I know, I know, it\u2019s been an age since I actually wrote a tournament report. September was really busy and October was all draft at my LGS, and I missed FNM last week. I made top 8 at Game Day with UB Control, losing in the quarters to Kessig Green on some pretty bad draws in game 1 and turn 3 Thrun in game 2.<\/p>\n
So, since I never play the same thing twice in a row, and I am now determined to play @Smi77y<\/a> builds with some regularity, I figured I\u2019d go with his Mono Black Infect deck. I had built this version a bit ago, and today was a mess and I didn\u2019t have time to update it for more recent meta and went to battle with a slightly out-of-date version. Here\u2019s the list:<\/p>\n [deck title=@Smi77y\u2019s Mono Black Infect] 4 rounds, cut to top 8, with only top 4 earning prizes. <\/p>\n Round 1: Warren, playing UB control<\/strong> Round 2: Parker playing WW<\/strong> Round 3: Festus, playing UR Tempo<\/a><\/strong> Round 4: Chris, playing mono-Blue Grand Architect<\/strong> Quarterfinals: Jacob, playing UG<\/strong> Semifinals: Fernando, playing GW Kessing<\/strong> The other semi was the RDW mirror, which was over in about 10 minutes. By the time Fernando and I finished, it was about 12:15, and Brandon (the other finalist) and I were both ready to pack it in, so we decided to split. RDW seems manageable with 3 main board Skites and the Crusaders, but I haven\u2019t played it so I\u2019m not sure. (Shrine does seem like an awfully good answer for Crusader.) Anyway, I turned my winnings into almost all the cards I need for UR Tempo for next week, as well as a pack for each one of my boys, so it was a good night.<\/p>\n Thoughts on the deck:<\/em> I would also note that I playtested this exactly zero times. The first time I ever even shuffled it was the first game of round 1. It\u2019s not the hardest deck to play, either, so a solid deck that easy to pick up, and not that expensive. A very solid call for FNM or maybe even something bigger…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know, I know, it\u2019s been an age since I actually wrote a tournament report. September was really busy and October was all draft at my LGS, and I missed FNM last week. I made top 8 at Game Day with UB Control, losing in the quarters to Kessig Green on some pretty bad draws … Continue reading MonoBlack Infect Takes Down FNM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[15],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n[Creatures]
\n4 Plague Stinger
\n3 Spellskite
\n4 Phyrexian Crusader
\n3 Whispering Specter
\n2 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
\n[\/Creatures]
\n[Planeswalkers]
\n2 Liliana of the Veil
\n[\/Planeswalkers]
\n[Spells]
\n3 Virulent Wound
\n1 Go for the Throat
\n3 Trigon of Rage
\n3 Victim of Night
\n4 Lashwrithe
\n2 Tezzeret’s Gambit
\n[\/Spells]
\n[Land]
\n4 Inkmoth Nexus
\n22 Swamp
\n[\/Land]
\n[Sideboard]
\n4 Despise
\n1 Virulent Wound
\n3 Surgical Extraction
\n3 Black Sun’s Zenith
\n1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
\n2 Postmortem Lunge
\n1 Wring Flesh
\n[\/Sideboard]
\n[\/deck]<\/p>\n
\nHe was playing the build with Reassembling Skeleton<\/a> and Sword of Feast and Famine<\/a>. I lost the roll, got the zero-land opener and mulled to six, and kept a slightly suspect hand…. and drew very little action. All three Wounds, multiple Spellskites, and a great deal of land. Not enough pressure to threaten him, and while I eventually got him up to nine poison counters by hitting a Snapcaster with multiple Wounds, I could not bring it home and he milled me out with Jace. Game 2 wasn\u2019t much better. I again started with a no-lander and mulled into a slow hand, which was assisted by him Leaking an early Stinger and then Extracting it. I did manage a Skittles to kill his active Jace, but he killed it with BSZ. I did get it back for one shot with Postmortem Lunge, but that was all I got through and again got milled out, this time by Drownyards.
\n0-1 matches, 0-2 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nHe won the roll, I mulled another zero-lander and kept a hand with a Stinger and a Crusader, a couple Swamps, and I don\u2019t remember what else. He opened with turn 1 Champion of the Parish<\/a>, turn 2 Elite Inquisitor<\/a>, turn 3 Doomed Traveler<\/a> and Elite Vanguard<\/a>, turn 4 Honor of the Pure<\/a>. I had to chump off my Stinger and hold back the Crusader, but it was just too much damage too fast. I boarded in all the Despise<\/a>s, Zeniths, and the Wring Flesh<\/a>. I kept a one-lander because I had three Despise<\/a>s and a Crusader in it. I tore apart his hand full of creatures, eventually drew land, dropped the Cruader, and won in five turns. Game 3 was just a race, and I won it on the back of two Crusaders.
\n1-1 matches, 3-3 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI just want to say that I absolutely love this UR deck. I loved playing CounterHammer and CounterPhoenix back in the day, and this deck reminds me of that. If I had all the cards and had time to put it together, this deck (or something like it) is what I would have played. I\u2019ll probably play it next week. Anyway, game 1 I opened with a one-lander… an Inkmoth Nexus. So, after mulling to six and keeping a sketchy hand, he opened with a Delver and flipped it turn 2, and of course my next draw was a Wound. Grr. Anyway, he drew burn when he needed it, and bounce for my (relatively late) Crusader, and that was it. Game 2 was all about my turn 2 Spellskite<\/a>. I used it to protect my guys, got a Trigon through, and managed to get there. It was close, though, as I took a lot of damage redirecting things to the Spellskite. Game 3 I got a Stinger with a Lashwrithe<\/a> on it and managed to get a Skittles out, though he Vapor Snag<\/a>ged it. He just didn\u2019t have the counters, though, and I managed to get through for the win.
\n2-1 matches, 5-4 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI was the lowest-ranked of the 2-1s so I couldn\u2019t draw in. Chris was 2-0-1 so he still had a shot even if he lost, so we shuffled up. Game 1 I had a good draw with a Stinger, a Crusader, and a Trigon, and that got me there. Game 2 I had a slightly slower draw and no removal, and that became a problem because he got two Vedalken Certarch<\/a>s and an Architect. I had two Stingers out and even had a Lashwrithe<\/a> on one, but he cast a Pentavus<\/a> (!) and made some Pentavites to chump, and I could not get through, His swingback was lethal, so on to game 3. I got turn 2 Stinger, turn 3 Crusader, turn 4 fourth Swamp, Lashwrithe<\/a> on the Stinger. He did have an Architect, though, and managed to get a Treasure Mage<\/a> to fetch a Steel Hellkite<\/a> and cast that off the Architect, but I had Wound so that I didn\u2019t need to trade. He got another Treasure Mage<\/a> into a Thopter Assembly<\/a> and for that one I did trade my Stinger, but I followed with Skittles for the win.
\n3-1 matches, 7-5 games<\/em> <\/p>\n
\nInteresting deck, pretty much all dudes, and some strange ones: Civilized Scholar<\/a>, Kessing Cagebreaker<\/a>, Splinterfright<\/a>, Jace’s Archivist<\/a>, Boneyard Wurm<\/a>, ramp guys. However, pretty much no removal. He won the roll and flipped a Scholar early, but I came back with a Crusader and had a Trigon out. He got a 5\/5 Splinterfright out, but had to leave it back to block, and I was able to keep him on the defensive and got there without too much difficulty. Game 2 was all about me with guys in the air, including a Skittles on turn 5. Match was over very quickly, and I had a long wait for my semifinals opponent to finish up.
\n4-1 matches, 9-5 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nGame 1 I had an early Stinger and a Crusader a bit after, and a Trigon at some point. My play of the game was a Tezzeret\u2019s Gambit with him at a few poison counters, me proliferating on a Trigon and Liliana. Anyway, he ramped a little but didn\u2019t get a Titan, but did manage a White Sun\u2019s Zenith for four, and the tokens took out Liliana. However, they didn\u2019t help against the Crusder, but he got a Garruk, Primal Hunter to make a token for the Crusader. I had a Spellskite out as well, and the Stinger was getting through with pump; his one Inkmoth died to a Wound and I carried it. Game 2 I got turn 2 Stinger, turn 3 Specter, turn 4 Trigon, swing for five poison counters and destroy his hand. Followed with Skittles and that was it.
\n5-1 matches, 11-5 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u2022 The deck seems completely solid with no really bad matchups. UB seems like the toughest, and there I felt like if I hadn\u2019t drawn so much land, I could have won that one. It\u2019s funny because I\u2019m not a huge fan of Scars block, but of course this deck runs only two cards from Innistrad, a set I like much better\u2014a little irony there.
\n\u2022 Trigon of Rage<\/a> is amazing. If you play this deck, play Trigon in it. 3 seemed like the perfect number.
\n\u2022 Spellskite<\/a> was also amazing. @Smi77y<\/a>, why did you cut these from the most recent version?
\n\u2022 I wasn\u2019t all that impressed with Whispering Specter<\/a> and sided them out every match except for my first and last match. I might consider relegating these to the sideboard if I play this again.
\n\u2022 Tezzeret’s Gambit<\/a> was a really mixed card. It was really good a couple times, and really awful some others. Not sure if I\u2019d keep it main in the future.
\n\u2022\u00a0Victim of Night<\/a> was excellent. Kills everything, or at least everything that anybody plays.
\n\u2022\u00a0Virulent Wound<\/a> is also outstanding. So many targets in Standard right now!
\n\u2022\u00a0Lashwrithe<\/a> seems awesome in principle, but in practice it\u2019s sometimes a little slow. Absolutely terrible against permission and any deck running Slime. Honestly I liked Trigon better, and would consider cutting down to three Lashwrithes main.
\n\u2022\u00a0Really wanted Nihil Spellbomb<\/a>. Should definitely board that next time.<\/p>\n