Birds with Rancors FNM Report // 5.21.2010
deck used // mythic conscription
I decided to switch it up a little this week and change my Rafiq of the Many/Finest hour version of Bant to the Eldrazi Conscription version and see how it went. I don’t own any Jace the Mindscuptors (I refuse to spend $70 on a Standard card) so I basicly kept Rafiq of the Manys in Jace’s place for now. I really think the deck is a lot of fun and I did well tonight making it to the Top 4 before dropping to leave due to a late start of the tournament. The other members of Birds with Rancors had bad nights, Matt with Cruel Control and Andy with Polymorph, but I held strong and tried to represent yo.
Yours truly shuffling up.
Yes, that's a laptop bag that I use for Magic.
Matt playing Cruel Control. Badly.
#ROUND1.Naya Vengevine
The first round was against what seemed to be Naya with the Vengevine/Kor Skyfisher synergy. The first game I had the near God hand and beat him with a Conscripted Baneslayer Angel without him doing a single damage to me all game.
Zapdos would have pwned me.
The second game was a much different story as I lost after getting him to 5, he knew pretty well how to play against Mythic Conscription and held his removal for whatever had the Eldrazi Conscription on it until I was out of them. My only Sejiri Steppe was already out so he knew my Knight of the Reliquary couldn’t protect the Conscripted Lotus Cobra and he just outlasted me.
Third game was another long game but I busted through with a unblockable creature at the right time due to Sejiri Steppe and pulled it through. In all three game he didn’t get a single Vengevine.
Match 2-1. Overall 1-0.
#ROUND2.Naya Aggro
Basically Naya again but aggro insted of midrange. Bloodbraid Elf, Jund Hackblade, Naya Hushblade, Trace of Abundance, those kinds of things. I wrecked shop game one but in game 2 he showed how explosive the deck can be sometimes and I got caught with my pants down (not literally). He had a Jund Hackblade out and played a Bloodbraid Elf cascading into a Violent Outburst cascading into another Jund Hackblade and rocking me when my creatures were all tapped. Yikes.
Best strategy in Magic: Play Bloodbraid Elves.
Third game it wasn’t close, I sideboarded in a couple Kor Firewalkers and they pretty much wrecked shop.
Match 2-1. Overall 2-0.
#ROUND3.Super Friends
Oh man, if I didn’t have to pay rent I could afford this deck. Nevermind, having fun is one of the goals that I try and achieve by playing Magic and even my opponent told me that both playing this deck AND playing against this deck is not fun whatsoever. After playing it for the first time I would agree.
I really can’t remember how the match went exactly but here’s a picture of my life pad:
Sad face.
I only did 1 damage to him both games. 2 damage TOTAL from both games. My secret code was apparently WBG MC after game one and I really can’t remember what that ment, I think I was falling sleep at the time so my frame of mind must have been very fragile. But anyways, here’s how the match went…he played Planeswalkers which I didn’t have Negates for. I couldn’t trigger any Exalted or Sovereigns of Lost Alara effects because ALL my creatures had to attack Gideon Jura and I just couldn’t get around it. It was probably my inexperience in playing against the deck and in hindsight I should have held my creatures that I can’t tap at will (ei Lotus Cobra) so I can have only 1 creature attacking. I guess I’ll work on the match-up this week…
Wondertwin powers activate! Form of suicidal thoughts!
Match 0-2. Overall 2-1.
#ROUND4.Jund
Ah good old Jund, still hanging around and being nasty to everyone. Kinda like your old uncle that just won’t die.
But! The first game he got land screwed! He got stuck at 2 lands for about 4 turns and I still almost screwed it up my mana ramping into…nothing. Yep, I had 3 Lotus Cobras, 2 Noble Hierarchs, a Birds of Paradise, and a bunch of lands out and couldn’t draw a single thing to own him with. The Lotus Cobras eventually did him in but man it was lame. I sideboarded in 4 Negates, 2 Vapor Snares for Malakir Bloodwitches and 2 Kor Firewalkers for eveything else.
Game 2 went much better for him and he got 2 really lucky cascades, one was into a Terminate for my Baneslayer Angel and the other was into a Maelstrom Pulse for my Kor Firewalker. I eventually got another Baneslayer Angel out but he could still out damage me with his board presence so I was nervous. But he made a single play mistake and all out attacked without enough mana open to activate his man land to block while I had lethal damage with my creatures to end game 2.
The damage race when I was at 7 life...
Best moment was when he played a Goblin Ruinblaster kicked and didn’t realize that all 6 of my lands were basic. I was even shocked I didn’t have a non-basic out yet.
Match 2-0. Overall 3-1.
#ROUND5.rdw
I have the utmost confidence that I can beat his deck because it seems like I beat him every week, Baneslayer Angel’s and Rhox War Monks are just too much for him after I weather the initial rush. However, we drew so we could just relax and we were guaranteed Top 8 either way. He basiclly plays RDW with a tiny splash of black for sideboard reasons like Deathmark and Doom Blade.
I did happen to catch a match where someone literally had all 4 Spreading Seas and 4 Convincing Mirages out. True story.
Mind Sludge would be awesome now.
Match draw. Overall 3-1-1.
#TOP8.Eldrazi Elves
Now this is a matchup that doesn’t scare me whatsoever. Playing a deck with no removal is like I just won the lottery. Seriously. Mythic Conscription running wild is a scaring thing.
The first game: Turn 1 – Noble Hierarch. Turn 2 – Lotus Cobra, drop a land, Noble Hierarch, attacked for 2. Turn 3 – Baneslayer Angel. Turn 4 – Soveriegns of Lost Alara, game over. With no disruption and a really good hand it didn’t matter how many Elves he had out, he was getting face pwned. I sideboarded out 4 Dauntless Escorts and put in 2 Oblivion Rings and 2 Qasali Pridemage going into game 2.
Second game was more of the same, we both built formidable defensive ground forces, my 10/10 Knight of the Reliquarys were the only thing that were holding him back. He had a Jorgan Warcaller out with 5 counters on it and was hoping to top deck an Eldrazi Monument. However I had a Celestial Colonnade that was hitting him every turn and I finally dropped a Baneslayer Angel and kept attacking with both till he was done.
The defensive wall.
Match 2-0. Overall 4-1-1.
#TOP4.rdw
Where we play.
Same guy I drew with in round 5, I know I can beat his deck like I said before but it was getting late and I give him the win. I’m more about having fun then winning and I went 4-2-1 overall so I could walk away happy anyways. I wish I had more time as I knew I could have run the tables but I would most likely have to play Super Friends in the Top 4 which was my only real loss all day.
Match 1-2. Overall 4-2-1.
I’m definitely redoing my mana base this week as I was VERY unhappy with it. I need to cut 2 Verdant Catacombs for sure and add back in a second Sejiri Steppe and an Arid Mesa or a Forest. I’m going to playtest this week with Finest Hour in the place of the Rafiq of the Manys because the synergy with Eldrazi Conscription is pretty bad ass amazing and no, I still don’t own any Jace the Mindscuptors.
Any advice against Super Friends? Maybe adding Pithing Needle to the sb or was it just my inexperience in playing against it?
Thanks for reading,
Sean aka enemyzero
