Man, oh man, am I tired. I just got home from the PTQ in Detroit. I decided to show up and do some dream crushing. Brian Hacker, you would be so proud of me. This is my story.
I brewed up a nice one this week with the help of Poker Legend Efro, figuring I wanted to try a new angle, this time focusing on the 4th best card in the format, Ancient Grudge. (#3 is Vedalken Shackles, #2 is Tarmogoyf, #1 is obviously Sensei’s Divining Top)
The two decks I was working on early in the week were a Collective Restraint Rock variant and a Burning-Tree Shaman Gruul deck, similar to the one Kyle Sanchez discussed here. After brainstorming with Efro, I decide to focus on the Burning-Tree Shaman deck.
The dilemma was how to make Restraint beat combo or Burning-Tree beat creature decks. I came up with the idea to add a beast theme to the Gruul deck, figuring that Baloth, Stomphowler, Garruk, and Cliffs are all good cards in their own right, but are all fine choices in the format and should provide a great plan versus creature decks.
I tested the deck and found it surprisingly effective. It has a lot of great angles to attack players from. Ideal? Stomphowlers, Magus of Moon, Living Wish for Teeg, and a quick clock. Dredge? 4 Fanatics, 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder, 4 Ravenous Baloth, Wish for Teeg and Jailer, and sideboard Tormod’s Crypts (yeah, they never win). Next Level Blue? Magus of Moon, Burning-Tree Shaman, Stomphowler, 3 Putrefy, sideboard 4 Ancient Grudges, etc. Affinity? Stomphowler, Wish for Kataki, sideboard 4 Grudge, 3 Putrefy, etc. They can literally never, ever, ever win. Never in a million years.
Efro was responsible for such innovations as Birds of Paradise and Overgrown Tomb, as the deck started R/G, then acquired White and Black after testing. This is what we came up with. Efro played this or something close to it today.
Creatures (29)
- 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 4 Mogg Fanatic
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Ravenous Baloth
- 4 Burning-Tree Shaman
- 3 Indrik Stomphowler
- 2 Magus of the Moon
- 4 Tarmogoyf
Lands (23)
Spells (8)
He went 2-1-1 drop, as he was not feeling well, but said the deck was great, although it needed tuning. I don’t know. I know that this one is deceptively great. It attacks from a lot of angles that can catch people off balance.
I was very close to running it, but I knew that I just wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for not playing Next Level Blue when I had the chance. It is the best deck and would be the most fun for me.
Testing the night before, I played some games against Hot Dog Eating Champion Josh Wludyka and his Red Deck Wins. I was on NLB and I must say, I was not thrilled with the results. I suspect it is around 50% game 1, and worse after boarding, although far from unwinnable. His list was interesting to me, although I suspect I would probably never play it. It just doesn’t have enough play to interest me. Still, I think it is a good PTQ choice for a beatdown player looking to qualify. This is his list:
Creatures (20)
Lands (20)
Spells (20)
Sideboard
Obviously this deck is pretty soft versus Graveyard decks and Ideal, but it is a nice choice against aggro and control. Definitely one to watch.
Okay, we are finally to the deck I actually played in the PTQ today. I didn’t change much from my article two weeks ago. World’s was a special exception, as I am sure you can understand. On the regular, I am bringing you guys cutting edge technology, straight from the lab. This is what I played:
Creatures (4)
Lands (21)
Spells (35)
For discussion on Next Level Blue, go here. The only changes I made were to replace a Cryptic Command for a Thirst (just needed to make room for fourth Thirst) and replacing Temple Garden with Breeding Pool (the Island count really needs to be maxed).
To everyone asking if 4 Shackles is right, I must say that if your judge will let you play 5, then you should…
I also took the two extra Katakis out of the board. The Hurkyl’s Recall helps here, and the Affinity match-up is plenty good, so why waste the slots? The Gaddock Teeg is vital for fighting Ideal and Tron.
Round 1, my opponent is playing U/g Tron. This is unfortunate. I do not think I have many bad match-ups, but I am pretty sure this one is not good. We go to three and I eventually craft a turn where he is bottle-necked on Blue mana and I am able to basically go with Thirst into Thirst into untap Wish, Wish, Teeg, Mage (over two turns).
1-0
Round 2, I face U/w Tron. What is this? Some kind of a sick joke? Our first game lasts 40 minutes, ending with me having a Tarmogoyf in play. My graveyard contains all three creatures I wished for and my other three Tarmogoyfs. It is up to this Goyf. If he can’t do it, no one can. My library is two Tops, two Chrome Moxes, and two Land.
I am at 6, my opponent is at 5. I attack with my 6/7 Goyf. He thinks and decides to Decree of Justice for 16. I ask him if one blocks my Goyf. He says yes, block with one token. I then play Academy Ruins and put Engineered Explosives back on top of my library (like I should have before combat), Top, and kill his team. I win next turn.
We don’t have time to finish game 2, obviously.
2-0
Wow, two wins off Tron? K.
Round 3, I play against a local player playing Doran. Game 1, he double mulligans and I win easily. Game 2, he plays turn 1 Thoughtseize, turn 2 Therapy double hit, Birds, sac, Therapy again. Obviously, I am wrecked. He wins this one.
Game 3, I keep 4 Islands, Breeding Pool, Chrome Mox, and Vedalken Shackles on the play. He plays turn 1 Thoughtseize. Awk. Whatever though, I’ll ride.
Turn 2, he plays Confidant and the race is on, him versus Goldfish. Over the course of the game, he does two to himself with a shockland, four with Thoughtseizes, four with fetchlands, and eight with Confidant. At this point I have draw pretty much nothing but lands all game, but he is scared to death of playing a second creature for some reason, despite me knowing he has two more creatures in hand.
I draw Counterbalance and play it, passing the turn, just hoping to mise. On his turn, he plays Loxodon Hierarch. I blind flip Cryptic Command. Obv.
I draw the Command and pass. He plays Loxodon Hierarch before combat. I counter it and tap his team (I don’t draw a card, as I reveal a two to Counterbalance, which I need to stay on top of my library, plus the damage prevention helps a lot).
I draw and drop Tarmogoyf, passing. He reveals yet another land to Confidant and casts Loxodon Hierarch. I blind flip…
… wait for it…
CRYPTIC COMMAND #2!
That is just how I roll, Gentlemen (and Ladies).
Tap your team, attack for lethal, that is.
3-0
Round 4, I play against R/g Red Deck Wins. So this match-up is pretty much 90% the die roll. I roll a 19. Then he rolls a 20. Awk.
He wins game 1 completely because he is on play.
I win game 2 completely because I am on the play (and I trick him with Counterbalance, I tap my Top to draw a card, he tries to Grudge it, and I Counterbalance revealing a two, despite being tapped out).
Game 3, he double mulligans, but it is still close, since he is on the play. Still, I am able to stabilize with Counterbalance Top and Shackles. I take his Magus of the Moon and proceed to do eighteen with it (Stomping Ground did two). Close, but I probably would have lost to seven cards.
4-0
Round 5, I play against an almost exact copy of Chase Rare. Game 1 takes a long time, but essentially I am dead to the advantage from turn 1 Confidant, although I had Counterbalance-Top, so I had to fight it out.
Game 2, I have to fight tooth and nail to stay in, as he has Counterbalance Top immediately. Still, thanks to Repeal, I am able to mount a comeback, bouncing Counterbalance and playing one of my own. His Vensers keep messing me up, but eventually I get there with Engineered Explosives.
We have 4 minutes to play game 3, which obviously ends in a draw. Sensei’s Divining Top takes so long! It should be banned much the same way Thawing Glaciers was. It is broken in its own right, plus it is undesirable for tournament play to slow things down so much.
4-0-1
Round 6, I play National Team Member Michael Jacob, a friend of mine. Michael is an excellent player and was 5-0, so at the time I didn’t feel too bad for playing it out against him. Besides, I made a decision before the tournament that I wouldn’t scoop to anyone in swiss. The EV is so low, I might as well have just not played at all.
He is a mature guy and would never think to ask for the scoop, let alone give me a hard time for not conceding. He agrees that I don’t have any sort of obligation to concede to anyone. I am here to win.
Michael is playing Ideal, which is just about my best possible match-up. Adam Yurchick told me the day before that he was crushing people playing NLB, but then we played a ton of games, a mix of sideboarded and not, and ended up 18-5. I am not sure what to say. Play smart, dig aggressively into bounce and permission, and get a quick Tarmogoyf.
I easily defeat Michael in two games, but the story doesn’t end. One of the locals starts giving me a hard time for not conceding, since he is my friend. I argue that I am friends with 35 players in the tournament. Where do I draw the line? I drew the line at not scooping in swiss.
In the end, the local admitted that my strategy made sense, but through everything, Michael was a true gentleman and always professional. What is the point of even playing if I am just concede to everyone I know? Block for them? I will block with the best of them, but I paid my own entry fee and woke up early in morning with two hours of sleep. I am definitely playing my heart out.
5-0-1
Round 7, I am paired with Owen Turtenwald who is 6-0. He is playing a variation of NLB. He concedes to me, as he can still just draw in, but I need a win.
6-0-1
Round 8, I intentionally draw with Adam Yurchick who is still running Ideal. Again, this is a bye, so I would love to see him in Top 8. Also, I did the math and I couldn’t help any of my teammates out with dream crushing Adam. (He is a good guy, besides).
6-0-2
So I am Top 8 and have to play Cedric Phillips round 1. Ced is a great guy, but I am on a mission now. My teammate, Kyle Boggemmes, is on the other side of the bracket and I am trying to meet him in the finals.
Ced is playing G/B/r Flow-Rock (or so he says… he never played Flow against me).
Game 1, I lose a heartbreaker to Jitte that felt close, but I was always bottlenecked on mana. To be fair, I kept a no lander on the draw, but I had Chrome Mox, Sensei’s Top, and a sick grip. Still, I didn’t get there.
Game 2, I quickly lock him up with turn 1 Top, turn 2 Counterbalance. At one point, he four-for-zeros himself to kill a Top, but it does break him out of the lock. Still, my card advantage is too much for him.
Game 3, he plays a turn 1 Birds, turn 2 Thoughtseize and Confidant, and a turn 3 Confidant. Things seem grim. Still, I fight a damn good fight to eventually arrive at the position of having two cards in hand. I know his hand has a Profane Command and two mystery cards. My board is a Shackles on a 6/7 Goyf. He has a Dark Confidant. I am at 6 life, he is at 5. He plays Cabal Therapy. I Cryptic Command it, tapping his team. He goes deep into the tank. He has enough mana to Profane Command a Goyf out of his grave, but not to kill me. He studies my graveyard and decides to Cabal Therapy me, flashed back off Confidant. I quickly say yeah. He names Threads of Disloyalty, having read me for Threads to steal his Goyf that he is about to make. I show him my Counterspell and he realizes what he has done. It turns out his other card was a second Profane Command.
7-0-2
In the semifinals, I play against John Swearingen armed with U/g Tron. Game 1, I am mana-lite and he responds to a Thirst with a Gifts that puts me away.
Game 2, I play a turn 2 Counterbalance and blind hit his Signet. Then I play a land and a Goyf. He plays a Chrome Mox and I hit blind. He transmutes a Tolaria West.
Next turn I bash. He plays another Signet and I obviously hit blind again. On my I finally play a Sensei’s Top and the soft lock combined with massive card-advantage eventually result in Goyf doing twenty.
Game 3 he mulligans, but has turn 1 Chrome Mox, Signet on the play, a potentially deadly explosion. I am able to Repeal and Explosives his mana to slow him down and eventually fight a battle of Thirsts and Gifts. When he Gifts, I elect to give him Sundering Titan and Mindslaver, over Thirst and Gifts, despite him having the Tron, just to bottleneck his mana as best I can. Note, he also has Ruins at this point. I drop a 6/7 Goyf and prepare the beats.
He plays Sundering Titan and I Cryptic Command it.
I bash him from 18 to 12.
He plays Mindslaver. I Cryptic Command it as well. He plays an awkward Stomphowler.
I bash him from 12 to 6 and drop a second Goyf as well as Teeg.
He Academy Ruins Explosives back on top of his library and has a grip of two mystery cards and an EE.
He has about 13 colorless and 2 Breeding Pools for mana. He picks up his Stomphowler, contemplating an attack. It was at this point he lost the match. I was able to get a sick read on him here, as you will see.
He decided to wait on attacking and played a Moonglove Extract. I had one Counterspell in my hand. Do you use it? If you don’t, you are committed to countering EE and die to Titan, Slaver, Thirst (with Ruins), Gifts, Moment’s Peace, or Repeal. If you don’t counter it, you are playing around a second Moonglove Extract.
Obviously I play around a second Moonglove Extract.
Which is obviously what he had…
I let it resolve, he kills Teeg, he tries to EE, I counter, he attacks, I block, and that is game, set, match.
8-0-2
My teammate Kyle made the finals with Domain Zoo so I scooped him in, finishing undefeated.
In retrospect, I would probably cut the Watery Grave, Jailer, and a Crypt. For a Snow-Island, another Hurkyl’s, and another card for the mirror, like EE or Threads.
No one played Dredge, and besides, we would probably have trouble with it anyway, so the hell with it. Go 2-0 and you won’t have to worry about facing Dredge.
I think this is a fantastic deck choice for next week. It has the best disruptive element (Counterbalance), the best board control (Shackles), the best library manipulation (Top, Ponder, Thirst, Wish, more), the best victory condition (Goyf), and makes the best use of the best card in the format (Top). It is a very challenging deck to play, but I assure you, it is definitely a defining deck in the format.
Repeat, this is not ChaseRare.dec. It is the next level of Blue decks.
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”