I kill one with my Sages (taking 1 from the Iguanar for it), and am down to 4 life. Now turn 8, Sam swings for 3 with her trio of Saproling tokens. For my part, I kill off the Iguanar with my Battlemage, then drop a Filigree Sages. She then swings with the Goblin Deathraiders, and I take the trade with the Drake. Thanks to her Iguanar, the whole sequence still costs me 3 life. Obviously I can’t permit a 7/7 to linger, so I pop the cap and off it goes. Next turn Sam successfully baits my Executioner’s Capsule by dropping a Thunder-Thrash Elder and devouring two of her Saprolings. If this all wasn’t quite enough, she then finishes off the wounded Gargoyle with a Shock, triggering a ping from the Iguanar. She adds one more with her Battlemage, then drops a Hissing Iguanar. The Thrinax dies and is replaced with a trio of Saprolings. Not to be denied, Sam swings with the Thrinax on turn 6, and I block with the Gargoyle. I stabilise a bit with a Tower Gargoyle, making the prospect of her attacks much less profitable. She then adds a Goblin Deathraiders, and triggers the Battlemage to add a 1/1 Saproling token to the battlefield. Nothing doing- the Thrinax’s Saproling-spawn ability gives Sam all the courage she needs to go aggro, and in it comes. I play a Cloudheath Drake, looking to stall the red zone. Sam starts the beats on turn 4, taking me to 17 with the Thrinax before adding a Jund Battlemage. I’m a little anxious as my only good play is an Obelisk of Esper, and I cast it before passing. Otherwise, we’re just laying land until turn 3, when Sam trots out an early Sprouting Thrinax. Next turn I swing for 10 in the skies for the win.Īlthough I have no way to really know how the turn-1 Executioner’s Capsule fared being played early until I deconstruct the match with Sam later, I figure it didn’t do me any harm to deploy early and I do it again this game. She swings for 3 with the Thrinax, but the game’s all but over. Now turn 8, I use that mana to trigger my Battlemage to kill Sam’s Hissing Iguanar during her upkeep. I then play a Sanctum Gargoyle, recalling my Executioner’s Capsule from the graveyard, but I can’t drop it without using my last Black mana. I fire back for 6 with the Windwright Mage and the Sphinx, taking Sam to 8 (and gaining 2 life in the process). Next turn, Sam comes in for 3 with the Thrinax, and I let it through. I then add an Esper Battlemage and a Windwright Mage before passing. Over to me, I swing in for 4 with the Sphinx, both taking Sam down to 14 and giving me a 1/1 Thopter token. It’s now turn 6, and Sam drops a Sprouting Thrinax and a Dragon Fodder to restock her arsenal. Still, the momentum shifts as I untap and play the Sharding Sphinx, and now we have a game. Still, I lose 3 life from the new Iguanar’s special ability, and am down to 14. I pop the Executioner’s Capsule to knock out the Iguanar, then trade the Goblin for my Strix to slow the assault. Next turn, leads with a summons of a second Hissing Iguanar, then attacks with the first Iguanar and the Goblin for 6. My only play is a Courier’s Capsule, and I pass. Sam returns the courtesy on turn 4 by attacking with the Iguanar, then adds a Goblin Deathraiders. So far so good, and I swing in for 2 with the Strix to draw first blood. Sam finally fields a body next turn, though, with a Hissing Iguanar, while I build my mana base with an Obelisk of Esper. Sam’s turn 2 consists of a Mountain, while I drop an Island and a Tidehollow Strix. I’d often sit there with it on the board protecting a strong creature by keeping it in my hand, and I’d like to see if it will yield similar results here. However, after my experience playing against Jimi piloting Esper, I know well the chilling effect the Capsule can have. I’m torn on the card- part of me thinks I should play it as surprise removal from the hand in response to one of her devouring nasties, to obtain blowout-level card advantage. My land- a Swamp- isn’t so fancy, but it does permit me to deploy an early Executioner’s Capsule. On the play, Sam leads with a Savage Lands. Our notes from the three matches are as follows… Now we’d see just how well that strategy paid off. In our analysis of Esper Artifice, we found it a solidly-built skies deck with some unique artifact twists. For my part, I’d be leading the more thoughtful and pensive shard of Esper into battle, though certainly not a shard without its own formidable resources. In addition to loving the shard of Jund, Sam also happens to have a devour deck of her own that she delights in playing. With Jund available as an opponent deck, my nemesis this time could be no other than Sam.
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