1/8/15 Modern madness (1-1-1)

I went to Versus Games to play this game.

Match 1 Game 1:

My opponent's a regular constructed grinder. 

I lose the roll.  I open with the Exarch/Splinter Twin combo in hand, but need to find a decent situation to use it.  Turn 1 Faithless Looting into turn 2 Grisly Salvage into a turn 3 second Grisly Salvage and Faithless Looting.

I Remand a couple of his flashback Faithless Lootings (value).  I punt by discarding Tarmogoyf and Spell Snare when I had 8 cards in hand.  For some reason I thought I had 9 cards.

He plays Necrotic Ooze, and I have Cryptic Command in hand with Dig Through Time and Deceiver Exarch.   I check his graveyard, see Boborygmos Enraged and Griselbrand and Lotleth Troll and let it resolve.  ???  For some reason I tap out for Dig Through Time, he domes me with 4 lands and a Soul Spike.

Match 1 Game 2:

He discards Griselbrand to Faithless Looting again.

I counter his first Goryo's Vengeance with  Negate.  Unfortunately, while I'm tapped too low to Snapcaster Mage-Negate he plays a second Goryo's Vengrance and kills me with Griselbrand into Fury of the Horde.

Match 2 Game 1:

This guy accused me of cheating during a BNG/THS/THS draft, which is why I stopped attending FNM there.  Anyways, I try to play the game without saying much.  Of course, my opponent (and his friends) like to make comments about my card choices during the match, constantly).  

I lose the roll, but turn 1 Twisted Image on his Birds of Paradise = value.

Shadow of Doubt to kill one of his fetchlands, almost punt by trying to crack a fetchland afterwards. Woops.   He's attacking with Kitchen Finks, but it doesn't matter because I have double Tarmogoyf.   Vendilion Clique to tuck his Archangel of Thune and Remand for his Eidolon of Rhetoric lets me swing for lethal. 

Match 2 Game 2:

Turn 1 Twisted Image on Noble Hierarch = Sweet.   Anger of the Gods wipes away a Kitchen Finks, a Birds of Paradise, a Voice of Resurgence token, and a spellskite with 1 damage on it from Deceiver Exarch.  Of course, he has another Spellskite, into Birthing Pod, sac Spellskite, get Eternal Witness, play Spellskite.   I Ancient Grudge his Birthing Pod, he Shriekmaw's my Tarmogoyf.  I attack with double Snapcaster Mage, he blocks one with Shriekmaw.  Then I lose to topdeck Archangel of Thune.

Match 2 Game 3:

I had the combo in hand but it didn't matter since he had turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Wall of Roots, turn 3 Thoughtseize to remove my Splinter Twin.  When I Vendilion Clique'd my opponent he had double Murderous Cut. 

Game went to time.

Match 3 Game 1:

This guy is a visitor from out of town.

I lose the roll, mull to 6, opponent is playing vampires, and main Surgical Extraction on my Lightning Bolt.  I end up kiling opponent with triple Tarmogoyf.

Match 3  Game 2:

I play around Surgical Extraction, by not playing Tarmogoyf until I have Dispel or Negate in hand.  I counter his Surgical Extraction when he goes for it.   Then he plays Surgical Extraction targeting my last Tarmogoyf.  He starts picking away at my life with Bloodghast, which I remove with Anger of the Gods.  Then he plays  another Surgical Extraction on my Anger of the Gods.  I'm down to 1 life, and eventually win off Desolate Lighthouse into Batterskull into Batterskull.

Unfortunately, I'm 1-1-1, and there were 9 people in the modern, and I ended up out of prize contention.   That's fine, at least I ddn't run into any "nerd-ragers" during the draft.