True-Name Nemsis at SCG DFW

note: this was submitted to Star City Games website after winning the event where they normally publish the winner's reports. Cedric told me that he was unable to publish it at the time because they already had enough Legacy content for the week. - Ty (3/10/21)




Regarding My Stoneblade List

My name is Ty Thomason and I won the Legacy Open in Fort Worth. I intended on writing an article about my deck in detail, but the team at StarCityGames.com has already produced several great pieces of analysis of the deck. If you think a professional Magic writer is a real job, just look at the quality that Patrick Chapin, Todd Anderson, and Chris VanMeter have put out in such a short time since my tournament success. I'm definitely out of my league in both writing skill and time to spend on thinking about Magic.

It means a lot to me to have my deck so universally praised by those writers. I think it justifies my win as more than a fluke, but a reflection of conscious decisions I made during the deck building process and during the matches. I want to give a recap of my experience with the deck, as well as address some of the comments that have come up in the articles already written about the deck.

The inspiration for the deck came to me by way of Darin Minard. His two-color Stoneforge deck with four Mishra's Factory is what got me to switch to Stoneblade from Miracles. While I might not agree with all of his card choices, especially when it comes to the right number of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, the major framework for the deck came from him. All I really did was add True-Name Nemesis and update some of the surrounding cards for the resulting environment from that card seeing print.

Playing 24 lands with no Wasteland and four Jace, the Mind Sculptor is a personal preference of mine, but I think more people should do it. I don't like losing to Stifle+Wasteland+Daze, so I make sure I can survive the early game attacks on my mana. I also like playing Jace, and I've never heard a good reason why I shouldn't play four. Having Jace as a major threat in the deck makes it hard for your opponents to completely shut you down. I defeated Joe Bass in the top 8 of the tournament because he drew a bunch of cards like Swords to Plowshares while I was slowly putting the game out of reach with Jace. I would tell anyone thinking about playing less than four Jace to really ask themselves why. Just because it isn't good in every matchup doesn't mean you shouldn't play four. No one is debating the presence of four Swords to Plowshares. And if you are losing because you have too many Jaces stuck in your hand, it's not because you drew the extra Jaces, but because you didn't draw enough land.

The Vendilion Cliques and the Sword of Fire and Ice are actually very relevant versus other True-Name Nemesis because they enable your non-TNN creatures to race, especially Batterskull tokens. The Supreme Verdict is a nice catch all that also kills TNN. I've received many questions about the Celestial Flare however. It's on the short list of cards in these two colors that can deal with opposing True-Names while not also destroying your own. It also can kill a surprisingly relevant number of creatures in Legacy, from Nimble Mongoose to Delver of Secrets to Griselbrand. I only cast it once during my tournament, despite rarely siding it out, and it killed a Goblin Guide after the attack trigger resolved. Shane Remelt, who played the same list to a 14th place finish, actually killed the big black demon in a match! I had Haibing Hu run a list similar to this at a GPT the weekend before the Legacy Open, and I put one Celestial Flare in his sideboard just to see. After witnessing him kill an Etched Champion, and later on a True-Name Nemesis that dared to block, I was sold on at least one. I swapped the Path to Exile that was previously in the main deck with the Celestial Flare, but I'm not entirely sure it was necessary. It probably will be necessary going forward.


The biggest criticism of the deck by others is that it appears to be weak against the unfair decks of the format. This might be true, especially game one, but I think the sideboard does a good enough job. One quick note about Detention Sphere: it is only there for the Show and Tell matchup. Do not bring it in if it is at all possible that it could get Abrupt Decayed or Pyroblasted or Qasali Pridemaged, unless you like getting completely blown out. I brought it in versus the UB Death's Shadow deck because I was fairly certain he couldn't kill it, but against most decks it is too slow or too risky.

The last two cards I cut from the sideboard were Disenchant and Sword of Feast and Famine. I really like the black and green sword in general in legacy since many of the creatures people play are those two colors. I've used it to success at holding back a Griselbrand, or attacking through it to win. It was good in the mirror to win Batterskull mirrors, but with the rise in popularity of True-Name Nemesis it wouldn't be as good, so I left it at home. Disenchant is a reasonable effect that I almost always want one of, but I couldn't make room for it. I thought Manriki Gusari would have a bigger impact in the matchups where I wanted it.

I played the trial on Saturday afternoon after I dropped from the Standard Open. In the trial I defeated Belcher, Goblins, and Painter Servant, and lost an incredibly close and complex match to Joe Lossett playing Miracles that involved some of the best games of Legacy I've been a part of in a long time. I did get fairly lucky in matchups during the Open. My pairings by round were UWr Miracles (win 2-0), UWr Delver (win 2-1), Burn (win 2-1), UWr Delver (win 2-0), Welder/Metalwork.dec (win 2-0), UWr Miracles (win 2-0 vs Joe Bass), UB Death's Shadow (win 2-0), Merfolk (ID), Storm (ID), UWr Miracles (win 2-1 vs Joe Bass), UB Death's Shadow (win 2-0), and Storm (win 2-1). The hardest matches were against Burn and the finals against Storm. Who knows, maybe if I had played against more Show and Tell and Reanimator I might not be writing this article right now!

If I was going to play in Grand Prix DC, I would definitely be playing this list or a variation of it. I probably should go to the GP anyway, maybe I'll make it on a last minute flight. I'm in an awkward position where I need PWPs to have byes for next season, but I can't play in PTQs because I've already qualified and since I qualified at a GP, I don't get the nice 1000 point bonus that PTQ winners get.

There are too many people to thank individually for my success, but I would like to give special props to the Asgard Games Legacy crew, especially Simon Christie, and to my usual partners in crime for deck construction Will Lowry and Casual Chad.

Thanks for reading.

Ty Thomason

Hall of Fame thoughts

It's that time of year for Pro Tour Hall Of Fame balloting. I don't have a vote. I don't think I deserve a vote. And if I had a vote, I'm not sure that I would vote.

Why?

I don't think I like what the Hall of Fame is at the moment.

The theoretical concept of the HoF is one I really like. I love following sports and having debates about which player was better, which player deserves to be in, which players deserve to be out. I've spent much of the last week internet debating (the best kind) about how good a player Dennis Rodman actually was (my opinion: he was awesome.)  Every year when they vote on the Baseball Hall of Fame I spend two weeks reading all I can about the new players on the ballot, and all the new opinions on the returning players. I hope this year is the year for my childhood heroes Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.

It's the specifics about the Pro Tour Hall of Fame that I don't like. One being the name. The sports halls aren't "National Football League Hall of Fame" or "Major League Baseball Hall of Fame". They are halls for the entire sport, allowing them to exist as a museum to the game, not just a collection of some of the great players in the past. Managers, owners, executives, umpires, and in some instances broadcasters and writers, all who played an integral part of the history of the game are there. Why should Magic be different? Another criticism of the name is how it leads voters to ignore or discount Grand Prix success. "It's not the Grand Prix Hall of Fame" they'll say. But Grands Prix give out Pro Points, which determine the Pro Tour Player of the Year, so why shouldn't they matter? Calling it the "Professional Magic Hall of Fame" doesn't help, since the definition of professional seems laughable for a game that pays as little as Magic does. So let's just call it a Magic Hall of Fame, and include all of the great history of the game in it.

One thing the name is not: Pro Tour Hall of Honor. I'm very much against cheating in all forms, but all these "allegations" about the "suspicious behavior" in the past keeping otherwise deserving candidates out of the hall is hurting our history. Especially when many people will say that several players already in the hall have suspect track records! I agree with the decision about currently suspended players not being allowed in, but unless we're going to ban these cheaters for life, they should be allowed in.

As a historical entity, the Hall needs to have both the good and the bad. It needs to be separate from the marketing arm of Hasbro and WotC. It needs to be an actual physical place, with actual physical displays. Maybe there will be on display Craig Jones's Lightning Helix, next to Mike Long's Cadaverous Bloom. An exhibit about the best decks in history, the best cards in history, the best articles in history. The players inducted could still get lifetime invites to the Pro Tour, but the other people would not get that benefit.

Not enough players get in. This is because the standard is artificially constrained by number of votes, and the percentage you must earn. Increase the amount of players a voter can pick. Raise the percentage needed. You don't have to fill out every spot on your ballot. I applaud Jon Finkel for just voting for three players this year, even though his and my idea of the ideal hall are completely different.

The Hall of Fame has a ton of potential, and each year we dig the hole deeper that we must climb out of to reach it.

Postscript: List of people I would put in my Magic Hall of Fame that aren't already in.

WotC:
Richard Garfield
Mark Rosewater
Aaron Forsythe
Bill Rose
Mike Donais
Skaff Elias

Community:
Mike Flores
Jaime Wakefield
The Ferret
Frank Kusumoto
Omeed Dariani
Pete Hoefling

Players:
Mike Long
Alex Shvartsam
Scott Johns
Bertrand Lestree
Mark Justice
Michael Pustilnik
Itaru Ishida
Tsuyoshi Ikeda
Justin Gary
Willy Edel
Louis Scott Vargas
William Jensen
Mark Herberholtz
Willy Edel
Tomoharu Saito
(I guess just about anyone with 4 PT Top 8s)

hopefully that does a good job illustrating what I think the Hall of Fame should be like.

if i had a ballot this year and was forced to vote for 5 players:

LSV
Justin Gary
William Jensen
Tomoharu Saito
Tsuyoshi Ikeda

Waco PTQ Report + the Greatest Game Ever Played

Before the PTQ, I was deciding between two decks. I had played a bunch of RG aggro on MTGO and I really liked the sideboard plan of 4 Domri Rade. The other option was Junk Aristocrats, which I was impressed with after watching Brad Nelson's updated list during GP Miami. I had played it some before, but didn't like the high land count. The addition of Garruk Relentless and Obzedat to the main deck helped it have more staying power, but I wasn't completely convinced. I also hadn't practiced all of the matchups, so I wasn't as confident in my matchup predictions. In the end I went back to RG Aggro and played the following 75:

4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Hellrider

4 Searing Spear
4 Pillar of Flame
3 Madcap Skills

11 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Temple Garden

Sideboard:
4 Domri Rade
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Volcanic Strength
1 Electrickery
1 Glaring Spotlight
1 Skullcrack
1 Gruul War Chant
1 Legion Loyalist

Going forward, I'm not sure about the 21st land, the madcap skills, or some of the sideboard cards. Gruul War Chant and Glaring Spotlight were great, but the rest of the board besides Domri and Mortars were shaky.

A quick recap:

R1 Brockette, Jacob  - Junk Reanimator
I lost a game 1 I would normally win when he had maindeck Trostani and Obzedat. I got him game 2, but lost to the same combination of cards game 3 as I drew 7 lands and 5 spells.
0-1

R2 MCNEELY, AARON - Jund
Not what you expect in the 0-1 bracket, we both lament our bad luck at losing and at the unfortunate pairings. Game 1 I cruise with 2x emissary and skills and 2x boar, while he just farseeks 3 times. Game 2 i draw 8 lands and lose to some thragtusks. Game 3 looks shaky, I only have red mana. I save my emissary for a possible turn four Rampager, but draw Domri on turn 3 and cast the planeswalker instead. He plays Olivia, and I draw the green source to be able to rampager and fight. He has thragtusk and i have war chant. his bonfire looks like he might get back in there, but I topdeck hellrider and avoid his liliana for the win.
1-1

R3  JOHNSON, ASHTON  - Jund
I have a solid draw game 1 and win easily, but lose game 2 to the mana flood again. Game 3 I have spotlight and keep 3 mana up to make his decisions harder. Eventually he bonfires my team and my domri, but i've gained enough advantage in the meantime so my followup rampager and unblockable from spotlight is enough.
2-1

4 Riecks, Matthew  - Naya
mulled to 6, kept 4 lands, drew 5 more. game 2 i mull to 6, kept 2, didn't cast any relevant spells.
dead
2-2

i felt like the mana issues were worse than usual. i kept playing to see if i was right.

R5 Reed, Colin  - Junk Reanimator
Win
3-2

R6 Hernandez, Andres  - I forget
Win
4-2

R7 Klopchic, Luke - Jund
Win
5-2

R8 Hebert, Daniel - UWR
Win
6-2

So the last 4 rounds my deck did what I think its capable of doing. I easily 4-0, I'm not sure I even dropped a game. I guess my deck was good, but i'm still considering other options.

Story: The Greatest Game of Magic Ever Played*
*at least, greatest game on saturday july 6th 2013

Will "The Thrill" Lowry was up a game against  Eric "Perfect Gamer" Jones in the last round of the swiss, playing with top 8 on the line. Jones was battling with an interesting RWB Control list, with Olivia, Blood Baron, Liliana, and Warleader's Helix. Lowry brought a standard UWR list, close to the Matt Costa list from Grand Prix Miami.

Game two began with Rest In Peace from Eric, followed by Augur of Bolas by Lowry. A Boros Reckoner came out, and Will had no immediate play. Jones then cast his sideboard trump card: Slaughter Games. In response, Lowry announced Renounce the Guilds, but when he went to play the card, he accidently put Restoration Angel into play! After the confusion and the proper spell was resolved, the Perfect Gamer had to go into deep thought to name a card on Slaughter Games. Normally, he would choose Sphinx's Revelation, but with the knowledge of the angel in Lowry's hand, he had to reconsider. Eventually he settled on Restoration Angel.

The next few turns saw EJones draw two more Slaughter Games, and he decided to restrict Will's win conditions, choosing Thundermaw Hellkite and Snapcaster Mage. With all of his burn spells sided out, Lowry was only left with 2 Augur of Bolas and a Clone in his deck with which to kill Jones. His Moorland Haunt wouldn't be useful with Rest in Peace out, but he did have access to a Slayer's Stronghold in his deck. Meanwhile, Jones couldn't resolve a real threat. The board was empty for a few turns, then Lowry Revelation for several cards. The first Augur he played revealed another Revelations and another Augur! With the knowledge that the other Augur was two from the bottom, he Cloned his Augur and took an Azorius Charm. With only so much damage he could do, and Jones with plenty of removal, he was on a tight window to win. Jones resolved a Warleader's Helix, killing one of the Augurs, after liliana took out the other.

Will main phase cast a Sphinx's Revelation for 6 and passed the turn with two mana up. The Perfect Game then topdecked Rakdos's Return, for 5 cards. After it resolved, it turns out Lowry still had three cards in hand, meaning he had forgot to discard for his turn! A judge was called, the situation was explained, and he left to go look up the correct ruling. With only 13 minutes left in the round, time started to weigh on the minds of the players. When the judge returned with a ruling, it was a GRV warning for Lowry and a Failure to Maintain Gamestate warning for Jones. It was decided that they could not back up the game to force the discard, so Lowry continued with 3 cards in his hand.

He then played the Slayer's Stronghold, and started using think twice to get to the last augur in his deck. In the mean time, each threat Jones attempted was met with the perfect answer by lowry. Rewind your Assemble the Legion. Dissipate your Liliana. Renounce the Guilds your Blood Baron. Finally the Augur was found, with only 3 cards left in the library. Jones was at 15. It didn't look like it would be enough, but Lowry valiantly kept charging.

Activate Slayers Stronghold, attack for 3. Jones is at 12, Lowry has 3 cards left.

Jones draws and plays a land.

Activate Slayers Stronghold, attack for 3. Jones is at 9, Lowry has 2 cards left.

Jones draws and plays a land.

Activate Slayers Stronghold, attack for 3. Jones is at 6, Lowry has 1 card left.

Jones draws and plays a land.

Lowry draws his last card. It was a land. It didn't seem like there was anything he could do... except:

Activate Slayers Stronghold, attack for 3. Jones is at 3, Lowry has 0 cards left.

After combat damage, Will had one last Thrill for everyone: Azorius Charm my Augur of Bolas!

Down to his last turn, with almost any spell in his deck being enough to win, Jones drew his card, played a land, and extended his hand in concession.

Lowry had done it! The crowd was stunned at the improbable sequence of events. Only brilliant play, a lot of luck, and a favorable judge call could let Will win that game, and he pulled it off.

Truly the greatest game of the day.

Grand Prix Houston Report

 My preparation for the GP was solid. Since Dragon's Maze came out as school was ending, I've been able to do 10-15 drafts in real life. I never got around to drafting on MTGO like I did several times during RTR season (and then won a limited PTQ), but it wasn't like I was going in cold having not played the format at all like I did before PT Montreal. I didn't do any sealed practice, but I still felt comfortable because my experience with the original RGD sealed, as well as sealed in general. 

I didn't think I had any byes, since the amount of sanctioned Magic I've played since January was pretty low. Turns out I was confused about when the planeswalker point season ended, and I still had two byes. This is great. I signed up for the sleep in special, since I live 5 minutes from downtown. When I got to the site on Saturday at the required time (noon), the non-sleep in people were still building decks. I went ahead and built my deck anyway. I have the list somewhere, maybe I'll add it here when I get it. Highlights were Aetherling, Firemane Avenger, and Warleader's Helix. I built WRu at first, but by the end of the day I was boarding into UWr as most of the red cards I was playing were pretty bad in sealed, and the blue fliers I had in my sideboard won me most of the games that didn't involve Aetherling.

An aside of Aetherling: I was skeptical that it was the best card you wanted in sealed. I would have preferred Angel of Serenity, or Mizzium Mortars / Cyclonic Rift before the tournament, but now I will say that Aetherling is the best. Also, Pack Rat isn't even close to this discussion, so don't bring it up.

 

Eventually I get to play Magic.

 

R1-2 Bye

2-0

R3 Harris, Christopher  

Game 1 I'm on the back foot, but manage to regain tempo with Voidweilder and attack back with some fliers. Things are looking good when he Arms and Dangerous  his Leyline Phantom to get most of my team, but I have a few guys in hand to restabilize. I have Warleader's Helix in hand that I plan on using to win the race, but he overloads Dragonshift and I die when I'm tapped out. Game 2 I have a good start, racing his wind drake, but on turn 6 while I'm at 16 and tapped out he Dragonshifts, Arms, and Giant Growths to kill me dead. This is a very disappointing way to start a tournament.

2-1

 

 

R4 Jung, Bernardo  

He was European I think. Both games involved a slow build up of forces on both sides, but he would then play Luminarch Primordial, Foundry Champion, and Boros Battleshaper and I would be completely dead. It wasn't very interesting.

2-2

 

Now my back is against the wall, and my deck seemed to be much worse than I thought.  Maybe my prediction about not making day 2 was true. Maybe I don't have the fire or edge anymore to compete at these things. Maybe I'm not good at sealed. All of these doubts running through my head, but none so big that a trip through the loser's bracket couldn't cure...

 

R5 Hochman, Will   

This kid was about 13 or 14. I think he belonged to one of the dealers, since he had a shirt on that said something to that affect. I mentioned being upset about my record and not wanting to play anymore, and he suggested I concede. I appreciate the effort. Game 1 I win when he floods out terribly. Game 2 it looks like I'm going to win easy after he bloodrushes his Rubblebet Maaka onto his Daggerdrome Imp on turn 3 just to gain some more life. He then attacks the next turn into my Vassal Soul and I block, and he just bins his Imp. Along with the Firemane Avenger I have in play, things are looking good. Then he Grisly Spectacles my Avenger, milling Aetherling, Inaction Injuction, and Debter's Puplit. He follows this up with his own Atherling (that Pulpit in the yard mocking me even more!), and the game has gone from unloseable to dead on board in two turns. I still have Vassal Soul and Boros Mastiff, and a Maze Sentinel lets me try to race, but all this life he gained from the Imp is going to be too much to beat, even with the Warleader's Helix in my hand. He attacks me down to 2 with the Aetherling, leaving his Truefire Paladin back on defense. I Pursuit of Flight my Mastiff and attack with the team, going to 6 in the process. On his turn he attacks with Paladin and Aetherling, then makes Aetherling unblockable. I think for a while then block Paladin with Sentinel. He pumps Paladin two times, and also Aetherling two times to threaten lethal damage, with one mana still untapped. I debate Helixing him and trading Sentinel for Paladin, or using it on the Paladin to save my Sentinel, either play keeps me alive. After a minute in the tank on this, I look over and realize he only has a Mountain untapped. Stunned, I decide to Helix the Aetherling. He taps the mountain and says "blink it". I tell him it takes blue mana to do that. he says "yea I have it right here" pointing to his previously tapped island, and I say "no you had red untapped kid" and then he binned his guy. With no creatures left in play on his side, my Vassal Soul and Mastiff finished him off rather quickly after this. I was stunned at the sequence of events, and hoped it could be a turning point for the rest of the day.

3-2

 

R6 Treiber, Andre  

I drew Aetherling in two games.

4-2

 

R7 Bordelon, Zack   

I drew Aetherling in two of the games.

5-2

 

R8 Smith, Matthew   

I lost game 1, then he had mana issues game 2. Game 3 was close. I had a large flying army and he had 2/4 reach, 3/3 reach, and Guardian of the Gateless. Things looked real bad when he cast Collective Blessing, but I used Azorius Justicar and Voidweilder on the Justicar to get two turns to alpha strike, doing just enough damage to win.

6-2

R9 Kaufmann, Loran

For the first time of the tournament, I'm playing someone I know, and Day 2 is on the line. Game one he has enough removal to keep up the pressure when he plays first. I draw first game two, and my fliers slowly whittle him down until I can finish him off with Warleader's Helix. Game three, he mulligans to 4 and I kept 4 lands and Aetherling on six, so it was an easy win. I felt bad that it had to be against someone I knew, but I was very relieved to have made day 2.

7-2

 

Got some food and went home to get some rest. I like to conserve energy during multi-day Magic events, and save the partying for the end.

 

My first draft on Sunday went ok. I wasn't thrilled about my deck immediately after, because I could have had an even better Rakdos deck, but the Orzov I ended up with was fine. I could have picked 5 Kruul Warriors to start the draft if I was so inclined, but ended up choosing Turn/Burn, Tithe Drinker, Rakdos Drake, Sin Collector, and Carnage Gladiator over each of them. I picked up another Rakdos Drake and some other split cards (Toil/Trouble and Breaking/Entering) as well as some cluestones to maybe go Grixis. Pack 2 I pick Cartel Aristocrat, then High Priest of Penance over Kingpin's Pet, a pick I'm still not sure about. I get another Aristocrat and some Deathcult Rogues, so my deck has a solid evasion game plan, but not much removal. Pack 3 I get Trostani's Judgement, Underworld Connections, and Pallisade Giant, as well as some more creatures like Keening Appirition and Azorius Justicar.. 8 bears total, along with 5 evasion 3 drops to finish the job.

 

10 J, Joe   

This guy was from the same game store as Sam Friedman, they had the same shirt on. His deck wasn't great, and I Sin Collector on his Rootborn Defenses before overrunning him with bears. Game 2 was same.

8-2

11 Tobey, Aaron   

Inevitable since we were in same pod, but I wish it would have been after both 2-0 so we could guarantee  one of us 3-0. Game 1 he is slow and I get early damage, despite having to pay mana for Soul Tithe on Deathcult Rogue. When he plays Scab Clan Giant, it is randomly determined to kill the already enchanted Rogue, so I don't end up down a card. With the free mana, I can start to use Underworld Connections, and Deviant Glee on Daggerdrome Imp was enough of a clock that I didn't die before he did. Game 2 he flooded and my evasion guys easily killed him.

9-2

 

12 Bruno, David  

The closest match of the weekend, and he ended up making top 8. Game 1 is a race, my Justicar buys me enough time, and hit Tithe Drinker and Deviant Glee on last turn of Underworld Connections to do just enough damage before I die.  Game 2 I maybe punt by not eating his guy with my Aerial Maneuver in the mid game, taking 6 damage I could maybe have avoided, but we were racing 4 to 2 and it seemed like it might be useful later. Then he plays Trostani's Summoner, and I'm facing lethal. I attack him down to 6 with two Deathcult Rogues, and leave back Balustrade Spy and Cartel Aristocrat. I Maneuver the Aristocrat to first strike the Centaur, and the Spy chumps the Rhino, and I go to 1 and he has only the vigilant Knight token to block. I need to draw any creature to get through for lethal, but I blank. Maybe it was an aggressive attack, I haven't confirmed my choice. Game 3 I mulligan to six, miss my fourth land drop one too many times, and can't beat his Golgari Longlegs. It was another close game.

9-3

Draft 2 was very interesting. I took Bronzebeak Moa pick one, then Carnage Gladiator, then Renegade Krasis over Kruul Warrior (probably wrong), and another Carnage Gladiator. Despite this, I never saw a red card I could take, and ended up with more green and white cards. I tried to force Selesnya pack 2, but there wasn't much of anything there, and my deck's curve started at 3. Pack 3 I opened Pack Rat and already have two Orzov Guildgates and one Cluestone, so I decided to splash. I picked up a couple of mediocre two drops, and a Transguild Promenade to help the splash. Rix-Maadi Guildmage tabled, so Rakdos was open, just nothing good in the first two packs. The deck ended up worse than the first one, but I had Pack Rat so I hoped I could get at least two wins to get into the money.

 

13 Garber, Matthew   

I lose game 1  to Rogue's Passage after I can't get through his 3/1 first strike flier. Game 2 he plays 3 plains but no other lands and I kill him. Game 3 he seems flooded, and I find a turn where I can attack with the team twice to put him dead unless he topdecks, and he doesn't. 

10-3

14 Seck, Benjamin   

Game 1 he Codex Shredder's himself into Psychic Spiral after stalling the board. I drew Pack Rat too late to race. Game 2 is more of the same, but I could have won if I drew second black to double activate Vizkopa Guildmage since he had taken enough early damage.

10-4

 

15 Hua, Ming   

His deck didn't seem very good, and I drew enough early game to pressure him before he could do whatever it was his deck did. Game 2 was especially fast, with Dryad Militant and Burst of Strength to kill his Frilled Oculus, then Renegade Krasis and two 4-toughness creatures made my army huge. He died shortly after.

11-4

41st place

$200

 

I was a little disappointed by the result, but happy after the way day 1 started. I'm beginning to remember why I used to play limited almost exclusively. Part of it is that standard has been pretty miserable lately, but also I'm enjoying the games during drafts more. I'm looking forward to GP Vegas to play more sealed.

Writing about Magic

I'd like to write about Magic more, but I haven't done any serious writing in a few months. I plan on writing again very soon, and I want to use the blog post to outline my thoughts about writing about Magic (so meta, I know!). First, the primary factor for not writing has been a lack of time to write. I've been extremely busy with school this semester, and the few breaks I've had I've spent playing Magic instead of writing about Magic. That said, I've still had plenty of time to think about Magic, and have a few article ideas I'm contemplating for the near future.

When people ask me what I want to write about, usually in conjunction with offers to write for their store's site, I find it hard to answer. There are many different types of Magic articles you can write, and while I know I won't be limited to just one type, I don't want to force myself into doing something I'm not fully interested in. When I write, it will be because I have something to say, and not just to meet a deadline or because a new set came out or a new deck has shown up. I think many of the things I say in articles are obvious, or at least written about before, and that is challenging to stay motivated to write. It's reached the point where I don't even read Magic articles anymore outside of interesting tournament reports, because I don't learn much that I haven't heard before. I don't want to do this to my audience, but I think I might be overestimating the amount of exposure people have to the kinds of things I want to talk about.

In general, I'm interested in writing about Magic on a theoretical level. Unlike others who attempt theory every now and then, I'm not trying to create a Formal System of Magic Theory, since there wouldn't be much gained from that anyway. What I want to provide are tools that can be used to look at game states, new magic cards, deck building, etc. that you can take away and apply to different formats and environments. Occasionally I will write about decks, but from a "ground up"-"piece by piece"-"why are we playing this?"-type method (to say that Zvi is my favorite Magic writer would be a huge understatement). I think my goal in writing is (if this analogy puts you off then ignore it) to be Mike Flores, but without all the self-promotion, over-confidence, name-dropping, and just general shenanigans. (I find the things Mike writes about to be the things I want to write about. His methods I find questionable, but he is good at what he does!)

So as for specific articles I want to write, I'll just leave a list here so you can hold me accountable:

Article on the "Pillars of Legacy", focusing on how and why you should use Wasteland
Article on Stoneblade in Legacy, of which many of my opinions differ from the "norm".
Article about "not getting got", which is about inducing bad play from your opponent, but just through game decisions. (I've written most of this article, just need to rearrange some of it and maybe add a bit)
Mega-Article about Cheating in Magic, focusing on Regular REL (probably going to be 4 parts if I ever get around to starting. I have an outline in the works. I also would like any stories you have about cheating to include in the article. contact me on twitter if you have something you want to share!)

SCG Atlanta Invitational Report

This past weekend was the Star City Games Invitational, in Atlanta again. This was only the second invitational I've attended, and also the second one at the Gwinnet Center in Duluth, Georgia. I like the tournament site, but it is too far from the rest of the city.

For the legacy portion of the event, I played Wizard Stoneblade again. This was my list:

4 Tundra

4 Flooded Strand

3 Polluted Delta

1 Marsh Flats

3 Island

2 Plains

2 Riptide Laboratory

1 Karakas

1 Cavern of Souls

1 Academy Ruins

1 Glacial Fortress

3 Spellstutter Sprite

3 Snapcaster Mage

3 Vendilion Clique

4 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Force of Will

4 Jace the Mindsculptor

4 Brainstorm

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Counterspell

1 Spell Snare

1 Spell Pierce

1 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Batterskull

1 Detention Sphere

Sideboard:

2 Envelop

1 Familiar's Ruse

1 Spell Snare

1 Spell Pierce

2 Detention Sphere

3 Supreme Verdict

3 Rest in Peace

1 Pithing Needle

1 Hydroblast

I swapped a spellstutter for a snapcaster since the last time, and added the 23rd land. I may write an article about Stoneblade in Legacy later, but the reason you would play this version is because it’s better vs. combo / unfair decks than Esper, and plays "different cards" which can be great in a format like legacy. It's weaker to Liliana and Hymn to Tourach I think, but I didn't expect as much Jund. I thought it would mostly be Jace decks, Show and Tell, and Storm.

Round 1 - Storm

Game one he floods out after I take his tutor with Vendilion Clique. Game 2 I have spellstutter and familiar's ruse to set him way back, and when he finally goes for it I had the envelop for his tutor.

1-0

Round 2 - UWR Delver

Game 1 he keeps one lander but his blind flip delver and stifle are enough to get him there. Game 2 I pitch supreme verdict to force of will instead of snapcaster mage, and then lose 4 turns later to geist of saint traft. I think I could have played game 2 better.

1-1

Round 3 - Red MUD

He has welders and faithless lootings, so I feel safe from Chalice on 1. He does have trinisphere, but I'm able to force of will that. Game 2 my batterskull and Jace race his Wurmcoil Engine, I was in control the whole match.

2-1

Round 4 - Reanimator

Game 1 I counter his reanimation spells, and we both play off the top. I put venser into play and deal him 20 before he draws another reanimation spell. Game 2 I play turn 2 rest in peace, but he has turn 3 show and tell and was on the play, so my vendilion clique wasn't able to stop him. Game 3 he mulligans to 5, and then manages to still have a shot but he punts by not reanimating my snapcaster mage to flashback duress prior to exhuming, but I had envelop.

3-1

My standard deck:

4 Stomping Ground

4 Rootbound Crag

4 Kessig Wolf Run

9 Forest

2 Mountain

4 Arbor Elf

4 Avacyn's Pilgrim

4 Strangleroot Geist

4 Gyre Sage

4 Borderland Ranger

4 Champion of Lambholt

4 Wolfir Silverheart

1 Zealous Conscripts

3 Domri Rade

1 Garruk Relentless

4 Increasing Savagery

Sideboard:

4 Bonfire of the Damned

3 Ground Seal

3 Ranger's Guile

2 Zealous Conscripts

3 Triumph of Ferocity

I'm still not sure if this deck isn't just unplayable garbage. I went 1-3, only beating Naya Blitz by miracling bonfire, but all the other matches (aristocrats, Jund aggro, Reanimator) were close. Tough to say, but I didn't make day 2 and had a bad taste in my mouth so I didn't play the standard open on Saturday.

However bad I felt about my standard deck, I felt that good about my legacy deck. I was ready to win the legacy open on Sunday. Here's how that went:

4 Tundra

4 Flooded Strand

3 Polluted Delta

1 Marsh Flats

3 Island

2 Plains

2 Riptide Laboratory

1 Karakas

1 Cavern of Souls

1 Academy Ruins

1 Glacial Fortress

3 Spellstutter Sprite

3 Snapcaster Mage

3 Vendilion Clique

4 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Force of Will

4 Jace the Mindsculptor

4 Brainstorm

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Counterspell

1 Spell Snare

1 Spell Pierce

1 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Batterskull

1 Detention Sphere

Sideboard:

2 Envelop

1 Negate

1 Spell Snare

1 Spell Pierce

2 Detention Sphere

3 Supreme Verdict

3 Rest in Peace

1 Pithing Needle

1 something else

I added negate to the sb at the advice of Woodrow. It took the place of the hydroblast. I also played something instead of the Familiar's Ruse, but I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the Ruse, and I just stopped boarding it in ever.

Round 1 - Rug Delver

I lose a quick game 1 as he land screws me and kills me with delver. I win game 2 as he doesn't have red land and I stick a spellstutter sprite and a jitte. Game 3 goes incredibly long. I have Rest in Peace in play but he gets me to 7 before I stick a batterskull, I get back up to 24 before he deals with the germ, and then he gets me back down to 5 with just delvers and 1/1 mongoose. Eventually I draw out his force of will so it’s safe for me to return the batterskull and replay it, and I win from there.

1-0

I've started siding out Jace vs. rug delver, but I still don't think you want to play less than 4 main deck. The sb plan vs. RUG is almost transformational (-snapcasters and jace, + rest in peace and verdicts) that I think it’s worth it to cut jace.

Round 2 - Bug Delver

I steal game 1 when he sees nothing but land and no answer to my stoneforge and batterskull. I win game 2 as well, with rest in peace to stop his deathrites and goyfs. Same plan as with RUG, but you don't need detention sphere to answer sulfuric vortex and you don't have to worry about pyroblast.

2-0

Round 3 - UR delver

Spellstutter Sprite and Umezawa's Jitte have always been insane vs. burn, and this was no different. I think I hard cast Batterskull both games as well.

3-0

Round 4 - Blue Maverick (Shane Remelt)

Shane was staying in the hotel with me, another Houston guy. We play legacy against each other occasionally at Asgard Games. His maverick list with blue for geist of saint traft was very impressive, and I was on the back foot both games. In the end, I couldn't deal with his gaddock teeg to cast supreme verdict, and I lost. We played a best of 5 match after the tournament for dinner, and I lost that 0-3, but I still think it's not a terrible matchup. I'm probably wrong.

3-1

Round 5 - RUG Delver (Kenny Castor)

Game 1 He draws like 5 lands and no real pressure, so eventually I get him with stoneforge. Game 2 I have a good hand, and I manage to Force of Will his first Sulfuric Vortex, but he gets me with the second one. Game 3 he keeps a one lander without any blue spells, and never casts anything so I kill him with stoneforge again.

4-1

Round 6 - UWr Miracles (Chi Hoi Yim)

Game 1 I have cavern on wizard, but I get too aggressive and cast vendilion cliques into his Swords to Plowshares which lets him resolve a jace. I manage to get a Spellstutter in play with a sword on it, but he makes 3 Angels with Entreat. His jace slowly gets him ahead, and I’m about to die but I draw detention sphere to kill his angels. He has terminus to save his jace, and then tutors for counterbalance and fateseals me out of the game. He had a chance to tutor for Helm of Obedience with RIP in play, but he told me after the match he just forgot rest in peace was in play, so he went for the counterbalance. Game 2 is an interesting game. I get needle down on Top, and he has to use his needle on my Jace. Without top to help his draws, he gets slowly killed by my stoneforges, revealing 3 tops in hand when he dies. There was only 7 minutes left for game 3, so I boarding back up to 4 stoneforge, hoping to win fast. My hand was insane, with Spell Pierce, Negate, Countespell, Snapcaster, and lands. I draw a second snapcaster and basically counter everything he does. He doesn't draw terminus, so I kill him with about a minute to spare.

5-1

Round 7 - Esper Stoneblade

Game 1 he keeps a 1 lander and locks himself out with brainstorm. He concedes to my jace on turn 4. Game 2 he floods out without drawing any relevant action after our first few cards neutralize each other. He does get me good with Cabal Therapy, but my vendilion clique beats him down before he can draw out of the flood.

6-1

Round 8 - Jund

They finally do feature matches for the legacy open now that the invitational is over. I wasn't on camera, and it was a good thing since the games were completely uninteresting. Both games he has turn 2 dark confidant, and I didn't have the counter and never found a swords to plowshares, so I died.  I almost managed a comeback game 1, but he got me with deathrite shaman, and game 2 I could have recovered with supreme verdict, but I never drew one either. Disappointing loss.

6-2

Round 9 - RUG Delver

Guy wanted to split money and work out something for who wanted the open points more, but we both wanted them so we played, no splits. I made short work of another delver opponent, and he was complaining the whole time about how well I was drawing. It kind of upset me, but whatever. When I finished my match, I turned to Will Craddock sitting next to me and asked if he won vs. Drew Levin. He said that he did, so I offered my hand to him and said "Good tournament." And it was, for the most part.

7-2, 17th place, $100.

Modern PTQ Wrap-up

I've been delinquent in writing reports about the last few modern PTQs I played in. I try to write about all my tournaments, good or bad, but I haven't felt like writing. I'm going to try to catch up now.

PTQ Baton Rouge

I played RG Aggro. Something like:

4 experiment one
4 kird ape
4 goblin guide
4 burning tree emissary
4 tarmogoyf
4 flinthoof boar
1 simian spirit guide
1 grim lavamancer
3 ghor-clan rampager

4 lightning bolt
4 seal of fire
3 searing blaze

4 stomping ground
4 scalding tarn
4 arid mesa
4 verdant catacombs
3 mountain
1 forest

sb
4 blood moon
2 ancient grudge
2 deglamer
2 grim lavamancer
3 burning-tree shaman
2 tormod's crypt


deck was ok. won vs RUW, Monowhite Vial, Jund, then lost to RG Tron. Then I beat Infect played by Tom Ross, lost to the car-mate in RUW, and lost to affinity to finish 4-3. The tron matchup felt awful, but my opponent had the nuts both games. The RUW matchup was good, but I missed too many land drops game 3 and got remanded out of the game. I changed the sb from the original Shatterstorms to Ancient Grudge, and lost to Affinity as a result. I would go back to shatterstorm if i played in the future.

the next week was a PTQ in Austin. I couldn't find a deck that beat both turn 2 liliana and turn 3 karn, so i decided to play one of the two. I played bloodhall jund:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Putrid Leech
3 Bloodhall Ooze

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Thoughtsieze
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Terminate
2 Abrupt Decay

4 Raging Ravine
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
2 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
1 Swamp

SB
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Oliva Voldaren
2 Sowing Salt
2 Torpor Orb
1 Batterskull
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Slaughter Games
2 Go For The Throat
1 Rakdos Charm


I went 0-3, losing round 1 to Gobin swarm with Goblin Grenade, round 2 to Jund Aggro, similar to the RG deck above but with deathrite shaman, and round 3 to Runeflare Trap. It was not my day.

i managed to go 5-2 in a side event with Joel Larsson Lucky Charm deck in standard, but I wasn't super impressed with it.

for the last ptq of the season, I made the 9 hour drive to Lubbock Texas. After reconsidering what i was doing in this format, i decided i should have been playing merfolk all along. I tested the deck without any countermagic, and it didn't seem to hurt it at all, so this is what i played:

4 aether vial
4 vapor snag
4 spreading seas
1 pithing needle

4 cursecatcher
4 silvergil adept
4 lord of atlantis
4 master of the pearl trident
4 merrow reejery
4 phantasmal image
1 kira, great glass spinner
1 sygg, river cutthroat
1 spellskite

13 island
4 mutavault
2 ghost quarter
1 cavern of souls

SB
3 Spellskite
3 Torpor Orb
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Delay

ghost quarter proved to be better than tectonic edge, and pithing needle was surprisingly amazing.

I won r1 vs RUW, then lost r2 to RG tron when he had All Is Dust that i didn't see coming. I then won vs Affinity and BUG, but lost a close match to kiki-pod when i kept one-landers game 1 and 3 and didn't get there. I final round win vs URW twin, and then i'm done with modern for hopefully quite some time.

i actually don't mind modern too much, it seems better than standard at the moment, but maybe playing more standard in the coming weeks will change my mind. Next i have to get ready for the SCG invitational so I'll be playing mostly standard and legacy. if anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

-Ty

PT Gatecrash report

As expected, I did terribly at PT Gatecrash. A combination of school and moving and other real life issues in the month prior to leaving left me with actually zero time to prepare. I hadn't drafted the set at all prior to the first draft of the Pro Tour, and the only games of constructed I had played were the night before. That said, I was brewing lots of decks in my little free time, and I think I actually had a good feel for what to expect from the field. Unfortunately, that didn't translate to any results.

I'll start with constructed. Here is the deck I played:

4 Stomping Ground
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Blood Crypt
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Forest
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain

4 Experiment One
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Gyre Sage
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Hellrider
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager

4 Searing Spear
3 Abrupt Decay

Sideboard:
3 Deathrite Shaman
3 Duress
2 Dreadbore
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Gruul Charm
1 Golgari Charm
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Triumph of Ferocity

Nothing impressive about the deck. I didn't like the way it played after playing 5 rounds at the PT. 24 lands and 10 four drops just isn't what i ever want to do. I let myself play Hellrider even though I knew i wouldn't like it. I trusted the people that i knew that had done testing and went against my instincts. If I had time to test more, I may have ended up with a deck close to this (i had thought of both cackler and flunkies, just never had time to try it):


Ari Lax

4  Blood Crypt
2  Dragonskull Summit
2  Forest
1  Mountain
4  Overgrown Tomb
3  Rootbound Crag
4  Stomping Ground
2  Woodland Cemetery

4  Burning-Tree Emissary
3  Dreg Mangler
4  Experiment One
4  Falkenrath Aristocrat
4  Flinthoof Boar
4  Ghor-Clan Rampager
4  Mogg Flunkies
4  Rakdos Cackler

2  Abrupt Decay
3  Dreadbore
2  Searing Spear

Sideboard
1  Abrupt Decay
2  Domri Rade
3  Duress
1  Kessig Wolf Run
2  Olivia Voldaren
1  Searing Spear
3  Vampire Nighthawk
2  Wolfir Silverheart

There were also a couple of other lists that I had that I think I would have been happier playing. I also might have been the victim of poor matchups, since overall Jund Aggro won 60% of its matches at the PT

Round 4 I defeated Jund Midrange/Control, then lost to RUG Flash, The Aristocrats, Esper Control, and Naya Midrange. I think the Esper loss was bad luck, as I was stuck on three land for almost all of game 3 and still almost won, but the other losses felt like bad matchups.


As for draft, I ended up in Boros. I think it was right for my seat (I got passed Aurelia's Fury pack 3 pick 2), I just was fighting with too many neighbors for creatures and was left with only 14, 3 of them being 5 drops. I had a pick between Martial Glory and Boros Charm that was the only one I wasn't sure about, assuming I was Boros. I took Martial Glory, and its been split 50/50 between everyone I talk to.

Round 1 I lost to Dimir. We split two games being mana screwed, and game 3 I had plenty of mana, but no creature. I was still only 4 points short of killing him with Fury and Massive Raid at the end of the game, but he was still at twenty because I didn't play a creature until turn 5. He milled me out with 2 Mind Grind, neither player having taken any damage. Round 2 I lost to a better boros deck, round 3 I beat a worse boros deck.

It's really hard to prepare for a PT by yourself. I know this, and I valued the advice I got from other people who had done testing. I may have valued it too much, since a lot of it went against my instincts. I also didn't play particularly great at the tournament, and just a lack of any play experience was a huge factor.

Star City Open DFW Report + Legacy Deck

I waited a bit before I wrote this, mostly because I left Fort Worth on Sunday night with a bad taste in my mouth, and I wanted to calm down a bit before I wrote anything about it.With time to clear my head, I can now say I actually had a good time, and I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone that I don't normally get to talk to.

Standard

I played Naya Midrange, because I just didn't like anything else. Sometimes I stick with a deck for too long after the meta has shifted, because I continue to have success with it. It can be hard to tell if a deck is winning because it's good or because I'm playing against bad players. I think this time it was the latter.

I added 3 Ray of Revelation in the sideboard to combat the Bant Hexproof deck. I had success in that matchup, 2-1 in three rounds played, but it was way more of the metagame than I had expected. My other two losses were to BR Zombies and Mono Red before I dropped, and my only other win was against a Bant player.


Legacy

After I dropped from the Standard Open, I joined the four-round Legacy warm-up event, or whatever they were calling it. I had been brewing a pretty exciting UW Wizards Stoneblade list (ignore the deck name on the link), but I wasn't sure if it was good. I lent the deck to Andrew Sullano to playtest while I was still battling standard. When I went to get the deck back, he told me that he could never beat it playing UW Miracles. This was a good sign. I went 3-1 in the tournament, my only loss coming against High Tide when I was stuck on two lands both games. It's legacy, sometimes that happens.

I made a couple of modifications and played it again for the legacy open on Sunday. Here's how that went:

Round 1 - Esper Stoneblade
Game 1 I flood out while he kills me with random Lingering Souls tokens. Game 2 I win the Jace war with Detention Sphere, and cruise to victory. Game 3 He forgets to flashback Lingering Souls on a critical turn that would have allowed him to attack and kill my Jace the following turn. Instead, I was able to protect it and ride it to my first match win of the day.
1-0

Round 2- Mono White Stax
Game 1 He leads with two Mishra's Factories and then a Scroll Rack. He asks if I need to read it, but I know it. It's the most difficult card to play in Magic. I'm worried he's going to take forever and we might draw, but he uses it fairly efficiently. I Spellstutter Sprite his Land Tax, and protect my Jace with Force of Will. Game 2 is similar, except he has turn two Trinisphere, but I have the Force of Will. I counter his relevant spells and he's never really in it.
2-0

Round 3 - UB Stifle-Naught
Game 1 He kills my lands with Stifle and Sinkhole, but I keep drawing them. I land two Stoneforge Mystics to get Batterskull and Sword of Feast and Famine. His Desecration Demon was no match. Games 2 and 3 are both blowouts, where he casts Stifle, Sinkhole, Sinkhole, Snapcaster on Sinkhole, etc., etc., and I never get to play any spells. Oh well, its Legacy, I'm somewhat ok losing this way.
2-1

Round 4 - RUG Delver
But I'm not ok getting an unintentional draw, especially against RUG Delver, just because my opponent takes a minute and a half every time he Ponders and Brainstorms. Game 1 took 25 minutes and he topdecked Lightning Bolt on the last possible turn before my Batterskull took over. Game 2 I had Rest in Peace, and he could never amount an offense that matter, but it took me another twenty minutes to kill him. Also this guy would shuffle almost what I would consider an excessive amount every time, and there was plenty of opportunities for this, since it was legacy. On one of his longer Brainstorms, he says "sorry I'm taking a while", and I responded "saying sorry isn't going to make the game go any quicker." Surprisingly, his pace of play picked up after that, and we finished game two with a whole five minutes left for game three. We didn't finish the last game.
2-1-1

I was very upset. I haven't been this upset in a while. I knew that with an 8 round tournament with 210 people, that unintentional draw most likely meant I couldn't top 8, even if I won out. I had all this rage, which I channeled to defeat all of my next opponents.

Round 5 - UW Miracles
I'm angry, so I crush. He counters my Vendilion Clique once, but I had used Caverns to cast it.
3-1-1

Round 6 - Death and Taxes
I had Jace, he had basic plains. Bloodbath.
4-1-1

Round 7 - Show and Tell
I had everything I needed in both games, and his draws kinda played into mine.
5-1-1

Round 8 - Esper Stoneblade
I lose game one, but win games two and three because I'm fighting a Jace war and he wants to fight over Stoneforge Mystics.
6-1-1

Predictably, I finished 10th place, missing out on top 8 on tiebreakers. The $100 prize was poor consolation, as it barely covered gas for the trip. I left still upset about drawing in round three, and instead of hanging out more in DFW, I drove home.

After playing more with the deck, including two MOCS Preliminaries where I've gone 5-1 and 4-1, I've further tuned the list. Here is the latest update:

4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
3 Island
2 Riptide Laboratory
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Karakas
1 Glacial Fortress

4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant

2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Detention Sphere
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Batterskull

Sideboard:
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Detention Sphere
1 Disenchant
1 Spell Pierce
1 Hydroblast
1 Divert
1 Envelop
1 Pithing Needle
1 Familiar's Ruse


I've been very impressed with the Venser in the maindeck, along with Cavern of Souls. Both cards I added just for fun, but have earned their place in the main deck. Familiar's Ruse in the sideboard is a pet card of mine. I want to play it maindeck instead of Counterspell, but that just doesn't feel right. Familiar's Ruse + Snapcaster Mage is quite a bit of countermagic. I cut the Mutavault for a second plains. I wanted two white sources to fetch so I can Supreme Verdict and not get Wastelanded. Also, I had yet to activate Mutavault after 30 or so matches.

The deck is a lot of fun to play. Its better against combo than Esper Stoneblade, but it might be worse against BUG and Jund. The mirror is still close, I still think you need to be on the Jace side of the fight, and build my decks accordingly.

If you play this, please don't cut any Jace or the Sword of Feast and Famine from the maindeck. I don't know why legacy players want to do that all the time. I've heard several arguments, even from people who I respect, but they've yet to come anywhere close to convincing me it's right.

That's all for now!

Announcing!

New Duel Deck: Caw Blade vs Caw Blade!

It's no secret that I was incredibly fond of the Caw Blade mirror. I would still like to play it today, and my experience at the Star City Games Legacy Open playing UW Stoneblade reminded me that I wanted to build two versions of the deck and carry them around.

The decks are still quite pricey (thank you, Jace the Mind Sculptor!), so the plan is print out proxies to use. I didn't want the decks to be identical, so I scoured the internet for the two bests lists I could find from the pre-banning Standard. Which side will you choose? If you want to play, find me at a future event and challenge me!


Caw Blade, by Ty Thomason

1st Place -PTQ Katy, Texas

4  Celestial Colonnade
4  Glacial Fortress
2  Inkmoth Nexus
5  Island
4  Plains
4  Seachrome Coast
4  Tectonic Edge

1  Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1  Phyrexian Metamorph
4  Squadron Hawk
4  Stoneforge Mystic

1  Batterskull
3  Dismember
2  Divine Offering
1  Into the Roil
4  Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3  Mana Leak
4  Preordain
3  Spell Pierce
1  Sword of Feast and Famine
1  Sword of War and Peace

Sideboard
1  Batterskull
2  Celestial Purge
3  Condemn
2  Day of Judgment
1  Divine Offering
2  Flashfreeze
4  Kor Firewalker




Caw Blade, by Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 
1st Place - Grand Prix-Singapore 2011

4  Celestial Colonnade
3  Glacial Fortress
2  Inkmoth Nexus
5  Island
4  Plains
4  Seachrome Coast
4  Tectonic Edge

1  Consecrated Sphinx
4  Squadron Hawk
4  Stoneforge Mystic

1  Batterskull
3  Dismember
1  Divine Offering
2  Into the Roil
1  Jace Beleren
4  Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4  Mana Leak
4  Preordain
3  Spell Pierce
1  Sword of Feast and Famine
1  Sword of War and Peace

Sideboard
1  Batterskull
1  Celestial Purge
2  Condemn
1  Day of Judgment
1  Deprive
1  Dismember
2  Divine Offering
2  Flashfreeze
3  Oust
1  Sun Titan

Another PTQ Report

Last weekend there was a Modern PTQ here in my hometown of Houston. Asgard Games, (the store which I occasionally write for), was hosting their first PTQ. This was exciting for me since I can walk to the store, and exciting for other people I know who were unhappy with the way 3rd Coast Cards ran their tournaments.

I played the same deck as I did in Philadelphia, with a few changes. Khalni Heart Expedition got cut because it just wasn't good enough. This allowed for cutting of some of the excess basic lands and adding in more shocklands, so now the mana is better. The extra space allowed me to move the Pyroclasms to the maindeck. I also cut a Prismatic Omen for a Muddle the Mixture, since it can be both, and more. The sideboard is similar in theory, different in execution. Back to Nature was added in place of Cyclonic Rift to deal with Leyline of Sanctity and Blood Moon since the Bogle deck started showing up. I knew a bunch of people were playing Splinter Twin so I fit in the Combust, and changed one Ancient Grudge to a Seal of Primordium. I decided Vexing Shusher is the best card to have in the matchups where you want something like that. This is the list I registered:


4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan

4 Farseek
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
4 Remand
4 Izzet Charm
3 Pyroclasm
2 Prismatic Omen
1 Muddle the Mixture

4 Valakut the Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
3 Steam Vents
2 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Forest
1 Island
4 Mountain

Sideboard:
3 Ancient Grudge
4 Obstinate Baloth
1 Pyroclasm
1 Negate
2 Back to Nature
2 Vexing Shusher
1 Combust
1 Seal of Primordium

I'm much happier with this list going forward than the old one. I would play this exact 75 again.

I can't get the PWP website to load, so I don't have opponent names, but I'll do my best.

R1 - RG Tron
Game 1 He mulligans to five, has to spend the first three turns just trying to hit his land drops. I Scapeshift on turn 5 to kill him. Game 2 I mulligan to five, he has turn 4 Karn, and starts killing my lands. I die with three Titans in hand. Game 3 I'm on the play, he doesn't have turn 3 Karn, so I Prismatic Omen on turn 4 and Primeval Titan for 21 on turn 5.
1-0

R2 - Chris Jabr - Burn
Chris is a local Asgard player. Game 1 He plays Goblin Guide on turn 1, and my first three lands did two damage to me. I died. Game 2 I remand his Keldon Marauders twice, then play two Obstinate Baloths. He still has enough damage to get me to 8 life, but I it wasn't enough to stop Prime Time from doing his thing. Game 3 We both mulligan to 6. I keep six lands two Baloths. He plays turn 0 Leyline of Punishment. Consider me punished. He has turn 1 Goblin Guide to go with it. Unfortunately for him, he only has the one land. I play out my Baloths and try to attack him. I rip a timely Muddle the Mixture to counter his Flames of the Bloodhand, and then topdeck Scapeshift while at 2 life to win the game. Very close.
2-0

R3 - Moe Raval - Splinter Twin
Moe is a buddy. We are going to PT Montreal together. But he's always talking smack, and I never hesitate to talk it right back. Game 1 He casts Izzet Charm to loot, and then I kill him with Scapeshift on turn 5 with three mana open. Game 2 I have Seal of Primordium, so he holds back on his Blood Moon and instead Vendillion Cliques me, putting my mostly dead Negate to the bottom of my deck, and drawing me into the two lands I needed to kill him with Scapeshift. He didn't really seem to understand what he was doing in this matchup.
3-0

R4 - David Shakarisaz - Splinter Twin
David is also going to PT Montreal with me. After Moe lost to me in round 3, David was giving him shit for losing. "It's such a good matchup I never lose to that deck!" Then I beat him 2-0. Game 1 was odd. I Izzet Charm his Pestermite when he casts Splinter Twin, then double Pyroclasm his follow up Deceiver Exarch. He never draws another untapper, and I eventually stick Primeval Titan. Game 2 he makes a strange series of filter plays: Turn 1 Serum Visions, keep both on top; turn 2 Sleight of Hand, take the card he saw already, then Serum Visions, put both on bottom. I know there isn't always a right order to play those cards, but this seemed very strange to me. I supposed the card on top could have been the second Serum Visions. Anyway, he lands Blood Moon on turn 3, but I immediately rip Back to Nature. I wait until I'm going to go off, and in the mean time I've draw Vexing Shusher, so I just force through the Scapeshift. He had drawn all lands.
4-0

R5 - Scapeshift
He's playing a more traditional Scapeshift list with Cryptic Command and no Primeval Titans. Game 1 He's on the play but doesn't have any ramp, so I can turn 5 go for it with counter backup. Game 2 He plays turn 0 2x Leyline of Sanctity, and I die eventually since I never draw an answer. Game 3 He has turn 0 Leyline again. We both ramp, but I'm short on blue mana to transmute for Back to Nature. Eventually I draw it, but still don't have enough counter mana to force through the Scapeshift. Eventually I get to 10 mana and transmute for Shusher and cast it. He Cryptic Commands it. I say ok. Then I have to tell him that its uncounterable. He draws his card, discouraged. I then play Scapeshift and in response cast Back to Nature, with two mana floating. He Lightning Bolts my Shusher, so I make Back to Nature uncounterable. Then I make Scapeshift uncounterable, but he Remands in response. So now I'm tapped out with two Scapeshifts in hand, and he gets to untap with 9 mana and 4 cards in hand. I think I'm dead, but he just passes. I untap and play Scapeshift, which he Cryptic Commands, but the second one gets him.
5-0

Since the tournament was only 110 players and 7 rounds, I should be able to draw in. I'm in first place on the standings and I'm hoping I get paired against one of the other 5-0 players and not paired down...

R6 - Will Lowry - Splinter Twin
But of course not. I get paired down, and even worse, it's my roommate. The worst possible thing. We talk about draws and concession possibilities, but nothing quite makes sense. So we play. Game 1 I have the nuts turn 4 Scapeshift and Omen. Game 2 I don't draw Scapeshift or Titan after ramping. Same game 3, but I would have won if I had held onto a fetch land instead of Stomping Ground on an Izzet Charm loot that I'm still not sure I did incorrectly.
5-1

R7 - GWb Hatebears
He got to ID last round, so I'm paired up. I'm third in standings behind the two 5-0-1 players. I discussed before the round about playing to get Top Seed and the play for all of the top 8. The play/draw rule is such that the higher seed gets to choose. I know that if I win, I will be first seed for all of top 8. I think that's huge for the deck I'm playing, and I still think my opponent is playing Melira Pod, which is a good matchup. So I tell him I want to play. He wins the die roll and has turn 2 Loxodon Smiter. I did not expect this, and my Pyroclasm isn't enough to buy me the time I thought it would. I die before I can draw a kill condition. Game 2 He doesn't play his Mindcensor until after I search with Primeval Titan, so I easily kill him. Game 3 He has turn 3 Linvala, and I somehow draw all of my Sakura Tribe Elders and die.
5-2

So I get 9th. Again after going X-0 with two rounds left. Maybe I'll keep playing it out and refuse to draw. But that is ridiculous. This time is partially my fault, since I could have ID in round 7 and didn't. But also the top 8 play/draw rule is silly and probably shouldn't factor into my decision ever. It would make me feel better about it if it only factored in a difference in match points instead of tiebreakers, since tiebreakers are somewhat random. Also if sponsor invites are about "keeping people from getting discouraged", they should be able to account for the X-0 0-2 top 8 miss, since that is the most discouraging thing ever, but apparently they can't look at that.

For reference, just some estimates I had going into the last round that affected my decision. For my situation, I thought that:
ID gets top eight 90+% of the time
My deck is ~10% better on the play
I have a 55-60% favorable matchup in round 7 (actually probably less, but I thought he was on melira pod)
I have a ~30% chance to top 8 with a loss (no one else was ID besides table 2. 30% is for the 4-1-1 guy to lose and have no unintentional draws)

Holiday Magic Happenings

Over the holidays, I took a 13 day road trip up to the northeast. Along the way, I played in a couple of Magic tournaments. Here's how they went:

GP Indianapolis

I only had two byes, since the PWP bonus for winning a PTQ isn't retroactive. It was sealed deck on day one, so I felt like I had a decent chance to make day two anyway. The deck I opened up wasn't spectacular, but I felt like it had the tools. I built a RBu deck, splashing for Mercurial Chemister, Blustersquall, Izzet Staticaster, and Pursuit of Flight. I think I played one blue source too few for the build I had, since my black cards weren't nearly good enough to win on their own. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else in blue to support a straight UR deck. I had an alternate GBw deck that was probably the best deck to play, but I misjudged the power level of the main deck and didn't board into it as often as I should have. The result was a very mediocre 5-4 finish at a GP where 6-3 had a decent shot to make the second day.

The one interesting story from the event occurred during the middle of day one. At this point, looking back on it, I'm fairly certain my opponent cheated me in one of the more savage cheats I've witnessed. I was up a game going into game 2, and my opponent made a rather elaborate show of trying to remember what his 40th card in his alternate deck was supposed to be. He finally figured it out, and piled out 40 cards. Then, on the last turn before he died, he "drew" a Sphinx's Revelation that allowed him to stabilize, and the card advantage he accumulated meant he eventually won the game. What I think happened is that he had the Revelation in his lap / sleeve before he piled, and then added it to the top of his deck on the turn he needed it. I didn't realize what happened until after I punted the third game to lose the match, I mentioned that his topdeck of the Sphinx's Revelation was very good for him game 2, but he made a comment about "having it in his hand the whole game", which I knew to be false since he had no cards in hand the turn he drew it. Eventually I put two and two together, but it was far too late and there is too little evidence to do anything about it. It's cheats like these that are so hard to catch in real time that it makes me upset that the DCI doesn't suspend people when they have video evidence of them doing these things. I'll have more to say about this in an upcoming article about cheating.

PTQ Philadelphia

The only Magic cards I brought with me on the trip was a Modern deck to use at the PTQ that happened the last weekend of December in Philadelphia, PA. I played the following list:

4 Sakura Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan

4 Farseek
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
4 Remand
4 Izzet Charm
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Prismatic Omen

4 Valakut the Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Forest
1 Island
6 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Obstinate Baloth
2 Pyroclasm
2 Negate
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Vexing Shusher

Here's how the tournament went:

R1 Chang, Morgan  - Eggs
Game 1 He went off turn 3 with Silence backup. Game 2 I Negate his Lotus Bloom, and he stalls for a few turns, and I kill him with Khalni Heart Expedition. Game 3 He mulligans to five, and attempts to Silence me the turn I'm going to kill him, but I have the Negate to win on the spot.
1-0

R2 Kemple, Chris  - Burn
Game 1 He keeps a one lander, and never draws a second land. I take 3 a turn from his burn spells as I try to draw out of my mulligan to six with no green sources. Eventually I draw a Stomping Ground, but play it tapped to buy more time. He gets me to 2 life before I kill him with Scapeshift. Game 2 he has turn 0 Leyline of Sanctity, but I draw two Obstinate Baloths and just beat him down.
2-0

3 Ozulas, David  - BW Tokens
I lost almost every game I played against this deck to Sam Friedman while were playtesting between rounds at the GP, but both games my opponent kept hands without any disruption so I killed him on turn 4 both times.
3-0

4 Natterman, Chris  - Affinity
Game 1 he didn't have Cranial Plating, so I had an extra turn to set up and Scapeshifted him out while at 5 life. Game 2 he mulligans to 5, I have 3x Obstinate Baloth, but I lose to his 2x Tempered Steel and Inkmoth Nexus. Game 3 I draw 2x Ancient Grudge and have all the time in the world to kill him.
4-0

5 Drebsky, David  - Kithkin
Game 1 he plays some Kithkins, I kill him with Scapeshit. Game 2 I prevent him from using his Windbrisk Heights that is hiding an Aven Mindcensor, and I kill him with Scapeshift.
5-0

6 Kohler, Justin  - Esper Planeswalkers
Game 1 we both mulligan to 5. He gets stuck on land, but i'm flooded. Eventually he draws out of it and gets a Batterskull to start attacking me. On the turn before I die, I topdeck Scapeshift and still have enough mountains left to search out and kill him. Game 2 He has Leyline of Sanctity. I have plenty of time to find my Cyclonic Rift, but never get there and he kills me with Batterskull again. Game 3 he gets stuck on two land, even after 2x Spreading Seas on my Valakuts, so I have enough time to ramp to Primeval Titan and Scapeshift when he's tapped out.
6-0

Because the tournament was 189 players, I know that 6-1-1 won't be a lock for top 8, but 6-0-2 should be. I'm hoping to get paired with the only guy I actually know at the tournament, Max Brown, and draw into top 8. However, I get paired down. That's ok, just have to win.

7 MULLIN, ZACHARY  - 4 Color Pod
Game 1 I ramp up and Scapeshift kill him very easily. Game 2 I mulligan, stall on lands, and he has the Qasali Pridemage he drew to kill my Khalni Heart. I still can play a control route, but I only have one blue source, which he taps down with the Exarch he drew and kills me with Kiki Jiki. Game 3 I ramp into double STE, but he ramps into pod and Mindcensor. I can't draw any lands or removal, and he kills me with Restoration Angel and Kiki Jiki.
6-1

I can still ID into top 8 if I get paired up or my breakers are good, but once I see that I'm 8th in the standings I know I'm going to have to play.

8 Isgur, Benjamin  - 4 Color Pod
Game 1 I keep a questionable hand, and am never in it since he was on the play. I probably should have mulliganed since I knew I'd be on the draw. Game 2 I once again miss land drops, and he has a Qasali Pridemage in his hand to kill me Khalni Heart, and I'm never really in it. 
6-2

So I managed to not top 8 after starting 6-0, losing twice to what I consider to be a pretty good matchup. At least it wasn't as bad as this I knew it was possible to not top 8, and I don't think I was playing poorly, still just trying to win matches. It has made me reconsider how good Khalni Heart Expedition is, since I got blown out when they killed it two separate times. I finished 11th.

This is a textbook example of a tournament where I would have top 8 if IDing wasn't allowed, but it is, and I really can't blame anyone except myself. In general, I think I would prefer to not have IDing in tournaments. 

For the rest of my holiday break, I've got to keep working on modern for the PTQ season as well as gear up for the PT in Montreal.