I went in not knowing what to expect, and that theme continued throughout the night.
Round 1-
In round 1, I went up against a kid who couldn't have been older than 10, and his deck reflected that. It was a casual-turned-standard Boros aggro, I flooded out the board with threats and won 2-0
Round 2-
This is where things got scary. I decided to keep a slow hand because all the people around me in the last round were playing various midrange strategies, and my opponent ended up being on mono-red aggro/burn. He ran me over before I had a chance to do anything in game one. Game two I sided in my Clerics and buckled in. I started with a great hand, Kytheon on one, my choice of Knight or Anafenza on two, Brimaz on three, and Archangel on four. He burned out all of them except the Archangel and it chipped him away until he scooped. Game 3 was a nail-biter; I kept a hand that looked a lot like the one last game, but no one drop and no Archangel. I was confident I would draw into it though, so I kept and hoped for the best. He kept a hand of approximately five burn spells, and so we went back and forth, him burning my creatures and my face, me chipping in. I had him at 10 with a raided Wingmate Roc and a Knight of the White Orchid that stuck around, and he had me at 2 with a Swiftspear on board. He then top decked an Eidolon of the Great Revel and matched that with the Searing Blood in his hand and nullified the Valorous Stance I had in hand and won it. 1-2 that round.
Round 3-
In round three, I was ready for not aggro, so I kept a quick hand and went to work. My opponent was on Dimir control. He had answers for everything I did and after he resolved a Dragonlord's Prerogative and Dig through time, I had enough and scooped. Sideboarding for game two was a little odd, as I'd never actually played standard against an even semi-experienced control player and had no idea what to look for, so I brought in the Citadel Sieges and took out all of the removal and we started. I kept as pretty hand with a very nice curve, and throughout the game, he was stuck on one blue mana source with a hand of Digs and Dissolves, so he scooped after I got him to 5. Game three needed to happen quick, as we only had 8 minutes left in the round, so he ended up keeping a questionable hand and I kept a nice curve, so I won it out in short order. 2-1 in round three put me at 2-1 on the night.
Round 3-
Round three was reminiscent of round one, but this time is was a weird Izzet midrange deck that ran Akroan Sergeant, Sigiled Starfish, Flamespeaker Adept, and Infectious Bloodlust, as well as Clash of Wills and Triton Shorestalker. I specifically mention those because in both of the games we played, I only saw those cards. They were uneventful games and I won 2-0, putting me at 3-1 on the night and locking me into 5th place.
So I learned that I need serious help against any kind of burn, because I just don't have enough answers, so suggestions are welcome! Thanks everybody!
