Baa Baa Grahnna

I should've written this a week ago. Logging in over the holidays didn't seem like the best time to catch a game. Everyone would be busy with their own holiday events. So, I was pleasantly surprised that after entering in my current Bograth deck into gEngine that I managed to get in a game with the deck.

My own collection of Magi-Nation cards is somewhat limited. So when I converted my Paradwyn deck to match the restricted deck I had built on gEngine, I had to butcher my Bograth deck to get the three Fog Hyren. Not a terrible thing, except my Bograth deck really needed at least one to start with Eryss. This forced me to consider doing something a little different. Having seen some Grahnna decks on gEngine, I chose to build my own version without any Fog Hyrens. I've played with the physical deck once with my wife.

Punksnotdead and I played a game Tuesday. They started off with Delia and the Vellup swarm. Not even trying to match the madness of Delia, Baa just went for mad card draw. My deck was chuck full of creatures, so although I started with only the Slarnath she still tossed down four creatures that first turn. Between her effect and the Slarnath, Baa was doing great. I didn't plan for her to last. When Delia defeated Baa, I had one Swamp Hyren but none of my Pyders. I went ahead and tossed down big with Grahnna. Between the effect, the savings from Swamp Hyren, and all three Ooze Arboll, it was a very big move. A simple Cataclysm could've been devastating, but I was in the mood to gamble. My wife was anxious to get out the door and run some errands. Punksnotdead replied that they didn't think Cataclysm was in their deck. They ran everything they had into my Swamp Hyren. A very interesting choice. How often have I had opponents against my normal Bograth decks wait three or four turns before they chose to try and eliminate the Swamp Hyren? All too often. Frequently, it was too late. The Swamp Hyren would've usually done its job several times over. Unfortunately for the Arderian Adept, Delia failed to get the Swamp Hyren even after dumping every creature she had into it. With a massive swarm in play, Grahnna was in a position to plow over the adept with energy to spare. Punksnotdead conceded the game, although the Swamp Hyren was destroyed before the game was done. Got it with a Shockwave. From what I had seen, it was a fairly good adept deck and I said so. Sure, it got taken to the cleaners that game, but that doesn't make it a bad deck. Punksnotdead did reveal that their final magi used a trick to get the adept back. That would've been interesting if only they had those missing cards to pull off the trick in hand when the adept's defeat was sure.