My name is Max McCall. I won the 10/29 PTQ in Portland, Oregon, playing Silvestri Scepter. I strongly suggest you go read Josh Silvestri article first, then return to this report.
I played Scepter-Chant because it has no autolosses and is favored against the aggro decks I figured would be everywhere. I still think it’s an excellent deck choice, but I haven’t tested extensively against the Top 8 lists from LA. The list:
Lands (26)
Spells (34)
- 4 Counterspell
- 3 Wrath of God
- 3 Force Spike
- 3 Cunning Wish
- 4 Thirst for Knowledge
- 4 Isochron Scepter
- 3 Orim's Chant
- 2 Fact or Fiction
- 4 Absorb
- 4 Lightning Helix
Sideboard
I actually played that list with 3 Sacred Foundry and 1 Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], due to a friend not showing up with the last Foundry, but above is the optimal decklist. I would not have changed a single card in the maindeck or sideboard.
Round 1: Sean Collins, UBW control
Game one: I win the roll and open with a mulligan. I know Sean is playing some sort of UWx control, so I keep a fairly slow hand of Force Spike, Counterspell, Fact or Fiction, and land. We both play land-go for a couple of turns, then Sean plays draw-go for several turns, skipping the land part. After he discards a few times and I resolve a Fact or Fiction, I Cunning Wish for Muddle the Mixture, transmute it into Isochron Scepter, and get down Scepter/Lightning Helix. Sean gets up to five lands and tries to stave off the inevitable by countering Helix activations and trying to stick a Shadowmage Infiltrator down, but I’m not having any of it. I wore him out of permission (This took a while. I found out after the match he had seventeen counterspells. Dromar’s Charm, Counterspell, Absorb, Undermine, and Force Spike. Yeesh.) and killed him with Helix.
I don’t sideboard at all; I’m afraid of tapping low for an Exalted Angel and the ensuing counterwar and lose to Upheaval-Tog or similar shenanigans. Sean mentions he had a lot of stuff to bring in against me and brings in several cards.
Game two: I find out his tech when he casts Circle of Protection: Red against me on turn two. Hm. Well, okay, I’ll kill you with Brain Freeze and just put Orim’s Chant or Counterspell on my Scepter.
The next turn he casts Pithing Needle on Isochron Scepter.
Then Damping Matrix. Well, at least I’m not worried about Psychatog anymore, although I guess he could still ruin me with Upheaval.
Then another Pithing Needle. “Luckily” he decides to shut down Flooded Strand with it, instead of Scepter.
At this point I just figure I’ll kill him with Brain Freeze. I don’t want to lose a long, drawn-out game because of the possibility of the draw (There are about twenty-five minutes in the round at this point) but I don’t see any other choice.
Sean stalls on land again and I keep playing Thirst for Knowledges and Fact or Fiction to keep my hand stocked with goodies. After a while Sean begins discarding excess permission. Groan. That can’t be a good thing. I Helix away a Shadowmage Infiltrator and Wrath an Exalted Angel, but aside from that very little happens. Sean Vindicates an Island and then a Sacred Foundry to avoid discarding. I make a lot of land drops while Sean stalls on land again, but I can’t find a Cunning Wish for the life of me. I am, however, content to sit behind a handful of answers and eventually find my win condition. Then time is called and Sean can’t find a win condition, so we draw and I get the 1-0-1 match victory.
1-0
Round 2: Tom Worth, RG Aggro
Game one: I win the roll and promptly mulligan. I keep land, Force Spike, Scepter, Helix, and some other spells because I know Tom is playing RG and has no outs to Scepter/Helix in his maindeck. Tom mulligans to four. Nice. I miss my second land drop, Force Spike a Grim Lavamancer, draw a land, drop the stick, and pass. After Tom mentions he had no real outs to that in his maindeck, I point out that that’s the whole idea, really. He scoops shortly thereafter.
I board out my Orim’s Chants for Exalted Angels. RG brings in enough hate for your Scepter and runs enough burn that trying for the long game of a Chantlock is a risky endeavor and difficult to protect. Often you stabilize at a very low life total, and they will either burn you out or destroy your Scepter if you sit around for several turns. Exalted Angel is an excellent way to both stabilize and win the game. I was fairly sure Tom wasn’t playing Pithing Needle, so I didn’t bother with Overloads.
Game two: I drop some cards into my lap accidentally while shuffling. I pick them up, draw my hand, and mulligan a one-lander. While shuffling, I notice I have 59 cards, and find a card on the floor. Tom and I look at each other and summon a judge. I get a game loss for presenting an illegal deck. That’s unfortunate. At least now I get a seven card hand and the play this time.
I hold no ill will towards Tom for calling the judge over; I screwed up and that’s how it goes. I’d have done the same in his place. [This may be the only missed opportunity to slag on judges on the site this week. -Seamus]
Game three: I keep three land, Angel, Force Spike, Helix, Helix. I Force Spike Tom’s turn one Llanowar Elf, but don’t have an answer to the Pyrostatic Pillar he plays on his next turn. I play land over the next few turns while Tom throws successive Chars at my head. I Counterspell a Violent Eruption that’s aiming for my face and continue to make land drops. Tom is flooded in this game, managing to draw six of his twenty-two land. Two of them are Barbarian Rings, though, so he’s not totally screwed. After eating a Magma Jet, I make an Exalted Angel and force Tom to kill it with a Barbarian Ring and a Violent Eruption. At this point, I’m at five, and Tom is at seven (From Pyrostatic Pillar damage and Char) but I have triple Lightning Helix in my hand. However, I only have the mana to play two of them. Tom has Barbarian Ring in play and no hand. If he draws Violent Eruption, I’m done; anything else and I’ll kill him. Tom draws Firebolt and plays it. After his Pillar damage resolves, putting him at five, I play a Helix with his Firebolt still on the stack, went to three from Pillar and then to six from Helix, knocking Tom to two from the Helix. Then I kill him with the other Helix..
2-0
Round 3: Thomas, UG Madness
Game one: I win the roll and keep a hand with land, Force Spike, Wrath, and Counterspell. Thomas opens with Careful Study and gets out a Basking Rootwalla. I drop a land and pass. Thomas lays a Forest and tries to make a Wild Mongrel, which I promptly Force Spike. I let an Aquamoeba through and cast Lightning Helix on his Rootwalla during his attack step. On his next turn, Thomas bashes in with Moeba and Madnesses out an Arrogant Wurm. I untap, Wrath his team, and pass it back to him. Thomas drops another Rootwalla, but I play Scepter/Helix, kill his creatures, then kill him.
I board out my Chants for Exalted Angels.
Game two: I keep a hand with an Angel, a Helix, some permission, and land. Thomas plays Aquamoeba on turn two, and I murder it with Helix. Thomas doesn’t really have any gas at this point, and we both draw-go for a couple turns. I Thirst into more land, and play a morph. This puts a frown on Thomas’ face, which is only exacerbated when he plays a Deep Analysis and says go while I untap, flip my mystery man into Exalted Angel, and beat for four in the air. Thomas plays two Basking Rootwallas and takes another four from the Angel. I play another Exalted Angel and pass. I comment that I’ll look pretty stupid if Thomas has Echoing Truth, and Thomas grins like a Cheshire cat as he bounces my Angels during my end step. (To be fair, my hand was Angel and land at this point, and if he had bounce and Circular Logic, he’d play the bounce during my end step no matter what. If he has the bounce, I lose some bluff potential, but if he doesn’t, I kill him a turn faster.) He untaps and sends with his team for four, then gives me the turn. I note Thomas only has three cards in his graveyard and play a morph instead of hardcasting an Angel. Thomas slumps rather visibly and lets it resolve. By this point, I’ve drawn a Counterspell, and Thomas hasn’t drawn anything of note, and the Angel goes the distance.
3-0
Round 4: Dan Schomberg, UB Affinity with Dark Confidant and Erayo
Game one: My high point for this match is playing Island, go and having Dan Cabal Therapy me for Ideas Unbound. (He was operating on the theory that my Kamigawa Island meant that I’d thrown the deck together the night before from the PT lists. Dan thought that If I was playing Tog, I’d have better looking land.) It goes downhill from there. I honestly don’t remember much about this game; I know that Dan ruined me with multiple Pithing Needles on Isochron Scepter and beat me firmly about the head and shoulders with large Arcbound Ravagers. It was quite brutal.
I can’t remember how I sideboarded, either; I remember being confused about what exactly to bring in. Ordinarily I’d bring out my Wishes and Force Spikes for Overloads and Disenchants, but Dan had at least twelve non-artifact lands (Underground River, Watery Grave, and Blinkmoth Nexus). Disrupting his mana while controlling the board and going for the lock wasn’t going to work. From my notes, it looks like I brought in Angels and the Disenchants and left Overloads in the board, cutting Chants and Force Spike. I’m pretty sure that sideboarding plan was incorrect.
Game two: Dan connects with Cabal Therapy for Wrath of God early while playing out a stream of small beaters. I kill a Frogmite with a Lightning Helix at one point, but Dan plays out Dark Confidant and keeps drawing men. I play an Angel and attempt to race, but Dan trumps that plan with Cranial Plating and the double black mana to move it around. I try to race, but my only hope is Dan revealing a Frogmite or a more expensive card with Dark Confidant after I attack him down to four and am at five facing a board of approximately seventeen million billion power. He reveals a one drop and kills me.
3-1
Round 5: Alex “RareDraftKid” Luttman, Goblins
<Obligatory whining about playing a friend here>
Seriously, this sucks. One of us is going to be, for all intents and purposes, eliminated from top eight contention here. We’d spent the previous night testing this matchup, and felt that while game one was a blowout in my favor, the post sideboard games were about even. Much trash talking ensues during shuffling, and we get down to it.
Game one: Alex mulligans and keeps a slow hand. He plays out a Skirk Prospector, Sparksmith, and a Goblin Sledder. I Wrath his squad and say go. Alex can only manage a lone Goblin Piledriver, and I find my Scepter and lock him with Chant.
I bring out my Orim’s Chants for Exalted Angels. I knew Alex wasn’t playing Pithing Needle, so I don’t bother with Overloads.
Game two: Alex plays Goblin Warchief on turn two and Goblin Ringleader on turn three. I mulligan and am trying to stabilize by Wishing for Starstorm and killing his board, but Alex flops a Sledder, Prospector, and Piledriver off his Ringleader. His Sledder is going to make my Starstorm for three a lot less impressive, so in desperation, I Wish for Orim’s Chant instead, praying to topdeck the Scepter. I manage to rip Scepter for the lock; unfortunately, Alex has been holding Naturalize the entire game and destroys my Scepter in response to the Chant. I draw a land and die.
Game three: Alex doesn’t play out a turn two Warchief this time, but rather leads with Chrome Mox and drops Goblin Piledriver. He attacks for one and plays another Piledriver. I continue to play land. Alex summons Goblin King and attacks for eight. I grow tired of this foolishness, and play Wrath of God. While I’m tapped out, Alex plays Goblin Ringleader and reveals two Goblin Matrons, a Warchief, and a Prospector. Marvelous. I play Exalted Angel and say go. Alex plays Warchief and Matron fetching Goblin Ringleader. I’m at five and Alex is at nineteen. After some deliberation, I attack with the Angel and Helix his Warchief. Alex plays out the Ringleader and attacks. I fall to eight. On my turn, I smash back with the Angel and Absorb Alex’s Matron, letting his Prospector resolve. I send a Helix at Alex’s dome (With him having popped a fetchland earlier, this speeds up my clock by a turn and ensures that I gain the life, as opposed to Alex sacrificing my target to Prospector in response) and continue attacking. Alex draws nothing of consequence and concedes when I come over again with the Angel.
4-1
Round 6: Ty Scandora, mono red aggro
Ty and I both have twelve points and are mathematically assured of finishing in the top eight regardless of how any other matches turn out if we draw. So, we intentionally draw.
4-1-1
Top eight: I’m eighth seed, and am up against Dan Schomberg from round 4.
Quarterfinals: Dan Schomberg, still playing UB Affinity with Erayo and Dark Confidant
Game one: I double mulligan and keep a hand of three land, Absorb, and Cunning Wish. I win the roll and play Island, go. Dan opens with Watery Grave into Pithing Needle naming Isochron Scepter. I play an Island and pass. Dan plays a Blinkmoth Nexus and summons Arcbound Ravager. I drop a Plains and say go. Dan plays Cranial Plating, which I Absorb, then plays Arcbound Worker, sacrifices it to Ravager and attacks for three. I play an Island and say go. Dan plays Serum Visions, then Cabal Therapies me for Cunning Wish. Then he plays an Arcbound Worker and flashes back the Therapy for Counterspell I’d just drawn. I draw a Wish and say go. Dan plays Pithing Needle, sacrifices it to his Ravager, and bashes me down to eleven with his Ravager and Nexus. I Cunning Wish for Disenchant during his end step, untap, and Disenchant his Ravager during my mainphase to ensure the counters don’t Modular over to the Nexus. I say go. Dan draws and plays another Ravager and attacks me with Nexus. I draw Fact or Fiction and say go. Dan plays Arcbound Worker and attacks me down to eight. My end of turn Fact comes Thirst for Knowledges full of Force Spikes. Dan splits the piles into Thirst/Thirst or Thirst/Spike/Spike. I take the double Thirst pile, untap, and mainphase a Thirst. I pitch Flooded Strand and Force Spike while I keep digging for an answer. Dan attacks me to five. My end of turn Thirst yields a Wrath, and I blow away his team on my turn. Dan plays a Frogmite and passes the turn.
Now, by this point I’m at four from assorted Nexus beatdown. Because of that turn one Needle, I must use my last Wish to kill it or I won’t have a way to win. I need to stem the bleeding, fast. Dan plays Erayo and says go. During his end step, I Cunning Wish for Disenchant during Dan’s end step and shred the damned Needle. I untap with a Counterspell and Thirst, but if Thirst yields Orim’s Chant or Helix and a Scepter I’m golden. Instead, it gives me Chant, Chant, and land. I pitch two land to the Thirst and Chant Dan on his upkeep. I draw Lightning Helix. I say go and again Chant Dan on his upkeep. I peek at the top of my deck and finally see Isochron Scepter. I play it, imprint Helix, kill Erayo, go to four, and say go. Dan plays Ornithopter and and Cranial Plating. I Counterspell the Plating, untap, draw Absorb, and say go. Dan plays double Frogmite and attacks me to five. I Helix him again during his end step to put me at eight and him at fourteen. At this point I’m trying to race him and counter any Platings or Pithing Needles Dan plays. A resolved Pithing Needle on Scepter will put me out of win conditions; I don’t have a Wish left to deal with it. Plating will just flat-out kill me. Sure enough, Dan casts a Plating. I Absorb it, Helix him, and fall to nine on his attack. I keep drawing land and bluffing permission, but Dan sees through my shenanigans. After two more turns of “draw, go, take some damage, Helix you during your end step”, I’m at seven and Dan is at five. Dan attacks. I decide to Helix Dan mid-combat for some inexplicable reason, and Dan plays Erayo, Mox, Mox. That’s four spells. Erayo flips, and all of a sudden I need to draw Thirst, Fact, Scepter, or Wrath to be in this. Dan’s at one, so any of those will let me blow through Erayo and kill him with the Helix. I draw a land and die.
Losing that nail biter was due entirely to my stupidity. If I had waited to Helix Dan during his end step, I would have killed his Erayo, gone to eight, fell to three on his attack, Helixed Dan during his end step again, untapped, and killed him. I don’t even know what I was playing around with the mid-combat Helix; there wasn’t anything he could have conceivably had. Oh, the danger of cool things.
Now, from what I know of Dan’s deck, bringing in the artifact hate contingent isn’t going to be incredibly effective against him. Overload and Disenchant will kill Pithing Needle, sure, but Dan’s playing a lot of real land and doesn’t have a plethora of amazing targets for my hate. Yeah, I can kill his creatures, but I can do that anyway with my maindeck. Since I can’t attack his mana and his creatures, I decide I’ll just board in Exalted Angels over Force Spike. Ordinarily Angel is pretty slow, but Dan’s not playing Myr Enforcer due to Dark Confidant, so I know he’s not going to have an incredibly explosive start.
Game two: I keep a hand of Scepter, Wish, Fact, Helix, and land. I play a Flooded Strand and pass. Dan plays Seat of the Synod and passes. I lay another Strand and say go. Dan plays Arcbound Worker, then drops two Frogmites. I fetch out a Sacred Foundry during his end step, untap, play Shivan Reef, and say go. Dan Therapies me for Wrath. I show him my hand (Wish, Fact, Helix, Scepter) and fully expect him to flash it back on Wish or Isochron Scepter; otherwise I’ll just Wish for Chant during his end step and lock him. Instead, Dan flashes back Therapy on Fact or Fiction, and I Chantlock him.
Game three: Dan opens with Underground River and Cabal Therapy for Counterspell. He misses; my hand is three land, Lightning Helix, Exalted Angel, and two Thirsts for Knowledge. I play a Foundry tapped and gave him the turn. Dan plays Pithing Needle on Isochron Scepter and says go. I play an Island and passed. Dan plays Erayo. I play a Plains and zap Erayo with Helix. Dan plays Therapy naming Thirst for Knowledge and strips my hand of both. In doing so, he finds out I’ve drawn consecutive Wraths over my last two draw steps. Dan elects to play a Ravager and sacrifice it to flashback the Therapy for the Wraths.
After that nice little Hymn-Hymn-I-Win imitation, I play my Angel facedown. Dan asks the judge if he can play Pithing Needle and stop Exalted Angel from turning over. After receiving a negative response, Dan plays down Needle naming Isochron Scepter and played Dark Confidant. On my turn, I flip my Angel and attacked. I pass the turn back to Dan with a Wish in hand, an Angel in play, and twenty-seven life to his twelve. Dan takes two from Dark Confidant when he reveals another Dark Confidant. He Duresses my Wish and plays another copy of The Great One, bringing him to nine from Confidant and the River pain. I send my Angel over again and knock him to five. Dan finds Erayo and a land off his Confidants, and buys another turn from the Angel by chumping with Erayo. He untaps, draws his cards, and scoops.
Whew.
Semifinals: Bryan Petersen, Aggro Rock
Game one: I don’t remember much about my hand from this game, but I have the notes from the table judge to guide me. Seems that Bryan opened with Wooded Foothills, fetched an Overgrown Tomb into play tapped, and said go. I played a Flooded Strand and passed. Bryan cast Therapy for Counterspell, missed, and played a Troll Ascetic on his next turn. I played a Scepter with Helix imprinted and thought I’d be okay, but then Bryan cast Sword of Fire and Ice and all of a sudden his Troll was going to wreck me. I Helixed Bryan’s face and said go. He equipped his Troll, punched me in the throat with it, then played Birds of Paradise. I played Thirst for Knowledge to find a Wrath, but could only come up with a Wish. I countered another Sword of Fire and Ice, let him sacrifice his Birds of Paradise to Therapy me for Mana Leak. Obviously, Bryan missed, but he cast a Call of the Herd undeterred. I Helixed him again and Wished for Disenchant to kill his Sword. Bryan drew a Putrefy and destroyed my Scepter. Frown. I Helixed his Call token in response, then Force Spiked his flashed back Call. I went to four after his attack. I needed to draw Wrath, didn’t, and Bryan killed me.
I brought out my Orim’s Chants for Exalted Angels.
Game two: Bryan mulligans. I keep a mediocre hand with Scepter, Wish, Counterspell, and Thirst. I play an Island and say go. Bryan plays a Llanowar Elf and passes the turn back. I lay a Shivan Reef and end my turn. Bryan plays a Wild Mongrel and comes in with the Elf. I play a Strand and pass. Bryan plays a Mire and attacks for three. I blew the Strand for a Plains and cast Thirst during his end step, pitching one of my now three Isochron Scepters. I play an Island on my turn and say go. Bryan attacks for three and is done. I Wish for Orim’s Chant during Bryan’s end step, untapped, played Scepter with Chant, countered Bryan’s Putrefy, and said go. Unfortunately, the Counterspell tapped me out, so Brian sneaks a Deed in and destroys my Scepter after attacking for two. I decide that trading my Scepter for his men is a fair trade, and play land, go. Bryan played another Elf/Mongrel hit squad, which I Wrath away. Bryan untapps and plays yet another Mongrel. I take two for a few turns while Bryan builds up his hand. When Bryan goes for the kill, pitching his hand to Mongrel, I Helix his face and go to three, untap, and bring the Wrath of God down on that poor mutt’s head. Bryan draws and plays a Hypnotic Specter, but I play Exalted Angel to block. With Absorb and Lightning Helix in hand, I fry the Specter and bash with the Angel for four turns, holding Absorb back for a Putrefy that never comes. Bryan musters a Troll to try and race with, and even finds a Birds of Paradise to stave off the inevitable, but the Angel eventually goes the distance.
Game three: Both of us mulligan. Bryan plays an Overgrown Tomb and passes. I play Island, go. Bryan casts Wild Mongrel on his next turn. I stubbornly stick to my “Land, go” mentality. Bryan plays Call of the Herd, and I Wish for Orim’s Chant on his next turn. I have two Absorbs and a Scepter in my hand at this point, so I play the Scepter with five land. I can’t pay kicker on it since I’m afraid he’ll Naturalize it out from under me, but his clock can’t speed up and I have several turns to draw any land. Bryan hits me down to seven over three turns, but then I find a sixth land and begin kicking the Chant every turn, holding up Absorb mana as necessary.
Skip ahead six turns where we’re both playing land and I’m casting Orim’s Chant on Bryan’s upkeep repeatedly. I’ve played some Thirsts digging for win conditions and counterspells, and now I’m sitting on nine mana, a fistful of permission, and and another Isochron Scepter with Lightning Helix. I play the Scepter and kill Bryan with it over the next five turns.
Finals: Christian Robertsen, UBG Life from the Loam Tog
Christian’s deck is a cross between Moreno’s Madness Tog and Tsumura’s Dredgeatog. He’s playing Wild Mongrel but none of the other Madness beaters, and he’s running Golgari Grave-Troll for more dredge sickness.
Game one: I mulligan and then keep a hand with Wish, Scepter, land, and Thirst. Both Christian and I make land drops for a while. I go for a Thirst during his end step, but he has a Force Spike for it. Later, after Christian plays a Wild Mongrel, I Wish for Magma Jet to stick on the Scepter. Fortunately, my deck decides it’s about time it coughed up a Lightning Helix, so I imprint Helix on Scepter instead of the Jet. I begin Helixing Christian’s face while he gets his Life from the Loam engine running and starts attacking me with Wild Mongrel. On his next turn, Christian plays a Psychatog and draws and dredges a bit more. I keep firing Helix and the Jet at his face to both stay alive and maintain some hope of actually winning.
Christian’s deck begins to explode when I’m at eleven and he has a Tog and a Mongrel in play. During his upkeep, he Dredges back his Life from the Loam and bins a Golgari Grave-Troll off the dredge. Cycling a land, he dredges the Grave-Troll back, then pitches it to his Tog and cycles again, dredging it back. Then Christian casts Life from the Loam and gets back his cycling lands and repeats the process. Then he attacks for truly sick amounts of damage, pumping his Wild Mongrel to a 5/5 and his Psychatog to a 16/17, removing his hand and graveyard from the game.
I Cunning Wish for Boomerang and bounce his Tog, take five from the Wild Mongrel, fall to six, untap and say go. I take two more from the Mongrel, Absorb his Psychatog when he tries to recast it, then Lightning Helix his face. Christian tries to kill me with the Wild Mongrel, but the lifegain from Helix is too much and I kill him quickly. In fairness to Christian, while he may have overdone it on his Psychatog attack, I had the mana to Helix him and then Helix again off the Scepter, so playing as though I could gain six life out of nowhere was correct.
I board out my Wraths for Exalted Angel, after noting how the damage race turned out when I was gaining life.
Game two: I mulligan, keep a two land hand, miss my third land drop and decide to play Scepter/Counterspell on turn three. Christian kills me on turn four with a Tog and a Wild Mongrel, aided by Life of the Loam/Grave-Troll craziness.
It occurs to me as I look over my hand that if the Angel I’m holding were a Wrath, and if I had made my land drops and Counterspelled the Life from the Loam, I could have conceivably bought myself a lot of time by Wrathing Christian’s team. I board back to my original maindeck.
Game three: Both of us keep, but Christian misses his third land drop, finds it on turn three, then misses his fourth. Even so, he makes a Wild Mongrel and finds a Life from the Loam. However, Christian is unable to actually dredge any land into the bin, so his Loam isn’t doing him much good. I hit my first six land drops and Wrath away the Wild Mongrel. At this point I have Isochron Scepter in hand with Orim’s Chant, Absorb, Counterspell, and Lightning Helix in hand. I play Scepter/Chant to set up for a long game where I can draw my answers to his creatures. If Christian deals with the Scepter and begins Dredging aggressively, I’ll go for the Brain Freeze kill. If he doesn’t deal with the Scepter, I’ll just win. Christian had no blue untapped, so the Scepter resolved. I Chanted him on his upkeep. Christian topdecked a Putrefy and tried to kill it on my upkeep, but I Absorbed it and maintained the lock.
I keep the lock going for several turns, casting Thirst for Knowledge a few times to ensure I always have permission for any disruption Christian might send at the Scepter. I’m keeping track of his library; I want to kill him with Brain Freeze after we fight a counterwar over the Scepter so that the possibility of him stabilizing once the lock is broken is minimal. After about fifteen turns of draw, go, chant you, I finally draw another Isochron Scepter and put some real pressure on Christian with Scepter/Helix. Now, instead of waiting for me to deck (I have about fifteen cards left at this point) or set up an insane hand, he has to deal with the new threat. It ends up being irrelevant; a few turns later, I note Christian has eighteen cards left in his library. After my Orim’s Chant on his upkeep resolves, I Helix him off my Scepter, Helix twice from my hand, Cunning Wish, and Brain Freeze for eighteen. Christian extends the hand.
I mulliganed a lot over the course of the PTQ. It felt like a statistical anomaly, since I wasn’t mulliganing nearly that often in our testing. I think I only tossed one hand back because it was “bad” in the PTQ (Against Goblins I tossed back four land, Angel, Absorb, Wish because it wasn’t going to win that game unless his draw was awful, and he had kept his opening seven) and was just throwing back one- or two-landers. Basically, you have to ship one or two land hands unless you’re on the draw, have two land and Thirst for Knowledge, and the rest of your hand is very strong in the matchup. With 26 land, two or less land doesn’t happen very often, and the amount of mulligans I took at the PTQ was far higher than in testing. However, almost every hand with three or four land is keepable, and the deck mulligans very well.
Orim’s Chant comes out in a lot of matchups. It’s really good in game one, because almost no aggro decks have maindeck outs to the Chantlock. Games two and three, however, they’re bringing in anywhere from four to eight ways to destroy Isochron Scepter, and at that point you need five or six mana to maintain a Chantlock and have mana to counter, as opposed to four or five mana to keep Scepter/Helix alive. Scepter/Helix is oftentimes just as strong if not stronger in the aggro matchups anyway. There’s also a lot to be said for six mana to play Exalted Angel and just win the game. Do note, however, that Orim’s Chant can be a Fog if you need to live for a turn to race with Angel.
About Angel: Angel gets boarded in in a lot of matchups. That does not mean it should be in the maindeck. As I said earlier, most decks aren’t going to have many outs to a Scepter in game one, so the Angel is often superfluous and would be better off as removal, draw, or a counter. The dynamic changes somewhat postboard; most decks that are boarding in a way to kill Isochron Scepter have a lot of issues against the Angel. It’s also very good against Rock just because Cranial Extraction becomes a lot less brutal.
Force Spike gets boarded out in a lot of matchups. That does not automatically equate to it not being good in the deck. The maindeck is just so tight you often have to pick the “least-good” card to bring out, and that’s generally Force Spike or Orim’s Chant.
Chrome Mox is not very good in a deck where the added speed is too big a price to pay for losing a card.
Artifact lands, while making Thirst for Knowledge better, make all that artifact hate your opponents are already boarding in for your Scepter double as Stone Rain for one or two mana. You really don’t want to have to deal with that.
Yes, the only maindeck win condition is Scepter/Helix. That still gets the job done. Basically, game one, you’re either going to play Scepter on a Helix early and just win that way, or you’ll establish a Chantlock. 95% of the time, you’ve won the game with that Chantlock and killing your opponent has become a formality. Even if we assume your bottom four cards of your library are Lightning Helix, you can still kill your opponent by Cunning Wishing for any card, then using a second Wish to Wish for the removed Wish, repeat ad nauseam, and then use Brain Freeze to deck your opponent. (Okay, so if your opponent has a Darksteel Colossus in his maindeck, and you fail to draw Lightning Helix/Cunning Wish for Magma Jet + Isochron Scepter, and the stars align just right in the sky, you’ll probably lose that game. The other 99.9999% of the time, however, you’re fine.)
Eight hard counters is so much better than 4 Mana Leak/4 Counterspell. You end up with double the amount of hard counters in the late game, which is so key in many matchups. You do cede some tempo by playing Absorb, but the lifegain helps offset that, and you have Wrath, Isochron Scepter, and Lightning Helix to deal with your opponent’s early drops. In addition, of course, you have Force Spike and Mana Leak.
That covers the tournament and questions people asked me about during the tournament. Further questions should be addressed to max period b period mccall at gmail period com. Or in the forums.