Saturday, May 31, 2014

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

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