What if There's a Deck With No Bad Match Up?
Modern
SCORE: 130 | 139 COMMENTS | 25181 VIEWS | IN 51 FOLDERS
FNM 7th March 2014 —March 11, 2014
So... I will start posting my FNM plays, the intention is so that anyone who plays this deck can possibly learn of the playstyle.
I had 2 wins and 2 losses, but all games were fun as always!
- Round 1: White Weenie Enchant (2W:0L)
Game 1, I had the play and Thoughtseized turn one and two, removing Phalanx Leader and Fabled Hero from her hand, leaving no creatures in hand. Evidently, she drew into no creatures and scooped.
Game 2, She took me down to 5 hp while I was setting up my board presence (taking all her swings to avoid unnecessary losses). I Selesnya Charm her killing blow, then stabilized with an Unflinching Courage on a Witchstalker for another win.
- Round 2: White Weenie Enchant (1W:2L)
Game 1, He was on the play, his game plan was double strike creatures (Fencing Ace and Fabled Hero) for killing blows. He had a great hand, starting with Fencing Ace, curving into all his enchants while I drew no kill spells.
Game 2, it was a race between my Fleecemane + Smiter against his two Phalanx Leaders, he tried to combat trick and kill my Smiter with a Gods Willing, but I was ready to respond with an Abrupt Decay. I cast my Unflinching Courage on a monstrous Fleecemane and it was game over.
Game 3, I held double Abrupt Decay in hand, he had Phalanx Leader + Fencing Ace on his side so I waited until he dumped enchantments on them before killing them. After a while I was actually ahead from swinging with a Fleecemane+Courage on the field, thinking I was safe, I spent 3/5 mana on a Loxodon Smiter, keeping 2 for an abrupt decay. Next turn he swing with his 4/4 Phalanx Leader and 4/4 Fencing Ace - he played Gods Willing on the Phalanx Leader, which I responded to with my Decay. He insisted that heroic still works, even though my Decay killed his Leader before his God's willing resolves - being too tired, I just let him do it. I declared Smiter as blocker for the now 5/5 Fencing Ace. He played double Selesnya Charm making his Fencing Ace a 9/9, double strike and trample. I took 14 damage, I was on 13. He was on 5 that game.
- Round 3:G/R Aggro (2W:1L)
Game 1: He played Kalonian Tuskers, it was a race with my Fleecemane Lion on the field (though I was behind because I had to shock a land). I thoughtseized and saw 2 more Kalonian Tuskers, and 2 Ghor-Clan rampagers so I know that unless I drew into kill spells, I'd have no answer to his blood-rush. Game 1 was his.
Game 2: Fleecemane + Unflinching Courage, as well as Loxodon Smiter + Unflinching Courage just too much for him.
Game 3: He hard cast Ghor Clans to avoid Selesnya Charm (which I pulled off in second game), but this time I drew into my Lifebanes and Hero's Downfalls. Nothing he could do, I kept his side clean while swinging away.
- Round 4: Esper Control (0W:2L)
Game 1: He had Blood Baron in opening hand, I was too tired and didn't keep Witchstalker and Skylasher on my side of the field as blockers because for some reason I thought Baron had flying (no idea why). I died to Blood Baron.
Game 2: I kept pressure on consistently throughout the entire match with Skylasher, Loxodon Smiter, and even a 5/5 Mistcutter Hydra at some point, he drew into 5 board clears (4 Judgments, and 1 Fated Retribution). I ran out of steam from all the board wipes, despite myself being careful with my board commitment... He was down to 4 life, he took me out with an AEtherling.
- Wrap up: I think I shouldn't have kept my decays and skipped some turns without spending my open 4 mana against the Weenie match up. While my error at not keeping blocker for Baron (to force him to board wipe or the sort) just sealed my game 1 against the esper match up.
All in all, I think I could've had a fair shot at winning against all my match ups but my own blunders became my downfall aha (I blame the two nights of no sleep!) needless to say, I enjoyed all my matches and despite losing 2 games, I know the deck itself worked well.
Note: This is not my first FNM with this deck, I've had better ones, but this is the first one where I took notes. Watch out for next week's FNM update!
I really like this deck; the good all "play all the good things" 3 colored deck. Mine is one quite similar in concept, just slower and using red instead of green.
I went 3-1 with mine against this in testing, mostly because this deck doesn't have answer to Blood Baron in it, as far as I can see (I suppose Mistcutter in the side is one). The only other thing I really don't like about this deck is it's lack of draw. Do you think you could find some room for Underworld Connections, maybe as a 2 of? I think it would make the deck more solid, IMO.
+1, very fun to play.
March 7, 2014 5:51 a.m.
DodgeNDive says... #3
Thank you Boza! Golgari Charm was in the mainboard at one point, it went out precisely because MBD started to stop playing Whip, which is what you said. That leaves its exclusive usefulness to a few things that Abrupt Decay can't answer, that is why I took it out. I've also always wanted to run Ready / Willing , I just love both sides - so great but the deck would then overload on 3 CMC.
As for Verdicts, it is a pain for a lot of creature based decks. I had Golgari Charm for regen chances, when it happens it feels awesome, but I found that the amount of times I had the Charm in hand, plus the mana open, plus them playing a verdict was low - I decided to compensate by trying to play better (not easy to do in any way haha).
I try to avoid over-committing to the board when faced with Verdicts, sometimes I do push my luck if I get to pull off a Thoughtseize though! But it's all okay, because each game is fun and on edge, and that is the real aim of this deck, to have the fighting chance against all the other decks out there :)
If I do decide to throw Golgari Charm back, or use Ready/Willing, I'll be sure to tag your name beside it ;) Thank You once again!
Warning: Interesting wall of text imminent.
@SSJRanulf Very nice! If possible, I'd really be interested to see how you pilot the deck. Would you mind doing a write up on Anti-Meta deck playtesting? I've done plenty of other playtests there so you can see the sort of format that's used for the write up - if you don't mind and have the time that is :)
Yeah this deck used to run Blood Barons too, took it out to reduce all CMC down to 3 - might be worth throwing one back in place of the Unflinching maybe... But for now I'm not seeing Baron much in my local meta, so for myself this format has been working well.
This deck isn't quite "play all the good things", there was actually a lot of thoughts even before I chose colours haha. I considered permanents with control or rock like effects such as Banisher Priest , Boros Reckoner , Sin Collector , Lifebane Zombie , Fiendslayer Paladin , Blood Baron of Vizkopa , AEtherling , Witchstalker , Mistcutter Hydra , Skylasher , Voice of Resurgence , Reaper of the Wilds , Sire Of Insanity , Loxodon Smiter , Ashen Rider , and even Angel of Serenity .
Then I considered the important support cards available in the format, all the black removals, Abrupt Decay , Detention Sphere , the blue counters, Chained to the Rocks , discards like Thoughtseize , Rakdos's Return , etc.
I also considered win-cons. Now I guess I had a pool of "goodstuffs", it was a matter of piecing them together to how I'd like my deck to perform. I tried to see which colours could fit in as many of them as possible while still being viable in terms of casting costs, as well as the support cards available in those colours for the deck. I'll be honest it was really hard letting go of Detention Sphere and Boros Reckoner , my two favourite cards.
Anyways, I veered off topic haha apologies.
Yeah lack of draw or filtering is a problem when I forget to shuffle the deck thoroughly, resulting in mana flood or mana screw. UW Connections was considered, and I used it for a while, what I found was it bumped my double black cost up, it ate a turn to cast, and sometimes i don't get to use it when i don't have the land as an excess because sometimes i'm forced to tap it to have the right colours, it was tricky to play in this deck. I will definitely search for a way, because I agree with you - having draw would make this deck more solid.
But yeah, I'll set up Anti-Meta deck playtesting to sideboarding setting against you for game two, feel free to test it out, or even better, if you have the time, do a write up! :) - Would love to see how you play your deck and pilot mine.
I checked out yours and +1 your deck too :)
March 7, 2014 6:26 a.m.
I'll do a write up for it tomorrow for sure. I'll try 10 games: 5 yours first, 5 mine.
Here's my deck as I'd board it up to face yours:
Dega vs. Junk Aggro/Rock (Anti-Meta Deck)
From the first matches, I can tell you this already: Thoughtseize + Voice + Selesyna Charm were a consistent and powerful combo. It was very important to know exactly when to drop voice, or when you could make soldier tokens to support it as opposed to exiling a Desecration Demon.
Again, tomorrow I'll have more thoughts and I'll try to be pretty thorough with my review on our matches.
Long live rouge anit-meta decks!
March 7, 2014 6:46 a.m.
The best draw spell in these colors would be Read the Bones . It gets you up to 4 cards deep, with less mana investment than UWC (5 vs 3 for the same effect, not to mention it is immediate, and UWC does not give scry)
March 7, 2014 7:08 a.m.
I'm late to the party and don't know if anyone has already mentioned it, so I'll just throw it out there. Have you playtested with Soldier of the Pantheon ? Decent one-drop.
March 7, 2014 11:01 a.m.
MattTheNinja says... #7
One thing I noticed is that you don't have a SB plan for playing against a R/B/W deck. I was wondering how you think this deck would do against a R/B/W midrange/control type deck. Also, if you have the time and are interested, you could playtest your deck against a R/B/W deck I created (How to lose friends at FNM) and see how it fares.
March 7, 2014 4:47 p.m.
A bant deck of mine I thought you would like. Splashes black for Blood Baron of Vizkopa
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bant-flare-2/
Boza says... #1
Wow, with such comments and analysis, and such description and detail going into the deck, I do not think I can click the +1 any faster :)
In any case, here are some more of my thoughts:
I agree that zombie is pretty good, especially with the push of white in BNG (i really have a feeling for eidolon and hero of iroas that JOU will push them into more competitive realms).
The thing with the 4 CMC weapons is that they provide devotion. Destroying the devotion is sometimes more important than the effect of the weapon itself.
Sure, an ooze can counter the effects of the whip, but most of the lists of MBD do not run whip anymore and also, ooze does not deal with the devotion provided.
So, in order to counter the devotion better and provide a multitude of answers to threats like Master of Waves , 1 mana fliers from MUD, Underworld Connections and the weapons, the best way to go is the Golgari Charm . I would advocate -2 skylasher, as it just does not do enough, for 2 of the charm.
Additionally, I do not think that 2 hydras will do much vs mono blue. By the time you get enough mana to make the hydra big enough, you would either be winning anyways or be close to death. 2 suggestions:
Orzhov Charm - deals with pesky gods and specters, unlike the skylasher.
Ready / Willing - they rely on fast damage, you can counteract that. helps vs Supreme Verdict , which seems to me like it is your worst enemy.
March 7, 2014 5:27 a.m.