Daily Dose 31 - Standard

Daily Dose of Standard

KrazyCaley

7 February 2013

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vs. GeorgeCostanza

I ran Bolas for a Better Tomorrow. Have figured out a temporary workaround for the "MTGO is eating my games" problem. Further improvements to come.

Game 1

E wins the roll and mulligans to 3.

C keeps an opener of Drowned Catacomb, Swamp, Mountain, Dragonskull Summit, Think Twice, Barter in Blood, and Rakdos's Revenge.

Rakdos's Revenge is, cruelly, a great card to have in your opener when your opponent mulls to three.

Turn 1

E plays Steam Vents and passes.

Could be a few things going on here.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, plays Drowned Catacomb tapped, then passes.

A bad habit that I am trying to shake myself of is to always lead with Swamp when possible, thus putting in the Dragonskull Summits and Drowned Catacombs in untapped. The reason this is bad is that I run Counterflux and have no pressing needs, usually, to play stuff on turns 1 or 2, excepting the occasional Dreadbore. Thus it's better to make sure I get UUR out as soon as possible, in some combination.

Turn 2

E does nothing and passes.

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

I do not play Dragonskull Summit or Mountain here despite the above because of Think Twice.

Turn 3

E plays Glacial Fortress tapped and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice and draws Murder.

This narrows the kind of stuff he could be playing, but I'm still not entirely sure.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays Dragonskull Summit and passes.

Turn 4

E does nothing and passes.

I now forgot about the existence of Think Twice for a while, which is terribly Bush League of me. I recall I was focusing on the right time to hit him with Rakdos's Revenge.

C draws Rakdos's Revenge. He plays Mountain and passes. End step, E casts Izzet Charm to draw and discard two, discarding 2x Unburial Rites.

Oop, it's one of those reanimators that runs blue.

Turn 5

E plays Clifftop Retreat tapped and passes.

He will probably finally do something next turn, but I'm far too well-equipped at this point, and he might not have any cards after my next turn.

C draws Island. He plays it and casts Rakdos's Revenge for 3, but it runs into Izzet Charm. C passes.

Turn 6

E plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

I would ordinarily be worried, but he has nothing to unbury as yet.

C draws Island. He plays Dragonskull Summit and then casts Rakdos's Revenge for 2, and E discards 2x Supreme Verdict.

This is questionable because I might have thrown creatures into the graveyard that he otherwise would not have been able to cast yet, but I have such a variety of kill spells that I can really deal with anything he reanimates short of Sigarda, Host of Herons, and in the long term, assuming he gets mana, this play would be the most efficient. In any case, he discarded 2x Supreme Verdict, so it's purely academic.

Turn 7

E plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

C draws Mystic Retrieval, plays Island, and passes.

Turn 8

E casts Chronic Flooding targeting his Clifftop Retreat. He passes. End step, C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Sometimes when I really want to draw extra cards, or have nothing else to do with a bunch of mana, I thumb through my graveyard seeing if I forgot to flash back a Think Twice, and here I did. It's like finding a $20 in your jacket pocket that you left there a year ago. Good to have a backup Bolas.

C draws Swamp, plays it, and casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Bolas destroys the Chronic Flooding Clifftop Retreat. In response, E taps it, milling himself for Clifftop Retreat, Isolated Chapel, and Tyrant of Discord. C passes.

This is interesting. He now has about an 11% chance to get Bolas with the Tyrant if he brings it back. Alas for him, I have a backup Bolas.

Turn 9

E casts Faithless Looting, discarding Sulfur Falls and Hallowed Fountain, then concedes.

Must have not liked the odds of the Tyrant.

Sideboarding

C boards in 2x Tormod's Crypt and boards out 1x Think Twice and 1x Mystic Retrieval.

Card advantage is still important against this opponent, but Tormod's Crypt against a reanimator deck is a WHOLE LOT of card advantage.

Game 2

E plays first and keeps his opener.

C mulligans an opening hand of Dragonskull Summit, 3x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Tribute to Hunger, and 2x Tormod's Crypt.

I'm not gonna lie; I was REALLY tempted to keep that hand just for 2x Tormod's Crypt. But that would have been a pretty bad call if he ever, you know, cast any creatures from his hand.

C mulligans a 6 hand of Dragonskull Summit, Rakdos's Revenge, Dreadbore, Mystic Retrieval, Barter in Blood, and Murder.

C keeps a 5 hand of 2x Swamp, Island, Think Twice, Tribute to Hunger.

Turn 1

E plays Steam Vents untapped. (C 20, E 18). He casts Faithless Looting and discards Unburial Rites and Angel of Serenity.

He must feel a lot better compared to last game.

C draws Tormod's Crypt. He plays Island and the Crypt, then passes.

Bad gameplay error. I should have saved this for turn 3, to encourage him to get as much stuff in the graveyard as he wants, then hit him with the Crypt right before he has unburial mana. My reasoning was that with only Angel of Serenity in the graveyard, he's unlikely to unbury that by itself and will need to keep putting cards in the graveyard anyway for a few turns. But still, why chance it? I gain nothing by playing it now, except scaring him a little, perhaps.

Turn 2

E plays Sulfur Falls tapped and passes.

C draws Dragonskull Summit. He plays Swamp and passes.

Turn 3

E plays Clifftop Retreat and passes. End step, C casts Think Twice drawing Dragonskull Summit.

C draws Island. He plays Dragonskull Summit and passes. End step, E casts Izzet Charm to draw and discard, throwing away Izzet Charm and Flayer of the Hatebound.

An interesting play with a Tormod's Crypt out. He could try to bait me into popping it early by not putting anything in the graveyard this turn and just using his Unburial Rites to bring in Angel of Serenity, but if I have a kill spell to easily deal with the angel, which is probable from his perspective (and which I in fact have), this might be the better play to REALLY force me to pop the Crypt ASAP. Flayer of the Hatebound is particularly troublesome for me.

Turn 4

E plays Hallowed Fountain untapped. (C 20, E 16). He flashes back Unburial Rites targeting Flayer of the Hatebound, and C responds with Tormod's Crypt, causing the Rites to fizzle. E passes.

Even badly-played, Tormod's Crypt really hurts reanimator decks. We both now have four cards, even mana, and I am about to draw and play while he is tapped out. Not bad for having mulled to five to start.

C draws Island, plays it, and passes.

Getting slightly flooded though.

Turn 5

E plays Blood Crypt tapped. He casts Faithless Looting and flashes it back right afterward, discarding in total: Angel of Serenity, Unburial Rites, Mountain, and another Faithless Looting. He passes.

C draws Murder, plays Island, and passes.

Turn 6

E plays Sulfur Falls. Then he flashes back Faithless Looting, discarding Clifftop Retreat and Hallowed Fountain. E passes.

C draws Dreadbore, plays Swamp, and passes.

The Bolas countdown stands at needing to draw and play either a black or a red mana source, needing to play the Island I have in hand, and needing to draw and play Bolas himself.

Turn 7

E plays Sulfur Falls and hardcasts Flayer of the Hatebound. He passes.

Not good news for me. This guy is a huge pain; especially with Angel of Serenity sitting in the graveyard.

C draws Chromatic Lantern and casts it. He plays an Island and passes.

Now I just need to draw Bolas.

Turn 8

E attacks with the Flayer and C Murders it. The Flayer comes back with undying. (E 16, C 15). E plays Blood Crypt tapped and passes.

Good play from my opponent. He's not overcommitting and running into a wrath effect or a Barter in Blood (not that I have either of those right now), and just letting the flayer take me down slowly and patiently.

C draws Dragonskull Summit and plays it. He casts Dreadbore on the Flayer, killing it. C passes.

Turn 9

E plays Sulfur Falls tapped. He casts Unburial Rites from his hand targeting Flayer of the Hatebound. (E 16, C 11). He passes.

Yet more bad news, but to be expected since he's been stockpiling cards. I need Bolas and/or Tormod's Crypt.

C draws Mountain.

Notice any play errors from me besides the ones I've already described?

C plays Mountain and flashes back Think Twice, drawing Rakdos's Revenge. C casts Rakdos's Revenge for 2 and E discards Cyclonic Rift and Unburial Rites.

Think Twice, as the name implies, requires you to THINK. Twice.

Turn 10

E plays Steam Vents untapped. (E 14, C 11). He attacks with Flayer of the Hatebound. Caley casts Tribute to Hunger. E responds with Izzet Charm dealing damage to the Flayer, killing it and returning it with undying. (E 14, C 6). Then Tribute to Hunger resolves, sending the Flayer back to the graveyard. (E 14, C 9). E casts Unburial Rites on it again. (E 14, C 5). E passes.

C draws Dreadbore and concedes.

Sideboarding

C boards in 3x Slaughter Games and 1x Think Twice. Boarded out are 2x Mystic Retrieval and 2x Barter in Blood.

Amazingly, I fail to board in the incredibly-effective Dissipate at any point in the match. Why? I have no idea, but what a huge blunder. Dissipate is great against both Unburial Rites AND against creatures that would otherwise be reanimated.

Game 3

C plays first and keeps an opener of 2x Island, Dragonskull Summit, Dreadbore, Murder, and 2x Gilded Lotus.

E keeps his opener.

Better than going to six. This is the only game in the match where neither player had to take a mulligan.

Turn 1

C plays Dragonskull Summit tapped and passes.

E plays Mountain and casts Faithless Looting, discarding Clifftop Retreat and Angel of Serenity.

Turn 2

C draws Drowned Catacomb, plays Island, and passes.

E plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes.

Turn 3

C draws Mountain, plays Drowned Catacomb, and passes.

E plays Isolated Chapell and flashes back Faithless Looting, discarding Sphinx of Uthuun and Detention Sphere.

Detention Sphere is a strange choice to discard against a deck that obviously lives and dies with Bolas. He probably has more.

Turn 4

C draws Tribute to Hunger. He plays Mountain and passes.

E plays Sulfur Falls. He casts Seance and passes.

I hate Séance. I always have to go start MS Word and type in an accent-aigu e to get it to link properly. Interesting gameplay choice for him, though.

In C's upkeep, Séance gets Sphinx of Uthuun. C sees Detention Sphere, Izzet Charm, Clifftop Retreat, Hallowed Fountain, and Steam Vents. C puts Detention Sphere and Steam Vents in one pile and the other cards in the other. E keeps the other pile, putting Izzet Charm, Clifftop Retreat, and Hallowed Fountain into his hand.

That is what I would have preferred. Izzet Charm I can work around, but Detention Sphere is a really dangerous card for me; it can hit my precious mana artifacts as well as Bolas.

C draws and plays Swamp, then casts Gilded Lotus and passes. The Sphinx token is exiled.

Turn 5

E chooses not to use Seance in his upkeep. He plays Steam Vents tapped and passes. He must discard down to 7, and discards Gisela, Blade of Goldnight.

In C's upkeep, E chooses not to use Seance. C draws Mountain, plays it, and passes.

I considered playing another Gilded Lotus here, but I was very suspicious that he had another Detention Sphere or two given how cavalier he'd been about throwing away two already. Of course, him using it on Gilded Lotus would clear ANOTHER ONE out of the way, making it safer for Bolas, but I really wanted to keep the one I had, especially since he has an Izzet Charm in hand. Plus, if he decideds to put the existing Lotus under the Sphere, now I'll have a backup.

Turn 6

E does not use Seance. He plays Clifftop Retreat and casts Flayer of the Hatebound, then passes. End step, C casts Tribute to Hunger, and Flayer returns with Undying. (E 20, C 17).

During C's upkeep, E uses Seance to bring in a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight token.

This is VERY puzzling, though not necessarily a mistake. The only possible reason I can think of is that he didn't want me to kill the Flayer during my turn and this is a mild deterrent, but it would seem MUCH more wise to do this on his turn and attack with it if he's going to do it at all.

C draws Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. He plays Island and casts Bolas. Bolas uses his -3 to steal Flayer of the Hatebound. C passes. The Gisela token is exiled.

This will force him to bring back Angel of Serenity to keep his reanimation train rolling.

Turn 7

In E's upkeep, he uses Seance to bring in an Angel of Serenity token, exiling Flayer of the Hatebound.

Odd that he'd use the Séance to do this. Perhaps he doesn't have any reanimation in hand?

E plays Steam Vents tapped and casts Faithless Looting, discarding Sphinx of Uthuun and another Faithless Looting. He passes. The Angel token is exiled and Flayer of the Hatebound returns to E's hand.

In C's upkeep, E does not use Seance.

Also very puzzling. Shouldn't he use it now to get the Sphinx of Uthuun benefit before I blow up Seance with Bolas? Perhaps he thinks I'm going to try to whittle down his lands, but there's no reason not to bring back the Sphinx now that I can see anyway.

C draws Chromatic Lantern. Bolas destroys Séance. C casts Chromatic Lantern and Gilded Lotus, then passes.

Might as well do the other Lotus now, since any Detention Spheres will go straight for Bolas.

Turn 8

E plays Sulfur Falls and casts Faithless Looting, discarding Unburial Rites and Desolate Lighthouse.

Those would have been good cards to keep in hand. I wonder what IS in his hand.

E casts Chronic Flooding on an untapped Steam Vents, then taps that Steam Vents in the process of flashing back Faithless Looting, milling Tyrant of Discord, Isolated Chapel, and another Faithless Looting. Then Faithless Looting resolves and he discards Izzet Charm and Unburial Rites.

Turn 9

C draws Think Twice. Bolas destroys the Steam Vents with Chronic Flooding on it. C casts Think Twice, drawing a Swamp and playing it.

I wanted to make my land drop for the turn if possible, just to improve my odds slightly against Tyrant of Discord.

Turn 10

E plays Hallowed Fountain tapped and passes. C flashes back Think Twice, drawing Think Twice. C casts the new Think Twice and flashes it back, drawing Island and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Why not bring back Tyrant of Discord and try to get Bolas with it? Still, I have a backup now, so moot point.

C draws Mountain. He uses Bolas' -9 ability. E discards Griselbrand, Flayer of the Hatebound, Hallowed Fountain, Izzet Charm, and Sphinx of Uthuun and sacrifices all of his permanents except a Mountain. Bolas only has 9 loyalty, so he goes to the graveyard.

C casts Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker and E concedes. C wins the match 2-1.

Thoughts

• My opponent's play started sharp, but degraded badly in game 3. He threw away multiple Detention Spheres that would have saved him from Bolas (which he should have known had to be coming) , and made a bunch of other puzzling choices that were either mistakes or very, very deep plays that I can't see.

• Think. TWICE.

• Reanimator decks are scary, but they're slower in this format than they usually are, though very plucky once they do have their mana out. Still, a few efficient sideboard choices will really ruin their day. A single Tormod's Crypt nearly saved me from a mulligan to 5 in game 2, and might have ACTUALLY saved me if I had played it correctly.

• I have no idea why I didn't sideboard in Dissipate. I have an irrational love of keeping my kill spells in with this deck, but Dissipate is worth two kill spells against a reanimator deck AND prevents triggered abilities, like those of Angel of Serenity or Tyrant of Discord, from bothering me at all.

• I'm not sure about this W/U/B/R reanimator. Blue doesn't seem to add much to the deck at all besides Izzet Charm and Detention Sphere, and really, Detention Sphere could be an Oblivion Ring and the only cost is lesser effectiveness against tokens, which black has plenty of sideboard choices for anyway. Green instead of blue, on the other hand, gives you access to the mighty Thragtusk, Grisly Salvage, Mulch, and for some builds, Vraska the Unseen.