Learning this deck has been tons of fun so far. Discard spells make for interesting decisions, as does K-Command. I burned myself on Blood Moon a few times including stranding 2 Liliana in hand with only 1 black source to lost a game to B/W Soul Sisters. Stringing together Bedlam Revelers feels so broken. Hitting an 'I Win' card like Blood Moon or Ensnaring Bridge feels like a gamble more than a win.
Match breakdown:
Affinity 2-1. First match playing the deck was a loss. Fast start for him and I used Looting all wrong. Also did a K-Command misplay. Unsure of sideboarding aside from Wear/Tear. Really need to make a SB plan for common matches. Luckily the second and third game went swimmingly. Just killed all the stuff and barely got attacked for two matches. Feels almost like a free win.
Ponza 2-1 Discard kills Ponza, but 3 Tireless Trackers resolving drowned me in value game 1. Game 2 He resolved 2 Obstinate Baloth, but knowing his hand from a discard spell, I left a fetch uncracked to Push the first. The second took 2 spells, but that was no problem. Thoughtseize stole away the Stormbreath the turn before he could cast it and the token army finished him off. Match 3 was an attrition war, but again discard seized the day. Feels good to be so competitive against a deck the G/W decks had so much trouble against.
Hoomans 2-0 Game 1 he mulled to a usable 6, but kill spells kept him at bay. A late blood moon took him off mana. I misplayed by killing a Thalia's Lieutenant and a Noble instead of both nobles. Luckily, I looted into another kill spell and took him off mana to seal the game. Game 2, and early Blood Moon locked the game up quickly. Boarding out Vial due to K-Command was probably correct, but proved costly. 6 I win cards and a bunch of kill spells is hard for human to beat. Another match that feels free.
Abzan Combo 2-0 Another match the my old G/W auto-scoop to. I went down to 10 life, mostly from shocks and Thoughtseize. Just killing pieces over and over is pretty effective. Gme 2 he switched to pure value. 2 Discard speels took care of 2 Finks, but a third resolved. Duskwatch hit for 3 activations before I could kill it and, E Witness got back a Finks. Luckily he was strained on mana and couldn't activate Gavony to revive the finks and activate Duskwatch in the same turn. A long grind and going to 4 life before chump blocking whittled away his guys. 5 points of burn finished him off. Was nice to have favorable, fun matches against 4 very popular, powerful modern decks on my first night playing.
Night 2
G/R Eldrazi: 2-0 Another favorable match, Thoughtseize got rid of BBE's and gave me a head's up for TKS. They required 2 spells to kill, but that's okay. Overall pretty easy, but it was opponent's first time playing the borrowed deck. Should still be favorable.
B/W Soul Sisters 2-1: Hardest match so far. G1 we traded 1-for-1 but he got ahead to start. I got blown out by Blessed Alliance pumping Ajani's Pridemate to get out of bolt range. I had mana for bolt up when he was tapped out, knew about the Blessed Alliance, but just punted. After a Blood Moon slowed the game, I stabilized at 1 life and Reveled my way to victory. Game 2, He nuked my graveyard on turn 0 and I had no Wear/Tear boarded in. I Blood Mooned myself off 2 topdecked Liliana, he drew two basics, and I just died uncontested. Game 3 the deck showed it's resilience. He boarded out a lot of threats and was stuck with 2 Anguished Unmaking and a Damnation in hand as I just played spells and stocked my graveyard. He killed my medium sized token army with a Damnation, but a Reveler and Souls flashback quickly refilled the board. Good match though, and well played. I think Opp. took the control roll, but should have stayed aggressive.
Jeskai Control- Discard did work. Tokens were hard to deal with and he ended up using a small Secure the Wastes for chump blockers. Desperation Azcanta activation yielded no Supreme Verdict, but I had a Reveler in hand and Souls in the yard if it did. Not playing into a wrath felt good. So did game 2 where an early Blood Moon locked him out of the game.
Overall, the deck feels very strong against the other top tier decks. There are tons of decisions to make, lots of card advantage to be had, and tokens are always fun. Happy to dodge Tron and big Eldrazi, but it can't last forever.
