Pyromancer's Siege
Standard
SCORE: 1 | 609 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
Wednesday Night Magic —July 29, 2015
Result: 4-0
Still no Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh Flip for this event. But I did get my playset of Exquisite Firecraft so I added two more in place of Chandra (for a total of 4 mainboard). After the event I bought 2 Chandras with store credit that I won so next time I play the deck it will have Chandra!
I played against Esper Dragons, Jund Whip, G/R Dragons, and G/U CoCo. Overall my play was adequate, there was one instance where I played an Abbot of Keral Keep on turn 3 before playing my land for the turn with the intention of playing a land if it got exiled from his EtB trigger. The card exiled wasn't a land, which was fine because I had a land in my hand, but I forgot to play it afterwards. And it was a temple at that, putting me quite behind because it came into play tapped.
Sideboard:
Esper Dragons-Victory in 2
-1 Soulfire Grand Master, +1 Commune with Lava
Jund Whip-Victory in 3
No sideboard cards used. (Going to rethink not having enchantment removal in side)
G/R Dragons-Victory in 3
Game 2:
-4 Monastery Swiftspear, -4 Abbot of Keral Keep, +3 Anger of the Gods, +3 End Hostilities, +2 Valorous Stance
Game 3:
(Starting with Main Board) -2 Soulfire Grand Master, +2 Valorous Stance
G/U Collected Company-Victory in 2
-2 Deflecting Palm, -2 Soulfire Grand Master, +4 Searing Blood
Conclusions:
Not having enchantment removal in the sideboard is something I'm going to have to change. Erase is the first choice, obviously. I'm not sure on the number though. Against the best draws of the Jund Whip deck I had no chance.
Stormbreath Dragon proved annoying to play against in both the Jund Whip and G/R Dragons decks. Valorous Stance doesn't hit it, but thankfully Deflecting Palm is not a horrible answer for it because most of the game against Stormbreath Dragon turn into a race and making them take an unexpected 4 damage can be game changing (it also prevents the damage, stopping lifelink). Also, you can deflect the monstrous abiltiy of Stormbreath Dragon (if it's lethal) otherwise you probably just want to wait until they attack with their 7/7 and hit them for 7. If they have already declared their attack before going monstrous though, you can deflect both (their monstrous trigger and their swing for 7)! It's kind of strange though, you wouldn't think four toughness creatures would be a problem for the deck, and they really aren't. It's the haste and protection from white on Stormbreath Dragon that makes it problematic. But I beat two decks tonight that were running Stormbreath Dragon so it can't be that hard for the deck I suppose.
Magma Jet literally was the sole reason I was able to win one of the games against G/R Dragons. With Pyromancer's Goggles out I copied Magma Jet and scried 2 twice. I had my opponent at 3 life and I had Outpost Siege out but was going to die on the return attacks from his dragons, so I had to top deck any burn spell in the deck to win. I scried FOUR lands to the bottom of the deck and found a lightning strike the next turn. I'm still conflicted about that card though. There were times where it was great and times where it was a pain. The most notably horrendous are on the draw against any kind of ramp deck. Instead of playing a mountain and using Wild Slash on their Elvish Mystic turn 1, I have to wait until turn 2, at which point they have already played a Courser of Kruphix by tapping their Elvish Mystic and two lands. The Magma Jet sitting in my hand feels a little silly at that point. I'll continue to think about it.
I didn't once activate Soulfire Grand Master's ability. Which leaves me to believe that Seeker of the Way might just be superior in that spot. I still hate the idea of drawing Seeker of the Way late in the game though. With Soulfire Grand Master, I can play her in conjunction with a burn spell to get some instant life back, instead of waiting a turn to trigger prowess and swing. For now, I'm definitely going to continue playing with Soulfire Grand Master and see how she feels with more games.
The deck still feels great against a variety of decks, and I look forward to doing more testing with Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh Flip and to continue polishing the list.