Nov 29, 2020
Man, white always gets screwed.
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Man, white always gets screwed.
I showed up on time this week and played against Jeskai Superfriends, Azorius Control, and Orzhov Midrange.
Previously, on Dale Keter Turns Overpriced Cardboard Sideways:
Event Report: White Weenie (1-2)
Dale Keter’s White Weenie
by DaleKeter
Mainboard (75)
Creature (34)
4 Benalish Marshal
4 Boros Elite
4 Dauntless Bodyguard
2 Knight of the White Orchid
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
1 Selfless Spirit
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
Land (18)
1 Castle Ardenvale
15 Plains
2 Shefet Dunes
Instant (4)
4 Brave the Elements
Sorcery (4)
4 Declaration in Stone
Sideboard (15)
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Deafening Silence
2 Giant Killer
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
2 Selfless Spirit
I showed for Pioneer on time this time, and did not take an automatic loss in round 1. I did get rekt, but made up for it in rounds 2 and 3.
Round 1: Jeskai Superfriends
My opponent was an experienced player who seemed like he knew what he was doing.
Spoiler alert: He knew what he was doing.
Game 1
I decided to keep a one-lander since most of my starting hand was one-drops with a few two-drops. I chose poorly.
Even when I got my second land, my opponent’s lack of creatures blanked the copies of [[Declaration in Stone]] in my hand. He did have a [[Heart of Kiran]] on the battlefield, and I could’ve used them to take it out, but i’d have to suicide a creature into his side of the board to make him activate it on my turn as a blocker before I could even hit it with a sorcery, so I didn’t think it was worth it.
The amount of removal and inherent card advantage in his main deck overwhelmed me and we went to game 2.
One thing that stood out to me was [[Interplanar Beacon]]. My opponent gained a lot of life from the two copies he had on the table, and it slowed me down enough that at the end, he was at 21 life and I was in the negative.
Sideboard: -4 Declaration in Stone, +2 [[Giant Killer]], +2 [[Selfless Spirit]]
Game 2
I didn’t know what I was doing other than to add stuff to protect my creatures from board wipes, and to take out his Heart of Kiran and maybe keep his Gideons tapped down.
This game was slightly more even. I brought my opponent to 3 life before he cast [[Anger of the Gods]] and wiped out my board. My opponent played a life gain spell and then overwhelmed me with his planeswalkers.
Result: L L
After the game, I spoke to my opponent about my sideboard choices. He said that I should’ve sided in [[Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]] to try and outgrind him, and also recommended that I add [[Unbreakable Formation]] to protect my stuff from board wipes.
I wondered out loud if my deck simply had a bad matchup against him, and if I should even bother adding more countermeasures to his deck. He conceded that his deck was very strong against creature-based decks because of the inherent card advantage provided by planeswalkers. Also, his lack of creatures blanks most people’s removal.
Sometimes, it may not be worth it to add sideboard cards to deal with a guaranteed loss, and he was the first superfriends player I’d run into since I started playing Pioneer. The local meta might not have enough people like him, and playing better might be more effective (I almost took him out in game 2, after all).
Round 2: Azorius Control
Game 1
I start the game with multiple copies of [[Soldier of the Pantheon]]. The two soldiers end up being a thorn in my opponent’s side as their protection from multicolored keeps him from using his [[Teferi, Time Raveler]], from bouncing them, and their low CMC kept him from countering them. Furthermore, the two [[Absorb]]s he cast to counter my [[Thalia’s Lieutenant]]’s gained me 2 life each. Nothing he did was enough to stop my onslaught.
Sideboard: -4 Declaration in Stone, +2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, +2 Selfless Spirit
I remembered my round 1 opponent’s advice against control decks and sideboarded accordingly.
Game 2
This game was even more one-sided despite me not drawing any of my sideboard cards. I just kept attacking my opponent and quickly brought him down to zero life.
By the time I got up, there was 24 minutes left on the round timer, out of an alloted 45 minutes. My games and rounds have gone very quickly.
Result: W W
I’m getting better at sideboarding, and I probably had a good matchup against this deck. Or maybe my opponent was just unlucky. I have to say that protection from multicolored actually being useful came as a surprise. I did not expect to get much use out of Soldier of the Pantheon’s life gain and protection abilities but it prevented my opponent from dealing with them.
Round 3: Orzhov Midrange
Game 1
I don’t remember who went first but my opponent [[Fatal Push]]ed a one-drop on his first turn. On my second turn, I cast [[Mardu Woe-Reaper]] and exiled my dead creature to gain 1 life. That was a huge mistake as it turned his [[Wasteland Strangler]] into a mini-Eldrazi [[Flametongue Kavu]]. Oops. The game steadily went downhill from there. He managed to transform [[Liliana, Heretical Healer]] but I kept playing so I would get to see more of his deck.
This is something I used to do in older, ultra-hard video games: When the run was botched, I’d continue playing as long as I could so I’d learn more for the next run/round.
Sideboard: -2 Soldier of the Pantheon, -2 Thalia’s Lieutenant, -2 [[Benalish Marshall]], +4 [[Authority of the Consuls]], +2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
I didn’t really have any idea which cards to take out, other than my two most expensive ones. However, I didn’t want to take 4 Lieutenant or 4 Marshall out because my opponent had [[Declaration in Stone]] himself, so I settled on taking out half of each. i also took out 2 Soldiers because my opponent had next to no multicolor spells and his abilities wouldn’t be relevant.
Game 2
This was an interesting games. I instantly mulliganned to 5 and expected a quick 0-2. However, my opponent had a slow start and I was quickly able to whittle down his life total. It also didn’t help him that he had shocklands on his side further speeding up his clock. I don’t remember much but his life went to 18, then 17, then 11, 3, and finally 1 before he conceded.
Sideboard: No changes.
Game 3
Game 3 was the most balanced game I played in this event. All other games before were one-sided stomps.
The scarcity of instants and sorceries in my deck mostly blanked his [[Kitesail Freebooter]]. Both of us slowly built up our board presence, with my opponent gaining a huge life lead on me. In the end, he had me at 4 life while he was at 18 life. Next, I brought him down to 3, and finally -34.
This was such a long game that I don’t remember the exact sequence of actions that we took. I had Gideon, Ally of Zendikar pumping out knights that entered the battlefield tapped thanks to an enemy [[Thalia, Heretic Cathar]]. At one point, my opponent cast Kitesail Freebooter, and I cast [[Brave the Elements]] in response to blank the exile ability. I chose white as my mode, and then my opponent swung his entire field at me, which is how I killed Thalia (I blocked her with a 2-power creature, which greatly sped up my comeback clock.
In the last turn, I had two Marshalls and I cracked my [[Shefet Dunes]] for a third anthem effect. I was attacking with an 8/8 Gideon, 5/5 knights, and various other creatures. My opponent decided to concede by not blocking, taking 37 damage for the win.
Result: L W W
Prizes
I got four packs of Throne of Eldraine as a prize.
Pack 1
Pack 2
Pack 3
Pack 4
Post-Event Musings
So, I’ve come to the conclusion that my current list is fine. I just need to play better, and play better I did. I am not sure if I should add any countermeasures against superfriends because my round 1 opponent was the only one I had played against who ran superfriends anyway.
[[Soldier of the Pantheon]] is hilariously good against multicolor decks. A lot of our best removal and planeswalkers (who double as removal) are multicolored which means they can’t touch him.
[[Thraben Inspector]] is definitely staying because she allows me to use my otherwise useless mana to draw more creatures. Also, even though she only has 1 power, she lets [[Kytheon, Hero of Akros]] and [[Boros Elite]] use their Battalion abilities. Finally, her 2 toughness lets her live against [[Liliana, the Last Hope]] and other removal that takes out 1 toughness creatures.
I am thinking of adding more copies of Selfless Spirit. Perhaps I would take out Thalia’s Lieutenant when sideboarding because they have the same CMC and they don’t work with each other.
My opponent suggested using Unbreakable Formation and [[Toolcraft Exemplar]], but the former is 3 CMC and competes with with Benalish Marshall, and the latter isn’t human and I don’t have enough artifacts to support him.
There is a list out there that uses flying weenies to quickly cast [[Sephara, Sky’s Blade]]. I was thinking of building that deck first but I decided on this human tribal version instead.
So, what do you think?
Savannah Lions Through Time
Savannah Lions Through Time
Hello everyone and welcome to another week at Hipsters of the Coast with me, Ryan Sainio! Normally I break down under-appreciated generals in Commander, but this week I had a few things come up that really took me out of that space. I had the birth of my first child on Friday, and a mix of countless hours at the hospital keeping my wife from discovering that she’d married far below her level and…
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Modern Mono-White Humans
Would appreciate feedback/ideas
Creatures (26) 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Thraben Inspector 3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros 3 Soldier of the Pantheon 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 4 Thalia’s Lieutenant 2 Mirran Crusader 2 Paladin En-Vec
Spells (14) 4 Path to Exile 3 Brave the Elements 4 Gather the Townsfolk 3 Honor of the Pure
Lands (20) 13 Plains 2 Horizon Canopy 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Flagstones of Trokair 1 Cavern of Souls 2 Mutavault
Sideboard 2 Grand Abolisher 2 Ethersworn Canonist 2 Kor Firewalker 2 Rest in Peace 2 Stony Silence 2 Disenchant 1 Dismember 1 Return from the Ranks 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
The deck’s been performing well in testing. UWx Control, Affinity, and Tron can be dodgy matchups, but so far the deck puts up good fight against Jund, Infect, Burn, Merfolk and a host of the Tier II strategies. Brave the Elements remains one of my favorite Magic cards and does very well here.
Challenges
-Shore up Control and Tron. Both matchups display the deck’s difficulty in dealing with maindeck wraths, namely Supreme Verdict and Oblivion Stone.
-Test against more known strategies. Bogles, for example, seems like a nightmare of a matchup, and it would be helpful to know what to prioritize going in.
-Figure out whether three-drops are pulling their weight. Paladin En-Vec had been backbreaking against Jund/Grixis, but average elsewhere. Might be a sign of a better sideboard card. Mirran Crusader is average, but has a proven track record. Needs more testing, but both could be placeholders for Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
Thoughts -Splashing second color could allow new tools to be used.
-Red comes to mind first (can work around/play Blood Moon, access to Lightning Bolt and Boros Charm. Both compete with Path to Exile for maindeck worth. Bolt likely wins, Boros Charm likely relegated to sideboard duty with extra Paths)
-Green could be a natural fit as well (Noble Hierach curves naturally into Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Seems nice, but could take away aggressive starts for the deck. Mayor of Avabruck, Dromoka’s Command, and Gaddock Teeg also are enticing options)
-Black has unusual, but flexible options (Dark Confidant could be used in this deck with virtually no feat. Thoughtseize, Anguished Unmaking, Sin Collector, and Zealous Persecution also good tools).
-Blue would probably be the last thing to try, but offers its own benefits (Reflector Mage, Meddling Mage, Phantasmal Image, and a small counter suite. Would lean towards Mana Leak/Unsubstantiate. Could maybe even justify Snapcaster Mage).
-Reexamining a mono-White strategy with a heavier top-end. Knight of the White Orchid is a natural fit in this deck and could enable a compliment of three-drops + Hero of Bladehold or Restoration Angel as a top-end. Cards like Make a Stand could also be utilized more effectively. May still need to go to 22 lands.
-Further testing with an Ally sub-theme. A few test games with a package of 4x Hada Freeblade, 4x Kazandu Blademaster, and 4x Expedition Envoy gave the deck a lot of size compared to its cmc, but had to cut Gather the Townsfolk to make room. Possible compromises to be made, but hard to say where to start. Ally sub-theme would also make Gideon, Ally of Zendikar a significantly more powerful card out of the sideboard, perhaps even warranting maindeck inclusion given deck synergy. Does not play well with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, but a mix of the two cards to attack control from different angles could be a sound strategy. Mixing with color splash idea also enticing, especially considering red splash for Firemantle Mage and (potentially) Reckless Bushwhacker.
Conclusion: there’s a ton of ways to build a Humans deck in Modern. I’m happy with the deck choice I’ve made and look forward to the flexibility it offers.
Weenie Envy: Preeminent Captain! Soldier Tribal decks rejoice!
Alright
M15 only White Weenie decks... I'm thinking Ajani's Pridemate combined with Divine Favor with maybe some soulmenders for tap-boosts. Thoughts? Thoughts on removal to keep the deck in play?
Jokes on you I haven't been a virgin since I was 13