longer.blue

This weekend I played in the Spotlight Series London where I finished 73th with a record of 9-6. My deck choice: I chose to play GW Landfall because the deck looked very powerful at the PT and after playing it a bit online I had a good feeling about it. I also chose this deck because it pushed me out of my comfort zone as a Magic player. I’m a player who likes to feel that I have agency in my games. That’s why I often play Blue/Red decks that see a lot of cards over the course of a game. But this deck is a Green/White deck that plays almost entirely with its opening hand. That meant I had to be more demanding with my mulligans because seeing fewer cards during games also means fewer opportunities to improve my hand. This wasn’t easy for me since I’m someone who doesn’t like mulliganing much. It also means that since I have access to fewer resources during games I need to make sure every resource is used to its fullest. I can’t afford to have my most important spell countered by something like Quench, for example. I’m someone who can sometimes get frustrated with Magic if I feel like I don’t have agency in my games and that I rely too much on my topdecks and my opponent’s topdecks. However that feeling isn’t very rational. If I want to win at Magic the frustration a deck causes me shouldn’t be a factor. Ideally, I shouldn’t feel frustrated playing these “low agency” decks. By trying to play this deck I worked on the frustration I can feel when playing Magic. I tried to more easily accept mulliganing and losing certain games with little agency. My goal is to win at Magic and if that means playing this kind of deck I need to be able to do it. Of course the best outcome is to not feel frustrated playing these decks and to accept both their strengths and their weaknesses. I’m happy because this weekend I only got frustrated once after a game of Magic and it was more related to my opponent’s deck than mine. I also made good mulligan decisions. So I think playing this deck helped me become a better Magic player and I’ll try to play this kind of deck again in the future if possible. Decklist: For the decklist I took something close to the PT deck list and tuned it to beat the mirror. I expected a lot of landfall this weekend and it was surprisingly not the case. I played the 2 Icetill because it is really good in the mirror, it enables Hydra and helps you to hit land drops after a tough mulligan. I played 2 Hydra main and 2 Hydra side for the mirror. I chose to play 1 Surrak main because it was really good against interactive decks. In my sideboard I choose to play 2 Voice over the Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar because I think it fit the curve better. Main Event: Day 1: Round 1: I play against Izzet Lessons. In game 1 he goes Gran-Gran T1 and completely destroys me. In game 2 and 3 I play an early RIP and win the game. Win 2-1 I am now at 2-0 Round 2: I am against Izzet Prowess. My opponent doesn't play very well but he has 2 very good draws and I have 2 rather weak draws and he beats me 2-0 easily. I don't get too beat up and just focus on the rest of the tournament. Lose 0-2 I am now at 1-1 Round 3: I play against Izzet Lessons. In game 1 I have the giga nuts on the play. I go chocobo t1 my opponent goes Gran-Gran. I go t2 Chocobo fetch and keep both of my 2/3 as blockers. She then goes t2 Artist Talent. I then go t3 play fetch play Cub and earthbend the Fetch. Fetch and attack for 10 with my Chocobo. My opponent draws for the turn and then concedes. In game 2 I cast a Dyadrime with only 2 Hushwood Verge (2 green mana) and my opponent Quench it. After her draw I realize that I couldn't cast it and call a Judge. The judge rules that we keep the game in the same state since me having the info on the Quench and keeping my creature in hand is better for me than for her. I still manage to win the game but it doesn't feel super good since I shouldn't have been able to cast my Dyadrime. I still would have played around quench on t2 Whatsoever. I played Elve turn 1 and she didn't kill it so I am pretty sure she had Quench on 2. I played Dyadrime + second Elve on turn 2 but if I saw that I couldn't cast Dyadrime I just would have played Elve. I stay locked in on my tournament and try not to think too much about a game that never happened but still feel bad for my opponent. Win 2-0 I am now at 2-1 Round 4: I am against Izzet Prowess. Game 1 I mulligan to 4 and feel like it will be really hard to win but my hand is a Forest 2 Chocobos and a fetch. I go Chocobo into Chocobo fetch. Then draw Dyadrine cast it for 3 and start to draw 2 each turn. My opponent casts some cantrips, does nothing and dies (nice agency). Game 2 My opponent surprises me with Sunderflock (thank you closed decklist day 1) and I lose Game 3 I side in Rip and I draw it but 1 turn too late. Lucky for me I have a removal for the crab. I kill the crab, exile his graveyard and win. Win 2-1 I am now at 3-1 Round 5: I am against Mono-G Landfall. Game 1 I mull to 6 and keep a hand that misses a piece to be good in the mirror (thank you close deck list) and lose. Game 2 I win easily as my opponent mulligans to 5. Game 3 I missequence my triggers and almost lose the game but I do good blocks and attacks to win the game. Win 2-1 I am now at 4-1 Round 6: I am against Izzet Prowess. I lose game 1 against a strong draw but win game 2 and 3 thanks to my sideboard. Win 2-1 I am now at 5-1 For the first time in this kind of event I play a win and in before the last round. I often lose early and then make a big comeback at the end (3-4 wins in a row) to make day 2. But this time I can play 3 win and in for day 2, let's get it. Round 7: I am against Izzet Prowess. I lose game 1 against a strong draw but win game 2 and 3 thanks to my sideboard. In game 3 I know my opponent has Get Out and play around it well. At some point I cast Surrak and he tries to Get Out Surrak because he didn't know Surrak's first line of text and I win thanks to that. I made day 2 in round 7, let's go. Win 2-1 I am now at 6-1 I am happy I made day 2 but I have to stay locked in. My goal is to make top 8 and qualify for the PT and for that I need a lot more wins. Round 8: I play against 4c Control. Game 1 he controls me and I lose. Game 2 I kill him thanks to Ba Sing Se and Surrak, which draws me 3 cards Game 3 I misplay and forget a trigger of Surrak when my opponent bounces my Harmonizer on the stack with Jeskai Revelation (I thought it triggered only when he counters my creature spells but it is when he targets). I probably lose the game because of that but well. Lose 1-2 I am now at 7-1 Round 9: I play against Jeskai Control. Game 1 he controls me and I lose. Game 2 I understand that he doesn't have a wrath and all in the board and kill him quickly Game 3 he floods a lot and I kill him. Win 2-1 I am now at 7-2 I feel pretty happy with my day 1 and go eat with my friends. We almost all made day 2 and the mood was good at dinner. Day 2: Round 10: I play against Dimir Excruciator. I lose game 1 because he controls me. In game 2 I put too much pressure and kill him with Snakeskin as protection. Game 3 He wraths me but I kill him with Harmonizer crewing Lumbering Worldwagon for more than 20 damage. Win 2-1 I am now at 8-2 Round 11: I play against a friend on Izzet Prowess. He has the nuts game 1 and wins easily. Game 2 I have a super strong start but my hand falls off rapidly. I win thanks to Ba Sing Se. Game 3 My hand doesn't line up very well and I miss my 4th land drop. I also was probably not patient enough on my removal on an otter token. Lose 1-2 I am now at 8-3 Round 12: I play against Temur Lessons. He goes Gran-Gran T1 on the play and completely destroys me in G1 In game 2 he also goes Gran-Gran T1 but I have Rip T2 and my draw is pretty strong so I quickly win. In game 3 He again goes for Gran-Gran T1. Lucky for me I have Rip against it. We then play a super close game that I end up losing. Lose 1-2 I am now at 8-4 Round 13: I play against Izzet Lessons. I destroyed him in both games dealing him 20 points of damage with the Chocobo that I played on turn 1 each game. Win 2-1 I am now at 9-4 Round 14: I play against Selesnya Ouroboroid. In game 1 he kills me 1 turn before I kill him because I am on the draw. In game 2 we both sit on removals but my Icetill and Ba Sing Se make a lot of card advantage and I win a grindy game. In game 3 it is a topdeck game where I am the beatdown and he is at 5 life but he out topdecks me and I lose. Lose 1-2 I am now at 9-5 I am now playing a win and in for top 64 and 350$ Round 15: Game 1 my opponent mulls to 5 but draws perfectly and wins. Game 2 I play very well around his 2 Slagstorm thanks to Earthbender Ascension and easily win. Game 3 my opponent out tempos me and drew his 4 Slickshot Show-Off in his top 12. My 2 removals were not enough. Lose 1-2 I am now at 9-6 After this game I was a bit frustrated. I felt like my opponent had a weak sideboard plan/decklist but got really lucky and won anyway. But anyway it is Magic and sometimes it also happens, nothing to be sad about. Final Thoughts: Although I feel a bit disappointed with my final result after being 7-2 at the end of day 1 I am still happy with my result. I think playing GW Landfall was a good choice and the deck felt really strong. I learned a lot of things thanks to this tournament and I had a lot of fun with my friends. It was a great weekend overall.