Edge and Scale, Bring Forth the Victory

Standard Femme_Fatale

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Game Day Changes Mark 2 —Oct. 19, 2014

So, game day changes mark 2 here, I went 3-3 that day. Another girl decided to drop out to draft on the 6th match (was me) so I got a bye. Did not have enough points for the top 8 though. Oh well, I at least was around 16th place out of 32/36 or so. She had a good peek at my sideboard as she was sitting right beside me and was all "No way I'm facing against you, I saw your sideboard." She was running a budget-ey deck. I ended up on joining in their draft and had some good times.

I did a hell a lot better than last game, and that is all because I had traded for some Ajani Steadfasts to help me get far. Please notice that I STILL did not have Sorin, Solemn Visitor. I'm going to go buy it today. I NEED it to start winning more games. I also did not have Master of the Feast at that moment either.

What I say were:

2x control.
1x heroic aggro.
1x midrange.
1x tokens.
1x aggro.
1x control.
1x control.
1x DW.

I wasn't really paying attention to what I saw around me much this time, but the midrange, control and 2x control I didn't play against.

Round 1 was heroic aggro. Now I was pretty happy facing this deck round 1 but I learned to fear it. I went 2-1, but only because of bad hands on his part. I noticed that it was like modern Slippery Bogle decks in that you had to have just the right balance to win. In the match that he won, I was devastated. turn 4, a 7/4 swinging at me with a couple of 3/3s and 4/4s. ACK. Gods Willing proved to be my downfall as well, so hard to prepare for it and there is nothing I really can do against it. Later he asked how I did, and I was kinda depressed about going 2/3. I wanted to win with this deck, first standard deck and I've spent so much time on it. He said that since me, he hasn't lost once. That is how consistent his games are.

Round 2, 0-2, was just ... UGH. NO. WHY. HELP ME. DW just slaughtered me. Magma Spray deals with all of my 2 drops but Chief of the Scale and there was no Spear of Heliod in sight. Lightning Strikes and Stoke the Flames aplenty with a bunch of red one drops basically slaughtered me to oblivion.

Round 3, 1-2, was against ... what did I face again? Oh right, tokens. I had real problems with this one because the tokens could just block whatever they wanted, trading some of my 1 toughness creatures with ease, and that his board could be replenished in a blink of an eye. Luckily, no Purphoros, God of the Forge was seen, but a couple of Hordeling Outbursts and Raise the Alarms one after another rushed me down more than I would have liked. That and surprise Butcher of the Horde with tokens to sac for haste ruined me. Or it could have been the mana screw in the 3rd game, a Mana Confluence and a mountain and 4x Chief of the Edges. Yeah I know.

control was a really close match. I seem to have this ability to make my aggro decks last a really long time against control decks, which works quite well. I lost 1-2, but don't regret it. It was a fault in my deck-building which I will touch on a bit later. I just did not have the gas to pull through and finish him off.

Final round was against my own kind. Remember that my 6th round I just got a bye because the girl dropped for drafting when she realized she wasn't going to get in the top 8. Anyways, I won 2-0, and I noticed something about our decks that was the cause of his failure. We are similar to modern's Slippery Bogle in that we require a really good hand in terms of mana and fuel. Sort of like the heroic aggro but more fragile if it doesn't work. After discussing our decks a moment we had come to the realization that the utility stuff wasn't good in the amount that I had. I had 6 gods, and not once in the ... some 15 games I had, had I gotten one as a creature. Every deck is either running or , so there is no room for stuff that relies so heavily on my board state in a meta with so much removal.

Here are the changes I made:

Mainboard Changes

Removed:

Added:

Sideboard Changes

Removed:

Added:

Like I said before, I had no room for so much stuff that relies on my board state when every deck can and does house removal. So with that being said, out goes 3 gods. Heliod, God of the Sun's ability is the least relevant, as my creatures are relatively weak in that they can just be killed really easily even with it. As for it's token producing ability, that only applies to control decks, as it is too slow to be of use against any other deck. Iroas, God of Victory *list* falls the the same requirement of a board state, but I find that it is a lot easier to become a creature. The pseudo-indestructibility and pseudo-unblockability have a lot more relevance with just one or two creatures than say Heliod, God of the Sun's vigilance does, so I'm keeping just one Iroas, God of Victory *list* in. Purphoros, God of the Forge stays, as it has been very useful in a lot of my games.

On the other side of the spectrum, I found that in EVERY game I played, I always swapped in Butcher of the Horde post sideboard. This came to me realizing, "well, if I'm always using him, why not just run him main?" So I did, and I now have a much more heavier creature base and a lot more resiliency than I did before. The extra land I added last time got turned from a plains to a Nomad Outpost because I needed all that coloured mana.

I always said that Oreskos Swiftclaw was on the chopping block, and that there was nothing in KTK that was a good replacement. Well, I was wrong. I completely missed the fact that Seeker of the Way was a WARRIOR. I always though that he was a soldier! Always! So now, I'm running him instead, and the oh so satisfying turn 2 Seeker of the Way into turn 3 Mardu Ascendancy/Spear of Heliod to proc prowess and gain lifelink for the swing, has really solidified my constantly iffy turn 2-4 plays. That lifegain is awesome, and with him, Butcher of the Horde, and my 4 planeswalkers, I now have 10 instances of lifegain, granting me a lot of resiliency against a vast majority of decks thanks to it.

Now about the sideboard, my original plan for a total midrange swap has been chucked out the window. Butcher of the Horde MUST be in the mainboard, so now I can focus on adding more silver bullets to the side. The swap of a plains to Nomad Outpost also has to do with the really heavy coloured mana costs that the cards in my sideboard have.

Anger of the Gods deals with tokens, midrange (as Sylvan Caryatid, Rakshasa Deathdealer and Fleecemane Lion all get hit), fellow aggro, DW, and finally, all forms of (as Mantis Rider, Seeker of the Way and Ashcloud Phoenix all get hit). I like Anger of the Gods because I can just sac my Mardu Ascendancy to create a one sided wrath.

Deflecting Palm helps deal with any form of control as a last push for their life total, and it also allows me to swing all in without too much worry of a deadly counter attack. It is most fun against Goblin Rabblemaster, heroic decks, and Pearl Lake Ancient. It gets by any form of protection so Gods Willing does nothing.

Ride Down is especially useful against midrange builds, control builds and builds. The win condition of control creatures are surprised killed during the moments they are forced to block, and the many powerful creature of midrange builds are caught on surprise. Pearl Lake Ancient and Courser of Kruphix are the two biggest targets. It is also good at getting rid of Hornet Nest without any hassle. Finally, for the build, Mantis Rider becomes the prime target because of its vigilance. It is always blocking all the time, so it throws a wrench in their plan by preventing them from blocking it.