Lather the Townsfolk Playtest

Hey hey! Welcome to this week’s edition of Fedger’s Furnace.  This week I playtested the changes I made to Dark Ascension’s Dark Sacrifice.  My opponent this week is Mr Chris and he will be using a mono-black vampire deck with a heck-of-a-lot of removal. Now, let’s get to it!

Round 1

I win the roll-off so I am to go first.

I end up mulliganing down to four here, my first two hands contained 5 land and my third had none at all.  In the end I stick with 3 Swamps and a Doomed Traveler as I really don’t want to go down to three.  Chris mulligans down to six.

Turns 1-4

We exchange land drops on turn 1.  Chris gets a Child of Night on turn 2 and I respond with a doomed traveler on turn 3.  Chris’s turn 3 yields no more land but he does get a Blood Seeker .  My turn 3 is a blank so back to Chris who misses another land drop and summons another Blood Seeker.  Chris opts not to attack and passes to me so I summon a Falkenrath Torturer which, because of the Blood Seekers, drops me to 18 life.

Turn 5

Chris finally hits his third land and celebrates with a Markov Patrician .  I cut the celebration short by plonking a Bonds of Faith on said Patrician.

Turn 6

Bored of the stalemate Chris goes on the offensive, firstly casting Sorin’s Thirst on my Torurer and then attacking with his child of the night.  I accept the trade for the traveler and get a spirit token which costs me 2 life thanks to the Bloodseekers and Chris gains 2 life.  The score is 22-16.  My turn is a blank.

Turn 7

A bloodline keeper hits the field on Chris’s side, things are kicking off!  My turn is another blank.

Turn 8

The Bloodline Keeper taps to produce a Vampire and another blank for me.

Turn 9

The bloodline keeper produces another vampire token and transforms into the Lord of Lineage giving all of Chris’s dudes +2/+2.  The Blood Seekers attack, one of them gets blocked by my spirit token and the other gets through taking me down to 11.  After the combat phase I quickly Tragic Slip the Lord of Lineage.  My turn is my fourth blank in a row.  With no defence Chris finishes me off with an all-out attack followed by a Sorin’s Vengeance .

Round one to the vamps.

Round 2

 I’d prefer to draw first so I give the first turn to Chris.

A much better opening hand this time – Skirsdag Flayer , Selfless Cathar , Galvanic Juggernaut , Falkenrath Torturer, 1 Swamp and 1 Plains. 

Turn 1-3

For the first 3 turns we exchange land drops and creature summons.  All told I have a Selfless Cathar, Skirsdag Flayer, Falkenrath Torturer.  Chris has a Blood Seeker, Markov Patrician.

Turn 4

Chris tries to kill my Flayer with a Sorin’s Thirst but the Falkenrath torturer gets there just before and sacrifices it for a +1/+1 counter, countering Sorin’s Thirst and depriving Chris of the 2 life.  No attack from Chris is forthcoming so it’s my turn.  I bonds of faith his markov patrician for starters and attack with both my creatures for 4.  Chris declines to block and goes down to 16.

Turns 5-6

A diabolic tutor is all Chris manages.  I attack again with both creatures and again Chris lets them through for 4.  Next I summon a Galvanic Juggernaut which loses me one life getting here and becomes a victim the night on Chris’s turn 6.  Chris then adds a child of night to the team.  Back to me and I Gather the Townsfolk (losing 2 life to the Blood Seeker), the Torturer gobbles up a human to gain flying and become a 4/3.  I tap the Cathar and the Torturer and send them at Chris who trades the Child of the Night for the Cathar.  Chris takes 4 damage and gains 2 life back putting the scores at 15-10 to Lather.

Turn 7-8

Another Diabolical tutor from Chris; stuck on four land this is all he can do.  I attack with my human token and my Falkenrath Torturer putting Chris on 5 life.  I follow up by adding another Falkenrath torturer to the team.  Chris adds a Child of the Night on his turn but there’s nothing he can do to block my Falkenrath Torturer when it sacrifices the last human token and attacks in the air for fatal 5.

Game two to Lather the Townsfolk.

Final Round.

Chris opts to play first.  I stick with 2 swamps, a plains, Increasing Devotion, Falkenrath Torturer, Galvanic Juggernaut and a Doomed Traveller.  Chris mulligans to 6.

Turns 1-2

Chris opens with a swamp, I plains a Doomed Traveler who becomes a Victim of Night on Chris’s second turn.  The Traveler’s spirit avenges its death by attacking Chris for one and I add another freshly drawn Doomed Traveler.

Turns 3-4

A Markov Patrician joins the party on Chris’s side and gets weighted down by the bonds of faith on my turn.  The traveler and the spirit attack a defenceless Chris putting him on 17.  Back to Chris who summons a Child of night and then back to me again for another 2 point attack from Traveler and Spirit.  I summon a Falkenrath torturer and the score is 20-15.

Turn 5

Chris gets some air defence in the form of a Sangromancer and his child of the night attacks me.  Not wanting to trade I allow the damage through making the score 18-17 to Lather.  I cast Gather the Townsfolk and attack with the Torturer and the Traveler.  Chris blocks the Traveler and before damage is calculated I sacrifice said traveler to the Torturer making him 3/2.  The death of the traveler also gives me another Spirit token and gives Chris 3 life which effectively cancels out the Torturer’s attack.  Another gathering of the townsfolk brings my human token count to 4.

Turns 6-7

Chris’s only play is a Tribute to Hunger , I sacrifice a spirit token giving Chris 4 life all told.  Not wanting to give Chris anymore life I hold off the attack and summon Ol’ Juggsey.  A blank on Chris’s 7 and its back to me.  I open with an all –out attack.  Juggsey, 4 Humans, my 3/2 Torturer and the Spirit all hurtling towards Chris who chooses only to block the spirit with his Sangromancer.  Before it can be killed I sacrifice the Spirit to an Altar’s Reap to draw two cards, give Chris 3 life, untap Juggsey and activate the Morbid effect on my forthcoming tragic slip which takes out the Sangromancer.  Damage happens and Chris takes 12 damage.

Turn 8

Chris, sensing the game is up attacks with the child of the night who gets blocked and killed by Juggsey.  He adds a Bloodline keeper.  On my turn I add a Demonmail Hauberk , equipping it to the Torturer and attack with everything.  Chris effectively scoops by blocking one of the human tokens which gets sacrificed to feed the torturer.  The combined damage from Jugsey, the torturer and the three remaining tokens is enough to finish Chris off.

Game to Lather the Townsfolk.

Fedger’s Thoughts

I haven’t dramatically changed the flow of the deck so the Fedger’s Thoughts from the Dark Sacrifice playtest still apply.  The deck is still fun and rewarding providing you have had sufficient time to set up the components and are patient with using the human sacrifices. 

It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see Skirsdag High Priest , Thraben Doomsayer Increasing Devotion or Ravenous Demon though it’s good to see the deck is effective without its four rares.  I managed to cast Increasing Confusion in a game against Kelly the other day.   She scooped after I flashbacked it.

Card of the playtest: Falkenrath Torturer.

It was through this guy that I was able to whittle Chris down in the latter two games though we can’t give him all the credit.  Without the doomed travellers and gather the townsfolks he would have been useless.  Tragic slip is just superb in this deck, and bonds of faith is effective and the art fits the deck thematically.

I’m really looking forward to getting more plays out of this deck.

Next time

I recently went to another booster draft at Southsea Models.  This time it was 2 x Inistrad and 1 x Dark Ascension.  I ended up drafting a Red/Black & Splashed white (for Sorin) Vampire Deck with Markov Blademaster , Rakish Heir , Stromkirk Captain and quite a few other vampires. That’s my second Blademaster (I got one in the Dark Ascension Pack Wars) so this week I’m putting together a deck based around the blademaster.  No Fedger’s Fiddling rules this time, I’m filling it with as many rares as I like (can afford). 

Next week I’ll probably be posting about how it performs at FNM on Wednesday. (As long as the cards arrive in time).

See you then!
Fedger