This RCQ was really fun for me and also made me realize how polarizing my deck was. I believe if i grinded a little more i would have realized what more tunings the board needed, luckily after bottoming out in fnm the day before I got hit in the face with the changes i needed to make to the board as most of my board did the same things. changes before included:
+2 thoughtseize
+1 stern scolding
+ Thraben charm
+1 Deafening silence
+1 Damping Sphere
-1 kaya usurper
-1 kaya guile
-1 Worship
-1 Cling to dust
-1 cathar commando
-1 prismatic ending
I didn't get my second suncleanser in the mail and I probably should just trade for a third one at this point but i didnt realize how steep 1 matchup was for me. That being said the tournament went really well with this deck and im very proud of how this performed. Was a smaller pool for the tournament but it was a very dynamic and diverse metagame. The games went as follows:
Match 1: 2-0 vs Dimir Murktide
A local friend, g1 managed to bait out responses with bowmasters and fight for a teferi resolution, after which i got a slithy followed up with a subtley on the second murktide resolution. From there i could go off and consistently bounce his murktides. Opp mulled to 6 both games, and g2 thoughtseize turn 1 was crucial as i got to hit frog and saw he had snare when i had mostly 3 drops in hand (slithy, tef, and an archmages charm), as well as harbinger of the tides which allowed me to fetch for plains.
Match 2: 2-0 vs G Eldrazi Tron
G1 opp eventually hit natural tron but was very late; Let 4karn resolve but killed it after slithy out t3, countered ring and went under devourer when slithy was exiled with subtlety; opp also misplayed when hardcasting ulamog because he forgot his cavern and could counter it, allowing my bowmasters to get in for exactsies. G2 opp mulled to 5 and i had the perfect curve of thoughtseize into cunning nightbonder into being able to play bowmasters and sam with counter up even though i capped on 3 lands for a while. opp resolved an all is dust but i followed that end step with a slithy and punched in for lethal.
Match 3: 2-0 vs Mill
Another local, knew my deck pretty well, man made it to top 4.
Managed to avoid traps on t1 fetch and immediate lorien revealed. Got going really fast with slitherwisp and snowballed pretty hard, opp surgicaled bowmasters with 3 visions in hand but couldnt get my yard to 20 with 1 hedron crab. g2 was grindy, man hit slitherwisp in the yard with surgical but whiffed when he surgicaled tidebinder afterward which got it out of my hand. This was a misplay as i had samwise on board and another in my hand, and i got ring tempt to max. Another misplay was man blew his push as his last card in hand with 1 crab on board before my turn, so i could grab the sam via the other sam and replay it. Doing the math i probs would have lost g2 if he didnt as he could have not had to block with crab, allowing him to replay his sanctuary and mill me out; i did have solitude and counter in hand and i used the counter on a top deck visions but i dont remember if i had the mana for both to respond to the sanctuary bounce.
Match 4: 1-2 vs Mardu Energy
Opp had decklist errors from the start with a mispenciling and losing one of his one rings. This led to a game loss but holy jesus this matchup is TERRIBLE for me. G1 opp went very wide with bombardment so slitherwisp was extremely hard to resolve and keep alive. G2 I got a suncleanser but opp drew 3 if not 4 ajanis if i remember, as I remember countering one, solituding another and then he resolved another, then having bombardment to dodge ephemerate on solitude and transform. (cant remember if there was a fourth in this time). I was facing down phlage as well with no slitherwisp, and opp also resolved one ring as a blew my second counter on t2 raptor (probs a mistake). from there i got out attritioned with bowmasters and planeswalker ajani, used ajani to kill my suncleanser and i couldnt keep up. This guy ended up winning the tournament as well. Felt like dogwater after losing this with a free round but this matchup is cheeks givien how difficult it is to play into energy package backed by thoughtseize and bowmatsters. Misplayed FOD as well and realized it really isnt that hot in this matchup.
Match 5: 2-0 vs Dimir Murktide
This was kinda sus and made me feel sus ngl. All of the locals i played i consider friends as we have been plaing for some time, and one was playing next to me vs a storm player. Opp offered me a draw if the storm player won because that would assure that both of us got to finals. I just kinda said lets play and i ll think on it and said okay to everything as i had mad nerves firing off after my last game. I personally wanted to play it out until game 3, although i was having big nerves from the last one and didnt mention taking the draw if we went to g3.
This matchup began to look easy as cake for me, and as soon as i saw his deck i felt more relieved. vs murktide i finally found sideboard was always 2 thoughtseize, 1 dispute and 1 tef in and some combination of push, counter, titi and phelia out
G1 was a staring contest until i could use flash creatures to bait a point where i could resolve teferi with a counterspell up, bouncing murktide. Eventually opp resolved a harbinger but didnt matter much as i drew cards of archmages charm that i tutored for and had a board so was a grand staring contest until i could work up the damage to win. G2 resolved a tef after a bowmaster war, bounced the abhorrent eyeball but opp manifested a bowmasters and killed tef. Luckily i drew a bowmasters, then killed his bowmasters and top kecked a counter for the eyeball. I got 2 slitherwisps on board immediately after. Opp offered to draw again and wait to report, I wanted to draw only if he managed to come back from this game. won off slithy pushes behind solitude and samwise, and opp said we were drawing after I punched in 2-0. Idk how to feel about that kind of thing as it was my first time in this situation. Luckily the local beat the storm player so i felt zero guilt after and turns out my decision to punch 2-0 was probably right.
Top 4 Match 1: 0-2 Boros Energy
This match was against the other local who faced the storm player earlier. ngl I probs had a better chance making it to the final match if the murktide player made it. Critizise me if one wishes. I also was kind of the final boss for him as we had a history of him playing zoo and me always somehow getting most of my solitudes and ephems and blowing him out of the water, was a fun series.
G1 I dont remember much, I had play from the higher match winrate but opp knew my deck well and saved all his spot removal for slitherwisp, which he had bombardment + 3 bolts/discharges. My hand was kind of questionable but I couldnt punish a one ring and he went out of control with the one ring as my bowmasters got pinged.
G2 was GRINDY. I drew all 3 solitudes and ephemerates and kept him at bay for a long time. Eventually i resolved slitherwisp but i had no other gas in my hand after trading card for card with him and he managed to resolve a one ring right after. I got to a weird decision where i had an esper charm and a subtlety in hand at 5 hp, with him having a raptor on board with bombardment and 2 cards in hand. I thought i had to block with wisp and decided to draw off charm on end step. Might have been right as i drew push and pushed ajani after but had to block with slitherwisp as my second card was a solitude that i didnt have the mana for, and if he had any other creatures i was toast. eventually got to a situation where he had ring and i had 2 life to his 5 with subtlety and solitude on board. I had an ephemerate up vs his 5 mana but i topdecked stern scolding as my second card. I tried to ephemerate subtlety on a phlage but he drew bolt for the win.
Overall super happy with my performance. Aside from the energy matchup this deck delivered, and the sideboard changes i made seemed to be VERY correct aside from missing suncleansers or something to deal with energy. Any suggestions are appreciated.
