Time for a brief update. I played in a couple of Standard tournaments this week, first at Ancient Wonders on Tuesday, and then at Guardian Games on Friday. I ran my usual Jund Wolf Run deck in both events, but didn’t score particularly well in either tournament. I made some minor changes to the deck, replacing the Slagstorms with Bonfire of the Damned, but I never drew them.


As some of you know, I have been feeling a little burnt out on Magic lately, partly due to overplay and partly due to the current metagame. I think the negative feeling affected my play, as I made several mistakes in both tournaments that cost me potential wins.

AW

Tuesday was a hot day in Portland. George had the air conditioner blasting upstairs, so we were all relatively comfortable, but the power kept going out as a result. At times we were basically playing in the dark. The good news is that the attendance at AW was up last Tuesday—I think over 20 people showed up, which was nice, and probably made the prize pool quite juicy.



I lost my second round to MonoGreen Aggro, played by a player who I beat at the PTQ a few weeks before. I think I could have won this match if I had not made a couple of crucial play mistakes along the way, but as I said before, I was not fully concentrating. I drew against G/R Elves in the subsequent round and thereafter dropped from the tournament. My record of 1-1-1 at the time seemed insufficient to earn a prize, and I really didn’t feel like playing the rest of the rounds.

GG

The FNM at Guardian Games similarly went poorly.


In round 2 I faced Henry Freedman who was running U/B Zombies—a version highly similar to the one piloted by Henry Romero last Friday. Freedman and I split the first two games, so the match needed a third game to decide it. I thought I had things under control; at one point resolving an Inferno Titan and killing two Gravecrawlers. However, Henry cloned my Inferno Titan twice, killing it, and creating a difficult board state for me. I had a ton of outs, i.e. Bonfire of the Damned, Sever the Bloodline, and Blasphemous Act, but I drew a Sphere of the Suns, and lost the following turn. It hurt a little.


In round 3 I faced MonoGreen Infect, and lost on turn three to an excellent hand: First turn, Forest, Glistener Elf, go; Second turn, Cathedral of War, Rancor, attack with the Elf for 4 poison. Third turn, Rancor, attack, kill you. As I’ve said before, I hate this deck.


I sideboarded in all the hate I had, mulliganned to 5 to try and draw, but lost when I failed to draw additional land. Sometimes Magic just sucks like that.


With a record of 1-2, I was basically out of the running for prizes, and so dropped from the tournament.



I definitely think I am in some kind of slump, which sucks. Going to see if I can dig myself out of it next week. Thanks for reading!