Game one, I fail the Devoted Druid test. Those of you who have played Modern for more than 36 seconds know what I'm talking about.
Game two. On the play, I play a land, pass turn. He plays a Brushland, plays a noble hierach. I play a land, abrade the hierach. He plays a gavony township and plays a bird. I play third land and play a walking abllista for ONE to kill the bird. I have blood moon in my hand, so if he doesn't play a man dork, he's locked out. his turn, he plys a temple garden and drops a kitchen finks. I play blood moon, take a few hits off finks before bridge comes down, then a planes walker, then he scoops it up.
Game three, opponent is thinking hard about his opening 7. Look at it for about 90 seconds, which is a long time to sit and stare at someone. He opens with brushland, burrington forge tender. I play land, guide, ritual, moon. DONE. Tha forge tender was the only spell he play that game. As moon was coming into play, he said, I thought you'd be playing guide, but had no idea about the riutals. He showed me his hand and it had a verduant catacombs and a bird. He played the forge tender to protect his other creatures. remeber how game two went and that was fresh in his mind. 2-1 at this point.
Round 4. Jeskai Control.
Before the game starts, opponent was like...."I know what your playing, please don't turn one me". I have no idea what he's talking about. I was just there to play a friendly game of magic....whatever could he mean...?
Game one, he's on the play and he fetches a basic island....big surprise there, and casts a serum visions. I go mountain pass. His turn two is a hallowed fountain and pass. I play land, ritual, moon. Resolves. the game takes a while, and he eventually burns me down to within range, play that dude that due which makes you discard your hand, then draw three. he's a 3/4 with prowess recently printed....you know what I'm talking about. anyway, it's not enough and I eventually win with chandra protected by bridge.
Game two. He's on the play I have a gemstone caverns. he plays island, serum visions. I play land, ritual, moon. then chalice on one. then on two, then on three. He taps out.
Side note about Jeskai Control. This is a goo match because they sacrifice counterspells for removal. bolts helixes and electrolyze replaces mana leaks, logic knots, and remands. As such, they really cannot stop anything we are doing.
Round 5. Scape*****.
Time for revenge.
Game one: Turn two Blood Moon, opponent is on plan B, Titan Beat down. Turn three Bridge, Opponent is on Plan C, Sakura Tribe-elder Beatdown. What, that's not good enough in Modern?
Game two: Gamstone Caverns (have I said that this card is nuts yet?), he plays a forest, passes turn. I play a MUTAVAULT, Guide, rabblemaster, attack for one. Yep, that's a turn one rabblemaster off a mutavault. Living the dream here folks....his turn two is prismatic omans. My tuen two, I attack for 9. Wait, opponent is like, that's not 9. I'm like, mutavault is a goblin. The look of oh ***** that's AWESOME, and then the realization that he's on the receiving end of that awesomwness was priceless. Hey, at least he got to play his third land. And he was on the play...4-1
Round 6. Burn.
This opponent wasn't John Harakidas either. Game one, I get chalice on one and win with planeswalkers only. HEADS UP MAGIC ALERT>>>>>Pay attention right here because this will make you a better player....I could have played rabblemaster this game, but choose not to. My life was high enough and was under no threat of losing the game. As such, I held it....
Game two, I side IN Eidolins and hey play eidolin, I play Eidolin. we trade them in combat and I followup with Rabblemaster. He doesn't see any creatures game one, so he assumes I'm on a straight prison strategy. he sided out all of his searing blazes and has zero answer to rabblemaster. pay attention to what you show your opponent when piloting a homebrew. that's the difference between him having an answer and him not. 5-1
Round 7. Scapeshift (again)
did I miss a memo somewhere? Three scapeshift in 7 rounds?
Game one, no blood moon. see round 1
Game two, no blood moon. see round 1
5-2
Round 8. Affinity
Game one, turn one, blood moon. She manages to resolve a master etherium turn two, which she thought would help her, until i landed a bridge the following turn. three turns later, chalice on one stopped any burn and her own master made all of her creatures too big for bridge. a slagstorm later sealed it up.
Game two was close, but a bridge, plus moon, plus two chalices get the job done. Now, that didn't happen all at one, there was an anger, abrade, and a walking ballista in there along the way, but this game was over. Side note.....I NEVER See shattering Spree when I dies it in....what am I playing that again? 6-2
Round 9 Grixis Shadow.
Last round of the day and I am in 29th place and get paired up vs the 6th place person. He is 7-1 and I am 6-2.
Game one, On the draw, I mulligan to 6, scry a blood moon on top vs and unknown opponent, I turn 0 gemstone caverns (I'm sensing a theme here with caverns) and pitch a walking ballista. My remaining 4 cards are ritual, mountain, chalice, and Chandra. My opponent fetches a watery grave and inquisitions me, and takes the chalice of course. I "rip" (or, as us old timers call it, "mise") a blood moon off the top, play land # 2 (thank you caverns) ritual, blood moon. that inquisition was the only spell he played that game.
Game two, on the draw, I keep a hand with 7. His first turn is watery grave, serum visions. My first turn is land, guide, ritual, magus of the moon. That serum visions was the only spell he played the whole game.
Round 10, First round of day two. I get paired up against Alex Bertonici. Yep, that one. I walked away from the table and politely asked a judge to watch our match for obvious reasons. If it's not obvious to you, there there's this website out there called the google....wait, I think it's just google. It's a search engine. use it.
Now I could have called a judge while sitting down and made spectacle of the whole thing to try to put him on tilt, but that's not me and As much as I want to win, It's gotta be fair and that goes for both of us. I don't want to win because I tilted my opponent, who was very nice to me mind you, before the game even started.
Game one, he gets triple signal pest and attacks under bridge for the win.
Game two, I get blood moon, chalice on zero and one early. Bridge comes down and stops attackers and eventually I get all 4 chalices in play, 0,1,2,3.
Game three. HOLY CRAP Shattering spree showed up. AND Pia and Kiran Nalaar was useful! This was like the unicorn game with this deck. I swear it happened, but nobody believes me.
Round 11 Jeskai Tempo.
Turn one blood moon locks him out, yet he continue to play plays. firt two lands were island and collonade. I think he's on UW control until he plays a steam vents. Now I know what's up and can sidebaord appropiately.
Game two. turn two blood moon off gemstone caverns (yes, again. Card is nuts. Did I say that yet?) then chalice on 1, then 2, then bridge stops all attackers and he scoops. I tell him after the game that if he doesn't play the steam vents, I put him on UW control and I sideboard MUCH differently. he appreciated the feedback.
9-2
Round 12. GW company. This is a Todd Stevens Special and a preview of things to come.
Game one, moon, and bridge lock him out. zero ways to get bridge off the table game one.
Game two. moon and bridge lock him out. Only one elf and two explosives in the deck to get rid of the lock pieces and he draw none of them while I draw anger gods and storms that slag.
Eldrazi tron is one of, if not, THE worst match for us. I've played it around 7-8 times and I've lost to it every time. Rabblemaster can't push through, chalice is useless, moon is not effective because of walking ballista, mind stone, map, ghost quarter, and the two actual wastes, and bridge is not useful because of walking ballista and/or Karn. Literally nothing we are trying to do lines up even remotely well vs this deck. I told my opponent before we started playing that I have a two prong approach to this match. Plan A, he mulligans to 4. Plan B, he falls asleep during the match and gets a game loss for slow play....you wanna hear how this went, alright....
Game one, he mulls to 5 and Plan A is in full effect. I land an early blood moon and all he draws are tron lands, though-knot seers, and smashers. I actually win this game.
Game 2. He mulls to 6, I drop and early rabblemster turn one and an early matter reshaper blocks the token and stops me from attacking with rballeman himself. He plays a walking abllista and managers to tick up and shoot down a 2nd rabblemaster, then the first, then I lose because he draws map, the flood gates open and I'm dead.
Game three, I get a turn one rabblemaster again followed by a turn two moon. doesn't matter. Map finds the waster, matter reshaper stops rabble, ratchet bomb kills bridge and moon, i play another bridge and then the game takes in interesting turn. He draw land for literally 7 turns in a row. so, of course I have to follow his lead and do the EXACT SAME THING. ARRGH!!! Out decks both said stop what your doing, we're going to just warp to turn 15 like it was Super Mario Brothers and we just entered a warp pipe. When we came out of the pipe, I play a chandra and he paly a hangarback walker with 7 counters on it. blood moon still in play. I up tick chandra and find a rabblemaster and he draws a walking ballista with 7 counters on it. I could be wrong, but it felt like his draws were slightly better than mine.....just by a little bit.
Mind you this player was undefeated and remained that way all the way through to the finals.
Ali was really cool and I had a great time playing with him. We got deck checked before the match started, so we had some time to talk and get to know each other a little bit.
Game one, I have no idea what he's playing, but a thoughtseie takes a blood moon and then he plays lantern and I know i'm screwed. I had Koth and chandra this game, but he drew pithing needle for koth, then, in response to chandra, he used whirling invention to search for a pithing needle. that was really cool and we went to game two because i wasn't going to draw anything relevant for the rest of the game.
Game two, I play turn one chalice on zero and one. this is lantern i'm playing against.
Game three. On the draw, he gets a mox and a lantern in play and i play turn one chalice on one, then a few turns later, on zero. he was locked out almost immediaetly and the game was over quick.
Round 15. I am in 5th place, my opponent was in 3rd place. We did some quick math and figured out that if we drew there was like a 95% chace we both make top 8, so that's what we did.
Quarter Finals vs. GW Company
This was the same player from earlier in the event, only now I can see his list and his list tells me one thing....stick bridge in game one and the game ends on the spot. My opening hand was a ritual, rabblemaster, pia and Kiran, chandra, and 3 lands. auto keep vs an unknown opponent, but not this. If you read this forum a page or two back, I wrote an long article about sideboarding for this deck and if you play the wrng role, you will lose. This was a hand meant to play the aggressive role and if you think rabblemasters and pia are getting the job done vs GW company, then I got someone I just beat in the top 8 who would love to be your opponent at the next event.
Mulligan to 6 had blood moon and bridge. keep, stick both, end game. rather unexciting.
Game two, I lost because he drew his one of reclamation sage. He got knight and tracker big verty quickly. Swong in for 10, I plyed bridge, and he deployed elf from hand to seal it up.
Game three, turn one, Grafdiggers cage. turn two, spellskite. turn three koth, turn 4 chalice on one. At this point, I draw a land a choose NOT to play it. I can always play a land, so let him think i got osething. He eventually gets some creatures out, tracker, knight, and three mana dorks. only one land in yard and tracker and knoght are at beginning power/toughness. he then drops a sigarda, the 5/5 flyer. i draw a card. pretend i'm nana screwed, activate koth, attach with a 4/4 mountain into his 5/5 sigarda. he's at 9, so he blocks so he doesn't go to 5. I play the mountain i've been holding all game and play slagstorm, completely destroying him, killing EVERYTHING. Game goes a few more turns, but thats when it sended.
This was an awesome match and you already know I lost, but it was still awesome. Todd and Ben, if you are reading this...Awesome match and probably the highlight of my day despite losing.
Game one. I stick an early rabblemaster and he's got dismember for it before it generates a token. A blood moon comes down to stop bif stuff from happening, then a rabblemaster (2) joins the party make make a few tokens. He plays walking ballista and it starts to tick up. A third rabblemaster joins the paty and at this point, walking ballista has held down the fort just enough for O Stone to play and deploy in the same turn.
Game two, I stivk a turn one Eidolin and it does serious work. Next a turn two magus of the moon, then a chandra and this game was over wicik.
Game three. turn one eidolin again, followed by turn three bloosmoon. I'm attacking with eidolin the whole game until he lands a walking ballista on 2. Now, I ould attack with the eidolin and lose my ability to lock his out of low cc spells or I could hold back and protect the chandra i just played. This was the turn where i lost this game. I am the aggro player and aggro players ATTACK. I assumed the control role for this one turn, and only this turn, and what ended up happening was the following. He attackes chandra, I block with eidolin to protect chandra, he ticks up and the revel dies to a 3/3 next turn , chandra revelas land and i drew land and walking ballista takes chandra out. next turn i draw ritual and walking ballista hits me. next turn i draw chandra, but can't play it because walking ballista would just take it out. Next turn, he's got 6 lands in play and I top deck hazoert. I play chandra, tick up for mana, hazoret and attack for 5 putting him to three. he needs an answer right here for both things and he fiounf it. land off the top was land #7. All is dust destroyed everything and I topdecked chandra to to two more damage to get him to one life. his turn deployed karn and wurmcoil engibe and my next draw was a land. good games.
lost in quarter finals.
feedback always appreciated. Thanks for reading everybody!
A Blood Moon without a Mana Accelerator, Chalice of the Void, Tormenting Voice or Gemstone Caverns on the draw? Ship it."
Congrats! good write up for so many rounds, glad you made it so many rounds too :)! I quoted just a bit to ask shouldn't you be keeping Gemstone Caverns on the draw? Just wondering ;).
Glad you made the note about Control VS Aggro, this actually aids in the matchup distinction quite greatly.
Just as an FYI I'll likely give your version of the deck some piloting on MTGO, may even stream something. Lets see if we can break down how to counteract Tron, as you're not the only one that is seeking questions in this department. I have an "Old Tron" player at my shop where they run, Wurmcoil, Karn, and x2 Exile Ulamog. These all do not care one bit about the Wastes necessary mana. Drives me up the wall. Gotta find the answers faster =).
Would you say though it wasn't mentioned too much you had the 'timely' answer mid to late game ever? Or is our 'timely' answer literally Turn 1 - 3 or you're done? (Turn 2 - 3 forgiveness for Chalice, Turn 1 - 2 for Moon and no later).
I would say traditional Tron is extremely favorable. Like, that was the second time traditional Tron beat me, and it was due to a misplay. If I attack there, I win that game. Eldrazi Tron is a whole different story.
The card we need vs eldrazi Tron is damping matrix. That shuts the whole deck down instantly. Turns off map, ballista, hangarback walker. Doesn't die to all is dust. Problem is that they still have ways to put 2 power dudes in front of rabblemaster, so even shutting that down doesn't help much. We might just have to chalk this up as a bad match. We're turn one blood moon ING people, so there's gotta be something that stops us
My mtgo name is FAdvisor82. Feel free to hit me up on mtgo and we can test. If you're looking for a sideboard strategy for traditional Tron, bridge, pia, and ballista out. Spyglass, one spree Nxd the 4 creatures in.
Great write up, especially for such a long tournament. Well played And well said, your views on the deck are spot on, IMO, especially about knowing your role with the deck. I guess I'm going to give Ballista another go.. You made us proud out there! I wish I could've made it out, it was only about 45 minutes away. Maybe next time!
I sided it in a lot, basically against every deck that ran islands, just never drew it. Only played it once during the invitational and it won the game on the spot
Commune with lava could be my pia and Kiran replacement....how did we miss this card? Seems nuts in this deck, considering we only need one of each lock piece.
On December 2nd, in Roanoke Virginia in the Starcitygames Modern Open Event at this season's Invitational Russell Colosi dropped the hammer with a 4th place finish among a total field of 306 competitors. Spectacular performance in piloting Pyro Prison to the winners circle. Mono-Red Control scoffs at the need for white or blue.
That's our 6th Top 8 finish in a premier event. I will petition MtgSalvation to have us elevated from 'Deck Creation' to 'Developing Competitive', and I look forward to hearing some new voices around the fire as I'm sure Russell's success will bring more exposure to Pyro Prison
I'll soon update the Official Primer to showcase Russell's decklist as the signature design of Pyro Prison. Sure, I started the party, but other mountainfolk have forged impressions into this winning design. Stickballruss divined a couple Walking Ballista, Caligula championed Eidolon of the Great Revel and Amok solicited Abrade. Of course, I'm missing loads of contributions by others in the clan - jus' a couple quick notes. Oh, and I think that Russ's sideboard development has been inspired. Ass pats for all of us, ya hear!
Now, what's next?!?! Commune with Lava, eh? Although it sounds counterintuitive, I'm still making the case for Tezzeret's Gambit. (11) of our cards have counters on them. ELEVEN. Is it a non-bo with Ensnaring Bridge? Absolutely, but it might just help you find one while ticking up a planeswalker, ballista, or transforming that turn one Chalice on 1 to a turn 3 chalice on 2 against Gifts Storm. The card comes with risk, but there is even the chance that we have blue mana off of a Gemstone Caverns.
Oh, and I wanted to speak to Fluffywolf's prototype at the top of page 31, but that'll have to wait until I can find some more time....
I was going to test hammer first, but challenge accepted. Tezzeets Gambit will be the next card I test. Pia and Kiran out, Gambit in. Hopefully I won't fall asleep tonight putting my son to bed and I can hop on mtgo for a league.
Tip on Goldfish testing (which I'm sure you know, Russ): Shuffle your deck and draw 6 cards. The 7th card is your test card. Go through a few turns and see how the Gambit meshes. Our deck is pretty difficult to run as a solo test, as we are so reactive, but it'll provide some info.
I've been googling your performance, and unfortunately your deck is not being reported correctly. One of the more reputable sites - MTGTOP8.com is showing you with
63 cards in the main deck [they have you down with 4 pyretic ritual]
The tournament as only a single, small yellow star [hardly - 306 people!]
An incorrect deck name [they changed mine from mono-red control to pyro prison]
They made similar mistakes when they reported my 1K winning deck, however when I contacted them all was fixed. Good crew over there.
Game one, I fail the Devoted Druid test. Those of you who have played Modern for more than 36 seconds know what I'm talking about.
Game two. On the play, I play a land, pass turn. He plays a Brushland, plays a noble hierach. I play a land, abrade the hierach. He plays a gavony township and plays a bird. I play third land and play a walking abllista for ONE to kill the bird. I have blood moon in my hand, so if he doesn't play a man dork, he's locked out. his turn, he plys a temple garden and drops a kitchen finks. I play blood moon, take a few hits off finks before bridge comes down, then a planes walker, then he scoops it up.
Game three, opponent is thinking hard about his opening 7. Look at it for about 90 seconds, which is a long time to sit and stare at someone. He opens with brushland, burrington forge tender. I play land, guide, ritual, moon. DONE. Tha forge tender was the only spell he play that game. As moon was coming into play, he said, I thought you'd be playing guide, but had no idea about the riutals. He showed me his hand and it had a verduant catacombs and a bird. He played the forge tender to protect his other creatures. remeber how game two went and that was fresh in his mind. 2-1 at this point.
Round 4. Jeskai Control.
Before the game starts, opponent was like...."I know what your playing, please don't turn one me". I have no idea what he's talking about. I was just there to play a friendly game of magic....whatever could he mean...?
Game one, he's on the play and he fetches a basic island....big surprise there, and casts a serum visions. I go mountain pass. His turn two is a hallowed fountain and pass. I play land, ritual, moon. Resolves. the game takes a while, and he eventually burns me down to within range, play that dude that due which makes you discard your hand, then draw three. he's a 3/4 with prowess recently printed....you know what I'm talking about. anyway, it's not enough and I eventually win with chandra protected by bridge.
Game two. He's on the play I have a gemstone caverns. he plays island, serum visions. I play land, ritual, moon. then chalice on one. then on two, then on three. He taps out.
Side note about Jeskai Control. This is a goo match because they sacrifice counterspells for removal. bolts helixes and electrolyze replaces mana leaks, logic knots, and remands. As such, they really cannot stop anything we are doing.
Time for revenge.
Game one: Turn two Blood Moon, opponent is on plan B, Titan Beat down. Turn three Bridge, Opponent is on Plan C, Sakura Tribe-elder Beatdown. What, that's not good enough in Modern?
Game two: Gamstone Caverns (have I said that this card is nuts yet?), he plays a forest, passes turn. I play a MUTAVAULT, Guide, rabblemaster, attack for one. Yep, that's a turn one rabblemaster off a mutavault. Living the dream here folks....his turn two is prismatic omans. My tuen two, I attack for 9. Wait, opponent is like, that's not 9. I'm like, mutavault is a goblin. The look of oh ***** that's AWESOME, and then the realization that he's on the receiving end of that awesomwness was priceless. Hey, at least he got to play his third land. And he was on the play...4-1
Round 6. Burn.
This opponent wasn't John Harakidas either. Game one, I get chalice on one and win with planeswalkers only. HEADS UP MAGIC ALERT>>>>>Pay attention right here because this will make you a better player....I could have played rabblemaster this game, but choose not to. My life was high enough and was under no threat of losing the game. As such, I held it....
Game two, I side IN Eidolins and hey play eidolin, I play Eidolin. we trade them in combat and I followup with Rabblemaster. He doesn't see any creatures game one, so he assumes I'm on a straight prison strategy. he sided out all of his searing blazes and has zero answer to rabblemaster. pay attention to what you show your opponent when piloting a homebrew. that's the difference between him having an answer and him not. 5-1
did I miss a memo somewhere? Three scapeshift in 7 rounds?
Game one, no blood moon. see round 1
Game two, no blood moon. see round 1
5-2
Round 8. Affinity
Game one, turn one, blood moon. She manages to resolve a master etherium turn two, which she thought would help her, until i landed a bridge the following turn. three turns later, chalice on one stopped any burn and her own master made all of her creatures too big for bridge. a slagstorm later sealed it up.
Game two was close, but a bridge, plus moon, plus two chalices get the job done. Now, that didn't happen all at one, there was an anger, abrade, and a walking ballista in there along the way, but this game was over. Side note.....I NEVER See shattering Spree when I dies it in....what am I playing that again? 6-2
Round 9 Grixis Shadow.
Last round of the day and I am in 29th place and get paired up vs the 6th place person. He is 7-1 and I am 6-2.
Game one, On the draw, I mulligan to 6, scry a blood moon on top vs and unknown opponent, I turn 0 gemstone caverns (I'm sensing a theme here with caverns) and pitch a walking ballista. My remaining 4 cards are ritual, mountain, chalice, and Chandra. My opponent fetches a watery grave and inquisitions me, and takes the chalice of course. I "rip" (or, as us old timers call it, "mise") a blood moon off the top, play land # 2 (thank you caverns) ritual, blood moon. that inquisition was the only spell he played that game.
Game two, on the draw, I keep a hand with 7. His first turn is watery grave, serum visions. My first turn is land, guide, ritual, magus of the moon. That serum visions was the only spell he played the whole game.
7-2 and in 15th place going into day 2.......
Now I could have called a judge while sitting down and made spectacle of the whole thing to try to put him on tilt, but that's not me and As much as I want to win, It's gotta be fair and that goes for both of us. I don't want to win because I tilted my opponent, who was very nice to me mind you, before the game even started.
Game one, he gets triple signal pest and attacks under bridge for the win.
Game two, I get blood moon, chalice on zero and one early. Bridge comes down and stops attackers and eventually I get all 4 chalices in play, 0,1,2,3.
Game three. HOLY CRAP Shattering spree showed up. AND Pia and Kiran Nalaar was useful! This was like the unicorn game with this deck. I swear it happened, but nobody believes me.
8-2
Turn one blood moon locks him out, yet he continue to play plays. firt two lands were island and collonade. I think he's on UW control until he plays a steam vents. Now I know what's up and can sidebaord appropiately.
Game two. turn two blood moon off gemstone caverns (yes, again. Card is nuts. Did I say that yet?) then chalice on 1, then 2, then bridge stops all attackers and he scoops. I tell him after the game that if he doesn't play the steam vents, I put him on UW control and I sideboard MUCH differently. he appreciated the feedback.
9-2
Round 12. GW company. This is a Todd Stevens Special and a preview of things to come.
Game one, moon, and bridge lock him out. zero ways to get bridge off the table game one.
Game two. moon and bridge lock him out. Only one elf and two explosives in the deck to get rid of the lock pieces and he draw none of them while I draw anger gods and storms that slag.
10-2
Eldrazi tron is one of, if not, THE worst match for us. I've played it around 7-8 times and I've lost to it every time. Rabblemaster can't push through, chalice is useless, moon is not effective because of walking ballista, mind stone, map, ghost quarter, and the two actual wastes, and bridge is not useful because of walking ballista and/or Karn. Literally nothing we are trying to do lines up even remotely well vs this deck. I told my opponent before we started playing that I have a two prong approach to this match. Plan A, he mulligans to 4. Plan B, he falls asleep during the match and gets a game loss for slow play....you wanna hear how this went, alright....
Game one, he mulls to 5 and Plan A is in full effect. I land an early blood moon and all he draws are tron lands, though-knot seers, and smashers. I actually win this game.
Game 2. He mulls to 6, I drop and early rabblemster turn one and an early matter reshaper blocks the token and stops me from attacking with rballeman himself. He plays a walking abllista and managers to tick up and shoot down a 2nd rabblemaster, then the first, then I lose because he draws map, the flood gates open and I'm dead.
Game three, I get a turn one rabblemaster again followed by a turn two moon. doesn't matter. Map finds the waster, matter reshaper stops rabble, ratchet bomb kills bridge and moon, i play another bridge and then the game takes in interesting turn. He draw land for literally 7 turns in a row. so, of course I have to follow his lead and do the EXACT SAME THING. ARRGH!!! Out decks both said stop what your doing, we're going to just warp to turn 15 like it was Super Mario Brothers and we just entered a warp pipe. When we came out of the pipe, I play a chandra and he paly a hangarback walker with 7 counters on it. blood moon still in play. I up tick chandra and find a rabblemaster and he draws a walking ballista with 7 counters on it. I could be wrong, but it felt like his draws were slightly better than mine.....just by a little bit.
Mind you this player was undefeated and remained that way all the way through to the finals.
10-3
Ali was really cool and I had a great time playing with him. We got deck checked before the match started, so we had some time to talk and get to know each other a little bit.
Game one, I have no idea what he's playing, but a thoughtseie takes a blood moon and then he plays lantern and I know i'm screwed. I had Koth and chandra this game, but he drew pithing needle for koth, then, in response to chandra, he used whirling invention to search for a pithing needle. that was really cool and we went to game two because i wasn't going to draw anything relevant for the rest of the game.
Game two, I play turn one chalice on zero and one. this is lantern i'm playing against.
Game three. On the draw, he gets a mox and a lantern in play and i play turn one chalice on one, then a few turns later, on zero. he was locked out almost immediaetly and the game was over quick.
Round 15. I am in 5th place, my opponent was in 3rd place. We did some quick math and figured out that if we drew there was like a 95% chace we both make top 8, so that's what we did.
11-3
This was the same player from earlier in the event, only now I can see his list and his list tells me one thing....stick bridge in game one and the game ends on the spot. My opening hand was a ritual, rabblemaster, pia and Kiran, chandra, and 3 lands. auto keep vs an unknown opponent, but not this. If you read this forum a page or two back, I wrote an long article about sideboarding for this deck and if you play the wrng role, you will lose. This was a hand meant to play the aggressive role and if you think rabblemasters and pia are getting the job done vs GW company, then I got someone I just beat in the top 8 who would love to be your opponent at the next event.
Mulligan to 6 had blood moon and bridge. keep, stick both, end game. rather unexciting.
Game two, I lost because he drew his one of reclamation sage. He got knight and tracker big verty quickly. Swong in for 10, I plyed bridge, and he deployed elf from hand to seal it up.
Game three, turn one, Grafdiggers cage. turn two, spellskite. turn three koth, turn 4 chalice on one. At this point, I draw a land a choose NOT to play it. I can always play a land, so let him think i got osething. He eventually gets some creatures out, tracker, knight, and three mana dorks. only one land in yard and tracker and knoght are at beginning power/toughness. he then drops a sigarda, the 5/5 flyer. i draw a card. pretend i'm nana screwed, activate koth, attach with a 4/4 mountain into his 5/5 sigarda. he's at 9, so he blocks so he doesn't go to 5. I play the mountain i've been holding all game and play slagstorm, completely destroying him, killing EVERYTHING. Game goes a few more turns, but thats when it sended.
This was an awesome match and you already know I lost, but it was still awesome. Todd and Ben, if you are reading this...Awesome match and probably the highlight of my day despite losing.
Game one. I stick an early rabblemaster and he's got dismember for it before it generates a token. A blood moon comes down to stop bif stuff from happening, then a rabblemaster (2) joins the party make make a few tokens. He plays walking ballista and it starts to tick up. A third rabblemaster joins the paty and at this point, walking ballista has held down the fort just enough for O Stone to play and deploy in the same turn.
Game two, I stivk a turn one Eidolin and it does serious work. Next a turn two magus of the moon, then a chandra and this game was over wicik.
Game three. turn one eidolin again, followed by turn three bloosmoon. I'm attacking with eidolin the whole game until he lands a walking ballista on 2. Now, I ould attack with the eidolin and lose my ability to lock his out of low cc spells or I could hold back and protect the chandra i just played. This was the turn where i lost this game. I am the aggro player and aggro players ATTACK. I assumed the control role for this one turn, and only this turn, and what ended up happening was the following. He attackes chandra, I block with eidolin to protect chandra, he ticks up and the revel dies to a 3/3 next turn , chandra revelas land and i drew land and walking ballista takes chandra out. next turn i draw ritual and walking ballista hits me. next turn i draw chandra, but can't play it because walking ballista would just take it out. Next turn, he's got 6 lands in play and I top deck hazoert. I play chandra, tick up for mana, hazoret and attack for 5 putting him to three. he needs an answer right here for both things and he fiounf it. land off the top was land #7. All is dust destroyed everything and I topdecked chandra to to two more damage to get him to one life. his turn deployed karn and wurmcoil engibe and my next draw was a land. good games.
lost in quarter finals.
feedback always appreciated. Thanks for reading everybody!
Congrats! good write up for so many rounds, glad you made it so many rounds too :)! I quoted just a bit to ask shouldn't you be keeping Gemstone Caverns on the draw? Just wondering ;).
Glad you made the note about Control VS Aggro, this actually aids in the matchup distinction quite greatly.
Just as an FYI I'll likely give your version of the deck some piloting on MTGO, may even stream something. Lets see if we can break down how to counteract Tron, as you're not the only one that is seeking questions in this department. I have an "Old Tron" player at my shop where they run, Wurmcoil, Karn, and x2 Exile Ulamog. These all do not care one bit about the Wastes necessary mana. Drives me up the wall. Gotta find the answers faster =).
Would you say though it wasn't mentioned too much you had the 'timely' answer mid to late game ever? Or is our 'timely' answer literally Turn 1 - 3 or you're done? (Turn 2 - 3 forgiveness for Chalice, Turn 1 - 2 for Moon and no later).
That's our 6th Top 8 finish in a premier event. I will petition MtgSalvation to have us elevated from 'Deck Creation' to 'Developing Competitive', and I look forward to hearing some new voices around the fire as I'm sure Russell's success will bring more exposure to Pyro Prison
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=117704
I'll soon update the Official Primer to showcase Russell's decklist as the signature design of Pyro Prison. Sure, I started the party, but other mountainfolk have forged impressions into this winning design. Stickballruss divined a couple Walking Ballista, Caligula championed Eidolon of the Great Revel and Amok solicited Abrade. Of course, I'm missing loads of contributions by others in the clan - jus' a couple quick notes. Oh, and I think that Russ's sideboard development has been inspired. Ass pats for all of us, ya hear!
Now, what's next?!?! Commune with Lava, eh? Although it sounds counterintuitive, I'm still making the case for Tezzeret's Gambit. (11) of our cards have counters on them. ELEVEN. Is it a non-bo with Ensnaring Bridge? Absolutely, but it might just help you find one while ticking up a planeswalker, ballista, or transforming that turn one Chalice on 1 to a turn 3 chalice on 2 against Gifts Storm. The card comes with risk, but there is even the chance that we have blue mana off of a Gemstone Caverns.
Oh, and I wanted to speak to Fluffywolf's prototype at the top of page 31, but that'll have to wait until I can find some more time....
I've been googling your performance, and unfortunately your deck is not being reported correctly. One of the more reputable sites - MTGTOP8.com is showing you with
They made similar mistakes when they reported my 1K winning deck, however when I contacted them all was fixed. Good crew over there.
This is the current link: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=17720&d=309775&f=MO
And, this is the contact us link: http://mtgtop8.com/contact_us