Monday, May 13, 2013

Return to Ravnica Bloc sealed #1

So I made it until the release events. I "opened" the pool and here's whats looking at me:

click any image to embiggen

Sealed Pool #1
The rares have been moved to the bottom to allow full appreciation of their power. I am immediately drawn to Alms Beast and Sire of Insanity, so i pull together an attempt at RWB. It turns out 20 minutes is not a lot of time to build, especially in crazy 10 guild land, So with only a few minutes left, i add lands and submit. Maybe I'll work on another stab between rounds.

Main deck as submitted. Whoops on Carnage Gladiator.
Notes: Carnage Gladiator should be main instead of the Perilous Shade. I have an aggro package with Boros Charm, Firstblade and Traitorous Instinct, or I could bring in Maze Abomination for attrition matchups.

Round 1, FIGHT!
Game 1:
I took game one on the back of Rakdos Drake and Knight Tokens combines with Haazda Snare Squad, while his regenerator was busy with Alms Beast.
Game 2:
My Alms Beast was allowed to hit once, which put him to 14, setting up 8 untouchable damage from Holy Mantled Alms Beast the next turn, with Morgue Burst Backup in case he drew a spell to off my beast. He actually gained 4 life with the big Lightning Helix, but no answer to the undercosted fatty with pro-creature pants. Morgue Burst did the last two points to his dome just to be safe.

Round 2
Game 1:
I take damage from his Grim Roustabout and other smallish guys. I drop Alms Beast. Court Denizen and Arrester do tricks to let it through for some damage. I Knights Watch for some more attackers, then
Game 2:
I'm trying to stabilize against his turn 3 Rakdos Hellsomething 4/3 and turn four jailbroken Orge Jailbreaker against my Basilica Screecher and Radkos Drake. I'm all like "ruh-roh", but I peel Annihilating Fire plus extort to help me hold off until my awesome 6-drop removal can hold the day. He drops a dinky 2/1 that loots; I counter with Steeple Roc. He kills it with fire and swings me down to 7. I draw my sixth land, activating my Trostani's Judgment and Morgue Burst in hand. Judgment puts the ogre back in jail exile as I go to 5. This game ends spectacularly soon thereafter. He is at 5 lands, missing blue when he plays Izzet Cluestone. I finally have  the board in my favor so I lay down the Insanity Sire. Into his bin at end of turn goes Voidwielder and Explosive Impact. And I quote:

His name has been obscured to protect the innocent.

Round 3
Game 1:
He has an early army of naught/ones, with Centaur's Herald followed up by Cloudfin Raptor. By the time he pops the herald to swing for 1, I have a Cluestone and get our Steeple Roc on turn 4. He Mimic Slimes his Centaur token, then sits back. Hmmm... was that part of a plan? I drop Towering Thunderfist and block when he attacks. He taps SEVEN to bloodrush a Skaarg Goliath for +9/+9 and trample, blowing out my giant and taking me to 4. His follow-up is a 2/3 French vanilla flier. On my side, I play arrester and Knight's Watch on one turn to stabilize, take out one of his fliers with a burn spell, then end the game with a Spark Trooper . I think he could have played his giant a little slower and won this one.
Game 2:
I get blown out by trying to avoid dying to a bloodrushed goliath but he has Protect and Serve instead. My expensive removal doesn't quite come around in time, since I can only cast one spell per turn and he gets me while I still have two good spells in hand and the mana to play them over the next two turns. Perhaps if I play this one better I can survive to win. Particularly the time I blocked with Carnage Gladiator and two mana open, thinking its regen was two. It is three.
Game 3: He stumbles on 2 Islands for a couple of turns while I power out Alms Beast and get him with help from court street denizen and snare squad. He puts up a valiant fight, but loses on turn 8.

Round 4
Game 1: This game ended when his Progenitor Mimic stole my Alms Beast, then his trick killed my beast on the blocks when I was looking to trade then Morgue Burst the Mimic version.
Game 2: I mull, then he gets a quick Ghor-Clan Ravager start, which I ca't really match. It was too much to handle and I had almost stabilize before my face was explosively impacted.

3-1. I get 8 packs of Dragon's Maze, currently valued about 2.5 tix per, since the market is flooded, but that should rise to 3 or so in the next few weeks.

Other possible builds include trying to do populate nonsense with blue or black:

Not enough oomph
With better fixing, I splash top-end red into either GW deck.

Or speeding up the Boros deck and just splashing top end black or blue:
Zesty , but needs to win quickly
Daddy like
I think that with infinite time to build, I probably like that last version the best. It's a touch low on creatures, but there are two five-drops "non-creatures" that make multiple tokens.  Unfortunately I have no useful battalion shenanigans.

The fixing in this pool was all for black, blue, and red. The cluestones weren't nearly as bad for me as I want them to be, but I still love it when my opponent taps out on turn three to play a mana stone.

I never cast Explosive Impact and only had Sire of Insanity (which was in fact, insane) once, but Alms Beast did a lot of work.

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