Agreed but I wanted to go full Jank this time, If I wanted the more traditional power I should have submited the RG energy deck but... It did not felt like it had all the clunky shenanigans going.




LOL!
This already does it for me, making one of the judges go full super villain mode is a prize of it own!

Yeah, the Gruul Aggro thing I tried worked alright and had some fun sac stuff going on, but it definitely didn't want long games with huge Briars. Here's what I ended up with there.

2 x Insolent Neonate
4 x Blisterpod
2 x Bomat Courier
2 x Kari Zev, Skyship Plunderer
3 x Ember Hauler
3 x Voltaic Brawler
3 x Call of the Full Moon
2 x Evolutionary Leap
3 x Fiery Conclusion
3 x Invigorated Rampage
2 x Lathnu Hellion
2 x Tireless Tracker
4 x Bloodbriar
2 x Hazoret's Favor
1 x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 x Arlinn Kord
8 x Mountain
7 x Forest
2 x Cinder Glade
2 x Rootbound Craig
2 x Aether Hub

Halfway done building the decks. Will test tonight

If anyone actually built around bloodbriar, is it important that they make sure the damage gets through with fling, trample or evasion? I wonder what the best evasion caRds are nowadays anyway. Key to the city is two mana and a card, with the perk of turning dead draws into extra cards later on. Rogues passage costs five mana with the perk of being a mana source. I wonder what’s best

Mine tramples with Decimator or just beats down the few remaining small creatures after a Tragic Arrogance. Occasionally I can flip Avacyn as a sweeper too.

Haven's taps them down with Drowner of Hope or tramples with Decimator, though I think more frequently the other bombs end up doing the work.

DCG's and Cucho's do more swarming.

Flaky's has Rogue's Passage, Rhonas for trample or Lead to either act as a board wipe on a huge Briar or to force blocks on something else while it gets through.

I think in all these the Briar is more of an outgrowth of other engines than the main win con. It's something big enough they quickly have to start chumping and reducing their board until they're just overwhelmed, but if they find removal for it it's not like it's the end of the world. Until the final attack it's mostly something they have to respect that makes it harder to devote resources to dealing with the rest of your stuff.

Ok let’s start with the warmup round against AI

Cuchos deck demolished the AI. A beautiful swarm

Next is DCG...much harder to play but also a decisive, albeit longer, victory.

Nomad gardening next...nice Simple straight forward fun from Nomad, leading to a fun win versus Gruul midrange. Nice

Flakys poppies next...very fun win against Dimir cycling

Oh boy Havens deck is next, I must admit I’m looking forward to this...26 creatures! Barney like....big win using Decimator! Very fun, I made tons of clues

Speaking of which, I forget which deck but one of them I see Traguc Arrigance and Gesrhulk to sac a ton of clues which turned my tireless tracker into a monster, it was awesome

Okay all decks best The AI, congrats gentlemen.

So let’s move into the single elimination round and bring them to the ladder. The dreaded Xbox ladder.

Round one begins now!

Let’s start with Havens deck which I really liked...runs into rank 38 Gruul werewolves. I keep a two lander which seemed okay cuz I had Druid into Watcher. So on t4 I had 6 mana with only 3 land but could never draw into any white mana to play my two annointed priests or the annointed procession. Not having any removal really hurt too. So Haven goes 0-1 and will be deleted if any one of the other decks wins their first round...

Flakys poppies are next...against a rank 1 who sacs his ember hauler after attacking for no reason at all, lol. 1-0

Nomad wins as well 1-0

DCG next...long game against Boris aggro. We both get set up. I get a stockpile and a leap set up with a bunch of creatures and the engine is going. But he has flying priests and Brisela and Garrison with Battlements just waiting for me to make a mistake. He finally gets Devils Playground and I’m forced to Alpha Strike which barely makes a dent. I have two Bloodbriar out but they just didn’t have time to get big. Even if they did, he has tons of chump blockers on the ground while his two birds in the air are hitting me for 6 a turn and he has lifelink going too. Maybe I shouldn’t have used Deckaration in Stone against his thopters early but they were threatening Nissa who I needed to get her Counters off. Lisa 0-1 happy to delete. The deck is cute and is doing tons of things but not enough of them are winning.

Cucho is last up to try and survive round one...insanely long game, 30 Minutes, against mono black artifacts built around Sly Requisitioner!! I get the engine set up really good with three annointed priests and stockpile going with annointed procession. I am stalling and adding life like crazy and eventually westvale abbey flips and he has no Air Force to protect two taps in the chin. 1-0


Congrats to Cucho, nomad and Flaky for surviving round one! That’s it for tonight so we will do more tomorrow night after I sign the papers to Barney’s new car!

Haven and DCG tie for last place from this judge. We will see what happens with the top three later this week.

Nothing really to add except it warms my heart that y'all are still playing this game. I miss it a lot

Join in and have some fun. Just build them decks, test them and give some feedback... There's nothing quite like playing jank on the ladder...

Yeah come back to us, Mowie666. We miss u

Ok everyone let’s see if we can crown a winner tonight, I got almost two hours to playtest the remaining three decks.

Round Two

Let’s start with Flakys Poppies... up against rank 3 epic gamer. He’s playing Golgari deathtouch. Went great for us, 2-0

Cucho next...rank 2. Kept a three lander with no white or black mana and only those kinds of spells, still won lol. 2-0

Nomad next...long game against rank 1 buttercup playing dimir eldrazi. I played control and eventually got off a gearhulk, getting to keep him and a massive bloodbriar on the board ftw. 2-0

All decks survive round 2. Onto round three..

Let’s go with Nomad again right after I do laundry...up against mono green delirium. Eventually won when I flipped Avacyn. 3-0

Cucho is next with Sac yo Tokens...

Barney’s games are like Russian Roulette. All these noobranks in the cylinder but sooner or later he’ll pull the trigger and BAM! R40 tryhard wrecks face.

Arrogant Gardener Magazine

Versus 1 - Loser! Against a jeskai deck stacked with removal and Gideon of the Stinkin’ Trials, I didn’t have a chance. Didn’t draw any answers, got a bit of a mana flood, and lost 0-20. You know how bad it hurts to lose to Gideon of the Trail Mix? Finishing: 37

Versus 2 - Victory! Tragic Arrogance and Avacyn were the real workhorses in this deck, alongside a lone, heroic Tireless Tracker. I didn’t know that you could pick the same thopter as both your opponent’s artifact and creature. Hardly seems fair. Finishing rank: 38

Versus 3 - Loser! My opponent dropped and was replaced with an AI on T2. We both got mana screwed, but he was better able to make use of his 3 mana than I was and, in the end, his Plague Beast was more than I could handle. Finishing rank: 37

Versus 4 - Loser! Tried to outrace an izzet Prowess deck, but kept getting my stupid Bloodbriar dispersed. Not able to level the playing field in time to save myself. Finishing rank: 36

Versus 5 - Loser! Unable to answer an orzhov tokens deck. At one point, I had to decide whether to Angelically purge an Snugglecopter or Thalia, Vampire Racist. I got rid of the copter, but Thalia making my stupid nonbasic lands come into play tapped really slowed me down, as did the tapped chumps. In the end, I was beaten 27 to nothing. Finishing rank: 35

At 1-4, this deck is not looking like a strong contender for the championship.

What?? I’m 3-0 with that thing! This pilot is a retardid persun.

Cucho, your 3rd game was a squeaker. I’m against a rank 1 so I decide to be liberal with my mulligan and keep a two lander with three annointed priests and a couple of three drops. I’m 14 cards deep and haven’t found that third land yet but my three priests are holding back a horde of Orzhov lifegain allies. Then he drops Gideon and it’s the good one too . What’s this rank 1’s story?! So now I need to be very careful. I miracle too deck Yaheeni and now the rank 1 ‘a true nature shows. A bunch of awful blocks that ultimate result in my killing Gideon but I’m at 8 life and he has fliers and Retreat from Haggard so I’m in serious danger of a loss. I got triple Zbloodbriar on the board and one of them is massive, he eventually decides to start keeping blockers and that’s his downfall. If he had kept up pressure, it would have been scary for me. Win 3-0

Only Flaky Poppies left this round...against a tough black deck but he plays Koth and I win . 3-0

Round 4!

Flaky...omg photo finish against UGW Control. He’s countering stuff but I’m playing around it like a champ. I get a Bloodbriar to stick with a Snek and then use Evo leap and Blisterpods to wear him down, he drops two huge creatures at 9 mana but he tossed a split spell in my yard which allows me to LURE the Blisterpods ftw. 4-0!

Ok I’m stopping for the night there. Will play hopefully more tomorrow but I’m picking up a new car and will want to read the owners manual cuz I’m like that.

Cucho and Nomad need to both win to move to round four ce with Flaky

Hey, gratz on the new car. What did you get?



It took a while but that just sunk in. He's like "oooh he's sacking stuff, I'll play Kothoped and draw a craptonne of cards!"
You're like "Sure!..."

Ouch! Soup crushing my dreams today.

Thanks Flaky, I got a Toyota Camry Hybrid. Going to be doing a ton more driving so I went for something super efficient, reliable and comfy.

Don’t fret Nomad, your deck is still alive with me and Barney’s got the caboose.

Elbriardraziramp

Versus 1 - Loser! Couldn’t outrace an orzhombies deck. Kept murdering my poor, innocent Bloodbriars. They never hurt anybody. They didn’t even get a chance! As a not of interest, I started off doing 8 damage with 2 Blisterpods over the starting stall where we both had 2 lands. Finishing rank: 34

Versus 2 - Loser! A rakdos vehicle/Hazoret the Pervert deck just wiped me out. Somehow struggled with mana despite having From Beyond in play. Finishing rank: 33

Versus 3 - Victory! T4, I drop an Annoying Procession. T5, an Eyeless Watcher and a Blisterpod, chumping the Blisterpod to Oketra the Prude, netting me 6 scions over the course of one turn. Thus, on T6, I gently lay down Ulamog, exiling Oketra and Kytheon. My Bloodbriar also went up by 6 counters in one shot. Finishing rank: 33

Versus 4 - Loser! What? Ramp vs. mono red aggro usually works out so well. Finishing rank: 32

Versus 5 - Victory! T6 Sandwurm Convergence? It got unmade in a fit of anguish, but then the opponent quit the sneaky way. In the end, Ulamog was the final nail in the coffin. Finishing rank: 34

I had high hopes for this one, and at 2-5, it’s technically 100% better than the last one!

I started with your deck a few days ago but then got sidetracked with Diablo. Just finished game 5 this morning.

Game 1 vs Mono U Airforce (win!):
I was cautious of counterspells but they never appeared. Instead he built an army of flyers and kept my Tracker tapped with Take Into Custody. I let him get out Curator and the 5/3 Sphinx before chimping with Bygone and then Tragic Arrogance, keeping Tracker. He locks Tracker down with an enchantment but I still am getting mad card advantage off the clues and eventually beat him down.

Game 2 vs Mono G Goodstuff (win!):
He’s first and gets double Tracker, some other meaty beater (can’t remember what), and Rikshar’s Exp into Big Nissa. Am I intimidated? No! I set up nicely with an early Blisterpod, Primal Druid, Bloodbriar, and my own Tracker and finally I punish him for his Tragic Arrogance, clearing out a bevvy of clues and all of his creatures except for the Nissa’d manland which ends up chumping Briar to keep Nissa alive. We both rebuild into a stalemate for a while. I manage to take out his Nissa with Prepare/Fight clearing a fatty and gaining me mad life (>40) but he lays out a wide board and plays flip-Nissa and another Rikshars. I drop Ajani and use him to keep up with the draws and pick off a few especially dangerous threats. The stalemate lasts till he is at 11 cards left in lib before I finally get wide enough to alpha strike all 30something of his life with Decimator.

Game 3 vs UGC Ramp (Win!):
Another lovely curve with Blister, Druid, Bloodbriar, and Mysteries. Then he has to ruin things and Baral’s Exp all my creeps, clearing a path for his Tracker and Druid of the Cowl and laying down a Thoughtknot to rip Gisela out of my hand. Fine. Wanna play hardball? We can play hardball! I plonk my junk back down and Heart-of-the-Cards up an Arrogance, putting him on the defensive. After that, he ramps and I flood but my ever growing Briar keeps eating his board. He gets another Thoughtknot and eats Eldritch Evo and then plays Altered Eggo on it and tries to Eggo my last card in hand but its just a land I decided to bluff with instead of playing (pro skillz, yo). I get a Selfless Spirit and start chipping him down with it while my Briar holds off his massive (dare I say presidential? Ooh! I DO dare!) Ego. Finally I get Prepare/Fight and see a way to hasten his demise but he senses his imminent dome and bugs the game by pulling some cheaty nonsense with Simic Nissa (casts her for zero or something?) and makes the game hang on my upkeep. I’m forced to close out the app and lose a rank but the game was mine so I’m counting it as a win.

Game 4 vs Mono W Vequip (Win!):
Another smooth curve with Druid holding off a Relic Seeker, Rec Sage taking out Aethersphere, and Mysteries setting up some card advantage and a ready supply of chumps. But opp had a monster hand and might have overwhelmed me had he not suddenly been replaced by AI. As it was, I got stuck for a while having to Purge an equip to keep his Lone Rider from getting big and then having to deal with double Smuggies! But nothing messes with the AI quite like vehicles and while it’s derping around I get Briar online and take the offensive. It takes a while but I grind his board down and eventually win.

Game 5 Rematch (Win!):
Same guy, same deck, only this time he doesn’t get ousted by the AI. I’m having trouble remembering exactly how this game went, which is a pity because it was hella close. I made some egregious errors tho (I played a Wilds T4 planning to crack it during combat to pump Briar but end up getting distracted and forgetting to crack it by eot which slows me down. And then make the same mistake next turn!). He doesn’t mess around either with Orchid and Topan on T3 and Fleetweel T4. My self inflicted mana issues give him a big head start and his hoard of weenies with a Throne of the God-Pharaoh take me to 2 before I stabilize (no Arrogance this time, either - just smart blocks and a pair of Purges). But eventually i pull his teeth and leave him with just a Topan and Sram which Avacyn flips out on, clearing the way for a really big Briar to finish the job.

5 for 5! Well done, Nomad!

My only complaint with the build is that it was really hard to get Briar past the chumpers. Even after Arrogance, it seemed like I’d end up in stalemates while waiting for Decimator or something to punch through. Rhonas would have been a delicious Eldritch Evo target. The perfect upgrade to a Blisterpod!

Arrogance and Prepare/Fight were just the tech this deck needed and never disappointed. Arrogance especially is such a brutal card to play and one I never seem to use so extra fun for the novelty.

I’m too poor to even think about a new car but if I could, I’d go hybrid. They’ll prolly be illegal here in another year or so. That said, I’d want an American built car. Japanese vehicles are great quality but damned if they believe in adequate legroom for anyone over 6’ tall. Even our Sienna won’t let me put the driver seat back far enough!

Yeah im very average height so the Camry should be fine. But my Forestor was really tall so this might require some getting used to. I’m worried I’ll be throwing out my neck a lot when I get down into the car. Good choice with the Sienna

I don’t mind the briars getting chumped cuz there’s an inevitability to it that I like. Rhonas gets the damage through but my favourite is Ysheeni gets bigger as the chumps die off.

Im realizing that if I don’t draw a sac outlet , I’m in big trouble

Im not judging everyone yet but I know I’m awarding DCG and Haven with 0.5 points each

Haven’s build is next. I’m a little apprehensive - all those 4 mana enchantments! If it gets going it will be obscene but God help you if the opp is playing Nahiri.

Game 0 vs AI (Win!):
Its a bit of a slow roll but the game was never remotely in doubt.

Game 1 vs Boros Midrange (Lose!):
I’m first and mull two Islands and a Wilds and a bunch of expensive spells into 2 Wilds, Falls, Druid, and a bunch of expensive spells (Drowner, Ulamog, and Decimator, of course). Opp plays tapland, Thalia’s Lieutenant, Hanweir Garrison. I play Falls, Wilds, Druid and land, and Briar with Wilds. Opp swings with Hanweir and Lieutenant spawning tokens that pump Lieutenant. I suspect a combat trick so I double block Hanweir. Sure enough, he plays Tenacity, untaping all, giving them +1/+1 and lifelink. I crack Wilds to pump Briar so I still kill Hanweir and even keep my creeps because he assigned Briar first. I play Tracker and drop a land. He Declares my Tracker Shall Be a Clue and swings with Lieutenant. I’m worried but I block it with just Briar (mistake). He gives Lieutenant a Rush of Adrenaline and not even sacking a clue can pump Briar strong enough to kill (or durvive) that officer. I play Drowner. He passes. I play From Beyond and Skyspawner. He drops Avacyn at my eot. I’ve got just enough mana to Ulamog as is and will be getting a token off From Beyond but only if he doesn’t flip Avacyn. I decide to sac a token to tap his Lieutenant. He swings with Avacyn and I chump with Skyspawner. Then he drops Nahiri. Codspammit! There goes From Beyond and my token. Maybe I’ll hit a land? Nope. Bounty. Perfect. I crack my clue from Declaration and get a Druid. I play it but I’m in trouble. I don’t have enough life to tank a full hit from him and can’t block without losing a creep or killing one of his creeps and flipping Avacyn so I sac a token to tap his Lieutenant again and pray for a land next turn. He smacks me with Avacyn and plays Lone Rider and Smoldering Werewolf and kills my last Drazi token and any hope of pulling a comeback. I top another From Beyond anyway so its moot. I drop Decimator and swing for lols and die on the counterattack.

Game 2 vs Golgari Goodstuff (Win!):
First with 3 land (all colors) a Blister, Bounty, Procession, and Ulamog. It’s a little risky but I keep. I play Blister and then top a land and play it. Opp plays tapland and then Smuggie. I top Leap and play it with a 3rd land. Opp plays flip-Nissa and crews. I top Eyeless watcher and play Procession. Opp plays Tracker and swings with Smug and Nissa. I chump Nissa and get a pair of tokens. I top Wail and play Watcher. Ulamog next turn if he cand clear at least one token! He plays Tracker #2 land, and a Visionary and swings with Smug. Ulamog eating Nissa and Smug and he quits. I play it out because he has a big hand and lots of clues but the clues just deplete his library to whete I only need to swing twice with Ulamog and he cant give his Trackers trample so I’m able to commit Ulamog and chump with weenies.

Game 3 vs Dimir Control (Win!):
Opp gets swapped for AI immediately but I don’t know if it woulda mattered. In Dimir you expect to see some very problematic cards for this build like Lili, Yahenni’s Exp., and Languish. Instead I see baby-Jace, a few spot removals and a Baral’s Exp that the AI didn’t time very well. It took a while to mount any pressure other than a lone Tracker but the opponent wasn’t doing much either. Eventually I get all the pieces to go nuts and overrun him. Control? Psh. More like Can’trol!

Game 4 vs Mono Black Aggro (Lose!):
I had a lovely curve with 3 lands, Pod, Leap, Briar, and Procession. I even hit my 4th land on the first draw. But opp plays Aetherborn, Liliana, and then Scrounger+Asylum Visitor. Lili is the big problem. I got nothing for her and his wide spread of beaters has me on the defensive before I can get any traction. IRL forced me to quit the game instead of seeing it to its conclusion but there was no way I could have stopped Lili from ulting or raced the token army afterwards so I’m calling it a loss.

Game 5 vs Temur Energy (Lose!):
Longest, most excruciating loss to manascrew ever. I mull a hand with 2 non green land and a whole bunch of green cards into a hand with Forest, Harbor, Druid, 2 Skyspawner, Drowner, and Tamiyo. I think I hit my 3rd land turn 5 or 6 (Leap, Briar, Ulamog, Wail, another 2 Druids, etc.). I had to give up my first Skyspawner/drazi token to take down his T2 Brawler. After that I play Briar and my opp goes ultra cautious and just starts pinging me with a Virtuoso spawned copter and a single Longtusk that I’m forced to keep sacking Druids to. A long time later, he has 3 copters, Hydra, 2 Longtusks, Virtuoso, Rec Sage (took out my Leap) and a few manlands and lots of mana vs my Briar (6/7) a single Druid, Labyrinth Guardian, and Tamiyo (which I’d tapped 2 of the copters with) and I’m at 4 life. THATS when he goes all in. Blech.

This deck looked ambitious to me on paper and it felt ambitious when I played it. Really fun if you can build up but without any interaction and with so many pricy enabler cards, it’s just hard to get there.