The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1201

Reaper of Flight Moonsilver
Stern Constable x2
Unruly Mob

Deny Existence
Essence Flux
Ghostly Wings
Pore Over the Pages
Reckless Scholar
Jace's Scrutiny
Silent Observer
Trail of Evidence

Wildfield Scarecrow

Plains x10
Island x7

Strength of Arms x2
Thraben Inspector

Vessel of Ephemera
Unruly Mob
Moorland Drifter
Puncturing Light
Rattlechains
Just the Wind

Dauntless Cathar
Paranoid Parish Blade
Pious Evangel
Bygone Bishop
Always Watching
Niblis of Dusk

Nearheath Chaplain
Apothecary Geist
Tenacity
Sleep Paralysis
Silent Observer

Humble the Brute
Emissary of the Sleepless
Stormrider Spirit

Game 1 I keep a 1-lander on the draw because I don't wanna mull to 5 against a more aggro deck with bigger bodies than mine that requires me to keep playing spells. I have the scry and 3 turns to find one of the 10 plains, basically, and with a single land I can play half my hand so I'm kinda confident. Scry AW to the bottom, spend the next 3 turns not drawiing a land while my opponent goes Quilled Wolf, Quilled Wolf, Voldaren Duelist, I lose.

Game 2 goes better, I get two 3-drops online so I actually win the race, and can keep my Unruly Mob behind so if he blocks we trade and I grow bigger anyway. Skin Invasion on the mob, welp. From here he's got bigger bodies than mine, and being on defense mode I create 3-4 flying tokens, and sac one to Evangel while chumping. I'm actually ahead life-wise, but he's stronger on the ground, and he has a Duskwatch recruiter (and Ulrich's Kindred means I can force him to spend mana but not reduce his board with the Wayward Disciple).

I get him pretty low, but when I don't Sleep Paralysis a creature + Vessel of Ephemera to get the Duskwatch to flip back, he unloads 3 creatures and gets too wide for me. He topdecks something, keeps it in hand, doesn't play the next turn... then Inner Struggle my attacking Niblis. He'd have died to my chumping his alpha strike next turn thanks to Wayward Disciple, but I'd be 1 damage short without the Niblis attack and so lose.

Game 1 my Bishop on curve gets bound by Moonsilver immediatly, but because of his ability I still get 4 clues (iirc) over the game. I still get a flying army, play Always Watching, immediatly destroyed by a main board Root Out (wtf D: ).
Then he drops Sigarda.
Uh.

I could have picked her and splashed (she was in P2) but didn't bother. I wait for him to attack and double block using Tenacity to ensure a 1-for-1 trade while going back over 10 life. Then my flyers end the game in a couple turns. Considering I mulled to 4 because of 1-landers... damn.
Game 2 is slower, as he plays Veteran Cathar and later puts 2 counters on Thraben Inspector, and I'm not sure what to save my Puncturing Light for.
Ideally I want to get rid of the cathar because it can grant double strike to the inspector, inspiring captain, or itself, but I don't have big bodies to handle inspector (+potential tricks). He plays Apothecary Geist at some point, and I Sleep Paralysis the Inspector, a mistake since the 2/3 flyer makes my tokens unable to ping and my emissary can't kill it either. It doesn't matter because he plays Root Out the following turn. So after the Inspector untaps and attacks, Puncturing Light drops... and so does Sorin.

At this point I have AW, Emissary+Silent Observer, and he only has his Apothecary Geist (I have spirit tokens but he can handle these). I'm holding Humble the Brute for the eventual Sigarda. I can slowly ping because Apothecary can't block everything, but a double-striking inspiring captain would race me hard and fast.
If he removes Emissary with Sorin to stall, then it gets harder for me, as I've played almost all my value. However he plusses him instead, prob because he wants to pressure me into attacking while replenishing his hand.

I draw Rattlechains, confirm with the judge that hexproof > Sorin's -X, and attack, dealing 2 damage through Apothecary. He plusses again (can't kill Emissary anymore anyway), plays Hermit of the Natterknolls, so he'll draw cards no matter what. As I swing again, Might Beyond Reason makes apothecary a 5/6 blocking my 3/5 emissary... Humble the Brute has to go. Then during his turn, Angelic Purge targets Emissary and I flash Rattlechains in to cut it. I have 7 damage in the air, he has 11 life, and concedes, knowing Sorin will die and he'll follow suit.

Game 1 goes rather calm, using Evangel to gain a fuckton of life, and when he gets aggressive with open mana and a buffed Pyre Hound I triple block it and sac a land to Evangel for more thoughness, forcing Uncaged Fury out (this is an important point). He trades 3 for 2, but the drain+nearheath chaplain keeps me ahead of trample, and I get to make flying tokens. At some point Always Watching comes out, I can chump a Bloodmad Vampire, and despite Alms of the Vein I win.

Now, the fun starts.
Game 2 has him only play sanitarium skeleton till turn 5. I went Inspector -> Vessel -> Bishop -> AW, so I'm curving pretty well, and although I'm often more wary of people holding cards like this ("once he hits his lands it'll be explosive") than playing more or less on curve, the board clearly seems in my favor and the early AW could be crushing. Somehow it doesn't feel too fair to me.
Then turn 5 comes Elusive Tormentor with the open mana (screw you, my Sleep Paralysis ).
Next turn the Accursed Witch joins her (0K, fuck you, you can go to sleep).
Despite AW, I let the vampire hit when I could just double block, or once I hit 5 mana keep it open for a Stomrider Spirit flash block (with AW both are 4/4 so either he discards, or we trade, which is fine by me).
Stromkirk Mentor and another swing, I'm sitting at 11 life, thinking I can block him if needed, and kill him in two turns with my flyers/while he's tapped from attacking. He laughs and says he's got me killed.

Yeah. How does a 5/5 deals over 11 damage?
In a BR deck?
C'mon, we've even seen it literally less than 10 minutes beforehand!
Yup, I'm a moron, and tiredness doesn't excuse everything. I fucked up hard here, and instead of blocking and forcing him to discard/waste mana, I took 9 damage from letting the vampire through for free (I had two spirit tokens which could have easily chumped meanwhile).
He turns to mist, swings, turns back, buffs, I'm dead.

Meanwhile, we've been talking, as I'm wondering who's actually on top of the standing, and my opponent turns out to be 2-0, weird since I'm 1-1 and even in a 6-man pod round 3 should have two 2-0 people.
Turns out there was a draw earlier, so the standing are like so:
- BR madness vampires 2-0
- RG werewolves 1-1
- UW 1-1
- GWb humans 1-1
- RG werewolves 0-1-1
- UB no-idea-what 0-1-1

If I win this match, I'll end up over him (paired up, head-to-head, etc.), and even potentially ahead of my round 1 RG opponent (if he ties or loses, if he wins I have a possibility to get first unless head-to-head trumps other opponent's records), if I lose I'm probably 4th or 5th.
The tie actually gave me a shot at first despite being 1-1, and I threw out wide outside the window by not playing around the burst from Uncaged Fury, which he had just shown to me, and while I was in a commanding board position with this or something like a Goldnight Castigator/Flameblade Angel his only out.
So, yeah. I knew beforehand that not playing around cards I know are in my opponent's build is a big weakness of mine, one that is even more important to shore up because it also affects constructed. But while playing I completely tuned that out, and I paid the price for it, especially knowing there was a Sorin available.

Game 3 has me pressured, since if I win... there's a good chance I end up first. From 4th to first, the dream!
However, he's chuckling because of how absurd his hand seems (he warned me that he's an aggro build lacking consistency, but really explosive if he goes out), and he goes on to prove it.
Pale Rider comes out, followed the next turn by the dreaded Call the Bloodline. I swing with Bishop and trade Nearheath Chaplain with Rider, thinking I'll use the tokens to push damage.
He then starts to shit out tokens, starting by discarding Incorrigible Youth. I take the hit, with Mob in play and Chaplain exiled. I'd sided Jace's Scrutiny in for a Strength of Arm, and use it the next turn to kill the Youth with my triple 1/1. Despite the bishop swinging every single turn, the lifelink tokens and Alm make up for it. Macabre Waltz brings back Youth and Rider.
The death of my tokens (and the Stormrider I intended to use another way but had to Flash to kill the Youth again) grow the mob to a 5/5, and I remove some of his options (bait lethal, then Just the Wind after he plays Rush of Adrenaline on a Bloodmad Vampire).
Still, with all the pinging from the tokens I'm at 2 life to his 16 or so... when I topdeck Tenacity.
I swing for 8 and he lets me through, too happy to get the win right after. I blow him out, the lifelink bringing me back to 8 life at the same time as potentially lethal damage occurs, and he loses Bloodmad.
I can kill him now, he's topdecking, I just need Always Watching or another flyer and in 3 turns it's over... when the end of time is called. He's tapped out so I swing for 8, leaving him at 7 or so life. He creates tokens and passes... my 6/6 mob gets chumped, he drops to 6 life. Stancia Masquerade and Lightning Axe are shown, I reveal my Humble the Brute topdeck, and we end on a draw.

Out of 18 cards, I had 9 lands (kept 1 in hand, used Humble on Mob for kicks and cracked the clue... another land). He played the vast majority of the game on 4 mana, later upgrading to 5, and discarding a 6th one for a token.
The amount of plays he can make on so few mana when madness' involved, and in the end using so many more cards than me simply because they weren't lands was really scary.