A nice sunny day in Christchurch saw 27 players descend upon our LGS - the Wizard’s Retreat - for our first constructed tournament post-rotation. Having not played any Standard since Nationals in August (and absolutely nothing since Innistrad’s release) I decided to go with a deck I know quite well – Puresteel Paladin aka Voltron.
Full credit goes to Mike Lanigan (@mtgjedi on twitter) for the decklist, which I bastardized due to metagame calls (“3x Nihil Spellbomb in the board should fix all those graveyard decks!”), stupidity (“2x Day of Judgment? I’m sure I won’t need those…”) and forgetfulness (“I feel like I haven’t seen either of my Inkmoth Nexi all day… wait… they’re sitting in my Dragon Stompy Legacy deck as proxies?!?”).
The list I ended up running was as follows:
Creatures (16)
4 Vault Skirge
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Puresteel Paladin
2 Mentor of the Meek
2 Trinket Mage
Equipment (16)
3 Flayer Husk
4 Mortarpod
3 Sword of War and Peace
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Blazing Torch
2 Batterskull
Spells (6)
4 Dispatch
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Mox Opal
Lands (22)
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Moorland Haunt
11 Plains
1 Island
Sideboard (15)
2 Celestial Purge
2 Dissipate
2 Flashfreeze
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Revoke Existence
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Indomitable Archangel
1 Etched Champion
2 of the Plains were supposed to be Inkmoth Nexuses, and the 2 Metamorphs were Phantasmal Images. I knew we had at least one Burning Vengeance combo deck in the room, hence the overload on graveyard hate. The Indomitable Archangel was a cute idea I wanted to try, and I figured at the least he was a flying 4/4 for four.
Report time! Due to my lack of note-taking this is all done from memory. I may have got some of the situations a bit fuzzy with regards to what game they happened in and the order of things, but these all definitely happened!
Round 1: David Harragan running G/W Tokens
Ah… tokens. Wrath seems like it’d be good right now. Oops.
Game 1: David drops a Blade Splicer - who promptly dies to a Mortarpod – and a completely surplus Shrine of Loyal Legions ensuring his win, even as his Golem token beats me down with augmented power from Intagible Virtue.
I think I board in Revoke Existence for Shrine and Golems. Not sure what went out. At this point I’m kicking myself for cutting the Days that were in the original list.
Game 2: is more of the same; crushed by a Golem token, while David proceeds to never tap out for the rest of the game. Afterwards he flashes me a hand containing 3x Naturalize. Yeah… that seems bad for my deck.
0-1
About now I decided to go and grab a coffee from the local mall.
Round 2: Bye
Excellent - a bye! And all I had to do to earn it was lose the first round...
1-1
Round 3: Keith Stokes with UB Control
I'd tested the deck very briefly against a UB deck the night before at FNM and despite getting manascrewed most of my testing games (which in hindisght was due to my missing Inkmoth Nexi... 20 lands really isn't enough!) I still managed to win a couple of games.
Game 1: I drop some guys who get in there for some early damage. Keith wipes the board a turn later than he should and I come back with a Paladin wearing a sword. His Grave Titan tries to help out, but pro-black and some spirits in the air combined with a mortarpod seal the deal.
Not sure if I brought in Revoke Existence and maybe Celestial Purge for his Wurmcoils/Grave Titans. Pretty sure I brought in at least one Spellbomb to try and reduce his Snapcaster usefulness. Definitely brought in the 2 Phyrexian Metamorphs to try and copy his fatties.
Game 2: is more of the same; little guys wearing pants bashing in early. I get an active Paladin and start shifting Mortarpod around to kill his Spellskite that’s preventing me getting through with a Sworded guy. Keith tries to redirect my equip to Spellskite and we get into a brief discussion about the legality of that. I tell him that Equipping can only target a creature you control, so he can’t re-direct the ability. I’m not entirely sure what Keith thought he would gain even if it did work like that, as I was equipping for free anyway. I kill the Skite and swing in for a bunch of damage. Keith taps out for a last-ditch effort: Consecrated Sphinx. It sticks, draws him a couple of cards then gets Dispatched while my team cruise in for the kill.
I saw absolutely no removal in the second game from Keith, who at one point activated his Nephalia Drownyard to mill me. I'm sure it would've been better to hit himself in the hope that he ends up with something that he can Snapcaster back, but I wasn't going to complain.
2-1
Round 4: Xavier Mclean with Mono-Black Infect
I have no idea what deck X-man is playing (he's been out of the loop even longer than I have and has borrowed a deck from a friend). We have some nice casual banter about how the tournament's going while shuffling up and he complains about how Vampires (or was it Werewolves?) just rolled him because his Victim of Night's were useless. Hilariously enough, I'm probably one of the few match-ups where they're actually better than Doom Blade because he can kill my Germ tokens with them!
Game 1: I keep a hand with a bit of early action and we trade one-for-one early on (Mortarpod’s pretty sweet at popping all his 1-toughness guys). I make a bad call of dropping 2 Doomed Travellers to up my clock, when I have a Mentor of the Meek in hand. Xavier catches some of my stupid and swings an Inkmoth Nexus at me when I have mana up, an untapped Moorland Haunt and a guy in the yard. The stupid continues when I try to block one of his Phyrexian Crusaders with a white creature wearing a Sword of Feast and Famine (“I don’t think that does what you think it does…”). I drop some germs to buy some time (“Hah! They’re not white!”) I Dispatch his hasted Skittles, but eventually succumb to his Contagion Clasp grinding me out a turn or two before I can finish him off.
Celestial Purge and Etched Champion definitely come in, Lifestaff, 3x Sword of War and Peace and 2x(?) Batterskull go out. Metamorphs are in to help against Skittles and to lessen the impact of his Phyrexian Crusaders. Revoke Existence is in for Lashwrithes and Clasps.
Game 2: Another close one; I drop a guy, he kills it with Clasp. I O-Ring his Clasp and he looks at me a little funny (I don’t have any poison yet). Fairly certain I win this game due to Xavier trying to equip Lashwrithe to a couple of 1-toughness flying dorks and having them popped with Mortarpod; half-retail for the first and the full 4-life for the second gave me a nice edge in the race.
Game 3 Xavier jokes about how he could keep his hand and just give me the win (think it was a 1-lander or something). I keep a hand with some guys and removal and feel in control for the whole game.
Lashwrithe is obscenely good in the Mono-black deck as it turns any of their guys into very fast clocks. It’s also really important to remember that they’ve always got the chance to rip a hasty Skittles off the top, so ideally you want to save a Dispatch/Purge to deal with it. Xavier was using Virulent Wound, which – considering the large number of 1-toughness guys running around at the moment – seems like a really solid call.
3-1
Round 5: Mo Nicholson with White Weenie (splashing blue for Geist of Saint Traft)
Mo and I take about 20 seconds before deciding to ID, then have to call a judge over to ask how we actually go about doing it! We decide to have a couple of friendly games to kill the time and I beat him 2-0. It turns out that Angelic Destiny isn’t so good when the guy enchanted with it gets exiled from the game, and copying your opponent’s Hero of Bladehold is really good when you have a token sub-theme.
3-1-1 and Cut to top 8!
About now I’m incredibly stoked. Considering how the day had started this is the best result I could hope for. Looking around the top 8 we have two White Weenie decks, David and his GW Tokens, a 4-colour Pod deck, 1 Mono-red, me with Puresteel and a couple of decks I can’t recall/didn’t see.
Quarterfinals: Daniel Liberona with Mono-red
Game 1: Daniel and I play cat and mouse with him attacking me with Chandra’s Phoenix, Stormblood Berserkers and Stromkirk Nobles and me trying to keep the damage down without killing any of his guys to give him Lavamancer fodder. Daniel nearly uses his Berserker to kill both my Doomed Traveller and the Germ that’s blocking him, then realizes how bad that would be for him (I’ve got a Moorland Haunt in play, but no creatures in the yard). I find a Lifestaff which helps stem the bleeding, but he finishes me off before I can take complete control.
In – Revoke Existence for Shrine, Celestial Purge, Etched Champion and Flashfreeze. Out 2x Sword of Feast and Famine, Blazing Torch and some other stuff.
Game 2: I keep a hand with a Lifestaff, Pod, Celestial Purge and some other stuff. We trade 1-for-1 early on, and I exile his Curse of Stalked Prey to stop the Lavamancer(!) beatdown. Daniel proceeds to rip nothing but land while I draw action and put the game away.
Game 3: Don’t really recall this apart from Daniel again ripping lots of land while I smash him down. He flicks through his library at the end of the game and there are 3 Manic Vandals hanging out vaguely near the top. Glad I never saw them!
Daniel’s deck was running a proliferation sub-theme – Stromkirk Noble, Stormblood Berserker and Shrine. Don’t recall if I saw any Koths, and I know I never saw any Heroes (which I’m pretty sure destroy my deck if they get to swing).
4-1-1
Semifinals: Matthew ‘Mo’ Nicholson with White Weenie
After our friendly games I wasn’t the matchup Mo wanted to see. He takes game 2 off me, but makes a couple of mistakes over the match like swinging a guy into a Batterskull Germ wearing a Sword of War and Peace (Me: “Uh… ok… kill your guy, gain 6 life?” Mo: “Wait, that thing has vigilance?” Bystander: “Yeah, it really does everything!” I end up bringing in Revoke Existence for the Destinies, Phyrexian Metamorph for Geists and Etched Champion because it blanks his deck. I cut a Batterskull, the 2 Swords of Feast and Famine and the Lifestaff. Game Three involves a turn where he double destinies and swings at me, I take it like a champ, Dispatch his guys on my turn and smash back with a Sworded guy.
Grand Abolisher is a major annoyance for the Puresteel deck as it means you can’t respond to Champion of the Parish triggers with Mortarpod or having them cast an anthem effect. The games seemed to revolve around me taking a control role and chumping their guys while hopefully smashing them with a Sworded guy.
5-1-1
Finals: John Seaton with 4-Colour Pod
John and I are good friends and did a fair bit of testing for Nats together. I’d railbirded one of his games earlier and had seen what made his Not-Quite-Bant-Pod deck so cool – splashing black for Skinrender and Unburial Rites. He also had a Sheoldred at the top of his chain because he didn’t have an Elesh Norn handy and couldn’t be bothered trying to track one down. This was probably the best possible news for me as Elesh Norn pretty much just wrecks my deck. The last time John and I faced each other in a Top 8 match was M11 Game Day where he crushed my homebrewed UR Frost Titan/Destructive Force deck with Turboland. I was ready for revenge!
Game 1: We both drop some early guys and then I crash in for a heap with a guy wearing a Sword of War and Peace. He searches up a Wurmcoil Engine in an attempt to stabilize while on 2 life, saying: “If you show me the direct damage I’ll scoop.” I don’t have a Mortarpod in play or in hand, so start digging with Mentor of the Meek and Paladin. Four mana available and my two options are drop another Sword of War and Peace, suit something up and I should still be able to crash through for enough to kill him (I hadn’t done all the math) or go for the style-kill. I cast my Trinket Mage and ask John: “What 1-mana equipment can I search for to kill you?” He can’t think of anything, so I drop the Blazing Torch on the table. We both have a good laugh and shuffle up for game two.
Out: 2x Sword of War and Peace (in hindsight, this is totally and utterly wrong, as the Pod deck usually has a lot of cards in hand and not a lot of early action), Sylvok Lifestaff and Blazing Torch (even though it was such an awesome play!). In Revoke Existence for his Pods/Wurmcoils, Phyrexian Metamorph to copy his good-stuff and Flashfreeze.
Game 2: John drops an early Venser the Sojourner. I try to stop him from going ultimate but this just allows John time to run out a pod and start working on value. Skinrender slows my assault and eventually he gets the emblem. I continue playing for a bit, but quickly realize that I really haven’t got a chance of beating him.
Game 3: John goes to 6 cards and keeps. I drop some early guys followed by a Sword of War and Peace while he builds up his land-count. I swing in for 10, John draws his next card and extends his hand. Keeping a 5-lander with all his colours and Venser, while not drawing any action lead to an easy victory!
6-1-1 and Game Day Champion!
Barring FNM this was the first tournament I’ve won, and the first Constructed Tournament in Christchurch that I’ve felt really comfortable with (ignoring my first round!) It’s been nearly 2 years since I’ve come back to the game of Magic and over that time I feel like my play-skill has significantly improved and I feel less of a draw to playing “cute” decks. This deck seemed like a really solid choice, and if I was running it again I’d make the following changes:
- Cut the 2 Dissipates for 1 more Flashfreeze and 1 more Celestial Purge. I never boarded them in, and couldn’t conceive of a match-up where I’d want to. 3 mana is 1 mana to much to be keeping open, and UU isn’t that easy to hit. I never faced Wolf-run so I’m not entirely sure how good the Flashfreezes are, but they’re certainly the best answer this deck has to Dungrove Elder.
- Cut 2 of the Nihil Spellbombs for 2 Day of Judgment. I’d possibly consider Divine Reckoning in this slot instead, because you’d usually be happy to keep one of your guys alive (hint: it’s the deck’s namesake!) and you’d only really be bringing them in against Token decks anyway.
- Cut the Indomitable Archangel for 1 more Etched Champion. Etched Champion is just so good at blanking some strategies. I never really found myself wanting the Archangel, and apparent from my first round where David brought in Naturalizes against me, I don’t recall anyone bringing in targeted artifact-hate. If Creeping Corrosion starts seeing play again (unlikely with the decline of Tempered Steel) I’d consider something like Hero of Bladehold or Mirran Crusader in this slot instead.
I never found myself missing the Inkmoth Nexuses – there wasn’t any occasion that I can recall where I wanted Metalcraft and was lacking it, or where I think a poison win would have been easier. Maybe if we get another infinite-life combo seeing play they might be necessary, it also is probably worth trying a couple of Ghost Quarters in that slot instead. Doomed Traveller is awesome. Just trust me on this (and all the pros that are currently playing him, I guess!). Two Moorland Haunts seems to be the right number – I could see maybe going up to a 3rd, but you never want more than one in play. I know I never mentioned Vault Skirge, but he really does everything this deck wants; helps against aggro with his Lifelink, is an evasive threat for Sword-wearing, turns on Metalcraft and when he finally dies provides a body in the yard for Haunt. Mentor was another card that – while it didn’t blow me away – was just a solid play for grinding out some card advantage. I think I used the Metamorphs to legend-rule one card in the entire tournament (Skittles maybe?) and I can’t see the Phantasmal Images with their drawback being better in this slot… you can’t equip them, and the Metamorphs help towards Metalcraft while also giving you the option of copying a Sword already in play. Batterskull looks like it should be too expensive for a deck running 22-land, but I was always happy with them.
Right, that’s enough for now; tune in to read about how I did the following day at the Wizard’s Retreat Invitational (ISD Block Constructed)!
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