I have a few friends that have told me about Animagination. I was very familiar with the store having been to it when it was at the St. Louis Mills Mall in Hazelwood, MO and at the previous upstairs location of the current mall it is in, the West County Mall in Des Peres, MO. I had also recalled them from my previous work running an artist alley at an anime convention here in St. Louis, called Anime St. Louis, they were one of the vendors there in the dealers' room. I had never been to any events like this before with Animagination, but it was definitely a very nice change of pace.
For this event, I decided to play my Mono White Fateful Hour deck again.
| [ Edit / Playtest this Deck ] By: KabalyeroFateful Unlife Type: Casual Format: Standard | ||
| 75 Cards |  | |
| 19 Plains 4 Clifftop Retreat 23 Lands 3 Immolating Souleater 3 Moltensteel Dragon 3 Gavony Ironwright 3 Thraben Doomsayer 3 Suture Priest 1 Odric, Master Tactician 1 Accorder Paladin 17 Creatures | 3 Phyrexian Unlife 3 Soul Conduit 4 Gather the Townsfolk 3 Norn's Annex 2 Chalice of Life // Chalice of Death 2 War Report 2 True Conviction 1 Increasing Devotion 20 Other Spells Sideboard: 1 Norn's Annex 1 War Report 1 Thraben Doomsayer 1 Moltensteel Dragon 1 Gavony Ironwright 4 Oblivion Ring 3 Crusader of Odric 1 Phyrexian Unlife 1 Suture Priest 1 Immolating Souleater 15 Sideboard Cards | |
| This deck was created for free at MTG Deck Builder.net. Build, Test and Share your decks online. All for FREE!  | ||
I felt that bringing something unique to this event might be the best way for me to really wreck havok lol. I wasn't sure how well I would do, especially at a smaller venue like this, but I looked forward to the possibility of new adversaries!
Match 1: Mono White Fateful Hour vs W/U/B/R/G Door to Everything
Round 1: Mono White Fateful Hour
Round 2: Mono White Fateful Hour
Round 3: Not Played
Winner: Mono White Fateful Hour
~Noteworthy cards that opponent used~
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Door to Nothingness
Etched Monstrosity
Farseek
Viridian Emissary
Boundless Realms
Rampant Growth
Alchemist's Refuge
First match of the event and I was already partnered against a VERY different kind of deck! This is exactly the type of stuff I like to see. A deck that is either uncommon or very unique. Ironically enough, the player I was going up against, Ryan, was also our judge for the event lol. Definitely a different atmosphere about this location then what I was used to with the Fantasy Shop, but already I felt very comfortable and the group itself was very friendly. Round 1 had him playing land like crazy, but no real offense or defense prior to it. This gave me the opportunity to build up my human army and rush him. What scared me though throughout this, before I knew what his deck was, he started to discard multiples of Nicol Bolas! I was stunned and shocked to think of what other horrors he had in wait. He eventually played an Etched Monstrosity, but by then I had several humans and a Souleater swinging by him for the win. Round 2 felt much like the same, he was playing a lot of land, but was not getting anything really out yet. I again was able to pull together a group of humans eventually rushing him for the second win and the match.
After the match was over and while we waited for the round timer to expire, (They actually have it set for 50 minutes per round, instead of the 25 minutes I was used to at the Fantasy Shop, but I think that was because we only have four rounds here vs five rounds at the other location.) we discussed more about our decks, our history with the game, and shared some thoughts about his deck. We ended up playing a casual round while waiting for the timer. In that round I started to rush him again with several humans and True Convinction, but he ended up casting a fog to prevent lethal damage and on his turn casted what I recall was either a Black Sun Zenith or a Brimstone Volley to wipe my board. I later came back with an Unlife and started to build my defense with Norn's Annex and Suture Priest, but he ended up with enough mana to bring out Nicol Bolas before I could play a Soul Conduit. With his planeswalker out on the field, he slowly broke me down for the win. Ryan's deck is really interesting, I gave him some tips and advice about the mana ramping and early field control. I also asked him about it more, he said he was inspired to build a deck around Door to Nothingness and later added Nicol Bolas as another potential win condition. I found this so fasinating simply because it's the same way I try to build my decks and I would love to see him make this deck become more menacing and competitive.
Match 2: Mono White Fateful Hour vs U/W/B Spirit Delver
Round 1: U/W/B Spirit Delver
Round 2: Mono White Fateful Hour
Round 3: Mono White Fateful Hour
Winner: Mono White Fateful Hour
~Noteworthy cards that opponent used~
Delver of Secrets
Invisible Stalker
Runechanter's Pike
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Ponder
Lingering Souls
Mana Leak
Phyrexian Metamorph
Second match and I was pitted against probably the youngest opponent I've ever played! His name was Noah and he was only 12 years old! Strangely, he wasn't even the youngest there, his younger brother of 8 was also competing! Even though he was very young, I didn't let it mislead me. I had heard both him and his brother talking about cards and combos, prior to the tournament starting, with as much knowledge as the rest of us older folk there. With that in mind, I knew to not take this match lightly.
Round 1 started with me trying to get some humans out, but with no luck. He was able to overwhelm me with not one, but two transformed Delvers and an Invisible Stalker with a Pike. Round 2 started to look the same, however, with some luck, he couldn't draw out an instant or sorcery spell to flip his Delvers. I eventually built up my defenses getting out Unlife, two Norn's Annexs, and a Suture Priest. Still not able to get an instant or sorcery spell, he started building up his field with spirits, stalkers, and even copied my Norn's Annex. I eventually was able to build up a ton of humans, gained a ton of life off with War Report, and used True Convinction with Odric to swing for the kill. Round 3 had me getting my defenses up early enough to hold him off till I again rushed in with a ton of humans.
After the match, we discussed more about our decks. He was really surprised to see some of the cards I was using. He had never thought of cards like War Report and True Convinction being viable in standard. I later talked with his dad, yet another competitor there for Game Day. He said that he had recently started playing the game a few weeks ago, but that both of his sons have been playing for a year or two now and built their decks on their own. I have to admit, I was quite impressed by the one I got to play. I also found it interesting when he played a swamp in the second round. Noah had said he splashing black for some kill spells and for Lingering Souls. Can't say I've heard of a deck that used both Delver and Lingering Souls, but I have to admit, it can be a nasty duo.
Match 3: Mono White Fateful Hour vs Mono Black Planeswalkers
Round 1: Mono Black Planeswalkers
Round 2: Mono Black Planeswalkers
Round 3: Not Played
Winner: Mono Black Planeswalkers
~Noteworthy cards that opponent used~
Soren Markov
Liliana of the Veil
Karn Liberated
Mimic Vat
Ravenous Rats
Wurmcoil Engine
Sign in Blood
Phyrexian Metamorph
Ironically enough, the third match had me going up against the eldest opponent I've ever played, lol. I forget the gentleman's name, but he was something else, in a good way. Some of the first things I noticed about him was the speed at which he was shuffling his deck. It was rather impressive lol. Much like a good casino dealer. The other thing I noticed about him was his metal briefcase holding all his cards. I couldn't help, but think this guy was out to "assassinate" the competition. lol. Jokes aside, this guy was really nice and his deck meant business. You could tell he was gunning for number one right from the start.
Round 1 had me getting up my defense pretty quickly, but the onslaught of what was to come broke it down fairly quickly. Within a few turns, he played Sorin Markov, Liliana of the Veil, and a Wurmcoil. From what looked like a potential win for me, as I got him down to half life, he quickly started taking over the field and used his Wurmcoil to keep him alive. One by one, he broke down my defenses and slowly made me discard my hand to where I couldn't do a thing to bounce back. Round 2 had him sideboard a bunch of cards. I wasn't sure what to change out to really deal with him, all I could think to do was rush him as quickly as possible. Unfortunately in this round, I wasn't able to get much together before he started putting out Planeswalker after Planeswalker. Again he played Sorin, then Liliana, and then of all things, Karn! With all three out, he started to break me down again. And in a pure evil move, he used Mimic Vat on Ravenous Rats and gave me the worst spanking loss I've experienced since the other Planeswalker deck I went up against at FNM week 1. I had nothing out and could not even draw out anything! It was terrible lol.
After the match, we talked as well about our decks. I was so impressed by his. Unlike the other Planeswalker deck, this one was mono black. First thing I thought to myself was, "How is that even possible?!" and he showed me some of the combos and tricks he had in there. All of which were completely evil, lol. I didn't know what else other people were playing, but my money was on this guy to win the whole thing.
Match 4: Mono White Fateful Hour vs B/R Zombie Pod
Round 1: Mono White Fateful Hour
Round 2: B/R Zombie Pod
Round 3: B/R Zombie Pod
Winner: B/R Zombie Pod
~Noteworthy cards that opponent used~
Bonfire
Phyrexian Metamorph
Geralf's Messenger
Gravecrawler
Diregraf Ghoul
Falkenrath Aristocrat
Blood Artist
Final match of the day! This was it, either I was gonna get into the top four or go home. This match had me going against another B/R Zombie deck, however he later told me it also uses Birthing Pod as a heavy mechanic for it. I believe he only played it once or twice, but that was it. Anyway, Round 1 started much like the other B/R Zombie deck I played against on Friday. He got out his Gravecrawler and Messenger and started swinging. I was able to get an Unlife and eventually a Norn's Annex into the field to hold him off. I then built up an army of humans with True Convinction and started laying into him for the win. Round 2 started to shape up the same way, but this time he was able to build a bigger field and had Blood Artist out. He eventually took the win by casting Bonfire on himself after swinging me down to 0 to use Blood Artist's ability to hit me for the additional 10 poison. Very sneaky, lol. Round 3 we both mulliganed down to 5 cards. Things were getting tense, either he was gonna make it in or me. I was able to get some defenses and put out a few humans, but he was keeping pace with his field, playing most of his creatures in the deck. The killing blow though came from him using Bonfire to wipe my field and then swinging with all his creatures afterwards. That was round and match. It was a good one, we both were pretty tense on who would win, lol.
Again, another pretty cool guy, he complimented me about my deck and said, himself, that he lucked out with the Bonfires. After our match concluded, I sat down and watched my friend Greg's match against the father of the two children, which he ended up winning, putting him at 2 for 2 as well. After their match ended, Ryan went around announcing the top four, who would go on to play for the grand prize, then the top eight that would get the second full art card, and then finally the rest of the bracket. Out of the 16 people there, I ended up in 9th place, just outside the top 8. Not bad honestly, kinda wished I had gotten into the top 8, but I'll take it lol.
M13 Game Day Results
Match Wins: 2
Match Losses: 2
Match Drawes: 0
Round Victories: 6 (+1 unplayed)
Round Defeats: 6 (+1 unplayed)
Round Stallmates: 0
Event Tournament Finish: 9th place out of 16
Most impressive deck(s) of the event: W/U/B/R/G Door to Everything and Mono Black Planeswalkers
Spoils of the event: 1 booster pack (Talrand, Sky Summoner), 1 full art card (Mwonvuli Beast Tracker)
Total Career Match Wins: 6 (+1 forfeit)
Total Career Match Losses: 12
Total Career Match Drawes: 1
Total Career Round Victories: 23 (+7 unplayed)
Total Career Round Defeats: 26 (+4 unplayed)
Total Career Round Stallmates: 1 (Time Expired)
Total Career Event Tournaments: 1
Best Event Tournament Finish: 9th place out of 16 (M13 Game Day Event 8/4/12 @ Animagination - Des Peres, MO)
Closing thoughts for the event...
I had so much fun at this event! It felt so good to go to another location and see all the different decks and new players there. Was really looking forward to playing against Greg and his deck, but I enjoyed playing against those that I did. One of the biggest differences I noticed about this location was just how friendly everyone was with each other. Not to say that isn't the case with the Fantasy Shop, but I think because it was the smaller venue and a smaller crowd, it helped build that atmosphere. After grabbing a meal and coming back to the shop, I talked with Ryan abit about the events there and found out they play Standard on Wednesday. I don't know if I'll be able to make it this week, but I will definitely try and go there again some time soon. I also noticed that they have a larger collection of block binders, about a good third more then what I've seen at the other location. I was rather impressed! I ended up buying a few cards and watched the grand prize winner receive his prize (Surprisingly, it was not the guy with the mono black Planeswalker deck!). As things started to wind down and I headed out, I couldn't help, but think about what to do next deck wise. I feel like this deck can be better, but I need to make a few changes. I have considered trying a whole new deck, but I just can't figure out what exactly I want to play. Regardless, I think I will be playing this deck for the rest of the season, as I said before. I just hope there will be a spoiler soon of what to expect from RtR. I think I'll plan out a new deck once I can catch a glimpse of that. Until then I'll stick with what I have and attempt to tweak it abit. Anyway, thank you guys again for reading my blog! Any and all comments and/or suggestions are appreciated. I will see you after this week's FNM.
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