PTQing in Nashville

After a less than stellar 5k run, I found myself sitting down the next day for a PTQ. We sit down for the player meeting and are informed that we have 211 strong leading to 8 rounds of sealed deck action. I get passed a pool that looks like this:

Blue
Cancel 2
Cosi's Trickster
Gomazoa
Lethargy Trap
Living Tsunami
Paralyzing Grasp 2
Roil Elemental
Shoal Serpent
Trapfinder's Trick
Welkin Tern 2
Whiplash Trap

Artifacts
Adventuring Gear
Blazing Torch
Expedition Map 2
Explorer's Scope
Spidersilk Net
Stonework Puma

Black
Blood Seeker 2
Bog Tatters
Crypt Ripper
Desecrated Earth
Giant Scorpion
Grim Discovery
Hagra Diabolist
Halo Hunter
Heartstabber Mosquito 2
Hideous End
Marsh Casualties
Surrakar Marauder
Vampire's Bite

Green
Beast Hunt
Grazing Gladeheart
Greenweaver Druid
Harrow
Lotus Cobra
Nissa's Chosen
Oran-Rief Recluse
Quest for the Gemblades
Savage Silhouette
Scythe Tiger
Tanglesap
Turntimber Basilisk
Turntimber Ranger
Vastwood Gorger
Vines of the Vastwood
Zendikar Farguide

White
Arrow Volley Trap
Brave the Elements
Cliff Threader
Kor Outfitter
Kor Sanctifiers
Narrow Escape
Ondu Cleric
Pillarfield Ox 2
Quest for the Holy Relic
Shieldmate's Blessing
Steppe Lynx

Lands
Greypelt Refuge
Jwar Isle Refuge
Scalding Tarn
Sejiri Refuge
Turntimber Grove

Red
Bladetusk Boar 2
Goblin Ruinblaster
Goblin Shortcutter
Goblin War Paint
Magma Rift 2
Molten Ravager
Murasa Pyromancer
Plated Geopede
Quest for Pure Flame
Ruinous Minotaur
Tuktuk Grunts
Unstable Footing
Burst Lightning

Nothing real impressive here aside from the money cards. Black immediately stood out as the color I really wanted to play as it had most of the removal and a solid rare in Halo Hunter. From there I had to find a second color. Blue seemed pretty good with a Roil Elemental, Paralyzing Grasp, Welkin Tern, and Cancel. Red had the Bladetusk Boars and Burst Lightning. White was fairly unplayable. In the end I chose to play Green. I had opened most of my favorite cards in green with a Harrow, Grazing Gladeheart, and Turntimber Ranger so I set about building and ended up with this.

Grazing Gladeheart
Harrow
Turntimber Ranger
Turntimber Basilisk
Nissa's Chosen
Quest for the Gemblades
Vines of the Vastwood
Zendikar Farguide
vastwood Gorger

Bog Tatters
Crypt Ripper
Giant Scorpion
Hagra Diabolist
Halo Hunter
2x Heartstabber Mosquito
Hideous End
Marsh Casualties
Surrakar Marauder

Stonework Puma
Expedition Map
Blazing Torch

10x Swamp
8x Forest

Pretty solid creature base and a fair bit of removal. Green also helped provide to help in fixing for the triple black Halo Hunter. The only card I felt I should play, but I didn't was Grim Discovery. After a few mind sludges I realized that maybe I wanted to get my guys back from the yard. So, how did it go?

Round 1 against Scott:

Scott told me he was a newer player and that he was playing in his first PTQ. I didn't write him off as such a novice and he didn't disappoint.

Game 1 he beats me around while I try to gain a stable board position. Then he shows me his bomb, Sphinx of Jwar Isle. I commit a few guys to the board, including a kicked oran-rief recluse and kicked heartstabber mosquito to kill some guys. Along the way I get a counter on Quest for the Gemblades and when he rumbles in with his Sphinx while I'm at 4 I send my recluse adventuring and take down the menace. I take game 1 a few turns later.

Game 2 he leaves my Gladeheart unchecked and I gain a pile. Halo Hunter hits the table for me and he retaliates with his Sphinx, but the life gain combined with the fact that my hunter hits harder seals game 2 for me.

Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0

Round 2 against Curtis:

Game 1 he never really gets started. I play some guys and he plays some removal but not enough and Halo Hunter seals the deal.

Game 2 he hits Mind Sludge on 6 for my hand which included my Hunter. I try to recover but eventually just die.

Game 3 he hits Mind Sludge again, but this time he backs it up with a flurry of Hideous Ends, Marsh Casualties, and a Disfigure. I ask him what it's like to get such a removal heavy pool. He responds by telling me it's pretty nice. I figured that out.

M: 1-1 G: 3-2

Round 3 against Dillon:

Dillon is a local from back home and the match was pretty relaxed as such. We discussed Grand Prix plans for next season and possible Legacy decks while shuffling. Soon it was down to business.

Game 1 We trade blows with some dudes, then he shows me Day of Judgement. I rip Halo Hunter off the top and win. Lucky me...

Game 2 he has no answer for my turn 5 Halo and it goes the distance.

M: 2-1 G: 5-2

Round 4 against Rob:

Rob seemed like a pretty nice guy, and told me he misbuilt his sealed...

Game 1: Sure enough he was having some issues getting his mana online and it allowed me to bring the pain.

Game 2: We spend some time sideboarding and he comes back with all the black removed and playing better green spells. I mull to 6 and he smashes me in record time.

Game 3: Rob lands turn 2 Luminarch's Ascension. I play a guy on 3 that's dealt with, a guy on 4 that's dealt with, and 2 guys on 5 that are also dealt with. Luminarch activates and he beats me down with angels.

M: 2-2 G: 6-4

Here I faced a decision, I'm most likely out of contention for a top 8 spot, so I could drop and not feel bad. On the other hand, Saturday had ended badly and I could possibly make up some lost rating points if I won a few more matches. I decided to stay in until I took a 3rd loss.

Round 5 against Clay

Game 1 took a solid 30 minutes that ended with me decking him while having 1 card in my library and a massive creature stall on the ground.

Game 2 is a little better. He's playing red/white allies with a splash for hagra diabolist, I manage to play both my rares and then out dude him.

M: 3-2 G: 8-4

Round 6 against Thomas

Game 1 he plays 3 Journey to Nowhere hitting all of my good guys. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have a lot to work with outside of that and I still manage to pull it out.

Game 2 we battle for a while. He knocks me to 2 and I land Grazing Gladeheart and start playing some lands and getting back into the game. I start to draw my removal and make a comeback leaving him with a Torch Slinger equipped with a Machete and Adventuring Gear. He taps out main phase 1 for a KICKED(!) Conquerer's Pledge and swings with a 6/5 Slinger. I look at my hand, see my marsh casualties and decide to go to 2. Untap casualty the board away and swing with just enough to win.

M: 4-2 G: 10-4

Round 7 against Michael

I had the read on him from the last round when he played a friend and knew he was packing Hellkite Charger and a couple Mind Sludges.

Game 1 he gets a solid draw with Vampire Lacerator and Vampire Nighthawk. He out races me with his guys and beats me soundly.

Game 2 he lands Lacerator again and it deals a pile of damage, only this time it's to him. I take this one home with the assist.

Game 3 a couple of big swings take this one down for the home team.

M: 5-2 G: 12-5

So with a round to go I realize I can still prize with a win and that a couple of locals are in good shape to top 8. Time to close it out then.

Round 8 against Corey

Game 1 he plays some little guys and once they're out of the way I start swinging with mine. Halo Hunter creates another win on it's demon back.

Game 2 he lands Sphinx of Jwar Isle and I hit Halo Hunter. I land my Gladeheart just in time to allow me to win the race.

M: 6-2 G: 14-5

All said and done I manage a respectable 25th and regain the points lost from Saturday. One thing I noticed about Zendikar sealed over the course of the day is that the format isn't as fast as people think it is. Sure, you have a few matches where your opponent can kill you really fast, but the format can lend itself a control/midrange strategy if you get the proper cards. Unfortunately, the format leans heavily on the black side making black removal slightly less good, but only slightly. On the positive side of a heavy black sealed format you get cards like Bog Tatters as a maindeckable niche card.

Lastly, I would like to promote my other endeavors, mainly Draw Go Radio. Draw Go Radio is a podcast featuring myself, Carlos, Eric, and Tyler all of STD fame! Find us every week at DrawGoRadio.blip.tv or on iTunes by searching for DrawGo Radio. You can find our twitter feed @DrawGoRadio and become our fan on Facebook. Shameless self promotion over.

Until next time, turn 'em sideways

Steven

Extended in Kentucky - SA

The Kentucky Open. Typically a defining tournament in US magic since it happens a week or two before Nationals. By now we've all read the various tournament reports and seen the deck lists, but for those who were unaware they had an Extended tournament to. I wish I could sit here and tell you all about how I crushed the competition and walked away with a win and the 32 dual land prize, instead you get to hear the story of crushing defeat and the lessons that can be derived. Before we can get into the tournament itself you need to know that I played Tezzerator, a deck I've been a fan of for quite sometime.
Here's my list:

TEZZERATOR

2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
3 Stifle
3 Spell Snare
1 Pithing Needle
3 Firespout
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Cryptic Command
4 Chrome Mox
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Trinket Mage
2 Steam Vents
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Riptide Laboratory
4 Polluted Delta
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
6 Island
1 Great Furnace
3 Flooded Strand
1 Breeding Pool
2 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
3 Blood Moon
3 Krosan Grip
2 Quagnoth
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Trinisphere

No major changes in the list. No new tech for you to peek at and have an advantage since I'm writing about extended well before it's relevant, just your basic Tezz list.


Rnd 1 against Steve Sadin:

Game 1: We both mulligan to 6 and keep. He opens with a Wild Nacatl off a fetch land. I land a Chalice of the Void set at 1, effectively shutting down most of his deck. He recovers with tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary until I land an Ensnaring Bridge. A few turns later I play a Chalice for 2 shutting down his burn spells. He scoops it up and we go to game 2.

Game 2: I board in 3 Blood Moon and 2 Threads of Disloyalty. Once again the mulligan demons decide to show up and after a mulligan to 6 we're off. This game is much more in his favor as he lands turn 2 gaddock teeg into tarmogoyf face beatings as I'm stuck with no answers and few lands. I pack it in after a couple of turns hoping game 3 is better.

Game 3: No changes to the board and I decide to keep a hand with one land and double chrome mox (BAD IDEA!). I lead with a land and a chrome mox. He attempts to ancient grudge my mox. I spell snare it. He untaps plays Knight of the Reliquary. Meanwhile, I've drawn my third chrome mox with very few imprint targets. I have found my third land finally. After a second knight hits his side of the board I think it's a good idea to play more chrome moxen, send a tezzeret into play finding my ensnaring bridge. Unfortunately, he still has the ancient grudge in the yard to blow it up. I die 2 turns later.

1-2, 0-1

Rnd 2 against Johnathan Smith:

Game 1: mulligan to 6. Turn 1 Spark elemental, guess who's playing burn! I have chalice for 1 thinking it would buy me sometime to recover. He rift bolts and magma jets me out of the game in no time. On to game 2

Game 2: I board in my Krosan Grips for his Sulfuric Vortex and my trinisphere. I'm on the play and have chalice for 1 again, not learning my lesson game 1. He follows the same strategy as he used game 1. This time he has a shattering spree for my chalice so he can bolt my face. I found trinisphere a turn too late.

1-4, 0-2, Drop.

Ok, so now we know what happened. Why did it happen? For starters I mulliganed a lot, the deck just wasn't with me when it came to drawing.

I walked into the ancient grudge game 3 of round 1: Information about your opponent's hand is invaluable. Any chance you have to gain a fair and legal advantage by knowing something your opponent didn't want you to know is always good. I had all the knowledge I needed to not play into his ancient grudge but instead I only thought about staying alive and panicked.

Knowing your opponent's deck as opposed to the deck you tested against: A while back I read an article about playtesting. I think it was over on channelfireball.com. In it, the author talked about innovating your playtest gauntlet prematurely. Sadly, I did just that. Our burn deck featured more 1-drop burn spells then the guy I played round 2. Because of this I played a Chalice of the Void set for 1 because it would've been devastating to our red deck. His red deck was a little more resilient to such a play and as such I felt safer than I really was.

All in all the trip was a lot of fun, as usual with this group. I'd like to properly thank Will for driving and Carlos and Flynn for being entertaining as always. Also, I'd like to thank the city of Louisville for having multiple Denny's.

Until Next Time,

Steven

Shards of Alara Block Constructed

With the PTQ season rolling into full swing and everybody testing extended, along with Prerelease in just under 3 weeks (Feb 1st, 12:30p Outer Limits Murfreesboro). Outer Limits in Murfreesboro is hosting a Shards of Alara Constructed event on Jan 24. Registration opens at 12:00 pm and round 1 starts at 1pm. Entry fee is $5. Join us here over the next 2 weeks as we throw out some decklists and possibly some testing results for this event.

Until Next Time,

Steven

The Long Road Home

So...Worlds has come and gone. With it, lots of driving and Magic. Congratulations to the 2008 world champion Antti Malin of Finland and his Faerie deck. Antti defeated resurgent Jaime Parke and his 5-Color deck 3-1 to bring home the trophy. Another congratulations goes out to Team USA who defeated Australia in the team finals. You can find the lists for these decks and the rest of the top 8 at magicthegathering.com. For STD, today was a little trading and a couple of 8-man standard queues. One queue featured Ryan playing Faeries and Will piloting STD's ReveBant build. Both went 1-1 with Ryan losing to Kithkin and Will losing to the Fae. Carlos spent most of his day doing deck techs on the Legacy builds we had intended to play on Saturday for a podcast based out of Memphis whose name escapes me at the moment (sorry guys). I managed to catch the next Standard flight to finally give the River Kelpie deck I had been keeping up wraps a trial run. Unfortunately, the deck is completely cold to Mono-Red and that's what I got paired against first round and went 0-2. Here's the list:
3x Raven's crime
3x Negate
2x Pyroclasm
3x Firespout
4x Cryptic Command
2x Makeshift Mannequin
2x sower of Temptation
3x River Kelpie
4x Mulldrifter
2x Shriekmaw
2x Jace Berelen
3x Ajani Vengeant

4x Vivid Creek
3x Vivid Marsh
2x Vivid Crag
4x Crumbling Necropolis
2x Sunken Ruins
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x Sulfurous Springs
1x Shivan Reef
2x Underground River
4x Reflecting Pool
1x Island

Sideboard:
2x Mind Shatter
2x Glen-Elendra Archmage
3x Remove Soul
4x Fulminator Mage
2x Memory Plunder
1x Counterbore
1x Oona, Queen of the Fae

Admittedly, the sideboard needs loads of work. It was thrown together at the last minute. With a little work I think this deck could be really good.

Saturday at Worlds

Wow, I really meant to get this up before early Sunday morning. Most of Sexy Team of Dudes went out to Memphis this morning for a weekend of World Championship Magic. The team, consisting of Ryan, Carlos, Will, and I were geared up for the Legacy tournament in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the stars did not align and allow such a thing to happen (sorry D-Po). Even though we lost the battle between man and construction zone we did make it in time to play some flashback Ravnica block sealed deck. Of the team Ryan managed to finish the highest. He started out 6-0. Sadly, the event was 8 rounds of swiss. Ultimately, 6-2 would have to suffice. The rest of us struggled to 2-3 on the day in what could only be described as a disappointment. The night was not completely lost, however, since a late night excursion to Denny's was in order. Expect another update tomorrow with pictures from our adventure as the snoring contest going on beside me has completely broken all concentration remaining.

Until next time, if you say "Hi" and she says "Hi" back, you're probably off to a good start.

Steven