G-G-G-GAME DAY!!!!!
Game Day is kind of a big deal to me. I know, I know, it's not really MEANT to be a big deal. It's meant to be this exciting celebration where everyone hangs out and has a good time and it ALWAYS is! It's just....winning that playmat feels like such a big deal.
On top of the sweet Elspeth-fighting-a-hydra mousepad there was extra reason to care about Game Day this time around. MCH (the store) was also putting some pretty major prizes up for grabs to try and make Theros Game Day exciting. We were all playing for a From the Vault 20 and a pile of packs distributed amongst the Top 8!
Unfortunately for the store owners another mostly local store managed to schedule a PTQ on the same day.
Soooo, instead of the 40 plus people that were expected to be at Game Day we had a whopping 12. Now...I don't feel too bad for MCH because they still came out just fine on the deal charging $25 a head for Game Day but I know they were let down by the smaller attendance. I'm sure some of the more casual locals stayed away because of the higher price tag of the event but there were definitely some expected players absent.
Dennis (MCH's resident MTG Mogul) did right by us and kept prize support intact and even with the smaller showing threw in some sweet door prizes. Everyone there seemed to be pretty excited to be there and having a great time. I wasn't even too broken up about missing the drawing for a door prize!
I ended up making a minor change to my deck from the night before but IMO it made a gigantic difference. I cut the 2nd Nykthos from the deck for a 4th Underworld Connections. Everything else remained the same so you can check my previous post for a list if you're interested.
There were 3 rounds before a cut to Top 4, fairly high pressure for such a small event since even 1 loss could eliminate you from the play offs.
Round 1 - Brian Horton w/ UW Pillow Fort
This Brian is 100% the person with the best attitude about playing mtg that I have ever met. He's a good player and he likes to win but more than anything else Brian's in it to have a good time.
Game Uno - I kept a 2 land hand with 2 Thoughtseize. I tore Brian's hand apart but didn't draw a 3rd land until very late into the game. By then Brian had resolved a Revelation for 6 and was ticking Gideon up. I scooped 'em up.
I sideboarded out most of the removal as well as the Pack Rats for Duress, Needles, Disciples and the 2nd Erebos.
Game the Second - Brian was all in on a Gideon as his action this game and a Pithing Needle bought me enough time to drain him out with Merchants.
Game TREE - I resolved an early Underworld Connections into Erebos. The combined card draw found me 3 Gray Merchants that ended the game very quickly.
Outcome - Victory, 2-1.
Round 2 - John Arnaud w/ Esper Control
John typically works nights and so he doesn't make it out to play FNM on a regular basis. He's a very good player who spends a heck of a lot more time practicing matchups and brewing decks than I do. John also tends to approach deck building from different angles and I wasn't sure if that made the Esper matchup better for me or worse.
Game Wun - Thoughtseize and Underworld Connections carried me through this game and eventually John just ran out of answers.
I sideboarded similarly to the first round but ended up bringing in the 3rd Devour Flesh. John was running several Prognostic Sphinxes along with Aetherling and I knew he would bring in Blood Baron.
Game Too - I lost this game after stalling on lands for several turns. I know for sure I misplayed by allowing an Underworld Connections to get countered when I didn't have any other source of card draw in hand. Eventually an Aetherling finished me off.
Game the Third - Thoughtseize into Lifebane Zombie into Underworld Connections let me craft a plan to win the game pretty easily. It's amazing how good drawing 2 cards a turn can be!
Overall - Victory, 2-1
Round 3 - Ryan Smith w/ BW Midrange
Ryan and I were 2 of 3 undefeated players and could intentionally draw into the Top 4. This is one element of tournament mtg that always feels just a little bit weird to me but I'm happy to enjoy the relaxing comfort of not having to fight my way into playoffs.
Ryan and I watched the other players battle for the 2 empty spots, Nick was the other undefeated player and he ended up getting defeated by John my round 2 opponent.
TOP 4!
The top 4 ended up
1) Ryan Smith w/ BW Midrange
2) Me w/ Mono Black
3) Nick Martin w/ Dega Midrange
4) John Arnaud w/ Esper Control
Semi-Finals - Nick Martin w/ Dega Midrange
Nick is a regular fixture of MCH's tournaments and he always plays good decks and plays them well. We were both in good spirits because, at worst, we were getting a pile of packs.
Game 1 - Lifebane Zombie and Thoughtseize helped me develop a game plan as well as clearing out an Obzedat and a Whip. I got Connected pretty early and eventually Erebos and a pile of Pack Rat tokens brought the game home. I was pretty sure I was going to lose this game when I Thoughtseized and saw several removal spells and 2 Demons but Nick stopped drawing lands while I pulled ahead in cards. He had plenty of answers to my threats but couldn't cast enough of them to keep up with Pack Rat.
I sideboarded out Doom Blades and Ultimate Prices for a third Pack Rat, a second Erebos, Duress and a 3rd Devour Flesh. I was banking on Nick sideboarding correctly and taking out his Anger of the Gods which is the only good answer to Pack Rat. It's an awkward position to be in from his perspective because Anger is generally pretty awful against this deck except when it's the only card that answers 3 or less Pack Rats at once.
Game Dos - I don't actually remember the details of this game, I know I caught a Blood Baron with Devour Flesh and I know we both had Whips for some amount of time. I do remember that I won and that it wasn't very close unlike game 1.
Nick was a good sport about it and we talked for a long time about good decks to play for the next tournament.
John Arnaud defeated Ryan Smith to advance to the finals.
The Finals - John Arnaud w/ Esper Control
I felt pretty good going into this one, obviously Esper was a good matchup and I'd already battled through this deck once in the last few hours. On the other hand John is a very good player and Magic is Magic. Typically I'm all about the prize split when I'm matched up with a friend and John and talked awkwardly about what would be fair. Eventually I told him that all I really wanted was the FTV 20 and he could have the rest if he thought that was fair. You see, I already have a wonderful playmat with one of my guinea pigs on it and no matter how many hydra's Elspeth's battling she's not beating that. John thought about it and agreed.
We proceeded to battle for the bragging rights!
Game the First Game - I kept another 2 lander with double Thoughtseize and again stalled on lands for so long that the early disruption didn't do anything at all. John pummeled me with a Sphinx and eventually an Aetherling until I threw in the towel.
Game Deux - I got aggressive with Mutavaults when I thoughtseized and saw a removal-light hand. After mulliganing to 6 on the play I felt it was my best chance to win and it payed off.
Game Three - I kept a 2 lander again but this time was on the draw and had some early disruption along with 2 Underworld Connections. I played each Connections with mana up to immediately draw a card and pulled ahead as John answered them with a D-Sphere each. I ended up drawing all 4 Connections this game and finally winning through Gray Merchant drains and Mutavault attacks.
And that's how I became Game Day Champion for a day and I'm pretty excited about it. I may not have a sweet mousepad with Elspeth on it, but dammit I'm still the Champio!
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