TNT FNM/Draft 4/9/11

Hello everyone! As you may know by now, I really am not loving Standard right now. As LSV just put it in a Magic TV episode recently, there are only 3 tier 1 decks: Valakut, Boros, and Caw-Blade varients. I happen to own 0 Stoneforges, and 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptors, so I can't play caw-blade right now, and any blue deck is hard to do without all 4 big papa Jaces. This sucks because blue is my favorite color by far. That leaves Valakut, which I have turned awa from recently because it loses to itself, and by this point everyone knows how to play against it and beat it, which is bound to happen when you're the baddest guy on the block for the past 8 months. I picked up a set of Bala Ged Thief hoping to brew up some B/x allies, but I never got around to it and instead audibled to UB Shape Anew instead.

Round 1 I was paired up against Petropolis, who is one of the best players at the store right now (I would rank him third behind ADB and Heal). He was playing EsperBlade. I discovered firsthand why UW Caw-Blade is the best version to run if you have the cards: the mana is really bad, and he lost to it both games. If you want to run caw-blade, I would suggest just the 2 color version, because 3 color is a very tough mana base to pull off unles you're playing Tundra, Tropical Island, and Misty Rainforest. All you really lose is Inquisition of Kozelik and in return your numbers go up against the entire field while still having a great mirror game thanks to your 4 Tectonic Edges. But I digress, game 1 there wasn't very many tricks going down. I played my disruption, countered his spells, played a Jace Beleran to preemptively kill his Jace, GG. Game 2 he was stuck on 2 lands for what felt like Eternity, but he managed to do a lot with that mana countering spells, playing birds, the whole deal, but a turn after he got a third land, Marsh Flats, I dropped big ol' Blighty with a big Jace in play. He made some plays, and passed with only Marsh flats up, with Squadren Hawk and Stonforge for blockers. My first instinct was to just bounce Stoneforge and win, but I was worried he could have something as devastating as Condemn. All of a sudden I realized I was actually reading my opponent, so I brainstormed into 2 land, preordain. I kept preordain, pitched the lands and drew... INQUISITION! As it turns out, yes he did have the condemn, and I just closed the game down from there.

2-0
1-0

Round 2 I was against a mono-black infect deck piloted by Mr. Wnichester, who has an awesome last name and your tickets to the gun show. It was in this match that it hit me how bad Shape Anew is. After a short period of me removing all of his threats, he happined to get me for 1 poison, then proliferated me to death with 2 Contagion Clasps. The Shape Anew combo takes 4x Trinket Mage, 4x Shape Anew, 1x Darksteel Axe, and 2x Blightsteel Colossus. Replace that with 4x Phyrexian Crusader, 4x Skittles, 3x Contagion Clasp and you will instantly have a more proactive deck that never runs into the "I have 2 Blightsteel in my hand... I lose...." What a convenient segway into game 2! I had a fantastic opening hand that had both Trinket Mage and Shape Anew, a Mana Leak, Blightsteel Colossus, and 3 lands. With the Blightsteel I was on a mull to 6 immediatly, but that was probably the best 6 card hand possible so I snap kept. 2 turns later I topdeck Blightsteel Colossus #2.... awkward.... There are only 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor in my deck and while I could draw both of my 2-of Blightsteel, I couldn't draw any Jace and promptly lost.

0-2
1-1

Round 3 I was against a GW Vengevine deck. I have practiced against it before and her only disruption was a 1-of Leonin Relic Warder. She happened to get it off a turn 3 Lead the Stampede. I Shape Anewed anyways because I had 4 lands in play, none in hand, but I had a Consume the Meek, so I could just draw a land, get back Blighty during combat and ruin her day, untap and win. The problem with the plan is right when I stopped drawing lands... awkward.... I don't even remember game 2 but I lost that too.

0-2
1-2

At this point I just dropped because I really didn't see the point of playing with a deck I knew was terrible any more. I don't reccomend this deck simply because it has many very awkward draws and is a combo that actually isn't any faster than a T3 Phyrexian Chrusader, T6 Skittles unless you curve out perfectly, at which point there's a 1 turn difference. Consistency > Raw power (read: Bant w/out Natural Order in Legacy). A bunch of people were putting together a draft, so I decided to hop in. It wound up being a full 8-man sanctioned draft, and I drafted one of the only decks I know how to: U/x control. To say the least my deck was almost perfect, I just lacked an epic finisher. Highlights of the deck:

Myr Turbine
Silverskin Armor
Sylvok Lifestaff
3x Vedalken Catarch
3x Neurok Invisomancer
Morbid Plunder
Moriok Replica
Ichor Wellspring
2x Rusted Slasher

Obviously the nuttiest cards are the 3x each of the Cetarch (mind-blowingly good) and the Invisomancer. I was a little light on the artifact count, but Myr Turbine and Silverskin Armor really helped me out in that department. The only thing I was lacking was a finisher. All I really had were my 3 Invisomancers, a Sky Eel School, and a Lumingrid Gargoyl. So when I had the board locked down and it was time to close the game fast, that never really happened. Despite that one flaw, I went 2-0 with the deck before losing to Heal in the finals against his deck that had an Ascetiscism. That card single-handedly beats my deck as it was just a mono-removal deck. So I came in 2nd in a sanctioned 8-man, which is just an epic feeling. One cool trick in my deck that I wanted to showcase that I pulled off a couple times, and have done it in previous drafts, is the 3 card combo of Moriok Replica, Sylvok Lifestaff, and Morbid Plunder. Replica equipped with Lifestaff is awesome because you net gain a life to draw 2 cards which is fair of course... and then you Plunder it back to do it again! I really like Morbid Plunder in draft because it's pseudo-removal. Just trade cards with your opponent, and then return your creatures to your hand post-mordem. It will piss them off :)

And no night of Magic would be complete without trading! I put together several trades, although I specifically remember 2: the first was my 2 Scalding Tarn for his Vengevine. I did profit by 5, but the Zen fetches, as I say time and time again, are the best Legacy cards in Zendikar and will be worth the most in 5 years. So in the very long term he did profit, but I still need one more Vengevine to do Spawning Shell shenanagry with after New Phyrexia is released... The second trade was much bigger:

My:
Wastelands
2x Grave Titan
Lux Cannon
Contested Warzone
$5 card (can't remember....)

His:
Tropical Island

I made out by about $5 in this trade, but in the past 24 hours Tropical Island has gone up another dollar. Seriously, if you haven't gotten Dual Lands yet, just do it! If you can't afford them, start trading for every Ravnica block Dual you can get your hands on. They are oftend just as effective as regular duals (if you weren't planning on using them that turn, you can just crack fetch EOT, have it come into play tapped, then untap at your turn). The scars lands are also great for Legacy, and if nothing else the Painlands cycle are all about 3 each.

That's all for tonight! Until next time, stay classy!