Round 1: I played against a humans aggro deck. A good match up for me, and it all comes down to the one drops. They cannot block the Stromkirk Noble and have a hard time removing it.
Game 1: I mulled to 6 and still didn't have a Noble. But I went with it. He had a Champion. After some shocklands and attacks it was 18-18, then 17-18, then 17-5. We're both just playing out aggressive stuff and swinging away. 12-5, 12-1. All I need now is Selesnya Charm, Rampager, Boros Charm, or Rancor. None come and I lose. I saw 12 cards total that game and 6 were lands, definitely worse than expected given the 20 lands in the deck but hey, that's Magic.
Game 2: I got my Noble he got his Champion. Some awkward passes and more creatures came out. Eventually the he swung and I went to 14. Then I swung back 14-16. Then 14-12, I had gained the creature advantage and he couldn't deal with the Noble. 14-5, 14-1, win.
Game 3: He mulligans this time and stumbles a little. He does get a Fiend Hunter to remove my Noble but is forced to chump with it on the next turn. 18-18, 16-11, 16-8. Game. W 2-1 (1-0)
Round 2: This guy brought a home brew undying deck. He did not choose to play removal in his deck. Basically it was all about the counters. Starting with aggressive early drops:
Followed up with some potentially game breaking dudes:
However he had no way to protect them. My main trick to remove them was actually Rancor + Selesnya Charm. One time I did get to Selesnya Charm a 18/18 hydra (intentionally allowed to grow so I could pop it during his upkeep, it felt dirty).
Game 1: 18-12,16-4,10-8,10-0. He had a little life gain but even still it wasn't close.
Game 2: 17-15,15-19,12-17,8-5,4-kill. This game I got to do Rancor + Selesnya Charm twice. It was sweet. W 2-0 (2-0)
Round 3: I only ever saw my opponent play two spells this round.
It was a control deck and it was too slow for me. I killed him on turn 5 in game one. He got stuck on 3 land so perhaps he had a wrath but couldn't play it. On turn 3 I attacked him to 8, then to 4, then killed him.
Game two was even faster, he died on turn 4. Again he did a little removal with Liliana, and he did get the mana to wrath but I had boros charm ready. He didn't cast it. W 2-0 (3-0)
Round 3 was so quick it was 50 minutes till I played another game.
Round 4: This guy was playing expensive_shit.dec. Boros Reckoner, Snapcaster Mage, Restoration Angel, you get the idea. The story of this match is that I didn't know how to handle the Reckoner. In fact I have never played against it with the deck before. Nor did I every playtest against it. I was learning on the fly and it did not go well.
Game 1: My deck worked as planned this game. Rolled him up in four turns. It was sweet. Noble, Emissary, Rancor, Mauler. It was great. I was confident as shit.
Game 2: This is where it hit the fan. I mulled to 6 and kept a one land hand figuring the odds of drawing into it were better than if I mulled to five. 18-18. It paid off and I got land number 2. 16-14. But land number 3 never showed up. So I'm trying to make it work on 2 lands. I do get down an Emissary with a Rancor and am smashing. 16-11. He then plops down a Reckoner. I panic and play out a Noble. Now I'm afraid to attack because I'm gonna lose some cards. But that buys him time to get to the Restoration Angle. Something my deck can't handle. I force the situation and lose my board. He's got an Angel. Fortunately I draw my third land and drop a Centaur healer. 19-11. But he's got flyers now including a Thundermaw Hellkite. 9-11. Fortunately I've got some pump and all he's got on defense is a Snapcaster Mage. I can swing for 10 with trample and he can only absorb 1. Since he's on 9 I swing and pump. He takes 9 and goes to 2. Because he was at 11, I was at 9. Oops. 9-2. And he's got me on the crack back. Game loss. More on this later.
Game 3: I mull to 6. It is awkward again. 18-18, 12-14,6-12. And he gets the Restoration Angel down, I can't deal with it. I lose two turns later. L 1-2 (3-1)
Wrap up: At the time all I could think about was the combat math error in game 2. I think I misread the life totals because of fatigue. I always write the numbers down myself and I just misread my pad. Usually I'm good at that so I think it was fatigue. But as time went on I realized I was in a bad spot because I made poor decisions against Boros Reckoner. I now realize that it is just going to take me two cards to get rid of and that's the way it goes. So I might as well pay the two cards right away. As it was I wound up loosing two creatures to it but I also lost valuable time. My deck can't afford to go long and while cards in hand are valuable the time is more valuable. If I had just bitten the bullet on him right away I probably would have won.
ps: And in fitting justice what did I crack in one of my prize packs?
What's "Chumping" with a creature? Sacrifice block? as in "He drew a fiend hunter but was forced to chump with it next turn"
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