Denver PTQ 2012

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will4531

19 January 2012

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For the Denver PTQ on January 14th I ran Through the Breach. Well, that's what I had started testing weeks prior but that deck is a turn slower than every other combo deck and I lost several games after connecting with Emrakul. So I turned to other options, trying to find a deck to fit my style, and I found Tallowisp! I loved the feel of the deck and turn four Steel of the Godhead on Geist of Saint Traft is nearly unbeatable for non-combo decks. I wasn't sold on the entire list though, and through testing I slowly adopted the Martyr of Sands strategy. This gave me a fantastic plan A with Tallowisp into Geist and a strong plan B to dominate aggressive matches. The two strategies worked well together and Tallowisp and Geist pulled their weight gaining me three life each many times throughout the day. Here is the list I played;

3 Serra Ascendant
4 Martyr of Sands
2 Ranger of Eos
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tallowisp
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Meddling Mage
4 Path to Exile
1 Shining Shoal
3 Proclamation of Rebirth
2 Steel of the Godhead
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Mistveil Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Arid Mesa
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
5 Plains
2 Island


4 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Stony Silence
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Serra Ascendant
3 Wrath of God
2 Nihil Spellbomb

A quick rundown, I only had three Serra Ascendants main as I didn't fully appreciate how powerful the card could start the game. I brought the fourth in several times and probably should of just had herin the main. Two of my favorite cards in the deck are Minamo, School at Water's Edge and Eiganjo Castle. Minamo is the weaker of the two, and never had an impact on a game but Eiganjo Castle is a beast! Geist of Saint Traft's number one weakness is his toughness but with Eiganjo in play he can battle even the fearsome Vendilion Clique and come out on top. It is a great card for Geist decks and I expect to see it more with how well Geist has done in the format. Sidenote, I didn't run Emeria in this list and Eiganjo Castle is certainly counter intuitive to that strategy.

Coming from a great magic community, we brought over a dozen players from Ft Collins to Denver. I was planning on driving down with Kyle Brazell for the ptq but he fell deathly ill two days prior and even now lies on the brink of death. At least, that's the only excuse I'll take for missing the tournament! He's fine, but wasn't feeling up to the day and I don't blame him, these events are exhausting! So I wake up at 7 am on Saturday, a full three and a half hours earlier than I have to wake up for the earliest shifts at work, eat some yogurt and put a bushel of bananas and three small bottles of orange juice in a grocery bag and head off to our testing spot, Gryphon Games and Comics. I take Nick Jenson in my car and six others pile into a suburban and two more cars leave with three and four people and we set off for Denver. An uneventful hour long drives brings us weary eyed to the Ramada Inn convention hall and I buy a new pack of sleeves, a ritual for large tournaments, and we register without incident. Finally now, onto the matches!

Round 1: U/B Delver

We started off the day with a very friendly opponent on a delver deck. His game plan was small creatures backed up by discard, counter spells, and swords. Game 1 he came at me on the play with a delver of secrets that flipped on his second turn. It found a new path to take though, and he found his tapped land. As I durdled around playing Serra Ascendants and martyr's his various kill spells left me with little board presence. Eventually he was able to send a Creeping Tar Pit into the red zone with a Sword of Feast and Famine attached. I was drawing to zero outs at this point and scooped them up. On to game two!

I brought in Stony Silence for this match and it served me well! With Stony Silence in play, his deck is a bunch of x/1 creatures, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, Dark Confidant, etc and those creatures don't match up against Squadron Hawk and Moorland Haunt very well. In the last few turns I made one mistake. I had two hawks in play, two in hand, and Mistveil Plains in play. It was main phase two and I had him at nine life. I played a third hawk to increase my clock and was promptly stripped of my last by an inquisitional eldrazi. If I had kept the two in hand and he Inquisition of Kozileked one then I could tuck in underneath my library with Mistveil Plains and search it up again with the remaining hawk in hand. I was going to lose a lot of pressure if he had a wrath effect so my Meddling Mage came down the next turn off the top of my library and I went into Sherlock Homes mode and sized up my opponent. He wasn't playing Mystical Teachings, so I ruled out Consume the Meek. He told me he was borrowing most of his deck from a friend, but had play sets of all the expensive cards like confidants and snapcasters so I surmised that card availability was not an issue and ruled out Black Sun's Zenith, and I named Damnation. It turned out I was wrong on all counts as he played an Engineered Explosives on two. Fortunately for me, the aforementioned Stony Silence was in play and my air force crashed in for the win.

Game three he inquisitioned away a Martyr on turn one and a Geist on turn two. I missed out on the called shot turn two when I said “inquisition, inquisition, take Geist and Tallowisp”. So he left me with little gas as my 1/3 spirit brought the beats for a few turns, but discard spells are a double edged sword and his hand contained little of note. Eventually I drew a new Geist who paired up with his buddy Tallowisp to find himself a nice shiny new Steel of the Godhead, and my 4/4 unblock-able, life link legend brought in the round.

Overall a fantastically nice opponent who was a blast to play with.

Record: 1-0

Round 2: Doran splashing Geist?

Round two started off a little less exciting for me and I learned a harsh lesson; my deck loses to turn one Noble Hierarch turn two Geist of Saint Traft. For the round, I had mana issues all three games, losing quickly to a Geist game one.

Game two I went to six cards and kept a one land, Tallowisp, Geist, Geist hand. I knew that this hand could win if I drew two land and figured going to five cards and getting Tallowisp and Geist was improbably. I led off with a tapped Mistveil Plains and a turn two pass without playing a land. Turn three had mercy and put Tallowisp on the battlefield followed quickly by Geist number one which caused the Geist on the other side of the table's mind to explode and grab some shiny new armor for his successor and we quickly closed out game two.

Game three was another mulligan to six, keeping one land and two draw steps later I had one land in play, seven cards in hand, thirteen life and was staring down a Geist with a Sword of War and Peace

Another fun guy, and a great sport. I wished him luck and went off to lick my wounds.

Record: 1-1

Round 3: Merfolk

During the short break between rounds, I sat down to play my friend for fun and his merfolk deck (who later dropped at 0-3), going 2-1 against him. When pairings were posted I found my new seat across from, who would have known, merfolk! My round three opponent was another great guy and kept a great attitude despite the foolishness of his death wish. Game one he drew approximately two thirds of his land, I helped with three Path to Exiles, and couldn't put me under any pressure while trying to stave off a Geist.

Game two was when my deck decided it was done being a Tallowisp deck and that it was now a Martyr of Sands deck, a trend that followed for the rest of the tournament. He had a very slow start and by the time he was attacking me, I was at a comfortable nine mana with Proclamation bringing back Martyr each turn. I probably forecast Proclamation ten times that game and net around three life each time. When I finally drew a Serra Ascendant, he had to start throwing Coralhelm Commanders in front of it and just like the Infernal Spawn of Evil it was, it just kept coming (I actually did say that once when forecasting Proclamation). Eventually, he stopped the game and asked me if he could ask his friend who was watching if he won or lost. Of course I said yes and his friend told us he had lost and would be dropping to play in the side event starting next round. To this, my opponent shook my hand, wished me luck and headed off to sign up for the grand prix trial.

So many nice people today!

Record: 2-1

Round 4: Solar Flare

This was a sad round for me as I gained a bunch of life and scooped to two spells from him. Gifts Ungiven for Iona, Sheild of Emeria and Unburial rights stopped me from playing all but two Snapcaster Mages from my deck and we went to game two.
This game was embarrassing for him, as a Meddling Mage naming Gifts carried a Steel of the Godhead magnificently and raced his Geist with ease.
Game three I drew five spells and about ten land. His newly reanimated Elesh Norn destroyed my team and sent me packing.
A fine opponent, by no means as jovial as the last three, but nice enough.

Record: 2-2

Lunch Round!!

We had about an hour before round four started to fill our bellies and I hopped in my car with Nick and we headed out in search of sustenance. After passing a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant (which I was totally cool with but Nick is a party pooper) we settled on a Safeway deli. Fantastic choice, as my aching stomach quickly devoured a few chicken strips and I kid you not, macaroni and cheese from God.

Record: Delicious

Round 5: U/B Affinity

Back on track with fun opponents, my nemesis quickly smashed my pretty face in with an Etched Champion wearing a shiny new Deathmantle. I had done a great job of keeping him contained, with 1/1 fliers and Paths but I had no way to remove his metalcraft from Darksteel Citadel and Springleaf Drum and was quickly overwhelmed drawing to zero outs. Man, I should really put those Wraths main board.

Guess what I sideboarded? Wraths and Stoney Silence came in quickly. I honestly can't remember much of game two, but it might have had something to do with a steely Geist.

Game three I put my seven face down in front of me, as per the norm, and waited for my opponent to quickly mulligan to six. I snapped up Martyr, Martyr, Martyr, land, land, Path, Hawk. Keep or snap-keep? He mulliganed once more to five and it was off to the races. A turn one Mox Opal pass was a dire omen. Once he had pulled out of his funk and played some cards I was flying high around fifty life when the first Etched Champion hit the table and held my Geist at bay. Next turn? Champion off the top followed quickly by the third protection from my deck. These slowly pecked at my life, four points at a time until a Stoney Silence cut off three fourths of his mana and quelled my greatest fear of a Deathmantle off the top. A Serra Ascendant from me quickly locked the game up as a 6/6 flying, life link.

Bummed at the bad mulligans, my opponent was still super nice and a great sport.

Record 3-2

Round 6: Mono Red

FINALLY!!

I had been wanting this match up all day. Confident in my deck, I kept a mediocre hand and led with a Serra Ascendant. He kicked things off with a Goblin Guide which, soapbox, is a terrible terrible card for modern. Kird Ape and Loam Lion laugh in its face all day. We traded blows and his reluctance to kill my Ascendant won the game for me, draining six life from my opponent over the course. He was very confused and probably thought I was an idiot when I let my turn two Martyr trade for his Grim Lavamancer in combat, but he didn't know just how terrible my keep was. Two Snapcasters and a Path meant that my Martyr would only be gaining me three life if she exploded. I calculated that the Lavamancer would easily kill my Ascendant and deal at least four damage to me that game and the net life loss would have been around ten from the single card. I was happy to watch it rot in his graveyard. At one point in the game, after unearthing a Hellspark Elemental, he called a judge to ask if unearth would trigger a card in his hand. I quickly guessed that he was asking about morbid for a Brimstone Volley and began blocking to keep my life about eight for the bolt and volley I knew he had.

Game two I kept my life in the high teens and about turn five or six, finally drew a Martyr. I had already told my opponent I knew he was either bringing in Leyline of Punishment or Flames of the Bloodhand, ruling out Rain of Gore from his mono mountains game one. As I played Martyr, he had three lands untapped and I put him on flames. I played into it, announcing if he has it, he has it, and put 12 life gain on the stack. The moment of truth was quick and my Martyr did not die in vain, I went to just under thirty life. My opponent untaps and angrily throws a Leyline onto the table from the top of his library. On my turn I add a Geist to the table and a second Leyline off the top prompts my opponent to concede in a fury.

After five rounds of great people, opponent six really put me off balance with his reaction. I tried to make small talk, and mentioned that I really didn't have anything in my sideboard for the matchup, referring to the Vedalken Outlanders that used to be in the deck (not that anyone but myself would know that at the table). His response was snide and rude, mocking me for mentioning my sideboard in an already unwinnable match up for him (RDW players don't hate, but I haven't lost to one of you yet. Not saying it's impossible, but the match up really is like 80/20 in my favor). He signed the slip and stomped off to complain to his friends.

Record: 4-2

Round 7 – Final Round: Bant

After reviewing the scores, we knew that no 5-2 records would make top eight, but would still receive prizes. Sitting at a table waiting for pairings, of the ten people on our team, seven were 4-2. We knew there was no chance that one round wouldn't be between friends. All I was hoping for was that I didn't get paired against Jean and his mono white Martyr list. Pairings go up, and I have to play Andrew, who switched to bant the night before the tournament from BUG Faeries. I would have crushed him had he been on faeries, but his turn two Geists ended up crushing me. Fortunately, we were both exhausted, running on a combined six hours of sleep and we shook on a prize split. Playing out, he wrecked me in the games, but neither of us were really playing. Just going through the motions so that one person would have a 5-2 record. It was a fun way to end the tournament and he handed me seven of the fifteen packs and one more for gas money.

Final record 4-3

At this point we were all tired and hungry but eager to get some last minute trading in before leaving. I joke with Andrew about the last pack for gas money and open it to see what he had given me. Who else but our star player, Geist of Saint Traft! I was pretty excited as I had to borrow my fourth Geist for the event. Most of our team decided to save their packs to draft with, but since I work all three days that we have tournaments in town, I went to pack wars with Jean and opened my fifth Snapcaster and some junk. This puts me to having opened six Geists since Innistrad was released and one Snapcaster from the hundred plus packs I've opened, including online drafts. Funny how that works.

We eventually get everyone corralled into cars and set off towards home and stop for a late dinner at Qdoba. The staff was very nice and let us stay twenty minutes after close to finish our food. When I got home I started pulling stuff out of my car and I realize, my deck box isn't in my backpack. I call everyone, the team, the tournament organizer, the head judge, the store that was selling singles but no luck. I have a post on craigslist and our local magic event page about it, but I've given up hope. It's gone forever.

I was very happy with my deck choice, fantastic matches against aggro and combo though it was a little soft to control. I already knew one change and that was putting Sword of Light and Shadow into the main board. Having the equipment gives the deck much needed power and card advantage in long games and should generally improve control matches. I had traded for two swords at the event, giving the Snapcaster I had just opened to a teammate for one, but had put both into sleeves in my deck box.

Ce la vie.

Meddling Mage was main board in anticipation of storm being a heavy contender, and it was, I just wasn't paired against it. Shining Shoal started as a three of from the Tallowisp decklist Gerry Thompson posted on SCG but was always my go-to card for cuts. I love it dearly, it's a pet favorite of mine, but isn't powerful enough. Moorland Haunt also underperformed as it was a remnant of the pre-Squadron Hawk version of the deck and I never brought in the Cannonists from the side board though that was just because of the pairings. I did want Angel's Grace in the sb for Hivemind, Ad Nauseam, and Storm, but couldn't find any copies. The last consideration was Hurkyl's Recall against affinity, and if it keeps doing as well as it has I am happy to put it in the 75.

Moving forward, I'm going to be exploring a B/W version of Martyr, with Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Necrotic Sliver and Dark Confidants, though Geist of Saint Traft feels like one of the best creatures in the format. He was a superstar all day and won about 75% of my matches.

Thanks for sticking with me all the way, best of luck in your own tournaments, and pour one out with me for the fallen, R.I.P Tallow-Proc.

Colin Williamson