GP Minneapolis

Got to Minneapolis Friday night at about 9pm thanks to the brutal 12-hour drive. The hotel is nice enough, and the staff is very helpful.
We got to the tournament site at about 8am so we can be sure to have plenty of time and most people weren’t there yet so registering was a breeze.

Zendikar Game Day: Somewhat of a Report

This past Saturday was the much heralded Zendikar Game Day. I had traveled to Pandemonium in Garden City with my lovely wife to play in a Grand Prix Trial for Minneapolis. The “Game Day” tournament didn’t start until 2pm and we figured we could jump in it if our sealed decks didn’t shape up.

Apparently nobody knew about the GP Trial because there were a grand total of like 20 players. So we sat down in about 1/4 of the space available in the room and set about registering some sealed decks. The card pool I opened wasn’t too bad, with a few removal spells and a couple decent creatures. I wouldn’t have minded receiving it back. I heard more than one person say “I hope I don’t get this crap back.” and only 2 say they’d be overjoyed to receive theirs.

I was one of the ones that got someone else’s crappy pool. My only removal was 1 disfigure. I had multiple copies of such winners as Goblin War Paint, Spidersilk Web thingy, and Kraken Hatchling. The only real standout of the pool was the blue, which had about 3 bounce spells. Unfortunately the blue offered about 3 creatures, 2 of which were Kraken Hatchlings (and I had no good equipment) and no early drops to out-tempo someone. So I went black-red-green splashing the green for solid creatures. Going 2-color wasn’t really an option as the pool was just so abyssmal.

Later when my wife and I compared pools I saw hers and said “not too shabby, should be good to top8 a 20-person event.” And she said “Yuck!” when she saw what I had to work with. My thoughts exactly.

I believe I won the first round, but shipped the next three with reckless abandon. I was so disoriented and confused with the deck sideboarding wise (I was siding in multiple cards, usually cross-colors, just to have a fighting chance) that I mis-sideboarded at one point, got deck-checked, and received a game loss. That’s my first ever penalty in tournament play. Unless you count a caution I once received for something silly long ago.

So at 1-3 of a 5-round 20-person tournament I decide to drop (good call, only one 3-2 player made it in) and play in the ZEN game day. My wife was doing well with her pool and went 3-1-1 to secure a spot in the draft.

I briskly walk to the store and let them know I’ll be entering the game day and when I realize entry is only $5 I’m elated (I thought it would be more). There were only about 10 people playing in it, which also suprised me. Then I learned there was a PTQ in Ohio that day and it all made sense. I think they got over 200 people. So I sleeved up a Jund list and prepared for battle. The tournament was three rounds of swiss, cut to top 4. The most fun part of the tournament was that nobody had any idea what the prizes were until the finals, where we learned there was about a $6 difference in store credit and a lovely certificate.

My wife and I share a collection and the night before the tournament we spent a great deal of time trying to construct 2 different playable decks from the cards available to us. While waiting for the game day to start I had to break-down her deck to give me a better Jund build. And thanks to Kurt for letting me borrow some Planeswalker goodness and lands!! Here’s the list I ended up with:

3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
4 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
 
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Broodmate Dragon
2 Thornling
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
 
3 Bituminous Blast
4 Blightning
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Terminate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
 
Sideboard
4 Duress
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
3 Jund Charm
2 Thought Hemorrhage
3 Great Sable Stag

I had heard that Thornling was good in the mirror and happened to have some with me, so I tossed those in and ran with it, expecting to play against Jund all day. Little did I know…

round 1: Boros Bushwhacker (Dan Hojnacki)
All of my opponents on the day were polite, including Dan. He raced out to a ridiculously fast start in game one and I barely caught up. But catch up I did and when he didn’t draw the burn to seal the deal I was Bloodbraiding into Lightning Bolts to finish the deal. In game two he got stuck on two lands and just couldn’t keep up the pressure.
1-0 rounds, 2-0 games

round 2: Boros again (Gian Colista)
This time with a different pilot, but similar result. I won in two straight but I’m unsure of how the games played out. I know I almost lost one game but after removing his Lynx and Geopede he drew no more creatures. Game two he had a Goblin Guide running wild but only for 2 turns as I had a Leech followed up with a Thrinax. I think it was game 2 when I was stuck on 2 lands after dropping the Leech and he was debating a Path to Exile on it. I was praying he had a path so I could search out a basic and drop the Thrinax, and he went for it, which enabled my 3rd turn Thrinax which he could only sigh at and Bolt. I generated the saprolings to block his Guide and that was all she wrote as I promptly drew a 4th land and got silly with Cascade.
2-0 rounds, 4-0 games

round 3: Pyromancer’s Ascension (Vivek Soi)
Third round against the always exciting Dr. Soi. A tournament regular who we always manage to run in to at various events and a really nice guy. I knew what he was playing due to my last match taking all of 7 minutes and his taking the full round. So I had a feeling I would be able to win. He did have the craziest tech of the day, however, Swerve. Swerve is very silly and redirected about 4 of my Blightnings on the day from 2 different opponents. The games were surprisingly quick as I had good draws both times and he ran out of gas in game 2. He swerved the blightnings but couldn’t get the Ascension online and succumbed to Cascade card advantage.
3-0 rounds, 6-0 games

top 4: Boros yet again, same guy from round 1
Dan and I clashed again with the same result as round one.
4-0 rounds, 8-0 games

Finals: UWR Planeswalkers (Michael Schlotz)
I don’t believe I’ve played against this guy before but he played well. Sadly my deck did not. I kept some decent hands but Swerve reared its ugly head and sent my Blightnings back my way. Game one saw me going for it with turn 3 blightning, he had the swerve, of course, which made me pitch a land and I think a Broodmate. I then went for turn 4 Bloodbraid for which he had the Double Negative. I drew lands and Bit Blasts for the rest of the game and I believe he burned me out with Chandra. Game two was much of the same but I hit a land clot after about turn 6, and by the time his Luminarch Ascension was creating 4 Angels a turn I had upwards of 12 lands in play. Ah well. The deck put out some amazing gas for five rounds every game then petered out in the last one. Peak Oil? Hmmm…
4-1 rounds, 8-2 games

So even though the Trial was a bust for me, it was great for Sarah as she got to do a formal top 8 draft and proceed to punt the quarterfinals with a pretty good deck. Her opponent’s deck was ridiculous, though, so I’m glad she almost beat him. She claims that the savage punting was due to me walking over to watch after my top4 match. I claimed innocence, but she may have a point.

I received my $12 in store credit and used it to obtain a Sunpetal Grove. Woot! I was looking to get a Baneslayer (by dropping $22 in addition to the credit), but I think my finals opponent beat me to it. It was still a fine day for Standard, even though I missed out on that glorious certificate… and I am not the official “Zendikar Champion” of the store. /wrists

(oh, and R.I.P. my Limited Rating after that fiasco! Down to 1793 from 1843. 50 points for a GP Trial!!! At least my Constructed went up to 1886… from 1880… yeah, 6 points. )

(Oh, one more aside. I’m not a fan of Jund in the current Standard and I’ll have a post about my reason for that and what deck(s) I would play, coming soon!)

New Standard Deck Musings

I’ve been looking at the standard decks coming out of the Philly $5k and have been thinking about a landfall-based deck. Sure, Vampires are cool and everyone loves some Jund… but there’s clearly more to be developed in Standard. I find it really funny when some pro says on their twitter feed or in an article on SCG or some site that they’ve “broken” standard. I think I’ve heard it like five or so times since Zendikar came out yet none of the decks they speak of have done anything (if they even discuss the deck). I just don’t think it’s as easy as casually mentioning “oh I broke Standard today, btw.” Like somewhere in between brunch and lunch they found a way to dominate the current format.

I definitely don’t claim to have broken the current Standard, as I’ve done zero playtesting. But since this is my only public forum I feel like I should throw something out there that at least gets you thinking about something other than Jund, Vampires, and Boros Bushwhacker (thank you, Kelly Reid!).

The first deck I’m rather fond of was a part of the Philly $5k 16-deck extravaganza, Naya Lotus Angel. This deck does most of what I want to do in the current Standard.  Here’s the list from top 16 player Rob Theiringer:

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Enlisted Wurm
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Naya Charm
3 Path to Exile
5 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Jungle Shrine
3 Rootbound Crag
3 Sunpetal Grove

Sideboard:

2 Behemoth Sledge
3 Dauntless Escort
1 Enlisted Wurm
1 Qasali Ambusher
1 Luminarch Ascension
4 Celestial Purge
1 Naya Charm
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Earthquake

This deck does just many things I’m a fan of. It abuses new cards like Lotus Cobra and Rampaging Baloths while dropping phatties like Baneslayer Angel and Woolly Thoctar. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone on at length before about my love for Thoctars.  Sure they die to tons of removal (Doom Blade, Hideous End, Path to Exile, Pitfall Trap, Bituminous Blast), but they’re so damn snugly! I also enjoy the ability to side in white answers to current threats like Behemoth Sledge for aggro decks and Celestial Purge for Jund/Red decks (excuse me Sprouting Thrinax, I’m gonna let you finish, but Woolly Thoctar is one of the best three-drops of all time! Of All Time!!!).

I expect the Naya Lotus Angel deck to do nothing but evolve into a bigger badder monster. This is only the beginning of the Nayan war on Standard. Rawr.

Now for something less competitive and potentially more abusive. My own concoction of a Black/Green/White deck that attempts to use Landfall in the best ways.

G/W/B Landfall

4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Path to Exile
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Harrow
2 Grim Discovery

4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Forest
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Swamp
2 Plains

I think this deck has a lot of groovy synergies (obv, right?) with the Cobras/Oracles ramping you into Ob Nixilis, Baneslayer, or Baloths. Personally, I think that the Cobra is overhyped. But time will tell if it makes the cut over that loveable little mana-ramper Noble Hierarch. The Baneslayer Angels might be out of place, but they just seem to be too good to ignore. The Cobras have the added benefit of producing black, which is nice when you need to get that Ob into play.

My only real concern is having enough time to setup against aggressive rush decks like Boros Bushwhacker. Maelstrom Pulse is a utility card but may very well need to come out for something else like Doom Blade or Day of Judgment. The other possibilities for the deck involve Green/White cascade spells and black discard disruption. I’m not a huge fan of the current discard (except for Blightning). I mean, Duress is a powerhouse in spell-defined formats. But given the power creep of creatures over the past few blocks, Standard is becoming a creature-based format, thus lessening Duress’ impact. Perhaps the best thing to do is go Jund. *shrug*  I’m still a fan of Naya and an even bigger fan of non-allied combinations like GBW or BUG.

I’m very curious to see what’s around the corner for this format. I haven’t been able to do much testing with the new stuff from Zen but hopefully I”ll get a chance in the months before January. I’d love to play more FNM to test out my ideas but the closest Standard FNM to me is at least an hour away and that’s just too much to do an FNM. Thanks for reading! Oh, and if anyone has some MTGO M10 Mythic Rares they’d like to give away please hit me up so I can finish my set for redemption.   I need 1 Baneslayer, 1 Jace, and 1 Vampire Nocturnus!

 

New Deck Musings

So MTGSalvation.com just completed their Unofficial Zendikar Spoiler and I wanted to take some time to muse about the upcoming set and is impact on Standard.  And while I don’t think that Standard is super relevant to most people right now with the current PTQ season being limited and the next one Extended, I think  most people enjoy Standard and run it alot on MTGO and at FNMs.

I think that overall the set is going to be very good for Standard play (not to mention Extended). It has a lot of potential to kick out the jams. There are a lot of duds, though, that are just overcosted creatures with little impact on a game. Allies for instance, just seem weak.  They all seem to cost 3-5 mana and their “super-special” allied ability is just putting a +1/+1 counter on themselves.  Scute Mob just seems better than every Ally I’ve seen.

For instance, Turntimber Ranger seems good, at 3GG (total of 5 converted mana cost) you get a 3/3 ranger and a 2/2 wolf. Not bad. But compare that to Broodmate Dragon,  for a total cmc of 6 you get two 4/4 dragons. That’s 8 power for 6 mana compared to 5 power for 5 mana. Pretty obvious to see which card would make the cut in a constructed deck. “But Broodmate Dragon is THREE colors!” you say… Well how about Terra Stomper? 3GGG (cmc=6) for an 8/8 trampler… Still 8 power of dude for 6 mana compared to 5 power for 5 mana.  And yes, I love the Terra Stomper but wish it were more true to Force of Nature’s flavor and spectacular art. Also it doesn’t cost 2GGGG!

So allies are a bust and I think most of the impact cards for Standard are fairly obvious. Here’s a short-list of what I think is going to be playable (all of the cards can be found here: http://mtgsalvation.com/zendikar-spoiler.html):

Brave the Elements
Conquerer’s Pledge
Day of Judgment
Devout Lightcaster
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Luminarch Ascension
Archive Trap
Ior Ruin Expedition
Living Tsunami
Mindbreak Trap
Spell Pierce
Trapmaker’s Snare
Bloodchief Ascension
Bloodghast
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Grim Discovery
Malakir Bloodwitch
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Quest for the Gravelord
Vampire Hexmage
Vampire Lacerator
Burst Lightning
Goblin Guide
Hellkite Charger
Plated Geopede
Warren Instigator
Zektar Shrine Expedition
Harrow
Lotus Cobra
Oracle of Mul Daya
Rampaging Baloths
River Boa
Scute Mob
Summoning Trap
Vines of Vastwood
Khalni Gem
Trailblazer’s Boots
**All the enemy fetchlands, obv**
Crypt of Agadeem
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Teetering Peaks
Turntimber Grove
Valakut the Molten Pinnacle

Now, truthfully I don’t think all of those cards will make an *impact* on Standard (think Baneslayer or Great Sable Stag), but they will pop up in decklists for sure. The real IMPACT cards are as follows:

Day of Judgment.
 This card is just plain ‘ole Wrath. The only playable cards that circumvent the regeneration clause in the new Standard are CUdgel Troll and River Boa. Neither will see much play, except possibly the Boa in sideboards. Wrath has been good since Alpha, so I doubt this will be any worse. Sure it’s slightly worse but nobody will notice til they print an amazing regenerator.

Luminarch Ascension.
 A card you must deal with ASAP. Vampire Hexmage is a great counter to this card’s effectiveness, but aside from that, this puppy is golden. Stall your aggro opponent with a couple fog effects or damage prevention, then plop out a Day of Judgement and some Paths or something to keep the critters at bay and BAM! unlimited angelic goodness. yum.

Mindbreak Trap.
 Pretty much the best counterspell in the set along with Spell Pierce (which is good, but not amazing). It really shines when your opponent plays a “cascade ultimatum” like Bit Blast into Bloodbraid into Stag. Exile all 3, thank you very much!

Bloodchief Ascension.
 Lots of hype around this one, but the jury’s still deliberating. Unsure.

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
 Just seems good. Lightning Bolt to your opponent just for playing a land? seems good indeed.

Warren Instigator.
 Probably going to make some small revival of Goblins. My guess is these decks will pop up and he will be a $20+mythic, then those decks will lose and he’ll go for around $10-15.

Lotus Cobra.
 This card is good. Time will tell. I’ll most likely be running it in some deck or another. Not Tarmogoyf.

Scute Mob.
 Also not Tarmogoyf. Pretty good, but not that good. I doubt another Tarmo-like creature will ever be printed. This guy is cute and gets largely out of hand pretty quick.

Summoning Trap.
 Let’s summon us up some 7/7 Iona action and really screw our opponents!

Enemy Fetchlands.
 Yeah, they will be in almost every deck. Especially in Extended.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin.
 White Weenie’s late game awesomesauce. Could be great in a controllish mono-white deck too if one is possible.

Well, that’s all I have time for for now. We’ll see if the set can live up to the hype surrounding it. I think it can and I sure hope sealed ZEN is fun!

M10 Draft #4 posted!

Click here for the picks & the rundown!

Vampires: the New Black?

The future of black is in question. When M10 was released, many heralded the return of mono-black control. M10 gave us Duress, Consume Spirit, Doom Blade, Haunting Echoes, Mind Shatter, Sign in Blood and Tendrils of Corruption. Alara block, however, gave us almost entirely gold cards which obviously don’t fit in with MBC. Unlike Alara, the fabulous Zendikar promises to bring lots of mono-black goodies. Sadly, most of them are “aggressively costed” vampires. This leads me to believe that the new mono-black deck will be an aggro deck with Vampires instead of a control deck focused on lots of swamps.

I would debate whether or not the Zendikar vamps are “sparkly” as some have claimed. I just watched Twilight to see what all the sparkly fuss was about and I don’t see a whole lot of correlation between the kickass tribal vampires of Zendikar and the pale emo-wusses of that movie. Let’s take a look at some vampire action first.

Bloodghast is a definite inclusion in any Vampire deck. A 2/1 for BB is okay, but when he keeps coming back, it’s even better. And if you get them below 10 life, it’s got haste!

Gatekeeper of Malakir is awesome as well. If you have no other turn 2 play he comes down as a grizzly bear, but his real benefit is the kicker. Making them sacrifice a creature for 3 mana is slightly overcosted, but when you tack on a 2/2 body… it’s pretty darn good, like a mini-flametongue kavu.

Quest for the Gravelord is a card that many are overlooking, but is a great turn 1 play. Drop this then play out your Vampires. They die to Volcanic Fallout? No problem, slap a 5/5 zombie into play.

Sorin Markov… meh. He’s very expensive for what he does and if using his second ability is something profitable on turn 6, you’re not getting enough damage through. Mindslaver was always good, though, and he will see play somewhere.

Soul Stair Expedition is a card I like quite a bit. Much like the Gravelord Quest, it’s insurance against removal. Perhaps a sideboard card for Day of Judgement and similar “wipe” cards, I don’t like this one as much as the Gravelord, but it’s no slouch either. I guess time and testing will reveal which is better.

Vampire Lacerator. Yes please. 2/2s for B are great. I don’t think a Vampire deck is going to mind losing 1 life a turn if it’s hitting you for 2. Think Bitterblossom. Yeah, you’re losing a life each turn, but you’re inflicting more pain than you receive. Great card.

Vampire Nighthawk. Very meh. Probably not going to make the cut in any vampire deck, but you never know!
Blood Tribute is an interesting card, losing half their life is certainly good, depending on how much they have at the time, of course.

M10 also gave us some vampires, the best being Vampire Nocturnus. Child of Night might also see play, but I doubt it with all the 1 and 2 mana vamps coming out of Zendikar.

Here’s a decklist I quickly cooked up using the vampire clan:

4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Child of Night
 20
3 Quest for the Gravelord
4 Doom Blade
3 Blade of the Bloodchief
4 Duress
4 Sign in Blood
 18
20 Swamp
2 Crypt of Agadeem
 22

And that’s with only seeing 80 cards of the set, I wonder what else is in store for us! We’ll see as things come out, but for now you can definitely plan on seeing Vampires in Standard in some incarnation.  Along with Goblins, most likely. And… Baloths? /ponder

M10 Draft #3!

http://dooglestyle.wordpress.com/m10-draft-3/

M10 Draft #1!

http://dooglestyle.wordpress.com/m10-draft-1/

M10 Draft #2

http://dooglestyle.wordpress.com/m10-draft-2/

Last PTQ Report of the Season… Top 8?

Last Saturday, the 22nd of August, was the last PTQ in my area (Detroit) for Austin. I believe the only other PTQ left is in Cincinnati, OH on the 29th. And since I can’t make it to that one, this one was the last.

I didn’t make it to the site until a little after 9am thanks to road construction shutting down one of the major freeways leading to the site. I had to reroute down backstreets to make it with any kind of time leftover to finish out my deck. The tournament began at 10am so I had just under an hour to find something like 15 cards for the deck. I was planning on playing the “Naya Solution” deck, otherwise known as “Kowal Zoo.” My backup was the Ivan Drago deck that Adrian Sullivan had talked up a few weeks ago. I was much closer to building the Naya deck, but the cards were much more expensive than those for the Drago deck.

So I needed to trade with the store, Pandemonium, to fill out the deck and let’s just say it wasn’t in my favor. Now I know it’s a store and they have to make money, but by my estimation the cards I was trying to get were slightly overpriced (understandable). The trade value on my stuff, however, was around something like 40% or so. Not to mention that almost every card I was trading was something they had zero copies of. So I was expecting like 60% or so at least, given the high demand (people walking in and requesting cards I was trading, over and over). I don’t fault them for raking me over the coals, however, because I needed the cards that they had and technically they don’t *have* to trade at all. And the dude working the store was cool, as always. I didn’t have a bunch of my own money to spend so after some finageling and returning a few cards (not to mention a long wait due to people paying for the tourney with credit cards), I had all but four cards for the deck. Sure I had to alter the sideboard heavily to makeup for the bunches of cards I couldn’t afford, but it wasn’t so bad as I had decent alternatives with me.

Luckily I found a guy to trade for 2 of the 4 cards I needed and I was down to like 2 lands I still needed. I was able to borrow one, but was still down a Wooded Bastion (which I subbed in an Exotic Orchard for). After all this trading and borrowing nonsense, though, it was time for the player’s meeting and I still had to fill out the decklist. So I flew to my seat and feverishly wrote down the list. Here’s what I finally ended up playing:

4 Wild Nacatl
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Ranger of Eos

4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt

4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Exotic Orchard
5 Mountain
5 Plains

Sideboard:
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Harm’s Way
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Naya Charm
1 Banefire

I originally had a 4th Teeg in the board as well as 3 Stillmoon Cavaliers and another Forge-Tender, but switched those to the Naya Charms & Banefire at the last minute. Here we go!

Round 1: Grixis Control

Game 1 – I had a good draw and beat down with a Woolly Thoctar and Stag. He stumbled on land and when I dropped a Bloodbraid Elf, he packed it up. I only saw a Sygg from him that game.

Boarding: +2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +1 Banefire
-2 Path to Exile, -1 Lightning Bolt

Game 2 - Since I wasn’t really sure what he was playing, perhaps 5c Blood or 5c Control, I boarded kinda funky. This game I had a slower draw and he was definitely in the game. He kept trying to topdeck Cruel Ultimatum throughout the game though, and afterwards I asked if he was 5cc and he was just Grixis control. My Nacatls and Thoctars were easy fodder for his Bituminous Blasts, Lightning bolts, and Doom Blades, but the Stag only fears the Bolt and he only drew one Bolt. 2x Stag FTW!

2-0 Games
1-0 Matches (8 rounds of lovely swiss for this PES event)

Round 2: Kithkin

Game 1 – This was the matchup I was afraid of. I thnk Van Lunen said it was nigh-unwinnable. First game he had an amazing draw with 2x Figure of Destiny, 2x Wisened Cenn, 2x Honor of the Pure. His 5/5 & 6/6 dudes ran me over quickly.

Boarding: +2 Naya Charm, +3 Harm’s Way, +1 Banefire
-4 Great Sable Stag, -2 Wooly Thoctar

I had a hard time figuring out the boarding for ‘kin but I figured Woollys were easily pathed.

Game 2 – A much better game for me. He played little dudes which I removed and got in there with my remaining Thoctars when Naya Charm tapped down his 6 Spirit Token army.

Game 3 – Not even close. Total blowout in my favor. Fallouts, Bolts, and Paths followed up by BB Elf, Ranger, and Naya Charm to tap his remaining team.

4-1 Games
2-0 Matches

Round 3: Jund Blood

Game 1 – What a crazy game. I’d ding him, he’d ding me, and we’d rinse & repeat until I finally got to an ultimate Figure of Destiny and got there with team Thoctar!

Boarding: +3 Gaddock Teeg, +3 Harm’s Way, +2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +4 Ethersworn Canonist
-4 Woolly Thoctar, -4 Volcanic Fallout, -2 Wild Nacatl, -2 Lightning Bolt

I really wasn’t sure what to board in this matchup and I think I overdid it with the Canonists.

Game 2 - In this game I made things complicated with my boarding. He tried to Bit Blast a Thoctar which drew a finger-wag as Gaddock Teeg stared him down. The game came down to his Doom Blade on my Teeg when he only had 4 mana up and thusly couldn’t Bit Blast my FoD in response to ultimate pump. The Figure went the distance. The FoD was obviously the better target for Doom Blade, but he just counted his mana wrong. It happens.

6-1 Games
3-0 Matches

Round 4: 5-color Reveillark

Darn you Steve Boggemes and your roguish creations!
Game 1 – My opponent was very cordialthis round despite having the only deck in the room that should completely dominate mine. And dominate he did! Any number of Reveillarks greater than one are just bad news for me. The two he drew this game were just too good getting back dudes to trade with my dudes, blah. It ended badly.

Game 2 – I don’t remember what I boarded here, it was so wild. I got a great draw though and he only drew one Reveillark.

Game 3 - He drew two Reveillarks again and they did their dirty work. That card really is unfair when you’ve got the creatures in your graveyard already. The only effective way to stop it would be Pacifism! His Larks + 3/4 Pancakes were too much for Thoctar & team.

7-3 Games
3-1 Matches

Round 5: Kithkin

Game 1 – This round I was playing Holly, who I met at GenCon last week. She didn’t have enough gas this game and my critters made it through.

Game 2 – She had out a lethal Stillmoon for what seemed like an eternity but was probably like three turns. She just seemed to refuse to swing with it and almost punted the match. I should have packed it up as soon as it came down so we could have time for a third game, but I figured she would punt and wasted about 3 minutes that I could have used to win game three.

Game 3 – Ran out of time. Life totals at the end were Me: 19, Her: 7. SIGH.

8-4-1 Games
3-1-1 Matches

Round 6: Reveillark

Game 1 - Wild Nacatls came down in force when he always seemed to name wrong with Meddling Mage. He’d name Bolt and I’d Fallout. He’d name Fallout and I’d Bolt. *shrug*

Game 2 - I resolved a Ranger for two Nacatls after he showed me Celestial Purge on my Thoctar. Several Fallouts, Sowers, and Hallowed Burials later, my TD’d Ranger of Eos gets in there with his Cat friends.

10-4-1 Games
4-1-1 Matches

Round 7: Combo Elves

Game 1 – Despite me Pathing his Archdruid, he’s one land short of Primal Command and my creatures got in there.

Game 2 - He claimed once again to be “so close” to killing me this game. But I had out an Ethersworn Canonist and I had some removal in hand. He later showed me Mark of Asylum which I hadn’t thought of and would’ve been really good against my fallouts and bolts. Ranger for 2 Nacatls is really really really good. 9 power for 6 mana. ouch!

12-4-1 Games
5-1-1 Matches

Round 8: Jund Mannequin

Game 1 – We both had good draws but I had 2x Bloodbraid Elf that both paid off. When he tapped out for Chameleon Colossus, I swung and got in just enough to Bolt him out.

Game 2 – I kinda felt bad for this one. He mulled to five after sideboarding, during which time I explained that the reason I hated Jund was it’s inconsistency and bad mana draws…. yeah… I promptly smashed him with something like Bloodbraid into Stag followed by Bloodbraid into Thoctar. It wasn’t pretty. I remember the final attack being for 13. Sorry man.

14-4-1 Games
6-1-1 Matches

At this point I’m really worried about the tiebreaks and whether or not I’ll actually make it into the top 8. After a brief review a couple people assured me I was in, but I had my doubts. I kept running numbers and theorizing with the match results I knew for sure and even I thought I was a lock. Then when they announced final standings, I was 9th. 9th. Ninth. @*#%*Y@%!!! I don’t want to type all the expletives that were going through my head because my blog would probably get removed or something. But I was livid. I’ve been waiting a long time to get back to “the show” and the last chance I had with G/B Elves I basically punted to Kurtis Droge playing Lark. So instead of just fuming the whole way home I took the time to analyze where I went wrong.

Round 5. Holly. I spent too long in this match consumed with the idea that I was the stronger player and that I could simply pull out a hopeless game. Not gonna happen again. I’m planning on going into every match with a clean slate. No matter who the opponent is I’m going to be prepared for anything. I guess you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em. My bias toward not conceding until the last point of damage is dealt got the better of me. I’ve won quite a few matches where my opponent had me all but shutdown and for some reason I’d get back in the game. Earlier in the day I had an opponent concede at 13 life when I swung for 9. So he had another turn to topdeck say, a Cruel Ultimatum, but he packed it in and we went to game 2. So I guess in this tournament the same thing that helped me win helped me lose. /frown.

What I took away from this PTQ experience was that Woolly Thoctar is REALLY fun. A 5/4 for three mana is as silly-good as you’d think it would be. Especially if they can’t deal with him right away or plan on blocking and you remove the roadblock… It’s just plain sweet. I for one will be looking for an excuse to play him in whatever deck is good after Zendikar comes in. Also, I need to work on my “game mode.” It’s like Jet Lee said in Fist of Legend, “Eventually you develop a fighting mode and it becomes natural.” I need to get into that fighting mode so I can smash people and do so within the 50-minute time limit each round.

Oh, and I would highly recommend the deck for any remaining PTQs. It’s so fun to play and while it doesn’t look like much, it really has great card advantage and raw power. My MVP on the day would probably have to be Ranger of Eos, as the CA and damage he generates are just silly. Firespout is, of course, a beating, but avoid overextending and you should be fine. And besides, the deck is Woolly enough to get you there.

I’ve been working on getting draft recaps up, but the formatting of this lovely WordPress blog doesn’t allow me to easily cut & paste the code, so I have to heavily manipulate the HTML to get it to display correctly. It’s possible that I’ll get my own site soon that will allow enough space for that, but we shall see in the coming weeks. For now I’ll try to keep up the blog posts as Zendikar info comes to light and we enter a new season of sealed deck!