Yesterday we battled through a 3 game match against a White Weenie deck trying to abuse equipment, today we face down the reining king, Caw-Blade! I've made some minor tweaks between the games yesterday and today, check it out after the jump!
Infectwire | |||
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Creatures (16) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Bighted Agent 4 Plague Myr 2 Viral Drake 2 Viridian Corrupter Pumps (12) 4 Distortion Strike 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Groundswell | Other Spells (4) 4 Preordain Artifacts (4) 4 Livewire Lash Lands (24) 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Inkmoth Nexus 8 Forest 8 Island | Sideboard 2 Viridian Corrupter 2 Viral Drake 4 Nature's Claim 4 Vines of Vastwood 3 Contagion Clasp | |
There are some small changes to the deck from yesterday. I've decided to remove the Gigantiforms and the Vines of Vastwood from the maindeck, and replace them with Groundswell. The Sideboard has been changed to update this as well. I'm liking Viral Drake less and less each game, and most of the time I would prefer a Contagion Clasp over him, so he might not make the cut for tomorrow, we'll see.
Today I'll be playing against the W/U/b Caw-Blade deck that placed 1st at the recent Master's League tournament on Magic-League.com:
(Note: My opponent chooses the deck he's playing against me, and I don't find out what deck it is until after the match is over.)
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| Awesome Jace alter done by Sandreline |
Game 1:
I roll a 1 to my opponents 6, and he chooses to play first. My opening hand has only 1 land and 3 Livewire Lashes... so I mulligan to 6: Island, Island, Forest, Inkmoth, Viridian Corrupter, Mutagenic Growth
Opp: Plays a Celestial Collonade.
Turn 1: I draw a Blighted Agent, play Inkmoth Nexus, and end my turn.
Opp: Drops an Island, plays Stoneforge, tutors up Batterskull.
Turn 2: Play Forest, turn Inkmoth into a creature, swing. Opponent at 1 poison.
Opp: Drops a Plains then passes.
Turn 3: Draw a Misty Rainforest. Fetch an Island. Attack with Inkmoth, opponent at 2. Opponent flashes in a Batterskull at the end of my turn.
Opp: Flashes in Sword of Feast and Famine, equips it to Batterskull, attacks for 6, untaps and passes the turn.
Turn 4: Draw Mutagenic Growth. Play a Forest, Play Corrputer, it gets mana leaked.
Opp: Plays Jace, Fate Seals me, Swings for another 6.
Turn 5: Draw Glistener Elf. Play Misty Rainforest, play Blighted Agent.
Opp: Plays Stoneforge, gets Mortar Pod, and plays it to the field. Kills Blighted Agent, equips new Stoneforge with the Pod, attacks with Batterskull and old Stoneforge. I activate Inkmoth, he gets pinged for 1, I take 7 combat damage, and I'm down to 1 life. Mortar Pod gets equipped onto Stoneforge, and pings me.
Sideboard: I don't want my Viral Drakes in this match up, they are too slow to matter.I definitely want Nature's Claim for instant speed removal against his equipments.
-4 Groundswell
-2 Viral Drake
+3 Nature's Claim
+3 Contagion Clasp
Game 2:
Opening hand is 4 Distortion Strikes and an Inkmoth Nexus... Terrible draws this match... I muligan to 6 for: Plague Myr, Forest, Nature's Claim, Livewire Lash, Blighted Agent, Island
Turn 1: Forest
Opp: Drops a Seachrome Coast
Turn 2: Draw Misty Rainforest. Play an Island play Plague Myr.
Opp: Plays Inkmoth Nexus. and drops in Spellskite. This is a horror, Spellskite ruins Livewire, I have to get rid of him.
Turn 3: Draw Contagion Clasp. Attack with Myr, opponent takes 1 poison.
Opp: Drops a Plains and a Mortar Pod, kills Myr. This is even worse, now he can ping things, and has a Spellskite to redirect things.
Turn 4: Draw Viridian Corrupter. Play Corrupter, target Mortar Pod, opponent allows it, keeping his Spellskite out.
Opp: Plays a Plains and passes.
Turn 5: Draw Preordain and cast it, drawing a Distortion Strike. Equipped Corrupter with Livewire lash and attacked opponent chooses not to block (5 poison).
Opp: Plays Stoneforge, searches for Sword of War and Peace.
Turn 6: Draw Mutagenic Growth. I attack with Corrupter, he blocks with Spellskite, Spellskite dies.
Opp: Untaps, plays a Plains and passes the turn.
Turn 7: Draw Forest. Cast Distortion Strike on Corrupter, hitting opponent for 2 poison (7). Swing for the win, and opponent flashes in a Batterskull for giggles.
Sideboard: I'm pretty happy with my sideboard choices this time.
Game 3:
Opponent plays first and my opening hand is Forest, Forest, Contagion Clasp, Inkmoth Nexus, Preordain, Mutagenic Growth, Glistener Elf.
Opp: Seachrome Coast.
Turn 1: I draw Misty Rainforest, Play a Forest and drop in the shining elf.
Opp: Celestial Collonade comes in tapped, and the turn is passed.
Turn 2: Draw a Preordain. I drop Misty Rainforest and send it off to find an Island. I Preordain and get a Distortion Strike. My elf gets sent in to begin the infection with a Mutagenic Growth (3).
Opp: Another Celestial Collonade comes in tapped. Spellskite comes in to give me a headache.
Turn 3: Draw another Distortion strike. I play my Inkmoth and send in the elf, hoping to get him to block with Spellskite. He obliges. I play Contagion Clasp targeting skite, taking him down to a 0/2.
Opp: Plains hits the field and he taps out for a Jace brainstorming up 3 cards.
Turn 4: Draw another Contagion Clasp, and I play an Inkmoth, attack with old Inkmoth and the elf, Skite blocks my elf taking him down to 0/1, and my opponent is up to 4 poison from Inkmoth. I play Contagion Clasp number 2 and polish off the Spellskite.
Opp: Plays Glacial Fortress and a Batterskull, then uses Jace to bounce my Elf.
Turn 5: Draw an Island, and put it onto the field. I play the elf again and then attack with both Inkmoths (6 poison).
Opp: Plays a Tectonic Edge and Fate Seals me. He pops his Tec Edge to remove an Inkmoth, and attacks with the Batterskull germ for 4.
Turn 6: I draw a Forest. Turn Inkmoth into creature. Play Distortion Strike on Elf. Play Distortion Strike on Inkmoth. I declare my attackers and my opponent Into the Roils my Glistener Elf. Inkmoth plugs for 2 (8 poison).
Opp: Attacks with Batterskull Fate Seals, and passes the turn.
Turn 7: Draw a Mutagenic Growth. Play Forest, proliferate opponent up to 9.
Opp: Plays a Plains Attacks with Batterskull and Collonade, I activate Inkmoth to block Celestial Colonnade. Jace Fate Seals, and passes the turn.
Turn 8: Draw an Island. Play the Island, proliferate for the win.
I really pulled that last game off by the skin of my teeth, and it's one of the reasons I'm starting to like Contagion Clasp so much. I can't count the number of games I've been in where I've gotten someone to 8 or 9 poison, and just haven't been able to seal the deal.
I think the sideboard needs a little more work, and I might completely pull Viral Drake out of the mainboard. I'm not sure what he could be replaced with yet though. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
See Part 1 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire.html
See Part 2 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire-part-2.html
See Part 3 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire-part-3.html
See Part 1 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire.html
See Part 2 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire-part-2.html
See Part 3 here: http://ggxgames.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-infectwire-part-3.html
Like this deck. Like your style.
ReplyDeleteYour Preordain slot might benefit from Corrupted Resolve or Mana Leak as a response to Spellskite, Mortarpod, or Jace. The problem I have with this strategy is that it requires you to NOT tap out each turn. Beast Within is another answer but at 3cc it may also not be feasable. That being said I have a nearly identical list that runs Gitaxian Probe in place of Preordain. I like this because it assists with the tapped out of mana problem while still granting card advantage like the card it's replacing. The probe also lets you know if you can sneak in your turn 3 win or if you are overextending. I have paired this with Tezzeret's Gambit as a 3-of for the same reason but I fear even the draw card + proliferate + phyrexian mana cost still will not outperform Distortion Strike and any pump spell in their place.
Keep the updates coming!
I also run 22 land with confidence (Tezz Gambit being my only 3cc and only as a 3-of (my Corrupters are strictly SB only)). You might consider dropping one or two land if you do end up dropping the Drakes (which I agree are too slow). If you drop the Drakes you could go for Necropede or Ichorclaw Myr which both seem to benefit multiple hands or do a 2 and 2 of each and they would both give a new opportunity for Plague Myr's colorless mana and still leave you with that precious 3rd mana saved for a pump or Inkmoth activation.
ReplyDeleteHey, I just wanted to say I thought it was really cool that you went through the trouble of posting on a Dutch small forum. I took the liberty to play around with the deck a bit, and I added some Tezzeret's Gambits to the deck like the above poster. I've been really impressed with those so far, you should try them out! I would suggest -2 Viral Drake (move to SB?) and -1 Island for 3 of those, and if you like them I would try and make space for a 4th.
ReplyDeleteKind regards, Jay
Jay, thanks for the comment. I'm in the process of massively overhauling this deck due to the Splinter Twin combo that everyone is running. Because of that there is a lot more instant speed creature removal and artifact destruction. It is really unfortunate. I think your suggestion of Tezzeret's Gambit wil fit perfectly into the redesigned deck.
ReplyDeleteThanks, -D