Before going on to the meat of this article, I think I should talk about the Grand Prix in Chicago this last weekend.
First of all, my hearty congratulations to my long-time friend and collaborator, one “BK” Brian Kowal. Hot on the success from Pro Tour with Boat Brew, he’s come back rocking an update of my ol’ PT Junk deck, designed by fellow PT-success story/great guy Cedric Phillips. These two are gems of men in the game, and it was a true pleasure seeing both of them do well, as a player and as a deckbuilder. Truly, the highlight of my weekend…
Brian Kowal is no stranger to having his decks in Top 8s. Probably most notably would be Bob Maher’s GP: Detroit victory with “Slideless” R/W Control, a deck I still think was the best deck in that Block format. He and I collaborated on ConTroll back in the day, giving me my GP Top 8 in Memphis, years back. We’ve been working on decks together since 1996. It’s awesome seeing Brian finally in the spotlight, rather than the man-behind-the-man (as us deckbuilders often are).
Also great to see was TK himself, Tommy Kolowith of Team ICBM. ICBM is no stranger to Legacy GP success; Owen Turtenwald breakout Grand Prix: Columbus showing wasn’t a fluke by any means, but he really hadn’t seen much success before then, not even winning a PTQ until his victory over me this season in the finals. Owen has translated some of that success into yet more Pro Tours, and is trying to make that rollover to mainstay pro, and I’m sure that his ICBM teammate, Tommy, is going to do the same. Tommy is mostly known for his Vintage successes (piloting Sullivan Solution to great finishes in many events), but for those who have seen Tommy play, you probably know just how talented this guy is. Translating your chance at continuing on the tour is one of those things that takes a little luck and a lot of talent. Just getting on the Tour is not enough; our own Stephen Menendian was handed the chance of a lifetime in Valencia, but couldn’t convert it. Tommy has the right amount of impressive play skill and desire to maybe make that hard conversion, and I’m hoping that he does.
As for the eventual victor, Mr. Gabriel Nassif… he definitely deserves all of this praise he’s receiving for his finishes. After the event was all said and done, Sam Black and I were heading out before we ran into LSV at a table with friends at the hotel bar. Someone mentioned how BK was “running hot” right now, and I definitely have to agree. We see these streaks sometimes; LSV’s multiple victories in a row (or near-victories), countless examples from the past, and now Nassif, making a charge, some claim, for solidifying “third best player ever.” That’s a heavy claim, and while I might want to contest it, I think that it is certainly something that could be argued for.
My own GP could have been a lot better. I chose to play the deck I played to 32nd place at GP: Columbus, a Prison deck based on Tax-Rack (though with Land Tax banned, I used Life from the Loam), Silver Bullets, and Enlightened Tutor. My deck (“Gitmo,” or “Club Gitmo,” or “Loam-Prison,” depending on my mood at the moment) felt incredibly awesome for the event, but I made a conscious decision to actively ignore Burn decks for Chicago; it struck me that Burn was just an ungood deck to choose for the event, I was light on space, and I needed to fit in cards I though were good for the environment.
Here is Club Gitmo from Columbus:
Creatures (6)
Lands (22)
Spells (32)
This deck was made to fight Flash, which it did quite well in all of my testing, both before and after the event. I made some classic “chuck the game” punts, costing me a much better finish, but overall, the deck felt like it had what was needed.
Initial testing against Counterbalance-Top was devastating; winning games was exceedingly hard, if not essentially impossible. As with any Silver Bullet deck, the key, though, was to have the right bullets. I changed around some cards to reflect the new environment, and got to this:
Creatures (5)
Lands (23)
Spells (32)
I didn’t include the amazing anti-burn card Harsh Judgment, and it cost me. Regardless of that, though, I’m okay with my decision. If we just change our decks around because of unlucky moments, we’ll be tossed around like a rowboat deep in the Atlantic. The key is discerning whether a moment is unlucky, or whether it is actually something to pay greater attention to.
I’m not going to delve into the details of this deck with this article; if there is enough clamoring for that in the forums, then I’ll probably make an article proper about the deck, how it functions, and why I’d suggest it for someone to play in an event.
Knocked out of the main event, I struggled with what it was I was going to do in the PTQ in the morning. I had three decks I liked. First of all, there was my new deck from the beginning of the season, Sullivan Red.
Creatures (19)
Lands (19)
Spells (22)
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- 4 Incinerate
- 4 Magma Jet
- 3 Shrapnel Blast
- 4 Molten Rain
- 4 Chrome Mox
- 2 Smash to Smithereens
Sideboard
If I’d change anything for the new format, it would be to include 2 Sword of Fire and Ice in the board and 1 more Dwarven Blastminer, in place of the 3 Boil. I love the deck, but after being smacked around by Bant one too many times, I just don’t know that I’m as comfortable playing it; Bant has just gotten so popular around here.
My other Red deck, “Hipster Burn,” is just another Stupid Red Burn deck, but I really, really like it a lot. I’ve given it to a number of people to test, and everyone seems to think it is great (even against Bant), but at the same time, I just feel like it is a deck that doesn’t generally let me outplay anyone. At the PTQ in Indianapolis I attended, I know I would have been easily dispatched by my Storm opponent if I had been playing Hipster burn, but Sullivan Red just tore him up, largely because he wasn’t accustomed to playing around mana disruption, and feared it so much he tried to go off too soon. Ponza can make people mess up. Burn, not nearly as often.
Then, there was my other deck. Stompy.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love Stompy. Back in the day, I worked on a White/Green Stompy deck for Extended with Bryan Ramirez and Rashad Miller, and I really loved it, missing out on Q’ing from some bad beats and the occasionally deeply hostile metagame. Tooth and Nail, Tron, and Heartbeat were just nearly impossible matchups, and the deck, despite being really good, probably was not right. At least not right for the metagame of the moment.
Rashad, I think, was at least unconsciously influenced by those decks when he made Spirit Stompy, and played it to such great success. He and I chatted about White/Green beatdown towards the beginning of the season, and ended up both making very different decks.
When he saw mine, he saw my Red mana and Wild Nacatl and accused me of abandoning Stompy in favor of Zoo. I’ll still claim purity in this, though, and call my deck, free of burn, Stompy (even though it can trick people into thinking it is Zoo).
Of course, it does play some unconventional cards, as some would comment:
“Must be nice, playing for Top 8 of the PTQ with that deck as your opponent,” I heard someone say from behind me to my opponent, mocking my O-Naginata…
Sometimes I love playing rogue decks, and sometimes I hate it. When you’re playing cards that your opponent doesn’t know are good, you can get wins that they didn’t even see coming. It does, however, get aggravating to hear passersby dissing on the cards you are playing, even though you are winning.
“Why are you playing this? Why not just play the best deck?”
I think most people have decided that Wizards is the “best” deck, and they are mostly right. I was playing this deck because it beats Wizards, and it is good against any random opponent. Sure, like many Stompy decks in history, it doesn’t like Wrath effects, but hey, who plays those these days? Heh.
So, here it is, my crazy deck, Sullivan Stompy:
Creatures (26)
- 3 Eternal Witness
- 4 Troll Ascetic
- 4 Vinelasher Kudzu
- 3 Tarmogoyf
- 4 Gaddock Teeg
- 4 Wild Nacatl
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
Lands (20)
Spells (14)
I won’t bore you with the sideboard, because basically I threw it together that morning, and it wasn’t correct.
The two real moments that really clicked for me when I chose the deck were based on conversation I had with two players I love: Richard Feldman and John Treviranus (of Boat Brew and Dark Tenacious Tron fame). I wasn’t sure what to play in the PTQ and John said that I should play my Stompy deck.
“John, I just don’t know if the deck is ready.”
“That’s what you said about Sullivan Red.”
“Good point.”
A part of the problem was that I was torn up in my time obligations. I had been finishing up a contract job in my “real world” life, and I was trying to get as much playtesting in for Standard (for the Pro Tour) and Legacy (for the Grand Prix) as I could. That left me with just a handful of games against a handful of opponents. The deck looked solid, but I couldn’t truly be sure. I just knew that the deck had something.
The thing that was so good about my old Stompy deck was just how quickly you had people almost dead. If, as people say, Prosak Zoo does Burn one better by taking out the weak burn spells for creatures, then Sullivan Stompy goes the next step and takes out the burn spells for more permanent-based damaged (and, to be fair, Prosak Zoo, I feel, is far more of a Zoo deck that is informed by Burn than a Burn deck made good). What this change translates into is that most decks that are prepared for the aggressive capabilities of a Zoo deck are simply under-prepared for the sheer attacking power that you can produce. While Richard Feldman or Zac Hill might grumble about Troll Ascetic, when I reminded them that I wasn’t planning on blocking, they very much came around to him.
Speaking of Richard Feldman, he was the other source of final inspiration to play the deck. I showed it to him in our hotel room the night before Grand Prix. I had a singleton in the deck that was essentially a placeholder. At the time I was running one Mana Tithe, just ‘cause, knowing that I wanted it to be something else, but not sure what. I had tried Saffi Eriksdotter like Rashad Miller liked (extra protection for Gaddock Teeg!), but was underwhelmed by it. I had tried Iwamori, but, again, was underwhelmed. I’d tried a whole slew of things, but none of them really seemed correct. I wanted a singleton that could potential blow a game open, but not a card that I would want to see more than one-of, lest it clog my deck; I like the other 59 cards, but that 60th was just hard to find…
“What about Worship?” Richard asked.
I was pretty stunned. It added the potential for an entirely new dimension in the play of the deck, yet wouldn’t get in my way as a beatdown deck with 4 Chrome Mox if I didn’t need/want it. It seemed perfect. (And, incidentally, won me two game 1s, hands down.)
I played the deck in the 9 rounds of Swiss PTQ at GP Chicago Day 2, losing to a Prosak Zoo in the Swiss, but otherwise feeling mostly in charge of the games I had against most opponents. I don’t have my notes handy (because someone stole my NOTEBOOK of all things — enjoy those decklists I didn’t think were worthwhile, pal), but I believe I went 8-0 in games against Wizards, utterly destroying them while sandbagging cards. I finished second in the Swiss after having to play out all nine rounds.
I sideboard extra Worships for Zoo and Burn, and beat each of those as well. Jittes and Swords took care of my Elf opponent in two games, with O-Naginata turning his Wirewood Symbiote into a inconsequential answer to Jitte, and Gaddock Teeg stopping him from going off after he drew 8 with Regal Force.
The way that the deck works is abusing equipment and Steelshaper’s Gift along with Chrome Mox and a fast creature. As long as you know how to play around the appropriate countermagic from a Wizards player, they just usually can’t keep up, because nearly every creature you have is relevant to the ground except Eternal Witness, which just piles some card advantage on top of things. I remember my opponent’s Vendilion Clique coming down, to try to even out the situation, him grimacing, and making me toss a card, only to have me draw a Chrome Mox off it so that I could drop a Nacatl, O-Naginata (and equip), and another Troll Ascetic with my fresh Treetop Village. My hand was empty, but suddenly he was dealing with +3 damage on that turn and +12 extra damage on the next turn, and even Jitte couldn’t save him.
I would grossly misplay in the Top 4 versus the very capable DJ from Michigan (sorry my notes are incomplete from our match). I was really, really lucky to even playing there, but I decided to reward that good luck with a ton of bad play to make it all seem like a waste… My quarterfinal opponent was an aggressively anti-creature Death Cloud deck that seemed like a nightmare matchup, but upon further reflection was probably closer to the nightmare of nightmares. In game 1, he brought me down to no lands or creatures, and in game 2 and 3, he mulliganed badly and was mana stalled.
Overall. I’m still hunting for a sideboard for the deck, but wow, did the deck play out incredibly. I lost two matches, one versus Zoo where I was the recipient of the bad luck that plagued my quarterfinal opponent, and one where I played like a buffoon (though, to be fair, he still very well could have won that match if I hadn’t). Anyone that likes to attack could do well by playing my next new deck for the format. It’s a gooder.
(For those who care about the particular bonehead play that reallyreally mattered, it was this: my opponent was tapped out, and I had a Troll Ascetic in play, with him at 14 life. I resolve a Sword of Fire and Ice. On the following turn, I still haven’t drawn my fourth mana. I get The Fear [Side note: The Fear is one of the best Magic articles of all time, in my humble opinion]. The Fear is bad. One element of The Fear is playing around what could happen to the detriment of simply doing what you can do well. I don’t equip the Sword on the Troll, because IF he draws Engineered Explosives and plays it, he’ll kill my board. The problem with this line of thought is that if I do equip it, I’ll do an additional four damage, draw a card, and make up the loss, in addition to having him tapped out on his own turn, so I could reload the board with a new Troll. It was just awful. One, he had to draw the fifth mana. Two, he had to have the Explosives. Three, even if he did it, it’s the same difference. It was terrible, it cost me that game, it set me on tilt, and I played even worse in game 2. He definitely deserved his victory over me.)
Hope all is well for everyone out there. I know I’m still smiling as I think about my friend, BK, making his first Top 8!
Until next week…