The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1818

15 people, we missed a 16th who said he'd come, oh well.
Faced my 2nd monoR with URb control splashing Scarab God. Lost game 1 to trading 1-for-1 until opp drew Chandra, despite him putting her to 8 rather than making an emblem and me flashing a gearhulk EoT to make sure he wouldn't get another chance, then won game 2 when he mulled into Bomat Courier + 5 lands, kept, and I removed the Courier t2 despite drawing several creatures afterward.

Then game 3, he's on the play, we have less than 10 minutes left in the round and have been playing pretty fast as a result.
On turn 5, he has 4 lands, 2 cards in hand, Earthshaker Khenra and Soulscar Mage.
I've got 4 lands, one that I just played tapped, 9 life after attacks and in hand Abrade, Sweltering Suns, Torrential Gearhulk, a 5th land and Supreme Will.

He casts Lightning Strike targeting me. I Censor'd Hazoret last turn.
I'm figuring that he may have Hazoret in hand if he's unloading his hand this fast, although it may be to try and close the game asap because he'd get super frustrated to go to time. He's also not the type to bluff things, either to sell them or to try and hide them.
I would love to have Negate or Essence Scatter in hand so next turn I can untap, Sweltering Suns the board and have counter backup to shut the game on him topdecking vs an incoming Gearhulk. But I don't.

So my choices are:
- Sweltering Suns next turn and hold up Abrade, if his last card is a creature I have stabilised at 6 life (9 if I counter the Strike), and although he's got several deserts and an Earthshaker Khenra in the yard so a lot of land draws are live too for surprise damage the Gearhulk may be able to close the game quickly enough if I find something else to leave back for hasty creatures.
- Abrade something, next turn hold up Supreme Will and whatever I draw, counter his threat. I'm at 5 life but as long as I get a removal, God/Whirler Virtuoso, or 6th land for the Gearhulk (best case), I'm in a good position to get rid of his other creature and start turning the corner. But a lower life total leaves me much more vulnerable to his topdecks.

The 2nd choice still looks best to me because Hazoret is just going to murder me if it's what he has (same with Chandra), as in kill me in 2-3 turns regardless of any draw aside from Hour of Devastation.
Basically, if he doesn't have what all signs point to, first case most likely wins me the game, second case leaves me at a precarious life total.
If he has and I still go for first case I lose, while second case forces him into topdeck mode and I'm favoured but may take awhile to win (and bricking makes him much more likely to topdeck the needed burn before I close).

My head tells me to play it safe and punish him but my heart still goes for the first line of play, aiming at the high upside of winning quickly (in terms of both time clock and # of turns) if it isn't Hazoret.
Of course he has it.

Fuuuck man, I knew it, I had him read and I knew what to do but I guess I didn't want to accept the harsh position where it'd leave me and tried to be hopeful. That and the clock almost over.
I should have just played the same I usually do and ignore the clock and go for the best play for me. Finals were him against a Grixis pirates deck I'd already beat before, probably more tuned but it doesn't have burn nor ways to punish my sweepers so I'd be pretty confident to win that and the sweet map playmat with it.

That'll teach me!