Lessons from Limited
January 19 was the Morningtide prerelease, a tournament I had no intention of participating in. I went to Galleria with a mindset to sell cards. Having quit playing standard, I had no idea what cards were in Morningtide. Suddenly, Marty offered to sponsor me. Sure, I said.
I dislike Lorwyn block. The primary reason for this is the tribal theme. The decks pretty much make themselves. Someone can just say "I want an elf deck." then slap together all the Lorwyn block elves, maybe splash a Futuresight Thornweald Archer, throw in some broken disruption cards, and he'll have a decent elf deck. The player can be a total newbie, and the synergy will still be there because the synergy is built into the tribal cards.
This was the lesson I learned during the Lorwyn prerelease (I went 1-1-2) where I followed my maxim of "Creature kill > Bombs > Evasion creatures > Efficient creatures; Do not be afraid to go tricolor." and turned out a mediocre performance.
This time I would go tribal.
I sorted my cards and started reading each and every one. It took a while. Remember, prior to prerelease I had no idea what the Morningtide cards did. I surveyed my cards and Lo! Behold, I had a Leaf-Crowned Elder.
Broken. If you have the guys to back him up.
Lorwyn monsters like their brothers and sisters, and sometimes they form gangs and take over the drug business in New York City. Unfortunately, the Elder was no Frank Lucas, and had only one or two siblings to be broken with. I counted the tribal in my cards, and by far the most numerous class was "Rogue."
So I gathered all my Rogue cards together, and whittled them down until only the 23 best ones remained. Among them was this guy:
ZOMGWTFBBQ
I dislike Lorwyn block. The primary reason for this is the tribal theme. The decks pretty much make themselves. Someone can just say "I want an elf deck." then slap together all the Lorwyn block elves, maybe splash a Futuresight Thornweald Archer, throw in some broken disruption cards, and he'll have a decent elf deck. The player can be a total newbie, and the synergy will still be there because the synergy is built into the tribal cards.
This was the lesson I learned during the Lorwyn prerelease (I went 1-1-2) where I followed my maxim of "Creature kill > Bombs > Evasion creatures > Efficient creatures; Do not be afraid to go tricolor." and turned out a mediocre performance.
This time I would go tribal.
I sorted my cards and started reading each and every one. It took a while. Remember, prior to prerelease I had no idea what the Morningtide cards did. I surveyed my cards and Lo! Behold, I had a Leaf-Crowned Elder.
Broken. If you have the guys to back him up.Lorwyn monsters like their brothers and sisters, and sometimes they form gangs and take over the drug business in New York City. Unfortunately, the Elder was no Frank Lucas, and had only one or two siblings to be broken with. I counted the tribal in my cards, and by far the most numerous class was "Rogue."
So I gathered all my Rogue cards together, and whittled them down until only the 23 best ones remained. Among them was this guy:
ZOMGWTFBBQThis card is so broken... it's not even funny. Add a prowl 1B creature with "Whenever a Rogue you control attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +2/+1", three whole Latchkey Faeries, and a truckload of changelings (with deathtouch) and you have a pretty good deck. The prowl mechanic was easy to pull off because of the 1 cc 1/1 fear goblin.
I present to you my (transcribed from memory) UB Sealed Rogues:
Creatures (17)
1 Oona's Blackguard
1 Stinkdrinker Bandit
1 Final-Sting Faerie
1 Nightshade Schemers
2 Prickly Boggart
3 Moonglove Changeling
1 Fencer Clique
1 Slithermuse
2 Grimoire Thief (yes, two!)
1 Mothdust Changeling
3 Latchkey Faerie
Other spells (6)
1 Pack's Disdain
2 Warren Weirding
1 Distant Melody
2 Disperse
Lands (17)
9 Island
8 Swamp
First Match (GRB Treefolk)
Game 1: I get some early 1/1's going and beat with weenies. I draw both Warren Weirdings and watch in satisfaction as he disappointedly sacrifices his lone creature twice. Mid-game he gets a Winnower Patrol that quickly grows and grows, but by this time I have Latchkey Faerie and Fencer Clique out, and get lethal damage in the air.
Game 2: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he manages to power out two Winnower Patrols with the treefolk bannerret. One of them grows to 6/5 at one point and I quickly die.
Game 3: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he gets two Winnower Patrols out again and quickly beats me down to single-digit life. Late in the game I am forced to chump block a horde with Nightshade Schemers and Fencer Clique. I block the 1/3 with Clique of instead of the 2/3 and go down to 1 life but keep the Clique alive (no mana to return to library). I wait for Shard Volley to kill me but he just passes the turn. On my turn I topdeck Slithermuse, evoke it, and draw SIX cards. It was ridiculous. I attack and play three blockers for next turn. He shakes his head and concedes; I was lethal on my next turn.
Record: 1-0
Second Match (RG Warriors)
Game 1: I don't clearly remember what happened in this game, but at one point he shard volleyed a Grimoire thief when he was at 3 land and did not play a land for the rest of the game. I wonder why he was so afraid of the Thief.
Game 2: I mull to 6, then later have 6 islands in play with no swamps and a black hand. My only blue spell was Fencer Clique, and even recursion could not keep me alive for long.
Game 3: At one point I prowled three Latchkey Faeries one after the other. I did not even take 1 point of damage in this game.
Record: 2-0
Third match (BW Kithkin)
Game 1: He gets a Bitterblossom out early to chump block my guys. Mid-game Kithkin Zephyrnaut keeps dressing up like a Serra Angel and I quickly die.
Game 2: I mulligan down to five and again have only islands with a completely black hand. Kithkin Zephyrnaut murders me.
This guy was the most annoying opponent of the day. He kept using powerpuff girl dolls as Bitterblossom tokens. He would later beat Anjoy at last Friday's FNM, hahaha.
Fourth match (BGR Treefolk + Warriors)
Game 1: I quickly discover that this guy also runs Winnower Patrol and that he also grows them pretty fast. Luckily I get a large number of Faeries in play and use their Disdain to kill the Patrol. We stay locked for a while but I soon topdeck Oona's Blackguard and Stinkdrinker Bandit one after the other, meaning my rogues are now utterly broken. I soon beat him down.
Game 2: I prowl out Stinkdrinker Bandit on turn two but he Released the Ants on him. It was funny, when he tapped two mana I just shouted "RE-lease! THE Ants!", and turned a few heads. It didn't matter though as I dropped Oona's Blackguard the next turn and started prowling out Latchkey Faeries. At one point he got a Pyroclast Consul into play, threatening death for all my 1 or 2 toughness guys (which means ALL my guys). I play Warren Weirding, and he sacrifices the Consul instead of Fendeep Summoner. Hmm... I guess he had no other elementals in his deck. I know for a fact that he had some other shamans. Strange. Misplay. I win in the air again.
Record: 3-1
All in all, it was a gratifying prerelease tournament. I finished 16th in Flight E, which I'm pretty proud of. Marty got a voucher for three free booster packs, and I got a free Grimoire Thief for my trouble.
What did I learn? Evasion is godly. I also learned that the Rogues class is broken in standard (a lesson the world learned together with me). I also confirmed the lesson I learned during Lorwyn prerelease when Kinsbale Skirmisher beat me down while Nath's Elite sat dead in my hand: in sealed, unlike in draft, run plenty of efficient creatures. Finally, Lorwyn is a tribal block, and the strongest sealed decks are tribal decks.
And now, my social concern for the week: Wizards, give us room for creativity once more please.
BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
February 8, 2008 12:49 am
Creatures (17)
1 Oona's Blackguard
1 Stinkdrinker Bandit
1 Final-Sting Faerie
1 Nightshade Schemers
2 Prickly Boggart
3 Moonglove Changeling
1 Fencer Clique
1 Slithermuse
2 Grimoire Thief (yes, two!)
1 Mothdust Changeling
3 Latchkey Faerie
Other spells (6)
1 Pack's Disdain
2 Warren Weirding
1 Distant Melody
2 Disperse
Lands (17)
9 Island
8 Swamp
First Match (GRB Treefolk)
Game 1: I get some early 1/1's going and beat with weenies. I draw both Warren Weirdings and watch in satisfaction as he disappointedly sacrifices his lone creature twice. Mid-game he gets a Winnower Patrol that quickly grows and grows, but by this time I have Latchkey Faerie and Fencer Clique out, and get lethal damage in the air.
Game 2: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he manages to power out two Winnower Patrols with the treefolk bannerret. One of them grows to 6/5 at one point and I quickly die.
Game 3: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he gets two Winnower Patrols out again and quickly beats me down to single-digit life. Late in the game I am forced to chump block a horde with Nightshade Schemers and Fencer Clique. I block the 1/3 with Clique of instead of the 2/3 and go down to 1 life but keep the Clique alive (no mana to return to library). I wait for Shard Volley to kill me but he just passes the turn. On my turn I topdeck Slithermuse, evoke it, and draw SIX cards. It was ridiculous. I attack and play three blockers for next turn. He shakes his head and concedes; I was lethal on my next turn.
Record: 1-0
Second Match (RG Warriors)
Game 1: I don't clearly remember what happened in this game, but at one point he shard volleyed a Grimoire thief when he was at 3 land and did not play a land for the rest of the game. I wonder why he was so afraid of the Thief.
Game 2: I mull to 6, then later have 6 islands in play with no swamps and a black hand. My only blue spell was Fencer Clique, and even recursion could not keep me alive for long.
Game 3: At one point I prowled three Latchkey Faeries one after the other. I did not even take 1 point of damage in this game.
Record: 2-0
Third match (BW Kithkin)
Game 1: He gets a Bitterblossom out early to chump block my guys. Mid-game Kithkin Zephyrnaut keeps dressing up like a Serra Angel and I quickly die.
Game 2: I mulligan down to five and again have only islands with a completely black hand. Kithkin Zephyrnaut murders me.
This guy was the most annoying opponent of the day. He kept using powerpuff girl dolls as Bitterblossom tokens. He would later beat Anjoy at last Friday's FNM, hahaha.
Fourth match (BGR Treefolk + Warriors)
Game 1: I quickly discover that this guy also runs Winnower Patrol and that he also grows them pretty fast. Luckily I get a large number of Faeries in play and use their Disdain to kill the Patrol. We stay locked for a while but I soon topdeck Oona's Blackguard and Stinkdrinker Bandit one after the other, meaning my rogues are now utterly broken. I soon beat him down.
Game 2: I prowl out Stinkdrinker Bandit on turn two but he Released the Ants on him. It was funny, when he tapped two mana I just shouted "RE-lease! THE Ants!", and turned a few heads. It didn't matter though as I dropped Oona's Blackguard the next turn and started prowling out Latchkey Faeries. At one point he got a Pyroclast Consul into play, threatening death for all my 1 or 2 toughness guys (which means ALL my guys). I play Warren Weirding, and he sacrifices the Consul instead of Fendeep Summoner. Hmm... I guess he had no other elementals in his deck. I know for a fact that he had some other shamans. Strange. Misplay. I win in the air again.
Record: 3-1
All in all, it was a gratifying prerelease tournament. I finished 16th in Flight E, which I'm pretty proud of. Marty got a voucher for three free booster packs, and I got a free Grimoire Thief for my trouble.
What did I learn? Evasion is godly. I also learned that the Rogues class is broken in standard (a lesson the world learned together with me). I also confirmed the lesson I learned during Lorwyn prerelease when Kinsbale Skirmisher beat me down while Nath's Elite sat dead in my hand: in sealed, unlike in draft, run plenty of efficient creatures. Finally, Lorwyn is a tribal block, and the strongest sealed decks are tribal decks.
And now, my social concern for the week: Wizards, give us room for creativity once more please.
BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
February 8, 2008 12:49 am
