Standard Showdown 2019-02-03 with Axis Combo

I went for my first Standard Showdown of the new season to try out my Axis of Mortality - Lich's Mastery deck.  It was secretly also a Font of Agonies deck.  Here is the list:

https://www.mtgvault.com/nathangw/decks/standard-wb-life-swap-combo/

First round I was matched up Against a Golgari deck that looked a lot like last season's Golgari -- Wildgrowth Walkers, Jadelight Rangers, Vivien Reid, and Carnage Tyrant.  In the first game, I assembled the full combo but he had a pretty big board.  He should have won by attacking with everything, which I think would have exactly exiled all my cards except Lich's Mastery, leaving me without Axis to swap life totals.  He made a mental mistake and only did a partial attack instead, and lost.  The next two games were decided by Carnage Tyrants that I couldn't deal with effectively.  My only real answer is blocking them with Doom Whisperer.  Loss, 1-2

Second round was against a guy who essentially brought a bunch of draft deck cards.  I'm not sure why that was what he had, but his deck was Boros Aggro made of mostly commons and uncommons.  I lost the first game to a good aggressive curve.  Second game I won because he couldn't beat a Doom Whisperer.  Game 3 I got the full combo out, and he laughed with joy and ran off to tell his friend about the combo.  Win, 2-1

Third round was against Jeskai Control, again looking like a deck from last season.  In the first game I maneuvered through his Teferi and card draw and used Doom Whisperer to stack the top of my deck so that I would have access to Axis two turns in a row if he tucked it with Teferi, which he did.  I felt good about that win.  Game 2 I shifted into the aggro sideboard and surprised him with a fast hand including 2 Legion Lieutenants.  He was dead to an all-out attack on turn 4, but did he keep Settle the Wreckage in his deck after sideboard, and did he draw it?  It turned out he did, and I lost all my creatures and eventually the game.  Game 3 I kept the aggro deck because we were short on time, and I had a much worse draw.  We went to turns but he was going to win with Lyra and a Crackling Drake, so I conceded.  Loss, 1-2.

All in all, not bad but not super.  About what I expected though.  I didn't feel like Font of Agonies was very good, even with lots of ways to add counters.  Lots of games it ends up as Murder with the casting cost spread over two turns.  TCGPlayer had a 10% sale on Monday, so I pulled the trigger on 2 Kaya's Wrath and some other potential cards for the deck.  I'm leaning into the control side of the deck, and here is what my next list looks like right now:

https://www.mtgvault.com/nathangw/decks/standard-wb-life-swap-combo-2-2/

Oh, and it wouldn't be Standard Showdown without a prize pack:

This time they're recycling some promo guild-themed basic lands instead of having a unique set, but these still look good and are fun promos.  TCGPlayer has the Ravnica Weekend version of this Forest at about $12, but that can't be a realistic price if it's in SS packs now.  The same art appears in the Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits, also as a foil but with a different collector number, and it's around 75 cents.  Awaken the Erstwhile is a neat card but not a great foil, but I like the other two rares pretty well.

While I'm showing off, check out the cool dice bag my wife crocheted me for Christmas!

Thanks for reading!