This air to ground saga
Gotta launder my karma
Isn’t it funny how the universe bides its time, but inevitably puts you in your place? There you go trooping along, merrily minding your business, figuring you’ve got everything figured out, and meanwhile the Fates are rubbing their hands together, smiling at what you’ve got in store.
This time around, it’s all about that flu shot… but I’ll get to that.
When last we left off, I had some big plans for the $5K weekend. Friday Night Magic to try and test some tweaks to my Fugees Elves deck. Then Saturday playing in the $5K Standard event, Sunday play in the Extended PTQ, and sometime in between try and fit in some Elder Dragon Highlander.
By now you’ve probably already seen the Top 16 decklists, and you probably noticed that the only Smith on the list didn’t start with B – though props go out to Cedric Smith, bringing the 4th place noise with non-Blue, non-Tribal, non-Reflecting Pool Jund ass-whupping. Me, I didn’t get there.
My adventures started the night before, as I took my B/G Elves deck to FNM, sporting Nyxathid and Scepters of Fugue. I had an idea of trying out Tower Above in the mix, after seeing Patrick Chapin kicking it around in his Hierarch build a week or two back. I had some good experiences with Tower Above when I played the Mono-Green Elf deck in Block Constructed, so I thought maybe it might get some mileage in Black/Green Elves. At the very least it seemed like a nice way to punch through a big hit with 7/7 Nyxathid, right?
You guessed it – things didn’t go so well. After getting smashed two matches straight, I dropped so I could spend my time building something else for Standard (last minute, night-before-styling). I just didn’t have the fire in my belly for B/G Elves; it was just so linear, so stock, even the “new spice” of Nyxathid and Scepters only accounted for five card slots. Even though playing Elves wasn’t necessarily playing one of the “hot” decks of the moment, it certainly wasn’t a departure from the stale, Lorwyn-dominated straightjacket that is Standard right now.
My first inclination was to play the Esper-colored Reanimation deck my buddy Jay Delazier had cooked up; it had a lot of nice things going for it, not least of which was a fast Inkwell Leviathan in your face. I even went so far as to get all the cards I needed for it and began goldfishing the deck. Then I started worrying – it had no way of dealing with non-creature permanents. It seemed like a dog to Relic of Progenitus (a sideboard card everyone told me not to worry about, and yet it seems to me like a great card to use against all the Reveillark decks running around). And as I goldfished it seemed like I’d get an extremely large number of very inconsistent hands; mana flood or mana screw, all reanimation spells and no good targets, etc.
In the meantime, Michael Rooks, who smashed me Round 2 with his Ancient Ziggurat deck, smashed through the Swiss and semi-finals to draw with his final opponent.
It had me pause. Why wasn’t I rocking an Ancient Ziggurat deck? I asked Michael if I could copy down his decklist, and while I didn’t necessarily go for all his choices, I got the gist of it and went home that night with Noble Hierarchs dancing in my head. This is what I built that night.
Creatures (33)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Doran, the Siege Tower
- 3 Shriekmaw
- 2 Sower of Temptation
- 4 Boggart Ram-Gang
- 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
- 2 Glen Elendra Archmage
- 3 Rafiq of the Many
- 4 Rhox War Monk
- 4 Noble Hierarch
Lands (22)
Spells (5)
Yep, that’s a whopping 32 mana sources! I know conventional wisdom is to trim a land from the mix, but I just had too many visions of the perfect hand getting nuked by a Thoughtseize or Magma Spray taking out the turn 1 mana bug. In retrospect maybe I should have shaved a land for an Oona’s Grace, which would have helped with late game mana flood since I only need 5 mana tops.
I really liked the removal package – Shriekmaw, Path and Sower cover a lot of bases, and I would have played more Sowers if I hadn’t thought of the Glen Elendras, which were just fantastic all day.
Anyway, I finally get to sleep way too late, and the alarm rings way too early. I’ve got an annoying cough and my head’s all stuffy as I shower, grab a bite and run out the door. At the venue I pay homage to the god of morning drinks, may he help me get through the day:
So here’s a quick recap of me in the main event:
Round 1 versus Patrick with Five-Color Control (table 47)
I lose the die roll, look at my hand – three lands and four three-drops. Seems safe but incredibly slow especially on the draw. Given that my deck appears to be all about exploding from the first turn mana accelerant, I ship it back and get a more respectable start. Once I realize what he’s playing I feel bad about losing that card, and while I get him down to nine he easily takes control with Cryptics and Wraths and ends the game at 14. Shuffle up, look at my next hand – it’s almost identical to what I had before, no play before turn 3. I ship it back, shuffle up a new hand – zero lands. How about five? This hand is okay, with a Ziggurat, a Hierarch, a Treetop and two four-drops. Hierarch swings for 1, and then helps Treetop smash in four, and once he Wraths I draw Ram-Gang who rumbles in and I actually pull this one out, after a double-mulligan! I guess I get too excited or impressed with myself, because I have to again double-mulligan, and end up keeping a pretty terrible hand that doesn’t have much going for it other than a turn 2 Gaddock Teeg, but Patrick begins dropping Broodmate Dragons and War Monks on the other side of the table (so much for that Wrath of God I was worried about). Rafiq shows up to steal some much needed momentum, and the game stalls out briefly before my double-mulligan starves me of much needed options, ripping one land too many. When he swings for the win I’m at five and he’s at eight. Close.
Lose 1-2, Record 0-1
While I’m a bit pissed off that I had to mulligan five times in that match, I do feel pretty good that, despite the massive loss of cards, I managed to make it a very close match against an established and powerful deck with Ziggy Hierarch!
Round 2 versus Faeries (table 98)
I ask the dude’s name twice, but he’s extremely soft-spoken and I couldn’t catch it, and during the course of our three-game match the games were too close and I didn’t even think of getting them from the match slip. I have to say that the Ram-Gang really impressed me here; having not really played the card that much, it was incredibly just how aggressive that cat is. Even facing down a Mistbind Clique without Exalted backup, he just rolls on in (yes, one of our games featured a 1/1 Mistbind Clique). Of course, the War Monk is a nice counterweight to Bitterblossom too… anyway, we had three really close games but I manage to pull out victory.
Win 2-1, Record 1-1
Round 3 versus Kevin with B/W Tokens (table 64)
Each of these games started with me with the perfect hand — turn 1 Bird or Hierarch, and a turn 2 three-drop beating stick – and then he plays Thoughtseize — Sculler — Sculler to utterly turn my hand to crap. Still, I manage to rip into some decent follow-up, and with the help of a judicious amount of removal — backed with Exalted + Evasion (fear & flying), I manage to pull it out in 3 games. Kevin stalks away quite angry without so much as a good-game or even a head nod, I guess he figured he should have easily won this matchup.
Win 2-1, Record 2-1
Round 4 versus Vince with Mono-White Kithkin (table 39)
I go yet another three-game round here, with both of us switching gears between aggression and defense, with turn 1 mana critter into turn 3 big guy (Doran or War Monk) proving to be vital for stemming the quick Kithkin beatdown and buying time. The final game is won on the back of triple Exalted, double-striking, Fear Shriekmaw – yeah, baby!
Win 2-1, Record 3-1
After this match I get up and notice a huge crowd gathered around a match at the other end of the tables, so I stroll on over and notice Shaheen Soorani with a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in play. Realizing I had to take a picture of this momentous occasion, I scrambled with my camera. Unfortunately, by the time I get it out and ready his opponent bounced it with Cryptic Command, and then hit it with Negate on the way back down:
C’mon, how do you negate Nicol Bolas?!
*insert sad face*
Round 5 versus Jason with Mono-Green Elfball (table 16)
Mmm, I’m one row away from “the top tables” but I try not to let that distract me. I accelerate off turn 1 Bird into Doran to smash in for five, and then Sower his Imperious Perfect before his elf team gets a little too crazy. Rafiq lets the Sower finish things Exalted-style through the air.
Unfortunately for Jason, I’d heard a friend telling me a “bad beats” story before the round started of getting smashed by a Mono-Green elfball deck running Overruns, and figuring he’s also got Garruk I board in Gaddock Teeg. I get Teeg in my hand but I also get the explosive start, so I risk it and go aggro and he stalls on mana for a turn… I play Archmage, he rips a land and plays Elvish Promenade, and I sac the Archmage to stop it, I decide to stop fooling around and play Teeg, go ahead and Exile his Vanquisher so I can lean in hard, sure enough Teeg strands both Garruk and Overrun in his hand. I actually have time to get some grub!
Win 2-0, Record 4-1
At 4-1 I start to have hope that maybe, just maybe, I have a shot! Sadly, with 325 players I’ve still got 4 rounds to go.
Even though I’ve got some food in me now, I’m feeling a little light-headed and continue with this awful coughing. Focus, Smith – focus!
Round 6 versus John with Boat Brew (table 22)
Table 22? I was at table 16, won the match… and now I’m at 22? Grumble. I start out pretty good, turn a turn 2 Ram-Gang off a Birds, but he burns away my attacker, starts recouping life with Knights of Meadowgrain and starts going nuts with Ranger of Eos and Reveillark card advantage. Game 2 gets even worse with Ajani Vengeant joining the party and my deck just acts like a sad, slow mess. It’s like I showed up with half a deck or something. Man, how sad.
Lose 0-2, Record 4-2
And ass-whupping like that will knock the wind out of anyone’s sails, but I try to buck up and think about Top 16, where there is still cash and glory to be had!
Round 7 versus Eric with B/G Elves (table 37)
Hm, remember the deck I abandoned at the — literally—11th hour last night? Gotta launder my karma… This first game is a struggle, Eric drops all four Profane Commands on my head, each time bringing back the eternally annoying Vanquisher after I killed it. My life total log is hilarious here – I go down to 9, get back up to 27 thanks to some Exalted Rafiq/War Monk action, before getting knocked back to zero in three hits by rampaging Elves. Game 2 goes according to plan, rolling out a Ram-Gang off turn 1 Hierarch and finishing things off with double striking, double exalted Treetop Village. Game 3 is a blowout, he gets the perfect mix of aggression and removal and I don’t even touch him; I lose while he’s at 20.
Lose 1-2, Record 4-3
And so my Standard run comes to an end as I mark off the drop box. By now my voice has gotten scratchy and the coughing has become a real nuisance. I wander up to the side events table to see if anyone’s started up an EDH game. I’m told a lot of people have come up asking about it, but no one has manned up to actually start one. I sign up, they make a quick announcement and within minutes we’ve got a four-man, with a few players signing up for another one. I think everyone was literally waiting for me to start things off!
So here are the generals that squared off: Momir Vig, Adun Oakenshield, Sharuum the Hegemon, and me – Bladewing the Risen! Yep, I was going Dragon style!
I was inspired when I’d heard Aaron Forsythe has a Bladewing the Risen deck at Worlds, and I thought it would be cool to play an aggressive Dragon-style deck. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for a large EDH game, but I thought it would be fun for a four man.
While pulling together cards for the deck, I had a few goals in mind:
1. All your Red and Black dragons: I also figured I’d grab some Changelings since they could come down early and benefit from any dragon-type benefits. Fire-Belly Changeling even kinda looks like a baby Dragon. Taurean Mauler is a fine, cheap changeling for multiplayer games anyway, he’s even better as a “dragon.” Note that I purposely vetoed Cairn Wanderer since he involves constant housekeeping of people’s graveyards, which just seemed annoying to both me and everyone else. I usually try to avoid annoying in EDH.
2. Dragons are expensive so figure out ways to discount/cheat them into play: things like Nightscape Familiar, Ruby Medallion, Dragonspeaker Shaman, Urza’s Incubator, Sneak Attack, Ice Cauldron, Cryptic Gateway.
3. Get “dragon-style” stuff: Dragon Shadow, Dragon Breath, Dragon’s Claw, Ghitu War Cry (gives anyone firebreathing, even other player’s creatures!), Bladewing’s Thrall, Triassic Egg (!), Crucible of Fire, Gratuitous Violence, Where Ancients Tread, Tatsumasa the Dragon’s Fang, Rage Reflection, Dragon Roost.
My goal was to get a couple big dragons into play, rampage around, and then when they die finally play Bladewing to start bringing them back.
I decided to take my play style from the enchantments Gratuitous Violence and Rage Reflection, figuring that a Bladewing the Risen deck will lash out at people indiscriminately and throw around a lot of damage, and if somebody messed with my (or rather, the dragon’s) stuff, I’d come after them with a vengeance! I also hoped I could get both enchantments in play with a Dragon – oooh, la la, that’s a lotsa damage!
DRAGONS!
1 Bladewing the Risen
1 Diamond Valley
1 Arena
1 Maze of Ith
1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
1 Skeletal Changeling
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Nightscape Familiar
1 Dragon Shadow
1 Dragon Breath
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Scroll Rack
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Sun Droplet
1 Dragon’s Claw
1 Reiterate
1 Dragonspeaker Shaman
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Moonglove Changeling
1 Urza’s Incubator
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Tenza, Godo’s Maul
1 Ghitu War Cry
1 Ghostly Changeling
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Foriysian Totem
1 Bladewing’s Thrall
1 Door of Destinies
1 Sneak Attack
1 War-Spike Changeling
1 Ice Cauldron
1 Triassic Egg
1 Anger
1 Filth
1 Crucible of Fire
1 Rakdos Pit Dragon
1 Fledgling Dragon
1 Balthor the Defiled
1 Gratuitous Violence
1 Hunted Dragon
1 Word of Seizing
1 Patriarch’s Bidding
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Where Ancients Tread
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Radiate
1 Cryptic Gateway
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang
1 Predator Dragon
1 Flameblast Dragon
1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
1 Malfegor
1 Rage Reflection
1 Two-Headed Dragon
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Dragon Roost
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Shivan Hellkite
1 Dragon Mage
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Dragon Tyrant
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Kher Keep
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Urza’s Factory
1 Winding Canyons
1 Mishra’s Factory
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Barren Moor
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Deserted Temple
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Dwarven Hold
1 Molten Slagheap
8 Swamp
11 Mountain
Oakenshield goes “aggro” first, getting down a Darkheart Sliver and a Morph and starts swinging. I play out an Urza’s Incubator and then a Foriysian Totem. Sharuum makes his move – he Tinkers away his Shackles to get a Darksteel Colossus, instantly freaking everyone out but Momir bounces it back to his hand. Okenshield himself becomes the first general to hit the board, and I finally get my first dragon: end of turn Bogardan Hellkite, shooting some annoying creature Okenshield has played and sending the rest straight at Momir’s player. I then draw Loxodon Warhammer, give it to my Hellkite and swing at Momir. Next turn I draw Knollspine Dragon, so I attack with Hellkite again – sadly, Okenshield Naturalizes the Warhammer, so I get to discard and only draw five when I play the new Dragon. I get a Skullclamp and Kher Keep in the deal, so that’s all good.
I only get to ‘clamp one poor little Kobold before Momir plays Take Possession on my Skullclamp – okay, you got it!
Okenshield’s been playing little utility dudes like Dwarven Blastminers and Viashino Heretics, and has been keeping Sharuum from doing much of anything since his DSC move early on. Momir drops a Nevinyrral’s Disk. At this point my dragons have been killed off and I’ve yet to find a second source of Black mana, but I’ve got a Dragon Roost and I’m not scared to use it. I rip a Hunted Dragon, giving Momir-Disk-man some knights in the hopes that he’ll not pop the Disk anytime soon, but no such luck – he pops it anyway, wiping away my Roost and Incubator. Okenshield Blastmines my Winding Canyons so I activate it, and at the end of the turn I drop a classic, white-bordered Shivan Dragon onto the board. I point it at Okenshield and growl, telling him that Shivan’s unhappy his valley got nuked.
Okay, so I should have known better. Last time I played EDH the Momir deck went off combo style and beat everyone. I should have been paying closer attention. The alarms bells went off – too late – when he cast Gifts Ungiven and ended up with the Mana Reflection he wanted after fetching it out of the graveyard with with Recollect. He was tapped out, but doing the math I did have quite enough firebreathing to take him down with Shivan.
Off the top ropes? Gratuitous Violence, which would double Shivan’s damage and easily kill Momir on the attack! I play it, and Momir counters it with Pact of Negation, perhaps sensing his demise was imminent? Perhaps it was the carnivorous grin I had when I played the Violence?
Pact of Negation? Damn!! Then I notice I have Reiterate in my hand. I could copy the Pact and Pact his Pact… but then I’d lose during my upkeep by not being able to pay the Blue mana. The dragon in me said kill him!! I should have listened, but I hoped that the others could either help stop the shenanigans or deal the final few points of damage. Violence gets countered, Shivan attacks, Momir drops into the single digits but alive.
On his turn he untaps and casts Tooth and Nail. Now this seems really bad to me, so I go ahead and Reiterate to go see if I’ve got anything to stop him, but I don’t. He fetches up Palinchron and Tidespout Tyrant.
Game Over. Look at this nonsense:
Okay, new rule people: If someone is playing Momir Vig at your EDH table, everyone kills him first. Period. If they’re playing more colors but they can play Green and Blue silly stuff, keep a close eye peeled for broken shenanigans. You’ve been warned.
Turns out 3-4 other EDH games get fired up, but I’m feeling a little grumpy, a little tired, and a little light-headed. I hear the call for the last draft of the night and decide to jump in. What the heck? I end up drafting what I think is a pretty solid Esper deck, with a “splash” of Cruel Ultimatum (basic landcycling plus two Armillary Sphere to fetch the two needed Mountain). Too greedy? Perhaps.
My first round opponent is Momir Vig’s wife; I’d seen her sitting with him earlier after he killed us all. She’s a pleasant opponent and keeps talking about how quickly she’s going to lose this draft when she all of a sudden drops a turn 6 Broodmate Dragon.
Dragon?
Gotta launder…
I manage to kill one and stabilize a little bit in two turns, when she then drops…
…my karma…
Hellkite Overlord. Hasty Dragon. Eight to the face.
Game 2 she gets some mana acceleration and Hellkite Overlord comes calling on turn 6. Hasty to the face. The Excommunicate in my hand laughs at me.
I laughingly tell the gal that her and her husband are my Insult to Injury tag-team. First her husband handily beats my Dragon EDH deck, and then she handily beats my draft deck with dragons. Insult to injury.
At this point I’m feeling like I’m sleepwalking while trying to hack up a lung. I drive home, crawl under the covers and spend the night coughing and shivering. At some point I turn off my alarm though I don’t remember hearing it. I wake up at noon with a 101 fever. So much for rocking Sanchez’s beast deck at the PTQ. The flu keeps me out of commission Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday I’m far from better but I go to work anyway, and beg an extension from Awesome Editor Craig [That’s my official title — Craig, amused]. Today it’s Thursday and I’m still congested, still coughing, and my voice has gone AWOL.
Okay, okay… I’ll get the flu shot next time!
See you next week…
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com