FNM Report, 9/10/2010

Friday Night Magic at Montag’s Games. I did play last week, but never got around to writing it up. The week before the field was thick with UW control, so I made the metagame choice and played Esper Control. This was a bad plan, as everyone else also had the notion that playing something bad for UW control was worth playing, and I never saw UW at all. It was ugly. I really should know better…

Anyway, I thought I should try Dredgevine once since I don’t have a lot of experience playing graveyard decks. The list:

Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Hedron Crab
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Renegade Doppleganger
3 Merfolk Looter
4 Sedraxis Spectre
2 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Vengevine
4 Extractor Demon

Land
3 Forest
5 Island
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
3 Calcite Snapper
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Unified Will
3 Marsh Casualties
2 Back to Nature

My 9-year-old son is learning to play and he asked me before I left what colors I was playing, and I told him “everything but white.” Even he thought that sounded like a bad idea. Too funny.

Round 1: Tony playing Jund
Game 1 I took a one-lander because I had multiple mana dorks. He got a turn 3 Sparkmage. It took me a very long time to draw another land, though I drew a lot of mana dorks, all of which he killed. Just dumb. Game 2 I won. Game 3 was my karmic payback for game 1. On turn 2 I cracked a fetch with a Crab in play and hit 3 Vengevines. Needless to say, I won this one.
1-0 matches (2-0 games)

Round 2: Kris playing Esper Control
Game 1 I just rolled him, blowing up with Extractor Demons and such. Game 2 was my punt of the day (maybe). Pretty drawn out game, but he got my board cleared except for a Crab with him at 6. He started beating me up with manlands and had me down to 3. I was dead next turn and needed some action. I drew a fetch, and scooped. Today’s lesson: do not scoop! I should have played the fetch, because I had the mana available to unearth two Extractors or an Extractor and a Spectre. My library wasn’t that big and had probably two of each left. Dumb. Karmic retribution was swift. Game 3 I saw 17 cards, 15 of which were land and mana dorks. Gah.
1-1 (3-2)

Round 4: Hunter, playing UG Ramp
I saw basically none of his deck. I killed him on turn 4 or 5 in the first game, then on like turn 6 in the second game. Literally the only thing he ever did in the entire match was ramp. Deck was smokin’.
2-1 (5-2)

Round 5: Joe Bass, playing Wr control
I always get the worst draws against Joe. Game 1 he got Ajani Vengeant out and went ultimate as I wasn’t drawing enough heat. That was a reasonable scoop. Game 2 he dropped a Relic of Progenitus on the first turn. Urk. I had a great mill the first turn with two Vengevines and an Extractor, but I never got to use them. I did make a sideboarding mistake, though, so it wasn’t just that Joe lucksacked. I didn’t side in the Back to Natures, which I should have, since at one point I had I think two Vengevines under O Rings. Doh. Anyway, it was awful, and it meant I would miss the top 8 since my tiebreakers sucked (Tony went 1-2 drop).
2-2 (5-4)

Round 6: Doug, playing Dredgevine
I won the die roll, and game 1 we both got early Crabs and dumped stuff and it was just a simple race, which I won very narrowly. If I hadn’t killed him that turn he had lethal ready to go on the swingback. Blocking? What’s blocking? Anyway, Game 2 I boarded in 3 Marsh Casualties and he had a bad start: he had three Crabs but only 2 land for a two turns. He finally drew land, but then I kicked a Marsh Casualties and cleared his board, then swung in for the win since he had no blockers.
3-2 (7-4)

I finished 12th out of 27, I think. What really ticked me off is that the top 8 was really weak, including Kris. I think playing not just different decks, but completely different styles of deck every week, is not doing anything great for my development of play skill, since I seem to be making more mistakes in constructed than in limited of late, which is unlike me—I’m usually better at constructed. Need to go back to something familiar next week for the last hurrah of Alara block. I’m thinking Mythic, since I’ve seen exactly nobody playing it of late.

NFL Week 2

Look, it doesn’t matter how my picks went or how my fantasy team did, because (a) the Texans won, (b) the Colts lost, and (c) the Cowboys lost. That’s a good week! The Texans game was terrific fun; I’ve never heard Reliant stadium that loud. It was also great to see Manning get knocked around. Yes, he only got officially sacked a couple times, but they got to him a lot more than that. Of course, what was most amazing was the holes that Foster had to run through; the Colts D-line was awful and was completely manhandled. Foster seemed to always get to the second or even third level before anyone made contact. It was quite a thing.

Now, if only the Lions hadn’t gotten jobbed…

Anyway, on to this week’s picks.

Sunday 1:00
Ravens @ Cincinnati(+2.5)
Wow, not even a whole field goal? I’ll give the points.

Dolphins @ Minnesota(-5.5)
Seems like too many points for what could easily be a field goal game.

Bears @ Dallas(-7)
I think Dallas is better than they showed last Sunday and the Bears… aren’t. I’ll give the TD.

Eagles @ Detroit(+6.5)
With Vick starting and Stafford out, I will again give the points. Poor Lions.

Cardinals @ Atlanta(-6.5)
Not sure what to do with this one. I don’t think the Cardinals are very good, but the Falcons sure turned in a stinker last week. I think Atlanta will win this, but that seems like too many points to me.

Chefs @ Cleveland(-2.5)
Dunno, KC played some pretty inspired ball last week. Granted, they did it with smoke and mirrors, but I like getting points here, as I don’t think the Browns should be favored over… well, over anybody other than maybe the Bills.

Bills @ Green Bay(-13)
I’d say that seems like too many, especially with Grant out, but this is the Bills we’re talking about—on the road, no less—but that just seems like too many this early in the season. I think the Bills can actually play a little defense, even if they have no offense at all, so I’m going to take the points. Just too many not to.

Steelers @ Tennessee(-5.5)
Again, this seems like a lot of points in what is usually a close game. However, I still don’t like Dixon, and on the road, I think I have to give these points.

Buccaneers @ Carolina(-3)
Methinks this is a bad, bad game. I have low expectations for both of these teams, and clearly Vegas doesn’t know what to do either with that generic spread. I think Carolina’s defense is a little better, so I’ll give the points? No idea.

Sunday ~4:10
Rams @ Oakland(-3.5)
The Rams are really awful. You simply cannot have a rookie QB throwing that much and expect to win. Outdoors on the road? Yes, I’ll give the points.

Seahawks @ Denver(-3.5)
WTF happened last week in Seattle? I’m baffled. Also didn’t see highlights from Broncos-Jags. Err, were there highlights? Anyway, I don’t see how Denver is favored, so obviously someone knows something I don’t, so I’ll go the other way from what I was thinking and take the Broncos.

Texans @ Washington(+3)
Letdown game for Houston? Man, I hope not. I have to think that the Texans will prevail here, though, because I was really underwhelmed with the Redskins offense. Maybe the Redskins D is indeed pretty good, but I think the good guys will remember to run the ball, and probably won’t try a lateral in the waning seconds of the first half.

Jaguars @ San Diego(-7)
The Chargers looked really out of sync on Monday, didn’t they? They couldn’t run the ball at all and have nobody to throw to except Gates. Yes, Antonio is terrific, but I think they need more weapons than that. I don’t really like the Jags, either, but I’m taking the points and hoping they can keep it close.

Patriots @ New Jersey Jest(+3)
The Jest are going to have to show me some offense before I start picking them. And Rex Ryan better shut his yap until his team actually shows up on both sides of the ball, too.

SNF
Giants @ Indianapolis(-5)
There is no way that I’m going to watch this game. Well, maybe with the audio off or something, but I’m sure the network will make this an insufferable slurping of the Mannings. Ugh. I’ll be rooting for little brother here. But am I picking him? Seems like the Giants are a team that should know how to run the ball, and with Sanders still out, I don’t see how the Colts stop them. The Colts DEnds can rush the passer, but they suck against the run. If I’m the Giants’ coordinator, I run, then run, then run some more. What I worry is that the Colts will get ahead and then New Jersey will stop running. I also have a hard time seeing the Colts starting 0-2. Dammit, I have to pick the Colts again.

MNF
Saints @ San Francisco(+6)
Not sure about this one, either. The Saints are the obvious choice but let’s not forget that they didn’t exactly light it up against the Vikings. Still, with a couple extra days to rest and prepare, I think the Saints should handle this one. I’m sure it’s been a really bad week for the Niners, as the coaching staff cannot be pleased with them. I think they’ll be better this week, but not enough better to hang with the Saints.