Tournament Report: PMPMPMPM #20
Hoped to get some edge from making a few tweaks to the deck but people know my bullshit by now 😝 The top 5 cards were in contention for the 15th SB slot last night, and thought of a few more this morning. Winter orb sucked all day. Gemstone mine frequently used up all its counters. Spells were cast.
R1 2-1 (actually 1-1-1) Goblins
I’m able to answer Lackey by sticking Mage on Goblin Warchief, which keeps me off of getting double-goblin’d long enough to use the bolt+swords+mana leak in hand and leverage thornscape + threat to win. Second game I don’t draw enough threats, taking a ton of city of brass damage. I finally run out of spells and he gets there due to ringleader’s haste + double piledriver out under an engineered plague. In this game, with Shelter in hand under winter orb, he casts pyrokinesis on an elephant when I have one mana up every turn for three consecutive turns. So those cards don’t play super nice together. (Same is kinda true for Impulse – but Impulse is nice to find the winter orb if you want it.) Third game we go to time – it’s not clear who would’ve won, but Tony insists on conceding to me since he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay for top 4.
R2 5c Slivers
This was an awesome match and will be on the HeavyPlay youtube channel. No spoilers!
R3 2-0 Beefcake
Game 1 my opponent was a victim of a risky keep and didn’t really draw a land other than the hickory woodlot in his opener. He goes to cast ernie with 2 ESG but I mana leak.
Game 2 he gets t2 baloth and I slow roll some removal by taking a baloth hit and casting both sides of call of the herd. He attacks into double elephant and adds blastoderm, which I answer with negator, chump a couple times with birds, then cast armageddon as blastoderm is on his way out.
R4 0-2 GW Oath Ponza
Game 1 I opt not to go to 5 by keeping a one-lander+bop that I get roundly punished for.
Game 2 I am blessed with an opening naturalize and call of the herd. My opponent has two cards in hand with sylvan library in play, and I have a thornscape. I opt to Naturalize sylvan, trying to keep him from drawing answers. The following turn he plays a second sylvan library. I draw Naturalize and use it. Two turns later he plays another sylvan library, which I naturalize. He then casts enlightened tutor for oath of druids, going to 0 cards in hand. At this point he has drawn and cast 3 StP as well. I can’t answer oath and get wrecked.
R5 1-2 GAT threshold no-tog
Game 1 was pretty funny, we just kept answering each other’s shit until half our decks were gone. John and I have played against each other a lot so we played quickly. Mongoose takes it ofc.
Game 2 I get there with the first strike threat on elephant tokens vs mongoose
Game 3 he gets 3 moxen. I am reminded that I had this morning considered gorilla shaman for the 15th slot in the SB. I wish mox monkey were here now. I get stuck with a removal-heavy hand including stp, bolt, and smother and feel silly. Mongoose is a menace. I had multiple Mages on Mongoose in this match.
Winter Orb is a high-variance card. Sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s a dead card, and vs. Mox Diamond decks in particular. Gorilla Shaman and Goblin Tinkerer cover those quite narrowly if we really want to commit to a Winter Orb strategy…Hull Breach is another more flexible option, as is a second Ray of Revelation.
In a deck with no card advantage beyond flashback, we need to balance card flexibility with power. We often pay a high price for drawing dead cards. I’m interested in trying putting Winter Orb in the sideboard and going to 2 Armageddon MD. I don’t think I can do a good job of explaining why, but I am always finding myself in situations where Armageddon isn’t doing what Winter Orb could do, and sometimes vice versa, for better or worse.
In general, I wished for yet more control over what I had in my hand. I am often drawing off the top, hoping to draw a way to get ahead. Additional Impulse support could be helpful. I did win a game off of Impulse -> Armageddon, which is something I’d hoped would happen today. Impulse is good for our mana, too. I’m interested in playing more. Fellwar Stone was pretty nice today, I think it’s going to stay for now.
There is a more red-heavy version of the deck I’ve tinkered a little bit with which plays Rith’s Grove instead of Dromar’s Cavern. You can go up on Lightning Bolt, try Grim Lavamancer, Granger Guildmage, Flametongue Kavu…I’ve also thought about a more black-heavy version with Duress/Cabal Therapy and some more cheap creatures over mana leak and maybe bolt, keeping mage, and going back up on dorks, but haven’t brewed anything there. Many possibilities!!!
MD FLEX SLOTS
2 Winter Orb
1 Armageddon
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Anurid Brushhopper
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Impulse
1 Phyrexian Negator
1 Gemstone Mine (currently at 21 land)MAYBEBOARD (MD)
1 Thornscape Apprentice
1 Anurid Brushhopper
2 Impulse
1 Armageddon
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Fire//Ice
1 Albino Troll (not great with winter orb, or near Incinerate)
… So many others 😝SB FLEX SLOTS
1 Shelter
1 SmotherSB MAYBEBOARD
2 Winter Orb (from MD)
1 Hull Breach
1 Tsabo’s Web
1 BEB
1 Armageddon
1 Stormbind
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Fire Covenant
1 Duress
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Wasteland
-Mose Wintner