Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
Both games played out identically. He durdles a bit with mana dorks, pops a lingering souls, and then plays a parrallel lives, meanwhile I'm solidifying the board with multiple tokens and anthems.
This particular GWB tokens was really too heavy on the green, I pointed it out to him, then pointed out that parallel lives probably would have served better as another token generator.
This guy had to no sideboard so I choose not too.
Game 2: WU Budget Humans 2-0
This guy was a new player, not much else to say. His deck had its scary moments but had none of the cards that really make UW Humans into something scary. Once again I didn't sideboard.
Game 3: UB Zombies 1-2
Game 1: guy keeps durdly hand with his first play being a diregraf captain. He tragic slips my champion but I follow with Gather then lingering, then double anthem, then Sorin. He just can't keep pace.
-1 doomblade
-1 go for the throat
-1 hero
-2 Sorin
+3 celestial purge
+2 lingering souls
Game 2: I thought I was going to live the dream. My hand was champion, doom traveller x2, gather, honor of the pure, plains, isolated chapel.
He got off to a fast start with double grave crawler and diregraf ghoul, and I start drawing nothing but land. He eventually grinds out my army and lands grave titans. A Sorin pull wasn't enough to stop him.
Game 3: I toss back a hand of gather, 2x intangible, and lands. A guy watching later commented that I was being greedy tossing that back, and now I agree. My mulligan was doomed, plains x2, intangible, blade splicer, and Sorin.
It was actually a very close game, but he got a good start with grave crawlers and diregraf captains again. I again suffered from poor draws, I didn't see a single lingering souls, and my champion and hero both met removal. He again cinched it with a Grave Titan I couldn't answer.
Round 3 RG Werewolves
Rolled right over him, both games were turn 6/7 kills.
Thank you for a great tournament report Hellsing! Actually enjoyed reading it. Celestial Purge is sky rocketing in its value within our SB atm, I am currently in the process of writing a Wb token SB primer so hopefully that will be of some use for you soon. =)
"Common sense is not as common as one would believe."
"These kids today with their collector numbers and their newfangled tap symbol. Twenty Black Lotuses and twenty Plague Rats. Now that's real Magic."-Old Fogey
Decided to try out Craig Wescoe's main deck list that he ran in Salt Lake City. It was a 5 round FNM and I went 3-2. This was all from memory, so I might have got a few things wrong/mixed up.
Round 1: Esper Control
Game 1 started off badly, my first spell was a Gather the Townsfolk, and he had 3 Mana Leaks and a Snapcaster Mana Leak for everything else after that, but I eventually managed to stick an Honor of the Pure and Midnight Haunting. When he tapped out for a Consecrated Sphinx, I topdecked a Hero of Bladehold and played her. It was a really bad move, since he DoJ'd next turn, then played another Sphinx the turn after that, and I only drew land and Doomed Travelers.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: I don't remember the exact details, but it was much more in my favor. He mulled to 5, I stuck a few anthems and beat in with spirit tokens.
Game 3: I stuck a Shrine on turn 2, and then played carefully, making sure not to over-extend, and once my shrine reached 6 counters, I started keeping 3 mana open in case he tried to O-Ring it. Once it got up to 12, I popped it at the end of his turn, and we counted out the damage. Even with his remaining soldier and spirit tokens and removal, it was enough.
Round 2:Esper Control
These were both over so fast, I curved out well in both games and he just didn't have any answers. Just a lot of durdling with Pristine Talismans.
Game 1: T1 Champion, T2 Gather, T3 Lingering Souls. I just sat back after that and kept getting in there.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: T2 Intangible Virtue, T3 Lingering Souls, T4 flashback Lingering Souls. T5, swing for 8, he casts Black Sun's Zenith on his turn, and I cast Midnight Haunting at the end of his turn, then 2 Honor of the Pures on mine, and he scoops.
Round 3: Delver
Game 1: I was on the draw and had to mull to 6, but I kept a hand of Gather the Townsfolk, 2 Honor of the Pure, Midnight Haunting and 2 Plains. T2 Gather, T3 HotP, and he double Vapor Snagged my human tokens. T4 He Mana Leaked my Midnight Haunting, and I drew nothing but lands. He kept beating my face with an unflipped Delver and an Invisible Stalker until he drew a Sword of War and Peace in another turn or two, and it was game over.
Game 2: Had to mulligan because my first hand had only a Swamp and Vault as lands, and my 6 was 3 Plains, 1 Swamp, Go for the Throat, and Midnight Haunting. Then when I mulled to 5, I got the same hand, minus the GftT. FML. Even though he never flipped his 3 Delvers, and I managed to trade with them with some timely Midnight Hauntings, he eventually got a Geist of Saint Traft with a sword.
Round 4: Esper Control
Game 1: This guy had a strange Esper Control deck. He ground me out by having lots and lots of answers cat tokens from White Sun's Zenith, and I only managed to resolve one Honor of the Pure.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: Shrine on turn 2, managed to resolve an HotP, and got in some beats with Doomed Travelers and human tokens. He had a few Timely Reinforcements to hold me off, and I won the game after I popped a Shrine at 9.
Game 3: The grind of the century. He had Mana Leaks, Dissipates, Doom Blades and Timely Reinforcements for days, and I only had one Plains in my opening hand, and didn't see another white source til like turn 7 or 8, so I could only play one spell a turn. He eventually played Elspeth and started alternating between making soldier tokens and gaining life. He took over the board with that and a few castings of WSZ, and it was then that I realized that that was his main win-con. I thought he just never drew his Titans or Sphinxes, but no, that was it. In retrospect, I wish I boarded in Suture Priest and took out Doomed Traveler.
Round 5: G/W/r Aggro
Game 1: He was on the play, and answered my T1 Champion with a Thalia. Yea, that made the rest of match very unpleasant. He kept getting in there with Strangleroot Geists while I was stuck on three lands.
Out: 4 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Doomed Traveler
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions, 3 Suture Priest
Game 2: Like all the other round 2 comebacks tonight, I win by getting 2-3 anthems, and repeatedly beating down with a few spirit tokens. Thalia tried to make things difficult again, but I had a GftT with her name on it.
Game 3: T2 Suture Priest, T3 HotP, but he kills it with Ray of Revelation, so I hold off on my Virtue to play it on a turn when he's tapped out, so I can at least get a little use out of it. I forget the exact sequence of events here, but I kept taking the beatings by Strangleroot Geists until I was down to 5, and he plays a Huntsmaster. End of his turn, I GftT it, and cast a Midnight Haunting, then on my turn, I top deck a Champion and play it and a Hero. All that brought me back up to 9 life, and I attack with my spirits and pass the turn. He plays another Huntmaster on his turn and passes without attacking. I play a Gather the Townsfolk, and attack with everything. He double blocks Hero with the two wolf tokens, and trades one of his Geists for my Champion. I'm at 13, and he's at 7. He taps out for Vorapede, putting him at 6, and I smile. I play the Intangible Virtue, and swing in with my 6 tokens for lethal.
All in all, I like this version of the deck, but I do find myself missing the amount of spot removal my previous decklists had (I usually run 3 Go for the Throats, 2 Doom Blades and 3 Oblivion Rings). I had already dropped Sorin the week before I tried a W/R/b variant, and I still don't miss him at all. I really like having the Shrines in the sideboard, since they don't see it game 1, they rarely board in artifact hate in game 2.
Here's my results from last nights 4 round FNM. Our standard meta has evolved to be pretty competitive, with a lot of tier 1 aggro decks running around (and the entire meta is aggro, not a single person runs combo or control). Here's the deck I ran:
Round 1 vs UW Humans
Game 1:
I don't remember who went first but I got an Intangible Virtue fairly early however it didn't mean much since his threats were mainly 2/2's with first or double strike meaning I couldn't trade, only chump. I kept playing blockers and swinging for damage when I could. After a few turns I landed Sorin and used him for tokens. He hit 6 right as my opponent over extended and I was left with the option of using his ultimate or using the Day of Judgment in my hand. I chose to use the day in the event my opponent had a sweeper of his own to kill everything I stole. After the wipe I used the flashback on two lingering souls, and the next turn my opponent played a Hero of Bladehold. I used the -2 on Sorin and swung for 12 in the air which was lethal.
As a sidenote at this point, I hadn't played this deck at all for 8 weeks and haven't played magic for 3 so I ended up playing a little slow, trying to think through my possible lines of play and what my opponent would do. I ended up using something like 30 minutes of the clock on game 1. This would end up being a recurring theme all night with me inadvertently slow playing every match and round 3 even going into the 5 turns of overtime. Apparently I've gotten a little rusty with the deck.
Game 2:
My opponent sided in 11 cards for me, I don't know what all he put in but I know that among them was 4 Thalia and 4 Negate. My sideboard was -1 Sorin, -1 HotP, -4 Doomed Traveler +3 Revoke Existence and +3 Go for the Throat.
Feeling bad about taking 30 minutes for game 1 and wanting to get all 3 games in I tried to play this one a little faster. I'm not sure if I made any mistakes as a result but I didn't catch any. The opponent got a god draw of turn 1 Champion into a turn 2 Thalia and turn 3 Mirran Crusader followed by 3 Honor of the Pure's on turns 4, 5, and 6. I kept a hand with 4 land and had a pretty extreme amount of mana flood hitting something like 8 land by turn 10. As the opponent swung at me I would chump what I had to, take some if I could afford to and try to swing back with my Intangible Virtue boosted tokens. This went on for several turns and I managed to get Vault of the Archangel online which allowed me to let an occasional spirit token through and recover some health eventually getting my opponent down to 6 life. At that point my opponent over extended due to what I think was a combination of time pressure and lethal being 3 turns away and dropped a few cards from his hand resulting in a Geist followed by 2 Elite Inquisitors. I managed to stay alive for a couple more turns but I was unable to swing anymore and eventually lost. I checked my deck afterwards and my Day of Judgment (the only out I could see to the situation) was 14 cards down. I never saw the sideboard cards.
Game 3:
We agreed to fast play it with 3 minutes on the clock. I drew 3 land, Gather the Townsfolk, Lingering Souls, Midnight Haunting, and a Rally the Peasants. My opponent had an ok hand but nothing memorable. I play a turn 2 Gather into a turn 3 lingering and turn 4 haunting swinging for 2 in the air. I chump block his Crusader and Champion and swing for another 4 in the air putting him at 14. Turn 5 I make my 5th land drop, put down an Honor of the Pure and swing with 4 spirits which I then boost with Rally the Peasants for 16 damage. We finished the round with 5 seconds to spare.
Round 2 vs UB aggro.
I'm not entirely sure what archetype I would list this deck in, it ran Grave Titan, Typhoid Rats, Skirsdag High Priest, Bloodline Keeper, an assortment of blades and some equipment carriers like Invisible Stalker and Blighted Agent.
Game 1:
I lost the roll and my opponent put down a Skrisdag while I played an Intangible Virtue. Next turn he swung for one putting me at 19. I responded with a Timely Reinforcements getting 3 vigilant 2/2's and going up to 25 life. Next turn I swung and wasn't blocked so I used a Rally the Peasants getting in for 12 damage. The turn after my opponent decided to swing at me for a little bit of damage and I chose to let it through since I had lethal next turn. Since he was tapped I swung again and had two options for lethal, either play an Honor of the Pure or use the flashback on my Rally the Peasants. I chose to go with the Rally and got in for lethal.
The reason I chose to use the Rally is I've found that opponents tend to play really conservatively after a blow out from it, and will attempt to turtle up and block everything. By using the Rally (which he had already seen) I was hoping to drive home the point in the next game that he shouldn't swing his creatures so that he could block everything which would greatly disrupt his game plan of being an aggro deck. On top of that it let me keep the Honor of the Pure's unknown. Being in blue/black he couldn't destroy them, but it's a bit less confirmed information for him. Then again it could have been a mistake, as sometimes opponents forget about Rally having flashback since it's not a widely used card and get caught completely off guard. Given the information I had, I thought pushing him towards playing defensively in the next game would be correct. Just a bit of mental metagaming I suppose.
I had talked to this opponent pretty extensively before FNM started and he mentioned to me that he just got a playset of Ratchet Bombs for his deck. I remembered that bit of information come sideboard time expecting 4 Ratchet Bombs to be sided in against me. I also watched him play a game prior to the FNM starting and knew he was running 4 Grave Titan's in the deck. -4 Doomed Traveler, -2 HotP, -1 Sorin, -2 Timely, +3 Stony Silence, +3 Go for the Throat, +3 Despise.
Game 2:
My opponent opens with a turn 1 Grafdiggers Cage. Since the only flashback I used in the previous game was Rally the Peasants my plan backfired on me costing me half of Rally and the better half of Lingering Souls, it was especially bad since my hand had 3 Lingering Souls in it. The rest of my hand and first couple turns involved the usual anthems followed by turn 3 tokens. The opponent was trying to get some free damage against me with Typhoid Rats, but to his surprise I choose to kill them knowing they'll be tap fodder for his Skirsdags later in the game. My next set of spirits come down and eat a Ratchet Bomb followed by some more spirits which eat yet another Ratchet Bomb. After that I landed a Gather the Townsfolk and another anthem while my opponent got himself a Grave Titan.
Fortunately, at this point of the game I had a vault out with 7 lands total. When the Grave Titan and tokens swung my response was to Go for the Throat one of the newly created tokens to keep Skirsdag off his ability, declare blockers, and then use the vault to trade a human token for the titan while killing a zombie token with my other human then swing on the subsequent turns and let my human kill the remaining tokens. That part of the plan worked out pretty well with my opponent getting a Bloodline Keeper once all his blockers were dead. He traded it for a human token. After that the board state was pretty even with me around 20 life, 2 anthems, and no tokens, and my opponent around 10 life with a Grafdiggers and Skirsdag. It became draw/go for a bit with my opponent getting a Typhoid Rat, land, and something else he was holding onto while I got a Go for the Throat, Despise, and land. Curious at what my opponent was holding I use the Despise and find out it's another Ratchet Bomb. I eventually draw into a Midnight Haunting and start swinging over his head for 6 lifelink at a time. With no other choice my opponent drops the Ratchet Bomb and pops it. I then end up getting a Gather the Townsfolk followed by a Rally the Peasants and that finishes out the game.
Really, game 2 wasn't so much tough as it was long. It was a very grindy game but that's due to multiple Ratchet Bombs. The entire time my opponent was nowhere close to being able to threaten lethal. While typing this, I realized that I misused my Go for the Throat though. Rather than killing a token I should have used it to kill the High Priest. I think that my thought process at the time was along the lines that he would swing and block with the tokens while protecting the High Priest to try and get morbid, so if I left it alive it was effectively out of the game so long as he wasn't able to turn on the demon production. It ended up being risky since he was close to morbid with it at several points, but it worked out for me. I was also caught completely offguard by the Grafdiggers, it slowed me down more than anything and the game would have been over a good 8 turns earlier had it not been there.
Round 3 vs Wolf Run Ramp
This isn't really the greatest matchup but the pilot is a friend of mine and I helped him put the deck together. I would say I probably know his deck better than him as well so I knew exactly what I had to play around. His deck is the Junya Iyanaga build so he was loaded with plenty of anti aggro tricks but it wasn't updated for Dark Ascension so no Huntmasters to deal with thankfully.
Game 1:
I win the roll and go first. I have a pretty standard opening with 3 land, some token producers/anthems, and a Day of Judgment. When turn 4 rolled around I missed the land drop, and the same goes at turn 5. My opponent ramps into an Inferno Titan and I start losing my tokens. Seeing that I'm not getting and land and am going to lose by attrition I take a gamble and avoid a chump block putting me at 3 3/3 spirits on the field, hoping my opponent doesn't have a Slagstorm. He does though and my tokens die followed by my opponent playing a Primeval, and I take a ton of damage. To further worsen my situation an anthem gets eaten by an acidic slime. Turn 8 rolls around and I draw my 4th land. I cast Day of Judgment wiping the board but my opponent had an Inkmoth in play from Primeval while I had no way to block it. I die to infect.
I sideboard -4 Doomed Traveler, -1 HotP, -1 Sorin and do +3 Go for the Throat, +3 Despise.
Game 2:
My opening hand was pretty sketchy due to the land (everything came in tapped) but I chose to keep it, mainly on the basis that my opponent mulliganed to 5. It was an Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat x2, Honor of the Pure, Timely Reinforcements x2, and Gather the Townsfolk. Due to my lands coming in tapped I get off to a slower start than usual but I still managed to curve out pretty well. My opponent ramped up pretty slow due to his hand, and on turn 4 I hit him with Despise to reveal 3 land and 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter. His other Garruk comes out on the next turn and creates a beast token. Since my tokens are only 2/2 at this point I decide not to swing and pass the turn.
Turns continue and my opponent continues to build Garruk to his ultimate but doesn't have anything threatening on the field being stuck at 5 mana and getting a Viridian Emissary and Beast Within, and a couple more Garruk tokens. I get a Timely Reinforcements followed by an Intangible Virtue and to replace the Honor of the Pure that became a beast token and swing at Garruk backed by a Vault of the Archangel knocking him down to 2 then I start blocking his beasts and trade away a few tokens getting my opponent down to 1 beast and Garruk while I have 1 soldier and 1 beast, all while gaining a pretty good chunk of life, at my peak I managed to hit 28 but it didn't last for long due to an army of beast tokens. Garruk continues to create a board presence while I cast a Lingering Souls.
At this point we were on turn 8 or 9 with both myself and my opponent around 15 life. My opponent goes on defense while I swing with all 4 tokens, getting the soldier and both spirits in while his Viridian Emissary blocks the beast. I use Rally the Peasants here causing my 3 tokens to get in for 12 damage. Next turn my opponent gets an inkmoth and Inferno Titan down which kills a token but his two blockers for my 3 tokens isn't enough and a flashbacked Rally gets me in for lethal.
Game 3:
We both had pretty standard openings with my opponent ramping into an inferno titan on turn 4 while I had a pair of spirits with 3 anthems on turn 4. The spirits and titan trade while my opponent gets a primeval followed by me using Timely Reinforcements. I decide not to block and take a good chunk of damage but then retaliate with some vault powered vigilant tokens regaining a huge chunk of the life I lost and a Go for the Throat to the titan. The next turn he swings with the inkmoth Primeval gave him hitting me for 9 infect. Fortunately I have an out and swing with my 3 soldiers backed by a Rally the Peasants.
*somewhere in this game my opponent also used green sun for an Acidic Slime to drop one of my anthems. I don't remember at exactly what point though.
Round 4 vs BU zombies
Game 1:
My opponent wins the roll and goes first with a pretty typical aggressive start getting 2 gravecallers by turn 2. I start off with a Doomed Traveler followed by an Honor of the Pure. My opponent swings with the Gravecrawlers and my Doomed Traveler blocks turning him into a spirit then my opponent casts a Geralfs Messenger. My lone spirit on the other hand is joined by two more from a Lingering Souls on turn 3. When turn 4 rolls my opponent misses his land drop and plays a Highborn Ghoul while I do some combat math to see if he can threaten lethal, see that he can't and swing out with a Rally the Peasants going over his head for 12 bringing the life totals to 8 and 13. Next turn he swings but it's just shy of lethal, while I flashback Rally for another 12 to end the game.
I choose not to sideboard since everything seemed pretty good for the matchup and I wasn't really sure what to take out. In hindsight it probably would have been a good move to side in my Go for the Throats to kill his lords, but I chose instead to rely on my Oblivion Rings and Day of Judgments. I don't know what my opponent sided in but he brought in 8 cards and 4 of what he took out went face up on the table and I saw they were Mana Leaks.
Game 2:
I got what was probably the ideal hand to deal with zombies: 3 Doomed Traveler, Honor of the Pure, an Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, and a Plains. On my first draw I picked up an Intangible Virtue too. My opponent on the other hand got a Gravecrawler and nothing. He kept a 2 land hand and couldn't land his second creature, a Geralf's Messenger until turn 5. In the meantime I beat him down with Travelers, then I got a Rally the Peasants, and the turn after his Messenger got on the field I hit it with an Oblivion Ring followed by lethal travelers to close out the night.
Overall I went 4-0 in matches and 8-2 in games so it ended up being a pretty good night. I walked away with 2 foil Dismembers (won a random, plus one for getting top 2) and about 3/4 a box of assorted Innistrad, DKA, and 2012 packs for my troubles. From the packs I pulled 6 mythics, some of them rather nice and a bunch of dual lands so I did pretty well.
The main things I picked up were that I need to redo my sideboard, 4 of's are great for consistency but I was never siding in 4 of anything, I'm pretty sure that means I can cut a Stony Silence, Revoke Existence, and Despise. The other thing was that Doomed Travelers are easily the worst card in the deck only really having value against zombies. Since my games mostly went long I'm thinking I can cut them in favor of Shrine of Loyal Legions, and put the Doomed Travelers in the now open sideboard space. I'm also looking at trying to find room for Celestial Purge with the amount of R/G aggro my meta has it should be invaluable. Suture Priest might be really nice too against aggro but it feels like throwing that in would involve trading consistency for another card, plus it's a big better in a CotP build.
So I am fairly new at competitive Magic, and this is about my 5th Standard FNM(been to a few drafts, and I don't like them that much). My goal with this deck was to make a kinda controlling BW Tokens, and take over on turns 4,5,6. As you see I don't have any 1 drops, and the only 2 drops are my Shrines. I am a decent player, I tend to beat the average/bad players, and always lose when I get to the winners tables, lol. This is also my first tournament report, and I didn't take notes, and am just going off of memory, So I wont do a turn by turn synopsis, just the overall feel of the game.It was 6 Rounds Swiss. Prizes for top 8, but top 4 get store credit. Usually about 50 people
Round 1 Vs BW Tokens
This is one of the best guys in the shops, and I have played him EVERY time I have gone, this being the 3rd. I usually play him once I have won my first 2 matches and then he sends me to 2-1, but this time I got to play him round 1...lucky me.
Game 1
He wins the roll, and basically swarms me with tokens, lands a Sorin on T4, destroys my Hero of Bladehold. I kill his Sorin with mine, but in the end I die because my deck is slower and less aggressive then his.
Game 2
I get mana screwed. I kept a 2 land hand, and never drew another and died, lol.
His deck had no creatures, but some Blade Splicers in the SB, He ended up getting 1st place, not even losing one game.
Round 2 vs Mono Blue Delver(budget)
Game 1
I started off to a very slow start(this happened a lot) He lands a Vault Skirge and a Delver gets flipped. He counters my Timely Reinforcments, and Lingering Souls, but lets my Anthems get through. I eventually end up with an Intangible Virtue and Honor of the pure out. He has a flipped Delver, Vault Skirge, and an Invisible Stalker, and he beats me town to 1 life. I had played a Shrine T2, and it had gone up to 11 counters lol. I day of judgement and blow everything up. He does nothing his turn, I crack the Shrine, and win! If it had been a decent Delver deck i probably would've lost...but oh well.
Game 2
Was very much like the first game. I kept a hand with 3 Intangible Virtues, Lingering Souls, and all Plains. As I said very similar to last game, he cast Vault Skirge to gain life, flips a Delver. I boarded in 3 Surgical Extractions. and used 2 of them, 1 on mana leak, and another on Delver. Without his delvers he lost. But with my SLOW start, I won with only 3 life. But instead of Shrine to win, I overwhelm him Lingering Souls.
Round 3 vs GW Humans
I have played this guy before with my UW Human deck, and have always outplayed him. But he is a really cool guy, and we always have fun in our matchups
Game 1
I get a good start with T2 Anthem T3 Souls T4 Hero of Bladehold T5 swing with a Vault activation(that he forgot was out in play lol.) I won easily.
Game 2
This one was more fun. We had a Hero of Bladehold war. He O rings mine, I O ring his, he fiend hunters my second one. But I had Revoke Existence sided in, and destroyed his O Rings, and killed his Fiend Hunters. This time when I drop the Vault, he takes great notice. But the life gain and deathouch is too much for him. Win easy, but very fun game and fun guy. Game was full of laughs.
Round 4 vs Tempered Steel
There is not much to say about this game. I have never played against TS, and was not prepared. My SLOW deck was no match. Lost both games very fast.
Round 5 vs UR Control
Game 1
This game was INSANE. It took a half hour! He was not prepared for my 3 MD Timelys. It seemed like in Game 1 his main wincon was Sorins Vengeance. At one point he used Sorins Vengeance on my twice, and had me down to 13 life(thanks to my Timelys) and him at 40 something otherwise I would have died. I was able to get a Sorin out, and his lifelinkers, combined with tokens and Vault shot me right back in the game. In the end, I survived FOUR Sorins Vengeance(2 regular, 2 with snapcaster) The game ended with him milling himself to death from all his card draw and Alchemy. The game ended with me at 43 life or something. lol
Game 2
He had to go to the bathroom, which didn't help him with the time. We ended up drawing. The Timelys saved me again. He would've won, but we were in overtime, and finally on his turn(turn 4 of OT) he stole my Hero with Olivia, had a Consecrated Sphinx, but wasnt enough to kill me cuz I was at 26 life. He swung for some big damage, but not enough. T5 I do nothing, and then its a draw. I win cuz I won game 1.
Round 6 vs WRR
I had not time in between rounds, had a headache from hunger(i was planning to eat pizza after round 5 lol) and was playing against another guy who usually Top 4's, and is always playing at the winners table.
Game 1
I get him down to 4 life with Souls and Anthems, but he slagstorms me, starts flipping his two Huntsmasters, gaing life, and drops a Titan, and then I die. I played VERY sloppy in this match. I kinda didn't care if I won or lost, because I knew even if I won being 4-2 wouldnt be enough for top 8, and I was STARVING.
Game 2
I get mana screwed, and DIE.
This was my first time playing BW tokens, and I tried making this deck all on my own(im not the best builder) and it was WAY too slow, and not aggressive enough. I don't copy lists EXACTLY, but I usually find a list I like on SCG, and make tweaks form there, and I could tell this deck didn't run that smoothly because of my sloppy deck building. But it was fun. I am going to be playing BW token again on Thurs at a different LGS, and will be running a VERY different list then this one. I ended up 3-3, and got 1 participation pack. Which had a Alpha Brawl as the rare...lame.
Played tokens at a fairly low attendance FNM tonight, same deck as above (post 7)
Due to our usual TO not being available this week I was doing TO duties while playing which had me multitasking all night between my match, being the judge (not of my own matches obviously), and running things. As a result it's kind of a blur so I don't remember the highlights of each game.
Round 1 vs W/U Humans
Game 1 was aggro vs aggro, in the end my endless stream of vigilant tokens simply overwhelmed him.
Game 2 consisted of me getting destroyed by thalia (and the 14 cards he sideboards specifically for the matchup against me). Game 3 had me taking a bunch of early damage while I tried to stall. He was trying to overwhelm me but it backfired since I had a DoJ which let me stabilize with at 12 a Timely Reinforcements compared to his 18+spirit token from doomed traveler. He swung at me with a 2/2 spirit knocking me to 10 while I swung with my 3 1/1 soldiers putting him at 15. Next turn he swung the spirit again putting me at 8 while I swung with my 3 spirits backed by a Rally+flashback Rally making them 5/1's. That was game.
Round 2 vs W/U Spirits
Game 1 he won on the back of a drogskol captain+phantasmal image combo with lingering souls.
Game 2 I won, my tokens were bigger than his.
Game 3 he won. He got 3 favorable winds and saw 3 copies of Lingering Souls. I managed to get him in a DoJ and wipe a few tokens out but they just kept coming. He killed me on turn 6 or 7 and all I saw that game was 1 Midnight Haunting and 1 Timely Reinforcements for tokens, I never got an anthem either.
I've played this deck a few times now and it's a tough matchup. The player is also ridiculously lucky, always seemingly top decking exactly what he needs at any given moment. A couple of weeks ago when we played for example he top decked 4 Vapor Snags, 4 Snapcasters, and 2 Unsummons all to bounce/kill tokens.
Round 3 vs W/G Humans
Game 1 he played a Mentor of the Meek, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Fiend Hunter, Mayor of Avabruk, and a couple other things. In the end though my spirits simply flew over him while my humans and soldiers dutifully chump blocked scary cards like Silverblade Paladin and Champion of the Parish.
Game 2 he dropped 5 creatures which got met by a DoJ, followed by him dumping the rest of his hand into another DoJ. After that he was out of gas and I started using spirit tokens without an anthem to take him to 0. At first I held back on the tokens fearing a wipe but eventually decided that if he had one I probably would have seen it by now, and started dumping tokens to give him fewer chances to draw an out (though I did leave 2 Lingering Souls in the graveyard). He scooped to 10 1/1 spirits on the board with no way to defend. To add insult to injury my next draw was a Rally the Peasants, I would have swung for 40... without an anthem.
Round 4 vs W/G Tokens
On game 1 I flooded out. My opening hand was a Swamp, Plains, Clifftop Retreat, Intangible Virtue, Timely Reinforcements, Rally the Peasants, and Oblivion Ring. I went first. The game ended on turn 9 and I was holding 2 additional land when it ended. I checked my next 4 draws when it was over and they were all land. I never saw another token or anthem beyond what I started with.
Game 2 involved the opponent getting and activating a Gavony while I had Vault active. We matched each other token for token with him having the advantage in anthems and me being the only one with Intangible Virtue. In the end the lifelink backed up by me being able to force every block into a trade was just too much for him to overcome.
Game 3 started out really bad for me facing a champion of the parish into gather the townsfolk, into honor, into double mayors while I was forced to mulligan to 5 and keep a hand consisting of 2 land, timely, and 2 doj. I managed to topdeck 2 more land though and stabilize at 6. After that he was out of threats even using beast within on his honor to create a blocker while I top decked nothing but tokens and anthems which ended the game.
The all star of the night was the MB Timely Reinforcements. In every single game I cast it on turn 3 giving me a superior board position and putting me up to around 25 life.
Overall I went 3-1 in matches and placed second due to opponents win percentages (which said I had the toughest lineup of the night with an opponents win percentage of 80% compared to third places having 50%) and went 6-4 in games. The win/loss was a little worse than what I'm used to meaning it was an off night, but since I got second I can't really complain.
I play last Saturday the PTQ Seattle with 144 players and 8 round + top8. It's my first big tournament with tokens and I said to my friends that my minimal goal is the top 80. I had some problems in my work Wednesday and I didn't played after that day until Saturday.
Round one (lose the dice):
Lose 0-2 for Tezzeret my opponent is a really good player that he locked me in first game with a ratchet bomb combo. Game 2, I put in +2 revoke, +2 celestial, +3 stony silence, I take off -1 rally, -1 sorin, -2 day, -3 traveller. I begin be very agroo and with him at 1 life he topdeck the only card that made him staid alive, ratchet bomb After 2 turns he lock me again, and I lose.
Round 2 (lose the dice):
I win 2-0 from RDW, I think the player is ok, but with not very much experience. First game, he begin with Vexing Devil, and I paid the life. After that He have a lot of fire and little board presence, and when I put the vault at turn 5 I couldn't lose. Game 2 I put in +2 celestial, +2 timely and take off -2 sorin, -1 entreat, -2 rally. My initial hand was 2 timely, 1 celestial, 1 intangible, 3 lands. It's a no story game, turn one plain pass, he put vexing I paid. turn 2 intangible, he put a creature and pass, turn 3 timely and I didn't remember what he did. turn 4 double anthem and I finish the game in 2 turns with one timely and one celestial in my hand
Round 3 (lose the dice):
Lose 1-2 for Tokens (I believe Wescoe's) that player made top 8, but I think he is not a great player but it's a guy in this day with very lucky. I shake a lot, I never play with a opponent so nervous, in some times he couldn't tap the mana because was shaking a lot and he stops and tried until he finally made it. The game one I keep a slow hand with only token makers for 3 and he had a very explosive beginning, turn 1 champion, turn 2 champion/champion, turn 3 honour/traveller, turn 4 hero. I couldn't never recover and I lose in some turns. I sideboard in +2 doom blade, +2 surgical, +revoke and cut -3 rally, -1 Blackcleave Cliffs, -1 entreat, -1 Clifftop Retreat. I win game 2 very easily with more anthems and killing a hero with doom blade. Lose the last game with a very similar begin to the first game, turn 1 champion, turn 2 champion/traveller, turn 3 honour/ traveller, turn 4 hero, I kill all their creatures less one soldier 2/2 and have to draw one creature, or one day, or one doom blade or at least one token maker and I drew a land...
Round 4 (lose dice):
I think I had a good opponent but I was very unlucky and I know sometimes Delver is auto-pilot, so I can had play with a bad player and I didn't see it. Lose 0-2 for delver (megablade) with screw in game one, I didn't had any chances. Sideboard in +3 stony silence, +2 revoke and cut -1 entreat, -1 rally, -2 angel in this game I take 5 vapor snag and he flipped 2 delvers and I didn't draw any midnight or lingering...
Round 5 (lose dice):
Lose 1-2 to W/R Humans against a very experience player, but he didn't have great results in any big tournament. Game one turn 2 thalia and I screwed with 3 land that I went to game in my hand. I put for game 2: +2 doom blade, +2 stony silence, +2 revoke and cut -3 rally, -1 entreat, -1 honour, -1 midnight, I crush him in game 2. In game 3 Thalia came back at turn 2, and I lose one turn to kill the ***** (next time I will put the Gut Shots again in my sideboard) in turn 3, and he had a really good start with Silverblade at turn 3 and hero at turn 4. I control him, but I stop seen token makers, and I lose in a long game...
Round 6 (win dice finally!):
I win 2-0 to Bant Pod (he told me: "you don't know Bant POD? When I told him if he was playing W/B Blink). My opponent is a good and experience player but made a big mistake in game one and I win because that
Game one he put the blink combo in the table with the Vencer and Stonehorn Dignitary, and I was locked. But he get greedy when I was 2 flying token 6/6 and didn't make the blink for one turn and EOT I put 2 midnight and attack for 36 in the my turn
I sideboarding +3 stony silence, +2 revoke, +2 doom blade and cut -1sorin, -4 traveller, -1 entreat and -1 Blackcleave Cliffs, only in the end I see the POD, and at that time I has already win the game, stony silence at turn 2 and doom blade in Stonehorn Dignitary and I didn't had any chance.
Round 7 (win dice):
I draw 1-1 with a very strange POD. I only understand that is a POD deck in game 3. My opponent seems to been that play very well, but their deck is a rogue very strange deck. I win game on a rush and only see the 4 green Gheists that I terminus it. After that I rush him with rally and 1-0. I only see green and white mana and I believe that is playing against G/W agroo. I put in +2 terminus, +2 stony, +2 revoke and cut -1 day, -1 honour, -1 midnight, -3 rally. Game 2 is very strange for what I expect, no green creatures in the beginning, only lingering souls and then garruk that in 2 turns is a tutor, and I said You will play elesh? And he slime the intangible. Then he put black creatures and destroy my army of tokens and win. In this game I think "what's this?", for game 3 I take out -2 revoke and -2 stony and put +1 day, +1 honour, +1 midnight, +1 rally (I think was that, but I don't have 100% sure). I begin very well, and at turn 3 I see POD? "What? I remove my artefact hate!", but I topdeck an Angel of jubilation and the game had an impasse at turn 6 he miracle a entreat and put 4 angels, and I terminus it all and lose my angel. At turn 7 he put a Gideon Jura! (another surprise for me) in this point the time to play is gone and we went to turns. At turn 8 he put 6 angels and I day it. and had one doom blade in hand for jura and we draw. I didn't understand their deck at all. Since game one I never more see Gheists and I believe that he removed it because I terminus it. I think with a good understand of that deck I can win it, but I missed that...
Round 8 (lose dice):
Win 2-1 against a Lady, she is a ok/medium player and her husband is a very good player and they play a lot. She told me that didn't has much time to play in this week, and after about 10 hour of the beginning we were both tired. She didn't drop because some friends can go to top 8 and I didn't drop because a had a friend that came in my car that can reach the top 8 too. In first game she crush me very quickly. I had a slow hand and she went with champion and hero and 2 honour. In sideboard I put to play +2 surgical, +2 revoke, + doom blade and cut -3 rally, -1 entreat, -1 sorin and -1 Blackcleave Cliffs. In game 2 I went with more control and surgical the lingering souls and made a day when she overextended. She told me "Day? I didn't think you had this". Then I make my token and rush for the win with more anthems that she. She goes again to sideboard and at turn 2 she put a shrine but I wait for when she tap for hero, and I doom blade it and Oblivion ring in the shrine! She only had 2 untapped lands, nice! After that and with 2 intangible against one honour and late 3 against 2 I control the board and made she block my tokens until she didn't had more to do. I win and play very well in this particular game.
I feel that Entreat maybe gone away from the mainboard and maybe the sideboard too. Terminus is so good, I see a game against zombies with blood artist and the card made the deck ridiculous. Angel of Jubilation is so good. In my country are many people playing POD and the card is a sideboard in the mainboard against it and all phyrexian mana! 5 stars! I don't hhave Hero's but I miss that in my deck
This is what happen with me (what I remember), I hope you enjoy it. Sorry for my bad English and for the long text.
Best regards to all,
AVieira
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The Izmagnus are the most powerful members of the Izmundi
Modern: Grixis DS ; UR Phoenix ; Storm ; Burn Standard: MonoRed ; Ral Spells ; UR Phoenix ; Izzet Drakes Commander: Locust God
Just got back from Gameday and played my usual list (it's post 7 in this thread) though I changed my sideboard a bit.
Round 1 - vs U/W Spirits
I win the roll and decide to go first, my opening hand was 7 lands so I mulligan to 6 which then had no lands, so I took another mulligan to 5 and got 3 land/an anthem and a DoJ. I decide to keep and play it out figuring I can get some advantage off the DoJ. The opponent had a slower hand too, on turn 4 he put down lingering souls, on turn 5 lingering souls flashback, and on turn 6 2 Drogskol Captains. At this point I wipe the board with 2 life remaining. As of this point I haven't drawn a single threat. A doomed traveler shows up and I play it. Next turn the opponent puts down 2 midnight hauntings while I draw land.
I sideboard out my 4 doomed travelers for 3 Revoke Existence and a second sorin.
Game 2 I go first again. The opening hand was 1 swamp and 6 great cards so I mulligan to 6 and get no land, then to 5 and all land so I goto 4 and keep with a plains, isolated chapel, clifftop retreat, and lingering souls. We each put some cards out, I get my spirits but my opponent gets a favorable winds and an honor of the pure and my spirits die blocking some damage. I get a vault with another anthem (putting me at 2 honor of the pures), revoke and the lifelink buys me a couple turns. I take a couple more hits and have 6 life. My opponent swings and I make some Midnight Haunting tokens to block (i have the advantage at this point, 3 anthems to 2). I take double vapor snag to my spirits putting me at 4 and no longer having blockers. Then his guys get in for the last 4 points.
Round 2 - Delver/Spirits/budget
In game 1 he gets delver flips on turns 2 and 3 while I get Timely Reinforcements a Doomed Traveler and 2 anthems. He continues to swing and gets me down to 5 life but doesn't follow his delvers up with anything while I swing 7 and put him at 11. I also Oblivion Ring a Delver which lengthens the clock from 1 turn to 2. He decides not to swing at me keeping his other Delver back on defense, while I swing and Vault while he blocks and kills a soldier putting the life totals at 6 with me swinging 5 a turn and 12 with him swinging 0 a turn. He doesn't draw an out and I finish it with the guys I have on the field.
Game 2 he drops a turn 1 delver, flips it on turn 2 swinging at me for 3 and then another 3. I drop an anthem and a Midnight Haunting then trade a token for his Delver. The other token eats a Vapor Snag and we're both left with nothing with the life totals 17 to 20. He plays a Geist and I respond with another Timely Reinforcements. The Geist swings and I triple block. One token eats a vapor snag, another token eats a snapcaster powered snag, and the third token trades with the Geist and I take 4 off of the angel making it 19-20. Then I play a Lingering Souls, flash it back the next turn and ride it to victory while my opponent is only able to put out a couple 1/1 tokens to chump block.
Round 3 vs Mono Black Control
Unlike most people at the store, I had no idea what this person was playing since he rarely shows up for FNM (usually has to work) so I didn't really have a plan for the matchup. Regardless, he used a few kill spells on my tokens but he never saw a sweeper and simply ran out of cards to deal with my guys. In the end he lost to a few turns of a 3/3 lifelink, deathtouch, vigilant spirit swinging at him, I had more threats in my hand but wanted to press the card advantage and make him deal with a single individual creature.
In game 2 he brought in ratchet bombs, BSZ, and Geralf. I played a couple spirits backed by an anthem and he fired off a BSZ for two wiping the board and bringing Geralf back. I hit Geralf with a Go for the Throat, then used the flashback on Lingering Souls. Next turn I swung and got a little greedy playing a Gather the Townfolk. They were met by a Ratchet Bomb. Then I played a Midnight Haunting and won the next turn off of a Rally+flashback Rally letting me swing for 12.
The really nice thing in this matchup was I was hit by 3 despises across the two games and they completely missed each time.
Round 4 vs G/W aggro.
This guy was a new player, I had never seen him before and he just started out. I was kind of surprised we got matched up but he apparently went 2-1 in his previous matches beating two of the stronger decks in the store (W/U humans and Naya ramp). In game 1 he got out a Garruk's Horde while I got an anthem and a Timely Reinforcements. Next he played a Gideon's Lawkeeper and Spirit Mantle on the Horde. On my turn I Oblivion Ringed his Horde, and swung my guys. He managed a Gideon's Avenger but I played a Lingering Souls and just swung over him. Since my guys all had vigilance he was dead long before the Avenger could become a threat.
In game 2 I pulled the same trick with Timely Reinforcements but he had more creatures. I swung out sacrificing 2 tokens to get one through, then followed it up with a Day of Judgment. After that I took a gamble on him not having board wipes and played Lingering Souls followed by a Lingering Souls flashback and Midnight Haunting. All he could manage was some Pacifisms on my guys and some Travel Preparations on his guys (he had out 3 Niblis of the Urn). It managed to buy him an extra two turns but he got overwhelmed.
So in the end I wound up 3-1 and took second. The winner (the person I played round 1) was also 3-1 and we were very close. In the end we had the same match points, same game win percentage, and same opponents match win. There was under a 1% difference in our opponents game win percentage that divided us between first and second. For my $8 entry I walked away with 10 packs (containing a Tamiyo, Bonfire, and Cavern of Souls), a playset of Latch Seekers, and a Killing Wave so I really can't complain but I was hoping to have gotten the playmat since I don't own one at all.
23 land instead of 24 is just a personal choice. Also only 3 Champion because I don't want to see him that often. No Sorin because I prefer Hero and Rally as far as blowout cards go. Sideboard was entirely a meta call (e.g. Sever because there's a lot of Entreat the Angels around here). I wound up guessing wrong on the meta with Body and Mind (I should have run War and Peace) but it wound up not mattering too much. Anyway, matches tended to go a little samey so I'm going to spare the "I cast a bunch of Gather/Haunting/Lingering and some anthems" and focus on more noteworthy things.
Round 1 vs Mono Green Aggro (jank but I'd say surprisingly effective at blindsiding the meta since he got top 4)
Game 1, he curves out with multiple Skinshifters and eventually drops a Bellowing Tanglewurm. I drop a Vault and swing with everything. He declares no blocks, presumably because he fears deathtouch, so I play and flash back a Rally and kill him.
Sideboard: Out Champions, one Doomed traveler, and black removal, in Swords and Fiend Hunter.
Game 2, I stick a Sword on a Hero and he has no answer.
Round 2 vs W/R/g Humans
Game 1, he drops an early Skinshifter (which seemed to be the only green in his deck), and it eats a Go for the Throat. Intangible Virtue and spirit tokens whittle him down, and a Riders of Gavony comes too late to be effective.
Sideboard: Champions for Fiend Hunter.
Game 2, I more or less just overrun him unopposed with spirit tokens. His Champion gets big but dies to removal.
Round 3 vs U/W Spirits
Game 1, he stalls me out with Lingering Souls tokens and eventually a Gideon. He hits a Terminus after Gideon dies. I flashback Lingering Souls and recover better than he does.
Sideboard: Nothing.
Game 2, he gets a Drogskol Captain, which I O-Ring. I get two anthems and keep enough pressure on him that he has to keep chump-blocking. Eventually he miscounts how many spirit tokens I have and taps out facing lethal damage. I ask him, "So how do you not just die?" He looks at my board again and scoops.
Round 4 vs Miracle.dec
Game 1, I open with a Champion into Gather and swing for 3. He draws a Terminus a turn later, and I cast a Hero with two anthems out. He can't Bonfire me for enough to kill the Hero, and dies to Rally the Peasants.
Sideboard: Out removal, in graveyard hate, Sever, and Shrine.
Game 2, he recurs a Terminus several times and breaks up my tempo long enough to cast an Entreat the Angels for a bunch of tokens. Since I have 3 anthems out, my spirits trade with them, and Vault gives me enough life to last another few turns. He digs for a Noxious Revival, gets his Entreat the Angels back, and casts it for more than enough angels to kill me. I never see any sideboard cards all game.
Game 3, I only see one anthem, which gets disenchanted. A 2/2 Champion and a Doomed Traveler beat him down for a few turns, then get hit by a Terminus. Another Doomed Traveler and some spirit tokens continue the attack, and eat a Bonfire. The "attack for 3-4 damage, eat Bonfire/Terminus" pattern repeats a few times until he runs out of ways to get Bonfire/Terminus back (basically Noxious Revival/Snapcaster spam) just before I run out of gas. I had a Sever in hand pretty much all game in case he got an Entreat the Angels.
Round 5 vs U/W Control
Game 1, I get the turn 1 Champion, turn 2 Gather opening. He casts Timely Reinforcements, and the tokens trade with the Champion. An Entreat the Angels gets wiped by spirits with Rally. He dies to sustained spirit swarming. Gideon was a minor speed bump.
Sideboard: Out targeted removal, in Shrine, Sever, and Body and Mind.
Game 2, I drew four anthem effects. He couldn't stop them all. I also stuck a Shrine, but my draws were overkill even without it.
For my troubles I got a playmat and crap rares from my packs (although the promo Killing Wave is nice and I somehow got a playset of promo Latch Seekers). And reading the other posts in this thread, I realize how odd my metagame actually is. Entreat the Angels and Gideon all over the place and basically no reason to have Celestial Purge in my sideboard.
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Please include what kind of event it was, game/match results for every round, and the deck/play quality of your opponents. Also, it would be helpful if you could explain how you sideboarded for each match.
BGStandard Green AggroGB
UWRGModern Saheeli CobraGRWU
UBRGLegacy StormGRBU
Wizards Certified Rules Advisor
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Champion of the Parish
3x Hero of Bladehold
3x Blade Splicer
Instants:
1x Doom Blade
1x Go for the Throat
Sorcery:
3x Gather the Townsfolk
4x Lingering Souls
3x Honor of the Pure
4x Intangible Virtue
3x Oblivion Ring
Plainswalkers:
3x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Lands:
4x Isolated Chapel
12x Plains
5x Swamp
3x Vault of the Archangel
3x Celestial Purge
2x Day of Judgment
1x Go for the Throat
2x Increasing Devotion
3x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Timely Reinforcements
Game 1: GWB Tokens 2-0
Both games played out identically. He durdles a bit with mana dorks, pops a lingering souls, and then plays a parrallel lives, meanwhile I'm solidifying the board with multiple tokens and anthems.
This particular GWB tokens was really too heavy on the green, I pointed it out to him, then pointed out that parallel lives probably would have served better as another token generator.
This guy had to no sideboard so I choose not too.
Game 2: WU Budget Humans 2-0
This guy was a new player, not much else to say. His deck had its scary moments but had none of the cards that really make UW Humans into something scary. Once again I didn't sideboard.
Game 3: UB Zombies 1-2
Game 1: guy keeps durdly hand with his first play being a diregraf captain. He tragic slips my champion but I follow with Gather then lingering, then double anthem, then Sorin. He just can't keep pace.
-1 doomblade
-1 go for the throat
-1 hero
-2 Sorin
+3 celestial purge
+2 lingering souls
Game 2: I thought I was going to live the dream. My hand was champion, doom traveller x2, gather, honor of the pure, plains, isolated chapel.
He got off to a fast start with double grave crawler and diregraf ghoul, and I start drawing nothing but land. He eventually grinds out my army and lands grave titans. A Sorin pull wasn't enough to stop him.
Game 3: I toss back a hand of gather, 2x intangible, and lands. A guy watching later commented that I was being greedy tossing that back, and now I agree. My mulligan was doomed, plains x2, intangible, blade splicer, and Sorin.
It was actually a very close game, but he got a good start with grave crawlers and diregraf captains again. I again suffered from poor draws, I didn't see a single lingering souls, and my champion and hero both met removal. He again cinched it with a Grave Titan I couldn't answer.
Round 3 RG Werewolves
Rolled right over him, both games were turn 6/7 kills.
Standard-
WRG-Naya Humans
EDH-
RUG- Animar
RW- Brion Stoutarm
WBSorin's ArmyWB
RRRRDWRRR
RGWerewolvesRG
EDH/Commander:
WBRKaalia of the VastWBR(Multiplayer Competitive Primer and Beginner's Guide)
WBRKaalia of the VastWBR (1v1 Competitive Primer)
BSkithiryx, the Blight DragonB(1v1 Shotgun Venom)
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Hero of Bladehold
Token Generators [12]
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Lingering Souls
4 Midnight Haunting
Removal [4]
2 Go for the Throat
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Honor of the Pure
Lands [24]
4 Isolated Chapel
14 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Vault of the Archangel
2 Celestial Purge
1 Divine Offering
2 Revoke Existence
3 Suture Priest
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
2 Stony Silence
2 Day of Judgment
Round 1: Esper Control
Game 1 started off badly, my first spell was a Gather the Townsfolk, and he had 3 Mana Leaks and a Snapcaster Mana Leak for everything else after that, but I eventually managed to stick an Honor of the Pure and Midnight Haunting. When he tapped out for a Consecrated Sphinx, I topdecked a Hero of Bladehold and played her. It was a really bad move, since he DoJ'd next turn, then played another Sphinx the turn after that, and I only drew land and Doomed Travelers.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: I don't remember the exact details, but it was much more in my favor. He mulled to 5, I stuck a few anthems and beat in with spirit tokens.
Game 3: I stuck a Shrine on turn 2, and then played carefully, making sure not to over-extend, and once my shrine reached 6 counters, I started keeping 3 mana open in case he tried to O-Ring it. Once it got up to 12, I popped it at the end of his turn, and we counted out the damage. Even with his remaining soldier and spirit tokens and removal, it was enough.
Round 2:Esper Control
These were both over so fast, I curved out well in both games and he just didn't have any answers. Just a lot of durdling with Pristine Talismans.
Game 1: T1 Champion, T2 Gather, T3 Lingering Souls. I just sat back after that and kept getting in there.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: T2 Intangible Virtue, T3 Lingering Souls, T4 flashback Lingering Souls. T5, swing for 8, he casts Black Sun's Zenith on his turn, and I cast Midnight Haunting at the end of his turn, then 2 Honor of the Pures on mine, and he scoops.
Round 3: Delver
Game 1: I was on the draw and had to mull to 6, but I kept a hand of Gather the Townsfolk, 2 Honor of the Pure, Midnight Haunting and 2 Plains. T2 Gather, T3 HotP, and he double Vapor Snagged my human tokens. T4 He Mana Leaked my Midnight Haunting, and I drew nothing but lands. He kept beating my face with an unflipped Delver and an Invisible Stalker until he drew a Sword of War and Peace in another turn or two, and it was game over.
In: 2 Stony Silence, 1 Divine Offering
Out: 2 Hero of Bladehold, 1 Doomed Traveler
Game 2: Had to mulligan because my first hand had only a Swamp and Vault as lands, and my 6 was 3 Plains, 1 Swamp, Go for the Throat, and Midnight Haunting. Then when I mulled to 5, I got the same hand, minus the GftT. FML. Even though he never flipped his 3 Delvers, and I managed to trade with them with some timely Midnight Hauntings, he eventually got a Geist of Saint Traft with a sword.
Round 4: Esper Control
Game 1: This guy had a strange Esper Control deck. He ground me out by having lots and lots of answers cat tokens from White Sun's Zenith, and I only managed to resolve one Honor of the Pure.
Out: 1 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Hero of Bladehold
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
Game 2: Shrine on turn 2, managed to resolve an HotP, and got in some beats with Doomed Travelers and human tokens. He had a few Timely Reinforcements to hold me off, and I won the game after I popped a Shrine at 9.
Game 3: The grind of the century. He had Mana Leaks, Dissipates, Doom Blades and Timely Reinforcements for days, and I only had one Plains in my opening hand, and didn't see another white source til like turn 7 or 8, so I could only play one spell a turn. He eventually played Elspeth and started alternating between making soldier tokens and gaining life. He took over the board with that and a few castings of WSZ, and it was then that I realized that that was his main win-con. I thought he just never drew his Titans or Sphinxes, but no, that was it. In retrospect, I wish I boarded in Suture Priest and took out Doomed Traveler.
Round 5: G/W/r Aggro
Game 1: He was on the play, and answered my T1 Champion with a Thalia. Yea, that made the rest of match very unpleasant. He kept getting in there with Strangleroot Geists while I was stuck on three lands.
Out: 4 Champion of the Parish, 1 Gather the Townsfolk, 1 Doomed Traveler
In: 3 Shrine of Loyal Legions, 3 Suture Priest
Game 2: Like all the other round 2 comebacks tonight, I win by getting 2-3 anthems, and repeatedly beating down with a few spirit tokens. Thalia tried to make things difficult again, but I had a GftT with her name on it.
Game 3: T2 Suture Priest, T3 HotP, but he kills it with Ray of Revelation, so I hold off on my Virtue to play it on a turn when he's tapped out, so I can at least get a little use out of it. I forget the exact sequence of events here, but I kept taking the beatings by Strangleroot Geists until I was down to 5, and he plays a Huntsmaster. End of his turn, I GftT it, and cast a Midnight Haunting, then on my turn, I top deck a Champion and play it and a Hero. All that brought me back up to 9 life, and I attack with my spirits and pass the turn. He plays another Huntmaster on his turn and passes without attacking. I play a Gather the Townsfolk, and attack with everything. He double blocks Hero with the two wolf tokens, and trades one of his Geists for my Champion. I'm at 13, and he's at 7. He taps out for Vorapede, putting him at 6, and I smile. I play the Intangible Virtue, and swing in with my 6 tokens for lethal.
All in all, I like this version of the deck, but I do find myself missing the amount of spot removal my previous decklists had (I usually run 3 Go for the Throats, 2 Doom Blades and 3 Oblivion Rings). I had already dropped Sorin the week before I tried a W/R/b variant, and I still don't miss him at all. I really like having the Shrines in the sideboard, since they don't see it game 1, they rarely board in artifact hate in game 2.
4 Isolated Chapel
8 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Vault of the Archangel
Creatures 4
4 Doomed Traveler
Planeswalkers 1
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Spells 33
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Lingering Souls
4 Timely Reinforcements
4 Rally the Peasants
3 Day of Judgment
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
4 Despise
3 Go for the Throat
4 Revoke Existence
4 Stony Silence
Round 1 vs UW Humans
Game 1:
I don't remember who went first but I got an Intangible Virtue fairly early however it didn't mean much since his threats were mainly 2/2's with first or double strike meaning I couldn't trade, only chump. I kept playing blockers and swinging for damage when I could. After a few turns I landed Sorin and used him for tokens. He hit 6 right as my opponent over extended and I was left with the option of using his ultimate or using the Day of Judgment in my hand. I chose to use the day in the event my opponent had a sweeper of his own to kill everything I stole. After the wipe I used the flashback on two lingering souls, and the next turn my opponent played a Hero of Bladehold. I used the -2 on Sorin and swung for 12 in the air which was lethal.
As a sidenote at this point, I hadn't played this deck at all for 8 weeks and haven't played magic for 3 so I ended up playing a little slow, trying to think through my possible lines of play and what my opponent would do. I ended up using something like 30 minutes of the clock on game 1. This would end up being a recurring theme all night with me inadvertently slow playing every match and round 3 even going into the 5 turns of overtime. Apparently I've gotten a little rusty with the deck.
Game 2:
My opponent sided in 11 cards for me, I don't know what all he put in but I know that among them was 4 Thalia and 4 Negate. My sideboard was -1 Sorin, -1 HotP, -4 Doomed Traveler +3 Revoke Existence and +3 Go for the Throat.
Feeling bad about taking 30 minutes for game 1 and wanting to get all 3 games in I tried to play this one a little faster. I'm not sure if I made any mistakes as a result but I didn't catch any. The opponent got a god draw of turn 1 Champion into a turn 2 Thalia and turn 3 Mirran Crusader followed by 3 Honor of the Pure's on turns 4, 5, and 6. I kept a hand with 4 land and had a pretty extreme amount of mana flood hitting something like 8 land by turn 10. As the opponent swung at me I would chump what I had to, take some if I could afford to and try to swing back with my Intangible Virtue boosted tokens. This went on for several turns and I managed to get Vault of the Archangel online which allowed me to let an occasional spirit token through and recover some health eventually getting my opponent down to 6 life. At that point my opponent over extended due to what I think was a combination of time pressure and lethal being 3 turns away and dropped a few cards from his hand resulting in a Geist followed by 2 Elite Inquisitors. I managed to stay alive for a couple more turns but I was unable to swing anymore and eventually lost. I checked my deck afterwards and my Day of Judgment (the only out I could see to the situation) was 14 cards down. I never saw the sideboard cards.
Game 3:
We agreed to fast play it with 3 minutes on the clock. I drew 3 land, Gather the Townsfolk, Lingering Souls, Midnight Haunting, and a Rally the Peasants. My opponent had an ok hand but nothing memorable. I play a turn 2 Gather into a turn 3 lingering and turn 4 haunting swinging for 2 in the air. I chump block his Crusader and Champion and swing for another 4 in the air putting him at 14. Turn 5 I make my 5th land drop, put down an Honor of the Pure and swing with 4 spirits which I then boost with Rally the Peasants for 16 damage. We finished the round with 5 seconds to spare.
Round 2 vs UB aggro.
I'm not entirely sure what archetype I would list this deck in, it ran Grave Titan, Typhoid Rats, Skirsdag High Priest, Bloodline Keeper, an assortment of blades and some equipment carriers like Invisible Stalker and Blighted Agent.
Game 1:
I lost the roll and my opponent put down a Skrisdag while I played an Intangible Virtue. Next turn he swung for one putting me at 19. I responded with a Timely Reinforcements getting 3 vigilant 2/2's and going up to 25 life. Next turn I swung and wasn't blocked so I used a Rally the Peasants getting in for 12 damage. The turn after my opponent decided to swing at me for a little bit of damage and I chose to let it through since I had lethal next turn. Since he was tapped I swung again and had two options for lethal, either play an Honor of the Pure or use the flashback on my Rally the Peasants. I chose to go with the Rally and got in for lethal.
The reason I chose to use the Rally is I've found that opponents tend to play really conservatively after a blow out from it, and will attempt to turtle up and block everything. By using the Rally (which he had already seen) I was hoping to drive home the point in the next game that he shouldn't swing his creatures so that he could block everything which would greatly disrupt his game plan of being an aggro deck. On top of that it let me keep the Honor of the Pure's unknown. Being in blue/black he couldn't destroy them, but it's a bit less confirmed information for him. Then again it could have been a mistake, as sometimes opponents forget about Rally having flashback since it's not a widely used card and get caught completely off guard. Given the information I had, I thought pushing him towards playing defensively in the next game would be correct. Just a bit of mental metagaming I suppose.
I had talked to this opponent pretty extensively before FNM started and he mentioned to me that he just got a playset of Ratchet Bombs for his deck. I remembered that bit of information come sideboard time expecting 4 Ratchet Bombs to be sided in against me. I also watched him play a game prior to the FNM starting and knew he was running 4 Grave Titan's in the deck. -4 Doomed Traveler, -2 HotP, -1 Sorin, -2 Timely, +3 Stony Silence, +3 Go for the Throat, +3 Despise.
Game 2:
My opponent opens with a turn 1 Grafdiggers Cage. Since the only flashback I used in the previous game was Rally the Peasants my plan backfired on me costing me half of Rally and the better half of Lingering Souls, it was especially bad since my hand had 3 Lingering Souls in it. The rest of my hand and first couple turns involved the usual anthems followed by turn 3 tokens. The opponent was trying to get some free damage against me with Typhoid Rats, but to his surprise I choose to kill them knowing they'll be tap fodder for his Skirsdags later in the game. My next set of spirits come down and eat a Ratchet Bomb followed by some more spirits which eat yet another Ratchet Bomb. After that I landed a Gather the Townsfolk and another anthem while my opponent got himself a Grave Titan.
Fortunately, at this point of the game I had a vault out with 7 lands total. When the Grave Titan and tokens swung my response was to Go for the Throat one of the newly created tokens to keep Skirsdag off his ability, declare blockers, and then use the vault to trade a human token for the titan while killing a zombie token with my other human then swing on the subsequent turns and let my human kill the remaining tokens. That part of the plan worked out pretty well with my opponent getting a Bloodline Keeper once all his blockers were dead. He traded it for a human token. After that the board state was pretty even with me around 20 life, 2 anthems, and no tokens, and my opponent around 10 life with a Grafdiggers and Skirsdag. It became draw/go for a bit with my opponent getting a Typhoid Rat, land, and something else he was holding onto while I got a Go for the Throat, Despise, and land. Curious at what my opponent was holding I use the Despise and find out it's another Ratchet Bomb. I eventually draw into a Midnight Haunting and start swinging over his head for 6 lifelink at a time. With no other choice my opponent drops the Ratchet Bomb and pops it. I then end up getting a Gather the Townsfolk followed by a Rally the Peasants and that finishes out the game.
Really, game 2 wasn't so much tough as it was long. It was a very grindy game but that's due to multiple Ratchet Bombs. The entire time my opponent was nowhere close to being able to threaten lethal. While typing this, I realized that I misused my Go for the Throat though. Rather than killing a token I should have used it to kill the High Priest. I think that my thought process at the time was along the lines that he would swing and block with the tokens while protecting the High Priest to try and get morbid, so if I left it alive it was effectively out of the game so long as he wasn't able to turn on the demon production. It ended up being risky since he was close to morbid with it at several points, but it worked out for me. I was also caught completely offguard by the Grafdiggers, it slowed me down more than anything and the game would have been over a good 8 turns earlier had it not been there.
Round 3 vs Wolf Run Ramp
This isn't really the greatest matchup but the pilot is a friend of mine and I helped him put the deck together. I would say I probably know his deck better than him as well so I knew exactly what I had to play around. His deck is the Junya Iyanaga build so he was loaded with plenty of anti aggro tricks but it wasn't updated for Dark Ascension so no Huntmasters to deal with thankfully.
Game 1:
I win the roll and go first. I have a pretty standard opening with 3 land, some token producers/anthems, and a Day of Judgment. When turn 4 rolled around I missed the land drop, and the same goes at turn 5. My opponent ramps into an Inferno Titan and I start losing my tokens. Seeing that I'm not getting and land and am going to lose by attrition I take a gamble and avoid a chump block putting me at 3 3/3 spirits on the field, hoping my opponent doesn't have a Slagstorm. He does though and my tokens die followed by my opponent playing a Primeval, and I take a ton of damage. To further worsen my situation an anthem gets eaten by an acidic slime. Turn 8 rolls around and I draw my 4th land. I cast Day of Judgment wiping the board but my opponent had an Inkmoth in play from Primeval while I had no way to block it. I die to infect.
I sideboard -4 Doomed Traveler, -1 HotP, -1 Sorin and do +3 Go for the Throat, +3 Despise.
Game 2:
My opening hand was pretty sketchy due to the land (everything came in tapped) but I chose to keep it, mainly on the basis that my opponent mulliganed to 5. It was an Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat x2, Honor of the Pure, Timely Reinforcements x2, and Gather the Townsfolk. Due to my lands coming in tapped I get off to a slower start than usual but I still managed to curve out pretty well. My opponent ramped up pretty slow due to his hand, and on turn 4 I hit him with Despise to reveal 3 land and 2 Garruk, Primal Hunter. His other Garruk comes out on the next turn and creates a beast token. Since my tokens are only 2/2 at this point I decide not to swing and pass the turn.
Turns continue and my opponent continues to build Garruk to his ultimate but doesn't have anything threatening on the field being stuck at 5 mana and getting a Viridian Emissary and Beast Within, and a couple more Garruk tokens. I get a Timely Reinforcements followed by an Intangible Virtue and to replace the Honor of the Pure that became a beast token and swing at Garruk backed by a Vault of the Archangel knocking him down to 2 then I start blocking his beasts and trade away a few tokens getting my opponent down to 1 beast and Garruk while I have 1 soldier and 1 beast, all while gaining a pretty good chunk of life, at my peak I managed to hit 28 but it didn't last for long due to an army of beast tokens. Garruk continues to create a board presence while I cast a Lingering Souls.
At this point we were on turn 8 or 9 with both myself and my opponent around 15 life. My opponent goes on defense while I swing with all 4 tokens, getting the soldier and both spirits in while his Viridian Emissary blocks the beast. I use Rally the Peasants here causing my 3 tokens to get in for 12 damage. Next turn my opponent gets an inkmoth and Inferno Titan down which kills a token but his two blockers for my 3 tokens isn't enough and a flashbacked Rally gets me in for lethal.
Game 3:
We both had pretty standard openings with my opponent ramping into an inferno titan on turn 4 while I had a pair of spirits with 3 anthems on turn 4. The spirits and titan trade while my opponent gets a primeval followed by me using Timely Reinforcements. I decide not to block and take a good chunk of damage but then retaliate with some vault powered vigilant tokens regaining a huge chunk of the life I lost and a Go for the Throat to the titan. The next turn he swings with the inkmoth Primeval gave him hitting me for 9 infect. Fortunately I have an out and swing with my 3 soldiers backed by a Rally the Peasants.
*somewhere in this game my opponent also used green sun for an Acidic Slime to drop one of my anthems. I don't remember at exactly what point though.
Round 4 vs BU zombies
Game 1:
My opponent wins the roll and goes first with a pretty typical aggressive start getting 2 gravecallers by turn 2. I start off with a Doomed Traveler followed by an Honor of the Pure. My opponent swings with the Gravecrawlers and my Doomed Traveler blocks turning him into a spirit then my opponent casts a Geralfs Messenger. My lone spirit on the other hand is joined by two more from a Lingering Souls on turn 3. When turn 4 rolls my opponent misses his land drop and plays a Highborn Ghoul while I do some combat math to see if he can threaten lethal, see that he can't and swing out with a Rally the Peasants going over his head for 12 bringing the life totals to 8 and 13. Next turn he swings but it's just shy of lethal, while I flashback Rally for another 12 to end the game.
I choose not to sideboard since everything seemed pretty good for the matchup and I wasn't really sure what to take out. In hindsight it probably would have been a good move to side in my Go for the Throats to kill his lords, but I chose instead to rely on my Oblivion Rings and Day of Judgments. I don't know what my opponent sided in but he brought in 8 cards and 4 of what he took out went face up on the table and I saw they were Mana Leaks.
Game 2:
I got what was probably the ideal hand to deal with zombies: 3 Doomed Traveler, Honor of the Pure, an Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, and a Plains. On my first draw I picked up an Intangible Virtue too. My opponent on the other hand got a Gravecrawler and nothing. He kept a 2 land hand and couldn't land his second creature, a Geralf's Messenger until turn 5. In the meantime I beat him down with Travelers, then I got a Rally the Peasants, and the turn after his Messenger got on the field I hit it with an Oblivion Ring followed by lethal travelers to close out the night.
Overall I went 4-0 in matches and 8-2 in games so it ended up being a pretty good night. I walked away with 2 foil Dismembers (won a random, plus one for getting top 2) and about 3/4 a box of assorted Innistrad, DKA, and 2012 packs for my troubles. From the packs I pulled 6 mythics, some of them rather nice and a bunch of dual lands so I did pretty well.
The main things I picked up were that I need to redo my sideboard, 4 of's are great for consistency but I was never siding in 4 of anything, I'm pretty sure that means I can cut a Stony Silence, Revoke Existence, and Despise. The other thing was that Doomed Travelers are easily the worst card in the deck only really having value against zombies. Since my games mostly went long I'm thinking I can cut them in favor of Shrine of Loyal Legions, and put the Doomed Travelers in the now open sideboard space. I'm also looking at trying to find room for Celestial Purge with the amount of R/G aggro my meta has it should be invaluable. Suture Priest might be really nice too against aggro but it feels like throwing that in would involve trading consistency for another card, plus it's a big better in a CotP build.
So I am fairly new at competitive Magic, and this is about my 5th Standard FNM(been to a few drafts, and I don't like them that much). My goal with this deck was to make a kinda controlling BW Tokens, and take over on turns 4,5,6. As you see I don't have any 1 drops, and the only 2 drops are my Shrines. I am a decent player, I tend to beat the average/bad players, and always lose when I get to the winners tables, lol. This is also my first tournament report, and I didn't take notes, and am just going off of memory, So I wont do a turn by turn synopsis, just the overall feel of the game.It was 6 Rounds Swiss. Prizes for top 8, but top 4 get store credit. Usually about 50 people
Round 1 Vs BW Tokens
This is one of the best guys in the shops, and I have played him EVERY time I have gone, this being the 3rd. I usually play him once I have won my first 2 matches and then he sends me to 2-1, but this time I got to play him round 1...lucky me.
Game 1
He wins the roll, and basically swarms me with tokens, lands a Sorin on T4, destroys my Hero of Bladehold. I kill his Sorin with mine, but in the end I die because my deck is slower and less aggressive then his.
Game 2
I get mana screwed. I kept a 2 land hand, and never drew another and died, lol.
His deck had no creatures, but some Blade Splicers in the SB, He ended up getting 1st place, not even losing one game.
Round 2 vs Mono Blue Delver(budget)
Game 1
I started off to a very slow start(this happened a lot) He lands a Vault Skirge and a Delver gets flipped. He counters my Timely Reinforcments, and Lingering Souls, but lets my Anthems get through. I eventually end up with an Intangible Virtue and Honor of the pure out. He has a flipped Delver, Vault Skirge, and an Invisible Stalker, and he beats me town to 1 life. I had played a Shrine T2, and it had gone up to 11 counters lol. I day of judgement and blow everything up. He does nothing his turn, I crack the Shrine, and win! If it had been a decent Delver deck i probably would've lost...but oh well.
Game 2
Was very much like the first game. I kept a hand with 3 Intangible Virtues, Lingering Souls, and all Plains. As I said very similar to last game, he cast Vault Skirge to gain life, flips a Delver. I boarded in 3 Surgical Extractions. and used 2 of them, 1 on mana leak, and another on Delver. Without his delvers he lost. But with my SLOW start, I won with only 3 life. But instead of Shrine to win, I overwhelm him Lingering Souls.
Round 3 vs GW Humans
I have played this guy before with my UW Human deck, and have always outplayed him. But he is a really cool guy, and we always have fun in our matchups
Game 1
I get a good start with T2 Anthem T3 Souls T4 Hero of Bladehold T5 swing with a Vault activation(that he forgot was out in play lol.) I won easily.
Game 2
This one was more fun. We had a Hero of Bladehold war. He O rings mine, I O ring his, he fiend hunters my second one. But I had Revoke Existence sided in, and destroyed his O Rings, and killed his Fiend Hunters. This time when I drop the Vault, he takes great notice. But the life gain and deathouch is too much for him. Win easy, but very fun game and fun guy. Game was full of laughs.
Round 4 vs Tempered Steel
There is not much to say about this game. I have never played against TS, and was not prepared. My SLOW deck was no match. Lost both games very fast.
Round 5 vs UR Control
Game 1
This game was INSANE. It took a half hour! He was not prepared for my 3 MD Timelys. It seemed like in Game 1 his main wincon was Sorins Vengeance. At one point he used Sorins Vengeance on my twice, and had me down to 13 life(thanks to my Timelys) and him at 40 something otherwise I would have died. I was able to get a Sorin out, and his lifelinkers, combined with tokens and Vault shot me right back in the game. In the end, I survived FOUR Sorins Vengeance(2 regular, 2 with snapcaster) The game ended with him milling himself to death from all his card draw and Alchemy. The game ended with me at 43 life or something. lol
Game 2
He had to go to the bathroom, which didn't help him with the time. We ended up drawing. The Timelys saved me again. He would've won, but we were in overtime, and finally on his turn(turn 4 of OT) he stole my Hero with Olivia, had a Consecrated Sphinx, but wasnt enough to kill me cuz I was at 26 life. He swung for some big damage, but not enough. T5 I do nothing, and then its a draw. I win cuz I won game 1.
Round 6 vs WRR
I had not time in between rounds, had a headache from hunger(i was planning to eat pizza after round 5 lol) and was playing against another guy who usually Top 4's, and is always playing at the winners table.
Game 1
I get him down to 4 life with Souls and Anthems, but he slagstorms me, starts flipping his two Huntsmasters, gaing life, and drops a Titan, and then I die. I played VERY sloppy in this match. I kinda didn't care if I won or lost, because I knew even if I won being 4-2 wouldnt be enough for top 8, and I was STARVING.
Game 2
I get mana screwed, and DIE.
This was my first time playing BW tokens, and I tried making this deck all on my own(im not the best builder) and it was WAY too slow, and not aggressive enough. I don't copy lists EXACTLY, but I usually find a list I like on SCG, and make tweaks form there, and I could tell this deck didn't run that smoothly because of my sloppy deck building. But it was fun. I am going to be playing BW token again on Thurs at a different LGS, and will be running a VERY different list then this one. I ended up 3-3, and got 1 participation pack. Which had a Alpha Brawl as the rare...lame.
Due to our usual TO not being available this week I was doing TO duties while playing which had me multitasking all night between my match, being the judge (not of my own matches obviously), and running things. As a result it's kind of a blur so I don't remember the highlights of each game.
Round 1 vs W/U Humans
Game 1 was aggro vs aggro, in the end my endless stream of vigilant tokens simply overwhelmed him.
Game 2 consisted of me getting destroyed by thalia (and the 14 cards he sideboards specifically for the matchup against me). Game 3 had me taking a bunch of early damage while I tried to stall. He was trying to overwhelm me but it backfired since I had a DoJ which let me stabilize with at 12 a Timely Reinforcements compared to his 18+spirit token from doomed traveler. He swung at me with a 2/2 spirit knocking me to 10 while I swung with my 3 1/1 soldiers putting him at 15. Next turn he swung the spirit again putting me at 8 while I swung with my 3 spirits backed by a Rally+flashback Rally making them 5/1's. That was game.
Round 2 vs W/U Spirits
Game 1 he won on the back of a drogskol captain+phantasmal image combo with lingering souls.
Game 2 I won, my tokens were bigger than his.
Game 3 he won. He got 3 favorable winds and saw 3 copies of Lingering Souls. I managed to get him in a DoJ and wipe a few tokens out but they just kept coming. He killed me on turn 6 or 7 and all I saw that game was 1 Midnight Haunting and 1 Timely Reinforcements for tokens, I never got an anthem either.
I've played this deck a few times now and it's a tough matchup. The player is also ridiculously lucky, always seemingly top decking exactly what he needs at any given moment. A couple of weeks ago when we played for example he top decked 4 Vapor Snags, 4 Snapcasters, and 2 Unsummons all to bounce/kill tokens.
Round 3 vs W/G Humans
Game 1 he played a Mentor of the Meek, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Fiend Hunter, Mayor of Avabruk, and a couple other things. In the end though my spirits simply flew over him while my humans and soldiers dutifully chump blocked scary cards like Silverblade Paladin and Champion of the Parish.
Game 2 he dropped 5 creatures which got met by a DoJ, followed by him dumping the rest of his hand into another DoJ. After that he was out of gas and I started using spirit tokens without an anthem to take him to 0. At first I held back on the tokens fearing a wipe but eventually decided that if he had one I probably would have seen it by now, and started dumping tokens to give him fewer chances to draw an out (though I did leave 2 Lingering Souls in the graveyard). He scooped to 10 1/1 spirits on the board with no way to defend. To add insult to injury my next draw was a Rally the Peasants, I would have swung for 40... without an anthem.
Round 4 vs W/G Tokens
On game 1 I flooded out. My opening hand was a Swamp, Plains, Clifftop Retreat, Intangible Virtue, Timely Reinforcements, Rally the Peasants, and Oblivion Ring. I went first. The game ended on turn 9 and I was holding 2 additional land when it ended. I checked my next 4 draws when it was over and they were all land. I never saw another token or anthem beyond what I started with.
Game 2 involved the opponent getting and activating a Gavony while I had Vault active. We matched each other token for token with him having the advantage in anthems and me being the only one with Intangible Virtue. In the end the lifelink backed up by me being able to force every block into a trade was just too much for him to overcome.
Game 3 started out really bad for me facing a champion of the parish into gather the townsfolk, into honor, into double mayors while I was forced to mulligan to 5 and keep a hand consisting of 2 land, timely, and 2 doj. I managed to topdeck 2 more land though and stabilize at 6. After that he was out of threats even using beast within on his honor to create a blocker while I top decked nothing but tokens and anthems which ended the game.
The all star of the night was the MB Timely Reinforcements. In every single game I cast it on turn 3 giving me a superior board position and putting me up to around 25 life.
Overall I went 3-1 in matches and placed second due to opponents win percentages (which said I had the toughest lineup of the night with an opponents win percentage of 80% compared to third places having 50%) and went 6-4 in games. The win/loss was a little worse than what I'm used to meaning it was an off night, but since I got second I can't really complain.
4 Isolated Chapel
9 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Vault of the Archangel
Creatures 4
4 Doomed Traveler
Planeswalkers 1
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Spells 31
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Lingering Souls
2 Angel of Jubilation
3 Rally the Peasants
3 Day of Judgment
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Entreat the Angels
2 Doom Blade
2 Terminus
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Celestial Purge
2 Revoke Existence
3 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
I went 3-1-4 and end at 72 place.
Round one (lose the dice):
Lose 0-2 for Tezzeret my opponent is a really good player that he locked me in first game with a ratchet bomb combo. Game 2, I put in +2 revoke, +2 celestial, +3 stony silence, I take off -1 rally, -1 sorin, -2 day, -3 traveller. I begin be very agroo and with him at 1 life he topdeck the only card that made him staid alive, ratchet bomb After 2 turns he lock me again, and I lose.
Round 2 (lose the dice):
I win 2-0 from RDW, I think the player is ok, but with not very much experience. First game, he begin with Vexing Devil, and I paid the life. After that He have a lot of fire and little board presence, and when I put the vault at turn 5 I couldn't lose. Game 2 I put in +2 celestial, +2 timely and take off -2 sorin, -1 entreat, -2 rally. My initial hand was 2 timely, 1 celestial, 1 intangible, 3 lands. It's a no story game, turn one plain pass, he put vexing I paid. turn 2 intangible, he put a creature and pass, turn 3 timely and I didn't remember what he did. turn 4 double anthem and I finish the game in 2 turns with one timely and one celestial in my hand
Round 3 (lose the dice):
Lose 1-2 for Tokens (I believe Wescoe's) that player made top 8, but I think he is not a great player but it's a guy in this day with very lucky. I shake a lot, I never play with a opponent so nervous, in some times he couldn't tap the mana because was shaking a lot and he stops and tried until he finally made it. The game one I keep a slow hand with only token makers for 3 and he had a very explosive beginning, turn 1 champion, turn 2 champion/champion, turn 3 honour/traveller, turn 4 hero. I couldn't never recover and I lose in some turns. I sideboard in +2 doom blade, +2 surgical, +revoke and cut -3 rally, -1 Blackcleave Cliffs, -1 entreat, -1 Clifftop Retreat. I win game 2 very easily with more anthems and killing a hero with doom blade. Lose the last game with a very similar begin to the first game, turn 1 champion, turn 2 champion/traveller, turn 3 honour/ traveller, turn 4 hero, I kill all their creatures less one soldier 2/2 and have to draw one creature, or one day, or one doom blade or at least one token maker and I drew a land...
Round 4 (lose dice):
I think I had a good opponent but I was very unlucky and I know sometimes Delver is auto-pilot, so I can had play with a bad player and I didn't see it. Lose 0-2 for delver (megablade) with screw in game one, I didn't had any chances. Sideboard in +3 stony silence, +2 revoke and cut -1 entreat, -1 rally, -2 angel in this game I take 5 vapor snag and he flipped 2 delvers and I didn't draw any midnight or lingering...
Round 5 (lose dice):
Lose 1-2 to W/R Humans against a very experience player, but he didn't have great results in any big tournament. Game one turn 2 thalia and I screwed with 3 land that I went to game in my hand. I put for game 2: +2 doom blade, +2 stony silence, +2 revoke and cut -3 rally, -1 entreat, -1 honour, -1 midnight, I crush him in game 2. In game 3 Thalia came back at turn 2, and I lose one turn to kill the ***** (next time I will put the Gut Shots again in my sideboard) in turn 3, and he had a really good start with Silverblade at turn 3 and hero at turn 4. I control him, but I stop seen token makers, and I lose in a long game...
Round 6 (win dice finally!):
I win 2-0 to Bant Pod (he told me: "you don't know Bant POD? When I told him if he was playing W/B Blink). My opponent is a good and experience player but made a big mistake in game one and I win because that
Game one he put the blink combo in the table with the Vencer and Stonehorn Dignitary, and I was locked. But he get greedy when I was 2 flying token 6/6 and didn't make the blink for one turn and EOT I put 2 midnight and attack for 36 in the my turn
I sideboarding +3 stony silence, +2 revoke, +2 doom blade and cut -1sorin, -4 traveller, -1 entreat and -1 Blackcleave Cliffs, only in the end I see the POD, and at that time I has already win the game, stony silence at turn 2 and doom blade in Stonehorn Dignitary and I didn't had any chance.
Round 7 (win dice):
I draw 1-1 with a very strange POD. I only understand that is a POD deck in game 3. My opponent seems to been that play very well, but their deck is a rogue very strange deck. I win game on a rush and only see the 4 green Gheists that I terminus it. After that I rush him with rally and 1-0. I only see green and white mana and I believe that is playing against G/W agroo. I put in +2 terminus, +2 stony, +2 revoke and cut -1 day, -1 honour, -1 midnight, -3 rally. Game 2 is very strange for what I expect, no green creatures in the beginning, only lingering souls and then garruk that in 2 turns is a tutor, and I said You will play elesh? And he slime the intangible. Then he put black creatures and destroy my army of tokens and win. In this game I think "what's this?", for game 3 I take out -2 revoke and -2 stony and put +1 day, +1 honour, +1 midnight, +1 rally (I think was that, but I don't have 100% sure). I begin very well, and at turn 3 I see POD? "What? I remove my artefact hate!", but I topdeck an Angel of jubilation and the game had an impasse at turn 6 he miracle a entreat and put 4 angels, and I terminus it all and lose my angel. At turn 7 he put a Gideon Jura! (another surprise for me) in this point the time to play is gone and we went to turns. At turn 8 he put 6 angels and I day it. and had one doom blade in hand for jura and we draw. I didn't understand their deck at all. Since game one I never more see Gheists and I believe that he removed it because I terminus it. I think with a good understand of that deck I can win it, but I missed that...
Round 8 (lose dice):
Win 2-1 against a Lady, she is a ok/medium player and her husband is a very good player and they play a lot. She told me that didn't has much time to play in this week, and after about 10 hour of the beginning we were both tired. She didn't drop because some friends can go to top 8 and I didn't drop because a had a friend that came in my car that can reach the top 8 too. In first game she crush me very quickly. I had a slow hand and she went with champion and hero and 2 honour. In sideboard I put to play +2 surgical, +2 revoke, + doom blade and cut -3 rally, -1 entreat, -1 sorin and -1 Blackcleave Cliffs. In game 2 I went with more control and surgical the lingering souls and made a day when she overextended. She told me "Day? I didn't think you had this". Then I make my token and rush for the win with more anthems that she. She goes again to sideboard and at turn 2 she put a shrine but I wait for when she tap for hero, and I doom blade it and Oblivion ring in the shrine! She only had 2 untapped lands, nice! After that and with 2 intangible against one honour and late 3 against 2 I control the board and made she block my tokens until she didn't had more to do. I win and play very well in this particular game.
I feel that Entreat maybe gone away from the mainboard and maybe the sideboard too. Terminus is so good, I see a game against zombies with blood artist and the card made the deck ridiculous. Angel of Jubilation is so good. In my country are many people playing POD and the card is a sideboard in the mainboard against it and all phyrexian mana! 5 stars! I don't hhave Hero's but I miss that in my deck
This is what happen with me (what I remember), I hope you enjoy it. Sorry for my bad English and for the long text.
Best regards to all,
AVieira
Modern: Grixis DS ; UR Phoenix ; Storm ; Burn
Standard: MonoRed ; Ral Spells ; UR Phoenix ; Izzet Drakes
Commander: Locust God
Round 1 - vs U/W Spirits
I win the roll and decide to go first, my opening hand was 7 lands so I mulligan to 6 which then had no lands, so I took another mulligan to 5 and got 3 land/an anthem and a DoJ. I decide to keep and play it out figuring I can get some advantage off the DoJ. The opponent had a slower hand too, on turn 4 he put down lingering souls, on turn 5 lingering souls flashback, and on turn 6 2 Drogskol Captains. At this point I wipe the board with 2 life remaining. As of this point I haven't drawn a single threat. A doomed traveler shows up and I play it. Next turn the opponent puts down 2 midnight hauntings while I draw land.
I sideboard out my 4 doomed travelers for 3 Revoke Existence and a second sorin.
Game 2 I go first again. The opening hand was 1 swamp and 6 great cards so I mulligan to 6 and get no land, then to 5 and all land so I goto 4 and keep with a plains, isolated chapel, clifftop retreat, and lingering souls. We each put some cards out, I get my spirits but my opponent gets a favorable winds and an honor of the pure and my spirits die blocking some damage. I get a vault with another anthem (putting me at 2 honor of the pures), revoke and the lifelink buys me a couple turns. I take a couple more hits and have 6 life. My opponent swings and I make some Midnight Haunting tokens to block (i have the advantage at this point, 3 anthems to 2). I take double vapor snag to my spirits putting me at 4 and no longer having blockers. Then his guys get in for the last 4 points.
Round 2 - Delver/Spirits/budget
In game 1 he gets delver flips on turns 2 and 3 while I get Timely Reinforcements a Doomed Traveler and 2 anthems. He continues to swing and gets me down to 5 life but doesn't follow his delvers up with anything while I swing 7 and put him at 11. I also Oblivion Ring a Delver which lengthens the clock from 1 turn to 2. He decides not to swing at me keeping his other Delver back on defense, while I swing and Vault while he blocks and kills a soldier putting the life totals at 6 with me swinging 5 a turn and 12 with him swinging 0 a turn. He doesn't draw an out and I finish it with the guys I have on the field.
Game 2 he drops a turn 1 delver, flips it on turn 2 swinging at me for 3 and then another 3. I drop an anthem and a Midnight Haunting then trade a token for his Delver. The other token eats a Vapor Snag and we're both left with nothing with the life totals 17 to 20. He plays a Geist and I respond with another Timely Reinforcements. The Geist swings and I triple block. One token eats a vapor snag, another token eats a snapcaster powered snag, and the third token trades with the Geist and I take 4 off of the angel making it 19-20. Then I play a Lingering Souls, flash it back the next turn and ride it to victory while my opponent is only able to put out a couple 1/1 tokens to chump block.
Round 3 vs Mono Black Control
Unlike most people at the store, I had no idea what this person was playing since he rarely shows up for FNM (usually has to work) so I didn't really have a plan for the matchup. Regardless, he used a few kill spells on my tokens but he never saw a sweeper and simply ran out of cards to deal with my guys. In the end he lost to a few turns of a 3/3 lifelink, deathtouch, vigilant spirit swinging at him, I had more threats in my hand but wanted to press the card advantage and make him deal with a single individual creature.
In game 2 he brought in ratchet bombs, BSZ, and Geralf. I played a couple spirits backed by an anthem and he fired off a BSZ for two wiping the board and bringing Geralf back. I hit Geralf with a Go for the Throat, then used the flashback on Lingering Souls. Next turn I swung and got a little greedy playing a Gather the Townfolk. They were met by a Ratchet Bomb. Then I played a Midnight Haunting and won the next turn off of a Rally+flashback Rally letting me swing for 12.
The really nice thing in this matchup was I was hit by 3 despises across the two games and they completely missed each time.
Round 4 vs G/W aggro.
This guy was a new player, I had never seen him before and he just started out. I was kind of surprised we got matched up but he apparently went 2-1 in his previous matches beating two of the stronger decks in the store (W/U humans and Naya ramp). In game 1 he got out a Garruk's Horde while I got an anthem and a Timely Reinforcements. Next he played a Gideon's Lawkeeper and Spirit Mantle on the Horde. On my turn I Oblivion Ringed his Horde, and swung my guys. He managed a Gideon's Avenger but I played a Lingering Souls and just swung over him. Since my guys all had vigilance he was dead long before the Avenger could become a threat.
In game 2 I pulled the same trick with Timely Reinforcements but he had more creatures. I swung out sacrificing 2 tokens to get one through, then followed it up with a Day of Judgment. After that I took a gamble on him not having board wipes and played Lingering Souls followed by a Lingering Souls flashback and Midnight Haunting. All he could manage was some Pacifisms on my guys and some Travel Preparations on his guys (he had out 3 Niblis of the Urn). It managed to buy him an extra two turns but he got overwhelmed.
So in the end I wound up 3-1 and took second. The winner (the person I played round 1) was also 3-1 and we were very close. In the end we had the same match points, same game win percentage, and same opponents match win. There was under a 1% difference in our opponents game win percentage that divided us between first and second. For my $8 entry I walked away with 10 packs (containing a Tamiyo, Bonfire, and Cavern of Souls), a playset of Latch Seekers, and a Killing Wave so I really can't complain but I was hoping to have gotten the playmat since I don't own one at all.
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Clifftop Retreat
5 Swamp
8 Plains
2 Vault of the Archangel
Creatures
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Champion of the Parish
2 Hero of Bladehold
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Oblivion Ring
Instants
4 Midnight Haunting
3 Go for the Throat
3 Rally the Peasants
Sorceries
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Lingering Souls
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Sword of Body and Mind
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Nihil Spellbomb
23 land instead of 24 is just a personal choice. Also only 3 Champion because I don't want to see him that often. No Sorin because I prefer Hero and Rally as far as blowout cards go. Sideboard was entirely a meta call (e.g. Sever because there's a lot of Entreat the Angels around here). I wound up guessing wrong on the meta with Body and Mind (I should have run War and Peace) but it wound up not mattering too much. Anyway, matches tended to go a little samey so I'm going to spare the "I cast a bunch of Gather/Haunting/Lingering and some anthems" and focus on more noteworthy things.
Round 1 vs Mono Green Aggro (jank but I'd say surprisingly effective at blindsiding the meta since he got top 4)
Game 1, he curves out with multiple Skinshifters and eventually drops a Bellowing Tanglewurm. I drop a Vault and swing with everything. He declares no blocks, presumably because he fears deathtouch, so I play and flash back a Rally and kill him.
Sideboard: Out Champions, one Doomed traveler, and black removal, in Swords and Fiend Hunter.
Game 2, I stick a Sword on a Hero and he has no answer.
Round 2 vs W/R/g Humans
Game 1, he drops an early Skinshifter (which seemed to be the only green in his deck), and it eats a Go for the Throat. Intangible Virtue and spirit tokens whittle him down, and a Riders of Gavony comes too late to be effective.
Sideboard: Champions for Fiend Hunter.
Game 2, I more or less just overrun him unopposed with spirit tokens. His Champion gets big but dies to removal.
Round 3 vs U/W Spirits
Game 1, he stalls me out with Lingering Souls tokens and eventually a Gideon. He hits a Terminus after Gideon dies. I flashback Lingering Souls and recover better than he does.
Sideboard: Nothing.
Game 2, he gets a Drogskol Captain, which I O-Ring. I get two anthems and keep enough pressure on him that he has to keep chump-blocking. Eventually he miscounts how many spirit tokens I have and taps out facing lethal damage. I ask him, "So how do you not just die?" He looks at my board again and scoops.
Round 4 vs Miracle.dec
Game 1, I open with a Champion into Gather and swing for 3. He draws a Terminus a turn later, and I cast a Hero with two anthems out. He can't Bonfire me for enough to kill the Hero, and dies to Rally the Peasants.
Sideboard: Out removal, in graveyard hate, Sever, and Shrine.
Game 2, he recurs a Terminus several times and breaks up my tempo long enough to cast an Entreat the Angels for a bunch of tokens. Since I have 3 anthems out, my spirits trade with them, and Vault gives me enough life to last another few turns. He digs for a Noxious Revival, gets his Entreat the Angels back, and casts it for more than enough angels to kill me. I never see any sideboard cards all game.
Game 3, I only see one anthem, which gets disenchanted. A 2/2 Champion and a Doomed Traveler beat him down for a few turns, then get hit by a Terminus. Another Doomed Traveler and some spirit tokens continue the attack, and eat a Bonfire. The "attack for 3-4 damage, eat Bonfire/Terminus" pattern repeats a few times until he runs out of ways to get Bonfire/Terminus back (basically Noxious Revival/Snapcaster spam) just before I run out of gas. I had a Sever in hand pretty much all game in case he got an Entreat the Angels.
Round 5 vs U/W Control
Game 1, I get the turn 1 Champion, turn 2 Gather opening. He casts Timely Reinforcements, and the tokens trade with the Champion. An Entreat the Angels gets wiped by spirits with Rally. He dies to sustained spirit swarming. Gideon was a minor speed bump.
Sideboard: Out targeted removal, in Shrine, Sever, and Body and Mind.
Game 2, I drew four anthem effects. He couldn't stop them all. I also stuck a Shrine, but my draws were overkill even without it.
For my troubles I got a playmat and crap rares from my packs (although the promo Killing Wave is nice and I somehow got a playset of promo Latch Seekers). And reading the other posts in this thread, I realize how odd my metagame actually is. Entreat the Angels and Gideon all over the place and basically no reason to have Celestial Purge in my sideboard.