Our story begins the week after Grand Prix: Barcelona. As I thought would likely happen, the tournament signaled the beginning of a slope down for token-based decks and the uprising of Cascade Swans. With this in mind, I had planned to play Faeries at the Grand Prix. Turbo-Fog had been testing well, but I didn’t want to slog through a GP with it, especially now that it was on the mainstream radar. In a twist, Sam Black had made Top 8 with Faeries, no doubt meaning other people would jump at the chance to pick up the Faeries decks they were forced to put away for a whole four weeks after dominating for the better part of two years. Still, I was confident in my ability to play the mirror match. I was X-1 in Faeries mirror matches throughout Lorwyn Block Constructed and Standard, and was ready to take on the mirror.
Thursday night AJ Sacher, Ben Swartz, and Ari Lax flew in and spent the night. Ari was also set on Faeries, so we spent some time brewing lists of Faeries and playtesting matchups of which we both already knew the results. Friday morning we picked up Dan Lanthier – Canadian National Champion – and Max McCall and headed down. Dan was also set on Faeries, while Max was set on Five-Color. When we arrived at the convention center that afternoon, my Faeries-loving reality was quickly shattered as we found about Chapin’s newest iteration of the 5CB deck, Five-Color Aggro, through hearsay and rumors. We built it up and quickly begin to test it, to good results. From the games we played, the deck crushed Faeries, which made me begin to waver since I knew a lot of people who would make the later rounds of Day 2 would be playing Chapin’s newest brew. I was left with an ultimatum of cruel consequences about which deck to play.
I made a decision to play the Five-Color at the site, and began to buy out the dealers on Syggs for everybody (I bought 16; by the end of the weekend, I had lent them all out) and to acquire Maelstrom Pulses. I left intending to play 5CB, and we begin to discuss the deck on the way back.
When I arrived home, I wanted to get some games in versus B/W tokens just to make sure that matchup was good since we hadn’t tested it yet. I expected fewer copies of the deck to be around, but it was still an important matchup to be favored against. It seemed like it should be a good matchup, but as we began to test it I quickly discovered opposite results. We only played a ten game set, but 5CB also only won two of the ten games. I went to bed, deciding to make my decision in the morning.
In the morning, we talked on the way to the event site and both Dan and Max were on Five-Color Aggro. Despite their confidence, I wasn’t so sure. After much commotion in the car and on site, I decided to play Faeries because I both knew how to play it better and it was a deck for which we had actually built up sideboards. Although it was also the thing that doomed me in Berlin when I opted off Swans with Blood Moon, I wasn’t comfortable brewing up an untested sideboard and hoping it worked. I sat down next to Mat Marr, Sam Black, Ari Lax, Gaudenis Vidugiris, and other various cohorts of the Faeries legion to decide how to build our decks. Although everybody but Mat was insistent that Thoughtseize didn’t belong in the maindeck, I am a big fan of playing with that card, especially in a format where I expected a lot of Cascade Swans and mirror matches alongside fewer token decks.
I peered over at Sam Black list and found a stray singleton of Peek hanging out among his spells.
“Why is that in your deck?”
Sam cocked his head and lightly spread a grin. “Sometimes… you just wanna know.”
We all laughed, and began to use it through the weekend whenever it vaguely applied to the situation. As far as we were concerned, it’s the new “it could be anything.”
I snapped back to reality and finished constructing my maindeck and sideboard. To make a long story, and a lot of scratches on my decklist much shorter, this is what I registered:
Creatures (11)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (21)
Sideboard
Everybody else was certain I needed a third Jace, but now that I’ve played the event, I would go back down to two. I hate having to play more sorcery speed spells in this deck if I don’t have to. Sam Black seemed certain I needed to have one Terror over an Agony Warp, but I was happy all weekend with all of the Warps, and they consistently did things Terror could not have done. I was happy with everything in the sideboard but the Puppeteer Cliques. They are good in both your really good matchups and your really bad matchups, but in the former you don’t need to have them, and in the latter a paltry two Puppeteer Cliques are unlikely to turn the matchup around on their own.
I spent the three byes eating lunch, getting my deck together, and getting other people’s decks together. Before I knew it, round four hit and it was time to fight!
Round 4 — Cascade Swans
A lot of people seem to think this is an unlosable matchup, but it’s actually a lot closer than it looks. If Swans ever resolves a Seismic Assault, things can get really bad for you, and even if you do have a ton of countermagic they can beat you down with Bloodbraid Elves while you’re busy making sure their Enchantments don’t resolve. That’s precisely what happened in the first game, when a double Bloodbraid Elf and Treetop Village draw commenced the beatdown while I had to buy time. I used an Agony Warp and a Mistbind Clique alongside some Bitterblossom tokens to clear away all of his attackers, but he Bituminous Blasted my Clique and found a Swans with me hanging on at a precarious three life. I spent the next turn blocking and drawing a card. Land. The next turn blocking and drawing a card. Spellstutter Sprite. Bitterblossom dropped me to one and I drew for the turn… land. I had only one chance. I shipped the turn, he drew… then attacked with Swans! I played Sprite and double blocked. First draw… Agony Warp. Second draw… Mistbind Clique! I championed my Bitterblossom, Warped away his Swans, and won a few turns later when I added to my army and kept the Treetop Village he drew at bay.
I boarded in Flashfreezes, and game 2 went much better. He went into the LD plan and, after a turn 1 Thoughtseize on Fulminator Mage, was left with a Deny Reality in his hand. Wasn’t close.
4-0
Round 5 — Faeries
I’m playing against Chas Hinkle, a friend from whom I had borrowed Maelstrom Pulses the night before. I knew he was playing Faeries, and was hoping he would keep a hand which expected Maelstrom Pulses. When I Thoughtseized him on turn 1, I saw a double Bitterblossom hand which could get ugly for me. He landed a turn 2 Blossom, but got stuck on three lands for a long time. Fortunately, I had a Scion of Oona and found a Bitterblossom of my own, so I could begin to outclass his tokens with mine. With Chas still stuck on three lands several turns later, I out-resourced him and took the game down.
Game 2 he had Thoughtseize into a Blossom, and I set myself up for a long game. I put him on Broken Ambitions and got him to use it up on a Scion of Oona, then untapped and resolved a second Scion. He let me untap the next turn with Scion, and I resolved another one, bringing his offense to a halt. But that wasn’t the end of that story, as I found my fourth Scion the next turn, and, one Agony Warp later, I put the game out of reach as he once again stalled out on lands.
5-0
Round 6 — G/W Tokens
This was an awkward round. Somebody at a higher table had a fixed table due to a disability, so our match was played at table 410. This is where the 1-5 players were. It was a strange environment to be in, because everybody around us was totally loose, joking, and didn’t care, while my opponent and I are playing a match to be 6-0. To my left was Tukatongue Thallid versus Skyhunter Prowler; on my right Nemesis of Reason versus Meglonoth. Like I said, awkward. But that’s not the end of it.
Game 1 is not close. I Peppersmoke his turn 1 Noble Hierarch, Agony Warp his two-drop, then follow things up with Bitterblossom into Scion into Mistbind Clique with Cryptic Command in hand.
Game 2 is going well, and it’s looking like I can’t lose. He has three Spectral Procession tokens, a Noble Hierarch and a Finks, and I have a Mistbind Clique in play championing a Scion of Oona I played the turn prior. I have another Mistbind Clique in my hand and a Mutavault in play, so I’m going to totally blow him out.
I pass the turn, and look up. In the corner of my eye I see Sean Anderson walk by in this hat, and watch him walk by. Gerry Thompson once called this hat one that keeps you in the “land of ignorance,” and now I know that its effects can reach further than just its owner. It’s only been about four or five seconds, but I look back down at the game only to see, much to my dismay, that my opponent has turbo drawn his card and played a land. Then he sticks a precombat Ajani, and things start to get out of hand. I lose a few turns later.
Like I said, awkward.
I’ve lost a lot of games of Magic, but I’ve never lost because of a hat. I know it sounds like I’m just trying to blame the loss on something, but there are plenty of games this tournament I lost that I completely blame myself for. (As you will see later on.) This loss was still my fault for being distracted by said hat, but really, what kind of actual human being wears a actual hat like that on their actual head?!
Fortunately, game 3 my Mistbind Cliques avenge their forgotten comrade after I infest away his Noble Hierarch and Steward of Valeron, so instead of turning into a terrible bad beat it just makes for a good story.
6-0
Round 7 — Five Color Aggro
This round I face Mike Jacob, and we have quite a history. And by history, I mean that I am 0-2 against him at Grand Prix tournaments, and each time we have had a feature match. When I don’t hear my name called for a feature match, I’m hoping to turn the norm around. Of course, I knew Mike was playing a terrible matchup for me: the Five-Color Aggro deck I opted not to play.
Game 1 I Thoughtseize away Mike’s Putrid Leech and have plenty of time to develop as he has a slow draw. Unfortunately, my draw never develops further than land, removal, and countermagic. While it keeps me in the game for a while, his Bloodbraid Elves provide too many threats for me to answer, and when he Fallouts in response to my Mistbind Clique and keeps his Putrid Leech around the game is over.
Game 2 is a nongame, as I get a pretty mediocre draw off a mulligan, and he has Putrid Leeches, Bloodbraid Elf, and two Jund Charms to make his guys far larger than I can deal with.
6-1
Round 8 — Jund Control
This round is my feature match against Alex West, and I’m not sure about this matchup. I’ve never tested it, and feel like it’s pretty draw dependant. Game 1 I counter some of his early pressure and Agony Warp a Kitchen Finks, but don’t have a lot of gas to follow it up with. I get a Spellstutter Sprite into play at the end of his turn 5 and run out a Mistbind Clique on turn six when I’m pretty sure he has a Bituminous Blast, but I have Broken Ambitions mana up and he lets the Clique’s trigger resolve. On his turn 7, he plays Thoughtseize with six mana up, and my hand is Cryptic Command, Jace, and Scion of Oona with six mana available. I think through my plays, but don’t want to get my Mistbind Clique Bituminous Blasted in response to Scion, so I let the Thoughtseize resolve, which brings him to 6, within striking range from a 5/5 Mistbind Clique and a Scion. He sees that the coast is clear and casts Broodmate Dragon, and when I don’t rip Cryptic Command, he Bituminous Blasts my Scion and Broodmate plus Treetop Villages beat me down.
After thinking about the match, I think the right play, however, is to cast Scion in response, let him Blast the Clique, which counters the Thoughtseize and leaves me with three points of power and a Cryptic Command. When I mentioned it to Alex, he said that he would have still just went for the Broodmate Dragon and hope I didn’t have Broken Ambitions anyway, so I’m not sure if it would have mattered.
Round 2 he has a pretty good draw with Thoughtseize and I mulligan, then get crushed by Treetop Villages.
6-2
Round 9 — U/W Reveillark
I’m resolved to not let the same thing happen twice. In Chicago, I lost to Mike Jacob in round 7, then lost my next two matches to end up 6-3 and not make Day 2. The process has already begun to repeat, and I don’t want that to happen again. It wasn’t going to be easy though, as I find myself sitting across from Brian Kibler.
He flips over a Fieldmist Borderpost while shuffling, and I wonder for a moment if he’s playing the very un-Kibler choice of Turbo-Fog. There were no Fogs involved however, as his turn 2 Meddling Mage on Bitterblossom (which was in my hand) quickly narrows down his potential decks. Kibler finds himself stuck on three lands, and I use Broken Ambitions to counter his card drawing Mulldrifters, and then finally get his Meddling Mage off the table with Agony Warp. From there, I slowly begin to move the game in my favor with a Cryptic Command and a Mistbind Clique.
Game 2 his draw contains three Adarkar Wastes, and he takes a lot of damage to cast his spells. When I Broken Ambitions his three-drop and clash a Mistbind Clique to the bottom in search for a Black source, he follows it up with a Meddling Mage on Mistbind Clique. He goes for a Reveillark next turn, but I Sower his Reveillark and thus begins a long, drawn out affair involving Cryptic Commands canceling each other, Broken Ambitions, Windborn Muses, and several turns of us each drawing land. I have him down to seven from a Reveillark attack and his Painlands, which he took nine damage from, but eventually, Brian finds a Stillmoon Cavalier which negates my Reveillark attacks. He then finds another Cavalier and a Paladin En-Vec, which begin to Abyss me and go on the offensive. I manage to get in with Reveillark one more time, and drop him to three. He keeps attacking and eventually I force him to take a point from his Cavalier, dropping to two. One turn I am forced to block with everything, leaving my board as eight lands, one being a Mutavault, with no cards in hand and Kibler having two Windborn Muses in play. For me to win, my next card has to be Cryptic Command.
It was. And yes, it is.
7-2
With only four minutes left on the clock and neither party wanting to draw, I’m relieved to pick up the win there and make my way into Day 2. After the match, Kibler shows me his notebook, and tells me to look through it. He had found it when cleaning out his old house, and it’s from high school. It has tons of Mirage Block decks and ancient Standard decks in it that he built during class, as well as the occasional piece of physics homework. My favorite deck in that notebook was probably the one that started off with 4 Ernham Djinn, 4 Mana Drain, or possibly the U/R counterburn deck with two Force of Will. It was a pretty neat piece of Magic history, and if Brian sees this I bet he could expound on it further. (Maybe in one of his upcoming articles?)
We all take the hour drive home, and try and get some sleep. Ari is 8-1, Max is 7-1-1, but Dan didn’t make Day 2.
I show up the next day and feel extremely groggy, but ready to play.
Round 10 — UBR Faeries
My opponent lead on several UBR-producing lands which made me wonder if he was playing Grixis Control, but it quickly turned out he was playing Faeries splashing Red after he cast a Bitterblossom and tried to Mistbind Clique me. There was a pivotal point in the game where I have a Scion of Oona in my hand, and if I play it and it sticks I can effectively fight his Blossom. I was hoping he wouldn’t have Volcanic Fallout maindeck, but unfortunately he did and I got crushed by a bunch of Bitterblossom tokens and a Jace while I drew four lands in a row.
Game 2 was similarly frustrating. I kept a fine hand with three lands, but by the end of the game I had seen triple (!) the amount of lands as spells. I try and get his Jace off the table with a Bitterblossom and keep his Wydwen at bay with Plumeveil, but the card advantage he found gave him reach in some Anathemancers and, his finishing card, Cruel Ultimatum. Definitely did not expect that one.
7-3
Round 11 — Cascade Swans
Game 1 wasn’t very close, as I Thoughtseized away one Assault, played a turn 2 Bitterblossom, countered the rest of his Assaults, and cleaned up with Mistbind Clique.
Game 2, I have the counterspell for his Assault, but he is on the Crusher plan and they quickly get out of hand. I Sower one but he has a second, and with no Cryptic Command or Agony Warp in sight, his 9/9 Crusher, um, crushes me.
Game 3, I had a ton of countermagic and almost all of his relevant spells were in the graveyard. The problem is that countermagic was all I drew, save for an Agony Warp which knocked out a Ghitu Encampment. I traded a Mutavault for his Bloodbraid Elf and found a Bitterblossom. I kept his spells off the board, but Bitterblossom was slowly ticking my life away. At three life, he played an Ad Nauseam and I, as if it was automatic, went for counter and draw on my fourth Cryptic Command, then immediately wished I hadn’t. I needed to bounce my Bitterblossom, and my mind knew I needed to bounce my Bitterblossom, but somehow that didn’t translate into what I did. I still hadn’t seen any of my Mistbind Cliques so I had some outs, but I just kept drawing Bitterblossoms and Thoughtseizes and died to my own Bitterblossom. If I just bounced my Bitterblossom there, I feel like I am probably favored to win that game even though my clock is only two tokens. I can only blame myself for losing this match.
7-4
Round 12 — Faeries
I’m relieved to see Faeries across the table, as it’s a matchup in which I’m well versed. I counter his turn 2 Bitterblossom and play one on turn 3, but he sticks one on turn 4. Still, I feel pretty ahead. I have had a Blossom of my own going, and stick a Scion of Oona, then use Agony Warp to wreck his token force. The problem is that he’s beginning to assemble Mutavaults, and he has three in play. Then, on one turn, he Peppersmokes my Scion and finds Jace, putting him back in the game on cards, and begins to commence the beatdown. I keep attacking him and ignore the Jace, but end up dying with him at one life, which makes me pretty certain I played wrong somewhere.
Game 2 is a nongame. I mulliganed down to five and kept 3 lands double Spellstutter Sprite, and he had the Thoughtseize–Bitterblossom-Jace fix.
Round 13 — Cascade LD
7-5
I look at my tiebreakers and see that I’m at the top of my division by a wide margin (78%), so I stay in because maybe if I 3-0 my last rounds I can make Top 64 and pick up a pro point. I find myself sitting across Cascade LD, and when he wins the dice roll and Boomerangs my land on turn 2, I know it’s going to be a long day. He has tons of LD and two Enlisted Wurms, and I kept a hand with three lands, so it’s not particularly close.
Game 2 I’m on the play and have Thoughtseize into turn 2 Bitterblossom, into Broken Ambitions, into Scion of Oona, and with a Cryptic Command still available, I take the game down.
Game 3, this is the seven I see: Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, Broken Ambitions, Bitterblossom, Mistbind Clique, Cryptic Command, Underground River. He agonizes then keeps, and I go into the tank. There’s only one land, but if I’m getting Boomeranged then I’ll be okay, plus if I draw any land this hand is gas. Additionally, the two Thoughtseizes keep his LD down. I keep, although in retrospect this was probably not the right decision. I’m interested to hear what you guys think in the forums.
I draw a Swamp and Thoughtseize him on turn 1, and it turns out his hand has three Boomerangs, a Flooded Grove, a Cryptic Command, and a Fulminator Mage with a Vivid Marsh in play. I take the Mage, and he Boomerangs my land. I seize him again and take his freshly drawn Maelstrom Pulse, hoping he won’t find a land to activate his Grove with once all of its counters are gone. He found the land, and kept beating up my lands. Finally, I get Bitterblossom into play and he does nothing, then I untap with Broken Ambitions in my hand. He Incendiary Commands, I Ambitions, then I take control of the game from there with another Ambitions and a Cryptic Command followed by two Scion of Oonas.
Yay, I won a match on Day 2!
8-5
Round 14 — Five-Color Control
I played against Matt Hague, a friend of mine from Seattle. He asks me how my breakers are, I tell him they’re at the top and if I win my next match there’s a possibility at Top 64 depending on draws, and he concedes to me since his breakers are low. Thanks, Matt!
9-5
Round 15 — Cascade Swans
I’m playing against John Penick, and I already know he’s playing Swans with maindeck Countryside Crushers. His heart doesn’t really seem to be in it, and he looks disenchanted and exhausted. Neither game is really close. Game 1 I Thoughtseize him, Bitterblossom, Broken Ambitions his Assault, then Mistbind Clique. Game 2 he keeps five lands, Bituminous Blast, Fulminator Mage, and I Thoughtseize him multiple times then play a pair of Mistbind Cliques.
10-5
Unfortunately, a lot of the 9-4’s and 9-3’s drew, putting me in 73rd. Max made Top 64, and Ari made Top 8, so congratulations are in order for both of them. I immediately groaned, not so much at my place, but knowing that my focus needed to turn to my gigantic pile of college homework I had to get done before leaving for Hawaii on Thursday. Hopefully there would be some time to test for the Pro Tour amidst all of the writing I had to do for school. I have a few good choices, but I didn’t really like how the one that was doing the best played.
We went out to dinner with some friends at this awesome restaurant which conveniently had bottomless Fish and Chips for $10 on Sundays.
While we were waiting for out meal, I turned to Sam Black and asked what he thought about the Standard format post-GP. “Why?” he replied.
I cocked my head and grinned, “Sometimes… you just wanna know.”
Gavin Verhey
Team Unknown Stars
Rabon on Magic Online, Lesurgo everywhere else