Adaptations

This time, it was Fuz's turn to crush me, using a GW enchantress build and a UG build that used Ebony Owl Netsuke and very broad bounce effects like Sunder and Evacuate to ensure the Owl could do its job.

Notably, in both matches I couldn't get my removal drawn. In the Enchantress matchup, I needed Pernicious Deed to show up and it just didn't. Against the UG build my downfall, actually, was the manabase! Game three had me playing a Darigaaz's Caldera on turn two and despite playing a Thunderscape Familiar off it, I was never able to get enough land down to play my cards.

Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes a cheap artifact that looks like an owl blows you out. 

I had a similar issue against Rider, who was running an aggressive WB enchantment-creature deck based from Theros block. I made a critical mistake in the first two games, not understanding that my Hull Breach was almost as good as a Terminate, going after enchant creatures instead of the creatures themselves.

Which, when I had that realization, made me love the game just a little more. So many interactions to see, so many possibilities to take advantage of, if only you are open to catching them! I had removal, I just didn't use it correctly.

It's always a challenge to view these losses through a proper lens though: mulligans (I had to go down to 5 in one game), choices about color, about how to use your mana. Would I have won if I got a Pernicious Deed? Maybe. But the challenge before me was to win without it. I made some mistakes and have to own them, if I want to get better.

Maybe I need to take more time looking at those opening hands and really evaluating them. For the most part, this is the only time in the game where you get seven draws for free so I should really start focusing on getting a grip on what that hand is telling me.

I think I may have to start keeping notes. But for another deck: this one is done, for now.