This week, I pulled together a decent GW deck. There's a bit of Renown, but it's mostly just goodstuff.
Round 1, Game 1
My opening hand in the first match is very solid, with an easy 2-3-4 and 4 land, with a 50/50 split in colors. My opponent and I both get out to an early start with our respective 2-drops, and I let him take a swing at my face, as I don't care about the early 2 damage, and I'd rather keep my Leaf Gilder on the board to ramp into an early Sentinel of the Eternal Watch. In addition, I know that my turn 3 Citadel Castellan will stop his little 2/1 dead in its tracks, assuming he doesn't have a combat trick.
On turn 4, he plays out a Consul's Lieutenant and gives it haste with Infectious Bloodlust. As a 4/2 first-striker, I don't have any way to take care of that right now, and even getting my Castellan renowned next turn won't deal with it, since his Lieutenant will be a 5/3. However, I know that in two turns I can lock it down with my Sentinel of the Eternal Watch. My original plan was to drop the Guardian Automaton to chump block the Lieutenant for a turn, buying me the time I need to drop my Sentinel. However, I end up drawing into Suppression Bonds, which is even better, essentially getting a 2-for-1 on my opponent, who also doesn't get the benefit of tutoring up a second Infectious Bloodlust.
The next turn, he plays an Ampryn Tactician, which means I still can't attack in with my Citadel Castellan to get the renown trigger. I play out my Sentinel of the Eternal Watch to lock down the creature on my opponent's next turn, but he follows up with a Knight of the Pilgrim's Road. At this point, my opponent has been down to a single card for two turns in a row, and hasn't played a land on either of those turns. Many times, players just hold lands in their hand to "fake" a combat trick, but since he only has 5 land in play, and he went out of his way to specifically leave up one red mana on his previous turn, I have a feeling that he might have Titan's Strength in his hand. He only has 2 mana up, so the combat tricks he could have available are Titan's Strength, Enshrouding Mist, and Mighty Leap. Any of those three will let him eat my Castellan if I attack in with it, but I'm fine with trading a 3-drop for the last card in his hand, since I have a superior board state. Only Titan's Strength will let him trade for my Sentinel, but if he does that, he's already 2-for-1ing himself, which is perfectly fine for me, since he's down to zero cards in hand. I don't have to really worry about removal, either; swift Reckoning is dead since my two biggest threats have vigilance, he'd need double white for Celestial Flare, and Fiery Impulse doesn't have Spell Mastery at this point.
In the end, I decide to swing with everything. If he has a combat trick, I lose my Castellan or my Sentinel, but that means he takes 4 damage either way, and either my Castellan becomes renown, or I get to keep my Sentinel on the field, either of which is very good for me. It ends up, however, that my hunch about Titan's Strength was right, and he 2-for-1's himself to trade for my Sentinel. But this gives me the renown on my Citadel Castellan, which is extremely difficult to deal with, in its own right.
After combat, I lay out the rest of the creatures in my hand to add pressure to the board, though the beatdown doesn't last for long as my opponent Lightning Javelins my Guardian Automaton. He follows up on the next turn with a Charging Griffin, which effectively stops my attack; with no combat tricks in hand, attacking in with my Castellan will just result in going 1-for-1 with his Ampryn Tactician, which is decidedly worse for me than it is for him. Fortunately, I draw into Pharika's Disciple, which allows me to make that 1-for-1 trade by sacrificing a less valuable creature on my side of the board.
My next series of draws gives me Elvish Visionary into Evolutionary Leap, which are pretty great at this stage of the game. I'm having trouble closing things out, and I have a couple low-impact creatures that I'd be happy to trade in for something bigger and badder that can brute force through my opponent's defenses. I tutor into Bonded Construct, which isn't very good for me, but also Rhox Maulers, which is very strong. I do make a small mistake by leaving 1 white mana open while playing out my creatures, rather than the 1 green I would need to sacrifice the Bonded Construct to Evolutionary Leap at the end of my opponent's next turn, but I'm so far ahead of the board at this point, that it doesn't really matter.
My opponent starts flooding the board with chump blockers again, so instead of playing the Suppression Bonds I drew into, I play out Totem-Guide Hartebeest to tutor up my Grasp of the Heiromancer. At this point, if I attacked in without locking something down, he could multi-block one of my big creatures to kill it, and I'd rather force a series of chumps here than waste a Suppression Bonds on any of his little pingers. I attach the Grasp to my Rhox Maulers to make sure it can't be killed in a multi-block by his 3 remaining creatures and swing in with everything but my Leaf Gilder. This may also be considered a small mistake, since attacking in with the Gilder would have forced a block with my opponent's Topan Freeblade, but I also wanted another opportunity to dig for more creatures, if necessary, so I played it a little safer than I probably had to.
In any case, my opponent goes down to 1, checks his next draw, and immediately concedes.
Round 1, Game 2
On turn 4, he plays out a Consul's Lieutenant and gives it haste with Infectious Bloodlust. As a 4/2 first-striker, I don't have any way to take care of that right now, and even getting my Castellan renowned next turn won't deal with it, since his Lieutenant will be a 5/3. However, I know that in two turns I can lock it down with my Sentinel of the Eternal Watch. My original plan was to drop the Guardian Automaton to chump block the Lieutenant for a turn, buying me the time I need to drop my Sentinel. However, I end up drawing into Suppression Bonds, which is even better, essentially getting a 2-for-1 on my opponent, who also doesn't get the benefit of tutoring up a second Infectious Bloodlust.
The next turn, he plays an Ampryn Tactician, which means I still can't attack in with my Citadel Castellan to get the renown trigger. I play out my Sentinel of the Eternal Watch to lock down the creature on my opponent's next turn, but he follows up with a Knight of the Pilgrim's Road. At this point, my opponent has been down to a single card for two turns in a row, and hasn't played a land on either of those turns. Many times, players just hold lands in their hand to "fake" a combat trick, but since he only has 5 land in play, and he went out of his way to specifically leave up one red mana on his previous turn, I have a feeling that he might have Titan's Strength in his hand. He only has 2 mana up, so the combat tricks he could have available are Titan's Strength, Enshrouding Mist, and Mighty Leap. Any of those three will let him eat my Castellan if I attack in with it, but I'm fine with trading a 3-drop for the last card in his hand, since I have a superior board state. Only Titan's Strength will let him trade for my Sentinel, but if he does that, he's already 2-for-1ing himself, which is perfectly fine for me, since he's down to zero cards in hand. I don't have to really worry about removal, either; swift Reckoning is dead since my two biggest threats have vigilance, he'd need double white for Celestial Flare, and Fiery Impulse doesn't have Spell Mastery at this point.
In the end, I decide to swing with everything. If he has a combat trick, I lose my Castellan or my Sentinel, but that means he takes 4 damage either way, and either my Castellan becomes renown, or I get to keep my Sentinel on the field, either of which is very good for me. It ends up, however, that my hunch about Titan's Strength was right, and he 2-for-1's himself to trade for my Sentinel. But this gives me the renown on my Citadel Castellan, which is extremely difficult to deal with, in its own right.
After combat, I lay out the rest of the creatures in my hand to add pressure to the board, though the beatdown doesn't last for long as my opponent Lightning Javelins my Guardian Automaton. He follows up on the next turn with a Charging Griffin, which effectively stops my attack; with no combat tricks in hand, attacking in with my Castellan will just result in going 1-for-1 with his Ampryn Tactician, which is decidedly worse for me than it is for him. Fortunately, I draw into Pharika's Disciple, which allows me to make that 1-for-1 trade by sacrificing a less valuable creature on my side of the board.
My next series of draws gives me Elvish Visionary into Evolutionary Leap, which are pretty great at this stage of the game. I'm having trouble closing things out, and I have a couple low-impact creatures that I'd be happy to trade in for something bigger and badder that can brute force through my opponent's defenses. I tutor into Bonded Construct, which isn't very good for me, but also Rhox Maulers, which is very strong. I do make a small mistake by leaving 1 white mana open while playing out my creatures, rather than the 1 green I would need to sacrifice the Bonded Construct to Evolutionary Leap at the end of my opponent's next turn, but I'm so far ahead of the board at this point, that it doesn't really matter.
My opponent starts flooding the board with chump blockers again, so instead of playing the Suppression Bonds I drew into, I play out Totem-Guide Hartebeest to tutor up my Grasp of the Heiromancer. At this point, if I attacked in without locking something down, he could multi-block one of my big creatures to kill it, and I'd rather force a series of chumps here than waste a Suppression Bonds on any of his little pingers. I attach the Grasp to my Rhox Maulers to make sure it can't be killed in a multi-block by his 3 remaining creatures and swing in with everything but my Leaf Gilder. This may also be considered a small mistake, since attacking in with the Gilder would have forced a block with my opponent's Topan Freeblade, but I also wanted another opportunity to dig for more creatures, if necessary, so I played it a little safer than I probably had to.
In any case, my opponent goes down to 1, checks his next draw, and immediately concedes.
Round 1, Game 2
My opening hand is pretty bad; it needs a run of land, both in green and white, to be any good. My mulligan down to 6, however, is pretty solid, with a land of each color, and drops for the first three turns of the game.
With my opponent playing an Akroan Jailer on turn 1 and a Relic Hunter on turn 2, I decide to play out the Cleric of the Forward Order I drew into, rather than playing Elvish Visionary; if he decides to tap out his mana to tap down my Bonded Construct, I'm not going to have a creature I can trade for the Relic Hunter when he swings in. Instead, he plays a Veteran's Sidearm, attaching it to his Relic Hunter. This puts me in an awkward position where I have to either let it get renown and turn into a 4/4, which I have no way of dealing with for the next several turns, or double block and kill it immediately, but give my opponent a 2-for-1. Since I have Elvish Visionary in my hand to dig for more threats, I end up deciding to do the 2-for-1 trade, so my opponent can't get off to a commanding lead on the board.
I drop Knight of the Pilgrim's Road, and my opponent follows up by attaching his weapon to the Akroan Jailer and attacking my face, then playing nothing else for the turn. With 3 open mana, there are plenty of removal spells he could play to take care of my attacker, and he does end up having a Celestial Flare. I'm not too worried, however, since his board consists of a 1/1 with a weapon attached, and I'm very close to playing Sentinel of the Eternal Watch.
We trade pings for a couple turns, since I don't know what he has in his hand, so throwing away my Might of the Masses seems wrong here, as he could easily have Titan's Strength in his hand to blow me out. I finally get Sentinel on the board, and it gets Suppression Bonds attached pretty quickly, but the passive effect is still in play and very relevant; my board state may not be very threatening at this point either, but he quite literally has no creatures in play, now.
Before I can get any more threats on the field, my opponent plays Consul's Lieutenant, putting me in an awkward situation. Since Akroan Jailer is the creature that can attack this turn, I tap it down with Sentinel. I draw into Totem-Guide Hartebeest and use it to tutor up a Suppression Bonds, but since I don't have the mana to cast it this turn, I decide to try something else first. I attack in with my Elvish Visionary, hoping he'll take the obvious block. He does, and I immediately play Might of the Masses, turning my 1/1 into a 4/4. I know he'll play Titan's Strength here if he has it, but better now than letting him use it to eat my Hartebeest next turn. As it turns out, he doesn't have it, and I manage to kill his Lieutenant.
I go into beatdown mode for the next couple turns, getting a Rhox Maulers on the board and getting it renown. After my opponent doesn't play anything for a couple turns, I start to get wary that he might be planning something big; but he's down to 7 life and I can end the game quickly, so I keep attacking into his empty board. On 7 mana, however, he drops Gideon's Phalanx and nearly blows me out, killing my Elvish Visionary and Rhox Maulers, and leaving himself with a 2/2 on the board.
I keep tapping down the Jailer so he can't use it to slow my aggression, and use one of my Suppression Bonds to lock down the soldier token while I try to eek out the last few points of damage. I get a Managorger Hydra down in the interim, but before I can grow it large enough, my opponent pumps his token with Veteran's Sidearm and Enshrouding Mist, then plays Chandra's Ignition, dealing 4 damage to everything on the board. Fortunately for me, it's 1 damage short of killing my Hartebeest, still leaving me with an attacker, while he has nothing in play. He plays Topan Freeblade on his next turn, but Sentinel's ability is still in play, and it locks down his only blocker, giving me all the room I need to squeeze out lethal.
With my opponent playing an Akroan Jailer on turn 1 and a Relic Hunter on turn 2, I decide to play out the Cleric of the Forward Order I drew into, rather than playing Elvish Visionary; if he decides to tap out his mana to tap down my Bonded Construct, I'm not going to have a creature I can trade for the Relic Hunter when he swings in. Instead, he plays a Veteran's Sidearm, attaching it to his Relic Hunter. This puts me in an awkward position where I have to either let it get renown and turn into a 4/4, which I have no way of dealing with for the next several turns, or double block and kill it immediately, but give my opponent a 2-for-1. Since I have Elvish Visionary in my hand to dig for more threats, I end up deciding to do the 2-for-1 trade, so my opponent can't get off to a commanding lead on the board.
I drop Knight of the Pilgrim's Road, and my opponent follows up by attaching his weapon to the Akroan Jailer and attacking my face, then playing nothing else for the turn. With 3 open mana, there are plenty of removal spells he could play to take care of my attacker, and he does end up having a Celestial Flare. I'm not too worried, however, since his board consists of a 1/1 with a weapon attached, and I'm very close to playing Sentinel of the Eternal Watch.
We trade pings for a couple turns, since I don't know what he has in his hand, so throwing away my Might of the Masses seems wrong here, as he could easily have Titan's Strength in his hand to blow me out. I finally get Sentinel on the board, and it gets Suppression Bonds attached pretty quickly, but the passive effect is still in play and very relevant; my board state may not be very threatening at this point either, but he quite literally has no creatures in play, now.
Before I can get any more threats on the field, my opponent plays Consul's Lieutenant, putting me in an awkward situation. Since Akroan Jailer is the creature that can attack this turn, I tap it down with Sentinel. I draw into Totem-Guide Hartebeest and use it to tutor up a Suppression Bonds, but since I don't have the mana to cast it this turn, I decide to try something else first. I attack in with my Elvish Visionary, hoping he'll take the obvious block. He does, and I immediately play Might of the Masses, turning my 1/1 into a 4/4. I know he'll play Titan's Strength here if he has it, but better now than letting him use it to eat my Hartebeest next turn. As it turns out, he doesn't have it, and I manage to kill his Lieutenant.
I go into beatdown mode for the next couple turns, getting a Rhox Maulers on the board and getting it renown. After my opponent doesn't play anything for a couple turns, I start to get wary that he might be planning something big; but he's down to 7 life and I can end the game quickly, so I keep attacking into his empty board. On 7 mana, however, he drops Gideon's Phalanx and nearly blows me out, killing my Elvish Visionary and Rhox Maulers, and leaving himself with a 2/2 on the board.
I keep tapping down the Jailer so he can't use it to slow my aggression, and use one of my Suppression Bonds to lock down the soldier token while I try to eek out the last few points of damage. I get a Managorger Hydra down in the interim, but before I can grow it large enough, my opponent pumps his token with Veteran's Sidearm and Enshrouding Mist, then plays Chandra's Ignition, dealing 4 damage to everything on the board. Fortunately for me, it's 1 damage short of killing my Hartebeest, still leaving me with an attacker, while he has nothing in play. He plays Topan Freeblade on his next turn, but Sentinel's ability is still in play, and it locks down his only blocker, giving me all the room I need to squeeze out lethal.