Justice Replaced by Revenge

Last weekend was the Kentucky Open. It is usually one of the bigger tournaments besides other countries Nationals before USA Nats. In the past it has set up metagames for Nationals and some awesome decks have come from the tournament, the UGW Blink deck to name one. So my friends and I head there after testing all week with our decks. I felt that 5cc was one of the stronger decks entering the weekend. It has a good game against Kithkin, Elves, and aggrobased decks, while can still battle the mirror and Faeries matchup.

Saturdays tournament was less than stellar for me so I won't talk too much about it. I ended up dying round 6. My 2 losses on the day were to 4 color cascade control and Elves. I thought I had kept a fairly solid hand game 2 against the cascade control, but could not find a runed halo in time before I was taking 6-7 damage from anathemancer. Liliana Vess also destroyed me game 1. Was not expecting that card at all. Against Elves it was very close. Game 3 I had reset his board with a volcanic fallout, but the next turn he was able to make a bunch of dudes again. I drew 2 cards deeper and found a firespout. Mind you he had double Elvish Archdruid out. So I cast firespout thinking I was good, until he activates his land and out pops another Archdruid. The ultimate blowout. I was a manaoff of being able to play cryptic command and that was game. My next card was Hallowed Burial, so seeing that card was definitely a dagger in my side.

Sundays PTQ was a bit different. We had all planned to wake up around 630 and get ready and head to the tournament site. I wouldnt say I had the best sleep because I kept waking up and texting with a friend and then a kid's mom called him drunk at 3am wondering where he was. So I woke up in panic mode and it was 830. I woke everyone up and we were out of the room quick. We show up to the tournament site only to find out we were the first ones there. The tournament didnt start until 11am, which most start at 10am. So we had a bunch of time to waste. I played the same deck as the day before. Here is the list for reference.

Bryan Mohr
5th Place - Kentucky - Louisville - 7/19

Main Deck
61 cards
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Exotic Orchard
3 Island
3 Mystic Gate
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Sunken Ruins
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Marsh
3 Vivid Meadow
27 lands
1 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Broodmate Dragon
3 Mulldrifter
1 Platinum Angel
7 creatures
3 Broken Ambitions
2 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Cryptic Command
1 Doom Blade
4 Esper Charm
2 Firespout
3 Hallowed Burial
2 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Obelisk of Alara
3 Runed Halo
2 Volcanic Fallout
27 other spells
Sideboard
1 Banefire
2 Celestial Purge
4 Great Sable Stag
1 Identity Crisis
1 Pithing Needle
1 Planar Cleansing
3 Plumeveil
2 Volcanic Fallout
15 sideboard cards

Round 1 I played against Joseph Wildermuth playing GW Little Kid deck.
The only thing I worry about in this matchup is when he resolves Gaddock Teeg or Wilt Lead Liege. If I can take care of those threats I am golden. Game 1 I blew him out, also he didnt see any green sources. Game 2 he had a pretty insane draw of 2 land and dudes. He was able to kill me before I could find a hallowed burial. Game 3 was back and forth. After I had Burialed he played a Cloudgoat Ranger, which I had a firespout for. Then I dropped a Broodmate Dragon and was off to victory. 2-1 (1-0)

Round 2 I played against Rj Epperson playing 5 Color Control
Game 1 he missed land drops 4 turns in a row. This is usually bad for the mirror. I was able to resolve a Cruel and get some dragon beats in. Game 2 I rode Great Stable Stag for a while, until he was able to clear them away. He resolved an Obelisk and started shooting me. I had drawn a banefire, but was trying to attack with a Drifter and Dragon into his Wall of Reverence and hope he would kill off a guy with the Obelisk then I could dome him for the win. I was always 1 short of being able to kill him. He resolved 2 Cruels and we were off to game 3. I opened with turns 3 and 4 Great Stable Stags and rode them to Victory. From what I was told he had kept in a bunch of bad cards. 2-1 (2-0)

Round 3 I played against Mike Bennett playing GW Little Kid.
We got deckchecked this round and we were both good to go and off. Game 1 and 2 were blowouts for both of us. Game 3 He had a Teeg which I pulsed. He had another Teeg. I had the Doomblade. I drew some cards. Countered his Colossus and then Crueled his hand away. I played a Dragon and started beating. It was close. but he couldnt keep enough pressure on me.
2-1 (3-0)

Round 4 I played Justin Warbington playing Elves!
Game 1 he starts comboing off and I respond with a volcanic fallout and blowout his board. He starts rebuilding his hand. Turn 7 I dropped a Platinum Angel and he scoops them up since he has no maindeck answer. Game 2 was pretty similar to game 1 except I cleared his board twice with Hallowed Burial. Then resolved a Broodmate Dragon and got to work. 2-0 (4-0)

Round 5 I played against Chad Page playing Elves!
Game 1 and 2 of this round were like Deja vu of round 4. Platinum Angel got there again. And game 2 was all about the board sweepers. It was funny because the guy was next to me the round before and had said something about hoping I would never draw Platinum. I mean he did get a turn 3 primal command on me, but never could fully combo me. 2-0 (5-0)

Round 6 I played againt William Kerns playing Kithkin
If I won this round I would be able to draw in the next 2 so no pressure here, plus it was a favorable matchup. He also thought I was playing Kithkin and got very sad when I dropped a vivid turn 1. I missed a few land drops against him. Had a well timed doomblade and firespout. He played some more dudes and I tapped him down a couple turns. Drew some cards until I could find a Hallowed Burial. Played Burial and Broodmate and was off to the races. Game 2 was similar to the first except I always had removal for him. 2-0 (6-0)

Round 7 I drew with George Taylor playing Elves!
We were the only undefeated players left so we played it safe and drew. I kind of wanted to play as I had been dominating the matchup all day and I wanted some justice from the day before as he had knocked me out from the Open. ID (6-0-1)

Round 8 I drew with Jared Sharp playing 5 Color Control.
I had the highest breaks so I thought about playing him so I could position myself against an Elves player and avoid the mirror. He asked me to draw so I accepted and chilled until the top 8. ID (6-0-2)

Quarterfinals of Top 8 I played Justin Brown playing 5 Color Control
Game 1 was pretty epic. We played draw go for the first 20 turns. At the end of his turn I decided to try and flash in a Bogardan Hellkite. He let the dragon resolve. He had 2 plumeveils to block the dragon. My hand was pretty weak as far as counter magic went. Broken Ambitions is not as good as Cryptic Command haha. So he attempts to Cruel I attempt to Cryptic, he shows Cryptic I play broken to at least tap him out and would leave me with 1 card in hand after the cruel. I play Cruel the turn after and he has 1 card left which is obviously Cruel. I ripped a Cruel off the top played it and returned Platinum Angel. I honestly was drawing dead at this point. I had 1 Broken Ambitions in hand and 1 Mulldrifter plus 5 lands left in my deck. I knew he had a Hallowed Burial on the bottom of his library from an earlier clash. He also had a cryptic command and bounced my Platinum Angel during upkeep and I died.
Game 2 was not as good. I played a Great Stable Stag. Got in with it a few turns. He played his own. Then played a Jace Followed by Ajani Vengeant. The Planeswalkers literally destroyed me this game. I couldnt keep up with their advantages on me. So I lost and got 5th place. Justin ended up winning the tournament. His deck was really solid and the board was very good against the mirror. I definitely will be playing Jace over Mulldrifter as the pros outweigh the cons. I think I will be playing negate in my board again as well as Ajani Vengeant. I think 5 color is going to be one of the top decks again and feel the deck needs to advance towards being able to beat control. Im taking a break this week from playing and watching some Nationals coverage. Hopefully the field changes a little bit and there is a breakout deck.