As promised, I played a couple league matches on Magic-League with the Red Deck Wins (RDW) list I talked about in the last post. Here is the list again for reference sake.

Maindeck:

4 Keldon Megaliths
18 Mountain

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Blood Knight
4 Adder-Staff Boggart
4 Ashenmoor Gouger

2 Shard Volley
4 Incinerate
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin

Sideboard:

1 Mountain
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Magus of the Moon
3 Greater Gargadon
3 Tormod's Crypt

Match 1 vs Merfolk

My rating: 1707
My opponent: itachiago
His rating: 1611

Game 1

I won the roll and came out quick with turn 2 Blood Knight and turn 3 Ashenmoor Gouger. He had Silvergill Adept and Lord of Atlantis early. I only drew one removal spell the whole game but I had it early and used it turn 4 to kill his Lord of Atlantis. Meanwhile my two creatures got through for damage because he didn't chump block with Silvergill Adept.

He filled the board with another Silvergill and Lord. I attacked and he double blocked with both Silvergill Adepts. Because Ashenmoor Gouger has 4 power, I was able to kill both Adepts. That 4 power is one of the reasons why I like Gouger over Boggart Ram-Gang.

Knowing that Merfolk doesn't have mass removal, I dropped my whole hand: another Blood Knight, Tattermunge Maniac, and Adder-Staff Boggart.

I had 4 creatures and an active Keldon Megaliths versus his Lord of Atlantis and Mutavault. He didn't play a creature the next turn. I drew another Tattermunge Maniac and then attacked with the whole team to bring him to 3 life. With my swarm of creatures and his low life, he soon conceded.

Game 2

I sided in 4 Countryside Crusher for 4 Ashenmoor Gouger. Many Merfolk builds carry little to no removal even in the sideboard. I felt Crusher would stay alive and help me draw enough removal to keep Merrow Reejerey and Lord of Atlantis off the board.

I played the first creature, a turn 1 Tattermunge Maniac. It traded with Stonybrook Banneret. I replaced Maniac with Blood Knight. He played a couple dudes. He also had Flashfreeze for a burn spell but I had enough cheap removal to burn his guys. This allowed Blood Knight to get a lot of damage through. Also, I got lucky on a Lash Out clash.

He was at 9 life when he finally bounced Blood Knight with Cryptic Command and then countered it with another Flashfreeze. I drew a couple Countryside Crushers which outclassed his Cursecatchers and Mutavault. The Crushers helped me draw more burn and he soon died.

Postmatch Thoughts

RDW with a ton of removal (my build has 14 removal spells) seems to be a great matchup versus Merfolk. Merfolk is very dependent on its lords, Merrow Reejerey and Lord of Atlantis, but they're easily killed by burn spells. Also, the removal is cheap enough to avoid being countered by Cursecatcher and Rune Snag.

New rating: 1710 (+3)

Match 2 vs GW Big Mana Control

My rating: 1710
My opponent: Diablo49
His rating: 1596

Game 1

I won the toss and started off quickly with turn 1 Tattermunge Maniac, turn 2 Blood Knight, and turn 3 Adder-Staff Boggart. He had 2 Condemns for Tattermunge and Adder-Staff. However, he had to mana burn twice because his only white mana source early on was Wooded Bastion.

He tried to stop the Blood Knight beats with a 3/3 beast from Garruk Wildspeaker. However, I Shard Volleyed his beast and then attacked to send Garruk to the graveyard. Then, I played another Blood Knight.

He played Harmonize. I attacked him to 8 life with my 2 Blood Knights. He played Kitchen Finks and went to 10 life. End of turn, I threw a Flame Javelin to his face. He went to 6 life.

On my turn, I attacked again with the 2 Blood Knights. He blocked one with Treetop Village. The other one got through because Blood Knight laughs at Kitchen Finks. He went down to 4 life and I finished him off with my last card, another Flame Javelin.

Game 2

I sided in a ton of cards.

+4 Magus of the Moon
+4 Countryside Crusher
+1 Mountain
+3 Greater Gargadon

-4 Mogg Fanatic
-4 Keldon Marauders
-2 Shard Volley
-2 Adder-Staff Boggart

I started out with 2 Greater Gargadon and a Tattermunge Maniac. However, he had Kitchen Finks and was able to 2-for-1 because my Tattermunge Maniac was forced to attack. I then played Magus of the Moon. It didn't really affect him because he had a Plains to cast Oblivion Ring.

I made a bad play when he had Garruk with 2 counters and a 3/3 beast. I had a burn spell and Tattermunge on the board. I knew he had Condemn from a Lash Out clash. I burned Garruk instead of the 3/3 beast because of the Condemn. I should not have cared about his Condemn for my Tattermunge. Anyways, I stupidly had to run Tattermunge into the 3/3 beast.

He played Harmonize while I had a Countryside Crusher that was getting bigger. However, I did not attack because of his Condemn. I wanted to milk Crusher's ability for a couple more turns. Plus, I had a couple Gargadons that were about to come into play. However, he had Wrath of God and another Condemn to take out my team.

I drew more creatures, but my creatures were dwarfed by a 5/5 white Giant Warrior, a 7/7 Elemental, and a pro black 4/4 that could get really big with all mana he had. Plus, he gain 10 life from Feudkiller's Verdict. I was soon dead.

Game 3

I switched out the Tattermunge Maniacs for Mogg Fanatic. The forced to attack ability didn't seem very good.

I mulliganed a one lander into this hand:

Mountain
Mountain
Blood Knight
Blood Knight
Incinerate
Magus of the Moon

Pretty much perfect if I draw another land.

My T1: play Mountain
His T1: play Brushland
My T2: play Mountain, play Blood Knight
His T2: play Horizon Canopy
My T3: play Magus of the Moon, attack with Blood Knight (18 life)
His T3: do nothing
My T4: attack with Blood Knight and Magus (14 life), play Blood Knight, play Mogg Fanatic
His T4: concede

Postmatch Thoughts

This matchup probably favors the GW player. They have a ton of lifegain, maindeck and sideboard. I really need to have Blood Knight and Magus early to have a good chance of winning.

New rating: 1713 (+3)

I played two more matches. I'll get to those in the next post.

Tags: Mono Red Burn Standard T2 RDW Red Deck Wins

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

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