Second Set of Swaps

Got a lot of games in this past week, which as been great. Before I did, though, I made the following changes:

Out:
Go for the Throat
Swords to Plowshares
Heirloom Blade
Blookhusk Ritualist
Bloodsworn Steward
Teferi's Protection

What's added in:
Sorin, Grim Nemesis
True Conviction
Cerebral Eruption
Exsanguinate
Venser's Journal
Chancellor of the Dross

Of these, I'm really only unsure of Cerebral Eruption. It's a cutsie trick but I'm not sure how often it will really pay off. Still, it's a weird card that could have some legs in multiplayer, so I'm running it for now, because after taking out two removal spells, I absolutely needed another sweeper spell of some kind.

Everything else is about the lifegain. Chancellor of the Dross even has the benefit of being a vampire, so it can play nice with some of my vampire-relevant cards.

True Conviction has been incredible when it's appeared, and even Venser's Journal has been useful; free lifegain every turn means that casting Licia gets easier, even if it's just a little bit and helps negate the Commander Tax.

That said: in a three player game a couple days go, I got a lesson in both being aware of the environment and reading the fucking card. Matt had played out a Shaman of Forgotten Ways and I remembered that it tapped for two mana...and didn't recall the rest.

But we were in a bar that wasn't extremely well lit, so instead of reaching over to read the card and remember, I just relied on my memory.

In the meantime, Caitlin was playing a ramp deck and had quickly gotten all of our board states to about eleven lands or so.

And if there's one big disadvantage that Licia has, it's that there aren't a lot of creatures in the deck.

So when I had the chance to play Licia, I didn't: Black Market and True Conviction were my plays.

Next turn, I died to Matt's activation of the Shaman.

It was a pretty simple mistake but one that I should've avoided. I was too focused on my next turn, the one where I cast Licia as a double striker, with free mana coming to me if any creature died, that I failed to focus on this one.

Focus only on what matters. Still good advice.