dustycrumbz TezzeratorMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | ||
---|---|---|
Spells 3 Serum Visions 3 Fatal Push 3 Collective Brutality 4 Whir of Invention Planeswalkers 1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas Artifacts 4 Mishra's Bauble 3 Mox Opal 2 Welding Jar 1 Pithing Needle 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Damping Sphere 1 Time Sieve 3 Sword of the Meek 4 Thopter Foundry 3 Ensnaring Bridge 1 Bottled Cloister | Lands 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Polluted Delta 3 Scalding Tarn 2 Watery Grave 1 Breeding Pool 2 Spire of Industry 3 Island 1 Swamp 1 Academy Ruins | Sideboard 1x Pithing Needle 1x Nihil Spellbomb 1x Torpor Orb 1x Spellskite 1x Witchbane Orb 2x Thoughtseize 2x Abrupt Decay 1x Maelstrom Pulse 1x Damnation 2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation 1x Herald of Anguish |
PPTQ #1 (Last Weekend - 48 people, 6 Rounds Swiss)
R1 - KCI
This matchup is abysmal, just like with any other non-storm combo deck/Tron, but oh well.
G1: Opponent Mulls to 5. I keep a decent 7 and quicky get to Thopter Sword. I still lose after he turbos out an Emrakul (which I haven't seen in those lists for about a year). Couldn't find bridge/whir to stabilize.
G2: He keeps 7 and loops me on turn 4. I had a window where I could have whirred for a Needle to play around Gutteral Response/Negate, but the issue was that I should probably name EE, but I was pretty sure I'd die if he just had KCI the following turn (which he did), but if I named KCI, he could have EE/Claim to undo the Needle line (which I believe after the game he said he did.
R2: UW Control
I just came off the back of a loss to this deck at the Modern PTQ before GP Richmond. Although its still close and certainly harder for us than Jeskai Control due to the configuration of their sideboard, I can't remember ever losing to this deck prior to that. This was going to be loss #2...
G1: I get get flooded and can't force my opponent's hand early with a flurry of impactful spells. I needle JTMS on board, but die to Collonade/Clique after he bounces bridge then snap/cryptic on the way back down.
G2: His hand lines up really well against mine again and he just beats me with Jace Ultimate after I run out of gas.
R3: Grixis Shadow
G1: I answer his first creature with a push, then comes the flurry of hand disruption, the dust settles, and my top decks are naturally now better than his. I assemble ThopterSword + Sieve.
G2: Opponent plays turn 2 Damping Sphere? I get to ThopterSword plus protection and he dies. I asked if he trimmed down to the singleton K Command that a lot of these decks have been doing and he said yes - thankfully never saw it.
R4: Slivers
G1: I get hellbent early and get turn 3 bridge, find ThopterSword, game.
G2: He has a blisteringly fast start and I never see bridge.
G3: I get Bridge again and eventually just amass a large number of artifacts and Tezz Ult.
I conceded to my last opponent because with a R1-2 loss there was little chance that my breakers were good enough so I cut my losses and dropped to go to dinner with my family instead
PPTQ #2 (Yesterday: 19 People - 5 Rounds Swiss)
R1: Mono-Green Tron
G1: I have a hand of Whir/Whir/Damping Sphere/4x Lands. This hand can get there but it needs work and Damping Sphere is dead against so many decks. My opponent plays T1 Urza land into map - its weird because while I'm super pumped that my sketchy keep ended up being a good hand against this deck, I know better and my stomach sinks a little cuz this matchup is THE WORST. However, I play tight, draw into Time Sieve, and Sword, use whir 1 for a Needle on O-stone (cuz he couldn't play and activate it in the same turn), then Whir 2 for Foundry and I get the extra turn lock when he cracks map on my end step to ensure that he has no outs.
G2: I mull to 6. He's on the play and curves T1 Tron Land/Map into Turn 3 Karn. I immediately scoop.
G3: I manage to get sphere out again to slow him down, but I still have to fade what feels like a billion turns. I get incredibly lucky throughout the game as his threats ended up being Worldbreaker on something redundant, TKS when I had a sandbagged land in hand, and Ballista. I Tez out in between those turns and start making a wall of 5/5's. I eventually get the ballista off the board, and then overwhelm him for the win.
R2: Jeskai Tempo
G1: My opponent plays a spicy Soulfire Grand Master, which despite being a rogue card for the format, is super telling to what his gameplan is. I escalate brutality to kill SGM and strip a counterspell from his hand. I get Thopter Sword and win.
G2: I just make sure I hit my land drops and sandbag impactful spells for a big turn once he makes the first move. He goes for a JTMS T6, I whir for Needle ad it resolves so I know the coast is clear. I play Foundry into Herald. He takes his next turn to double helix the Demon (total 3-for-1 exchange with the EOT discard on my last end step). I get the Sword down and win.
R3: GB Rock
G1: Game is super grindy but luckily I see he's not playing the third color for Stony Silence or Ancient Grudge. I get ThopterSword online after a flurry of discard spells but he has a scooze to stabilize. I manage to win through making Thopters without sword and swinging in the air.
G2: I fall behind and accidentally play swamp (to hide info since he knew I had it) instead any of my other lands but realize that this locks me out of being able to play whir before turn 3 and LOTV forces me to discard my 3rd blue source. We're both hellbent and he has a big goyf. LOTV is at 6 and he decides to uptick it to 7 and pass. I top deck Needle to name LOTV. He swings with goyf and plays a land. I top deck Bridge... Game ends after I get Bottled Cloister to draw into Tez and ult.
R4: Eldrazi Tron
I think I can ID but turns out only 3 of us are undefeated and unfortunately I get the pairdown.
G1: My opponent plays T1 Urza Land - map and my stomach sinks again (... not like this... lol). Luckily he plays a TKS and I know it's not as bad as it could have been because bridge is good against them. I manage to stall the board with a bridge. He finds an Endbringer and starts to clock. I get ThopterSword and stabilize with it's lifegain and then win in a couple of turns.
G2: My opponent gets Endbringer into a huge Ballista and kills me.
G3: I get Bridge and Damping Sphere to stall into Tez and win through an Ult.
R5: ID into top 8 as top seed.
Quarters: Eldrazi & Taxes
G1: I knew what my opponent was on and played turn 1 Needle on Aether Vial. My opponent plays Plains - Aether Vial. I misplay my T3 by holding up whir mana when I should have just played Time Sieve/Damping Sphere to get to 3x artifacts + 3x lands online. I realize my mistake when he casts T3 TKS off of an eldrazi temple and takes my bridge and my last line puts me a full turn away from being able to Whir for Bridge. His T2 Thalia just ruined all of my lines and I lost the turn before I could stabilize.
G2: Bottled Cloister lets me draw a ton of cards, Spellskite for a layer of protection until he sees Stony (which he doesn't), then I lock him out with ThopterSword.
G3: I get an early bridge and he responds with Leonin Relic-Warder. I have just the answer in Brutality and escalate to see his hand. Things could get messy because he has Flickerwisp and 2x Resto plus Stony, but I'm much less concerned about the enchantment. I manage to get Bottled Cloister online and after he casts his second Flickerwisp (1 was already on board), I Maelstrom Pulse the wisps when his shields are down and then follow up with Torpor Orb. Tez comes down and Ults for the win.
Semis: RB Hollow One
(I'm bummed that my friend and I had to meet here instead of the finals)
G1: I barf land - Bauble - Bauble - Jar - Mox - Foundry. He just plays a land. I cast Needle on Bloodstained Mire T2 and lock him out of a land in hand. I get Sword shortly after and win.
G2: He starts with Leyline. I stall the board with 2nd Bridge after grudge killed the first one and I whir for Cage in between. I find Thoptersword and win.
Finals: GB opponent from round 3.
G1: I get turn 2 Thopter Foundry online but the game goes long anyway cuz I can't find sword and he has double scooze anyway. Eventually I get Cloister to give me some card advantage and I slam Sword and Time Sieve Lock him for a scoop.
G2: He plays a tapped land into tapped land and no hand disruption spell. I get T2 Foundry again with sword in hand. He plays T3 Tracker but I respond on my turn with crack fetch, Push, Sword. I win shortly afterwards.
I considered changing up my 75 config to have a 2/2 split of Tez/Herald but after testing a bit the night before, I'm glad I didn't change my mind. It might be a bit better against the blue decks that bring in Negate, but I'm not sure it's better overall (plus they probably have to keep in some number of creature interaction anyway due to the recent config of the popular lists). Overall for this PPTQ season's worth of events, I played an SCG IQ, a Friday PTQ before GP Richmond's main event, and 4x PPTQ's with this list (with a handful of minor metagame tweaks along the way since the list I developed for GP Hartford earlier this year). Although the non-PPTQ tournaments didn't go so well, I managed to Top 8 3x of the 4x PPTQs from this season, sealing my invite to the RPTQ in the last one. Although it's ultimately unrealistic and incredibly hard to do I'm going to continue my dream (as well as a lot of yours) and try my best to get this deck on the "Big Stage". But seriously, I'm so glad that after all of these years, my favorite fringe deck has developed into a fringe deck that is positioned well against a large portion of the current metagame. Let me know if you guys have any questions!!!
1