Highlander Series

Each Highlander series tournament takes place at game store Outpost. I went there once again to see if I can end up in the finals once again. This time I did not lose in the last round and managed to win the tournament and take home Watery Grave.

I played with the same deck as last time - Naya Zoo. I made few changes though from last time. I put in Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Bonfire. I'm not entirely sure what I took out (I actually played with 33 lands which means that I took out one land). The other card was Grim Lavancer. It was a tough choice and I'm not sure if it was the right one anyway. Bonfire though showed up to be a really good card today.

Round 1
In the first round I played against some WB deck. I lost the die roll. First card my opponent played was Duress. He wasn't happy after seeing my hand that consisted of creatures and lands.

Hymn to Tourach followed. One of the discarded cards was Temple Garden which I needed quite a lot. I was stuck at 3 lands and was unable to draw fourth one. My opponent killed one of my creatures, brought back a creature I killed a turn before and things did not seem good as he started to have quite a lot of mana and my life total was near zero already. The double black was not what I wanted there, so when I finally got my fourth land I destroyed via Ruinblaster one of the black sources. My opponent was unable to draw a black source for the reminder of the game which saved my creatures from Damnation. One of my last chances to turn the game was Batterskull (I was at 1 life at that time). I played it and hoped that my opponent can't deal with the card right away. Batterskull stayed there and gained me 5 life while killing my own creature on the other side of the table. My little germ died (my only creature) and I hoped for another creature. I top decked Kitchen Finks and I knew that I could possibly win that game. I won few turns later.

In game two my hand was slower. I had one 1-drop (Figure of Destiny), two cmc3 creatures, Elspeth and lands. Thoughtseize discarded Figure of Destiny so I had to wait quite a while to drop my first creature. I dealt some damage but had to deal with Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements later. Both cards slowed me down pretty well but I was able to deal with it as I drew Bonfire of the Damned a bit later.

Round 2
In the second round there were 3 players with 2:0 and one with 2:1. I was paired against Tomas Gottwald, the winner of the previous Highlander Series and a player who beat me always in the final round. This time I encountered him in the second round. He played something like 5c zoo/goodstuff deck. Most of the cards in our decks were similar though anyway.

In the first game he was unable to draw a source of green and had just 2 lands. He conceded hoping for a better draw in the second game. This time it was me who was completely screwed up. We had 30 minutes for the last game which was sufficient time to finish it. My thinking was slow but I was sure that we could finish the game. Both of us played some creatures. The game ended up in a stall when I managed to play (tutored) Fauna Shaman and equip Sword of War and Peace. The two creatures that were a threat to me were Rhox War Monk (not really a threat but the lifelink and toughness 4 were a problem) and Aven Mimeomancer. I had to kill Mimeomancer first otherwise I would die. I tutored Flametongue Kavu and killed it. To deal with the other creature I needed a creature card. The card I drew was Scavenging Ooze though so I switched to a better plan. I played the Ooze removed some creatures and then it was me in the position of an attacker.

Next card I drew was Tarmogoyf which was 5/6. Good attacker as well. ^_^. Magma Jet followed. Scry showed me Garruk Relentless that killed the only green creature (the rest was either white or red) and allowed me to win finally.

Round 3
Black/Green (something). I had a pretty nice draw but with one land. I did not win this die roll either so I was on the draw. I played a land and Green Sun's Zenith fetching Dryad Arbor. My lovely forest though died turn later. After this I played creature after creature and won quite fast (I drew the second land^_^).

In game 2 I had Knight of the Reliquary, Figure of Destiny and not much else. My opponent discarded Figure of Destiny with Thoughtseize so my first creature in play was KotR two turns later. I fetched for Taiga (being my only forest) that turn but it was destroyed by Wasteland. Knight of the Reliquary was attacking each turn and my opponent was forced to chump block each time. Later though Acidic Slime showed up followed by Eternal Witness, that destroyed my new land. I managed to play Tarmogoyf though that turn. I decided to let my opponent play as all I could do is deal either 5 damage with goyf or 5 damage with Knight of the Reliquary. My opponent did not do much and passed me the turn. I drew Burst Lightning, tapped my only land that hopefully was producing red mana and killed the slime. Then all I needed to do was attack for ten which won me the game.

Round 4
In round 4 my opponent played Bitterblossom on turn 2. Then he played Sword of Feast and Famine and I knew that this will be really difficult to deal with. I had 2 burn spells right from the beginning of the game. I killed the first faerie and wondered what I'll be doing with the two remaining next turn. The spell was Magma Jet though and that card managed to get me to another burn spell. So next turn I had to play two removal spells and hope I tapped all my 3 lands which was not good as Winterorb landed on the table. I tried to survive as long as I could. Eventually my opponent was down to one and I hoped to draw a burn spell that I could play. I knew that he would eventually destroy the blossom but I still had nothing to kill him with. My hand consisted of Mirran Crusader and Ajani, Caller of the Pride. None of these cards would help as Crusader would be blocked by a white creature and the flying creature with double strike would be simply chumped block by the newly created faerie.

Game two was pretty tense as well. It was creature heavy and our life totals were relatively similar. When I finally got to 5 lands (I was at 8 life) I played Green Sun's Zenith fetching Huntmaster of the Fells. I hoped that this would help me get rid of some opponent's creatures and I really needed the life gain. There was Kird Ape, Loam Lion, two mana dorks and some bigger creature on the other side. On mine, there was Huntmaster and Kird Ape that eventually died. In my next turn I drew Staggershock. Not that it would help me with those toughess 3 and more creatures but it killed the annoying Noble Hierarch I really needed to get rid of. Flipped Huntmaster killed the other mana dork. My opponent then managed to play Scavenging Ooze that was serious problem. I hoped that double blocking it with my manland and kird ape would kill it. Hopefully the ooze died.

I managed to play two spells and flip huntmaster once again. The round ended at this point. I had two turns to win (so it would be 1:1). I had Serra Avenger and Reveillark in play and these creatures could deal the remaining 11 damage. In my opponent's turn Reveillark was sent to exile. My plan was to attack with everything dealing 3 damage and killing a creature in the process and then win in the last turn.

I drew a card and looked at it with disbelief. It was Bonfire of the Damned. I counted the number of lands + llanowar elves twice before playing it even though I did not need. Bonfire hitting for 6 and creatures dealing 7 damage was enough to kill an opponent with 11 lives.

EDIT: Today one of my employers came to the game store and congratulated me. I was like WTF? He told me that he found out about my win from cmus - local Magic: The Gathering information portal.

So I went there to see the actual post and here I can share what decks were in the tournament (not counting mine) and their standing.

2. 5c aggro
3. BG rock
4. 4c control
5. MonoG ramp
6. WG midrange
7. 5c Oath
8. 5c aggro
9. WB control
10. MonoR aggro
11. UB control
12. MonoB aggro
13. WBG rock
14. MonoR aggro
15. Bw stax
16. Ub High Tide
17. MonoB aggro (in the last turn the pilot of this deck played against Ub High Tide player. That player had all he needed except a black source of mana. The MB aggro player had all the noncreature cards he probably had in the deck and no creature was showing up^_^. What a match...