2025-05-10 D&A RCQ Judging

Introduction

Third judge write up! I've been judging at this store on and off since 2018 which is ... old to think about.

We got 10 players, which is a fine number for 5 rounds top 4. 9 is bad because you're over-doubling the number of rounds from 8 people single elim, and it's not 14-16 where the majority of people get eliminated from playoff contention quickly & you have a lot of irrelevant matches.

There but for the grace of my generosity go I

I lent my Jeskai Ascendancy deck to a local, offered a couple tips, then left him mostly to his own devices. Thanks to reading my blog, he piloted the deck to first seed in the Swiss with a 3-1-1 record WWWDL. My observations and notes:

• He prioritized beatdown lines over value. This is fine, beatdown is definitely an axis you can lean on. But Emry recursion + Stock Up value beatdown is also a form of beatdown.
• Take some time to read Jeskai Ascendancy. It has two triggers. It interacts with Emry & 0 drops to go infinite P/T, then the looting lets you loot as many times as you want. You can then make infinite mana by looping Moxen and cast all non-creature artifacts from your yard. With two Jeskai Ascendancies, you can also cast Kappa Cannoneer with your extra untap trigger. Secret mode, Jeskai Ascendancy can just be used for discrete pumps + looting
• Fell off as the day went on - noticeably after round 3. This is due to a lack of experience playing >3 rounds, fatigue, skipping lunch & water, etc. All things to be aware of when competing.

Rulings

Cards
Question
Answer
Superfluous commentary

Past in Flames
Does PiF grant flashback to cards that enter the graveyard afterwards?
No, PiF only affects instants and sorceries that are in the graveyard as it resolves (CR 611.2c)

Urza's Saga
AP controls a Saga on 1, plays a land. NAP says that they've missed their trigger.
This is a missed trigger. By this, we are referring to the second chapter ability of Urza's Saga. Adding a counter is a turn-based action that cannot be missed, but AP has failed to demonstrate awareness of the chapter ability by taking an action that presumes the stack is empty.
It didn't matter AP was dead as heck.

Ideas Unbound
NAP cast an Ideas Unbound during the previous turn (draw three, discard three at beginning of end step). They did not discard cards and we are now on AP's turn.
Missed trigger policy. Since choices needed to be made, it becomes a GRV and a warning. Opponent does not receive a warning, since they are never required to remember an opponent's triggers for them.

Indomitable Creativity
AP casts Indomitable Creativity, then goes to shuffle their cards to the bottom of the library.
Resolving Indomitable Creativity requires shuffling the entire library. In this case it was caught during resolution, so AP was informed

Flame of Anor dealing lethal damage to creature equipped by Blade of the Bloodchief
Damage kills creatures when state-based actions are checked (CR 704.5g). The order of Flame of Anor doesn't even matter, because the creature dying from damage is a state-based action that always follows resolution of the spell. That said, you do resolve spells with multiple steps/modes in order from top to bottom.

Gemstone Caverns with luck counter, player taps it for C
Game Rules Violation

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.

In Conclusion

Event went smoothly. I could have been more on top of slow play. Was able to be present for all players and matches, lots of space to maneuver. We were missing a table marker for #4 but I describe it as a test in object pattern recognition.

2025-05-03 Genesis RCQ with Jeskai Ascendancy (4-0-1, 3-0)

Introduction

Running it back with Jeskai Ascendancy after a semifinals finish. What's neat about the deck is that it can really push the Urza's Saga beatdown plan, unlike Breach. Which is weird to think about, but the density of non-artifact spells in Breach (Underworld Breach, interaction spells, Malevolent Rumble) diluted the artifact count enough that I never found myself doing construct beatdowns (also because you would just win with the combo).

Part of the deck's power is having multiple synergistic packages that play off each other. A list of synergies - italicized for basic ones

• Emry/Tamiyo/Mox Amber
• 0 drops + Emry
• Emry + artifacts
• Cori-Steel Cutter + 0 drops/cheap spells
• Emry + Jeskai Ascendancy + 0 drops (+ Mox)
• Urza's Saga + artifacts + Tamiyo
• Urza's Saga constructs + Cori-Steel Cutter for trample
• Mox Opal + artifacts for metalcraft
• Emry + Cori-Steel Cutter for haste
• Tamiyo + Mishra's Bauble and Preordain - notably, trimmed from this deck
• Stock Up + good cards
• Kappa Cannoneer + artifacts - 1 card package
• Emry + SB Phlage

Decklist & Change Discussion

• Preordain, Flame of Anor, and flipping Tamiyo: aggressive Tamiyo play makes sense online where half the field is seemingly Boros. Local meta is heavily overindexed on UB so less interested in spells that say draw a card.
• Portable Hole - this card is largely for Boros and UB. It's not dead vs other archetypes, but the efficiency and target spread is crucial for those matchups.
  
• Cori-Steel Cutter: Four-of is gas.
• Fetchland mana base: dropped 4 Spire of Industry, added two fetches, added two fetchables. Basic mountain hedges vs Harbinger of the Seas, then flip Flooded Strands to Arid Mesas accordingly.

Swiss

• R1 Asham K on mana-screwed Jeskai Wizards WW (1-0)
• R2 Eric D on UB WLW (2-0)
• R3 Kevin M on Boros Energy (3-0)
  G1 lose the die roll, then they go Guide of Souls > Galvanic Discharge Tamiyo + Ocelot Pride okay
  G3 Pithing Needle on Goblin Bombardment was big game vs double Bombardment hand + Voice of Victory
• R4 Anthony D on UBr WW (4-0)
• R5 ID, 2nd seed going in

Top 8

• QF Eric D (7) LWW
  
• SF Josh M (3) T4 split, concession
• F Sean T (4) on UB WW

Conclusive Thoughts

• Deck is good. Like my Temur Otters time, I benefited a good bit from my opponents not knowing the matchup & therefore not able to assess threats properly.
• Cori-Steel Cutter is a very primary kill axis and adds a lot of agency to the deck.
• Jeskai Ascendancy - I describe this card as the worst card in the deck until it isn't.
  
• Board state management was a little tricky at times. Between several lands, Mox mana, creatures, artifacts, new constructs/monks vs old ones, Cori-Steel Cutter equips ... things get messy. To make things slightly easier for myself, I should source some white sleeves for my monk tokens.
• One thing I made sure not to miss was my own Bauble triggers, perhaps overly so. I checked every upkeep, didn't miss a one - but also checked/double-checked many times when I didn't have one. Probably should be using my reminder token more so it's less disruptive.
• Scheduled to judge some RCQs this season, should probably push for L2. Main requirement would be working a multi-judge event & writing a review.

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.

2025-01-18 HotG Fredonia RCQ (4-1, 1-0)

Introduction

Realized that I haven't played in an RC since Denver eleven months ago. Skipped Dallas for Asia trip, skipped DC to judge it instead. 

Standard is great, as previously established. There's definitely a top tier of decks, with a number of weaker but competitively viable options.

Tier 1: UB Midrange, RG Aggro, UWB/UB Bounce
These decks have the fewest overall deckbuilding weaknesses, are very proactive, and have large removal coverage.

Tier 2: GW Dorks, GB Midrange, Zur Domain, R Aggro, UWR Convoke, W Tokens/Control, UW Oculus
Tier 2 decks have some angles vs tier 1 decks but are generally fun-policed by at least one of them.

Tier 3+: UW Convoke/Midrange, RW Aggro, RUG Otters, UG/BUG Terror
These decks have clear weaknesses in that they are not as proactive, interactive, or powerful as would befit a T1 deck.

Decklist

MTGGoldfish features Nicole Tipple's 14th place Atlanta decklist as the default version. Wasn't happy with the land base - slightly too many painlands. For this event I went with Saulliert's manabase since they've been grinding a decent amount of Esper on MTGO. It trades a Restless Anchorage for Restless Reef, and an Underground River for an Island.

On the spell side Saulliert trades 1 GftT + Kaito for 2 Sheltered by Ghosts. I like the Sheltered by Ghosts idea as an aggro hedge, but want to preserve the number of Kaitos. Moving a Kaito to the SB doesn't make sense to me so I trim Spiteful Hexmage instead. imo Hexmage is the cutest card in the deck, stock is already down to 2, doesn't too too much with the deck, worst of the one-drops.

For gameplay, Stormchaser's Talent is a better T1 play OTP, while Hopeless Nightmare is better OTD. Turns 2+ being able to bounce & repeat one of those is probably your best game.

Sideboard

• Trying to hedge against a wide range of stuff
• RIP is premium GY hate that hopefully speedbumps GY decks fast enough to kill them
  
• Pest Control, Temporary Lockdown, Shrouded Shepherd all kind of compete for the same spot. For PC and TL you want to bait the opponent into overextending into it which is a sort of bait spot
• No More Lies is for the Sunfalls and 4-5+ drops of the world
  

Swiss

12 players, 5 rounds cut to top 4

• R1 Christian B on GR ramp WW (1-0)
  He didn't have a ton of ramp action, got some Hopeless Nightmare bouncing going & cleared him right out
  
• R2 Alex B on RG Aggro WLL (1-1)
  Kept sketchy two-landers in both SB games. G2 was a UW hand with 3 Nowhere to Run, drew black source on turn 4 and died to a solid wide start.
  
• R3 Athena P on UW Eerie WW (2-1)
  Killed stuff and bounced anything with aura enchantments
  
• R4 Joshua B on GB Midrange WLW (3-1)
  Some grindy action. G2 I fuck up and put a Nowhere to Run in the yard for no reason. But it doesn't matter, I kept a three lander & draw five/six lands in six/seven draws. My Kaito gets Blot Out-ed which seems really good in a world where UB is a deck to beat.
  G3 is a bit of back and forth but I go wide & go value which are both good into GB
  tl;dr Glissa into Nowhere to Run land is dead Glissa
  
• R5 Tom Z on UR chaff WW (4-1)
  Going into R5 we have two 3-0-1s, two 3-1s ... but first place has already played everyone in spots 2-5 so we have a pair down situation. I take the moment to explain some context to my 8th place opponent for whom this is their first RCQ -- he is 2-2 with the worst breakers and we are facing a top 4 cut. I ask once for a concession, he passes, we proceed.
  

Top 4

Semifinals homie scooped by Jordan

Finals vs Marc D on RG Aggro LWW (RCQ winner)

G1 I keep a mid hand with all colors covered by three painlands. I was concerned with the mana, but really I should have been concerned that my hand didn't have any proper removal to pressure the opponent.

G2 I deliver a multitude of otter tokens and tempo TTABE him out. He unlucks into three Innkeeper's Talents in hand.

G3 I draw a perfect opener of three different fastlands, Stormchaser's, Pixie, TTABE, and I think a Nowhere to Run. Meanwhile Marc mulls to 6 and gets a bit stuck on 2 lands. I draw into a Hopeless Nightmare which accelerates the pressure.

One of the more tedious things vs this deck is that moving first on blocks is often quite bad, given the tricks from both sides. If you move first and get tricked the board state rapidly deterioriates. If you block without a counter-trick you probably get blown out and die.

Conclusions & Takeaways

• Esper definitely feels like a top dog of the format. It plays incredibly efficiently with its mana with very powerful 1 mana plays, can play at instant speed, and can drive card advantage by sticking a Kaito.
• Speaking of card advantage ... Kaito is basically the one source of raw card advantage in the deck. The important thing with Kaito is to play him into tempo ideally so he gets to activate at least another turn.
  Like the SB Up the Beanstalk in Temur Otters, I don't get the point of sticking a card advantage engine in the SB. Just play it as your 61st card whatever.
• Fighting one mana enchantments with 2+ cost answers probably isn't the right answer.
• Plan to add SB Shrouded Shepherd... looking at cuts on Loran and Temporary Lockdown. White is the tertiary color and 3 is the top of the curve.
  

2024-12-08 Mecha Games RCQ (4-0-2, 1-0-2)

Introduction

On Saturday I played Standard GB to a mediocre 2-3 finish at a local RCQ. So I decided to return to jamming the deck I have reps with, instead of trying to slog through the meta like everyone else (see also: my approach to MagicCon Chicago).

For Standard UB is currently top dog, but there are several other tier 1 decks and a lot of fringe stuff kicking around in tier 2-2.5-3. Generally I think Temur Otters is decent vs midrange, but horrid vs red aggro.

Decklist

 

I took the maindeck from an MTGO list, then tweaked the SB for card availability and personal preference. I like the maindeck a lot, the tweaks from the Worlds version feel more streamlined.

Ryan Condon's primer is now free btw

Maindeck choices / brief commentary

• 2 Questing Druid - Grinds harder than 1, also a threat
  
• 3 Valley Floodcaller - Floodcaller is a fragile win-condition. If it sticks you win the game, but hard to run out for value
• 4 Analyze the Pollen / 3 Bushwhack / 2 Fabled Passage - Fabled Passage worst land in the deck, spells synergize more. Checks out. Just wish I had 4 matching Analyze instead of 3 + 1
• 1 Pawpatch Formation - Card is handy sometimes, cycler when it's not
• 1 Bitter Reunion - Makes sense. Occasionally enables a kill line, Tarnation Vista mana, or cycles through the deck. But not a role player. Plus can be bounced with TTABE
• 3 Roaring Furnace // Steaming Sauna - Makes sense into midrange, grinds good

Sideboard

• Ghost Vacuum - Necessary vs Oculus, fringe reanimation decks. Not worth bringing in for Mosswood Dreadknight / Enduring creatures
  
• Screaming Nemesis - Great threat vs midrange that taxes their catch-all removal
• Lithomantic Barrage - UB and UW are metagame threats enough said
  
• Aegis Turtle - Interesting anti-aggro tech idea
• Floodpit Drowner - More anti-aggro tech
• Pawpatch Formation - Enchantment shenanigans. Also fine vs UW, Unholy Annex decks, RIP
• Negate - Had two, but deck doesn't love to hold up mana
• Into the Floodmaw - Efficient bounce, looking to hit fliers/tokens with this one
• Scorching Dragonfire - Really good, could go up on this card

SB plan for UB

+2 Screaming Nemesis +2 Lithomantic Barrage +1 Scorching Dragonfire
-2 Analyze the Pollen -1 Bitter Reunion -2 Thundertrap Trainer

Develop board and keep their side clear from Ninjutsu. If you lose tempo & they go +2 cards with Kaito/Curiosity you're dead. TTABE can swing tempo.

Swiss

• R1 Joey Li on UB LWW (1-0)
  G1 Enduring Curiosity draws a stupid amount of cards
  Azure Beastbinders + Mockingbird Beastbinders are annoying, but I grind through it. Opp casts a Mockingbird attempting to copy enchantment Enduring Curiosity, oops not legal. Instead gets a flying Floodcaller. Consult with judge on what happens when Mockingbird *does* copy Enduring Curiosity then dies.
  
• R2 Scott Shannon on UW Oculus WW (2-0)
  Game 1 mulls 1 landers, keeps a 5 card 1 lander and dies.
  Game 2 stuck on 3 lands, keep bouncing his Monastery Mentor and keep a tidy yard with Ghost Vacuum. Abhorrent Oculus lands a couple times but never for long.
  
• R3 Mark Patton on UB WLW (3-0)
  Iirc in this matchup I cast Song of Totentanz a couple of times for bodies and that did him in good. He sides out his Azure Beastbinders, unfamiliar with how to SB the matchup.
  Kaito was annoying, but was able to clear it at least once
  
• R4 Nemanja Karadzic on UB WW (4-0)
  Game 1 TTABE his Enduring Curiosity + my Up the Beanstalk 3x. Hilarious.
  
• R5 ID with Daniel Lee (4-0-1)
  We were the two 4-0s, with 10 3-1s. No draws, fortunately. Explain that next round will have us two, 5 4-1s, so 6 people incl. us get to ID while tables 4/5 will have to play. We will either end up 1+2 or 2+3 depending on what happens in the R6 pairdown, but double ID is a lock.
  
• R6 ID with Paul Jansen (4-0-2)
  Pair down at table 4 wins, tiebreakers shift and I drop to 3rd.
  Friend Jerry (of UW Jerrys) wins at table 5 and lucks into T8 since all higher 4-1s lose.
  

Quarterfinals

Match up vs Phill Hurst in 6th. Met him previously at Mecha, had a bit of miscommunication regarding prize splits but I got a sweet F2F Goblin Guide playmat from the time. He qualified for the Aetherdrift PT at RC DC, so no slouch.

Game 1 I drop a ton of enchantments and lands. Get to turn 7 or so, realize I'm at 9 life from painlands vs 20 but I've developed the board so hard all that's left to do is win.

Misplayed game 2, but didn't matter. My GY had been cleaned, and he had a Tear Asunder when I ticked Talent to level 3.

Game 3 he mulls to 5 and I have a solid hand. Fin.

Negotiate top 4 split. 700 CAD + playmat in pool, redistribute 200 to 2-4, 1st gets mat + 100.

Conclusions

• I suspect Otters is underrepresented in paper. People don't want to learn the deck, Arena handles triggers for you, and the complexity is intimidating to many who would rather slog it out with a simpler aggro/midrange deck.
• Most of my opponents were unfamiliar with the deck, removal prioritization, and sideboarding. That's a strong advantage in an open field. Especially some of the rules ins and outters that came up.
  
• Tips for people playing vs Otters. Cheap removal on Otter tokens and Thundertrap Trainer keeps me off mana later. Exile the Enduring Vitality. Exile TTABE from the yard. Exile enchantment removal is killer.
• Slow-rolling Enduring Vitality is good when your opponents hold up 2 mana forever
  
• Tarnation Vista, I think default color is red since you can often filter it for UG. Drew it more than usual, used it to filter & sneakily keep up some extra colored mana. iirc I had something like Island, Forest, Mountain, Vista on green with UG permanents that allowed me to hold up double U or something
  
• Generally made good decisions with T1 Lay of the Land choices, keeping myself open. Mountain gets more priority with 2 Questing Druids Seek the Beasts in the deck. Also with increased Torch + Roaring Furnace + needing to keep boards clear. Obviously GG on T3+ is important as is having multiple U later on
• Lot of gas hands today. Keep 1 land + Lay of the Land effects, tutor a land and draw fast land ggez. Several T1 Stormchaser's into T2 TTABE is huge tempo.
• Talent and TTABE are the biggest cards in the deck. Judged at Columbus a couple weeks ago doing deck checks. Lead had some concerns about an Otters deck with potentially marked cards, one of which was Up the Beanstalk. Explain to lead that Beanstalk is extremely mid in the deck, whereas marked copies of Talent & TTABE would be massive problems.

 

2024-09-07 D&A RCQ (4-1, 1-0) + 2024-09-08 Mana Bar RCQ (3-1-1, 1-0)

Introduction

I was jamming Nadu for a while. Did well with it at GenCon but played relatively loose locally. Probably should have been mulliganing for more nut draws than keeping lands & spells.

After the ban (deserved) I opted to pivot to Ring control, an archetype I have some familiarity with. Phlage recoups life and is a VERY quick win condition. It might not be the absolute best archetype, but it can tussle with just about everything.

Quick thoughts on August 26 B&R:

• Modern: good riddance to Nadu. Deck was kind of neat, but had numerous issues - insane card advantage engine, punished interaction, non-deterministic kill, complexity of kill, enormous feelsbad to topdeck, etc.
  The Grief ban was a quite admittance that they should have banned Grief last December. Whether Fury should come back ... idk, RWx energy decks might vanish overnight?
  TOR will probably be banned next year, I think Up the Beanstalk could return, personally.
• Pioneer: top two decks got killed. They should have banned them earlier. 2023 B&R timing was nonsense - last B&R they said they didn't want to touch Pioneer in the middle of RCQ season, then they smacked Nadu down in the middle of modern RCQ season.
• Legacy: UB Scam-Reanimator was clearly a problem as witnessed at the GenCon SLS. Grief was generally too pushed for constructed play in retrospect.
  

Decklist

• Core is the energy removal suite: Galvanic Discharge, Wrath of the Skies, Tune the Narrative
  
• Counterspell suite: Counterspell, Spell Snare, Stern Scolding, Force of Negation
  
• Supporting cast: Prismatic Ending, Teferi Time Raveler, The One Ring, Lorien Revealed, Supreme Verdict
  
• Creatures: 3x Phlage core, Subtlety, Snapcaster Mage
• There's a few flex slots but honestly I think the list is quite tight. The deck is playing insanely high quality removal and there's not enough room to play pet cards like Fact or Fiction much as I would like to.
• Land base: fetches, surveil lands, shock lands, one Xander's Lounge for Prismatic Ending on 4 & the SB Surgicals, *two* utility lands and two Mystic Gates.
  
• Sequencing of lands: I think UR is the priority and consider the deck to be a UR deck splashing WW spells.
• I started sideboarding Surgical Extractions again during my Nadu phase - it could basically solo the game vs Jeskai on Phlage.
• Four Obsidian Charmaws: this deck has to be the beatdown vs Tron & nonsense mana decks, and Charmaw fits the bill to a tee.
   

Saturday Swiss

• R1 Kam Wood on Domain Zoo WW (1-0)
  I have to play around Stubborn Denial, and Leyline-Draco is annoying for my targeted removal. Wrath of the Skies for 4 or 6 can be big game here, as well as Teferi.
  
• R2 Thomas Brisbane on U Affinity WW (2-0)
  Blast from the past. I played against Tom almost a decade ago at my college shop.
  
• R3 Austin Belter on Crabvine LL (2-1)
  Lost to him taking mulligans to 5. Recursion > Removal
• R4 Justin Moses on RW Energy WW (3-1)
  He's pretty fresh to the deck. Major thing was sequencing removal vs Ajani to avoid flipping.
• R5 Michael Nusinov on B Zombie Combo WW (4-1)
  Breakers were weird, it was possible I could have scooped him into top 4 but I didn't trust it. Game 2 he had 3 Spymaster's Vault as his first three land drops which made it straightforward.
  

Saturday Playoff

• Second seed going in
  
• SF vs Tom Brisbane (3) on U affinity LWW
  G1 I draw pretty cold for like 6 turns and Kappa Cannoneer kills me. Game 3 also quite close.
• F concession from Austin Belter
  

Sunday Swiss

• R1 Jerry Gao on UB Murkfrog WLW (1-0)
• R2 Johnathan Garman on 4C Omnath WW (2-0)
  Grindy games but I know his archetype better than he does (borrowing it, first time)
  I just can't let continuous value spells stick.
• R3 Matt Gausebeck on R Storm WLD (2-0-1)
  G1 an impulse spell hits bot his Wishes. I stabilize at 10, and then a counter war into Grapeshot puts me to 2 but I kill him with a Subtlety.
  G2 die to Wish Empty the Warrens
  G3 I think I have him to rights, but still need several turns to kill. G1 was a slog.
  Idk if I could have forced G1 to be faster without insisting upon managing my opponents' storm count & mana for him.
• R4 Leland Bliss on Gx Eldrazi LL (2-1-1)
  Sol lands are good, G2 was maybe winnable if I fetched a third red source to cast more Obsidian Charmaw.
• R5 Matt McComb on UB Murkfrog WW (3-1-1)
  G1 he mulligans to 5 but I think we both miss a ton of land drops? Key to this matchup is not letting Frog stick.
  

Sunday Playoff

• In at 4th seed.
• SF vs Leland Bliss on Gx Eldrazi WW
  Both games he keeps pretty slow hands, very Sol-light. Early turns I remove Utopia Sprawl and also Wrath of the Skies for 0 a Malevolent Rumble spawn token, which are correct plays. G2 I make an oopsie, going turn 2 Damping Sphere into a turn 3 hasted Obsidian Charmaw off Arena of Glory. Realize mistake ~5 turn cycles later, call judge. Opponent got quite unlucky this game, drawing ~1 land in ~7 extra draws from TOR.
• F concession from Matt Gausebeck aka ScoopPhase

Conclusions

• Happy with deck choice. I think I could tune a little more. Drop a Surgical for something else, maybe play around with flex slots (Snapcaster Mage, Subtlety, Supreme Verdict) but these choices are decent enough for local meta.
  
• Gameplay: I could/should pressure opponents to play faster, very unhappy with the unintentional draw. But this is also a format issue with Nadu & Ruby Storm in general - you shouldn't just scoop to non-deterministic combo decks if they aren't presenting a kill. So they might go through the motions for a ten, fifteen, twenty minute turn and then pass turn.
• Matchups: I think the format is relatively weak to graveyard shenanigans right now. White decks can't run Rest in Peace because of their own Phlages, Endurance & Force of Vigor are MIA with no good green decks, Leyline of the Void is so ehhh since you still need to execute your gameplan.
• Card power: the format keeps powering up. It's harder and harder for cards to compete, even the staples of just last year. I don't know how sustainable it is. Yes there is a variety of strategies. Yes, your fringe archetype can compete if you jam Modern Horizons cards and/or TOR. But sometimes you just die to an unloseable turn 2 Psychic Frog or get bodied by 4 bodies on turn 2. The sheer number of cards in hand is often the deciding factor of games.
  

2024-02-18 Dragon Snack Games RCQ MKM Limited Win* (6-1-1)

Introduction

First time the store was running a limited RCQ. Fortunately we had several experienced players and an L5 judge on hand to keep things on track. I had played one prerelease and several Arena Bo1 drafts before this.

Morph formats are inherently mid-size, if that makes sense? Lots of cards will trade into a 2/2 with no (combat) abilities. The combat tricks are very high quality, reminding me a bit of ONE. A successful trick will almost always blow a game open, and vice versa a counterplayed trick can lose the game.

Fixing is above average in terms of quality and availability. More on that during discussion of my draft deck.

Sealed Pool

• Blue was the deepest color but low on creatures. Black had some okay individual cards but not deep enough.
• Red green and white covered all the bases: bodies, fixing, removal, tricks. Even Treacherous Terrain as a win-con since nobody else researched the MKM List cards ahead of time. Also very powerful to have your opponent on a one-turn clock that they don't know about.
• Might even have had too much fixing - Gravestone Strider played defense duty very well and I don't think I filtered with it at all in any games.
• Changes, probably cut the Absolving Lammasu for a Push // Pull. Consider adding a second Mountain for late game.
  

Sealed Rounds

• R1 Nick R on RW WW (1-0)
  
• R2 Michael N on GRu LWW (2-0)
  
• R3 Aaron M on RGW WLL (2-1)
  
• R4 James B on RWG WLW (3-1)
  
• R5 ID (3-1-1, 3rd in Swiss)
  

Draft deck

• P1P1 Vein Ripper, hadn't seen the card before but clearly S-tier bomb
• P1P2 get passed Hide in Plain Sight and another rare. Either a 3-rare pack or neighbor is setting me up in green I'll take it.
• For the rest of the draft I tried to keep myself open, picking up numerous pieces of fixing and morph disguise creatures to keep creature counter reasonable.
• White was clearly not open, and pack 3 passed an early pack with two Rubblebelt Mavericks neither of which wheeled.
• Blue was a back-up plan but very splashable.
• Because Vein Ripper was a first pick it allowed be to draft the color balance. Green was a ramp color but never had to be a primary (it wasn't open enough to be a primary color). The color-fixing between Escape Tunnel and They Went This Way (my unofficial invitational card) also doubled as deck-thinning for finding my Vein Ripper.
• I should have played Make Your Mark and a Plains over Cryptex and an Island. Cryptex would have been better if I had two-three more graveyard payoffs/enablers.
  

Draft rounds

• QF Michael N on GBr splashing Incinerator of the Guilty. Won via insane topdecks
  
• SF Aaron M on RGu. Won via mana screw
  
• F Patrick P on WB. Not terribly aggressive, but high quality removal suite. He had to boardwipe 7 creatures in G3 with Vein Ripper out, then I rebought it with Macabre Reconstruction.

* I split the finals and gave Patrick the invite.

Thoughts

• I enjoy formats with quality fixing that enables moderate amounts of nonsense.
• Cheap 1/3s and 1/4s are key to stalling out board states. Much worse if people are appropriately valuing combat tricks.
• Bo1 league draft continues to be vastly different from paper pod & Bo3. Generally I think pod draft power level is down because you're actually fighting over lanes and cards, and you have a general idea of threats you'll run into.
• Enjoyed playing against all of my opponents and battling it out (and the triumph)
• Got to do the top 2 split draft I had been thinking about. Instead of proposing a fixed split: put all prize items into a pool, then draft them with finals winner getting first pick. That said I misplayed my pick 1 because shiny treasure go ooh
  

2023-10-07 Dragon Snack Games RCQ with 4C Omnath Win

Introduction

During the previous weekend I traveled down to Pittsburgh to jam some RCQs instead of competing for a Store Championship Moonshaker Cavalry promo - the participation and top 8 promos were bafflingly bad. (Tail Swipe and Transcendent Message !?)

Saturday I ran extremely cold with the 70-card pile. The meta in Pittsburgh was decidedly different - major archetype presences of BR Scam, burn, UR and URx, some 4C, then random one-offs. Major archetype gaps: one player borrowing Rhinos, and no Tron across two days. Might have been one or two cascaders on Sunday.

So for Sunday I played this 64-card list with 4 Leyline of Sanctity and 3 Celestial Purge in the sideboard. Fewer Scam players showed up for day 2, but I think I ended up facing four of four - dispatching two during Swiss, and then in QF & SF where I had a beyond-stupid punt after my opponent misplayed, missing finals.
My cope angle is that I would have lost to the finals opponent on Bring to Light Beanstalk.

Decklist

• Not running 4 Beanstalks, respecting Scam
• Trimmed to 1 Elesh Norn, 2 Fury
• Don't love having a full set of Halflings since it's kind of air, but also want enough to threaten accelerated & uncounterable planeswalkers.
• 2 Lightning Bolts. It's good vs some stuff, and a W6 win-con but only okay compared to the other stuff that the deck can do. It's a bridge to better action.
  
• 2+1 Boseiju and SBing 3 Obsidian Charmaw after seeing Tron players enter the room.
• 4 Chalice of the Void because Buffalo has numerous players on Living End or Crashing Footfalls.
  

Rounds

• R1 Jon B on Amulet Titan WW (1-0)
• R2 Sam M on Mono R Midrange WW (2-0)
• R3 Joe A on G Tron LWL (2-1)
• R4 Jerry G on Scam LL (2-2)
• R5 Steven By on G Tron LWW (3-2)
• (seed 8)
• QF Joe A - scoop
• SF Alex Z on Temur Rhinos WLW
• F Sam M on Mono R Midrange WLW 

Thoughts

• I misplayed R3G3 vs Tron. I had Wrenn & Six + Boseiju but didn't realize they only play 3 Forests now, instead I ran out Omnath and permitted them to play a fifth land which allowed them to actually play the game.
  
• R5 I'm the highest 2-2 for breakers and the top 3 tables can ID in. I'm matched up against a 2-1-1 player and choose to play it out (I end up sneaking in eighth, one of two 3-2s to make top 8)
  I'd seen him on G Tron during earlier rounds, and he acknowledged that it was pretty public as he'd been on turns twice already.
  During the match he tanks several times when he has the ability to play & use KTGC, but I keep an eye on the clock. A minute, okay he can have that. Ninety seconds - I'm gonna need you to do some game actions.
  Keeping the game moving proved crucial when I beat him on turn 1 of extra turns, but he was upset that I "rushed" him, potentially causing him to misplay leading to his loss.
  To which I (now) respond tough luck - he'd already gone to turns twice, and we would have ended in a second unintentional draw had I not kept the game moving.
  I'm airing it out here because that's the precisely the mindset that breeds slow play.
  I get it, Magic turns can be complicated. But if I allow him to tank 3 minutes every time he draws a KTGC all of a sudden that's 15 minutes of the 50 min round gone.
• One of my "tricks" to not timing out with 4C / Beans is to decide on my fetch decision, announce it, cast spells or perform actions that don't care about library order (Halfling, Wrenn & Six) then shuffle as I pass priority.
  

Mono R Midrange

The archetype was really kicked off by MHayashi, the eminent MTGO grinder & deckbuilder. MHayashi decks are characterized by their mono color nature, inclusion of 4-ofs wherever possible, and inability to replicate success by anyone not named MHayashi. Builds you find in the wild might look something more like this.

I think it's a super interesting deck - it plays a lot of red staples, and modern-playables that are on the cusp of being really good - Mishra's Research Desk, Field of Ruin & Demolition Field, Cleansing Wildfire, Flame Slash, Stone of Erech. Also a Brittle Effigy in the side for things Unholy Heat & co. can't remove lol

Mono R Midrange is a super scrappy archetype. It's got removal, it's got land destruction, it's got a ton of card churn with Research Desks and Seasoned Pyromancer. It's got grindy win-cons between Urza's Saga, Seasoned Pyromancer, and Fury. It has just enough graveyard utilization to be powerful but not enough where you start bringing in Leyline of the Void out of your sideboard.
MRM attacks the meta - the red removal suite looks fantastic against Scam, and it punishes all the 3-4 basic decks running around modern right now.

----

The pilot, Sam M, is actually an old acquaintance from college (we took a selfie!).
Back in the day, he played Yugioh and .. Skred Red, so his current deck selection wasn't too surprising.

During round 1, we were seated next to each other so we both knew the matchup going into round 2. Basically Wrenn & Six won the games (in round 2 and the semifinals). He had to evoke Fury to clear W6 off since it neutralizes all of his land destruction spells.

In the finals G2 he was able to take me off red and kill my W6s - I think the trick to this matchup is to sandbag some fetches while fetching shocklands aggressively to maintain access to all my colors of mana. But Stone of Erech is much less scary than Relic of Progenitus vs W6.

2023-09-16 D&A RCQ Top 4 with Omnath Pile

 Decklist: 70 card 4+ Color Omnath

(26 lands - 12 fetches, 3 triomes, 6 shocklands, 3 basics, 2 Boseiju)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
1 Indatha Triome
1 Raugrin Triome
1 Zagoth Triome
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Boseiju, Who Endures

(18 creatures)
4 Delighted Halfling
4 Omnath, Locus of Creation
2 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
4 Fury
4 Solitude

(18 "spells")
1 Lightning Bolt
4 Prismatic Ending
4 Up the Beanstalk
4 Leyline Binding
4 The One Ring
1 Murderous Cut

(8 planeswalkers)
4 Wrenn and Six
4 Teferi, Time Raveler

// Sideboard
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
2 Veil of Summer
2 Hallowed Moonlight
4 Obsidian Charmaw
2 Endurance
2 Blossoming Calm
2 Chalice of the Void

Introduction:

• I based the decklist on Danzant's MTGO 75+15 list which adds 3 lands, 4 Up the Beanstalks, and fills out 8 more spells to the stockier 60 card Omnath lists.
• Didn't love Fable of the Mirror-Breaker during testing at weeklies. Feels like air and this deck wants to play a big game, so I cut them.
• With the deck playing 4 Delighted Halflings, Chalice of the Void is really only meant to be cast on 0 so they got moved to the sideboard.
• Added a Murderous Cut as a "fifth Leyline Binding" and switched in another black triome so I wouldn't get cut off Cut
• Mana symbols (not incl. pitch elementals // pitch elementals // plus counting Prismatic and Leyline Binding as 0.5 // total)
  
• White: 22 // 8 // 0 // 30
  
• Blue: 8 // 0 // 4 // 12
  
• Black: 1 // 0 // 4 // 5
  
• Red: 8 // 8 // 4 // 20
  
• Green: 16 // 0 // 4 // 20

Round 1 vs Karim A on Grixis Wizards (WW, 1-0)

Not much to say. Prismatic Ending on Harmonic Prodigy ASAP since that card gets out of hand. Then he got mana screwed on single U source in game 2.

In: 2 Veil of Summer, 2 Endurance
Out: 4 Fury

Round 2 vs Aaron M on UR (WW, 2-0)

Game 1 I dropped a couple Beanstalks, removed his threats and set cruise control to card advantage.
Game 2 he kept a 6 card 1 land Ragavan hand. Dealt with DRC, Ragavan, then just cast spells on curve. Halfling got killed by Ragavan flipping my one-of Bolt zz

In: 2 Veil of Summer, 2 Endurance, 1 Boseiju, 2 Chalice of the Void OTP
Out: 4 Fury, 2 Elesh Norn or something

Round 3 vs Stephen B on Temur Rhinos (LWW, 3-0)

Known quantity. Keep hands with Endings and Teferis.

In: 2 Veil of Summer, 2 Hallowed Moonlight, 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 4 Fury, 1 Lightning Bolt, maybe an Elesh Norn

Round 4 vs James B on Temur Rhinos (LWW, 4-0)

Game 2 he was clearly sitting on a Commandeer, so I chilled on my Teferi and never drew Ring lol

In: 2 Veil of Summer, 2 Hallowed Moonlight, 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 4 Fury, 1 Lightning Bolt

Rounds 5-6 Intentional Draws
2-seed going into top 8 cut

Quarterfinal vs Aaron M on UR (WW)

Game 1 kind of crushed
Game 2 got low down to 4 life with Ring, then cycled through them for 1 card replacing them with new Rings and chilled.

Semifinal vs Jon C on Sultai Living End (LL)

Game 1 mulliganed to 6, kept a mediocre hand with Beanstalk Omnath Fury some lands
Game 2 kept a 7 with Halfling Teferi, got Griefed out.
Probably should have mulliganed to Solitude in G1 and to Veil of Summer + other interaction in G2.

Conclusion

• Didn't love Zagoth Triome as my third triome - probably Savai (Mardu) in the future
• 70 is still a lot of cards. Fury copies 3-4 feel a bit redundant
• I don't love Lightning Bolt locally, aggro feels underrepresented but maybe I'm not respecting it sufficiently?
• Obsidian Charmaw - maybe it's correct to surrender the Tron & co. matchups, lean onto other archetypes ex. 3-4 Chalice of the Void, 3 Veil of Summer, Flusterstorm
  

2023-04-24 Mana Bar Pioneer RCQ with Lotus Field 4-1 + 3-0 WIN

 Decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5571641

Pioneer Challenger decklist: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4250445

Kanister primer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNk5dXzkpz8
(did you know that in an educational context, primer is pronounced "primmer" ?)

Introduction:

• Qualified for Dreamhack Dallas, which is Pioneer. Figured I should dip my toes in the format before I fly a thousand miles and spend hundreds of dollars on the trip.
• Initial overview of format is sort of where old modern used to be: a more powerful version of standard, with a number of combo decks operating on different axes.
• Without fetchlands the manabases in Pioneer are significantly worse, but it may also be that midrange/control decks no longer need that third color to shore up their weaknesses.
• I selected Lotus Field Combo as my entry point into the format, since I owned the expensive cards from modern (land base - fastlands, Boseijus, Otawaras), could buy the core via Pioneer Challenger deck, then dropped some cash on the rest, mostly sideboard cards.
• Then between the combo nature of the format (including the various combat decks), the anti-combo SBing, and the weaker manabase it felt like folks were mulliganing left and right in my games. I logged seven mulligans over thirteen games in the five Swiss rounds, mostly unplayable land hands (e.g. Lotus Field as the only land(s) lmao). Meanwhile my opponents logged ten mulligans (admittedly six of them from my round 3 opponent).

The combo & notes:

• Aim to make double Lotus on turn 4, combo on turn 5
• Casting Ultimatum with double field & U up (and spell mastery) is win through no interaction
• Ultimatum for Omniscience + Dark Petition (DP) + Behold the Beyond (BtB)

Line breakdown subsection

• Omniscience + BtB (end state of other lines):
• BtB for Mastermind's & Bala Ged Recovery, (BGR) any other card (DP)
• Grab Approach, cast from hand with Omni, then Recovery DP, DP for Approach and recast
• Dark Petition + BtB:
• Cast DP first, then BtB for BGR + Hidden Strings + Omniscience, DP for Hidden Strings
• UBBB mana after DP, HS are + 4 mana so just cast Omniscience, then BGR the BtB
• Then go BtB for combo
• Omniscience + DP: DP for BtB
• If any combo pieces are in hand or GY, can sub for HS for more mana or Lier to recur

Single Lotus Field lines

• 1 Lotus field, 1 color-producing land, and 2 HS can cast Ultimatum
• 4 mana -> 6 -> 8
• (Lotus Field for BBB, land for U, HS with BB floating, tap for UUUUU, HS with BBUUU floating, Lotus Field for GGG and cast Ultimatum with other land untapped)
• Omniscience, DP, Lier will guarantee an Omniscience in play

Round 1 vs Stevey V on RU Creativity (1-2, 0-1)

OTP, we both start off with some mulligans.

G1 he T4 endsteps Big Score into T5 Indomitable Creativity, whatever.

In: 1 Sphinx of the Final Word, 1 Thought Distortion, 2 Fading Hope
Out: 3 Arboreal Grazer, 1 Shimmer of Possibility
Can't bring in Hope Tenders since they play a couple sets of the Fire Prophecy & co. cards and can't afford to side them out due to the deck construction.

G2 get 'im with the Fading Hope on a Worldspine Wurm, combo off a couple of turns later

G3 Work through some Make Disappears, Boseiju a clue token when he casts Creativity for 2, but then I'm still facing a a flipped Fable with Worldspine Wurm on the board (50/50 chance). So this is my final turn, and I suspect he's on soft counters after the aforementioned Big Score into two cards and two Treasure tokens. I make extra mana and meet a Negate that I couldn't have played around gg

Round 2 vs Andrew S on BR Midrange (2-0, 1-1)

We chatted between rounds so he knew what deck I was on.
He then prophesized that the match would be quick and heavily favored in my direction. He was correct.

In: 1 Depopulate, 1 Path of Peril
Out: 2 Arboreal Grazer

Round 3 vs Constantine P on Naya Aggro (2-1, 2-1)

G1 Start OTP, mulligan once two 6, he mulligans twice to 5. He runs out Burning Tree Emissary into Voltaic Brawler, I hardcast a Vizier to with the theory of walling the 2/2 BTE (small misplay). Lose it in combat to Atarka's Command, die to BTE-Reckless Bushwhacker the following turn.

In: 1 Path of Peril, 1 Ritual of Soot, 1 Depopulate, 1 Dragonlord Dromoka
Out: 3 Grazer 1 Shimmer I think

G2 Opponent mulligans to 4, I see a Hopeful Initiate as their white presence, board wipe them to oblivion, drop a Dragonlord Dromoka and combo off for good measure.

G3 He mulligans to 6, plays a T2 Thalia, T3 BTE into nothing, clocks me a few times to at 6 life. I Sylvan Scrying on turn 3 through the tax, Lotus Field on turn 4 with a cycle-untap and bounce Thalia on his turn with Otawara to combo out the next.

SB guide vs Mono W recommends to SB out the combo, but this is not mono W rocking >10 tax effects. Maybe right to keep in Grazers, but he showed me a lot of 3 power creatures, or 2 powered with pump effects.

Round 4 vs Dan T on BR Midrange (2-0, 3-1)

Pair down. We acknowledge that I am playing for top 8, while he is not. With 19 people, 5 Swiss rounds, cut to top 8 the only X-2s making it in need to have kingly tiebreakers i.e. start off in the winner's bracket (or get a R1 bye) and have losses in later rounds. He also does not feel favored vs Lotus Field, much like my R2 opponent. I misplay my turn 1 in game 1 but it ends up being inconsequential.

With the extra time in the round, I head on over to STICKY FACE BBQ, who make a nice big bowl of mac 'n' cheese. gg pro move

Round 5 vs Ryan G on GR Vehicles (2-1, 4-1)

7 people with >9 pts going into round 5 and I get another pair down. He's in a position to play for top 8, so we get to it.

G1 He mulls, but he chains a T1 elf into a T2 elf which is slow enough for me to combo and take my time explaining the steps.

In: 1 Path of Peril, 1 Ritual of Soot
Out: 2 Arboreal Grazer

G2: I get to a game state where I have a Lotus Field and two lands, staring down double Elf, Esika's Chariot, and five Cat tokens from a second legend-ruled Chariot. I tunnel vision onto my Pore Over the Pages and forget about my Dark Petition-Path of Peril line that would have turned this game into Easy Street.

G3: I recall seeing a Migloz, wiping the board, and then winning. Deck just doesn't pressure me quickly enough.

I come out of Swiss with a stunning opponent match win percentage of 37.9% from double pair downs. But because I won out in R5 I'm seeded second above all the 3-1-1 IDers nice

Quarterfinals vs John L (7) on RU Creativity (2-1)

Games 1 and 2 I keep awkward 7 card hands (ex. no blue sources, just T3 Lotus after doing nothing).

In: 1 Dragonlord Dromoka, 1 Sphinx of the Final Word, 1 Thought Distortion, 2 Fading Hope
Out: 4 Arboreal Grazer, 1 Shimmer of Possibility

Game 3 I cast a Thought Distortion with him having no threat of comboing, casts a Dig Through Time but I just combo out the next turn.

Quote of the match:
"So how long have you been playing that deck?"
"About five hours"

Semifinals vs Patrick P (3) on BR Midrange (2-0)

I Otawara'd a Liliana of the Veil on 6, but I had an extra cushion of resources. Boseiju'd a Pithing Needle post-board, and also brought in Pithing Needle since I saw a few utility lands and he seemed to be leaning on LotV more.

This matchup definitely feels Lotus-favored.

Finals vs Alex Z (4) on Lotus Field (2-1)

I actually faced Alex in the finals of a Modern RCQ last month (and won). I'm wondering if this will become a trend.

G1 He runs out a Voyaging Satyr, pretty sure the game is over so I run my Thespian's Stage into a Boseiju whatever.

In: 3 Hope Tender, 1 Thought Distortion
Out: 4 Arboreal Grazer

G2 I get a Hope Tender out while opponent is still on Grazers. We both get Liers out, but I have Lotus Fields and Hidden Strings, cipher onto my Hope Tender, and end up casting a Thought Distortion into a concession. It was a bit awkward that I cast my Behold the Beyond + Dark Petition off Ultimatum, but all three Bala Ged Recoveries were already in hand so I had to discard.

G3 I'm a little annoyed that I didn't get to cast a Ciphered Hidden Strings so I messed around a bit to draw a ton of cards. I get a Hope Tender and Lier out again, Thought Distortion again to clear their hand and yard of spells, they Boseiju my Omniscience after I get the mana for it yadda yadda. I grab a Zacama to ensure I can't lose (can kill their Omniscience) and end up flashing back Mastermind's Acquisition to just Approach -> hardcast Approach -> flashback Pore Over the Pages three times to draw it & recast.