13 February 2018

PT Rivals of Ixalan Report

I played at Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao Spain last weekend. I had a great time in the tournament and exploring the town.

Preparation and Expactations

This PT was my 7th time competing on this level. While my past results haven't been anything notable, I was uncharacteristically optimistic about this PT. The format was Modern and I really like the deck I have been having success with to get to this point. I didn't have a ton of experience with the draft format, but it didn't seem overly complicated or with many cards that varied wildly in how valuable they were. I didn't prepare nearly as much as I have done for other tournaments, but this was an event where that wasn't as big of an issue.

The goal for the tournament is simple: win. To do that you can break it up in steps, like make the top 8, or go at least 5-1 in draft, etc. The easiest way for me to look at it was I needed 12 wins. The sooner I get to 12 the better, but 12 is the minimum. I figured 8 win in modern and 4 wins in draft were doable, but didn't want to lock in to any particular format goal to avoid disappointment or overexcitement when I inevitably fall short or exceed.

Drafting

Without the crazy number of drafts others had under their belt, I wanted to have some certain preferences. These would be archetypes I felt comfortable with to minimize the tough "in archetype" picks. The questions of which colors are open are always hard, but knowing which creature is better in your Pirate deck between Fathom Fleet Boarder and Grasping Scoundrel can easily be figured out before you have to make the decision. My preferences were BW, BR, BU, RW, UW, GW, preferring aggressive strategies in these colors. I never got any UG deck to come together, and UR required too much finesse for my limited preparation. The other two green combinations would likely require me opening a green card I found powerful enough to overcome the aversion to the color.

My first draft I opened Ghalta, Primal Hunger in a pack where the only playables were green except Deadeye Rig-Hauler. I took the Ghalta, and then was passed several solid black spells including two Moment of Craving and an Impale. The signal was easy to read, I just needed to solidify a second color. I ended up with a very solid black base and options to either play red for Reckless Rage and Unfriendly Fire or blue for some evasive creatures. I decided to play the red in the maindeck and board into the blue cards if necessary.



Round 1 My opponent and I traded mulligans to 5 in the first two games. I lost the first one to his Soul of the Rapids and Squires Devotion. Game 3 he had turn 3 Soul, but nothing to put on it and he flooded out so I won the match.

Round 2 Game 1 I have double Moment on turn 4 with Fathom Fleet Boarder in play vs his Sleek Schooner and 2/2. It was a blowout. Game 2 he has turn 5 9/9 dinosaur but I impale it and sneak through enough damage to finish him off with Unfriendly Fire.

Round 3 Game 1 I'm very fast and win. Game 2 he has 2 Needletooth Raptor and 2 Raging Regisaur. I board in a Lurking Chupacabra and Queen's Agent to help control the Raptors and I draw both to win a close game 3.


The draft on day 2 was much more difficult. A 4th pick Luminous Bonds and 6th pick Exultant Skymarch showed me white was open, but once again struggled to find a second color. I entertained GW for a bit since I had first picked Tindershoot Dryan, but also had some blue cards. None of the mana fixing was available after I took premium removal in the second pack, and I ended up with the following deck that didn't have a real identity




Round 9 I stole a game when my opponent missed his 3rd land drop on turn 3 and 4, but games 2 and 3 his Ghalta and Rekindling Phoenix were too much for me after I used my Bonds and Waterknots just trying to stabilize.

Round 10 I lost games 1 and 3 to his very very very aggressive pirate draw involving multiple one drops and Fell Flagship.

Round 11 I had to play vs a BG deck that was a tough matchup where I didn't have a way to beat his Thundering Spineback. I also played terribly when I didn't know Captain's Hook gave menace.

3-3 in Draft, but obviously disappointed after the conclusion of the second draft. Strange how if it had been reversed I might feel slightly better about my performance. This was the first time I 0-3 a draft at the PT.


Modern

This is the deck I played.



I had more to say about what was good and bad about this going forward, but then they unbanned Jace and Bloodbraid Elf so it doesn't matter. Maindeck was great, SB was probably a bit off, especially the Mindcensors I got tricked into playing.

I went 5-5 in matches, I'll try to recap them now:

R4 vs Valakut of some kind - Win game 1 when he draws 2 Pia and no Scapeshift or Titan. Lost the next two games to some topdecks when things were looking okay, but wasn't super far ahead so didn't feel that bad.
0-1

R5 vs UR Kikijiki
Game 1 I tutor for Dunes when he Pestermites my Knight, and the 3 Voice I drew killed him. Game 2 I punted after he played Blood Moon while I had Path and Command in hand, but failed to cast either and then never had white mana again after he Anger away my Birds of Paradise. I win game 3 fairly straightforward.
1-1

R6 vs Affinity
Game 1 I have active Knight and already GQ two of his Inkmoth. Because I drew Breeding Pool, I think he thought I was on different list and tried to Ravager a 3rd Nexus but of course I fetched up 3rd GQ and he had no board. Game 2 I had Stony Silence
2-1

R7 vs Humans
Game 1 he had Noble into double Reflector Mage so my first 3 turns accomplished nothing. Game 2 I cast collected Company on turn 3 and only found a Birds of Paradise.
2-2

R8 vs Abzan Coco
Game 1 I drew enough Path to not be losing, and then able to GQ him off of white mana. He had quite a few scrys with Viscera Seer and then two searches with Duskwatch Recruiter but never found another Vizier. Game 2 I kept 0 lander on 6 with Mindcensor Path 2 Birds and some others, didn't hit forest until turn 2 and just got attacked to death. Game 3 his start very slow where he doesn't play anything on turn 1 or 2 except Path on my Courser, allowing me to Azusa and Excavator early and easily win.
3-2

R12 vs Burn
Game 1 I probably punt by not attacking with a Voice one turn, or attacking with it the turn before. Both plays give me much better chance to win then the line I took that left me two points short against opponent stuck on 3 land with a bunch of 2cc spells in hand. I win game 2 vs his two Ensnaring Bridge by destroying all his lands with Courser in play. Game 3 he had Guide into 2x Swiftspear and I couldn't catch up.
3-3

R13 vs Grixis
Game 1 he suspends Ancestral, I play Noble Hierarch, his turn 2 he Serum Visions plays Creeping Tar Pit then puts die on his library because he forgot to remove suspend counter. He never finds 3rd land before he's dead and Ancestral has 1 counter on it. Game 2 more lengthy, he has early Tasigur that attacks me down to 8 before I stabilize with two Knight of the Reliquary that are 5/5s and I kill him.
4-3

R14 vs UW Control
Not much to say here, game 1 he cast Supreme Verdict 4x. Game 2 I tried to be aggressive with Horizon Canopy and Exacator but didn't have another green source and took too much pain so died after he Verdict then attack me with Gideon.
4-4

R15 vs Dredge
On the draw game 1 I was just not fast enough. Game 2 I had GQ loop but he had Lightning Axe to break it up and also had basic forest in his deck to recast Life from the Loam.
4-5

R16 vs Jeskai
Both games he flooded and didn't seem into it since we weren't playing for anything just 8-8 record.
5-5


Bilbao

 I had a great time exploring Bilbao and the surrounding areas. The highlights of the trip for me were the Guggenheim Museum, Gaztelugatxe, and the Vizcaya Bridge. Even better was spending the trip with my wife Beth. I've been fortunate to travel to many places to play various Pro Tours over the years, but this was the first time she was able to come along. It was a vastly superior experience going to see the sights with her than trying to do it with other Magic players or alone.  She refused to let me hole up in the hotel room with the post-tournament blues. We even braved nearly freezing rain to get to the top of the Vizcaya Bridge. I've met a lot of great people playing Magic including some of my closest friends, but this was a new juxtaposition to see how much more I like Beth. I don't tell her nearly often enough but I'm very grateful she's in my life.

So.... Now What?

After the failure at the main event, this was the first time it didn't inspire me to come back for more. My mindset going in was kind of a "last hurrah". I'd still love to play more PTs, I'm just not sure how committed to the qualifying process I am. Fortunately I do not have to play PPTQs or I would seriously be retired. After the RPTQ in April and the Team RPTQ in the summer (I'm certain some Bronze pro will be dragging me to that) who knows what my status will be. I finally finished my set of power so I'll be trying my hand at Vintage in real life. I've also rediscovered my love for limited so maybe I'll be drafting more on MTGO. Modern will be in chaos with the unbannings, but will still have my attention. I have two semi-major events coming up to play Modern in - the Hunter Burton Memorial and a SCG Open. I'll probably have Jace in my deck.

So ends another one of these recaps. I had wanted to write more but it's already been almost two weeks since the PT. Until next time.

Thanks,
Ty


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