This will be a new one; Game Coverage! Unfortunately I'm unable to do filming cos I didn't have the preparation time and all. I kind of decided last minute to just jump in and play this event. If this coverage is by video, I could do so much more!
Nevertheless, I'll do a quick run-through on the event. I pay $10, face 3 opponents, and for every 1 match win entitles me to have a bounty roll with 2 20-sided dices. The prices varies with the numbers so, you can imgaine that numbers 2 and 40 have really good loots! (Misty Rainforest and Tarmogoyf specifically....)
Deck: 5C Ally Reanimator
It's a home-brewed deck. Basically, it is based off the idea of reanimating Angel of Gloy's Rise to bring back Human Ally creatures, triggering their ETB effects and mill the person to win.
I seriously have a lot of fun in my first games for all the matches. I totally caught them (the opponents) by surprise as they have never encounter such decks before. Great! Until they sideboard in the hates, which then the games start to become not funny anymore.
Round 1: UR Control (1-2)
Game 1 started off with me facing an opponent who is playing U/R. On top of my head I was guessing a couple of decks which I could be facing:
- UR Delver (Dead deck to be honest... dies to everything)
- Twin Exarch (Holy.....)
- UR Control (Have such, but never see before)
So I was working my plan based on the assumption that it is a Control/Midrange deck. I was looking for clues; the spells he cast, the creatures he play (He didn't have any!) And what sort of tricks he have.
In the first 3-4 turns, I set up my combo pieces, throwing everything I have into the grave with 2-3 Allies on board. He resolved an Anger of the Gods, exiling the creatures and got me down to almost 10+ life. Basically from there, I find myself racing to establish a win con quickly as I was fearing he was playing Twin Exarch. So for the next ~2 turns is basically dredging with Stinkweed Imp and dumping more stuff into the graveyard until I have my combo in place.
I manage to resolve a flashback - Unburial Rites, targeting Angel of Glory's Rise, and reanimated her and about another 4 other Allies including my alternate win con card, Mirror Entity. It was roughly into late game then and I have about 6-7 mana. I declared an all out attack, and awaiting for declare blocker step. When the opponent declared no blockers, I sinked 6 mana to pump everyone to have a base stats of 6/6, dealing lethal damage.
Rounds 2 and 3 basically are the same thing with a few minor differences. In both games, he mange to cast a hate card on me; Blood Moon. Technically speaking, I can function with just 1 source of white mana, but I didn't have it in the timely manner.
In the second round, I was anticipating the hate card from him, but I got greedy and cast a creature card. I could have waited and resolve it later or I could have cracked my fetchland for a basic land instead. I had a removal (Wear // Tear. It replaced Aven Mindcensor as a last minute change) on hand to answer Blood Moon, but that mistake costed me the game. (And Keranos, God of Storms resolved. So each turn I'll take 3 or give him a card draw. I conceded both matches after 2 turns upon resolution of Keranos.)
Third round was worse. We mulligan down to 5 cards each but he manage to get the same hate card. On the other hand, I land-jammed with no answers... so I basically conceded one Keranos resolved.
Round 2: RG Tron (1-2)
RG Tron is the WORST match up for me for 2 reasons;
- Any Eldrazi Lords will negate my milling win con
- Their creatures are so much BIGGER!
So when I started off the game, I almost wanted to immediately concede as it's almost impossible for me to win this match. But, well, I stayed on and played the game. (Sportsmanship!)
Similar to the first round, I started by setting up my combo. I knew the Eldrazi will cause a huge problem for me, but I was hoping to win by dealing lethal as how I did in the first game. The first game ended rather quickly. I slowed my opponent down by destroying his land with my Ghost Quarter, and managed to drop about 4 allies along with Halimar Excavator and I have another on board. I pulled off the Combo of at around turn 5-6. The total combined ETB trigger had my opponent milled 48 cards in total. Surprisingly, the opponent proceeded to mill ALL 48 cards from library and dropped into the graveyard. He conceded immediately after that, revealing that he had Emrakul on the hand, which cost him the game. So basically luck is on my side on the first game.
Post Side-boarding for game 2, that's where it's hell. I managed to stop him slightly in the early 2 turns with a Pithing Needle, but I lost to the tempo of the R/G TRON and got mauled by Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine. One exiles my permanent, the other beats for 6 and allows the opponent to gain 6 life per hit. It's an ugly match. In that game, I didn't manage to draw out any of my combo pieces and the set-up was too slow to make any impact.
In the third game, I sprung to quickly set up the combo, hoping to out-race him. However, just before I could activate the combo, He managed to cast a Relic of Progenitus to exile my graveyard. He later on cast Karn liberated to slowly remove my lands. In the last attempt, I cast Gifts Ungiven to search out all the different hate cards and try to shut him down. However, he managed to shut me down further by disabling my mana colours and I basically just draw-go for the next few turns, chump-blocked the Wurmcoil Engine to try to stay alive, hoping if there are some sort of miracle that I can turn the game in some way or another. But, I know I can't as this is really a bad match-up for my deck. I basically hanged around until he finally cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, which then I conceded the match.
Round 3: Jund (-Dropped- )
Didn't play the last game as I'm facing my friend. No point playing. But had I played that match, my prediction would be 1-2 to his favor. We agreed to drop the match with a 1-1-1 draw game.
Bounty loot: Loxodon Smiter
(No meaning.... The shop thought it's a $4 card still. But, it's still a really good modern card. I give that to them.)
Whole in all, I enjoyed playing the event. Best take-away is the expressions of the people who faced me, unknowing what my deck does until I reveal the combo pieces. The unexpected surprise is something refreshing to the meta and as a rouge player, I prefer playing such decks. It keeps the game interesting and fun. Rather than facing the same old decks over and over, it becomes stale after awhile.
A few pointers as a "Note to Self:" kind of thing;
- I'm running an aggro/combo deck. I should be more patient with my casting. Do not over-commit the board
- Sideboard requires some rework; some cards are greatly needed more than others.
- I think I have to play more hate-removals rather than general creature removals. 1 piece of general removal and 2 pieces of counter may work out better as this allows me to stop their tempo.
I'm making plans to play the event more frequently; as sort of like a break between my studies. I'll put on hold when my exams are nearing so keep in view. Meantime, stay-tuned! I have drafted quite a number of posts due for posting soon already!
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