Game Analysis - ZNR Premier #59

ZNR 59 - Game 1 (Loss vs BG Party on Draw)
MVP: OP's Nisha of Shadow Boughs

I had never played against Nissa. Lots of learning about my deck as well. 

• Opening Hand/Turn 1. Debated mulligan. And in hindsight, not having the extra blue mana hurts. Kicker for Into the Roil and Bubble Snare need the extra blue mana. Taunting Arbormage is a bit underpowered for 3 CMC but has the kicker potential to win a game. Baloth is 4 turns away but I know I can cast it. Still not sure if I should mulligan this. Will have to try it out. Need to get a better feel for pace of this deck, as it's not the aggro deck I am used to playing. 
• Turn 2. No creatures, just building that board. Obviously their Florahedron accelerates them. Should I into the roil given I have nothing to do, to slow them down?
• Turn 3. Okay cast the Arbormage to get something on board. 
• Turn 4. Go the bubble snare and the into the roil. Looking at it now, I could bubble snare the visionary now and into the roil the adventurer on their turn. I decide to cast the Baloth to give a blocker. I should be stalling. 
• OP Turn 5. Not having mana open is bad. Rabid Bite does work here. Just really behind now. If I had Bubble Snared and then Into the Roil on their turn, Would be much more balanced. Need to be more aware of the threat size.
• Turn 5. Do what I should have done last turn. Why did I cast Into the Roil there? Oh, so I could attack. I know I can cast Stomper on my turn but Bubble Snare kicked does work. 
• OP Turn 6. Wait what. Nissa! That Florehedron did some work this game. Haste land for 3 ouch.
• Turn 6. If I can't kill Nissa, do I attack her? Having all creatures back to block was probably smarter. 
• OP Turn 7. Just learned Nissa lands have menace.  Should definitely have held back attackers
• Turn 7. Out of sequence. Nectarpot and THEN land for the 1 life. OP would have killed the Nectarpot anyways. 
• OP Turn 8. Ouch. OP has all mana available during attack. Could I stabilize the board here? Nope, blood beckoning coming. 
• Turn 8. Have to cast the Canopy Baloth but I've already lost.

Learning this deck. Will do better next time I draft this. 

ZNR 59 - Game 2 (Loss vs WB Clerics on Draw)
MVP: OP's Cleric of Life Spawn

• Opening Hand/Turn 1. Got 3 2-drops along with Into the Roil and Riptide at 3-drop. Only two lands, but this is playable. Baloth is good draw, though land would be better.
• OP Turn 2. Uh oh. Cleric of Life's Bond
• Turn 2. Vine Gecko, kind of a target. Just as good as Gnarlid Colony - though Gnarlid Colony can kick later.
• Turn 3. Missed land drop. Could Bubble Snare the Cleric of Life's Bond. Was worried about the ping from the Blight-Priest. Thought I could Into the Roil Cleric later. 
• OP Turn 3. Debating here on blocks. I could double block and should have. Traded 1 for 1 but went for the Blight-Priest. Not sure why. Got enamored with the Into the Roil on the Cleric of Life's Bond. Will also be bigger threat next turn and will take out 2 of my creatures. Wrong block.
• Turn 4. Missed another land drop. Would have been Riptide on 3 and better on 4. Just evaluating how good my deck really is. 
• OP Turn 5. Yes another reason I should have taken out the Cleric of Life's bond. Dang I play badly.
• Turn 5. Finally a land. Riptide seems to help stabilize board. BUT I forget that Vine Gecko reduces Into the Roil kicker and could have cast it with kicker and got a card and bounced the Cleric and would have given a +1/1 counter to Vine Gecko. 
• OP Turn 6. Just behind. So many bad plays by me from earlier. I can't kicker into the roil and bubble snare. So far behind now
• Turn 6. Too little too late 

Definitely learning this deck. This deck should have performed better this game. Let's hope I can do better next game.

ZNR 59 - Game 3(Win vs WB Clerics on Draw)
MVP: Vine Geckos

• Opening Hand/Turn 1. Looks like Vine Gecko with good land start.
• OP turn 2. Oh no, not again.
• Turn 2. Yep Vine Gecko. 
• Turn 3. Vine Gecko #2. Hold the bubble snare so I can cast it kicked. I think he may not slam Cleric of Life's Bond into double block. 
• Turn 4. I was right about not attacking with Cleric of Life's Bond. I can boost my vine geckos and bubble snare the Cleric of Life's Bond and attack. The tide has turned. I am not the beat down. Should have cast the Roilmage AFTER the attack. 
• Turn 5. Arbormage is interesting with the Roilmage as fodder to take out the expedition healer. 
• OP Turn 6. OP stuck on 4 lands, missed two land drops. Relic Vial is very useful. 
• Turn 6. And look at that top deck. What a card. Get rid of the Cleric of Life's Bond and let's go. Having the Roilmage in hand with the Into the Roil in graveyard. Dang. Learned that only the first kicker card is reduced in cost.
• OP Turn 7. Missed 3rd land drop. Ouch. 
• Turn 7. Roilmage bring back the Into the Roil -> OP concedes

Learned in this game that the focus on Kicker is key. Last two games with beasts, they just don't do much. Canopy Baloth is going bye bye. Switching from Beasts to Party. Curious to look at my draft and what I would do differently now. Looks like maybe 2 Baloths out for Squids. Not that big of a change.

ZNR 59 - Game 4 (Win vs WB Clerics on Play)
MVP: Lullmage's Familiar / Seafloor Stalker

• Opening Hand/Turn 1. Blightblade turn 1, Roilmage turn 2. 3 lands. Seafloor Stalker and a bubble snare. Pretty good starting hand, given that I traded 5 Canopy Balothes for Party cards, including the two Rogues here.
• Turn 2. Now I play Nectarpot to preserve life. Probably should have held Blightblade back for his attack on me. 
• Turn 3. I guess he wanted Gloomhunter out more than a Cleric. Decide on Field Research to get me the "materials" for my kicker deck. Make sure I don't miss land drops. Those are good draws. Don't need to attack with Blightblade to keep his Cleric back.
• Turn 4. Lullmage's Familiar seems like a good play to get more mana and life from kickers. Worried about removal. Bubble snare gets blocked by the Shelter. 
• OP Turn 5. Block with Blightblade, if OP has got a trick, great. I should have predicted the trick, given that OP did not attack before. But Cleric did no damage. 
• Turn 5. Visionary gets me a card. And with 2 Gnarlid Colonies, might as well bring one out un-kicked.
• OP Turn 6. Allow the damage to happen. I can crack back.
• Turn 6. But a big body out there to double block the Cleric. But I make the mistake of attacking all. Should have kept the Colony back. 
• OP Turn 7. Though it wouldn't have mattered with the Outrider buffing the Cleric. 
• Turn 7. Bring out another big body. Attack with the Veteran Adventurer since it has vigilance. 
• Turn 8. Probably good that I waited to bring the Stalker out to make sure I stabilized the board. Roilmage brings back Field Research - need to keep feeding this kicker deck. 
• Turn 9. Stalker's time to come out. I think I probably should have cast Field Research here to use my mana and get cards in hand. What am I representing. 
• Turn 10. Packbeast. Yum with the Stalker. Make sure that I use the right mana. If I don't use all the blue to make Stalker stronger, I should cast Field Research here. Too much looking for a kicked spell. 
• Turn 11. Oh i do kick it to get me 2 life and the extra card. And the third card is the bubble snare...
• Turn 12. Bubble Snare on the Cleric means OP concedes.

Some mistakes on my side but this is how the deck is supposed to work. Party made a difference, so the changes of removing the Canopy Balothes for the Party cards made a difference. 

Lullmage's Familar 2 life and Sam Black saying UG Kicker wants Nectarpot to lengthen the game to get to the long game with kicker. Did the math. I would have been dead on OP Turn 11 if it wasn't for the life from Nectarpot and Familiar. Surprised there was not more removal cards in OP's hand. Ends the game with 2 cards in the graveyard. Must have drawn a lot of lands. 

ZNR 59 - Game 5 (Loss vs WG Landfall on Play)
MVP: OP's Prowling Felidars

• Opening Hand/Turn 1. Packbeast, Roilmages, Gnarlid Colony, 3 lands - good to go. 
• Turn 2. Debated Gnarlid Colony, but against green. Not worried about subtle strike or duelist. Went for packbeast.
• Turn 3. Should have cast Vine Gecko after attack. 
• Turn 4. Cast Gnarlid Colony before combat to get the buff on the Vine Gecko. 
• Turn 5. Oh how this game would be different with a bubble snare instead of one of the roilmages. Gnarlid Colony a good one here. Wide board here.
• Turn 6. Interestingly. If I had cast the Roilmage kicked, Gecko to 4/4, attacked with all. Would have killed one of his Felidar and lost Gnarlid Colony and Gecko and he would have been down to 4. Unless he had practiced tactics. Don't let the Felidars grow. 
• OP Turn 6. They would have been up to 7 life with the Asceticm, and OP did have practiced tactics. I debated blocking with Gnarlid Colony and Vine Gecko or with Lullmage's Domination. Practiced tactics only does 2 damage. Would have saved either instead of a double kill of Vine Gecko/Gnarlid. 
• Turn 8. Casting Roilmage with kicker to get the 2 life. 
• OP Turn 8. Makindi Ox, really? Guess it works in a WG landfall deck. I take damage. 
• Turn 9. Stalked or Roilmage. Stalker gives options to go on the offense, if I draw the right cards. Whoa. Roiling Regrowth and buffing the Felidar.
• OP Turn 9. I guess I can chump block while I wait for help. Felidar Vigilance is annoying
• Turn 10. OK, there's some help. Bubble Snare kicked = 2 life and stop the big creature. If OP draw a land, they can tap the Blightblade. 
• Turn 11. Sigh, land doesn't help. I could do 3 damage with Stalker, but then they could tap one creature and attack with 2. 
• OP Turn 11. They are playing open hand. I screw up and do not mean to use Familar for mana. Would have double blocked to kill the Ox and let him chose which one he wanted to kill. 
• Turn 12. There's some help. 
• Turn 13. Some more help to turn this around with Bubble Snare. Take out OP's biggest threat. They need a land drop to activate Ox. I should attack with Stalker buffed for one. And attack with the Adventurer, because they would have had to block with at least one. 
• OP Turn 13. It woudln't have made a difference. Would have still lost to the top deck Arbormage. 

Some small mistakes, it wouldn't have mattered given the top deck. But I think I could have played better. There was definitely a turn where I could have killed one of his Felidars earlier. 

This was an interesting game. Top decks at the end. 

Deck Summary/Thoughts

Beasts were a distraction. Definitely kicker and party work well together. I learned a bunch these round of games, where losing actually forced me to try something different for the deck and it worked.  Again, lots of little edges I'm missing in gameplay.