Botched Homecoming

Posted on November 30th, 2009 by chwisrock

After a long absence, I’m officially back in the Magic: the Gathering scene. I tested my mettle yesterday on the Standard Constructed tournament yesterday in Greenhills with my ValakutBurn deck. Here’s how it went:

Game 1 - Boros Bushwhacker

This was my first standard tournament game after a 3 year hiatus. The excitement and anxiety was amplified by the fact that i knew my opponents deck was the bane of mine. True enough, our first game was really quick, as the Goblin Guides and Plated Geopedes proceeded to pound my slow, sorry *ass to kingdom come.

Then it’s boarding time. In comes the Pyroclasms to give me a bit of board control. I was already on the red zone during my 4th turn. While looking at the heavens and saying the proverbial hail marys, i played Bloodbraid Elf. Flip… flip… flip… Khalni Heart Expedition. BOO! I managed to stay alive for one more turn and played my 2nd hasty elf berserker. Flip… flip… flip… flip… KHALNI HEART EXPEDITION. AGAIN?! WTF happened to the Pyroclasms and the friggin’ burn spells?! and that was it. My Standard odyssey was welcomed by a painfully fast beating.

Game 2 – Mono-White Tokens

2nd round would pit me against a more favorable opponent. I was wondering why his deck never did anything the early turns as I was expecting a bevy of weenie soldiers to try to smack me early on. they never came and I just continued setting up my Valakuts and ramping like crazy to get the win. The 2nd game was no different. He had a very slow hand and I couldn’t be happier as there were no threats on the board, and I could save up the Mountain land drops to point it directly at his head. Which I did. I won 2-0. After the game, he told me he was unable to draw any of his creatures. Unlucky him, lucky me.

Game 3 – Jund

I played against a slightly different Jund build. He had Plated Geopede as his 2-drop. I had a bad hand on the first game and was unable to get the Valakut online. The 2nd game gave me a better draw, but his was better. He kept drawing creatures until I ran out of burn spells. A heartbreaking Goblin Ruinblaster destroyed all my hopes for a Valakut comeback and that was all I could remember.

Game 4 – WBG Ramp

A 1 W – 2 L standing is never good in any tournament. But is set out today to play, so that’s what I’m gonna do. I was paired with a WBG ramp. i never got the chance to know what the exact theme of the deck was because he was mana screwede for 2 games. During our first game, he only had 2 mana, so I just kept bashin him in with my Bloodbraids and Siege-gang Goblins without paying mind to my Valakuts going online. My 2nd game was really, really lucky. He had A LOT of lands, but none could produce green mana. He continually passed turns until my Valakuts went online and finished the job. He showed me his hand and he had 6 green spells stuck in there. There was also a point in the game where he was able to cast a Baneslayer Angel, only to meet a fiery doom in the hands of my Valakuts. Then my opponent said, “G*ddammit, I think I’ll just put this friggin’ card (pertaining to the Baneslayer) on top of our christmas tree where it belongs.” LOL. WEEE! That’s a win for me.

Game 5 – Vampires

The gameplan at this point is to go undefeated for 3 straight rounds to have a shot at top 8. If I’m lucky, getting 4-2-1 (W-L-D) standing may just take me to the promised land… a chance to obtain a first-round bye for the Dec. 12 50K Gold Rush Tournament. Here comes a welcome prey, Vampires. I’ve been playtesting with a colleague’s Vamps deck for a while now and I was pretty confident my deck can handle it. Then, IT happened. As if ladyluck decided to abandon me on my quest for glory and decided to look the other way. My deck, which was composed of 40% lands, got mana screwed. I experienced mana drought for 2 games. I even ate a Mind Sludge in our first game and threw away any chance of a comeback. If I was playing for pro points and rankings, a previous loss would already have been a good time to drop out of the competition. But I wasn’t. I’m still having a heck of a good time… so on with the show!

Game 6 – WBRG Ramp

I just love decks that are slower than mine. Especially those without disruption or permission spells. Just like my opponent’s deck. I just kept burning his expensive Lotus Cobras so he was unable to cast his Rampaging Baloths early. By the time the 6/6 mythic rare beast makers saw play, my Valakuts were already online and ready to do some delicious beast grilling. I had a misplay during the 2nd game which gave way to a game 3 that shouldn’t have happened. I had 8 untapped lands and tried to cast Lavaball Trap to wipe his creatures out and reduce him to 2 lands. As it turned out, one of the lands I tapped was a Terramorphic Expanse. Yeah, I know, SH*T.That was an EPIC FAIL if ever saw one. I wanted to just keep banging my NOOB head on the table. Luckily, the 3rd game went pretty much like the first one. He once again had a slow start which bought me time to assemble my Valakuts and shoot his life down to 0.

Game 7 – Valakut Mirror Match

Last round. There was only a 1 other Valakut player in the tourney aside from me. I never even considered a mirror match when I was completing my sideboard list. Until now. Yep. My opponent is a fellow Valakut player. We have the same standing and we have the same theme. Only one major problem, his build has a definite advantage during mirror matches. I had Oracle of Mul Daya and Bogardan Hellkite on the main. He had a set of Goblin Ruinblasters and 3 Lavaball Traps (i think). Damn. I had an upper hand during Game 1 as I had a Siege-gang commander et al in play. He was ahead on lands though, and his Valakut was almost online. He was able to hard cast a Lavaball Trap, charring my goblins and taking away 2 of my ever important lands. I still had enough mana to cast a 2nd Seige-gang Commander on my turn. He Lightning Bolted the 2/2 goblin and played his own, which I fried with a Burst Lightning. He was already on the red zone so I pressed the attack. Goblins blocked goblins and suddenly the board was cleared. All I had to draw now are burn spells… which never came. A few bad draws and that was it. We’re now on to sideboarding. Since didn’t anticipate playing against a deck like mine, I didn’t really have good sideboarding options. As expected, he was better equipped. One word: DEMOLISH. He destroyed 1 of the 2 forests in my deck and suddenly it was GG.

I took a real beating today… but I’m definitely coming back for more. I’ll be sure to lay on the beating next time…