You can’t win ’em all.
What you always can do is learn and grow stronger.
To prepare for Pro Tour Fate Reforged, I met up with The Pantheon a week and a half before the Pro Tour. We knew there’d be some adjustments needed with
our recent lineup, with Paul Rietzl and Matt Sperling starting a team with a greater focus on online preparation rather than coming as early, Sam Black
wanting to test with Madison locals (eventually merging with Rietzl and Sperling’s team), and Tom Martell going back to CFB following the success of his
draft team (with PV and Shahar).
On top of this, some of our key workhorses that usually pull more than their share of the weight of testing were unable to come early. Jamie Parke had just
started a new job, Gabriel Nassif was deep in an important poker tournament, and Jelger Wiegersma was just finishing an assignment in Asia, then got stuck
in a Chinese airport for a while. Finally, as if that wasn’t enough challenges, Kai Budde got extremely ill, being bedridden for almost the entire testing
process, which quickly spread to William Jensen.
However, despite all of this, the rest of our squad showed up in force. Tom Ross, in his first PT with The Pantheon, was extremely well prepared and was
the primary architect behind the Infect deck most of the team played. Josh Ravitz was back to the PT and really stepped up. Reid Duke and Andrew Cuneo
brought a ton to the table, as they always do, both in Constructed and in terms of process. Finally, Zvi and Finkel rearranged their schedules to be able
to make it earlier than usual in order to ensure we always had enough people for drafts and such.
The end result was a pretty solid result for our team, which has traditionally enjoyed more modest success in Modern PTs than Standard (and Block), with
Jelger Wiegersma in the top 8, Finkel missing on breaks, Andrew Cuneo in the top 25, and Josh Ravitz and William Jensen in the top 50.
Modern has more reward for long-time immersion in the format rather than highly focused intense preparation immediately before an event. It’s no surprise
that long-time hardcore Modern players like Jacob Wilson and Lee Shi Tian continue to enjoy incredible results in the format, while pros that only play
Modern once a year see a lower win percentage in Modern than any other format.
My own performance in Modern was disappointing to say the least. Modern has long been my weakest format, but this was the first Modern PT where I actually
thought I had an advantage on deck. I was actually more concerned about the Limited format, as my win percentage in testing was floating just barely over
33%.
While I played games with stock decks against other people’s brews, most of my own “exotic” games involved variations of Tasigur/cantrip decks, though I
did build a Faeries deck, a Dredgevine deck, and a control deck that I quickly dismissed.
My first build of Tasigur delve was based on Paul Rietzl’s and my world’s deck:
Creatures (14)
- 1 Snapcaster Mage
- 4 Delver of Secrets
- 3 Young Pyromancer
- 3 Monastery Swiftspear
- 3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Lands (18)
Spells (28)
This build had a lot of questionable cards obviously, but early in testing I like just getting experience with a wide variety of cards. Perhaps the most
surprising card is Rise//Fall, given how many of my Hall of Fame and Platinum opponents had to read it. I’ve always had a soft spot for the card and
wondered if there might be some value to it as a form of disruption that doubles as creature “removal.” I also like some of the interactions with
Snapcaster Mage.
The deck quickly showed promise, particularly the deck’s ability to consistently play Tasigur, the Golden Fang on turn 2, often with a Thoughtseize paving
the way. The discard was a bit schizophrenic with Monastery Swiftspear not meshing well with discard spells, as they led to me running out of cards and not
getting as much value out of it as we’d like.
The Swiftspears and loose cards like Izzet Charm and Rise//Fall were the first to go, and the fourth Tasigur quickly jumped in the deck along with a few
other experiments, including a single Mishra’s Bauble. Tasigur continued to overperform so much I finally pulled the trigger on the Angler experiment
people had been joking about all week.
Tom Ross and I stayed up discussing the card. Could it possibly be right to split 3-2 Tasigur and Angler? After all, Tasigur is a legend.
The next day, I shuffled up a version with two Anglers and then drew one…
It was immediately obvious that Gurmag Angler was actually incredible. In fact, almost immediately, it seemed that the Angler was actually better than
Tasigur. There had been concerns about playing seven or more delve creatures, but so far, I seemed to have very little trouble casting them. Amusingly, we
even got a little extra value out of the Angler’s ability to dodge Victim of Night!
Armed with this information, I tried building a two-color build, as Owen Turtenwald had suggested to reduce the damage we were doing to ourselves. We were
already testing sideboard games, and I had remarked that one of the Countersqualls in my sideboard could be a Stubborn Denial, with how many ferocity
enablers I had. Cuneo and Reid agreed, and the first time I drew one, I was able to protect a turn 2 Angler and everyone watching remarked there should be
more of that maindeck.
Owen had also been suggesting moving the sideboard Lilianas to the maindeck and cutting Delver of Secrets. Without red, the deck was a lot less aggressive
and less of a small-ball deck. Instead, it would bash in four and five damage increments. Cutting Delver of Secrets also made it easier to rationalize
maxing out on Mishra’s Baubles, which had surprisingly been overperforming.
Mishra’s Bauble’s information component is better than it might appear. On the play, game 1, it lets you know what you’re up against, so you can decide how
painful of plays to make with Gitaxian Probe and shocklands. It helps inform your discard decisions, your choice as to what to counter, even your decision
of whether or not to tap out for a fatty. Probe, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition mean you’ll often know their hand, and Bauble takes it a step further,
letting you also know what their hand will be next turn.
Mishra’s Bauble also gives you extra info for making decisions like whether or not to cast a Serum Visions looking for land. For instance, maybe you need
to Thoughtseize this turn, but if your top card is a land, you can Serum Visions first.
Mishra’s Bauble actually has a ton of play to it, aside from the information. You can point it at your deck to get a virtual scry 1 when you have a
fetchland, since you can fetch on your turn or theirs, which determines if you draw the card you saw. You can also use Thought Scour to reset the top of
your deck if you don’t like what you see (or if it just happens to be a Lingering Souls).
Likewise, you can use Thought Scour on your opponent when you look at their deck and see they are about to draw the stone nuts. You can also decide when to
Path to Exile based on the top card of their deck. Of course, they can decline to search their deck, but you can also just be bluffing and trick them into
not searching when their top card is just another land anyway.
Mishra’s Bauble can let you “hide” a card from Liliana, so that you end up with multiple cards, rather than being “locked” at one, as sometimes is the
case. Also, if you draw two Mishra’s Baubles, sometimes you want to wait to crack one or both of them. If you wait until your opponent’s turn, there are
less options in your hand for their discard spells to hit. You can also crack one on your opponent’s upkeep to see what they will draw this turn, then
crack the other on their end step to see what they will draw next turn, giving you more info than if you had just cracked both immediately.
It may look funny, but Mishra’s Bauble is actually very effective in this style of deck. Just make sure you remember your draw triggers!
At this point, the U/B build looked like this:
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (19)
Spells (28)
This build had promise, though the removal spells looked very mediocre. Murderous Cut was just a bit too much delve with the eight fatties. Dismember cost
more like than we really could afford. The others were just a bit underpowered for Modern. Liliana looked great though.
At this point, the deck started attracting some attention in the house. When things were firing, it was like playing Legacy. We scrambled to get lines on a
ton of Mishra’s Baubles, correctly anticipating that they would be hard to find onsite.
I get asked a lot if Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler are actually better than Tombstalker? The short answer is yes. Tasigur and Angler usually
only cost one mana in this deck, while a Tombstalker costs two. I would definitely not want to spend a black mana to give a creature flying, most of the
time, and it is particularly important here, as Tombstalker is actually much harder to cast on turn 2.
The deck is built to cast a fatty on turn 2 most games, often with disruption to protect it. To cast a turn 2 Tasigur, you only need five cards in your
graveyard (or four if you are willing to spend two mana for him). Each fetchland counts, each Mishra’s Bauble counts, each Gitaxian Probe counts, and the
first two one-mana spells you cast count (one on turn 1 and one on turn 2, unless you want to hold up Stubborn Denial). Thought Scour actually counts
triple and basically ensures the turn 2 fatty on its own.
You can play Tasigur on turn 2 with a Thought Scour + any one-cost spell and a fetchland or a zero. Two one-cost spells + three fetchland/zeros also works.
The Angler is a little trickier to get out turn 2, but it still happens very commonly. Thought Scour + any one-cost spell and two fetchland/zeros works, as
does two one-cost spells + four fetchland/zeros.
Tombstalker would not only require an extra zero, it also means you can’t search for Island (or Hallowed Fountain or Steam Vents). It also means you can’t
protect it with Stubborn Denial. It’s possible we just want a ninth, possibly even tenth delve creature, and Tombstalker is definitely the next best one
though, so I am definitely interested in trying some moving forward.
I also get asked if Tasigur is “just” a one-mana 4/5, or if we ever actually activate him? While he is mostly about the stats to cost ratio, the ability is
a valuable source of card advantage, particularly in grindy matchups like Abzan.
I decided to experiment with Esper a bit, as it was the last shell that seemed really appealing. We had discussed Sultai, but Tarmogoyf seemed like it
would shrink a lot and Abrupt Decay was really not the right kind of removal. Besides, the Sultai version seemed like it would struggle with Lingering
Souls, the same way the U/B build did. At least red had Electrolyze and white had Lingering Souls of its own.
White cards I tried and dismissed included:
● Monastery Mentor – Too slow. Additionally, Abrupt Decay is real weak against this strategy and playing the Mentor negates that advantage.
● Geist of Saint Traft – Again seemed too slow, besides this direction seemed a lot less good at clearing a path. Might have still been a good sideboard
card.
● Kor Firewalker – More of a sideboard card, but making the mana work reliably was too hard. You need to be heavy blue for the cantrips and can’t really be
looking for double in both of the other colors.
In the end, only Lingering Souls and Path to Exile proved appealing. Path was the creature removal spell we always wanted, while Lingering Souls was the
best answer to opposing Lingering Souls. It also gave us a way to fly over the top of ground stalls we create from our fatties. Besides, it’s just an
awesome card in the deck because of Thought Scour and Liliana. If we ever flip it to Thought Scour, it’s like we drew half of an extra card. Mishra’s
Bauble and Serum Visions greatly increase the chances that we’ll know one is coming and be able to time our Thought Scour to flip it. Discarding it to
Liliana is similarly awesome, since it still works in the graveyard and sometimes is just easier to cast, as white is our splash color.
We discussed the different builds, and I had to agree with Cuneo that the white sideboard cards would go a long way towards shoring up the deck’s
weaknesses, which were primarily Affinity, Zoo, and Burn. The last minute move towards a two-and-two split of Inquisition and Thoughtseize (rather than one
and three) was a result of Reid Duke’s suggestion that it might give us some needed percentage in those aggressive matchups.
A lot of people in the house were very interested in the Angler deck, but we just ran out of time. Some of the people interested came too late to work on
it much, while some of the others that were early were too ill to play games at all. Finkel was heavily considering it, but a heavy last day of testing
against its worst matchups convinced him that it was just not quite ready yet.
I thought our Infect deck was good, particularly given the move towards four Become Immense, but I didn’t love it. The Zoo matchup was real bad, and it
struggled with some combo decks that were good at fighting back, like Spinter Twin and Living End. I knew the Esper deck could have stood a little more
tuning, but I was confident in it and registered a Modern deck I was excited about for the first time ever.
Here’s the final list I played:
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (19)
Spells (30)
I had moved away from Snapcaster Mage, as it wasn’t the highest impact card and made opposing graveyard hate stronger. That said, it might have been a
mistake, as Snapcaster Mage + Path to Exile/Deathmark/Timely Reinforcements is really good. Besides, the two-for-one is actually an important part of
beating Abzan, and I think cutting it might have hurt me more than I realized against Abzan.
Kataki, War’s Wage is obviously for Affinity and needed, as they are faster than us, and Etched Champion and Cranial Plating are really hard for us to
beat. I tried Stony Silence, but it messes up our Engineered Explosives, which are actually very important in the matchup, and it doesn’t stop Etched
Champion or a creature that already has Plating equipped to it. In retrospect, I think it’s actually worth playing three. It’s just so incredibly high
impact in the spot we need help most.
When I faced Affinity in the actual tournament, I drew Kataki the turn before I was dead to an Etched Champion with a Plating. The thing is, if I had drawn
Kataki literally any turn prior to that, it would have been game-winning.
Timely Reinforcements is a similarly important card against Zoo and Burn. We do a lot of damage to ourselves, which makes burning us out easier than usual.
Casting Timely Reinforcements is often game-winning in either matchup, as it gives us just enough life and positioning to take over the game, perhaps with
an Angler backed up by a Stubborn Denial for their Path or whatever. Boarding out Gitaxian Probe is an important part of both these and the Affinity
matchup, as we can’t afford the life or the mana in many situations.
The plan against Zoo was a mix of Reinforcements, Explosives, and Deathmarks, but last minute I trimmed a Deathmark, making room for a Meddling Mage that
seemed sweet with all of our ways to look at people’s hands. In retrospect, I think we really do need a second Deathmark because of the Abzan matchup.
The Engineered Explosives are a much needed sweeper against Zoo, Affinity, and tokens but are also our “Disenchant” effect for Vedalken Shackles, Cranial
Plating, Pyromancer Ascension, Rest in Peace, Blood Moon, and more.
Fulminator Mage is probably the part of the sideboard I messed up the most. After all, every other card in the deck is hyper-efficient or part of the
engine. Throughout testing, Cuneo and Owen were dubious of the Fulminators, as they seemed weak in theory. In practice, they were good, but it may have
just been as a result of the specific builds people in the house were playing. I was also probably a bit more concerned with Tron, Amulet Bloom, and the
like than I should have been. Finally, I overestimated the Fulminator’s strength against Inkmoth Nexus, as it really is an inefficient way to count on not
dying to a Cranial Plating or Become Immense.
Fulminator Mage was added to the sideboard as an answer to big mana combo decks and Celestial Colonnades. The thing is, it isn’t a stone cold killer
against big mana combo, making it a weak use of sideboard space. As for the anti-control element, there’s no question it was awesome against Cuneo’s style
of Jeskai control deck I tested against a bunch, but in the tournament itself, I faced a U/W deck with Restoration Angels galore and the Fulminator Mage
was a lot less exciting.
Fulminator Mage was also attractive because of the strength of turn 2 fatty into turn 3 Fulminator Mage. The thing is, this is just not the highest impact
use of sideboard cards when we have access to stuff like Kataki and Timely Reinforcements. Yes, cutting the Fulminator Mages would hurt our Tron and Amulet
Bloom matchups, but that sideboard space could be better spent.
Cutting the three Fulminator Mages would give us that third Kataki, the second Deathmark, and room for one more anti-big mana combo deck card. Perhaps a
second Meddling Mage? There’s plenty of reasonable options to try.
I was really unsure about the Plains, but in retrospect, I’m a fan. The life saved from being able to fetch untapped white for one life, instead of three,
gives us enough extra reason to play it beyond just Blood Moon protection. Besides, it’s nice to have white mana that is immune to Tectonic Edge in some
matchups.
I considered playing it maindeck, but it’s just too bad because of how few spells in the deck it helps cast. Almost every single card in the deck costs one
or zero!
I never drew the Spellskite, but it would have been great against the Affinity deck I faced (Ravager and blocking Etched Champion). It also would have been
a superstar versus the G/b Infect deck I faced, stealing most of the pumps. It’s also a great anti-burn card and is totally reasonable against Zoo.
I was pretty happy with the maindeck, though I could imagine getting a Snapcaster Mage back in there. I could also see possibly swapping the fourth Path
and the third Lingering Souls in the sideboard. Meddling Mage maindeck isn’t something I tried, but Nassif suggested it the night before the PT, and it
might be sweet. I tried Vendilion Clique, but it was really not what we want. I could also see trying a Tombstalker or two, but I would be hesitant to cut
any of the good delve creatures. Maybe you could trim a Tasigur because of the legend rule, but I’m skeptical.
I almost played an Engineered Explosives maindeck, after some last minute reflection. I am still not sure if it would have been better, but I didn’t want
to risk it without having tested it at all and risk making the deck too reactive. It might be good though. We have so much dig, and it’s a lot easier to
find one-ofs than it would be normally.
To my surprise, I 3-0’ed the first draft with a fairly typical B/W aggro deck, splashing red for Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury and a couple other red cards. I
wasn’t able to sleep the night before but was running on adrenaline all morning.
Sadly, I fell apart. First, physical exhaustion, and then perhaps full-blown tilt. My first Modern match started out well, with me up 1-0 against a typical
Abzan deck, a matchup I had prepared for a great deal.
The second game, I mulliganed but was doing okay until a topdecked Lingering Souls tore me apart. Game 3 looked promising when I saw he had kept a one-land
hand after a mulligan, however, he went straight to four, then drew spells for nine or ten turns in a row, and I just couldn’t keep up.
It was disappointing to lose a good matchup, particularly when it seemed like things were going well, but I knew I was in trouble round five when I faced
Matt Sperling. He had tested with Paul Rietzl, and my guess was that he was on Affinity. Just about the only deck I thought he might play besides Affinity
was Burn, so I was in for a challenge either way.
Sure enough, he was on Affinity, although an exotic build with Dispatch and Tempered Steel. Game 1 I put up a reasonable fight, but it’s a tough matchup.
Game 2was looking good early on, but a Rest in Peace slowed me way down. I was still looking okay, but then started flooding out, while Matt drew threats
like Plating and Champion. As I mentioned above, the final insult was drawing Kataki one turn too late.
Obviously 3-2 is a pretty unexciting record when I had been 3-0 after Draft. I didn’t think I was tilting, but the next round my game just completely fell
apart. I faced a U/W Control deck and made an absurd number of total blunders.
I discarded a Stubborn Denial instead of an Inquisition of Kozilek to my Liliana when my opponent had four mana. This left me with an Angler and a discard
spell, but then I realized I had a Swamp and a Hallowed Fountain. Tectonic Edge had taken out my Watery Grave. This meant I couldn’t protect my Angler. The
thing that was so tilting was that it wasn’t even like Inquisition would have been better if I could have cast it. My brain just wasn’t working at all,
likely the lack of sleep catching up with me.
Throughout the rest of the match, I made at least three or four more blunders, costing me a match that should have been excellent for me. Afterwards, I was
extremely frustrated seeing my PT slipping away, and this time because of how horrible I was playing.
My next opponent was on G/B Infect, a matchup I had not tested, though I was extremely familiar with G/U Infect. Unfortunately, my awful play only
worsened. I forgot that Phyrexian Crusader is a card they play, so I sideboarded wrong. I then forgot it had protection from white. I then forgot that it
didn’t have double strike. I then forgot how first strike works with Infect. Turn after turn, blunders galore.
And like that, I was 3-4, eliminated from top 8 contention with my tournament barely begun.
It felt like I was a million miles away, watching some poor resolution video taken 40 years ago on TV, unable to affect reality in any way. I tried to
resolve to turn it around. Maybe I couldn’t top 8, but at least I could redeem my Modern performance.
My final opponent was another Abzan deck. My draws were disappointing, but I still would have been in a great position if not for a ludicrous
amount of blunders on my part. I Thoughtseized the wrong card. I discarded the wrong card to my opponent’s Liliana. I fetched the wrong land after playing
my lands in the wrong order. I even forgot a Mishra’s Bauble trigger.
Finally, I had been eliminated. From 3-0 to 3-5, after three rounds of the worst Magic I have played in years.
There’s a real reckoning that comes with going 0-5 in a Constructed event. Was the deck just bad? Maybe. I am far from convinced of that, however. It’s the
easiest thing in the world to make up excuses for losses, but in this case, I do think it took a pretty unlikely sequence to lose round four, round five
was a bad matchup, and rounds six through eight were unspeakably poorly played by the pilot. I would be shocked if this list couldn’t be improved upon with
better tuning, but honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if there wasn’t some version of this deck that belongs in the top tiers. Five rounds of PT play do not
negate 200 playtest games.
Without question it was a disappointing Pro Tour for me personally, but it was good to see Jelger top 8 and so many of our guys put up strong finishes. Our
team faced a lot of adversity this time around, and I am really proud of how well guys stepped up. There’s a lot to be learned from this time around, but
then the focus is on Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir.
Thanks for all the love and support this past weekend. Having that much positive energy beamed your way when things are going poorly goes a long way
towards making an event a wonderful experience despite so many struggles. It’s moving and I am bouncing back for next time.
Before I go, I am super pumped to announce that starting Friday, Next Level Deck Building will be available in paperback! It’s a subject very near and dear
to me, and there is no better way I know to level up one’s deckbuilding and deck-tuning ability. From PTQs to Commander, Next Level Deckbuilding covers
every aspect of making decks that do what you want them to do.
Alright, I’m out for this week, but if anyone has any suggestions on improving the Angler deck, they would be much appreciated…
You can’t win ’em all…
But you can learn from ’em all.