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#46
Reports / Red Deck Wins (sometimes)
08-11-2012, 01:48:56 AM
Hi Guys,

I want to share some experiences I made in the last weeks with one of the most infamous and unloved decks to play against - RDW.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a video from Tabris column and saw a game in which RDW got totally destroyed by a Bant deck after having a premium start with Black Vise and removal and some aggressive dudes. The one big thing that breaks RDW in half is Thragtusk and I thought something like: “Ok if every GW based deck starts to run this next to Kitchen Finks, Scavenging Ooze,  Restoration Angel,  Natural Order and Eladamri’s Call,  RDW will lose all of his competitiveness.”  So I put the good old Mono Red deck further away than it even was at that time.

Some weeks later after I played a lot of games with many other decks the TNM in Karlsruhe happened and was held on Thursday instead of Tuesday. So I and two other players from the Mannheim Highlander Community decided to hit the road and aim for glory. Because I wasn’t satisfied with my actual brew I decided to give RDW one last try.

Here is the decklist for that tournament :

24 Mountain
1 Ghitu Encampment
1 Wasteland
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Shivan Gorge
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Mutavault
1 Rishadan Port
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mox Diamond

1 Goblin Guide
1 Stromkirk Noble
1 Frenzied Goblin
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Reckless Waif
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Vexing Devil
1 Hellspark Elemental
1 Stigma Lasher
1 Stormblood Berserker
1 Ember Hauler
1 Keldon Marauders
1 Slith Firewalker
1 Blood Knight
1 Ash Zealot
1 Kiln Fiend
1 Chandra's Phoenix
1 Chandra's Spitfire
1 Hell's Thunder
1 Ball Lightning
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Blistering Firecat
1 Keldon Champion
1 Archwing Dragon

1 Lava Spike
1 Lava Dart
1 Rolling Earthquake
1 Chain Lightning
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Burst Lightning
1 Forked Bolt
1 Firebolt
1 Incinerate
1 Magma Jet
1 Sudden Shock
1 Price of Progress
1 Fire Ambush
1 Chain of Plasma
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Flame Rift
1 Arc Trail
1 Searing Spear
1 Searing Blaze
1 Smash to Smithereens
1 Flame Javelin
1 Rhystic Lightning
1 Rift Bolt
1 Char
1 Acidic Soil
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Molten Rain
1 Pillage
1 Pulse of the Forge
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Browbeat
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Ruination
1 Fireblast
1 Thunderous Wrath

1 Black Vise
1 Shrine of Burning Rage
1 Ankh of Mishra
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Blood Moon
1 Koth of the Hammer

I didn’t take notes and don’t remember everything but I will try to …

18.10.12 TNM Karlsruhe

Round 1: Vazdru  (UB Control feat Buried Alive Combo) – die roll: me

G1: I simply lost to the mulligan and was no match for him.
G2: I had a really fast hand and Stigma Lasher hit him in turn 3 so I was safe from lifegain recovery.
G3: Superflood vs. Superscrew ended with the happy outcome for me. 

1:0 (2:1)

Round 2: Dennis (Bant) – die roll: Dennis

G1: He overpowered me with t1 mana dude + mental misstep, t2 big guy, t3 Elspeth, Knight Errant and in the end a daze for my lethal Price of progress.
G2 and G3 I don’t remember the games well but if I am right one of them was very close and the other one was dominated by Blood Moon.

2:0 (4:2)

Round 3: Sven (RUG) – die roll: Sven

G1: His tempo counter + some dudes finish me off.
G2: Sorry, no memory
G3: Magus of the Moon destroyed his manabase and Sulfuric Vortex added the clock.

3:0 (6:3)

So I surprisingly got to the “final”

Round 4: Goblinpiledriver (5c Aggro) – dice roll: GP

G1: He started with land go and I did the same way. Turn two again land go from him. I drop Rishadan Port and tapped one of his lands during upkeep so he still had nothing to play except a land. My Blood Moon hit the board for the instant win.
G2: He started with a tapped Stomping Ground and said go. I dropped Mutavault + Mox Diamand for t1 Ankh of Mishra. He took five damage from his Flooded Strand to play Stoneforge Mystic. Shrine of the Burning Rage followed by Goblin Guide added some more pressure. He played land +Brindle Boar and decided to attack with both of his creatures what I think was wrong. I played another land and attacked with Guide + Mutavault beating him to seven.  He refused to make any moves on his turn so the eot Price of Progress put him down to 1 life and made the shrine count more than lethal.

4:0 (8:6)

The deck did much better than expected. The metagame in Karlsruhe wasn’t flooded with the omnipresent GWu+X Archetype but was still in multicolored hands. Seven out of thirteen decks contained at least three colors which in the end enabled the nonbasic hate of RDW pretty good.

Two weeks later I had some personal stuff to do in Thüringen and with Fortuna’s help the first qualifier for the “Win a Dual" series of the Comic Attack Erfurt fell on the same date. So after a long time I participated in a highlander tournament at the place I once started playing highlander. The decklist got only one change. Browbeat didn’t made the cut and was replaced by Rakdos Cackler.

01.11.12 “Win a Dual" Qualifier Erfurt

Round 1: Roy (Esper Control) – die roll: Roy

G1: I didn’t see much of his deck because he was colorscrewed and after Ruination superscrewed.
G2: He had some counters and removal but after Ruination again my dudes finish him off.

5:0 (10:6)

Round 2: Max (4C Goodstuff) – die roll: me

G1: He was flooded and I burned him out shortly before he could finish me off.
G2: He had a mediocre start again while I have Tattermunge Maniac and Mishra’s Factory. He stabilized with Green Sun’s Zenith on Kitchen Finks but the topdecked Price of Progress + Incinerate + Fireblast were enough to bring him down from ten to zero.

6:0 (12:6)

Round 3: Justus (UWR  feat. Kiki Jiki) – die roll: Justus

G1: T1 Goblin Guide + t2 Ankh of Mishra = scoop
G2:  I don’t remember much but he has some counter + removal but in the end not enough pressure on his own side to win so I was able to finish him just in time.

7:0 (14:6)

Round 4: Thomas (UWR Tempo) – die roll: Thomas

G1: I believe he starts with t1 mox diamond + Island and a cantrip but I am absolutely not sure about this game. All I know is that I missed the point to kill his magus just because I thought it would be enough to go straight to the head and in the end I lost with my opponent on 1 life.
G2: I start with t1 Blackvise. He played a cantrip in his turn letting him stay on seven hand cards. Next turn I played Hellspark Elemental but he had drawn Force of Will to destroy all of my pressure at once. A way to long fight starts but in the end I was able to bring him to zero.
G3: A good start for both players with very tight plays on both sides, but in the end Shrine of the Burning Rage was the MVP in this game.

8:0 (16:7)

The second strike. Again I got the feeling that the local metagame wasn’t prepared for RDW. By watching the other games (yeah RDW matches are extremely fast) I have seen a lot of tempodecks with 3 to 5 colors. I can’t say that for sure because I didn’t see everyone’s deck, but I believe there was only one other deck with less than 3 colors.

Two days later we had the monthly Highlander Tournament in the Wizard’s Well Mannheim. After testing against Maqi and his new Oath-Combo-Hybrid build and the fact that RDW doesn’t stand a chance against his deck I wasn’t sure about playing monored again.  But on the other hand the deck went so well the last two times that it wouldn’t make sense not to try it. The most important thing would be to dodge Maqi and his new brew. The deck itself doesn’t change since Erfurt.

03.11.12 Wizard’s Well Mannheim

Round 1: Maqi …did anyone expect someone else at this point? After a short thinking about why this jesus guy hates me that much justice strikes back and it turns out he is playing a different deck.

Maqi (5C Goodstuff) – die roll: Maqi

G1: He had a slow start while I wasn’t able to find a third land in early turns. But after finding it, Blood Moon makes his mana base useless und Price of Progress hits him for lethal.
G2: His first turn Aether Vial was golden against my little guys and his Voices from the Void hit for full five.
G3: I started with Tattermunge Maniac while he played a land and said go. On my turn I played land attack go.  He decides to play Three Visits for basic Forest and dropped Birds of Paradise. I killed his BIrds with Searing Blaze after playing a land and attacked him down to 12. Maqi uses his turn to play Coalition Relic that totally ruined my Ruination plan. I dropped Barbarian Ring and still played Ruination leaving us both on three mana. Eot he puts a counter on his relic and uses the extra mana to play Vendilion Clique stripping me of Incinerate and suspending an Ancestral Visions. Next turn Maniac traded with clique and I put Kiln Fiend and Frenzied Goblin on the board, hoping to bring him down to zero next turn with the Sudden Shock in my hand. Goodstuff did what Goodstuff is known for. Demonic Tutor into Arc Trail and the game was totally open at this point. I drew the anti joker Mox Diamand and he played Batterskull. That seemed to be the end for me but Flame Javelin bought some time again. In his turn he played a Sylvan Library and took back Batterskull while I did’t draw the right business or a land, still sitting on three Mana unable to play all of my hand for the final blow. He hit me with Batterskull bringing him back to nine life. Afterwards he played Snapcaster Mage for Demonic again and played the tutored Spellskite. I responded with Brimestone Volley putting him to six. My only hand card left was Burst Lightning and he was tapped out. What could win a game at this point?
Right, Price of Progress from the top plus Burst Lightning for exact six damgage! What an intense game.

9:0 ( 18:8 )

Round 2: Giuseppe (RUG Scapeshift) – die roll: Giuseppe

G1: A good start with Kiln Fiend and a golden Pillage seals my victory by preventing him from going off with the lethal Scapeshift just in time.
G2: His second turn Wall of Roots bought him enough time to play Primal Command for seven life and Thragtusk. And after Natural Order into Titan the game was over.
G3: I spoiled into the absolute on-the-play-nutz with Black Vise and Ankh of Mishra so he scooped turn two.

10:0 (20:9)

Round 3: Stephan Schwarz (UW Control) – die roll: Stephan

G1: Turn one Mox Diamand + Mutavault and an unleashed Rakdos Cackler followed by Rishadan Port were enough to win before he could start to fight back.
G2:  I had a mediocre start and was screwed on two lands until turn 8-9 so Kitchen Finks  and Phyrexian Metamorph into Kitchen finks 2.0 followed by Wrath of God into another two Kitchen Finks brought him the win.
G3: I had a good hand with Goblin Guide, Rakdos Cackler, Lightning Bolt, a card I don’t remember and three lands but my deck decided to turn against me. After a quick beating he was able to stabilize with Wrath followed by Stoneforge Mystic finding Batterskull while all I draw was lands, more lands and Ankh of Mishra.

So I finally lost due to the fact that even RDW can have bad draws... but that’s how magic is. And at least it was an innovative deck that beat me.

10:1 ( 21:11 )

Round 4: Goblinpiledriver ( 5C Aggro ) – die roll: GP

G1: He Started with a tapped Temple Garden. I dropped Goblin Guide to start the beat down. His first play was Skyshroud Elite followed by Loam Lion. I burned his lion and attacked again. He wanted to stabilize with Lotus Cobra plus Grim Lavamancer. Perfect time to draw Rolling Earthquake and after I violated his side of the board Goblin Guide hit again. He still didn’t have enough and tried to come back but in the end all I needed was waiting till Price of Progress got lethal - and so it happened.
G2: I had a slow Hand and he used his second turn Sylvan Library to find everything he needed. His premium move was Bloodbraid Elf into Shardless Agent into Tribal Flames followed by Elspeth, Knight Errant one turn later.
G3: Close game with dudes and removal on both sides. Vithian Renegades prevented him from getting burned by my heavy loaded Shrine of the Burning Rage. He filled the board with some other creatures to set up the final attack but again MVP Price of Progress punished him for playing with a five colored mana base by hitting him for eight damage leaving only two life points left. Lava Spike from the top burned him out.

11:1 ( 23:12)

In the end I got second place and barely missed the hatrick but the performance of the deck was still good. The meta was full of GW(u) based decks. The UW Control that beat me in round 3 and finished on first place was the only other deck with less than three colors.


The resume:

RDW is still a competitive deck that can beat nearly everything. Especially in an unprepared meta it can be extreme brutal with its mix of speed and nonbasic hate. Price of Progress as a card is far beyond balanced. I didn’t lose a single match when it resolved and the one time where it was countered it would have been lethal in a game that was actually totally dominated by my opponent.

Regardless to the fact that I totally suck at die rolling it was a nice experience to play in three different cities and so three different submetas. All in all 3C+ decks are the most played around. But there are still differences. For example the meta in Erfurt is more dominated by tempodecks while in Mannheim most of the decks are more goodstuff oriented.

I hope you liked this report. Feel free to comment on the deck or on something else, that I said in this report. I would be glad to hear your thoughts. Thx and see you all soon!
#47
Reports / Re: Dortmund 03.11.2012
07-11-2012, 09:27:38 AM
#48
12 Players - 4 rounds of swiss

1_____Schwarz, Stephan___10 pts__UW Control
2_____Lehmann, Ronald_____9 pts__RDW
3_____Nötzel, Sebastian____9 pts__Dark Bant
4_____Iacono, Giuseppe____7 pts__RUG Scapeshift
5_____Günzel, Achim_______7 pts__4C Blood Midrange
6_____Korbel, Jochen______6 pts__5C Aggro
7_____Gölz, Markus________6 pts__Pattern Rector
8_____Gerber, Christoph____6 pts__Bant Midrange
9_____Hoischen, Boris_____4 pts__RUG
10____Gandyra, Christian___3 pts__Bant
11____Sehovic, Sahin______3 pts__Bant
Drop__Stier, Thomas_____________5C-Goodstuff

Decklists online on
http://www.mtgpulse.com/event/11203#155705
#49
Lehmann / Ronald / Germany / 358198900
#50
Here are the final standings for our last tournament

1.  Schwarz, Stephan ______10 BUG Control
2.  Stief, Maximilian _______ 9 5c Aggro
3.  Zipprich, Gideon _______ 9 Naya Aggro
4.  Thomas, Alexander _____ 9 5c Goodstuff
5.  Ehrle, Phillip ___________ 7 Bant
6.  Hauck, Christian________ 7 4c Blood Midrange
7.  Guenzel, Achim ________ 6 Esper Control
8.  Rosenberger, Alexander _ 6 BUG Control
9.  Platz, Jens ____________ 6 Boros
10. Portleroy, Jan _________ 4 Esper Control
11. Lehmann, Ronald ______ 3 RDW
12. Nötzel, Sebastian ______ 3 BUG Control
13. Nowack, Jonathan ______ 0 GW Ramp

T3 Decklists can be found here:
http://highlanderforum.kilu.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3937

They will be added to mtgpulse as soon as possible
#51
40: hitman (UB Control) vs Cheiud (RG Beatz)

g1: He starts slow with without one/two drop. I had counter/bounce/removal for his creatures so he cant beat me fast. after Damnation I began to attack with Creeping Tar Pit and Mutavault. He get hands on Raging Ravine wich i have to jumpblock with Mutavault. Yawgmoths will brought back Wasteland. I have lethal on board with tar pit and 5 life while he has 0 hand cards but he draws Violent Ouburst and find Price of Progress so we are both down to zero.

0-0-1

g2: He starts with Arbor Elf wich got countered by Mental Misstep before I wasted his Taiga. Then he played Skyshroud elite followed by Treetop Village and start beatdown. I dont remeber all of this game but i know that Interdict and Venser bought me some time while his Horned Kavu got taken by Treachery and Treetop Village get handled by Trinked Mage (Pithing Needle). I had some beatdown with his kavu and my Mutavault before he puts Sarkhan Vol on the table. Trinked mage jumps the restolen kavu and Mutavault kills Sarkhan. I had Dismember for his last critter and won with Mutavault + kavu.

1-0-1

g3: He starts without one drop but played t2 Stormblood Berserker without bloodthirst. I had t1 sensei's. in turn 3 he played Boggart Ram Gang and starts the beatz. I played Maze of Ith but he has Blood Moon. my life goes down and down before played Fact or Fiction for 3 lands + Wurmcoil Engine + Mana Leak. He was screwed on 3 lands so he make one pile with Mana Leak and another pile with the rest. I take the bigger pile. Next turn i played Bribery for Inferno Titan and killed ramp gang. Wurmcoil Engine gets handled by ancient grudge + hull breach. He didnt found his fourth land or a lightning bolt so Inferno Titan kills him in the end.

2-0-1
ggs
#52
Here are the results of our last tournament

1.____Ziesche, Sebastian ______15___Bant
2.____Hauck, Christian ________12___4C-Blood-Aggro
3.____Hauck, Manuel  ________10___Bg-Control
4.____Guenzel, Achim ________10___Bant
5.____Leuck, Marc ___________10___5C-Goodstuff
6.____Stahl, Gerry ____________9___RGu-Aggro feat. Twin-Combo
7.____Kroll, Tobias ____________9___4C-Goodstuff
8.____Thomas, Alexander ______7___4C-Blood-Aggro
9.____Rosenberger, Alexander __7___UW-Control
10.___Lehmann, Ronald  _______6___Rock
11.___Stier, Thomas  __________6___4C-Blood-Toolbox
12.___Flimkert, Sven  __________6___RUG-Midrange
13.___Dettling, Jan  ___________6___RDW
14.___Kunz, Patrick  ___________3___Pattern-Rector
drop__Meister, Yannick _____________UB-Reanimator
drop__Iacono, Giuseppe _____________Jund
drop__Menge-Nebie, Daniela _________Elves

T4 Decklists are online in our forum:
http://highlanderforum.kilu.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3925&p=4495#p4495
#53
Lehmann / Ronald / Germany / 358198900
#54
Final Standings after 5 Rounds:

1. ___ Lehmann, Ronald ______ 13 __ Izzet-Wildfire-Control
2. ___ Stief, Maximilian ______ 12 __ 5c Aggro
3. ___ Beisteiner, Dennis _____ 12 __ 5c Aggro
4. ___ Wörner, Tobias _______ 10 __ Izzet-Counterburn-Control
5. ___ Korbel, Jochen ________ 10 __ 5c Aggro
6. ___ Stahl, Gerry __________ 10 __ Grixis Control
7. ___ Nötzel, Sebastian ______ 9 ___ bRant
8. ___ Grosmayer, Christian ___ 9 ___ RG Beatz
9. ___ Lauter, Alban _________ 9 ___ 5c Aggro
10. __ Dubbernell, Robin ______ 7 ___ Pattern Rector
11. __ Möske, Michael ________ 7 ___ 4c Goodstuff
12. __ Dettling, Jan __________ 6 ___ 5c Goodstuff
13. __ Florea, Dan ___________ 6 ___ RDW
14. __ Flinkert, Sven _________ 6 ___ Pattern Rector
15. __ Stadler, Florian ________ 6 ___ Naya Zoo
16. __ Lorenz, Andreas _______ 5 ___ Mono U Control
17. __ Übelacker, Lukas _______ 4 ___ BUG Control
18. __ Wolf, Tobias __________ 4 ___ Dark Bant
19. __ Thiemann, Kai _________ 3 ___ 4c Goodstuff
20. __ Hauck, Manuel _________ 3 ___ Bg Control
21. __ Hoischen, Boris ________ 0 ___ BUG Control
22. __ Guenzel, Achim ________ 0 ___ Bant

T6 Decklists are online in our Forum
http://highlanderforum.kilu.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=651

#55
I don't like it when i see a t8 with 8 birthing pods, 8 stoneforge mystic and no deck with less then 3 colors.

here some other facts:
3 out of the Top8 Decks contained Gifts Ungiven
7 out of the Top8 Decks contained Green Sun's Zenith 
8 out of the Top8 Decks contained Eladamri's Call
6 out of the Top8 Decks contained Elspeth Knight Errant
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Natural Order
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Demonic Tutor
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Sensei's Divining Top
3 out of the Top8 Decks contained Jace, the Mind Sculptor
#56
Here some facts from Mannheim 10.09.11

At first we have only 7 of the t8 lists (the missisng list was a 5C-Staxx-Oath build).
So if i am not sure i mark the cards with an (+).

1___Bant Control
2___RG Beatz
3___4C Toolbox Midrange
4___4C Aggro
5___5C Oath-Staxx
6___5C Aggro
7___Boros
8___5C Goodstuff


6 out of the Top8 Decks contained Elspeth, Knight Errant
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Birthing Pod
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Stonforge Mystic
1(+) out of the Top8 Decks contained Sensei´s Diving Top
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Eladamri´s Call
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Green Sun´s Zenith
2(+) out of the Top8 Decks contained Gifts Ungiven
2(+) out of the Top8 Decks contained Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 out of the Top8 Decks contained Ajani Vengeant
4 out of the Top8 Decks contained Aether Vial
5 out of the Top8 Decks contained Scavenging Ooze
4(+) out of the Top8 Decks contained Demonic Tutor
2(+) out of the Top8 Decks contained Mana Drain


i hope its helpful