MotM Pre-Release 2-1

I participated in the MotM pre-release at Red Castle Games last Saturday. Here's the deck:

7 Forest 

8 Plains

Invasion of Moag 

Halo Hopper
Flywheel Racer

Storm the Seedcore
Arachnoid Adaptation
Yedora, Grave Gardener
Renata, Called to the Hunt
Wildwood Escort
Gnottvold Hermit
Timberland Ancient
Atraxa's Fall
Overgrown Pest
Chomping Kavu

Progenitor Exarch
Angelic Intervention
Attentive Skywarden
Elspeeth's Smite
Zhalfirin Lancer
Cut Short
Realmbreaker's Grasp
Alabaster Host Sanctifier
Knight-Errant of Eos
Seraph of New Capenna
Invasion of Dominaria
Tarkir Duneshasper

Rd 1 vs Sin
Game 1: my turn one Duneshaper meant I could put some pressure on early, and transform it later to keep that pressure on. His deck didn't produce anything until turn 3 but by then I had the edge.

Game 2: Realmbreaker's Grasp locked down his biggest creature while Knight-Errant of Eos got the job done.

Rd 2 vs Matley
Game 1: He just overran me. 

Game 2: A very grindy match with both of us able to play Progenitor Exarchs for a couple creatures. I was able to outlast him, basically. 

Game 3: Another grindy match that went to time, but I had Seraph and Skywarden, and they were able to get in while the ground game was locked down.

Rd 3 vs Dezzy
Game 1: A Timberland Ancient with a Kitesail equipped to it ended the game in short order in her favor.

Game 2: As with my last round, this was another super grindy match that I was able to win with a well timed Storm the Seedcore. 

Game 3: We were pretty evenly matched and because this was the last round, they didn't call time when they should have. I mistakenly used my Atrax's Fall (an outstanding removal card for this format) on her Blighted Burgeoning instead of waiting for a better target. This let her build a bigger board state and, with us seven minutes over time and me holding two Plains and a Forest, I conceded. 

Some takeaways from the event:

Battles are, as expected, only as good as their front side. I'm not saying they are irrelevant, but getting them to flip generally felt like 'win more' and not 'turn a corner'. 

It seemed like the matches were designed to go long, so one always had to keep an eye out for any small advantage. 

Good stuff. 

Finally: I have finally caught the plague. I'm out for the next week. Cheers!