Showdown #17: Mooove over Centaurs

Showdown

Spootyone

18 April 2014

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Hello all and welcome back to another edition of Showdown where I pit my current standard build against those sent into me by you: the members of Tappedout. Last week I faced InconspicuousPotato in a Simic mirror-match, where I managed to come out ahead. This time around I have a sort of "special" edition of Showdown...It's tribal time!!

With Pheres-Band Warchief having been spoiled, I knew I wanted to at least attempt a centaur tribal build -- especially since my current Simic build already had a majority of all the centaurs worth playing, in my opinion. Of course, what would a tribal matchup be without the tribe of the hour, Minotaurs! I present to you Tabu34 and his minotaur tribal budget build:

deck-large: rakdos-minotaurs-botg

Now, as always, I have been doing a number of practice runs to see how the deck fare against each other and how best to sideboard. And already I can tell you this matchup is horrible for me. The reason why people question centaurs as a tribal deck right now is that they lack a sort of synergistic quality that Minotaurs do exhibit. Tabu's deck, for example, runs playsets of 3 different minotaur "lords" in addition to other minotaurs. This, combined with the ever-available removal package located in B/R has disallowed me to win even a SINGLE game against this deck prior to or after sideboarding.

What am I afraid of it this matchup? Everything. The centaur tribal deck just isn't in the same caliber is minotaur tribal, and it shows heavily. Most of these games seem to involve me getting 1 for 1'd by removal spells until he can get out a Ragemonger to fill up his board with cowmen that rip me to shreds in an instant. I will have to play carefully and get very lucky to come out ahead of the horde this time around. Let us begin.

Game 1

I win the flip and choose to be on the play. I choose to mulligan a one land hand, begrudgingly, and keep an okay hand of 2x Temple of Mystery, forest, Elvish Mystic, Boon Satyr, and Simic Charm. It's not fantastic but we can't afford to go down to five cards in this matchup.

Tabu keeps an opener of 2x mountain, swamp, Dreadbore, fellhide brawler, Deathbellow Raider, and Mogis, God of Slaughter. Sweet hand. We keep.

S1: Forest, Elvish Mystic. Pass.

T1: Draws Whip of Erebos. Mountain. Pass.

S2: Draws Swordwise Centaur. Well, that was beautiful right now. I play out the centaur and plays a tapped Temple of Mystery, which reveals a forest that I scry to a bottom. Pass.

T2: Draws fellhide brawler. He then plays a swamp and plays out his Deathbellow Raider and passes.

S3: Draws Elvish Mystic. I attack with the centaur for 3 and there are no blocks. Then I follow this up with another Temple of Mystery, this time revealing another forest, which is once again scry'd to the bottom. I pass. (s 20/17 t)

T3: Draws Rakdos Guildgate. He knows I could have either Simic Charm or Boon Satyr to make for a blocker, but that's a 1 for 1 he is willing to make. He attacks with the Deathbellow Raider and I choose not to block. He then follows this up with the guildgate and by playing out a fellhide brawler. At EoT I flash in Boon Satyr. (s 18/17 t)

S4: Draws Breeding Pool. His brawler is proving to be quite annoying since all my creatures right now have 2 toughness or less. I guess we have to burn a charm then. I cast Simic Charm to return his brawler to his hand and then swing it for 8 damage with all my creatures. Lastly, I cast a second Elvish Mystic, play the breeding pool tapped and pass. (s 18/9 t)

T4: Draws Mizzium Mortars. My opponent plays a mountain and then swings for 2 with his Deathbellow Raider. To avoid a blowout by another Simic Charm, he then uses the mortars to blow up my Swordwise Centaur, and the Dreadbore to kill my Boon Satyr before passing. (s 16/9 t)

S5: Draws Cyclonic Rift. I wish I could have just one more mana to overload but sadly I do not. I attack with both my elves for 2 damage and then pass. (s 16/7 t)

T5: Draws Kragma Warcaller. He attacks with his raider for 2, and then plays out 2 copies of fellhide brawler, clearly noticing I'm not running Bile Blight. I'm assuming he would do this to keep up pressure as opposed to playing out the whip. Pass. (s 14/7 t)

S6: Draws Scavenging Ooze. Alright. I mean, it isn't going to win us the game but it will stop him from running us over for now I think. I play out the ooze and pass the turn.

T6: Draws Dreadbore. Not a bad draw for him. Knowing the ooze is trouble, he decides to fire off the bore at him before combat. I respond by exiling my two creatures in my grave to the ooze and gaining 2 life. He then attacks for 6 with his creatures. I do not block. Pass. (s 10/7 t)

S7: Draws Mistcutter Hydra. Interesting. He may have mana up for a burn spell but he doesn't have Doom Blade in yet. Putting everything into the hydra is absolutely risky but it's honestly our only out. I choose to completely tap out to make a 5/5 hydra, which then attacks. I pass, hoping my opponent cannot kill me on his turn. (s 10/2 t)

T7: Draws Lightning Strike. Aghhhh! He can get me to 1 but not kill me! I'm going to assume my opponent is incredibly insightful and realizes I am 1 land away from an overloaded rift, which would kill him. For this reason, he chooses to bolt one of my Elvish Mystic. He is forced to attack with the deathbellow raider and gets in for 2. (s 8/2 t)

S8: Draws Forest. Aww man we would've got there! If I attack with the hydra, I put myself in an incredibly risky position. I think I'll leave it back to block the raider or the brawlers. I play out my forest and pass.

T8: Draws Lightning Strike (and that's exactly why I didn't attack). One thing he could do here is to attack with all his creatures to either force me to block and lose my hydra to burn or to kill me with burn afterwards, but if he's assuming I have rift or charm, that kills him. He chooses to just attack with the raider. I can't afford to risk my hydra if he's only attacking with one creature, so I let it through, hoping he doesn't have double Lightning Strike. He does not, and second main he plays out Whip of Erebos, hoping to gain some life back from blocking and knowing he is dead to rift regardless. Pass. (s 6/2 t)

S9: Draws Forest. Perfect. I play out the forest, overload my Cyclonic Rift and swing for lethal.

Spooty wins game 1!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: That was a really close game on both ends. Near the end, there were a ton of play situations that were complete judgment calls and this is a perfect example of where it would be nice to be playing against a real person instead of with myself. I tried my best to do what was the most "correct" given the boardstate and with the supposed knowledge that we would each have each other's deck lists. Hopefully it doesn't appear to be biased -- I do my best to avoid that.

In my practice games against this deck, I have yet to have a good sideboarding plan. So, for this article I decided I'd do some "experimenting" by trying to race my opponent's deck with Experiment One. Also coming in is the last copy of Courser of Kruphix, a second copy of Scavenging Ooze, and a few Witchstalker to have a couple creatures immune to spot removal. Boon Satyr is horrible in this matchup, so he's out. Fated Intervention, Mistcutter Hydra a fourth copy of Pheres-Band Warchief come out as I consider them too slow for now.

Sideboard tech with Tabu: the way most of these matches go, it would seem, is that there is a lot of 1 for 1's going on until he gets a decent number of minotaur lords out. Doom Blade is coming in in place of Whip of Erebos and Mogis, God of Slaughter so as to streamline the aggression of the deck while giving access to more removal against the opposing aggro. It's worked well in the past.

Game 2

Tabu chooses to be on the play and keeps an opening hand of 2x mountain, swamp, 2x Lightning Strike, Magma Jet and Kragma Warcaller. The 5-drop is a little awkward, but we have good lands and hopefully the burn can allow us to get to the 5 mana necessary.

My first hand is super awkward. 5 lands (1 Mutavault) with a Scavenging Ooze and a Swordwise Centaur. Part of me wants to keep this hand since it's okay in terms of mana to spells, but my curve is totally off and I don't like scooze in my opening hand for this matchup. I think I'll mulligan and hope for the best. The kept hand contains Breeding Pool, Elvish Mystic, Swordwise Centaur, Witchstalker and 2x Cyclonic Rift. Not horrible. I'll keep.

T1: Mountain. Pass.

S1: Draws forest, plays forest, and plays out Elvish Mystic. Pass.

T2: Draws mountain. THE ELF MUST DIE. My opponent plays out a swamp and then Magma Jets my elf. On the top he sees Doom Blade and Ragemonger. Yeah, those can stay for sure. Pass.

S2: Draws Swordwise Centaur. I shock myself with the Breeding Pool to play out the centaur and pass.

T3: Draws Doom Blade. He plays out a mountain and passes the turn.

S3: Draws Nylea's Disciple. I attack with my centaur and it is met with a lightning strike. I choose to play out my second centaur and pass the turn.

T4: Draws Ragemonger. Rather than setting up his next turn and possibly getting screwed over by a bounce spell, he chooses to just play a mountain and pass with two potential kill spells up.

S4: Draws Breeding Pool. I shock myself with the breeding pool and cast Witchstalker, and my opponent responds by using Doom Blade on my centaur. I pass. (s 16/20 t)

T5: Draws Mizzium Mortars. Tabu decides to play out Ragemonger since it's his only play here. He passes.

S5: Draws Experiment One. Yeah, I little late, bud. The only way I see myself coming back here is to screw up his tempo by bouncing his spells and making him "waste" mana. I'll just need some really good top decks. I attack with Witchstalker and he obviously doesn't block. I then bounce his Ragemonger back to his hand with Cyclonic Rift and play out that Experiment One before passing the turn. (s 16/17 t)

T6: Draws Mizzium Mortars. He is pretty much in the same position he already was in. and it doesn't seem super important to "waste" a mortars on the Experiment One right now. He replays the Ragemonger and then passes the turn.

S6: Draws Elvish Mystic. Alright, pretty much the same position here. We aren't likely going to get to overload these rifts this game so I might as well use them now to benefit myself early. I use Cyclonic Rift to once again bounce the Ragemonger to Tabu's hand. I then swing in with Witchstalker and Experiment One for 4 damage. lastly, I play out the elf and pass. (s 16/13 t)

T7: Draws Rakdos Guildgate. Not horrible but -- once again -- he's essentially in the same position. He plays out the guildgate and plays out the Ragemonger. Pass.

S7: Draws Nylea's Disciple. That's not horrible here. I play out the first disciple to gain 6 life and evolve the Experiment One. After this, I attack with the Witchstalker for 3 and pass. (s 22/10 t)

T8: Draws swamp. I think we all know the devastation I'm about to face... He plays out the swamp and overloads his Mizzium Mortars to wipe my board of creatures. After this, he attacks for 2 with his minotaur and passes. (s 20/10 t).

S8: Draws forest. I play out the forest and my final card in hand, Nylea's Disciple, gain2 life and pass. (s 22/10 t)

T9: Draws Doom Blade. He uses the doom blade to kill my disciple, and then follows that up by playing out his Kragma Warcaller. He attacks for 8 damage and passes the turn. (s 14/10 t)

S9: Draws Swordwise Centaur. I play it out and pass.

T10: Draws Rageblood Shaman. Nieeceeee. He plays out the Shaman and uses Lightning Strike to kill my centaur. Then he swings in with everything for 14, which is lethal.

Tabu wins game 2!

Sideboard tech with Spooty: Things sucked that game -- let's be honest. Hopefully being on the play and a good opening hand will get us this last game.

Sideboard tech with Tabu: Our deck did what we wanted it to and there's no need for changes.

Game 3

I keep an opening hand of forest, Mutavault, Breeding Pool, Experiment One, Courser of Kruphix, Temple of Mystery and Courser of Kruphix. I wish it had one more creature but other than that it's fine.

Tabu keeps an opener of 2x mountain, Rakdos Guildgate, Mizzium Mortars, Kragma Warcaller, Magma Jet, and Lightning Strike. Nice hand. Much keep.

S1: Forest, Experiment One, Pass.

T1: Draws Ragemonger. He plays out the guildgate and passes.

S2: Draws Experiment One...interesting. I play out my Temple of Mystery to scry an Elvish Mystic to the bottom of my deck, attack for 1 with the experiment, and then play the second one and pass. (s 20/19 t)

T2: Draws Felhide Brawler. He chooses to play out a mountain and then pass.

S3: Draws Witchstalker. Not bad, actually. I play my Mutavault and follow that up with the Witchstalker, evolving both my experiments. I attack for 2 and one of them is met with a Magma Jet. He scrys Doom Blade and Felhide Brawler. The brawler isn't great here so it goes to the bottom. I pass. (s 20/17 t)

T3: Draws Doom Blade. He plays a mountain and uses the Doom Blade on my remaining Experiment One to send it to the grave before passing the turn.

S4: Draws forest. I think aggression is very important right now. I activate my Mutavault and attack for 5 total. I play the forest and pass with mana for Cyclonic Rift up. (s 20/12 t)

T4: Draws Dreadbore. Well, that's pretty miserable right now. Much like last game, his only good play is to set up his next turn by bringing out his Ragemonger. At EoT, I bounce it back to his hand with my Cyclonic Rift.

S5: Draws Swordwise Centaur. Not bad, not bad. I activate my Mutavault and swing in for 5 again. I play my breeding pool tapped and then use the rest of my mana to cast the centaur before passing the turn. (s 20/7 t)

T5: Draws Rageblood Shaman. It looks like he's just mana-screwed now. All these draws without a single land is leaving him in a very rough position right now when making choices. Witchstalker is being surprisingly hazardous on this board state as there is simply no way in his hand that he can deal with it quickly. I'm honestly unsure what can be done at this point to fix this in his favor. He have to play out the Ragemonger and go to 1 and maybe get enough on board to stall things and not die. He does this and passes the turn.

S6: Draws Simic Charm. Yep. I play the charm and bounce the minotaur to his hand, activate the Mutavault and swing in for the victory.

Spooty wins the match!

Afterthoughts

That...did not go as I thought it would. In my many test matches before this write-up I never won a single game, but chose to do the write-up anyway as a sort of "proof" that tribal centaurs was not a way to go. I wanted to use the minotaur deck to juxtapose an example of a great tribe as opposed to a bad one. Soo...yeah, that didn't go as I had planned.

Now...why did I win? Game one was really weird. He didn't seem to get his pieces together to make a winning board position and things stalled out enough for me to get a sizable Mistcutter Hydra. A couple crucial draws later and I was able to overload my Cyclonic Rift and just barely make it out alive. Game two started out as I typically want them to, with a threat on the board and lots of tempo disruption. But an overloaded Mizzium Mortars completely devastated my board and within a couple attack phases I was absolutely demolished. Game three I had a decent opening hand and sort of curved out, but the real victors here were Witchstalker and Mutavault, who were both able to keep on the beats while evading removal.

Let's not beat around the bush, though. That last game involved a decent bit of mana screw for the minotaurs. Just one or two more lands may have been enough to stabilize and fill the board with his synergistic creatures, which would have surely spelt disaster for me. Moreover, my "centaur tribal" deck didn't even show off any tribal characteristics! Pheres-Band Warchief didn't even get onto the field. And to be honest...I'm glad. he wouldn't have helped at all this game. I truly do not think he has a place in this build.

This centaur deck is not focused, nor effective, it would seem. Without access to multiple "lords" (like the minotaur tribe has), there just isn't enough synergy to warrant running lackluster creatures like Swordwise Centaur. Splashing for white to grant access to more centaurs also seems like an ineffective idea as all it does is replace good creatures with less good ones for only the reason that they have the word "centaur" on them.

Back in a previous Showdown, I battled against Matsi883's Sliver deck (and lost :( ). His sliver deck had just enough to work with in the tribe that things worked well for him. Centaurs do not have that yet. Minotaurs seem to have the ability to have it, and I'm sure they will have more with the release of JOU. (I have now seen the full spoiler and they have moar goodies)

I will not be running tribal centaurs any longer. And I honestly advise competitive people to avoid it as well -- it isn't Spike material.

With the coming of Journey into Nyx and the full spoiler now upon us. you had better believe I am hard at "work" brewing and trying to see how I feel about these new cards. I'm going to streamline my Simic aggro deck and probably be running that for the next showdown...but I have to say, GW Mid is looking really tasty to me again. With the arrival of our very first GW Planeswalker, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, the problem of not being able to gain good card advantage midgame has been answered. As for not having removal, Banishing Light and the ridiculous card Deicide really take care of that. Nyx-Fleece Ram is even high on my radar for constructed-playable cards from the set

The GW Mid build I am currently testing will likely be my new deck in a couple weeks as I kind of feel that it sits a little better in both the metagame and my own play preferences over Simic Aggro. There will absolutely be a deck tech coming up for the build and that article will be one of the first to be at LegitMTG.com, where I am now doing the majority of my article postings.

I mentioned in the past that I may move Showdown as well...I'm not doing that anymore. Tappedout is where it belongs and it would honestly make me feel a bit ridiculous to move it when it has so many ties to this site. So keep sending in those submissions! These may not be coming out as often as they once did, but they will still be coming out -- don't you worry :)

I want to thank Tabu34 for his submission. I DO NOT think that what you have seen in this article is a fully accurate representation of what the deck is truly capable of in better circumstances. Like I have mentioned...I lost all of my games to it prior to this. Especially for those looking to run budget builds, I HIGHLY recommend this build and others like it.

If you would like a chance to be the next challenger to my sometimes-glorious-sometimes-janky builds, leave your deck in the comments below! YOU MAY BE THE NEXT SHOWDOWNITE...no? okay yeah, I didn't like it either.

QOTW

Last time, I asked you all what your favorite Simic cards were and got some answers that were quite surprising to me -- such as Crocanura and Bioshift. I guess Simic has all manner of crazy creatures to choose from!

With the release of the full JOU spoiler, I have a simple question this time: What card are you the absolute most excited to play with/against. What is your favorite card from the set? Mine would probably have to be a toss-up between Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and Riptide Chimera. Don't worry, Kiora..I want one too.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

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