Yeah. it's been a while since I've blogged a tourney report. But it's also been a long time since I've been able to do FNM. since last time, I've scrubbed out of an SCG 5k, two PTQ's, one GP, and one States tournament. I just had never been able to get both 1) a deck that was stable enough for me to even think of breaking even, let alone winning, and 2) getting reliable transportation to and from the store without begging random passers-by for a ride to the next town over.
The first issue was solved by RaikouRider, whose BWg tokens deck that revolved around the back-breaking combo of Increasing Devotion and Cathar's Crusade resonated with me, so I dropped a few bucks on the stuff necessary to make it happen. The second was the purchase of the necessary insurance to drive my own sorry ass to and from Games to Die For in Avon. I'd been testing there for the past two weeks, making changes here and there whilst slowly getting back into the swing of things.
The 1-of crusader was supposed to be a second blade splicer. Sadly, the store was sold out, and no one had any for trade. so I made do. It's 4 rounds, with payout based on record. 4-0 gets you 8 packs, 3-1 gets four packs, and breaking even at 2-2 still gets you one pack. The top 2 plus two random players also get the promo FNM card, which would certainly be welcome in this deck. Time to get to work.
Round 1: Tony vs. Josh (Esper Delver)
Josh is the strongest regular at the store. He runs a fully stocked Delver build, but he acknowledges that it can be beaten by the right deck - and that tokens definitely can be the right deck to combat delver.
Game 1 he wins the die roll, but mulls to 6 when his opening hand had 2 probes and one plains. I make a turn 2 honor and a turn 3 midnight haunting while he ponders for delver and company, but finds a geist of saint traft instead, casting it turn 4. I get virtue on the table so my spirits will eat the geist when it swings, but after announcing my intent to let the 4/4 go through and kill the geist, Josh flashes in Restoration Angel to remove it from combat and keep it around. I pass the turn after setting up gavony township, and this time kill the geist after taking another 4 from the angel token. My EoT midnight haunting gets mana leaked, but lingering souls sticks and my army of 3/3 vigilant fliers does the job.
SB: -3 Gather the Townsfolk: I don't think dudes on the ground are going to help that much here. +3 Beast Within: You know what's less scary than a talrand spitting out drakes every turn, or a restoration angel coming overhead? a 3/3 vanilla.
Game 2, Josh is on the play and just can't get it together. Turn 4, his grveyard has 3 ponder and a vapor snag, while his field is 3 glacial fortress and an island. I actually felt kind of sorry for him, but the mana screw made for an easy victory.
WIN 2-0
Round 2: Tony vs. Peyton (BR Vampires)
A high school cheerleader playing magic. Certainly not what you expect, but she won her first match so I am not considering this any sort of gimme.
Game 1 I get several anthems out, and while my mana bugs get burnt, my token army quickly becomes too much for her vampires to hold back, thanks in large part to blade splicer providing me a token that was immune to go for the throat.
SB: None. I don't expect very much that I can get rid of, and certainly nothing that I need extra kill spells for.
Game 2 Peyton starts off fast, with a turn 1 shock and a turn 2 incinerate. I start making mana bugs for her to burn while I land sorin and start churning out vampires of my own. Eventually she runs out of burn spells and can't draw any of her threats, and I overrun her. Bad luck on her part - her build was solid, she just couldn't draw a nocturnus or stromkirk captain to save her life.
WIN 2-0 (4-0, 2-0)
Round 3: Tony vs. John (MBC) John was sitting to my left during round 1, and I got a good view of his deck. a whole mess of kill spells, with [CARD]exsanguinate
[/CARD] being his kill shot. So I started conservatively, making sure I never was without a token producer so that I could rebuild from the constant mutilates and zeniths. Unfortunately, he had kill spells for every card I ran out, and my lack of anthems (and black mana) meant it was only a matter of time before exsanguinate did me in.
SB: -3 Gather the Townsfolk: 2 mana for a pair of dudes on the ground isn't enough in this MU...
+3 Timely reinforcements: ...But 3 mana for a trio of dudes AND 6 life seemed like a very good idea.
Game 2 went much better, as I got a turn 2 mirran crusader off a turn 1 pilgrim. He's able to deal with it by killing off all my other dudes, then popping tribute to hunger on me to gain 2 life back. He then shoots the crusader with surgical extraction.
Yeah. Great job extracting a 1-of from my deck. I just grinned and laid a third anthem before casting lingering souls, followed by an EoT haunting to run roughshod over him.
Game 3 was a race, as he didn't have any removal he could find, and I was spitting out just enough tokens to keep up with his nighthawks. That was, until I landed gavony township. The boost put my dudes out of range for his blockers to deal with, and I got there through sheer damage.
WIN 2-1 (6-1, 3-0)
Round 4: Tony vs. Dakota (Zombies - no pod)
Before the match started, I offered an ID with dakota - we'd be assured to finish 3-0-1 and be in first and second place. Good for 6 packs apiece and the FNM promo. He thought about it, but decided he wanted to play instead. His turn 1 play was a diregraf ghoul, and things went downhill from there. slips were ready for my tokens, and despite having o rings for both geralf's messenger and gravecrawler, a lashwrithe sealed my fate when he stuck it on a highborn ghoul
SB: -3 Gather the Townsfolk, -2 Lingering Souls: I don't need a ton of small bodies for this MU, I need a few bodies that can survive long enough to swing. +3 Revoke Existence, +2 Timely Reinforcements: Lashwrithe cannot get used or I'm dead, and stony silence doesn't stop the germ from abusing it. Timely's lifegain seemed like it might be relevant.
I make a turn 1 bird, and it sticks around long enough to get sorin to stick on turn 3. My black vampire token should keep highborn ghoul in check, and I got enough anthems and emblems to force damage through. Maybe swinging with the 0/1 bird on turn 2 threw him off his game a little?
For 99% of people, that's an automatic ship. But all I need is any land, and I'm in business. My turn 1 draw...is midnight haunting. so I make a traveler and pray that I didn't make a colossal screw up.
Someone must have been listening, as I hit ever single land drop for the rest of the game, and killed him with four 5/4 spirit tokens thanks to sorin and township.
4-0. My second ever FNM win, and 8 packs to boot. GenCon, here I come.
MVP: Honor of the Pure. Until this week, I was only running 4 virtue as my only anthem effects, with the room normally devoted to such things taken by the devotion/crusade combo. But the extra damage it gives you just puts this deck over the top against a lot of things.
Play of the Night: Me: "Sure, you can surgical extract my mirran crusader. It's a singleton in the main."
Opponent: "...what."
Also, in round 4, the game to my left was BW exalted vs. mono-blue mill. Exalted wins game 3 with one card left in his library, and jace ready to ult.
My buddy brian was playing boros, and did okay with it. he's slowly getting better...
MATCH 1: Tony vs. James (Vampires)
James is a great player but he took a sabbatical from the game for about 5 months and this isn't his deck. Game 1 I take a few hits from some small beats, he tries to kick vampire's bite on a nighthawk (lifelink doesn't stack anymore -- oops!) and after that sees that I have 3 thrinaxes in play and he just tapped his only blocker, sitting at 9 life. scoooooop!
Game 2 I get terribly unlucky, even though I hit a ton of removal I can't find a single threat, and the rush of tiny vampires does me in. TH calls nocturnus but he only has 1. not so good...
Game 3 I cascade from BBelf into a stag turn 4 and there's nothing he can do to stop it. once SGC joins the party he just calls it quits.
Games: 2-1
Matches: 1-0
MATCH 2: Tony vs. Ben (OtV/Time Sieve)
Ben beat bryan in the last round so I'm here for blood. turn 2 putrid leech + turn 3 putrid leech means that even his glassdust hulk can't live forever. I roll him in 6 turns.
Second game he takes some small hits before getting out all 4 of his amulet of vigor, with 3 arcane sanctums ready for him to generate insane mana. I show the pulse in hand and he scoops, getting quite angry at the lack of threats he drew.
Games: 2-0 (4-1)
Matches: 2-0
Match 3: vs. Matt (WW)
Coming in, I knew WW was my worst MU and this match showed me exactly why. Even though I had a decent bit of removal, his dudes were too many to keep them all back.
Game 2 I land something early, but he waits until he can coup for 5, then honor of the pure to win the next turn. With any luck he's gonna be my ride to the 5K tomorrow, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed
Games: 0-2 (4-3)
Matches: 2-1
MATCH 4: Tony vs. Chris (Patriot Control)
Chris looked like he knew exactly what he was doing, and his deck proved it. a turn 2 spreading seas shut off my savage lands while I tried to recover, but two sphinxes while locked under new jace put a damper to that plan pretty quickly.
Game 2 I have my anti-control package in, and play a turn 3 thrinax that lands, followed by a turn 4 blightning. As expected he has the negate, but ricochet trap forces the spell through (THIS is why I run the card:D) I lay out every threat I can draw, and I happen to get a win with what stuck.
Game 3 I curve out perfectly. Turn 1 bolt, turn 3 thrinax, turn 4 BB elf...he's got walls of denial and ajani vengeant but I have enough burn spells to finally punch through.
Games: 2-1 (6-4)
Matches: 3-1
With Matt winning it all and me taking out everyone else, my 3-1 is good enough for second place and the foil ancient ziggurat. I also did a ton of trading for EDH and standard, getting the 2nd broodmate I wanted and a lavaclaw reaches.
MVP: Sprouting Thrinax -- Dear god this card is so good in the format, I made so many awesome plays (including terminating my own thrinax pre-blocks to give me 3 saprolings - perfect for trading with my opponent's great sable stag)
Best Play: Living the dream and getting to say "Negate is targeting ricochet trap now:tongue:"
New Years day means a lot of stuff is closed. Like Main Street, for example. But, I wouldn't be making a report about a non-event, now would I? Blue Moon games in Mooresville decided to have an event listed for today, just in case people showed up.
Oh yeah...people showed up. 22 of them in fact. so we had 5 rounds of swiss PLUS a cut to top 8.
MATCH 1: Tony vs. Brandon (RG Speed)
Brandon's deck looked like it was made on the cheap, and still rock out wicked fast, which it did. bushwhackers, scythe tigers, jund hackblades, by the time I could play a thoctar he had me within burn range. and lost game 1.
Game 2 he makes a turn 1 tiger, letting me sculler him on turn 2. I see a single forest, another tiger, burst lightning and some other red cards but no mountain. I think to take the other tiger but realize that as soon as he finds a red source he gets it back, so I opt for swiping the burst lightning.
Turns out he had a mountain waiting on top. turn 4 thoctar gives me a big enough blocker to stem his attack long enough to find a behemoth sledge and put it away.
Game 3 I got color screwed. nothing really more to say, except that a turn 5 thoctar isn't much help when your opponent has 15 points of power by then.
Games: 1-2
Matches: 0-1
MATCH 2: Tony vs. Kevin (RB jank)
This match was fairly straightforward, I just removed whatever he played game 1 and went off. Game 2 he mulls to 5, and gets stuck on 2 lands all game. not how I'd like to win but I'll take it.
Games: 2-0 (3-2)
Matches: 1-1
At this point I find out Bryan is also 1-1, meaning we'll probably have to meet each other next round. Great...
MATCH 3: Tony vs. Jordan
Jordan is new to magic and his deck wasn't that hard to overcome. It did have some very good elements and I felt it proper to give the kid a few pointers, and a couple spare cards I had on me. After all, we were all newbs once, it's how you go from there. Still, a win's a win.
Games: 2-0 (5-2)
Matches: 2-1
MATCH 4: Tony vs. Sarah (Mono-White Equipment)
Sarah apparently wasn't used to her deck, claiming to usually run RB. but she seemed perfectly content to use adventuring gear to run roughshod over me, taking me to 11 on turn 3. I needed a miracle topdeck of maelstrom pulse to not lose the game the next turn, and a bolt after that. Every time she loaded up 2 or 3 copies on to a dude, and I ripped a removal spell just in time to save myself and steal game 1.
Games 2 and 3 I mulligan to 6 each time, can't find green, and die to armies of kor duelists, white knights, and related weenies.
Games: 1-2 (6-4)
Matches: 2-2
At this point we see how things look. one guy is 4-0, one is 3-0-1, 6 at 3-1 and 6 at 2-2. so the top 2 have locked slots in the top 8, as do the winners of the three 3-1 matches. the winners of the 2-2 matches and the losers of the 3-1 matches would duke it out for the last 3 spots in the top 8. So I can make T8 with a win and good breakers.
MATCH 5: Tony vs. Brendon
turns out it's 11 PM, and brendon's bored so he hands me the match. given I needed it, I'll take it.
Games: 2-0 (10-4)
Matches: 3-2
After all is said and done, the results are in and...10th place. Brian got 9th having better breakers than I, but...eh well. still had fun and got some good ideas for later.
Here we are, one more day, we all know how this goes so I'm not gonna bother with the details. Me and Brian going up to Main street with the following:
Apparently most of the players are elsewhere (the Dugout in Indy proper is a hellhole to put it nicely, no surprise they didn't get enough to play) and there are just 9 of us. There would have been 11 but two of them brought decks that aren't even extended legal (capsize.dec in particular):facepalm:
MATCH 1: Tony vs. Trent (Bant w/ Angelfalls tech)
Game 1 I mulligan into a 2-land hand and never see a 3rd land. that kinda sucked. After he plays turn 4 baneslayer off a noble heirarch I just scoop.
Game 2 he gets me to 9 quickly, lotus cobra scares for a bit but I stabalize with a putrid leech carrying a behemoth sledge. I get back to 19 before he martial coup's for 5. I bit blast one and find a maelstrom pulse on the cascade! He tries to stall behind wall of denial but thornling with a sledge has the beef to punch through.
Game 3 I hit turn 3 blightning and drop a turn 4 thought hemmorhage, naming baneslayer angel. Score! He's got on in hand and another in his deck, but he topdecks rafiq of the many and drops elspeth next turn for exact damage =\
Games: 1-2
Matches: 0-1
MATCH 2 - Bye
Well, so much for me placing. Even with a 3-1 I'm almost assured to not make T4. Disgusted, I buy two packs of zendikar.
SCORE! verdant catacombs and goblin guide, the latter I sell for another pack that nets an emeria, the sky ruin. not bad for a $7 investment.
MATCH 3 - Tony vs. Pete (Jund)
Pete was playing next to me in round 1 so I knew what he had. Off a mull to 6, I go turn 4 BB elf into blightning then hit another turn 5. leech with a sledge doesn't get around great sable stag but it gets me enough to squeak out a win. In an interesting play, I respond to him pumping a leech with a bolt to make him burn 2 life. I was happy.
Game 2 I mulligan again, this time he has a blightning and 2 burst lightnings. He gets me back by burning one of my leeches in response to a pump and 2 broodmate dragons get there for him.
Game 3 I get him to 11 off BB elf into bolt, but he gets dudes in short order and a garruk threatening to overrun next turn with 3 saprolings and a sprouting thrinax. I swing in with bloodbraid, he looks at me funny (:raise:) and blocks with thrinax, giving him lethal on board. I show him the maelstrom pulse ready to stabilize and almost falls over laughing.
He taps his last untapped land to bolt the saproling I targeted, countering pulse on resolution for lack of a target. I have to scoop.
Games: 1-2 (2-4 on night)
Matches: 1-2 (0-2)
MATCH 4: Tony vs. Rudolph (Angry Bant)
This match was really kind of easy, he admitted his deck was janky and it showed. I didn't take a single point of damage all match, save paying for a putrid leech once.
Games: 2-0 (4-4 on night)
Matches: 2-2 (1-2)
Somehow, my 2-2 was good enough for 4th place, earning me an FNM oblivion Ring. I don't know how it happened, especially with the bye, but I'll gladly take it. After the matches I did a ton of trading, exchanging my scalding tarn for an arid mesa and trading a loxodon hierarch for a fire-lit thicket.
MVP: N/A. My deck sucked tonight, I really didn't have anything that really did well tonight.
Best play: cascading into a 1-of maelstrom pulse facing an army of tokens sounds pretty nice.
And here it comes again. One more draft to help my ailing limited rating, one more shot at getting some goods for standard and EDH, one more shot at getting some treasures. As ever, my good buddy Brian is with me as we head to Main Street Gaming & Collectibles in Mooresville.
The first thing we noticed when we got there was that there were NOT a lot of people there. In fact, the TO was thinking of canceling the event before I told her about the new rule: Tournament organizers are allowed to play in low-level events they're running. This allowed us to have one pod of 8 as we went for the drafting.
First pack I see a Malakir Bloodwitch. That pretty much sets it up for me, I'm going to be playing black. However, it starts to dry up quickly so I cut it hard when I can and pick up some green and white cards, looking for a secondary color. Steppe Lynx, Vines of Vastwood, and mold shambler all get into my pile.
Second pack I crack a land and get excited...turns out it's just magosi, the waterveil. No thanks. all 3 colors are coming well so I try to cut black hard again while grabbing journey to nowhere, kor hookmaster, and disfigure among other notables.
Third pack it's for real, I see a verdant catacombs. AND I'm in the colors. I don't need to give it a second thought as I take the $15 fetch. I'm able to grab a few more non-basic lands and some other nice things to round out my stack.
Looking at what I had, I figured I could at least try to go 3-color. Worst case scenario I cut a color and run like that for the rest of the night.
My buddy brian got a P1p1 Warren Instigator and went solidly into mono red (sadly not the best idea in Zendikar - he went 1-2 on the night.)
I was feeling confident about what I had, so it was time to start playing.
MATCH 1: Tony vs. Rambo (Rainbow Stairwell)
By his own admission, He drafted random stuff and had a deck of 20 lands (4 of each color) and 4 spells of each color. It wasn't too difficult to dispatch him, only taking 4 damage from a turn 2 lacerator.
Game 2 I mulled into a 1-land hand and figured I could keep it. By the time I had 3 lands he had two behemoths in play and I couldn't kill them all. Game three was a repeat of game 1, with him not finding the right colors for his spells.
Games: 2-1
Matches: 1-0
Match 2: Tony vs. Josh (RG landfall)
Josh was a formibible opponent, having plenty of tricks and traps to ruin my day while plugging up the ground game. Khalni gem ended up being a HUGE boon, allowing me to turn on landfall creatures. The fact that I got a turn 1 lacerator both games helped propel me to another win via volume.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 2-0
MATCH 3: Tony vs. Jimmy (WB Landfall)
Jimmy and Brian went to time last round so I knew he could and would plug up the ground quickly. It didn't help that I ramped up very quickly, getting a turn 1 lynx, turn 2 turntimber grove, turn 3 expedition and just laid on beats while dispatching whatever he decided to drop in front of me. Game 2 I had some trouble, but held my removal for his bomb (Emeria Angel) and swept through despite bleeding from lacerator and an opposing blood seeker.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 3-0
And that was that, my first draft pod sweep. There was supposed to be a bigger reward, but due to supply constraints and the low turnout, I was limited to a pre-re rampaging baloths, DCI rise from the grave and Mind control, the promo planar card (Celestian Isle) and a single pack of zendikar. In that was a terra stomper, which also went into EDH.
Summer is almost over, and before we all head back to school I got one more chance to play at FNM, try to finally crack the 1600 marker after 2 years of horrid breaks. So with Brian in tow, we headed out.
I knew what I would be playing...sort of. I knew the deck would be 3-color cascade but I was never sure if I would run white or black as the tertiary color. After some through playtesting I decide the black version, with more spot removal and a smoother mana curve is the right play. This is what I end up sleeving.
like I said, janky as hell but it was the best I could do on short notice. We had enough players here to go 5 rounds...this was gonna be a long evening.
MATCH 1: Tony vs. Travis (Mono-White Soldiers)
Travis was a quick one, not much for words but he was very good, got me to walk right into a path tapping out for blitz, but he never was able to summon an army, allowing me to take down his dudes one by one while dealing the requisite damage. I sideboarded out the fallouts, fully expecting him to pack forge tender.
If he did, I didn't see them as my creatures and kill were able to take him out.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0
MATCH 2: Tony vs. Chad (Gw elfball)
Game one he generates several elves that I dispatch with spot kill, dropping finks when warranted. He swings with a team full of wilt leaf leige and friends turn 5, but I drop bit blast into bloodbraid elf into fallout to nuke the board. he really can't mount a good comback from there. I side in the infests alongside fallout now as an extra sweeper. Game 2 is similar to the first but I get him to 2, then kill him using sign in blood. Awesome.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 2-0
MATCH 3: Tony vs. Sean (GW aggro)
Sean is one of the local big guns. He never played at my old store but he has well earned his reputation in this town. game 1 he went off perfectly including dropping turn 5 oversoul of dusk to neuter almost my entire deck. Game two I was able to simply bum-rush him with leeches and bolts before he could dig out the avatar, game 3 we both built up massive board positionss, me gaining life with finks shuffling in and out of play all the time, him with behemoth sledge getting around on all his creatures after I pop them. Eventually he gets both garruk and ajani goldmane in on the action as the chance at winning drops out of reach.
Games: 1-2
Matches: 2-1
MATCH 4: Tony vs. Brandon (Grixis Fae)
Brandon is a good player, but even I was thrown off for a bit when he played first turn crumbling necropolis. when he dropped the turn 2 secluded glen into bitterblossom I figured he was just using the tap land as a cheaper replacement for underground river. This idea was proved wrong when he bolted me twice to finish game 1. Game 2 he drew the nuts hand, and coutnered every spell I played past turn 4. When I was about to do something, he just showed me his hand holding 3 cryptic command and 3 spellstutter sprite, having already cast the fourth of each and having more than enough mana to coutner several spells in succession. I scooped.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 2-2
MATCH 5: Tony vs. Chase (5Color Control)
I've done a lot of work with RaikouRider on these boards, and he has trained me on the many ins and outs of the 5 color control deck. So I knew what to face when I saw the deck being played beside me the previous round.
Duress was a godsend in this match, especially when I hit it off a cascade. chase instantly was made to coutner bloodbraid elves, allowing me to strip him of hallowed burial or cryptic command. After a few baited coutners I flash in cloudthresher at EoT to finish things off. Game 2 goes similarly but he's in a much better position, playing multiple broodmate dragon. Of course, whenever he played one I happene to have a javelin and a terminate or a bit blast and terminate handy. finks and leech ran through to get the job done.
Games: 2-0 (7-4 total)
matches: 3-2
thanks to a random ID in round 3 I got 7th place out of 21 people. while this didn't win me any prizes, I did score big in two ways. First, Bryan cracked a second maelstrom pulse and flat out GAVE it to me. needless to say he's on my good side forever now.
Second is that I somehow won the fabulous door prize: a new play mat! Having not had one before this marks a bit of an achievement for me.
MVP: Putrid Leech. Coming in I was not sure just how good the thing would be. but with kitchen finks keeping my life total clear the bug shined well, dealing good damage and punching hard after fallout and other assorted sweepers hit.
It's that time of year again. A time for all of us to take a look back and re-evaluate the core of Magic as we know it.Or, depending on the player, rant about the death of magic and how the game is no longer skillful, etc. etc. etc. But for the rest of us, it's a chance to have fun. With my gaming buddy in tow, we head down to the last shop around: Main Street Collectibles in Moorseville. Brian also needed a fat pack box to hold his crap, so there was another reason to go.
My buddy Brian and I both know that red and green are going to be hot, and black or white should be more open. Of course, we get seated next to each other and that really screws up our plans.
P1p1 I see a lot of ways to take it, but I really don't think captain of the watch would be good enough to run (I was later proved VERY wrong) so I decided on Inferno Elemental. Red seems to be coming fairly well, so I snap it up quickly. (a partial jedi mind trick on my part, Brian is on my right passing to me, and I told him Green/Black would be the best idea. Besides the fact that lots of people will take red, he leaves some red stuff for me.) I see some decent green stuff so I feel I'm pretty much in the two best colors, even having grabbed flashfreeze as a hatedraft.
Second pack I see Glacial Fortress. I personally do not like the duals, but it's a $10 card and decent trade bait. pick 2 I see Might of Oaks, a card that's actually in my colors and grab that as well. I get some more green and manage to find a playset of seismic strike (picks 9, 10, 12, and 13)
Third pack I notice that green has more or less dried up. I expected that but it's still a bit unsettling, although pyroclasm and burning inquiry help solidify my red side. Eventually I come up with the following pool to work with:
I checked in with my friend who had indeed gone GB, pulling several decent cards, including denying me a P3p2 chandra. Still, I figure my deck should do decently:
Brian decides to buy his fat pack and absolutely hits gold. 2 Sunpetal Grove, bogardan Hellkite, indestructibility, Xarthid Demon, and 3 other rares. Still, without further to do, we start things off.
Match 1: Tony vs. Michael
Michael seemed relatively new to limited, he was playing RUG, and not doing so very well. what few threats he had I overtook, although it took a while. I was able to do well enough both games to beat him with big things, including a lethal 14/14enormous baloth in G2.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0
Match 2: Tony vs. Paul
Paul is a much better player than Michael, but for some reason he was also running three colors. However, he had two expanses and birds of paradise to power out his deck, which was made of non mana-intensive cards. I probably would have been able to do well had I seen any lands after the 3 in my opeing hand. Game two is pretty much a repeat, only I mulligan to 6 and keep a 2 land hand, never see anything else until its' too late.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 1-1
Depressed, I decide I should pick up some cards. enlisted wurm, 2 jackal familiar, 2 woolly thoctar, and an M10 pack, saying "maybe I'll crack a foil colossus..."
I was half right, as I saw the 11/11 peek out from the bottom of the card. the only redeeming card in the pack, really. But now it's time to start playing again.
Match 3: Tony vs. Brian
Why am I not surprised? we always get paired up when we're in the same event, and he normally gets the better of me. This was no different. lots of red dudes and can't find any of my mountains. by the time I can recover the board is too far gone to attempt to stabilize. second game I keep a hand with a single forest and a llanowar elf. he goes turn 1 deathmark and I don't see another land.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 1-2
Match 4: Tony vs. Ryan
Ryan seems like he knows what he's doing, but he was in the other pod so I have no clue what his deck was up to. As it were he was running blue and black, using multiple ice cages to great effect, but without the counterspells to shut down my big threats. Both games baloth and axes take care of business.
Games: 2-0
Matches 2-2
Result: 9th/16
My breakers really suffered from losses to paul and brian who lost every match they played after beating me. Brian also went 2-2 but made 6th, good for a pack, which contained a third sunpetal grove. Seriously? the one dual I'm actually considering looking for, he's cracked three of. After some much wheeling and dealing, I have my complete set of fallouts, he has his sledges, and he buys one more fat pack.
He hit it again. a fourth sunpetal grove on the night. several other meh rares, but that was just insane to have found.
MVP: Pyroclasm. This card will be the new wrath, with all the weenie decks seeing play.
Once again, I turn to the last local card shop in the area for our release event. For once, we're not doing 8-man pods, but swiss after the draft. About time...I'm assured to play more than one match. My buddy and I get there early, buy some new sleeves ( I really needed them for EDH) and eventually we are ready to go. 12 players, 4 rounds. 6-man draft pods. Time to get cracking.
P1p1 I see a time sieve. ick. no terminate, so I grab the foil bant sureblade because I know how good they are. My plan was to punt all the borderposts in pack 1, to see how long it will take for them to go. P1p2 I see Meddling Mage. Moneydrafting might not be popular but when it pays for your draft, I make an exception. Pick 3 I see a Dragon Broodmother...seriously? How was that not grabbed before then? I grab that too, see a few more blades, not much of worth. At this point I still don't know which bomb I will use, so I crack Pack 2.
Lavalanche. Guess that answers that, right? I grab that, but see Aven Mimeomancer that I pick up as well. I grab several borderposts, which seemed to be a top 5 pick. Blue/White seems a lot more open than Red/Black, so that's what I decide to run. more sureblades go in, as well as crystalization.
Pack 3 I see Nemesis of Reason. Even though it means passing both Terminate and qasali pridemage, but I would much rather face them than the walking glimpse. I grab ardent plea, more stormblades, and a wall of denial to round stuff out. I have 6 borderposts so I feel confident in playing 3 dedicated colors with the black splash for nemesis and mind funeral.
I checked in with my friend, he pulled Karrthus and maelstrom pulse...he's solidly in Jund, with some great cards. Time to start the playing.
Match 1: Tony vs. Sarah
The first thing I realize is she's using more than 40 cards. A LOT more. The match pretty much played itself, crystalize any big threats and ride first strikers to the easy win. Game 2 we both get stalled out, but I find threats before she can.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0
Match 2: Tony vs. Patrick
This guy was drafting on my left, so I knew he was running at least RG since I didn't see much from his side. We get off clogging up the ground until lavalanche for 6 kills my board and he rides the momentum to a win. Game 2 I bring in hushblade and zombies, hoping to find islands quicker. Turn 4 he has a jund hackblade and drops a bloodbraid elf, cascading into sangrite backlash. I jedi mind trick him with a simple question: "What creature are you going to sac?" glossing over the fact that he doesn't have to play the spell. I respond with multiple sureblades next turn to lock it up.
Game 3 I land nemesis and mill him, with the help of meddling mage naming lavalanche to stop him from using that. I actually got him to deck out, which was awesome.
Games: 2-1
Matches: 2-0
Match 3: Tony vs. Ben
Ben is the presumable favorite going in; he was 2 seats to the left of me in the drafting. He was running a better bant deck than mine, including offerings to asha, double wall, and some huge beaters. As much as I tried, behemoth sledge on enlisted wurm was too much for my field to keep up with.
Games: 0-2
Matches: 2-1
Match 4: Tony vs. Sarah
Yes. Again. So many people dropped and ran around to the point that DCI reporter paired us together again. She didn't want to draw, so I just mopped up the floor in a repeat of match 1. not much else to explain.
Games: 2-0
Matches: 3-1
I got 3rd place on the night, which sadly wasn't good enough for any goodies. But I did make off with 5 rares, all of which are good trade bait and EDH fodder. And better yet, my struggling rating score will shoot up from it.
Best Scene: Jedi Mind tricks abound by convincing Patrick to kill one of his own dudes.
MVP: Bant Sureblade. Having a 3/2 first striker does wonders to keep attackers at bay.
With my old shop in Plainfield shutting down due in no small part to the economy, I've had to look elsewhere for a place to play. Enter Main Street Gaming & Collectibles in Mooresville. With a friend in tow, We set off into the great unknown...or something like that.
I'd gotten tired of my treefolk deck...as good as it had done, i wanted to try something else. so over the resultant two months I wheeled and dealed and put together pieces for my doran rock deck.
My friend is running a naya deck. it's not top-tier by any means but he has 4 thoctar, 4 flame javelin, and 2 chameleon colosuss...it can't be that bad, right?
as we get there, we find out that the TO from the old store has taken up acting as the tabulator at this store, and a lot of the people from the old store are here. If only we could get a bigger space...meh. 13 players means 4 rounds. 3-2-1-1 and FNM cards to the top 4. everyone gets a hellspark elemental or path to exile as a participation prize...chosen at random. hell of a time for random chance...anyway, we get started.
MATCH 1: Tony vs Chad (RDW)
Chad was one of my hometown kids, I beat him with treefolk in december to win my first FNM ever. he was still running the same deck, and I thought I had him dead.
Game 1 he runs through a ton of burn spells, several javelins and fallouts. I make the mistake of attempting to counter a volcanic fallout and get made a fool. I side in BFT and 2 crib swap and take out the unmakes (unsure of everlasting torment, otherwise I should have taken out Ring to have the instant-speed removal) Second game I make turn 2 doran and he can't get any answer. Third game he gets double demigod and even though I have forge tender I can't get the removal to save it. 1-2 him.
As I watch my friend, he picks up a quality win over a 4-color tokens deck. titanic ultimatum game 1 to force 28 damage through gets him there. sadly his only victory.
MATCH 2: Tony vs James (RDW)
Someone messed up the pairings! scratch that. good thing, he's a great player from back home
MATCH 2: Tony vs. Matt (thrown together Elfball)
This kid was new at the game and we knew it. He mulls on the first hand. I get turn 2 doran and remove every creature he plays with a variety of spells. He even uses roar of the crowd for 1 to kill a bird that would have finished it. not that hard, no SB changes.
Game 2 I land a kitchen finks and take out his creatures. From there I kill him by hitting him 10 times with the persisted kitchen finks, he's unable to mount any kind of resistance from the death of 1000 finks. 2-0 me.
MATCH 3: Tony vs. Paul (WW Exalted)
Another guy from the old store, this person practically ran the place and he's got the skills you'd expect. Game 1 he drops turn 3 stillmoon cavalier. go ahead, click the autocard. then look at my decklist. see my problem?
Stillmoon cannot be touched except by birds or treetop village, neither of which is good enough to do much. turn 3 doran makes it slightly easier to deal with, although this game went for a while.I get him to 7 life, with doran, 2 shriekmaw (one with a hammer), and a bird. his cavalier is tapped, so what do i do? I decide to play a second doran, legend rule clears them, then swing with the fearful maws for lethal!
except he has path for the hammering shriekmaw. I move the hammer and make the requisite blocks. I swing again...
and he reveals the path he topdecked like a pro. must be nice...game 2 I never really had a shot. 2x mulligan to a 1-land hand means he got a force before I can mount resistance. 2-0 him.
My friend and I raid the conflux cards between rounds, I sell some chump rares for an imperious perfect, a 3rd forge-tender, a 3rd knight of meadowgrain, and a pack of conflux.
about time I get lucky. bloodhall ooze AND path to exile in that pack. my buddy traded some goodies as well, but then it's last round.
MATCH 4: Tony vs. Bryan (Naya Aggro)
It never fails. Me and my buddy always seem to get paired up in every event we go to together. We both know exactly what to expect, nothing to it but to do it.
game 1 I land finks and have enough removal to clear the way. shriekmaw joins the party to finish it.
During sideboarding, I know Bryan has naturalizes and I used my oblivion rings to great extent in game 1. so I out-meta him by not including the rings, but putting the crib swaps in their place! (turns out I was wrong, he didn't put in naturalize moot point.)
Game 2 was fairly the same, sculler beats stripped his best cards away as my removal seals the deal. 2-0 me.
8th place on the night...bad breakers was responsible for that. still I got to randomly pick a DCI promo. hellspark elemental or path...
Once again I got lucky. found a path and left contently.
Tonight's Big Scene: Paul doing a real good Gabe Nassif impression, pulling back-to-back paths to seal M3G1. great work if you can get it...also, 10 cracks with the kitchen sink.
MVP: Kitchen Finks. The card gained me life when I needed it and the 10-shot kill was more than worth it.
There were only 10 people who showed up tonight, which is strangely low. We've been getting 20+ people during november and december, perhaps the conflux release has something to do with it. Oh well...
As is the store's SOP, we did 4 rounds with no TopX. Top 2 get the FNM card, as do 2 random players. I'm running my treefolk aggro deck (30-18) although I tossed in some conflux lands to test with.
MATCH 1: Tony vs. Chris (Naya Razer)
Chris is an old "friend" of mine, I put that in quotes because his decks have a knack for being really annoying. Game 1 he explodes by dropping turn 3 garruk, turn 4 ajani vengeant AND relam razer. not much I can do against all that. Game 2 I get a god hand while he finds out just how many lands are in his deck, game 3 was close, he's got an untapped cloudthresher and a realm razer along with a tapped thresher. 2 mana up and 1 card in hand. If I swing with the team he goes to 1 and can't kill me on crackback because of blockers, unless he has a naya charm or lullaby. it takes me 5 minutes to realize that if he has either I die regardless so I swing in.
He was holding bird. 2-1 me.
MATCH 2: Tony vs. Tyler (Esper Lark)
I really don't know why I have the relics in the SB, as this matchup is about 90-10 in his favor. He has too many fliers and too many counters to get much of anything through. 2-0 him.
MATCH 3: Tony vs. Jared (Kithkin WW)
I take the first game off the back of a 12/3 trampling dourbark that I pumped with my own nameless inversion. He might have been a bit frazzled when I played 1st turn ziggurat, though (he was sure the conflux cards weren't legal until the 20th, turns out they're legal today.) Second game didn't go anywhere as smoothly, I dropped a cloudthresher in response to his figure pump, allowing him to just lapse and win.
Game 3 was absolutely nuts. I'm on the play and go turn 3 doran. he plays turn 3 ring on doran. I play turn 4 dourbark; he drops a second ring on that. I play turn 5 LCE thinking there's no way he has another ring, but he has it and plays it. Then I draw and manage to find, off the top, rings on turn 6, 7, AND 8 to clear the ones he put in on me and win with enough 10/10 dourbarks to kill a small country. 2-1 me
MATCH 4: Tony vs. John (Jund precon)
We were going to play but he got carded and sent home for curfew by a wandering police officer (it's only 10:30 on a friday! and not a bar or cigar store in miles! WTF?) I'm given a concession to finish 3-1...in 5th place. no prizes for that one.
Tonight's big scene: seeing 6 oblivion rings on the table in M3G3, it got people's attention. I'd rather have used naturalize for them, but I did what I had to.
MVP: Infest (from the board) M3G2 he has an army of specproc tokens and a cloudgoat ranger. I ripped infest twice in that game to stabilize before eventually dying to indestructible 8/8's