March 3rd, 2024 at The Portal in Grand Ledge, MI

TOURNAMENT REPORT: 2-0-1 (7-1-1)

Game 1 vs Cycle Storm: 3-0

This cycle storm pilot was very new to actually playing the deck. In game 1 I deployed a turn 2 serpent and kinda just took the game from there, he attempted to go off before losing on turn 4 to multiple gearseeker serpents.

==Sideboarding==
+2 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Welding Jar
-1 Blood Fountain

I was able to present enough pressure to force a mistake on my opponent, where they attempted to go off t3 and failed, then attempted again on t4. If they had waited that one turn, I think they would have been able to kill me.

Game 2 vs Dread Squirrels (1-1-1)

In game 1 I was fighting against stinkweed imps and it went poorly. My opponent also seemed new to their deck, and I scooped g1 to save time, as they stabilized but weren't sure how to go about killing me.

==Sideboarding==
+2 Tormod's Crypt
+1 or 2 Bastion Inventor
-2 Blood Fountain
-1 Village Rigtes
-0 or 1 Scale of Chiss-Goria

In game 2 I killed them quickly, and game 3 came to a draw in turns. I regretted siding in bastion inventor, as even when I had him in hand, I never wanted to take time off of pressuring my opponents board to deploy him.

Game 3 vs mono black aristocrats (3-0)

The most important thing about this matchup was that my opponent had individually named all of their squirrels. Killing Samantha did break my heart a little bit. In game 1 I ran him over. I didn't sideboard and ran him over in game 2 as well.

Final Thoughts

All said and done, the black cards did nothing for me, and I wanted more rancors. Overall I felt very threat light and struggled to punch through a board. I also was incredibly lucky to not have to face off against any removal heavy decks. I'm sure I would have folded hard to a deck like golgari gardens, dimir faeries, etc. Lots of combo at the tournament really helped my deck. Additionally, my opponents had to aggressively mulligan to 4 in two different game ones. My deck was bad and luck really allowed it to overperform. I'm excited to focus it and try again in a month!

additionally, I need more interaction in my sideboard. Bastion Inventor, Weather the Storm, and the Hydroblasts can probably all go for other cheap interaction. Inventor is just too hard to do anything with, weather is for a more midrange-y deck, and I think I can race burn without it, and I don't think I need 5 blasts.