Round 1 Bye
I got the lame bye first round, so I just watched my wife put up a good fight against G/R Ramp using a B/G Rock deck. They ended up going to time and tieing.
Round 2 - Grixis vs Mono-red - Loss 0-2
Game 1: Game one went extremely fast as he ramped out just right with the nut draw, I couldn't draw into enough creature removal to keep him at bay. LOSS
Sideboard:
-2 Breaking // Entering, -3 Thoughtseize.
+1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Turn // Burn, +1 Magma Jet, +1 Mizzium Mortar and +1 Cyclonic Rift.
Game 2: I was able to stabilize the early game by keeping a hand with both dreadbores. Unfortuntely, I did not draw into any further removal, I was done and out by turn 6. LOSS
Round 3 - Grixis vs USA Control - Win 2-1
Game 1: Counterflux made an amazing showing in this game, I was able to shut down my opponents walkers, stripped his counterspell with a Thoughtseize and landed an Ashiok. Keeping Ashiok protected at that point was simple, and she stole the game, milling my opponent. WIN
Sideboard:
-2 Breaking // Entering, -2 Crypt Incursion, -2 Far // Away, -1 Consuming Aberration
+3 Slaughter Games, +1 Duress, +1 Counterflux, +2 Negate
(I decided to leave the Anger of the Gods in for Elspeth incase things got hairy).
Game 2: Game 2 went extremely slow after both parties siding in all the counter magic. an early ratchet bomb shut down my walker approach and I end up getting baited into a Jace, Memory Adept. LOSS
Sideboard:
-1 Anger of the Gods
+1 Cyclonic Rift
Game 3: Kept a hand of 3 lands, Ashiok, 2 Counterflux and 1 Thoughtseize. Stole his only counterspell, Resolved Ashiok on Turn 3. My Opponent did not have a detention sphere in hand, passed back to me. I drew into a slaughter games and quickly named Detention Sphere as I notice Ashiok has already stolen the game. We pass around and comes back to me, draw into a back-to-back Slaughter Games. Knowing from the earlier Thoughtseize, I aim my 2nd Slaughter Games at Assemble the Legion. At this point, it was a slow grind with Ashiok, but I was able to protect her and mill out my opponent. WIN
Round 4 - Grixis vs U/W Aura - Win 2-0
I gave mad props for this deck as it was something I've been thinking about.
Game 1: I ended up mulling to 6, got extremely lucky that my opponent got mana screwed. I was able to resolve a turn 5 Consuming and a turn 6 AETherling to which he conceded. WIN
Sideboard:
No Sideboard, I didn't get to see much of his deck at the time, was unsure what to put in.
Game 2: Game two went through the normal paces, I Thoughtseize him early game to drop my life to 16 and pulled out one of his etheral armors. He ends up dropping his Hopeful Eidolon and pumping the hell out of it with Etheral Armor. My life slowly starts dropping as I'm getting nervous not drawing into removal. A Steam Augury was kind enough to give me multiple removal, he had no choice but to give me my answer. I was able to stabilize at 4 life by fusing Breaking // Entering and stealing my opponents Fabled Hero as a blocker, the continued draw of creature removal also helped a lot. A resolved Consuming Aberration for 21/21 quickly ended the game. WIN
Round 5 - Grixis vs Mono-red devotion - Win 2-0
We had some small talk before the match began where we both identified what we were playing. This was a big help as I knew what to expect while piloting the Grixis deck.
Game 1: Mulled to 6 in order to get a good hand full of removal. Turn 3 Ashiok lands and knocks out 2 of his Reckoners, good start IMO. I was able to keep up with his creatures. Thanks to Breaking // Entering and Crypt Incursion, I was able to jump my life total from 8 to 23 to survive his following on-slaught. I was able to stabilize around 6 life when I drew into my Anger of the Gods. A resolved Jace, Memory Adept shortly after mills him out. WIN
Sideboard:
-2 Breaking // Entering, -3 Thoughtseize
+1 Megma Jet, +1 Turn // Burn, +1 Mizzium Mortars, +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Cyclonic Rift
Game 2: I could not ask for a better hand, having a counterflux, anger of the gods and two dreadbores with the mana to support it. I quickly start killing off his 1 and 2 drops trying to force him to build a board state. I sacrificed a hit down to 12 life, before I popped Anger of the Gods to wipe the board. I dropped a Consuming Aberration for 11/11 and beat down the deck for the win. WIN
Overall Synopsis:
I'm still not sure about Breaking // Entering. I didn't exactly show up enough (Granted i'm only running 2). The two times it did show up, I was extremely happy that it did. First stealing a blocker and then filling the graveyard with enough creatures to stabilize against a mono-red deck. I took a suggestion before the night to try running both versions of Jace and Ashiok and I have to say, that decision was by far one of the best i've made for last minute changes. Ashiok easily helped win games, and a turn 3 Ashiok is by far hard to handle for USA Control if they don't have the answer there and ready for her.
I'm also not sure about Consuming Aberration. Just like Breaking // Entering, when it showed up, it was by far well welcomed to stick around.
As far as changes, the 3 main board Counterflux is a huge game advantage, as well as the 3x Thoughtseize. I'm going to look for replacements to Notion Thief as he has been yet to be a good sideboard card, or at least a card that I've felt the need to run. Maybe I'll slide in 2 Ultimate Price in it's place.
Also, the ability to increase Counterflux to a 4-of after boarding helped my control matchup immensely as I was able to toy around with Psychic Strike and then whip out the Counterflux against his big toys.
I'm sure this deck still needs a lot of refining, so I still appreciate all suggestions. Thank you!
