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I thought I'd post a thread so we can all share our experiences.

I would call my post "from the outside looking in."

I decided to play the Mirran side because I had a Grave Titan, a Frost Titan, two Mimic Vats and four Vampire Nighthawks coming in the mail with delivery confirmation, but somehow the university lost the package. I've been bitter/depressed about it most of the week. I tried not to dwell on it and put forward a competitive deck anyway. As usual, I was running Grixis (:manar::manab::manau:) colors.

I constructed the deck around Disperse, Doom Blade, Memoricide and Clone. Unforunately, I didn't have a lot of bombs because playing the Mirran side meant I had to leave out my Wurmcoil Engines and my Carnifex Demons. My biggest creatures were Steel Hellkite and Malakir Bloodwitch.

Game 1: Mirran Grixis vs. Green/Black infect.

Match 1: I lost the first game due to poison. My opponent was playing a low-budget infect deck with things like Wall of Tanglecord and Asceticism. Tangle Angler was a bit of a problem. I tried to get my planeswalkers out, but it was to no avail as eventually I reached ten poison counters. I used Memoricide to exile four Plague Stingers and two Wurmcoil Engines.

Match 2: I won this round. I knew more about what the deck did and I was a little more prepared. Sorin Markov was an absolute champ here, as he kept taking out the smaller creatures. My opponent played Corpse Cur, but it really didn't help him. I eventually got the win by swinging with Creeping Tar Pit.

Match 3: Another round that I won. I let my opponent play his Wurmcoil Engine this time, and the next turn I played Clone to give myself a copy of Wurmcoil Engine. He attacked and we traded, and then I played Whiplash Trap targeting his Wurm tokens. I brought in a Steel Hellkite and swung for lethal.

Result: 1-0

Game 2: Mirran Grixis vs. Green/Black Infect
Background: Prior to the tournament, I helped a friend build an infect deck by lending him some Virulent Swipes and a Blight Dragon. I had playtested with him before and knew his deck pretty well.

Match 1: I lost quickly to poison counters. My opponent preferred casting his pump spells after I said I had no blockers, which was generally true. I tried using Disperse, but he countered by playing Vines of Vastwood. The game lasted about four or five turns and the poison got me.

Match 2: Whiplash Trap is a surprisingly good card. I had two foils and mostly they just set in my binder. This time, they were useful. I used Memoricide on Vines of Vastwood which proved to be huge in this game. My opponent casted three Virulent Swipes on a creature, and I got seven poison. During my turn, I used Disperse to cause the Swipes to all fizzle. From then on, I controlled the board and managed to get the win.

Match 3: I didn't get Memoricide off in this game, which proved to be the difference. I got poisoned pretty early and lost the round. I don't think I had any Disperses either.

Match 4 (Casual): We decided to play another in the time before the next round and I actually won it. My opponent got mana screwed and I controlled the board once again. Malakir Bloodwitch got a Sword of Body and Mind and I was swinging away.

Result: 1-1

Game 3: Mirran Grixis vs. Lighthouse Cobras
Background: I faced a rogue deck that I had encountered the previous night at FNM. This deck revolved around Lighthouse Chronologist and Lotus Cobra. It was blue/green, which was a good matchup for me, since I had the Sword.

Match 1: I believe this was the match where my mana decided not to cooperate. I run 23 lands, but they didn't show up this time around. My opponent didn't need to take extra turns. I tried using a Clone to copy of Birds of Paradise and equipped a Sword. But then a Frost Titan came out. That was the end of that.

Match 2: I used a Clone to copy a Lighthouse Chronologist, and because my opponent used two Spreading Seas, I was able to level him up to seven. My opponent got a level seven Chronologist as well, so we were back to normal with our turns. I then controlled the board and used Memoricide on Vengevine to secure the win.

Match 3: Vengevines got off to a fast start. They beat me down before I know what was happening. My Doom Blades, Disperes and Arc Trails weren't coming and I really didn't have a chance. Fauna Shaman is probably an under-valued card.

Result: 1-2

Round 4: Mirran Grixis vs. Red Deck Wins
Background: At FNM the previous night, I faced this same player and beat her easily 2-0.

Match 1 and 2: Both games, Kiln Fiend came out early. I didn't have a Doom Blade in my opening hand either time and I kept getting bolted. Elemental Appeal went out and while I blocked the Kiln Fiend with a Necrotic Ooze, it really didn't help me. She won just as easily as I had beaten her. In the second match, I got mana screwed once again and decided to put the lands in my deck all the way up to 27. We'll see how that goes.

Result 1-3.

I placed 7th overall (yes, it was a small group) and got a Tempered Steel. I was disappointed with the result because I felt as though there were occassions when a Grave Titan or Inferno Titan would have helped. Not getting land screwed twice would have helped as well.

The all-stars of my deck were Memoricide, Clone and Sword of Body and Mind. Malakir Bloodwitch helped a little, but only as something that had flying. Protection from white didn't matter much because I never got to face any of the four decks that were playing white at our tournament.

The biggest positive was that I didn't have to pay a buy-in, because we held our event at our college which didn't require us to turn a profit since we receive funding from our student senate. Unfortunately, that won't last as Wizards of the Coast is all about the money. All sanctioned events will have to be held at shops which sell cards.

The biggest negative was that I often felt outpriced and outgunned. I saw decks that had a sizable amount of money invested in it (4 Baneslayers, 4 Vengevines, 4 Fauna Shamans and 4 Birds of Paradise, all in the same deck...which I didn't get to play). "From the outside looking in" refers to Magic: the Gathering being a game that's decided not by skill and not by experience but by the amount of money you have invested in the deck. Mythic Rares will win more often than not. The only strategy I could come up was to try and use my opponent's strength against them. It didn't always work.