Simon Says #32: Power Plays (RTR 8-4)

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Simon Goertzen

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  2. pack rat is a worst nightmare if you know you have no way to deal with it within a couple turns. I have been in that situation, but I played it out and got swarmed. He didn’t have to play any other cards. Great deck you had there. I am surprised at all those Selesnia cards that were getting passed to you. It is a powerful guild in limited

  3. Thanks very much! Your comment early in pack one that Selesnya tends to want more white sources than green because of Sunspire Griffin was really interesting to me, it’s not something I think I would have considered at such an early point in the draft. Definitely something I will keep in mind in the future to lead to better a better draft process!

    In R1G1, you see whether your Giant Growth resolves, then block with Trostani when it does. The opponent casts Dynacharge on his Spawn and you trade. Then next turn you believe that he probably doesn’t have the Dispel since he didn’t use it the previous turn. I think it’s extremely unlikely that your opponent would have used it that turn, though, since your Giant Growth was before blockers. He would know that if he trades his Dispel for Giant Growth he would not get Trostani. Instead he allows the Growth to resolve confident that he can then trade Dynacharge and Spawn for Growth and Trostani. Does that make sense?

    Thanks again for your insight, both in the videos and and on GP coverage!

  5. I like how you chose not to go for the “Populate Pack Rat with Trostani”-achivement, but instead chose to just churn out more rats. It was the right play, IMO.

    I propably could not resist the temptation in that situation. :-P

  6. No one else said it, but I finally saw it.. your opponent pulled a Foil Restoration Angel. And that was awesome. And I would have selected that over Trostani as well.

    can you answer a question, how do you time the blocking where your Centaur Herald can block a creature, prevent it’s damage, then you sacrifice the Herald for a token. Yet the creature you blocked with the herald remains blocked and can not deliver any damage. It is a confusing point for me. Mechanics you could say.

  7. @Roger – once blockers are declared creatures remain “blocked” or “unblocked” regardless of what happens to the creature that blocked them. A blocked creature cannot deal damage to an opponent unless it has trample, in which case the Centaur Herald “trick” would not prevent any damage. The same goes for removal. Let’s say I block your 3/3 with my 2/4 and then go for a pump spell. If you Ultimate Price (or Auger Spree or what have you) my guy in response then all of a sudden there is no one in front of your 3/3, but unless it has trample it is not going to deal me any damage.

  8. Thanks for your comments!

    @Blake: From the board state I would have expected my opponent to Dispel the Giant Growth if he had it, but you have a valid point that he might have wanted to save it. Given that my opponent is most likely BRu and it is game 1, it is rather unlikely for him to have a Dispel in his deck anyway.

    @Roger: Marc already answered the question, and I’ll copy-paste the relevant part of the rules as well. The comprehensive rules can be tough to read, but they do answer most rules/mechanics questions.
    [509.1h] An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

  9. What no comments on the irony of Trostani getting judged by herself? When she is a legendary creature… And it happening twice! I laughed out loud at the 2nd one.

    The conclusion that Pack Rat wins is, does sum it all up.

    Thanks again for the vids, I really do like them. Keep up the good work.

  14. Oh also, really appreciate your videos, they’re some of the best on the net. I especially like your well thought out intro-pieces on strategy, very informative and articulate.

  15. Thanks for the videos and thoughtful commentary. Looking forward to seeing if/when you decide to stream.

  16. Thanks for the videos. I haven’t watched the matches yet, but during the draft portion you had two Gatecreeper Vines and chose to take a second Golgari Guildgate over Launch Party. In fact you didn’t even mention Launch Party as a possible pick. That one surprised me quite a bit. I also personally prefer getting permanent counters from Common Bond over the temporary +3/+3 of Giant Growth. The counters can usually act as a combat trick to be removal as just as well.