Pattern Recognition #228 - Slow Grow, Week 1

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

17 February 2022

342 views

Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

And without further ado - an apology.

You see, last week, I went to FNM thinking that it would be week two of the the Slow Grow Tournament and that you all would get to read about my thrilling exploits and amazing plays and horrible, horrible crushing defeats.

Welllllllll...... as it turns out, last week was the Kamigawa Pre-release, so instead of running Commander, they ran Kamigawa. I passed as I was all prepped and hyped for Commander, but not for the Prerelease, which I thought was the next day. It still was, but it was also taking up the Friday Evening slot.

So that kinda threw my plans out the window as I was expecting to talk to you all about my first two weeks, and pace myself to talk about the past two weeks every two weeks. You know, summaries on Weeks Two, Four, Six and Eight. It would make sense even!

But that didn't happen. So you're left with me and Week 1 as I adjust my planning around this.

Which leaves me with this first, a quick summary of a few changes in the rules from the last time I talked about things, as there's somethings that have changed to help and hinder me.

For starters, the basic game-by-game scoring is the same. You get 4 points for first, 3 points for second, 2 points for third, and 1 point for fourth. Tables with 5 people in it score 1 for 5th and 4th. Tables with 3 people score down to 2 points. Non-Slow Grow Players do not count for the purposes of placing, so a single Slow-Grow player at a table with three non-Slow Grow (poor person), would auto-score 1st place, even if they were taken out on turn 2.

Players now lose 2 points for going infinite, or pseudo-infinite. They also take 1 point incremental losses for each minute past the first where they are searching their library for a card. If you can name a card specifically, such as me going, "I'm going for Abrade to cast on...", then the loss is waved as you've declared your action, and it's just a matter of finding the card(s) in question.

There's still the 1 point for saving a player, but now there are additional "Don't be an Asshole" points that no one wants to pull down. Specifically, telling a future table how you could have totally won that previous round is a 1 point penalty. Failing to cast your Commander is a point penalty. Casting your Commander 4 or more times is a Bonus Point.

Important to note, however, is that using Partner Commanders or a Companion is a point loss. Or rather, NOT using a Partner or a Companion is a 1 point bonus for each game. 3 points on the week.

However, the biggest thing for me is that killing an opponent with Commander Damage is +2 points.

Which plays into my hands perfectly.

Why Let's do some math here. I, with my Commander, Wyleth, Soul of Steel, have just dealt lethal Commander damage to an opponent. Because that's what this deck does. I get the +2 points for that, and at the very least, I end up in Third, for a base of Two points. I'm going to assume that the Parter Companion Points are a wash the whole tournament, so that gives me 4 points on the game. Which is as good as coming in first. If I get to second, or even first at a table, and I take out even one person, that's a huge bounty of points.

I'll try to remember to get a picture of the whole points sheet tomorrow, and give you guys a full listing of them in two weeks time. I swear! I promise!

Anyway, onto the first round!

Round 1! Fight!

I get to go second. Third player is running Breena, the Demagogue, fourth player is Ezuri, Claw of Progress. First player? Didn't get the memo that running Partners was going to cost you points, and decided to roll with Silvar, Devourer of the Free and Trynn, Champion of Freedom for maximum Humans. They were quite salty, complaining that they hadn't been told about this ahead of time. So how do they play it out on the table?

Turn 1! Land! Sol Ring! Arcane Signet! Skullclamp!

Yeah, you got nothing to complain about there. Well, aside from the impending game of Archenemy you're about to get on the bad side of.

My notes are pretty light, as I cast Wyleth on curve, but the real issue is that the Partner Commander is going off with, well, 1/1 Human Tokens and Skullclamp to draw cards left right and center. So begins the game of Archenemy, which I resolve with ease. I'm the one who plops Unquestioned Authority onto Wyleth, and quickly starts drawing cards. With include Winds of Rath.

I'm the only one with an Enchanted creature, so one board-wipe later, I'm in the best position for now, as I'm not yet in the space of taking out someone through Commander Damage.

Instead, taking out the Partner player is done by the Ezuri player, who finishes them off with general combat damage and a lot of +1/+1 counters. The Partner Commander is a bit salty, but honestly, it's the first game out off 24 total. There's plenty of time left to switch to a different Commander and make a play for first.

I slam the Ezuri player with Wyleth, and the accumulated damage is my first Commander Kill of the Tournament (Count +1). So now it's just me and Breena, who at some point, had put a Promise of Loyalty down, and, well, I only have one creature. So Wyleth couldn't attack them. So I have to kill my own Wyleth with Valorous Stance, and then requip. Time is called, and I'm stuck with a Wyleth with a total of 9 power and Double Strike from Fireshrieker. I can't swing and knock them down to kill them with damage thanks to their Commander being able to block now, and they have plenty of life. So I swing anyway and draw five cards. And what should be among them but Integrity / Intervention. And I cast Integrity / Intervention on Wyleth, bringing his power up to 11. Still not enough.

But it is enough to deal 19 damage to the Breena Player.

They were only 17 ahead of me on life totals.

FIRST PLACE AND COMMANDER KILL!

Yeah, other shoe should drop at any time.

Round 2! Fight!

Myself, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Edgar Markov and Leinore, Autumn Sovereign

What follows is a brutal beatdown where everyone is shooting everyone else and I can't really get Wyleth off the ground, instead having him sit around with a Loxodon Warhammer in his hands. Sure, I could swing, but I would only draw 1 card, and everyone else has a board state I can't swing into. I eventually draw into Spirit Mantle while everyone else is going off, and then a On Serra's Wings, so while I could swing, it won't do much in the long run. I don't want to draw attention to myself, and it works as thanks to very precise use of Lifegain means I eek out a win in first place on life totals at time, but no Commander Kills under my belt.

At this point, I'm really starting to come around to Wyleth. The Card draw is amazing. And the bonus for not going out with a Partner Commander pair means that my initial plan of dropping Wyleth for the combination of Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist is really not looking good.

But there is something to be said for being the player whose gameplan is quite obvious. If you're not a threat, you're not going to surprise combo off to kill someone.

Round 3! FIGHT!

So, the best player in the tournament, the man who has single handedly caused Meren of Clan Nel Toth to be banned as Rule Zero, has decided to roll with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver as his Commander. How will he do without ? We'll see!

Player 3 is Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle and Player 4 is Anowon, the Ruin Thief. That's a lot of out there.

My notes on this game are pretty sparse, it was getting late. Anowon gets first blood with a Turn 1 Unblockable creature, but nothing really goes off. I get a Turn 2 Sigarda's Aid, which is pretty damned useful, Then on Turn 4, Wilhelt drops Rooftop Storm and then empties his hand. It's not good for me in the long run. I quickly build Wyleth up, and judging my situation, I hit the other aggro player, slamming into Anowon with a Power 12 Wyleth.

Did you know that Blackblade Reforged is awesome? It's awesome.

They don't block, I draw, and get Temur Battle Rage, and the surprise Double Strike gets me a Commander Kill (Count +1). He's a little salty over this, but it's a move supported by the other players. Apparently me removing Unblockable Ninjas was acceptable, who knew? And besides, there are 21 more games to go. Plenty of time to recover.

After that, the game reached an unstable equilibrium, and time was called. While I could have taken out another player, it turns out that the Wilhelt deck contains Ruthless Deathfang, and guess which deck relies on a single creature as a lynchpin? I was alive only as a counterbalance to Arixmethes.

In the end, he dithered, trying to farm points and while he could have closed out the game before time, his own indecision doomed him, and Wilhelt came in first on life total, with myself second. But I had the Commander Kill under my belt.

My total points are... Actually, hold on a minute. The Facebook page for the tournament shows me as losing game two, when I shouldn't have. Sure, I'm in a three-way tie for third with 15 points according to the current standings, but if they can't even spell my name right, I should double-check things.

Regardless, I'm liking where this is going, and for now, I'll leave you with a note about what cards I'm adding to the deck for this coming week. Full explanations will come in two weeks. I'm adding Settle the Wreckage, Single Combat, Shadowspear, Mirror Shield and Rabbit Battery, taking out Odric, Lunarch Marshal, White Sun's Zenith, Memorial to War, Wear / Tear and Response / Resurgence.

I'll see you all next week, when I talk about something else. I think I should get back to my set. It's been a while.

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!