Eldrazi Green for Chinese Nationals

[Peter Dun]

well, with nationals coming up soon, and the new bannings, I've gone from being 100% certain that I have the right deck, to very very uncertain and even slightly nervous that the metagame will be unhelpful...

 

for reference, this is the deck I am playing now:

// Lands
    4 [ROE] Eldrazi Temple
    2 [ARC] Khalni Garden
    3 [WWK] Tectonic Edge
    2 [M11] Mystifying Maze
    14 [P2] Forest (3)
    1 [WWK] Eye of Ugin
    2 [SOM] Forest (2)                   <-- different art to test whether I want 2 or 4 khalni garden

// Creatures
    4 [M11] Primeval Titan
    2 [SOM] Wall of Tanglecord
    4 [ROE] Overgrown Battlement
    4 [ROE] Joraga Treespeaker
    1 [ROE] Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
    1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
    1 [WWK] Avenger of Zendikar
    2 [NPH] Spellskite
    1 [MBS] Viridian Corrupter
    1 [M11] Fauna Shaman

// Spells
    4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
    2 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
    3 [NPH] Beast Within
    2 [DDD] Garruk Wildspeaker

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [NPH] Spellskite
SB: 1 [M11] Fauna Shaman
SB: 1 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
SB: 1 [NPH] Beast Within
SB: 3 [M11] Obstinate Baloth
SB: 1 [NPH] Karn Liberated
SB: 3 [ROE] Vengevine
SB: 2 [MBS] Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 2 [NPH] Dismember

 

with the banning of stoneforge mystic, valakut surely must become the default best deck in t2, how would you attack such a deck, or such a metagame. I HEAVILY dislike valakut because you cannot really play zeniths as mana acceleration, however, with spellskites existing to stop act of aggression, I don't see how the deck loses easily any more, at least eldrazi green just sideboards into a  midrange green deck, with some number of karn (I won 21-24 packs at the NQ... can't remember, opening 3 karns and 1 batterskull, so I'm ok cost wise).

 

I would prefer not to splash black for the obvious memoricides, but I won't rule it out, even if it means I must play lotus cobras md... :S

 

so, some advice/feedback would be useful (even if you think you have little experience with the deck... just random thoughts even if they sound terrible would be welcome... I have no idea how to start).

 

My metagame thoughts are as follows:

1) Dismember will become more popular (ppl are only now understanding how good this card is for some reason). This is annoying, as it kills treespeaker for 1 mana. However, the ramping is less important than it was before because you don't need to race sword.

 

2) Koth will see a lot more play. Red decks are cheap, supposedly have a good valakut matchup (especially with act of aggression sb) and koth is by far the best card in the red deck. This means that at least 1 vengevine to tutor as an answer to koth is necessary. ulamog actually pretty good vs rdw, as they can't kill him (her? it?), and if they act, you easily have 5 permanents to sac (4 + 1 blocker) and then wipe their board over a couple of attacks. This means that I want 1 md viridian corruptor, and definately more sb for shrine.

 

3) Valakut will see more play. I have no idea what my solution is for this. This matchup is probably unfavourable for you as they can kill your mana acceleration with bolt, slagstorm etc., whereas you can't easily kill theirs. I want titans and karns for this matchup, but I don't know  how to make it heavily favoured. Maybe the 4th edge over 2nd maze is required md, but that will weaken the matchup vs mirran crusaders (especially if they sb in spellskites in the matchup).

 

4) Other assorted decks like UB control and twin will see more play. Both of these matchups are very very favoured, so not really concerned.

 

Cards under consideration:

1) Fauna Shaman. This card is already amazing, now, I think I want more.

2) Phyrexian metamorph. Can tutor it, makes a titan (too late) for 3 mana.

3) More dismembers/beast withins (the 2WW 3/4 flyer that shuts of activated abilities and fauna shaman will see more play).

4) More karns <-- this card is awesome :)

5) Terrastradon/avenger of zendikars/traps. Necessary vs valakut as the only cards that matter are titan + acceleration, terrastradon kills acceleration, trap gets you titans more consistantly (4 trap, 2 fauna shaman, 4 zenith, 4 titan) and avenger sometimes steals wins even if they get titan first (although your avengers are much worse than theirs)

6) All is dust....

 

Concerns

1) How to beat valakut?

2) How to hate on memoricide (not actually a huge concern), whether to play memoricide?

3) Whether to trade Karns (awesome!) for lotus cobra (bleh...) in pursuit of success (but not happiness)

4) What ppl will play in the new t2...

 

Little help? :)

[Jason Savage]

Unlucky start!

 

Good luck with the draft.

[Raymond Wat]

unlucky indeed.  entertaining write up though :-).  Do continue and all the best in the remaining tourey Peter.

[Daniel Royde]

Inauspicious :s

Due to it being the start of a new format?

Just 3-0 your drafts.

[Peter Dun]

ok, draft 1:

my plan in this format, no matter draft or sealed is a) to play, b) to build aggressive decks with a plan "b". There are far too many bombs in the format to try to answer everything (no matter how much removal you have), and phyrexian mana is much better in an aggressive deck. The best plan "b" cards are mana sinks for a large effect (heavy arbalest is by far the best... but even something like copper carapace is very good in an aggressive deck) or something that will grant you cumulative card advantage over many turns like trigon of thought. This gives you the benefits of aggression, as well as the benefits of late game options too (sometimes you opponent has 50 removal spells, but if he can't answer your trigon of thought, he's going to lose). The fact that all the CFB guys keep advocating terrible slow cards like hexplate golem actually makes this strategy a lot easier. It's also much less rare dependent than other strategies... which is good, as I've only taken a rare p1p1 once in 15+ drafts in Shanghai.

 

I want to be drafting red and/or blue, then white, then black. NOTHING you can pass me will persuade me to play green in pack 1. I've taken 3rd pick phyrexian swarmlords before and always regretted it. Slow decks can afford to mix infect and non-infect. I tend to not like drafting slow decks, so it's either infect or not. In pack 1, white and red have the best infect cards (although I've drafted 3 blighted agents before...), so I will try to pick those up. I find glistener elf bad on its own... so even the best green infect card in NPH I dislike. Viridian Betrayers on the other hand I do like, and will play 4+ (so maybe I will go green in pack 1 sometimes...)

 

Draft 1 is actually pretty good for me, I get the opportunity to remain flexible, and it pays of big time. I take p1p1 dismember over a mediocre pack, then take the master splicer over artillerize (this is actually a pretty close pick, I thought about it a lot afterwards, and part of the logic was that I can switch into red easily later, but if I want white, the best pack is pack 2, so I want to cut it aggressively in pack 1). p1p3 I get a late-ish volt charge (rare and uncommon missing), and p1p4 I take artilerize (great signal!). p1p5 is where the draft takes off, I get a shrine of loyal legions, can't believe my luck and come as close to windmill slamming it as I can without getting judges angry with me. I open mortapod and heavy arbalest in my last 2 packs (as good as I can hope for the late game plan) and fill my remaining slots with aggressive creatures. p3p5 I get a true conviction, but I almost end up not playing it because of curve and mana issues. Then common sense takes over and I cut a gremlin mine for it. I never draw it, but the two games I lost it gave me an out to draw when I would otherwise have had none.

 

My draft deck (by curve): This is basically as good a draft deck as I can hope for from the archetype I decribed above

 

Creatures

Origin Spellbomb

Shrine of Loyal Legions

Goblin Wardriver

Leonin Arbiter

Spined Thoptor

Mortapod

Iron Myr

2x Spin Engine

Gore Vassal

2x Ogre Resister

Master Splicer

Loxodon Convert

Golem Artisan

Flameborn Viron

 

Spells/Tricks

Copper Carapace

Heavy Arbalest

True Conviction

Divine Offering

Dismember

Volt Charge

Artillerize

9x Mountain

8x Plains

 

SB of Note:

Gremlin Mine (last cut, creatures very important, have a lot of removal)

Trespassing Souleater

Forced Worship (with shrine!)

Oxidda Daredevil (very good in an archetype like this almost played it md)

Flameborn Viron

Koth's Courier

Copper Carapace (see gremlin mine... I finished deck constructed with under 1 min left)

 

r4 Xu Nannan (GBu dinosaurs)

g1

the early game is pretty academic, we trade removal spells and guys. I play a turn 2 shrine, but he has glissa's scorn. I get a spin engine going and play an ogre resisiter after some guys trade, with an artillerize in hand to kill his first dinosaur, but not much else. It gets to turn 6, he has 4 cards in hand, he's barely played anything. my opponent taps 6 mana, and 2 sphere of the suns and resolves... VORINCLEX, VOICE OF HUNGER. My artillerize in hand suddenly doesn't look so good. It looks even worse when he doesn't block my attacking guy and it's clear he's going to unload his hand onto the table next turn. He draws for the turn... thinks... taps some lands, untaps some lands... finally floating 8 mana, 2 green, 2 blue, 4 black.... a thousand thoughts go through my head, all the worst case scenarios ever... massacre wurm, wurmcoil engine + something else. Finally he plays his spell, it's... another Vorinclex. I sit there in disbelief. My opponent, sensing something is up... grins stupidly at me. Like something out of a bad comedy show we just sit there looking at each other... the judges who are watching also stand there... I'm not sure anyone can quite believe what has happened... "so... legend rule?"

 

g2 (sb, -1 loxodon convert, +1 koth's courier)

I flood terribly. I draw 5 spells (one of which is a myr) and 11 lands. Fortunately one of those spells is my heavy arbalest. He can't answer it, but is forced to keep playing his dinosaurs into it (hence why it takes so long to win). Eventually he runs out of dinosaurs... I am glad I have a good poker face as I console my opponent... but seriously, I just want to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of what has just happened... TWO VORINCLEX's... what are the odds of even opening that in the same draft :P

 

2-2

 

 

round 5: Lu Ye (WB good stuff)

g1

I get a turn 2 shrine, and some beats. but he has double Suture priest so I can't actually activate it without dying. The life gain is also very annoying, given that he has a ton of removal. However, eventually a start to wear him down, and when I draw mortapod, and kill his priests, my shrine comes back online and the game ends quickly

 

g2

he reveals chancellor of the dross, then proceeds to curve out perfectly with removal and solid guys like mortis dogs and nested ghoul which I am forced to answer. Chancellor of the dross comes down with him on 6 life, and I can't deal with it before he attacks and lifelinks to safety.

 

g3 (sb -1 flameborn viron, +1 forced worship)

he keeps a 2 land (?) hand and stalls on 3 for some time (WBB so he can't cast the mirran crusader I know he has in his deck from the first 2 games... and probably in hand given how upset he was on turn 3 when he drew swamp (I think, but he didn't shuffle his hand very well to discguise the topdeck). However, double grim affliction stall the game long, but I eventually get there with artilerize and volt charge to the head).

 

3-2

 

 

round 6: Wang Peng (UG dinosaurs + poison)

my opponent this round was a very solid player, and always used his quicksilver geysers very efficiently... I'm not sure how experienced he was, as we both ended up getting a warning for numbing dose on his upkeep instead of mine (no way I can rtfc... should be his responsibility...)

g1

he wrecks me with double maul splicer (although I think he tried to cheat by tapping 6 very quickly for his first one... which I caught immediately... he also knew he had 6 mana as he made a quicksilver geyser tapping out the previous turn). my deck is pretty bad vs that sort of 3 for 1, I would much rather he had a random fat guy like baloth...

 

g2 (sb: -1 loxodon convert, +1 koth's courier <-- this card is so good given how bad most red creatures are...)

koth's courier + copper carapace, with arbalest backup is enough, even though he steals my courier with corrupted consciounce, and nearly races me with poison from blightwidown, rot wolf and glistener elf.

 

g3

a long drawn out game is eventually won by goblin wardriver + shrine (although I nearly die to numbing dose to get there)

 

4-2 (back in the hunt!!)

 

Draft 2 to come...

[Daniel Royde]

You master. Keep up the good work.

[Gary Lynch]

GL Pete, Hope you dont face any more Valakut.

[Peter Dun]

draft 2:

this is a very strange draft....

I take pith driller over porcelein legionaires and imaler shrike.... not only do these both table, but I end up getter impaler strike 5th,  spire monitor 6th, burn the impure and shatter 4th, and the choice between scrapdiver serpent and stoic rebuttal 13th !!! (although I make a huge mistake by taking the second serpent instead of the second rebuttal for my sb), the packs opened near me are pretty terrible though , and I open pretty poorly (pith driller, steel sabotage [over NOTHING] and silver myr [over NOTHING]), so my deck is not quite as powerful as the last one (also I don't see a single serum raker or sky-eel school)

 

Creatures

Silver Myr

2x Spined Thopter

Porcelain Legionnaire

Spin Engine

2x Neurok Replica

Neurok Invisimancer

2x Blisterstick Shaman

2x Impaler Shrike

Pith Driller

Spire Monitor

Soliton

Lumengrid Gargoyle

Scrapdiver Serpent

 

Spells/Tricks

Viridian Claw

Vapour Snag

Steel Sabotage

Shatter

Burn the Impure

Stoic Rebuttal

10x Island

7x Mountain

 

SB of Note:

Razor Swine

Koth's Courier (LOVE THIS CARD

Panic Spellbomb

Ogre Resister

Concussive Bolt

Scrapdiver Serpent

Disperse

 

I think I misbuilt this deck, no reason to play myr, and ogre resister should probably come in for a 9/8 mana base. I sided that way in r7, and will do so tomorrow. However, can you see the fundamental problem with this deck? Go on, guess, it will take you a couple of minutes and I will tell you below

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

This deck has a) no card advantage (I am never saccing a shrike, what am I hoping to draw, more flyers...), b) is very vulnerable to things that target 1 toughness guys, c) can never beat a blightwidow... EVER, d) the late game is also much worse than the last deck with no reach, and no expensive game/changing equipment. If I get paired vs aggro or infect every round I should be ok... (cue ominous music)

 

round 7: Xu Su (GR Dinosaurs)

g1

I win the roll and go first, curving spined thopter into neurok replica (with impaler shrike and a viridian claw in hand). He plays turn 2 leaden myr, turn 3 trigon of corruption... nice deck. He kills my thoptor, and then my topdecked blisterstick shaman for his myr, I draw a second shrike, but he is able to use volt charge to proliferate onto trigon and I am in trouble again. We then both draw lands for 10 turns as I beat him up with a neurok replica. At some point I draw a stoic rebuttal, but it doesn't matter as all he plays are myr. Eventually he drops hellkite igniter, and I get to counter it... his life total goes down in straight 2s this game, finally going 4-3-2-1 as he uses his last trigon counter to buy some.

 

g2 (-1 silver myr, -1 island, +1 mountain, +1 ogre resister)

I get an aggressive flying curve, this time before he drops trigon.

 

5-2

 

End of Day 1

Not a bad start... probably need 9-3 to top 8, but I don't think this deck can 3-0 the draft... time to win some coin flips in standard... (what was wrong with caw-blade... seriously... did people just forget about valakut?)

[Peter Dun]

if I top 8 because of what happened in r4 I will... I dunno, I will just be very very happy :P

[Daniel Royde]

Yeah, you might need to 3-0 the standard. Is that doable?

[Peter Dun]

win the die roll vs valakut...? not play valakut? it's doable :P

[Jason Savage]

Good luck Pete.

Great reports.

[Raymond Wat]

great fun.  So many time people play 2 same legendary do....before attacking as well.  Ho Ho Ho Merry X'mas.  Good luck tomorrow. Enjoyable write up Pete