In the five PTQs I played in before the last weekend, I had three near-misses and two complete disasters. I made a lot of mistakes, and things often didn’t go my way, but everything that happened was sort of… reasonable. The PTQ this last weekend in London was just plain weird. I’m still scratching my head about what happened, and how and why. Maybe too much happens in eight rounds for things to be that simple.
I need to go into rehab. Maybe try some Hypnosis. I have to face facts: I am addicted to Honden. No matter how much I have to bend over backwards to fit them into my deck, I always get all of them Shrines in, even though I never have the best one of them (that would be the red one). Their power is undeniable, double Honden will almost always result in a “w” in your result column, no matter which two Honden are involved. Question is, how far do you push it?
More on this topic later. First, let’s talk about this weekend’s PTQ. I travelled 330 km to the wonderful city of London, both the location and the goal. I went to university in London and I absolutely adore the place and could write endless love poems to it. I’ll leave those for another time, closer to the actual Pro Tour there. 150 players showed up for the chance to qualify for the local Pro Tour, leading to eight gruelling rounds of swiss followed by a Top 8 that was unlikely to end long before midnight. Here’s the card pool I opened at PTQ London – London (or PTQ London2 as I like to call it).
Card Pool London
Red
1 Sokenzan Bruiser
1 Frostwielder
1 Initiate of Blood
1 Brutal Deceiver
1 Blademane Baku
1 Akki Blizzard-Herder
1 Frostling
1 Blood Rites
1 Sowing Salt
1 Overblaze
1 Ire of Kaminari
1 Unearthly Blizzard
1 Glacial Ray
1 Desperate Ritual
Black
1 Crawling Filth
1 Scourge of Numai
1 Cursed Ronin
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Pull Under
1 Call for Blood
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Soulless Revival
1 Midnight Covenant
Blue
1 Patron of the Moon
1 Quillmane Baku
1 Soratami Savant
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Callous Deceiver
1 Floating-Dream Zubera
1 Minamo Sightbender
1 Hisoka’s Guard
1 Wandering Ones
2 Ribbons of the Reikai
1 Mystic Restraints
1 Minamo’s Meddling
1 Toils of Night and Day
1 Lifted by Clouds
1 Dampen Thought
1 Reach Through Mists
White
1 Kami of the Palace Fields
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji
1 Hundred-Talon Kami
1 Moonlit Strider
1 Faithful Squire
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Lantern Kami
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Ghostly Prison
2 Terashi’s Grasp
1 Candle’s Glow
1 Ward of Piety
1 Hundred-Talon Strike
1 Vigilance
Green
1 Seshiro, the Anointed
1 Moss Kami
1 Scaled Hulk
1 Kashi-Tribe Warriors
1 Sakura-Tribe Springcaller
1 Kami of the Hunt
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Traproot Kami
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Joyous Respite
1 Serpent Skin
1 Kodama’s Might
1 Commune with Nature
Artifact and Land
1 Kusari-Gama
1 Slumbering Tora
1 Journeyer’s Kite
I really ought to kick the habit of opening so many Honden. Especially off-color ones. The Black here doesn’t have enough creatures for my taste, and the Green is waaay too top-heavy. The White here is pretty good, and unlike all other colors it isn’t short on creatures. Well, not that short. The best case scenario in this pool is to have 15 creatures. That is generally what I would say is the bare minimum, and a deck with such a low creature count should have oodles of removal. This deck has great spells but whichever way you turn it, the creature base is somewhat unsatisfactory. This deck is probably best looked at as a LEGO set.
Basic building block 1: White creatures
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Lantern Kami
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Faithful Squire
1 Moonlit Strider
1 Hundred-Talon Kami
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji
1 Kami of the Palace Fields
I feel embarrassed to call Kami of Tattered Shoji playable, but in a slower, defensive deck it definitely is, and this pool doesn’t provide the curve for ye olde fast beats deck. I hate playing slow decks. On the other hand, I can’t hate this deck; after all, it has triple Honden.
Basic block 2: White spells and Artifacts
1 Hundred-Talon Strike
1 Candle’s Glow
2 Terashi’s Grasp
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Kusari-Gama
Here we have two combat tricks, two artifact/enchantment removal spells (even I won’t advocate playing two of them maindeck), two great stall cards, a mana fixer/splash enabler and that weird piece of equipment that I find very hard to evaluate. I want to see raging arguments over this one in the forums. Just how good is Kusari-Gama? I really wish I had had more opportunities to play with it.
Optional additional block 1: Blue
1 Minamo Sightbender
1 Floating-Dream Zubera
1 Callous Deceiver
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Soratami Savant
1 Quillmane Baku
1 Patron of the Moon
1 Reach Through Mists
1 Mystic Restraints
Blue as the second main color gives us some excellent flyers, a removal spell of sorts and, most importantly, an actual creature curve. Minamo Sightbender isn’t at his best in this Ninja-free card pool, but who am I to turn down a 2-drop with an occasionally useful ability? He’s still a damn sight better than some creatures that might be considered to shore up the numbers.
Additional Block 2: Red
1 Frostling
1 Blademane Baku
1 Brutal Deceiver
1 Initiate of Blood
1 Frostwielder
1 Sokenzan Bruiser
1 Glacial Ray
1 Blood Rites
Red lets us deal with low-toughness creatures like there’s no tomorrow. Frostwielder and Blood Rites can also be used to burn the opponent out.
Additional Block 3: Green
1 Traproot Kami
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Kami of the Hunt
1 Sakura-Tribe Springcaller
1 Kashi-Tribe Warriors
1 Scaled Hulk
1 Moss Kami
1 Seshiro the Anointed
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Serpent Skin
1 Kodama’s Might
1 Commune with Nature
So, the Green offers some beef and combat tricks, and a great defensive creature against other Green decks in Traproot Kami. What it doesn’t offer is a proper mana curve, a midgame or any true bombs.
Additional block 4: Black
1 Nezumi Cutthroat
1 Nezumi Ronin
1 Takenuma Bleeder
1 Cursed Ronin
1 Scourge of Numai
1 Pull Under
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Soulless Revival
Black has two good removal spells, but only five creatures, one of which is Scourge of Numai, who has his place in aggressive decks but not in a defensive deck with only one ogre. Removing the Scourge and putting the black together with the white gives us a whopping twelve creatures. Even in Mirrodin block sealed I wouldn’t play this few creatures. I think we can safely discount the black option here.
Splash block 1: B
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Pull Under
Splash block 2: G
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Kodama’s Might
Splash block 3: B/G
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Pull Under
Black does however offer a nice splash. Well, to be perfectly honest, an ugly splash, but this deck isn’t exactly full of brilliant splashable removal. This is the first time I’ve ever considered a double-splash in a sealed deck, but the power of triple Honden is just too great to ignore. If only the Black or the Green had been more playable!
So, to build a deck, put together Basic block 1, Basic block 2, an additional block of your choice and a splash block of your choice, remove some of the marginals, add eighteen lands to taste and cook for 40 minutes on full heat. Bon Appetit!
Although all five colors have nice things to offer I can’t help but wish they were all just a little bit deeper. The only reasonable choices here are W/U/x or W/R/x.
The Blue option looked the most appealing to me during deck construction and, as I’ve said before, I can’t say no to Honden (they’re like women in that respect), so I handed in this decklist:
Creatures (14)
1 Lantern Kami (S)
1 Kami of False Hope (S)
1 Minamo Sightbender
1 Floating-Dream Zubera (S)
1 Kami of Ancient Law (S)
1 Callous Deceiver (S)
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Faithful Squire [S]
1 Moonlit Strider (S)
1 Soratami Savant
1 Hundred-Talon Kami (S)
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji (S)
1 Kami of the Palace Fields (S)
1 Patron of the Moon (S)
Other Spells (8)
1 Pull Under (A)
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Mystic Restraints
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Candle’s Glow (A)
Lands (18)
8 Plains
7 Island
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Spirits: 10+1
Arcane: 2
Didn’t get any bombs among your rares? Turn them into bombs! With a mana base this dodgy, Journeyer’s Kite becomes a bomb. Well, close enough. This is the pure power build. Tons of flyers including the Patron, triple Honden and two good, albeit awkwardly costed, removal spells. One power card that’s missing here is Kusari-Gama. This card is a good offensive card, but it is slow and won’t help keep you alive. As this deck wants to win either with large, expensive flyers or a swarm of spirit tokens, it really needs to spend a lot of its resources on prolonging the game, and Kusari-Gama really isn’t great when you’re just desperately trying to stay alive. The low creature count doesn’t help either. As I said, though, I haven’t had much experience with this card and it may well have been a mistake to omit it. Let’s have a look at the alternative build.
Creatures (14)
1 Kami of False Hope (S)
1 Frostling (S)
1 Lantern Kami (S)
1 Blademane Baku (S)
1 Kami of Ancient Law (S)
1 Brutal Deceiver (S)
1 Faithful Squire [S]
1 Moonlit Strider (S)
1 Initiate of Blood
1 Frostwielder
1 Hundred-Talon Kami (S)
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji (S)
1 Sokenzan Bruiser
1 Kami of the Palace Fields (S)
Other Spells (8)
1 Pull Under (A)
1 Honden of Life’s Web
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Kusari-Gama
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Glacial Ray (A)
1 Candle’s Glow (A)
Land (18)
8 Plains
7 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Forest
Spirits: 10+1
Arcane: 3
This deck will take a long time to win. It basically replaces flyers with pingers and throws in some direct damage. I should probably try to fit in Blood Rites, maybe ditching the black splash, thus eliminating any hope of dealing with big creatures without a flipped Initiate of Blood. This deck is extremely good at killing small creatures, between Frostwielder, Glacial Ray, Initiate of Blood and Frostling. Kusari-Gama is in this deck because it can be abused much better. Put it on a pinger (ideally Goka the Unjust) and all your creatures gain “whenever this creature becomes blocked, wipe out the opposing team”. Okay, perhaps I’m being a bit optimistic, but I just wanted to point out how scary Goka the Unjust with Kusari-Gama is. Just remember to do it before the end of combat while the target is still a blocking creature.
So, do I think I played the right maindeck? Yes, I think I did, but I made the fundamental mistake of resting on my laurels instead of staying alert. At the beginning of the tournament you have 30 minutes to construct your deck. That doesn’t mean you can stop thinking about it once you hand in your decklist. If you have several possible builds you should see what they do well and keep them in mind as sideboard options. The W/U/b/g deck pretty much dies to Matsu-Tribe Sniper; sideboarding into the W/R/b/g deck would easily take care of that. That was my big mistake of the day: I didn’t use my sideboard enough, even though I was told this during the tournament by one of the game’s greats. When you play against a former Pro Tour finalist, listen to what he has to say. That’s my big nugget of insight for the day.
On to the round-by-round.
Round 1 vs. Mick Wright (W/R)
Game 1 I mange to stop his Yamabushi’s Flame on my Faithful Squire with a Candle’s Glow, then I get out a White Honden, Pull Under his Innocence Kami and eventually overwhelm his Kitsune Diviner with my horde of flying spirits. Game 2 I have a bad draw but I have a White Honden and he just doesn’t have enough pressure. I have the Journeyer’s Kite and thin the land out of my library like a madman. Eventually I find the other two Honden and he just concedes. I think that was a mistake on his part (duh), because if he had found his Kami of Ancient Law and had destroyed the Green Honden I probably would have decked myself.
1-0
Round 2 vs. David Inker (G/B/r)
He has a fairly aggressive G/B/r deck and comes out fast in game 1, but I manage to slow him down with a Kami of False Hope and Ghostly Prison. He gets stuck on four land, while I play a turn seven Patron of the Moon. A race ensues; his Ishi-Ishi makes it quite difficult for me. Then I play a Kami of the Palace Fields. He plays a Child of Thorns and attacks with his Takenuma Bleeder. I realise that the way to win the race is to trade the Kami for his Child here and to soulshift back the Kami of False Hope. So next turn I get him down to six with the Patron, and play the Rainshaper in my hand and the Kami, going down to five thanks to Ishi-Ishi. Next turn he attacks, I fog and attack for the win the following turn. Game 2 he again has Ishi-Ishi, who is joined by Genju of the Cedars and some more beefy guys, and my solitary white Honden is just no match. Game 3 the flyers are out in force and he needs to play a Devouring Greed at one point just to survive for another turn. One Turn is all the time it bought him.
2-0
At this point I’m a nervous wreck. Playing four colors feels to me like I’m gambling with my house up for collateral. I hope I never have to do it again. I sit down at table 3 and my friend Kamman at the table next to me says, “What are you still doing here with your six-color deck?” A valid question, really…
Round 3 vs. Matthew Sach (B/W/r)
He has an awesome deck full of bombs, I have a jammy deck full of Honden. Game 1 I Mystic Restraints his Nagao, Bound by Honor, then drop Honden of Cleansing Fire, and then Honden of Life’s Web. He plays Kokusho and we both laugh at the notion that he’s a 22-turn clock. He gets me down to 11 twice in that game but I eventually overwhelm him with Spirit tokens. Game 2 I have Black Honden on turn 4 and don’t find it particularly comforting that he’s showing the tough choice he has to onlookers. He discards a Glacial Ray and a Horobi’s Whisper and plays a turn 7 Kokusho after I pulled his turn 4 Nagao under. The funny thing is, his draw wasn’t much better than in game 1, I just didn’t have a White Honden to slow down the dragon. Game 3 I have Ghostly Prison, Green Honden and both my removal spells to slow him down. I deal 14 damage with a lone Hundred-Talon Kami and then finish him off with spirit tokens.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Gary Oliver (B/R/u)
The last round was exciting and tense with both players jockeying for position with good draws on both sides. This match was utterly, savagely one-sided. He has a very aggressive deck playing things like Shinka Gatekeeper and he does have a fairly fast start. He is stuck on four mana, though, so Ghostly Prison throws a major wrench in the works. Moonlit Strider stops the rest of his offensive and just to add insult to injury Soratami Savant shows up to dispel any notion of a comeback. Game 2 I curve out with Kami of Ancient Law, Callous Deceiver and Soratami Savant, while he misses his third land drop. After two rounds of hard-fought edge-of-your-seat excitement I actually have some time to relax! Perhaps that’s where I went wrong, losing my concentration.
4-0
Round 5 vs. Tomi Walamies (G/B)
I see Tomi’s name on the pairings and immediately think that he’s the guy who used to be very popular on the Pro Tour, made a PT final with Operation Dumbo Drop (they don’t come up with good deck names like that anymore…) and an invitational final. So I have images of a clean-shaven youthful guy with a hat. The guy who sits down opposite me looks a bit older, has a full beard and isn’t wearing a hat. So I don’t dare ask until after game 1 whether he is, y’know, THE Tomi Walamies. Of course he is. There can be only one. Game 1 I don’t find many creatures and his army of beef easily overwhelms my White Honden. Game 2 I get a quick flying army including Kaiso, Memory of Loyalty, and his counters leave me confident even when Tomi drops Jugan, the Rising Star. Of course I topdeck like a pro and Mystic Restraints takes care of Jugan, eliciting a concession and the comment: “That is the correct play!” Game 3 I keep a hand of Plains, Forest, Green Honden and four Blue spells. I draw a Kami of False Hope and a bunch of Plains. He stalls on three lands, but has two snake tokens and a Gnarled Mass and they go all the way. I probably misplayed by chump-blocking the Gnarled Mass instead of trading my spirits for his snakes. Actually, I definitely misplayed. In fact, I played like a complete n00bish scrub. Sigh.
4-1
After the match Tomi said that in eight rounds he would always play a 2-color deck if possible and he was playing some suboptimal cards like Kashi-Tribe Warriors. Perhaps next time I open a pool like this one I’ll play one of these decks:
Creatures (14)
1 Kami of False Hope (S)
1 Frostling (S)
1 Lantern Kami (S)
1 Blademane Baku (S)
1 Kami of Ancient Law (S)
1 Brutal Deceiver (S)
1 Faithful Squire [S]
1 Moonlit Strider (S)
1 Initiate of Blood
1 Frostwielder
1 Hundred-Talon Kami (S)
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji (S)
1 Sokenzan Bruiser
1 Kami of the Palace Fields (S)
Other Spells (8)
1 Blood Rites
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Terashi’s Grasp (A)
1 Kusari-Gama
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Glacial Ray (A)
1 Candle’s Glow (A)
1 Hundred-Talon Strike (A)
Land (18)
9 Plains
9 Mountain
Spirits: 10+1
Arcane: 4
Creatures (15)
1 Lantern Kami (S)
1 Kami of False Hope (S)
1 Minamo Sightbender
1 Floating-Dream Zubera (S)
1 Kami of Ancient Law (S)
1 Callous Deceiver (S)
1 Soratami Rainshaper
1 Faithful Squire [S]
1 Moonlit Strider (S)
1 Soratami Savant
1 Hundred-Talon Kami (S)
1 Kami of Tattered Shoji (S)
1 Quillmane Baku (S)
1 Kami of the Palace Fields (S)
1 Patron of the Moon (S)
Other Spells (7)
1 Hundred-Talon Strike (A)
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire
1 Terashi’s Grasp (A)
1 Mystic Restraints
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Kusari-Gama
1 Candle’s Glow (A)
Spirits: 11+1
Arcane: 3
Come to think of it, this U/W deck looks rather tempting. I really need to stop the Honden thing. There were many times throughout the day where I’d be sitting there with one Honden in play thinking that I would have it in the bag if I drew another Honden. Too often, though, that second Honden never came.
Anyway, more importantly, Tomi also said that people don’t use their sideboards enough in sealed. With hindsight, my biggest mistake in this tournament was to not pick up any mountains from the land station for my sideboard. Care for a demonstration?
Round 6 vs. Adam Kemp (G/U/b)
Game 1 he wrecks me with the Shuriken trick. Game 2 he wrecks me with Matsu-Tribe Sniper. When I finally found a Swamp I Pulled the Sniper Under, and then died to his Teller of Tales and Sire of the Storm because his Child of Thorns made them potentially bigger than my Kami of the Palace Fields and Kaiso. Of course, if Kaiso hadn’t used all his ki counters to stop the Kami from being tapped down early on… Guess who would have won this game had he had Frostling, Glacial Ray, Frostwielder or Blood Rites? Stupid Sniper!
4-2
Round 7 vs. Mark Glenister (G/B/r)
Game 1 I die to tons of fatties. Game 2 I should have mulliganed down to five but instead thought it would be a good idea to mulligan down to three. I did manage a turn 2 Kami of Ancient Law from my three-card hand! He killed it, then befouled one of my plains and I never saw another land. You can mulligan a hand with two Plains and five Blue cards but two Plains and three Blue cards has got to be a keeper.
4-3
Round 8 vs. ShaoQing Xia (B/W)
I had a blast when I restrained his Scourge of Numai and pulled his Takenuma Bleeder under. I had a White Honden and he didn’t have much pressure so I teamed up with his demon and killed him at my leisure. Game 2 was more interesting. He has a lot of gas including Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, but he taps out and I manage to pull under the tails. The Green Honden gives me loads of chump-blockers and the black Honden shows up to keep him from holding anything back. So when he draws Devouring Greed he has to play it immediately to put me to 1. I eventually find the white Honden as well and kill him with spirit tokens. Do I sound like a broken record?
5-3 (22nd place)
So, I played really tightly for the first four rounds, then I played like a complete moron the next three, and then went back to playing well for the last round. I was so high on having fought my way to the 4-0 table I forgot to keep up the tension and concentration that got me there in the first place.
Remembering Chad Ellis‘ conjecture that to make Top 8 you need to beat the 4-0 decks, it’s interesting to see that, at the 4-0 table, consistency beat power, which could be seen as a blow against his theory of always splashing. Then again, I might have been able to win had I played better. Either way, I’m sure that particular debate will go on and on.
I think for the next PTQ I will try a more structured approach. I’m not sure whether to recommend to everyone to follow these points, but my experience shows me that they should at least help me.
- During deck construction, try several builds and get the land for all of them, not just the one you settle on as maindeck. This includes all potential splashes. If you don’t have time during deck construction, do it as soon as possible afterwards.
- Figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each build and sideboard into them accordingly.
- Don’t lose concentration during breaks between rounds.
- Don’t get carried away just because you’re playing well.
- Always check the board for tricks you aren’t terribly familiar with.
That’s enough for today. Next week I WILL talk about the 17/18 land issue, and I WILL take a look back at all PTQs so far and hopefully I’ll also discuss creature counts in more detail.
Martin