Daily Dose 56 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

27 April 2013

1582 views

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Hello.

Instead of live recording the next video, I wanted to edit it up and make it a bit snazzier. But, as I am new to that sort of thing, it is slow going. In the meantime, let's have another Community Deck Daily Dose.

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vs.

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Piloted by Elaine, comments in bold.

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Game 1

Caley wins the toss and plays first.

C keeps an opening hand of Swamp, Island, Drowned Catacomb, Dragonskull Summit, Mystic Retrieval, Devour Flesh, Gilded Lotus

Elaine keeps an opening hand of 2x Sulfur Falls, Drowned Catacomb, 2x Mind Rot, 2x Snapcaster Mage

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C1

C plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

E1

E draws Drowned Catacomb, plays it, and passes.

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C2

C draws Counterflux, plays Island, and passes.

And the potentiality of drawing that is why we played Dragonskull Summit first.

E2

E draws Swamp and plays Sulfur Falls, then passes.

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C3

C draws Murder, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

E3

E draws Nephalia Drownyard, plays Swamp, and casts Mind Rot, which runs into Counterflux. E passes.

Unusual. I see Grixis colors, but I'm not sure what the idea is here yet.

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C4

C draws Dreadbore. He casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Counterflux and passes.

E4

E draws Snapcaster Mage. She plays Sulfur Falls tapped and casts Mind Rot. C discards Murder and Devour Flesh. E passes.

Tough to ditch so much removal, but I see no creatures, and with a Mystic Retrieval in the graveyard it hopefully won't hurt too bad if I see some anyway.

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C5

C draws Murder. He plays Swamp and passes.

E5

E draws Think Twice. She plays Nephalia Drownyard and passes.

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C6

C draws Sulfur Falls. He plays it and casts Gilded Lotus. In response, E casts Think Twice and flashes it back, drawing Duress and Thought Scour. Gilded Lotus resolves. C passes.

E6

E draws Watery Grave. She plays Drowned Catacomb. She casts Duress. C Counterfluxes it. E casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Mind Rot, then flashes back the Rot and C discards his remaining cards (Dreadbore and Murder ). E passes.

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C7

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Bolas is never early, nor is he late. He arrives precisely when he means to.

C casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Oh, of course.

Bolas blows up Nephalia Drownyard. In response E flashes down another Snapcaster Mage. C passes.

E7

E draws Steam Vents and plays it untapped. (C 20, E 18). She attacks Bolas with Snapcasters and hits; Bolas goes to 4. She passes.

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C8

C draws Liliana of the Veil

Oh look, he brought a friend!

C casts Liliana of the Veil.

Hey everyone. Something you might not know about Caley is that he is a magician. As in like a tricks and illusions magician. And his specialty is cards. If he starts topdecking hot on you, watch his effing hands.

Liliana uses her -2 and a Snapcaster dies. C flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Murder and kills the other Snapcaster. E concedes.

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Sideboarding

E boards in 3x Counterflux, 1x Dispel, 2x Pithing Needle, 1x Slaughter Games, and boards out 3x Barter in Blood, 3x Psychic Strike, 1x Thought Scour.

I really hope I get to use snapcaster on the slaughter games.

C boards in 2x Dissipate, 3x Slaughter Games, and boards out 3x Murder, 1x Barter in Blood, and 1x Devour Flesh.

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Game 2

E mulligans a one-land hand.

C keeps a hand of Island, Drowned Catacomb, Think Twice, Staff of Nin, Gilded Lotus, Devour Flesh, Counterflux.

E keeps a hand of Island, Dragonskull Summit, Think Twice, Counterflux, Jace, Memory Adept, Dreadbore.

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E1

E plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

C1

C draws Swamp, plays Island, and passes.

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E2

E draws Drowned Catacomb, plays it, and passes.

C2

C draws Island, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

Here comes Mind Rot.

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E3

E draws Slaughter Games. She plays Island and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice and draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

C3

C draws Nephalia Drownyard. He plays Swamp and passes. End step, E casts Think Twice drawing Swamp.

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E4

E draws Steam Vents and plays Swamp. Then she casts Slaughter Games naming Slaughter Games, exiling three copies from C's library. E passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice drawing Gilded Lotus.

On the plus side, I kind of need lands.

C4

C draws Desolate Lighthouse. He plays Nephalia Drownyard and passes, discarding Gilded Lotus.

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E5

E draws Dispel. She casts Steam Vents untapped (C 20, E 18) and casts Jace, Memory Adept, but it runs into Counterflux. E passes. End step, C mills E for 3, namely two Dreadbores and a Drowned Catacomb.

Dispel might not have been the best idea. Forgot about Counterflux.

C5

C draws Barter in Blood. He plays Desolate Lighthouse and casts Gilded Lotus, then passes.

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E6

E draws Steam Vents. She plays it tapped and passes.

C6

C draws Sulfur Falls. He plays it and casts Staff of Nin, leaving open Island, Drowned Catacomb, Sulfur Falls. E stops the staff with Counterflux. C passes.

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E7

E draws Slaughter Games. She casts it naming Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, exiling one from the hand and two from the library. She passes.

C7

C draws Swamp and plays Island. He passes.

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E8

E draws Snapcaster Mage.

Oh YES.

E casts Snapcaster Mage targeting Slaughter Games. In response C casts Devour Flesh and the Mage dies. E casts Slaughter Games naming Staff of Nin, exiling one from the graveyard and one from the library. She passes. End step, C mills her for 3, all lands. Then C activates Desolate Lighthouse, drawing Watery Grave and discarding it.

That probably helps, having so many land milled.

C8

C draws Barter in Blood. He does nothing and passes.

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E9

E draws Swamp and plays it. She passes. End step, C mills Nephalia Drownyard, Dissipate, and Duress, and then Lighthouses, drawing Sulfur Falls and discarding Swamp.

Hitting Nephalia Drownyard is very important.

C9

C draws Drowned Catacomb and plays Sulfur Falls. He passes. End step E flashes back Think Twice, drawing Thought Scour.

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E10

E draws Think Twice. She casts Thought Scour on C, milling Liliana of the Veil and Mystic Retrieval. She draws Pithing Needle and casts it naming Nephalia Drownyard. In response, C activates his own Drownyard, milling away Thought Scour, Mind Grind, and Liliana of the Veil. E passes.

No win conditions left in my deck now except to just run the game 30 or so more turns, until her library empties two turns before mine. In the likely event of this not working, I will at least get to see more of the opposing deck, which seems to be at least partially a mill deck.

C10

C draws Counterflux. He plays Drowned Catacomb, then flashes back Mystic Retrieval for Counterflux.

Hopefully that's all the Slaughter Games. If not, we could be in trouble.

C passes. End step, E casts Think Twice and flashes it back, drawing Swamp and Dissipate.

Two turns closer to victory.

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E11

E draws Mountain and plays it, then passes.

I don't know why he's not conceding; he has no way to win.

C11

C draws Dissipate. He does nothing and passes.

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E12

E draws Mind Sculpt. She plays Swamp and casts the Sculpt at C. C Dissipates it. E responds with Dissipate on Dissipate. C Counterfluxes the Mind Sculpt. E passes.

C12

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He does nothing and passes.

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E13

E draws Snapcaster Mage. She casts it, but it runs into Counterflux. E passes.

C13

C draws Think Twice. He does nothing and passes.

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E14

E draws Drowned Catacomb. She plays it and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice and flashes it back, drawing Counterflux and Drowned Catacomb.

Counterflux is nice, but better would be Mystic Retrieval. I have to be careful about my draws here; after drawing twice this way, I will only have two cards left when she draws out. This basically means that I can afford to use Desolate Lighthouse once in an emergency, or half of a Think Twice one more time. Hopefully she'll draw some more cards of her own and give me a little more leeway.

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C15

C draws Dragonskull Summit and plays it, then passes.

E15

E draws Sulfur Falls, plays it, and passes.

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C16

C draws Mountain, plays it, and passes.

E16

E draws Mind Rot. She casts it at C and he discards Drowned Catacomb and Chromatic Lantern.

Ever the trickster, this one.

"Caley, why were you just holding on to random mana sources?"

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C17

C draws Dreadbore, does nothing, and passes.

E17

E draws Pithing Needle. She casts it naming Desolate Lighthouse, then passes.

Not a huge loss, for the reasons mentioned above.

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C18

C draws Think Twice. He does nothing and passes.

E18

E draws Snapcaster Mage and casts it. C Counterfluxes it. E passes. End step, C casts Think Twice and draws Swamp.

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C19

C draws Watery Grave and plays it tapped. He does nothing and passes.

E19

E draws Dreadbore. She does nothing and passes.

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C20

C draws Dissipate. He does nothing and passes.

E20

E draws Dissipate. She does nothing and passes.

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C21

C draws Dreadbore. He does nothing and passes.

E21

E draws Duress and casts it. C responds with Dissipate. E responds by Dissipateing C's Dissipate. E gets rid of Dreadbore with Dissipate, then passes.

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C22

C draws Mystic Retrieval.

Phew!

C casts Mystic Retrieval and flashes it back, getting back two copies of Counterflux. He plays Swamp and passes.

Now, believe it or not, we have a statistically significant chance to win this game. Although, the odds are probably still well on the opposition's side.

E22

E draws Mind Sculpt and casts it at C. C responds with Counterflux. E passes.

And not a moment too soon, it would seem. If that resolved, we lose.

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C23

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He does nothing and passes.

E23

E draws Drowned Catacomb. She plays it and passes.

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C24

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He does nothing and passes.

15 turns to go.

E24

E draws Sulfur Falls, plays it, and passes.

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C25

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

E25

E draws Nephalia Drownyard. She plays it.

At this point she tried to activate it, but I pointed out that she was interdicted by her own Pithing Needle.

E passes.

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C26

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He casts and flashes it back to get back two copies of Counterflux. He casts Chromatic Lantern and passes.

Ok, this is dumb. I just need Slaughter Games to win.

E26

E draws Counterflux. She does nothing and passes.

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C27

C draws Swamp, plays it, and passes.

E27

E draws Jace, Memory Adept. She casts it, but it runs into Counterflux. She passes.

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C28

C draws Devour Flesh. He does nothing and passes.

E28

E draws Snapcaster Mage. She casts it, but it runs into Counterflux. She passes.

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C29

C draws Dreadbore. He does nothing and passes.

E29

E draws Mind Rot and casts it at C. He discards 2x Barter in Blood. E passes.

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C30

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He does nothing and passes.

E30

E draws Sulfur Falls, plays it, and passes.

Come on, I KNOW there is another Slaughter Games in here.

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C31

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He does nothing and passes.

E31

E draws Counterflux. She does nothing and passes.

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C32

C draws Dreadbore. He plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

E32

E draws Watery Grave, plays it tapped, and passes.

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C33

C draws Mountain, plays it, and passes.

E33

E draws Watery Grave, plays it, and passes.

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C34

C draws Nephalia Drownyard, plays it, and passes.

My chances for victory are probably still pretty slim, but just think of how fun it will be to lose this game and then go, "Ok, I'm on the play for Game 3, right?"

E34

E draws Watery Grave, plays it, and passes.

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C35

C draws Sulfur Falls, plays it, and passes.

E35

E draws Mind Grind. She casts it at C for 2. C Counterfluxes it. E passes.

Shields down again.

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C36

C draws Counterflux.

Oh right, I had another copy of that. Well THAT helps, really.

C does nothing and passes.

E36

E draws Thought Scour. She casts it at C, but he Counterfluxes it. E passes.

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C37

C draws Barter in Blood. He does nothing and passes.

I swear to god, Slaughter Games better not be at the very bottom of the deck.

E37

E draws Slaughter Games. She casts it.

Finally, but what to name with it? I probably should have paid more attention when I was looking through his hand, but I probably shouldn't go with Devour Flesh or Dreadbore, I remember seeing lots of those and him never discarding them. I don't think I've seen Murder yet, so let's go there.

E names Murder and finds no copies. E passes.

Goddamn, nothing but land left. Well I have one card left. Not sure what it is, but we'll see if it can win. At least he's out of counterspells. This is the universe punishing me for saying that he should concede.

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C38

C draws Watery Grave and plays it tapped. He does nothing and passes.

E38

E draws the last card in the library, Duress, and concedes. C wins the match 2-0.

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If you guys ever want to remember why Caley is a motherf**ker to play against, read game 2 again. He does not care if he has a .00001% chance to win, he will keep playing and grinding and grinding, and you'll get careless and overconfident and do some small error and increase his chances by another .0001%, and he'll just keep going. No complaints from me here, he earned that one. I probably would make some different sideboard choices if I had it to do over again.

The lesson here is not to give up. We've seen previous opponents of mine in Daily Dose keep playing against me and be rewarded for it, and today it was my turn to show the value of perseverance. I kept playing in the second game for three reasons: 1 - see what the enemy deck's makeup was for game 3, 2 - grind down Elaine's concentration and focus for game 3; it's very demoralizing to play an incredibly long game to win game 2 when you've lost game 1, and then realize that you're only even, especially in a game like this where she knows I'll be able to do even better sideboarding once I've seen more of her deck, and 3 - retain the possibility of an improbable comeback victory by casting and recurring counterspells over and over, which, even if I lost doing it, would be fun, and hopefully further sap my opponent's morale. As it turned out, the draws were very lucky for me and I squeaked it out when I really probably should have lost.

Never. Say. Die.