Game #74: Isamaru, Hound of Konda

Game #74 : Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Date: 2013-10-30
Location: Family Game Store
vs: Balthor, the Defiled; Ruric Thar; Damia, Sage of Stone

VS

For this game, the Emmara player switched to Ruric, and the Mimeoplasm-er  swapped for the other new BUG commander from the original pre-cons.  Since it was the last game of the evening, I decided to play mono white.  I started out with my general on turn 1 and followed it up with Infiltration Lens and Reconnaissance (one of my favorite enchantments ever). Those two permanents set up a situation where I’m either hitting for general damage or keeping Booker (as I call Isamaru, after my sister’s quite-deadly Pekingese featured on the proxy card art) alive and drawing two cards.

Balthor played a withered wretch, Damia built up an army of huge dudes via the Hyrda that doubles things, Master Biomancer, Corpse Jack Menace (2 after it was cloned). However the Kami of False Hope sitting on my board kept Damia swinging elsewhere.  The store was getting close to closing, so I chose not to rescue Balthor from a killing blow by Damia, and I did the same for Ruric.  I was left with a large board of small creatures vs an exponentially growing army of destruction.  My general had been gaining counters via Daily Regimen, and my mana was being doubled  (or tripled) for awhile by other people’s spells.

Ultimately I was able to give Isamaru protection from Green and get get by Damia’s defenses (which luckily were all partial green… I lucked out when he didn’t Vraska my enchantment) and get in for enough General Damage to win, the Kami of False Hope an an un-morphed Frontline Strategist keeping his attacks at bay.

About the Deck ( http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/isamaruno/ is an early draft of the deck)

Every single thing in the deck costs a singe mana. The general hits the board on turn 1 almost every game. Despite this restriction, this deck is pretty resilient. It has access to good removal for artifacts, enchantments and creatures. It has recursion tricks and some tutoring, and it can be a pretty effective Voltron deck if need arises. It’s A LOT of fun to play, and when it doesn’t win, it’s still a ton of fun.  It does sort of get wrecked by Pernicious Deed or Ratchet Bomb.  Also I get to look at the deceptively happy face of my Sister’s dog, Booker, when I play it. He is a scary dude, and I have no doubt that he would take out a Phyrexian Dreadnought in a fight.