Showdown #25: Lightning Crashes

Showdown

Spootyone

18 September 2014

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Hello all and welcome again to Showdown, where I pit my current standard deck against those submitted to me by you, the members of TappedOut. Last week, Apop filled in as usual and was able to show off two pre-rotation builds as a sort of sign-off to RTR block. I was actually going to do the same for this edition, but it turns out there weren't any other pre-rotation decks available in the comments! I guess we're all ready to move on, huh? Allow me to reminisce a little bit.

I began playing MTG during the middle of Return to Ravnica -- the set. I had my share of resto-thrag rites and aggro human blitz and Nephalia drownyard control. I disliked seeing them all the time and was among the many to give the middle finger to Snapcaster Mage and friends, telling them not to let the door hit em on the way out. But RTR block...well, I "grew up" in MTG with it. As much as I hate getting blown out by Supreme Verdict, as much as I groan as someone taps out for Sphinx's Revelation, as much as I want to burn every single copy of Pack Rat...There's just something about your first block, you know? I loved the guilds and I think getting to choose an identity through them is part of what drew me into the game. It was like picking a team and doing whatever you could to with the tournament using your team's players. And I hope the clans of Tarkir do the same for hundreds and thousands of new players today.

And yet, here we are. In just a few days we will see the end of some of the most powerful and iconic cards of MTG leave the standard format for good (unless they reprint them in the future which will probably just make me go full on into ANYTHING ELSE). So first off, I want you to tell me in the comments after reading: What was your favorite thing about RTR block and what it brought to standard? I want positive answers only, please. Instead of us saying "good riddance", let's choose to give a moment to the block as a whole and grant it the praise it deserve in spite of its faults, shall we?

That all said, let's talk about rotation. Friends...The Conclave's Revenge has had its time but it's now time for it to hang in the towel for a bit. While I did test to see the potential viability in the deck post-rot, I just couldn't deny my desire to try something new both for my sake and for the interest in my audience in these articles. Many of you have probably already seen my new build around the site because it has actually gained quite a bit of popularity that I didn't expect haha. It is a Temur control deck utilizing Stormbreath Dragon and burn as a win con. It's a little off the wall, but it has performed great in testing so far. I'll drop a link below, but I won't go into too much detail about it until next article. Until then, feel free to check it out and read the description..I spent quite some time on it haha.

Enlightenment of the Dragonclaw | Temur Aggro

Standard* Spootyone

SCORE: 207 | 258 COMMENTS | 62698 VIEWS | IN 110 FOLDERS

For this week, we have one last hurrah with The Conclave's Revenge and friends. And while I wasn't able to find another pre-rotation deck to test against, I have one post-rotation deck I've been wanting to face ever since I saw it's creation. I present to you all redsoxfanky and his Sultai Grave deck:

deck-large:dead-not-gone-sultai-constellation

What do I like about this deck...does "I just think Sultai decks are cool" count? Ever since I saw some of the spoilers for the Sultai brood and my GF started brewing with them I've had a tendency to enjoy the decks from the clan. He isn't utilizing delve at all, but rather just going for a traditional reanimation strategy using Endless Obedience and self-mill. It's pretty self-explanatory for players who have been around the past 6 months or so. Hornet Queen is one of his targets for reanimation, and that's probably my biggest worry. The queen destroys midrange decks who aren't running board wipes or mass-removal spells and that's just me. Jace, the Living Guildpact is really in his prime here, I'd say, so I'm also curious to see how he does. I believe he would be decent against me, but only playtesting will tell us for sure.

Fanky wins the flip and keeps an opening hand of Yavimaya Coast, Opulent Palace, Polluted Delta, Nyx Weaver, Herald of Torment, Whip of Erebos and Nemesis of Mortals. I don't think this hand is spectacular, but it has lands and spells. There is a significant lack of self-mill cards, and if Nyx weaver wasn't in this hand I would not have kept it.

Spooty keeps an opening hand of forest, plains, Temple Garden, 2x Banishing Light, Sylvan Caryatid and Setessan Tactics. There is a TON of removal in this hand. I need to draw into some gas and then this hand will be great.

F1: Opulent Palace tapped. Pass.

S1: Draws Banishing Light. Well...okay. Temple Garden tapped, pass.

F2: Draws Opulent Palace. Nothing to play yet. Palace tapped, pass.

S2: Draws forest. I play a forest and cast Sylvan Caryatid. Pass.

F3: Draws swamp. Fanky plays a Yavimaya Coast and casts Nyx Weaver. Pass.

S3: Draws plains. Well, no gas yet. I play a plains and exile the weaver with Banishing Light. Pass.

F4: Draws Elvish Mystic. He plays a swamp and casts both Herald of Torment and Elvish Mystic. Pass.

S4: Draws Temple of Plenty. This game is SLOWWWWW...I play the scryland and keep Fleecemane Lion on top. I play another Banishing Light to take care of the opposing Herald. Pass.

F5: Draws Jace, the Living Guildpact. He plays a Polluted Delta and cracks it to fetch a swamp. He then taps out everything to play Nemesis of Mortals and passes the turn. (s 20/19 f)

S5: Draws Fleecemane Lion. I play a forest and exile the Nemesis with the third Banishing Light. I follow this up with the Fleecemane Lion I just drew. Pass.

F6: Draws Herald of Torment. I have to run out of answers eventually right? My lion is a threat to him right now because it is going to be able to be monstrous'd on my next turn. And if that happens, he won't really have a way to race it apart from a really aggressive continual draw of big creatures. However, the whip in hand can provide lifelink. If he can secure a couple creatures onto the board, having a 4/4 on the other field really means nothing. He plays the Herald of Torment and passes the turn.

S6: Draws forest. I really have not drawn the bombs I needed to draw this game. I play a plains and cast setessan tactics targeting both my lion and caryatid. I use the lion to kill the herald and the caryatid to kill the mystic. It's a two for one, so I can't complain too much about it. Pass.

F7: Draws Elvish Mystic. Ick. Okay now things aren't looking too great for him at the moment. I decide to have him play the jace and mystic (takes one damage from lands), and then use the jace's +1 ability to try to dig for more threats. A Satyr Wayfinder hits the bin and a Commune with the Gods stays on top. Pass. (s 20/18 f)

S7: Draws Temple of Plenty. Jeeezzzz. I play the scryland and leave Elspeth, Sun's Champion on top. That can win us the game fairly easily now. I monstrous my lion and attack his jace. He chooses to block with his Elvish Mystic. Pass.

F8: Draws Commune with the Gods. Things aren't looking too good for him. He uses his Commune with the Gods and places 2x Commune with the Gods, Temple of Malady, Endless Obedience and another jace in the grave. No available targets. Blech. He uses the Jace +1 to place Sultai Charm in the grave and Nemesis of Mortals back on top. Pass.

S8: Draws Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I play a forest and attack his jace with my lion, putting him to 3 counters. I play 'Speth and make 3 soldiers. Pass.

F9: Draws Nemesis of Mortals. Okay no seriously this isn't looking good for him. Since Jace is going to die anyway Fanky chooses to kill him to bounce Elspeth back to my hand. It's basically going to buy him a turn. He casts the Nemesis for 2 mana and passes the turn. Elspeth can kill it, but there isn't any other play soo....

S9: Draws forest. You know what? I may go back down to 24 lands in this deck. I play a forest and then play elspeth, using her -3 to kill the Nemesis. I attack for 7 with my lion and three soldiers before passing (s 20/11 f).

F10: Draws forest. Of course heh. He plays the Whip of Erebos and passes the turn.

S10: Draws Elvish Mystic. I attack for 7 with my creatures, play the mystic, and make three more tokens. Pass. (s 20/4 f)

F11: Draws Mana Confluence and concedes. Even whipping back a Nemesis doesn't cut it.

Sideboard tech with Spooty:

I don't necessarily have silver bullet cards against grave decks in this sideboard. However, I know that reanimation decks like this one usually focus on Endless Obedience and whip of erebos. With that said, we know our targets. I will be bringing in my Reclamation Sage to handle whip and just because I want to give them one last run...I'll be bringing in Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. I'm going to miss them :( I choose to side out a basic plains and the two Garruk, Caller of Beasts because I'm lowering my curve and Garruk isn't entirely necessary here. Plus I need space to play with my other cards that I'm essentially bringing in for the fun of it.

Sideboard tech with RedSoxFanKY:

That didn't go at all as planned. Jace wasn't too great in this matchup even though I feel it normall should be. Weird. Either way, Hornet Queen is amazing against my deck so I'll have him bring in the second copy of that in place of one of the Jaces. The other Jace becomes a Doomwake Giant to handle Elspeth tokens. I then replace the Soul of Innistrad with a copy of Arbor Colossus. Colossus is just better here against Archangel of Thune.

Spooty keeps a hand of forest, 2x Temple of Plenty, Elvish Mystic, Sylvan Caryatid, Banishing Light and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Ramp into Elspeth with removal for backup rarely fails me.

Fanky keeps an opening hand of Mana Confluence, Temple of Malady, Commune with the Gods, Nyx Weaver, 2x Sultai Charm and Arbor Colossus. Hopefully he can get a third land quickly. Besides that the hand is great.

F1: Temple of Malady tapped. Scrys Llanowar Wastes and it remains there. Pass.

S1: Draws Mana Confluence. I play a forest and an Elvish Mystic. Pass.

F2: Draws Llanowar Wastes and plays it. This is followed by Commune with the Gods, which brings a Nyx Weaver to the hand and places a Llanowar Wastes, Polluted Delta, Yavimaya Coast and Soul of Zendikar into the grave. Pass.

S2: Draws Courser of Kruphix. I play a scryland tapped and scry a forest to the bottom of the library. I use the rest of my mana to play a Sylvan Caryatid and pass.

F3: Draws Pharika, God of Affliction. He plays the confluence and taps out losing one life to cast Nyx Weaver. Pass (s 20/19 f)

S3: Draws Temple Garden. I tend to like screwing with dredge tempo by removing their engines early on and then dealing with the threats later in the game when I also have big threats. I use my Banishing Light to remove the spider and play my other scryland, scrying and keeping a Setessan Tactics on top. I attack for one with my elf and pass. (s 20/18 f)

F4: Draws Satyr Wayfinder. He really needs to continue hitting lands right now so he can cant his important cards, so I choose to have him play the wayfinder. It gets a forest into hand (which ends up on the field as land for turn) and an Elvish Mystic, Nemesis of Mortals and Satyr Wayfinder hit the bin. Pass.

S4: Draws Setessan Tactics. Not much to say here. It's time for 'Speth. I shock myself with Temple Garden and tap out for Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I make three tokens and pass. (s 18/18 f)

F5: Draws Opulent Palace. He needs an answer for Elspeth fast. None of the cards currently in his hand can take care of her even remotely. He casts a Nyx Weaver and places the newly-drawn palace on the field tapped. Pass.

S5: Draws forest. Nothing too bad going on for me right now. I make three soldiers, play Courser of Kruphix, reveal Banishing Light from the top, play a forest, gain a life and pass. (s 19/18 f)

F6: Mills Nighthowler and Polluted Delta and draws Endless Obedience. Hmm...He can revive a Soul of Zendikar but he can see the banishing light and I have an Elspeth. He could revive Nighthowler, but the same problems exist. He has Sultai Charm to remove BLs, but by then Elspeth has already won the game. Ugh, what to do here....Pharika, god of afflictions doesn't stop an Elspeth without trample. Neither does Arbor Colossus. I guess...he has to dig for a better answer with the charms. He casts the first Sultai Charm and draws Yavimaya Coast and Nyx Weaver, discarding Arbor Colossus. The only way I see him winning this game is to reanimate a Hornet Queen in time. That said, he has to play the land and the second Nyx Weaver and really just hope for the best. Am I missing something, commentors? Let me know if I am. He does what is noted above (loses 2 life to lands) and passes the turn.

S6: Draws Banishing Light and reveals Reclamation Sage. Knowing his deck, I also have to basically assume Hornet Queen is his only out. And to avoid him milling over them, I choose to banish one of the Nyx Weavers and to use Setessan Tactics on my courser to fight the other one. Sorry, dude... :/ I make three soldiers and pass the turn.

F7: Draws Elvish Mystic. Well, that was anticlimactic. Redsoxfanky does not have a way to not die to the ultimate of Elspeth and concedes the game.

Agh. That felt like a fairly brutal match from my perspective. Game one pretty much involved his deck doing not very much and me having an answer for everything until Elspeth won me the game. This could have been due to keeping a bad hand, but I really don't think it was a purely obvious call on that. Game two involved him having less time to do what he desired to, not getting a good target into the grave, and then me getting Elspeth onto the field against to take over the situation. Needless to say, I think Fanky's deck lacks ways to deal with Elspeth. Normally I wouldn't put so much emphasis on being able to handle a single card, but 'Speth is a threat that will be around for another long while. Best get used to handling her now rather than later. It's an easy fix -- just drop in a few Hero's Downfall into the main or sideboard. Or possible even Thoughtseize as an alternative way to remove her.

Because this build seems to rely heavily on reanimation, I would suggest finetuning the deck to better make use of the inherent power such a deck can have. Hornet Queen is in my opinion one of the -- if not the -- best reanimation targets out there right now for both endless obedience and Whip of Erebos. Nemesis of Mortals...well, it isn't. I understand how Nemesis can be good, but I think he works better as the top end of an aggro deck rather than part of a combo deck like reanimator. Besies that I would maybe suggest placing Soul of Innistrad in the sideboard since it isn't all that great against aggro, but it's up to you.

All in all I think The Conclave's Revenge did a hell of a job for its last match of the season. I won't deny that the games were a little unexciting because of how boring Banishing Light into Elspeth, Sun's Champion can be, but I digress. I would've liked to see Archangel of Thune one last time before she leaves us for good. I feel like I'm losing a close friend and companion -- someone who has protected me and helped me for a very long time. I wish you all the best of luck in Soul Sisters Archangel of Thune. Don't cry...I'll be playing you in EDH shortly.

And as for you, Garruk, Caller of Beasts...I'm sorry our paths didn't cross sooner. You were one of the greatest engines a green ramp deck could ask for. It's like they say. You don't know what you got til it's gone. I didn't realize just how vital you were to this build until I started playing it without you, and I must say you were quite the card. I hope you enjoyed your time in the spotlight and live on the return to the standard playing field some day in the future.

Trostani...ohhh Trostani. You know I played using you for almost a whole year and never truly learned your gender? Oh how the time flies. Maybe things are better this way. Thank you for your massive derriere. You've used it to protect me for quite some time now. And the amount of phallic wurms you've given me has been glorious. We, too, shall meet again on the Commander playing field.

Don't worry Cyclonic Rift -- I'm not done with you yet. You win the award for being my absolute favorite card from RTR block. Nope, not Voice of Resurgence, not Loxodon Smiter, not Advent of the Wurm, not Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, not anything else. It was you. You taught me my love of bounce spells and tempo plays. You showed me just how ridiculous 7-mana overload costs could get. You've ruined friendship after friendship in EDH and I want to thank you for this. You truly are one of magic's greatest creatio-- DON'T GET BANNED DON'T GET BANNED DON'T GET BANNED!!

I have a question for you all: Who likes feature tokens? I know I do. But you know what is more important to me than feature tokens? My username. And guys I'm bored of it. The problem is that I'm not very good with coming up with the best username styles and I'm not very adept at HTML font and different unique font styles, etc. So I figured...Why not let other people do it?

To be a part of this contest is simple. You must submit on my wall before next week the code for my new username style so that I may see what it looks like. Bonus "points" for making it relate to my playstyle in some way or the colors I enjoy, and please try not to make it cause a mess when in lines of text. No one likes that. At the end of the time period I will choose which username I enjoy the most and that player will receive 5 free feature tokens from me to use however and whenever they desire. Sound good? I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Feeling generous? Wanna help out? It's easy! Donating even a small amount really helps make these happen, and I will always be overly appreciative of it.

Keep up with all the showdown action and more!

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

For more articles by me, check out legitMTG.com!

counters

This article is a follow-up to Showdown #24: Come Fly with Me The next article in this series is Showdown #26: Season 2 HYPE