Leveling Up

I’ve played a few magic events since the last time I posted. During these events I’ve actually learned (or relearned) quite a bit. The highlight of these events was making the top 4 of the RPTQ for PT Dominaria. This means I will be attending my 8th Pro Tour at the beginning of June. This is also the third time I have managed to qualify for back to back PTs, and I feel like something is different this time. I feel like I have leveled up.

SCG DFW – Modern Open

For the main event of the SCG Open, I played a Bant Evolution list of my own design. It is very similar to the list I played at GP San Antonio, but I added Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I also cut the red mana, only being able to get Kiki-Jiki into play via Edritch Evolution (or multiple Birds of Paradise). I did not have a successful tournament, going 5-4 in matches with one win being an opponent no-show.

What I learned from the main event was nothing big, but it was still important. I learned that just because I have a brew and I’ve had success with my own variants before, doesn’t mean everything I come up with is tournament ready. I knew going into the event the deck still needed work, but I was committed to playing Jace in the event.  I acknowledged this before the event as well, knowing I wasn’t there to win just to have some fun.  Since I’ve sold my MTGO collection, I no longer have that outlet to play the wacky early stage brews at low risk. I don’t know if that means I should not play brews at all, or only at local store tournaments, but I also knew exactly what I was doing.

SCG DFW – Standard Classic

Instead of running it back on Sunday with a deck I knew was not good (with some updates, like the 4th Jace), I was able to borrow a Tier 1 Standard deck for the Classic. I played Sultai Climb to a 5-2 finish. I lost one match to my unfamiliarity with the format and one match to a very good draw from the mono-red opponent. I’m very glad I was convinced to not play Modern because I learned some important lessons.

The first lesson I learned was that Standard is very good right now. The games were refreshing after a mono-Modern diet I had myself on. All the decks seemed interesting, powerful, but not broken, and all decks had many ways to interact. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The second lesson was how much margin for error is available in a tier 1 deck. My experience with fringe decks in Modern like GW Ghost Quarter usually required almost perfect play and a bit of luck for success, something that I was able to achieve but also very draining to attempt. I made many more mistakes in Standard, but none of them felt like they cost me the game on the spot the way they can in Modern. Also, playing good decks has always been a strength of mine that I forgot I had. I’m naturally good at pressing a deck advantage into a board advantage without much to worry about from the opponent when they are outclassed (either on deck or play skill, but much easier on deck).

RPTQ Dominaria

Going into the RPTQ, my sealed experience had me wanting to open just a few cards (outside of the bomb rares). All I wanted was 4x Legion Conquistador and 3x Sun-crested Pteradon. The deck I opened was very close. I had 3x Conquistador, and 1x Pteradon, but also had 2x Forerunner of the Empire and a Needletooth Raptor. The rest of the deck was various removal splashed over four colors thanks to 3x Evolving Wilds and a Traveler’s Amulet. I picked up a loss in round 3 and an draw in round 5, but managed to win round 6 and sneak into 8th place on tiebreakers. I think this is the first time in a while picking up unintentional draw didn’t leave me in 9th/10th at an event of this size. Also luckily for me the draft pairings were random, so instead of having to face Limited Legend Haibing Hu (the only player in the top 8 I think I’m <50% against) in the 1st seed, I got paired against another player. I drafted a medium Wb vampire deck with 2x Famished Paladin to go with 2x Moment of Craving and a Mark of the Vampire. I was able to win my match against a UG merfolk deck in the top 8 to secure the invite.

What I learned from this event was that I still have what it takes in sealed and draft. While limited is no longer my preferred format, all those years of experience put me way ahead of the average RPTQ player. Also listening to the Limited Resources podcast about sealed gave me some good insight to building my deck that I might not have had otherwise that paid off (like splashing for Recover).

Nexus ESports Event

I played 5 Color Humans at the Nexus ESports opening event. Zach Krizan has a great space and I was glad to go support him and his store. I lost in the top 4, with both losses on the day coming against Bogles.

What I learned was once again playing tier 1 decks is a different story than playing my own brews. The deck also killed incredibly fast, and I found myself with almost 40 minutes to kill between rounds several times. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had that kind of time. Also despite tier 1 lists being fairly stock, the sideboards are generally pretty bad, at least to me. I’ll have to redo the SB if I play the deck again.

Main Takeaway

Looking back after the RPTQ win, I realized I’ve been having quite a bit of success in the events I’ve chosen to play dating back almost a year. I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly what I’ve done differently, and how I can still achieve things like PT invites when I’m playing so much less than I did at my peak.  I think there are two main reasons.

The first is being more confident in my own deck building decisions. I’ve had success with decks that were completely my own (naya evolution) or partially my own (the GW GQ deck) that involved me personally justifying the existence of every card in the list. I also know what I want to do and how to achieve that.

The second reason is probably the main reason as it ties everything together. I’ve become much better at the time I spend thinking about Magic and preparing for events that doesn’t involve actual playtesting. With less time to spend during the week and no Magic online collection, I’ve had to make good theory decisions before the event to be adequately prepared, and I think I’ve been doing a good job of this. Finding the right things to think about before the events can be hard but I think I’ve proven to myself it’s doable. It’s not ideal but when it’s all I have, I have to be happy with that. I’m also much more accepting of making mistakes in game since I know ahead of time they are all but guaranteed to happen.

Going Forward

I hope I can apply these techniques in preparation for the upcoming Pro Tour. I’m also optimistic that there is more time to prepare than for other PTs I’ve played in the past, so at the least I shouldn’t have an awful deck.