Showdown 2.0 #6: Season 1 Finale

Showdown

Spootyone

25 September 2014

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Hello and thanks for stopping by for the season’s last Showdown with RTR and M14 cards. Today we have another doubleheader. I’m playing the same deck that I ran in my last showdown (Hark the Herald v2.0).

I really enjoyed using this deck two weeks ago and last week at my LGS, so I decided to take it to my LGS on Monday night for my last chance to play it there before it rotates. My first two rounds were both against RDW and I lost both 1-2 and 0-2, which was disappointing. But the worst was that I drew a bye in the third round, effectively ending my night. So going home disappointed, I made the few sideboard adjustments that would help against aggressive decks or RDW and looked for a submitted deck upon which I could have my vengeance (haha). So, the closest I could find was DrLitebur’s deck-large::rabble-red-swarm. This nasty budget build drops goblins after goblins and finds ways to evade blockers to kill fast. Now admittedly, my deck stacks up against this creature based build a little better then against RDW, as I have removal but it’s as close as I could find.

So in our first event of the night we have Apoptosis’s Hark the Herald v2.0 versus DrLitebur’s rabble-red-swarm.

DrLitebur wins the flip and mulligans a 5 land hand (after looking, there wasn’t much in the next few draws) and draws 2x mountain, 2x Frenzied Goblin, Foundry Street Denizen, and Goblin Rabblemaster

Apoptosis draws 2x Godless Shrine, Llanowar Wastes, Overgrown Tomb, Voice of Resurgence, and 2x Courser of Kruphix.

D1: mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, go!
A1: draws a third Courser of Kruphix, plays Godless Shrine

D2: draws mountain and plays it, casts both Frenzied Goblins, slams in with the Foundry Street Denizen for 3 (D20/A17)
A2: draws Mana Confluence, plays Overgrown Tomb (D20/A15)

D3: draws and plays mountain, on attacks makes voive unable to block (D20/A12)
A3: draws Temple of Silence, plays lanowar wastes, casts Courser of Kruphix(D20/A11) and reveals Godless Shrine.

D4: draws mountain and plays it, on attacks uses Frenzied Goblin to make neither creature able to block and slams home for 3 more (D20/A8)
A4: draws Godless Shrine and reveals Elspeth, casts Courser of Kruphix (D20/A7), plays Temple of Silence (D20/A9), keeps Elspeth on top.

D5: draws Magma Jet, plays mountain, casts Magma Jet to kill voice, apop gets an elemental and scrys Akroan Crusader (keep) and mountain (top) I want to tap down three creatures and get rabblemaster online next turn Uses Frenzied Goblin to make all three unable to block and slams in for 3 (D20/A6)
A5: draws Elspeth, reveals Temple of Silence, casts the third Courser of Kruphix (D20/A5), plays Temple of Silence (D20/A8) and reveals Whip of Erebos keep, that could be the turning point

D6: draws mountain and plays it, casts Goblin Rabblemaster attacks with 4 goblins and makes elemental and two coursers unable to block, the remaining courser blocks and kills the 3/1 Foundry Street Denizen (D20/A5)
A6: draws Whip of Erebos, reveals Banishing Light, plays Godless Shrine (D20/A8), casts Whip of Erebos and Apop attacks with the whole team (D10/A18)

D7: draws Akroan Crusader and casts it. The good Doctor counter attacks with his team of goblins for 10 (D10/A8) and then just for hell’s sake spit’s his last breath, as he’s looking at lethal once Apop draws Banishing Light

Apoptosis wins game 1.

Sideboard tech for DrLitebur: The deck worked amazingly well with great interactions, but that damn lifegain, wish I had a sideboard with… I don’t know, maybe Skullcrack or Chandra's Phoenix, Mizzium Mortars, or even Searing Blood to bring into the match. Oh well, no sideboard, no changes.

Sideboard tech for Apoptosis: Phew, I think I dodged a bullet, of course not drawing any spot removal was somewhat blah. Ok, the key here is to lower my curve, gain life and hang on, until I can get stabilized. In: +2 Drown in Sorrow, +2 Fiendslayer Paladin, +3 Nyx-Fleece Ram, and +2 blodd baron of vizkopa. Out: -1 Angel of Serenity, -4 Advent of the Wurm, -2 Underworld Connections, -2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion.

DrLitebur on the play draws 3x mountain, Frenzied Goblin, Borderland Marauder, coordinated assult, and Titan's Strength.

Apoptosis draws Temple Garden, Mana Confluence, Temple of Malady, 2x Courser of Kruphix, Nyx-Fleece Ram, and Hero's Downfall.

D1: land, goblin, go!
A1: draws Banishing Light, plays Temple of Malady, scry’s Temple of Silence (keep)

D2: draws Magma Jet, plays mountain, casts Borderland Marauder and hits with the goblin (D20/A19)
A2: draws Temple of Silence, plays Temple Garden (D20/A17) and casts Nyx-Fleece Ram

D3: draws Frenzied Goblin, plays mountain, attacks with both and taps prevents the ram from blocking (D20/A13), Magma Jet to Apop (D20/A11), scrys Frenzied Goblin and Titan's Strength (keep both, Titan's Strength on top)
A3: (D20/A12) draws and plays Caves of Koilos, casts Courser of Kruphix reveals Abrupt Decay

D4: draws Titan's Strength, attacks with both. This is the impossible part of these Showdowns: not being influenced by piloting both decks. Would I block here at 12 life? It’s an obvious trick that could cost me creature, something like Lightning Strike comes to mind. But every spell aimed at a creature is one less to my dome. Seeing last game how I never was able to block, I think I need to now. Apop blocks the borderline marauder with the Courser of Kruphix and the Frenzied Goblin with the Nyx-Fleece Ram. In response, DrLitebur casts Coordinated Assault to +1/0 his team and give them first strike. That’s enough to kill the courser, the only question is whether I want to also try to kill the ram with Titan's Strength, I think that’s the correct play since I know that Abrupt Decay is on deck and I don’t want to get 2 for 1 in return DrLitebur also casts Titan's Strength targeting the Frenzied Goblin, both of Apop’s creatures hit the bin with a thud. DrLitebur scrys a third Frenzied Goblin and casts the one in his hand.
A4: draws Abrupt Decay, casts Courser of Kruphix, reveals Hero's Downfall, plays Temple of Silence (D20/A13)

D5: draws Frenzied Goblin and casts it, attacks with the team and casts Titan's Strength (D20/A5), scry Stoke the Flames (keep)
A5: draws and reveals Hero's Downfall, plays Mana Confluence (D20/A6)

D6: draws Stoke the Flames, Combat: makes Courser of Kruphix unable to block and attacks with 1 pissed-off goblin and the Borderland Marauder. In response, Apoptosis casts Abrupt Decay and Hero's Downfall to kill the two attackers, which in turn DrLitebur responses by casting Stoke the Flames, which is just lethal since Apoptosis had to pay a life on the Mana Confluence usage.

DrLitebur wins game 2!!!

Always impressive when a deck doesn’t sideboard and can still pound out a win. This shows how explosive Rabble Red can be out of the gate. Onto the ever decisive Game 3!!!

Apoptosis on the play draws 2x Temple Garden, Mana Confluence, Temple of Plenty, Hero's Downfall, Courser of Kruphix, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

DrLitebur draws 6 mountains and a coordinated assult really tappedout engine?, that sucks! for a non-aggro deck I would play it, but not this one. Mulligan. I flip the next four cards for giggles: 2x mountain, Hall of Triumph and a stoke. Good mulligan.
Take 2, DrLitebur draws 2x mountain, Foundry Street Denizen, Hall of Triumph, Stoke the Flames, and Purphoros, God of the Forge. Ok, a very different draw then the first two games and I don’t like being able to hit the field fast, but let’s see what happens with less gas in the starting hand.

A1: plays Temple of Plenty scrys Godless Shrine while I need that second black source for removal in hand, with Courser of Kruphix coming down I will be able to cycle through lands faster (bottom)
D1: draws coordinated assult, plays land, slams down goblin, GO!

A2: draws Temple of Silence and plays it, scrys Godless Shrine (bottom)
D2: draws Goblin Rabblemaster, plays mountain, attacks with Foundry Street Denizen (A19/D20)

A3: draws Abrupt Decay, plays Temple Garden (A17/D20), casts Courser of Kruphix reveals Blood Baron of Vizkopa
D3: draws and plays mountain, casts Hall of Triumph I could stoke the courser, but with Apop showing blood baron, I need to keep stoke as an answer.

A4: draws Blood Baron, reveals and plays Temple Garden (A16/D20), reveals Abrupt Decay, casts Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
D4: Wow that stinks, draws coordinated assult In a bad spot, Abrupt Decay will eat Goblin Rabblemaster and my board state is only getting worse, I think as an aggro deck I have no choice but to remove Apop’s dude and hope to draw answers for the threats that I know will be coming. Trust movement. Casts Stoke the Flames to kill the Courser of Kruphix

A5: draws Abrupt Decay, plays Mana Confluence, casts Blood Baron of Vizkopa (A15/D20)
D5: draws and plays mountain, casts Purphoros, God of the Forge

A6: draws Archangel of Thune ok that’s it, plays Temple Garden tapped and casts Archangel of Thune, So my understanding with the Trostani and Archangel triggers, is that I gain the life first then archangel trigger resolves and Apop’s team all get +1 counters, with the mana confluence the net change in life is (A17/D20). Apoptosis attacks with the 5/5 Blood Baron (A22/D15), Archangel triggers and Apop’s team grows.
D6: Ugh! What did I say about casting Stoke the Flames on T4? Seems sort of stupid in hindsight. Sorry DrLitebur, I think I really messed up. Draws Akroan Crusader and casts it, Purphoros trigger and (A20/D15).

A7: draws Temple of Plenty and plays it, scrys Temple of Silence (bottom) Attacks with the 5/6 Archangel of Thune and 6/6 Blood Baron of Vizkopa...

In response, DrLitebur, casts Coordinated Assault, targeting Akroan Crusader and Foundry Street Denizen, which triggers heroic on the soldier to spawn a red soldier (Purphoros trigger = (A18/D15), and the Foundry Street Denizen is now a 5/2 first strike and the Akroan Crusader is a 3/2 first strike). DrLitebur casts Coordinated Assault again targeting the same two creatures to create another soldier (Purphoros trigger = (A16/D15), the Foundry Street Denizen is now a 7/2 first strike and the Akroan Crusader is a 4/2 first strike). DrLitebur blocks the 6/6 Blood Baron of Vizkopa with his whole team (knowing that Apop has an Abrupt Decay).

In response, Apoptosis casts Abrupt Decay to kill the Foundry Street Denizen and unfortunately for DrLitebur, Apoptosis casts a second Abrupt Decay ((A15/D15) -used Mana Confluence) to kill the Akroan Crusader. The Blood Baron of Vizkopa shreads the now deserted soldier tokens and the Archangel of Thune slams into DrLitebur through the air for a double lifegain trigger (A26/D10)

D7: draws Titan's Strength and concedes.

Apoptosis wins the game and match.

Thoughts on DrLitebur’s deck, it needs to explode to win and cards like Purphoros, God of the Forge and Hall of Triumph doesn’t keep the pressure on. More burn is always good, and cards like Chandra's Phoenix can be amazing with that little extra burn in it. Make that sideboard! But, all in all nice aggro deck at an affordable price.

and I do feel a little better about beating an all red deck after going 2-6 against RDW at my LGS, thanks DrLitebur ;-)

Apoptosis wins the flip and keeps Temple Garden, Godless Shrine, 2x Voice of Resurgence, Banishing Light, Courser of Kruphix, and Underworld Connections

Spootyone keeps forest, Temple Garden, Sylvan Caryatid, Polukranos, World Eater, Banishing Light, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, Elspeth, Sun's Champion

A1: plays Temple Garden
S1: draws plains, plays Temple Garden

A2: draws Voice of Resurgence, plays Godless Shrine (A18/S20), casts Voice of Resurgence
S2: draws Temple of Plenty, plays forest, casts Sylvan Caryatid

A3: draws and plays Temple of Silence, scry Mana Confluence (keep), casts 2nd Voice of Resurgence
S3: draws Temple of Plenty, plays plains, casts Polukranos, World Eater

A4: draws and plays Mana Confluence, casts Banishing Light to exile the scary hydra, attacks with both voices (A18/S16)
S4: draws Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, plays Temple of Plenty to scry Courser of Kruphix (keep). Casts Banishing Light targeting Apop’s Banishing Light, and the big scary hydra returns.

A5: draws Archangel of Thune, casts Courser of Kruphix (A17/S16), reveals and plays Godless Shrine (A18/S16), reveals Abrupt Decay
S5: draws Courser of Kruphix, then Spootyone activates monstrous on Polukranos, World Eater, turning it into a 7/7 and kills both Voice of Resurgence. Apoptosis gets two elementals. Spootyone attacks with Polukranos, World Eater and Apoptosis sacrifices an elemental. Second main, plays Temple of Plenty, scry Archangel of Thune (keep)

A6: draws Abrupt Decay, reveals and plays Temple of Malady to reveal/scry Godless Shrine (bottom), reveals Temple of Plenty, casts Abrupt Decay to destroy Banishing Light, which returns Apoptosis’s version of Banishing Light from exile. Apop’s Banishing Light in turn exiles Polukranos, World Eater. Apoptosis casts Voice of Resurgence and attacks with the 3/3 elemental and the courser (A17/S11)
S6: draws Archangel of Thune, casts it.

A7: draws Temple of Plenty, reveals Elspeth, Sun's Champion, casts Archangel of Thune, plays Temple of Plenty (A18/S11) and Apop’s team gets tokens. Attacks with the 5/5 elemental, no blocks (A18/S6)
S7: draws Advent of the Wurm, casts Elspeth, Sun's Champion and wraths to kill Apop’s elemental and Archangel of Thune. Spootyone holds off on attacking with his Archangel of Thune to protect his own Elspeth.

A8: draws Elspeth, Sun's Champion and casts it, reveals Temple of Silence and plays it (A19/S6), reveals advent of the wum. Attacks [spootyone]]s Elspeth with both the 3/5 Courser of Kruphix and the 3/3 Voice of Resurgence, Spootyone blocks the latter (A19/S9): so Apoptosiss voice dies, and Apop gets an elemental, Spooty’s Archangel grows but his Elspeth dies. Then in the 2nd main phase Apoptosis wrath’s his own Elspeth to kill Spooty’s Archangel, which had grown off the block.
S8: draws Temple of Plenty, casts Courser of Kruphix, reveals and plays plains (A19/S10), reveals Banishing Light

A9 draws Advent of the Wurm, reveals Advent of the Wurm, Elspeth poops out three dudes, casts Underworld Connections, taps to draw Advent of the Wurm (A18/S10), reveals Archangel of Thune, end step Spootyone casts Advent of the Wurm
S9 draws Banishing Light, reveals Elspeth, Sun's Champion, casts Banishing Light to exile Apoptosis’s Elspeth, Sun's Champion, plays Temple of Plenty (keep) (A18/S11), end step Apoptosis casts Advent of the Wurm.

A10: draws Archangel of Thune, reveals Abrupt Decay, activates Underworld Connections (A17/S11) to draw it, reveals Blind Obedience, casts Abrupt Decay to destroy Spootyone’s Banishing Light, and gets back Elspeth, Attacks with the team. Spootyone trades wurms and ends up taking 2 from unblocked soldiers (A17/S9), Apoptosis ticks up Elspeth (L=5), casts Archangel of Thune
S10: draws Elspeth, Sun's Champion, reveals Temple Garden and plays it tapped. Reveals Fleecemane Lion, Casts Elspeth, Sun's Champion and makes some blockers (L=5)

A11: draws Blind Obedience, reveals Abrupt Decay, casts Blind Obedience, draws Abrupt Decay through Underworld Connections (A16/S9), reveals Temple Garden and plays it (A17/S9) after Elspeth makes three more soldiers (L=6). Archangel of Thune makes the team grow and Whip of Erebos is revealed on the top of Apoptosis’s library. Apoptosis casts and extorts Abrupt Decay (A18/S8) to kill Spootyone’s Courser of Kruphix and his whole team grows of the Archangel of Thune trigger. Apoptosis attacks with 6 3/3 soldiers, a 5/7 courser, and a 5/6 Archangel for lethal.

Apoptosis wins game 1, and the forces of sullied angels won the first battle for domination.

Sideboard tech for Apoptosis, it’s simple bring in G/W hate and cards that are tough for white to deal with and a few more bombs for the late game. In: +2 Lifebane Zombies, +1 Angel of Serenity, +1 Garruk, Apex Predator, +2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa, and out: -4 Advent of the Wurm, and -2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

Slipping back into story mode After their initial victory the corrupt angels and their forces sought to press their advantage, calling forth dark allies and shunning their traditional weapons of war.

...and in the effort of fairness, Spootyone has agreed to run game 2 and made his sideboard choices without knowing my changes. Spootyone takes over the commentary from here with minimal commentary from Apoptosis.

Sideboarding with Spooty:

Spooty chooses to be on the play and keeps an opening hand of 2x plains, Temple Garden, Mana Confluence, Banishing Light, Archangel of Thune and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. It's not amazing but I think this matchups is okay for slow hands.

Apop mulls a 2 land hand with no green and 2 seven drops. I'm pretty sure that's a mulligan. The 6 and 5-card hands happen to be pretty lame too. I don't want this to suck as a reader. I'm going to reset his hand. The kept hand contains Temple of Malady, Temple Garden, Lifebane Zombie, Underworld Connections, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Hero's Downfall and Angel of Serenity. It could use another land, but have to EVENTUALLY keep a hand, right? Apoptosis: Thanks Spooty! ;-) For some reason I always seem to get mana screwed at my LGS in the third round. This feels about the right time.

S1: Tapped Temple Garden. Pass.

A1: Draws Mana Confluence. Good. Tapped Temple of Malady scrys and keeps a Llanowar Wastes on top. Pass.

S2: Draws forest. Plays plains. Pass.

A2: Draws Llanowar Wastes. Tapped Temple Garden. Pass.

S3: Draws Garruk, Caller of Beasts. I'm actually quite happy with that draw. I play a forest and pass.

A3: Draws Abrupt Decay. He plays a llanowar wastes and casts his Lifebane Zombie, exiling Archangel of Thune from my hand. Damn it. Pass. (s 20/19 a)

S4: Draws forest. Well I still don't have too much to do. I can't have that zombie killing my planeswalkers once they get out there, though. I cast Banishing Light on it, play a forest, and pass the turn.

A4: Draws Courser of Kruphix. Jeezzzz his hand is loaded. He plays Mana Confluence and passes the turn (He is attempting to Downfall end of turn). Pass.

S5: Draws Temple of Plenty. Man I need some threats or this is going to end painfully. I play a plains and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. I use his +1 and place a Courser of Kruphix into my hand and 2 forests and an elvish mystic onto the bottom of the deck. Pass. EoT Apop downfalls the Ajani. (s 20/18 a)

A5: Draws Temple of Silence. Plays Courser of Kruphix and Temple of Silence tapped and scrys another off the top. Might as well keep it I guess. Pass. (s 20/19)

S6: Draws Temple Garden. I shock myself with it to cast Garruk, Caller of Beasts. I use his +1 to place Archangel of Thune and Fleecemane Lion in my hand and forest, Elspeth and Ajani on the bottom of my deck. Pass. (s 18/19)

A6: Draws Temple of Silence and reveals Underworld Connections from the top. Plays Temple of Silence and gains a life from courser. The second connections stays on top since he can use all the card advantage he can get in this matchup. He follows this up with blood baron and attacks Garruk for 2 with Courser. (s 18/19 a)

S7: Draws forest. I use Garruk's +1 to place an Elvish Mystic, fleecemane, and courser in my hand, with two lands to the bottom. I play a Temple of Plenty tapped and scry a Setessan Tactics, keeping it on top. I play out Archangel of Thune and an Elvish Mystic to be a chump blocker for the opposing baron. Pass.

A7: Draws underworld connections and reveals a second Blood Baron from the top. Butts. He uses Abrupt Decay to kill my elf and attacks Garruk with blood baron, killing him. (It's at this point that I realize he can use the decay to kill the banishing light and remove another card from my hand. My bad dude.) Lastly, he places an underworld connections on his confluence and passes. (s 18/23 a)

From Apoptosis, yeap that was a pretty bad mistake, I would have absolutely kept that Abrupt Decay for that Banishing Light and would have known Spooty’s hand from the first disruption and both Ajani and Garruk +1 draws reveal the creatures. So I would have known that threat. I would have used the Abrupt Decay ideally EOT S6 to bin the Archangel of Thune and then attacked Garruk A6 with the Lifebane Zombie, but no worries. The simple truth is that we all make mistakes and misplays, this is a part of the game.

S8: Draws Setessan Tactics. He's going to have 2 barons soon so I need to set things up to handle that. I play both of my courser for kruphix and reveal a Mana Confluence from the top, revealing another tactics. I play the confluence, gain 2 life from courser trigger, everyone gets 2 counters. I attack with my 5-power angel and gain five life, giving everyone another counter. Pass. EoT he draws the baron with connections and reveals a Temple of Plenty. (s 25/17 a)

A8: Draws the scryland and reveals Whip of Erebos. Ahh...playing the Angel of Serenity that turn was absolutely pivotal to this match. He plays the temple, gains a life, keeps the whip on top, and plays a second Underworld Connections. Playing the second baron seems like nonsense here since he knows about one of the tactics. Pass. (s 25/18 a)

S9: Draws Setessan Tactics and reveals plains from the top. I get both of my Fleecemane Lions onto the battlefield and then play the plains from the top, gaining two life and giving everyone 2 counters. I strive tactics twice targeting both my coursers and my angel. I then have my coursers fight his courser and his baron, killing them both and gaining him 4 life. Afterwards, I attack with my archangel, giving everyone another counter. I end the turn with a 9/10 angel, 2 8/10 coursers, and 2 6/6 lions...It's simply absurd...pass. Eot he uses both of his connections to draw a whip and a decay. (s 35/7 a)

A9: Draws Temple of Plenty. The only thing that saves him here is Elspeth. He uses one connections to draw Banishing Light. It's great but it's not Elspeth. He uses the other connections. With it he draws Voice of Resurgence. Did you know voice used to be 60 dollars? And yet it dies to archangelofthunecourserofkruphixcourserofkruphixfleecemanelionfleecemanelion! What a terrible card. Totally should be a bulk rare ;) Right apop? He concedes!

Spooty wins Game 2!

back to Apoptosis: Thanks Spootyone! ;-)
and so the forces of light bring forth powerful allies that summon an Archangel of Thune to smite the overconfident aggressors to win the second battle.

But the war isn’t over yet; the battle for heaven remains undecided. Who shall triumph?

I leave that to you, the reader. I challenge you to decide the contest. Towards that end, use the tapped out play tester and run game 3. Please feel free to use the information from games 1 and 2 to sideboard how you like, which is easy if you just “copy” the deck, make your changes, then open each deck in a separate play test window. After you finish, please post a short summary of your results in the comments below (no need to give the blow by blow). And of course, have fun.

and with that I’m finished for this weeks Showdown. I hope you enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of anyone who accepts the game 3 challenge.

I’m sure that Spootyone is busy brewing up his Khan’s brew for the next showdown. I will try my best to be ready in two weeks with a Khan’s build ready to go, but to be honest work gets really busy for me in October and I do not have a solid build in place, so I might take a short hiatus until things settle down. Thanks for reading!

One last note from Spootyone: If you haven't yet heard, I'm currently running a competition (located at the bottom) for the creation of my name design on the site. I only have 2 entries so far and I know there are many of you out there who should participate! Besides, Who doesn't want 5 free feature tokens right? :)

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