I am currently on a ten day trip to San Juan and had a pit stop in Washington D.C. I was able to get a four-day layover in D.C. from my plane ticket, which I won in the last PTQ I played. I left with Jason Terry on Friday morning, and made it into Washington in the afternoon. Jason also won a PTQ for San Juan, so we had an identical travel itinerary.
I had a couple of options on what to play, since I have been keeping up with the Standard format thanks to my weekly column. I began thinking I was going to play a Jund deck that is similar to the deck I posted last week, with three copies of Sarkhan the Mad. I tested with DJ Kastner and realized that he smashed me with U/W Control and Planeswalkers / Super Friends / American Control. I did not want to play a deck that was getting wrecked by the most popular control decks. We switched sides, since he is good at playing control, and the deck was still destroying Jund.
Jund is not the best deck by a mile anymore, so I did not think it was worth playing it. There is not much room for skill with the deck, so I would only play it if it was by far the most powerful strategy. I went from second at a Pro Tour to going 3-2 at FNM the following week with the same deck.
The National Qualifiers showed us that there are four decks that are all equally represented in Top 8s. Jund, Mythic, Planeswalkers, and U/W Control all have a good chance of winning a tournament. I love playing control decks, so I wanted an excuse to play something fun. Writers tell you to play what you know, and it is the best advice you can receive.
For my tournament reports, I like to talk about my thought process behind deck choice and my travels instead of tedious round recaps. Reading those can sometimes be entertaining, but I want you guys to learn something.
I know you guys hate it when I don’t ship a list, so here is what I played.
U/W Control
Creatures (7)
Planeswalkers (7)
Lands (25)
Spells (21)
- 2 Oblivion Ring
- 2 Mind Spring
- 2 Martial Coup
- 4 Path to Exile
- 1 Divination
- 2 Day of Judgment
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 3 Everflowing Chalice
- 1 Deprive
Sideboard
This is a pretty standard U/W Control deck, but has a random Divination because I hated having two Mind Springs in the early game. I adopted the Divination after playing with Planeswalkers. The three-drop slot is pretty empty and it helped make the deck more fluid. It works well with Everflowing Chalice, since you can kick for two and cast it on turn 5.
The random Deprive is great in the late game and is still playable early. It was used to return Celestial Colonnade that was enchanted with Spreading Seas. I also wanted a counterspell to protect Baneslayer Angel.
I did not include Baneslayer Angel in my list until I decided to respect the Red deck. Everyone I asked about their matchups said that most decks were fine, but were unfavorable against Red. Normally having three byes allows you to avoid fringe players with the Red deck, but I think it’s a great choice at the moment. I wanted to be sure I was not going to lose to Red because I don’t have any maindeck lifegain.
My list earlier in the week included +1 Martial Coup, +1 Sphinx of Jwar Isle, +1 Negate, -3 Baneslayer Angel. I am not sure which configuration is correct, but Baneslayer did not win many games for me since it mostly just died to Maelstrom Pulse or Path to Exile. It is nice to have a threat that must be answered, and it also reduces the curve.
When I arrived at the convention center on Friday afternoon, there were about 1,000 people registered already. I knew this tournament was going to be big, but not “1,900 people” big. Patrick Chapin also had a top secret brew he had been working on for this tournament. He said it had Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Vengevine, so I was interested. I watched some games against Naya to see how it plays, but decided against playing it since I don’t like picking up a deck I have never played before.
The deck was interesting, since it played out like U/W Control, but it had inevitability due to Vengevine always returning to play. It was an intricate deck, so I stuck with what I knew, and hopefully I’d be rewarded for it.
I had three byes due to being level 4, so I only had to play six rounds on the first day. I ended at 8-1, only losing to Billy Moreno and his wild brew. It had Resounding Wave, Rolling Terrain, Lotus Cobra, Bloodbraid Elf, Siege-Gang Commander, Jace, and Nest Invader. I had no clue what he was playing, and also had no clue about what a good plan would be to combat the deck. Two rounds later, I played against it again, but won because I had a good plan this time.
Round 4 – U/W Mirror, 2-0
Round 5 — Jund, 2-1
Round 6 – Resounding Wildness, 1-2
I started to stabilize in the first game after a Day of Judgment, but randomly died to two Rolling Terrains. This deck may become popular because Billy has written about it, and it was featured in the main coverage.
Round 7 — Jund, 2-1
This game one was pretty absurd, and I was already slightly annoyed that my dreams of another 9-0 Day 1 were destroyed twenty minutes ago. My opponent was at 5, and I pass the turn with two Gideon and a Path to Exile. We both had nothing in play, and he had no cards in hand. He drew and played Blightning, so I am left with a Gideon. I drew and cast Baneslayer Angel, then he played Terminate. I drew a land and played the Gideon, then he played Maelstrom Pulse from the top. The next spell I drew was Baneslayer Angel, and he Bituminous Blasted it at end of turn, and cascaded into Bloodbraid Elf into Lightning Bolt to kill the Angel. He attacked me to four and passed. I drew a blank and he attacked me to one. I drew Martial Coup for 10 and passed. He drew Blightning, and I died.
I was on tilt for about ten minutes after that. The lesson here is that nobody will feel sorry for you, and just play through it.
Round 8 – Resounding Wildness, 2-1
Round 9 — Jund, 2-0
You may notice that I battled Jund three times, and I won each time, so my testing was pretty accurate. Here is my sideboarding plans against the decks I played on Day 1.
Jund:
+3 Flashfreeze
+2 Kor Firewalker
-1 Oblivion Ring
-2 Path to Exile
-1 Gideon Jura
-1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
U/W Mirror:
-2 Day of Judgment
-2 Path to Exile
-4 Wall of Omens
+4 Negate
+1 Jace Beleren
+1 Kor Sanctifiers
+2 Oblivion Ring
Resounding Wildness:
+3 Flashfreeze
+3 Negate
+1 Essence Scatter
+1 Day of Judgment
+2 Oblivion Ring
-1 Deprive
-4 Path to Exile
-3 Baneslayer Angel
-2 Spreading Seas
Day 2 was a long day, since I only got two hours of sleep and ground for many hours during the previous day. Eight rounds was tough when playing a deck like U/W Control, since there were no free wins to be had.
When I got to the site, I tested some games with Owen Turtenwald playing Jund. I like to get games in before a tournament, since I get rusty in the morning. He was the only one who consistently beat me with Jund.
Here are my matches during the second day.
Round 10 – Mono Red, 2-0
My opponent did not end up playing Manabarbs after sideboard, but I was contemplating extra Oblivion Rings to stop such a plan.
Round 11 – Mythic Conscription, 2-0
I thought this match was a lot more difficult than it actually was. I played a Day of Judgment on four and the game got better from there. Gideon is a great way to protect yourself from the random Conscription blowout.
Round 12 – U/W Control mirror, 1-2
This round was against Brad Nelson, who ended up taking it all down. We both knew that we were on some sort of slow control deck, so we tried to play as fast as possible. I felt that some of my play was slightly sloppier than usual because I was rushed. The rule I learned from this match was to never let anyone else dictate your pace of play. If you need to take some time, figure out your play before you do anything.
Round 13 – U/W/R Planeswalkers, 2-1
There was some secret tech that was unveiled on me in this match. I won game1, and was about to win game 2 because I had Jace, Gideon, and Elspeth in play. I was at ten life, and he calmly played his eleventh land and Banefired me for the win. The third game made me paranoid because I had no idea that his deck only contained one. It is the sickest sideboard technology for control mirrors, since it can hit a Jace for four mana. It is like playing additional copies of Jace, but it can also win the game if it goes long.
Round 14 — Jund, 2-1
Round 15 – Chapin Brew, 2-0
In the second game, I made the mistake of waiting for him to untap to play Path to Exile on his giant Scute Mob so he could not play Jace. His last card in hand was a Bant Charm, and I almost lost because of the blunder.
Round 16 — Jund, Intentional Draw (this put Owen into the Top 8, and I have another shot to beat someone else.)
Owen’s Jund deck had Prophetic Prism in his sideboard, which puts him ahead in the matchup. The best way to win against Jund is to land-screw them.
Round 17 – U/W Control mirror, 2-0
The way I made myself calm in this match was to offer a 50/50 split, since there was less on the line. My real concern was the pro points, but knowing there was a split helped me play to the best of my abilities. There are many things you can do to help put yourself in such a comfort zone.
Here is how I sideboarded against the decks I faced on Day 2.
Mythic:
+2 Oblivion Ring
+1 Essence Scatter
+1 Day of Judgment
-1 Baneslayer Angel
-2 Wall of Omens
-1 Spreading Seas
Chapin Brew:
+2 Oblivion Ring
+2 Negate
-4 Path to Exile
Mono Red:
+2 Kor Firewalker
+3 Flashfreeze
-1 Martial Coup
-4 Spreading Seas
I considered drawing into Top 16 after the sixteenth round in order to seal level 6 status for next year, but I went for the kill instead. It is important to keep the winner’s mentality when it comes to playing for a GP Top 8, or in other high pressure matches.
After a grueling 17 rounds, I was 14-2-1. This would surely be good enough to make Top 8. I ended up in third place after the swiss rounds.
In my Top 8 round, I played against Jund with some interesting changes. He had 3 Sarkhan the Mad, 4 Lotus Cobra, 4 Vengevine, and 4 Hellspark Elemental. I got to see his decklist before the match started, so I knew his only way to kill Baneslayer Angel was four Maelstrom Pulse and three Sarkhan the Mad. The deck was very creature-oriented, so it was a very good matchup. I won 2-0.
I would also like to point out that my opponent was very nervous this round, and it felt like Top 8 was good enough for him. Making Top 8 at a tournament with over 1900 players is a huge accomplishment, but you can still go farther.
My Top 4 opponent was once again Owen Turtenwald. Of all Jund players I could play, he was the only one who was giving me trouble. I had land troubles both games, and lost in a pretty anticlimactic fashion.
It would have been awesome to win the whole thing, but I am glad to have gone as far as I did. I won 6 pro points, so I will be level 6 before Worlds.
I was very happy with the deck I played, and am probably going to play it again in the WPN Championship in San Juan, unless I make the Top 8 there. I’ll try the Baneslayer package as well as the +1 Sphinx, +1 Martial Coup, and +1 Negate. I tried the Evolving Wilds, but I was not a fan. A third Arid Mesa or second Scalding Tarn should replace it. The Essence Scatter in the sideboard should be another Kor Firewalker.
This tournament gave me a huge confidence boost for the Pro Tour, which is just what I needed.
I have not been testing Block Constructed yet, but here is what I am considering.
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
71 Other Cards
The deck needs some work, as you can tell. I know the power of Jace in Standard, and I think it’s even better in Block Constructed. I am going to be in a San Juan Beach House for the entire week, so I will hopefully find out what those remaining 71 cards should be.
If you see me at the Pro Tour, feel free to say hello.
Thanks for reading…
Kyle
[email protected]