Kirblinx's MTGO Adventures + Sometimes Cube

[Kirblinx]

So, yeah MOCS happened. That was like a week ago now. Didn't have a great result. Let's look over what I drafted and submitted for constructed.

Vintage Cube:
Day 1 Deck: (0-3)

So I first picked Mana Drain, then got fixated into blue. Unsure what card made me pivot into black, but into pack 2 I knew this deck wasn't going to be good. I was getting hated out in both directions. When I saw the Thalia wheel in pack 1 or 2 I should have just pivoted into white. Deck didn't really do a lot of anything. I sideboarded into bad storm instead of bad reanimator, and actually won a ocuple of games that way. Round 1 was against Mono Red, they were just too fast. Round 2 was against U Artifacts, and I can't deal with Ugin. Round 3 was against all-in Bolas' Citadel, which managed to Tinker it quickly both games and just advantage me out.

Day 2 Deck: (1-2)

This deck I was much happier with. Could do busted things real quickly. There were 2 games where I mulliganed then went: Crypt, Diamond, Wheel on turn 1. It was very spicy. Match 1 I lost due to Mother of Runes and not being able to block Rotting Regisaur. Match 2 I lost due to turn 4 Splinter Twin, then game 2 turn 5 Zealous Conscripts on my Dragonlord. Game 3 was against UW midrange and since I saw he had no counterspells I just went ham and crushed him.

Modern:
Ad Nauseum (0-4)

This was the real heart-breaker. As this lead me to 0-7 after day 1. Just couldn't win a game to save my life. I play this deck a lot and while it usually really fairly luck-based it has the capacity to come out of all sorts of messes. It just did not serve me well this time.
Match 1 vs URO Pile:
Game 1 mulliganed too hard and just found mana and no combo before getting beaten down.
Game 2 struggled to find mana, when I had a bloom coming off suspend they countered it and thought it was my chance to combo. Tried to Oracle with Spoils and Grace, with Pact backup, but they had the 2 extra counters they needed to win.
Match 2 vs Oops All Spells:
Game 1 They mulliganed hard to combo off turn 3. I Spoils for a Pact instead of a grace, then die trying to find a Grace with my second spoils to not die to my pact trigger.
Game 2 They go off turn 3 and I can't stop it.
Match 3 vs Humans:
Game 1 They Meddling MageAd Nauseum early and I don't find anything relevant to help me win before I get beat down.
Game 2 They Magus of the Moon me early, but I have my basic plains to help me cast a pentad prism for two. I them manage to time the turn before I die enough mana to Echoing Truth away the moon end of their turn to have the coloured mana needed to combo off.
Game 3 They Magus early again, but this time I don't have any basics and by the time I find a prism I need to use the coloured mana to stay alive then die.
Match 4 vs Spirits:
Game 1 Triple Mausoleum Wanderer makes for a quick clock and a tough time for me to resolve anything.
Game 2 I mulligan to oblivion and Skyclave Apparition's eat anything I put down.

Pioneer:
Naya Winota (3-1)

I really liked this deck. It isn't the greatest deck, but man it can have some spicy turns. Not going to go into the game to heavily on this one. Just know that I hit Winota's on turn 4 and nearly every time I hit and Angrath's Marauders.
I beat Mono G Planeswalkers, Spirits and got a bye. I lost to Mono G Planeswalkers.
I don't know why most versions of this deck run Burning-Tree Emissary, as you don't have enough 2 drops to really make use of its mana. I really liked the Voice of Resurgences as the tokens themselves were great threats and just having some creatures that were resilient to removal was great. Deck still folds really easy to Cry of the Carnarium.

End Result: 4-10 (24th place)

So not the greatest result, mainly due to the poor draft decisions day 1 and a poor Modern deck choice. Happy with the 4-3 day 2, made me look like not a total washout, and helped me catchup to the others at the bottom of the leaderboard.
While last is not where I wanted to be, I had a good time and played some good Magic. Probably will never be able to play at that level ever again so it was a nice opportunity to have playing this game that has served me well over many years.

Heck, US$5000 is a pretty good prize payout for last

 

[japahn]

I completely missed this championship was happening, but I'm going back and watching the recordings on Twitch! Did you get on camera at all?

The vintage cube section might have been the most fun I've had watching Magic streams. And that's in spite of me not being the greatest fan of the MTGO Vintage Cube. LSV, Paul Cheon, and Marshall covered it incredibly well, and two people having the guts to playing storm at that level was just... wow.

I was going to say your Day 1 deck actually looked fine, but that would be in the lens of fair Magic... what I learned from streams and zero experience is that you really need counterspells to interact in the MTGO Vintage Cube. How do you play bad storm with that pool though? Tendrils at storm count... 5? After opponent paying 10 life to shocks or whatever?

 

[Kirblinx]

I completely missed this championship was happening, but I'm going back and watching the recordings on Twitch! Did you get on camera at all?

The vintage cube section might have been the most fun I've had watching Magic streams. And that's in spite of me not being the greatest fan of the MTGO Vintage Cube. LSV, Paul Cheon, and Marshall covered it incredibly well, and two people having the guts to playing storm at that level was just... wow.

I was going to say your Day 1 deck actually looked fine, but that would be in the lens of fair Magic... what I learned from streams and zero experience is that you really need counterspells to interact in the MTGO Vintage Cube. How do you play bad storm with that pool though? Tendrils at storm count... 5? After opponent paying 10 life to shocks or whatever?

Nah, losing the first couple of rounds meant I was never going to make it on camera.

Counterspells can only help you against broken things so much (especially if you they do it early). I like discard more, as you cut off their game plan early then just beat them down with value creatures (WB hatebears is my favourite archetype). If I had more counterspells or just permanent removal then I think I would have been fine. I just lost to cards I couldn't interact with (Sulfuric Vortex, Ugin, Bolas' Citadel). If I had dealt with those I would have ground out the win.

The sided in storm deck was mainly just a tendrils for 3 or 4, which was enough to give me a life buffer to be able to beat them down with my big clunky finishers. The lifegain was especially relevant against mono red, and I could have actually won that round if they lost their final mana crypt flip. Collective Brutality was also a surprisingly good burn spell. I copied it with expansion a couple of times. Actaully, talking about it, expansion was the main way the storm deck worked, either by copying a Cabal Ritual or Ancestral Recall, card gave a lot of value.

 

[Kirblinx]

I've been recently on a tear on MTGO in both Pauper and Sealed. Most of you have probably seen this if you are active on the discord, but I decided to post these results here as well as a time capsule of sorts.

Pauper
I think I am currently on a streak of not being below top 32 this year in challenges that I have entered ( I think it is 11 in a row). The past two events I have top 8'd so that is what I am going to post.
First up, Strixhaven had released the day before. Raptor56 (A regular pauper brewer and a friend of mine over on the Familiars Discord) had been theorycrafting that Resculpt would be a great pauper analogue to Ensoul Artifact. It also let you stick to just two colours so you could throw in some basics and not get completely hosed by Gorilla Shaman. I was intrigued, and with no practice beforehand took it into the challenge:

Finished 5-1 in the swiss, losing in the first round of top 8 for 7th place.

Deck was a solid performer as it always is. The Resculpt's weren't actually that great, but they came useful in a couple of matches and gave people the buzz that we could be seeing a new version of the deck come to life. The basics were also a bit of a pain as they make it harder to get fast starts to dump Myr Enforcer on turn 3/4 and to get Atog to lethal. Still, things went my way (except against walls, but that's how the deck goes). I have since changed the deck to cut the resculpts for the 18th land, Temur Battle Rage and a Reaping the Graves, all of which have since outperformed the middling Resculpt.

The next week, I decided to try another brew from someone in the Familiar's Discord, this time BluStalker. He had been hard at work trying to figure out the best way to abuse the First Day of Class + Putrid Goblin Combo. He found that the combo was good against the other combo decks, but was pretty easy to disrupt, so he was trying out to figure out a Plan B. It came in the form of Hissing Iguanar. This gave you another win condition with the infinite sacrifice loop that didn't involve combat, and it just let you play the beatdown game. Just play stupid goblins, beat down and make things die to get extra damage.

Once again I go into the challenge with little to no experience with the deck under my belt and take into a challenge:

Went 6-0 in the swiss! Lost to walls in the top 4 for 3rd place.

I should mention that I made my own tweaks to the deck before I went into the challenge. I added the Sparksmiths main and SB, as they are so great against the green decks (walls, elves). They definitely proved their worth and the 1 of main has now proved to be a mainstay of everyones list.
Deck feels very fresh in the world of pauper. There isn't many combo decks that can pivot into aggro decks (I guess elves is also a combo deck). The deck seemed good because no one knew how to interact with it, plus I also had some good draws with some turn 3 wins.


Sealed
So all these top 8's in pauper gave me enough QPs to try to do a Sealed PTQ Qualifier. The best part it was TSR limited, which has been great when I have been playing it in draft. Opened my pool, saw my white was strong and didn't know whether to pair it with green or blue. Decided on blue as there was just some real strong cards in there. Here is how I ended up:

This screenshot was from where I thought there was only 7 rounds, but there was actually 8. I ended up winning the last round as well so ended up 7-1. My only loss was to a turn 4 and turn 5 Primeval Titan. Deck had so many cool flicker synergies, Resto was easy MVP. I even had two really cool games, one where I pickled locked one of my opponents (Vesuvian Shapeshifter + Brine Elemental so they don't get to untap ever again). The other was where my opponent had a Kiki-Jiki so end of turn I flipped up my Shapeshifter to copy it, then next turn played Resoration Angel to combo off. That was real sweet to do in limited.
In the Top 8 draft I went with my usual strat of WB rebels, and the deck looked sweet, but my luck ran out and I couldn't handle 2 x Prodigal Pyromancer and lost in the first round.

This weekend I decided to try a PTQ in Strixhaven sealed. I haven't been having too much luck in STX, unsure why, it feels like a very fun format but the wins just aren't coming for me. The pool I opened felt quite average, but I had a couple of decent green rares, so I just shoved them in a deck with the only colour I had with removal and decided to see how we went.

I ended up 6-3 (36th place), with all losses being pretty close. The double Bookwurm was a tad ambitious, but they were great whenever they landed. I think think I lost if I flooded out, it was just if I could hit the 6 mana to get access to the removal spells. Master Symmetrist was the best card in the deck, as it made my growing creatures able to actually punch through. It also surprises me that the rhino has reach as well. It caught a couple of opponents (and myself) off guard. I think this deck was only missing a couple of decent 4-5 drops, like Professor of Zoomancy.

I don't think this run of decent luck will last too much longer (all my general leagues and drafts have been doing mediocre) so recording this has made me feel accomplished. One day I will win one of these again and get back in the Mythic Champs or MOCS, but for the time being, I am happy that my MTGO account's wealth is going up and not down

 

[Jason Waddell]

You're crushing it!

 

[Kirblinx]

So it's been a while. I probably should have mentioned that I got my first challenge win the week after those sealeds above in pauper. With my true loves Thraben Inspector and Kor Skyfisher:

The only sad part is now that MH2 is come out the pauper landscape has changed into a hellscape of Rock (Affinity), Paper (Chatterstorm), Scissors (UB Faeries) where not a single other deck has a chance of toppling them. So poor Boros Monarch is officially dead until bans happen. I've still been top 32-ing nearly every challenge I enter with random decks that aren't the big three, but I never stand a chance of top 8.

Over the Horizon
But while MH2 has been a detriment to pauper, it has been a real boon as a limited format. I have played so many sealeds of this format and it always feels interesting and exciting, even when your opponent has 4 insurmountable bombs you can sometimes find a way. There was an event on called 'Over the Horizon', where for 3 events, if you went 6-2 or better you would get an invitation go the Horizon Championship for a boatload of prizes. Decided to give it a shot and the first one went pretty well:

This deck was pretty fun. Just a decent aggressive deck that was looking to hope people stumble. Rakdos Headliner on turn 2 is quite the clock that people have to deal with. Spreading Insurrection was also pretty good at closing out games. Unsure why I didn't at least try and splash Grist; card is nuts and I should have at least attempted to play it.

Next up is the Horizon Championship. Had a lot of good converge cards so I went with a 5 colour greed pile:

I had a look at my results and while I started 4-0, the wheels fell off and I ended up at 5-4, which got me to top 64 to scrape in for minimal prizes.
Ragavan is clearly nuts but it is only so on the first 2 turns of the game. I believe I lost 3 of my matches near the end to Archon of Cruelty. Hurt to keep losing to the same card, but it is what it is... a bomb that I had no removal for. The converge cards are great in this format and they always tempt me to 5 colours but most are serviceable in 3 colours.

MOCS Open
Then we come to last weekend with the MOCS Opens. There was 2 MH2 sealeds that if you win you managed to win you got an entry into the MOCS. Having been there now, I wanted to try and get back as the prizes are just so good, so I took the Monday off of work and got ready to play 2 different sealeds at midnight over the weekend.

Here was my first pool sent me:

As soon as I saw the Upheaval I knew I was in with a shot. This deck had a lot of removal and the quick clocks (Gargadon) to back them up. I have been really impressed by Burdened Aerialist in this format and chose to run them over the 3 Etherium Spinner that I opened as I had enough ways of making tokens to crack to be able to help keep them up in the air when needed. The white splash was also very much appreciated as Dakkon is just outstanding as a late game double removal spell and Late to Dinner either helped reanimate an early Archfiend of Sorrows or Gargadon. I also managed to live the dream by winning 5 flips of Yusri then being able to Upheaval and recast everything for free. That felt glorious.
I managed to go 4-0 until my first loss; against the eventual 9-0 player who had Grist, Damn, Urza's Saga and Rise and Shine, so there was no way I was beating that. Then went win, win, lose to 6-2 so I needed to win my last round to have a chance for top 8 as I felt my breakers were pretty good. Managed to just scrape through with the win and after 10 minutes of biting my nails waiting for the round to end I snuck into 8th place. This meant I had to draft, and my rares I opened were all garbage (Moderation, Gaea's Will and Magus of the Bridge). My first 3 picks were Extruder, Lightning Spear then I decided to go all in on reanimator as I picked a Late to Dinner. I wheeled 2 Breathless Knight in the first pack so I knew I had a lane and here is where it ended up:

It seemed decent enough, just missing out on a bomb card to help close games out. I managed to win the first round against RB madness as they didn't have anyway to outpace my birds. Then in the semifinals I had to play against a 4 colour grind pile with 2 Fae Offering and after forgetting to crack a food game 1 to keep me alive for one more turn and just not having a fast enough deck to outrace his value I lose game 2 with the opponent with 2 cards left in library and 4 minutes left on the clock. Sad part was that the other finalist was already top of the MOCS leaderboard, so if I got the one more win then he would have just scooped and we were both going to the MOCS. Shame to get so close and fall at the last hurdle, but luck can only get you so far. Plus there was always another chance tomorrow.

So I got a decent 5 hours sleep and woke up at midnight again and here is what I got for MOCS Open 2:

Urza's Saga really carried this deck. It felt like it was my main win condition sometimes. This deck had in spades what my last sealed didn't... Card Draw. I managed to dig to whatever I needed most games, and I even sided in an Archfiend of Sorrows when it seemed the matchup needed it. My campaign didn't start to well with a loss to 2 games worth of turn 1 Ignoble Heirarch. It just way too much of a tempo loss and could never catchup. Then managed to win the next 3 to stay in the hunt at 3-1 until I got paired a fellow pauper challenger HouseOfManaMTG. We had a great game 1 that was probably my best game of the weekend, and managed to scrape through a win in game 3... However, he asked if I could scoop as if he made top 8 he would manage to take second place on the MOCS leaderboard and he felt he could he could make it because his deck was absurd. I thought about it for a bit and because of my first round loss I didn't realistically think I could top 8 as I would need to win every other match from now on. So I agree to scoop and play on so that I can make his breakers as good as I can.
Then continue to win to get to 6-2 and House is at 7-1 so things were going well. Then I lose a heartbreaker in the last round to 2 games of turn 3 General Ferrous followed by 3 multicoloured spells. House also loses and now it is all down to breakers.... and he squeezes in at 8th! I end up in the mid 4o's on 6-3, but I got one of my friends into the MOCS (he ended up getting to the finals and losing, not that it mattered), so I'll call that a win.

So yeah. It had been a pretty decent weekend and will be sad to see MH2 go. As Train said in the discord it is like a Riptide Cube in booster form and I whole-heartedly agree. So much fun synergy and so many cool lines to take in this format. It has to be one of my favourite limited formats of all time, especially sealed. I think there is no other set that can beat this for sealed deck. I feel there should be more to talk about why I like it and why I think it is great, but I just put it into words.

Aftermath
On the Tuesday after these events I get an email from wizards:

So yeah, looks like I am back on the Pro Tour (Mythic Championship, I guess?) again. So that was a nice surprise I wasn't expecting. I remember after the MOCS I said that it wouldn't likely happen again, but hey, maybe I am better than I thought I was if I managed to get back again so quick.

 

[Kirblinx]

What is this place? Man, it's a little dusty in here. A whole year has been missed, but most of my pauper escapades have been captured on either twitter or youtube, so it is just too hard to post things everywhere. But I still like sealed and managed to do pretty well last weekend in the ONE Super PTQ. So thought I would write it up.

This event was at 7pm Sunday my time. I usually go to my parents for dinner at this time, but I had forgone this just so I could play in this event. Been having a decent time in this sealed format. It is very fast, so you need to have a lot of early drops to stop the early aggression or the spread of mites. I wasn't expecting much, but once my packs were opened and I saw my rares, I knew I would have a decent chance.

DOUBLE BOARD SWEEPER

So getting two legitimate bombs in this format that tries to go wide is pretty insane. I even made a deck building error here with Paladin of Predation. I knew I shouldn't have put it in the deck, just before, I said that the curves in this format are insanely low, so getting to 7 for a big dumb idiot just isn't worth it. I would generally cut it and the Mandible Justiciar for the Oil-Gorger Troll and Predation Steward.

Deck went as smoothly as ever and I felt I was plying pretty good too, knowing when to hold removal for specific threats, or to just use it on their dorky creatures to push through damage to put the pressure on. Starting out at a clean 5-0. I then had to play against a friend who I managed to just get the board wipe at the most opportune time and got to 6-0. Then first mistake I made cost me a match where I didn't read Evolved Spinoderm and used a removal spell on the turn is was about to die, and then not having enough blockers to stop a lethal attack.

After that though had a couple of lucky runs where both my opponents get mana/colour screwed in game 3 and I get to 8-1 and locked for top 8.

I get a friend in to help me draft, as I don't know the draft format that well, P1P1 Drown in Ichor, P1P2 Contagious Vorrac then pick 3 get passed a Hexgold Slash, which is a pretty premium red card, so I am just keeping myself open. I then get a lot of good red cards flowing and have solidified my main colour. P2P1 I get a Tarmogoyf moment, where I see Atraxa, Grand Unifier, a 60Tix card, so I can either take the money, or take a Hexgold Slash, I chose the money. I struggle to get enough low drops but get passed a real late P3 The Filligree Sylex which is nice, and end up here:

Deck looked okay, but I wasn't very confidant. Turns out I was correct, but game 1 was a bit rough, keeping a 2 lander and a Axiom Engraver and not being able to draw another land until turn 5 after using both rummages on the Engraver. My deck doesn't function unless I can get to 3 lands. Then in game 2 I flood out, while they hit a turn 3 Glissa, Sunslayer and I just can't compete with that clock and card advantage. A little bit rough since top 4 get RCQ invites, so just a win away, but happy to make it to the top of another sealed. Made like 400tix between the prizes and the Atraxa, so a pretty good day out. Worth only having 2 hours sleep before having to go to work that morning.

 

[Kirblinx]

Surprise! My LGS didn't know what format to play so I suggested cube. Everyone seemed keen. So I dusted off the Wobbly cube and changed some cards to some recent cards. Just used what I had lying around and most of them seemed pretty good.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was sort of like a time capsule in which it was sort of like playing some standard decks from 5 years ago. Don't really have too much to say but just wanted to record all the decks that were drafted. We'll see if Wobbly gets another run than another 4 years from now.

Spoiler: Caroline (2-0): WR Aggro

Go Wide and Tall

Spoiler: Daniel (2-0): Sultai Ramp

Too much big stuff

Spoiler: Reece (1-1): Jund Sidisi

The Real Graveyard Deck

Spoiler: Jamie (1-1): GWr Human Saffi Combo

Who knew aggro could combo?

Spoiler: Josh (1-1): URb Spell Tempo

Needs more Gas

Spoiler: Nathan (0-2): 4C Planeswalker Control

Too Many Planeswalkers

Spoiler: Ben (0-2): WBr Aristocrats

The 51 Card Special

Spoiler: Travis (0-0): Dimir Control

The Unplayed Tinker Pile

 

[Kirblinx]

Also, forgot to mention that 2(.5) weeks ago I played in the Australian Regional Championships. Was hoping to do better than my 4-4 from last RC with Mardu Sacrifice. So before the event I went and played Mtgo each night scrolling through different decks to see if there was anything I thought was a hidden gem.

I tried all sorts of Transmogrify decks but found they were either too slow or decks now had a way to deal with Atraxa so they weren't as threatening anymore. I was having some decent success with Mardu Greasefang, but the 3 colour situation was coming up again. In Pioneer the manafixing just isn't that great, so just like with my Mardu Sac deck from the last RC, I just lost random games because I had to mulligan hard to find a colour, or keep a 2 colour hand and just never draw the third.
Then tried Jeskai Ascendancy combo, Emry version. I was finding it to be pretty decent, colour issues were still there, but you could just get some turn 3 wins as well (Rona + Helix + Mox Amber). So I decided on this deck the week before. Ordered all the cards I needed Express so they would get to me by the Thursday that I would leave.
It hits Wednesday and my cards haven't arrived. I checked the tracking and they haven't even left the city they were sent from. Do I try and get the cards at the venue? I think that is probably asking too much. I just sit in my room with a pile of cards and try and figure out what deck has a decent shot. I have been playing a lot of Rally Goblins at my LGS, and while I can win events there, this is a whole other level and it just wouldn't be able to compete. I could play Lotus Combo, but I swore off that deck after going 2-0 into 2-3 at two different RCQs. I felt I only had one real choice. Go back to the Sac. I perused lists and settled on this list:



The only real changes I made were to add the Syr Ginger, as it looked like a decent midrange option and to swap a Hive of the Eye Tyrant to a Castle Locthwain, because I didn't own 2.

I recorded each match as I remembered it on my phone between each round, so the details may be sketchy, but it's more than just a W or an L.

ROUND 1 vs Sam on UW Spirits. A favourable match up, and I could tell he was worried.
GAME 1: He is on the play and he trades my Thoughtseize for his Mausoleum Wanderer. I then resolve a Bloodtithe Harvester but get stuck on 2 lands. It gets to a point where I try and Harvester one of their Supreme Phantoms but they have Out the Back-door, so I try and push the other but they counter that with the wanderer and I can't outrace. 0-1
GAME 2: I manage to resolve a Fable turn 3 after killing their early threat which is great because my hand is 4 lands and a Rending Volley. I get to Thoughtseize them later and all they have is Portable Hole, Spell Queller and a land. I manage to sucker out the Spell Queller and kill it with the Volley and they have nothing left to stop my board. 1-1
GAME 3: They mull to 6 and get stuck on 2 lands. They hit a turn 2 RIP which does nothing against me with the cards I have in hand and I just kill anything they play while double Fable beats them down. 2-1
1-0

ROUND 2 vs Keiran on Mono G. We both have a mutual friend and apparently he is the team mate killer, so I hope I don't become a victim. I lose the die roll for the second time.
GAME 1: I Mulligan to 5, but manage to somehow stay in it by Claiming a Troll, killing a Kiora and killing his elf to leave him with just lands and 2 cards in hand to my Harvester, Oven and 1 card (land). He then manages to Karn for a Portal to Phyrexial but I kill it but don't have any clock to race when he can finally portal and runaway with it. 0-1
GAME 2: I double Thoughtsieze leaving them with just lands, but they manage to hit Kiora into Oath to keep the cards flowing. The crucial turn is when he hits a Karn off a storm and has to choose what to get. Opts for Transmogrifying Wand, plays it and passes. I look at it and ask 'Activate only as Sorcery right?'. He looks at it, tilts his head back in disgust and says yes. I untap, Claim his Troll, kill both Karn, Kiora and an the Troll and he can't recover. 1-1
GAME 3: We only have 9 minutes left so we play fast. I manage to rip out both a Wolfwillow Haven and Karn from his hand when I see the earliest thing he can play is a Cavalier of Thorns. I also beat down with Bloodtithe and Fable token. When they play the Cavalier I have to kill it by playing another Bloodtithe, sacking it, use a trigger from the devil then kill it with a blood to get in for more damage. They put Karn on top. They Storm the Festival, hitting Cavalier and Troll, but they are on 8, and I can Claim the Troll swing in with Troll, Devil, Cat and Harvester. Get in for 7 then Sac the blood for lethal. 2-1
2-0

ROUND 3 vs James on Lotus Combo. He has a protour mat and isn't talking much. This seems serious. I lose the die roll for the third time.
GAME 1: I Mulligan to 5 and they manage to turn 2 Lotus Field. I don't hit a Thoughtseize and they combo me on turn 4. 0-1
GAME 2: I side in 8 cards, keep a respectable 7 with an Unlucky Witness and 2 Deadly Dispute to help me dig to some sideboard cards. I Witness into Dispute into Fable. Turn 4 still haven't seen a discard spell. So I use 2 deadly disputes to dig further and still nothing. I play a Hearse and pass. They Natural State the Hearse and kill me. 0-2
Not the best match up, but digging 20 cards deep by turn 4 and not seeing a discard spell was a little rough. Here's to hoping next round is a creature match up.
2-1

ROUND 4 vs Jacob on Greasefang. He beat my friend the round previous. I lose the die roll again.
GAME 1: He Mulligan's to 5 and I turn 1 discard the Greasefang. He gets stuck on 2 lands and whiffs on his command and I just beat him down in a couple of turns. 1-0
GAME 2: I don't have the discard or removal spell and he turn 5's me after playing Greasefang into Raffine's Informant discarding the boat. 1-1.
Game 3: I get rid of Greasfang turn 1 again and he wobbles around to get something going. I get him down to 5 before he Temporary Lockdowns to clear my board. I Fable, he Sheoldreds, but I find a fatal push, set him to 3 and he can't find enough blockers for Hive of the Eye Tyrant next turn. 2-1.
He tells me that he couldn't get 2nd white on Temp Lockdown until too late and by that point he had taken too much damage. 3 Colour manabases strike again!
3-1

LUNCH TIME
Feeling pretty good at 3-1 at the half way point. Go get a Burrito from down the street and hope to see if I can keep this decent streak going.

ROUND 5 vs Nathan on Pheonix. I accidentally sat at the wrong seat, so had to walk around the tables to get to the right side. I finally win a die roll.
GAME 1: I Mulligan to 5, they keep 7. I make him discard a Temporal Trespass early and just stock up my board while cat/Oven does its thing. He accidentally goes to combat thinking he played 3 spells so the Arclight Pheonix's don't come back, so I have a chance. I am on 13, he is on 8. I draw a Deadly Dispute, cast it into Claim + Devil. He has a 6/8 tapped Ledger Shredder and a 2/4 untapped shredder. I don't think I had lethal with 2 treasures, Oven, 1 food and cat in GY. I steal the tapped shredder, to trade them both off and then I die to Temporal Trespass and 3 Pheonix. 0-1.
GAME 2: We both mull to 6. I Duress turn 1 see a 1 lander, consider, opt, cruise, drake, Picklock. I take the consider to try and stump them on lands. They manage to hit all their land drops while I am beating them down with Syr Ginger. They get to 4 lands, Cast a drake, I draw a Bloodtithe, play it, go to attack with Ginger, they block with Lockpick, I attempt to crack blood, but never made one, so I missed the trigger . With nothing left in hand I shame scoop and try and psych myself up for the next round. 0-2
3-2

ROUND 6 vs Andrew on UW Spirits. He comments that he has yet to play against a black deck and he also hasn't won a die roll. I won this die roll, so he wasn't having a good time.
GAME 1: I Mulligan to 5 and none of my removal spells resolve. This is supposed to be a good match up how to I keep losing game 1? 0-1
GAME 2: We both mull to 6, I Thoughtsieze him and get rid of Spectral Sailor so all he has now is Spell Quellers. I keep attacking in with Ginger and Shaman Token and Rending Volley both Quellers on successive turns and they die to the quick clock. 1-1
GAME 3: Keep a 7 finally and Thoughtsieze away a Rattlechains seeing a pile of 3 drops. I get stuck on turn 4 with just a pile of lands and a Claim with no Sac outlet and have to Sac a blood to dig. I get beaten down to 6 until I deadly Dispute into Devil + Oven and managed to use the Claim to clear their entire board (Thanks to Jegantha for the extra mana). They draw their card and scoop it up. 2-1
4-2

Round 7 vs Sebastion on UW Spirits. I like how last time I played against 8 different deck and now I am up against Spirits for the 3rd time. Not complaining though, is a good match up. I lose the die roll though...
GAME 1: We both Mulligan, and I can't remember too much of this because my brain is fried. I remember being able to keep attacking with 2 cats and sacking the one he blocks to the oven slowly draining him and he is stuck on 3 lands. There gets to a point he taps out and I play a Devil and sweep. 1-0
GAME 2: Keep a 7 for a change and duress away a Wedding Announcement seeing Portable Hole, 2 Island, Mutavault, Rattlechains, when all they have in play is a Mausoleum Wanderer. They then don't play anything for 2 turns while I develop my board. I then get to Thoughtseize into a Mayhem Devil after a Fable, clear the hand and board and win 2 turns later. 2-0
Feels good to finally get a 2-0. One more round, can maybe get top 16.
5-2

Round 8 vs Rhianna on Lotus Combo. I mention to her that I lost to the guy who is 7-0 on Lotus and concerned this is a bad match up for me. Also find it weird we at at table 40, apparently she has a Spinal condition and is hard to move, so she gets fixed seating which is cool of the organisers. I lose the die roll once again.
GAME 1 is one for the ages, I Mulligan then realise I haven't revealed Jegantha. Go to my SB... It's not there, I call a judge and tell them Jegantha is in my deck. I get a DRV, and put Jegantha in my companion zone. I keep 4 land, Claim, Thoughtsieze. I Thoughtseize her turn 1 see 3 lands, Hidden Strings, Dark Petition, Mastermind's Acquisition. Take the strings and pass. I draw and play an oven, she Boseijus it, saying 'I don't want anything to do with that', I get a Blood Crypt tapped. I draw another land and put Jegantha in hand. Then play Jegantha turn 4. She hasn't found a Lotus at this stage. She then Otawaras Jegantha. I then draw Harvester, use the blood draw a Dispute, use it, get 2 more lands and pass. They do nothing. Turn 6 I draw Takenuma, play Jegantha. They hit Lotus, play it and copy it. I Takenuma end of turn using the treasure, hit a Kroxa!!!!! I then proceed to play Kroxa, Escape it them Claim it. Make her discard her 3 cards and hit her for 11. She draws a Bala Ged Recovery, brings back a Vizier of Tumbling Sands, cycles it to try and find a Pore, doesn't and scoops. 1-0
GAME 2: We both mull to 6, I turn 1 Thoughtseize to see 3 lands, Strings, 2 Into the Roil. I take the strings and start the beat down. I manage to hit a Damping Sphere the turn she plays Lotus and all she has is Thespian Stages in hand so can't bounce it as she cannot produce coloured mana. She does this for 3 turns and I manage to take her down. 2-0
6-2.

Managed to end up 14th. Good for $250. It cost me way more to get down here though. Good experience and really nice to do well in a paper event for once. I also qualify for the next RC in Melbourne, so I guess I have to find a good modern deck to play.

 

[Kirblinx]

Just touching base with my MTGO adventures. I still play the pauper challenge every Saturday and have managed to make the finals 3 times so far this year. It's just hard trying to maintain both a twitter and a youtube channel.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1753834289014411571

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1756355146412687804

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1812146269479186640

The main reason I wanted to post here is because I have become the Pauper Data Guru (tm).
I've been gathering all the data from all the Pauper Challenges and collating them for people to get a more accurate vision of the format than what you can just see what WotC has been giving us. Made probably my best video so far on the topic. It is probably a little too niche within a niche (spikey players, playing pauper; so not the biggest audience) but has been getting some good traction so far. Format has it's problems, but nothing Nadu-esque. Just wanted to leave it here for a moment I am somewhat proud of for me to look back on.