---

 

Welcome back to Lovin’ Limited, or simply welcome if you’re just tuning in. Last week I closed out with a ROE draft that ended up as a solid UGb control deck. Today I’ll bring you a full walkthrough of how the games played out. Without further ado let’s get rolling!

Match 1 Game 1 (vs duo):

I win the roll and choose to play last. My opening hand:

This hand is just fine with early defense and later game winners. Easy keep. Duo starts the game with 2 forests and 2 plains before dropping an Aura Gnarlid with Spider Umbra accompaniment. Meanwhile I’ve drawn Regress, forest and swamp and dropped the Bulwark. I pass the turn and am more than happy to bounce his Gnarlid in response to a Mammoth Umbra. Exactly why I don’t like the Aura Gnarlid deck myself!

I draw Deprive and decide to play the Lifestrider as I’m too worried about the Gnarlid coming back down, I’d rather not set myself back on land. Duo replays the Gnarlid with a Hyena Umbra and cycles a Repel the Darkness as I draw five from Recurring Insight, including land, Vendetta, Growth Spasm and Tuskcaller. After I start making Elephant tokens and drop my Pelakka Wurm Duo quickly succumbs.

I side in a Naturalize for a Reinforced Bulwark.

Match 1 Game 2:

Duo chooses to play first. Opening hand:

Quite keepable, Tuskcaller just might go all the way against his green white deck. His first play is Hedron-Field Purists and a level up as I also improve my leveller. As I start pumping out Elephants and drop the Invoker he plays an Aura Gnarlid and equips with Spider Umbra and Mammoth Umbra, bringing me to 11 life. The board state:

I’ll be looking great if I can manage to answer that Gnarlid, and Lifestrider gives me another turn but I’ll still need an answer fast. I draw Naturalize as he plays Eland Umbra, but I’m still on a turn 2 clock after Lifestridering. I swing him down to 13 and draw Vendetta next turn on 4 life, with lethal except for his Hedron-Field Purists which I’m one life point short of killing. So close…alas the Gnarlid goes all the way.

Match 1 Game 3:

Rubber game! I choose to play last because even though Duo’s deck is fairly fast with his Aura Gnarlids, all I have to do is draw one of my many answers and his offense is immediately shut down. With this in mind I keep a hand of 3 island, 1 forest, Naturalize, Growth Spasm and Narcolepsy. An easy mull vs any random deck, but a solid hand in this matchup.

Duo drops Kor Spiritdancer and Hedron-Field Purists as my first three draws are Narcolepsy, Jaddi Lifestrider and Domestication. Kor Spiritdancer is pretty much the last card I want to see, but I should still be able to stay even on the card count with all my removal answering his umbras. My opponent drops a Hyena Umbra on the Spiritdancer and Repels the Darkness of the Lifestrider I play, bringing me to 15 life. I draw and play Frostwind Invoker and get greedy by not Domesticating the Purist, hoping he will level it further yet.

My opponent plays a Snake Umbra on the Spiritdancer before bringing the Purists to level three and Guard Dutying my Invoker. I draw another land and pass the turn as Duo mounts his Kor up with another Snake Umbra and eats my Spawn Token. My opp then levels the Purists up to full as a generous offer to my Domestication. I steal the Purists and Narcolepsy the Kor after drawing Regress. Duo drops and Kozilek’s Predator and Knight of Cliffhaven before passing.

I draw Mnemonic Wall and survey the following board:

 

 

With lots of potential but nothing currently to do I pass the turn back. Duo levels up his Knight fully and forgets about my Invoker as he suicides it into my board. Neither of us play spells for a few turns as I swing for two with my two non-defenders. My opponent plays a Haze Frog and Runed Servitor as I find an Enclave Cryptologist to start digging for threats. I shortly find Pelakka Wurm and swing with it in the skies while bouncing/removing Duo’s Ulamog’s Crusher and Bramblesnap. I have a deprive for his Haze Frog attempting to stop my lethal attack.

Match 2 Game 1 (vs McFish):

I win the roll this game and choose to play last, then draw the following opener:

Probably not dropping a turn 2 Tuskcaller but a potential Regress followed by Domestication is a fine start. An easy keep. McFish starts with the always-scary Joraga Treespeaker and follows up with a Jaddi Lifestrider and Dreamstone Hedron. Meanwhile I draw two Narcolepsy and a Lay Bare, so I at least have plenty of answers for whatever he’s got in store for me.

Here’s where I make an embarrassing misplay: I domesticate his Jaddi Lifestrider. I really have no idea why I didn’t take the Treespeaker, since I was still stuck on four islands and his Lifestrider provided almost no pressure. I guess I was thinking I had so many answers that Lifestrider could block his smaller guys while I wait to draw a green source, but looking back on it the correct line of play was to simply take the mana source to provide myself more options. Ahem, moving on…

Next turn my opponent drops Spawnsire of Ulamog, not exactly a card I want to see. I untap to this board state, what’s the play?

There is a good chance that letting McFish make spawn tokens for the rest of the game will result in a loss as surely as letting it swing into me, so I don’t like Narcolepsying it here. There are just so many green and black cards that can easily win with a horde of tokens (Might of Masses, Broodwarren, Bloodthrone Vampire etc). However, the only line of play that gets rid of it permanently (Regressing it on McFish’s end step and then countering it on his next turn) allows him to drop another scary threat with his plentiful mana and gives him a turn to swing with it. Still, I think my only chance is to suck up losing an island and a couple turns in order to get rid of his game-winner.

He has Virulent Swipe to off my blocker and follows up with Pelakka Wurm. I stay strong and bounce his Spawnsire EOT, hoping to draw a land so that I can play a Narcolepsy along with the Regress. No such luck, as I draw Last Kiss and move to discard so that I can follow through with my plan…or at least I wish that’s what happened. What actually happened is I misplayed hugely for the second time in this game, Narcolepsying his Wurm, I guess so I wouldn’t have to discard. I’m not sure what I was thinking here, I suppose I didn’t want to take the hit of 9 from the Wurm and Swipe, but I was still at a healthy 17 life and could certainly afford it.

This is where its important to step back and look at how I misplayed and why. My first misplay was essentially due to overvaluing my position in the game; I thought my lategame was so good that I didn’t have to worry about the early game. My second misplay was due to playing my life-total too conservatively, and evaluating what really mattered. Noticing your misplays and the reasoning behind them is hugely important to improving your play. I highly recommend going through your own game replays to see exactly what you did wrong, why you did it, and what you would do differently so that you can learn from your mistakes.

Anyway back to the game at hand, as embarrassing as it may now be. My opponent replays the Spawnsire as expected as I draw a Prophetic Prism after putting the Spawnsire to sleep with my second Narcolepsy. The game continues as expected as my opponent pumps out tokens while I add Elephants to the board and keep counter mana up for whatever might come. Then this happens:

I direct your attention to exhibit A, aka the stack, on which lies not only two Hand of Emrakuls, but Emrakul, the Aeons Torn himself. Despite conceding as quickly as humanly possible, I can’t help but be happy for my opponent who really does live the dream. This format sure can make for epicness!

Match 2 Game 2:

Sideboarding: I bring in a Lay Bare for a Reinforced Bulwark after seeing that he is a ramp deck.

Both our decks are slow so I choose to draw again. I keep a hand of three island, one forest, Reinforced Bulwark, Lay Bare and Pelakka Wurm. McFish again starts with Joraga Treespeaker and the Lifestrider as I draw land and Mnemonic Wall. He follows up with Overgrown Battlement and a Scorpion for my Bulwark. I Lay Bare a Kozilek’s Predator and follow up with Growth Spasm after also drawing Vendetta.

McFish is short on action and drops another Treespeaker, spending the next couple turns leveling both up as I play out Pelakka Wurm and Vendetta his Lifestrider to clear the way. With a hand of Regress and Lay Bare(after Mnemonic Walling it back) I feel quite safe getting aggressive and I simply want to end the game before he draws too many threats.

He manages to slip down a Spawnsire on the one-turn-window he has to topdeck a threat, but I Regress it. He refuses to allow it to be countered, playing Kozilek’s Predator instead and trading that and a couple other creatures for the Pelakka Wurm. I Recurring Insight for five with Deprive mana up as he drops a mountain along with Sarkhan the Mad, which I of course have to counter.

On my turn I drop a Tuskcaller and level it, leaving Lay Bare mana up. I counter his Brimstone Mage knowing that I can Mnemonic Wall the counterspell back next turn with enough mana to replay it, and knowing that his last card is the Spawnsire. He continues to hold onto it forcing me to keep counter mana up, but I am able to Regress my Mnemonic Wall to return Deprive, resulting in this board state:

I start pumping out two Elephants a turn while getting aggressive with my Narcolepsys, ending this rather epic game.

Match 2 Game 3:

McFish chooses to draw for the rubber game. I keep a hand containing Pelakka Wurm, Growth Spasm, Narcolepsy, Reinforced Bulwark, a forest and an island. All I need is one land, I’m on the draw and I have a play in Narcolepsy if I need it. A fine hand.

I hit the land on the third try and accelerate into Frostwind Invoker and Enclave Cryptologist while Regressing a Dreamstone Hedron. Meanwhile McFish has been accelerating himself with a Treespeaker and Battlement into Bala Ged Scorpion for my Reinforced Bulwark and a Bloodthrone Vampire. Then he drops the hammer in the form of Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief. Here is the new board state:

Awkwardly I draw Lay Bare a couple turns after I use Regress when I have nothing better to do. It might be tempting to point at this as another misplay, but at the time I had no action and bouncing the Dreamstone Hedron was essentially a time-walk, so I still agree with that line of play. I loot into an island, discarding Vendetta since its pretty useless here. I think for a bit and decide to Narcolepsy the Drana because I can’t afford to race it while also losing creatures, but I might be able to still win while losing creatures (however unlikely). The point is moot as he proceeds to drop threats while killing my guys and easily swings for the win.

Another close draft ending in defeat, but I had some very good games and this deck was a joy to play. I’m pretty happy to even win one game vs a deck that can drop Drana, Sarkhan, or even Emrakul. Hopefully I can find better results next week, see you then!

Dylan Pratt – Jester123 on MODO

Artist / Film / TV Show / Book of the Week:

Fat Freddy’s Drop / Gangs of New York / The Wire / Ender’s Game