Blokey Stuff's event

Tonight’s deck was very slow and janky, by which I mean it played control, and played it well. My arse was big, having about eigth 5+ drops, but they were all worth it. Nefarox makes everyone wet their pants. Hamletback Goliath is always the biggest creature on the field. Switcharoo is just about always great (except when on the back foot with one creature only). Public Execution doesn’t just change a race in your favour but de-tooths the opponent, and Gem of Becoming, when it fetches the full three Lands, is VERY becoming indeed.

I played with the swell chaps and ladies at Blokey Stuff, a cool store in Parramatta. Half bookstore, half “blokey stuff” they run one event a month – 6 booster sealed on the last Thursday. For $30, there is a plenty of worse ways to spend your Thursday. Rony and his mate Josh originally joined me, but parted ways to meet with females of some sort. Pffft!

Chatting with the regulars it was apparent that this was a nice and casual affair, so I opened my six boosters and saw the following. Kind of. The “simple stupid” build was green/white. Green had good creatures all up the curve, but nothing special or amazing. If I creatured, and they controlled, even a little, I’d lose it.

My red wasn’t crash hot but the splashes were there, but blue was even worse being too “wait and see” for my tastes. Rony did stick around while people were building, and he was right in pointing out Talrund’s Invocation as the best blue card. Problem was, that was it. A Switcheroo was also there, so I took that aside for splashing.

Looking at black, we had Nefarox, Ravenous Rats (early disruption against sketchy hands wins games), the Crimson Muckwader, Harbor Bandit, and Bladetusk Boar (or Intimidate Pig). They formed the basis of my attackers while everyone played tackle/block duty. Atleast I imagined so. Looking at it all, my red was aggressive while black could be supportive, and a single Island with Gem of Becoming would be brilliant.

Actually playing the games, you learn so much more than just looking at cards. Harbor Bandit, for example, looks great as a 3/3 unblockable. But without that Island? He is an appaling 2/2 for three mana, kinda worse than a morph. Considering two situations where I wanted two blue sources (Switcheroo and unblockable in the one turn, ALSO having a 2/2 for three do-nothing) I think a second Island would’ve been justified in this build, probably in place of the Hellion Crater. Hellion Crater is a card, but it’s more “insurance.” And most often, you pay for insurance you never need. As a straight creature it’s slow and costly, 6 mana for only a 4/4 haste they see coming a million away. But if you know they have Wrath? Mutilate and Planar Cleansing are both dick-balls against it, so there is that.

Mindclaw Shaman was brilliant to amazing. Even when I cast him and saw nothing useable (a Prey Upon when all my creatures wouldn’t even trade with my opponent’s) it was still valuable to know the opponent’s hand, plan accordingly and have a bum blocker. When he was brilliant, he did the followings:

+cast my opponent’s Divination, which he had just returned with Archaemancer.
+Suspecting more than 1 Fogs against the green/white player, I attack into Fog 1 and then snatched my opponent’s Safe Passage.
+Raise dead my own creature that I had to discard, having drawn too many cards with Sign in Bloods.

In short, it’s great and don’t ever don’t play it. When you suspect your opponent has something, go for it. He only wont work against counter spell players, and even then he ate a counterspell. If it a killspell (Murder, yes) they cast it in response, so you either empty their hand of useable spells or get their second best spell and have a 2/2 to compensate for the killed creature.

The one game I lost was also due, in part, to Gem of Becoming. I had a six card opener with Gem in the opener, so I figured without a quick start from my opponent I could spend turns 3 and 4 casting and using Gem. Only I never did. Turn 4 I cast a monster, who was biggest on the field until they dropped 5/6 Wurm. That thing is HUGE! For the next few turns I couldn’t manage my mana. I wanted to keep mana open to regenerate as I blocked with my 3/2 Crimson Muckwader, but I also wanted 3 to use the Gem. But I also wanted to cast another creature to block with…!

In the end, I succumbed to way too much punishment (that Tormented Spirit really can deliver… eventually) and my Hamletback Goliath showed up too late. My Switcheroo showed up at this point in things, but on 4 life and facing down 4 attackers, with a Deadly Recluse playing full-back for the opposition I couldn’t kill my opponent, even with an 8/8 Goliath, and a lethal Fireball in hand. Le sigh.

After the games (I won three of three rounds, came second outta 10) we got to trading. There was a chance to do some casual, no store-checking trading but I opted for it anyway. It helped to keep trades fair, so I wouldn’t rip anyone off. Mutilate for Increasing Devotion is almost fair, right? Just something else to sweeten the deal, like a Gem of Becoming. Check prices. $4 on Mutilate, $1.50 on Increasing D, $1 on random other card? OK, take something else outta my folder.

It was a good night and I’m certainly going to make it a regular event. Especially seeing it’s only monthly, there is plenty of time to enjoy my games and think about my plays in between. And did I mention the guys n gals were all cool? Yeah, games were quite fun and never all that hair-pulling. This was good times for sure.

Props to Blokey Stuff for running the event, and Paul who traded me 3 boosters for Thragtusk. Opening two Lands (one foil) Krenko and Diabolic Tutor is quite worth it, methinks.