They were doing Conspiracy draft at Gamescape North, and I didn't feel like playing multiplayer draft there. I know a few of the people, but not enough people for me to want to play Conspiracy draft. Most places were mainly doing Conspiracy draft (it turned out Versus Games was doing a Theros Block draft) but I was a bit tired of Versus Games anyways, so I went to Anime Imports to play in the 4 pm standard tournament.
I had to take off work so that I could leave home at 3 pm. Traffic wasn't too bad, mainly because I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge before they cut down the southbound lanes to two. I ended up getting there around 3:45 p.m. I wasn't sure how many people would actually be there, but it turned out there was a decent turnout (16 people). The tournament started around 4:30 p.m. (they were waiting for people to show up, I guess).
I played the Chris Van Meter Jund list:
Creatures (25)
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Polukranos, World Eater
Planeswalkers (7)
4 Domri Rade
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
Lands (23)
4 Forest
3 Blood Crypt
2 Mutavault
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Malice
Spells (5)
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Dreadbore
1 Mizzium Mortars
Sideboard
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Nylea's Disciple
1 Doom Blade
2 Golgari Charm
2 Putrefy
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Rakdos's Return
Round 1: Mono blue (0-2)
Game 1:
Got crushed by double Tidebinder Mage into Bident of Thassa and Thassa, God of the Sea.
Game 2:
This game was a little closer, but he got Bident of Thassa again, and double Domestication gave me nightmares. I should have sided out Courser of Kruphix during sideboarding. Also, Domestication on Stormbreath Dragon is a pita, since it has haste so he gets in a free swing. Cyclonic Rift overload sealed the deal.
Round 2: Naya walkers (0-2)
Game 1:
He seemed to keep a sketchy hand. He only played a couple Mizzium Mortars, a Courser of Kruphix and an Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragon took the game home for me.
Game 2:
This was a grindy game. He got out turn 3 Fiendslayer Paladin (which I can't target at all with any spells in my deck) and a turn 4 Xenagos the Reveler (which I Dreadbored) then turn 5 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes to make it a 5/5. I killed the Ajani, Mentor of Heroes on the swing back, but then he got all the way up to 44 life. I was down to 2 life. He had played an Elspeth and +1'd it. I used my other Dreadbore on the Elspeth. At one point he swung in with his team, I blocked all but one soldier token, he cast Selesnya Charm on the unblocked token, and I responded with Abrupt Decay (ka-ching).
I managed to swing into him a couple times with a Ghor-Clan Rampager and Mutavault, then drew a Vraska, the Unseen, which destroyed a Chandra, Pyromaser, before dying to Stormbreath Dragon. He had a Banishing Light for my Ghor-Clan Rampager, I had Golgari Charm to destroy the Banishing Light before my turn. Then I drew my ONE Scavenging Ooze (I had sided the other two out) to gain 3 life on my turn. He swung me down from 5 to 1 life with another Stormbreath Dragon, and then I killed it with a Mizzium Mortars. Then next turn I ate five creatures with Scavenging Ooze bringing it up to a 10/10, at which point, my opponent conceded.
Match 3: Monoblack splash blue (2-0)
Game 1:
I saw Dimir Guildgate, and thought he was playing some budget Esper control deck, but apparently he was running mono-black with blue splash.
He bounced my Stormbreath Dragon with Away at my EOT. I considered replaying the Stormbreath Dragon, but I suspected he might be running Dissolve (?) so I played Xenagos, the Reveler instead. I made a couple Satyr tokens with it, before Xenagos ate a Heroes' Downfall.
He was down to 8 life, and I had DOUBLE Stormbreath Dragon in play. He played a Desecration Demon, I played an Elvish Mystic and sacc'ed it to the Demon, and swung for lethal.
Game 2:
Opponent had turn 2 Pack Rat, into turn 3 Lifebane Zombie (which missed). Next turn I drew a Polukranos I had scryed and left on top, then played Vraska, the Unseen to blow up his Pack Rat. Lifebane Zombie killed Vraska the next turn. He then played a Nighthowler on the Lifebane Zombie, making it a 5/3. Now I was on a clock, but I got a Monstrous Stormbreath Dragon (dealing 1 damage to opponent) then swinging for 7 in the air.
Result: 2-1
I realized Monoblue is a terrible match up for Jund monsters (and I suspect Naya walkers as well). I am thinking this deck has better matchups overall compared to Mono-black splashing green or mono-blue splashing white. I also had the option to play Esper Control but I figured that was not fun at all.
By going to Anime Imports for tournaments instead of Versus Games, it's another 7.5 miles (one way) and roughly 10-20 minutes (one way). It's fine for now, though. I am tired of Theros Block draft. I am okay with going to Gamescape North to play Theros Block draft, but I don't think I want to spend 40-50 minutes driving to San Francisco (Two Cats or Versus Games) during Friday afternoon traffic to play it.
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