This past weekend I was at Pro Tour Dark Ascension. All I have to say is, “Hawaii, what a disaster!” I know you’re probably thinking, “Ali, shut up you were in Hawaii for the weekend. Blah blah blah.” Well let me enlighten you on what happened ladies and gents!
- Booked for the wrong island in Hawaii—I flew to Kona instead of Oahu. This is because I booked with Priceline and just typed in from Charlotte to Hawaii. You know how sometimes Priceline books you to an airport that’s close by just so it will cost less? Well Priceline did that and that other airport happened to be…on another island.
- Flew into Kona and just booked a flight from Kona to Honolulu. Next flight was tomorrow morning, twelve hours from when I landed. Couldn’t sleep in the airport since its outdoors, and they kick everyone out. So asked a lady for a shuttle to the nearest vacant hotel, and she charged me twenty-five dollars to get me a shuttle.
- Arrived at said hotel only to learn they were fully booked. Next four I checked were fully booked as well. I finally found a hotel that had one room left… It obviously costed $180 a night. Sucked it up, got said room, and asked for an early taxi to the airport.
- Finally got on the correct flight and arrived in Honolulu. Ride to condo didn’t get my texts since he was asleep. Called ride and they came pick me up. Ate at Duke’s, slept, and then brainstormed for what deck I should play. Decided to go with Four-Color Control over Heartless Summoning since most friends don’t think it’s that good.
- Pro Tour started! I lost a very close first match where I just flooded out and didn’t do anything. I lost another game where my opponent top decked a Runechanter’s Pike. When I thought my luck was changing because I drew a Day of Judgment off Desperate Ravings against my Humans opponent, I ended up having to discard it to said Ravings. That same turn I flashbacked Ravings and drew another Day of Judgment only to pitch it again—this is with eight cards in hand. After the match my opponent asked, “Why did you Desperate Ravings when you had Day of Judgment in your hand?” I told myself I didn’t want to go to jail and just signed the slip. After losing my fourth match in a row I drop since I’m sitting at 0-4.
- Later that day I heard a Heartless Summoning deck went undefeated day one.
- Planned to go out that night with Phillip Lorren, Brad Sheppard, and Todd Anderson for some karaoke. Never got a text or a call that night. Didn’t do anything.
- Durdled for two days.
- Last day I realized I’m flying from Honolulu to Kona at 8 AM. My flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles is at 10:30 PM. I’ve given myself a fourteen-hour layover. I tried to find the nearest bridge.
That’s why my trip to Hawaii wasn’t all too grand. I felt like I pretty much just wasted a lot of money to go to the beach and snorkel. I know you aren’t reading this to hear me mope and whine, but I had to vent somewhere and I think it’s pretty funny. So please, feel free to laugh at my misfortunes. I know I would.
I haven’t been home long so I haven’t gotten a chance to test anything new, but I have been brewing up a deck in my head. I wanted to combine the draw engine/graveyard engine of Four-Color Control with Heartless Summoning and Unburial Rites. This is so that if you don’t draw the Heartless you can still reanimate a fatty. I just can’t get enough of the fatties, and Standard right now doesn’t have many fatties. It’s all puny creatures. Here is what my list currently looks like:
Creatures (15)
- 3 Solemn Simulacrum
- 1 Perilous Myr
- 4 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
- 2 Phantasmal Image
- 2 Rune-Scarred Demon
- 2 Havengul Lich
Lands (20)
Spells (25)
- 2 Plains
- 1 Mountain
- 3 Island
- 2 Day of Judgment
- 3 Whipflare
- 4 Heartless Summoning
- 4 Unburial Rites
- 2 Desperate Ravings
- 4 Faithless Looting
Sideboard
Again, I haven’t gotten to tune this list or test it, but this is a good starting point. I’ll refine it as the week progresses and most likely play it at the StarCityGames.com Open in Charlotte this weekend. I think the worst part about this deck is the mana base. I’m sure I’ll have to rework it in some way along with the sideboard.
My main goal game 1 is to just get an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to stick either through Heartless Summoning or Unburial Rites since over half the decks in this format just fold to her. We still have the Rune-Scarred Demon that can chain into other Demons ending with either Havengul Lich, Unburial Rites, another Rune-Scarred Demon in case of a wrath effect, Elesh Norn, or Perilous Myr if we already have the Lich and Heartless Summoning. This will turn our lands into glorified Koth emblems. That’s probably the closest I’ll get to playing that card.
Havengul Lich I believe is only good if you’re running Heartless Summoning. Otherwise you’re probably better off doing other things in this metagame. I never want to pay full price for a creature, especially right now when Vapor Snag and Mana Leak run pretty rampant. The Lich in this deck not only refuels us, but he can also cast pretty much anything in your opponent’s graveyard as long as it’s not green. If it is you’ll most likely need a Shimmering Grotto or two. Everything else is fair game. Grab that Relic Warder in their graveyard so you can get their Oblivion Ring. Maybe you want to get a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Geist of Saint Traft, or Elesh Norn to legend-rule theirs? I like having options, and Havengul Lich gives you plenty of options. The Queen is still always the best piece on a chessboard, is it not?
I wanted to morph into a Sun Titan deck against other decks that use the graveyard—especially if they planned to reanimate things from their graveyard. I have the lone Forest in the board in case I ever bring the two Ancient Grudge. I felt like if I have three in my deck I’d want a Tutorable Forest instead of hoping I draw the Grotto. The only time I’ll have three Grudges main deck will be against Tempered Steel.
I’d like to talk about one more deck. Ryan Bogner, a friend of mine that I stayed with in Hawaii for the Pro Tour, decided to play a U/B Zombie deck last minute and did surprisingly well with it. Here’s his list:
Creatures (20)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
I questioned Ryan about this deck, and here is what he had to say:
1. Why did you play this deck and were you happy with your choice?
I played it because it was the deck I was second most comfortable with and I audibled to it after realizing the metagame was in full-swing hate white weenie mode. Sword of War and Peace sold out the day before the tournament. I was happy with the deck; it performed well enough to let me showcase my draft skills and top 50 my first Pro Tour.
2. What are some interesting plays that came up during your tournament or plays that we might not see right away picking up this deck?
There are quite a few interactions with Mortarpod. Gravecrawler, any Zombie, and Mortarpod is repeatable damage for three mana. Phantasmal Image on a Geralf’s Messenger feels like cheating. Messenger with Mortarpod is also very good. I had a game where my Phantasmal Image got to copy a Sun Titan that brought back my Messenger. That was pretty sweet!
3. What are your favorable matches?
I would have to say Delver, Wolf Run, Humans, and Spirits are all favorable matches. I never really struggled with them.
4. What are your unfavorable matches?
Any Reanimator is very bad, green decks are favorable pre-board but get worse post-board. I would need more Spellbombs to deal with Reanimator decks.
5. What would you change if anything?
I would change a few things main deck and many more from the board. Main deck I would cut one Mortarpod, Phantasmal Image, Black Sun Zenith, and a Phyrexian Obliterator in favor of four Diregraf Captains. He has been solid in testing.
As for the sideboard I would change it to this:
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Phantasmal Image
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 Mental Misstep
2 Black Sun’s Zenith
2 Skinrender
6. Would you recommend this deck for the SCG Open in Charlotte?
I think it’s a fine option for Charlotte depending on what the metagame is. If you’re picking up a deck without much experience, I would recommend this or Wolf Run. I really like the Spirits list if you have some experience with Delver decks in Standard. If I were going, I would play this again in a heartbeat. It worked really well for me.
7. How do you sideboard with this deck? Could you tell us how you’d sideboard vs. Humans, Delver, and the remerging Wolf Run?
Sure, this is how I sideboarded throughout the day:
Humans:
+2 Mental Misstep, Black Sun’s Zenith, Sword of War and Peace
– 2 Geth’s Verdict, -4 Diregraf Captain
Delver:
 +2 Mental Misstep, + 2 Skinrender
-1 Liliana of the Veil -3 Phyrexian Obliterator
 Wolf Run:
-2 Mental Misstep, -2 Phantasmal Image
+2 Skinrender +2 Sword of Feast and Famine
Thanks Ryan, and congrats on your finish and sweet deck!
If you’re in the mood for some brains, pick up this deck and give it spin. You get to play with Phyrexian Obliterator for crying out loud. What more could you want?
Not only did Ryan Bogner perform exceptionally well at his first Pro Tour, he also got to propose to his now fiancée, Michelle Houser. I just want to give a huge congratulation to the both of you! I hope you both live a long and happy life!
Here’s to hoping Delver dies along with all these other aggressive strategies and I no longer run bad!
Again, thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll see some of you guys in Charlotte this weekend! If not, maybe Baltimore?
Ali, the Last Visitor