Not to be discouraged at my poor performance at the
previous night's FNM, I joined the regular Standard tourney the following day at Galleria.
I used a slightly upgraded version of the Kithkin deck I used in the
FNM 2 weeks ago. Basically:
1. I upgraded the landbase by adding a 3rd Flagstones of Trokair and putting in 3 Horizon Canopies (thanks to Kotzen of NG forums for arriving early!) and 1 Pendelhaven.
2. Instead of the 3 Trios and 1 Ajani, I put in 2 Calciderms and 2 Griffin Guides.
3. For the 1-drops, I put in 2 Mosquito Guards to replace 2 of the Goldmeadow Harriers.
// Lands
5 [UNH] Plains
4 [MOR] Rustic Clachan
3 [TSP] Flagstones of Trokair
2 [LRW] Windbrisk Heights
4 [MOR] Mutavault
3 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
1 [TSB] Pendelhaven
// Creatures
4 [LRW] Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 [MOR] Cenn's Tactician
2 [LRW] Goldmeadow Harrier
2 [MOR] Mosquito Guard
4 [LRW] Knight of Meadowgrain
4 [TSP] Serra Avenger
4 [MOR] Kinsbaile Borderguard
2 [PLC] Calciderm
// Spells
4 [PLC] Sunlance
4 [LRW] Oblivion Ring
2 [LRW] Militia's Pride
2 [TSP] Griffin Guide
// Sideboard
SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 4 [PLC] Mana Tithe
SB: 2 [TSB] Disenchant
SB: 1 [TSP] Tivadar of Thorn
SB: 2 [10E] Paladin en-Vec
SB: 3 [CS] White Shield Crusader
SB: 1 [10E] Wrath of God
Round 1: vs. BG Warriors
In game 1, I had Sunlances ready for each warrior that he was casting, and I had an Oblivion Ring ready for his Chameleon Colossus. He, on the other hand, didn't have much answer to my Kithkins and lost. Game 2 was reaaaaly good -- too bad I can't remember the exact board set-up though. I think I was at 6 life, my opponent was at 1 life, and it was his turn. We both have a few creatures, but I had 1 creature more than he did. He had a Profane Command in hand, but it wasn't enough no matter which modes he chose -- I was just going down to 1 -- even if he aimed at me, my defenders, or putting Fear on some of his creatures. He did it anyway, and when it was my turn, I had enough attackers to push the final point of damage on him. Match score: 2-0; Standing after 1 round: 1-0.
Round 2: vs. WG Mana Ramp
First game was one-sided in favor of my opponent. Second game was one-sided in favor of me. The third game was well played and went down the wire... but I eventually lost to, just like the previous night, an Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Match score: 1-2; Standing after 2 rounds: 1-1.
Round 3: vs. BG Elves
All I can remember from this match was that the first thing I did was to Sunlance a 2/3 Tarmogoyf. So I started the game happy. The last thing that happened though was I got Garruk-overran by an army of elves. Not good. Meaning, I lost. Good thing his deck was 10 times more expensive than mine (exag), so no bad feelings there. ;) I still wish I had Tarmogoyfs and Garruks though... Match score: 0-2; Standing after 3 rounds: 1-2.
Round 4: vs. Mono-red Crusher
I won the first match, thanks to a costly mistake by my opponent. Down to 7 life, he attacked with all his creatures, I thought for a moment, took all the damage and was down to 10. Problem was, I had an 8/8 flying Borderguard. I again thought for a while and decided to attack with it. No blockers. Stack damage? Ok. When he looked at his life, he just smiled, and scooped his cards. The second and third games were no fun though. It just seemed like his whole deck was an anti-Kithkin deck, when I got faced by numerous Sulfur Elementals and Blood Knights. And when he wasn't casting those, he was burning my face with Incinerates and Shard Volleys -- all while he had a Countryside Crusher in play. GG. Match score: 1-2; Standing after 4 rounds: 1-3.
Round 5: vs. Mono-blue Merfolk
I kept on reading my opponent's cards on this match, because I was unfamiliar with the Merfolk cards. It was also an unorthodox Merfolk deck because first of all, it was mono-blue, and his strategy was aggro first (via Lord of Atlantis, Merrow Reejerey and other cards that grant islandwalk), and library second (via Grimoire Thief). It was a funny match though because both of us made a couple of stupid mistakes on the game. One time, I attacked with all creatures thinking that I could get him down to zero life even if he blocked my larger creatures. However, when we computed the math at end of combat, he was actually just down to 1. And I had all my creatures tapped. Good thing he didn't draw either of the Merfolk lords on his draw, or he would have been able to push enough damage to kill me. Match score: 2-0; Standing after 5 rounds: 2-3.
Round 6: vs. Dragonstorm
This match proved that practice is SOOOO important in this game. I knew about his deck inside out, having used it the night before, so I easily won the match. It did have some scary moments though when he was able to activate Spinerock Knoll, only to reveal a Sulfurous Blast underneath. That didn't kill the Paladin en Vec though, due to Pro-Red, so he got beat by my first striking Knight. Match score: 2-0; Standing after 6 rounds: 3-3.
Round 7: vs. UBrw Mannequin-Control
My Kithkins raced to a blazing start and I won very quickly in the first game. This created a problem for my second game though, because I didn't know what to side-in. I only knew that his lands covered 4 colors -- UBRW -- and that he cast a few black removal spells. This made me decide to side-in the White Shield Crusaders and the Paladin en Vecs. Problem was, on the second game, he beat me with Mulldrifters, and a few Shriekmaws. Confused for the third game, I decided to just restore my deck to its original config. The third game was long but exciting. Unfortunately though, my opponent's deck revealed its true form in that game, when he cast a few Pyroclasms to clear out my Kithkins, Liliana to disrupt my hand, and Makeshift Mannequin on his Mulldrifters and Shriekmaws. Match score: 1-2; Standing after 7 rounds: 3-4.
Final rank: 39th place among 60+ players. Still on the bottom half of the curve... :(
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