I finally got to actually play a Daily Event this past Sunday. It had been a couple weeks since I'd been able, and it was nice to break out the Metalworkers and Goblin Welders. I was procrastinating writing this article when an interesting gem showed up on my Twitter / Facebook / YouTube feed, it listed a new video posted: Montolio vs goat314. After watching his video, I thought I would try something a little bit different with this article. I’ll be rather brief describing the other games, and go into a bit more detail about the match with Montolio. I must say it’s been quite an experience watching the games from his side of the table and getting his perspective. I wish there were a way to replay games from the opponents' perspective on MTGO, it's quite a valuable tool. Anyway, onto the videos and summaries:
Round One
I played TheWildDog whom I correctly assumed was playing Dredge. Game one I was able to play a turn one Trinisphere. I followed with a turn two Metalworker and turn three Staff of Domination. I combo-ed out for the game one win, but the combo took me nine minutes of clock to end the game. Game two, I am gifted with a Leyline, Tormod’s Crypt, Chalice of the Void, and Goblin Welder. Soon after, I draw a Golem and am on my way to 1-0 in the event.
I play against Montolio, who is playing Cat Stax. After speaking with Montolio, he feels he is generally at an advantage against Welder decks, except that he has now lost to me twice in Daily Events. I tend to agree with his assessment, and feel that the Null Rods do make this a favorable matchup for him, despite my good results.
Game One
Montolio’s opening hand:
My Opening hand:
Montolio keeps a very aggressive, but vulnerable hand. If he isn’t disrupted, he will slaughter me with the golem and panthers, but if I had any land destruction or spheres, he risks being locked out. My hand is slow, but could stabilize with the Metamorph and Duplicant. The hand is also fairly resilient to an early wasteland, but is hoping for a land draw.
We both lead with slower lands to avoid being blown out by wasteland. Monotolio drops a Lodestone Golem and I follow with a copy, taking four damage (Phyrexian mana and Ancient Tomb). He plays a Slash Panther and attacks and I make a big mistake and don’t block. I go down to seven life and really restrict my ability to make any plays with my Ancient Tomb in play. I draw City of Traitors and play my own golem, going down to five life. He responds with another Slash Panther, takes me down to one, destroys my mountain, and has left me with too little usable mana to defend myself.
Sideboarding
Me: In come the third Duplicant, a Triskelion, and two Wurmcoil Engines. Out go four Thorns of Amethyst.
Montolio: In come a Triskelion, Razormane Masticore and a Duplicant. Out go three Thorns.
Game Two
My Opening Hand:
Montolio’s Opening Hand:
My hand is pretty similar to my game one hand, with the improvements of having the Welder and the academy instead of a Mountain. Funny enough, Montolio’s hand is much the same. He has the Null Rods and a Wurmcoil, but needs a land draw to get there.
I led with Great Furnace and Goblin Welder and pass turn. I considered a turn one sphere, which actually would have been good against his hand, but I didn’t want a Wasteland (which he has) to shut me down. Montolio draws a tomb and plays Mountain, Sol Ring, and Sphere of Resistance. He now needs another land draw to cast his Wurmcoil Engine.
I draw a Workshop and go into the tank trying to plan out the next couple turns. I could play a Sphere, but I am afraid he can cast a golem anyway and I’d just set myself farther back. I decide to play the Ancient Tomb as Wasteland bait and pass the turn without a play. Montolio draws a Chalice and plays it with one counter then Wastelands my Ancient Tomb. In his own recording, Montolio says of the play, “Against my better judgement, I took his Ancient Tomb there… I’m hoping he’s having mana issues.” I’m pretty certain that he does not destroy my tomb if I had cast the sphere. I’m also certain he would destroy my Academy or Workshop on my next turn with or without my sphere.
On my turn, I draw a second Goblin Welder and immediately forget that he had played the chalice. (Thanks again, Montolio for not ripping on me in your recording lol.) I was too focused on the Wasteland I had avoided and had no other available plays. So I play the academy and throw away my Welder in hand. I do remember to attack this turn, and beat for one. Montolio draws a Revoker and names the welder. He talks about playing a Null Rod, but his concern for shutting off his Sol Ring stops that.
I draw my own Revoker, play it with the workshop and name his Sol Ring. I follow that play with my own sphere finally. I felt that he was mana light at this point and would have played a wasteland to get my academy if he’d had one. He draws an Ancient Tomb and plays it and passes turn, not wanting to lose four damage to finally play his Null Rod.
I draw a Lodestone Golem, but choose to play Batterskull instead. Batterskull provides a better life swing, attacks and blocks, and the abilities are relevant if I trade the germ away. Montolio draws a Slash Panther, but can’t cast it and has to pass the turn.
I draw Staff of Domination and immediately attack with Batterskull. I choose to not make a play, and leave bounce mana up for the Batterskull. I mention the possibility of Ancient Grudge, but the real threat would be a Phyrexian Metamorph copying the B’Skull or a Duplicant “stealing” the golem. Montolio draws a useless chalice and passes his turn.
I draw a Duplicant, attack, and pass the turn back. He draws a workshop, finally and lands a Wurmcoil Engine, but takes 4 damage from tombs.
I draw a chalice, “steal” his Wurmcoil with Duplicant, and get the concession. I am a bit torn reviewing the videos about my conservative play. Should I have played the golem and risked the copy or steal effect? Or was I right to hold back and allow him an extra turn or two? I feel like not allowing him to copy the b’skull was right, but still I wonder.
Sideboard
Me: No changes
Montolio: In comes second Duplicant. Out goes fourth Thorn of Amethyst.
Game Three
Montolio’s Opening Hand (After mulligan):
My Opening Hand:
The tables have completely turned from game one. Montolio is now looking to lock me out of the game on turn three, and I am looking to drop a beater on turn two.
Montolio starts the game with Ancient Tomb and Chalice of the Void set at one. I draw a revoker, play workshop, and Crucible of Worlds.
Montolio draws a Slash Panther and plays wasteland and his own Crucible. He suspects we are on a similar strategy of mana denial, which would favor him (being on the play). I play the second workshop and a wurmcoil and have, essentially, stolen the advantage of being on the play from him with the faster mana.
Montolio draws Duplicant, but is one mana short, he plays his second tomb, and casts Precursor Golem, taking four damage from tombs. I respond by playing Tolarian Academy and attacking into the golems. He chump blocks. I then cast the second engine and a sphere.
Montolio, unfortunately draws an irrelevant chalice and could only cast a panther for 6 life to chump block, so he passes the turn. I draw another land, replay my academy, and attack. He chooses only to block one engine and takes six damage. I feel like he made a mistake here, the same as I did in the first game. He has a Duplicant in hand, but can’t cast it when he draws a third Ancient Tomb. Like my situation in game one, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the game, but was not the best play. I end up with the round win and go to 2-0.
Round Three
I play Duranoth (Junk Fish). This game took 45 minutes to finish and was among the harder games I’ve played in quite a while. I did achieve a Staff combo win eventually in game one. However, such a long, stalled board left us both with little clock. In the end, Knights of the Reliquary, Batterskulls, and Kataki managed to get the better of me. If you can stomach to watch 45 minutes of stalled boards and angst, feel free to enjoy the video lol. I am 2-1.
Round Four
I am paired with ncsu31sb playing for prize. He is playing Dredge, which is really panning out to be a good thing for me. Especially considering the way I seem to draw against it. Game one, I manage to lock him under spheres and Golems, and win by tapping his Narcomoebas with Staff. Game two I play an early Crypt and a turn two Trinisphere, eventually I play a Batterskull, Metamorph it and grind out a win. 3-1.
Aftermath
I’m happy with the finish and still very happy with the deck. I had dialed back from three Batterskulls to two and a Metamorph, but I’m not sure that’s ideal for my build. Metamorph is a wonderful card, but I’m not sure I have enough threat density to make it as good as it is in Cat Stax. I had run two main deck Duplicants for this tournament to prepare for Oath, but didn't play any Oath decks. I'm now thinking I'd be better served to run the Triskelions main since critters like Delver of Secrets are popping up. Speaking of the Delver, xkorpio's Delver deck is absolutely vicious and running Annul and Steel Sabotage in the main deck. That scares me a bit, but the Doomsday device is on the way...
That’s right folks, if Planeswalker Points or the Organized Play changes don’t kill Magic, Tangle Wire without Moxes certainly will! Dooooooooooooooooom. In all seriousness, I'm not one to comment whether it will put the deck over the top, or not. It seems like it would, but I struggle to think what I will cut to make room. Sadly, deck slots aren't free, they come at a price and every single one is precious. On a related note, there is one card from Masques that I really look forward to trying to play, whether it's good or not:
Expect me to clumsily try to play one or two in a Delver Fishy kind of deck in the near future. Maybe don't expect me to win, but who knows?
"After speaking with Montolio, he feels he is generally at an advantage against Welder decks, except that he has now lost to me twice in Daily Events."
Goat; I have to admit that some of my clan mates and I find it quite unpalatable that you say "except that he has now lost to me twice in Daily Events." in a public forum.
This comes across to me as in you are stating your play skill is superior to mine. Of course you are entitled to that opinion, but it would be advisable to not do so in an article.
I have beaten many top tier players, who are superior to me in play skill in DE's and have never once done something like mention in my video's "I have beaten this guy 5 times straight". That would clearly come across as an insult and disrespectful to the mentioned player.
I am sure you didn't intend that statement to come across this way, but I would advise you for future articles to not mention your DE records against other players in a public forum. It just comes across as vain.
I did not perceive that he was saying he was better than you, I took at while I was looking over the article last night that maybe the match up was better for him than he was being given credit for. That's just how I interpret it.
Nor did I. He said "I tend to agree with his assessment, and feel that the Null Rods do make this a favorable matchup for him, despite my good results." right after the bit you are making a stink about.
I did not mean that to come across that I somehow had superior skill or an advantage when we play. I simply meant it as a fact that the only two times our decks have paired, I've managed a match win. I don't feel 2 wins is significant to make any claims about advatanges in deck list, play skill, or luck even.
If I overstepped bounds by saying a specific record, I do apologize. It is certainly not my intent to disrespect you or any other player in my recordings or articles. I simply meant for the tone of the section to be:
"I played skilled player who was Playing a top-tier deck. We both agree he seems to be favored against my deck, but I have managed to beat it a couple times. Let's see what happened from both sides."
If anything, I hope people understand that I value your skill and perspective greatly in using your video to analyze the games from both sides of the table.
Again, I apologize Montolio for saying something that could be perceived as disrespectful, that is never ever my intention and will refrain from making any similar statements in the future. I am glad that not everyone has taken the statement as disrespectful or vain and appreciate you guys for saying so.
I assumed nothing was meant by any of this, but I understand where Andy is coming from. I suppose it's what makes the written word so difficult to master.
The sentences "I have never lost to Goat in a tournament" and "I have never played goat in a tournament" can mean the same thing but would likely be interpreted differently.
Interesting breakdown of the match you two had anyway.
any chance your in the st louis area goat? 314 is STL. if so do you play at local shops? draft etc? i'm native to the lou which is why i'm asking. oh yea, thanks for the article :)
Agreed. I perceived the comment to mean: "I think his deck has a favorable match-up with mine, yet the results have not played out that way. I think the match results are aberrations."
Hey, really enjoyed the vids, and don't sweat the long one, it was actually the most interesting to watch! I really like how you are able to articulate what's going through your mind as you're considering different lines of play. I'm curious how many things you wished you had done differently watching it back, since I know it's different when you're feeling the pressure in real time. In your round 3 match, there were a couple of things that seemed suspect while watching it. In game two, you played Ancient Tomb-City of Traitors, I think because you didn't want your Workshop to wasted, but isn't this pretty much always the wrong play because of exactly what happened? They waste your tomb, and then you have to sac your city (and 2-1 yourself) to keep going? Isn't it better to just lead T1 Workshop-Trinisphere since you still have two {2} lands? Then, in game 3, on your turn 5, isn't the smart play to Duplicant his Kataki right away rather than letting it screw you up for several more turns? It would have bought you 2 or 3 more turns to pull it out.
Finally after watching these matches, I have to wonder about Ratchet Bomb as a potential SB card. Seems really strong against aggro decks with lots of 1 and 2 drops or tokens; it even works against dredge's zombie tokens (not that you need more help for that matchup). On the play, leave in your sphere effects hoping to lock them out so they never get a chance to play their one-drops, but on the draw, bring it in. Since you don't have much colored mana it seems better (cheaper but then slower) than Engineered Explosives, perhaps enough better to be worth considering. Slightly more versatile than Triskelion, being able to take out Aether Vial, enchantments and so forth, but then isn't any kind of threat itself. It's also much easier to cast under your own spheres. Seems like being able to nuke a Vial T2 and drop a golem is really strong; anything they would Vial in would be nuked right along with it. Anyway don't know enough about the meta to know what conventional wisdom is or if people have already experimented with it.
In game r3g2, I didn't play the turn 1 trinisphere because of the aether vial (if you look how I set up my cards in hand, that was clearly my intent until the vial hit). If I lead with workshop and it gets wasted. I then have to follow up with tomb, city and top out at 4 mana, the next land i draw will kill the city anyway, leaving me with a tomb and whatever. I sacrificed a known 1 mana per turn until the next land drop for 1 mana more per turn after the next land drop. Now I definitely should have cast the trinisphere after the golem died, that was definitely bad.
In r3g3, I should have, I didn't see the play during my upkeep, but had I not paid for the Chalice, I could have kept Crucible and cast the Duplicant. I was too focused on keeping what I could and hoping for a land draw. Then I got distracted by the Metalworker draw and trying to win around the Kataki instead of eliminating it.
I haven't tried Ratchet Bomb, to be honest. Aether Vial hasn't really been huge in the metagame to attract attention. I have used Explosives a bit for Dredge, but as you said, I am dealing with them fairly well. Ratchet Bomb is certainly worth considering, especially with Delver of Secrets running around.
Thanks for the comments and pointing out plays, although I'm not sure that I would play the game 2 land drops differently, but certainly missed the Duplicant play. Glad you enjoyed the videos!
In that extra-long game in round 3, early on there were four rounds in a row where you could have swung in with Lodestone golem + Welder, he doesn't have enough land to play any spells and can only vial in one blocker, which has to block the golem. Leting you squeeze in a point of damage with 100% safety. Four turns of that and you would have had the win, going into game 2 with tons more clock.
I also noticed in round 4, there's a point where you say "I can't tap Narcomeba down this turn" - which costs 4 - and then you play a second Lodestone Golem, which costs 4. Well you could have tapped it. Lodestone may have been the better play anyway, though.
Attacking with the Goblin Welder is something I'm probably too conservative with. I did notice other points where I didn't do it and should have.
As for not tapping the Narcomoeba, but casting a Golem. The 2 Mishra's Workshops can't be used to activate abilities, only to cast an artifact. That's why the mana in the pool shows up as yellow. So while I had 6 mana to cast a spell, I only have the Tolarian Academy to activate the Staff (Which could only generate 3).
18 Comments
"After speaking with Montolio, he feels he is generally at an advantage against Welder decks, except that he has now lost to me twice in Daily Events."
Goat; I have to admit that some of my clan mates and I find it quite unpalatable that you say "except that he has now lost to me twice in Daily Events." in a public forum.
This comes across to me as in you are stating your play skill is superior to mine. Of course you are entitled to that opinion, but it would be advisable to not do so in an article.
I have beaten many top tier players, who are superior to me in play skill in DE's and have never once done something like mention in my video's "I have beaten this guy 5 times straight". That would clearly come across as an insult and disrespectful to the mentioned player.
I am sure you didn't intend that statement to come across this way, but I would advise you for future articles to not mention your DE records against other players in a public forum. It just comes across as vain.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American Bretheren.
I did not perceive that he was saying he was better than you, I took at while I was looking over the article last night that maybe the match up was better for him than he was being given credit for. That's just how I interpret it.
Nor did I. He said "I tend to agree with his assessment, and feel that the Null Rods do make this a favorable matchup for him, despite my good results." right after the bit you are making a stink about.
I did not mean that to come across that I somehow had superior skill or an advantage when we play. I simply meant it as a fact that the only two times our decks have paired, I've managed a match win. I don't feel 2 wins is significant to make any claims about advatanges in deck list, play skill, or luck even.
If I overstepped bounds by saying a specific record, I do apologize. It is certainly not my intent to disrespect you or any other player in my recordings or articles. I simply meant for the tone of the section to be:
"I played skilled player who was Playing a top-tier deck. We both agree he seems to be favored against my deck, but I have managed to beat it a couple times. Let's see what happened from both sides."
If anything, I hope people understand that I value your skill and perspective greatly in using your video to analyze the games from both sides of the table.
Again, I apologize Montolio for saying something that could be perceived as disrespectful, that is never ever my intention and will refrain from making any similar statements in the future. I am glad that not everyone has taken the statement as disrespectful or vain and appreciate you guys for saying so.
I assumed nothing was meant by any of this, but I understand where Andy is coming from. I suppose it's what makes the written word so difficult to master.
The sentences "I have never lost to Goat in a tournament" and "I have never played goat in a tournament" can mean the same thing but would likely be interpreted differently.
Interesting breakdown of the match you two had anyway.
Hey, thanks Goat I apprecaite the clarification. I appoligize as well if i took it out of context.
manhug? :-)
any chance your in the st louis area goat? 314 is STL. if so do you play at local shops? draft etc? i'm native to the lou which is why i'm asking. oh yea, thanks for the article :)
I live in the Atlanta area. 314 is a reference to my favorite irrational number represented by a Greek symbol.
pi?
you know it.
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
Goat Pie does not sound appetizing. Maybe Goat MILK cheese pie...
Agreed. I perceived the comment to mean: "I think his deck has a favorable match-up with mine, yet the results have not played out that way. I think the match results are aberrations."
Hey, really enjoyed the vids, and don't sweat the long one, it was actually the most interesting to watch! I really like how you are able to articulate what's going through your mind as you're considering different lines of play. I'm curious how many things you wished you had done differently watching it back, since I know it's different when you're feeling the pressure in real time. In your round 3 match, there were a couple of things that seemed suspect while watching it. In game two, you played Ancient Tomb-City of Traitors, I think because you didn't want your Workshop to wasted, but isn't this pretty much always the wrong play because of exactly what happened? They waste your tomb, and then you have to sac your city (and 2-1 yourself) to keep going? Isn't it better to just lead T1 Workshop-Trinisphere since you still have two {2} lands? Then, in game 3, on your turn 5, isn't the smart play to Duplicant his Kataki right away rather than letting it screw you up for several more turns? It would have bought you 2 or 3 more turns to pull it out.
Finally after watching these matches, I have to wonder about Ratchet Bomb as a potential SB card. Seems really strong against aggro decks with lots of 1 and 2 drops or tokens; it even works against dredge's zombie tokens (not that you need more help for that matchup). On the play, leave in your sphere effects hoping to lock them out so they never get a chance to play their one-drops, but on the draw, bring it in. Since you don't have much colored mana it seems better (cheaper but then slower) than Engineered Explosives, perhaps enough better to be worth considering. Slightly more versatile than Triskelion, being able to take out Aether Vial, enchantments and so forth, but then isn't any kind of threat itself. It's also much easier to cast under your own spheres. Seems like being able to nuke a Vial T2 and drop a golem is really strong; anything they would Vial in would be nuked right along with it. Anyway don't know enough about the meta to know what conventional wisdom is or if people have already experimented with it.
In game r3g2, I didn't play the turn 1 trinisphere because of the aether vial (if you look how I set up my cards in hand, that was clearly my intent until the vial hit). If I lead with workshop and it gets wasted. I then have to follow up with tomb, city and top out at 4 mana, the next land i draw will kill the city anyway, leaving me with a tomb and whatever. I sacrificed a known 1 mana per turn until the next land drop for 1 mana more per turn after the next land drop. Now I definitely should have cast the trinisphere after the golem died, that was definitely bad.
In r3g3, I should have, I didn't see the play during my upkeep, but had I not paid for the Chalice, I could have kept Crucible and cast the Duplicant. I was too focused on keeping what I could and hoping for a land draw. Then I got distracted by the Metalworker draw and trying to win around the Kataki instead of eliminating it.
I haven't tried Ratchet Bomb, to be honest. Aether Vial hasn't really been huge in the metagame to attract attention. I have used Explosives a bit for Dredge, but as you said, I am dealing with them fairly well. Ratchet Bomb is certainly worth considering, especially with Delver of Secrets running around.
Thanks for the comments and pointing out plays, although I'm not sure that I would play the game 2 land drops differently, but certainly missed the Duplicant play. Glad you enjoyed the videos!
In that extra-long game in round 3, early on there were four rounds in a row where you could have swung in with Lodestone golem + Welder, he doesn't have enough land to play any spells and can only vial in one blocker, which has to block the golem. Leting you squeeze in a point of damage with 100% safety. Four turns of that and you would have had the win, going into game 2 with tons more clock.
I also noticed in round 4, there's a point where you say "I can't tap Narcomeba down this turn" - which costs 4 - and then you play a second Lodestone Golem, which costs 4. Well you could have tapped it. Lodestone may have been the better play anyway, though.
Attacking with the Goblin Welder is something I'm probably too conservative with. I did notice other points where I didn't do it and should have.
As for not tapping the Narcomoeba, but casting a Golem. The 2 Mishra's Workshops can't be used to activate abilities, only to cast an artifact. That's why the mana in the pool shows up as yellow. So while I had 6 mana to cast a spell, I only have the Tolarian Academy to activate the Staff (Which could only generate 3).
Great content man! Keep the videos coming :)