Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede
Standard*
SCORE: 71 | 64 COMMENTS | 19523 VIEWS | IN 35 FOLDERS Top 8: 05/10
Playtest #12 —March 15, 2013
Got a chance to play against two lists tonight: The first one is a list similar to Craig Wescoe's Boros Champions and the second is Jimhawk's tried-and-true, FNM top 4 The Sunfist Brigade.
Whoa. The changes made to the deck really took off. I used to mostly get blown out by those decks because they are really good at what they do which is win hard and win fast, but not tonight.
Please note that all but two (I think just two) of the games we played were done without any sideboarding so we pretty much played almost the entire night under Game 1 conditions (still best of 3) with moderately strong familiarity to each other's list and we (mostly him to me) correct each other's plays occasionally to give the best possible plays. After all, the purpose of playtesting is to teach you about your own list and what goes where in certain matchups.
Boros Champions is a midrange-boros-weenie-superfriends deck that leans on the aggro side with its curve topping at 4. I win this matchup about half the time, the other half being either a slow starting hand, mana flooding, or just plain overwhelmed by creatures without enough answers (fat Gideon is fat). In this matchup, I did the following sideboarding:
+2 Oblivion Ring to deal with his planeswalkers
+1 Abrupt Decay to break things with
+2 Sever the Bloodline to deal with multiple copies of Champion of the Parish or Dryad Militia or other creatures.
I didn't side in Centaur Healer because the list is slightly larger than most aggro decks so I need to keep Loxodon Smiter for the beef he provides. Also, this list doesn't burn out as hard as usual boros decks so the lifegain is unnecessary on top of what I already run.
One of the plays I did was block both Boros Reckoner with Loxodon Smiter and Restoration Angel after activating Vault of the Archangel and when he directed the triggered damage to both of those creatures, I Cloudshift targeting the Angel which in turn targets the Smiter, saving both of my creatures, killing both Reckoners and gaining 7 life. Cloudshift earned its spot just for that one play alone. It probably was the one that won me that particular game.
Match against The Sunfist Brigade was also a fun and intense match but the records leaned in my favor, winning roughly 2 out of 3 times.
The key to winning this matchup for me is a combination of half-decent starting hand and proper use of removals and spells to stay alive and work my way to stabilization around turns 6-7 or so where I can being to take over the board with better draw quality.
Lingering Souls, Loxodon Smiter, Restoration Angel, Vault of the Archangel, and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad are the stars against this matchup. I mainly run my opponent's gauntlet of hasty, lifelinking, double striking, indestructible weenies and targeting key cards with my removals while stalling with Lingering Souls chump blocks while protecting my planeswalkers (which makes more chump blockers) and surviving the initial onslaught until he starts running out of steam around turns 6-8 where he usually ends up with 0-1 card in hand. At that point it's just the matter of cleaning up what's left on the board and drawing into my finishers. Vault of the Archangel means that I can block efficiently, gaining tons of life from my fat blockers (that also don't die because they're fat) and making my spirit tokens a bitch to deal with (if Frontline Medic battalion isn't there), forcing Boros Reckoner to activate first strike and forego the direct damage ability. Staff of Nin cleans up any lingering weenies and wins me the game through card advantage. One of the games I was able to create enough tokens to chump block for Sorin, Lord of Innistrad long enough to blow his ultimate, taking his Frontline Medic, Silverblade Paladin, and Nearheath Pilgrim and force concession the turn after.
It was a very fun and productive night (Magic-wise) and special shout-outs go to hollandboys and Jimhawk. The first user for nagging me to throw Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and more Lingering Souls back in (They did hard work!) and the second for playtesting with me, making me a better player, second opinions, and just for being a great friend in general.
I feel very positive about the current list and I hope it does well in tomorrow's FNM. The Circus is LIVE!
P.S. All comments up to this update will now be in here.