I've mentioned this before, but when Nick and Jimmy took down both invites at a Super IQ about a month ago, I made it a goal to also qualify and join them in Somerset in late July. For this reason only, I decided to play in Thanks For Playing's Super IQ yesterday -- Mother's Day. Sunday tournaments generally draw fewer players, and this one being on a family holiday, as well as offering two invites, would probably be my best shot between now and the Invitational to qualify. So I woke up at 6am, drove 90 minutes to my parents' house for breakfast with my mom, then headed to Urbana for the tourney, packing the same 71/75 I took to NJ last week. I changed my 3/3 split of Thundermaw/Silverheart to 4/2, and cut the singletons in the side for 3x Gruul War Chant.
I found Mike right away and we both started bitching about the colder-than-expected temperature outside, the layout of the store, and the owners for delaying the start of the tourney 20+ minutes because one person was running late. One thing I actually did like about TFP was that they had DirecTV and I got to watch a little bit of the O's and Caps games.
OK.... on to the tourney (46 players)
Round 1 vs U/W/R mid-range
Game one I drew faster/bigger threats and he had to hold back Geists on defense, chumping with three of them, while playing Azorius Charm on hasty creatures a couple times as well. Eventually I took it down.
Expecting him to side out the Geists I swapped Bonfires for Mortars and brought in Huntmasters and my own (Strangleroot) Geists. This game, after giving him the two-for-one Boros Reckoner is always good for (Mortars and a Boar) I'm holding back defenders for his triple-Geist draw. On the last turn he's at 14, I'm at 1, but I have an out if I can draw a Rampager since Huntmaster flips and puts him to 12 and I have one Rampager in hand already. I fake the second rampager for funsies anyway. After two really good games, I go to a 3/3 Bonfire/Mortars split, and wreck him after he mulls and keeps a sketchy 6.
(2-1, 1-0)
Round 2 vs Naya mid-range
Both games go easily as Bonfire decimates his mana dorks and Emissaries and he never gets the mana (or right colors of mana) for his curve toppers: Hellkite and Aurelia.
(2-0, 2-0)
Round 3 vs Aristocrats
I mull to 5 on the play game one, and manage to put up a really good fight with some really good play on my part, if I do say so myself. But a surprise Orzhov Charm returning a human and allowing the Silverblade in play to become paired catches me off guard and takes the game (a really cool play on his part, admittedly).
I swap out most of the Bonfires for Mortars game 2.
I have to mull to 6 and keep a less than optimal hand (I have Emissary into Boar and nothing else). He plays all the Falkenraths this game, ignoring Domri so I can't even get a fog out him and die quickly.
(0-2, 2-1)
Round 4 vs Jund
Game one goes perfectly as he spends his removal on my 2-drops and has nothing left for my 5's. Ironically, I vomit 2-drops in game two: Arbor Elf into Emissary, Emissary, Strangleroot into hasty Boar the first three turns. Turn four I finally get to try out Gruul War Chant, which turns out to be awesome in this scenario. :-)
(2-0, 3-1)
Round 5 vs Jund
This round goes just as quickly as the last as my fast starts aren't slowed by Farseeks and a one-for-one removal spell here or there. Game 2 I have the hard-cast Bonfire for two after his Huntmaster and take the match.
(2-0, 4-1)
Round 6 ID!
(0-0, 4-1-1)
Top 8 - I'm the 7th seed
One guy doesn't want to split the cash 8 ways ($125 a piece), so no split this round.
Quarterfinals vs my third straight (different) Jund player
I take game one ignoring farseeks and one-for-one removal. I board as I have been all day vs Jund, which includes siding out the Hellriders. Game two I'm able to spam the board but a Huntmaster and Thragtusk stabilizes him and I'm forced to clog the board to keep the pressure on. Unfortunately he has the 3rd red land, his 6th land, right on time for an overloaded Mortars and I don't have the gas to comeback. Game three I bring back the Hellriders on the play and get a decent start with turn 2 Burning-Tree Emissaries, but follow that with only a Domri. Domri makes an a Boar fight his leftover beast after Mortars kills a Thragtusk then +1 next turn revealing a Silverheart I can't cast.. Emissary #3 (two left in play) - go. Next turn he plays Olivia but he doesn't pay 2 life for his shock land, so only one untapped. Hellrider off the top does a good chunk of damage (3 triggers and letting the 2/2's get through) and he trades the Vampire for the Devil. He follows up with Huntmaster and I rip the 5th land for Silverheart and swing with both Emissaries (a 2/2 and a 6/6). He trades and chumps losing Huntmaster and the wolf token and has no follow up for the 6/6 and 8/8 coming his way.
Jarvis wins his quarterfinal and still doesn't want to split. Whatever (dick), I don't care about the cash.. Just one more win for the invite!
Semifinals vs Naya Blitz
I know Ben is running only creatures and lands in the main so I keep a one-land, two-Arbor Elf, two Bonfire hand on the draw. I can 1-for-1 on my second turn to remove a Champion before it gets out of hand, but just play more elves (Arbor #2 @ Sage). Then BAM! 3-for-1 with the hard-cast Bonfire for 2 on my third turn. From there I play runner-runner Thundermaw with only 3 lands in play to take game 1.
Game 2 I mull to 5 and make some "creative" plays to try to stay in it, but am overrun.
Game 3 I mulligan again and spend the first several turns deploying a Gyre Sage and 3 2/2 Boars. I'm able to capitalize on some misplays by Ben and trade some dudes on defense, while mana screwed. I finally hit land #3 and cast Huntmaster with an evolved Sage to stabilize. From there Thundermaw finishes him off to take the match!!
Fuck Yeah!! I'm going to NJ with Jimmy and Nick!
Jarvis wins his Semifinal and still doesn't want to split. Whatever (dick), I didn't want to make it to my girlfriend's mom's for dinner anyway!
Finals vs Jund
I remember nothing of this game except that he has all the answers to my less than optimal draw. Game two he plays Thragtusk on turns 4, 5 and 6. I think a ton this game whittling his 5/3's to 3/3's, though I'm eventually forced to cast Mortars NOT overloaded to take care of a creature while I'm at 1 life and only 5 lands in play. Ultimately, I die to two 3/3's with a fresh Thundermaw in play. Ever so slightly bummed to have lost to who I lost to, but still happy with the $200 and still fucking PSYCHED to get the invite I came for!!
Happy Mother's Day!!
e
Monday, May 13, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
G&S monthly Modern 5/11
There wasn't much going on, magic-wise, around Baltimore today and my only option to battle was Games & Stuff's monthly Modern tourney. Fine by me since I love playing my only modern deck, but it meant I'd be going solo (Jimmy, Mike and Nick aren't big fans of the format).
I brought this updated list of Aggro Mill:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Jace's Phantasm
3x Snapcaster Mage
3x Nihilith
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Spell Pierce
2x Thoughtseize
1x Orzhov Charm
3x Path to Exile
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
4x Archive Trap
4x Serum Visions
4x Visions of Beyond
3x Thought Scour
2x Island
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Watery Grave
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Seachrome Coast
(60)
1x Spell Pierce
1x Path to Exile
1x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
1x Spellskite
2x Echoing Truth
2x Azorius Charm
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Pithing Needle
(15)
I wanted to try out some of the more pricey cards that I don't have online, like Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique and even Spell Pierce. I also meant to add at least one more Spellskite to my side, but forgot to do so before leaving the house.
Round 1 vs Mono-blue Tron
He Remands everything game 1 and each is as good as a Timewalk for him as I'm not drawing any land. I get him down to around 6 before he hits back with a Wurmcoil Engine. After that he Mindslavers me (his Academy Ruins are in the grave though) and I Thoughtseize away my own Snapcaster, Path my own Delver (deciding not to search for a land) and attack with my Nihilith into his untapped Wurmcoil.... ouch.
I didn't see any Eldrazi game one, but bring in my Surgical Extractions and Lazav, along with my Hurkyl's Recalls. Game two I start slow because I spend the first few turns casting Thoughtseizes and Serum Visions. I'm able to stick Phantasm and flip a Delver that take it home for me following a timely Hurkyl's Recall sending Platinum Angel to his hand. Game three I Thought Scour away a Wurmcoil Engine and Surgical Extraction it thinking he's probably playing four if he's not running Eldrazi... Turns out he's only running two along with one Platinum Angel and one Sundering Titan - no Eldrazi at all. After seeing his hand I'm able to play around his Condescend as he's not finding the third piece of tron and take him down.
(2-1, 1-0)
Round 2 vs Mike Wayne playing Scapeshift
I like this matchup a lot after playing against it a bunch online, and the Thoughtseizes and Spell Pierces should only make it better.
Game one I Archive Trap him and hit THREE Scapeshifts! Not sure if he's running a full set, but he never finds anything worthwhile and dies after stalling me a bit with Cryptic Commands.
I bring in Surgicals again and the extra Spell Pierce, happy to leave Echoing Truth in the side since I took the first game. (They pretty much HAVE to come in if I lose game one to a deck that may board Leyline of Sanctity).
Game two I get an early Archive Trap and hit two Leylines. WHEW! Thoughtseizes and Spell Pierces do in fact prove to be awesome as I take Mike down with little resistance. The singleton Vendilion Clique got in on the action this game as well, tucking a Cryptic Command while he was tapped out.
(2-0, 2-0)
Round 3 vs Hexproof :(
I hate this deck so much! I always lose to it! In Standard, in Modern and even Innistrad Sealed (Invisible Stalker + Spectral Flight).
Because I was able to scout and knew what I was playing against I mulligan a usual auto-keep hoping to find at least one piece of disruption but my six is another auto-keep lacking Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce and I stick with it. I'm racing with two flipped Delvers until Day Break Coronet slams that door shut (Lifelink, Vigilance, First Strike AND Reach from some Umbra).
I bring in the one Spellskite (wishing I had more), the extra Spell Pierce and the Echoing Truth's since I've been Leylined by this deck in the past.
I'm able to first turn Phantasm and his first turn Trap. Turn two I Spell Pierce some Umbra and am feeling like I might have a shot! Next thing I know he's got a huge hexproof dude with every keyword. I Thoughtseize while at three and take a first strike umbra, leaving him with another Coronet. When he swings I Echoing Truth both Coronets, knocking his guy down to a 5/3 Trample and trade with my Phantasm. He Rancor's his Noble Hierarch after combat and I have one turn to deck him... I rip Snapcaster and flashback Glimpse the Unthinkable for the win :)
Game three I get crushed even after he mulls to 5. Fuck I hate that deck!
(1-2, 2-1)
Round 4 vs AggroLoam (he's the only player with 9 points)
Game 1 I don't do much. Not sure what the nuts for his deck is, but he seems to have drawn it this game. He finishes me by casting Faithless Looting, dredging two Loams, casting both loams and discarding 6 land to 12 me with Seismic Assault.
I bring in all the Pithing Needles, Surgical Extractions and the random Spellskite since I want to cut Delvers and some Path's (leaving one path in the deck for man-lands).
This game I get the nuts starting on Phantasm and having the Archive Trap for his first turn fetch plus attempted Flame Jabbing of said Phantasm. After that I drop another Phantasm, suspend a Nihilith (really good against Faithless Looting and retrace cards) and even Needle Seismic Assault.
Game 3 he re-sideboards and I discover later that it was for Ancient Grudges he didn't have game two.
I start out aggressively again this game with 5/5 fliers and 4/4 hasty guys. He recovers at a very low life with Liliana into Small Pox. I EOT Orzhov Charm back a Phantasm to take care of Liliana and he follows with Flame Jab your dude five times. I surgically extract his loams but he's taking chunks of life away from me with Raging Ravine. I find a Snapcaster to chump with while I'm at 2 and flash back Ancestral Recall which finds another Ancestral Recall and on my turn I Thought Scour + Glimpse to reduce his library to zero cards :)
(2-1, 3-1)
Prize pool was 4 different $30 modern rares that the four 3-1's each got one of. Being second on tie-breakers I took Karn Liberated before Linvala and Mox Opal (Noble Hierarch was first picked).
Changes I plan to make to the deck: +2 Spellskite in the sideboard. The Azorius Charms are looking appealing to cut right now since I never brought them in today, but I'm thinking the Lazav is probably a little too cute and needs to go. I'd like another Surgical Extraction in there somewhere too. And I still need to find a way to beat the Gruul deck and it's Rampagers. As for the maindeck, I think I'll stay with the 2/2 split of Spell Pierces and Thoughtseizes for now, and I like the 1x V Clique and 1x Orzhov Charm too.
e
I brought this updated list of Aggro Mill:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Jace's Phantasm
3x Snapcaster Mage
3x Nihilith
1x Vendilion Clique
2x Spell Pierce
2x Thoughtseize
1x Orzhov Charm
3x Path to Exile
4x Glimpse the Unthinkable
4x Archive Trap
4x Serum Visions
4x Visions of Beyond
3x Thought Scour
2x Island
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Watery Grave
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Seachrome Coast
(60)
1x Spell Pierce
1x Path to Exile
1x Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
1x Spellskite
2x Echoing Truth
2x Azorius Charm
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Surgical Extraction
3x Pithing Needle
(15)
I wanted to try out some of the more pricey cards that I don't have online, like Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique and even Spell Pierce. I also meant to add at least one more Spellskite to my side, but forgot to do so before leaving the house.
Round 1 vs Mono-blue Tron
He Remands everything game 1 and each is as good as a Timewalk for him as I'm not drawing any land. I get him down to around 6 before he hits back with a Wurmcoil Engine. After that he Mindslavers me (his Academy Ruins are in the grave though) and I Thoughtseize away my own Snapcaster, Path my own Delver (deciding not to search for a land) and attack with my Nihilith into his untapped Wurmcoil.... ouch.
I didn't see any Eldrazi game one, but bring in my Surgical Extractions and Lazav, along with my Hurkyl's Recalls. Game two I start slow because I spend the first few turns casting Thoughtseizes and Serum Visions. I'm able to stick Phantasm and flip a Delver that take it home for me following a timely Hurkyl's Recall sending Platinum Angel to his hand. Game three I Thought Scour away a Wurmcoil Engine and Surgical Extraction it thinking he's probably playing four if he's not running Eldrazi... Turns out he's only running two along with one Platinum Angel and one Sundering Titan - no Eldrazi at all. After seeing his hand I'm able to play around his Condescend as he's not finding the third piece of tron and take him down.
(2-1, 1-0)
Round 2 vs Mike Wayne playing Scapeshift
I like this matchup a lot after playing against it a bunch online, and the Thoughtseizes and Spell Pierces should only make it better.
Game one I Archive Trap him and hit THREE Scapeshifts! Not sure if he's running a full set, but he never finds anything worthwhile and dies after stalling me a bit with Cryptic Commands.
I bring in Surgicals again and the extra Spell Pierce, happy to leave Echoing Truth in the side since I took the first game. (They pretty much HAVE to come in if I lose game one to a deck that may board Leyline of Sanctity).
Game two I get an early Archive Trap and hit two Leylines. WHEW! Thoughtseizes and Spell Pierces do in fact prove to be awesome as I take Mike down with little resistance. The singleton Vendilion Clique got in on the action this game as well, tucking a Cryptic Command while he was tapped out.
(2-0, 2-0)
Round 3 vs Hexproof :(
I hate this deck so much! I always lose to it! In Standard, in Modern and even Innistrad Sealed (Invisible Stalker + Spectral Flight).
Because I was able to scout and knew what I was playing against I mulligan a usual auto-keep hoping to find at least one piece of disruption but my six is another auto-keep lacking Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce and I stick with it. I'm racing with two flipped Delvers until Day Break Coronet slams that door shut (Lifelink, Vigilance, First Strike AND Reach from some Umbra).
I bring in the one Spellskite (wishing I had more), the extra Spell Pierce and the Echoing Truth's since I've been Leylined by this deck in the past.
I'm able to first turn Phantasm and his first turn Trap. Turn two I Spell Pierce some Umbra and am feeling like I might have a shot! Next thing I know he's got a huge hexproof dude with every keyword. I Thoughtseize while at three and take a first strike umbra, leaving him with another Coronet. When he swings I Echoing Truth both Coronets, knocking his guy down to a 5/3 Trample and trade with my Phantasm. He Rancor's his Noble Hierarch after combat and I have one turn to deck him... I rip Snapcaster and flashback Glimpse the Unthinkable for the win :)
Game three I get crushed even after he mulls to 5. Fuck I hate that deck!
(1-2, 2-1)
Round 4 vs AggroLoam (he's the only player with 9 points)
Game 1 I don't do much. Not sure what the nuts for his deck is, but he seems to have drawn it this game. He finishes me by casting Faithless Looting, dredging two Loams, casting both loams and discarding 6 land to 12 me with Seismic Assault.
I bring in all the Pithing Needles, Surgical Extractions and the random Spellskite since I want to cut Delvers and some Path's (leaving one path in the deck for man-lands).
This game I get the nuts starting on Phantasm and having the Archive Trap for his first turn fetch plus attempted Flame Jabbing of said Phantasm. After that I drop another Phantasm, suspend a Nihilith (really good against Faithless Looting and retrace cards) and even Needle Seismic Assault.
Game 3 he re-sideboards and I discover later that it was for Ancient Grudges he didn't have game two.
I start out aggressively again this game with 5/5 fliers and 4/4 hasty guys. He recovers at a very low life with Liliana into Small Pox. I EOT Orzhov Charm back a Phantasm to take care of Liliana and he follows with Flame Jab your dude five times. I surgically extract his loams but he's taking chunks of life away from me with Raging Ravine. I find a Snapcaster to chump with while I'm at 2 and flash back Ancestral Recall which finds another Ancestral Recall and on my turn I Thought Scour + Glimpse to reduce his library to zero cards :)
(2-1, 3-1)
Prize pool was 4 different $30 modern rares that the four 3-1's each got one of. Being second on tie-breakers I took Karn Liberated before Linvala and Mox Opal (Noble Hierarch was first picked).
Changes I plan to make to the deck: +2 Spellskite in the sideboard. The Azorius Charms are looking appealing to cut right now since I never brought them in today, but I'm thinking the Lazav is probably a little too cute and needs to go. I'd like another Surgical Extraction in there somewhere too. And I still need to find a way to beat the Gruul deck and it's Rampagers. As for the maindeck, I think I'll stay with the 2/2 split of Spell Pierces and Thoughtseizes for now, and I like the 1x V Clique and 1x Orzhov Charm too.
e
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
New Jersey
Since Nick and Jimmy qualified for the invitational I've been looking for every opportunity to hopefully join them.
Nick joined me last Saturday for the 5 hour round trip drive and the SCG Standard Open.
I played Kenny Castor's list from the finals of the WMCQ in D.C. a few weeks earlier, with zero updates from Dragon's Maze.
I started 4-0 beating two junk tokens decks, a grixis control and mono red. Nick meanwhile was 3-1 with BUG aggro, losing only to my list.
Round 5 the wheels came off as usual :-\
I played UWR flash losing a close first game then stealing game two with runner-runner Thundermaw Hellkites.
Game three I apply enough pressure to prompt Supreme Verdict, but respond with Gyre Sage, Emissary, Boar (8 power total). I get to bash once before Snapcaster + Verdict. I then drop a Thundermaw while he's tapped out. He has to Sphinx for 4 to stay alive and I have a turn to draw any hasty guy or rampager or bonfire for the win, but whiff. He stabilizes and eventually takes the game.
Round six I get to face Reid Duke and am never in the match. I go over my sideboard options with Nick and am certain I sided incorrectly.
Now at 4-2 I'm ready to play some commander pods, but decide to stay in the main event as long as Nick is (5-1 at this point).
I beat a UWR planeswalker control to get to 5-2, Nick is to 6-1.
I lose to Aristocrats round 8, having sided poorly again, and Nick gets his second loss. We decide to pack it up and get home around 10.
Sunday morning I'm IM'd by Ben from Xanadu that they only got 7 people for the release day sealed tourney, so I head in to be their 8th. We do 6 packs of DGM, I pull 4 rares in Grixis, including Aetherling, and decent removal, and while the first 18-19 cards built themself it's still an exercise in sealed deck building to finish with 40 cards.
Anyway, I 3-0, only playing aetherling once (round 3; game 3), collect 8 packs (Ben didn't want to split) and open ZERO NOTION THIEVES!!
Since Mike's been slacking....
...I guess I'll write up a little bit about the last couple weekends.
Two weeks ago was the Dragon's Maze pre-release. Xanadu held one at midnight that actually drew 20-something people. I chose Selesnya and got paired with Simic. My pool lacked enough playable creatures for any color combination, so I splashed black and red into my bant for two Putrefy, two Turn//Burn and two Rakdos Drakes (the latter to go with my Bred for the Hunt).
This was the hardest sealed deck I've ever built. Staying at 40 cards was so difficult, I immediately thought of Mike and if he'd be able to stay under 50 when he played the next day.
Anyway, I got trounced by Naya round one and was scraping by the whole match - just doing enough to not die the next turn for a while. I thought about going home and actually getting some sleep, but saw that 2-2 still got a prize, so no drop yet.
Round two my opponent no shows so I play EDH with Kurt (Sweet!)
Round three pairings go up and I'm in the middle of a good game with Kurt so I scoop to my pre-release opponent to keep playing EDH.
Before the last round is paired, I proclaim that I want the bye so I can get a pack for going 2-2 and go home. My wish comes true and I'm home asleep by 4 :) but not after opening a third Notion Thief (2 in my pool) and selling them all to the store.
Saturday I play another pre-release at Xanadu. Jimmy comes too and brings beer! My pool is way better today after choosing Boros and pairing with Izzet. I actually have bombs (Aurelia) and splash a single non-america colored card - the new armadillo cloak. I finish a disappointing 3-2, collect 3 packs and sell my fourth notion thief to the store.
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