Down And Dirty – Testing New Standard FlameKin Online

———- New Game Started ———-

Jim Bob (me in disguise): Yo

I roll a 17.

SexBeast: no Mono Red

He rolls 17.

I roll 11.

He rolls 9.

SexBeast: no Mono Red

I lead out with Goldmeadow Stalwart revealing Wizened Cenn. My hand is saucy with Rugged Prairie, Incinerate, Windbrisk Heights, and Spectral Procession.

Jim Bob: End My Turn

SexBeast puts a 0/0 CHANGE THE TURN PLEASE!! THANKS!! token into play.

SexBeast: Zzz…

SexBeast puts a 0/0 U CAN’T POSSIBLY BE THAT F***ING STUPID… CAN YOU??? token into play.

Jim Bob: I’ll switch on yours, you switch on mine. I have last priority on your turn, and you have last priority on my turn. It’s how magic works, bruh.

SexBeast puts a 0/0 I WAS POLITE AND SAID PLX AND THX, SO WHY ARE YOU BEING A RUDE *SSHOLE??? token into play.

SexBeast puts a 0/0 LOOK *SSHOLE, IF U DON’T CHANGE THE TURN, I QUIT AND COUNT THIS AS A WIN!! token into play.

Jim Bob: Is this for real? (All this happened in twenty seconds.)

SexBeast: Okay, I quit and win.

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

This is a rough draft I threw together, but it has given the best results out of the new decks I’ve thrown together so far. Giving burn to the most aggressive tribe from Lorwyn Block is pretty elementary, but the inclusion of Ajani is something that has been surprisingly efficient. He’s burn spells #9, #10, and #11, and also serves as a removal spell for the bulkier creatures, and he can even enable an additional attack phase when on the play facing off against Wrath of God. Lightning Helix is also an extremely potent spell in today’s metagame, with damage races being all the rage, and he can get two off most of the time. It’s not too hard to protect the Planeswalker given the horde of creatures Kithkin vomits onto the table on a regular basis.

I really like Goldmeadow Harrier since he is an excellent tool that fills multiple important roles. He protects Ajani, fills the one-drop slot without having to use Burrenton Bore-Tender, and he also acts as a double-pronged removal spells on those crucial combat turns. Bore-Tender’s value has probably spiked a little with the inclusion of Shards, with several Charms and the Naya tribe being realistic contenders. This still isn’t the move that I’d want to make main deck, but having them there is completely understandable and probably right by the time States drops.

I’m not too sure about the inclusion of Cloudgoat Ranger in this deck. I almost feel like I want a leaner curve, but his late game impact is tremendous if your opponent stabilizes. A lot of the time, all the opponent would have to do against Kithkin is clear the board a couple of times, use a few removal spells, and it would be over and done with. Cloudgoat Ranger was the previous answer to those situations, but the inclusion of burn damage is even more threatening since you can almost always get them to single digits.

The sideboard was pretty much scotch-taped together with versatile cards that I could see myself wanting in certain matchups. Ranger of Eos functions like Reveillark, minus a mana and a beefy body but plus immediate card advantage. The toolbox for him isn’t tested, so it probably won’t be the next hot thing to tutor for Cenn’s Tactician, but I did manage to get it off once, and he was pretty useful, seeing that Antoine is a Soldier.

———- New Game Started ———-

Stag: Hi.

Jim Bob: Yo.

He rolls 2, I roll 16.

I lead out with a first turn Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender, with a pair of Wizened Cenn, a pair of Incinerate, a Reflecting Pool, and an Ajani Vengeant in my hand.

Turn t3 I swing in with one of my 3/3 Wizened Cenns, then with both on turn 4. At the end of his turn I Incinerate him twice, and he concedes.

———- New Game Started ———-

For game 2 I have turn 1 Goldmeadow Stalwart, revealing Wizened Cenn, and beat down with the two until he Wraths me on his turn 4. I recover with a Spectral Procession and Windbrisk Heights, hiding a Flame Javelin.

He has no answer for my dudes, so I Javelin his dome and Incinerate him at the end of his turn to claim the coveted “gg.”

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

———- New Game Started ———-

(I changed my name to Sanchez to get another crack at SexBeast.)

He rolls a 19.

SexBeast: no Mono Red

I roll 7.

My opener is a pair of Figure of Destiny, Wizened Cenn, Goldmeadow Harrier, Clachan, Rugged Prairie, and Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author].

He leads with a Crumbling Necropolis, while I drop Figure of Destiny.

He plays Sunken Ruins, and doesn’t make a big deal about changing turns this time.

I get in for two with Figure and play Goldmeadow Harrier, and think for a bit.

SexBeast puts a 0/0 CHANGE THE TURN PLEASE!! THANKS!! token into play.

I end my own turn this time, to avoid causing another fit from this guy.

He plays a Graven Cairns and ends his own turn.

I draw and bash in with Figure and Goldmeadow Harrier, upgrading Figure to a 4/4.

SexBeast: Wait!
SexBeast: Wait!
SexBeast: Wait!
SexBeast: Response…

He uses Grixis Charm to kill Figure. He didn’t really need to respond though, since Grixis Charm gives a creature -4/-4…

On his turn he plays a Swamp and ends his own turn again.

I draw and think for a second.

Sanchez: Technically, I have last priority on your turn, and you have last on my turn. So I should end yours and you should end mine.

SexBeast: My way speeds things up.
SexBeast: It’s 1 less step.

Sanchez: Not really, it just makes you look stupid.

SexBeast: It makes you whiney.

I resolve Wizened Cenn and attempt to bash in with Goldmeadow Harrier. He responds by playing Venser, Shaper Savant, pointing at the Wizened Cenn, moves to blockers step, and points at Goldmeadow Harrier.

Sanchez: … Venser isn’t legal, man. It’s not in Standard anymore.

SexBeast: Yes it is, moron.

Sanchez: It’s in Future Sight, a part of Time Spiral Block… which just rotated out.

SexBeast: FUTURE SIGHT IS LEGAL.

Sanchez: It’s rotating out, man… and you’re playing with Shards cards too.

SexBeast: No, idiot.

Sanchez: Dude, Time Spiral is rotating out, and the “36-0 deck” that you advertised in the game comments isn’t even legal…

SexBeast: It’s in the Standard roster!!!
SexBeast: So I win.

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

———- New Game Started ———-

Sanchez: Yo.

I roll a 2.

He rolls a 1.

I lead out with a Figure of Destiny with Wizened Cenn, Spectral Procession, and Ajani Vengeant in my hand, along with Rugged Prairie, Reflecting Pool, and Rustic Clachan representing my prime real estate.

Jungle Shrine comes down on Magikal187’s side. Turn 2 Wizened Cenn lets Figure connect for two, while he takes a point from Adarkar Wastes to get a Steward of Valeron on the board. I get in for two with Figure of Destiny, he obviously doesn’t block, and I follow it up with Spectral Procession, with Ajani looking to cause some trouble the turn after.

On his turn he plays a Yavimaya Coast and casts a Bloom Tender.

Magikal187: End my turn.

Sanchez: -1 from Coast
Sanchez: Okay?

I wait a bit…

Sanchez: You there?

Bit more…

Sanchez: Okay?

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

———- New Game Started ———-

Jorge Ben: Hi.

Sanchez: Que pasa.

I roll a 2, he rolls a 20.

Jorge offers a first turn Forest to compliment his first turn Birds, and I was already expecting some Woolly nonsense.

I start off with a Windbrisk Heights, hiding an inspiring Goldmeadow Harrier underneath.

Jorge Ben: Boas cartas de Alara?

Sanchez: Ah si, ah si.

My suspicions were confirmed when he played a tapped Wooded Bastion to summon the mighty Woolly Thoctar.

All I could manage on my turn was a Wizened Cenn, with Flame Javelin sitting in my grip to kill his beast on my next turn, and a Rugged Prairie and Reflecting Pool to ensure I get the discount.

He landed the Mythic Sarkhan Vol and gave his Thoctar haste, but he didn’t bother to attack with it as he wanted to defend against an incoming Wizened Cenn.

I used Flame Javelin to clear the way for my Wizened Cenn to remove a pair of loyalty counters from the multicolor Planeswalker, with a multicolor Planeswalker of my own, a Spectral Procession, and a pair of Incinerates waiting in hand.

He pumped his Birds, and their beaks crashed into my skull for a pair of pecked points. He then used a Firespout to wipe away my Wizened Cenn.

With a pair of Incinerates in hand, I decided to off the Planeswalker now instead of putting some pressure on the board. I still had Incinerate mana up so I could kill whatever small monster he put into play on his next turn. Fundamental Magic dictates that playing Procession first would be the right play, but I didn’t want to see some huge hasty fatty wreck my day. I also didn’t have much incentive to bring my Harrier from under my Windbrisk Heights, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.

He made an attempt at a Figure of Destiny, but I had the Incinerate in response to him becoming a Warrior.

I made some Spirits on the next turn, while he had no play on his other than adding some property to the board.

The Spirits brought the dormant Goldmeadow Harrier out from underneath Windbrisk Heights, and he still had no play on his turn, and conceded when Ajani Lightning Helixed him.

Jorge: Game 2?

Sanchez: Okay. No sideboard?

Jorge: Okay.

———- New Game Started ———-

He led off with Karpulsan Forest into another turn 1 Birds of Paradise.

My turn 1 Figure of Destiny was soon trumped by another second turn Woolly Thoctar, and all I could do on my following turn was bring a Windbrisk Heights into play, hiding an Ajani, with Spirit tokens looming in my hand.

Woolly Bully connected on his next turn and he followed it up with a Bloom Tender. His deck was starting to look pretty neat… however, Bloom Tenders and Birds sure do give a lot of value to opposing Firespouts/Pyroclasms.

Some Spirits flew down on my turn, but I managed to come down with a severe case of razor burn from his next play. Bloom Tender and Birds both tapped along with his two lands in play to bring down the hellish Realm Razer, which took away my hidden Ajani while putting me in quite the pickle. I had Incinerate in my hand along with a pair of lands, but my Spirits had to be sacrificed to stop some the beast beats. If only I’d known before taking two Thoctar attacks.

He’d taken a bit of damage from his painlands already, so I bashed with Figure and a token to drop him to 15. I also added another Figure to the board after revealing it with Rustic Clachan.

Woolly sent in, and I chumped with a token, already sitting on a measly ten life. He had his own Figure to add to the board and managed to upgrade it to a 4/4 with help from Wooded Bastion and Bloom Tender.

I play a Rugged Prairie with intent to get some of my lands back by Incinerating his Razer.

He didn’t bother with the Beast this turn, and his Figure of Destiny turned Super Sayian to eat one of my Spirit tokens. Luckily I had a backup Spectral Procession to buy me some time.

Jorge: Nice topdeck.

Jorge Ben plays Firespout from Hand.

He wiped out all my blockers and killed me in one swift motion.

Sanchez: Hah, yeah, gg.

Jorge Ben: Hehe. Game 3!

———- New Game Started ———-

I led out with a Figure of Destiny while he had the typical Forest-Bird draw.

I connected for two on the next turn, but didn’t have anything else to do with my Reflecting Pool.

On his turn he was able to make the most of his mana, using Bird to put a Fertile Ground on his Karplusan Forest, then using it to get another Bird and Figure into play.

Another bash from my Figure, and I added three Spirit Tokens to my side.

He played another Fertile Ground on his Forest, then played Garruk, untapping both Fertile Ground, which enabled Warrior status on his Figure. A nice little series of plays, but it left him with only one card in hand.

I sent all my troops at his Planeswalker, and he naturally chumped my Figure to put Garruk at one. I followed up my attack with Ajani, which locked down his Figure for his next turn.

He drew and played a Llanowar Elves, and the last card in his hand was a land.

Jorge Ben: Okay, gg. Thanks, man.

Sanchez: Peace, man… real cool deck.

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

———- New Game Started ———-

Sanchez: Yo.

Jalbert: ‘Sup?

He rolls 13, I roll 8.

He led with a tapped Auntie’s Hovel, while I got the nuts draw with first turn Goldmeadow Stalwart revealing Knight of Meadowgrain.

His turn 2 saw a Bitterblossom come down. I bashed for two on my turn and cast the Knight. His turn 3 saw an auspicious play when Goblin Assault joined his Bitterblossom.

I had another Knight of Meadowgrain along with a Windbrisk Heights on my next turn, putting him in quite the problematic situation. He’s forced to attack with his Goblin token, so I’ll have the benefit of being able to leave a Knight back each turn to negate his Assault while also gaining life, with all the while Bitterblossom slowly nibbling away.

After a few turns of attacking, the offset life totals were too much for him to come back. I was expecting some sort of Torrent or Furystoke Giant, so I did my best to put him within burn range when the Giant did show up and Wrathed my team. I had a Flame Javelin and Ajani to finish him off.

Jalbert: GG. Game 2?

Sanchez: Okay. No sideboard?

Jalbert: Okay.

———- New Game Started ———-

The first couple of turns were dead on both sides. I had the double Windbrisk Heights start, while he curved out with a pair of Goblin Assault on turns 3 and 4. My Spectral Procession looked to gain me some card advantage off the Heights, but he had a Shriekmaw for my token and I was quickly feeling the pressure from the Goblin horde that was forming.

A Figure of Destiny and Goldmeadow Stalwart looked to chop down some of his Red dorks, but he had another Shriekmaw for the Figure and followed it up with a timely Dragon Fodder. My next turn didn’t matter, since he had more than enough tokens for his Furystoke Giant to be lethal on the next turn.

Sanchez: Wow, sick combo… Game 3?

Jalbert: Haha, yeah.

———- New Game Started ———-

I took a double mulligan this game.

Jalbert: Draw to 7?

Sanchez: Yeah, of course!
Sanchez: Thanks
Sanchez: I always offer the same thing, but so many people never take it.

Jalbert: No use testing a game with double mull…

Sanchez: Exactly!

I had the classic turn 1 Figure of Destiny, turn 2 Windbrisk Heights, turn 3 Spectral Procession draw this game. Sadly, he had a Shriekmaw for my Figure and a Goblin Assault on turn 3. My Spectral Procession brought a Knight of Meadowgrain into play, which would have caused some problems if he didn’t have another Shriekmaw. I had a Goldmeadow Stalwart to make sure his Assault token wouldn’t go anywhere.

Jalbert: Goblin Assault tends to backfire a lot.

Sanchez: Hah, yeah. It’s a neat idea though. If you get Torrent or Furystoke online, doubling down on Enchantment producers is nice.

Jalbert: Yeah. I love the idea of 8 Blossoms.

He had a Marsh Flitter on his turn, but I bounced back by Incinerating his Flitter and adding Wizened Cenn and another Figure of Destiny to the board. The Goblins he made off of Flitter had to attack on his turn, leaving him wide open for a Wizened Cenn boosted assault of my own to finish him off.
Jalbert: gg

Sanchez: GGs

Jalbert: Thanks for the games.

Sanchez: You too… peace!

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

After testing for a couple of hours, I’ve come to this slightly revised list.

The addition of Thistledown Liege is pretty obvious since it plays in with the reactive burn aspect of the deck. You play threats for the first three turns then sit back on burn with the threat to throw a Thistledown down at any time. Much better than the clunky Cloudgoat Ranger that’s been invalidated by the burn package. Liege also somewhat protects Ajani from little random dorks pecking away, so the deck feels much more cohesive.

The sideboard is still somewhat in shambles, since the environment is entirely open right now to focus on any specific matchups. Testing on MWS is really like playing the lottery. Sometimes you get awesome opponents that respect you, and sometimes you waste your time with idiots who don’t know how to play (but think they do) and have no manners about them. It’s still a much better tool for me than MTGO V3… you’ve just gotta find good test partners.

I haven’t had any problems with the mana in the forty-ish games I’ve played (or started to play and got disconnected on). I considered cutting a Windbrisk Heights for a Jungle Shrine or Naya Panorama, but it’s just splitting hairs at that point. I cut a Reflecting Pool for a Mountain from the stock build since it helps turn 1 Figure of Destiny and makes Red source number nine, which is much more crucial than you might imagine if you’re planning on suiting up for seven rounds of swiss come October.

———- New Game Started ———-

Jorgeps: Hi.

Sanchez: Hola.

I roll a 1, he rolls a 10.

He led out with a Vivid Meadow while I had an awkward opener of Goldmeadow Stalwart, Wizened Cenn, Spectral Procession, Incinerate, Windbrisk Heights, Windbrisk Heights, Rustic Clachan. I drew a third Windbrisk Heights on my turn and sent the Stalwart out there to do some dirty. I could have slowed things down and led with Windbrisk Heights to ensure a third turn Spectral Procession, but I’d rather get some damage in there early and hope to draw a land that doesn’t come into play tapped within the next two draws.

His turn had a Fetid Heath and a Tidehollow Sculler. He removed my Incinerate from the game, not noticing that I didn’t have a means to cast it. Not taking Procession is sketchy, but maybe he was hoping to block next turn.

I sent in Stalwart, he didn’t block, and I hid a Thistledown Liege underneath my Heights, which is a much more desirable play than putting Cloudgoat Ranger under, since your Spirits become Flying bears on whichever turn they attack.

His turn saw the Esper comes-into-play-tapped land come in, with an attack from Scully. Wizened Cenn was my next play along with an attack from Stalwart and another Windbrisk Heights, hiding Ajani.

Another attack from Scully dropped me to 16, and he followed it up with a Runed Halo.

Jorgeps: Goldmead!

Wizened Cenn gets in there, and another Windbrisk Heights stacked Figure of Destiny on top of my large hidden removed-from-game pile. I could finally cast Spectral Procession, but he had a Wrath on his next turn to blow everything up.

I drew Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] on my turn, and use it to cast Ajani, which I drew a couple turns back, along with Goldmeadow Harrier. Hopefully his Runed Halo wasn’t covering that “Goldmead!” also. Ajani’s loyalty grew by locking down his Reflecting Pool.

His turn was draw go, but when I attacked with my Harrier he used Makeshift Mannequin to get Scully back. I drew Spectral Procession on my turn, so it made things a little awkward. I couldn’t Incinerate his Scully because I would still lose the card, but it didn’t matter since I had a Rustic Clachan in my hand to blow on his Mannequined creature. Harrier got through, and some Spirits joined the team while Ajani sat on top of his Reflecting Pool.

Another Scully stole my Incinerate again, but he didn’t have a Wrath effect for my tokens which meant my Heights became active. Ajani took care of Scully and my team crashed in for 8 with the help of Thistledown Liege, and Figure of Destiny joined the White force.

He had the Wrath of God, which made me look a bit stupid for overextending with Figure, but he was still low enough to die from Incinerate + Lightning Helix from Ajani. Good thing too, since I was out of gas and was going to have to pay full price for the Stalwart I just drew.

Jorgeps: GG! Cya!

Sanchez: Adios.

[System] Player Lost
[System] Session Lost
[System] Disconnected

Thanks for reading,

Kyle

…

Top 5 Picks

1) Fog (again) — Radiohead
2) Whatever You Like – T.I.
3) One Hour Empire – Broadcast
4) Her Father And Her — Adam Green
5) Turnaround — Ornette Coleman