SCG: Invitational Las Vegas (Standard - Mono Black & Legacy - RUG Delver 12/13/13)

Children are singing...and elves wander past...well they look like elves but they are too tall and too fat. I am 100% regretting my decision to save a few dollars on my flight. Oh no, the singing turned into Spanish...Feliz Navidad indeed. So oddly enough, my invitational adventure starts in 2012...but wait isnt it December 2013? While it was far from a breakout year 2012 definately checked off a lot of boxes on my to-do list:

- Win a PTQ (Thanks Delver!)
- Play on the Pro Tour
- Play in an SCG event (Thanks Delver!)
- Top 8 an SCG Open (Thanks Delver!)
- Crush some local tournies (Thanks Delver!)
- Play more legacy (More Delver!)
- Travel some and make more Magic friends
- Trade for more Miscuts (No Delvers :( )

Unfortunately 2013 was not quite so fruitful (from a Magic point of view). Though from a personnel standpoint - I did get engaged, buy a house with that very same special lady and buy a business. Turns out this also made 2013 a very expensive year. So travelling for Magic was tough/impossible. A good example of how little Magic I played in 2013 is that I drafted exactly twice the whole year...Fortunately for me both of those drafts were on day 2 of GP: Houston. I was pretty happy with going 2-1 in both but thats a different story.

As the year drew to an end I finally decided I would regret not making use of my invitation. That was it, I am now off to Vegas while listening to Spanish Xmas songs.

The invitational went poorly because of standard.  Long story short, I had played exactly 10 rounds of Standard in 2013 prior to the invitational. For this I had played RG Nykthos monsters at SCG: Dallas (7-3). For the invitational I choose to see how well I could do with mono black pack rat! (Answer: Terrible) The legacy portion went much better:

I played against the following:

Round 5 - UWR Delver (2-0)

I made my deck and sideboard to beat this deck.  When I reality ripple him he actually knows what it does. :)

Round 6 - Dredge (2-1)

Three close games. I dont believe in graveyard hate which makes this matchup pretty bad for me. Sometimes counterspells and a quick clock are enough to get there though. 

Round 7 - Storm (2-0)

I have played this matchup a lot and feel very comfortable with it. Highlight in game 2 when he goes to attack with xantid swarm and I tell him to hold on. I then bolt and he put swarm in the yard. Then I tell him no - "I bolt you." He takes 3 going from 11-8. Attacks with swarm...then does nothing...I untap and attack him to 5 with goose. Win that game but the soul read on him not being able to combo was awesome.

Round 8 - Dredge (1-2)

G1 - He Cabal Therapies me and sees reality ripple. A judge is called. phasing is explained. He then Cabal Therapies for reality ripple because he is not quite sure why I want that card. :)
G2 - I cast rough/tumble when he has lethal on board.
G3 - He does a bunch of Ashen Rider shenanigans to blow up 2 lands on turn 2. I never draw a red source. :(

So what did I learn? Play more legacy that's what!

Saturday I play in the standard open just for fun and I decide to stick with mono black. I drop late in the day when I could still make my money back but I want to go eat.

Sunday is legacy and this is what I am here for.

The list:

Creatures (12)

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 Tarmogoyf
1 True-Name Nemesis

Lands (18)

2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Spells (30)

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Forked Bolt
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Pierce
4 Stifle
1 Spell Snare
1 Reality Ripple
4 Ponder

Sideboard
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Gilded Drake
2 Divert
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Flusterstorm
2 Rough //Tumble

The list is pretty much basic RUG -3 Gitaxian Probe that have beecome card de jour lately and with +1 Spell snare + 1 Spell Pierce and + 1 Reality Ripple. I also trimmed a goyf for a True-Name Nemesis. This was totally untested but it didnt seem bad.

R1 UW Blade (Batterman, Daniel) 2-0

Pre-Game - I learn that he is a judge and he knows Craig Wescoe who is sitting next to us.

G1 - He starts fetching lands and I see that he is UW but I dont know til later if he is control or not. I stifle a land and play a goose who pecks for 1. He jams a SFM which I let resolve since I have the bolt and need to get threshold anyway. Kill SFM then start attacking for 3. He tries to resolve Counter Balance which I Spell Snare. He raises his eyebrows and comments on the card.

G2-  Similar to g1 except he gets an early top. I almost never fight over top in these matchups unless I have the mana free or its a good tempo play. The only card you care about them topping into is Terminus and you have stifles for those. Since I know he is on control this game I let him get all his lands and keep my stifles for his RIP and his Terminus. At some point in the game he resolves a RIP. The next turn I draw a Spell Snare but then right after that he plays SFM which gets countered and he pretty much slumps in his chair knowing he needed that to resolve.

Post Match - We speak for a little bit and he comments again on how good spell snare is. Also Craig Wescoe gets crushed by Oops all spells. 

R2 UWB Esperblade (Sardinas, Oscar) 2-0

G1 - I play a delver which flips and hits him once but then gets STP'd. Then the same thing happends with a goyf. We play draw go for a turn or two then he plays SFM getting Jitte. I land goose and tempo him out with Bolt and soft counters.

G2 - He leads with turn 1 Thoughtseize. My hand is pretty good but I have a lot of redundancy. He takes a dude and I just follow - up with another. Goose beats him from 18 life to 5life 1 point at a time. All the while I just tempo to control the game.

R3 4 C Cascade (Rembert, Isaac) 2-1

G1 - He wins the die roll and I get totally crushed. He plays the game very smartly as I put him on Shardless BUG since he never showed me red lands. I misplayed on turn 1 when I used Spell Snare to counter his Hymn rather than a spell pierce. I was thinking that I needed the spell pierce to counter his lilliana but I think the better play is to keep the Spell Snare for his Goyfs. He then proceded to play Goyf into Goyf.

G2 - I control his mana by killing lands and deathrite which really constrains what he can do. Then I land a goose and attack for 3 a turn. Now I see red and so know his mana base is even worse than BUG - Score!

G3 - I stifle his first land and land a goyf. Then I try and keep him off double any colour for the rest of the game.

Post- Game- I speak to him and some of his friends after our match. I tell him that he played very well G1 and he tells me this is his first big legacy tournament. Colour me impressed.

R4 UWB Esperblade (Wijaya, Vidianto) 2-0

G1 - I control the game by keeping him off his mana then I play a thresholded goose and attack for 3 a turn.

G2 - When he thoughtseizes me early in the game I write down the cards so I know what he is playing around - they were good ones (Goyf, Mongoose, Bolt, Ancient Grudge and Ponder). Not the most interesting game but I do get RIP'd. Major misplay - I was talking to SDMatt from The Source and not paying full attention to the game. He is mana light and plays a snapcaster mage with 1 mana open, I stifle the CIP trigger...yeah RIP is still in play. It ends up not mattering but it would have it the game went longer. I get a raised eyebrow one turn when I attack with my 0/1 goyf and before damage blow up RIP with destructive revely and crack a fetch.

Post-Game - "I hate 1 mana stone rains."

R5 Elves (Harduvel, John) 2-1

G1 -  I get killed by Craterhoof on his turn 3. Notes - Cradle is good. 

G2/G3 - These games are nail biters. I think he turn 1 GSZ all 3 games we played. G2/G3 I try to sculpt around drawing Rough/ Tumble so that I can get the most amount of value. This includes wastlanding his Bayou instead of his Dryad Arbor since I planned to Rough/Tumble the next turn. 

Post-Game - I compliment him on his miscut forest and he says how sweet my deck looks.

R6 RUG (Sidher, Ricky) 1-2

G1 -I lose the die roll and know what he is playing. Not the best matchup to lose the die roll on. He goes Volcanic Island, Delver Pass...oh great. I play land, ponder looking for removal. He natural flips off stifle and attacks. He fetches for another land. I untap play a wasteland, I have the red source and bolt in hand so now I just need mana to play around his counters. I waste on his upkeep and he uses his stifle. He attacks again and plays a ponder/brainstorm. I untap and waste and we counter war over delver. I win and the next turn I land a goose. which attacks him down to 5. My board is two goose and I am at 8. He has goyf and 5 life. He scoops up his cards one turn saying I know you have the bolt. Oh yeah...I'll take the win...

G2 -  He turn 2 LFTL's back a scalding tarn. My hand is solid but a little land light. I ponder and see Goyf, Goyf and Goose. If my green source gets wastelanded then I lose this game. I shuffle, play 2 more cantrips that game but never see another guy. He also never wastelands me. I think my play was the correct one but maybe I should just be willing to go to g3 if he has the waste and if he doesnt then I get a free win? These is definately some debate here. It is a little unluck for me not to draw any threats after 3 cantrips but oh well.

G3 - My hand is fine but just doesnt progress well and he has all of the good spells for the mirror.

Post-Game - I try to talk about g2 a little bit but he isnt too interested.

R7 UWR (Paglia, Vincent) 2-0

G1 - I tempo him out of the game. This matchup is great because you have stifle and they dont.

G2 - Same again. 

R8 DNT (Logan, Colin) 1-2

G1 - I lose game 1 but he sees TNN.

G2 - I tempo him out G2.

G3 - Ulimtely he has too many fliers and takes the game. He gives me a window to get back into the game which I take. Then the very next turn I make a wrong decision which probably loses me the game. I am a little bit frustrated but dont super tilt like my opponent does when he almost lets me back in the game. Note: Rough//Tumble is nowhere near as good as it used to be against DNT since they switched to more fliers.

R9 Elves (Yu, Jarvis K) 1-2

G1 - We get off to a bad start in this matchup to be honest. He fusses at me because of how my exiled/RFG cards are displayed while I am in the middle of resolving a Ponder. I am not very happy but comply with his request. Then we I ask him to flip his wirewoods when he uses them he flat out refuses since "there is only one in play." There is some confusion between the two of us next turn and a judge comes over to cool things off. We start playing a little more clearly and its fine. We get to a really interesting part of the game where I have a flipped Delver and Tarmogoyf x2. He has a symbiote, quirion ranger, deathrite shaman and a couple other elves. I am at 10 and he can kill me in two turns with deathrite activations but he is also dead if I have a bolt. I make the attacks each turn like I have the bolt and eventually win a game where I have just 3 lands in hand.

We get called over for a feature match which you can view below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5_viiuMen8

G2 - Yup you saw that daze correctly.

G3 - Not sure if I can sequence anything too differently to be honest. :(

All in all it was a long few days playing Magic in Vegas and I wish I could have had a few more rounds of legacy to go. I wouldn't change the main deck or the sideboard. I certainly wouldn't play mono black in Standard either.

Merry Christmas!

-Cheers-

Asylum Games: SCG Invitational Qualifier (Standard - Mono Blue 12/21/13)

After running out of steam at SCG: Las Vegas and finding out that I will not be able to make SCG: Dallas in April 2014, I decided going to an invitational qualifier would be the best way to get my next invite and/or some points to go toward an invite.

The only downside was that I would have to play standard and I had access to exactly 2 decks - Mono Black and Mono Blue. After the Invitational went so poorly with Mono Black the decision to switch was an easy one. Plus I love Islands.

My list was pretty stock though I cut the Aetherlings from the sideboard for 2 Dispels.

R1 - Mono Black (1-2)

G1 -T/S into x2 removal spells, into desecration demon, into gray merchant gets there.

G2 - I curve out and get Thassa into play.

G3 -  I get Thoughtseized and he takes a UU guy over one of my 2 Thassa's. Then I draw 2 Thassa's and he is able to kill all my guys so I can never get devotion.


R2 - UW Control (2-0)

G1 - I curve out but dont overextend.

G2 - He sphinxes and plays supreme verdicts but I just commit 2 guys at a time and keep attacking.


R3  - UW Control (2-0)

G1 - Jace + Sphinx takes over the game.

G2 - I sideboard in all the counters and they really pay off while I just tempo him out.

G3 - Dispel counters his sphinx and he dies.


R4- GRW (Chris Jabr) (2-0)

G1 - I tempo him out and kill him with Thassa.

G2 - I just jam dudes every turn and his hate isnt enough. He shows me 4 Misctutter Hydraw and 4 Skylasher after the game.


R5 - Maze's End (2-1)

G1 - He completes his set.

G2 - Dispel wins me the game when he upkeep fogs me.

G3 - Dispel wins me the game when he upkeep fogs me.

I sneak into top 8 as the 8th seed!


Quarters - UW Control

G1 - He mulls to 6 and I have an aggressive start. Eventually I get there but I am patient with my spells.

G2 - I really stumble on mana and never get to trip UUU to cast the 3 nightveils in my hand.

G3 - He keeps a loose one and I attack him to death. Despite him sphinxing for 5.


Semis - Red Sligh (Festus)

G1 - I play blue cards he cannot interact with.

G2 - I play more blue cards he cannot interact with. I end both games at 16 life.


Finals - Esper  

We chop prize and I get the invite. Thanks!

The Decklist:

Creatures (28)

• 4 Cloudfin Raptor
• 4 Frostburn Weird
• 4 Judge's Familiar
• 4 Master of Waves
• 4 Nightveil Specter
• 4 Tidebinder Mage
• 4 Thassa, God of the Sea

Planeswalkers (2)

• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

Lands (25)

• 20 Island
• 4 Mutavault
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Spells (5)

• 2 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 2 Bident of Thassa

Sideboard

• 2 Domestication
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Dissolve
• 4 Gainsay
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

Also the link to SCG:

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=62164

Not a bad day for my first time out with the deck. Islands are pretty much the best.

-Cheers-

SCG Dallas November 11 2013 - Legacy Winner Report Ty Thomason

See below for SCG Dallas November 11 2013 - Legacy Winner Report by Ty Thomason:

http://mtgbazaar.blogspot.com/

-Cheers-

2012 in Review

The announcement at the end of 2011 that Wizards would have Modern PTQ’s was a huge turning point in the amount of magic I was to play. My primary Magical interests lie in Legacy and Magic finance.  Attending PTQs, GPs and other large tournaments is something I had only ever done sparingly and when they have been convenient (read: close by). All of that would change, now that I could attend PTQs and play a format that I was actually interested in. In addition, I would still be able to buy and sell magic cards and play in my local weekly legacy events when I was not travelling for other events.

                The beginning of 2012 was a little slow for me due to being busy with a new job, which I only started at the end of the previous year.  That was also the time that Bonnie and I moved in together.  While she wasn't my first girlfriend, she was the first one I chose to live with, so I wanted to devote some time and energy to that.  Right when she moved here, she had to sit for the Texas Bar Exam.  Being an old passing veteran of that exam, I focused on trying to ease her stress during the studying months.  But as soon as she passed and secured a job, I was right back into the scene, ready for the 2012 GPs and PTQs, especially the one that would send me to the Pro Tour.

As a Houston PTQ approached I was deep in the thick of researching lists and I spent the week before the PTQ emailing lists back and forth with CHRIS ODORIZZI. There were a lot of articles being written and we both wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything. The format was still pretty raw so the anticipation to solve the format was tantalizing.

Top 8 a PTQ with Splinter Twin

At the very first Modern PTQ I played Splinter Twin. It was a last minute decision after reading several articles about the deck (several people had managed to TOP 8 PTQ’s with the deck) and just generally feeling like the deck was very well positioned. The main problem was that I had never cast a splinter twin in my magical life.

My 1 and only experience with twin was playing against it at an FNM where I had borrowed a UWB control deck from a friend to play for the evening. I remember winning the match because I sculpted my hand to be full of counter spells over the course of the game and I won because he miss-timed his fetch lands which allowed me to spell pierce with his fetch trigger on the stack.

I was x-0 in the PTQ until the 5^th round when I faced off against the mirror match. I had absolutely no idea how to play the match and ended up losing 2-0. I won the next round and ended up drawing the last round because I was playing against a guy who was locked for t8 with a draw and was also playing twin. I ran the risk of not making t8 by doing this but I was also pretty sure that my knowledge of the mirror match would be a liability in the mirror. After sneaking into t8 as the 8^th seed, I was quickly dispatched in two games by JOE BASS playing UWR Geist of Saint Traft (insert link).

I learnt some valuable lessons playing in this tournament which are still applicable to modern in 2013:

1.       Modern plays a lot like legacy but there are far fewer checks and balances. The main difference is that there is no force of will and there is no wasteland. This makes combo and multi-colour decks very powerful in the format.

2.       A lot of people will play budget decks (For 2013 expect to see Burn, Red-Black Burn, Affinity/Robots and Boogle).

3.       A lot of people will play pet decks whether they are good or not (For 2013 expect to see - Tron, Birthing Pod, Living End, Eggs, Tokens and Splinter Twin).

4.       A lot of people do not own or have access to Tarmogoyfs (this may or may not change with modern masters).

As usual the time spent before the next PTQ was occupied by multiple emails between CHRIS and me. We had a copy of JOE BASS’s list as it was in my email as a potential deck that we had highlighted the week before the Houston PTQ. Most of the week before the Lafayette PTQ I spent thinking about sideboard plans and how much I hated the Burst lightning’s in Joes deck. Sure you could sometimes kick is to kill a deceiver exarch but overall it seemed very weak.  I also wanted to think of a trump for the mirror. I knew that there would be a few people on the deck after JOE BASS did well with it. The other big break out deck from this week was the RG TRON deck that CHARLES GINDY had won a Magic Online PTQ with. I figured most people wouldn’t have seen those results yet or there wouldn’t be that many people throwing the list together.

Top 8 a PTQ and win the PTQ with UWR

The night before the PTQ Chris had asked me to pull some Ajani Vengeants for him as well as a few other cards. This was his way to overpower his opponent in the mirror and in some of the other slower matchups. While going through cards I found an old sideboard favorite of mine from when BLOODBRAID ELF was in type 2 – DEFT DUELIST. I decided that I was going to play 3 in the sideboard. I also changed the main deck burst lightning’s to forked bolts. The only other deviation was that I played 3 leyline of sanctity’s in the board.  

The night before the PTQ I played no magic and cycled 30miles and went to bed early…I also ate well throughout the day thanks in part to food packed by my girlfriend.

While making my sideboard I went around the room and looked at the decks people had sprawled out in front of them. I saw very few decks that were reliant on the graveyard so decided I would go all in on no graveyard hate. About 3 minutes before they were about to ask for deck lists someone came round asking if anyone had living ends. I made a comment to CHRIS ODORIZZI that I wouldn’t trade a living end to anyone since I had no graveyard hate in my board…I secretly hoped that there were no living ends in the room for him to find.

My deck felt like I was playing all aces to everyone else’s jacks, queens and kings. The only matchup I played that was close all day was against Storm. In the swiss I played against a transformational storm deck and in the semis I played against the same deck. Both matches went to 3 intense games. I won game 3 of the semi finals match by side boarding differently than I had every other match. There was only one card left in my sideboard that he had not seen that was potentially playable against him. The card was molten rain. I remanded his serum visions on turn 2 when he was on mountain, island/steam vents. Then on turn 3 I molten rained his island… My opponent’s eyes widened telling me that I had just won the game. He told me after the match that he would have combed the next turn turn if I hadn’t destroyed his land.

In the finals I learnt my opponent was on living end…and it was the very same player who earlier was looking for living ends. Oh crap. My 0 card sideboard was going to be awesome in this matchup.  The games were uneventful. I overloaded the board with as many dudes as possible and kept up remand where possible in the hope that I could swarm him and kill him. It worked both games while he stumbled on finding a cascade spell.

I got to call my girlfriend and tell her that we were going to Spain. This was one of the best phone calls I have ever made. She was with a group of friends who didn’t play magic and she had made an attempt to describe to them why I wasn’t at the party even they could not contain their excitement when they found out that I had won a trip to Spain.

Oh yeah I also traded for some Russian cards during the day.  

I learnt some valuable lessons playing in this tournament which are still applicable to modern in 2013:

1.       It is easy to go over the top of your opponent in sideboard games in modern; again this is similar to Legacy. There are so many cards available it is hard to sideboard against everything. I did this throughout the day with LEYLINE OF SANCTITY and DEFT DUELIST.

2.       Your sideboard is going to be weak to some matchups but if you have counter spells + aggression you can still win the game.

3.       Modern is going to have its own circular meta game cycle just like legacy does. For example - Dredge is only good in Legacy when nobody is prepared for it.

4.       Play skill and play style are very important in Modern. Since there is no obvious “best” deck (other than Jund), playing a deck which fits your play style and which you play well will win you more games than trying to solve the format (unless you can somehow break the modern format).

PT Barcelona w/ GF

Preparation for this was tough. I was busy with work and training for the MS 150 (link).

I learnt a very valuable lesson which is that I should trust my own evaluation of the format. The first time I make it to the pro tour is a very inopportune time to learn this lesson but learn it I did.

Other than that I got to draft next to Gerry T, and I played against Caleb Durward (and spoke with him about Modern/Legacy). I also met John Finkel who choked on fish when my gf started speaking to him.

Delver, Delver and more Delver

Delver is the other reason I played a lot more magic than usual in 2012. When Delver had its break out performance I played 2 tournaments over the course of the weekend and just crushed everyone. The deck was so much more powerful than what everyone else was doing it was not even funny. By being an early adopter of the deck I also gained a lot of experience in the mirrors that I would end up playing for the coming months. The skills I have learnt from many years of playing with brainstorm and ponder in legacy made the deck very easy for me to adapt to and master. I had an unfortunate run at a PTQ where I was 4-0 and whilst playing in the mirror in round 5 I made a slight play error when we were both about to go into a top deck war. He recovered quicker than I but I would have been +1 card up if I had played slightly more optimally. Basically I needed to flashback a thought scour rather than a vapor snag in order to be up 1 card on my opponent.

I also got a very encouraging text from my girlfriend when I sent her a text saying I lost in round 5. Its simplicity was what made it so poignant Spain > Seattle. 

I learnt some valuable lessons playing in this time period that are just applicable to magic in general:

1.       Sometimes your opponent will just top deck what they need and you need to be ok with that.

2.       Even when you know a deck very well new plays still crop up. Take a little bit of time and evaluate the game state if need be.

3.       Your life total matters but sometimes it matters less than you think.

4.       You can’t always win.

Overmaster

My financial purchase of the year.

TOP 8 SCG NOLA

T8 with RUG but a very disappointing exit from the t8 of that tournament.

London Holiday

This isn’t even magic related but I took my lovely girlfriend to London for a week where we ate and drank our way through the city. One particular highlight was eating at Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner the 9^th best restaurant in the world. It was worth every penny. Other notable visits included: Borough Market (a whole market just filled with food), Yotam Ottolenghi’s Otollenghi restaurant, Imperial War Museum, The War Rooms (including Churchill’s room),   

Misprints/Miscuts

Part of the reason Magic is such a huge passion to so many people is that there are so many facets to the game. As well as playing magic I also thoroughly enjoy collecting magic oddities.

Daybreak Coronet

My financial miss of the year. It wouldn’t have paid off until 2013 but you have to be patient in Magic finance.

Goals for 2013

1.       Qualify for all the SCG Invitational’s in 2013 (I am already off to a bad start on this one since flu stopped me attending Dallas SCG)

2.       Attend a Legacy and/or Modern GP

3.       Go to Vegas to draft Modern Masters

4.       Go to Gen-Con

5.       Qualify for PT San Diego and PT Ireland

6.       Pick up more sweet misprints/miscuts

Thank you for reading.

-Cheers-

 

SCG New Orleans (Legacy RUG 8th Place)

Link to the decklist and coverage of the deck that I made top 8 at SCG New Orleans with.
 
Decklist

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1064990

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf

Creatures [13]

4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Fire // Ice
4 Force of Will
1 Forked Bolt
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Spell Pierce
3 Stifle
2 Thought Scour

Spells [29]

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

Lands [18]

SIDEBOARD

2 Ancient Grudge
1 Envelop
1 Gilded Drake
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Life from the Loam
2 Red Elemental Blast
3 Submerge
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Tormod's Crypt
Coverage:

http://starcitygames.com/events/coverage/and_we_danced_quarterfinals_ch.html

http://starcitygames.com/events/coverage/daze_for_days_round_7_simon_ch.html
 
Cheers,
Simon

PTQ Modern (1st Place 03/24/2012)

5:17AM – I am supposed to meet Chris O and Alan at I-10 and 45 at 5:45 so we can drive to Lafayette for the PTQ. Girlfriend drops me off so I don’t have to leave my car randomly somewhere all day. There was a bit of a kerfuffle the night before about PTQ Austin v. PTQ Lafayette. I was on the Lafayette side so I guess that was a victory (or something) in that regard. Google maps said 4 hours (which is blatantly false) to Lafayette and 3 hours to Austin (which I also think is wrong since it always takes me longer to get there. Anway.  

~9:20:AM – We get to the site for the PTQ. The store isn’t even open yet. Chris O had said registration was from 9-10 so we went to Albertson’s (I know I didn’t know they still existed either but don’t forget that Louisiana is in a time warp).  We head back to the store only to find that registration is 10-11 and we are there way fucking early. Great.

I give cards to Chris and Alan that they need for their decks and sideboards. Then they start jamming games against one another. I last minute finalize my sideboard, wander round the room some and also piss about 3 times.

R1 – Mono Red Burn

G1 – He starts attacking from turn 1 with ye olde goblin guide. I start by laying a land saying go, I let goblin guide trigger then bolt his goblin guide (I may or may not have drawn a land). He gets me down as low as 7 life but then I just start snapping back Lightning Helixes. He also reads forked bolt when I play it at some point in the game. He comments that he should probably be playing it.

SB –

In

+3 Leyline of Sanctity

+3 Deft Duelist

Out

-4 S. Lynx

-2 Remand

G2 –I have deft duelist in my opener + lands and some burn. I play duelist on turn 2 and he goes wtf (common theme all day). Then on turn 4 I hardcast leyline. From there I play Geist and beat down in a couple of turns.

Bonus – Chris O won against his tron opponent on the last turn of the game with a top decked Fetch land to turn on Steppe Lynx in order to swing for exactly lethal.

R2 – Melira Pod

G1 – He plays wall of roots on turn 2 to block my steppe lynx. I untap play a fetch and send it in. He must be scared of bolt or need the mana since he doesn’t block. I then play another Lynx and pass. He plays another wall of roots (but no land). I play another fetch and smash in with double lynx he places one wall or roots in front of each. Post combat I play forked bolt dealing 1 damage to each wall or roots putting them both in the bin. He shakes his head after reading the card and commenting that it seems good.  I play a delver of secrets and say go. He untaps attemps to cast a Kitchen Finks which I remand (drawing another remand). I have a land but no fetch and no flip for delver but I still crash in for 5. Then I say go and remand his Kitchen Finks again and win the game. I assume he is on pod but I never saw a pod the whole game.

SB-

In

+3 Smash to Smithereens

Out

-3 Steppe Lynx

G2 – More of the same except he has a few more Birthing pod cards but I just burn him and his dudes that matter while smashing face with Delver and friends. Note to all – this decks is terribad.

Bonus- This guy said he liked Russian cards too I asked if he had any. He pulled out a Russian GSZ and Russian Thrun as well as a Foil Russian Sword of Feast and Famine. I traded both the GSZ and Thrun. The GSZ was the last 1 I needed to complete my Russian playset. J I was unable to get the Russian Sword of Feast and Famine off of him but no matter I got what I needed.

R3 – Aggro Loam

G1 – I play turn 1 Delver and naturally flip. I get some attacks in with delver before he gets loam and flame jab going but then I just start lightning helixing his head and snapping them back.

SB –

In

+3 Leyline

+3 Deft Duelist

Out

-4 Steppe Lynx

-2 Forked Bolt

G2 - He hard casts 2 Obstinate Baloths while I have to lightning Bolt myself (with my shock lands). I meanwhile draw no path to exiles and lose handily. I do show him Leyline because at some point in the game I think I may be able to race him (I was wrong).

G3 – Same sb as G2 for me while he sideboards in what I guess is natures claim. I open the game with 2 Leylines and 5 other cards. I think 3 Land 1 Bolt and 1 Other card. He goes shit I can deal with 1 of those but not 2. Leyline turns off his – Flame Jab (to me), Inquisition, Thoughtseize, and Lilliana’s -2 ability. Then about turn 3 I play deft duelist and he goes wtf. Deft duelist keeps his goyf at bay for the whole game since he can never attack profitably if I have a burn spell (4/5 goyf). J I play a Geist so that I can win any race if he ever does start attacking with goyf. I make a misplay in the game when he plays countryside crusher and ravens crimes himself. I could have bolted the crusher in response to the trigger but I over thought the situation and didn’t. So next turn I have to double bolt it (with help from snappy). Once I get his life down low enough I simply attack all in with Duelist and Geist and bolt for the win. I do have to use some burn on Lilliana at some point in the game since her +1 and -6 both still both work. Several people took some interest in this game and my Deft Duelists.

Bonus – I started delving into my snack cooler this round and got myself a banana. This is very important as I am currently training for the MS-150 and cycled 30 miles the day before. Got to balance those electrolytes.

Round 4 – Storm (w/ sb Splinter Twin)

G1 – He storms my face off after doing an early grape shot to kill delver and steppe lynx to stop my clock. I think I could have played slightly differently since I had a remand in hand but I missed my opportunity to and I die a grape death. I also had lightning Helix in hand so I felt like this game should have gone differently. Oh well.

SB –

In 

+3 Leyline

+3 Deft Duelist (my thought is he cannot grape shot or bolt this guy he still probs shouldn’t have come in)

Out

-2 Forked Bolt

-4 Path to Exile

G2- I sideboard in Leyline (since he is on storm…. My opener is double S. Lynx, L. Bolt and 4 Fetches. I decide to keep and just try and race him. His life total goes: - 19, 15, 14, 6, 5 Dead. Somewhere in there I remand a pestermite or Dec. Exarch. Shit damn transformational sideboards…

SB –

In

+2  Forked Bolt

+1 Path to Exile

Out

-3 Deft Duelist

G3 – I out tempo him the whole game. By remanding his card draw when he doesn’t have double blue up to replay a sleight of hand. Then I just burn him out.

Bonus- At some point in the game he Gitaxian Probes me when I have leyline out but we both forget about it. I managed to win that game regardless. I also complain after the match that I didn’t draw any of my other counter spells other than remand…Almonds were also consumed at this point in time.

Round 5 – Chris O Playing UWR but he is playing +3 Molten Rain and +1 Grim Lavamancer instead of my x4 Remand. I also have Moorland Haunt and he doesn’t.

G1 – He wins the die roll and molten rains me on turn 3. After that winning for him is pretty academic.
SB-

In

+3 Leyline

+3 Deft Duelist

+ 3 Combust

Out

-4 Steppe Lynx

- 2 Remand

-3 PTE

G2 – I keep a good hand with no sideboard cards and he plays turn 2 Kor Firewalker which is rough beats for me. Eventually though I play a deft duelist and then another which pretty much shuts his firewalker plan down. I play several lightning helixes throughout the game to keep me in it and also manage to kill an Ajani Vengeant that was tapping down my Moorland Haunt.

G3 – I get an early leyline and play Deft Duelist I win easily from there.

Bonus – Deft Duelist is one of the best cards against Geist of Saint Traft. Moorland Haunt also did some work in G2 allowing me enough time to survive until I drew my sideboard cards.

R6 –ID with Melira Combo.

Bonus – Chris loses to Living End after getting blown out by Ricochet Trap one turn before he can win.

R7 – ID with Jund.

Bonus – Lara bars are consumed by me. J

Top 8

Quarters – UWR Mirrorish but I have 2 Forked Bolt and he has 2 Spell Pierce (Joe Bass who knocked me out of the Quarters at the PTQ in Katy a couple weeks ago)

G1 – Joe is resigned to losing because he has seen my deft duelist secret tech earlier in the day. He thinks I am on the same build as Chris though, so doesn’t know I have remand (something I reinforced earlier when he asked if we were playing the same deck to which I replied yes).  He wins the die roll and plays Delver. I can match his delver with my own or I can Forked Bolt his delver and ping him for 1. I Forked Bolt unflipped delver and ping for 1. Chris O and Alan thought I should wait and try to live the Forked Bolt dream by pinging his delver and steppe lynx if he played it next turn or anything else with a 1 butt. He did play a steppe lynx the next turn but I don’t know if his delver would flip or not. Chris, Alan and I had all decided on leading with Steppe Lynx if you have both in your opener since it has more of an immediate effect on the game and you have to play your lands out anyway so you may as well get those landfall bonuses so I assumed as well he would do the same thing. Also I knew he has spell pierce in his deck to potentially protect delver and blow me out. In addition if his delver flips I lose 3 life and he doesn’t take the 1 damage when Forked Bolt has to go all in on a Delver. I also have Snapcaster in hand, so I figure I will get value out of the Forked Bolt later in the game and there is no point being greedy now. I run a bunch of dudes out there that he has to kill and then on one turn I play Geist and a Grim Lavamancer. He has the choice between playing his own Geist to legend kill or dealing with Grim Lavamancer. He deals with Geist and my Grim Lavamancer is online and takes over the game.

G2 – Open on Leyline and then play Deft Duelist on turn 2 or 3. GG.  He has 12 points of burn in his hand at the end of the game and I have 12 life. J

Semi-Finals – Storm (Player from Round 4)

G1 – I play super aggressive and burn him out. Lightning helix does a lot of work in making sure my life total stayed high enough that grape shot would have to be pretty big. He comments that he didn’t want to have to play against me because of all my disruption plus all my aggro…

SB-

In

+ 3 Leyline

+ 3 Deft Duelist (doesn’t die to bolt of grapeshot and beats down)

G2 –

-4 PTE

-2 Forked Bolt

G2- It is very hard to sb against transformational sideboards but I gave it a go anyway. I open on leyline but he is on the twin plan and he manages to twin when I tap out for geist 1 turn before he is dead.

SB-

In

+3 Molten Rain

+3 PTE

Out

-3 Deft Duelist

-3 Leyline

G3 – He is probs still on twin or maybe went back to storm I decide that I will board in PTE since if he is on twin they are good and I can always use them to pump steppe lynx if need be. There is some argument between Alan and I afterwards as to whether I should just board in combust instead of PTE. I think that gives me too many dead cards so I am against it. Molten rain was my trump idea since he has not seen it any of the games that we have played so he may not keep a land heavy hand. I can also live the dream of turn 1 threat, turn 2 threats, turn 3 remand turn 4 molten rain.  I messed up fetching the wrong land one turn and was going to be unable to play the molten rain that was in my hand but my deck gave me a fetch off the top which allowed me to molten rain him and dome him for 2 which kept him off the all important 4 mana. This gave me have another turn to get some burn to win the game. J

Finals – Living End (for which I have exactly 0 sideboard cards)

G1 – I play super aggressive and he doesn’t have anything in time. I actually play way too aggressively since I overcommitted to the board (by at least 1 Geist). He cycles through a bunch (and I mean a bunch) of cards so I am somewhat surprised he couldn’t find what he needed. I probably kept up remand a little too defensively the whole game. One turn he plays EOT Beast within on one of my lands and I remand it because I will be unable to play remand if he combos on his own turn anyway so I may as well have the extra card in hand. This doesn’t end up mattering though as he was unable to draw his combo anway.  

G2 – I keep a somewhat loose 7 (Grim, Bolt, Bolt, 3 Land, Serum Visions) with the intent of just trying to race him with my lavamacer + burn in hand. He helps me out by mulling to 4…

Barca…Barca…Barca

Edit -

Link and decklist.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1001473

Decklist!

4 Delver of Secrets
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Steppe Lynx

Creatures [16]

2 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
4 Serum Visions

Spells [22]

4 Arid Mesa
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Steam Vents

Lands [22]

SIDEBOARD

3 Combust
3 Deft Duelist
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Molten Rain
3 Smash to Smithereens

-Cheers-

PTQ Modern (7th Place 03/03/2012)

I played in the Modern PTQ on Saturday at 3^rd Coast and made T8 and ended up in 7^th place out of the 100+ people that showed up.

I wanted a deck that had blue in it, could play blood moon and had ancient grudge. This left me with UR as pretty much the only choice and thus I ended up on the splinter twin plan. Of course I never sided in blood moon all day but what will you do. I also felt like splinter twin has a little bit of oops I win similar to painter stone in legacy of which I have played a fair amount. So despite having never played splinter twin before I had all the cards for the deck so I sleeved her up with as many miscuts and Russians as I could muster. My miscut basic lands had more than a few opponents jumping out of their seats because they weren’t sure what cards I was playing.  I could tell a couple of people wanted to call judges on me but they didn’t know what for exactly…

The list was basically Matt Sperling's from Channelfireball with a couple of changes to the sideboard and 1 Snow Covered Island instead of 1 regular island (purely for miscut potential J ).

·         4 Deceiver Exarch

·         4 Pestermite

·         4 Splinter Twin

·         3 Kiki-Jiki the Mirror Breaker

·         4 Serum Visions

·         4 Sleight of Hand

·         4 Dispel

·         3 Spellskite

·         3 Grim Lavamancer

·         3 Flame Slash

·         4 Scalding Tarn

·         4 Misty Rainforest

·         1 Arid Mesa

·         2 Halimar Depths

·         2 Cascade Bluffs

·         2 Sulfur Falls

·         3 Island

·         1 Snow Covered Island

·         1 Mountain

·         3 Steam Vents

·         1 Stomping Ground

 

Sideboard

·         1 Vines of Vastwood

·         1 Mutagenic Growth

·         2 Vendilion Clique

·         2 Grafdigger's Cage

·         1 Relic of Progenitus

·         3 Blood Moon

·         3 Ancient Grudge

·         2 Echoing Truth

 Round 1(Boros) –

G1: I play scalding tarn into steam vents to lightning bolt myself and play grim lavamancer and say go. This sets the tone of the match as he wrongly assumes I am on some sort of UR or URW aggro plan. He starts flinging goblin guides at me and burning my face. On turn 2 I sleight of hand or serum visions to sculpt my hand and burn his guide with lavamancer after getting a land when he attacks. Turn 3 I pass and he taps out so I EOT exarch and untap and win with splinter twin. He is shocked and surprised that I am on splinter twin and is pretty shook up about it. I have never seen Grim Lavamancer in twin he exclaims.

G2: He has every removal spell under the sun including having the 3^rd path to exile the 3^rd time I try and combo even though he only has one card in hand. Then he draws runner, runner burn spells to dome me for the win. I was at 6 I believe so double shard volley does it.

G3: I sculpt my hand and just keep playing exarchs and making him burn them out until I can finally combo with kikijiki with dispel backup.

Feeling pretty good because Boros is not a good matchup. They have so much removal to kill all my combo pieces and a quick clock which is pretty rough.

Round 2 (Mono Red) –

Before this round starts I am looking at my opponents life pad. His opponent’s life goes 20-18-13-6-0 and his life was unchanged. G2 he loses and G3 he wins again through similar life changes. I put him on Burn or Boros. At this point I am feeling like maybe I chose the wrong deck to play since my creatures need to live in order for me to combo. Oh well.

G1: He mulls to 5 and wins. He figures out what my game plan is and manages to curve out while always keeping burn up to interact with my combo he also has Flame Javelin which means he doesn’t have to 2 for 1 himself to kill exarch. L

G2: I start taping his dudes and just playing deceiver’s and pestermites and attacking for 2 with pestermite and leaving the exarchs back on defense against his goblin guides and hellspark elementals.  Eventually I draw dispel and go for the combo. He stops the combo but has to 2-1 himself to do so, then I untap and play kiki-jiki and combo anyway.  This game also teaches me that deceiver exarch does NOT have flying…so yeah that is important. I attacked with a deceiver exarch on one turn and he blocked with a goblin guide which surprised me then I read deceiver exarch and found out that yup no flying key word.

G3: I am at 8 life and he has goblin guide, searing blaze and incinerate in hand. I have pestermite and deceiver exarch on board both tapped from attacking. I tap his goblin guide with a freshly played exarch and then he searing blazes pestermite, I echoing truth my pestermite and exclaim that I don’t take the 3. Well apparently I should have read searing blaze first since I still take the 3 damage. It doesn’t make any difference to the outcome as I still untap and win with my deceiver exarch with the only card that he can have being combust to interact with me since he only has 1 card and 2 mana.  If he had kept both burn spells in hand he could have made my combo fizzle but then he has a goblin guide to my pestermite and deceiver exarch + a couple cards in hand.

Round 3 (URW Scepter) –
G1: Grim lavamancer kills every card in his deck except for geist.  Isochron scepter with telling time on it is cute but just winning is better.

G2: He has some awkward draws (i.e. – scepter in hand but only drew a couple spells all game mana leak and telling time I think) my opener is – Island, Fetch, Kiki-Jikki, 2 Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Grim lavamcer, I am on the draw and don’t draw a land for 4 turns. I even attack for 1 damage on turn 2 since he tapped out to counter the spellskite that I drew. He untaps and exclaims “life doesn’t matter in this matchup” and takes 3 from fetch plus untap dual (cue forshadowing). I also play a sleight of hand (bricking on lands) and another grim lavamancer after he kills the first. At some point I miss just shooting him for 2 damage with lavamancer when I have 4 cards in graveyard and he is tapped out because of telling time or visions. He cliques me on turn 5 or so and sees - Kiki-Jikki, Splinter Twin, 2 Pestermite, 2 Deceiver Exarch, Dispel. He take splinter twin and I draw a land and mainphase pestermite untapping a land (for dispel or grim lavamancer). He starts playing threats but I just start playing my flash dudes to tap his guys and race. Taking the extra 2 damage from his land earlier probably lost him one turn but he probably still loses this game (and I should have domed him for 2 with a lavamancer activation as well). This is the first time I got to win without the combo though which felt pretty good. 

Round 4 (Bant) – I recognize this guy from way back when I played in an extended PTQ in 2002-3 or so. I remember getting beaten down my Troll ascetics and other tricksy or shrouded green creatures with big equipment.  

G1: He leads with misty into noble. I know he is probs on some sort of bant so I just sculpt my hand and win. He does get geist down but I can just combo him out.

G2: I should have won this game but I misplay because I forgot to mark 2 life from a shockland I played earlier in the game…Dual lands make life so much easier. Not blocking meant I couldn’t do my winning play with dispel backup since I would be 1 mana short and 1 blocker short due to having to chump…lame.

G3: This time I don’t fuck up and I just combo him on turn 5-6 with kiki jiki while he has the answers only for the twin half of the combo since he has pridemage up and ready to go (this happened several times throughout the day).

Round 5 (Twin) –

G1: I have no idea what to do in the mirror match. He plays 3 sleight of hands/serum visions and combos on turn 4 because I have nothing.

G2: I still have no idea how to play this and lose because I try to race him when we get into a weird board state (with both of us having spellskite) but life is irrelevant because he just untaps and combos so I cannot life race him. I made him go to 3 because of spellskite and I was at 5 with two echoing truths in hand. I misplayed which cost me g2. I could have forced at least a g3.

Round 6 (Meliria Pod) –

G1: Seriously this is a real deck? He combos on about turn 4-5 meanwhile I try and spellskite and activation of his sac vampire cry guy (turns out I cannot do that) so he combos but cannot draw to kill me. I untap and combo him. J

G2: Side some hate in…no reason but whatever. He has kitchen finks, pridemage and birthing pod in play and it is turn 5. He sacs kitchen finks to get what I think is going to be linvala but instead he gets the guy that shoots me for 2. I say ok then untap and combo with Kiki-Jiki. Prior to this he also tapped both of his lands to activate birthing pod then fetched the little goblin guy but then says I paid the life so I get to untap my mana. He needed the mana up for pridemage (which was irrelevant) but he doesn’t know that. I just call a judge and the judge is like umm your opponent can let you take it back but you already searched your library and did something so it’s tapped. I don’t let him take it back then untap and combo.

Round 7 – ID with a twin opponent. My opponent definitely makes it into t8 with a draw because he has the highest breakers of all the 15’s (of which there are 7). The top 4 all draw and we are at table 3. I decide that if I play and lose I am auto out of the top 8; whereas there is a chance of an unintentional draw elsewhere since every other 15 has to play (I was 6^th seed going into last round). I also don’t feel comfortable with the mirror match having played it exactly once...

So as a lucky miser it turns out the one match that I needed to draw did in fact draw so I made t8 as the 8^th seed. J

T8

URW (Joe Bass)

G1: He has everything and I landflood a lot with just two combo pieces and a card draw card as my only action of the whole game. Geist does the damage while he just burns through me and my guy.

G2: More of the same though I do blow him out with vines and mutagenic growth to save my deceiver. He draws 3 burn spells in a row though to finish me off when I am at 9 life and ready to combo next turn.

All in all a pretty fun deck to play though I wish I had at least played a couple games with the deck before hand to get the feel for it a little more.

Edit -

Link to decklist.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=990189

-Cheers-