The Road to Chiba: Birthday Gaiden

Last week, my family came to Japan, so I went to Tokyo.
Because I was with my family, I missed two GPTs!

My birthday is the Autumn Equinox, so my family let me play Magic.
However, the only GPT on that day...was Standard?
I played Legacy at Hareruya instead.

Of course, I played Doomsday. Same 75 cards.

Round 1 - RG Lands

I win the die roll.

Game 1, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Volanic Island, Flooded Strand,LED, Gitaxian Probe, Duress.
I keep Island, Polluted Delta, LED, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish, Laboratory Maniac (scry Chromatic Sphere to the bottom).

My opponent’s first play is Wooded Foothills, activate for Taiga, Exploration, Gamble.
I win quickly, using Laboratory Maniac, with Chromatic Sphere to avoid Punishing Fire.

(W)

-Misty Rainforest, 1 LED, 3 Cabal Therapy, Rain of Filth
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay

Game 2, I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Tropical Island, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Brainstorm, Abrupt Decay.
This hand was very slow, so my opponent was able to set up Life from the Loam.
He also played Sphere of Resistance, but he was slow too so I could cast Abrupt Decay.
At the end of this game, my opponent has 3 Rishadan Ports and 2 Wastelands in play.
All my basic lands are in play (tapped every upkeep).
My hand is Polluted Delta, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Dark Ritual. If I can only find a Doomsday, I win.
I do not find Doomsday before my opponent finds Dark Depths + Thespian’s Stage.

(L)

Game 3, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Island, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, LED, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Laboratory Maniac.
I keep Swamp, Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Sensei’s Divining Top, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder. I scry Dark Ritual to the top.
This is a turn 2 win if Ponder finds Doomsday.
My opponent plays Turn 1 Exploration, Turn 2 Dark Depths + Thespian’s Stage.
My Turn 2 Ponder doesn’t find Doomsday. I lose.

(L)

After this round, I am approached by a player who asks, "Are you Paul?"
He’s a newer Doomsday player, who heard of me from a friend I met at the last GP Chiba.
It was nice to see another Doomsday player!

Round 2 - Goblins

My opponent wins the die roll.

Game 1, I keep Underground Sea, Underground Sea, Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest, Sensei’s Divining Top, Burning Wish.

My opponent’s Turn 1 play is Wooded Foothills, Mountain, Aether Vial.
He has no disruption. He dies quickly.

When I cast Doomsday, my opponent murmured to himself about Laboratory Maniac.
I wanted to win with Maniac to not leak information, but I am out of practice.
Don’t speak out loud about these things in front of your opponents!

(W)

-1 Island, Misty Rainforest, 1 Gitaxian Probe, 4 Duress
+2 Tropical Island, 4 Abrupt Decay, Cruel Bargain

Game 2, I keep Polluted Delta, Lotus Petal, LED, LED, Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Brainstorm.

My opponent plays Goblin Lackey on Turn 1.
Then he plays Chalice of the Void (X=1) on Turn 2.
I expected Thalia, not Chalice. So, I’m dead.

(L)

Game 3, I keep Tropical Island, Flooded Strand, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, LED, Brainstorm, Cabal Therapy.

I don’t play Cabal Therapy on Turn 1, because my opponent can’t cast Chalice of the Void (X=1) until Turn 2.
My opponent casts Goblin Lackey and Chalice of the Void (X=0) on Turn 1.
I cast Cabal Therapy naming Chalice of the Void, and he discards one, revealing Cavern of Souls, Stingscourger, Goblin Piledriver, Krenko, Mob Boss.

If I spent more time thinking, I could win without casting any 0 mana spells.
However, instead I cast Ponder to search for Abrupt Decay.
I find Abrupt Decay, but I don’t have a draw source so I cannot win with Doomsday.

(L)

My tournament is over, but my friends are still able to enter Single Elimination. I play one more round.

Round 3 - Cleric Life Combo

I am at the lowest table.
I win the die roll.

I keep Underground Sea, Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Ponder, Ponder, Burning Wish.

My opponent plays Windswept Heath, Tundra, Nomads en-Kor.
I refuse to lose to Turn 2 Cephalid Illusionist, so I cast Burning Wish for Massacre.
My opponent has no more plays, and dies.

This opponent also comments about Laboratory Maniac.
Since this game doesn’t matter, I show him the Laboratory Maniac below my Burning Wish.

I don’t remember how I sideboarded because I stopped caring.
Abrupt Decay is hard for Cephalids to beat, so +2 Tropical Island 4 Abrupt Decay.

Game 2, I mulligan to six.
My seven card hand was Swamp, Tropical Island, Flooded Strand, LED, Ponder, Doomsday, Laboratory Maniac. This is too slow against Cepahlids.
I keep Underground Sea, Swamp, Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy, Dark Ritual, Burning Wish. I make a mistake and scry Polluted Delta to the bottom.
I cast Gitaxian Probe to see Flooded Strand, Pact of the Titan, Summoner’s Pact, Worthy Cause, Grand Abolisher.
My opponent is playing an infinite life combo, and sides in Hive Mind because of Maniac.
His hand is terrible, so I win quickly.

(W)

I won, but I dropped after this round.

For Round 4, I decided to watch the other Doomsday player.
It was interesting to see another player make decisions.
He played against BUG, and Leovold is a very difficult card to beat...
But he won!
I left with my friends after that.

We ate a lot of pizza to celebrate my birthday.

This weekend is a GPT in Shizukuishi.
I would always take Doomsday to a big store...
But recently there’s a lot of problem decks.
I’ll probably play a better metagame deck, because I really want Byes.