Week 13 (1/18/2022)
Game 1
Ryan – Ur-Dragon | Sean – Kami | Keegan – Phylath | Alex – Omnath
First game of the night meant showed no new faces, just a couple of old lads. Both Alex and Sean took their free mulligans, and Sean rolled highest to go on the play.
As per usual, our game started out quickly for some and not so quickly for others. Sean dropped an opening hand Leyline of Anticipation down flashing everyone at the table as he did so. Everyone else a normal “land go” start, but Alex was noticing something he did not previously with his opening hand. He kept a hand with no green lands (seems to be a trend), and the deck was heavy green. This small incident will play a large role going forward, just buckle up. Following up on the next turn we saw an appearance from Kami and Alex dropped in a Sacred Foundry with no shock, eyes whispering sadness.
By the third turn nothing else much has happened besides normal land drops and small early game plays. But Megamind Alex decided to Mystical Tutor for a Worldly Tutor… with no green mana. Why he did not get an Enlightened Tutor the world will never know. The following turn we saw Ryan, playing dragons don’t forget, dropped in an unanswered Fires of Invention. Just need to note that Alex had one castable spell in his hand, Mana Drain, and did not leave mana up for it. Whatever else he had played was insignificant because I did not even note it. He was getting his ass beat down by Kami.
By turn 5 Alex found his first green source and gleefully cast a Burgeoning, only to have it eaten by a Rewind from Sean. Sadness swept over him, but he was able to follow it up with a Ghostly Prison. Keegan slammed down a Yorvo, letting everyone know the beatdown was coming. Due to horrible hand writing, I cannot read exactly what Ryan did, but the important part is that he dropped in a Dromar, the Banisher. With whatever spell did it on the stack, Sean cast Stolen Goods, ganking a a Stormbreath Dragon off of the top of Ryan’s deck.
On the following turn cycle Keegan snapped off an Animist’s Awakening for 5, hitting zero lands, further deepening his hate for “lottery” cards. Alex was able to get Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait out and got some value off his lands. Ryan on the other hand hates landfall value engines, and connected with Dromar to Alex’s face, bouncing all blue creatures. The next turn was Ryan setting up to deal lethal damage with Fiery Emancipation, and Alex dropped down Omnath and ended up snapping off a Wordly Tutor looking for a Craterhoof Behemoth, but none was to be found. He reluctantly put an Avacyn on top.
Sean was doing his noble duty of milling the hell out of the dragon’s deck, and on the next turn cycle he had a Psychic Corrosion up when he drew for turn. Ryan was not happy with this, and ended his life with a swing into Sean and killing him on turn 8. Ryan regained control of his Stormbreath Dragon and on the following turn cycle made it monstrous and instantly killed Keegan due to the damage amplification from Fiery. He then swung the big dragon boiz at Alex, who died instantly due to no valid blocks, resulting in Ryan clinching the first game.
Game 2
Ryan – Kami | Sean – Zaxara | Keegan – Locust God | Alex – Kykar (nat 20)
For the second bout of the night we saw a new face in Kykar. He is a bird wizard who wants to spell sling, eat the spirits he makes, and then storm off to win. It is a classic, and uninspired, jeskai storm build. Ryan and Sean took a free mulligan, while Ryan had another in a Shandalar that no one else took up oddly enough. Somehow Alex rolled highest to go first.
The Locust God was very happy about being called upon, and he granted Keegan his divine intervention. Keegan dropped an Island –> Sol Ring –> Howling Mine on his T1, juicing everyone off the jump. Ryan tipped his cap and dropped a Mystic Remora as a thank you. Seething with jealousy, Alex dropped in an Isochron Scepter exiling a Silence on the next turn cycle. This brought zero fear to Keegan as he slammed down a handful of ramp pieces and an Ominous Seas.
Zaxara and Kami were continuing their slow roll on the next turn cycle, and Alex cast a Timetwister (proxy) to let everyone see a fresh 7, which led to even more ramp from Keegan. The fourth turn is when the game began to devolve. Alex got out Kykar on curve and left up no protection. Ryan answered this with a Sower of Temptation ganking Kykar. Sean dropped out Zaxara and Keegan was setting up for the future with a casual Consecrated Sphinx.
Turn 5 set the tone for the rest of the game. Alex cast a Windfall into a Winds of Change looking for bolt… which wasn’t even in his deck. This resulted in Keegan drawing a total of 97 cards in one turn and assembling a legion of 8/8 krakens off of his Ominous Sea. Keegan decided to drop down a Body of Knowledge with a shit eating grin on his face. The next turn cycle Alex made a series of terrible tutors with his mental state in the drain and disassociating from his life lmfao. Ryan then tapped down to cast a Lullmage’s Domination on the Body of Knowledge. Keegan responded with a Foil pitching an Island, which Alex then responded with a Mana Drain, and letting the Domination resolve. Keegan on his round ended up finally letting Locust God out of his cage.
The game started to drag a bit with spot removal and the such, as well as an overloaded Cyclonic Rift from Ryan to reset the board and remove the kraken tokens. Turn 8 we saw a Supreme Verdict from Alex again trying to struggle through the game and getting his commander back finally. He followed up with the Scepter again, this time exiling Tale’s End. This became relevant on Keegan’s turn when he slammed down a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, which was countered by the Tale’s End to the boards surprise.
Turn 9 we saw a Kykar from Alex, and Ryan brought out a Deadeye Navigator soulbonded onto Kami. But existence is pain, and Keegan cast an Expropriate which ended up getting 4 time votes (lmfao). Then this resulted in a hardcast Temporal Mastery, cause 4 turns was not enough. He then stacked out a Psychic Corrosion and a Teferi’s Puzzlebox with the Narset, Parter of Veils lock on the board. With 2 turns and a 40+ size hand he had the kill with the Corrosion and the table scooped. Keegan captured the flag of the second game.
Game 3
Ryan – Kaalia | Sean – Korvold | Keegan – Atraxa | Alex – Lathril
The main event of the card for the night started late due to the previous games grind. There was now new faces in the command zone, and both Ryan and Keegan took their free mulligan. Ryan rolled highest and went on the play.
First two turns was just land drops and a Caustic Caterpillar from Sean. Our third turn cycle we saw an Ashnod’s Altar from Sean, and then an Urza’s Saga and Cryptolith Rite from Keegan. Ryan continued to steadily hit his land drops. Alex fearing a sol win slammed a Rec Sage down and killed the Saga.
Following up the destruction Keegan dropped down a beautiful Bitterblossom and Alex followed up with a Beast Whisperer. Kaalia also made her first appearance. On the fifth turn cycle Ryan snapped off a DT for “you know who” and portaled her in on attack. Alex not liking the beatdown and especially “you know who” cast a Ruthless Winnower. That bad girl was a true Mistborn and did work throughout the game.
The next couple of turns are a bit of blur and I have no notes. There was a board wipe from Ryan, Sean continued to setup a nasty Korvold boardstate, and Keegan was getting his engines going. It all came down to a single turn for Alex. He owes some apologies and needs to explain his decisions and his incredible fuckups:
The setting is that Alex hardcast a Craterhoof Behemoth and swung full board (6 creatures) at Sean to kill him before he did. Let’s dive into it.
1.) Sean said Alex was kingmaking and giving Ryan the win. This is 100% true and I want to apologize to Sean for contesting so. I honestly did not see that Keegan was at 6 after you beat him down the turns before. That will be relevant in my explanation.
2.) Craterhoof does not give haste to all on etb. This is something we all thought when played, but after the game Alex thought about and him and Ryan looked up. So that changes damage from 51 to 32.
3.) Ryan had an angel that brought him back to 40. He had showed us pissed he couldn’t cast it out, and I had seen it. I did not recognize the card from the quick flash. That negates my entire plan.
4.) A split of the damage between Sean and Ryan most likely would have still killed. I will admit I was tilted and did not want to do attacking math. So I really screwed the pooch with that and take the full blame
Alex’s Plan: He planned to swing and kill Sean, eliminating the instant death. He hoped that Keegan would be able to play threats that would not allow Ryan to attack and portal in and give himself another turn to jam. This was entirely flawed due to Ryan going before him in the turn cycle which automatically negates the plan; as well as the fact that he had the life total reset in hand before even a draw. I realllyyyy fucked this one.
Ryan got the win on the untap, and Alex had made him king. Alex is going to have a point deducted as is in the rules. He truly did not know, but others tried to contest and it was pointed out and he was too bullheaded to listen. So he will get a strike for that (Alex write’s these articles).