The Metagame Has Shifted

Time for another update. This blog entry will describe two tournaments, and the viccissitudes I faced in each. In both tournaments, I once again ran R/G Wolf Run, feeling strangely unsure of myself that perhaps my deck wasn't tuned to the current metagame. My suspicions were confirmed when (in the first tournament) I lost the first two rounds, and in the second tournament, I lost the first round. I ended the first tournament 2-2, which placed me somewhere in the middle of the pack, and I dropped out of the second tournament.

One of my losses was to some player I dont know running Vampires, and running it badly. An article was recently published on Blackborder.com (the article can be found here) describing how to build the deck, and I think he just net-decked the list. Normally, I would totally crush this type of deck, but I failed to draw Slagstorm in game 1 (which is essential to surviving these types of fast aggro decks), and in game 3 I had to mulligan down to 5 because of land issues. I was frustrated after losing this match to such a bad player, but the pain was later mitigated when Alec lost to the same player in round 2. Somehow, seeing other people suffer makes us feel better about our own suffering.

In round 2, I was paired against Abi who was running Ryan's U/B Zombie list. I've played against this deck twice already, winning both times, and I was confident I could win. Nevertheless, after several missed land drops and after Tragic Slip killed my Primeval Titan, I had little life left and died to a Geralf's Messenger. In game 3 I similarly could not find a Slagstorm and died to a bunch of black critters.

In round 3 I played John Blessing. I won the match 2-0.

I've forgotten who I faced in round 4.

Finally, a note about the most recent FNM. I was late to the tournament and so received a bye in round one. In round two however, I was paired against a new player running Naya Pod. I lost the first game, won the second, and then again, had to mulligan down to five cards to find some land. My opponent revealed after the game he had sideboarded out every copy of Birthing Pod, thereby making his deck a kind of aggro deck. I failed to draw a Slagstorm and a well timed Thalia, Guardian of Thraben sealed the victory for my opponent.

Since posting such terrible results at both of these tournaments, I've made modifications to my deck to try and cope with the current aggro based metagame. I added multiple copies of Huntmaster of the Fells and Whipflare in hopes of putting all these uber-aggressive creature strategies in the trash can where they belong. Until next time, readers!