EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DgXy8WW.png)
Now this is a pool I can work with. Pretty easy Abzan pool with Soren, 2 Bloodsoaked Champion, Armament Corps, 2 Abzan Guide, Chief of Edge. So many of my dual lands let me splash blue, so I threw in two Abominations of Gudhul as well.
edit: In the picture above, a couple things to clarify. During sideboard I always swapped a War Behemoth for a 2nd Gudhul not included in the original deck. I also played 41 cards to try something Chris Vanmeter (CVM) advocated at one point with 1 banner for cycling/fixing, so I had 23 spells, 18 lands, with one of the spells being a banner. Just wanted to see how it worked out for me, and still not sure about the 1 banner as a 23rd spell idea. I do like the cycling but there usually is something else I'd rather play so it can get stuck in my hand for a few turns before it's useful. And if I only use it for cycling, I might as well just cut it entirely.
Round 1
I had a spot with Abzan Guide against Archer's Parapet, Morph, and Swarm of Bloodflies. I had Savage Punch in hand so could have easily taken out any of them. I decided to take out the Parapet to make sure I get in 6 lifelink and then 6 damage on attack as well, and figured I could take out the Swarm later, not really thinking too much about the +1+1 counters it got. I'm pretty sure if I just took out the Swarm then I would have sealed that game and ended up winning 2-1 against him instead of losing 1-2.
Round 2 : Walkover - opponent dc'd
Round 3
Game 1
Had the turn 1 Bloodsoaked Champion start and he was stuck on 2 lands, having to discard a card on turn 3. I flood out and he wipes my board with tons of removal to come back and win it. I never thought much of Efreet Weaponmaster, but when he got it down I just could not get through for the last 4 damage.
Game 2
Had another quick start of Mardu Hateblade into Bloodsoaked Champion into Bondkin. I flood out again, and thought I was about to stabilize with Bitter Revelation, but it just grabbed me a Sage-eye Harrier and 3 lands. He flashes in Pearl Lake Ancient and I'm realizing I have little chance of winning anymore. I dumped my hand of Shambling Attendants (delved 7, so it only cost 1!), Bloodsoaked champion and Abzan Guide (as a morph) one turn, only to have it Suspension Fielded and Bring Low, giving the Pearl Lake 2 prowess triggers. I had Soren and 2 Savage Punches in hand but only Bloodsoaked Champion on board. Game ended shortly after.
I reviewed both games of Round 3 and there wasn't any spot where I could have won the games - the most frustrating games to lose. I one-time forgot to get my Bloodsoaked Champion back after attacking, but he wasn't getting any more damage done anyways and can't block when I was the one on the backfoot.
Level-ups
* Soren needs a lot of protection to play out. I drew him in 3 games and he was stranded in my hand because I didn't have a strong enough board presence. Two games I could have played him just for a 2/2 flying chump blocker for a turn then he's dead. The other game I only had 1 ground creature on board. Don't get me wrong, Soren you're generally ecstatic to have in limited, but he didn't fare well in any of my games today.
* I think my deck was too mixed up between aggression and winning the late game. I had two Bloodsoaked Champions, but little else for aggression or ways to push through defenses. I also had very little evasion which made pushing through those last few points of damage very difficult. Basically, my curve, reach, and evasion were all pretty bad in this deck that seemed so good at the start.
* I really need to work on how to quickly sift through my possible deck variations. I find it very difficult to do in this format. I often end up getting latched onto one for too long and then spending a couple minutes on the mana base instead of looking at others. Any suggestions for this? I'm thinking I should take a more methodical approach like:
1) Look at what my fixing supports.
2) Look at the depth of each mono-color and which cards I REALLY want to play in each.
3) By combining the first two steps I should have ideas of what my base colors can be and which clans I can try and this is where I start building my decks. For instance if my White, Blue, and Green are solid I'll make everything other than Mardu (since black and red would be weak) and see which one looks best.
Anyone have a certain method they use for this format? I find it very difficult because of the amount of fixing and the strength of the gold cards.
