2025-04-19 D&A RCQ with Jeskai Ascendancy (3-1-1, 1-1)

Introduction

For Modern RCQ season after the Underworld Breach ban, initial consideration was towards Amulet Titan. However, for some reason it seems like it's actually worse now relative to the meta? My current theory on Amulet Titan is that it needs to Titan on T3 to be competitive. Which is problematic - sure the deck might have a 33% chance to have a T3 Titan going, but then quick maths you're expecting to mulligan 3 times per game to get such a hand. But savvy statistics readers will understand that's still a 30% fail rate (0.67 ^ 3).

So instead I elected to play the Breachiest Breachless deck, which is Jeskai Ascendancy + Emry combo. The deck goes off by having the following:

• Emry, Lurker of the Loch without summoning sickness
• Jeskai Ascendancy
• A: Mishra's Bauble in hand/graveyard/battlefield
• B: Two of the same Mox in hand/graveyard/battlefield

This allows you to

1. Make Emry & any other creatures arbitrarily large
2. Loot through your deck one at a time as many times as you want
3. Make infinite mana of any color with Mox Opals
4. Cast all your non-creature artifacts from the graveyard if you like
5. If you had a card in hand to start with, stick a second Jeskai Ascendancy and also cast all the artifact creatures you want out of the yard by targeting them with Emry with your extra untaps
6. Give a creature or two trample + haste via Cori-Steel Cutter

I built the deck for FNM and 0-3'd.

Decklist

Driving home, I reflected on what led to my 0-3's. I narrowed down a few possibilities.

1. I'm playing the deck wrong. Incorrect keeps/mulligans, sequencing, Preordains, land sequencing, holding spells, etc. -- all the decision points
2. My opponents were playing better than me (corollary to 1)
3. The deck is bad / my opponents' decks are better
   
4. The deck isn't tuned for the meta / me

I felt fine about 1, can't do much about 2&3, so I focused on 4.

• Preordain: I think this card is a crutch for bad hands. It can also flip Tamiyo aggressively, but I want to play some Stock Ups. Stock Up is insane - it's card advantage, it's card selection, it's only 3 mana
• Portable Hole: 4-of in online lists. This makes sense in online metas where Boros is #1 and UB #2. Unfortunately my FNM meta is half-Eldrazi and 0% Boros so this is a trim. I would pack 1-2 for FNM, 3 for a local RCQ, 4 for an RC.
• Cori-Steel Cutter: the hot new hotness. A powerful plan B. Having two on board usually takes over the game, I would play more if I had them. Does things with Emry.
•  Kappa Cannoneer: I cut to one, card is great against a lot of stuff but is super high investment. As a standalone plan B it's a solid package.
• Sink Into Stupor: I've yet to see this card or make it work. I think the mana base could use an extra fetchable, and will probably swap it in the future.
• R removal: Flame of Anor, Unholy Heat. I wanted Heat for cheap interaction, can find it easily enough off Stock Up, I don't expect my wizards to live much to really get Flame of Anor value.
  

Swiss

• R1 Brad A on Jeskai Ascendancy WW (1-0)
• R2 Dylan P on UR Steel-Cutter WW (2-0)
• R3 Sam M on Jeskai Steel-Cutter LWL (2-1)
• R4 Max S on UR Demilich (Phoenix MIA) WW (3-1)
• R5 ID
  

Top 8

• QF Joseph B on UR Twin WW
  Knew what he was on, got to keep an Aether Spellbomb in both openers. With that, easy enough to pressure him while he has to play tempo vs Spellbomb
• SF Collin S on Boros Energy LWL
  Really sweaty G2 and G3, RC-level match. Lot of back-and-forth interaction, he Wrath of the Skies'd me to the stone age. I had to use Mox Opal as a Lotus Petal to escape Phlage in G3... twice. Almost escaped it a third time too. Ended up losing to Goblin Bombardment + Ajani shenanigans ... lot of small decisions in that last game that could have done differently, but it ended up coming down to too small of a life total with two Spire of Industry.

Conclusive Thoughts

• Deck is good. I think 3 Ascendancy is a fine number, but I want 4 CSCs.
• Cards I'm looking to trim: Pithing Needle, Sink Into Stupor, Orim's Chant, Strix Serenade
• Remembered all my triggers today, Mishra's Bauble triggers always mess with my memory.
• I think my only oopsie (caught immediately) was trying to attack with a new Monk token, but I had put the CSC on my Emry.
• Will try to judge more this season

2025-04-12 HotG Fredonia RCQ Judging

Introduction

Second judge write-up, following my first recounting SCG DC 2024.

This is my second time being asked to judge for the store. The value proposition is that the store manager can effectively hire me for the day, then run the front of the store by themselves without having to worry about anything going on in the back. Hoping I can talk to some local LGS stores and make the same case to them, but not optimistic.

Most stores aren't really interested in growing / supporting the competitive scene, but maybe reducing the friction of running an event will work.

Judging Philosophy

The thing about competitive Rules Enforcement Level (REL) is that it doesn't exist to "get people". To borrow from the MTR, "Rules Enforcement Levels (REL) are a means to communicate to the players and judges what expectations they can have of the tournament in terms of rigidity of rules enforcement, technically correct play, and procedures used."

The whole comp REL framework exists to create an environment that facilitates competitive play in a consistent fashion, prevents/reduces cheating, handles gameplay & tournament errors, and maintains tournament integrity.

On Penalties

Penalties are not something to award for the sake of awarding penalties. Penalties exist to drive better behavior. In this post I will comment on each penalty I awarded.

Rulings

Cards
Question
Answer
Superfluous commentary

Cards: Lantern of Insight + Griselbrand
Question: Griselbrand's ability is activated to draw seven cards. Lantern of Insight requires the top card to be revealed at all times. How does this resolve?
Answer: Cards are drawn one at a time. Each card is revealed as it's drawn, but it's easiest to just count out 7 cards and show them as your drawn cards.
Superfluous commentary: Also worth mentioning that nothing can be done while the ability is resolving. Cards being drawn one at a time is relevant for Dredge things, but that's not in modern atm.

Cards: Dryad Arbor + Devourer of Destiny
Question: Can DoD cast trigger exile Dryad Arbor?
Answer: Yes, Dryad Arbor is green.

Cards: Devourer of Destiny + Kozilek's Return
Question: Can I choose how to stack my cast triggers from these two cards?
Answer: Yes, see CR 603.3b "If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, the abilities are placed on the stack in a two-part process. First, each player, in APNAP order, puts each triggered ability they control with a trigger condition that isn’t another ability triggering on the stack in any order they choose. (See rule 101.4.) Second, each player, in APNAP order, puts all remaining triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose. Then the game once again checks for and performs state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority."

Cards: Emrakul Promised End
Question: How does taking extra turns work after time has been called? (not actually asked - they handled correctly without intervention)
Answer: Five extra turns are taken, the tournament mechanic does not consider who takes or controls the turn(s)

Cards: Surgical Extraction + Archive Trap
Question: If I were to cast Surgical Extraction targeting my opponent's card, could I then Archive Trap them?
Answer: No, Archive Trap cares about whether your opponent searched this turn. The controller of Surgical Extraction (i.e. you) is the one searching during the effect.

Cards: Terminus + Consign to Memory
Question: Is Miracle a triggered ability?
Answer: CR 702.94a "Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability. (See rule 603.11.) “Miracle [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it’s the first card you’ve drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost.”"
Superfluous commentary: I chose to read the CR word for word to minimize any possible confusion.

Cards: Snapcaster Mage + Force of Negation
Question: I cast Snapcaster Mage targeting my Force of Negation in the graveyard. Can I pay the pitch cost to flashback my FoN?
Answer: No, flashback is an alternate cost. Part of casting a spell is choosing how you're casting it, alternate cost is applicable. You cannot pay two alternate costs at the same time. Additionally, because the game events were legal, the game state will remain as it is (i.e. no rewinding the Snapcaster Mage).

Cards: Utopia Sprawl + Damping Sphere
Question: Does Damping Sphere apply to a Forest enchanted by Utopia Sprawl?
Answer: No, Utopia Sprawl adds a triggered mana ability (CR 605.1b) and that is what is producing the extra mana, not the Forest.

The Harbinger of the Seas / Blood Moon section

Cards: Harbinger of the Seas + Utopia Sprawl on Stomping Ground
Question: Harbinger of the Seas enters play, what happens to the Utopia Sprawl?
Answer: The Stomping Ground is now an Island, so Utopia Sprawl is now illegally enchanting it and is put into the graveyard (CR 303.4c, 704.5m)

Cards: Harbinger of the Seas + Leyline of the Guildpact
Question: Leyline was in play. What happens to the lands after Harbinger comes in?
Answer: The effects apply in the same layer, so we apply timestamps - the most recent effect rules. (CR 613.1d, 613.7)
Superfluous commentary: Dryad of the Ilysian Grove also applies in the same layer.

Cards: Blood Moon + Ugin's Labyrinth
Question: Under Blood Moon, what happens to the card exiled under Ugin's Labyrinth?
Answer: Nothing. It remains where it is, exiled under the Mountain named Ugin's Labyrinth which has no special abilities - it's a Mountain. (CR 305.6) As for keeping it in exile, reference CR 406 for Exile.

Warnings

Situation
Warning
Fix

Situation: Active Player (AP) has two lands. Casts cantrip. Attempts to cast a Murktide Regent off 1 mana, delving 6 cards. Non Active Player (NAP) calls me immediately.
Warning: Game Rule Violation (GRV) - they have performed an illegal action.
Fix: Assess for cheating, then apply a simple back-up since it was caught immediately.

Situation: AP looks at their opening hand for mulligans, realizes that they have eight cards. Calls judge.
Warning: Mulligan Procedure Error - they have made an error "during" the mulligan process.
Fix: Forced to take a mulligan.
Superfluous commentary: The remedy & philosophy for this is to remove/minimize leeway for abuse and to return the game state to a situation that is not-incorrect, and fairer. Someone asked later about applying the "Thoughtseize fix", the colloquial term for Hidden Card Error fix. This would not be appropriate, since we have a remedy that brings the game back to a fair play state without giving players additional information. Also would leave the space for possible abuse by someone who always draws 8 -- if the penalty for drawing 8 is a free Thoughtseize for your opponent and a warning, maybe there's a world where it becomes the spiky thing to do that twice per tournament.

Situation: NAP cast a Damping Sphere on the previous turn. AP takes their turn. Has access to seven (7) mana. Casts Karn the Great Creator (4), uses ability to find a Liquimetal Coating (2). Casts Liquimetal Coating for 2 mana.
Warning: Game Rule Violation (GRV) for both players
Fix: Rewind game state to point of illegal action. Remind players that they are both responsible for maintaining the game state.

Situation: AP announces that they're casting Writhing Chrysalis. NAP passes priority. AP says okay, moving Writhing Chrysalis forward and then grabs two Eldrazi Spawn tokens.
Warning: Remind AP that due to their out of order sequencing, they have missed their trigger.
Fix: Ask opponent if they would like to put the trigger on the stack.
Superfluous commentary: This is why it is good practice to announce cast triggers. Trigger policy is rough - you can get punished for not noticing things immediately. Understanding when to slow down game actions & cover all your bases is part of the learning curve for competitive tabletop. Not ideal, but necessary.

In Conclusion

I think I did a more complete job of announcements this time around. Made sure to be very visible and present throughout the event. Players made good use of my presence. Hoping to keep it going and keep demonstrating what a well run RCQ looks like.