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Wednesday, August 15, 2018

We Modern Now

Unfortunately, there are no weekly Legacy events here in Jacksonville. Despite buying some Legacy cards on MTGO, I prefer paper Magic to MTGO enough that I'm willing to play Modern FNM. Here are some of the decks I've been playing:


UW Midrange, 7/27/18

  • Creature Spells (16)
  • 4x Wall of Omens
  • 4x Kitchen Finks
  • 2x Vendilion Clique
  • 4x Restoration Angel
  • 1x Dragonlord Ojutai
  • 1x Lyra Dawnbringer
  • Noncreature Spells (19)
  • 4x Spell Snare
  • 4x Path to Exile
  • 2x Remand
  • 1x Negate
  • 1x Blessed Alliance
  • 2x Detention Sphere
  • 3x Cryptic Command
  • 2x Supreme Verdict
  • Lands (25)
  • 4x Flooded Strand
  • 2x Hallowed Fountain
  • 3x Island
  • 3x Plains
  • 4x Celestial Colonnade
  • 3x Mystic Gate
  • 1x Eiganjo Castle
  • 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
  • 4x Field of Ruin

  • SB: 2x Damping Sphere
  • SB: 2x Rest in Peace
  • SB: 2x Stony Silence
  • SB: 2x Runed Halo
  • SB: 2x Dispel
  • SB: 2x Disenchant
  • SB: 1x Celestial Purge
  • SB: 1x Negate
  • SB: 1x Supreme Verdict

UW Midrange has become one of my favorite Modern archetypes. The manabase and sideboard cards are great, and the Resto/Finks/Wall team does SO much work. This take is heavily based on Yuuya Watanabe's list from Worlds in 2015. UW has been quite successful in Modern recently in the form of hard control builds with Terminus, but I find that style much less appealing.


Zoo, 8/15/18

  • Creature Spells (27)
  • 4x Noble Hierarch
  • 4x Wild Nacatl
  • 4x Tarmogoyf
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 4x Knight of the Reliquary
  • 3x Loxodon Smiter
  • 4x Bloodbraid Elf


  • Noncreature Spells (11)
  • 4x Path to Exile
  • 4x Lightning Bolt
  • 2x Lightning Helix
  • 1x Domri Rade


  • Lands (22)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 4x Wooded Foothills
  • 2x Arid Mesa
  • 1x Temple Garden
  • 2x Stomping Ground
  • 2x Sacred Foundry
  • 2x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Horizon Canopy
  • 1x Stirring Wildwood
  • 1x Ghost Quarter
  • 1x Kessig Wolf Run



  • SB: 3x Molten Rain
  • SB: 2x Grafdigger's Cage
  • SB: 2x Fiery Justice
  • SB: 2x Kitchen Finks
  • SB: 2x Stony Silence
  • SB: 2x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Ancient Grudge
  • SB: 1x Sword of Light and Shadow

I always find myself coming back to Big Zoo in Modern. It just plays efficient, reasonably powerful cards and is capable presenting a quick clock, which are valuable attributes in this format. The unbanning of Bloodbraid Elf was great news for Zoo, but it has yet to put up many strong results. I think the deck isn't played very much as its on the more expensive side and isn't perceived as being good.


Liege Junk, 7/31/18

  • Creature Spells (27)
  • 4x Noble Hierarch
  • 4x Birds of Paradise
  • 4x Voice of Resurgence
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 4x Loxodon Smiter
  • 4x Siege Rhino
  • 3x Wilt-Leaf Liege


  • Noncreature Spells (10)
  • 4x Path to Exile
  • 2x Thoughtseize
  • 4x Lingering Souls


  • Lands (23)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 4x Verdant Catacombs
  • 1x Marsh Flats
  • 1x Temple Garden
  • 1x Overgrown Tomb
  • 1x Godless Shrine
  • 3x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Swamp
  • 3x Razorverge Thicket
  • 3x Gavony Township



  • SB: 2x Damping Sphere
  • SB: 2x Rest in Peace
  • SB: 2x Thoughtseize
  • SB: 2x Stony Silence
  • SB: 2x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 2x Blessed Alliance
  • SB: 1x Maelstrom Pulse
  • SB: 1x Thrun, the Last Troll
  • SB: 1x Sword of War and Peace


This deck has very polarized matchups and probably isn't very good overall.  However, I continue to play it solely due to the fact that Wilt-Leaf Liege is one of my favorite cards, and I don't really have another deck to play it in.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Bant Stoneblade Update & Top4 Tournament Report

"Not again..."

Deathrite Shaman and Gitaxian Probe are banned in Legacy. Its a brave new world now - or is it a brave old world? Many archetypes that were invalidated or suppressed by the presence of Deathrite Shaman now have a chance to shine again. One of my personal favorites, GSZ Bant Stoneblade, is one such archetype (Primer).

Although Bant experienced a renaissance throughout 2016 and 2017, it was in the form of Bant Deathblade, which eschewed the traditional GSZ package for a much more streamlined build including Deathrite Shaman, and other Black cards like Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Zealous Persecution, Abrupt Decay, and Thoughtseize.

GSZ Bant was less consistent and had worse matchups than Bant Deathblade across nearly the entire field - I would argue that GSZ Bant was superior against Sneak & Show, Eldrazi Stompy, and Moon Stompy, but this wasn't a compelling enough incentive for it to be competitively played.

With Deathrite Shaman now out of the picture entirely, Bant has regained a monopoly on mana dorks + busted Blue cards which could make it a serious contender. With this in mind, I took the deck out to my local monthly Legacy event.


Bant Stoneblade, 7/15/18

  • Creature Spells (15)
  • 4x Noble Hierarch
  • 4x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 1x Qasali Pridemage
  • 1x Scavenging Ooze
  • 3x True-Name Nemesis
  • 2x Knight of the Reliquary
  • Noncreature Spells (24)
  • 3x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Brainstorm
  • 2x Ponder
  • 4x Force of Will
  • 3x Daze
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Batterskull
  • Lands (21)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 4x Misty Rainforest
  • 3x Tropical Island
  • 2x Tundra
  • 1x Savannah
  • 1x Forest
  • 1x Island
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 1x Karakas
  • 3x Wasteland

  • SB: 2x Faerie Macabre
  • SB: 2x Meddling Mage
  • SB: 1x Grafdigger's Cage
  • SB: 1x Swan Song
  • SB: 1x Spell Pierce
  • SB: 1x Path to Exile
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 1x Detention Sphere
  • SB: 1x Pithing Needle
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Sylvan Library
  • SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
  • SB: 1x Vendilion Clique

My list...well, hasn't changed much. The nature of the three "packages" (Force of Will, Stoneforge Mystic, and Green Sun's Zenith) leave very few maindeck flex slots. For those interested in minutiae, I'm playing a 2nd Ponder instead of a 22nd land to accommodate 4 Force of Will main.

In the sideboard, running Faerie Macabre instead of Surgical Extraction was a concession to Reanimator combined with the fact that there are no local Lands players (this is CRAZY to me as someone from the Northeast). But overall, nothing exciting here.

There were only 19 players at the event. Here's a meta breakdown:
  • 4 Death & Taxes
  • 2 UWx Miracles
  • 2 Sneak & Show
  • 1 Belcher
  • 1 BR Griselbrand
  • 1 Burn
  • 1 Eldrazi
  • 1 Elves
  • 1 Eureka Tell
  • 1 Grixis Control
  • 1 Mono-red Sneak Attack
  • 1 Punishing Sneak Nic-Fit
  • 1 UWR Stoneblade

Here's how my matches went:

Round 1: Eureka Tell (2-0)
Round 2: UWR Stoneblade (2-0) 
Round 3: Eldrazi (2-0)
Round 4: Sneak & Show (2-1)
Round 5: ID
Quarterfinal: Death & Taxes (2-0)
Semifinal: Burn (1-2)

I felt like I drew really well all day, so either the deck is well constructed, or I just got lucky. Round 2 my opponent got a game loss for a sideboarding error after we got deck checked.

Now that a number of tournament results are in, the top decks in the new meta appear to be Canadian Threshold, D&T, and Sneak & Show. These are all even to favorable matchups for Bant, so it could prove to be well-positioned moving forward.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Tournament Report: Top8 @ Giga-Bites Legacy Quarterly with Punishing Maverick, 6/23/18

A significant change occurred in my life this April: I moved from Massachusetts to Florida for work reasons. Unfortunately, Northeast Florida doesn't exactly have a thriving Legacy scene. There's a monthly event at Jax Game Center in Jacksonville, but any other regular Legacy event is several hours away from me. As a result, I'm not playing much paper Legacy these days. MTGO just isn't as satisfying as paper Magic, so I've actually started going to a Modern FNM - more on that later!

Craving Legacy, I journeyed 6 hours up to Atlanta last weekend to sling old pieces of cardboard in the Giga-Bites Cafe Legacy Quarterly Win-a-Mox.



Punishing Maverick, 6/23/18

  • Creature Spells (21)
  • 4x Mother of Runes
  • 3x Noble Hierarch
  • 1x Birds of Paradise
  • 3x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • 1x Scryb Ranger
  • 4x Knight of the Reliquary
  • Noncreature Spells (15)
  • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 4x Punishing Fire
  • 1x Sylvan Library
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
  • 1x Batterskull
  • Lands (23)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 3x Wooded Foothills
  • 2x Savannah
  • 2x Taiga
  • 1x Plateau
  • 1x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 3x Grove of the Burnwillows
  • 1x Karakas
  • 3x Wasteland
  • 1x Horizon Canopy
  • SB: 2x Surgical Extraction
  • SB: 2x Choke
  • SB: 2x Crop Rotation
  • SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist
  • SB: 1x Bojuka Bog
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 1x Voice of Resurgence
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Wear / Tear
  • SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker
  • SB: 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant

The only significant change I've made to my list recently is going down to 23 lands. After cutting the Dark Depths combo a few months ago I decided to maintain the same number of mana-producing lands (24), but eventually noticed that I was flooding often and could afford to cut one. This has been a fine change so far, but I'm still uncertain if  Horizon Canopy is better than a 3rd Savannah. The advantages of Savannah over Canopy are that it is painless, fuels Knight/Scryb Ranger activations, and is another fetchable dual land against Wasteland-heavy decks.

A healthy attendance of 91 players meant there would be 7 rounds of swiss. Here's how my rounds went:

Round 1: Oops, All Spells! (2-1)
Round 2: BUG Control (2-1)
Round 3: Grixis Delver (2-1)
Round 4: Czech Pile (2-0)
Round 5: MUD Post (2-0)
Round 6: ID
Round 7: ID
Quarterfinal: Czech Pile (0-2)

Both games of the QF were winnable had I played better, but oh well. I won some cash which covered the cost of the Airbnb and gas and got to head back home earlier. Giga-Bites had a great event and I look forward to attending future ones.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

We MTGO Now

Recently I sold some underutilized and expensive cards and decided to use the proceeds to buy into MTGO (username: s3raphix). It will be a nice option to have when I can't play paper Magic, and will help me improve my understanding of certain rules/interactions and become a faster player.

A competitive version of Punishing Maverick can be built relatively inexpensively at about 250 tix. This version omits Noble Hierarchs and Surgical Extractions, as those cards are a bit pricey online. More Birds of Paradise and Faerie Macabre/Tormod's Crypt are fine substitutes however. Here is the list:


MTGO Punishing Maverick, 3/10/18

  • Creature Spells (20)
  • 4x Mother of Runes
  • 4x Birds of Paradise
  • 3x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • 4x Knight of the Reliquary
  • Noncreature Spells (17)
  • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 4x Punishing Fire
  • 1x Sylvan Library
  • 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
  • 1x Batterskull
  • Lands (23)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 3x Wooded Foothills
  • 3x Savannah
  • 2x Taiga
  • 1x Plateau
  • 1x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 3x Grove of the Burnwillows
  • 1x Karakas
  • 3x Wasteland
  • SB: 3x Tormod's Crypt
  • SB: 2x Choke
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 3x Ethersworn Canonist
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Blessed Alliance
  • SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker
  • SB: 1x Kitchen Finks
  • SB: 1x Voice of Resurgence
  • SB: 1x Dromoka's Command


To compensate for the lower threat density that comes with playing Birds, Sword of Fire and Ice is in the maindeck and I cut a land for an Elspeth, Knight-Errant (recently I've mana flooded a bit too often and was looking to cut a land anyway). This isn't to say Birds is a bad card; tapping for Red and flying are often relevant.

I've been jamming games in the  "Just for Fun" lobby to familiarize myself with the MTGO interface in preparation for more competitive play. For this purpose I crafted a less-competitive deck than Maverick which can only be described as "GW Cards I Like". Here is the latest version:


MTGO GW Cards, 3/10/18

  • Creature Spells (24)
  • 4x Birds of Paradise
  • 3x Voice of Resurgence
  • 3x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • 3x Knight of the Reliquary
  • 2x Kitchen Finks
  • 2x Aven Mindcensor
  • 2x Hero of Bladehold
  • Noncreature Spells (13)
  • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 2x Sylvan Library
  • 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Sword of War and Peace

  • Lands (23)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 3x Wooded Foothills
  • 4x Savannah
  • 3x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 3x Sunpetal Grove
  • 1x Stirring Wildwood
  • 1x Gavony Township
  • 1x Karakas
  • 1x Wasteland
  • SB: 3x Tormod's Crypt
  • SB: 3x Ethersworn Canonist
  • SB: 2x Winter Orb
  • SB: 2x Blessed Alliance
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Pithing Needle
  • SB: 1x Kitchen Finks
  • SB: 1x Sword of Feast and Famine


So far I've played against a mix of powerful and not-so powerful decks with very positive results. The deck has been a ton of fun. Winning with Birds carrying Swords and Hero of Bladehold is my kind of Magic.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Tournament Report: 44th @ SCG Worcester with Punishing Maverick, 3/4/2018

Here's what I played at this year's SCG Worcester:


Punishing Maverick, 3/3/18

  • Creature Spells (21)
  • 4x Mother of Runes
  • 3x Noble Hierarch
  • 1x Birds of Paradise
  • 3x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • 1x Voice of Resurgence
  • 4x Knight of the Reliquary
  • Noncreature Spells (15)
  • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 4x Punishing Fire
  • 1x Sylvan Library
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Batterskull
  • Lands (24)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 3x Wooded Foothills
  • 3x Savannah
  • 2x Taiga
  • 1x Plateau
  • 1x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 3x Grove of the Burnwillows
  • 1x Karakas
  • 3x Wasteland
  • 1x Horizon Canopy
  • SB: 2x Surgical Extraction
  • SB: 2x Choke
  • SB: 2x Crop Rotation
  • SB: 1x Bojuka Bog
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
  • SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Blessed Alliance
  • SB: 1x Phyrexian Revoker
  • SB: 1x Kitchen Finks


I committed the heresy of cutting Scryb Ranger from my 75 in order to move Voice of Resurgence to the main and free up a sideboard slot for another anti-nonsense card, which became the Phyrexian Revoker. I know I can be quoted in various places saying I'd never play Maverick without Scryb Ranger and hope this sin can be forgiven. The other change I made was fitting Blessed Alliance into the sideboard. TNN is very popular right now and this card also looks reasonable against random aggro and fatty decks. Didn't cast it all weekend (in fact, it ate two Thoughtseizes) so can't say how good it is. I inspired another Maverick player (Thunderknight on The Source) to run it in the Legacy Classic on Sunday and it was good for him.

Day 1
There were 722 players in the tournament.
  • Round 1: Dredge (2-1)
  • Round 2: Miracles (2-1)
  • Round 3: Elves (2-1)
  • Round 4: GWb Maverick (0-2)
  • Round 5: Eldrazi (2-0)
  • Round 6: Esperblade (2-0)
  • Round 7: Bant Deathblade (1-1)
  • Round 8: Czech Pile (1-1)
  • Round 9: Esper Miracles (2-1) 
The cutoff for Day 2 was 19 points - with 20 I got in at 60-somethingth place.

Day 2
  • Round 10: Burn (1-2)
  • Round 11: Lands (2-1)
  • Round 12: Food Chain (2-0)
  • Round 13: BUG Control (1-2)
  • Round 14: GWb Maverick (2-0)
  • Round 15: Aggro Loam (1-2)

Final Record after 15 grueling rounds of Magic: 9-4-2, 44th place

I encountered a mix of good matchups (Lands, Dredge, Eldrazi, Blade) and bad matchups (Elves, Burn, Miracles, Food Chain). Every sideboard card was brought in at least once over the over the weekend. However, in hindsight this 75 feels underpowered without Deathrite Shaman, Thalia, Scryb Ranger, Dark Depths, or the 4th Wasteland. One to two of these elements should be included in any Punishing Maverick deck.

Maverick was somewhat well-represented on day 2, with myself and two other GWb players - both of whom I faced over the weekend! I'm very bad at navigating the mirror but managed to win one of these two matches. The player I lost to on day 1 made it to 32nd place.

Also, props to Tommy Kessler for being my only friend to day 2 and stick it out with me. He got 29th place so congrats to him as well.

This was the last big event on my schedule for a while as I won't be attending GP Seattle next month. Maybe I'll be Brainstorming again for the foreseeable future. 

Friday, February 23, 2018

Double Tournament Report: Top16 and Top8 Weekend with Punishing Maverick, 2/17-2/18/18

I played Punishing Maverick in back to back events last Saturday and Sunday and placed 11th and 2nd in them respectively.

There were a few unusual sideboard cards I wanted to test so I ended up playing the same 75 in both events:


Punishing Maverick, 2/17/18

  • Creature Spells (21)
  • 4x Mother of Runes
  • 3x Noble Hierarch
  • 1x Birds of Paradise
  • 3x Stoneforge Mystic
  • 2x Qasali Pridemage
  • 2x Scavenging Ooze
  • 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • 1x Scryb Ranger
  • 4x Knight of the Reliquary
  • Noncreature Spells (15)
  • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
  • 4x Swords to Plowshares
  • 4x Punishing Fire
  • 1x Sylvan Library
  • 1x Umezawa's Jitte
  • 1x Batterskull
  • Lands (24)
  • 4x Windswept Heath
  • 3x Wooded Foothills
  • 3x Savannah
  • 2x Taiga
  • 1x Plateau
  • 1x Forest
  • 1x Plains
  • 1x Dryad Arbor
  • 3x Grove of the Burnwillows
  • 1x Karakas
  • 3x Wasteland
  • 1x Horizon Canopy
  • SB: 2x Surgical Extraction
  • SB: 2x Choke
  • SB: 2x Crop Rotation
  • SB: 1x Bojuka Bog
  • SB: 1x Reclamation Sage
  • SB: 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
  • SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist
  • SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg
  • SB: 1x Dromoka's Command
  • SB: 1x Voice of Resurgence
  • SB: 1x Kitchen Finks


My list has changed a bit since I last overviewed it a few months ago. Most of these changes were motivated by a desire to improve the matchup vs Bob Huang-style Grixis Delver decks, which I found myself losing to a lot. Here are some of the changes:

  • Kitchen Finks: Intended to be a threat that's good in both aggressive and grindy matchups. In the past I tried to play more removal in the sideboard for these matchups like Fiery Justice, Pyroblast, and Council's Judgment, but I found having too many reactive cards creates awkward draws and makes it hard to close out games. In the case of Grixis Delver, you're often able manage their threats, but then lose the damage race to TNN. Finks is resilient against efficient spot removal unlike your other threats, and can pressure the opponents life total while bolstering your own.
  • Dromoka's Command: This versatile little card can be creature removal, enchantment removal, a combat trick, and a counterspell of sorts. I felt that it warranted testing in the slot I previously dedicated to Wear / Tear. 
  • Batterskull: I expanded the Stoneforge Mystic package to 3 Mystics + Batterskull main, moving Sword of Fire and Ice to the sideboard. Batterskull makes your Mystics more threatening and is just a card that suits my playstyle. This card should also improve the Delver matchups.
  • Voice of Resurgence: This card has been in my maindeck for a while, but I decided swap it with the 2nd Ooze in the sideboard. I believe Ooze is the more versatile maindeck card and is one you'll want to naturally draw in many game 1s.
  • Dark Depths: I've played the Thespian's Stage + Dark Depths combo in all my Punishing Maverick lists for almost two years now, but lately have been doubting its effectiveness. Of the games you win with this combo, only a small percentage would have been unwinnable without it. The majority of these games were winnable through other means, but it was quicker and easier to win with the combo. Furthermore, my theory envisioning the use of Crop Rotation to quickly assemble the combo against non-interactive decks hasn't been as effective as I hoped. Often, given the opportunity to assemble the combo with Knight or Crop Rotation, I found myself wanting to Wasteland the opponent instead. Perhaps going up to 3 Crop Rotations makes this theory more viable, and I know some players who have tried this. The benefit of removing Thespian's Stage + Dark Depths is that you can make room for either two more spells, or another spell and a different utility land/dual land instead (I essentially chose to replace Dark Depths with the 3rd Stoneforge Mystic and Thespian's Stage with Horizon Canopy). The Crop Rotation sideboard plan becomes less versatile without access to the combo, but with Wasteland, Karakas, and Bojuka Bog still should afford a solid range of interaction - I'm currently evaluating weather this is true. There are some unfavorable matchups in which Dark Depths is clearly one of your best win conditions including Burn, Elves, and Food Chain. At least for the Burn matchup, incorporating Batterskull, Kitchen Finks, and Dromoka's Command compensates for the absence of Depths.
  • Choke: I don't have much experience playing this card, but am trying it as a tool primarily against Czech Pile and the increasingly popular Miracles deck. While Pyroblast is good in these matchups, Choke is a way less "fair" card, capable of both winning games on its own and contorting the opponent's gameplay by its mere presence. It also overloads opposing disenchant effects along with Sylvan Library and Equipments. I've been in several games where I have Choke and Library out and my opponent is forced to destroy the Choke - and then loses to Library. Choke also has some legs against random Blue combo decks like Sneak & Show, High Tide, and even Storm. While slow and often ineffective in these matchups, its typically better than other cards in your 75 and can potentially cripple the opponent. Part of the reason I historically favored Pyroblast over Choke its superiority against Delver - however, it has turned out to be lackluster against Grixis Delver as a reactive and restricted card in the matchup.

Here's a rundown of how the events went:

Saturday, 2/17/2018: 2k @ GamingEtc, 95 players
This event was originally a 1k but due to the high turnout was upgraded to a 2k.
  • Round 1: UR Delver (2-1)
  • Round 2: Punishing Dack Control (0-2)
  • Round 3: Mono-Red Human Stompy (2-0)
  • Round 4: Infect (2-0)
  • Round 5: Mono-Red Sneak Attack (2-0)
  • Round 6: Czech Pile (2-1)
  • Round 7: Grixis Delver (0-2)
Final Record: 5-2, 11th place


Sunday, 2/18/2018: 1k @ The Complex, 55 players
  • Round 1: Burn (2-0)
  • Round 2: UB Mill (2-1)
  • Round 3: T.E.S. (2-1)
  • Round 4: Elves (0-2)
  • Round 5: Junkblade (2-0)
  • Round 6: Canadian Threshold (2-1)
  • Quarterfinal: BUG Shardless Aluren (2-1)
  • Semifinal: Manaless Dredge (2-1)
  • Final: Grixis Delver (1-2)
Final Record: 7-2, 2nd place


Ironically, I lost both my matches against Grixis Delver despite my efforts to improve the matchup, so my current approach needs to be re-evaluated. At least after losing my win and in on Saturday some redemption was salvaged on Sunday (even if it meant a two hour drive and total exhaustion by the end of it)...on the whole, it was a great weekend.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

DECK: Punishing Maverick, 1/19/18

In January 2018, I finally finished acquiring all the significant foils I planned on having in my Punishing Maverick deck. Here is the result:


Creatures

Noncreatures

Lands

Sideboard



In the maindeck, the basics, Karakas, and Sylvan Library remain un-foiled. This is intentional, and I don't plan on acquiring foil versions of these. For Karakas and Library, Legends is more pimp than any foil version in my opinion. In this sideboard, and my pool of Maverick sideboard cards, there are still a number of non foils. While I might pick up foils of some of these here and there, its not something I'm actively pursuing. As such, I consider the foiling of this deck to be finished. It took over 3 years, with my first Maverick foils being purchased at GP New Jersey in November 2014. As for my next pimp project...maybe I'll be upgrading my dual lands, who can say.