Arlinn on the Midrange (Jund reconstructed!)

Standard* abby315

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3-1 FNM Again, Top 8, Results Below! —May 21, 2016

I will be working on a Matchups section for the primer now that I've faced more decks, but I'm too tired right now :)

Went 3-1 at this FNM at my regular LGS, which is more competitive. Took 5th or 6th place out of ~30 players. Very happy with how the deck plays, think it's close to optimal, I'll try for some coherent take-aways at the end of this update. I cannot stress enough how good it felt to run. Besides the one game I kept a bad mana hand, every game felt fair and winnable, even in game 1 against matchups where I would side in 10 cards. I'm EXTREMELY happy with how it runs and excited to share it with you guys.

Round 1: 1-2 vs Esper Walker Control

Well, this is a deck I ended up seeing a lot of, but this version was the best one I saw all night. Played against someone I'm friendly with, which was good because I was very nervous, considering this is my worst matchup conceivable.

Game 1: Lost handily. Kept a bad hand (a 7! shame on me) without red in it because I was nervous about the matchup (this guy is famed for his Esper control, has almost all of it foiled out), and all of the mainboard sweepers were obviously not useful. Even still, I'm disappointed in myself for not giving the deck a fighting chance.

Game 2: In came Display of Dominance, Ruinous Path, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Duress. I correctly guessed that the deck was creatureless so I didn't bother with Infinite Obliteration. This game worked like a CHARM. Started off with early hand disruption into too many threats for him to counter or remove. Topdecked 2 Duress to ensure I had a path to victory and ended the game with Chandra, Flamecaller and Tireless Tracker for big beats.

Game 3: Really close. An awakened Scatter to the Winds countering my awakened Ruinous Path ended up swinging the game in his favor. I misplayed at the very end because I forgot to keep up mana to turn on Hissing Quagmire and block his Gideon, playing around the Languish I knew was in his hand. Still, even if I had played around it, I don't know that I could have won unless I could quickly find a way to kill Gideon-- I was at 3 life. Finding any of my Display of Dominance earlier in the game would have helped considerably. I may go up to 3 of those.

Round 2: 2-0 vs B/W Stuff

Not going to bother with a write up. This was a little kid's deck of delirium black/white stuff, not worth getting into. We had fun joking around though.

Round 3: 2-1 vs R/G Ramp + Landfall

This deck featured the regular ramp spells plus mana dorks, Undergrowth Champion, Ulvenwald Hydra among others. Played playset (I think) of Traverse the Ulvenwald and Oath of Nissa; removal was Exquisite Firecraft and Burn from Within.

Game 1: I mulled to 6 and got stuck on 3 lands for awhile, but he completely flooded out. I got a 4th and 5th land and was able to start beating down with two Tireless Trackers for the win.

Game 2: He ramped into his surprise card: The Great Aurora. Honestly, he was winning the game before that with Nissa, Sage Animist  ^Flip and a 10/10 Ulvenwald Hydra, but whatever. I drew 10 cards, he drew 14, I played 4 lands, he played like 6 and was able to put some more threats down on the same turn. I was off of green for a couple turns and couldn't stop a World Breaker. Undergrowth Champion, and second Ulvenwald Hydra.

Game 3: Let me tell you, I was so tilted after that. We had to play quickly since we had 15 minutes left after the long game 2. He got stuck on three lands for a long time which was pretty much the only reason we didn't go to time, that deck is so good at stalling. He played an early Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and hid her behind a lot of plants, Blisterpods and Undergrowth Champions.

But I was able to land Arlinn Kord  ^Flip and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in addition to my Sylvan Advocate, so eventually he had to start blocking with non-plant tokens, which died, giving me zombies. Arlinn, Embraced by the Moon  ^Flip's +1 trample anthem allowed me to swing in for like 35 damage and get through to the 8 loyalty Nissa, wiping most of his threats and netting me zombies. It was over after that, powerful combo.

Round 4: 2-1 vs Esper Control

This version was pretty much the same as Round 1, but ran 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and some amount of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip. Same core of Ob Nixilis Reignited, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Sorin, Grim Nemesis plus counterspells and removal, and he was running one Narset Transcendent.

Game 1: Hissing Quagmire and Chandra, Flamecaller teamed up to start killing all of the planeswalkers he threw down starting t5, was able to get thru a 7 loyalty Ob Nix, two Sorins, and a Narset. Then he topdecked the one Ulamog and won by Clash of Willsing my To the Slaughter for x=10. I could have paid it if I'd played the land in my hand first, so RIP. Don't play when you're tired.

Game 2: Duress showed me early that he had the Ulamog in hand. I had answers to all of the various planeswalkers he could throw down through Ruinous Path and Display of Dominance. He committed to playing towards Ulamog by putting all lands in a pile from Epiphany at the Drownyard, so I used my Dark Petition to get Infinite Obliteration and take care of it on turn 7. Won from there in a regular fashion.

Game 3: I barely remember, to be honest. I won by stripping an early Gideon, Ally of Zendikar with Duress, playing Arlinn Kord  ^Flip, and awakening a land with Ruinous Path so that his Planar Outburst didn't save him. I was very, very tired at this point, so I'm glad it didn't get to be a complicated game or I might have messed up.

Thoughts:

-- Go up to 3 Display of Dominance in the sideboard?

-- Fiery Impulse felt underwhelming all night, but I didn't face any aggro decks so I'm not ready to take it out yet. Still something to keep an eye on.

-- Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is by far the most difficult threat for me to deal with. Might have to put some more To the Slaughter in the 75.

-- Crumble to Dust, which I didn't take to the tournament because I forgot but is currently in this list's sideboard, is looking even better now. Taking out Hissing Quagmire against G/B Seasons Past, Shambling Vent against B/W/x control, and Westvale Abbey  ^Flip against G/B/x Aristocrats or Rites looks so good. I will test.

Thanks guys! Hope you enjoy the write up.