Tonight was a very slow night at FNM, only 9 played in the tournament for a total of 3 rounds. There is talk the shop may close down shortly after the new year. Everyone is planning where to go next, it will probably be an extra 15-20 min drive for most of us. I hate to see these game shops go under.
Round `1 vs black devotion w green: Black Devotion with a golgari spin and a mess of all the scry lands that matched either black or green. Abrupt Decays, Underworld Connections, Golgari Charms, Desecration Demons, Nightveil Specters, Grey Mechants, Pack Rats. Game 1 he manages to Golgari Charm regen through a Supreme Verdict, Abrupt Decay one of my Detention Sphere, and Hero's Downfall my Jace, Architect of Thought. Thoughtseize removed AEtherling from hand. I lost game 1 after about 25 minutes. Game 2 goes the remaining 30 minutes of the match. This time I get answers off for everything. He tries to Pithing Needle my Elixir of Immortality but I Detention Sphere it as well as his Erebos, God of the Dead then Negate countered some Thoughtseize and Duress. Mutavault carried the day for me, I ended up getting 3 on the board and saved them from the very few removal he left in his deck, while keeping his board totally clear of creatures. There was no time for game 3, we draw 1-1-1.
Round 2 vs Gruul aggro: A nearly perfect match-up for me. With the tweaks to my deck to replace Azorius Charm with better answer for Theros' haste creatures, I kept the board clear with a turn 4 Supreme Verdict both games. Game 1 I had 2 Celestial Flare to answer 2 Mistcutter Hydra, then a 3rd Hydra got through for 7 damage but that'd be the only damage I took all match. A 2nd Verdict traded 1 for 1 with that hydra. Garruk, Caller of Beasts eats a Detention Sphere, Primeval Bounty gets countered. I play Elspeth, Sun's Champion, +1 her to 8 for a large enough army that when she neg7 next turn, I swing for the win. Game 2 I sideboard in 2 Ratchet Bomb, 3 Essence Scatter for 4Last Breath. This time after my turn 4 Verdict, I cruise, playing Elspeth again, this time asap on turn 6 knowing he wouldn't have any way to answer her. Ratchet Bomb took out 2 Mistcutter Hydra that were being chump blocked by soldiers. Elspeth did her job though and her emblem wins it. 2-0
Round 3 vs Selesnya aggro: I had to play my gf princessswigg in the final round. This is never fun, I have a lot more experience and can play her any time so I always prefer for her to be able to play others at FNM. While I had helped her deck shore up against control matchups, my deck just always had the right answer in hand. Celestial Flare took out 2 big beasties with Unflinching Courage on them before either got to do any damage to me. Verdicts and Detention Sphere did work, Last Breath exiled Experiment One and Voice of Resurgence a few times each. Game 1 I won with Jace, Architect of Thought ultimate, playing Elspeth from my deck and Ajani, Caller of the Pride from hers. I intended to ultimate Ajani for a load of cat tokens but Elspeth emblem won the game a turn too early. Game 2 I won a little faster with a turn 7 or so Elspeth, she pumps out all I need to chump block and my removal, including another Supreme Verdict directly after Elspeth was played, were too much. She tried to flash block a bit with Advent of the Wurm and Boon Satyr but I had counters every time, it was brutal :-( 2-0
I finish 2nd place, win 2 packs of Theros and the new Warleader's Helix promo. From the 2 packs I pulled Whip of Erebos and Bident of Thassa. Through some great effort from my GF, we do end the month of Dec with 2 Sin Collector promos, and so far Jan has started off well. Support your LGS!
