I decided to try my hand at the Friday tournament and see if the crowd was any different. I saw a few of the same Tuesday faces, but about the same unfamiliar faces. I heard a buzz before the tourney that no one was playing tokens, which made me very happy. I strapped up my ol' Blightning/Sygg except that I made two big changes: I moved the Syggs to SB and removed Blightning entirely....
Creatures
Anathemancer x3
Ashenmoor Gouger x3
Boggart Ram-Gang x4
Goblin Outlander x3
Hell's Thunder x2
Hellspark Elemental x4
Mogg Fanatic x4
Other Spells
Banefire x1
Everlasting Torment x2
Flame Javelin x4
Incinerate x3
Terminate x4
Volcanic Fallout x3
Lands
Mountain x9
Auntie's Hovel x4
Graven Cairns x4
Sulfurous Springs x4
Sideboard
Anathemancer x1
Chaotic Backlash x3
Deathmark x3
Infest x3
Spiteful Visions x2
Sygg, River Cutthroat x3
"Wait a sec... You took out Blightning?!?!?!" Yeah, I did. When I took out Sygg in an effort to make the Main Deck more aggressive in the early game, I realize that Blightning was the only direct damage card I had that wasn't an instant, save for the lone Banefire. I'd much rather play my permanents on my turn and my burn on my opponent's turn, so I pulled them out. I wanted the counter decks to not be able to stop any of my burn without tapping down on their turn, so I decided I'd at least give it a shot. And yes, I'm still aware that my deck has a lot of 3-ofs. This was due to the late addition of two Hell's Thunders when I noticed a good bit of wrath and counter in the room (plus, seeing 5 decks with little/no basic-land). So, I shifted an Anathemancer to the SB and dropped 1 Gouger to make room. Syggs would come in against the big fat Green decks that would require my creatures to chump more to I can burn over their head, however this strategy only worked in one of the two matches I actually boarded him in. Let's see if I can break my streak of 3-X-X out of 5 rounds I've posted since I've been there.
Round 1: Some Guy with WUB control
2-0. Game 1 he only had 2 lands. Game 2 he couldn't handle my unearth guys. He kept using the "Sower to steal your guy' method to try to overwhelm me, but Volcanic Fallout kept killing his guy while leaving my Ram-Gangs alive.
1-0, 2-0
Round 2: Raven with RGW 5 power matters
1-2. The fact that she played creatures that would require multiple burn to stop should I not have a Terminate or Deathmark really took a lot of wind outta my lungs. Whoever went first won their game. In Game 2, I managed to deal 15 by turn 4 to help for that win, but Woolly Thoctars and Wild Nacatls are apparently a problem for me if I don't have the straight-up removal. Oh... and NO non-basic lands, so Anathemancer was a dead card. She used Borderposts to fix her mana.
1-1, 3-2
Round 3: Dan? with alter UB preconstructed
2-0 He's not as seasoned as the regulars here and really seemed uneasy with a lot of the newer mechanics. I talked him through a lot of the plays to help him understand what he can/should do. Turns out that UB by its nature gave me a lot of problems, though it may have been that I kept a slow hand in game 1.
2-1, 5-2
Round 4: Scrub (that's his name) with Sanity Grinding
2-0. Game 1, his turn 3 sanity grinding nets 21 cards... and a couple of unearth creatures ready to pounce on him until he's dead. He then makes the comment that he can't win against a RDW style deck. Game 2 was atrocious. Turn 4 sanity grinding.... for 4. That's right. 7 lands, two Broken Ambitions and a Boomerang were what he revealed. A few turns later I attacked with 3 Mogg Fanatics and he tapped out to play Evacuation, which I responded with Flame Javelin and saccing my Moggs to drop him to a quick 6. With a Hell's Thunder in bin and two Hellsparks in grip, this one was over.
3-1, 7-2
Round 5: Greg with Cascade.
2-1. His lifegain is causing me problems. Finks and Capture Sunlight keeps him out of burns reach while I exhaust my resources. He eventually sticks an Enlisted Wurm and bashes for the win. Game 2 saw me deal 14 by turn 5 with an Everlasting Torment in play. Game 3 turned out to be fairly interesting as his own Wheel of Sun and Moon would stop his Finks from persisting in his own effort to keep his cascade engine churning. Twice he cascaded into a Path to Exile with no target for him to hit. Sygg was a good sideboard choice here and it kept supplying burn to get through his lifegain. Back to back Anathemancer finishes the game.
End result: 4-1, 9-3, 5th place
Just as I was shocked that my 3-1-1 finish took 3rd a few weeks back, I was flabbergasted that 4-1 took 5th out of ~25 people, but there were two more 4-1's and some 4-0-1's, plus only two of my opponents ended up above .500. Oh well. Better luck next time!
Ransac, cpa trash man
Creatures
Anathemancer x3
Ashenmoor Gouger x3
Boggart Ram-Gang x4
Goblin Outlander x3
Hell's Thunder x2
Hellspark Elemental x4
Mogg Fanatic x4
Other Spells
Banefire x1
Everlasting Torment x2
Flame Javelin x4
Incinerate x3
Terminate x4
Volcanic Fallout x3
Lands
Mountain x9
Auntie's Hovel x4
Graven Cairns x4
Sulfurous Springs x4
Sideboard
Anathemancer x1
Chaotic Backlash x3
Deathmark x3
Infest x3
Spiteful Visions x2
Sygg, River Cutthroat x3
"Wait a sec... You took out Blightning?!?!?!" Yeah, I did. When I took out Sygg in an effort to make the Main Deck more aggressive in the early game, I realize that Blightning was the only direct damage card I had that wasn't an instant, save for the lone Banefire. I'd much rather play my permanents on my turn and my burn on my opponent's turn, so I pulled them out. I wanted the counter decks to not be able to stop any of my burn without tapping down on their turn, so I decided I'd at least give it a shot. And yes, I'm still aware that my deck has a lot of 3-ofs. This was due to the late addition of two Hell's Thunders when I noticed a good bit of wrath and counter in the room (plus, seeing 5 decks with little/no basic-land). So, I shifted an Anathemancer to the SB and dropped 1 Gouger to make room. Syggs would come in against the big fat Green decks that would require my creatures to chump more to I can burn over their head, however this strategy only worked in one of the two matches I actually boarded him in. Let's see if I can break my streak of 3-X-X out of 5 rounds I've posted since I've been there.
Round 1: Some Guy with WUB control
2-0. Game 1 he only had 2 lands. Game 2 he couldn't handle my unearth guys. He kept using the "Sower to steal your guy' method to try to overwhelm me, but Volcanic Fallout kept killing his guy while leaving my Ram-Gangs alive.
1-0, 2-0
Round 2: Raven with RGW 5 power matters
1-2. The fact that she played creatures that would require multiple burn to stop should I not have a Terminate or Deathmark really took a lot of wind outta my lungs. Whoever went first won their game. In Game 2, I managed to deal 15 by turn 4 to help for that win, but Woolly Thoctars and Wild Nacatls are apparently a problem for me if I don't have the straight-up removal. Oh... and NO non-basic lands, so Anathemancer was a dead card. She used Borderposts to fix her mana.
1-1, 3-2
Round 3: Dan? with alter UB preconstructed
2-0 He's not as seasoned as the regulars here and really seemed uneasy with a lot of the newer mechanics. I talked him through a lot of the plays to help him understand what he can/should do. Turns out that UB by its nature gave me a lot of problems, though it may have been that I kept a slow hand in game 1.
2-1, 5-2
Round 4: Scrub (that's his name) with Sanity Grinding
2-0. Game 1, his turn 3 sanity grinding nets 21 cards... and a couple of unearth creatures ready to pounce on him until he's dead. He then makes the comment that he can't win against a RDW style deck. Game 2 was atrocious. Turn 4 sanity grinding.... for 4. That's right. 7 lands, two Broken Ambitions and a Boomerang were what he revealed. A few turns later I attacked with 3 Mogg Fanatics and he tapped out to play Evacuation, which I responded with Flame Javelin and saccing my Moggs to drop him to a quick 6. With a Hell's Thunder in bin and two Hellsparks in grip, this one was over.
3-1, 7-2
Round 5: Greg with Cascade.
2-1. His lifegain is causing me problems. Finks and Capture Sunlight keeps him out of burns reach while I exhaust my resources. He eventually sticks an Enlisted Wurm and bashes for the win. Game 2 saw me deal 14 by turn 5 with an Everlasting Torment in play. Game 3 turned out to be fairly interesting as his own Wheel of Sun and Moon would stop his Finks from persisting in his own effort to keep his cascade engine churning. Twice he cascaded into a Path to Exile with no target for him to hit. Sygg was a good sideboard choice here and it kept supplying burn to get through his lifegain. Back to back Anathemancer finishes the game.
End result: 4-1, 9-3, 5th place
Just as I was shocked that my 3-1-1 finish took 3rd a few weeks back, I was flabbergasted that 4-1 took 5th out of ~25 people, but there were two more 4-1's and some 4-0-1's, plus only two of my opponents ended up above .500. Oh well. Better luck next time!
Ransac, cpa trash man
