A phrase that kept resonating in my head every time I sat down for a game of Magic. Many disappointing finishes over the past year later, I started to look for some guidance; any guidance.
In my last article, I talked about taking a break from Magic to focus on the cornucopia of commitments I have. I suppose growing up and taking on the responsibilities of an 'adult' started to catch up with me and I began to feel that the Pro Tour wasn't a real possibility for me anymore. How could I compete with players who consistently spent hours and days on end playing Magic?
With PTQ Khans of Tarikir season almost over, I knew I only had a few tournaments left over the summer before I returned back to being a student again. The 2nd to last PTQ was in Mississauga, ON when I visited some family in Toronto. After exploring the city for a few days, I played in a Modern FNM in towards Spadina in downtown Toronto and decided to test the waters and pilot my newly built Junk Midrange deck. I ended up going 3-1 losing to Melira Pod in R1 pretty handily. Across the basement tabletops, I saw a sea of Melira Pod, R/G Tron, and Affinity players. It wasn't much data, but it was all I had to go off of. I decided that I was proficient enough with Kiki Pod to beat those decks in the next day's PTQ if that's what the region mainly consisted of and hope to dodge the Blue decks (Scapeshift, Splinter Twin, and U/W/R Control) as much as I could. It wasn't a completely outlandish bet considering Blue decks have been losing popularity due to the increase in G/B/x decks from GP Boston-Worcester. I thought my read on the meta seemed sound..
In PTQ Toronto, I ended the day with a very mauling 4-4 record and lost to said popular Junk Midrange and Blue decks galore.
R1: (1-2) Scapeshift - daggers :(
R2: (0-2) Junk Midrange
R3: (2-0) R/B/W Midrange
R4: (2-1) U/R Twin - opponent punted G3
R5: (0-2) Junk Midrange
R6: (2-1) Tarmotwin
R7: (1-2) Blue Moon - very well played match; Vedalken Shackles is very hard to beat
R8: (2-0) Junk Midrange - opponent punted on Slaughter Pact. Oops.
I really dislike the matchup for Kiki Pod against Scapeshift and it was really disheartening to play against it R1, since I felt the Scapeshift was poorly positioned against the rest of the metagame. After R8, I was checking my deck and noticed that it only contained 74 cards. I layed out the entire deck and realized I was missing a Noble Hierarch. I looked for the card on the floor and asked a few opponents that I played throughout the day if they had seen it, but to no avail. I'm not entirely sure when the card went missing, but I was upset that the card was lost on top of putting up poor results. And the vendor food was expensive; the worst of days.
Returning home, I watched Pro Tour M15 looking for some inspiration. Core Set M15 was the main focus in the beginning of the tournament and it was really fun to watch and see the depth of the format. In a way, it rekindled my love of Limited. Over the next few weeks, I put away my Modern research and did some drafts at FNM with Evan and honestly; they were a ton of fun. It dawned on me that my reservations against tournament Magic were simply that I stopped enjoying it. Since a lot of my friends stopped playing in PTQs or GPTs over the past year, I didn't have the same motivation I did before. I had fun drafting and spending time with friends... simple as that. So before my last Modern PTQ of PTQ Khans of Tarkir for what would be an indefinite amount of time, I spent my Friday night drafting with my friend instead.
After draft that night, I put together my Kiki Pod sideboard to prepare for the PTQ the next day. Collectively, our team found that mono Red/Red-Deck-Wins variants would probably be the most represented deck that day, so I wanted to make sure I was prepared. I took out some cards out of my Junk Midrange Sideboard and added them to the Kiki Pod Sideboard along with Burrenton Forge-Tender. I had a few dollars of store credit with Cool Stuff Games and I really dislike having incomplete decks, so I browsed their list of foil rares that were under 5 dollars to fill in the missing slots in Junk Midrange. After going through several pages of results, I stumbled upon this small trinket:
I had seen the card played in a few lists while perusing the internet, but no one really championed the card and the general consensus was that the lifegain aspect of Nylea's weapon was too slow for the RDW matchup. I figured the +1/+1 counter mode could be good in the mirror against opposing Lingering Souls tokens and the Tarmogoyf mirrors and the tuck cards from yard into library 'could' matter against Blue decks or decks bringing in Keranos, God of Storms. Worst case scenario, I figured I wasn't playing the deck anyways, so it didn't matter; what is one card in 75?
When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt kind of sick, so I took some Tylenol, coffee and a hardy breakfast before driving Rob and Evan to Tampa. For some reason, I felt like playing Junk Midrange that day. I remembered Toronto and I really didn't want to lose to any Blue decks, regardless if Junk had glaring weaknesses against Melira Pod and Affinity. I knew that I was going to have a good time with my teammates regardless and figured I'd play something new.
Earlier in the season, I watched the GP Boston-Worcester coverage and used Robin Dolar, Pierre Dagen, and Timothee Simonot's Junk lists as the inspiration. I spent some time playing with it at local Modern FNMs, Florida States, and random games on the side. I felt like I had an ok handle on the deck, but I didn't feel like it did anything remotely powerful, so I kept it on the sidelines for most of the season. Once we arrived at the venue, I met up with almost the entire team. It was actually quite phenomenal considering most of us haven't been in the same place at once in almost a year. I mentally prepared for the tournament and to play as well as I could.
Junk Midrange - PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Tampa, Fl
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4x Tarmogoyf
4x Dark Confidant
3x Scavenging Ooze
Spells (24):
4x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Liliana of the Veil
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
3x Lingering Souls
4x Abrupt Decay
2x Dismember
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Putrefy
1x Slaughter Pact
Lands (25):
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
3x Tectonic Edge
3x Treetop Village
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden2x Twilight Mire
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Swamp
1x Forest
Sideboard (15):
2x Stony Silence
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Darkblast
1x Bow of Nylea
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Choke
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Creeping Corrosion
The Affinity matchup is very difficult, so I increased to the 2nd copy of Creeping Corrosion. The Engineered Explosives, Darkblast, 2nd copy of Grafdigger's Cage and Choke were late additions. Did I mention that I hate losing to Modern Blue decks?
The 2nd Grafdigger's Cage was a nod at Melira Pod being very difficult to attrition out since their creatures are extremely resilient to removal and Birthing Pod is probably the single most powerful card in the format next to Cryptic Command and Thoughtseize. The rest of the board is pretty self-explanatory.
In Round 2, my opponent mulliganed to 5 and I ripped my oponent's defenseless hand apart with Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek leaving his Kiki Pod deck with a stranded Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker that would break no mirrors in this game. In G2, I made a very costly misplay and played the wrong land that allowed my opponent to come back and combo kill me with a barrage of Deceiver Exarch tokens. In G3, I took a mulligan to 4 and was promptly defeated by my opponent having sheer card advantage. It was extremely ironic that I faced Kiki Pod in R2.. and then lose to it. 'This is how my tournament begins,' I thought.
In Round 8, I found myself at 6-1 in 6th Seed facing down Stephen Mann with Angel Pod featuring Archangel of Thune and Spike Feeder combo with a myriad of one-of value creatures as its win conditions. I heard through the grapevine that his deck featured 4x Kitchen Finks and 4x Voice of Resurgence, which is... designed to win all of the midrange mirrors since his creatures are extremely resilient to all of my removal spells and trade favorably in combat. I figured at this point that I had reached at least Top 16 with a loss and X-2 record, so I was pretty proud of myself for that since even Top 16s in PTQs had been hard to reach for me over the past year. Against all the odds, I went into this match not thinking I had a chance.
In G1, my 7 card hand was absolutely perfect and my opponent took a mulligan to 5. After a Thoughtseize seeing he was flooded with lands, I cast an early Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze to apply enough pressure and eat his Kitchen Finks and Orzhov Pontiff in response to their 'dies' triggers that we quickly moved to Game 2. In G2, again, my 7 card hand was a piece of artwork. I laid down another early Tarmogoyf and used removal spells alongside my Grafdigger's Cage and Dark Confidant to replenish gas and prevent his Kitchen Finks from entering the battlefield once more. In several swift attacks, I moved to 7-1, first seed going into the Top 8.
I honestly could not believe it. It took almost 2 years, but I finally achieved another PTQ Top 8. I was super excited and felt so accomplished. A lot of people congratulated me and I was on cloud 9; it was an absolutely amazing feeling. Our team has a history (or curse) of not making it past the Quarter Finals in Top 8s of large tournaments, so I intended to change that. I kept my focus, drank a ton of water, and moved into the first match of Top 8
Quarter Finals; American DelverAs first seed in the Top 8, I had the option to be on the play the entire way through, which adds more value to having Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek in my opening hand. I sat across an opponent who bested me before in Florida States earlier in the season, so we both knew which decks we were on. I remembered that his deck was very fast and he played no spells over 3 mana, so being able to play around his removal and kill his Geist of Saint Trafts before they became a problem was crucial. My opening hand in G1 was:
Marsh Flats, Treetop Village, Temple Garden, 2x Liliana of the Veil, Scavenging Ooze, and Dark Confidant. I looked over this hand for a good amount of time. Although it has most of the lands it needs to cast spells, it lacks interruption with my opponent outside Liliana of the Veil that we cannot reliably cast and Scavenging Ooze that can only begin to interact with my opponent on his Turn 3. I knew this hand was too slow and I probably would not be able to beat a quick Delver of Secrets draw, so I chose on the side of discipline and I took a mulligan to 6 cards. The new 6 had two lands, Tarmogoyf, Thoughtseize, and 2 other cards that were not relevant. My opponent took a mulligan to 5 and I was able to run him out of cards and threats quickly.
In G2, my opening hand was even more interesting. It contained 2x Scavenging Ooze, 1x Abrupt Decay, 3x lands, and 1x Fulminator Mage (I think?). This hand was very interesting since it had the removal spell we want for his turn 2 or 3 threat but lacks a direct answer to Geist of Saint Traft. I would also have to throw Scavenging Ooze into my opponent's hand of unknown cards. Scavenging Ooze has a lot of value in the matchup, so I'm hard-pressed to throw them to Lightning Bolts of Path to Exiles early. I chose to mulligan to 6 and I feel that this was the most controversial decision the entire tournament. In hindsight, I would make the same decision, but I definitely am not convinced it is absolute correct decision. My 6 fresh cards had hand disruption and Liliana of the Veil with lands to support it, so I kept. After some battling over Geist of Saint Traft and Delver of Secrets, I snuck in a Choke through his countermagic that shut off 2 of my opponent's 3 lands. After not having enough resources to fight back, my opponent offered the concession.
Curse BROKEN!!
Semi Finals: Red-Deck-WinsThis would probably be the most important match of the tournament. In G1, my hand was very slow with a singleton Scavenging Ooze, Liliana of the Veil, and Garruk Wildspeaker. I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to win this match outside of not taking damage off my lands and playing threats that killed my opponent quickly, so I kept the hand. After some swings back and forth, Liliana of the Veil ripped her hand apart and I landed a Garruk Wildspeaker to start making Beast tokens. After throwing a barrage of burn spells at me, she finally took my life total to 3, while she stared down 12 power worth of creatures on my board. With no cards in hand, she looked to the top of her deck only to see another copy of Molten Rain, which would take me only to 1 life, so she scooped up and we went to G2. In G2, she cast an early pair of Goblin Guides and 2 Molten Rains and I died before I cast any relevant spells.
In G3, I kept my hand of double Tarmogoyf, lands, and spells. My opponent took a mulligan to 6. Then 5. With visible frustration, she took a mulligan to 4 and reluctantly kept. With no lands in hand, she faced down a pair of 3/4 Lhurgoyfs, so she scooped up her cards and wished me good luck in the finals.
Finals: U/R TwinBefore the match began, I asked my opponent if he intended to actually go to the Pro Tour; he said he wanted to. I asked if he wanted to spit money; he said he did not want to. Well, we had nothing more to discuss.
In G1, I kept a hand of 7 cards with Inquisition of Kozilek while my opponent took a mulligan to 5. After casting Inquisition, I saw my opponent's hand of: 2x Snapcaster Mage, 2x Sulfur Falls, and 1x Twisted Image. Immediately, I knew that my opponent was on dedicated U/R Twin and that I was extremely favored to win the match. Trying to keep my cool and play as calmly as possible, I beat him down with Dark Confidant and Green beaters, we moved to G2.
I don't remember G2 very well because it was honestly a whirlwind of emotion, but I took the game away off the back of Abrupt Decay killing his creatures and using Tectonic Edge to keep him off 5 mana for Batterskull or Keranos, God of Storms. I finally saw the tournament's conclusion.
R1: (2-1) Boros Burn
R2: (1-2) 4C-Kiki Pod
R3: (2-0) Mono Red
R4: (2-1) RUG Tarmotwin
R5: (2-0) Junk Midrange
R6: (2-0) Mono-U Tempo
R7: (2-0) Red-Deck-Wins (with B/W splash)
R8: (2-0) Thune Pod
QF: (2-0) U/W/R Delver
SF: (2-1) Mono Red
Finals: (2-0) U/R Twin
My final record was 10-1 with a 80.8% win percentage. In so many words, the feeling was awesome. After 2 years and 18 PTQs across 5 seasons, I finally won one. Winning obviously felt great, but having the team behind me and supporting me was probably the best feeling. So winning a PTQ... does that make me good now? I honestly don't think so. I got very lucky and my opponents in some of the relevant rounds in Top 8 took several mulligans. I feel like I played well, but I attribute most of the success in this tournament to luck. I played against Red-Deck-Wins 4 times during the tournament and saw Bow of Nylea in 3 of those matches to close them out and I drew the cards I needed to win some difficult board states and rarely ever felt like I couldn't win any particular game (other than G2 in Semi Finals). Personally, this win makes me want to play better and continue to grow as a player. I also feel that I need to use this Pro Tour invite well and don't let it go to waste. There's a lot of pressure, but I don't want to be a 'one-hit-wonder' and I want to prove to my team and myself that I deserve this invite.
PTQ Khans of Tarkir: Tampa, Fl (1st Place)
Not that this validates my win at all, but three weeks later I finished in 3rd with a 6-2-1 record and 61.9% win percentage at PTQ Fate Reforged in Hollywood, Fl for M15 Sealed. The format was tricky to learn, but I felt like I played well and my deck had a lot of sweet commons and uncommons and my Top 8 draft deck had a P1P2 Genesis Hydra. It was pretty exciting to get so close to another Pro Tour invite.
PTQ Fate Reforged: Hollywood, Fl (3rd Place)
In a little less than a week, I will be flying out to Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu, HI. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go to the Pro Tour again whether by skill or personal availability, but I'm extremely honored to be able to go and I will do my best to play well and have a great time while I'm there.
Maybe that one in 75 made all the difference..
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-David J.
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