I'm not gonna lie, I knew this deck was good after making Top 8, but I felt it was a little bit of a fluke, like maybe I got great matchups or something. So along with my penchant for brewing new decks, part of me wanted to retire it on a high note and let the legend live on. But I got a little nostalgic this week and decided to give it one more FNM run. The only changes were Door of Destinies instead of Goldnight Commander, which turned out quite well, and some Ready / Willing on the sideboard.
And wouldn't you know it, those white boys went Top 8 AGAIN, this time without the gimme draw in the last round. Overall it went 5-2 including a disappointing show in the first round of Top 8 against a very good opponent. To top the night off, I pulled a Lifebane Zombie in one of the prize boosters and traded for 2 Aurelia, the Warleader meaning my Dragon Control (This Ain't Your Grandma's Control Deck) has come to fruition.
Round 1: Golgari Midrange W 2-1
In game 1, he was able to Abrupt Decay an early Champion, but a Gavonied & Rancored Paladin paired with another one owned his Liliana's Reavers, to the point he said afterwards he sided all 4 out. In game 2, he Curse of Death's Holded my board and all I seemed to draw were 1/1's and lands (to be fair, that's most the deck). In game 3, I got a Door going after some early Champion heat, relieving my worry of any Curses, and finished him off with a pack of Gavonied Humans from Increasing Devotion, as a slick Ready saved the day from a Gaze of Granite. But man, Devotion bails me out so much it's not even funny.
Round 2: GoST Enchantments: L 0-2
Two words: God draw. I won't bother analyzing my side here: game 1 Pilgrim-GoST-Rancor & Unflinching Courage, game 2 Pilgrim-GoST- then 2 of the 1 drops that give +1 for each enchantment and the +2 flying (Are you freaking kidding?). He actually made a serious misplay in Game 1 that gave me a chance as he swung at a 3/3 and 4/4 Champion with his 6/4 Geist (I think he forgot about the Mayor out there) which gave me a window with only 4 life, but he topdecked another Geist in the nick of time.
Round 3: Selesnya Tokens: W 2-0
In game 1, a Champion-Pilgrim-Paladin&Rancor curve overwhelmed his Voices. Some Townsfolk joined in and a Mayor pretty much ended it. Game 2 was INSANE. Short on removal, we both got big armies out, and I was feeling good about my chances until he got 2 Doomslayer Paladins to exile my Lambholts. Still, I had a huge Champ of Parish paired with a Paladin dominating the board, but was at 10 life and couldn't afford to attack facing a huge Trostani-led token army (&somehow I didn't draw a single Rancor). So I dropped a Door and the fun began. Nineteen counters later (thanks to an Increasing Devotion ruling I later realized was incorrect =P I would've won anyways) and 99 life on his part, I finally had enough of an army to have a huge attack while leaving enough defenders in reserve to defend against his 15ish tokens, and swung for hundreds of damage at a time thanks to 2 Wild Beastmasters until he ran out of Druid's Deliverance. Nothing better than having a Top 8 deck involved in a janky ass game like that.
Round 4: American Control: W 2-0
This was the same guy with the Hexproof Stalker deck from last time, a friend of mine who is a better player than I but for some reason I just have his number in tournaments. In game 1, my Voodoo hex led him to a one land hand after a mulligan and a cheap, Mayor-sponsored win for me.Game 2 was much more competitive as I got off to a slow start but was able to land an early Door. He did some damage with a Resto but eventually had to Verdict. I came back as against the Golgari with a paired Paladin combo, which was beastly with the 4 counters on the Door. He was able to muster two Helixes for one of them, but by then I had done too much damage and the lone Paladin finished the job.
Round 5: More American: W 2-1
I went into this thinking it would be for Top 8, since 4-1 usually means a last round handshake in a 6 rounder. I got creamed in game 1 as I didn't get anything until t3 and by then he was a burnin' machine. I had to sit by and get Snapcastered to death. Ouch. In game 2, I got a t2 Thalia that just cleaned house with Rancor. He tried to Spear it, but Ready kept the pressure on. By the time he removed it with a Verdict, I had saved up enough cards to flood the board and mop up. In game 3, an early Mayor flipped and wreaked havoc. He must've had Helixes or no burn (he was running a lot of counters), since he was obviously saving up for a Verdict which was thwarted when I dropped another Thalia after baiting a counter. He had to let me untap, which gave me room for the winning Ready when his Verdict came.
Round 6(!?) Predator Ooze W 2-1
Normally, we'd both be going to the Top 8. But since some assclown in 9th place managed to get a draw and had 10 points and my tiebreakers were in a tight pack, I had to play it out. I played this guy on a Tuesday 3-rounder earlier when I was warmin' up the white boys and beat him 2-1 in a ridiculous series in which I went Pilgrim-Lambholt and he went Arbor Elf-Predator Ooze in all 3 games; I ended up coming a game short of winning the 20ish person tourny and that was his only loss, so a rematch was only fitting. I had the play in Game 1, and got a Champion-Pilgrim-Paladin &Rancor start while he was playing Elves. After he let my Mayor flip and I got another one with some Townsfolk, it was over. In game 2, I went to 6 cards and got a nearly all green hand with no green mana. After my Champion was taken out, I was out of luck. In game 3, I was back on the attack with a Champion and Mayor to start and Lambholt providing the winning attack. He got a t3 Huntmaster but it was too little too late. A shame he had to miss Top 8, since I really like Predator Ooze decks, but such is life in Magic.
Top 8: Naya Midrange L 2-0
In game 1, I went to 6 and had to take a decent hand but needing a little help. Unfortunately, it rained mana on my draws, and my Champion-Mayor-Rancor attack fizzled. He had a Smiter and Thundermaw doing quick work. In game 2, I sideboarded in Intrepid Hero which looked like a great play since it turned out he had a hand full of Smiters. However, he made the leftfield sideboard of the century with Blasphemous Act, only losing one Smiter. I got a Champion of Lambholt with a couple Townsfolk, but he Miracled a Bonfire before dropping two Smiters. I had two Lambholts left, but his Smiters were able to stay a step ahead as we both had Gavony out and I was topdecking lands.
