Week 3 (8/31/2021)
Game 1
Alex – Kodama | Ryan – Kami vs. Sean – Obuun | Keegan – Uril
Week 3 was the first week that we were scheduled for a 2 Headed Giant(2HG) Matchup. It was Alex and Ryan (3+4) vs. Sean and Keegan (1+4). Before we dive into this face melting game, we need to note that each of the players had decks that they registered. So no one had home court advantage in this matchup, instead everyone did.
So let’s talk about these intense deck pairings. Ryan piloting his Kami deck. It draws, and draws, and never gets removed because cArD aDvAnTaGe. Kami in 2HG is is the NOS that blows the exhaust manifold off the game. It lets both teams draw an insane amount of cards, constantly reloading their hand. Pair that with a good counter package and you have a mono blue deck that always has answers to the question. Kami is a fantastic pairing with the Kodama // Ginra mono green deck that Alex rolled up. It is a purebred stompy deck, that houses a cheater and a mana dork with upside in the command zone. It wants to slam big green creatures with punishing etb effects, and then follow up with another enormous etb creature for free. Kami allows Kodama to always have stompers in hand, creating the basis for a legit ass whooping.
Sean was the helm of a recently updated Obuun deck, his actual first time making an appearance in the league. This deck is ramp and jam, and it hits very hard and fast. Naya colors opens up the door for a better removal package, while still retaining the ramp colors. This game was our first time as a group seeing the new upgrade in action, and it was not one we forgot. Keegan was at the helm of Uril, the OG voltron commander. Guess he built the deck to pay homage to the forefathers of his favorite archetype. There is no hardcore synergy between the decks, but some of Uril’s toys could be glued to Obuun, which makes for some very brutal gameplay for their opponents.
The game started and instantly the breaks were cut from both sides. Sean hit a T1 Sol Ring, and everyone else was hitting land drops. When T2 rolls around, Sean drops a Rites of Flourishing. Then Ryan took offense to this and dropped Kami into Howling Mind. So when Sean and Keegan went to untap and drew 4 cards and were able to play 2 lands stock. This means that the game became a high powered brawl, of everyone having gas in their hands and more mana than they knew was good for them. Ryan debatably snapped off his Force of Will and another counter on some pieces that were not detrimental like Authority of Consuls.
Quickly Uril got built up into a monster, and Obuun was sucking the life force from his lands and beating us down with it. Kodama made an early appearance and was starting to get very wide. After a couple of turns Kami did not have a large board presence, but was able to put down a Phyrexian Metamorph copying a Phyrexian Hydra. On the next turn Sean and Keegan ripped into Ryan and Alex, putting them down to 9. The deciding factor of this was Keegan casting Teferi’s Protection on their own end step, scooting in there before Ryan was able to untap and counter. Even with two of the Phyrexian Hydra’s, and a huge pop off from Kodama whittling down Sean’s defenses with cards like Terasatodon and Woodfall Primus.
That snapoff from Keegan secured their win due to Obuun being unblockable, and Alex turned into an enormous salt monster towards TP.
Game 2
Alex – Uril | Ryan – Zaxara vs. Sean – Shrines | Keegan – Obuun
Game two had Alex piloting Uril and Ryan piloting Zaxara. Zaxara is a true love of Ryan’s, with an early 60 card build of his being a hydra deck. He got bored of the mono green and decided to walk the path of temur. I believe it was solely to play Mind Grind, another staple of his. Now Alex had Uril, which is a well built powerhouse. But he is a major pussy and does not like voltron because there is only one creature on board. So he was mentally a mess with this deck.
On the other hand, Keegan had Obuun and Sean had his Shrines. It was honestly a perfect pairing, and an absolute nightmare for their opponents. Shrines is normally a snowball build that has extreme resilience if it can survive to the late game. Obuun is a quick power house and able to supply early pressure and mid to late game resilience if he sticks around.
The game from the jump was going to be a blowout. Sean and Keegan came out blasting, with a large board presence early and Golos made his appearance by T3. On the other hand Zaxara did not have a fast start, and Alex hit 3 out of the 5 colorless lands in Uril by T3. The beatdown was swift and merciless, Keegan and Sean went wide, while Alex and Ryan struggled to gain momentum. The game needed when Obuun hit a Rampaging Baloth early and there was no removal.
The powerhouse start from Keegan and Sean resulted in a swift win, and a crushing blow to the moral of Ryan and Alex
Game 3
Alex – Korvold | Ryan – Valentin vs. Sean – Zombies | Keegan – Ur-Dragon
Game three saw Alex behind the wheel of Sean’s Korvold, which gave him pseudo home court advantage. Ryan was driving his very own Valentin. This deck pairing was perfect, with both decks wanting sacs to happen and being a variant of an aristocrat build.
Sean was the puppet master of the zombie’s deck, while Keegan was trying to fly high with his Ur-Dragon cult. Not a huge amount of synergy between these decks. The dragons wanna go big and high, while the zombies want to do graveyard schenanigans.
This game saw another T1 Sol Ring from Sean, but unfortunately it did not do much for them. Alex and Ryan got their engine out early and it drained fast. Ryan hit Dina, Soul Steeper early, and Alex hit his Zulaport Cutthroat. Then the sac party began when Korvold resolved, and the game was essentially over due to lack of interaction from Keegan and Sean.
This game was not very exciting and was just normal sac drain which was amplified due to Dina. Ryan and Alex took the last game, but was just a consolation prize after the ass whooping they endured from Obuun the previous two games.