Magic 2013 Game Day was this weekend, and I decided to once again embarrass myself by playing W/U Delver. I proceeded to lose to every deck that I played against with the exception of R/G Werewolves, and I couldn’t help wondering why I ever left my computer room to begin with. It would appear that the world of paper cards is no longer my world. Then again, what more should an MTGO Hero expect? Apparently, paper is my Kryptonite.

Of course, I wasn’t exactly tearing it up on Magic Online lately either. Even after building a solid mono-green deck, I hadn’t been able to win more than two rounds of a Daily Event. I had fallen into quicksand, and every time I struggled, it seemed to only make the problem worse. I needed to keep my cool and find a way out before it was too late.

Struggle for Survival

The first thing that I needed to do was replenish my ticket supply. After last week’s loss, I was left with 1.23 tickets. I had come to accept the fact that I was only a week or two from virtual bankruptcy. I would soon be a Pauper even if I sold all of the unplayed cards in my MTGO Hero collection. Nevertheless, I wanted to make my Standard run last as long as I could, and I needed to decide on the decklist that I would be fighting to stay alive with.

"SavageBeasts3.0.dek"

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
• 2 Wolfir Silverheart
• 3 Arbor Elf
• 4 Dungrove Elder
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Predator Ooze
• 4 Strangleroot Geist
• 4 Ulvenwald Tracker

• Spells (11)
• 3 Green Sun's Zenith
• 4 Revenge of the Hunted
• 4 Rancor

• Lands (23)
• 23 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Stingerfling Spider
• 2 Blunt the Assault
• 2 Mental Misstep
• 2 Beast Within
• 2 Crushing Vines
• 2 Dismember
• 1 Viridian Corrupter
• 3 Naturalize

Buy This Deck

I had decided on the list that I wanted to stick with until the end. I removed the Ratchet Bombs from my sideboard because I hadn’t needed them in testing lately, and I decided I would be better off selling them. I also added a Mental Misstep to my trade binder and put a few Naturalizes into my sideboard.

It would take too much space to list every card, but I sold my entire collection with the exception of the cards on the decklist above. I was able to maximize value by trading to a combination of players and bots, and I gained 11.79 tickets in the process. That brought my total to 13.02 tickets.

I purchased three additional Ulvenwald Trackers (0.25 tickets each) and three Arbor Elfs (0.08 tickets each) to make my deck complete. After the purchases, I was left with 12.03 tickets, which was enough for two more Standard Events.

I was well within the danger zone, but I had the deck . . . and it was time to enter the battlefield once again.

Standard 4-RND (Event #4150889)

Round 1 vs. B/R Zombies

I knew that all that he needed to do was draw a Falkenrath Aristocrat to win the game, and all I needed was to draw a fourth Forest so that I could cast the Revenge of the Hunted I had been holding. I was the lucky player that game. I ripped a fourth Forest and cast Revenge on my Predator Ooze. My opponent had no cards left in hand, and I was able to attack with my entire team for the win.

Game record: 1–0

Sideboard:

+2 Blunt the Assault

−1 Viridian Corrupter

−1 Ulvenwald Tracker

He attacked with his Skinrender, but I wasn’t willing to sacrifice an Elder. I took the damage, which dropped me down to 8 life while my opponent was still at 14 life. I ripped a fourth Forest and played it. I attacked with both Elders without worrying about his two Diregraf Ghouls and Skinrender killing me on the next turn—I was holding my trump card.

He took the 8 damage from my Elders and then played another Ghoul before combat for some reason. He attacked with his Skinrender, but I cast Blunt the Assault to prevent the damage and gain 6 life.

I cast Wolfir Silverheart and paired it with one of my Elders. He was forced to chump-block with his Ghouls, he didn’t appear to draw an answer on his following turn, and he graciously conceded.

Game record: 2–0

Match record: 1–0

I don’t know whether my opponent was playing a Tier 1 Zombie deck or something of his own creation, but I didn’t see any Falkenrath Aristocrats or much removal, so I would assume the latter. I felt pretty lucky coming out of this match, and I just hoped that my luck would hold out.

Round 2 vs. R/W Humans

I was very happy when my opponent played a Champion of the Parish on his first turn. My deck usually performed very well against Humans, but I hadn’t done myself any favors with the way I handled my opening hand.

He played a second Champion, a Fiend Hunter to remove one of my slowly building threats, and a Kessig Malcontents. My weak army couldn’t stand up to his Champions, and a second Malcontents put the game away for him.

Game record: 0–1

Sideboard:

+ Blunt the Assault

−1 Arbor Elf

−1 Viridian Corrupter

Game 2 – My opponent had played a Gather the Townsfolk and a Fiend Hunter (exiling my Predator Ooze), but he surprised me a bit with his turn-four play. He played an Accorder Paladin and a Lightning Mauler paired with it so that he could immediately gain the bonus from the Paladin’s battlecry.

It was an interesting move, but in the end, I had the upper hand with big Dungrove Elders, Predator Oozes, an Ulvenwald Tracker, and back-to-back Revenge of the Hunted.

Game record: 1–1

I was forced to chump-block with my Elder, but I still took 9 damage from the assault. I was at 7 life and facing down 6 power worth of creatures. I cast Green Sun's Zenith to summon another Dungrove Elder, but my opponent’s Kessig Malcontents sealed the deal for him.

Game record: 1–2

Match record: 1–1

I had been greedy and kept some bad hands. I still believe I had a good matchup against his deck despite its speed, but my draws had been very bad. I would need to be more aggressive with my mulligans in the future.

Round 3 vs. Frites

Game record: 0–1

Sideboard:

+2 Dismember

−1 Arbor Elf

−1 Viridian Corrupter

Game 2 – I had a much more aggressive draw and was able to lay threat after threat. I used a Dismember to kill my opponent’s Birds of Paradise in hopes of slowing him down. Two Dungrove Elders and a Predator Ooze began beating him down, and a Revenge of the Hunted finished the job.

Game record: 1–1

Game 3 – This match was brutal, and I had the upper hand early with a Rancor-enchanted Dungrove Elder. My opponent had two Spirit tokens in play and cast Elesh Norn. He attacked with the tokens, putting me down to 10 life.

I cast Wolfir Silverheart and paired it with my Elder. I attacked with the Elder, and he took the damage, which dropped him to 1 life.

On my opponent’s turn, he cast Unburial Rites and returned a 9/9 Griselbrand from the graveyard. I drew a land and had no choice but to attack. He chump-blocked with Elesh Norn and both tokens. He then finished me off with Griselbrand.

Game record: 1–2

Match record: 1–2

Wrapping Up

It was a much more interesting week as far as my matches went. I have been disappointed with the mono-green deck in Daily Events up until this point, but I was actually impressed with the current build. Unlike previous weeks, I felt that I was competing in every match.

Regardless of the outcome, I was happy with my overall performance. I still need to tighten up my play a bit, but a good portion of the day was decided by the hand of fate. Some things may be my fault, but others were definitely out of my control.

That being said, I still had a decision to make. I had enough tickets remaining to play in one additional Standard Daily Event—or, I could cut my losses, sell off the current deck, and buy into Pauper.

I posed the question on Twitter to see how my friends in the community felt about it, and it was a split decision. I want to give readers a chance to give their input, so please feel free to comment and help me decide whether I will stick with Standard for one more week or make the switch to Pauper now and conserve the last of my tickets.

Check in next week to find out what format I decide to play as well as my results for the upcoming Pro Tour Qualifier in Spokane.

Until then,

–Tangent was here . . .