… Okay.

Well, it started off a little frustrating.

Then I worked very hard.

Got my feature match.

Light was right there, at the end of the tunnel.

Disaster!

Unbelievable disaster.

Finally fattening.

So for the Philly $5K I went with Blightning Beatdown. Surprising, I know.

This is the deck list.

4 Bitterblossom

4 Blightning
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Figure of Destiny

4 Flame Javelin
4 Hell’s Thunder
4 Incinerate
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarfire

4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
5 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Infest
4 Gutteral Response
4 Everlasting Torment
3 Lash Out 

This list is 72/75 what I have been featuring every related blog post and video. Josh Ravitz supplied the physical cardboard and told me that I had too many cards for Reflecting Pool Control (my best matchup) and elected not to supply me with Thoughtseize, instead gave me some Lash Outs. The Lash Outs were great!

ROUND ONE – Merfolk
I played against Curtis, an old friend of WillPop aka Will Price of Progress aka Will Price (boring) from Top8Magic.

Game One I rolled the ‘folk, no probs, won at 19 drawing two Blightnings.

I hadn’t really thought about sideboarding against Merfolk and sided out Blightning for Infest, Hell’s Thunder for Gutteral Response.

Basically got runner, runner-runner’d out of Games two and three. In Game Three, it was literally 14-19 my lead and I ka-powed through two Reveillarks and all his little guys with Infest and a Mogg Fanatic. My grip was double Demigod of Revenge versus nil. He ripped Reveillark #3. Okay, well, I guess I’m sending Demigod #1 to his doom. Back come Merrow Reejeery and Sower of Temptation (no targets). However he has a Windbrisk Heights and some man land action. He comes in for six or so and forces me to pick up a Ghitu Encampment. No probs I have Sulfurous Springs to get back in there with Demigod and have to take two points to play my Demigods. The prob is… He ripped Loxodon Warhammer off of the Cryptic Command off of the Windbrisk Heights. So now I have two Demigods, am north of 10 life… and can’t attack.

Still he has no card in hand. I have to leave my guys home in case he draws a Merfolk for Reejeery tap but once I have active mana I can defend with Ghitu Encampments on the ground.

What is the single worst card he can pull?

Sower of Temptation!

Nil into ‘Lark into Cryptic into Loxodon into Sower?

Magnanimus!

Actually not magnanimus at all.

He takes my 5/4 and… You know how it went.

0-1

ROUND SEVEN – Reflecting Pool Control

I won five or six straight to go 6-1 at this point. Details at Top8Magic. Brian did a bonzer job by the way, updating on-the-go all day from his iPhone (have I mentioned we live in the future)?

6-1

ROUND EIGHT – Disaster!

So you are on a six round run.

You have beaten Story Circle on Red (on turn three, with no Blossom on board) and Story Circle on Black in the same game — without siding in Everlasting Torment; you’ve won the 56/60 mirror against probably a superior player (upcoming You Make the Play); you’ve pulled out a close one against the Fae by ripping Gutteral Response exactly when you needed a Gutteral Response.

Now you are two games from Top 8.

First.

Turn.

Windbrisk Heights.

Man!

Game One I only pulled five spells… and one was a Hell’s Thunder — it doesn’t even count!

Yet I have gotten him to two with a really brave Mogg Fanatic.

He’s on two.

If he’s not lethal next turn, it’s close.

You pull Incinerate!

The problem? Previous turn he picked up Burrenton Forge-Tender and played it.

Yeah.

No!

Game Two I was maybe tilting. I kept five lands (no Ghitu Encampment), Tarfire, Everlasting Torment. The only other spell I pulled the entire game was a second Everlasting Torment.

6-2

And that was the tournament.

I played the last round to see if I could get away with a $100 Top 16 prize.

Opponent was Fae.

I shipped to Paris four times in the two games. The real pisser was I had to ship a “perfect” two-land hand… but both lands were my two Reflecting Pools! No! Even against the Fae this was a pretty bad disadvantage. I could have won either game if I hit a break, but in Game Two he played three Cryptic Commands when any other response spell meant that I was going to get there.

And that was the tournament.

Josh says I was on tilt the last 1.5-2 rounds, but I think I played pretty well overall. I do not regret my deck selection by even one card, though I think three Everlasting Torments might have been better than four (final Lash Out).

LOVE
MIKE