I have a report to make but I forgot to take notes, so I'll have to type some after thoughts instead.
I played Friday FNM and went 3-1-1 during the swiss rounds and I lost in top 8 to the same Abzan deck that beat me earlier. Abzan is a hard match up, maybe the hardest.
I played on Sunday's Game day and went 4-0 then lost in top 4 to a turn 3 18 dmg swing mono red deck... Yes, I took 18 damage on T3 (I had 2 mana out and no 2 mana answers).
Abzan match up
Here's why Abzan is hard. Dromoka's Command, Siege Rhino, Abzan Charm, not to mention all the planeswalkers they have access to (new Nissa, Sorin, Elspeth (who actually doesn't scare my deck at all)).
But I got double Abzan Charmed one game. I had a 4/4 and 3/3 Hangarback Walker out (both able to pump again to 4/4 and 5/5 and my opponent casts 2 Charms to exile them and say piss off tokens... Not cool.
Then there's Dromoka's Command... one of my favorite to use and least favorite to see against me. It's too much value and an easy way to remove Thopter Spy Network.
Of course Rhino is Rhino, the lifegain between those and coursers is quite annoying.
Oh yes, and the Den Protector was an all star for my opponent, too, allowing more Charm usage. I didn't get swept either game, so it's not an unbeatable match up (in fact I did beat this same Abzan deck on Sunday).
Cards that performed particularly well for me:
Reality Shift - It's great for perma removing threats from the board and grave at instant speed. Sure they get a 2/2 out of it... but sometimes that 2/2 turns out to be a Dromoka's Command that you saw on top because of Courser... not bad.
Swift Reckoning is really good! I am going to up my count to 3-4 of these. I was never sad to have it. Early, it did just fine at sorcery speed on T2 to kill their only tapped creature. Later, instead speed 2 mana removal for most threats. Doesn't get better in standard.
Voyage's End is still one of the best tempo cards. Either timewalk and set up your draw or bounce it just so you can counter it later. I used it to bounce my own hangarback walker to save it from an abzan charm too.
Calculated Dismissal was a great card for my deck. Sure, for 3 mana you can cast Dissolve and scry 1, but that takes 2 blue. I don't always have 2 blue mana on turn 3 or 4. And this usually got the job done. There were times late game where it couldn't do the job, but still got me a scry 2 and forced them to tap more lands. I will continue to run this card.
Cut cards or new try outs
I did end up cutting my listed Stratus Dancer btw. It didn't feel like a good tempo card for me... I might still consider testing it, not sure.
One card I am taking out for sure is Last Breath. It hit a few targets, but mostly, it sucked. For 2 mana I can do any of those other 3 I listed above and be much happier.
I tried Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip and I'm not sure about him here. I don't think he fits the tempo design, although he did do some good and let me flashback an Ojutai's Command to just gain 4 and draw. I don't think he'll make a permanent home here.
I tried Spear of Heliod out and it worked well actually. It's an artifact for turning on Spy Network and it's a good pump.
The rest of the deck (creatures etc) all performed as they should. I think this deck is highly competitive, it can punch in early or late. The thopters really take over the game vs aggro or control match-ups. I have plenty of good T2 to 4 plays.
So, I did play against a lot of the archetypes and I did just fine. I did draw out vs UB control... that was an attrition match for sure, but I don't see a big glaring weakness in my deck.
