Game #41 : Teysa, Orzhov Scion #2

Game #41 : Teysa, Orzhov Scion #2
Date: 2013-07-06
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Kumano, Master Yamabushi; Riku of Two Reflections

vs

I was excited to try this deck. Teysa (of either variety) is my favorite general of all, and this was a new build.  I had a decent starting hand with decent land and a Raven’s Crime.  Kumano laid down 2/3 of the Urzatron on his first two turns, and Riku dropped a Lightning Greaves followed by a Hellrider and an Ascetiscim.

I played a Painful Quandary (which may have been a dumb play, but I didn’t have much else I could do. It was eventually lost in a Hull Breach.

Kumano’s Hellkite Charger was able to destroy Riku’s Asceticism by elminating Riku from the game with a double attack.  Radiant’s Judgement took care of the Charger when it swung at me, but Kumano kept beating down on me.  I had stalled out at 5 lands with Myojin of Night’s Reach, Duplicant and a few other good  6+CMC spells in hand, and I died to Red beatdown.

In a deck that is almost entirely spirit creatures and discard spells, I drew very little of either. It was kind of a bummer of a loss.

About the Deck: (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/spirit-of-discard/   this is a rough version of the deck )

The goal here is to use Teysa’s ability to make spirits more than her exile ability (which is the plan for my Main T,OS deck).   It’s also a spirit tribal deck (though not a spiritcraft deck) with a heavy discard theme.  I don’t usally like mass-discard like Myojin of Night’s reach, but the fact that it’s a Spirit AND makes with the discard, means I can play it in this deck for double-thematic-ness.

This is the third Teysa deck I’ve built. I’m saving Teysa, Orzhov Scion #1 for a really good game.

Decks Happen

So, of course, I had to build more decks because there are still Magic Cards being printed.  Here’s what’s been built this summer, or been started.  When they are completed I’ll add them to the Master List  (The race for 200 begins…)

Niv-Mizzet, DracoGenius  (UR):  the All-Tim Greatest  (pingers and pinger enablers)

Melek, Izzet Paragon (UR):  Not UR Average Deck  (sorceries and instants matter unless they Counter or Burn)

Teysa, Orzhov Scion #2 (WB): The Spirit of Discard.  (spirit tribal and discard effects. because I love Teysa so much and I need a deck for my Foil German one to lead once my Foil Russian one gets here from Finland)

Seton, Krosan Protector (Super G):  DooDads (Druid Tribal ramp to Green/Forest-matters fatties, and lands attacking.  No artifacts, only G color identity)

Trostani (GW):  Elves and Beasts and massive Life Gain for profit.   This one was inspired by number of m14 cards.

Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis (or some other demon) (B):  Demon/Human/Cleric cult to play with the Shadowborn guys.

Lorthos, the Tidemaker (Super U):  Sea World (super-mono blue deck with naturally occuring sea-creatures, plus Homarids, Cephalids, Kraken/Leviathan/Octopus/Serpents.  Meant to feature one of my all-time favorite cards “Homarid Spawning Bed”

also in moderate consideration, but not really started

–Balthor the Stout  (Dwarf and Barbarian… possibly Super-mono Red)

–Jhoira of the Ghitu (time/suspend matters, P/T switching tricks)

–Skeleton Ship (because Pirates)

 

Game #40 : Progenitus

Game #40 : Progenitus
Date: 2013-07-06
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Kumano, Master Yamabushi; Riku of Two Reflections

VS

I had a decent number of lands and cheap artifacts to keep my opening hand, unfortunately the colors didn’t line up with the other spells (and really never did). I also missed my 4th and 5th turn land drops.

Riku came out early, but got Comet Stormed Early.  Riku killed my Amulet of Vigor with an Uktabi Orangutan, and then after some ramping Genesis Waved for 6, but only got Lands and a Fathom Mage.

Kumano was using Urza’s Blueprints to gain card advantage, but those got killed too. Riku kept playing decent creatures.  I managed to at least get a Firewing Phoenix on the table, Kumano played Lord of Shatterskull Pass and I got a Xathrid Gorgon.

Then Riku went infinite with Palinchron (but no Haste), and also dropped two Roil Elementals and stole the Lord of Shatterskull (because it was the biggest, not knowing that it saved him his victory) and my phoenix. My last ditch effort was to Psychic Theft something.  Had Kumano not already had his turn, I could have killed the Roil Elemental and given him back his Lord of Shatterskul (which he could have fully leveled-up). Instead we died to too many copies of a stupid 1-card combo creature.

In the background of the game another friend was watching a really strange and brutal movie about a Pawn Shop that had a lot of big names in it.

About the Deck: ( http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/progenitus-edh-rainbow-stairs/ )

An EDH modified-rainbow stairwell deck.  The “color breakdown” graph on Tapped out is satisfying.

CMC 1-9 for each color and colorless (54 cards),0-cmc (6 cards, do not have to match colors),10-cmc general (all 5 colors),9 non-basic lands6 of each basic land

I’m still not sure whether to do Ob Nixilis/boundless realms/amulet of vigor or diabolic revelation/krosan tusker/expedition map at B(5)/G(7)/A(1).

I’m also not sold on the choices for W(7) and W(8).

This deck does have a “swap-board” of cards for certain slots so that I can change it up and try new cards.   It also has a Trade Secrets that needs to be removed from the deck.

Game #39 : Animar, Soul of Elements 2

Game #39 : Animar, Soul of Elements (AniMorph)
Date: 2013-07-12
Location: my childhood home, Duluth,MN
vs: Animar, Soul of Elements (1)
Result: Fun Loss

VS

In Honor of the M14 rules changes (on the day of the Prerelease) we played a game that would have been a lot less fun under the old rules. We continued to Planechase (working our way through all of the new planes and a few old ones). My brother got the “good” Animar deck, and I took the “AniMorph” one.

We also continued our chase through the Planes, starting on Nephalia, which turned into Dark Barony on my turn and into Orzhova on his.  We stayed on Orzhova for awhile (I was able to eliminate his graveyard with it and when we finally got to Stensia, I only got back 2 small creatures.  We stayed on stensia for the rest of the game)

We both played Animar by turn 3 or 4, I was able to drop two small guys and then drop morphs. He played a silver myr and got his Animar up to a 4/4 before I turned it into a Frog Beast token.   I got to about 8 lands and played a Sages of the Anima.   He replayed his Animar and used Fauna Shaman to chain Brawn into a Maelstrom Wanderer.   I used a Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy the Fauna Shaman and attacked fro a large amount  (by the end of the game my Animar was up to 16/16 and his was 11/11).

Animar’s pet bird (Hunting Moa) joined and died (“our pets’ heads are falling off…”). He played a Soul of the Harvest and Malestrom Wandered into a Sylvan Primordial and Azusa.  The big green meanie killed my Tropical Island, which was relevant as I had no way to draw lands anymore.  However, he didn’t attack me at this point.

I played Ixidor, Reality Sculptor and flipped a Chromeshell Crab to steal Soul of the Harvest.  He attacked a bit, knocking me down to about 8.  The following turn I played a morph Tribal Forcemage, re-flipped Chromeshell to steal Maelstrom Wanderer, decided not to do math ahead of time and just tried to swing for the win, flipping the Forcemage to give Elementals a boost and trample.  My brother had fewer creatures than I did, but not by much and when the blockers were set and damage happened he was left at 2 life and I was tapped out. He swung and won the next turn.

This game was a lot of fun to play, though it became a bit of a cold-war/arms-race.  So far I think, despite the flavor fail, I like the m14 Legend rule.  I also think that, had I rememberd that Maelstrom Wanderer gives everyone Haste, I might have been able to attack with one other creature and gotten the win.

About the Deck:  (AniMorph: coming soon; Other Animar: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/animar-edh-46/)

The AniMorph deck was built because I wanted to play spells with Animar as well as creatures, and my original Animar deck doesn’t allow that (excpt HiveStone).  This one just stuffs as many RUG Morph creatures in the deck and uses a few other Morph enablers.  Animar grows pretty quickly when just about every creature can be played for free.  This one plays more land/artifact mana than the other one, because Animar doesn’t make the morph costs cheaper.

Game #38 : Exava, Blood Witch (Guild)

Game #38 : Exava, Blood Witch (Guild)
Date: 2013-07-11
Location: my childhood home, Duluth,MN
vs: Obzedat, Ghost Council — Guild (mine)
Result: Neutral-Fun Loss

vs.

My brother and I continued our travel through the Planes. This time it was Rakdos vs Orzhov in a battle for body and soul.  The tl;dr :  Turn 2 Blind Obedience = Loss

The game went on longer than that though. I actually had a good starting hand and good prospects until he played the Blind Obedience and another extort bat.

We started on Grixis, moved quickly to Glen Elendra, and got stuck on Bloodhill Bastion (which was all upside for him, and all downside for me).

I kept playing dudes, even though Exava was basically neutralized, and I kept swinging, still doing a surprising amount of damage (sometimes as much as 17).  I did trade a few creatures with Glen Elendra, but they got Chaosed back.

He had a Blood Baron that was hasty and deathtouch and doublestriking, but not +6/+6.  That, plus a Crypt Incursion on himself kept him alive (I had him down to 5 at one point).  We both rolled Chaos several times (which made his Blood Baron better, and all of my things worse) trying to get off the plane.

I actually had the game within my grasp at one point. He was low enough that I would win on the next turn, and I had the ability to block him, until he cast a Beckon Apparition (which, with the haste and double strike was enough to do me in).

This would have been my game handily, if not for the stinky BO of Blind Obedience. He never even got to two white mana to cast his general.   The fact that I was able to compete made the game fun despite the loss.

About the Deck

An all Ravnica/Return to Ravnica Rakdos Riot.  Exava runs things, and the goal is to dump the hand and just keep attacking.

Game #37 : Rhys the Exiled

Game #37 : Rhys the Exiled
Date: 2013-07-11
Location: my childhood home, Duluth,MN
vs: Sygg, River Guide  (my deck)
Result: Fun Win

VS

Both my brother and I were in town. We started playing EDH at the same time a few summers ago, and mostly played 2 player games.  He brought all of his cards home except his decks, so I let him borrow one of mine.  We added in Planechase to make the game more interesting.

I picked Rhys in his honor (since it’s his middle name… also it’s pronounced like “Reese/Reece” not  “Riss/Rizz/Rice/Ryes”), he picked Sygg for an Elves vs. Fish battle.

We started on Gavony. I kept a 1 land hand, but was able to draw into lands to play an Elvish Arch Druid. He dropped a Reliquary tower, and was able to get Sygg on board on turn 3, and play a Harpoon Sniper.

We planeswalked to the Talon Gates. I suspended a card and rolled chaos.  He suspended a Leech Bonder, Umbral Mantle, and  Mirrorweave. I played Glissa the Traitor and suspended 3 other cards.  We moved to Onakke Catacombs, I rolled Chaos and swung, but Glissa died to Harpoon Sniper, then we were off  to Kessig, and he rolled Chaos to make his fish into wolves and swung. He also had a Viridian Longbow at this point

I played a Deathrender and a Heedless one. Had been swinging with Rhys and Heedless one to do some damage and gain some life.  We had moved to Grove of the Dreampod, but it wasn’t working well for either of us, and we moved to Mt. Keralia (And both rolled chaos)

His Mirrorweave had unsuspended at this point and suddenly we all had 12/12+ Heedless One’s.  He swung, but I was able to absorb the attack, and follow up with the kill the next turn.  Had he realized how Umbral Mantle worked, he might have had me with Generals damage earlier (I was up to 16).

About the Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dark-elves-and-spiders/)

This deck is about the Dark Elves, and also features several Spiders, and few minor swords and or scimitar equipment. It probably needs a Panther Warriors.  It’s mostly a silly theme deck, and I’ve only played it twice, but it has performed better than I expected (which were pretty low expectations)

Game #36 : Ghave, Guru of Spores

Game #36 : Ghave,  Guru of Spores
Date: 2013-07-09
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Talrand, the Sky Summoner; Teysa, Orzhov Scion; Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
Result: Neutral Loss

 

VS

After a somewhat disheartening early-exit (and some binder shopping) I decided to play a recently re-tooled Ghave deck.  I had a strong opening hand with 3 lands, Cultivate, Forgotten Ancient and Pollenbright Wings.

Teysa had an early Land Tax and Reveillark, Jor Kadeen had a shadow creature and Talrand was mostly “non-threatening” (at least on the board).  Like most games, there were Swords of Stuff and Things littering the board.

There was, not, however, much creature removal.  A PollenBright Forgotten Ancient got me about 14 or so Saprolings over the course of two attacks, until I had to slow down due to a Soul Wardern. The Forgotten one himself got up to almost 30/30, but by then the Wings had been disenchanted.  Ghave hit the board, as did a Black Market, and I was pretty pumped to be able to start doing some tricks with Ghave, the Ancient, and also a Hunter of Eyeblights.

I would not get another chance to do so. Talrand worked himself into a multiple(but not infinite) extra-turns chain and built up a large squadron of Drakes (and a Grand Architect).

Talrand cast Innundate (a spell I’d never seen before). Teysa scooped, Jor Kadeen had turned around to attend an important “World of Tanks” practice on his computer (but he’s, like, nationally ranked at the game, so it was legitimately and important practice).  I sacrificed as many tokens as I could afford, to bump up my Black Market, hoping to draw something big and at least have a chance to hang on. Then I peeked at my next draw, saw that it was inconsequential, and conceded.

It was a game with a lot of promise that ended with watching a Fishbowl (Drakebowl?). To Talrand’s credit, he only needed 3 extra turns to build up for a beatdown victory.

About the Deck: (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ghave-nectar/)

I recently re-did this deck. The things I pulled out, to make it slightly less combo-tastic/centric, are in the “Sideboard” on tapped out.  They were pulled to make room for cards from Return to Ravnica block.  I am considering putting Geralf’s Messenger back in as a combo piece (because, dang if I don’t love me my Ashnod’s Altars).

Ghave is a good centerpiece in the deck. The fact that he can manipulate counters on creatures other than himself is one that I sometimes forget.  Forgotten Ancient, Mr. Babycakes himself, is another favorite card in the deck.  Other notable cards in it include the Foil Promo Doubling Season (because Ghave deserves it), and one of my least favorite cards ever: Aura Shards.

I like this deck, but don’t play it often due to the amount of token and counter bookkeeping.

Game #35 : Vorosh, the Hunter

Game #35 : Vorosh, the Hunter
Date: 2013-07-09
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Kumano, Master Yam; Teysa, Orzhov Scion; Glissa, the Traitor
Result: Very Unsatisfying

VS.

I was pumped after getting a beatdown win with Aurelia, so I decided to pull out a less beat-down-y deck.  I had an okay opening hand, lacking green mana, but with a Rhystic Study, which I cast on turn 3.  Unbeknownst to me, playing a Rhystic Study in these parts is like taking someone’s kitten and bludgeoning their grandmother with it.  I had a slow creature-start, so I just got pounded (or rather Rhystic Study did:  had I been clever I would have just let it take the damage when other players said “attack Rhystic Study”).   After watching people tap out to attack me, and with no other option to destroy the enchantment myself, I just scooped so I could stop openly Affronting their Deeply Rooted Personal Beliefs and Lifestyle Choices by potentially drawing a few extra cards until someone drew a Disenchant.

I think Teysa ended up winning.

About the Deck: (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/vorosh-plus-one/)

This deck is about two things: +1/+1 counters (and the manipulation thereof) and everybody drawing tons of cards (and maybe hurting because of it thanks to Underworld Dreams or Psychosis Crawler ).  It can also sneak in a win with Infinite Reflection/Biovisionary if it needs to. It might also Mill a little bit to finish people off after they’ve drawn many cards.

Game #34: Aurelia, the Warleader

Game #34: Aurelia, the Warleader (non-guild)
Date: 2013-07-09
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Kumano, Master Yam; Varolz, the Scar-Striped; Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Result: Fun Win

VS.

My opening hand had one land, and a bunch of really cool 2-drops, but I didn’t feel like taking a risk. Sadly, the people I was playing with used mulliganing (I’m used to at least one free “this is a casual/fun format with no prizes and mana-screw sucks” mulligan”) so I had to go down to 6 cards  (I HATE the Partial-Sculpting mulligan)… this was not going to be a great game…

My new hand was playable though (it had at least one of each color). Varolz  was on the attack out of the  gates, with a Hypnotic Specter and a Survival of the Fittest.  The Hippie was aimed at Kumano.  I spent the early part of the game playing lands. I got to 4, and was hoping to cast Assmble the Legion, when  Kumano spun the Wheel and we all drew 7. I drew 4 lands, a Cluestone and an equipment or somthing minor.  My two weenie dudessat on the table, and I literally just dropped lands for the next few turns.

Linvala was building up a good army, and dropping Swords left and right. One got exiled by a cat, the other got Oblivion Ringed by me after it pinged me for 2.  Akroma had also come out to play.  Varolz got a Sylvan Primordial and picked off one of my lands (usually I hate that, but it wasn’t so bad with a hand full of them), and then Survivaled for Sheoldred.

Thanks to Linvala’s Extraplanar Lens, I had tons of mana. Just nothing to cast.  I chump blocked Sheoldred twice (dudes were gonna die on my turn anyway).  Then Linvala, my secret hero, played the “destroy all non-white stuff” spell and saved us from Sheoldred.   Kumano hadn’t had much of an impact on the game, or was at least leaving me along.

Now that I could cast things, I got started. First I put a Boros Charm on a Spellbinder, played Aurelia, equipped and swung, hitting Varolz  for 9 after casting the double strike mode before the 2nd attack.  I also did 8 damage to Linvala with the other two Spellbinder triggers.  However, Varolz pulled back the damn Sylvan Primordial (Reach… ugh) and also popped my spellbinder.  Linvala cast Day of Judgment, and Marshall’s Anthem-ed back Akroma.

Kumano and Varolz continued to fight each other, with Kumano DragonStorming out 3 dragons, and I was able to sneak in Odric, Master Tactician, Darksteel Plate and a Sunforger. Before my turn I Rallied in two soldier tokens.  On my turn I had enough to re-cast Aurelia and Equip the Sun Forger AND cast Battle Mastery on her, which gave me 4 creatures ready to attack… A lot.

I needed both Attack steps to eliminate Varolz and Kumano, and was also able to land some General Damage on Linvala. Odric had decided that there would not be blocking happening at this point.   However I was at low enough life that Linvala’s counter attack would have finished me off (since I couldn’t block Akroma), luckily I was able to throw a magic hammer and find an Angel Song to keep myself alive and hang on for the victory.

This marks the 2nd time in this project that one of my Aurelia decks has pulled off a WTF style victory.

About the Deck: (TappedOut coming soon)

I enjoy my Guild Aurelia deck so much, I wanted to try her out with a wider selection of cards.  This one is just about attacking, and doing it a lot.  It can get infinite attack steps using one of my all time favorite cards, Angelic Renewal (love the Rebecca Guay art), and Sun Titan and a sac outlet,  or an Adarkar Valkyrie and a sac-outlet.   I had an extra Boros Reckoner, so he’s in there too, and he can do his Lifelink/Indestructible shenanigans as a back up.    Gisela is around, as is Odric and a number of other creatures with Battalion.   At one point I had considered Astral Slide, but there wasn’t room, though there are still a few cycling cards

Game #33 : Kresh, the Blood-Braided

Game #33 : Kresh, the Blood-Braided
Date: 2013-07-09
Location: Friend’s house in Duluth
vs: Lorax, the Siege Tower; Varolz, the Scar-Striped; Gaddock Teeg
Result: Mostly Fun Loss

VS.  

I had just updated Kresh with some new cards from RtR block, so I decided to give him a whirl in the second game of the evening.  I had plenty of land in the opening hand, plus the newly-added Birthing Pod, so I was happy.

Teeg started with a Ground Seal and cast another cantrip to try to draw a land.  I Birthing Podded something into an Acidic Slime to get rid of the Ground Seal (since my deck does some targeted graveyard recursion). Later the Pod is Krosan Gripped  When I got to 5-lands, I played Kresh and equipped Lightning Greaves.

Teeg had a Dauntless Escort and Saffi Eriksdotter assisting him, and Varolz had an opening on the table. Doran played an Avenger of Zendikar with 7 lands, and then Enlightened tutored on his upkeep of the next turn for a Beastmaster Ascension and plowed through to kill Varolz.   Teeg was keeping both me and Doran from some of our other important spells.    Doran was only at 10 and was tapped out except for the general.  I used the “Blood” half of  Flesh // Blood to have the Acidic Slime kill a 5/10 Doran, which made Kresh 8/8, and swung in to kill Doran.

At this point I have 6 lands, my hand consists of Hamletback Goliath, Butcher of Malakir, and at least one other 7+ Mana bomb creature. I also have two great recursion tricks… both of which have CMC over 4.  The only card I can play is Surestrike Trident, which isn’t that bad, but I only get one use out of it (for about 10) with Kresh before it’s destroyed.  Despite a Very Large Kresh, I’m unable to get through for the win, and after my Gruul Karoo is destroyed, I get swarmed by the Greenie Weenies.

About the Deck: (TappedOut coming someday)

This one uses a lot of sacrifice effects to pump up Kresh. It does, now, include  Flesh//Blood, and it has Surestrike Trident, but I didn’t put Fling in this one.  It has a lot of reanimation effects (but the bigger ones, like Cauldron Dance, etc.), and it’s back up plan is to do stuff with Necrotic Ooze  (like try to Birthing Pod chain Devoted Druid into Quillspike into the Nooze).  Forawhile it had a number of Demons in it, but I pulled many of them to put in another deck.   I don’t play this one all that often. It needs more utility spells and removal.