2019-04-19/20 MagicFest Niagara Falls

Bought the constructed package, since I don't play Legacy.

Friday 11 AM Modern Double-Up with Dredge
Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1821610#paper

Round 1 vs Andy G on Affinity (1-2, 0-1)
Won game 1, then games 2 & 3 he had turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage :/

Round 2 vs David L on Boros Burn (1-2, 0-2)
Won game 1, then lost to RIP in games 2 & 3 though I had a Claim in game 3.
Then I dropped :s

On to the interesting stuff!

Friday 6 PM Modern with Sultai Reclamation
Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1774456#paper

Round 1 vs Andrew S on RGb Breach Titan (2-0, 1-0)
Very close games both times. Basically, I didn't counter the ramp spells but was able to go off before his natural land drops killed me. Countered his Through the Breaches and Primeval Titans - Remand is a big tempo play vs both. In game 2 I fired off an Assassin's Trophy on Valakut without a Surgical/Extirpate ready, and he surprised me with his own Pulse of Murasa.

Round 2 vs Tanner on Bant Spirits (2-0, 2-0)
He has a pretty slow start, leading with Noble into a Drogskol Captain. When he casts a Phantasmal Image, I fetch-Push the Captain, leaving him with double Hierarch. Over the next couple turns, he tries to resolve Collected Company. I Remand it twice and when he finally manages to resolve it the third time, it whiffs. Whew. Meanwhile, the Hierarch is swinging for a meager 2 per turn lol
Eventually I land Reclamation. If I remember correctly, he drops Deputy of Detention, I cast Teachings in response, which he then exiles with Spell Queller? and Deputy hits Reclamation. At this point I have 8 lands, Snapcaster in hand, Fatal Push and Pulse of Murasa in the graveyard. I pass the turn. He swings with Noble, and I consider chumping with Snapcaster Mage to trigger Revolt for a flashback Fatal Push. But wait, there's a better line!

1. Opponent attacks with a Noble Hierarch with 2 Exalted triggers
2. Flash in Snapcaster Mage, target Pulse of Murasa.
3. Chump block the Hierarch. Snapcaster dies.
4. End of turn: flash back Pulse, getting back Snapcaster Mage and 6 life.
5. Recast Snapcaster, targeting Fatal Push
6. Push Deputy, get back Wilderness Reclamation. Snapcaster is still alive on board.

Game 2 he has a RIP but I counter it. He applies more pressure than game 1, and also plays out Eidolon of Rhetoric and Damping Sphere. Both are roadblocks, but I push through and finish the game at 1 life.

Went for the 2-0-1 facilitated split. I should probably be writing down how big my USZs are for each game.

Saturday 2:30 PM Modern Double-Up with Sultai Reclamation

Round 1 vs Bethany on Jund (2-0, 1-0)
Bethany was a newbie to modern, apparently only having just borrowed the deck from a friend 30 mins prior. I countered or removed all her threats, and went off. Her inexperience with the deck showed when she tried to play Liliana of the Veil for 4 mana, not using Twilight Mire to filter mana & leave mana open, and not knowing that Raging Ravine could animate into a threat.
That said, I had the answers for most of those things - BBE is the scariest card in her deck.
I dug up my Summary Dismissal and may be adding it to my SB moving forward.

Round 2 vs Stephen on Boros burn (0-2, 1-1)
Beats. Game 2 I'm almost able to stabilize, but I misplay. I land Reclamation, then float some mana and Teachings for Pulse of Murasa. I have Dispel and Snapcaster in hand, but mistakenly think that I should Pulse immediately to play around Skullcrack. Next turn he slams a RIP, when I could have waited with Snapcaster Mage for Spell Snare and Dispel backup! I was at 7 life, which mostly caused my hasty misplay.

Round 3 vs Forrest on Hardened Scales (2-1, 2-1)
Game 1 he goes off with just a Steel Overseer and Animation Module, while I'm sitting around with counterspells.
Post-board is way better. Game 2 I tutor for a Fracturing Gust and sit on it as my back up plan since I'm under pretty low pressure. I tutor for another Teachings, then I decide to Consume the Meek. He has a Karn, Scion of Urza which I bounce with Cryptic then counter on the way back down (hello Ceremonius Rejection). I manage a swing with Snap + Tar Pit, and he concedes knowing the game is over. It felt a little premature, but at the same time I think it's a pretty high level skill to know when the control deck has enough resources that you can simply no longer win. Props to you, Forrest.
Game 3 he keeps a 1 lander while I get to Reclamation & a bunch of mana. His hand was pretty decent, and only needed 1 more land to get off the ground - I think it was something like Forest + Worker + Hardened Scales + 2 drops.

Saturday 6:30 PM Modern with Sultai Reclamation
Round 1 vs Chris M on GDS (1-2, 0-1)
Game 1 he has low pressure, mainly Delve threats. I Devour Flesh his Gurmag Angler and he Dismembers it in response lol
Game 2 he has a quick Zombie Fish, Stubs my spells, and I die. I am able to Surgical him and see 3 Surgical Extraction, 2 Disdainful Strokes. Also a JVP, which wasn't relevant to the game.
Game 3 he lands another early Angler... I'm almost able to stabilize at 8... I Snapcaster to Devour Flesh... he Snaps, putting flashback on Disdainful Stroke, saccing Snap to Devour Flesh... then I go for an end of turn Nexus of Fate forgetting about the Stroke. Oops.

Round 2 vs Reshad on GB elves (2-1, 1-1)
Game 1 he plays out about a half-dozen dorks and beats me in with them. He heckles my deck, asking how my durdle fest can ever beat an Ezuri deck. I nod in agreement and silently sideboard in Consume the Meek + Crypt Incursion. He also reveals that he's sideboarding in 4x Reclamation Sage, but that's totally expected & not really giving away extra information - CtM is the only card that will matter in the matchup.
Game 2... by turn 4 I'm not yet dead, so I tutor up Consume on his end step. His next turn, he plays Ezuri and asks if Consume the Meek prevents regeneration. Yeeeup. Next turn I tutor for that Crypt Incursion and go to 20 from 2 life (iirc I had to shock for Consume mana). He drops some dudes again but I flashback Consume and finish him off.
Game 3 I keep an opener with Crypt Incursion and Teachings. It's a little rough going, since I need to Cryptic-tap to stay alive for a few turns, but then draw Consume naturally!! Crypt Incursion puts me to 28 from 4 and he concedes!! How do I beat Ezuri decks indeed.

Round 3 vs Ken on UR Phoenixs (2-1, 2-1)
Game 1 he has an atrocious start - something like 10 lands drawn by the time I cast a huge USZ.
Game 2 I Surgical his Phoenix on his turn 1, seeing a Blood Moon. He cantrips for several, then plays Blood Moon and I realize I was an idiot.
Game 3 he leads triple Spirebluff, so Blood Moon isn't as much of a threat. He isn't able to turn Phoenixes online until turn 4 or so, which I proceed to Extirpate. I see that he's boarded in Ral Izzet Viceroy (in hand) and a Chandra ToD in the deck, which I counter on the next turn, and later in the game respectively. I accumulate more mana and cards, eventually getting the win with double Creeping Tar Pits.

Sultai:

• Overall game record: 13-6
• Overall match record: 6-2
• Cards drawn: a lot

Cards I'm considering for the 75 / have ordered:

• Torrential Gearhulk
• Spring // Mind
• Far // Away (maaaybe okay?)
• Shadow of Doubt
• Ravenous Trap
• Nimble Obstructionist
• Silumgar's Command (lol)

Draft 1: Accidentally screwed up the seating which messed up the pairings. Sorry judge!
Rakdos with several rares. Don't really know how to draft Rakdos, and could tell that I was splitting the archetype with someone. Lost in round 2 vs a guy with better Rakdos - more removal and two Rix Maadi Revelers

Draft 2: P1P1 Gatebreaker Ram. Don't see any other payoffs, pick up a late Sneak in pack 2 and a Gates Ablaze in pack 3. Cruised off of Ram, mainly. Round 2 was against a guy who spammed irl [shrug emoji] which was a little annoying. Split in round 3.

Draft 3: P1P1 Precognitive Perception. Eventually drifted into Esper, picking up a decent number of guildgates for fixing. P2P1 Kaya, P3P2?  got passed Emergency Powers lol. During deckbuilding, I realized that Undercity's Embrace was terrible with all my aura removal.
Smashed all my opponents by countering or enchanting all of their threats. The ones that I couldn't were blocked by Azorius Knight-Arbiter. Round 1 I actually won my first game through decking with Kaya + EP LOL

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1832128#paper

2019-03-31 Iron Buffalo RNAx3 3-0-1

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1773207#paper

Draft:

• So the draft was 10 players, with some of them looking a little green (experience wise). This affected my decision making in that 1) I can't necessarily trust signals, 2) I can't expect cards to wheel because there are 10 people, and 3) it's possible for totally playable cards to wheel because they evaluate cards differently than I do
• Rares opened (in order): Simic split Stifle//Clone (Repudiate//Replicate), Angel of Grace, Bedeck//Bedazzle
• Pack 1 pick 1: rare is garbage, nothing special in commons or uncommons... but oh wait there's a Gatebreaker Ram
• Pack 1 pick 2: really nothing special, but I took Ram so I might as well stay open and take this Simic Guildgate
• Pack 1 pick 3: simultaneously stayed open AND money drafted a Breeding Pool
• Rest of pack 1: got passed two Gateway Sneaks, one Gates Ablaze, and a late Archway Angel. Gates is obviously open and with 5 payoffs I just need to draft a bunch of gates and some support spells.
• Pack 2 pick 1: The great thing about being in gates is that you can grab good rares and not care about sending/receiving signals. So I take the Angel of Grace, though I never draft it ever.
• Rest of pack 2: I'm in base Simic, but grab almost every Gate I see. Halfway through the pack I realize that Azorius is pretty open, and I've picked up some random blue playables. I pass alone a pack with both High Alert and Azorius Knight-Arbiter, then take the High Alert from the next pack.
• Pack 3: more gates, prioritize some high toughness creatures. Simic is pretty open too from what I could tell - P3P14 Skatewing Spy WHAT.

Round 1 vs Liam on Rakdos (2-0, 1-0)
He's got a few good rares (Theater of Horrors, Rix Maadi Reveler), but they just can't beat a huge Gatebreaker Ram. His deck is only okay, which I'll get to in the post-match discussion.
Game 2 I don't find Ram, but I found High Alert and some big butts which works just as well.

Round 2 vs John R on Gruul (2-0, 2-0)
Game 1 he gets me pretty low, but then I drop some random blockers. After stalling out the board with High Alert + butts, Gates Ablaze sends him back to the stone age and I play out Gatebreaker Ram for lethal.
Game 2 he has a much slower start. I play out a Gatebreaker Ram but he gets multiple blockers out so I hold off on attacking with it. So the game stalls out again, then I swing my 8/8 Ram into his board of 5 creatures. He triple blocks with a total of 8/9, then Applied Biomancy for +1/+1 & bounce another guy makes the game unwinnable for him.

Round 3 vs ??? dropped (N/A, 3-0)
Got the pair down because it's 10 people. He was a newbie and thought he needed to play 60 cards... so he was playing some kind of Simic-based 5 color 60 card deck. After round 2, he'd had enough and unofficially dropped from the tournament, only officially dropping now... so I was 2-0 and got a bye huh

Round 4 vs Michael N. (ID, 3-0-1)
Mutually agreed, went home.

Thoughts:

• Managed to draft all the gate payoffs early (IN PACK ONE), which made the draft super easy mode.
• Recognized that if I had to, I could easily pivot into either Simic or Azorius, which looked pretty open, since I was drafting a lot of blue cards.
• Breakdown of what I saw from the draft pod: 2 players on Orzhov, 1 Orzhov splashing U/Azorius, 2 Rakdos, 2 on Gruul, and 1 on UGwbr???, me on Gates, 1 unknown
• Black was super overdrafted at the table, and as a result I only picked up a single Dead Revels, passing a few decent cards (ex. Get the Point) for gates/blue playables. Pack 2 signaled to me that the High Alert deck was open, and I picked some support creatures up for that before & after (I think 8 of my creatures work well with it?)
• Nice side benefit of drafting most of the gates is that it screws with everyone else's mana, making their deck weaker & unable to splash good cards.
• Definitely felt like I had the best deck in the pod. After all, I was only playing ONE BASIC

2019-03-29 Collector's Inn 3-1 with Sultai Wilderness Reclamation Teachings

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1774456#paper

Introduction:

• Switched out the garbage SB Teferi for a Noxious Revival to hedge vs discard (on USZ) and Surgical Extraction

Round 1 vs Jamie V on UR Living End (2-0, 1-0)
Turn 1 he exposes his game plan with a cycled Desert Cerodon. He counters several of my spells, but I only care about a couple of his. Maindeck Spell Snare an Electrodominance while swinging Snapcasters in for a bunch of damage.
Game 2 he gets off a turn 2? Living End for 2 5/5 hexproof serpents, but I have a Growth Spiral into chaining a bajillion Cryptic Commands to stabilize. Beyond that initial play though, he cycles and cycles and on his final turn suspends the last three cards in his hand: all Ancestral Visions.

Round 2 vs Jamie F on mono R Bushwhacker (0-2, 1-1)
Game 1 she Bushwhacked a bunch of little dudes and I had no removal.
Game 2 is the game where I did misplay: First I didn't fetch around a potential Blood Moon, secondly I fetched incorrectly vs a Blood Moon, and third I didn't flash in Snapcaster Mage in response to the Blood Moon as a chump blocker because I didn't recognize that I was in the danger zone.

Round 3 vs Curt on RB Skred Dragons (2-0, 2-1)
Game 1 I Remanded a ton of spells, recognized that he was on Blood Moon, and was able to preempt it. Sarkhan, Fireblood was a bit scary but I eventually took care of him and comboed off woohoo.
Game 2 he applied a lot more pressure but again I eventually stabilize and combo off.

Round 4 vs Alex S on UR Phoenix (2-0, 3-1)
He has no idea what I'm doing, which is a weakness of those who get into modern with their deck and think/hope that they can totally ignore what I'm doing.
Game 1 he flips a Thing but I'm able to remove it. He throws some burn spells at my face but eventually I start swinging with Snapcaster + Creeping Tar Pit for lethal while holding up counterspells.
Game 2 I'm able to gain enough life to stabilize again (bringing in all the lifegain cards vs Phoenix) and again chain attacks for lethal.

Thoughts:

• Managed to draw Growth Spirals and Wilderness Reclamations at opportune times this week
• Match 2 I really should have seen the Blood Moon coming / given more respect. Typically, mono R players are budget but she showed a Cavern of Souls in game 2 which should have hinted that the deck is non-budget enough to play Blood Moon to wreck people like me.

2019-03-21 Iron Buffalo 2-2 with Mardu Pyromancer

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1774451#paper

Introduction:

• Went back to the deck I grinded through Summer 2018 with
• Only changed some cards in the sideboard, since I acquired a couple artifact pieces

Round 1 vs Marc on UW Control (2-0, 1-0)
Game 1 was pretty quick. Early discard to take his Search for Azcanta, see him low on land count. Drop a turn 3 Blood Moon and he concedes.
Game 2 I dismantle his hand and get some Spirit tokens going for the win.

Round 2 vs Ken on Eldrazi Tron (0-2, 1-1)
Both games I manage to discard his Chalice of the Void, but the card I really should have been going for is Blood Moon. Game 1 I had it but then he turn 3 TKS'd it.

Round 3 vs Reshad on GDS (2-0, 2-1)
I know what he's on from checking out the room. In game 1 I keep a sketchy two lander with Mountain, Sacred Foundry, Blood Moon, and some other cards. He Thoughtseizes me three times? and leaves me with Blood Moon, which I never cast because I topdeck a Blackcleave Cliffs and it would actually have screwed me while fixing his mana because he fetched for basics after seeing it.
Game 2 I find both Blood Moon and an Ensnaring Bridge, amass a token army behind the Bridge and alpha strike him.

Round 4 vs Matt D. on Mono G Tron (0-2, 2-2)
Another Tron matchup where I didn't prioritize Blood Moon enough. By which I mean that I didn't have it.
In game 2 specifically, I was on the play and he mulliganed to 5 cards. I Inquisition an Ancient Stirrings out of the hand, then turns 2 and 3 hit him again with a couple discard spells. Of course, I win the game (check game record for verification).

Thoughts:

• Fuck Tron
• Meta needs more Blood Moons

2019-03-15 Collector's Inn 0-2 with Mono W Emeria

Tournament report sucks, skip down for real content

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

Round 1 vs Joe Andrees on Titanshift (0-2, 0-1)
Both games dropped a Thalia on turn 2 but I just can't engage with his land combo and die. Game 2 he also has Anger which is rough.

Round 2 vs Joe M on Jund (0-2, 0-2)

I used to think I was favored, but those Goyf beats hit hard very quickly. I didn't even see the Scavenging Oozes or Kalitas to beat me up - just discard, Bobs, Lilis, Goyfs, and BBEs.

Round 3 bye, dropped and left

Thoughts:

• Wow that was a bad performance
• I thought that MWE was decent vs GBx, but I just don't have great answers to Tarmogoyf beats. I played an extra game vs Joe after round 2 and lost that one handily as well.
• For my next event, I'm going back to ol' Mardu Pyromancer - free spoiler for anyone who actually reads this crap. The list I was running at the end of PPTQ season 2018: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1327820#paper

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Two Kings Gaming (the second closest? now closest? store to me) is closing, which I learned about from a little thread on reddit. I then shared the thread to the BNYMTG group and saw some more salient comments there (imo). Don't really feel like putting this out there on those social media platforms, so instead I'm putting some thoughts here about the Buffalo MTG scene and some stores in particular.

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/b3510f/i_found_out_today_that_my_lgs_is_going_out_of/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BNYMTG/permalink/1988017014629463/

Buffalo's Magic scene is super crazy, in that it has a ton of stores for the population. This is a lot due to the sprawl of the area, since although I have like 12 stores within 30 minutes of me... they're almost all 30 minutes from me.

During each of my handful of experiences visiting Two Kings, I came away with a bad taste in my mouth each time. In my opinion, these are some of the issues that hinted at their eventual demise:

• No trading allowed in the store. Allegedly some kid got scammed years ago and their mother threw a fit so that was the end of that. But I'm pretty sure the store moved from a different location and they had the same practice there... I 100% completely understand not allowing players to buy/sell cards in store, which leads me to the next point..
• Their inventory was meh. Not the worst in the area, but definitely not a draw to the store. Now one time, I dropped by and asked to browse one of their binders, organized by set. My request was denied, on the basis of store policy because somebody simply walked away with one, once upon a time. What makes the this ridiculous as a policy to me is that the employee and I were the only ones in the store. Here was a possible way for me to actually buy something, but since I didn't know exactly what I wanted, they basically told me to get fucked.
• When I went for FNM there some weeks ago, I somehow went to turns every round. Admittedly it was my first time playing Grishoalbrand, but I'm pretty sure they were running 40 minute rounds if not even shorter.
• Payout in packs instead of store credit - and not even at a good rate (I think 1.5/player). Pack payout attracts casual players, and really turns off enfranchised players ... which is pretty much every modern player.
• No planeswalker points awarded for the FNM seriously wtf you basically told me time was worthless even though you were printing out match slips for A CASUAL FNM
• Located in a dead/dying mall. Eastern Hills is this absolute behemoth on approximately a square mile of land - just endless asphalt surrounding a crappy mall which a lot of the big box department stores have already bailed on. Also, they chose to move about half a mile from the local MTG superstore (which dominated the FNM scene for a long time), which brings me to:

Dave and Adam's. I've played the most Magic here out of any store, honestly. Their FNM prize structure was LITERALLY INSANE (YES THESE CAPS ARE ACTUALLY NECESSARY), but never increased their presence beyond FNM nor grew their community.

Regarding their interactions with local stores (i.e. FNM policy since they only ran FNMs prereleases and PPTQs), Dave and Adam's definitely forced a race to the bottom regarding FNMs. I don't consider it a shitty business tactic, but rather a very ... how to describe it ... an extremely aggressive strategy. I still don't understand how/if they ever came out in the black, but it seems that management eventually looked at the books and said this can't keep going on. In the now distant past, their events were supremely generous, but more recently (before being full canceled) they've erred on the stingy side.

Why I think they failed:

• Prize structure. Just losing money. Originally (in my expereience), FNMs were free, plus they were handing out free pizza and raffling prizes. You could go even/infinite without ever winning a single game. Then even after they ended free FNMs, to go infinite a player only needed to average like a 36% win rate. But a lot of players were turned off by the price increase from $0 to $5, which could have been handled with better optics.
• Poor singles inventory. Pretty much everything in the store had been picked through. Anything good that they acquired got sold online or at GPs because their "warehouse division" operated separately from the store division. This pairs with the first part - the prize structure gets a ton of people in the door, but you can't expect everyone to be throw money at sealed product because your singles inventory is lackluster.
• Huge overhead on FNMs - many thousands of square footage and ~5 staff, kept open for several hours. Gotta say, I can't imagine how Magic/Yugioh can make nearly as much cash as their other product, sports merchandise, for which fans will happily fork over a hundred bucks per transaction.
• Community: because the prize structure was so mercenary, people just came in from all over the area for that prize money. But on every other day of the week, they hung out somewhere else because D&A didn't run any other events. There was no loyalty, and no way to support the store if they wanted to!

2019-02-28 Iron Buffalo 2-1-1 with Sultai Reclamation Teachings

Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1685666#paper

The plan:

• Opening hand: Dream hand is probably 3-4 lands, Growth Spiral, Wilderness Reclamation, Mystical Teachings. Reclamation + Teachings hands are probably decently above average.
• Early game: draw some cards, set up Cryptic mana, don't die. Ideally turn 2 Growth Spiral.
• 4 mana: Run out Wilderness Reclamation, then cast Cryptic/Teachings
• Mid game: end of turn float mana, Teachings for value, Teachings for Teachings, Snapcaster spells as necessary. May not yet have stabilized.
• End game: Teachings for Blue Sun's Zenith, Blue Sun's for a bunch (leaving open 7 mana if possible I think). Nexus if drawn, otherwise discard to hand size with a stacked hand. Then either 1) Blue Sun's the opponent for the win or 2) attack with Snapcaster/Tar Pit while taking infinite turns

Round 1 vs AJ on RW burn (2-1, 1-0)
Game 1 got run over, was trying to figure out how bad of a hand I had. It was pretty bad.
Goblin Guide revealed a couple 4 drops to go with the ones in hand.
Game 2 he keeps a greed 1 lander. Turn 4 rolls around and I drop Reclamation. I wait a few turns with Cryptics and then manage to combo out. Pretty good.
Game 3 he floods a bit, but still pressures me a lot. I try to hold Life Goes On for extra life, but end up casting it to stay out of burn range. Then I tutor for another one and manage to wrangle Devour Flesh into Life Goes On before I combo off. He kept Searing Blaze in for some reason, but Spell Snares were gas.

Round 2 vs Tim on BW Planeswalker Pox (2-1, 2-0)
Game 1 his clock is 4 Spirit tokens and a Shambling Vent. I have to bounce Sorin and hold up Cryptic Command for it, lest it run me over. I consider Mystical Teachings for a Cryptic but instead go for a Pulse of Murasa that grabs a Snapcaster Mage. I stabilize at 4 and go off.
Game 2 he gets a Liliana of the Veil rolling on turn 3 and I'm unable to answer it. I drop a Wilderness Reclamation without Cryptic and he Disenchants it.
Game 3 I was on the back foot the whole time, manage to bounce a Sorin and hold up a Cryptic if he tries to replay it. Double Surgical on Cryptic and Teachings. He Thoughtseizes into a Remand? and I'm able to draw out of the situation. BSZ (USZ?) for 16, Remand into an Echoing Decay for an army of Spirit tokens while Heart of Kiran isn't lethal (had A Trophy ready in hand). I think he put Thoughtseize into the graveyard after I Remanded it, and I'm not sure how that would have changed things? I had another Remand in hand + about 6 more mana, but his third try might have gotten through.

Round 3 vs John G on Jund (1-1-1, 2-0-1)
Game 1 I go to 1 from fast beats before I'm able to get rid of his creatures. He has two red mana so I hold up double Remand for his Bolt. I Pulse a Field of Ruin?, and he double bolts me next turn putting me back to 1. Then the deck does its thing.
Game 2 had a lot of slow topdecking but he got out of it eventually. Surgicaled my Teachings and Cryptic Commands RIP. I joke to an observer that I should hold Teachings until I have enough mana to hold up flashback cost, and I realize that's not actually impossible if I can find Wilderness Reclamation. There was a point where I fired USZ off for 2, but probably should have held it for as long as possible (as response to Liliana +1/IoK/TS).
Game 3 we ended on about turn 6 and had a draw. Game state was pretty even, could have gone either way.
(start rant)
Pretty annoyed about this match, felt that my opponent played too slowly in games 1/2.
In my opinion, the skill required to play Jund is overrated (see also: PVDDR's articles on deck difficulty). Okay, you have a lot of microdecisions that improve your odds very marginally: Inquisition/Thoughtseize choices, fetching up specific lands, activating Liliana, etc. but these things shouldn't take half a minute each. (end rant)
I understand that he's never faced my deck before, and so needs to read the cards, guess at what my intentions are, and play around that. I also never feel that unintentional draws are my fault, but I have to bear at least some of the responsibility - push my opponent to play faster, play a bit faster myself.

Round 4 vs Matt on G Tron (1-2, 2-1-1)
Game 1 he mulls to 5 and I'm able to accrue enormous advantage. OTP Abrupt Decay his Map on turn 2.
Game 2 he mulls to 6 and I try to keep him off Tron but I simply cannot
Game 3 I keep a hand with no G mana and no 4th land, again I simply could not
Traditionally control vs Tron is a bad matchup and I don't think I was ever favored. I only really won game 1 because his hand screwed him over. Teachings for Trophy + Teachings for Surgical is just way too slow, and I don't have the tools to keep him off Tron. If only there were an instant speed Stone Rain... (actually there are but they're in red)

Thoughts:

• Growth Spiral is the most powerful turn 2 play in the deck and somehow I didn't manage it once.
• I kept a hand without green mana in round 4 and that was a mistake, though not an immediately obvious one.
• I felt lacking in early plays, but there aren't any good instant speed cantrips besides Opt. Looking at 2 CMC... maybe Think Twice or Squelch??? or I could just draw openers with Growth Spiral more -_- Oh, Hieroglyphic Illumination is an option, but only as a one-of?
• I don't have some of the instant speed toolbox (specifically Shadow of Doubt) so I left a Teferi in. I guess it would come in against control but it wouldn't do anything really? To run it out with backup, you'd need Wilderness Reclamation and the control deck probably won't let you do that. I guess it would be really good in the mirror lol?
• Deck was super fun, though I wish I had gotten 3 wins. Not sure what to do about the big mana matchups.

2019-02-21 Iron Buffalo 3-1 with Mono W Emeria

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

Running it back from last week, when I got a 2-1 finish (plus a bye for overall 3-1)

Round 1 vs Adam on Jund (0-2, 0-1)
Both games basically just lost to maindeck Kalitas. I was able to remove Scavenging Oozes.

Round 2 vs Brad on 4C Bridgevine (2-0, 1-1)
Unfortunately for Brad, I know what he's on and he mulligans 3 times over the course of our 2 games. He doesn't have any explosive starts, and I'm able to fill up the board and block for days. My GQs and FoRs were pretty good, since he only played two basics.

Round 3 vs Matt on Hollow One (2-1, 2-1)
Took me by surprise seeing him on Hollow One.
Game 1 I put up some blockers but recursive Flamewake Phoenixes/Bloodghasts apply enough pressure for a huge Flameblade Adept to finish me.
Game 2 I think he turn 1 Hollow One'd, and I Surgical'd a Phoenix, also seeing 2 EEs and 2 Grim Lavamancers in the deck. Turn 2 I drop my Wheel of Sun and Moon, leaving me in comfortable ahead to win the game over the next ten turns.
Game 3 goes long, but I'm able to get off some decent double blocks and repeated lifegain to stay in the game. Kitchen Finks MVP

Round 4 vs John G on Jund (2-0, 3-1)
Game 1 I have "early aggression" (read: Lone Missionary into Blade Splicer). His Dark Confidant betrays him, flipping Scavenging Ooze, Tarmogoyf, and BBE, which leaves him at 1 against my miscellaneous creatures.
Game 2 he gets off double Anger of the Gods, but I'm able to consistently push damage with 1/1 fliers.
Compared to my round 1 Jund matchup, he wasn't able to stick Scooze/Kalitas and that made all the difference.

Overall: Happy with the deck, maybe should have been more restrained with Path to Exiles in round 1 (fired them off vs Scooze instead of later Kalitas).