Indianapolis PTQ - Almost Got There

-Greg

We arrived in Indianapolis late on Saturday night, pulling in to Pete's aunt and uncle's house around 10 pm. Even though we stayed up late poring over matchup tech and sideboard slots, they were plowing us with snacks and soda, and were genuinely amused at how a group of young adults such as ourselves preferred to spend our free time. Pete's uncle was particularly interested in the cards, especially the foils and foreign ones. I have a feeling that if we'd stayed another day we would've had him hooked on the game, too.

We arrived at the venue with enough time for everyone to scope out the decks people were registering, help Tom grab some last-minute cards, and register. There was a unusually large number of players sleeving up Affinity, which we were all a little confused by, but luckily we built our Tezz boards to double as affinity hate. Midway through writing our lists down, one Adrian Sullivan dropped by with a big smile and a box of clementines! I got this warm and fuzzy feeling of community spirit, which I quickly buried deep inside , reminding myself that between 2 and 8 of these people would be my sworn enemy for one hour each. I just hoped I didn't have to play Adrian, because I would've wanted to scoop on the spot to return his gesture of kindness.

I don't have my whole list in front of me right now, but I basically played aggro-loam with every stupid two-card combo I could think of that would fit in Naya colors. Bloodbraid Elf into Boom//Bust, Flagstones to make sure my mana denial left me a step ahead, Seismic Assault with Life from the Loam and Countryside Crusher, and Punishing Fire with Groves all gave me that "I'm an asshole for playing this" feeling. I'll post the full list later, as a lot of people seemed interested in the deck's inner workings.

On to the report!


Round 1: Dark Bant

The guy that sat down next to me I immediately recognized from the player meeting. He was trying desperately to figure out what he had messed up on his deck reg sheet, riffing through cards desperately as his strangely supportive girlfriend tried to sort it out. I took it personally how rude he was being to his lady friend, and decided to pass on calling the judges (who were busy poring over lists, anyway), and completely humiliate him in a rousing game of MTG. Of course, if Brenna's super-sleuthing abilities hadn't already tipped me off that he was playing Doran, I might have done the right thing and went to judge-town. Actually, if he were playing mono-red burn... I definitely would've called the judge. Pro tip: Have your shit together before the tournament starts.

Game 1: I chose to keep a mediocre hand of seven with relevant lands and some burn. I torched his first BoP, but he had the second on turn two to drop the third-turn Rafiq. I chuckled a little bit at facing down Rafiq before I realized that the unchecked 0/1 bird was now officially a threat. He played another land and spun the Bird sideways. I asked what color mana he wanted to make, and he says "ATTACK! ATTACK!" I said, "Go back man, declare your attack step." After this, a Path to Exile on Rafiq was all it took to put him completely on tilt. I continued playing attrition with him for a while, waiting until I got a clear read that he didn't have anymore removal in-hand by obviously tapping five lands and counting out 1-2 white mana before playing Baneslayer. He winced noticeably at this, and when she hit the table, it looked like someone had kicked him in the stomach. Of course, he drew his card, and did this cartoon-style I'm-so-relieved act and pathed her in his first main phase. Then I died to a Qasali Pridemage carrying a Jitte when I couldn't draw anything before it got to infinite counters.

sideboard: + 2 purge, + 2 runed halo, -2 something, -2 something.
For a deck that relies solely on creatures, mine were substantially better - so I decided to board in a way that would 1 for 1 him until I could burn him out. Sorry about the spotty notes I took; I didn't really take this guy seriously.

Game 2: I started off slow, forcing him to play into an attrition war with me by playing just enough creatures to trade with the ones he could ramp into, then burn everything else, including him, to the ground. The only trouble I had for the entire game was a Jitte, but every time one of his little dorks tried to pick it up I singed them with a never-ending supply of Punishing Fires. Surprisingly, I never draw anything but burn, removal, and Baneslayers... So I killed him with a Baneslayer while he was playing with an empty hand. I chuckled a little to myself when he scooped, and somehow resisted the urge to show him my hand. STILL HAD ALL THESE LIGHTNING HELICES.

Game 3: 3 went exactly like 2 with one exception: instead of Purging a Doran, I Pathed me a Rafiq.

1-0


Round 2: Affinity.

Game 1: I drop Seismic Assault on turn 3, burn lands at the end of his turn, and start casting and dredging Loam on turn 4. I continue to burn the few Ornithopters and Frogmites he can play, and eventually just whittle him down. I literally only cast two spells this entire game. It was awesome.

Board: +2 krosan grip, +3 Kataki, War's Wage, -2 assault, -3 path.
Path is awesome in this matchup because they don't have basic lands. It sucks, though, because they have Ravager. Grip and Kataki do what Path does and more.

Game 2: I eat a turn 1 Toughtsieze, and have to bin my Countryside Crusher. My hand looks a lot worse now, but I hang in there with Punishing Fire and Lightning Helix. Eventually, I look pretty much dead as the board is me with some lands, him with 2 Ravagers, 2 artifact lands, Frogmite, and a pretty scary Cranial Plating. Like the true pro I am, I rip Kataki off the top. He eventually succumbs to my furious 2/1 beats and some burn spells.

2-0


Round 3: Hypergenesis.

Game 1: Hypergenesis into Iona, naming white. I manage to stay a live for a while since I had cast multiple Lightning Helices, and have him to the point where I can burn him out with Loam+Assault if I can just untap. He swings with an exalted 8/8 Iona while I'm at 9 life, then casts Violent Outburst and chooses not to cast the cascade spell. This seriously confused me, until I realized that that made Iona get me for the last point of damage. Ouch.

Sideboard: +2 purge, +2 runed halo, -4 punishing fire and hope for the best...
I had taken out all my sideboard HG hate, so I just... Wished for the best, I guess. In hindsight, he would always name Iona to white, so I have no idea why I put in two more Purges over Punishing Fire. Runed Halo is good because you can still put it into play when they cast Hypergenesis.

Game 2: He mulls to six card, which makes my LD Heavy hand seem pretty decent. Turn 2, I Boom//Bust his land and my Flagstones, putting me a land ahead. Turn 3, I Ghost Quarter him, leaving him again with one land in play. Then I start slamming down Bloodbraids, desperately trying to hit a Boom//Bust to lock him out. Of course, it never happens, and he dumps his hand. Progenitus, Iona set to white, and TWO Darksteel Colossi. Thanks for playing.

2-1

Round 4: Mono-red Burn.

Game 1: We were just discussing the never-scoop policy in the car, and I'm glad I stuck to it. I cast the heavy half of Boom//Bust at 1 life, and win with nothing but two Goyfs on the field. Pro play, Greg!

Sideboard: +2 Celestial Purge, -2 Boom//Bust
For some inexplicable reason, I brought Gaddock Teeg to a gunfight. I would seriously learn my lesson of not packing Kitchen Finks...

Game 2: I am at 3 life with lethal damage on the board when he topdecks Bolt to burn me out.
game 3: I am at 4 life with lethal damage on the board when he topdecks Flames of the Blood Hand to burn me out.

2-2

Normally, people drop at x-2, but I didn't want to let two fluke matches ruin my run. I knew the deck could win in almost any situation, so I stuck it out, determined to play tighter.


Round 5: Almost AIR (splashing white for Path)

Game 1: I can't figure out what he's playing, so I just start grinding his manabase with Boom//Bust and Ghost Quarters. Eventually I tap out and he drops a very unexpected Thunderblust (!!!) to get in for seven. Next turn, he plays Demigod and swings in for the kill. I Quarter my own tapped Flagstones to grab a Plains, and he starts tapping lands and playing irrelvant instants to do irrelevant shit, which I should've realized was to throw me off my game. I start stacking triggers, too, burning his Thunderblust twice to kill it for good, and in the argument over timing I forget to resolve my Quarter trigger to Path his Demigod before I take the damage. I lose a totally winnable game soon after, because I let this guy throw me off my game - intentionally or not.

Sideboard: +2 purge, +2 runed halo, -2 ghost quarter, -2 punishing fire

Game 2: I play the early game around Blood Moon, making sure I can get my Plains and Forest in play so I'm not totally wrecked if he combos out. Thankfully, he comes out of the gate pretty slowly, so I Runed Halo for Demigod, and Purge/Path his Thunderblusts. He's forced to save Shrapnel Blasts for my Baneslayers, and I Loam+Assault him into submission.

Game 3: He puts me to a pretty low life before I can Purge his threats, then I cast Bloodbraid and flip Boom//Bust. He's skeptical that this trick works, but the judges assure him my tech is legit, and I'm rewarded with a board that's totally empty except for a ridiculously large Knight of the Reliquary.

3-2

Round 6: Affinity

Game 1: Just to remind everyone, I didn't play during Mirrodin block, and have never faced Affinity before this tournament. Luckily, no one was around when I was proving this to my opponent, who sacced his Ravager to itself in response to my Path to make a giant Ornithopter. I make a mental note to read the cards that I'm unfamiliar with, and we go to game two.

Sideboard: Same as before.

Game 2: I mulligan to a sick six-card hand with Kataki and spot removal. In his second turn, he goes down to one robot, giving up a land, and then plays Glimmervoid. I untap, Path his one guy, and then point to his Glimmervoid (I read the card!). He says "What? Oh shit. Nah.. Fuck it, I can't deal with this," and scoops them up.

Game 3: We grind each other down for a while, with me using my newly found knowledge of the Modular ability to play chase the counters with his Ravagers. I'm successfully matching his threats 1 for 1 for a while, Gripping his Masters of Etherium, and casting Punishing Fire in response to Ravager's Modular ability. In the end it just came down to me playing a better game than him, and after I cleared the air of Thopters, I crashed Baneslayer in for massive damage. The best lesson I learned today is that it is an awesome idea to play foreign cards. He swung a 14/2 Thopter that was carrying TWO Cranial Platings right into my Baneslayer... Who has first strike.

4-2

Round 7: Rubin Zoo
Game 1: I keep a bad hand and get crushed pretty fast.

Game 2: During his mull to four, I accidentally dropped some of his cards on the ground. I acted dumb, which in conjunction with his bad draws upset him enough that he accidentally scattered his cards all over the table. I slow-roll the burn win to push him over the edge. I am the Jedi.

Game 3: I mull to a decent six-card hand that's heavy on creatures. He plays Nacatl, Path, Goyf, Path, Deathark, Path. Not much you can do about that.

Round 8: No Show.

I got paired WAY up, and was really looking forward to hopefully doing some dream-crushing while waiting to see if the Wife would win her way into the top 16, but the guy never showed. I hope he's ok, because he had enough points to potentially win into half a box and he just... Didn't show up.

5-3

This deck is strong, and amazingly fun to play. It packs a wide range of extremely relevant threats and win conditions without being too unfocused, which gives you a number of different strategies to win that can be easily modified on-the-fly. This wide range of options isn't always good thing, however. Everything matters. Every land decision, every point of life, and every single trigger from your side or the other will affect the game more than another deck would. But that's what's so rewarding about it. Every win you pull it is based totally on your skill, and in your ability to run percentages in your head while still evaluating the strength of your and your opponent's threats. It's extremely important to remember everything the deck can do, and figure out or know how your opponent's deck works. I feel like every game loss I got (with the exception of the two nutty games against Hypergenesis) were completely within the realms of winning.

At any rate, there are some changes that need to be made. The deck needs a way to survive the burn matchup. I've been kicking some ideas around, and it's pretty much CoP: Red or Kitchen Finks - but if I run Finks, I think I want to run a single copy of Oran Rief, the Vastwood to gain massive amounts of life. It's easily tutorable with Knight of the Reliquary, but in order to make sure I can always hit RRR and WW, it will have to replace a Ghost Quarter or a take up another sideboard slot. I'm not sure if it's worth it yet.

Want to guess what my absolute best sideboard card was all day?

Runed Halo.


SERIOUSLY.


At any rate, I'd like to end this post by saying the guys from Pastime's ran a nice, tightly organized event, and the judge team were all great. I know some people dont like to play at Pastime's for whatever reason (I, myself, prefer not to attend any big event they try to hold in their shop in fear that I will be trampled by the crowd trying to escape a fire), but I definitely appreciate the way they run their larger events and treat their customers. Big thanks to Alan, Ron, and all the other guys whose names I can never remember!


Cheers!