FNM x2: Win (sort of) and Win (no, for real this time)
Two winning FNM reports for the price of one this week! Will the deals never end?!?!!!!!!
So I wasn't able to post my FNM experience last week. I had the PTQ the next day and neither of my performances were what you'd call stellar. I went 2-1 in the FNM with my U/W Venser control list that I posted here. Here's a truncated version of the report. I forget who I played as I'm writing this a week after the fact.
11/27/10 - TOGIT FNM
Round 1 - Elves
My first round I lost to elves. Have a ton of critter board wipe. Played like none of them. Lost. Fast.
World 1 - Rogue Insight 0
Round 2 - Bye
I got the bye... I hate getting the bye. I'm there to play and I want to play, not sit there and watch everyone else play. Can't even trade because those I would normally trade with are playing.
I don't count this as a win even though technically my record is now 1-1.
World 2 - Rogue Insight 0
At this point so many people have dropped to draft or play legacy or do something other than pound their heads against the standard metagame for another two rounds that there are only 4 people left and the T.O. asks us if we want to cut to top 4 instead of playing each other for the two rounds left in the tournament before playing all the same people again in the top four. So we cut to top 4.
Top 4
I play elves again I think, same guy who beat me earlier. I win this time. I draw Days. He doesn't recover.
We draw for top 2 because the prize doesn't change depending on your first or second placement, take our foily gatekeepers and head home.
Record:
World 2 - Rogue Insight 1 (2-1 in matches counting the bye) and a win.
Seriously, such an odd evening. I had 1 match win where I actually played the match. Just one. And I won. Mise, I guess, but it doesn't feel like a win.
So that was two Friday's ago.
Last night was FNM: 12/3/10.
I had two decks with me when I walked in, and a friend of mine, Shawn, wanted to play a round of standard before dropping and drafting which he does every week (the drafting, not the dropping), so I lent him my U/W build from last week for two reasons. I wanted to try out the other deck I had with me, and I wanted to see what someone other than me thought about playing my U/W list.
So I ended up playing Valakut. It's not what I would consider an optimal list, but it performed really well all night.
Here's my list:
Land
Mountain x12
Forest x6
Evolving Wilds x3
Terramorphic Expanse x1
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle x4
Spells
Lightning Bolt x4
Khalni Heart Expedition x2
Explore x4
Harrow x4
Cultivate x4
Oracle of Mul Daya x4
Summoning Trap x4
Primeval Titan x4
Wurmcoil Engine x3
Avenger of Zendikar x1
Sideboard
Pyroclasm x4
Overgrown Battlement x4
Autumn's Veil x3
Acidic Slime x3
Elixir of Immortality x1
Shawn played Dave - Allies/Fauna Shaman (of previous reports, running U/B mill or 4 color fauna shaman/allies)
And won with my U/W list in I think 3 games.
I played Matt.
Round 1 - Matt with Kuldotha Rebirth Red
Matt was very nice, but fairly new and was borrowing a not fully completed version of Cannon Goblins. However, it did have the potential to burst out of the gates and just burn the face off of unsuspecting opponents.
Game 1
Game one he has a slow start, I suspect because he doesn't know how to mulligan with this deck, or what hands are good. I ramp up a bit while he figures out how to use Koth effectively, but by the time he does and is setting up a clock, I have Primeval Titan, and dome him for 24 the next turn. I'm helping him learn to play his deck, explaining his cards to him (especially the Japanese or Korean versions) and making sure he's having a good time playing while we're playing our games.
Game 2
I keep a loose hand of ramp + 2 Primeval Titan but which has only 2 Mountains and I never see another land. He figures out the combo of rebirth and chieftain, and I die post haste.
Game 3
I keep a hand of Evolving Wilds, Mountain x2, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Lightning Bolt, and Pyroclasm x2. I draw an Overgrown Battlement on my first draw step and know I'm going to win. I'm able to kill all his plays, protect my life total and combo out with Valakut + Primeval.
Rogue Insight 1 - World 0 (Games: Rogue Insight 2 - World 1)
Round 2 - Dave with Allies/Fauna Shaman
Now Shawn had beaten Dave 2-1 in the previous round, but gave the win to Dave and dropped to draft, so I get to play Dave. Having been beaten by Dave a time or two before I was a bit worried about not having my board cards main deck. He wins the roll and we're off to game 1.
Game 1 - I'm on the draw.
I take Game 1 with a Primeval Titan and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and win when I'm at 6.
Game 2 - I'm on the draw.
He comes out of the gates fast with a Birds of Paradise, into Fauna Shaman + a seemingly infinite stream of the worst possible allies for me, thanks to his shaman. I lose really fast.
Game 3 - I'm on the play.
I have a good hand, and he has a hand of Plains, Hada Freeblade x3 and no other lands. He never sees another land and scoops to my resolved Primeval Titan after I bolted one Freeblade and Clasm'd another.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 0 (Games: Rogue Insight 4 - World 2)
Round 3 - Garret with a Mike Flores special. His deck is really good, but I think he might be giving the list (He being Mike Flores) to people for Worlds in a week or so, so I'll refrain from posting the list. Good luck to all going to worlds, I won't out your tech. But the last interwebs published version of the deck is posted on http://fivewithflores.com/ so there you go. It plays good stuff. Seriously it's like almost a weeks pay for a professional like myself to buy this deck. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. Mythics, and more Mythics, with a smattering of the most expensive rares as well. Easily the most expensive non-legacy deck in the room. Probably gave a lot of the legacy decks a run for their money, pun intended, as well. I will say that Garrets addition to the Flores brew, Frost Titan, deserves to be there. If you're on twitter and you're not following @fivewithflores or @GRat9717 well then you should be. These two know what's up.
Game 1 & 2
I don't remember the specifics of these games as I was concentrating so hard I didn't take a second to set the games or board states in my head. Suffice it to say I win one, lose one.
Game 3 gets really interesting, but I'm never really in danger of taking control of the game. He wins through Jace TMS I think, bouncing my Wurmcoil Engine on the important turns of the game, allowing him to get damage in. Very good games with a very good opponent running (not to be repetetive) a very good deck.
Rogue Insight 2 World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 5 - World 4)
Round 4 - Zoltan with a borrowed Eldrazi Ramp deck.
Yay, ramp mirror. Sigh. Very draw dependent match, so I mulligan aggressively into a hand that has a fast titan.
Game 1
I am able to combo out fairly fast with Primeval Titan.
Game 2
He comes out of the gates really fast with a turn 3 Primeval Titan, and Annihilates my board before I'm able to cast one of the three Primeval Titan in hand. I think I had 5 permanents on the board when he cast his Ulamog.
Game 3
I was able to combo out again, hitting him for WAY more than his life total the turn or two before he would have annihilated my board thanks to Emrakul.
I ended the swiss portion of the tournament with a 3-1 record.
Rogue Insight 3 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 7 - World 5)
Top 4 - Dean running RDW.
I've played Dean before and I know that his deck is fast and pretty consistent and can win from nowhere with hasty beats. I knew I was in for a difficult match.
Game 1
Dean keeps a slow hand and doesn't do much before I'm able to combo out with Primeval Titan.
Game 2
I have the sideboard cards to keep my life total high and I win fairly easily with Primeval Titan again. I was able to bolt his turn 3 Kiln fiend with teetering peaks and assault strobe.
I have to admit I was surprised by how easily I was able to fight through his creatures and burn. It's definitely a good deck, Valakut.
Rogue Insight 4 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 9 - World 5)
Top 2 - Nick with U/B Control
This match was awesome. First Nick is one of the best players in the stores metagame, and I'm not just saying that because he also reads my blog ( Hi Nick!). His deck is strong on multiple fronts, has a few different ways to win, and answers to everything in the format. By the way, if you're on twitter you should follow him: @cabooselol (I'm there too, @RogueInsight if you didn't know)
Game 1 I'm on the play.
Since we were in the top 2 and there was no time limit, we played draw go a while. Me ramping my lands, and him sculpting his hand for a turn of trying to resolve stuff. I am able to take advantage of a turn 4 tapout on his side of the board to hit me with Creeping Tarpit to Harrow on his end step, then Cultivate and Harrow
on mine putting me fairly far ahead in the mana advantage game. I'm then able to resolve a Primeval Titan and win from there.
Game 2 I'm on the draw.
Have you noticed in my previous matches how often the phrase "I resolved Primeval Titan" is followed by "and win from there" or "combo'd him out"? There is a rather high correlation to a resolved Primeval Titan and winning the game. This game was the odd man out. I get an fairly early Primeval Titan on the board, but he has the Tectonic Edges and Doom Blade to negate my advantage. We end up going pretty long, but once he Memoricide's my Primeval Titan's, I'm in trouble. He gets Abyssal Persecutor and Jace, the Mind Sculptor online and I'm dead shortly thereafter.
Game 3 was epic. I'm on the play.
We play draw go again for a bit. He resolves an early Memoricide before I can resolve a Primeval Titan. Then Memoricide shows up for an encore and steals my Wurmcoil Engines. I know I'm in for a long game. My only hope is to beat with my small critters or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle the hard way, but he has one Tectonic Edge already in the bin along with one of my Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and two more Tectonic Edge on the field. I realize that my only outs are the 3 Acidic Slime I boarded in, and I'd need 2 of them to kill his edges before I could lay my Valakut safely and have a path to victory. So I start sandbagging lands in hand, setting up a turn where I can either harrow or something with the Tectonic Edge trigger on the stack, or I get the slimes to bin his edges and win from there. He's in topdeck mode at this point, but has an active Jace TMS Fatesealing himself and me, looking for ways to kill me while trying to keep me off ways to kill him. I go through a LOT of my deck with Summoning Trap and finally hit my two slimes, knocking his edges out. Meanwhile I've killed a number of his threats, and whittled his life down to 4, but he's basically stabilized the board. Two turns, one Valakut, Explore, and two mountains later, all of which I had been holding in my hand for turns, and I'm the FNM Champ.
Rogue Insight 5 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 11 - World 6)
I have to admit, that although it's a well known deck, and I do like my U/W list a lot, the Valakut list was a blast to play. It performed well for me under pressure all night. This is a legit deck, no mistake.
Ok, well that's it for me.
I still have to post the video of the PTQ, but I hope you all have enjoyed this double edition of FNM WIN!
Thanks for reading.
- Rogue Insight
So I wasn't able to post my FNM experience last week. I had the PTQ the next day and neither of my performances were what you'd call stellar. I went 2-1 in the FNM with my U/W Venser control list that I posted here. Here's a truncated version of the report. I forget who I played as I'm writing this a week after the fact.
11/27/10 - TOGIT FNM
Round 1 - Elves
My first round I lost to elves. Have a ton of critter board wipe. Played like none of them. Lost. Fast.
World 1 - Rogue Insight 0
Round 2 - Bye
I got the bye... I hate getting the bye. I'm there to play and I want to play, not sit there and watch everyone else play. Can't even trade because those I would normally trade with are playing.
I don't count this as a win even though technically my record is now 1-1.
World 2 - Rogue Insight 0
At this point so many people have dropped to draft or play legacy or do something other than pound their heads against the standard metagame for another two rounds that there are only 4 people left and the T.O. asks us if we want to cut to top 4 instead of playing each other for the two rounds left in the tournament before playing all the same people again in the top four. So we cut to top 4.
Top 4
I play elves again I think, same guy who beat me earlier. I win this time. I draw Days. He doesn't recover.
We draw for top 2 because the prize doesn't change depending on your first or second placement, take our foily gatekeepers and head home.
Record:
World 2 - Rogue Insight 1 (2-1 in matches counting the bye) and a win.
Seriously, such an odd evening. I had 1 match win where I actually played the match. Just one. And I won. Mise, I guess, but it doesn't feel like a win.
So that was two Friday's ago.
Last night was FNM: 12/3/10.
I had two decks with me when I walked in, and a friend of mine, Shawn, wanted to play a round of standard before dropping and drafting which he does every week (the drafting, not the dropping), so I lent him my U/W build from last week for two reasons. I wanted to try out the other deck I had with me, and I wanted to see what someone other than me thought about playing my U/W list.
So I ended up playing Valakut. It's not what I would consider an optimal list, but it performed really well all night.
Here's my list:
Land
Mountain x12
Forest x6
Evolving Wilds x3
Terramorphic Expanse x1
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle x4
Spells
Lightning Bolt x4
Khalni Heart Expedition x2
Explore x4
Harrow x4
Cultivate x4
Oracle of Mul Daya x4
Summoning Trap x4
Primeval Titan x4
Wurmcoil Engine x3
Avenger of Zendikar x1
Sideboard
Pyroclasm x4
Overgrown Battlement x4
Autumn's Veil x3
Acidic Slime x3
Elixir of Immortality x1
Shawn played Dave - Allies/Fauna Shaman (of previous reports, running U/B mill or 4 color fauna shaman/allies)
And won with my U/W list in I think 3 games.
I played Matt.
Round 1 - Matt with Kuldotha Rebirth Red
Matt was very nice, but fairly new and was borrowing a not fully completed version of Cannon Goblins. However, it did have the potential to burst out of the gates and just burn the face off of unsuspecting opponents.
Game 1
Game one he has a slow start, I suspect because he doesn't know how to mulligan with this deck, or what hands are good. I ramp up a bit while he figures out how to use Koth effectively, but by the time he does and is setting up a clock, I have Primeval Titan, and dome him for 24 the next turn. I'm helping him learn to play his deck, explaining his cards to him (especially the Japanese or Korean versions) and making sure he's having a good time playing while we're playing our games.
Game 2
I keep a loose hand of ramp + 2 Primeval Titan but which has only 2 Mountains and I never see another land. He figures out the combo of rebirth and chieftain, and I die post haste.
Game 3
I keep a hand of Evolving Wilds, Mountain x2, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Lightning Bolt, and Pyroclasm x2. I draw an Overgrown Battlement on my first draw step and know I'm going to win. I'm able to kill all his plays, protect my life total and combo out with Valakut + Primeval.
Rogue Insight 1 - World 0 (Games: Rogue Insight 2 - World 1)
Round 2 - Dave with Allies/Fauna Shaman
Now Shawn had beaten Dave 2-1 in the previous round, but gave the win to Dave and dropped to draft, so I get to play Dave. Having been beaten by Dave a time or two before I was a bit worried about not having my board cards main deck. He wins the roll and we're off to game 1.
Game 1 - I'm on the draw.
I take Game 1 with a Primeval Titan and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and win when I'm at 6.
Game 2 - I'm on the draw.
He comes out of the gates fast with a Birds of Paradise, into Fauna Shaman + a seemingly infinite stream of the worst possible allies for me, thanks to his shaman. I lose really fast.
Game 3 - I'm on the play.
I have a good hand, and he has a hand of Plains, Hada Freeblade x3 and no other lands. He never sees another land and scoops to my resolved Primeval Titan after I bolted one Freeblade and Clasm'd another.
Rogue Insight 2 - World 0 (Games: Rogue Insight 4 - World 2)
Round 3 - Garret with a Mike Flores special. His deck is really good, but I think he might be giving the list (He being Mike Flores) to people for Worlds in a week or so, so I'll refrain from posting the list. Good luck to all going to worlds, I won't out your tech. But the last interwebs published version of the deck is posted on http://fivewithflores.com/ so there you go. It plays good stuff. Seriously it's like almost a weeks pay for a professional like myself to buy this deck. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. Mythics, and more Mythics, with a smattering of the most expensive rares as well. Easily the most expensive non-legacy deck in the room. Probably gave a lot of the legacy decks a run for their money, pun intended, as well. I will say that Garrets addition to the Flores brew, Frost Titan, deserves to be there. If you're on twitter and you're not following @fivewithflores or @GRat9717 well then you should be. These two know what's up.
Game 1 & 2
I don't remember the specifics of these games as I was concentrating so hard I didn't take a second to set the games or board states in my head. Suffice it to say I win one, lose one.
Game 3 gets really interesting, but I'm never really in danger of taking control of the game. He wins through Jace TMS I think, bouncing my Wurmcoil Engine on the important turns of the game, allowing him to get damage in. Very good games with a very good opponent running (not to be repetetive) a very good deck.
Rogue Insight 2 World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 5 - World 4)
Round 4 - Zoltan with a borrowed Eldrazi Ramp deck.
Yay, ramp mirror. Sigh. Very draw dependent match, so I mulligan aggressively into a hand that has a fast titan.
Game 1
I am able to combo out fairly fast with Primeval Titan.
Game 2
He comes out of the gates really fast with a turn 3 Primeval Titan, and Annihilates my board before I'm able to cast one of the three Primeval Titan in hand. I think I had 5 permanents on the board when he cast his Ulamog.
Game 3
I was able to combo out again, hitting him for WAY more than his life total the turn or two before he would have annihilated my board thanks to Emrakul.
I ended the swiss portion of the tournament with a 3-1 record.
Rogue Insight 3 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 7 - World 5)
Top 4 - Dean running RDW.
I've played Dean before and I know that his deck is fast and pretty consistent and can win from nowhere with hasty beats. I knew I was in for a difficult match.
Game 1
Dean keeps a slow hand and doesn't do much before I'm able to combo out with Primeval Titan.
Game 2
I have the sideboard cards to keep my life total high and I win fairly easily with Primeval Titan again. I was able to bolt his turn 3 Kiln fiend with teetering peaks and assault strobe.
I have to admit I was surprised by how easily I was able to fight through his creatures and burn. It's definitely a good deck, Valakut.
Rogue Insight 4 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 9 - World 5)
Top 2 - Nick with U/B Control
This match was awesome. First Nick is one of the best players in the stores metagame, and I'm not just saying that because he also reads my blog ( Hi Nick!). His deck is strong on multiple fronts, has a few different ways to win, and answers to everything in the format. By the way, if you're on twitter you should follow him: @cabooselol (I'm there too, @RogueInsight if you didn't know)
Game 1 I'm on the play.
Since we were in the top 2 and there was no time limit, we played draw go a while. Me ramping my lands, and him sculpting his hand for a turn of trying to resolve stuff. I am able to take advantage of a turn 4 tapout on his side of the board to hit me with Creeping Tarpit to Harrow on his end step, then Cultivate and Harrow
on mine putting me fairly far ahead in the mana advantage game. I'm then able to resolve a Primeval Titan and win from there.
Game 2 I'm on the draw.
Have you noticed in my previous matches how often the phrase "I resolved Primeval Titan" is followed by "and win from there" or "combo'd him out"? There is a rather high correlation to a resolved Primeval Titan and winning the game. This game was the odd man out. I get an fairly early Primeval Titan on the board, but he has the Tectonic Edges and Doom Blade to negate my advantage. We end up going pretty long, but once he Memoricide's my Primeval Titan's, I'm in trouble. He gets Abyssal Persecutor and Jace, the Mind Sculptor online and I'm dead shortly thereafter.
Game 3 was epic. I'm on the play.
We play draw go again for a bit. He resolves an early Memoricide before I can resolve a Primeval Titan. Then Memoricide shows up for an encore and steals my Wurmcoil Engines. I know I'm in for a long game. My only hope is to beat with my small critters or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle the hard way, but he has one Tectonic Edge already in the bin along with one of my Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and two more Tectonic Edge on the field. I realize that my only outs are the 3 Acidic Slime I boarded in, and I'd need 2 of them to kill his edges before I could lay my Valakut safely and have a path to victory. So I start sandbagging lands in hand, setting up a turn where I can either harrow or something with the Tectonic Edge trigger on the stack, or I get the slimes to bin his edges and win from there. He's in topdeck mode at this point, but has an active Jace TMS Fatesealing himself and me, looking for ways to kill me while trying to keep me off ways to kill him. I go through a LOT of my deck with Summoning Trap and finally hit my two slimes, knocking his edges out. Meanwhile I've killed a number of his threats, and whittled his life down to 4, but he's basically stabilized the board. Two turns, one Valakut, Explore, and two mountains later, all of which I had been holding in my hand for turns, and I'm the FNM Champ.
Rogue Insight 5 - World 1 (Games: Rogue Insight 11 - World 6)
I have to admit, that although it's a well known deck, and I do like my U/W list a lot, the Valakut list was a blast to play. It performed well for me under pressure all night. This is a legit deck, no mistake.
Ok, well that's it for me.
I still have to post the video of the PTQ, but I hope you all have enjoyed this double edition of FNM WIN!
Thanks for reading.
- Rogue Insight
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