So I paid a visit to PTQ Theros on June 22nd, and I must say I'm pretty proud of my deck and myself for nabbing a 5th place title and the prize money (plus a pretty sweet playmat). Here's a round by round:
Round 1: Got put against a Jund. It was a reasonably close game, I won the die roll and had a pretty clear advantage game one. Though a Thragtusk and two Huntmaster of the Fells
Flip managed to come out, it was too late for my unfortunate opponent who was on the draw and my board was very prepped for swinging with the help of Frontline Medic. Game two he snagged the win with his Bonfire of the Damneds that he sided in and beat me down, though I was surprised to not see a Liliana of the Veil from him (most likely he thought she would be too slow in the matchup). Game three I won after a pretty intense battle between relatively even boards, though thankfully Frontline Medic and Ghor-Clan Rampager did their duties and got me the win.
Round 2: In this round I went to battle a Selesnya aggro. Although I won the die roll, he got the jump on me with a Strangleroot Geist with two Rancors bonded to a Silverblade Paladin. I was pretty impressed that he managed to get that kind of power on board and it was a well earned game one for him. Game two and three, however, did not go as well for my Selesnya opponent and I was able to outrace him to victory thanks to my Burning-Tree Emissarys with Lightning Maulers attached.
Round 3: Perhaps one of the scariest and most intense rounds that I faced. I faced a Bant Auras (a.k.a. Ghost Pants, a.k.a. Bant Hexproof) and he won the die roll. I felt for sure that it would be a lost game one for me, as my opponent was just throwing aura after aura on his Invisible Stalker and was getting in massive amounts of damage. However, I was not to be outdone in the damage department, and by turn four we were both down to single digits. However, he got a bit too greedy and swung with his Geist of Saint Traft the turn before for non-lethal damage, leaving him completely open. Thanks to a well-bonded Lightning Mauler, I was able to pull the victory away from him, much to both of our surprises (though he definitely would've won had he kept his Geist of Saint Traft as a blocker instead of swinging). Game two was a bit disappointing for both of us, as we both expected yet another high speed battle, but unfortunately mana problems for my opponent made the game one-sided in my favor. Despite this, he was a very worthy opponent and I believe that the game would've gone either way if not for crap draws.
Round 4: I was put up against another Jund deck. This victory was significantly easier than my first victory against Jund, as game one he was ill-equipped to face me and was outraced. Game two ended surprisingly in my victory, as though he was able to hit Thragtusks, he never could draw the Bonfire of the Damned that he needed to wipe my board and I ultimately swung through him to a 2-0 victory.
Round 5: Played against a Junk Rites deck. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for this game, as I could've had victory, but ended up throwing it due to misplays and having my first defeat. Game one was a pretty easy snag, as he wasn't really equipped for the matchup and I easily outraced him even being on the draw. Game two, I knew that there wasn't much that he could side against me besides increasing the numbers on his Angel of Serenitys and Thragtusk, so I felt pretty confident that I would win the match. However, I made some very serious misplays along the way that cost me the damage I needed to win the game. I missed several Voice of Resurgence triggers as well as Experiment One triggers that would've given me the damage I needed to secure the win, but because of my errors he was able to draw into his Angel of Serenity and control the board from there. Game three ended in a similar fashion, where I simply was not thinking properly and yet again missed Voice of Resurgence and Experiment One triggers that yet again cost me the game. This was my first defeat, and needless to say I kicked myself very hard for it.
Round 6: This was against an America Control deck (RWU) and was a pretty easy game overall. My matchup against America Control was already reasonably good, and though my opponent played his best, he simply didn't have the removal he needed to stop my constant damage. I don't think he saw a Supreme Verdict once, which is rather unfortunate, but I took a 2-0 victory here a well, resulting in a 5-1 record overall.
Round 7: This was the final round of Swiss at my PTQ and my opponent was yet another Bant Auras deck. However, my opponent noticed that at the time I was seed 5 and he was seed 2. We agreed that rather than battle, we would simply declare the game a draw so that we could both get into the Top 8 without a problem, as both of our tiebreaker percentages were higher than our competitors. I suppose at the time I wasn't willing to bet a chance at the Top 8 on a game against bant Auras, so I believed drawing was a reasonable choice, leaving my record at 5-1-1 and securing my Top 8 place.
Round 8 (Finals): Finals for the Top 8 were single elimination, and I took my second and final defeat during the first round of Top 8 matches. I was paired against non-human Naya Aggro (and though I was relatively faster than him, he was a higher seed than me and got to decide to play first). I knew that my matchups against Big Naya and Naya Aggro were already pretty bad, as I have to depend on Voice of Resurgence to win the game for me otherwise I can not deal with Loxodon Smiters and Boros Reckoners. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to get a Voice of Resurgence game one and he was able to burn away many of my creatures before they could get damage in and stomp me over to a game two. Game two was a pretty close game, though it still ended in my defeat. Even though I was on the play, I was unable to get lethal damage in due to flashed in Restoration Angels and Selesnya Charm knight tokens blocking my smaller creatures. By turn four, we were both in single digit lives, but in the end I still could not get the Voice of Resurgence I needed to stop him insta-blocking and I eventually succumbed to restoration-angels swinging over the air. It was an unfortunate 0-2, but i thought I played my best and I was proud of the game.
So, In the end, I finished with a 5-2-1 record and was able to nab 5th place, $50 in prize money, and a Top 8 Playmat. I feel very proud of how the deck performed at the PTQ and I'm glad it got as far as it did (though I'm still very mad at myself for my misplays against Junk Rites). Interestingly, my most feared matchup against Junk and Act II Aristocrats never happened (though a Junk was also in the Top 8), and I wonder if I still would've done as well as I did had I played against an Aristocrats deck. I don't think I'll try to keep this deck archetype after M14, but me and my deck still have a while to go before then and I'm eager to see where I can take it. As always, comments, questions, and +1s are always appreciated.
