After weeks of going without a single match win, I decided to change decks again. I'll be talking about that soon but for now, here's how last Friday went!
Round 1
Vs Chris on Day's Undoing combo
1: We traded board position in the early going, but eventually he landed a Narset, Jace and a Teferi and I had lands on my side. I made a critical mistake when I used Questing Beast to attack Jace instead of my opponent, then using the Beast’s trigger. Being at 6 or less life is definitely better than being at 10. Live and learn.
2: I got a Choke out on turn 3 and he scooped.
3: I had four Dark Confidants, he had 4 Prismatic Endings and I never got to draw a single card off a Confidant. I got a bit stuck on lands, too, but by the time I had five lands out, I was facing a board of Jace-after destroying Teferi and Narcet with Abrupt Decay. I didn’t have any other pressure though and Jace ticked up to 13. Man I hate Teferi.
Round 2
Vs William on UR delver
1: an early Hymn took out the two Murktides in hand, so he used DRC and Delver (which had easily flipped) to take out my Grist, the Hunger Tide. But I landed a Questing Beast and used it and two insect tokens to pull ahead. He'd attacked for six, while at 5 life, then played another Delver to block my Questing Beast.
1: We traded board position in the early going, but eventually he landed a Narset, Jace and a Teferi and I had lands on my side. I made a critical mistake when I used Questing Beast to attack Jace instead of my opponent, then using the Beast’s trigger. Being at 6 or less life is definitely better than being at 10. Live and learn.
2: I got a Choke out on turn 3 and he scooped.
3: I had four Dark Confidants, he had 4 Prismatic Endings and I never got to draw a single card off a Confidant. I got a bit stuck on lands, too, but by the time I had five lands out, I was facing a board of Jace-after destroying Teferi and Narcet with Abrupt Decay. I didn’t have any other pressure though and Jace ticked up to 13. Man I hate Teferi.
Round 2
Vs William on UR delver
1: an early Hymn took out the two Murktides in hand, so he used DRC and Delver (which had easily flipped) to take out my Grist, the Hunger Tide. But I landed a Questing Beast and used it and two insect tokens to pull ahead. He'd attacked for six, while at 5 life, then played another Delver to block my Questing Beast.
Unfortunately, Questing Beast has text relevant to Delver of Secrets.
2: He got suck on a Volcanic Island, and I capitalized with a Choke on turn 3. He responded by Wasteland-ing my Bayou, but I had a Witherbloom Apprentice out and once I cast Sudden Edict to remove his only creature, he didn’t have any way to follow up.
Round 3
Vs Brandon on Changling combo
1: I got run over by all the changelings coming out after a Dwarven Recruiter appeared.
2: On turn 3 I had the Chain/Apprentice combo and that was it.
3: Turn 3 Brandon was all set up, and I was taking for 7 a turn. With an Apprentice on the table I paused and he said "If you're waiting, that's good news for me" and I said "It is good news for you". Then I cast Abundant Harvest drawing a Chain of Smog and that was it. Whew.
Round 4
Vs Jonathon on Stiflenaut
1: He started off with a Minsc and Boo I almost stabilized from being hamstered every turn. But I couldn't get away from a recurred Uro, and when my last ditch Eternal Witness was countered that was it.
2: I dropped Leyline of the Void on turn 0 meant that his plan B was out-but he had Torpor Orbs and I was not expecting those. However, with a resolved Dark Confidant, I was able to keep my hand full and the pressure on. Eventually I got the win.
3: I failed to sideboard between these games and that was a mistake. I needed Pernicious Deed and didn’t think to bring it in. At this point, I had seen Torpor Orb and should've looked for a way to remove it. I instead mulliganed a solid hand down to one with sideboard options-so it had a Leyline, followed by a Choke-which was countered- but I couldn’t generate any other pressure on the board. Eventually a Torpor Orb was followed by Uro and that was all she wrote.
Still, 2-2! That's the first time I've won a match.
2: He got suck on a Volcanic Island, and I capitalized with a Choke on turn 3. He responded by Wasteland-ing my Bayou, but I had a Witherbloom Apprentice out and once I cast Sudden Edict to remove his only creature, he didn’t have any way to follow up.
Round 3
Vs Brandon on Changling combo
1: I got run over by all the changelings coming out after a Dwarven Recruiter appeared.
2: On turn 3 I had the Chain/Apprentice combo and that was it.
3: Turn 3 Brandon was all set up, and I was taking for 7 a turn. With an Apprentice on the table I paused and he said "If you're waiting, that's good news for me" and I said "It is good news for you". Then I cast Abundant Harvest drawing a Chain of Smog and that was it. Whew.
Round 4
Vs Jonathon on Stiflenaut
1: He started off with a Minsc and Boo I almost stabilized from being hamstered every turn. But I couldn't get away from a recurred Uro, and when my last ditch Eternal Witness was countered that was it.
2: I dropped Leyline of the Void on turn 0 meant that his plan B was out-but he had Torpor Orbs and I was not expecting those. However, with a resolved Dark Confidant, I was able to keep my hand full and the pressure on. Eventually I got the win.
3: I failed to sideboard between these games and that was a mistake. I needed Pernicious Deed and didn’t think to bring it in. At this point, I had seen Torpor Orb and should've looked for a way to remove it. I instead mulliganed a solid hand down to one with sideboard options-so it had a Leyline, followed by a Choke-which was countered- but I couldn’t generate any other pressure on the board. Eventually a Torpor Orb was followed by Uro and that was all she wrote.
Still, 2-2! That's the first time I've won a match.
Takeaways from this experience:
Choke is good. I had tilted my sideboard towards Defense Grid, because it is cheaper, has no color requirements, and could potentially do something in games where I didn't face Islands.
But nobody is doing anything like that at Mox Boardinghouse. Nearly every deck I faced had land types that included Island. It is better to just lock them out of the game, then try to prevent them from acting during my turns.
Graveyard hate is still necessary. Leylines were useful in many matchups and despite the field being relatively broad, it still seems like they are required.
Practice helps. Jason was kind enough to load up a UWR control deck and UR delver for me to play against. Those matches helped me have a plan for the Blue-based decks I faced.
Finally, I need to figure out what is better to sideboard out. Many opponents were scared of a Hymn even when I'd boarded that out. But should I have boarded it out?
Protection effects still matter and counterspell disruption is still important. I'm not sure how to incorporate these things.
My decision to add in Abrupt Decay was a good one. Getting rid of the two most common Planeswalkers I've seen has been very useful. If a deck is running Tundra, I guarantee I will see Teferi, Time Raveler.
Not a bad first showing.
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