Roy Tang

This deck is named “Under Development” because I basically threw it together two days ago with almost no playtesting. Basically, today’s tournament was my playtesting, as I could use it to gauge whether I like the feel of the deck and I should continue using it. Also, it’s my first team playing with basic islands again in constructed since forever.

Unfortunately, as the title implies, I am teh suck. Bad plays cost me at least two matches, leading me to a terrible 1-3 finish (and the one win was a BYE) My post-tournament analysis is that I am so not used to playing blue.

Quick match roundup:

Round 1 vs Dragonstorm

Really, really bad matchup. First game is practically auto-loss. Second game, I trickbind the first attempt to Storm, but the lone Hellkite is enough to stand in the way of my Solifuge, and he gets out a second one a few turns later.

Round 2 vs GW Scryb/Force

Game 1 goes fast as he mulligans down to 4. I win handily and bring in Electrolyze, Pyroclasm and Serrated Arrows for game 2. Game 2, he had like six small guys in play, I was down to 3 and had 6 mana open. My cards in hand are plaxmanta and remand. I play plaxmanta, in response, remand the plaxmanta, draw my card and show him the topdecked Pyroclasm. Too bad he folllows up with two Spectral Force over the next few turns. =/

Game 3 I lost due to a bad play on my part. My opponent was tapped out with like 5 creatures that are also tapped, and an untapped Mangara (with summoning sickness) On my side, I have a morphed Shapeshifter and morphed Brine Elemental, with Stomping Ground, Plaxmanta and Demonfire in hand. My opponent is at 18, I’m at 10. I have six lands in play, if I play the Stomping Ground and take the two life loss, I can lock him down with the Brine Elemental. I’m not sure what I’m thinking however, I play the Stomping Ground tapped and Demonfire the Mangara for 1, then swing for 4.

The correct play should have been:

• Play stomping ground. lose 2 life (down to 8)
• Attack with both morphs, Mangara does not block
• Unmorph Brine Elemental, opponent takes 7 and drops to 11
• Opponent’s turn: no untap phase, does nothing
• My turn: Swing with morph and Brine Elemental. Opponent attemps to take one down using Mangara. I play Plaxmanta to counter the ability. Unmorph shapeshifter and copy Brine Elemental. Opponent goes down to 6 or 1 depending opn whether Mangara blocked.
• My next turn: PS Demonfire you

Bah, I caved in to fear that time.

Round 3: A bye! I get to have a decent lunch! (At 2pm)

Round 4: Vs BW Discarder/Rack

This guy somehow managed to draw 3 castigates in each game that he won. I won the second due to aggro, and we want to game 3. Game 3 was close, very close. During his turn, he was at 4, I was at 6, he had a Mindslicer and a Rack in play. I have no board and 2 cards in hands. He’s afraid of the Demonfire, so he plays Smallpox, saccing the Mindslicer, hoping to have us both in topdeck mode and me with no answer to the rack. I let Smallpox resolve, and respond to the Mindslicer trigger by playing Plaxmanta. Plaxmanta survives, and will swing on the next turn for 2; he’s at 3 and I’m at 5. However, it seems I have no answer to the Rack. My turn, untap, upkeep take 3 from Rack (down to 2), I draw a land and hold in my hand. I swing for 2 with the Plaxmanta, bringing him down to one. But it looks like I’m losing to the Rack. I pass the turn to see what happens. He draws an Extirpate and starts looking through my ‘yard, and I spot the bad play. I HAD A THINK TWICE!!! I could have avoided 2 points of Rack damage, enough for the Plaxmanta to seal the deal. Gah, I am teh suck.

I take the well-deserved loss and drop from the tournament, quite tired. A really bad result for me after more than a month of cutting back on Magic tournaments, not a very good comeback. However, I think the playtesting session was a success, as I found quite a few weaknesses in the deck and also found that I like playing it, it’s quite fun. So, I will probably tweak this deck and continue to play it in Standard tournaments for the time being. I probably won’t play in Block Constructed until FS comes out, so is my deck for April.

In the next part, I will pick apart the deck and see what I can improve. Stay tuned!