Before I get to how my Beast Deck fared at FNM, I want to say thanks to the redditors that provided feedback for this blog (you guys gave me 95 hits in an hour! *happy dance*). I hear you: more pictures! Please bear with me through this last picture-less entry, and I promise to include more pictures in future entries :) Now, on to the Beast Deck…

I did way better this Friday than I have at any other event so far. Technically I went 2-2 but I think the easiest way to recount how my deck actually fared is to go through it round by round.

Round One. I met a guy with a deck based entirely on enchanting a limited number of creatures to give them +1/+1 counters, flying, trample, and haste in some combination. I had already added Naturalize and Bramblecrush in anticipation of Theros and the bestow mechanic, but I couldn’t seem to draw either of those cards both games I play with him, and I lost 0-2.

Round Two. I met a guy with a green/red monster deck. What I mean is, he had built his deck around the new monstrous mechanic in Theros, so he didn’t have many creatures, but he shocked me and did whatever else he could until he got some pretty strong creatures out and had the manna to make them monstrous. I lost the first game.

For second game I brought in Mending Touch and Wildwood Rebirth, and removed the Naturalize and Bramblecrush since he wasn’t using any enchantments. The thought process was that if he destroyed an Advocate of the Beast, Deadly Recluse or Kalonian Tusker I could get them back and he would have wasted his card.

The second game ended up lasting a really long time, and we ended up going on to a 5 turn rule. On turn 5 my opponent had 1 life and I had 21. That game technically went to a draw, and we didn’t get to the third game, so the round was marked as a loss for me.

Round Three. I played a Boros/Battalion deck, similar to Werk’s, but not as good. I know the intricate details of Werk’s Boros Deck and how to play my Beast Deck correctly against it. Game one I played on the draw and, thanks to two Elvish Mystics, in turn three I played my Kalonian Hydra. He folded.

Game two was a little bit more interesting. We battled back and forth for a little while, I used Pit Fight and Hunt the Weak to take out some of his stronger Battalion cards (Legion Loyalist, Frontline Medic, to name a few) and whittled him down to only three pretty weak creatures. He couldn’t attack, because neither was strong enough on its own against my creatures, and he would have left himself wide open for damage if he attacked with all three for their battalion.

Late in the game we were both sitting at 15 health. I had a wall of creatures up (but no Advocate!!) and I attacked with two Rumbling Baloths. He double blocked one with two 2/2 indestructible creatures, hoping to kill of my card, but I played Giant Growth, saved my card and he took 4 damage. He passed to me and I attacked in the same manner, he triple blocked one, and I used Tower Defense to save my creature again, and he took 4 damage. The next turn played out in the same way, except that I just let him kill my Rumbling Baloth and played Giant Growth on the other for game.

Round Four. I met a black/white/red Sliver Deck. It wasn’t really that eventful: the first game he only pulled two gates for manna and I won pretty quickly. Game two also ended because he had problems getting land. Afterward, he told me he only had 18 lands, so that was probably his problem.

I think I could have pulled out round two with a win if we had had a little more time, but there was a lot of back and forth going on between our decks so the games were getting pretty long.

I’m attending a Theros booster draft later today (anyone have any last-minute tips? Leave comments on this entry if you do!), I will be posting an entry about it that should be up (full of pictures!) by Sunday.