Sunday I went to a PTQ held by PES. I had went 0-3 the day before with Blue-Black control. Tears...
I ran into my friend Tam inside the hall where he heard me discussing metagaming strategy with another friend. He asked how I did and if I was going to play in the Sunday PTQ. He offered me a chance to borrow his Blue-White control deck and I hesitantly accepted. The reason being is Tam likes to make his decks sparkle and I wasn't too comfortable being responsible for the amount of money the deck cost to make. He persuaded me he had faith I would be a fine.
I Went 5-2-1 with it. Resolving Venser was actually awesome and I had a great time with all of my opponents. "The Tam" was missing two Gideon's and a FNM PROMO Wall of Omens. He told me this as he drove away, so I took that as "buy it for me."
This is what I ran:
4 spreading seas
4 mana leak
4 condemn
2 Venser
1 gideon
1 stoic rebuttal
1 deprive
2 shrine of piercing vision
4 preordain
4 blade splicer
2 day of judgement
4 wall of omens
2 sun titan
4 glacial fortress
4 celestial colonnade
2 kabira crossroads
2 plains
4 seachrome coast
4 tectonic edge
5 island
Sideboard
1 deprive
3 flashfreeze
3 celestial purge
2 rovoke existence
2 oust
2 dismember
2 jace beleren
My all-stars for the day were Venser, Tectonic Edge, Spreading Seas, Condemn, Flashfreeze, and Dismember. I liked Condemn waaaaay better than if it were Tam's Journey to Nowhere's. I cut one Venser for the Gideon Mike Beecher lent me, and let me tell ya, the planeswalkers worked their asses off.
Shrine of Piercing Vision I figured would have been better than Sea Gate Oracle, and today it was. It let me get out of holes because of the many extra cards I was able to see. That said, I don't think I would play it again. Foresee or Jace's Ingenuity would have been fine if not better.
I feel as though the sideboard needs a third Dismember, a third Day of Judgement, and a third Oust; taking out 1 Deprive, and the 2 Revoke Existence. The Revokes I believe are for Volition Reigns, Tempered Steel, and the Tezz match-up (indestructible artifacts, etc). I never sided them in, but probably should have vs Mark Walker. I still think they're "meh."
Another card I wanted to play was Leyline of Sanctity. I'm not sure what could be taken out for it, but 2-3 copies wouldn't be too bad. Maybe 2 somewhere in the main and a third somewhere in the sideboard.
Blade Splicer is a fine card, but I feel it was too gimmicky and would have been happier with Tumble Magnet. I think another avenue would have been to just play Trinket Mage with "the package" of Elixir, Origin Spellbomb, and Basilisk Collar. The fourth slot could be taken up by Jace Beleren, which I sided in often, depending on the match-up and who was going first.
1st round was Valakut. I thought I was going to lose this one, but Venser Ultimated and two Spreading Seas "Stone Rained" 4 lands in game three. Games one and two were so blisteringly fast, I can't really remember them, aside from a freaking amazing top deck from my opponent with Avenger of Zendikar, plotting ten plants and raising them into 1/2's. This was the only time Condemn looked sad in my hand, but Journey to Nowhere wouldn't have been much better.
It was after this round my friend Kevin Butcher texted me saying:
"Awesome!! keep winning bro. you're a great player. you can hang with anyone."
2nd round I lost to Greg Hilner's Red-Green LD special. This was somewhat tilting. For some reason when I play vs Greg, I always get nervous. I never know what he's gonna throw at me. Needless to say, while I was outside smoking I heard a few others lost to Greg's crazy shenanigans as well. It felt somewhat cathartic to know I'm not the only one Greg throws into life-tilt.
Game one wasn't close. Beast Within (two), Acidic Slime, Tectonic Edge, and Pelakka Wurm (WTF >_<)
Game two Blade Splicers Administered some Beats.
Game three I kept a 6 lander and Mana Leak draw. I am going to defend this keep. Greg had more than enough resource denial and I didn't want to get blown out. On top of that his was a slow deck. I was fine for a while till I made the decision to play Blade Splicer to tag along with my Jace Beleren instead of Tectonic Edging one of his Rootbound Crag's. His next turn he drew, looked at his card and immediately plopped it down. My heart sank and I saw him tap six mana for Inferno Titan. My next draw and my Spreading Seas failed to yield either Day of Judgement or Condemn. GG
I remembered what Kev said and pulled my stomach up from my feet. I wasn't going to let myself lose again if I could help it.
3rd round I lost a great match vs Patrick Hickman's friend playing Kuldotha Red(!!). I forget his name (as I do with everyone's), but we had a blast. A great opponent to play against and a nice guy! He took game one with style and I nabbed game 2 shattering the glass with two Sun Titans, Spreading Seas and his two lands.
Game 3 was a Chuck Norris kick to my face. It was over in 5 minutes, three of which was me trying to figure out a way out of the beatdown being administered.
4th round I played vs another mono red deck, but this time piloted by a less experienced player. It was his first PTQ and he was just happy to be playing and plans to go to more.
Game one was mine with Spreading Seas flooding his Mountains. Game two he took me over to the shed. Game 3 went to time. I had been setting up a Day of Judgement + Gideon turn forever, but I was short on lands coming into play UN-tapped. I finally hit the mana I needed and on the fifth and final turn Gideon and two Blade Splicers pulled a KO for me.
5th round I played Vampires. I happened to know what the kid was playing as I saw him play it the day before at the top tables of the MWM event. A few rounds earlier I saw someone Surgically Extract his Bloodghast's.
I was nervous. Sure that he was going to roll me. Well, turns out that Spreading Seas is pretty good in this match-up as well! Game one was mine. Day of Judgement, Spreading Seas, and ESPECIALLY Condemn took it home for me. The second game was too fast and easy for him. Game three came down to setting a turn up with Gideon and Condemn's. Wrath and Spreading Seas wrapped it up.
Round 6 I played vs Grixis-Twin. UGH! This can be a tricky match-up.
Game one he combo'd off and got some in my eye.
Game 2 was all about timely topdecks on my part with removal, Spreading Seas, and Flashfreeze.
Game 3 was simply, no lies, Spreading Seas and Tectonic Edge. I shut him out of Black and knocked his land count to three for consecutive turns, until he just went for it. I showed him Flashfreeze and he put his hand out. He was a great opponent. He seemed relatively new but played very well and piloted his deck expertly. More than a competent player. I want to say I can actually see him being on the pro tour.
Round 7 was another disgusting match.
I knew as soon as I saw "Forest into Bird" he was RUG-Twin. The first game I Mana Leaked his Deceiver, Spread the Sea, and Vensered.
The second game was the "ow...my eye" game, when I stupidly Dismembered his Bird of Paradise. It's natural reaction from years of seeing first turn Birds to shoot the fuckers out of the sky. I'm not gonna lie, I hated myself for doing it as I saw him tap out another Bird and pass the turn. Please be advised: Birds are not your enemy. Heh.
The third game was true grit. He had first turn Bird again and went for Deceiver at my End Step and into a Mana Leak. As the game progressed, Spreading Seas isolated his Red sources. I drew and played a Venser tapping out to one mana, hoping to have two untapped on his turn. He responded to my Venser activation with Deceiver shutting out my untapped Colonnade. My Vensered Plains sat there alone, bluffing a Dismember (or at least attempting). All I had in my hand was Flashfreeze and Mana Leak. My heart began to sink as he untapped, played a mountain, tapped four mana, and played a
URABRASK on top of his Deceiver!!!!!
I nearly fell out of my chair! I could feel my eyes well up as he looked at me waiting for me to scoop. I looked down and tapped the Urabrask with my finger. He looked down and said "omg...all I saw was a Red card and just figured it was Twin!"
Interlude: My round 7 opponent is one of the players that plays cards facing his opponents and holds his cards upside down in his hand. End Interlude.
I was so relieved I could care less when he took out my Wall with Dismember and then Venser with combat damage. It was at this stage of the game I drew another Spreading Seas, another Venser, a Dismember, and a Flashfreeze. Aside from one of my opponents friends saying I drew a card already from my Spreading Seas that I Vensered, which I didn't, it was smooth sailing from there. Good Lord, this match was awesome and my opponent was just as pleasing to play against. This is by far one of my favorite matches I've played in some time and I doubt I will forget it.
My opponents name is a different story....
Round 8 was a bit of a let down.
I was paired versus Mark Walker, a local player at the comic book store I play FNM at. He's alright fella and this was his third PTQ. Game one took forever. He molested my hand with disruption early and rightly took notes of the contents.
The game came down to me top decking a Venser and shutting out his Vampire Nighthawk with Colonnades with the Condemns sitting in my hand. I Balanced Lilian's discard by Vensering one of Spreading Seas. I have no idea why he wasn't using her -2 ability to Vamp-tutor, and I wasn't going to complain, but I was able to set up a plan.
After he made me discard my last "known" card in my hand I had to hope he came in with his Nighthawk at my Venser. And he did. I had to hope he didn't have a removal spell for my Colonnade as well or my plan wasn't going to work. Nope. :D
Block. Trade. Untap. Ultimate Venser. Play stuff. Exile all your relevant stuff.
I did forget to level my Venser for 2 turns (when I had almost nothing - no excuses though, right?) out of being so exhilarated by the aggressive Nighthawk. But he couldn't capitalize :P mise.
A turn or two later he drew and played Life's Finale. He pilfered through my deck and picked out my last three "real men". All I had left were Colonnade and a Gideon. Eventually, I was able to man-land him to death from 30, but there wasn't too much time left in the round.
Game 2 Was all his. Stuck short on lands, he resolved Memoricide on Gideon, Pilfered my hand with Duress, and landed Wurmcoil Engine while I was attempting to rid my world of Karn.
On to game 3 ....nevermind. The Clock ran out and we drew as neither of us had no real ways of beating each other within three land drops (sorry - this isn't Legacy, Bro). I was a little disheartened, but I was still glad to have finally play against Mark. He's a good fella and hope to see him more at PTQ's and other large non-Legacy events.
Overall, my day was pretty awesome. I ended it in 20th place and got paid with 6 packs of New Phyrexia. While it doesn't seem that awesome, I have noticed my plays more clearly recently, be they good or bad. And I have felt I am a little out of my league, or see a giant learning curve, when I sit down to face my opponents of late. But that doesn't mean it's true. My friends advice is exactly what I needed. If I continue to second guess myself, then so will everyone else. Including my opponents.
Btw, I opened a Karn. Snoochie boochies!
I ran into my friend Tam inside the hall where he heard me discussing metagaming strategy with another friend. He asked how I did and if I was going to play in the Sunday PTQ. He offered me a chance to borrow his Blue-White control deck and I hesitantly accepted. The reason being is Tam likes to make his decks sparkle and I wasn't too comfortable being responsible for the amount of money the deck cost to make. He persuaded me he had faith I would be a fine.
I Went 5-2-1 with it. Resolving Venser was actually awesome and I had a great time with all of my opponents. "The Tam" was missing two Gideon's and a FNM PROMO Wall of Omens. He told me this as he drove away, so I took that as "buy it for me."
This is what I ran:
4 spreading seas
4 mana leak
4 condemn
2 Venser
1 gideon
1 stoic rebuttal
1 deprive
2 shrine of piercing vision
4 preordain
4 blade splicer
2 day of judgement
4 wall of omens
2 sun titan
4 glacial fortress
4 celestial colonnade
2 kabira crossroads
2 plains
4 seachrome coast
4 tectonic edge
5 island
Sideboard
1 deprive
3 flashfreeze
3 celestial purge
2 rovoke existence
2 oust
2 dismember
2 jace beleren
My all-stars for the day were Venser, Tectonic Edge, Spreading Seas, Condemn, Flashfreeze, and Dismember. I liked Condemn waaaaay better than if it were Tam's Journey to Nowhere's. I cut one Venser for the Gideon Mike Beecher lent me, and let me tell ya, the planeswalkers worked their asses off.
Shrine of Piercing Vision I figured would have been better than Sea Gate Oracle, and today it was. It let me get out of holes because of the many extra cards I was able to see. That said, I don't think I would play it again. Foresee or Jace's Ingenuity would have been fine if not better.
I feel as though the sideboard needs a third Dismember, a third Day of Judgement, and a third Oust; taking out 1 Deprive, and the 2 Revoke Existence. The Revokes I believe are for Volition Reigns, Tempered Steel, and the Tezz match-up (indestructible artifacts, etc). I never sided them in, but probably should have vs Mark Walker. I still think they're "meh."
Another card I wanted to play was Leyline of Sanctity. I'm not sure what could be taken out for it, but 2-3 copies wouldn't be too bad. Maybe 2 somewhere in the main and a third somewhere in the sideboard.
Blade Splicer is a fine card, but I feel it was too gimmicky and would have been happier with Tumble Magnet. I think another avenue would have been to just play Trinket Mage with "the package" of Elixir, Origin Spellbomb, and Basilisk Collar. The fourth slot could be taken up by Jace Beleren, which I sided in often, depending on the match-up and who was going first.
1st round was Valakut. I thought I was going to lose this one, but Venser Ultimated and two Spreading Seas "Stone Rained" 4 lands in game three. Games one and two were so blisteringly fast, I can't really remember them, aside from a freaking amazing top deck from my opponent with Avenger of Zendikar, plotting ten plants and raising them into 1/2's. This was the only time Condemn looked sad in my hand, but Journey to Nowhere wouldn't have been much better.
It was after this round my friend Kevin Butcher texted me saying:
"Awesome!! keep winning bro. you're a great player. you can hang with anyone."
2nd round I lost to Greg Hilner's Red-Green LD special. This was somewhat tilting. For some reason when I play vs Greg, I always get nervous. I never know what he's gonna throw at me. Needless to say, while I was outside smoking I heard a few others lost to Greg's crazy shenanigans as well. It felt somewhat cathartic to know I'm not the only one Greg throws into life-tilt.
Game one wasn't close. Beast Within (two), Acidic Slime, Tectonic Edge, and Pelakka Wurm (WTF >_<)
Game two Blade Splicers Administered some Beats.
Game three I kept a 6 lander and Mana Leak draw. I am going to defend this keep. Greg had more than enough resource denial and I didn't want to get blown out. On top of that his was a slow deck. I was fine for a while till I made the decision to play Blade Splicer to tag along with my Jace Beleren instead of Tectonic Edging one of his Rootbound Crag's. His next turn he drew, looked at his card and immediately plopped it down. My heart sank and I saw him tap six mana for Inferno Titan. My next draw and my Spreading Seas failed to yield either Day of Judgement or Condemn. GG
I remembered what Kev said and pulled my stomach up from my feet. I wasn't going to let myself lose again if I could help it.
3rd round I lost a great match vs Patrick Hickman's friend playing Kuldotha Red(!!). I forget his name (as I do with everyone's), but we had a blast. A great opponent to play against and a nice guy! He took game one with style and I nabbed game 2 shattering the glass with two Sun Titans, Spreading Seas and his two lands.
Game 3 was a Chuck Norris kick to my face. It was over in 5 minutes, three of which was me trying to figure out a way out of the beatdown being administered.
4th round I played vs another mono red deck, but this time piloted by a less experienced player. It was his first PTQ and he was just happy to be playing and plans to go to more.
Game one was mine with Spreading Seas flooding his Mountains. Game two he took me over to the shed. Game 3 went to time. I had been setting up a Day of Judgement + Gideon turn forever, but I was short on lands coming into play UN-tapped. I finally hit the mana I needed and on the fifth and final turn Gideon and two Blade Splicers pulled a KO for me.
5th round I played Vampires. I happened to know what the kid was playing as I saw him play it the day before at the top tables of the MWM event. A few rounds earlier I saw someone Surgically Extract his Bloodghast's.
I was nervous. Sure that he was going to roll me. Well, turns out that Spreading Seas is pretty good in this match-up as well! Game one was mine. Day of Judgement, Spreading Seas, and ESPECIALLY Condemn took it home for me. The second game was too fast and easy for him. Game three came down to setting a turn up with Gideon and Condemn's. Wrath and Spreading Seas wrapped it up.
Round 6 I played vs Grixis-Twin. UGH! This can be a tricky match-up.
Game one he combo'd off and got some in my eye.
Game 2 was all about timely topdecks on my part with removal, Spreading Seas, and Flashfreeze.
Game 3 was simply, no lies, Spreading Seas and Tectonic Edge. I shut him out of Black and knocked his land count to three for consecutive turns, until he just went for it. I showed him Flashfreeze and he put his hand out. He was a great opponent. He seemed relatively new but played very well and piloted his deck expertly. More than a competent player. I want to say I can actually see him being on the pro tour.
Round 7 was another disgusting match.
I knew as soon as I saw "Forest into Bird" he was RUG-Twin. The first game I Mana Leaked his Deceiver, Spread the Sea, and Vensered.
The second game was the "ow...my eye" game, when I stupidly Dismembered his Bird of Paradise. It's natural reaction from years of seeing first turn Birds to shoot the fuckers out of the sky. I'm not gonna lie, I hated myself for doing it as I saw him tap out another Bird and pass the turn. Please be advised: Birds are not your enemy. Heh.
The third game was true grit. He had first turn Bird again and went for Deceiver at my End Step and into a Mana Leak. As the game progressed, Spreading Seas isolated his Red sources. I drew and played a Venser tapping out to one mana, hoping to have two untapped on his turn. He responded to my Venser activation with Deceiver shutting out my untapped Colonnade. My Vensered Plains sat there alone, bluffing a Dismember (or at least attempting). All I had in my hand was Flashfreeze and Mana Leak. My heart began to sink as he untapped, played a mountain, tapped four mana, and played a
URABRASK on top of his Deceiver!!!!!
I nearly fell out of my chair! I could feel my eyes well up as he looked at me waiting for me to scoop. I looked down and tapped the Urabrask with my finger. He looked down and said "omg...all I saw was a Red card and just figured it was Twin!"
Interlude: My round 7 opponent is one of the players that plays cards facing his opponents and holds his cards upside down in his hand. End Interlude.
I was so relieved I could care less when he took out my Wall with Dismember and then Venser with combat damage. It was at this stage of the game I drew another Spreading Seas, another Venser, a Dismember, and a Flashfreeze. Aside from one of my opponents friends saying I drew a card already from my Spreading Seas that I Vensered, which I didn't, it was smooth sailing from there. Good Lord, this match was awesome and my opponent was just as pleasing to play against. This is by far one of my favorite matches I've played in some time and I doubt I will forget it.
My opponents name is a different story....
Round 8 was a bit of a let down.
I was paired versus Mark Walker, a local player at the comic book store I play FNM at. He's alright fella and this was his third PTQ. Game one took forever. He molested my hand with disruption early and rightly took notes of the contents.
The game came down to me top decking a Venser and shutting out his Vampire Nighthawk with Colonnades with the Condemns sitting in my hand. I Balanced Lilian's discard by Vensering one of Spreading Seas. I have no idea why he wasn't using her -2 ability to Vamp-tutor, and I wasn't going to complain, but I was able to set up a plan.
After he made me discard my last "known" card in my hand I had to hope he came in with his Nighthawk at my Venser. And he did. I had to hope he didn't have a removal spell for my Colonnade as well or my plan wasn't going to work. Nope. :D
Block. Trade. Untap. Ultimate Venser. Play stuff. Exile all your relevant stuff.
I did forget to level my Venser for 2 turns (when I had almost nothing - no excuses though, right?) out of being so exhilarated by the aggressive Nighthawk. But he couldn't capitalize :P mise.
A turn or two later he drew and played Life's Finale. He pilfered through my deck and picked out my last three "real men". All I had left were Colonnade and a Gideon. Eventually, I was able to man-land him to death from 30, but there wasn't too much time left in the round.
Game 2 Was all his. Stuck short on lands, he resolved Memoricide on Gideon, Pilfered my hand with Duress, and landed Wurmcoil Engine while I was attempting to rid my world of Karn.
On to game 3 ....nevermind. The Clock ran out and we drew as neither of us had no real ways of beating each other within three land drops (sorry - this isn't Legacy, Bro). I was a little disheartened, but I was still glad to have finally play against Mark. He's a good fella and hope to see him more at PTQ's and other large non-Legacy events.
Overall, my day was pretty awesome. I ended it in 20th place and got paid with 6 packs of New Phyrexia. While it doesn't seem that awesome, I have noticed my plays more clearly recently, be they good or bad. And I have felt I am a little out of my league, or see a giant learning curve, when I sit down to face my opponents of late. But that doesn't mean it's true. My friends advice is exactly what I needed. If I continue to second guess myself, then so will everyone else. Including my opponents.
Btw, I opened a Karn. Snoochie boochies!
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