Zegana's X-Men
Standard*
SCORE: 41 | 32 COMMENTS | 7288 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS Top 8: 06/14
#9 in Standard Tournament —June 18, 2013
So I found out there was a random standard tournament at a local shop so I decided to join my friends and participate! There were roughly 20 players which made it a 5-round Swiss tournament with a cut to Top 8.
R1: Junk Reanimator (L 0-2)
He got his Acidic Slime out first in Game 1 with multiple effects to recur his ETB ability so I was locked down before I could retaliate. Ran into a slow hand with little to no responses in Game 2 and got bashed before I could recover. Gotta hate Junk Rites. Deck's too good.
R2: Golgari Aggro (W 2-1)
A midrange-aggroish golgari deck that runs the usual BG creatures like Dreg Mangler, Lotleth Troll, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Slitherhead, Varolz, the Scar-Striped and other similar themed effects. Got going in game 1 with a boosted Thragtusk thanks to Master Biomancer to block and bash for win. Lost game 2 on a super slow hand and his hitting every necessary removal. He got his hasty creatures going and finished me with Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord's ability. Was taking some beating in Game 3 before stabilizing at 10 life and got enough blockers out to start swinging back and gaining some life back. The sole damage dealer this game was a lone Thragtusk. Everyone else was on defense.
R3: BR Heartless Demons (Draw 1-1-1)
A fun themed deck that plays pretty much all the fat demons you can think of. Master of Cruelties, Desecration Demon, Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis, Reaper from the Abyss and get there with Crypt Ghast
and/or Heartless Summoning. Lost game 1 when she resolved Reaper from the Abyss, killing my 8/9 Vampire Nighthawk and start the kill chain thanks to Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis. She eventually wiped my board and swung over for lethal. Game 2 was one of the, if not the proudest moment I've experienced in MTG. She put me on the ropes when she connected with Master of Cruelties to bring me from 6 to 1 life with Desecration Demon staring me down for next turn. My board consisted of Master Biomancer and a 5/5 Beast token. Next combat, she killed my beast token with a spell, which forced me to sacrifice Master Biomancer to tap Desecration Demon, since Master of Cruelties could no longer kill me due to his ability. Next turn, I drew Garruk, Primal Hunter and started pumping out beast token every turn as a sac fodder to keep the demon at bay while Master of Cruelties also keep his loyalty counters in check. The demon got to 10/10 before I played a Thragtusk to bring me back to 6 life and was able to draw 5 cards with Garruk's -3 ability, which got me enough outs to stay alive. I played Progenitor Mimic as a copy of Master of Cruelties after she killed my Thragtusk with morbidded Tragic Slip after the sac for the turn to tap Desecration Demon. Next turn, I swung in with the Progenitor Mimic to force her to block with her own, which traded and leaving me with a beast token, a Master of Cruelties token, and Garruk, Primal Hunter. I eventually drew into Putrefy to kill the demon and stop her offense cold and to start swinging back. My rebound was slowed thanks to her Mutilate topdeck, but she was drawing dead after that so I started making beast tokens and swing back. She tried to stay in the game by first casting Crypt Incursion on my graveyard to gain 24 life to go to 37, then come back down to 28 after combat. She then tried to Dreadbore my Garruk, Primal Hunter, but it ran into the Simic Charm I was holding on to just in case something like that happens. I got her down to 16 when she casted Crypt Incursion again on her own graveyard to go back to 40 life, but it was no use as she had to way to regain board control with me controlling 5 3/3 beast tokens, Master Biomancer, AEtherling, and still the Clutch Player of the Night, Garruk, Primal Hunter. Time was called after that game ended so we shook hands and took the draw. Never give up until your life total is zero! (Or if we want to be technical, zero cards in library or 10 poison counters, among other things)
R4: Junk Rites (Draw 1-1-1)
Lost game 1 when his mechanics got going and triggered Thragtusk more than I did (we both went up to 35) before he got Angel of Serenity out and started going on the offense and me stuck with not enough answers. I was in trouble in game 2 when he started getting out spirit tokens and Obzedat, Ghost Council, but the game started to shift back into my favor when I resolved Deadbridge Chant and started hitting all the cards I need such as Vampire Nighthawk that stopped his token offense completely, Thragtusk that got me the life and the beats back, Prime Speaker Zegana which only drew me one card but that was 3 cards for the turn so that wasn't too bad, Plasm Capture twice which forced him to be less aggressive about reanimating, and a few kill spells here and there to keep me going. His Fiend Hunter was forced to not act since he was sitting on my Progenitor Mimic and if he dies, it could come in as any of the powerful creatures I had on my side. I eventually got Master Biomancer and Garruk Relentless Flip out and jammed enough beasts and wolves into him for the game 2 win. Once again, time was called after such a long game and we took the draw.
R5: Boros Aggro (W 2-0)
Nothing too special, your almost average boros aggro with a few of the less powerful cards in place of the usual more powerful cards. He ran Viashino Firstblade, Firemand Avenger and other stuff on top of the usual skeleton. Got down to 5 life in game 1 before I resolved a Thragtusk and stalled long enough to ultimate Tamiyo, the Moon Sage with Tragic Slip and Abrupt Decay in hand, which pretty much meant a board sweep against him. He couldn't get more than his first 2 lands out in game 2 so things were looking grim for him. I also then kept his Clifftop Retreat, his only white source, tapped with Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and eventually beat him down with roided deathtouch wolf tokens.
So I finished the night with 8 points and in 9th, just one point under the 8th place. If I had won one of the rounds I drew, I would have easily cut into Top 8, but alas, the draws were a bit slow on those matchups and the fact that I had to face Junk Rites two our of five rounds that night didn't help one bit. Still very proud of the list and how well it did especially since this list is less than 5 days old, from start of the brew to final touches. I could also still say that I lost only one match tonight! Woot!
Thanks for the +1's and comments so far guys!