Sunday Report: GPT Sacramento and Sunday Standard

So we are back for another Sunday report. I haven't played competitively in a sanctioned event in a while! And I got to play two days in a row of standard!

For standard, I traded very aggressively to turn my Junk deck into mono black devotion. I may do a deck tech on this in a week or two (depending on time. With school finishing soon for the semester, who knows how much time I'll have!)

Anyway, that is the deck I played. First off, we have the event: GPT Sacramento. The winner of this event gets 2 free byes for GP sacramento. So I went, planning that I will go to GP Sac.

So, let me get started in talking about it.

Where the name "Fear the Reaper" comes from

In round 1, I faced off against Golgari Aggro. He had such cards like Lotleth troll, Deadbridge goliath, dreg mangler, abrupt decay,and reaper of the wilds. In fact, there is a popular deck of golgari
aggro called "fear the reaper" that brian kibler has played in the past GPs, which is where I think has got its popularity. Anyway, facing this deck was pretty easy. I waited for my opponent to tap out to take out his trolls and reaper of the wilds. Sometimes I would kill his other stuff so I could devour flesh his one and only creature. I would follow up with my own evasive guys: Nightveil Specter and Desecration demon. He never got me below 12 health in both games.

So I won my first game. Alright! Starting off strong.

Also known as protection from my deck

In round 2, I played against an esper deck. This was an extremely hard deck to face. In game 1, I was doing alright, playing around his supreme verdicts by slowly putting out threats, but the game
dragged on a bit too long. He was able to resolve back to back sphinx's revelations which I could not deal with. In game 2, he mulligan'd to 5 which gave me a considerable edge as I thoughtseized him twice in the first two turns, taking his only threats. He flooded out on mana as I had a desecration demon out. It quickly ended the game. In game 3, I could not deal with two blood barons. Devour flesh was able to take out one as I lost to the other.

So second game, sucked that I lost. 1-1 isn't the worst record, I just know I can't really afford to lose any more games. The next round is especially gut wrenching going in.

Round 3: I played against naya midrange. This deck was relatively easy for my deck. Naya tries to play big bombs in its colors that are very effective, but my spot removal is too much. In game 1, he dropped 3 loxodon smiters which met their downfall (hero's downfall) and in game 2, I was ready for his stormbreath dragons. He did surprise me with a 6/6 mistcutter hydra, but that was only for one turn as I made it pay the ultimate price the next turn.

Alright, 2-1. This tournament is five rounds, I just need to win the next two...

Round 4: RG devotion. I was playing practice matches against this deck and I know that it is pretty

Vs pack rat: Super ineffective

much a 50/50 matchup. In game 1, I thoughtseized away his garruk and he flooded out on lands with just a few mana dorks on his table. in game 2, I played a pack rat on turn 2. Then I thoughtseized, and saw that he had a few plummets in his hand (from his own sideboard). So, I started discarding my nightveil specters to my pack rat, which meant that I was leaving him with dead cards in his hand as I was making my rat power grow.

Alright. 3-1. Last round. If I win, I'm in, right?

Round 5: Vs another esper deck. Apparently this person was paired up with me, his record being 2-2. So, it's going to be easy right? Well, he was going to make me for the fight of my life...
In game 1, things were going back and forth. Both of us just killing everything the other person had. However, I ran out of removal and started flooding out as he had a blood baron of vizkopa that I could not deal with, at all...

The whip really is just him giving the middle finger to esper

Game 2, a resolved Erebos was MVP. He had a blood baron again, but the fact that he could not gain life meant my own pack rats could easily race it. There was a point in this game where I thought I was going to lose, as again I was flooding out. But then I draw a pack rat with lands in my hand. I discard them all over the course of my opponent's turn and my turn, going from 1 rat to 5 rats very quickly!

Secret technology vs Esper

Game 3, okay... this is it, I thought. I was extremely nervous as he went first and I had to mulligan to 5. I put out an early pack rat that gets detention sphere'd. Then he plays a pithing needle naming swamp (which had an underworld connections). Then he plays another detention sphere getting the erebos. Afterward he starts sphinx's revelation. He gets another pithing needle for the second pack rat I have. Then I realize that he has sphinx's revelated 3 times, and that he is about to deck himself out. I also notice that we have 30 seconds before time gets called. So we go to turns, with me at 5 life and him at 20 life. I am probably going to lose, I thought, as he has a blood baron and an aetherling. His first turn, I block with a mutavault to the blood baron and play hero's downfall on aetherling, causing him to blink the aetherling. Then I go, draw a land and pass. Then it's his turn
again, he attacks, I play ultimate price on aetherling, and let the blood baron hit me. This brings me down to 1 life. Alright, my last draw. I draw... psychic spiral! I try to hero's downfall again which causes him to blink the aetherling, leavin ghim with only two mana. I psychic spiral him and force him to deck himself out.
Wow. The one random psychic spiral I sideboarded in because I only had 14 cards, it worked! (Sidenote, i had far and away in my sideboard as well because I couldn't fill up my sideboard in time.)

So I'm 4-1. I should get in right? No, instead i get 9th place. Don't get the cut to top 8. Oh well.

Pretty bummed about the whole thing. But something I've learned is to just go forward.

So, I entered the Sunday Standard tournament even though I'm busy with schoolwork. Why? Because the first place prize was a table mat! Those things usually retail for 80 dollars, and it would look really cool!

Picture of the tablemat and what it looked like

QSP said he would join me but he didn't. I felt disappointed.

So, it was only 3 rounds, not that many people, so it was single elimination. Round 1, I played against white weenie, but it was powered down. The person was playing pegasus and vanilla creatures, I easily won.
In round 2, I played against red deck wins. Both games I went down to 2 life, thinking that I would just die, but in game 1, I was able to spot remove all of his guys and nightveil specter allowed me to luckily remove the burn spells off the top. In game 2, I was able to start chaining gray merchants which allowed me to just drain life win.

So I made it to the finals!
In the final round I played against RG devotion deck. In game 1, I got him down to 4 life, and we kind of stalled out. I had pack rat chump blockers against his arbor colossus army. However, I

Really starting to hate this guy

couldn't punch through any more damage and was trying to just draw a gray merchant to drain him or something. However, it never happened.
In game 2, I was able to get a thoughtseize turn 2 to take his garruk. Turn 3 I lifebane zombie'd away his arbor colossus. Turn 4 I did the same thing. This left him with not much as I had lifebane zombies attacking for 6 every turn.
In game 3, it was an interesting one. I kept a shaky hand since I mulligan'd to 6, no plays for the first 2 turns. I had a swamp, temple of deceit, mutavault, hero's downfall, underworld connections, and desecration demon. My opponent got to go first as well, which did not help. As on his turn 2 he went burning tree, burning tree, burning tree, into a voyaging satyr. Then he followed up on turn 3 with garruk, caller of beasts. I used the downfall on that. I slowly was able to kill off his army with nightveil specter, gray merchant, and desecration demon. However, he was double blocking my gray merchant and drew a arbor colossus that was able to kill desecration demon with its monstrous ability. I then played an ultimate price on arbor colossus and attacked with nightveil specter. It removed a forest off the top. He was at 1 life, with no board presence and no cards in hand. However, I also had no cards in hand at that point, and he top decked.... arbor colossus. I couldn't do anything about it! He then monstrous'd it and proceeded to win as I couldn't draw any answers at that point.

So I didn't win the table mat :(