WINNING THE THUNDER JUNCTION ARENA OPEN!!!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Arena Open! In this Draft tournament on MTG Arena, I need to reach 4 wins before getting 2 losses in order to win the grand prize of $2000! It's high stakes limited and there's no margin for error, so I use all my focus and go into full tryhard mode! Can I pull off a flawless run? Watch the video to find out, then let me know what you think in the comments!
Learn to Draft Outlaws of Thunder Junction by watching my Draft Guide: • OUTLAWS OF THUNDER JUN... ! I include Top Commons, Archetype Overviews, and everything else you need to know!
Subscribe for more MTG videos: www.youtube.co...
Support my channel via Patreon: / nicolaibolas !
Patrons gain access to my Outlaws of Thunder Junction Tier List, so you'll be able to see my thoughts on all the cards!
Watch me play live on Twitch: / nicolaibolas !
Hit the Follow button so you can catch the stream!
Discuss all things MTG on the NicolaiBolas Community Discord server here: / discord
Read my MTG strategy articles here: blog.cardspher...
Buy NicolaiBolas Merchandise here: nicolaibolas-m... !
From T-Shirts to Mugs there’s plenty of cool NicolaiBolas themed stuff available!
#OutlawsOfThunderJunctionDraft #MTG #MTGArena

[@NicolaiBolas]

Do you enjoy watching me play Arena Open tournaments and other, "high stakes," Magic events?

[@yom1839]

Yep

[@alekseytikhomirov7679]

I don't understand why u often play creatures before attack (not against blue decks) :)

[@kekspector4585]

Really love these vids. Probably some of my favorite. Watching a high level player play and hear their commentary. I love how unfiltered it is. I like that you keep things to the point and don't seem to feel the need to add unnecessary fluff. Been enjoying these games!

[@NicolaiBolas]

I appreciate the kind words and I’m so glad you’re enjoying my videos!

[@yom1839]

Those last games were nothing short of unfortunate. Fantastic deck nevertheless, well done Nicolai

[@NicolaiBolas]

I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you liked the video!

[@voltmatt]

Unlucky last game Nicolai! It happens. Deck looked awesome. Cashing is always a #success

[@NicolaiBolas]

Cashing always feels great, especially once I've had a little time to move past the pain of defeat! I'm fortunate that I got some wins before that last game happened because that could have happened in round 1 or something and that would've been much worse.

[@dominichey2475]

That's magic baby!

[@NicolaiBolas]

For sure! Now that I've had time to think about it I'm at peace with how things went down in the end. It happens!

[@AllTop507]

Didn't even get to see the sword. Damn.

[@NicolaiBolas]

Yeah, the sword would have been cool! I don't think it would have been particularly helpful in the games I lost though.

[@AustinOrecchio]

I really went through it with ya on these last few games, well played, you're still putting up numbers consistently!

[@NicolaiBolas]

Thanks for the kind comment!

[@brianh5844]

Great run, congratulations! *Dumb stuff that doesn't apply because I didn't look at the situation closely enough but am saving for the historical archives:* [[Around 59:57 where you clear shot the Vadmir, I wonder if you're supposed to attack with Paladin and then trash the town to draw 2, leaving up 2 mana. If you draw a land you get to clear shot anyway and spend your mana much better that turn, and you're more likely to have double red for caught in the crossfire and calamity. Now you didn't end up having a land in your top 2 anyway, but you did have a throw from the saddle! So you could have done that and been 2 cards deeper. Then maybe you do draw the land next turn, get to clear the board with caught in the crossfire, and have clear shot for their Roxanne and it's a whole different game. I hope you don't mind my providing feedback like that. I know it was a tough loss but I really like looking over games like that to see if there's anything that could have been done better. Sometimes, it is the case that it's just a bad beat and we couldn't have helped it. But at other times, we get unlucky and yet we still have a chance to win with an alternate line that might have been better. Even though it sucks to acknowledge mistakes, for me that feels a lot better than the notion that my fate was entirely outside of my control (which sometimes is the case, but less often than we assume).]] I might still be wrong of course, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Congratulations again on the run. I had a 4-0 start in day 2 and then went 0-2 from there, which, let me tell you, felt pretty bad as well. In my case, I drafted a bit weirdly and made some errors in deckbuilding. I also drew *extremely* poorly, but honestly there was one game that was winnable if I built the deck better, and who knows what would have happened if I had drafted differently (I do think you navigated the draft extremely well).

[@brianh5844]

@@StepanZhulin Ah. I figured I must have been missing something. I go through these hitting right arrow skipping every 10 seconds to save time. Probably should have looked at the situation more closely before writing a few paragraphs about it 😅. I saw 4 lands untapped and a paladin in play and just assumed it could attack...

[@NicolaiBolas]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the run, and it's cool that you took the time to analyze the line even though it turned out to not be possible. I'm pretty sure when I was watching back my games the same thing happened to me for a second where I wondered if I should've attacked before realizing it wouldn't work. Sometimes plays make the most sense in the context of a particular game and how it has played out to that point instead of simply analyzing an isolated board state. It's nice to see you engaged with it that strongly!

[@heromaster4200]

Honestly it’s kind of nice to see no matter how good you are you can always get mana screwed. Makes me feel better about my drafts! Still always helpful hearing your decision making process in-game. Still a #success

[@NicolaiBolas]

I’m glad you enjoyed the video! Hopefully next time I’ll have perfect mana the whole way through, but games like that certainly happen to us all!

[@UninformedProduction]

Losing games due to flood and then starvation is extremely tilting lol

[@NicolaiBolas]

True. At least I was able to still win a prize though, so that's a silver lining! If I'd gotten unlucky at the beginning instead of the end I would have won nothing.

[@SolidSinn]

Yooooo was waiting for day two pog!

[@NicolaiBolas]

I'm glad to hear it!

[@SolidSinn]

Man great deck I don’t think there was much you could do at the end. The clear shot play maybe and the peddler 🤔great video, stream on twitch more!! The deck was just missing Stoic Sphinx 🤣 that deck was insane.

[@Wemfs]

Hey, $500 is better than nothing! Sucks about the unlucky games, but it happens.

[@NicolaiBolas]

It's certainly better than nothing! In retrospect I'm glad that if I had to get unlucky that it happened at the end instead of the beginning, because this way I still got a prize!

[@aaronlindo6853]

P2P11 I'm speccing on Annie Joins up for sure. You already had 3 pieces of fixing and you already had a duelist. And your commentary was right you probably never want 2 of it. you play the one for Magda if you need another 2 drop. Pack 3 there were 3 on color deserts for the white splash. Joins up with magda is great, joins up with Calamity is absurd (of course you didn't know you were getting that one but it was a free speculative pickup anyway). P3P6 I'm taking gold rush. Both as a potential treasure for magda and the mana fixing for joins up. You already had dance and another one on the wheel coming. People don't often play around gold rush sometimes it's quite good.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I tend to be more conservative with splashes and I don't think Annie Joins Up is a card that reached the threshold for me to want it.

[@kipromero9472]

Deck looked very solid, opponents simply drew well...unfortunately thats how magic goes sometimes.

[@NicolaiBolas]

I also had nonfunctional draws in that last match, but I agree that it's simply how Magic goes sometimes! I'm glad I was able to get some wins before it happened!

[@TheRancorking]

You did better than my luck would have gotten me. I think you did amazing for what fate brought you. #Success!

[@NicolaiBolas]

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you liked the video!

[@dtelad11]

Oof, what a letdown. Deck is amazing and you played well.

[@NicolaiBolas]

It happens! At least I got a couple wins before poor fortune decided to strike. I appreciate the kind words!

[@findingdemo]

#success Great video, just such bad luck at the end. Nothing you could have done. Keep up the good work!

[@NicolaiBolas]

I appreciate the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@tychoMX]

Man, rough couple of games at the end. Sorry mate!

[@NicolaiBolas]

It's all good! At least they happened at the end instead of at the beginning!

[@JJSlim]

Better luck next time bro

[@NicolaiBolas]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

[@Mark-cy4us]

Tough losses at the end. Sad that you never got to pull off Calamity or use the Sword.

[@NicolaiBolas]

It would have been cool to try the Sword. At least I got a couple wins though, so it's still a successful event!

[@TMGTCG]

18 lands seem good in OTJ?

[@NicolaiBolas]

I think it can be good in the right deck. I think this deck could go either way because I had lots of ways to search up extra lands once I got to 3 mana but I also had a decent number of expensive cards.

[@lukektelfer]

40:37 was that a sorcery speed Clear Shot in the arena open? Who are these people? 😕

[@NicolaiBolas]

It is a way to play around me having instant speed interaction of my own.

[@brianh5844]

Top 100 mythic player here. I probably clear shot at sorcery speed about as often as I do it at instant speed. Now, maybe I should be doing it at instant speed more, but it's a massive blowout to clear shot and have your creature removed in response or have a trick invalidate the clear shot and then chump attack. While you might be able to get a 2 for 1, you are at more risk at getting 2 for 1'd yourself. There's a lot of variables to consider, but depending on the board state, it's sometimes simply not worth the risk and it's better to take the 1 for 1 exchange that lets you attack for more damage that turn instead of holding it up as a response. My guess is it's a more common mistake to use clear shot at instant speed when it should have been done at sorcery speed than the other way around. In this specific situation though, opponent wasn't worried about that so much as they wanted to attack with their 3/3. If they do clear shot pre-combat, they get to send for an extra 3 damage. They don't set themselves up for a possible blowout (which would be countered by a snakeskin veil which was being represented) but they also get in for more damage.

[@mtreleaven]

#sucksess... That was painful. You played, RNG kicked your ass and gave them cash...

[@NicolaiBolas]

It was tough, but at least the bad variance happened after I’d already won a couple, so it’s still a good tournament for me!

[@trentonweaver3884]

How do you get a calamity passed to you? Some good luck friend! I haven’t gotten to the gameplay yet but looking like a good deck from the draft portion! 14:34

[@NicolaiBolas]

Some players really try to avoid Red in this set which means you can get passed strong Red cards from time to time. It definitely felt great!

[@thomasgrubert7819]

Ouch. Joke draws are painful even when there isn't serious money on the line.

[@NicolaiBolas]

Yeah, it was not the ideal timing. At least it happened at the end of the run instead of the beginning so I was still able to win a prize!

[@mattdoll7527]

Would you recommend traditional or premiere draft to learn to get better?

[@NicolaiBolas]

The draft portions are basically the same, but I think learning how to play best of three MTG is probably more helpful overall since it is the format for in person drafts. Sideboarded games tend to be more skillful and interesting, and no hand smoother provides an experience more akin to paper play.

[@fierocia]

bittersweet

[@NicolaiBolas]

Yep!