Simon Says #10: On the Fly

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Simon Goertzen

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  2. Although these videos were certainly fun to watch, I really, really don’t like the Delver deck. I mean, it can win games, and it’s better than the average train wreck, but it’s so inconsistent, especially against aggro. If an average aggro deck has an average draw, you basically win if you flip delvers early and lose if you don’t — and unless you really luck into quality spells during the draft, it’s awfully hard to flip them.

    Granted, you also have about the same chances of winning against an incredibly strong aggro deck as you do against the average one, but MODO drafts are swarming with average aggro decks, so I don’t like having only an okay matchup against them.

    I mean, in this draft, you beat your first-round opponent because he either drew badly or had a bad deck, so that any decent deck would have won that round. Then in the second round, you were dead to rights. I don’t think this result should be put down to the power of Delver of Secrets, but rather to the power of “opponent having a bad deck or draw” and “opponent timing out.”.

  3. I’m yelling at my computer screen “discard the harvest pyre!!!!” you get to play two delvers that turn (both flipped), and have land for into the maw, destroying his lone swamp.

    you even made a comment earlier about wanting to cast the ‘into the maw’ yet you continued to discard land!!! heartbreaking as Mike said above. but i too forgive you.

    haha… and since when does spawning for 8x spiders equate to ‘we are still doing ok’?

  4. Hi guys,
    as always, thanks for your comments. Concerning the power level of Delver decks, I do agree that they are not were you want to end up in Innistrad limited. In fact, I picked this draft as it showcased quite a lot of awkward situations as well as close and/or lucky wins. The fact that it is still possible to work towards these wins even from bad positions is what makes improvising so viable and important, which is the topic of this episode.
    Regarding the opponents spider army, I have a habit to always stay optimistic during playing, even if things get ugly. I often know that I there is an uphill battle ahead but I like to play it down in order to focus what I need to do to win and worry about my past (possibly incorrect) decisions later. However, I have to say that some situations are probably a little worse than I make them out to be :).
    [Aside: My favorite memory from my chess-tournament playing days is an observation by my teacher: he felt that it was hardest to beat me when I had just suffered a measurable on-board loss (lets say a knight) -- not having that much to lose, I played more creatively, less predictable, and pursued tempo plays more aggressively, leading to some unexpected victories!]
    One last comment regarding certain game play situations, I try to play my best Magic while still providing strategically deep commentary, but there will always be decisions you disagree with or even rather obvious mistakes. I hope you still enjoy my videos! :)

  5. That makes sense.

    Also, I use the same “optimism” strategy to keep myself calm while playing, but I had to tone it down after my opponent played Day of Judgment to my full board, and my immediate mental reaction was “well, that’s okay, we can still win” which caused me to actually SAY “okay” instead of looking at my hand and remembering the Mana Leak there. Arrgggh.

    I’ve since retrained myself to never use the word “okay” mentally unless the situation actually is okay.

  6. In M2G1 dosen’t Ashmouth Hound just first stike kill a potential Ambush Viper?

  7. I’m not a fan of playing 16 lands and this tournament highlights why. I was particularly surprised that you didn’t go up to 17 given what seemed to be a very inconsistent draw of lands.

  8. No apologies needed for winning off of time. It is a risk people take when they play certain decks. If you don’t try attacking with 12 million 1/1s you won’t have the time out issue.