Over the course of the last couple of weeks, and with advice from several community members, I had been trying to decide what to do if I ran out of funds. There were several possibilities available, but most of the suggestions I had received were the same: Don’t give up.

The overwhelming majority of the feedback I had received was to obtain two additional tickets and enter into one last Daily Event. From there, I had multiple options. The most popular choice seemed to be rebuying when Return to Ravnica was released. It was a good plan, but what would I do in the meantime if I ran out of funds this week?

Big Decision

I would also be able to write up a list of the positives and negatives of the MTGO Hero experience and a summary of all that I had learned along the way. It has been suggested that I give advice on how to prepare for the rotation, which would be another useful tool for newer players.

I will definitely have a busy month ahead, but before any of these things happen . . . I have one last battle to fight.

The Last Stand

I was able to sell two Predator Oozes for the 2 tickets that I needed to enter into a final Daily Event. After making a couple small changes to my deck, I had the list I was planning to make my last stand with.

Here is the list that I would be doing battle with:

"MTGO Hero – Last Stand Green"

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Wolfir Silverheart
• 3 Copperhorn Scout
• 4 Arbor Elf
• 4 Dungrove Elder
• 4 Elvish Archdruid
• 4 Elvish Visionary
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 3 Adaptive Automaton
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader

• Spells (10)
• 2 Green Sun's Zenith
• 4 Genesis Wave
• 4 Rancor

• Lands (20)
• 20 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Viridian Corrupter
• 1 Stingerfling Spider
• 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
• 4 Ezuri's Archers
• 3 Witchbane Orb
• 2 Ground Seal
• 3 Prey Upon

Buy This Deck

I received some feedback from Jonathan Medina of LegitMTG that I should add Stingerfling Spider to my deck. It was a good call, and I added it to my sideboard along with three Prey Upons for removal.

With my deck assembled, I once again entered into a Daily Event queue.

Standard 4-RND (Event #4310695)

Round 1 vs. W/U Delver

For some reason, my opponent attacked with his untransformed Delver and a Snapcaster Mage. I sacrificed my Llanowar Elves to trade for his Delver (a trade I will make any day), and he dropped a Geist of Saint Traft. Since he was tapped out, I was able to play Green Sun's Zenith to put a Dungrove Elder in play. I then enchanted it with two Rancors.

My opponent wasn’t able to outrace the growing threat that the Elder posed, and I won the game two turns later.

Game record: 1–0

Sideboard:

+2 Prey Upon

+4 Ezuri's Archers

+1 Stingerfling Spider

−1 Wolfir Silverheart

−3 Genesis Wave

−3 Copperhorn Scout

Game 2 – I had a very aggressive hand with multiple ways to kill. I had multiple mana-producing Elves including an Elvish Archdruid. I had Ezuri, Renegade Leader and two Rancors in my hand. I also drew into a Craterhoof Behemoth, and none of it mattered.

My opponent was able to transform his Delver immediately. Two turns later, it was equipped with a Runechanter's Pike and was attacking me for 8 in the air.

I was one turn too slow, and my opponent made me pay the price.

Game record: 1–1

+1 Viridian Corrupter

−1 Soul of the Harvest

Game 3 – Despite needing to mulligan to six cards, I felt really good about my opening hand. I played Ezuri's Archers on my first turn, and my opponent predictably answered with a Delver of Secrets.

I played Prey Upon, forcing my Archers and his Delver to fight—a battle that my Archers won—and then played more Archers.

My opponent played Geist of Saint Traft and then began assaulting me with it while protecting it with two Restoration Angels. My Dungrove Elder was never able to kill the Geist because the Geist was flickered every time I tried to block it. I ran out of gas, and his endless supply of flyers beat me down.

Game record: 1–2

Match record: 0–1

This was just another case of Delver being Delver. My hand in the second game was great, and it was still owned by one creature. The last game felt like a solid defensive hand, but with Elves, you don’t want to be playing defensively. I was never able to put pressure on my opponent, and he walked all over me as a result.

Round 2 vs. Naya

The two Rancors and Genesis Wave in my hand went unplayed as I was never able to recover. Another GG goes to Bonfire of the Damned. Thank God for miracles!

Game record: 0–1

Sideboard:

+2 Witchbane Orb

−2 Genesis Wave

Game 2 – My opponent played Birds of Paradise followed by a Sword of Feast and Famine. Fortunately for me, I had to mulligan to six and was having a slow start. That meant that I was able to discard several really great cards as his Birds hammered my face with a Sword. That was one strong Bird!

Game record: 0–2

Match record: 0–2

Wow . . . I was totally obliterated this round. Murphy’s Law strikes again!

Wrapping Up

I was supposed to be mounting an amazing comeback, but I decided to go crashing down in flames instead. Upon reflection, it may not have been the best decision to make because it definitely didn’t pay off in the end.

With more than a month remaining until the release of Return to Ravnica, I decided that I would give Pauper a try. I wanted to be able to keep up my fight for as long as possible. It seemed like the right thing to do, and it would give me material for my next months’ worth of articles.

I began checking out the trade bots to find out how many tickets I would be able to get for my deck. Unfortunately, I was quite disturbed by my discoveries.

Apparently, I had waited too long to sell the cards in my deck that would soon be rotating. The total that I would be able to gain from selling off my deck was around 13 tickets. I had expected nearly that much from the sale of the Green Sun's Zeniths alone. That would barely leave me with enough tickets to buy a cheap deck. There was no way I could buy into a Daily Event, which meant there would be no Pauper for MTGO Hero.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Since I will not be battling it out in Pauper, I decided that next week will be a great time to do an examination of the series and go over the lessons I have learned along the way. I think it will be a good time to point out the mistakes I have made on my journey so that others might learn from them. It will help the series in the future to put together some best practices as well.

From there, I will be looking into possible deck choices post rotation and I hope to receive advice from members of the community that I can ponder before I make my decision.

By the time that Return to Ravnica releases, I plan to be more than ready, with the ambition and attitude that it will take to succeed. I plan to make the most of my next round of MTGO Hero.

I may have lost this battle, but the war is far from over.

Until then,

– Tangent was here . . .