8/1/14 FNM Report

Hey, everyone!

I'll just spoil it and say that I got 2nd last night at my local shop's FNM. Noting that, I'll dive right in and get to the decklist and then the matches.

Here's the decklist.

I'll go through the card choices.

4 Elvish Mystic and 4 Sylvan Caryatid: Green decks need mana ramp to get their game going, and these are what we have to work with. While an Elvish Mystic variant has pretty much always been a thing in Standard, this one has an FNM promo and looks sweet in foil. Also, Sylvan Caryatid is good against various aggressive decks in that it's an X/3 and ramps you to your various big green monsters.

4 Courser of Kruphix: This is another creature that helps accelerate mana and blocks well against aggro.

4 Polukranos, World Eater: Big, 5/5, Hydra, thing.., that is ALSO good against aggro, who has been known to Monstrosity for 28 to wipe the opponent's entire board. Just sayin'.

2 Xenagos, God of Revels: Xenagos, gives things big and haste-y, value.

3 Hornet Queen: The reason this deck is a thing. It provides 3 devotion, 6 flying power in green, and deals with Elspeth pretty effectively.

1 Reclamation Sage, 1 Arbor Colossus, 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt: Some good Chord targets. From dealing with D-Spheres, swatting down Stormbreaths, and giving stuff trample, these are good 1-ofs to have.

4 Chord of Calling: A card I was excited about when I saw previewed, I knew it would find a home in Standard. Also Storms with Hornet Queen well.

3 Domri Rade: Good with Courser, provides card advantage, etc. Also it's pretty much impossible to beat a Domri emblem.

2 Xenagos, the Reveler: Planeswalker, tokens, mana, value, etc.

3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts: When you provide green, in standard, good card draw, I will take advantage of it. Also, Garruk -> Hornet Queen is kinda good.

12 Forest: Green sources; can't live without 'em.

4 Stomping Ground and 4 Temple of Abandon: Need red sources, and these also happen to provide green.

4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Devotion was the cornerstone of this deck, and shall continue to be until I get bored of this deck, which will take a while.

Sideboard

Most of these are self-explanatory, and I was wanting to change the Bow of Nylea's into Nylea's Disciple, but I forgot them at home, so this is what I ran.

So, with this setup, I charged bravely into battle! Let's see how it went.

Round 1

The first round had me sitting across from one of my good friends, Emmanuel. He was running an Esper control list from which I saw Ashiok, Far//Away, Elspeth, Hero's Downfall, and Supreme Verdict, as well as lands. Game 1 went poorly for me, with him resolving a Supreme Verdict followed by an Elspeth to which I had no answer to. In Game 2, I had a Bow of Nylea active, putting back various Chord targets. Sadly, he was able to answer Phyrexian Revoker 3 times, causing Elspeth to make a lot of tokens as well as an emblem. I lost 0-2, putting my overall record to 0-1.

Round 2

In the following round, I faced my father, who was running Bg Devotion. The first game swung in his favor thanks to my flooding out and not resolving Hornet Queen fast enough. The second game had me at a fast start and he came back from it, threatening to kill me. However, our stomachs took the reins and he decided to give me the match 2-1 if I went and ordered our calzones. I agreed happily, putting my overall record at 1-1.

Round 3

Round three paired me against one of my best friends, Lyndsey. She was piloting a Bant Flash deck with the Archangel/Chimera/Fathom Mage combo in it. However, she was not able to assemble such a combination and I promptly curb-stomped her both games, putting my record at a winning 2-1.

Round 4

The computer had me paired against Julian, who is known for his trolling ways. He did not disappoint because he was running a Golgari Dredge/Bg Devotion hybrid featuring Abhorrent Overlord and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. From memory, the first game went in my favor due to an unanswered Hornet Queen. The second game didn't end well for me, dying with my opponent at a life total in the low 50s and multiple Harpy tokens on his field. The third game was pulled out of my keister by what I believe was an unstopped early swarm of creatures. 3-1.

Round 5

In the final round before the cut to top 8, I faced a fairly new face to the shop, Dylan. My opponent this round was running what appeared to be White Weenie, featuring a playset of Brave the Elements, which blew me out more than once over the course of the tournament. I started off the game somewhat slowly, trading my first-turn Elvish Mystic for an early Soldier of the Pantheon. I won the game nonetheless, thanks to multiple Hornet Queens. Going into game two, I was feeling cocky, causing me to keep a greedy hand. This punished me the greatest as I got swiftly disposed of. The final game almost went to time, but I pulled out of the match with a 2-1 win. Overall record: 4-1

Top 8

I played against another control deck piloted by David, but he chose to cut black, sticking to straight UW. I flooded the board quickly game one, not slamming into a Supreme Verdict. Game two swung in my favor, but he put up more of a struggle, having an Elspeth to make plenty of tokens. I felt kinda bad about winning this from a social standpoint, but I quickly got over it as I continued nomming on my food.

Top 4

As I sat down against my second-to-last opponent, I recognized a face that hasn't been seen around in a while, Chris. He was shipping into a Bant Midrange-Flash-Control, thing. He admitted to building his deck an hour before the tournament, which isn't entirely uncommon at my shop. I'd seen him play some of his last round, resulting in my knowing to play around certain cards. Regardless, I flooded the field both games, resulting in a 2-0 win in my favor.

Finals

I was excited as I sat down to play the top 2 for the fourth time in a month and a half. I was somewhat nervous, as I should have been, to sit down against Dylan once more. We went to a third game, with me having the first game and he winning the second. The third game was another greedy game in general for me, having taken 10 off of a Reckoner hit to the face. This ultimately ended up losing me the game thanks to an Eidolon of Countless Battles bestowed onto an Archangel of Thune. However, I still walked away with a full stomach and 7 packs for my troubles.

Wow. Another long MTG post, I believe this will suffice for now.

Until next time,
~The Ravenhunter

Storm beats Dragonspyre!

 Summer of the Storm

Well, Thursday afternoon, this happened.

I fight you, I fight you IRL!

So, that turned into this.

Malistaire: 'Sir, please stop your foolishness'

 So that was cool.

As you can see in the pictures, my friend Zachary Mythcloud helped me in this Malistaire run, which lasted like ~30 minutes. Part of this was due to niether of us being able to join Blue's livestream run, not to mention the lag that was caused by trying to watch the stream.

I made it into Celestia, and an hour and a half later, finished both Survey Camp and the Grotto, and on the doorstep of the District of the Stars. :) <- Smileh Fahce.

However, after 2 hatches, I still do not have my Tempest hybrid. Awww....

Anyways, I'm gonna cut another W101 post short and do a FNM report for last night.

Until next time,
~The Ravenhunter

Long-Overdue Tournament Reports

 *Spins in chair*

Hello once more, my fellow 'hue-mans'. It's been a while since I've done a tournament report, but I figured that since I have not posted at all since the beginning of the summer, I might as well make up for it and do ALL these tournament reports at once. That's right, ALL AT ONCE. Prepare your bodies!
(Disclaimer: All FNMs are Standard)
(Disclaimer #2: I don't remember most of the matchups)


Friday, June 13th, 2014
I went 3-2 in the Swiss rounds, going into top 8. I unfortunately lost in the top 8 to a Boss Sligh (Mono-Red) deck, ending up in 5th place. The list can be found below.

List:http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-61313-7414/

Saturday, June 14th, 2014
Format: Modern

Round 1 was against Ub Faeries, which made it to game 3, but not in my favor. 0-1.

Round 2 had me battling against a mono-Blue Artifact-Grindclock brew. It was a spicy matchup and my Eldrazi shuffling came into play here. We made it to game 3, which ended happily for me. 1-1

Round 3 had me against the eventual winner of the tournament, the Bogles deck. This is a horrible matchup to begin with and me not drawing a green source in game 1 and getting wrecked by Suppression Field in the second didn't help me one bit. 1-2

As you can see, I went 1-2 in the Swiss rounds, not to make it to the top 2 with one of my favorite archetypes of all time, Eldrazi Green. The list can be found below.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/eldrazi-green-61413/

Friday, June 20, 2014
I ran it back this week using the exact same list from the week prior. To my suprise, I went undefeated the entire tournament and ended up claiming 1st place. In the top 8, I recall facing Gr Monsters, BUG Superfriends in the top 4, and finally Azorius Control in the finals.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-61313-7414/

Friday, June 27, 2014
It seemed to work well last week, so I ran it back yet again. (I'm really just lazy.) I won once more, going undefeated for the second week in a row, claiming ultimate bragging rights as well as the first place prize. In the top 8, I faced Naya Hexproof, Gr Monsters in the top 4, and Bw Midrange in the finals.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-61313-7414/

Friday, July 4, 2014
I never seem to learn (or build a new deck), so I ran it back once more in this small, 8-man FNM. Unfortunately, I did not claim first place AGAIN, but I did go 2-1 in the swiss and in 4th place at the end of the night, losing to Boros Aggro in the top 4.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-61313-7414/

Saturday, July 5, 2014
Format: Modern Pauper
This was an interesting event, and considering it was Modern, I turned to my go-to deck, Burn. However, not having access to Goblin Guide and the like, I did what I could, ending up going 2-1 in the Swiss rounds and finishing first place.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-61313-7414/

Saturday, July 12, 2014
Format: M15 Sealed
I was only able to attend the midnight prerelease, choosing Green as my color, and ending up Simic colors due to double Soul of Ravnica. I went 2-2 in the swiss rounds, unable to make it into the top 8 due to tiebreakers. I ended the night with 9th place, a pack, and a lot of fun.

Friday, July 18, 2014
This FNM was the first that M15 cards were Standard legal, and I was very excited to play with my re-vamped Green devotion deck, jamming in some Souls and Chord of Callings. I went undefeated in the 5 swiss rounds and I won my top 8 match, but sadly lost in the top 4 due to Elspeth pumping out tokens from my opponent's Azorius Control deck. Here's the list.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-chord-71814/

Saturday, July 19, 2014
Format: M15 Draft
The draft portion of this event went over smoothly, with me ending up Gb midrange splashing white for an Ajani Steadfast that I opened in my second pack. I went 2-1 in the swiss and lost in the top 4 to my opponent's UW control deck that countered the Ajani I cast game 1. It made me real sad in the face. :( <-See?

Friday, July 25, 2014
Finally, the last FNM report of this post, but not the last tournament. I edited my Green Devotion deck from the previous week to include more of a Chord of Calling package. I went 4-0-1 in the swiss, tying (unintentionally) with my father into the top 8. I won against Boss Sligh in the top 8, won again in the top 4 against Bw Midrange, and finally losing in the finals to a Gw Devotion deck.

List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-chord-71814/

Saturday, July 26, 2014
Format: Standard 2 Headed Giant
This is the last tournament I will be reporting on today, and it was a doozy. I teamed up with my father for this tournament, who ran Mono-Black Devotion, contrasting my Mono-Red Devotion. We went 2-1 in the 3 swiss rounds, not making it into the playoffs of top 2. It was another fun time, and we walked away with 3rd place prize. The lists can be found below.

My list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mono-red-2hg-72614/
My partner's List: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mono-black-devotion-72614/

WOW. That took a lot out of me, but it felt good. Also, over the progress of writing this BEAST, I have quested my Storm wizard to the door of Malistaire, because, value. :) Happeh. Anyways, I really, REALLY want to keep writing tournament reports, and hope to get in the habit of doing it weekly. I have to get some progess done on my summer reading, so I'll end this off here.

Until next time,
~The Ravenhunter

Back to the Wizardly Grind...

Summer of the Storm

 THUNDA!!

Yes, I've made it all the way to level 48 and I've trained Storm Lord and have a little baby Stormzilla! He's so cute!

NOMNOMNOM

I plan on hatching this Stormzilla with my Death's Wraith and getting the Tempest hybrid, which gives a Wraith item card.

~Slurp~

ANYWAYS... Stormy is being a good little quest-er and is in the Drake Hatchery beating people up to crack open the dragon egg that will fly him to victory over Malistaire in his lair.

 (Insert hammertime joke of your choice here.)

Back to other things...

Diaries of a Deathly Wizard

My Exalted Necromancer has started and finished Khrysalis part 2 in a little over a month. Also, Exalted! Also, new look!

Thanks to the awesome people of Mercenaries101 over on Central, I was able to defeat Archmagus Lorcan and Moros almost back-to-back!

M101: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?149-Mercenaries101

That's all I have for this post, but I'm about to turn around and write a *few* tournament reports that are long overdue. In the meantime,

~Ravenhunter

I'm Back!

 Hello again, people of earth. I am back! I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry about that. School and real life got in the way, blah, blah, blah. Anyway! Let's dive right in.

Wizard101
 I have recently been on a hiatus from my favorite MMO, Wizard101. However, I have just recently started back and will be playing a new character. Say hello to my storm!

Stormy says "Hi!"

 

 He's level 22 at the moment and just started the Grand Arena in the Krokosphinx. He has training points invested in Life spells at the moment in an attempt to learn Satyr. He will also eventually learn Colossal, Feint, Tower Shield, Weakness, etc. In these Wizard101 updates regarding my storm, I have chosen the title:

SUMMER OF THE STORM

I'll be working on a logo for the series, and I hope to have this guy at least through Avalon by the end of the summer.

Magic

 I plan to do weekly FNM reports on Saturdays. In fact, why don't we do one right now?

FNM Report

 5/30/13

 I played Gr Devotion, of which a list can be found here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gr-devotion-53013/ I'll go through some of the card choices.

 

Choice Explanations

4 Elvish Mystic and 4 Sylvan Caryatid: You gotta have some mana dorks in a deck who is looking to cast 4- and 5-drops early to pummel the opponent into submission.

4 Burning-Tree Emissary: You need devotion in order to operate optimally. This is the best option with this manabase.

 

4 Courser of Kruphix:  Remember that devotion thing I talked about ^up^there^? Yeah, this helps and finds Nykthos faster, while also giving a good defensive body and a little bit of lifegain.

4 Polukranos, World Eater: You need some beefy things to ramp into, and this is the selection I arrived at. Polukranos is a big blocker the turn it comes down to slow the beats from aggressive decks and packs a good punch when we have the ground stabilized.

 

4 Arbor Colossus: Arbor Colossus is another large gentleman to reach up and swat down pesky flyers while still giving a good wallop or two when we're ready.

 

3 Stormbreath Dragon: Stormbreath Dragon can come down and immediately smash in for 4 in the air and is just the nuts against white decks.

 

2 Xenagos, God of Revels: Sometimes you want a 6/5 blocker, sometimes you want a surprise Arbor Colossus popping them in the jaw for 12 out of nowhere.

2 Ruric-Thar, the Unbowed: Yet another sizable 6/6, this guy also swats down flyers and can randomly kill an ignorant opponent with 6 to the face from their own spell. Be careful with this one, though. Your own planeswalkers can also kill you if you're not careful. Note: an inactive Xenagos will not punch you in the mouth for 6 off this guy.

3 Domri Rade: Good ol' Domri is absolutely sick with Courser of Kruphix, especially when you can chain Nykthos activations into a huge Polukranos monstrous off the top.

3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts: This guy is perfect to top off the curve with in order to find more big things to beat your opponent into submission.

11 Forest: You need to cast an Elvish Mystic from your opening hand.

1 Mountain: 'Cause value.

4 Stomping Ground and 4 Temple of Abandon: You need red sources, and Temples are sick with Courser.

3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: The reason this deck is a thing, Nykthos allows the deck to do obscene things that not even Mono-Black can keep up with these shenanagains.

 

Sideboard: Most of the things are self-explanatory, but the one card I had questions about was Sylvan Primordial. This would be Acidic Slime or some variant thereof, but this is actually better in this deck because you hit 7 mana more reliably, it hits planeswalkers, plus the whole legality issue with Acidic Slime.

I ended up going 3-1 heading into the top 8, and then proceded to make my way to the finals to lose to Naya Hexproof.

 

Swiss Rounds (4)

Round 1: I played against mono-white heroic the first round, and ended up going 2-0.

Round 2: I ended up against a newer player to the shop in round 2 who was playing what appeared to be mono-red burn, but kept mentioning missing blue mana in both games we played. Either way, I soundly won 2-0.

Round 3: I played against GW Hexproof in round 3, and had to overwhelm my opponent with a board state so impressive it barely fit on my playmat. I barely won the third game but won 2-1.

 

Round 4: I was matched against a player piloting Wg Voltron. I kept greedy hands both games and ended up paying for it, going 0-2.

 

Top 8

 

Top 8: I was paired against the same opponent I fought in the third round, and, using the same strategy, I got the same result - 2-1.

Top 4: I got matched with a familiar face, my 'friend', Alex. He was not playing Gr Monsters as I have come to know him for playing, this time piloting a Bant Superfriends build that was very similar to a list I had thought about piloting a few weeks ago myself. We went to a third game after he got ran over in the first game and Elspeth and Ajani had ultimated in the second. I kept a greedy hand that needed 3 more lands to even try to begin working. Thankfully, I drew into the required lands and a few turns later, I had a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon beating him in the face that he was unable to deal with pushing me into the finals.

Finals: I played against my good friend Greg in the finals, immediately offering to split the prizes so we could all go home. He thought about it, but decided against it, having confidence in his deck to take him to those 10 total packs sitting, waiting to be claimed by the winner. I had been sitting close to him the entire night, so I knew he would be playing Naya Hexproof, but he also know I would be piloting Gr Devotion. The first game swung in my favor thanks to another overwhelming board state. The second game I kept a hand consisting of 3 Burning-Trees and lands. I drew into a few mana dorks and big guys but nothing to stop his giant creature from beating my face into a pulp, tying the record at 1-1 going into the third game. I starting dumping my hand onto the board, as did he. Sadly, I didn't amount a defense to stop his giant, lifelinking, flying, double striker. I claimed the second prize of promos and 7 packs and went home at 3 in the morning.

Whew. I needed to write that. Next weekend I will do another FNM Report as well as a 2-Headed Giant event report. In the meantime, I'll be in summer school unfortunately, but will continue to work on my storm wizard. Just remember,

"Good luck, don't suck."

~The Ravenhunter