Time for another entry. Last night Ryan Engbrecht, Jared and I ventured to Guardian Games for their usual FNM tournament. There were 23 entrants last night; the prize for first place was 8 packs. I'm proud to say the night went extremely well for my "team." Ryan and I both scored 4 wins and 1 draw (we drew the final round), thereby tying for first place (I won out on tiebreaks though---mwaaa). I ran R/G Wolf Run yet again, and I have to say the deck performed amazing. I lost only one game in the 9 I played.
I think my success was partially due to the changes I made to BOTH the main deck and sideboard based on various metagame shifts I've perceived, namely, the resurgence of U/W Delver. My main deck was an exact copy of the deck Alex Binek used to win the World Magic Cup Qualifier in Missouri last weekend (see the list, here). Alex's version runs less Slagstorm but more Whipflare (because 2 red is harder to come by now), and the deck mainboards FOUR copies of Cavern of Souls! I have to say, I love this latter idea. The Cavern of Souls were just amazing, all day. I also benefitted from a little bit of luck (as is necessary to win at Magic), as more than once this tournament I had the 2-4-6 hand straight out of the opening: 3 lands, 1 ramp spell, 1 Solemn, 1 Titan, and 1 sweeper---the ideal set up.
Whereas my maindeck was identical to Alex's, my sideboard was slightly different than the sideboard he used. I kept about half of it the same (the Naturalizes and Ancient Grudges and such), but I added Green Sun's Zenith and Tree of Redemption to deal with R/G Aggro, which has become a larger threat to Wolf Run players because of the addition of Wolfir Silverheart (I lost to it on Wednesday). A 5 CMC creature that's bigger than a Titan is actually kind of a problem for R/G Wolf Run, especially in a deck that relies on soft board sweepers to kill creatures. The Tree of Redemption is well placed against R/G Aggro because it can block Silverheart, it can provide life when necessary, and it really can't be stolen by Zealous Conscripts effectively. Seems good. I also added Blasphemous Act to the sideboard because honestly, every time I have used this card in tournament play it has just been awesome. It's basically a red Day of Judgment (the same creatures that survive Day of Judgment also seem to survive Blasphemous Act, i.e., Thrun, the Last Troll, Wolfir Avenger, and Strangleroot Geist). Blasphemous Act is particularly useful against Pod decks, so I added 2 copies.
Anyway, enough about the deck. On to the games!
In round 1 I played against Robert Schneider running Esper Control. Robert often just brews his own decks, but tonight his deck appeared closer to the Esper Friends archetype that I've seen before. The only thing was, Robert didn't have enough planeswalkers. He ran no copies of Liliana of the Veil or Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. In addition, he was using Tragic Slip as his form of targetted removal, which is really not the most effective way of killing Titans. And honestly, if I were playing this deck, I'd have like 2-3 copies of Torpor Orb in the sideboard. That card is just so good right now. I won the match 2-0.
In round 2 I faced Isiah Monroe running U/W Delver. "Here we go again," I thought before the match, "another U/W deck." Before this round, I had lost to Delver three straight matches, but I was determined to win this time. In Game 1, I land flooded and lost quickly. In Game 2, he land flooded and lost quickly. In Game 3 Isiah had to mulligan down to five cards, and he was stuck on two lands the entire game. I slammed down an Inferno Titan and ended the game quickly. I don't think Game 3 was appropriately climactic, but whatever; a win is a win. There were a lot of interesting sideboard strategies going on in this game in the background, but to describe them would really take too much space. I won the match 2-1.
In round 3 I faced Bryce Baxter running R/G Aggro. I felt much more prepared for this matchup than I did on Wednesday. Game 1 was close, with Bryce playing a second turn Sword of Feast and Famine, but I was able to kill all his creatures with Slagstorm before he could equip the creatures and hit me with them. Once an Inferno Titan resolved the game was over. In game 2 Bryce sideboarded in 4 copies of Manabarbs. Manabarbs is excellent against R/G Wolf Run and I've blogged about how the card has fucked me in the past. He cast Manabarbs on turn 4 (and a foil copy, no less!), but I resolved two Huntmaster of the Fells, which went answered. They flipped, killed his shit, and attacked. I won the match 2-0.
In round 4 I played against David Stroud running U/W Something. It wasn't Delver this time; it was Restoration Angels and Blade Splicers. I've mentioned before, I consider David a very difficult opponent. He's a very good player, though at times I find him to be a little condescending. I had lost my previous two or three matches against him so I felt due for a win. The first game was extremely close. I was down to 4 life before I was able to slam down a Cavern of Souls and resolve a Primeval Titan, fetching 2 Glimmerposts. He Vapor Snagged the Titan, but I cast it again on the following turn, gaining 8 life. I won the game soon thereafter. In Game 2 I boarded in every copy of Combust I had, and every time I saw an Angel it died an explosive death. Fuck you, bitch. Game 2 was over quickly, as David spent 8 of his own life to cast various Gitaxian Probes---I don't know why he didn't just pay the one blue mana, but whatever. I won the match 2-0.
So there you have it. As prize for my first place finish (tie), I received a copy of Entreat the Angels. I also got the new Acidic Slime, which is awesome.
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