I have finally found a deck that is good enough to make it. After playing this deck for months, only making a few changes for Dominaria standard season, I knew its strengths and weaknesses, and knew I stood a fairly good chance at winning at Game Day for that sweet, sweet Bolas mat. It was certainly trying, and there was even a point where I thought I had lost it for good, but was able to walk away with the glorious champion's prize, along with extreme bragging rights. Lets jump into the matches to see how things went.
Round 1: Mono-Red Aggro / 2-0
Played against a slightly edited Challenger Deck, but with the multitudes of removal that I run, it was an easy win.
Round 2: U/W Control / 2-1
Control is generally a good matchup, so I was feeling confident, especially after seeing it play twice (once before tournament, again during round 1 after I had finished) and knowing sideboard tech. Even so, I lost game one to an Approach of the Second Sun. Going to game two, I knew I could expect some creatures to arrive, so I boarded out almost all removal and brought in basic control sideboard, along with Hour of Devastations to deal with their maindeck Teferi, Hero of Dominarias and sideboarded Lyra Dawnbringers. That game I took pretty easily, them not playing any spells until turn 5 and being able to beat down early game. Game three came, and the entirety of the game came down to me casting a Lost Legacy naming Approach the turn after they cast it, along with them having a second in hand. From that point on it was pretty easy to control the rest of the game.
Round 3: B/R Aggro / 1-2
Game one was easy enough, coming away with a win. Game 2 however, I was simply out valued, even though I almost turned it around. Game 3 I was simply mana screwed and missed the chance to cast Hour of Devastation when it actually mattered.
After the initial rounds, while waiting to hear who was cut to Top Four, I began thinking about opponent win percentages and was dreadfully afraid I wouldn't make it. However, when the announcements came out, I had made it at 3rd place. Here's how those matches went.
Round 4: Mono-Blue Nabanamonicon / 2-0
This is the list played by SaffronOlive found at https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/against-the-odds-nabanamonicon-standard. I had played against this deck before and the result was exactly as expected. Near lost in game one, but pulling a Sweltering Suns on their full board and empty hand saved the day and allowed me to take control of the game from that point on. Game two was significantly easier after bringing in the boardwipes and Negates to protect said boardwipes and other threats.
Round 5: Abzan Tokens / 2-0
As with the aforementioned deck, I had played against this list multiple times and knew that with a proper sideboard plan I could take it down. Game one there were no Anointed Processions or Hidden Stockpiles, so picking off creatures one at a time was easy. Game two saw almost all sideboard cards and opponent was mana screwed to boot.
All in all, the deck performed as expected, trading a game with control and dealing with aggro decks fairly easily; save for the one time it didn't. Anyways, now I can't wait to go back with my first championship in the bag and the most beautiful playmat I have every seen and be able to lord it over everybody.
