You remember Travis Woo? The pro player who builds quirky decks, offers opinions on magic as well as exercise and life, and seems to be in the need of a shirt. He had been bragging about good results but also said it was difficult to play correctly, so I brought it to FNM to give it a trial run before the invitational on Saturday.
Round 1 vs. Mono-red aggro/burn
Game 1: He starts off with slow mana and I ramp through farseek and urban evolution.a open the door to nothingness on him with a fog in hand him with 3 ash zealots on deck. The life totals look a lot closer than they actually were as we both remember that I take 9 from a flashbacked farseek off a snapcaster mage.
Game 2: I side in Thaggies and more wrath effects. But he comes out the gate fast beating me down with stromkirk noble, ash zealot, and even goblin legionnaire. My only hope is to play Thragtusk at 7 life to attempt to stabilize. He skullcracks me in response. I scoop in response.
Game 3: Starts the same way as game 2, but I am able wrath away his guys until it gets to a critical stage n the game and I am confident I can pull it out. Of course that's when I decide to my Blair Walsh impression and punt away the game. He has goblin legionnaire enchanted with madcap skills out and two cards in hand. He has been keeping 2 mana open every turn from the point that I got to 5 mana. I put him on skullcrack or a bluff. I have Thragtusk, Supreme Verdict, Sphinx's Revelation and a land and 8 life. I think long and hard about the correct play here; l know the correct play. I don't make the correct play. I play Thragtusk and he plays skullcrack. I try sphinx's rev next turn. It does gain me four life but whiffs on relevant draws.
0-1 matches (1-2 games)
Get in a few games of 5 color here with Phil Solem. Show him how good Chaos Orb is,,,when paired with Sun Titan. I even drew Phantasmal Image with it.
Round 2 vs. Little kid u/b Mill
Game 1: Travis Woo said that Mill is a bad match up for us because we only have two wincons main deck (door and Rakdos's Return). I was confident though because the kid's deck was suboptimal. I saw a couple Mind Sculpt, a Mind Grind for 4, and one increasing confusion, but none of it hit door, so I kept drawing cards and ramping out lands until I drew Increasing Ambition, which I used to get door. At this point, I was overconfident and slammed down door only to have it countered by the mill 2 counter. I knew this would not end well and it didn't. Next turn he dropped Memory Adept. That and flashbacked Increasing Confusion milled me for more than my library.
Game 2: I diversify my threats by siding in Borborgymos, Memory Adept, another Rakdos's Return, duress, Vraska, Psychic Spiral and more counter magic. I am nervous because we begin with 22 minutes in the round and he is playing very slow and asking his friend for trades. I counter some mill spells and clear his dudes (Jace's Phantasm and Consuming Abberation). I draw 2 snapcasters after he mills Psychic spiral so I feel rather confident when he drops Jace. Remembering the first game I don't get too cocky and drop Borborgymos. This guy is does work. He takes him to zero in three turns through attacks and pitching to the dome.
Game 3: Ends with the exact same results. I am able to ramp to 8 mana by turn 5. He taps out to play Jace enabling me to safely play Borgy. Two turns. Dead. I'm learning that if this guy sticks around until the attack step he kills very quickly, especially in a deck running 27 lands.
1-1 Matches (3-3 games)
Coming off a much needed "mana leak," I am ready for round 3. The thing about playing control decks is in certain matches they don't leave you with much time between rounds.
Round 3 vs. Tony, husband of former CC judge Rachel playing very similar little kid mill deck u/b
Games 1-2: Both games he has mana issues. First game he gets double to cast Jace on turn 8. I push him into a sphere of annihilation (err, Door to Nothingness) the following turn. The next game after we both mulligan he plays a few lands but gets stuck with only 1 blue source. After I Duress him and see no playable threats, I drop Vraska. He never gets an answer and I roll her up to her ultimate. The assassin tokens take the win. I imagine "Enter the Ninja" blowgun style.
2-1 Matches (5-3 games)
Round 4 vs. Jeff Neilsen with Naya Midrange
Game 1: Jeff is a long time player and a good friend so I expect a well played match. Early game he plays some dudes and a Domri which for some reason has trouble finding dudes. A thundermaw Hellkite starts ticking down my life. I an ramping hoping to close the door on him before the dragon does me in. He then drops a main decked Witchbane Orb! Savage technology. I can't even say wtf because he showed me his deck list earlier in the week. This is a problem. Remember: our main deck win conditions, Door and Rakdos's Return, both target. I am about to scoop but I really want to see if I have any outs in my deck, plus I have 2 fogs and a snapcaster in hand. After a couple turns I draw Increasing Ambition, I tell Jeff if I don't see any outs that I'll be scooping. That's when I come across the one Detention Sphere and stay in the game. I am able to stay alive, D.Sphere the Orb, Door him through a flashbacked Ambition and Sphinx's Revelation.
Game 2: I side in more threats: 3 Thragtusks, 1 Borborgymos, and 2 Terminus, thinking that he will side out creature kill. He gets out Domri again but it whiffs even more this game. He plays Witchbane Orb the turn before I am able to cast Borborgymos. I have 4 land in hand at that point which would have been 12 damage. It works out though as I am able to clear the road of blockers for an Enraged Cyclops.
3-1 Matches (7-3 games)
Round 5 vs. Ron Carl with Turbo Fog
Game 1: Ron is another good friend and I am a little disappointed to have to keep playing against friends. We had been discussing decks all week so we both knew what was up with each others decks. Basically the match comes down to both of us ramping early game and sticking one of our threats to win. The first game I am able to counter is Garruk, Primal Hunter with my "one negate". I then take a chance against him having removal and lay door which sticks around for the win.
Game 2: I side out fogs, Verdicts, and other useless stuff for counters and dudes. A key play in this game was when played Curse of Echoes which would have boned me, but the sb Vraska ate it Rakdos's Return set up the victory via Door again after I D.Sphered his Jace, Memory Adept. It was enough to end his day and send him off to some table top Magic in Superior. Hopefully, a few beers and beatings on casual players helped wash away the salt.
4-1 Matches (9-3)
I got 3rd finishing behind Dustin my first round opponent and Jason, another friend, who drew in the last round. After a shaky start and some doubts about the deck, I really enjoyed playing it. It was difficult at times to play, but it wins some very fun a different ways which was enjoyable. I am willing to give it a go at the invitational. I will post those results on here as well. Congratulations to Jason on his win. Sorry to Ron and Jeff for beating you guys. Not too sorry though.
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