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Limited Resources: DGR Draft #6
Posted on July 12, 2013 by Limited Resources
Limited Resources Limited Resources podcast co-host Marshall Sutcliffe provides coverage on North American Magic events and writes for DailyMTG. He educates listeners about limited and heads the highest-prizing clan on MTGO.
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Hmm… Obviously, this is a rough patch, but I’m pretty sure that in R2G1 the play is to Grisly Spectacle the Longlegs, and he’ll probably let it resolve to get some creatures in his yard to scavenge, then you can Death’s Approach Varolz and he’s gone before the Apparition can do anything. Even if no other creatures hit the bin or he sacs the Longlegs, if he tries to kill the Approach the Apparition will hit the bin before it gets blown up.
Sweet deck, though. Definitely would have liked to see it in a bit more action. Man, things just kept coming in that draft!
Hey Marshall. Super glad to see you doing a new DGR vid. Your deck looked really sweet, sorry to see ya get mana screwed. I too once went deep with Melek to a similar result. I did get to copy a Mind Grind x4 and just win but when Gruul just hyper-curves on you and you got Melek sitting in your hand like “whaddya expect me to do about it? I’m just a Weird Wizard.” The go deep on Melek plan is just too cute. Fun but adorable… Your opponent’s deck looked pretty sweet too. GBW, junk, or as I like to call it Gorzlesnya is probably my favorite color combo for this format. I have made it my personal goal to populate a cleric token from a Deathpact Angel. That would be sweet.
Enjoy the content on the site, Marshall.
I agree with Mark on the correct line in R2G1. Wait to cast Death’s Approach until it has a chance to kill its target.
Not sure about the first mulligan R2G3. From the draw you only need to pull a single land in the first three turns. Assuming you do, you have all your colors, 4 mana, and 4 good, but expensive, cards in hand. From that 4 mana position, if you aren’t drawing more land, then you’re drawing action in the form of other spells. These spells, low cost as most are, certainly could have kept you afloat until more land arrived.
Melek has been a trap for me as well every time – I only go with him if I am playing a fun Swiss draft!
So after your LR episode on having the right mana base, we see a perfect example where DGR tempts us too much into being too heavy into our splash. Even with 5-6 mana sources of each color, it bit you in the end. I thought I was going to see more discipline from you by skipping the chaos imps and dropping the 1/4 Defender so that you only had 3-4 red cards for late in the game.
Of course I am always more heavily into the 3 colors in DGR by being too greedy and get beat like this almost every time, so I am now playing more the 3-5 color good stuff decks by taking every gate I can in the DGR pack and then picking bombs in GC and RTR – have had some fun games that way but sometimes it also doesn’t work.
Others are going back to a consistent solid 2-color deck, but those seem pretty boring to me (even if they can win easily at times – curving out while others are messing with cluestones and tap lands feels pretty good though)!
Makes you miss Modern Masters already (says the guy who didn’t play any of them and just was content to watch the masters play it)!
Thanks for the videos as always!
Watching you debate which card to remove while Melek was still in your deck was a scream-at-the-screen moment. Even in a deck with a ton of great targets for him he’s “meh” and your deck wasn’t full of good targets.
I also agree with Mark D. The correct play was to Grisly Spectacle first.
Finally… Mister Miester… populating the cleric token doesn’t do much except play around some removal for it. You have to get the angel from your graveyard so you can only get one back anyway. I had it in a deck with Rootborn Defenses recently so I read the card closely to see if there was any interaction there. Nope
How can Grisly Spectacle be the correct play? Opponent just sacrifices the Longlegs in response and you get one card in the graveyard. It’s just the normal 1 for 1.
Colossus, with Varolz on the board the opponent would maybe just let it resolve to get more stuff in the yard. Playing Sire when you’re dead on board was pretty funny to watch. The guildmage was even more of a threat, but even as he gave his guys intimidate and killed you, you kept saying “you got me, Varolz”
M2G1 you should have just Grisly Spectacled Varolz directly. If he doesn’t regenerate, Varolz is dead. If he does, that’s 1 creature in the graveyard, and you get to mill for 2 because regenerating does not counter the Grisly Spectacle. If you hit another creature off the mill, Varolz is dead. Plus, even if you didn’t hit another creature off the spectacle you’re still find because he probably would have sacrificed the Keening Apparition in order to regenerate Varolz. Therefore you’re left with a 1/1 Varolz that can’t regenerate for fear of killing itself.
Interesting discussion on the Spectacle/Death’s Approach play.
Melek not being a big dragon or a 4/8 or something with significant stats makes him almost unplayable, but if I know I’m Grixis I’m just never passing him, and I feel your pain.
I don’t like the mulligan in the last game. You have 3 shots at a land there against most of his draws, and you have draw and acceleration to follow it up. His manabase was sketchy and you had your colors in hand with the Promenade, which seems to favor you in a world where he doesn’t drop Experiment One to start.
Thanks for the vids, great as always.
I don’t believe there is a good play concerning the spectacle/approach situation
1. approach first
he plays correctly to sac apparition to kill the approach then lets spectacle resolve. Now he has a yard full of gas to fuel varolz and you will eventually lose to guildmage + scavenge even if he never draws another relevant card
2. spectacle first
this is only the correct play on the off chance that he lets it resolve. However his correct play is to regen Varolz simply because he will have a 5 power scavenge guy in the yard and won’t need anymore gas. You will still lose to guildmage + scavenge in 3 turns regardless of what else he draws
As for Mellek
I am very disappointed Marshall, after all your talk about how uncovered clues is utterly unplayable on the podcast. If I remember correctly, you need to have at least 50% hits in your deck to make clues reliably a divination, and Mellek doesn’t seem any better. A 2/4 for 6 mana dismally fails the vanilla test, and he only draws you 2 cards if you ever find a spell to cast with him. I imagine the rate is about the same, since except when you cast him at parity you probably only have 2-3 turns to find a relevant spell before the game ends, making him just as unplayable as uncovered clues. The only place he is likely to reliably impact the game is at parity, where I think I would rather have any other 6-drop in the set. Not to mention that you cannot even fuse or overload spells off of him.
I have no idea why you like Melek so much. Sure it has the potential to do silly things, but the vast vast majority of the time he’s a 2/4 for 6 that lets your opponent see what you’re going to draw. I would almost certainly never play him.
Hey Marshall, you kept blaming your loss on Varolz, but it was Korozda Guildmage who did most of the sweet work! Sure Varolz nulled your Grisly Spectacle, but if it wasn’t for the Guildmage, you may have had a shot.