feature my current standard build: deck-large:archangel-of-thune-tempo-breakerThis deck's speed lies somewhere between an aggressive deck and a midrange one, and utilizes some of the most powerful and efficient cards G/W has to offer.
I will face off against a new deck by boston89:
Nayan double bitch-slap
His deck is a naya midrange deck with an amalgam of heavy-hitters and cards that have immediate board-presence. Let's see how we each fare!
Game 1:
Spooty (s) wins the flip and decides to go first. S keep a hand of 2x plains, forest, 2x Sylvan Caryatid , Advent of the Wurm , and Trostani, Selesnya's Voice . Not knowing what the opponent is even playing, this hand is decent. I have lands and ramp that can block hyper-aggro, followed up by trostani and advent to hopefully bring me into the game by turn 3.
Boston (b) mulligans a hand with 2 lands, but not in colors needed to actually get things done. The second hand has 3 lands, and Aurelia, but the lands do not cater to the other cards. At this point I'm wishing i'd kept the first hand, because I kind of have to mulligan this and I get the feeling a 5-card hand is going to just be bad. The kept hand contains Sacred Foundry , Stomping Ground , sylvan caryatid, and 2xKalonian Hydra . I could've been worse, for sure.
S1: plains. pass.
B1: draws Ghor-Clan Rampager . Stomping ground tapped. pass.
S2: draws Selesnya Charm . Plays forest and taps out for Sylvan Caryatid .
B2: draws Temple Garden . Honestly a good draw here. We need lands. shocks self for temple garden and taps out for sylvan caryatid. pass. (s 20/18 b)
S3: draws trostani, selesnya's voice (meh). Well, judging by the opponent's board, we should prepare for a big threat that we'll want to use our charm on, but I think we're safe to tap out for this turn. Plays plains and taps all with caryatid to cast Trostani. pass.
B3: draws Boros Charm . If we dont get another land soon, these hydras will be more of a threat to myself than the opponent. And now that trostani is out, hard-casting the rampager seems pointless to me. Maybe I'm wrong, but we'll see. plays sacred foundry tapped and passes.
S4: draws Voice of Resurgence Not bad. Alright so the play here is to make sure we have mana open for anything the opponent may be waiting to play. I could potentially leave mana open for advent of the wurm, as well, but I think I want to wait for that, so I'll just play out another caryatid and pass. Trostani gives me 3 life (s 23/18 b)
B4: draws Unflinching Courage well, that's disappointing, but it gives more reason to hard-cast the rampager, which at this point is the play, I feel. Taps out along with the caryatid to cast the chor-clan rampager. Pass.
S5: draws plains. That's great. I can only assume the opponent needs mana. And now I can keep up mana for the charm AND the wurm. That's the play. Plays plains and passes.
B5: draws Boros Reckoner . Not land, but we can play it without running smack into a selesnya charm that the opponent might have. I can only assume mana is held up for an advent or something like Boon Satyr , neither of which I should attack into. Plays the reckoner and passes. EoT S taps 3 and a caryatid to play advent of the wurm, creating a 5/5 wurm with trample and gaining 5 from trostani (s 28/ 18 b)
S6: draws Fleecemane Lion Nice. I can bring this guy in to monstrous him next turn PLUS have open mana to populate the token with trostani. Declares attacks and swings with the wurm token. As B, nothing here seems beneficial with no open mana for boros charm. I know a double-block will just result in a populate by the trostani in response. And I can't target the caryatids with reckoners ability. I'll just have to take it and hope I draw into something helpful. Wurm gets in for 5 (s 28/13 b). Casts the fleecemane lion on second main phase and passes.
B6: draws sacred foundry. Well, we're in a very bad spot. We can shock ourselves to play out a hydra. Alternatively, we could put courage onto a guy and put him in s. charm range. And there's nothing at all we can do about the lion right now. And with trostani gaining life and making more wurms every turn, things are just so terrible. My hopes ride on the opponent NOT having s. charm, honestly. For that reason, I choose to tap out to play unflinching courage on the rampager. As expected, it runs into the opposing charm once attacks are declared and is exiled. Plays sacred foundry tapped and passes.
S7: draws plains. I like land. Plays plains and swings with the lion and the wurm token. Again, as b, we're in a position where nothing is good. blocks the lion with the reckoner. In response S makes the lion monstrous, giving it a 1/1 counter and making it indestructible and hexproof. The reckoner dies and deals 4 damage to S; B takes 5 damage total. (s 24/8 b) Pass.
B7: draws forest. Plays forest and taps out for kalonian hydra. pass.
S8: draws voice of resurgence. I think we can race the opponent at this point, even with the hydra doubling counters every turn. In fact, the hydra HAS to block here. Swings with wurm and lion. hydra chumps the wurm and B takes 5 (s 24/3 b). pass.
B8: draws fleecemane lion. It's just not enough. Concedes.
Spooty wins game one!
I'd say that game was almost entirely in my favor due to the fact that Boston's deck had to mull to 5 and then was unable to really get much done by the time I had both trostani and the wurm token out. Adding the monstrous fleecemane lion into that just sealed the deal, honestly. Perhaps getting the hydras out a turn sooner or me not having selesnya charm could've caused things to go otherwise, but let's face it...no one want to mull to 5.
Sideboard tech with Spooty: My sideboard doesn't have a ton of stuff to bring in against midrange currently. I'm trying to figure out what would be best for it and what exactly I DONT need in the sideboard. The only thing I have to bring in for sure is Elspeth, Sun's Champion , and that will come in. Besides that, I have 3 Pithing Needle that could shut down Sylvan Caryatid , Boros Reckoner ...even the bloodrush of Ghor-Clan Rampager . They're coming in. I decide to pullout my playset of Fiendslayer Paladin .
Sideboard tech with Boston: Boston's deck does not have a sideboard so obviously nothing will be changed here. Hopefully I can give some suggestions after this next game or two.
Onto the match!
Game 2:
B decides to be on the play and keep a hand of Temple Garden , forest, Sylvan Caryatid , Bow of Nylea , Boros Charm , Archangel of Thune and Aurelia, the Warleader . It's not bad. We can play things and hopefully we draw into more lands.
S keeps a hand of Selesnya Guildgate , Temple Garden , forest, Selesnya Charm , Sylvan Caryatid , Boros Reckoner and Spear of Heliod . This is solid. lands, ramp, creatures, removal...it has pretty much everything.
B1: plays temple garden tapped. pass.
S1: draws forest. plays guildgate tapped. pass.
B2: draws Ghor-Clan Rampager . We really want lands...lands, please. plays forest and taps out for sylvan caryatid. pass.
S2: draws Trostani, Selesnya's Voice Oh hey look it's the MVP of game one. Beautiful! plays forest and taps out for sylvan caryatid. pass.
B3: draws Selesnya Charm . We have to draw a land next turn or we face the same outcome as last game. With no other good plays available, we tap out with the caryatid and get Bow of Nylea onto the field. pass.
S3: draws boros reckoner. These are some good draws, I must say. Well, the opponent is mana screwed or something again so let's get trostani out and go from there. plays forest and taps out with the caryatid to play trostani. pass.
B4: draws Aurelia, the Warleader ... .... .....crap. I guess we keep up mana for s. charm and if it's not needed we can gain a little life at the end of the turn. or we could add a counter to the caryatid, I suppose. Since we'll need blockers soon, I think that's a good idea. pass.
S4: draws forest. Alright the opponent is clearly on the hind foot right now. Let's just play it cool and make sure we take advantage of our clear tempo advantage. I don't fear wraths or any real removal apart from maybe selesnya charm or Mizzium Mortars from the opponent. Therefore, getting these reckoners out is great for me. Shocks self with temple garden (s 18/20 b). taps 2 gardens and the caryatid to cast boros reckoner number one. Gain 3 life from trostani (s 21/20 b). pass. EoT B uses the bow to put a 1/1 counter on the caryatid.
B5: draws selesnya charm. ugh. We've got nothing still and we're getting run over. Period. Pass.
S5: draws Voice of Resurgence . Goes to attacks and swings with the reckoner. B blocks with the caryatid and the one damage is redirected to the caryatid. In response, the bow is tapped with mana to put an additional counter on the caryatid, saving it. I'd like to increase my board position. plays forest. taps two white sources and the caryatid for cast reckoner number two and gain 3 from trost. (s 24/ 20 b) pass.
B6: draws forest...well...it's land I suppose. Plays forest. Facing 2 reckoners, I honestly think I just need to get something out there. Taps out with caryatid for the rampager. pass.
S6: draws voice of resurgence. With the rampager alone on the field, I have a clear advantage playing the Spear of Heliod here. I can give the blocked reckoner first strike if I need to, as well. taps to cast the spear. All creatures are now larger. swings with the two reckoners. With no reasonable blocks, B takes 8 damage (s 24/12 b). We can also keep up mana for s. charm which is great. pass.
B7: draws ghor-clan rampager. Miserable. With no more mana we're still sitting in a horrible position. Personally, I don't know what the best play is here since pretty much anything feels like it won't help anything. Facing 2 4/4 reckoner with potential first strike is nasty since we can't s. charm them and any boosting of our own creatures puts them in potential charm range themselves. I'm not sure what I can do to reverse this, but I'll play it out. Taps out with caryatid to cast the second rampager and passes.
S7: draws plains. Plays plains. Swings with 2 reckoners. Both are blocked by rampagers and then given first strike destroying the rampagers. Second main phase we tap the caryatid and lands to cast 2 voice of resurgence, gaining 6 total life (spear makes them come in as 3/3s) from trostani and putting us in a hopeful position to alpha and win next turn. (s 30/12 b) Pass.
B8: draws sacred foundry. It's about freaking time, eh? Unforunately even if we play out archangel of thune, here, we're dead on board. B concedes.
(S next draw was Brave the Elements , so it was definitely over)
Spooty wins game 2!
Well....that felt a little gross. In both games it felt like my deck was on curve, got good draws, etc. whereas Boston's deck felt like it couldn't even get going due to mulligans, mana screw and overall bad draws. I can contribute some of this to bad luck and will do so, but there are a few things I'd like to mention before closing out, here.
boston89, I think you should add a 24th land to the deck. Especially when so many of your creatures need tons of mana to be played, you want to be hitting those lands drops. The other thing I want to mention is that you have a lot of color-intensive cards in here. Sylvan Caryatid
can't handle all the ramp and fixing needed to run this deck, I fear. You should add in a few scry land in place of some of your basics. I really like them as a turn one play, especially since you don't have one at this point. And the scry can help you get land drops without getting mana flooded.
I also didn't like Bow of Nylea in here. Perhaps in a better game it would've been a better player, but it seems like your deck has big enough creatures to destroy things without them needing deathtouch, and the other effects couldn't even help protect you when you were waiting to play those creatures.
As for a sideboard, I'd suggest Savage Summoning to bring in against control decks. Scavenging Ooze couldn't hurt at all. Pithing Needle does me wonders and hits so many threats. You'll want enchantment hate, too. If you're worried about gods, go with Fade into Antiquity . If not, Sundering Growth . Lastly, since you have access to red, get some serious removal at least in the sideboard. You've got Anger of the Gods , Mizzium Mortars , Lightning Strike , Magma Jet ...it would've really helped out in this match to kill off some of my guys. That should get you started on it!
If you enjoyed this read, please let me know! And be sure to check out both my deck as well as Boston's deck to give us feedback or upvotes if you desire to.
deck-large:archangel-of-thune-tempo-breaker
Written and tested by: Spootyone
DEREKGALLEN says... #3
you can't target the caryatid with the reckoner damage... not that it really would have mattered at all, but hey, hexproof is hexproof
September 27, 2013 7:37 a.m.
Ah crap, you're right. I actually made that same mistake a little earlier in the match as well and caught myself. I guess the second time it slipped past me. Well, yes it is hexproof and I'll try not to make mistakes like that in the future. Thanks for checking it out :D
September 27, 2013 4:37 p.m.
well done, don't get discouraged by finding play mistakes after its all been written up.
its nearly impossible to play the game without errors And log it correctly, ive done a few match write ups and they are insanely complicated.
September 27, 2013 4:43 p.m.
Thanks! I really enjoy your match write-ups, too! It was actually them that sparked the idea and desire to start doing my own, so I'm glad you enjoyed this!
boston89 says... #2
Ehh that was very inconsistent for my deck. Glad you play tested it for me. Back to the drawing board for me. Thanks for the play and feedback.
September 27, 2013 5:07 a.m.