The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1539

He's running an UR Dynavolt list and modifies his sideboard based on what he owns (and expect to face) basically.
Game 1 is quite the game of [strike]draw-go[/strike] chicken with him way ahead on lands, so I can't act for fear of counterspells, but he doesn't want to pull the trigger first. When I finally catch up on lands and even manage to pull off a couple draw spells, he sticks 2 towers and the first Gearhulk. When I stick mine EoT then cast Quarantine Field targeting both towers+Hulk I expect him to empty his energy to remove my hulk, but he shoots my face instead and casts to the Slaughter. It even came down to my trying to flash Blessed Alliance back to gain a life buffer, but he plays more maindecks counters than me and I'm short on gas. First time I actually die to the towers (last week was to Chandra emblem).

The game took 35 minutes, so we joke that my only plan is to draw by getting a lucky Gideon beat-down game.
...
Game 2 is me sticking Gideon on the play turn 4 (off a 2-lander drawing me Gideon and both lands off 3 draws + Anticipate) because my opponent tapped his only blue source for Anticipate, then clock him in 3 turns with Beateon (and a manland to replace the killed token).
My opponent takes it well (he's a pretty cool guy) but since his deck can't pull out these fast wins at all it kinda moves him from a very likely 1-0 to a potential 1-2.

Game 3 with less than 10 minutes on the clock starts, I have some lands, some counters, and a Gearhulk...
Again it goes really fast, I get to prevent my opponent from playing a Tower and gaining energy, so the Gearhulk I drop is safe from Harnessed Lightning. I now have a 4 turns clock and actually enough time to end after my first hit!
I could lower the clock by activating my lone Fumarole, but it's not worth tapping so much mana on my turn.
Time is called and I can win on turn 5 for exact lethal, but he makes me counter a Gearhulk then To the Slaughter gets rid of the Gearhulk (not enough mana to activate Fumarole), and hitting for 4 instead of 5 for my last two turns leaves him alive at 2 life. I had it, but shit happens. :D

Playing him is super fun because even though there's so much draw-go, we just laugh our asses off at how absurd it is and start to pick up on control mirror subtleties since we've played each other at drafts and pre-releases already and know the other's style.

Game 1 has me with a kinda poor hand and a bit short on lands, so I have to let him play his Thing and Tower.
I have to burn Fumigate after the first one flips and he plays a 2nd one, just to get rid of them after taking a hit.
Then I misplay, not realising that his hand is probably almost mono-counters and sorcery-speed draw, and I play something allowing him to flip his 3rd Thing on my own turn, leading to another "free" attack.
Next turn I have 7 mana, enough for Fumigate with Blessed Alliance back-up in case of counter. I'd like to use Blessed Alliance with intensification to get rid of his attacker and gain life, but probably straight lose if he has a counter... so I have to fish with Fumigate, have it countered, and on his turn be lucky that he's out of counters.
He'll finish me off with towers though, energy racks up pretty darn fast.

Game 2 is a lot more comfortable because I can side in 6-7 counterspells, both to protect mine and deal with the towers for cheap.
That game didn't go as long because he doesn't draw a tower and, while an early Gideon gets removed it burns cards from his hand. After I get a Gearhulk out I start the beats, and while he can resolve a Rise from the Tides for 4 zombies, I have ways to remove 2 of them so I can even attack freely through them if I want. My opponent only plays around one removal so I finish him off. He's kinda miffed by the miss on his towers.

Game 3 plays out like the 2nd, but even faster because we both mull and my 6 is 2x Void Shatter, Negate, Anticipate and 2 lands, on the draw. I counter 2 spells on the way to turn 6, counter another with the Gearhulk, then his last-ditch Rise from the Tides with the Negate, and he taps out.
Again, he found no towers so he'd pretty disappointed. It was unlikely to happen but still possible (he barely saw 1/4th of his deck both games), and my game 3 starting hand was nuts assuming I get an untapped land in my first 3 draws + Anticipate. On the other hand, if he had access to more counterspells, even just Spell Shrivel... that'd probably play differently.
Deciding what to do with Take Inventories was interesting though. In the end you let the first one go but you usually counter the 2nd one onward I think.

First game is decided rather quickly, as he's a bit short on lands and doesn't have a Copter to throw my way early on. I take some damage until I get to counter one, and certain now that he doesn't have another one in hand I wipe the board with Radiant Flames. I do it again later ('cause Depala+Motorist would hurt), but I haven't found a wincon yet and my opponent's started casting burn straight to the dome.
I cast a Gearhulk but end up dangerously low, and I win when I hold my 2nd Gearhulk 'cause it's my only way to counter burn... rewarded. I don't really remember if I ended the game at 1 or 4 life, but it was very close in the end either way.

Post-board, I cut the towers and some draw for more anti-copters counters.
Game 2 my opponent goes Exemplar -> Exemplar -> topdecked Copter, which shapes the game as I kept a 2+ mana and Negate hand, so I can counter the copter but couldn't have on turn 2. Radiant Flames and a resolved Gearhulk later, the game wraps up quickly as my opponent draws a bit too many lands (he removes the Gearhulk with Fairgrounds Warden, I play Linvala to gain life, and next turn I untap and on his EoT Stasis Snare the Warden and flash a removal back to get rid of his other creature, with 10 power on my board).
The copter would have easily attacked twice, maybe thrice, before I removed it, and turned the other Exemplar on. That may not have killed me (would have had Radiant Flames regardless) but the loots could have changed things a lot.
Obviously I'm not complaining but I feel I got away with more than average for this match-up.