Anyways, here is the deck I built along with my sideboard.
I chose Red, and unfortunately didn't end up with much in terms of good removal. Green had a lot of big creatures, which always seem appealing, as sealed typically is a lot slower, and some lower costing creatures to attempt to stall it out. Blue seemed pretty unusable and while black had some Covenant of Bloods, Red and White were the only other colors with appealing Bombs, and between Avacyn and Siege Dragon, I decided to go with Red, since gave me a little bit of removal as well in Blastfire Bolt and Inferno Fist, as well as some nice creatures. The goal was to get to the late game, where I figured I could use my bigger creatures to win, but often times I was too slow.
As a note, I was on the draw in every one of my games
As a note, I was on the draw in every one of my games
Anyways, my first game was against another Red/Green deck, which played a lot of 2/1's. He played a Bronze Sable, I played a Bear. He played another 2/1, I played an Invasive Species. After that, he didn't want to attack, and I proceeded to play bigger creatures and win. Game two, he mulliganed and kept a hand that just seemed to have a Tyrant's Machine and an Elvish Mystic, and didn't really get much after that, losing very quickly to my on curve creatures. He dropped, and that was my only win.
Match number two, I was up against a Blue/White deck. I kept an iffy hand, and the first play of the game was my Thundering Giant, which he got rid of on his turn. I thought I had it when I played my Moss-Beast, but he had Soul of Ravnica, and put that equipment that draws a card when it deals damage. Unfortunately, he was able to block my attacks and when I finally tried to block his, I realized it had flying. The worst part is, I had a plummet the whole time. I will never forget that Soul of Ravnica has flying...Game two, he kept a one lander and didn't get there. Game three was a pretty close one, with his 1/2 lifelink pegasi coming at me, while I swung back with my Moss-Beast. I probably got Greedy sacking my Generator Servant to play Seige Dragon when I already had the mana for it, and I lost two to a counter-spell instead of just one. I don't know if I would have won the game, but I wouldn't have lost when I did otherwise.
Match number 3, I get a one lander and mulligan into a hand with 3 lands and a 5 drop and two 6 drops. I'm not sure if I should have kept this. The thing is with the higher curve that I have, going down to five is going to be particularly tough on me. If I had less 5/6/7 drops and more 2/3 drops, a mulligan would have been likely, but ultimately, I decided to hope he had a slow start and well, he didn't. The second time was a one lander into a 6 lander, and again, I thought I had a better chance of winning by top-decking something I could play in my first couple of turns, than by going to five. I drew something, but he burned it. I wasn't able to stabilize and got overrun.
Match number 4, playing for nothing, game one, I got earlier creatures and overwhelmed him even though he got out Jace, game two, was fairly close, with me trying to wipe out Jace, and him bouncing my creatures, until he had game. Game three was a turn two equipment, turn 3 Ensoul Artifact, followed by void snares and a combat trick when I managed to double block to try and kill it. Next turn, I lost. Overall, the tournament was a pretty resounding failure.
Obviously, there's a clear misplay with the Soul of Ravnica, and debatable mulligans in Match number 3, but did I build my deck wrong? I mean, ten of my creatures can be played by turn four, so the curve wasn't too horrible, even though, the other six were 5 cost and higher. I could have added in a third Invasive Species, but they have their drawbacks, and a third could be too much. I could have added back the Borderland Marauder, but when I'm trying to control the board for later, a 1/2 didn't seem so appealing, though looking back at it, there are a lot of things with 1 toughness. I had my 18 lands, and Nissa's Expedition and Generator Servant to attempt to reach the high curve faster. Honestly, I don't think the deck was that bad, and I'm not sure if I just misplayed or if I could have done any better. Green seemed like the best in terms of having good things all over and between Red and White, Red has things a mix of removal and good creatures. Black had it's removal, but a lack of good creatures, and Blue was just lacking.
If anyone has any thoughts, let me know, I'll be going back for another Prerelease today, and hope to do differently. Hopefully, I can get these mistakes out of the way sooner than later.
