13SEP2020 

Mardu Feather's Last Flight standard 

I suppose this final and last standard tournament is bittersweet for me, not sure if its unnatural to form bonds or appreciation for fine luxurious cardboard rectangles however this marks the end of a wild a crazy ride for one of my favorite magic the gathering arch types and cards.  Being inspired to try out Mardu with the hand control aspect (Drill Bit, Duress and friends) and exiling my opponents creatures via Dire Tactics I thought to give it a go.

First round was up against a an opponent of decent skill who was playing white weenies, I've played against various iterations of the decks and was able to prey of its weaknesses while playing to Feather's strengths.  Drill bit and Shock allowed me to dominate the first match; despite caputuring my tenth district's and several dreadhordes my Lavabrink and Feather did admirably.  Second match was a bit of an odd match, getting nearly all my creatures exiled, destroyed or snared Glass Casket ect Vampire of the Dire Moon went down on turn one and lived for the entire game- anytime my opponent tried to capture/kill/or exile I had an answer- she finished the game as a 8/8. In a more drawn out and slower game than the first I won as the Vampire proved too much.  2-0.  Round 1 win

Second round was against the same Izzet opponent as last week, the deck is built around prowess with dragon sprite and other support; the first game was close as my opponent had answers to all my creatures and I got drew into many lands and few creatures.  In the end giving lifelink to Tenth district became too much.  1-0.  Second match went better than the first, sideboarding in more hand denial and a fourth copy of dire tactics my removal and hand manipulation worked to prefection.  I think getting my Vampire up to a 6/6 and a tenth district up to a 5/5 in one turn was brutal- I will say the three drop creature that gains +1/+1 counters each time you play a spell + doubling its power via Unleash Fury was a nice touch.  I won the second match. 2-0.  

Third game of the night was just annoying and brutual, despite drawing both shocks and using two dire tactics my opponent being able to pull multiple creatures from his deck with houndmaster was in my opinion broken as each game regardless of how many of his creatures I exiled or destroyed he had more.  The first game ended poorly via an embercleave and despite side boarding anti artifacts and even more creature removal still got out matched through all the games.  It was one of those games that just left me scratching my head- was able to remove and deal with all my opponents threats but still lost because of card advantage.  Round loss 0-2.  

Fourth game was a fun overall round for me, the first game was rough as my opponent was playing W/B control.  Enduring many board wipes and late in the game Ugin exiling all my creatures- Feather, dreadhorde and Lavabrink I was able to play another tenth, Feather, defiant strike and Samut's Sprint to end the game despite my opponent gaining a ton of life. Match win 1-0.  Second match was rough as I drew into mostly lands and my opponent gaining so much life and being able to give hexproof to dreamtrawler was rough- was board wiped twice, and my opponent gained around 18 life with dreamtrawler and the 2 cmc spell that gains 3 life and draws a card.  Match loss 1-1.  The third and final match was in my favor as I went first, shocking myself with b/r land I played duress taking 4 cmc board wipe on turn 1, turn two played Dreadhorde, turn 3 played defiant strike on dreadhored and attacked- played duress again and removed board wipe cmc while drawing Feather- played drill bit on second main and took dreamtrawler out of his hand.  Turn 4 played feather whil holding up either fight as one or gods willing.  My opponent casket the first feather after countering my gods willing- but I was able to play tenth district and pump him up twice with defiant strike and Unexpected Fangs (which also gave him a lifelink counter).  In the end my opponent could not get rid of lavabrink adventurer.  Won match and round 2-1. 

In reflecting I see the potential of mardu feather in other formats- especially in modern or pioneer- - thoughtseize is a card that seems to fit in well to the hand manipulation that black provides.  Over all aside the game against the boros card advantage on steriods the deck played exceptionally well.  The cycling lands to me were the stand out of the game; they allowed me many times to draw another card when my hand had too many non creatures or lands.  The two honorable mentions or MVP's were Drill Bit and Unexpected Fangs- Vampire of the Dire Moon was very very impressive with the deathtouch- kept the white weenie deck from swinging with a huge attack for several turns.  Samut's Sprint was such a life saver- being able to haste into hand denial or shock or dire tactic was amazing-- not sure its an essential card in other formats but did it catch people off guard and tip games in the blanace in my favor.