Intro
This weekend I won the Year of the Gods #3 tournament hosted by 
Going into YOTG, I thought I was going to do well for the first few rounds but lose to a pro later on, as I have before. I have played in a lot of tournaments but I haven’t put up great results. Historically, I’ve always lost against pros, [CUJO] Clutch in the 8M Main Event, [8M] Fastexe in the CUJO Love-a-BOWL, and [8M] sambam in YOTG#2. However, I do well on the weekend ranked with a few top 10s under my belt, and I have won a handful of twitch streamer tournaments on bonkthatbonk, gimmersong, and jomigloy channels. Also, Fakemews had me winning in his prediction bracket. So I had a good chance of taking the crown in this tournament.
Tournament Format
The format for YOTG was No Genesis or Etherbots cards allowed, Single Elimination bracket so if you lose you’re out, Best of 3 matches with the finals being Best of 5, and you must win with different gods so if you win with War match 1 you can’t play War again.
For the semi-finals and finals, YOTG has a competitive mode where players each are given a guaranteed match going first. They are allowed to forfeit and re-queue until they go first. The third match and on are randomly assigned 1st/2nd by the game like normal. This prevents players from getting very unlucky and going second the entire round and players can strategize what decks to play going first or second and counter pick their opponent’s choice.
For example, I am given the pick to go first, so guaranteed I’m going first I can pick Aggro War, a very strong deck going first. If my opponent is going first, then they are likely to play something like Zoo Light or Aggro War, so I can counter it with Midrange Nature.
Decks
All the decks are based on decks I would play on the weekend ranked sub the genesis cards. Since they don’t have any genesis cards, they’re relatively budget. I choose the decks which I was familiar with, were strong in the meta, and ran powerful cards I had. I only had a few decks planned for YOTG. My decks were all aggro since I don’t play control at all. Since genesis was banned, there were very few control decks around. The tournament meta was mainly light and deception with some war, nature, and magic pocket picks.
Deck queueing is a niche skill that only comes up in Bo3/5 matches. Knowing what decks you can play, what decks your opponent could play, and thinking what’s the best order to pick decks based on this is critical to tournament success. Fakemews goes over this in great detail in his P2E#3 postmortem. I have a small range of decks to play and most of my opponents weren’t scoutable, so I didn’t think a lot about deck queueing.
Hidden Rush Deception
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The hidden rush deck was adjusted from my weekend ranked deck which you can read about here, which I got from [tst] mudman and [tst] Apollo. I ran it again this weekend for 20/25, so I’m feeling pretty good about the deck. Shadow of Lethenon and Orfeo were powerful cards that I had and gave me an edge. Some decks just lose to Dark Knives on Shadow of Lethenon and Orfeo can give me a good early tempo advantage.
I subbed the Pyramid Warden and Avatar of Deception out for Foreign Diplomat and Feral Shapeshifter. I don’t think Foreign Diplomat came up much, it’s mostly just a 2 drop guild creature to fill out the curve and for Frumentarii Instigator. The favor effect is decent at best. Feral Shapeshifter is a great 4 drop for the deck. The hidden 4/4 body is strong and the ping can be useful. It’s a good replacement for Avatar of Deception.
The deck is great against Light which I was expecting a lot of. I talk more about this matchup in my hidden rush weekend rank hive post. It is strong at going first and it can handle going second well, so it’s a good overall pick. Most gods don’t have answers for hidden creatures except Nature and Magic.
Midrange Nature
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The midrange nature deck was adjusted from Aftermath’s list. I don’t play nature often now and it hasn’t put up strong weekend ranked results, so I’m less confident in the deck. I subbed the Underbrush Boars and Avatar of Nature for Munosian Infiltrator and Porphyrion.
Midrange nature is a strong overall deck choice for the format being comfortable going first or second. The deck can handle aggro going second well, it has good creatures, relics, and removal able to contest the board. Chiron and Selena are strong against the Light and War which I can expect going second.
Aggro War
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I cobbled together the first version of this during Round 4 against Noshibe. They only played deception and nature. The score was 1-1; I won with Nature, they won with Deception, and I didn’t want to play deception into nature so I made a War deck right before the 3rd match.
I made a few changes for the semifinals and finals taken from 
Aggro War is a great pick when you know you’re going first, it is hard for any deck to handle Aggro war going first. The deck got me 2 wins when I picked it guaranteed going first.
Light
Light saw a lot of play in the tournament with it being so strong in the meta. A lot of players ran Light going first. I didn’t play Light at all except against Wispsi. I didn’t have most of the strong light cards.
Rounds
The tournament was made up of 64 players who owned a GODS NFT and signed up for it. You can see my bracket below, and you can see the full tournament bracket here. Most of the pros I was worried about got knocked out early, so I had an easier bracket until the finals, no matches against pros like Clutch, fakemews, or Vlozkill. The Core Set Refresh happened between rounds 1 and 2. The semi-finals and finals were held live on twitch.
R1 vs VicariousAzn
Nothing notable here. My opponent was Auric Gold when I faced them, if I remember correctly.
R2 vs Wispsi
Wispsi is no slouch, he hasn’t finished first in any tournaments but has put up impressive results, notably 2nd in Clash of Mortals #2 and top 32 in the 8M Main event. Unfortunately for him though, I went first in all 3 matches. He took a game off of me in the light mirror. I won with nature and light.
R3 vs Gimmersong
Gimmersong didn’t have time to play out the rest of the tournament, so he opted to have fun this round and play full diamond decks and stream it. Funny enough, we both messed up and picked decks with genesis cards for the first match.
R4 vs Noshibe
Noshibe wasn’t on my radar at all but making it to R4 meant they wouldn’t going to be an easy opponent. I wasn’t able to find the VOD of them playing and do any scouting so I opted to play the decks I’ve been running. As I mentioned before, I didn’t want to play deception into nature so I made a War deck to play the 3rd match.
Semi-finals vs Vampus
Vampus was someone I didn’t know much about but they did beat me in a streamer tournament the day before so I had to be on my toes. I wasn’t able to scout what Vampus had played earlier either. Checking what they played recently on gudecks, I see Order Light, an unusual deck in this meta. Most people would run Zoo Light normally, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to face.
Knowing I was going to go first M1, I picked Aggro War. They did opt to play Order Light. I think they were planning to counter Zoo Light. This matchup should be an easy one, Light has no board wipes so it has a tough time fighting against an established board, although with a good hand Order Light has enough cards to slow the game down. I didn’t have the greatest hand but I made do with what I had. The early game wasn’t great, Vampus was able to slow me down. But they bricked on turn 4 and were losing board control. I was able to go wide and run them over.
Not sure what they would play going first, I chose my comfort pick Hidden Rush Deception. It has a great matchup against Light and can contest Aggro War. Vampus decided to play Order Light again, not too sure what their plan was this time going first. Deception into Light would be another easy matchup, Light can’t answer hidden creatures and my deception deck is battle-tested against Light on the weekend. They passed turn 1 and weren’t able to take the initiative. I had a strong start being able to curve out well. Vampus put up a fight but wasn’t able to overcome my early lead.
You can watch the match here at 01h24m40s, the timecode messes up the embed video.
Finals vs [NVS] Devoted
Devoted was my final opponent, one of the pros I was worried about. A very strong opponent, with multiple tournaments tops, one of those being YOTG#1, and having a killer weekend ranked record. Devoted could be playing anything, they play both aggro/control and every god regularly. Against [NVS] Disreputable, they played light going first and deception going second. I had no idea what their queue order was going to be so I chose to stick with what I’ve been playing. The finals were Bo5 and I had the same 3 decks I have been running for the entire tournament.
With the pick to go first, I picked Aggro War again. Knowing I picked war in the semi-finals, Devoted choose Midrange Nature. The deck was a great pick into aggro war. This was not going to be a cakewalk. I had a decent start with Enduring Shield and some 1 drops. Devoted was able to fight back a bit early but they bricked on turn 3 and I was able to keep board through enduring shield. From there, I was able to keep up the pressure and win the match on turn 6.
Going second, I expected Devoted to play Light which most people have chosen when going first, so I took a page from their book and queued Midrange Nature. As I have mentioned, Midrange can control the board well so it should be able to stop Light from overwhelming me. Devoted had a slow start and couldn’t take the lead on board control. Then I got a Staff of Roots to clear their board and go wide. After that, they couldn’t stick a creature on board and bricked hard. That was one of the very few matches where Light went first and lost.
For matches 3 and on, we don’t get to pick to go first anymore and are randomly assigned 1st/2nd by the game like normal. Knowing this, I pick Hidden Rush which can handle going first or second well. Devoted queued control magic which hard counters my hidden rush, seeing that I’ve always played it. I have a slim chance of winning this matchup if everything goes in my favor. Unfortunately, I go second and they have the early Lightning Talisman that completely wrecks me. The writing is on the wall on turn 7 and I concede.
Not sure what Devoted could be playing, they could play Midrange nature to try and counter my hidden rush or play midrange deception they did in the semi-finals. I ran deception again confident I could eke out a win, I couldn’t go 0-3 with the deck and get reverse swept. Right? They ended up playing midrange deception. I don’t know what their plan was but this could go either way. Devoted goes first, not what I want to see in the mirror. The opening was tough, we’re both playing hidden creatures and keeping them hidden waiting until the opportune moment. I have the more aggressive deck so I need to apply pressure before the late game. I take the initiative and start hitting face. The game is close, Devoted is putting up a fight and getting low while I’m running low on cards. I empty my hand and keep hitting face. Frontlines in my way, I kill the Inconspicuous Carriage and hide the Guild Enforcer, letting my Vault Vagabond copy a Witherfingers from the top of his deck. Devoted lays out his hand, Witherfingers is the last card in hand. I topdeck a Frumentarii Instigator drawing me 3 cards from the other guild creatures in hand, I Stoneskin his Guild Enforcer and my Switch Duelist puts him down to 6. My board gets cleared by Devoted but I have lethal. I know Devoted’s only card in hand is Witherfingers, if I play Feral Shapeshifter and take Valka’s Discovery from the sanctum it will guarantee me lethal next turn if he doesn’t play another frontline. The Witherfingers in his hand won’t matter since I can wake up my Shapeshift with Valka’s, cheat his Guild Enforcer, and play Dark Knives for lethal. I completely miss this line and don’t take the Valka’s from the sanctum. Witherfingers gets played by Devoted but they take the Valka’s. I can take Valka’s here and win but the rope and my nerves get to me and I forget about the Valka’s, I hide my Shapeshifter and the turn ends. I still have a chance if he can’t clear my shapeshifter but he does, puts me down to 13, and I’m against the wall. But I recover with the stolen Witherfingers putting his board to sleep and putting it on the line. Devoted has an out getting Uncanny Rogue to give deadly to his Dart Maniac and kill my Witherfingers, lucky he doesn’t draw it. I clear his front line and finish him off. It was down to the wire but I made it through even though I made a couple of misplays.
You can watch the match here at 03h05m40s.
Conclusion
It was fun playing in the tournament, playing and facing a variety of decks and people. I played my matches pretty well mostly, aside from a couple of questionable plays and a few bad throws. Looking back on the matches, I got pretty lucky in some of them where my opponents didn’t draw well. The YOTG competitive mode was great, you no longer have to worry about a bad streak of going second in the finals, although I think going first almost always guaranteed a win since you could pick an amazing going first only deck. This could be changed to what other TCGs do when deciding 1st/2nd, the first match is random but the loser gets to decide for the rest of the games. Year of the Gods #3 marks the first crown of my GU career.