Week 6 (10/12/2021)
Game 1
Ryan – Alela | Alex – Elenda vs. Keegan – Korvold 🙁 | Sean – Zombies
Ryan and Keegan rolled off for standing positions for the night due to a tie for #1. Keegan rolled low, so Ryan had the 1st position spot and a team with Alex.
Ryan rolled up the powerhouse of Alela and I saw the life leave Keegan’s eyes when she flipped off the top. Alex rolled up Elenda, a deck he doesn’t own but feels comfortable playing due to the aristocrat base she lives thrives in. Keegan ended up rolling the land eater of Alex’s Korvold build. A deck that I do not think is a great match with Keegan after I have heard him say multiple times, “If I were to steal any deck this [Korvold] would be it”. Sean rolled up his arch nemesis of Zombies. The weakest deck off of Alex’s list, relies on the mill that no one ever seems to hit.
Alex and Ryan rolled highest on the turn order, so they had the honor of being on the play. This matchup based on hands could go either way, and depending on the mill of Zombies, in my opinion was leaning towards Keegan and Sean. Early game saw no ramp from anyone, which is a big miss for Korvold due to the slow early game he has. The deck is built around 5 drops, and it wants to hit them ASAP. Alela drops down on curve, and before Ryan can untap with her Keegan snaps off an Assassin’s Trophy and removes her. Then Keegan laughs and tells Ryan “Go ahead and find a basic”. There is no basics. Ryan after that. Then on their turn 4, Sean plays out Gisa and Geralf, and successfully mills 4 lands(lmfao). Turn five for Alex and Ryan is trying to figure out what to do. Pass back to Sean and Keegan and Korvold finally makes his appearance. After seeing Alela get disrespected by the AT, Alex claps back with a Swords to Plowshares onto Korvold. This leveled the field for a moment.
Now around t5 a very important thing happened for Alex and Ryan, they argued over what to tutor. Ryan had a Grim Tutor in hand. Alex was pushing for a Hatred to cull the bloodthirst he felt towards Keegan, but Ryan was not content with this due to lack of lands to cast Alela again. But Alela was pissed about being killed on sight, and made sure Ryan ripped a Jace, Wielder of Mystery off the top of the library. Well they instantly knew their target. Ryan tutor’s up Tainted Pact, next turn drops Jace, then before draw next turn he casts Tainted and wins. Win by around T7 or 8, timeline for this all a little fuzzy.
A couple of notables during this three turn combo win, Sean cast a Rooftop Storm on curve, insane. Then Alex casted a Massacre Girl trying to make sure the board got wiped, but his dumbass forgot about the interaction between Mace of the Valiant, so only ended up killing one thing. Sean then swung with his commander, and it was traded with Massacre Girl. He then recast it and it hit 4 lands again (lmfaooooooooooooooooo).
Game 2
Ryan – Rhys :))) | Alex – Walls vs. Keegan – Lathril | Sean – Alela :((
Game 2 saw Ryan roll up the good old elfball (yes I know this used to mean something different) that is Rhys. He has been very absent from league, but he is a tricky lad when he shows up. He overwhelms the board and has anthems to make his elves into Bane and beat the hell outta everyone else. Alex had his walls deck, one that he knows well and was his original EDH deck build. Keegan rolled up a terrible deck for the matchup in Lathril. Rhys has a lot of ‘cares about all elves cards‘ so it was a very rough roll for him. Sean rolled up Alela, something you will see is very much a trend for this night.
This game was rough one for Keegan and Sean, and it started from the jump. Keegan had to mulligan to 5, which already is an enormous disadvantage against his opponents decks. But they did end up on the play, which was a small silver lining. Ryan had a T1 Sol Ring in hand, but ended up dropping a Llanowar Elf instead, so that needs to be noted lol.
But Rhys built up fast as expected, Walls was sputtering to hit anything other than lands. Alela had an early Vampiric Tutor, and I do not know exactly what Sean grabbed with it. Lathril was dropping elves on curve, but it was just feeding Ryan’s Priest of Titania. Alex was able to drop a Ghostly Prison to help buy sometime for Rhys to setup and hopefully him find some walls. Meanwhile Keegan and Sean were planning a sneaky to deal with Rhys. Keegan and Sean swung board into the walls and pack of elves (this had to be redone due to the Ghostly Prison not being paid for previously). Knowing that there was a tutor previously, Alex was incredibly suspicious of the Hatred that was most likely inbound, and he was right it was. But Ryan being the cheeky lad he is, snapped off a War Report for about 27 life.
Now there was a very important trigger missed. Lathril was the target of the Hatred, so there should have been about 52 elf tokens made (Keegan will NOT Hatred for less than his life total-1, I believe it goes against his religious code). But there was also an Wolverine Rider on the field. This means that they should have gained 52 life, but this was a missed trigger by Keegan. Which lead to a Rogue Passage on a single elf fatality for Sean and Keegan.
Game 3
Ryan – Elenda | Alex – Dina vs. Keegan – Alela :((( | Sean – Rhys
So yeah, tonight was the night of goddamn repeats. Ryan got Elenda, for the second appearance. Keegan got Alela, third appearance of the night. She wanted the goddamn hat trick. And Sean got Rhys, second appearance of the night. Alex was the only one who had a new appearance, and that was Dina. A very cool golgari aristocrats commander, and been a favorite of Ryans for a while.
From the jump, Keegan and Sean had a 99% chance of winning this game. Alela and Rhys are an almost perfect pairing, with Rhys pressuring the early game and Alela staxing the mid to late game if it is not over early. Alex and Ryan won the die roll and chose to be on the play. Early game was slow, but Sean was able to slam an Aura Shards on curve, which unbeknownst to them shut off most Alex’s lands and some of Ryan’s advantage plays. The shards was removed with a Mortify later, but ended up blowing up about 5 permanents.
Amazingly, Ryan and Alex were able to play control and be the beat down in the early to the mid game. A well timed Baleful Mastery removed Alela before she could produce any value. Through a series of pings and swings, Sean and Keegan were down to just north of 20 life. Dina and Elenda were packed early with forced sacs and spot removal, which helped keep Rhys clear off the board and the number of creatures short for Keegan and Ryan. By the end of the game Rhys costed 7 mana on his final cast.
The success of the under dogs was short lived though, when Keegan snapped off an Enlightened Tutor and found a Tainted Remedy. With both of their decks focusing heavy on drain and gain, this card was a double sided burn of all Alex and Ryan’s aristocrat pieces. This also essentially shut off Elenda from attacking. Truly this was the nail in the coffin, but with a life split of about 73-21, Alex and Ryan persevered on hoping to top deck an answer.
Alela followed up with more stax pieces, and eventually Keegan was able to glue a Helm of the Host onto her, creating more and more issues. Rhys was not super active due to early game oppression, but by about turn 10 Alex was severely mana screwed on 4 lands. A Butcher of Malakir and a popped Alela lead to a pseudo one-sided board wipe. It was a last ditch effort from Ryan to attempt to stabilize the game, but Keegan flashed in an Opposition Agent on the last trigger and was able to save his helmed Alela. After a couple turns of building a board and beating down, Alela and her fairies plus a bunch of forestwalking elves swung in for good damage. Keegan then slammed a Wound Reflection, securing the final drain of life at his end step.