Played at SCG Baltimore Open 5/5/2018 by Player A (Piloted by CK), 9 rounds of swiss with cut to day 2 at 6-2-1, 11-4-1 finish (7th place) in a field of 774 (258 Teams), Lands 0-2 (0-1), Monored Prison 2-0 (1-1), BUG Leovold Control 2-0 (2-1), Dark Maverick 1-2 (2-2), Infect 2-1 (3-2), Sneak & Show 2-1 (4-2), Monored Prison 2-1 (5-2), Sneak & Show 2-1 (6-2), ID into Day 2 (6-2-1), Miracles 2-1 (7-2-1), Lands 2-0 (8-2-1), Eldrazi 0-1 DNF/1-1 (8-3-1), Maverick 2-0 (9-3-1), Grixis Delver 2-1 (10-3-1), Grixis Delver 2-0 (11-3-1), TOP 8: BUG Delver 0-2 (11-4-1), this deck went 11-3-1 with DNF/11-3-2 individually
Player B Deck (Modern) Here.
Player C Deck (Standard) Here.
TOURNAMENT REPORT:
***Round 1 - Lands (Favored 70/30)
This round, unfortunately, was against a friend of mine, so we both knew what each other was on (so much for the surprise factor). He knew what to do and made a fast 20/20. I got up to 21 from DRS and was able to take a hit to go to 1 life. Too bad I needed to fetch to shuffle and thus had to use DRS to gain 2 life and that took a turn off my clock. It was a close game but he found punishing fire quickly to race my flock. I'm down 0-1.
Game 2, I kept a questionable hand with no fliers but had FoW + blue card and DRS. Turn 2 Leovold is no match for turn 2 marit lage.
SB In: 2x Surgical, 2x Pithing Needle, 1x Nimble Obstructionist
SB Out: 2x Shardless, 1x Murderous Cut, 2x Noble
Lost match 0-2, Modern lost, Standard DNF: Personal 0-1, Team 0-1
***Round 2 - Monored Prison (Favored 65/35?)
I lead with fetchland and pass. He goes ancient tomb + spirit guide into blood moon, which I force to enable the rest of my fetches in hand to get basics. I cast spells with basics. Chandra isn't enough, fortunately.Game 2, I kept force of will + blue card and lands to get basics. Plays out similar to game 1.
SB In: 1x Nimble Obstructionist, 1x Needle (Chandra can be hard to beat)
SB Out: 1x Vendilion Clique (harder to cast than Nimble), 1x Leovold
Won match 2-0, Modern DNF, Standard won: Personal 1-1, Team 1-1
***Round 3 - BUG Leovold Control (Favored 65/35 depending on build)
Game 1 I fetch basics as I usually do. He has wasteland and underground sea and never sees another colored source until it is too late.
Going into game 2, I board hedging for both delver and BUG Control as I am unsure what he is on. He is again mana screwed after I kill all his deathrite shamans. He eventually lands sideboard bitterblossom, to which I add insult to injury by playing engineered plague on faeries.
SB In: 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Toxic, 1 Plague, 2 Brutality
SB Out: 4 Force of Will, 1 Tidespout, 1 Emrakul
Won match 2-0, Modern lost, Standard won: Personal 2-1, Team 2-1
***Round 4 - Dark Maverick (Dog 45/55?)
Game 1 I assemble House Gryffindor with Food Chain and beat for 9 vigilance, which is enough to beat his main deck cards.
Game 2, he is able to get SoFi and I am unable to keep a board presence. He has GSZ to get pridemage to kill my food chain and I don't get a board presence against SoFi and friends.
Game 3, my DRS gets plowed. I have a ton of removal but Thalia slows it down and he overwhelms me with threats that I have to keep tapping out to remove. He eventually slams a Choke post combat and I am dead.
SB In: 1 Liliana, 1 Toxic, 2 Needle, 2 Brutality
SB Out: 4 Force of Will, 1 Tidespout, 1 Emrakul
Lost match 1-2, Modern won, Standard lost: Personal 2-2, Team 2-2
***Round 5 - Infect (Dog 30/70)
Game 1 I get lucky that he doesn't have a fast hand. I kill/trade everything and eventually win with deathrite activations.
Game 2 we trade resources to top decking. I can't find a flier for his inkmoth that he is able to to grow with a become immense off the top.
Game 3 I kill all the things, so I won.
SB In: All SB cards except cage and 2 surgical
SB Out: 4 Food Chain, 1 Fate, 2 Shardless, 1 Emrakul, 1 Tidespout, 2 Noble, 1 Scourge
Won match 2-1, Modern DNF, Standard won: Personal 3-2, Team 3-2
***Round 6 - Sneak & Show (Dog 30/70)
I'm on the draw in game one and decide to brainstorm end of opponent's 2nd turn because I have a curve out hand. It gets spell pierced. Because he didn't play any threats on t1 or t2 and didn't mulligan, I assume he is on S&S and not grixis delver, so I proceed to put as many creatures on the board. I get close to killing on the crackback when he casts show and tell to show omniscience. However, he has both Emrakul and Griselbrand, so I die.
Game 2 I am able to thoughtseize and clique him out of threats to win the game. I also surgical'd sneak attack and saw only show and tell. Once I draw Emrakul, I knew the only way to lose was S&T omniscience with emrakul.
Game 3 oponent has leyline to start but luckily I don't have discard/clique. I keep 2 force, 2 blue cards and am able to use that to win when I play out a clock. EOT flash in nimble to apply pressure after leaving mana up was key.
SB In: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Brutality, 2 Surgical, 2 Needle, 2 Fluster, 1 Nimble
SB Out: 2 Food Chain, 2 Shardless, 2 Noble, 3 Decay, 1 Cut, 1 Scourge
Won match 2-1, Modern lost, Standard won: Personal 4-2, Team 4-2
***Round 7 - Monored Prison (Favored 65/35?)
Game 1 I'm on the draw without Fow but have fetches and deathrite. He opens with t1 Blood moon. I die.
Games 2 and 3 play out similar to prior match. Fetch basics, cast spells, win. Abrupt decay is great versus ensnaring bridge. SB plan also same as prior.
Won match 2-1, Modern won, Standard DNF: Personal 5-2, Team 5-2
***Round 8 - Sneak & Show (Dog 30/70)
Game 1 my opponent mulls to 6 on the draw and casts t1 show and tell off ancient tomb + petal with force backup on my force. He has 2 cards left, I have to decide to show Leovold versus Clique. Clique is better if he has exactly omniscience + emrakul, otherwise Leovold is better in all other cases. I decide on Leovold, turns out he had omniscience into sneak attack. His next 3 draw steps were fluster and 2 lands, so I win with beats.
Game 2 he is able to resolve a sneak attack and gets sneaky with griselbrand. He draws a bunch of cards and is then at 10 life. Surely I am dead? He discusses with teammate about drawing another 7, which his teammate assures he can do safely as he telegraphs that there are 2 force of wills that he can use, though he can only use 1 as I also have a strix in play. Turns out he didn't draw a fatty offf the initial 14 cards, so he does draw 7 more to go to 3 life. I go to draw step and if I draw needle I think I can win, because he has to force it. Then I attack for 1 and can finish with a brutality to drain. I don't draw needle and have to cast brutality, which gets force'd going to 1 life. He untaps and Emrakul ends me.
Game 3 I don't quite remember. My notes saw I forced and surgical'd in my life totals but I don't remember what. My ragtag team of beats gets there. SB plan is same as prior match.
Won match 2-1, Modern DNF, Standard won: Personal 6-2, Team 6-2
***Round 9 - ID (Even 50/50), turns out later that it was a miracles matchup
We do the math and know that based on the tournament size and day 2 requirements that day 2 will be a small tournament and the "loss" from intentionally drawing into day 2 doesn't change the total number of wins needed to prize or top 8. We offer ID to opponents, briefly talk about the math and they agree (ultimately, they went 4-2 on day 2 and finished 9th, whereas we went 5-1 and finished 6th).
ID, Personal 6-2-1, Team 6-2-1
***Round 10 - Miracles (Favored 60/40, but fluctuates based on number of JTMS)
Game 1 goes grindy and my unanswered food chain keeps my threats resilient. As the game goes long with the flock, my opponent concedes in order to save time. The murderous cut and tombstalker do amazing job delving back my countered griffins/scourge.
Game 2 I have to dance with counterbalance, which does work for my opponent. I weather 2 JTMS only to see a 3rd! The first and 2nd are hard enough to beat. He brainstorms with jace and then casts council's judgement. I have all 3 griffins and scourge and have to decide which to exile in response, as I suspected a terminus was just set up. He has snapcaster to block for JTMS at 3 loyalty. I made mistake of exiling scourge + griffin to leave 2 griffins in play when it should have been all exiled but 1 griffin. Because I have 1 less griffin post-terminus, I die to angels.
Game 3 we start with only 10 minutes left, so I grab emrakul back from the SB and take out the shardless to have more ways to combo win. I mull to 6 (keeping food chain, griffin) and he mulls to 5. I keep tidespout on top and play fetchland mentally telling myself to not crack it until I draw tidespout. My first brainstorm also shows me emrakul which I keep and shuffle away tidespout, as it is more insulated versus swords/counters. I eventually cast emrakul on turn 0 and win.
SB In: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Needle, 2 Fluster, 1 Nimble, 1 Liliana
SB Out: 2 Force of Will, 2 Strix, 2 Noble, 1 Shardless, 1 Emrakul
Won match 2-1, Modern won, Standard lost: Personal 7-2-1, Team 7-2-1
***Round 11 - Lands (Favored 70/30)
Game 1 and 2 I don't remember too much other than using food chain to cheat mana and generally sidestepping what Lands is trying to do to control us. No fast marit lage in either game, so I win pretty easily. SB same as prior.
Won match 2-0, Modern won, Standard DNF: Personal 8-2-1, Team 8-2-1
***Round 12 - Eldrazi (Favored 70/30)
Game 1 I misequence my play and got punished. Had 2 food chains and 1 manipulate fate and 1 hierarch. I cast food chain first thinking it would be more mana efficient. However, manipulate fate + hierarch is same efficiency or better. He has thought knot and takes manipulate fate. I die to smasher because I don't have multiple 3/3s.
Game 2 I am about to lock the game up with 9 vigilance flying power and win to move onto game 3, but my teammates both lose so I don't get to redeem my game 1 blunder.
SB In: 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Needle, 1 Plague
SB Out: 4 Force of Will (iirc)
DNF match, Modern lost, Standard lost: Personal 8-2-2, Team 8-3-1
***Round 13 - Maverick (Dog 45/55?) - Special note here that my opponent was A+ memes/dad jokes with me, thanks for the superb fun games!
Game 1 I just go turn 2 shardless into more fair BUG cards. My opponent makes a grave error putting his jitte on birds to block my griffins but never had counters on it. Deathrite and BUG cards ends the game.
Game 2 I have answers for his threats. Baleful strix holds down the fort. I don't get choked out and win. SB probably similar to prior.
Won match 2-0, Modern won, Standard DNF: Personal 9-2-2, Team 9-3-1
***Round 14 - Grixis Delver (Favored 60/40)
I was wondering when I'd finally see this matchup. Game 1 he had a slowish hand. I was able to play around daze and cast manipulate on t2 via mana dork. It resolves, and his pressure was too low, so I win easily.
Game 2 I keep a questionable hand of 1 land, brainstorm, DRS, and manipulate fate with other cards. My t1 DRS gets killed. Then I get braintorm locked. I die a slower than expected death to his slower hand, but I never get to even try to cast manipulate fate to call it a comeback.
Game 3 on the play my mana dorks give me an unsurmountable mana advantage. I cast all my spells without care and easily win this one.
SB In: 2 Brutality, Plague, Toxic, Liliana, 2 Fluster
SB Out: Emrakul, Tidespout, 4 Force of Will, Hostage Taker/Shardless On Draw/Play
Won match 2-1, Modern won, Standard lost: Personal 10-2-2, Team 10-3-1
At this point, we are locked to prize and am likely playing for top 8, I start to think that maybe I should have thought about taking better notes for a tournament report, but alas next round starts very quickly and I don't get a chance to take notes.
***Round 15 - Grixis Delver (Favored 60/40) - Off Camera Feature Match
It's time to break a curse, as I've never won a feature match, whether on camera or not. Game 1 is close. I play around daze and eventually sculpt a combo kill against his board of young pyro with tokens, TNN, and DRS when I go down to 3 life (1 life effectively because he has active DRS).
Game 2 is again very tight. I stabilize with food chain + manipulate fate for 9 flying vigilance power. I attack and put him down to 3 when I'm also at 3. He has no attackers that can get through and an active DRS. I know his hand is junk from a prior clique/escalated brutality. Leovold is also out, so he cannot cantrip into his only out - bolt. It wasn't bolt, so we are onto the top 8! At this point, I was too busy celebrating to be disciplined enough to take more notes for a tournament report. SB is same as last round.
Won match 2-0, Modern won, Standard DNF: Personal 11-2-2, Team 11-3-1 (6th Seed)
***Top 8 Quarterfinals - BUG Delver (Favored 65/35) - End of Game 2 on Camera
So our team is on camera but it is the modern match featured. We are low seed, so brutally our entire team is on the draw. All 3 of us then mulligan to 6. Game 1 is very close. I resolve manipulate fate and hardcast each 3/3 turn after turn to stabilize. It's too bad that before the game we had each other's decklists and my opponent said my deck was spicy, to which I responded he had 2 tombstalkers to my one. He has both stalkers out to my scourge + 2 griffins with me at 5 life. Thins look grim, until I topdeck my own stalker to force some draw go top decking over the next 3 or 4 turns. He is still at a healthy 14 and I am unable to make any attacks. There is a point where I draw noble hierarch that I can attack with stalker for 6. If he blocks, we trade stalkers. If he doesn't, he goes to 8 and I'm left to double chump his stalkers and hope he doesnt have removal for my scourge when I crack back for exactsies. I choose not to do so and continue draw go until I get strix to block better. I do so, and he takes the hit to go down to 6 after he fetched and forced. Next attack he trades stalkers. Then he plays DRS and I lose race to DRS. Would have won game if I saw a single food chain.
Game 2 is again a very grindy game. I resolve manipulate fate but his goyf clock plus double flipped delver on t3 is a lot before I can stabilize. I may have misplayed my not chumping goyf or casting griffin first to try to stabilize board, hard to tell what the right line is as his delver pressure was insane. Modern finishes match and of course camera comes to our match as I am getting demolished. Video (about 7:40:00 start) starts with his thoughtseize taking my needle to make goyf lethal. The turn I decide to decay, I probably should have cast griffin and not attacked and hoped that he had no removal because that was one of the lines to stabilize. He has a counterspell for my last blocker (misplay on camera by casting clique instead of griffin because it dies to abrupt decay, but didn't matter as it was countered). I die. Would have won game if I saw a single food chain.
Lost match 0-2, Modern won, Standard lost: Personal 11-3-2, Team 11-4-1 (Final standing: 7th)
