M14 Draft at CK: Match Report

last time on Pete draft's at CK

Round 1: I'm paired up against a 10 year old named Jay. His last name starts with a Z so naturally he's rocking some sweet nickname action. Check out his dice box.

In both games against Jay my deck was a little stumbly. I felt like I mulled well but sometimes I never drew that 5th land (or at least it took forever) and often I failed to hit my second blue or second white. I still think keeping a two land hand on the draw is just fine. How greedy can you get?

Anyways Jay's turn 1 Merfolk Spy just wasn't getting it done for him so he followed it up with a turn 3

 

Basically his poor card selection won me the game. However due to the stumbly nature of my deck we still took 40 min to play the match. In the last game I played a Serra Angle, he bounced it. I figured the coast was clear and the next turn I dropped the ARCHANGEL OF THUNE, he got super excited dropped his hand on the floor and then picked it all up and played Essence Scatter. booooooooooooooooo. W 2-0 (1-0).

WELCOME TO THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

 

Retail Price:            $28.99                                                   $0.20                         

-- this game must be what it is like for good players to play against me. they are just like, "what is this bro doing" --

Round 2: The best round of the tournament for me. I got paired up with a guy who ultimately went 3-0 and split the last round. He was playing Blue Black and our first game was awesome. I dropped a turn 3 Scroll Theif which he Claustrophobia-ed. So I'm thinking "sweet". He plays a four drop and I Claustrophobia it back. Then on turn 5 he drop a Seakite. I Sensory Deprivation it. Pretty durdly.

Let's take a moment to talk about how much better than me this guy was. At one point in the game he was beating me down and would always include the Seakite in his attacks. After the match I asked why. He said, "you could have

Anyways game one goes well for me, I get may mana and just drop 5 drop after 5 drop. He folds under the pressure.

Game two! I mulligan, keep a two lander and never hit my fifth land. I just can't compete with this cards. Also this is the game where I see an Opportunity and Divination from my opponent. gg

 

This game there are no mulligans. I stumble on land (notice the theme of this tournament) and my opponent floods. This is super bad news for me. We are at parity on the board (nothing for either of us is parity, right?). He rips and opportunity and slams it. Game Over. Actually he continued to flood but I never drew a removal spell that game so his 2/2 flying shade was able to get there. L 1-2 (1-1)

-- for those keeping score at home I was pulled into white because of the Archangel and have yet to resolve one --

Round 3: Lady Luck swings my way in game one. My opponent is playing UG and hits his first three lands drops, while I go UWU. I never do get that second plains and the Archangel is stuck in my hand but he whiffs on his next two land drops and can't play anything. That is enough time (combined with my time ebb of his dude on turn 6 to seal the deal).

Game two he's on the play and he mulligans. This feels great. This time my opponent hits his first two land drops then goes whiff whiff whiff. I rock a turn 6 Archangel of Thune and is resolves (Achievement Unlocked). And he has no plummet because he used it last turn on my Serra Angel. What's amazing is that I almost lose this game. He has managed to pull out of his mana problems by now and drops  Frost Breath on my Archangel.


WELCOME TO THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

 

Retail Price:            $28.99                                                   $0.49                         

While I'm boxed out on Frost Breath (which feels like an eternity btw) he drops a 

I Time Ebb it and he recasts it. I'm now able to bash away with my Angel again but even still he gets me down to 3 life. One more anything and I was done for. Fortunately none come for him and my turn 6 Angel single handedly wins the game! W 2-0 (2-1)

Round 4: I utterly steam roll my opponent in game 1. He is playing RG and doesn't get off to a quick start. I am able to consistently plink him with an ever increasing army of flyers. Everything relevant he plays I am able to remove. It was just the best. Half of the game I had Cancel and Seakite in my hand. He never played anything good so I was in total control. I was a little scared by his turn 1.

I had never seen this card before, never played with this card before, could not coach with it, could not win with it. 

Anyway game two does not go so well. I wind up with 6 islands in play and one plains. I finish the game with all my double white cards in hand (sad trombone). I don't think a mull would have helped either, the hand was WU and some dudes.

Game three was the exact opposite, I kept a two Plainser because I had Banisher Priest and Angelic Wall, plus a Time ebb, and Seakite. I figure the white dudes will buy me the time to get to some Islands. Also I had the Archangel in hand. No No No No.

He goes turn 1:

 into 

Turn 2: 

Needless to say I cannot handle that and I need to pull out all my darkside tricks. I'm in a pretty hard position. The Witchstalker gets equipped with the shield on turn 3. A 3/6 Hexproof is really hard for me to deal with. Finally I scrape together some dudes for a huge multi block. And he has a first strike granting combat trick. And I have a decision. I can play Cancel, but that would give the stalker a +1/+1 counter. The result of combat would be the following. If I don't counter it, I loose two creatures. If I do counter it I loose two creatures. If I counter it and he misses his trigger I lose one creature and the stalker dies.

I elect the dark side. I counter the trick and like clockwork my opponent misses his trigger. We wrap up combat and move on. (as an aside: I greatly prefer the old rules where I am obligated to inform my opponent of a missed trigger).

So I draw my card for the turn and we enter my first main phase. My opponent is out of cards and I'm about to attack and he says, "Wait, my Witchstalker should have gotten a +1/+1 counter last turn.". I said, "You missed the trigger. It's too late." (The dark side burns my soul). He says, "It's not a may ability. So we have to go back." I say " No we don't you missed it". He looks upset so I say, "we should call a judge".

The judge comes over and here's how it goes.

Me: Ok I just drew my card for the turn and was about to declare attackers in my.
Judge: ok

Me: Then my opponent says, "Last turn my Witchstalker should have gotten a +1/+1 counter". 

Judge: [blank stare] What? Last turn?

Me: Yeah, he wants to go back a turn and fix a mistake from last turn. He missed the trigger.

Judge: Ok let's just rewind the game.

WHAT THE FUCK! I mean I went dark side so I deserve to rot in hell. But I don't deserve to lose the magic game. Anyways with him getting to keep the Whichstalker and my board wrecked there is nothing for me to do but loose. W 1-2 (2-2)

And then my opponent is like, "sorry man" after the match. Fuck you, just Luking it up like it ain't nothang. God I hate that. I used to be real big in going back, but I have tried to eliminate that from my game. Pay attention! Uggggg.



Wrap Up: I like Mutavault but I think I should have played 18 lands before considering the mutavault. I had a lot of 5 drops in my deck and playing them on time was something that failed to happen often. I don't think mulligans were the problem, it was really only the 16 colored sources. On LR they were talking about if you have the quality sometimes you just play 18 to make sure that you actually get to cast your spells.

I think my deck was ok but not good. To be good I really needed some Divination/Opportunity action. I feel like I should have gone 3-1 but got some sub optimal  looks. But I can't stop thinking that I build the deck wrong.