Today, I will be a Dragon.
Wizards gathered, arsenal prepared to battle for a relic of yesteryear. The Netscape Cup would be filled with the tears of enemies, salted with valor, and brandished with pride.
I was the bad guy.
Enter the Dragon
4x Flash
4x Academy Rector
1x Yawgmoth's Bargain
1x Form of the Dragon
1x Zur's Weirding
2x Show and Tell
-other stuff-
Sideboard
2x Show and Tell
3x Phantom Nishoba
-other stuff-
Definitely wanted to give the Flash deck a spin in case in gets axed in the near future. Getting to become a Dragon is just gravy.
Rd. 1 Thor, The God of Thunder.
Survival Keep 7. On the draw.
The God murmurs, "This is probably only good against you." and taps a Llanowar Wastes for an Elvish Lyrist. (Yup, that's good). I do nothing relevant as Thor summons a Mesmeric Fiend, exiling something of value. From the top of my spellbook, an instant from the Necromancer Lim-Dul himself took me deep into his vault which found me a 5 card sequence containing Brainstorm, Flash, and Academy Rector. The Squalline surged from within my Gedankenwirbel. Flash provided an Academy Rector trigger; let's make a Bargain. Paying 1 life, I placed a single draw upon the wizarding table, before Thor responded by sacrificing the Lyrist to destroy my Phyrexian enchantment. I responded drawing many cards. Once Yawgmoth had bestoyed upon me sufficient strength, his clutches were loosed and set to the grave. My next effort was the killing blow. Aided by a second Academy Rector, I became a dragon.
Game 2. Mulligan to 6. Much like the first game, a flurry of discard spells, was quashed upon finding Lim-Dul's Vault and Bargaining into a win. Only this time, it was a Cat-Beast-Spirit coupled with Zur's Weirding that sealed the deal.
R2. Bredendamri, Lord of Leaves
Game 1. Keep 7. On the Draw. Forest into Quirion Ranger for the Force of Ferngully. The top card of my library signaled that Yawgmoth was ready to Bargain. Shortly after, again, I became a dragon.
Game 2. Mulligan to 5. I transition into a Phantom Nishoba + Sickening Dreams plan. Sound in theory, but damn those green-men are resiliant. An early Sickening Dreams sent 4 elfs to the sick bay, with the great Cat Beast Spirit arriving shortly after, but Elvish Vanguard paired with 2 Wirewood Symbiotes and a 1cmc duder raced. I did not become a dragon.
Game 3. Mulligan to 6. Uneventful. Sickening Dreams, bought time to hardcast Bargain, but was unable to assemble anything meaningful before the Elfses ran me over. I did not become a dragon.
Rd 3. BetaFiend. Psychatog
Both games I Mulligan to 6, but end with enough discard to shred his hand, speak with Yawgmoth and became a dragon.
Semi Finals. NedLeeds, the Tuskfather. BW Deadguy
This is war.
Game 1. Mulligan to 6. On the play. A Brainstorm hides the goods from Duress. I make a bargain. I become a dragon.
Game 2. Mulligan to 5. Obviously not a strong start. His Hymn got Misdirected, which led to more even footing and a fair amount of back and forth. I manage to bring the big Nish to school, but he wanted to be a farmer as Sean gave me a couple of acres.
Game 3. Keep a loooooose 7. It has FoW, blue card, Show and Tell, Form of the Dragon and 3 lands. Super slow, but I'd been mulling more than preferred and hoped this would be good enough. Spoilers, it wasn't. I forced a turn 1 Duress, but the follow up Hymn nabbed both S&T and Form. Gross. Eventually negotiated a Bargain into play and even draw into SnT + Nishoba. I cast Therapy to clear the path, but was met with an Orim's Chant. His Nantuko Shade was lethal on the swing back, so I drew 11 cards off Bargain with no Misdirection or FoW to be found.
Props to LDM for creating and nurturing this sweet format, and congrats to Sean for taking it down. Also, props to whomever designed Form of the Dragon.
Slops to shitty Bargain draws, and all the locals who didn't show.
#FreeGush