So, feeling all happy inside, I went home. There, I started thinking about the tourney, the matches I’ve been through, and the deckbuilding. Ah, the deck building! Something really bothered me there. So, I went over the card pool I had for this PTQ:
White
Catapult squad
Glory Seeker *2
Aven Soulgazer *2
Shieldmage Elder
Exalted Angel
Unified Strike *2
Crown of Awe *2
Piety Charm *2
Sandskin *2
Pacifism
Blue
Imagecrafter
Mistform Dreamer
Screaming Seahawk
Crafty Pathmage *2
Nameless One *2
Spy Network
Sea’s Claim
Mage’s Guile
Crown of Ascension *2
Annex
Black
Wretched Anurid
Haunted Cadaver
Nantuko Husk *3
Ebonblade Reaper
Screeching Buzzard
Gluttonous Zombie
Shade’s Breath
Chain of Smog *2
Swat *2
Syphon mind
Syphon Soul
Red
Skirk Prospector
Goblin Sledder *2
Goblin Taskmaster *2
Skirk Commando *2
Shaleskin Bruiser
Brightstone Ritual
Lavamancer’s Skill *2
Aggravated Assault
Green
Wirewood Elf
Wirewood Herald
Wellwisher *2
Wirewood Savage
Barkhide Mauler
Krosan Tusker
Symbiotic Beast
Silvos, Rogue Elemental
Vitality Charm *2
Elvish Guidance*2
Tribal Unity
Lands
Barren moore *2
Starlit Sanctum *2
Contested Cliffs
The first think that caught my eye was…(take a guess)…Silvos! (doh!)
The second – 3 Nantuko Husks. That is not something you can ignore. Blue was too weak, and nothing to consider except for the crowns for a splash, but I do not have any strong creature type collection, and Red was rather weak for a main color. White is tempting, but I can’t splash the Exalted Angel and I decided that 2 Swats is enough for the removal section.
So, after some calculations, I’ve decided to stay with a 2-colored deck:
Black
Haunted Cadaver
Nantuko Husk *3
Ebonblade Reaper
Screeching Buzzard
Gluttonous Zombie
Chain of Smog *2
Swat *2
Green
Wirewood Elf
Wirewood Herald
Wellwisher *2
Wirewood Savage
Barkhide Mauler
Krosan Tusker
Symbiotic Beast
Silvos, Rogue Elemental
Vitality Charm *2
Tribal Unity
Lands
Barren Moor
Forest *9
Swamp *7
I can’t say this deck disappointed me, but didn’t fascinate either. I mostly won through Silvos, while the elves (with 2 Wellwishers) and the Husks (which work AWESOME with Symbiotic beast and NICE with the Herald) hold the ground until his arrival.
I topped other 12 pointers because of the 1st round win over Yuval Schacaf (which really frustrated him – his only loss until the top
. My 2 losses were to Uri Peleg (2nd round) and to Aviad Ben-Zaken (3rd round). At this point I was 1:2 and really, really sad. At that point the wins have started. And there were some really exciting encounters – like the one against Avinatan Hassidim (almost mirror, except his splash and my Silvos) – there was a 30 minute standout of growing armies with Nantuko Husks staring at each other, and, finally the great fight featuring Silvos.The overall feeling the day after was that I couldn’t have reached even 20th place without Silvos. Silvos arrived at my hand 80% of the games. I always had the ability to play him and when I did – I mostly won. Twice it was already too late for me, and once I got Pacifism on him – from Uri (VERY frustrating).
And then I realized that sometimes consistency has to be sacrificed for CARD QUALITY.
I realized that I simply didn’t have as much win conditions as I should have had.
How I think I should have built the deck:
White
Glory Seeker *2
Aven Soulgazer *2
Exalted Angel
Sandskin *2
Pacifism
Black
Nantuko Husk *3
Green
Wirewood Elf
Wirewood Herald
Wellwisher *2
Wirewood Savage
Barkhide Mauler
Krosan Tusker
Symbiotic Beast
Silvos, Rogue Elemental
Vitality Charm *2
Lands
Forest *8
Plains *7
Swamp *3
I'd be glad for your professional comments on that one.
Thanks for your time