6/21/14 Just desserts (Modern tournament 1-1-1)

I didn't sleep well last night.  I went to bed around 1:30 a.m., but woke up around 5 a.m. with heart palpitations, from all the pizza/beer consumed the previous night.   I ended up getting out of bed around 9:30, but I was super exhausted.  I also had a terrible sore throat as well, and was feeling paranoid about my health for some reason.  I ended up heading over to Anime Imports to play in the Saturday Modern tournament.

Deck I played.  It was based off Patrick Dickmann's most recent Tarmo Twin list, that he played on Thursday, June 19th.  However, I replaced 1 Thrun the Last Troll with Vendilion Clique, 1 Keranos, God of the Storms with Sowing Salt, and 1 Dismember with Combust.

2 Island

1 Mountain

1 Forest

3 Steam Vents

1 Breeding Pool

1 Stomping Ground

4 Scalding Tarn

4 Misty Rainforest

2 Hinterland Harbor

1 Sulfur Falls

2 Tectonic Edge

----

1 Flame Slash

2 Gitaxian Probe

4 Serum Visions

4 Lightning Bolt

1 Twisted Image

4 Remand

4 Snapcaster Mage

4 Tarmogoyf

3 Deceiver Exarch

3 Pestermite

1 Vendilion Clique

2 Cryptic Command

4 Splinter Twin

1 Thrun, the Last Troll

SIDEBOARD:

2 Ancient Grudge

2 Anger of the Gods

1 Threads of Disloyalty

1 Combust

2 Dispel

1 Engineered Explosives

2 Relic of Progenitus

1 Batterskull

1 Sowing Salt

1 Negate

1 Nature's Claim

Match 1:  Soul Sisters (2-1)

Game 1:

I lost to 2/2 Squadron Hawks.  I attempted to go off with Twin earlier but he had the path.  I attempted to go off with Twin again, but this time he had double Soul's Attendant, so Twin on Pestermite wouldn't do anything.  LEARN TO MATH

Game 2:

He has two Soul's Attendant in play, and I manage to kill both of them.  One by flashing in a Deceiver Exarch and double blocking it with another Deceiver Exarch I had in play (he had Honor of the Pure in play).      With some Anger of the Gods, Snapcaster Flashback Anger of the Gods, and my second Anger of the Gods, I clear up his entire board of tokens.   He has a Damping Matrix, and Rest in Peace which screws over my Tarmogoyfs and Snapcaster Mages.  I have Ancient Grudge to destroy his Damping Matrix.  He ends up with one card in hand, and I go for the Twin combo.  He scoops.

Game 3:

This was another grindy match of attrition, involving Anger of the Gods + Engineered Explosives.  He has Damping Matrix again, and I don't have Ancient Grudge this time.

I end up beating down with two Deceiver Exarchs and a Snapcaster Mage.  I finish him off with a bolt into Snapcaster Mage flashback bolt.

Match 2:  Storm (1-1 draw)

Game 1:

He goes all the way down to 1 life, but I lose this match, because I can't top deck a bolt to finish him off.

Game 2:

I open with double Relic of Progenitus in my opening hand.  I play turn 1 Relic and he refuses to cast any spells, besides a Goblin Electromancer.   He kinda ends up going off, and I pop a Relic in middle of the chain, just to prevent him from upticking his Pyromancer's Ascension.   I have a second Relic in hand so I don't worry about doing this.

Eventually, he plays Blood Moon, and I'm stuck with basic forest, and a bunch of Mountains.  I end up having to discard two Cryptic Commands.  I'm at 3 life, but I beat down with Tarmogoyf, taking him from 18 to 0 with just one Tarmogoyf.

Game 3:

Eight minutes left for this game.  He plays a turn 2 Spellskite.  Doesn't matter, since I'm not going for that kill.

I play Vendilion Clique while he's tapped out, and he has a Lightning Bolt in hand which I make him bottom. He plays an Empty the Warrens for six.  Next turn I drop an Engineered Explosives for 0, and pop it, making him lose all his tokens.  Then time gets called.

Match 3:  Mono-U Tron

I had played against this guy during the last couple of Modern tournaments.  I beat him in the previous two tournaments, so it was time for my comeuppance.  And did I get my comeuppance today.

Game 1:

Had my opponent down to 1 life from Pestermite/Snapcaster aggro.  He had Treasure Mage'd for Mindslaver, and shown me Academy Ruins from Expedition Map.

Tried to go for the Snapcaster into Bolt for the win, but he had the Remand into Spell Pierce.  Then next turn he had the double Mindslaver into Academy Ruins lock.

Game 2:

For some reason I decided to side out three of my Splinter Twin, thinking I would be able to beat down.  I kept a hand with Sowing Salt and Ancient Grudge.  I Ancient Grudge'd his first two Talismans of Dominance, then Sowing Salt'd his Tower, even though he already had another Tower in play.  I didn't read that Sowing Salt only gets Tower in hand/graveyard/library, not the other copies in play.  He didn't have any other Tron pieces in play to get.

I play Vendilion Clique, and he had a ton of gas in his hand:  Mindslaver, Sundering Titan, and Wurmcoil Engine.

I end up Snapcaster Mage flasjhback the Sowing Salt to get rid of his Academy Ruins.

I bottomed his Sundering Titan with Vendilion Clique.

He Mindslavered me, attacking my Thrun the Last Troll into his Wurmcoil Engine, and Lightning Bolting my Vendilion Clique.  Then he cast Treasure Mage into Sundering Titan, cast Sundering Titan, I scoop.  I should have saved the Ancient Grudge for Mindslaver/Wurmcoil Engine, or something.  There was no reason to waste mana on his ramp guys, since my hand wasn't very aggressive as it was.

Result:  1-1-1

Played bad, got punished.

Sowing Salt turned out to be really over-rated.

Perhaps Squelch would be better for Tron, since it counters Mindslaver/Oblivion Stone.

Perhaps Keranos, God of Storms is worth giving another try in my sideboard, over Sowing Salt.

Maindeck Thrun the Last Troll was kinda bleh.

5 weeks until the Modern PTQ at Eudemonia.  I am not prepared.