The LiquidLegends Lounge - Page 1853

Game 1 I run my removal out a bit early on Arvad, and later he slam Torgar and puts me to 10, ready to pressure hard.
Aryel is way worse when her abilities read "tap her to make a chump blocker", especially because my opponent has the saproling lord to and 3 tokens (I traded a couple thing with the thallids proper), and after I kick Skin-Witch (giving up on making a token that turn) to get rid of his last card (Gideon's Reproach), he topdecks Urgoros to have a flying blocker (my plan became "Pegasus + Aryel over 4 turns") so I lose.
Game 2 is more of the same, crack the G memorial to find Torgar then use Llanowar elves and as sacrificed token to run it out on turn 6. My eviscerate's out again, after saving to use it on the turn 4 Serra Angel, so RIP, can't play Feral Abomination to at least trade (I sided in a 2nd one after game 1).
I notably whiff on Impulse after mulliganing down to 6 on the play, which feels as bad as you can imagine.
0-2 in games, 0-1 matches

That's a regular, who managed to 0-3 the pre-release with History of Benalia, 2x Lyra and the Phyrexian Scriptures.
I'm not sure anymore where his level lies because he does dumb shit sometimes, and clearly builds/picks wrong at times (I remember a very obviously open merfolk draft early in RIX where he botched pretty much the entire pack 3, misplayed his triggers and limped to 1-2), despite having had success prior to that.

Game 1 he stays on 3 mana for a couple turns and Dubs a Mesa Unicorn, then slaps On Serra's Wings on it as soon as he finds his 4th land. I've got Fight with Fire sitting in hand with none of my 4 R sources in sight so I'm sad, and I don't find Broken Bond either (I'd play Invoke the Divine but W's a splash already). I sideboard heavily against his aura plan, especially if he's going to misplay like this again, and on to game 2.
I put him on the play, he mulls and keeps his 6, Knight of Grace, Deathbloom Thallid, Demonic Vigor, 3 lands. I use Skittering Surveyor to enable my splash and go Aryel -> Baloth Gorger. I figure I might as well make him run out his tricks since I've played Memorial to Folly and block Aryel on Thallid and Baloth on Knight, he re-reads his cards and realises Demonic Vigor is an aura, not an instant (mentions he already made the mistake in game 1, so without trying to play it), and... suddenly it's plague wind? Uh. Couple turns later he scoops as I'm hitting for 6+ a turn through the chump and I have removal for the creatures he played (Tragic Poet for his sagas). Half his draws were lands.

Game 3 starts slower and is a bit hazy, but it goes "Broken Bonds on Phyrexian Scriptures, topdeck Eviscerate for your topdecked Josu, gain 10 life with Krosan Druid, Invoke the Divine on another big enchantment played, then Pegasus Courser + kicked Baloth Gorger is a fast clock and I don't care about The Eldest Reborn as you only have Josu as valuable stuff and I'm holding Memorial to Folly to fizzle a stealing attempt."
He had Aryel that I never saw. His pool wasn't too weak aside from some questionable stuff (Tragic Poet should boarded in for grindy match-ups), it was mainly his plays like misreading Demonic Vigor and not giving it the boot after round 1, forgetting to kick Stronghold Confessor, etc. He ends up 0-4 but the deck he fought in the last round was weird for an 0-3, he basically won by playing a legend the nuking the board Urza-style, which goes well when Torgar and Yargle are his legendary creatures.
1-1

I'm paired up as he had a draw, but I have no idea who it was against so it doesn't necessarily say much about the speed of his deck.
Game 1 he goes Blackblade, welp. I kill Valduk asap when he plays him a couple turns later, but I'm flooding hard. Basically I drew 10 lands and 6 spells, Sporecrown Thallid, Saproling Migration, Rite of Belzenlok and 3 removal. Thanksfully for me he's only playing small creatures, and topdecks Seal Away after the Rite demon gets to hit him once. Since he's short on removal and I've kicked Saproling Migration by then, I eviscerate his Sapherd and turn my non-cleric stuff sideways for 10 damage. Next turn he kills the Thallid lord and trades with a token but he went down to 1 so I can win. Good thing 'cause he was at 6 lands and would have killed me in 2 Blackblade Swings with a 7th and a creature, I was still holding 3 lands.

Game 2 I flood again and he's got Blackblade again, but I'm holding Invoke the Divine. I play too greedy, letting his 2/2 hit me (Sporecrown Thallid stops his tokens/elf) because I want to remove the sword after he wastes a full turn equipping it, and kick Krosan Druid to undo his damage and stop his bear. I'm flooding so it's reasonable, but my opponent remains at 5 mana which is actually worse for me than if he kept making his land drops...
In the end he can go wide after filtering mana for Siege-Gang Commander, so even though I immediatly remove it while he's tapped out I lose.

Game 3 is a grind, Knight of Malice stops a lot of his things so he obviously lacks tricks. I have Aryel and Invoke the Divine in starting hand, which combined with Knight would let me devastate his board if I find a plains, also insurance against Blackblade.
I draw a bunch of lands and make a board while he does too, but he gets Valduk and Blackblade right after I make a big "mistake"... which is to crack my Memorial to Unity 'cause I'm tired and in need of gas. Next card was plains, and 3rd one was Grow from Ashes. So now in my remaining 25 cards or so (20 since I know the bottom), I need Skittering Surveyor or Broken Bond or I just, simply, straight-up lose. I have no control on the game anymore, it's all in variance's hands now.
... and my opponent's, technically. Baloth Gorger and another thing suicide against Valduk and he doesn't have 7 mana yet so I've got a couple turns of respite, I also get to kill Siege-Gang Commander as soon as it comes down (through filtered mana so no activation up again), as I'd been holdig onto my removal for turns what with being in a pinch. Slimefoot shows up, whom I'd forgotten about, immediatly eats Fiery Intervention but I can build up a couple tokens with all my additional mana in response, I draw Memorial to Folly but my opponent kicked Ghitu Chronicler to get back the Intervention, meaning I can't replay Slimefoot while he has it in hand (and my Skin-Witch's already in play). He's slowly whittling down my chump blockers with the blade, but for some reason doen't try to attack with his 10+ creatures since I'm somewhat low and he could probably kill me in 2 attacks (had to take hits from a flyer before I decided to burn a removal on it). I don't think he was playing around Sporecrown Thallid because I get to kill his Mammoth Spider on an half-assed attack... right after he used the Intervention to kill the Knight of Malice.

With the road open (and 12+ mana) I rebuy Slimefoot and go wider while draining 1 per turn as I chump the blade, until I finally draw Broken Bond with around 10 cards left in my library, destroy the blade and start swinging with half the saprolings, making more on his end step.
Time's called, in turn 1 I draw Surveyor and finally get back my plains from the bottom then slam Aryel, and the next turn topdeck Fight with Fire, so since my drains and unblocked saprobears put him to 9 I end it with the kicker.

Phew.
I somehow won, but... yeah. That was 100% my opponent, after cracking Memorial to Unity basically put me in topdeck mode with 2/21 outs and the Abyss on my opponent's side.
Some would enjoy the grind and praying opp somehow fucks up, but to respond to Wave's questions earlier I don't and it feels extra bad to think "well I rely on him messing up" or hope he messes up.
2-1 in games

We built in front of the other, he's basically BW splashing U for Raff and R for removal (his R removal was super good, but the colour pool was utter garbage, kinda like mine).
Game 1 I'm stuck on mana and he's got turn 6 Belzenlok so...

Game 2 starts a bit slower, I manage to stabilise after facing t5 kicked Skizzix and Guardians of Koilos next, with a D'Avenant Trapper to make it extra hard for me. Kicked Saproling Migration helped although trample hurts. I'm afraid of the Trapper and want to make trades asap so I throw Baloth Gorger, Feral Abomination and kicked Untamed Kavu at him hoping to melt his board, it works and I have to reveal my super-secret anti-Belzenlok tech: Arbor Armaments to let Feral Abomination trade with it (or a kicked Baloth Gorger eat it but I doubt it) This lets Untamed Kavu survive as a 6/6 and I find Rite of Belzenlok. He can't handle the demon and scoops.

Game 3 I keep a 3-lander with Sporecrown Thallid, Saproling Migration, Rite of Belzenlok and removal (also both my memorials in the lands, and a swamp so any land in 4 draw steps is on-curve Rite).
I get the Rite online, and while my opponent has Urgoros after the saga pops I decide to go to the races since I've got a walled Knight of Malice and an un-castable Fight with Fire in hand. It pays off, and I get to chump Evra who comes down afterwards with a saproling which I kill with Fungal Infection to deny life gain. He spends his remaining mana swapping again to not stay at 4, dead on board, but his hand is the The Flame of Keld and 2 lands so he has to scoop.
I think we misplayed a trigger, where Urgoros should have drawn him a card as Fungal Infection was my last one in hand, but I forgot and I'm not sure whether he did.
3-1 in matches