On Friday, I visited Paladin Tech and Games for the first time because a friend of mine would be playing there. It was a nightmare trying to get there on an insanely busy main road with Friday rush hour traffic. If it's taught me anything, I will arrive 1hr before the events start. Unfortunately, when I got there, I had to sign up with a round 1 loss due to my tardiness. I ended up playing my favorite deck for standard right now, U/B Control. The deck plays great against other control decks and usually grinds out wins against aggro decks.
Here's the build I put together (with the help of Ali Aintrazi (U.S. Nationals 2011 Winner) and Martin Zimmerman (German Nationals 2011 Top 8) of course.
2x Grave Titan
Spells (27)
4x Mana Leak
4x Preordain
1x Despise
2x Doom Blade
1x Dismember
4x Jace Beleren
1x Liliana Vess
Lands (26): Sideboard (15):
4x Darkslick Shores 4x Flashfreeze
4x Drowned Catacomb 3x Disfigure
4x Creeping Tar Pit 1x Despise
4x Tectonic Edge 2x Duress
5x Island 1x Wurmcoil Engine
4x Swamp 1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Mystifying Maze 1x Memoricide
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Dismember
1x Dismember
So far, I've been really pleased with the deck. The biggest all-stars of the deck have been Inquisition of Kozilek and Preordain (which sadly rotate).
For round 2, I played against a U/W Knights deck that ran an excessive amount of countermagic. Playing around his countermagic made this match up a bit more unique than a mirror match against control. In Game 1, I got completely shut out by a turn 3 Mirran Crusader that I was unable to answer. After siding in Black Sun's Zenith, Memoricide, and Despise, Game 2 and 3 fell quickly in my favor. Record: 1-1
In round 3, I played against U/G Infect. For Game 1, I was on the play and used Inquisition of Kozilek to see Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, and a pair of Mutagenic Growth. After taking the elf, I used Despise to strip my opponent of his infect dude and quickly went to Game 2. After sideboarding 3x Disfigure and Despise, the match was sealed. Record: 2-1
For the final round, I played against the U/B Control mirror. For Game 1, I used Inquisition to see 2x Jace Beleren, Mana Leak, Preordain, and Liliana Vess. After taking Mana Leak and playing my own turn 3 Jace, my opponent was out of useable spells till a turn 5 Liliana Vess, which was too late for I had setup with Solemn Simulacrum, then a turn 6 Karn Liberated. In Game 2, I brought in 2x Duress, 1x Despise and Memoricide. After my opponent missed their 4th land drop, and playing around countermagic and removal spells, my pair of Creeping Tar Pit kept him on a clock that he could not answer. Record: 3-1
Overall, I had a great time and everyone at Paladin Tech and Games was very friendly. I ended up getting 3rd place and winning 3 packs and hopefully some Planeswalker Points! If only it wasn't so far away from where I live.
The following day was Magic Celebration! If you didn't get a chance to go, you definitely missed out. It was a great chance to open FREE booster packs and meet a lot of people. After each round, if you won the round, you could open another booster pack to add to your deck (while keeping a 40 card minimum). It gave everyone a chance to open tons of booster packs that day. I had a great time going and I hope WotC plans to do many more of these in the future. I was really surprised that the Boys and Girls Club of America brought some of their kids to our local game store for Magic Celebration. I think it was a great way to promote the game as well as reach out to kids in our community about strategy gaming and community. I was very proud to call myself a Magic player.
Now, down to the rounds. I opened my first pack to see Grand Abolisher, who surprisingly enough did a lot of damage in game 1 and prevented my opponent from interacting with my cards at end of turn. Along with Jade Mage, the game was sealed 2-1. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mini-Masters Tournament went like a blur, so I don't remember too many of the matches. My final record was 4-0 and 1st place, gaining 5 free packs during the rounds. Whoo!
Thanks to Jav and Gyula for joining me this weekend, I had a great time and I hope to play some more magic with you guys very soon. Until next time Magic players.
Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!
-David J.
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For round 2, I played against a U/W Knights deck that ran an excessive amount of countermagic. Playing around his countermagic made this match up a bit more unique than a mirror match against control. In Game 1, I got completely shut out by a turn 3 Mirran Crusader that I was unable to answer. After siding in Black Sun's Zenith, Memoricide, and Despise, Game 2 and 3 fell quickly in my favor. Record: 1-1
In round 3, I played against U/G Infect. For Game 1, I was on the play and used Inquisition of Kozilek to see Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, and a pair of Mutagenic Growth. After taking the elf, I used Despise to strip my opponent of his infect dude and quickly went to Game 2. After sideboarding 3x Disfigure and Despise, the match was sealed. Record: 2-1
For the final round, I played against the U/B Control mirror. For Game 1, I used Inquisition to see 2x Jace Beleren, Mana Leak, Preordain, and Liliana Vess. After taking Mana Leak and playing my own turn 3 Jace, my opponent was out of useable spells till a turn 5 Liliana Vess, which was too late for I had setup with Solemn Simulacrum, then a turn 6 Karn Liberated. In Game 2, I brought in 2x Duress, 1x Despise and Memoricide. After my opponent missed their 4th land drop, and playing around countermagic and removal spells, my pair of Creeping Tar Pit kept him on a clock that he could not answer. Record: 3-1
Overall, I had a great time and everyone at Paladin Tech and Games was very friendly. I ended up getting 3rd place and winning 3 packs and hopefully some Planeswalker Points! If only it wasn't so far away from where I live.
Now, down to the rounds. I opened my first pack to see Grand Abolisher, who surprisingly enough did a lot of damage in game 1 and prevented my opponent from interacting with my cards at end of turn. Along with Jade Mage, the game was sealed 2-1. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mini-Masters Tournament went like a blur, so I don't remember too many of the matches. My final record was 4-0 and 1st place, gaining 5 free packs during the rounds. Whoo!
Thanks to Jav and Gyula for joining me this weekend, I had a great time and I hope to play some more magic with you guys very soon. Until next time Magic players.
Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!
-David J.
Follow us on Facebook!
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