The last time we left Zombie Zac he was 2-2 on the side of the road. Looking pretty… undead. So, I got home a realized that a few Ebay packages had arrived. I now had the complete U/G Delver deck (minus Sideboard). Quirion Dryads are the power source behind this deck. I wanted to try it out. I also figured it would help me understand how to beat Delver a little better. I had plans with my buddy Paul (NayaPod Paul) to come to Jersey have a few beers, BBQ then go to Gamer’s Edge in Kearny NJ. THE BURBS. I didn’t have Band practice this Weds so it seemed like a great idea. I decided to leave the Zombies at home give them a little rest and try out the U/G Delver. Hoped the train to Jersey and met up with Paul.
We practiced with the new deck (Paul has been having trouble with his deck’s suspect mana base and he’s getting a little nervous about the Gamer’s Edge tonight. He ordered Birds of Paradise off Amazon and it’s been about a month they haven’t arrived. This is doubly bad because he wants to play them and they (THAT’S RIGHT say it with me now) “ROTATE” soon. I handily crushed Paul’s Naya Pod deck with the Delver deck. Wow this is great! Just early beats and then GIANT Dryad ftw. Look ma, I’m playing Delver! Paul wasn’t feeling so good about his deck once we go to Gamer’s Edge. I was feeling like a king! This was a great deck! I’m gonna take this place by storm!
We entered Gamer’s Edge. Nice sized place… Plenty of Room. Paul and I joked you can really spread out here (Twenty Sided Store is wonderful, but it can be a little cramped for time to time). We signed up, BS’d with the Desk Jockey and sat down for a couple of games. STILL HUMBLING PAUL OLD COUNTRY STYLE! This was gonna be cakewalk.
Round One – Deandre
I kept a sweet looking hand (gushot, delver, dryad, ponder, island, hinterland harbor, vapor snag). Seems good right. Deandre won the roll. Turn one island ponder go… Ok maybe another Delver. Fine! Island Delver Go… (Realize now that I’m writing it out HUGE play mistake). Gutshot to the delver. I pass turn.
I’ll save you the pleasantries, Deandre took game one without much fuss. Bummer.
Ok on to game two. This time I learned something. First let me say not only is my opponent viscously well versed in his deck, he was a total sportsman. I Gitaxian Probed. He layed his cards on the table (below his land) I shuffled around my bag… Argh! No pen and pad! Curse the luck. Ok brain, I haven’t been killing you as often with alcohol… You better uphold your end of the bargain. I set myself to remember the cards. Deandre tells me he’ll just keep them out for me. Oh! Rad! Uh… Thanks. Very very cool move. He still hid the cards he drew in subsequent turns but the ones I’ve see remained visible. Seems like it was a common practice through-out the store. Sure it’s not the most competition level move, but this is weds night, and we are playing a game.
Deandre went on to brain me with Geist and Delver a few turns later. I can’t say his draws and win were due to good Kharma, I’m sure it didn’t hurt.
I looked over Paul took his first match… At least one of us was winning.
0-1
Round 2
B/R Zombies
My opponent had already told me (from a convo we had right before the tourney started that he was playing Zombies). I was not looking forward to his match-up… I also wondered why I hadn’t tried to practice this more. Oh well. Let’s do this.
Game one he achieved FLAWLESS VICTORY as every threat I played died in a fire of … Well fire. The ones that weren’t burned were eaten by Zombies as chump blockers.
Game two was much the same. But for the first time I saw something in the B/R Zombies build. My personal deck was removal light, with several burn spells and mostly zombies/Vampires and stuff. I should rebuild with more removal… “We can do it gentlemen, we have the technology… Stronger, Faster… BETTER.”
Also, since this U/G Delver has no Hexproof Geists. It’s pretty easy to kill off my threats. This leads me to one conclusion. GEIST IS WHAT MAKES DELVER. I had an epiphany.
Back to the tourney
0-2
Paul won round 2! The man was on a roll… This is the most tourney consecutive wins in his adult magic career!
Round 3… BYE!?
No! I came here to play magic! Not to sit out and wait for the next round… I watched Paul’s game. Oh no! He was playing against Delver!
After what looked like a WWE ladder match, Paul’s opponent took him in Three games. Ending a career defining (hopefully not) two game winning streak!
Round 4 – Paul!
I got paired up and Paul got paired down. It’s on! I told Paul no matter the outcome he’ll get the win so we can cash. Of course I dominated. two games that ended before turn 6. Where we’re these hands when I was playing the other guys.
Turns out that Naya Pod is just sorta removal poor early, which is when to disrupt this decks threats. If that game goes over 6 turns he can normally “TURN THE BEAT AROUND!” and value creature the heck outta me. But this time the day is mine! I still gave Paul the win. “Go report!” What did we get for out trouble? A handshake… It seems only the top two won packs… And they split, then split.
What did I take from this.
1. U/G Delver is a shitty version of a much better deck. This is not the Metagame for this deck.
2. The pivotal card in the Delver/Zombies matchup is Geist of Saint Traft… How can I use this knowledge in my next build?
3. NEVER GIVE PAUL THE WIN. Only crush Paul. Crush his little green men and his birds and drive home on a river of elf blood and Colonel Sanders of Paradise!
Next up: FNM at Twenty Sided