Another 10-man event, but this time I ended the night 3-1 with some very dominant wins throughout the night. Placed 4th on breakers, mostly due to being paired down every round after the first but I won't complain too much.
Round 1 was against a GW deck playing Elemental Bond, Endless One, and High Sentinels of Arashin. Elemental Bond was very effective, considering we have no way to get rid of it in the 75. I may have to consider sideboard Naturalize or Natural State if I run into any problem enchantments in the future, maybe even Reclaiming Vines to have extra game against ramp decks. Despite my opponent drawing a bunch of cards I was able to grind out the match with all the removal I'm packing, especially after boarding in Roast for game 2. Best play of the match was using a -3 on Chandra, Flamecaller to wipe his board while leaving mine alive to force through lethal.
Round 2 found me against Mardu Mentor, what I've quickly found to be one of my better matchups. My threats are just bigger than his and we are much stronger in topdeck mode due to my threats not needing to rely on other cards as much. Painful Truths is working just as well as planned, drawing us into more gas after opposing hand disruption. I am still considering Read the Bones, though, since I have had Truths hit multiple lands when I don't need them. I don't remember too much about the details, but Scab-Clan Berserker turned out just as effective against these prowess decks as it was in the last event. Despite the Berserkers' effectiveness game 2 was a bit of grind but I still came out on top with back-to-back Rhinos.
Round 3 put me up against one of my friends on his GW ramp deck. I had just helped him with constructing his sideboard and we had played a few test games before the event so he was actually pretty well prepared for my deck. Game 1 I was stuck on 3 lands with no red source so I had absolutely no answer for any of his plays. Game 2 was also a stomp in his favor as I mistakenly kept a slow hand of 6 and was unable to find any copies of Infinite Obliteration. I'm going to mostly chalk these losses up to bad mulligan decisions, although I may need to devote more sideboard slots to this matchup. I am seriously considering Reclaiming Vines as, like I said earlier, it can also get rid of problem enchantments against those matchups. It will need to be tested further and I'm not sure what I would cut, but it's definitely something I am considering.
Round 4 put me up against another friend on UR Prowess. Game 1 went by quickly with my opponent flooding out while I had an opening hand of 4 removal spells to deal with all his threats. Game 2 I brought in the Berserkers to great effect, just like in the Mentor matchups. He had no answers for any of my threats as he never drew any of his 3 copies of Roast and I was able to just snowball into a very quick win yet again. I am definitely happy with having the Berserkers in the sideboard due to how many people are on the Prowess train lately. I don't blame them at all, as both UR Prowess and Mardu Mentor seems like great places to be, but I am definitely being rewarded for this meta call.
As I said twice in this post, I am definitely considering putting a few copies of Reclaiming Vines in the sideboard. I may take out Exquisite Firecraft since I have not found a single matchup yet that I've brought it in for, but they were put in specifically for Esper Control/Dragons to give some very strong reach against those decks. I may not need them due to the strength of all the individual threats in the deck but I'm going to hold off taking them out until I can actually test them out in the matchup.
