The date: April 11th, 2009
The location: First Pick Games in Seattle
The scene: Forty-six of Seattle’s finest, each fighting for three byes to a Grand Prix under an hour away
…
One of my goals when I started this column was to provide more tournament coverage at a local level. The results of Pro Tours and Grand Prix are both important and useful, but too infrequently do we see coverage—and when I say coverage I mean more than a tournament report—from the scene of events around the country. On the local level, interesting decks spring out of nowhere, fresh tactics are put on display, and formats are looked at differently.
I had planned to begin with coverage from the next round of PTQ’s, but this particular GPT provided an excellent opportunity. Some of you may scoff at the results because this event was “just” a GPT, but there are two facets of this GPT which made it so exciting. First, it’s a local Grand Prix that everyone around here is going to be attending. The incentive to win, number of participants, and level of competition are much higher than if the GPT awarded three byes to a Grand Prix four states away; a lot of the players in this GPT were players who already had two byes on rating and were looking to secure that elusive third bye. Second, First Pick Games is the premier store in the Seattle area and the place where a lot of the best players come to play. It is an easily accessible location for a lot of people, and the forty-six person turnout reflected its accessibility. While certainly not PTQ numbers, this GPT was much larger than average for typical Seattle GPT’s. With three byes locked up courtesy of my rating, it was a perfect time to do some coverage.
The metagame was fairly spread out between Five-Color Control, Green beatdown, Faeries, and other forms of control like Swans and Esperlark, but one deck which appeared to be everywhere was Kyle Boddy Mono Red deck. Kyle’s recent success in the area had not gone unnoticed. Kyle won a ~90 person Mox Sapphire tournament with his Mono Red concoction at the end of February, then followed it up by winning a GPT the weekend prior to this one with a similar list. After winning the event he heavily publicized the deck throughout the Northwest community, and it showed. Kyle’s Sligh deck showed up in the room corner-to-corner, and two copies made it to the elimination rounds. Here’s the decklist Kyle used to win the April fourth GPT:
Lands:
6 Mountain
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
Creatures:
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
Other spells:
4 Tarfire
4 Magma Spray
4 Flame Javelin
3 Terror
3 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard:
3 Chaotic Backlash
3 Deathmark
3 Infest
3 Guttural Response
2 Wild Ricochet
1 Volcanic Fallout
The other major story from the GPT was the Sanity Grinding deck. I had heard whispers about the deck for weeks, and it felt akin to Elves before Berlin — just on a much smaller stage. In the open everybody just shrugged it off as a joke deck, but once the sheath of publicity had been removed several people had been testing it and spun their own unique take on the deck. As someone who has tested the deck first hand, there are definitely compelling reasons to play it. First of all, it’s fresh and fun: always two exciting qualities in a deck, although they certainly don’t directly translate to wins. More importantly, your control matchups are very good. I’d go as far to say that the Five-Color Control matchup is near-unlosable. Against midrange Green decks that have little interactivity, you can effectively set up your game plan. The problem is the fast beatdown decks, notably Mono Red. Akin to the ‘Owling Mine decks from Kamigawa-Ravnica Standard, the strategy falters in the face of Red beatdown. They deal too much damage too fast, and have an extreme amount of reach in the form of burn, making cards like Evacuation ineffective. Other beatdown matchups, such as B/W Tokens , are much better for Sanity Grinding than Red, simply because of the lack of reach in the form of burn.
Here’s Bill Stark ninth place decklist, courtesy of TheStarkingtonPost.com:
Lands:
3 Reliquary Tower
17 Island
4 Shelldock Isle
Creatures:
4 Plumeveil
Other spells:
4 Jace Beleren
4 Howling Mine
4 Sanity Grinding
4 Twincast
4 Boomerang
4 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
4 Evacuation
Sideboard:
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Remove Soul
4 Unsummon
3 Negate
Bill makes an important distinction between his deck and typical Sanity Grinding decks in that his deck is more of a turbo-mill deck than a Sanity Grinding deck. While other decks play cards like Overbeing of Myth to maximize the effect of Sanity Grinding, Bill opted for a Howling Mine control strategy alongside Reliquary Tower so he wasn’t as all-in on the Sanity Grinding plan. If you’re looking for a “traditional” Sanity Grinding decklist — complete with Overbeing of Myth and Memory Plunder — check out the Top 8 decklists later in the article.
As with most tournaments, a lot of the midrange Green decks and weaker control players were overtaken by stronger control players. Although a lot of players had incorporated answers for the surge of Kyle Boddy Sligh deck, two of them punched through to the Top 8. The bracket looked like this:
1) Nathan Vetterlein – Elves
2) Kent Ketter – Boat Brew
3) Chris Surber – Sanity Grinding
4) Charles Dupont – Sligh
5) Chaz Bommarito – Faeries
6) Bryan Kovacs – Faeries
7) Daniel Hanson – Esperlark
8) Chris Kelly – Sligh
While unfortunately I was not able to procure any feature matches during the swiss rounds due to space considerations, I was able to get in coverage of the Top 8. After observing six rounds, the Top 8 began — and I had my laptop at the ready.
Quarterfinals: Christopher Surber with Sanity Grinding versus Bryan Kovacs with Faeries
When head judge Tony Mayer asked me which match I wanted to cover in the quarterfinals, I quickly narrowed in on the Sanity Grinding match as it was bound to be interesting. Both players shared something in common: they had recently returned to the game. After playing Faeries nonstop since the release of Lorwyn, Bryan had taken a break for about six months. Chris’ time spent out of the game was a little longer, starting in the Time Spiral era. The allure of an upcoming Grand Prix was too much for either player to resist, and both of them were knee-deep in the hunt for three byes.
Bryan won the dice roll, and each player opted to keep their seven. Bryan led off with a Glen, while Chris had a Ponder.
“Those look good,” said Chris as he left the cards there and drew from Ponder.
Bryan played an Island and passed the turn, remarking, “If I had a Bitterblossom that’d be way cooler.”
On his turn, Chris played one of the cards which allows the Sanity Grinding deck to continue the downward spiral for the opponent after they had been hit by a Twincasted Grinding: Shelldock Isle. The underplayed Lorwyn Rare prompted Bryan to pick it up: “What is this? 20 cards or less in a library!?”
“Yep”
“This is going to be a long game…”
After the Shelldock-inspired interlude, Chris played another Ponder and kept his three cards yet again. With counter mana offline for Chris, Bryan triumphantly landed a Jace, drew a card, then made the all too obvious joke: “don’t worry, I’m helping you deck me.” The group of onlookers —this particular reporter included — took the opportunity to roll their eyes.
Back on Chris’ turn he played an Island and simply passed the turn, no doubt waiting to craft some elaborate plan. Bryan shrugged fearless and activated Jace again to draw a card, this time knowing better than to make the same joke. He played a Secluded Glen, revealing Glen Elendra Archmage, but opted to Thoughtseize Chris’ using his Swamp. Chris paused, as if trying to figure out if he should respond. “Do I get to see your hand?” asked Bryan. Chris took a few more seconds in the tank and laid out his hand, quickly revealing the reason for his pause: Island, Island, Dream Fracture, Twincast, Twincast, Jace, Evacuation.
Bryan yet again had to pick up one of Chris’ underused cards: “Dream Fracture? What is this?!?”
“It’s kind of like Arcane Denial,” responded Chris. “Only… it’s more mana.”
“Hmm, Arcane Denial. Better take that one, then!” Bryan responded. He took the time to write down Chris’ hand, then passed the turn back. Chris didn’t make the interlude between turns long, as he played one of his two Islands and said go.
With the opportunity ripe, Bryan played an Archmage and a subsequent Island, keeping a Blue up for its ability and topping his play off by generously letting each player draw a card with Jace. The extra card didn’t seem to help Chris’ gameplan, as he plays an Island yet again and passed.
Bryan took the opportunity to draw a card off Jace, attack with Archmage, play a manland, and send it back to Chris.
Chris played another land, but this time it was a second Shelldock Isle. The second hideaway land no doubt loomed large and dangerous if Chris ever cast a Sanity Grinding. “I’m going to mark this one with a dice so you know this is the second one,” Chris told his opponent as a precaution for the future.
“Ha, I wish I was good enough to take advantage of that information,” replied Bryan. After quickly stuffing a card under the Isle, Chris ended his turn. Bryan attacked, bringing Chris down to 16, and opted to not use his two-counter Jace, then played a land and passed.
Chris rolled his eyes and played another Shelldock Isle. “Another dice?” asked Bryan with a smirk. Chris paid his comment no attention and put a card under the hideaway land before sending the turn back. Bryan attacked for the third time with Glen Elendra Archmage and dropped Chris to 14 before passing back, still leaving Jace hanging at two counters. On Chris’ turn he did even less then he had been doing in turns before as he missed his land drop, and simply passed the turn without a play, trying to sculpt the perfect hand to go off versus the faerie opponent.
The Archmage sent Chris down to twelve life on Bryan’s turn. Bryan was quick to remind Chris, “This guy’s going to go the distance… You need to Evacuation eventually.”
“You’re right…” said Chris. “End of turn, Evacuation.”
“With mana up to Twincast! Oh no!” said Bryan as he went into the tank. His thinking did him well, as he emerged from the tank with a tricky play in mind. Bryan cast a Mistbind Clique and championed Archmage, but then Evacuation sent the Clique right back to Bryans hand, returning Archmage to play with enough mana up to counter twice.
Unfazed, Chris Pondered again, this time choosing to shuffle.
“Do you have any cards other than Ponder, land, and Twincast?” asked Bryan, drawing another eye roll from the crowd. “Hey! If you can’t make bad jokes, why are you playing Magic?”
Chris’ Pondering seemed successful, as he cast a Jace to try and legend rule—excuse me, Planeswalker rule—Bryan’s out of existence. Not sure about Twincast interactions, a common theme on the day (mostly regarding Cryptic Command) Bryan took the opportunity to walk away from the table to ask a judge about the tricky reprint. “Why did they reprint that card?” asked Bryan upon return.
After taking a moment to think, Bryan decided his course of action. “Alright, so, in response I’m going to attempt to Spellstutter Sprite. Does that resolve?”
“Sure, it resolves.” Replied Chris giddily. Bryan went to activate his Faerie Conclave in response to the trigger to make three Faeries, but several people, notably including observer John Carter, pointed out that Spellstutter Sprite doesn’t work that way: the trigger never goes on the stack if there isn’t a legal target.
Bryan looked at John with a stern look on his face. “I know I’ve seen you around at events, but are you even a judge? And if so, what level are you?” John blinked in disbelief, then laughed and handed Bryan his Wizards of the Coast worldwide judge coordinator business card.
“Oh…” said Bryan among the chortles of laughter, realizing what exactly he had just implied.
He quickly composed himself and let Chris’ Jace resolve, sending both to the graveyard. Bryan untapped, attacked again, and passed the turn.
Chris was finally starting to get something going as he resolved a Jace on his turn and let each player draw a card before ending his turn.
Trying to dig and facing a quicker clock, Chris casts Cryptic Command in Bryans attack step to tap and draw, but it meets a Broken Ambitions. Bryan leaves Spellstutter Sprite on top and mills Chris, putting a Sanity Grinding second from the top into his graveyard and eliciting a groan. Things get even worse for Chris as Bryan plays another Archmage before confidently passing the turn again.
Chris lets each player draw once again off of his now-seven counter Jace, then passed the turn with a full grip. To ensure Jace wasn’t going to get out of hand, Bryan played another Jace of his own, removing Chris’ Jace. Bryans tries to close in with all of his creatures, but Chris throws a Plumeveil into the mix. Bryan quickly tosses a Remove Soul at the Plumeveil, and adds on a, “Would you like to Twincast that?” Instead, Chris opted to Boomerang one of the Archmages, which met the Sprite Bryan revealed last turn off Broken Ambitions. When Chris untaps and draws Evacuation he sees a brief glimmer of hope, but Bryan’s Faerie Conclave seals the deal.
“I need to learn how to draw Sanity Grinding,” remarked Chris as he revealed his hand, containing three Twincasts.”
“You kind of drew one… into your graveyard,” Bryan jested.
1-0 Bryan
2-0
For game two Chris kept his seven, while Bryan opted to send his back for six more. When those proved unsatisfactory, he went down to five.
Both players started with land, go. Chris played a second Island and took the tempo advantage by Boomeranging Bryan’s Mutavault, which Bryan promptly replayed. With three lands to Bryan’s one, Chris took the opportunity to play Jace and opted to be selfish and draw a card for himself. Bryan shrugged and played an Island, attacking Jace with his Mutavault. Chris didn’t let the loss of his planeswalker comrade faze him, as he played a land and said go.
Bryan tried to attack Chris with Mutavault, but Chris kept up the tempo and Cryptic Commanded it back along with picking up a card. Bryan simply replayed Mutavault with a sigh and passed. Chris didn’t find the tempo helpful though, as he passed his turn without a play. Bryan untapped and played Sunken Ruins, then cast Bitterblossom with a shrug. Chris immediately Dream Fractured the game-changing enchantment, then hit his land drop on his turn and passed.
Bryan played his fourth land — another Mutavault — and tried to resolve for a Glen Elendra Archmage. Chris let it stick, then in a seamless set of motions cast an end step Plumeveil, drew for his turn, and Sowered Bryan’s Archmage with two mana up, then passed. Bryan got around the Archmage’s ability by playing his fifth land and taking out the Sower with a full-price Shriekmaw, swinging the Archmage back to its owner’s side. Chris simply drew and passed the turn, disgruntled to not have found anything during the tapped-out opening Bryan had provided. Bryan only had slightly more going for him though, as he attacked with Shriekmaw past Chris’ Plumeveil and ended the turn. The pattern continued for the next few turns: Chris played a land and said go, Bryan played a Faerie Conclave and got in with the ‘Maw, Chris said go again, Bryan attacked with Shriekmaw and played a tapped Glen, then on his turn Chris said go yet again.
Bryan attacked with Shriekmaw and passed as usual, but in Bryan’s end step Chris finally had a play. Chris went for a Boomerang on the Archmage, clearly having a plan up his sleeve. Bryan activated Archmage, trying to keep the creature in play. Chris let the Archmage counter the Boomerang, but had a Cryptic Command to try sending the Archmage back to whence it came once again. Bryan had other plans, and activated both of his Mutavaults then cast an Sprite, countering Chris’s Command and leaving a blue up for an Archmage activation.
Chris took a breath in, and knew he had to take his window of opportunity. He went for Sanity Grinding , which Bryan Archmaged. Chris insisted on getting the trademark spell through, and responded with a Twincast to get a copy. The Twincast copy resolved, and milled Bryan for 19 cards. Chris then shipped the turn.
Bryan went into the tank, then decided to declare his attacks and got in with Shriekmaw again, bringing Chris down to five. Bryan passed the turn, but then stopped Chris in his upkeep for a Mistbind Clique. Chris went for a Dream Fracture, but Bryan had the Cryptic Command. Chris took the opportunity to sneak in a Plumeveil and let the Clique resolve, but when Bryan demonstrated his ability to activate two Mutavaults and his Conclave to have lethal, Chris extended the hand
Bryan Kovacs defeats Chris Surber 2-0.
By the time this match ended, the other half the bracket was already done. Nathan with Elves had taken down back-to-back Boddy Sligh decks, and was awaiting the winner of the semifinals. The matchup Bryan would have to face? Esperlark.
Semifinals: Dan Hanson with Esperlark versus Bryan Kovacs with Faeries
Daniel Hanson is a strong local PTQ and GP player with some success, including appearances at Pro Tours and at Nationals. Most recently, he and Alex West refined the Faeries deck and sent it into battle at GP: LA, resulting in a Top 8 finish by Mat Marr and a Top 16 finish by this humble author. Dan is known for his innovations, and most recently he was the genius who decided to add the otherwise-untouched Future Sight to Faeries’ sideboard. It came as a surprise, then, that he was playing Gerry Thompson exact Esperlark decklist he had used to split a Black Lotus tournament the week before. As for Bryan Kovacs… I’d recommend scrolling up about 2,100 words.
The match started in silence as the steely Dan Hanson (pun slightly intended) kept his calm, collected face on. Bryan won the dice roll, and each player kept their opening seven.
They opened up at a fast clip of pace as Bryan led on Island, and Dan played an Arcane Sanctum. Bryan had the dreaded turn two Faeries play though, as he played Sunken Ruins and a Bitterblossom. Dan could only play a Reflecting Pool and pass, allow Bitterblossom to begin its chain of despair. Bryan brought in his Faerie Rogue token—John Carter’s business card—and Dan took the opportunity to inform Bryan of his folly: “My chances of beating Faerie tokens are questionable, but I’ve definitely defeated Carter before.”
“In that case…” replied Bryan as he swapped out carter’s business card for an actual token, then played a land and passed. “It’s kind of demeaning anyway, indicating that Carter is a 1/1 flying Faerie Rogue. I guess he’ll never see this, though.”
While I took the time to make sure I transcribed what Bryan said for the world to see, Dan followed Bryan’s suit by playing a Sunken Ruins of his own and sending the turn back.
Content to sit on his Bitterblossom tokens, Bryan sent his Rogue into combat and played a land, then passed. Although Dan needed to find some kind of action to deal with the power of Bitterblossom you’d never know it as his calm exterior played an Island and sent the turn back to Bryan. Still fine with playing the waiting game to see when Dan would make a move, Bryan attacked for two and passed.
Dan finally decided to take action against the mounting Faerie army and played a Mystic Gate into a Wrath of God. Bryan predictably had a Broken Ambitions, and Dan kept his Fulminator Mage on top while Bryan kept his Spellstutter Sprite. With at least one counterspell —the Sprite—in hand, Bryan simply took the aggro-control approach to Magic by playing his sixth land and saying go.
Dan played his sixth land and cast a Sower, but Bryan quickly set down his Spellstutter Sprite and untapped, then cracked for five with his Sprite and tokens. Dan had a Terror for the Sprite to try and salvage his life total, but still took four and dropped to ten.
Bryan passed the turn, and Dan went for a Mulldrifter to try and dig for answers, but Bryan had another Sprite to deal with the 2/2 elemental, forcing Dan to ship the turn without making a land drop. Bryan served for six, dropping Dan to four before confidently passing the turn. Dan peeked at his card and dejectedly asked to move to game two with a shake of his head.
Bryan 1-0
For the second game Dan kept his seven cards while Bryan sent his back in for six. Dan led on an Arcane Sanctum and passed. Bryan played a tapped Secluded Glen, then Dan showed a more proactive side to his strategy as he played Reflecting Pool and Tidehollow Sculler. Dan took Agony Warp out of a hand of 2 Vault, 3 Sprite, and a Shriekmaw. Bryan played one of his Mutavaults on his turn, then Dan evoked Mulldrifter while holding back Sculler.
Bryan tried to get something going for him as he played Secluded Glen revealing Sprite and cast Thoughtseize. Dan showed Arcane Sanctum, Arcane Sanctum, Underground River, Terror, Mulldrifter, and Sower of Temptation. Bryan carefully deliberated, then took the Sower and passed the turn.
Dan changed his mind from the previous turn bashed in with Sculler, then played a Sanctum and ended the turn. With the path clear, Bryan played a Mutavault and activated his other Mutavault with it, then attacked for two.
Dan got in with Sculler again and played his River, then cast Reveillark.
“Really? I bet I can'” inquired Bryan with a sigh. “I bet I can’t Spellstutter Sprite that… What do you have in your yard?”
“Just some cards,” Dan said with traces of a grin showing on his otherwise stony face, as he gestured toward the perished pair of Mulldrifter and Sower.
Dan passed the turn, and Bryan asked the question Standard players had been trying to figure out for a year: “How can I do this so it won’t suck for me?”
“You can’t.”
Bryan evoked a Shriekmaw and took out Dan’s Reveillark, which brought back Mulldrifter and a Sower, which unexcitingly targeted Dan’s Sculler. With Bryan’s window of opportunity still open, Bryan Agony Warped the Sculler and returned the other Agony Warp underneath to his hand.
“You should’ve killed the Sower so you would have gained control of the Sculler,” said Dan with extra sarcasm.
Bryan finally passed the turn, giving Dan an opportunity to play another Sanctum and a Mulldrifter, then crashed for four before passing. Bryan simply played a land and sent the turn back.
Dan drew and quickly sent his army in, but Bryan went for an Agony Warp to suck up some damage. Dan shrugged and followed up with another Reveillark. Bryan had a pithy Spellstutter Sprite at the end of Dan’s turn, but had no plays on his turn.
In Dan’s upkeep Bryan played Cryptic Command to tap Dan’s creatures and draw a card, which Dan didn’t seem to mind. He played his fourth Arcane Sanctum, and simply passed the turn.
“Man, this is awkward,” said Bryan as he cast a Glen Elendra Archmage. Dan thought and let it resolve, clearly not worried.
“Terror the Reveillark?” Bryan inquired.
“Not quite,” replied Dan as he tapped six and evoked a Reveillark from his hand.
“I liked the Terror plan better.”
Dan brought back Sculler and Sower. Bryan revealed a hand of three more Spellstutter Sprites, and played one of them to block Dan’s Reveillark. The effort proved futile as Bryan untapped, drew, and quickly packed in his cards to move to game 3.
1-1
Both players keep their hands, and Bryan leads with a tapped Secluded Glen while Dan lays a Vivid Creek. Once again, Bryan has the deadly follow-up as he plays Reflecting Pool into Bitterblossom. Dan can only play Reflecting Pool and pass the turn, once again letting Bitterblossom turn on its Faerie Rogue engine. Bryan played an Island and passed the turn, happy to sit back on his Bitterblossom.
Dan played another Reflecting Pool and went for a Jace to dig for answers, but Bryan had the Spellstutter Sprite for just enough. He untapped and attacked for two, then played a Secluded Glen, revealing and casting a second Bitterblossom. To quell the Faerie onslaught, Dan played a plains and a Sower, but Bryan’s two open mana allowed him to fling a Remove Soul in the Sower’s direction, forcing Dan to pass the turn defenseless.
Bryan attacked for three, then played an Underground River and a Glen Elendra Archmage, leaving a Glen untapped before passing the turn.
“I always wanted one of those,” remarked Dan as he played a Sower and pointed toward the Archmage.
Bryan had a different plan in mind as he hardcast a Shriekmaw to take out the Sower, then attacked and brought Dan down to ten.
Dan untapped and went into the tank. He eventually decided to tap out for a Mulldrifter, but Bryan drew and played Cryptic Command: tapping Dan’s Mulldrifter and causing a disgusted Dan Hanson to pick up his cards.
Bryan 2-1
There was only one match standing in the way of three byes and one of the final two players. Both players quickly settled into their chairs, and the match began.
Finals: Nathan Vetterlein with Elves versus Bryan Kovacs with Faeries
Bryan won the dice roll and both players kept their hands. Bryan led on Underground River, while Nathan ramped up with a Forest and Llanowar Elves. Bryan once again has the start of the Faeries fix, as he plays a Mutavault and Bitterblossom. Nathan has his own kind of fix though, as he plays another Forest, followed by a Wren’s Run Vanquisher and a Nettle Sentinel. Faced with six points of opposing power, Bryan plays an Underground River and dejectedly passes.
Nathan draws his card and makes an announcement: “I need to thinkify”
“Can I get a translation?”
After returning from his thinkifying session (which I can only assume is located near the mystical “tank” Magic players seem so fond of frequenting) Nathan decided to attack with the Vanquisher along with the Sentinel, and Bryan opted to block the Vanquisher. Nathan played another Vanquisher post-combat, then cast a Twinblade Slasher. Still without a play and with Bitterblossom officially in Force Field mode, Bryan played a second Mutavault and passed.
Nathan drew and didn’t see any need to thinkify this turn. He attacked with everybody excluding Llanowar Elves, but Faeries, as usual, had a trick up its sleeve. Bryan cast a Mistbind Clique and championed his Bitterblossom. In response to the Clique’s trigger, Nathan pumped up his Slasher. Bryan blocked the Sentinel with Clique and put the Bitterblossom token on Vanquisher. Despite having a Clique the attack still brought Bryan down to 8, and he aided his cause with a postcombat Twinblade Slasher.
Bryan untapped and played a third Underground River, attacked with the Clique, and passed the turn. When Nathan declared his attack, Bryan’s third Underground River enabled him to tap all of Nathan’s creatures and draw a card, albeit taking three damage in the process. Nathan mistakenly opted to floats a mana off Llanowar Elves, but promptly takes a mana burn off it when he goes into his main phase. Unshaken, he adds an Imperious Perfect to his swelling elven army.
Bryan untapped, took a moment to consider his options, and conceded.
“Pretty much what I expected,”
Nathan 1-0
Bryan opened with a tapped Glen, while Nathan took the offensive with a Twinblade Slasher off a Forest. Bryan had another Island and passed, then took one off of the Slasher. Nathan went for a Bramblewood Paragon, but Bryan made sure to keep it off the table with a Broken Ambitions for one.
Determined to take the control route, Bryan played Secluded Glen, and passed the turn. When Nathan had a Boggart Ram-Gang, Bryan chose to Flashfreeze the both Green and Red spell. Nathan got in for another point with his Slasher and passed.
“Things are falling into place,” Bryan let Nathan know as he drew his card and played an Island. Despite his claims, Bryan elected to pass the turn.
Nathan tried another pre-combat Paragon, and this time it resolved. Nathan got in for one yet again and propelled the turn back towards Bryan. A Sunken Ruins was all Bryan presented though, and he passed back again. Nathan speedily sent Paragon and Slasher into the red zone, but when Nathan took the opportunity to pump the Slasher, Bryan cast Agony Warp and sent the Slasher to the Graveyard. Bryan passed the turn, but the space between was short as Bryan played another land and shipped the turn back.
Nathan attacked with his Paragon, then played a Wren’s Run Vanquisher revealing an Imperious Perfect. Bryan finally made a play and cast Broken Ambitions to keep the Vanquisher off the board. Nathan left his Boggart Ram-Gang from the clash on top, while Bryan shipped Peppersmoke south. Despite some action with the Broken Ambitions, Bryan played a land and said go yet again.
Nathan went for the Ram Gang, which resolved and received a +1/+1 counter due to its convenient status as a warrior. Nathan attacked Bryan down to seven, then passed.
Bryan finally had an answer and went for a five mana Shriekmaw on his turn, removing the Ram Gang. Bryan sent the turn back, and Nathan attacked with Bramblewood Paragon. Bryan blocked, but Nathan had a trick of his own. A timely Snakeform on the Shriekmaw left the Paragon alive.
Bryan raised his eyebrow at the appearance of the Eventide common.
“it’s been good on Reveillark… well, it’s been good on everything,” replied Nathan.
Shriekmaw-less, Bryan drew and once again said go without a play. Nathan played a Perfect to pump up his creatures, then attacked. Bryan blocked with his Mutavault to soak up some damage, but Nathan had another post-combat paragon to continue the string of elves. Bryan drew and surveyed the board. He passed the turn, and when Nathan attacked, Bryan conceded.
Nathan Vetterlein wins the GPT! Congratulations!
…
The Top 8 from this event contains several interesting archetypes among cornerstones of the format like Boat Brew and Faeries. Elves has been thrown back into the Standard mix, the Sligh deck continued to post great numbers, and, despite having a lackluster quarterfinals match, the newcomer, Sanity Grinding, is definitely a deck to keep an eye on. Here are the Top 8 decklists:
1st place: Nathan Vetterlein — Mono Green Elves
Lands:
20 Forest
Creatures:
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Twinblade Slasher
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Bramblewood Paragon
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
4 Chameleon Colossus
2 Boggart Ram-Gang
Other spells:
4 Obsidian Battle-Axe
3 Tower Above
3 Snakeform
Sideboard
4 Guttural Response
3 Masked Admirers
3 Hurricane
3 Treetop Village
2 Wheel of Sun and Moon
2nd Place: Bryan Kovacs — Faeries
Lands:
4 Secluded Glen
4 Mutavault
4 Underground River
5 Island
3 Swamp
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Faerie Conclave
1 Reflecting Pool
Creatures:
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Shriekmaw
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
Other spells:
4 Bitterblossom
4 Cryptic Command
3 Thoughtseize
3 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
3 Jace Beleren
2 Remove Soul
Sideboard:
4 Peppersmoke
3 Flashfreeze
3 Murderous Redcap
2 Makeshift Mannequin
2 Liliana Vess
1 Shriekmaw
3rd Place: Charles DuPont — Sligh
Lands:
6 Mountain
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
Creatures:
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
Other spells:
4 Tarfire
4 Magma Spray
4 Flame Javelin
3 Terror
3 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard:
3 Chaotic Backlash
3 Deathmark
3 Infest
3 Guttural Response
2 Wild Ricochet
1 Volcanic Fallout
4th Place: Daniel Hanson — Esperlark
Lands:
4 Arcane Sanctum
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Underground River
1 Adarkar Wastes
2 Fetid Heath
2 Sunken Ruins
3 Mystic Gate
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures:
4 Reveillark
4 Mulldrifter
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Sower of Temptation
3 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Tidehollow Sculler
Other spells:
4 Wrath of God
4 Cryptic Command
3 Terror
2 Negate
Sideboard:
3 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
3 Jace Beleren
2 Mind Shatter
2 Runed Halo
2 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Austere Command
1 Terror
5th Place: Kent Ketter — Boat Brew
Lands:
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Rugged Prairie
4 Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]
4 Mountain
4 Plains
3 Reflecting Pool
Creatures:
1 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
1 Flame-kin Harbinger
2 Balefire Liege
3 Figure of Destiny
3 Ranger of Eos
3 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Reveillark
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Mogg Fanatic
Other spells:
4 Spectral Procession
3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Wrath of God
4 Mind Stone
Sideboard:
3 Volcanic Fallout
3 Wispmare
3 Guttural Response
2 Magma Spray
2 Banefire
1 Wrath of God
1 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
6th Place: Chris Surber — Insanity Grinding
Lands:
19 Island
4 Shelldock Isle
Creatures:
4 Plumeveil
3 Overbeing of Myth
Other spells:
4 Sanity Grinding
4 Twincast
4 Boomerang
3 Ponder
4 Cryptic Command
4 Dream Fracture
4 Jace Beleren
3 Evacuation
Sideboard:
4 Negate
4 Sower of Temptation
3 Memory Plunder
2 Flashfreeze
1 Overbeing of Myth
1 Evacuation
7th Place: Chaz Bommarito — Faeries
Lands:
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins
7 Island
3 Swamp
3 Underground River
Creatures:
4 Scion of Oona
3 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Sower of Temptation
Other spells:
4 Cryptic Command
4 Broken Ambitions
3 Remove Soul
2 Agony Warp
4 Bitterblossom
3 Terror
Sideboard:
4 Thoughtseize
4 Infest
3 Jace Beleren
2 Peppersmoke
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Sower of Temptation
8th Place: Chris Kelly — Sligh
Lands:
6 Mountain
4 Ghitu Encampment
4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
Creatures:
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
Other spells:
4 Tarfire
4 Magma Spray
4 Flame Javelin
3 Terror
3 Volcanic Fallout
Sideboard:
3 Blightning
3 Infest
3 Guttural Response
2 Deathmark
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Boldwyr Heavyweights
1 Ashenmoor Gouger
1 Shriekmaw
Thank you to everybody at First Pick Games, Cascade Games, and Tony Mayer for making all of the data and information in this article possible.
Hopefully this overview of the tournament presented you with some thoughts about Standard you hadn’t considered before. If there are any questions, I’d be happy to field them in the forums. Please let me know what you think of me doing this kind of reporting in the future, for PTQ’s and such. I’d love to do more coverage like this in the future. I know the two pieces missing from this are a precise metagame breakdown and a feature match from each round, but I will try and remedy that in further articles. Let me know what you’d like to see, if you enjoyed this kind of article, and I’d be happy to incorporate your feedback as the PTQ season rolls closer.
On a final note, I am considering having an upcoming mailbag column where I answer your questions in-depth. If you’d like to send feedback to me via e-mail and have it appear in a future column, please send it to gavintriesagain (at) gmail (dot) (com). Whether you have a deck or strategy you’d like to hear addressed, or would just like to grill me about my article on the aura, feel free to send it in and I’ll be happy to answer it. And as always, keep up the comments in the forums: they’re great!
Gavin Verhey
Team Unknown Stars
Rabon on Magic online, Lesurgo everywhere else