Greetings all! Welcome to the playtest for Mind for Mayhem. In my last blog I took Eldritch Onslaught and made some changes to it, in the hope of making the deck more focused, consistent and efficient. I renamed the deck mind for mayhem and on Monday tested it out against my good friend Kelly. She brought her own edited deck; ‘Spirituous Spirituous’ which is a fiddled Spectral Legions deck from Inistrad. Some of the changes from the original deck include my old Sturmgeist, another Geist-Honored Monk, a playset of Intangible Virtue and more ways to get spirit tokens a la Mausoleum Guard and Midnight Haunting. Now, on to the battle!
Game One
Turns 1-3
The first play of the game comes on turn 2 after we both hit our land drops. I summon a Deranged Assistant; Kelly has no answering play so on turn 3 I opt to attack with my assistant taking her down to 19. I then cast a Burning Vengeance (wehay!). Kelly’s turn three is another blank.
Turn 4
Again, I opt to attack with my Assistant but this time Kelly is prepared with a Midnight Haunting. She trades one of the tokens with the assistant and still has one left over. I replace my lost assistant with an Armored Skaab milling a Dream Twist, Charmbreaker Devils, Silent Departure and mountain. Kelly casts an Enchantment of her own in the form of an Intangible Virtue making her token a 2/2 with Vigilance. Said token attacks me for 2 taking me down to 18.
Turn 5
My flashbackery begins when I flashback a dream twist allowing Burning Vengeance to burn Kelly’s token for 2 and me to mill a Desperate Ravings and two islands. The armoured skaab attacks in my combat phase and Kelly’s life is at 18. She has no turn 5 play and I cast a Desperate Ravings from my hand at the end of her turn, drawing a Deranged Assistant and an Island. I have a Civilized Scholar in hand which I sure hope doesn’t get discarded. Unfortunately for me, it does.
Turn 6
The Armored Skaab charges at Kelly once again but this time is met by a 2/2 spirit after Kelly casts another Midnight Haunting. (She forgot to multi-block here and kicks herself when she realises). I round off my turn by summoning another Deranged Assistant. Over to Kelly who plays a Gallows Warden. Before the warden resolves, I flashback a desperate ravings so that burning vengeance takes out one of the spirits before it gets the toughness boost. The ravings let me draw a land and another Armored Skaab (which gets pitched). Kelly attacks with her one remaining Spirit token and takes me down to 16 life.
Turn 7
I flashback Silent Departure, targeting her Spirit token with the burn and Gallows Warden with the bounce. The Warden’s departure finishes off the wounded Spirit and the way is clear for my Assistant and Skaab to hit Kelly for two putting her on 16. Gallows Warden returns to the battlefield on Kelly’s turn and that is her only play.
Turn 8
I cast another Armored Skaab but this time I use the deranged assistant for his mana ability. As a result I mill 5: a Grim Lavamancer (damn!), a Civilized Scholar, a Nightbird’s Clutches and 2 lands. I then attack with the Armored Skaab and Kelly smartly takes the damage (down to 15). Had she blocked with the Warden I would have been able to finish him off with Burning Vengeance damage. Kelly, having had enough of my Burning Vengeance shenanigans, casts oblivion ring targeting the enchantment. I opt to get one last 2 point burn out of it by flashbacking Desperate Ravings which Kelly mana leaks. I still get to deal the 2 damage and that takes Kelly’s life total down to 13. After the stack resolves, my beloved Burning Vengeance is exiled under the Oblivion Ring. Kelly’s combat phase brings her Gallows Warden through the Red zone for 3 (taking me down to 13). Before her end step I cast a dream twist from my hand; milling 2 islands and a Silent Departure.
Turn 9
I have nothing but land in my hand so I look to my graveyard for options: a dream twist, a nightbird’s clutches and a silent departure. I flashback the dream twist, hoping for more options. I lose a murder of crows and another civilised scholar but a silent departure does fall into the graveyard. I attack Kelly with my Skaab twins. I tap my Assistant, Igor, for his mana and his mill and I’m pleased to see a Dream Twist hit the graveyard. The mana generated by Igor contributes to the flashbacking of that very dream twist – allowing me to mill a mountain, a Skaab and another Dream Twist. Let’s flashback that dream twist as well. Murder of Crows, Deranged Assistant and Geistflame get milled. Kelly has nothing to cast on her turn and opts to play it safe and keep her warden back for defensive duties.
Turn 10
I draw, play and flashback a Think Twice drawing an Island and a Burning Vengeance (!!!) in the process. The Skaab twins attack Kelly again; one of them gets blocked by her Warden. Igor produces colourless mana, mills a mountain and I cast Burning Vengeance. Kelly responds by placing a Curiosity on her Gallows warden and attacking with him, putting me on 10.
Turns 11-12
I do a quick count of the cards in my deck; seven left. Ample time to end the game, but I must be more sparing with my mill. I attack Kelly for 3 with Igor and the Skaabs (sounds like the name of a band) putting her on 8, I then flashback a Silent Departure, taking Kelly down to 6 with the burn, and bouncing her Gallows warden before he has a chance to sate his curiosity. Kelly returns the Gallows warden to the battlefield as well as a Doomed Traveler on her turn. Before Kelly’s end step I flashback Geistflame dealing a total of 3 damage to her (taking her down to 3). Then, on turn 12, I flashback the Nightbird’s Clutches, preventing her Traveler and Warden for blocking my 3 point attack. Game one to Mind for Mayhem.
Game 2
Kelly Mulligans and I stick with a questionable opening hand: 5 lands, a deranged Assistant and the Skaab Ruinator. I figured I should probably mulligan but I was blinded by the ruinator. Let’s see how it pans out eh?
Turns 1-3
Kelly starts and opens with a Doomed Traveler on turn 1 and follows up with a turn 2 Intangible Virtue. Doomed Traveler attacks me for 1. I get the Deranged Assistant out on my second turn and attacked again by the Traveler on Kelly’s third. On my third turn my assistant mills a Burning Vengeance (Damn!). I mill 4 more with an Armored Skaab’s ability - 2 mountains, a dream twist and burning vengeance number two (Double-Damn!). At the end of my turn Kelly plays a Midnight Haunting bringing two 2/2 vigilant flying Spirit tokens into play. Uh-oh! With no creatures occupying my graveyard as of yet a ruinator summon looks a long way off. Currently the score is 20-18 to Kelly.
Turn 4
Kelly attacks with both spirits and the Traveler. Unwilling to give her another token I let the Traveler through, taking 5 damage and putting me on 13. She brings out a Spectral Rider in her second main phase whilst I cast another dream twist, milling a deranged assistant, a mountain and another Dream Twist. My turn and I draw a much needed Murder of Crows which hits the battlefield immediately (assistant mills a mountain for mana).
Turn 5
Kelly attacks with her intimidating spectral rider and her doomed Traveler who lives up to his name when he meets my Armored Skaab. I want to activate the Crow’s ability in the hopes of drawing (and therefor pitching) a creature for the Ruinator. No such luck, I draw land so I pitch the Ruinator since he doesn’t care whether he’s in hand or in graveyard. The Traveler is still with us (albeit in spirit, that’s 3 now) and I take 2 damage from the rider. I take out two of her tokens with 2 castings of silent departure (1 flashback and 1 the old fashioned way). As tokens, they are removed it from play rather than sent to her hand. I’m not 100% sure on the rulings here but I assume this doesn’t count as a creature ‘dying’ so I don’t activate the Crow’s ability. For the flashbacked Silent Departure I required the Assistant’s mana and he milled a Think Twice in the process. Kelly’s spirit count is down to a more manageable 1 now and I relieve the crows from their defensive duties and send them in for 4. Unwilling to suffer her first wound, Kelly blocks the crows with two freshly summoned Spirits off the back of a midnight haunting. The crows hit the graveyard but I still have one more use for them yet ;) .
Turn 6
Kelly hits me for 4 with her remaining spirit and the rider and then adds a Chapel Geist. Over to me, I check my graveyard and find that I need just one more creature to cast the ruinator. I tap the assistant for mana and mill *fanfare* a civilised scholar! I promptly exile the crows, the scholar and the assistant from the graveyard, tap two islands and finally cast my mythic rare; Skaab Ruinator from the graveyard. At the end of the turn the score is 20-7 to Kelly.
Turns 7-8
Kelly sends in the Spectral Rider for 2 dropping me to 5. She then adds a Gallows Warden giving her other spirits 0/+1. I need to find an answer next turn as an all-out assault on Kelly’s part will finish me. Still in Kelly’s second main phase, two flashbacked dream twists mill my third burning vengeance, an armored skaab, the grim lavamancer, a desperate ravings, nightbird’s clutches and an island. My turn, I flashback a desperate ravings – drawing an Armored Skaab and Island, randomly discarding the island. I draw a Charmbreaker Devils with a flashbacked think twice and pass to Kelly. Who, after doing some maths, opts to hit me with everything. Game 2 goes to the deck with Spirit.
Game 3 – The decider
My opening hand consists of no real threats, but plenty of cards to get things set up nicely. I have a deranged assistant, 2 dream twists, a think twice, a Sulfur Falls and 2 islands. I opt to play first and we’re off!
Turns 1-2
My turn 1 play is a dream twist which mills another dream twist, a silent departure and a civilised scholar. So far so good. Kelly opens again with a Doomed Traveler. Next turn I bring about a Deranged Assistant and Kelly casts intangible virtue. No tokens to take advantage of it thankfully. If she thinks I’ll be blocking her Doomed Traveler any time soon she’d best think again! I let him through and he deals 1 damage to me. First Blood.
Turn 3
The assistant mills a mountain and adds a colourless mana to my manapool which I put towards a think twice drawing an island. I pass to Kelly whose Traveler nicks me for 1. After the attack she adds a Voiceless Spirit to the proceedings.
Turn 4
I tap the assistant for mill (Think Twice) and mana which flashbacks said Think Twice (drawing land). I guess I must’ve shuffled too well because (with the exception of a single silent departure) I haven’t drawn anything but land so far. Kelly enchants her voiceless spirit with Curiosity and attacks with both her creatures which takes me down to 15 and allows her to draw a card too. I flashback a dream twist before she passes to me which disappointingly mills a Burning Vengeance, Grim Lavamancer and a mountain.
Turn 5
More land for my draw step, in most decks being mana-drowned is a death sentence. Luckily, this one is less susceptible as I have plenty of options in my graveyard. I flashback a think twice hoping for anything but land but my library delivers a mountain. I contend myself by silently departing her curious spirit and passing. Kelly attacks me for one with her Doomed Traveler and then adds a Mausoleum Guard to her side. I flashback another Dream Twist which sends an Armored Skaab, Charmbreaker Devils and my – wait for it – Skaab Ruinator to the Graveyard.
Turn 6
Draw - land - *sigh*. (My hand currently consists of a dream twist + 4 land!). The assistant helps me summon the Skaab ruinator, milling a nightbird’s clutches in the process (exiling 3 creatures from my gravehand). Over to Kelly who knowing that I won’t block, attacks with both Humans reducing me to 11.
Turn 7
Mountain drawn. I tap both the Assistant and the Ruinator and send them at Kelly who rebukes the Ruinator in response. She takes 1 point of damage, a small consolation. A quick count of the creatures in the graveyard reveals I need two more to cast the ruinator again. Best get to milling! I start with a dream twist which gives me 1 (a deranged assistant along with a geistflame and some land). I have another dream twist available for flashback, I do so which dumps and Island, Silent Departure and a Civilised Scholar. Without delay I exile the Scholar, the Assistant and the Lavamancer, pay 3 mana and the ruinator makes a triumphant return. Kelly summons my old Sturmgeist who enters as a 4/4 and attacks me with her humans again taking me down to 8.
Turn 8
I need to start slowing her down now as if I keep letting the Guard and Traveler through I’ll be a goner in 3 turns. I draw – yep, you guessed it – more land. I have a hand of land so instead I move to the graveyard and peruse my flashback options, of which I have many. I start by flashbacking Silent Departure to send the Sturmgeist back to her hand and the Ruinator wastes little time in attacking her for 5. On her turn, Kelly attacks me with the Guard and the Traveler. I chump the Guard with my assistant, activating his ability (mill Armored Skaab) on his way out. I take one damage from the Traveler and I’m down to 7.
Turn 9
This time I draw a deranged assistant (only my second non-land draw of the game). I attack with the Skaab Ruinator (Kelly’s down to 9.) then bounce her Guard back with a flashbacked silent departure. I finish off by summoning the deranged assistant. Kelly keeps the pressure on and attacks with the Rider and Traveler taking me down to 4. She follows up by re-summoning a mausoleum guard and voiceless spirit.
Turns 10-11
It’s tense at the table. Where before, there had been plenty of banter, now there was only quiet determination. I bounce and burn her Riders and Voiceless spirits with a flashbacked Silent Departure and Geistflame leaving her with the not-so-doomed Traveler and the Guard. The Ruinator attacks again making the score 4-4. Kelly’s humans attack once again, and just as before I chump the Guard with my assistant (who mills a murder of crows on his way out). I take 1 damage. Kelly shores up her defences with a Sturmgeist and a Spectral Rider but it’s for nowt as all I need to do next turn is flashback the Nightbird’s clutches to prevent her Sturmgeist blocking and my Skaab Ruinator sails through the red zone unopposed to finish her off. Game three to Mind for Mayhem.
Fedger’s Thoughts
I’m still very much enjoying this deck – there’s something very satisfying about the way it plays. Once established its very hard for an opponent to stop the momentum – we didn’t see it here but in previous plays, once I’ve got a burning vengeance set up, a good flashback larder and a beater, opponents get left defenceless time and time again as their creatures get repeatedly bounced or burnt. The third game demonstrated that: even without burning vengeance, a well-stocked graveyard can still provide enough control to keep a beater crashing through the red-zone unmolested.
The deck is still prone to beater drought, as we saw in game 1, though this is somewhat mitigated by my star player: the Skaab Ruinater. The third game would have been a completely different story had I not managed to summon this guy twice. By that same token though, the 2nd game shows that he needs support otherwise he may have to stay on the defence.
This deck requires that you play for time, so the longer it goes on the better your chances of getting established, that being said, play for too much time and you may well deck yourself. This is a bit easier to control with the removal of the Curse of the Bloody Tombs though.
I was impressed with the way Kelly’s deck played. Intangible virtue really does add a lot of clout to those spirit tokens, especially with Midnight Haunting – effectively 4/4’s worth of creature with Flash. In our warm up game she slaughtered me when she managed to get two Intangible Virtues out, making all tokens 3/3. I reckon her deck could do with a couple of sac outlets though, because at the moment, she has to rely on her opponent to kill of her Doomed Travelers and Mausoleum Guard which, in game three, I stubbornly refused to do.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this playtest. The best games are the ones that can go either way which 2 of them were. I don’t feel that Mind for Mayhem’s full potential was unleashed in any of the games. Not to worry; there’s plenty of time and blogs for that to happen!
Thanks for reading, see you next time!
Fedger
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