The setting was the release party today at Outpost Antwerp, the format was Sealed. With 26 players we went to war, and when I opened my 6 boosters, I saw nothing really spectacular in itself.
But the rares where all within Blue (3) and White (2), and a Pyrexian Revoker as the 6th one. Okay, and a foil green rare, but needless to say I was going to try my hand at a control deck.
Stuffing in 5 out of the 6 rares, I did have two things going for the deck: synergy (with the River Marshal, the Paragon, the Pathmage...) and a good mana curve. The picture above shows the deck minus 8 each of islands and lands.
I hoped for a 2/3 result, with perhaps a 3/2 as only the 3+ wins would get booster rewards, and I sat down for my first match against Ides and a White Green beasts build, splashed with some black. I won the first round on a Revoker equipped with the Spectra Ward (a tip by buddy Kenny to definitly include that one in my build). The second round was also carried by the Ward, this time equipped on a Welkin and the Revoker. 2-0 and a good start.
Next up was Albert, and he brought a Red Green aggro deck to the party with a Soul of Shandalaar. I won the first round again thanks to the Ward, this time on the Dauntless, but went down with mana issues in round 2. Luckily, round 3 the draws went okay again, and I stalled with my life wall versus his creatures and all my exiles and bounces until I could bring the Leviathan in play. 2-1 and we`re unexpectedly up to a 6 points standing, only one more needed to get to the prices.
Round 3 was a deck favorite, as Sem had a pool with the red and green Souls, Generator Servants and Elves to ramp it in on turn 3... and that is exactly what he did. But unfortunatly for him, I immediatly exiled his Soul. He started building up an army then, while I defended selectively, but at 14-16 I played my trump card, bringing out the Leviathan again. With him having neither flyers nor islandwalkers in his red green ramp deck, the first round went to me. The second one he couldn`t get his big beasts out, and the few he did I bounced, taking home the win with once again the Spectra and making the Pathmage unblockable. I had his Bard on shutdown with the Revoker and white tapper combo, so unexpectantly I defeated this uber deck and got to 3-0 in the standings.
The fourth round put me against Kenny, playing Blue Green and I knew he had a lot of bounces, so i dreaded this match up. Going in color screw on the first round didn`t help either and down I went. But in the second game he went mana screw and scooped when my soldier tokens with Ward struck him. The final round I got him down to 1 measly point when he stabilized his play as he got more, but not enough, land. But when I fell down to 6, he finally had the opening I was looking for, and I could Peel from Reality an creature of mine and his untapped beast, and the Kithkin put in the deathstroke. 4-0 and I would be 1 or 2 nevertheless, as on resistance I was now in the lead with 12 points, only Jim at the same result... and he wanted to play that final game instead of voluntarily drawing...
So up we went, and this turned out to be a White and Green deck running both Nissa and Garruk! So it would come down to a good curve, selectively blocking and removing. I managed to do just that in the first round and won thanks to the Pathmage, so i was one round away from my first ever tournament vcitory. The second one, he couldn`t find an answer to... my basic Welkin Tern. And so it happened, 5 out of 5, 2 rounds lost over the whole day, 15 points in the pocket (plus 2 more for the participation numbers). And I just saw I also gained the `Unstoppable` achievement for the release lol.
And thus my personal ego is boosted, as now I can say that at least I won something once in my lifetime during my Magic career, though it did take some luck, some skill, and for me a completely unfamiliar mind mapping as I needed to play the waiting game instead of my usual all in style of play.
And now back to tinkering with my Red Aggro that Won`t Attack deck for GP Utrecht (which, thanks to Johan, I`ll be calling WTC: Win Tegen Control *Win against control* )
Epilogue: Now I have to keep that vow for myself that I once made, namely that the day that I won something bigger then a Friday Night Magic event, I would have the blue Mana symbol tattooed on my under arm, below the Hashut symbol. So yeah, when I`ll be making an appointment for the next part of the Saint Seiya sleeve, I`ll be making one for this small one as well.
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