Extended League - Saito Zoo
02 Mar 2010 | Jack Ding
For the third week of the Extended League I decided to run a midrange zoo or Saito Zoo as you may know it as. With first semester starting I did not have much time to test a list and so this is mostly copied straight from deckcheck with a modified sideboard. Even though this deck plays all the best cards in the format this report is a good example of how to lose games. A lot of games.
Lands: (23)1 [DIS] Hallowed Fountain
1 [GP] Steam Vents
1 [M10] Forest (1)
2 [GP] Stomping Ground
1 [M10] Island (1)
1 [RAV] Sacred Foundry
2 [RAV] Temple Garden
1 [M10] Plains (1)
3 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
4 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
1 [DIS] Ghost Quarter
1 [WWK] Stirring Wildwood
Creatures: (22)
4 [CNF] Noble Hierarch
4 [M10] Baneslayer Angel
4 [CNF] Knight of the Reliquary
2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl
Spells: (15)
4 [RAV] Lightning Helix4 [M10] Lightning Bolt
3 [SA] Bant Charm
4 [CNF] Path to Exile
Sideboard: (15)
2 [M10] Negate
3 [ARB] Meddling Mage
4 [LRW] Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 [DK] Blood Moon
1 [TSP] Ancient Grudge
2 [EVE] Duergar Hedge-Mage
Round 1 v Juzza (UW Thopter Foundry)
Nothing like a bad matchup to start the event. Game 1 played out textbook style. I played some early creatures attacked him down to single digits and he stabilized with Thopter Sword. He had Academy Ruins which blanked all the Bant Charms and Pridemages I had and without a decent burn package the deck can never win from this position. Oh and I mulliganed to 5.
Sideboard: -4 Baneslayer Angel -4 Lightning Helix +2 Negate + 3 Meddling Mage + 2 Duegar Hedge-Mage +1 Ancient Grudge
Game 2 started out with a turn 1 Noble Hierach from me and a Qasali Pridemage going on the beatdown plan. The first Pridemage died to an Engineered Explosives and was replaced by another. My attempted Negate on the inevitable Wrath of God was met by Spell Snare and I recovered with a Duegar Hedge-Mage on my opponents Ancient Den. Unfortunately he had a second white source and cast Baneslayer Angel. Despite not boarding out any of my removal in anticipation of this I could only draw irrelevant creatures and the queen goes all the way. Oh the irony.
Round 2 v Javed (Mono Red)
This matchup is not quite as bad as the Thopter Foundry matchup but not something I was looking forward to. Baneslayer is far too slow and my only hope is to draw multiple Lightning Helix. Game 1 was rather awkward as I played a Knight of the Reliquary which attacked four times to kill my opponent as he had a hand full of burn he could not cast with only two land in play.
Sideboard: +4 Burreton Forge-Tender -2 Qasali Pridemage -3 Bant Charm +1 Negate
Game 2 I kept a solid hand although without Burreton Forge Tender or Lightning Helix. All my creatures met burn spells and I could not draw either of those cards to save my life.
Game 3 I was a little on tilt from losing game 2 and I kept a rather loose hand of 5 land two Noble Hierach. Fortunately my first two draws yielded a Wild Nacatl and Baneslayer Angel. My opponent killed one of my Noble Hierachs to delay the Baneslayer Angel but I managed to draw a Burreton Forge Tender. At this point I was on 7 life with a Burreton Forge Tender and Baneslayer Angel. Of course my opponent casts Flames of the Blood Hand at my face at the end of my turn and then another when he untapped. Maybe Kor Firewalker is better after all. Or maybe this is just karma after what I said about Mono Red Burn last week.
Round 3 v Enrique (UW Thopter)
So I get paired up against another bad matchup. Starting to sense a pattern here? Just what I need at 0-2. At this point I take a look around the room and realize that it consisted of UW Thopter, DDT, Mono Red and Hypergenesis. That’s a whopping zero good matchups for my deck. Game 1 goes exactly like game 1 in round 1 and I will spare you the repetitive details.
Sideboard: -4 Baneslayer Angel -4 Lightning Helix +2 Negate + 3 Meddling Mage + 2 Duegar Hedge-Mage +1 Ancient Grudge
Game 2 I kept a hand of Scalding Tarn Steam Vents Wild Nacatl double Bant Charm Meddling Mage Duegar Hedge-Mage. This is a very solid hand if I can draw a land in the next three turns. I fetch up a Stomping Ground so I can cast a turn 1 Nacatl and so I cannot cast the Meddling Mage turn 2. Obviously, as it seems to be the theme of the day, I fail to draw a land for the rest of the game and he rawdogs the Thopter Combo on turn 4.
Round 4 v Affinity
Ok apparently I lied. There was a positive matchup for me in the room. Although I had to get paired up against a 2-1 player to get it. Game 1 I had three Wild Nacatl in play when he played a Frogmite on turn 2. My Qasali Pridemage and Bant Charm kept the board clear and the cats got the job done.
Sideboard: -3 Baneslayer Angel (familiar?) +2 Duegar Hedge-Mage +1 Ancient Grudge
Game 2 I kept a slightly sketchy hand on the draw of Steam Vents double Lightning Bolt Bant Charm Ancient Grudge Knight of the Reliquary Path to Exile. I drew the land (Stirring Wildwood) and proceeded to kill every single permanent until he was left with an Arcbound Ravager with a lot of counters and his lands. He attacked with it and sacrificed every permanent to it hoping to kill me but I killed that too. Two Tarmogoyfs mopped up. Damn it feels good to win a match.
So what is the moral of the story? It is probably a bad idea to run a deck that you think is good or that a pro thinks is good without stopping to think about whether it is good in your local metagame. It is also a good idea to resist the urge to ‘OMG I HAZ BANESLAYER MUST PLAY WIT IT IN EVERY DECK’. Unfortunately, the Sydney meta has no Zoo or any midrange decks at all which Saito Zoo is built to beat so lesson learned.
For discussion.