The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1800

Only 4 people (EDH sucked up a couple of them, and others were at GP Lyon) so we went round robin.

0-2 against monoR, first game my removal didn't line up with Rampaging Ferocidon and Kari Zev is too quick a clock. Second game I had 3 fatal pushes and evolving wild in starting hand so I figured with a draw spell and/or a counter for Chandra/Hazoret on turn 4 I could easily stall and turn the corner. Ended up with 6 spells and 13 lands that game, RIP.

Then 0-2 against UW Gift. First game Freebooter takes his Gift and strands a Refurbish in his hand, but his t3 Champion of Wits finds another Gift to pitch. He's only got a Sacred Cat in his yard so I can Fatal Push it and then I have Hostage Taker to steal his Gift and try to get to 7 lands or find a sizable threat before he can find something else (only one Gift left so solid position for me)... but I never draw a 4th land despite Chart a Course and he draw 2x Minister of Inquiries so shoving creatures in the yard isn't an issue anymore.
Second game he mulls to 5, I have 2x Freebooter in hand, gotta feel good! ... then I draw absolutely no gas and he can actually race me (Minister of Inquiries + Champion of Wits to 2x Freebooter), and despite reducing his hand to lands with them he just topdecks the turn 5 Angel of Invention after embalming both Sacred Cats in his yard turn 4 and at that point only Vraska's Contempt into maybe Gearhulk could save me. I draw another land.


Last match against Merfolk, who's 0-2 too, apparently he mulled to 4, 0 lands on game 3 vs monoR and lost to a topdeck war because he managed to rip 3 lands somehow (and Rishkar gave him the rest of his mana).
Game 1 is mostly geared around Kopala. I figured against decks that mostly revolve around spot removal (so no counters, nor sweepers, not decent defensive bodies) he'd be decent, but not exceptional by himself. Essence Extraction increasing to 5 mana is a tough pill and prevents me from using it + fatal push however, and actually buying him a couple turns to cast other spells to put his 3+ cmc creatures out of range of Extraction makes it tough for me though.
Because of that, he actually gets to keep Kopala + a Metallic Mimic until a Verdurous Gearhulk drops and I take a bunch of damage (I slammed Scarab God just before, mistake since holding Extraction would have let me kill Kopala and stranding a lot of counters as he made it a 6/6). Gonti bought him a couple turns, but Kopala making it so I never really got to spend all my removal ended up deciding the game when an exploration revealed Herald of Secret Streams (I had stabilised on board and Extraction could let me live till God went off): I kept Extraction in hand, intending to kill it after attackers were declared, reanimating his Gearhulk and eating his board before winning on the backswing. 'cept a Mimic had been sitting there forever and its wording means that Herald is never on the field as a 2/3 for me to kill. Oops.

Game 2 starts off a lot better for me and my opponent nervously laughs and protests at the 3x Gifted Aetherborn over the first 5 turns. He's going super wide and Mimic lets him get pretty big too. Thanksfully for me, I get to remove the Mimic and without card filtering he ends up drawing more lands than he needs (he'll never spend more than 6 in a turn, and that'd be Gearhulk + Blossoming Defense). He still has River Sneaks, one with a counter, and at some point I'm at 5 life, against a 1/1 and a 2/2 Sneaks, meaning any merfolk or Defense next turn is lethal.
He's got a bunch of 3/2s and 3/3s too, so when Hostage Taker let me cast his Rishkar I put a counter on Taker and Aetherborn, intending to chump rather than trade with Rishkar. I have 7 lands, so 9 mana to cast the God in my hand and activate something... if I tap the Gifted Aetherborn. Had I put the counter on Rishkar instead, I could have attacked to gain 2 life and force him to have 2 cards rather than one for lethal, then played God and held up the 4 mana to reanimate another Aetherborn and start gaining 4 life a turn.
So instead I decide to play Torrential Gearhulk and buy back Fatal Push: this way he still needs Blossoming Defense to save the River Sneak, and a Merfolk next turn to deal 5. He doesn't have Blossoming Defense so all of a sudden I have at least one full turn, and my 3/4 lifelinker can buy me about 2 more—on top of that with Rishkar, Taker and next turn God as blockers, I can start clocking and offer 1-for-2s for his non-unblockable creatures or a 2-turns clock.
He had lands so the 3 life gained + the god makes him concede.

Game 3 is crazy. I mull on the draw, and he keeps a 2-lander and misses land drops but he goes t2 Mimic, t3 Mimic -> I play Freebooter and see Rishkar, Kumena's Speaker, Verdurous Gearhulk, Herald of Secrets Streams and I don't remember the other creature. If he gets a 3rd land it gets critical for me, Rishkar lets him play anything and crush me.
He topdecks Merfolk Branchwalker and I joke that I'm in a pickle if he explores a forest... which he does. She becomes a 4/3 from the Mimics, he slams the forest and Kumena's Speaker which becomes a 4/4. Welp.
From here, my land heavy hand has Torrential Gearhulk, Glimmer of Genius and Vraska's Contempt. I want to hit my land drops and the Contempt asap so I can t6 Hulk and Contempt again, but I'm looking at a 4/4, a 4/3, a 3/2 and a 2/1 with each subsequent Merfolk coming in with 2 counters, and a Rishkar next turn (if he topdecks a land he even can Rishkar -> put a counter on the first Mimic, tap 4 creatures + the land and cast Gearhulk) so I'm pretty much forced to hold my Supreme Will for Rishkar and think about how much I want to sandbag with my 2/3 deathtouch and 1/2 before I trade/chump.
I end up having to Contempt a Mimic to stem the bleeding, eating a 4/4 attacker and exiling a Herald of Secret Streams he just played (holy shit!), but he plays Vineshaper Mystic and makes Branchwalker a 6/5.
I could try to find some other piece of removal + a land with Glimmer of Genius, but if I miss I have to at least lose the Gearhulk. So I cast Chart a Course, find Gonti on top, so I cheerfully pitch Glimmer and slam land + Gonti so I don't have to chump/trade with the Gearhulk.
I find a second Contempt and get rid of another big Kumena's Speaker, putting me at 5 life, but my opponent has Mimic + a 3/5 Vineshaper Mystic. My 1-of Hostage Taker exiles the Mystic just because I'd have to chump it anyway for fear of Blossoming Defense lethal... and we get told that time has already been called. Ups.
We play 5 additional turns just to check, and I'd have killed him on turn 4 by bringing back his Verdurous Gearhulk and something else for life loss + bunch of counters, but it's a draw.