U/W/R Delver
Modern
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Games People Play —Jan. 22, 2015
There's apparently Modern events a few nights every week in this city! Who knew? Well, now I know, and I intend to go to most of them. Tonight was at a lovely little store called Games People Play (Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - check them out! Modern on Thursdays! :P) and I placed 5th of 12. Spent my store credit on Theros packs and opened what is my fourth copy of Thoughtseize. Definitely a good night!
Round 1 - Titanbloom (Loss)
This was a tough game. I'd never played against Titanbloom before - which, for anyone unaware, is a deck that uses bounce lands (e.g. Selesnya Sanctuary), Amulet of Vigor, and Summer Bloom to play a turn 2 or 3 Primeval Titan, run alongside just a million utility lands and ramp effects, along with an alternate win condition of Hive Mind + Slaughter Pact .
Game 1 I went down to the combo. I took a risk tapping out to put him on a one-turn clock, and he topdecked the Hive Mind the following turn. Boo! Game two I nearly managed a win but couldn't seem to draw a second land, which would have allowed me to go on the offensive. I had sided into plenty of counterspells (thank you, Spell Pierce), but there couldn't really be any accounting for him drawing to all four of his Summer Blooms pretty well in a row. It was unreal. Anyway, first game loss - something of a tradition for me. (0-1)
Round 2 - Soul Sisters (Win)
This one I didn't even recognize the deck by name until someone informed me afterwards that it was Soul Sisters. My opponent was new to Magic and playing with a borrowed deck, but all things considered did pretty well. He had what might have ended up as winning momentum going Game 1, but due to a misplay he'd made and I'd missed (along with having since searched libraries and drawn cards) he got a game loss penalty, and the second game was a pretty straightforward UR Delver win - play a Delver of Secrets Flip turn 1, flip it turn 2, start casting lightning bolts and attacking with giant bugs, profit. (1-1)
Round 3 - Cruiser 'Rang (Win)
This guy is a hilarious troll. He works at the store and I've chatted with him a few times before - real nice fellow - and today we happened to be discussing the decks we intended to run a few hours before play started. Cruiser 'Rang isn't something I'd heard of before tonight. It's basically sixteen Boomerang effects, four Treasure Cruises and a creature win condition that bounces permanents when it attacks - I forget the name. He'd told me when we were chatting that he figured he had flat zero chance of beating a deck like Delver with so many one-drops, and boy, was he right. All I had to do to win was play a one-drop creature on my first turn, and he had no way of building up the momentum needed for the deck to win (I don't think he was really planning on winning, lol) - which, if you're curious, is accomplished by casting Boomerang or another spell like it every turn starting on turn 2 (when I asked "what happens when you're on the draw?" he said, "you lose."), bouncing their single land every turn and essentially locking them out of the game. Ah, what fun. Utterly crushed in two games, didn't have to work for it in the slightest. (2-1)
And that was that! Attendance wasn't particularly high, so there were only three rounds - a little disappointing, as I would have much preferred a 3-1 finish over a 2-1. On the other hand, though, better to finish 2-1 than 2-2, so maybe I lucked out.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome, and I'll be back next week with more tales of Modern successes and failures.