Got 5th at FNM on 2-15-13, with a record of 4-1.
Round 1, went against standard selesnya shenanigans. The deck ran Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, and Loxodon Smiter, along with the standard mana dorks. Got a solid win in on game 1, but I was at a big disadvantage on game 2 when he sideboarded in Rest in Peace. Game 3 I got a bad hand. He ended up beating me 1-2.
Round 2, I was up against a guy new to the format, he was running a mono-green agro deck with some lots of wolves. Beat this guy 2-0
Round 3 I played another simic deck, but this guy was having some problems with his mana curve and didn't really have a solid deck I think. Beat him 2-0 as well.
Round 4 presented a real challenge, I was up against a high-tier America Control deck! Game one I managed to pull out a solid win with some well-placed counter-spells and an aggressive opening hand. Also I felt pretty clever when I played Rapid Hybridization on my Strangleroot Geist to flash-block his Geist of Saint Traft with a 3/3. DOESN'T SEEM WORTH $25 NOW DOES IT?!! Game two I was unable to play anything due to only having two islands and a forest until turn 5, and everything in my hand seemed to have two green mana symbols on it. Bummer! I thought I might be able to pull it off anyway when I Syncopateed his Geist of Saint Traft on turn 3, but he played another one on turn 4. After that all he had to do was swing in for 6 damage every turn and I had no answer. Maybe he's worth $25 ater all :(. I won game 3 but it was hard to feel good about it since he mulliganed down to 4 cards, but it was still nice to come out on top against such a good deck.
Round 5 I went up against boros aggro, and while I beat the guy 2-0, I could tell he wasn't getting very good draws. We played another game for fun afterwards, and while I still came out on top, his deck game me a much bigger run for my money.
I didn't have a sideboard at all for this FNM, but now that I have a better feel for what I'm up against in the local meta I have a baseline to start with. I know there's a few games in there that I definitely could've won with the right sideboard. Really looking for input here so any and all is very much appreciated!
