2016 Magic Resolutions

Last year wasn't a great year for me in the world of Magic. It was a great year for me in everything else - I finished school, I got married, I moved to College Station (this might not be that great), and I got a new job. All of these things took time away from my favorite game (picking up a nasty Hearthstone habit didn’t help either).

In the few major events I played, I didn't perform up to my standards. I played slower than usual because I was reacting to new situations I should've seen in testing. My mental game was weak as I failed to take advantage of some reads I had and probably gave away more information than I gained. I tilted a couple of times because I valued the specific result higher than normal since I was playing fewer tournaments.

So at the end of 2015, I did some self evaluation and came up with a plan to improve in some areas. It’s going to be a New Year’s resolution of sorts. The overall goal isn’t any one thing. I don’t aspire to make it back to the Pro Tour. But if it happens as a result of the process, I’m more than willing to face that challenge again. However, goals without measurable outcomes are difficult to actually meet so I try to keep things quantifiable. I have three categories of resolution: Content Creation, Tournaments, and the more abstract Play Improvements.

Content Creation

Content creation will be the biggest part of my plan for 2016. I want to write an article at least once a week. I’ve written articles in the past and have tried to keep up a tournament report blog, but I always lacked in motivation. My goal with writing every week is to find out what I like to write about, which might actually be different than what I want to write about since writing what I want hasn’t worked out before. I’m going to try many different types of articles as the year goes on. If there's anything you want to see me to write about, send the suggestions my way.

I may also try to record a video periodically if I can figure out how to do it. A perfect way to meet my goals for drafting (see below) will be to record the drafts I do. If this is successful, it may take the place of some articles to afford me some more free time. Streaming is also a possibility.

Tournaments

I want to do at least one booster draft a week. When I lived in Houston, our group would meet regularly for one to three drafts during the week. I haven’t been able to replicate this where I am now, so I will have to use Magic Online. I prefer to play constructed on MTGO, but my Limited game is suffering. I’ve only drafted BFZ one time!

I plan to attend every Grand Prix in the area. I also plan to attend any SCG Opens that come this way. Traveling for tournaments won’t be a high priority, but I want the play experience that comes with it so I'll make a goal of traveling to two large events. This may include Vintage and Legacy Champs as they have been on my bucket list for some time.

As for PPTQs, I won’t be playing many. I’m not a fan of the system in general, and I really don’t want to drive more than an hour to play in them. When they come up and it makes sense, I'll go. But since the goal isn’t necessarily to qualify for the PT, it won’t be a high priority like the other resolutions.

Play Improvements

These are all more abstract than the others, and thus harder to measure. They'll be evaluated at the end of the year mostly by feel. I'll also look at how well I kept to the related goals above and how well they allowed me to accomplish what I wanted.

I want to improve my Limited skills. At one point, I was probably in the top five drafters in Texas, but I’ve clearly let it lapse. Even when I was at the top of my Limited game, I still relied on instinct combined with opinions from players I respected. I rarely experimented in Draft to find new strategies or to see where I may have been off with some evaluations. Hopefully by drafting once a week I can regain my old form and learn some new tricks.

I want to regain control of my body language and tells. My favorite quote about Magic comes from Gary Wise, “Your ability to succeed at the top levels of Magic is directly related to your ability to control your tells.” I’m definitely rusty at this, and maybe there's some paranoia and I haven’t actually lost as much as I think. But it’s still a goal of mine, and the best way to get better is practice. I want to play a minimum number of IRL tournaments to work on these skills, hopefully at least once a month.

Looking Forward

I'm intentionally keeping a lot of the plan open-ended. I’ll play the formats I’m interested in playing. I won’t force Modern or Standard when I don’t want to play. Other than drafting once a week, I won’t have any commitments. I want to use my play time as research for weekly articles. This is where I can use suggestions from the readers. Let me know if there's something you want me to write about or somewhere you want me to play, and I’ll see what I can do. I’m looking forward to sharing this year’s journey with you.

Thanks,
Ty

Legacy 1K and Miracles thoughts

I played the Pat’s Games Legacy 1k on Sundayin Austin. I really appreciate Pat running big tournaments to support both Legacy and Modern that are worth making the trip to. I wish more stores would have cash prize tournaments.

The Deck

I played Cavern Miracles in the event. Here is my list:

4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Counterbalance

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Terminus

2 Counterspell

4 Jace the Mind Sculptor

2 Spell Pierce

2 Monastery Mentor

1 Snapcaster Mage

2 Venser, Shaper Savant

4 Tundra

4 Flooded Strand

1 Arid Mesa

4 Scalding Tarn

5 Island

1 Plains

2 Cavern of Souls

2 Karakas

Sideboard

3 Containment Priest

2 Rest in Peace

2 Flusterstorm

3 Vendilion Clique

2 Disenchant

1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Misdirection

A lot of thoughts went into this list, some good and some bad.

Monastery Mentor over Entreat the Angels - I liked only having to play 1 basic Plains, it made fetching the basics easier than some other versions, but Mentor was not as reliable of a kill condition. In theory it’s better in the mirror with Cavern and can kill quicker on 4-5 lands. I did not play against the mirror, so I can’t speak for that, but I did not play enough Mentors to reliably close out the games I was ahead in. It still might be good, I’m not sure though. The way my deck was constructed I think Entreat might have been better.

I never like playing red cards in Miracles, and I did not miss them at all. Blood Moon has never worked out for me. Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm have been acceptable replacements for Pyroblast. Wear / Tear is better than Disenchant, but I consider it a luxury when you consider the mana base tradeoffs. Izzet Staticaster is better now that Mentor is on the rise, and is the only card without a good replacement.

I always play 4 Jace in Miracles. I like to play the game in the Jace direction, and still haven’t seen a good reason not to. I think this list should have had 3 Cliques main instead of Mentors, but I wouldn’t cut a Jace for the 3rd. Maybe the Snapcaster.

The 2 Karakas might be overkill. I wanted 23 land because Ponder was awful when I played it. Riptide Lab is probably too expensive, and Karakas is better versus Gaddock Teeg and Reanimator.

The sideboard had all the cards I wanted, none of the cards I didn’t want. I never felt like I was missing something. Sometimes I thought I had too much to bring in. I brought in Cliques almost every match. Reanimator was very easy with so much hate. I never got to cast Teferi but was not upset to have access to him in several matches.


The Tournament

My first round opponent had preregistered but did not show up. The final count was 67 players, but 3 no shows. We could have had a six round tournament if there had only been a players meeting before pairings. The time saved by skipping the meeting did not make up for the extra round. That was my only complaint for how the tournament was run.
1-0

Round 2 I played against Grixis Delver. His deck didn’t do anything. He never had Stifle or Daze when I thought he would. He never had Therapy to go with his Probes. He occasionally had Force of Will, but never used it on the important spells. He might not have been experience in Legacy.
2-0

Round 3 I play against Robert Berni. Half the reason I went up for the tournament was to hang out with him since I hadn’t seen him since his return from the Phillipines. He was on Shardless Bug. Game 1 was a grind, I was almost able to defeat three Liliana ultimates, but eventually he got me. Game 2 I had Jace in play versus his Liliana. I played Mentor and Top to pressure his planeswalker, but he had his own Jace to take out my creatures. I never beat this deck when they have their own Jace.
2-1

Round 4 I play against Tad Macareg and his RUG Delver. Game 1 I have plenty of lands, he doesn’t have an early threat, and I lock up the game with Counterbalance. He concedes to 1 and 2 on top of my deck. Game 2 I mulligan and get Stifle-Wastelanded out of the game. Game 3 I keep a sketch one land Top hand with 2 Force of Wills. I eventually draw out of it, and his double mulligan allows my Forces to buy me the time I need, but I never find Terminus and his 3 Nimble Mongoose kill me.
2-2

Round 5 I play against Reanimator. Game 1 he spends early turns Pondering and Brainstorming. I counter his first Exhume for Griselbrand. I play Karakas as my 5th land. He has a second Exhume and goes for it. I Snapcaster Counterspell, he Dazes, I pay, he Dazes again. He then draws 7 cards and Entombs Grave Titan. I bounce the Griselbrand on my turn and attack. Venser with Cavern and Karakas keep him from ever getting Grave Titan into play while I finish him off with some attacks. Game 2 I have Containment Priest, Flusterstorm, and Rest in Peace and am never in a bad position since he fails to draw any discard.
3-2

Round 6 I play against Aluren. I had never played against it before, and was excited to see something new. Both games were very close, I was able to resolve Jace, but I may have misplayed it. He was able to Deathrite Shaman me game 1 with Aluren and I couldn’t bounce it to stay alive. Game 2 was very similar, he couldn’t combo me because I had countered Cavern Harpy earlier in the game, but eventually he played 3 Imperial Recruiters to beat me down and I couldn’t answer all of them with Venser before I died.
3-3

Round 7 I play against Jund. Game 1 I’m on the play, counter his first Liliana, and play Jace to bounce his Tarmogoyf. He doesn’t have Bloodbraid or Bolt, so I untap and take over with Jace. Game 2 i’m on the back foot the entire time after his turn two Liliana and turn three Bloodbraid into Goblin Rabblemaster. Game 3 I play Mentor on turn 3, he has Abrupt Decay but I Misdirect it to his Deathrite Shaman. He has another Decay but is out of gas at this point. I draw Jace while he draws lands so I win.
4-3

22nd place.


The Takeaway

I’m definitely still rusty, I felt like I was reacting too often to what my opponents were doing instead of seeing it before it happened. That’s not a good place to be with a deck like this. Hopefully I can play more frequently and have more preparation for whatever my next tournament is. I think the deck wasn’t focused on the things I wanted it to be.