Heya,
I recently won a small local tournament with Steve's Christmas Beatings deck. Here's the link to the discussion:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=37040.0 I played a maindeck list card-for-card the same as Steve’s. The only major change I made to the sideboard was trying out Deglamer instead of Krosan Grip for extra protection against DSC. I never cast that spell during the entire tournament, but it was Duressed out of my hand twice by two different players. So it was perceived as a threat even though it doesn’t follow the traditional effects of artifact removal.
I played a diverse number of decks at the tournament including Oath, Suicide Black, Tendrils, and Tez. I didn’t take great notes during the tournament, but I’ll do my best to relay the events as best I can remember here:
Swiss Round #1: Vs. Roger playing Oath
Game 1: I power out a first turn Magus of the Moon and a Chalice for 0. That pretty much seals up the game from there. It takes me seven more turns to kill him, but in that time I play a Null Rod, Seal, and a second Magus. He never really had an opportunity to play his cards. Plus, I think he drew Akroma on his second turn that game.
Game 2: This one was over quick. He plays and Orchard and Oath turn one. I kept a hand with Wasteland and Stingscourger thinking that would get me through. I waste his Orchard hoping he hits Helkite so I can bounce it next turn and maybe come up with something. But he hits Akroma and it’s over from there. This deck has no way to deal with that once it’s in play.
Game 3: I lead with Wasteland and Chalice for 0. He leads with a Fetchland and gets an Underground Sea (which is crazy!) then casts a Thoughtseize. He takes a Deglamer. On my turn I draw a Magus and play it pitching a SSG. He plays and Island and A-calls himself then passes the turn. I get out a Goyf and attack w/ the Magus. On his turn he bounces my Magus, drops an Orchard and then plays a Demo tutor. I draw a Seal and play it. On his next turn he plays an Oath, which surprises me. I blow it up at his EoT. I try playing a Magus and he Forces it. On his next turn he casts Regrowth on his Oath- now I get it. By now I’ve whittled his life down to 10, but he gets his Oath out, the next turn Akroma is on the board and the game ends with him at 3. I think my mistake here was playing Magus instead of Wasting his Sea on turn 2. Had I done that, he might not have had the right mana to get his Oath on the board.
I hate playing against Oath. It’s the hardest matchup for the decks I like to play. Steve’s deck has a decent shot against it, but this turned out to be my only match loss for the night.
Swiss Round #2: Vs. Will playing Suicide Black.
Game 1: I’ll save you the round-by-round account. Our game one lasted 40 minutes. The critical back-and-forth came when I blocked two of his Negators and forced him to sacrifice all his mana sources with a Dark Confidant in play. I just had to wait until Bob killed him but it took a long time to secure the victory.
Game 2: We were getting low on time. Thankfully, I got a great early hand. I played a Wooded Foothills, broke it to get a Taiga, and saced a Lotus to play Goyf. He played a Ritual, Duressed a card from my hand and dropped a Confidant. My Goyf was huge by this point. I played a Fanatic and a Strip Mine. I blew up his swamp and attacked. He took the damage. Bob revealed a Negator. He played a second swamp and cast Thoughtseize. He took a Stingscourger then attacked me. I draw. Then play a Pyrokenesis on his Bob. I attack again then time is called. We play out our five turns and I have enough damage on the board to kill him.
Swiss Round #3: Vs. Jordan playing a Tendrils deck (I think)
Game 1: I open with this hand:
Wasteland
SSG
Pyroblast
Chalice of the Void
Seal of Primordium
Magus of the Moon
Taiga
I really couldn’t pick a better hand. He goes first and plays Ponder then passes. I draw an ESG then waste his Underground Sea and play a Chalice for 0. He goes next, drops a basic Island and casts an A-call. I pitch the SSG and Pyroblast it. I draw a Forest and play my Seal pitching my ESG. He draws a card and says go. I draw another Pyroblast and drop my Taiga then pass. He draws and passes. I draw a Strip Mine and blow up his Island. We play draw go until I get my Magus in play. I blast another blue spell and he scoops.
Game 2: I draw this hand:
Mountain
Pyroblast
Red Elemental Blast
Chalice of the Void
Strip Mine
Taiga
SSG
I prevent him from playing practically anything for a long time. I get out a Magus and a Goyf. I think I have him beat when he Tinkers for a DSC when I’m out of blasts. I don’t draw anything the next turn then take 11 to the face. The next turn I draw a Stingscourger and cast it hoping he doesn’t have a FoW. He doesn’t, so I go on to win. I never really got to see what his deck’s strategy was. He told me after the match he planned on making a lot of changes. I never did see what his main strategy was.
After three rounds at Something to Do, the T.O. cuts to the top 8. With a 2-1 record (5-2 overall) I make it in.
Top 8 Round 1: Vs. John playing Slaver
Game 1: I win the roll and go first. John mulligans down to 6. I play a Wooded Foothills and break it for a basic Mountain and a Chalice for 0 then pass. John drops a Polluted Delta then passes. I draw a Wasteland, but play a Forest, pitch a ESG, and play a Magus of the Moon. John breaks his Delta for a basic Island. I pass. He draws, plays an Underground Sea then casts a Looter Il-Kor. We trade shots for a while. I play control pieces and he fills his graveyard with artifacts hoping to get to his Welder. He never does. I beat him down with two hard cast Spirit Guides and a Magus.
Game 2: John goes first and plays a Polluted Delta. He immediately breaks it for an Underground Sea and casts a Looter Il-Kor. I pitch a SSG and counter it with a red blast. On my turn I drop a Taiga and Lotus Petal for a Chalice at 1. On his turn, he draws, plays a Mox Jet and a Tropical Island then TFK’s. He doesn’t find any artifacts, so I see a Welder and a land go to his GY. On my turn, I draw a SSG and I play a forest and a Seal of Primordium then pass. He draws then passes. I draw a land, play it, then cast a Magus of the Moon. On his turn, he draws, then plays a basic Island. My head sunk; I thought I had him. John smiled at me and said, “I’ve been holding it in my opening hand waiting for you to play the Magus.” We both get a laugh. Sometimes I think John is the only guy there that really pays attention to the red decks I play every time I come and understands the lines of play I like to follow. He casts a Merchant Scroll for Tinker then passes. I break my Seal on his EoT to kill his Mox. I draw a Goyf and play it. It resolves and is huge at this point. There’s everything in the graveyard except a Planeswalker or Tribal card. On his turn he plays another Mox, casts Tinker for Sharuum the Hegemon and returns his other Mox to play. I had been holding a Stingscourger in my hand for a few turns now so I wasn’t worried. I draw a second Scourger, cast the one I already had and bounce Sharuum. Two turns later I swing for lethal and move on to the next round.
Top 8 Round 2: Vs. Bobby playing Dragon Combo
I had scouted out Bobby’s deck a few rounds before. He was playing some sort of Worldgorger Dragon combo deck that didn’t rely on the graveyard to win. I really didn’t have any understanding of how the combo worked, so as he walked over to play me I told him he’d have an easy match and that my deck didn’t have an answer for his win condition. I didn’t see any way I could win if his deck got started.
Game 1: Bobby wins the roll and plays a Fetchland then passes. I get off to a really fast start with a turn 1 Chalice at zero and a Seal of Primordium. He breaks his Fetch on my EoT. I pass. He draws, plays another land and then says go. I draw a Wasteland, blow up one of his lands, then pass. He draws then passes. I draw a Mountain, pitch a SSG and play a Magus. Bobby scoops. He must have gotten really land screwed. My logs for the life totals from that game has me winning with him at 19 life and me at 20. I never even got a chance to attack.
Game 2: I have no idea what to sideboard, so I just remove two Fanatics and add in 2 Deglamers. I figure having extra ways to deal with artifacts is always good. I draw this opening hand:
Taiga
Forest
Null Rod
Null Rod
SSG
Lotus Petal
Deglamer
I decide to keep this hand since it offers me lots of lines of play. He goes first and plays a dual land then plays a Thoughtseize. He takes my Deglamer. I draw another Null Rod. Yay. I play my Taiga and Petal, then sacrifice the Lotus Petal and cast a Null Rod. Bobby draws, plays another land and then casts an Imperial Seal. I take my turn and draw ANOTHER NULL ROD!!!! I roll my eyes, play a second Rods and pass the turn. He draws, then plays another Thoughtseize. I reveal my hand one at a time. Deglamer, SSG, Null Rod, Null Rod. The guys watching us laughed. Bobby looks frustrated at it and takes a Null Rod. He then plays an Ancient Grudge to blow up one of the two I have in play. I draw a Magus on my turn, pitch the SSG and play it. On Bobby’s next turn, he plays another Ancient grudge and blows up another Null Rod. I take my turn, draw a card, play my last 2 Rods, attack, then pass. Bobby has missed a couple land drops now and is having real trouble generating mana with his deck. He gets a basic Forest and eventually kills both my Null Rods. However, I had drawn a Goyf that was pretty big at that point in the game. I eventually get several creatures on the board and wear his life total down to zero. I don’t think he ever got past three mana sources that game, and I never saw first hand what the deck did.
Top 8 Final Round: Vs. Korey playing Tez
Game 1: I win the roll and draw this:
Pyroblast
Pyroblast
Wooded Foothills
SSG
Chalice of the Void
Seal of Primordium
Wasteland
Korey wins at Something to Do quite often. I know pretty much what he is playing, so this is a good hand. I play my Foothills and break it for a Taiga. I then cast a Chalice for zero and pass. He plays a Fetch, goes for an Underground Sea, and casts A-call. I Pyroblast it. I draw a Magus of the Moon, play my Wasteland, and waste his Sea. On his turn, he plays another Fetch, goes for an Island and plays a Sol Ring. On my turn, I draw a Forest, play it then pass. He plays TFK and I pyroblast it. He pitches a Mana Drain to Force my blast and draws three cards. He discards his Black Lotus. On my turn, I draw a third Pyroblast and pass. He plays a Tundra and casts Tinker. I Pyroblast it, and he can’t believe I drew three blasts in game 1. On my turn, I draw a Seal of Primordium and play it. He draws, plays a Ponder then passes. I draw a Mountain, play it and cast my Magus. The next turn I hard cast my SSG and beat him down with Grey Ogres the rest of the game.
Game 2: This was a really long game. I get out an early Seal and Null Rod. He gets out a Dark Confidant and we trade shots for a long time. Both our life totals get pretty low. He reveals two Force of Wills with Bob and gets down to 4 life. I’m at 9. By this point, though, he has gotten his Time Vault and Voltaic Key in play. I have my Null Rod and Chalice at 0 left on the board. He plays a Trygon Predator which will kill my Null Rod next turn. I keep telling myself, “make him play out his Time Vault turns. Bob might kill him for me.” On my turn, I draw Stingscourger. Yes! I bounce the Predator back to his hand and buy myself another turn. On my EoT he Brainstorms and reveals a Lotus Petal with Bob during his Upkeep. He attacks with Bob, and like a champ I block with my Stingscourger. It was a reflex action because I wanted to preserve my low life total. When I realized my mistake, I scooped and we went on to Game 3. Sometimes, I just make stupid plays. I don’t know if I would have beat him or not. He had a lot of deck filtering in his hand. But that was still really bone-headed of me.
Game 3: Game three I got this opening hand:
Red Elemental Blast
Stingscourger
Pyroblast
Taiga
Forest
SSG
Null Rod
Turn 1 I play Null Rod. He goes, plays a Fetch, then passes. I draw a Tarmogoyf, play my Forest then pass. He Breaks his Fetch for Underground Sea and plays Brainstorm. I let it resolve. On his turn, he draws, plays a basic Island and a Mox Jet, then casts Merchant Scroll for Tinker. I draw a Seal of Primordium, play it, and destroy his Mox. I pass. He draws, plays another basic Island, then Demo Tutors for something. I draw a Wooded Foothills, break it for a basic Mountain, then decide to pass. Next turn, he plays a Mox and casts Tinker tapping out. I Pyroblast his Tinker, he Forces, I cast Red Elemental Blast to finally counter it. On my turn, I draw another Red Elemental Blast and decide to wait. He draws then passes. I draw a Tarmogoyf and cast it. He casts Spell Snare and I red blast his Snare. “you drew another one?” he asked. My Goyf is huge at this point, and I get in several turns attacking while Korey plays draw go. I get him down to 6 life when I hard cast an ESG. He Drains it, and I don’t have a blast. On his turn he hard casts a Platinum Angel. On my turn, I did draw another Red Elemental Blast, and played the Stingscourger I had been holding since the beginning. I bounce his Angel. He tries to Force my Scourger; I blast his Force. Once the Scourger resolves, he concedes and shakes my hand on the match.
And that’s about it. I don’t know if it came through in my report or not, but there were many turns where I just played a land and waited. Or there would be times I’d play Seal of Primordium or Wasteland over trying to cast a 2/2 as soon as I could. With this deck, it usually better just to hold off on casting aggro components in favor or casting control pieces or keeping mana open for blasts. Almost every time I got in a hurry to play a Magus or Goyf, it got countered or killed.
I like this deck. I think it’s well suited to the current meta. For a non-powered deck, this one can be pretty formidable. Feel free to ask me any questions. My recollection of the games is a little foggy now, but I can remember most of the big details on how the deck plays and the cards perform.
Peace,
-Troy
