MTG Salvation

My Day 1 record was 7-1-1 (Rank 123 out of 3401) and my Day 2 record was 8-4-1 drop (Rank 560 out 3401)
Won: 17 matches Lost: 11 matches.

I played a variation of Valentin Mackl’s Grixis Faeries with a few changes. Maindeck differences were -1 Vendilion Clique, -1 Spell Snare for +1 Go for the Throat, +1 Collective Brutality. Sideboard differences -1 Countersquall, -1 Collective Brutality, -2 Relic of Progenitus for +2 Ceremonious Rejection, +2 Nihil Spellbomb. I thought I would run into Eldrazi Tron and wanted to shore up that match up and I thought Nihil Spellbomb would be better with 4 Snapcaster Mages than Relic.

Game 1: I play a very standard control game, pressuring him with man-land activations and eventually I get there with Bitterblossom tokens. I remember a big swing was countering a detention sphere with Spellstutter Sprite. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: Starts off slow. I boarded in Blood Moon and drew it in my opening hand. I knew if I land it I am going to pretty much win the game because the first game he was greedy fetching shocklands. Therefore, I attack early with a Mutavault on purpose to get it pathed fetching one of my basics. I Vendilion Clique seeing the coast is pretty clear of counterspells. I attack next with a Creeping Tar Pit hoping to get it ghost quartered and he does. This gets me my next basic and I am set to cast moon on the following turn. I drop a moon and he has no basics in play and scoops. (Win: 2-0)
Record: 1-0

Game 1: I keep and he mulls to 6. The game went pretty standard with me controlling the board killing his Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf with Fatal Push and Snapcaster Mage. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: This game goes back and forth a bit. I resolve Bitterblossom and start amassing a decent board. I notice my opponent is also being greedy with his fetching and when I resolve Blood Moon he has no answer for it and scoops. (WinL 2-0)
Record: 2-0

Game 1: The game goes back and forth for the first couple rounds trading counterspells until he resolves a Gideon. It takes me a lot of time to deal with it. The +2 ability was a big deal when I only had a few creatures in play. Luckily I was able to clean it up with my man-lands. Late game he has 2 Celestial Colonnades in play and I was only able to answer 1 of the. He also was able to resolve 3 Sphyinx’s Revelations (2 Hard casts and 1 Snap cast). He basically was able to out tempo me and I didn’t have answers at crucial times. He plays an Ajani Vengeant and I scoop. Final life totals where 4 to 7.
(Lose: 0-1)

Game 2: This game plays similar to game 1 where we trade cards back and forth for the early game. I was able to get rid of the Gideon with a Thoughtseize. The game goes to late game with him being at 4 and me being at 1. My opponent was able to have an electrolyze and kill me with it. (Lose: 0-2)
Record 2-1

Game 1: This game goes similar to the other control match ups. Lots of back and forth going on, but I end up getting there. The first match takes around 40 minutes. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: He drops a turn 1 Leyline of Sanctity and a turn 2 Rest in Peace. During the end of his turn I accidently attempt to target him with a Thought Scour and I get judge called on me since I can’t target him. I get a warning and re-target myself. He drops a Gideon which kills my Vendilion Clique and proceeds to attack me with it the following turns. I have no real answer for it and I scoop. (Lose: 1-1)
Game 3: The game goes back and forth until we go to time. On my last turn of the game my opponent is at 6 life and I have a Snapcaster Mage and a Tasigur, the Golden Fang on board ready to attack for the win. Unfortunately for me my opponent has Cryptic Command and taps them to draw the game. (Draw)
Record: 2-1-1

Game 1: I get a turn 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang on board and proceed to win the game by controlling the board and resolving Bitterblossom. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: He gets a really good double vial start and ends up doing what merfolk does best. I don’t draw Damnation in time and lose. (Lose: 1-1)
Game 3: Being on the play I make a crucial sideboarding decision to board in 2 of my Ceremonious Rejections with the logic that I can try to counter the early Aether Vial and try and one for one his creatures. Turn 1 he plays Aether Vial and I counter it with Ceremonious Rejection. He ends up getting mana screwed and I win with Bitterblossom and Spellsutter Sprite. (Win: 2-1)
Record: 3-1-1

Game 1: I resolve an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang and counter his important spells and win pretty easily. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: This game goes similar to the first game. I resolve Bitterblossom early and have a grip of counters for his important spells. He attempts to go off, but I Spellsutter Sprite his first ritual and Countersquall the second. (Win: 2-0)
Record: 4-1-1

Game 1: Standard control game for the early part. He resolves Gifts the Ungiven and then Unburial Rites Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. I kill it with a Go for the Throat and grind him out the rest of the game. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: My opponent opens with a Leyline of the Void. I resolve an early Bitterblossom and ride it to victory. I end up Thought Scouring my opponent and mill a copy of Gifts the Ungiven. Later on I counter his Gifts and other important spells to win. (Win: 2-0)
Record: 5-1-1

Game 1: He gets himself to a low life total early on and resolves a Death’s Shadow. I am able to answer it and I ride an early Bitterblossom to victory. (Win: 1-0)
Game 2: He strips Bloodmoon from my hand with a turn 1 Thoughtseize and stips a Collected Brutality turn 2 with another Thoughtseize. I’m able to control the board and kill him at 2 life with Kolaghan’s Command. (Win: 2-0)
Record: 6-1-1

Game 1: Right off the bat I notice my opponent is either in a bad mood or is one of those super serious magic players because when I look away for a second to listen to a judge ruling that is happening to the players next to us he tells me I need to play faster. I answer a lot of his threats, but Dark Confidant ends up giving him a lot of card advantage. I answer the first Liliana, of the Veil after Snaping in at the end of his turn, but he ends up winning the game because of Liliana, the Last Hope the following turn.
(Lose: 0-1).

Game 2: I answer my opponents Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf with early Fatal Pushes and Snapcaster Mage. I start aggressively using Creeping Tar Pit and Mutavault and I get there after a few turns.
(Win: 1-1)

Game 3: I get an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang out and pressure him early. He doesn’t really draw an answer that stays on the board for long and I win the game. He is super salty about losing and leaves without saying anything. (Win: 2-1)

Record: 7-1-1 (Qualifying for Day 2)

Game 1: He draws the nuts and plays out his whole hand turn 1 and turn 2 resolves Cranial Plating. While we were playing one of the judges was watching over our match and for some reason this made me nervous. Turn 2 I fetch with a Scalding Tarn and get a basic Swamp thinking I used the Polluted Delta in my hand. My opponent calls Judge and I get a warning for illegal searching. I spend a good couple turns flashing in chump blockers, but lose when he attaches the Cranial Plating during blockers and kills me. (Lose: 0-1)

Game 2: I spend the game answering his creatures pretty well with an early Bitterblossom. He plays an Etched Champion and I attempt to block with a Mutavault. He Galvanic Blasts it and I get stuck on 3 mana for the next couple of turns. He resolves another Etched Champion and I am in trouble. At this point in the game I am at very low life and I can’t shock to play a land and Damnation due to him having a Blinkmoth Nexus and my Bitterblossom triggers. I fetch at the end of his turn to get a Steam Vents tapped. My opponent shuffles my deck and puts the deck back the wrong way and sloppily. On my turn I untap and try to fix the deck. When I put my hand on it he calls Judge thinking I missed my Bitterblossom trigger. I explain that my opponent didn’t put my deck back nicely and I wanted to fix it before anything. I didn’t draw or do anything to indicate we were past upkeep. She sides with me and we move on. I try to Kolaghan’s Command his Spring Leaf Drum and Steel Overseer to get him off metalcraft and win with a Tasigur, of the Golden Fang, but he smartly floats mana and animates his Inkmoth Nexus. (Lose: 0-2)

Record: 7-2-1

Game 1: He draws a superfast hand and ends up resolving a turn 2 Elvish Archdruid. At the end of my turn 4 he plays Collected Company getting him an Ezuri, Renegade Leader and over runs the next turn. All I have in my hand that could answer anything is a Kolaghan’s Command; however, the Archdruid saves it with its static +1/+1. (Lose: 0-1)

Game 2: I play an early Bitterblossom and do a good job answering his early cards. He plays two Elvish Archdruids and attacks with a Dwynen’s Elite. I flash in Snapcaster Mage and target my Fatal Push in the graveyard. I block to trigger Revolt and Push one of the Elvish Archdruids it resolves. I attempt to Fatal Push the other Elvish Archdruid in the hopes of having the Dwynen’s Elite also die due to blocking the Snapcaster Mage. In response he Cord of Callings an Ezuri, Renegade Leader to regenerate the Elvish Archdruid. Next turn he taps the Elvish Archdruid and his mana to overrun twice. (Lose: 0-2)

Record: 7-3-1

At this point I am trying to figure out if I should drop or not because I really didn’t want to waste the rest of the day trying to win all of my matches when I could be spending the time with my girlfriend who accompanied me during the trip. We agree that I’ll play till I lose. I figure that at X-4-1 I was probably out of top 180 and I didn’t think I could win ALL of my matches. (Only the top 180 players cashed out).

Game 1: I resolve an early Bitterblossom. He plays a Liliana, of the Veil and I am able to answer it eventually. He then resolves a Nahiri, the Harbinger and removes my Bitterblossom. He casts Lingering Souls and I counter it. Next turn I kill Nahiri with Creeping Tar Pit and counter his Flashback of Lingering Souls with Spellstutter Sprite. I am able to grind out a win with a Kolaghan’s Command hitting him for 2. (Win: 1-0)

Game 2: My opponent castsI play another early Bitterblossom and Thoughtseize his Liliana, of the Veil. He plays double Relic of Progenitus which cuts me off of playing the Tasigur, the Golden Fang in my hand. At the end of his turn I Thought Scour him and mill two copies of Nahiri, the Harbinger. He tries to cast a Liliana, of the Viel and I counter it with Spellsutter Sprite. He casts Lingering Souls and I counter it with Countersquall. Next turn I play a Blood Moon and my opponent has no basic lands in play. He tries to cash in his Relics to draw a basic and fails. He wipes my board twice over the following turns with Anger of the Gods. I win eventually with tokens. (Win: 2-0)

Record: 8-3-1

Game 1: He starts off by playing Noble Hierarch. I play a Bitterblossom and pass. He casts Knight of the Reliquary. I end up killing it and he plays an Eternal Witness the following turn getting back the Knight. Next turn he resolves the Knight again. I kill the Knight once again, but he activates to search for a Gavony Township. He plays a Courser of Kruphix revealing Kessig Wolf Run and plays it. He At this point I don’t have an answer for Township activations plus Wolf Run. After attempting to kill the creatures he is targeting with the Wolf Run activations he starts to use the Township activation. He plays Collected Company and gets his Devoted Druid and Vizeier of Remedies combo to make his next Wolf Run activation infinite and I scoop. (Lose: 0-1)

Game 2: I cast Thoughtseize and see that he has a Collected Company, Walking Ballista, Knight of the Reliquary, Misty Rainforest, Noble Hierarch, and a Gavony Township. I have a Collective Brutality in my hand and figure I can answer rip the company on another turn, but no answer to the Knight because of the Misty Rainforest. He only has 2 lands in hand so I decide to take the Noble Hierarch in hopes he bricks on the third land. On my opponents turn 1 he draws and casts a Birds of Paradise. Next turn he tries to Knight of the Reliquary which I Mana Leak. I cast Bitterblossom and pass. He casts Walking Ballista for 1. On my turn I escalate Collective Brutality and get rid of the Collected Company. He then plays Secure the Wastes for 3. I play Tasigur, the Golden Fang and spend the next couple turns passing. After each endstep the tokens get larger due to the Gavony Township. He plays a Devoted Druid and another creature and Courser of Kruphix which also continue to grow. I Cryptic Command and tap his guys and hope to draw a land so I can Snap Cryptic and Win over the next couple turns with attacks. I fail to draw it and lose. (Lose: 0-2)

Record: 8-4-1 Drop

I end up deciding to drop and check out the Las Vegas Strip with my girlfriend. I was very impressed with the deck. Every opening hand I had was keepable and justifiable vs an unknown opponent. Tasigur was an absolute house in the games where he showed up and Bitterblossom did work. My deck was designed to beat Death’s Shadow and I only played it once. I didn’t play Eldrazi Tron either which was probably a good thing even with the additional sideboard slots devoted to beating it. However this did mean that I did not have the best matchups vs straight control decks. Planswalkers were a lot harder to beat for me then maybe they should have been. If I drew a Blood Moon vs the Jeskai loss or the U/W Control draw I would have won instantly. The losses to Affinity and Elves were due to really explosive turn 1-2 starts and not drawing damnation post board. I think I may have needed to board in the Blood Moons vs the Elves deck and the Naya Vizier deck because they both played a greedy mana base.

Overall, I think the minor red splash helps out the deck a lot. Blood Moon can win you so many unexpected wins when it resolves. People really are not expecting it game 2 and they can get really punished for not playing around it. My goal was to make Day 2 and I did. I’m happy I was able to compete, meet magic pros, new friends, and have a load of custom artwork on my playmat.