I could see a Secure in that slot, although I like Clique as an extra piece of disruption more than a threat.
I personally like Ghost Quarter because I tend to play an aggressive mana denial plan in a lot of matchups - being able to hit someone's only basic source of a colour lets you take the game longer much easier. It also makes Crucible that much better. The fifth colourless land is the reason I'm not comfortable playing a Mystic Gate, though.
Re. 2 Timely, I just jacked mcwinsauce's latest list to start, and I think the Modo meta was probably infested with burn. Blessed Alliance might be good; I've also liked playing 2 Kitchen Finks in the board in the past for a less narrow (though worse against burn) card.
Hi all, I've been on and off UW/Jeskai for a bit and have GP Toronto coming up - I had bought into Death's Shadow and thought it might be worth it to learn the 'best deck' with enough lead time, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth (many many small edges to gain or trip up on), so I've gone back to working on UW where at least I always know my role.
When I bought back in online I basically built Tom/Sauce's latest list. I attended the Toronto Face to Face Open on Saturday and for this event I swapped the Mindbreak Trap & Bribery for Surgical & Elspeth.
Surgical seemed like slightly less narrow hate (altho I'm not a huge fan of the card). I did end up playing against almost exclusively fair decks, so Elspeth came in very handy; and Surgical did okay against Tron.
There were 190 players so we had 8 rounds - short report below.
R1 vs BG(w) - Loss 1-2 - game 1 we go back and forth but I can't hit a Verdict to clear his lethal threats. game 2 I Seas his opening two lands to keep him off any plays and resolve Elspeth on an empty board. game 3 Bob into Fulminator on the play set me too far back, and a Thrun finished me off. Tough to start with a loss but my plan was basically to use this as training for long days at the GP, so I wanted to stick it out for the whole thing regardless.
R2 vs infect - Win 2-0 - simple enough, mana denial plan plus some spot removal gets there. game 1 he kept a 1-land 6 which got Seas'd.
R3 vs 4c Delver/zoo (with Chart a Course) - Win 2-0 - Gideon plus Supreme Verdict handles all of his threats. I win game 1 on 0 life with a Gideon emblem which is always fun.
R4 vs straight BG - Win 2-0 - game 1 he resolves a Liliana but Jace ticking down keeps me in cards and flips Gideon Jura to take out the Liliana for an early scoop. Game 2 he resolves a Thrun but has no answer to Elspeth (having used his Pulse on an earlier small Gideon.
R5 vs Eldrazi & Taxes - Win 2-0 - game 1 I emblem small Gideon and also resolve Jura - he concedes with me on 0 life but needing to find the unlikely out of multiple Flickerwisps/Displacer. game 2 he has a Vial-dependent draw and has to Thoughtseize a Stony Silence to stay in the game; I end up taking out 2 Vials with a turn 3 Sphere which slows him down enough for Elspeth to come out and take over.
R6 vs RG Tron - Draw 1-1-1 - maindeck Blood Sun with a huge mana advantage leads me to concede game 1 in about 6 minutes. game 2 goes on and on: after a few early Gideon hits, he clears the board, resolves a Blood Sun, but not before I destroy/Extract Towers. he hits 7 mana and resolves a World Breaker, but have lethal with Cryptic to bounce Blood Sun and attack with Colonnade, and Path just in case - but I don't realise World Breaker has REACH, so I end up having to Path after he blocks - and the game continues. at one point both of us have Crucible but I'm able to bounce his and destroy two lands in a turn cycle to keep him off Ulamog, which I then Clique; but he draws it again after a shuffle and takes out my two lethal threats, and so on - I eventually win (much later) with 2 Snapcasters and counterspells but we have 10 minutes left for game 3 and end up in an unintentional draw.
R7 vs UW pseudo-mirror - Win 2-0 - his build had a few different choices with Ancestral Vision, Blessed Alliance, etc. both games he stalled on mana early with a suspended Visions, and I was able to leverage that into an advantage. game 2 he blanked my Crucible with a Rest in Peace (and left me holding a Surgical with no chance to take out his Colonnades) - I did have Search for Azcanta scry going, and when resolved an Elspeth I was able to take it out with flyers and keep the tokens back with Jace+, then get in for lethal.
R8 vs humans - Win 2-1 - game 1 my opponent puts a Meddling Mage on Settle the Wreckage (?) and loses to the Gideon team-up plus Path/Snap/Sphere. game 2 he has 3 Meddling Mages (2 courtesy of Phantasmal Image) on Path, Detention Sphere, and Settle again (??) but I can't find a Verdict before I die. game 3 he has a Vial to start but a Spreading Seas on his only land and a turn 3 Sphere on Vial keeps him with just a Champion of the Parish for a few turns. he develops a board with a Thalia but I finally hit a Verdict with 5 lands, and small Gideon + Clique + Colonnade finish him off.
6-1-1, 9th place on breakers (not close), and not unexpected given the round 1 loss.
I feel like I'm pretty well established with playing the tap-out/planeswalker build - it was good to get in a full day and keep playing (reasonably) well, barring the terrible punt with attacking into the World Breaker.
I do want to try the Miracles package that a few people have been experimenting with - has anyone in the thread played with it at all?
I think you want to have access to 3 in case you find that it's best for your build. My thinking (which I touched on earlier) is that you want more 1-drop accelerators in the Melira lists running 4 Kitchen Finks, as you want to jump to a Finks on turn 2, while in the Angel Pod builds (like mine) running 7 different 3-drops you want more Walls (and therefore one fewer Hierarch) to enable the turn 3 Pod + activate to find a 3-drop.
I wouldn't cut any of your creatures, so I think it's one of your disruption spells. Lately I've been liking 2 Thoughtseize in the main: my 60 is currently (from yours) -1 Woodland Cemetery, -1 Thoughtseize, -1 Abrupt Decay, +1 Razorverge Thicket, +1 Courser, +1 Restoration Angel.
Your key one-ofs are mostly at the 3-drop slot... so it's more important to Pod 2-3 than play e.g. a Kitchen Finks on turn 2. Note that Wall still lets you play Pod and activate it on turn 3.
I think the jury's still out on Courser for me. I played it basically b/c LSV suggested it in his latest article (I had played it a few weeks ago but moved on) and had it in play only once on the day (against Merfolk where it drew me about a card and a half and gained a few life before being Podded away). It shines against the fair decks/decks that lean on Bolt or Anger for removal. I note that the top 16 Melira list from Kobe had one in the maindeck and a second in the sideboard, for what that's worth.
As for Nekrataal, I don't like to have the same number of 4s and 5s (i.e. I would rather have four 4-drops and two 5s than three of each). I also find it more realistic to Restoration Angel a Nekrataal than a Shriekmaw, and of course the interaction with Reveillark is there (Podding Nekrataal INTO Reveillark when they don't have a Scavenging Ooze is a great feeling). Before I switched in the Courser I was playing Thrun and Shriekmaw in the maindeck (so four 4s and three 5s) with Nekrataal in the side, but I shuffled things around to make room; the other option to do this was cutting one Voice from the 75, playing Pridemage main and Reclamation Sage in the side, but I really like having access to Voice as early and often as possible.
W 2-1 UR Twin
L 1-2 Kiki Pod
W 2-1 UWR control
W 2-1 Melira
W 2-1 Merfolk
W 2-1 BR burn
L 1-2 UG Scapeshift
Split 1-1 with GR Tron: his breakers were better so he took the win and finished 22nd, I was 42nd. 206 players, GR Scapeshift won.
Ok, this means my Harmonic Sliver destroy's my opponents pod. He plays a second pod so I copy my sliver with metamorph and blow up his second pod and I'm also forced to blow up my own?
Yes
No, you get two triggers at the same time, so you can point both at his and the second (to resolve) will be countered.
"The following is a list of countries that will have national teams competing at the 2014 World Magic Cup and the minimum number Yearly Award Points at the conclusion of the 2014 Yearly Award Season needed to be qualified to compete in that country’s 2014 World Magic Cup Qualifiers." etc.
I've played an Inferno Titan in my blue Scapeshift sideboard as a 3rd Wurmcoil Engine-type card that's also good against aggro (esp. affinity)--but I've never bothered in the Primeval Titan build, since you already have plan A-B-C built in (Scapeshift, Titan, Omen grind).
Speaking of the Primeval Titan build...
I took the following to a 135-player local modern event last Saturday (first post-banning):
I had had great success prior to the ban list update with a Patrick Dickmann-style tempo Splinter Twin list, but I expected people to bring their new toys; Electrolyze/Lavamancer don't do enough against small zoo decks, and the X/1 beatdown plan is rather embarrassed by Bitterblossom. Titan Shift has a strong and active game plan; playing 2 Obstinate Baloth in the main deck along with my traditional 3 Bolt/2 sweeper setup left me fairly confident in the zoo matchup; and you have access to Volcanic Fallout if anyone brings faeries, plus the tools to make your key cards uncounterable.
As it turned out, for the most part it was more of the same metagame--tho with a sharp drop in BG decks as you would expect.
Here’s an enormous report from this 8(!)-round event.
Round 1 - UWR Geist Twin
A bit of an odd start to the day.
Game 1 my opponent mulled to four on the play and missed enough land drops that he couldn't catch up. He played some UWR lands and a Snapcaster Mage.
Game 2 a Geist of Saint Traft attacked me to death--as I had boarded out sweepers, assuming my opponent was on a Twin plan. He did also play a Pestermite and a Deceiver Exarch, so I knew at this point that he was some kind of UWR tempo deck grafting in the combo (or a Twin deck splashing Geist).
Game 3 he missed his third land drop and 2 Baloths presented enough pressure that I was able to resolve a Titan while holding Pact of Negation in case he had the combo.
2-1, 1-0 Round 2 – Naya Zoo
These games went exactly to plan. Lightning Bolt curved into Anger of the Gods where necessary, and Baloth gained me 8 life (soaking an attack with a Bloodrushed Ghor-Clan Rampager) in a game 1 that I won at 7 life. Game 2 a Baloth ate a Path to Exile which let me turn 5 Titan (Omen active) and wipe away his board for the game.
2-0, 2-0 Round 3 – Affinity
The main thing I remember from this round is my opponent going all-in with Ravager counters on a Blinkmoth Nexus when I could Tribe-Elder in a Mountain to kill it in response; certainly a misplay, though he wouldn’t have been in a winning situation in that game anyway.
2-0, 3-0 Round 4 – WR Splinter Twin
In game 1 my opponent plays a few Blade Splicers, but an Anger of the Gods prolongs the game enough for me to Scapeshift. I make sure to board in anticipation of Blood Moon.
Game 2 the Blood Moon does come down and slows me enough to allow him to combo Restoration Angel and Kiki-Jiki.
In game 3, he makes a combo attempt but I have Bolt and Combust to take out both pieces (though I neglect to think it all the way through and end up taking an extra 6 by letting him copy the Angel and attack me before using Combust)—this gives me the window to resolve Titan and win the game by Nature’s Claiming a Spellskite and casting a lethal ‘Shift.
2-1, 4-0 Round 5 – Affinity
Two slow draws from my deck without topdecking a sweeper when necessary—the perils of playing 26 land, I guess.
0-2, 4-1 Round 6 – Tron
Game 1 of this match was actually quite interesting: I resolved a Baloth, which forced him to up his resolved Karn to 10 (rather than eat the Baloth and lose it to a Bolt). As it happened, I had two Bolts which, along with an attack, took out the Karn. We ended up with my opponent almost on Emrakul mana and with an Oblivion Stone in play, and at 20 life vs. my Baloth. The Oblivion Stone is stranding my Prismatic Omen—I’m on 6 lands and have 2 Scapeshift and an Izzet Charm in hand, with no 7th land. I attack. My opponent tanks and does not pop the Stone, taking to 16. I draw with Izzet Charm into my 7th land and cast Scapeshift for the win, while if my opponent had popped the Stone, I would have been able to Omen+Scapeshift on 6 for the win. A surprise bonus performance from Baloth!
Game 2 I resolved 2 Sowing Salts; in between them, my opponent drew his Emrakul. Fairly academic.
2-0, 5-1 Round 7 – UWR Twin
Two more bad draws—in game 1, my opponent blinked his Wall of Omens three or four times with Angels and had enough beatdown and burn to take me out while I drew land after land.
Game 2 my only interaction was a Bolt, which I left up while tapping low for Titan—my opponent had Exarch + Twin.
0-2, 5-2 Round 8 – UWR control
As the 5-2 with the highest tiebreakers, I was paired up to a 5-1-1. He thought that there was no way for me to make the cut and so asked me to concede, but my friends and I thought there was a possibility for me to win in.
Game 1 I simply ran him out of counters with multiple Scapeshifts and Titans and played around his Tectonic Edge by ‘Shifting for 8 and getting 7 Mountains.
Game 2 I think I resolved a Baloth and that pressured him enough to let me get one of my game-winners through.
2-0, 6-2
As it happens, because both 5-1-1s lost, and a number of 6-1s had to play, I managed to sneak into the 8th slot as the top 6-2. Top 8 – URB Splinter Twin
This was against a friend of mine who’s been playing and tuning Splinter Twin for quite some time. As I was the 8th seed and he was the first, he was on the play. Unfortunately he mulled to 5, but we still had quite an interesting game. I resolved a Titan while he was tapped low digging for lands and get 2 Valakuts, but with no Omen he wasn’t just dead. He proceeded to resolve creatures and tap it for 4 turns, while I used an Anger of the Gods and a number of triggers to kill them in my second main. On the last turn, he played his last card (Exarch) and tapped my Titan, and I had topdecked Farseek and a Mountain to be able to kill it. His next draw was the Kiki-Jiki that would have won him the game!—but instead the Titan got in there at last.
In game 2 I was taking some damage and tapped out for a Titan rather than holding up Negate—unfortunately he had the Splinter Twin.
In game 3 I had a Boseiju in play which forced my opponent to try to quick-combo—as he knew from an Inquisition of Kozilek that I had a Scapeshift in hand. I had the Izzet Charm to counter, leaving me the window to resolve Titan and then Scapeshift the following turn.
2-1 Top 4 – Tron
While everyone else wanted to split and go home—top prize was a playset of all 5 fetches, so it split fairly easily 4 ways—my opponent no-sirred, so it was left to me (cheered on by everyone else) to take him out. As it happens, I did. Though he was on the play in game 1, he only had Wurmcoil Engines to play, so I was able to Remand one, block it on its first attack with a Tribe-Elder, and then Omen-‘Shift for the win. In game 2, though a Torpor Orb stalled my Titan for a turn, having 2 Omens to beat his Nature’s Claim let me take the match fairly easily.
2-0 Finals – Melira Pod
Finally we were able to split and go our separate ways (in spite of one spectator agitating for us to play it out!)—with 2 of each fetch, 6 foil shocks, and store credit to boot. A very long day—but a good one!
I personally like Ghost Quarter because I tend to play an aggressive mana denial plan in a lot of matchups - being able to hit someone's only basic source of a colour lets you take the game longer much easier. It also makes Crucible that much better. The fifth colourless land is the reason I'm not comfortable playing a Mystic Gate, though.
Re. 2 Timely, I just jacked mcwinsauce's latest list to start, and I think the Modo meta was probably infested with burn. Blessed Alliance might be good; I've also liked playing 2 Kitchen Finks in the board in the past for a less narrow (though worse against burn) card.
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
When I bought back in online I basically built Tom/Sauce's latest list. I attended the Toronto Face to Face Open on Saturday and for this event I swapped the Mindbreak Trap & Bribery for Surgical & Elspeth.
Surgical seemed like slightly less narrow hate (altho I'm not a huge fan of the card). I did end up playing against almost exclusively fair decks, so Elspeth came in very handy; and Surgical did okay against Tron.
4 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
6 Island
3 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
Creatures/Planeswalkers (7)
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon Jura
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Spreading Seas
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Runed Halo
2 Detention Sphere
Spells (19)
4 Path to Exile
4 Serum Visions
1 Spell Snare
1 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
3 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Celestial Purge
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Negate
2 Rest in Peace
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Stony Silence
2 Timely Reinforcements
R2 vs infect - Win 2-0 - simple enough, mana denial plan plus some spot removal gets there. game 1 he kept a 1-land 6 which got Seas'd.
R3 vs 4c Delver/zoo (with Chart a Course) - Win 2-0 - Gideon plus Supreme Verdict handles all of his threats. I win game 1 on 0 life with a Gideon emblem which is always fun.
R4 vs straight BG - Win 2-0 - game 1 he resolves a Liliana but Jace ticking down keeps me in cards and flips Gideon Jura to take out the Liliana for an early scoop. Game 2 he resolves a Thrun but has no answer to Elspeth (having used his Pulse on an earlier small Gideon.
R5 vs Eldrazi & Taxes - Win 2-0 - game 1 I emblem small Gideon and also resolve Jura - he concedes with me on 0 life but needing to find the unlikely out of multiple Flickerwisps/Displacer. game 2 he has a Vial-dependent draw and has to Thoughtseize a Stony Silence to stay in the game; I end up taking out 2 Vials with a turn 3 Sphere which slows him down enough for Elspeth to come out and take over.
R6 vs RG Tron - Draw 1-1-1 - maindeck Blood Sun with a huge mana advantage leads me to concede game 1 in about 6 minutes. game 2 goes on and on: after a few early Gideon hits, he clears the board, resolves a Blood Sun, but not before I destroy/Extract Towers. he hits 7 mana and resolves a World Breaker, but have lethal with Cryptic to bounce Blood Sun and attack with Colonnade, and Path just in case - but I don't realise World Breaker has REACH, so I end up having to Path after he blocks - and the game continues. at one point both of us have Crucible but I'm able to bounce his and destroy two lands in a turn cycle to keep him off Ulamog, which I then Clique; but he draws it again after a shuffle and takes out my two lethal threats, and so on - I eventually win (much later) with 2 Snapcasters and counterspells but we have 10 minutes left for game 3 and end up in an unintentional draw.
R7 vs UW pseudo-mirror - Win 2-0 - his build had a few different choices with Ancestral Vision, Blessed Alliance, etc. both games he stalled on mana early with a suspended Visions, and I was able to leverage that into an advantage. game 2 he blanked my Crucible with a Rest in Peace (and left me holding a Surgical with no chance to take out his Colonnades) - I did have Search for Azcanta scry going, and when resolved an Elspeth I was able to take it out with flyers and keep the tokens back with Jace+, then get in for lethal.
R8 vs humans - Win 2-1 - game 1 my opponent puts a Meddling Mage on Settle the Wreckage (?) and loses to the Gideon team-up plus Path/Snap/Sphere. game 2 he has 3 Meddling Mages (2 courtesy of Phantasmal Image) on Path, Detention Sphere, and Settle again (??) but I can't find a Verdict before I die. game 3 he has a Vial to start but a Spreading Seas on his only land and a turn 3 Sphere on Vial keeps him with just a Champion of the Parish for a few turns. he develops a board with a Thalia but I finally hit a Verdict with 5 lands, and small Gideon + Clique + Colonnade finish him off.
6-1-1, 9th place on breakers (not close), and not unexpected given the round 1 loss.
I do want to try the Miracles package that a few people have been experimenting with - has anyone in the thread played with it at all?
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
1 Thragtusk
1 Archangel of Thune
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Wall of Roots
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Sin Collector
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Spike Feeder
1 Eternal Witness
2 Restoration Angel
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Acidic Slime
2 Path to Exile
2 Chord of Calling
Artifact (4)
4 Birthing Pod
Land (23)
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Marsh Flats
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Island
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Gavony Township
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Nekrataal
1 Shriekmaw
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Bant Charm
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Negate
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
As for Nekrataal, I don't like to have the same number of 4s and 5s (i.e. I would rather have four 4-drops and two 5s than three of each). I also find it more realistic to Restoration Angel a Nekrataal than a Shriekmaw, and of course the interaction with Reveillark is there (Podding Nekrataal INTO Reveillark when they don't have a Scavenging Ooze is a great feeling). Before I switched in the Courser I was playing Thrun and Shriekmaw in the maindeck (so four 4s and three 5s) with Nekrataal in the side, but I shuffled things around to make room; the other option to do this was cutting one Voice from the 75, playing Pridemage main and Reclamation Sage in the side, but I really like having access to Voice as early and often as possible.
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
3 Forest
1 Swamp
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Woodland Cemetery
3 Gavony Township
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sin Collector
1 Spike Feeder
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Nekrataal
1 Restoration Angel
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Reveillark
3 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Chord of Calling
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Dismember
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Lingering Souls
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Sin Collector
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Thoughtseize
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
W 2-1 UR Twin
L 1-2 Kiki Pod
W 2-1 UWR control
W 2-1 Melira
W 2-1 Merfolk
W 2-1 BR burn
L 1-2 UG Scapeshift
Split 1-1 with GR Tron: his breakers were better so he took the win and finished 22nd, I was 42nd. 206 players, GR Scapeshift won.
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
No, you get two triggers at the same time, so you can point both at his and the second (to resolve) will be countered.
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/event/worldmagiccup/qualifiers
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
Speaking of the Primeval Titan build...
I took the following to a 135-player local modern event last Saturday (first post-banning):
6 Mountain
3 Forest
1 Island
4 Stomping Ground
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
2 Obstinate Baloth
Sorcery (12)
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
2 Farseek
2 Anger of the Gods
Instant (9)
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Remand
3 Izzet Charm
3 Prismatic Omen
3 Nature's Claim
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Sowing Salt
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Negate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Combust
1 Shatterstorm
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
I had had great success prior to the ban list update with a Patrick Dickmann-style tempo Splinter Twin list, but I expected people to bring their new toys; Electrolyze/Lavamancer don't do enough against small zoo decks, and the X/1 beatdown plan is rather embarrassed by Bitterblossom. Titan Shift has a strong and active game plan; playing 2 Obstinate Baloth in the main deck along with my traditional 3 Bolt/2 sweeper setup left me fairly confident in the zoo matchup; and you have access to Volcanic Fallout if anyone brings faeries, plus the tools to make your key cards uncounterable.
As it turned out, for the most part it was more of the same metagame--tho with a sharp drop in BG decks as you would expect.
A bit of an odd start to the day.
Game 1 my opponent mulled to four on the play and missed enough land drops that he couldn't catch up. He played some UWR lands and a Snapcaster Mage.
Game 2 a Geist of Saint Traft attacked me to death--as I had boarded out sweepers, assuming my opponent was on a Twin plan. He did also play a Pestermite and a Deceiver Exarch, so I knew at this point that he was some kind of UWR tempo deck grafting in the combo (or a Twin deck splashing Geist).
Game 3 he missed his third land drop and 2 Baloths presented enough pressure that I was able to resolve a Titan while holding Pact of Negation in case he had the combo.
2-1, 1-0
Round 2 – Naya Zoo
These games went exactly to plan. Lightning Bolt curved into Anger of the Gods where necessary, and Baloth gained me 8 life (soaking an attack with a Bloodrushed Ghor-Clan Rampager) in a game 1 that I won at 7 life. Game 2 a Baloth ate a Path to Exile which let me turn 5 Titan (Omen active) and wipe away his board for the game.
2-0, 2-0
Round 3 – Affinity
The main thing I remember from this round is my opponent going all-in with Ravager counters on a Blinkmoth Nexus when I could Tribe-Elder in a Mountain to kill it in response; certainly a misplay, though he wouldn’t have been in a winning situation in that game anyway.
2-0, 3-0
Round 4 – WR Splinter Twin
In game 1 my opponent plays a few Blade Splicers, but an Anger of the Gods prolongs the game enough for me to Scapeshift. I make sure to board in anticipation of Blood Moon.
Game 2 the Blood Moon does come down and slows me enough to allow him to combo Restoration Angel and Kiki-Jiki.
In game 3, he makes a combo attempt but I have Bolt and Combust to take out both pieces (though I neglect to think it all the way through and end up taking an extra 6 by letting him copy the Angel and attack me before using Combust)—this gives me the window to resolve Titan and win the game by Nature’s Claiming a Spellskite and casting a lethal ‘Shift.
2-1, 4-0
Round 5 – Affinity
Two slow draws from my deck without topdecking a sweeper when necessary—the perils of playing 26 land, I guess.
0-2, 4-1
Round 6 – Tron
Game 1 of this match was actually quite interesting: I resolved a Baloth, which forced him to up his resolved Karn to 10 (rather than eat the Baloth and lose it to a Bolt). As it happened, I had two Bolts which, along with an attack, took out the Karn. We ended up with my opponent almost on Emrakul mana and with an Oblivion Stone in play, and at 20 life vs. my Baloth. The Oblivion Stone is stranding my Prismatic Omen—I’m on 6 lands and have 2 Scapeshift and an Izzet Charm in hand, with no 7th land. I attack. My opponent tanks and does not pop the Stone, taking to 16. I draw with Izzet Charm into my 7th land and cast Scapeshift for the win, while if my opponent had popped the Stone, I would have been able to Omen+Scapeshift on 6 for the win. A surprise bonus performance from Baloth!
Game 2 I resolved 2 Sowing Salts; in between them, my opponent drew his Emrakul. Fairly academic.
2-0, 5-1
Round 7 – UWR Twin
Two more bad draws—in game 1, my opponent blinked his Wall of Omens three or four times with Angels and had enough beatdown and burn to take me out while I drew land after land.
Game 2 my only interaction was a Bolt, which I left up while tapping low for Titan—my opponent had Exarch + Twin.
0-2, 5-2
Round 8 – UWR control
As the 5-2 with the highest tiebreakers, I was paired up to a 5-1-1. He thought that there was no way for me to make the cut and so asked me to concede, but my friends and I thought there was a possibility for me to win in.
Game 1 I simply ran him out of counters with multiple Scapeshifts and Titans and played around his Tectonic Edge by ‘Shifting for 8 and getting 7 Mountains.
Game 2 I think I resolved a Baloth and that pressured him enough to let me get one of my game-winners through.
2-0, 6-2
As it happens, because both 5-1-1s lost, and a number of 6-1s had to play, I managed to sneak into the 8th slot as the top 6-2.
Top 8 – URB Splinter Twin
This was against a friend of mine who’s been playing and tuning Splinter Twin for quite some time. As I was the 8th seed and he was the first, he was on the play. Unfortunately he mulled to 5, but we still had quite an interesting game. I resolved a Titan while he was tapped low digging for lands and get 2 Valakuts, but with no Omen he wasn’t just dead. He proceeded to resolve creatures and tap it for 4 turns, while I used an Anger of the Gods and a number of triggers to kill them in my second main. On the last turn, he played his last card (Exarch) and tapped my Titan, and I had topdecked Farseek and a Mountain to be able to kill it. His next draw was the Kiki-Jiki that would have won him the game!—but instead the Titan got in there at last.
In game 2 I was taking some damage and tapped out for a Titan rather than holding up Negate—unfortunately he had the Splinter Twin.
In game 3 I had a Boseiju in play which forced my opponent to try to quick-combo—as he knew from an Inquisition of Kozilek that I had a Scapeshift in hand. I had the Izzet Charm to counter, leaving me the window to resolve Titan and then Scapeshift the following turn.
2-1
Top 4 – Tron
While everyone else wanted to split and go home—top prize was a playset of all 5 fetches, so it split fairly easily 4 ways—my opponent no-sirred, so it was left to me (cheered on by everyone else) to take him out. As it happens, I did. Though he was on the play in game 1, he only had Wurmcoil Engines to play, so I was able to Remand one, block it on its first attack with a Tribe-Elder, and then Omen-‘Shift for the win. In game 2, though a Torpor Orb stalled my Titan for a turn, having 2 Omens to beat his Nature’s Claim let me take the match fairly easily.
2-0
Finals – Melira Pod
Finally we were able to split and go our separate ways (in spite of one spectator agitating for us to play it out!)—with 2 of each fetch, 6 foil shocks, and store credit to boot. A very long day—but a good one!
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR