Matches:
0-2 Azorius Blink
Games went long. Solitude giving me 6 life when it exiled my Elementals was funny on paper but it is such a high-value card that it didn’t matter. I ended up stalling with Corpse Explosion and Damnation, which the deck really isn’t built to do.
0-2 Grixis Reanimator
Emperor of Bones is basically a hard counter to the recursive Elemental plan. At least I came close to winning one game.
1-2 Ruby Storm
One game where everything clicked: perfect opener, recursive Skelemental shredding their hand, and a turn-3 kill. Opponent called the line “brutal.” Still lost the race to combo in the other two.
0-2 Boros Energy
Just a faster aggro deck, and this was also the match where variance really kicked me. Mana screwed at 1–2 lands both games.
2-1 WUBRG Control
My one match vs another off-meta list, tight games, racing Indomitable Creativity while my Elementals kept getting blown up or exiled.
Verdict:
I walked into a very competitive venue and honestly expected a 0–5.
Seeing the deck actually function and even stealing a game from Ruby Storm was encouraging. The 3-color manabase also felt just right.
I definitely need more reps to separate luck from real patterns, but a few things stood out:
The Fling vs Thud debate isn’t as settled as I thought. Instant-speed would’ve mattered in several spots against removal.
Exiling an Elemental for Corpse Explosion felt more painful than expected.
The deck really needs more card flow, but compared to Village Rites, being able to discard the Elementals with Faithless Looting instead and immediately set up recursion with Unearth or Thunderkin should make the deck significantly faster and more consistent.
I realized that Terminate, which I originally kept in the sideboard, is actually far more important to my gameplan than expected, and deserves a mainboard slot.
As initially planned, I ran zero basic lands into both Path to Exile and Blood Moon and while it didn’t end up costing me much during the event, I’ve decided to replace Blazemire Verge with a Swamp for future matches.
Mainboard changes:
-1 Thud
-2 Corpse Explosion
-1 Damnation
-2 Village Rites
+2 Terminate
+4 Faithless Looting
Sideboard additions:
Vexing Bauble for Solitude
Damping Sphere for Ruby Storm
Maybeboard:
Moonshadow has some potential synergy with the deck’s repeated sacrifice angle and benefits from being an Elemental for Cavern of Souls. Not sure the list naturally produces enough early permanent-to-graveyard triggers to grow it reliably, but it’s on the radar.
