FNM - Mar 20, 2009

The Blightning deck failed me miserably the day before, so I decided to take the BG Elves deck again to the FNM.



Round 1: vs. UW Merfolk (lost)

Things didn't start off well, as I got stuck at 3 lands and I easily lost game 1. In the second game, I ran out of removal and a single Wake Thrasher beat me to a pulp very quickly.

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


Round 2: vs. Blightning Aggro (lost)

Disappointed at my first round (it was supposed to be a good matchup for me) I vowed to do better in my second round. Alas, it was not to be, as I once again got beat 0-2 by a goblin-build Blightning deck. Voracious Dragon combined with Goblin Assault did me in on the second game.

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


Round 3: vs. Esper Control (lost)

I had the man-land god draw in the first game, as I very quickly beat my opponent with a Treetop Village and a pair of Mutavaults. In the second game, a pair of Magister Sphinx -- the first one putting my opponent at 10 life (from 2 life), and the second one putting me at 10 life (from 24 life) -- sealed the deal for my opponent. In game 3, I made a stupid mistake that cost me the round. I was at 18 life, and my opponent at 8 life, but my opponent had board advantage because he had 7 power worth of creatures on the board (forgot what). Time was then called while it was his turn. In my turn (turn 1), I did something irrelevant. In his turn (turn 2), he swinged for 7, putting me at 11. Then on my turn (turn 3), I drew zip again, and after a few minutes of pondering, and knowing that I had no way of winning it, I scooped up my cards. Duh! It was then that everyone watching reminded me that my opponent didn't have enough damage to kill me on the 4th turn, which was his last. Stupid stupid mistake. It was supposed to end in a draw, but I "conceded".

Game standing: 1-6
Match standing: 0-3


Round 4: vs. BW Discarder (won)

After the last round's stupidity error, I had decided to drop from the tourney. However, the TO didn't register my drop, so I got paired anyway with someone else with a 0-3 record. Not wanting to cause further confusion, I decided to play anyway. Good thing I did, as I at least finally got my share of wins, by beating my opponent easily in two games. All I remember is that I had Profanes for each of his Nyxathids, and I beat him with faerie tokens and manlands.

Final game standing: 3-6
Final match standing: 1-3

Disappointing performances are starting to pile up again... :(

WPN Gateway Level Tourney - Mar 19, 2009

Three weeks ago, when I went to our local store to playtest with Joven (after a looong day of work, I should say), I caught some players do a sanctioned 8-man draft. Wanting to possibly join the draft the following week, I arrived at the store a little earlier than usual. Unfortunately, when I arrived, nobody was there to draft. Fortunately though, some players were trying to fill-up an 8-man Standard Constructed tournament instead. Of course, I signed up. :) When all slots were filled (there were 10 of us), we started the tournament, and I played with my Blightning deck from the past two FNMs.



Round 1: vs. Bant Control (lost)

When my opponent first cast a Seaside Citadel, I thought that I was perhaps against the Dark Doran deck, or some form of Bant aggro deck. However, when my opponent Broken Ambition'd my third turn Shambling Remains, I knew I was up against the control version of the deck. I never really had a chance to win in the first game, as my opponent had countermagic for most of my spells, and he kept on gaining life (via Rhox War Monk) while I worked hard to trim it down. I knew it was GG when he played Oona, Queen of the Fae, and I conceded soon after that. In the second game, my deck cooperated a little bit better, putting my opponent down to 6 life a couple of times, but two Primal Commands (gaining life on both times, of course) are just too much for any red deck to beat. I eventually lost to an EOT Cloudthresher from my opponent.

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


Round 2: vs. 5-Color Control (lost)

I was up against a player whom I've playtested a few games with before the tourney started. I knew that he was playing the Nassif 5-color deck from the recent PT Kyoto. On both games, I had him in the ropes, and in both games, he went right back and beat me with a Cruel Ultimatum. With tremendous card advantage, I just had no chance to beat him afterwards. In the first game, he beat me with Broodmate Dragon and buddy. In game 2, to add insult to injury, he finished me off with a Volcanic Fallout.

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


Since it was a 16K tournament, and I had no chance anyway with getting any prize (it was only 3 rounds), I dropped from the tournament right after my second loss. I thought perhaps it was not a good day for me luck-wise, so I would probably be losing again on my third round and lose most of my DCI points unnecessarily.

On the flip side though, Joven finished the tournament on third place with a 2-1 record, and got a Conflux booster pack and a foil Hellspark Elemental DCI promo card. :)

FNM - Mar 13, 2009

The Blightning deck did fairly well last week, so I used it again on this week's FNM.


Round 1: vs. BW Tokens (won)

My opponent's deck is one of the Tier 1 decks of the current Standard format, but for some reason, this is the first time that I had ever seen or played against this deck. Anyway, the first game ended in my favor, but did have an interesting thing happen towards the end. I had him quickly down to 1 life, with a Goblin Outlander on the board, but my opponent played an Ajani Goldmane and gained 2 life with the planeswalker's first ability. It took 5 full turns of -2/+2 life swings before I eventually drew an Incinerate to finish him off. Quite scary, considering a single card from him usually nets 3 to 4 creatures. In the second game, I lost very quickly because I got stuck at 2 lands. In the third game, I finished him quickly once again, courtesy of my unearth creatures.

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


Round 2: vs. Esper Control (won)

I'm happy each time I face a control deck, and this time was no different. The first game quickly finished in my favor with a combination of Hellspark Elementals and a lot of burn. The second game though was a bit more exciting when I had him at 2 life, but no creatures on the board and no cards in hand. I was in top deck mode for a few turns once again, until I eventually drew the Flame Javelin to finish him off. After the game, I asked my opponent why I never saw a Cryptic Command all match. He said that his CC's were used by a teammate in another deck, so he had no choice but to use Punish Ignorance -- which he DID use a couple of times, saving him from losing a few times as well.

Game standing: 4-1
Match standing: 2-0


Round 3: vs. Blightning Beatdown (lost)

When pairings were first announced, I was actually matched up with a player whom I knew was playing a 5-color control deck. I was happy about this, and in fact, had my Hellspark Elemental already attacking on turn 2, when the TO announced that we had to be repaired -- one player apparently had dropped from the tournament, but wasn't properly removed from the pairings. When the new pairings were announced, I got switched to a mirror match.

Despite having slightly different builds (my opponent had 5-drops in the form of Demigod of Revenge, while I had the more aggresive build of no 5-drops), this matchup is actually just a coin toss. In the first game, I had Mogg Fanatics against his 1/1 Figure of Destinies, and he had removal for most of my creatures, until he ran out of them and a pair of Boggart Ram-Gangs finished him off. In the second game, we went down the wire, with both of us at 5 life. No creatures were on the board, he had zero cards in hand, and I had 1 card -- Volcanic Fallout -- which I played at the end of his turn. We were both at 3 life then, and I slowly peeked at my draw. It was a land. I passed the turn, and he drew an Incinerate ftw. Game 3 was a reverse of our first game, with me playing control to his aggresive creatures, and when I finally ran out of gas, he finished me off with his creatures.

Game standing: 5-3
Match standing: 2-1


Round 4: vs. WW Kithkins (won)

I was up against the deck that I hated the most while I was playing the Elves deck -- WW Kithkins. Things didn't change as I quickly lost game 1, courtesy of an early Burrenton Forge-Tender, and an Ajani pumping his creatures. In game 2, I was able to make a super Figure of Destiny, and he had no answer against the 8/8 flying avatar. In game 3, he went greedy and kept a 1-land hand with 3 Burrenton Forge-Tenders, but ended up losing the match thanks to just a swarm of creatures on my end. Each BFT could only block one creature, luckily. :)

Final game standing: 7-4
Final match standing: 3-1


I apparently ended up with pretty good tiebreaks, because despite having a couple of other players at 3-1, I ended up in 4th place (3rd place to all the way down to 8th place were all at 3-1). Too bad I barely lost out on the Kitchen Finks FNM card (it was given to the top 3 finishers), but at least, I won two Conflux boosters this time. They both contained crappy rares, but at least I got these two uncommons:



That completes the set, so it's good enough for me. :)

FNM - Mar 6, 2009

The metagame in our local shop has become more control-based rather than aggro-based, so we sleeved up an aggresive Blightning Beatdown deck for last Friday's FNM.



// Lands
4 [10E] Sulfurous Springs
4 [FUT] Graven Cairns
4 [LRW] Auntie's Hovel
2 [SHM] Reflecting Pool
1 [10E] Ghitu Encampment
8 [ALA] Mountain

// Creatures
4 [EVE] Figure of Destiny
4 [10E] Mogg Fanatic
4 [CFX] Hellspark Elemental
4 [CFX] Goblin Outlander
3 [SHM] Boggart Ram-Gang
4 [CFX] Shambling Remains

// Spells
4 [10E] Incinerate
4 [SHM] Flame Javelin
3 [CFX] Volcanic Fallout
3 [ALA] Magma Spray

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [ALA] Blightning
SB: 4 [MOR] Bitterblossom
SB: 4 [ALA] Infest
SB: 3 [LRW] Shriekmaw


Round 1: vs. Jund Ramp (lost)

I liked my odds on my first round matchup, as I was up against a slow deck, and I had decent SBs for his particular deck (Infest for tokens, Blightning for disruption, and Bitterblossom as chump blocker generator). I took him to 5 life quickly on both games, and on both games I ran out of gas and was at topdeck mode at that point. In game 1, he cast Violent Ultimatum twice on me to get back on the game and win it. In game 2, he cast Hellkite Overlord ftw.

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


Round 2: vs. UBR Reanimator (won)

I was surprised when my opponent's first spell on the game was a Merfolk Looter. Oh no. I didn't expect anyone to still use this type of deck, so I had no graveyard hate in my SB. I had to finish the game quickly. In game 1, I was still safely at 18 life, but lost to a single spell -- Torrent of Souls putting back Inkwell Leviathan to play. That, along with Marsh Flitter and buddies was enough for a single lethal alpha strike.

I lost on the first 3 games of the night, but was still hopeful that things would turn the other way and I would still be able to finish decently for the night. Good thing they did. :)

In games 2 and 3, my deck finally did what it was supposed to do, and beat my opponent very quickly, before any graveyard shenanigans. In fact, I was the one with GY spells, as I beat him with my unearth creatures.

Game standing: 2-3
Match standing: 1-1


Round 3: vs. 5-Color Control (won)

Both games played out very similarly on this one. I would play some creatures, he would Wrath, I would play some more creatures, he would Wrath, then I would finish him with burn. On the second game, it was even a Mogg Fanatic, with him at 1 life, with Cryptic Command mana available, but no Cryptic Command spell. :)

Game standing: 4-3
Match standing: 2-1


Round 4: vs. 5-Color Control (won)

Similar QnT deck, similar results. I got a Hellspark draw in the first game, as all 4 copies came out and did double duty. Unearth ftw! In game 2, Blightning beatdown became Bitterblossom beatdown, as I was able to play the powerful enchantment in turn two. He had no chance against the incremental damage that the faerie tokens were making. I think the game ended with me having 6 or 7 tokens in play.

Game standing: 6-3
Match standing: 3-1

There were only two players with better records, but, despite being tied with third place, I had the worst tiebreaks (having lost early in the rounds), so I ended up finishing 6th place overall, and won a lone Shadowmoor booster pack, containing this crappy enchantment:



Better than nothing.

Magic Player Rewards - Mar 5, 2009

I received the following in the mail yesterday:



Textless Remove Soul, Nameless Inversion x2, Cruel Edict, Tidings, Recollect, and a foil DCI Hypnotic Scepter. I think DCI really holds out on MPR mailings, since I have more than enough points for another foil Cryptic Command, but didn't get one. Oh well. Time to use those Nameless Inversions on our Dark Bant deck. ;-)