What a difference a weekend makes. On Friday, I was all set to preorder my play set of manlands at 5-6 bucks a pop, putting myself out about $110 bucks. I got busy with the prerelease, and work, and didn’t get around to it until Monday morning. Much to my chagrin, the price had risen a whopping 60% in that time, and I wasn’t ready to shell out $160 on manlands just yet. Looks like it’s back to the trading blocks for me. However, the weekend was not a total loss, as I correctly picked the AFC in the Pro Bowl. This puts me one game back of the lead in the office pool. Now, all I need are my beloved Colts to take home a second title of the Peyton manning era, and I’ll have finished in a tie for first. Sweet victory is mine.
Unfortunately, Sweet Victory eluded me at the prerelease, and I continued my streak of poor performances in sealed. But, since this weekend was a two-parter, let’s start where we always start: At the Gathering beginning.
Last Tuesday was a day of Extended testing, and we discovered a few things. First, All-In-Red is a lot of fun to play, but way too swingy to want to use in a real tournament. If my goal were to make Day 2, it’s a viable contender, as the power and a little luck could allow you to go 4-2, assuming you can scrounge up 3 byes. But the field looks a lot different on Day 2, and the deck itself won’t hold up nearly as well.
However, I would seriously consider it for a Grand Prix Grinder, as it has exactly the kind of power you need to 5-0 the event.
Brandon believes Bant to be a bad match up for the new GerryT special, Depth Charges, winning literally zero games in one test session. I have believed in the power of Thopters for a while now, but I would be hesitant to take it to a major event with such a target on its head. That being said, here’s a deck that has had surprising results:
Creatures (3)
Lands (45)
Spells (10)
The deck has positive match-ups against Zoo, Elves, pretty much anything without counterspells. Elves was tricky to figure out the match-up, but you need to mulligan aggressively until you get a Seismic Assault or three Treasure Hunts. You absolutely must land the Assault, or you will be blown out.
Against Counterspell decks, you can usually get the first game by surprise, as they automatically assume anyone playing the Ravnica Karoo lands must suck at Magic. You just need to get one of the two remaining games on a little luck. It feels a little like dredge in this regard; however, it’s not quite as powerful. The flip side is it’s not nearly as hated out post-board. I don’t think this is the optimal build, and it may be that Lightning Storm is the better way to go. I imagine it’s a mix of the two, allowing you to try to go off on their end step with the Lightning Storm, and then again on your main phase. Swans of Bryn Argoll may also need to make an appearance, so that’s always a sideboard plan to consider. If you are planning on playing in Oakland next weekend, you should at least familiarize yourself with this option, as I’m sure a few people will try it, and someone may just break it, a la Grand Prix Barcelona.
Moving on to the weekend, Friday Night Magic saw us with only 8 guys, and one of them uninterested in playing and just conceding every match. I ended up in 3rd after losing the first round to a U/B Turbo Mill Ascension deck, that got cute with Underworld Dreams, draw effects, and Bloodchief Ascension. All the usual suspects were there: Jace Beleren, Traumatize, even Archive Trap. The first game took me by surprise, and the third was the nut draw for him, going turn 1 Ascension, turn 2 Mine, turn 3 Underworld Dreams. A few Sign in Bloods later, and his Traumatize became lethal. I won the remaining rounds, but I think my rating wasn’t helped to much by this event.
The deck looks interesting, but any aggro or mid-range deck can tear it apart. the lack of viable counters in standard makes it difficult for a Control deck to handle all the aspects of the game. I should have expected it, though, as the local metagame is adapting to the Control elements that Christian and I have been using to sweep the events, me with Austria’s Finest, and Christian with the Cruelest of Ultimatums. I expect I’ll have to keep a couple of Standard decks sleeved up, as the locals are finally learning to build their decks with the opponent’s tendencies in mind, and not just themselves. Kudos to them, then.
As for myself, I’m finding myself standing stagnantly. With school starting back up again, and with the local tournament having been a breeze as of late, I’m finding myself falling into the trap of poor decision-making and loose play. Often, I find myself keeping marginal hands and justifying it by telling myself I can outplay my opponents to make up the difference. However, I then proceed to make terrible plays, which I can at least recognize, but refuse to ask for a take back. How will I ever learn if I’m not punished? I really need to tighten up my play, and get back to the hungry, scrappy Mage I was two years ago, when I looked for every angle, trying to justify my passion. Now, I feel like the wily veteran, satisfied with my performance, regardless of its poorness, because look at this history. I’m the Ron Artest of Magic; good, but not to my potential. I need to find a way over this hurdle and progress to the next episode.
Moving on, after Friday Night’s Standard tournament, Christian and I drove an hour North to hit the midnight Prerelease event. Of course, loaded up on El Rojo Toro, we were prepared to have some fun and get ROWDY. We showed up at 11:45 with 2 Red Bulls already in our system, and it only got better from there.
I cracked open some packs to find the following cards in front of me:
White:
Bold Defense
Brave the Elements
Celestial Mantle
Cliff Threader
Emeria Angel
Kor Cartographer
Nimbus Wings
Ondu Cleric
Shepherd of the Lost
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Windborne Charge
Battle Hurda
2 Fledgling Griffin
Guardian Zendikon
2 Hada Freeblade
Marsh Threader
Refraction Trap
Ruin Ghost
Blue:
Cancel
Into the Roil
Merfolk Wayfinder
Reckless Scholar
Trapfinder’s Trick
Welkin Tern
Enclave Elite
Halimar Excavator
Sejiri Merfolk
Surrakar Banisher
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Black:
Blood Seeker
Bloodchief Ascension
Crypt Ripper
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Giant Scorpion
Mire Blight
Needlebite Trap
Surrakar Marauder
Vampire’s Bite
Bloodhusk Ritualist
Bojuka Brigand
Brink of Disaster
Pulse Tracker
Quag Vampires
Ruthless Cullblade
Smother
Red:
Burst Lightning
Goblin War Paint
2 Magma Rift
Akoum Battlesinger
2 Bull Rush
Crusher Zendikon
Ricochet Trap
Searing Blaze
Stone Idol Trap
Green:
Frontier Guide
Harrow
Nissa’s Chosen
Relic Crush
Savage Silhouette
Timbermaw Larva
Zendikar Farguide
Arbor Elf
Avenger of Zendikar
Feral Contest
Gnarlid Pack
Grappler Spider
Groundswell
Leatherback Baloth
Snapping Creeper
Vastwood Zendikon
Artifacts:
Adventuring Gear
Expedition Map
Spidersilk Net
Trailblazer’s Boots
Walking Atlas
Lands:
Kazandu Refuge
Halimar Depths
Khalni Garden
Quicksand
Smoldering Spires
As I reviewed the pool, I immediately cut Blue from contention, and Red shortly thereafter. White seemed to be the most powerful, with Emeria Angel being the bombiest of all my pulls. I looked momentarily at a Black / Green build, but it would have been too mana hungry, with Gatekeeper and Leatherback Baloth both wanting triple color on turn 3. I decided it would be White /X, and given the choice, I’ll take removal. Here’s my final 40.
Walking Atlas
Ruin Ghost
2 Fledgling Griffin
Battle Hurda
Shepherd of the Lost
Kor Cartographer
Emeria Angel
Cliff Threader
Ruthless Cullblade
Bloodhusk Ritualist
Surrakar marauder
Giant Scorpion
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Blood Seeker
Brave the Elements
Bold Defense
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Smother
Nimbus Wings
Celestial Mantle
Windborne Charge
9 Plains
9 Swamp
I focused on White, and splashed Black. However, the greed of Black’s mana needs forced me to split the land count down the middle. This actually worked out well, as the White didn’t need double or triple till much later, and Gatekeeper ended up being a late game option to break stalemates.
I went 2-3 with the deck, with one notable statistic being that I went 0 for 13 on games ever seeing Emeria Angel. Yep, in 13 games, I never saw her once. Not in a mulligan, not in my hand, not even on the top of my library at the end of the game.
Looking back at the pool now, I think I would have added more Black and cut some White. Specifically, I would have cut the following five cards:
Bold Defense
Brave the Elements
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Battle Hurda
Ruin Ghost
it’s not that they didn’t perform acceptably, but I think adding more Black allows more power to the deck. I would have added the following:
Bojuka Brigand
Pulse Tracker
Crypt Ripper
Trailblazer’s Boots
Marsh Threader
I think this gives the deck some additional speed. Overall, I was disappointed in my performance, even though in games I was 7-6. I made some mistakes, and misbuilt, but going 0-for-the-tournament on drawing you best card is just brutally hard to come back from.
However, I’m looking forward to drafting this weekend, as I think Worldwake will add a new, exciting factor to the draft format. Plus, the more drafts we have, the more chances I can trade for those manlands I need, and maybe even a chance at the new Jace.
Next weekend, I’ll be in Oakland for the Grand Prix, losing in a brand new environment! We’ll be getting in early on Friday to try and grind our way into 3 byes, but if not, I’ll see you round 1 in Oakland, and hopefully, round 15 too.
Until next time, this is Jeff Phillips, reminding you: don’t make the Loser Choice.