Hello everyone,
Another week, another tournament. This time I was playing in my new favorite format, Duel Commander, for the 3rd anniversary tournament of the Duel Commander Québec group at the Collect-Edition store.
Since the release of the Avatar set, I've been enjoying playing Wan Shi Tong, Librarian as my commander. Yes, a mono-blue deck with tons of counterspells and creatures with flash. Personally, I prefer it to other blue commander options like the usual Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel. It can be played on turn 2 like Malcolm, but it can easily become a much bigger threat as the game progresses, in addition to drawing cards when it enters the battlefield. Its ability to grow and draw cards when the opponent searches their deck is also very strong in a format where fetch lands are so prevalent.
Right from the start, I faced another mono-blue Avatar deck, Katara, Waterbending Master. Since it was a Commander exclusive card, I only discovered it this week while playing Brawl on Arena. Although it doesn't have Flash, if it can attack even once, it will already generate a significant advantage. The first game was very close as I dropped to 1 health point due to repeated attacks from its Brazen Borrower, which I let resolve early in the first few turns; possibly a mistake in hindsight. Although I managed to stabilize with, among other things, a Vedalkan Shackles duel, I couldn't survive True-Name Nemesis. I thought I could win the second game when I resolved my own True-Name Nemesis, but its Abhorrent Oculus quickly turned the tide in its favor.
For round 2, I faced the Izzet Spider-Man 2099 deck. It's a classic Izzet tempo/aggro deck that aims to deal a lot of damage with its commander by giving it Haste and buffing it with cards like Reckless Charge or Wild Ride. After splitting the first two games, I think I managed to stabilize at 4 life against its 9. I returned all the creatures to our respective hands with Evacuation and at that point had several counterspells in hand to prevent my opponent from redeploying their creatures. Unfortunately, we'll never know the outcome of this game, due to time constraints.
In round 3, I played against Spider-Man 2099 again. The first game ended quickly after I only had one land left in my opening hand. I thought that by playing second (so one more draw) and using Gitaxian Probe to draw an extra card, I'd be able to find my second land to cast my other spells, but it didn't happen. Although I managed to win the second game, the third quickly slipped away, and I was now definitely out of the top 8.
Round 4 hinged on my opponent's bad luck with Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar. In the first game, he played a Broadside Bombardiers that only attacked for 2 damage without ever firing a single card from its cannon, then his Burning Inquiry discarded his Hollow One and filled my graveyard for my Abhorrent Oculus, which luckily stayed in my hand. In the second game, he never found a card to discard, putting no pressure on me.
In the final round, I faced Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge, a 5-color control deck. I lost the first game after missing a counterspell against the deck, which then played Atraxa, Grand Unifier. I didn't repeat this mistake in the two subsequent games. In one of them, I had to let the deck resolve, but I was able to counter the ability three turns in a row to secure the victory.
I finished the tournament 16th out of 32 players with a score of 2-2-1. I hadn't played much against aggressive decks in recent weeks, and I feel like the meta has shifted a bit in that direction lately with the unbanning of Asmo and the popularity of Spider-Man 2099. Perhaps I need to adjust my deck and playstyle accordingly. Something to think about before my next tournament this Saturday in Drummondville.
- Alexandre Livernoche