Hi again,

Another Phantom event on the list, but I gotta say I’m not feeling super confident after the last few. The score has been looking terrible and I can’t imagine what my rating must be. Probably lousy.
But hey, you can only go up when you are in a hole 🙂

The Sealed pool
The pool itself showed some promise. First off, it contained a [c]Thassa, God of the Sea[/c] and an [c]Hythonia, the Cruel[/c]. Not too shabby. Black was looking real strong, but I wasn’t quite satisfied with a two color deck, since every combination seemed a little low on creatures. I decided to go for a BG control deck, with a splash of Blue, knowing full well that Thassa would never become a creature that way. But in my opinion, her strength is in the “make my guys unblockable part” and the scrying especially.

The deck looked like this.

[d]
Creatures
1 Baleful Eidolon
1 Agent of the Fates
1 Cavern Lampad
1 Erebos’s Emissary
1 Hythonia the Cruel
1 Returned Phalanx
1 Leafcrown Dryad
1 Voyaging Satyr
2 Nylea’s Disciple
1 Nessian Asp
1 Centaur Battlemaster
1 Agent of Horizons
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
2 Nimbus Naiad
1 Pharika’s Mender

Spells
2 Read the Bones
1 Pharika’s Cure
1 Savage Surge
1 Nylea’s Presence

Land
3 Island
8 Swamp
7 Forest

Sideboard
1 Yoked Ox
1 Hopeful Eidolon
1 Setessan Battle Priest
1 Setessan Griffin
1 Ray of Dissolution
1 Annul
1 Lost in a Labyrinth
2 Loathsome Catoblepas
1 Priest of Iroas
1 Vulpine Goliath
1 Bronze Sable
2 Anvilwrought Raptor
1 Dauntless Onslaught
1 Artisan’s Sorrow
1 Kragma Warcaller
1 Fleecemane Lion
1 Observant Alseid
1 Chosen by Heliod
2 Fleshmad Steed
1 Dragon Mantle
1 Evangel of Heliod
1 Vanquish the Foul
1 Coordinated Assault
1 Ordeal of Purphoros
1 Rageblood Shaman
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Cavalry Pegasus
2 Disciple of Phenax
2 Defend the Hearth
1 Heliod’s Emissary
1 Coastline Chimera
2 Centaur Battlemaster
1 Leonin Snarecaster
1 Triad of Fates
1 Crackling Triton
1 Shredding Winds
2 Boulderfall
2 Spark Jolt
1 Battlewise Valor
1 Demolish
2 Thassa’s Bounty
1 Guardians of Meletis
1 Flamecast Wheel
1 Ephara’s Warden
2 Titan’s Strength
1 Sea God’s Revenge
1 Triton Tactics
1 Omenspeaker
1 Wavecrash Triton
1 Benthic Giant
1 Pheres-Band Centaurs
1 Shipwreck Singer
[/d]

Match #1

I went up against a WBG Heroic deck. Starting off with a nice draw, albeit a little low on land, I got my [c]Nimbus Naiad[/c] out and pummelled the guy. He tried pumping his [c]Phalanx Leader[/c] and [c]Time To Feed[/c] my [c]Nylea’s Disciple[/c] but I got him in the end, with my bestowed up Naiad. Needless to say the [c]Artisan’s Sorrow[/c] got boarded in after seeing his deck.

Game 2 he boarded in some Red, so I guess he switched over to an RW Heroic deck. With a [c]Minotaur Skullcleaver[/c] and his [c]Phalanx Leader[/c]. He kep my creatures off the board with several [c]Rage of Purphoros[/c], before finishing me off with his bigass Phalanx Leader and a [c]Lightning Strike[/c] to my face.

The final game I tried boarding in [c]Shipwreck Singer[/c] to see if taht would help me deal with his little critters, like [c]Priest of Iroas[/c], which my Naiads, [c]Baleful Eidolon[/c] and [c]Leafcrown Dryad[/c] where especially vulnerable to. I also boarded in an [c]Annul[/c] to try and keep his enchantments at bay. The game started with some pretty standard plays. I then got out my [c]Agent of the Fates[/c] and bestowed the hell out of it, keeping his creature count to a minimum. The Agent in combination with the [c]Shipwreck Singer[/c] finally cleared the board, including a [c]Celestial Archon[/c] and my opponent conceded.

I felt quite good starting off with a 1-0 score 😀

Match #2

The next guy was playing a RB deck, which to my horror sported a [c]Whip of Erebos[/c] and an [c]Underworld Cerberus[/c]. I tried staving off disaster but he finally ran me into the ground on turn 10. Maybe I could have played my [c]Erebos’s Emissary[/c], attacked with it and hope that he would have blocked with the Cerberus, only to see me pump it by sacking two creatures, but I can’t say for sure. I’ll have to try it some other time.

The Sorrow went in again, as a counter for the whip. I figured I needed to stall for time, so I also took in a [c]Triton Tactics[/c].

In game 2 we both got a flyer out, me with Naiad and him with a [c]Blood-toll Harpy[/c]. A few turns later he had the harpy and [c]Felhide Minotaur[/c] out, and I went on the defense with a [c]Pharika’s Mender[/c] and my Naiad. I decided my best option was turtling my way to victory. The fliers traded off and he then brought out a [c]Mogis’s Marauder[/c] in hopes of racing me. Bestowing a [c]Cavern Lampad[/c] onto the Mender seems to make him give up on that plan. Again going for a deciding thrid game…

Seeing my opening my heart sank, as I was sitting on three colors worth of spells, but only two Swamps. I decided to keep, which could spell my demise before long. My opponent opened up with a [c]Thoughtseize[/c] and my heart snak even further. Luckily I was holding [c]Thassa, God of the Sea[/c] which he decided to discard, leaving me with just enough mana to get going. I managed to pull a land on turn 3 giving me enough to cast [c]Read the Bones[/c]. I felt a tingle of hope as I scryed a Forest. That one definately went on top. The game rolled on an my opponent got out his Cerberus again. At one point he was attacking with [c]Tormented Hero[/c], [c]Underworld Cerberus[/c], [c]Mogis’s Marauder[/c] and a [c]Spearpoint Oread[/c] against my [c]Voyaging Satyr[/c], [c]Nessian Asp[/c], [c]Erebos’s Emissary[/c] and [c]Nylea’s Disciple[/c]. I played a [c]Triton Tactics[/c] to try and get the Cerberus tapped down, but he countered that with a [c]Boon of Erebos[/c] and killing of my Asp. However, a late [c]Hythonia the Cruel[/c] swept, cleared the board. The Cerberus gave both of us a ton of creatures to play. Luckily I could keep him at bay, while my Hythonia swung in and won me the game.

2-0. Sweet 😀

Match #3

I was up against a solid opponont, who swept me off the board yesterday. He was playing a WRG deck, featuring a few scry lands (lucky duck), [c]Sedge Scorpion[/c]s and other nasty things. I got out my Thassa and my Pharika’s Mender could swing through for lethal.

Game 2 was a sad affair where I tried to keep his [c]Wingsteed Rider[/c] at bay. That did not go well. His [c]Ill-Tempered Cyclops[/c] did help my situation.

In game 3 I got out Thassa and the Agent, but the latter he made short work of with a [c]Magma Jet[/c]. The game went back and forth for ten turns apporximately and he slowly ground my defenses down. Hythonia came in and cleared the board. I was topdecking at this point, sitting at 2. He was definately topdecking too, but before I got my [c]Nylea’s Disciple[/c] he drew a [c]Destructive Revelry[/c] taking out Thassa and killing me off. I can only say well played. Well played indeed.

Conclusion

I really feel like my skills and decision making is getting better. I feel like I make fewer mistakes and I also tried not switching out the deck during games. My deck seemed to perform a lot more consistent, but I didn’t need to mulligan as much as normally. I think scrying may have been the key here along with 18 lands.

That’s it for now. Take care 🙂