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I went to the Gatecrash Game Day today, and I ran G/W Humans/Aggro.
4x Temple Garden
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Cavern of Souls
2x Gavony Township
5x Plains
5x Forest
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
2x Precinct Captain
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Wolfbitten Captive
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2x Bonds of Faith
3x Faith's Shield
4x Selesnya Charm
SB:
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Rest in Peace
1x Bonds of Faith
2x Rootborn Defenses
2x Ray of Revelation
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Pithing Needle
This is a deck that's very underplayed - people are either playing some variant of R/W or G/R/W for aggro, both of which have access to burn and Boros Reckoner. Initially I built this deck because it's got some of the cheaper cards in Standard at the moment, aside from the Temple Gardens, Cavern of Souls, and Silverblade Paladin. The deck has great synergy with Champion of the Parish, basically pumping from everything aside from the Smiter.
I went 5-1 with the deck to finish in 4th place overall; had to settle for top 8 because a couple of people wanted to play it out for top prize instead of just splitting and not wasting everyone's time. Anyway, here are the matches(as best as I can remember.)
1st Match: R/W/G Aggro
I don't remember this match very much, other than losing a game out of nowhere to Boros Charm. That card is pretty beast in aggro, as all three modes are pretty good. At "worst" it's a smaller Lava Axe for WR, at instant speed. I won the match though, which made me feel good since I haven't played Standard in about a year and a half.
Record: 1-0 in matches, 2-1 in W/L
2nd Match: R/G Bloodrush
Bloodrush is a new keyword ability for the Gruul guild(R/G). While it is definitely good in limited, it's even better in standard. You get to pump an attacking creature for a lot, usually at a decent cost. It makes blocking really annoying. This is the only match I lost today, as I never saw any Selesnya Charms at the right time. This is also one of a few matches that questions the choice of Cavern of Souls in the deck, as there was a game that I lost due to not being able to play the Charms when I finally had them. I had playtested against this deck with Brendan, and although I don't have a big sample data against any particular deck, this is the one that's given me fits.
Cards of note: Selesnya Charm, Cavern of Souls, Ghor-Clan Rampager
Record: 1-1 in matches, 2-3 in W/L
3rd Match: R/W Aggro
This ended up being an easy match for me. My opponent never got any of the right cards, and I drew into Champion of the Parish/Mayor of Avabruck/Silverblade Paladin in order in both games. I didn't see a lot of his cards, but this was the lone deck that I saw with Boros Reckoner. Normally G/W doesn't have great answers for cards like this, but Bonds of Faith was able to neutralize it.
Cards of note: Mayor of Avabruck, Bonds of Faith, Boros Reckoner
Record: 2-1 in matches, 4-3 in W/L
4th Match: B/W Control
This deck is very slow. It basically just kills all of your dudes then trumps you with a Restoration Angel or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. I wasn't sure what he was playing and I ended up not sideboarding in any cards against him. The match wasn't very difficult, though I had to slow down because I was not familiar with any lists with this color combination.
Cards of note: Vault of the Archangel, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Record: 3-1 in matches, 6-3 in W/L
5th Match: G/B Midrange
My opponent seemed...eccentric. He ends up playing Predator Ooze which seems like a pet card, as it is not that great. I end up either using Bonds of Faith or Charm on it. One of the more annoying things against this match is the presence of Abrupt Decay, which kills literally EVERYTHING in my deck. In the third game, I was able to win from him being stuck at two land and getting an Ajani online. I also found out in this game that Pithing Needle is a great tool against Lotleth Troll.
Cards of note: Lotleth Troll, Pithing Needle, Ajani, Caller of the Pride,
Record: 4-1 in matches, 8-4 in W/L
6th Match: Jund Midrange
This was the most difficult match, both in terms of cards I was playing against and my opponent. For some reason I was missing little triggers and other things during the first game of this match. This deck features cards that are really annoying against aggro: from Thragtusk to Huntsmaster of the Fells to Olivia Voldaren. All of these cards require an answer within a turn or two or the game gets out of hand. I was able to take game one because he had a slow draw. Second game I lost because he got Huntsmaster online. Third game was really close. He was at 5 life with an Olivia Voldaren and 12 lands open and he attacks me, bringing me down to 7. He has one card in his hand(which was apparently nothing.) I have a Loxodon Smiter on the board, with a Charm and Faith's Shield in hand. I attack, no blocks and he asks if I have any way to pump. I show him the Charm, to which he responds with Olivia's pinging ability, to which I respond with Faith's Shield, targeting my creature with protection from black.
Record: 5-1 in matches, 10-5 in W/L
I ended up losing the first match in the "top 8" matches in unspectacular fashion to another R/G Bloodrush deck.
I really liked how this deck turned out. A few changes that I would make to the list:
- Add more Pithing Needles to the board. I ran two copies originally for Garruks/any random planeswalkers but I realize it's also good against Lotleth Troll(super annoying), Olivia Voldaren(of which I have few answers to), Deathrite Shaman(can't kill because it never goes into combat), etc.
- Run four copies of Bonds of Faith between the board and main. It's a great answer to a lot of threats like Thragtusk, Boros Reckoner, and any non-human aggro creatures. It seems like a "bad" play to put it on one of your guys but I was able to outright kill an opponent with a Bonded Champion.
- Potentially running Experiment One in place of Wolfbitten Captive. I'm not sure which one is better - Experiment One is highly resilient and can live through a lot via +1/+1 counters gained from Evolve/Ajani/Township, but Wolfbitten Captive stays along with Mayor and is a good mana sink if you get flooded late game. I will have to test it but for now I think I will stay with the Captive.
- Switch out a Gavony Township and/or both Cavern of Souls for just basic lands. I lost more than a couple of games because I was handcuffed by my own mana base. Gavony Township is a powerful card that can give you reach late game without replacing necessary creatures/spells, but I think one copy is the right call. Cavern of Souls looks great on paper, but can really be a hindrance when you just need one more green or white mana for a key Silverblade Paladin or Ajani. Control decks are starting to emerge and we may be seeing counter-magic in the format more often, but for now I think it just gets in the way.
- Ghost Quarter was a goofy inclusion into the sideboard last minute. With decks getting greedy with mana bases and running at times no basic lands whatsoever, it can sometimes mise for you as a poor-man's Wasteland. I'm not sure I want to include it in the sideboard going forward, or maybe put them in main to replace Cavern of Souls.
Notes:
- Pithing Needle is randomly good, and is now my favorite sideboard card after Jinxed Idol.
- Ajani, Caller of the Pride is a house, even when you never get to use his ultimate. His -3 ability won me games outright.
- Playing against midrange decks, it is OK to basically vomit your entire hand - you need to kill them before they establish their threats.
- Don't forget triggers! I watched a match where someone could have won but didn't because he forgot his own exalted trigger.
- Learn your own cards. I felt noobish in my last match, as my opponent knew my cards better than me.
- Never put a Bonds of Faith on Huntsmaster of the Fells, or you're gonna have a bad time.
Overall, I'm happy with the event. I was hoping to have gone to a Grand Prix this weekend but my current budget will not permit it. Maybe next month!
4x Temple Garden
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Cavern of Souls
2x Gavony Township
5x Plains
5x Forest
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
2x Precinct Captain
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Wolfbitten Captive
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2x Bonds of Faith
3x Faith's Shield
4x Selesnya Charm
SB:
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Rest in Peace
1x Bonds of Faith
2x Rootborn Defenses
2x Ray of Revelation
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Pithing Needle
This is a deck that's very underplayed - people are either playing some variant of R/W or G/R/W for aggro, both of which have access to burn and Boros Reckoner. Initially I built this deck because it's got some of the cheaper cards in Standard at the moment, aside from the Temple Gardens, Cavern of Souls, and Silverblade Paladin. The deck has great synergy with Champion of the Parish, basically pumping from everything aside from the Smiter.
I went 5-1 with the deck to finish in 4th place overall; had to settle for top 8 because a couple of people wanted to play it out for top prize instead of just splitting and not wasting everyone's time. Anyway, here are the matches(as best as I can remember.)
1st Match: R/W/G Aggro
I don't remember this match very much, other than losing a game out of nowhere to Boros Charm. That card is pretty beast in aggro, as all three modes are pretty good. At "worst" it's a smaller Lava Axe for WR, at instant speed. I won the match though, which made me feel good since I haven't played Standard in about a year and a half.
Record: 1-0 in matches, 2-1 in W/L
2nd Match: R/G Bloodrush
Bloodrush is a new keyword ability for the Gruul guild(R/G). While it is definitely good in limited, it's even better in standard. You get to pump an attacking creature for a lot, usually at a decent cost. It makes blocking really annoying. This is the only match I lost today, as I never saw any Selesnya Charms at the right time. This is also one of a few matches that questions the choice of Cavern of Souls in the deck, as there was a game that I lost due to not being able to play the Charms when I finally had them. I had playtested against this deck with Brendan, and although I don't have a big sample data against any particular deck, this is the one that's given me fits.
Cards of note: Selesnya Charm, Cavern of Souls, Ghor-Clan Rampager
Record: 1-1 in matches, 2-3 in W/L
3rd Match: R/W Aggro
This ended up being an easy match for me. My opponent never got any of the right cards, and I drew into Champion of the Parish/Mayor of Avabruck/Silverblade Paladin in order in both games. I didn't see a lot of his cards, but this was the lone deck that I saw with Boros Reckoner. Normally G/W doesn't have great answers for cards like this, but Bonds of Faith was able to neutralize it.
Cards of note: Mayor of Avabruck, Bonds of Faith, Boros Reckoner
Record: 2-1 in matches, 4-3 in W/L
4th Match: B/W Control
This deck is very slow. It basically just kills all of your dudes then trumps you with a Restoration Angel or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. I wasn't sure what he was playing and I ended up not sideboarding in any cards against him. The match wasn't very difficult, though I had to slow down because I was not familiar with any lists with this color combination.
Cards of note: Vault of the Archangel, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Record: 3-1 in matches, 6-3 in W/L
5th Match: G/B Midrange
My opponent seemed...eccentric. He ends up playing Predator Ooze which seems like a pet card, as it is not that great. I end up either using Bonds of Faith or Charm on it. One of the more annoying things against this match is the presence of Abrupt Decay, which kills literally EVERYTHING in my deck. In the third game, I was able to win from him being stuck at two land and getting an Ajani online. I also found out in this game that Pithing Needle is a great tool against Lotleth Troll.
Cards of note: Lotleth Troll, Pithing Needle, Ajani, Caller of the Pride,
Record: 4-1 in matches, 8-4 in W/L
6th Match: Jund Midrange
This was the most difficult match, both in terms of cards I was playing against and my opponent. For some reason I was missing little triggers and other things during the first game of this match. This deck features cards that are really annoying against aggro: from Thragtusk to Huntsmaster of the Fells to Olivia Voldaren. All of these cards require an answer within a turn or two or the game gets out of hand. I was able to take game one because he had a slow draw. Second game I lost because he got Huntsmaster online. Third game was really close. He was at 5 life with an Olivia Voldaren and 12 lands open and he attacks me, bringing me down to 7. He has one card in his hand(which was apparently nothing.) I have a Loxodon Smiter on the board, with a Charm and Faith's Shield in hand. I attack, no blocks and he asks if I have any way to pump. I show him the Charm, to which he responds with Olivia's pinging ability, to which I respond with Faith's Shield, targeting my creature with protection from black.
Record: 5-1 in matches, 10-5 in W/L
I ended up losing the first match in the "top 8" matches in unspectacular fashion to another R/G Bloodrush deck.
I really liked how this deck turned out. A few changes that I would make to the list:
- Add more Pithing Needles to the board. I ran two copies originally for Garruks/any random planeswalkers but I realize it's also good against Lotleth Troll(super annoying), Olivia Voldaren(of which I have few answers to), Deathrite Shaman(can't kill because it never goes into combat), etc.
- Run four copies of Bonds of Faith between the board and main. It's a great answer to a lot of threats like Thragtusk, Boros Reckoner, and any non-human aggro creatures. It seems like a "bad" play to put it on one of your guys but I was able to outright kill an opponent with a Bonded Champion.
- Potentially running Experiment One in place of Wolfbitten Captive. I'm not sure which one is better - Experiment One is highly resilient and can live through a lot via +1/+1 counters gained from Evolve/Ajani/Township, but Wolfbitten Captive stays along with Mayor and is a good mana sink if you get flooded late game. I will have to test it but for now I think I will stay with the Captive.
- Switch out a Gavony Township and/or both Cavern of Souls for just basic lands. I lost more than a couple of games because I was handcuffed by my own mana base. Gavony Township is a powerful card that can give you reach late game without replacing necessary creatures/spells, but I think one copy is the right call. Cavern of Souls looks great on paper, but can really be a hindrance when you just need one more green or white mana for a key Silverblade Paladin or Ajani. Control decks are starting to emerge and we may be seeing counter-magic in the format more often, but for now I think it just gets in the way.
- Ghost Quarter was a goofy inclusion into the sideboard last minute. With decks getting greedy with mana bases and running at times no basic lands whatsoever, it can sometimes mise for you as a poor-man's Wasteland. I'm not sure I want to include it in the sideboard going forward, or maybe put them in main to replace Cavern of Souls.
Notes:
- Pithing Needle is randomly good, and is now my favorite sideboard card after Jinxed Idol.
- Ajani, Caller of the Pride is a house, even when you never get to use his ultimate. His -3 ability won me games outright.
- Playing against midrange decks, it is OK to basically vomit your entire hand - you need to kill them before they establish their threats.
- Don't forget triggers! I watched a match where someone could have won but didn't because he forgot his own exalted trigger.
- Learn your own cards. I felt noobish in my last match, as my opponent knew my cards better than me.
- Never put a Bonds of Faith on Huntsmaster of the Fells, or you're gonna have a bad time.
Overall, I'm happy with the event. I was hoping to have gone to a Grand Prix this weekend but my current budget will not permit it. Maybe next month!