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.
1 comment:
Interesting to see this match from the player's perspective (I was the judge that made the call here,) though I will mention that rewinding the play requires head judge approval, so it's not like I was going to "look up" the correct ruling. My error in this case was to not communicate to the players exactly what was going on in my head before seeking the head judge's approval. It was only when I got up there that I even realized I hadn't given a ruling yet!
That said, choosing not to rewind is pretty much always an acceptable course of action for a judge to take, and it just was simpler than backing up through a draw. I 99% expected Eric to appeal that decision, though, and in the end it worked against him. Kudos to your friend to victory though, the rest of the match was quite entertaining, and that Azorius Charm play was incredibly clever.
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