Ravnica Weekend Allegiance Store Championship Tournament Report

Spandex City, a local hobby shop, hosted a Store Championship for Magic: The Gathering. The event was part of Ravnica Weekend Allegiance; a weekend event highlight Magic's newest set. The format was Standard and fourteen players participated in four rounds of play. While I did not walk away as the winner, I did achieve fourth place with three wins and one loss.
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​Decklist for Mono Blue:

Creatures: 19
3 Mist-Cloaked Herald 
4 Pteramander 
4 Siren Stormtamer 
4 Merfolk Trickster 
4 Tempest Djinn
Spells: 17
3 Dive Down 
1 Blink of an Eye
2 Opt 
3 Spell Pierce 
2 Chart a Course 
2 Essence Capture 
4 Wizard's Retort 

Enchantments: 4
4 Curious Obsession
Land: 20
​20 Island

Sideboard:
​​3 Surge Mare 
2 Exclusion Mage 
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway 
2 Entrancing Melody 
3 Negate 
2 Sleep 
1 Transmogrifying Wand 
1 Deep Freeze  

Mono Blue

​I added in Jace, Cunning Castaway to fight the control heavy meta found at Spandex. I am not a huge fan of Blink of an Eye, but it is a main deck answer to threats like Rekindling Phoenix and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Going forward, I plan to swap Blink of an Eye with an Entrancing Melody.

Round 1: 0-2 Loss Against Eric on Jeskai Control
These were a quick two games. He used Treasure Map to land a Nim-Mizzet, Parun on curve in game 1. During game 2, he hit Nim-Mizzet, Parun on turn 7. I had a Deep Freeze to answer it, but it cast the only Dive Down in his deck to protect Nim-Mizzet, Parun. I did not see a Curious Obession both games.

Round 2: 2-1 Win Against Keith on Mono Red
I have played the Mono Red matchup dozens of times and feel well prepared to beat it. Winning the die roll in game 1 was crucial. I start off with Mist-Cloaked and he drops Fanatical Firebrand. I found it odd he did not sacrifice Fanatical to kill the Mist-Cloaked. Instead, he decides race me on damage race and plays more creatures. I stick a siren Stormtamer and Dive Down a Shock. Turn 3, I drop Trickster and eat a Lavarunner. On turn 4 I drop a Ptermander. He burns me and kills the Mist-Cloaked after it did 5 damage. On his 5th turn he tries to bait me, but I let a creature die to removal and Essence Capture a Rekindling Phoenix. Next turn, I drop Djinn and win game 1. For game 2, he gets a similar start and begins burning me and my creatures. I manage to stabilize with Trickster and Spell Pierce. I get down a Djinn with one mana for Dive Down. However, his turn four play is Experimental Frenzy. We start a damage race, but he luckily hits a Light Up The Stage exiling double mountain. It comes down to me needing to draw an Island for lethal Djinn. I draw Opt, hit Siren, bottom Siren, and hit a non-Island. I pass turn with blockers and he hits a burn spell for lethal damage. Game 3, He floods out not seeing Phoenix or Chainwhirler. I Spell Pierce an early Light Up The Stage to keep him from drawing burn. I cruise through game 3 with the win.

Round 3: 2-1 Win Against Max on Jund Control
I get paired down as Max's record is 0-0-2. I know my breakers will be poor going forward since I got paired down and lost round 1. My only hope was to win the last two rounds to get 3rd, 4th, or 5th. Game 1, we both mulligan to 5. I keep a one lander with Ptermander and top deck an obsession turn 2. He stumbles on one Blood Crypt and concedes after turn 3. I saw the end of his 2nd round match and knew he was playing a control build. I side in the 3 Negates and a Deep Freeze just in case. Game 2, we mulligan to six. I have a slower start drawing 1 mana creatures and limited interaction. I get stuck at two land and draw into multiple Djinn. I do not hit a 3rd land until turn 7. His turns consist of land drops followed by removal. He plays Karn, Scion of Urza and repeatedly hits removal spells. I try to stabilize and wither down his life as I draw a 3rd Island. He attempts to cast Showstopper, but I have a counter for it. Next turn, he wipes the board with Ritual of Soot. Derigaaz from M19 makes an appearance the following turn. I luckily have a Deep Freeze in hand, but I cannot beat the constant removal and draw power of Karn. Ultimately, I die to multiple Construct Tokens. Game 3, I side in Jace, Cunning Castaway and play it during turn 6 with Spell Pierce in hand. I start putting pressure on his life total and am able to draw action to counter removal spells. He does manage to land a Karn, leaving me limited time to kill him.  Luckily, he hits multiple land as he continues to use Karn's first ability. I made a crucial decision and decided to minus an Image Token with Jace knowing he is very close to casting a board wipe spell. He tries to bait a counter targeting Djinn, but I realize I can adapt a Ptermander next turn. He kills the Djinn and hits removal with Karn's removal and a land with Karn's ability. I give the land to him and he tries to cast Ritual of Soot. I counter the spell with a Negate in hand. Next turn, I adapt Ptermander and attack for exactly lethal with it and the Image Token.

Round 4: 2-1 Win Against Jeff on Sultai Midrange
​Game 1 started off with Jeff going Wildgrowth Walker into three Merfolk Branchwalker and a Jadelight Ranger. After a Vivien Reid hits, I concede the game. Game 2, I get off to a much better start with curving out and an early Curious Obession. I apply pressure on the board with counters and Trickster in hand for backup. I stop his game plan with Walker life gain and counter a Find//Finality. Jeff conceded after the counter. Game 3 gets more interesting. I mulligan to a 6-card hand consisting of three Island, Stormtamer, Ptermander, and Djinn. I draw a few spells including Chart a Course and Enchanting Melody, but then hit a land pocket. I am forced to tap out turns 3, 4, and 5 trying to find more spells and play threats. I stick a Djinn with no mana up. Luckily, Jeff has no hard removal in hand to kill the Djinn. He drops a Thief of Sanity instead, but stumbles on hitting land drops. I counter a turn 6 Krasis; putting a 1/1 counter on Ptermander. This allows me to start attacking with an Obession on Ptermander through his 2/2 Thief. I steal a 2nd Thief he draws and play my 6th land. I am not able to adapt a 2nd Ptermander on the battlefield. Jeff does not draw any removal or blockers. This opens the door to a lethal attack and Game 3 win. 
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Prize pack pulls

​Reflections
​While I ran 20 lands to avoid mulliganing one-land hands, I ended up mulliganing a bunch of three and four land hands. I also had a few instances where I was one mana short of adapting Ptermander. I believe these issues were more common because of not running 4 Opt. Going forward, I plan to add back in 2 Opt to help with filtering draws and powering up Ptermander. Running 20 lands still feels like the right approach. The worst situation I can get in is not having three lands to cast two spells a turn. I never drew Blink of an Eye in any match. This will come out of the deck for at least one Opt. Enchanting Melody is a possible main deck inclusion over Blink of an Eye as well. Jace, Cunning Castaway actually worked well in my one control match. While he is not the most powerful threat, he does play a role. I can see swapping him with a 4th Negate as the meta changes. Running two Dive Down or substituting one with Transmogrifying Wand is a meta call. In all, I was very pleased with the deck's performance and winning four prize packs and promos. I would like to also thank Spandex City for hosting a fun event.