Daily Dose 39 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

16 February 2013

1094 views

Hello.

Today the deck is still Bolas for a Better Tomorrow, but Yeee5 has been taking it for a spin and wanted to share his results. His commentary will be in bold and mine will be in italics. Let's begin!

Yeee5 vs. SenatorJesus

Game 1

Y wins the roll and decides to play.

He mulligans an opener of Island, Mountain, Barter in Blood, Dreadbore, Tribute to Hunger, and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

SJ keeps his opener.

Y mulligans a hand of Swamp, Tribute to Hunger, Barter in Blood, Counterflux, Mystic Retrieval, Chromatic Lantern.

Y keeps a hand of Swamp, Drowned Catacomb, 2x Murder, and Mystic Retrieval.

In hindsight, that first hand looked really good. Had I had more experience with the deck I probably would have kept it. Not having a black source of mana threw me off.

I agree with the mulligans. You CAN keep that first hand if you feel really lucky, and I might do so against a slow deck, but without knowledge of what you're up against, it's a pretty risky hand to keep. I would have mulliganed in exactly the way shown above.

Turn 1

Y plays Swamp and passes.

SJ draws and plays Overgrown Tomb tapped, and passes.

With the two Murders in hand I went for the Swamp first, thinking more about the kill than the Counterflux.

Turn 2

Y draws a Chromatic Lantern, plays Drowned Catacomb untapped, and passes.

SJ draws, plays Kessig Wolf Run, taps both land and casts Scorned Villager  ^Flip, and passes.

Here's where I start sweating. I drew the Lantern but, knowing I'm not going to be able to play a spell on my turn, the Villager will transform. He's going to have a whole lot of many. Although, with a Wolfrun/Werewolf deck he is going to want those creatures alive. Hopefully I can put a wrench in that plan.

Much too early to start panicking. Yeah, you're going to take some damage, but you're ALWAYS going to take damage playing this deck. Him getting a Moonscarred Werewolf  ^Flip is actually a good thing because he will probably cast his best creatures first, which is good for you because you have plenty of Murder to go around. You just need a land and all will be quite well.

Turn 3

Y draws Dreadbore, and passes.

NOW you can start feeling a little uneasy.

SJ transforms Scorned Villager  ^Flip, draws, plays Mountain, taps everything for a Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip and Daybreak Ranger  ^Flip.

Bad, bad, bad. I need a Swamp or a Mountain to stay in this.

Turn 4

Y draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, and passes.

All of SJ's creatures are transformed by his upkeep, he attacks with everything (Y 9, SJ 20), and passes. SJ gets a wolf token.

By this point there's no hope. I'll see my draw and hope for a land.

We can safely concede even with a land; Murder no longer delays the end due to the wolf token's presence.

Turn 5

Y draws Dragonskull Summit, plays it, and passes.

SJ draws, attack with everything, Y responds by conceding.

Sideboarding

I don't remember what I boarded out, I think it was 2x Counterflux and something else. But I do remember boarding in 2x Curse of Death's Hold and 2x Slaughter Games. I wanted the Curses to kill his little creatures and fend off from some of that bulk damage. And he's either running Huntmaster of the Fells or Immerwolves or both, so I wanted to be able to cripple him that way.

My boarding would have been 2x Curse of Death's Hold in and 2x Rakdos's Return out. Yeee5's sideboarding instincts were good. R/G Werewolves is a tough order for Bolas, sideboard-wise; the mainboard is already basically what you want to have in there, more or less.

Game 2

Y is on the play and keeps a hand of Island, Swamp, Mountain, 2x Drowned Catacomb, Tribute to Hunger and Curse of Death's Hold.

SJ mulligans to 6 and keeps that hand.

Turn 1

Y plays Swamp and passes.

SJ plays Blood Crypt tapped and passes.

I was hellbent on not being mana screwed, even if it meant being flooded. I have mana for both my spells, and one is the side boarded card which I knew would hurt him. We're in good shape.

The opener was a good one to keep, and will improve dramatically with the draw of a kill spell, especially Barter in Blood.

Turn 2

Y draws Dragonskull Summit, plays Drowned Catacomb and passes.

SJ does nothing and passes.

Ouch. Sometimes you almost feel bad having the better hand. I boarded out the Counterflux's so I wasn't worried about setting up mana for that.

Turn 3

Y draws Island, plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

SJ draws, discards Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip and passes.

Well I don't like to be cocky, but I was feeling good right about now.

Opponent probably should have mulled to five.

Turn 4

Y draws Dreadbore, plays Mountain and passes.

SJ draws, discards Abrupt Decay and passes.

Who keeps a one land hand?

Keeping one-land hands is questionable, but with some hands, it's a good idea. He probably had a Scorned Villager  ^Flip and was hoping to get going that way.

Turn 5

Y draws Chromatic Lantern, plays Island and then plays Curse of Death's Hold, attached to SJ.

This is probably fatal given that he is likely depending on Scorned Villager  ^Flip to put up any kind of resistance.

It was at this point that SJ asked if I was playing Bolas for a Better Tomorrow. Gotta love fanbase.

SJ concedes.

SenatorJesus: "daily dose of standard has been the most helpful thing towards learning to play better”

Glad to be of service. Do be careful about keeping those one-land hands, though. Assuming he had Scorned Villager  ^Flip in hand and was hoping to draw a land and get it out, reflect - Bolas has kill spells.

Sideboarding:

No side boarding, I feel confident with what I have.

Game 3

Yeee keeps a hand of Mountain, Dragonskull Summit, Drowned Catacomb, Gilded Lotus, Slaughter Games, Mystic Retrieval and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

I would probably consider mulling this hand, think about it for a minute, then decide to keep it. Still, a mull needs to at least be considered against so aggro a deck as the opposition. Also, there's a minor rules problem here; keep in mind that the player who is on the play must make their mulligan-to-6-or-not decision first, then the player on the draw makes the same. Then, if everyone hasn't kept their hand yet, the process repeats. Knowing that the other deck is going to six would definitely affect my mulliganing decision here.

SJ mulligans to 6 and keeps.

Turn 1

SJ plays Overgrown Tomb, tapped and passes.

Y draws Murder, plays Drowned Catacomb tapped, and passes.

I can't remember my reasoning for playing the tap land first, I think it had to do with Counterflux lingering in my mind. Either way the murder will help. We're good to go.

We are indeed. With no Islands or Swamps in hand to set it up for later untapped play, playing Drowned Catacomb here is quite correct even without Counterflux. After this we can go Mountain then Dragonskull Summit and be nicely set up for Dreadbore on turn 2 if possible and Murder on turn 3.

Turn 2

SJ draws, plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

Y draws Curse of Death's Hold, plays Mountain and passes.

Don't you just love when boarding works.

I'd still be pretty tense here. We have a long way to go still to get to five mana, and even then we're going to have to decide whether Gilded Lotus or Curse of Death's Hold will be the right play. So far we're getting lucky with our opponent not casting anything, though.

Turn 3

SJ plays Rootbound Crag and passes.

Y draws Dragonskull Summit, plays it and passes.

No early threats from SJ. I've made a connection with him as a person, we've become friends in our two short games, and now I'm worried he's going to die a horrible, cursed death.

No creatures out by turn 3 is really bad for the opposing deck. Still, this probably means we can expect a rain of creatures over the next few turns.

Turn 4

SJ draws, plays Rootbound Crag, and taps out forHuntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip, producing a 2/2 wolf, and gaining 2 life. (Y 20, SJ 22) End of turn, Y Murders Huntmaster.

Yeah, he's still got a wolf, but at 20 life, we're not sweating that at all.

Y draws Think Twice, plays Dragonskull Summit, and taps out to cast Slaughter Games, naming Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip. Slaughter Games exiles 2 Huntmasters from the Library and one from the Graveyard. Y sees four copies of Immerwolf in Library. SJ's hand is Mountain, Kessig Wolf Run, Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip, and Golgari Keyrune. Y passes.

Seeing those Immerwolves made it clear what my next target for Slaughter Games was. There weren't any other note worthy cards.

My most serious criticism of Yeee5's play is here. ALL the cards are noteworthy, especially given the fact that I saw a Golgari Keyrune in hand. What in that deck was black? We should not be looking through the deck JUST to get our next Slaughter Games target, not that that's what Yeee did, necessarily. We should be looking at EVERYTHING and taking careful note of what's there. In fact, we should probably write it down. (This is allowed, even in tournament play!) Immerwolf is not too terribly threatening; it basically only functions as a pumper, really, and is not nearly as bad for us as creatures that make other creatures. With four copies, it might be worth the next Slaughter Games, though. Also, it's debatable whether or not naming Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip was the right idea, since we've already seen one. Still, the fact that the equally-dangerous Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip dies to Curse of Death's Hold probably makes Huntmaster a decent choice.

Turn 5

SJ draws, plays Mountain, plays Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip and Immerwolf, and attackes with his wolf token. (Y 17, SJ 22)

Y draws Barter in Blood and plays it, SJ sacrifices token and Mayor of Avabruck. Y passes.

Threats on the field. I wanted to 2 for 1 him instead of waiting for the Think Twice. There will be plenty of time for that when it's my only option.

I would have preferred to get down Curse of Death's Hold, killing the Mayor and setting up for more kill spells later in the quite plausible event that he plays another creature with more than 1 toughness. Also, if we get lucky and draw another Curse of Death's Hold, we'll be able to shut everything down as fast as possible by getting the first Curse down now. Still, this play works too.

Turn 6

SJ draws, plays Kessig Wolf Run, plays Scorned Villager  ^Flip, and attackes with the Immerwolf. (Y 15, SJ 22). SJ passes.

Y draws Island, plays it and and taps out for Gilded Lotus. Y passes

Gilded Lotus over the Curse because with the Lotus out I can Think Twice. Options, options, options. It's all about options.

The only really important reason to cast the Lotus first is to get Bolas out immediately. Think Twice is not an urgent concern right now with everything we need more or less in hand; we have more pressing things to cast. Here, too, I would have cast Curse of Death's Hold first rather than Gilded Lotus, because failing to do so gives our OPPONENT options: it lets his Scorned Villager  ^Flip survive long enough to give him mana (and perhaps he has some huge creature or whatever, which we should have taken note of when we cast Slaughter Games ), PLUS he can really screw us over by not casting anything at all, transforming his Scorned Villager  ^Flip out of range of the Curse of Death's Hold, giving it the Immerwolf pump, and giving him yet ANOTHER mana to work with. This is too much counterplay; we could make ourselves much more comfortable by casting the Curse, THEN setting up the Lotus and Bolas at our leisure, with Murder on tap to solve any emergencies.

Turn 7

SJ draws, and plays a second Immerwolf. He attacks with the first wolf and the Scorned Villager. (Y 9, SJ 22)

If I were the opponent, I would have cast nothing this turn, to let my Scorned Villager  ^Flip transform, thus benefitting from the Immerwolf pump, getting more mana, and becoming more dangerous as described above. Of course, that makes us die to Mystic Retrieval on Barter in Blood, but we don't know that he has Mystic Retrieval in hand if we're the opponent.

End of turn, Y casts Think Twice, drawing Counterflux.

With a Bolas already in hand, there's no card we could have drawn here that makes it worth it NOT to have played Curse of Death's Hold earlier, I think.

Y draws Island, plays it, casts Mystic Retrieval targeting Barter in Blood. Y uses mana left over to cast Barter in Blood. SJ sacrifices both Immerwolves.

Curious. I would have kept at least one Immerwolf. He knows I have the Curse in my deck. If I get it out without him getting a lord of some form then his Villager is dead.

It was dead even if he kept an Immerwolf; it's not a werewolf yet, though it may be after our opponent's next turn. This is why a- we should have cast Curse of Death's Hold at the first opportunity (if we had cast it back on turn 5, Scorned Villager  ^Flip would be sitting in the opponent's hand, utterly useless), and b- why the opponent should be letting Scorned Villager  ^Flip transform on his turn unless he has something REALLY important to get done, which it does not appear he does so far.

Turn 8

SJ draws, casts Golgari Keyrune and Full Moon's Rise. He attacks with Scorned Villager  ^Flip and passes. (Y 7, SJ 22)

I'm not at all sure that these two spells are worth keeping the [[Scorned Villager] human.

At this point there was a misplay. He had his Scorned Villager  ^Flip at a 3/2 when it was just a 2/1. I had my health recorded at 6.

Y draws Island, plays it, and casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Using his minus 2 to take control of the Scorned Village. (Bolas: 3)

This choice seems the most obvious. Bolas over curse. He only has the one creature, though if I had played it it would have died. Silly human error.

Curse of Death's Hold continues not to be played when it should be. The play that was made is a REALLY dangerous play against a deck that runs red mana. If he has a burn spell (which is something we should have looked for when we cast Slaughter Games, that will be the end of Bolas (or if he has a BIG burn spell, the end of the match!), and while the Werewolf deck doesn't have any more immediate threats, Bolas deck is low on life and shouldn't needlessly waste a Bolas.

Turn 9

SJ draws, casts Immerwolf and passes.

We can breathe a sigh of relief now.

Y draws Think Twice, taps out to cast Curse of Death's Hold on SJ. Y destroys Full Moon's Rise, using Bolas. (Bolas: 6) Y passes.

At this point it pretty much becomes elementary. Control, Bolas, control, Bolas.

Turn 10

SJ draws, plays Blood Crypt untapped, taking two damage (Y 7, SJ 22). SJ animates Keyrune, attacks Y directly with it and the Wolf, Y responds by casting Think Twice, drawing a Slaughter Games. Y blocks the Immerwolf with Scorned Villager  ^Flip, SJ uses Kessig Wolf Run on Immerwolf in response for 2. Damage goes through (Y 5, SJ 20).

Murder might have been appropriate here, but the play that happened is fine.

Y draws Drowned Catacombs, plays it, and uses Bolas to the destroy Kessig Wolf Run. (Bolas: 9). Second main phase, Y casts Slaughter Games, Kessig Wolf Run, exiling the one in the Graveyard and 2 more in the Library. Y passes.

Hindsight is everything I suppose. This was a huge oversight on my part. My threat wasn't the Kessig Wolf Run, it was the Bonfire of the Damned I saw earlier. Luckily I have a Counterflux in hand.

Yeee's comment above is completely accurate. Even without Bonfire of the Damned or other burn spells that can kill us instantly, Kessig Wolf Run is no threat at all if there are no creatures out; we should focus on stripping out creatures (again, assuming there are no instant win burn spells).

Turn 11

SJ draws, and concedes.

Thoughts

Overall I think my biggest issue was the mana problem in game one. Aside from not paying attention to my opponents deck enough with the Slaughter Games and not paying attention to the power and toughness of the creatures, I would say I really didn't make very many in game mistakes. My worst mistake was mulliganing that first hand. But, in the end, mana screw is mana screw.

I don't think mulliganing that first hand was a mistake at all! The only mulliganing error in this match seemed to be in game 2, when the opponent kept a one-land six-card hand, which is questionable, though if he had Scorned Villager  ^Flip, understandable. My criticisms are:

That aside, these were fun games. Bad luck for one deck or the other in games 1 and 2, and another unfortunate but necessary mulligan in game 3 as well, but it happens.