Game 1 - My opponent plays a couple of Hordeling Outbursts, then a Stormbreath Dragon and I lose before I can draw 1 more burn spell with my opponent at 2 life (I had two draw steps to draw a burn spell).
Game 2 - I get my opponent to 1 life and then lose...
The day is looking ominous.
0-1
Round Loss.
Game 1 - I lead with 1 drop into removal spell and just tempo out his little guys that die to almost all of my removal. Abzan Aggro is the deck that I want to play all day. The deck durdles around with its mana too much and searing blood really does a number on it.
Game 2 - He keeps jamming 3/3's and I draw the wrong removal suite in order to deal with them. I still get him down to 8 but he has too much control over the board.
Game 3 - My opponent tries to race and almost gets there since he has double Siege Rhino but I manage to burn him out.
1-1
Round Win.
Game 1 - I play dudes and spells and end the game at 17 life.
Game 2 - He plays an early 3/3 and then a sweeper. Then he plays a Siege Rhino. I get him down to 7 but he then plays another Siege Rhino and is able to race me back. A big draw to me this weekend was playing Prophetic Flamespeaker since it survives through Drown in Sorrow and helps rebuild your board post sweeper. It was in these sorts of matches that I want exactly that effect.
Game 3 - My opponent mulligans and I just smash with little red guys.
2-1
Round Win.
Game 1 - We trade back and forth while he plays Hordeling Outburst. I have Goblin Rabblemaster though and can create my own goblins while whittling his down.
Game 2 - I try a new sideboard plan of taking out 15 cards from my main deck and bringing in 15 cards from the sideboard...I take out - Foundry Street Denizen, Mardu Scout, Frenzied Goblin, Firedrinker Satyr and Magma Jet. I manage to save my Goblin Rabblemaster in this game from an Arc Lightning with a Titan's Strength. That gives me enough tempo to take control. Oh yeah and my opponent sighs when he sees prophetic flamespeaker.
3-1
Round Win.
Game 1 - I kill some of his dudes and play my own guys to race. Searing Blood is MVP again. Trading a random guy + a Searing Blood for one of his blockers is the same thing as Lightning Strike to the face. Sure your opponent got a 2 for 1 but by that time you should have already got 2+ points of damage in from that creature so you shouldn't mind too much. Card advantage doesn't matter when your opponent is dead.
Game 2 - He manages to sweep the board and wrestle control with a Courser gaining a bunch of life.
Game 3 - I go full on aggro and my opponent has a Courser that cannot block. All weekend I was very impressed with Frenzied Goblin and Goblin Heelcutter. When I would curve into turn 3/4 Heelcutter it was almost impossible to lose. The dash mechanic is also particularly good against sweepers since it stops you getting X for 1'd every time.
Round Win.
Game 1 - I lose game one when we are racing since he drew double Stormbreath Dragon.
Game 2 - I side into my bad mono red control deck and patiently kill his stuff and eventually land a Prophetic Flamespeaker which gets chained to the Rocks. When it gets unchained from the rocks I go crazy.
Game 3 - We get into a race again, only this time I have scouring sands to help me out.
Round Win.
Game 1 - I fail to read that Heir of the Wilds has deathtouch but I win anyway...awkward.
Game 2 - I get Wingmate Roc'd. I make an obviously bad attack this game and my opponent calls me on it (I was dead anyway) but it gave me info for G3. I like to do this if I am going to lose a game anyway because it makes my opponent think about what tricks I may or may not have in my deck (Titan's Strength, etc.).
Game 3 - My opponent mulls hard and it lets me run him over pretty quickly.
6-1
Round Win.
Game 1 - I have more burn spells than him, so I just burn out his guys. I also use a Titan's Strength to "counter" a burn spell. :)
Game 2 - In game 2 I side in Prophetic Flamespeaker. The end up shutting down his whole game plan (Hordeling Outburst) and then I play Scouring Sands.
Round Win.
8-1
Round Win.
Wow that was a long day of Magic, especially after losing round 1...
Game 1 - We trade aggression back and forth and I get him down to 2 life and brick for 2 turns in drawing a burn spell to finish him off.
Game 2 - He manages to wrestle control of the game quite quickly as he plays all 4 Hordeling Outbursts...I do have the scouring sands part way through to disrupt him but he is dealing me big chunks of damage and burning out the guys I do play.
While I am sitting down for my off camera feature match they call my name for legacy and I put my hand up, they say that they have me down. After I lose in standard I head over to legacy and I have a game loss already since I am 5 minutes late (I am fine with that). I am paired against Jonathon, Job and we start to shuffle up. The judges then come over to tell me that I am not allowed to play in both events...I begrudgingly drop from legacy since the EV should be higher in Standard (unfortunately). The judges couldn't give me a good reason as to why I was not allowed to play in both events but promised I would get a refund so I didn't make too much of a fuss.
9-2
Round Loss.
This is a feature match so I need to find the video and i'll link it.
G1/G2 - The same thing happens both games. I keep a 7 card hand of 1 threat, 3 burn spells and 3 mountains. This is not an ideal hand but it is about as good as a 6 card hand and it has a lot of interaction at least. In both games I don't draw any more creatures and just get flooded on more mountains. There was no play to either of these games from my side. Afterwards, I lament with Avery a little saying that this is a good matchup for me. He thinks it is a good matchup for him...so who knows. I think my 17/18 burn spells that kill all of his guys gives me the edge but who knows.
After having to drop out of legacy, it is a little rough to start the day 0-2...
9-3
Round Loss.
It is at this point that I begin to wonder if yesterday was a fluke and maybe I should have dropped to play legacy...
Game 1 - I play 1 drop into searing blood and just tempo him out using my burn spells to clear the way.
Game 2 - I use burn spells to clear the way again and finish him off with a lightning strike while I am still at 16 life.
10-3
Round Win.
This was a big win for me since I don't know how this can be a bad matchup unless I only draw 1 threat...
Round 13 - Milo, Jb (Abzan Control)
I have played against JB at several events now and I have a 100% win percentage against him. From my recollection, he likes to play grindy and/or control decks, so I assumed he would be playing Abzan or UB Control.
Game 1 - I win game one despite him playing 2 Courser or Kruphix and gaining 1 life off of each and also playing a Siege Rhino and gaining 3 life. Stoke the Flames and Frenzied Goblin are a thing...:)
Game 2- I get killed quite quickly by Courser into, Siege Rhino into removal spell + removal spell.
Game 3 - I make good use of the dash mechanic to apply lots of pressure to JB while also protecting myself against drown in sorrow. Foundry Street Denizen + Mardu Scout is 5 damage a turn...that is no joke.
At some point during the match our neighbors next to us let me know I messed up a Goblin Rabblemaster trigger (not attacking with a Foundry Street Denizen). We call a judge and rewind the situation so that I do it correctly...oops.
11-3
Round Win.
Game 1 - I lose because I Titan's strength a searing blood to the bottom of my library on turn 2 when I am looking for land number 3, so that I can curve out properly. If I keep the Searing Blood I just crush him since he plays Xenegos and it bricks my team long enough for him to gain control.
Game 2 - I am on the play and he cannot do anything as I fully aggro/tempo him out of the game.
Game 3 - Tannon mulls to 5. I keep a reasonable 7 cards hand. He is at 6 life and he plays an Elvish Mystic and says go (we are playing quickly since I think I have won and he thinks he has lost) when I have an Eidolon in play and a stoke the flames in hand. I say ok and touch my lands. I look at my Eidolon and Tannon says "come on you missed it." This is when I should have stopped and called a judge. The judge may or may not have ruled in my favor but I really needed to slow this game down and take charge of what is happening. Instead I go on mini tilt. I don't know if I have lost yet but I know I am not winning next turn like I should have. It is worth mentioning that I am stuck on 2 lands and that is really constraining me on being able to win this game. I keep committing to the board but keep taking 2 damage in order to do that. I take 10 damage this game from my own lands and eventually Tannon untaps and casts Whisperwood Elemental and his manifest is a Polukranos (I don't know this yet of course). I end up using my stoke on the Whisperwood Elemental instead of him (which is a mistake since I should just all out attack then burn him out the next turn the only time the stoke him plan might be bad is if he draws Nylea's Disciple). Eventually I get him down to 2 life and I am at 10 life. He has 1 turn to kill me. He has a Polukranos but not enough mana to make it lethal. He counts up his on board damage (I have no blockers and I am tapped out) then he flashes me the Arc Lightning...I concede the game...the only problem...he is at 2 life and I have an Eidolon in play. So yeah, that happened.
I came to game and I got gamed.
11-4
Round Loss.
I am tilted. I know that this last round is hugely important for my final standings and if something really weird happens (DQ or something) I could even sneak into the top 8 (not likely but still). More important is that I really want to top 16 after I threw away my chance to Top 8.
Game 1 - My curve for this game is insane...I drop a turn 1 Monastery Swiftspear. He goes land go. I Dash a Mardu Scout to hit him for 4 life and say go. On his turn he plays a Sylvan Caryatid. I play Goblin Rabblemaster and attack. He plays a turn 3 Siege Rhino going to 15 life. I untap play goblin heel cutter and attack for 14 damage. He untaps and plays another Siege Rhino but I just heelcutter attack him dead despite his two big blockers.
Game 2 - My opponent sticks a turn 3 Courser and it gains him a ton of life. Then he also sticks a Siege Rhino and smashes me with it.
Game 3 - My opponent mulligans and Frenzied goblin shows up to do some work alongside his other little red pals.
12-4
Round Win.
Propetic Flamespeaker for surviving through all the Drown in Sorrows
Cheers,
Simon
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