Sunday in Richmond was really a great time. I went 2-2 drop, which honestly was better then I had expected. I was able to do some real trading, picking up a promo Jitte, my last two dual lands, and my last two fetch lands. Now I have a one of set of duals, and fetches. I also picked up a pair of textless Lightning Bolts, and about a dozen other cards from my shopping list.
Oh and there was tournament also! Going in there were certain match ups which I simply new were not good ones. CounterTop Progenitus was one of those match ups, and there it was across the table from me in round one. Game one all I could do was cross my fingers and race. I got lucky, and got him as low as 10, despite a Warmonk on the board, before he was able to resolve a late game Progenitus. Game two, I brought in the side board tech, and used my main list Kavu's for a surprise factor, which I road for the win. Game three was a different matter, on turn two I was looking across at 2 lands and a hierarch. I had two strong turn two plays, Goyf and Punishing Fire. I could kill his Hierarch, or drop the Goyf to have a strong board position. I new that the odds were against him having the turn three Proginitus, so I dropped the Goyf. Next turn I found out that Proginitus has protection from math, and it ate my face.
So off I went to the losers bracket, to face my next opponent. Game one, turn 2 Merit Lage?!? Really, is everyone at this event rocking some beatstick making combo deck. At least it didn't have haste. Man If only I had a Kavu in hand, that would have looked so good next to the plow I was gripping! I dropped what ever creature I had in hand, and did my best to look beaten, as I passed turn.Merit Lage went to the red zone, and promptly got a first class ticket to RFG. Boy, it would have felt good to put 20 counters on Kavu, but it just wasn't meant to be. I remember his comment of how "lucky" I was to have the removal. Yeah, all luck, I just tripped over this deck walking through the door this morning. I know that as a Zoo player, I really didn't feel lucky facing an opponent with 35 life after 3 turns. With one win under my belt, I brought the sideboard in, and mulled to 6 to get a turn one Pithing Needle, naming "Vampire Hexmage". I loved the look on his face, like a puppy scared of the rain, you could tell he had the combo in hand. "Just Lucky" I said. A couple of minutes later, we had a miss play that resulted in the 20 minute judge call from hell. I really didn't care, I had this and I knew it, it was only a matter of time. Time was called and we were playing into our time extension, and it ended with me being a turn ahead of his clock, despite being on the draw, and taking a mull to get the needle. Take that Combo Boy!
Round three I actually get to move up the tables. I sit down with Ray, nice guy piloting CounterTop. Dang, I can't buy a decent match up today. Isn't anyone playing fish? Anyway, Ray was a great guy, and a good player, but Zoo kept him on his back foot through both games, and I was able to take the match in two. Game 4 brought me, yep you guessed it, a combo deck. It wasn't Belcher, and it wasn't ANT. It was a R/B Goblin storm of some sort, and i was on my back foot through the entire match. Combo is rough to begin with, and not knowing what it was made it even harder to fight.
I chose to end my day with the 2-2 record. I probably could have played on with an outside chance of making it to the top 16, if I won out through the remainder of the day. I figured it was better to quit while I was even, hoping to protect my DCI points. This bet paid, and I broke 1700 for the first time ever. Not the day I dreamed of, but not a nightmare either, all in all, a pretty good day. I learned a lot, and I don't have to worry about so much Progenitus and combo in my local meta-game.
Speaking of which, the team was able to attract a lot of new players while in Richmond, and SciFi has made some great changes. While I really don't have another event in my budget at thtis time, the prospects of SciFi's Sunday Legacy event is very promising, so I'm going to stretch a bit, and see what happens. I can always cut an event later if need be. I've tweaked the deck a little, adding the second Jitte, and tuning the board for the local opponents. Crispy's Reanimator deck is clearly king of the hill, and with Dick on injured reserve, combo is not much of a factor. I'll be running the following list.
Round three I actually get to move up the tables. I sit down with Ray, nice guy piloting CounterTop. Dang, I can't buy a decent match up today. Isn't anyone playing fish? Anyway, Ray was a great guy, and a good player, but Zoo kept him on his back foot through both games, and I was able to take the match in two. Game 4 brought me, yep you guessed it, a combo deck. It wasn't Belcher, and it wasn't ANT. It was a R/B Goblin storm of some sort, and i was on my back foot through the entire match. Combo is rough to begin with, and not knowing what it was made it even harder to fight.
I chose to end my day with the 2-2 record. I probably could have played on with an outside chance of making it to the top 16, if I won out through the remainder of the day. I figured it was better to quit while I was even, hoping to protect my DCI points. This bet paid, and I broke 1700 for the first time ever. Not the day I dreamed of, but not a nightmare either, all in all, a pretty good day. I learned a lot, and I don't have to worry about so much Progenitus and combo in my local meta-game.
Speaking of which, the team was able to attract a lot of new players while in Richmond, and SciFi has made some great changes. While I really don't have another event in my budget at thtis time, the prospects of SciFi's Sunday Legacy event is very promising, so I'm going to stretch a bit, and see what happens. I can always cut an event later if need be. I've tweaked the deck a little, adding the second Jitte, and tuning the board for the local opponents. Crispy's Reanimator deck is clearly king of the hill, and with Dick on injured reserve, combo is not much of a factor. I'll be running the following list.
Creatures:
Kavu Predator x4
Kird Ape x4
Tarmogoyf x4
Qasali Pridemage x4
Wild Nacatl x4
Grim Lavamancer x3
Spells:
Invigorate x3
Lightning Bolt x4
Sylvan Library x2
Swords to Plowshares x3
Punishing Fire x3
Umezawa's Jitte x2
Land:
Arid Mesa x4
Grove of the Burnwillows x4
Plateau x3
Savannah x2
Tiaga x2
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Forest, Mountain, Plains 1 each.
Sideboard
Pithing Needle x4
Tormad's Crypt x2
Relic of Progenitus x3
Krosen Grip x2
Pyroclasm x4
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