The Modern Format...
Our local TO wants to try to push Modern into our monthly rotation of TNM events. We had a 21-person Modern Masters draft and the hope is that MM will catapult players into playing Modern.
Unexpectedly (to me), he was right. We had 16 people show up for Modern; quite the increase over the 3 we had last time around. I took three decks with me: R/G Tron, Storm (by Jon Finkel), and $5 Mono-green infect. The plan was to lend out decks to those who did not have one.
I ended up loaning out Infect and playing Storm. I guess it is worth noting that I assembled the Storm deck 2 hours before the tournament began. I also had no sideboard. Entry was $18, but the prize packs would be payed out in Modern Masters.
Round 1: Chris with Mono-Green infect. (The deck I loaned out)
In game one, I misplayed by not producing the right color (blue) from manamorphose. I stall on my combo and scoop.
In game two, I am able to combo out on turn four. There was a bit of a learning curve, I will admit.
In game three, I played two lands, a pyromancers ascension, then died to one attack from a Glistener Elf who had been pumped to lethal.
0-1
Round 2: Cody with a 70-card, unsleeved, w/b control.
Cody does not have explosive starts or any kind of discernible disruption; I combo off on turn five. In game two I stalled a bit and left myself open to a turn five Painful Quandry. I scoop, as I have no way to deal with it. In game three I combo off on turn 4-5. I waited a bit until I knew the coast was clear thanks to Gitaxian Probe.
1-1
Round 3: Nick with Esper Urzatron.
The only reason I beat Nick was because he did not know how to thoroughly abuse Gifts Ungiven. His copies are Kamigawa block and read that you must search for "four cards with different names" he would casually reveal things like Iona, Unburial Rites, Urza's Mine, along with something else. I ended up setting up my combo off in both games before he could drop something awful like Elesh Norn or Iona.
After the match, I explained how he could have easily won both games if he had known about how to properly exploit Gifts Ungiven.
2-1
Round 4: Ian with Orzhov
Ian had another tempo based deck without any kind of disruption. We basically raced each game.
I took game one on a relatively slow combo-off on turn 6+. In game two I stalled and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad was there to make me pay. It did not help that he had Thrull Parasite to lock down Pyromancers Ascension. In game three he got out a Blood Baron of Vizkopa on turn 5 and was at a healthy 23 life. The best I could do on my turn was unleash Grapeshot for ~12 killing his three creatures (Baron, Tithe Drinker, and Thrull Parasite). It would be another 3 turns before I top decked a Sleight of Hand to grab Past in Flames netting me the storm kill. (At this point we were the last game and well past time in the round, almost every other player was watching our game)
3-1
So, I went 3-1, which netted me 4 packs of Modern Masters. The packs were unremarkable.
The one thing I could not help but notice was that during my games, my opponents looked bored and generally disinterested in what I was doing. At one point I declared "Casting Manamorphose, hold priority, cast Increasing Vengeance targeting Manamorphose, two triggers from Pyromancers Ascension", an onlooker then stated, "who are you talking to? He (my opponent) is not paying attention." Well, he was right. At this point all I could think of was that this was of no fault of my opponent; I am playing an uninteractive "self-pleasure" deck. I had fun piloting Storm as it was both difficult and rewarding, but I doubt my opponents saw it that was or had any fun. One guy stopped me to ask why I was marking up "Storm Count", he had never heard of Storm. It was his first Modern tournament.
I kind of felt like the "that guy" of the tournament.
Until next time.
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