Greetings, Card Floppaz!
Last October I did a little mini Magic: The Gathering tournament with the few Commander decks I owned, but ran out of steam when The Hobbit set came out and I realized that I kinda hated the Commander format.
Soooo, instead I cobbled together a whopping eighteen 60-card decks and I'm here to see how they bounce off each other.
Here they are:
1) Aura of Courage - Voltron Deck
2) Draconic Rage - Tiamat Dragon Horde
3) Dungeons of Death - Complete a Ton of Dungeons
4) Planar Portal - Treasure / Cast from Exile
5) Lae-zel's Legions - Counters and Healing
6) Critcal Hit! - Optimized Dice Rolling
7) Drizzt's Token Swarm - Generates tokens
8) Food and Fellowship - Hobbits and their Snacks
9) Elven Council - Galadriel and Lothlorien
10) The Hosts of Mordor - Sauron's Army
11) Return of the King - Aragorn, Gondor and Rohan
12) Fury of Orthanc - Saruman and the Uruk Hai
13) Forest Critters - Beorn and Radagast's Creature Horde
14) Middle Earth Monsters - Spiders, Wolves and Trolls
15) Goblin Town - Goblin Horde with a splash of Smaug
16) "We're Going On An Adventure" - The Dwarves and Bilbo complete Sagas, which (in theory) are manipulated by Tom Bombadil and Goldberry
17) Dwarves - Thorin and Company Piss Off a Dragon.
18) Alliance of Elves and Men - Laketown, Bard and Thranduil's Elves
Keep in mind: these decks are built entirely with theme in mind, not effectiveness. As such, any notable synergies are either intrinsic to the card type or a shared mechanic.
I'll determine match ups randomly with a 20-sider. This being an elimination-style tourney, eventually we're gonna have some random "byes", but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
***
Ready? Here we go..."7" versus "15."
"Drizzt's Token Swarm" vs. "Goblin Town"
Drizz't goes first, starts with seven cards, but no draw. Plays a "Citadel Gate", picks Black as the alternate color.
The Goblins start with seven cards and draw at the start of their turn. Plays a Swamp and passes.
Drizz't draws, plays a Forest but sadly must pass.
The Goblins play a Mountain and then they pass.
Drizz't draws and, without a Land draw, must pass.
The Goblins play a Mountain and table "Rage into the Valley", Amassing a 2/2 Goblin Army, losing one Life and drawing a card. Pass.
Drizz't drops a Forest and plays "Jaheira, Friend of the Forest." Passes.
The Goblins flop a Mountain and then play "Gundabad Opportunist" for all four Mana. Holds and ends turn.
For three Mana, Drizz't plays "Carefree Swinemaster" and ends their turn.
The Goblins play "Goblin-town" ('natch) then cast the Exiled card ("Goblin Plate Mail") courtesy of the Opportunist. It attaches to the Goblin Army, now boosted to 4/3 with Menace. They then cast "Crude Bent Blade" for three Mana, and - with that - Drizz't is forced to sacrifice the Swinemaster. Both the Army and the Opportunist then Attack. Jaheira blocks the Opportunist and they both die and Drizz't goes down to 16 Life. End of turn.
Drizz't plays a Forest and then casts "Ochre Jelly" with four Mana, making it a 3/3. Ends turn.
Goblins drop a Swamp then table "Stony-Voiced Goblins" (Drizz't discards "The Book of Vile Darkness"!) and "Front Porch Sentries." They then pay two Mana to Equip the Stony Gobz with the Crude Bent Blade. Attacks with the Menacing Goblin Army, putting Drizz't down to 12 Life.
Drizz't plays a second "Ochre Jelly" with four Mana, making it a 3/3. Ends turn.
Goblins play another Swamp and with seven Mana drop a "Stone-Giant of High Pass", which - in turn - creates a "Stone Boulder." The Goblin Army and the Stony Goblins both attack! Both Jellies block the Army, killing it along with one Jelly. The dead Jelly then returns at the beginning of the End Step as a 1/1 Token! The turn ends.
Drizz't plays a Swamp then casts "Beast Within" on the Giant, reverting it to a 3/3 Beast Token! Then casts "Nimblewright Schematic" for two Mana, creating a 1/1 token. Ends turn.
Goblins bring out the "Great Goblin" for three Mana. For another four Mana, Equips the Sentries with the Plate Mail, giving them Menace. Attacks with the Beast (3/3), Goblins (3/2) and Sentries (3/2 -Menace). Two of the 1/1 Tokens confront the Sentries and all three die! The Jelly and the Beast kill each other! The Stony Goblin deals three points to Drizz't - he's down to 6 - and then the Jelly returns as a 1/1. Turn ends.
Still only working with five Mana, Drizz't brings out a "Death Tyrant" for all five! Ends turn.
Goblins play a Swamp. For six Mana they drop a "Desert Were-Worm"! They have three Mountains so its Power is 6! They hold and pass the turn!
Drizz't casts "Halsin, Emerald Archdruid" and then takes a knee.
The Goblins Summon a Hasted "Bolg's Company" for two Mana. Spends another five Mana to play and Equip another Crude Bent Blade on the Company. Drizz't sacrifices the 1/1. Attacks with everything! Even if Halsin blocks the Company and the Tyrant blocks the Were-Worm, there's six damage left...just enough to finish the match!
Goblins win with 19 Life left...a handy victory!
***
Postmortem: So, the Goblins had eight Land versus Drizz't's five. Also, pretty clear to see the difference between the built-in Creature type synergies versus expecting something to gel just because every card theoretically produces Tokens. Sadly, Drizz't's Token "Swarm" just isn't very "swarm-y."
***
Awrite, next match: "9" versus "8"
"Elven Council" versus "Food and Fellowship"
The Elves start first, drawing seven. They play a Forest and pass the turn.
The Hobbits start with seven and draw at the start of their turn. They play a Plains and cast "Frodo, Sauron's Bane"!
The Elves drop an Island and play "Lost Isle Calling" then pass the turn.
The Hobbits acquire a Forest and conjure up "Sting, the Glinting Dagger." Frodo then attacks for a point of damage! Turn is passed.
The Elves play a Forest and then introduce "Chance Met Elves" for three Mana. Turn passed.
The Hobbits play a Forest, table Peregrin Took and then pass the turn.
The Elves discover "The Grey Havens" which allows a Scrye, giving the Chance Met folks +1/+1 (now 4/3) and adding a Verse counter to Lost Isle Calling. They hold and pass.
Hobbits play a Forest and introduce "Butterbur" for four Mana. He then produces two Food, thanks to Pip. They hold and pass the turn.
The Elves play another Island then cast "Gift of Strands" for four Mana. This performs a two-card Scrye, giving the Chance Met crowd +1/+1 (now 5/4) and adding a Verse counter to Lost Isle Calling. Then the Strands themselves add +3/+3, so he's a whopping 8/7! They attack! Frodo chump blocks him and gets run over! End of turn.
The Hobbits play "Aragorn, Company Leader" and a "Barrow-Blade" for four Mana. They hold and pass the turn.
The Elves drop a Forest and then play "Ent's Fury" for two Mana. The Chance Met Elves are now 9/8...and get another temporary +1/+1 until end of turn! After fighting (and murdering!) Butterbur, they attack! Peregrin blocks and gets absolutely wrecked! Turn ends.
The Hobbits try to play "Eastfarthing Farmer" for three, but the Elves counter with "Glorious Gale", countering the spell! They then Equip Aragorn with a Barrow-Blade as a consolation prize and end the turn.
Elves table a Forest, play "Nimrodel Watcher" for two Manaa and then attack with the Chance Met Elves. Frodo and company take a whopping nine damage and the turn ends!
The Hobbits play a Forest and then cast "The Ring Goes South" for four Mana. Aragorn is Tempted by the Ring. They reveal only two cards: "Frodo Baggins" and "Shire Terrace", the former gets buried and the latter gets played tapped. Ends turn.
The Elves play a Forest and attack with the Chance Met Elves. Aragorn blocks and is killed. Turn ends!
The Hobbits tap four, sacrificing both Food and gaining six life! They then spend one to Sacrifice Shire Terrace, play a tapped Plains and end the turn!
The Elves play "Arwen's Gift" for four Mana. This allows a Scrye 2, giving the Chance Met crew +1/+1 (now 10/9!!!) and adding a Verse counter to Lost Isle Calling. They draw two cards, play "Fall of Gil-galad" for two which triggers a Scrye 2. This adds yet another Verse counter to Lost Isle Calling. Then the Chance Met Elves and the Nimrodel Watcher (at 3/1 thanks to the Scrye) attack. The Hobbits take 13 damage! Yikes!
Finally armed with the second Plains, the Hobbits play "Battle of Bywater", felling the Chance-Met Elves! Ends turn.
The Elves play a Forest and The Fall of Gil-galad beefs up the Watcher to 4/3! Then, in an example overkill, they play "Fangorn, Tree Shepherd" for seven Mana! The Watcher attacks, causing four damage and ending the match!
***
Postmortem: a shockingly-powerful showing by the Elves, ending with 19 Life. The Hobbits typically balloon out of control like a stuffed gut on Thanksgiving, but the Elf Scrye engine actually worked here! The Hobbits had six Mana to work with to the Elves nine and the former had to sit on Bywater Battle for far too long!
***
Next up: "18" versus "14": "Alliance of Elves and Men" against the "Middle Earth Monsters"!
Check back soon for more matches!
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