Games Lab 1k Open 02/08/14

Well, I'm back with another tourney write-up. Not much I can say about this one. Had a good start to end up crashing and burning.

Round 1: 2-1 vs Azorius Heroic
I've played against this guy a few times, and remember him as a control player. The deck was a bit surprising, but it was pretty similar to what I built. Was pretty pleased that someone was trying a non-hexproof 'suit up' strategy.

Game One: Made some pressure with some early drops before he lands a Battlewise Hoplite with Aqeuos From and Orderal of Thassa. Scried alot and drew alot. Giving it lifelink sealed the deal for me. Game Two: Sided in more banishing lights and chucked in mizzium mortars. Managed to use Keening Apparation to blow up his Hopeful Eidolon which was attached to a Favored Hoplite. Got to the end with a Brimaz and some other dorks.

Game Three: The beginning was simliar to the previous game, I managed to blow up a Hero of Iroas + Ethereal Armor, and swing in with Soldier of the Pantheon, Precinct Captain, and 1/1 dudes. Land a Hall of Triumph by turn 4. He puts up a Eidolon of Countless Battles, makes a Favored Hoplite a 2/3, and a single unbuffed Favored Hoplite. He was desperately trying to find an answer to the board presence I had. He concedes.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: 2-1 vs Patriot Control (B/W/R)
Good to see a control deck in those colours, haven't seem them in a while.

Game One: Played pretty aggressively on this one, Boros Charm or no Boros Charm. I manage to get him down to about 8 before he Verdicts 3 of my creatures. Brave the Elements helped with the tempo. Soldiers of the Pantheon prevented him from Izzet Charming them away. At one point, I split an Anger of the Gods vs 2 lands from Jace AOT -2 use. Picks AoG and uses it against a single Dryad Militant. Mutavault (I think) or some other dork with Spear of Heliod manage to finish him.

Game Two: Dump the two Dictates of Heliod for Boros Charms, swap out Reckoners for a Revoker and Dryad Militant. One Iroas goes for a 2nd Tajic. He plays first, I have slowish-start. I managed to get bricked against Elspeth tokens and other tempo plays.

Game Three: Manage to keep up a board presence, had two Brimaz's D-sphered. Having a Dryad Militant + Keening Apparation + Hall of Triumph gives him the choice of board wiping for questionable value, or letting me get a Brimaz back. Eventually I do get a Brimaz back, and withheld a 3rd Brimaz in my hand. I sandbagged a Boros Charm for about 3-4 turns, since he for that period he always had mana up for Dissolve. Taps out for Sphinx's Rev when I swing in for 7 (he was on about 1). Manages a mutavault block as well (if I recall). Finish him off with a Boros Charm.

Record: 2-0

Round 3: 1-2 vs Esper Control
Last time I played him (we both played the same decks), he managed to win 2-0. That first game he was on less than 3 frequently, then 2-3 Sphxix's Rev saves him. The second game I get walled by Nyx-Fleece Ram (had to use up Banishing Light on it) and he lands two Blood Barons, one after the other. Considering I tuned my decklist more against control (2nd Tajic and 4th Boros Charm), beating an Esper deck on Thursday, and beating a control deck previously, I wasn't too fussed.

Game One: Lands Elspeth, and goes downhill from there. After a few turns, I concede to make time for the second game. One land hand (temple), and 3 one drops. I'm on the play. Scry to find another Dryad Militant, which I keep on top. I do manage to put in some pressure before he lands Elspeth to make some blockers.

Game Two: Same sideboard as last match, except Iroas and Heliod are taken out for Mizzium Mortars. Hand has 2-3 lands, and some early drops. Keep. Land a Soldier. His Nyx-Fleece Ram gets blown up by a Keening Apparation, then I start hammering at him. Manage to keep tempo with Brave the Elements. Flood out to 7 land, but wasn't too fussed. One of them was a mutavault, and had plenty of mana for playing a Boros Charm or Brave the Elements. He lands a Blood Baron. I attack into it, and he responds with a Last Breath (I think). Brave the Elements seals the deal.

Game Three: First hand, 3 land, and earliest drop was a Brimaz. I mull to a hand with 2 land, Brimaz, two Boros Charms, and a Precinct Captain. Get walled by a Ram, which ends up giving him a ton of life after several turns. I manage a board presence protected by Boros Charms, but not having any response to Blood Baron put his life total out of reach. It came to time, and I conceded. 2-3 Sphinx's and a Blood Baron swing put him at about 45.

Record: 2-1

Round 4: 1-2 vs Jund
I've had a good record vs Green Devotion / Red splash with some deck fine tuning in the past month, but Jund was a bit of a problem: Removal Central.

Game One: Two lands (Plains and Nykthos), some early drops. He's on the play I risk keeping it. I manage an Imposing Sovereign and Militant, but didn't see a second white mana source till about turn 5-6. Caryatid into Ghor-Clan Rampager + Domri ends up doing quite a bit of work. Polunkranos + other fatties makes it a one-sided game.

Game Two: Swap out Ajani's for more Banishing Lights, dump 2 Keening Apparations for a 3rd Imposing Sovereign and Phyrexian Invoker. Drop the Boros Charms for a Godsend and Dryad Militant. One land hand, early drops. Keep. He starts exclaiming how angry I seem after dropping a 3rd one drop on one land. He seems to durdle for a bit, Putrefying a Dryad Militant and Mizzium Mortars on Imposing Sovereign. He manages to monstrous Polukranos after playing it (I think) to kill my Soldier of the Pantheons. I Banishing Light it afterwards. Domri is unable to kill a third Soldier of the Pantheon, and I manage to take out a Courser by Flashing in Dictate of Heliod. Lands a Stormbreath and swings, but ends up being a blocker after I get a large board presence (go Tajic). He concedes on his turn after I land an Iroas, as he lacked the damage to kill me before then (I was on 11, Stormbreath was the only one he had).

Game Three: Keep the same sideboard cards. Normal starting hand, Banishing Light, Dictate of Heliod, 2 land, some early drops. I keep. It becomes a pretty big attrition game. Had 2 Soldier of the Pantheon's wiped by an overloaded Mizzium Mortars. With Dictate of Heliod out, I block his Polukranos with my buffed Brimaz and tokens. Brimaz died from both the block and the overloaded mortars (worthwhile I think). I manage to send a Mutavault equipped with Godsend before he putrfey's the artifact. I have a bit of a board presence, but two Stormbreaths stop me from committing. I manage to land a second Dictate killing his Domri before he swings with both Dragons. The second Dicate was nice, but was hoping for an earlier Iroas to start finishing him off.

Record: 2-2

Round 5: 0-2 vs Black/w
A pretty regular Mono-Black build based around the usual Pack Rat and Grey Merchant stuff. Had Blood Barons and Obezedat in the side, with Banishing Lights for some non-creature removal. I was 11th in the rankings before this round, at the very least winning would get me into the prize pool. I found out that I was actually paired up when he stated he had a 3-1 record, so beating him might bump me up a fair bit. So I kept some optimism

Game One: Standard hand, I keep. Thoughtseizes early and takes a Precinct Captain. Lifebane Zombie takes out the Boros Reckoner, which he then trades with a Soldier. I land 2nd Soldier and get some damage in. Lands a Pack Rat 2nd turn, but refuses to commit it to blocking (obviously). Healthwise, I had to shock myself down to about 14 to keep tempo, and he swings in with some 3/3/ rats. I manage to get a board presence of Heliod, 2 Soldiers and Brimaz. Swing in, with Brave the Elements, but he Bile Blights my soldiers and blocks the cat token. Swings in for lethal the next turn.

Game Two: Manage to get some pressure in, but drown in sorrow eats a Militant, Soldier and Aegis of the Gods. I end up trading a Boros Reckoner for a Descration Demon. He lands a second one, and I didn't really get much to answer it (e.g. no Banishing Light). Goes downhill from there.

Record: 2-3

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Had a pretty solid start, but rather ended up with a rather dissapointing record. The last two opponents managed to get to Top 8, so I was facing off against some pretty good players. The amusing thing was I stuck on Table 4 for about 3 rounds, Table 3 on the first, and Table 5 on the last. Barely had to move.

There's always Games Day weekend, but although I doubt the competition will be as fierce (Less numbers at my LGS), shooting for the playmat could be pretty tough.