Friday Night Magic 12/28/7
Graham Crackers Comics Naperville

Lorwyn Sealed
9 Island 9 Plains	1 Changeling Hero 1 Lairwatch Giant 1 Wellgabber Apothecary 1 Cloudgoat Ranger 2 Hillcomber Giant 2 Stonybrook Angler 1 Shapesharer 1 Aethersnipe 1 Turtleshell Changeling 1 Fallowsage 1 Mulldrifter	1 Hoofprints of the Stag 1 Triclopean Sight 1 Austere Command 1 Familiar's Ruse 1 Ponder 2 Scattering Stroke 1 Faerie Trickery 1 Glimmerdust Nap
Sideboard listed below:		- The Crew

Match #1 vs. Jason M. Harrington

Jason starts out showing some non-threatening Kithkin. I hang on until turn five and cast Cloudgoat Ranger. He allows me to untap, activate the ranger and attack for 5. I am content to sit tight with a couple counterspells and just protect the giant flyer. He can't produce enough threats and falls 3 turns later. All 20 damage was done with the ranger.

The 2nd game doesn't go much better for him. My early play is Hoofprints of the Stag. While he sets up I accelerate the Hoofprints by using Opt. The Opt puts some countermagic in my hand, which was essentially game very early on. I keep playing lands and am able to activate Hoofprints with Counterspell mana open. I speed things up by playing Shapesharer and copy one of the Elemental Tokens. He had little more than chump blockers to slow down the flying assualt.

I win the match 2-0

Match #2 vs. Keith E. Golimowski

Game one Keith misses his 3rd land drop. He then uses Nameless Inversion on my Turtleshell Changeling when it is 1/4 effectively doing nothing. I tap his only blocker, a Nath's Buffoon and quickly win by attacking with the switched changeling.

In the 2nd game I call an early mulligan and Keith suggests that it would be to my advantage in the future if I wait for the player going first to make his decision. He was right, and I wouldn't have made that mistake 10 years ago. It felt pretty funny to be corrected. I stick with my 6 cards. We both stall on ground creatures while he chips away with small flyers. He uses an Elvish Harbinger to find Imperious Perfect, but it gets bounced with Aethersnipe and is later used once to little effect. I fight from behind on life total while he chips away. At one point during a clash I see that he has Profane Command. I am way down in the life race and he he finishes me with a big attack through Profane Command dropping my life total X and creating a Fear effect on almost all of his creatures.

Game three Keith plays a turn 4 Fallowsage. I have the option to counter it with Faerie Trickery, but I am holding Austere Command and know I'll wrath it off the board. I stall on mana all the while he is drawing extra cards. I eventually kill his side of the table but he had drawn enough cards that he was able to keep playing threats that I couldn't deal with. Cairn Wanderer showed up on his side of the board. He uses Whirlpool Whelm on a critical blocker and hits for lethal damage.

I lose the match 1-2

Match #3 vs. Eric DePetro

Game 1 Eric plays about 5 small creatures as I use a Stonybrook Angler on a Fallowsage with Hoofprints of the Stag in play. He has an army, but isn't really attacking since he would lose creatures if I blocked. I am drawing two cards per turn and I eventually cast Austere Command and clear the whole board on he starts casting larger threats. He uses Boggart's Feast and re-stocks his creatures on top of his deck. I activate the Hoofpints of the Stag for two 4/4 Elementals while he has a Boggart Loggers as his only defense. He casts the only card in his hand, Oblivian Ring, on an Elemental. I was watching his plays and the Oblivian Ring would have been in his hand for quite some time. I am perplexed as to why it didn't get used on the Hoofprints itself before I activated it. I cast more creatures and show him 3 counters. The pace of the game was not exactly quick. I offer to speed things up by showing him 3 counters in my hand and reminding him he wouldn't draw anything but creatures that couldn't stop my attacks for the next 3 turns. He doesn't concede so I attack for a few turns and kill him but waste even more time.

I sideboard in Wispmare and Drowner of Secrets removing Triclopean Sight and Familiar's Ruse. I wanted to have early blockers in case he had another early creature rush

Game two Eric gets out an Avian Changeling and a Nightshade Stinger, eventually equiping the Nightshade Stinger with a Runed Stalactite. I use a Stonybrook Angler to fend them off a bit but take a lot of damage. Then Dread hits the table. Dread. There is only 12 minutes left in the match and if I lose this game I'm doomed to a draw. I have a decent amount of ground creatures including Turtleshell Changeling. My only plan is to bounce Dread and then counter him. I have a lot of Plains but only 2 Islands. I tap Dread for a couple of turns taking flying damage until I can draw a 3rd Island that will let me bounce Dread with Aethersnipe and have countermana open. Once Dread is gone Eric doesn't have a lot of creatures left. He attacks me with a couple and ends up with no blockers. He was at 18, and I'm not sure he expected an all-out attack from my side. I hit him with the Aethersnipe(4), a switched Turtleshell Changeling(4), Lairwatch Giant(5), Mulldrifter(2), Wellgrabber Apothecary(2) and Hillcomber Giant (3), my huge army that I built up while Dread was holding me back. He was quite surprised about the plunge from 18 to 0 after having such a huge advantage. There was some comic relief. Eric said to me "20?" and almost on cue the guy next to me goes, "yeah, that's 20 damage." Time for the round was almost out and I was so happy to make it out of that game alive

I win the match 2-0

My reward for the 2-1 finish is 1 pack of Lorwyn.

Sideboard cards:
1 Shields of Velis Vel
2 Surge of Thoughtweft
1 Goldmeadow Stalwart
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Wispmare
1 Drowner of Secrets
1 Streambed Aquitects
1 Aquitect's Will
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Faerie Tauntings
1 Nightshade Stinger
2 Thieving Sprite
2 Exiled Boggart
1 Fodder Launch
2 Warren Pilferers
1 Weed Strangle
1 Quill-Slinger Boggart
2 Skeletal Changeling
2 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Nameless Inversion
2 Blind-Spot Giant
1 Faultgrinder
1 Soulbright Flamekin
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Flamekin Bladewhirl
1 Lowland Oaf
1 Fire-Belly Changeling
1 Flamekin Harbinger
1 Tar Pitcher
1 Consuming Bonfire
1 Mudbutton Torchrunner
1 Stinkdrinker Daredevil
1 Heal the Scars
2 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Warren-Scourge Elf
1 Rootgrapple
2 Spring CLeaning
1 Kithkin Daggerdare
1 Woodland Changeling
1 Battlewand Oak
1 Guardian of Cloverdell
1 Fistful of Force
1 Eyes of the Wisent
1 Wren's Run Packmaster

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