Kaladesh Sealed 9/30

I went 2-1 last Friday at Red Castle's sealed event. I felt pretty good about my deck and was one game away from being 3-0. That's pretty sweet!

I also got a headache during the tournament. I don't know what it is about serious competitive events but I need to be able to physically move more or my body starts to revolt.

Here's the deck I played

Filigree Familiar
Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Saheeli's Artistry
Thriving Ibex
Aviary Mechanic
Inventor's Goggles
Bomat Bazaar Barge
Glint-Sleeve Artisan
Skywhaler's Shot
Iron League Steed
Weldfast Wingsmitih
Nimble Innovator
Malfunction
Cogworker's Puzzleknot
Veldaken Blademaster
2 Revoke Privileges
Herald of the Fair
Tezzeret's Ambition
Propeller Pioneer
Fragmentize
Bastion Mastodon
Fairgrounds Warden
Eddytrail Hawk
Smuggler's Copter

In the first matchup, I played an exhausted gentleman who told me he'd been up since 5 AM. His pace of play was understandably deliberate but not slow, and our first game was a slugfest that took thirty minutes. At three life, I was able to come back into the game topdecking Saheeli's Artistry and using it to copy my Familiar twice. With the extra life cushion, I was able to freely attack for 11 two turns in a row, and that sealed the game. Our second game, my opponent was severely mana screwed and I won briskly, which was good because we had about five minutes to play.

In the second matchup, I made a critical game three error when I used my Skywhaler's Shot on Dhund Operative (which was attacking) instead of Ghirapur Guide and just blocking the Operative in a trade.

Because a few turns later, my opponent was able to make his creatures unblockable to my 1/x creatures and swing for lethal, after pumping one of his creatures with Engineered Might.

If I had used the Shot on the Guide, I would've taken away that ability and one of his best creatures to crew a vehicle. I underestimated that ability and it cost me.

The last matchup was another slugfest, with my opponent getting an Aetherflux Reservoir, which I thought was going to win him the game for certain. Fortunately, I am getting better at not panicking during these moments and despite the Reservoir, my opponent didn't have a lot else happening on the board. So I kept attacking while he kept casting cards like Woodweaver's Puzzleknot, keeping steady pressure on his life total while not overextending.

When he had a bunch of stuff on the board and looked like he could stabilize, I was able to put down a Cataclysmic Gearhulk and my opponent made some bad decisions about which permanents to keep. As a result, I was able to finish that match with a win.

So far, things are looking interesting!

I'd like to do more sealed events, as a way of improving my Magic game, so I hope to have some more posts like this in the future.