My Return plus a Tournament Report!!

This card is definitely overpowered, but I love playing with it just the same.

Hey guys, it's GuitarSlam.

First of all, I've got to apologize for not posting for such a long time.  Not that it's a great excuse, because I was still doing research, but I didn't really play very much Magic during September, so I really never got around to posting here at all.  I just want to reassure you guys that I'm going to be back to playing, mostly Standard and EDH, regularly again and, thus, posting here.  The updates are coming back :)

Alright, so with that out of the way, let's get down to what's been going on in my mtg life recently.  A new card store (well, semi-new.  Probably about 6 months old but I just found out about it) opened up much closer to my house than the store that I used to play at.  The drive is much easier and takes about 2/3 of the time, so my friends and I decided that it would be best to start playing at tournaments there.  As it turns out, the owners (and even most of the players) were really nice yesterday when we went to their regular Wednesday night Standard tournament, so we will definitely be going back.

As you guys remember, I love playing control decks.  I played Esper last season and it seemed like the best place for me to start for this new Standard environment.  I have been building an Esper deck ever since Theros spoilers began appearing online, so (even though I may sound like a hipster), I have been building it since before it finished well at the SCG Open in Worcester.  Just saying :P

Here's the deck that I played:

Creatures: 9

4 Omenspeaker
2 Aetherling
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council

Planeswalkers: 2

2 Jace, Architect of Thought

Other Spells: 23

4 Supreme Verdict
3 Dissolve
3 Syncopate
3 Far // Away
3 Thoughtseize
2 Detention Sphere
2 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Azorius Charm

Lands: 26

4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Godless Shrine
2 Watery Grave
4 Azorius Guildgate
2 Dimir Guildgate
2 Orzhov Guildgate
4 Island
4 Plains
2 Swamp

Sideboard: 15

2 Jace,  Memory Adept
2 Doom Blade
1 Devour Flesh
1 Underworld Connections
2 Dispel
2 Pithing Needle
1 Thoughtseize
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Negate

Notes about the deck: Yes, I definitely need to replace the Dimir and Orzhov Guildgates with Temples of Deceit and Silence, respectively.  I just didn't feel like buying them before the tournament and I don't really have that great of a trade binder, so I didn't have them.  At some point, I know that I'll get them, though.  The same is true for Elspeth, Sun's Champion.  She's amazing and I played against her a lot, but I don't feel like paying $35 for a single copy.  I will, however, be picking up Hero's Downfalls soon, as I really need an instant speed answer to Planeswalkers, as Detention Sphere and counter spells don't always cut it.

Round 1: Esper v. Junk

This guy was really nice and I appreciated playing someone that made me feel comfortable right off the bat.  Event though I know that I'm a decent player, I get nervous at events (even locals) so any mental relief that I can get is appreciated.

Game 1: He got me down to 2 life before I was able to Verdict away his creatures and start setting up lethal with Aetherling.  Unfortunately, he had 2 removal spells for him when I cast him (as I only had 1 U mana up to blink him with) so I ended up losing shortly after that.  It may have been the better play to hold on and try to have some extra mana up when I cast Aetherling, but he had 1 card in hand with no creatures on the field so I wanted to pressure him quickly.

Game 2: Very similar to game 1 except this time I was winning with Blood Baron and Obzedat when he had his removal heavy hand to get me.  I feel like it was possible for me to win these games if he didn't have a plethora of removal, but that's why his deck is good against control.  He punishes me for tapping out (or nearly tapping out) for my creatures and has enough removal spells to play around counter magic.

0-1

Round 2: Esper v. Esper

If there's one part of playing control that I absolutely despise, it's playing other control decks.  The games are
obnoxiously long, no one is really able to gain any advantage over the other (because so many of the spells are non-interactive without many creatures), and it's awful when both players are just sitting behind multiple counter spells.  Ugh.

Destroys the mirror.

Game 1: We play the typical draw - go route for quite some time until he's eventually able to have the board state where I have a Blood Baron on board and he has Elspeth, Jace, and Ashiok.  I lose.

Game 2: On my 6th turn I played a Jace, Memory Adept.  He had a Syncopate, but I had a Dispel.  I won a few turns after that when I Dissolved his Hero's Downfall.

Game 3: Same as game 2 except I had to dig for my Memory Adept.  I actually mulliganed down to 6 in this one so I was kind of surprised when I was able to eventually find my Jace, resolve him, and had enough counters to stop him from dying.

1-1

Round 3: Esper v. UW Control

Remember what I said about control v. control matches?

Game 1: I found that I had a lot more to do against him than he did against me because of the B in my deck.  Being able to Away his animated Mutavaults was pretty good (getting rid of a threat and a land at the same time) and Thoughtseize powered me to victory.  I was setting up a play and I Thoughtseized him, taking his Aetherling and leaving him with 2 basic lands, a Detention Sphere, and an Essence Scatter.  The next turn, now with enough mana up to be safe, I played another Thoughtseize, took his Essence Scatter, resolved my Aetherling, and eventually won.

Game 2: I rode Blood Baron to victory in this game.  He really wasn't able to touch it (since it can't be targeted with Detention Sphere or Azorius Charm) and I had Dissolve for his Celestial Flare.  Maybe his deck was light on counters because we never got into counter wars over important cards in this match.

2-1

Round 4: Esper v. UW Control

Again?  Really?

Game 1: He stumbles on land, I resolve an Aetherling on turn 6, and he scoops.

Game 2: Unlike the first game, this was a big, long, grindy affair that ended with him having 13 cards in his deck to my 0.  Sometimes there's nothing you can do about a Memory Adept and counter spells.

Game 3: Same as game 2.  The game went back and fourth with both of us being low on cards in library, but eventually he was able to out advantage me and he won.  It was too bad... I had been doing so well in the mirror (not just the Esper mirror, but the control mirror as a whole) that I had hoped to go 3-0 in it, but it was not to be.

2-2

I want to play with this card so bad...

At this point it was close to 11 pm and I had class at 8 am the next morning (meaning I was going to be getting up at 6) so with my friends all 0-4 or 1-3, we decided to skip the 5th round and go home.  Overall, it was a really fun night.  My deck performed well; all of the matches were close and generally, I felt like my card choices were solid.  I'll be making a few changes to the deck which I'll be posting about soon, so stay tuned for that.

Also, one last note.  If you guys are going to a local tournament and don't know what to try, don't be afraid to play whatever deck you enjoy most!  I played Esper (which is considered one of the best decks so far) but only because it's my favorite deck type of all time.
I saw plenty of aggro strategies being played and nearly all of them had a decent amount of variation between them!  Don't be afraid, especially in the beginning of a format, to play the deck that you enjoy.  You never know what kind of power that your pet deck may have :)

See you guys later.