(Editors Note: This was mostly written in December, but not published until March of 2025).
I've really been slacking on the blog posts this year. I played in a lot of events, and only wrote three reports. I even skipped writing a report on an event I won!
I've decided to summarize all my events of last year into a few posts. This is the first one on the Romancing the Stones run events. I hope to do another one for other Old School or Premodern events, and a final one that is just my Lobstercon report (it's over half done already!).
Romancing the Stones Middle School Leagues
I played in the three online MS leagues. I was unable to attend either Festival of Friendship or Houston Hurricane this year, so no OS or Vintage.
For the first league of the year, I played Worldgorger Dragon combo. I ran back the same list I used at the MS World Championships a month prior. I went 4-2 and finished 9th on tiebreakers. I defeated Nether Spirit Control and three others I cannot remember. I lost to TerraGeddon and MonoWhite Wayfarer. TerraGeddon had Sphere of Resistance and Wasteland to slow me down. MonoWhite used Wayfarer for Wastelands and had all angles of disruption. I guess I'll always be losing to Wayfarer Wasteland in these events.
I still think Dragon is a good deck (more on that in the future?). It's a lot harder to play than I ever would have expected, but the list is getting closer every time I play it.
I originally planned on playing a different list (no spoilers for future leagues here) but never found the time to brew on it. Instead, I made modifications to Michael Arnold's Lobstercon Elves list. I cut Elvish Champions from main for extra land and maximum of the good cards. Didn't play Champion in the SB either, but it may be an option. Absolute Law is suspect, but Armageddon was great. Thornscape Battlemage was MVP. I'd probably want another Battlemage and a Pyroblast in the SB.
This is recent enough I can do round by round:
R1 - Jeff on Sligh
I got to untap with a Priest of Titania somehow and won G1. G2 I think I had turn 2 Absolute Law but it wasn't enough. G3 he mulligan to 5 and I had Masticore I think.
1-0
R2 - Patrick on Landstill
I win G1 with just enough damage attacking and then Battlemage to kill him after combat. G2 he had an Exalted Angel and just raced me. G3 I win by lots of value with Acolyte and Symbiote.
2-0
R3 - Daisuke on UR Control
G1 I win with turn two Survival easily. G2 he has to counter my Absolute Law which lets me get him with Armageddon.
3-0
R4 - Gregg on Aluren
I don't remember G1 or G3, but G2 was an epic where I had to answer Plague Spitter, Engineered Plague, and Goblin Sharpshooter (thanks to Thornscape Battlemage). I had sided out my Masticore so couldn't close the door and his Walls stopping my attacks. I go for Armageddon but he draws just enough lands to cast Aluren and his last card is Recruiter. I still have a shot by flashing in a Acolyte and I need to draw Symbiote to untap an Elf, pick up a creature, and search for Lyrist and have the mana to activate it. I did not draw the Symbiote though. (Note: thinking back, this line doesn't really make sense to me but this is how I remember it)
4-0
R5 - Shun on Worldgorger Dragon
G1 he bricked and never found a dragon. He did Animate Dead Ambassador Laquatas to block but was quickly overwhelmed. G2 I had a good start with both Crypt and Lyrist. I was able to keep Lyrist up and eventually Armageddon set him too far back to recover.
5-0
R6 - Tak on UGw Madness
G1 I have Survival and he did not have Force of Will. I win easily from there. G2 he has Meddling Mage for Survival, but I naturally draw Masticore, Genesis, and Hermit to grind him out.
6-0
I'm first seed after Swiss. My R1 through R6 opponents all made top 8 as well.
QF - Keith on The Rock
Probably my worst matchup in the top 8. He has four Plague in the sideboard, but fortunately for me he only has two Deed main. I don't really remember G1 or G2. G3 I feel like I'm going to lose but eventually chain enough Acolyte and Symbiote activations to pull it out.
7-0
SF - David on MonoU Flyers
Third time we've met in the top 8. He's out for revenge. This was probably the best match of the tournament. I actually have some detailed notes:
G1 mull to 6 I lead Llanowar into Survival, but he has Foil. His start of Sprite plus Curiosity means I can't really wait to draw better. My turn 3 Acolyte is countered, and I draw a bunch of lands and lose.
G2 I play turn one Llanowar Elves and turn two play 3 more elves with the help of a Cradle. He has turn 2 Sprite but he's holding up Annul. I play two more elves and start attacking. He goes to 9 before finding Hibernation, but Cradle lets me replay enough that I win the race easily.
G3 I mulligan to 5, keep hand of Survival, Acolyte, Granger, two lands, putting a 3rd land and Battlemage on the bottom. He has turn 1 Sprite. I play land and pass. He plays two more Sprites. I play Survival, but it resolves! He plays turn 3 Sea Drake. I search for Wellwisher and play it, but he has Foil. He attacks me down to 8. On my turn I search for another Wellwisher and play it, this one resolves. He attacks me to 1. I play Quirion Ranger, Fyndhorn, gain 3 life, then return forest to untap Wellwisher play acolyte and gain 4. I gain 4 more on his turn. Now I'm at 12 and he attacks me to 5. I attack for 4 on my turn and gain 8 more life, but don't have a creature to use with Survival. He attacks with just the 1/1s for now leaving back Drake to block. So now I can just use Wellwisher once a turn and not have to bounce all my forests. Eventually I find a creature for Survival then find Squee and win easily from there, grinding through two more Force of Wills along the way.
8-0
Now I've beat everyone in the top 8 at one point in this league.
Finals - Tak on UGw Madness
I'm on the play G1 and my Survival resolves. I win easily from there. G2 he has Meddling Mage and I die with two Survivals in hand. G3 he has Mage on Survival and Mage on Hermit. Eventaully I find red mana for my MVP Thornscape Battlemage which I use with Symbiote to stabilize the board. Symbiote plus Battlemage / Acolyte means he can't really do anything and I win without drawing Survival.
9-0
So I finally win one of these leagues after four other top eights and two finals losses, plus three ninth places. winning qualified me for the Invitational. I wasn't sure at first if I would go, but I didn't have any big Magic events for the rest of the year. I was skipping Eternal Weekend and wanted one more thing to play. I committed to flying to Austin to play.
RTS Invitational
(Editors Note: I never wrote this part, so this just from memory months later)
I played Landstill in MS because I think its the best deck, even though I've never played it before. I was also expecting a field of mostly Burn/Sligh and Dreadnoughts, which was accurate.
I don't remember why I chose Oath, but I think I expected mostly Lurrus decks. I was wrong here, but wasn't unhappy with my choice.
Middle School I went 2-1. I lost to Tweedy in a terrible match, but managed to beat Lizzy on RG Oath and Paul on Dreadnought easily enough. I almost decked myself against Lizzy in game one though.
Top four I beat Rob Wilson with early Shown and Tell after seeing the coast was clear with a Probe. I lost the finals to Chase which should be on video somewhere. I may have over mulligan and was probably too aggressive with the trap in the third game.
Invitational was great and I'm really glad I finally got to play in one.
Conclusion
Now that I'm finally publishing this, I've already completed the first league of 2025. I suppose I should start on that report. It looks to be a fun one.
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