FNM Again - or My ADD strikes again.
So this week and next week are some of my busiest times of the year, so today's report will be a bit short.
I have a confession. I have DADD, Deck Attention Deficit Disorder. I build a deck play it for a few weeks, or less, then build something else when I get bored. I got bored this week. So I made another deck. It's not really rogue, but as always I tweak any deck I play to my own specifications (read: make worse, most of the time, and make better once in a while). This week I decided that if I couldn't beat the ravening hordes of weenie aggro from last week, I'd join them. I also had a hankering to play my new playset of Primeval Titan.
Here's what I ran:
ELVES!
Spells:
Llanowar Elves x4
Arbor Elf x4
Joraga Treespeaker x4
Copperhorn Scout x3
Joraga Warcaller x3
Sylvan Ranger x4
Beastmaster Ascension x2
Elvish Archdruid x4
Wolfbriar Elemental x2
I have a confession. I have DADD, Deck Attention Deficit Disorder. I build a deck play it for a few weeks, or less, then build something else when I get bored. I got bored this week. So I made another deck. It's not really rogue, but as always I tweak any deck I play to my own specifications (read: make worse, most of the time, and make better once in a while). This week I decided that if I couldn't beat the ravening hordes of weenie aggro from last week, I'd join them. I also had a hankering to play my new playset of Primeval Titan.
Here's what I ran:
ELVES!
Spells:
Llanowar Elves x4
Arbor Elf x4
Joraga Treespeaker x4
Copperhorn Scout x3
Joraga Warcaller x3
Sylvan Ranger x4
Beastmaster Ascension x2
Elvish Archdruid x4
Wolfbriar Elemental x2
Eldrazi Monument x4
Asceticism x1
Primeval Titan x4
Genesis Wave x3
Land:
Misty Rainforest x1
Round 2:
Nick (different Nick) - R/G Infect
He had things like:Copperline Gorge, Lightning Bolt, Teetering Peaks, Smoldering Spires, etc.
Game 1:
He gets a fast start with some infect dudes and I'm fast in a position where if he has a pump spell I'm dead, but if I block with my guys I won't be able to get control of the board, so I don't block, and he has the pump.
Game 2:
In:
Acidic Slime x4
Leyline of Vitality x1 (not sure if this is right, but my reasoning was that the life gain was irrelevant, but the extra toughness would allow me to block more favorably more often)
Mitotic Slime x1
Out:
Beastmaster Ascension x2
Eldrazi Monument x4
(My creatures won't survive even with indestructibility, if I'm blocking, and the Ascension is overkill and only good when I'm winning already, so there you go)
I block early and often, trading my more numerous creatures for his pump spells, and slowly attrition him out of the game. I am also able to lock him out of red sources with Acidic Slime and Tectonic Edge which helps all my weenies stay alive long enough to ramp into a Genesis Wave for a lot. It's fairly easy to mop up after that.
Game 3:
See game two.
My land destruction was extremely relevant these games, allowing me to overwhelm him in fairly short order.
We talked a bit after the match about his deck. I made the suggestion of removing red in favor of blue. My logic was that everything red did, blue does better (with only one exception, his SB'd Arc Trails, blue can't replace this effect). His bolts can become mana leaks or other relevant counterspells which remove more than just creatures that are already on the board like the bolts. His bolts can't even go to the face like they can in almost every other deck because his opponents' life total is irrelevant, given that the infect player plans on winning with poison counters. He can add both card draw and proliferate with Steady Progress or some other proliferate card, making his long term game plan much more resilient. I've seen a few versions of the infect deck and they all agreed on the use of blue, U/B or U/G, but always U. Anyway, it did seem fun to play though. :) Maybe it'll be an infect deck for me next week...
Rogue Insight 1 - World 1
Round 3
Emmett - Quest Weenie (sort of, his version)
Now Emmett is a very good player who mostly plays legacy, not standard. He adjudicates rules questions for us sometimes if the TO is busy, and is generally a stand up guy. I'm not in any way biased by the fact that he gave me his decklist and doesn't mind that I post it here. He might even put some articles up on here about some other formats I don't usually dip my toes into (EDH, Legacy, or almost anything other than standard).
Here's his deck:
His is less all in on the Quest than most versions I have s
een online, but it's a fun deck.
We both agree that His Ajani is bonkers, and is one of the best planeswalkers in standard at the moment. However, his deck does seem to be a dog to my more over the top version of swarm.
Game 1:
I am able to ramp out with almost no fear of interaction from his side of the table and very quickly I have flying indestructibles and armies of wolves that are able to take the game.
Game 2:
See game one, but replace wolves with a HUGE wave.
I think I had almost half my deck on the field when I won.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 1
Round 4
Greg - R/U/G (Very close to Dan Jordan's version, if not the exact list)
Greg is another very good player who is always running one of the top decks in the format. I admit to being a bit jealous of his available card pool. I just can't get that deep a card pool from which to draw for a lot of reasons. He always seems able to put together a good version of any deck. Must be nice. He also pilots them with skill and intensity, so he's always a good match, regardless of the matchup.
Game one:
We realize that we can probably draw into the top 4, but we're both there to play, so we play.
I neglect to take any shots of these games because I'm thinking very hard every turn. He's able to counter or remove all my relevant plays and get a titan online, and we're on to game two.
Game two:
See game 1, only more in his favor, and I never saw a side board card except one slime.
Greg decides that he'd like to be magnanimous, and offer to draw, despite trouncing me twice. I can see his logic. I'm obviously a good matchup for him and therefore I'll be another deck in the top 4 that will be fairly easy to beat. So we drew.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 2 ( I don't count the draw as a win, especially since I actually lost)
Top 4!
Quarter Finals
Nick - U/B Control (again)
Both of these games went fairly long, but both ended in his favor. I'm not going to describe play by plays, it'd take forever, but I will post some pics of the games I was able to take while we were each taking HUGE turns. You'll see what I mean:
Double titans on my side which means that every land in my entire deck is on the field. He has Jace, that I am repeatedly unable to kill. His single target removal is just enough to maintain board parity.
His and my boards at the end of the second game look like this:
Rogue Insight 2 - World 3
So I had fun, but I think we have too much control in our meta to play elves consistently.
I feel like I want to play proactive disruption. Not sure how to build it, especially with no Jace 2.0 in my collection.
So another week passes, and we're a little closer to Mirrodin Beseiged. Have a good week everyone, and may you topdeck well.
- Rogue Insight
Asceticism x1
Primeval Titan x4
Genesis Wave x3
Land:
Misty Rainforest x1
Mystifying Maze x1
Khalni Garden x2
(My three singletons probably should have been Vines of Vastwood)
In testing I was able to go:
Turn one: Llanowar Elves.
Turn two: Elvish Archdruid.
Turn three: (No land drop) Elvish Archdruid, Copperhorn Scout.
Turn four: (No land drop) Arbor Elf, Joraga Treespeaker, Genesis Wave for 10, with another Genesis Wave in hand, attack with Copperhorn Scout, untap the Elvish Archdruid's and Genesis Wave again for 29. All with two lands, although many more after the two waves.
However this is fairly easy to disrupt as I found out.
Round 1
Nick - U/B control
Now, I would have preferred playing against U/B with my planeswalker deck the entire night. The matchup is very heavily in my favor, even though Nick is running, what I think is the better version of U/B that has Abyssal Persecutor. But no, my ADD strikes again and I'm running elves. Not a great matchup for me.
This picture sort of sums up how these two games went:
Game 1:
He got a nice combination of spot removal, fast, resilient threats, and card draw. I got a lot of elves that were not fast enough in ramping out to overcome his flying beats. He gets me to some negative life total, then bounces his Abyssal Persecutor somehow, and I'm dead.
Game 2:
See game 1.
Rogue Insight 0 - World 1
Khalni Garden x2
Tectonic Edge x3
Forest x11
Side Board:
Acidic Slime x4
Autumn's Veil x4
Obstinate Baloth x4
Fauna Shaman x1
Leyline of Vitality x1
Forest x11
Side Board:
Acidic Slime x4
Autumn's Veil x4
Obstinate Baloth x4
Fauna Shaman x1
Leyline of Vitality x1
(My three singletons probably should have been Vines of Vastwood)
In testing I was able to go:
Turn one: Llanowar Elves.
Turn two: Elvish Archdruid.
Turn three: (No land drop) Elvish Archdruid, Copperhorn Scout.
Turn four: (No land drop) Arbor Elf, Joraga Treespeaker, Genesis Wave for 10, with another Genesis Wave in hand, attack with Copperhorn Scout, untap the Elvish Archdruid's and Genesis Wave again for 29. All with two lands, although many more after the two waves.
However this is fairly easy to disrupt as I found out.
Round 1
Nick - U/B control
Now, I would have preferred playing against U/B with my planeswalker deck the entire night. The matchup is very heavily in my favor, even though Nick is running, what I think is the better version of U/B that has Abyssal Persecutor. But no, my ADD strikes again and I'm running elves. Not a great matchup for me.
This picture sort of sums up how these two games went:
Game 1:He got a nice combination of spot removal, fast, resilient threats, and card draw. I got a lot of elves that were not fast enough in ramping out to overcome his flying beats. He gets me to some negative life total, then bounces his Abyssal Persecutor somehow, and I'm dead.
Game 2:
See game 1.
Rogue Insight 0 - World 1
Round 2:
Nick (different Nick) - R/G Infect
He had things like:Copperline Gorge, Lightning Bolt, Teetering Peaks, Smoldering Spires, etc.
Game 1:
He gets a fast start with some infect dudes and I'm fast in a position where if he has a pump spell I'm dead, but if I block with my guys I won't be able to get control of the board, so I don't block, and he has the pump.
Game 2:
In:
Acidic Slime x4
Leyline of Vitality x1 (not sure if this is right, but my reasoning was that the life gain was irrelevant, but the extra toughness would allow me to block more favorably more often)
Mitotic Slime x1
Out:
Beastmaster Ascension x2
Eldrazi Monument x4
(My creatures won't survive even with indestructibility, if I'm blocking, and the Ascension is overkill and only good when I'm winning already, so there you go)
I block early and often, trading my more numerous creatures for his pump spells, and slowly attrition him out of the game. I am also able to lock him out of red sources with Acidic Slime and Tectonic Edge which helps all my weenies stay alive long enough to ramp into a Genesis Wave for a lot. It's fairly easy to mop up after that.
Game 3:
See game two.
My land destruction was extremely relevant these games, allowing me to overwhelm him in fairly short order.
We talked a bit after the match about his deck. I made the suggestion of removing red in favor of blue. My logic was that everything red did, blue does better (with only one exception, his SB'd Arc Trails, blue can't replace this effect). His bolts can become mana leaks or other relevant counterspells which remove more than just creatures that are already on the board like the bolts. His bolts can't even go to the face like they can in almost every other deck because his opponents' life total is irrelevant, given that the infect player plans on winning with poison counters. He can add both card draw and proliferate with Steady Progress or some other proliferate card, making his long term game plan much more resilient. I've seen a few versions of the infect deck and they all agreed on the use of blue, U/B or U/G, but always U. Anyway, it did seem fun to play though. :) Maybe it'll be an infect deck for me next week...
Rogue Insight 1 - World 1
Round 3
Emmett - Quest Weenie (sort of, his version)
Now Emmett is a very good player who mostly plays legacy, not standard. He adjudicates rules questions for us sometimes if the TO is busy, and is generally a stand up guy. I'm not in any way biased by the fact that he gave me his decklist and doesn't mind that I post it here. He might even put some articles up on here about some other formats I don't usually dip my toes into (EDH, Legacy, or almost anything other than standard).
Here's his deck:
His is less all in on the Quest than most versions I have s
een online, but it's a fun deck.
We both agree that His Ajani is bonkers, and is one of the best planeswalkers in standard at the moment. However, his deck does seem to be a dog to my more over the top version of swarm.
Game 1:
I am able to ramp out with almost no fear of interaction from his side of the table and very quickly I have flying indestructibles and armies of wolves that are able to take the game.
Game 2:
See game one, but replace wolves with a HUGE wave.
I think I had almost half my deck on the field when I won.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 1
Round 4
Greg - R/U/G (Very close to Dan Jordan's version, if not the exact list)
Greg is another very good player who is always running one of the top decks in the format. I admit to being a bit jealous of his available card pool. I just can't get that deep a card pool from which to draw for a lot of reasons. He always seems able to put together a good version of any deck. Must be nice. He also pilots them with skill and intensity, so he's always a good match, regardless of the matchup.
Game one:
We realize that we can probably draw into the top 4, but we're both there to play, so we play.
I neglect to take any shots of these games because I'm thinking very hard every turn. He's able to counter or remove all my relevant plays and get a titan online, and we're on to game two.
Game two:
See game 1, only more in his favor, and I never saw a side board card except one slime.
Greg decides that he'd like to be magnanimous, and offer to draw, despite trouncing me twice. I can see his logic. I'm obviously a good matchup for him and therefore I'll be another deck in the top 4 that will be fairly easy to beat. So we drew.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 2 ( I don't count the draw as a win, especially since I actually lost)
Top 4!
Quarter Finals
Nick - U/B Control (again)
Both of these games went fairly long, but both ended in his favor. I'm not going to describe play by plays, it'd take forever, but I will post some pics of the games I was able to take while we were each taking HUGE turns. You'll see what I mean:
Double titans on my side which means that every land in my entire deck is on the field. He has Jace, that I am repeatedly unable to kill. His single target removal is just enough to maintain board parity.
His and my boards at the end of the second game look like this:
Rogue Insight 2 - World 3
So I had fun, but I think we have too much control in our meta to play elves consistently.
I feel like I want to play proactive disruption. Not sure how to build it, especially with no Jace 2.0 in my collection.
So another week passes, and we're a little closer to Mirrodin Beseiged. Have a good week everyone, and may you topdeck well.
- Rogue Insight
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