Extended and Two-Headed

This past weekend I played in some interesting events. At First Pick Games's First Birthday, we ran a mock Extended tournament for Gurney and Gavin Verhey who are probably in Berlin already for the Pro Tour. I ran this Demigod Stompy deck. Loads of fun seeing people's faces as it went off on Turn 1. Against Affinity I went off on the first turn, but then he goes land, thopter thopter, worker, Frogmite. I still won that game, then lost the next two because this deck scoops to Ethersworn Canonist.

Next round I played against Jon wrotesforbrainburst Loucks playing Krark-Clan Ironworks, went off T3 on the draw after pitching a Demigod and then recurring it, then he tried to Charbelcher one of them to stay alive. Next two I drew a whole bunch of nothing and he went off on schedule.

I played Death Cloud next and won two quick ones. I then played Mind's Desire, and played a turn 1 Deus, and still nearly lost when he went off on 1 land (hooray Rite of Flame counting all graveyards!) but couldn't do anything with his Plunges since he was at 2. Game 2 I thought a lot about my first turn on the draw staring down 2 suspended Lotus Blooms. I could either play land and wait until turn 3 to play Deus of Calamity, or do nothing, pitch 1 of 2 Demigods and draw anything but land for my Mox and swing for 10. I did the latter, got lucky (had things go as expected/as they should), and won. Finished 2-2, and Zoo won the 14-man Mock. Extended is really really messed up with Top and Counterbalance missing. I think Top could have stayed around, but judges and players would have to be more vigilant about slow play. The good players aren't getting unintentional draws when they play the Top (I remember watching LSV play a feature match in Philly and I couldn't believe is speed of play!) and at the PTQ level, the Countertop mirror is no different than, say, the Teachings or Wake mirror. And I don't think it was as unfun to play against as Mind's Desire is right now. We'll see what R&D thinks about the format this weekend.

Sunday at Games & Gizmos in Redmond I played Two-Headed Giant Sealed. I wasn't planning on playing at first, but I decided to show up since it was still Magic, and I teamed with a fairly decent regular. We butted heads in deck construction a little, then got blown out in the first round because my deck wasn't cooperating. He said we got mana screwed, but I think we misbuilt it, so we made some changes (for the better), and won the next one, then lost to Zaiem and Loucks (unofficially Team usedtowrotesforbrainburst) who had pretty good decks, then got paired down against the 0-X and won. I was a little frustrated at some of the plays my partner made, like running out Panorama on Turn 1 (I can't think of a reason you would ever want to do that), insisting on keeping a hand of 2 Druids, Panorama, and 4 lands (maybe it's actually not that bad, especially since we were on the draw), and a few other things. I don't know the guy that well, and the other two times I've played the format, I played with someone else I didn't know that well at the time, and a friend who had been out of competitive Magic for a while but wanted to try 2HG. I guess the next time one of these rolls around I will try to find someone I know, like, and I can trust.