Black Green Energy (Core19 update)
Standard*
SCORE: 14 | 15 COMMENTS | 9768 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS
6-23 FNM —June 24, 2017
Jund midrange 2-1
This was the only matchup in which i dropped a game. My wins involved me killing his threats (cub) and forcing him to block with his cards i didn't care about. Stranding his gods by killing off all his creatures is definitely my strategy against this matchup. Being way faster than this deck, especially game one gives me a big advantage, and then morphing into a slightly more midrange strategy by putting in some Transgress the Minds and Never / Return to kill his threats and take his gods or Glorybringers out of his hand. I think i also showed Mike (the resident Jund player!) the major weakness of Bristling Hydra. You can respond to it while the trigger to gain 3 energy is on the stack and kill it before the energy resolves (the energy still resolves after the creature dies). The thing i learned from this matchup is that i shouldn't be afraid to mulligan if my hand is really bad. I had 2 hands this week i should have mulliganed overall.
Esper Control 2-0
Tylors deck is very very controlling! We hatesss it. Game two took us like 25-30 min! I think he ran 8 or so counterspells 12 or so removal spells and just a small amount of threats. Game one, i just ran over him before he could really do much, but game 2 i kept a decent hand but just happened to draw 11 of my lands in the first 15 turns (yes the game went like 20-25 turns!) he kept killing/counterspelling all my threats and i kept drawing lands. Eventually i got a huge ballista and could attack into his gearhulk/manlands and then on his upkeep, shoot him in the face with the newly restored ballista.
Jeskai Control 2-0
Jason brought this deck and it was similar to Tylors except his was a little more midrange. He had a few Spell Quellers that basically just destroy my Walking Ballistas because they come back with 0 counters on them and just go to the graveyard, so a few of these come out game 2 and i bring in some hand hate in Transgress the Mind and Never / Return because even if this gets countered it still does something from the graveyard. Neither of these games was particularly tough, i did have to sacrifice my 4/4 cub to get back my snake by letting him double block with 2 Spell Quellers but it was worth it because i played a huge ballista the next turn. Slow decks just usually can't keep up with the pressure of this deck unless they draw their boardwipes. he did bring in 2xDusk / Dawn and 2x Fumigate but he never drew them and i never really over extended. he did kill 2 of my creatures with a Sweltering Suns but my 4/4 cub survived and eventually hit him for 8 a couple turns later.
Aetherflux reservoir 2-0
Oh wes, I'm sorry! Game one i killed on turn 4 or 5 with just a really beautiful draw and i didn't have to go through any creatures really. i do think you blocked once with a Glint-Nest Crane and gained 3 life but my cub + snake + ballista draw just overran his life total RIGHT after he got a Aetherflux Reservoir out and was probably about to gain 20 life. Game two i had Dissenter's Deliverance in my opening so i was just waiting for him to tap out to play reservoir and then i could destroy it and buy some time. That was my only thing I had that i could interact with, but luckily he didn't have any kind of counterspell or kill spell again to slow me down and i won shortly after that. I knew he was running a lot of control/kill type spells but he got really unlucky and drew maybe 1 Fatal Push in both the games against me. I also have a pretty good sideboard against this deck with 2x transgress the mind, 2x Manglehorn Which i brought just for him! and one Dissenter's Deliverance.
Mardu Midrange 2-0
I'm scared of this matchup! It seems to have all the midrange stuff that just gains value and after enough value, my aggro style can't get through 2-3 planeswalkers. Luckily, my deck is very fast. Game one i had a good draw and he had quite a few come-into-play tapped lands and he just couldn't keep up with my damage with anything he did. Game two was a lot different. I do have a pretty good sideboard against midrange/control decks, but most decks have an even better board against aggro, including board wipes and just gaining too much value with specific creatures. He even with a pretty decent draw of Thraben Inspector into Heart of Kiran into Unlicensed Disintegration and then Nihiri, the harbinger to kill off my 4/4 ballista and Thalia, Heretic Cathar/Selfless Spirit on turn 5. But It wasn't enough to shut down my snake + 2x Ballista draws, and turn 7 or 8 i just dropped a Verdurous Gearhulk and went to town with a really big Ballista
Overall, that might have been my best FNM ever. I've gone 5-0 before, but i felt like i played really well today and my preparing of my sideboard for common matchups has payed off in a really tight gameplan. I got 2x of the Aetherhub Foils! I traded my last opponent (Nick...i'm learning names slowly but surely!) two normal aetherhubs for his promo. Now i only need 1 more and i have my full playset and i can die a happy man.....until september when i'll need those Fatal pushes.