Made a small change, swapping out the 2x Fatal Push for 2x Lightning Bolt. I've found that Push is a dead card in a significant amount of matchups, and in those same matchups it is hard to get an instant in the yard to turn on Delirium. This will take away from our creature matchups so I may have to find a way to add a second Maelstrom Pulse into the 75 somewhere to compensate.
Monday Night Magic 4-0 overall, placed 1st.
Match 1 vs. Knightfall combo. Win 2-1
Game 1: Opponent assembles his combo turn 4 to get an infinite sized Walking Ballista and I scoop. I boarded in an Anger of the Gods, Kozilek's Return, and both Collective Brutality, and took out a couple Street Wraith and both Kolaghan's Command. Game 2: I choose to cast a Seal of Fire on turn 1 instead of an Inquisition of Kozilek, knowing that this would prevent opponent from casting a 3 drop the next turn. He plays a Noble Hierarch on his turn one, knowing that it will be killed. I follow that up with a turn 2 IOK, a turn 3 Tarmogoyf, and a turn 4 Thoughtseize. I ride the Tarmogoyf to victory. Game 3: I have one piece of hand disruption and zero spot removal in my opener, but I do have some creatures, lands, and an Anger of the Gods. I make my opponent discard a Eternal Witness and follow it up with a Grim Flayer and a Tarmogoyf. Opponent doesn't have the combo but gets a bunch of value creatures into play and 2 mana dorks. We both go into top deck mode with both of our life totals low. I never find a second red source to cast the Anger, but manage to topdeck a Temur Battle Rage and go overtop of his blockers for the win.
Match 2 Vs. Burn Win 2-1
Game 1: I Fetch, Shock, and Thoughtseize on turn one on the play and see a hand loaded with burn spells. I get a turn 2 Tarmogoyf into play. Opponent puts me down to 11 and gets a creature into play. I cast two Death's Shadow the next turn. I swing in with the team and bring his life total low enough to ensure a win next turn. He burns me down to 6 and keeps blockers up. I swing in and cast a Temur Battle Rage to win. I bring in both Collective Brutality and take out a couple Street Wraith. Game 2 I attack the opponents hand after he opens with a Grim Lavamancer. I manage to get his life total down low with a Grim Flayer and a Tarmogoyf, but he casts a Deflecting Palm on the Tarmogoyf which takes my life total down to 3, then casts a bolt for the win. Game 3 I cast a fully escalated Collective Brutality turn 2 after mulliganing to 6 cards. I take a Lightning Helix, kill a Grim Lavamancer and drain gain. Opponent is left with a Rift Bolt and a Eidolon of the Great Revel and a few lands. He casts the Eidolon and I chose to not kill it immediately, instead casting a Tarmogoyf. Opponent ends up taking 4 damage off his own Eidolon while not being able to attack me through the Goyf. I finally kill the Eidolon, but my life total is 6 points higher than the opponent's, and I follow it up with two Death's Shadow. I manage to swing in, cast a Temur Battle Rage, and hit for far more than lethal while still out of burn range.
Match 3 Vs. Mono Blue Tron Win 2-0
Game 1 I attack the opponents hand turns 1, 3, and 4, while casting a Grim Flayer turn 2. Opponent's hand is stripped of early interaction and he can't stop my follow up creatures. I bring in a Dreadbore, Choke, and both Fulminator Mage, but don't see any of them next game. Game 2 I attack the opponents hand and see 2x Condescend, Remand, Karn, Scion of Urza, and some lands. I take the Remand and intentionally cast a Grim Flayer into the Condescend on turn 2 to get it into the yard for delirium. I take the opponents second Condescend on turn 3, then get a Goyf onto the board. Opponent gets Karn into play and activates once to get a basic land. I attack the Karn and Bolt it to get it off the board. I follow up with 2x Shadow, so that I present 3 must answer threats next turn. Opponents casts a Cyclonic Rift to send them all back to hand. I recast them and traverse for a Bloodbraid Elf which I keep in hand so that I can play it in second main and hope to Cascade into a Bolt for the win. The opponent can't answer both the creatures in combat, plus the second main Bloodbraid and I take the win.
Match 4 Vs. Infect Win 2-0
I cast an IOK on turn 1 and take a Noble Hierarch leaving opponent with a handful of pump spells and a creature land. I get my lifetotal low and cast two 1/1 DSs on turn 2. Opponent hits me with a creature land and I take 5 infect damage. Turn 3 I swing in with two 4/4 Shadows, then use a Thoughtseize to take another pump spell out of oppenents hand. They swing back with the manland, but can't pump high enough to win. Turn 4 I swing with two 6/6 Shadows and TBR for the win. Game 2 goes almost exactly the same as game 1, with me taking 8 infect damage but winning with a TBR on a Death's Shadow.
Final thoughts: The Lightning Bolt in place of the Fatal Push was relevant in both games against Mono Blue Tron, where game 1 it hit for 3 damage to the face and helped turn on Delirium, and game 2 it helped a Goyf to get a Karn off the board. In both situations if the Bolts hand instead been Pushes then the Karn would have not been removable that turn and the push would have been a dead card in hand all game.
The Lightning bolt would have performed poorer against a large Knight of the Reliquary, but with the Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse there were still outs in the deck. I will continue to test without Push, but I am finally starting to feel confidant in this 75.
I am still unsure of the Choke in the sideboard and feel that this slot should be for a Thrun, the Last Troll which may be better against control, but have not tested.
Overall, this was a night of mostly good play, where I only made a major punt once by missing a Grim Flayer trigger. I felt confidant in my early game decisions and was rewarded. I am still thinking about how to squeeze in a third TBR into the list but I am not prepared to cut any cards just yet.
