After surviving 4 day long anime convention I arrived home and I checked what was going on the internet during those past 4 days. One of the visited sites was also Facebook. I got an invitation from Michal Ekrt to a certain event taking place at Cerny Rytir. Few things seemed wrong there. Michal Ekrt is a tournament coordinator and is working for the local distributor of Magic: The Gathering products (and many other stuff). Cerny Rytir is a game store that could be described as 'rules everything'. After reading the description I understood why this wierd combination (Michal and Cerny Rytir) came to existence.
Re-play TV magazine wants to show Magic: The Gathering to its viewers and for that they need some Magic players and a place where these players usually gather. To gather them might be a problem and that is probably why Michal announced that there would be 8-man tournaments (single elimination) for free. The winner of each would win some free goodies. The format was not given - kitchen table Magic thus. Anyone could come and play with anything they found in their homes. I had only my highlander decks on me that day so I played with those.
Table 3 - Round 1
In the first game I played against a player whose deck was sleeved in red mana symbol sleeves. I expected to play against mono red and wasn't really happy about it. My deck was not fast and could hardly deal with mono red. My opponent was drawing too many lands though and the only card I've seen for quite some time was Goblin Piledriver. At least I knew what I was playing against. More goblins came and I managed to hit them with Wrath of God and kill my opponent with Faerie Conclave that was getting exalted bonuses from Noble Hierarch and Qasali Pridemage. I needed blockers as there was so many goblins that they could easily kill me in one attack (not to mention the Piledriver). When finally alpha strike from the goblin side came I had Path to Exile to get rid of the Piledriver and block some of the goblins. I survived and attacked for lethal in my turn.
In game two I hoped for a good hand as there was no way of me taking paris or partial paris mulligan. I had a 1 drop and some lands. No removal for Lackey though. I hoped that a creature would help. My opponent played Goblin Lackey. I played some 1/1 mana dork and hoped. When the creature was burned to ash and lackey went through I lost all my hopes for this game. Goblins swarmed and killed me later.
In game three my poor Noble Hierarch was burned by Gempalm Incinerator and again Lackey brought another goblin into play. I managed to survive to the point in which I had Baneslayer Angel on the table with Jace, The Mindsculptor and Batterskull. I was trying to fatesteal my opponent and get rid of Goblin Matron, Gempalm Incinerator and the goblin that can bounce creatures. I put Goblin Matron on the bottom of the library but still the card my opponent played was... Goblin Matron. He searched for Incinerator and burned my Angel. After that too many goblins where there and I couldn't deal with them. Piledriver and the squad hit me for 30 damage when I was at 27 life.
Table 6 - Round 1
I played against another highlander so I we decided to take partial paris mulligan. This time I decided to play with my zoo, because this deck was more suited for playing against legacy decks. I got a good draw with some mana dorks and creatures that could keep my opponent under pressure. I succeeded with that and won quite early. All I needed to do was deal enough damage so my manlands could deal the remaining damage after a resolved mass removal.
Round 2
This time I played against another legacy deck - Dead Guy Ale deck. The deck plays some disruption, stoneforge mystics fetching batterskull, jitte or sword of feast and famine so I knew that if I wanted to win I needed to be able to deal with the goddamn equipments and have some removal for T2 mystic. That's quite difficult when you are hit with Inquisition of Kozilek, followed by Hymn to Tourach.
The first game went quite well. My opponent was unable to get second black source. Zealous Persecution killed my mana dorks so I would be slowed down. In the first game I was struggling with Elspeth, Knight-Errant. She was probably replacement for Tombstalker, a good one. I tried to kill her with my Treetop Village in approximately three turns. I managed that few turns later and then I finally could attack my opponent. I've seen some mystics and equipment but still was able to win. (and some annoying Lingering Souls)
Game two was much more tense. Inquisition of Kozilek discarded my only removal - Magma Jet. Hymn to Tourach discarded Ajani Vengeant and Garruk Relentless and Zealous Persecution made me cry as I was unable to draw a fourth land and my two mana dorks simply died to to the -1/-1 effect. Stoneforge Mystic brought Batterskull and I had no idea what to do with it. Later I drew another 4 mana card, but this time I could actually play it for 3 mana as it was Phyrexian Metamorph. I copied the Batterskull and hoped that it would buy me some time. Later I managed to destroy the original Batterskull but it was soon replaced by Umezawa's Jitte. This card was much more serious problem as it was able to kill my creatures and gain life. I managed to get my opponent down to 3 life, but I knew that one more attack with Jitte would mean too big difference. I really needed my opponent to use the last counter on it (and use other ability than 'gain 2 life'). I attacked with my two creatures and waited what would happen. My creatures died but not due to Jitte. The only thing I could do was use Mother of Runes as a bait and hope. I played the card and passed the turn. My opponent was nice to me and killed the Mother. I showed him my last card on my hand - Lightning Helix.
In game three I played Sword of Fire and Ice on T2. I managed to attack with i once. My poor creature died though. Later I played Batterskull and equipped the sword. That made such a great difference in life total and cards in hand that I won.
Round 3 My opponent won the roll and started. His first land was Forest. That surprised me. It was followed by Rootbound Crag and Sphere of the Suns. I was like...oh crap RG Ramp. After this he played Solemn Simulacrum. Only one land was needed and my opponent would play a Primeval Titan or Inferno Titan that would certainly kill me. The land did not come for the next to turns but he still had cards to play. Acidic Slime that destroyed a land I needed and Vorapede (which was a replacement for Batterskull). After this Primeval Titan came fetching Glimmerposts. My opponent went to 20 once again and all I could do was cry.
In the second game I had two removal spells and I managed to play Mirran Crusader. I tried my best but single Slagstorm ruined my day. In the end it was Zealous Conscripts stealing my own (copy) of Wurmcoil Engine that killed me^_^. It was fun.
After this I played two more rounds against UR Delver and Canadian Treshhold. The game against UR Delver was rather unlucky for both of us. In the first game it was my opponent not being able to draw a creature. In the other two it was me who got mana screwed and I could do much. I mulled to five in the last game because my first hand was full of 4 drops and one land and the other one was incapable of playing a single card. Those five cards looked better (as I had two lands) but what it needed was still a source of red.
I have to say that all the games were nice and fun and it was really a nice change from limited and type 2. I was glad that I came even though I felt pretty dead^^.
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