G/B Elves Testing

So last night, after wrangling my daughter to sleep I decided to do a little testing on MtGO. I didn’t have a ton of time and I was pretty tired, so I didn’t jump in an 8-man Standard queue and opted for the wonky Tournament Practice room instead. I’m now weilding the Green/Black elves build that I previously posted. The only difference is: -2 Twilight Mire, +1 Forest, +1 Swamp (because I don’t want to pay 14 tix for Mires thank you very much). So here’s a few matches (a couple of which were actually tournament worthy decks).

Match #1 – vs. Mirror
game 1 – My Profane Commands get full value at -X/-X and returning Putrid Leeches to play. I drew 2 of the 3 Profanes in the deck and let me tell you, that’s the card that really swings the mirror (outside of Chameleon Colossus, obv). Garruk comes down and lets me plays Colossus + Wren’s Run Vanquisher (heretofore known as WRV). He attacks Garruk to 1 in an all-out assault. I use Garruk to untap lands, then make a beast the following turn, then do a 2nd beast the turn after that and play the fresh Garruk I drew to untap lands and overrun the following turn. I really like Garruk when he turns into Overrun. He should make 4/4 Beast tokens though, IMO.

boarding: +3 hammer, +1 colossus, +3 deathmark (7)
-1 WRV, -1 perfect, -1 wayfinder, -2 LLelf, -1 thoughtseize, -1 leech (7)

game 2 – He was land light with 2x LLelf. Turn 2 I drop a Leech and turn 3 I Pulsed the LLelfs away and dropped a Perfect (my Leech was already down). He played WRV so I Pulsed that too. Then I played warhammer and he concedes on my next attack, which was lethal.

Matches 1-0, Games 2-0

Match #2 – vs. Bant
game 1 – I kept a 5land llelf/colossus hand. He has Bant Charm on my Collossus after one attack that takes him to 10 (pumped to 8/8). i have Llelf/Village/Mutavault available to me. He then plays Augury Adept… wtf? He then concedes match when I untap. LAME.

Matches 2-0, Games 3-0

Match #3 – vs. Doran
I kept a questionable hand again. This time no black mana, Perfect, 2x Mutavault, 2x Forest. He has turn 3 Doran. WRV blocks his Doran and he has turn 4 doran. I have turn 4 Colossus, he has turn 5 Path to Exile. A Perfect comes down on my side and I draw a swamp to cast my Thoughtseize taking his Colossus. He’s stuck on 3 lands, 2 Ziggurats and a Bosk. He concedes on turn 8 with Pulse in hand. He probably had a few more turns to draw land but I guess he didn’t want to play it out.

boarding: +3 deathmark, +1 colossus, +3 warhammer
-3 garruk, -1 profane, -1 perfect, -1 llelf, -1 wayfinder

game 2 – Bangin hand! WRV, leech, wayfinder, 4 lands. He has turn 3 Doran and reveals Inversion from Gilt-leaf Palace. This game he has no mana issues. He inversions my Perfect. And it’s at this time I find out he’s 4-color Doran splashing for… *drumroll* Bloodbraid Elf! Big freaking surprise, right? He drops colossus and I’m at like 4 life. I have a wayfinder and go to equip warhammer to stay afloat. He paths it. gg.

game 3 – turn 1 seize reveals:
plains, vivid marsh, gilt-leaf palace, putrid leech, colossus x2
I take colossus. He plays WRV, I play WRV. He plays Leech, I play Leech. I play a Perfect, swing with Leech, he doesn’t block with his Leech. He pulses my Perfect. He then swings with Leech and I don’t block. I untap and swing for 7 he doesn’t block goes to 5. He has 1 white open after playing colossus. hmmm I WONDER WHY. In the end if he has path on my WRV I lose (i drew a dead pulse). he untaps with colossus and… he only drew a WRV and had to pay 5 for it. woot! i untap activate some villages and get in there for the final 3 points (i did 6 total). Close one there.

Matches 3-0, Games 5-1

Match #4 – jund aggro
game 1 – Turn 1 Thoughtseize reveals:
Graven Cairns x2, Forest, Jund Charm, Mountain, Bloodbraid Elf, Flame Javelin
Momma didn’t raise no fool, take the BB Elf!Tturn 2 leech for me is followed up by Leech for him and another Leech for me. Maelstrom Pulse here = bad. He has played Forest, Swamp, Mountain in perfect succession. Nice. I profane a Leech for -2/-2 and make him lose 2 life, then get in there with my Leeches. He drops to 4 and I drop to 12 on the attack. He drops to 2 on Leech pumping & attacking then drops Sprouting Thrinax. I’m not worried about the Thrinax as I have 2 Pulses in hand. I play a 5-cost WRV then kill his Thrinax on his attack with my 4/4 Leech. I know he has Jund Charm so him getting tokens isn’t that bad for me if he wants to Pyroclasm. He Terrors my WRV then puts 2 +1/+1 coutners on his lone Leech, attacking me to 1 life. But now he’s tapped out… /ponder. I untap, activate a Mutavault and swing for the final 2 points. Odd.

sideboarding:
+3 warhammer, +1 colossus, +3 deathmark
-4 thoughtseize, -3 garruk

game 2 – I get a decent hand, he mulls to 6. My turn 2 WRV gets Flame Javelin’d and he drops a Bloodbraid the following turn cascading into terror on my Imperious Perfect. Just perfect. My Wayfinder comes to find a swamp and I drop a Llelf for a little chumpy goodness. He plays Anathemancer for 2. I tap low for Leech + Warhammer. He plays ANOTHER Bloodbraid Elf, this time cascading into a Magma Spray which he aims at my Leech which I pump in response. He swings and I simply take it. I then untap and swing with a 7/4 trampling lifelink Leech. I have enough mana to re-equip the hammer to my llelf. He untaps in the face of the ferocious 4/1 blocker and concedes.

Matches 4-0, Games 7-1

Well, not too shabby for a quick playtest session. The only notables I played against were the mirror, Doran, and Jund aggro. The bant match was a fluke and the guy was a jackass for conceding match. I’m playing to practice with my deck, not watch you concede like a crybaby because you got beat. If you’re not in the tournament practice room to practice, GTFO. This has been a public service announcement for serious playtesters everywhere.

So the deck is still looking good. Need to get into some 8-mans and see how it flows. I’ll try to do one tonight if I can but my parents might be visiting, so if they are it’s out of the question. Until next time!

~ by Doug on June 23, 2009.