Thought I’d take my newly updated Isperia deck for a tryout; as you’re about to find out, it wasn’t much of a test.
5-player free-for-all; Sisay, Isperia, Intet, (my) Mayael, and (my) Jaya.
The game started off very well, with the newly added Sensei’s Divining Top in my opener, along with some lands and some spells. Hooray! However, that was pretty much the high point of the game. To cut a very long story short, I had to pull through a clump of 5 land in a row, then almost immediately after that, 9 (yes, 9!) land in a row. Needless to say I was never in this one 😦
Intet is basically a RUG goodstuff deck, and after it Tooth and Nail‘ed for Kiki-Jiki and Primeval Titan it got hated out pretty quickly. After that we focussed in on Mayael, as it had Spearbreaker Behemoth and 4 or 5 other big creatures, including Tornando Elemental (having an indestructible Tornado Elemental is pretty good, I guess…). He got taken out with a combination of flying beats from me, and forestwalk from Sisay’s Jedit Ojanen, but not before killing me with a million and two damages. Jaya and Sisay fought it out briefly, but Jaya didn’t find the board wipe it needed and Sisay took it out.
In terms of learning about my deck, this was an awful game. I learned that SDT helps me get through land clumps, until there’s more than 3 land in a row on top of my deck. Shock and Amaze! Ah well. Next time maybe.
This is not the greatest deck in the world... 
Sam
October 26, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Dont forget the 18 damage to Mayeal from Jaya using Red Titan and some burn 🙂
Card draw and/or searching which also shuffles is good I guess. I wonder if that rewind (cast against Marama for something I forget what) had been a Fact of Fiction or Forsee would the game gone better for you?
Still finding that threat assessment is variably frustrating in our play group. Sometimes it feels like removal/destroying happens simply because of what happened last week or last game, almost regardless of whether it is the same deck or the board state.
On a side note, Jocks decks are savage 🙂
Viperion
October 26, 2011 at 2:06 pm
I have both card draw and search (and Fact or Fiction, but not Forsee) in that deck but a 9 land clump means you have to find some other way of getting there… Unless I happened to have a spell that did that in my opener (which I didn’t), I have no option than to just keep playing lands. You saw what happened when I did cast Isperia (a shuffle effect) the first time – she just got destroyed before I could swing. That was the only shuffle effect I had, in the cards I had. If you’re already in a land clump, there’s not a lot you can do about it.
And yes, it was Jaya that took Mayael out in the end with a Repercussion (one of Jaya’s new additions) and an Inferno Titan + burn
Sam
October 26, 2011 at 2:19 pm
So I am not saying that the land clump wasnt the main problem. It happens….?
As to the dying of the sphinx I refer you back to my previous post regards threats.
I guess in the mind of the player who took it out – mainly to kill your other flyer apparently – those two creatures were bad for him. Or he just wanted you too stay stuck with a bad clump so you couldnt draw relevant spells. Frustrating but probably the right play nonetheless?
Viperion
October 26, 2011 at 2:29 pm
For those of you who weren’t there; Mayael flashed in a Tornado Elemental (now that I think about it I’m not sure how did that; Mayael activation possibly) in response to Primeval Titan’s EtB trigger. The elemental killed – only – my Isperia and my Archon of Justice. Archon then exiled Kiki-Jiki, which in response made a copy of Prime Time etc etc etc.
Obviously from my perspective this was the wrong line of play, unless Mayael wanted to keep the last player (which I definitely was, at that point) in last place, which I don’t think was his intention. He could have crashed any number of Big Fat Creatures into me and I would have blocked with the Archon and exiled KJ anyway.
I was making enough noise about the three lands continually on top of my deck; killing Isperia (even as collateral damage) to stop me from actually getting anywhere seems like a pretty hard-core move and not one I think he was intending (although he obviously won’t lose any sleep over it). There’s a whole topic on going for the strong player vs going for the weak one which I may get into at some point (starts writing draft) but to sum up; yes, the threat assessement in our group seems to be pretty random, sometimes.
Sam
October 26, 2011 at 9:55 pm
I think you should try write your thoughts on when and what to kill in EDH. Its something I have been thinking about a bit lately too. It can set the tone for the game somewhat, particularly if people feel they are suffering from poor choices. Short term gains vs long term gains etc.
Viperion
October 27, 2011 at 9:10 am
Yeah I may do that. I’m no expert on threat assessement though, and I know I have ideas which are pretty different from a lot of the rest of the group 🙂