Whiffy Penguin and Under_The_hammer have both produced articles for Puremtgo based on the Classic Format, and whilst we hope that you enjoy both the content of the Lunchbox and the Wisdoms, we are excited to be brining you something different today! This is our attempt to produce our first joint article and will lead you from deck testing, deck development, walk trough's of Premier Events, a Whiffy v's Hammer mirror match and a success story ending in a 3rdplace finish for Under_The_Hammer and a 2nd place for whiffy penguin in the biggest classic event for a few months. This article will hopefully highlight the power of being in a strong clan, reading the meta-game, and being lucky on the day, but above all will hopefully be a fun and informative look at our action in last weekend's main event.
The weekend Premier Events on MTGO rotate format regularly and the event on Sunday January 4th 2009 was scheduled to be Classic. This event replaced the usual Sunday Classic Daily Event and being a Premier Event offered much greater payout support with prizes down to the T32. The Prizes consisted of Master's Edition 2 and Tempest Packs and had the following payout structure 40,30,15,15,10,10,10,10 packs for 1st-8th place respectively.
Whilst 9th-16th place earned 5 packs and the 17th-32nd earned 3 packs.
Two members of the MTGO clan Magic Eternal (Whiffy Penguin and Under_The_Hammer) had their eye on this event in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and knew that this big event warranted lots of research and testing. Early on the testing we hypothesised that there would be lots of decks which are highly portable from extended and that opponents would perhaps be more aware of the extended Metagame rather than the Classic Scene. The reason being is that the large prize would attract a large number of participant’s and people that dont usual play classic might be more inclined to do so due to the generous pay structure.
From analysis of the recent classic environment we entered this event expecting a diversity of decks, and knew that any deck would have to be able to fight and defend against different strategies. This was a reason for the transformational sideboard that we settled on for the event. The idea was that the transformational board would help against some of the weaker matchups whilst also giving us an alternative route to victory against anyone that was prepared to face the powerful Necrodeck and brought with them the necessary hate to sway the outcome of the match (more on this sideboard content later).
In our initial testing sessions we mostly worked independently but still collaborated on general ideas. We mulled over playing Necrospike, Land/DreadStill or reviving the HulkFlash deck.
Whiffy Penguin's Indivdual Testing
So the last time I played Necro Spike I went 3-2 losing both matches to fish style decks that had very strong elements to beating my absurd combo. I finished in 10th place on poor breakers losing the 3rd and 5th round. This was my 4th PE with Necro and the first time I did not make the money with the deck. That was over a month ago as in between I tried out a Landstill varient that placed in the top 8 and an 0-2 drop out of two attempts. The following day after the abysmal Landstill showing I tried my hand at Imperial Painter and ran up against a mono colored mana base and Belcher again going 0-2 drop. During the interum of the Painter PE and this one Im writing about now I spent alot of my efforts on Landstill (which may be my most favorite deck to play atm) trying out lots of different things to make it work. I went so far as devoting fully half of my sideboard to combatting Necro and Belcher but the writing is on the wall. Even if I had my best A game in all the rounds of the tourny the simple fact was that fast combo decks blew me outta the water if I didnt start the game with two FoW to get on an even footing. Unfortunatly for my opponents in the 5x event I have had my mind made up about the next deck I would like to build(and my placing accomplished this) but the morning of the big PE I was still undecided as of what to play.
On the one hand I have Landstill with a lot of time and effort in it and spectacular matchups against anything trying to win through combat with a mediocre at best combo match up. Then there is Thresh, I had been working on three different versions of the deck. The one that I enjoyed the most and could theoretecly have the best match ups across the board was a Candain Tempo Thrash port, which seeks to keep the opponent on the back foot with a full sweet of Wastelands and Stifles thus turning Daze into a hard counter for most of the game. There was also 4c Thresh and UGW Thresh which I was just updating to include Daze. Last on my list of potential money makers was the dark horse itself, but the community is so well prepared for it( as well as they can be against such a broken combo) that I was truly worried I would just face match after match of abundant hate on the deck.
Under_The_Hammer's Individual Testing
Leading up to this event I was focusing attention on reviving Flash (with a more controlling deck than previously seen finding room for a Gifts Ungiven Toolbox, A Stiflenought deck which quickly evolved into a Dreadstill deck and finally NecroSpike. I was running Necrospike in the Tournament Practice Room and the Constructed 4 Man queues. It was either rolling my opponents with ease and pulling of sickining wins or it was having its work cut out against anyone that was prepared to handle the deck with the appropriate Main and Sideboard hate. The impressive thing about the deck that even against hate-loaded decks it still had a chance to win. I knew that untackled this was the most powerful deck to play, but was deeply concerned that the classic community were not only aware of this deck but equipped to fight it. It was evolutions to the deck that changed the dynamic somewhat.
Evolution of the Necrospike Deck
We will save discussion on our innovations with the other decks and instead focus this article on the evolution of the deck we both ultimately piloted. We knew that one deck worthy of consideration was the powerful Necro Spike deck (for information on the general workings of this deck the reader is referred to Whiffy's Necrospike Article. However, we still felt there was room for improvement in the deck and wanted to be prepared for the big event. The First Question that arose was could we integrate a Maindeck Plan B incase our Necropotence plan was halted by a wise opponent. The obvious first choice was to make room for the amazing Tombstalker. We tinkered for a while, but ultimatley decided that 4 maindeck Tombstalker was not overkill, and to make room for them the 2 Gush, 1 Mana Crypt and 1 Ponder were discarded. Testing proved positive and the ability to beat down with a 5/5 Flyer in the face of a Necropotence-Naming Pithing Needle was impressive.
The Second Question that arose in early testing was to determine if the newly available Lotus Petal had a home in the deck and if so which card(s) would be bumped from the decklist to make room. Initially gut instinct was that there was no room for the Petal in the deck as the list was already pretty tight, in theory we had both wrongly assumed that the permenant mana offered by Chrome Mox was superior. However, we were both impressed and suprised when the 4 main deck moxes were replaced by the powerful tempest common. There were three obvious reasons why the Petal was an improvement, first it does not inflict card disadvantage by insisiting on an imprint card, secondly it could produce either Blue or Black mana to suit the situation and thirdly it could help to accelerate the arrival of a Tombstalker by contributing to the delve mechanic. Having settled on the Main deck Lotus Petal we had inadvertently opened up new desgin space the Petal was not only capable of producing a one shot Blue or Black mana but could also generate any of the other 3 magical colours! This got us both excited, with high abundance of Onslaught Sacrifice Lands it would be possible to run 1 Dual Land (as it turns out a Ravnica Block Dual Land) with the four Petals to splash a colour. Tarmogoyf was the obvious answer, we replaced the lone Flooded Strand with a lone Overgrown Tomb, and added 4 Tarmogoyf to the board. A few more sideboard tweaks and we had a transformational sideboard that allowed us to run a TEAM AMERICA style deck against decks packing enough hate for the Necropotence A-plan. The top 3 offenders being Pithing Needle, Ethersworn Canonist, and Gaddock Teeg we felt that the abilaty to remove the liabiaty of defunct enchantments, seven cc spells, and a much smaller reliance on storm while bashing with duders was well worth the sideboard slots. As you will see from the following tournament reports this sideboard plan was instrumental in both players successfully reaching theTOP8.
We have been watching the meta during the weeks coming up to the PE and with replays we were able to actually flesh out the field from each of the smaller PE's. Please note that we have "generalized" some of these arch-types to fit into the chart. For instance there is no agro/combo type and we have placed questionable decks in there appropriate roles, (such as Pox in control) also we are working with incomplete lists while going through the replays. Here are the breakdowns from the last couple of PE's. ( A special thanks to Ruckus, who gathered two of these lists)
| Classic Event # 138902 | Classic Event # 138848 | Classic Event # 138850 |
| AGRO CONTROL 10
3x UGw Thresh
2x R Thresh
2x Fish
2x Team America ( Stalker, Goyf, Disruption)
1x Thresh + Counter/Top
AGRO 6
4x Zoo
2x RDW
COMBO 5
3x Necro Spike
1x Sensei Sensei
1x AdN (Ad Nauseam)
CONTROL 4
2x UW Standstill
1x UWgb Standstill
1x Chailce Slide
ROUGE 1
1x Random Deck (Not Fit For Classic)
| COMBO 8
2x Non Spike Necro
2x Dredge
1x Imperial Painter
1x Belcher
1x Sensei Sensei
1x Necro Spike
AGRO 7
2x Dragon Stompy
2x Zoo
2x MBA (Mono Black Agro)
1x Goblins
AGRO CONTROL 6
2x Team America
1x Miracal Gro
1x UGB Thresh
1x UGW Thresh
1x UGwb Thresh
CONTROL 6
2x Pox
1x UWb Control
1x UWx Landstill
1x Classic LvL Blue
1x UBr Control
| COMBO 8
3x Necro Spike
1x AdN
1x Belcher
1x Dredge
1x Elves!
1x Epic Painter AGRO 7
2x RDW
1x Dragon Stompy
1x MBA
1x Zoo
1x R/U Agro (Looked like a Pauper Deck)
1x BW Affinaty AGRO CONTROL 4
2x Fish
1x Team America
1x UWG Thresh/Landstill Hybrid CONTROL 4
1x UWR Control
1x Intuition Rock
1x Deathcloud Rock
1x Pox
ROUGE 1
1x Std Deck? (Only saw Tri lands) |
1st Team America
2nd UWgb Standstill
3rd 4c Thresh
4th UWG Thresh
5th Necro Spike
6th Merfolk (Fish)
7th UWG Thresh
8th RDW
| 1st Necro Spike
2nd Sceptor Zoo
3rd Pox
4th Vial Goblins
5th UWG Thresh
6th MBA
7th Miracal Gro
8th MBA
| 1st Dread Still
2nd Sceptor Zoo
3rd Necro Spike
4th Epic Painter
5th Dredge
6th RDW
7th Necro Spike
8th RDW
|
| | For reference this is the NecroSpike deck as played by Whiffy Penguin to Top 8 success back in November, and was the stock list that we used in early testing, we present it here to help illustrate the evolution of the deck. |
| | This is the deck as played by both players in the event. The Maindeck was identical. There was one slight variation in the sideboard as we could not agree on which was better. Whiffy_Penguin opted for Hymn to Tourach whilst Under_The_Hammer went for Daze. |
Enough introduction lets get to the tournament reports, and see how the deck and the new sideboard held up under some serious challenges. Each round will have a brief report Whiffy Penguin first then Under_The_Hammer.
(*s next to a round number mean I didnt have the replay.)
WP Round 1, the_crisp_one Dredge Win 2-0
Game 1
I keep a solid hand that will allow a turn two Necro if I draw a Ritual or mana. He leads off with a Putrid Imp and passes. I Duress away one of his two Breakthroughs and notice a sky swallower and a dredger. I then FoW his draw spell and on my turn after not finding a land I Spike his imp. He dredges up 4 damage on board and I slam dunk a third turn necro and Spike him twice bringing him to four. On his last turn he goes for the combo but I have FoW for his reanimation spell and lethal tendrils on my turn.
Game 2
I didnt make any sideboarding changes for this game. I keep an odd hand here as its not very good at getting Necro down it is really good at smashing face with an early Tombstalker. On his first turn he whifs with a Cabal Therapy naming Necro. What he sees is Mire, Petal, Spike, 2x Stalker, Tendrils, Ritual. Of course on my turn I draw Consultation and with the aid of my hand accompolish a first turn Necro. Drop to two life and Spike him twice leaving me with a lethal Tendrils hand and FoW back up. He makes a Putrid Imp to flashback the Therapy but I just counter it and precede to win on turn two for his life total.
U_T_ H Round1, War.MasteR Necrospike Win 2-0
Game 1
I win the die roll and open with an unprotected 1st turn Necropotence. I activate the skull and Necro to 2 Life – this would allow me to be able to pay for a "free" Force of Will. The risk to this play is that the opponent Soul Spikes me before I get to draw my cards from the skull. This would be unlikely and I chose to take the extra cards than play around this possibility (although from historical references I suspect my opponent is shuffling up Necropotence also). I double Soul Spike my opponent and keep Brainstorm, Force of Will, Duress, Tendrils of Agony, Cabal Ritual, Demonic Consultations and Underground Sea (as I dont see a storm-pumpable Lotus Petal). My opponent casts Duress and takes my Force of Will and also pulls a First turn Necropotence! He Necro's to 2 Life and discards to 7 cards then passes the turn. I cast Demonic consultation and my opponent concedes when I find a Dark Ritual (signalling the intent to kill and he has already seen my hand).
Game 2
I side out 3 Ponder and in come 3 Daze. I mulligan to 6 and keep Demonic Consultation, Lotus Petal, Underground Sea, Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual, Overgrown Tomb. My opponent plays Underground Sea into Brainstorm, and passes the turn. My draw step gifts me with a Daze. I play the Underground Sea, the Lotus Petal, Demonic Consultations for the Necropotence, Sacrifice the Lotus Petal to play a Dark Ritual fuelled Skull (with Daze Backup). I stop at 6 this time to enable myself to Force of Will (if I draw one and it is relevant) and also to survive one Soul Spike attack from the opponent, a more cautious approach than in game 1. I Soul Spike my opponent and discard down to Daze, Brainstorm, Force of Will, Tendrils of Agony, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual. War.MasteR untaps plays a second Underground Sea and passes the turn. I Lotus Petal, sacrifice for black, Dark Ritual, Brainstorm, Cabal Ritual, Duress (discarding a Soul Spike)Then Mini Tendrils to 3 Life V.S.. 22 - and set about drawing a bunch of cards, when my opponent conceded in the face of inevitability.
WP Round 2, Yorric RDW Win 2-0
Game 1*
I win the die roll and procede to play out turn one Necro going into double spike and leaving me with a counter back up lethal Tendrils hand for turn two. I Beleive he played a Grim Lavamancer against me but could be wrong as the replay is missing for this game.(This is why I always keep shorthand notes on all my PE rounds)
Game 2
Time to try out the new tech in the board. I went with +4 Tarmogoyf, +3 Hymn to Tourach, +1 Tendril for -4 Necro,-3 Spike,-1 Consultation.Yorric kicks things off with a Pithing Needle naming Necro and I laugh as I guessed right. I have a pretty slow hand and I start off my fetching out a Sea and Nailing one of his two Flames of the Blood Hand with a Duress. He has a Factory, Fireblast and Spark Elemental left in hand. He comes at me with sparky and lays the Mishra. On my turn I use Brainbstorm to set up a hand contaning 2x Fow, C. Ritual, Tendril, Stalker, Swamp. I then fetch out an Overgrown tomb and pass. Yorric lays a land swings in for two and lets me have it back. I draw a second Ritual and decide to do a mini 6-point Tendrils to have the life totals at 14-19 my favor. He mirrors his last turn. I draw a Duress and ace his other Flames. I then drop out my Stalker with counter back up. He draws and passes. On my next turn I draw and play a 4/5 Tarmo and the game quickly ends.
U_T_H Round 2, cdiegor playing Dragonstompy Win 2-1
Game 1
I mulligan to 5 and am tempted to go to 4 put in the end keep the hand of Swamp, Polluted Delta, Tombstalker, and 2 x Duress. My Opponent starts with Ancient Tomb into Turn 1 Chalice of the Void for 1 (shutting off my pair of duress). I draw Ponder, and play Polluted Delta before passing the turn. My Opponent untaps plays a Mountain and a Trinisphere. I draw a Soul Spike play the Swamp before passing the turn. cdiegor plays Mountain and Taurean Mauler, I draw Brainstorm and pass the turn. Cdiegor then plays Crystal Vein and casts Blood Moon! I draw Polluted Delta play it and again pass the turn. My opponent then plays a Chalice of the void for 2. At EOT I Soul Spike the Mauler with the 2 Duress as fodder. Untap draw Brainstorm and pass turn. The turn is passed back without action, and I draw and play a Lotus Petal for 3 mana! Then cdiegor plays a Chalice for 0. I draw Demonic Consultations and pass and he plays another blood moon!! I draw Dark Ritual, pass, he passes but at ETO I play a demonic consultation to get chaliced, but I simply wanted graveyard food for my Tombstalker. I untap draw Tendrils of Agony and play Tombstalker. cdiegor again passes the turn without action and I draw FOW and attack him to 9 with stalker. The concession comes when my opponent draws a blank on his next turn.
Game 2
I have side-boarded the Transformation as this is a bad match up for Necropotence, the Trinispheres, Blood Moons, and Chalice of the Void are all cards I would rather not see. I draw Polluted Delta, 3 Tarmogoyf, Lotus Petal, Thoughtseize and Smother. I like what I see and keep it. My opponent however opens Mountain double Chrome Mox and Trinisphere leaving him with 1 card. I draw Dark Ritual play Polluted Delta and then stall due to the Trinisphere. The Dragonstompy pilot untaps plays a morph and passes. I draw Daze, pass, he then plays a Rakdos Pit Dragon, and it’s all over. The Turn 1 Trinisphere crushed me!
Game 3
I keep the transformational board play Polluted Delta, Rip it for an Underground Sea, Play Ponder, play a Lotus Petal, and leave my hand with Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Soul Spike, Bloodstained Mire and Smother. My opponent plays Mountain, Mana Crypt, Morph. I untap draw Duress and play it and see: Simian Spirit Guide, Rakdos Pit Dragon, 2 Sword of Fire and Ice, and an Arc Slogger. I take a Sword. Play the Bloodstained Mire and pass. My opponent then Simians out a Rakdos Pit Dragon and it looks bad. I crack the Bloodstained Mire for a tapped Overgrown Tomb, but take 3 damage from the un-morphed Gathan Raider. I untap and draw a Polluted Delta, I play it crack it for an Underground Sea. Then tap the Overgrown Tomb crack the Lotus Petal and play Tarmogoyf. My opponent untaps plays a morph and passes. I untap draw Duress and play a Tombstalker, keeping the Duress in hand to couple with the Smother for a "free Soul Spike". My opponent untaps takes pain from the Mana Crypt and plays a Sword of Fire and Ice then attempts to equip this on to Rakdos Pit Dragon but I Soul Spike the Dragon in response, my opponent then sends the morph into the red zone and I decide not to block and he flips up a Gathan Raider. I untap and hit him with Tombstalker down to 4, cdiegor untaps takes 3 more from the Mana Crypt. Equips the Sword on 1 Raider attacks with both raider, and my Tarmogoyf dies blocking the equipped Raider. I untap and send the Tombstalker in for the lethal damage.
WP Round 3, Nidasama Dredge Loss 0-2
Game 1*
I beleive I keep a 6 card hand that will have Necro down on turn two. Something happens where I lose any chance of winning, most likely Cabal Therapy nailing my necro. I do rember that I make a go of it with an early Stalker but he just combos me out.
Game 2
No change to the board again. I keep a one lander with lots of manipulation and go about setting up a third turn Necro, the only problem is that Nida dredges me out on his turn two.
U_T_H Round 3, Slearch playing Zoo. Win 2-1
Game 1
I win the die roll, play Underground Sea and pass the turn. Slearch plays Wooded Foothills into Taiga into Wild Nacatl. EOT I Demonic Consultation into Necropotence untap lay down a land and then play Duress (seeing Fireblast, Wooded Foothills, Ethersworn Canonist, Lightning Helix, Skullclamp, Incinerate) I take Fireblast. Then play a Dark Ritual Fuelled Necropotence. I necro down to 8 life and discard to keep Force of Will, Brainstorm, Demonic Consultations, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal, and Dark Ritual. My opponent untaps plays a Sacred Foundry and tries for Ethersworn Canonist, I Force of Will, and take 3 from the Green Cat. I play Lotus Petal, Demonic Consultations for Tendrils of Agony, Dark Ritual and Tendrils for 8, I go to 12 life to my opponents 8 life. I necro to 7 life, passing the turn with Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual, Polluted Delta, Tombstalker, Necropotence, Ponder, Tendrils of Agony. My opponent plays a Mountain sends in the cat, plays Lighning Helix to my head taking me to 1 and plays a Grim Lavamancer. I untap and pull out a lethal Tendrils of Agony.
Game 2
I have to mulligan to 5 cards and keep Polluted Delta, Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm, and Force of Will. My opponent plays Bloodstained Mire without further action. I draw Force of Will play Underground Sea and hand it back to Slearch, who cracks his Bloodstained Mire for Sacred Foundry, then on his turn he plays Wasteland and takes out my Underground Sea. On my turn I draw Brainstorm, play and sacrifice Polluted Delta for Underground Sea. Slearch then plays Taiga and Gaddock Teeg, in response I Brainstorm and elect not to play Force of Will. My turn I draw Lotus Petal. Over the next few turns my opponent draws out my Force of Will with more threats and eventually lands a Tarmogoyf, which finishes the game quickly whilst I draw a few consecutive blanks.
Game 3
I keep Brainstorm, Thoughtseize, Daze, Underground Sea, Polluted Delta, Tarmogoyf, Force of Will. My Thoughtseize reveals Swords to Plowshares, 3 Wild Nacatyl, Kird Ape, Savannah and Wooded Foothills, I have to hope to control the board and the keep my Tarmogyf alive to defend so I take the Swords from this hand. Slearch plays Turn 1 Savannah to play a Wild Nacatyl. I untap play Polluted Delta and Crack it for the lone Overgrown Tomb allowing me to play a 3/4 Tarmogyf, however, Slearch must have top-decked another Swords to Plowshares that he promptly points at its head, I feel I have no choice but to Play Force of Will whilst pitching the Brainstorm. Slearch then cracks a Wooded Foothills and plays another Wild Nacatyl which I daze successfully stopping a second cat joining the party. I untap draw Ponder, replay Underground Sea, play Ponder, taking a Tombstalker to hand. Slearch plays another cat and a Kird Ape and passes. My draw of smother pleases me but I decide to play a cautious game and simply pass. Slearchs Plays a land and lays down a menacing Tarmogoyf, but at the EOT I use the smother to destroy his latest threat. Untapping and drawing into a Ponder is followed up by me dropping a Tombstalker. My opponent draws and plays a Gaddock Teeg. My drawstep finds Lotus Petal, I play the Ponder and find another Smother (perfect). I play Lotus Petal and attack with both the Tarmogoyf and Tombstalker. The Teeg, 2 cats and ape gang block the Tarmogoyf, I sacrifice the Lotus Petal to grow Tarmo and add mana towards a Smother to remove a cat. This allows my Tarmo to take out the Teeg the remaining cat, and leave him with only a Kird Ape and me with a Tombstalker (life 13 to him 14 to me), Slearch untaps and sends his Kird Ape in for 2 damage taking me to 12 life and then plays and uses a Wasteland to removed my Underground Sea. I know have an Overgrown Tomb as my only land and have to hope the inplay Tombstalker gets the job done or that I draw a mana source to play the smother in my hand. The 5/5 represents a fast clock and the gets the job done, as I move to 3-0.
WP Round 4, Bingo_Bongo Zoo Win 2-1
Game 1*
I win game one here but not quite sure how it was done, most likely a two turn combo finish but oh well.
Game 2
I bring in the entire sideboard this match and I drop 4 Necro, 4 Consultation, 4 Spike, 2 C. Ritual 1 Ponder. He starts off with a Duress hitting a Brainstorm. I lead off with a Thoughtseize nailing his own Seize so my Tarmogoyf can try to resolve. Bingo's turn brings a Wasteland on my Sea and a Lavamancer for my face. We then trade Tarmogoyfs each of us play and deal with three of the fat green man. I then go for a Stalkler but that is also dealt with . Finally he runs me down with the other little dudes he had been sneaking in, namely Kird Ape and Goblin Legionnaire.
Game 3
I kick things off with a Mire and pass. Bingo leads off with a Taiga and a Kird Ape. I pop the fetch for my Tomb and on my second turn Power out a Thoughtseize and a Hymn with the help of C. Ritual. The Seize hits his Lavamancer and the Hymn nabs an O-Ring and a Bolt. He is left with 2x Goblin Legionniare. On his turn he draws and swings, then lays down a 2/2 (Wild Nacatyl). On my turn I play a 5/6 Goyf and pass. Bingo drops another Taiga and passes. My fourth turn starts out with a Brainstorm into D. Ritual, Hymn( nabbing his 2x gobbos) and a second Tarmo. I swing in with the first which is now a 6/7 and pass. On his turn its Savannah go. I swing in with both my duders and he elects to take it all on the chin and drop to two. On his last turn he drops an O-Ring for one of my Goyfs but I just drop a Tombstalker and get the concession.
U_T_H Round 4, Uncle.Istvan Epic Painter Loss 2-0
Game 1
I turn 1 Duress and remove a Thoughtseize, Uncle.Istvan plays a Breeding Pool and passes, I crack a Bloodstained Mire into a Swamp. Painters Servant joins the table, then I EOT play Demonic consultations for a Necropotence. I untap and decide to take a look at Uncle.Istvans hand with the power of a Duress but a Force of Will declines this request for information. I play a land and tap-out and delve my entire graveyard to play Tombstalker who’s announcement is meet with a daze. Uncle.Istvan attacks with the Painter, plays and use a Wasteland on my Overgrown Tomb, there goes my hope of drawing out the counter and getting the mana to play a Necropotence! I play Bloodstained Mire, and have to simply pass. Uncle.Istvan puts a game winning Grindstone on the stack in response I Soul Spike the Painter. Eventually uncle finds a Pithing Needle naming Necropotence. The situation looks dire especially given that the early Demonic Consultations had removed a large proportion of my library which meant the Grindstone gets the job done even without its partner in crime!
Game 2:
I mulligan and keep Bloodstained Mire, Force of Will, Brainstorm, Thoughtseize, Dark Ritual, Smother. I T1 Thoughtseize and see Breeding Pool, Trinket Mage, Daze, Force of Will, Island, Tombstalker and Tarmogoyf . I pluck the Force of Will and know that I will need luck to win this. Uncle.istvan leads with Island into Ponder before passing for me to draw a Dark Ritual. I elect to play the Brainstorm, and a Lotus Petal arrives and enters play. My opponent then smacks down a Tarmogoyf, and my draw step finds another Dark Ritual, which I use to Smother his Tarmo. Uncle.istvan plays a Trinket Mage and I in the end (rightly or wrongly) use the Force of Will to send it packing to the graveyard. I draw and play duress, but hit a Daze, so I sacrifice the Lotus Petal to evade the Daze, and the Duress reveals 2 lands and 2 Tombstalkers. My only saving grace is that the lands don’t enable him to generate the double black required for the stalkers. He draws and plays a Grindstone, and shortly after a Pithing Needle he starts grinding my library but more importantly locates a Second Undergorund Sea to enable the arrival of the Tombstalker. I manage to get in a last ditch mini Tendrils of Agony to bide time but am fully aware these attempts to survive will prove worthless, it really is all over when a Wasteland takes me to 1 land and I am staring back at a Tombstalker without a response.
WP Round 5, Under_The_Hammer Mirror Loss 0-2
Game 1*
He wins the die roll and sticks a first turn Necro. I believe I put up some fight but cant rightly remember. At any rate its times like these that I miss the Pithing Needles in my own board.
Game 2
No change from my board. I start off with a fantastic hand, leading off with Petal into Duress nabbing Duress from a very buisness like hand contaning multiple C. Rituals a Consultation, Necro, and a single land. Then I plop down a second Petal and Ritual out a Necro. I Necro down to 2 and Spike him twice leaving me with FoW backed up Lethal Tendrils. UTH lays a land and a topdecked petal and I counter his C. Ritual with my FoW. I play a Petal and triple Ritual out a Tendrils to drop him to 1 life. After taking five mana burn I Necro up a bunch of crud, but have to work with it. He goes for Duress and I FoW it dropping to 1 life. On my turn I Ritual out a Duress nabbing a Consultation and leaving Daze, C. Ritual, and Necro. Then I plop down a Stalker confident that were going to see a game 3. Not so! As UTH cracks a Soul Spike off the top and puts me down into the double loss cloumn.
U_T_H Round 5, Whiffy Penguin Necrospike Win 2-0
I hate having to play friends in events but even more so when we had worked together on the build and in a match that really mattered, as we both sat at 3-1 in this 6 rounds of swiss event. Furthermore Whiffy had debated for the inclusion of Pithing Needle in our sideboard predominately for the mirror, but I had talked him out of that in the development stage, so I felt like I had inadvertently weakened his chance in the match against me, thankfully the outcome of this match was not decisive as we both made Top8.
Game 1
The die roll is critical to this matchup so very often and I was delighted to have them fall in my favour. I keep Necropotence, Lotus Petal, 2 Polluted Delta, Demonic Consultations, Tombstalker and Underground Sea. I play Demonic Consultation for Dark Ritual, use the Lotus Petal and the newly found Ritual to bring a Turn 1 Necropotence to the table and promptly drill down my library to be left with 6 life. I Soul Spike once and keep Polluted Delta, Tombstalker, Brainstorm, Ponder, Lotus Petal, Force of Will and Dark Ritual. Whiffy Penguin plays Underground Sea, Duress and strips my Brainstorm! But then he plays a second Lotus Petal and a second Duress taking the Ponder this time (removing my ability to Force of Will). I play a Tombstalker using the Lotus Petal to delve enough, and then pile 4 life into the Necropotence taking me to 5 . I end the turn with 2 Force of Will, Duress, Soul Spike, Dark Ritual, and Tombstalker. Whiffy untaps plays duress and concedes.
Game 2
This will be hard I bring in the Daze for the Ponder and keep the following hand 2x Duress, 2 x Cabal Ritual, Demonic Consultation, Bloodstained Mire, and Necropotence. Whiffy lead Lotus Petal into duress, and takes my duress, then plays another Lotus Petal to enable Dark Ritual into Necropotence. It is plays like this that convinces us that Lotus Petal is better than Chrome Mox in the deck. Whiffy, knowing I lack Soul Spikes or Force of Will safely Necros down to 2 life finding 2 Soul Spikes which promptly find my head. I draw a Lotus Petal, play Bloodstained Mire, Lotus Petal, put my Cabal Ritual is hit by a Force of Will. Whiffy plays Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Cabal Ritual and Tendrils of Agony. I am at 1 life and Whiffy is at 18 but critically he takes 5 mana burn and then draws to 2 life. I untap and draw Daze. I Duress and Whiffy plays Force of Will down to 1 life he plays Underground Sea, Dark Ritual, Duress and lands a Tombstalker. I untap needing a miracle and there it is a top-deck soul spike! I pitch the last two black cards and Soul Spike Whiffy, who very sportingly send back the gg. We spoke after the game and knew we could both Top8 if we both win Round 6. I was fired up I wanted to Win Round 6 to Top8 but also I wanted to improve Whiffy’s tiebreakers. I knew that if he wins but I lose we both are likely out of Top8 contention, and I certainly did not want that to happen!!
(10th seed best tiebreakers of the 3-2 bracket)
WP Round 6, Bazaar of Baghdad Zoo Win 2-0
Game1
BoB wins the die roll and leads off with a Wild Nacatl off of a Taiga and I respond by pitching a Ponder to FoW. On my turn I draw a Spike to acompany my hand for a short while as I play out the rest of it consiting of double Ritual off a sea into Duress nabbing Orim's Chant and a Necro finishes it up. I Necro down to 1 life and Spike twice leaving me with a counter backed up lethal Tendrils kill for turn two.
Game 2
I bring in a full sideboard switch the same as Round 4 with Bingo. BoB starts off with a fetch into Savannah and Chants me on my upkeep. I play land go. Turn two sees a Factory and an Ethersworn Canonist. My second turn a 2/3 Tarmo joins the party along side a Lotus Petal. BoB plays an untapped Sacred Foundry into Gaddock Teeg, and passes. I play a second Tarmo and also pass. Canonist comes rumbling in and my Goyf jumps into its face. Lightning Helix finishes the job. On my turn suddenly free of the Rule of Law bear I play a Duress and a Hymn nocking out his whole hand which was Canonist, Pyroblast, and StP, and then swing in with my 5/6 monster leaving counter back up in my hand. BoB, not missing a beat goes and draws an O-Ring for my monster. He then beats in for two with magics littlest mayor. I get a Smother for Mr. Teeg on his next attack but take some from a charging Factory. Draw go until a second Smother knocks the Factory into the yard. I get down a 5/6 Tarmo and swing in past his fresh Kird ape to bring the life totals to 8-4 in BoB's favor. I then do a mini 6-point tendrils to make things a more comfy 2-10 looking my way. He swings in and beats me down to 8. On my upkeep he Chants me and I FoW. He then Chants me again and I play draw go. On his turn he makes a 3/3 Nacatyl and passes it back. I draw the game ender here in another copy of Tendrils. I lead off with duress which elicts a Lightning Helix response, but I combo out in spite of the life gain with a Petal and a Ritual.
U_T_H Round 6, Lucindo Dredge Win 2-0
Game 1
I keep a hand I agonized over mulligan – In testing I really wanted to reject anything without Necropotence or at least some gas to find it. So when I see this hand of Swamp, Polluted Delta, 2 Force of Will, 2 Dark Ritual, and a Soul Spike, I think about throwing it back, but I had a feeling I should keep this it has land, active Force of Will, and the Double Ritual means if I find a Demonic Consultation or a Necropotence I am in business, the Delta also allows access to the blue mana enabling me to play any Ponder or Brainstorm that I pick up.
Lucindo leads Polluted Delta, into Underground Sea to play a Carefully Study- I potentially had kept a slow 7 hander with no signs on a Necropotence or any gas to find one, I certainly don’t want to see a dredge enabler hit the yard here. I have to pitch the Force of Wills here. I draw Soul Spike, play Polluted Delta and pass, I get the turn back without action, so the lack of an active dredger really hurt him. I crack Polluted Delta for Underground Sea play the drawn Bloodstained Mire. Lucindo again passes the turn, I crack the Bloodstained Mire for Underground Sea and play Swamp passing, my opponent again does nothing, I draw Demonic Consultations, find Necropotence and use a Dark Ritual to Play the Skull and activate it till I am at 1 life. I Triple Soul Spike, keeping Force of Will, Ponder, Dark Ritual, 2 Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal, and Tendrils of Agony. Lucindo draws once more and concedes.
Game 2
I mulligan into a hand of 2 Polluted Delta, 1 Bloodstained Mire, Brainstorm, Tendrils of Agony, and Necrpotence. Lucindo leads with Underground Sea, Pithing Needle naming Necropotence! Not a good sign considering I am playing the original deck and don’t have the luxury of the Tarmogoyf B-Plan. I draw Underground Sea. Play Polluted Delta and crack for an Underground Sea. Lucindo plays Careful Study, I had played the Brainstorm but not found anything relevant, Lucindo also plays a Putrid Imp and I really feel this game slipping away. I untap play swamp and Ponder, Duress him finding another Careful Study. Lucindo then draws and plays a third Study and finds another needle set once more to Necropotence!, attacks with his Imp and passes. I Demonic Consultations for Tombstalker, play Lotus Petal and crack it to delve out the Tombstalker. Lucindo untaps and luckily for me still needs a dredger, he plays a Narcomeoba and passes. I draw Dark Ritual and hit with Tombstalker, which is blocked by the Nacromeba netting my opponent a 2/2 zombie due to the Bridge From Below in his Graveyard. Then Lucindo finds a Golgari GraveTroll and the dreging soon begins. I draw Duress, attack with stalker. Lucindo dredges and gains a Narcomeoba and must be feeling safe as he now has a blocker again, however, I am able to untap and make a lethal Tendrils of Agony.
WP Top 8, Nidasama Dredge Rematch Win 2-0
Game 1
I win the die roll and double Ritual into a Consultation finding Necro after a lot of cards hit the RFG zone. I finish the turn with two Spikes and keep douple FoW and a second turn Stalker. Nida goes for a Putrid Imp and I Fow it. My turn sees Stalker hit the table and my Necro throws another Spike for me making the totals tied at 7 life. He goes for Careful Study and concedes when I show him the second FoW.
Game 2
No sideboard change. Nidasama starts the game off with a fetch into Sea and a Putrid Imp. I start the game with Sea, Ritual, Ritual, Consultation, and a Necro. I end my turn with a double Soul Spike to the face, and a mini Tendrils hand with FoW back up. On his upkeep he activates the Imp and dredges lots of stuff into his yard and then Therapys me twice for Tendril after I stop the first one with FoW. I Ponder and hate what I see so I shuffle and get a fetchland. I play a Sea and Necro down to 1. I double Spike him again leaving our life at 3-9 my favor. He returns an Ichorid to smash me down to 6, and then Therapys me whiffing on Tendrils. I untap and Play Consultation to find the Tendrils from my 17 card library. I then play a Petal and a land for the match.
U_T_H Top 8, Dace__tnl Dredge Win 2-0
Game 1
I keep Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal. Demonic Consultations, Tendrils of Agony, Necropotence, Underground Sea and Soul Spike.
Dace_tnl has what is usually a strong opening when he resolves Careful Study dumping 2 Golgaria Grave Trolls in his Graveyard. I lead with Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, Cabal Ritual, Necropotence, and drop straight to 1 life before recovering to 9 on the back of a Double Soul Spike. I keep Demonic Consultations Tendrils of Agony, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lotus Petal, Brainstorm and Force of Will. I Force of Will a Golgari Thug knowing that I am safe in this game. I start my turn and build up a lethal Tendrils of Agony for the win.
Game 2
Dace-tnl mulligan’s to 5 but I keep Overgrown Tomb, Swamp, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, Demonic Consultations, Duress, Tombstalker. Dace_tnl misses with a turn1 Cabal Therapy naming Necropotence, plays a Lotus Petal and passes. I draw a Duress, play Swamp for Demonic Consultations finding and playing a Necropotence thanks to the Lotus Petal and Dark Ritual. Necropotence activation takes me to 2 life but I Soul Spike once and keep Force of Will, Brainstorm, 2 Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual, Underground Sea, and Demonic Consultations. Dace plays Putrid Imp which I allow to resolve, he promptly sacrifices it to pay the flashback cost of the Cabal Therapy, I let it hit confidant he would name Tendrils of Agony which he does he then concedes on seeing my hand.
WP Top 4, Yorric RDW Rematch Win 2-0
Game 1*
I win the die roll and lead off with a First turn necro into second turn Tendrils kill. This deck while presenting a fast clock cant hope to disrupt the perfect hand from Necro.
Game 2
Same sideboard as the swiss round. Yorric starts off with Badlands into Pithing Needle naming Necro.I lead off with Duress grabing a Flames of the Blood Hand. Yorric beats in for three with a Lava Spike, and lays down a Grim Lavamancer off a second Badlands. I power out a turn two Stalker with the help of a Petal, Ritual, and Brainstorm. He lays a second Grim and is just about on empty with only one card in his hand. I apply the flying beats untill he is in Soul Spike range which is when I take the Match.
U_T_H Top 4, Uncle.Istvan Epic Painter Lose 2-0
Game 1
I win the die. Mulligan to a tasty 5 card hand of Necropotence, Duress, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual and Underground Sea I decide to go all in, but the duress reveals two active Force of Will and a Vampiric Tutor, I take one Force of Will and have no option but to play the Necropotence to draw out the 2nd Force of Will. I have no hand and a wasteland adds to the pain by stripping my Underground Sea. I start to rebuild but uncle compiles his combo and the game is up.
Game 2
I mulligan to see Necropotence, Polluted Delta, Tombstalker, Underground Sea, Duress and a Force of Will. I Polluted Delta into Underground Sea and Duress again seeing 2 Force of Will coupled with Daze, Trinket Mage, Demonic Consultations Breeding Pool and Polluted Delta, a Top-deck Wasteland adds to my woes stripping my Underground Sea and shortly Uncle.Istvan gets a tarmogoyf and a Painter’s Servant out, I resolve a Tombestalker to hold the fort but it is all over when Uncle.Istvan finds his Vampiric Tutor and threatens the game ending hunt for the Grindstone.
WP Finals, Uncle.Istvan Epic Painter Loss 1-2
Game 1 *
I win the die roll and get down a first turn Necro. After drawing 18 cards I have to discard down to seven without throwing any Spikes. I FoW his turn one play and then Tendrils him low enough to restock with some Spikes and finish up the game shortly after.
Game 2
I bring in the full switch just like against Zoo. He starts with Wasteland that eats my Sea, and we play draw go for a few turns. We go back and forth with me trapped on a Sea and a Swamp until he Consultations for a second black source in Sea and plays down a Stalker with only eight cards left in his library. I lead off with a Duress and see 3x FoW and an Echoing Truth. I grab the Truth but am not able to plop my own Stalker down through his counters before he kills me.
Game 3
I start off the rubber game witha Petal and a Hymn nabbing a Sea and a Thoughtseize. He lays a Sea and passes. On my turn I fetch out my Tomb and lay a Petal which I have to sac when he Dazes my Hymn. The Hymn resolves and rips a Wasteland and a Tarmogoyf. Uncle lays out a misaproppiated Needle and then is able to resolve his combo before I can draw any action.
Post tourny results and examination.
Out of six Necro decks only ours made the money and both came out on top of the standings after the other BUg combo deck. This includes the pilots Wizard Not of the Coast who has consistently placed in top 8 after top 8 with the deck, and War.MasteR who not only won a PE with the deck but also knocked Whiffy with the mirror into 2nd place in the same tourny.
After playing through the tournament it is quite apparent that we struck gold on our choice of weapon for the PE. We face a near bye in five of our rounds and according to the plan we won four of the matches. Other then that though it was pretty much bad match up after bad match up that we cake walked through with the help of our side board, and then the deck that demolished us as we didnt even take it into consideration while preparing. We were expecting to run into Fish but the high price tag of a "good" list probably kept people off it. Also with Necro being the higest percentage on the day only running into the other four players once was a surprise.
Looking forward this configeration may not be the strongest there is as most people who either read this article or study the format at all will know what to expect if they see Stalkers. It would not be bad per se, but your opponents will be on gaurd for a switch after board, losing the surprise value that caught almost all of the hate aimed at Necro flat footed when we started domeing them with duders.
Epic Painter trounced us which is funny really. On paper it looks pretty lopsided as they are very similar in construction but Painter is so much slower then Necro. Results to not lie though and the fact that we were vey confident with our list and how to play the deck optimailly shows that this may just be something that wrecks us and most of the field. After playing this match Whiffy feels that the often unused 4th Tendrils in the side board should be switched out for a Gaea's Blessing just to have an out to a deck that caught US flat footed.
As far as innovation, reading the meta, and general performance we feel that all three of the top combo deck pilots should be appluaded, us for making it happen in a sea of hate and Uncle.Istvan for blowing it up two nights in a row with his build of a previously unproven deck.
Dredge 4-1 in matches 8-2 in games.
While in the tweaking stages the question of if the easely ported extended powerhouse from last season Dredge would show up and how many would be there. Whiffy was pretty adament about not even bothering with the deck as his experience piloting Necro shows conclusvely that it is as close to a bye as you can get. The deck while fast, is not as fast as we are. Also in almost all builds it only has three cards that can hurt us and we have FoW which is just unfair for them.
ZOO 3-0 in matches 6-2 in games.
This deck was the number one deck in mind when settling on the 75(78) card list. It has access to just about every card that can hurt us, some builds even supporting FoW. Its very satisfying that we were correctly able to hate out the hate deck and Whiffy is incredibly delighted that not only did he win his match against Bazaar of Baghdad with an superb Zoo list with a ton of elements that just stomp on combo, he was able to completly gain the upper hand in the second game with the sideboard switch out. After the match the two players talked about it and BoB was truly caught off gaurd for game two.( It is not however a good time to have to play a clan mate in a decidng round for top 8)
Mirror 2-1 in matches 4-2 in games.
This one is a tad skewed as two of the matches that count for this total was us faceing each other in round five. Other then that the loss of (Pithing Needl) was not felt because UTH was able to win without them in both matches. It is a surprise that there werent more of these guys floating around and could be a telling reason why our deck got there and theirs didnt.
Epic Painter 0-3 in matches 1-6 in games.
The fact that Epic Painter can affordably run both Maindeck Force of Will and Daze, coupled with main deck Pithing Needle,does help to give the deck the edge. The mana base of Epic Painter is more stable in itself and allows for Wastelands. The land base of Necro is light only14 lands 7 of which are Onslaught Sacrifice lands, so well timed Wastelands can really slow you down and also reignite the effectivness of the Epic Painter's Dazes. The combo elements of Painter is smaller in that it does not need to run cabal ritual and the like and Vampiric tutor is very versatile. This build of Painter also had tarmo and tombstalker B plans if required. So while not nearly as explosive as the Necrospike deck it does have alot going for it.
RDW 2-0 in matches 4-0 in games
Kind of a surprise here but the fact that Whiffy was able to roll a digital die better then Yorric let him have a deciding advantage at being able to land a Necro as the first play of the game and better yet he had the insurance of Force of Will to stop a lethal burn spell if he had not got the right cards to win on turn two of each game one. Then in game two of both rounds a Needle gets played on turn one when he had made the decision to go agro control. We both feel that with smart play in game one and a non reliance on Necro in game two, make this once poor or risky match up just about firmly in our favor now.
Dragon Stompy 1-0 in matches 2-1 in games.
While it is a deck full of hate for Necro with some of the best and fastest lock down spells we do have some advantages here. For starters we always have the option of first turn combo to trump there stratgie. If they start the game with lock pieces then we do have sn actual mid to late game plan against them. Stompy while haveing very fast threats will ussally take a lot of self inflicted damage in Ancient Tomb and Mana Crypt making two Soul Spikes not a completly unreasonable kill even at three mana each. Finishing off the idea of an endgame is the fact that if we are shut out with Chalice of the Void we can always just feed cards into our graveyard to power out a three mana Tombstalker that can and will finish the game if the Stompy player went all in on a hand with lots of disruption but a slow clock. Going forward it may be a mistake to board in the swtich as it is slower and technically harder to accomplish through Stompys hate.
And lastly before we close the book on this PE here is a rundown of the 46 person Field.
Combo 19
6x Necrospike
5x Dredge
2x Elves!
1x Flash
1x Epic Painter
1x Belcher
1x Cephalid Breakfast
1x Pauper Storm
1x TPS (UBR Desire Storm)
Agro 14
4x Affinaty
4x RDW
3x Zoo
3x Dragon Stompy
Agro Control 10
4x UWG Thresh
3x UWB Fish
2x 4c Thresh
1x Miracle Gro
Control 3
2x Pox
1x Intuition Rock
And the top 8 run down is....
8th Miracle Gro
7th Dredge
6th Erayo Affinaty
5th Dredge
4th Rdw
3rd Team Necro
2nd Team Necro
1st Epic Painter
We hope you all enjoyed this indepth coverage of our large PE and will see ya the next time we see ya.
Whiffy penguin and Under_The _Hammer signing off.
5 Comments
Death to combo players!
Haha, classic joke on me in that match. I had a lot of egg on my face there but I'll try to be ready for you guys the next time around. Funny though how much Goyf is always better against Zoo than for Zoo. In my build it's always a necessary evil, but I always lose to the other player's Goyfs. Excellent job all around.
Also, the tandem article is very refreshing. Nice to see how people can still work together in this world.
This seems longer than my Master's thesis. I'll print that out at work, go home grab a beer, read your article, try to adjust a few of my classic decks...
Awesome article guys. I'm definitely on board with the Lotus Petal over Chrome Mox choice. I mentioned that in an article a while back, but never even thought about splashing for Goyf - which is a fantastic idea. Back then there was some discussion about Lotus Petal being bad in a Wasteland-heavy environment. Has this been a problem in reality? I haven't been able to test the deck much since then.
Two specific things that make Lotus Petal exciting that I think are worth mentioning:
- If you have one in play when you Necro for a bunch of cards, you can do things like Brainstorm during your end-step to find another black card to pitch to Soul Spike. This can be done with Chrome Mox, but in my testing it was a lot harder to pull off, mostly due to the color reasons mentioned in your article.
- Lotus Petal makes setting up your "win" turn much easier. You can usually pack in an extra piece of protection when your storm cards cost zero and don't require a dead card in hand to pitch.
petal is awsome in this build because of the sb. in a regular build that dosent rely on a third color and small mini tendrils i would say that mox is an overall better choice because the permanent mana while not great in multiples is relevant with waste land seeing play. i really think thats why we lost to uncle as his deck could have 8 free counters on the play 4 discard and then 4 wastes all to slow us down enough for him to set up.
Honestly I think Petal is superior in the normal build as well. If you think about it there really not to many match ups you have a great chance of going long in. Sure if you get that mox out early its great, but in the late game you are now down a card if you choose to imprint, or you loose the mana if you choose not too. I would just preffer to keep that slot open for counter or dig spells, ponder brainstom.
I think in most cases if not all once you start getting into a long game you odds of winning are deffinatly far less likely, unless is the dreaded necro vs necro battle that really so far as I have notice really depends on who draws first, and also what that other person keeps.