PTQ Nashville Style

PTQ report from Nashville, TN 3/21:

So, Saturday was our local PTQ in Nashville. Unlike Chicago where I thought untested Naya was the way to go I found myself sleeving up UGW Wizards. Here's the deck:

1 Meloku
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendelion Clique
2 Venser

3 Path to Exile
4 Spell Snare
2 Cryptic Command
4 Mana Leak

4 Ancestral Visions

2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Engineered Explosives

4 Mutavault
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pool
2 Riptide Laboratory
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
7 Island

SB:
2 Gilded Light
3 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Stifle

I managed to finish a respectable 4-2-2. I don't remember enough to give a full tournament report but here are some highlights:

Round 2 against Mono-Black Control my hand is stripped to 3 cards and he drops a Nyxathid. The problem, I have an Ancestral Visions coming off suspend the next turn. Combined with my draw for turn puts me at 7 cards = dead Nyxathid.

Round 4 against Mono-Red Burn in game 2 I'm on the play. He suspends turn 1 rift bolt, on his upkeep I play gilded light forcing him to bolt himself. Later on after bashing with Tarmogoyf a lot, he's at 3 and forced to shrapnel blast my 'goyf then suspends rift bolt and passes. The result? Another gilded light to the face, for the win! Unfortunately, he wins the match but not before I make him sweat a lot!

I forced the draws against Reliquary loam and Astral Slide, 2 match-ups I'm not sure I should ever win so to not take the losses there is a small victory in itself.

My losses were to Fae and Mono-Red, and I managed to skip the zoo match-up completely. If were to play this deck again (which I would!) I would try to find room in the sideboard for targeted artifact removal, probably krosan grip. Since in the mirror you really need an answer for either Jitte or Vedalken Shackles.

Also, Congratulations to Ryan on his first PTQ top 8 and to our friend Brad on 10th place.

Until next time!

Steven