On Tuesday night I played in a Standard MTG tournament at Ancient Wonders. I ran R/G Wolf Run one more time---winning three matches and losing one to take third place. The tournament was won by Ryan Engbrecht, followed closely by Adam Brown.

The first round did not go well. I was once again paired against Adam Brown who ran his G/W aggro-control deck. We split the first two games and thus the match needed a third game to determine a winner. I mulliganned down to six and ended up having to keep a hand with nothing but lands and some Beast Withins. While Beast Within is an excellent card to draw late, it is actually not that great when drawn early. Adam kept a particularly fast and aggressive hand and was able to win the game quickly. I lost the match 1-2.

The next round, I faced Steve Empey who was running a W/B aggro-control deck. Steve's deck included cards like Sphere of the Suns, Lingering Souls, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Grave Titan, Massacre Wurm, Solemn Simulacrum, Day of Judgment, and Oblivion Ring. The games were close but it seemed like Steve's hand emptied quickly and I was able to meet most of his threats. Furthermore, I felt his deck was a little light on copies of Go for the Throat (he only ran 2). Finally, after the game Steve revealed that he chose not to sideboard in three copies of Hero of Bladehold, which is actually a strong card against my deck (because her toughness of 4 survives Slagstorm). I won the match 2-0.

In round 3 I was paired against Tempered Steel. Tempered Steel seems to be making a slight resurgence these days, as there were two Tempered Steel players in this tournament. I've always thought my deck has a good matchup against Tempered Steel, and this tournament simply confirmed my suspicions. I won the match, 2-0. The funnest part of the match was game two, where every card I played I got two-for-one. First, I casted Slagstorm on turn 3 and killed two creatures, then I cast Ancient Grudge and flashed it back to kill two more, and then, I used Karn Liberated to kill an Etched Champion enchanted with Angelic Destiny (this was actually more like two-for-zero since Karn survived). G fucking G.

In round 4 I played against NayaPod. My opponent was a good player; I could tell; but his deck was just outmatched. NayaPod has a terrible matchup against Wolf Run because so many of NayaPod's threats are easily answered by Slagstorm, Whipflare, and Galvanic Blast. The games were ridiculously one-sided and I won the match 2-0. The best part of this match was admiring my opponent's deck; fe also used a lot of "bling" cards in his deck.

After 4 rounds, Adam and I were tied with 3-1 records, and of course, I lost on tie-breaks. I suppose 3rd place out of 16 or so players is nothing to be ashamed of, but somehow the result still irks me. Also, it's strange to me that Ryan has had such success with Solar Flare, since the deck has been out of the spotlight for so long. In a way, it's like the format has come full circle. Solar Flare was at the height of its popularity just after the release of Innistrad, and now it makes a "resurgence" just before the Avacyn Restored release.

Avacyn Restored rotates into Standard on Friday, which means the format will have to shift to make room for new strategies. Analysts are predicting a resurgence of Wolf Run decks, based on the release of Cavern of Souls, which already has a $25 price tag. I'm not convinced, but I'm considering playing U/B control to try and outmaneuver the new rotation. We'll see. Until next time, readers!