FNM - Nov 7, 2008

After a decent finish in last week's FNM, I used the same BG Elves deck again last Friday. However, noticing that a good amount of Red decks were being played in my local store, I decided to main deck Kitchen Finks instead of Cloudthreshers.



// Lands
4 [LRW] Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 [10E] Llanowar Wastes
2 [EVE] Twilight Mire
4 [MOR] Mutavault
4 [10E] Treetop Village
3 [UNH] Forest
3 [UNH] Swamp

// Creatures
4 [10E] Llanowar Elves
4 [LRW] Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 [10E] Troll Ascetic
3 [10E] Civic Wayfinder
3 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
4 [MOR] Chameleon Colossus

// Spells
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
4 [LRW] Nameless Inversion
2 [LRW] Eyeblight's Ending
4 [LRW] Profane Command

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker
SB: 1 [MOR] Mind Shatter
SB: 2 [10E] Mind Rot
SB: 1 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
SB: 4 [LRW] Cloudthresher
SB: 3 [ALA] Infest
SB: 1 [10E] Loxodon Warhammer


Round 1: vs. Cruel Control (won)

My "lucky" tendency for awesome round 1's continued that day, when I got paired up with the best player in the room - a regular Nats player whose surname and team name are almost synonymous with Filipino Magic. Good luck to me!

In game 1, things went to a great start as I was able to early Thoughtseize a Wrath away, and he couldn't keep up to my early beats of Vanquishers, and I beat him with a Profane to the face.

SB: +1 Mind Shatter, +2 Mind Rot, +3 Garruk, -3 Finks, -2 Nameless, -1 Profane

In game 2, I basically got Cruel Ultimatum'd twice, and lost. In game 3, I once again got lucky with my early Thoughtseize, and took out a crucial Remove Soul. I afterwards squeaked in a Mind Rot after an evoked Mulldrifter on his side, and he just got too far back, and lost to a Warhammer'd Ascetic. GG!

Game standing: 2-1
Match standing: 1-0


Round 2: Mono Red Aggro (won)

In game 1, we were just racing life, but apparently, you almost always never win that way against a Red deck, and I lost to a Demigod and an Incinerate to the face.

SB: +1 Warhammer, +1 Finks, +2 Mind Rot, -4 Thoughtseize

In game 2, my opponent didn't stand a chance against 2 Colossi. In game 3, my Kitchen Finks army went online, which is just not fair for the Red deck. ;)

Game standing: 4-2
Match standing: 2-0


Round 3: WW Kithkins (lost)

I basically got demolished in this round. Losing game 1 with my opponent at 43 life (thanks to two Knight of Meadowgrains with multiple Ajani counters), and losing game 2 via Mirrorweave with him still at perfect life.

Game standing: 4-4
Match standing: 2-1


Round 4: Fellowship of the Ring (won)

This was, unexpectedly, the most difficult, but still the most fun game I had all day. My opponent was using something similar to the decklist that popped up on the PT Berlin LCQ, with 14 Planeswalkers and utilizing their synergy with Rings of Brighthearth. My opponent always had 2 to 3 Planeswalkers online all the time, and I was basically just attacking every turn so that they wouldn't be able to use their super abilities.

My opponent would, for example, make 2 Soldier tokens from Elspeth, AND lock down my 2 Mutavaults with Ajani Vengeant, AND deal me 2 damage with Chandra ALL ON THE SAME TURN. Take note: all those abilities gave the respective planeswalkers +1 loyalty. I was just very lucky that my opponent didn't draw ANY of his 4 Wraths, so my Troll Ascetics eventually did their job and cleaned his board away of any remaining planeswalkers (thanks to some crucial Fear abilities via Profane). By the time I beat him on our first game though, time was already up, and I gladly won the round. :)

Game standing: 5-4
Match standing: 3-1


In the end, my 3-1 finish was apparently good enough for 3rd place (some pairings ended up in draws, which went in my favor), and I won 1 Alara pack (Battlegrace Angel), 1 Shadowmoor pack (Deep-Slumber Titan) and an Isochron Scepter FNM card -- my very first FNM card won via standings (and not just given away for free :) )



Good times. :)