sorry it's been so long since the last post (almost a month!). I've been busy with school stuff so I haven't had as much time for writing.
Part I: Drafts and the Future of Red
I haven't played much paper magic as of late, but I've gone 3-1 and (an embarrassing) 1-3 in some swiss drafts.
Anyway, my nearly winning list was a very aggressive red-white list featuring 2x Mardu Scout and 3x Valley Dasher.
I sometimes think that unless Patrick Sullivan or Tom Ross say a red card is good, people automatically assume it's bad. Honestly, I've been jamming Gore Swine and (when the deck is aggressive enough) Valley Dasher and been loving it.
I think that, given there aren't many other red two drops printed in the next two sets, Valley Dasher could actually be playable in standard next year.
Does anyone remember how powerful T1 Rakdos Cackler into T2 Ash Zealot was? Attacking for four on turn 2 is big deal. (yes, I obviously see that Ash Zealot is much better than Valley Dasher).
When Rabblemaster eventually rotates, red is going to lose one of the best creatures its ever had in standard. I think there will still be a decent aggressive red deck next year, but I doubt it will have the same explosiveness as Boss Sligh.
As for now, these are the only cards I think that are includes for now into next year's red list:
Monastery Swiftspear
Valley Dasher
War-Name Aspirant
Mardu Scout
Wild Slash
Valley Dasher
War-Name Aspirant
Mardu Scout
Wild Slash
I think the deck will need at least two other 1 drops to be on the same level and hopefully there will be something similar to Rakdos Cackler or Firedrinker Satyr.
Part II: Tournament Feedback
I played in a modern PPTQ (ugh) yesterday and got 4th place with Living End. There were only 25 players so I managed to write down what most people were playing.
4 Abzan
2 Affinity
3 Splinter Twin
2 Jeskai Control
1 Living End (!)
2 Burn
1 Infect
1 R/G Midrange
3 Tron (2 R/G, 1 U)
2 Zoo
1 Soul Sisters (w/ red)
1 Mill
There were two decks I didn't see, as two presumably dropped and left (I only started writing it down around round 4).
Decklist:
4 Living End
4 Violent Outburst
4 Demonic Dread
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Architects of Will
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Street Wraith
2 Beast Within
1 Valley Rannet
2 Faerie Macabre
3 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Shriekmaw
1 Jungle Weaver
2 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scalding Tarn
SB:
3 Leyline of the Void
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Slaughter Games
3 Ricochet Trap
1 Beast Within
I'll get to card discussion after the match wrap up.
Round 1: Burn
This was pretty miserable. This is a bad matchup and I had been meaning to scrounge through the commons box to find some Gnaw to the Bones, I just never got around to it.
Both games he was a turn faster than me. I would Living End, attack him for 10-12 and then die on the following turn.
0-1
Round 2: Splinter Twin
Game 1: Pretty straightforward. I play Violent Outburst at the end of his turn 3 and he doesn't have the counter.
Game 2: I mull to four. He boarded in Blood Moon for some reason and I die to a Vendillion Clique.
Game 3: I cycle a bunch and at the end of my turn three I expect him to go for the combo, but he casts Peeks to see my hand of Violent Outburst, Simian Spirit Guide and Ricochet Trap. Well, sometimes you have the stone perfect.
1-1
Round 3: Jeskai Control
Game 1: Things were going pretty ok, but I ended up drawing two Living Ends. One got Remanded and then the last one was Cryptic Command'ed. Then I died to Vendillion Clique.
Game 2: He mulls to 6 and after Fulminator, Fulminator, Beast Within he isn't really in it. Outburst on turn 6 for a lot.
Game 3: I have a super explosive draw and have triple Street Wraith. I decide to Simian Spirit Guide into Fulminator Mage to set him back on lands, but he has a Relic of Progenitus next turn (ughhhh, which he admits later was a singleton) and I get really set back. I end up outbursting for one Carabid and one Street Wraith. He tries to surprise my Street Wraith with a Restoration Angel but I play Violent Outburst to pump +1/+0 and he concedes.
2-1
Round 4: Soul Sisters
So my opponent was playing a cool deck. It's Soul Sisters splashing red for Purphoros and Norin the Wary, also playing Genesis Chamber. Both games kind of played out the same way. He played guys on turn 1 and 2, did nothing on turn 3 and then played Ranger of Eos on turn 4. At the end of his turn 4, I would Violent Outburst and he would concede.
3-1
Round 5: Abzan
We IDd, but we played two games for one and I got both pretty easily.
3-1-1
Top 8: Living End, Abzan x2, R/G Midrange, Infect, Zoo, Burn, Affinity
Round 6 (Top 8): R/G
This one was pretty straightforward. Despite him playing T2 Rabblemaster, T3 Rabblemaster I would had Violent Outburst in G1 and Demonic Dread in G2.
Interesting side note for Game 2. I had twelve power on the board (1 Street Wraith, 1 Deadshot Minotaur, 1 Monstrous Carabid and 1 Faerie Macabre) and he plays a Huntermaster of the Fells on his 4 Turn, going to 20. I play a Fulminator Mage and attack with all but the Faerie. He takes it and goes to ten. I sac the Fulminator and blow up one of his lands. He draws a card and concedes. I thought it was honestly odd he gave up. If he plays nothing, the Huntmaster flips, kills the faerie (presumably), and has a 4/4 and 2/2 to block. Supposing I draw nothing and attack in with my three creatures, he can chump the carabid, and kill one of my 3/4s and go to 7. I probably wouldn't do that and would only attack with the Carabid, but still. I was kicking myself for sacing the Fulminator Mage when I realized I wouldn't have critical mass, but he didn't want to play it out. Maybe he drew something relevant that was 4 mana and was on tilt. Or he had straight nothing in his hand. Who knows. I mean, I was at 7 and any creature would have probably put me out of the game.
He showed me that he boarded in 3x Trinisphere and 1 Chalice of the Void so I felt pretty lucky, considering I hadn't boarded in my Ingot Chewers.
Round 7: Infect
Man, this felt bad. I wasn't in either of these games. In the first game, he went for lethal when I was signaling Violent Outburst, but I didn't have it and died. Which felt terrible, by the way. Game two...I mulliganed, did nothing and died.
So Infect was in the finals and the other semifinals match was Zoo/Burn.
I think this was a decent deck choice. Most people are running a ton of graveyard hate currently and Living End can be a very consistent deck - your mulligans don't punish you as much as your opponent's and you see a lot of cards, making it easy to find one of the 8 cascades.
If your opponent isn't playing counters or any graveyard hate, there isn't a ton they can do to stop you. Aggro and midrange strategies feel like byes.
I definitely think 4x Living End is right. Drawing one off a cycle feels bad and against control, games go longer so it definitely it needed to have as many as possible.
I think Simian Spirit Guide needs to be a 4x. The deck needs to be as explosive as possible against decks like Burn, Affinity and Infect. SSG also can catch opponents by surprise. You would be amazed how many times I would have two mana up and my opponent would get blindsided by a surprise Violent Outburst.
My sideboard felt super bad. The only cards I ever brought it were Beast Within and Ingot Chewer. Pretty much everything else just rotted. I definitely need something in the way of life gain, either Gnaw to the Bone of Spike Feeder.
Faerie Macabre was actually pretty good. It helps you in being explosive and it randomly can hose Delve, Flashback and if you opponent has any creatures in the bin.
All in all, I was disappointed with 4th place (I mean, it's better than 0-2 drop), but I hate playing games that feel unwinnable. I briefly considered the idea of running Jund Soujouners later, but that felt silly.
This post has already gotten too long so I'll wrap it up here. Stay tuned later in the week for a sweet brew!
