ZEN Game day

At the time of the T2 rotation I built a B/R aggro deck that I later modified to include Bloodchief Ascension. I build this deck because it could take care of Bant and Jund that was being played at that time. In the mean time players started to include more and more Zendikar cards. 5/4 cc, UWR controls, boros aggro, mono red aggro etc. I wasn't really sure if my deck could stand it. I knew that vampires shouldn't be a problem, Jund decks should be fine, some UWRs should be more or less fine. I tried it against boros landfall, kithkin soldiers and goblins and it worked more or less.

I decided to go to Magic Game Day in Cerny Rytir. But before that I wanted to test my deck a bit. I went to Outpost and tried few games about some "all (mythic) rare + rampant growth and llanowar" deck. I lost every single game. Then we tried to play some highlander games. I played with Turbolands which is a deck that I can play with and win usually. But that day was probably not my day. I started to think that the decks are trying to tell me not to go to the standard tournament the day after.
We switched decks after some unfortunate games. And you know what? I knew what my opponent played and guessed the nature of it. But you know what I ended up with? Lands, fetching lands and even more fetching lands. It seemed like turbolands deck o_O It looked like I would be playing a COMPLETELY different deck from the one I played against.

After that I went to play against someone else (Lukas 2 in this case) and lost every single game as well. I was like WTF? People started to make fun of me, that I can't play Magic etc. At first it was ok, later it wasn't that fun.

People for the upcoming draft gathered and were watching us play. I even kept a hand with 4 lands and almost nothing to play (lightning bolt and burst lightning). It was one of my best hands that day^^. I lost anyway. I was pretty annoyed as I knew that this deck could win quite easily over that control and even against that all rare deck. My deck was on strike probably...

Anyway both Lukases tried to convince me to come tomorrow so I decided to come.
I arrived at 8:50 to Prague frozen to death (0 dgrs celsius was quite surprising). I went to Cerny Rytir and found out that it was closed and wouldn't open till registration time (10am). I met a group of three players there trying to figure out how Planeswalkers work but I decided against telling them how it works as I did not want to get in any problems.

On my way "somewhere (warm)" I met Ondrej so we went to McDonalds together to prepare our decks, sideboards and play few games (other groups of players were there already too). I played against some Junds and was quite happy with the result. I borrowed Goblin Guides, lend few cards and then I was quite ready (I forgot my goblin guide, thought hemorrhage cards at home^^).

First Round
I was expecting to play mostly against Junds and in the first round I hoped to play against someone rather inexperienced. I ended up paired against Tony with his who knows how many color control. Planeswalkers were quite annoying, especially Ajani Vengeant but Pithing needle worked later^^. I have to say that Wall of Reverence twice in play + later Shepherd of the Lost was a problem. Especially taking in account that these creatures have flying and I can't get past them.
My opponent sided White Knights and showed me few Trusty machetes. I have to say that the first strike + protection from black was something I wasn't really happy with. I had two fallouts on my hand though. I played one when my opponent finally decided to equip the machete and attack. In his next turn though he played another White Knight. I was like WTF and played yet another fallout when he tried to equip the machete. When I saw White Knight in Tony's next turn on the table I just couldn't believe it. He attacked with him though and gave me the chance to kill him with my unearth+bloodghast creatures.

Next to me played Albert against some poor player. It was probably his first tournament and both players learned that players have some responsibilities and that there are rules to follow for each format. Albert being competitive and the other guy completely lost in the tournament...Quite sad.

Second Round
I was paired against Albert playing mono red goblins. I have to say that we had some interesting plays^^. Funny was when I put Goblin Guide in play and attack saying "ok, now show me a lightning bolt". Albert revealed the top card of his library revealing Lightning bolt (saying: "ah here's your lightning bolt"). It was his turn and he played Goblin Guide as well. It was my turn to reveal a lightning bolt. In my next attack my opponent revealed another Goblin Guide. And you know what? My next card was also a Goblin Guide. Lightning bolts killed our guides and we could continue in another series of "looks like mirror cards (that was hellspark elemental vs yet another hellspark elemental)" with the exception that I had swamps in play^^ and I later killed my opponent with Burst Lightning.

In the second game he sided Ruinblasters and destroyed my only Dual Land I had in play. This way I couldn't play Blightning (killing my opponent with it) nor Bloodghast if I would draw a swamp. I got the swamp but it ended up destroyed as well. With two mountains there was nothing I could do to win (even though I could have won this game if I would charge that goddamn Ascension).
In the third game I managed to win quite easily. I was simply faster. Fallouts could deal with all goblin tokens and SGC so..it was fine.

3rd Round
Tiberius and yet another control. I wasn't sure of the outcome but after winning the first game and seeing what deck he plays I decided to try siding as I did in the first round and won in a completely different way then the game I won before. It was quite interesting. At least my opponent was (probably) caught offguard because of my different approach.

4th Round
This is the round where everything went awry. I played against Jund and could have won. I won one game, lost the second. In the third game I lost because I missed two chances of doing 2 damage with my bloodghast. This is NOT the first time it happened to me. I'm used to put a land into play and then think about what to do. The moment I put it into play I was like "crap, my fallout trick won't work." as an afterthought I thought "yeah, this is going to cost me - a lost game". Too bad that it happened that way. My opponent went to 1 life. That Bloodghast attack would make me win this round. After that nothing mattered to me...

5th and 6th round. Same decks I played against. I wasn't happy about playing against this kind of controls. I can kill a Baneslayer or two and take care of planeswalkers but some crazy SPHINX with Flying AND SHROUD was too much for me. My only tactic was let my opponent tap his lands to play baneslayer and then get rid of the rest of them. The Baneslayer in play would die to Terminate most probably ... but well...

There was nothing I could do except run a heavy discard that would be most probably countered anyway. ^^ And TWO BANESLAYERS on the table? What the hell? Also after siding Adam showed me Harm's way and Vedalken Outlander. Both cards were in the deck only ONCE. Well, why not (still two baneslayers did the job).

I'm glad I went to the tournament. I could end up in Top 8 if I wouldn't mess the 4th round which is sad. SILLY mistake and the difference is so huge.

It was nice. Thanks to everyone.