Some thoughts from our local big event last Sunday. 70 participants (big for our local scene...), and about 1000€ in products as price support for the top 16. It was a varied metagame from what I could see, and with experienced players and players who participated in their first competitive level event.
I was using the Finkel version straight with the same sideboard as well, except with a slightly inferior manabase (4 Scalding Tarns, 2 Misty Rainforest, and only 2 Shivan Reef) but I don't think the manabase differences mattered at all.
Round 1: UR Delver/Young Pyromancer
Got a lousy start. First hand was a one-lander with no blue draw spells, then my first mulligan gave me a three-lander with 2 Gitaxian Probes and 1 Serum Visions. Threw that away as well, and got a hand with no lands. Since it had some card draw and was good in other ways I decided to keep it. Got a land soon, but not enough and I couldn't combo
before he killed me. I won the second game, and the third went to extra turns. I tried making enough goblins to help me stay alive long enough to get a draw (since I couldn't combo of with what I had), but I couldn't do it. 1-2.
Round 2: Amulet of Vigor
I groaned a bit when I saw my matchup, because I was up against our probably best local player. I don't think I've ever won him before. I expected him to be on UWR, but when Amulet of Vigor of Vigor turned up on the second turn followed by a Ravnica bounceland, Summer Bloom, more bouncelands and a Primeval Titan on turn two I knew how wrong I was about it. Turns out a secound turn attacking 8/6 Titan is pretty scary. But hey, storm combo on turn three wins the game...
And so does a second turn Blood Moon. 2-0
Round 3: UWR, with Restoration Angel/Kiki-Jiki combo
I won the first game, and figured he was on a regular UWR control deck when the Kiki-
Jiki combo surprised me in the second game. But I won the third game, so 2-1.
Round 4: UG Delver
Urgh, another Delver deck. Not very happy about that matchup. Can't remember much about this one. He won the first game, I the second, and he the third. 1-2
Round 5: Affinity
I can't remember much about this one either. Shatterstorm did its thing. 2-1
Round 6: Merfolk
Two very quick games, with me losing. Second merfolk deck I've lost to (the other was on the GPT the week before). I'm starting to see a trend here, blue-based aggro is a problem. They have fast creatures with counterspell backup. 0-2
Round 7: UW Control
I knew she would be using a UW deck from my scouting earlier, saw the typical stuff and a Tamiyo. But it turned out she had some Karns in the deck as well. Anyway, I managed to play around some counters in the first game and comboed off. In the second I had several rituals and an Empty the Warrens in my starting hand so I decided to save up on rituals, wait until I had 4
lands (to be able to play a second ritual if the first one was countered) and then fire of the lot and create lots of goblins. Turns out 10 early goblins were enough to close the deal. 2-0
So my final score was 4-3 (5-2 would have been enough for top 16). I'm happy with this result, because I had feared a much worse result. I must say I'm feeling a lot more confident with the deck now, and I'm liking this version more than the other. My losses were all to blue-based aggro decks, which means that I'm seeing a trend. I'm going to try putting 2 Volcanic Fallouts in the sideboard next. I've decided on Volcanic Fallout instead of Anger of the Gods mostly because of the "can't be countered" clause and because it's an Instant. The winner of the tournament was the same Merfolk player I lost to in the GPT, so there's a chance to face that deck again. So this will be my deck going forward (manabase is far from optimal, but I had borrowed three fetches for the tournament so I can't expect to use
them in the future):
[deck]
Land 16
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
4 Island
2 City of Brass
2 Shivan Reef
Enablers 8
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Pyromancer Ascension
Win-cons 2
2 Grapeshot
Support spells 34
3 Past In Flames
3 Desperate Ravings
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Thought Scour
4 Manamorphose
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
Sideboard 15
3 Empty the Warrens
3 Shatterstorm
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Defense Grid
2 Blood Moon
2 Volcanic Fallout
[/deck]
This will be my sideboarding strategy:
Zoo
-3 Desperate Ravings
-1 Past in Flames
-1 Pyromancer Ascension
-2 Thought Scour (-4 on play)
+4 Lightning Bolt
+3 Empty the Warrens
+2 Blood Moon (on play)
Affinity
-4 Gitaxian Probe
-2 Desperate Ravings
-1 Pyromancer Ascension
-1 Past in Flames
+3 Shatterstorm
+4 Lightning Bolt
+1 Empty the Warrens
Control
-4 Thought Scour
-1 Grapeshot
-1 Past in Flames
+2 Blood Moon
+1 Defense Grid
+3 Empty the Warrens
Pod/
Infect/GW Hatebears
-4 Thought Scour
-2 Desperate Ravings
+4 Lightning Bolt
+2 Volcanic Fallout
Jund/BG/Tron
-4 Thought Scour
-1 Grapeshot
+3 Empty the Warrens
+2 Blood Moon
Bogles
-2 Desperate Ravings
+2 Volcanic Fallout
Twin
-2 Thought Scour
-1 Grapeshot
-1 Past in Flames
+1 Defense Grid
+3 Empty the Warrens
Ad Nauseam/Amulet of Vigor/Scapeshift
-1 Pyromancer's Ascension
-1 Past in Flames
+2 Blood Moon
Merfolk/Faeries/UR Delver/Boros Landfall
-1 Pyromancer's Ascension
-1 Past in Flames
-3 Desperate Ravings
-4 Thought Scour
+4 Lightning Bolt
+3 Empty the Warrens
+2 Volcanic Fallout
Burn
-4 Gitaxian Probe
+3 Empty the Warrens
+1 Defense Grid
Living End
???
Storm
???