2nd PTQ was last Saturday, August 23 at Robinson’s Calleria. I brought a slightly modified version of the greedy deck:
The venue is crowded as the PTQ is the same day as WoW TCG Nationals. There aren’t enough tables, so around 40% of the players need to wait for tables to be freed up before they can play. As you can imagine, this makes for long rounds, around 1 hour and 45 minutes each.
Round 1 vs Kithkin: 0-2 loss
As usual, I got trampled in game one and managed to fight him off in game two only to lose by the slimmest of margins.
Round 2 vs Elementals: 1-2 loss
The card advantage off Mulldrifters (and Mannequin’ed Mulldrifters) really hurts here. I can hold off his forces and manage to get a Hallowed Burial to take away all his guys in game three, but he has a full grip so he just untaps and shows me the Horde of Notions while I’m at five life.
Bah! With the lack of tables and losses, I tell DJ to drop me from the tournament as we report the result. I figured it wasn’t worth it. But then I remembered a guy I was trading with would arrive around 6 PM, and it was only 3:30 (yes, it was 3:30 and we were still in round 2), so I took it back and went in for some more punishment.
Round 3: 2-0 win vs B/W Runed Halo deck.
With the lack of tables we’re forced to play at the nearby Dim Sum place (luckily they didn’t chase us away). The kid is a nice guy, but he’s playing in his first tournament and he learned Magic barely three weeks ago. He has nice cards though – his deck had Rune Halos, Archons of Justice, Hallowed Burial, Oona. Unfortunately, he had too many do-nothings – first time I’ve ever seen Goldenglow Moth and Greater Auramancy in a constructed deck (I know you need to click the links – I doubt you know what those cards are!).
I crush him without any opposition. I give him some friendly words of advice, although I’m not sure how he felt taking them from someone who was 0-2.
Round 4 vs Faeries: 2-1 win.
I get Bitterblossom advantage in game two. In game three, I won the race by tapping him down with Cryptic Command.
Round 5 vs Demigod: 2-1 win
Not your usual Demigod deck, as he has random Creakwood Lieges and Bitterblossoms. But I saw the Demigod in game one, so Crib Swaps were boarded in.
I won game one. In game two I saw a hand with two lands, two Silvergill Adepts and a Banneret and I figured it was good. Except when I played my first land I realized I had kept a Mutavault and a Sunken Ruins. I couldn’t cast anything before he killed me. I came back in game three and won without taking any damage.
At this point, I’m feeling a streak, thinking maybe I can still win 3 more in a row to hit 6-2. This is a lie; at every point in the tournament I’m thinking I can win all the remaining ones. I just mentioned it here because obviously I would be disappointed.
Round 6 vs QnT: 0-2 loss
In game one, I was at 10 life and he was at 14, and I figured a 2nd Bitterblossom would close the gap so I risked it. On his turn, he hit me with Profane Command for 4, bringing back Kitchen Finks, giving me 3 turns to live and 16 points to chase. I try to Cryptic Command my own Bitterblossom on the fatal turn, but he showed me his own command and would have none of it.
In game two I’m stuck on two lands, with Dousings, Adepts and a Banneret in my hand, but I have colored mana this time. I play the Adepts first, hoping to draw into lands. I don’t draw anymore and am forced to play the Banneret, which gets wiped away in a Firespout. In hindsight, since my hand had 2 Dousings (and I drew the 3rd one shortly after), I should have led with Adept, then Banneret, giving me 3 power on board and 3 turns of countermagic available. He was stuck at four lands all game, so that play might have been enough. Since I didn’t do it, he managed to play a Chameleon Colossus which takes me down for 20.
I’ve had enough, I’m out.
Final record: 3-3 matches, 7-8 games.
It’s too much. I can’t play this deck at the Grand Prix. The wins are too marginal, and the Kithkin matchup is too much of a tossup. I need to think about how I’m going to modify it (or what deck to audible into)
See Also