I can guarantee that I’ll be the lowest rated person at Worlds. If it weren’t for an ill-fated PTQ excursion, I’d be signing up for my DCI number in Chiba.
I guess I should introduce myself. I’m a long-time MODO player who used to focus primarily on the “fake formats”: Prismatic, Singleton, Classic, Tribal, etc. Mostly it didn’t make sense under the old event payouts to grind a 70-player Standard 2x Premier Event when there was a perfectly good Constructed event with 24 players and the same prize structure. A nice bonus was that you could play the same deck in and out, whereas Standard requires a lot of planning for a shifting metagame.
Long story short, as part of the Magic Online Championship Series this year, one slot was offered through an end-of-season Invitational, which included the Top 50 players total and Top 16 finishers for each format, including Classic, where I’d focused a lot of my time earlier in the year. So basically I was in an 80-player PTQ where the winner also got entry into the Magic Online Championships with a separate $100,000 prize pool. (Also, as an aside, the last MODO PTQ maxed out at 512, but the Magic Online Championship Open Qualifier, which also is a PTQ for Worlds, got little more than 360, even though it also pays significantly more cash. Go figure.)
After banging my head for a week grinding Mono-Red (weak to U/B and Kor Firewalker, i.e. 70% of the metagame) and Valakut Ramp (heavily draw dependent, though it did mulligan well), Gerry Thompson (via Dan Skinner) shipped me the following list ninety minutes before the event, and I scrambled to build to put it together:
Creatures (9)
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (22)
Sideboard
[
Same list, but with Scalding Tarn instead of Misty Rainforest. –LL
]
Given the time span, however, forgive me if my sideboarding is awful. I did at least feel somewhat comfortable with the gameplay, since the deck was similar to two of my favorite decks, both from Ravnica-era Extended: U/B Tog and Gifts Rock. While the Tog comparison is somewhat inevitable given the archetype, Gifts is probably the closer comparison. The focus is on using efficient spells to stay alive until you can land outsized effects requiring more mana or cards for an opponent to answer.
And with that, we were off:
Round 1: _Batutinha_ (U/R Force)
Game 1: He leads off with Mountain, Mountain, Everflowing Chalice, and I wonder if this is the Big Red deck people have been talking about. He ends up giving up the jig when an Island comes down, but he doesn’t do anything except play a couple more Chalices. His do-nothing hand becomes apparent when he double-Pyroclasms some Zombie tokens and Sea Gate Oracles, by which time I’m way ahead.
In: 2 Dispel
Out: 2 Doom Blade
Overall, I’m not too big a fan of bringing in Memoricide in matchups like this, which both of my U/B opponents did against me. He has multiple threats that I care about (Jace, Koth, some combination of Titans), and it’s only ever good if you get lucky to get the one in hand, though even then, you might still be screwed if they have one of each. Cranial Extraction was best used to remove a valuable cog in an opponent’s deck to disrupt their fundamental game plan, and these decks all have interchangeable threats.
Game 2 he lands a big Jace turn 3 on the play, which trumps my turn 3 Persecutor. Jace makes this Standard format somewhat awkward because if he comes down early, either by Fatesealing or Unsummoning, you can make certain he survives until the next turn, and then you’re basically casting two spells a turn, giving you a significant amount of tempo and card advantage for four mana.
Game 3 ends the match ends anticlimactically with his mulligan to four cards.
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2: Avantasian (Kuldotha Red)
Game 1: I keep a fine hand of Island, Swamp, Darkslick Shores, Chalice, Doom Blade, Abyssal Persecutor. His turn 1 Goblin Guide is a little annoying, but his turn 2 and 3 plays consist only of cycling a Panic Spellbomb and Bolting my Sea Gate Oracle.
I land a Persecutor and give him a window to Mark of Mutiny me out, but he doesn’t get there. He scoops with me on five life with an active Jace and the Persecutor, although he’s drawing pretty live if he kills my Jace and races by finding enough burn before I find an out to Persecutor. I don’t know what the three cards in his hand are, so maybe he’s drawing dead, but the whole ignoring Persecutor’s drawback will be a common theme in this tournament.
In: 3 Consume the Meek, 4 Disfigure, 2 Flashfreeze
Out: 3 Mimic Vat, 2 Everflowing Chalice, 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Game 2 is also somewhat anticlimactic as his good start of turn 1 Goblin Guide, turn 2 Memnite, Mox Opal, Adventuring Gear, Spikeshot Elder stalls out without a second land. He again spends some time cycling a Spellbomb, by which time I’ve hit the sweet spot in my deck. He scoops again somewhat prematurely when I Consume the Meek his Guide and Kuldotha Rebirth tokens with a Persecutor on board on ten life against his four cards in hand. I can’t say I wasn’t glad however.
2-0 (4-1)
Round 3: Malteko (R/U/G)
Game 1, he gets the deck’s nut-draw of turn 1 Preordain, turns 2 and 3 Lotus Cobra into fetchland into Oracle of Mul Daya. Jace lands turn 4, and he starts burying me in mana and card advantage. I’m prepared to scoop, since he’s got the game locked up, except he’s been playing around Mimic Vat by doing irrelevant stuff like triple pumping a Raging Ravine. By the time he plays a Frost Titan, I end up drawing a perfect out in Doom Blade. By perfect out, I don’t actually mean I survived, but I did get to eat an additional five minutes off of his clock, and he chalks his win in with twelve minutes left (to my nineteen).
Another theme in this tournament is clock management, which seems sketchy enough that I should discuss it briefly. Being a denizen of MODO, the quaint convention of the paper Magic tournament scene is slow-playing into “unintentional” draws and injustice: undeserved wins or draws when someone abuses the tournament clock into free points, or the faster player deserving a scoop when a draw would knock both people out. The flip side of this is the MODO chess clock, while completely impractical for real-life play, it gives each person his or her allotted time and hands out losses without emotion. While it has some of its own problems, I feel it’s perfectly reasonable to make someone play out a winning board state provided you’re playing fairly (e.g., not creating unnecessary triggers, irrelevant but for the clock), and especially so since there are myriad reasons for not scooping early absent the clock, even if you’re presumably drawing dead.
Sideboarding: Don’t remember exactly what, but I realize a little too late that I should be bringing in Disfigure. I can’t really fight an early Cobra or Oracle of Mul Daya, and the beatdown goes better if I gum up his engine for one mana.
Moving on, in game 2, I keep a hand with Chalice and Persecutor and miss my second black mana; although his deck sputters along as well. He gets screwed on blue, which lets me sneak a Jace into play, finding me Persecutor mana. He scoops with nine minutes on his clock, meaning that avenue is probably off the table.
Game 3 I keep a reasonable hand with two Chalices and a Mana Leak, although with not much gas. A Cobra hits turn 2, although I’m more than relieved when he just swings with it. The damage adds up, however, so an added Goblin Ruinblaster creates serious pressure. His Frost Titan seals it when I try to staunch the bleeding.
2-1 (5-3)
Round 4: Karakusk (Relic White Weenie)
I keep a passable hand that contains a Doom Blade and a Titan. While the attacking-with-weenies plan is a viable avenue of attack, his deck’s clear paths to victory lie in equipment: Argentum Armor and, to a lesser extent, Sword of Body and Mind. This makes Doom Blade significantly more important since it’s one of my few maindeck outs to a completed Quest for the Holy Relic
By the time I start putting my plays together, he lands a Sword, which is actually a significant problem, since it bypasses a lot of my defenses, and he’ll never run out of bodies. I try to prevent his fliers from punching through by keeping my Persecutor on defense. I find a Grave Titan before he finds Armor and the mana to equip it.
In: 4 Disfigure, 3 Consume the Meek
Out: 2 Sea Gate Oracle, 1 Consuming Vapors, 2 Mimic Vat, 2 Everflowing Chalice
I leave in some Sea Gate Oracles and a Vat, because if I cheat too much, I could lose to a random Memnite, Squadron Hawk draw.
Game 2 has a sweet hand of lands, Disfigure, Doom Blade, and Sea Gate Oracle that becomes awesome when I draw a Consume the Meek. His turn 1 Quest for the Holy Relic means the game again revolves around not getting wrecked by Argentum Armor. Doom Blades hold him off while I chip away, again holding Persecutor back. He scoops against a pretty daunting board; although with my Persecutor on the board, I’m again not sure how bad his chances actually were given I didn’t have an on-board answer to remove it.
3-1 (7-3)
Round 5 _NovA_ (U/B Control, with Ratchet Bomb)
I’m pretty sure this is a good matchup since his maindeck Doom Blades and Ratchet Bombs are hard to get value out of, and my Mimic Vat should give me an edge. I discover it’s actually a lot more difficult to handle Duress and little Jace. I realized later in the tournament that I probably should be playing the beatdown, and this game might’ve played out differently if I hadn’t slowed down my board development to hold up permission. I have better threats, and those two cards give him a better endgame.
This game also ends with me in horrible position but playing out the board, since he also is playing significantly slower than I am. A strange byproduct is that I actually do end up stabilizing with an empty board and a Jace in play, albeit with him on 35 life (thanks to a Wurmcoil Engine) and me at one. The draws catch up to me, however, and I lose the game for a second time.
In: 2 Dispel, 1 Tectonic Edge
Out: 2 Sea Gate Oracle, 1 Doom Blade
In game 2, I’m in control pretty early off the back of a Persecutor. He Memoricides my Into the Roils, then my Jaces, and I’m lucky to draw my last out (Consuming Vapors). Again, I hate Memoricide like this; though it did almost steal the game for him.
In game 3, he takes quick control with an active Liliana Vess and a Frost Titan, and by hampering my mana with Edges, though I give away at least two turns by mismanaging my Sea Gate Oracles. Liliana is on a fresh eight counters, and Frost Titan taps down my Persecutor, swinging into my two Oracles with me on twelve. I take the hit, but then realize that I’ll have to leave both of them back the next turn and can’t keep his Liliana from going off the turn after.
3-2 (8-5)
Round 6 Jaberwocki (Mono-Green Eldrazi with Terastodon)
I’m feeling pretty good game 1 when my opponent mulls to five; though he quickly makes up for it with a pair of Cultivates. I play a Persecutor and then face the decision of what to follow it up with. With four mana available, my hand is two lands, a Jace, and a Mimic Vat. He has five Forests after Edging one of my lands. After his mull to five, it’s possible that he has no gas in hand, so playing Jace and Fatesealing him could hold him off while I swing with Persecutor. On the other hand, I don’t have much gas either, so I decide to start digging, finding a Sea Gate Oracle and Doom Blade.
He untaps and plays Eldrazi Temple into All Is Dust, bringing him instantly back into the game. My new hope is that he plays something I can Doom Blade onto Vat, and he obliges by playing a Primeval, dying to two hasty tokens next combat. Again, my opponent finishes game 1 with significantly less time than I do (thirteen minutes to my twenty-one).
In: 3 Memoricide, 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Consume the Meek (for mana dudes), 2 Dispel (for Summoning Trap), 1 Tectonic Edge
Out: 2 Doom Blade, 3 Mimic Vat, 4 Sea Gate Oracle, 1 Consuming Vapors
Game 2 is going swimmingly when he misses a land drop after a turn 1 Joraga Treespeaker. Unfortunately he hits on turn 3, and his deck starts chugging along with a turn 6 Primeval that I counter into a Summoning Trap that I cannot. Again, I make him play it out, and he ends the game with three minutes remaining (to my sixteen).
Game 3: I keep a good six-card hand of two Preordains, a Mana Leak, and lands. Preordain finds me another Mana Leak, and I’m able to run him out of gas with the help of two Memoricides (getting Primeval Titan and the Kozilek I stranded in his hand). We’re both playing off the top of our decks, and I find a Persecutor and a Grave Titan, while he finds a Terastodon at fourteen life. He runs out of time while choosing targets, though I had the game buttoned up I think. It’s a little hard to feel bad when there’s a double-digit time differential, plus we chatted a bit after the match, and he was a good sport about it. Also, unlike the other matches, Eldrazi has no real way of fighting through a Persecutor, since they have no evasion that isn’t also bundled with annihilator.
When the results are tabulated, I’m sitting in twelfth with the third best breakers on twelve points, which means that I’m unexpectedly still in contention despite getting my second loss early…
4-2 (10-6)
Round 7: The.Sensei (U/B with Elixirs)
Again, I feel pretty good about my game 1 chances given how well this deck avoids Doom Blade. I make a pretty serious punt when I keep five lands, Jace, and a Grave Titan on the draw, even though one of my lands is a Creeping Tar Pit (basically a spell in the mirror) and feel pretty awful when his first play is a turn 2 Chalice, and my first two draws are lands. He inexplicably has no follow-up plays and actually just taps out to attack with a Tar Pit two turns running. I play my Jace and Fateseal him, giving him one of his dead Doom Blades. He untaps and plays a small Jace (obviously not topdecked), which makes it doubly inexplicable that he’d rather choose to tap out to Bolt me than cast a legitimate threat. Even if I could’ve swung
with my Tar Pit into his Jace to negate the -1 ability, Mikokoro is still a pretty sweet card (See also
Gerry’s post here
for more). My deck ends up coughing up enough gas to win however.
Game 2 he stalls out on three lands which puts my two-Tectonic Edge draw in great position. By the time he finds his fourth land for a big Jace, I have enough mana to Into the Roil it end of turn, Edge one of his lands, and untap into Grave Titan. He has a couple of Jaces to keep my Titan in my hand, although he starts getting buried by Zombies. His second Jace is played when he has UUBBB available, and I know I’m in the zone when I unthinkingly send two Zombies at his Jace. Even though I mentally write off the possibility of his having Disfigure as I’m declaring attackers, the only way out of this game is having Jace draw him into multiple topdecks. Of course, he tanks for a couple seconds and then Disfigures one of the Zombies heading towards his Jace.
I’m legitimately surprised to see it, given that I haven’t even thought about bringing it in in the mirror. In retrospect, it makes some sense given how important Creeping Tar Pit can be. I’m not sure I actually like it, considering how specific that situation is however; maybe it’s better than a Doom Blade.
5-2 (12-6)
My breakers hold, and I’m in the Top 8. I’m pretty stoked, since things were looking pretty grim after round 5.
Quarterfinals: _NovA_ (U/B rematch)
I come to this matchup finally realizing I should stop trying to play the long game and just worry about landing a big threat, even if it means taking some chances.
Both games come down to his racing a Tar Pit against my finding an answer to my own Persecutor; although game 2 has the funny situation of using a Mimic Vat-ed Tar Pit for value. I eventually win both races, but it’s certainly an illustration as to how Persecutor endgames ought to play out.
As a brief aside, I have to say how awesome Preordain is. I kept a great hand with Preordain game 2, and I immediately felt good about my chances as soon as he played two of his on the first two turns. Like Brainstorm in Eternal formats, playing it turn 1 is almost never correct unless you’re searching for something in particular (almost always land). Preordain works best in the mid- and late-games where there’s a much deeper chasm between cards you want to draw versus cards you don’t.
6-2 (14-6)
Semifinals: Avantasian (Kuldotha Red)
Game 1 I keep a hand with two Mana Leaks, a Sea Gate Oracle, and Jace and feel like I have this game won after his first-turn play of Adventuring Gear. His second turn is more impressive when he plays Memnite, Mox Opal, and Goblin Bushwhacker (which I counter). After stabilizing, I choose to sit on Jace and Fateseal, holding off playing a Persecutor because I’m afraid of some combination of Rebirths and Mark and Bushwhackers that could sink me. Instead he sneaks a Spikeshot Elder, and I die shortly thereafter.
This is pretty heartbreaking in that even though the line I took (shutting down the board and trying to win decisively) leads to the win most of the time, the deck doesn’t have enough answers to shut down every potential draw. I played with a fundamental misunderstanding of what the deck did (and despite my earlier epiphany), and it led directly to a loss in one of the most important matches of the day.
Game 2 has me controlling the board, and a Preordain finds me both a Persecutor and the Vapors to kill it. He scoops at one life with my Titan on the board with me on twelve, similar to the first time we played.
Game 3 I keep what seems like an okay hand with two Preordains, Mana Leak, and Consume the Meek. The trouble is my three lands are Darkslick Shores and two Tar Pits, meaning that it’d be easy for me to fall behind. My plan at this point is to play a Tar Pit to hold up turn 2 Mana Leak, using the Preordains to fill any needs thereafter. My fears are confirmed when he plays a turn 1 Goblin Guide, which makes me think for an instant that I should play the Shores first and Preordain for Disfigure. This line quickly becomes moot when Guide gives me a Drowned Catacomb, and my draw step gives me an Island, and I can make both turns 1 and 2 plays.
I use my spells to clean up his follow-up plays while Guide hits me about the face and shoulders. I stabilize at ten life, Persecutor on the board, and Mana Leak in hand to his three lands and four cards. I let him Bolt me twice at end of turn, and my read is correct when I get to Mana Leak his potentially lethal Mark of Mutiny. Sea Gate Oracle finds me a Flashfreeze, which means that with me at four life, he needs to find three relevant spells before I find one of my four remaining outs (two Into the Roils, two Consuming Vapors). I’m happy of course that I’m not dead, but it’s not the greatest of odds, considering that he has a lot more relevant spells than I do relevant counters. Of course, none of this matters because he scoops as soon as he hits six life. This is the biggest gift I receive all tournament and goes to show that no matter how hard you can try to punt a match, someone else can always punt harder.
9-2 (16-7)
Finals: Yunhao_Wu_CHN (Valakut Ramp)
Now it’s the finals vs. Yunhao_Wu_CHN, who’s playing a pretty standard build of Valakut Ramp with Khalni Heart Expeditions and Harrows. I recognize the name from when I was scouring decklists on MTGO and immediately hop onto the Mothership to find his most recent decklist, significantly more helpful than scouting replays and dealing with the dreaded, unhandled exception bug.
Game 1 I mulligan a playable hand of two Tar Pits, Drowned Catacomb, Island, Chalice, Doom Blade, and Sea Gate Oracle on the draw. If you’ve been paying attention, you’d notice that this is significantly better than some of my keeps earlier in the tournament, but I finally wise up that there’s nothing much going on here. His build isn’t so creature dependent, so my first relevant play will be whatever (if anything) my Oracle finds, which I can only play a turn after he’s looking to drop a large dude. I land on five with Catacombs, Swamp, Edge, Blade, and Jace, which is as good a five as you can ask for. I draw a Mana Leak, which makes me think that I can actually do this. I kill a Primeval Titan and am thinking I’m back in the game with a Persecutor and Jace, except a second Titan kills me immediately.
Game 2 unfortunately disappeared from MODO as I was typing this up, and it was pretty much the only real game we played.
In game 3, I keep a reasonable hand, but when he passes after playing a second Mountain, I realize this might actually happen. Ramp does have enough big spells that they can come back from the brink (see: round 6), so I wasn’t going to chalk a win until I won. By the time, he’s able to start casting spells, he has to use his resources for board control, while I’ve Memoricided most of his threats from his deck, grinding out a win.
And with that, I’m the Magic Online Championship Series Player of the Year! While I don’t presume to think this was as big an accomplishment as winning the overall QP race or any of the 400-player qualifiers, it does come with a snazzy title. This also means that my fifth sanctioned match will be at Worlds, which is kind of awesome.
As far as the deck goes, it’s amazingly sweet. I think it probably gets worse as more people move towards Abyssal Persecutor from Frost Titan, dampening our Doom Blade advantage, but it’s still a great choice, and there are no decks you really hate playing against. Again, the important thing is to play it as a midrange deck that needs to go for the throat on both a stable board or in a race, and Persecutor is the man for the job.