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By: walkerdog, Tyler Walker
Apr 20 2012 8:36am
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Thursday Night Magic Online is a cool little casually-competitive event that WTC has put together as the online version of Friday Night Magic.  We get a cool promo for playing (and for winning), QPs, and the prize payout is kind-of nuts (relative to the fee that is).  It is a rotating format so even the people who "only draft" or "only play block while drinking cheap booze" or "only play Classic on Thursday nights" can play.  I had today off and also had been playing a ton of block constructed, so when I saw the TNMO was block, I decided to enter.

I wasn't familiar with the prize payout, but for a three round (2 tix to enter) event, 2 boosters, a foil promo, and a qualifying point for MOCS is pretty good.  You're never going to break the bank to play, but you can come out ahead by quite a bit (even if it is small potatoes compared to a 3-1 in a DE).  Hard to beat that value!

I have been playing RW beatdown in block.  This is a bit of a tangent, but some background should be given to explain how I arrived on a deck that has given me, "cool topdeck," "I hate you," "I always enter a queue hoping that I don't play your deck, and, after a particularly nice rip of a Hellrider, "go to hell."  After the banning of Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue, Josh Silvestri wrote a rather insightful and accurate forecast for where the meta would go: he  felt that it would open up quite a bit, but that RW was probably going to be either the top deck, or a top deck.  After a few days of grinding 2mans, I agree with Josh's forecast 100%.  RW is a frustratingly effective beatdown deck that can win through lifegain (I'm about 50/50 against decks who have gained over 20 life against me.  Thank you Hellrider.), Blasphemous Act (we'll get to this mistake), and planeswalkers (yes, Hellrider gets more props here too!). 

Blasphemous Act was a mistake.  It isn't that the card isn't is a problem, but the way that it was costed is.  I really hate that every deck in block can play a Wrath effect.  It is very annoying that the simple act of playing either Red dual, or a fetch, or a filterland, is enough to give you "wipe the board" as an option.  Every deck doesn't get "kill your hand" for B, Grafdigger's Cage doesn't REMOVE the graveyard, so why is R enough to kill all creatures?  The correct costing for this card would have been (to my mind) 6RR instead of 8R. This is just my opinion, but it is irritating that every deck gets to hammer aggro decks (this is why you don't see much GW/GR aggro either... why do that when you can play a midrange deck with a Wrath + all the good creatures anyway!).

Luckily, a R-costed Wrath isn't enough to beat RW all of the time, so it is still a viable option.  I reasoned that RW might be slightly badly positioned against a GW-heavy/fatty-loving TNMO audience, so I added a rather silly Angelic sideboard option.  Here is the list I ran for the event.

 

 

 Normally I'd cut the Angels for real cards, but I thought of them as a way to go over the top of the imagined GW/Fatty decks I thought might see play.  I faced the mirror in round 1.  We both kept slow hands in game one, but my topdecked Hellrider gave me the edge, and from there it was a matter of Devil's Play, flashback Devil's Play to finish him up.  Game two was easy; he mulled to 3 (but did put up a pretty crazy fight!) and I won.

Round two was a UR Invisible Stalker/Butcher's Cleaver deck.  I was able to beat an active Cleaver/Stalker combo with my swarm, followed up with a burn spell.  Round three a GWB mid-range deck.  It was very interesting, although ultimately I think it is too slow for the current format.  I kept a slow hand in game 1; 2 Plains, 2 Mountains, a Devil's Play, Midnight Haunting, and Hellrider.  I won very easily; even after he killed Hellrider post-attack, he was too low to live through the remaining tokens combined with Devil's Play for 6 and 4.  Game two was very close; I took him down to 6 with a Devil's Play in-graveyard, able to fire for five, but he had Sorin in play. Then he followed with Curse of Death's Hold to kill my offense and leave my two Fiend Hunters with 0 power.  He pumped up a Sorin Emblem, then attacked back up to 8.  I drew a Brimstone Volley.  He attacked again.  I blocked his 2/1 with my 0/2 and threw Brimstone at his head at the end of his turn.  Then I untapped into the Devil's Play for 5 and killed him. 

So I had a fairly successful event.  If you're going to play this deck, be aware of the fact that the meta in 2mans is much different (easier and much less controlling) than the DE meta (packed with jundy-type decks).  I'd try to figure out as many "anti-control" cards as possible if I were packing this in a DE.

  Pack 1 pick 1:

 

I went with the least commitment and the card I like the most: at the same time Blood Feud is pretty powerful and the Spider is pretty nice too.  I have no idea what you'd do with that rare other than hope you alpha-strike them with it.

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  Pack 1 pick 2:

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3 tix rare that is awesome too.   Of course, we have the problem that we're passing the best Red common, so that's not as fun as it could be! 
 

  Pack 1 pick 3:

 

This should have been Burden of Guilt I think.  I did kill a person with Increasing Savagery on a trampler however, but that doesn't make this right.  Green is pretty open according to this pack though; the Spider is great too.

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Again I'm passing a nice RB card, but hopefully the Green and some Red flow well.

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  Pack 1 pick 7:

 

I'm not sure if the Dryad or the conditional removal is the better card.  I think I would take the Dryad now.

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  Pack 1 pick 8:



Late Hunger is nice for me!

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  Pack 1 pick 9:

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  Pack 2 pick 1:

 

Ugly pack. Mulch would have been more prudent though given my fatty-deck.

 

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  Pack 2 pick 3:

  

This should have been Pilgrim, but I thought at the time that Slayer's power-level made him worth considering as a splash later.

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  Pack 2 pick 6:

 

This was a bit of a gift; I got him late and he fit my deck perfectly.

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  Pack 2 pick 7:




I am a big fan of the Grasp, but I need cheap drops to get me to my fatties. 

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  Pack 2 pick 10:



What?  This pack is like 1/0th of a UW flyer deck...  

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  Pack 2 pick 11:

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  Pack 2 pick 13:

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  Pack 2 pick 14:


Another gift!

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  Pack 2 pick 15:

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  Pack 3 pick 1:

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  Pack 3 pick 2:

 

Tough choice; Spider Spawning is a heckuva deal, but I need a nice two-drop.

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  Pack 3 pick 3:

 

I was still thinking "splash White" with this pick.  I didn't end up splashing white...

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  Pack 3 pick 5:

  

The Outcasts are great, but I had solid fives and needed some fours.

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  Pack 3 pick 6:

  

I love me a Pitchburn, but the Wolf would have fit my curve.

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Now I think the two-drop would have fit the deck a little better, but visions of Orchard Spirit with the double Wild Hunger went flitting through my head.
 



  Pack 3 pick 9:

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I didn't splash White.  My deck was pretty beefy though.  I won round one, lost round two (when I didn't draw lands after keeping a 3-lander, life happens) and then won the last round very easily.  The deck was pretty beastly.  I hope you all enjoyed this!  Have a great weekend.

2 Comments

The event was just a blast. by youaremyavatar at Mon, 11/04/2013 - 21:56
youaremyavatar's picture

The event was just a blast. It was first time participating and I really had a fun with it. I hope to do so this year too. - Charles Brennan

I promise by vaquezsmithjs at Thu, 07/07/2022 - 03:41
vaquezsmithjs's picture

I promise to read your writing more often. When you have some spare time, I'd love for you to join me in playing the video game retro bowl that I just discovered.