Dragons of Tarkir Game Day
Apr. 19th, 2015 06:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigertoyThis weekend is Game Day for the new magic set, when game stores everywhere host a tournament where you can win a nifty promotional card, in addition to other prizes. I was eager to participate, because I had the idea of combining some cards in powerful ways. I didn't think my deck would do well against serious players with serious competitive decks, but I hoped I'd be able to squeak into the top 8. And in a nutshell, that's what happened.
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Battlefield Thaumaturge
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Crucible of Fire
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Descent of the Dragons
4 Dragon Tempest
2 Dragonlord's Servant
2 Draconic Roar
1 Hour of Need
1 Lightning Shrieker
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Shockmaw Dragon
3 Stoke the Flames
4 Thinderbreak Regent
7 Island
13 Mountain
4 Temple of Epiphany
side:
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Barrage of Boulders
2 Crater's Claws
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Hour of Need
2 Peak Eruption
1 Spawn of Thraxes
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Temur Battle Rage
The inspiration for the deck is the combo of Dragon Tempest, Descent of the Dragons, Battlefield Thaumaturge, and at least 3 other creatures on board, easily provided by Hordeling Outburst. With a pat hand, it does 32 damage on turn 4. But that's a four card combo, so the rest of the deck is trying to have some game when the combo isn't there. Thunderbreak Regent is awesome; I'm convinced it's the best card in the set. I threw in a few other dragons and mostly red cards because I have them. Hour of Need is a substitute for Descent, not quite as good (since it makes Sphinxes instead of Dragons, and costs more for additional targets), but they still get haste from Dragon Tempest. 1 Rabblemaster because I only have 1 and they're stupidly expensive. I don't know the Standard meta well, but I thought that what I needed to worry about was real aggro that would get under me, which is why I had the Anger main board.
Round 1, I faced Geoff Chambers with a temur aggro deck. I lost game 1 to mana screw (mulled to 5, kept a bad hand rather than going down to 4, never cast a spell). Won game 2. He miscounted his mana and couldn't make a play he was planning on. It was close; he might have had it if he'd counted right. Then I got mashed in game 3. 0-1. Round 2, I faced Ben Kinney. He had an abzan deck intended to load the graveyard and use Rally the Ancestors getting back Gray Merchant. It didn't work very well for him; I beat him in 2. 1-1. Round 3, I faced Marshall Brennan. He was running red aggro splashing green for Atarka's Command and Become Immense. Game 1 was tight; I was down to 2 life, but managed to descent a bunch of dragons. Got there again game 2, 2-1. Going into round 4, I was locked into top 8 if I drew, but Peter Yeh declined my offer of a draw, and proceeded to win easily with blue/black control. So I was 2-2, but my tiebreaks were good enough that I was 7th overall (out of 16), so I got my shiny full art Thunderbreak Regent.
Since Wizards has expanded Game Day to Saturday and Sunday and is providing extra promo materials, there's a second event tomorrow at 6. If I can get back early enough from EFRC and not completely dead, I can try again. So I get to try to tune the deck a bit now that I've a little bit of experience with it.
Oh, and I never hit post on this when I wrote this last night.
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Battlefield Thaumaturge
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Crucible of Fire
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Descent of the Dragons
4 Dragon Tempest
2 Dragonlord's Servant
2 Draconic Roar
1 Hour of Need
1 Lightning Shrieker
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Shockmaw Dragon
3 Stoke the Flames
4 Thinderbreak Regent
7 Island
13 Mountain
4 Temple of Epiphany
side:
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Barrage of Boulders
2 Crater's Claws
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Hour of Need
2 Peak Eruption
1 Spawn of Thraxes
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Temur Battle Rage
The inspiration for the deck is the combo of Dragon Tempest, Descent of the Dragons, Battlefield Thaumaturge, and at least 3 other creatures on board, easily provided by Hordeling Outburst. With a pat hand, it does 32 damage on turn 4. But that's a four card combo, so the rest of the deck is trying to have some game when the combo isn't there. Thunderbreak Regent is awesome; I'm convinced it's the best card in the set. I threw in a few other dragons and mostly red cards because I have them. Hour of Need is a substitute for Descent, not quite as good (since it makes Sphinxes instead of Dragons, and costs more for additional targets), but they still get haste from Dragon Tempest. 1 Rabblemaster because I only have 1 and they're stupidly expensive. I don't know the Standard meta well, but I thought that what I needed to worry about was real aggro that would get under me, which is why I had the Anger main board.
Round 1, I faced Geoff Chambers with a temur aggro deck. I lost game 1 to mana screw (mulled to 5, kept a bad hand rather than going down to 4, never cast a spell). Won game 2. He miscounted his mana and couldn't make a play he was planning on. It was close; he might have had it if he'd counted right. Then I got mashed in game 3. 0-1. Round 2, I faced Ben Kinney. He had an abzan deck intended to load the graveyard and use Rally the Ancestors getting back Gray Merchant. It didn't work very well for him; I beat him in 2. 1-1. Round 3, I faced Marshall Brennan. He was running red aggro splashing green for Atarka's Command and Become Immense. Game 1 was tight; I was down to 2 life, but managed to descent a bunch of dragons. Got there again game 2, 2-1. Going into round 4, I was locked into top 8 if I drew, but Peter Yeh declined my offer of a draw, and proceeded to win easily with blue/black control. So I was 2-2, but my tiebreaks were good enough that I was 7th overall (out of 16), so I got my shiny full art Thunderbreak Regent.
Since Wizards has expanded Game Day to Saturday and Sunday and is providing extra promo materials, there's a second event tomorrow at 6. If I can get back early enough from EFRC and not completely dead, I can try again. So I get to try to tune the deck a bit now that I've a little bit of experience with it.
Oh, and I never hit post on this when I wrote this last night.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-20 04:23 am (UTC)-2 Anger of the Gods - move to board
3 Battlefield Thaumaturge
-1 Chasm Skulker - decided it was not relevant except when I'm winning anyway
+1 Commune With Lava - thought I'd try it
1 Crucible of Fire
4 Descent of the Dragons
2 Draconic Roar
4 Dragon Tempest
3 (+1) Dragonlord's Servant - seemed more than the Skulker
1 Goblin Rabblemaster - still only have 1
4 Hordeling Outburst
1 Hour of Need
+1 Keranos, God of Storms - thought I'd throw it in
1 Lightning Shrieker - because I don't have enough good dragons
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker - because I have it and not enough good dragons
1 Shockmaw Dragon - not enough good dragons
3 Stoke the Flames
1 Stormbreath Dragon - because I only have 1
4 Thunderbreak Regent - still the start of the show
I totally changed the board. My first goal was to have something to board in that I thought might give me a chance against control. So the first half of the board is that package:
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
1 Belltoll Dragon (hexproof dragon seems good against control)
2 Stubborn Denial - to keep a dragon if I get one
The rest of the board was:
3 Anger of the Gods - to bring in against aggro
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Reality Shift - because I can only find 1
1 Temur Battle Rage - because it's good but I'm not sure how to use it
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-25 03:45 pm (UTC)