I haven't played any RCQs at all before this past weekend. I don't have high hopes for the future of competitive Magic, and most of my gaming time been spent playing Old School or Premodern / Middle School. I've always loved Merfolk though, and with the new Voldalian Hexcatcher I thought I'd take it for a spin at the local event at The Bearded Dragon. I didn't have any expectations, but I ended up winning.
Decklist
Deck photo is off by two cards, text list is the correct version
1 Cursecatcher
1 Rishadan Dockhand
1 Mistcaller
4 Tide Shaper
4 Silvergil Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Vodalian Hexcatcher
4 Svyelun of Sea and Sky
1 Sublety
4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Negation
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Waterlogged Grove
2 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
9 Island
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Sideboard
1 Counterspell
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Dismember
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Subtlety
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Unlicensed Hearse
2 Spreading Seas
The only things I knew for sure was that I wanted maximum number of lords and Force of Negation. With 12 lords, and Hexcatcher in particular, I wanted additional one-drops. I couldn't decide between the three different one drops which was strongest and ended up with the sampler platter. Way more important that they cost one than anything else. Mistcaller is strong against Living End, Creativity, and Glimpse with some utility against Yawgmoth, but is blank against everything else. Cursecatcher can help protect Svyelun but ends up being redundant with Hexcatcher. Both of those are weak to Wrenn and Six, which is the main draw to Rishadan Dockhand.
I've always loved Force of Negation, and I've been skeptical of Subtlety but didn't have a ton of experience. After playing, I'm higher on Subtlety and lower on Force. You probably want 4 of each somewhere in the 75. The only other card I'd consider for maindeck is Dismember. I really want to maximize the clock in game one and adjust for game two.
Sideboard is fine, there are a lot of cards that can't ever be bad. I don't like Chalice at all but I figure one is probably worth playing against cascade decks. Kira was good against Fury but so would more Subtlety. The last card I cut was a Cursed Totem for the Counterspell, but I'm not sure either is necessary. Hearse never came up but I'm pretty sure Relic is almost always better. I'd like to play a third or fourth Seas in the board for Rakdos but maybe that is just "Nice to Have" and not enough impact.
Match Results
Round 1 - Mono Green Pelt Collector Aggro
This deck included Pelt Collector, Avatar of Resolute, Endurance, Dryad Militant
Game one he only has one creature and I have Svyelun and then Tideshaper plus islandwalk. Game two he hits me for 6 with Groundbreaker when I didn't leave up Trickster mana, but his follow up was two Feed the Clan that did nothing.
1-0
Round 2 - Izzet Murktide
Game one I play turn one Vial turn two Adept. He had turn one Ragavan turn two Bolt but didn't find second land. Vial let's me double creature and he never really in the game with only one land. Game two I have turn one Relic. Cavern on Merfolk let me deploy my threats around his counters while his Dragon's Rage Channeler is only doing 1 a turn. Eventually he has Explosives for two but I use Hexcatcher to keep him off two mana to activate and attack him down to 3. It takes a few turns after he pops Explosives before I can get island walker down for my Mutavault but I'm patient with Cavern and eventually kill him and he has a dead Archmage's Charm.
2-0
Round 3 - Merfolk
Merfolk mirror is the worst. Usually whoever plays first or has a one-drop ends up winning. He wins the die roll. Game one he has Dockhand Master Lord of Atlantis. I have Tideshaper Silvergil and then Trickster in upkeep when he tries to tap land. I follow up with another one drop in Dockhand and I'm winning the race. Turn four I have UUUU for two lords and kill him even through his Subtlety. Game two we both have Vial I have no island though. I turn his Mutavault into island and easily won with with double Master and double Mutavault while he can't islandwalk.
3-0
Round 4 - Grixis Death's Shadow
Game one I'm on the play with Vial. His discard doesn't disrupt me enough as I have plenty of creatures and Trickster for his only creature of Death's Shadow and he's too low from attempting to get Shadow online. Game two he has Ragavan Shredder Tideshaper and DRC and removal for all my creatures. Game three I keep hand of three Trickster, Subtlety, three blue land. He plays Thoughtsieze on turn two and takes a Trickster. I play Trickster EOT and he plays Mystical Dispute. I untap and draw Svyelun. He doesn't have the answer right away, just Ledger Shredder and Bauble to put a counter on it. I attack on my turn and he blocks but the card I drew was Hexcatcher and he's too far behind to recover. He attempts to Drown in the Lock my Master on his turn but forgot about Ward and concedes.
4-0
I'm able to draw twice to secure the top 8.
4-0-2
Standings after Swiss -
1st - Gruul Ponza
2nd - Living End
3rd - Izzet Murktide
4th - Merfolk
5th - Goblins
6th - Izzet Murktide
7th - Temur Scapeshift
8th - Azorius Control (with domain for Leyline Binding)
Quarterfinals - Goblins
I'm on the play game one and lead with Tideshaper. He plays a tapped Blood Crypt, which my second Tideshaper turn into an Island. His only follow up is Rundvelt Hordemaster. I attack for 4 and play Svyelun. He doesn't have third land and only manages Stingscourger on my God. On my turn I have Lord of Atlantis and attack with Mutavault for 10 total. He fails to draw a land and I win. Game two I'm on the draw but have turn one Vial. He only has turn one Den of Bugbear into Mountain plus Snoop. Snoop shows Vial on top so I take a turn off to play Silvergil Adept instead of Dismember. He reveals Harbinger on turn three but doesn't have the black mana to kill me. I then get the opportunity to play but Lord of Atlantis and Dismember plus Vial in a Lord of Atlantis. All he can do is evoke Fury to kill one Lord but it's not enough
5-0-2
Semifinals - Gruul Ponza
Game one is the best and closest game I played all day. He's only got one land with Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl. I buy some time with Trickster and then play Svyelun. He finallys finds a fetch and plays Glorybringer but Ward and Indestructible turn it into just a clock. He finds Wrenn and Six to recur his fetch and has Seasoned Pyromancer to block my beats. However, my Svyelun is drawing me just enough to stay in it. I have Force of Negation for his Blood Moon that would stop my Mutavault. I have Tideshaper to keep is mana down. He sticks a Fury to kill my lords while he's beating down with Glorybringer. I still have enough pressure and I'm drawing cards. Eventually he tries a Chandra which I have second Force of Negation. He then doesn't attack but I've draw Trickster and despite his flash Endurance, my alpha strike with two Mutavault and three other creatures is enough to force through the final 3 points of damage after he took 4 from having to fetch four times. Game two I have turn two Tideshaper to disrupt his Utopia Sprawl but he follows up with Blood Moon. I have three Island plus Aether Vial so I'm still in business. He plays Seasoned Pyromancer and I deploy Hexcatcher and Master. My hand is two Dismember plus Otawara at this point. He decides he should play Anger of the Gods, which will kill my three creatures while also getting his Pyromancer plus tokens plus Arbor Elf. I use Otawara to save my Tideshaper so I can kill his second Utopia Sprawl and keep him off the crucial five mana. I then draw Svyelun but he has Choke to lock down three of my Islands. I still have Vial though and I'm able to deploy Adept and Hexcatcher and use my Dismember to clear the path for lethal.
6-0-2
Finals - Izzet Murktide
My opponent is a 14-year-old kid who tells me upfront that he has zero interest in going to Atlanta. I didn't really expect to make it this far, and would have been willing to skip as well, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. We work out a split of cash and credit that is agreeable and I get the invite.
7-0-2
Aftermath
I really don't know what being qualified for the Dreamhack thing in Atlanta even means. I'll have to do some research and get ready since it is less than a month away. I hear I'll have to play Pioneer. I wonder if Merfolk is any good there.
This tournament reminded me that IRL Magic might be easier than I remember, or maybe I just ran really well. Not every day do you get to beat the Blood Moon / Choke combination with Merfolk.
Blood Moon and Choke aren't enough
Props:
Svyelun and Merfolk Trickster - probably the MVPs of the day
12 Lords - need to kill them fast
The Bearded Dragon - Excellent event and solid prize support
Slops:
Fury - Spent all event terrified of this card but I somehow managed.
No comments:
Post a Comment