Sunday 20 May 2012

What the hell is that?


One of the best things about highlander is playing cards that aren't playable in other formats. I love people's reactions when I beat them with a card they've never seen before. What got me thinking about this was the 'underplayed good cards' section of my blog entries.

Decent cards can not see play for various reasons. Here are some that I thought of:
  • They're really bad against the best decks. e.g. I played Flickerwisp in White Weenie for it's entire life. (I've since shelved WW since Zendikar made Zoo too hard for WW to beat). Anyway, Flickerwisp was in the same format as Bitterblossom and Spectral Procession. I suppose you could argue, so was Vendilion Clique yet that still saw play... You know what I mean though.
  • Their may not have been good enough colour fixing in the block it was printed in. There are a few cards in this category that come to mind: Crosis Charm, Rith's Charm, Sedraxis Specter.
  • The card could be a tutor that had no good targets in the standard format it was printed in or there were no combos for it to help. e.g. Stonehewer Giant (last blog entries underplayed card) and Supply//Demand.
  • The card may simply never had a home, for example Dwarven Recruiter....ok he still doesn't have a home, but one day.
  • Some cards are made good by the nature of Highlander: Extract, Aven Mindcensor, Tainted Pact (still no deck that makes this card worth 2 points).
  • Conversely there are cards that are worse or hilariously bad due to the nature of highlander: Squadron Hawk, Rite of Flame, Intuition, Cloudpost.
I hope this blog entry sparks you to go through a skewed block and find a few cards that deserve play.

To include the 'card that is underplayed' section at this point would be redundant, but I'm gonna do it anyway!
Nature's Lore/Three Visits People play signets, and if you're green, these are signets on crack. Everyone knows about them but still they aren't getting played. However, the popularity of U control does dissuade people from ramp strategies (did I mention I'd like to see U and Zoo get another point here or there? :P)


Thursday 17 May 2012

LfAuNcDkDiEnSgTsRiUcCkTmIaOtNe


Hey guys :)

So I've won a couple Thursday night highlanders in recent weeks with 2 different land destruction lists! :D

Land D is typically dismissed as a strategy. Wizards are very careful not to print much good Land D so the deck has never really come together in a format. Vintage stax is the only thing that comes to mind.

Land D's pretty funny. It has a couple inherent disadvantages. First is the "how do you kill their lands AND their threats?". And the second is no one wants to play test against you. Such a griefer deck lol.

Land D and I have a bit of a relationship in Highlander. A relationship within a relationship. I'll get to my current Land D lists eventually but first; The second highlander tournament I ever played I played RB land destruction and won my Mox Ruby (I won my Mox Pearl in my first tournament with soldiers :P). That RB land D deck was probably my best deck of all time relative to everyone else's in a tournament. I'm just gonna take a sec to go dig up the list...give me a sec...even though there'll be no pause for you between me asking you to wait and the list being readable....

lol I actually found it. Twas buried deep within the old mtgparadise forums.

Sinkhole
Shadow of doubt
Nights whisper
Mindstone
Prismatic lense
Rakdos signet
Talisman of indulgence
Stonerain
Cryoclasm
Misguided rage
Molten rain
Rain of tears
Rancid earth
Icequake
Choking sands
Trinsphere
Dwarven miner
Dwarven blastminer
Wrecking ball
Demolish
Sunder from within
Pillage
Stream of acid
Befoul
Avalanche riders
Goblin settler
Ravenous Baboob
Damnation
Greater harvester
Helldozer
Demonic hordes
Ogre arsonist
Icefall
Mox Jet 2 points
Mox Pearl 2 points
Mox Emerald 2 points
Mox Sapphire 2 points
Mox Ruby 2 points
Graven Cairns
Badlands
Sulfurous Springs
Shadowblood ridge
Polluted delta
Wooded foothills
Bloodstained mire
Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
Gemstone caverns
Rishadan port
4 mountain
5 swamp
slice and dice
starstorm
bloodcrypt

Sideboard
Braids, Cabal Minion
Boil
Boiling seas
Beseju, who shelters all
Strech of evil
Flashfires
Overload
Shattering spree
Smash
Rack and ruin
Pyroclasm
Sundroplet
Night of souls betrayal
Chalice of the void
Wildfire.

What a piece of shit. 5 moxes lol. Highlander decks have come a long way.

I remember one particular blowout play from this tournament. Marky Mark (piloting Evo's artifact deck) activate Myr Incubator for about 90% of his deck, way more than 20. He bashes and I cycle Slice'n'Dice, the sickness......oh and draw a card from the cycle.

Anyway, back to current day highlander. Pre-emptive sorry for posting long lists in this blog entry btw. I can't be bothered finding a better way to format them with this interface, eg multiple column lists.
Here's what I won with a couple weeks ago, well as best as I can remember the list anyway.

Birds of Paradise
Arbor Elf
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Noble Heirarch
Boreal Druid
Elves of Deep Shadow
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Green Sun's Zenith
Sol Ring (3)

Molten Rain
Pillage
Stone Rain
Turf Wound
Solfatara
Fulminator Mage
Cryoclasm
Winter's Grasp
Ice Storm
Thermokarst
Mwonvuli Acidmoss
Ravenous Baboons
Goblin Ruinblaster
Acidic Slime
Primal Command
Invader Parasite
Ravaging Horder
Ogre Arsonist
Icy Manipulator
Primeval Titan

Inferno Titan
Mental Misstep
Umezawa's Jitte (1)
Tarmogoyf
Skullclamp (1)

7 fetch
Taiga
Stomping Grounds
Grove of the Burnwillows
Karplusan Forest
Copperline Gorge
Fire-lit Thicket
2 Snow-covered Mountain
5 Snow-covered Forest
Wasteland
Dryad Arbor
Stripmine (2)
Rishadan Port
Dustbowl

SIDEBOARD
Marsh Drinker
Wreak Havoc
Boil
Chalice of the Void
Gutshot
Trinsphere
Ancient Grudge
Choke
Flametongue Kavu
Faerie Macabre
Mindbreak Trap
Uktabi Orangutans
Thrun
Great Sable Stag
Beast Within


The snow covered lands are incase you ever want to Themokarst yourself :P The deck's a little inconsistent. You have to mulligan more than you'd like to find the elf + 3cost LD hand. But! you kill lands and you beat any deck when your LD coincides with their mana screw. I'd like to add Tyrant of Discord to this deck.

Here's my most recent LD list. This one is better I think. It's more flexible and has more powerful cards.


Birds of Paradise
Arbor Elf
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Noble Heirarch
Boreal Druid
Elves of Deep Shadow
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Green Sun's Zenith
Mana Crypt (2)

Mental Misstep
Steelshaper's Gift
Stoneforge Mystic (1)
Umezawa's Jitte (1)
Skullclamp (1)
Batterskull
Grave Titan
Sun Titan
Tarmogoyf

Sinkhole
Vindicate
Ice Quake
Rain of Tears
Choking Sands
Rancid Earth
Fulminator Mage
Knight of the Reliquary
Winter's Grasp
Ice Storm
Thermokarst
Mwonvuli Acidmoss
Acidic Slime
Primal Command
Primeval Titan

9 fetch
Taiga
Snow-covered Forest
Bayou
Scrubland
Savannah
Temple Garden
Overgrown Tomb
Godless Shrine
Karakas
Twilight Mire
Llanowar Wastes
City of Brass
Wasteland
Dryad Arbor
Stripmine (2)
Rishadan Port
Dustbowl

SIDEBOARD
Marsh Drinker
Gutshot
Trinsphere
Hide//Seek
Choke
Oxidize
Nate's Claim
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Snuff Out
Skin Render
Faerie Macabre
Mindbreak Trap
Qasali Pridemage
Thrun
Great Sable Stag

So yeah, LD gets there. Decks that I beat for these 6 out of 6 wins were:
Storm
2 X Zoo
Crompo-control
Doran
Some other deck I can't remember

The deck really just wants to go LD from turn 2 until as long as possible. That's the plan.


So that'll do for tonight, my pillow beckons. Man sleep feels so fucking good these days.

Random underplayed good highlander card time:
Stonehewer Giant!

This guy never got standard play cause there was no good equipment. If you're playing equipment this guy plays quite similar to Baneslayer. So chuck in a bit of dude protection eg mental misstep, DITS, mother of runes, spellskite and protect your Baneslayers for the win