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.