Decision Points

Hello everyone!

So, back to my regular player routine for last night for the Standard Win-a-Box at Mox Mania. Since I wasn't on Judge Duty, I got to play my Esper Jerk deck. Here's approximately what I played (74/75 the same list I played at SCG Milwaukee):

Lands (27):
1 Island
4 Nephalia Drownyard
22 [dual lands]

Doodz (8):
4 Augur of Bolas
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Restoration Angel

Spells (25):
4 Azorius Charm
3 Think Twice
2 Devour Flesh
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dimir Charm
2 Dissipate
1 Syncopate
1 Tribute to Hunger
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Planar Cleansing 4 Sphinx's Revelation

Sideboard (15):
2 Negate
1 Dissipate
3 Rest in Peace
1 Purify the Grave
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Terminus
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Victim of Night
1 Urgent Exorcism
1 Jace, Memory Adept

The turnout for the event was pretty light: I think 15 players. I wonder if people are getting sick of Standard right now? And/or maybe people don't want to spend $10 for a Standard event if they don't know if they're going to do well? Well, either way, here's how it went:

We don't want zombies on the lawn.

Round 1: vs. Mono-Black Zombies.
Rematch from a few weeks ago. This time, I was able to draw a more appropriate mix of lands and/or spells, and we played 3 actual games of Magic: the Gathering. I don't remember exactly what happened, but basically, his draws weren't that great, and mine were good enough. It was pretty hairy in one game (I think game three?). I stabilized at about 2 life, which of course, isn't stable at all when Geralf could have a message for you at any given moment. But he kept topdecking Bloodthrone Vampires and land, and I kept Verdict'ing them. Yes, using Supreme Verdict on a single 1/1 is less than idea, but so is dying. Anyway. Eventually I ran out of Verdicts, and I had to take one damage from a Vampire before I found a Revelation and took over from there. Win, 2-1. Match record: 1-0.

Round 2: vs. Mono-Red.
So we're in this multi-color utopia, right? Why play one color when you can play 3 or 4? Oddly enough, I'm starting to wonder if maybe 2 colors just isn't where decks want to be right now if one of them isn't green. There are only 8 [good] dual lands for any given 2-color combination, and the magic number for getting one of them out reliably seems to be 9 or 10. So why not just run 1 color .. or 3 colors?
Anyway, the match. It was actually pretty easy. He didn't get very fast draws, and I was able to stabilize pretty easily. The second game was kinda hairy, and I stabilized somewhere around 2-3 life. Again, dead to a topdecked burn spell or haste dood. But I topdecked an Augur, who found me a Sphinx's Revelation, and I was able to stabilize from there. Curse of Death's Hold made his creatures pretty mediocre, and Jace came in to finish up. Win, 2-0. Match Record: 2-0.

I know this card is good .. but .. I hate this card. :(

Round 3: vs. American Midrange.
At this point, the two L1 Judges in attendance were both still undefeated, so the presiding judge at the event (same fellow who tested me last Friday) was happy that at least one of us was going to finally lose this round. :) Sadly, I lost the "decision point" battle, and the loser was me. I forgot one of the key lessons I learned about this deck from a month or so ago: respect the burn. Probably the key moment was in game two, when he resolved a Restoration Angel and started beating with it. I thought about killing it with a Victim of Night I was holding onto, but figured I'd wait until he committed a second threat so I could get value. Well, of course he didn't, because he's not a bad player, so I took a bunch of damage from the Angel over the next few turns. Finally I had to just kill it and stay at 8 life. I had two Drownyards out, but I didn't want to tap out for both of them at the end of his turn, just in case he had a bunch of burn and/or counterspells in hand. Well, eventually, I tapped out for a Sphinx's Revelation (minus Negate mana). He had the Skullcrack, which I let resolve (I think I was at 4 life .. I would have been dead to a followup Boros Charm), going to 1. He followed up with a Spear, which I Negated, which he countered. Decision points! Choose more wisely than I did. :) It was a good match though, and he's a great guy to play with and socialize with. Loss, 2-0. Match Record: 2-1.

Not feeling particularly morbid today.

Round 4: vs. The Aristocrats.
My opponent is another fellow I always enjoy playing against, even if he usually beats me lately. This was also only my second time playing against this deck (the first time being against the same player a month or two ago). This time I was a little better prepared. I think I lost the first game when I could draw a board sweeper in time. The second game, I had Curse in my opening hand, and my heart sank when he Duress'd me .. then he took my Jace. Yes! Then he Duress'd me again two turns later and took the Curse. Nooooo... Well, while he was goofing around with that nonsense, I was able to get ahead on cards and get him into topdeck mode. Third game, I had the turn-three Rest in Peace to shut off his Blood Artist, Doomed Traveler, and Lingering Souls shenanigans, and a Curse followup a few turns later. With most of his deck effectively shut off, I played the draw-go game, killing a few Reckoners and Aristocrats and even a Sorin (I Mercilessly Evict'd him to .. wherever the Orzhov sends those they deem unworthy), and turbo-milling him. Eventually I found Jace, and the match was over. Win, 2-1. Match Record: 3-1.

So yeah, that was good enough for 3rd place, and 6 packs. Not bad! I had a good time playing the kind of deck I enjoy, while also doing well. I'm starting to get a decent (but obviously not pro-quality) feel for the deck, and I'm learning how to navigate the various (and numerous!) decision points that I encounter every game. The heuristic of "stall, Verdict, Revelate" works pretty well, but I still gotta be careful about some of the little things. Like when to tap out, how aggressively to protect my life total, etc.

I also got to flex my rules knowledge a little bit, too. There was a moment in another game, where Player A controlled a Geist of Saint Traft and attempted to Feeling of Dread his opponent's (Player N's) Guttersnipe. Player N wanted to Redirect it to the Geist, but realized that the Geist has Hexproof. Wait .. so .. what happens? Well, the other judges figured that since it says "may," then the spell basically does nothing. But, as I pointed out ... Redirect isn't targeting Geist, it's targeting Feeling of Dread. And Player A still controls Feeling of Dread, for which Geist is still a legal target. So I got a nice virtual pat on the back from my judge buddies. "Yeah, we should probably listen to the guy who got the 100% score on his L1 test." "Hey, we should give him the L2 test and see how he does!" Laughing out loud. But I'll be honest, it feels good to show off rules knowledge.

So in the meantime, I'm cramming for both this weekend (especially Two Headed Giant) and for the PTQ coming up (IPG). Fun stuff! :)