Shared Aggression (w/r)

Standard* razelfark

SCORE: 21 | 52 COMMENTS | 4509 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS

FNM Update 1/27: First play with new cards —Jan. 29, 2017

As the deck has not received a lot of changes at the moment, I have come to the conclusion that I like the power certain cards are providing at will make some changes to adjust for this. First off is that we will be saying goodbye to Thalia's Lieutenant as we walk further from the human shell and welcome more copies of Solemn Recruit. To add to this walk from humans we will be adding Selfless Spirit to the main deck to make sure we don't take away from our 2 drop slot too much. The reason for these changes is that while the Lieutenant was putting in some good work last night, the number of non-human interactions was causing some trouble.

AS for the results of testing that night, it was not a great night for testing in general but was a great night for testing vs a certain deck type. What I mean by that is I went vs the same deck deck theme three times, b/g snake rush. Here are the results of the night: 3/1

Round 1: B/G delirium snake 2/0

Game 1: While he got out an early Grim Flayer, I (going second) was able to stop his aggression with turn 1 Inspector to turn 2 Lieutenant. He followed up with turn 3 Winding Constrictor while I went turn 3 Watching. This threw off his plans for turn 4 Walking Ballista because he did not draw a fourth land making it only get 2 counters. From there I went into Garrison and Messanger to then spin out of control. Game ended 18/0.

Game 2: My opponent got an early snake to ballista but I countered it with side deck using Skywhaler's Shot. After that he spent time controlling a few creatures till turn 8 when he played Mindwrack Demon which I countered with Tears of Valakut. The game went to me after a 4 more turns because I was able to get Aerial Responder on board with nothing to stop it (26/0).

Round 2: R/U Thopters (2/1)

This deck is about using Maverick Thopterist and Whirler Virtuoso to help spawn tokens to sit on board to win with flying tokens or Mechanized Production. Their deck is still a work in progress as they are a newer player, but can be a force if underestimated.

Game 1: Game went long due to the number of chump blockers he was able to generate but eventually ended when I got Odric in play and was able to swing with almost all my keywords in play to end it. (36-0)

Game 2: Kept a somewhat risky hand in the sense it only had 2 lands and most of my 3 drops. Did not draw third land even after 6 turns. (0-20)

Game 3: Somewhat close game because he got the enchantment in play to while having 7 thopters but he was never able to get to 8 on his upkeep because I was forcing him to block with by swinging wide with watching in play to boost my creatures just enough I wasn't losing anything in a trade. (32-0)

Round 3: G/B Energy Snake (2-1)

Game 1: He played a turn two cub and turn three snaked with push. He then proceeded to use control spell after control spell as his cub spun out of control. (0-20)

Game 2: Win because my opponent mana flooded. While he put up a fight with what he had, drawing a total of 10 lands by turn 7 makes it hard to do much. (16-0)

Game 3: Bit of a close game but side deck of Skywhaler's Shot and Shock manage to push things in my favor as I picked off an early Ballista with the shock and killed a pumped snake with skywhaler's. After those threats were killed he was left with a cub that had not developed energy and Rishkar, Peema Renegade while I had responder equipped with graft winning me game. (??/0)

Round 4: B/G Energy Snake (1-2)

Game 1: He went turn 2 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, turn 3 snake and push, turn four Walking Ballista. While I had low drop cards, they became useless since most were 1/1 and were dead instantly due to Ballista from that point forward in the game. (0/20)

Game 2: Village messenger winning the game. Turn 1 played one, no flip because they played attune. Turn 2 played another, but no flips still because of snake. Turn 3 I played out watching and pass as he plays out Ballista. Turn 4 I pass to get my messengers to flip and he casts nissa, I respond to his -2 and use shock to kill his Ballista. Next turn I attack in and play Kari Zev, Skyship Raider and have my 3 lands untapped and am ready to kill his next big creature, he plays a gear hulk and I respond by killing it with skywhalers over his snake and token that were pumped. Turn 6 I play giddeon and emblem then swing for lethal since he can't block but 1 creature since all mine have menace at this point.

Game 3: Had a lot of back and forth on the board but I was never able to get on the offense vs him because of his constant pressure (snake and most anything in his deck). After 14 turns the game ended due to drawing 3 lands in a row putting me at nine lands, died to Bristling Hydra. (0-12)

The overall theme for tonight was apparently b/g snake decks and I was not expecting that, well that many at least. There was 2 other players with the same deck idea that I didn't play against that night. I managed to pull 2nd place (due to someone in the last round pulling a draw) and feel the deck performed rather well vs this strong rush deck.

Like earlier stated there will be some new changes to the deck, but not sure what I am going to end on. For now I am going to leave the deck list with some small tweaks that I know I will have in effect next time based on cards I have.

Feel free to leave a comment and suggestions to improve the deck idea. I will even answer any questions you might have if something doesn't make sense.