Quarter 1 Cup (11/6/2021)
Game 1
Sean – Kaalia | Ryan – Zaxara | Keegan – Elenda | Alex – Dina
Plenty of repeat offenders in our deck rolls for this game, but making her first appearance inside the octagon was Kaalia. She is helmed by the mean 4 mana version, and oddly enough, could be classified as “under built” due to it being an older build. It has 3 mana rocks and such, but the deck still performs at a top tier level. It portals out big baddies who’s board presence is deadly. It is the largest sleeper of the league so far due to her being absent for the entire quarter even though she was always on Keegan’s submission list.
Keegan and Alex both took their free mully, and Sean won the die roll to go first. Kaalia made haste and spent most the early game ramping and having Kaalia removed as is tradition. Keegan hit 4 mana by Turn 3, but did not hit a land drop after that for about 10+ turns. But in that time he was able to resolve Kambal, Consul of Allocation. This card was bounced once, but stuck around almost the rest of the game. It was a house for damage, and was a huge thorn in the side for Ryan. Ryan was the league leader and a win from him meant that he won the quarter and pool. So he was a huge target this game. He got an early Trespasser’s Curse which ended up being a huge burn enabler for Dina.
Ryan was getting hit with burn from multiple sources and his commander was working against him by creating tokens off of his X cost spells. There was also a large debate about held priority on tapping a creature for mana. He ended up getting burnt out by Kambal and a Mage Hunter that was unfortunately hiding behind Alex’s deck from Ryan’s seat. While Ryan fell on his own sword, Alex was beginning to hit lands off his mana screw and was doing his best to drain and build. Keegan kept getting mana screwed for a bit, and Sean was slowly building his board. Kaalia was consistently getting removed, but kept coming back with friends.
Alex was the main target of Kaalia and her goons, but he was starting to setup very well. Due to the mana screw from Keegan, he was forced to discard multiple cards. One of them was Asmodeus the Arhcfiend. Alex spent a couple cards to gain enough life to cast Fated Return at the end of Sean’s turn, leaving him at 1 after the burn from Kambal. Next untap he ends up activating the draw 7, then without reading all of the second ability puts all the cards into his hand (total of 8) and burns himself to death. Back to back suicide deaths, the second dumber than the first.
The endgame was approaching for Keegan, as Kaalia was bearing down on him. Sean ended up casting Peer Into the Abyss , losing 29 life and drawing 38 cards with a Reliquary Tower out. A handful of turns later Sean won through sheer beat down.
Kaalia ended up being cast 7 times during the game. 5 from the command zone and 2 from hand after bounces. All in all, it felt like we woke up an ancient god that is ready to unleash it’s fury on the new world.
Game 2
Sean – Rhys | Ryan – Korvold | Keegan – Lathril | Alex – Kemba
Opening into the second game both Alex and Sean went to 6 looking for hands with mana in them. Ryan rolled the jund house that is Alex’s Korvold, but Sean and Keegan had synergy between their elves that meant the common folk had a fighting chance. Ryan ended up winning the die roll to go on the play.
Alex and Sean were essentially not part of the game. Alex mana screwed for 15-20 turns with only 2 mana, hitting a Land Tax the turn before he died so it never triggered. Sean hit mana right before his death, but Korvold made sure it went no where.
The game ended up being between Keegan and his elven clan and the land sac jund pile Korvold is. Early game Korvold had good ramp and ended up curving Mayhem Devil –> The Gitrog Monster –> Titania, Protector of Argoth for turns 4-6. This curve from Ryan was the pseudo nail in the coffin for the table. The Mayhem Devil ended up sticking around the entire game due to lack of removal, and was picking off every elf I could. It was the Carlos Hathcock of the game hands down.
Latrhil and his merry band of golgari elves held their ground exceptionally well against the jund pile. Keegan had a big turn where he dumped his hand and a bunch of cards off the top of his deck, as well as managing to remove Titania from the field. Keegan ended up getting Korvold down to single digits, which forced Ryan to be a lionesses and not shock in a Stomping Ground.
Although he tried hard, Keegan ended up dying due to Korvold attack and Mayhem Devil triggers off of sacrificing 14 Scute Swarm to Ashnod’s Altar during combat. Ryan then ended up sacrificing a bunch of Elemental tokens he had made off of a Titania that was brought back by an Animate Dead to cast a Torment of Hailfire for 17 to end the game.
This victory clinched the quarter for Ryan, so congratulations for him to winning. Had a 5 game win streak, with a hattrick in a single week. Here is a picture right after the win that I took:
Game 3
Sean – Zaffai | Ryan – Wilhelt | Keegan – Walls | Alex – Alela
Our final game of the night was nasty from the deck selection. Alex rolled a Nat20 with his weighted die and hand selected Alela, the deck Keegan unknowingly made for him. The only other notable piece from the deck selection is that Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver has replaced Gisa and Geralt due to them not operating well in our current meta. No one took a mulligan and Ryan won the die roll to go on the play.
From the jump, this game was nasty from Alela. She went T1 Godless Shrine –> Sol Ring. Which was followed up by a T2 Chrome Mox (exiling Cyclonic Rift) –> Smothering Tithe. From here he was casting Mystical Tutors to get Enlightened Tutors just for shits and giggles, which was the vibe of the game until he cast Armageddon, clearing the early ramp that Walls had shown. From here everyone’s soul was gone, making Alela seem like one of the Ten Commandments.
From this point Alex just played and drew whatever he wanted through sparing land drops found off of a Rhystic Study (best common ever?), and mana from the Tithe. Plus everyone else was taxed by the Dictate of Erebos and Spelltithe Enforcer on board. He ended the game with a Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and Tainted Pact combo that he did not understand how Jace worked like a full blown scrub.
Zombies and Zaffai did not do much due to no lands and forced sacrifices, but Walls moved fast and got some pressure for Alela on board. There was an instance where Alex had hard cast Avacyn, Angel of Hope, only to have Keegan cast Wall of Stolen Identity on it. But Alex sacrificed her to a Phyrexian Tower, then drew cards and got mana off of the Arcades ETB trigger. A quote written in my notes from Keegan sums up the experience best: