Chris Ingersoll (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} vyolynce) wrote in vienneau, |
I feel your pain.
I tried my "no red" plan last night and actually cobbled together a first-round win with an almost unheard-of mono-blue deck filled with morphs (2 Parasites, 2 Seers, a Mawcor, and a Serpent), Suspend guys (Ephemeron, a pair of Oddities, and Aeon Chronicler), evasion bears (2 Gosammers, a Drifter) and combo goodness (Acid, Stalker, Snapback... which were all in my opening hand for Game 2 of Round 1) -- plus a Tidewalker, just because I could (I cast him once, as a 6/6). As a caveat, I also managed to pick up a PAIR of Might Slivers, so I'm guessing there wasn't too much quality competition (or else I caught them just in time after passing a Gemhide or two). On a related note, I play the 4322s, but that doesn't stop me from sitting across from Hungarians with 1800+ ratings on a regular basis. Fortunately tonight I'm among my mid-1600 peers as far as I can tell.
Anyway, I manage to survive the first round, so at least I'm getting something out of this after being blanked in my last two outings, and my ability to crack Psionic Blast, Flagstones, and Shivan Wumpus (among other rare drafts) will probably take care of the rest if I need it. I trade a pair of games with my second-round opponent, cracking jokes with each other in a very friendly environment -- after I lay what was probably my 5th morph creature, he starts blocking, commenting "They can't all be shapers, right?"; a turn later, I unmorph an unblocked Slipstream Serpent and comment "No, they can't be." On to game three, and I get a pretty good starting hand, filled with morphs but sadly none of my suspend guys to play before them. Unfortunately, he's off to the races right at the outset and I seem to be having trouble finding a 5th land to hit my Aeon Chronicler or Serra Sphinx, having already Acid/Stalkered his Looter over the course of two turns (he discarded his Cloudchaser Kestrel -- which was his game one answer to my dropping both Phantasms; yeah, those got boarded out quick).
He beats some more, and I still fail to draw my 5th land.
He plays the Lightning Angel I almost took (I don't remember what I picked over it, but there was no way I'd be able to cast her reliably); I look at the five-mana Serra Sphinx in my hand with disdain as I have to resort to Psiblasting Ms. America to stave off the beats.
He continues neutralizing my morphs and chipping away at my life total, and all I can manage is yet another morph dude.
He plays Stingscourger (with enough up to pay his echo next turn), empties my board, and knocks me to two with his Benalish Cavalry that has been on the board since turn 2 thanks to me being unable to even unmorph one of my Parasites.
I concede.
My fifth land was still five cards away.
I love this game. :P
I tried my "no red" plan last night and actually cobbled together a first-round win with an almost unheard-of mono-blue deck filled with morphs (2 Parasites, 2 Seers, a Mawcor, and a Serpent), Suspend guys (Ephemeron, a pair of Oddities, and Aeon Chronicler), evasion bears (2 Gosammers, a Drifter) and combo goodness (Acid, Stalker, Snapback... which were all in my opening hand for Game 2 of Round 1) -- plus a Tidewalker, just because I could (I cast him once, as a 6/6). As a caveat, I also managed to pick up a PAIR of Might Slivers, so I'm guessing there wasn't too much quality competition (or else I caught them just in time after passing a Gemhide or two). On a related note, I play the 4322s, but that doesn't stop me from sitting across from Hungarians with 1800+ ratings on a regular basis. Fortunately tonight I'm among my mid-1600 peers as far as I can tell.
Anyway, I manage to survive the first round, so at least I'm getting something out of this after being blanked in my last two outings, and my ability to crack Psionic Blast, Flagstones, and Shivan Wumpus (among other rare drafts) will probably take care of the rest if I need it. I trade a pair of games with my second-round opponent, cracking jokes with each other in a very friendly environment -- after I lay what was probably my 5th morph creature, he starts blocking, commenting "They can't all be shapers, right?"; a turn later, I unmorph an unblocked Slipstream Serpent and comment "No, they can't be." On to game three, and I get a pretty good starting hand, filled with morphs but sadly none of my suspend guys to play before them. Unfortunately, he's off to the races right at the outset and I seem to be having trouble finding a 5th land to hit my Aeon Chronicler or Serra Sphinx, having already Acid/Stalkered his Looter over the course of two turns (he discarded his Cloudchaser Kestrel -- which was his game one answer to my dropping both Phantasms; yeah, those got boarded out quick).
He beats some more, and I still fail to draw my 5th land.
He plays the Lightning Angel I almost took (I don't remember what I picked over it, but there was no way I'd be able to cast her reliably); I look at the five-mana Serra Sphinx in my hand with disdain as I have to resort to Psiblasting Ms. America to stave off the beats.
He continues neutralizing my morphs and chipping away at my life total, and all I can manage is yet another morph dude.
He plays Stingscourger (with enough up to pay his echo next turn), empties my board, and knocks me to two with his Benalish Cavalry that has been on the board since turn 2 thanks to me being unable to even unmorph one of my Parasites.
I concede.
My fifth land was still five cards away.
I love this game. :P
