Game 1 looked for a while like a game I should never lose, and it was, except that my list only has six basic lands, so I couldn’t cast Elspeth, Sun’s Champion after my opponent played Pearl Lake Ancient, which almost certainly would have won the game for me. Game 3, on the other hand, looked like a game I could never win, but I think my opponent subtly threw the game away by Dissolving my Xenagos rather than using two cards to answer it, and then ran out of cards that could answer Mastery of the Unseen. I also think my opponent probably didn’t consider using Bile Blight to counter my Valorous Stance, but I don’t think that would have mattered at that point.

Looking back on it, I stand by my keep in game 2, even though it didn’t work out. Game 3 was kind of an emotional rollercoaster, as far as low stakes games of Magic go. I started out with a double mulligan, but my five cards were basically perfect, and the early turns played out exactly the way I wanted. Up until my opponent played Goblin Rabblemaster and Stoke the Flames, I thought I was almost certainly going to win, and I felt good up until the Outpost Siege. After that, I think attacking with the Goblin Rabblemaster and playing the second Outpost Siege on Khans were both mistakes, but it was too late to matter. I probably should have played Xenagos, the Reveler a turn earlier, but that really wasn’t a winning line.

I’m much less confident in my keep in the second game of this match. I still really have no idea if that’s right. I think the matchup is pretty bad on the draw, which was certainly a factor, since I felt like this hand could win if I drew a Forest, and really if I draw any of my ten untapped green sources on turn 1, I think I’m a pretty big favorite. The third game here was another where I really thought I was winning that just got away from me. It’s scary playing against G/W Devotion when I know what that deck is capable of.

My hand in the first game was weak enough that I’m not surprised that I lost, even if I made it look interesting for a little while. Turn 2 Goblin Rabblemaster is pretty great.