So, after PT is it finally time for me and Kryder to get some love?
I haven't seen the decklists proper but have heard that Hawk/Pridemate tech is a thing.
Now, to everyone in the Discord channel asking why I'm running such a **** card.......

Sure.

Good work, Kryder.

Jerk off.

Would you prefer "Very good work, Kryder"?

Hawk/Pridemate tech is very good in the mirror, but even then it doesn't guarantee success of course (it lost in the Pro Tour finals against a deck without the new "tech"). I do like the general approach of the current white wheenie decks though, very low to the ground and can explode quickly in overwhelming damage with cards like Heroic Reinforcements or Pride of Conquerors. For some deck ideas: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/ ... nica#paper

Yes my friend, your kitties have been brought to center stage

Now we need to adapt to Arena and here's a sideboarding guide just released:
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/white-weenie-sideboarding-guide/

I don't know who's who in the pro scene but writing for CFB I give him some credit. If we condense all the relevant matchups we apparently want 4x Experimental Frenzy and a card I've never owned.. 4x Baffling End. Biggest problem with that is that the latter is a blank vs Control.

I wonder why he removes little kitty from the deck against RDW. Shouldn't he keep all the lifegain he can?

"Dies to Chainwhirler" would be the obvious reason. That and the fact that since Chainwhirler cleans up all the x/1's, you're not as likely to have 3 creatures in play.

Yeah, he says that he basically folds to Chainwhirler. But that may not be good enough for Arena. Tajic is good against Chainwhirler. But when you're on the draw, he comes down later than Chainwhirler. Plus we'd have to make room for him. I do think, we need to adjust for the RDW-swarm though. Can't just go into CE queues auto-folding to the most prominent matchup. I mean, I can, but the results are annoying.

Tajic might be good against Chainwhirler but I don't see it as good vs. monored. It trades down on mana vs. Shock and Lightning Strike.

If you're concerned about the monored matchup, R/W aggro might not be the deck to play. I suppose you could try tweaking it a bit - raise the curve, add more pump effects like Radiant Destiny or simply run bigger creatures (all the way up to Lyra), but you'd not be a R/W aggro deck anymore then.

In a perfect world, there are better solutions, yes.

But here are my constraints, which you should be familiar with as a F2P/$5 guy yourself:

I don't have the cards for just any deck. What I have (by chance) are the 8 rare Boros lands, so this is the meta deck I can get nearest to.
Lyra eludes me since forever.
I have to be concerned about the RDW matchup for it is everywhere - so far 14/43 matches with this deck. Arena meta is vastly different than the PT.

Chainwhirler does hurt this deck, granted, but I think I've been burnt way worse with Ritual of Soot. I don't see it as much but its impact leaves a lasting impression. The kitties are actually something I would consider a feint in a way. If you have them... say Hawk and Pridemate and a couple of mana in hand at draw, of course you start playing them because there's a really good chance you can make it out of burn range quick especially if one of my four Marshals show up. There is however a little versatility in the deck (as versatile as a mono deck can be) and the Pridemates aren't even needed many times and do the job of drawing removal away from what otherwise would be waiting for more value creatures. This fact has been made very plain to me by also having my Memefinite deck. It's basically the same deck with Paladins taking the 2 cmc spot in place of the Pridemates and I'm having really strong games with that deck without constantly being able to pull off the combo.

I spent for 2 Lyra's and actually won one ICR. Respendent, History and Shalai is where I burnt most of the wildcards building this.
I've only spent a total of $25 on the game and really don't have plans on spending much more if any, especially with the holidays coming up.

Why would you play less during the holidays?

Here's an updated score-sheet for the deck version I posted before:



I just finished 3 consecutive Constructed Events at 7-1, 7-2 and 7-2. Losses 3x RDW and the first two Golgari. Both had Finality, though the second didn't have to play it after playing Doom Whisperer.

Amazing, and I haven't hit 7 wins for days.

What are you playing Banedon? I reach 6-7 wins almost every run with different decks.

Monoblue ... I have >50% win rate, but haven't hit 7 wins for a while (until my last run when I went 7-1). I imagine a significant part of it comes down to internal variance with monoblue. Being on the draw against monored for example is practically an auto-loss. Monoblue doesn't feel like a deck that you can outplay your opponent with. Or maybe I'm just a bad player, of course.

Nah, don't worry. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I didn't mean to just win yesterday but to collect data and adapt the deck. But don't fix what ain't broken I guess.

edit: I don't think I agree on the lack of "outplay"-potential with mono blue. Tempo is a rather complex concept. But take this with a grain of salt for I don't play the deck.

@Auunj: Are those multiple decks all tuned against RDW? I can't imagine those records with a deck that has a natural deficit against that. I see you posting a lot on Golgari, which is plausible with a full WGW package. But which other deck has >50% vs RDW?

I have a very good record with Golgari against RDW, but I'm playing it totally different then the tournament decks with a lot of chumps, draw, walkers and instant removal. But losses happen from time to time, you can't do much on the draw without a lot of draw, unless you gimp yourself in other matchups with **** spells like moment of craving.

Also played some mono-white yesterday and won vs 3 of 3 RDW I faced. I used the Loxodon version which won the PT. Deck finished 6-3 in the end, but losses were vs a mirror where I drew very bad, one jeskai control which managed to wipe me a few times and 1 other I can't remember.

That's good. Keep us updated how that evolves. My own record vs RDW has improved too, but it's still a matchup I consider unwinnable multiple times a night. When all they play is Lavarunners and Viashinos, sure, no problem. But Chainwhirler and Phoenix are major PITAs.

Also, contrary to the sideboarding guide, I feel in a better position racing RDW instead of controlling them. Haven't tried yet, but given the meta, Tocatli might be a good inclusion to deny Chainwhirler collateral (on top of improving the Golgari matchup). He's rare though and I only have one.

btw. what tracker do you use? Looks nice.