I wanted to do well in Nashville. I wanted to succeed, especially since the drive was so long. So I decided to play competitive decks for both events. Decks that should’ve easily put me in top 32. I played an Esper Control deck for the Standard portion and BUG in the Legacy portion. I wanted to Top 8 and come back home with some money…
“You can’t always get what you want.” –Rolling Stones
I can’t remember the last time I got my ass stomped so badly. I ended up going 2-3 in the Standard Open, 1-1 drop in the Legacy Challenge, 0-2 drop in the Legacy Open, and 0-1 drop in the Draft Open. What a tragedy!
What happened? I wasn’t playing anything crazy like Grand Architect or Blighted Agent. I was playing legit decks. I guess sometimes you just run badly.
It all started out with Brad Sheppard messaging me on Facebook saying he had a really good Esper Control decklist. Now the last time I took one of Brad’s ideas, I ended up winning Nationals; how could I say no? The deck looked super sweet! After some minor modifications, mostly to the sideboard, I was sold. The deck had game against everything and performed really well against Solar Flare. Here is what the deck looked like.
Creatures (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (30)
It was a Snapcaster deck. Besides the two Oblivion Rings and the lands, Snapcaster could hit everything else. It was a draw-go deck that didn’t want to play anything on its own turn; in that regard, it acted like Faeries. You ended up winning by controlling the game, then milling your opponents or casting a Cat Sun Zenith for some absurd amount.
So I woke up Friday and had to pick up both my friends, since they were pretty much super lazy. They added about three extra hours to the trip. (Yes, I’m trying to guilt trip them.) I picked up Franklin Harris from Shelby, NC. Shortly after, we were off to the mountains of Virginia to get Justin Bartlett. After almost dying multiple times from sharp curves, going up sixty-degree inclines, and being petrified that I was going to be on The Hills Have Eyes 3, we finally reached his house.
The ride from there on out was pretty smooth. Justin didn’t have any cards so I planned on building him a mirror of my deck, and Frank was on a U/W Blade deck until I convinced him that this deck was better. So we were all on this Esper Snapcaster deck, and I thought we would all do pretty well. I was excited for the weekend!
We were cutting up and making fun of each other the whole time. We were all taking turns playing different songs and sharing our music taste. I of course played the best artists like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ke$ha, and Death Cab for Cutie every time it came to me. Frank played some ear-bleeding Korean hip-hop band; my brain purged the name of the band so I wouldn’t have nightmares. Usually I’m very open to music, but after the third song from that band, I had to blacklist them by bashing on them. (I love you, Frank!) Justin had a variation of rap and indie rock that was a comforting counter to my music selection.
We continued talking about cards that could possibly fit in the deck, and that’s when Justin suggested we make a Suicide Death Pact with Sorin’s Vengeance. Now this wasn’t a normal suicide pact where we promise to die together or anything that extreme; it was more like we would play Sorin’s Vengeance and either win fashionably or die attempting to do so. We also had a bet on who could get more killing blows with Sorin’s Vengeance. Which I knew I would obviously win—I mean, come on, I finished someone on camera round 4 game 3 with a Sorin’s Vengeance at a Grand Prix. This would be a cakewalk!
When we were nearing Nashville, I was shocked by the realization that no damage had happened to my car. Usually when I drive, something happens to my car along the way. I either get a small dent in my car, my mirror breaks, or the AC or radio decides to give out, but not this time. I was getting to Nashville scot-free! After getting some snacks and filling up my car at a small gas station, we were on our way. I was going to turn right out of the gas station and make a U-turn, but Justin said, “Just turn left, man. There’s no traffic this late at night.”
I told him, “I don’t think I can; there’s a median there, right?” My night vision is pretty horrible, so I was unsure.
Justin replied with, “Are you blind? Trust me, man, you got this; just go!”
No, I’m not blind, so I went… And obv hit the median to scrape the bottom of my car. I laughed and said, “No median there, huh, Justin?”
He replied, “Man I’m sorry. I can’t see; it’s dark, and I’m in the backseat.” Sigh, so close!
We finally arrived at the hotel and got to bed at a reasonable time. Ha! Who am I kidding? Sleeping at a “reasonable time” never happens at a Magic event. We went to bed around 4 am after we worked on the maindeck a little and tuned the sideboard. I set the alarm for two hours before the start of the tournament so we would have plenty of time to shower and grab some breakfast. Annndddd…. I ended up hitting snooze a couple of times, so that we had to rush to the event site and scramble to get all the cards with no breakfast.
I had a round 1 feature match playing against a RUG opponent. I had no idea what he was playing or what the list looked like. I felt like I put up a good fight for a mulligan, but eventually he was able to deplete my life total with burn. Game 2 he drew more cards then I thanks to Think Twice; funny how draw spells make you draw more draw spells. I never saw a Think Twice, Forbidden Alchemy, or White Sun’s Zenith and got crushed by Jace, Memory Adept. His first mill ten activation hit both my Zeniths. From there, it was just elementary. I saw a good friend of mine, Daniel Genkins, after the match, and we chitchatted for a bit. He offered to show me around town if I did badly and ended up dropping. I told him I’d take him up on his offer if that happened, but just forgot to; sorry, Genkins.
I met up with Justin and Frank before round 2 started to hear that they both won their matches. We ended up all being 5-1 after round 2, and things looked bright. I still hadn’t killed anybody with Sorin’s Vengeance, and Justin had one kill. I tried to catch up to him, but after losing round 1 and 3 to control decks, the latter milling me with Nephalia Drownyard, I dropped. (Where did all these control decks come from? I thought RDW took both first and second at the last Open.) Oh well, this gave me some time to hang out with Jonathan Suarez, and that’s always worth it! Frank ended up doing the best out of all of us. He almost made Top 8 but lost his feature match, and that’s all she wrote.
That night, we all decided to go and enjoy the city. We didn’t want a chain restaurant but something sit-down that was well-known in the city. We asked the lady behind the front counter at the hotel what was good and close by. She recommended an Italian restaurant, and that’s where we went. The restaurant looked very nice, a little pricey, but I didn’t mind that.
Sadly our waitress was horrible. She got our drink orders and came back with them like eight minutes later when she proceeded to spill the water on Frank’s phone; Frank was frantically trying to dry his phone with his napkin. She then looked at Frank and said, “Oh my god just calm down.” I just looked at her in disbelief. Did she really just say that? She left the table to grab something that would help dry off the table. I turned to Justin and said, “Did she just tell Frank to calm down?”
Justin just shook his head in astonishment and said, “Yea I think so.”
Frank maintained his cool, “I’ll just reflect that in her tip.” Needless to say, the food took forever to come out, and the service from there on out was lacking. The tip was pretty non-existent. On the bright side, it gave us something good to laugh at the rest of the weekend.
Sunday I ended up playing a BUG list that was pretty much identical to AJ Sacher. I lost my first match to Ben Wienburg playing Painted Stone. I punted in game 3 by trying to put him out of the game. He had two Goblin Welders in play along with a Grindstone and a Great Furnace. I had a clock on him with Vendilion Clique and Surgical Extraction, Dismember, and Snapcaster Mage in hand. I decided to Dismember one of his Goblin Welders at end of turn, and he responded with Intuition for three Painters and tried to exchange his Great Furnace for a Painter. I responded with Surgical Extraction, and he activated his other Welder and killed me. If I had just been patient, he would’ve been forced to try and kill me, and I could’ve won. You live, you learn, and you move on.
Before I wrap things up, I’d like to talk a little more about the deck I chose to play. I really like the Esper deck, and I think it has huge potential; I’ll most likely be playing it again at States. Here is what the list currently looks like.
Creatures (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (30)
The list is pretty much the same. I just switched out one White Sun for an Army of the Damned. Army is almost always “I kill you next turn” whereas White Sun’s Zenith usually takes a couple of turns. I found that the deck would gain control but wouldn’t have enough oomph to end the game, and Army does that. I don’t want to toy around with a Consecrated Sphinx or Frost Titan. I just want to win the game when it gets that late.
I cut the Visions of Beyond for a Blue Sun’s Zenith and another Oblivion Ring. I found that I was never disappointed when I drew the Ring and often wished I could draw another one, either to deal with a pesky planeswalker or to shut down that Shrine of Burning Rage. Visions was decent but never really amazing, and in the control mirror, if they are trying to mill you, drawing three cards isn’t that great. With Blue Sun, you also have the option to finish them after milling most of their deck with Nephalia Drownyard.
I decided to be more aggressive with some bears vs. the control mirror, hence the Azure Mages and Swords. Sword of Feast and Famine also isn’t bad vs. the new Wolf Run Ramp decks popping up.
Good luck at States and your PTQs!
Ali, Fist of Krosa