[Tournament Report] R/g Beatz takes 1st place in Findlay, OH

[serracollector]

Hello, for those of you who don't know me I am John Knight, aka, Serracollector.  I was once an avid reader/commentor on www.bdominia.com for you "older" players, and now am just a random here.  First, just a quick brief on me, I have been playing Magic since 94, Fallen Empires/Ice Age, and recently quit, giving away my entire collection.  Due to me giving my entire collection away, the only tournaments I have been able to participate in are all proxy tournaments.  The last all proxy Tournament I was in was in Columbus, Ohio, where much to Smemmen chagrin I made t8 with a R/G beatz deck, a very sub par one at that.  After doing so well with the deck though, and the fact that it is quite possibly the cheapest deck to make, I decided to actually go out and get the cards needed for it, and try to make it better.  First to be fair I must give you my original decklist, which is here:

Red (21)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fire/Ice
4 Kird Ape
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Grim Lavamancer
1 Wheel of Fortune


Green (12)
4 River Boa
4 Rancor
4 Troll Ascetic

Artifacts (7)
3 Null Rod
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt

Land (20)
4 Taiga
4 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine


Side Board (15)
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Flametounge Kavu (I don't remember why, but I thought it was good)
3 Rack and Ruin
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Ground Seal

As you can see, it's more or less a totally metagamed deck against Fish and Slaver.  Tog and Draw7 just owned me, thus why I only got 6th.  Anyways, I digress.  

So after much more extensive building and testing over the last couple months, I heard about a 5 Proxy t1 tournament in Findlay, Ohio at a local hobby shop on Sun. Aug 8th. It was going to be $10 a head, and 1st place got their choice of a Mox, a Mishra's Workshop, or $200.  A Green Mox btw.  Well, I figured that the metagame hadn't recently changed, and decided to try my newer and hopefully better version of R/G beatz out here.  Before I go into math by match analysis (which is very good thanx to a friend or mine, thanx Tom) I will give the newer decklist with changes in bold:

Red (22)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fire/Ice
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Gorilla Shaman
3 Blood Moon

Green (11)
4 River Boa
3 Rancor
4 Troll Ascetic

Artifacts (6)
2 Null Rod
1 Mox Emerald (Proxied)
1 Mox Ruby (Proxied)
1 Black Lotus (Proxied)
1 Mana Crypt

Land (20)
4 Taiga
4 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

Side Board (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast (shoulda never been less than 4)
2 Null Rod
1 Ranco
1 Blood Moon
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Artifact Mutation

As you can see the only "major" difference is is Bloodmoon.  I honestly feel if I had simply had these in my side instead of those stupid Kavu it would have done much better in the Columbus Tourney.  Anyway, 20 people showed up, making the prize perfectly even with the cost, and we decided on a 5 round Swiss style Tournament, and then rounds began at 1 p.m.

Rnd 1  Me vs. Joseph Wells with  3? color dragon

We roll the die and I win.  I go with the almighty old school first turn Taiga, Kird Ape, go.  Joe draws, drops bazaar of draw alot, draws two, and discards a dragon, squee, and a Xantid Swarm.  I almost cry.  Next turn, I drop a foothills>taiga, and drop boa, attack for 2 (yay).  Joe takes his turn, untaps his bazaar, and draws, without grabbing his squee     I point this out to him, and he simply shrugs as he drops an Underground Sea, casts dark ritual, animate dead, and wishes for a stroke.  GG.

-4 Fire/Ice -3 Grim Lavamancers +4 Tormod's Crypt +1 Blood Moon, +2 Null Rod

Now games 2 and 3 I have to admit 100%, I was simply lucky. I decide to go first (obv)and for my opening hand, for game 2, 2 Tormod's Crypt, Black Lotus for Troll, foothills>taiga, gorilla shaman, with waste in hand.  Now the amazing part, he shakes his head and shows me his hand, bazaar, dark rit, animate dead, dragon, laquatus, Mox Jet, and Force of Will.  He didn't Force either of the Crypts, and just simply conceded.  

Game 3 was just beautiful for me though.  Joe goes first, mulliganing down to 6, then dropping a bayou and says go.  I draw, and about orgasm.  I go mountain, mana crypt, blood moon, crypt.  Joe simply looks at me as if his grandma had just died, and tells me he only has 1 basic swamp in his entire deck.  Ouch.  We continue as he won't concede, and a Rancored River boa does what it does.  

2-1 in games, 1-0 in matches

Rnd 2  Me vs.  Kim Patelli (yes a girl) with u/R gayfish which she name "Pink is my favorite color"

We roll, and once again I win, and as we all know whoever wins the die roll wins the game obv .  I know that this matchup is majorly in my favor.  I kp, as does she, and I drop first turn mountain, lavamancer.  She says ok.  She drops a first turn conclave and passes.  I draw, drop waste, waste conclave and smack for 1.  Wow, what an exciting start.  She draws, drops mishra's factory and Mox sapphire, and casts standstill.  Ow.  I draw, and decide to take my chances as it is still early, and drop Lotus, she draws 3 and says K.  I then sac lotus for GGG, dropping river boa.  She forces, pitching a standstill, I then use the g and tap my mountain for another river boa.  She sighs, and says ok.  I then drop a forest and cast Rancor leaving me with one card in hand.  I don't think I have ever seen someone’s eyes get that big before.  I attack for another 1.  She goes, draws, and lets out the happiest high pitched scream ever, as she drops a volcanic Island, and Fire's both my lavamancer and boa returning the rancor to my hand.  Poor guys.  This is not looking too good for me.  I draw, and play a foothills>taiga, and tap all 3 lands for an Ascetic Troll.  She looks at me and says "You’re kidding" "Nope" I say.  Long story short, small fishy's can't really do anything to a 5/3 regenerating untargetable trampling troll.  Rancor rocks.

-2 Null Rod -3 Blood Moon (wastes are enough) +1 Rancor +4 REB

Game 2 she goes first, dropping a mishra's factory, pass.  I drop first turn waste, waste and pass.  She draws, drops island, passes.  I draw, drop Mox Ruby, drop taiga, tap taiga cast kird ape.  She dazes it, tapping her island in response before returning it to her hand, I tap the mox, and REB the daze.  In response she brainstorms, says the REB is good, growls at me (at least I think it was a growl) and I pass my turn.  She draws, and lays the island down again and says go.  I draw, and drop a wastelands, I atk with ape, she taps the island and Blue Blasts the Ape.  damn.  I then tap the taiga and mox and drop BBBBBBBoa.  what a pal.  I tell he she has a nice ISLAND.  She’s cute when she scowls.  Next turn she draws, drops a wasteland, and casts fairies/spiketail drake.  I think I made a mistake here, as I believe I could have wasted her land in response to it untapping so that she wouldn't have been able to cast the drake, but eh it happens.  EOT I waste her waste, and then draw.  I play a forest, cast Rancor and the river boa, and go for the beats.  Next turn she attempts to cast a Curiosity on her Fairies which is met by a REB, pretty much sealing her doom.  GG.

Games 4-1, Matches 2-0

Rnd 3 Me vs. Jeff "Steve Menendian is the best" Striessberg w/TOG

I hate Tog.  I do.  Game one was just dumb.  Let's just simply say, he went first and on turn 4 he did something like intuition for time walk/mox/land with y win, lotus, tog and wish in hand.  I just conceded. (remind you of anything Steve?)

-2 Null Rod, -3 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Blood Moon, +4 REB

Game 2 I decide to go first, and I get a God hand.  Well, a God hand or R/G beatz anyways.  I drop lotus, Mox Emerald, Mana Crypt, Taiga, Troll Ascetic, Gorilla Shaman, Rancor on Troll, and use extra man to eat Crypt.  I am amazed the Tog player had no FoW.  I think he was amazed that R/G beatz could have hands like that.  He drops a polluted delta, and passes the turn.  Later on he told me he had moxen but was too scared of them being eaten.  Quite possibly a huge mistake on his part for not trying to outrace me.  I draw, and cast a 2nd Rancor on the Troll!  Swing for 8.  Jeff draws, sits and thinks for about 2 minutes, then sacs delta for Underground, drops Trop, drops Mox Jet and Ruby, casts Time walk and AK for 1.  Gulp.  He then takes his 2nd turn.  Draws, taps Mox Ruby and Trop for AK for 2, draws no lands, curses under his breath and passes the turn.  Once again I made a huge mistake here, not using my extra mana to eat one of his moxes before his Time Walk turn.  Player error is a bitch.  So EOT, tap Taiga and Eat Mox Jet.  I then draw, swing for 8 and tap Mox Emerald to eat Mox Ruby then pass the turn.  Jeff EOT Brainstorm,  untaps, draws, and lays a Volcanic.  He taps Trop/Sea/Volc for Intuition, which I tap Taiga and REB.  He says "GG".


Game 3

Game three went by really fast, but this time I think I won cause I played it correctly.  It pretty much went, Kird Ape/Rancor beatz with a 3rd turn boa, and 2 bolts.  Jeff then goes into suicide mode casting Nights Whisper, then Intuition into Ak engine, drops Fastbond, Aks for 3, drops polluted Delta bringing him to 3, he then sacs delta, and I say "In response I fire you".  He bows his head in defeat, as my heart nearly pops from beating so hard.  I was sure he had the force, and was going to combo out.  Lady luck I love you.  If I hadn't held that fire/ice, he never would have popped that sac land, and I woulda for sure lost.

Games 6-2, matches 3-0

Rnd 4 Me vs. Shawn Arnette with Workshop Slaver.

ok, honestly here, I am going to be lazy, cause we all know how Slaver works.  Simply it went game one, I fired his welder, he managed to slaver me once, but my deck really can't do many tricks, especially since I had no Lavamancers or burn for him to play with.  Believe it or not I won with a double rancor'd gorilla shaman.

-3 Blood Moon, -3 Rancor, +2 Null Rod, +3 Artifact Mutation, +1 REB (not as many broken blue spells as TOG, well, I maybe wrong but that was my reasoning then.)

Game 2 was quite possibly the simplest game I ever played.  Shawn went first going Worshop, Mana Crypt, Gilded Lotus, Thirst, dropping Platinum Angel, casting Mox Ruby, and Welder.  Wow. I draw, drop mox Emerald, foothills>Taiga, Kird Ape with Rancor.  Next turn he draws, drops shivan reef, welds Mox into angel, tapping in response and drops another welder.  This leaves him with 3 cards in hand, 2 Welders, a Lotus, Workshop, and Reef.  Not looking good for me  I then pull the top deck of a lifetime.  I draw, smile from ear to ear, and drop black lotus, sacking for RRR, I fire both of his welders, he stares in disbelief.  I say "No counters?"   He says "Obviously", I then tap my mox emerald, and say "with r floating" and cast artifact mutation smacking his angel and getting 7 little hombres to get my beat on.  Swing and hit for 4 with ape.  Next turn Shawn draws, taps his shivan reef for brainstorm, then taps lotus for Time twister, and gets nothing!  I then draw, drop waste and kill his reef, tap taiga and mox and mutation his gilded lotus.  I about go nutz as he once again has no FoW, even after a draw 7!  Lil hombres for the win.  GG.

Games 8-2 Matches 4-0

Rnd 5 Me vs. Tony Rogers with GAT

As usual in tournaments like this we both decided to tie in.

t8
1. Me with R/G beatz
2. Tony with GAT
3. Kim with Fish
4. Steve Johnson with 7/10
5. Jessy Swaney with Draw7
6. James Goodwin with Fish
7. John Edson with  UG Madness
8. Lawrence Jameson with Stax (?) (juggernauts and suchis etc)

Game 1 t8
Me Vs Steve Johnson with 7/10

Don't ask me how they decided to do the pairings of t8, I honestly think they rolled a die.  Anyways.  Game one was quite detrimental.  It went something like  Workshop Trinispehere, me land, workshop, gilded lotus, thirst, drop titan, me land, volcanic island, Welder, me land, kird ape, island, weld lotus for titan, eat 2 taiga, beat down with 7/10.

-3 Rancor,  +3 Artifact Mutation

I went first.  I drop Mana Crypt, Taiga, Blood Moon.  He drops mountain (well its a mountain now anyways).  I take 3 from crypt, drop forest, cast gorilla shaman and eat crypt.  He drops mountain.  I draw, cast kird ape and another shaman, swing for 1.  He drops another mountain and a mox jet, casts a welder.  I draw, fire for 1 and 1, swing with my horde of monkeys (I always wanted to say that) and eat his mox.  He draws, drops lotus, cast gilded lotus, and Wheels, dropping 2 titans and casting another welder.  nice.  I draw, mutate his lotus into some buddies, and the monkeys/saps take it home.

Game 3 more or less went the same way except he got a Titan into play before I got the blood moon.  Good ol Mutation saved me after being wacked twice by the monstrosity.  No gilded lotus this game though.  In the end I double bolted for the win.

Games 10-1-3 (is it ties then losses?)  Matches 5-1-0

Game 2 Me vs. Kim (yay) with Fish.

Kim sighs as she sees me again and has flashbacks of that evil Rancor'd Rive boa.  We roll and she wins.  She drops a volcanic Island Grim lavamancer.  ow.  I draw, drop foothills>taiga, and bolt the mancer.  She draws, casts brainstorm, and wastes my taiga.  I drop mountain and kird ape (go 1/1's!).  She drops island and cast spike tail.  I draw, foothills>taiga, and swing with 2/3.  Beatz.  I then tap 2  and cast river boa.  she sacs the drake, and I lose a boa.  Poor snake.  she then casts standstill and drops mishra's factory.  I blink.  I draw, waste her mishra, and swing with the ape.  Well 3 turns later, she ends up breaking her own standstill giving me 3 bolts, which eot more or less end the game.

-2 Null Rod -3 Blood Moon +1 Rancor +4 REB

Game 2 went her with mox sapphire, volcanic island, grim lavamancer.  I went forest, emerald, crypt, troll, burn for 1, she casts brainstorm in responses, and turns like 18 shades of red as she draws nothing.  Next turn she drops a spike tail hatchling.  I then draw and drop 2 rancors on the troll.  I told her I was sorry.  I honestly was too.  that’s just cruel.  

Games 12-1-3, Matches 6-1-0

Final Rnd Me vs. John Edson with  UG Madness

This was one of the slowest games ever.  I win the roll and go first.  I drop mountain and cast Gorilla Shaman.  He draws, drops Mox Emerald, Island, Wild Mongrel.  Eeek  :shock:  I then draw.  Drop a second mountain, let out a sigh, and tap the mountain to "attempt" to bolt the mongrel.  He chucks 2 Roar of the wurm, I then tap the other mountain and bolt again.  He chucks a deep anal, a wonder, and a forest.  Well, at least I mind twisted him for 2 mana LOL.  I then atk with the shaman which he lets through.  He draws, then taps the mox and island to deep anal flashback.  He drops a forest and attacks for 3 chucking root Walla.  I draw, drop taiga and mox emerald, I  rancor the shaman and swing.  Root Walla dies a healthy death, as I drop kird ape.  John isn’t liking this.  He draws, drops a trop and gets a 6/6 wurm into play.  nice.  I draw.  cast double rancor on ape and swing.  he chucks both cards in hand to dog, a land and a wonder, and chumps the ape, taking 2 and killing my ape.    He draws, deep anals again, bringing him down to 11, and swings with a 6/6 flyer.  I draw, cast troll.  He draws, casts root Walla, and swing for another 6.  I draw.  double rancor the troll, and swing.  He blocks with root Walla, taking 6, I then bolt him.  He draws, see he has no way of killing me that turn, and concedes.  woo close one.

-3 Blood Moon, -2 Null Rod, + 1 Rancor, +4 Tormod's Crypt.  

The last game was so disappointing.  I went first turn ape/crypt.  he went first turn nothing.  I dropped river boa, swung, he dropped Mongrel.  I draw, drop waste, waste his land, swing with boa and ape, he blocks ape and chucks Roar, I cast bolt to his face and crypt him.  He draws, casts arrogant wurm off mongrel swings for 3.  I draw, drop another crypt, he forces it, chucking deep anal.  I then rancor boa, and swing.  He draws, swings with 3/3 mongrel chucking another roar, and 4/4 wurm I take 7.  So he has taken 11 I have taken 10.  I then draw, swing for 4 more, and eot bolt him. bringing him to 2.  He draws, and once again, cannot kill me that turn.  GG.

I decide to take the $200 as on the Saturday before at 5:37 a.m. me and my fiancée had a beautiful 7 lb 7 ounce girl named Jade.  I am a dad.  I gave up the Mox Emerald I needed for 2 weeks worth of diapers an groceries.  So worth it, she's a beaut.  

Well, this is my first 1st place win ever, and my first in depth coverage of a tourney.  Please tell me what you think of my play style, my deck, and my overall coverage and tourney report.  I am all about criticism, and help with the deck.  Thanx everyone.

[Zelyon]

Congrats.

I have to wonder though. The deck seems really heavy on mana denial.  Isn't 4 Gorilla Shaman overkill when you're playing Null Rod. Have you ever felt that you draw into too much mana denial and not enough threats? I think replacing a few of these with Skyshroud Elite (the green 1 drop that a 2/3 if your opponent controls a nonbasic) could be nice.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Congrats on the win and the new baby girl! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the asian kid who played Tog in Columbus this past March. The deck looks solid, but I do question some choices. Blood Moon main seems kinda sketchy, although they seemed to have pulled their weight for you. Also, Are null rods really better than scroll here (granted you already have lavamancers)?

[serracollector]

Null Rod is good vs some decks in t1, thus only 2, gorilla shaman is good vs almost all decks in t1.  As Smemmen said in another forum, everyone who can runs moxen.  t1 is all about mana acceleration, and Mox Monkeys stop that for your opponent, especially when considering decks such as Tog/Stax/Slaver/Draw7.  Plus Shaman is not a bad critter in and of itself once you throw a Rancor or 2 on him.  The skyshroud elvf is nice yes, but, against certain decks, such as 2 color dragon, madness, FCG, sligh, and even Fish, the skyshroud can easily just be a 1/1 with no abilities, especailly considering I run 5 strips.  Mox monkey on the other hand is never dead.  Either he eats moxen, giving you the speed/tempo advantage you need to kill your opp or he's a solid creature that can easily chump or swing.  When you look at todays format, usually the creatures are either 1/1 with abiltites that won't block, such as welder/lavamancers/mox monkeys, or they are fatties such as Juggernaut, Karn, Memnarch and Sundering Titan.  So if you have the former, I attack and u take 1 or more, or if you have the latter, I have a speed bump to give me that one turn I need to find that rancor or bolt to finish the game.

[serracollector]

originally the deck was 3 cursed scroll, but we found that with the fires/bolts/5strips/fetches, grim was cheaper and much more effective, not to mention another speed bump or rancor banger if need be.  Also, if you decided to side the null rods, you would more or less have to take ou the cursed scrolls every time u side the rods in, leaving you with one less threat.  This way I keep my tempo vantage and the same high number of threats.

[TrixR4Kidz]

Games 10-1-3 (is it ties then losses?) Matches 5-1-0

No, it's losses then ties, so 10-3-1...

[Methuselahn]

Congrats on the birth of your child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a nice report to read.  Congrats on the high finish.  You had the right deck for the opponents you faced, it seems.  Luckily you dodged GAT and Draw 7, despite your hate.

[Sean Ryan]

Congrats at the win, with R/G Beatz no less.  I've always had a soft spot for this deck and I'm currently playing a variant in 1.5 but it may have a spot in the current T1 meta as a budget alternative to Fish especially in a no proxy event.

What matches give you the most difficulty outside of Storm based combo?  If the top tier is considered: 4CC, Fish, & Workshop Aggro-Prison, R/G Beatz can proablly hang.  I would be most worried about the current tier 2 decks that are actually more powerful than the current tier 1 but are not viable thanks to Fish.  It seems Fish is opening up more options than we first thought.  

You are able to run to incredible bombs at the moment: Bloodmoon & Artifact Mutation.  The later is probally single handidly responsible for being able to beat workshop.  How much have you been able to test against various Workshop builds?  It seems Aggro-Prison could be a bad match for you.

Overall, I like your list and its almost optimal.  Here are a few changes I propose.

4 Ape
3 Shaman
3 Lavamancer

4 Boa
4 Troll

4 Bolt
4 Fire/Ice or Chain lightning
3 Bloodmoon
1 Wheel

4 Rancor

3 Null Rod

23: Mana Sources

5 Strip
5 Fetch
4 Taiga
3 Forrest
2 Mt.

1 Emerald
1 Ruby
1 Lotus
1 Crypt

SB

4 REB
4 Artifact Mutation
2 Tsaob's Web
3 Tormod's Crypt
1 Bloodmoon
1 Null Rod ??? (may not be neccesary)


1) A tighter manabase

2) 3 Shaman 3 Null Rod - I find it more balanced

3) 4th Rancor with  18 creatures 4 Rancors are a must, especially on the Boas.

4) Fire/Ice or Chain Lightning - I'm not sure about this, perhaps 2:2 ratio.

5) The SB should be fairly self explanatory.  Tsaob's Web doubles against Fish and Dragon and Artifact Mutation is to good not to run 4.



LMK what you think.
Sean

[Smmenen]

John, great job.  How many people showed?  Next time, you should tell us so we can join in the fun .  It looks like the metagame was strong.

Steve

[Nibble]

Let me first congratulate you, not only for an impressive tourney win but also on the birth of your daughter. You must be very proud on both counts. And I must say, I love the choice of name.

However, I do have a criticism of your play, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way - I'm meaning to be constructive, not trying to make you look like a bad player or anything. But, ahem:

I draw, drop Mox Ruby, drop taiga, tap taiga cast kird ape. She dazes it, tapping her island in response before returning it to her hand, I tap the mox, and REB the daze.

Why didn't you just use the Mox mana to pay off the Daze, and save the REB for something else? :/

[Shirow66]

Yay mad props on the win. RG Beats is a great fun deck and it's about time it showed some great results. I'm curious though.. 4 Trolls seems hard to support with that mana base. Did they really work good or did they just sit in your hand most of the time? I tried using trolls before in my build but I found the double green mana just too much for the mana base to support so I'm using Call of the Herd instead, but only 2 though. Is Fire/Ice really better than Incinerate? I guess it depends on the metagame. Interesting choice using Mana Crypt, I'll have to test it out.

[serracollector]

Thanks all for the tips and what not.  I can't beleive I missed that, yeah I could have simply tapped the mox for the mana, duh     3 Null Rod/3 Shaman is nice for most meta's, but as I said earlier, in my testing I have yet look at a gorilla shaman and said "Man I wish this was a Null Rod" but there was times where I drew a Null Rod in my opening hand and thought "Man I wish this was a shaman".   Honestly, unless playing Slaver or a Workshop build that used Metal Worker/Gilded Lotus, if I had a hand of red land, mox, shaman, null rod, 9/10 I would play the shaman and leave the mana to munch a mox rather than play the Null Rod.  Also remember I play Mana Crypt, which I would not replace with anything, so many times has it helped in a first turn blood moon, or turn 2 double Boa, or even just to munch two moxen, or more importantly, an opponents moxen and then itself.  I have died one time to a mana crypt, where I went first turn Taiga, Shaman, Mana Crypt, Null Rod.  They Wsted my taiga, and I didn't draw another land ( I did draw both other moxen     )for 6 turns in which Crypt and a few critters took me out.  This is why I would much more prefer to play the 4 shaman/2 Null Rod, vs 3-3.  I hope this enlightens some.  Once again though, its all based on personal experience.

As for fire/ice vs Chain Lightnning, or even incinerate, you have to go 100% with fire/ice.  Reasons?

1.)  the burn is more for removal, and is a last resort to use for your opponents dome.

2.)  For the mana ration, 2 mana for 2 1/1's vs 2 mana for 1 creature with Incinerate.

3.)  The only regerators are Boa and Troll, if my opponent has a Boa, more than likely its UG fish, thus meaning they have an Island, meaning my Boa>>>>>their Boa, so i am not so worried about it.  Also, 5 strips + Fire/Ice/Bolt usually stop that whole regen thing anyways.

4.)  Chain Lightning is a sorcery.  Believe it or not this plays a HUGE factor in the way the deck is played. I repeat, if you do not have enough burn too kill your opponent that turn, save it, as between Mana Crypts/Mana Burn/Ancient Tomb/City of Brass/Night's Whisper/Skel Scrying/Sac and Search lands, your opponent may bring themselves down just enough that you can "In response I...." burn for the win.

As for the 4 Rancors, as you see the original decklist had this, and although the card is great, it requires you have a creatures, and even with 19 creatures (more if you count mutation tokens), 4 rancor was just too much.  Drawing land while having 3 rancor in hand really sucks.  I almost even considered  dropping 2 of the basic lands (one of each) and possibly testing Mishra's Factory.  Even though the rancor falls off EOT, it still goes back to your hand, so swinging with a 4/2 or 6/2 Mishra is some good.  Plausible, but needs testing.  I honestly beleive that 3 is the perfect number until you play fish or some other "small creature based deck" as thosee boa's, kird apes, and trolls are just beat sticks with them.  

As for Trolls, when I went to Columbus originally I also feared the double green, and was going to only run 3, but I am so glad I ran 4.  Even if you don't get the GG until turn 4-5, he is still so worth it.  He is the answer to fish/landstill.  Most decks just can't do anything to him, and after getting REB backup, he's just about unstoppable.  No StP, no Snuff, No burn, not even Deed or Disk takes out this guy, and even to a Tog player a 3rd or 4th turn 5/3 trampling, regen, untargetbl troll causes havoc.  

Any more info is much apprecaited, and pls pls, continue with the comments.  I hope that all of my reasoning has made sense so far, and that most of you agree with it, and see why I have made the choices I have made.  Also, in this type of deck I will 100% back up that Artifact Mutation>>>>>>>Rack and Ruin/Oxidize/Naturalize.  With 7/10, Gilded Lotus, and even Myr Enforcers being used in mass in t1, it simply reads "2 mana, instant, wreck your opponents game, make enough beat sticks to win".  NOt bad, not bad at all.

[leviat]

Excellent Report. Great job on winning with a good ole' beatz deck. My only nitpick was that you drew Mana Crypt soooo many times in your first hand I would have demanded a deck check ;P. Honestly, the point to restricting cards is so that you don't always draw them opening hand.

[Plognark]

Great report, congrats on your daughter and the win

I've run versions of this deck for a few years, and I have to say, at first I would have called you crazy for cutting incinerate and chain lightning for the fire/ice, but the proof of the effectiveness is obvious in your report. Well done

Have you considered running crop rotation, or is it too random a one-of? I've had loads of luck with it by rotating out waste-strip victims for an opposing strip.

[VGB]

Have you considered Goblin Welder or Granger Guildmage in the Kird Ape slot?

Quirion Ranger might also be nice.

[effang]

two things.

1: you seemed to draw7 into crypt a lot. and by a lot i mean a lot!

2: i don't play r/g beatz, but why are you eating your mana crypt's so early? i don't understand the motive to eat your crypt vs take 1 point of burn. crypt can still help you out with troll, blood moon, regeneration. the point of burn will only matter against fish, and you could always destroy the crypt in response to it's effect. any specific reason? or just to avoid burn.

anyways congrats. you should have taken the mox and resold!

[Mixing Mike]

....and you could always destroy the crypt in response to it's effect...

You still have to flip the coin if the Crypt is still in play during your upkeep.

As for SerraCollector, congrats.  Great report too, really.

[dromar]

I liked the report too. I had a question about mana crypt actually. Did you ever run into times where you just didn't need 2 colorless mana? there don't seem to be too many cards that have 2 in their cost.

Also, yeah, I think you could have gotten more money by taking the mox and selling it.

[VGB]

I liked the report too. I had a question about mana crypt actually. Did you ever run into times where you just didn't need 2 colorless mana? there don't seem to be too many cards that have 2 in their cost.

Yeah, well, Null Rod costs .

[Kaiser von Hugal]

I'm working on a R/G build myself.  I've considered the troll.  My thoughts are that with BM, 2g may be difficult.  I like Call of the Herd.  Does the durability of the troll superceed the card advantage of the herd?  With crypt, you could get an elephant token turn 1 and a second turn 2.

[Since97]

Wow that's a really nice deck, congrats on the baby girl too.

Just a quick question, I was adding up the cards in your main deck and it came to 59. What was the 60th card?

[dromar]

Does the durability of the troll superceed the card advantage of the herd?

It's a tough call, but I think the troll is better. One way untargetability is amazing. Basically, he doesn't die unless you choose not to regen him in combat. However, if GG is a little scary to you, CotH is certainly acceptable, although it doesn't really jive with Lavamancer too well. But with an army of 3/3 fat, it shouldn't matter.

On another note, there is a heated debate going on about Crucible of Worlds being too powerful because it can go in any deck and create a soft lock with strip effects. I was working on my own version of this deck recently, and I wondered: Could Crucible of Worlds work well in this deck like they say?

[MrBeichner]

Could Crucible of Worlds work well in this deck like they say?

I would definitely think so.  First turn beats backed up by recurring strips sounds very familiar

[Phantomz]

 No StP, no Snuff, No burn, not even Deed or Disk takes out this guy, and even to a Tog player a 3rd or 4th turn 5/3 trampling, regen, untargetbl troll causes havoc.  

Correct me if I'm wrong but Deed and Disk does take out the Troll. The Troll isn't being targetted.Sorry to pick on that mistake but it's important to know that he does die to Deed and Disk.

[Astro]

 No StP, no Snuff, No burn, not even Deed or Disk takes out this guy, and even to a Tog player a 3rd or 4th turn 5/3 trampling, regen, untargetbl troll causes havoc.  
quote]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Deed and Disk does take out the Troll. The Troll isn't being targetted.Sorry to pick on that mistake but it's important to know that he does die to Deed and Disk.

Yes, but not if you regenerate him.  

Also, as far as Crucible/Wastes is concerned doesn't Bloodmoon do mostly the same thing except do it better?

[MrBeichner]

Also, as far as Crucible/Wastes is concerned doesn't Bloodmoon do mostly the same thing except do it better?

The whole thing is that crucible is colorless and goes into any deck that wants to use it.   Bloodmoon does not, and those lands can still be used for red and colorless under it,  moxes + lotus also help out from colorscrew problems.  Although bloodmoon does indeed put a hurtin' on a lot of decks, it is not the same as being able to continuously kill a non basic land every turn while still having your draw phase (card advantage).   Not to mention you have a potential infinite life/ infinite mana combo with 2 other cards that work well in conjunction with Crucible on their own (zuran orb and fastbond).

Crucible is $$$.

[Sandster]

Like everyone else, congratulations on the birth of your daughter and on your win (gotta prioritize here ).

Also, as far as Crucible/Wastes is concerned doesn't Bloodmoon do mostly the same thing except do it better?

The whole thing is that crucible is colorless and goes into any deck that wants to use it.   Bloodmoon does not, and those lands can still be used for red and colorless under it,  moxes + lotus also help out from colorscrew problems.  Although bloodmoon does indeed put a hurtin' on a lot of decks, it is not the same as being able to continuously kill a non basic land every turn while still having your draw phase (card advantage).   Not to mention you have a potential infinite life/ infinite mana combo with 2 other cards that work well in conjunction with Crucible on their own (zuran orb and fastbond).

In general, yes Crucible is usually better, but we ARE talking about R/G Beatz here...in which case, Bloodmoon is usually more than enough.

Also, StP kills regenerators.  Far too many people forget plow removes the creature from the game; it's considered the greatest creature removal for a reason!

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

This doesn't matter with troll, however, as it is untargetable.  The regneration just serves the purpose of surving in combat or dodging sweepers, although it is still amazing when combined with the untargetability.  

1GG is ceratinly a big issue, but if the deck never had a problem casting it then troll is awsome.

[Shirow66]

The deck lacks the draw power to get crucible out with any consistency, and anything you take out for crucible will weaken the deck. Even if you get crucible out you still need to draw strips, which isn't sure to happen either. Crucible isn't really gonna help you win games against R/G's toughest matchups, sligh and combo. Fastbond is terrible in the deck unless you have it in the opening hand and happen to have 2-3 lands. If we are gonna run restricted cards I'd rather use a Black Vise which will put pressure on the opponent to empty his hand or remove it fast.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

The only restricted cards we should run are those that are good.  Neither fastbond or black vise are partcularily good cards in this deck.  

Vise isn't very good because it will rarely do more than lightning bolt your opponent, and only do that when you play first.  With moxes, lotus, etc and the fact that combo decks go off quickly, fish dumps it's hand fast, and control uses cards to deal with your threats, vise will rarely do anything at all.

As you said, fastbond can allow for explosive starts but unless drawn in a starting hand with a few extra lands it is rather useless.