[Community Discussion]: Catastrophic misplays!
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Posted on Aug. 8, 2015, 7:31 p.m. by Epochalyptik
Been a while since we had a Community Discussion.
This one's all about terrible blunders. They can be yours or others'. What was the play? What should the play have been? How did people react? Have you ever recovered psychologically?
I'll start.
I was playing Dominus - Dreamcrusher Edition in a Commander pod at some side event when an opponent decided to play Heartbeat of Spring. At this time, I had Leyline of Anticipation on the field and I was under the impression that everyone understood that I was playing combo-control.
I let Heartbeat of Spring resolve. The opponent who played it then attempted to cast Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger. I responded by comboing out in the middle of his turn using Palinchron with the doubling effect and promptly killing him and the other two players at the table. $40 in prize money never felt so satisfying.
canterlotguardian says... #3
I was at FNM playing Gruul Stompy. I had Ruric Thar, the Unbowed on the field. Opponent swung in with Stormbreath Dragon. My dumb ass thought RT had trample and not reach, and at 4 life, I conceded. I scooped and caught my opponent's eye, who had a shocked expression on his face. I was confused until he pointed at RT. I looked down, re-read the card, and I immediately had the desire to go run out in front of traffic. (It was only round 3 and it was my first game loss of the night- not even that important... But still. Lol)
August 8, 2015 7:41 p.m.
Playing a four-player Commander game. Player to my left has a Hive Mind and casts Praetor's Grasp. Player across from me (without me knowing) grabs my Pact of Negation, in order to kill the player on my right (playing mono-black) immediately. When he casts the Pact (on something Hive Mind-player cast), and everyone gets a Pact, I show mono-black Trickbind and say that if he counters my Pact so I don't have to pay, he gets to live. He agrees, counters my Pact, game proceeds, but it takes a while to get back to my turn.
By the time it gets back to me, I've forgotten all about that. I untap, upkeep, draw, start playing a few spells during my main phase. Player across from me asks (he tells me later it was completely innocently, so I'ma give him the benefit of the doubt), "Hey, did you pay for Pact?"
(Looks down, looks at mana)
"Hm. Guess not. Guess I lost at upkeep, then."
(scoops)
Realize my misplay five minutes later. Probably would have won that game, too.
Tl;dr: Scooped to a non-existent Pact of Negation trigger.
August 8, 2015 8:06 p.m. Edited.
SimicPower says... #5
There was a game of commander recently where I had "infinite" mana, but I could not top deck a win con. I drew into probably 10 consecutive lands. Eventually, another players casts Tempt with Discovery. I decide that I will take the tempt so I can tutor up a Temple to scry me closer to a win condition. Before I start to search my library, I look at the top of my library to see a win condition. I then go 5+ more draws into lands and other things I don't need. It wasn't technically a misplay, as I made the best decision with the information I had. I just could have won a lot earlier without taking the tempt. I was able to win that battle eventually. I sustained myself by recurring a Cyclonic Rift to stop others from attacking me.
August 8, 2015 8:21 p.m.
Playing U/G Infect in the semifinals of a Pauper Tournament at my LGS with my Should I Paup This Cyst? deck against U/R Delver. I have him at nine infect. I have a Rancor'd Blighted Agent on the field and an Apostle's Blessing in hand. My opponent has three cards in hand and URR open. I walk into a fucking Lightning Bolt that I already knew he had from an accidental card reveal earlier in the game.
August 8, 2015 8:22 p.m.
I once immediately lost a game of EDH because I had a Halimar Depths in play and drew another. Not so much a misplay as it was a deck construction error, but still.
August 8, 2015 8:32 p.m.
canterlotguardian says... #10
nayrash5 as long as it wasn't in a tournament, most people would just tell you to take it out and sub a basic land for it. an insta-loss is a bit harsh for a non-tourney setting.
August 8, 2015 8:38 p.m.
My friends are really cutthroat, any of us will take any win we can get. xD
August 8, 2015 8:39 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #12
ducttapedeckbox I remember that!! That was hilarious to watch :)
August 8, 2015 8:59 p.m.
I accidentally let Tooth and Nail resolve in Commander when I had a counterspell in hand. Just completely slipped my mind.
August 8, 2015 9:03 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #14
Someone tried to combo off with Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin when I had 2 Soul Wardens out. Thanks for the double infinite life. Have fun winning.
August 8, 2015 9:13 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #15
Finals of a Duel Commander tourney, me playing Kaalia of the Vast vs Sygg, River Cutthroat tempo/suicide aggro. We're 1-1, this is game three.
He's got Pithing Needle naming Kaalia (which doesn't actually affect her but at the time we thought it did) and a Sword of Fire and Ice on Sygg. I'm in the single digits, he's at 15ish.
I draw Vandalblast. Play the card, it resolves, and I target Pithing Needle like an idiot.
Died to SoFi a turn later.
August 8, 2015 9:52 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #16
I was playing Naya Burn against Grixis Twin at GP Charlotte this year, and at the end of his turn, I fecthed, shocked myself, and didn't cast anything while getting the wrong Shockland. He gave me this look like I was dumb. I then lost to a Lightning Bolt after doing that.
Kids, the lesson is don't play Magic when you're hungry.
August 8, 2015 10:19 p.m. Edited.
grins I cast Enter the Infinite with Thought Reflection in play.
It hurt.
August 8, 2015 10:20 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #18
Midna-Kun literally had to walk away and go get a drink to calm himself down
August 8, 2015 10:39 p.m.
True story.
Also, I had used Pithing Needle on Lightning Greaves, not Kaalia. So it wasn't as big of a misplay.
August 8, 2015 10:42 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #20
I can't think of any particularly catastrophic plays, but I've done a lot of dumb things. I'll leave a short list:
bolting a 2/3 goyf with no instants in the graveyard
Unsummoning an ornithopter during my opponent's turn because I wanted to swing for lethal with a delver
And my personal favorite, I once played Threads of Disloyalty on an opposing Dark Confidant while I was playing mono U tron. Flipping a Platinum Emperion was NOT one of my finer moments.
August 8, 2015 10:43 p.m.
Another of my boneheaded moments, I was drafting Storm in Cube, and I passed Yawgmoth's Will in favour of some random cantrip.
August 8, 2015 10:46 p.m.
brandontraps says... #22
I turn 1 Thoughtseize a Loxodon Smiter lol. I was going back and forth between 3 creatures and forgot about his 2nd ability. There was an awkward pause on untap, followed by an embarrassing realization as it came into play. I lost- hard.
August 8, 2015 10:47 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #23
Not one of my better moments, FAMOUSWATERMELON.
"Wait wait! Let me move the Recall to show the Angel in all her glory"
Man I was tired after that game.
August 8, 2015 10:48 p.m.
Playing my friend. I have a Blood Seeker on the field, he has an army filled board state that has enough power to kill me this turn. He's at 1 life. I just look at him as he lays down another creature and tell him he loses. I felt so bad but it was still hilarious at the same time.
August 8, 2015 10:56 p.m.
bijschjdbcd says... #25
Watching xzzane select Loxodon Smiter with Inquisition of Kozilek was pure gas.
As for me, Siding out my Elspeth, Sun's Champion whilst playing UW Control in Theros/RtR Standard only to have my only other wincon in AEtherling get Pithing Needled turn one.
August 8, 2015 11:32 p.m.
Hootiequack says... #26
I played a kid (not meant in a negative way, this 7 year old has bested many-a magic player including myself), who missed 2 chances to kill me by not targeting his own Tormented Hero with kill spells. I came back to win the game and round by 1 life.
My bad? I almost lost a prerelease due to forgetting Athreos, God of Passage triggers. It's awful squeaking out a win when you realize you could have won almost 10 turns earlier.
August 8, 2015 11:38 p.m.
zyphermage says... #27
I've cast Inquisition of Kozilek against a mirror pox player in legacy turn 1, he revealed lands and Nether Spirit. Couldn't handle it forever and lost.
August 8, 2015 11:53 p.m.
I was playing at FNM and I had a Silumgar, the Drifting Death and my opponent had a full board. I was hoping to draw a board wipe, but instead of drawing one my opponent played one for me because he was scared of the Silumgar. I won the game because he got rid of his winning boardstate for a Silumagar.
August 9, 2015 12:02 a.m.
One time after coming off a nice 7 game streak I went to another shop and played a guy with Nekusar, the Mindrazer. By T2 he had used Vampiric Tutor and Mana Vault. He T3 cast Nekusar, the Mindrazer and passed to me. I was on the play so I had enough mana to cast either Supreme Verdict or Zedruu the Greathearted. I was so pompous and proud that I didn't want to admit to myself that I had to waste a board wipe on 1 card, especially since I had crushed his mono 
deck the game before. So I cast Zedruu. When it gets to his turn he wheels into an incredible 17+ mana generated from spells like Seething Song with spells like Wheel of Fortune. Long story short he was able to combo out in one turn dealing us both an incredible 43 damage from Nekusaar alone.
TLDR: I could have killed Nekusaar T4 but instead let it be and he combo'd out T4 kill me and the other player.
August 9, 2015 12:21 a.m.
for me it wasn't so much a misplay as it was letting myself get heat exhaustion, but at a ptq I had been going strong with 4 rounds of wins with my sweet bant pod aggro list (back when it was standard with innistrad/Thragtusk) at my first ptq when the 98 degree heat inside caught up to me not guzzling down water due to nearly hitting time every round and so I lost 2 rounds that were quite winnable before recovering. I still ended up leaving with around 10 packs, but it could have been much higher if I was hydrated enough to use the brain power my deck required (one downside of pod decks when they were standard was having to remember every single singleton in the deck).
August 9, 2015 1:19 a.m.
I remember back in the standard of Detention Sphere i screwed up a play. My opponent had a Prophet of Kruphix. I wanted to Detention Sphere it, but without thinking i played my own Prophet first, and Detention sphered my own as well. Played around Planar Cleansing! Haha
August 9, 2015 1:28 a.m.
When I was starting out I was playing a friend's Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur EDH and resolved a Rite of Replication (kicked) on the aforementioned Jin. Pre-M14, so I lost every copy.
I still won thanks to 12 Lighthouse Chronologists.
August 9, 2015 1:44 a.m.
in the begining of dragons (in the days when everyone was playing esper dragons and mono red) I had a sweet bant superfriends deck which was beating everyone playing control decks and had a decent sideboard vs mono red, first round of a torderment on cockatrice went up vs Greenwhite devotion
essentualy I lost the game because I tried to drag the game out (I knew I was odds on favorate to win game one, and thus knowing it was going to be a long one, wanted to drag in out to a single game match) so I played very defensively- thus managing to both ultimate both kiora and elsbeth as well as should of been able to ultimate a narset if I hadn't been a fool and revolved ugin and then nuked the board with him (including my narset)
Managed to drag the game out to extra turns and worked out i had him dead in two swings, just needed to make sure he couldn't take me out on crack back- so worked out what he could do in terms of life, with blockers and the 1 kill spell i had in hand and went from there
So I swung leaving myself enough stuff back to leave me on 5 life just incase something crazy happened he manifested a load of things at the end of turn then went to his and swung
turn out I'd forgotten to carry a 10 somewhere and his swing took me to -5- I've i'd of left one more flying kraken back on defence I would of won (never mind the twice i had him effectively dead on board- considering the entire league was watching the match at that point (everyone else game had finished 20 mins earlyer)
August 9, 2015 1:45 a.m.
army88strong says... #34
Not really a misplay but a series of unfortunate events. Was playing 4 man EDH before FNM a couple weeks ago and the person diagonal from me was so tired of my opponent sitting across from me's Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief so we killed her and in response, I cracked a Pyxis of Pandemonium. Drana got a Dictate of Erebos out of the deal and the person sitting next to me got a Temple which he scryed and kept the card on top and then once we got back to the killing of Drana, my opponent next to me uses Mayael the Anima's effect to put the Bearer of the Heavens onto the field that he kept on top. Everything resolves unfortunately and Mayael sacs the bearer to wipe everyone out on the end step. She then ramps and kills everyone one by one. It wasn't a good day for EDH
August 9, 2015 2:54 a.m.
That's unfortunate indeed. It's always refreshing to see new cards, especially those ranked lowly that are considered to be "bulk rares", steal a game.
I've found Bearer of the Heavens and Tymaret, the Murder King to consistently be underplayed or ignored foolishly many times lately. A lot of people path something like Avenger of Zendikar only to be blown out by my friends BotH when he plays Animar. I enjoy laughing at the control players who spent the whole game focusing on controlling Shattergang.
August 9, 2015 2:57 a.m.
I killed myself with Phage the Untouchable in my mono-black reanimator a couple of times before I was wise enough to take it out. No shame, no regrets. I've also, in a game of Sheriff as the Deputy, miscalculated my Devotion to black and killed the Sheriff with Gray Merchant of Asphodel. That game was very salty, I recall.
August 9, 2015 4:48 a.m.
bijschjdbcd - Ah you beat me to it! xzzane selecting Loxodon Smiter with an Inquisition of Kozilek was fantastic.
One of my most irritating misplays occurred against a Twin deck. I had both a Forest and a Swamp untapped, and an Abrupt Decay in hand. I passed the turn. At the end of my turn he flashed in Deceiver Exarch and tapped down my Swamp. I conceded knowing that he'd have Splinter Twin in hand, ready to go infinite when he untapped in his turn.
It was almost immediately after I'd conceded that I realised I could have tapped my land in response to him casting Deceiver Exarch so that I could have still played Abrupt Decay.
August 9, 2015 5:13 a.m.
I was playing with my Omnath, Locus of Mana commander. I did pretty good. I had ramped to about 70 mana (therefore, a 71/71 Omnath), and the only card left in my hand was Soul's Majesty.
"Sweet", I thought, slamming that card onto the stack before I even realized that I maybe didn't have 71 cards left in my deck.... And yes, I milled myself.....
What I learned: Bring more dices to symbolize Omnath power and toughness.
August 9, 2015 7:36 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #39
From reddit. It's a pretty hilarious fail. (May want to open image in new tab.)
August 9, 2015 7:57 a.m. Edited.
Maybe it shouldn't be but that is absolutely hilarious to me!
Willbreaker seems best utilized if you have a handful of "defensive" enchantments. Things like Chosen by Heliod, Mirror Mockery and others that are used for more than "Hey kill that, destroy that, exile that!"
I guess it's time to give up on Chromanticore and play Bant Willbreaker. Woohoo!
August 9, 2015 8:17 a.m.
I was playing blue black control at an fnm just after fate dropped. In my win and in for top 8 of a 40 man tournament against mono green devotion, i took game one quickly (surprisingly) and dropped game 2 to a Mistcutter Hydra the turn after my Crux of Fate.
Game three was a very long one, and after many turns and numerous board wipes my board was Ugin, the Spirit Dragon at 3 loyalty vs my opponents nothing. I had Hero's Downfall, crux and a couple blanks in hand. My opponent taps out for Genesis Hydra, i ask for the cast trigger and he flips a few and chooses Ugin. Not thinking, i let it enter and he immediately uses Ugin's plus to bolt mine and kill it. I go for a few more turns since he's top decking and it's when i fetch that i realize he was my last win con. He won the event and i felt like the biggest ding dong once my friends told me i could've downfalled Ugin with the hydra on the stack. I haven't stopped telling this story since it happened.
tl;dr Know how the stack works and protect your win cons in control decks
August 9, 2015 9:29 a.m.
So, mine was after a very long day playing 8 rounds of swiss for a WMCQ last season.. I was I think 4th (Because I had ID'd the previous round after going 7-0) and had the option to ID again and be locked for the top 8..
I decided to play it out because I was on Obelisk Soldiers and being on the play for my top 8 matches was a humongous advantage, also losing was still a lock for top 8.
This was my first tournament with more than 40? people.. Around 192 rocked up I believe, so I was really damn nervous..
Anyway, Game 1 I was "shuffling" the cards in my hand staring down a board of Young Pyromancer tokens when I accidently drop a Legion Loyalist on the table, I quickly snatch it back up after I had spent half the game weathering burn spells and trying to build a board state big enough to finish him in 1 alpha strike.
I wasn't lucky enough and my opponent had read the name of the card, but didn't know what it was, asking the judge next to me I suddenly lost the element of suprise I had been building into.
If that wasn't enough.. I had it pointed out to me at the end that I also missed many triggers from Soldier of the Pantheon from Boros Charm and Warleader's Helix, with more Soldier of the Pantheon in my hand that I had neglected to play (Not seeing the extra relevence)
(Game 2 was a non-game, mulling no land hands down to 4 and keeping basically trash)
tl:dr
Don't fidget and drop your cards folks.. Especially in really high pressure games! haha
August 9, 2015 9:52 a.m.
I was playing commander with 2 others and i had 3 3/3 centaurs 3 3/3 beasts a somberwald alpha and conifer strider. One player asked "if i were to help you can you not attack me for a few turns." So i agreed. He removed an enchantment that didnt allow me to attack the other player. He passes turn, i draw a card play my land for the turn and in a moment of pure stupidity pass turn... I would have hit the other player for 25 unhindered points. Not my proudest moment in magic.
August 9, 2015 1:02 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #44
Cast Living Death an hour into a 5-way commander with River Kelpie in my graveyard. Yep....Okay I draw 1,2,3,4,5,60,70...shit.
Wait a minute...... did I fuck up twice, (does it count as coming in from the grave yard or not. :( argh. someone help me.)
August 9, 2015 1:08 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #45
Fuck it, i balls'd up. I took it out of my deck and everything for months. Well back in you go.
August 9, 2015 1:22 p.m.
zyphermage says... #46
No Living Death creatures come in from exile. You would still draw cards though off the creatures that died and went to the graveyard, from the first part of the spell which is causing you to sacrifice.
August 9, 2015 3:33 p.m. Edited.
Yeah, if anyone wants a free win against me, just play me when I'm tired. I'll hand it to you on a silver platter full of Loxodon Smiters haha.
August 9, 2015 3:57 p.m.
I think one of my favorites was someone Storm Herd while I had a Blood Seeker in play. (Granted they did have a Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, but mine resolved first because it was their turn.)
August 9, 2015 4:50 p.m.
When I first came back to magic I played Vampires in during Scars/Innistrad standard. I attended a few FNMs and always came across the same opponents who always beat me two out of three. The games were usually close, but this time I finally had lethal on the board when it mattered most. I saw this but wanted to be sure. I cast Sign in Blood in an attempt to dig for either IoK or Duress. I picked up two cards and went to adjust my life total when I realized I was at two.
He won and I never played him again.
August 9, 2015 4:58 p.m.
SpartanCEL says... #50
My opponent had a Tarmogoyf on board and I had 2 myself. I had a Maelstrom Pulse and Abrupt Decay or Terminate in hand.
I cast Maelstrom Pulse choosing goyf.
He lol'd a little, but I still won atleast
ducttapedeckbox says... #2
I accidentally sided out Mindslaver (misclick on Untap), resulting in an hour+ game (my UTron against AFFINITY). I turn-3'd Platinum Angel, and his artifact removal was just not showing up. 50 turns later I top deck Hurkyl's Recall to win.
Yep, Mindslaver would've turned this shitshow around rather quickly.
August 8, 2015 7:36 p.m.