Won the PPTQ with the deck so as always - match review.
R1 vs GW tokens
His deck was unusual but was a very intricate and fully fledged Gideon, NIssa (OGW) deck which utilized captaiins claws, kor blade whirl and impressively tajura warcaller. The deck quickly set up some very scary boardstates.but my planewalker brigade did eventually pull though though potentially only because he misplayed and attacked me rather than Sorin in g1 as he hadn't considered the scale of the life that I could gain with Sorin over proceding turns.
R2 vs Abzan
I can't remember much of the matchup but I remember g1 going well and being able to clear his board with spot removal and then set up shop with ob nixilis and oath of jace to then scry for my other planeswalkers (Gideon, sorin) which would win me the game quickly.
g2 I sided in self inflicted wound for a silkwrap. The trick is minimal sideboarding. Don't deviate heavily from the decks gameplan. I never had to board in more than four cards all day.
R3 vs Jeskai Burn
His deck used stormchaser mage, mantis rider, jeskai charm, thunderbreak and cruise. Lots of incidental damage. Kalitsas being unanswered made g1 good and though the opponent ended up getting me low on life he couldn't quite finish me off with my strong instant speed removal and lifegain and he flooded very badly. G2 can't remember.
R4 vs UR Prowess
Very interesting matchup as you always have to balance the instant speed removall against tapping out for your own threats. Just pulled through g1 despite a turn 1 swiftspear. Kalitas again was out of range of impulse and slash and could reallyh take over the game. I did make a great call for g2 and sided in disdainfu stroke. It only hits his cruises or cutd. I did bring in surges and the one stroke here and both were spectacular. It was a close match but oath of gideon + sorin holds the fort.
R5 Mardu Green
The deck was a dark dwellers deck with a heavy amonunt of incidiental damage through rhino, crackling doom and others. I boarded but i think i boarded quite incorrectly. I got virulent plagued g2 and didn't have enough non- tokens to really ever get any reasonable traction onto the board. I was buried in card advantage by a skillful opponent.
R6 Intentional draw
Despite rally being a good matchup which I've tested extensively for I did ID so I could go and get food and rejuvenate in time for the top 8.
Top 8--- Standing 5th
Quarterfinal vs RB dragons
A somewhat rough matchup. I have to be able to deal with the creatures immediately otherwise they punish me hard. After a shaky start on lands and painful truths whilst I was being beatdown by thunderbreak and hangarback walker I did manage to stabilise and stick kalitas to the field.
g2 she mulled to 5 and i kept 7 but my hand of entirely removal spells was duressed and she manage to durdle enough to play read the bones and outpost siege to solidify her long term card advantage. I eventually lost to outpost siege.
g3 i kept 7 and despite not having much to do with my mana til late game and having to be transgress the minded afew times I did manage to fight my way through a hordeling outburst and a couple of dragons before getting my threats online. Oath of Jace brought me from just a sorin on field to an oath of gideon backed up with removal spells. I then scryed into secure the wastes which invalidated a transgress the mind and i later cast this for 6 warriors and swamped the field with lifelink warriors. I then Gideon emblemed. Good match. Strong opponent and I do think that RB dragons is a dangerous matchup for a mainly planeswalker orientated deck.
Semifinal vs Mardu Green (Same opponent as R5)
This time I knew what to expect and could pick and choose when I have him options for him to cast his earlier spells so that he wouldn't have them in GY when he would otherwise be wanting to cast dwellers. g1 I got a gideon on board that went unasnwered for too long. He was also cut off white mana until far too late in the game and he correctly attributed this to variance.
g2 I knew he would side in virulent plague again so this time with this in mind I brought in the dranas, the surge of riighteousness and the self inflicted wound. I took out silkwrap, gideon, oath of gideon and afew other switches in order to minimise my vulnerability to plague and to have a more of a beatdown plan in mind for g2. It worked well and i had him expend his hand trying to control my board state. He did play plague early on and oddly I had to play oath of Gideon on the next turn just to get the loyalty affect. I emblemed gideon early to give tokens some relevance but also just to cash him in before he was inevitably ruinous pathed. I tried to stick an ob nixilis and then had to settle for getting a kalitas to stick. He then misplayed and tried to fiery impulse it twifce (using soulfire buyback) in order to kill it. of course it was a 4/5 so it didn't die to his impulse. I did then counter his painful truths and kill his soulfire GM simultaneously with silumgars command and then my planeswalkers and both oath antics gave me unbeatable endgame.
Finals vs Jeskai Burn (Same opponent as R3)
I played this matchup and was happy that my lifegain engines had been enough to swing the games in my favour before. He did get early mantis and stormchaser on the field that I had to deal with. I did eventually fight my way through his creatures and jace. In the mean time he had drawn cards with read the bones but he had spent cards putting me to 4 with burn. I was able to get sorin out and level our life totals before kalitas and sorin went on to win me the game through aggro and lifelink.
g2 I got over run fast by mantis rider and multiple thunderbreaks.
g3 the early game was even but my kalitas had started to take over the lategame and he didn't seem to have a answer. He ended up double blocking 5/6 kalitas with stormchaser and seeker before trying many prowess antics. Thankfully I'd found a grasp on top of my deck so could significantly blow him out and leave me with a 7/8 lifelinker. I ended the game on 37 life.
Very close game. In this matchup watchout for pia and kiran nalaar as well as negate. In order to stay proactive and threatening it's probably best to assume that only 1 dispel can be brought in to fight against counterspells.
Overall very good games and the level of play was high.
