Alrighty then... Where to start...
Well, I guess the first thing to do is to give a shout out and some thanks to my friend Snibble. Without him loaning me around a third of the deck I played with, I never would have been able to play as competitively as I did.
Next, how about a decklist.
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Angel of Jubilation
4 Champion of Lambholt
3 Mayor of Avabruck
(18 Creatures)
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Entreat the Angels
1 Sword of War and Peace
2 Angelic Destiny
(17 Spells)
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Gavony Township
7 Forest
7 Plains
(25 Lands)
Sideboard
3 Grafdigger's Cage (good against Zombies, Pod, Frights, passable against RG Aggro)
2 Day f Judgment (Planed for Boros and Zombies)
2 Kessig Cagebreakers (Plan against control, never ended up using it)
2 Elspeth Tirel (plan against control)
3 Oblivion Ring (Generally awesome card to fix problems)
2 Sword of Feast and Famine (Zombies and RG Aggro)
1 Sword of Body and Mind (Expected to see a few tempo decks)
So lets get down to game play.
Round 1
Tyler on Venser Control.
I sat down across from my opponent Tyler and we went straight to business. We talked a little as we were waiting for the round to start, but mostly focused on the game. He played a bunch in different formats and sounded like a bit of a "grinder." Cool guy though and a great player. He was playing one of my decks absolutely worst matchups. After getting off to a good start in game one, he dropped a Stonehorn Dignitary and I knew I was in trouble. It took a few more turns and I was trying to get in for damage, but as soon as Venser came down, I knew there was no hope for me and I scooped straight to game 2. I brought in all 3 O-rings and dropped SoWP and both Entreats. The second game ended up with me waiting to topdeck the O-ring as he locked me down with Venser and a Dignitary. It never showed up, he got the emblem, and I scooped for a round loss. I was off to a rough start. Tyler was pretty cool though and ended up going 5-2 I think, so I didn't feel too bad about losing to him.
0-1 (0-2)
Round 2
David on RG Aggro.
So after round 1, I got called up to the judges table for a deck check. It seems that the first of many random mistakes made during the day was to start off by writing my list wrong and having it total up to 59 cards. I got it straightened out, but the clerical error cost me a game loss this round. We started on game 2, and I was recorded as losing the first game. Craptastic way to get the round started. David was all business and we got started as soon as the judge straightened us out. Starting off with game 2, I came out of the box hard. I took the game with little to no trouble and had a bit of a confidence boost. Game 3 took it away. We came out pretty much squared off toe to toe. Then he dropped a Sword of War and Peace and took it to the bank. Started really thinking about needed Beast Within and O-Rings main deck after these two rounds. I honestly think with a third game, I might have had a chance to win this round, since it seemed we were just racing each other and I was very capable of keeping pace with him.
0-2 (1-4)
Round 3
Cameron on Solar-Flare
I sat down at the table and started looking around as the round started. My opponent hadn't turned up yet so I sat and shuffled for a bit. He turned up a few minutes later and signed the slip with me as two wins and shook my hand, saying he was off to lunch. He didn't get to leave right away and we ended up doing a bunch of trading. Cool guy.
1-2 (3-4 [Kinda])
Round 4
David on Wolfrun Ramp
Game 1 was a blow out. He was firing on all cylinders and there wasn't much I could do but watch as he dropped a turn 4 titan and crushed me under its heels. Game 2, he flooded out and I took the easy win. Game 3 was a real fight. I came out strong and was worked him down to 5, then he gained a little life, then I had him back down to 1 with lethal damage on board. He top decked a Slagstorm and cleared most of my board, save one spirit token. In the process, he killed his own Solemn Simulacrum and drew an Inferno Titan off of it to kill my last spirit and hit me for two. The next turn, I botched up and made my first actual play mistake. I played a Champion of the Parish off of a Plains instead of a Cavern of Souls, meaning I didn't have the mana open to play the Angelic Destiny on it to keep it alive through the titan attack. He killed the champ on his attack and then finished me off. If I hadn't made that mistake, I may have been able to take the game honestly, but he scooped to me on his turn before killing me, citing the need for food and wanting to play in a cube as his reasons for not rubbing his good luck in my face. I thanked him, shook his hand and then went on wondering when my odd luck was going to stop.
2-2 (5-5)
Round 5
Feng (not his first name, but I don't have his first name written down) on UW Miricale Planswalkers.
Game 1 was a complete blow out for him. He hit 3 Temp Mastery with no deck fixing while having Gideon and Tamiyo on the field. Easy win for him. Second game, I boarded out SoWP, both Angelic Destiny, 1 Angel of Jubilation, 1 Champion of Lambholt for both copies of Elspeth and 3 O-rings. My board plan against control went off without a hitch. Elspeth ended up winning both games for me in the long haul. This was the first taste I got of something actually going according to plan.
3-2 (7-6)
Round 6
Sam on Naya Pod.
Sam made the mistake of fixing his deck face up when I came to the table and I had the opportunity to see what he was playing before we started. It wasn't my fault, I don't know why he was doing it that way, but he was. As it turns out, game 1 was an easy win. I dropped turn 1 Champ, turn 2 Mayor, Turn 3 SoWP and he scooped without ever playing more than basic lands. Game 2 ended up being just as easy. I brought in Grafdigger's cages against him and drew one in my starting hand after a mulligan (I had a really bad hand the first round). I played a Pilgrim on turn 1, a champ and the cage on turn 2, and then cruised past to an easy win after a few more tokens came in. I made a play mistake here of missing a Mayor's trigger for my token. That was the second of my actual play mistakes for the day, and probably the least important. He did some grumbling about the cage and how he was holding two pods in his hand. I half expected he'd have boarded them out expecting some kind of hate against them. Another perfect sideboard game.
4-2 (9-6)
Round 7
So perseverance had brought me to the 7th round with a good enough record to have a legitimate shot at landing myself in the prize pool. Obviously not the top 8, but I had a decent shot if I won of making some packs off the top 16.
Jacob on Grixis Zombies
I didn't expect to see this deck at all. I expected a few zombie decks, but nothing like this. Game 1 was a loss for me, and he played heavy control elements and just crushed me with small damage every turn while I couldn't stabilize long enough to mount a comeback. Game 2, I boarded in Day of Judgment and Sword of Feast and Famine, thinking the protection could be vital. I ended up out racing him and never hit a sideboard card. Game 3, I did hit a SoFF, but a missplay ended up costing me dearly. I used an Avacyn Pilgrim to play and equip the sword while I had plenty of land to do so. I had cards in hand that may have been able to save me, but after hitting with the sword, didn't have the mana to play them since I used the pilgrim instead of a land to play it. He ended up being able to win a slightly longer game after my mistake.
4-3 (10-8)
So, not really the way I needed the last round to go, but that's just the way it happens. The only reason I made it that far was because of opponents that were hungry and dropped anyway, so I shouldn't have been so surprised by the loss last round.
As far as things I learned from this PTQ, my deck is very strong against the stuff I expected to see in the metagame, and weak against the things I didn't. Also, making very small play mistakes with the deck's manabase really screwed me out of a few wins. Matchups I expect to see more that need work will be the Wolfrun Ramp and RG aggro matchups. The other seemed pretty solid and Zombies isn't really a deck worth worrying about. My match up against Vensor Control was an anomaly as well, and not something I expect to have repeated.
There are a few changes I think I'll end up making to the deck. I think Garruk Relentless has a solid place in the deck and I'd like to work him in somehow. I think Kessig Cagebreakers need to come out of the board. I never played them and I don't know that I ever would. Especially if I end up dropping more creatures to add Garruk, which seems likely. I also may drop the Entreat the Angels to add a few copies of Beast Within main deck. The card is just too good to be sitting on the sidelines and offers solutions that even Oblivion Ring doesn't. As far as the extra swords in my Board? I picked up a few more SoWP and may make them main deck, moving the Angelic Destiny to my board. I also feel like Timely Reinforcements has a place in the sideboard against decks like Zombies and Boros, but I'm not sure if I'll add it or not.
Anyway, that's about it for my PTQ Recap. Questions and comments are always welcome and feedback on the deck or sideboard plan is always great.
SD13
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