GB's Weekend of Magic™ vol.2
Halloween FNM
A smaller FNM than usual thanks to the holiday, but everybody that showed up was there for the practice before Oakland, so the quality of competition was pretty good. Everyone was trying to get an edge.
Round 1 - vs Orzhov Control
A protect the king deck featurng Brimaz, Sorin and Elspeth similar to the Brad Nelson decks. An unfortunate foreboding of my unexpected issues with battling Elspeth. Doomwake and Drown couldn't close it out and I lost 1-2.
Round 2 - vs Boss Sligh
A deck I was worried about coming into the tournament, but the matchup actually went surprisingly well. It's hard for the deck to beat multiple 4/4s on the same turn, and killing frenzied goblin is huge. 11 cards out of the sideboard shut my opponent down pretty readily.
Round 3 - vs Villainous Wealth Ramp
After seeing the color combinations and getting hit with Gild in game one, I was able to identify the deck pretty easily and play around his options. I brought in the Thoughtseizes and took away his threats, giving me inevitability.
Round 4 - vs Mardu Control
This is one of my most familar matchups, and Doomwake Giant out of the sideboard over the See the Unwrittens is an all-star that kills Outbursts and Goblins while attacking freely into Butchers.
Final Result: 3-1
SCG Oakland
Round 1 - vs UR Ensoul Artifact
Super super tight games. I was sweating the whole time. Game was ultimately decided because I was at 6 life and he couldn't use both burn spells in his hand because he drew a tapped land. I played the whip and took him out of the game. turn 2 ensoul is scary.
Round 2 - vs G/R Monsters
Siding thoughtseize to keep him off threats was huge. The Queen is a monster stabilizer here, but they can trade a polukranos for one at any time, so it can get tricky.
Round 3 - vs Abzan Midrange
Elspeth is surprisingly annoying. Getting minused when my board is 4/xs is rough because dropping a mandrill next turn is a soft lock that keeps elspeth at 1 loyalty, giving my opponent too many turns. My first loss.
Round 4 - vs Abzan Midrange
Went much better. Quad Rhinos da bess.
Round 5 - vs Abzan Aggro
The worst possible matchup. Anafenza combined with exile removal means he's preboarded against Dredge, and cheap creatures that don't die to drown in sorrow sucks. I kept some suspicious hands and didn't have a chance to get going. A quick loss.
Round 6 - vs G/B Constellation
Drown in Sorrow and Reclamation Sage are the nuts versus this deck. It felt like I was playing a worse version of my own deck, and it was an easy win. I used the special tech of "toss wayfinder into a caryatid then drown them both, fuck your mana" to tempo out game three on my opponent's mull to five.
Round 7 - vs Abzan Midrange
God damn these matches drag on forever. Manages to win with 1 minute on the clock. I thoughtseize my opponent game two to reveal that we had literally the exact same opening 7 cards.
Round 8 - vs Temur Monsters
My opponent kept 2 land sylvan caryatid 4/5 drops in game two. I thoughtseized the caryatid turn 1 on the draw and crushed her with Mandrills when she missed land drops.
Round 9 - vs Jeskai Tempo
I was very careful about playing around counters and sequencing my creatures right. Fortunately, my opponent blinked and I was able to resolve whip after he tapped out
Round 10 - vs Abzan Reanimator
GOD THIS MATCH LASTS FOREVER. Unintentional draw due to a 40 minute game one, and a crazy but quick game two. Fun games, no complaints.
Final score: 7-2-1
Overall, it was a ton of fun, used the little bit of money I won over the entry to buy legacy cards for my Miracles deck.
