With the above list, I have 25 Company targets, which means my percentage of hitting 2 is 81.6%. I realized that I was missing Scavenging Ooze, so I cut another Evolution for that. With 26 targets for CoCo, the percentage of hitting 2 is 83.8% compared to 87.8% with 28 targets. 4% is definitely measurable, but I've played Abzan CoCo A LOT with 27-29 creatures and know what to expect from those builds.
I want to see if EE improves a stock(ish) build of the deck, while only dropping Company consistency by 5-10%
You're thinking about the math too simply I think.
You go from missing 12.2 times out of 100 to missing 16.2 times out of 100 -- that's around 30% more misses. Think about how often you miss now and how bad it feels when you hit a single mana dork off a company--that now happens 30% more than it did before.
I acknowledge that my Companies will be worse 4 times out of a 100. The goal here is to see if having 2 conditional wild cards improves the deck or if it would be better having the creatures instead. Will a single FNM prove anything? Statistically speaking, no. I do have a bunch of experience with Abzan Company, so a few matches should be reasonable to gauge how useful the card is in this particular build.
The deck is fine with EE, but it's probably better without it. Went 2-2 with ^^^ that build. Lost in 3 games to Jund and then Knightfall. I didn't cast EE very much and when I did, it didn't feel great. You really need to build a deck around it. Even with targets like Finks and Voice, you're still 2 for 1-ing yourself.
EE makes your midrange matchups significantly worse and your combo/linear matchups slightly better. Abzan company already excels against most linear decks and has reasonable matches against aggro.
My thinking is that 2 x EE is a reasonable sideboard choice, since it's a way to multiply your sideboard cards, but I really don't think the metagame supports it game 1 right now. We don't have enough room for lots of silver bullets main deck and midrange/control decks tend to be worse matchups for us than most linear decks other than ad nauseam and scapeshift, which are not super represented in the metagame.
Hello, everyone. My name is Keith Lucas, and I proudly piloted and represented the Abzan Company nation at Grand Prix Indianapolis this weekend, taking the deck to a 12-3 finish and placing 46th out of 1,984 players. I just got home from the Grand Prix and I am exhausted. This was my first Grand Prix and it has simply drained nearly every piece of mental presence from me; so, I am going to simply leave a link of my deck for you guys to check out and in the next day or so I WILL be back with a summary and report of my Grand Prix weekend.
Hello, everyone. My name is Keith Lucas, and I proudly piloted and represented the Abzan Company nation at Grand Prix Indianapolis this weekend, taking the deck to a 12-3 finish and placing 46th out of 1,984 players. I just got home from the Grand Prix and I am exhausted. This was my first Grand Prix and it has simply drained nearly every piece of mental presence from me; so, I am going to simply leave a link of my deck for you guys to check out and in the next day or so I WILL be back with a summary and report of my Grand Prix weekend.
Hello, everyone. My name is Keith Lucas, and I proudly piloted and represented the Abzan Company nation at Grand Prix Indianapolis this weekend, taking the deck to a 12-3 finish and placing 46th out of 1,984 players. I just got home from the Grand Prix and I am exhausted. This was my first Grand Prix and it has simply drained nearly every piece of mental presence from me; so, I am going to simply leave a link of my deck for you guys to check out and in the next day or so I WILL be back with a summary and report of my Grand Prix weekend.
And by the way, let me just say... Eldritch Evolution is legit.
Congrats! That's a very nice finish. Curious about two things mostly: how did the Archangel combo perform for you, and was Mindbender better than Tidehollow Sculler?
@ DH_Cell: Thank you! And, no Voices. I had thought about them somewhere in the 75, mostly in the sideboard, but just couldn't find room. I had limited matches where I needed to bring Mindbender in, and the one time I seen it, it was a powerful play, but not strong enough as they had already established too much on the field. I may contemplate taking Mindbender out for something else but need more testing first.
@ weirdfish42: Thank you! Archangel and Spike Feeder performed incredibly well for me this weekend. With having the 2 Eldritch Evolution the deck, I almost felt obligated to put the combo in and I am glad that I did. Quite a few of my games were won by the Thune Combo, some of which I don't think I could have won otherwise. As long as I am running Evolution the deck, she'll be there with it. As for Mindbender, I am not 100% sold on it yet, need more testing. Tidehollow may be better, or with having Evolution in the main, maybe I want them to be Voices. Mindbender is the strongest play, if you can see it within your first 3 or 4 turns against the matches you bring it in. But later in the rounds, it does lose some of its power, despite being a powerful play whenever you make it.
Hello, everyone. My name is Keith Lucas, and I proudly piloted and represented the Abzan Company nation at Grand Prix Indianapolis this weekend, taking the deck to a 12-3 finish and placing 46th out of 1,984 players. I just got home from the Grand Prix and I am exhausted. This was my first Grand Prix and it has simply drained nearly every piece of mental presence from me; so, I am going to simply leave a link of my deck for you guys to check out and in the next day or so I WILL be back with a summary and report of my Grand Prix weekend.
@ EpicLevelCommoner: Pontiff in the main is amazing. There were quite a few matches where I was able to obtain a high level of attrition off of it, be it hard cast, off company, evolution, or chord. Helped me in 3 of my 4 matches vs Infect, helped me nearly blow out a greedy Jund player when he dropped two Dark Confidant on the field. Pontiff in the main worked great for me.
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It took me a bit to type this up, but...
I’m back with my tournament report from Grand Prix Indy. I haven’t done too many reports in the past, and I didn’t really think about jotting down information of the round until Day 2; so, most of day 1 will be going off memory, while Day 2 information is a bit more detailed for me to give.
I live about an hour from Indianapolis, which made this event an automatic to go to. Went up with my friend on Friday to mostly just get a feel for the atmosphere, but also to buy and sell with vendors and get a few practice rounds under the belt with some Last Chance Qualifiers; I mean, who wouldn’t want to earn 2 Bye’s and a free upgrade to their sleep in special? I hear starting a tournament 2-0 is pretty sweet. If only I could have been as successful in my LSQ’s as I was in my trades and deals with the vendors.
Saturday, my friend and I got there plenty in time, he going in for all the side events while I was focused on the Grand Prix in itself. An untimely traffic jam puts us behind on time and I feel the pit of anxiety starting to build in my stomach, but my friend has made the drive countless times to Indy and knew which exits to take to get past the remainder of the traffic jam and I was able to get there with a bit of time to spare before the player’s meeting started.
Round 1 (0-0): vs Death’s Shadow
I have been to a lot of tournaments in the past, mostly for SCG, and during the first round I have some form of butterflies in my stomach. Maybe it was from being there the day before, maybe something had changed, but going into this round one I was the calmest I had ever been at the start of the tournament, and it worked out for me well. I don’t have too many detailed notes to say about this match, as it is first round and I can’t remember anything that stood out.
Game 1, he hits the Temur/Immense combo right on time. Game 2, it takes a minute, because you have to be extremely patient and careful in this match, but with their limited form of interaction, I was able to set up the seer/finks combo to go infinite. Game 3 is much closer, but with removal I brought in and again playing the patience game, I was able to grind the match out by going wide. Death’s Shadow is a fairly decent match I feel, but one you have to pay a lot of attention to, because of how quickly they can end the game off of a two card combo.
Jund can be pretty difficult for us, because they have a lot of disruption for our hand and dudes on the field. Add that on top of the gravehate that is main boarded like Ooze and Kalitas, and it can make for an extremely difficult time. I personally enjoy the matches I have with Company vs Jund, though. The interactions are always interesting and it makes for some good, close battles. I am here to win, but I am here to have fun too. And Jund is pretty fun to play against.
That being said, I lose 1-2 to this player. He was on the Grim Flayer build, which I feel is a little more difficult for Abzan Company to handle. The extra aggression and filtering for them makes their draws less dead and forces ours to just be better. Game 1 is pretty close, I go for the combo a time or two just to force removal to keep myself in, but he eventually wins out with a pair of Goyfs. Game 2 is much better and is a grind fest again. But the sideboard plan is made to make this a much better match for us and I play the slow game with him until I end up using Eldritch Evolution to evolve a Finks into a Sigarda. He didn’t have double black the entire game, so I was never worried about Damnation from his side. A few turns of Sigarda game 2 pushed us to a Game 3, where he just had intense draw after draw. I fell behind and never had the opportunity to catch up.
Loss: 1-2
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
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Round 3 (1-1) vs R/G Land Destruction:
This match was pretty scary all three games. Abzan Company is fairly mana extensive for us to do the fun things we do, and this deck just doesn’t want us to have any fun. That being said, game 1, despite a land destruction spell, or two, being dropped, I managed to combo off with his limited amount of interaction. Game 2, the lands he must have destroyed game 1 were too afraid to show up. I only seen 2 lands the entire game (from my opening hand), and had a birds of paradise. I had turn 2 Kitchen Finks, but with an Anger of the Gods coming down and land destruction to follow, I quickly was forced to scoop to an Inferno Titan.
Game 3, I really don’t know how I survived. I made it through two Anger of the Gods, and only had one land blown out. It was a bit of a grind for a minute, but as soon as he dropped a Stormbreath Dragon, I felt things closing on me. The following turn, he contemplates for a minute before dropping a second Stormbreath. Life gain had put me up to 24 from Kitchen Finks triggers, but taking 3 hits in two turns by the Stormbreath Dragon’s was closing the distance quickly. I rip the black source land I needed from top of the deck to play a Maelstrom Pulse I had been holding onto for a minute, clearing out both Stormbreath’s. The look on his face, which he confirmed a few turns later after I won, is that he made the wrong choice. He had contemplated just going monstrous with his single Stormbreath, which would have been the right line of play. He just got a bit too greedy and I capitalized on it as he had nothing to come back with in hand, and drew dead the remaining few turns.
Won: 2-1
Side: I actually can’t remember much about my side boarding for this game. I had made a sideboard guide for the event the night prior and had nothing to cover this. I know I brought in 3 Path to Exile and my Maelstrom Pulse to deal with his large threats, but I cannot remember what I removed for them. If I remember, I’ll edit this.
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Round 4 (2-1) vs Jund:
He was on the more traditional build. Game 1, I grinded things out and it took a long time, but managed to win the game 1 by going wide with a few Gavony Township. Game 2 I see a sided Pharika fairly early, which forces him to drop Pithing Needle to name it. It is a bit of a slow game, but he runs out of removal for my creatures and I am able to assemble the Spike Feeder/Thune combo off of an Eldritch Evolution.
Win 2-0
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
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Round 5 (3-1) vs Wilted Abzan:
This one was bitter sweet, because I ended up going 2-0 against a friend of mine that use to go to the locals I am at. He is a great guy, and it was awesome to catch up with him, but it never is good to have to face a friend at a tournament with so much at stake. We had talked a few rounds prior about what we were on, so I knew that he had 3 main board Anafenza, the Foremost. He never saw them. I go Seer/Finks combo game one, and while game 2 is a bit of a grind fest and much closer because of his lingering soul tokens getting damage in through the air, I stabilize with a timely Maelstrom Pulse and proceed to combo off a turn later with a chord of calling into the Seer/Finks combo again.
Won: 2-0
IN: 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Abrupt Decay
OUT: Another match where I didn’t have a sideboard guide for and can’t remember what I took out. I made a guide with 20 different archetypes that I could see, didn’t think I’d see this there. If I remember, I will edit.
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Round 6 (4-1) vs Bant Infect:
I 2-0 this one, though the match was a bit interesting. He had white in the deck for main’d path to exile and qasali pridemage. I have Melira early on, which is where the surprising Path comes in and he hits a quick 7 infect. Luckily I rip another Melira of the top and he sees no more removal, forced to go the beat down path. I play that game much better than he does and take game 1.
Game 2, I see Melira early on again and he has no removal for her. I have a slow start though because of the keep, and he gets a lot of physical damage in early before I stabilize. I end up assembling the Feeder/Thune combo to seal this one off, but game 2 was really close. I like the idea of a white splash in modern infect, as I feel the deck often times needs better spot removal than what Dismember allows for.
This round was a turning point for me in the tournament I feel is what ultimately decided what happened for rest of the weekend. I ended up going on tilt for a bit after this round and it nearly ruined everything for me. Game 1, he has the combo really quick, drew about as well as Death’s Shadow can. Game 2, I combo off fairly quick and we are back in it with a game 3. He takes forever to side and once the game starts, we fast forward to turn 5 or 6.
He has a Wild Nacatl and Steppe Lynx on field. I have a tapped Birds, 3 lands, and Kitchen Finks. Anafenza and Chord of Calling are in hand. He plays a land for Landfall trigger and swings. I contemplate for a second, but know I have game next turn. I lost sight of my line of play and say no blocks. Biggest misplay of my weekend. He had the Immense/Battle Rage in hand and does 20 damage while I am at 19 life. I was a bit upset with myself because as soon as I declared blockers and he went to cast and start going off before damage, I realized I could have blocked with Finks and still combo’d next turn. I would have been at 1 life after all damage was done and Finks would have Persist back to put me at 3. I could have still played Anafenza and then Chord into Seer to Bolster Finks back to normal and still combo’d off. I didn’t see that line of play until it was too late and it cost me almost my entire weekend.
I don’t remember much about this one, but it was bad. KiKi Evolution seems like a bit of a trouble match for us, because they can combo pretty easy too and are more tool box set up than we are. Pontiff wrecks us from this. The one thing I do remember is that Distended Mindbender has potential to be a huge factor in this match, but only if you see it quick enough. It is a large enough body that they have issues removing it, but also has the ability to stop their hand cold. Game 2 when I casted mine, it was too late to come back, but I managed to hit a Chord and Restoration Angle from his hand which postponed the inevitable. Mindbender is solid, but only if you see it early enough. If they are already established, it only slows them down a bit; so, you have to hope you can follow it up with a combo within the next turn or two or you will still be behind. This loss made me realize exactly how I was acting at this point and helped me clear my head and get my game face back on. I HAD to win round 9 if I wanted to day 2 so I took a second to regroup and get focused.
This was a quick match, because though I had regained my focus, my opponent apparently had not. He just looked miserable. He has an elf, noble, and blighted on field early on, which can be trouble for us; however, I have a Pontiff in hand. I cast it, and he misplays thinking that Blessings will save him from the -1/-1 sweep; however, a judge corrects him and his board is gone. He never stabilizes from there. Game 2, he gets me to 9 infect fairly quick, but again a Pontiff play crushes his board. Thune/Spike Feeder finish things off for me.
Going into Day 2, they had a note up saying that it is impossible for anyone going X-3 to made top 8, which was a bummer; so, I made the best of it and sat some personal goals for the day. I could still top and get some points as well as try and make cash payout. Little did I know exactly what I’d be doing that day.
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Round 10 (6-3) vs Jund:
Game 1 goes in his favor pretty much the entire game, which is how I feel a lot of Jund matches can go. They have better spells game 1, typically. Game 2 I am able to play the Midrange game with the guy which takes forever. Game 3, Thune Combo drops in off 2 Chord of Calling. I am so happy I decided to stick with Thune/Feeder in the deck for the weekend.
Won: 2-1
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
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Round 11 (7-3) vs Infect:
Third time seeing this deck this weekend, which I am okay with. Infect is a great match, so long as I play extra careful and not fall into any situations where I can get blown out. Game 1, I see Melira early on and it stops most of his game plans. I follow it up with Anafenza and Evolve a Wall of Roots into Murderous Redcap. I win off infinite bolsters. Game 2, he puts up more of a fight, getting me to 5 infect; however, Thune Combo comes to my aide again and I ride on her angelic wings to victory.
After this win, I am starting to feel pretty good about myself. No worries in the world, just one round at a time.
Round 12 (8-3) vs R/G Tron (No worries, right? I may have spoke too soon…)
This is known to be our worse match in the format. I had been pretty lucky to steer clear of them up until now. Game 1, things are pretty fair between us. He doesn’t have turn 3 Tron, which gives me the breathing space I need. I played fairly safe and was incredible with some collected company hits allowing me to get Eternal Witness and another body on the field, returning company to the hand. Going wide put pressure on him, but he never sees Ugin (thank goodness). He does assemble Tron and does get an Ulamog Out, which does exile my Gavony Township among my biggest threat. Another Collected Company, however, does allow me to go Kinks/Seer and combo out. He doesn’t scoop, because Ulamog doesn’t care about my life, only my deck. Next turn, he goes to swing, but I combo again to scry Redcap to the bottom to keep him safe and end this next turn. He drops a SECOND Ulamong in MP2 and thinks for a second before going to exile my 2 Finks… huge misplay. I sac them to Seer and as soon as I do, he realizes he messed up and scoops to game 2. Game 2 goes pretty quick. He has Turn 3 tron, but no colored mana or ability to make any and no bombs to drop. I end up going turn 1 seer, turn 2 Wall of Roots, turn 3 Melira. I have Evolution in hand and without interruption get to go Turn 4 Redcap Combo to burn him to death. He showed me his hand after we ended and he had all the answers, yet no colored mana to use them. I dodged a huge bullet with this one and did so in 2-0 fashion. Lucky me.
I was feeling great and seen who I was paired with. That anxiety that I had not felt the entire tournament was starting to creep up seeing he was my opponent. One round at a time, right? He is just another Magic player in a field of almost 2,000, right? Yeah… right. I was going up against one of the biggest pro’s of our current era in this game and yeah, it made me a little bit nervous.
Game 1, he has to mulligan to 5, but Dredge is a deck that can mulligan aggressively and not be behind too much because of it. I am on the play and set up a Viscera Seer, he goes with a Shriekhorn and ends. I drop Melira turn 2 and end phase he mills and hits super lucky with a Naromebia and Prized Ana, both on field. His turn he mills again at upkeep and hits a Grave-Troll and starts dredging, seeing some good stuff. He puts pressure on, but not enough and I go infinite with Kitchen Finks a couple turns later. Game 2, it goes by really quick. Collective Brutality is harsh against us and it puts me behind long enough for him to see incredible dredges that end up giving him all 4 Nacro, 4 Bloodghast, and 2 Prized at his disposal. He wins game 2 pretty soundly. I take a deep breath and focus on game 3. I have a strong opening hand and get a bit lucky with him having to Mulligan to 4. He has an early game collective brutality to kill my on field seer and also take my company out of my hand. I was left with an Evolution, which in this match is a much safer be as it allows me to combo a bit quicker than anything else. He gets a Bloodghast and Prized on the field early on and puts pressure on me, but I am able to wall up for a minute and ultimately get into the Finks/Seer combo again to gain infinite life and put the match to a close.
I just beat Ross Merriam. Much respect to the guy and it was a fun match. The excitement got the best of me though and I lost focus for a minute afterwards. It didn’t help that all my friends were hyping me up for just going against Ross. I managed to calm down in time for my next round.
Game 1 is over in 3 turns. I go first and go seer, he drops an island and passes. I go Melira, he drops an island and passes. I go turn 3 Finks and combo off without any interruption. Not only do I get to face one of the greatest pros the round before, but this round I get to live in Magic Christmas Land and combo off, turn 3, without interruption from my opponent. Living the dream! The only downside is that all I see is two islands from him…
Crap.
But I thought I remembered seeing him playing beside me a few rounds prior and if it was him, knew he was on control. But I didn’t want to chance it and made minimal changes to the deck. Game 2 he is able to interact with me, but is stuck on blue for a good chunk of the early game. He counters some big spells, forcing me to go in with the Noble Hierarch swings, eventually adding Gavony Township triggers to it. He gets desperate and has to Ghost Quarter an island to get a white source to unload all the spot removal he had been gathering in his hand. I manage to keep a noble hierarch on the field and he is drawing lands, eventually another ghost quarter to put an end to my Gavony Township shenanigans. Noble Hierarch was a 3/4 at this time, which I was comfortable with. Going down to the last turn, he ends up having to tap out to chump block with a Celestial Colonnade. Before blocks, I Chord in my Fiend Hunter to remove the land creature and get 4 damage in. I hard cast Murderous Red cap in Main 2 and burn him out for his remaining 2 life.
Won: 2-0
Side:
IN: Qasali Pridemage, Pharika, God of Affliction
OUT: 2 Eldritch Evolution
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Round 15 (11-3) vs Infect:
Looked at standings before the match started and realized that x-4 would not get prize support. It was Do or Die. As the round started, we were stopped for a deck check. Took them about 9 minutes and we got the proper extension. Seeing that he was on Infect made this feel good. I was 3-0 the weekend against them, what’s one more round?
Game 1, Merlira does her job and I keep her safe. Getting strong beats and clearing the path with Pontiff, when needed. Game 2 is much more in his favor and while I was able to put some pressure on, not having Melira to answer his Blighted Agent and pumps cost me. Game 3 is extremely grindy and time gets called in round, giving us our 9 minute extension being all that we have to work with. He sees two of his sided Kitchen Finks and starts getting beats in. I have Melira and Eidolon out, but he has the ability to put more pressure on me than I can actively block with, which makes things dangerous as a single Become Immense could put this to an end. I do have a Collected Company, but it gets Spell Pierced. Things are looking bad and I feel the round slipping away. I have 1 chord in hand and end up drawing into another. I have to let some attacks go through, any of them with a pump spell being enough to kill me, but he doesn’t have it. I go down to 2 life. End of turn, I chord in for a viscera seer, untap, draw, play the land I drew, and tap everything out to chord for 4 and get into Murderous Redcap. If he had a Dismember, a counter, or anything, I was dead. Redcap champions me to victory as I stood just one turn away from facing complete decimation at the hand of some Kitchen Finks used by an Infect player. Incredibly close, awesome matches and spectators and judges a like congratulated us both on such a hard fought match.
It took a second for it all to sink in, but I had just went undefeated Day 2 of the GP, finishing 12-3 for the weekend. I knew I would be top 64, just was not sure exactly where. Moments later, looked at standings to find myself at a very satisfying 46th place out of 1984 players from the weekend.
An incredible weekend and I proved a lot to myself about where I stand in this game and where I can go from here. I have a lot to learn, but I proved to myself that I am capable of playing this game on a highly competitive level and need to continue to push myself to continue to do better at future events. I feel that I had some pretty decent match ups this weekend and some really good ones, which make things a bit easier for me.
4 Infect, 3 Jund, 2 Death’s Shadow, 1 Dredge, 1 R/G Land Destruction, 1 Wilted Abzan, 1 Kiki Evolution, 1 R/G Tron, 1 U/W Control
I feel extremely confident that I made the right choices on how to run my deck this weekend. I know that a lot of people are on the fence with Eldritch Evolution, but it was a life saver for me this weekend in spots where Chord of Calling simply would not have cut it. Having the Archangel of Thune/Spike Feeder Combo in the deck justifies a bit more having the Evolutions in, not to mention access to Sigarda vs Jund in the side feels really good. Especially if you can Evolve Kitchen Finks to go gather her.
I felt great with my sideboard, though I am unsure on Distended Bindbender. I only had 2 rounds where I needed to bring it in and only seen it against one. The one I seen, it was a powerful play, just too far into the game to make much of a dent on the advantage they had already gained. If it had been early on, it could have been game changing. I am going to test Mindbenders a bit more before making the choice of cutting them or not. Everything else in the 75 feels extremely good to me. Maybe I will cut Mindbenders for Voice of Resurgence in the side? Does pair fairly well with the Eldritch Evolution’s.
Amazing weekend, had tons of fun. Sorry that this report is so long, and hopefully I didn’t bore anyone to death while reading it, haha. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer!
I didn't see a lot of "I got boned by graveyard hate" in there -- mostly looked like the challenge was beating decks that can out midrange you and decks that're pre-sideboarded with Kalitas and aggro decks that punish you for stumbling (Death's shadow).
I was really surprised, to be honest. Maybe I was just lucky, or maybe people really just aren't that concerned about Dredge and it forcing a higher need for Graveyard hate.
Throughout the tournament, I did come across Graveyard hate, mostly in the form of Grafdigger's Cage; however, out of the 3 Jund matches I only had to face down Kalitas from the third bout in Round 10. I also came across a few Rest in Peace, but to be honest, the Graveyard hate was surprisingly light in my matches for the weekend.
It was something I was honestly worried about going into the GP, that Dredge had forced this deck to simply not be playable at a highly competitive event. Let me say that I am glad I stuck to my guns and dedication to the deck and played it. Doesn't look like Dredge has caused us to be hated as much as we would expect.
I don't know why many decks sideboard Pharika, God of Affliction. It seems not a very effective graveyard hate compare to Scavenging Ooze. Does anyone know how to use this card?
Yeah my conclusion has been generally that we're good enough to beat the stock 2 pieces of graveyard hate most decks try to get by with, and if they move up to 4 pieces we can add rec sages without that much sideboard disruption.
(I see like, 2 relics or 1 cage/1 relic all over the place, or 2 RIP--not really enough!)
I don't know why many decks sideboard Pharika, God of Affliction. It seems not a very effective graveyard hate compare to Scavenging Ooze. Does anyone know how to use this card?
Pharika is typically there more for the Midrange and Control decks than as Graveyard hate (though she does have the ability to play double duty in that regards).
I bring her in against Jund and Abzan Midrange matches because comboing off becomes much more difficult because of all the removal those decks spout. Your game typically slows down a bit and being able to trade a 1/1 Deathtouch with their Tarmogoyf seems like a fairly good deal to me.
I also bring it in on the mirror match and against decks like Dredge because though she isn't as powerful as Ooze is, she is able to help disrupt them from either comboing off (Abzan Company) or getting rid of their Bloodhast, Grave Troll, Prized Amaglam, ect in Dredge, which slows things down enough for you to try and go wide with the deck or to assemble a combo and go off for the win.
ON EDIT: And there are times too that you will turn Pharika on with your devotion level and having a 5/5 indestructible can help close out games quickly.
ON EDIT: And there are times too that you will turn Pharika on with your devotion level and having a 5/5 indestructible can help close out games quickly.
Can confirm have done lots of dirty tricks with Pharika's devotion
1) chord viscera seer sac eternal witness to save her from path
2) coco hit double e-wit block with her
3) make death touch snakes at instant speed (wait, this isn't devotion based but it's pretty good against kalitas :P)
4) just beat people to death with her
5) force people to spend removal on eternal witnesses to shut her off, then combo off in response.
1. have had no problem with 22 lands, and yes it's a township... getting multiple townships can get tricky
3. love Selfless mainboard, knocked out a VoR; Anger of the Gods... response Chord for SS or Burrenton, laugh heartily
4. am using just one Evo, not very good odds to get it, but gives chance for post-board dork-Evo-Anafenza for example to beat Dredge, if I don't get the Evo early, always wanting Chord instead...
5. can't chord or company for Mindbender; Sin Collector, yes
6. I carry Linvala, while #1 bullet situationally still often the least used SB card, a bolt-defying flyer not so bad either; Revoker too removable; don't worry about spells, you can drop a few creatures no problem and still stay in the company zone... am carrying 2x Maelstrom now to deal with all the Nahiri.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I want to see if EE improves a stock(ish) build of the deck, while only dropping Company consistency by 5-10%
source bc math is hard:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10veMmh5Ds0i0Jhb3UJ_oaRA14Ybk8ll2bU4x2iiUEPU/edit#gid=1862430835
You go from missing 12.2 times out of 100 to missing 16.2 times out of 100 -- that's around 30% more misses. Think about how often you miss now and how bad it feels when you hit a single mana dork off a company--that now happens 30% more than it did before.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
My thinking is that 2 x EE is a reasonable sideboard choice, since it's a way to multiply your sideboard cards, but I really don't think the metagame supports it game 1 right now. We don't have enough room for lots of silver bullets main deck and midrange/control decks tend to be worse matchups for us than most linear decks other than ad nauseam and scapeshift, which are not super represented in the metagame.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpind16/33rd-64th-decklists-2016-08-28
And by the way, let me just say... Eldritch Evolution is legit.
Congratulations man! So, no Voice of Resurgence at all? Did Distended Mindbender change the combo matchup??
Congrats! That's a very nice finish. Curious about two things mostly: how did the Archangel combo perform for you, and was Mindbender better than Tidehollow Sculler?
@ weirdfish42: Thank you! Archangel and Spike Feeder performed incredibly well for me this weekend. With having the 2 Eldritch Evolution the deck, I almost felt obligated to put the combo in and I am glad that I did. Quite a few of my games were won by the Thune Combo, some of which I don't think I could have won otherwise. As long as I am running Evolution the deck, she'll be there with it. As for Mindbender, I am not 100% sold on it yet, need more testing. Tidehollow may be better, or with having Evolution in the main, maybe I want them to be Voices. Mindbender is the strongest play, if you can see it within your first 3 or 4 turns against the matches you bring it in. But later in the rounds, it does lose some of its power, despite being a powerful play whenever you make it.
Hmm ... seems like I had a similar idea to you in running Pontiff main. Just to be sure though how did that work?
Avatar and Signature by XenoNinja via Heroes of the Plane Studios
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It took me a bit to type this up, but...
I’m back with my tournament report from Grand Prix Indy. I haven’t done too many reports in the past, and I didn’t really think about jotting down information of the round until Day 2; so, most of day 1 will be going off memory, while Day 2 information is a bit more detailed for me to give.
I live about an hour from Indianapolis, which made this event an automatic to go to. Went up with my friend on Friday to mostly just get a feel for the atmosphere, but also to buy and sell with vendors and get a few practice rounds under the belt with some Last Chance Qualifiers; I mean, who wouldn’t want to earn 2 Bye’s and a free upgrade to their sleep in special? I hear starting a tournament 2-0 is pretty sweet. If only I could have been as successful in my LSQ’s as I was in my trades and deals with the vendors.
Saturday, my friend and I got there plenty in time, he going in for all the side events while I was focused on the Grand Prix in itself. An untimely traffic jam puts us behind on time and I feel the pit of anxiety starting to build in my stomach, but my friend has made the drive countless times to Indy and knew which exits to take to get past the remainder of the traffic jam and I was able to get there with a bit of time to spare before the player’s meeting started.
Round 1 (0-0): vs Death’s Shadow
I have been to a lot of tournaments in the past, mostly for SCG, and during the first round I have some form of butterflies in my stomach. Maybe it was from being there the day before, maybe something had changed, but going into this round one I was the calmest I had ever been at the start of the tournament, and it worked out for me well. I don’t have too many detailed notes to say about this match, as it is first round and I can’t remember anything that stood out.
Game 1, he hits the Temur/Immense combo right on time. Game 2, it takes a minute, because you have to be extremely patient and careful in this match, but with their limited form of interaction, I was able to set up the seer/finks combo to go infinite. Game 3 is much closer, but with removal I brought in and again playing the patience game, I was able to grind the match out by going wide. Death’s Shadow is a fairly decent match I feel, but one you have to pay a lot of attention to, because of how quickly they can end the game off of a two card combo.
Win: 2-1
SIDE:
IN: Eidolon of Rhetoric, 3 Path to Exile, 2 Abrupt Decay, 1 Maelstrom Pulse, 1 Aven Mindcensor
OUT: 1 Murderous Redcap, 2 Eternal Witness, 1 Fiend Hunter, 1 Chord, 1 Pontiff, 2 Evolution
_______
Round 2 (1-0) vs Jund:
Jund can be pretty difficult for us, because they have a lot of disruption for our hand and dudes on the field. Add that on top of the gravehate that is main boarded like Ooze and Kalitas, and it can make for an extremely difficult time. I personally enjoy the matches I have with Company vs Jund, though. The interactions are always interesting and it makes for some good, close battles. I am here to win, but I am here to have fun too. And Jund is pretty fun to play against.
That being said, I lose 1-2 to this player. He was on the Grim Flayer build, which I feel is a little more difficult for Abzan Company to handle. The extra aggression and filtering for them makes their draws less dead and forces ours to just be better. Game 1 is pretty close, I go for the combo a time or two just to force removal to keep myself in, but he eventually wins out with a pair of Goyfs. Game 2 is much better and is a grind fest again. But the sideboard plan is made to make this a much better match for us and I play the slow game with him until I end up using Eldritch Evolution to evolve a Finks into a Sigarda. He didn’t have double black the entire game, so I was never worried about Damnation from his side. A few turns of Sigarda game 2 pushed us to a Game 3, where he just had intense draw after draw. I fell behind and never had the opportunity to catch up.
Loss: 1-2
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
_______
Round 3 (1-1) vs R/G Land Destruction:
This match was pretty scary all three games. Abzan Company is fairly mana extensive for us to do the fun things we do, and this deck just doesn’t want us to have any fun. That being said, game 1, despite a land destruction spell, or two, being dropped, I managed to combo off with his limited amount of interaction. Game 2, the lands he must have destroyed game 1 were too afraid to show up. I only seen 2 lands the entire game (from my opening hand), and had a birds of paradise. I had turn 2 Kitchen Finks, but with an Anger of the Gods coming down and land destruction to follow, I quickly was forced to scoop to an Inferno Titan.
Game 3, I really don’t know how I survived. I made it through two Anger of the Gods, and only had one land blown out. It was a bit of a grind for a minute, but as soon as he dropped a Stormbreath Dragon, I felt things closing on me. The following turn, he contemplates for a minute before dropping a second Stormbreath. Life gain had put me up to 24 from Kitchen Finks triggers, but taking 3 hits in two turns by the Stormbreath Dragon’s was closing the distance quickly. I rip the black source land I needed from top of the deck to play a Maelstrom Pulse I had been holding onto for a minute, clearing out both Stormbreath’s. The look on his face, which he confirmed a few turns later after I won, is that he made the wrong choice. He had contemplated just going monstrous with his single Stormbreath, which would have been the right line of play. He just got a bit too greedy and I capitalized on it as he had nothing to come back with in hand, and drew dead the remaining few turns.
Won: 2-1
Side: I actually can’t remember much about my side boarding for this game. I had made a sideboard guide for the event the night prior and had nothing to cover this. I know I brought in 3 Path to Exile and my Maelstrom Pulse to deal with his large threats, but I cannot remember what I removed for them. If I remember, I’ll edit this.
_______
Round 4 (2-1) vs Jund:
He was on the more traditional build. Game 1, I grinded things out and it took a long time, but managed to win the game 1 by going wide with a few Gavony Township. Game 2 I see a sided Pharika fairly early, which forces him to drop Pithing Needle to name it. It is a bit of a slow game, but he runs out of removal for my creatures and I am able to assemble the Spike Feeder/Thune combo off of an Eldritch Evolution.
Win 2-0
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
_______
Round 5 (3-1) vs Wilted Abzan:
This one was bitter sweet, because I ended up going 2-0 against a friend of mine that use to go to the locals I am at. He is a great guy, and it was awesome to catch up with him, but it never is good to have to face a friend at a tournament with so much at stake. We had talked a few rounds prior about what we were on, so I knew that he had 3 main board Anafenza, the Foremost. He never saw them. I go Seer/Finks combo game one, and while game 2 is a bit of a grind fest and much closer because of his lingering soul tokens getting damage in through the air, I stabilize with a timely Maelstrom Pulse and proceed to combo off a turn later with a chord of calling into the Seer/Finks combo again.
Won: 2-0
IN: 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Abrupt Decay
OUT: Another match where I didn’t have a sideboard guide for and can’t remember what I took out. I made a guide with 20 different archetypes that I could see, didn’t think I’d see this there. If I remember, I will edit.
_______
Round 6 (4-1) vs Bant Infect:
I 2-0 this one, though the match was a bit interesting. He had white in the deck for main’d path to exile and qasali pridemage. I have Melira early on, which is where the surprising Path comes in and he hits a quick 7 infect. Luckily I rip another Melira of the top and he sees no more removal, forced to go the beat down path. I play that game much better than he does and take game 1.
Game 2, I see Melira early on again and he has no removal for her. I have a slow start though because of the keep, and he gets a lot of physical damage in early before I stabilize. I end up assembling the Feeder/Thune combo to seal this one off, but game 2 was really close. I like the idea of a white splash in modern infect, as I feel the deck often times needs better spot removal than what Dismember allows for.
Side:
IN: 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, 2 Abupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Kitchen Finks, 1 Viscera Seer, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Chord
_______
Round 7 (5-1) vs Death’s Shadow:
This round was a turning point for me in the tournament I feel is what ultimately decided what happened for rest of the weekend. I ended up going on tilt for a bit after this round and it nearly ruined everything for me. Game 1, he has the combo really quick, drew about as well as Death’s Shadow can. Game 2, I combo off fairly quick and we are back in it with a game 3. He takes forever to side and once the game starts, we fast forward to turn 5 or 6.
He has a Wild Nacatl and Steppe Lynx on field. I have a tapped Birds, 3 lands, and Kitchen Finks. Anafenza and Chord of Calling are in hand. He plays a land for Landfall trigger and swings. I contemplate for a second, but know I have game next turn. I lost sight of my line of play and say no blocks. Biggest misplay of my weekend. He had the Immense/Battle Rage in hand and does 20 damage while I am at 19 life. I was a bit upset with myself because as soon as I declared blockers and he went to cast and start going off before damage, I realized I could have blocked with Finks and still combo’d next turn. I would have been at 1 life after all damage was done and Finks would have Persist back to put me at 3. I could have still played Anafenza and then Chord into Seer to Bolster Finks back to normal and still combo’d off. I didn’t see that line of play until it was too late and it cost me almost my entire weekend.
Lost: 1-2
SIDE:
IN: Eidolon of Rhetoric, 3 Path to Exile, 2 Abrupt Decay, 1 Maelstrom Pulse, 1 Aven Mindcensor
OUT: 1 Murderous Redcap, 2 Eternal Witness, 1 Fiend Hunter, 1 Chord, 1 Pontiff, 2 Evolution
_______
Round 8 (5-2) vs Kiki Evolution:
I don’t remember much about this one, but it was bad. KiKi Evolution seems like a bit of a trouble match for us, because they can combo pretty easy too and are more tool box set up than we are. Pontiff wrecks us from this. The one thing I do remember is that Distended Mindbender has potential to be a huge factor in this match, but only if you see it quick enough. It is a large enough body that they have issues removing it, but also has the ability to stop their hand cold. Game 2 when I casted mine, it was too late to come back, but I managed to hit a Chord and Restoration Angle from his hand which postponed the inevitable. Mindbender is solid, but only if you see it early enough. If they are already established, it only slows them down a bit; so, you have to hope you can follow it up with a combo within the next turn or two or you will still be behind. This loss made me realize exactly how I was acting at this point and helped me clear my head and get my game face back on. I HAD to win round 9 if I wanted to day 2 so I took a second to regroup and get focused.
SIDE:
IN: 2 Distended Mindbender, 1 Aven Mindcensor, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 3 Noble Hierarch, 2 Wall of Roots, 1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast, 1 Kitchen Finks
_______
Round 9 (5-3) vs Infect:
This was a quick match, because though I had regained my focus, my opponent apparently had not. He just looked miserable. He has an elf, noble, and blighted on field early on, which can be trouble for us; however, I have a Pontiff in hand. I cast it, and he misplays thinking that Blessings will save him from the -1/-1 sweep; however, a judge corrects him and his board is gone. He never stabilizes from there. Game 2, he gets me to 9 infect fairly quick, but again a Pontiff play crushes his board. Thune/Spike Feeder finish things off for me.
Won: 2-0
I made day 2 at my first GP! Awesome!
Side:
IN: 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, 2 Abupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Kitchen Finks, 1 Viscera Seer, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Chord
Going into Day 2, they had a note up saying that it is impossible for anyone going X-3 to made top 8, which was a bummer; so, I made the best of it and sat some personal goals for the day. I could still top and get some points as well as try and make cash payout. Little did I know exactly what I’d be doing that day.
_______
Round 10 (6-3) vs Jund:
Game 1 goes in his favor pretty much the entire game, which is how I feel a lot of Jund matches can go. They have better spells game 1, typically. Game 2 I am able to play the Midrange game with the guy which takes forever. Game 3, Thune Combo drops in off 2 Chord of Calling. I am so happy I decided to stick with Thune/Feeder in the deck for the weekend.
Won: 2-1
Side:
IN: 1 Pharika, God of Affliction, 1 Sigarda, Host of Herons, 2 Abrupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Birds of Paradise, 3 Noble Hierarch, 1 Fiend Hunter
_______
Round 11 (7-3) vs Infect:
Third time seeing this deck this weekend, which I am okay with. Infect is a great match, so long as I play extra careful and not fall into any situations where I can get blown out. Game 1, I see Melira early on and it stops most of his game plans. I follow it up with Anafenza and Evolve a Wall of Roots into Murderous Redcap. I win off infinite bolsters. Game 2, he puts up more of a fight, getting me to 5 infect; however, Thune Combo comes to my aide again and I ride on her angelic wings to victory.
After this win, I am starting to feel pretty good about myself. No worries in the world, just one round at a time.
Side:
IN: 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, 2 Abupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Kitchen Finks, 1 Viscera Seer, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Chord
_______
Round 12 (8-3) vs R/G Tron (No worries, right? I may have spoke too soon…)
This is known to be our worse match in the format. I had been pretty lucky to steer clear of them up until now. Game 1, things are pretty fair between us. He doesn’t have turn 3 Tron, which gives me the breathing space I need. I played fairly safe and was incredible with some collected company hits allowing me to get Eternal Witness and another body on the field, returning company to the hand. Going wide put pressure on him, but he never sees Ugin (thank goodness). He does assemble Tron and does get an Ulamog Out, which does exile my Gavony Township among my biggest threat. Another Collected Company, however, does allow me to go Kinks/Seer and combo out. He doesn’t scoop, because Ulamog doesn’t care about my life, only my deck. Next turn, he goes to swing, but I combo again to scry Redcap to the bottom to keep him safe and end this next turn. He drops a SECOND Ulamong in MP2 and thinks for a second before going to exile my 2 Finks… huge misplay. I sac them to Seer and as soon as I do, he realizes he messed up and scoops to game 2. Game 2 goes pretty quick. He has Turn 3 tron, but no colored mana or ability to make any and no bombs to drop. I end up going turn 1 seer, turn 2 Wall of Roots, turn 3 Melira. I have Evolution in hand and without interruption get to go Turn 4 Redcap Combo to burn him to death. He showed me his hand after we ended and he had all the answers, yet no colored mana to use them. I dodged a huge bullet with this one and did so in 2-0 fashion. Lucky me.
Win: 2-0
Side:
IN: 1 Aven Mindcensor, 2 Distended Mindbender, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 1 Spellskite, 1 Ooze, 1 Witness, 1 Fiend Hunter
_______
Round 13 (9-3) vs Ross Merriam on Dredge:
I was feeling great and seen who I was paired with. That anxiety that I had not felt the entire tournament was starting to creep up seeing he was my opponent. One round at a time, right? He is just another Magic player in a field of almost 2,000, right? Yeah… right. I was going up against one of the biggest pro’s of our current era in this game and yeah, it made me a little bit nervous.
Game 1, he has to mulligan to 5, but Dredge is a deck that can mulligan aggressively and not be behind too much because of it. I am on the play and set up a Viscera Seer, he goes with a Shriekhorn and ends. I drop Melira turn 2 and end phase he mills and hits super lucky with a Naromebia and Prized Ana, both on field. His turn he mills again at upkeep and hits a Grave-Troll and starts dredging, seeing some good stuff. He puts pressure on, but not enough and I go infinite with Kitchen Finks a couple turns later. Game 2, it goes by really quick. Collective Brutality is harsh against us and it puts me behind long enough for him to see incredible dredges that end up giving him all 4 Nacro, 4 Bloodghast, and 2 Prized at his disposal. He wins game 2 pretty soundly. I take a deep breath and focus on game 3. I have a strong opening hand and get a bit lucky with him having to Mulligan to 4. He has an early game collective brutality to kill my on field seer and also take my company out of my hand. I was left with an Evolution, which in this match is a much safer be as it allows me to combo a bit quicker than anything else. He gets a Bloodghast and Prized on the field early on and puts pressure on me, but I am able to wall up for a minute and ultimately get into the Finks/Seer combo again to gain infinite life and put the match to a close.
I just beat Ross Merriam. Much respect to the guy and it was a fun match. The excitement got the best of me though and I lost focus for a minute afterwards. It didn’t help that all my friends were hyping me up for just going against Ross. I managed to calm down in time for my next round.
Side:
IN: 1 Anafenza, 1 Pharika, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Pridemage, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 2 Eternal Witness, 2 Chord, 1 Fiend Hunter, 1 Spellskite, 1 Redcap
_______
Round 14 (10-3) vs U/W Control
Game 1 is over in 3 turns. I go first and go seer, he drops an island and passes. I go Melira, he drops an island and passes. I go turn 3 Finks and combo off without any interruption. Not only do I get to face one of the greatest pros the round before, but this round I get to live in Magic Christmas Land and combo off, turn 3, without interruption from my opponent. Living the dream! The only downside is that all I see is two islands from him…
Crap.
But I thought I remembered seeing him playing beside me a few rounds prior and if it was him, knew he was on control. But I didn’t want to chance it and made minimal changes to the deck. Game 2 he is able to interact with me, but is stuck on blue for a good chunk of the early game. He counters some big spells, forcing me to go in with the Noble Hierarch swings, eventually adding Gavony Township triggers to it. He gets desperate and has to Ghost Quarter an island to get a white source to unload all the spot removal he had been gathering in his hand. I manage to keep a noble hierarch on the field and he is drawing lands, eventually another ghost quarter to put an end to my Gavony Township shenanigans. Noble Hierarch was a 3/4 at this time, which I was comfortable with. Going down to the last turn, he ends up having to tap out to chump block with a Celestial Colonnade. Before blocks, I Chord in my Fiend Hunter to remove the land creature and get 4 damage in. I hard cast Murderous Red cap in Main 2 and burn him out for his remaining 2 life.
Won: 2-0
Side:
IN: Qasali Pridemage, Pharika, God of Affliction
OUT: 2 Eldritch Evolution
_______
Round 15 (11-3) vs Infect:
Looked at standings before the match started and realized that x-4 would not get prize support. It was Do or Die. As the round started, we were stopped for a deck check. Took them about 9 minutes and we got the proper extension. Seeing that he was on Infect made this feel good. I was 3-0 the weekend against them, what’s one more round?
Game 1, Merlira does her job and I keep her safe. Getting strong beats and clearing the path with Pontiff, when needed. Game 2 is much more in his favor and while I was able to put some pressure on, not having Melira to answer his Blighted Agent and pumps cost me. Game 3 is extremely grindy and time gets called in round, giving us our 9 minute extension being all that we have to work with. He sees two of his sided Kitchen Finks and starts getting beats in. I have Melira and Eidolon out, but he has the ability to put more pressure on me than I can actively block with, which makes things dangerous as a single Become Immense could put this to an end. I do have a Collected Company, but it gets Spell Pierced. Things are looking bad and I feel the round slipping away. I have 1 chord in hand and end up drawing into another. I have to let some attacks go through, any of them with a pump spell being enough to kill me, but he doesn’t have it. I go down to 2 life. End of turn, I chord in for a viscera seer, untap, draw, play the land I drew, and tap everything out to chord for 4 and get into Murderous Redcap. If he had a Dismember, a counter, or anything, I was dead. Redcap champions me to victory as I stood just one turn away from facing complete decimation at the hand of some Kitchen Finks used by an Infect player. Incredibly close, awesome matches and spectators and judges a like congratulated us both on such a hard fought match.
Won: 2-1
Side:
IN: 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, 2 Abupt Decay, 3 Path to Exile, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
OUT: 4 Kitchen Finks, 1 Viscera Seer, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Chord
_______
It took a second for it all to sink in, but I had just went undefeated Day 2 of the GP, finishing 12-3 for the weekend. I knew I would be top 64, just was not sure exactly where. Moments later, looked at standings to find myself at a very satisfying 46th place out of 1984 players from the weekend.
An incredible weekend and I proved a lot to myself about where I stand in this game and where I can go from here. I have a lot to learn, but I proved to myself that I am capable of playing this game on a highly competitive level and need to continue to push myself to continue to do better at future events. I feel that I had some pretty decent match ups this weekend and some really good ones, which make things a bit easier for me.
4 Infect, 3 Jund, 2 Death’s Shadow, 1 Dredge, 1 R/G Land Destruction, 1 Wilted Abzan, 1 Kiki Evolution, 1 R/G Tron, 1 U/W Control
I feel extremely confident that I made the right choices on how to run my deck this weekend. I know that a lot of people are on the fence with Eldritch Evolution, but it was a life saver for me this weekend in spots where Chord of Calling simply would not have cut it. Having the Archangel of Thune/Spike Feeder Combo in the deck justifies a bit more having the Evolutions in, not to mention access to Sigarda vs Jund in the side feels really good. Especially if you can Evolve Kitchen Finks to go gather her.
I felt great with my sideboard, though I am unsure on Distended Bindbender. I only had 2 rounds where I needed to bring it in and only seen it against one. The one I seen, it was a powerful play, just too far into the game to make much of a dent on the advantage they had already gained. If it had been early on, it could have been game changing. I am going to test Mindbenders a bit more before making the choice of cutting them or not. Everything else in the 75 feels extremely good to me. Maybe I will cut Mindbenders for Voice of Resurgence in the side? Does pair fairly well with the Eldritch Evolution’s.
Amazing weekend, had tons of fun. Sorry that this report is so long, and hopefully I didn’t bore anyone to death while reading it, haha. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer!
Maybe the sky isn't falling?
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Throughout the tournament, I did come across Graveyard hate, mostly in the form of Grafdigger's Cage; however, out of the 3 Jund matches I only had to face down Kalitas from the third bout in Round 10. I also came across a few Rest in Peace, but to be honest, the Graveyard hate was surprisingly light in my matches for the weekend.
It was something I was honestly worried about going into the GP, that Dredge had forced this deck to simply not be playable at a highly competitive event. Let me say that I am glad I stuck to my guns and dedication to the deck and played it. Doesn't look like Dredge has caused us to be hated as much as we would expect.
(I see like, 2 relics or 1 cage/1 relic all over the place, or 2 RIP--not really enough!)
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Pharika is typically there more for the Midrange and Control decks than as Graveyard hate (though she does have the ability to play double duty in that regards).
I bring her in against Jund and Abzan Midrange matches because comboing off becomes much more difficult because of all the removal those decks spout. Your game typically slows down a bit and being able to trade a 1/1 Deathtouch with their Tarmogoyf seems like a fairly good deal to me.
I also bring it in on the mirror match and against decks like Dredge because though she isn't as powerful as Ooze is, she is able to help disrupt them from either comboing off (Abzan Company) or getting rid of their Bloodhast, Grave Troll, Prized Amaglam, ect in Dredge, which slows things down enough for you to try and go wide with the deck or to assemble a combo and go off for the win.
ON EDIT: And there are times too that you will turn Pharika on with your devotion level and having a 5/5 indestructible can help close out games quickly.
Can confirm have done lots of dirty tricks with Pharika's devotion
1) chord viscera seer sac eternal witness to save her from path
2) coco hit double e-wit block with her
3) make death touch snakes at instant speed (wait, this isn't devotion based but it's pretty good against kalitas :P)
4) just beat people to death with her
5) force people to spend removal on eternal witnesses to shut her off, then combo off in response.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
1) Do you feel we need 23 lands? Recently I cut township to 2 copies, so 22 lands. So far, so good.
2) Is the third forest is becuase of the Evolution? Dont u like canopies?
3) Dont u like the idea of running 1 Selfless Spirit MB? I think it is a must against mass removals and Anger.
4) About 4-3-2 Coco-Chord-Evo, do u think it is the right number?
5) I run 2 Sin Collector over the Mindbenders. Do you think it would be better on your matches?
6) I run Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Phyrexian Revoker over the 2 decays because I dont like that many spells. What are your thoughts about it?
1. have had no problem with 22 lands, and yes it's a township... getting multiple townships can get tricky
3. love Selfless mainboard, knocked out a VoR; Anger of the Gods... response Chord for SS or Burrenton, laugh heartily
4. am using just one Evo, not very good odds to get it, but gives chance for post-board dork-Evo-Anafenza for example to beat Dredge, if I don't get the Evo early, always wanting Chord instead...
5. can't chord or company for Mindbender; Sin Collector, yes
6. I carry Linvala, while #1 bullet situationally still often the least used SB card, a bolt-defying flyer not so bad either; Revoker too removable; don't worry about spells, you can drop a few creatures no problem and still stay in the company zone... am carrying 2x Maelstrom now to deal with all the Nahiri.