Game Records #1

This game started out with bang on turn 0, with Paul putting Gemstone Caverns into play and revealing Chancellor of the Dross in their opening hand. In case this wasn’t enough to make Paul the Archenemy, they also played Knight of the Ebon Legion on turn 1, followed by Sorin and his minus 3 ability to cheat in Chancellor of the Dross on turn 2. At this point in the game Mason and I only had an Auriok Steelshaper and a Baleful Strix out, respectively. Needless to say, we felt a little far behind.

Fortunately over the next few turns, my grixis control deck started doing what it does best and mostly got Paul’s board under control, first by throwing a Lightning Bolt to take out Sorin, then by playing the Dragon-God himself to destroy the Chancellor. Mason was also able to play Nahiri and Steelshaper’s Gift, searching for Sword of Sinew and Steel. Normally this play would have me a little worried, but Mason and I both realized we had to team up to have any chance of not dying by turn 6. It was safe to assume all of Mason’s attacks would be heading towards Paul for the foreseeable future.

Even with this slight improvement in boardstate, Paul had already managed to do a lot of damage. Mason and I each got hit by Chancellor once before it was destroyed, and Paul managed to cast Arterial Flow once before Sorin died. Paul also used Vampiric Tutor to search for and play Cabal Coffers, followed by playing and sacrificing Burnished Hart, giving themselves an obscene amount of mana. Oh, and Paul had about 40 life by turn 5, so we definitely weren’t out of the woods yet.

Mason added even more pressure onto the board by dropping a Skyknight Legionaire and equipping it with their Sword of S&S plus a newly played Sword of Truth and Justice. Paul responded to this on their next turn by putting all of their mana into a Torment of Hailfire where X was 7! Mason chose to go down to 2 life, sacrificing and discarding everything except for their two Swords and the Skyknight Legionaire. I chose to only go down to 6 life, sacrificing and discarding everything except for my Oathbreaker. I had been using Bolas‘s +1 for the past few turns, so I was able to take a little less damage than Mason. Keeping my Oathbreaker around also meant I was able to use Deliver Unto Evil on my next turn to get back a land, Baleful Strix, Chaos Warp, and The Elderspell.

Mason attacked Paul on their next turn, but they also used their trigger from Sword of S&S to destroy my Oathbreaker. Mason’s reasoning behind this choice was that the board was more in our favor, and they could afford to keep losing cards to Bolas‘s +1 ability. I also had just put The Elderspell into my hand, which is especially scary when paired with my Oathbreaker. Paul spent their next turn digging for cards by playing Read the Bones and activating Caste Locthwain. I also went looking for cards on my turn after topdecking Drawn from Dreams. I also played the Baleful Strix I had gotten back on my last turn.

The only thing Mason could do on their next turn was use their beefed up Skyknight Legionaire to whittle down Paul’s life total. Paul, on the other hand, had found some gas with all of their card draw last turn. They lead off their turn by using Cabal Coffers to play Nirkana Revenant. Using their doubled mana paired with Dark Ritual, Paul was able to then play both Vampire Hexmage and their Oathbreaker. Noticing Mason’s low life total, Paul decided to then use Sorin‘s second +1 to sacrifice their Vampire Hexmage and kill Mason.

Before I untapped for my next turn, I used Chaos Warp to shuffle away the Nirkana Revenant, and fortunately for me, Paul revealed a basic Swamp off of the top after shuffling. During my actual turn, I used Hero’s Downfall to get rid of Sorin, and I followed it up by playing Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. After digging with Castle Locthwain, Paul put down Vampire Nighthawk on blocking duty.

After sacrificing Bloodstained Mire to trigger revolt, I used Fatal Push to kill the Nighthawk on my next turn and make way for my two flyers. The next part of my turn felt pretty exciting, because I got to transform Nicol Bolas into Nicol Bolas, the Arisen. I ended my turn by using Bolas‘s -4 to take Paul’s Chancellor of the Dross. Paul began their next turn by using Witch’s Cottage and Castle Locthwain to get their Knight of the Ebon Legion back in hand. After running out their Knight and their Oathbreaker, Paul used Sorin‘s second +1 to sacrifice their Knight and drain me for 3 life. On my next turn I had just enough mana to replay my Oathbreaker, and use The Elderspell to destroy my transformed Bolas and Paul’s Oathbreaker, buffing up the Dragon-God in the process. At exactly 8 loyalty, I was able to use my Oathbreaker’s ultimate ability to win the game.