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