Our first forray into Origins is a blue/red tempo deck.
*Author's Note: After some deliberation, I've decided to continue using the MTGO replay function for my videos, until such a time when I either learn to do proper video formatting on my own, or manage to find somebody who will do it for me.
Round 1 Game 1
Round 1 Game 1
My opening hand starts out strong, with 3 lands, and plays for turns 2, 3 and 4. I'm hoping to draw into another two mana by turns 4 and 5, but for now it looks like my curve is great.
My opponent's start is slower than mine, allowing me to get a 2-drop down first, even though I'm on the draw. Unfortunately, the Screeching Skaab pitches my Ghirapur Gearcrafter, but I still have Clash of Wills as a turn 3 play, so it's not a huge loss. Ultimately, it ends up not mattering all that much, since my opponent drops a Hitchclaw Recluse, which effectively keeps me from attacking.
Since I don't have a 3-drop, I hold up Clash of Wills, intending to counterspell anything he plays, so I don't fall behind on the board. I manage to catch a 4-drop with it in Llanowar Empath, which is pretty good for me because I get to simultaneously keep him from building his board, and nixing his filtering/card draw. I follow up with my own 4-drop in Whirling Rogue, but then I make a mistake in not using his ability to swing in for 2 damage with my Screeching Skaab. Since my opponent isn't threatening the board, there was no reason not to attack, here.
My opponent tries to play the long game by taking a turn off from developing his board to play Zendikar's Roil. While I would be worried about the virtual card advantage this enchantment can generate over the course of a long game, were I a control deck, this on his part actually plays in my favor. My first instinct is to punish him for his slow play by playing Seismic Elemental and swinging with everything for his face, but I top-deck Enthralling Victor. Since he currently only has one creature on the field, I choose to use Enthralling Victor now, getting effectively the same effect for 1 less mana, allowing me to hold up Titan's Strength, if I need it for some reason.
He finally starts building a board on turn 6 with a Vastwood Gorger and his first 2/2 elemental token, but I still have Seismic Elemental in my hand, and I slam it down to take my whole board to his face for a second turn in a row. Since I'm getting low on cards, I'm still at full health, and my opponent can't block or use a removal spell (being completely tapped out on mana), I have no reason to hesitate in going on a full-out offensive, here. My opponent swings back with his Vastwood Gorger after flooding out with small creatures on his side of the board, but I've got no reason to chump block it with my 4/4, so I take the damage and let him ship me the turn.
With only 4 life left on my opponent, I force him to show me a piece of instant removal by making my Seismic Elemental unblockable and swinging in for lethal. I was pretty sure he didn't have it, since it would have been most prudent to nuke my Whirler Rogue on his turn, but people do make mistakes. In any case, as soon as I make my creature unblockable, he concedes.
Round 1 Game 2
My opponent's start is slower than mine, allowing me to get a 2-drop down first, even though I'm on the draw. Unfortunately, the Screeching Skaab pitches my Ghirapur Gearcrafter, but I still have Clash of Wills as a turn 3 play, so it's not a huge loss. Ultimately, it ends up not mattering all that much, since my opponent drops a Hitchclaw Recluse, which effectively keeps me from attacking.
Since I don't have a 3-drop, I hold up Clash of Wills, intending to counterspell anything he plays, so I don't fall behind on the board. I manage to catch a 4-drop with it in Llanowar Empath, which is pretty good for me because I get to simultaneously keep him from building his board, and nixing his filtering/card draw. I follow up with my own 4-drop in Whirling Rogue, but then I make a mistake in not using his ability to swing in for 2 damage with my Screeching Skaab. Since my opponent isn't threatening the board, there was no reason not to attack, here.
My opponent tries to play the long game by taking a turn off from developing his board to play Zendikar's Roil. While I would be worried about the virtual card advantage this enchantment can generate over the course of a long game, were I a control deck, this on his part actually plays in my favor. My first instinct is to punish him for his slow play by playing Seismic Elemental and swinging with everything for his face, but I top-deck Enthralling Victor. Since he currently only has one creature on the field, I choose to use Enthralling Victor now, getting effectively the same effect for 1 less mana, allowing me to hold up Titan's Strength, if I need it for some reason.
He finally starts building a board on turn 6 with a Vastwood Gorger and his first 2/2 elemental token, but I still have Seismic Elemental in my hand, and I slam it down to take my whole board to his face for a second turn in a row. Since I'm getting low on cards, I'm still at full health, and my opponent can't block or use a removal spell (being completely tapped out on mana), I have no reason to hesitate in going on a full-out offensive, here. My opponent swings back with his Vastwood Gorger after flooding out with small creatures on his side of the board, but I've got no reason to chump block it with my 4/4, so I take the damage and let him ship me the turn.
With only 4 life left on my opponent, I force him to show me a piece of instant removal by making my Seismic Elemental unblockable and swinging in for lethal. I was pretty sure he didn't have it, since it would have been most prudent to nuke my Whirler Rogue on his turn, but people do make mistakes. In any case, as soon as I make my creature unblockable, he concedes.
Round 1 Game 2
After deciding that I didn't need to make any sideboard changes, I shipped out the deck as-is for the second match. The replay video flips through it a little quickly, but my opening hand was Clash of Wills, Whirler Rogue, Skyrake Giant, Sub Scout, Lightning Javelin, Mountain, Titan's Strength. A one-land hand is pretty bad, especially when I need a run of land off the top of my deck to keep from stalling out, so I mulled to 6, and kept the resulting hand, which guaranteed I at least had a play on turns 2 and 3.
My opponent plays a 2-drop, which gives me the opportunity to use some of my mana to burn it out with Fiery Impulse. Since I'm hoping to curve out over the next 3 turns, now is the best time to use it, so I'm not stuck trying to attack through a deathtouch blocker. After we take turns dropping our own respective 3-drops, I gladly swing in on turn 4, knowing that if he blocks, I've effectively traded him half a card for a whole card. He doesn't take the block, but I'm fine with that, too, since it means I get to keep swinging in with a larger board on subsequent turns.
I play out my Tower Geist, and instead of taking Clash of Wills to counter a big drop later in the match, I take a land so that I can guarantee that my Seismic Elemental hits the field on the next turn. Since this deck is heavily tempo based, missing a big drop like that could give my opponent the extra turn he needs to stabilize, which would go badly for me in the long run. The opponent plays out Reave Soul to kill my flier, which is unfortunate, but it also means he doesn't have the mana to build his board any further this turn.
For some reason, he doesn't sac his Evolving Wilds at the end of my next turn, which seems like a mistake to me. He taps out to play an Undead Servant, and since his Evolving Wilds is still on the field, I know I can attack in on my next turn without having to worry about a cheap combat trick like Might of the Masses or Touch of Moonglove. There was a chance he might double block my Seismic Elemental, but I'd still be getting a 2-for-1 out of the deal, and the up-side of getting in the extra 4 damage on his face outweighed the risk of puttering out of gas once my elemental died, especially with Titan's Strength in my hand to filter out my next draw, if necessary. As I said earlier, this deck doesn't want to stall out, and my opponent is more control-oriented, so slowing down the game would ultimately be in his favor.
After the opponent plays down a Citadel Castellan, I go in for the all-out attack again, knowing that my Titan's Strength can blow out whatever favorable blocks he makes. The scry from Titan's Strength shows a Dragon Fodder, and I decide to send it to the bottom of my deck, figuring I should dig for something stronger to shut out the game, just in case. My foresight is rewarded when, unfortunately, my opponent ends up playing Titanic Growth, blowing my combat trick out of the water. He made the smart play by waiting until after my Titan's Strength resolved, so that I'd have to scry before knowing he had a combat trick. Now I'm in a position where his Citadel Castellan will swing back and get Renown, keeping me from attacking in any more against his 4/5 vigilance creature.
He plays out a couple small creatures, fueling his hand with an extra draw, then gets the Renown on his Castellan before shipping the turn back to me. I'm happy to see my next draw in Separatist Voidmage, because I can bounce his Castellan and swing in, unimpeded, since he only has 3 power worth of creatures on the field. I assume he's going to chump block to buy himself another couple turns, but he ends up also having a Touch of the Moonglove, essentially trading 1-for-1 with my biggest creature (since Elvish Visionary effectively replaces itself, it effectively doesn't cost him a card). This puts me back in a bad situation, with no play, and his Castellan coming back down on the next turn. Technically, I have him on a 5-turn clock with my thopter pinging him for 1 damage every turn, but if I can't stop the bleeding from his Castellan, he'll out-race me to the finish. I'll never get to attack in with my Voidmage, anyway, so I take the easy block when he attacks in with his Runed Servitor, crossing my fingers that the extra card will give me the gas I need to close out this game before my opponent can build his board any further.
My next two draws are about the best I could have hoped for, and on my next turn I play out Whirler Rogue and Ghirapur Gearcrafter. This gives me 4 damage in the air, across 4 bodies, and 4 on the ground across another 2 bodies. Unless he has Eyeblight Massacre, there's no way he has enough removal to deal with all 6 bodies in time to keep me from bleeding out his last 4 health. My opponent realizes this too, tapping out his mana and conceding the game
My opponent plays a 2-drop, which gives me the opportunity to use some of my mana to burn it out with Fiery Impulse. Since I'm hoping to curve out over the next 3 turns, now is the best time to use it, so I'm not stuck trying to attack through a deathtouch blocker. After we take turns dropping our own respective 3-drops, I gladly swing in on turn 4, knowing that if he blocks, I've effectively traded him half a card for a whole card. He doesn't take the block, but I'm fine with that, too, since it means I get to keep swinging in with a larger board on subsequent turns.
I play out my Tower Geist, and instead of taking Clash of Wills to counter a big drop later in the match, I take a land so that I can guarantee that my Seismic Elemental hits the field on the next turn. Since this deck is heavily tempo based, missing a big drop like that could give my opponent the extra turn he needs to stabilize, which would go badly for me in the long run. The opponent plays out Reave Soul to kill my flier, which is unfortunate, but it also means he doesn't have the mana to build his board any further this turn.
For some reason, he doesn't sac his Evolving Wilds at the end of my next turn, which seems like a mistake to me. He taps out to play an Undead Servant, and since his Evolving Wilds is still on the field, I know I can attack in on my next turn without having to worry about a cheap combat trick like Might of the Masses or Touch of Moonglove. There was a chance he might double block my Seismic Elemental, but I'd still be getting a 2-for-1 out of the deal, and the up-side of getting in the extra 4 damage on his face outweighed the risk of puttering out of gas once my elemental died, especially with Titan's Strength in my hand to filter out my next draw, if necessary. As I said earlier, this deck doesn't want to stall out, and my opponent is more control-oriented, so slowing down the game would ultimately be in his favor.
After the opponent plays down a Citadel Castellan, I go in for the all-out attack again, knowing that my Titan's Strength can blow out whatever favorable blocks he makes. The scry from Titan's Strength shows a Dragon Fodder, and I decide to send it to the bottom of my deck, figuring I should dig for something stronger to shut out the game, just in case. My foresight is rewarded when, unfortunately, my opponent ends up playing Titanic Growth, blowing my combat trick out of the water. He made the smart play by waiting until after my Titan's Strength resolved, so that I'd have to scry before knowing he had a combat trick. Now I'm in a position where his Citadel Castellan will swing back and get Renown, keeping me from attacking in any more against his 4/5 vigilance creature.
He plays out a couple small creatures, fueling his hand with an extra draw, then gets the Renown on his Castellan before shipping the turn back to me. I'm happy to see my next draw in Separatist Voidmage, because I can bounce his Castellan and swing in, unimpeded, since he only has 3 power worth of creatures on the field. I assume he's going to chump block to buy himself another couple turns, but he ends up also having a Touch of the Moonglove, essentially trading 1-for-1 with my biggest creature (since Elvish Visionary effectively replaces itself, it effectively doesn't cost him a card). This puts me back in a bad situation, with no play, and his Castellan coming back down on the next turn. Technically, I have him on a 5-turn clock with my thopter pinging him for 1 damage every turn, but if I can't stop the bleeding from his Castellan, he'll out-race me to the finish. I'll never get to attack in with my Voidmage, anyway, so I take the easy block when he attacks in with his Runed Servitor, crossing my fingers that the extra card will give me the gas I need to close out this game before my opponent can build his board any further.
My next two draws are about the best I could have hoped for, and on my next turn I play out Whirler Rogue and Ghirapur Gearcrafter. This gives me 4 damage in the air, across 4 bodies, and 4 on the ground across another 2 bodies. Unless he has Eyeblight Massacre, there's no way he has enough removal to deal with all 6 bodies in time to keep me from bleeding out his last 4 health. My opponent realizes this too, tapping out his mana and conceding the game