Yes, I just published the 2024 Lobstercon Report earlier this week. Check it out if you are interested in old news.
This year, Lobstercon is split into two different weekends. The first weekend for the North American Premodern Championship took place May 2-3.
I took the train up from New Jersey with no issues. It was super convenient to get to South Station in Boston, and from there it was a very short subway ride to Kendall Square and the hotel. I met up with DG and his local friend Matthias. We had dinner and drinks at a couple of spots in the area, but it was mostly dead. Kendall Square just not as happening as other Cambridge squares I hear (and now I've seen for myself).
Friday - Unchained
The Unchained side event allowed players to choose one card on the Premodern banlist to play up to four copies of.
I played UR Draco Explosion with Brainstorm.
I knew Brainstorm would not be the most powerful card to unban. In fact, it might be one of the worst options. However, I wanted to brew something unique for the format and not just add Force of Will to a StifleNought shell. Huge shame to everyone who did that.
Lots of possible ways to build the deck including Cunning Wish / Insidious Dreams, Intuition / AK, Burning Wish, etc. I ended up on this version because I wanted lots of cheap interaction for the other combo decks I expected like Food Chain Goblins, Storm, Bargain, and Balance. Force Spike and Mana Leak seemed like the most efficient ways to do that.
Maxing out Draco, Erratic Explosion, and Scroll Rack really meant the rest of the deck needed to be low cost but effective. You want to have a lot of cards in hand to make Rack better and Gush didn't quite work. I didn't think there would be enough time for lots of Fact or Fiction, Intuition/AK, or Prophetic Bolt. Predict was cheap enough and had enough synergy, especially after swapping Memory Lapse for the Mana Leaks.
Doing the last 4 damage is tricky when there aren't a bunch of shocklands in opposing decks. Faerie Conclave made the most sense to save on deck space. Prophetic Bolt was an option, but expensive. Psionic Blast isn't legal, Sonic Burst is really bad, Lightning Bolt only does 3 damage, Fire/ Ice only 2. Lavamancer made the most sense with the full graveyard from fetches and Predicts, plus it was only one mana. It did open up opposing creature removal, but I didn't expect all that much removal in the format. Breath of Darigaaz is a sweeper that doubles as 4 damage to the face.
Sideboard was just picking cards I knew I wanted vs other banned cards - Pyroblast for Force of Will, Hydroblast for Recruiter and Burning Wish, Teferi's Response for Strip Mine, Furnace for Rector / Yawgwill / Entomb, Envolop for Mind Twist / Balance / Time Spiral / YawgWill. I think I boarded in every card at least twice except the Pyromancy which was mostly a meme.
Round 1 - Carl Winter on BW Saber Bargain (feature match)
Game one I Force Spike his turn three Rector. His only black source is Phyrexian Tower, so I have time to set up. I get Scroll Rack in play. I let him resolve Therapy for Counterspell. He then uses multiple rituals to cast Bargain, which I Brainstorm and Memory Lapse. I then use Predict to get rid of the Bargain. He casts a Skirge Familiar and attacks. This opens up the line for end of turn Lightning Bolt, untap to Explosion for 16 and attack with Conclave for the last points.
Game two he kills me on turn two when I don't have Annul.
Game three I Envelop his Therapy and use Furnace to exile it. I Annul his Defense Grid and then Force Spike something. He's taken at least 4 damage from his Ancient Tomb, so when I topdeck Draco to go with the Brainstorm and Explosion in my hand, I win.
1-0
Round 2 - UB Dreadnought with Psychatog and Force of Will
Game one he had Dreanought on turn three. I had Memory Lapse for Stifle, but he had second Stifle. I die.
Game two he is doing a lot of digging with Impulse and Opt. He plays two Portent on his turn and leaves on top. I go for end of turn Predict targeting him, planning to name Dreadnought. He is forced to use Force of Will so that he doesn't lose the combo piece. I have Annul for the Dreadnought on the following turn. I resolve Scroll Rack and Explode a few turns later.
Game three he has turn two Dreadnought with Stifle and Force of Will for my Annul and I die.
1-1
Round 3 - Sligh with Wasteland and Strip Mine
Game one he has Strip Mine and Wasteland to keep me off of double blue mana. I die with multiple Counterspell in hand.
Game two I use Breath of Darigaaz on his Grim Lavamancer, but his follow up Mogg Fanatic starts beating down. I don't have a ton of interaction so I have to keep Hydroblast up as much as possible. Eventually I get Scroll Rack and Explode him to 3 life, but can't find a way to finish him off before he kills me.
1-2
Round 4 - Marc Flore on GWR Sylvan/Abundance/Balance/Burning Wish
Game one he is on the play and has Enlightened Tutor for Defense Grid before I'm able to Predict it away. I counterspell his Armageddon, but eventually he finds Sylvan + Abundance. Some turns later I'm hit with Squandered Resources plus Balance, then die to his Rack.
Game two I counter his early Sphere of Resistance, but I'm stuck on three lands. I stick Scroll Rack, but that lets him resolve Sylvan Library. I'm still digging for lands, but he was down cards from two Enlightened Tutor. He decides to pay 8 life to get back into it. That lets me combo him out easily.
Game three he has early Sphere of Resistance. I manage to play enough lands to stick a Scroll Rack and Envelop his Burning Wish. I can't find the sixth land to let me attack with Conclave to set up my Explosion. He has Abundance, but no Sylvan. He keeps hitting bricks like Mox Diamond and Gustha's Scepter. Eventually he hits Sylvan, which I Memory Lapse. This lets me take a turn off, since he can't hit a non-land that would punish me. I win with Explosion on the third extra turn.
2-2
Round 5 vs DG on Balancing Tings
We tested a lot together for the main event, but did no testing for Unchained. I think I'm slightly favored, but he has some lines that are hard for me to beat.
Game one he goes for a Balancing Act when I have four lands. I float four mana and let it resolves, which causes me to lose my lands but no discards. I cast Fact or Fiction when he moves to attacks. I take the pile with more lands, and then he resolves a second Balancing Act. I discard some dead cards and now were both at parity. I recover with some lands and have Lapse plus Predict to pull ahead. I keep drawing more counters and lands. This lets me attack with Conclave. Eventually, Lavamancer joins and I still had all these counters at the end.
Game two he does what I fear most: untapped land, LED, Roar of the Wurm. I have Lavamancer and Conclave to buy some time, but can't assemble the combo to win the race. In the end I have to Explosion his Wurm and pray, but it is a brick.
Game three he should have won 100%, but he just forgot to cast Orim's Chant. I Envelop his Balance and he concedes to drop.
3-2
Round 6 vs Hatred
Game one he has Demonic Consultation for Hatred for lethal... but I have Force Spike! I don't have a combo kill though, and die to his shadow army before I can recover.
Game two he consults for Dark Ritual. He then plays Mesmeric Fiend and Duress, taking my Counterspell and Breath of Darigaaz. I draw Grim Lavamancer though, which kills Fiend and lets me Breath two more guys. A second Lavamancer locks the game up and I kill him with Conclave.
Game three I counter his Mesmiric Fiend and use Lightning Bolt on a shadow guy. I cast Scroll Rack and he resolves Skittering Skirge. I can't use Breath of Darigaaz, so instead I just Brainstorm and Explosion his face for 16. Now I can't die to Hatred, and I can use the Breath for the last 4 points the following turn.
4-2
10th Place
This tournament was a lot of fun. A lot of the cards on the ban list are fairly open ended and there are multiple ways to build with them. I don't know how well it would work in something like Legacy or Modern where some of the banned cards go into specific decks. I hope they do this or something similar next year.
I ate a bunch of pizza at the event site, then went to go watch Rockets Warriors Game 6. The Rockets rewarded my commitment to staying up late with a win.
Saturday - NA Premodern Championship
I haven't played a ton with this besides the fall RST MS league, but it impressed me enough to be a front runner for this event. I tried some Goblins but didn't like the way it mulliganed. I played some games against DG's WW deck because it looked like something I would enjoy, but it did not impress me at all. So I was back at Elves as the default.
Some notes: I can't imagine playing only 17 or 18 land. Playing colorless land like Port or Wasteland also seems crazy to me. I don't really see a need for Kahmal when Tribal Forcemage is usually enough and cheaper, but maybe I'm missing something.
I probably played too many Crypts in the sideboard due to my Middle School experience. I never brought them in. Pyroblast is a luxury but I like to have a third way to kill Meddling Mage after sideboard while still being playable in other matchups. Thornscape is great even without white and without Birchlore Rangers. Genesis didn't do anything, but I think you have to have it. Call of the Herd was about as good as I wanted it to be. I cut the fourth call last minute, but certainly happy to have all of them.
Round 1 vs Cam Fulton on Lan D HOath
Game one he plays turn two Mulch and turn three Mulch. I kill him on my turn three.
Game two I play turn one Elf instead of Lyrist, but he has the Oath. I figure I have time to set up and kill Oath after he hits first Terravore. Unfortunately, his first Terravore is 20/20. I kill his Oath and use Vigilante to kill his Powder Keg. I chump with Vigilante to go to 2 life, then kill him on my turn four.
1-0
Round 2 vs Andy Levine on MonoU Tide Control
Game one I have enough mana creatures in play that his Tide plus Chain doesn't hinder me. I eventually resolve a Hermit and he shows me three Tide in hand as he scoops.
Game two I have turn two Call of the Herd, but he has Counterspell into Phyrexian Furnace. I have some mana creatures, but no payoff. His Factory and Quicksand keep me from doing any chip damage. This frees him up to resolve Accumulated Knowledge and Fact or Fictions end of my turn. Eventually he gets a Powder Keg to clear the important cards. He kills me with two Faerie Conclaves.
Game three he has Keg but no blue mana early. I Naturalize the Keg and use Survival to search up Anger and Squee. He has to choose between exiling Squee and Anger with his Furnace. He goes with Squee since I showed no creatures in hand. I draw a creature anyway to find Hermit. I bounce it on his EOT to replay it. He counters, but I just return another creature to search up the second Hermit and win.
2-0
Round 3 vs Goblins
Game one his first play is a Piledriver and no removal for my Priest. I play a Hermit and a Tangle Wire and win.
Game two I have Acolyte and Call of the Herd to block his early Lackey. He does have Sharpshooter though, so now the Elephants have to do the heavy lifting. I manage to resolve Survival, but he has Naturalize. This means I can only go get Battlemage and Symbiote without getting Anger or Sharpshooter. I sue Battlemage and Symbiote to buy some time, but he has just enough removal to force through damage until I'm at 2 life. I stabilize the board with more Elephants and a Genesis, but he finds Siege Gang Commander to kill me.
Game three I have turn two Call of the Herd for his Lackey. I'm tight on mana but manage to flash back the Call eventually. He only has Karplusan Forests as his red sources, so I get some damage in with Elephants. I finally hit five mana and kill him with Tribal Force Mage on Elephant.
3-0
Round 4 vs Dave Kaplan on MonoU StifleNought
Game one I have a ton of mana and nothing to do. He holds up two blue mana the whole game and eventually sticks 12/12. I almost get him with Caller of the Claw plus Symbiote for four tokens when he uses Keg but he finally played the counter he represented the whole game.
Game two I have solid start with Elf and Priest. I play a Survival as bait, which he counters, and then I stick a Hermit. He takes some damage but clears the tokens with a Keg. I hard cast Anger to continue the beats but he counters it. This gives my team haste so my hard cast Vigilante he has to Foil. Finally I resolve Orangutan to attack him to 1 life. He untaps and plays Portent, then concedes.
Game three he spins wheels first two turns with cantrips while I have Symbiote Priest Cradle and Acolyte. He jams his combo on turn three after Gushing. I play a Tangle Wire as bait, which he has the Annul for. Now that he's tapped out, I Naturalize the 12/12. He has Powder Keg on his turn, but I have Orangutan and win from there when I draw another Tangle Wire.
4-0
Round 5 vs Noah Mickel on MonoU StifleNought
This was on stream: link
Game one I punt at least four different times. On turn three, I'm facing a phased-out Dreanought with a Llanowar Elf and Priest of Titania in play. I play Survival and search up Ranger to untap Priest, then I search for Squee and Nantuko Vigilante. Searching for Squee means I don't have the mana needed to pay for his Daze and my Vigilanted is countered. I did not need to search for Squee here as I was fairly certain he had Daze from the way he played. Then two turns later I forget to return Squee to my hand. This meant I was one creature in hand short after I trade my Squirrels and Elves for his Dreadnought. Additionally, I left myself with just Symbiote and Hermit, instead of Hermit and Priest which would give me more mana (I can always search for another Symbiote). Finally, another punt by just jamming the Hermit into his Counterspell instead of using Squee and putting more pressure into play.
Game two I keep an iffy hand that doesn't have payoff but does have Tangle Wire and Pyroblast. I maybe make a mistake by not paying echo for Granger instead returning it with Symbiote. This costs me 2 damage, but I only manage to attack him to 3 life before he kills me with Annul for my Tangle Wire and Foil backup for my Pyroblast.
4-1
Round 6 vs Sligh
This is truly more Sligh than burn, as he has Wasteland and Port along with Fledgling Dragon!
Game one he kills enough of my mana creatures that he's in control, but doesn't have a fast clock. I manage to resolve a Deranged Hermit, but he has a Fledgling Dragon. He takes 8 from my Squirrels then kills me with Fireblast plus Firebreathing.
Game two I have great hand on the play with four mana elves, Survival, Forest, and Cradle. I play elf turn one, he has Lavamancer. I play two more elves and Survival off Cradle, searching up Squee. He has Wasteland for my Cradle and then kills one elf. I never draw another land and eventually he kills all my mana and locks me out with Port. I should have searched up Granger turn one so I could cast it turn two through his Wasteland and removal.
4-2
Round 7 vs MonoBlack Clerics
Game one I punt by playing turn two Priest instead of Survival. He hits with his Therapy and I draw nothing but lands.
Game two I win on mulligan to five thanks to Call of the Herd and Tribal Forcemage.
Game three I have to jam multiple creatures into his turn two Dystopia to not just sit around doing nothing. I do manage to get somewhat of a board with an Elephant and Llanowar Elf. I make a dumb attack with the Elephant into his active Supplicant and lose it to Scion of Darkness. This compounds when I draw Deranged Hermit and can't afford to play around removal when blocking. He does have the Snuff Out and returns Hermit with Scion and I'm toast.
4-3
Too many punts in last three rounds so I drop to go eat some delicious Taiwanese food.
The Aftermath
I had plenty of time to think about things on the train ride home, especially after it was stuck for 30 minutes outside Connecticut. Then it was cancelled after NYC. The difference in travel to Lobstercon and the return is an apt metaphor for my tournament. I know I need to be in better Magic shape if I'm ever going to have success, but I'm not sure what the best way to get that is.
I had a great time and I think I may actually have some fire for playing more Premodern. I like Elves even more than before and may focus on it going forward.
Thanks,
Ty
Props:
Duress Crew for running everything
DFB and Jared for all they do as well.
Nate Gates for his top 8
DG for testing
Will Lowry for doing most of the heavy lifting building the Erratic Explosion deck
Tony Ho for winning sick feature match r4 and seeing you in person first time in over 5 years
Slops:
Everyone who played Force of Will + Dreadnough in Unchained. Yes, even you SWB. Just because you are cool and everyone likes you and you won the event doesn't mean you can avoid these slops
People who didn't sign up for the Shockland event - maybe next year
Phyrexian Dreadnought in general
