The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1715

He doesn't have enough stuff I want to counter, and even on the play couldn't get a t3 Tezzeret's Touch (which generally wins 'cause 5 toughness it hard to crack with Harnessed, you won't always have time to Glimmer before you die).
Super slow game 1, and game 2 is a drag because I counter a bunch of stuff but don't draw a wincon. I even end up Abrading a Pacification Array so my manlands can block servos. Goes to time and I win 1-0.
1-0

Incredulous "what" upon learning there are so many of them.
Game 1 my opponent misses his 3rd land drop, but it's 0K 'cause I don't have a counter for Nissa t4. He keeps plussing her and missing land drops, but I brick a ton too, though I save Disallow for her ult.
I glimmer EoT, draw, 9 cards in hand, 4 lands in play. I decide I'll discard an island, so I play Spirebluf Canal.
My opponent ults Nissa, I disallow, and he plays another Nissa on 3 lands. I look at the Censor in my hand and my Canal. Punt!
I'll keep drawing meh and he keeps plussing Nissa, since just making a plant each turn is enough to blank a Gearhulk. I flashback Disallow to stop another Nissa ult but I find none of my sweepers and run out of counters so I lose.

Game 2 I counter a couple plays, and have freshly drawn Hour of Devastation, Supreme Will and Harnessed Lightning when he Collective Brutality me with 3 open mana. RIP, talk about a punish. He punts back when I counter Gonti and miss Rishkar who can make a 3rd mana, and he misses it too. I cast another Supreme Will as my last card in hand, in need to find a draw spell or something... 2nd Hour of Devastation, Torrential Gearhulk, land and Supreme Will. Fuck me. I keep the Gearhulk for the versatility, ability to kll his attacks and flashback Glimmer if needed. Then I draw for the turn and it's another Gearhulk. Fuck. Me.
Eventually I lose because AKH Liliana resolves and brings back Gonti (deathtouch) who steals a Negate, and the next turn I can't Magma Spray a blocker and activate 2x manlands because I held a land as my last card in hand. Punt! It's not like he'd have held it expecting a counter. Then I attack Liliana with a Gearhulk and 2 manlands... and my opponent at 5 (I forgot I got through so much, in my head he was at 15). I could have forced him to lose a Tireless Tracker to stay alive, still not in a great position but not going to lose the game a couple turns later. Punt?
1-1 and I certainly deserve it.

Basically werewolves, voltaic brawler, Lathnu Hellion, Cub, Rhonas and a bit of burn.
Game 1 I don't get many lands and end up almost out of gas when he starts flooding, and with Blossoming Defenses and Heroic Intervention stuck in hand. From here I'm basically navigating at best I can to get rid of his stuff, and I can't ever cast a Gearhulk willy-nilly because he'll resolve a Shock to finish me (one brought me from 3 to 1). I burn his resources and once I have the mana to Hulk + counter and know he can't have 2x Shock in hand I win.

Game 2 he misses his 3rd land drop once, then stays at 4 (which is normal for his deck tho) while I draw a bunch of lands but since he can't play 2 things per turn I get to stabilise and take over again. Still ended up low tho, games were tense and super fun.
He actually has Jaddi Offshoot and Retreat to Kazandu in his sideboard against monoR and I'm curious to see how it'd go, an 0/3 actually forces exerts or Incendiary Flow to get rid of.
2-1

A paired down player lost his match earlier so he's the only 3-0 and I'm paired up. He's a frequent drafter, and frequently requires take backs there due to his misplays and missed triggers. He's been a bit joked about as a fotm player since he bought into Modern with the perceived best deck at the time (Company with Devoted combo) and decided to go monoR 'cause it won the PT. He hasn't practiced it at all since he had to borrow the missing cards yesterday evening.
I lose the toss which sucks since while my deck is "tuned" for this match-up it's still a ton of damage and I lose the opportunity to crush his tempo with a Censor on his t2 play.
Game 1 we both mull, I keep a 5-lander + draw because what the fuck I can't afford to go to 5, either I get interaction and he empties my hand before I have 4 lands and he topdecks better, or I don't and I lose anyway. Scry a land down, topdeck Gearhulk and Glimmer of Genius while he goes Courier turn 1. Yeah next, lemme put 2x Magma Spray, 2x Chandra's Defeat, and a 2nd Sweltering Suns in. At least I learnt he plays Glorybringers main with like 22 lands.

Game 2 we both keep, I have 3 lands, Magma Spray, Harnessed Lightning, Supreme Will and Glimmer. I utterly crush him and win while at 11 life, with a misplay I made knowingly tho: I let him play Crasher and flash a Gearhulk in, flashback Glimmer, block. If he had Abrade I'd take 3 damage, if he has Incendiary Flow I lose the Hulk even tho I 2-for-1. He's got an Incendiary Flow. The right play would have been to flashback a removal spell to play a round Abrade. I only did that because I was hugely ahead already and had another Gearhulk in hand, but still, bad form and I knew I was being greedy.
I mention that line and how I knew it wasn't good and he looks at me wide-eyed when I mention Abrade killing Gearhulks. He asks me to confirm and looks through his sideboard to put 3 of them in, telling me he thought it was non-creature artifacts. Yup. Only card he'd boarded in was Aethersphere Harvester (the fuck? It's annoying to Harnessed Lightning down but it's slow as balls and I play Abrade too).

Game 3 I keep a 2-lander with multiple removal, draw, and cycling on the draw. Who goes first proves how crucial it is with Censor not being able to counter his t2 Kari Zev (representing 6+ damage, and the removal I used on it instead of something else).
I still reduce his damage a ton but even after 4 draw steps and a cycle I haven't found a single goddamn land, and I've drawn 2 Glimmers and a Gearhulk, so literally half my hand is dead and I'm about to be variance'd out.
I mention how hard some lines of play are (since we've got spectators), mentioning how Sweltering Suns vs 4 lands leaves me naked against Hazoret while Kozilek's Return leaves me free to counter her pre-combat, or make him waste haste if he saves her for main2 while I wipe his board. His reaction shows he'd never considered these kind of lines, but I don't own Kozilek's return so I wipe his board and he doesn't have Hazoret.
In the end I stabilise and force him into topdecks, with 6 lands (no hulk) but I'm at 1, so the writing's on the wall unless he's stupidly unlucky (I have counters for burn, and removal, but can't interact with any of the 8 deserts he still has) and I lose a couple turns later.
2-2

We play another game and I utterly crush him, only going to 14 because of deserts and uncountered shocks, feeling like I drew amazingly, but when I check the cards I got I actually had multiple Glimmers and about an average amount of removal spells, I just drew so badly games 1&3 that I mistook a decent/standard start for a nuts one.