My Pick: I like the Trusty Machete and I feel like it is good in any color. Also, I would like to send a clear White signal downstream.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick: I would like to continue sending White signals downstream. This was a huge mistake. Signaling is pretty ineffective in Swiss.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick: I regret not picking up White myself, but at this point, I feel like I have sent too many signals and decide to go for the red card since I have received some decent signals.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick: This is a nice card and I have some green already. The Mongrel is also a good card, but this is better in my opinion and red and green will not lack for creatures.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick: I am getting some decent black cards too. I pick this because I am considering going black.
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick: I really like River Boa. It is a solid creature to stall against fatties.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick: I like this creature if I am playing a lot of red. I am not sure about my red/green proportion yet so I pick this up just in case. I probably should have taken Teetering Peaks instead of this card. It is more playable and having 18 lands in Zendikar makes Teetering Peaks a more likely addition to my deck.
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick: I picked this card up to deal with fliers. I should have taken the Goblin Runeblaster. It is a more powerful card and its kicker is often usable.
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick: This is a good sideboard card against pesky black decks.
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick: He is a good blocker against 2/2s.
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick: This Forest was a Foil Forest. It was really pretty.
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick: This is a card that I hate playing against.
Pack 1 pick 13:
My Pick: This is also a card that I hate playing against and I believe I have sent a lot of white signals.
Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick: This black card is literally useless against me. I want it to take up my opponent's card slot.
Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:
My Pick: I like this creature a lot. He usually gets in for a ton of damage.
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick: Harrow is a great mana accelerator and fixer. At this point, I am very annoyed that I am seeing white cards when I gave up white cards to send a strong signal.
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick: Punishing Fire and Plated Geopede are both good, but Punishing Fire is better overall in my opinion with this 2/2 heavy format and better in my deck because I have no removal thus far. I see a strong black card and a strong blue card which upsets me.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick: More removal is good. I see more strong blue cards. Is the person in my colors?
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick: I feel like red is a good color to be in. This card is an easy pick.
Pack 2 pick 6:
My Pick: Baloth Cage Trap was a good choice too. I feel like this is faster, though. The Cage Trap is a good card when your opponent unsuspectingly attacks into it and you can pick off a creature for free. I think that with all of my red and green, it will look very suspicious if I have the mana to play this card and I will probably not want to save the mana just to play this card.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick: He usually attacks as a 4/4 at least. It is pretty common for him to be a 6/6 or more. He is also great in that he is great mid-game and late-game provided that at least half your lands are Forests.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick: This is good for removing and blocking fliers. Red and green are very weak in this department.
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick: I hate draft this. I hate drafted this as opposed to the 2/1 Mountainwalker despite me playing red because I think that it is highly unlikely that upstream is white.
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick: I have another ally. This might make play depending on how many allies I have. 5 for a 3/3 haste is way too slow without more allies, though.
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick: Another bird-killer. I could still use more aerial removal.
Pack 2 pick 12:
My Pick: I take this because it is the best card to hate in my opinion.
Pack 2 pick 13:
My Pick: This is a very splashable card.
Pack 2 pick 14:
My Pick: This is a surprisingly good card for this late. I think of this as equivalent to a +4/+4 enchant creature spell. It has some condition, but the condition is easy to meet. Also, it has the advantage of being versatile. It is subject to the same removal conditions, though.
Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick: Emeria is money. If I get enough white, I might even play her.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick: I love this card. Every time I play it, it is a game-changer. I always gain around 8 life with this creature. For 3 mana, that is quite significant.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick: Yay! Another one! If I had more landfall triggers, I'd consider taking the Guide.
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick: The Woodcrasher is a win condition. I do not have many of those at the moment.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick: Lumiarch Ascension is worth a ticket. None of the other cards make that much of a difference.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick: I am happy to pick up another one of this guy. He is fantastic removal and can handle pesky evasion creatures that I normally cannot kill.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick: This was a very hard pick for me between the Turntimber Basilisk and the Frontier Guide.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick: I should have grabbed the Frontier Farguide. I just hated this, but that was stupid given that downstream is not really playing white.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick: This is a decent enough card. Everything else is basically unplayable.
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick: I like this guy for blocking creatures with Intimidate.
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick: This is decent in a life-gan deck. Everything else is junk for me and double white is not worth hating.
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick: Nothing is really playable. The blue card might have been a better hate card. I got a lot of white passed back my way.
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick: This is a good card to sideboard in. There are so many good artifacts and enchantments in Zendikar.
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick: Not a land.
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
I should have gone white. Relying on people to read signals in Zendikar Swiss is really hit or miss. The white that I was getting passed was way too solid.
MATCH 1 GAME 1
He decides to go first. I pick up 2 Mountains, a Punishing Fire, a Frontier Guide, a Torch Slinger, a Grazing Gladeheart and a Timbermaw Larva. I keep it. This is a mistake. I should have thrown it away. I will have to hope for a forest by turn 3 for this to be playable. I have 10 Forests. I have 33 cards in my deck. I want a Forest by Turn 3. That means a 10/33 chance of drawing a Forest next turn and a 10/32 chance of drawing a Forest the turn after that. 1 - (2/3)^3 is roughly 70% chance of drawing that Forest by turn 3. Even if I draw the Forest, I am not in the clear, but I have a pretty reasonable shot of drawing additional lands. I think that it was the right move to keep it despite the lack of immediately playable cards.
1. He plays a Jwar Isle Refuge.
1. I draw a Mountain. My chances of drawing a Forest drop to around 55%. This is getting bad now. I play a Mountain.
2. He plays a Mountain. He passes the turn.
2. I draw a Baloth Woodcrasher. Uh oh. I play a Mountain. My chances of drawing a Forest have dropped to 33%.
3. He plays a Swamp and passes it. I am very grateful he is not already smashing my face in.
3. I draw a Mountain. I play a Mountain and pass it. Well, 2 more lands and I can play the Torch Slinger with gusto.
4. He plays another Mountain and a Shatterskull Giant. This is not good. Retrospectively, I should have played the Torch Slinger. It's true that I lose his burn ability, but I have burn in hand already. I should have expected a fatty to come across the table given that he kept his hand and had no early plays and he had all of his land.
4. I draw another Torch Slinger, play a Mountain and pass the turn. Not playing the Torch Slinger Turn 3 pretty much cost me the game.
5. He plays an Island, swings into me and passes.
Sided in Seismic Shudder. I decided that his fast black deck probably had a lot of 1 toughness creatures and I would love to see Seismic Shudder on Turn 2.
Match 1 Game 2
I decide to go first. I pick up a Forest, a Seismic Shudder, a Oran-Rief Survivalist, a Spire Barrage, a Trusty Machete, and 2 Grazing Gladehearts. I feel sad about letting this one go, because if I make my land drops, I am golden. It's just that I probably won't, so I let it go.
On the second hand, I pick up a Forest, a Mountain, a Spire Barrage, an Oran-Rief Survivalist and a Bladetusk Boar. I keep this deciding that it'll be better than a random 5 card hand. I don't feel good about this game at all, though.
1. I play the Forest and pass.
1. He plays a Mountain and passes.
2. I draw a Mountain. I play the Mountain and an Oran-Rief Survivalist.
2. He plays a Swamp and Plated Geopede. Oh ... shit.
3. I draw a River Boa. This might stall him or it might get burned pretty quickly. I attack with my Oran-Rief Survivalist. I play a Mountain and the River Boa.
3. He plays an Island. Shit. He has his 3 colors. He swings for 3. I don't have mana to regenerate the River Boa so I get hit. 17 to 18 now.
4. I draw a Spire Barrage. Shit. I could have used that extra land for the Bladetusk Boar. I swing in for another 2 from the Survivalist and hold back my Boa to block.
4. He plays a Swamp and swings with the Geopede. I block with the Boa and regenerate it. There is no real point for him to swing in. I could have conceivably played a Slaughter Cry and taken out his Geopede with my Boa. This might have been a good trade in his opinion. I also could have played Harrow for 2 Forests and Vines of Vastwooded. He doesn't stop me from utilize my 3 mana for a Harrow since I can always Harrow and then use the Boa. Maybe he could have countered a Harrow, but his deck looks way too good to be playing Spell Pierce and he doesn't have the mana for Cancel.
5. I draw a Timbermaw Larva. Despite the Timbermaw Larva being a giant angry vagina that consumes Forests, it is not actually a Forest. Damnit. I swing in for 4 to bring him to 12. I should have held back with the Boa to block his Geopede, but I thought that our life totals would compel me to swing in. I didn't feel like I was playing a stalling game, but I actually was. I should have been stalling to pick up my 4th land and 5th lands.
5. He plays another Swamp and swings with the 3/3 Geopede bringing me to 14. Then he plays a AEther Figment. This is when the stalling point really hurt me. If I had held back, I would've been at 17 and I could have kept swinging in with my Survivalist.
6. I draw a Forest. I play the Forest. Feeling a bit panicked, I swing in with my Boa. I could have held back, but at this point, I could have 2 other creatures on the board and chumping didn't seem like such a bad idea given that the AEther Figment had me on a turn clock. I felt the need to do some damage and quickly. I bring him to 10. I am at 14. I play a Bladetusk Boar. I should have played the Timbermaw Larva. As far as a blocker goes, they are about the same. They will both die to a pumped Plated. On the attack, the Bladetusk Boar has intimidate which is irrelevant against a red deck, but of some relevant against his other 2 colors. The Timbermaw Larva hits harder. I think chances are he had another red blocker that could have 2 toughness. Chances are against him having something that could deal with 4 power and 4 toughness on the attack.
6. He plays a Mountain and oh look! He does have a 2 power red card. He plays a kicked Torch Slinger targeting my Boar. He attacks me for 6 and brings me to 8. A Mountain may be the only thing that can pull me out of this.
7. I draw a Nissa's Chosen instead. I decide tha tthe Nissa's Chosen can chump just as well as any of my other creatures. I attack with both the Survivalist and the Boa. The Slinger and Survivalist trade. He is down to 8. I play a Nissa's Chosen.
7. He plays an Island and swings with both of his guys. I chump the Geopede with my Chosen and take 3 from the Figment bringing me to 5. The only thing that can save me at this point is a Mountain ... again. I have 4 lands out. If I draw a Mountain, I can take out his Figment, chump his Geopede with my Boa (without regeneration) and then play a Torch Slinger to get rid of his Geopede permanently. It would be very hard to catch up because I could only remove 1 creature of his per turn and chances are he'd put out more than that.
8. I draw a Forest instead. I swing in with my Boa bringing him to 6. I take out his Geopede with the Slinger. If he doesn't play a creature, I might still have a chance of winning off a 2 damage Spire Barrage.
8. He hits me for 3 and plays Hideous End on my Boa. Oh right. So that is why he had all those black.
MATCH 1 0-2
I decide to play first. I draw 2 Forests, 2 Mountains, a Harrow, a Grazing Gladeheart and a Baloth Woodcrasher. I feel pretty good about this. One of my Forests is a foil Zendikar Forest. That has got to be a good sign.
1. I play my shiny Forest and pass.
1. He plays a Forest and a Trusty Machete. I feel less good, but still OK. The Trusty Machete is one of my favorite cards.
2. I draw a Forest and play a Mountain.
2. He plays a Forest and a Khalni Heart Expedition.
3. I draw a Spire Barrage. I play a Mountain and the Grazing Gladeheart.
3. He plays a Forest and a Stonework Puma. That Puma will be pretty big pretty soon.
4. I play a Forest, go to 22, and attack with the Gladeheart. I am bluffing, of course, but I am representing a Vines of Vastwood and he is unlikely to be wanting to trade his Puma since he can put his Machete on it. If he does, I can still play Harrow this turn and Baloth Woodcrasher next turn. Trading wouldn't be that bad. He takes the damage and I pass the turn. At this point, he is probably pretty convinced that I have a Vines of Vastwood.
4. He plays a Forest, equips his Puma and hits me for 4. At the end of his turn, I play Harrow, sacrificing a Forest and put down 2 Mountains for the Spire Barrage. I'm up to 22.
5. I draw a Foest, play the Forest and swing with the Gladeheart bringing him to 16. I play the Woodcrasher, tapping out all of my lands.
5. He holds back his Puma and does not play a land.
6. I draw an Oran-Rief Survivalist. I play a Forest and swing in with the Baloth. He takes the 8. This was a risky play on my part. It's possible with all of those untapped Forests and 6 cards in his hand that he had a Vines of Vastwood or a Primal Below. Trading my Baloth for his Vines of Vastwood and a Puma while there is a Machete on his side of the board is not a bad deal. I chould have been safer and Spire Barraged his Puma, though. If I did Spire Barrage his Puma, he could have Vines afterwarded and saved his creature. In that case, I would have saved my Woodcrasher. I think that would have been a better move.
6. He passes his turn without action. Now I am pretty convinced he doesn't have a Vines of Vastwood. I swing with the team. He concedes.
I decide to include the Relic Crush, Quest for the Gemblades and Zendikar Farguide to deal with his potential green fatties. I sideboard out 2 Oran-Rief Recluse, Molten Ravager. I don't think thta he has the fliers and Ravager is not as good as the rest of the deck since it is a little too slow and I am not playing enough Red.
Match 2 Game 2
He decides to play first. He keeps his hand. I drew 2 Mountains, a Forest, a Nissa's Chosen, a Frontier Guide, a River Boa, and a Spire Barrage.
1. He plays a Plains and passes. I suppose he got land screwed that last game. If I lose this, I should consider subbing back in those Oran-Rief Recluses.
1. I draw a Bladetusk Boar. I play a Mountain and I pass the turn.
2. He plays a Plains and a Kazandu Blademaster. He passes the turn.
2. I draw a Grazing Gladeheart. I play a Forest and a River Boa.
3. He plays a Forest and he attacks with the Blademaster bringing me to 18.
3. I draw a Forest. I attack with the River Boa and then I learn what Regeneration means. It means that if you're attacking a first strike creature that can deal lethal damage, you are getting taken out of combat when you would die and you never get a chance to deal your damage. I play the Frontier Guide regretfully.
4. He plays a Forest and attacks with the Blademaster. At least he is not developing his board much.
4. I draw a Zendikar Farguide. I have 2 evasion creatures, 1 life gainer and 1 Spire Barrage. I play the Grazing Gladeheart and then the Mountain and I immediately regret it. At best, playing it this way got me 2 life. I will definitely lose that two life to the Blademaster. I just don't like decreasing my own options. More than that, I could have played the Bladetusk Boar, which would have been doing immediate damage. I was at 16 life so he can't do lethal. Gaining life over getting the Boar out was a bad call. While it's true that he could have killed the Boar, I still have a Farguide to deal him damage even after he's killed the Boar.
5. He plays a Plains and casts Territorial Baloth. He attacks with Kazandu Blademaster. I get dealt 2 damage and I go to 16. I am uncomfortable iwth his Territorial Baloth. It is a huge creature. Luckily, I have the River Boa that can block it indefinitely.
5. I draw a Vines of Vastwood. This is excellent. I can leave open my mana so that I just look like I am using the Frontier Guide or so taht I can use River Boa's generation. He will attack with Territorial Baloth. If it gets landfall, I can just take the damage and search for a Forest so that I can both block and regenerate next turn. If it does not get landfall, I can use Vines of Vastwood on my own creature.
6. He plays a Forest making his Baloth a 6/6. He casts Trusty Machete and puts it on his Blademaster making it a 4/3 First Striker. He attacks with the Baloth and the Blademaster. I block with the River Boa and pump it with the Vines of Vastwood. He brings me to 10 with his 6/6 Baloth. He passes the turn without putting his Machete on the Baloth. It looks like Harrow. He has no reason to worry abot me taking out his creature with a burn spell if it is Harrow. It could also just be a matter of forgetfulness.
6. I draw a Mountain. I play the Mountain and gain 2 life off of the Gladeheart. I attack with the Gladeheart bringing him to 18. I pass the turn with 3 Mountains and 2 Forests open.
7. He attacks with the Baloth and I block with the River Boa. He passes the turn without putting the Machete on his Baloth. It looks like he is setting up a Baloth Cage Trap. Despite the fact that he has 3 cards in his hand, I am convinced that he probably does not have Harrow since he would have played that earlier. I Spire Barrage his Territorial Baloth. I have two mana open. This is enough to generate my River Boa twice. I decide to attack with the River Boa. I consider myself clever for not attacking with the Grazing Gladeheart or the Frontier Guide. This was a mistake. I should not have attacked at all. I should have just summoned the Nissa's Chosen. If I thought he had the Baloth Cage Trap, then attacking with the River Boa was useless. If I was wrong, I would just lose the opportunity to do 2 damage. If I was right, then I lose the opportunity to cast Nissa's Chosen.
7. He equips his Beast token with the Trusty Machete. He attacks with it dealing me 6 damage.
8. I draw a Spire Barrage. I only have 4 Mountains in play. I tap all red mana to summon up a Bladetusk Boar. I tap for 2 green mana to summon a Nissa's Chosen. I leave 1 green mana to regenerate the River Boa. I could have left more mana open to deal the Beast lethal damage next turn. I didn't think that it was worth tapping my Guide to search for a Mountain. I could save the Spike Barrage to deal direct damage to him instead and the Beast wasn't a problem given the number of creatures I had in play and the fact that one of those creatures had regeneration.
8. He plays Oran-Rief Survivalist and passes the turn.
9. I draw Relic Crush. This is excellent news. I briefly consider how to best take advantage of this and decide that I want to catch him off guard when he attacks with his Beast token. I attack with the Bladetusk Boar. He Pitfall Traps it in response. No problem. I have Zendikar Farguide to deal evasion damage. He plays Quest for the Gemblades. This provides the second target for my Relic Crush. He attacks with the Beast token and I block with Nissa's Chosen and River Boa. He chooses the order of the blockers. I relic crush, destroying the Machete and his Quest for the Gemblades. Nissa's Chosen is destroyed and shuffled into the library. River Boa regenerates. His Beast token is removed from the game.
I am at 10 life. He is at 18 life. I have a River Boa, Frontier Guide and Glazing Gladehart in play. He has an Oran-Rief Survivalist.
10. I draw and play a Forest. I go to 12. I play a Zendikar Farguide. I pass the turn, preferring to save the Boa as a blocker. At this point, I can afford to wait much more than he can given the Frontier Guide-Grazing Gladehart synergy.
10. He plays a Swamp and Bala Ged Thief. I am a little surprised and disappointed. I was planning on dealing direct damage to finish him off. I discard the Spike Barrage, the only card in my hand. I should not have played the Forest. First of all, there is very little reason to play lands before you have to since they represent tricks. Second of all, nothing that I have requires that much more mana and if I draw something that does require more mana, I can play the land later. His Oran-Rief Survivalist becomes a 3/3.
11. I draw a Trusty Machete. My draws this game have been really solid. I put the Trusty Machete onto my Zendikar Farguide. I attack and he goes to 13. I briefly consider putting the Machete on my Boa, but that would limit my Guide's ability to look for land. I pass the turn with 5 mana untapped.
11. He plays a Khalni Heart Expedition and passes the turn. At the end of his turn, I use the Frontier Guide's ability to put a Forest into play. I go up to 14 life. He is at 13.
12. I draw a Harrow. I swing in with the Farguide. He goes to 8. I forget to move the Machete onto my River Boa.
12. He puts a Ondu Cleric into play, making his Oran-Rief Survivalist go to 4/4. He gains 3 life from the Ondu Cleric, bringing him to 11. No attacks. At the end of his turn, I play Harrow for 2 lands sacrificing a Forest. I then use the Frontier Guide to put into play another land into play. I have 5 Mountains, 6 Forests. I gain 6 life. I go up to 20. I am so happy with the Gladehart. 3 mana to have a 2/2 that gains me 10 life.
13. I draw a Torch Slinger. I play the Torch Slinger taking out the Bala Ged Thief. I swing with the Zendikar Farguide. He takes 5 damage and goes to 6. I pass the turn. This turn was played extremely poorly. I should have attacked with the River Boa and the Zendikar Farguide. He probably would have blocked with the Oran-Rief Survivalist. I could have taken out his Survivalist with a Torch Slinger in all likelihood. Even if I decided not to go for his Oran-Rief Survivalist, I could have gone for his Ondu Cleric. The Bala Ged Thief is normally a much stronger card, but with all the mana and no cards in my hand, and so many creatures in play, the Bala Ged Thief is kind of a useless card. Even not considering that issue, I could have moved the Machete onto my River Boa after it failed to attack, or, if it did attack, I could have moved the Machete onto the Torch Slinger. Even better than this strategy, I could have equipped the Machete onto the River Boa before attacks, attacked with both and then used Torch Slinger on Ondu Cleric. This would have been the best strategy.
13. He plays Narrow Escape on his Ondu Cleric. He plays an Ondu Cleric. He goes to 12. His Oran-Rief Survivalist becomes a 5/5 creature. At the end of his turn, I put a Mountain into play with the Guide.
14. I draw a Bladetusk Boar. I attack with the Zendikar Farguide, dealing 5 damage. He goes to 7. I switch the Machete from the Farguide to a Boar.
14. He plays a Makindi Shieldmate. He gains life from his Cleric and puts another counter on his Survivalist. At the end of his turn, I put a Forest into play and go to 24 life.
15. I draw a Nissa's Chosen. I attack with the Zendikar Farguide and the Bladetusk Boar. I deal 8 damage to him. I put out the Nissa's Chosen. This was probably a bad play. Putting out this creature would not have changed the board position. It was highly improbable that I would be forced to discard this with another Bala Ged Thief, a rare creature.
15. He plays a Plains and Iona Shield of Emeria. So this was the card that he had in his hand! I say, "Nice card." He says, "aye but not fast enough." He concedes.
MATCH 2 2-0
MATCH 3 GAME 1
I decide to go first. I draw 2 Forests, 2 Mountains, a Vines of Vastwood, a Frontier Guide and a Spire Barrage. This is not bad. I keep it.
1. I play a Forest and pass.
1. He plays a Forest and passes.
2. I draw a Bladetusk Boar. I play a Mountain and the Frontier Guide. I pass.
2. He plays a Swamp and a Blood Seeker.
3. I draw another Bladetusk Boar. This is looking great. I play a Forest and attack with the Frontier Guide, thinking that he will not block. He blocks and trades. I play Vines of Vastwood on my Guide. I think that playing the Vines of Vastwood was a bad idea. Vines is worth more than the Guide is.
3. He plays a Forest and Nissa's Chosen and a Blade of the Bloodchief. This won't be a real issue with my regenerator and my 2 evasion creatures.
4. I draw a River Boa. I play a Mountain and Bladetusk Boar. I pass.
4. He plays a Swamp and casts Vampire Hexmage. He equips it with Blade of the Bloodchief. He attacks with Nissa's Chosen. Blocking with my Boar would give his Hexmage +4+4, making it a 6/5 First Striker. Not blocking is an easy decision. I go to 18.
5. I draw a Harrow. I attack with my Bladetusk Boar. He sacrifices his Vampire Hexmage to remove the counters from my Bladetusk Boar. This is really bad. He tried blocking it, but it had intimidate so he wond up sacrificing his creature. This is one of those more common misclicks. It is also pretty devastating. I play another Bladetusk Boar.
5. He plays a Swamp and a kicked Gatekeeper of Malakir. I sacrifice my Frontier Guide. He could have put a +1/+1 counter on his Nissa's Chosen due to that death, but he made another mistake. He attacks with his 2/3 Nissa's Chosen and I go to 16.
6. I draw a Mountain. I attack with the Boars. He goes to 11. I play a Mountain and cast the River Boa. This allows me to block his Nissa's Chosen without causing any death. I am a pacifist at the moment. Death is bad wherever it occurs.
6. He plays a Forest and attacks with Nissa's Chosen. I block with the River Boa. I cast Harrow. I pull 2 Forests. One of the Forests is a pretty foil Forest. I regenerate my River Boa.
7. I draw a Mountain and play the Mountain. I attack with everything. He casts Tanglesap.
7. He attacks with Gatekeeper of Malakir and Nissa's Chosen, bringing me to 12. He casts Mindless Null. Null can block because Gatekeeper is in the battlefield. He has no cards in hand.
8. I draw Torch Slinger. I play Torch Slinger targetting the Gatekeeper. He loses the Gatekeeper and his Null cannot block. I swing in with everything. He goes to 3 life.
8. He draws and concedes the game. A Marsh Casaulties would have wiped my team. Luckily, I still had Spire Barrage. Sorin Markov himself would not have saved him.
Match 3 Game 2
I sideboard in Relic Crush and Quest for the Gemblade to take care of his creature-heavy deck. I sub out Tuktuk Grunts and Molten Ravager because they are too slow. I forget to include Zendikar Farguide because I forgot he was playing Green. My memory for this kind of thing is very bad.
He chooses to play first. I draw 2 Forests, 2 Mountains, 2 Bladetusk Boars, 1 Frontier Guide.
1. He plays a Forest and passes.
1. I draw an Oran-Rief Recluse. I play a Forest. I pass.
2. He plays a Swamp and a Frontier Guide.
2. I draw a Harrow. I play a Mountain and Frontier Guide.
2. He plays a Swamp and a Vampire Hexmage.
3. I draw a Torch Slinger. Excellent. This will do lovely work next turn. I play a Mountain and pass the turn.
4. He plays a Forest and a Timbermaw Larva. He attacks with the Hexmage. I go to 18. At the end of his turn, I play Harrow. I sacrifice a Mountain and put my shiney Forest and a Mountain into play.
4. I draw a Mountain. I put Torch Slinger into play targetting his Timbermaw Larva. I attack with the Frontier Guide. To my surprise, he blocks it despite showing an unwillingness to trade previously. Perhaps this is how he feels after his Timbermaw has hit the graveyard. I pass the turn.
5. He puts a Quest for the Gravelord into play. I am happy that I have sideboarded that Relic Crush. Relic Crush is a great card for the sideboard. He puts a Timberaw Larva into play. I guess his willingness to trade his Frontier Guide was not indicative of anything. Either that, or he drew this Larva afterwards. Either way, I am happy we traded. He attacks with his Hexmage. I go to 16 and he passes the turn.
5. I draw another Torch Slinger. This must be my lucky day. I play the second Torch Slinger targetting his Larva. Unfortunately, this time he gets a counter for his Quest for the Gravelord. I swing with my Torch Slinger. He goes to 18. I pass the turn.
6. He casts Nissa's Chosen. He attacks with his Hexmage bringing me to 14.
6. I draw a Spire Barrage. Wow. This is really lucky. This is the 3rd time that I've drawn needed removal. Someone is watching out for me. I play the Bladetusk Boar. I would have played Spire Barrage but I was worried about him playing a pump spell.
7. He attacks me with his two creatures and I do not block, taking 4 damage bringing me to 10. I do not block because of his Quest for the Gravelord.
7. I draw a much needed card again: Relic Crush. I hold off on attacking him with any of my creatures.
8. he attacks with his Hexmage and Nissa's Chosen. This time, I double block his Hexmage and encourage him to trade to summon a Zombie token. One of my Slingers and his Hexmage trade. I take 2 damage and I destroy his Quest with Relic Crush before the third counter can get on the Quest. I probably should have activated it before the second counter could get on the Quest. I ran the risk that he would have some removal and have activated the Quest anyway, thus making my Relic Crush useless.
8. I draw a Grazing Gladeheart and I attack with the Torch Slinger and my Boar. Then I play Spire Barrage targetting his Chosen. This was a mistake. I should have played the Spire Barrage prior to attacking him. This way, I could have considered whether his Nissa's Chosen would need to be blocked by my Bladetusk Boar. I also should have held my Torch Slinger back. He had a lot of mana open. He could have played a Baloth Cage Trap for victory. I took this risk in order to get in 2 extra damage this turn. I also should not have tried to Spire Barrage his creature at all. I should have summoned the Bladetusk Boar to trade with his attacker and saved the Spire Barrage for another threat.
9. He plays another Nissa's Chosen and passes the turn.
9. I draw a Forest. My draws have been amazingly lucky this game. I attack with the Boar. He goes to 7. I play Grazing Gladehart, the Forest and a Bladetusk Boar. He is looking at a world of pain if he does not have Marsh Casaulties. I probably overcommited to the board. With him at 7, he had only 2-3 turns left anyway. By playing the Boar, I reduced that to 1-2 turns. This was at the cost of a potentially devastating Marsh Casaulties.
10. He plays a Guul Draz Vampire and attacks with Nissa's Chosen.
10. I draw a Mountain and play it. I attack with everything. This was really stupid. His plays clearly indicated a Tanglesap. I should have held back some creatures. Luckily, he now has no cards in hand and only half of lethal damage on the board. I play the Oran-Rief Recluse that I had been saving. I should have attacked with the Torch Slinger and the two Boars. The Torch Slinger would have at worst traded with the Vampire. That would leave him with a 2/3 creature with me at 10 life and him at 1.
11. He plays a Vastwood Gorger.
11. I draw and play a Forest bringing me to 12. I bring him to 1 using the two intimidating Boars.
12. He plays a land and concedes.
MATCH 3 2-0