I spent the week leading up to SCG DC doing almost nothing but living and breathing Magic. SCG DC was the first event with Fate Reforged legal, and I
couldn’t stop thinking about Standard. This was the first Open I have played in many months, including the first I would play with the new structure. I was
excited, but I was also determined to do well.
By prioritizing making it on the Pro Tour this past year, I had to put playing in SCG Opens on the backburner, and I had actually fallen out of the top 32
entirely. A big finish here would throw me back into the top 32, give me a bye in upcoming Opens, and give me a head start in trying to qualify for the
Players’ Championship.
I tested at least a few hours every day with a bunch of the Roanoke crew, including Brad, Todd, CVM, Shrout, Charissa, Eric, and likely others who I am
likely forgetting…on purpose, of course. Get wrecked.
Every day I brought a different deck to the table or at the very least, an update on a previous deck. I started out testing decks like Abzan Aggro and
Abzan Midrange, but one thing that we quickly learned early on was that Frontier Siege was an extremely powerful card, and that a resolved Ugin was game
over against a lot of decks. My Abzan Aggro decks were losing to everything, and my Abzan Midrange decks quickly became Frontier Siege decks.
I also felt like Tasigur, the Golden Fang was one of the best cards in the set, and the combination between Tasigur and Frontier Siege was insane.
Generating two mana each main phase meant that you could often activate Tasigur multiple times per turn and still do other things. Tasigur was also great
with Ugin because you rarely needed to do more than -5 with Ugin’s ability, and Tasigur would survive it.
Frontier Siege also helped cast things like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time when you didn’t have a fully stocked graveyard. As a result, a lot of the
lists that I was working on looked a lot like the deck that Ali ended up playing to a top 8 finish.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (20)
The major difference between the lists that I was testing from the list that Ali played is that I had a full set of both Satyr Wayfinder and Tasigur, the
Golden Fang, and I wasn’t playing Sylvan Caryatid. In some regard, my lists were a mixture between Ali’s list and Gerard’s winning list. While Ali wasn’t
in Roanoke to physically test with, we did converse a lot over Facebook about the format, and we both agreed on a lot of the cards. We both felt that
Frontier Siege, Hornet Queen, and Ugin were where you wanted to be.
I was pretty excited about the various Sultai lists that both Ali and I were independently working on, but Brad Nelson didn’t really like them that much.
He admitted that they were doing powerful things but felt that they were simply too reactive. Instead, he wanted to utilize Frontier Siege and Ugin in a
much more proactive shell. Unlike Brad, I don’t really mind durdling and still liked the Sultai decks, but I decided to try to focus on more proactive
options instead. It’s important for everyone to be on the same page. We might not end up with a list that is exactly what everyone wants to do, but the
finished product looks a lot better with everyone on board.
One of the early proactive shells that Brad was pushing was Green Devotion, featuring a full set of Ugin. This deck seemed very powerful, but we ultimately
discarded it because it was too inconsistent. Some games you would curve out and do something insanely powerful, but there were also plenty of games where
you just didn’t do anything good enough fast enough.
U/B Control was also a big thorn in our sides. U/B had a natural advantage against nearly every single deck we were testing to the point where many of us
considered just playing U/B and Shrout and Eric did pull the trigger and play it. U/B Control just doesn’t care about opposing Ugins, and they can play
their own copies of the card, which happen to just obliterate these ramp strategies.
There was roughly a zero percent chance I touch that deck though. Every time I get suckered into playing a deck like U/B Control in a tournament, I always
do poorly. Part of it is likely that I am simply unskilled at playing those archetypes, but a large part is also that you lose a lot of games to yourself.
Have complete control of the game with three removal spells in hand? Your opponent just drew four threats in a row, and you drew four lands in a row. Dead.
It’s the danger you face when you play a deck that takes forever to kill the opponent. There isn’t a Sphinx’s Revelation to go over the top with anymore.
Dig Through Time just isn’t the same.
I’ve definitely beaten plenty of opponents who have cast multiple copies of Jace’s Ingenuity and Dig Through Time in the same game. With the right
strategy, it honestly doesn’t feel that hard. It was rare that you beat someone who cast more than one Sphinx’s Revelation, assuming they were for more
than one or two cards, but these draw spells aren’t on the same level. Also, in the first week of a new format, I just wanted to do something awesome.
Playing U/B Control felt like a punching a ticket to top 64’sville. I’d probably lose 2-3 times to super aggressive decks and another handful of times to
just drawing the wrong cards or having the wrong answers and end up with a mediocre finish. I also wouldn’t enjoy myself along the way.
R/W Aggro was also putting up pretty decent results in our testing and was a consideration. Jeskai Tokens, not as much. While it seemed like Monastery
Mentor would end up being the card that propelled Jeskai to dominance, in practice it felt worse than Goblin Rabblemaster. Rabblemaster gives you a token
immediately and plays better with Stoke the Flames, arguably the best card in the deck. I was always happy when my opponent played a Monastery Mentor in
testing.
On Wednesday, I tested a deck against Brad that was really pushing the envelope on Commune with the Gods, Satyr Wayfinder, Tasigur, the Golden Fang,
Frontier Siege, Hornet Queen, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Commune with the Gods finds Tasigur, Siege, and Hornet Queen. It also puts the perfect number of
cards in the graveyard for Tasigur to delve away. Commune seemed like the perfect card to find whichever of those pieces you were missing and the natural
synergy with Tasigur was quite powerful.
The deck was capable of some really busted starts. Turn 2 Tasigur was possible off of an Elvish Mystic and a Commune with the Gods. Even less explosive
starts like turn 2 Commune with the Gods finding Sylvan Caryatid so you can play both Sylvan Caryatid and Tasigur on turn 3 were pretty potent.
The big problem with the deck was that Tasigur wasn’t always powerful enough to win the game, and Commune with the Gods couldn’t find Ugin, the Spirit
Dragon. Sometimes you just milled over your two Ugins and lost as a result. It felt like I was on to something but that there was also something missing.
Brad wanted to put the Eidolon of Blossoms engine into the deck and it sounded like a great idea. On Thursday, we spent the day testing with Eidolon of
Blossoms and Doomwake Giant. There were a lot of things that seemed great, but something was still off. Our deck was pretty unfocused. We had Satyr
Wayfinder, Whip of Erebos, Murderous Cut, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang, but we also had Frontier Siege and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. These cards were
powerful, but these powerful cards didn’t really mesh too well.
Toward the end of the day, I just wanted to cut all the random stuff out and go back to the 4 Commune, 4 Tasigur, 4 Frontier Siege, 4 Hornet Queen shell
that I had been wanting to play all along. Hornet Queen just absolutely wrecked most decks. I wanted to play a deck that utilized Hornet Queen the best but
that also had Ugin to go over the top of the other Hornet Queen decks or decks that don’t care about Hornet Queen.
We tried a constellation list that maxed on these cards and cut out the Whip elements like Satyr Wayfinder and Whip of Erebos. Tasigur wasn’t holding up to
the raw power of Hornet Queen and Ugin, so it too got the axe. Brad wanted Tasigur gone. I was not so easily swayed, but eventually I succumbed. While
Tasigur is an extremely powerful card, it simply doesn’t fit in this list.
The deck seemed very powerful, and we were sold. The rest was just figuring out the numbers. After a bunch of games against CVM on Thursday night, we
settled on the following list.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 3 Doomwake Giant
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
Let’s just say, we didn’t quite figure out the numbers. As is often the case for a new deck, we were off by a number of cards. Commune with the Gods
sucked, as did the Murderous Cut. Thoughtseize was also extremely mediocre for me all day. Almost every single game I lost in the event was to not having
enough lands.
We also had some pretty faulty sideboarding plans. The plan we had in a number of matchups was to cut the Eidolon of Blossoms package against decks that
could present a fast clock. The idea is that they kill us before our Eidolon engine gets online, so we should just avoid it altogether and try to win with
mana acceleration, big haymakers, and removal spells.
In theory, this sounds great, but pretty early in the tournament, I realized this was simply wrong. Once I made the realization, I avoided siding out all
of my Eidolons again the rest of the event, even in matchups where it seemed like we were supposed to. Occasionally I would trim one or two, but I always
wanted to have access to the effect. When you wreck someone with a turn 4 Hornet Queen in game 1, they are going to side into this slower deck that tries
to control you. In come the Anger of the Gods and Hushwing Gryffs. Out go the Lightning Strikes. The worst thing we could do against them is to over
sideboard against aggression and end up losing to their slower cards. Instead, I stayed the Courser. 1,000 triggers of Eidolon.
My sideboard plan in nearly every single matchup looked something like “-2 Commune with the Gods, -3 Thoughtseize, +X”. It was pretty clear to me that
those cards should have just never been in the deck in the first place. Thankfully, it made it a lot easier to sideboard. Garruk, Apex Predator was a
delight, as was the Read the Bones. Bile Blight also came in a lot, and served its purpose quite well.
The Tournament
Brad, Todd, and CVM got to relax with two byes, but I was not as fortunate. Last year, I qualified for the Players’ Championship in Season One and made a
conscious choice to pursue making it on the Pro Tour over maintaining my rank in the SCG Open Series. As a result, I played in very few events in seasons
2-4 and ended up accumulating very few points. This culminated in me skipping the Season 4 Invitational in Seattle in order to play in Grand Prix
Baltimore.
I don’t regret my decisions at all, however, it certainly came back to bite me when they announced the new structure for the SCG Open Series, and I
realized that I wouldn’t have any byes. No worries. I was playing a great deck in this tournament, and I would just win the first two rounds anyway. Right?
Spoiler alert: I didn’t. I got smashed by Abzan Aggro in round one when I had awkward draws in both games. In game 1, I kept two lands, Elvish Mystic,
Frontier Siege, Hornet Queen, and just never found that third land. Should have played 24. In the second game, I had mana accelerants, Frontier Siege, and
multiple copies of Ugin, but my opponent had multiple Hero’s Downfalls, and I could never use the minus ability on Ugin or I would destroy my mana and
prevent myself from being able to cast any other spells, including the other Ugins in my hand.
This may seem like a huge downside to playing Ugin, and anyone who watched this round on camera probably thought that Ugin was bad in my deck. That really
couldn’t be further from the truth. Abzan is one of the few decks capable of beating Ugin, but most opponents throughout the event simply died to the card
without putting up much resistance. I also had four copies of Hornet Queen that would have immediately ended that game had I drawn one. These cards are
great in combination with each other. Hornet Queen and Ugin both tax your opponent in different ways, and it’s typically better to draw a mix of the two. I
was just unfortunate to draw all three copies of Ugin and none of my Queens in a scenario where Queen was simply better.
I lost round two to G/R Aggro. Game 1 was Elvish Mystic into Goblin Rabblemaster on the play, backed up by removal and more threats, and game 2 was a
longer game where I simply failed to draw anything big and died to a single Fanatic of Xenagos over many turns. Shouldn’t have sided out those Eidolons.
Suddenly, I was sitting at 0-2. I hadn’t won a single game yet. Generally speaking, this is the point in the event where I would drop in frustration and
just focus on figuring out the Modern deck I would play on Sunday. A number of people were telling me that they thought the deck was bad. It would be very
easy to lose focus and just give up here.
Thankfully, I made a conscious decision to ignore those voices. I knew the deck was good regardless of whether others agreed or not. Even some of the other
people playing the deck thought it was bad. It was a truly bizarre situation to be doing worse with the deck than everyone else while they said the deck
sucked and I was saying it was good.
I also knew that this was a long tournament and there were many chances to come back and still put up a good finish. I decided to remain positive and keep
an optimistic outlook no matter how poorly things were going. As crazy as it may sound, I felt like I was going to bounce back and top 8 the event.
I lost a lot of really gross games throughout the day. I can’t tell you how many times I kept a hand with Temple of Malady, Forest, Sylvan Caryatid,
Frontier Siege and simply died without ever drawing a third land or second mana accelerant to cast the Siege. It happened a lot. A lot of my opponents had
no clue what was going to happen to them in games 2 and 3 because they didn’t realize just how close they were to getting destroyed by a series of Hornet
Queens in game 1. Thankfully, it never happened twice in the same match throughout the rest of the day, and in games where I didn’t struggle to hit land
drops, I was winning pretty easily.
I battled back and finished day one at 7-2. I felt fortunate multiple times in the later rounds to win games where I thought I was probably going to lose.
It was a nice reversal from the earlier rounds, but I don’t really consider either my wins or losses to be too lucky or unlucky. My R/W Aggro opponents who
kept missing land five for Stormbreath Dragon should have probably been playing more than 24 lands in a deck that’s packing a lot of five-drops. I kept
missing land three for Frontier Siege, but I should have been playing more lands as well. If it was that important to land Frontier Siege, I should have
been maximizing the opportunities to do so.
Getting mana screwed once or twice might be an anomaly, but when one loses to it over and over again, the most likely explanation is that the deck is built
poorly. It’s easy to say “I just keep getting unlucky to miss my land drops,” but a more likely explanation is that the deck needs more lands, and you’re
actually getting lucky in the games where you don’t get mana screwed. Or perhaps the deck is simply high variance and you will lose a lot of games to screw
or flood, and it’s simply a part of playing that strategy and not something inherently “lucky” or “unlucky.”
Day two went so much smoother for me than day one. I lost to Andrew Boswell in round 12, but I won the rest. I’m fairly certain I would have won the match
against Boswell if my deck had been constructed right. I drew a Commune with the Gods in game 1, and if it was a land, I would have almost assuredly won. I
got super
unlucky
punished.
I was told that X-3 had never missed top 8 in an SCG Open yet under the new structure. I was still under the impression that I would make top 8 if I could
simply manage a 12-3 record. After a win in round 15, I had successfully completed the turnaround, having won 12 of the last 13 rounds. It wasn’t enough. I
ended up being the only X-3 to miss top 8 thanks to the often dreaded tiebreakers. Lucky number nine.
I have to say, it definitely stung. I have never won an SCG Open, and every time I end up in ninth place it feels like a wasted opportunity. I also felt
like winning this Open would be fitting justice for everyone who wrote me off or wrote the deck off after I started 0-2. I’m not a particularly vindictive
person, but I thoroughly enjoy proving people wrong, and this felt like a great opportunity to do exactly that. Ninth place is always painful, but it hurt
a lot worse this time. In the end, those losses early on day 1 still ended up coming back to bite me by destroying my tiebreakers, and my quest for victory
fell just short. The smugly dismissive can still remain smug…this time.
After I got over the initial pain though, I could only look back on the event and be happy with how I played. Being able to stay positive through adversity
is one of the hardest parts of Magic for me, but it is an extremely important skill to have in this game. Things don’t always go according to plan. Mana
screw exists. Your opponent draws the perfect card against you. Sometimes you just lose games you feel like you should have won. Being able to not lose
focus on the end goal and stay positive through those adversarial situations is pretty important. It is something that I have been constantly working on
getting better at over the past few years.
I don’t always succeed at it, but I feel like I did this time. I leveled up in this tournament. I felt like I reached a new threshold in terms of how I
approach Magic events mentally. I’m excited to see what I can do if I just keep that same composure in every event I play. It didn’t work out for me this
time, but the experience was worth it. Maybe next time I start 0-2, I’ll end up finishing eight spots higher. Maybe I’ll finish 508 spots lower. Either
way, there’s no value in giving up before it’s over.
The Deck
Moving forward, this is the list I would recommend playing with.
Creatures (26)
- 4 Hornet Queen
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 2 Voyaging Satyr
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 4 Doomwake Giant
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (6)
Nykthos was great for me every time I drew it, and by adding a second Nykthos as a 24th land and a few copies of Voyaging Satyr, the deck is now better
equipped to maximize those situations. Being able to play a Frontier Siege in the first main phase and use the mana to activate Nykthos in the second main
phase allows for a lot of really powerful sequences.
In sideboard games, the deck can morph into a variety of forms. Against some decks, you’ll want a bunch of Thoughtseizes and removal spells to keep them
off balance. Against other decks, you just want to bury them with card advantage, hand disruption, and planeswalkers. In some matchups, you just want to
maximize removal spells and trim some of the lategame cards or trim some of the midrange cards. Against most decks, you don’t actually need to sideboard
too much, as the main gameplan is just better than what they are doing.
I’ve mentioned a few times how powerful Frontier Siege is in the deck, but I’d like to provide a little more explanation of just all the things you can do
with it. Turn 3 Siege gives you access to a turn 4 Hornet Queen. Turn 3 Siege lets you cast both Eidolon of Blossoms and Doomwake Giant on turn 4 in
whichever order is best. If your opponent casts Hordeling Outburst, you can go Eidolon into Doomwake. If they have a Rabblemaster, you can go Doomwake into
Eidolon.
Frontier Siege gives you access to nine mana the turn after you play it as long as you’re willing to split that mana up between your two main phases. Even
in situations where the mana boost doesn’t matter, choosing Dragons with Frontier Siege allows you to use Hornet Queen as a Plague Wind. Frontier Siege can
also draw you a card with Eidolon of Blossoms or trigger Doomwake Giant. It’s also a non-creature trigger for Doomwake, which can be very relevant against
cards like Hushwing Gryff.
Garruk, Apex Predator is a great threat against Ugin. If it’s in play already, they have to -7 Ugin to destroy everything and reset the board. While not
optimal, at least they don’t still have an Ugin. If they play their Ugin first, then you can use Garruk to +1 and kill it. Garruk is also just a great card
against a variety of strategies, giving you a way to kill creatures and gain life, which can be important against Stormbreath Dragon decks and Siege Rhino
decks.
Out of all of us that played the deck, only CVM and I managed to cash. None of us ended up making top 8 of the tournament, but I still think we had the
right deck for the event, and I still think this is the right deck to play going forward. Frontier Siege is powerful, and this deck is capable of just
going over the top of most strategies. It stabilizes quickly against aggressive decks with Hornet Queen, it has an engine to keep card advantage going, and
it can trump other strategies trying to go over the top like Green Devotion or Whip decks, thanks to Ugin.
The deck is also just a blast to play. It’s rare that I say this, but I’m actually sad that I don’t have any more Standard events coming up for a few
weeks, because this deck is awesome and I wish I could play more with it.
Standard is under Siege, and for once, I’m not talking about Rhinos.
Buzzzzzz. Someone’s at the door. Who could it Bee? (Answer: Ugin)