Decklist 8/19/2012

How excited do you think I was to see a number of new U/G Delver decklists pop up over the last week?  If your answer was anything but "finding out that Peter Jackson is doing 'The Hobbit' or "Lucas' estate turned VII over to Nolan" than you were way off.  Considering that I posted my Potting Soil decklist almost a month ago, I am ecstatic that the community is finally coming around to it.

Even better, it seems that people are still building it wrong.  I mean, seriously, the deck can consistently kill on turn 4 and has a reasonable turn 3, and you are adding more lands and Talrand?  Why?  If you can't aggro kill early, you already have enough control, and more lands plus a "late game" is the worst plan here since 'Jack and Jill' was green lighted.

Roughly comparable to Todd Anderson's U/G Delver list.

So, to help the embattled masses, who live in fear of needing 2/2 flying Drakes when you can have a 7/7 ground-pounding super plant on turn 3 instead, here is the updated version of "Potting Soil".

4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Quirion Dryad

12 Creatures

4 Vapor Snag
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Gut Shot
3 Mutagenic Growth
4 Mental Misstep
4 Mana Leak
3 Apostle's Blessing
4 Ponder

29 Spells

4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Cavern of Souls
7 Island
3 Forest

18 Land

And for those of you wondering, there are several thousand combinations of hands/draw phases that get you a turn 4 kill, but here is an example of the turn 3 for the non-believers:

Example 1:
Dryad, Delver, Gut Shot, Probe, Gut Shot, Harbor, Island.

Turn 1: Island, Delver. Pass.
Turn 2: Reveal Ponder. Attack for 3. Play Harbor, cast Dryad. (Opponent 17). Probe twice, drawing Snapcaster and Island. (3/3 Dryad)
Turn 3: Draw Mutagenic Growth. Play Island and cast Ponder (4/4). Ponder finds Probe.  Probe into land. (5/5) Snapcaster Probe and draw Mutagenic Growth. (7/7) Gut Shot the opponent twice (15 life, Dryad is 9/9). Mutagenic Growth the Dryad twice.  Dryad is 13/13 and Delver is 3/2, attack for 16. 

I threw in a blank to make sure it doesn't seem like the ridiculous run-goods all-day/every day, but there are other ways to get to turn 3 with a dead opponent.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed this look at the deck, and don't stop believing.

A Double, Neat -- 8/8/2012

* Mitt Romney has come under fire from left-wing bloggers for viciously attacking Obama with ads that are literally not true.  Which is strange, since his camp clearly believed that the American public would stay much more focused on his missing tax returns, off-shore accounts, and general unprofessional behavior.  Still, while galvanizing the Democratic base may not be the best strategy the Romneyites have engaged in this far, it seems far more likely to work than his strategy of being the worst possible opposition candidate since Sarah Palin.

"For the last time, the resemblance to Belichick is entirely coincidental, I am not now, nor have I have been a cheater."
-- Something Mitt Romney did not say.

* The United States Men's Volleyball team was unceremoniously knocked out of the Olympic competition by Italy.  Millions around the world shook their head in fear and awe over the power of the, wait.  No.  That was when Spain lost in football.  No one watches Men's Indoor Volleyball.

Not even the players.

* Film critic Zach Baron ruffled some feathers by claiming that the producers behind the Bourne movies accomplished something great "even if they were working from source material that people remained embarrassed to be seen reading in public."  Admittedly, the feathers ruffled belong to me, because as long as women unabashedly break out paperback versions of terrible S&M porn in subways and coffee shops, not to mention knitting circles and garden clubs, clearly no one is embarrassed to be seen reading anything.  Except Mother Jones, people hide that 'zine like it's contraband snuff photography.

Obviously not giving a fuck.

Clone Wars: A Standard Magic the Gathering Decklist

Who doesn't love playing with Relentless Rats?  Only the Spikiest of Spikes can deny the allure of enormous sized Grizzly Bears, made better with merely the presence of a critical mass of their similarly named friends.


In a tragic oversight, Wizards declined to add the "A deck may contain any number of ~these~" text to my new favorite two-drop, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with what we do have.  Namely, lots and lots of clones.  


What are we cloning?  Wolves.  Of course.  Tony Stark would be proud.

There must always be a Stark...ah, this joke is getting old, eh?

Clone Wars:

4 Timberpack Wolf
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Cryptoplasm
2 Clone

17 Creatures

3 Cackling Counterpart
4 Mental Misstep
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
3 Revenge of the Hunted
1 Gut Shot

19 Spells

4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Alchemist's Refuge
10 Island
5 Forest

A Brief Update

The two new posts, "A Double, Neat" and "A Single Shot, No Chaser" have been well-received, so expect to see considerably more of the same in the future.  Things have been a bit quiet for the moment as I embark on an epic quest to level up in League of Legends to level 30 in less than a week. But plan on seeing a new Decklist post tomorrow, as well as a round-up of the Olympic action in the way only Where the Meat Comes From can deliver.

A Double, Neat -- 7/29/2012

* As a long time Twins fan and an even longer-suffering Cubs fan I woke up dismayed to learn that Francisco Liriano has been traded to the hated South Siders.  Ever since his sterling rookie performance that had him at 12-3 with a sub 3.00 ERA to start the season, Frisco has been one of my favorite pitchers to watch.  His slider is a brutal, in-your-face roundhouse that makes the greatest hitters of a generation look like Little Leaguers.  Sadly, throwing it is apparently the equivalent to thrusting your arm in a garbage disposal, for all the havoc it has wreaked on his elbow.  So he heads to the White Sox, where, undoubtedly, he will immediately transform into the top-of-the-rotation ace he was always supposed to be, thus burying my hopes and dreams in one silky, sinking motion.

This isn't so much a pitch as it is a giant f-you to whoever the victim standing in the box may be.

* Kevin Durant demonstrated why, in a game of 5 on 5, he is the best player in the NBA right now, by demolishing France to the tune of 22 points while sitting most of the fourth quarter.  When asked how the reigning NBA champions could have beaten the Dynamic Duo of Westbrook and Durant, the star French player, Tony Parker could only shake his head.  "Well, sometimes you are in a club hanging with Drizzy and bottles start flying, and sometimes David Stern gets pissed off at Cleveland, it's just how it goes," he didn't explain.

* As far as the Magic world is concerned, M13 is shaping up to be a ridiculously competitive, even, and entertaining format.  In fact, the winner of Grand Prix: Shanghai played only two rares in his Top 8 dominating build of red/black aggro.  Of course, he did have two Arms Dealers..

If you have two of these, Krenko, and two Krenko's Command, and you lose?  Richard Garfield appears to take your Magic playing privileges away.