The format is Lorwyn Sealed. Note here that I they had a shortage of boosters and had to split tournament packs into 3 boosters to be able to accomodate all the players.
Decklist/Card pool later, I’m too lazy to type it up. Unfortunately, I failed to learn from the previous mistakes as I got blinded by the shiny again, thinking I could actually cast Horde of Notions, so I went with an almost-five color build, major red-blue-and-green. Yes, no tribal synergy at all. (To be fair, HoN was only a dead card once)
Round 1: 0-2 loss vs R/W Ajani
Play mistakes here: In game one, I hit Lash Out on Galepowder Mage while there was a Kithkin Healer on the board. In game two I should have tutored for the Lignify using Treefolk Harbinger to stop the Mirror Entity.
Round 2: 0-2 loss vs U/W
I don’t remember much as the games went fast. I managed to cast the Horde of Notions only to have it take a Glimmerdust Nap. Of course, I forgot that I could still activate the Horde of Notions ability to recast Consuming Bonfire on the opposing Mirror Entity. (Yes, I was losing to a mirror entity again.) Instead, I did something really stupid: He had three creatures on the board, I had a 1/1 merfolk, a 1/1 changeling that can give other creatures changeling, and a Thundercloud Shaman in my hand. I figured I could wipe all his creatures if I Thundercloud for 3, so I
tap the changeling to turn my merfolk into a giant and cast the Giant. After casting the Shaman, I immediately realized the problems:
a. One of his creatures was a changeling (wouldn’t die to Shaman)
b. That creature was a Mirror Entity (can prevent all his creatures from dying to Shaman)
I pretty much deserved the 17 damage that came my way the next turn.
Okay, that makes me sad. I’m at 0-2 obviously I’m pretty much dead. I decided not to drop so I could salvage some wins and maybe learn to actually play better.
Round 3: 2-0 win vs R/G
Worst problem was an Epic Proportions… no wait, that was the previous tournament. I count 58 cards in the opponent’s pile shuffle and mention to him that he’s over 40. He says “Yeah, probably should trim it.” and he’s right. He’s color screwed both games, so easy win.
Round 4: 2-1 win vs (I forgot what the deck was)
My deck really performed here, giving me so much removal I couldn’t even remember what his creatures were. I hit Tarfire, Lash Out and Nameless Inversion and put him on fast clocks. I got him down to one and an evoked Cloudthresher did the job.
Round 5: 1-2 loss vs B/G
The opponent jokes around about his bad deck and wonders how he even got two wins. I lose game 1 to 1/1s and 2/2s, all I had was the Stonybrook Angler. Game 2 I mulligan to six and he keeps, but he misses the 3rd land drop. I have a Cloudgrown Oak carrying a Runed Stalactite, a five-turn clock. He gets the third land and tries to play Eyeblight’s Ending on it and I shake my head. “Elf.” He gets out a few blockers at 8 and trades two for one with the Oak. I cast the Treefolk Harbinger for Changeling Titan. When the Titan attacks, he tries the Eyeblight’s Ending again, and I shake my head again. Right, he scoops and we go to game three. Game three I mulligan to six again, only it’s a proper mana screw this time. I barely put up a fight and lose to random dorks.
So 2-3 and drop. Quite disappointing, as it seems I’m not improving my limited game at all. I still made a suboptimal sealed deck build (was siding in the same six cards every round) and made several play mistakes. I would blame lack of sleep, but obviously I didn’t have my A-game this time around. Hopefully, the next few PTQs are better for me.
See Also