I went to my first official Magic: the Gathering event last Friday (not counting pre-releases) and found that even "casual" modern is fairly competitive.
Match 1: Golgari Tron
I lost my first match 1-2, doing surprisingly well. The deck was well-developed, winning Game 1 by landing a Platinum Angel to shut me down once I had him down to 8 life and finished me after exiling my lands with Karn Liberated
I pulled out a win Game 2 thanks to some misplays on my opponent's side. One of the most grievous of them was that, after using Thoughtseize, he decided to force a discard of Kragma Warcaller instead of Structural Distortion, saying "you're running Minotaurs, so discard the minotaur." After that, I got him down to 1 life with my Gnarled Scarhide, which he didn't wipe with his Oblivion Stone because he thought he'd have another turn, allowing me to follow it up with direct damage through Sign in Blood, making me very happy I chose that over Night's Whispers.
Game 3 was ugly since he assembled his lands in a timely fashion, shutting me down with Karn and beating me down with a Wurmcoil Engine, its ability to create tokens essentially nullifying the 2-for-1 in Vandalize.
Match 2: "Titanshift"/Quicksilver?
The second match was 0-2. I erroneously identified my opponent as a Scapeshift deck as he suspended Search for Tomorrow turn 1 and used Velakut, the Molten Pinnacle throughout the game. He later used Quicksilver Amulet to cheat out Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and I slowed my demise as he blocked one of my minotaurs, not noticing the effects of Felhide Petrifier and forgetting that Emrakul only had protection from spells.
I made a grievous error myself for game 2. Not seeing any creatures aside from Emrakul, I figured removal would be useless and sided out Fatal Push, Murderous Cut, and Terminate. I regretted this as he summoned a Platinum Emperion to beat me down. It turned out that he only used Primeval Titan and didn't have a budget for Scapeshift, relying instead on heavy ramping, the titan, and Quicksilver Amulet.
Match 3: Brother Against Brother
I ended up against my brother, who played a heroic deck. This ended poorly, 1-2. I won Game 1 easily by laying out a flurry of minotaurs turn 5 with a Ragemonger, but the last two games I got land-screwed, never drawing a third land despite having 2 in my opening hand. Otherwise the matchup would've been favorable.
Lessons Learned
Minotaurs is a fringe deck (and rightfully so), so people will have many misplays against them since they don't realize that we do have some capacity for a control suite or missing on important buffs that our lords provide.
Also, my meta may be a little heavy on Tron, so appropriate land and artifact hate will be a must when I update my deck.
Another note: Bloodrage Brawler would do well in this deck. I was skeptical because it forces a discard, creating an easy 2-for-1 for an opponent (especially with Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push) and we are pressed enough for card advantage as is. However, after the last matchup, I realized how easily you could get land-screwed. Now, being land-flooded is way too dangerous for this deck, so it could be mitigated by using a Bloodrage Brawler to discard what you don't need (such as a land if flooded or Kragma Warcaller if screwed). Plus, brawler has the advantage over Deathbellow Raider of being able to block and having 4 power, which is high compared to others. A mixture of the two 2-drops will also improve this deck.
