Daily Dose 37 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

13 February 2013

1323 views

vs. a Tappedout deck

This was an over-the-table match using proxies. Caley used Bolas for a Better Tomorrow. The other deck was done by blood, by blood undone by dbrannon, who requested some playtesting of this build, which I am happy to provide by taking a break from the swirling vortex of MTGO. At the helm of dbrannon's deck was Sectoid (this is an alias), who you might remember from the old Daily Draft articles that I hope to soon redeploy.

An advantage of this is that you'll see both hands and hear two sets of comments, from KrazyCaley in italics and from Sectoid in bold. Both players knew the content of the other deck completely at the start of the match, to keep things fair. The comments were made AS the game was played, rather than retrospectively, as per usual. Let's begin!

Game 1

Caley wins the toss and plays first. He keeps an opener of Island, Mountain, Mountain, Mystic Retrieval, Murder, Barter in Blood, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

This hand could end REALLY poorly for me without black mana, but it's better than going to six.

Sectoid keeps an opener of Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, Vizkopa Guildmage, Stromkirk Captain, Underworld Connections, and 2x Searing Spear.

like the spear's going to help me at all.

Turn 1

C plays Island and passes.

S draws Dragonskull Summit, plays it, and passes.

Turn 2

C draws Swamp, plays Mountain, and passes.

S draws Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. He plays Isolated Chapel and passes.

Turn 3

C draws Dreadbore, plays Swamp, and passes.

I feel like I have the advantage. The other deck really should have had a creature out by now, but a lack of one-drops and too many taplands has apparently doomed this effort for now.

S draws Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. He plays Vizkopa Guildmage and passes after playing Clifftop Retreat.

Turn 4

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He plays Mountain. He casts Dreadbore on Vizkopa Guildmage. C passes.

With a couple of Mystic Retrieval in hand, this is certainly quite doable. Really would like another black mana though.

S draws Mountain and plays it.

not sure what to do here. i could cast a creature, but he'd probably kill it. i think the best thing to do is get Underworld Connections going, especially while he doesn't have mana for a Counterflux.

S casts Underworld Connections on Mountain. He uses it immediately. (C 20, E 19) He draws Pillar of Flame.

Turn 5

C draws Think Twice and passes.

S draws Vampire Nighthawk. He draws a card with Underworld Connections, another Pillar of Flame. (C 20, E 18).

I was trying to make my land drop for this turn.

S casts Vampire Nighthawk and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Chromatic Lantern.

Turn 6

C draws Murder. He casts Chromatic Lantern and passes.

He knows I have Barter in Blood in the deck and probably has a creature in hand. I'll be interested to see what he chooses to do.

S draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Stromkirk Captain and attacks with the Nighthawk, hitting. (E 21, C 17). He draws a card with Underworld Connections, yet another Pillar of Flame. He passes.

wtf mate. he's going to kill some of this, but you've got to burn through all that kill with a deck like this, and i have Underworld Connections.

Turn 7

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He casts Barter in Blood and everything dies. He passes.

goddamn it.

S draws Clifftop Retreat and plays it. He casts Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and puts a vampire token into play. He draws a card with Underworld Connections. (E 20, C 17). The card is Shadow Alley Denizen, which he casts immediately. He passes.

Turn 8

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays it. He casts Mystic Retrieval on Dreadbore, then casts Dreadbore on Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. He passes. End step, S casts Searing Spear on C. (E 20, C 15).

I'm falling behind. Underworld Connections is going to be a real problem for me; I need to get to Bolas soon.

S draws Dreadbore. He casts Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. Then he uses Underworld Connections to draw a card. (E 19, C 15). The card is Searing Spear.

maybe i can just burn him to death?

S attacks with Denizen and the token, hitting. (E 19, C 13). He passes.

Turn 9

C draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Murder on Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. Then he casts, from his hand, Mystic Retrieval targeting Barter in Blood. Then he passes.

Mystic Retrieval is so unfair in this deck.

This is really slow, and he's going to crank out creatures about as fast as I can kill them, if not faster. Reeeaaaallly need to get to Bolas.

S draws Isolated Chapel and plays it. He casts 3x Searing Spear and 1x Pillar of Flame to the face. (E 19, C 3). C concedes.

Well THAT was unexpected.

that was pretty sweet.

Sideboarding

C boards in 2x Redirect and 2x Curse of Death's Hold. He boards out 2x Rakdos's Return 1x Think Twice, and 1x Mystic Retrieval.

Hopefully I can use the Redirect as a bit of extra removal. I can also steal an Underworld Connections with this.

S has no sideboard.

Game 2

C plays first. He keeps an opener of Swamp, Mountain, Drowned Catacomb, Redirect, Murder, Barter in Blood, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

S mulligans an opener of Vault of the Archangel, Isolated Chapel, 2x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, Killing Wave, Searing Spear, and Shadow Alley Denizen.

can't beat him with just Shadow Alley Denizen. the land is sucky, and since Killing Wave is totally useless anyway, might as well go again.

S keeps a 6 hand of Swamp, Dragonskull Summit, Clifftop Retreat, Vampire Nighthawk, Stromkirk Captain and Necropolis Regent.

i don't like this hand. too slow. he'll get all set up and kill all my stuff before i get going. i can't go to five though.

Turn 1

C plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

S draws Stromkirk Captain, plays Clifftop Retreat, and passes.

Turn 2

C draws Think Twice. He plays Mountain and passes.

S draws Mountain. He plays Dragonskull Summit. He passes. End step, C casts Think Twice, drawing Island.

Turn 3

C draws Drowned Catacomb. He plays Island and passes.

goddamn it, he has a Counterflux.

S draws Stromkirk Captain. He plays Mountain and casts Vampire Nighthawk. He passes.

Turn 4

C draws Counterflux. He plays a Swamp and passes.

There are a lot of options for his turn. What I really want to see is if he casts something else, or holds it back; Vampire Nighthawk is an obvious attempt to get me to throw away some kill spells. If he holds it back, I can Think Twice. If I'm really lucky he'll cast Underworld Connections or just try to throw a burn spell at me that I can kill the Nighthawk with.

S draws Shadow Alley Denizen. He plays Swamp. He casts the Denizen and a Stromkirk Captain. He attacks with the Nighthawk.

Telling me that he probably has more creatures in hand because he thinks he can outrace me.

Barter in Blood-proof.

C hits the Nighthawk with Murder. S passes.

Turn 5

C draws Dragonskull Summit and plays it. He casts Barter in Blood, killing everything. He passes.

why do you always have that card, you magnificent bastard?

S draws Vampire Nocturnus. He plays Stromkirk Captain and passes.

Turn 6

C draws Island and plays Drowned Catacomb. He passes.

S draws Pillar of Flame. He casts Stromkirk Captain, but it runs into Counterflux. S attacks with the other Captain. (E 20, C 18). He casts Pillar of Flame at C. (E 20, C 16). He passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

So close to the Redirect kill. Might have been a mistake to include it.

Turn 7

C draws Mountain. He plays Island and passes.

S draws Stromkirk Noble. He plays it. He attacks with the Stromkirk Captain and hits. (E 20, C 14). He passes.

Turn 8

C draws Murder. He plays Mountain. He taps out for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Bolas goes to 2 and steals Stromkirk Captain. C passes.

you're effing dead, Bolas

S draws Dreadbore. He casts it and blows up Bolas. He attacks C with the Noble, hitting. (E 20, C 13). The Noble becomes a 2/2. S passes.

Turn 9

C draws Chromatic Lantern. He casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and blows up Clifftop Retreat with it. He passes.

S draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Vampire Nocturnus. Searing Spear is on top of the deck. He attacks Bolas with the Noble. C blocks with Stromkirk Captain, killing both creatures. S concedes.

Sideboarding

C replaces 2x Redirect with 1x Think Twice and 1x Mystic Retrieval

S has no sideboard.

Game 3

S plays first. He mulligans a hand of Isolated Chapel, 2x Dreadbore, Pillar of Flame, Stromkirk Captain, Shadow Alley Denizen, and Olivia Voldaren.

my advice to this deck is- more lands.

C keeps an opener of 2x Drowned Catacomb, Mountain, Swamp, 2x Dreadbore, Barter in Blood.

Ideal.

S keeps a 6 hand of Swamp, Isolated Chapel, 2x Mountain, Dreadbore, and Searing Spear.

Turn 1

S plays Isolated Chapel and passes.

C draws Curse of Death's Hold, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

Turn 2

S draws Stromkirk Noble, plays Mountain, casts the Noble, and passes.

C draws Island, plays Mountain, kills Stromkirk Noble with Dreadbore, and passes.

Turn 3

S draws Vampire Nocturnus, plays Swamp, and passes.

C draws Tribute to Hunger, plays Island, and passes.

Turn 4

S draws Olivia Voldaren. He plays Mountain and casts Olivia Voldaren, then passes. End step, C casts Tribute to Hunger. (C 23, E 20).

i already lose, basically.

C draws Counterflux. He plays Drowned Catacomb then passes.

Turn 5

S draws Stromkirk Captain and casts it, then passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval. He casts Curse of Death's Hold on S, then passes.

Turn 6

S draws Dreadbore. He attacks with the Captain and hits. (C 22, E 20). He passes.

might actually still be alive. need nocturnus mana though.

C draws Curse of Death's Hold. He casts it targeting S. Stromkirk Captain dies. C passes.

Turn 7

S draws Clifftop Retreat and plays it. He passes.

C draws Swamp and plays it. He passes. End step, S hits C with Searing Spear. (E 20, C 19).

Turn 8

S draws Swamp and plays it. He casts Vampire Nocturnus and passes. (Clifftop Retreat is on top).

C draws Dreadbore and plays Island. He kills Vampire Nocturnus with Dreadbore and passes. S concedes. C wins the match 2-1.

None of my stuff is ever going to live.

Maybe a little premature, but a lot of his stuff has two toughness.

Thoughts

• Sectoid says you need more land, dbrannon.

• Curse of Death's Hold is so good that perhaps it should be mainboarded in and only be removed against control decks. I am thinking about mainboarding Slaughter Games as well.