Hi guys, here two brief reports of the MKM Series Bologna my teammate and I attended last week.
About 180 players, I ended 17th (6-2, no byes), my teammate Top 8ed (6-1-1, 2 byes).
We both played 4c Traverse Shadow, plz find the list below: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=20981&d=339174&f=MO
Brief opinion on the decklist: we both are Shadow players since the first decklists came up online more than 2 years ago. During these years we experimented all the different Shadow shells, going from 5c, to 4c, to Jund, grixis and esper. We truly believe Traverse shell is simply more powerful than Grixis brother (which obv is the most played shadow shell ATM) for some simple reasons (feel free to discuss). Main differences between the two shells are: Snapcaster Mage, Threat Density, Manabase Consistency, Grave hate, Tarmogoyf.
1- A lot of people like playing Grixis over Traverse because of Snapcaster Mage. Snap is really a great card, but the Grixis shell played nowadays is the worst in taking advantage of Snappy: 17 lands and no KCom make us Snap for a cc1 spell only, so that the Snap is still a great card, but it’s not as strong as it used to be.
2- Traverse is THE card: fixes our lands and gives us a threat. Sometimes grixis shell loses a lot of time trying to find a threat through Visions, Scour and Baubles. Here you can easily pay 1 to get a Shadow (obv, U must have delirium, but the was born to consistently make delirium).
3- Grixis Shadow is more consistent than any other shell. Only 3 colors, 2 basic lands that covers the colors other than red. Sometimes it could happen that playing traverse u got stuck in hand spells that u can’t cast, we believe the manabase we played at tournament was really consistent, but we must say Grixis is better in consistency.
4- The only card that kills us is Rest in Peace, but we can discard/counter it, and remove it too (trophy). Other grave hate cards (surgical, nihil, relic, Leyline) don’t really kill us, some of them are one-shot cards and some other still allow our goyfs to be big.
5- Tarmogoyf is better than Gurmag Angler, no way out.
Francesco Trogu’s Report: Top8 – Lost in quarterfinals
Turn 1 – Turn 2: Bye (4-0 at MKM Trial on Friday, winning to Gtron, Scales, Spirits, Dredge).
Turn 3 - Bant Spirits : 1-2
G1 and G2 were straightforward, I won G1 doing what the deck it’s designed to: discard, fast shadow, temur battle rage. My opponent did the same in game 2. I lost g3 due to mana screw: I mulligan a one-land hand (forest) to find another one-land hand (forest again), I didn’t find the second land.
Turn 4 – BG Midrange : 2-0
G1: turn 1 discard, turn 2 discard, turn 3 Shadow with Stubborn backup. He didn’t find a double removal.
G2: turn 1 discard, turn 3 Lili of the Veil, turn 4 Kcom killing bob and making him discard a card, I won as soon as I found a creature.
Turn 5 – Affinity: 2-0
G1 and G2: too many removals for him, he didn’t manage to play a champion, no way to win.
Turn 6 – KCI : 2-1
G1: turn 1 discard, then Shadow and stubborn on Krark-Clan Ironworks, Untap , Draw TBR.
G2: my oppo started with a double Grove of the Burnwillows on the first 2 turns, EE killed my goyf and he managed to win a couple of turns later.
G3: turn 1 discard, turn 2 goyf, turn 3 goyf + stubborn.
Turn 7 – BR Vengevine : 2-1
G1: easy win, Shadow and TBR.
G2: easy lose, vengevine + 2 zombies on turn 2, no TBR.
G3: really exciting, I kept a really strong hand, he doesn’t find Leyline in his opening. Turn 1 discard targeting looting, turn 2 goyf but I struggled to win cos of his several zombies. Time ended, judges called additional turns, at the 4th additional turn he had a double shadow and double goyf (5/6), I was at 10 and he was at 9, I had a TBR in hand, but he had 10 zombies. I drew Bolt and I swung for 16 with all my creats. He had to decide if safely blocks and didn’t risk to lose or do some double blocks and try to win the turn after. He went for the second choice, double blocking my goyfs and blocking my shadows with a zombie each, bolt targeting myself, I went to 7, TBR on Shadow and won.
Turn 8 – I had the highest rating among 6-wins players and I drew.
Top 8 - Mentor Phoenix: 0-2
G1 at some point I was at 9 and I had to decide if cast a shadow and kill him the turn after, but expose myself to a double bolt and phoenix, or cast an IOK to shave an eventual bolt from his hand and slow down a turn, I went for the first, he drew a scour milling a phoenix drawing a bolt.
G2 I played thoughtseize only, not a removal nor a threat.
I was satisfied overall, the deck was really strong and I think I didn’t make any relevant mistake.
Alessio Bergodi’s Report: 6-2
Turn 1 – 4c Eldritch Evolution: 2-0
G1: he played a double Voice of Resurgence, on turn 3 my board counted a goyf and 2 shadows, he tried an Evolution but stubborn gave me the win.
G2: too many removals for me, he was stuck with 2 evolutions in hand without creatures to sacrifice.
Turn 2 – Burn : 2-0
G1: my oppo screwd stuck on one land for 2 or 3 turns, too much time for me
G2: 2 stubborns on the last 2 bolts.
Turn 3 – UWR : 1-2
G1: I was forced to lose too many life casting seizes, he killed me with bolts.
G2: too many threats for me, double goyf on t2 and t3 with a stub backup.
G3: he managed to kill me at the last additional turn bouncing his snap with cryptic and killing me snapping bolt, I was at 3
Turn 4 – Infect : 2-0
Really good Matchup, pretty straightforward games, shadow, removal, tbr.
Turn 5 – Vizier Company: 2-0
G1: a couple of removals on his key creatures while swinging with a shadow, he didn’t find a chord.
G2: oppo starting, land hierarch, go. Land finks go. Land Finks, go. Anger of the gods.
Turn 6 – EldraTron: 2-0
G1. Turn 1 discard on his chalice, then double shadow on turn 2.
G2: He kept a really slow hand, I was really fast, too fast.
Turn 7 – Grixis Shadow: 2-1
G1: both turn 1 discard, I played a goyf and he found a push, I found a trophy for his angler then a traverse for a Shadow that he didn’t solved.
G2: turn 2 gurmag and stubborn on my dismember. Than push on my shadow and gg.
G3: We went to topdeck at turn 4 after some discards and removals, untap draw: lili of the veil, gg.
Turn 8 – UR Phoenix: 0-2
My rating was not that great, so I had to play.
G1: my hand didn’t have a threat, but I Got a Lili. At some point he drew a looting and cast it, drawing and discarding double phoenix, I had no answer for such a play.
G2: really slow game, I had 3 shadows but I was at 15, at some point I fetched and played a shadow, he killed it with an axe than played a surgical targeting shadow, emptying my hand. I didn’t find any answer for his phoenix + drake and lost.
About 180 players, I ended 17th (6-2, no byes), my teammate Top 8ed (6-1-1, 2 byes).
We both played 4c Traverse Shadow, plz find the list below:
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=20981&d=339174&f=MO
Brief opinion on the decklist: we both are Shadow players since the first decklists came up online more than 2 years ago. During these years we experimented all the different Shadow shells, going from 5c, to 4c, to Jund, grixis and esper. We truly believe Traverse shell is simply more powerful than Grixis brother (which obv is the most played shadow shell ATM) for some simple reasons (feel free to discuss). Main differences between the two shells are: Snapcaster Mage, Threat Density, Manabase Consistency, Grave hate, Tarmogoyf.
1- A lot of people like playing Grixis over Traverse because of Snapcaster Mage. Snap is really a great card, but the Grixis shell played nowadays is the worst in taking advantage of Snappy: 17 lands and no KCom make us Snap for a cc1 spell only, so that the Snap is still a great card, but it’s not as strong as it used to be.
2- Traverse is THE card: fixes our lands and gives us a threat. Sometimes grixis shell loses a lot of time trying to find a threat through Visions, Scour and Baubles. Here you can easily pay 1 to get a Shadow (obv, U must have delirium, but the was born to consistently make delirium).
3- Grixis Shadow is more consistent than any other shell. Only 3 colors, 2 basic lands that covers the colors other than red. Sometimes it could happen that playing traverse u got stuck in hand spells that u can’t cast, we believe the manabase we played at tournament was really consistent, but we must say Grixis is better in consistency.
4- The only card that kills us is Rest in Peace, but we can discard/counter it, and remove it too (trophy). Other grave hate cards (surgical, nihil, relic, Leyline) don’t really kill us, some of them are one-shot cards and some other still allow our goyfs to be big.
5- Tarmogoyf is better than Gurmag Angler, no way out.
Francesco Trogu’s Report: Top8 – Lost in quarterfinals
Turn 1 – Turn 2: Bye (4-0 at MKM Trial on Friday, winning to Gtron, Scales, Spirits, Dredge).
Turn 3 - Bant Spirits : 1-2
G1 and G2 were straightforward, I won G1 doing what the deck it’s designed to: discard, fast shadow, temur battle rage. My opponent did the same in game 2. I lost g3 due to mana screw: I mulligan a one-land hand (forest) to find another one-land hand (forest again), I didn’t find the second land.
Turn 4 – BG Midrange : 2-0
G1: turn 1 discard, turn 2 discard, turn 3 Shadow with Stubborn backup. He didn’t find a double removal.
G2: turn 1 discard, turn 3 Lili of the Veil, turn 4 Kcom killing bob and making him discard a card, I won as soon as I found a creature.
Turn 5 – Affinity: 2-0
G1 and G2: too many removals for him, he didn’t manage to play a champion, no way to win.
Turn 6 – KCI : 2-1
G1: turn 1 discard, then Shadow and stubborn on Krark-Clan Ironworks, Untap , Draw TBR.
G2: my oppo started with a double Grove of the Burnwillows on the first 2 turns, EE killed my goyf and he managed to win a couple of turns later.
G3: turn 1 discard, turn 2 goyf, turn 3 goyf + stubborn.
Turn 7 – BR Vengevine : 2-1
G1: easy win, Shadow and TBR.
G2: easy lose, vengevine + 2 zombies on turn 2, no TBR.
G3: really exciting, I kept a really strong hand, he doesn’t find Leyline in his opening. Turn 1 discard targeting looting, turn 2 goyf but I struggled to win cos of his several zombies. Time ended, judges called additional turns, at the 4th additional turn he had a double shadow and double goyf (5/6), I was at 10 and he was at 9, I had a TBR in hand, but he had 10 zombies. I drew Bolt and I swung for 16 with all my creats. He had to decide if safely blocks and didn’t risk to lose or do some double blocks and try to win the turn after. He went for the second choice, double blocking my goyfs and blocking my shadows with a zombie each, bolt targeting myself, I went to 7, TBR on Shadow and won.
Turn 8 – I had the highest rating among 6-wins players and I drew.
Top 8 - Mentor Phoenix: 0-2
G1 at some point I was at 9 and I had to decide if cast a shadow and kill him the turn after, but expose myself to a double bolt and phoenix, or cast an IOK to shave an eventual bolt from his hand and slow down a turn, I went for the first, he drew a scour milling a phoenix drawing a bolt.
G2 I played thoughtseize only, not a removal nor a threat.
I was satisfied overall, the deck was really strong and I think I didn’t make any relevant mistake.
Alessio Bergodi’s Report: 6-2
Turn 1 – 4c Eldritch Evolution: 2-0
G1: he played a double Voice of Resurgence, on turn 3 my board counted a goyf and 2 shadows, he tried an Evolution but stubborn gave me the win.
G2: too many removals for me, he was stuck with 2 evolutions in hand without creatures to sacrifice.
Turn 2 – Burn : 2-0
G1: my oppo screwd stuck on one land for 2 or 3 turns, too much time for me
G2: 2 stubborns on the last 2 bolts.
Turn 3 – UWR : 1-2
G1: I was forced to lose too many life casting seizes, he killed me with bolts.
G2: too many threats for me, double goyf on t2 and t3 with a stub backup.
G3: he managed to kill me at the last additional turn bouncing his snap with cryptic and killing me snapping bolt, I was at 3
Turn 4 – Infect : 2-0
Really good Matchup, pretty straightforward games, shadow, removal, tbr.
Turn 5 – Vizier Company: 2-0
G1: a couple of removals on his key creatures while swinging with a shadow, he didn’t find a chord.
G2: oppo starting, land hierarch, go. Land finks go. Land Finks, go. Anger of the gods.
Turn 6 – EldraTron: 2-0
G1. Turn 1 discard on his chalice, then double shadow on turn 2.
G2: He kept a really slow hand, I was really fast, too fast.
Turn 7 – Grixis Shadow: 2-1
G1: both turn 1 discard, I played a goyf and he found a push, I found a trophy for his angler then a traverse for a Shadow that he didn’t solved.
G2: turn 2 gurmag and stubborn on my dismember. Than push on my shadow and gg.
G3: We went to topdeck at turn 4 after some discards and removals, untap draw: lili of the veil, gg.
Turn 8 – UR Phoenix: 0-2
My rating was not that great, so I had to play.
G1: my hand didn’t have a threat, but I Got a Lili. At some point he drew a looting and cast it, drawing and discarding double phoenix, I had no answer for such a play.
G2: really slow game, I had 3 shadows but I was at 15, at some point I fetched and played a shadow, he killed it with an axe than played a surgical targeting shadow, emptying my hand. I didn’t find any answer for his phoenix + drake and lost.
Ty for reading!