Well guys, my first tournament has come and gone and it was a disappointing affair. I feel that I played fairly well yet I was challenged all night and seemed to be destined to struggle. Here is an overview.
Overall Record: 1-3 (2-8 in matches)
Round 1: vs Red/Blue Pump (0-2)
This was a match that started out well and I know I should have easily won. He played a couple of 1/3s that pumped when he played instants or sorcerers (im sorry I don't know the card names) and did so before swinging while I failed to find a high enough burn to take it out. Game 2 was the same, no big burn and I could not find my Ensnaring Bridges and he played multiple pump spells and massive swung.
Round 2: vs Lantern Control (0-2)
I felt good going in until I saw the first turn Lantern and knew it was going to be a long game. I managed to burn him a few times but he quickly got his lock and all I drew was land the rest of the game. Game 2 I started out hot taking him to 10 before he got his lock in which resulted in the game ending just like the first.
Round 3: Eldrazi (2-1)
I'm not gunna lie, this match was against a little kid and I STILL almost lost. Yes he was playing Eldrazi but being little and unexpierienced he wasn't aggressive enough and I managed to squeak out a win. Game 2 was struggling to find burn and he simply played creatures and beat me down. I didn't bother to SB. Game 3 was extremely close with a missed all out attack kept me alive long enough to win thanks to an unblock able river boa and a lightning bolt. I also saw 1 land through the first 4/5 turns and struggled to deal with his threats.
Round 4: Lantern Control (0-2)
Unbelievable. Saw a first turn lantern and cursed as I slowly burned him until he locked me. Didn't bother to play a game 2 as I knew my chances were very slim to win and sat there wondering how I could have faced 2 of the 3 lantern decks present.
So in the end I got 1 pack of Oath for my win against Eldrazi but left with a lot of questions about my deck. I did have to mulligan once and was short land a second game but I got a healthy mix lands so I think 20 is the magic number. I also must say that throughout the ENTIRE night I played Destructive Revelry ONCE and am thinking that I may have overestimated its need. I'm wondering if I should just leave 4 Ancient Grudge in the SB for those artifacts (or lantern!) or if I should still main board them for one more tourney and see if I need them more. Also I'm thinking that I need faster/stronger creatures to help bring my opponent down low enough where my burn can get him down to 0. Other than that I feel like I need bigger burn spells to help get the opponent down faster AND to deal with creatures in play when needed (almost all of the creatures I saw had toughness 3+) so I'm thinking incinerate should go back in and maybe re-add Lightning Blasts. I'm also looking for Lantern hate (have come across blood moon and Scapeshift but everything else appears to be white. Thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks!
