Daily Dose of Standard - Ep. 11

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

12 December 2011

1158 views

vs Metal22

Caley's deck- Crawling Chaos. Crawling Chaos is brought to you by Hipster Nyarlathotep: "Asenath Waite is a poser."

Game 1

Caley plays first.

Caley mulligans a hand of 2x Reassembling Skeleton, 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, 1x Skinrender, 1x Corrupted Conscience, 1x Doom Blade, 1x Life's Finale.

Caley keeps a hand of 2x Darkslick Shores, 2x Swamp, 1x Volition Reins, 1x Evil Twin.

This opening hand is awful, but better than going to 5.

Enemy keeps their opener.

T1

C plays Darkslick Shores and passes.

E plays Llanowar Elves and passes.

Oh good, a fast deck against my terrible opening hand.

T2

C draws Black Sun's Zenith, plays Darkslick Shores, and passes.

This is most likely a huge help against any deck that would have a turn 1 Lawnmower.

E plays Viridian Emissary and attacks with Llanowar Elves. (Enemy 20, Caley 19). E passes.

T3

C draws Reassembling Skeleton. He plays Swamp and casts the Skeleton, then passes.

Best to see how much I can kill with the Zenith and stall in the meantime.

E plays Forest for Dungrove Elder, then attacks with Viridian Emissary, which hits. (Enemy 20, Caley 17). E passes.

Dungrove Elder is not what I want to see. It is immune to most of my answers AND gets huge quickly. Fortunately, Reassembling Skeleton stops it dead in its tracks, but I'd prefer to get enough mana out to Black Sun it to death. Sadly, it looks like I'll be one turn short. If I could get by, I'd be on excellent footing against this mono-green Dungrove Elder deck.

T4

C draws Volition Reins, plays Swamp, and passes.

E plays Forest and casts Green Sun's Zenith for 2, fetching Viridian Emissary. E attacks with Dungrove Elder and Viridian Emissary. C blocks the elder with skeleton. (Enemy 20, Caley 15). E passes. End step, Caley reanimates the skeleton.

Daring me to block the Emissary. Blocking the Elder was the right call- he might not (and indeed did not) have a forest to pump his Elder, and now drawing a land will net me all his creatures since I didn't GIVE him a land by killing off the Emissary.

T5

C draws Island.

Goooooood.

C plays Island and casts Black Sun's Zenith for three, killing everything. E gets two forests from the Emissaries. C passes.

E casts Garruk, Primal Hunter, makes a beast token with it, and passes.

Not a problem if I can just draw one more land for Volition Reins.

T6

C draws Life's Finale.

Hm. Still ok if I can juuuuust draw a land next turn. Then I can steal Garruk and kill any excess he brings out during this next turn.

C casts Evil Twin copying the beast token and passes.

E casts Dungrove Elder. Then he uses Garruk, Primal Hunter to draw 5 cards off of Dungrove Elder. Then he plays a Forest. Then he casts Darkthicket Wolf.

STILL ok if I get that land.

E attacks with beast token, C blocks with Evil Twin copying it; they die. E passes.

T7

C draws Doom Blade.

Problematic.

C passes.

E plays a Forest and casts Overrun. C responds with Doom Blade on Darkthicket Wolf, killing it.

An error. I should have waited until the attack to do this, in case he tried to use something else on it before attacking, not that I know of any green spell that costs two that he's likely to have. Still, one should always practice good form.

E attacks with the now-10/10 Dungrove Elder, and Caley takes it on the chin. (Enemy 20, Caley 5). E casts Ambush Viper, makes a beast token with Garruk, and passes.

I am STILL ok with a land since I can cast Life's Finale and then steal Garruk the turn after that.

T8

C draws Dissipate.

Cue the TF2 Engineer.

C concedes.

Bad luck for me. Could have had that game well in hand by drawing a land in any of the past three turns.

Sideboarding

Caley inserts 4x Flashfreeze, 3x Go for the Throat, 3x Deathmark.

Caley removes 3x Reassembling Skeleton, 4x Evil Twin, 2x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, 1x Skinrender.

Sensible choices, I think. I will win easily against this deck if I can just get six lands out, I think. So in goes the kill and anti-green counter. Plus I have to do something to make sure I can push through my removal against the inevitable Autumn's Veil. The only worrisome item will be those Dungrove Elders, but hopefully I can steal and swindle defenders and otherwise play havoc until I can fix the problem with a single Life's Finale or other answer.

Game 2

C plays first and keeps a hand of 2x Darkslick Shores, Island, Swamp, Doom Blade, Flashfreeze, and Skinrender.

E keeps their opener.

T1

C plays Darkslick Shores and passes.

E plays Forest for Llanowar Elves and passes.

T2

C draws Island, plays Darkslick Shores, and passes.

E plays Forest, casts Viridian Emissary, and attacks with Llanowar Elves. C casts Doom Blade on it in response. E passes.

An arguable choice, but I would like to slow him down a turn while I try to draw some more late-game cards. Doom Blade doesn't work on my most-feared problem anyway, that being Dungrove Elder.

T3

C draws Darkslick Shores and plays it. He passes.

Aaaaany second now.

E plays a Forest and attacks with Viridian Emissary. (Enemy 20, Caley 18). E passes.

This lack of casting probably means he has a Green Sun's Zenith or Garruk, Primal Hunter or some such. MAYBE Kindercatch, AMIRITE?

T4

C draws Life's Finale.

Cue the Cars.

C plays Island and passes.

Now I actually want him to cast a Dungrove Elder and maybe something else so that I can Life's Finale the rest of the Elders out of there.

E attacks with Viridian Emissary and passes. (Enemy 20, Caley 16).

T5

C draws Volition Reins.

Now I can answer anything.

C plays a Swamp. He casts Skinrender targeting Viridian Emissary, killing it and netting E a Forest.

I'm sorry I killed your Llanowar Elves earlier. Now you can't find that last land to cast Green Sun's Zenith or Garruk, Primal Hunter, huh? Well here, have a land. I promise I won't Life's Finale you if you get out a Dungrove Elder, nor will I Volition Reins your Garruk.

E plays a Forest and casts Green Sun's Zenith for 3, fetching Dungrove Elder. He passes.

Oh no. Help. Help.

T6

C draws Doom Blade, plays Island, and passes.

::whistles::

E plays Forest and casts Viridian Emissary. He attacks with Dungrove Elder, which gets chop-blocked by Skinrender. E passes.

Wait for it.

T7

C draws Deathmark.

Waiiiiiiit for it.

C casts Life's Finale, killing everything, finding E a Forest with Emissary, and exiling 3x Dungrove Elder. The rest of the library that C saw was: 14x Forest, 3x Autumn's Veil, 4x Garruk, Primal Hunter, 4x Green Sun's Zenith, 2x Overrun, 1x Sword of Feast and Famine, 2x Ambush Viper, 4x Darkthicket Wolf, 3x Garruk's Companion, 3x Llanowar Elves, 2x Viridian Emissary. C passes.

Cue Emperor Joseph II

E plays a Forest and casts Darkthicket Wolf, then passes.

T8

C draws Island and plays it. He casts Deathmark on Darkthicket Wolf and passes.

E casts Green Sun's Zenith for 5, finding another Darkthicket Wolf. He passes. End step, C casts Doom Blade on it.

He's heating up.

T9

C draws Black Sun's Zenith and passes.

E plays a Forest and passes.

T10

C draws Swamp, plays it, and passes.

An important land, actually. I can now Volition Reins something with mana left over to Flashfreeze a Autumn's Veil.

E plays Forest and casts Viridian Emissary. He passes.

T11

C draws Corrupted Conscience and steals Viridian Emissary with it. C passes.

He's on fire!

E does nothing and passes.

T12

C draws Swamp and plays it. He attacks with the Emissary. (Enemy 20 2p, Caley 16). C passes.

E plays Forest and passes.

He keeps holding on to one of his cards; it HAS to be Autumn's Veil.

T13

C draws Dissipate. He attacks with Viridian Emissary. (Enemy 20 4p, Caley 16). C passes.

E casts Green Sun's Zenith for 3 finding Darkthicket Wolf. He passes.

T14

C draws Darkslick Shores, plays it, and passes.

E plays a Forest and passes.

T15

C draws Volition Reins and passes.

E plays a Forest and passes.

That's a lot of land for him. Although he has killed his draws with Green Sun's Zenithing everything out of the deck.

T16

C draws Skinrender. He casts it targeting Darkthicket Wolf. E pumps it in response. C passes and the Wolf dies.

Boom-shaka-laka!

E casts Garruk's Companion. E passes.

T17

C draws Think Twice. He attacks with Skinrender and E blocks with the Companion, killing both. C passes.

For two!

E does nothing and passes. End step, C casts and flashes back Think Twice, drawing Corrupted Conscience and Deathmark.

Nyarlathotep is the God of a Thousand Masks AND a Thousand Answers.

T18

C draws Skinrender. He attacks with Viridian Emissary. (Enemy 20 6p, Caley 16). He casts Skinrender killing the Emissary and fetching an Island. He passes.

Inefficient. Though I am at 8 cards unless I cast SOMETHING, it would be faster to just kill him with the Infect-enabled (via Corrupted Conscience ) Emissary.

E plays Forest and passes.

T19

C draws Go for the Throat. He attacks with Skinrender. (Enemy 17 6p, Caley 16). He passes, discarding Corrupted Conscience to get back down to 7.

E does nothing and passes.

T20

C draws Dissipate. He attacks with Skinrender. During the declare attackers step, E flashes in Ambush Viper. C casts Go for the Throat on the Viper. E casts Autumn's Veil. C casts Dissipate on Autumn's Veil. The stack clears, the Viper dies, and the Skinrender hits. (Caley 16, Enemy 14 6p).

From downtown! Is that LEGAL?! Ok, no more NBA Jam jokes.

E casts Sword of Feast and Famine and passes.

No reason not to let this resolve.

T21

C draws Flashfreeze. He attacks with Skinrender. (Caley 16, Enemy 11 6p). C passes.

E casts Llanowar Elves and equips the Sword of Feast and Famine on it. He passes.

T22

C casts Volition Reins targeting Sword of Feast and Famine. He equips it onto Skinrender then passes.

Sometimes you have to be a cruel Scrooge and steal poor Tiny Llanowar Elf Tim's crutch away from him. Although whoops, I forgot to attack. Sometimes I get sloppy when I am drunk on controlly goodness.

E casts Llanowar Elves and passes.

T23

C taps the mana for Black Sun's Zenith and E concedes.

That was entirely too much fun.

Sideboarding

No changes.

I can't think of a way to improve the deck against his, or against anything else he's likely to bring in.

Game 3

Enemy plays first and keeps his opener.

Caley keeps an opening hand of Darkslick Shores, 2x Drowned Catacomb, Island, 2x Dissipate, and Life's Finale.

Life's Finale is just way too good against this deck.

T1

E plays Forest and passes.

C draws Skinrender, plays Darkslick Shores, and passes.

T2

E plays a Forest, casts Viridian Emissary, and passes.

C draws Swamp, plays Island, and passes.

T3

E plays Forest, casts Garruk's Companion, and attacks with the Emissary. (Enemy 20, Caley 18). He passes.

C draws Think Twice, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

T4

E plays Forest and casts Green Sun's Zenith for 3, fetching Dungrove Elder. He attacks with the Emissary and the Companion. (enemy 20, Caley 13). He passes. End step, Caley casts Think Twice drawing Swamp.

C draws Deathmark. C plays Swamp and casts Skinrender destroying Garruk's Companion. He passes.

This is necessary to buy enough time for Life's Finale.

T5

E plays a Forest and casts Garruk, Primal Hunter. He immediately uses the -3 ability to draw 5 cards off of Dungrove Elder, sending Garruk to the graveyard. He attacks with Dungrove Elder, which is chop-blocked by Skinrender. E passes.

It's hard to criticize this play when I know that he knew I had Volition Reins in the deck, but I still think it would have been better to bring constant beast pressure than try to sell out to kill me before I cast a wrath.

C draws Go for the Throat, plays Swamp, and passes.

T6

E plays a Forest and casts Autumn's Veil.

Bring it.

E casts Dungrove Elder. He attacks with the old Elder and the Emissary. (Enemy 20, Caley 5). He passes.

C draws Flashfreeze and plays Drowned Catacomb. He casts Life's Finale, killing everything, fetching E a forest with Emissary, and exiling 2x Dungrove Elder and 1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast. The rest of the deck is essentially the same as before, only with 4x Melira, Sylvok Outcast and a MImic Vat, compensated for by a few fewer creatures, 1 fewer Garruk, and 1 fewer Autumn's Veil. C passes.

If you're havin' creature problems, I feel bad for you son / I got 99 problems but a beast ain't one.

T7

E plays Forest. He casts Darkthicket Wolf and Garruk's Companion. He passes.

C draws Flashfreeze. He casts Deathmark on Darkthicket Wolf and passes.

Technically, it would be slightly more precise to kill the companion since he might have wasted mana on the wolf next turn.

T8

E plays Forest and casts Darkthicket Wolf. He attacks with Garruk's Companion, but it dies to Go for the Throat. E passes.

Control is hell.

C draws Skinrender. He casts is and destroys the Darkthicket Wolf. He passes.

This duel is reminding me of the good old days running my Nicol Bolas, Inc. deck in Alara standard.

T9

E plays a Forest and passes.

C draws Island, plays it, and attacks with Skinrender. (Enemy 17, Caley 5). C passes.

T10

E plays Forest and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb, plays it, and attacks with Skinrender. (Enemy 14, Caley 5). C passes.

T11

E plays Green Sun's Zenith for 3. He finds Darkthicket Wolf with it and passes.

C draws Flashfreeze and passes.

T12

E pumps the Darkthicket Wolf. He attacks and C chop-blocks with Skinrender. E passes.

C draws Black Sun's Zenith. He casts it for 4, killing the Wolf. C passes.

T13

E plays a Forest and casts Llanowar Elves. Caley Dissipates it.

Denied.

C draws Darkslick Shores and plays it, then passes.

T14

E casts Llanowar Elves and Caley Dissipates it. E passes.

Denied!

C draws Volition Reins. He passes.

T15

E plays a Forest and passes.

C draws Darkslick Shores, plays it, and passes.

T16

E casts Llanowar Elves, and Caley Flashfreezes it. E passes.

DENIED.

C draws Volition Reins and passes.

T17

E casts Garruk, Primal Hunter. He makes a beast token with it and passes.

DENIE--oh, no, wait, that's one of my win conditions.

C draws Go for the Throat. He casts Volition Reins and steals Garruk, Primal Hunter. He makes a beast token with Garruk and passes.

T18

E casts Garruk's Companion and passes.

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays it. He makes a beast token with Garruk, who now goes to 6. He passes.

T19

E plays a Forest and concedes. Caley wins the match 2-1.

Green's enemies are blue and black. Green, the color of nature, is opposed to the oppressive artificial order of blue, its growth halted by the stultifying order imposed by that color. The illusory nature of blue magic also does not sit well with green's focus on the reality of the here and now. Green, the color of natural life, growth, and common abundance, of course also opposes black, the color of death, decay, and greed.

Thoughts

1 - Control is joyous to play and I have no idea why everyone does not want to play it ALL THE TIME.

2 - Check the efficiency of your plays at all times. I killed things on my turn when I oughtn't have and killed Darkthicket Wolf a little prematurely sometimes when I should have given my opponent the opportunity to put mana into pumping him before killing him.

3 - One serious problem with playing control is that when you are dominating the game with your control tools, one has a tendency to start feeling very invincible and arrogant. This leads to sloppy play, as you see me engaging in above when I forget to attack, and when I kill my own stolen Viridian Emissary with a Skinrender when it would have been faster to just kill my opponent with the Emissary due to its having infect from Corrupted Conscience. Don't do this. It ain't over until it's over, and you need to kill your opponent ASAP, even though torturing them into conceding is admittedly fun.