So, last time out I played the (almost) mono White devotion deck, which was great fun, and I split in the finals. I used the winnings there to pick up the last few cards I needed for Kibler\u2019s Golgari deck, which is what I played. I\u2019ve seen two versions of his list, one revised fairly recently. I didn\u2019t have the 4 Polukranos I needed for that version, so I kind of split the difference between the two versions and came up with this list:<\/p>\n
[deck title=Kibler Golgari Aggro]
\n[Creatures]
\n4 Elvish Mystic
\n4 Lotleth Troll
\n3 Scavenging Ooze
\n2 Boon Satyr
\n4 Dreg Mangler
\n3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
\n2 Witchstalker
\n2 Polukranos, World Eater
\n3 Reaper of the Wilds
\n[\/Creatures]
\n[Spells]
\n4 Thoughtseize
\n3 Abrupt Decay
\n1 Bow of Nylea
\n1 Hero’s Downfall
\n[\/Spells]
\n[Lands]
\n9 Forest
\n3 Golgari Guildgate
\n4 Overgrown Tomb
\n8 Swamp
\n[\/Lands]
\n[Sideboard]
\n2 Dark Betrayal
\n3 Mistcutter Hydra
\n1 Doom Blade
\n2 Golgari Charm
\n2 Ultimate Price
\n2 Gift of Orzhova
\n1 Hero’s Downfall
\n2 Underworld Connections
\n[\/Sideboard]
\n[\/deck]<\/p>\n
I\u2019m never really sure whether to call this an aggro deck or a midrange deck. Is it on the aggro side of midrange, or the midrange side of aggro? Not sure, and I\u2019m even more sure it doesn\u2019t matter very much.<\/p>\n
Note the GP Dallas-Fort Worth is this weekend, and what surprised me was how many of the regulars were there among the people I expected to be headed up to Dallas. So, 5 rounds of Swiss cutting to top 8. <\/p>\n
Round 1: John, playing Sin City (that\u2019s WBR) Midrange<\/strong> Round 2: Jeremy, playing Monoblack Devotion<\/strong> Round 3: Mason, playing Gruul<\/strong> Round 3: Marcus, playing Monoblack Devotion<\/strong> Round 4: ID<\/strong> Quarterfinals: Kevin, playing Monoblue Devotion<\/strong> While my game win rate wasn\u2019t all that great, the matches ended up OK, and not a bad night at all.<\/p>\n One of the guys in the top 4 really wanted to leave since he was driving up to Dallas for the GP and we all took pity on him and agreed to the split. I picked up a couple more Polukranos, two Curse of the Swine<\/a> (for Reid Duke\u2019s Bant deck), a Nightveil Specter<\/a> (#4), and a Xenagos. <\/p>\n The Deck<\/strong> It plays well vs. both Monoblack and Monoblue, especially after boarding. Against most creature-based decks, it felt a little too heavy on creatures of its own and a little light on removal, so I\u2019d consider moving some creatures out for more main deck removal. The sideboard, however, was great. Golgari Charm is terrific vs. many decks. <\/p>\n Comments on specific cards:<\/p>\n Not sure if I will play this one again before Born of the Gods comes out. There are a couple new ones I want to play first, and there are a couple other decks ahead of this in line for being played again, but I might come back to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So, last time out I played the (almost) mono White devotion deck, which was great fun, and I split in the finals. I used the winnings there to pick up the last few cards I needed for Kibler\u2019s Golgari deck, which is what I played. I\u2019ve seen two versions of his list, one revised fairly … Continue reading Kibler Golgari Cashes 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\/588"}],"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=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOr maybe this is control; again, it\u2019s a bit of a gray area. I kind of like this deck in principle, but the one time I\u2019ve played it this season it was a disaster, and the one time I played against it earlier this season, I won handily because my opponent had mana issues. John, who I\u2019ve played several times in the past and know to be a good player, did not have mana issues. Neither of these games was particularly interesting. He had the answer in hand for everything I put on the table game 1, and game 2 I kept an opener with 2 Abrupt Decay<\/a>s, which I probably should have sided out anyway, and drew a third, and just did not have enough action to get anywhere. Not an auspicious start.
\n0-1 matches, 0-2 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve played Jeremy several times this season and knew what was coming. Game 1 I drew 9 land and 4 spells and just didn\u2019t make much out of it. I boarded in the Betrayls, the Charms, the Ultimate Prices, and the Downfall\u2014tons of removal. He Thoughtseize<\/a>d me 3 times early and took removal each time, but I slipped a couple creatures out onto the table and drew the removal I needed to keep his serious threats off and won. Game 3 he had removal for my early creatures and I got a Bow, gaining six life off that and then I got a Lotleth Troll<\/a> that I could rengerate through his removal and just kept putting counters on it, getting it up to a 6\/5 that he never killed, and a second Troll and a Reaper joined the party. You know you\u2019re in trouble when you\u2019re chumping with Desecration Demon<\/a>s.
\n1-1 matches, 2-3 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nIt was a hydra-heavy mostly green ramp\/devotion deck. Game 1 we traded a few things back and forth but I drew a couple Thoughtseize<\/a>s and most of my removal and that got me there. Game 2 he got a turn 4 Kalonian Hydra<\/a> and me with no removal spell, and when he got a turn 5 followup Kalonian Hydra<\/a>, that was it for me. Game 3 I got a turn 2 Dreg Mangler<\/a> off a Mystic, and when I swung with it the third time he didn\u2019t block and I flashed a Boon Satyr<\/a> onto it to bring him down to 7. My lead at that point was just a little too big for him to overcome.
\n2-1 matches, 5-4 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWow, not too much of this in the meta, is there? I don\u2019t really remember Game 1 very well\u2014I think it was Troll into Dreg Mangler<\/a> into a lot of removal from him and some Demons that I could\u2019t quite keep pace with. Game 2 I had two early Trolls that he kept blocking with Pack Rat<\/a> tokens, which kept most of them small. I got a Reaper and kept the pressure on, and he did finally get an Erebos and then got devotion with an Underworld Connection<\/a>s. I scry\u2019d when something went to the \u2018yard and kept a Boon Satyr<\/a> on top with him at 2. Next turn I swung out, he blocked the two Trolls with two 3\/3 Rats (only 3\/3 because he activated a Mutavault<\/a>, but he had to tap that to do it) and I flashed the Boon Satyr<\/a> to trample over for the win. Game 3 involved me opening with a really fast hand (I think turn 2 and 3 Manglers) and then drawing just enough removal to keep the path clear, despite him drawing two Gray Merchants (each for only 2).
\n3-1 matches, 7-5 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\n3-1-1 was good enough for top 8, so we drew in. We played for fun anyway, him on RDW, and the RDW matchup isn\u2019t great. They\u2019re just faster, and while it\u2019s winnable (Bow is amazing<\/em> here), I usually felt behind.
\n3-1-1 matches, 7-5 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nGame 1 I kept a hand I probably should not have kept, as it was a 1-lander but with two Mystics. Unfortunately, it took me a few turns to draw a black source (and I had one of the Mystics tapped down on turn 2 by a Tidebinder). When I finally drew a black source, it was of course a Guildgate. Great. Too far behind, I got blown out here. I sided in a whole bunch of cards: The Mistcutters, the Doom Blade, the Charms, the Prices, the Downfall, and the Gifts\u201411 cards in all. Game 2 went much better. I had a fast draw, he kept a one-lander, and I rolled him, doing the last bit of damage by making Polukranos monstrous to kill his last blocker and swing for lethal. Game 3 was much more interesting. He got a turn 3 Specter that I never killed because there was always a more important target, like a Master of Waves<\/a>. He hit me many times with that Specter. However, on turn 4 I did get out a Mistcutter for 4 (had a Mystic) and had a 4\/4 Ooze as well. The first swing by the Hydra took out a Mutavault<\/a>, and next turn I put a Gift of Orzhova<\/a> on the Hydra and got the life total going back north, up from 5 to 10 and hitting him down to 3. He had exactly one out: he had to hit me with his Specter (and he also swung with his 2\/3 Cloudfin) and then flip either a Doom Blade<\/a> or an Ultimate Price<\/a> to kill the Hydra\u2014not good odds. The flip was\u2026 a Swamp.
\n4-1-1 matches, 9-6 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nOverall the deck is clearly solid. It\u2019s not especially fun to play, though it\u2019s not un-fun. It\u2019s pretty straightforward, though the creatures are nicely resilient and\/or have value in the graveyard, which does lead to some interesting interactions. Still less fun than either of the two decks I\u2019ve played the last two weeks (BUG Midrange and Wb Devotion). <\/p>\n\n