EPTTwo Headed Giant, Saturday evening
More arguing with my buddy, more solid games.
Rares:
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Scattered Groves (promo)
Cut//Ribbons
Drake Haven
Gideon's Intervention
Gideon of the Trials
As Foretold
Liliana's Mastery
Cut//Ribbons
Drake Haven
Gideon's Intervention
Gideon of the Trials
As Foretold
Liliana's Mastery
Our green between the two of us was mostly garbage so we had to decide essentially if we were going to go W/B zombie synergy with Liliana's Mastery and Start//Finish and U/R spells (with no solid payoff, mind you), or UW fliers/cycling/control and RB midrange with Cut//Ribbons and Merciless Javelineer.
We opted to go with the latter as we felt both decks were stronger that way, and Cut//Ribbons is an insane finisher in 2HG (the Aftermath portion deals double damage!!).
As we were building we joked about someone opening Force of Will and then the dude behind us opens one.
Cool $250.
Anyway overview of our decks:
RB midrange - I played the aforementioned cards plus a bunch of solid zombies/creatures. I had some discard synergy with Horror of the Broken Lands and Ruthless Sniper and the RB minotaur, and good removal in Final Reward, Electrify, Magma Spray, etc.
UW fliers/cycling/control - He played like 12 creatures but Drake Haven plus critical mass of cycling cards makes for good fun. We considered splashing green for Bounty of the Luxa but with 2 blue Cartouches plus the blue Trial AND all the cycling, we simply didn't need it it to ramp into anything (aside from a single Lay Claim maybe) or draw more cards.
Game summaries:
Round 1
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Up against RG aggro and WB zombies. They curved out and crushed us down to 12-13 in the first 4 turns. My friend stumbled on mana/cards a little while I kept getting my creatures removed. Eventually we stabilized and started removing their threats one by one. My friend just dropped his Curator of Mysteries when one opponent drops a Cruel Reality on him. Essentially he had to start playing creatures just so we wouldn't start losing 5 life at a time. Then, an awesome sequence of turns. Opponent plays Angel of Sanctions and exiles a dude of mine, only for my friend to Cast it Out and get it right back. I start racing as all my buffed Zombies start making their way through the few blockers they had left (the 3/2 menace minotaur is a HOUSE). Opponent taps out 7-8 mana AGAIN and this time drops the 4/4 indestructible angel. Friend bounces it, taking a turn off of playing creatures with Floodwaters so I can beat down some more. The race gets closer as we're in single digits. Opponent replays the angel, friend top decks his 7th land to Lay Claim the angel and sacrifice it on next upkeep. I bash in again and we win.
Round 2
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Versus WB zombies again, and UR spells. Close game. Opponent drops the 1/3 prowess, buffs it with the blue Cartouche and slams into us a bunch as I flood out. Zombies opponent stumbles on mana, sitting on 3-4 for multiple turns but always having a play or removal against us. This game was basically spent deciding how much damage we could take optimize value plays. When can we take a turn off to drop Trial, then cartouche it back? When can we drop Drake Haven and start ambushing them with fliers? Eventually it all came together despite me barely playing anything---an anemic Heart-Piercer Manticore of mine that got exiled so I couldn't even embalm it. Then they played one and I tried to do the same, but instead they Flung it at my face. Got desperate since the Prowess creature kept beating on us so I used the Threaten effect to steal it just so the stupid Cartouche would fall off (interesting interaction, that one---since the Cartouche says 'enchant creature you control,' if control changes the enchantment falls off. Opponents didn't believe me at first.) Dropped Gideon to blank one of their attackers after finally getting enough Drakes to protect him? Opponent topdecks Never//Return. We were down to 7 life before we finally managed to stabilize with my friend having Cast Out, Cancel, and Compulsory Rest in hand, just for good measure. Funny enough, we were able to Cast Out an Angel of Sanctions in this game too. ALso, turns out being able to scry every time you're about to draw a card and make a 2/2 is super powerful (thank you once again, Curator of Mysteries!)
We went on to win this one too.
We went on to win this one too.
We definitely made the right choice of pool splitting this time, and now after having played with cycling I'm pretty convinced as to how powerful it really is. We split the final round 'cause it was getting mega late, and we were already being pretty irresponsible parents. Our third round opponents apparently ALSO had an Angel of Sanctions. Guess that means we would have won?
Prize Pack Pulls:
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Nissa, Steward of Elements
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
Glyph Keeper
Regal Caracal
My friend opened two Bounty of the Luxa and two Harvest Season. I felt kinda bad lol. He did pick up a foil full-art Plains and Harsh Mentor though. Someone also left the rest of one of their prerelease packs from the event before with a bunch of commons/uncommons in it, so we decided to split it after checking nobody wanted it, was coming back for it, or cared---it also had another Drake Haven and Glory-Bound Initiate in it! I took the white dude, friend took the Drake Haven and we split the rest of the junk nobody seemed to want.
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
Glyph Keeper
Regal Caracal
My friend opened two Bounty of the Luxa and two Harvest Season. I felt kinda bad lol. He did pick up a foil full-art Plains and Harsh Mentor though. Someone also left the rest of one of their prerelease packs from the event before with a bunch of commons/uncommons in it, so we decided to split it after checking nobody wanted it, was coming back for it, or cared---it also had another Drake Haven and Glory-Bound Initiate in it! I took the white dude, friend took the Drake Haven and we split the rest of the junk nobody seemed to want.
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Solo Prerelease
Here's the pool:
Rares:
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Soul-scar Mage (foil)
Liliana, Death's Majesty (promo)
Insult//Injury
Angel of Sanctions
Harvest Season
Rags//Riches
Champion of Rhonas
Prepare//Fight
Liliana, Death's Majesty (promo)
Insult//Injury
Angel of Sanctions
Harvest Season
Rags//Riches
Champion of Rhonas
Prepare//Fight
Super ridiculous pulls this time around it seems. Black was basically a shoe-in with Liliana and removal, and green looked pretty sweet as well. The white splash for a couple of the Aftermath cards and a bit of early game happened because I had barely any 2/3 drops in my primary colors. Some really nice graveyard and cycling synergy here as well.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/abzan-gy-stuff/
Match 1 vs Sultai
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Dude shows up to the match 5 min late and starts finishing his build on the spot. For the most part I don't mind because he seems like he knows what he's doing, just late, and I doubt slow play will cause us to not finish.
Turns out I'm partially right---he works at the store which is why he was late but the lateness DID matter, which I'll get to.
Game 1 we both flood out but I drew more beaters than he did first and he couldn't handle the 6/7 hexproof croc (which I still stand by is a REALLY dumb card for a limited format). He then sideboards like 15 frigging cards and takes another 5-7 min. Game 2 went basically the rest of the match. I flooded out AGAIN (something like 9-10 lands in my first 15-16 cards?) but he didn't do much attacking, mostly just locked down my guys with the briock counter artifact thing and sat on it.
Eventually, after I literally drew every single land in my deck I started to draw gas but his board hit critical mass and he was able to punch through and win. At this point he starts to sideboard more shit again, and I say to him---' we can either try to finish game 3, or you can keep sideboarding,' so he opts to start. I have the most broken start my deck is capable of but turns started basically off the bat, and turn 5 ends with him at 1 life and we draw, tantamount to a loss with the prize structure of this event.
My friend mentioned to me after that I could have or should have scooped mtach 2 way earlier but consider the dude had 5-6 cards in library and the last 12 cards of mine were non-lands, I figured it was possible for me to still attempt to win that match. He may have been right and maybe I would have grushed G3 in enough time had I scooped, but whatever. I rarely place more blame outside of my own hands but I don't think this one was my fault. Was fairly annoyed at how that turned out.
Record 0-0-1
Turns out I'm partially right---he works at the store which is why he was late but the lateness DID matter, which I'll get to.
Game 1 we both flood out but I drew more beaters than he did first and he couldn't handle the 6/7 hexproof croc (which I still stand by is a REALLY dumb card for a limited format). He then sideboards like 15 frigging cards and takes another 5-7 min. Game 2 went basically the rest of the match. I flooded out AGAIN (something like 9-10 lands in my first 15-16 cards?) but he didn't do much attacking, mostly just locked down my guys with the briock counter artifact thing and sat on it.
Eventually, after I literally drew every single land in my deck I started to draw gas but his board hit critical mass and he was able to punch through and win. At this point he starts to sideboard more shit again, and I say to him---' we can either try to finish game 3, or you can keep sideboarding,' so he opts to start. I have the most broken start my deck is capable of but turns started basically off the bat, and turn 5 ends with him at 1 life and we draw, tantamount to a loss with the prize structure of this event.
My friend mentioned to me after that I could have or should have scooped mtach 2 way earlier but consider the dude had 5-6 cards in library and the last 12 cards of mine were non-lands, I figured it was possible for me to still attempt to win that match. He may have been right and maybe I would have grushed G3 in enough time had I scooped, but whatever. I rarely place more blame outside of my own hands but I don't think this one was my fault. Was fairly annoyed at how that turned out.
Record 0-0-1
Match 2 vs Jund stuff
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Guy seemed fairly inexperienced but was nicer and way more talkative/jovial than store guy before him. This is the kind of guy that makes me enjoy paper MTG vs online. I really much prefer the social experience and to sit in silence as we both concentrate super hard and play our cards stone-faced is just no fun for me. Anyway G1 was a lesson in my own deck's power that I don't think I was aware of at the time.
The game was basically spent recurring 4-5 cards over and over again until I won: Gravedigger, Devoted Crop-mate, Bitterblade Warrior, Champion of Rhonas. Wander in Death was pretty amazing to be honest, and I didn't even use Liliana this time around. Game 2 I got run over by Monument of Rhonas, which is a friggin' HOUSE in an aggressive creature deck. Game 3 wasn't amazingly close, don't really remember what won me that game.
Record 1-0-1
The game was basically spent recurring 4-5 cards over and over again until I won: Gravedigger, Devoted Crop-mate, Bitterblade Warrior, Champion of Rhonas. Wander in Death was pretty amazing to be honest, and I didn't even use Liliana this time around. Game 2 I got run over by Monument of Rhonas, which is a friggin' HOUSE in an aggressive creature deck. Game 3 wasn't amazingly close, don't really remember what won me that game.
Record 1-0-1
Match 3 vs BW Zombies
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This deck was super popular the whole weekend it seemed, but this guy absolutely did it right. All 1-4 drops, all low power. Worked perfectly against my deck which, if I didn't draw my early drops would just get run over, and get run over I did. G1 I stumble over mana somehow (notably, I never got color screwed across the entire event, only mana screwed or flooded), I play Lay Bare the Heart and see a Dusk//Dawn in his hand which would essentially let him replay absolutely everything I had removed up until then
even if I take it out of his hand, and 1-2 big dudes was not enough to stem the tide. Game 2 was a little better to start, I was able to keep up a little better and was able to power out a couple big dudes early with Champion of Rhonas, but only after I did that did I remember about his damn boardwipe. Pretty huge misplay on my part but to be honest thinking back I think I had to play as though he didn't have it since he can recur his whole deck in the late game regardless. Had to beat him down with what I had and hope he didn't draw it.
As strong as dumping 7/7 Wurms and 5 mana 4/4s onto the battlefield is, just couldn't beat the weenie game.
Record: 1-1-1
even if I take it out of his hand, and 1-2 big dudes was not enough to stem the tide. Game 2 was a little better to start, I was able to keep up a little better and was able to power out a couple big dudes early with Champion of Rhonas, but only after I did that did I remember about his damn boardwipe. Pretty huge misplay on my part but to be honest thinking back I think I had to play as though he didn't have it since he can recur his whole deck in the late game regardless. Had to beat him down with what I had and hope he didn't draw it.
As strong as dumping 7/7 Wurms and 5 mana 4/4s onto the battlefield is, just couldn't beat the weenie game.
Record: 1-1-1
Match 4 vs ....?
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I don't remember much of this match at all because it was essentially over so quickly. Both games I curved out with cycling into Liliana (one of them I even kept a one lander and drew into lands with cycling/draw step as needed), instantly powering 7/7 Wurms onto the board with her -3.
Not that this match was worth anything since I already got screwed out of prizing but was still fun to play out.
Final Record: 2-1-1
Not that this match was worth anything since I already got screwed out of prizing but was still fun to play out.
Final Record: 2-1-1
Stuff I learned: Blue must be the weakest colour? Only one of my opponents today played it and only as a splash. Cycling is crazy stupid strong. Not that I doubted it given LSV's high praises for it, but it was always going to be one of those things I really had to see for myself, and the cycling of 7/7s and grabbing them back later when I could use them really showed that off. I think it is likely I played a couple too many cyclers though (that 1 mana flying hoser comes to mind---I never paid anything but that card's cycling cost) where I probably could have either cut white ( I was a little greedy but Prepare//Fight was a decent MVP for example) or something. Likely could have played a few of the million Miasmic Mummies I opened just to shore up the early game, especially since I actually had a little synergy with them. Going forward I definitely have to work on my sealed pool-building skills (going to a Sealed GP in July!!) and learn when it is and isn't right to attempt to play or splash for bombs and when you just play weaker cards to try to a fix a weakness in your deck.
Random interesting tidbit: So between my friend and I, we opened 43 packs on the weekend (he had the majority, going 4-0 today and winning 11 packs). We both saw (in packs and vs opponents) exactly ZERO of the Amonkhet Gods all weekend. We pulled at least a single copy of every single mythic in the set between the two of us EXCEPT the Gods. Not that I'm complaining, having pulled every Planeswalker in the set, but just found it weird.
As always, comments/questions are more than welcome, and in fact encouraged. Any mistakes in my building or advice is always up for discussion. If there's anything anyone reading this does not understand I'd also be more than happy to explain some of the terminology or choices I made.
