Very pleased with my deck's performance tonight. Since this is the deck I'll be taking to SCG Open: Las Vegas on July 21, I'm very excited to feel that it's validated and I appear to be going in the right direction.
Round 1: GW Flicker vs. U/W Puresteel
Both games, I got turn-3 Acidic Slime. The first game, she was a bit land-screwed. Acidic Slime didn't help her cause. The second game, she played Sword of War and Peace with Puresteel Paladin out, but Acidic Slime hit the board before she could equip it. From there, Mimic Vat and Thragtusk swept up the rest for a victory.
Round 1 results: 2-0
Round 2: GW Flicker vs Frites
First game, I kept 3 Blade Splicers, 2 Oblivion Rings, and 2 Razoverge Thicket, drawing into Gavony Township. He played a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, but O-Ring swept her under the rug. The turn after, he was dead on board with Gavony Township pumping for the win.
Second game, he smashed down a turn-4 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Without seeing my Oblivion Rings, Phyrexian Metamorphs, or sideboarded graveyard-hate, his mana-dorks turned into beat-sticks and took me out.
Third game, I played a turn-2 Mimiv Vat off of Birds of Paradise, leading into a turn-3 Blade Splicer and a turn-4 Phyrexian Metamorph copying his Gisela. With Phyrexian Metamorph on Mimic Vat and all of his threats being Legendary, I quickly took the game over.
Round 2 results: 2-1 (current overall: 2-0 rounds, 4-1 games)
Round 3: GW Flicker vs. Mono-Black Infect
I knew what I was up against before I sat down and kept an okay hand. After he hit my Birds of Paradise with Virulent Wound, he dropped a Plague Stinger and a Whispering Spectre, which connected and dumped my entire hand. Lashwrithe hit the board the turn after and I scooped up my lands.
Game 2, I saw some Blade Splicer action. With my first-striking Golems smashing face and the Splicer getting flickered almost every turn, I wound up breaking through a surprisingly sturdy defense. It came down to one turn for either of us, but I just had enough to win it.
In the third game, I had to mulligan down to 5 cards. I thought I'd be okay with 2 Plains, 2 Celestial Purges, and a Restoration Angel, but a hastily sided-in Phyrexian Crusader made its way to the battlefield. Shortly after a second one was played and after a few draws of nothing, I was dead.
Round 3 results: 1-2 (current overall: 2-1 rounds, 5-3 games)
Round 4: GW Flicker vs U/R Delver
So having 4x Cavern of Souls really fucks with Delver decks. And having Blade Splicer which can't be countered also tears it apart. Who knew?
He started with a Ponder and then a turn-2 Delver, followed by a Thought Scour, milling a land and a Runechanter's Pike (ouch). With no flip on his third turn, I went full-steam-ahead with the Splicers, dropping two and Cloudshifting one the next turn. With only Vapor Snags to defend himself, he quickly fell behind in the race.
Game 2, I get the feeling that his hand was a bit awkward. After playing a Tormod's Crypt and declaring my Golem as an attacker, he flashed in Snapcaster Mage to block, which I responded to by exiling his graveyard. He then drew a Ponder, played an Invisible Stalker, and passed. When he tapped out the following turn to cast and equip a Runechanter's Pike, I jumped at the opportunity to O-Ring the Pike, leaving him without any real offense. Thragtusk landed, wound up on a Mimic Vat, and that was all she wrote.
Round 4 results: 2-0 (current overall: 3-1 rounds, 7-3 games)
Top 8: GW Flicker vs. 4-Color Ramp
Very interesting deck. It ramps with Green into Rune-Scarred Demon, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, or just Primal Surge, flipping over the deck and swinging with Urabrask the Hidden.
In the first game, I managed to hold onto the race with lots of pressure from Blade Splicer and Restoration Angel, which begged his response. His response was a Restoration Angel of his own, which swiftly became exiled under Oblivion Ring. Building pressure after that lead to the victory.
In game 2, he ramped faster than I could kill him, and Primal Surge was inevitable. I scooped the turn after he tutored it out with Rune-Scarred Demon.
Game 3, he seemed to have been a bit land-screwed. I O-Ring'd his Sphere of the Suns before he could use it and played an Acidic Slime two turns later. After some cussing and downtrodden mannerisms, he packed up his deck.
Top 8 results: 2-1 (current overall: 4-1 rounds, 9-4 games)
Top 4: GW Flicker vs. Mono-Green Aggro
Game 1: Predator Ooze fucked my shit up and I couldn't draw an O-Ring or Mimic Vat for a blocker to save my life.
Game 2: Things got pretty hairy when he had a 10/8 trampling Dungrove Elder (with a Rancor on it), a 3/2 Strangleroot Geist, and cast Overrun. Realizing I could take the damage and try to beef up for a bigger defense on the following turn, I went to 2 life. I drew a land on the following turn, but that turned on Gavony Township. We stalled each other for a few turns until I flashed in a Restoration Angel and drew a Thragtusk, helping me stabilize a bit higher than just 2 life. The Flyer got it done.
I've played enough Green in my past decks to realize that you need to get your attackers in the air if you want to win. Hell, I'm the self-proclaimed "TappedOut Green Master".
In the third game, I kept a hand containing both Sigarda, Host of Herons (which he can't use Prey Upon or Ulvenwald Tracker on) and Batterskull (which wins games). He got me down to 2 again and I was literally only alive due to the fact that I played Pristine Talisman before a bunch of creatures. Batterskull's Germ was inevitably fought off (gaining me 4 in the process) and then was equipped to Sigarda, Host of Herons. After netting me 9 extra life (10 if you count the Talisman tapping), he top-decked a Beast Within and destroyed Batterskull, as I couldn't return it to my hand. But being back to 18 or 19 life the turn after was enough for me to swing with Sigarda once, then with everything the turn after with Gavony Township for exactly lethal damage.
Top 4 results: 2-1 (current overall: 5-1 rounds, 11-5 games)
In lieu of playing the Top 2 match-up, we decided a prize-split was in order when real-life beckoned from beyond the card shop. I didn't officially check, but I figured his tie-breakers were better than mine, since he was piloting the mono-Black Infect deck that beat me earlier. So I'm claiming second place for this tournament.
Post-tournament thoughts
I'm really excited to see what I can do with this deck in the next week before Star City Games Open: Las Vegas next Saturday. I like what the deck does, how it does it, and what happens when it does it.
Gavony Township rules. It's always there as an offensive boost when I need it.
I literally put Day of Judgment into this yesterday, and it saved me from losing at least 3 separate times tonight. Plus, having Mimic Vat out and casting DoJ is really just a one-way street to winning. Of course, I feel like having Mimic Vat out is already a massive advantage on its own.
