Knights and Dragons!
Lunchtime Magic this week featured my Knight deck against Mike’s Dragonstorm deck. I won 2 of 3 games, and here’s what happened.
Game 1: This was one of those games that makes you wonder why you bother playing Magic. I drew tons of land and he didn’t draw enough. He torched the Student of Warfare that was the only creature in my opening hand, but then didn’t have anything else he could do. Eventually I drew another Student of Warfare and a Knight Exemplar and was able to bring him down.
Game 2: Excellent start for the Knights, with a Leonin Skyhunter and two Knight Exemplars. Once again he failed to have enough land to do much.
Game 3: I had an Aether Vial in my opening hand and led with it. In the first 3 turns I put out a Student, a Skyhunter, and a Knight of the White Orchid. After my attack (turn 4?) Mike still didn’t have any creatures out and said, “Well, I have to do it this turn or you’re going to win.” So he played Dark Ritual and Seething Song and some other spell and Dragonstormed for 4 hasty dragons and 20 points of damage.
Afterward, Mike commented that he didn’t think the Aether Vial did me any good. After analysis, I have to disagree. Here’s roughly what happened in the game with the Vial:
Turn 1: Plains, Vial.
Turn 2: Second plains, Vial gets one counter, play Skyhunter. End of his turn, tap vial for Student.
Turn 3: No third land drop. Vial gets second counter, level up Student, attack for 5. End of his turn, tap vial for Knight of White Orchid who brings a land with him.
Turn 4: Attack for 7 more, 12 total.
If you assume I drew a land in place of the vial, then those same four turns would go like this:
Turn 1: Plains, Student.
Turn 2: Second plains, level up Student, swing for 3. (Alternately, play Skyhunter, attack with Student for 1).
Turn 3: Third land, play Skyhunter, attack for 3 more (6 total). (Or, level up Student, attack for 5, same total).
Turn 4: Play Knight of White Orchid, attack for 5 more (11 total). Questionable whether or not I get a land off the Knight.
The value of the Vial is that I got to use the Knight a full turn earlier than otherwise, leading to an extra damage. I also got to play him after Mike had played the third land. I think that if the game had gone on longer, the Vial would definitely have been a plus.
I have one additional comment on that last game. I like Dragons as much as the next guy, and I have the utmost respect for Mike as an opponent, but I think the storm mechanic is busted. It completely reversed the game from “This is completely one sided in my favor” to “Wait, I just lost.” That seems a little too random for me.
We still had time after those 3 games, so we started a game with my Mirari’s Wake deck vs. his Cleric deck. I got off to a fast start with a Savannah and a pair of Loam Lions and knocked him down to about 6 life, but then he got out a Battletide Alchemist, which, in combination with the 4 other Clerics he had out, completely stalled the game. We had to leave before the game was decided, but the only way I was going to win was with removal, and I saw no evidence of that arriving.
