Punishing Zoo Update

After a lengthy hiatus from Zoo I was itching to sling Wild Nacatls again, so I came up with a new Punishing Zoo list.

In the process I noticed that throughout 2016, MTGO player nekoyama had been putting up results playing various configurations of Punishing Zoo (the archetype had no results in paper events though). His lists are on the grindiest end of the spectrum and many would argue aren't even Zoo, eschewing staples like Lightning Bolt and Tarmogoyf for cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Huntmaster of the Fells.

I decided to go in a more traditional direction when re-vamping my last list from ~February 2016. One new card had caught my eye-Thalia, Heretic Cathar looked like a strong and natural addition to the deck.

So far I've played Punishing Zoo in 4 local weekly events over the last few weeks and prized (X-1 in 3 or 4 rounds) at all of them.

Here is the current iteration of the deck:

Punishing Zoo, 12/19/16
Creature Spells (20) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Wild Nacatl 3x Qasali Pridemage 2x Scavenging Ooze 1x Gaddock Teeg 4x Knight of the Reliquary 2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar	Noncreature Spells (17) 4x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Lightning Bolt 4x Swords to Plowshares 3x Punishing Fire 1x Sylvan Library 1x Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands (23) 4x Wooded Foothills 4x Windswept Heath 3x Savannah 2x Taiga 2x Plateau 1x Forest 1x Dryad Arbor 3x Grove of the Burnwillows 1x Karakas 1x Kessig Wolf Run 1x Wasteland	SB: 3x Surgical Extraction SB: 3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg SB: 1x Pyroblast SB: 1x Ancient Grudge SB: 1x Enlightened Tutor SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 1x Grafdigger's Cage SB: 1x Stony Silence SB: 1x Worship

Some musings so far:

• Thalia, Heretic Cathar (replacing Tarmogoyf) has been a solid addition as expected. She has an aggressive body and an asymmetric hateful ability, which I think makes for an excellent Zoo card-I've often considered playing Spirit of the Labyrinth and/or Aven Mindcensor for the same reasons, but Thalia's power level is far higher.

• I used to always play 1 basic Plains, but the mana in the deck is a bit awkward so I cut it for the 3rd Savannah. I would only put the Plains back in a meta with known Burn and/or Blood Moon players, or maybe in a large unknown meta.

• Related to the above, I played Blood Moon in the sideboard a few times. Blood Moon provides valuable land hate for this deck which only plays a single Wasteland. However, I believe you need to have a basic Plains to play your own Blood Moons. Winter Orb might provide a bit of a compromise.

• I'm still unsure which "Trample land" is better between Kessig Wolf Run and Skarrg, the Rage Pits (linked for any unfortunates who don't know this beautiful card). I tested Skarrg and while it is more efficient and gives a point of toughness, the ability to pump Wolf Run to infinity may be superior. Skarrg definitely wins big in the "wtf" category, and the reactions of opponents I killed aided by this card were fantastic. Overall, I think the "Trample land" slot is valuable in Zoo because the deck can sometimes struggle in a grind to push damage through. 

• Worship in the sideboard is a concession to the Eldrazi matchup primarily. I only played against Eldrazi once and lost, and think its not a great matchup. While we have Knight, we have a bad Wasteland plan and are a bit vulnerable to Chalice. Cutting Tarmogoyf probably hurts the most here. Having access to Blood Moon could be an avenue to improve this matchup.

Tournament Report: SCG Baltimore, 11/5/16

Another weekend, another Legacy tournament in Baltimore.

BANT BLADE, 11/5/16
Creature Spells (14) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Stoneforge Mystic 1x Scavenging Ooze 1x Qasali Pridemage 3x True-Name Nemesis 2x Knight of the Reliquary	Noncreature Spells (24) 3x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Brainstorm 4x Swords to Plowshares 1x Ponder 1x Spell Pierce 4x Daze 3x Force of Will 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1x Umezawa's Jitte 1x Batterskull
Lands (22) 4x Misty Rainforest 4x Windswept Heath 3x Tropical Island 2x Tundra 1x Savannah 1x Forest 1x Island 1x Dryad Arbor 1x Karakas 4x Wasteland	SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Meddling Mage SB: 1x Garruk Relentless SB: 1x Engineered Explosives SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice SB: 1x Force of Will SB: 1x Invasive Surgery SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg SB: 1x Path to Exile SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Reclamation Sage SB: 1x Rest in Peace SB: 1x Vendilion Clique

For better or worse, my list has remained basically unchanged for months now. The only change I made going into the weekend was cutting the 2nd Jace in the main for a Spell Pierce. The 2nd Jace really underperformed and was boarded out in almost every matchup except for Miracles. Even against Miracles Jace can be anemic against Red Blasts. I moved my SB Pierce into its place and put a Garruk Relentless as grindy card #2 in the SB.


Day 1

Round 1 - BR Reanimator (2-1)
Game 1 my opponent had enablers but no protection and I had counterspells.
Game 2 I didn't have enough disruption and died to Elesh Norn.
Game 3 I had to jam Hierarch into Chancellor to turn on my Surgical. He went to discard pitching a Chancellor. He then went to reanimate it and my hand was bad, so I had to Surgical it. I took another Chancellor out of his hand and saw a bunch of Sneak Attacks, a Reanimate, and an Exhume. Going through his library I also saw Blood Moons. On my turn Stoneforge Mystic rolled off the top exactly on time to give me a clock. He passed his next turn. I had a Misty Rainforest, giving me the option to EOT fetch Arbor and equip Sophie and start attacking on my next turn, but declined to as I wanted access to basic Forest against a potential Blood Moon. I just went to my turn, drew a card, and passed. On my EOT he cast Entomb and got Elesh Norn. I stared stupidly at the two Dazes in my hand and his 3 mana, realizing I was dead to Reanimated Elesh Norn having decided to neither get equipped beats going a turn sooner nor fetched Batterskull. My opponent miraculously cast Exhume on his turn rather than Reanimate, allowing my two Dazes to prevent Elesh Norn from hitting the board. I equipped and attacked on my next turn and drew Surgical. From there it was smooth sailing. I set myself up to get totally punished for playing too conservatively this game, but was saved by what was probably a stumble from my opponent.

Round 2 - Burn (2-0)
Game 1 I had Exalted True-Name beats and timely counterspells.
Game 2 was similar, but having only seen Hierarchs, Trops, and True-Names in the first game my opponent was cold to Stoneforge Mystic. He said he thought I was playing BUG. I guess he doesn't play a lot of Legacy.

Round 3 - Miracles (2-0)
Game 1 I kept up the slow incremental beats and Forced Counterbalance. A Miracle Entreat the Angels threatened to turn the tide, but my opponent tapped out for it, turning on all the soft permission rotting in my hand.
Game 2 my opponent foundered against Gaddock Teeg and Wasteland. He tried to make a race of it with Clique and Snapcasters, but ambush Dryad Arbor + Sophie on Teeg sealed it in my favor.

Round 4 - Storm (2-1)
Game 1 was a comical affair, as it often is in this matchup.
Game 2 I was able to get G. Teeg out but he was promptly Decayed. I was getting in for mediocre beats and my opponent cast plenty of Probes so I was getting there while he dug for a way to kill me. Once he went off I thought I was dead, with only a Surgical and Daze in hand. I couldn't take him off Threshold with the Surgical and threw my Daze into his Cabal Rit, which he paid for with an Underground Sea if I remember correctly. He cast Past in Flames with plenty of mana and cantrips in his yard, so I decided to Surgical Ponder since that gave him the most looks at finding the right cards to kill me. At this point he turned out to be choked on Blue mana, having cracked LED for Red and along with plenty of Black floating from Rits. He was able to start cantripping with Probes off Petals, but with only Brainstorms left and no shuffle effects he couldn't kill me and fizzled.
Game 3 I got out G. Teeg on turn 2, which lined up well against his Xantid Swarm. He loosely cast a Ponder before attacking with Swarm, which I Dazed to tap down his Bayou, keeping him off a potential Decay that turn. Next turn I played a Knight, and had to fade Decay for one more turn after which I would blow up his Bayou, which happened. After that my threats became too much to overcome. I felt really good getting out of this match alive.

Round 5 - Burn (2-0)
Dork, threat, some counterspells and removal. I forgot a Jitte trigger in game 1 which was incredibly loose, but I was far enough ahead that I still won.

Round 6 - UR Delver (0-2)
Game 1 I had a clunky draw that lined up poorly against the UR Delver deck.
Game 2 I had a weird 6 card hand and went all in on equipping Jitte to Dryad Arbor with Force backup. I got in two counters but when Bombat Courier (!!) showed up to block I was in an awkward spot against Bolt and my Arbor died. I resolved a loose Ponder keeping lands and a Batterskull on top of my library. Next turn my opponent slammed Blood Moon, which surprised me more than it should have. Keeping the Batterskull turned out to be fortuitous, and I cast it able to pay for Daze, but he had a Force. With all Mountains in play and no cards in hand at that point I was very dead. I think some of my decisions in this game were pretty questionable.

Round 7 - UW Stoneblade (2-0)
I honestly played quite loosely both of these games but drew the right threats and disruption to win comfortably.

Round 8 - Shardless BUG (0-2)
I was paired against my good friend Jon Orr, whose list I was very familiar with both from games at our local store and finishing our decklists together that morning. We lamented that we had to face each other at this crucial juncture, but were comforted by the fact that the winner had a great shot at making day 2. It happens that Shardless BUG is one of Bant's worst matchups, which Jon's list pushes to the extreme after sideboarding with 2 Disfigure, 2 Deluge, 1 Pulse, 1 Golgari Charm, 1 Null Rod, and 1 Night of Soul's Betrayal. As usual, our games weren't close.

Round 9 - BR Reanimator (0-2)
I was playing against a well-known SCG player who has played a variety of Legacy decks, so I had no clue what to expect. He turned out to be on...BR Reanimator, which has been exploding in popularity. Game 1 was over quickly.
Game 2 I kept a 7 card hand of GSZ, Stoneforge Mystic, 2 Dazes, 3 lands. I play against BR Reanimator at my local store a lot, and while this isn't an ideal hand in the matchup, I thought it would be reasonably effective against a large percentage of their draws. I thought mulliganing this hand would be over-cautious. I lead on GSZ-->Arbor with Daze at the ready. My opponent Cast Lotus Petal, which I let resolve, then cast Unmask. I Dazed without thinking about it much, which my opponent responded to by cracking Petal to cast Dark Rit. Nothing to do about that. Pay for Daze, see I have nothing, Entomb Griselbrand, Reanimate Griselbrand quickly followed. Needless to say, I did not win this game. While initially I brushed it off to the absurdity of his hand-no lands, turn 1 combo with protection-in hindsight I know I seriously misplayed my first Daze. The obvious play might have been Daze the Petal. Also viable was let Unmask resolve. He keeps his Petal and sees two Dazes, the first of which definitely shuts off a turn 1 combo. I asked a friend who plays BR Reanimator about this situation and he says he would take a Daze, jam something into the 2nd Daze, and pass. On my turn I cast Stoneforge Mystic but have nothing. How it plays out from the top of both of our decks from there is unknown, but what is certain is that Dazing the Unmask was exactly the worst line I had.

At X-3 I didn't think I'd make Day 2, but me and nearly 100 other X-3 players ended up getting pulled in. I honestly couldn't believe I made day 2 with my level of play. My only explanation was that many of my opponents played even worse.

Day 2

Round 10 - BG Aggro Depths (1-2)
Game 1 I had plenty of threats and won after giving him 20 life by Plowing a Marit Lage.
Game 2 went in a weird direction and I think I made a multitude of bad decisions. I never was able to put together a plan for victory despite drawing reasonably well. It didn't help that my opponent had Sylvan Library going for countless turns.
We didn't have much time left for Game 3. My opponent came out fast with multiple Tarmogoyfs and I had no answer but a Stoneforge Mystic to race back with Batterskull. I carelessly tapped my Wasteland and gave him a window play Hexmage and make Marit Lage with his on-board Depths to kill me.

Round 11 - Miracles (0-2)
Game 1 was a fiasco, with me forgetting to pop my Pridemage on Counterbalance in response to a Plow and failing to Daze a crucial Brainstorm that allowed him to counter my True-Name Nemesis.
Game 2 I was on 5 cards and didn't do much.

At X-5 and feeling pretty miserable, I decided to drop even though I still had a shot at top64.

Final Record: 6-5


I quickly became caught up in my friend Jon's tournament, which was still going well. He ended up winning the entire event through a gauntlet of Lands, Elves, and the final boss Joe Lossett himself. Congratulations to Jon for his stellar run and well-deserved win. Its hard not to call it a great weekend after that despite my own lackluster performance.

This was the last major event on my schedule for a while. What's next for me is to play some Maverick again, a deck I am starting to miss tremendously.


Bonuses:

Read Jon's 1st Place Tournament Report with Shardless BUG

Round 1 Feature Match, my Punishing Maverick comrade Mark Strassman took down Reid Duke playing Elves!!

Tournament Report: Eternal Extravaganza 5 with "Strictly Worse Miracles", 10/15/16

Having almost exclusively played Stoneblade decks over the last few months, I was certain I would play one at this event, but I didn't know exactly which variant.

On Thursday night, the day before we were heading down to Baltimore, I had an epiphany of sorts. The Maryland /NOVA region is renown for being infested with Lands and Aggro Loam, two unfavorable matchups for a Stoneblade deck. So why not splash Red for Blood Moon?

UWr BLADE, 10/15/16
Creature Spells (10) 4x Stoneforge Mystic 3x True-Name Nemesis 2x Snapcaster Mage 1x Vendilion Clique	Noncreature Spells (30) 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Brainstorm 4x Ponder 4x Force of Will 3x Spell Pierce 2x Lightning Bolt 1x Spell Snare 1x Counterspell 1x Engineered Explosives 1x Council's Judgment 1x Supreme Verdict 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1x Umezawa's Jitte 1x Batterskull
Lands (20) 4x Flooded Strand 4x Scalding Tarn 2x Arid Mesa 2x Tundra 2x Volcanic Island 3x Island 2x Plains 1x Mountain	SB: 2x Blood Moon SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Meddling Mage SB: 1x Containment Priest SB: 2x Wear // Tear SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice SB: 1x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 1x Invasive Surgery SB: 2x Pyroblast SB: 1x Pyroclasm

Its not a novel concept by any means, but I quickly became convinced it was my best choice for the weekend, despite having never played this Stoneblade variant before. Unfortunately, an existential flaw in UWr Stoneblade is that it is essentially a strictly worse Miracles deck. There are almost no matchups where you would rather be playing UWr Stoneblade than Miracles. One could previously argue that UWr Stoneblade is more capable of closing games faster and avoiding draws than Miracles, but the incorporation of Monastery Mentor into Miracles has invalidated that argument. In fact, I would say a Miracles deck can now kill faster. However, I know how to play Stoneblade, and I have no idea how to play Miracles, so for me there was no choice. I am no stranger to "dead" archetypes, so this was fine.

At the player meeting 9 rounds of Swiss were announced. Here is how my rounds went:

Round 1: Miracles (2-0)
Game 1 Both me and my opponent had pretty good hands in the dark. He had Island, Top into Counterbalance with Force backup. I had two lands, two Forces, two Blue cards, and a Stoneforge Mystic. When the dust settled I had Batterskull beating down while he dug for an answer with Top but couldn't find it.
Game 2 I played a Delver-esque game of beatdown with Snapcaster Mage and Chris Pikula (naming Terminus) backed up by counterspells for removal.

Round 2: Gw Cloudpost (2-1)
Game 1 I was nowhere near killing him when he resolved Primeval Titan.
Game 2 I had a good mix of disruption and pressure, with Vendilion Clique and Sophie carrying the game despite an appearance by Thragtusk.
Game 3 I kept an awkward hand with Blood Moon. My opponent's hand was equally awkward with no Cloudposts and one of his lands being a Tabernacle, but he had Maps. Eventually I drew a 3rd land to Blood Moon, but he was able to get Green mana online off the Maps. I was off White mana and had to cast Snapcaster Mage as Ambush Viper just to get a clock going in conjunction with Sophie while on Island, Mountain, Mountain. I drew relevant counterspells to keep him off anything too dangerous while clocking him and was able to end it despite eventually losing my Blood Moon to a Grip. I had to sweat it big time as I was just dead to a Titan for a few turns with no Blood Moon or permission.

Round 3: Grixis Delver (2-0)
Game 1 I had timely removal and permission to answer his threats and got Jitte equipped to True-Name. After the game my opponent commented that my opener of Arid Mesa, Mountain, Bolt Delver led him to consider naming Eidolon of the Great Revel with Therapy next turn.
Game 2 I Forced a Pyromancer and Snared another, and jammed True-Name on 3 mana which resolved to my surprise. He resolved Angler, but having Probed and fetched several times I was winning the race thanks to the Bolt in my hand and just started attacking. He found a Deathrite Shaman to even it out too late.

Round 4: Death & Taxes (0-2)
Game 1 I made some poor plays in the face of Thalia, Heretic Cathar, including not Stoneforging in my Batterskull in response to a Vial on 3 activation (I was going to do it anyway) and forgetting she has first strike.
Game 2 I got steamrolled despite having a Bolt, Plow, and Snapcaster Mage in my opener and scrying True-Name Nemesis on top of my library. I used my removal spells to kill Mothers and then landed True-Name. He cast Council's Judgment right away, which I Forced pitching Snapcaster. At that point I was out of spells and didn't draw relevant action while he was able to walk through True-Name with Sophie.

Round 5: Death & Taxes (2-0)
Game 1 I forced my opponents turn 1 Vial off Plains pitching a Jace. With just Flooded Strand and Scalding Tarn in play he resolved Phyrexian Revoker and named Sensei's Divining Top. That's fine. Stoneforge Mystic and True-Name Nemesis ended the game shortly after.
Game 2 I got True-Name + Equipment on-line again before he could do too much.

Round 6: Omni-Sneak (0-2)
Game 1 my opponent didn't do much on the first few turns, so I put him on Miracles. An Impulse exposed him to be playing some kind of Show & Tell deck. I countered his first Show & Tell but he had another and Griselbrand came into play. My True-Name + Jitte valiantly tried to make it a race but he drew into Emrakul to kill me.
Game 2 was a short affair with many skill-intensive decisions made on both sides. My opponent cast Show & Tell, I cast Force of Will, he cast Force of Will, then the game ended.

Round 7: Miracles (0-2)
Game 1 my opponent played at a brisk pace and in an effort to match it I made some really loose plays. He answered all my threats and established Counter-Top, and I conceded despite being under no pressure.
Game 2 I tapped out for a Stoneforge Mystic, and my opponent resolved Counterbalance as I stared at the two Pyroblasts in my hand. The game was basically over at that point.

Round 8: Shardless BUG (1-2)
Game 1 I managed to get there with two True-Names and a Clique backed up by counterspells.
Game 2 I had mana problems and couldn't do anything about Liliana of the Veil.
Game 3 I felt like I had all the tools to win, but a well-timed Abrupt Decay followed-up by a Toxic Deluge were too much to overcome. I think I could have won this game had I made different plays at my many decision points.

At this point I was out of prize contention and reasonably tilted after losing 3 rounds in a row so I dropped.

Final Record: 4-4
Not the worst record, but a bit disappointing considering I begun the day at 3-0.

The deck felt solid overall and I would play it again. Blood Moon is a valuable addition to a Stoneblade deck that shores up some matchups it can struggle against. I also like having access to additional efficient creature removal like Lightning Bolt and Pyroclasm. Pyroblast naturally does wonders in the Blue mirrors. UWR is a very flexible color combination in Legacy that can be tuned towards a variety of matchups and metagames.

A big highlight of the tournament was fellow Punishing Maverick player Mark Strassman running undefeated through the Swiss to make Top8, beating 2 Miracles, 2 Lands, 1 Belcher, and 1 Omni-Tell deck along the way. Unfortunately, he lost in the quarterfinal to the eventual champion, Miracles veteran Sam Roukas. Strassman's list, like mine, is derived from Fabian Goerzgen's 3.5 color list with Deathrite Shaman, but was packing a lot more sideboard cards for the Miracles matchup. Its awesome to see other people representing Punishing Maverick and doing well with it. You can see Strassman's list and tournament report posted here on The Source.

The only real downside of the weekend was having to drive back to Massachusetts on Sunday night after the tournament. I got home at 4:00AM and by some miracle managed to make it to work on time at 9:00AM. Of course, at 7:00PM that same Monday night I was battling it out again at one of my Legacy weeklies. Can't stop playing the best format.

DECK: Esperblade, 10/7/16

Over the past few months I've spent most of my time playing various UWx Stoneforge Mystic decks. When this Esper list popped up in Japan a few weeks ago, I was inspired to play a pure Esperblade deck again, despite having argued that Esper lists without Deathrite Shaman are obsolete.

The list incorporated a lot of interesting ideas, but what stood out to me the most supplementing Stoneforge Mystic with Lingering Souls and Tasigur, the Golden Fang instead of True-Name Nemesis.

Here is my first draft list:

Stuff

Other Stuff

Lands

Sideboard

Imgur album w/full-size images

It was an interesting deck as expected, and I'll definitely play something similar again.

Possible future card inclusions:

• Academy Ruins
• Painful Truths
• Baleful Strix
• Mana Leak
• Humility

My Favorite _____ in Magic

Color: Green
Guild: Selesnya
Shard or Wedge: Bant
Artifact: Sword of War and Peace
Basic Land: This Forest
Creature: Noble Hierarch
Enchantment: Nylea, God of the Hunt
Instant: Punishing Fire
Legendary Creature: Sigarda, Host of Herons
Nonbasic Land: Grove of the Burnwillows
Planeswalker: Venser, the Sojourner
Sorcery: Green Sun's Zenith
Token: 3/3 Colorless Golem
Mechanic: Exalted
Keyword: Vigilance
Deck: Mythic Bant (ALA-ZEN Standard)
Block: Invasion
Set: Conflux
Plane: Bant
Art: Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Artist: Volkan Baga
Pro Player: Reid Duke
Community Figure: Patrick Sullivan
Sleeves: KMC Hyper Matte

Local Legacy: False Cure Stompy!

A few months ago this somewhat obscure Legacy deck won a small SCG Legacy IQ. Upon seeing this, I immediately bought the few cards I was missing to build it. However, I still haven't played it. A friend wanted to give it a spin at FNM and I was all to happy to oblige as the deck looks sweet.

The meta included:

1 False Cure Stompy
2 Esper Deathblade (I was one of them)
1 Esper Stoneblade
3 BR Griselbrand Reanimator (!!)
1 Miracles w/Mentor
1 Punishing Jund
1 RUG Lands
1 A.N.T.
1 UG Infect
1 BUG "Miracle Slayer" Delver
1 Team America
1 Shardless BUG


Here is the list I designed as a first draft based off the IQ winning list:

FALSE CURE, 8/26/16
Creatures (18) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Dark Confidant 4x Kavu Predator 4x Skyshroud Cutter 1x Sylvan Safekeeper 1x Dryad Arbor	Noncreature Spells (23) 4x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Thoughtseize 3x Hymn to Tourach 4x False Cure 4x Invigorate
Lands (19) 4x Verdant Catacombs 4x Windswept Heath 1x Marsh Flats 4x Bayou 1x Savannah 1x Scrubland 2x Swamp 1x Forest 1x Karakas	SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Rest in Peace SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 2x Abrupt Decay SB: 2x Duress SB: 1x Reverent Silence SB: 1x Nature's Claim SB: 1x Null Rod SB: 1x Winter Orb SB: 1x Marsh Casualties

The maindeck looks nice and streamlined but the sideboard needs work. Part of the problem with building the SB is that I have no idea what the good and bad matchups are for this deck. The most important thing right now is to get in games to see what works and what doesn't. 

Here is how my friend's rounds with the deck went:

Round 1: Esper Stoneblade (2-1)

I've played against False Cure once with Deathblade, and must say the matchup felt very lopsided in The Cure's favor. True-Name Nemesis and Batterskull are ineffective before the might of Kavu Predator.

Round 2: BR Griselbrand Reanimator (2-1)

It turns out False Cure is very powerful against Griselbrand. 

Round 3: Esper Deathblade (1-2)

My friend lost out in close games. He said he could have won this match but made a pretty bad misplay, which I believe.

Round 4: Team America (0-2)
He said this seemed like a bad matchup.

Final Record: 2-2
Its worth noting that no quick combo kills were achieved all night-right now we think this is improbable without several copies of Reverent Silence in the 75.

The manabase was reported to be problematic, and the SB will probably change as there are many other options we would like to test. Overall, we're eager to keep working on the deck.

Local Legacy: 8/9

I played Esper Deathblade at one of my weeklies yesterday. There was a good turnout of ~30 players so it was a 5-round event.

The meta was wonderfully diverse and included:

2 A.N.T.
1 Aggro Loam
1 Aluren
1 BR Griselbrand
1 Bant Deathblade
1 Burn
1 Death & Taxes
2 Eldrazi Stompy
1 Enlightened Tutor Miracles
1 Esper Deathblade
1 Grixis Delver
1 Legend Miracles
1 Loam Pox
1 Mentor Miracles
1 Miracles
2 Moggcatcher Stompy
1 Mono-Green Cloudpost
1 Mono-White Stax
1 RG Lands
2 Shardless BUG
1 UB Reanimator
1 UG Infect
1 UR Delver


Here is my generic, somewhat "retro" list:

ESPER  DEATHBLADE, 8/9/16
Creature Spells (14) 4x Deathrite Shaman 4x Stoneforge Mystic 2x Snapcaster Mage 3x True-Name Nemesis 1x Vendilion Clique	Noncreature Spells (24) 4x Brainstorm 2x Ponder 4x Swords to Plowshares 3x Thoughtseize 1x Inquisition of Kozilek 1x Mana Leak 1x Vindicate 4x Force of Will 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor 1x Umezawa's Jitte 1x Batterskull
Lands (22) 4x Polluted Delta 4x Flooded Strand 2x Marsh Flats 3x Underground Sea 2x Tundra 1x Scrubland 1x Tropical Island 1x Island 1x Swamp 1x Plains 2x Wasteland	SB: 2x Surgical Extraction SB: 2x Disfigure SB: 2x Meddling Mage SB: 2x Zealous Persecution SB: 1x Invasive Surgery SB: 1x Engineered Explosives SB: 1x Disenchant SB: 1x Pithing Needle SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice SB: 1x Rest in Peace SB: 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

My rounds went as follows:

Round 1: Shardless BUG (2-0)

Round 2: UG Infect (2-0)

Round 3: Burn (2-0)

Round 4: Mentor Miracles (1-1)

Round 5: Aggro Loam (2-0)

Final Record: 4-0-1, putting me in 1st place for a nice chunk of store credit.


There must be something good going on with the list for me to come out on top in 3 unfavorable matchups (Shardless, Burn, Aggro Loam), but I think I also had better luck than my opponents.
My round against Miracles, another unfavorable matchup, was very close. I won the 1st game and was in a good position to win the 2nd, but lost it due to misplaying a Deathrite Shaman activation. We didn't have enough time left to finish the 3rd game.

I've been playing something pretty similar at weeklies over the last few months, and while I don't always do great with it I never do terribly. The only change I might make moving forward is cutting the Mana Leak, which I'm trying out but has been unimpressive. There are a few cards that could replace it, including Counterspell, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, or Vendilion Clique. Another possibility is replacing the 2nd Zealous Persecution in the sideboard with a Toxic Deluge.