I tried playing the deck in a local standard tournament and went 1-2, mainly because I hadn't gotten all the cards I needed (ordered them online too late, I expect them to arrive tomorrow >.>). Seems the quality of the deck drops considerably when I can't field all the manafixing or a full set of Silverblade Paladin s. I found myself staring at my hand at least three times, looking at what I had instead of it, thinking I would have been winning that very turn...
October 18, 2012 7:32 p.m.
RtR gameday report:
Local store ran 5 rounds + top 8
Match 1:
Paired up against a Selesnya lifegain deck that splashed black for Lingering Souls ' flashback. I managed to get trample on my Brushstrider s, which made his 1/1 spirits almost useless at blocking which, I ended up killing him before I saw any of the lifegain. In the second game he had sided in Golgari Charm , which if he had had a black mana would have wiped my side of the board. In the end I got two turn 5 wins
Match 2:
Paired up against an aggressive rakdos deck. Even though I had initially thought this to be a good matchup with both vigilance and prot black in my deck I ended up losing both games. The first game I was stuck on two mana, and could only get a single threat out at a time, which he had just enough removal to get rid of. The second game I managed to find myself in a similar situation, but this time stuck on a single white mana, with two silverblade paladins, and an elite inquisitor on hand. Having Gavony Township ended up losing me the game. Getting the right colors can be very very important in this deck.
Match 3:
I'm up against green-black zombies, which I think is one of my best matchups. Game 1 I get a Knight of Glory to attack for 6 turn 3 with Silverblade Paladin , followed by another 16 damage turn 4 from Rancor + a Selesnya Charm . Game two I cast a Fencing Ace , and with my opponent being low on cards, I risk throwing a bunch of enchantments on it attacking for 16 turn 3. My opponent scoops.
Match 4:
Up against a similar Selesnya aggro deck, this one featuring Loxodon Smiter and Sublime Archangel instead of my enchantment package. We end up attacking eachother back and forth a few times. Each winning the match where he got to play first. His Sublime Archangel worked very well against my deck, as I would not remove stuff from the battlefield, merely rendering them unable to attack. While I was faster, he had the higher top on the curve. I ended up winning 2-1, likely because I won the dice roll.
Match 5:
I draw in to top 8.
Top 8, match 1:Restoration Angel + Thragtusk we end up racing a bit. I never got my vigilant creatures out, but win 2-1. Incidentally we both win the ones were we start. Doesn't feel as satisfactory as it could have.
Top 8, match 2:Up against yet another Selesnya player. This one running a lifegain theme. I can't handle the lifegain from card:Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, followed by an Armada Wurm moving him up from 1 hp to a somewhat comfortable 11
All in all, I had a lot of fun. I think I'll see if I can get a Sublime Archangel in to the deck as a one or two of, and I got to reevaluate the value of the Gavony Township . As it can easily get in the way of an efficient 3-4 turn kill due to missing colored mana.
October 27, 2012 4:48 p.m.
MagicSpieler says... #4
A very nice Deck... I've played against it on Cockatrice a few hours with an W/u Humans Aggro Deck and was losing very often. I could only manage to win with a perfect Draw or a lot of detaining his pumped up threats. Thalia slowed him down a bit, but generaly he was very fast. The few Games which I won was mostly with Flyers he couldn't handle. I also played a few games with an RDW against it which was doing a little bit better because I could burn awy his threats. Overall very aggressive and fast... as long as people don't start putting Paraselene in their Sideboard ...
November 13, 2012 3:41 a.m.
MagicSpieler says... #5
Your deck did very well again in the online Testing rounds we did +++
As discussed I'm gonna run this for some Test Games at our shop on friday before drafting starts...
-1 Fiend Hunter
What do you think about going up to 22 Lands? Maybe adding a card:Rogue's Passage which doesn't really hurt together with Abundant Growth ... It could push through if the game might be taking longer...
In the sideboard I'd like to discuss Ground Seal or Rest in Peace against the Reanimators coming up and all those Snappcasters running around...
I like the card:Faith's Shield they're needed against Sweepers and Burn Heavy Decks. Also they could help getting the damage in... I would suggest to increase the number.
My 15 would look like this...
4 card:Faith's Shield
3 Ground Seal or Rest in Peace
November 13, 2012 6:07 p.m.
I hadn't considered card:Rogue's Passage, but I am hesitant to add another land. To fit it in I would have to get rid of a creature, and since we're absolutely dependent on having one for our enchantments I don't know if it's worth the risk. We're down to 18 creatures after adding Ajani, and going to 17 can be quite noticeable. Replacing a colored land is out of the question. It really does hurt the manabase with all the double costs in the deck. When I playtested with Gavony Township I would almost never want to draw it as one of my first three lands because of the double costs. Which given that we want to end the game in turn 4-6 is a large portion of the game.
I think the Ground Seal is far superior to Rest in Peace in this deck, because we're running Rancor , which wouldn't return from the GY anymore.
I've tested with card:Faith's Shield a bit today, and I agree that it's awesome as a sideboard card, though I don't think I'll include more than 3 of them. Again, because I don't want to be sitting on more than 1 at a time.
mootinator says... #1
-2 Pacifism +2 Oblivion Ring
might want to consider 2xcard:Ranger's Guile or card:Faith's Shield if you can squeeze em in.
other than that the deck looks fast and fun!
October 17, 2012 3:58 p.m.