Walk it Out: A Standard Daily Report

I wanted some practice for the June 5th MOCS, so I borrowed Mythic Conscription from a friend and joined a Daily Event with it. As always, the list was pretty spicy.

I based the decklist off the one that won the first online PTQ of the season, which can be found here:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/1256986.

After applying my own changes, it ended up like this:

I cut Baneslayers from the main in favor of 3 Gideon Jura and the 4th Jace. I noticed the PTQ top 16 was flooded with U/W and Baneslayer is much weaker than the planeswalkers against that deck. Additionally, Gideon is the best card to beat the mirror, which I expected to gain popularity. My sideboard includes Sphinx of Jwar Isle and Mind Spring to beat Jund and U/W/(r) since I didn't understand what the Ranger of Eos where supposed to be doing. 4 Path is way better than running some Bant Charms since efficiency is paramount and you don't actually have to counter many instants. The Oblivion Ring over Deprive is a result of the maindeck being slanted to beat U/W already, and Ring is more versatile across many matchups.

On to the tournament!

Round 1: Lotus Jund

G1: I have Hierach into 2/2 Knight while my opponent plays Lotus Cobra. I know he is Jund as he played a Savage Lands on 1. I play a second Knight, miss my land drop, and pass. He attacks, and I trade. I don't want his cobra to accelerate him into 5 drops like Sarkhan or Siege-Gang. I also can't use the Knight without summoning sickness since his attack is an obvious tell for Maelstrom Pulse. He plays a Thrinax and passes. I utilize Knight EOT. Gideon Jura meets the Pulse we knew about, and Thrinax stays back on D. I cast Sovereigns but have no creatures available to attack. He has Eldrazi Monument. I play a second Sovereigns and he dies to 32/32 trampling Knight.

SB: -4 Sovereigns -2 Conscription -3 Jace +4 Negate +2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle +2 Mind Spring +1 O Ring

The Ring comes in to deal with Monument, Jace is the weakest planeswalker so it leaves. 

G2: He doesn't have the removal for my 1st Knight of Reliquary. Gideon Jura makes him suicide dudes for a while. Then goes into dude mode and kills him.

Round 2: U/W

G1: I know my opponent is U/W from watching his replays. I keep a hand with 2 Hierarchs and an Escort. This is pretty loose keep but the hand had a manland and good mana. I get Jace on 3 after Escort on 2. He answers with Oblivion Ring. I crunch with exalted Birds of Paradise since he has Wall of Omens and I don't want him to gain 5 life by blocking. My manlands get Spread and my Conscription many turns later meets a Path to Exile. I die to Elspeth tag teaming Baneslayer.

SB: -2 Sovereigns -4 Lotus Cobra -2 Gideon +4 Negate +2 Pridemage + 2 Sphinx 

I didn't really know how I wanted to sideboard. I decided Gideon wasn't very good as it was vulnerable to Path. And deemed Mind Spring too slow.Matches will go long so Cobra mana isn't very valuable. You want Hierarchs for exalted and Birds to block Colonades sometimes. They also allow you to play 3 drops on 2 which is more relevant than Cobra's long term potential. Your game plan is just to outwalk them postboard.

G2: He mulls to 5 and concedes on turn 3.

SB: -2 Sovereigns -2 Conscription +2 Mind Spring +2 Gideon

Figured out the Sovereigns package isn't good postboard against all the pinpoint removal they bring in. Mind Spring is a game breaker now and Gideon protects other walkers from Baneslayer and manlands. He isn't needed as a finisher which is why my assessment that he was weak against Path was an inaccurate analysis of his role in the matchup.

G3:  I play turn 3 Pridemage as he had Spreading Seas. He has Knight of White Orchid and O Ring on his turn having accel'd with Borderpost. I sac the Pridemage targetting a Borderpost, and he O Rings his own Knight. Nice card dude. I follow up with Jace + fateseal to force a nonlethal Colonade attack. I brainstorm the next turn and set up some guys. Jace dies to another attack. I play Gideon and +2. He "answers" with Baneslayer. 6/6 Colonnade teaches him a lesson while Birds chumps the return swing. Gideon kills Baneslayer and a topdecked Jace puts me too far ahead. He concedes a few turns later to me tapping 1U.

Round 3: Monored

We have 0 Baneslayer 0 War Monk 0 Firewalker. Guess which deck we're trying to dodge?

G1: He has Goblin Guide into Searing Blaze for my Hierarch. My 3 drops are now actual 3 drops and too slow to answer his Ball Lightnings and Hell's Thunders.

SB: -4 Sovereigns -2 Conscription -2 Jace +4 Path +4 Negate

G2: I trade Cobra for for Guide and use Dauntless Escort to chump Ball Lightning. By blocking whenever possible I am able to stabilize at 2 and use Jace to fateseal and Gideon to make sure I don't die to haste tramplers. Manlands eventually get the job done.

G3: He mulls to 5 but still comes out pretty fast with Guide on 1. I trade for the Guide with Cobra but don't trade Knight for Hellspark and fall to 3. I stay at 3 the rest of the game while Knight brick walls any Ball Lightnings or Elemental Appeals he could draw and eventually kills him. I'm pretty sure not trading Knight is correct since it is the only creature in the deck capable of blocking 6/1 or 7/1 effectively and I had Negate to stop a Bolt if he had it.

Lesson from this round: play Hierarch before Birds. You would much rather Hierarch be burned down since Birds can block Hell's Thunder.

Round 4: Mythic Conscription

G1: I have Hierarch into turn 3 Jace. The Jace keeps time walking him by bouncing his Knight. My accelerated Sovereigns ends the game as he basically couldn't progress his board for 3 turns.

SB: -4 Dauntless Escort -1 Sunpetal Grove +4 Path to Exile +1 Oblivion Ring

G2: I have Bird into Knight. Unfortunately he has Cobra, Cobra + Jace on the play. He still misplays slightly but his tempo and CA generated by Jace and Gideon puts me away.

SB: -2 Path +2 Negate. On the play I think Negate to stop Jace is more important than pathing Baneslayer or a guy with Conscription since we should land our own Sovereigns faster.

G3: I have Cobra into Jace to bounce Knight, attack for 2, leaving Hierarch and 2 lands. He plays Cobra, manland, second Hierarch, and attacks to kill Jace. I considered this line when I attacked last turn. I am okay with Jace dying since I wouldn't block Hierarch with Cobra anyways as I need an attacker for my turn 4 Sovereigns. Cobra gets in there for 13. His turn sees Jace to bounce my Cobra, a Birds of Paradise, and he passes with Noble Hierarch bluffing Path to Exile. I attack him with Sovereign and he dies.

4-0.

I learned the Conscription package is pretty good game one as a lot of decks have few ways to stop it preboard. It gets much worse against everything but the mirror once sideboarding happens. It's probably worth playing still just for the "I win: scenarios it generates. Turn 4 Sovereigns is easily achievable and exceptionally hard to deal with. I will consider modifying the deck after some sleep. Wish me luck in MOCS V!