Block decks for grinding

While researching the best way to get my constructed collection back up to snuff I decided I would start off on Theros Block decks.  These are the three decks I will more than likely pick up

8 Forest
5 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Temple of Triumph
Creatures
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Voyaging Satyr
3 Polis Crusher
4 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Arbor Colossus
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
2 Nylea's Presence
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
4 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Sideboard
3 Lightning Strike
2 Destructive Revelry
4 Hunt the Hunter
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Peak Eruption

This is just a stock naya build for block.  Has a lot of Standard playables in it. 

15  Forest
1  Mountain
4  Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4  Temple of Abandon

---

4  Arbor Colossus
4  Boon Satyr
3  Nylea, God of the Hunt
4  Polukranos, World Eater
4  Reverent Hunter
4  Sedge Scorpion
4  Sylvan Caryatid
4  Voyaging Satyr

---

3  Bow of Nylea
2  Xenagos, the Reveler

---

Sideboard

4  Fade into Antiquity
4  Hunt the Hunter
4  Peak Eruption
3  Time to Feed

Stock Green Red List, Plays a ton of the same cards from the Naya build, should be easy enough to finish up
The final deck is the UW Heroic deck, if it's good enough for my buddy Andy Burden, it's gotta be good enough for me, even if he thinks Tim Tebow should be in the NFL!

8  Island
13  Plains

---

21 lands

4  Battlewise Hoplite
4  Fabled Hero
4  Favored Hoplite
2  Hopeful Eidolon
2  Phalanx Leader
4  Soldier of the Pantheon

---

20 creatures

4  Aqueous Form
4  Gods Willing
4  Ordeal of Heliod
3  Ordeal of Thassa
4  Triton Tactics

---

19 other spells

Sideboard

2  Gainsay
4  Glare of Heresy
2  Last Breath
1  Ordeal of Thassa
3  Voyage's End
3  Wavecrash Triton

Next on my list for decks is Modern, I'm going to pick out 3 decks in total, one of which will be Merfolk, because let's fact it, I'm addicted to that deck! 

Mocs Season Two

I'm gonna start grinding again after the new year.  I've had a pretty good break from magic!

3-1 Stream today

a reminder that you can catch my stream at www.twitch.tv/joshuaclaytor

I played this to a 3-1 record, beating mono blue devotion, mono black devotion, BG and losing to mono red.  There is some promise in this deck

4  Mutavault
10  Plains
4  Sacred Foundry
4  Temple of Triumph

---

22 lands

4  Banisher Priest
4  Boros Elite
4  Daring Skyjek
4  Dryad Militant
3  Imposing Sovereign
4  Precinct Captain
4  Soldier of the Pantheon

---

27 creatures

2  Boros Charm
4  Brave the Elements
2  Spear of Heliod

---

8 other spells

3  Ajani, Caller of the Pride

---

3 planeswalkers

Sideboard

2  Boros Charm
1  Burning Earth
2  Electrickery
3  Fiendslayer Paladin
1  Glare of Heresy
2  Mizzium Mortars
2  Pacifism
1  Renounce the Guilds
1  Wear // Tear

Stream Tease

I am gonna stream a bit after downtime is over.  Modern format, I'll give you a hint of what deck I'm playing. 

It has time warp in it! 

a deck from GP Vienna

I nearly choked on my drink when I saw this in day two of GP Vienna. 

I know that the decks are very different but they share a lot of similarities. 

I like the look of this BG Hexproof deck

Christoph Wagner

Grand Prix Vienna - Standard

Main Deck 60 cards
6  Forest 4  Golgari Guildgate 2  Mutavault 4  Overgrown Tomb 8  Swamp 24 lands 3  Deathrite Shaman 3  Desecration Demon 4  Elvish Mystic 3  Reaper of the Wilds 2  Scavenging Ooze 2  Shadowborn Demon 3  Witchstalker 20 creatures	2  Abrupt Decay 1  Bow of Nylea 4  Commune with the Gods 1  Gaze of Granite 2  Hero's Downfall 1  Primeval Bounty 1  Putrefy 2  Whip of Erebos 14 other spells 2  Vraska the Unseen 2 planeswalkers Sideboard 1  Abrupt Decay 2  Fade into Antiquity 1  Gaze of Granite 3  Golgari Charm 4  Mistcutter Hydra 3  Pharika's Cure 1  Pithing Needle 15 sideboard cards

Christoph Wagner had 30 points after round 14, so he won at least 10 matches (or 7 and drew a ton.)  I'd like to see how his changes worked out in my own testing, but I've just about tested the crap out of it and got bored.  I LOVE the commune with the gods in the deck.  Makes Deathrite that much better. 

Black Green Hexproof Updated

Current list, will have an article on puremtgo.com on Thursday. 

2 Mutavault
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Shadowborn Demon
2 Witchstalker
2 Witchstalker
3 Abrupt Decay
7 Forest
4 Golgari Guildgate
2 Vraska the Unseen
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Golgari Charm
3 Dreg Mangler
3 Lotleth Troll
3 Thoughtseize
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Pack Rat
2 Putrefy
7 Swamp
3 Reaper of the Wilds

Sideboard
1 Thoughtseize
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Pithing Needle
2 Fade into Antiquity
1 Golgari Charm
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Underworld Connections
2 Duress

Next article.

I recorded the freed from the real podcast today, and that was a treat, I'm looking to get involved more in podcasting with the site, and I think it will be entertaining. 

I wanted to leave a preview for my article that is going up on Monday at PureMTGO.com.  It's a pauper article, so here is a little hint of what to expect. 

Pauper deck

When i stop feeling so awful I am going to play the crap out of this in pauper.

2 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
9 Island
1 Plains
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Arcane Denial
4 Brainstorm
2 Deep Analysis
1 Fog
4 Jace's Erasure
4 Life Burst
4 Moment's Peace
2 Muddle the Mixture
1 Reclaim
4 Respite
3 Think Twice
4 Tolarian Winds

2 Arcane Denial
4 Dispel
3 Fog
4 Memory Lapse
2 Reclaim

0-2 the prelims

I hope wotc can fix this prelim stuff, nothing is more unappealing than grinding all season long and then not having a shot after two rounds

played gb, lost to mono black twice.  I guess I used up all my luck in my stream earlier. 

Gonna take a nice long mtgo break after this.  The games were tight, I just worked hard to try to exploit the field, got matched up with a really good matchup twice, and still lost, no punts here though.

4 Mutavault
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Witchstalker
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Scavenging Ooze
5 Forest
4 Golgari Guildgate
2 Vraska the Unseen
2 Ultimate Price
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Golgari Charm
3 Dreg Mangler
2 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Thoughtseize
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Desecration Demon
7 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Pithing Needle
2 Skylasher
1 Golgari Charm
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Underworld Connections
2 Duress

Season 12

I'm not grinding qps for season 12 as I really do not care for the mocs format.  Phantom events are the worst, so I'll be using this page to show the decks that I do play, but things will be slow around these parts

3-1 in Standard

Wanted to stream this morning since I woke up at a responsible adult time, and noticed a 7am standard event.  Having only 7 tickets to my name, I entered, set up my stream, and started to play.  I handled a UW control list fairly easily, it helped that I was able to rip their hand apart with my discard, and cleaned up with Pack Rat. 

Round two I played the mirror match, and kept punting, I have no idea how to play against opposing pack rats, and continued to make poor attacks, and even worse blocks. 

Round three I battled mono blue devotion, swept it, learned a lot about sideboarding in the matchup, and never really felt threatened.  I controlled the devotion with my removal, and had needle for jace so they could not draw back into the game. 

Round four I was against UB control, game one was fairly back and forth, I made a few good plays, and then I punted.  I knew he had domestication in hand, and I just cast pack rat for whatever reason.  He took it, and suddenly I was back to making poor attacks and worse blocks.  Games two and three, I got an early rat down, protected it, and won. 

Here is the list I played. 

Creatures (17)

• 4 Desecration Demon
• 4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 3 Pack Rat
• 2 Erebos, God of the Dead

Lands (25)

• 20 Swamp
• 3 Mutavault
• 2 Temple of Deceit

Spells (18)

• 1 Prophetic Prism
• 4 Underworld Connections
• 3 Devour Flesh
• 3 Hero's Downfall
• 3 Ultimate Price
• 4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard

• 2 Pithing Needle
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 3 Lifebane Zombie
• 1 Pack Rat
• 3 Doom Blade
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 3 Duress

I would recommend playing it, it is fun! 

0-2 with Affinity.

I streamed this, a recording should be available on www.twitch.tv/joshuaclaytor

I would not watch it, it was a weird event.  I lost round one to GW slivers.  I played to my outs of Fling, and I missed in game one.  In game two I took a mulligan to 3 after not wanting to keep high risk high reward hands.  Looking back my hand of six may have been the better bet to just keep it.  At least I had creatures! 

Round two I got the mirror match, but he was running Glaze Fiend and disciple of the Vault.  He ran me over game 1, game two I ran him over, and in game three it was looking like game one again, but I was able to get back into the game after drawing four cards off of Research and Stars.  I was able to flood the board, but was at a low enough total to where I could not just swing all out.  I had to keep a block back to not lose to his atog. 

Eventually he gets a disciple down, and makes atog math hard for me.  I got him to a low number, was able to win on my next turn as long as he bricked, he did not brick. 

I died to to his two disciples and atog. 

this is what I played.

3 Darksteel Citadel
4 Thoughtcast
3 Springleaf Drum
2 Fling
4 Atog
2 Terrarion
4 Chromatic Star
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Carapace Forger
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Tree of Tales
4 Frogmite
3 Ichor Wellspring
4 Perilous Research
4 Great Furnace
3 Vault of Whispers
4 Seat of the Synod

Sideboard
3 Fog
2 Electrostatic Bolt
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Electrickery
4 Serene Heart

0-2 in Theros block

I played this, 

4 Thoughtseize
3 Abhorrent Overlord
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Agent of the Fates
5 Swamp
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
7 Forest
4 Temple of Mystery
3 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Voyaging Satyr
4 Temple of Deceit
3 Whip of Erebos
1 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Sideboard
1 Abhorrent Overlord
4 Baleful Eidolon
2 Pharika's Cure
4 Mistcutter Hydra
4 Returned Phalanx

It was a mistake, but it looked fun.  The blue splash adds nothing to the deck.  I do like the idea of GB and UB in Theros block, but I do not like the idea of smashing them together. 

So details I lost round one to GR.  Was outclassed and mana screwed both games. 

Round two I played a tight game one against mono black, but lost due to flood, and game two I took a mulligan to 4 and play a thoughtseize. 

The deck was not fun and it's been deleted from my net deck file. 

Previous entries

This is new a more robust version of my tumblr.  You can find my tumblr at joshuaclaytor.tumblr.com.  That will get you up to date! 

Words about my MTGO Stuff

Hi, for those of you that know me, you already know the details, but for those of you who have stumbled upon this little blogger thingy, a quick bit about myself.  I’m a 33 year single father living in Vine Grove, Kentucky.  I’ve been playing Magic since I was 14, in 1994.  I’m the current content manager of PureMTGO.com, which is where you will find my current writings.  I have played on the pro tour once, won the Kentucky State Championship once, and have ditched the paper cards for a purely digital play experience. 

I am friends with MOCS standouts JohnnyHotSauce and CeoBry01.  Don’t follow me because of them though, they are the reason I am documenting my MOCS progress.  I figure since I am on summer break from my University job I can multi queue and play as much magic as I can. 

What I will do with this blog is list the event I played in, the format, my record and the decklist.  My goal every four weeks is to accumulate the 35 needed points to qualify for the MOCS outright instead of going through the prelims.  The next two entries will show the decks that I have played to get my first four recorded points, (which actually brings me to 10 for the season, but my memory is the worst and I have no idea how I got the other 6.) 

Check out PureMTGO.com and thanks for stopping by my little bit of blogger.