Black Barney wrote: Modulo, you read my write-up of being that Abzan deck? Can you believe I won that match against those drops? So awesome.
I did read it; nice job! Winning these kinds of matches with the deck I believe to be possible but unlikely; also it takes quite some skill and a lot of fighting spirit. Very satisfying if you manage to win, though.
My experience with Modulo's Abzan lists is that they are quite similar to what I imagine to forcing yourself on a 19th century consumption- ridden hooker : you pump alot in to it and due to pure persistence eventually you get there but there is this nagging feeling afterwards that having a nice sanitary cup of tea and a napkin would've gotten both of you more bang for the buck.
I dont know what i wrote up there, but Modulo makes really good abzan lists that are a pain to play, is what i'm saying
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
Time constraints and a lot of work, still 3 decks to test... If I have to, I'll skin mine so I am not temples to vote for myself. But, by other player's experience, modulo's looks like its the best... What a shame el loco Pobre only managed 3rd place with Barney...
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
Actually, playing these decks is really fun. When you lose, you always have an excuse because your handicap is huge, when you win it is super rewarding because either your piloting skills are awesome or your opponent's aren't...
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
Now Playing: SAFE AND SCION - MODULO
Pre-testing Analysis: The idea is simple, the game plan is risky. It's as go-wide as you can get. It was no removal, except your combat tricks, but it can flood the board fast and catch your opponent unaware and sneak in a win. I say this is risky, because I have a tendency to call people's bluffs and over-extend. A more cautious player can probably resist that urge, but I like applying pressure from start to finish, so it's draw that sweeper or die! Speaking of which, this deck is very prone to sweepers... A timely borrowed grace with +0/+2 can save some of your guys from yahenni's expertise for example, but you'd be using up your best finisher card... The land count looks a little low for the number of 3-drops, but this is the kind of deck you want to be constantly drawing creatures after you get to 4 land and every land after that is probably a dead card. The other testers have been doing well with this list so I'm really curious how well it goes for me.
Game 1 AI - (Gruul Energy?)
Spoiler
On the play. Keep a 2 lander (Forest, plains, blisterpod, seedsculptor, freeblade, might of masses, wild strength) T1 Forest and drop blisterpod. Hub, drops a map. T2 draw a druid. Attack for 1, drop a plains and freeblade. 2nd hub T3 draw a peema outrider. Attack for 3, freeblade becomes renowned. Dropped a druid. AI plays a mountain and plays a lathnu hellion, then decides to hold it up as a blocker (fantastic card for that isn't it? Wonder if AI knows what haste is good for?) T4 Draw and play a forest. Attack with freeblade and blisterpod. (I'm guessing AI is a sucker and always falls for combat tricks...). Yep, it blocks the freeblade, so I wildsize it to kill the hellion and do 1 trample + 1 blisterpod damage. I draw another blisterpod, which I play with druid mana. tapland. Then, the classic weldfast monitor. (AI likes these guys almost as much as razorfoot griffin) T5 I draw blisterpod number 3. I play seedsculptor to then and give freeblade a +1/+1 counter then drop blisterpod and attack with pods + freeblade. AI blocks a pod, I let it die and get a scion. AI drops a forest and skysouverign, killing my druid. T6 I draw borrowed grace (oh yeah!). AI's a 9 life, so I just attack with everything to get it over with. AI manages to actually crew the the flagship and block freeblade, but I cast borrowed grace FTW.
Eazy-peezy-lemon-squeezy.
WIN
Game 2 AI - (Izzet Artifacts?)
Spoiler
On the play. Keep a 2 lander. ( dual, plains, druid, freeblade, artisan, 2x grace) T1 I drop the dual hub into universal solvent. (that's a great T1 play...) T2 I draw a 3rd grace. Plains into freeblade. Another hub. (again) and passes. T3 I draw a peema. Attack for 2, freeblade becomes renowned and play a druid. AI drops a mountain and (surprise, surprise...) plays a welffast monitor (Deja vu?) T4 I draw a forest, which I play. I drop the outrider and make it a 4/4, then pass. Izzet tapland (At least that's different), then plays Pia's revolution. (That's not really gonna help it much...) T5 I draw another artisan. Attack with peema and freeblade. AI blocks the freeblade to trade, so I use of my graces to +0/+2 everybody. I don't return the lizzard to AI's hand, because I'm sick of it... Another mountain and an aether chaser. T6 I draw a seedsculptor. I play an artisan, making a servo, then attack with peema and freeblade. AI chumps the freeblade. AI drops another mountain and plays combustible gearhulk. (hmmm... AI's tapped out and is going to lose next turn, so...) I give it 3 cards. (You never know, next 2 cards could be ulamog and kozilek...) T7 I draw a blisterpod. Ai's at 10, so I attack with everything and grace FTW.
:yawn:
WIN
Now onto the ladder. Game 3 R40 (5-color Rainbow Ponies Wannabe)
Spoiler
On the draw. Keep a 2 lander (Forest, dual, 2x druids, seedsculptor, scion summoner, grace) T1 he mulligans and drops a dual I draw another grace. T2 he drops a dual and plays skyship plunderer (flying is not great for this deck, especially if I get a slow start, lets see what he does with counters...) I draw a plains, play it and drop a druid. T3 he drops a mountain. Attacks for 2. I draw a free blade. Play the plains. Play the 2nd druid and the freeblade. T4 He drops a forest and plays a 6/6 woodland wanderer. (oh sh|t... Vigilance, trample and its gonna grow? Not good...) He attacks for 2 and make the wanderer 7/7. I draw an artisan. Not much I can do but try and flood the board and hope to go wide super fast with a blow-out attack (unlikely). I drop the summoner and seedsculptor, giving it the counter. I skip attack. T5 He drops another dual and attacks with both creatures. (I could've blocked, lost most of my creatures and maybe killed the wanderer, but I guessed he had removal in his hand, so it would have just meant I would have lost my whole army then and there...). I take the damage. So I'm at 7 life and he has an 8/8 wanderer. I draw a freeblade. So, I guess this one is lost... I attack with everything, he blocks the freeblade and I cast grace. Sure enough, he has a fatal push that kills my sculptor. I was never going to do enough damage, so I never really stood a chance. I got him down to 7 life. He glimmers at eot. T6 He drops an island, attacks and finishes me off quickly.
He won that pretty easily. It may have been closer if I was on the play, but I never really stood a chance.
LOSS
Game 4 R36 (Abzan Ramp?)
Spoiler
On the play. Keep a 2 lander. (Forest, plains, blisterpod, seedsculptor, freeblade, grace, wildsize) T1 forest + pod. Forest T2 Draw another pod. Drop the plains and play freeblade. Attack for 1. He drops a plains and declararion in stone on my freeblade. (ok...) T3 I draw a forest. I attack for 1 and drop the 2nd pod and a 2/3 seedscultpor. He plays a dual and casts solemn offering on the clue (I guess he really didn't have any better play and figured the lifegain could buy him time...) T4 I draw might of the masses. I attack with everything and wildsize a pod, drawing another wildsize. He's at 16. He plays the classic tracker + evowilds getting 2 clues, getting a swamp. (I figure the double black means a sweeper is coming...) T5 I draw and play a forest (I am a little worried since I'm out of creatures to play and the sweeper is on its way). Now... I just cast a wildsize, so he won't be expecting another, so I attack with everything. He takes the bait and blocks a pod. I wildsize it, drawing another forest. Tracker died and I got a scion. He's at 12. He drops a dual and planar outburst (There you go, just as expected. Thought it would be yaenni's expertise or languish though). I keep a scion. T6 (Need some gas) I draw a seedsculptor (better than land I guess...). I play it and give the scion the +1/+1 counter to attack for 2. He casts essence extraction on the scion, but I was distracted and didn't pause in time to sac it, so he got the 3 life (stupid!). He drops another evowilds, cracks it and gets a forest, then pops a clue. T7 I draw a druid. Attack for 1 and play the druid. He's at 12 now. He plays another forest and plated crusher (really? Another big fat trampler? At least this one doesn't have vigilance. This deck doesn't really car about hexproof anyway. I still at 20, so I reckon I can still race him.) T8 I draw another druid (not the best gas, but still a body to join the party). I play it and pass. (Let's see if he gets cocky and goes aggressive.) He pops a clue and then attacks (yes!), I take the damage. He then plays explosive vegetation (going for ulamog?). He leaves up 1 black mana... (fatal push?) Drops and cracks another evowilds getting something irrelevant. T9 I draw a blisterpod. I do the math and I have lethal if in fact he doesn't have a push. I play the pod. Drop the forest I've been holding and attack with my mob. He doesn't try anything, so I cast grace... Still nothing, so I cast the might and... He still does nothing, so that's 13 damage and game for me.
So the deck survived a sweeper and managed to claw back and claim an upset win. I believe this game shows how the deck want to work. The wildsizes were key, as were my opponent's blunders playing into my bait. So 1-1.
WIN
Game 5 R40 (4 color PW Control - Piloted by a NGA Showdowner)
Spoiler
On the Draw. Not really shaming him, so I can say it was Galmael. I muligan a 1 lander (half expecting to go to 5). But no, next hand is a keepable 2 lander (Forest, plains, pod, freeblade, 2x summoner, might) (Do wish I was on the play though...) T1 dual (boros/mardu vehicles?) I draw another pod. Forest + pod. T2 Hub. (hmm... copter?)... No, he passes. (holding up for harnessed?) I draw a grace. Drop the plains and freeblade. (lightning rod?) Attack for 1. He does nothing. (hmmm...) T3 He drops a plains and... (harvester?) harnessed lightning on my freeblade (why not do that eot? Maybe he just drew it?) I draw a plains, play it and attack for 1. I play a summoner. T4 He does nothing. I draw a dual, then play it. (At this point, with his mana base, I'm thinking that he's mana screwed/got a really bad draw with boros/mardu vehicles) So I made a big mistake and over extended, playing right into his game. I dropped the 2nd summoner and and the other pod and was getting ready to get really aggressive with grace and might in hand. T5 He drops a swamp (oh no!)... Yahenni's expertise (Sh|t! at least I keep 2 scions...), he doesn't drop the free 3cc spell. (still, pretty lucky top-deck for the swamp or it would have been lethal next turn... Either that or he just did an awesome bluff by intentionally missing his 4th land drop to craftily lure me into over extending... Probably just lucky...) T6 I draw a forest (damn! I need bodies!) I attack for 2. He's still at 12 and I'm not in good shape, that sweeper got him massive card advantage. He then drops a dual and tezzeret (??? I had his deck all wrong... What's tezz doing here, I haven't seen a f@cking artifact anywhere!) He plusses tezz. T7 I draw a druid (Seems like I keep drawing druids when I want summoners, peemas or artisans) I drop the druid and decide to knock most of the loyalty off of tezz so he doesn't just minus him to kill my dudes. I attack with both scions at tezz and use might on 1. He uses the token + untapped hub to harnessed lightning my scion in response... (great, I can just feel this game slipping away...) I sac the scion in response so he doesn't get any extra energy. T8 He drops another hub and gideon shows up unannounced (Die already you stupid gatewatcher!) He pluses tezz and makes a 2/2 with gideon. I draw another might. Don't see any good plays, so I pass. T9 He makes another 2/2, plusses tezz and passes. I draw a peema (now?). I play it and make a servo. I pass. T10 He pluses tezz and gid and attacks with the 5/5 indestructable. I don't block. He then casts solemn offering on my servo (Really? Was that necessary?) I draw a dual (great...). I half-heartedly attack gideon with everybody to try and get rid off him at least. He blocks the druid and scion with the knight tokens as I expected and I cast the grace for +2/+2... He shrivels it... (Really? He's playing counters in that monstrocity?) So gideon is left with 2 loyalty and I lose a scion... T11. He ultimates tezz and pluses gideon, and attacks with everything leaving me at 1. Then plays Disciple of the Ring (oh sure, shecan join the fun too...) I draw another grace. This game was so lost that I really didn't think it through and attacked with everything. He blocked peema with the disciple. I tried to +2/+2 with grace but that just got countered with disciple... I actually then cast might of masses on his disciple. T12 (He goes into full PW.dec player mode. I'm tapped out, at 1 life, just end it already) NNNNNOOOOO! He has to fatal push my tapped druid before attacking...
I guess this loss my fault, I may have had a chance if I hadn't been so greedy. At least I didn't mull to 5 any of these games... So 1/3 like all the others, interesting.
LOSS
Final Verdict
Spoiler
2-0 / 1-3
This testing is all tied up. I'm beginning to wonder if I should've chosen another criteria... So the deck... Well it's pretty simple, but not so simple to play. A vigilant fattie wrecked me game 3, a sweeper game 5. Incidently, those were the only games I was on the draw. Being on the play would have made a big difference in both. The deck works and I can see why barney had success with it, although I get the feeling he faces much weaker decks than me on steam though. I didn't like the seedscultors much, as there may have been better options. Blisterpod was good, the wildgrowths were awesome, grace did its thing, I didn't see peemas enough to really test them out but they look solid enough. I didn't see anymore than 2 lands in my opening hands and although I didn't really get mana-screwed, I would have maybe liked to cast my 3 drops on curve. Also, 12 pumps may just be too much, a bit of interaction would be nice, prey upon or something? Anyway, Modulo's deck is the rogue in this contest for not having any red so props for that and also for making a pretty functional, albeit somewhat single-minded (because you only really have one line of victory) deck.
I'll give scores only at the end when I test all the decks so I can make a more global assessment of the submissions.
Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17748 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
I should mention that my loss is largely explainable cuz I was putting counters on my fabricate guys, cuz of a quest. The deck isn't supposed to be ran like that. I should also mention that I got 2-3 wins on ladder playing it this way which is really funny. Playing Pauper handicapped and still winning
Joined: Feb 29, 2016 Posts: 2899 Location: Portugal
I 've actually finished my testing of modulo's deck and it was all very anti-climatic... The one's I've tested are all Tied... Easy 2-0 vs AI and 1-3 on the ladder. In modulo's deck's Defense the 2 losses were to R40s... But still, it's all a bit ambiguous.
I'll write up the play-by-plays when I find the time.
Joined: Nov 25, 2015 Posts: 1431
Preferred Pronoun Set: Xhir/xhim, depending on Moon phase
Short post, I'm in a bit of a hurry
To the ladder at R34 with I must be mad...and regretably, 0-2. First game against a removal packed...R34 midrange Abzan? anyways, Kalitas was too much for me...not a chance
Second game against a R32 midrangish RDW with plenty of 3 drops, namely Firecrafts and Hellions, plus CotFM...big hasted creatures like those proved too difficult to manage, tho it was closer than the last game
Then, as it is a very similar deck, made the change to That common ttype of Madness aaand...same! Ouch, losing 4 ranks in row hurt a bit, lol.
First game I was manaflooded after keeping a decent hand...that, and being quite slow to drop the few thing a had, an Alchemist and a Dragoon, that got zapped...that made me lose agains just a lone Harvester, OP never played anything more, I guess he/she had some counters ready that never had to use, playing blue...op ended with a ton of life after glimpsing for more energy and cards etc controlled me like a boss
2º game against R28 golgari... Snek? tho I never see one, but anyways t3 Kazandu t4 Hulk (yes, t4) t5 Nissa made me laugh and quit, I wanted to avoid me the humilliating experience, my hand was nothing that could remotely deal with that
Just 1 to go, Haven's one...and mine if I find time, for the lols
Last edited by callmemaggit on Sat Apr 15, 2017 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'm not gonna do writups for this round. I'm not even sure I'll have a chance to test em all - I should have a decent block of time tomorrow, but that's pretty much it. My heart just wasn't in it for this one and the extended KLD sale and a really busy week sort of ruined my testing schedule.
Ifyou do a similar contest in the future, plz plz make it pauper+ (commons and uncommons). I bet just adding uncommons would enable 50%+ wins on the ladder and would open up so many janky options.
That said, I'm really enjoying the writups this time, Haven's especially. Modulo and Maggit's decks both look the coolest to me on paper. I suspect they'll get my votes if I do vote.
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