Pattern Recognition #235 - Slow Grow Finale

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

14 April 2022

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

And with my routine introduction out of the way (though I think it's time to mix it up a little), let's get to what you've all been waiting for. Namely, the last week of the Slow Grow. For this, the last week, I'm going in at 4th place, with 1st or second being out of my reach for the most part, unless something catastrophic happens. Which doesn't happen.

Regardless, let's have a look at the changes this week, brought to you by the single pack of Modern Horizons 2 that I bought last week because I had the spare money.

IN: Ornithopter of Paradise, Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients, Nahiri, the Harbinger, Solitude, Battlefield Forge
OUT: Abrade, Ironclad Slayer, Expedite, Myriad Landscape, Condemn

I also spent money last week and got the Nahiri's that I was missing. They didn't show up. But in reality, this was just me making changes for the sake of making changes and just rolling with it. No grand plans, though at this point, putting in Battlefield Forge was way past due.

Round 1

I'm at a three person table, and I go first. A non-Slow Grow Lathliss is going second, with a Kaalia that my notes say that they know what they are actually doing is in third.

The second thing my notes say was to scratch that out and to take that back after the Kaalia player repeatedly didn't understand how vigilance worked.

Anyway, I mill to 6, and keep an opening hand that is heavy on mana, but does have my new Ornithopter of Paradise in it, so I figure, why not? I hit the table running, and I am now seriously mana flooded, but the Ornithopter drops on curve, then Wyleth, and I get First Blood on turn 4, against Lathliss as Kaalia had played Kaalia, Zenith Seeker on the previous turn, and a 2/2 is going to be eaten by a 3/3 easy.

Then Kaalia plays their actual Commander, and swings at me with non-Commander Kaalia to find an Angel to put into pay next turn with Kaalia 2.

I hit and cast Angelfire Ignition, and with some equipment, I start cracking skulls. I Flashback the Ignition on the next turn and while I have been hard on drawing, I haven't been casting anything either. But it gets to the tipping point, as Wyleth soon has 12 power and both of my opponents have more than 10 commander damage each.

So Kaalia does the smart thing and casts Planar Cleansing. I do the equally smart thing and respond with Boros Charm to make all my stuff indestructible.

Kaalia's attempt to stall me out gets blown up in their face as I'm the only one left with a board state.

I make the same offer to them that I did to Trostani last week, about how if I crack them down with Commander damage, they can still keep playing and I'll ignore them, just collecting the two points for the Commander kill. They both reject my offer (!) and I choose to roll a die to determine who gets the hit. Kaalia goes down, and Lathliss concedes, taking two more points with him. Sad. Annoying. But that's still a solid haul of points at this point.

Round 2

Leinore, Autumn Sovereign is first, Ezuri is second, Miss Partners is third, and I'm fourth. I mill to five, and keep a hand with Sacred Foundry and two plains in it, just to hope and pray.

Turn 1, Ezuri drops Mist-Cloaked Herlad, and we're all ready to hand him First blood. Except the turn goes to me, and what do I draw?

"Sacred Foundry, Untapped, take 2. , Rabbit Battery, Swing!"

So I steal First Blood out from Ezuri in a lucky play that had everyone basically going "wow, that's lucky".

Narset, Parter of Veils is dropped on Turn 3 by Ezuri, and gets Force of Negation, forcing the rest of us to play around it until I was able to draw it out with Sigarda's Aid on a later turn. But rewinding the clock a little, we had a Judge Call where the Ezuri player put +1/+1 counters on Master Biomancer, then realized he had shot himself in the foot when his creatures were now coming into play with Power over two, meaning that Ezuri wouldn't get any more experience. He asked the judge to confrirm when the +1/+1 counters went on, and the Judge agreed with me when I said that the counters entered with the creature, they were not put onto it as an ETB effect, citing cards like Endless One.

Anyway, Miss Partners is not out, and she casts Archetype of Aggression, meaning that Wyleth's Trample is gone until I can get rid of the Archetype. Then Leinore drops Citadel Siege and picks the option to tap a creature before each player's combat step. At that point, the only thing I wind up doing is casting Valorous Stance to protect from an Austere Command, and I'm not much use the rest of the game.

Round 3 Grand Finale!

So, by tradition, the top four players are seated at the same table, and as I'm still in fourth, I get the last seat there. There's still several points between me and fifth, so I'm pretty confident that I will retain that. There's a larger gap between me and third, but only a single point between 1st and second.

In first is the good Lathril player, but going fourth. In second is Wihelt, the Zombies, but he's third. Going first is the third place player, Aesi, while I am in fourth, but going second.

First hand. 1 Land. Toss. Second hand. Two lands. Wrong colours for anything in the hand. Toss. Third hand. NO LANDS. Fifth hand... I can work with this. I really can. Turn 1. Sigarda's Aid. Turn 2, Hero's Blade, and Zombies gets first Blood, meaning that it's pretty much down to positioning who gets first.

The Lathril Player decides as I'm writing notes that they want to be called "ELFLORD", and yes, the All Caps is important, so mote it be.

ELFLORD goes off on turn 4, but stalls out when the engine trips up. However, I'm able to whittle away at him and Wilhelt thanks to Spirit Mantle, and I soon have both of them inside of 'easy kill' range.

So I roll a die, and swing at Zombies. Heck, I even closed my eyes when I rolled! Wyleth swings...!

Aesi casts Cyclonic Rift. Gets the save Points.

I rebuild, swing at ELFLORD to keep things even and everyone on their toes, then get board-wiped again. However, I do have an emergency plan. Time gets called. I'm going. I have Wyleth in play already, but no one has much in the way of resources. So I cast Brilliant Restoration, and everything comes back! Well, actually just Blackblade Reforged and On Serra's Wings, but it's enough. It is all Equipped thanks to Sigarda's Aid still being on the battlefield by the grace of Urza!

I have a huge Wyleth, who can one-shot anyone! I take my shot and roll the Die of Doom to point him at Wilhelt!

"I cast Darkness."

Pardon me while I step outside and scream and the sheer injustice of it all. Whilelt, the Zombies, get the top spot.

FINAL STANDINGS

So, here is a nice graphic of the format's results. I've replaced names with Commanders where I can recognize them. Sadly, they don't include the game-by-game breakdowns. Also, the player who came in Fifth overall, Aesi #2, is the one who provided me with this chart.

So, a few observations then. ELFLORD started strong and stayed strong because, well, it's an Elfball Deck. You don't need much work to make it work. Only a serious mid-tournament rally from the Zombies, who openly admitted to farming the efforts to get the +3 points for saving a player as many times as possible. Which is the situation I had ended up at, at the last table, where I was swinging, hoping to connect, but was also the tool for others to try and save someone else from me. It's also the reason for Zombies 24 and 26 point week, as well as Aesi #2's massive 27 point week, to almost, but not quite, make it to fourth.

Better luck next time!

oh god, you were so close. any little thing could have caused you to catch up to me, then my luck would have kicked in and you would have had 4th place and not me

What I see from my own performance though was that I had a relatively strong start, a weak middle as people started catching on to what I was doing and adapting against it, then a strong-ish finish as people wheeled away from 'gotta beware the Voltron Deck' to counter everyone else's Combo-Control decks. I was still struggling to make the hits, but once I connected, it was all downhill for everyone else from there.

As a result, Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer has been banned, as while it didn't show up here at this Slow Grow, it dominated the one at the other store in town this year.

Which is kinda sad, really. The best deck at the other tournament was Sultai, while at the final table, and including fifth place, every deck was some combination of two of , with myself being the only exception. BUG is still the best, it seems.

I think I could have shifted bit to more protecting of my Commander with Hexproof and Protections a little sooner, and perhaps that might have made things better for me.

Oh, before I forget, prizing. So, everyone under 5th got 2 packs per week they showed up. If you showed up for all 8, you got 16 packs and a bonus playmat from the store. 3rd and fourth place got a box of Jump-Start, while 2nd place got a set of Commander 2019 precons, while 1st place got Commander Ikoria ($$$ value high due to the free spells).

I'm good with my box. Maybe I'll let you all know what I got in it.

It was fun. I had fun, and the results for me are far better than I expected. I hoped to dish out more Comander Kills, but such was not to be. I already have an idea for my next Slow Grow deck. I'm thinking Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist. Because dammit, I have a theme, and I'll stick to it!

Join me next week when I talk about something else. I think I have an idea, but I'm not quite sure yet.

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!