2023 July Monthly

After getting pushed by a week on account of tornado warnings and torrential downpour, the second installment of the Montreal Premodern monthly meetup took place.

This is the breakdown of the meta:
2 Sligh
2 RG Goblins
1 UR Devourer
1 Stasis
1 Draconought
1 Suvivalness UG Madness
1 Landstill
1 Junk Oath

I started the evening with a bye on account of having 9 players. Fabio, our beloved high-school teacher, informed us that 2 of his students were coming, but were running late. Turns out he started a Magic club at the school, and has been grooming the next generation of Premodern enthusiasts. When late-comer, 17-year old Ardriano showed up, his teacher handed him a shiny Goblins deck to face yours truly on Junk Oath.

A lengthy game one ensued, mostly because he kept a land-light hand, and I gallantly chose to not mull to an Enlightened Tutor or Oath, in order to not scare the newcomer. At least that’s what I tell myself. Game two was us collaborating on how to kill me together after I Deeded his board away right after he played Ringleader, which revealed a Matron and a Piledriver. He played Warchief and got me down to 15. I played a second Deed and passed back. He then played a Matron and said he would tutor for Lackey with one card in hand. I paused and did a bit of calculus: The round was over, but we were given extra time on account of starting late. I wanted to help this young player to understand how powerful his deck is in preparation for his next 2 matches. So I told him to tutor Piledriver. He played the first one from his hand and was about to go to combat. I reminded him about the reduction from Warchief and told him to play the other one. He alpha striked me, did the math, and exclaimed: “Wait, that’s lethal?” Clearly befuddled, he extended the hand, thanked me for the lesson, and extended the hand again. I may have lost 0-2, but the moral victory is mine.

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Goblin Warchief
1RR
Creature — Goblin Warrior

2/2

Goblin spells you cast cost {1}
less to cast.

Goblins you control have haste.

"They poured from the Skirk Ridge
like lava, burning and devouring
everything in their path. "
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Round two saw me paired up against Mark on Draconought, which is exactly what it sounds like: Dreadnought with Erratic Explosion and Draco. Game one went to Mark pretty fast, as I got down to 16 life from painlands and fetches. In game two, he comboed me again in down to 1 life. I plowed his Dreadnought and he went to 29 life. After an uphill battle, where I had to Plow a Treetop to survive Bolt, I went the distance using Treetop beats and 3 soldier tokens from my sideboard Decree. I spent most of game three at 1 life after getting comboed again, but was hiding behind COP: Red and Dust Bowl, destroying his red sources. It was a real slugfest: I rallied with Sylvan Library to be able to hardcast a Nishoba, but we went to time and eventually drew. I remarked that it felt like I’m playing a really bad Parfait deck, to which Mark replied: “So is everyone else.”

Round three, I got another bye. Turns out one of the players had dropped, so I spent the time taking photos and watching Devourer versus Sligh. Over at the other table, the student would face his teacher, and I don’t know what it is, but there is something wholesome about hearing one player referring to the other as Mr. C (Ardriano said he couldn’t bring himself to call his teacher by his first name). When the dust settled, newcomer Mikao took it down with Devourer, and Fabio won the teacher of the year award.