This weekend for some Magic players meant that they would attend Nationals. Our country - Czech Republic - is one of those that had Nationals set for this date and that is why my weekend was rather busy.
My plan for Nationals was pretty similar to WMCQs. I would go there with a deck, see what the format looks like, have some fun, meet players I haven't seen in a while and go home happy full of experiences.My expectations were something like 2-3 drop, not wanting to draft.
When people started asking me for cards and decks (I loan them) I decided that my deck of choice would either be UW Monument or BG Delirium/Aggro. That is why I kept these cards and loaned the rest. A week before Nationals it was 100% clear that my deck wouldn't really do much at Nationals since it isn't well matched against Temur nor Ramp which obviously became very popular. I was reluctant to change a deck on last minute as that is something I do not like to do, but since my preparation for Nationals was rather brief, in the end I decided to change the deck. The question was what deck I could possibly put together after I loaned so many cards.
Someone suggested that I try to play UB Control, Temur Black or Ramunap Red. I was sure I didn't want to play the red deck but I could possibly play UB Control or Temur Black. So with a little bit of a friend's help I put both decks on Magic Online and started playing. I played against Temur Energy and it was a very frustrating experience with both decks. UB Control was good against Ramunap Red and Ramp, but these two decks would most probably be on the different ends of the tables at Nationals (because one preys on the other). I didn't really feel in control of the game. The deck runs some counterspells and removal but it can't draw the right cards in a way more traditional deck can. It is way more tempo based and requires knowledge of the format. It is a good deck and have won a GP but I would be a rather bad pilot of it since my knowledge of both the tempo and metagame wasn't great.
So I switched to Temur Black which seemed as a very strong deck. I asked a player to whom I loaned the cards I needed for the deck to give them back and then tried playing few matches. I decided to go for the Black version because I saw what the UB God was doing in the control deck. I expected people to come up with ways how to deal with it, but it seemed possible that many wouldn't be prepared for it and well I always had the possibility to board that out and I wasn't a big fan of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. Also I learned what the card actually does and when. When I switched to Temur Black I actually had my own creatures in a graveyard so that did wonders with my own creatures that died earlier (4/4 Torrential Gearhulk is not that cool if all it can replay is Grasp of Darkness without a target or Censor also without a target, anyway it was still overpowered).
During these matches in the late night before Nationals I learned some things that I didn't know, one of which was that Rhonas is Indestructible and has Deathtouch. I made a fool of myself few more times in similarly silly situations (if you can imagine me trying to kill Rhonas and failing at that) but those were very important to me. I learned about those things before Nationals. They wouldn't happen again during Nationals.
Since MODO helped me with my triggers I also had a fairly good idea what cards do something (like when they trigger and what the triggers do). I just didn't know how I'd be doing that in paper, I was a bit disordered at the event. My opponents were nice though and waited till I managed to put everything in order.
Having the deck online didn't help me much with having deck in paper so it came down to me looking for a long forgotten RGu Pummeler deck which shares a big amount of cards with Temur Energy. I made Temur Energy out of it and fetched a Swamp, Blooming Marsh, Tireless Tracker and Dispossess from my BG Constrictor deck. I wrote down my decklist and wondered if someone would provide me with Glorybringers and Chandras that I loaned to several other players so I couldn't play with mine. After asking several players switching from Temur to something else I got all the cards I needed and I'm very grateful that they brought the cards for me. During the night when I was trying to play with Temur Black online I was also looking for cards for other players. It was a total chaos in my room and I was looking for cards I hardly heard of.
In the morning we got to the site with Patrik who provided majority of the cards I needed. I loaned him bunch of cards as well for his totally awesome and funny deck (see screenshot above). We ordered breakfast, put our decks together and wrote decklist. I was glad I did it, because I realized that I forgot to include the Scarab Gods.
Round 1
I played against BR Midrange and easily won game 1.
In game two my opponent was on play and after he toasted my creatures landed Chandra, Torch of Defiance which didn't help matters better. I had no Glorybringer, no other means to deal with her and thought I'd die. At that time a coverage team decided to take a picture of me so that is how I look like when things go wrong.
I top decked a Chandra of my own though and with the collective help of the said planeswalker and my deck I managed to get rid of the opposing Chandra. Then we ended up in a top deck war. Glorybringer threatened to kill me but then I drew The Scarab God and things started to look good even though I was down to 1 life or something similar (and my opponent had like 18 life or something).
Round 2
I played against Temur Energy. I tried to destroy all the 'smaller' creatures like Longtusk Cub and make my Bristling Hydras bigger than my opponent's ones. I won easily most probably my opponent was somehow screwed. Well, dealing with creatures that can get Hexproof is tricky anyway.
In game 2 my opponent seemed to have me but then I produced Glorybringer which made it better for me. My opponent had his own but didn't realize that Glorybringer cannot kill another Glorybringer. Also he didn't realize that Rhonas has deathtouch which helped me get rid of a Bristling Hydra I couldn't deal with otherwise (I could just trample through it). Thanks to this I won the second game as well.
Round 3
I played the most awesome match of the event. I played against Tomas Langer who in the end became the National Champion. We were paired against each other at table one and I soon found out that he was on GW Ramp which wasn't something I wanted to play against. When my opponent didn't play a 3CMC ramp spell though things got better for me so I tried dealing as much damage as I could and keep enough attackers in my and after Fumigate would deal with my board. I wasn't particularly sure how to divide the damage and what amount of damage I need to get through. I won game 1 though after my opponent drew many cards but was unable to get to any Eldrazi or Fumigate in time. Actually it was Chandra's ultimate ability that won the game. I had two Harnessed Lightning cards in my hand and I really needed my opponent to play something. He did. He played World Breaker dealing with my Lumbering Falls that I wanted to target next turn so I was happy (I didn't have enough to animate my land and play the burn spells).
In game two everything seemed very similarly. All I needed was to find a land to be able to play Negate. Unfortunately for me...I didn't draw the land nor Attune and I lost the game.
In game 3 things were a bit better for my opponent (meaning that his deck was still laughing at him). Fumigate came a turn later, he couldn't produce a creature that mattered and I could win. I just needed one more blank on his side. He drew a creature. I didn't have any removal in my hand and didn't draw it either. I still could win though. I still needed either removal, Negate or a fifth land so I could play Glorybringer and win before my opponent would gain life. Unfortunately I didn't draw either of the cards, Fumigate killed my board and I died soon after to Ulamog, Ceaseless Hunger.
It was an awesome and memorable match and my opponent was very kind to me.
Round 4
I faced a friend of mine playing the same deck who actually got prepared against opposing Scarab Gods. My opener was good and relied heavily on my mana dork surviving. The Servant of the Conduit survived so I just landed my rares and my opponent had a difficulty keeping up because he didn't have that mana dork available and was simply behind.
In game two things didn't really look good for me and I expected that game 3 was inevitable. My opener contained both Longtusk Cubs that I didn't board out (I kept two in). My hand wasn't particularly good but gave me the possibility to take the game into a different direction - one which the mirror player wouldn't expect. So I played the cats and hoped they could deal with bigger threats and gain some energy (didn't happen). When things didn't look good and I gave my opponent the chance to stomp me to death I drew The Scarab God. Since I was drawing lands and my opponent was mana screwed my God could actually do something if it would survive till my upkeep. It did. I eternalized one of the Cubs that died earlier, scried into land (put on bottom) and drew a land. Next turn I would keep a land on top because it would allow me to use the Gods ability twice and I could deal with the opposing God. My opponent indeed played his own God but unlike me he was still mana screwed. He had enough energy and enough mana to eat my God out of the graveyard though so I wasn't really glad about it. My creature survived though so I ate two more Longtusk Cubs. Later my God was targeted with Harnessed Lightning which surprised me. I won a bit later with my army of 3 Longtusk Cubs.
Since my opponent was upset about the outcome of the game and was unwilling to accept that he could have actually managed to keep tempo in game 1 and win game 2 I didn't ask him about the Harnessed Lightning nor told him that he may have made a mistake. I signed the result slip and waited for him to decide whether he wants to drop or not. It was time to eat something so I could survive few more rounds.
Round 5
I lost (mirror match, got mana screwed).
Round 6
Pairings were posted with like 35 minutes delay due to players in a pod being originally seated next to each other. That waiting drained all the remaining energy from me...or rather what was in my system keeping me alert dissipated and I really wanted to sleep.
I faced a player that I know from Online and terribly died to his 1/3 Feral Prowlers and bunch of Walls that I just couldn't deal with. I was waiting for some of my higher CMC cards but they never showed. The match didn't go that badly, my draws were poor.
Round 7
In this round my brain decided to shut down and my opponent had to think I'm an idiot. He knows me though so I suppose he figured that I was just too tired to play Magic. I won game one even though I missed lethal twice and sacrificed few of my creatures in total nonsense way (my opponent flooded).
Game 2 my opponent got a better draw but was mana screwed. During the time though I did not manage to kill him and I missed a trigger on one of my creatures which meant I didn't deal additional damage I needed to get through. I think I don't need to mention that I lost the match because of this. I certainly made way more mistakes on the road but this one is the one that lost the game.
In game 3 I had the chance to win the game still in a relatively even game but In Oketra's Name wrecked my board. I think there was a way for me to win, it could have featured killing my own Earthshaker Khenra or just pinging my opponent all the time. No matter what my brain was unable to process information well and I lost the game later. I felt seriously embarrassed and ready to drop, but I needed that one more win not to feel totally badly.
Round 8
I won^_^.
After the event was over I went over to the Judge Booth to say 'hi' to the judge sitting there. I encountered there a group of players trying to figure out a rules question. I read the question and tried to figure out the answer too. I also asked if I can try to answer some questions and get some goodies. I got them right! My questions were easy though. Anyway I learned few things and I also learned that my understanding of some things actually got better, most probably thanks to MODO. When thinking about one question a MODO prompt showed up in my head 'Choose which replacement effect you want to use'. I realized that thanks to this I can answer the question and correctly even (I know MODO is sometimes wrong about stuff).
This is what I got as a reward! Sweet foil tokens from Eloneth, Ultimate Price that seemed to be the only playable promo among the cards I could choose from and Zur that looked the best out of the remaining Judge promo cards (guess I was the only one who picked a card based on how it looked like). I was very content with this and it was also a very nice change from trying to figure out how to attack or block with my RB aggro (at which I totally failed).
During the day, we could also defeat Garruk (Roman Pivec cosplaying Garruk) and win a pack. So I took my Temur Black deck and tried winning against Modern Mono Green Stompy. I played creatures, Garruk played creatures. I kept removal for when my opponent would alpha strike and possibly kill me with Aspect of Hydra (and Rancor). I wouldn't be able to do anything with Vines of Vastwood but at least I could try. I was lucky to draw Rhonas in the meantime which meant I could start sending that card into that wall of green creatures and occasionally kill one of them. Later I drew Whirler Virtuoso which meant I could just fly over and pump my Thopter tokens for the win. I talked a bit with Garruk and the coverage team and then it was time to leave the site. Klara was doing the coverage with Lobo and with the help of Mirrari (a Hearthstone player you may actually know) and we should thank them for the good job they did!
The event was very well organized and I really have to give thumbs up to the TO. Everything was well done, I really enjoyed it and it far surpassed my expectations. So I hope more events will be like this and the players will appreciate it.
I headed then to the bus station and went home. There I unsleeved my draft deck so I coul use those sleeves for PPTQ the next day and eventually went to sleep. It was a good day. One I would have good memories of.
Here is our metagame breakdown for those interested.
| Temur Energy | 27 | 15,6% |
| Ramunap Red | 18 | 10,4% |
| Black Temur | 12 | 6,9% |
| Zombies | 12 | 6,9% |
| Mardu Vehicles | 12 | 6,9% |
| Jeskai Gift/UR/UW Gift | 7 | 4% |
| RG Ramp | 8 | 4,6% |
| UW Approach | 7 | 4% |
| BG constrictor | 6 | 3,5% |
| UB Control | 5 | 2,9% |
| UR Control | 4 | 2,3% |
| RG Pummeler | 4 | 2,3% |
| GW ramp | 4 | 2,3% |
| BG Energy | 4 | 2,3% |
| UWR Approach | 3 | 1,7% |
| White eldrazi | 3 | 1,7% |
| WW/Humans | 3 | 1,7% |
| UW monument | 2 | 1,2% |
| Black Eldrazi | 3 | 1,7% |
| Eldrazi vehicle | 3 | 1,7% |
| Other | 26 | 15% |
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