longer.blue

This weekend I played my first GP. I finished 77th with a final score of 10-5. I was happy with my finish but I think it could have been better if I played a better deck and played better in some games. Deck choice: I choose to play Dimir Midrange because it had a good match up against control, lessons and Reanimator. It had slightly bad match up against Simic Ouroboroid and a bad match up against Red Aggro, Izzet Looting and Izzet Blink. I choose to play 8 payoff because Kaito was to important against Lessons and Control while Curiosity was very good in the match ups where you trim on Kaito, mostly green match ups and red aggro. If I had to register a list again I would probably do: - 1 Fountainport + Soulstone Sanctuary - 1 Spell Pierce + 1 Phantom Interference - 1 Preacher + 1 Stab maybe - 1 Curiosity/ + 1 Wan Shi Tong maybe - 1 bat for something I am also not sure that Day of Black Sun is any good against Simic Ouroboroid because you often can't let them untap with cub and it is very bad with deep-cavern bat. I am not sure I would play it and maybe I should not play Faebloom trick either because it is very narrow. Friday LCQ: I arrived Friday morning and played an LCQ for Turin. I finished in 2-3 with the same list that I played on the main event. Even though I did not had a great score I had some very rough game, flood/death and and a lot of mulligans. I was still very confident on my deck and choose to keep it the same for the main event. R1 Jeskai Control WW R2 Izzet Blink LL R3 Simic Ouroboroid LWL R4 Jeskai Contro LL R5 Simic Ouroboroid WW Main Event: Day 1: Round 1: In round one I played a very good match up which is Jeskai Control. In game 1 I go 1,2,3 Kaito. He answer it but I cast another one on turn 4 and easily win with it. In game 2 I 2 for 1 him a lot with Kaito and Curiosity. I hold a negate in hand for a very longue time and at some point I have a Kaito a Siren and 2 curiosity as enchantments. I draw 5 in on turn seeing 7 cards and win the game easily. Win 2-0 I am at 1-0. Round 2: I play against an opponent that I played yesterday in the Friday event. He was playing Simic Ouroboroid and was really nice. In game 1 he ramp and I answer his dorks. Then he play a Riddler that I Thishana. I slam a Kaito that can't attack through the Riddler but is protected by a Cecil (Riddler lost flying). I think I should have -2 the Riddler to start drawing cards and putting pressure. Instead I + 1 because I have a Soulstone Sanctuary and I want to have a 6/6 and a 6/7 to close the game but it was probably better to see 6 more cards in 2 turns that not attacking during 2 turns and do nothing. He then draw another Riddler and I fall too fare behind and loose. Game 2 my hand is interactions and a curiosity which look good to me and I keep. I go land go for 4 turns and my opponent do the same. I was pretty sur he had 1 or more mocking bird in hand and was waiting for me to play a creature. To bad for him I didn't drew any. On turn 4 he slam Ouroboroid and I answer with a Curiosity. I take my turn kill his Ouroboroid, start drawing cards and pass with 3 mana. He plays a Mocking Bird copying Curiosity the try to use his fight spell that I Tishana because it is an aura. I take my turn cast kaito and minus his creature, play a bat and take his last good spell in hand and he concede. Game 3 is a slow game where I kill his turn 2 and turn 4 Riddler cutting his cards flow. I then manage to win thanks to curiosity drawing me too much cards. Win 2-1 I am at 2-0 Round 3: I play against Mono-Green Landfall. In game 1 he goes Llanowar Elves into Earthbender Ascension which is the worst thing he can do to me. My deck really sucks at blocking trample creature and playing with a deficit of 2 mana is really hard. I quickly loose this game even if I manage to Tishana a Ba Sing Se gaining me one turn. Game 2 I play a bat on turn 2 and probably pick a bad card. He then goes Chocobo, Chocobo (he top decked the second one) fetch and he has 2 more fetchs in hand. I fail to defend his Chocobo and loose the game. I felt like I played really bad this second game but I have to focus on the rest of the tournament. Lose 0-2 I am at 2-1 Round 4: Played against Selesnya Landfall. In game one on the play he goes Llanowar Elves into Earthbender Ascension. Even though he drew almost nothing for the rest of the game he out grind me with Earthbender Ascension + Ba Sing Se. In game 2 he goes Cub turn 2, I kill it in response. Turn 3 I Floodpits his land, he plays another Cub. In my turn I attack and he choose to trade his Cub for my Floodpits. I then slam Kaito and stun his second land. He take his turn and untap only 1 land, don't play a 4th one and pass. I take my turn attack, draw and Floodpits another land in his upkeep to make him conced. Game 3 he goes Llanowar Elves into Earthbender Ascension and I loose again. After this match I was a bit tilted because I felt like my opponent had the nuts both game that I lost but it is the game and I have to stay focus. Lose 1-2 I am at 2-2 Round 5: Played against Jeskai Artifacts. In game 1 I keep 4 lands, stab, a 2 mana removal and a Curiosity (thank you close deck list). I am on the draw and this hand is very good against every decks but control and lessons. If I mull to 6 and keep a dynamic hand against a green deck I also loose so I choose to keep a hand with more card that is ok if I draw any creatures or if I am against a creature deck. On turn 1 my opponent play an UW surveil and I am very sad. I don t draw any threat for 3 turn and paly Curiosity on 4 that he easily bat. On game 2 I keep a 1 lander 6 with a siren with some good 2 mana plays. I should probably have mulled to 5 and tried to find a Kaito hand. After this game I was very tilted because I was 2-3 and a 4th lost would put my out of day 2. But I pulled myself together and try to not get frustrated on things I can't control or bad plays I mad. What is in the past can't be changed. I have to focus on winning the next magic games and nothing else. Lose 0-2 I am at 2-3 Round 6: I play against Simic Ouroboroid. Game 1 is a game where I go under him with Kaito and win. In game 2 he mull to 6 but has a lot mana on the board (8) turn 2. I have a wrath in hand that I can't cast until turn 4 and he has 2 cards in hand. I think he has Riddler in hand because it is the best card he could have in this hand. If I answer his dork he can Riddler for 2 and if not Riddler for 5 to refuel. I pass with Essence scatter and removal up choosing to not kill a Cub and choosing to loose to Nature's Rhythm. He plays Riddler and I Scatter it draw my 4th land and wrath all his board. My opponent was really salty about that. He then top deck badly and I win by drawing a lot of cards with Curiosity. I am still in it and feeling a bit better after this win. Win 2-0 I am at 3-3 Round 7: I play against Temur Lessons. In game 1 I manage to stick a Kaito on turn 4 which is a bit late. I try to beat down my opponent with it but he is too fare into his engine. My opponent plays an Iroh, Grand Lotus on a board where he has Gran-Gran making all his lessons have flashback for free and then kill me with triple monument. With 1 more turn I could have killed him with Kaito and his deck seems to have a lot of bad cards against me so I am confident I can beat him post board. Game 2 I go Kaito on turn 3 and answer some of his plays killing him very fast. Game 3 I have a lot of answers in hand. At some point I draw a Duress and see a hand with fire magic, Combustion Technique, Boomerang Basic and Monument. My hand is Kaito, annul and a removal. I discard Monument even though I have annul because I am scared of his top decks and the other cards do nothing against Kaito. He then topdeck Artist Talent and I Annul it. I slam Kaito and + 1 it. He play Gran-Gran and bounce Katio with Boomerang Basic. I play Kaito again and + 1 again. He loot a first time and pass. I am lethal with 2 Kaito attacks so I choose to + 1 again and attack. Next turn I don't remember if I answer Gran-Gran or if he attack with it to find an out but he don't draw anything meaningful and I kill him with Kaito. Win 2-1 I am at 4-3 Round 8: I play against Jeskai Artifacts, time for revenge. In game 1 it is loose after he answer all my threats and make big constructs. In game 2 I go 1,2,3 Kaito and put a lot of pressure to win easily. In game 3 I have a nice hand and my oppo mull to 6. He then plays Authority of the Consuls on turn 1 (thank you for mulliganing to 5) that has no impact in the game. He plays Voice of Victory on turn 2 but I know that this deck has a lot of it in the side so I keep my 2 mana removals. Luckily for me I have one and kill Voice on turn 2. I play flash threats and Curiosity to draw a lot of cards. I completely crush him under card advantage and win easily. Win 2-1 I am at 5-3 Round 9: I am playing a win and in for day 2. I try to not think about it and stay focus on my games of Magic. I am playing against Jeskai Black. In game 1 I have 1,2,3 Kaito. He answer the first Kaito but I have a second one and manage to kill him with it. Game 2 I have mid hand of Floodpits and bats. His hand is full of spells and he draw his lands of the top. At some point he top deck Cursed Recording and resolve it. He then crush me under card advantage finishing me with a double Jeskai Revelation. Game 3 I side out 2 mana removals because I didn't saw any creatures and I side in Annul for Cursed Recording and Aang's Iceberg. He mull to five and I have a fast draw. He has the right answers but I manage to exhaust him and win in the end. Super happy that I mad it to day 2. Win 2-1 I am at 6-3 and in Day 2