Cast a Shadow

Modern Argy

SCORE: 150 | 314 COMMENTS | 26188 VIEWS | IN 75 FOLDERS

4th at FNM 3-0-1 —May 6, 2016

FNM 3-1
MATCH REPORT BELOW

For reference, the following cards have already been considered:

Archangel of Tithes
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
Brain in a Jar
Descend upon the Sinful
Eerie Interlude
Eldrazi Displacer
Epiphany at the Drownyard
Evolving Wilds
Expose Evil
Flaying Tendrils
Gravepurge
Hallowed Moonlight
Hangarback Walker
Infinite Obliteration
Knight of the White Orchid
Linvala, the Preserver
Mirrorpool
Necromantic Summons
Painful Truths
Pick the Brain
Read the Bones
Reave Soul
Ruinous Path
Sea Gate Wreckage
Secure the Wastes
Silkwrap
Sinister Concoction
Stasis Snare
Thought-Knot Seer
Ultimate Price
Visions of Brutality

If you want to see why they weren't added, check under the Comments buttons.

MATCH REPORT

This deck went really badly at Game Day. I lost every single game.

Afterwards I had a think about what happened.

I basically weakened myself too much with the Pain lands.

So I took on board Schmuckey's suggestion, took out all copies of Caves of Koilos, and put in four Forsaken Sanctuary.

That must have been the right move as I got 4th place at tonight's FNM.

2-0 Weenies

This was the last match I had played last week.

Unfortunately for him I couldn't afford to throw my first match this week, so the gloves were off.

I basically killed all his Creatures with my removal and got some hits in with Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip.

Then he trapped Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip under a Stasis Snare, and later pinned Sorin, Grim Nemesis under a Quarantine Field that he had, but I was able to get both of those back with Anguished Unmaking.

He did kill my Kalitas with Ultimate Price and unfortunately I accidentally Languished my Avacyn so I had to do the last bits of damage with Shambling Vent and Sorin, Grim Nemesis.

I didn't Sideboard.

The second game I remembered NOT to kill Avacyn, so that one was over more quickly, despite the fact that he had gained a fair bit of life himself. I think he was up to 28 at one stage.

His shoulders slumped as he started to lose control of the second match. I hate that.

I must've had the most decisive early match as I was moved up to the top table.

My next matchup was one where I've struggled in the past.

2-0 Control

I've been playtesting a lot against this kind of matchup, as decks are providing me with the most challenge.

I've worked out that I can just grind them out, because my lands give me access to Creatures, and theirs don't.

The first game had been going for fifteen minutes when we both realised that neither of us had done any damage to each other.

He kept countering all my spells and I kept killing all his Creatures.

Eventually I was able to get a couple of Shambling Vents on the field and a Westvale Abbey  ^Flip to make Clerics, and start getting some damage in.

A couple of times I would get a Planeswalker on the field but, as I correctly anticipated, I could only activate it once before it hit the bin.

I basically used the second abilities of Ob Nixilis Reignited and Sorin, Grim Nemesis to kill his Creatures before my Planeswalkers were toast.

I eventually got 5 Clerics on to the field and took a chance.

I don't like flipping Westvale Abbey  ^Flip because it can easily be Exiled, but I had a feeling it would be OK in this case.

He wasn't playing for a start. I thought that, if he returned it to hand or something, I'd just have to start its flip process up again.

It was all in. I sacced my 5 Clerics and Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip was brought forth under my control, for the first time.

It was exactly the right move because two turns later I had nabbed the victory.

Weakening him earlier with little hits from Shambling Vent and the Westvale Abbey  ^Flip Clerics had helped to put him within range.

To be fair, he was hoping for an Ultimate Price to fall into his hand, as he hadn't gotten one all game.

I Sideboarded out To the Slaughter and put in Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. My idea was to put in one more card that would use up a Control card from his hand.

That turned out to be exactly what happened.

He ran out of gas in the late game. We're talking VERY late game.

Until that time he had countered most of my Creatures and Planeswalkers.

I know he Negated one Gideon early on. I did get to make a 2/2 Knight with the other one before it fell.

Again I got little bits of damage in with Shambling Vent and some Tokens.

He did a board wipe at one point with Languish, killing one of his Creatures and all my Creatures, but Kalitas was on the field at the time, so a 2/2 Zombie was left behind for me.

I remember doing a very risky block of a 4/4 land at one stage with another Kalitas and a Cleric. Of course Kalitas died but it turned out to be a very good move.

I was about to flip Westvale Abbey  ^Flip when he board wiped me.

It took a couple more turns before I could get some more Clerics out. I kept counting my mana.

With three Tokens on the field I turned 2 of my Shambling Vents into Creatures, sacced all my animals, and why hello there Prince Ormendahl.

It was a risky move because I was now all tapped out.

He was on about 6 life.

He couldn't come up with any form of answer so I hit for game.

He was VERY salty. Earlier in the game he had done a board wipe with Flaying Tendrils, but hadn't factored in that it would also hit his Creatures. As a result I had been able to block and kill two of them, one being Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. I think he was counting on it to keep him in the game by making Zombies.

Apparently he was STILL raging at himself at the start of his next game, which was against my partner.

I was very tired after that match. It was long and tricky. I got myself a Pepsi Max to calm down a bit.

2-1 Aristocrats

In the first game my Opponent got mana screwed badly.

He got a few Creatures out but I was able to kill them all, and then he was just left with cards in hand, until I removed them with Duress or Transgress the Mind.

I learnt from my earlier mistake and did not play Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip because I was planning to Languish the next turn. I also remembered to bump Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet up first by saccing a Zombie, so that he didn't die.

The game was over as fast as it can be for my deck, probably around turn 8.

He was so salty about the whole affair.

I tried to let him get it out of his system, but he said that he didn't want to talk about it.

I decided not to Sideboard.

Second game I got mana screwed. Could only get three land on the field.

I held on for a while, because luckily I had access to and , but he was eventually able to overrun me.

At the end of the game I said to him, "I was mana screwed! lol" to which he replied angrily, "NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE". Calm down, buddy.

I said to him that maybe we would both get enough mana to have a real game for our final one, and see whose deck was actually the best.

We did. It was mine.

Everything he got out I got rid of, including Ulvenwald Mysteries.

He packed up as fast as he could. He was so upset. I just wished him luck for his next match.

It turned out that he finished higher on the leader board than me, because he won all his other games 2-0 and only lost 1-2 to me.

Was I upset about that? Nope. It's a game.

Some people need to learn to be gracious in defeat.

0-2 Mill

I was still sitting on Table 1.

As my Opponent sat down opposite me my heart sank.

My partner had played him last week when he had been piloting Thing In A Jar.

I had just lost badly to that deck last night and is usually not a good matchup for this deck.

Pretty soon after we started playing he dropped a Plains. I said to him, "Oh, you're playing the Mill deck". He didn't even reply. Arsehole.

I had faced that last night as well, with disastrous results. I had been planning to do some testing against that deck before I played it again, but had not had time.

The games we played were long and complex.

He got his Mill engine up eventually in the first game and took my library.

I wasn't sure how to Sideboard against him in the second game.

I ended up subbing Gideon, Ally of Zendikar for Ob Nixilis Reignited. I reasoned that I might be able to get enough Tokens on the field to overwhelm him.

I left in every card that could disrupt his play:

• Grasp of Darkness and Languish for his Dragonlord Ojutai (the first for if he tapped it)
• Duress and Transgress the Mind to try to remove his milling cards
• Dead Weight and To the Slaughter to take care of his Narset Transcendant and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip

I held him off for a long while. Unfortunately he was able to achieve Narset's ultimate.

Just before he did I dropped Gideon.

I had flipped Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip earlier my attaching Dead Weight to a 2/2 Zombie Token I had lying around.

I started hitting him with everything I had, which was a Knight Ally, Shambling Vent, Avacyn, the Purifier  ^Flip, and a 5/5 Indestructible Gideon.

A big crowd had started watching us as we went to turns. It was very intense.

In one more move I would have finished him, but he dropped another Mill card and I didn't have enough Library left to survive it.

It's kind of a shame coz he's a bit of a dick. Oh well. I've got a lot of testing to do to prepare for a similar matchup in future.

Most valuable cards of the night were definitely my Shambling Vents. They gave me Creatures to gain headway against Control, were able to give me Lifelink when I needed it, and also gave me a sac outlet to get Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip on the field.

To the Slaughter worked much better tonight than it has before. It always hit the target I wanted it to, which was often a Planeswalker.

The other card that worked overtime was Anguished Unmaking. Its versatility in being able to Exile just about anything was imperative.

My favourite game of the night was against the Control deck.

I think I pissed everyone off except my last Opponent, which is one of the reasons I'm not so keen on playing Control myself.

It does make you think a lot, though. Can Magic make you smarter?