Show of Valor

FNM @ Epic Gamers 29/7/13

To cap an amazing set in Theros, tonight was the first FNM that saw the play of exciting new brews. A quick scan of the meta saw a horde of aggro decks filling the table , with boros, mono w, red aggro having a party today. 

It seemed like exciting times for aggro decks, as the removal of Thragtusk, Bonfire, Jund, Blasphemous Act meant that there was only really one card that could sweep the board.

Hence I made the decision to return to my white roots- memories of haunted humans in the innistrad block still lingered. The god Heliod in particular stood out for me... And synergized well with a deck looking to load its hand out.

So I sleeved up an mono white deck that really looked like a mono white happy friends party! Consisting of Ajani, Gideon and Heliod... It gave my weenie a reasonable aggresive mid game.

Reports:

Game 1 VS Mono Red Aggro

2-0

this game was mostly a race between us pumping creatures. Fiendslayer paladin held the fort and proved to be the bane of red decks. Side boarding gave me a tremendous advantage as Pacifism and Show of Valor stole the game.

Game 2 VS Big Red

(2-1)

This time, being ahead in the race was the key. Being able to load out quickly before an overloaded mizzium mortar kept me in rounds 2 & 3. Pacifism and show of valor stole the game again :)

Game 3 VS Boros Aggro

(2-1)

Met a friend for the last match up who was playing an almost identical deck except for the red splash for burn and chain to the rocks. It was really a race and banisher priest eating up each other was usually what decided the tempo of the game. I stole round 1 with a brave the elements alpha strike. Lost round 2 to a bigger board. In round 3 a side boarded gift of orzhova and frontline medic took the game. 

In a match up of attrition - I am now convinced that frontline medic is the way to go!

 The reward: sept's fnm foil! With extra goodies thanks to epic gamers!

In essence it was a fun night - although I was surprised at the absence of naya or dimir decks running around. They would have been really tough!

My mvp/cards of the day? Had to be these!

H is for hexproof and Hongkong!

After the recent success with wescoe's boros champions, I decided to return to the deck that I spent an awful lot of time with : bant hexproof. The decision was made due to the dulling of the surprise nature of burning earth - as more tri colored decks opted for a dual color approach. In addition, the rise of u/w control around the meta spooked me out of playing a creature dense aggro deck. I figured that I wanted to win, and win quickly. The addition of gladecover scout meant that hexproof had the ability to race the aggro decks and burn out much faster. Hence, it was an easy choice. 

I went 0-3 at FNM, losing all my matches. Mistakes ran all over the place as I made horrid sb decisions. Dejected, it seemed like dropping the boros deck was a bad idea. GPT Hongkong followed the day after... And feeling too lazy to sleeve up another deck, I proceeded to keep my faith in the hexxors! And like all lessons in life, sometimes you must meet defeat before you come back alot stronger.

So at GPT Hongkong, I posted my best placing ever in a main event:

And this would only be possible because of all the hard work, sparring matches and contested debates over decks with peeps like gabriel, david, Elvyn, kng and Martin. If you try, fail and try again... You will get there. :)