FNM Report 9-3-2010

FNM Report 9-3-2010 Top 4 (jessehogie)
Decklist – Soul Sisters

Plains x 14
Kabira Crossroads x 4
Tectonic Edge x 4

Brave the Elements x 4
Survival Cache x 4
Oblivion Ring x 2

Ajani’s Pridemate x 4
Ranger of Eos x 4
Serra Ascendant x 4
Soul Warden x 4
Soul’s Attendant x 4
Lone Missionary x 4
Elspeth, Knight-Errant x 2
Ajani Goldmane x 2

Sideboard:

Oblivion Ring x 2
Path to Exile x 3
Kor Firewalker x 3
Sun Titan x 1
War Priest of Thune x 1
Linvala, Keeper of Silence x 2

This week I decided to go way out of my comfort zone and play a mono white deck. I have never done this in sanctioned play, so I surprised a few people. My other teammate Matt played a similar list last week and placed top 4, so I had pretty high hopes for this.

Round 1 I faced a multi colored artifact like deck. I think the main combo was to get infinite mana somehow but to be honest, I didn’t see much of the deck. Both games my life total raced up to 40 and my Pridemates did the trick. My opponent made a play mistake first game (Pathed a creature I pumped with Elspeth before I declared attackers and I had 3 Brave the Elements in hand to protect my actual attackers) which won me the game. Game 2 wasn’t even close, he didn’t get anything on the board and I won in 5 turns.

Round 2 I played against a mono green Elf-Eldrazi Monument deck. This also was not close. He managed to get some elves in play game 1 but Brave the Elements did him in. Game 2 he played the Monument, but again Brave the Elements won the game for me.

Round 3 I faced a Valakut Ramp deck. I always seem to face this deck piloted by this player every week and he hasn’t beaten me yet. Game 1 wasn’t even close; he got 5 Mountains out with his Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle taking out my creatures. His Avenger of Zendikar and tokens did the rest. Game 2 was much better for me, he didn’t get much ramp going and I destroyed his Valakut with a Tectonic Edge. Game 3 was one for the ages. I kept pinging him for small damage while he kept ramping. He got his Valakut online and cast Avenger seemingly sealing my doom. He pinged off a few creatures and kept aiming the damage from Valakut at me or one of my planeswalkers. I Pathed his Avenger so all I had to deal with was the tokens. I had few creatures left and he was low life, so he case Harrow going to dig for 2 Mountains to take out my 6/6 Serra Ascendant (I was 47 life at this time thanks to the Avenger). After digging for a few moments I asked “Did you run out of Mountains?” Sure enough, he did. Valakut was useless now and all he had left was tokens. Over the next 2 turns I cast Brave the Elements and swung for lethal. This deck always places top 4 and did so this week but I seem to be its kryptonite.

Round 4 I faced RegentCid33 with his homebrew deck (you will hear about this monster) and got my ass handed to me both games. Game 1 I got mana screwed and made a play mistake. I blocked his Ob Nixilis, the Fallen with 2 6/6 Serra Ascendant’s only to have him Harrow and knock me down to below 30 life. Game 2 I had nothing. I would like to say this loss was due to bad draws but it is hard to say with the hands he got both games.

Round 5 I faced yet another multi colored artifact deck, easily winning both games. Ajani’s Pridemate grew past the 10/10 mark both times and ate everything up.

Overall I am very happy with the deck and my results. I made very few play mistakes and only forgot to gain life twice. Survival Cache was underwhelming and got sideboarded out every time. I would consider main boarding Path to Exile to suit our meta. Brave the Elements was a game winner almost every time especially against mono colored or 2 color decks. Not sure if I will play this 2 weeks in a row, but the results are pretty hard to ignore.

FNM Report 9/3/2010 Top 4 (RegentCid33)
Decklist – Jund-Structive Force

Forest x 8
Swamp x 4
Mountain x 2
Verdant Catacombs x 4
Tectonic Edge x 4
Raging Ravine x 2

Earthquake x 4
Destructive Force x 4
Terminate x 4
Explore x 4
Cultivate x 3
Rampant Growth x 3
Harrow x 3
Garruk Wildspeaker x 3
Liliana Vess x 1

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen x 3
Primeval Titan x 4
Sideboard:
Nature’s Claim x 4
Leyline of Punishment x 4
Pithing Needle x 3
Jund Charm x 3
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth x 1

This week I put a lot of work into my deck. I studied the meta and came up with some predictions as to what people would be playing and went with a Jund deck. I had success with a similar template to this deck so I decided to switch things up this week a bit in favor of a third win condition in a Titan Force deck. Boy did I nail things!
Round 1 I faced one of three white lifegain decks. This deck was slightly budget and didn’t carry quite the same cards as your typical Soul Sisters deck. Game 1 I managed to stick every card in my combo hitting a turn 4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, a turn 5 Primeval Titan, and a turn 6 Destructive Force. Amazing things happen if you can play these in that order. In game two, he sideboarded in tons of removal for my cards, but a turn 5 Liliana Vess tutored me up the rest of the pieces I needed to finish him off. Lilly was just amazing in this deck as a one of—she acts as an Ob Nixilis, a Titan, or really anything you need for that matter.
Round 2 I faced an Elf deck that managed to power out a turn 4 Ulamog on me in game two, to which I immediately had to scoop. Game one, I had to mulligan to 5 cards which consisted of 4 lands and a Lilly. He mulliganed down to 6 on the play and immediately passed the turn when we started. “You have no lands,” I asked. “Nope.” That was his doom, he pulled one land the entire match and it was about 6 turns too late. In game three I was on the ropes almost all game until I managed to stick a Titan. He had an Ulamog’s Crusher on the board and was looking to finish things off. I was able to sac a beast token from Garruk, and Garruk himself to the annihilator and take 8 damage to the face. He then dropped a Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, drew 4 cards, and I let out a huge sigh. Fortunately I had an answer to his fatties. I was able to Terminate both of them and buy myself another turn. He then played another Ulamog’s crusher and I thought that I was done for again. This time I swung with the Titan and he gladly blocked, I then threw a Jund Charm at the board sweeping up the rest of his creatures. It was at this point he realized he had Not Of This World in his hand and would have been able to save his Crushers. Needless to say he punted as I hit a Destructive Force the next turn clearing the rest of this board. I cleaned up with the Titan and it was GG.
Round 3 I faced my teammate Matt with Grixis Control. He never really got anything going against me as he couldn’t keep up with Lilly tutoring me cards and my onslaught of Ob Nixilis and Primeval Titan. In game 2 I hit an early Destructive Force with a Titan on the board and once again it was GG.
Round 4 I got to look at a real Soul Sisters deck in the form of jessehogie’s deck. He describes the match well. I had him pretty set up the whole time, and post SB, it was a turn 0 Leyline of Punishment, and a turn 3 Earthquake to end that match. He has already described his play mistakes, so I won’t get into further detail other than to say how awesome Harrow is with Ob Nixilis. At this point in the night, I was a lock for Top 4 and was in the prize pool. I was stoked at bringing a home brew and going undefeated into the last round…a round which I punted.
Round 5 I faced a W/R Lifegain deck. I had all of my stuff set up at the end to the point where I was able to cast a Destructive Force to sweep the board, but I was facing a buffed Soldier Token from Elspeth and decided that I needed to take him out with Ob Nixilis’ direct damage. I could have cleared his board and kept my Titan swinging at him, but nooooo, I had to get fancy. I fetched 2 lands and went down to 2 life only to hear “Lightning Bolt?” Crap, good game. In round 2, I couldn’t for the life of me think of any enchantments that he could play that would truly screw me over, so I didn’t side in Nature’s Claim. Then turn 2 I was staring at Luminarch Ascension and my eventual doom. I was praying to pull one of my SB cards, but I didn’t pull a single Pithing Needle or Leyline of Punishment to shut him down. He stuck a Gideon Jura, and I was looking at my first loss on the night.
This deck was amazingly fun. There were points where I dealt 21 damage in a single turn due to landfall with Ob Nixilis, the Fallen and some Primeval Titan landfall. Talk about instant win. I recommend this deck to anyone looking for something fun and anything that will give you a chance to win. I think the Destructive Force decks are sitting completely under the radar still, and their potential is amazing. I can’t tell you all how awesome a turn 6 Destructive Force is against well…anything! Go out and try this one, I promise you won’t be disappointed!