DAMN. It was rough. I feel like I played well but suffered from a lot of dead draws. Swamp after swamp after swamp after swamp. I'm going to be doing a lot of playtesting with 21 lands instead of 23. My Entomb options were fun as hell.
I made a default Delver deck and playtested until I felt confident in the match-up. I didn't play against a Delver all day.
BG Elves 1-2. The first match was a bloodbath and a great way to start the tournament. 2nd game, he turn 1'd Deathrite Shamaned. So I turn 1'd Swamp, Dark Ritual, Inquisition of Kozilek, Dark Ritual, Smallpox, Hymn to Tourach. And I died at with my opponent at 1 life. Deathrite Shaman is a brutal card that kept my opponent in the game both games. Third game, he got a turn 3 Craterhoof Behemoth and swung for lethal.
Stoneblade 1-2 lost to well timed Lingering Souls. This is where the Swamp drawing craze began.
Storm 0-2 2nd game got him down to 1 life and he top-decked an Infernal Tutor.
Storm 0-2 Storm is storm. But the dude was super nice and leaving afterwards so on paper it was 2-1. Hell yeah. Things were looking up.
Stoneblade 2-1 BOOM SHAKALAKA! Lingering Souls is hard to deal with.
Sneak & Show 1-2 Won the first, and fought like hell through the next two. Game 3 Show and Telled a Griselbrand. I Smallpoxed. He drew 7. Lotus Petalx2 Showed a Sneak, snuck a Griselbrand and Emrakul and swung for 22.
2-4 On paper, 1-5 for real. That's some shit.
I'm considering dropping 2 Swamps and maindecking 2 Surgical Extractions. Yeah, I know that's wonky, but every game there was something I would have liked to extract. Instead of taking steam out and making room for them EVERY game 2 and 3 they might as well be in there while also freeing up 2 sideboard slots. Phyrexian mana also alleviates the pressure of removing 2 lands from my manabase.
Better luck next time.
