"And the seraphs sob at vermin fangs
 In human gore imbued."
 ---Edgar Allen Poe, "The Conqueror Wurm"












Time to update! As many of you know, I spent the last few months preparing for the bar exam, which I finally took on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (hurray!) What this means is, I have time to play Magic again! My first tournament back was a 5 round FNM at Guardian Games. I scored 4-0-1 and tied for first place with Ryan Engbrecht. I ran my usual Jund Wolf Run list.


Round one was quite difficult. I played against a U/W Venser control deck, and as you can imagine, the match took forever. My opponent's deck included cards like Ponder, Tumble Magnet, Tezzeret's Gambit, Venser the Sojourner, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Terminus, and Gideon Jura, and every other card that seems to turn Magic into a 2-hour game. It wasn't until game three that I began to suspect my opponent actually played no counterspells. Anyways...

As I said before, the games were quite long. My opponent slowed my deck down by casting Tumble Magnets and then replenishing the Magnet's counters with Venser or Tezzeret's Gambit. In the early game, he'd tap down my Sphere of the Suns, inhibiting my ramp strategy, and in the later game, he'd tap Titans to try and force me to overcommit into a Terminus. His threats were substantial, as Venser can be particularly scarywhen he gets close to ultimate, but the lack of instant speed removal meant that my opponent had little way to interact with Inkmoth Nexus. I won the first game and my opponent the second, but we quickly reached the match time limit in game 3. Nevertheless, I was able to win game three just before the 5 turns were up with poison damage (while everybody was overlooking). I won the match 2-1.

In round 2 I played against another U/W deck, but this one seemed much more mid-rangey. My opponent's deck included Blade Splicers, Restoration Angel, and Mana Leak, and Fog Bank. I think the later card was included in response to the increasing number of infect decks, but it seems like a poor choice in view of the Infect deck's ability to create trample damage with Rancor. My opponent didn't seem to have any creature removal, and I won both games after resolving an Inferno Titan. Cavern of Souls was a terrific card in this matchup. I won the match 2-0.

In round 3 I played (down) against a noob running BR Vampires. He was a beginner to the game and made several play mistakes, but he was a very nice guy and I enjoyed the match. If anything, I learned that Falkengrath Aristocrat and Thatcher Revolt can be quite good together. I won the match 2-0.

Round 4 was the defining round of the tournament. I was paired against an undefeated opponent running RG Aggro. My opponent's deck included the usual goodies: Birds of Paradise, Bonfire of the Damned, Green Sun's Zenith, Strangleroot Geist, and Rancor. Game 1 wasn't much of a battle. My opponent cast Birds of Paradise on turns 1 and 2 and I responded with a Whipflare. He missed his third land drop and never recovered. Game 2 was a bit closer, but continual Slagstorms and Whipflares cleared the board until I could slam down a Titan. I should mention that Glimmerpost did a lot of work in both games in this match, as the life it provided often meant the difference between a win and a loss. I won the match, 2-0.

I drew with Ryan Engbrecht in the fifth and final round. We played the games out and I would have lost the match 0-2. MonoGreen Infect continues to cause me headaches. There were at least 4 copies at this tournament, so I have to adjust my sideboard for next time. Until then....stay tuned.