Deck went 3-1-1 in a group of 20~ players.
Game 1: Boros Burn. 1-2. This was my first time playing against Boros Burn but the deck itself is very straightforward and I had expected most of the cards that were being played. The main card that worried me was Chandra's Phoenix because of its inherent recursion but I caught it with Syncopate a few times. The game I won was with Stormbreath dragon. Since the deck cannot 1-for-1 this card without Mizzium Mortars, Warleader's Helix, or Banishing Light, it makes it hard for the deck to play against it. Still wasn't able to race it fast enough, even with my durable creatures. I remember siding out Mizzium Mortars in this match up and ended up siding in Ral Zarek (when I had him in the list)
Game 2: Mono Red Devotion. 2-1. This list was piloted by someone younger in an earlier generation. He seemed to have a good grasp on Magic, however, so I wouldn't discount his ability to play. He explained to me that the deck was budget because of the small "allowance" he would get from his parents. Either way, he did get me pretty good on game two with a rush of Burning-Tree Emissary and Fanatic of Mogis. In the end, I out-controlled his board state and he was never able to get the devotion going on the other two games.
Game 3: Rakdos Aggro: 2-0. A list I have played once against before, but have not seen in a while. Rakdos Aggro tended to be very fast, however the mana base seemed to be too unstable to fully support all of the cards. The list curved out at Whip of Erebos and Stormbreath Dragon. He explained to me that he ran the whip because he found that if the game dragged on to the mid to late game, he would run out of "ammo" and found that reanimating his big creatures like Stormbreath Dragon or something dangerous like Spike Jester would help him out-sustain and just win against his opponent.
Game 4: America Control. 2-0. This match was an interesting one. Because my list runs more counterspells (9) I had a better control over when my opponent was able to cast game-winning spells like Sphinx's Revelation and AEtherling. My biggest issue here was Detention Sphere. It was hard to deal with all of the removal that targeted my planeswalkers, a primary form of card draw since I couldn't keep up with him if I kept Dictate of Kruphix in the deck. I ended up winning the second game with Ral Zarek's ult, and it definitely felt amusing to have that go off.
Game 5: Draw into top 8
My last game was against Orzhov Control. The main problems I had here were Desecration Demon and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I was also caught off-guard by an Obzedat, Ghost Council. I need better removal or to save my Turn // Burns for Desecration demon and Obzedat while saving Fated Conflagration and Pithing Needle for Elspeth.
Post FNM changes.
-2 Ral Zarek
+2 Pithing Needle
I will try this build next week. With such a good defense against planeswalkers I shouldn't run into any trouble with any Ajani or Elspeth. My main worry now is the amount of Naya Hexproof that has been showing up around the shop. The deck would probably just wreck this list if I can't get an Anger of the Gods off in the early game.
