2019-01-05 The Nerd Store Modern 2-3 with 8 rack

8 rack

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1562469#paper

• 1 Ensnaring Bridge in the main, 1 BLR
• SB: 3 Surgicals back in, 1 EE
• SB: Trimmed Fulminators to 3 from 4. Generally powerful, but maybe just ditch them for something else? Kind of just want to give up on the Tron/big mana matchups.
• $40 modern win-a-box event, figured I'd try it with the deck I'm moderately familiar with, and is moderately powerful

R1 vs Evan on UWC (0-2, 0-1)
In the blind, I decide to take the play. Shouldn't have done that. I Thoughtseize turn 1, and he realizes that he drew 8 cards. We apply the comp REL fix despite the event not technically being comp, but I misplay and take Cryptic instead of the correct choice of D Sphere. The actual Thoughtseize goes after his Surgical. He's heavy on Jaces, and eventually finds a planeswalker to draw a ton of cards.
Game 2 I misplay - I see his hand, know that he's on 3 lands + 1 Jace, and have a Fulminator out.
I see the line, think about it, then get greedy and decide to turn my brain off?

R2 vs Zach on foil Jund (1-2, 0-2)
He takes the play. The foil Blackcleave Cliffs into foil IoK should have tipped me off, but whatever. Goyfs vs no Push & I lose.
Game 2 I get, mostly off the power of Smallpox.
Game 3 I keep a hand with 3x Smallpox, which gets Inquisitioned into Surgical Extraction.
Found a Bridhge in one or two of the games, but got destroyed.

R3 vs Crit on GB (0-2, 0-3)
I know Crit, we're both 0-2, and I correctly take the draw. Games are close but Scavenging Ooze saves him both times, along with the maindecked Kalitas Traitor of Ghet. Mispressured in game 1 - should have swung Mutavault at LtLH instead of face a couple times.

R4 vs Eddie on Bogles (2-0, 1-3)
Game 1 he turn 1s a Dryad Arbor. I look down at my hand, see some discard and Smallpox, and I think he concedes after a second Smallpox / some Lili -2s
Game 2 I have Smallpox and Liliana again, while he has no t0 Leyline of Sanctity. Quickly over.

R5 vs Jeremy on UR Pyromancer/Thing (2-1, 2-3)
edit: was basically the decklist on https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptrix/deck-tech-ur-pyromancer-vierens-2018-02-03
Game 1 I'm able to keep him off any action, and take him down. He flooded pretty bad iirc
Game 2 I lose to uh... I forget? Some timely counterspells, and mis-sequencing on my part.
Game 3 I take.
Overall, I don't think he understood the matchup properly, though he did do some nice Snapcaster Mage tricks in repsonse to discard spells (targeting Opt, EoTing Opt), doing in response to Smallpox to save TitI, etc. I say that he doesn't understand the matchup since he tried to jam Thing on turn 2 every game, and one time I followed with an IoK to take an Ancestral Visions, which would have ruined me.

Reflections:

• Definitely could have won round 1 if I were utilizing my brain properly.
• What could I have done better? Uh, round 1 mostly. Midrange in rounds 2 and 3 both just had better topdecks than me. I tend to keep a lot of hands without a Rack effect in hand, and I think I should be prioritizing those more since I do need win-cons.
• Saw more answers to E Bridge than I expected, so it ended up not being as impactful/game-ending as I had hoped. Saw it in quite a few games though for a one-of.
• I've been swapping decks way too often, and with GP/MF Toronto coming up, I should really start practicing reps with one deck. I'm thinking Dredge.

2018-12-21 D&A Modern FNM 2-2 with Mono W Emeria

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1534030#paper

Mono W Emeria is one of my classic decks that I used to play a lot of in 2016-2017. It plays a slow grindy game and has insane lategame with recursion using both Sun Titan and Emeria, the Sky Ruin. It's control in that it doesn't do anything early and tries to accumulate a ton of incremental advantage.

Changes: I finally got an MPR Wrath of God, so I played that. I played a couple different forms of GY hate since that's important, but I can't play Rest in Peace because it's symmetrical.

Round 1 vs Adam on Merfolk (2-1, 1-0)
Lost game 1 to a disruptive Spreading Seas and like four lords off of a t1 vial. He didn't see much of my game plan.
In: 2 Dusk//Dawn, 1 Pithing Needle
Out: 2 Thalia, 1 Blessed Alliance
Game 2 I try to path a lord on his turn. He taps out for Spell Pierce, I untap, and Dusk his four lords.
Game 3 He knows about Dusk now, but I keep an opening hand with 3 lands, Dusk, and a Wrath of God. On his turn 5, my Path gets Pierced again. Go to my turn 6, I play an untapped land and resolve Dusk past his 2nd Pierce for crazy value, with Wrath of God for backup. I find a Titan and Path a topdecked Master of Waves for lethal.

Round 2 vs Steve on Dredge (1-2, 1-1)
Game 1 - lost because unable to interact + fast
In: 3 Surgical Extraction, 2 Tormod's Crypt, 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, 1 Celestial Purge (bad choice)
Out: 4 Squadron Hawk, 2 Blessed Alliance, 1 Wall of Omens
Game 2: Opener has 2 Surgical, snap-keep. Turn 2 he discards a Stinkweed Imp to Cathartic Reunion, and I ruin him. I surgical one of his 2 Golgari Thugs later when it hits the bin, which was not ideal? but kept him off any further dredge action. I'd like to hit Life from the Loam instead. Nice win, he's stuck on 2 lands due to not fetching for a green source or hitting LftL.
Game 3: 7 card hand has no GY interaction, mulligan. 6 has a Surgical, 2? lands, Wrath, Titan, and something else. Fine, I guess. It doesn't do enough and I die to Narcomoeba-Bloodghasts.

Round 3 vs Ian on Experimental Frenzy Affinity (0-2, 1-2)
Plays way more 0 drops than typical affinity, also Frogmites and Myr Enforcers. He's really fast out of the gates, and I should have been mulliganing more aggressively for Stony Silence. His early 4/4s are reminiscent of Hollow Ones, and though I can chump for many turns I'm still too slow. Ravager and Plating both threaten lethal kills when his board is able to go wider than mine.
In: 3 Stony Silence, 2 Disenchant, 1 Pithing Needle
Out: 3 Wall of Omens, 2 Thalia, 1 Blessed Alliance I think?

Round 4 vs Brian on Hardened Scales affinity (2-0, 2-2)
Both games I'm able to stall out and take over. He didn't hit payoffs quickly enough.
In: 3 Stony Silence, 2 Disenchant, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
Out: 4 Squadron Hawk, 2 Thalia, 1 Wall of Omens
Game 2 I Disenchant a Hardened Scales. He drops 2 Grafdigger's Cage, which stops my one Finks but nothing else since I didn't find Titan or Emeria. Instead I just murder him with 1/1s and 2/1s.

Thoughts:

• Pilgrim's Eye got the most "I need to read this card" reactions. It's a powerful Magic card, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
• Against my opponents the Thalias were pre-tty bad. Would have been fine against other players I saw tonight, but maybe I should change those slots.
• Should have SBd a Settle the Wreckage, probably in Celestial Purge's slot.
• Had fun doing Emeria things, though I wish I had faced slower decks.

The other deck: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1533977#paper

Built 8 rack for the kid again, changed a Fatal Push in the main to Nezumi Shortfang, altered the SB a bit. Added Liliana the Last Hope and Night of Soul's Betrayal for those annoying Kuldotha Rebirth go-wide decks, which paid off for him in round 4. Considered taking out Fulminators since Tron hasn't shown up in a while at the store. He ended up going 4-0 >:( He also took the play whenever possible, and that probably made a big difference.

Personally I usually try to slow the game down, and should instead be more proactive with both my decks and play patterns.

The store announced that they're continuing Modern FNM, but are:

• doubling the entry fee
• removing the pack for entering
• cutting rounds to 3 from 4
• and reducing the total prize pool ($60 total in credit per 8 entrants)

So 2-1s go infinite. Half the entrants get nada, and a maximum of a quarter of the entrants net value. Not really sure how this model is going to work out for players, but I suppose the store will find out soon enough.

2018-11-09 D&A FNM Modern 3-1, or an Ode to Smallpox

Played 8 rack since my Seance cards hadn't all shown up.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1467005#paper

Round 1 - Ed / Unburial Rites-Soulflayer (2-1, 1-0)
Game 1 just went pretty poorly, as expected against a graveyard deck. Using Unburial Rites he reanimated a Borborygmos Enraged, but he had two Life from the Loams in the graveyard that would have stopped me from ever winning the game anyways.
In: 4x Leyline, 3x Surgical Extraction
Out: 4x Fatal Push, 2x Collective Brutality, 1x Bontu's
In games 2 and 3 I had turn 0 Leylines, and was able to strip the Assassin's Trophy in game 2 on my turn 1.
His deck seems neat, but I think blends too many strategies together and also lacks a cohesive manabase. Inclusions:

• Unburial Rites package - Rites, Iona, Elesh Norn, Griselbrand???
• Looting package - Faithless Looting, Burning Inquiry, Goblin Lore
• Soulflayer package - Soulflayer, Zetalpa, Griselbrand???
• Borborygmos package - Borborygmos Enraged, Life from the Loam, fetchlands
• Land package -  fetches, 1 of each basic (everything but Island), Ghost Quarter(s), shocklands, ???

Really not sure what the Griselbrand is supposed to do, and not a fan of the random loot effects. In game 2, while stripping the Assassin's Trophy from his hand, I noticed that he did have access to casting it turn 2... if he GQ'd the Temple Garden he played turn 1 to get a Swamp, leaving him with a single B source.
I really like the idea of trying something new, but it was just trying to use too many angles. If I were to change the deck, I'd make the following changes:

• Make GB primary - add Grisly Salvage and Sylvan Caryatids as glue
• Collective Brutality? I'm just a huge fan  of this card
• Cut the red cards to just Faithless Looting & red creatures that aren't meant to be cast - 1 Stomping Ground and 1 Blood Crypt, maybe a Mountain vs aggro
• Cut white sources, perhaps only a Temple Garden and Godless Shrine
• Probably cut Griselbrand and GQs - they're not really synergizing a ton
• Alternatively, throw some Goryo's Vengeance in there and see how that works out

Round 2 -  Alex / "Go-Bots" (2-0, 2-0)

Go-Bots is his name for the artifact-Kuldotha Rebirth-Bushwhacker aggro deck.
 He had relatively slow starts from him both games, which I was able to exploit.
My discard went after his Kuldotha Rebirths, which I think are the scariest cards in the matchup. I'm pretty sure it was the right call and luckily he never had the turn one Rebirth.
In: 2x Ratchet Bomb, 1x Bontu's
Out: 3x Thoughtseize

In game 2 I check with the judge on how Mishra's Bauble functions vs Rack effects. For the answer, check the section under reflections.

Round 3 - Andy / Scapeshift-midrange (0-2, 2-1)
Game 1
Lost to triple BBE
In: 4x Fulminator Mage, 3x Surgical Extraction
Out: 4x Fatal Push, 1x Bontu's, 2x CoBru?
Game 2
7 cards / 0 lands
6 cards / 0 lands
5 cards / 0 lands scry land on top
Never stood a chance in this game.

Round 4 - John / Jeskai control (2-0, 3-1)
Game 1
I realize I didn't de-sideboard, so I do that and mulligan to 6 (a reasonable solution at regular REL)
He mulligans to 5, I resolve a Wrench Mind and Smallpox, he concedes
In: 4x Fulminator Mage
Out: 4x Fatal Push? (1x Bontu's - I don't think I actually did this)
Game 2 - I go for a conservative line with turn 2 CoBru, not Wrench -> he t3 upkeeps a V Clique. Come close to dying, but manage to chain topdecks like a king: Smallpox, Lili, Lili, Smallpox... and end him on 0 cards with 5 rack effects out.

Reflections:

• I feel like Scapeshift is a bad matchup for 8 rack, much like the other big mana deck of Tron. They just play out a ton of lands/mana and Smallpox is ineffectual against their low creature density. They also don't need multiple cards in their hand - just the right one that just ends the game.
• I should maybe trim on Fatal Pushes, perhaps swap with some Funeral Charms
• I should probably get some Ensnaring Bridges, since they can just end the game on the spot
• Liliana of the Veil usage was kind of tough, but I think I made the right choices - she shined in closing out r4g2 (1st Lili was a 2 for 1 vs V Clique + Helix), but was terrible in r3g1 (vs BBE, mainly). Did some solid work in rounds 1 and 2 as well.
• Would I play 8 rack again? I can pull it out whenever. It's a moderately powerful deck that attempts to control the game using discard effects, which is a strong style of gameplay. It's best vs a format dominated by medium creature density decks, but is actually kind of bad vs big mana and the combo decks that only need a couple of cards to win (ex. pretty good vs Storm, bad vs Ad Nauseam)

Answer for Mishra's Bauble vs The Rack/Shrieking Affliction
The triggers go on the stack in APNAP order - that is, the active player puts their triggers on first, then the non-active player. So the non-active player's triggers resolve first. This ends up to my benefit, since the Racks deal full damage.
A similar situation arises vs Rift Bolt - if my opponent suspends a Rift Bolt, but is facing down a lethal rack, the rack effect kills them before Rift Bolt comes off suspend.

2018-11-16 D&A Modern FNM 4-0

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1471418#paper

Round 1: Dale Mill (2-1, 1-0)
Dale doesn't play much, by his own admission. He pulled out a notebook, and noticed that "Dale vs Ben" was only two pages back - apparently I got trounced quite thoroughly, probably at the Dominaria prerelease. The record shows that I dealt him 1 point of damage in 2 games (and then he finished that game at 27).
I take down game 1, and lose game 2 to a pair of unanswered Hedron Crabs. Dale misses quite a few triggers, which I remind him about after the match. It's a little of sketchy to do so?, allowing my opponent to miss triggers at FNM (regular REL) but I stand by my philosophy on missed triggers, which aligns with missed trigger policy (tournament enforcement aka comp REL). If my opponent misses a trigger, I shouldn't have to remind them, holding my opponent's hand to help them beat me.

Round 2: Sam 8-rack (1-0-2, 2-0)
Sam was borrowing my 8 rack deck, which is why I packed "Owling Mine" for tonight
The maindeck is the same as my most recent version (2018-03 version), with a tailored sideboard for the local meta: 4x Leyline of the Void, 4x Fulminator Mage, 3x Surgical Extraction, 2x Ratchet Bomb, 1x Damnation, 1x Bontu's Last Reckoning. Not all the usual suspects were in attendance, but I think this was a reasonable plan for the expected field.

Game 1 was close. He got out a couple Racks, and had some good reach going, but my Fevered Visions were chipping away, until one turn we're both at 1 life, and Sam plays the last card in his hand. Smallpox. Game 2.
Game 2 was silly - won with multiple FV and opponent misplays in the last couple turns (tilt city). I Nourishing Shoal'd twice for a bajillion (28) extra life, which let me survive until almost decking. Liliana ult made me choose between 2 FV + Dictate + 4 lands vs Grafdigger's Cage (for Raven's Crime) + FV + a couple lands. I would have lost to drawing my deck, had opponent been RCing themselves way more aggressively - my fetchlands, Remands, and Cryptics all thinned my deck out to the point where I was going to lose on my next turn's end step (FV). I did offer indirect advice though, by confirming each discard spell's target (always me, except for once).
Game 3 was a draw. It might have been in my favor, but neither of us were in a super dominant position by turn 5, so I got there with my first 1-0-2 victory ever.
In hindsight, this matchup is actually worse for the Howling Mine/Fevered Visions deck than it would seem on paper - as long as 8 rack can answer the creature threats, RCing themselves will save them from the non-creature damage sources (Runeflare Trap, Fevered Visions).

Nathan burn (2-1, 3-0)
Lost game 1 as expected.
Game 2:
Me: "I'll be on the play"
Him: "Mulligan to 6 ... Mulligan to 5 ... Keep, scry"
Me: "Okay, pre-game actions?"
Him: "Uh, none."
Me: "Yeah me neither. Pass the turn, upkeep Nourishing Shoal to gain 14 life"
Game 3: I did not have the Nourishing Shoal-Autochthon Wurm combo, and only won through with Runeflare Trap because he missed some Eidolon of the Great Revel triggers.
Overall enjoyed the match, and I hope that he enjoyed me bringing this off-meta Fevered Visions deck instead of what everyone else plays, which is mostly netdecks/known archetypes. He pointed out insightfully that part of my success with rogue decks is that people don't necessarily know how to play against them.
I really try to bring something that can both do well and provide a unique Magic experience for other players, so this was a good match.

Austin Mono U Tron, pair-down, 0-2 (4-0)
We split, but played it anyways. I uh, tried playing out tempo Boomerangs & Thing in the Ice, but U Tron's gameplan of cheap soft-counters into huge Tron-land threats was just too much.
I haven't played U Tron in a long freaking time, if ever? though I know of it, and it still does broken Tron things by virtue of stupid ramp. They turn the corner very quickly from Remands and Condescends and Repeals to Ugin and Emrakul the Promised End. Fuck Tron, I guess.


Overall reflections:

• I should probably cut Ebony Owl Netsuke altogether. Howling Mine generally feels bad, and even Dictate of Kruphix isn't great since it's a 3 mana pass-turn-basically-do-nothing when the rest of the format is doing way more powerful things on their turn 3.
• Maybe there are some fringe cards out there that better enable Runeflare Trap and Fevered Visions, the real win-cons of the deck?
• I benefited a lot today from my opponents forgetting their own triggers. Ideally I shouldn't have to rely on that.
• I can get away with the Nourishing Shoal-Autochthon Wurm SB combo as long as the store is filled with burn & I keep my deck on the down low so people don't catch on too much. As I mentioned to my r4 opponent, I don't really have a good plan for Tron or big mana decks.
• Chalice of the Void is okay? like vs burn, which would open up some more SB slots
• Maybe Blood Moon? I have 7 basic Islands after all.
• Comment if you want specifics on how I would approach a matchup with the deck, SB choices, or SB decisions (which I didn't mention)
• edit: I kept gaining 14 life off Nourishing Shoal exiling Autochthon Wurm, when I should have been gaining 15. I should fix this.

2018-02-10/11 GP Toronto 8-6 with 8 rack

Day 1: 6-2

Day 2: 2-4, drop

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/985463#paper

Background: I'm a moderately competitive player from Buffalo that has always leaned towards B/BW decks that try to t1 Inquisition people or Smallpox you, as characterized by members of my LGS lol. I 0-4'd at SCG Syracuse last year on BW tokens, 4-3'd at SCG Columbus with 8 rack, and was a bit more successful this weekend at GP Toronto.

Disclaimer: The meta is wide open and diverse. There's only 15 possible rounds of Swiss, and more than 15 different decks in the room, so you may not run into some tier 1/2 decks at all, but on the other hand can run into anything, up to and including 8 rack or Bogles. I think my day 1 performance had a good deal of luck, since I had a lot of favorable matchups as evidenced by 5 2-0 wins. Missed connections include Burn, Humans, Tron on day 1, any variant of Death's Shadow, any GBx deck, Affinity, etc. The most amusing part of 8 rack is your opponents figuring out that you're on 8 rack. The others are removing all of your opponent's lands, or attacking with 1/1 Mutavaults.

Changes/previous list: I switched 2 Funeral Charms out with my 4th Fatal Push and a Bontu's from the sideboard, replacing them in the SB with 2 Pack Rats.

Day 1 (6-2)

Round 1 - Infect (2-0, 1-0)

Fairly easy matchup. I managed to have all of the answers, and they found none of the counter-answers. My sideboard changes are going off memory, so they may be a little off.

-4 Raven's Crime, -1 Bontu's

+3 Fulminator Mage, +1 Dismember, +1 Night of Soul's Betrayal

Round 2 - Hollow One (0-2, 1-1)

First game is pretty close. Both games I manage to turn 1 IoK their loot spell (Faithless Looting, Burning Inquiry), then they top deck another one :/

Their deck is kind of built to beat ours. Inquisition is bad against their threats, not hitting the big stuff, and putting their smaller stuff (Bloodghast, Flamewake Phoenix) into the graveyard for them. Still necessary to hit their enablers and other spells. Faithless Looting in both this deck & Mardu Pyromancer are great against us, since they can sculpt their hand even from the GY.

-4 Fatal Push, -2 Collective Brutality

+4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Bontu's, +1 Dismember

I chose to take the play here, aiming to remove their early looting, but he topdecks too strongly. I see no Leyline in openers, and just go for it.

At this point, I go over to a vendor and pick up 3 more GP Mutavaults for 13 USD ea.

Round 3 - Merfolk (2-0, 2-1)

Game 1 I keep a sketchy hand of Swamp, Mutavault, Mutavault, Mutavault, Inquisition, Fatal Push?, and Thoughtseize?.

On my turn 1 I see a hand of Master of the Pearl Trident, MotPT, Spreading Seas, Master of Waves, Island - take Spreading Seas.

My opponent tried to put both MotPTs onto the field but I Push + Brutality them.

A poorly-thought-out Lord of Atlantis from them turns my Merfolk-vaults into a quick clock.

-2 Collective Brutality

+1 Bontu's, +1 Dismember

I find a lot of disruption, see them ditch a Lord of Atlantis to Raven's Crime, cast a value Smallpox, and find all 4 of my shiny GP Merfolk Illusion lands to beat them down through an empty board.

Round 4 - Storm (2-0, 3-1)

Almost lost game 1 to double Electromancer beats, but I stabilize.

-4 Smallpox (hurts me more than it hurts them I think), -1 Collective Brutality (most lists run more Baral than Electromancer, I think?)

+4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Night of Soul's Betrayal

No Leyline, clean sweep. They try to go off in desperation after Lili hits the board, but it doesn't do it.

Round 5 - Lantern (2-0, 4-1)

I disrupt them and cut off the lock pretty quickly.

Game 1 Thoughtseize a Witchbane Orb, early concession from them.

-4 Fatal Push, -4 Smallpox, -3 Collective Brutality, -1 Bontu's Last Reckoning

+4 Leyline of the Void, +4 Fulminator Mage, +2 Pack Rat, +2 Surgical Extraction (better than having creature removal, eh?)

Two Shrieking Afflictions provide a quick clock after tearing apart their hand.

Round 6 - Storm (2-0, 5-1)

Some early Raven's Crimes, but I don't get to see their hand. I Collective Brutality and they concede.

Sideboard: see round 4

I take a Remand, kill their Baral, and according to the life totals I killed them with two Goblin Wizards of my own. I think they might have gotten stuck on lands?

Round 7 - Hollow One (0-2, 5-2)

Early 4/x provides beats, then Flamewake Phoenix and Bloodghast join the party.

Same sideboard plan as round 2.

Game 2: Dead again.

Round 8 - UW Control (2-1, 6-2)

Flooded Strand opener puts them on UWx something. A discard spell lets me take a Runed Halo, and I know it's UW control. I had the opportunity to Smallpox them at 4 lands, and they get away with dropping Gideon Jura. Double Mutavaults aren't great, and I die to the beefslab.

-4 Smallpox, -3 Fatal Push?, -3 Collective Brutality, -1 Bontu's Last Reckoning

+4 Fulminator Mage, +4 Leyline of the Void, +2 Pack Rat, +1 Dismember

Memory is hazy on this sideboard plan, but I think it's right? Search for Azcanta basically turns off Racks, and I anticipate correctly that they'll sideboard out Verdicts.

Turn 1 Thoughtseize takes a Search for Azcanta, sees a clear path for t2 Pack Rat. It's like playing RTR-THS standard, but the UW opponent doesn't have their Verdicts. A couple more Rats with Rat lands nails them.

No real SB changes for game 3, though my notes seem to have gotten lost.

I got in with Pack Rat a few times, then got board-wiped. My opponent plays a Runed Halo, I call a judge to clarify how it interacts with The Rack and planeswalker redirection (tl;dr opponent gets to choose replacement effects, it does not work out in our favor). I don't remember what else I had, but I was keeping them on low lands and maybe beating down with my own 2/2 Human Soldier. I topdeck a Shrieking Affliction and it seals the deal.

Day 2

Round 9 - Mono G Tron (1-2, 6-3)

Notes indicate that I conceded at a life total of 21-10, so I think it was after a resolved Wurmcoil Engine.

-4 Fatal Push, -3 Collective Brutality

+4 Fulminator Mage, +2 Surgical Extraction, +1 Bontu's

They play a couple Ballistae, that I get rid of via Smallpox eh. Once they've assembled Tron, I surgical a discarded Karn on draw step and see 2 more Ballistae in hand :| At least I won that game.

Game 3: Didn't find enough interaction, died to a 4/4 Ballista

Round 10 - Jeskai Tempo (2-0, 7-3)

Turn 1 shockland, pass, telegraphing Opt. Look at their hand, see Flooded Strand, Cryptic Command, Opt, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster, Field of Ruin. I take the Snapcaster. Iirc I Thoughtseize Cryptic later, kill Clique, get Lightning Helix'd, and finish the game with a Shrieking Affliction.

I've identified that they're on Tempo more than control. No Colonnades seen, but I side out Push since I can't turn on Revolt. Collective Brutality seems fine. Again, fearful of Azcanta, but I don't overboard lol.

-3 Fatal Push, -1 Bontu's Last Reckoning

+4 Fulminator Mage

I seem to be missing hand notes, but I think I intuited that they had a Snapcaster in hand? Cast turn 3 Liliana, +1'd, they flashed in Snapcaster and targeted Opt, discarded last card, cast Opt in end step. Attack Lili to 2, but I have my 1 Fatal Push. Two Shrieking Afflictions and an active Lili clean it up.

Round 11 - UR Breach (2-0, 8-3)

An early Raven's Crime prompts an interesting conversation. My opponent played faced an 8 rack player in the "turbo-town" (irl 2 man queue) modern Saturday night, who told him that an 8 rack player had made day 2!!! So he knew there was an 8 rack player, but totally didn't expect it.

Targeted discard puts them on UR something, Smallpox a couple times to keep them off of 4 mana, and they discard a Through the Breach late in the game, so that's them figured out.

I forget my sideboard changes, but it was pretty minimal. Talking with my opponent, they had notes on matchup impressions and 8 rack was one of the two "double minus" matchups lol

Game 2 they take the draw, so I see a full 7 - 2 mismatched Islands, Polluted Delta, Snapcaster, Remand, Through the Breach, Madcap. Clear the Remand, and I think Raven's Crime got everything else.

Round 12 - Mardu Pyromancer (1-2, 8-4)

So this is the sad part of my day. I disrupt their hand, and apparently got two Rack effects online to clock for 6 a turn, but they got on board and hit me to 13, 3, and lethal while they finished at 2. Bedlam Reveler is a beating.

-4 Smallpox, -2 Liliana of the Veil

+4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Bontu's, +1 Night of Soul's Betrayal

I take the play, discard a Faithless Looting, Liliana of the Veil, and something else. I have an active rack going, drop Night on two Spirit tokens, and they concede.

Game 3 they get a bunch of Lingering Souls tokens while I have no answers. Opponent does commit an error, fetching for a basic Mountain off of Marsh Flats, explaining that with my Urborg, they didn't see the need to grab Blood Crypt (the deck also plays Blood Moon, I guess). Judge call, gets a warning, low impact on game since they could have just grabbed tapped Blood Crypt on end step :| Results-oriented thinking, but I wouldn't have won anyways since I drew about 6 lands without a Raven's Crime.

Round 13 - GB Tron, Seth Manfield (0-2, 8-5)

"So that's the way it's going to be" -Seth Manfield, with Raven's Crime on the stack.

Seth resolves 2 Wurmcoil Engines and it's over.

sideboard: see round 9

I take the play, Inquisition to see a hand of GQ, Karn, Karn, Fatal Push, Ancient Stirrings, Expedition Map, Chromatic Sphere. What's the take?

I took Stirrings, though Sphere was a consideration

So I have a Lili on 6, Shrieking Affliction on field, know of a Sanctum of Ugin in hand off Expedition Map, Seth has Tron + GQ on field.

I take a bad line, ulting Lili. GQ+Tower, Mine+Power Plant. Seth keeps the Mine+Power Plant. I Thoughtseize next turn, and find that he's topdecked a Tower. :|

Finds a Wurmcoil Engine, I do get a Bontu's, then die.

Round 14 - Titanshift (1-2, 8-6 drop)

I Collective Brutality on turn 2, see Scapeshift, Chandra Flamecaller, Forest, Forest, Cinder Glade.

Smallpox to hold them off 6 mana, and I think I killed them using 2 of my 2/2 Giant Snake Shamans.

-4 Fatal Push, -2 Collective Brutality?

+4 Fulminator Mage, +2 Surgical Extraction

I play a blind Wrench Mind and die to Obstinate Baloth, which apparently he's running 3 out of the side. Seems like a good call vs Hollow One decks.

-1 Collective Brutality

+1 Bontu's

7 cards, no lands

6 cards, 5 swamps, 1 Urborg

Die to 2 Baloths, the first hardcast, the second due to me misplaying Lili. Was moderately on tilt.

Bonus feature:

Went to the turbo-town seeking redemption, went 3-0 vs

Abzan Company (minimal combo), Affinity, Abzan Eldrazi ???

Future:

My current goal will be to make day 2 again and achieve a winning day 2 record