a day full of Magic surprises

Today I went to school in the morning. I had some free time so I decided to check my marks (feedback from professors). Well, I was delighted^_^ What I found was good enough for a celebration. But the feedback I came there for was not present...so maybe next time.

In the afternoon I went to Cerny Rytir to meet Lukas, play some games and prepare a deck for today's block constructed tournament. I grabbed some vampires and some cards that seemed worth playing and asked Lukas to fetch me some Carnage Altars. I realized that Carnage Altar, Bloodghast and Quest of the Grave Lord could be fun. And drawing cards when hit by Day of Judgment seemed as a good advantage against UW^^.

Before the tournament I had a funny game against a Lysolda Elder Dragon Highlander. I decided to try my Pyromancer's ascension against the deck. In the first game I tried to keep up with the never ending attack and managed to get the ascension online. My problem was... Banefire nowhere to be seen. In my fourth extra turn that I took in a row...I finally managed to get to it. That was 'only' after 4x harrow4x wordly counsel, 4x ponder. There were like 10 cards left in my library. Anyway if I would wait one more extra turn (as I had six extra turns) I would deal 132 damage with that banefire. Quite funny, never thought I could deal such damage.
In the next game I was under too big pressure. I managed to charge the ascension and I had few fogs in my hand and if given one more turn I could try to time warp few times. The problem was Lysolda herself, she does not deal combat damage *sniff*.

Anyway back to the tournament. I played with vampires I build last minute. I'm missing few cards from Jund and that even means one Malakir Bloodwitch so I had to do without her. But Sorin was a good replacement. The decklist follows.

Vampires (ZEN block)

Lands: 24
4x Marsh Flats
4x Verdant Catacombs
15x Swamp
1x Crypt of Agadeem

Creatures: 22
3x Vampire Lacerator
4x Vampire Hexmage
4x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Bloodghast
4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
3x Malakir Bloodwitch

Non-creature Spells: 14
1x Sorin Markov
2x Carnage Altar
3x Feast of Blood
3x Disfigure
2x Mind Sludge
1x Quest for the Gravelord
2x Grim Discovery

Sideboard
Random 15 cards I encountered... 2x smother, 1x mire's toll, 1x mind sludge, 1x hideous end, 3x marsh casualties...

In the first round I encountered a mirror. I did not really have much chances against Kalastria Highborn. I knew that sooner or later I would just die. That 2 life difference was too much.
In this game it was practically Vampire Lacerator that got me killed (my own). My opponent told me that they are useless and bad in any match up but I later found out that when played well and at correct time they can do wonders.

In the second round I played against Esper control or something. It was a last minute deck so probably not working that well. And I was lucky with top decks. In the first game I was really in an aggro mode and my opponent couldn't keep up (Quest of the Gravelord came online and swinging for seven - with gatekeeper and the zombie - was enough for me to win). In the second game my opponent played three SOJIs but 2 gatekeepers and 2x Grim Discoveries were good enough for it and the game ended in a win for me.

Third round was against UW Allies. I was afraid of them and the player was afraid of my vampires as he lost to vampires in previous round. I won the first game after some difficulties. In the second one I was up to give up but my opponent told me to continue so I did. I sacrificed bloodghast for several cards and drew Feast of Blood, Hexmage and Gatekeeper. Later Malakir Bloodwitch came and decided the game. My opponent wasn't lucky at all as he drew few lands and some non creature spells. If he would manage to get an ally he would kill me in one attack as my life total was somewhere around 3 life.

In the last round I played against UW control which was my nightmare before the tournament. I knew that my chances are not great against it. Carnage Altar showed us that the card can do wonders as well. In the first game I tried to overrun my opponent. He stabilized the game though and got me to 2 life. I had to play Feast of Blood twice on my creatures and then get back to the attacker's role. I won the game after few game turns. The second game seemed to be much better and it seemed I would win easily. I was afraid of Jace and Iona but I managed to win with quite some difficulties (even though it was not played the best way I could).

Even though that I did not really play with this deck nor did not put much thought in it... it played well and I'm glad I played in this tournament. It was nice. It was different from T2 and I had to change my way of thinking in some situations and had to forget about instant answers and such. But I knew that Iona means 'Game Over'.

BTW in the two boosters I won the first 6 cards were identical! (I have a photo, I might upload it later). photo