SCG Montana State Championship Top 8 5-1-2 Naya Hexproof Transformers

Man I haven't written anything in so long. You know life stuff etc etc. Let's just skip the introduction and talk about the trip.

The Montana State Championship was graciously hosted by Rook's Comics & Games in Bozeman MT.

We had a total of 88 players making it my largest tournament to Top 8 in. I honestly haven't done decently with any deck in months and I wasn't going to go but Kris at KAB Sports Cards dragged me along. My only deck I had put together was Naya Hexproof. With so much removal and big creatures in the format it's a deck that lets me kind of play my own game. It feels more like it's mine to win or lose. Though I definitely was expecting an 0-2 drop and to just go drinking with Kris and the boys. What happened was a miracle. Let's go to the deck.

So on the ride to the SC I started thinking about my deck and how difficult it is to pull one thing or another out of it and still have everything be functional. I ultimately decided having a bunch of "one of's" and "two of's" just wasn't where I wanted to be. If I was going to win at all I needed a leg up on my opponents. So I dumped my sideboard and added a top of aggro creatures. That way when they pull all their removal out after game one seeing as I literally only had one target-able creature I could switch to an aggro deck and just dump a bunch of creatures on them.

This is what happened...

• Match 1 Naya HexProof Vs Mono-red devotion 2-0

Game 1: I was on the play Witchstalker into ethereal armor x2 unflinching courage turn 5 boros charm.
Game 2: on the draw, I got stuck on temples on his turn three he played a boros reckoner, I played bassara archer, turn 4 Fanatic of mogis (ugh) I'm down to 13 attach gift or orzhova up to 16, turn 5 Storm breath dragon down to 5. shockland  for x2 madcap skills back to 12. he swings for 11. "sooo, you have a lightning strike?" "nope" 2-0 me.

• Match 2 Naya HexProof Vs Brave naya 2-1

game 1 though I was on the draw I ended up pushing him out with multiple armors and courage it was quick. game 2 he raced and beat me with ghor-clans to the face before I could get online. Game 3 He played a fabled hero and blew his hand pumping it for a kill swing with ghor-clan boros charm and giant growth. I played selesnya charm. 2-1 me. Worth noting I wasn't really paying attention because I was gonna charm him anyway but we both got a written warning for him getting heroic off ghor-clan :(

• Match 3 Naya HexProof Vs Brave naya 2-1

Same deal more or less. I lost game 1 and won game 3 and 3. game 2 was sort of interesting in that I completely flooded out on gladecover scouts and 0 enchantments.....and one selesnya charm. I baited out a brave the elements with a banishing light and then waited for the big pump *exile*. Game 3 was kinda lame. He had me dead on board turn 6 but got stuck on 3 mana and couldn't combo. *magic*

• Match 4 Naya HexProof Vs B/G Devotion 2-0

I felt I had a very terrible match up against this deck but ultimately I was able to draw out all the removal spells and push through both games. Game 2 He made the mistake of thoughtseizing twice for my enchantments. It's unfortunate because my enchantments though scary are easily replaced and also target-able with golgari charm and abrupt decay. Though with how fast I moved both games I'm not sure there was an out of any kind if I'd drawn more creatures. I'd sided in 8 for game two. He stabilized at 8 life using devour flesh on my 4 unflinching couraged voice of resurgence. I had 2 boros charms in hand with the right mana on my next turn.

• Match 5 Naya HexProof Vs Junk Midrange 2-0

I wish I could provide a little more detail on this match up. Ultimately both games he got two a turn 3 advent of the worm which I had a banishing light for or a bigger meaner dude.

At this point I was an incredible 5-0 and the top seed. I double drew in to top 8 and then....

• Top 8 Round 1 Naya HexProof Vs Junk Midrange 0-2

Same guy Andrew. My game 1 I had 2 temple gardens an archer an eidolon an ethereal armor an ajani, and a boros charm. I never saw another land :(. Game 2 My opener was 6 lands and a madcap skills. I mulled to 6 with 3 perfect lands and 3 enchantments. I don't know why I kept it. I suck at magic. I didn't keep a bad hand the entire tournament until then but of course I never saw a creature. The tilt strike again.

Congrats to him btw he won the whole thing :)

I'm the failwhale in the Red. Norwood to my left. The picture was taken at the beginning of the top 8. Jeremy behind me won.

Then we went out and drank until a tard I'll leave anonymous (it was ian) puked all over our hotel room.

Billings MT WNM 1/8/2014 1st 4-0 baby red aggro

Wow its been a while since I posted anything but I finally have something worth talking about so I figured I'd share. There's not much to say except that the star of the deck was Madcap skills.Very few decks are running any kind of early removal and in some cases I was able to get 10-14 damage in the first 3 turns.

• Round 1 Lars running Simic Prophet of Kruphix 2-1 My deck was incredibly fast by the time he could get Polukranos, World Eater out I had firefist striker out and had done critical damage though game two he ultimated and easily wiped my whole board. My only side in was a flames of the firebrand and chandra, pyromaster. Looking back on it I think I almost like chandra over the fanatic since I'm running babies. 

• Round 2 Kolby running U/W control. 2-1 Again he took 14 damage but turn 3 game one. I'm not sure what the decklist should be but even after mulls he had trouble seeing lands and often those were guildgate as he runs 4. against midrange he would have been fine. 

• Round 3 Tyler running B/W mid range. 2-0 It stings when you get a cackler into a burning tree into magma jet taking out your only blocker. Game two could have gotten tough but he walked a desecration demon  into a cackler and a mizzium mortars. 

• Round 4 Kris running B/W mid range. 2-0 Not even close pretty much a replay of the 3 round. It's worth noting I mulled to 6 about 50% of the time to get my two lands. A one land hand is unkeepable for this deck by a long shot. Also though I feel madcap skills is an all-star I would not run 4. I remember brian kibbler I believe running a similar deck and losing a top deck war to a late game madcap skills and no creatures. Lastly Magma jet scrying made a big impact in all my games keeping my momentum stable through to the end. I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep running this but I recommend taking note of how many people are playing mid-range and to consider this deck over devotion or weenies.

Life, Bowling Green Ky Super Invitational Qualifier and Louisville Ky GP!

Oh Boy, This is gonna be a long one and I just can't think of a way to condense it. It's been too long since I've written anything and I had a busy two weeks. If you want a TLDR read I top8'd an inviational Qualifier and made day 2 with an old RDW at the Louisville GP. you can just skip down for pics and the decklist.

 So I live in Billings MT, it's the biggest city in Montana though only 120k people. It is however very dense like Boston it's 15 minutes from one part of the city to the other so its fairly crowded. With that in mind our FNM is surprisingly large with sometimes 30+ people because it's basically one shop for the whole city. This has been a boon to me because it's very competitive and flush with netdecks. So even though this is the first year I've ever played magic it's been kind of a crash course.

I was pretty apprehensive when I headed home to see my family and saw that weirdly enough there was an Invitational Qualifier In bowling Green Ky and a Grand Prix in Louisville Ky right near my house. Ultimately I convinced myself that it would be a learning experience and would be fun. You have to remind yourself in magic a lot that its about fun.

 I went to an FNM first at Something2Do in Louisville oxmoor. Man I won't even discuss it I got my head kicked in. Just bad shuffles and anxiety looking back on it.

 I ended up rolling down to Bowling green for a Super Invitational Qualifier .

There's me standing around like I forgot how to play Magic.

 This was my deck.

I went 3-1-1 and tied out top 8. 

The reason being was we got our mats and $125 a piece. For a quick road trip to bowling green it was nice. After the tie out we played for 3 months of SCG premium and an invitational pass. I was immediately beat out by a blue devotion deck I'd beaten easily in the swiss. Once again the pressure got to me. We had two judges sitting next to us and I just couldn't do it. My anxiety attacks got to me again I had him dead on board and completely misplayed.

After heading back to Louisville I had a long time to think about my deck and what changes had to be made.

I came up with this.

 

Friday night I signed up for the GP and got my playmat and All is dust promo 

I have to admit heading into the Louisville GP I was pretty nervous and starstruck. 1100 players in a tiny hall. barely room to breath. I remember standing there looking for my first pairing and Brad nelson bumped past me to get the pairings website(lucky sob had 3 byes :|). When my name came up it had no pairing. Just said 1B. WTF? I got a bye? I had to ask a judge cause I didn't believe it. I'd laid in bed the night before feeling dread over having to tough out 9 rounds with a deck that hadn't even made top 8 in weeks. I actually did an embarrassing little dance. So anyway here's how my rounds went.

• Round 1 Baby Bye bye bye 

• Round 2 Really nice guy from St. Louis playing R/G Monsters. I was scared ****less but I figured whatever I'll lose my matches say I showed up and go home happy. Match 1 - I just ran over him before he could stabilize and that was it. Match 2 he got big and my deck didn't show up. Match 3- he kept a 1 land hand and a bunch of 1 drop dorks......oh nooo. I felt so bad. he never saw another land. Nate 2-1. 

• Round 3 G/W aggro. This deck is seriously my goddamn nemesis. Oh you got a smiter out and I didn't draw mortars? Oh yeah that is an Unflinching Courage. Yeah its cool I'll just scoop now :(. Loss 1-2. 

• Round 4 B/W midrange. man the deck is unwieldy. So mana greedy. I'm too fast his removals too slow. Yeah thats an obzedat. Here's 2 Chandra's phoenix. Oh and a Reckoner. Win 2-1 

• Round 5 5 Color Control. That's a lot of shock lands. Poor guy killed himself trying to stabilize. Win 2-0. Was such a shut out I had to keep apologizing every time I played a card. 

• Round 6 Blue Devotion this is a tough match up for me. Nightveil Specter shut off all my aggro and just sits there like a stupid brick wall and Master of waves is a RDW inpregnable fortress. I don't remember anything but being surprised I actually won. There is some luck in magic. 2-0 nate. *Also I played sitting next to Chris Van Meter. My social anxiety disabled my ability to get a picture with him. 

• Round 7 White Weenies. Again purphoros smiled down on me. I was just too fast for him. Spear of heliod normally shuts off aggro but Boros reckoner is like the grumpy cat of magic. NO. Win 2-0 nate 

• Round 8 Esper control being played by Andrew Morrow...where do I know that name? Here's an actual quote from Andrew 

Why do you have to be playing the most aggressive deck in standard? :(.

Game 3 ended with me playing a Burning earth and him being at 4 life with 4 dual lands. Sorry Andrew :( 

• Round 9 Blue Devotion being played by a guy who knows exactly how to play against RDW. waaah waaaah Loss 0-2 nate **** you Nightveil Specter. 

DAY 2

• Round 10 White weenies. God I don't want to talk about this. Game one was a shut out I creamed him. So here's the thing. Game 2 A judge walks over and sits down watching my opponent. "excuse me you're gonna have to speed it up." couple minutes later "You need to make a play".. I check my watch " I'm issuing you a warning next is a game loss". He sits at 8 life with a Spear of heliod and 5 2/2's. I have 6 2/2's and a boros reckoner. At this point there's so much on the board and a Judge watching us. I blanch. Oh no I'm having a panic attack. I draw a lightning strike. I shoot...at his Opposing sovereign. WHYYY GOD WHYYYY? He plays Brave the elements. I forget brave the elements lasts until the end of turn. I swing all in. [B]A moment of Silence for the Worst Magic player ever. [/B] game 3 I'm on the play tilted and keep a 4 land terrible hand and draw 4 lands exactly like any idiotic RDW player who keeps that should. loss 1-2 nate. 

I played a couple more rounds but it didn't matter I was tilted but happy I made day two. Traded Firedrinker Satyrs all over the place like a day one magic player. and thats it. I went home happy I got to play in my first competitive event. I met BBD, Andrew tengen, Andrew Morrow, Pushed brad Nelson out of my way to see my pairings, Had Reid Duke stare at me for some reason and Stunk badly while playing next to Chris van Meter because I forgot my deodorant. Also a girl broke my heart and I hope she dies of Redbutt Monkey Aids.

This is Louisville From the Big 4 walking Bridge

Door prize for a deck check in Bowling Green SIQ 

  And this is the story of my Life ...