Septiembre Chiquito Goblin Depot - Tournament Report
It's the most wonderful time of the month, Tiny Leaders Second Saturday at Goblin Depot.
The Podium
- 1st Place: 🏆 Gera piloting Aerith Gainsborough (their first time reaching the top 3!)
- 2nd Place: 🥈 Nushio piloting Tidus, Yuna's Guardian (their 6th trophy-worthy finish to date)
- 3rd Place: 🥉 Mike piloting Spider-Man 2099 (first time player, first time winner!)
Highlights
We had a few new faces, with Isaias and Mike joining the scene for the first time, and Rodrigo returning after quite a while away, but the night was won by Gera and his explosive Aerith lifegain deck.
Meta Watch
Some of our usual players were absent, so the Meta this month seriously shifted, with Ghatto and I piloting "brand new decks", Dino Chamaca - Draw for Dino's for him, Tiny Tidus (I've played Tidus before but it had been benched all year, maybe more) for me.
My biggest surprise was seeing another Grist deck, this time not built by me, as well as two The Great Goblin decks.
Play History
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
My Round 1 was against Ghatto and his Moon Girl deck. My Tidus deck had a great start, with lots of counters on the board applying early pressure but the Moon Girl jumping to 6/6 was scary. I ended up losing Game 1 due to the Scrawling Bug dealing 1 damage per draw, and me setting myself up to connive, only to take my last damage. I could've attacked and won instead. Drats.
Games 2 and 3 were won by me, applying pressure through big, stompy creatures, the Cloudfin Raptor, Botanical Brawler and Urdnan being a key elements to deal some direct damage and proliferate/draw, and winning a Nadu-mirror by doing ~6 triggers in a turn, playing 3 lands, and just flying over his Nadu and Moon-Girl.
Grist, the Hunger Tide
Round 2 was against Rodrigo and his Grist deck. I also have a Grist deck, a very aggressive one with 10 lands, based on TheCosmerian's "Gristmas". He also saw the video, but his version played 15 lands. It definitely made his deck slower, but a lot more consistent. I got rid of his Grist twice and he almost managed to cast it a third time. I won 1-0 because we ran out of time on game 2 and went to turns. The only reason I managed to win Game 1 was thanks to Arwen, Mortal Queen's lifelink counter getting proliferated, passed around with Tidus, and allowing me to survive some heavy Grist ultimates.
Aerith Gainsborough
Round 3 was against Gera. And it was over before I blinked. His lifegain deck started with the Soul Warden, and Leonardo, the life gain one. Before I knew it, casting my own creatures made his Leo 6/6, and it dunked on my head thanks to Ajani's doublestrike/flying tricks. It was probably over by turn 4, and I overheard that that was the case for most of his previous matches.
Game 2 was pretty much the same, with him casting an early Leo, Aerith on the board, and this time with Guide of Souls, helping Leo fly above my creatures, and Aerith getting protection from green meant she could also strike hard. This game was also lost by round 4 or so.
There was Cake
On a personal note, this week was my birthday, so I brought some cake to share with the players and celebrate my favorite game. After the match, I shared my Grist deck with Rodrigo so he could further improve his build with the deplete-lands, which I'm sure will make his deck even scarier.