Not a super great result, overall went 3-1-2. Got pretty lucky & unlucky throughout the day. Quick Summary:
Round 1: Monoblack Zombies, 2-1
I win the die roll but game one he steam-rolls. I mess up by Abrading a Dread Wanderer to be mana efficient, and then he plays a Lord of the Accursed and my Kozilek's Return can't kill it. All his 2/2 zombies are now 3/3's, and I can't get an eldrazi to trigger it from the grave. For game 2 he didn't know what I was playing so I ramp into removal + Eldrazi. Game 3 a Weirding Wood would have one me the game 5 turns in a row by giving me BB for Cut / Ribbons to kill him. It gets too late for that out and I need an Eldrazi to win, or else I die to his board. Rip the World Breaker, trigger Sanctum of Ugin get another World Breaker, trigger Kozilek's Return wipe his board, World Breaker exiles Liliana's Mastery, cast the second World Breaker to exile 2nd Mastery. Win from there.
Round 2: UR Bolas, 2-0
Guy was pretty hungover (his omission haha) and made a bunch of visible misplays. I win a 35 minute game 1 by recurring World Breaker until his only blue mana sources are Aether Hubs. Got to kill Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh with Ramunap Ruins though, which was cool. Game 2 I sideboard into Thought-Knot Seer
+
Tireless Tracker
and go beat down for a quick win.
Round 3: Temur Energy, 2-0
Game 1 she's forced to play hard into Kozilek's Return not having a 4th land and I had the punish, getting a Servant of the Conduit, Rogue Refiner, and Tireless Tracker. Eventually hit a World Breaker and she scoops. Game 2 goes similarly but without the mana screw. Kozilek's Return
+
World Breaker
from the graveyard wipes the board, and I get the Cut / Ribbons kill.
Round 4+5: ID into Top8
Quarterfinals: Sultai Delirium, 0-2
Bit of a bummer losing here. I think the match-up is fine for me, anything that uses the graveyard I can use Scavenger Grounds over and over again to prevent. Despite this, I drew 3 lackluster spells game 1 and a bunch of lands. Game 2 I keep a hand of Sheltered Thicket, Game Trail, Hashep Oasis, Abrade, Kozilek's Return, Hour of Devastation, Hour of Promise. Has 3 removal spells + guaranteed desert trigger for Promise. Over 10 turns I drew 9 lands and a Cut / Ribbons. Sometimes that's just how magic works.
Takeaways
Overperformed
-
Kozilek's Return: Being able to deal 5 damage to all creatures is still really good. It allows me to play a threat and not worry if it's immediately dealt with, because I also immediately dealt with their board.
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Weirding Wood: It may be anecdotal, but the lifegain available from Gift of Paradise was never missed. The clue was often helpful, and I constantly found time to crack it.
-
World Breaker: Kinda goes without saying but man this card does a ton. The recursion is even better with all the deserts, I always had a way to get it back.
-
Cut / Ribbons: I had multiple games where I thought 'Wow, drawing Cut / Ribbons means I just win'. It's a real strategy that's possibly worth exploring more copies of.
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Sideboard. I really like the composition of my sideboard. It has options to go into bigger removal, more removal, or more threats:
2x Cut / Ribbons
1x Hour of Devastation
3x Magma Spray
2x Struggle / Survive
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Tireless Tracker
Underperformed
- Walking Ballista: I don't know if I was just unlucky? But this card never seemed that great. Most of the time it was a 1/1 or a 2/2, and if it were ever going to be cast for more, I think I would just prefer an Eldrazi. Paying 10 mana for it doesn't seem great when your opponent untaps and casts some other crazy haymaker like Verdurous Gearhulk or Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh.
Unfortunately I don't really know what to replace it with. Maybe Sylvan Advocate would be worth a shot, maybe moving Thought-Knot Seer into the main could be good. For now I think the card stays, but I'll keep an eye out for a good replacement.
-
Spring / Mind: I never had the chance to cast Spring / Mind, so Spring was basically the only part of this card. The cycling from Beneath the Sands is assuredly just better.
-
Druid of the Cowl: T2 ramp is only as good as your T4 play, and I didn't run a single card at 4 mana in the main deck. It was also a target for the otherwise dead Abrade.
-
No card draw. My hand was constantly empty, and I was just hoping to rip an Eldrazi or something of similar power. Need a better way to capitalize on lots of mana going into the late game
Changes
Main
-4 Spring / Mind
+4 Beneath the Sands
-3 Druid of the Cowl
+1 Weirding Wood
+1 World Breaker
+1 Sea Gate Wreckage
-1 Sanctum of Ugin
+1 Ramunap Ruins
Without the Druid of the Cowl I only need green mana by T3, but need R by T2 for Abrade and RR for Chandra, Flamecaller by T6. Taking this switch in mana into account, I think I want slightly more R than G sources, meaning:
-1 Forest
-1 Hashep Oasis
+1 Mountain
+1 Ramunap Ruins
