Saturday, September 18, 2010

FNM September 17 - Wrath of The Stalemates

Knight Exemplar: "Knights know no
fear! Wait, what does that new
ability in Scars do? ...Son of a..."

Last night was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at Friday Night Magic (FNM). I had a 50/50 win/loss record over five rounds, but for most of the games I lost, I went down swinging. Or, more accurately, went down sitting with a solid defense that my opponents simply couldn’t get through.

I was playing mono-white knights. Strangely for a white deck, it has zero life gain in it, but it can still be very difficult to kill off. Between Knight Exemplar, Brave The Elements, Day of Judgment, Condemn, and Journey to Nowhere, I could set up a defensive position that could keep me alive via stalemate long past my opponent’s will to live, particularly if I managed to get two Knight Exemplars into play.

These stalemates resulted in some fun “I just won’t die” scenarios. One stalemate against an ally deck with life gain lasted long enough for my opponent to reach 142 life. It would have been more, but I kept fruitlessly clawing away at him with a Cloud Crusader.

My last game lasted 32 turns, over two-thirds of which was spent with me effectively untouchable while at 4 life. A Day of Judgment would have ended the stalemate in my favor, but he managed to give a twice-pumped Steppe Lynx protection from white with Emerge Unscathed first, dealing just enough damage to finish me.

Speaking of Steppe Lynx, I might have to make a cat deck after the release of Scars. Granted, some of these cats would have to be humanoid, but I’ve wanted to make a cat deck for a while and this could be my chance. Assuming there are enough white cat creatures for it, it will be a white-blue deck. The reason for this is a suggestion from that last opponent who said that Diminish should be included for its artwork alone.

Many minutes later, long after the discussion regarding my cat deck had supposedly ended, I commented that Mighty Leap would also be mandatory. You can't have a kitty deck without cats jumping around and getting where they're not supposed to be, darn it!

I won’t be playing FNM next week, as the Scars Prerelease is that Saturday and Sunday. I only plot to play one day, but I might play in as many as two tournaments on Saturday just because I already have a deck in mind based on spoilers and it’s almost exclusively stuff from the new set. Crafty Wizards…

10 comments:

  1. They do that. Gonna build a myr tribal deck?

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  2. Lawl, I played against a deck akin to yours last "knight"

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  3. Nameless One - I am SO gonna build a Myr tribal deck! I'm hoping one or more of the starter decks will include the rares I want to include so their prices as singles remain relatively low.

    Corey - Odds are good you'll see plenty of them prior to October and the standardization of Scars. Some people think Scars will make Knight Exemplar less viable, so they're enjoying it while they can. I think it will still be good once Scars is out, but the decks will need to be modified to survive in the new environment.

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  4. You should have an easy enough time making it. Checking the Orb of Insight for the keyword Myr reveals a nice big 41.

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  5. Looking at the original Mirrodin block, and at Kemba, Kha Regent? I think there'll be plenty of white Cats. <3

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  6. I pretty much only play in Sealed and Standard tournaments, however, so I'm unlikely to make a vintage or legacy cat deck. I might still design one, but I'm unlikely to actually make one given that my experience in Legacy tournaments has been going up against really hardcore decks that would be brutal to the kitties ^^;

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  7. Well, I just meant that, since Mirrodin had lots of kitties, Scars probably will too.

    (I prefer casual, personally, so I don't worry too much about power level.)

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  8. Ah, okay. Yeah, there should be at least a few cats in Scars ^_^

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  9. I'm still a relatively new player so I don't know how FNM works. I do know that I can't use sets that have been moved out, so I'd have a hard time getting into it what with my decks being almost entirely Ravnica/Guildpact/Dissension arche. ;_;

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  10. There are a bunch of cats, and the myrs go no higher than rares, so the highest the rare myrs will reach, even if they turn out to be the most tournament playable cards in the set, is 10.00. And that'll be pushing it. Only Fauna Shaman and the Worldwake Duals made it that high.

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