Patient 9, Entry 10, Alpha v2.36 Beta release

New build hype!

I just finished this "sprint" today.  The goals for this sprint were:

• Get proper sprites for all characters and level props
• Update all the levels so they look good
• Add in new audio assets
• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters
• (Optional):  Get a PC build of the game working

Thankfully I got this all done plus I jazzed up the ending :)

Now I just need to do some last minute polish so I can release this for Halloween (2018's not 2023!).

Flash Build (itch.io) :  Click here

PC Download:  Click here

PC Known issue:  Game looks terrible if it isn't played in full screen mode.

Feedback is appreciated, feel free to leave it in the comments.

UR Canadian Horror Story (Blue Moon) 3rd place PPTQ Report + Musings

My first PPTQ of the season went well, finished 3rd with UR Horror Tribal Blue Moon out of 49 players, below is what I battled with


Maindeck 1 Mountain

3 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thing in the Ice
3 Abrade
3 Cryptic Command
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
6 Island
3 Sulfur Falls
3 Blood Moon
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Thought Scour
2 Bedlam Reveler
1 Peek (I couldn't find my 4th Thought Scour and the stores stock was moved to another location)

Sideboard
1 Dispel
2 Roast
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Negate
3 Anger of the Gods

Random sideboarding note:
Since Bedlam Reveler is it a bit of a nombo with counterspells you typically go down to 1 or 0 when you board in a shit load.


Round 1 vs UW Control:  0-2
G1 opponent kept 2 cards on top from serum visions  with search for azcanta in play.  I excitedly (noobishly) tried to thought scour the 2 cards my opp left on top.   Opp responded with opt and ended up keeping the goods.  My thought scour ended up turbo'ing a search flip which lead to a securely turn 4 slammed Teferi I couldn't deal with.  

Game 2 I kept a 1 lander on the play with serum visions and opt, did not get there.  I'm pretty sure the math is reasonable on hitting my second land with 6 looks at 20 hits.

Round 2 vs GW Turbo Vizier Combo:  2-0
Opponents deck had Lightning Greaves and Wild Cantor to power out a super fast Devoted Druid + Vizer Combo kill.   G1 I bolted a bird, opp only had 1 land and stalled for 13 years.  G2 was grindy but opp had a slower draw, I was able to flip TiTi (Thing In The Ice) and ride the game out.

Round 3 vs Humons:  2-0
G1 I flipped TiTi early against a slower start, cards were traded, damaged was raced, but opp flooded and never drew reflector mage.  G2 I drew 3 lightning bolts and 3 Snapcasters, opp gave up before I could get my 4th land for Jace TMS.

Round 4 vs UR Thing In the Ice:  2-0
Game 1 I was able to take initiative with 2 TiTi's and a resolved Jace but because I only have Cryptics as counters I wasn't able to p[properly stop any bounces so my early game advantage got stalled out.  The game got pretty close but I was able to close it out with double bolt.  Game 2 is a bit of a blur since it was a 20 turn grind-athon but I was able to draw a few less lands.  One "neat" play from game 2 was opp attacked with Awoken Horror vs my TiTi at 1, I blocked, Bolted awoken horror, flipped, opps Awoken Horror died.  Never thought I'd see the day where two TiTis battled it out.

Round 5 vs GW Combo/ValueStuff:  1-1
Lost die roll, game 1 I tapped out for TiTi on the draw, died to vizer combo.  Opp received a game loss for a deck reg error.   Game 3 I angered the board and opponent flooded, despite drawing little interaction Iwas able to lock up the game with TiTi and Jace.

Round 6 vs Intentional Draw:  1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
Ended up in 4th place going into top 8.

Quarterfinals vs UW Control (Round 1 REMATCH!): 2-0
I had choice of play.  G1 TiTi got pathed on my t3 upkeep.I slammed Jace on turn 4 vs 2 open mana, it stuck!  42 0 loyalty activations later I won.    Game 2 I got to board in many counters so I didn't have windmill slam threats praying for no counterspell.  I ended up with a huge mana advantage from TiTi's getting pathed repeatedly.  I boarded down to 1 Blood Moon and was justly put under massive pressure from a Celestial Collonade.  Between V clique and Tiago beats I was able to close the game out with double bolt'ing the opp with only 12 cards left in my deck.

Semifinals vs UR Thing In The Ice:  0-2
What the hell, two mirrors in the same day?  Toronto's metagame is messed up and super blue heavy.  My opponents deck was better positioned for the mirror, he had remand, electrolyzes, and cryptics.  I only have cryptics.  Game 1 I tried slamming Jace TMS but it got dealt with and slowly elctro + bolt beat down.  Eventually I slowly got ground down by the superior card advantage of my opp. Game 2 was a repeat of game 1 more or less :(  

It sucked to lose in the semis but I cant feel too bad about losing to a mirror when the opponents build is better for the mirror and I already stole two matches from better blue decks in Round 4 & in the Quarterfinals.  My expectations going in was I'd be happy with being in top 8 contention or making top 8, so I at least I exceeded expectations.

Takeaways from PPTQ and recent streams (click here for vods).

• Maindecking Blood Moon might not be correct anymore.  Most decks seems relatively resistant to it at the moment, most matches I've been playing lately I've been boarding them out.  I'll probably be shifting the 3 to the sideboard.
• I shaved Remands from the main after GP Toronto side event grinding since so many decks aren't affected by it (Humons, RB Hollow One, Lucky Etronzi players, etc) and if you ever draw 2 Remands vs any of those decks it's Game Over.  I might have to add 2 or 3 back to do the deck (see below).
• For local tournies I might have to tweak my list to have a bit more game vs all the blue decks (UW, UWR, UR, etc).  Remands and/or Electrolyze might be in order.
• Tron is a garbage matchup after Remands got removed.  +1 for re-adding some Remands
• Bedlam Reveler might be a casualty of the previous points since main decking counterspells doesn't work well with it.  
• BR Vine is a $#!%&ed up deck.  Maindeck Anger of the Gods and SB Surgical Extractions  are under consideration. 

I was planning on trying out UR Breach next week on stream but I'm excited to iterate on UR Canadian Horror Story some more.  If you're interested in seeing how it goes please follow meh stream (click here) and I'll show good games for my fans.  

Patient 9, Entry 10, Alpha v2.35 release

This is a halfway point between new builds.  I'm currently making decent progress on generating new level assets and upgrading old levels with them.  I also made a new walking animation for the player.

The main goals of this build are

• Get feedback on the player new walk animation
• Get feedback on some of the new level assets made (only implemented up to the basement)

Things I'm still open for feedback on from my previous build

• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters.
• Increase the difficulty (less items, more enemies)

I've made a decent amount of progress since my last post (the new year) but I hoped I would have made some more by this point.

Here is a download link for the executable flash file.

If that doesn't work you can use the web version (not recommended, stencyl arcade has treated me like trash).

Feedback is appreciated, feel free to leave it as comments.

Patient 9, Entry 9, Alpha v2.331 release

Wow it's been over 4 years since I made a Patient 9 post.  How time flies!  There's been significant progress for Patient 9 since my last published build (v2.262).

The main goals of this build was to:

• Improve the main story by adding more dialogue and characters.
• Increase the difficulty (less items, more enemies).

I'm pleased with the progress (even if it's taken way too long!) since the story now has a beginning, middle, and multiple endings.  It's no where near perfect but now all the core mechanics are in place and the skeleton of the story is done.  All that's left now is to upgrade the graphics, animate actors, and then do polish passes until

This is a download link for the flash file. If you don't have Flash you can find it here.

Here is the link for the web version (not recommended, stencyl arcade has treated me like trash)

Feedback is appreciated, feel free leave it as comments.

I should be doing a post pretty soon on how I've improved my workflow by breaking down tasks into very small steps and utilizing slack.

UR Twin: Spread the love v1 alpha draft

Note:  this is just a collection of thoughts and a rough decklist

lost a lot to tron, roughly 1 - 3 in matches vs it, can only beat average players, good players have good plans, are resistant to blood moon, and have strong hate cards like boil or choke

notes on this list

• shore up the tron match up
• experiment with the 4 colorless mana base
• no fucking way am i going back to the 1 loothouse living
• i like the 1st tect edge over the 2nd ghost quarter since i think 2 lands that give your opponent mana on the exchange is a bit too high
• try out spreading seas again and see if it's as glorious as it once was

Deck has 18 blue sources, which is average for twin lists
only has 14 red soruces, which is noteably lower than average but still functional


Lands (23)
4 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Desolate Lighthouse

Spells (21)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Snare
1 Dispel
1 Logic Knot
4 Remand
2 Spreading Seas
1 Roast
1 Electrolyze
1 Cryptic Command

Threats (16)
3 Deceiver Exarch
3 Pestermite
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Splinter Twin


Sideboard (15)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
1 Dispel
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
1 Roast
2 Blood Moon
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Jace Architect of Thoughts
1 Keranos God of Storms

I'm thinking about leaning toward the control plan and playing 2x Jace AoT > 1/1 split of Jace/Pia.  That way I can board in Jace in some combo match ups and dig to land denial vs rg tron.  Also thinking about how to fit in one, just one crumble to dust.  I don't like playing molten rain since blood moon is such a beating vs a wide range of decks (bloom, uwr, medium vs infect).  Might want to try to wiggle in the 2nd electrolyze.

If the spreading seas aren't good I can go back to +1 dispel +1 logic knot.

So far the 4 colorless mana base hasn't cost me a game, but in one game vs burn it was awkward.

part of the spew vs RG Tron may be caused from not having enough answers to spellskite g1, which in turn effects g2-3?  not doing it cause i think it warps the deck a bit too much, also twisted image is a consideration mayhaps

could try out 2x batterskull, 2x jace aot, 2x blood moon for fair mus
might pass on crumble to dust and coast off the main deck changes


please cheer for me and i will try to give good games and reports



so im thinking about changing the sb
-2 blood moon
-1 crumble to dust
+3 Molten Rain (with 4 snaps)
-2 ??  keranos and whatever
+2 thundermaw hellkite

and md -1 ?? +1 electrolyze (probably dispel)

MTG: Modern, UWR Kiki Midrange, PTQ Syracuse June 13th Report

This weekend (June 13th) I trekked down to a PTQ in Syracuse New York where I finished in 15^th with a 6 wins 2 lose record. I'm taking a small sabbatical from Splinter Twin and sleeved up UWR Kiki Jiki at the recommendation of Daniel Fournier.

Modern - UWR Kiki Midrange

last minute change of 1 Lightning Helix in the board for 1 Sphinx's Revelation

Quick Tournament Report

I started off the day with a quick and decisive loss against fellow grinder buddy Leonard Laratta on Mono Blue TimeWalks+HowlingMines.dek. Afterwards I rattled off 6 straights wins against. . .

1 UR Delver: all you have to do is sit back and play a hard control game and eventually you'll tucker them out. Helix was obviously sweet. I'm definitely the control in this match up.

1 Living End: apparently counter magic + mvp Relic of Progenitus makes this easy peasy.

1 Kiki Pod: piloted by Ryan Goslings step brother/recent PTQ winner Paul Dean who fell victim to mana flood and frequent mulligans.

1 UW Control: won g3 in turns thanks to Kiki Jiki, I found I had to be pretty aggressive in this match up to take it down. I'm definitely the beatdown in this match up.

2 Scapeshift: lost g1 each time and then boarded into a UR Fae style game plan of burn, counters, and flash based beatdown aka the sweet things in life. I got tricked at one point, my r7 opp played Scapeshift with 5 lands in play, after some humming I let it resolve and he fetched a Boseiju!! Thankfully I had V Clique + Resto to snipe his second Scapeshift ant bring the noise. I'm definitely the beatdown in this mu.

Going into the 8^th & last round I was in 10^th place and unable to draw. I played against traditional Jund.

Game 1: Everything fell into place and I controlled the game completely with tons of value provided by Wall of Omens, Snapcaster Mage, Electrolyze, Path to Exile, and Restoration Angel. Despite having drawn 3 more lands than my opp who was on 4 I still had more in play and in hand than him.

Game 2: I lost to a triple discard + Liliana of the Veil draw. I made a few mistakes here. I didn't try to maneuver the game to a point where I could Cryptic Command bounce+draw Liliana into my opponents empty hand with her +1 on the stack. Instead I prematurely discarded Cryptic Command. Also I kept in Kiki Jiki for games 2-3. I think it's a pretty big mistake since they're going to be loading up on discard+removal, what you want is more cards that draw cards or removal to stall the game out so your independent card advantage engines can come online, not a 5 drop in your hand that does nothing by itself.

Game 3: I had a t1 relic containing my opponents t1 discard into t2 Goyf. I went for Vendilion Clique on turn 3, which saw another Goyf, Maelstrom Pulse, Courser of Kruphix, and 3 Lands. Since I had tapped out I made him cycle his Pulse since I wouldn't be able to cycle Relic and contain his double Goyf.  Unfortunately I was greeted by Lilianna of the Veil off the top. From there I was just a bit too far behind on the board and eventually was knocked out of the tournament.

Changes I'm considering are . . .

Maindeck

Serum Visions: This is mostly to support the 4^th Snapcaster Mage I'm considering, as well as helping dig to those delicious Restoration Angels and other absurdly powerful cards.

Telling Time: Lets you keep open mana and play a draw go game. Probably bad, my experiences with it is that it's horribly mana inefficient. But Snapcastered Telling Times are actually pretty potent.

Sideboard

1 Negate: I found my hard counter count a little lack luster vs Scapeshift, I figure that same would be true for RG Tron and other combo mu's.

Somewehre

3^rd Vendilion Clique: Probably belongs in the sideboard. By itself it's really powerful, in conjunction with Restoration Angel it's amazing (much better than with Splinter Twin :P).

4^th Snapcaster Mage: My only reservation is that my deck isn't currently set up well for the 4^th Snap. It's hard to fit a strong supporting spell selection when your primary game plan is creature based and combined with lands eating up about 40 slots in the maindeck.

I really like the deck right now. I've been having problems winning with Splinter Twin as of late so I'm going to stay on UWR for a while. I've got a ton of tournaments lined up this summer, and I'd really like to quality for the first pro tour of the new pro year so I'm going to playing and practicing a lot more. That's it for this short report, thanks for reading. If you've got any questions or suggestions feel free to ask.

MTG: Standard, Hyper Aggressive Red

Hey it's been a while since I wrote something, I just haven't had a whole lot to talk about.  With Pro Tour Qualifiers coming up for me in January I figured now is the best time to start practicing up on standard.  I've decided for the near future I'm going to focus strictly on playing aggressive decks in Standard since I feel it's a big whole in my skill set and it's something I'll have to rely on if I ever qualify for the Pro Tour since odds are I won't be on a team and will have to rely on my 75 beating my opponents instead of play skill.

I started with red lists posted by Tom Ross here.  I found the deck super fun to play, it's not often you get to 3-1 tournaments repeatedly with low powered draft picks.  As sweet as it was attacking for 5 with Akroan Crusader and Titan's Strength eventually I cut the heroic elements and tried to make the deck as consistent as I could.  This is where my tweaks and play have brought me currently . . .

Standard:  Hyper Mono Red Aggro

18 Lands
18 Mountains (so much cleaner than a Modern mana base)

30 Attacking Creatures
  15 One Drops
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler

  15 Two Drops (I wanted to keep the hit % on Burning-Tree Emissary as high as I could)
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Firefist Striker
3 Goblin Shortcutter (a key play on turn 3-4 that lets you get them into suicide attack range)

12 Burn & Pump
4 Lightning Strike
2 Skullcrack (an experiment right now, it's useful vs Grey Merchant, a blocking Master of Waves, Brave the Elements, Sphinx's Rev, and occasionally a lava spike is all you need)
2 Dynacharge (might be a relic from playing Akoran Crusader, but I keep hoping to draw it in lots of games and has rarely under preformed)
4 Rubblebelt Maaka (The extra toughness lets any attacker punch through a Nightveil Spectre or Frostburn Weird)

15 Sideboard
3 Mizzium Mortars (mostly for Mono U Devotion)
2 Electrickery (for the the mirrors, might not be needed)
1 Dynacharge (needed vs Jace AoT)
1 Legion Loyalist (for Master of Waves)
2 Skullcrack
1 Mountain
3 Chandra's Phoenix (vs all the removal that gets boarded in)
2 Seismic Stomp (apparently it's necessary to beat RG Devotion)

The reason I've stuck with this deck instead of some type of Boros deck is it's positive Mono Black Devotion match up.  You're able to get under their removal consistently and punish them for playing expensive cards like Hero's Downfall, Desecration Demon, Underworld Connections, etc.  In order to keep the match up positive in the face of all the removal (Nausea! shudder) they'll be boarding in I board out a lot of the x/1 creatures and bring in Skullcracks and Chandra's Phoenix.  It's been pretty successful for me so far.

That's it for this post, if there's an interest (or if I just feel like it) I'll write about the popular match ups, a rough sideboard guide, and some explanations on card choices.  If I feel ambitious I might tackle the math behind the proper numbers of Lands and Burning-Tree Emissary hits required to make the deck purr.

Also I just posted a updated build of my game Patient 9, you can play it in your browser here and read about it here.  If you could give it a try that'd make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

If you've got any questions comment or email me, till next time!

Patient 9, Entry 8, Alpha v2.262 Released

The third version of the alpha is done. You can download the newest version here or try out the web based version here, please read the info below on controls, the game doesn't present all the information properly yet.  Any feedback is appreciated, just email me or comment in the blog.

GAME INFO

If you don't have Flash just open the downloaded file in any Internet Browser.

Controls are: W, A, S, D to move, CAPS to sprint. J for talk/confirm, K to cycle through inventory, L to use.

Typewriters save your progress, just walk up to them and hit J. You can load from the title screen.

I feel really confident that the majority of the games code is stable and ready to be attacked by testers.  Unfortunately I had to put a lot of the artistic assets on hold, hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to churn them out and get the game looking even prettier.  That's all for now, till next time.

Patient 9, Entry 7, Alpha v2.23 Released

Second version of the alpha is done. You can download the newest version here, please read the info below on controls, the game doesn't present all the information properly yet.  Any feedback is appreciated, just email me or comment in the blog.

GAME INFO

If you don't have Flash just open the downloaded file in any Internet Browser.

Controls are: W, A, S, D to move, CAPS to sprint. J for talk/confirm, K to cycle through inventory, L to use.

Typewriters save your progress, just walk up to them and hit J. You can load from the title screen.

New features

• basic player inventory
• enemies that follow the player
• minor game play changes as the player gets more mental illness'

Now that most of the game is there, my main goal for the next alpha release is the try to stabilize the code and finalize the mechanics as much as possible. From there I'll fix whatever bugs pop up and play around with the mechanics within the confines of what's currently in the game. Then I can begin adding in artistic assets to make the game not look so blocky and basic.  That's it for now, eventually I'll write something more design orientated but that'll have to wait till next time.

MTG: Modern, Splinter Twin Tweaks and the GB Rock Matchup

GB Rock Results:
I played a set of 10 games against my buddy Jonny, 2 maindeck, 8 sideboard, and went 8 wins 2 loses overall.  Obviously this is a variance upswing for me, but it's nice to know that I can win this and I'm not just a dead fish.

Maindeck Games
g1:  Win on the play.  I Charmed both his Bobs and was able to kill a Liliana by attacking, he ran out of steam at that point.
g2:  Win on the draw.  Jon stalled on 2 lands, I was able to develop a nice Snapcaster board but couldn't combo kill him, eventually Cryptic Command buried him.  Ooze gave him a slight chance.

Sideboard Games
g3:  Win, play.  I had a slow hand that just traded resources until a surprise Batterskull got him.
g4:  Lost, draw.   He curved into Goyf, Liliana, backed by discard was a little to much to deal with.

g5:  Win, play.  He stalled on 2, triple Pestermite denying a 2 drop stole the game.
g6:  Win, draw.  He mulls to 5, I'm able to leisurely close out the game.

g7:  Loss, play.  I got double Tect Edges off my Kiki/Batterskulls :(  24 land or Crucible of Worlds woulda been nice.
g8:  Win, draw.  He stalled out, I killed a Liliana with Vendilion Clique.  Seems that every time I can attack down a Liliana I win.

g9:  Win, play.  Traded cards in the early game, Cliqued him and saw Oooze, Bob, Thoughtseize, Fulm Mage let him keep it and beat him down after he Thoughtseized and Bob.  Dark Confidant is back breaking if it lives on turn 2, but I've noticed Pestermite/Vendilion Clique beatdown can trump Bob if you're later in the game.
g10:  Win, draw.  Grinded out a long game with Grim Lavamancer and Relic of Progenitus.

After this I would go 0 wins 5 loses against GB Rock on Magic Online, confirming my suspicion that the set of 10 was me getting lucky.  I still learned that the first 3 turns are absolutely critical in this match up, if you're able to contain GB Rock during them the mid and late game look very promising but you'll get absolutely crushed their 2 drop and 3 drop are able to stay in play since any removal or discard spell will usually tempo you out at least a full turn.

Grim Lavamancer and Relic of Progenitus pulled their weight in a lot of my games, they where never dead vs GB Rock and either neutered a green creature or in Grim's case traded with some miscellaneous removal spell.  If I'm not lazy I'm going to try out another set of 10, possibly after a rebuild of the deck since not everything feels like it's synergistic

Modern: Ofelia Twin

23 Lands
5 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse (I'd play moar if I could)
2 Tectonic Edge (Extremely ambitious but so much value)

21 Spells
4 Sleight of Hand (Working well)
2 Peek (Snap + Peek eot after bluffing the combo attempt)
2 Dispel
2 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command (Solves a lot of problems and makes your Snaps absurd, could cut 1)
2 Izzet Charm (I'm biased but it's been pulling it's weight)
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Flame Slash

16 Combo Stuff n Things
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Deceiver Exarch
4 Pestermite
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

15 Sideboard
1 Dismember (For Linvala, Spellskite, and random removal, could be a Combust)
1 Ancient Grudge (For Value)
3 Blood Moon (For UWr, the 3rd is due to Wear/Tear and needing to occasionally cheese out Jund)
2 Batterskull (So hard to kill, occasionally rofl stomps opponents)
2 Engineered Explosives (The Goyf Slayer)
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Relic of Progenitus

Changes since last post:

Relic of Progenitus + Grim Lavamancer vs GB Rock.  Relic's are to contain Tarmogoyf, Deathrite, and potentially Scavenging Ooze.  The Grim Lavamancer's I've found very effective vs Dark Confidant, Goyf, and Deathrite.  Try to prioritizing removing creatures from both graveyards since a "late game" Scavenging Ooze can get outta control otherwise, and also hoarding card types in your bin that Deathrite Shaman can't eat is a potential soft exploit.  Since you control the effects of both cards I haven't found them dis synergistic with Snapcaster Mage over the course of 11 sideboard games (not the biggest sample size mind you).  These numbers are currently very high, they'll probably be brought down later.

Sleight of Hand > Serum Visions:  This is basically a tempo based decision, when I'm casting my cantrips I need to draw gas immediately to present as many options as possible so I can get some type of tempo or board advantage.  I'm older more combo focused versions of Twin like my old Grixis Twin list that I came in 19th with Serum Visions was far stronger since the plan was to combo kill and looking at as many cards as possible, even at a lethargic rate, was superior to getting a good card now.  Where as this variant is split between controlling the pace of the game and combo killing, and in other to control the game you need to see relevant cards as quickly as possible.

Minus the Combo Package:  This was mostly to make room for the Grim/Relic package, things are still in flux.    Though one things I've noticed is the match ups where I boarded in more combo where relatively good match ups, so it might be win more, the exception being Burn.

Potential Changes:
-1 Desolate Lighthouse, -1 Cryptic Command
+2 Fetchlands, or +1 Fetchland +1 Mountain

I've noticed Grim Lavamancer's don't come online as consistently or quickly as I'd like on occasion, roughly 1/5 games.  Also the 3 colorless land count has occasionally made forcing the combo slightly harder then it should be.  I don't want to cut the Tectonic Edges since they help hedge against flooding, provide mana choke tactics, and are critical vs  Treetop Village, Celestial Collonade, and Raving Levine.  Lastly hitting 3 mana is critical in Twin, so every land is super helpful.

+1 Izzet Charm
-1 ?? I have no idea

If my plan vs GB rock is to contain them the first three turns Izzet Charm has always preformed in this regard, Goyf living for a few turns is acceptable but if Dark Confidant flips on card on turn 3 it's over me about 90% of the time.

Weird Cards:
Pulse of the Grid/Thirst For Knowledge:  It's probably not correct in this build at the moment, but if I'm able to commit more cards to the board then my opponent, say like Grim Lavamancer, Spellskite, and Shrine of Piercing Visions (oh how I miss you) you'll be able to consistently keep your hand lower then your opponent while maintaining resource parity so that Pulse will rebuy itself.  Also it works splendidly with bluffing the combo attempt.

Guerrilla Tactics:  Kills Dark Confidant and the majority of turn 1-2 plays and forces Liliana to not +1, and a bad shock isn't the end of the world to Snapback.

Well that's it for this post, lots of thoughts and stuff left to tweak before the Grand Prix.  If you've got any questions comment or email me, till next time!

MTG: Modern, Splinter Twin Musings and Grand Prix Detroit Prepartion

Grand Prix Detroit is coming up for me, luckily I won a GPT so I'll have at least 2 byes, 100% moar than I had at GP Toronto.  Thanks to Patrick "Ofelia" Dickmann for the list, advice, and constant beratement. Here's the list I went 7-0 with.

Modern: Ofelia Twin
23 Lands
5 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse (I'd play moar if I could)
2 Tectonic Edge (Extremely ambitious but so much value)

21 Spells
4 Serum Visions (Maybe this should be Sleight of Hand)
2 Peek (Snap + Peek eot after bluffing the combo attempt)
2 Dispel
2 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
2 Cryptic Command (Solves a lot of problems and makes your Snaps absurd, could cut 1)
2 Izzet Charm (I'm biased but it's been pulling it's weight)
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Flame Slash

16 Combo Stuff n Things
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Deceiver Exarch (not a typo)
4 Pestermite
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

15 Sideboard
1 Dismember (For Linvala, Spellskite, and random removal, could be a Combust)
2 Ancient Grudge (1st is for random Torpor Orbs, Spellskites, etc, 2nd is for Afffinity)
3 Blood Moon (For UWr, the 3rd is due to Wear/Tear and needing to occasionally cheese out Jund)
2 Batterskull (So hard to kill, occasionally rofl stomps opponents)
2 Engineered Explosives (Never leave home without them)
2 Grim Lavamancer (Some men just want to watch the world burn)
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (Moar combo for match ups where racing > interaction)
2 Deceiver Exarch

The biggest difference from this list and what I've played in the past is that it focuses a lot more on interacting with your opponents and drawing the game out so you can set up either a combo-kill or tempo them out with blue collar beatz.  I've had a lot of fun with Ofelia's version of Twin, but every once in a while I have awkward games where I feel like I'm playing a bad control/combo or aggro/combo deck.  I guess that's the price you pay for playing a hybrid deck.

The big perks of having snaps and moar interactive spells is . . .
- you can keep a wider range of hands, unlike combo focused builds where it's very hard to keep without at least 1 to 2 combo pieces in hand
- resiliency versus discard since losing a combo piece isn't the end of the world
- another target for Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki in Snapcaster Mage
- an alternate game plan by doing damage

Where as what I've missed from the 8 blue / 7 red old versions is
- a much higher ability to top deck when you're empty handed
- able to punish any tap outs from your opponents more consistently
- able to combo kill/race against combo decks more consistently

The biggest reason I've been pondering about this I'm trying to figure out a optimal direction to build Twin for Detroit, I'm sure the metagame will be your standard chili pot of random decks but due to the World Magic Cup and the MOSC I'm expecting more UWR Control and Melira Pod, which is sort of awkward since from what I've seen I prefer playing a slower more measured game against those 2 since they both have ways to slow me down, BUT I'd rather have near max combo pieces against random decks.  Here's a little table showing my thoughts on how the approaches match up against some of the most popular decks.

Force Combo = Near maxed out combo pieces
Passive Combo = Something closer to Ofelia style, 7 blue and 5 red pieces

I'm really happy with having 3 more combo pieces in my sideboard since against decks like Scapeshift, Burn, and Affinity you don't have inevitability with your interaction and just have to try to finish the game as quickly as possible.

Well that's about everything I have in the tank regarding Twin right now.  If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them or email me.  Till next time!

Patient 9 Entry 6

The first Alpha for Patient 9 is up and ready. It's a super loose rough, all part of the scrumming process I touched on in Entry 1. You can download the game here.

Game Info

If you don't have Flash just open it in any Internet Browser.

Controls are: Z for talk/confirm. Arrow keys to move.

Typerwritters save your progress, just walk up to them and hit Z.

If you give it a whirl and feel like giving me feedback here are the main questions I have for you:

- how does the game feel (in it's rough stage)

- what mechanics, if any, would you want added to diversify game play (intended length is roughly 3 hour with moderate replayability)

- do you like the proportions on the sprites? ( I moved away from the RPG Maker anime/chibi look)

Of course anything else that comes to mind is appreciated. Just comment on this blog, or email me your feedback. Thanks a lot!

Back to game talk, I noticed a huge up surge in motivation after I got the Alpha out for people to play. That was a huge perk to scrumming/iterating game builds that my class experienced in school when we made our 3d game(Legends of Goldwing), during any long creative process you start to get burnt out over a lack of results and it starts to feel like a endless sea of tasks that go no where. But when you get to see something every few months showing progress you get revitalized start getting your enthusiasm back, for a bit. Now I'm finding it way easier to brainstorm ways to improve and rebuild Patient 9, and the feedback I'm getting from my friends is critically important since I started to develop tunnel vision on what I had and not what the game should and could be.

The next alpha should be out in 1-3 weeks, the last 7 days since the Alpha's completion I've has been pretty consistent getting work done. Right now my I've got a lot of polish lined up, a basic player Inventory system, and a few more complimentary mechanics coming down the pipeline. That's all for today's post, if you've got any questions or comment feel free to post them in the comments section below or email me at alexneufeldt@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

MTG: Legacy, 8th @ Heroic Dreams Mox Tournament with RU Delver

Yesterday I played at a Legacy tournament hosted by Heroic Dreams with UR Delver, finishing in 8^th place. My preparation for this tournament consisted of reading every one of Andrew Schneider's articles and Adrian Sullivan's recent tournament report. Armed with all that knowledge and my past experience with the deck in Buffalo (79304 years ago) I came to this deck list . . .

Lands: 19

4 Scalding Tarn

4 Arid Mesa

4 Misty Rainforest

3 Volcanic Island

2 Island

2 Mountain

Creatures: 15

4 Goblin Guide

4 Delver of Secrets

3 Grim Lavamancer

4 Snapcaster Mage

Card Draw: 9

4 Brainstorm

3 Ponder

2 Gitaxian Probe (Great with Snapcaster, and the info helps me prioritize spells to counter)

Burn: 9

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Chain Lightning

3 Price of Progress (Some men just want to watch the world burn)

Counters: 7

3 Force of Will

2 Daze

2 Spell Pierce

Random: 1

1 Cerebral Vortex (Adrian Sullivan special)

Sideboard: 15

2 Engineered Explosives (Good at killing one-drops, particularly Nimble Mongoose)

2 Relic of Progenitus (Graveyard hate for RUG’s creatures)

2 Flusterstorm

1 Blue Elemental Blast

1 Daze

2 Smelt (I like this over Smash to Smithereens for the mana cost and synergy with Snapcaster)

3 Sulfuric Vortex (#Amazing)

1 Price of Progress (Excessive?)

1 Vendilion Clique (Versatile threat vs. control decks)

Round 1: UR Delver Mirror

Gotta love being paired into a mirror that you've never played before when there is literally only two of you in the room.

g1: He'd seen what I was playing from practising earlier, so he never cast his Goblin Guides until late in the game. At that point, they were guaranteed burn spells vs. my low life total while I didn't realize what was up until I had given him extra lands from my own Goblin Guides. I tried altering my game plan halfway through, but was too far behind on material and got smashed by a trio of Goblin Guides.

g2: I put him on the play and adopted him game plan, my Relic of Progenitus kept his Snapcasters and Grim Lavamancers in check while we both sat back sculpting our hands and killing opposing creatures. Despite neither of us playing slow we went to time, and I managed to sneak in the last bit of damage by finding a Bolt off of a Brainstorm.

1-1

0-0-1 "I did not expect this result playing a Burn deck splash blue"

Round 2: Bant Maverick

g1: I lost the roll and had a hard time keeping up with triple Noble Hierarch and Stoneforge Mystic into Jitte (had Batterskull in hand) despite having a Grim Lavamancer on the draw. He ripped a critical StP to remove my Grim Lavamancer and give his Jitte some delicious blood counters, which preceded to murder my board.

g2: We both mulled to six, he kept two lands and four StP on the draw. Surprisingly I didn't quite muster an acceptable offence, whiffed on having a Bolt vs. a Stoneforge Mystic into Batterskull. I'm starting to think I'm skimping on Bolts and Ponders to find said Bolts or other clutch sideboard cards.

0-2

0-1-1 "Well, time to never lose again I guess?"

Round 3: 4-Color Spirit Mystic Jund (this deck has everything for all people)

g1: I got smashed by Stoneforge Mystic for a Batterskull and Bloodbraid Elf cascading into Tarmogoyf.

g2: My opponent mulliganed to five, a Gitaxian Probe saw Chains of Mephistopheles which prompted a judge call for oracle text. Thank God my opponent stalled out so that card never hit play, because I still don't know what it does (does anyone?).

g3: Unfortunately my opponent mulliganed to five again, and didn't want to pay life with his Sylvan Library and stalled on two lands (Forest, Wasteland).

2-1 "Ya I really earned that win..."

1-1-1

Round 4: Esper Stoneblade

I get paired down against a 1-2; he's practically out of top 8 at this point, unless something really crazy happens. I ask for the concession since I can still "win out" awesomely I get it, We play 3 games for fun and practice and I get thoroughly rolled.

"0-3"

2-1-1 "Still "earning" these wins!"

Round 5: BUG

Paired down...again. Same routine as last time, and my opponent concedes the match to me. He's slightly tilted and not in the mood for a few fun games and goes off to watch his teammates.

0-0

3-1-1 "This is getting ridiculous"

Round 6: UWr Countertop

What are the odds I get paired down a third time? Apparently 100% since I'm paired vs. David Neganiwina. But this person – this man – has a fire and chose to go for it, no matter how low the odds are that a 4-2 can make it in. Despite getting infinity free wins all day I respect his decision and frankly I want to, you know, play Magic – just a little bit.

g1: From what I saw he kept a more mid-late game focused hand, and my first turn Delver on the play into Daze on his Sensei's Divining Top prompted a Force of Will. From there I blind flipped Delver revealing a Bolt (#Skill), played a second Delver, that would also blind-flip immediately, and somehow I managed to pull that game out.

g2: David kept five lands, StP, and a Brianstorm on the play. I Probed him, into Chain Lightning, Snapcaster into a second Probe and started the slow beats. I was able to protect the clutch Sulfuric Vortex from Vendilion Clique with Force pitching my own Vendilion Clique. The Vortex miraculously resolved, and I won the match.

2-0 "Drew above average g1 and average g2, I don’t know what to say”

4-1-1 "Make top 8 with one legit win, jeeez"

Round 7: Rug Delver

g1: His hand was loaded with Spell Pierces and Forces while I had no pressure off my mulligan to six. I ran out a Goblin Guide around turn five, it resolved, I turned it sideways, it didn't hit and land and he took two (to my surprise). An unflipped Delver, Grim Lavamancer, and Snapcaster Mage joined the fight and combined their powers in order to seal away game one.

g2: There wasn't much action this game; I mulliganed to six and kept a one lander (Mountain) with Relic of Progenitus on the draw. After not drawing my second land I ran out my Relic hoping it would resolve and I'd be able to cycle it into a blue source if I didn't naturally draw it, tragically it got Dazed. From therem all he literally did was play a Tarmogoyf and beat me to death with it. Ironically, the Relic in my bin made it a 5/6, keeping it out of Grim + Bolt range.

g3: I mulliganed five lands and two Goblin Guides into Gitaxian Probe, Goblin Guide, Chain Lightning, Force, Brainstorm, mystery card. I roughly figured I was about 33% to draw a land off the Probe (35.8% to be exact), and had to decide if I felt a mull to five had a better chance of winning then 33% times my odds of this hand winning. I think I chose wrong by mulliganing to five, as RUG Delver can trade cards effectively, and any offence I'd be able to muster would most likely be shut down easily. My six card hand had enough going for it; it had a better chance of winning the game despite having a 66% chance of straight losing on the spot. My five had Land, Delver, Chain Lightning, Price of Progress, mystery card. My Delver got bolted and practically grinded my offence to a halt. My opponent’s turn two Tarmogoyf pretty much sealed the deal from there.

1-2 "Didn't respect the match up enough and lost, seems right"

4-2-1 -> Dead @ 8th place

The main point of this tournament was to get practice for future Legacy tournaments, so breaking even for the day was a fine result. I can't complain about my finish or constantly mulling in the top 8 since I got ridiculously lucky to get paired down three times in a row. My only real complaint was how top-heavy the prize structre was, it wasn't the classic 1st=8x, 2nd=4x, 3/4th=2x, 5-8th=1x but 1st=600, 2nd=300, 3-4th=100(would be 150$), 5-8th=50$ (would be 75$). That's just the awkwardness that comes up with a variable number of participants and a big random card prize like a Mox. I still like the deck, though; it's kinda neat that the only two people piloting it came in 4th and 8th (me), respectively.

Problems

• Stoneforge Mystic into broken equipment, cards to consider...
  • Smash to Smithereens seems slightly better than Smelt if these are the only artifacts I'm blowing up despite being worse with Snapcaster Mage.
  • 4th Ponder can help dig for more Burn/Shatters for the Mystic and its toys.
  • Spell Snare – because we’re ballers like that.
  • Fire/Ice (as a burn option)

• Tarmogoyf/Nimble Moongoose
  • Relic of Progenitus: Keeps both in check very well.
  • Mind Harness: My first-round opponent swears by it, and since he made top 4 I'm inclined to believe him.
  • Spell Snare: Only hits the Tarmogoyf and suffers from timing issues, I'd probably have to the full four to get the results I want.

Cards on the recruit list

• Maindeck
  • Fire/Ice: A Patrick "Ofelia" Dickmann suggestion, I'm really digging this as a way to keep my burn count high, and give myself a potential 2-for-1 vs. one-toughness creatures, and a tricky race winner or Force of Will fodder all in one neat package.

• SOMEWHERE
  • Umezawa's Jitte: Another Ofelia suggestion, I'm worried about paying that much mana and getting blown out by my creature dying since everything I have is very vulnerable to spot removal.
  • 20th land: taps for mana, sometimes other cool shit.
  • Vapor Snag: A great way to force through damage while having a maindeck card that's good vs. a Goyf/Goose or decent vs Griselbrand. Might be slightly worse than Fire/Ice.
  • Izzet Charm: I know I'm biased when it comes to this card, it's probably too expensive for what you get.

• Sideboard
  • Mind Harness: I’ll most likely play three, I’m sick of losing to Tarmogoyf.
  • Meekstone: The 3^rd piece of Ofelia tech; seems like a nice way to keep big dumb creatures back and in check.
  • Dismember: Probably the weaker option, but it's good to know about and the card is insanely efficient and versatile.

The only cut I'm sure of is the Cerebral Vortex; it was basically just Force of Will fodder all day. Besides that, it'll take some time to brew and test up the updates for the Decked Out/Untouchables tournament next week. Thanks to Jon Teigesser and Ryan Duffield for loaning me ze cards,Seth Black for the ride, and Andrew Boa for editing. Hopefully I can one up myself next week.

MTG: Standard, Practice for local PTQ/WMCQ with GB Ooze

Today I realized what sweet value 401 is offering at their PTQ and WMCQ (thank god Skyfox Games isn't getting good events anymore!) which resulted in me getting super pumped and opening Magic Online to battle in 2 dailies. I went 3-1 and 2-2, resulting in a cold 6 tix, 1 QP profit, ya living large :P Here's a updated/mutated version of the GB Ooze I cashed with the 2.5K.

Lands: 24

11 Forest

4 Overgrown Tomb

4 Woodland Cemetery

2 Golgari Guildgate

2 Evolving Wilds (experimental Deathrite Shaman synergy)

1 Swamp (Evo target, being a non Ooze land hasn't hurt since it's a extra source)

Creatures: 28

3 Ulvenwald Tracker

3 Deathrite Shaman (Gotta even up the Junk match up somehow)

4 Lotleth Troll

4 Strangleroot Geist

2 Knight of Infamy (Being played over Gloom Surgeon)

4 Wolfir Avenger

4 Predator Ooze

2 Yeva, Nature's Herald (I blame Andrew Naylor)

2 Wolfir Silverheart (Yeva/Salvage caused the swap with Garruk)

Spells: 8

2 Rancor

2 Grisly Salvage (Ridiculous curve filler, medicore card)

2 Ultimate Price

2 Sever the Bloodline

Sideboard

2 Rancor

1 Ulvenwald Tracker

1 Ranger's Guile

2 Appetite for Brains

2 Abrupt Decay

1 Deathrite Shaman

2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

1 Duress

1 Knight of Infamy

2 Triumph of Ferocity (Has been impressing me less and less)

0 Arbor Elf: It never fixed my colored mana, I didn't need a turn 2 Predator Ooze since I play this deck more as a slower/"inevitable" beatdown deck. Cutting it let me increase the land/black count, add more threats, and consistently cast a 2 drop on turn 2, which is what I've been craving this whole time.

2md/2sb Rancor: The metagame is easily a third aggro, Rancor just doesn't preform against those decks, in my experience I've rarely wanted any more then 1 Rancor, so 2 seems to be a fine hedge. The third is brought in against most slow removal/heavy sweeper decks, and the fourth is a random hedge in case I have to board out a insane number of threats.

2 Evolving Wild/1 Swamp/2 Golgari Guildgate: Just a little experiment to see how good adding a extra black source while slightly powering up Deathrite Shaman is. It's been playing a touch better then the old mana base.

3md/1sb Deathrite Shaman: Excellent for stabilizing against aggro, slightly below average against control, but the rise of Junk Reanimator forced my hand into moving 3 into the main deck. The synergy with Grisly Salvage and Evolving Wilds are also adding a few small points as well for it.

2 Yeva: I've been running into problems playing against Supreme Verdict, I have to keep regeneration mana open but can't deploy threats which lets those scummy control players get ahead. Yeva, Avenger, and Grisly Salvage are my attempt to fix that problem. They've worked out really well so far, I've also been very pleased to find out a 4/4 is bigger then a 3/4 (resto). Who woulda thought.

2 Grisly Salvage: This is the role-player that got signed on the team after I decided I wanted moar Deathrite's and Yeva's. It's super power is filling the curve from turn 2 onward by being able to keep regeneration mana open or deploy cheap to medium costed threats along side it. It's effect is powerfully mediocre

0 Alpha Authority(For now!): I want to tweak this current version until I fully understand it before I try to squeeze in another cheesy combo. But when I do it'll be bloody sweet. Here are pics as proof of concept.

Missing one of a victorious 6/5 Lotleth Troll vs Junk Reanimator :(

I'm still a big fan of this deck, it's ability to switch roles against opponents, resilient threats, and oddball cards have kept me coming back for moar. On that note I'll sign off. If you've got any questions or comments feel free to post em or email me. Till next time.

MTG: Standard, 8th @ CBA Games 2.5k with GB Ooze

Since we've returned to Ravnica I've been in a stump when it comes to Standard, for some reason I hated most of the format and didn't find a deck that flowed for me. Then after Quebec City I realized it's a really interactive format that rewards good deck building and tight play, sadly I was doing neither since my shitty deck usually tilted me. Then out of the blue a buddy suggested I try out GB Ooze which he had built physically and online. I started grinding with Kibler's list, after I got enough experience with it I start making modifications. My practice consisted of 3 dailies where I went 3-1, 1-3, and 4-0 and probably about 15 to 20 Practice Room Matches. This is what I sleeved up for the CBA 2.5K.

Lands: 23

11 Forest
4 Golgari Guildgate
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb

Creatures: 27

3 Ulvenwald Tracker
2 Deathrite Shaman

4 Arbor Elf

4 Strangleroot Geist

4 Lotleth Troll
2 Gloom Surgeon

4 Wolfir Avenger
4 Predator Ooze

Spells: 10

4 Rancor
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Sideboard
1 Vraska the Unseen (Never got to Judo Chop Olivia)
2 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Ultimate Price
2 Appetite for Brains
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Duress
2 Triumph of Ferocity

I'll go over some of the note worthy additions and subtractions

-4 Dreg Mangler: 3 drops are like trans/satured fat in the deck, they aren't healthy but you need them to make a delicious fast food joint. 11 was way to many, they routinely clogged my arteries/hand . Also Dreg Mangler is a very fair card in a deck that's trying to play semi unfair/hard to kill threats, Mangler is neither.

+2 Garruk, Primal Hunter: My thoughts on Garruk are the same as my GP Quebec City report, he's a better Thragtusk if you don't have slots to support it and is a hard to kill threat (notice a trend?).

+2 Gloom Surgeon: Much easier on the curve then Mangler, but also provides another amazing wall against the slew of aggro decks in the format. Few things make grown men cry as turn 2 Surgeon turn 3 Predator Ooze.

+2 Sever the Bloodline (maindeck): Olivia is this decks bane so I added 2 to the main. It's 4 mana cost is perfectly fine since you want to develop your board in the first turns and THEN start removing threats, also the flashback and pulse qualities give you some much needed hedge against mana flood.

Now for the report.

Round 1 vs Bant Wolf Run Control, 2-0

g1: I battle through triple Azorious Charm and Detention Sphere in the first 6 turns, he double Sphinx's Revelation, but since my threats are dying at a extraordinarily slow rate all he's doing is treading water while I eventually deal lethal.

g2: Rhox Faithmender buys him infinity time, letting him get up to 38 after his third Revelation. A key turn 3 Triumph of Ferocity lets me keep up card wise and I'm eventually able to beat him with about 15 cards left in his deck.

Round 2 vs Naya Midrange, 2-0

g1: I battle through double Thragtusk with my little army of regenerators.

g2: My opponent draws 16 draws off 3 Garruk, Primal Hunters over the course of the match, plays double Armada Wurm, and I'm STILL able to fight through that over time with Predator Ooze+Rancor+Ulvenwald Tracker.

Round 3 vs UWR Flash, 2-0

g1: My opponents stumbles with lands and his Azorious Charm's just buy time but don't translate into any pressur, eventually I'm able to grind him down despite drawing more lands then him.

g2: Opponent stumbles with, doesn't draw Azorious Charm and get's stomped quickly.

Round 4 vs Jund, 0-2

g1: I draw 4 Rancor's this game but only one threat, not a winning hand against a deck with varied removal like Tragic Slip.

g2: I'm a little light on lands for a bit, making it hard to apply pressure while keeping regeneration mana open. I misplayed by not tapping out for Vraska to kill a Vampire Nighthawk that sealed the game with the help of Kessig Wolf Run.

Round 5 vs GW Human Aggro, 2-1

g1: I almost stabilize against double Rancor on a 4/4 Champion of the Parish that's bonded with a Nearheath Pilgrim, but he lethals me while he sits at a lofty 40.

g2: Turn 2 Ooze with back up is very hard for his deck to deal with, the longer the games go the more they favor me since I'll be able to bury him in synergy or durable threats.

g3: On the draw, I close my eyes and play turn 2 Gloom Surgeon turn 3 Predator Ooze, I'm relieved that I'm still in the game when I open them on turn 4. Ulvenwald Tracker and company eventually grind him into dust.

Round 6 vs Humanimator, 2-1

g1: Sadly get comboed out before I can 0 him.

g2: He boards out the combo and morphs into a Resto/Thragtusk. I'm able to easily fight through that, surprise surprise.

g3: He wiffs on a turn 3 Mulch, misses his land drop, and I'm able to kill him on turn 4 with a Deathrite Shaman in play covering any combo shenanigans.

Round 7 vs Unknown, Intentional Draw

We shake hands and draw into top 8. I go from 4^th to 7^th place.

Round 8, Quarterfinals, vs Jund, 0-2

g1: As the second seed my opponenet plays first and slams a turn 4 Olivia that is sadly unanswered and buries me.

g2: I mullagin to 5, I had a small chance with Arbor Elf and Ooze but he has Tragic Slip, Liliana of the Veil, Garruk Primal Hunter, and Olivia to bury me.

With that I'm vanquished from the top 8 with 100$ in my hands. As lame as it was to lose in that fashion, I'm still happy about the finish cause I had fun playing my deck, put work and preparation, and finally won in RtR  T2. On the hour walk home I brainstormed Deadly Allure as a potential answer to Olivia. These are the changes I've made to my list after playing in a Premier Event (awful awful value please don't ever play these!)  and a Daily (amazing value play these!).

Maindeck: -2 Abrupt Decay, +2 Tragic Slip

Sideboard:-1 Ultimate Price, -1 Vraska, +1 Abrupt Decay, +1 Deadly Allure

Lands: 23

11 Forest
4 Golgari Guildgate
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb

Creatures: 27

3 Ulvenwald Tracker
2 Deathrite Shaman

4 Arbor Elf

4 Strangleroot Geist

4 Lotleth Troll
2 Gloom Surgeon

4 Wolfir Avenger
4 Predator Ooze

Spells: 10

4 Rancor
2 Tragic Slip
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Sideboard
1 Deadly Allure
2 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Ranger's Guile
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Duress
2 Triumph of Ferocity

Special thanks of Nathan Enkel and Jonny Teigesser for loaning me both online and physical copies of the deck. If you've got any questions or comments feel free to post em or send them my way.