Classroom X – Enduring Animosity

Here we are with another installment of Classroom X. The general idea is to show you the products of Mr. Eckstein’s classroom. The students and I play after school and test out many unusual or “rogue” decks. Which by the way “rogue” now can be an actual deck type so we prefer “weirdo”.

When we find a deck we like we’ll test it against a deck that has been on the net. We provide you with the deck list and some example hands so you can see how it plays. Most of us really despise articles that talk about how good a match up is and don’t show any evidence to back it up. It is possible for many match ups to be misplayed and lead to confusion. Player A says his deck beats Deck B 80% of the time. Meanwhile Player B claims the same against Deck A. Turns out they are both playing the opposite deck wrong. We actually show you the hands play by play exactly how they happened. If we play it wrong just let us know.

We feel this format is pretty good and helps people play with the decks we highlight. In the past few weeks many of you have stated the same. Unfortunately the may be the last Classroom. Those who have been reading our blogs know of our desire to be a Featured Blog like The Main Phase by Reuben Bresler – aka reubs 11 is.  We don’t desire to write anymore until we have achieved that status.

Enough of the non-magic stuff here is the deck we posted last week. The main idea was to abuse Enduring Renewal as much as possible.

Enduring B/W

4 Caves of Koilos

4 Vivid Meadow

4 Gemstone Mine

8 Plains

4 Vivid Marsh

4 Enduring Renewal

4 Oblivion Ring

2 Deathrender

4 Martyr of Sands

4 Children of Korlis

4 Shriekmaw

2 Dawnfluke

2 Purity

4 Wrath of God

2 Sunscour

2 Makeshift Mannequin

2 Diabolic Tutor

We have made 2 changes since this posting. First we switched a Purity to a Dread just to see which we like better. Most of the time they are both just to prevent decking but when we use one for a beat stick the question is which is better. Second we dropped the Infinite Loop with Deathrender and put Ajani Goldmane in its place. The infinite wasn’t that handy and Ajani gives us the ability to win games with some muscle. Dropping a 100/100 on the table is pretty cool to. It satisfies our inner Timmy.

Now for the deck to test against. Ruebs posted a deck a few days ago that used some goblins, goblin token producers, and Shared Animosity for some really big beats. At first we were going to use his list exactly but we worried that would imply us Vs. the rest of the writers ‘vibe’. So we researched and found this list that top 8’d at the $2000 Amateur Challenge at Kuala Lumpur. The pilot of the deck was Lim Teng Chek.

4 Auntie’s Hovel

7 Mountain

2 Mutavault

4 Sulfurous Springs

5 Swamp

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

4 Frogtosser Banneret

3 Knucklebone Witch

4 Mad Auntie

4 Marsh Flitter

4 Mogg Fanatic

4 Mogg War Marshall

4 Siege-Gang Commander

2 Dead // Gone

4 Incinerate

4 Shared Animosity

This deck is beat down with some big explosive turns. While faster than Ruebs deck we’re not sure it’s better. Many of us think the control package that Ruebs carries will give him better chances against the field but this deck scares us more when carrying Enduring.

Here are the hands we played

Enduring  - Martyr of Sands, Vivid Marsh, Plains, Gemstone Mine, Ajani Goldmane, Caves of Koilos, Wrath of God

Turn 1 – Enduring- play Vivid Marsh

            Shared – Draw Auntie’s Hovel, Show Mogg fanatic to play Hovel, play Fanatic

Turn 2 – Enduring – Draw Sunscour, play plains

            Shared – Draw Mogg War Marshall, Show Marshall to play Hovel, play Marshall, attack (19)

Turn 3 – Enduring – Draw Ajani Goldmane, play Caves

            Shared – (No Echo – 2 tokens) Draw Mogg Fanatic, play mountain, play Mad Auntie, Attack (15)

Turn 4 – Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Mine, play Ajani, activate Ajani (17, AG at 5)

            Shared – Draw Auntie’s Hovel, Show Fanatic to play Hovel, play Fanatic, Attack (9)

Turn 5 – Enduring – draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, play Wrath (Shared sacs fanatics – 7), activate Ajani (9-AG 6)

            Shared – Draw Sulfurous Springs, play Springs, play Marsh Flitter

Turn 6 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play Mine, play Renewal, Play Martyr, sac Martyr (15), Activate Ajani (17- AG 7)

            Shared – Draw Shared Animosity, play Shared, attack (12)

Turn 7 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and sac Martyr 3 times (39- one Mine depleted), remove Ajani and Renewal in hand from the game to play Sunscour for free, Activate Ajani to put in a 39/39 token, (AG – 1)

            Shared – Draw Dead/ Gone, Play Gone on token, play Marshall

Turn 8 – Enduring – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, play Martyr, activate Ajani (41 – AG 2)

            Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Swamp, attack (token blocked – 39)

Turn 9 – Enduring – Draw Plains, play plains, play Martyr, activate Ajani (41 – AG 3)

            Shared – Draw Siege- Gang, play Siege-Gang

Turn 10 – Enduring – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, activate Ajani (43- AG 4)

            Shared – Draw Mad Auntie, Play Auntie, attack (Block Commander – 19)

Turn 11 – Enduring – Draw Oblivion Ring, Play and sac Martyr twice (25), play O-Ring targeting Shared Animosity, Play Martyr, activate Ajani (27 – AG 5)

            Shared – Draw Incinerate – play Incinerate on Martyr, attack (14)

Turn 12 – Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and sac Martyr 3 times (23), Play Martyr, activate Ajani (25- AG 6)

            Shared – Draw Mad Auntie, play Auntie, attack (Commander blocked – 10)

Turn 13 – Enduring – Draw Wrath, play and sac Martyr (16), play Wrath, play Martyr, activate Ajani (18- AG 7)

            Shared – Draw Swamp

Turn 14 – Enduring- Draw Diabolic Tutor, Play Tutor getting Children (mine depleted), sac Martyr (24), play and sac Martyr (30), play Children, activate Ajani for a 30/30 token (AG –1)

            Shared – Draw Mountain – Scoops

Eckstein Notes – Both players made mistakes in this game. It’s obvious that the Shared Goblins player doesn’t understand Planeswalkers. Multiple times he should have attacked Ajani. In this game alone Enduring gained 18 life. 2 of the life would have gained no matter what and Shared would have had to not hit for at least 5 some time. This error leads to the Enduring error on Turn 7. Enduring should have just played and sac the Martyr over and over. Easily gaining 27 or more every turn. Eventually the Shared player will do this level of damage in a turn but then the Sunscour is more effective as the Shared player must over commit. I did explain the Planeswalker rules to both players at the end of this hand.

Turn 1 – Shared – Play mountain, play Fanatic

            Enduring – Draw Martyr of Sands, play Plains

Turn 2 – Shared – Draw Mountain, play Mountain, Play Marshal, attack (19)

            Enduring – Draw Plains, play plains

Turn 3 – Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Fanatic, play Mutavault, attack (16)

            Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Caves, Play Children

Turn 4 – Shared – Draw Incinerate, play Fanatic, activate Mutavault, attack (11)

            Enduring – Draw Diabolic Tutor, play Mine, Play Enduring Renewal

Turn 5 – Shared - Draw Frogtosser Banneret, play Fanatic, sac Fanatic targeting Children, activate Mutavault, attack (5)

            Enduring – Draw Plains, play Plains, Play and sac Martyr twice (17), play Children

Turn 6 – Shared – Draw Shared Animosity, Play Shared Animosity, sac Fanatic targeting Children, attack (8)

            Enduring – Draw Martyr of Sands to yard via Renewal, Play and sac Martyr twice (20), play Children (mine depleted)

Turn 7 – Shared – Draw Mogg War Marshall, play Marshall, attack (no block-children sac 20)

            Enduring – Draw Vivid Marsh, play Marsh, Evoke Shriekmaw (19) target token, Play Children

Turn 8 – Shared – (pay Echo) Draw Incinerate, play Fanatic, sac Fanatic targeting Children, (Enduring Evokes Dawnfluke), Attack (Children sac – 19)

            Enduring – Draw Makeshift Mannequin, Evoke Shriekmaw target Fanatic (sac –18), Evoke Shriekmaw target Marshall (17 – caves), play Children

Turn 9 – Shared – Draw Swamp, play Swamp, play Marsh Flitter. Attack (Children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Gemstone Mine, play Mine, Evoke Shriekmaw twice targeting token and Marshall, play Children

Turn 10 – Shared – Draw Marsh Flitter, Play Incinerate on Children, (Evoke Dawnfluke), play Frogtosser, attack (children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Enduring Renewal, Play and Sac Martyr twice (35), Play Children

Turn 11 – Shared – Draw Aunties Hovel, play Hovel tapped, activate Mutavault attack (children sac)

            Enduring – Draw Oblivion Ring, play and Sac Martyr (47), play O ring targeting Shared Animosity, Play children

Turn 12 – Shared – Draw Incinerate, attack (sac)

            Enduring – Draw Purity to yard to deck, Play Dread (mine depleted-46 caves)

Turn 13 – Shared – Draw Frogtosser Banneret, play incinerate twice on Dead, attack (42)

            Enduring – Draw Vivid Marsh, play Marsh, Play Tutor (45) to get Wrath, play Children.

Turn 14 – Shared – Draw Dead/Gone, attack (sac)

            Enduring – Draw Shriekmaw to yard via renewal, play Wrath, play children

Turn 15 – Shared – Draw Mutavault, play Mutavault, play Marsh Flitter, Play Frogtosser

            Enduring – Draw Children of Korlis to yard, play Mannequin for Children

Turn 16 – Shared – Draw Marsh Flitter, play Marsh Flitter

            Enduring – “You have to do 45 points of damage in one turn to win. Why aren’t you scooping” (“1 Shared Animosity and I have 83 coming at you”) Draw Dawnfluke to yard. Tap Koilos for W (44) Sac both Children (46). Play and sac Martyr twice (70). Play Children twice.

Turn 17 – Shared – Draw Springs

            Enduring – Draw Wrath of God, play Wrath, “Now Scoop?” (Shared Scoops)

Eckstein’s Notes – Didn’t really see much wrong in this game. It really comes down to who gets their enchantment to field first. Both have to have extra’s to make their enchantment work. Enduring needs to wait until he has a Martyr or Children in hand while the Shared player needs to build a sizable army.

Shared – Siege-Gang Commander, Sulfurous Springs (2), Dead/Gone, Mogg War Marshall, Frogtosser Banneret, Swamp

Turn 1 – Enduring – play Vivid Meadow

            Shared – Draw Shared Animosity, play Springs

Turn 2 – Enduring – draw Enduring Renewal, play Plains

            Shared – Draw Swamp, play swamp, play Marshal

Turn 3 – Enduring – draw vivid Marsh, play Marsh

            Shared – (no Echo paid – 2 goblin tokens in play) draw Shared Animosity, play Swamp, play Shared Animosity, attack (19)

Turn 4 – Enduring – Draw Caves of Koilos, play Caves, play Renewal.

            Shared – Draw Swamp, play Springs, play Frogtosser, attack (15)

Turn 5 – Enduring – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, Evoke Shriekmaw twice target each token

            Shared – Draw Mountain, play Mountain, play Siege-gang, attack (14)

Turn 6 - Enduring – Draw Plains, play Plains, play Wrath

            Shared- Draw Marsh Flitter, play Marsh Flitter

Turn 7 – Enduring – Draw Oblivion Ring, play ring on Shared Animosity

            Shared – Draw Auntie’s Hovel, attack (11)

Turn 8 – Enduring – Draw Martyr to yard via Renewal

            Shared – Draw Mountain, attack (Renewal play Mannequin targeting Martyr, blocks a token, then sac Martyr for 3 life), Shared sac token to make Marsh 3/3 (10)

Turn 9 – Draw Vivid Meadow, play Meadow, Play and sac Martyr twice (16), play Martyr

            Shared – Draw Mogg War Marshall, play Marshall (EOT sac Martyr for 3 – 19)

Turn 10 – Enduring - Draw Plains, play Plains, Play and sac 3 times (28), play Martyr

            Shared – Pay Echo – Draw Mountain, Attack (block black token, sac Martyr) sac token to Flitter (26)

Turn 11 – Enduring – Draw Dawnfluke to yard, Evoke Shriekmaw three times target Marshall, token and token. Play and sac Martyr (29)

            Shared – Draw Mutavault, play Mutavault.

Turn 12 – Enduring – Draw Shriekmaw to yard, play Diabolic Tutor for Children, Play and sac Martyr (35), play Children, Play Martyr

            Shared – Draw Mogg Fanatic, play Fanatic

Turn 13 – Draw Wrath of God, Evoke Shriekmaw targeting Fanatic (Fanatic sac 34), attack (18), W from Caves (33), Sac Children (35), Play and Sac Martyr 3 times (53) upon revealing Wrath Shared Scoops.

Eckstein’s Notes – I’m going to cut this blog here as it’s already over 2000 words. The Enduring doesn’t have a 100% win against Shared Goblins even these results show that. Hand 1 probably should have been Shared’s to win (debatable). I would say that Enduring probably plays out close to 70% win against Shared. I wish the Shared had had one of its big games. Less typing.

Like I mentioned at the top. This may be the last Classroom X. If you like what you’ve seen over the last few weeks please post a comment saying so. Or if now the editors email drop him a line in support. Thanks for the feed back so far.