For PTQ:
Return to Ravnica I managed to convince myself to play a “real deck”: Kibler’s
Naya Pod List from TCGPlayer 5k, San
Diego with a few tweaks.
Paul Johnson – Naya Pod
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Borderland Ranger
2 Birthing Pod
1 Phreyxian Metamorph
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Restoration Angel
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Wolfir Silverheart
3 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Dismember
3 Gavony Township
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Copperline Gorge
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Sunpetal Grove
5 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Hellrider
2 Crushing Vines
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Celestial Purge
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Manic Vandal
1 Combust
1 Stingerfling Spider
1 Ambient Grudge
1 Acidic Slime
1 Pyreheart Wolf
Specific
changes from Kiblers list were removing Thalias as I wasn’t too fond of them;
shaving a Forest and a Dismember; which let me include 3 Bonfire of the Damned
maindeck (as the card allows for some insane blowouts) and the 4th
Strangleroot Geist. My sideboard was all over the show and I never even
considered bringing in the Vandal or the Wolf.
We had 114
Players which meant it would be 7 rounds of Swiss and cut to top 8. Highly
unlikely that any x-2s would make it as we were so close to the next bracket.
As per usual, I’ll do my best to recall the specifics of each match, but names
and/or plays may be at the mercy of my memory.
Round 1: Kelly Laird - U/W Delver
Game one
sees Kelly drop and flip an early Delver of Secrets while I start getting in
there with a couple of 2-power guys (Strangleroot Geists I assume). A Bonfire of
the Damned to wipe Kelly’s board of Insectile Aberration and Geist of St Traft
seals the deal for me. I’d like to think this wasn’t miracled, as there were
multiple occasions over the weekend where I had a Bonfire in my opener and
waited for the opportune moment to get the most value out of it.
I decide to
board out my Birthing Pods and Silverhearts to bring in some hate for the Blue
menace. I think every match this tournament saw me boarding out all of my Pods
to make room for cards I wanted to bring in, and to hopefully give the opponent
more dead cards. I’m not sure if this is correct, as any artifact hate will
still kill Golem tokens.
Game two
Kelly responds to my Geist with a Phantasmal Image, which stays back on D for
him. Due to the way Undying and how AP/NAP trigger stacking works it meant that
his Image returned to the field with nothing to copy, so was a 0/0 with no
abilities and a +1/+1 counter on it; far less imposing than my now 3/2 Geist.
Kelly wasn’t sure of this, but the Judge we called over confirmed I was right;
to top things off I then dropped a Blade Splicer post-combat. At some point it
looks like I cast a Stingerfling Spider to take out his Restoration Angel, cast
a Resto of my own to give me another Golem token; and even chuck a Huntmaster
of the Fells in for good measure too. Finally a Crushing Vines takes out his
final Angel that was trying to hold up a defence and I cruise in for the win.
After we’re
done Kelly tells me that he boarded out his fliers (ie Delver of Secrets) -
barring the Angels - in an attempt to blank any hate that I brought in.
Considering I drew two flier specific cards it seemed quite unlucky for him. I
also don’t know if that’s a particularly good strategy as a t1 Delver that
flips on t2 can sometimes steal games that they have no right of winning.
1-0
Round 2: Bronson - B/W tokens
Game One
shows me beating down with a Strangleroot Geist, then a Huntmaster of the Fells
and some other dorks until Bronson (at 5 life) lands enough anthems to make
attacking highly unprofitable. I proceed to let my Huntmaster flip into a Ravager
and back again 3 times (made all the more difficult by Midnight Haunting) to
finally finish him off.
The board
stall was interesting, because as Bronson pointed out, if he’d drawn a Vault of
the Archangel I was going to be in a very bad
position. Much the same could have been said for him if I’d drawn either a
Gavony township or a Bonfire of the Damned.
Game Two
Bronson gets land-flooded while I chuck dudes on the board and
swing for lots.
2-0
Round 3: Ben Upton – Jon Finkel’s PT Spirits
Game One a
flipped Delver from Ben gets in for early beats while I respond with Geist
beats of my own. A Huntmaster helps me stabilize my life total, and my guess is
that the flip takes out the flying Nacatl and lets me put the game away. I
think Ben played some Lingering Souls in an attempt to stem the bleeding; they
may or may not have died (again?) in a horrible fire.
Game Two I’m
not sure what happened exactly but my life total goes 20, 22, 20, 19 as opposed
to his 20, 18, 16, 15, 13, 8, 5, 3. I do recall baiting out a Mana Leak with a
Stingerfling Spider when the only flier on-board was my own Restoration Angel.
After the Spider this the bin, Ben asks for the wording on its ETB trigger,
worried he may have just cost himself the opportunity of having me off my own
Angel. I assure him that it is most definitely a “may” trigger.
3-0
Round 4: Tony Matthews – R/B Zombie Pod
Game One
sees both our life totals jump all over the place- mine due to Huntmaster
triggers mostly and Tony’s due to all the Blood Artist triggers. I think this
is the game that my “mull to 5, bonfire” notes apply to. The life totals make
me think I may have Bonfired his board with 4 creatures, incl a Blood Artist,
dropping me to 3 (then possibly 1 due to an undying Messenger) and putting him
at a rather healthy 18. I pod away a 1-drop to get my lonely Nearheath Pilgrim
in an attempt to get myself out of harm’s way – I gain 4 life from something
here – maybe pairing with a Ravager and swinging? This game ends with an
interesting interaction (and an incredible mind blank for me); Tony has two
Birthing Pods on the battlefield. He pods a Geralf’s Messenger and I assume
he’s off to get a Falkenrath Aristocrat – I think I had a flying blocker, so
that was acceptable. He proceeds to get a Zealous Conscripts (with the obvious
intention that he was grabbing a 4-drop on the way) and uses it to steal
something of mine and kill me. I nearly scoop my cards up, then realize that
this isn’t quite right and call a Judge over. The Judge rules that Tony has
incorrectly resolved an ability, so backs up to the initial search for a
4-drop. Once Tony shows me that he does still have one in his deck and can
definitely get the Conscripts, I scoop em up.
Games 2 and
3 see Tony losing from 11 and 10 life respectively, at least one game due to
Hellrider, followed by Zealous Conscripts stealing a Phyrexian Obliterator that
he’d been counting on to hold me off.
4-0
Round 5: Zen Takahashi – Esper Midrange/Solar Flare
Game One
sees the rather gross board state of (on Zen’s side) Sun Titan, Sun Titan
(Phantasmal Image), Sun Titan (Phantasmal Image), Blade Splice, Golem Token
compared to my Huntmaster, Angel, Blade Splicer x2, Golem Token x2. Zen (with a
Vault of the Archangel) makes things
incredibly difficult for me, but I chuck enough things in the way to
first-strike his real Titan and stay alive (at 2) while his life sky-rockets to
41. Highly impressed with how I’ve managed to claw back my board position he
blows up the world with a Day of Judgment. I find the first threat (a Blade
Splicer) but Zen copies it with an Image, then kills my team, followed by me.
Game Two
starts off with the same Strangleroot Geist/Phantasmal Image shenanigans that
occurred in my match with Kelly (although Zen gets in for some beats of his own
for a couple of turns). He decides to blow the world up again. Following the
trend from Game One I find the first threat: a Hero of Bladehold. “There’s a
win-con” Zen exclaims as he copies it with an Image then kills mine. He takes
the game very handily from there.
This was
the first match where I felt like I really didn’t have a shot; it seems
main-deck wraths are really bad for creature-based decks; who would’ve guessed?
4-1
Round 6: Walker McMurdo – Delver
Game One
sees the very unusual situation of Walker tapping out; and me responding by
casting a Wolfir Silverheart (a card generally terrible in the Delver
match-up), bonding it with my Strangleroot Geist and getting in the red zone
for 7 points to drop him to 8. Faced with well over 15 power on the board, he
scoops. I think he may have cast a Sword of War and Peace, but it certainly
didn’t seem to do him any good.
Game Two
looks like a steady grind where I drop him by 2 points for 5 consecutive turns
while my own life total dances between 18 and 16 for a while. I’m not 100% sure
if this was Huntmaster or Nearheath Pilgrim at work. The game ends with me on 5
life and Walker
on 3. Walker
brought in Hero of Bladehold against me; I don’t recall exactly how I punched
through for the final points (my guess is either Fiend Hunter or removal for a
Flier) but my team got there just in time.
5-1
Being 5-1
puts me at my win-and-in. I discuss with a few other guys about whether there’s
a chance I could ID into top 8, but the general consensus was no; I’ll have to
play it out.
Round 7: Phil Xing – Delver
Game One
was an incredibly close race, I clog the board with dudes whilst taking lots in
the air. Finally we’re both on 2 life and I pass the turn with a Huntmaster of
the Fells on-board and without having cast a spell. Phil doesn’t have an
instant so dies iun his upkeep to the Ravager that it transforms into.
Game Two
has me at an early advantage, which quickly flips the other way when phil casts
a Timely Reinforcements followed by enchanting his Geist of St Traft with
Spectral Flight and dropping me from 20 to 12. I cast a Stingerfling Spider and
use it to prevent the Geist and his Angel buddy from both getting through each
time he swings. I feel I even stooped so low as to Combust an Angel token at
one point. The game ends with me on 2 and Phil thoroughly dead.
This was
the first Delver match all day that felt like I had a chance of losing.
Because the
higher ranked players had ID’d their way into the top 8, winning the final
round meant that I (and two of my fellow players from Christchurch; Dan Mckay
and Andrew Brewer) actually finished higher than them in the swiss standings (I
came in at 2nd). With the changes to the play/draw rule in the Top 8
(higher ranking player chooses) this actually put us in a great position. Due
to the novelty/pressure of playing in the top 8, my notes are more or less
non-existent here so this is all from memory.
Top 8 Semi-Finals: Jacques van Eeden – Bant Pod
I was
initially pleased to dodge Zen (who had also made T8 and would face Dandan in
the semis) until I read the deck tech that had been written on Jacques’ Bant
Pod list. In short, he’d designed it to beat Naya Pod – the exact deck I was
playing.
Game One I
know Jacques can “go bigger” than me as he has Elesh Norn in his list.
Unfortunately his Images do a great job of copying my guys (or his Sun Titans)
and clogging the board up, letting him get her out and putting me out of the
game. Strangest moment was attacking with an 8/8 Ravager of the Fells (bonded with
a Wolfir Silverheart) into Jacques 10/10 Sun Titan (also bonded with a
Silverheart (Image)). The Titan smashed the Werewolf down allowing me to play
my second Silverheart letting me have to 12/12s. Unfortunately next turn was
when Elesh Norn showed up and put a halt to any ambitions I might’ve had.
Game Two
has a beautifully slow-rolled Bonfire of the Damned taking out two Birds of
Paradise and stunting his board development. Strangleroot Geists and other
dudes backed up with Gavony
Township take Jacques out
before he can stabilize.
Game Three
Jacques mulls to 6 and I get in some early beats. He gets an active pod, and
sacrifices a fresh Huntmaster to pod up an Acidic Slime to destroy my Gavony Township.
At this point I had 3 Forest in play, Township
and a Cavern of Souls naming Human, and no white mana sources. I let my
Huntmaster flip to keep his board clear of creatures as letting him pod into a
Sun Titan would have probably been game-winning. Jacques draws a Razorverge
Thicket and despondently plays it tapped; if it had been an untapped land he
would’ve had 6 mana available to him. In a last-ditch effort Jacques copies my
Ravager with a Phantasmal Image. I joke about whether he wants to pod it into a
Birds after he ships me the turn, then cast a Zealous Conscripts popping his
Image and taking me the win.
I was
simply ecstatic that I had beaten the deck that was designed to beat mine,
especially with my Bonfire play in Game Two.
Top Eight Quarter Finals: Zheng Jingwei (Joe Zheng) – R/G
Aggro
I met Joe
when I travelled for a PTQ for the first time (Wellington, way back in 2010)
and have found him to be an absolutely great guy (and also an incredibly tight
player) so was pleased to be playing against him in the quarters. I mention
that I have no idea who our match-up favours and Joe says with a grin that he
knows and will tell me after.
Game One
says Joe fighting a losing battle against my Huntmaster/Ravager team who beat
him down handily.
Game Two I
have Joe on the back-foot but decide I’d like to punt the game amazingly. He
attacks with a Strangleroot Geist which I decline to block (dropping me to 7),
I hit back dropping him to 1 after blocks. Joe then rips a Zealous Conscripts,
steals a dude and swings back for lethal.
I could
have easily played around this in several different ways; either blocking and
trading with his Geist, or holding some number of dudes back just in case would
have worked. It hadn’t even occurred to me that he could draw the
Threaten-on-a-stick, and Joe played to his outs, so he definitely deserved the
win.
Game Three
has me coming out the gates with multiple Geists which Joe responds with in
kind. He taps out to Phyrexian Metamorph another, and I respond by playing my
first Zealous Conscripts, stealing a dude and dropping him from 14 to 5. When I
play my second Conscripts to steal his Metamorph (I put him on having Ancient
Grudge, as he has the mana up for it) I swing with my team, expecting the
Metamorph to die and be returned under my control (due to the Undying trigger).
I’m partially correct – after declaring attacks, Joe proceeds to Ancient Grudge
his Metamorph. Unfortunately, as I hadn’t /actually/ read the wording on
Undying (it returns under the owner’s
control) Joe has it copy and then steal one of the attacking Zealous Conscripts.
After blocks my misplay has almost wiped my side of the board, but dropped Joe
to 1. Shortly after I believe that I unnecessarily miracle a Bonfire for the
win.
Top Eight Finals: Andrew Brewer – House of the Undying (R/B
Zombie Pod)
Meeting Brewer
in the finals of a PTQ in Auckland
was a bit of a surreal experience. He’s a good friend (I’d just been on his 21st
bus trip the weekend before) and we’d travelled over to GP Melbourne together
earlier in the year as well.
Some
salient points from our match: Andrew was surprised when I snap-blocked his
Gravecrawler with my Pilgrim on t2; it’s my experience in this match-up that
trading creatures when there /isn’t/ a Blood Artist or 2 on the board is always
preferable, as is protecting a high life total. Game One felt like I never had
a chance to lose; the Coverage gets it wrong as I’d had the Bonfire in my hand
from the start and slow-rolled it to clear out some number of Artists.
Game 2 I
misplay terribly; my keep of Birds, Purge, Fiend Hunter and lands is a bit
loose, but I would still probably do it. Purging the Crawler to stem the
bleeding was just stupid though, and show’s how little testing I’d done with
this deck. Fiend Hunter-ing the Messenger was never going to end well and I
knew the game was pretty much over as soon as he cast it.
Game 3 the
only real point of difference I think would have been when I blinked my
Splicer; the other option was to pass the turn; flip my Huntmaster, shooting an
Aristocrat and causing Andrew to tie up a couple of mana (sac’ing a
Gravecrawler to keep the Aristocrat alive, then re-playing it next turn) and
then flickering my Ravager giving me a couple of extra life. As it happens, it
probably didn’t matter at all; Andrew had another Aristocrat in hand.
Final
record: 2nd place and a box of AVR.
Musings
from the tournament:
- While the Delver matches were
usually tight, I feel that unless they get the nut double-Delver flip
draw, the match-up is very much in your favour.
- Zombies are hell. Blood Artist
is public enemy number one; you have a few different ways of killing them
maindeck, so its not terrible, but the sheer amount of life you can lose
from Artist triggers + sac outlets is just absurd.
- Podding a Blade Splicer into a
Huntmaster without casting a spell, flipping into a Ravager and then
flickering the Ravager back to a Huntmaster with an Angel in their turn is
as absurdly good as it sounds.
- Wraths are /really/ bad for
this deck. Don't over-extend if at all possible.
Stay tuned for my follow-up report: WMCQ Auckland.
Peace, and please feel free to provide feedback/spread the word.
- PJ
Dooming Travelers since 2011