1600 or the Server Fries - Part 5
When I last posted in this Brainburst-sponsored blog of a schmuck with a sub-standard rating on his quest toward competency-with a post that was even worse than what I'm usually producing, may I add, I was announcing my transition from Windows to Linspire, that brand spanking new operating system which combines the best parts of Linux and Windows.
Things did not go as I've planned. Not only was I reminded that I am green as grass-and some of you are flicking their lighters as I'm typing this-when it comes to Linux, and the free Windows emulator-Wine-isn't quite the kind of emulator I would be comfortable with. Perhaps it would be best for me to wait until Win4Lin home edition shows up so I'll have a desktop for me to work with. Also, there are still some other peripherals that need to be used which still needs the old computer, so I ended up just linking the two computers to a cable router modem and move on.
Move on to what's causing people to increase the pitch in their voices that is.
You have by now seen the bannings of March 1, and by now you've heard all the people pining away over them. They are all talking in high-pitched falsettos, because DCI has neutered them all in one full swoop of a pen. They've broke out the clipping shears-and I've seen them, you can trim redwood trees with these shears-chopped off Affinity from Standard play, and just tossed the removed deck into the trash bin while all the Affinity players just watch like the dogs who realized that they'll never have…nevermind.
GR Spiritcraft in my format of choice, Kamigawa Block Constructed, is still very much fertile, and it would be possible for me to translate this toward Standard play, if I were more daring than I usually am. However, I'm going to stick with Kami Block for my tournament play, and wait until 9th Edition and Ravnica for Standard play.
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I'll break down the deck for an explanation of what I put in this deck, it's been acting pretty good in the casual rooms. I'll be looking forward to how this deck fares in the tournaments.
Mana Section
11 Forest
2 Kodama's Reach (Standard-Legal Harrow)
9 Mountain
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers (Legendary Forest)
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep (Legendary Mountain)
24 cards in this section-which includes mana accelerants-seems to be optimal for the MTGO environment. I've been known to fish a Reach out of the yard to get two more lands out of the library and into my hand or in play where they belong if I can get away with it.
I also tend to turn into Thom Filicia when it comes to lands, because I insist on using the same 7th Edition Forest and Mountain so that (a) the card format difference makes the lands stand out when I glance at my hand at the window and (b) I can easily tell the Mountains and Forests apart by looking at the artwork. I'm just glad I'm predominantly an online player, because I'll be rooting around for just the right deck box and card sleeves for my prized decks and risk having Carson tap me on the shoulder and say, "Hey, Fox boy, are you sure you're not gay?"
The Crits
4 Hana Kami (Card Fisher)
4 Kami of the Hunt (Spiritcraft Bear)
4 Soilshaper (Attack with your lands)
4 Kodama of the South Tree (Southside, Kamigawa's Fist of Korsa)
The main four Spirit creatures from Champions are pretty much untouched.
4 Blademane Baku (Can charge up for a big hit)
2 Cunning Bandit (Steals crits from other side when flipped)
The Baku earns its place in the deck for its pump ability. You can win games with the Baku in play with a good amount of counters on it. However, I'm not as wild with the Cunning Bandit, although the ability to steal legends does come in handy, provided I don't flip both of them at once. But more often than not it's there just to have something for me to sideboard with.
2 Ryusei, the Falling Star (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!)
This deck definitely needs a goon, a heavy hitter that pops up out of left field and throws a surprise into the game. Maybe it's just the sick twisted freak in me that enjoys the expression of "Why the heck do you have that in your deck?!" from others. A 5/5 flyer that Starstorms for 5 when it dies plays the goon just fine.
The Spells
4 Glacial Ray (Splicable Shock)
4 Kodama's Might (Splicable Giant Growth)
2 Lava Spike (You can Lava Axe for 1RR and keep part of the spell)
2 Unchecked Growth (Kondama's Might #5 and 6, with added essence)
The first three should be self-explanatory. I replaced two of the Spikes with the Growth's to provide another way to finish big. Especially when you have Southside in play. And you play Might on Southside.
The Sideboard
While the most of the deck is set and running well, the sideboard is still in a state of flux. I guess I'd only know for certain when I play a couple tournaments to see which decks are running there, and when Saviors show up. Here's the current version:
3 Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot (Anti-Spiritcraft)
4 Long-Forgotten Gohei (Good against Control and Black, and if you have two on the field vs. Snakes, you can overpower your nemesis deck.)
4 Nine-Ringed Bo (Great in the mirror)
4 Wear Away (For the occasional Artifact and Honden decks)
There are some ways I can change the deck and the board. For example, Frostwielder can be added if the metagame permits it. (It's a good counter against Ishi-Ishi) Hearth Kami is added anti-artifact, and there's always the 10 tick budget-breaker card in Betrayers, Umezawas Jitte.
Hence, the questions that I want to ask everyone will have to do with the sideboard, and tweaks changes that you feel might need to made, as we enter this fine-tuning stage before I start playing in 8-man tournaments, a type of tournament I dread because, if you lose in the first round, you just lost 6 bucks and about 12 points. However, I win about 60% of all of the games I play, losing only when the other guy gets a better draw or when the shuffler spanks me. It'll take a while for me to collect enough ticks for me to start getting into tournament play with a playable deck.
With luck I'll be able to find some more sideboarding strategies out of this.