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. :)