First section of my tournament-report-that-no-one-wants-to-read. This one contains the deck we played!

Creatures – 6
2x Baneslayer Angel
2x Frost Titan
2x Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Planeswalkers – 6
2x Jace Beleren
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Artifacts – 2
2x Everflowing Chalice

Enchantments – 2
2x Volition Reins

Spells – 18
2x Condemn
2x Day of Judgment
4x Mana Leak
2x Negate
4x Oust
4x Preordain

Lands – 26
1x Arid Mesa
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Glacial Fortress
6x Island
4x Plains
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Seachrome Coast
3x Tectonic Edge

Sideboard
1x Baneslayer Angel
3x Celestial Purge
4x Flashfreeze
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Revoke Existence
2x Spell Pierce
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Volition Reins

Thoughts on the Deck
I spent the first week and a half after Shards rotated out looking for a build of UW I liked and getting increasingly frustrated and worried that it just wasn’t a good enough deck to take for states. Wednesday before the tournament I was stuck in a meeting and started to sketch out some new ideas on my notepad and decided I really liked it. Key points for me personally as a deck builder: deciding that Frost Titan was not godawful (anything but!) and cutting Wall of Omens completely. Wall of Omens was such a clutch card when it came out back in April, practically as automatic an inclusion as four Celestial Colonnades, but it just felt completely useless in the current metagame.

Speaking of the metagame, up until just under a day before the tournament I was intent on running two Flashfreezes in the main deck. It was stranded in my hand too much in testing other match-ups for me to be comfortable with it so I cut them at the last minute for the Negates from the sideboard. I never regretted this decision at States, even though I sided in the Flashfreezes in at least half of my match-ups.

The one change I’m making for sure before I take this to FNM this week is to add a third Condemn to the sideboard. I found myself wanting an additional condemn far too often. I think we played too many Celestial Purges by one, so that’s most likely what’s going to go for it.

Thoughts on States
Coming soon…the short version of it is that I had to play the last round because x-1’s weren’t guaranteed top 8 if they ID’d. I ended up losing my win-and-in match and finished 13th. Not bad at all I don’t think, especially given my recent layoff, which I feel safe saying has officially ended.