I venture out to MTG Metropolis for their "Thursday Night Magic" (this week, it's preparation for the weekend's Spanish Regionals, which is a really cool and logical idea -- have a bunch of practice tournaments before a big event). Metropolis is by far the nicest gaming store, Magic or otherwise, that I've ever encountered. It's something of a Magic museum, having all kinds of rarities like Judge foils, Guru lands, and other oddities like Super Secret Tech and other alternate-art Unhinged rares on display. They also have a wall displaying every card from the newest set, with pricings in both Spanish and English, which is a great idea and very convenient. It's roomy, has table numbers permanently on the walls, a soda machine and both Men's and Women's bathrooms. Definitely a step up from most places I've played Magic.
The one downside is that their prices are abysmal. I have to buy Sunlances and Burrenton Forge-Tenders for my Merfolk sideboard, and they run me 1.5 Euro a set, which is about $2.75. Clearly a nice place to play Magic, but I'm never buying anything that's not hard to find from them.
There are about 20 players, yet the tournament is still only four rounds -- which is odd, since it is a DCI sanctioned event. Also, the payout is a 70/30 split of the pool of entry fees (3 Euro) so there's a nice bit of money at stake. I'm not too comfortable with this deck, especially with the particular build I'm running, but hopefully the players aren't too powerful at such a casual event.
Almost half the room seems to be comprised of Merfolk decks of varying quality. This worries me, because it seems that someone in the room must have metagamed against the fishes by now, but there's nothing that can be done at this point. This is one of the reasons I reinserted Sunlance in the SB, as it's quite strong in the mirror and against varities of Elf decks and Red decks that would be the logical choice to play in a Merfolk-heavy field. I remove the Wispmares, as they're the least exciting card in my sideboard already and I see only one Faerie deck -- perhaps Bitterblossoms were too hard to obtain for many people here.
A quick reminder of the decklist I'm running at this tournament:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merrow Reejery
4 Stonybrook Banneret
3 Sygg, River Guide
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Ancestral Vision
4 Sage's Dousing
4 Cryptic Command
4 Wanderwine Hub
3 Adarkar Wastes
1 Mystic Gate
3 Mutavault
12 Island
SB:
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Sunlance
3 Reveillark
3 Teferi's Moat
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
Round 1 - Ivan
Ivan is a nice guy who I end up talking with over the course of the tournament. He's the one that informs me that this tournament is preparation for Regionals and where the tournaments are. The regionals on Sunday is in Madrid, so I might go just to play some Magic, although -- just as with the US regionals I could have played in -- qualification is useless for me. I realize halfway through the match that I played Ivan at the Prerelease last weekend, and absolutely crushed him with turn 5 Nobilis of War one game and an unanswered Figure of Destiny in another.
He's also playing Merfolk, and immediately strikes me as one of the more competent people in the room, so I know I'm in for a fight. I have very little experience with the Merfolk mirror, as it wasn't very popular when I played it on MTGO, so I'm learning as I go along.
Game 1
I start off with a Cursecatcher into Lord of Atlantis, but turn 3 I can only play another Cursecatcher and suspend Ancestral Visions, holding a Cryptic Command and a land in hand. I think I'm in good shape until Ivan plays Banneret into Banneret->Sower, stealing my Lord of Atlantis. He's threatening way more power on the board than I am, and my Cryptic to tap his team and return my Lord gets Doused.
Lesson learned. Playing Lord of Atlantis, while nice, gives little room for maneuverability and gives the opponent a huge window of opportunity. I hope that he leaves his in, but I'm definitely removing mine.
-4 Lord of Atlantis
-2 Venser
+4 Sunlance
+2 Reveillark
Sunlance is great in the matchup, and in anticipation of him bringing in his I bring in two Reveillark for the two worst non-Merfolk in the deck. Either he'll play his LoA and give me an advantage, or our creatures will run into each other and Reveillark will be the trump.
Game 2
I mulligan a one-lander into Cursecatcher, Banneret, Sower, Sygg, Hub, Mutavault.
I draw a second blue source and steal his turn 2 Banneret. He doesn't seem to draw any Sunlances and I quickly overpower him.
Game 3
I keep an awkward hand of Sunlance, Sunlance, Silvergill Adept, Reveillark, Hub, Hub, Mutavault. Sunlance seems like the best way to get the game to the point where I want to use Reveillark, so I keep, hoping I hit another Merfolk for Adept.
I don't, but I kill his turn 2 and 3 Bannerets, and his hand seems clogged with Dousings or Cryptics. On turn 3 I draw another Adept and start playing them out, and he starts Dousing without draws. By the time Reveillark comes down, he's out of counters and his only threat is Lord of Atlantis, which I'm excited that he didn't side out and lets me hit him hard with Mutavault as he's countering my Adepts. I Cryptic the Reejery he eventually draws, bouncing my own Reveillark to return double Adept, drawing into my own Reejery and a Sower. His LoA provides the evasion and it's over.
The Merfolk mirror is really intense, but fun. The games are grueling and involve a lot of attrition, and seem to come down to smart mulliganing and sideboarding. It's absolutely correct to remove LoA, as it's just too dangerous if you ever fall behind.
Ivan asks me if I removed my Lords, and I tell him I did. He confesses that he knows he should have now, and shows me his sideboarding -- he took out Sygg and Sowers for Sunlances and Reveillark. I can somewhat understand Sower -- although if you're bringing in Reveillark it seems even better -- but Sygg seems like a monster in the matchup. Perhaps he knows something I don't.
Round 2
I didn't get this guy's name. The two games we play are massacres, as I keep a two-lander that never gets there and then a three-lander that only draws into Cryptics and Sowers. His Elves clean me up very slowly, and I feel that with an extra land in either game I probably could have won, as he was playing very loose, but there's nothing to be done.
Ivan plays against another Merfolk mirror and sides out LoA this time, to great success. A fist-bump occurs and I can't help but wonder if even the Spanish youth know of the infamous Obama bump and the satire of it that's gracing the cover of the New Yorker. My Spanish is definitely not good enough to engage in a political discussion, though, so I'll probably never know.
Round 3
I play against a sad-faced kid -- the kind that always looks like he's about to burst into tears or, alternately, fall asleep at a moment's notice -- that I also crushed at the Prerelease.
He's playing Merfolk as well, but is much worse at it than Ivan. I know he has Mirrorweave in his deck from watching games between rounds, so I keep it in the back of my mind.
Game 1
Game 1 is uneventful. He keeps a slow hand and I overrun him with a nice curve into Lord of Atlantis when he has nothing. He plays a few Cryptics to slow me down but doesn't ever have any relevant action.
I sideboard the same as against Ivan.
Game 2
He keeps another counterspell-heavy hand, although my hand is a bit slower and his Cryptics are more relevant. He plays out Reejery and Sygg on the same turn, which lets me Sower the Sygg and keep Dousing mana up due to my double Bannerets. He eventually bounces the Sower back to my hand with Cryptic Command, but again taps low for some Adepts and has only one activation for Sygg.
I draw into another Sower. With double Sower in my hand I can guarantee stealing an Adept, or make an attempt at Sygg. He seems to be playing quite loose, and I'm a bit behind, so I go for it. The first Sower targets an Adept, and he uses Sygg to save it. I steal Sygg and the game seems well in-hand.
He untaps and plays Teferi's Moat, which is a bit annoying but hardly unbeatable, as I have two Sowers in play already and a Reveillark in hand. Reveillark resolves and his two LoAs can't race me, even though I'm quite low. He makes a desperate play when he tries to Mirrorweave everything into a Mutavault, but I have the Dousing for it and the game is mine.
Another opponent who kept in Lord of Atlantis. I suppose that it's better when you're sideboarding in Teferi's Moat, but it still seems way too risky. He kept Sygg in, though.
Ivan plays against yet another Merfolk mirror, but this one includes hits like Merrow Witsniper, Silvergill Douser, and Fallowsage. He manages to win, somehow.
Round 4
I learn between rounds that the Top 2 is locked in and none of us are playing for anything. I'm playing against Kevin, one of Ivan's friends. They inform me of a store ranking for which this tournament counts towards, and since Kevin is high in the running asks me to concede. Since I can't imagine anything I can get out of this tournament, I decide to be friendly and scoop, although I ask for us to play it out.
Kevin's playing stock Faeries.
Game 1
Cursecatcher, Lord of Atlantis, Reejery. He eventually draws a Black source and starts killing my guys with removal spells, but he's taking pain for it and he's way too low by the time it happens. A Cryptic in response to a Mistbind on upkeep, countering it and tapping his Bitterblossom-fueled team, seals the game.
Cursecatcher seems pretty good here, as it lets me fight counter-wars more efficiently and gets the aggression going faster. I want some Reveillarks, though, as they are utter houses if they ever resolve, and Faeries definitely has to spend a lot of gas dealing with my early game, so they are likely to.
-2 Sower of Temptation
-1 Sygg
+2 Reveillark
+1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
I side out Sower, since he's running both Terror and Nameless Inversion. Additionally, he'll probably keep his Scions in, which makes Sower a potential liability to tap out for. Lark seems to be a lot stronger. I don't know what to take out for the singleton Oona, but I know how powerful it is against Faeries and I feel like I can maneuver it to resolution pretty well, so I remove a Sygg with the thought that I need to have a strong early game and drawing two Sygg could hinder that greatly.
Game 2
I get Thoughtseized for my turn 2 Adept in my two-lander and don't draw land number three on time as a result. This lets him get too far ahead with Bitterblossom. With some creative Cryptics (again bouncing my own Reveillark) I get to the point where I can kill him unless he has Scion, which he topdecked the turn before.
Game 3
I utterly crush him with Cursecatcher->Silvergill Adept->Reejery with Cryptic backup. He resolves a Bitterblossom that fails to do much other than hurt him and block my guys ineffectively. He stabilizes at 1 but I eventually draw another Cryptic and kill him.
I effectively 3-1. It's dissapointing that a 3-1 doesn't get anything at all in this top-heavy scheme, but I enjoyed myself and got some good experience with my deck.
Thoughts on the day:
- Lord of Atlantis is frighteningly powerful and can't just be dumped into play like other Lords. Even a few Mutavaults on the other side, or god forbid a Chameleon Colossus, can make him better for your opponent than you.
- Sunlance is a bit underwhelming, but a necessary evil.
- Venser was okay but Sower would have been better in practically every situation.
- Reveillark might be best as a 2-of, as I never seem to find room to side in more than two of him. The core Merfolk package is hard to board cards out from.
Today (Friday) I attempted to go to a different store in the suburbs of Madrid to do an Eventide booster draft, but failed miserably in finding the store, as it was over an hour's walk from the nearest Metro stop.
Tomorrow's another Prerelease/Release tournament at Metropolis. My Limited rating is embarrasingly low (as in I have to hope the 7-0 from last week will bring me from 1790 to above 1800 for one bye at GP Madrid >_<), which is shameful since it was usually hovering around 1950 until this year. I guess I'll have to play pretty tight tomorrow, or perhaps drop at one loss if it comes too early.
I'll definitely have a report of the Metropolis Pre-re -- hopefully with Sealed Pool -- tomorrow.
~Andres
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