Maybe the day before the poll gets closed i will add some more days if there are some requests.

So I sat down hoping to play a few games and only got one in. Used Google's random number generator to pick the decks to play. I only got one game in as the wife asked me to take her to some breakfast.

Played deck 2 esper revolt. My opponent was playing an orzhov vehicles with suppression bonds and a planar outburst that surprised me. I ended up getting flooded after the wipe and couldn't deal with a run away express and Gideon slammed the last nail.

http://www.twitch.tv/sleephumper/v/126063116

One game isn't enough to say anything and it could be argued I overplayed into the sweeper (I definitely didn't see it coming).

More games later.

Recaps

G1: Grixis Gearhulks vs Izzet Bounce n Burn = W. This was one of two matches on the night that are watchable. No notable land issues - in fact it was a land that allowed me to cruise to victory (another game with the hilarious man-land piloting vehicle combo in Fumarole plus Caravan). Opp had blockers available, but kept tapping out to attack me for minimal damage (1 or 2 a turn), when I had 5 on the crackback. I suspect this was an intentional attempt to burn out Fumarole when it became a 4/1 to pilot, but opp struggled to realize I could simply switch P/T back to keep it alive. Opp did this two turns in a row, switching up the timing of the cast, apparently thinking that was the problem, before either learning the lesson or running out of burn spells. 2 attacks with Caravan, 2 attacks with Fumarole, and one UD with burn trigger was GG.

G2: Temur Fog Tower vs Izzet Burn = L. This was the first of a pair of ugly losses. Kept a 2 Land hand w/ Visionary hoping to draw into more. Drew 3rd land right away, then struggled to draw any more. Had Nissa to fetch up a 4th, but didn't want to toss her into the fire (knew Opp was playing Burn), which was probably an overcautious mistake. Had connection issues, which was likely on my side as it happened a few times during the session and I was experiencing lag on my end - Opp disconnect around T6 or so. Opp got a Docent down that I couldn't answer, and overran me with an army of flying wizards when I ran out of fog spells.

G3: Temur Fog Tower vs Gruul Werewolves = L. Clearly didn't learn my lesson from the previous game and stupidly kept another 2 Land + Visionary hand. Opp was slow AF developing their board, but I couldn't punish because I was even slower - struggling hard to hit land drops (took several turns to hit my 3rd, never hit my 4th). Had a terrible misplay, when I tried to crack a Wilds and accidentally cast a Fog spell into nothing after the stupid UI pulled my curser off the land twice in a row. As dumb as that error was, I don't believe it mattered in the end - what mattered was my land drops. A flipped Smoldering Werewolf with a flipped Neglected Heirloom attached and a Blood Mist to grant doublestrike made short work of me in the end.

G4: Grixis Fireweaver vs Boros Ally = W. Fireweaver + Whirler Rogue + 2 Flux + Saheeli = victory. Hit my land drops T1-4, then never hit land #5 (or #6 to cast the Gearhulk I had in hand all game), but 4 lands were enough to flicker, burn, and fly overhead to the win. Opp got a Lantern Scout out that gained them some life and would have been a major problem, but I was able to push it away after Fluxing Rogue before things got too out of hand. Opp later got the +4/+4 mythic angelic aura on a 3 power dood, but I was simply able to chump w/ thopters and crack back with a Saheeli copied Rogue & co FTW. This was the only other watchable match of the evening.

G5: Grixis Fireweaver vs Selesnya Humans = L. Mulled to 6 and kept a 3 Land hand missing , with 2 spells needing . Drew more blue spells but never a blue source. 1 Fireweaver and 1 Weaponcraft Enthusiast were not nearly enough to survive. All 3 losses on the night saw me stuck for long periods or entire games with 3 land.

G6: Orzhov Token Control vs Vehicle Fat Stack = W. Another game with connection issues, and Opp was disconnected before the game started. Opps deck was weird AF, and as they were listed as rank 40, I suspect it was a troll deck. Maybe it also ran that it never drew mana for, because w/o Start Your Engines the deck doesn't make sense at all. Opp only played lands and Vehicles. Lots and lots of Vehicles. One might even say a plethora of vehicles, if one even knows what a plethora is. Won with Shambling Vent and Vengeful Rebel attacks. Pretty easy when your Opp casts Vehicles and nothing else...

On the whole this was a pretty disappointing session. Want to play the Temur Fog Tower deck another time or two, because I don't feel it got a fair shake this session. If I have time for a R3, I will do that. My favorite match of the evening was the first game with Grixis Fireweaver - it was a match I wasn't sure I would win until the turn I did, and it was the only match of the night were flicker really mattered. Worst was Fog Tower, both games, but I blame myself for choosing to keep questionable hands way more than the deck not working right. Grixis Gearhulk game was good, tho Opp did make some silly (new player?) mistakes. The deck seems well built tho, and most likely would have won without those errors. Orzhov was a throw away game, as opps deck seemed total garbage - hard to draw any conclusions about the flicker deck from that match.

I might be able to finish R2 tonight after my tourney game with Barney - but my daughter woke up sick this AM so maybe won't be able to game more than tourney match. If it's a bust tonight I will shoot to wrap up the round over the weekend.

Did the Orzhov, 1-3 win against AI, 1-3 loss against humans...tho I must say, it faced really horrid match-ups, and I probably botched a game

What a weird one

I really don't fully get what this build wants to be...early control and then late game by...unprotected little tokens? Bonus points for originality, certainly...but a thing that any Esper Tides build would do better, and nobody plays it anyway...

Hidden Stck, once more, surprised me for its effectiveness...even in a build that can usually use them only mid-game onwards

Pros:

More times than expected, cracking a Map or a EW makes the token you need to crew your only way to stay alive

Sometimes, it can go pretty explosive after controlling the field. Emblem + AoI etc. Sometimes.

Good Abbey shell

Good Plains count, even generous for once, given that C.Eff tends to be a late play

V. Rebel in a shell that can almost always trigger him

Cons:

Really low ETB creature count, just 7...which makes all the flickering part unproductive half the times...most of the games I found me discarding Maneouver after Maneouver with the Copter, if lucky enough to have one

Schizofrenic: mixes tokens with sweepers, flickering cards with few targets, wants to be control and agro etc

The mana: Confirmed, it's a conspiracy...all of u pacted to not put a Waste among the lands, playing with EWs and Displacers...there's no other explanation by now...u did it on purpose to trigger my inner assburgers, the voices tell me...I hate u all...

Also: why so few Swamps, when t4-5 Y.Exp can save your ass? Granted, late game, with a couple of Hid.ST in the board, it's a even better play, but c'mon...14 B sources is too low, even more when there's no real reason to play 17 W

In the mid-low of my classification, as concept...but I must admit pretty fun to play, given the challenges it poses to master it, thing which I didn't

Hahahaha, that made me throw a sincere laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg

Alright got a couple more games in. I will continue playing haphazardly switching decks based on the RNG picking a deck.

Played temur fog burn. I really enjoyed playing this deck. I was up against a weird 5 color pw deck that also included some large green and colorless cards. The board state was so lopsided, but I had so many fogs that displaced refiners were giving me they had no way to hurt me. I ended the game with a big fall of the titan's to the face, opponents ob nix certainly helped me by taking like 5 life off.

The next deck picked was #6 Orzhov tokens. Matched against a hybrid landfall elf deck. This game was going pretty well but for whatever reason I got to 4 lands and that was it. I did scry a couple away because i needed answers to board problems right now. In the end my opponent had 14 lands to my 4. They seemed to have a lot of action with their ramping too. I wiped away a lot of their creatures that game but they recovered faster than I could.


I had displacer in my hand most of the game but without a waste i didn't want to drop him. I couldn't believe no waste is in the deck with 4 evo wilds. With only 4 lands down i wouldn't have been able to make use of him anyway. The deck really is strange having tokens and board wipes but maybe that works out for some.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/126107345

The game I lost with Temur fog was a kept two lander as well, that's too funny

Temur Fog Burn:
Game 1 vs Boros Vehicles - slow version:
Starting hand is Forest, Island, Hub, 2x Visionary, Refiner, and Festivities. Hard to go wrong there, right? Alas, my next 9 draws are Fall of the Titans, 6x land, Aethertide Whale, and and 7th land. I held Festivities, trading damage for a while because my opponent was slow. He ended up with 2 Dreadnaughts, 1 Smuggy, 1 Peacewalker, 2 Dragon Fodder tokens, and a Speedway Fanatic. T6 I play the Whale, thinking I can shadow block whatever he Peacewalker animates (he only had 1 mana), but he Starts his Engines and rolls right over me. Festivities would have bought me another turn, but by that point I was pretty far behind. Flood FTL

Game 1.5 vs Mardu Articrats?:
Mull a 2 lander with no cheap spells into Forest, Hub, Nissa, Dynavolt, Flux, 2x Festivities. I decide my odds aren't great of getting anything better and keep. Opp plays Fireweaver and then Smuggy. I top Displace on T2 (I was on the play), and then Torrential on T3. I concede on T4 when I top Refiner. This wasn't a game. It was just the shuffler dicking with me. So I'm calling it game 1.5 and doing another 4 with this deck.

Game 2 vs Rakdos Vampires:
Hah, this should be a good test of this deck's game plan. A fast, creature based aggro deck vs a foggy slow-roller. My opp mulls to 5 and drops Neonate. I have 3 lands, Visionary, Glimmer, Festivities, and Flux and top another land. I drop a land and pass. Opp plays Falkenrath Heir. I play Visionary. Opp plays Furyblade. I play land and leave up Festivities. Opp flips Heir with Fiery Temper (@face) and discards his last card (land) to Furyblade and swings... right into my Fiesta. Next turn I drop a land and pass. Opp swings and I Flux the Visionary to get surge and then pay 3 to Fall of the Titans the Heir and Furyblade. Opp concedes. I play it out, but everything pretty much goes according to plan. I get Dynavolt and Jace, and plenty of fogs to stave off his Incorrigible Youths and finally run him down.

Game 3 vs Dimir Control:
Mulled no lander into 1 lander into no lander into 3 lander (on the play). Starting hand ended up being Lumbering Falls, Forest, Island, Trophy Mage, and Bellower. Fortunately for me, my opponent is slow as mud, and I'm able to Trophy Mage for Dynavolt and then Flux and get a 2nd Dynavolt while pinging away with Trophy. Opp spends first 4 turns just casting draw spells (on his own turn, despite them being instant - perhaps he needed to dig to avoid missing land drops?) Eventually he gets Tamiyo's Journal down followed by Jace-daddy. At this point I have him down to 14 so I swing with Trophy and Falls, ignoring Jace and going straight for the face. Next turn I hit 6 lands so I leave up mana for Bellower and just swing with Trophy. He Murders, I Flux, he counters the Flux, Trophy dies. But I how have 6 energy (with both Dynavolts down) and 2 Fogs in hand. Next turn he plays TiTI, searches a card with Journal, and pumps Jace to 8 loyalty. I just bide my time. On my turn, I top Displace. Now I have Displace, Fog, and Festivities and exactly enough mana to cast all 3 with 2 towers out. I end turn. He Jace ults, drops Lili, and then casts Imprisoned in the Moon on my Falls for some reason. I let him and then cast all 3 instants for 12 energy and zap him twice with both towers. On my turn I zap him again for the game. Pretty funny to stare down a Jace ult like its nothing.

Game 4 vs Grixis Control (Dynavolt/Tides):
I recognized my opponent's handle as one of the posters on this forum!
Mulled a 5 lander into Hub, EW, Falls, Bellower, Whale, Festivities, and Fog. Not great but I doubt I'll get better so I keep. Luckily for me, my opp is screwed and misses 2 land drops despite being on the draw, discarding Devour in Flames on T3 and Dispel on T4. My start is ultra durdly, topping a land, Torrential, Displace, land, and Pilgrim's Eye. By the time I start topping useful cards, my opp has mana and is leaving it up. He burns my Pilgrim's Eye the turn I play it, then burns the Refiner I get on the next turn. I try to Displace, but he Dispels. Then he opens a window by tapping his one to play Pieces of the Puzzle (revealing Hungry Flames, Rise from the Tides, Pieces of the Puzzle, Dynavolt, and a land and keeping Flames and Tides). I play Bellower getting another Refiner. He plays Yahenni's and casts the Flames off of it to kill both my creeps. I play Aethertide. He plays Dark Intimations and I bounce in response and discard Festivities (have 2 Fogs in hand at this point). I play the Whale again and have just enough mana left over to drop Dynavolt. He plays Tides, putting ~9-10 tokens down. I zap him with Dynavolt at is EOT taking him to 17. Then I swing with Whale, bringing him to 11. I have enough mana to Fog and then cast Fall of the Titans for x=8 putting him at 3 life. Dynavolt FTW!

Game 5 vs Mono Aggro-Pile:
4 lands, Visionary, Refiner, and Glimmer? Yes Plz! I'm on the play so I don't have much trouble staying ahead of my opp who drops T2 Bully and T3 Abbot. He grinds me down a bit, but Dynavolt, blink effects, and sheer card advantage allow me to stabilize well before my life totals hit the danger point. The game is a bit slow and grindy since I have to use the Tower to maintain control rather than zap him down. Plus he made me discard one of my Towers with Defiance so I only have the one to work with. In the end, I have him down enough that I could zap him and finish with Fall, but I also have Nissa at 7 so I ult her and smack him for 40.

Five game verdict:

Wow, I'm going fast now, some pretty epic games

Did Grixis Hulks,3-0 against AI, 3-1 against humans...in a weird but somehow just way...one op sperged and conceded a game that had won, thinking that he faced lethal on the next turn against my overwhelming thopter/Hulk army... when he could have just attacked for the 3º time with Ula and depleted my library FTW...or maybe he conceded as a gift for a quite awesome game, who knows...anyway, next game the suffler did its funny thing of sixlander-zerolander-onelander(hub) and after having to mulligan to 5 with a still bad hand, it was absurd...I conceded a couple of turns in the game

Pros: swingy, so then, funny. Plays better than it looks

Hulks are awesome, and the build has some tools to find them...even if the Cranes don't hit jackpot, they get 4 cards closer

Not horrid mana, at 16 sources for each color, counting Maps, for the t 5-6 Hulks...and 18 for the t4 Whirlers...and yep, Fumaroles/Caravan is hilarious...now imagine a Flagship full of steaming chunks of dirt...

Cons:

It's barely a flicker deck, lol! It fits the requisites with the same respect for fairness that Goldman Sachs would show haha...it goes to the extreme as to count BaExp as a flicker spell to just make the count...

Too dependant of a bunch of cards, and tho the Telling Times and Glimmers help, they aren't Brainstorms either etc...it tries to be a...Modern? deck or something, like a Premieval build...but lacks the tools to make a good impression

No Flagship? With the Cranes? Lol, *beeep...wrong!! Shame on u! Rebels, Rogues, Hulks...all can crew it, and it's another wincon in itself that totally synergizes with the build...

Talking about...too few wincons, the Huks, sometimes when you somehow can crew then, the Caravans, Harversters and then if you have flicker, the Rogues...or the Titis, again sometimes...all a bit scarce and feeble...same as too few targets for the Cranes

Not many ways to trigger revolt, a lot of times you have to play the Rebels without the ETB and hope on flicker to get value out of them...same with FPs

Needs Kozilek's Return, at least...maybe Radiant Flames too

Still, if I have to be sincere this probably has been the most fun to play till the moment...the last game in which I took out 3 counters from Titi FTW against a barrage of removal aimed at it, all in the same stack, was quite delicious, and the instant ragequit, the icying

Lol, the first time I was like 'oops for opp; just doesn't know about the free activation', but the 2nd time was Benny Hill music for sure. At that point I was ready to blank All The Burn

Grixis Flameshadow Fireweaver:
Game 1 vs Skittles Control:
I have a sort of slow hand with 3 lands, UD, Conjuration, Displace, and Maverick Thopterist on the play. I play lands (topping a 4th land, then Combustible, then UD #2). Opp plays lands and casts Natural Connections at my 4th EOT (I had just played Conjuration), followed by Fragmentize and another Connections, ramping him to 6. I play Thopterist and he drops big Chandra and sweeps for -2. I play Combustible. He lets me draw and plays Sorin which he uses to kill the Hulk. I play Fireweaver and Pia/Kirin, directing the damage to Chandra. He Radiant Flames. I play Kingpin/Smuggy. He Fragmentizes Smuggy, and Prism Arrays Kingpin. I play Smuggy #2 but he Prisms my Kingpin again at my EOT and plays big Nissa, swinging for the win. One of those obnoxious "I have the answer for everything you do whenever I need it" type games. Plus he had that smug looking Tezzeret avatar, the b*****d.

Game 2 vs Gruul Landfall:
I mull a sketchy hand into Smoldering Marsh, Sulfur Falls, Fireweaver, 2x Enthusiast, Thopterist, Push, and Flux, on the draw and top Fumarole on my first draw, followed by Island and EW. Opp plays Advocate and then Tracker. I played Fireweaver and then made a big mistake, playing Fumarole on T3 instead of EW (I just missed the Revolt interaction with Push). T4 I play Enthusiast, leaving up Flux. Opp plays Mina & Denn and drops 2 lands, turning on his Advocate. I shadow-block his Tracker with Enthusiast, Fluxing it for value and go ahead and EW/Push his Tracker next turn and play the Thopterist. Then he drops 2 more lands and plays Jadhi Offshoot and Omnath. Dun dun DUUHN! I play Fireweaver and the 2nd Enthusiast. He plays Big Chandra and I concede. Yowch. Been forever since I've seen a landfall deck so that was kinda cool, at least.

Game 3 vs White Weenie:
I get a decent hand of Fumarole, Drowned Catacombs, EW, Fireweaver, Pia/Kirin, Smuggy, and Push on the draw. I top Flux and play Fumarole T1. T2 my opp drops Topan. I top aother EW and drop one, fetching a Swamp. Opp plays Always Watching and swings for 3, making Topan a 4/4. I top Saheeli, drop Catacombs, play Fireweaver and Push the Topan. Opponent plays Hanweir Militia Captain (missing a land drop). I top a land, drop the 2nd EW, crack it for Mountain and play Smuggy. Opp drops Knight of the White Orchid, fetching a plains, then plans another plains and Peacewalker and then swings with the Captain. I block and trade with Smuggy, looting a Whirler Rogue and discarding Saheeli. I play Pia/Kirin and leave up Flux. Opponent plays a 2nd Hanweir Captain, and Hope Against Hope on the Knight and swings for 5. I block with Pia and Flux. On my turn I drop Whirler and swing with 4 thopters. Opp is in topdeck mode at this point and just drops a land and swings with Knight. I chump with Whirler. He's at 9 now so 6 thopters take him to 3, Enthusiast+Fireweaver knocks him to 1, and Pia/Kirin ability sacking a token finishes him off.

Game 4 vs Grixis Control:
I keep a meh hand of 3 land (no ), Push, Smuggy, Conjuration, and Whirler on the draw. I'm a bit worried, especially after my first top is Thopter Engineer, but then I hit Fumarole. Opp p;lays Fevered Visions, which puts me on a clock, but it also helps to power me through a FLOOD of mana. I get Engineer down, followed by Smuggy. Opp plays Chandra Flamecaller, and Galvanic Bombardment on my thopter token. I play Whirler Rogue, and send Smug and both tokens at Chandra, taking her out. He plays Dynavolt tower. I play Flameshadow Conjuration, crew the Copter with Whirler, Flux Whirler, and copy him with Flameshadow and then swing for a whopping 12, taking him to 3. He plays Glimmer and concedes.

Game 5 vs Dimir Arti-control:
I mull a crap hand into 3 land (no ), Fireweaver, Conjuration, and 2x Thopterist on the play. I get Fireweaver out T2. Opp plays Smuggy. I don't top any land but I do get Saheeli so I put her on the table, figuring I'd get 2 scries before Smuggy kills her. First scry shows a Whirler, which I bottom cuz I need that land. Opp plays Tezz's Touch on his Smuggy and 1-shots poor Saheeli. Fortunately I top a land. I have another Fireweaver, Flameshadow, and both Thopterists in hand, so I play Flameshadow. Opp plays Padeem and swings for 5. I'm starting to sweat and thinking I either need a land or even better, Thopter Engineer. Right as I think that, the shuffler delivers. I play her, copying to get 2 tokens and swing, holding one token back to block. I'm in decent shape, but, looking at the board, I think, "man it would suck if he has a Yahenni's". He has a Yahenni's. &%^$! He plays Aethersphere off the Yahenni's, too, effectively sinking my odds of winning. I top a land and play Thopterist. He swings with his Smuggy, but leaves his Aethersphere as a blocker. I top another land and play Fireweaver and then use the tokens to Improvise the other Thopterist with a mana open to copy it. Hmm... I'm at a huge disadvantage, but at least I have some board. Just as long as he doesn't have that other Yahenni's... He has that other Yahenni's (I must have played this game in an alternate universe a few minutes before playing it in this one, because I keep thinking about that is about to happen and then it does!) Anyway, I got nothing, and he finishes me off next turn.

Five game verdict:


Whew, 5 decks done - 2 to go!

Did half Esper, 3-0 against tought AI which out of nowhere decided to play good and hard in a couple of games, hilariously pulling first on curve the MasterT/SramExp (into Pacewalker Colossus) mini-combo, with a prior Dreadnough and Schematics thrown in for the laughs lots of fun to win that game

Man, I love this one, so busy ...my favourite for the moment, with probably the Fog/T in 2º place after playing it again more agressively, as hinted above

Orzhov Tokens:
Game 1 vs Mardu Vehicles:
I keep my starting hand of EW, Isolated Chapel, Abbey, Vengeful Rebel, Yahenni's, Renegade Map, and Displacer with some misgivings. I'm on the draw and top Sram's. I play Abbey and Map, setting up T3 revolt if I need it. Opp plays Smuggy. T2 I see another Wilds so I play one, and crack it for a Swamp. Opp plays Veteran Motorist and swings with Smug for 4. I top Stockpile, crack the Map for a plains, and Rebel his Motorist. He plays Depalia and swings for 4 again with Smug. I top AoI, swing for 3 with Rebel, and then Yahenni's, playing Stokpile and netting a free token. He plays Chandra Flamecaller and plusses her for mana but doesn't use it..? Shrug. I ping Chandra for 1 with my token and then Sram's playing Displacer and drop the other Wilds and crack it to get a token. At this point, I have enough tokens to activate Westvale - just need 1 more mana. He plusses Chandra for a card and reveals Scrapheap Scrounger which he plays. I top a Vent and play AoI, swinging to kill Chandra and do a little damage to him. He concedes and the AI doesn't even bother to block a token with Smuggy. I play it out, but AI doesn't have anything and I end up rolling in for a win next turn.

Game 2 vs Gruul Mystery-pile:
I have no idea what my opponent was playing but it clearly wasn't doing what it was supposed to. I had EW, Abbey, Plains, Hub, Sram's, Push, and Rebel in my starting hand. I played a restrained game, topping Stockpile on T2 and using Wilds to trigger revolt on T3. I prolly could have rushed the game a little by playing Sram's on curve but instead held back. I'm not even sure why... prolly just tired. Opp played Evo Leap on T2 and got stuck at 2 lands for 2 turns. Then he hit a 3rd land and nuked my ONE token with Firecraft. I Sram's Displacer down. He does... nothing. I swing for 6. He plays Flamecaller and tries to nuke Displacer, but it is too Acrobatic and flips out of the way. I swing again. He plays Mirrowing. I Displacer-tap it at eot and finish him off. Yawn. Fun fact: hit rank 30 for the first time with this game and finished a quest bringing my gold total to exactly 3000. Coincidence? I think so...

Game 3 vs Izzet Tokens:
I mull a 2 lander into Hub, Map, 2x Stockpile, Effort, Enthusiast, and Maneuver. Risky, but I have the setup for T2 Stockpile with revolt and just need 1 more land to really get going so I try it. Alas, I do not top a land for a few turns, despite sacking the token every turn to scry. Opp plays Virtuoso and makes a token. Then plays Padeem. Then Thopterist. I finally hit a land and play Stockpile #2. I sac my token to scry and see Hub. At this point I have Sram's and Yahenni's in hand with Hub, Plains, and Swamp on the table. Plus a Trinketeer and that Enthusiast. If I can just get Yahenni's off, I might pull a comeback! I keep the Hub. Opp plays a 2nd Thopterist and swings. I chump with one of my servos. He only has one land untapped - I'm good! I play Yahenni's and he Rebukes. Wrecked. Oh well. I don't top a land next turn, so I can't even play Sram's so I just concede.

Game 4 vs Azorious Enchantments:
I keep a hand with 2 land, 2 Smugs, Trinketeer, Declaration, and Sram's on the play. I play Vent and then Isolated Chapel. T3 I top a Hub and play Smug. Opp just drops land his first 3 turns. I hit another land on T4 but I see open and fear the counter so instead of Sram's into Trinketeer, I have my Vent climb into the Smug and swing. He casts Aether Meltdown on my Smug. I loot a Renegade Map, but I like my hand better so I toss it. He leaves his mana open again so next turn I drop Aethersphere Harvester. Then he plays Sigil. Aha! Now I know his game plan and that Declaration in my hand is looking oh so sweet. I Sram's/Trinketeer. He throws another Meltdown on my Trinketeer and Spontaneous Mutation on one of my tokens. I bide my time next turn, and he plays another Mutation on another Servo. On his turn he swings with 3 angel tokens. I crew the Harvester and Smug, and block 2 angels and use Maneuver to rescue the Smug, looting one of 2 Vengeful Rebels into a Westvale Abbey. He then plays Knight of the White Orchid and Invokation of St Traft on an angel token. I top Stockpile and play it, crack an EW for revolt, and Vengeful Rebel his Knight. He swings with all, and I block with Smug and Harvester, looting my other Smug into an Enthusiast. Then he plays Rallier after his Invocation token disappears, getting Aether Meltdown back and casting it on my Harvester for another token. At this point he lags out and gets replaced by an AI, which is fortunate for him because it spared him from witnessing all 5 of his tokens get eaten by Declaration and my subsequent steamrolling. I converted the tokens into a great big indestructible demon and easily cruise to victory.

Game 5 vs Simic Flash:
Mull a no lander into Vents, Chapel (dunno why these 2 always seem to bunch into my starting hands), Sram's, Yahenni's, Effort, Enthusiast, and Unmaking, on the play. I play Vent, and then top EW and crack it for a Swamp. T3 I play Enthusiast. Opp immediately Unsubstantiates a token. Opp drops land 3 and passes. I top another land but don't want to play Sram's into his open mana so I swing with the token. He plays Krasis, tapping my Enthusiast and blocking the token. Ugh. At this point I'd rather try to Yahenni's for value. I pass. He drops land #4 and passes. I top another land, play it, and pass. He plays Nebelgast Herald at my EOT, tapping my Enthusiast and then swings for 5. Then he plays Kiora and untaps his Krasis and a land. Top another land, drop it, and play Yahenni's into Unmaking, clearing the board. He drops a land and plays Jace-daddy. Crud. I play Sram's into Effort and activate my Vent before Effort resolves to put counters on it. Alas, I had to tap it to turn it on so I can't attack. He plays Lambholt Pacifist and passes. I Try to Declaration his Pacifist but he Scatters it to the Wind. I swing at Jace with everything. He can't save Jace, but he can kill a token with his Pacifist. He then plays flip-Nissa, drops his 6th land and passes. I top my umpteenth land (an EW) and hold it in hand (my only other card at this point is Maneuver). Activate my Vent and swing with all (a mistake on my part). He takes out another token and on his turn, counter attacks with a no longer pacifistic werewolf and Nissa and then ends his turn with all mana open. I top Enthusiast, and, for lack of better options, play it. Right into his Torrential Gearhulk. He Scatters it. I pass without attacking. On the bright side, his Pacifist is flipped again, but Hulk lets it attack. He swings with both and I block with the manland, but he's ready with Unsubstantiate. I top yet another land and concede (no way to avoid lethal next turn).

Five game verdict:

Finished round 2. Sl33p ended up party chatting with me for them, but I don't think I had the setting right to include his dialogue (or set up right to mute me to opponents )

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/126271265

Recap to follow at some point this weekend. Starting move into a new place tomorrow so I doubt I'll be able to find time for a round 3, as much as I'd like to.

Thank goodness for Flaky doing Gods work. I really phoned it in this time with my four games played

Did Esper in the ladder, win 3-1...fun games, got beaten by midrange Eldrazi that had too much punch for my draws. Ties for best result, and against pretty hard match-ups

Definitely my fav build of the contest

It took me a while to figure out this one...at first, while making it in the Builder, looked a bit underpowered to me, to be a Tokens build...then I realized it isn't a Tokens deck, tho that's the main theme, sure...it's a Roads to Victory deck! And I love those, yay!

You see, this deck can win going in the air (Swoopers, Roc, thopters+lord, AoI, Herald, Harvesters)...or going wide (all the tokens producers, preferably with Lord effects, of which there're 5)...or going tall (Roc, AoI, CfU, Gideon etc)...or by Herald control...or by Abbeys (easy pie here)...or by recurring ETBs (7 good targets plus 8 more passable) with the cheap flickering, useful too to protect the big guns, as a sort of BlossDef...

You just have to select the best mode, and try to go for it

Pros:

The mana is spot on, except for the lone Whirler (I can feel the pain, having to include just one of such a good card for the build, and still feeling bad about it, lol) the maths almost flawless...a rare ocurrence in the contest

Versatility, rewards careful planning, playing and attention to opps

Fun, at least for for me.

Ambitious...there are a lot of things going on there, at first I thought it was a build for testing interactions or something, a labrew, so to say

What can I say? I love the curve/cost distribution, the number of cards dedicated to each menace, how them interact and overlap...I like basically everything, there's just a couple of minor details that I'd change from this concept

Cons:

Dude...grab your rogues and put there the second Roc...after all, it's as good as the Whirler, makes your angles of attack even more varied and it's the last piece to leave the mana shiny and cute as a medal

Talking about...the mana count is ok...but it has two minor fails. First, Ormendahl must be treated as a wincon that happens to make a spell cost one less each turn...it's a beter way to see Abbeys than as Lands, imho...all that to say that 1 or maybe even 2 more lands would do wonders for the build...now, what to cut? ey, don't ask me...

Second...it doesn't take in account the perversity of the suffler...with so many Duals, plus EW and Hubs and Abbeys...u know it's gonna f**k with you with the hands...and it does, it does

Ambitious... a lot of things going (err...deja vu?), and the mana is slow and tricky^ with so many duals, taplands etc...sometimes can loss to itself

Not very powerful removal nor sweepers, while the creatures are a bit underpowered, all in the name of synergy...as above, that can mean losing to itself

Flicker theme marginal, at the minimum of allowed requirements too...but in this case, that's compensated for the concept...in a Roads to V deck, you can't really devote too much space to one thing, by definition

And not much more to nibble about...did I already say that I like this build a lot? I don't think it's near top tier or anything, but good and fun, it is for me

Of course, zero votes something that at least for my part will change haha

Bant Willbreaker Tempo Control:
Game 1 vs Izzet Mill:
Mull 2 lander with no low CC cards into Plains, Hinterland, Thalia's, Flux, Tamiyo, Tracker, and Heron's, on the play. Not sure what to do with this hand... mull and hope for 3/6? Seems risky. At least the bulk of my cards only need 1-2 more lands to play. If the shuffler is kind, I should be ok, so I keep. I drop the Harbor. Then I top Kythion, and play him. Opp plays baby-Jace. I get a Harbor, nice! I drop it, play Thalia's and swing for 3 with Kythion. Opp cast Cathartic Reunion, discarding a land and Fiery Temper which he casts, taking out Kythion. I top a 2nd Tracker, play one, and swing with Thalia's. He plays Tutilage and uses Jace to a 2nd Temper on my Tracker. I top Willbender, play the 2nd Tracker, and swing with Thalia's. He plays Baral's Exp into Fevered Visions and flips Jace. I top Avacyn and scoop. Dunno if I made a mistake keeping that 2nd hand... regardless, he was perfectly situated to take advantage of my mana weakness with all that spot removal.

Game 2 vs Simic Energy:
I get EW, Plains, Falls, Thalia's, Avacyn, Maneuver, and Flux on the play. Thalia's isn't my favorite early play, but I keep it because I can cast everything. I play Falls. He drops Thriving Turtle. I top Blossoming Defense and crack the wilds for a Plains (prolly a misplay - I'm looking at Avacyn as the only double cost in my hand tho). Opp drops a 2nd Turtle but doesn't swing. I top a Glacial Fortress and play the Thalia's. He plays Empyreal Voyager. I get Thalia and play her. He casts Nature's Way on his Voyager and Thalia, I respond by Fluxing the Lieutenant to boost Thalia to a 4/3. He swings with the Voyager. I top another Flux and swing with Thalia - he chumps with a Turtle. He plays Glimmer and swings with Voyager. At his EOT I Maneuver the Lieutenant, pumping Thalia and digging for a land - I get an Island! I top a 2nd Blossoming, drop the Island, and swing with 5/4 Thalia. He takes the hit and I pass, leaving up mana for either Blossoming/Flux (I'm paranoid of Baral's) or the surprise Avacyn. He plays Electrostatic Pummeler and Aether Theorist and swings with his Voyager. Avacyn swoops in and puts the Voyager down. Pummeler has me slightly terrified tho because he has a LOT of energy. If he can give it trample, I'm pretty sure he could one-shot me (like, 32/32 or possibly 64/64). I top a Tracker, but I'm still worried about Baral's or some such and want to save my only for Blossoming so I just swing with Avacyn and Thalia. He chumps Thalia with the other Turtle. He plays Sage of Shaila's Claim and Multiform Wonder and swings with his Pummeler. I chump with Lieutenant and Flux it when he pumps Pummeler to a 2/2. I top Whirler Rogue and make a horrible misplay by NOT playing it precombat. Swing with Thalia and Avacyn. He chumps Thalia with the Theorist and Avacyn takes him to 7. I realize that I could have made Thalia unblockable with the Rogue and then Blossomed her to 8/7 for lethal. Oh well. He is in topdeck mode, probably desperately hoping for a 2nd Nature's Way to make his Pummeler tramply. Instead he gets another Voyager and concedes.

Game 3 vs Izzet Artifacts:
My starting hand has Falls, Plains, Island, Thalia, Gideon, Reflector and Blossoming. Opp plays Implement of Combustion, followed by Fireweaver. Then he Rebukes my Reflector. Thalia comes down with mana up for Blossoming. He misses a land drop but plays Foundry Inspector and Map, followed by TSN next turn. I drop Gideon and make a token, again leaving up Blossom/Flux mana. He plays Fevered Visions and pings Gideon with this Fireweaver off of TSN token. I play Ajani and exile his Fireweaver and then swing with Gideon. He takes the hit. Fevered Visions hits me for 2 which he uses to finish Ajani. He plays Chief of the Foundry and pings Gideon with a token, taking him to 2 Loyalty. I play Sigardian Priest and swing with both Thalia and Gideon. He takes the hit from Thalia and chumps Gideon with a thopter. He pings Gideon with his Implement and then finishes him with a thopter. I get the god draw of Willbender, play it, and steal his Chief, swinging with Thalia. He plays a 2nd Fevered Visions and another creep (can't remember) leaving 2 thopters and his Inspector untapped. I steal the Inspector, swing with all, and pump the 2 creeps that he doesn't block with Blossoming Defense for exactsies. GG.

Game 4 vs Temur Fog/Mill:
I mull a crap hand into 5 lands, Avacyn, and Flux. Ouch. I'm on the play, at least. I luck out and hit Gideon early on and make a token. After that I keep swinging with him and the token. Opp takes 2 hits but gets his engine online. Tutilage, 2x Visions, Jace-daddy and a never ending supply of fogs. There are no Rec Sages in this deck. None. In the end, opp mills me to 2 cards. I top one, swing with all and get to witness his masturbation ritual of Fog, Fog, Comparative Analy-I concede but the game crashes. Whatever. I hope it froze or went into time out mode on his side. F*****.

Game 5 vs Mono Zombies:
I have a sweet sweet hand of 4 land, Thalia, Gideon, and Blossoming on the play. I drop Falls. He plays Graf Harvest. I top Lieutenant and play it. He plays Shambling Ghoul. I top Sigardian Priest and play it, leaving up mana for Blossoming and swing with the 2/2 Lieutenant. He swings with his Ghoul and plays flip-Lili. I play Thalia, again leaving up mana for Blossoming and swing with the 3/3 Lieutenant. He plays Crow of Dark Tidings and passes. I top Maneuver so I tap his Ghoul and swing with Thalia and Lieutenant. He swings with all, but I Maneuver Thalia and block and kill his Lili. He uses Cemetery Recruitment to get her back and play her but realizes I have lethal on my turn and concedes.

Five game verdict:

Aaaannnd ended the last deck, the Willbreaker one too...win 3-1 against the AI...

... then I myself ragequited in the first game in the ladder when I couldn't shield my willy, and went to a corner to suck my thumb while humming again and again "Willbreaker doesn't go in a flicker deck" "Willbreaker doesn't go in a flicker deck" "Willbreaker doesn't go in a flicker deck"

Because, u know: Willbreaker doesn't go in a flicker deck

I have been some minutes trying to think of some good example, to ilustrate the point...and I haven't found one good enough in Standar

But don't worry, I have it

Putting Willbreaker in a flicker deck is like including Premieval Titan in a Manaless Dredge build. Yeah, that can do.



Sure, 98% of times the deck isn't gonna give a damn...and even more, if you do the Balustrade Spy trick, you can Return a hasted hatebound Titan FTW or something, lol. But it's still retarded, sorry to put it so bluntly.

If the no-Waste with Displacers thing triggers me, this makes me adopt fetal position and weep. It's almost painfull.

Yes, I'm fully aware of how childish and rectal I'm being ...in fact, I like a lot of the rest of the brew, I was close to post myself a Humans build that tried to abuse flickered Liutenants... with Garrisons and all. Aware too about Willbreaker/Whilers/Tamiyo etc etc. The rest of the build is good, full of efficient and powerful cards, and the mana isn't too bad either, if a bit too slow

So as I wanted to playtest it anyways, but without the pain, I cheated and substituted the Willies for Docent of Perfection, which synergize waaay better with the build...and then the 3 mostly useless Priests for 2 Duskwatch.R to search for gas and 1 Baral (nice to make Maneouvers etc cheaper, another Wizard for the Docent, decent blocker, human etc)

With that, went to win 3-1 on the ladder, having a pretty amazing time...Docent makes humans like crazy, you can protect him with the Fluxes and B.Def, making more humans in the process...then, 3 wizards and BOOM! And flickering Liutenants against a RDW was hilarious

I'm not gonna do a full review of what's after all another build, that would be weird...but at least I had a lot of fun, don't judge meeee

Anyways, in good conscience I can't vote this build just for the incredibly glamorous inconsistency of trying to mix those 2 concepts...it's a Jersey thing, I'm afraid

So to recap...

Tied for best record and favorite build: Esper

Runners for the second place are Fog, Bant and Orzhov...Hulks isn't gonna run in spite of the good record cause, among other things, it's too little "flicky"...same in fact as the Esper one, but with worse excuse...and voting as the best the two less based on flickering would be lame

I had to choose only one of those two, and the choice was clear

I'm gonna play some games with the semi-finalists, and see if I arrive to some conclusion before voting

This only confirms my suspicions that the Willbreaker deck was not, in fact, submitted by Maggit.

Edit: I'm surprised Hulks isn't getting votes. I didn't think it was best but still better than some that did get votes.