Burning the Candle

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Creatures (6) P 3 Stonehorn Dignitary 1 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Drogskol Reaver Spells (22) P 3 Timely Reinforcements 4 Desperate Ravings 3 Faithless Looting 2 Red Sun’s Zenith 3 Gut Shot 3 Day of Judgment 3 Gitaxian Probe Artifacts (7) P 4 Pristine Talisman 1 Elixir of Immortality 1 Batterskull Walkers (6) P 2 Gideon Jura 3 Venser, the Sojourner Land (25) P 4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Evolving Wilds 1 Shimmering Grotto 4 Island 4 Mountain 4 Plains

*I added one Venser, the Sojourner at the last minute.

I never really explained my reasons for changing Ali’s deck.

The Red

I put the red in to help with the card selection. The Blue Sun’s Zenith was just too slow. The Red was quick and cheap. Yes, Faithless Looting is inherent card disadvantage, but this deck is playing like a combo deck. I just need to hit one or two cards that I am looking for. Once I get those cards the game changes dramatically and it doesn’t matter that I’m down cards.

The Split

I debated this split left and right and up and down and still wasn’t really happy with it on the day of the tournament. One Consecrated Sphinx and one Drogskol Reaver. It didn’t feel right, but I did it.

Other Stuff People asked about

The Probes give me vital information when all I’m trying to do is accomplish Venser+Stonehorn. Do they have a counter, an o-ring, disruption? Not to mention I get to go one card deeper.

Timely Reinforcements in the main need to stay. They are pulling the same duty they were in the original list by Ali. The decks both fall behind as the early game is fairly sparse. The Timelys are vital to remain on even ground and not fall too far behind.

The Tournament

Round 1
I really wish I could have smashed this guy, not only for the win but this was one of those players that you don’t like sitting down across from. He was condescending and rude. His first land was Darkslick Shores and then he passed. I immediately put him on Control, but I hoped he was Zombies with a slow hand. Control is a bad matchup while Zombies is almost laughable. I led with a Faithless Looting which is not ideal, but I kept a pretty loose hand and wanted to start sculpting something better quickly.
One of the cards I discard to the Looting was a Stonehorn and he immediately started cackling and said something along the lines of, “Please be a Stonehorn/Venser deck so I can just smash you.” I don’t mind chatting with an opponent but being a douche puts me into silent mode, lest I get myself kicked out because my mouth pops off before my brain can stop it.
My loose keep came back and bit me pretty hard. He was Esper Control and pretty much stomped me. Three Faithless Looting, a Gitaxian Probe, and a Desperate Ravings and I only hit three lands and no Timely Reinforcements.
Game Two was pretty quick as well. We played around with some Oblivion Ring shenanigans, but he just stuck Liliana of the Veil and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and used a Lingering Souls to get there.
I was very close to tilting, but I shrugged it off. Round 1 was not going to get me down.

Round 2
This match I made a huge mistake. He was on Naya Birthing Pod. I got my Stonehorn+Venser out in Game one and he seemed stone cold to it. I Probed him just to dig to a win condition and saw an Archon of Justice. He had a Birthing Pod on the field already, but only one source of white mana. I passed the turn and he played out a Birds of Paradise and passed back. I looked at the Gut Shot in my hand and played it targeting the Bird…in my head. What actually happened was that I didn’t play the Gut Shot at all and the Archon blew up Venser. Game two went much the same except I had a second Venser in hand when he blew up the Archon. Time was called as I was removing creatures with an Emblem.

Round 3
I was playing a Delver player and Game one I locked him out and slowly beat him down with a Rhino and some Timely tokens. Game two he won with a quick Geist followed by a Sword. I tried to stay in it but he had the counters for what mattered. Game 3 I took to another draw but conceded so he would have a chance at top 32.

What did I learn

I think this deck does pretty good, if there were unlimited time. The win conditions are too sparse. This stalls like a champ, but I don’t want to stall, I want to win. Leading to the same thing is the Sphinx/Reaver split. The blue was such a light splash I was very greedy with playing the Sphinx.
I might have been getting a little fancy by adding in the red. It worked, it worked well, but I think there are plenty of blue options that would have made my mana better.

This is not the first time I have done this to myself. As a scrub, I seem to have not learned my lesson. It is not enough to not lose.

After my day at the tournament was over I headed to get something to eat with some teammates. Whilst talking they brought up something. They asked me why I didn’t just play a real deck…again. You see, the group has told me on different occasions that my biggest weakness is my deck selection.

The whole goal of writing this series is stop being a scrub. I think it is time I bite the bullet and put up the brewer’s shoes. It makes me sad, but losing makes me more sad. I won’t be giving up entirely but I will not be playing a rogue brew unless it shows itself to be clearly a better deck through extensive testing. When it comes down to it, I will not be relying on my own instincts for deck choice. At this point it seems like my best path.

If I want to avoid the Delver menace, what do YOU think should be played? Or should I just be the bad guy and start picking up some Geist of Saint Traft?

You can yell at me on twitter @writer1007

BG Brew

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Creatures (24) P 4 Phyrexian Metamorph 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Strangleroot Geist 1 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Grave Titan 1 Glissa, the Traitor 4 Gravecrawler 4 Diregraf Ghoul Spells (18) P 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 2 Sword of War and Peace 3 Go for the Throat 3 Doom Blade 3 Altar’s Reap 2 Garruk Relentless 2 Black Sun’s Zenith Land (21) P 4 Woodland Cemetery 2 Grim Backwoods 2 Shimmering Grotto 6 Forest 5 Swamp 1 Island Sideboard (16) P 3 Nihil Spellbomb 3 Sever the Bloodline 3 Curse of Death’s Hold 3 Beast Within 3 Autumn’s Veil

I’ve taken it to several FNM and the report isn’t that good. While one Friday I felt invincible (until I lost in the finals) in the next several I was punted out pretty quickly by Delver beats. Let me rephrase that, I was demolished by Geist of Saint Traft beats. A handful of targeted removal and a board of Gravecrawlers do not match up well against the three drop that could.

After this I was distinctly put off from the deck and have been trying to find something else to play. I have almost succumbed to just playing Delver several times, but I still remain true and have pushed the thought away.

Yes this is part of the reason I am a scrub. I should just play the best deck or at least one of the other “proven” decks such as Zombies or G/R Aggro. I even think that both of these choices look fun to play! I haven’t able to break myself of my brewer’s habit.

At my last FNM, I know FNM isn’t really a big deal but it is my practice room for all intents and purposes. My FNM is mostly full of random aggro decks with some smattering of Ramp and Delver. As such I saw the following and decided to give it a whirl.

U/W Trinket Reaver by Ali Aintrazi

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Artifacts (8) P 1 Batterskull 1 Elixir of Immortality 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 4 Pristine Talisman Creatures (12) P 3 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Consecrated Sphinx 2 Drogskol Reaver 3 Stonehorn Dignitary 2 Trinket Mage Spells (16) P 3 Blue Sun’s Zenith 1 White Sun’s Zenith 1 Karn Liberated 3 Venser, the Sojourner 3 Day of Judgment 4 Timely Reinforcements Land (30) P 10 Island 9 Plains 2 Swamp 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Seachrome Coast Sideboard (16) P 2 Nihil Spellbomb 3 Gut Shot 3 Oblivion Ring 1 Volition Reins 3 Celestial Purge 3 Revoke Existence

*I credit Ali because it is his deck, but I did alter it some….probably making it worse, but for reasons specific to my meta

Things did not go so well. I kept a bad hand against a Delver deck and got run over by a second turn Insectile Aberration equipped with a Sword on the fourth turn, while I was left durdling with a single Pristine Talisman and a Blue Sun’s Zenith. Followed by another sword blowout in game two, even if I was in it more with Timely Reinforcements and Day of Judgment to slow him down. Next I faced an Infect deck which pretended to be R. Kelly and peed on my face. I stared at my life gain and all I could do was laugh.

I am not sure what direction to go now. Under normal circumstances I would start to look to the future with all the spoilers happening and let my brewing run free, but this weekend I am attending an SCG event and all those shiny new cards are not only not in my hands, but not legal.

I find myself in a bind. I can’t really pull together one of the “good” decks because I have to keep my budget within reason and there just isn’t enough time to find trades for what I need. I might MIGHT get lucky enough that I’ll be able to borrow what I am missing from G/R Aggro but the outlook is not promising.

This leaves me looking for a deck. I find myself drawn to Self Mill block decks but I’m not sure if I want to blindly take a block deck against the current Standard decks. I think it might just get demolished by the speed of Delver and G/R.

Of course I have other whacky ideas. The question is whether it is crazy like a fox or just plain crazy. Here is the first draft.

Burning the Candle

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Creatures (6) P 3 Stonehorn Dignitary 1 Consecrated Sphinx 1 Drogskol Reaver Spells (22) P 3 Timely Reinforcements 4 Desperate Ravings 3 Faithless Looting 2 Red Sun’s Zenith 3 Gut Shot 3 Day of Judgment 3 Gitaxian Probe Artifacts (7) P 4 Pristine Talisman 1 Elixir of Immortality 1 Batterskull Walkers (5) P 2 Gideon Jura 2 Venser, the Sojourner Land (25) P 4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Evolving Wilds 1 Shimmering Grotto 4 Island 4 Mountain 4 Plains

It looks pretty similar to the Ali deck, but I am basically adding Red to burn through the deck faster and to help with the Delver match up. I had a tough time, even while just writing down the list, on whether to go with Gut Shot or Galvanic Blast. This could possibly even be Geistflame to take advantage of it being in the graveyard. The Gut Shot of course has the advantage of not needing mana to cast it.

The phyrexian mana also helps make the Timely Reinforcements always be live.

With ten ways to dig through the deck I should be able to find whatever card I am looking for. This should help set up the soft lock with Venser.
I’m not too sure about Venser in this list. His role is similar to the Reaver list, but he has less targets that work well with him.

My main concern for this deck ( I mean besides just the obvious off-the-wall-collection-of-random/bad-cards-and-not-being-a-real-deck) is the mana. Well, I say the mana, but I am also worried that it just won’t be able to survive and/or win enough.

Anyway, back to the grindstone. Hopefully I can make up my mind before SCG: Birmingham and even more hopeful that you will see my name up on the site

Let me know what you think or just point and laugh in the comments