Green Blue Hadana's Climb at Pro Tour Dominaria

I played at Pro Tour Dominaria in Richmond Virginia this past weekend. I went 9-7 overall. This is my personal best result over the eight Pro Tours I've played in. My constructed record of 7-3 was by far the best I've ever done at a PT.

Draft Rounds

I went 2-4 in draft, going 1-2 in each draft. I think in both drafts my deck was okay or better, but in each draft it could have been much better. I've never been able to get the UR decks to work in my practice drafts, and my unfamiliarity with the archetype made it harder for me to see that is the colors I should have been. I think if I had found the right line to end up in UR I would have had closer to 5 wins in the limited portion. My two decks can be seen here and here.

I made the worst play of my life in the last round of the second draft that prevented me from salvaging a .500 draft record. My opponent had just attacked me with two Serra Disciples and then played a Cabal Paladin. He was tapped out except for his Paladin and a Knight of Grace. My board was D'Avenant Trapper, Juggernaut, and Relic Runner. I missed the fact that his Paladin gave his Knight +1/+0, so when I played Aesthir Glider I tapped his Paladin and then attacked with Juggernaut and Relic Runner. He blocked my Juggernaut and killed it with first strike damage, I pass the turn slightly embarrassed. The embarrassment was even worse when I looked at my hand and saw Seal Away.

My Constructed Deck

I supposed I always knew I would play a green deck. I fell in love with Jadelight Ranger in the only standard event I'd played prior to testing for this. Also Llanowar Elves was reprinted. I was willing to play anything, but I'd obviously have a slant towards green. I'm not I'm good enough to intentionally go against my bias to make sure I'm evaluating properly. Also I didn't have much time to prepare.

Goblin Chainwhirler is warping the format, but it's more than that. The strength of all the red creatures in combat makes it very difficult to stabilize against the red decks by deploying your own creatures. Chainwhirler, Kari Zev, Earthshaker Khenra, and Ahn-Crop Crasher are almost impossible to block with the creatures you can play in other colors for similar mana costs. If you are able to stabilize by playing your own dudes, Hazoret and Glorybringer and Chandra means you won't be stabilized for long. The only way to beat the red decks is to either legitimately answer all their threats (eg. UW Control) or to go over the top and kill them. The best way to go over the top and still be able to stabilize that I found was Verdurous Gearhulk.

A few things I found when testing: Karn wasn't as good as I had hoped. We had a list very similar to the CFB UG Constructs but never got it to consistently beat anything. I also tried BG Snake, but the liability against Soul-Scar Mage was not my favorite, and the upside wasn't quite enough to consistently go over the top. I tried out a list with Bristling Hydra and Hadana's Climb and quickly realized no one could beat Bristling Hydra. Adventurous Impulse increased the amount of Hydras in the deck, so I added them.

In order to play Hydra, you need to play Servant of Conduit. The energy was far more valuable in pumping Hydra than in drawing random cards with Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. Also if you cut Winding Constrictor you wouldn't need your second color mana on the first two turns. Lack of interaction didn't hurt since the BG decks were cutting back on it already. The only concern I had was not having Ravenous Chupacabra for other green decks. Once I figured out how good Skysovereign, Consul Flagship was in the mirrors (and against red), I knew my deck would be a good choice for the expected metagame. I wasn't expecting much UB Control at all, so I didn't need multiple Blossoming Defense. I played enough countermagic in the sideboard to have a decent shot against UW control. Kefnet's Last Word and Commit / Memory helped me answer Scarab God and Ghalta that otherwise would destroy me. Maximum Hadana's Climb never really was an issue, and I didn't mind drawing two.

This is what I registered:

If Adventurous Impulse could find Skysovereign, I would consider playing a second or third in the main. The second one in the main still probably better than a Spell Pierce or something in the current metagame.

Constructed Rounds

Its hard to tell whether the red decks I faced were mono-red or red-black midrange, or something in between. I think at least two I played were straight mono-red, and two were the midrange variant. The other two were probably more aggressive with a black splash for Scrapheap Scrounger. Overall I went 4-2 against Chainwhirler decks.

I played against UW Control three times, going 2-1. The matches I won were not particularly close, especially when I get to bring in 13 cards from the sideboard. Despite that, I still lost a match when I didn't draw any SB cards after losing game 1.

The third archetype I played against was UB Midrange. I got game 1 with Skysovereign before he could get Scarab God online. Game two he used Gonti to cast Verdurous Gearhulk on his Gifted Aetherborn, but I had Kefnet's Last Word to take it and win the game.

Going Forward

I'm still undecided if this will be in my lineup for the Team Unified Standard RPTQ. The blue counters take away from UW control, though maybe you can get away with just Spell Pierce. Perhaps the default lineup of GB, RB, and UW is still the best. I'll be working with my teammates to try to figure it out.

Thanks
Ty