Budget Pirate Aggro
Standard*
SCORE: 39 | 24 COMMENTS | 16705 VIEWS | IN 12 FOLDERS
Std. Shdwn - 02.06.19; -th Place, 4 rds. of Swiss —Feb. 6, 2019
Well, the winning streak had to end sometime. It wouldn’t be honest of me if I only posted about my top finishes with this list. Eventually, if you play enough, you will go to an event and fail to top. That’s what happened here — but I put up a fight! I went to Standard Showdown at my usual store on Wednesday night. I ended up going 2-2 in a field of about 16 players, failing to place. I was very close to coming in fourth place, had I won my final match. Oh well! The pleasure is to play, and I had fun. I lost to my toughest matchups, and sometimes that happens.
- Round 1 Nexus of Gates: 0-2 Loss
Ouch...this was a rough one. Game 1, I kept an aggressive seven with no hand disruption. I saw a bunch of Gates and realized I was in trouble, with no Kitesail Freebooter or Duress in sight to deal with the Gates Ablaze I knew was waiting for me. Not only did the Turn 4 sweeper come down, I failed to draw anything other than lands after it. Wilderness Reclamation landed and my opponent began dropping massive copies of Hydroid Krasis and taking extra turns with Nexus of Fate. I died. Game 2, I kept some hand disruption and felt decent. Unfortunately, I got stuck on a bunch of Unclaimed Territory lands and was unable to cast my removal spells for the two Gatebreaker Rams in his hand (I had two Bedevils in mine, but couldn’t cast them — punished!). Well, the Sheep beat down for a bunch and I died while stuck on improper mana. I couldn’t race the rams because I just wasn’t drawing well. This was the first time that I felt heavily penalized by Unclaimed Territory. This is a hard matchup, but I can beat it if I draw enough disruption. This time, I failed to do that both games, and lost because of it. That’s just life. Oh, but Nexus of Fate should be banned. I mean come on...how is that a card?!
- Round 2 Rakdos Midrange: 2-0 Win
Not gonna waste too much time talking about this one. This guy had a pile of really bad red and black cards with a clear paucity of synergy. I ran him over with aggro both games. Next.
- Round 3 Nexus of Gates: 2-1 Win
This guy’s version of this deck was also playing Pteramander as an additional threat. It was really good in the build since it is already so spell-heavy! All three games were a series of trades between removal and creatures, but my menace tokens and Dire Fleet Neckbreaker proved to be slightly faster clocks. Dire Fleet Daredevil turned out to be really good, as it was able to get my opponent’s spent Lava Coils to kill his Drakes. Game 3 saw me out-grind my opponent for a narrow win. Nice!
- Round 4 Mardu Control: 1-2 Loss
Talk about a deck built wreck on my list. This guy was playing a control deck fueled by Theater of Horrors — used both as an incidental clock and card advantage. His finishers were a couple of planeswalkers and of course, Lyra Dawnbringer. His deck was packing some combination of Ritual of Soot, Kaya's Wrath, Cry of the Carnarium, and Settle the Wreckage. Egads!! How do I beat that?? Well, Game 1 I kept a hand of heavy hand disruption, and was able to pick away his removal and aggro him down. Whew. Game 2, I put in my usual control sideboard. I nearly got him, but he stabilized with a topdecked sweeper and finished me off with an unanswered Lyra. Game 3, I landed an early Duress, and he was holding four sweepers. Ahhhhhh!!! Well, I tried to beat that, but as luck would have it, I couldn’t. I recovered twice with two March of the Drowned, but he landed a Lyra Dawnbringer that I just could not answer. Failed to draw removal, and kind of flooded out to boot. Oh well. I tried my best. Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. Today I was bear food. After a long winning streak, I knew my luck would run dry eventually. At 2-2, I missed my win-and-in to top the Showdown. But I still had fun!