Gatecrash: Wolf Run Bant (Standard)

So, I haven't played Standard in a LONG time. I think the last time I played was in early 2012 with R/G Kessig Titans back when Primeval Titan was boss and the format bowed to him. Those were some good times.. Now the format is full of powerhouses like Sphinx's Revelation, Boros Reckoner, and Restoration Angel. However, the new green monstrosity aiming to claim the throne is none other than Thragtusk.

Thragtusk is undeniably a format-defining creature that's a huge beater and creates a ton of Tempo for decks needing time to stabilize against the multitude of hyper aggressive decks in the format. I find this large, hairy friend to be a great place to start. Since the Modern PTQ season is ending for us Floridians in just a short couple weeks with the close of PTQ Dragon's Maze: Ft. Lauderdale, I started looking for some Standard lists that caught my eye to play for the upcoming Standard tournaments in March (including the TCGPlayer.com 5K and the SCG Orlando Open series) and to get a small sample of what to expect for the upcoming Standard PTQ season if I elect to play in it.

But more on Thragtusk; I love this card. This beast brings buddies, gains life and is frankly.. huge. Thraggy also has amazing synergy with Restoration Angel, which I conveniently have 4 of from my Kiki Pod list in Modern. Hooray for overlap! I didn't know exactly what I wanted to play, but I knew these 8 cards had to be in the list.

After getting crushed in the Tampa PTQ this season, I took some days off to regain some clarity and reevaluate some of my priorities. Luckily, Pro Tour: Gatecrash in Montreal came rolling around that featured amazing coverage and was probably one of the best Pro Tours ever held. I was definitely not tearing up when Eric Froehlich was talking about what Magic and his friends meant to him. Not one tear. Nope.

One of the most amazing feats of Pro Tour Monteal 2013 was the debut of Magic's first female player to make a Top 8 of a Pro Tour, Melissa De Tora. Absolutely incredible.. Personally, I'm really excited for the direction that the game is heading into and could not be more anxious to see more women inspired by Melissa's performance and aspire to hunt the Pro Tour dream. Conveniently, Melissa's deck also fit my desired formula: 4x Thragtusks and 4x Restoration Angels. Perfect. Her list can be found everywhere on the internet, but more notably click HERE to see it. I really like her list not only because it looks super fun with really flashy spells, but it also has my extremely nostalgic Kessig Wolf Run.

After playing Kessig Titans back in the day, I have a ton of respect for this card. It's extremely difficult for your opponents to play around it and it can deal an absurdly large amount of damage when you have a flood of resources. Fortunately, both decks have the ability to abuse this card in a very similar way. Wolf Run Bant (U/W/G) uses board wipes like Supreme Verdict, removal spells like Azorius Charm and countermagic to keep opponents' threats at bay while you accumulate resources for your end game. Primeval Titan in Kessig Titans would give you a 6/6 Trampling body to fight with along with two more lands and a backup plan of Inkmoth Nexus and Kessig Wolf Run to punish your opponent for running Sorcery speed removal or wasting their removal spells killing off Primeval Titan. The card advantage engine of Primeval Titan that Kessig Titans used as its finisher is paralleled with a new devastating bomb, Sphinx's Revelation. The card-drawing and life-gaining instant fuels your game in a similar way by buying you more resources, giving you some reach in your life total against Aggro or Tempo decks, and finally fueling your array of bombs that your opponent will find difficult to deal with. Cue: Thragtusk.

The most important card in the deck is similar to Kessig Titans as well. In the Titan list, the most important cards were Rampant Growth and Sphere of the Suns. Both ramp spells would fuel your turn 4 titans and the Sphere would help turn on Metalcraft for your Galvanic Blasts to ether kill Hero of Bladeholds or hit your opponent's face (figuratively speaking in most cases). Farseek in Wolf Run Bant plays an extremely vital role to the deck's timings, which is very similar to how the Titans list played out. Farseek gives you access to a turn 3 Supreme Verdict, which is really important for escaping opponents' Boros Charms and awfully painful Hellrider hits, since they're often spending their turn 3 trying to overextend for the kill. It also does the obvious by giving you an extra land that puts you virtually a turn ahead of your opponent and fixes your extremely greedy 4-Color mana base; sorry Black :(

So far, the list I have concocted is very similar with a few minute differences.

Creatures (15):
3x Augur of Bolas
3x Centaur Healer
4x Restoration Angel
4x Thragtusk
1x Snapcaster Mage

Spells (21):
4x Azorius Charm
1x Detention Sphere
2x Dissipate
4x Farseek
3x Sphinx's Revelation
3x Supreme Verdict
1x Syncopate
2x Think Twice

Lands (25):
3x Breeding Pool
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple Garden
3x Hinterland Harbor
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Sunpetal Grove
2x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents

Sideboard (15):
2x Rest in Peace
2x Negate
1x Garruk Relentless
1x Detention Sphere
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Centaur Healer
1x Witchbane Orb
1x Triumph of Ferocity
1x Unexpected Results
1x Angel of Serenity
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Dissipate
1x Blind Obedience

So the list is a little shoddy at the moment. I finally grabbed most of the pieces for this deck a couple days ago. It's missing a 4th copy of Sphinx's Revelation, so I put in a Snappy Mage instead hoping it'll carry the weight of the slot. The worst part of this deck is the Sideboard. I really don't know what Standard looks like right now other than the results from the Pro Tour and the small amount of Standard I saw when I was hosting FNM and Gameday at Campus Cards and Games. I think for tomorrow, I'm gonna try a bunch of 1-ofs and see how it goes. The Unexpected Results is obviously inclusive from cookie bets taken place between Travis and Geo. As cookie bet commissioner, I must personally test this card for effectiveness.

The mana of my deck is also a little different. I thought 3 red sources were somewhat superfluous, but didn't want to just have 1 since this list is really weak to Ghost Quarter, so I put in two. I thought Blue and White were the most vital sources of mana because I want to cast both Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict without fail.

Overall, I really like this deck because it has the tools to survive the early game and has a really powerful late game with some of the best threats in the format. Not to mention that Wolf Run Bant feels really similar to my beloved Kessig Titans list. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I'm hoping I'll have the opportunity to do so tomorrow at FNM at Campus Cards and Games (CCG).

Did I mention that I'm the Tournament Organizer of CCG? I just started a week ago and it's been pretty sweet so far. I've definitely learned a lot about the small details that go into running events and have already realized how hard it is to answer rulings questions. Looks like I'll have to brush up on my knowledge base xD I really do hope that I get better at hosting events and that the players enjoy those events.

I wish this article was full of more hard data, but I can't get any of that until tomorrow. I'll be sure to let you guys know how the deck does! What decks are you slinging for Standard? Until the post results of FNM, Magic players!

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-David J. (Player Profile)

Player Profile: David Jetha

Age: 26

Hometown: Orlando, Fl (United States)

Occupation: CNA and Student

Team: -

Duration playing MTG: 9 years

Favorite Format(s):
Limited and Modern

Favorite Guild: Simic

Favorite Planeswalker Card: Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Fun Fact: 'I played Halo: Combat Evolved professionally for half a year when I was in high school!'

Accomplishments:

Top 8s:
Grand Prix Las Vegas (MM15 Sealed - 2015)

Pro Tour Appearances:
PT Khans of Tarkir: Honolulu, HI (Draft/Standard - 2014)
PT Magic Origins: Vancouver, BC (Draft/Standard - 2015)

David received his Bachelor's Degree at the University of Florida and now is studying Biology at the University of Central Florida. In 2011, he created 'MTG Casual Network' on Facebook that expanded into what we know today as 'Casual Net Gaming' and the blog at CasualNetGaming.com. David began his Magic career playing Casual Magic in the dormitories in Gainesville and slowly moved towards playing drafts at his local game store and EDH/Commander in his spare time. He started writing about Casual Magic in 2011 and moved towards more competitive content in late 2012 when he and his team started playing in the PTQ Gatecrash season.

David's most noteworthy accomplishment was a Top 8 performance at Grand Prix Las Vegas in 2015, the largest tournament in the world at the time. He completed Day 1 of Modern Masters 2015 Sealed at 7-2 and went undefeated in Day 2 of the Draft format, finishing in 7th place after Swiss Rounds. He was defeated in the Semifinals and finished the tournament in 4th place.

What does Magic mean to me?:

'Magic is something really special. It's a game I picked up a long time ago to play around with friends and just evolved over time into something that's a part of my life and personality. I really enjoy the strategy and complexity it carries, which always keeps the experience fresh and evolving. The game is almost like a universal language that helps me communicate with people I meet in my life. Teaching people how to play is an extremely rewarding experience, so I try to help out new players as much as I can when I have the opportunity. I've met a lot of great people and made many friends playing this game and I hope that I can continue to cultivate that experience in the years to come.'

Last Updated: 05-23-16

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PTQ Dragon's Maze: Tampa, Fl

Initially, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it to this PTQ. The double tournaments scheduled over the weekend were EXTREMELY tempting, but my exam schedule did not want to cooperate with Tampa. After a while, I eventually decided to go. Simply put, I love the Tampa venue. I have a number of friends that live in the city attending USF, so it's always a lure to go visit and stay for weekend to enjoy the nostalgia of embarrassing stories and reminiscing over the good old days with loved ones; not to mention the hospitality of our host, Armada Games and my Top 8 at their PTQ a few months ago. Personally, the memory of triumph in Tampa last season is pretty golden. Of the venues and cities we traveled to during the PTQ Gatecrash season, I was looking forward to revisiting Tampa the most and not attending would be criminal.

On Friday afternoon, exhaustion was quite visible on my face. I'd spent most of the week studying for my Biochem exam on the upcoming Monday so I'd have enough time to make the Tampa trip. This exam was pretty rough since it drew a lot of foundation from Chemistry II that I haven't taken in almost 5 years, so the preparation time needed for me to reach where everyone else was in the class was pretty substantial. After carpooling with Evan to Tampa, we met up with our good friend, CJ and played basketball with him and his roommate to unwind. Afterwards, we met up with Justin and started grinding some Modern testing. Fortunately, Felicea let CJ borrow her Mono-Red Goblin deck and CJ was fostering and talking to it like it was his own child. After some discussion and revision to sideboards, we hit the hay in anticipation for the event the next day.

Since the tournaments were a few weeks ago, a lot of the details are really blurry, so I'll just briefly summarize both events.

Summary of $700 Armada Games Tournament (44 players):

Round 1: U-based Affinity; Aadil Quadir (2-0)

Round 2: Mono Red Affinity; Enrique Albizu (2-0)

In G1, we both hit a huge stalemate with a bunch of ground robots on my opponent's side of the board and a fortress of walls on my own, opponent could only safely swing at me with a singleton Blinkmoth Nexus. In a final combat phase, he sent in an alpha strike that represented lethal damage even with blockers courtesy of his Arcbound Ravager. I made the appropriate blocks and I passed priority to him. After a couple minutes of consideration, he made some Arcbound Ravager activations to try and bait out a removal spell. With a little bluffing, I successfully convinced him that I had a removal spell in hand that deterred him from making the all in by sacrificing his Ravager and he took me down to just 2 life. Fortunately, my last two cards in hand were the combo pieces I needed to win the game on the next turn. I guess playing 4 colors makes bluffing easy..

Round 3: Eggs; Stephen Poindexter (---)

In this Round, I was interestingly paired against Stephen. Earlier in the day, Stephen decided that wasn't going to play in the tournament and save his money for the Tampa PTQ the next day. I really wanted him to play because I knew he had a good chance of doing well and he drove out all that way just to be at the venue. I looked in my wallet and only saw $50.. I gave Stephen $25 and knew I had just enough for the PTQ the next day in a worst case scenario. Who needs dinner??

Although I did feel bad about it, I did ask Stephen for his concession in this Round since I paid for his buy-in earlier. After a minute or two of discussion between us trying to determine if he would be able to win out into Top 8 with this one loss or not, he decided to give me the win and we took a nice 50min break. During the break, we had the pleasure to talk to Michael Fortino about a plethora of rules questions and Stephen gave me some pointers about playing against Eggs since there were one or two other people in the room piloting the deck and I had little experience against it. We discussed some sideboard options and I kind of realized the Eggs timings were similar to R/G Tron matchup, so I decided to play my deck similarly if the opportunity arose.

Round 4: Eggs; Hugo Santana (2-0)

And so it did..

Since I already knew my opponent was piloting Eggs from watching some of his matches earlier, I had the benefit of taking slightly more aggressive mulligans than I normally would in G1 of a series. I kept a hand that had a mild amount of disruption including Deceiver Exarch to lock my opponent out of mana for a turn where I thought he would attempt to combo. After a bit of back and forth, Hugo eventually died to a natural combo kill from a top-decked Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.

Strangely enough, Hugo's loss in G2 started before we decided to mulligan or not. After G1, you could visibly tell he was on the tilt. He kept blinking his eyes to stay focused and he started to sweat a lot more. I don't really know why exactly, but the loss in G1 really shook up his confidence. He took a mulligan to 6 and kept a 1-land hand. After missing land 2 on turns 2 and 3, he gave the concession to my creature army backed up by a Birthing Pod.

Rounds 5 and 6: ---

In most tournaments, an X-0-2 record is almost guaranteed to make Top 8 and most players don't elect to play the last two Rounds once they are undefeated, so they don't jeopardize their standing in the Top 8. Furthermore, I was the 2nd seed at this point, so there was a very small margin that I wouldn't be able to Top 8 with 2 simple intentional draws. I spent the next couple hours sitting back and enjoying the down time. I watched Evan go through round after round with a X-1-1 record trying to seal up a Top 8 slot. Eventually, in G3 of the 6th round, he got there. Evan and I have been playing Magic for a while and I give him a lot of shit. I'll be honest, I'm tough on the kid. I was really proud of him once he got the win and there was no way to wipe the smile off our faces after we both placed in the Top 8. On Stephen's side of the story, he walked away with an X-2 record and since a lot of people dropped for the tournament, we were REALLY hoping he could sneak in, but it didn't seem likely.

Me: 3rd Place at 4-0-2
Evan: 5th Place at 4-1-1
Stephen: 9th Place at 4-2

When we got back home, that really sweet feeling of triumph was almost overwhelming. Evan was extremely blissful and even I was pretty excited. Fortunately for me, I won back the money I paid for the tournament and even the money I used to sponsor Stephen for the event. Unfortunately, the PTQ the next day would yield different results..

Summary of the Tampa PTQ (along with noteworthy mistakes):

Round 1: U/R Twin; David Maddox (0-2)

In G1, I didn't read what strategy my opponent was playing until the game was more than over. In G2, I tapped my mana incorrectly in some cases, which inherently advertised when I had Path to Exile in my hand and when I didn't, I missed one of my combat phases, and I didn't use my hate cards correctly and was outraced.

Round 2: Mono Blue Merfolk; Allie Smith (2-1)

In G1, I kept a mediocre hand and had unrealistic expectations. In G2, I eventually won by removing all her Merfolk using Path to Exile and Izzet Staticaster before she could create a critical mass of Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Tridents or Merrow Reejerey. In G3, she drew into a ton of her sideboard removal and a turned a pair of Aether Vials online but didn't draw into any of her creatures and didn't apply any pressure, so I could combo at my leisure.

Round 3: U/G Infect; Bryan Nikla (1-2)

In G1, 2-for-1'd his two early Noble Hierarch with an Izzet Staticaster and the rest of his army was quickly decimated. In G2, I cast an early Chalice of the Void for 1 before casting the pair of 1 CMC spells in my hand and regretted it immediately after casting the artifact. He ground me out of the game with a Pendelhaven and Infect creatures. In G3, I kept a risky hand that had a single copy of Spellskite. In hindsight, I should have took a mulligan since I brought in roughly 9-10 cards from my sideboard against my Infect opponent and easily could have a 6 card hand with two stronger hate cards in it.

Round 4: Red Deck Wins; Stephen Theriault (1-2)

In G1, my opponent cast Skullcrack in response to my saving grace Kitchen Finks and I was quickly buried. In G2, I tapped mana incorrectly, but scratched out a win with a standard Birthing Pod chain when my opponent was tapped out. G3 was a grinder for both of us since my opponent had a Torpor Orb, Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon on board and I had a Chalice of the Void for 1 and a Wall of Omens on my side of the board. I had a single Avacyn's Pilgrim on board that didn't tap for Green nor Blue....

My non-Noble Hierarch budget card, Avacyn's Pilgrim couldn't cast any of the three Blue cards in my hand and I died when I couldn't draw into any cards to generate non-Red colors. 

Round 5: U/W Flash; Clint McGovern (1-2)

My opponent was clearly on the tilt and he was pretty angry at his performance that day. G1 fell very quickly to a simple Birthing Pod chain that he wasn't aware of. I kept really unusual hands in G2 and G3 because of greed and was punished hard by my own deck.

Round 6: B/W Tokens; Evan Forster (0-2)

In this Round, Evan and I were paired up because of our abysmal performance. Ironically, Michaelle Solorzano (the guy I lost to in Ocoee and Ft. Lauderdale) was having an even worse day at a 0-5 record. Ouch. We had a very friendly match full of jokes and nonsense until Stephen walked through the door with.... gasp:

The V2 of the Casual Net Shirt!! In my personal opinion, I think it looks SUPER sharp. I might have to buy more of them now.. >_> (check out my Player Profile at the bottom of the article to see the shirt!)

I lost G1 because I kept a hand that was slightly land saturated, got punished by Evan's Tidehollow Scullers, then was promptly flooded with more lands. In G2, Evan drew into Torpor Orb and a pair of Stony Silence that I simply couldn't fight through.

I eventually decided to drop so I could conduct some last minute trades and sell some cards to vendors for monies before we headed home for the day (I did end up snagging a Volcanic Island and a foil Garruk Relentless, which were nice consolation prizes). I concluded the PTQ with an abysmal 1-5 finish out of the 117 person event. To be honest, I was (and still am) extremely disappointed in myself. Normally, I can be content with defeat. When PTQ Gatecrash: Tallahassee didn't go very well for the team, I walked away knowing that I did my best with the very little preparation that I had. I feel like I didn't prepare enough for this PTQ and I made a lot of incorrect assessments about my deck from unfamiliarity and lack of focus.

Although it stings, defeat teaches us a lot of things; it reminds us of who we are. It reminds us that tomorrow is another day. It reminds us that we tried and we can take admiration in our trials. It reminds us of those who stuck by us in defeat and of the people we love and those who love us. It reminds us that we are inherently flawed; that we always must strive to do good against all peril. It reminds us that there's always more work to do. It reminds us that people need our support and that we need others' guidance. It reminds us to stand tall even when we feel like we can't rise. It reminds us of the person we used to be and the person we strive to be. It reminds us of our purpose.

After watching the Pro Tour Montreal coverage this past weekend, I feel a little more revitalized in my resolve. Over the past few months, I've allowed irrelevant things to wiggle their way into my priorities and forgot about my dream of going to the Pro Tour. Although I started the PTQ Dragon's Maze season with the mindset of simply participating to support the team, the competitive side of me woke from its slumber; I'm competing in Ft. Lauderdale to win.

I'd like to thank the following people for coming out to the event over the weekend and to everyone else who continues to support Casual Net:

Justin Ashori

CJ Brown

Andres Curiel

Evan Forster

Chris Hogg

Jules Jeannin

Brandon Kohrs

Stephen Poindexter

Kevin Stoiber

Robert Williams

John Wyly

'What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger and stronger willed.'

EDIT: Congratulations to Ed, Brandon, and Jules each for nabbing a Top 32 finish. Good job, gentlemen. =]

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-David J. (check out David's Player Profile!)