Qualified to Nationals. Woo-hoo.
Well, i've played Magic: the Gathering actively for more than three years, and it was fun and stuff, but i got bored lately and had some other reasons not to visit local club(well, i still have these reasons. Not like they're going away soon).
However, i still like to try some innovative/interesting/weird ideas, and i want to play in Lithuanian Nationals - and i'm not in top20 by composite rating (which is low because i screw up at constructed a lot). So, i decided i need to participate in Regionals, which were on saturday.
The hardest decision was: which deck to play?
The decks were two: mono white Martyr and black-green Pony Express. Both aren't tier1 or popular, second one is pretty much nonexistant now. Well, everybody around knows that i like weird decks, and they always expect something extraordinary :P . So, i had to do something special ;) . And i did. I thought a lot about playing Martyr, but it is very hard deck to play - i mean, i didn't wanted to play each round full time and extra turns, and although it is REALLY fun to annoy people, i was willing to have fun - at worst there will be two more regionals, and i would for sure qualify if i would go to the last one - i'm pretty good at limited ;) .
So, with Martyr out, that leaves Pony Express. Two days before tournament we playtested with a friend a little, and the deck looked a little disappointing, with the biggest problem being the decklist - i wasn't sure what should be maindeck, and what cards to put into sideboard. After a lot of thinking, i kind of decided about what to play during seminar at work (yeah, sorry for that. but there wasn't anything very interesting anyway), and i've put my sb together on the morning before tournament with the help of my other friend (Phantom_lt, in case some of you might know him). Sooo here it goes:
Pony Express
4 Wall of Roots
4 Augur of Skulls
4 Timbermare
3 Mournwhelk
4 Search for Tommorow
1 Phyrexian Totem
3 Cream of the Crop
4 Damnation
4 Terror
2 Profane Command
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Treetop Village
1 Pendelhaven
9 Forest
5 Swamp
Sideboard
4 Kitchen finks
3 Mind Shatter
3 Sudden Death
2 Cloudtresher
2 Woodfall Primus
1 Puppeteer Clique
Well, this deck is really fun. How it works... I'm not going to explain that. It has hand disruption, removal(including mass removal), draw selection(cream is great with timbermare), uncountareble threats (treetops), mana acceleration (no worse than that of manaramp decks)...basically it can do everything, and does that good. Most of the cards are two(or more)-for-one, so, card advantage ftw. What i feared the most were fast aggro decks, especially RDW, because i don't play Primal Commands or other lifegain maindeck, and it's hard for me to race true aggro/burn.
There were 28 players in the tournament, which makes it the biggest constructed tournament in Lithuania this year so far...that's sad, isn't it? Big tournaments are a lot of fun.
Round 1 - Pijus Tarutis aka Chloras, monoG aggro aka Elves
Well, the deck starts working :) . Much better than during testing, i beat him 2-0, with endless timby beats. Plus, i had a pair of Terror's when needed (for his Elvish Champions). He was able to beat me to six second game. However, i felt sad - he's a good friend of mine, not very experienced player though, i talked him into playing at regionals, and we had to meet first round :( . Sucks.
2-0, 1-0-0
Round 2 - Simonas Jocys aka rhox, UB faeries
I've playtested against faeries a little before tournament, 'cause, well, that's one of the most popular decks and sure tier1. About matchup...it's decent. I have Terrors for the dangerous faeries, and others don't scare me, being just 1/1. They have to get through 20 times to kill me...timby needs to hit opponent to the face only five :P . I even sided out a pair of damnations after game1, because i don't need to clear the board to do damage - green pony clears the way to himself (or i read somewhere that timbermare is she. Can anyone confirm? I don't like MtG novels, i prefer reading better fantasy books...).
Game1 i deal some damage with treetops, disrupt his hand and he dies to his own Bitterblossom :P .
Game2 i don't have any way to deal with timely Scion of Oona, and that faerie makes all others big enough. Including those pesky Mutavaults.
Game3 he mulligans twice and i beat him with a pair of treetops. He played pendelhaven turn2, i played mine next turn, and he was stuck on one-two lands too long...
2-1, 2-0-0
Round 3 - Ignas Urnikas aka diabolic, RG Manaramp
Game1 i beat him with timbermare or two. They were coming, and coming, and coming, and he was unable to block them :P ...
Game2 was long one. I've dealt him some damage, he dealt some to me, but than he drew Kitchen Finks and got his life back to safe numbers, and i couldn't find anything to deal with those pesky critters. The worst part being that i had to kill them twice. And i didn't got enough removal in time...
Game3 we bogth were a little manascrewed, but i was able to solve that problem faster, and won the game still at twenty life. If i remember correctly, i discarded a lot of cards from his hand....
2-1, 3-0-0
Round 4 - Gytis Urbanavičius aka GUdrus, mono white control
you know, i didn't played Martyr..this guy did. This is very hard matchup, mainly because it's very hard for me to do something when story circle is set to green. And i don't have Krosan Grips in my sideboard - ya know, i decided, that Woodfall Primus is better. In fact, he is...but only two copies are a little not enough :( .
Game1 - i disrupt him a lot, but can't draw anything to do damage, while he beats me with MARTYR OF FUCKING SANDS. When i had 11 life, he dropped Akroma, AoW, and that was it - i had no Damnation to take care of situation.
Game2 - long hassle, he had story circle at some point, but i was able to find, i guess, Profane Command to finish him. Or was it Primus that got rid of his circle? Can't remember.
Game3 - we weren't able to finish this one in time. That was satisfying enough to me, as draw was enough to ensure top8 for me (we couldn't ID, because he had only 7 points before the round).
1-1, 3-0-1
Round 5 - Vykintas Valkaitis aka zapadlaw, Reveillark
We ID, and then play a pair of games, 1-1. Interesting matchup. he has a lot of card draw, i have a lot of discard. I guess matchup is slightly in my favor, especially post-sb, but can't be sure about that.
0-0, 3-0-2
Top8 - Gytis Urbanavičius aka GUdrus, mono white control
We laugh about how we're gonna stall and finish the game "maybe today", but actually this isn't a laughing matter - unfavorable matchup, i'd say.
Game1 i beat him fast enough.
Game2 he beats me with Sacred Mesa tokens.
Game3 i dusrupt him a lot, but can't draw anything to do damage, while he draws a sacred mesa and Crovax. Also, Story Circle. When i finallyh get to 8 mana to play Primus, i have to destroy that Mesa, but there are still two tokens left, 2/2 each, and they beat me within few turns, as i can't topdeck a damnation to save my ass.
1-2
Then Martyr gets to the finals, where he loses to my Round 5 opponent.
Overall, this was a very nice tournament, and i had a lot of fun, and - unexcpectedly - i top8ed, which is rare for me outside of limited events. Fun thing is that most likely now i'm already qualified through ratings too, as i was very near to top20 before tournament. I dunno whose idea was to do regionals before ratings cut, but it's not good.
If anybody will be interested, i can give a link to the top8 decklists.
P.S. Phantom_lt completely failed, finishing with only three points :P . Next time you'll know, that drinking beer makes you play better ;) .Big thanks to MedicineHat from Wizards boards, for creating the deck.
Now i can relax and don't play magic for some time :P . Unless there will be something really fun, like ons-ons-ons draft this weekend :D ...
However, i still like to try some innovative/interesting/weird ideas, and i want to play in Lithuanian Nationals - and i'm not in top20 by composite rating (which is low because i screw up at constructed a lot). So, i decided i need to participate in Regionals, which were on saturday.
The hardest decision was: which deck to play?
The decks were two: mono white Martyr and black-green Pony Express. Both aren't tier1 or popular, second one is pretty much nonexistant now. Well, everybody around knows that i like weird decks, and they always expect something extraordinary :P . So, i had to do something special ;) . And i did. I thought a lot about playing Martyr, but it is very hard deck to play - i mean, i didn't wanted to play each round full time and extra turns, and although it is REALLY fun to annoy people, i was willing to have fun - at worst there will be two more regionals, and i would for sure qualify if i would go to the last one - i'm pretty good at limited ;) .
So, with Martyr out, that leaves Pony Express. Two days before tournament we playtested with a friend a little, and the deck looked a little disappointing, with the biggest problem being the decklist - i wasn't sure what should be maindeck, and what cards to put into sideboard. After a lot of thinking, i kind of decided about what to play during seminar at work (yeah, sorry for that. but there wasn't anything very interesting anyway), and i've put my sb together on the morning before tournament with the help of my other friend (Phantom_lt, in case some of you might know him). Sooo here it goes:
Pony Express
4 Wall of Roots
4 Augur of Skulls
4 Timbermare
3 Mournwhelk
4 Search for Tommorow
1 Phyrexian Totem
3 Cream of the Crop
4 Damnation
4 Terror
2 Profane Command
4 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Treetop Village
1 Pendelhaven
9 Forest
5 Swamp
Sideboard
4 Kitchen finks
3 Mind Shatter
3 Sudden Death
2 Cloudtresher
2 Woodfall Primus
1 Puppeteer Clique
Well, this deck is really fun. How it works... I'm not going to explain that. It has hand disruption, removal(including mass removal), draw selection(cream is great with timbermare), uncountareble threats (treetops), mana acceleration (no worse than that of manaramp decks)...basically it can do everything, and does that good. Most of the cards are two(or more)-for-one, so, card advantage ftw. What i feared the most were fast aggro decks, especially RDW, because i don't play Primal Commands or other lifegain maindeck, and it's hard for me to race true aggro/burn.
There were 28 players in the tournament, which makes it the biggest constructed tournament in Lithuania this year so far...that's sad, isn't it? Big tournaments are a lot of fun.
Round 1 - Pijus Tarutis aka Chloras, monoG aggro aka Elves
Well, the deck starts working :) . Much better than during testing, i beat him 2-0, with endless timby beats. Plus, i had a pair of Terror's when needed (for his Elvish Champions). He was able to beat me to six second game. However, i felt sad - he's a good friend of mine, not very experienced player though, i talked him into playing at regionals, and we had to meet first round :( . Sucks.
2-0, 1-0-0
Round 2 - Simonas Jocys aka rhox, UB faeries
I've playtested against faeries a little before tournament, 'cause, well, that's one of the most popular decks and sure tier1. About matchup...it's decent. I have Terrors for the dangerous faeries, and others don't scare me, being just 1/1. They have to get through 20 times to kill me...timby needs to hit opponent to the face only five :P . I even sided out a pair of damnations after game1, because i don't need to clear the board to do damage - green pony clears the way to himself (or i read somewhere that timbermare is she. Can anyone confirm? I don't like MtG novels, i prefer reading better fantasy books...).
Game1 i deal some damage with treetops, disrupt his hand and he dies to his own Bitterblossom :P .
Game2 i don't have any way to deal with timely Scion of Oona, and that faerie makes all others big enough. Including those pesky Mutavaults.
Game3 he mulligans twice and i beat him with a pair of treetops. He played pendelhaven turn2, i played mine next turn, and he was stuck on one-two lands too long...
2-1, 2-0-0
Round 3 - Ignas Urnikas aka diabolic, RG Manaramp
Game1 i beat him with timbermare or two. They were coming, and coming, and coming, and he was unable to block them :P ...
Game2 was long one. I've dealt him some damage, he dealt some to me, but than he drew Kitchen Finks and got his life back to safe numbers, and i couldn't find anything to deal with those pesky critters. The worst part being that i had to kill them twice. And i didn't got enough removal in time...
Game3 we bogth were a little manascrewed, but i was able to solve that problem faster, and won the game still at twenty life. If i remember correctly, i discarded a lot of cards from his hand....
2-1, 3-0-0
Round 4 - Gytis Urbanavičius aka GUdrus, mono white control
you know, i didn't played Martyr..this guy did. This is very hard matchup, mainly because it's very hard for me to do something when story circle is set to green. And i don't have Krosan Grips in my sideboard - ya know, i decided, that Woodfall Primus is better. In fact, he is...but only two copies are a little not enough :( .
Game1 - i disrupt him a lot, but can't draw anything to do damage, while he beats me with MARTYR OF FUCKING SANDS. When i had 11 life, he dropped Akroma, AoW, and that was it - i had no Damnation to take care of situation.
Game2 - long hassle, he had story circle at some point, but i was able to find, i guess, Profane Command to finish him. Or was it Primus that got rid of his circle? Can't remember.
Game3 - we weren't able to finish this one in time. That was satisfying enough to me, as draw was enough to ensure top8 for me (we couldn't ID, because he had only 7 points before the round).
1-1, 3-0-1
Round 5 - Vykintas Valkaitis aka zapadlaw, Reveillark
We ID, and then play a pair of games, 1-1. Interesting matchup. he has a lot of card draw, i have a lot of discard. I guess matchup is slightly in my favor, especially post-sb, but can't be sure about that.
0-0, 3-0-2
Top8 - Gytis Urbanavičius aka GUdrus, mono white control
We laugh about how we're gonna stall and finish the game "maybe today", but actually this isn't a laughing matter - unfavorable matchup, i'd say.
Game1 i beat him fast enough.
Game2 he beats me with Sacred Mesa tokens.
Game3 i dusrupt him a lot, but can't draw anything to do damage, while he draws a sacred mesa and Crovax. Also, Story Circle. When i finallyh get to 8 mana to play Primus, i have to destroy that Mesa, but there are still two tokens left, 2/2 each, and they beat me within few turns, as i can't topdeck a damnation to save my ass.
1-2
Then Martyr gets to the finals, where he loses to my Round 5 opponent.
Overall, this was a very nice tournament, and i had a lot of fun, and - unexcpectedly - i top8ed, which is rare for me outside of limited events. Fun thing is that most likely now i'm already qualified through ratings too, as i was very near to top20 before tournament. I dunno whose idea was to do regionals before ratings cut, but it's not good.
If anybody will be interested, i can give a link to the top8 decklists.
P.S. Phantom_lt completely failed, finishing with only three points :P . Next time you'll know, that drinking beer makes you play better ;) .Big thanks to MedicineHat from Wizards boards, for creating the deck.
Now i can relax and don't play magic for some time :P . Unless there will be something really fun, like ons-ons-ons draft this weekend :D ...