Ghost Dad's Circus Stampede
Standard*
SCORE: 71 | 64 COMMENTS | 19523 VIEWS | IN 35 FOLDERS Top 8: 05/10
TCGPlayer Orlando 5k Report! —March 19, 2013
So Jimhawk and I brought our decks (his The Sunfist Brigade and this one) to the TCGPlayer's Orlando 5k event on 3/16 to see how the lists will do in a competitive environment (and a shot at the prizes). I finished 63rd with a 5-2-2 record out of 331 participants in the event. I was thoroughly impressed with how well it, and I, performed and those losses/draws definitely could have easily been wins if I hadn't made the few mistakes (which I now know not to make). There were 9 rounds of playing that took pretty much all day and I will report each match as I remember it.
R1: Naya Aggro (W 2-0)
This one didn't last very long. Game 1 he got out the usual Burning-Tree Emissary but failed to follow it up with anything turn 2 so it didn't do too much to me and I eventually resolved Obzedat, Ghost Council which basically won me that game. Game 2 saw a bit more action. He was able to chain 2 Burning-Tree Emissary into a Flinthoof Boar so I was quickly on a clock. I was brought down to 7 life before resolving a Centaur Healer and blinking it with Restoration Angel then casted Sever the Bloodline that I sided in on Burning-Tree Emissary and doing it again on Boros Reckoner and activating Vault of the Archangel to gain 6 life a turn, sealing his fate.
R2: Junk Rites (W 2-0)
Game 1 was all about who could get bigger things down first. We both resolved a couple Thragtusks and when he returned his Angel of Serenity to the field, targeting my tokens and my own Angel, I casted Cloudshift in response and exiled his angel instead. Game was quickly over then. Game 2 didn't see much action. I resolved Obzedat, Ghost Council before he could get his thing going and was left without answers for the rest of the game.
R3: 4C Rites (?) (L 0-1-1)
This was a 4c rites deck that ran a bunch of big creatures like Angel of Serenity, Armada Wurm, etc. supported by cards like Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict. Game 1 took 47 minutes out of the 50 minutes round. We kept going back and forth in life totals but he eventually won the race with shear number of large tokens and card draws. We really didn't have time to do anything on Game 2 since we had less than 3 minutes and I could only got him down to 4 life before turn 5 ended. Needless to say, this game took so long that my deck ran out of steam (so did I) and he eventually took over the board.
R4: Wolf Run Bant (Draw 1-1-1)
Sigh, another long match. I won game 1. He won game 2. Game 3 took too long. I now am starting to learn to just play faster and be more aggressive when I get the chance to.
R5: Esper Control (W 2-0)
Game 1 took the bulk of the time this round. He made the mistake of end-of-turn milling himself this one turn and that resulted in a Planar Cleansing that he so desperately needed going into his graveyard instead of going to his hand the next turn. He couldn't survive the few turns he needed to mill me out. Game 2 was much quicker, thanks to Lingering Souls and Thragtusk. I swung in hard and fast before he could get his wheels spinning.
R6: Naya Midrange (W 2-1)
Lost game 1 thanks to Huntmaster of the Fells Flip (apparently I lose every game he resolves), among other things. Won game 2 thanks to Obzedat, Ghost Council. Game 3 took a bit longer but he eventually started drawing dead after I resolved a couple Thragtusks.
R7: Prime Speaker Bant (W 2-1)
Blew him out with spirit tokens plus Vault of the Archangel and Staff of Nin's draws in game 1. Game 2 caught be COMPLETELY off guard when he slammed in Collective Blessing when I thought he was playing more towards control (which I naturally named Sphinx's Revelation for my Nevermore, whiff) so I was getting bashed in the face quite hard. Game 3 was over when he failed to notice that he could Detention Sphere my Oblivion Ring on his Angel of Serenity and instead he targeted something else (I think it was a smiter or a Thragtusk or a Resto) after letting his Sigarda, Host of Herons (I had no way of removing her outside combat) die to my deathtouch spirit token (I tried to contain my poker face then). Eventually swung with what I had to finish his last 2 life.
At this point, I was 26th in the standings so all I needed was two wins to secure my top 32.
R8: Naya Humans (L 0-2)
Well, blowout would be an understatement in this matchup. Combination of sub-standard keeps and draws and his turbo curve swiftly ended my match in defeat, both games.
R9: Naya Midrange (Draw 1-1-1)
Typical midrange matchup in game 1. I won because I triggered Thragtusk more than he did. Game 2 took quite a while and when he was down to 7 life, I didn't think to cast Staff of Nin as soon as I could so I could draw into my outs against his 2 Assemble the Legions. I probably could have come out of this with a win had I had that staff out a few turns earlier just to put him on the clock but mainly to draw into finishers.
As I mentioned before, those mistakes costed me the top 32 spot (even a loss in R8 and a win in R9 probably could have put me close). Lessons I took from this event:
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Play faster (sometimes I overthink some decisions that usually would take mere seconds to make)
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Have better knowledge of certain decks' sideboard cards and how to play around them. (Assemble the Legion caught me off-guard since I forgot that Naya decks run them in the side and that was one of the reasons I didn't win that game (Didn't side in Golgari Charm to account for the card)).
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Play faster
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Play faster. This was the main reason for those draws I got that could have been wins.
All in all, I am still very proud of this list. It's come a long way and it can do better. It caught a lot of people by surprise and now that they're seeing more of it, they'll be more ready.
Thank you all for checking this deck out and all the comments so far.
P.S. another thing I need to remember is to remember more details of each match -_-