Hello again to the literally 2's of friends reading this!
I played a couple of tournaments over the weekend, the plan is to do a write-up for each one individually, and I played the same deck in each event give or take a couple of cards.
First up is Friday Night Magic at Magic Comics and Hobbies.
I got play some games before the tournament with Brian Kennel, scourge of the local shop and pilot of the dreaded Esper Control. Brian wanted to play games to get warmed up and to see how his deck felt but I wasn't super thrilled. Anyone who's battled a control deck knows where I'm coming from! Fast-forward 5 games later where I haven't dropped a game and almost none of them were even close.
Here's the list I played in this tournament:
2 Pack Rat
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Desecration Demon
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Erebos
2 Whip of Erebos
2 Doom Blade
2 Ultimate Price
2 Devour Flesh
4 Hero's Downfall (which I can't stop calling Demise)
3 Underworld Connections
4 Thoughtseize
2 Nykthos
4 Mutavault
16 Swamp
4 Temple of Scrylence
Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
1 Duress
2 Disciple of Pheenax
1 Erebos
1 Pack Rat
1 Devour Flesh
4 Pharika's Cure
3 Xathrid Necromancer
Round 1 - Brian Kennel w/ Esper Control
Of COURSE right away I'm paired up with Brian. This is the problem with being good friends with so many of the regular players at a small shop, there's always pretty good odds you're going to play a friend early in the tournament and one of you is going to have a bad night.
Good - I beat Brian 2-0 on the back of Underworld Connections and a pile of Merchants.
Bad - We both mulliganed to 5 in game 1 but I drew out of it first.
Interesting - I was able to battle through being pretty far behind to an Aetherling thanks to Gray Merchant and Erebos.
Round 2 - Don Swart w/ Mono Black
Don is a super cool local guy who's also rocking the Mono Black. He wasn't playing any Mutavaults but instead has more Swamps to go with a set of Corrupts.
Good - A mono black deck won the match but...
Bad - It wasn't me! Don Corrupted me for 6 in game 1 and then for 8 just before I had him dead to attackers. I lost game 2 to a Whip after Thoughtseizing a Whip early in the game. Don also had Underworld Connections active for a long time in game 2 while I didn't. I
Interesting - Corrupt is pretty powerful and may be something to consider if the mirror becomes popular.
Round 3 - Jody w/ UW Control
I can't think of Jody's name at the moment but he's another regular who always has a super laidback attitude.
Good - I managed to pull off a game 3 victory by getting very aggressive with 2 Mutavaults while Jody tried to get things going. I enjoyed being able to plan several turns ahead thanks to seeing his hand several times throughout the game.
Bad - I worked very hard in game 2 to eventually kill an Aetherling only to have Elspeth come down. I found a Downfall for Elspeth only to face down a 2nd Elspeth with no answer.
Interesting - We started game 3 with about 8 minutes on the clock. I thought for sure I was headed for a draw but got just a little lucky to pull out the win.
Round 4 - Ryan Smith w/ Esper Midrange
Ryan is actually running some version of the list that I lost to at States last weekend. It's an Esper colored deck with Desecration Demon and a greater desire to actually kill the enemy. Ryan's 3-0 with the deck at the moment and needs to beat me to lock up first place while I can at best hope for 4th but more likely will be getting another Foil Bident if I pull off the Victory.
Good - The deck ran very well when I drew Underworld Connections. It's very hard for any slower deck to keep up with the amount of cards Mono Black can draw.
Bad - Unfortunately I didn't draw Underworld Connections in either of our games.
Interesting - Whip of Erebos is pretty sweet with Pack Rat!
So I finished 2-2 with the deck but still felt largely good about it. I knew I wanted to cut a land for a 4th Connections, that card is the best thing in the Mono Black deck BY FAR and the games where you draw it are just light years better than the ones where you don't. I also thought about trying Nightveil Specter since Don had been running them and they looked pretty good.
Check back with me later on for a Game Day report featuring A BATTLE AGAINST THE HYDRA.
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