TNT FAM, FNM 9/2/11 *3-1, 3-2*

Hello everybody! This past friday I took part in both the FAM and FNM events at toys. FAM standa for Friday Afternoon Magic, and it's a relatively new program that Evan has started up at Toys. Basically it's a tournament just like FNM in every regard except the only people allowed to people are those with a rating of 1700 or less. That way the best players at the store couldn't simply win week in and week out and newer players would have more equal competition. I have a contructed rating of 1697, so I was golden to play! This is the decklist I played at both FAM and FNM (my only standard deck):

4x Hada Freeblade
3x Kazandu Blademaster
3x Jwari Shapeshifter
4x Akoum Battlesinger
4x Kabira Evangel
2x Umara Raptor
4x Adaptive Automaton
3x Talus Paladin
1x Tuktuk Scrappers

4x Preordain
3x Ponder

4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Terramorphic Expanse
5x Plains
4x Island
3x Mountain
4x Glacial Fortress

Sideboard:
3x Spell Pierce
1x Talus Paladin
3x Tukuk Scrapper
4x Leonin Arbitor
4x Lightning Bolt

I really liked this deck a lot as it simply has some draws that no one can beat, and I feel the Meta is simply very open for it to do some unfair things. I don't remember alot about my games, but here's a brief rundown of how everything went:

FAM
Round 1:
I have no idea what happened, I only remember winning....
1-0

Round 2:
I had to pick up my dad from work and drive him back home (car is in the shop), so I explained that to my opponent, Andrew, and he was cool with that. I told him we would play if we could, but otherwise I would scoop to him. I destroyed him in just under 10 minutes games 1 then left and couldn't get back for 30 minutes. They forced me to lose and continued on, but I had such a good matchup I believe I would have won 2-0 if I could have played
1-1

Round 3:
I got back about 2 minutes into the round and they dropped me from the event. When I got back, they just put me back in and placed me against Alex who had a bye. He was playing a bad mono-green elves deck and I won 2-0 in about 15 minutes.
2-1

Round 4:
I don't remember this round either, I just remember that I won...
3-1

FNM
Round 1:
I was placed against Peter Goodrige, who I consider to be one of the best players in the store. He was playing Twin, which I knew I had no outs to. Luckily though, I got the blazingly fast aggro draw in games 1 and 3. Game 2 I learned the hard way that Inferno Titan is simply insane against me!
1-0

Round 2:
I was placed against Asain Brendan who was also playing Twin. It was basically the same story told by a different author. I got comboed off against in game 1, but games 2 and 3 I had the nuts
2-0

Round 3:
I played Henry and his GB Birthing Pod deck. I was really excited to see his deck even exist, as it has been something I have been very vocal about on this blog as something I would make eventually. I was never able to draw the Kabira Evangels that I desperately needed (turn 2 Glissa is just game over for me...), and I lost 0-2. But I didn't even care that I lost, I was more excited to see his deck actually work (he eventually went 5-0). In addition to that turn 2 Glissa, I believe he got a turn 4 Sheolred against me once, and that was also a quick scoop.
2-1

Round 4:
I played against CrApple and his Valakut deck, which finally allowed me to bust out my Leonin Arbitor tech. However for your tech to work you have to actually draw it... In one of the games I was up to 27 life and he was able to kill me in one shot by GSZ for Prime Time and then attacked with his other one for exactly 27 Valakut damage, which was quite sad as I had 2 more allies in hand for the easy win, and I lost 1-2
2-2

Round 5:
I got the pair-up, so even though I was ineligable for prize, I was against Brendan (not asian) who was able to prize if he won. I told him I would give him the win, but I wanted to play anyways. I won 2-1, so we agreed he would pay for my next week's FNM, and he would keep the rest.
"2-3"
...but really 3-2

Afterwords I was playing a couple more games casually when Andrew come over and looked the Jwari Shapeshifter in my hand. "Why don't you just play Phantasmal Image? If they're going to target it, they were probably going to kill it anyways" I made the switch and I immediatly had the pleasure of copying a Sun Titan to recur dead allies and bring some harsh beats. When I went home I looked at all the allies printed to make sure I was absolutely playing the right colors, I noticed a 2-drop ally that for whatever reason I initally dismissed: Highland Berserker

Even though he may not be a big fatty or provide huge pumps for the team, he is far better than something like Umara Raptor, and drops the curve. Also, if I cut a ponder for it, I can increase my threat density a little to help increase the number of aggressive starts I get. With those 2 changes, here is the list I would play next time:


4x Hada Freeblade
3x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Phantasmal Image
2x Highland Berserker
4x Akoum Battlesinger
4x Kabira Evangel
4x Adaptive Automaton

3x Talus Paladin
1x Tuktuk Scrappers

4x Preordain
2x Ponder

4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Terramorphic Expanse
5x Plains
4x Island
3x Mountain
4x Glacial Fortress

Sideboard:
3x Spell Pierce
1x Talus Paladin
3x Tukuk Scrapper
4x Leonin Arbitor
4x Combust

The only area that I am a little shaky is still the sideboard... I just switched Lightning Bolt for Combust for the Twin matchup, but maybe I want Dismember... The only deck I had major problems with at FNM was the GB Pod deck, but I feel a fast aggressive start sould get me what I need, but Dismember may also be the call there. Killing their Glissa before things get stupid is very desirable and possibly be exactly what I need to push through against them. But testing shall reveal all!

That's all I have for today. Right now I'm watching the PT Philly top 8 live. I feel like this was too much of a combo format, and cards like Ancestral Visions should be unbanned, and maybe something like Vesuva should be banned. One last thing: I just made a twitter, so you can follow me @ThingsILack. But until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack