Good afternoon all! Made it back from Seattle with a 9-6 final record, which I can't be at all disappointed with given that I went 3-6 at my last GP!
The TL;DR summary: I loved this UW build, I thought it performed very well, I made a couple of mistakes (and took a couple suboptimal lines that cost me), but overall I think it was a great choice for the event and am looking forward to continuing to evolve it when DOM hits!
If you want more details, read on. Unfortunately, my memory of these matches (particularly day 1) is a bit sketchy because playing so many matches in such a short timespan really taxes your brain, but I will do the best I can to remember any nuggets from the matches...
I had experimented with deleting Disallow, but I ended up including 2 copies so I could hard counter noncreature spells and/or activated/triggered abilities. 2 copies seemed fine.
Day One
Match one: Sultai Snek/GPG
The first of my 6 (!) Snek matchups for the weekend. This was a somewhat spicy brew that included God-Pharaoh's Gift and Gates to the Afterlife. I took round 1 with double approach, no problemo (he could have won this one though...he managed to resolve a GPG after I had Approached once, but instead of bringing back a Walking Ballista, adding a counter and pinging me for 1 for the kill, he brought back Kitesail Freebooter.
The next two matches were tougher, and I don't think I sideboarded or played this matchup correctly. Frankly, I didn't really know how to sideboard against it: I usually bring Regal Caracal in for the Snek matchups (mostly to throw in front of Bristling Hydras until I can fumigate), but not for GPG matchups, and I bring in Forsake the Worldly against GPG but not snek...so I ended up with some janky mix of the two plans that didn't go well. He rolled me G2, and I lost G3 by taking a very suboptimal line that involved me casting Torrential Gearhulk to flash back something (seem to recall it was Essence Scatter to keep some creature or other from resolving), which ended up putting a 6th creature in the yard, allowing him to cast Gate to the Afterlife, activate, and GPG me to death. I was at 2 life at the point, so likely wasn't winning, but it was a rocky start. (0-1)
Match 2: Jeskai Approach
Took this one easy 2-0. UW is just house against this G1 with all their dead cards. I had a great hand to start G2 (couple negate and disallow), which allowed me to counter both of the Gideons he tried to resolve. Opponent didn't seem super focused either, but I'll take a W when I get one. (1-1).
Match 3: Sultai Snek (with Scarab God)
This was an interesting matchup in which the win came from a mega-punt by my opponent.
Game 1, double approach. Easy peasy.
Game 2: he won with Scarab God and a ton of dudes, BUT there was a key judge call that I think may have tilted my opponent a bit. He had a Nissa, Steward of Elements on the field and did her +2. Opponent was a super-manic card riffler, and when I looked carefully, I saw that he had three cards he was looking at—I guess he had scryed 3 instead of 2. JUDGE! The resolution was a warning to my opponent, and I was allowed to look at the three cards and decide which one was not part of the scry (third one was shuffled back in to his deck before resolving the scry). Ridiculous part was that the 3 cards were Fetid Pools, Aether Hub, Aether Hub, so I didn't even get to bin something worthwhile.
Game 3: opponent mega punt time. First off, he had The Scarab God on the field (I believe with a counter from Hadana's Climb on it, making it a 6/6). I had 9 mana up. He attacks. I flash in Torrential Gearhulk, targeting Slash of Talons and block with TG so they trade. At end step, I disallowed the SG return card to hand trigger, leaving SG in the yard. He takes his next turn, and at end step starts going through his graveyard. I asked what he was looking for, and he said he was returning the Scarab God to his hand. I said "nope, that got disallowed, so he stays in the yard," and he didn't believe me, so he called a judge (who confirmed that SG was dead-zo).
I don't know if it was the 2 judge calls or what, but opponent was definitely tilted. I got an Approach in. I think my hand was Cast Out, Irrigated Farmland, with a couple Ipnu Rivulets on the field and plenty of lands. Approach was 6 down at this point. He duresses with Scarab God on the battlefield. In response, I cycle Cast Out (5 deep) and gain a Glimmer. He takes the Glimmer. My end step, I activate Ipnu Rivulet, revealing card, card, card, Torrential Gearhulk (Approach now on top). He has a negate in the yard, but for some reason, he got super excited by the Gearhulk, and at end step, he activates TSG to snag him. In response, I cycle Irrigated Farmland to pick up the Approach, and slam it on my turn. Whew. (2-1)
Match 4: BG Snek
Lost game 1, which was really unfortunate because G1 is where we shine. But had only 3 lands turn 6 while he had all the sneks and siphoners. GG.
Game 2 and 3 went much better. Another interesting judge call in this one. I had double caracal on the board with 3 cats. He had an 8/7 Jadelight Ranger, a Bristling Hydra, and a Ripjaw Raptor on the board. He swings with the Raptor and the Ranger. I chump the Ranger and throw 2 caracals and 2 cats in front of the Ripjaw Raptor (I had fumigate in hand so basically just looking to max out my life gain…sorry kitties…). He orders blockers, and we go to damage. I say "Caracal and chumping cat die, Raptor dies, I gain 17, you draw a card from Enrage." And he says, "don't I draw 4 because you blocked with 4?" I told him I'm pretty sure that combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so it would only be one enrage trigger. Judge was called, and he said, "no, it's four different things damaging it, so it's four." I asked him to please look it up (and dude at the next table was like, "yeah, I don't think that's right…"). Judge looked it up and confirmed that it's just one enrage trigger. Next turn, I swing with Caracal and remaining cats then wipe the board. At this point, I'm at 30+ life and in complete control. (3-1)
Match 5: UW Drake
I played this deck for a while on MTGO but gave it up when XLN/RIX didn't add much to it. The keys are (1) keep Drake Haven and Abandoned Sarcophagus off the board and (2) exile graveyards before the second approach because their only mainboard counter is usually 4x countervailing winds. I did just that G1 and double approached.
G2 was a bunch of draw/go/cycle. He was burning through a ton of his deck without finding what he was looking for, and whenever he managed to resolve a Drake Haven, I promptly got rid of it through Cast Out/Forsake the Worldly. Ended up decking him with Ipnu Rivulets. (4-1)
At this point, I've achieved my goal of improving my performance from the last GP, so the rest is gravy…
Match 6: UB Midrange (Atsuki Kihara, Hareruya "God of Standard")
I looked up this opponent afterward and wasn't surprised to see that he's had some high-level success. I got rolled both games this matchup, which is a tough one for us to begin with, but made tougher by having a great pilot who drew all the right things. One suboptimal play I made G1 was to Cast Out his Liliana on T5…he cast Scarab God the next turn and I didn't have an answer, and the God is much more impactful than Lili (although both can be a pain). The language barrier made it tough to chat, but he was very kind and humble in his thrashing of me! (4-2).
Match 7: BW Vampires
I wish, wish, wish that I had seen more of this deck. Cakewalk. 4x Field of Ruin makes Adanto no big deal, plenty of board wipes, and he has no way to interact with Approach game 1.
Game 2 he brought in Kitesail Freebooter, and hit one T2. Sadly, I had my spicy SB tech in hand at the time (Hour of Revelation), so the cat was out of the bag. Kept his Radiant Destinys from getting out of hand, managed the board, and got there with Gearhulk beatdowns. (5-2).
Match 8: Sultai Snek
We're both win-and-in, and I'm disappointed to see Sneks again, but so be it.
G1, I resolved a T3 Gideon, which is always great for me because he typically gains me 6-8 life before dying. He's a threat, so opponents need to deal with him, but he's just a sacrificial lamb for this deck. He attempts to Vraska's Contempt him T5 (negate), then tries to resolve Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (disallow). Got him with double Approach.
G2 was just about the same. Board wipes showing up right when needed. I think opponent was pretty mentally tired at this point—at one point, he missed his Jadelight Ranger explore triggers (he cast the Ranger, then said "Combat?"…don't think he ever realized he missed the trigger). Likely didn't matter because I had 2x Settle in hand, but it just shows how important the mental game is. (6-2, made day 2!).
Grabbed an awesome dinner at Blue C Sushi with my son (who went 4-3-1…not shabby!) and a buddy from Portland who was also playing. Got a good night's sleep without letting thoughts of cardboard interfere too much.
Day Two
Match 9: UW GPG (Yuuki Ichikawa)
I didn't know my opponent by name before the match, but figured he was someone legit when I saw his 2017 World Championship hoodie! About the nicest, most humble, enjoyable opponent you could ask for. Gerry Thompson was playing right next to us, which was kind of cool too.
G1: we both mull to 6 and miss our third land drops (which makes us both laugh quite a bit). I Spell Swindled his God-Pharoah's Gift, which made him laugh and say, "Double Approach?"—I joked that I didn't know if I brought enough treasure tokens, but I had exactly 7. Didn't manage the same-turn double-approach, but got there.
G2: I think I could have won this game if I'd played a bit differently. I kept the board clean enough—kept him off GPG with Forsake the Worldly and used my boardwipes strategically (and used my life total as a resource), while he was just digging deeper and deeper with Champions of Wits, eternalized Champions of Wits, Chart a Course, and Strategic Planning. I Scavenger Grounds our yards away. After a field of ruin, I count his library and he's at 20 cards, and I have 2 Ipnus on the board. I end up cracking the Ipnus too soon, and he resolves a GPG, which may have given him the creatures needed to bring back for the win. Think he got down to 1 card in library.
G3: I didn't really have the answers in this one. I managed to resolve Approach, and I had ipnu and cycler in hand, but he had ipnu as well. I might have been able to get the Approach back in my hand, but as it turned out, he had a negate in hand anyway, so I don't think I was going to win that one. In hindsight, I really needed to put away that G2, and I think I probably could have if I had taken a more optimal line than I did.
After the match, Yuuki was chatting with Shouta Yasooka (who had been watching), and I was de-boarding. I show Yuuki the Crook of Condemnation that I didn't see the entire match, and we both laugh. Then I showed him the Spell Swindle and he laughed again and told Shouta about how his GPG got swindled. Just a fun GP moment that I'll remember. Can't say enough nice things about this guy. (6-3)
Match 10: Sultai Snek (Corey Baumeister)
After losing to a pro, I just laughed when I got paired with another one! Mike Sigrist was playing next to us for this one, which again, was kind of cool.
G1: Got there with double approach. No worries.
G2: He looks at his opening hand and goes, "ehh….I'll try to make it work." To which I reply, "I think that probably means that you have the nuts…" Sure enough, T1 Duress, T2 Siphoner, T3 Snek, T4 Rishkar. Lolz.
G3: He mulls to 6 and gets stuck on lands for a while. I resolve Caracals, he resolves a Carnage Tyrant with a Hydra on board. My turn, I swing with all (the good ol' sacrificial-cats-before-fumigate play). Sure enough, I wipe the board after. At this point, I'm in pretty firm control and manage to get 2 gearhulks on the board, then another caracal, and he scoops it up. Super nice guy, and really enjoyable match. (7-3)
Match 11: Red Aggro
First Bomat Courier I faced all day. Really not a lot to say about this match—kept a bad hand G1 (it was serviceable against any deck but his). Didn't see sweepers G2. Lost with about 40 minutes left in round! (7-4)
Match 12: Grixis Midrange
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he resolved siphoners T2 and T3, and just drowned in card advantage. I also missed a Search for Azcanta trigger here (I drew the card before remembering to flip). Don't know if it would have changed things, but my only missed trigger of the day…
G3, he stuck a Chandra and a Lili, and I couldn't get rid of Chandra before she emblemed. Just the way it goes, I guess. (7-5).
Match 13: Sultai Snek
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he got there with Hadana's climb and ballistas.
G3, I think Gideon and Gearhulks got me there, but can't really remember…really mentally tired at this point, but I now know I'll leave with a record that's better than .500, so pretty stoked. (8-5).
Match 14: UB Midrange (or maybe Grixis?)
I played too timid G1 and let my mind play tricks on me and got punished. Started the game with double approach in hand. He managed to double Gonti me, and I really don't know what he has, although his eyes got a little big the first one, which for some reason made me certain that he had taken Spell Swindle. I approach once, and he's built up a good board with TSG and a bunch of zombos. I had the opportunity to Approach again, but I didn't have mana for countermagic, and I was paranoid about the swindle. Turns out it was a fumigate and I would have been totally clear. Instead, he reanimates all the things and kills me before I can try again. Some regret over this one, but I really can't be too disappointed.
G2, I just couldn't get anything going, and he stuck an early Arguel and Search for Azcanta, so he out-carded me like crazy. (8-6). No pro point for me, but it's all good.
Match 15: RG Dinos
Cakewalk. All the sweepers, all the essence scatters, he can't interact with Approach. He brought in Prowling Serpopard G2, but I easily cast that out (and countered the Naturalize). Easy, easy matchup for this deck, and wish I'd seen RG more than just the final match. (9-6).
Takeaways
I loved the deck this weekend, and would not hesitate to rock it in another standard event. I think it's only going to get better after DOM drops (although exploring a splash of B might be worth it given the improvement in the mana base). The weaknesses are what we've discussed for a while: missing land drops and iffy early-game interaction. But the strengths are strong: extremely favored G1, access to reasonable creature finishers post-board (Caracal, Torrential, Nezzie), good ways to interact with enchantments, good answers to resilient threats (Carnage Tyrant, Phoenix).
In retrospect, I should have found room for at least one, if not two, Farm // Market to handle the proliferation of Sneks. Seriously, they were everywhere. Maybe instead of Crook of Condemnation, although Crook did some work for me. And if UR GPG continues to be a thing, I think the case for a Crook in the main gets even better. Slash was great for the siphoners, but Sneks were a problem.
I also think I got burned by a couple of suboptimal plays (although I reaped the benefit of a couple suboptimal plays/errors by opponents, so they wash out). I think that my game has improved 100% since my last GP, and this one made it very clear to me that deck selection has only so much to do with success—minimizing/eliminating play mistakes, carefully evaluating lines of play before making a decision, and staying mentally focused is just as important, and why I think the pros do as well as they do consistently. I definitely have room for improvement, and hope to keep the upward trend.
Overall, the GP was a blast. For the most part, my opponents were fun to play against (only a couple less-than-friendly folks), and having the opportunity to play against a couple pros was definitely something I'll remember for a while!
Next goal: getting that 10th win for the pro point.
Good afternoon all! Made it back from Seattle with a 9-6 final record, which I can't be at all disappointed with given that I went 3-6 at my last GP!
The TL;DR summary: I loved this UW build, I thought it performed very well, I made a couple of mistakes (and took a couple suboptimal lines that cost me), but overall I think it was a great choice for the event and am looking forward to continuing to evolve it when DOM hits!
If you want more details, read on. Unfortunately, my memory of these matches (particularly day 1) is a bit sketchy because playing so many matches in such a short timespan really taxes your brain, but I will do the best I can to remember any nuggets from the matches...
I had experimented with deleting Disallow, but I ended up including 2 copies so I could hard counter noncreature spells and/or activated/triggered abilities. 2 copies seemed fine.
Day One
Match one: Sultai Snek/GPG
The first of my 6 (!) Snek matchups for the weekend. This was a somewhat spicy brew that included God-Pharaoh's Gift and Gates to the Afterlife. I took round 1 with double approach, no problemo (he could have won this one though...he managed to resolve a GPG after I had Approached once, but instead of bringing back a Walking Ballista, adding a counter and pinging me for 1 for the kill, he brought back Kitesail Freebooter.
The next two matches were tougher, and I don't think I sideboarded or played this matchup correctly. Frankly, I didn't really know how to sideboard against it: I usually bring Regal Caracal in for the Snek matchups (mostly to throw in front of Bristling Hydras until I can fumigate), but not for GPG matchups, and I bring in Forsake the Worldly against GPG but not snek...so I ended up with some janky mix of the two plans that didn't go well. He rolled me G2, and I lost G3 by taking a very suboptimal line that involved me casting Torrential Gearhulk to flash back something (seem to recall it was Essence Scatter to keep some creature or other from resolving), which ended up putting a 6th creature in the yard, allowing him to cast Gate to the Afterlife, activate, and GPG me to death. I was at 2 life at the point, so likely wasn't winning, but it was a rocky start. (0-1)
Match 2: Jeskai Approach
Took this one easy 2-0. UW is just house against this G1 with all their dead cards. I had a great hand to start G2 (couple negate and disallow), which allowed me to counter both of the Gideons he tried to resolve. Opponent didn't seem super focused either, but I'll take a W when I get one. (1-1).
Match 3: Sultai Snek (with Scarab God)
This was an interesting matchup in which the win came from a mega-punt by my opponent.
Game 1, double approach. Easy peasy.
Game 2: he won with Scarab God and a ton of dudes, BUT there was a key judge call that I think may have tilted my opponent a bit. He had a Nissa, Steward of Elements on the field and did her +2. Opponent was a super-manic card riffler, and when I looked carefully, I saw that he had three cards he was looking at—I guess he had scryed 3 instead of 2. JUDGE! The resolution was a warning to my opponent, and I was allowed to look at the three cards and decide which one was not part of the scry (third one was shuffled back in to his deck before resolving the scry). Ridiculous part was that the 3 cards were Fetid Pools, Aether Hub, Aether Hub, so I didn't even get to bin something worthwhile.
Game 3: opponent mega punt time. First off, he had The Scarab God on the field (I believe with a counter from Hadana's Climb on it, making it a 6/6). I had 9 mana up. He attacks. I flash in Torrential Gearhulk, targeting Slash of Talons and block with TG so they trade. At end step, I disallowed the SG return card to hand trigger, leaving SG in the yard. He takes his next turn, and at end step starts going through his graveyard. I asked what he was looking for, and he said he was returning the Scarab God to his hand. I said "nope, that got disallowed, so he stays in the yard," and he didn't believe me, so he called a judge (who confirmed that SG was dead-zo).
I don't know if it was the 2 judge calls or what, but opponent was definitely tilted. I got an Approach in. I think my hand was Cast Out, Irrigated Farmland, with a couple Ipnu Rivulets on the field and plenty of lands. Approach was 6 down at this point. He duresses with Scarab God on the battlefield. In response, I cycle Cast Out (5 deep) and gain a Glimmer. He takes the Glimmer. My end step, I activate Ipnu Rivulet, revealing card, card, card, Torrential Gearhulk (Approach now on top). He has a negate in the yard, but for some reason, he got super excited by the Gearhulk, and at end step, he activates TSG to snag him. In response, I cycle Irrigated Farmland to pick up the Approach, and slam it on my turn. Whew. (2-1)
Match 4: BG Snek
Lost game 1, which was really unfortunate because G1 is where we shine. But had only 3 lands turn 6 while he had all the sneks and siphoners. GG.
Game 2 and 3 went much better. Another interesting judge call in this one. I had double caracal on the board with 3 cats. He had an 8/7 Jadelight Ranger, a Bristling Hydra, and a Ripjaw Raptor on the board. He swings with the Raptor and the Ranger. I chump the Ranger and throw 2 caracals and 2 cats in front of the Ripjaw Raptor (I had fumigate in hand so basically just looking to max out my life gain…sorry kitties…). He orders blockers, and we go to damage. I say "Caracal and chumping cat die, Raptor dies, I gain 17, you draw a card from Enrage." And he says, "don't I draw 4 because you blocked with 4?" I told him I'm pretty sure that combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so it would only be one enrage trigger. Judge was called, and he said, "no, it's four different things damaging it, so it's four." I asked him to please look it up (and dude at the next table was like, "yeah, I don't think that's right…"). Judge looked it up and confirmed that it's just one enrage trigger. Next turn, I swing with Caracal and remaining cats then wipe the board. At this point, I'm at 30+ life and in complete control. (3-1)
Match 5: UW Drake
I played this deck for a while on MTGO but gave it up when XLN/RIX didn't add much to it. The keys are (1) keep Drake Haven and Abandoned Sarcophagus off the board and (2) exile graveyards before the second approach because their only mainboard counter is usually 4x countervailing winds. I did just that G1 and double approached.
G2 was a bunch of draw/go/cycle. He was burning through a ton of his deck without finding what he was looking for, and whenever he managed to resolve a Drake Haven, I promptly got rid of it through Cast Out/Forsake the Worldly. Ended up decking him with Ipnu Rivulets. (4-1)
At this point, I've achieved my goal of improving my performance from the last GP, so the rest is gravy…
Match 6: UB Midrange (Atsuki Kihara, Hareruya "God of Standard")
I looked up this opponent afterward and wasn't surprised to see that he's had some high-level success. I got rolled both games this matchup, which is a tough one for us to begin with, but made tougher by having a great pilot who drew all the right things. One suboptimal play I made G1 was to Cast Out his Liliana on T5…he cast Scarab God the next turn and I didn't have an answer, and the God is much more impactful than Lili (although both can be a pain). The language barrier made it tough to chat, but he was very kind and humble in his thrashing of me! (4-2).
Match 7: BW Vampires
I wish, wish, wish that I had seen more of this deck. Cakewalk. 4x Field of Ruin makes Adanto no big deal, plenty of board wipes, and he has no way to interact with Approach game 1.
Game 2 he brought in Kitesail Freebooter, and hit one T2. Sadly, I had my spicy SB tech in hand at the time (Hour of Revelation), so the cat was out of the bag. Kept his Radiant Destinys from getting out of hand, managed the board, and got there with Gearhulk beatdowns. (5-2).
Match 8: Sultai Snek
We're both win-and-in, and I'm disappointed to see Sneks again, but so be it.
G1, I resolved a T3 Gideon, which is always great for me because he typically gains me 6-8 life before dying. He's a threat, so opponents need to deal with him, but he's just a sacrificial lamb for this deck. He attempts to Vraska's Contempt him T5 (negate), then tries to resolve Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (disallow). Got him with double Approach.
G2 was just about the same. Board wipes showing up right when needed. I think opponent was pretty mentally tired at this point—at one point, he missed his Jadelight Ranger explore triggers (he cast the Ranger, then said "Combat?"…don't think he ever realized he missed the trigger). Likely didn't matter because I had 2x Settle in hand, but it just shows how important the mental game is. (6-2, made day 2!).
Grabbed an awesome dinner at Blue C Sushi with my son (who went 4-3-1…not shabby!) and a buddy from Portland who was also playing. Got a good night's sleep without letting thoughts of cardboard interfere too much.
Day Two
Match 9: UW GPG (Yuuki Ichikawa)
I didn't know my opponent by name before the match, but figured he was someone legit when I saw his 2017 World Championship hoodie! About the nicest, most humble, enjoyable opponent you could ask for. Gerry Thompson was playing right next to us, which was kind of cool too.
G1: we both mull to 6 and miss our third land drops (which makes us both laugh quite a bit). I Spell Swindled his God-Pharoah's Gift, which made him laugh and say, "Double Approach?"—I joked that I didn't know if I brought enough treasure tokens, but I had exactly 7. Didn't manage the same-turn double-approach, but got there.
G2: I think I could have won this game if I'd played a bit differently. I kept the board clean enough—kept him off GPG with Forsake the Worldly and used my boardwipes strategically (and used my life total as a resource), while he was just digging deeper and deeper with Champions of Wits, eternalized Champions of Wits, Chart a Course, and Strategic Planning. I Scavenger Grounds our yards away. After a field of ruin, I count his library and he's at 20 cards, and I have 2 Ipnus on the board. I end up cracking the Ipnus too soon, and he resolves a GPG, which may have given him the creatures needed to bring back for the win. Think he got down to 1 card in library.
G3: I didn't really have the answers in this one. I managed to resolve Approach, and I had ipnu and cycler in hand, but he had ipnu as well. I might have been able to get the Approach back in my hand, but as it turned out, he had a negate in hand anyway, so I don't think I was going to win that one. In hindsight, I really needed to put away that G2, and I think I probably could have if I had taken a more optimal line than I did.
After the match, Yuuki was chatting with Shouta Yasooka (who had been watching), and I was de-boarding. I show Yuuki the Crook of Condemnation that I didn't see the entire match, and we both laugh. Then I showed him the Spell Swindle and he laughed again and told Shouta about how his GPG got swindled. Just a fun GP moment that I'll remember. Can't say enough nice things about this guy. (6-3)
Match 10: Sultai Snek (Corey Baumeister)
After losing to a pro, I just laughed when I got paired with another one! Mike Sigrist was playing next to us for this one, which again, was kind of cool.
G1: Got there with double approach. No worries.
G2: He looks at his opening hand and goes, "ehh….I'll try to make it work." To which I reply, "I think that probably means that you have the nuts…" Sure enough, T1 Duress, T2 Siphoner, T3 Snek, T4 Rishkar. Lolz.
G3: He mulls to 6 and gets stuck on lands for a while. I resolve Caracals, he resolves a Carnage Tyrant with a Hydra on board. My turn, I swing with all (the good ol' sacrificial-cats-before-fumigate play). Sure enough, I wipe the board after. At this point, I'm in pretty firm control and manage to get 2 gearhulks on the board, then another caracal, and he scoops it up. Super nice guy, and really enjoyable match. (7-3)
Match 11: Red Aggro
First Bomat Courier I faced all day. Really not a lot to say about this match—kept a bad hand G1 (it was serviceable against any deck but his). Didn't see sweepers G2. Lost with about 40 minutes left in round! (7-4)
Match 12: Grixis Midrange
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he resolved siphoners T2 and T3, and just drowned in card advantage. I also missed a Search for Azcanta trigger here (I drew the card before remembering to flip). Don't know if it would have changed things, but my only missed trigger of the day…
G3, he stuck a Chandra and a Lili, and I couldn't get rid of Chandra before she emblemed. Just the way it goes, I guess. (7-5).
Match 13: Sultai Snek
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he got there with Hadana's climb and ballistas.
G3, I think Gideon and Gearhulks got me there, but can't really remember…really mentally tired at this point, but I now know I'll leave with a record that's better than .500, so pretty stoked. (8-5).
Match 14: UB Midrange (or maybe Grixis?)
I played too timid G1 and let my mind play tricks on me and got punished. Started the game with double approach in hand. He managed to double Gonti me, and I really don't know what he has, although his eyes got a little big the first one, which for some reason made me certain that he had taken Spell Swindle. I approach once, and he's built up a good board with TSG and a bunch of zombos. I had the opportunity to Approach again, but I didn't have mana for countermagic, and I was paranoid about the swindle. Turns out it was a fumigate and I would have been totally clear. Instead, he reanimates all the things and kills me before I can try again. Some regret over this one, but I really can't be too disappointed.
G2, I just couldn't get anything going, and he stuck an early Arguel and Search for Azcanta, so he out-carded me like crazy. (8-6). No pro point for me, but it's all good.
Match 15: RG Dinos
Cakewalk. All the sweepers, all the essence scatters, he can't interact with Approach. He brought in Prowling Serpopard G2, but I easily cast that out (and countered the Naturalize). Easy, easy matchup for this deck, and wish I'd seen RG more than just the final match. (9-6).
Takeaways
I loved the deck this weekend, and would not hesitate to rock it in another standard event. I think it's only going to get better after DOM drops (although exploring a splash of B might be worth it given the improvement in the mana base). The weaknesses are what we've discussed for a while: missing land drops and iffy early-game interaction. But the strengths are strong: extremely favored G1, access to reasonable creature finishers post-board (Caracal, Torrential, Nezzie), good ways to interact with enchantments, good answers to resilient threats (Carnage Tyrant, Phoenix).
In retrospect, I should have found room for at least one, if not two, Farm // Market to handle the proliferation of Sneks. Seriously, they were everywhere. Maybe instead of Crook of Condemnation, although Crook did some work for me. And if UR GPG continues to be a thing, I think the case for a Crook in the main gets even better. Slash was great for the siphoners, but Sneks were a problem.
I also think I got burned by a couple of suboptimal plays (although I reaped the benefit of a couple suboptimal plays/errors by opponents, so they wash out). I think that my game has improved 100% since my last GP, and this one made it very clear to me that deck selection has only so much to do with success—minimizing/eliminating play mistakes, carefully evaluating lines of play before making a decision, and staying mentally focused is just as important, and why I think the pros do as well as they do consistently. I definitely have room for improvement, and hope to keep the upward trend.
Overall, the GP was a blast. For the most part, my opponents were fun to play against (only a couple less-than-friendly folks), and having the opportunity to play against a couple pros was definitely something I'll remember for a while!
Next goal: getting that 10th win for the pro point.
Hi codaddy;
Thank you for posting the summary and congratulations on the great result - super impressive!
I don't have any great results to share but my son and I both improved from our previous GP - had a blast and met a ton of nice people. Next time we should arrange a face to face hello!
I see Combat Celebrant has increased in price 500% as a result of UR Gift's great showing in Seattle!
saw someone caught by a transformational sideboard at the GP; guess they thought nothing happens until 7 mana in Approach decks
they were getting rolled by an Azor, the Lawbringer
good times
Welcome to the forum, Halandur! There are a ton of decklists in these pages, so you should be able to find what you're looking for. My initial thoughts are that you'll want to replace some of the basic lands with the 4x Glacial Fortress and add in 2x Settle the Wreckage (Renewed Faith and Kefnet seem to be the easiest cards to cut to fit them in). Spell Pierce is pretty weak, so I'd cut that from the board to make room for some Forsake the Worldly. Glyph Keeper seems good on paper (dodges removal!) but it's a fairly juicy The Scarab God target.
A lot of the changes will depend on what kind of decks you're finding in your metagame. The best bet is to try some things out, see how they work, adjust, and see if the adjustments work or not.
Dc, the list looks pretty solid, only suggestion would be swap out the Courtyards for Isolated Chapel. Fetid Pools and Irrigated Farmland turns this on. So if you drop on turn one, everything else after that comes in untapped. I like the list, UW is going to be very strong but Esper looks sweet also.
Full DOM spoiler is up, so let's discuss new brews!
Some initial thoughts/questions for the group:
Seal Away: Planning on testing 4 of these--looks really good. The thought would be to replace Slash of Talons and potentially one or more Essence Scatters/Cast Outs. I wonder if 4 of these and 4 settles will be correct moving forward (doing away with fumigate entirely). Mono-G looks pretty good and aggressive (and fast with their ramp), and fumigate isn't great against green decks because of heroic intervention. Granted, Blossoming Defense is still a thing, so can't over-rely on this, but I see it as a major upgrade to Baffling End.
Syncopate: I never played the Ravnica block, so don't know how this card was back then, but seems really strong and could warrant 4-of consideration. The flipside is that against U, this makes Approach a much riskier proposition, as you risk having one of your 3 copies exiled if it's countered.
Wizard's Retort: Could Baral, Chief of Compliance warrant maindeck consideration? Seems like a Jeskai build might go that route and have access to some good tech, but don't know that it's right for UW.
The Mirari Conjecture: Is this playable as a 1-of? Maybe not, but I feel like it may be trying out of the SB against control decks. Against most decks, you want to fumigate turn 5, and there aren't a ton of good sorceries that we cast before T6. I think it might have decent synergy with Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin in that you can pitch an Approach or Fumigate early without worrying too much about it.
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria: I'm thinking of trying this as a 2-of along with a couple Gideon of the Trials for almost an Approach of the Superfriends build, which, along with SFA, might give you enough historic things to run a Mox Amber?
Karn, Scion of Urza: He's colorless, powerful, replaces itself immediately (and threatens card advantage), and will be a lightning rod for opposing creatures/removal, so seems worth at least thinking about.
Invoke the Divine: I like the 4-lifegain, but don't know that I like it enough to replace Forsake the Worldly with it (exile and cycling are better in the decks you want them against).
Lets not leave out Dawnbringer Angel. Its strong enough to go maindeck
Actually with Danwbringer, Gideon, and Teferi, I may drop the Suns altogether.
Even though UW has gotten some new powerful weapons, it does not look like they will solve the duress/negate/doomfall problem that the deck suffers from
Lets not leave out Dawnbringer Angel. Its strong enough to go maindeck
Actually with Danwbringer, Gideon, and Teferi, I may drop the Suns altogether.
Even though UW has gotten some new powerful weapons, it does not look like they will solve the duress/negate/doomfall problem that the deck suffers from
Lets not leave out Dawnbringer Angel. Its strong enough to go maindeck
Actually with Danwbringer, Gideon, and Teferi, I may drop the Suns altogether.
Even though UW has gotten some new powerful weapons, it does not look like they will solve the duress/negate/doomfall problem that the deck suffers from
The negate problem? Negate and those other cards are only problems of Approach is your only maindeck wincon. That is a mistake. I know some people talk about the merit of virtual card advantage by blanking opposing removal, but to only have one wincon in a control deck nowadays is just asking for trouble.
The benefit of Approach, that it can't be hit by Vraska's Contempt, Cast Out, etc still holds, though. I'd split the wincons between planeswalkers, creatures, and approach. Tough for any deck to have good answers for all three. I'd say something like...
3 Approach
2 Teferi
2-3 Gearhulk or Dawnbringer
Why Teferi over Gideon? Well because Teferi can generate value immediately by drawing a card. The untap feature then frees up room for negate, seal away, etc to help protect it further. Gideon is good, but with plenty of decks running MD removal for walkers I hesitate to play one that's best first turn play is to negate a creature. That's a bit more narrow than I'd like. Obviously this is just theorycrafting until release.
I think Dawnbringer is very good, but there is a risk to playing it in a deck with very few slots for winning the game. If they respond with contempt, or ravenous chupacabra, you're in trouble. I think it is great against red though, being out of reach of their removal. Gearhulk is definitely worse against red by costing one more, but against slower decks with more removal it has flash and instant value. I don't think I'd want to run both, though. How the meta breaks down post-dominaria will show me which way to go.
First off, @the_codaddy, congratulations on making day 2. The is very awesome. Several friends told me after Memphis that the first one is the hardest. So from here on we expect day 2 at every GP.
Seriously, nice job.
Ok, Domanaira, I think the new set is going to make standard into a very fast format. The guys at my LGS has been brewing UG Monsters and now drop Carnage Tyrant on turn 3 pretty consistently. Our old way of thinking about games, play land go until turn 4-5 then board wipe, I don't think is going to work. We are going to have to speed up our deck as well. As much as I like UW and how smooth it is, I am going to go back and try Esper again. Fatal Push is just so strong right now. Having that and Seal Away is going to be fun. Also, I am thinking about changing up my numbers. Previously I ran 6 draws, glimmer/search, 12 counters, 4-5 removal, 7 wipes, 5-6 Win-con, 25-26 lands. Now I am playing with 25-26 lands, 4 Draw, Glimmer, 12 spot removal, Push/Seal/Cast Out/Vraskas's, 6 counter, 4 Settle and 6 Win-con. That leaves about 3 flex spots. Right now those are 3 Censor but pretty sure that will change as I do more testing.
As far as win-con's, right now still using my same old ones. I really like Teferi, just need to play with him more. Lyra Dawnbriger seems really good, the only issue with her is that mainboard, we only have 1-3 creatures and by the time she hits the board, there is a pretty good chance they have drawn some of their removal. So we will usually have to fight over her. Not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind.
Again, this is nowhere near my final list, just where I am at right now. Let me know what you think.
I am back, after a 3 week hiatus from magic, and because I took a trip back to Toronto to visit my family and friends and now I am back home and hyped up for Dominaria.
I've noticed people have already mentioned the auto-include Seal Away which makes perfect sense and it will take over from Baffling End quite nicely. Other people have also mentioned that the format will get much faster, especially for green based and red-based decks, and of course decks that run both colors.
In terms of cards for our deck, I don't think there are that many choices for the main deck, but there could be quite a few more choices for the sideboard.
For the main deck I will be testing Syncopate instead of Essence Scatter. I think that early game it will serve the same purpose but it will be even more beneficial late game since it can counter any spells, not just creature spells.
Aside from Seal Away and Syncopate I don't see many other cards that can make it into the main deck, I know some people will test Teferi as an alternate win condition or control card, but I'm not sure that's really needed in the deck. He can help you a lot but he can't really defend himself very well and even the Ult doesn't guarantee you a win.
Now, the one card that has stood out to me is Fall of the Thran, and you may be asking why do we want to kill lands when our deck depends on a lot of mana. As you may know I am all about transformative sideboard strategies and this card along with some low costing flyers can definitely change our deck in game 2 and 3 in ways the opponents will not be able to deal with.
Back in the day when Catastrophe was legal I used to play that in my control decks, after that I played Obliterate in my R/U control decks.
The reason is very simple, we can wipe the board, then drop a creature on the next turn and counter or bounce our opp's next drop, and the turn after we drop Fall of the Thran and destroy all lands, so the opp has no creatures on the board, or maybe one, and we got 1 creature.
If we have Seal Away in hand then we will be able to deal with the opp's one creature easily, and hopefully, the creature we drop will be Glyph Keeper or Nezahal so we can win before the opp can build up his land base again.
The reason this strategy works even better is due to the flip lands from Ixalan, we already play Search of Azcanta which we can keep as an enchantment and after casting Fall and killing all lands we can flip it and get an extra land, and the same is with Thaumatic Compass which a few of us were playing main deck already. We can use the compass to search for more lands every turn so we can win the mana race for sure.
I will be testing this sideboard strategy which runs creatures and Fall of the thran in the sideboard both against mid-range and other control decks. I know each player will get back 2 lands for the next couple of turns, but if we keep a land in hand it means the turn after casting Fall we can have 3 mana and if we flip search for azcanta we can have 4 mana while opp only has 2 mana, then the turn after we can possibly have 7 mana if we drop another land and put two more into play. Having Seal Away works great since we can take care of almost any creature the opp may have on the board, and of course with 4 land out we will be in settle the wreckage mana as well. Msny decks don't run many basic lands so by that time if we settle the opp may not even have any basic lands left in the library to go and get.
I have looked at other creatures that can be played in this deck but unless they got Hexproof or some kind of evasion from removal spells they all pretty much die to the plethora of direct removal spells in black, and the great burn spells in red so it would be hard to get a creature out and then spend resources to defend it for a couple of turns. That's why I think that Glyph Keeper and Nezahal look like the best creatures to go into this deck now, aside from Torrential Gearhulk of course.
I will be making the necessary changes to the deck, and start testing it after the pre-release when all the cards are legal and then I can post a deck list and results again! I am very excited about Dominaria, to say the leas!
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Fall of the Thran looks like an exciting card but it needs so much help to accomplish it's purpose
if you're planning to put the last Saga trigger from Phyrexian Scriptures to 187 their GY or even Rescue it before any lands return I'm all for it. but giving your opponent 2 lands the next turn could have you staring at a 2-3 mana removal spell after you were lucky rnough to resolve a 6 mana spell.
still looks like a fun card to try and break, maybe some combination or Powerstone Shard or Mirage Mirror could give it some legs
maybe there's a Flicker effect that I can't recall off the top of my head
Actually I am thinking of removing all Fumigate and going with up to 4x Dawnbringer Angel main deck. Becuase of everything she does. And then run 4x Suns.
+1: Untapping two lands at your end step effectively makes this a three mana planeswalker. Resolving Teferi on turn seven, the same turn you would normally cast Approach of the Second Sun, gives you four untapped lands at end step. Enough mana to cast anything in your deck. Glimmer of Genius, Cast out, Settle the Wreckage. This is hidden protection.
-3: Removing an opponent's nonland permanent and putting it three down in the library is protection. An outstanding tempo maneuver to disrupt Hazoret, Scarab God, Rekindling Phoenix. This also works great when you have access to multiple Teferis. Turn five -3 to remove a threat. Turn six +1 to draw card. Cast a second Teferi to either +1 and draw a another card. Or -3 to remove another threat.
-8: This is a gaming winning ultimate. Especially in a control shell where your other spells can manage nonland threats. The ultimate can then be used to exile lands. Add to this casting a Glimmer or Pull from Tomorrow then moving to your draw step. That's on average exiling three permanents. This locks the opponent out of the game forcing a concession. Again in multiples, with an ultimate in play, resolve another Teferi and draw more cards.
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
The TL;DR summary: I loved this UW build, I thought it performed very well, I made a couple of mistakes (and took a couple suboptimal lines that cost me), but overall I think it was a great choice for the event and am looking forward to continuing to evolve it when DOM hits!
If you want more details, read on. Unfortunately, my memory of these matches (particularly day 1) is a bit sketchy because playing so many matches in such a short timespan really taxes your brain, but I will do the best I can to remember any nuggets from the matches...
First, here's the list I was jamming:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Field of Ruin
1 Scavenger Grounds
3 Island
5 Plains
Planeswalker (1)
1 Gideon of the Trials
Enchantment (6)
2 Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
4 Cast Out
2 Slash of Talons
3 Opt
4 Essence Scatter
2 Disallow
3 Supreme Will
3 Glimmer of Genius
3 Settle the Wreckage
1 Spell Swindle
Sorcery (6)
3 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Crook of Condemnation
3 Negate
1 Jace's Defeat
3 Forsake the Worldly
1 Hour of Revelation
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
3 Regal Caracal
3 Torrential Gearhulk
I had experimented with deleting Disallow, but I ended up including 2 copies so I could hard counter noncreature spells and/or activated/triggered abilities. 2 copies seemed fine.
Day One
Match one: Sultai Snek/GPG
The first of my 6 (!) Snek matchups for the weekend. This was a somewhat spicy brew that included God-Pharaoh's Gift and Gates to the Afterlife. I took round 1 with double approach, no problemo (he could have won this one though...he managed to resolve a GPG after I had Approached once, but instead of bringing back a Walking Ballista, adding a counter and pinging me for 1 for the kill, he brought back Kitesail Freebooter.
The next two matches were tougher, and I don't think I sideboarded or played this matchup correctly. Frankly, I didn't really know how to sideboard against it: I usually bring Regal Caracal in for the Snek matchups (mostly to throw in front of Bristling Hydras until I can fumigate), but not for GPG matchups, and I bring in Forsake the Worldly against GPG but not snek...so I ended up with some janky mix of the two plans that didn't go well. He rolled me G2, and I lost G3 by taking a very suboptimal line that involved me casting Torrential Gearhulk to flash back something (seem to recall it was Essence Scatter to keep some creature or other from resolving), which ended up putting a 6th creature in the yard, allowing him to cast Gate to the Afterlife, activate, and GPG me to death. I was at 2 life at the point, so likely wasn't winning, but it was a rocky start. (0-1)
Match 2: Jeskai Approach
Took this one easy 2-0. UW is just house against this G1 with all their dead cards. I had a great hand to start G2 (couple negate and disallow), which allowed me to counter both of the Gideons he tried to resolve. Opponent didn't seem super focused either, but I'll take a W when I get one. (1-1).
Match 3: Sultai Snek (with Scarab God)
This was an interesting matchup in which the win came from a mega-punt by my opponent.
Game 1, double approach. Easy peasy.
Game 2: he won with Scarab God and a ton of dudes, BUT there was a key judge call that I think may have tilted my opponent a bit. He had a Nissa, Steward of Elements on the field and did her +2. Opponent was a super-manic card riffler, and when I looked carefully, I saw that he had three cards he was looking at—I guess he had scryed 3 instead of 2. JUDGE! The resolution was a warning to my opponent, and I was allowed to look at the three cards and decide which one was not part of the scry (third one was shuffled back in to his deck before resolving the scry). Ridiculous part was that the 3 cards were Fetid Pools, Aether Hub, Aether Hub, so I didn't even get to bin something worthwhile.
Game 3: opponent mega punt time. First off, he had The Scarab God on the field (I believe with a counter from Hadana's Climb on it, making it a 6/6). I had 9 mana up. He attacks. I flash in Torrential Gearhulk, targeting Slash of Talons and block with TG so they trade. At end step, I disallowed the SG return card to hand trigger, leaving SG in the yard. He takes his next turn, and at end step starts going through his graveyard. I asked what he was looking for, and he said he was returning the Scarab God to his hand. I said "nope, that got disallowed, so he stays in the yard," and he didn't believe me, so he called a judge (who confirmed that SG was dead-zo).
I don't know if it was the 2 judge calls or what, but opponent was definitely tilted. I got an Approach in. I think my hand was Cast Out, Irrigated Farmland, with a couple Ipnu Rivulets on the field and plenty of lands. Approach was 6 down at this point. He duresses with Scarab God on the battlefield. In response, I cycle Cast Out (5 deep) and gain a Glimmer. He takes the Glimmer. My end step, I activate Ipnu Rivulet, revealing card, card, card, Torrential Gearhulk (Approach now on top). He has a negate in the yard, but for some reason, he got super excited by the Gearhulk, and at end step, he activates TSG to snag him. In response, I cycle Irrigated Farmland to pick up the Approach, and slam it on my turn. Whew. (2-1)
Match 4: BG Snek
Lost game 1, which was really unfortunate because G1 is where we shine. But had only 3 lands turn 6 while he had all the sneks and siphoners. GG.
Game 2 and 3 went much better. Another interesting judge call in this one. I had double caracal on the board with 3 cats. He had an 8/7 Jadelight Ranger, a Bristling Hydra, and a Ripjaw Raptor on the board. He swings with the Raptor and the Ranger. I chump the Ranger and throw 2 caracals and 2 cats in front of the Ripjaw Raptor (I had fumigate in hand so basically just looking to max out my life gain…sorry kitties…). He orders blockers, and we go to damage. I say "Caracal and chumping cat die, Raptor dies, I gain 17, you draw a card from Enrage." And he says, "don't I draw 4 because you blocked with 4?" I told him I'm pretty sure that combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so it would only be one enrage trigger. Judge was called, and he said, "no, it's four different things damaging it, so it's four." I asked him to please look it up (and dude at the next table was like, "yeah, I don't think that's right…"). Judge looked it up and confirmed that it's just one enrage trigger. Next turn, I swing with Caracal and remaining cats then wipe the board. At this point, I'm at 30+ life and in complete control. (3-1)
Match 5: UW Drake
I played this deck for a while on MTGO but gave it up when XLN/RIX didn't add much to it. The keys are (1) keep Drake Haven and Abandoned Sarcophagus off the board and (2) exile graveyards before the second approach because their only mainboard counter is usually 4x countervailing winds. I did just that G1 and double approached.
G2 was a bunch of draw/go/cycle. He was burning through a ton of his deck without finding what he was looking for, and whenever he managed to resolve a Drake Haven, I promptly got rid of it through Cast Out/Forsake the Worldly. Ended up decking him with Ipnu Rivulets. (4-1)
At this point, I've achieved my goal of improving my performance from the last GP, so the rest is gravy…
Match 6: UB Midrange (Atsuki Kihara, Hareruya "God of Standard")
I looked up this opponent afterward and wasn't surprised to see that he's had some high-level success. I got rolled both games this matchup, which is a tough one for us to begin with, but made tougher by having a great pilot who drew all the right things. One suboptimal play I made G1 was to Cast Out his Liliana on T5…he cast Scarab God the next turn and I didn't have an answer, and the God is much more impactful than Lili (although both can be a pain). The language barrier made it tough to chat, but he was very kind and humble in his thrashing of me! (4-2).
Match 7: BW Vampires
I wish, wish, wish that I had seen more of this deck. Cakewalk. 4x Field of Ruin makes Adanto no big deal, plenty of board wipes, and he has no way to interact with Approach game 1.
Game 2 he brought in Kitesail Freebooter, and hit one T2. Sadly, I had my spicy SB tech in hand at the time (Hour of Revelation), so the cat was out of the bag. Kept his Radiant Destinys from getting out of hand, managed the board, and got there with Gearhulk beatdowns. (5-2).
Match 8: Sultai Snek
We're both win-and-in, and I'm disappointed to see Sneks again, but so be it.
G1, I resolved a T3 Gideon, which is always great for me because he typically gains me 6-8 life before dying. He's a threat, so opponents need to deal with him, but he's just a sacrificial lamb for this deck. He attempts to Vraska's Contempt him T5 (negate), then tries to resolve Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (disallow). Got him with double Approach.
G2 was just about the same. Board wipes showing up right when needed. I think opponent was pretty mentally tired at this point—at one point, he missed his Jadelight Ranger explore triggers (he cast the Ranger, then said "Combat?"…don't think he ever realized he missed the trigger). Likely didn't matter because I had 2x Settle in hand, but it just shows how important the mental game is. (6-2, made day 2!).
Grabbed an awesome dinner at Blue C Sushi with my son (who went 4-3-1…not shabby!) and a buddy from Portland who was also playing. Got a good night's sleep without letting thoughts of cardboard interfere too much.
Day Two
Match 9: UW GPG (Yuuki Ichikawa)
I didn't know my opponent by name before the match, but figured he was someone legit when I saw his 2017 World Championship hoodie! About the nicest, most humble, enjoyable opponent you could ask for. Gerry Thompson was playing right next to us, which was kind of cool too.
G1: we both mull to 6 and miss our third land drops (which makes us both laugh quite a bit). I Spell Swindled his God-Pharoah's Gift, which made him laugh and say, "Double Approach?"—I joked that I didn't know if I brought enough treasure tokens, but I had exactly 7. Didn't manage the same-turn double-approach, but got there.
G2: I think I could have won this game if I'd played a bit differently. I kept the board clean enough—kept him off GPG with Forsake the Worldly and used my boardwipes strategically (and used my life total as a resource), while he was just digging deeper and deeper with Champions of Wits, eternalized Champions of Wits, Chart a Course, and Strategic Planning. I Scavenger Grounds our yards away. After a field of ruin, I count his library and he's at 20 cards, and I have 2 Ipnus on the board. I end up cracking the Ipnus too soon, and he resolves a GPG, which may have given him the creatures needed to bring back for the win. Think he got down to 1 card in library.
G3: I didn't really have the answers in this one. I managed to resolve Approach, and I had ipnu and cycler in hand, but he had ipnu as well. I might have been able to get the Approach back in my hand, but as it turned out, he had a negate in hand anyway, so I don't think I was going to win that one. In hindsight, I really needed to put away that G2, and I think I probably could have if I had taken a more optimal line than I did.
After the match, Yuuki was chatting with Shouta Yasooka (who had been watching), and I was de-boarding. I show Yuuki the Crook of Condemnation that I didn't see the entire match, and we both laugh. Then I showed him the Spell Swindle and he laughed again and told Shouta about how his GPG got swindled. Just a fun GP moment that I'll remember. Can't say enough nice things about this guy. (6-3)
Match 10: Sultai Snek (Corey Baumeister)
After losing to a pro, I just laughed when I got paired with another one! Mike Sigrist was playing next to us for this one, which again, was kind of cool.
G1: Got there with double approach. No worries.
G2: He looks at his opening hand and goes, "ehh….I'll try to make it work." To which I reply, "I think that probably means that you have the nuts…" Sure enough, T1 Duress, T2 Siphoner, T3 Snek, T4 Rishkar. Lolz.
G3: He mulls to 6 and gets stuck on lands for a while. I resolve Caracals, he resolves a Carnage Tyrant with a Hydra on board. My turn, I swing with all (the good ol' sacrificial-cats-before-fumigate play). Sure enough, I wipe the board after. At this point, I'm in pretty firm control and manage to get 2 gearhulks on the board, then another caracal, and he scoops it up. Super nice guy, and really enjoyable match. (7-3)
Match 11: Red Aggro
First Bomat Courier I faced all day. Really not a lot to say about this match—kept a bad hand G1 (it was serviceable against any deck but his). Didn't see sweepers G2. Lost with about 40 minutes left in round! (7-4)
Match 12: Grixis Midrange
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he resolved siphoners T2 and T3, and just drowned in card advantage. I also missed a Search for Azcanta trigger here (I drew the card before remembering to flip). Don't know if it would have changed things, but my only missed trigger of the day…
G3, he stuck a Chandra and a Lili, and I couldn't get rid of Chandra before she emblemed. Just the way it goes, I guess. (7-5).
Match 13: Sultai Snek
G1, got there with an easy double approach.
G2, he got there with Hadana's climb and ballistas.
G3, I think Gideon and Gearhulks got me there, but can't really remember…really mentally tired at this point, but I now know I'll leave with a record that's better than .500, so pretty stoked. (8-5).
Match 14: UB Midrange (or maybe Grixis?)
I played too timid G1 and let my mind play tricks on me and got punished. Started the game with double approach in hand. He managed to double Gonti me, and I really don't know what he has, although his eyes got a little big the first one, which for some reason made me certain that he had taken Spell Swindle. I approach once, and he's built up a good board with TSG and a bunch of zombos. I had the opportunity to Approach again, but I didn't have mana for countermagic, and I was paranoid about the swindle. Turns out it was a fumigate and I would have been totally clear. Instead, he reanimates all the things and kills me before I can try again. Some regret over this one, but I really can't be too disappointed.
G2, I just couldn't get anything going, and he stuck an early Arguel and Search for Azcanta, so he out-carded me like crazy. (8-6). No pro point for me, but it's all good.
Match 15: RG Dinos
Cakewalk. All the sweepers, all the essence scatters, he can't interact with Approach. He brought in Prowling Serpopard G2, but I easily cast that out (and countered the Naturalize). Easy, easy matchup for this deck, and wish I'd seen RG more than just the final match. (9-6).
Takeaways
I loved the deck this weekend, and would not hesitate to rock it in another standard event. I think it's only going to get better after DOM drops (although exploring a splash of B might be worth it given the improvement in the mana base). The weaknesses are what we've discussed for a while: missing land drops and iffy early-game interaction. But the strengths are strong: extremely favored G1, access to reasonable creature finishers post-board (Caracal, Torrential, Nezzie), good ways to interact with enchantments, good answers to resilient threats (Carnage Tyrant, Phoenix).
In retrospect, I should have found room for at least one, if not two, Farm // Market to handle the proliferation of Sneks. Seriously, they were everywhere. Maybe instead of Crook of Condemnation, although Crook did some work for me. And if UR GPG continues to be a thing, I think the case for a Crook in the main gets even better. Slash was great for the siphoners, but Sneks were a problem.
I also think I got burned by a couple of suboptimal plays (although I reaped the benefit of a couple suboptimal plays/errors by opponents, so they wash out). I think that my game has improved 100% since my last GP, and this one made it very clear to me that deck selection has only so much to do with success—minimizing/eliminating play mistakes, carefully evaluating lines of play before making a decision, and staying mentally focused is just as important, and why I think the pros do as well as they do consistently. I definitely have room for improvement, and hope to keep the upward trend.
Overall, the GP was a blast. For the most part, my opponents were fun to play against (only a couple less-than-friendly folks), and having the opportunity to play against a couple pros was definitely something I'll remember for a while!
Next goal: getting that 10th win for the pro point.
Hi codaddy;
Thank you for posting the summary and congratulations on the great result - super impressive!
I don't have any great results to share but my son and I both improved from our previous GP - had a blast and met a ton of nice people. Next time we should arrange a face to face hello!
I see Combat Celebrant has increased in price 500% as a result of UR Gift's great showing in Seattle!
C Long Live Eldrazi C
they were getting rolled by an Azor, the Lawbringer
good times
A lot of the changes will depend on what kind of decks you're finding in your metagame. The best bet is to try some things out, see how they work, adjust, and see if the adjustments work or not.
Have fun brewing!
I'm currently brewing this for when Dominaria hits. Any suggestions? I'm still keeping Seal Away in mind. Side Board under construction.
3x Censor
3x Disallow
3x Fatal Push
4x Glimmer of Genius
3x Settle the Wreckage
3x Supreme Will
2x Syncopate
2x Vraska's Contempt
Sorcery (3)
2x Approach of the Second Sun
1x Fumigate
Land (25)
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Fetid Pools
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Irrigated Farmland
3x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Cast Out
2x Search for Azcanta
Planeswalker (3)
3x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Creature (2)
2x Torrential Gearhulk
2x Arguel's Blood Fast
2x Duress
2x Fumigate
2x Gifted Aetherborn
3x Negate
4x Regal Caracal
2x Syncopate
2x The Scarab God
Cheers,
DC
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Some initial thoughts/questions for the group:
What do we think? Are we in a better, worse, or about the same place?
Seal Away is an obvious inclusion.
Also planning to test Teferi and Karn. I might throw in Gideon and Dovin Baan to create a Superfriends-y style of control.
Anyone considered Icy Manipulator? Probably too expensive for most match ups, but it could be useful.
Actually with Danwbringer, Gideon, and Teferi, I may drop the Suns altogether.
Even though UW has gotten some new powerful weapons, it does not look like they will solve the duress/negate/doomfall problem that the deck suffers from
4x Seal Away
4x Essence Scatter
4x Syncopate
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Settle the Wreckage
4x Cast Out
2x Fumigate
2x Search for Azcanta
2x Gideon of the Trials
2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2x Lyra Dawnbriger
Lands 26
1x Memorial to Genius
2x Field of Ruin
2x Scavenger Grounds
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Irrigated Farmland
7x Plains
6x Island
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Where is approach?
UR TwinLegacy
UWR MiraclesHe said --> Actually with Danwbringer, Gideon, and Teferi, I may drop the Suns altogether.
The negate problem? Negate and those other cards are only problems of Approach is your only maindeck wincon. That is a mistake. I know some people talk about the merit of virtual card advantage by blanking opposing removal, but to only have one wincon in a control deck nowadays is just asking for trouble.
The benefit of Approach, that it can't be hit by Vraska's Contempt, Cast Out, etc still holds, though. I'd split the wincons between planeswalkers, creatures, and approach. Tough for any deck to have good answers for all three. I'd say something like...
3 Approach
2 Teferi
2-3 Gearhulk or Dawnbringer
Why Teferi over Gideon? Well because Teferi can generate value immediately by drawing a card. The untap feature then frees up room for negate, seal away, etc to help protect it further. Gideon is good, but with plenty of decks running MD removal for walkers I hesitate to play one that's best first turn play is to negate a creature. That's a bit more narrow than I'd like. Obviously this is just theorycrafting until release.
I think Dawnbringer is very good, but there is a risk to playing it in a deck with very few slots for winning the game. If they respond with contempt, or ravenous chupacabra, you're in trouble. I think it is great against red though, being out of reach of their removal. Gearhulk is definitely worse against red by costing one more, but against slower decks with more removal it has flash and instant value. I don't think I'd want to run both, though. How the meta breaks down post-dominaria will show me which way to go.
Seriously, nice job.
Ok, Domanaira, I think the new set is going to make standard into a very fast format. The guys at my LGS has been brewing UG Monsters and now drop Carnage Tyrant on turn 3 pretty consistently. Our old way of thinking about games, play land go until turn 4-5 then board wipe, I don't think is going to work. We are going to have to speed up our deck as well. As much as I like UW and how smooth it is, I am going to go back and try Esper again. Fatal Push is just so strong right now. Having that and Seal Away is going to be fun. Also, I am thinking about changing up my numbers. Previously I ran 6 draws, glimmer/search, 12 counters, 4-5 removal, 7 wipes, 5-6 Win-con, 25-26 lands. Now I am playing with 25-26 lands, 4 Draw, Glimmer, 12 spot removal, Push/Seal/Cast Out/Vraskas's, 6 counter, 4 Settle and 6 Win-con. That leaves about 3 flex spots. Right now those are 3 Censor but pretty sure that will change as I do more testing.
As far as win-con's, right now still using my same old ones. I really like Teferi, just need to play with him more. Lyra Dawnbriger seems really good, the only issue with her is that mainboard, we only have 1-3 creatures and by the time she hits the board, there is a pretty good chance they have drawn some of their removal. So we will usually have to fight over her. Not a bad thing, just something to keep in mind.
Again, this is nowhere near my final list, just where I am at right now. Let me know what you think.
4 Glimmer of Genius
Removal
4 Fatal Push
4 Seal Away
2 Cast Out
2 Vraska's Contempt
Counters
3 Censor
2 Syncopate
2 Disallow
2 Supreme Will
4 Settle the Wreckage
WinCon
3 Approach of the Second Sun
2 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Gideon of the Trials
Land
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Irrigated Farmland
3 Fetid Pools
2 Field of Ruin
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Solid, I actually changed my own Esper version a little after seeing your list.
I am back, after a 3 week hiatus from magic, and because I took a trip back to Toronto to visit my family and friends and now I am back home and hyped up for Dominaria.
I've noticed people have already mentioned the auto-include Seal Away which makes perfect sense and it will take over from Baffling End quite nicely. Other people have also mentioned that the format will get much faster, especially for green based and red-based decks, and of course decks that run both colors.
In terms of cards for our deck, I don't think there are that many choices for the main deck, but there could be quite a few more choices for the sideboard.
For the main deck I will be testing Syncopate instead of Essence Scatter. I think that early game it will serve the same purpose but it will be even more beneficial late game since it can counter any spells, not just creature spells.
Aside from Seal Away and Syncopate I don't see many other cards that can make it into the main deck, I know some people will test Teferi as an alternate win condition or control card, but I'm not sure that's really needed in the deck. He can help you a lot but he can't really defend himself very well and even the Ult doesn't guarantee you a win.
Now, the one card that has stood out to me is Fall of the Thran, and you may be asking why do we want to kill lands when our deck depends on a lot of mana. As you may know I am all about transformative sideboard strategies and this card along with some low costing flyers can definitely change our deck in game 2 and 3 in ways the opponents will not be able to deal with.
Back in the day when Catastrophe was legal I used to play that in my control decks, after that I played Obliterate in my R/U control decks.
The reason is very simple, we can wipe the board, then drop a creature on the next turn and counter or bounce our opp's next drop, and the turn after we drop Fall of the Thran and destroy all lands, so the opp has no creatures on the board, or maybe one, and we got 1 creature.
If we have Seal Away in hand then we will be able to deal with the opp's one creature easily, and hopefully, the creature we drop will be Glyph Keeper or Nezahal so we can win before the opp can build up his land base again.
The reason this strategy works even better is due to the flip lands from Ixalan, we already play Search of Azcanta which we can keep as an enchantment and after casting Fall and killing all lands we can flip it and get an extra land, and the same is with Thaumatic Compass which a few of us were playing main deck already. We can use the compass to search for more lands every turn so we can win the mana race for sure.
I will be testing this sideboard strategy which runs creatures and Fall of the thran in the sideboard both against mid-range and other control decks. I know each player will get back 2 lands for the next couple of turns, but if we keep a land in hand it means the turn after casting Fall we can have 3 mana and if we flip search for azcanta we can have 4 mana while opp only has 2 mana, then the turn after we can possibly have 7 mana if we drop another land and put two more into play. Having Seal Away works great since we can take care of almost any creature the opp may have on the board, and of course with 4 land out we will be in settle the wreckage mana as well. Msny decks don't run many basic lands so by that time if we settle the opp may not even have any basic lands left in the library to go and get.
I have looked at other creatures that can be played in this deck but unless they got Hexproof or some kind of evasion from removal spells they all pretty much die to the plethora of direct removal spells in black, and the great burn spells in red so it would be hard to get a creature out and then spend resources to defend it for a couple of turns. That's why I think that Glyph Keeper and Nezahal look like the best creatures to go into this deck now, aside from Torrential Gearhulk of course.
I will be making the necessary changes to the deck, and start testing it after the pre-release when all the cards are legal and then I can post a deck list and results again! I am very excited about Dominaria, to say the leas!
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Mtg Lifestyle
if you're planning to put the last Saga trigger from Phyrexian Scriptures to 187 their GY or even Rescue it before any lands return I'm all for it. but giving your opponent 2 lands the next turn could have you staring at a 2-3 mana removal spell after you were lucky rnough to resolve a 6 mana spell.
still looks like a fun card to try and break, maybe some combination or Powerstone Shard or Mirage Mirror could give it some legs
maybe there's a Flicker effect that I can't recall off the top of my head
4x Seal Away
4x Essence Scatter
4x Disallow
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Settle the Wreckage
4x Cast Out
2x Search for Azcanta
4x Approach of the Second Sun
4x Lyra Dawnbriger
Lands 26
1x Memorial to Genius
2x Field of Ruin
2x Scavenger Grounds
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Irrigated Farmland
7x Plains
6x Island
C Long Live Eldrazi C
The Dominaria Control Top 10! a SSG article talking about the top 10 control cards in Dom. Not sure I agree with him but still a good read.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
+1: Untapping two lands at your end step effectively makes this a three mana planeswalker. Resolving Teferi on turn seven, the same turn you would normally cast Approach of the Second Sun, gives you four untapped lands at end step. Enough mana to cast anything in your deck. Glimmer of Genius, Cast out, Settle the Wreckage. This is hidden protection.
-3: Removing an opponent's nonland permanent and putting it three down in the library is protection. An outstanding tempo maneuver to disrupt Hazoret, Scarab God, Rekindling Phoenix. This also works great when you have access to multiple Teferis. Turn five -3 to remove a threat. Turn six +1 to draw card. Cast a second Teferi to either +1 and draw a another card. Or -3 to remove another threat.
-8: This is a gaming winning ultimate. Especially in a control shell where your other spells can manage nonland threats. The ultimate can then be used to exile lands. Add to this casting a Glimmer or Pull from Tomorrow then moving to your draw step. That's on average exiling three permanents. This locks the opponent out of the game forcing a concession. Again in multiples, with an ultimate in play, resolve another Teferi and draw more cards.
C Long Live Eldrazi C