Week 2 (8/17/2021)
Game 1
Decks:
Alex – Shrines | Ryan – Kemba | Sean – The Ur-Dragon | Keegan – Korvold (Alex) 🙁
Back for week 2, the first game was a banger that went deep on time limit. Alex was piloting shrines, which is headed by (the now banned) Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. Ryan was running Kemba, a shocking to many, equipment cats deck. Very much out of Keegans building comfort. Sean had home court advantage with his Ur-Dragon deck, which had recently been given a mana base upgrade that seems to work to perfection for him. And Keegan had Alex’s Korvold, a deck that he steals a single card from each time he plays it so he will eventually have the full deck.
The game started out fast as normal, Ryan was able to use Enlightened Tutor to pull one of the 16 Sol Rings (/s) out of Kemba, providing our group with a pseudo T1 Sol Ring. Ryan had woken up that morning and chose violence against Alex which happens often, and they started to have quite a battle and shit talking which also follows. Ryan bricked the whole game on 3 lands, and at some point Alex blew up his precious Sol Ring which caused much discourse.
Keegan was being a cheeky bastard and was slowly playing out threats with Korvold. Not a sandbag, but more of a “oh why attack me, I barely have any pieces over here”. (Spoiler: He had all the pieces) He was starting to just beat people down on a small scale very early and was a perfectly time snowball.
I do not remember how Sean and Ryan died first, but they both went at the same time. Most likely it was after an enormous Torment of Hailfire that Keegan had X at about 13 (note from author: that is relatively low for that deck). Two important things to note thought. First is that Sean somehow mana screwed with The Ur-Dragon. It was a first for him since the upgrades, but just put him to far behind to keep up. Second, Kemba performed perfectly with a max of 5 mana all game. That deck is tuned phenomenally to survive basically any mana draw, so I tip my hat to Keegan for managing to build a deck so well in an archetype that is so foreign to him.
After the torment turn, it was just Alex and Keegan left. Alex had recursion he was able to line up after a couple of turns ad flyers to keep Korvold at bay. But, he was not quick enough to gain the life and board he needed, cause Keegan cast Fling onto Korvold and he bit the head right off of Alex, securing another win for Keegan.
Game 2
Decks:
Alex – Valentin | Ryan – Walls | Sean – Phylath | Keegan – Alela :((
The second game of the night had some real good matches of decks to players. Alex had Valentin, which he is physically unable to play because it is not reanimator or sac. And that is all he knows to play. Ryan again had walls, Sean had the big beast of Phylath, and Keegan had the house of Alela. Unreal he got her again.
The game started off pretty quick in pace. Keegan had Bitterblossom down on curve, and was hitting his usual stax package. Ryan was building up his board fast. Sean was starting to get the lead sled chugging with Phylath. And Alex was fully aboard the struggle bus with Valentin.
Turn 4 was the true kick off of the theatrics. Alex sniped Bitterblossom, shutting down the faerie factory. Ryan absolutely gutted the table by dropping Meekstone down. That stuck for the rest of the game and just devastated the board while walls just ran over everyone.
I had a Exquisite Blood out at one point, and Ryan swung his fortress squad at my and Sean. I chumped and lived, but Sean was killed, the walls first victim. But off the interaction I gained 43 life from the death of my comrade. But his death was in vain, because systematically Ryan took us out with Arcades. He sealed his second win with the same deck as the first.
*Author note: I was considering cutting Arcades next rotation because he skews removal so much. Engine of the deck, and is not as protected as pieces. But after Ryan won his first game where Arcades was removed 5+ times, and then this one where he wasn’t touched I decided to leave him. He is too much of a house on either end of the spectrum
Game 3
Decks:
Alex – Ur-Dragon | Ryan – Lathril | Sean – Uril | Keegan – Valentin
Game 3 was a fast and explosive game. Let us just get one thing clear, The Ur-Dragon absolutely hates Alex normally. Normally he gets 3 mana and just three mana. No more no less. Ryan had home deck advantage with his Lathril build, and it was the lads first time making an appearance! Keegan had the Alex-slayer with Valentin, and Sean had another newcomer with Uril.
This game was a quick one not by design but by combo off. Early game Alex actually hit mana and seemed confused, but was starting to slam some threats down. But Ryan was having none of it, and every one of his threats were removed before he could untap with them. And they all went down the path to exile due to Valentin. Valentin doesn’t always have a huge presence, but just it being there destroys so many of the decks in our meta.
Alright before we go any further we need to talk about a turn that Sean had with Uril. Now Uril is the OG voltron commander, and one of Keegans most recent decklists. If you haven’t seen his list and noticed, he very much loves enchantments and equipment. So this commander is perfect for him and what he likes. But, this deck is also fully built out from head to toe. One turn Sean went land –> Oracle of Mul Daya. I am going to stop here. Mul Daya is a house on itself, but what happened after was jaw dropping. He flipped the top and revealed Smothering Tithe. An absolute house of a card that at our tables is devastating. But, this mad man drops a fetch land and cracks it, grabs a land, and shuffles up. I was astounded that he shuffled that away and was almost certain he had no better draws at that time in the game. Welllll, he flips that top card and it is a Replenish. Unreal. Let me recap this for the people in the back. Land –> Oracle of Mul Daya –> Smothering Tithe on top –> Fetch land –> Replenish on top. The next time someone tells you there is a God, show them this and they won’t say another word.
Alrightttt lets get back to the game. Everyone was trying to get their boards and builds going fast, but Keegan decided other ways. He sets up the Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond combo but has no pop for it that turn. So Alex removes Sanguine Bond before he can untap. But, noooooooo he just did not want to lose. Thinking he is the main protagonist of this anime we call life, he pulls Dina, Soul Steeper from the graveyard and sacrifices a pest token and kills everyone else on a single turn.