No Really, I Mean It - Ouch.
Once again I find myself with 30+ minutes until the next round, despite being the last to finish in the agonizing 2-hour first round.
Round 3
I drew cards. I played them properly. I won the game.
I drew cards. I played them properly. I won the game.
Any questions?
Round 4
I drew cards. I almost played them properly. He double-mulliganed. He played a turn 5 Stonebrow. I lost the game.
I drew cards. I played them properly. He played a turn 5 Dragon. I lost the game.
Any questions?
I know *I* have some questions...
Do you keep this opening hand:
Rough/Tumble, Deadwood Treefolk, Search for Tomorrow, 3 Forests, Mountain?
It has no action, and the Deadwood Treefolk is, uh, dead until you get guys into the graveyard. I thought he was a bomb, but he's really only "all that" in top-deck battles and the late game of a war of attrition that's stalled. That's what we call, "insights from Mr. Obvious" - it's like you're reading StarCity set reviews right here on LiveJournal!
Zing!
So it's five land and a mediocre mass-kill spell. I kept it because he was going first with 5 cards, and I figure I can buy time and perhaps a 2 for 1 with the Rough.
Needless to say, Rough feels like Gentle against Stonebrow.
What I also failed to remember, of course, is that everyone has a Dragon in their deck, and if Tumble is the only way you have to deal with a 6/6 flyer, you need to save it. Rough/Tumble is a 6-mana Wing Snare for me. I've taken two or three of the cocky flying lizards down already today. So my opening hand was 5 mana and nothing.
Another question...
When you're tapped out and your opponent attacks with a 2/3 and 6/6 into your 3/6 Deadwood, do you:
1) block the 6/6 and throw away your 3/6 for no reason?
2) block the 2/3 despite having Stonewood Invocation in hand and no other creatures with the assumption that you're opponent in the 2-1 bracket is an idiot and thus is just throwing away his 2/3 for no reason?
3) take 8 and play a Totem with four mana free the next turn so you can destroy the Stonebrow?
I think we can all guess which idiotic play I might have chosen...and for those that are interested, "Ovinize" was the trick. Word of Seizing was his next trick and he likely would have used it the following turn on my 3/6 (to be countered by the Invocation), so it's not like an auto-win - my opponent's 5-card hand was pretty good (or my 7 cards were just bad?) My only other option was to immediately Rough the Shaper Parasite as a 1-for-1 so my River Boa lived (not really good against Stonebrow), but I got greedy with so many lands in hand AND he missed his third land drop AND he didn't have any Islands at that point and there aren't a lot of scary green or red morphs.
More questions...
Do you keep this hand:
Battering Sliver, Call of the Herd, Stuffy Doll, Yavimaya Dryad, Forest, Mountain, Mountain?
I think you do. You have turn 3 Call with a turn 4 follow-up on a single land. Thus the Dryad isn't that important on turn 3, but if it does come up then Stuffy Doll is next and you only need one more land to play your hand.
It turned out really well if he didn't have a 6/6 flier on turn 5. I actually raced and almost beat Intet because he drew so many lands, but he picked up enough blockers to take the match.
What can you do? (besides, of course, playing properly and not losing earlier rounds to lag and pressing the wrong key)