Tournament of n00bs (Day 6)

I am back on my losing streak of 2 games. Making matters worse is the upset I suffered today against Robin (of the Dynamic Duo). As I kept warning people, Robin's luck had to turn around sooner or later and he finally ended his 4-game losing streak with a win against me today (in fact he won the following game as well).

 

As for myself, the unthinkable scenario made an encore appearance when not 1 red mana would appear until I found a Rupture Spire and played my trusty Exploding Borders. After that, I had a shot at playing Dragon Fodder to at least get a couple of tokens on the field. Meanwhile I held in my hand several big creatures I simply could not play including a Predator Dragon and Hellkite Overlord. I eyed Robin's Manaforce Mace anxiously sitting unequipped next to a lonely 2/2 creature...

And that was when I accidentally made my fatal error.

 

With both sides extremely low on Life count, I drew the final Mountain I needed to play Hellkite Overlord. Naturally in my excitment I played its Haste ability to cut down on Robin's Life counter believing it would act as the great equalizer. But I should have been more patient. Summoning this dragon meant I was left tapped out of mana. Instead, as hindsight is 20/20, I should have noticed that the 2/2 creature on the table was actually an Artifact Creature. I should have saved my Hellkite Overlord then and instead simply played Naturalize to eliminate that threat. Then allow my tokens to cancel out his tokens as well, leaving both of us on equal footing one more turn. Then only after ensuring I had no fear of retaliation, would I play my dragons.

 

As one of the remaining Dark Horses in the tournament, Robin's win over me means I have been eliminated from the final play-off position. Not that it matter, because by winning his second match, he also ensured that others currently tied in contention for the final spot have also currently fallen out of the running as well. From here on, I play much like a bot in a video game providing win/loss records for the remaining candidates. Thankfully, I have only 1 more round-robin match up with which to endure such humiliation.

 

...at least I know what the difference is between a Sorcery and an Instant... (rolls eyes at certain players sitting around the lunch table).