It was Thursday night, the day before the Pro Tour. I’d just landed in
Nashville and met up with some friends I was staying with at the event
site. Quickly I registered for what was my fourth Pro Tour and made my way
back to the hotel so that I could iron out the details of the deck I was
playing. After stopping in the lobby at the Double Tree to grab some free
cookies and food they had provided (random!), I went up to the sixth floor
and began what would be the most mind-melting four hours of the preparation
I had done.
I was rooming with Steven Mann and William Postlethwait, both of which had
shown interest in the Sultai Marvel deck I’d been doing reasonably well
with on Magic Online earlier that week. After much debate and some
incredibly overpriced pizza, I’d settled on this list.
Creatures (15)
- 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 1 Noxious Gearhulk
- 4 Servant of the Conduit
- 4 Rogue Refiner
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (20)
Spells (23)
I wasn’t lying! I presented you with a choice between the two archetypes I
was debating between, and I did play one of them! The only change I made
between this list and the one I posted
last week
was cutting the random Oath of Jace for a second copy of Dissenter’s
Deliverance, which I was very pleased to have.
The tournament started off relatively well with a 2-1 in my first draft pod
only losing to one of the game’s best in Owen Turtenwald. I won my first
round of Constructed as well and was feeling pretty great about my choice
having seen just how much of the field was exactly as I’d expected with it
really being a three-deck format. Temur Aetherworks, Zombies, and Mardu
Vehicles were by far and away the most represented decks, and I was happy
enough playing against all of them.
With that being said, Aetherworks Marvel decks have this thing about their
consistency that just sometimes doesn’t break right and things can spiral
out of control. From 3-1, I then found myself on the wrong side of some
insane variance, and I’m sure a mistake or two and had my back against the
wall playing for day two at 3-4.
It’s funny how sometimes things can go so wrong, but then you see a light
at the end of the tunnel. My round eight opponent apparently forgot to drop
from the event and was out of contention for day two and was kind enough
not to attempt to play dream crusher and conceded me into day two. At 4-4 I
wasn’t exactly thrilled based on how my day began, but it was better than
not coming back the next day.
I woke up the following morning ready to draft again! I’ve found this Draft
format to be quite enjoyable and have often caught myself incinerating a
many Magic Online tickets even after the Pro Tour drafting. My deck was
another solid deck, maybe a card or two away from being great.
Unfortunately, my day started off playing against a pair of mythics in
Angel of Sanctions and Kefnet the Mindful. I was all but out of it at that
point: four wins and five losses meant that to expect to cash at all or to
get an invite back to the Pro Tour I’d have to win my next seven matches in
a row! I didn’t have the highest of hopes winning seven matches at a Pro
Tour given all fifteen matches!
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
That’s a proverb I’ve grown quite accustom to telling myself over the years
when things look most bleak. Usually I hear it in the voice of Goku from Dragon Ball Z but still. From 4-5 I decided I wouldn’t lose
anymore. I didn’t know how or what I would do to make this all happen, but
I told myself I’d figure it out. Six rounds later, I found myself playing
an Aetherworks Marvel mirror match where the board state on my opponent’s
side included Aetherworks Marvel, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and two
copies of Bounty of the Luxa against my field of only lands and fifteen
energy. Four turns later we were going into game 2 and I was up a game.
While I won’t deny that there was a great bit of luck involved in casting
and activating the card Aetherworks Marvel, it’s still Magic and your
opponents are still trying to win the game too! So after sixteen rounds of
swiss I found myself at the requisite 11-5 record to re-qualify for the Pro
Tour in Japan and jumping up and down across the event hall. I settled down
long enough for Brian David-Marshall to take this picture of my excitement!
I’m overjoyed to be able to take another crack at the Pro Tour in Japan in
just a few months, and I couldn’t be more appreciative of all the support I
got along the way!
Enough!
Enough about the Pro Tour! In just a few hours I’ll be on my way to play at
one of the best formats SCG has ever decided to hold: Team Constructed!
Once again I’ll be joined by our own Todd Stevens and the one and only
“The” Tannon Grace. #TeamDapper
I will likely be playing something similar to what I played in Nashville
for the Standard portion of the event. Todd Stevens has been on top of
Modern since I’ve known him, and it’s no secret that he’s been analyzing
every bit of information he can from Magic Online events to have the
perfect deck for what
I’m sure he’s figured
to be the expected metagame.
That leaves us with Legacy, a format that has had a huge face-lift since
the last time anyone has looked at it. With the banning of Sensei’s
Divining Top, not only will more rounds finish on time, a huge part of the
format is now opened up! Many decks have long since been held in check by
the one-two punch of Counterbalance and Sensei’s Divining Top locking
people out of the game as early as turn 2!
So what are the biggest winners of this banning as far as decks are
concerned?
Historically, Elves’ worst match up has been Miracles. Not only the
Counterbalance lock having a great impact on what Elves can resolve but the
threat of an instant-speed Wrath of God effect in Terminus has proven to be
too much to handle. With all of that now in the history books, it’s likely
Elves’ time to shine. If there’s one deck that I expect to see an increase
in play in light of the banning, it’s Elves!
Another deck that has long since been forgotten is a personal favorite of
mine.
Lands (15)
Spells (45)
What’s the worst thing that could happen when you’re trying to cast ten
spells that all cost either zero, one, or two mana? Having all of them shut
down by Counterbalance with the help of Sensei’s Divining Top. Without the
lock to stop Storm, what will? You can sure as can be bet that a couple
copies of Flusterstorm will not be enough against any competent Storm
player. The same can be said for Stifle, Spell Pierce, or even Force of
Will. Storm, in the hands of a capable pilot, can fight through almost any
amount of counter magic if given enough time. A quick clock and some
disruption is the only way you’ll be able to keep this deck down.
So we’ve been over the biggest winners from the banning of Sensei’s
Divining Top, what are some of the losers?
Many of the more “fair” looking decks such as Colorless Eldrazi and
Shardless Sultai often loved the Miracles match up because they just
approached the metagame from much different angles that Miracles was set up
to handle. Eldrazi decks sporting four copies of Cavern of Souls to power
out all their creatures certainly wasn’t good for Miracles, nor was the
ability for them to cast turn 1 Chalice of the Void locking out Sensei’s
Divining Top all together.
Abrupt Decay’s stock had been at an all time high since it answered
literally everything in the format short of Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Killing Leovold, Emissary of Trest and Counterbalance as well as any random
Tarmogoyf or the like that came your way made it worth splashing in most
decks along side Magic’s best creature ever printed, Deathrite Shaman.
While I don’t expect Abrupt Decay’s stock in the format to drop much, it’s
certainly lost it’s luster of being an all-star in the Miracles match up.
As for what to expect this weekend in Legacy, most of the format is
completely unexplored. Unlike Standard, when you ban a card that makes the
best deck for the past five years or so retire, you can expect the
floodgates to open entirely on what people decide to bring to the table,
not just another deck to take over and ruin the format in a more miserable
way. I’m excited to get to play along side Team Dapper again and am
thrilled to begin my exploration into Modern for the coming weeks after
this Open! Good luck and I’ll see you there!