Welcome back to “Game Day Grinder”, the article series that follows a veteran Magic: the Gathering player and his journey to discover what it feels like to try playing competitively whilst constrained by a budget.
If you’re new to the series, click here for links to all the previous articles.
I was on a proverbial high from my winning record at last week’s FNM. I had been fantasizing about all of the booster packs I could win from the next tournament, and had even allowed myself to envision a scenario in which I would go undefeated, winning even more booster packs and being awarded an FNM promo to boot.
It’s amazing how quickly one’s perception and outlook can change when rewarded for their hard work and dedication. I remember the first couple of weeks that I had sleeved up the Intro Pack. I felt nervous, dejected, and unsure of myself. Now that I had tasted victory and knew I could do well at our local events, I felt more confident and more hopeful. I knew that I would have to keep working hard to produce the same results and that achieving a winning record on a consistent basis wasn’t going to be easy, but I now knew that it was possible. It was no longer a fantasy. I truly felt as though I could eventually win an FNM.
I had finished work early and was sitting alone at one of the store tables, twiddling my thumbs. The tournament would only start in an hour, so I had quite a bit of time to kill. I opened my deck box and reviewed the purchases I had made the night before.
I. Spending Our Weekly Budget
Week 3 – $5 Purchases
2 [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] ($2 each)
4 [card]Gods Willing[/card] ($0.25 each)
Total: $5.00
I had managed to snag two copies of [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] in a trade the week before, and felt as though completing the set would be a step in the right direction. I could easily replace my copies of [card]Call of the Conclave[/card] with the playset of lions, and was looking forward to playing with 4/4 hexproof, indestructible cats.
I had enough left in my weekly budget to pick up a playset of [card]Gods Willing[/card], which I would eventually need for my Green/White Heroic deck and would serve as useful combat tricks alongside my copies of [card]Selesnya Charm[/card].
I was happy knowing that, with these new additions, my deck would be even more consistent.
I let out a sigh. I was bored. No one was available to trade or to play with, so I decided to pay my entry fee and grab my booster pack a bit early. I had a strange feeling that my booster pack luck would change for the better this week. And if I pulled something good, maybe I could even get some more cards to upgrade my deck before the event started!
II. The Booster Pack
Booster Pack Contents (Notable):
– [card]Ob Nixilis, Unshackled[/card]
– [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card] (FOIL)
– [card]Ornithopter[/card]
– [card]Dauntless River Marshal[/card]
– [card]Illusory Angel[/card]
– Spirit Token
The Ob Nixilis wasn’t too exciting. I knew that I could find someone who played Commander who might be interested in the card, but it wasn’t worth too much.
I flipped through the pack a second time and the foil caught my eye. A foil copy of [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card] had to be worth something, right? Players have been brewing Standard decks with [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card], [card]Shrapnel Blast[/card], [card]Ornithopter[/card], and [card]Darksteel Citadel[/card], and some Modern Affinity lists even play a couple of copies.
“This has to be worth at least $4,” I thought. “Not too shabby for a foil Uncommon.”
I then checked the price and my heart stopped beating. My jaw dropped. A foil copy of [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card] was worth $18.
“EIGHTEEN DOLLARS?!?!”, I screamed internally. “There’s no way this card is worth that much!”
I couldn’t believe that my booster pack contained such a valuable card. I quickly checked our store’s buy list price and saw that I could get $11.25 in store credit for the card. I was now faced with an interesting decision.
I could hold on to the card and try to trade it away for its full value, or I could trade it to the store for store credit right away. I quickly made a list of advantages and disadvantages.
Disadvantages of trading the card to the store:
– I would only get 62.5% of the card’s market value and miss out on an opportunity to get even more cards from a trade.
Advantages of trading the card to the store:
– Trading a more expensive card for a bundle of less valuable cards is not the easiest feat. Not only would I have to find someone interested in trading for the card at its market price, but that player would also need to have the specific cards I’m looking for.
– Instant gratification. I don’t have to put in any extra work finding a player willing to trade with me, haggling over card prices, and looking for specific cards in a collection.
Constrained by a budget, I was seriously reconsidering trading the foil copy of [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card] to the store. In the end, I decided to take the store credit because it was such a unique card. It would be much more difficult to find someone interested in an expensive, foil version of an uncommon, compared to, say, someone looking for a non-foil Standard playable card worth the same amount.
The kicker? It was an effortless trade and I now had the chance to upgrade my deck right away!
Trade-in – [card]Ensoul Artifact[/card] [Foil]:
3 [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card] ($2 each)
3 [card]Boon Satyr[/card] ($1.50 each)
4 [card]Hopeful Eidolon[/card] ($0.15 each)
1 [card]Ordeal of Nylea[/card] ($0.15)
Total: $11.25
I spent the bulk of the store credit on key pieces that I could use in my deck right away, and a much smaller amount getting Commons and Uncommons that I would eventually need for my Heroic deck. I had enough time to make all necessary changes to my deck before the event started, so I scurried to a corner and pored over my deck list.
III. The Changes
Main Deck (IN):
4 [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card]
4 [card]Gods Willing[/card]
3 [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card]
4 [card]Boon Satyr[/card]
1 Forest
Main Deck (OUT):
4 [card]Frontline Medic[/card]
1 [card]Plains[/card]
2 [card]Scion of Vitu-Ghazi[/card]
2 [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card]
3 [card]Selfless Cathar[/card]
4 [card]Call of the Conclave[/card]
Sideboard (IN):
1 [card]Setessan Tactics[/card]
Sideboard (OUT):
1 [card]Devouring Light[/card]
Here’s the list I finalized before the Standard tournament:
[deck title=GW Aggro – Peter Sachlas]
[Lands]
12 Forest
12 Plains
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Sunblade Elf
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Boon Satyr
[/Creatures]
[Other Spells]
2 Spear of Heliod
4 Gods Willing
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Selesnya Charm
2 Triplicate Spirits
[/Other Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Sundering Growth
1 Reclamation Sage
3 Devouring Light
2 Rootborn Defenses
2 Scion of Vitu-Ghazi
1 Setessan Tactics
3 Hornet Nest
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
IV. Tournament Report
ROUND 1 – vs RUG Midrange
Maybe I should call my opponent’s deck “Temur Midrange” rather than “RUG Midrange”. We’re going to have to get used to the new wedge names eventually, right?
I took a look at my opening hand and a feeling of pure bliss washed over me. Not only had I managed a winning record with my deck last week, but if my current hand was any indication as to how smoothly my deck was going to run with the new card additions, there should be no issue whatsoever repeating my 3-1 finish (or dare I say, going undefeated).
I started the game by casting a [card]Sunblade Elf[/card], which I think I can now safely label as my signature play since I’ve cast the little elf on the first turn practically every game I’ve played. My [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] was followed by a copy of [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] and a [card]Boon Satyr[/card] at instant speed at the end of my opponent’s third turn. Although I didn’t have a fourth land in hand, I had a second copy of [card]Boon Satyr[/card] and a [card]Gods Willing[/card]. Easy game, right?
Wrong.
I guess my opponent was jealous that I had such a good start and such an aggressive curve, so he played a copy of [card]Elvish Mystic[/card] on the first turn, followed by a [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card]. Normally, my Elf would flex his muscles and laugh at his pint-sized sibling on the opposite side of the table, but not this time. With the help of his Elf and Caryatid, my opponent cast one of the most problematic creatures possible on his third turn:
Prognostic Sphinx.
An evasive creature with five points of toughness is not what I want to see when I’m trying to rush my opponent. I would be okay if I could build my side of the board enough to force my opponent to play defensively, leaving his Sphinx back as a blocker until I could find a [card]Selesnya Charm[/card] or grow my creatures with a [card]Sunblade Elf[/card]. I drew my card for the turn, praying for another land.
The land I so desperately needed was not there. Instead, I drew a second copy of [card]Gods Willing[/card]. I thought for a moment, and decided to attack with all of my creatures. If I was lucky, my opponent would let all of the damage through, fearing a [card]Selesnya Charm[/card], and I could play a second [card]Boon Satyr[/card] at the end of turn. Instead, he blocked my [card]Boon Satyr[/card], and I was forced to use one of my copies of [card]Gods Willing[/card] to save the Satyr and Scry. I still didn’t see a land or [card]Selesnya Charm[/card] on the top of my deck, so I scried the card to the bottom.
Unfortunately, a [card]Prophet of Kruphix[/card] joined the party on the next turn and my opponent was able to start attacking with his Sphinx, only to have it untap during my turn so it could play defense. I kept growing my army while the Sphinx hit me for chunks of three damage a turn, but all of the Scrying my opponent was doing would prove too much to handle. I scooped shortly after a second Overloaded copy of [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] was played against me.
Luckily, my opponent was overconfident in the second game. He had decided to mulligan to six cards, but was making some weird decisions.
“This hand is even worse than my seven card hand!”, he exclaimed. “Whatever, I’ll just keep.”
I couldn’t think of any reason to keep a six card hand that was worse than a seven card hand which had been so easily mulliganed away. I wasn’t going to waste any energy on analyzing the situation any further, so I played my [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card] and passed the turn. I played a [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] on the second turn, followed by an [card]Imposing Sovereign[/card] with [card]Gods Willing[/card] back-up in hand. My opponent could only muster a [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] on his third turn (which came into play tapped because of my Sovereign), and fell to my army shortly thereafter.
My opponent and I both kept our starting hands for the third game. He played a first turn [card]Elvish Mystic[/card] and I let out a sigh. If he managed to play big creatures early, I was going to have a hard time winning the match. I played a [card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/card] and passed the turn.
Here’s where things got interesting. My opponent neither attacked with his Mystic nor cast anything on the second turn, which I took to mean that he had a copy of Polukranos (or maybe some 5-drop creatures) in his hand. I was even more confident that I would see some huge creatures on the other side of the field when my opponent declined to block my Soldier of Pantheon with his [card]Elvish Mystic[/card]. I cast a [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] on the second turn and prepared for the worst.
Not only did he fail to cast a creature on the third turn, but he didn’t cast anything at all! I eventually cast a copy of [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card] and managed to bestow a [card]Boon Satyr[/card] onto one of my 1/1 flying spirits. My opponent had no answers to my 5/3 flying spirit token and conceded the game.
I later learned that my opponent was missing a second red source and couldn’t cast the copies of [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] and [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card] that he had in hand.
SCORE: 1-0
ROUND 2 – vs Mono Blue Devotion
I looked at the pairings and my heart sank. Not only was my opponent a skilled player, but I was 99% sure that he was playing Mono Blue Devotion, since that’s all he had played the past few months.
I let out a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure you’re playing Mono Blue Devotion”, I offered as we sat down to play.
“What would ever give you that idea?”, he said, with a sly grin.
I was boned. I have enough trouble beating Tier 1 decks as is, but Mono Blue seemed to be an especially difficult match-up. With a skilled player piloting the deck, I had little chance of winning. Even so, I should have settled into a more positive mindset, hoping to learn from each game and playing as best I could. Instead, I got nervous and dejected, and threw away the first game.
I kept a hand with several copies of [card]Sunblade Elf[/card], a [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card], and an [card]Imposing Sovereign[/card]. The only problem? I only had one land (a Plains) in hand.
“Well, I have to get really lucky against you to win, so I might as well play risky”, I said.
Instead of taking a mulligan, I gave myself very little chance of actually winning the game. I didn’t see a second land all game, and was crushed by my opponent’s blisteringly fast start.
I had a decent hand for our second game, but my deck was ill equipped against his. My [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] was kept in check by a second turn [card]Tidebinder Mage[/card], and a [card]Master of Waves[/card] on the fourth turn was nigh impossible to beat.
I wouldn’t recommend bringing Elves and Lions to a fight against an army of water elementals. It’s no fun at all.
SCORE: 1-1
ROUND 3 – vs Mono White Devotion
I was tilted from my last match and hadn’t managed to clear my head before the third round. Instead of focusing and making better decisions, I decided to keep pressing my luck. I kept a hand with two lands, both of which were Forests, and a slew of white cards. I managed to play three copies of [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] in the first game, which wouldn’t have been so bad if I had a Plains in play and if my opponent hadn’t cast a [card]Precinct Captain[/card] on his second turn. Luckily, I didn’t have to stare at my embarrassing board for too long, as a [card]Boros Reckoner[/card] and [card]Archangel of Thune[/card] made short work of my life total.
On to the next game!
I managed to swing in with a 2/2 [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] on the second turn thanks to my Forest and Plains, but was stonewalled for a second time by a second turn [card]Precinct Captain[/card]. Trying to play aggressively against efficient creatures with First Strike is a miserable experience. I kept my Elf back on the third turn, and played a copy of [card]Hornet Nest[/card] which I had brought in from my sideboard. I hadn’t been too impressed with [card]Hornet Nest[/card], knowing that my opponents have the opportunity to build their boards and alpha strike before the insect tokens created by the nest can make much of a difference.
I was forced to remain on defense as my opponent played a copy of Brimaz on his third turn. He eventually attacked into my [card]Hornet Nest[/card] with his Brimaz, and I traded my nest for three 1/1 flying insects with Deathtouch. I had also managed to play a [card]Raise the Alarm[/card] at the end of turn, giving me an opportunity to play defensively with my Soldier tokens on the ground while attacking with my insects in the air (which were being pumped by my [card]Sunblade Elf[/card]). I was lucky enough to race my opponent with the hornets and the elf, and we moved on to the third and final game.
Boy did I ever get lucky in the last game. Immediately after I had played another copy of [card]Hornet Nest[/card] on my third turn, I drew my one and only copy of [card]Setessan Tactics[/card] from my sideboard. My opponent had developed a board which included Ajani, Steadfast, [card]Precinct Captain[/card], and Brimaz, while I was playing defense with a [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] and [card]Hornet Nest[/card]. My opponent had played two copies of [card]Path of Bravery[/card] which were now pumping his creatures. For some strange reason, he decided not to activate his Ajani before attacking on one of his turns, and a 4/4 [card]Precinct Captain[/card], 5/6 Brimaz, and 3/3 token were headed my way.
I played my copy of Setessan tactics before declaring my blockers, trading my [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] with his [card]Precinct Captain[/card] and forcing his Brimaz to fight my [card]Hornet Nest[/card]. I blocked the rest of his team with my 1/1 Deathtouch insects and, once the dust had settled, I was left with a board full of creatures and my opponent was left empty-handed with an Ajani in play. I was able to capitalize on my opponent’s lack of a board and closed the game quickly and decisively.
SCORE: 2-1
ROUND 4 – vs Mono Red Devotion
I had played against Mono Blue Devotion, then Mono White Devotion, and now I was playing against a different type of Devotion deck! I knew I had to focus, and I was excited about potentially winning some booster packs like the previous week.
I started our first game with a [card]Raise the Alarm[/card] at the end of my opponent’s second turn, then played a [card]Fleecemane Lion[/card] with a copy of [card]Gods Willing[/card] in hand in case there was a [card]Lightning Strike[/card] or [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card] aimed at my cat. Meanwhile, my opponent had cast a [card]Rakdos Cackler[/card], followed by an [card]Ash Zealot[/card]. I hadn’t drawn a fourth land, but was able to flash in a [card]Boon Satyr[/card] after attacking with my Lion. My opponent then cast a [card]Boros Reckoner[/card], making it difficult for me to set up a good attack.
I drew my next card for the turn, but missed my fourth land drop again. I spent a few minutes thinking of all the possible scenarios, opting to tap my creatures to cast a [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card] in hopes of setting up a big play the next turn. I had hoped to have enough mana to keep up the [card]Gods Willing[/card] as well, but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.
In the end, it didn’t even matter, since my opponent activated his Nykthos to cast a second copy of [card]Rakdos Cackler[/card] and a [card]Fanatic of Mogis[/card] for nine damage. I couldn’t swing for lethal on the next turn, and had to concede after my opponent untapped, activated his Nykthos, played a second copy of the Legendary land, floated even more mana, and managed to cast, activate the Monstrous ability, and attack with a [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] during the same turn. I knew I would have trouble in the coming games as my opponent could hide behind First Striking [card]Ash Zealot[/card]s and [card]Boros Reckoner[/card]s, only to unleash some major damage in later turns.
I had started the second game with a [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] on the first turn. My opponent cast and attacked with a [card]Legion Loyalist[/card], offering the trade, but I had better ways of dealing with the pesky Goblin. I attacked for two damage on the next turn, leaving two mana open. Luckily, my opponent took the bait and attacked me with the 1/1 Goblin, only to be met with an instant speed 2/2 Knight Token entering play thanks to my [card]Selesnya Charm[/card]. The rest of the game went pretty smoothly, as I managed to chain two copies of [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card] and pump my team with [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] once I played my fifth land.
My starting hand for the third game was pretty good. I had a [card]Sunblade Elf[/card] as my first turn play as well as a [card]Hornet Nest[/card] which I could play on the third turn. Unfortunately, my creatures seemed laughable facing down an army of First Strike creatures. My opponent followed his first turn [card]Rakdos Cackler[/card] with an [card]Ash Zealot[/card], then played a [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card] and second [card]Ash Zealot[/card] on turn 3. I was doing my best to stay alive, and had managed to stabilize at four life with my opponent stuck on three lands.
“Come on, land!”, exclaimed my opponent, tapping the top of his deck.
He missed his fourth land drop yet again, and passed the turn with a sour look on his face. All I needed was two more turns to swing the game in my favor.
“Yes!”, my opponent shouted as he slammed down his fourth land on the next turn. “I play [card]Fanatic of Mogis[/card] for five damage.”
I scooped up my cards.
SCORE: 2-2
V. Week 3 Wrap-Up (and trades)
Overall Record To-Date: 9-7
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with myself. I wasn’t able to secure another winning record, and it felt as though had taken a huge step back. I really thought that all of the deck changes I had made would have given me a really good shot at winning more of my games. I guess I still have to work on making better mulligan decisions, not getting tilted, and playing even better than I had been.
Luckily, I’m closer than ever before to actually building the core of the G/W Heroic deck I had wanted to try out. I might just take a huge leap and try to play it at next week’s tournament!
Join me next week to see if I manage to build the Green/White Heroic deck and how well it actually performs in the current metagame!
Week 3 Trades
1 [card]Chained to the Rocks[/card] -> 1 [card]Hero of Iroas[/card]
1 [card]Life’s Legacy[/card] -> 2 [card]Glimpse the Sun God[/card], 2 [card]Favored Hoplite[/card], 1 [card]Ordeal of Nylea[/card], 3 [card]Ordeal of Heliod[/card]