(3/19/2020) Portland Prime Tournament Report

At this point with Proliferator dead, I’m slowly able to pull ahead with both Routine Jobs and a nice turn with both Free Markets and Prince Derric. I’m thinking I have a good shot when Mary plays a second Lifeward, remembers she has the first, and pops it. I’m holding 5 creatures. I play Swindle, which I’ve been chaining myself with for a while to respond to Lifeward. It’s 2 keys to 2 but I can’t get to check and I’m staring down a nasty board. Mary pops the second Lifeward, functionally locking down my hand (including Ronnie), and gets up to 4 Aember. She then kills my Bad Penny and plays A Fair Game (for the second time this game), with 3 cards in her hand to 7 in mine. I Fair Game a miracle Sanctum card off the top of my deck, giving Mary 0 Aember, and she pulls Mars, giving me 2 Aember. This gives me exactly enough Aember to reap out of range of her Mars Needs Æmber, and I squeak away with the victory.

(1-0) Match 2: Opponent playing Mars, Shadows, ???

I don’t remember my opponents name but he was nice and seemed like a solid player.

I was able to jump out fast in this game with some basic Aember generation and pull my first key early. I was slowly losing the board but was able to pull a major swing turn with both Routine Jobs and Lights Out. I dropped a Bad Penny, hoping she wouldn’t die, which set up a Prince Derric the next turn. I was now well ahead in Aember and felt confident I could race it out. He dropped 6 Mars creatures onto a board which already had 3 Mars creatures on it. I knew I had to win immediately, or it was over. I was able to generate into check for third key. Despite my opponent having an absolutely dominating board, he couldn’t stop the key. If he would have drawn that Mars to start I would have been sunk.

(3-0) Match 4 - Sean: Sean playing Untamed, Brobnar, Shadows (Hrollaugr, Redmore Ogre)

Sean started with a Witch of the Wilds, a big value threat I had no answer to. I played out a few guys, and he follows on turn 2 with Groggins and Ganger / Drummernaut combo. This clears my board, generates a ton of Aember, and lets him drop a Nepenthe Seed with Witch of the Wilds. I play out to try and stop him comboing the next turn, and he follows up with a handful of Shadows steal. I’m not clear why he didn’t just combo me again here. I don’t expect I have much of a chance in this matchup but am happy that he makes the mistake of playing a Marmo Swarm on his Shadows turn covering up his Drummernaut, turning off his combo for now. I do my best to eke my way back into the matchup, but then run into Chota, Regrowth, and Lifeweb. This was followed by a Routine Job and he Nepenthe Seeded Chota again for game.

I don’t remember the details of the early game against Eric, except that it played out similar to others. I jumped out to an Aember lead, and being ahead on Aember and keys forced Eric into some unproductive turns. I was able to Banish his Brend before it was killed, and get in Swindle at a good time. His Sanctum board is growing, but I’m feeling pretty good still. When I pop Lifeward, to see Eric Swindle in return, the game starts to even up. I Shooler and kill the Shooler with a Skullion, trying to keep my board reasonably clear to protect from Maruck capture. This is when Eric suicides his flank creature, activates Abond, the Armorsmith, and with Haedroth’s Wall boosting Maruck, captures 3 on fight. Then he drops two more Maruck the Marked. I’m now in a position where playing any creature provides negative value, as I have almost no way of getting back captured Aember. I’m able to sneak back to check for the third key a few times, but never have a way to do it which Eric can’t respond to. With 3 Marucks and Abond he is able to reap to victory from behind.

I don’t remember this game well, except the end of it. My deck was playing out fairly poorly, but despite feeling like I was continuously stuck with a 2-2-2 hand, I was ahead on Aember and looked to be slowly pulling away. At some point in the early game my opponent drops Interdimensional Graft for a steal of 1. I’m ahead 1 key to 0. A turn or two later, he uses Chaos Portal to reveal a Binate Rupture on top of his deck. Now I know I have to race the second key before I get hit by BRIG (Binate Rupture/Interdimensional Graft), but with the Graft in discard expect I have a while. I’m able to generate up to check for a second key twice, only to see an Aubade and two Charettes pull me off check both times. At this point my opponent drops 2x Jargogles, which my discard pile count tells me are holding Dis cards. I generate back up to 8 for check again and pass with 1 key 8 Aember to his 1 key and 1 or 2 Aember. My opponent calls Logos and drops Binate. I know I got trapped. He has a second Interdimensional Graft in deck. He proceeds to reap, then ram a Jargogle into my guy to play the Unlocked Gateway underneath. I forge my second key, and Graft steals 13. He is now sitting at 20ish Aember, and I’m at 0. With no creatures in play and no Miasma in deck my only winning play here would be to generate 6 out of hand, which I couldn’t do.