Welcome back. Starting off at Plat 2 Step 2 today, hoping to play at least 6 matches and make it to Plat 1. Oh, I’ve also gone through and added a bunch of links to my previous articles, so now when I’m talking about a card, say, Longtusk Cub, you can hover over the card name to see a little picture of the card. I’m also going to be adding a link to my Untapped.gg profile at the end of each post that directly corresponds to the matches I talked about in the post, so you can see what decklist I was using, what colour decks I faced, and how I sideboarded in each of the games. Hopefully, these are useful additions, that make these posts easier to understand. Let’s get started!
Match 1: 2-1 vs Yorion Sultai Ultimatum. Opponent conceded game 1 after taking a peek at my hand and seeing two Goldspan Dragons. I tried to sideboard out my Primal Might for game 2, but ended up regretting it after my opponent played their Elder Gargaroth, forcing me to spend a Bonecrusher Giant and a Stomp just to leave him with a 3/3 blocker. I learned my lesson in game 3, boarding back in the Primal Might, plus adding an extra one from the sideboard. Both copies paid off really well, as I spent one for an extra 2 damage on T4 and used the second to kill a blocker and attack for exact lethal on T6.
Match 2: 0-2 vs Yorion Sultai Ultimatum. I made a small mistake in each of the games, and while I’m not sure if *not* making the mistakes would’ve necessarily won me the game, I should still look out for them going forward. In game 1, my opponent is tapped out, and I’ve got 4 mana to spend, with Bonecrusher Giant and Charge Through in my hand. I cast Bonecrusher Giant and pass, with the intention of casting Charge Through on my next opponent’s end step. Well, their end step rolls around, and I cast Charge Through, only for them to respond by killing my Giant, causing Charge Through to fizzle. In this spot, I should’ve cast Charge Through on my own turn while my opponent was tapped out, to guarantee the draw. In game 2 I had the choice of either playing Fabled Passage or Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass as my first land. I had a Kazandu Mammoth and 2 other lands in hand, so I went with the latter, thinking I could use the Fabled Passage T4 for a 7/7 Mammoth. I think that was probably the right call, but I should’ve at least thought about keeping the Shatterskull Smashing in hand, as I ended up wishing I had kept in later in the game, and my Mammoth was predictably taken out by Heartless Act the turn I played it.
Match 3: 2-1 vs Yorion Sultai Ultimatum. A lot of these today, eh? Anyways, these games went pretty quickly. Game 1 I kept a risky hand on the draw that was awesome if I drew a green source by T2 (which I didn’t). Game 2 was a breeze, my only mistake being I didn’t play Edgewall Innkeeper on the play T1 even though I intended to play it by T2 with Snakeskin Veil in hand. There’s no way they could’ve killed it T1, so I missed one damage, not that it mattered. Game 3 I made an interesting decision that paid off: instead of sticking to the adventure plan, I buffed up my 2 Dragonsguard Elite and won by flinging a 6/6 Elite at my opponent’s face.
Match 4: 0-2 vs Jegantha Naya Runes?! I’ve never seen this one before, so it caught me way off guard. Basically, it used Runeforge Champion, Transcendent Envoy, Setessan Champion, and Showdown of the Skalds to draw a whole bunch of Rune cards (such as Rune of Might and Rune of Sustenance) and cast them for free, making one very large lad with trample and lifelink. Game 1 they combo’d off faster than I could, and Game 2 I sideboarded for a grindy matchup but got manascrewed. Not even mad though, that deck looks sick!
Match 5: 2-1 vs Temur Adventures. Game 1 my opponent got manascrewed, giving me a fairly easy win. Sideboarded for grinding them out. Game 2 I was stuck at 4 mana for many turns, but managed to drag the game out to topdecking, which they won. Game 3 the Ox of Agonas sat in my hand for a long time as I kept pulling useful cards off the top, and I ended up not really needing it, although it was nice to have as a panic button.
Match 6: 1-2 vs Yorion Sultai Ultimatum. I kept a spicy double Edgewall Innkeeper hand in game 1 without any adventure creatures, and made it work really well. I’m pretty sure I could’ve won game 2, but I cast Kazuul’s Fury while he had mana open, when I could’ve waited until he tapped out playing a sweeper the next turn. Game 3 I drew Purphoros’s Intervention and 2 Primal Mights, and even though I got to Intervention their Elder Gargaroth, the Primal Mights sat dead in my hand until I lost. Unfortunate, but that’s the cost of spicy sideboarding.
Well, I played 6 matches like I said I was going to, and while I didn’t move up in rank, at least I didn’t move down. This is all still good practice for the CFB Pro Showdown this Saturday, so I can’t complain. More practice tomorrow!