The short version of Pro Tour Fate Reforged. Lots of Abzan and Burn. I played Jeskai. I didn’t do well. Going 2-5 sucks. Booooo. Losing
isn’t as good as winning. Thanks for reading! Aaaaand scene.
Hmmm, what’s that? I can’t just gloss over the events I don’t win? Okay, fine. There’s still a story to tell.
The Long Version
Scrubbing out sucks, go figure, but it happens!
It feels like every other tournament I’m talking about mindset stuff and how to deal with losing. Well, that’s because it’s important and I lose a lot,
dammit! Admittedly it would be much more efficient to just win them all, but for whatever reason, that still isn’t happening.
You’re gonna lose sometimes and you might as well get used to it. Embrace it and even learn to enjoy it. You are living, breathing, and playing Magic.
Appreciate it! You get to choose how you react to your circumstances. Choose to feel good about them, because why would you choose to feel bad, especially
over a card game?
Okay, okay, now that we’re all feeling good about losing, let’s get to the good stuff.
I played Jeskai.
Obviously.
My preference for Jeskai is well-known. Turns out winning a Pro Tour with a deck makes you become pretty attached to it. My opponents knew what I was on as
soon as I sat down across from them with about as much certainty as though it were tattooed on my forehead.
That’s why it’s so nice to subvert what everyone expects of you. A special sideboard plan. A surprising card. A trick. Something unexpected. I had a few
tricks up my sleeve, but we’ll get to that later.
After the bannings in Modern, I expected Jeskai to be one of the best decks. The first, and really, only problem I ran into in testing was the brick wall
that was Abzan. Turns out it was a pretty big issue. My deckbuilding was all over the place trying to beat Abzan, as long as it involved blue, white, and
red cards. I was building everything I could think of and none of it was especially great at handling all that Junk inside that trunk. It was incredibly
hard to out-midrange them. The saving grace that their removal would be dead against a Jeskai Control deck is mitigated by one Liliana of the Veil that
strips both of your hands to oblivion. Doesn’t matter what cards you have when they’re in the graveyard, unless they’re the cards that do things from the
graveyard…
I couldn’t beat Abzan very well, but I also wasn’t losing to it too much. I was picky, I wanted to crush it. It gets discouraging when that doesn’t happen.
Here are some lists I came up with that had varying degrees of success. I didn’t end up playing these, but perhaps they can spark some imaginations or be
improved upon.
Creatures (12)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
This deck really appealed to me on paper and was one of the first places I started. The combo of Wall of Omens and Restoration Angel seemed good for the
accepted Abzan-filled world. Unfortunately, it consistently underperformed for me. Liliana of the Veil was too hard to deal with, and Supreme Verdict was
too easy to play around or just didn’t do enough. The deck played a bunch of cards I like and was consistent but just didn’t have enough juice to be
reasonable against Abzan and the rest of the field.
Oust was interesting, since it essentially bought you more time to get ahead. It’s a solid removal spell and can be better than Lightning Bolt against
bigger threats like Tarmogoyf or Siege Rhino. I’m still not sure exactly why this deck didn’t work, but it was probably because of the overall low power
level of the cards (Think Twice) and the sheer number of threats that could be tossed at it. There’s a reason you don’t see many control decks in Modern.
Creatures (6)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (30)
I figured if Abzan was what I wanted to beat, then Blood Moon would be a good way to do it. This was an attempt to update Blue Moon, which seemed like it
would enjoy the addition of Keranos, God of Storms. I figured I didn’t want to be on straight Twin in a world of Abrupt Decay. Blood Moon also dies to
Decay, except it would often make Abrupt Decay uncastable if it resolved when the opponent was tapped out. The bigger issue with Blood Moon maindeck is
that it does approximately nothing against half the field. When you take a step back and look at the deck in terms of beating Abzan, if you didn’t cheese a
win with Blood Moon, you probably weren’t winning.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (25)
Spells (20)
Pure control wasn’t doing it, so I ramped up the aggression a little. It seemed like a proactive strategy was necessary, and maybe Kiki-Jiki held the
answer I was looking for. The combo exposed the deck to Path to Exile harder and still wasn’t out-valuing Abzan or stealing wins often enough. Abzan was
just capable of grinding through everything I threw at it without a care in the world. Perhaps I was too picky, but hovering around 50% against what I
expected to be the most popular deck when I was throwing everything I could think of at it, before even taking into account the rest of the format, just
wasn’t gonna cut the mustard.
I also tried some other stranger decks including Pyromancer Ascension Control for value, Kiki Control with maindeck Blood Moon, and a Jeskai Burn deck with
Eidolon of the Great Revel and Geist of Saint Traft. My focused Burn version was actually quite good against Abzan but looked really messy.
So I had a few options:
– Abandon Jeskai and turn to Abzan late in testing. This wasn’t appealing since I had so much experience with Jeskai decks and so little with Abzan. I
figured that would be too valuable to abandon.
– Play Burn or G/R Tron or something else that didn’t require major practice to master to beat Abzan. G/R Tron just always gave me the worst hands, and
playing Burn was not something I was interested in.
– Ramp up the aggression and burn in Jeskai with Geist of Saint Traft.
– Just play whatever deck gave me the best feelings and assume that I would win with it just cuz (probably U/W Control.) Any added downside to playing a
super grindy control deck would be time considerations. Pro Tour rounds are only 50 minutes now. I would be risking picking up draws now more than ever.
Geist of Saint Traft actually seemed like it would be good against most of the field and could help against Abzan. I finally zoned in on the list that I
played to the Pro Tour.
Creatures (8)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (25)
I wish this deck was a success story, since I feel it is fairly well-positioned and I enjoy playing it. It is capable of being aggressive while still
having all the controlly cards. I feel like the tournament could’ve ended up breaking well for me, but it just wasn’t meant to be (translation: I didn’t
play well enough).
I think I would’ve just played Abzan if I had more time to learn the format. The bans were announced very close to the event, especially for Modern, so I
stuck with what I knew.
Tournament Recap
The tournament itself was pretty uneventful. It basically felt like I was gradually falling down some stairs and wasn’t quite capable of slowing myself
before I hit rock bottom. I started out my draft by taking Pyrotechnics and ended up with a solid U/R Aggro deck with plenty of card draw, and removal, and
random beaters. I went 1-2 with it and it felt like I could’ve won the matches I lost if I just would’ve played a little tighter. It also felt like my
opponents always had it, and I wasn’t doing a good enough job of playing around it.
Naturally I can’t help but think of the Butterfly Effect whenever I lose a match. If only I had made one play differently, it could have changed my entire
tournament, leading me down the path to victory rather than doom and gloom.
Constructed wasn’t kind to me either when I got paired against Scapeshift and was thoroughly trounced. Then I faced Burn, which seemed great for me, but in
game 3 a Molten Rain combined with not drawing any lands landed me in the 1-4 elimination bracket. I beat Storm next when in game 3, I mulliganed to six
and kept one land (Tectonic Edge) with Ethersworn Cannonist on the play and immediately got there for the win. Finally I was put out of misery by Abzan
where a topdecked Siege Rhino finished me off in game 3. A sight I’m already very familiar with thanks to Standard.
It’s hard to say whether the deck was a dub or my small sample size got the best of me. Certainly the Abzan matchup still doesn’t feel great, which isn’t a
good sign.
Sideboard Guide
VS Abzan Midrange
Out:
In:
Game 1 is probably slightly favoring us and can be won by either stealing a win with Geist or by getting value and waiting for them to hopefully draw a few
too many removal spells. Don’t be afraid to take a bit of extra damage if it means you can counter a key spell like Liliana of the Veil or Siege Rhino.
Knowing when to shift into burn mode, usually in desperate situations or when they’ve dealt themselves a good bit of damage, is important. One of the
strengths of the deck would be the surprise factor of Geist of Saint Traft or Sower of Temptation, but that is easily mitigated by a Thoughtseize, or by
anyone glancing at this article.
Whoops.
Postboard games are tricky since they don’t have dead cards and most of their threats are just plain better than our answers. You have to hope they stumble
on mana early, flood out, or that your spells line up well versus theirs. You can expect them to bring in Fulminator Mage, which makes Remand and Mana Leak
that much better. Having a string of counterspells on the play, capped off with Snapcaster Mage and Cryptic Command, is an excellent way to take a game.
Sower of Temptation is capable of winning games outright and matches up well versus every card in their deck except non-Abrupt Decay removal. It blocks
Lingering Souls, steals Tarmogoyf and Siege Rhino–which can be edict’d by Liliana–but leaves you with a flier to threaten the Liliana. Keranos or Ajani
can eventually eke out enough value to run away with games if they are protected as well.
VS Burn
Out:
In:
This matchup is fairly straightforward and should favor Jeskai. Burn their creatures and pray you have Lightning Helix and Ajani Vengeant. Try not to run
your lifegain into Skullcrack.
VS Infect
Out:
In:
Similar to Burn except tapping out can be disastrous. Ideally, you want to remove everything they play as they play it. Trying to kill an attacking
creature is dangerous especially with burst, since it can be pumped out of range and smash you in the face at the same time. The goal is to figure out a
way to not die each turn and slowly pull ahead.
VS Affinity
Out:
In:
You have plenty of hate, and Electrolyze so the matchup is always fairly decent. Kataki, War’s Wage over another Stony Silence is essentially because it’s
a better topdeck and is able to foil Etched Champion with a Cranial Plating already equipped, which Stony Silence is really bad against.
VS Zoo
Out:
In:
Cast lots of removal. Your life total can be sacrificed a little bit here in favor of Mana Leaking threats, since they are more about gaining a board
presence than burning you out, though a Boros Charm or Tribal Flames can easily finish you if it gets to that point.
Out:
In:
Long and grindy matchup that takes plenty of skill, and that’s only if you haven’t already died to the combo. You have to be careful of outright dying
every turn, but the long game is better for Jeskai and should favor a skilled pilot. Postboard is usually less about not letting a Splinter Twin randomly
kill you and more about making land-drops and getting value. Blood Moon is a major consideration so fetch accordingly.
VS Scapeshift
Out:
In:
Not good for us, but an early Geist of Saint Traft can close out games. If the games are going long, they are usually able to sneak a Scapeshift through
our defenses.
Going Forward
So where do we go from here? Well, Jeskai decks are probably a little underpowered right now and will likely remain that way as long as Abzan is the top
dog. Not to say that any of the decks I presented are bad choices, I just feel like I would rather be on the Abzan side of the matchup by a slight amount
as it stands.
As for the state of Modern, even though my deck of choice wasn’t great, I still think the format is in a decent spot. I’d say the biggest problem was that
there were no big surprises. What was expected to do well did well and nothing really broke it. But I think that’s fine to have from time to time and
basically what you’re signing up for with Modern. The field is still diverse, and mastering a deck is still a solid strategy.
For this event though, I was a little too attached to Jeskai and probably should’ve jumped ship earlier in testing.
So how do we beat Abzan? Abzan needs some natural predators that crush it and right now. There are a few decks that might fit the bill, Burn or Combo (like
Amulet Bloom) are good places to start, or the Little Kid Abzan that was tuned to beat the mirror. It’s not that difficult to beat Burn if you really want
to, and a format of Burn on Burn mirrors makes me shudder.
Still, Modern is a blast to play, with so many different cards and interactions. It’s just a fun format and the stacked Top 8 full of great players showed
that it rewarded those who came prepared.
In case I haven’t made it clear though, I think Abzan is very good and surprisingly resilient even against the decks that you would expect to crush it.
So I think the first question we need to ask ourselves when going to play our next Modern tournament:
Am I beating Abzan? Or playing it?