Tournament Report: PTQ: Return to Ravnica – Standard Constructed

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 4^th 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 2^nd). 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 21^st bus trip the weekend before) and we’d travelled over to GP Melbourne together earlier in the year as well.

Coverage is available here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/153949381340499/permalink/365651166836985/

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: 2^nd 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