MTG Salvation

Match 1: me vs show n tell (2-1 for me)

Game 1: not much to say here. i had faithless looting into t2 looting +breakthrough. therapied him before casting breakthrough to see if the coast was clear, saw sneak attack + emrakul, knew what he was on.

Game 2: I keep a really, really slow hand. very nearly kill him, setting up a massive zombie horde by about turn 4 or 5, and i get killed by show and tell into griselbrand, then sneak attack into emrakul.

game 3: i punt huge here. my opening is land, cabal therapy, ichorid, ggt, breakthrough, led, lotus petal. my plan is therapy force of will and go nuts. i punt hard and crack led without stacking it properly. still end up just rolling the guy.

sb plan: pretty much just brought in ashen rider and 3 petals for 2 putrid imps, 1 ichorid and golgari thug

Match two, omnitell (2-1 for me)
game 1: we both have some super weird games. i dredge hard but find no narcomoebas,it takes me a while to start dredging (thanks to street wraith not discarding:S) and he takes forever to find combo pieces. eventually i managed to get the train rolling and crush him.

game 2: i kept a hand with a dredger and looting, and draw into ashen rider. i also drew an led, but i pretty much figured i wouldn't use it since i wanted to hold on to ashen rider. then he drops a young pyromancer and makes a few tokens. i'm totally surprised by this, and i then go crazy with the LED, pitching the rider, and making a huge zombie horde. Unfortunately, this opened me up to an eventual show and tell kill.

Game 3: i bring in a darkblast this time, but the whole match came down to who was on the play (me). we both had turn two kills. i t1, loot, t2 cabal therapy, goign to name show and tell, he brainstorms and i'm pretty sure he hides it on top of his library. so i name fow, hit, and see he has the t2 kill. land, led, breakthrough, and the game is over. flip over three narcomoebas, 3 bridges, dread return and flamekin.

SB: Same plan as with sneak and show, but i brought in a darkblast for his yp. maybe this was wrong.

Match 3, death and taxes (2-0 for me)
Game 1: not much to say, i went off turn two again.. (turn 1 faithless, draw into t2 led, breakthrough,flip my library).
game 2: he mulls to 6, i keep a fairly resilient seven: faithless, ichorid, stinkweed, a few other draw spells. i don't see any sb cards, but i have 2 cabal therapies. He starts t1 vial, so i start of cabal therapy, name rest in peace. i look at his hand, it's got land, swords to plowshares, vial, sword of fire and ice. He draws a spirit of the labyrinth, and this is probably the most interesting part of the match: Apparently, spirit of the labyrinth works pretty much in our favour: we can dredge as many times as we like, until we decide not to replace a draw with a dredge. After that, we can no longer dredge in the turn. My opponent thought this would work differently and never found any hate. I played super slow, rying not to dump too much into my graveyard until i had a big enough zombie horde that the game was pretty much in my favour.

Sb plan: take out the breakthroughs, leds, and a street wraith for firestorms, abrupt decay, nature's claim and two lands.

Me vs burn (0-2)
game 1: i don't know what he's on, i keep a hand that involves me taking about 5 damage to start going off (mana confluence, faithless, pay 2 life for wraith). He was on the play and crushed me.
game 2: i'm on the play, but i don't keep the fastest hand. He blows up a bridge and I can't get going too fast, he kills me with a bunch of rift bolts. I should have mulled to an LED hand.

SB: just bringing in the lotus petals for both putrid imps and an ichorid.

As you can see from my deck list, my main deck was basically the quadlazer build with Iona in the main. I've been running this configuration for about 6 months now and I really like it. Some people have questioned if having a dedicated reanimation target with only one Dread Return is too inconsistent. If the general game plan was to reanimate Iona in every game, I would have to agree that it probably is. But at the same time Iona was one of the highest overperformers during the weekend winning me games I had no place winning otherwise. The reason I really like Iona, is that it gives you an out in games that you are otherwise sure to lose and in other games reanimating it always gives you a giant evasive beater. It gives you additional percentage points in two ways:

1. It wins games with that have the following typical structure: You lose the die roll, your opponent plays a 1 drop creature, you mill half of your deck on turn 1 but don't hit enough Narcomoebas or therapies to make a zombie army, turn 2 your opponent passes with mana up and at the end of your draw step bolts his/her 1 drop to exile 3 of your bridges. Normally the Ichorid beats might not be enough to win this game because of things like Angler, Tarmogoyf or swords to plowshares but using your Ichorids and Narcs to reanimate Iona on turn 2 almost always is.
2. Iona wins grindy games against Miracles, BUG Decks, D&T and even Omnitell, where you end up milling 2/3 of your deck and zombie beats are often not good enough or your bridges get exiled. The best 2 properties of Iona are that it is incredibly hard to remove for most of the decks and it completely shuts down the game plan of many of the matchups I've found to be our worst. It is also always good alone and doesn't require you to have leftovers after reanimating it (compare to Flame-Kin Zealot). It opens lines like narcomoeba/ichorid->therapy->3 zombies from birdges->Iona that could be very risky because of removal or just not good enough with other reanimation targets but are almost certain to win with Iona.

Memory's Journey in the sideboard was a late addition. I was really impressed by it and I highly recommend you to try it, if Grixis/4c delver, mentor decks and merfolk continue to be popular. It allows you to trade creatures without fear of losing your bridges in matchups where your opponent is able to flood the board with random dorks. I got my mind blown when my friend noted that I can stack the triggers from the bridge in the usual way after trading an Ichorid or a Narc, let the zombie trigger resolve and then in response to the bridge's exile trigger cast memory's journey to shuffle in your bridges. This must have been obvious to everybody else but I completely missed this line in one of the games I played during the weekend. The card gives also a nice insurance plan against both relic and surgical extraction which both seem to be very popular in the current metagame. And there is more! It even works as a disruption spell against other graveyard decks!

I was also on the controversial lotus petal plan after sideboard against most non-blue and combo decks as well as miracles. I've been doing this for a year now and I've been really impressed by the effect of the added speed when you don't need to play around too many counterspells. I feel that miracles and combo decks like reanimator and storm become slightly favorable matchups because of this plan. During the tournament I had one turn 1 kill on the draw and multiple turn 2 kills or concessions that would have never happened without the lotus petals. Most hands that contain the card have a one turn faster goldfish that is often more resilient to disruption due to the ability to cast 2 spells during the same turn.

I believe that the rest of the sideboard is relatively standard - especially, if you play lotus petals. I was very lucky during the tournament and never had to cast a single Nature's Claim even though I boarded them in piously against most of the fair decks. I tested the "Abrupt Decay and extra land" plan in GP NJ and found it way too inconsistent for my play style because of the double mana cost. Since I dodged permanent based graveyard hate for most of the tournament, I cannot really say if I like the Nature's Claims much more than I like the Decays but at least I could have cast them every time I drew them. People also seemed to play relics much more than Cages/RIPs and neither Claim nor Decay is very good against Relic. Hence, there might be a case for cutting down on Claims, if you have a card you'd like to add to the board.

Firestorm was probably the most valuable card of my sideboard. The card just laughs at random fair decks that think they can win with hands full of Force of Wills and Flusterstorms. I used to think that the card is somewhat underwhelming but I stand corrected. I will never leave home without at least 3 of these in the future.

On Friday, we decided to take it relatively easy and play a trial and maybe draft a little and then go have dinner in Lille. In the trial I beat BUG or Grixis delver round 1 (don't quite remember anymore), Infect round 2, Goblins round 3 and then lost to really bad misplays and punts against RUG Delver in the semis. This was the only time when punting actually cost me a match. Otherwise the deck was so incredible that no matter how much I punted, I was always able find a new line that would pull me back in the game. 90% of this is of course due to being stupidly lucky but it's hard to be lucky, if you're playing a ham sandwich.

I had one bye for the main event and got to sell some rotating standard cards and watch as my friend bully his round 1 opponent with a sweet triple VClique draw (one of them was a phantasmal image) from his merfolk deck stealing all the stoneforged batterskulls and jittes.

My own tournament started as poorly as it can start with 2 losses first against Miracles and then against D&T. I think I was at least 90% favorite to win the game 3 against Miracles by reanimating Iona on my turn 3 with the information from a previous therapy that my opponent had pure air in his hand. However, a top decked relic foiled this whole plan and made sure I could not refill my yard before he found entreat to finish me off.

Game 1 against death and taxes felt similarly favorable but a timely second Mirran Crusader doubled my opponent's clock just when it was too late to revise my game plan of one-shot swarming him through his defences and let him win one turn before my zombie apocalypse. After these losses I was very close to dropping and joining a MM2015 draft but decided to play a few more games to see how the deck plays against non-white decks. I still think that D&T is one of our worst matchups and if you guys have figured out a good, consistent plan against them, I'd really like to hear it.

The next three matchups were pseudo byes in the form of Abzan good stuff (didn't see knights or any of the other maverick stuff), Sam Black's Zombardment with white replaced by Vengevines and Jund. After quickly winning game 1 against Abzan, I sideboarded into the speed plan with lotus petals, extra dread return and additional reanimation targets and was rewarded with a turn 1 Flame-Kin Zealot win on the draw with my opponent staring in disbelief at the Containment Priest, double Swords to Plowshares and Scooze in his hand. Without the petals, I would have never beaten the hand. The Zombardment deck put up a good fight in the sideboarded games with multiple surgicals. But in game 3 my hand was just too fast for a single surgical to matter.

If I remember correctly, after that I played the next 2 matches against shardless bug. All of the games were fairly close and I even lost game 1 in the second match to double Deathrite. However, fast and disruption resistant hands were able to pull me through the other two games. I think that match was a very lucky anomaly given how much hate he was packing. The second match was also the one where after the game was over my friend showed me the light by telling me that I should have sequenced my memory's journey in the trivially "correct" way that I mentioned above. In the game I just cast it before damage to protect my bridges even though I remember thinking about the two bridge triggers for a few seconds but somehow just did not put 2 and 2 together. At that point I was so far ahead that I did not need the 4 missed zombies but my way of sequencing was nevertheless clearly suboptimal.

The last 2 matches of the day were against Infect and Omnitell. I win game 1 against infect with a double draw spell + LED hand digging me into Iona on green. Game 2 he lands a turn 1 Cage and I don't have enough time to find my Nature's Claims. Game 3 he snap keeps but plays nothing on turn 1. I'm 90% sure he's clutching on a Crop Rotation and therapy for that on turn 1. He decides not to spell pierce the therapy in hope of piercing a future therapy and shakes his head when I blind name Rotation. After that I reanimate Iona again on turn 3 after ripping the rest of his hand apart and the game is over.

Suddenly, to my own surprise, I'm again playing a win and in and very much expecting to continue my time honored tradition of going 6-3 in gps. This expectation is strengthened when I realize that I'm playing against Omnitel, a matchup I really hadn't played against. However, this time my deck really delivers. Game 1 I have a very nice and counter resistant draw that puts the game away so fast that my opponent doesn't get anything going. I mulligan to 5 or 6 in game 2 and keep a hand that is way too soft to counterspells. My opponent reads this correctly and doesn't let me cast my first draw spell making me play manaless dredge for a while. I don't even find dredgers for the first few turns and my opponent gets to durdle with his infinite ponders, preordains and brainstorms for at least 7 turns before Omnicasting a Spaghetti Monster to bash my face in.

In game 3 I'm on the play keeping again a very fast hand which was I remember being again a bit vulnerable to countermagic but otherwise the pure nuts. On turn 1 I just make him have the FOW. Since he doesn't have it, I go crazy, flipping 2/3 of my deck in the yard. I mill perfectly except I hit only 1 therapy. I know by looking at my yard and battlefield that on turn 3 I can swing for lethal. I also know that my opponent is not holding a force of will, since he didn't force my draw spells. However, it's been a long day and I completely blank on what I should name and choose Flusterstorm, because that was used to foil my plans in game 2. This was a huge punt. The only way I can lose the game from my current position is with a fast show and tell into omniscience into release the ants. Hence, the correct name would have been show and tell. Even Spell Pierce would have been better, since it's far more numerous in the deck than Flusterstorm. I almost get punished for my punt with my opponent show and telling an Emrakul on turn 2. However, the zombies, ichorids and my 9/9, show and told Grave-Troll are enough to push through the spaghetti monster before it gets to attack. I cannot believe that my much maligned 500 dollar pile put me into day 2. Andrea Mengucci, who was randomly watching the game, flashes a priceless, approving grin after my opponent scoops to my attack.

Day 2 starts with my nigh unbeatable draws against RUG Delver and 4-color Delver. The game 1 draw against the latter is so fast that my opponent scoops on my turn 2 to Cabal Therapy without showing me more than 2 Volcanics, a Ponder and a Brainstorm. Because of the durdles I put him on Omnitel and misboard terribly but still get him on turn 3 through a wall of countermagic with a Cephalid Coliseum activation.

My third game on day 2 is against Grixis Delver. This was the only time the deck really fizzled during the whole weekend. Game 1 I keep a 6 card hand that has only 1 draw spell and 1 land. The worst case scenario happens. I get my draw spell countered and the land wastelanded leaving me playing draw and go for 3 turns. At that point a young pyromancer & company and a delver are enough to get the job done. Game 2 I keep a hand that I thought was unbeatable, including a careful study, 2 lands, a faithless looting and a firestorm but zero dredgers. The unlikey ultimate fizzle happens and I cast 4 draw spells before the fifth finds my first dredger. At this point it is already too late and I die again to elemental beats. I made a slight misplay in this game when on my last turn I did not sac the putrid imp I had found to cabal therapy to generate 3 zombies that could have blocked some elementals and given me another turn. I completely forgot that the Pimp can't block. Nevertheless, I was so behind at that point that the correct play wouldn't have probably changed anything.

The fourth match of the day is probably both the best and the worst magic match I've ever played. Best, because the game was extremely intense and crazy. Worst because I punted almost every turn especially in the second game in ways that are ex-post completely incomprehensible. I have a very strong hand in game 1 with an LED, multiple draw spells and a couple of dredgers. My opponent opens with a thoughtseize and takes the LED. I dump a couple of dredgers in the yard with a careful study after which she reanimates my Stinkweed Imp. I realize that her hand cannot be very good but it must have multiple reanimation spells for her wanting to waste one on an imp. I make it a priority to get some cabal therapies going and succeed in stripping her hand of an Exhume (?). In the process my zombie army grows and the game is over unless she is able to reanimate the Elesh-Norn she was able to dump from a careful study. Lucky for me, the reanimation spell she finally top decks is an Exhume and not Reanimate and allows me to replace my zombies with a 5/5 Iona to deliver the last 10 points of damage.

In game 2 she plays a turn 1 Show and Tell dropping an Empyrial Archangel in play. Again, I'm relatively lucky with a best-response Stinkweed Imp as the only reasonable creature in my grip. I attack with my Imp to kill the angel but she is able to reanimate it on her next turn. Then start the punts. Since, I have an Ashen Rider in my yard, I take it as my first goal to reanimate that and kill the big bad angel. The plan works incredibly well up to the point when I try to target the angel with my ETB effect. I get my warning for an illegal game action and get completely flustered. I'm still able to slow my opponent down by stripping her of her only blue source with the ETB effect. However, in the process my Ashen Rider mysteriously vanishes. For a few days now, I've been trying to figure out what happened to it. I have no recollection of it dying, blocking or taking any part in combat for that matter. I must have gotten so flustered from the warning that I put the angel on the side of the battlefield and forgot it there.

Well... Who needs a 5/5 flyer or its LTB effect when you have infinite zombies, right? I take a few hits from the angel while filling my board with zombies to be able to beat the angel back to its grave. However, the process is one turn too slow and I'm forced to reanimate a flyer to block. The punts continue. At the time I was constantly discarding to hand size and the obvious correct play would have been to discard a Stinky instead of a Grave-Troll and reanimate that. I realize this too late and I'm forced to reanimate a Fearie Macabre to block while holding a fistful of Stinky Imps. Luckily, the Faerie is enough of a speed bump and the angel dies to my swarm.

This does not mean that I'm done with the punts. I've been ripping her hand of relevant action with therapies when gathering my zombie army. I know 2 of her 3 card hand (Griselbrand and Flusterstorm) and cast another therapy. She responds with an Entomb for Elesh-Norn. Wanna guess, if I name Flusterstorm with my Therapy? Exhume is as good as any other card, right? Luckily, this does not end up mattering, since she fails to top deck a reanimation spell on her turn and my now giant zombie army one-shots her the next turn. I think the reanimator matchup shouldn't generally be this good but the lotus petal plan helps a lot by generating a considerable early pressure making reanimate much worse and getting your therapies alive as early as possible.

My last 2 games are against Merfolk and Miracles. Even though merfolk has probably the best main deck hate card against us in Curse Catcher, the matchup is still pretty brutal. As I mentioned earlier, my friend also plays the deck and hence I've got a lot of practice against it. Swarming the board early with zombies is usually enough to completely outvalue them and memory's journey helps here a lot allowing for more trades and helping you to play around Relic. After a very fast game 2 where I beat Chalice on 1 and two counterspells in 3 turns my opponent shows me his sideboard that contains 3 propagandas, 2 relics and a cage. I think I wouldn't have stood a chance with my 1 land, had he been able to resolve a Propaganda. The Miracles games are both over in 3 turns. The lotus petal strategy really proves its worth in the second game where my opponent is completely unable to set up shop before I therapy away a FOW and reanimate an Iona on white to win me the game. No other reanimation target would have won the game as reliably as Iona in that spot.