Everyday I'm Shufflin': The end of the Seaon

So, the last PTQ of the season for me is now over, although I didn’t even stick around for the whole thing, so this will be a quick report. Round one, I was up against a player using red/black. Game one, they got out Olivia and started pinging my creatures. I held off on playing Stromkirk and Voiceless Spirit, but next turn, when I drew Rally the Peasants, I realized that I would have won had I played them. Game two, I forgot Nightbird’s Clutches had flashback and played a creature instead of saving mana for my Victim of Night. My next opponent was red/black/white (same as me) and thanks to his rolling tremor, we ended up with no creatures on the board. When he was at one and I was seven, I played Doomed Traveler, and since he couldn’t stop it, I won. Game two, Olivia (yes, he had one two). He was smarter than to attack, so I couldn’t rebuke it, and he soon won. He had been going on the draw, so game three, I decided to take the draw. He got mana-screwed, so I hit him five times with Doomed Traveler, at the end of his turn played Midnight Hauntings, and Rallied the Peasants twice, swinging for game.

My third opponent was using blue/white with a lot of humans, and fliers. He eventually killed my fliers and beat me with Murder of Crows. Game two, I stupidly sided out Slayer of the Wicked, and ended up against Skaab Goliath. I killed it with three creatures and Rally, but eventually, he overwhelmed me. By this point, I was pretty much done and game four was kind of a joke. I even wanted to lose, so I could leave without worry about if I could get prizes. Game one, Stromkirk and Voiceless destroyed him, but two and three, he was able to stop Stromkirk and won completely, as I had stopped caring and misplayed a lot. The head (I think) judge’s son, Josh had the same record and dropped, so we played for awhile. This is the guy I faced at the last Charlestown PTQ, and our game was rather fun, even though I lost. Game five, I just gave the guy the win before the match started and dropped. Kind of a lame last PTQ.

Playing against Josh was more fun, and we kept making jokes back and forth. This line stuck with me. “Two can play at that game, and one of them is me.” I said this when I made the same move as him and we found it hilarious for some reason. We won back and forth for a while (neither won two in a row) while waiting for our rides. His ride came and my dad arrived soon after. I rarely buy cards, but I have a thing for Merfolk and decided to get Lord of Atlantis, since they were four a piece. While that’s not really much cheaper than usual (five), it was enough to make me finally cave. I also agonized the whole tournament over whether to buy a Force of Will, which was fairly cheap (for a Force of Will). I knew I had to do it, and now that it was finally time to go, I went to get them. I ended up getting three. They shall come in handy later. I didn’t have enough on me to get a fourth, although I’m hoping to see the Vender again and that he doesn’t raise the price.

So basically, my target is Grand Prix Baltimore, which is Standard, the next PTQ season is Modern, and I’ve made some headway on my Legacy deck. Oh well, I guess I can work on my decks, since I no longer am going to weekly tournaments, except for FMN, which I am running. The store didn’t add it to their calendar, so there was a pretty lame turn out. I’m hoping more people will start going. Harrison’s Comics, in Nashua, NH, if anyone’s interested. The four people who showed up were pretty cool, but I’m hoping more will start coming. It just seems unsatisfying not being able to sanction it. It’s in a prime location, so I’m sure that more people would go, if more people knew about it. Anyways, I’ve got decks to make and an essay to write…

Everyday I'm Shufflin': Final Draft

Well, this may be it for drafts for a while. I have to work on Friday and I’m kind of busy the Monday after, plus my weekly improv class may start to be on Mondays. The biggest factor however is that I will be running FNM at a store nearby. I am a little bit nervous, as I have never run a tournament before, but I feel that this will be a great experience. I was planning to enter the PTQ in Connecticut this weekend, but I agreed to go in so the person who runs tournaments on Saturdays at the store could show me how everything works. Unlike the tournament’s that I’ve been going to however, this is going to be Standard, so I may need to learn a little bit about popular cards and how they interact so that I can be a more effective judge. That said, I do feel rather confident in my rulings knowledge due to all the time I spent drafting and witnessing judge calls, as well as learning from my own mistakes. I am definitely looking forward to this. I plan to attend the PTQ in Charlestown and then shift focus to Modern to prepare for the next PTQ format. I will still draft from time to time, but with the sealed PTQ going away and my availability changing to not give me time for my weekly tournaments, I will have a lot less tournament reports than I’ve been. I will try post more based on what I learn in the time being. It also seems that I will have to stop procrastinating on choosing a deck.

I also feel the need to mention that a certain game I’ve been following for a while is coming out in English. Check out http://www.cf-vanguard.com/en for Cardfight!! Vanguard. It’s very different from most TCGs, but it’s still incredibly fun. It’s by the creator of Duel Masters and a Japanese TCG company called Bushiroad. It’s also got an anime is (in my opinion) the only CGA that is actually good. Anyways, it won’t be able to satisfy my need for tournament’s and the competition that Magic offers, but it is a great game, nonetheless, and has a pretty good metagame as well. It’s become very popular in Japan and the trial decks and the first booster will come out in English in a couple of days.

11/28: Discount Draft

Anyways, on to the draft. They ran out of Innistrad, so it was back to M12. Odd ending to my weekly drafts and no, I didn’t win. I got third. I got an Oblivion Ring and decided to go white, and naturally I ended up falling into Blue. I ended up with two Oblivion Rings and three Mana Leaks. Of course, the star of the deck was none other than Jace, Memory Adept, which finally found his way to me…for the tournament anyways. Of course, this made a lot of games fairly uneventful.

My first opponent was someone who was apparently new to store as well as the person who passed me Jace (second pack), and he was also named Nick. He was running a Red/Green deck with Birds of Paradise and those boars that I can’t remember the name of. You can sacrifice them to gain four life. He also had a Goblin Fireslinger. Game one, he damaged me with a Lanowar Elves and I played timely reinforcements. From there, we both started playing out creatures. He got out a Goblin Fireslinger and started dealing damage to me. This guy wasn’t the most experienced player as he was doing it on his turn. Eventually I Oblivion Ringed it and he decided to attack. This pretty much wiped out all of our creatures, except for his Birds of Paradise and maybe a couple of others. I accumulated a larger hand size however, since I had been able to use my Timely Reinforcements to gain an advantage through combat and had been taking damage and holding more cards in hand. Eventually, I got out Belltower Sphinx, and since we were low on cards, he couldn’t really attack without losing (I had Frost Breath just in case he did get strong enough). He used Rampant Growth which made him run out first in the long run, although I did have Jace in my hand. Anyways, my mill deck won without milling him via effect.

Game two, he got early damage on me with a Firebreathing Birds of Paradise. I mind controlled it, but he just naturalized my Mind Control, and I eventually was able to hold it off with a flyer of my own, putting us right back in a stalemate. Unfortunately, we had taken so long on our first game that time was called at this point. As things were now, I would win 1-0. Since we were running so late, there was a crowd gathered around the table. He said that he didn’t think we had time to finish, but I felt like showing off a little and got kind of cocky. I smiled and told him that we did and played out Jace, milling him for ten. He tried to kill Jace, but I had Frost Breath ready, and 2-0’d him. Of course, this alerted everyone to the fact that I had Jace, which probably wasn’t worth it. Of course my next opponent would have figured this out soon enough.

On a totally random side note, I’m surprised by how many My Little Pony fans there are. See, there was a Black Friday sale at Hot Topic, and I ended up getting two t-shirts. They were the same and I was wearing one of them today. They are black and say “This shirt just got twenty percent cooler” and have a silhouette of Rainbow Dash created by her mane, which is in color. Anyways, this got a few people to call me Rainbow Dash (particularly one guy with a beard). On to the match, I was up against Matt again. I got out Jace fairly quickly and milled him. Then he used an artifact to gain five life and shuffle his graveyard into his library. I milled him again and won. I thought it was funny how in my third draft , he beat me in the final round with Jace, and that he would now be losing to mine. But he didn’t. Game two, I got out Jace, and he used a burn spell on it. Then he beat me. Game three, I almost got Jace out, but he had a Red/Black beatdown deck, and my lack of creatures caused me to lose.

My final opponent was the bearded guy who kept calling me Rainbow Dash. Naturally, I didn’t mind, since Rainbow Dash is awesome, and that is pretty much the greatest thing that someone could be called. He was running Blue/White as well and played out two Merfolk Mesmerist and started milling me. I played out my Merfolk Mesmerist and we had a mill off of sorts, until I mind controlled his and played out Jace. Game two, he was attacking and got out a Rusted Sentinel (3/4 that comes in tapped, if that’s its name). I Master Thiefed it. No one runs that in their main deck, and he was surprised as I didn’t sideboard. I proceeded to play out Jace and mill him again. Of course, this win was full of sadness, as I knew that I would be losing Jace.

I ended up getting third place. Matt won and his last opponent got second. The three people he beat were 2-1s. I got a Phantasmal Image, which is pretty good. And this concludes my tournament spamming. Winning would have been a better finish though… >_<

Everyday I'm Shufflin': JAM (Just Another Monday)

I am feeling that this blog may be a little to plain and that I may need to find a way to change it up a bit. Right now it is just my tournament reports, which I do enjoy having a record of. Of course, any popular blog would probably need more. Maybe I could write strategy articles, although I don’t feel that I would be very good at it, as I have so much I still have to learn. I mean, I don’t want to be a news site, as anypony who’s interested in Magic would probably check mtgsalvation, DailyMTG, or numerous other sites before mine (how many people have even seen this?). Anyways, on to the report >_<

11/21: Discount Draft

Relentless Dragon again, and this time I decided to not go red/white, which annoyed me, as I know those colors best. I ended up with a Black/Blue deck with two Undead Alchemist and a Cellar Door, as well as four Think Twice. I also got two of the spell that lets you look at the top four cards of your library and add one to your hand (and mill the rest). I didn’t end up using them, as I felt the Think Twice was enough draw power, although maybe I should have.

My first opponent was using a Black/Red deck and I kept a hand with one island and two Delver of Secrets. I’m not sure if it was a good hand to keep, but I quickly got him to seven and then got out Undead Alchemist and milled him with Zombie tokens. Game two he was prepared and used Fiend Hunter to exile it, but then I just played out my second one. He managed to kill that one eventually, but I got the first one back with corpse lunge. He used Unburial Rites to get back Fiend Hunter and exiled Undead Alchemist again, but I soon managed to destroy Fiend Hunter and with an attack from a Mauler, which he blocked with his Rat, allowing me to corpse lunge Fiend Hunter (I had already exiled my other Alchemist). Finally, I was able to use my army of tokens to mill him.

My second opponent was Aaron, who was Black/Green/Blue. Game one, I had to fight without ever getting access to blue mana, due to not drawing it. My deck was mainly blue, so I lost without being able to put up much of a fight. Game two, I got out my two Undead Alchemist and got out a few zombies, but he had enough creatures to block mine, so I didn’t get a chance to attack, while he swung with his flier. I was able to pull off cellar door once, but unfortunately, he got out Grimgrin and killed my Alchemists. I didn’t have enough to win, so I lost to the flier.

My final opponent was Nathan, who I beat last time with Dungrove Elder, who is playing Black/White Game one, I explode and mill him, with my exponentially increasing zombies. Game two, I keep an interesting hand. 5 islands and two Think Twice. It works pretty well, but his deck is pretty good and he gets out his creatures to beat me down this time. Game three, I see that his bomb is Mikaeus the Lunarch, and he begins to power up his creatures, I don’t have a way to kill it, and while I get out an Alchemist, I don’t have anything to get rid of it. It goes to time and I try to stall, but he has a flier which is ultimately able to finish me as my only fliers are Delvers, which are now gone.

Notes: I don’t think my deck was too bad, but I didn’t want to play white/red this time, so I sort of avoided white, when I really should have picked it. I don’t think it was a good move to pick a Think Twice over a Mausoleum Guard and later passed Bonds of Faiths and things that made me really regret not going white, including Mikaeus, pack two. I still make misplays, but I believe right now my biggest problem is colors.

Everyday I'm Shufflin': Last Friday Night

11/18: FNM

This week I learned about Bronies and, needless to say, I was interested in seeing what the big fuss was. So you can probably imagine my parents’ response when they came back from the library to find me and my bro(ny) watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which I have realized is a great show (I’m up to episode 11 now). I am still surprised by all of the hype it has and its gigantic fandom, but I guess that’s the way the internet works. While I do not see myself making fanart, writing fan fiction, or creating a blog for it, I do plan to keep watching. I think my favorite character would have to be Rainbow Dash, but Pinky Pie may be more hilarious. Anyway, I said I wouldn’t have a My Little Pony blog, so…

I got to Larry’s as usual, except this time it was one 17 man tournament as opposed to two pods. We still drafted in pods, but we got paired up against people who weren’t from our pod. This greatly bothered me, as part of the point of a draft is the deck building aspect and having control over what the other players draft, as well as getting a feel for the decks in the pod. I am still working on getting practice drafting, which is definitely hurt by being paired up against people from a different pod and I hope I don’t have to do this again. That said, the reason I lost may or may not be that. I believe it is more about how red/white has become my new blue/white. I have been doing well recently with red/white and when looking at the pack, I only paid attention to the rare and the red/white cards. I ignored blatantly obvious signs to go blue or black in the first pack, which was reinforced by my pull of a Grim Grin in pack two, while I stupidly rare drafted it, I still continued to take red/white cards, until I created a very mediocre beat down deck. And through this whole process, it never occurred to me to even think about trying other colors.

My first opponent was named Ryan (I think) and he was using a green/white deck with Trepanation Blade. Game one was pretty back and forth, but he got out a creature with Trepanation Blade and a Galvanic Juggernaut, which was enough to finish me. Game two we got to a stalemate, until I realized that if I just attacked with everything, I had enough to finish him. I swung out, and it was exact game. Game three was similar to the first game and he got out trepanation blade, but I kept us both pretty much creatureless. I got out Pitchburn Devils and gave it a Butcher’s Cleaver, but he used Bonds of Faith on it (which reminds me that I probably shouldn’t have picked Grim Grin over that), as this guy was from my pod. He got out a Mausoleum Guard, and I got out a Voiceless Spirit. He attacked with his guard and I blocked. He played out Elder of Laurels and gave his blade to a token. I am quite proud of my plan. I played out Day of Reckoning, and I chose to keep Voiceless Spirit, while he kept the token with the blade. My Pitchburn Devils died, killing his token and I equipped Voiceless Spirit with Butcher’s Cleaver for game.

My second opponent was Marcus, again, who was in the other pod and had a red/black/green deck with Daybreak Ranger and Olivia Voldaren. Game one, he got out a couple of Darkthicket Wolves, and I got out a couple Ironsmiths, but he played Daybreak Ranger and slowly killed all of my guys. Eventually, I was able to kill it, but by then, it was too late. He played out Olivia and I lost, regardless. Game two, I was able to deal damage to him early game, but he eventually got out stronger creatures than I could handle and I lost fairly quickly. My third opponent was using green/white, and I was able to beat him down quickly the first game and could barely finish him off because he thought he had enough blockers and didn’t account for a Crossway Vampire/Traitorous Blood combo of awesomeness. Games two and three, though, I ended up against an army of creatures that kept getting powered up by his Gavony Township, and I didn’t really stand a chance.

There was a fourth round, but I doubted that I’d win anything, plus I was fed up with the tournament style, so I dropped. My losses were my own fault, as I’ve somehow reverted back to making the same mistakes I did when I started, even though I have definitely become a better player, I am still missing something with drafting. Despite this, drafts are separated into pods for a reason and should remain that way. If I want practice drafting, it is beneficial for me to only play against members of my own pod.

Everyday I'm Shufflin': JAM (Just Another Monday)

11/14: Discount Draft

I left a little bit early to pop by an ATM so I could get money for the new Yu-Gi-Oh tins that came out. I needed two Solemn Warnings and had been meaning to try using Fossil Dyna, so I went to Target and got three Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon tins. I must admit that Galaxy Eyes looks pretty cool, even though it’s not very good and the tin looks stunning. Also, Monday’s episode of ZeXal had Yugioh’s first kiss scene and the return of card games on top of moving trains. Anyways, I arrived to the tournament early and had time to open up the tins. While I didn’t get anything too rare, I did get a Tech Genus Wonder Magician, a Junk Berserker and an Aero Shark along with some other lame foils. Regardless, I believe the Warnings should definitely help out my deck and Fossil Dyna’s should combo well with Bambooshoot. I’ll have to try it out next Regionals.

Anyways, on to the draft. This Draft has left me the most bummed out of every tournament that I’ve done. Perhaps karma does exist. They ran out of Innistrad, so we were drafting two Scars of Mirrodin packs and one pack of New Phyrexia. I drafted mono-black as I got a Phyrexian Obliterator. Second pack, I opened a foil Koth, but as it was Backdraft and I typically play fair (along with the fact that the winner from last time watched me open it), I passed it and vowed to win it, seriously declaring my victory before the whole thing started. I had a good feeling about my deck.

My first opponent was using a blue/white deck and we passed the first few turns. I played out Phyrexian Obliterator and expected to win right there, but he arrested it. I was disappointed and we continued to play out creatrues. I got seven poison counters on him, but he got me down pretty low and played a blue Mythic that became a 7/7 copy of my Obliterator, winning him the game. Game two, though, I was able to use an Exarch to check his hand and wipe out his only removal spell in hand and bring out Obliterator. He had been consistently dealing damage to me and had out a hover myr, a 1/2 artifact creature that became unblockable for one blue phyrexian mana and an Etched Champion. He blocked my attack with the myr and started his turn. He forgot that he no longer had metalcraft and swung. I Grasp of Darknessed the unblockable and blocked his Champion with my Obliterator. I won game two, and game three, I used my Exarch to wipe out his only removal again, allowing me to get out Carnifex Demon, winning me game three without much trouble. I felt rather cocky. Not a good sign, but I feel that I’m getting better, nonetheless.

My second opponent was someone the owner had commented on being good. Game one basically went like this: equipment to give +3/+0, Bloodshot Trainee, equip. No removal on my part equals good game. Game two, I quickly got out infect creatures and wiped out his creatures with removal while I beat him down with infect. On to game three. He gets out a Golem that can give creatures flying and +1/+1 for two mana and gets out a couple of other creatures, but I am able to play out both Phyrexian Obliterator and Carnifex Demon and take the game. It is a six man pod and I am the only person with 2-0, so I am pretty much sure of my victory. If you couldn’t guess, though, it doesn’t happen.

Opponent number three is using white/green and has a lot of infect along with Nim Deathmantle. He got to play first, which screwed me over in the end. I played out some creatures with infect and got him to five, but he was able to get out creatures to defend with along with Nim Deathmantle and he could block my attacks before I could finish him. This lead to him playing more and more creatures so that any attacks I made would only hurt me. Additionally, we drew nothing but land and when he got two cards in his hand, I used Dimentia Bat. When this happened again, I used Necrotic Ooze, and I got back Ooze with my Exarch to do the same. I got out Carnifex Demon which saved me from a creature that put 1/1s into play equal to my poison counters every turn, until I could kill it, but eventually I ran out of cards and lost. We also ran out of time and I couldn’t kill him in the next game, so I lost. On top of that, both of my previous opponents lost and since there were four 2-1s, I got screwed on tie-breakers and came in fourth, just out of money card range. From first to basically last…I was very annoyed. To add to my frustration, there was a large container truck preventing me from leaving my parking spot…this sucks >_<

Everyday I'm Shufflin': PTQ Providence and more

I was kind of annoyed with last week. On Halloween, I dressed up as Ruby (pokespe) and got prepared to go to the draft, just to find out that the car wouldn’t start. Despite the snowstorm and the fact that Trick or Treating had been delayed, my brother and his friend decided to go anyways and since I was staying home, I offered to hand out the candy. I ate most of it, while I was bothered that I had accomplished nothing during that day. Since the car wouldn’t start, my mom had to drive me and my brother to school and me to work, and when my dad got home on Friday, we tried starting the car a few times, and eventually got it going. We brought it into to Toyota to get it checked out, and we left it there overnight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to drive the rental car and it was getting late, so we went home and I missed FNM…I watched Vanguard, though, which was awesome (as usual).

11/5: PTQ Providence

Finally, I was able to go to a tournament. I got up around 5:20 AM and got dressed and ready to go, quickly. I had pre-purchased the ticket and my dad drove me to South Station (as I couldn’t drive the rental car) and was really tired the whole ride. When I got there, I found a machine that exchanged the bar code they emailed me for tickets. I went to the center of the station and found a big list of train schedules. To Provide - 6:45 AM. This looked like mine and so I waited until the train arrived and boarded it. It came time to show out tickets and I gave mine to the ticket collector, who asked me if I knew that I was on the wrong train. I thought he was just joking. He wasn’t. I had purchased tickets for the Amtrak and this was the MBTA. Luckily, he didn’t make me pay for the ride, and told me that he would get me there, but that I would be a little late. Since I had planned to get there at 7:20, when the tournament started at 10:00, this wasn’t really a problem, and I arrived at 7:50 and saw a magic player I recognized from Pandemonium with his friend. I followed them to the convention center and went in to find that they were still setting up. I really wanted a coffee and a doughnut and there was a place connected to the convention center, called the Dunkin Donuts Center, which I soon found out didn’t have a Dunkin Donuts in it. I headed over to a mall called Providence Place, where I found a Dunkin Donuts and got my large iced coffee, a donut (chocolate frosted as they were out of Boston crème) and some sort of grilled sandwich with turkey and bacon.

After my breakfast, I headed over to the convention center to sign up and register my pool and a while later the tournament started. I was playing a red/green deck that was splashing black for a dead weight and Olivia Voldaren. It had some awesome cards like Kessig Cagebreakers and Mayor of Avabruck as well as five other werewolves. My first opponent was named Tyler Kilgore and he was using a deck that was mostly white, but also had red and black. I took him first game without much trouble by attacking quickly and getting out my cage breaker and my grizzled outcasts, and the second game seemed like it was going to go the same way until he pulled out Olivia Voldaren. I had no way to get it rid of it as I was not drawing mine and I lost. Earlier I had thought I would win for sure as I had equipped a creature with Butcher’s Cleaver and tried to pump it, but when I did that, he killed it in response. Because he was running white, he had a lot of fliers and I ended up losing game three, despite him mulliganing to five. I couldn’t pull off my own creatures fast enough due to a lack of low cost creatures in hand and he got out a couple of Chapel Geist and I was unable to block them. When I did get creatures out, he was able to kill them or block them and I did no damage to him game three, losing the match.

Match two, my opponent was Patrick Lynn and he was using a blue/white deck splashing black with cards like Champion of the Parish and Chapel Geist. This match showed me that I have a great weakness to fliers. Game one, he got out Champion of the Parish and hit me with it. I was luckily enough to be able to kill it (I believe it was dead weight) but he got out and hit me twice with fox, while I wasn’t able to hit him due to lack of creatures/ he would kill them. The creatures I did get out would quickly end up dying and he won. Game two, I quickly played creatures out, but this time I got them out quicker and beat him down until he decided to just go to game three. While it didn’t get the chance to flip, I made a note that he had a Ludavic’s Test Subject. Game three went very similar to last game three. He got out fliers and hit me. I was able to almost make a comeback thanks to Olivia Voldaren, which was slowly killing his fliers, but I got her to late, and he got Unburial Rites allowing him to revive one of his fliers. He had three fliers and I only had enough mana to kill one of them. I was at one life and had to let one through. I didn’t have enough creatures to deal fourteen (his life) to him, sadly, and he won. Olivia was at 11, though thanks to her effect and Mask of Avacyn. But I lacked the creatures I needed to do the rest.

This next game was quite sad. I was against another guy named Nick (Durso) and this could have gone well for me, except I got cocky and made stupid mistakes like using Prey Upon when my creature had first strike (this is ignored when fighting) and just being stupid. I got rid of all of my advantage, and while I got him to 5, he won. He won game two as well and I was frustrated at my misplays. He used cards like Bloodcrazed Neonate, Wolfrun, Blasphemous Act, and Ashmouth Hound. My fourth opponent was Alan Alguinaldo and I won 2-0 without much trouble. I believe he was using a red/green deck similar to mine, but I may have been wrong. The games were total beat down on my part and won very quickly by attacking all out. On top of that, this is the first (and only) person to face the full terror of Mayor of Avabruck and his wolf token army. After this, I played a game for fun with David Milgate who seemed surprised that I didn’t take the play and wasn’t going all out with attacks when I clearly had an aggro deck. I think this is because I was used to playing control and therefore, without noticing, played every deck I used as I would a control deck. We played again and I went on the play and went all out with attacking for the win. It’s kind of annoying to find that you’ve been playing your deck the wrong way, but maybe I should take into consideration that more cards aren’t everything.

My fifth opponent was a guy I’ve seen a lot, but never actually played against or talked to. His name was Mitchell Prudhomme. He was playing a blue/white deck. He used Sensory Deprivation on my creatures and used cards like Think Twice and Chapel Geist. I was up against fliers again and wasn’t able to get him down very far game one before I got swarmed by his creatures and was unable to block. Game two, though, I got out Olivia Voldaren allowing me to steal a creature of his, which I believe I used on a Galvanic Juggernaut. I won this one easily, but game three, he equipped one of his fliers with a Butcher’s Cleaver and I couldn’t block. I lost again. While fliers were deadly, he also had a lot of humans and it was a pretty good deck. I came close, but ultimately couldn’t win, although I didn’t misplay much, which was nice.

My sixth opponent was Brian Hulse, who was apparently a staff member at Anime Boston. He was using a red/blue deck and used Bloodcrazed Neonate and Instigator Gang. I quickly killed the Neonate and proceeded to beat him down with my creatures. While not very detailed, that’s basically how game one went. Game two was simple as well. He got out Ludavic’s Test Subject and since my creatures were higher cost, he was able to flip it. My only destruction cards were Dead Weight and damage spells and I had no way of making a comeback in time, so I surrendered. Game three was back and forth with him getting me down to seven. We both had creatures and were at a stand-off, but he didn’t notice my Wolfrun and attacked, which allowed me to kill his creature. Unfortunately, he got out a flier and had out the equipment that gave +4/+2, but equipped by sacrificing a creature. I hit him and it literally came down to whether or not he drew a creature. If he drew one, he could equip his murder of crows and I would die, but if not, I would be able to attack for game since he was at four and I could pump my creature and give it trample. He didn’t and I won.

Round seven, my opponent was a girl named Mariah Pagliocco, who was running a white/blue deck. She got out lantern spirit and used moment of heroism on it, putting her to twenty-four. She managed to get out a few other creatures, and I got out my Kessig Cagebreakers. She used Sensory Deprivation on it, but it could still attack and make creatures. She managed to get me down to three, and I blocked with some of my creatures, so that my breakers could make more wolf tokens (and so I didn’t die), and eventually was able to swing for game. Luckily she didn’t have many fliers, so she skipped a lot of attacks as I could just block them and stuck to swinging with the lantern spirit. Game two, she took me down a little, but I was able to quickly get out Olivia Voldaren and start killing and taking her creatures. Game two was pretty easy. Olivia is awesome!!!

My eights opponent was Joel Paradee, who was running a blue/black zombie deck with murder of crows. I only got him to eighteen, and had a standoff with him at the beginning, but I now know the true terror of endless ranks of the dead. I was able to kill his undead alchemist, but overall, he was able to overwhelm me with his zombies, and murder of crows, which I could not block. Game two, was more even and I was able to gain the advantage, but a little after I did that, he decided he wanted to just go to game three, where he was able to beat me down with his zombies and fliers (crows and bats) again. I also kept a hand I probably shouldn’t have, which caused me to lose quickly as I couldn’t defend.

My final opponent was Daniel Villamizar, who was using a white/blue/black deck. Game one, he secures his mana base quickly with his two Traveler’s Amulet and gets out a Silverchase Fox and doomed traveler. We are both hitting each other back and forth, but ultimately I am able to win game one. Game two, isn’t quite the same, though. He has a bat and Falkenrath Noble and I am unable to get him below twenty, while he pummels away at me with fliers. Game three is the final game and guess who shows up again. I get out Olivia Voldaren and am able to slowly wipe his board with it, but he still has an Invisible Stalker, which is at 4/2 thanks to an equipment. I get him to five, and he gets me to seven and he finally draws a black spell to kill Olivia. My only other creature is a Reckless Waif, but I pump it with Kessig Wolfrun and attack for game. Olivia made the victory possible, though, but I’m a bit surprised that Reckless Waif took the game. She didn’t even transform. 4-5, overall. Not too bad.

11/7: Discount Draft

Back to the Relentless Dragon and this time, I went red/white, which is basically my new blue/white. I got a Stromkirk Noble and a Champion of the Parish and while I didn’t have any bombs, I had creatures that could build up to be bombs. My first opponent seemed fairly new as he started by drawing and saying “I wonder what this card could be,” as he wasn’t using cases or checklist cards. The person next to him gave him a checklist card and told him to use it. He was playing blue and red (I think, he mostly used blue) and for the first time in my magic career, Bloodcrazed Neonate was useful. Game one, I got a turn one Champion of the Parish and powered it up, beating him down with humans. Game two, I played my neonate and he was unable to block her at first because I had Crossway Vampires, and eventually it got pretty strong. That combined with a few of my flip cards, beat him pretty quickly.

My second opponent was Matt, who I’ve faced quite a bit and is pretty good. He’s the guy who beat me in my third draft last round, although I’ve beaten him as well. He is playing a green/white deck that is pretty good. He quickly got out creatures quickly and everytime we traded, his Lumberknot would power up. Eventually, I couldn’t block and lost. Game two, though, I was on the play, as I had been doing more often, and was able to quickly play out my creatures and beat him down with a Champion of the Parish with seven counters, and made good use of Bellringer for a surprise power up that saved Champion early on and took out his creature. Game three went similar to game two, and I was able to secure my creatures first and had him on the defensive. It went into turns, but as he had been blocking, he no longer had enough creatures to block with to survive (not that he shouldn’t have blocked earlier). He was a good opponent nonetheless.

My third opponent was another person that I regret losing to. He reminded me of Sheldon from the big bang theory, except more annoying and a bad sport. He was a good player, nonetheless, but I believe that acting ones age means not being a bad sport in a Monday night draft with no prize support. He was using blue/white. I took him game one because he kept a bad hand and couldn’t play anything. Game two, I stupidly kept a hand with one mana because I had a Stromkirk Noble. He used claustrophobia on it and I was done. Game three, I chose to draw because I was hoping for something like the first game. This was the best game of the three, but I unfortunately couldn’t win. I got a Thraben Sentry and transformed it, but he claustrophoia’d it. Luckily I drew into Silverchase Fox (my one that I sided in), but he was able to kill it and ultimately win. I managed to Harvest Pyre his Makeshift Mauler, but he had enough other creatures, when I was cardless. I should also note that he made good use of Stitcher's Apprentice, by sacrificing creatures targeted by one of my burn spells. Oh well, I got second, and got a Stromkirk Noble and a Champion of the Parish…

11/11/11: FNM

I WON!!!

I drafted a red/white deck like usual, again with no bombs, but this time with nothing to build up to bombs either. It was basically a beat down deck with Tormented Pariah as my strongest potential hitter. My first opponent was Steven Brunelle who was using a red/white deck like mine, but not like mine. I won the dice roll and was on the play. He had to mulligan and I kept. I quickly got out creatures and when he would play creatures, I would stop them from blocking with Crossway Vampires. Eventually he blocked to save himself from losing, but at that point it was too late. I had out Juggernaut and a couple other creatures and beat him very quickly. Game two, I was on the draw, but it was basically a repeat of this.

My second opponent was Micheal Gorlin. He was playing green/white and got out a Darkthicket Wolf and hit me with it. I began my assault then. I started to get out my creatures and was able to start hitting him. He managed to hold me off awhile and his wolf and 5/5 regenerating vampire could do some damage, so I had to use my Avacynian Priest to hold them one off, while taking some damage. In the end, I could do more damage and I won. Game two, started the same why, except he ended up playing out Essence of the Wild. Not too big a problem as I used Fiend Hunter on it. I said Final Turn and swung out, but unfortunately, he flashed an Ambush Viper. Luckily he didn’t have many creatures yet, but he had Mentor of the Meek out, which caused him to to gain a creature advantage quickly. It ended up as a big stand-off where I had out my Hanweir Watchkeep to defend with as well as Avacynian Priest and some reasonably strong creatures. Soon, he was at six and took me down to three. I attacked with Voiceless Spirit and played Moment of Heroism on it, taking him to two and me to seven. He had no fliers and swung out, but I blocked and survived it. I underestimated him big time, still. He was definitely a good player.

My final opponent was Marcus MDonald, who I’ve faced once before and lost to. It’s weird; I want the packs and want to win, but I don’t really object too much losing to him as he is a good player and a good sport, too. Of course, that didn’t mean that I would just let him win. Game one, I kept a hand with two plains, but no mountains and although I did get some later and build up my own forces, he already two fliers that were hitting me. I was almost able to beat him with my Tormented Pariah (transformed), but he had already done too much damage for me to survive the next turn and I couldn’t finish him off. I went first game two and played a creature and got it equipped with Trepanation Blade, which took out quite a few of his good cards without flashback, while Trepanation Blade didn’t do much damage, since he blocked, I played out other creatures and eventually he couldn’t block, as Trepanation Blade took away so many good cards and I was able to make full use of my cards. Game three went similar, except the creature I equipped was Voiceless Spirit, which had first strike and flying and he couldn’t block it most of the time. On top of that, both of the other games, he got out Deranged Assistant, and this time he was short on mana, giving me some free hits. While he was able to block a few once he drew land and did use Feelings of Dread a couple of times, it only delayed my attack, and since he didn’t have something to hit me with, my victory came soon after.

Everyday I'm Shufflin': Last Friday Night

10/28: FNM

A typical Friday. I got home from school and waited around until five-thirty or so and then drove down to Larry’s. I had to wait a while as one guy kept saying that he was nearly there and ended up getting there over half an hour late. We were all surprised that the store owner waited considering how many annoyed drafters there were. At 7:00, he called and the store owner said he’s give him three minutes. Anyways, when he arrived at 7:04, we got started and were all kinda pissed at him. Being the Halloween FNM, we all got deck boxes and awesome M&Ms with the symbol of Avacyn on them. The deck boxes were pretty awesome, but no one could figure out how to put them together, except for Arianna and a few other people, mine is holding together pretty well, except hers was better. One kid seemed happy and declared his victory over the deck box, when it popped apart right back in to its original flat shape. We all burst out laughing.

I drafted a green/black deck with a lot of werewolves in it. I feel that this was good as I put thought into it and made sure to have both creatures and removal. My first opponent was a kid who I’ve seen there often. I’m pretty sure his name was Robert. He was playing a red/green deck. Game one, he was on the play and had to mulligan. This wasn’t much of a game, as I pretty much just summoned creatures (Elder of Laurels as one of them) and destroyed him with my werewolves, before he could fight back. Game two, he was on the play again, and this one was more challenging for me. He got a couple of hits on me and I was a little short on mana, but I luckily draw the land I needed in time. I got out a green wolf (the one that gets +2/+2, when I pay the mana), and equipped it with two blazing torch. Stupid move. He used Traitorous Blood and I responded by tapping it to kill one of his creatures. He untapped it and killed it. Eventually, he had out an Instigator Gang, which I didn’t want to stick around, so I swung out with three creatures (two of which were my Gatstaf Howler and my Krallenhorde Wantons), and my third was a creature he could block and kill with his Gang. He blocked my Wantons with one of his creatures and my weak creature with his gang, and didn’t have any green creatures out to block the howler. We both started this turn with three creatures, now we both had two. I played my Morkrut Banshee to kill his Instigator Gang and block on the next turn. He played a Crossway Vampire and swung with his last creature. I drew Prey Upon. Game.

My second match was against Richard. He had a black/white deck with a lot of humans and some equipments. He gained the advantage via speed, as I tend to be on the draw and was both times. Game one, he quickly gets out a doomed traveler followed by a couple of other weak creatures, as well as a sharpened pitchfork. I am able to block, but have less creatures than him. I get down to low life, but my removal and strong creatures allowed me to win game one barely. Next game, he shows his speed once again and I soon find myself up against a Geist-honored Monk and an Alabaster Angel. I hardly have any fliers, so I lose quickly. Game three, he got out a vampire interloper and hit hitting me with it a few times. This was the first game he couldn’t play something first turn. Luckliy, my Howler was hitting him back, and my creatures were stronger so he was pretty hesitant to attack, of course, I also had removal, such as dead weight, so I ended up killing his fliers to make up for my lack of them. I ended up at thirteen when I was finally able to gain control of the game by attacking where I would lose a creature, but setting me up for a Morkrut Banshee, which left him with only the interloper. Throughout the game, we have been killing each other creatures off with spells, as he has Rebuke and Smite the Monstrous (which got rid of my Stalking Vampire this game), and I have Dead Weight, Tribute to Hunger, Prey Upon, and Victim of Night. I had more, but he had more creatures, so it kind of evened out. He was a very tough opponent, but when it came to his last draw, he just drew and placed a plains on the table.

My third opponent was Robert’s brother, Andrew (or maybe I have them mixed up). I offered to draw, but he refused and so we played. He was playing a deck that was almost entirely removal, with Geistflames, Harvest’s Pyre, Claustrophobia, Tribute to Hunger and probably more. I realized this when I played Night Terrors game one to hit Claustrophobia and saw his hand full of removal. He got out a Delver of Secrets, which I played Dead Weight on. He wasn’t playing anything as my creatures were higher in cost and therefore he had to wait to. I assumed I won as he didn’t seem to have any creatures. I played out my Grizzled Outcasts, forgetting that he could play his Tribute during my upkeep. He did and gained seven. I played my Shamans (turns into a regenerating werewolf) and he killed them soon as well. He responded to pretty much everything by killing it until I found myself up against a Skaab Goliath with only weaker creatures. I didn’t draw anything to stop it as it was a Zombie and Victim of Night wouldn’t work on it, and ended up dying quickly. Game two, he was on the play with a lack of mana and a mulligan and I beat him down quickly before he could retaliate. That’s why I like the draw. Despite getting the draw for all three games, though, I still ended up losing. I tried to beat him down game three, but in the end, it ended up like a repeat of Game one. I tried to Night Terrors again, but he didn’t have a Goliath in hand. He played out Murder of Crows, which I promptly used Victim of Night on. That set the last creature in his grave yard, though, and He played Skaab Goliath. He won without much trouble as I didn’t draw my Tribute to Hunger in time to save me. I still got five packs for second, so all was good.