First tournament aftermath and first online tournament (Fall Brawl 2021)

The September Mythic Store tournament

Despite doing well in my first tournament (https://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=37573), I felt like I needed to change a few things in my deck. I had two loses during that tournament: my first game vs my good friend Mike Ducarme who played Full English Breakfast, and the finals won by Philippe Gareau who played Balancing Tings.

A week earlier, I playtested vs Mike a whole day and it felt like Parfait had a very good matchup vs FEB. I lost a few games but won the vast majority of them. So it felt like I just got unlucky to lose during the swiss rounds. As I won the rematch in the top 4, I thought that I didn't need to change anything in my deck to deal with FEB.

As the semi-finals vs Mike ended very quickly, I had time to watch the other semi-finals: Balancing Tings vs Astral Slide. I had never seen the Tings deck in action and quickly realized that I had nothing to deal with that deck in my 75. As the finals began, I experienced it firsthand. There was nothing that I could do to prevent my opponent from doing his things, and the first game ended with me feeling helpless. Looking through my sideboard, I suddenly realized that an Orim's Chant played in response to Balancing Act would prevent my opponent from playing the Anurid Brushhopper with the floating mana left from the sacrificed lands. I only had 2 Chants though, so I tried to use them wisely. The second game was a long and close one and, even if I eventually lost, it seemed like I had at least a chance. So the main change I did to my sideboard was to remove the Arenson's Aura (never used) to add a third Chant. 

The Fall Brawl

Happy with my first result, I decided to try to compete in the Fall Brawl and opted for a very similar decklist:

Raphaël A. Caron

Fall Brawl 2021

*Oath Parfait*

– Tax/Rack Engine –

4 Land Tax

3 Scroll Rack

1 Sylvan Library

1 Zuran Orb

– Parfait Redundancy –

4 Enlightened Tutor

3 Argivian Find

2 Sterling Grove

1 Replenish

– Oath Package –

2 Oath of Druids

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

1 Phantom Nishoba

1 Greener Pastures

1 Gaea's Blessing

– Alternate Kill –

1 Sacred Mesa

1 Jester's Cap

– Removal and Silver Bullets –

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Humility

2 Aura of Silence

1 Seal of Cleansing

1 Ivory Tower

1 Armageddon

1 Phyrexian Furnace

– Mana Base –

4 Mox Diamond

11 Plains

1 Forest

3 Undiscovered Paradise

1 Serra's Sanctum

1 Archaeological Dig

1 Riftstone Portal

– Sideboard –

1 Engineered Plague

1 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer

1 Aura Fracture

3 Orim's Chant

1 Ivory Mask

1 Tormod's Crypt

1 Abolish

1 Funeral Pyre

1 Karmic Justice

3 Defense Grid

1 Replenish

There's only one difference in the maindeck: I wanted to try Riftstone Portal and removed Crystal Vein to do so. Not that Crystal Vein was bad, but it was the safest land to remove.

The interest in Riftstone Portal was based on the following:

- It is rather easy to put it in the graveyard (Mox Diamond, Zuran Orb, Armaggedon, Oath of Druids and end of turn discard);

- It allows my Undiscovered Paradise to tap without being returned to my hand;

- It allows Serra's Sanctum to produce mana even if I don't have any enchantment in play;

- It makes getting green mana easier.

The sideboard was also changed from the previous tournament in this way:

+1 Orim's Chant (to fight Balancing Tings and some combo decks in general)

+1 Aura Fracture (more efficient than Arenson's Aura to destroy multiple enchantments)

+1 Abolish (against Prison decks that play Aura of Silence)

+1 Funeral Pyre (probably better than Phyrexian Furnace vs creatureless decks, and to trigger Oath)

+1 Karmic Justice (vs Pernicious Deed mostly)

-1 Engineered Plague (1 felt enough)

-1 Pariah (Oath is probably enough vs aggro)

-1 Arenson's Aura

-1 Aura of Silence

-1 Phyrexian Furnace

I ended up with a 5-3 record, winning vs Suicide Black, Goblins, Turtle Splash, Pox and Deadguy Ale, but losing to Survival Elves, OathStill and Pink Prison.