Starcity Open Series: Worcester report.
I finished the day in 63rd place at 7-3, which brought with it a $50 prize ($10 more than entry). Ten rounds, and there were actually more people than DPaine thought - about 570ish according to the judge I asked.
Here's the list I entered. It was based on Yuuya Watanabe's Pro Tour list but with Gryff instead of Brimaz and Dig instead of God's Willing.
[deck]
Creatures - 17
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Mantis Rider
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Hushwing Gryff
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Instants - 18
2 Dig Through Time
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Jeskai Charm
Planeswalkers - 1
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Land - 24
4 Mystic Monastery
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Battlefield Forge
3 Shivan Reef
3 Flooded Strand
3 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Island
Sideboard - 15
2 Magma Spray
2 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Gainsay
2 Banishing Light
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Prognostic Sphinx
[/deck]
I went in thinking that I wanted a plan against the mirror and some game against Abzan. I ignored the aggro matchups because I thought our MD generally matched up well. As you'll see from 2 of the losses, that isn't necessarily true. I'll post another list at the end that I think I may switch to.
Round 1: UB Vault Control: 2-0 Win
I think in 2 games I saw a total of 4 cards from him. Downfall, Vault, Thoughtseize, and
Jorubai Murk Lurker. I like the idea of that card, but I think it's far too slow. As is the rest of the deck, to be honest. I know it's a slow format with all the tap lands and control usually thrives in those types of formats, but the card draw isn't great, nor is the lifegain, and 2cmc removal is lacking. I've played against this deck with RW Burn, Mardu Burn, and Jeskai and have gotten the same results each time.
SB: -2 Magma Jet, +1 Gainsay, +1 Chandra
1-0 on tournament
Round 2: Abzan Midrange. 1-2 loss against Lloyd Kurth
That name may sound familiar if you watch a lot of the SCG streams, particularly legacy. He's decent and gets featured a fair amount. I got absolutely annihilated in this matchup. That 1 game win isn't even real either. He got a game loss for mis-registering his deck. So we went straight to game 2 where I didn't know what he was on, we didn't board, and my 7 was too reactionary, which is bad against a deck that matches up really well against your spells. Game 3 I mulliganed to 5 and had to keep monastery, monastery, temple, basic, banishing light. I figured the mana was perfect, I had 1 piece of interaction, and it was likely better than any 4 I could have gotten. Led with the scry to dig for action but he buried me with his good draw. I also misplayed and cast a Stoke the Flames on his courser while he had Charm mana up.
SB: -4 Jet, -4 Rabblemaster, -1 Chandra, +3 Stroke, +2 Glare, +2 Erase (probably a mistake), +2 Banishing Light
1-1 on tournament
Round 3: Mono Red Boss Style. 1-2 Loss
I had sat across from him during the player meeting and he let me know what he was playing, so I had the benefit of information for the mulligan in game 1 but kept a 7 that had lands, creatures, spells. Seemed reasonable. He had the nuts, though, and I couldn't stabilize in time. Almost turned the corner but he had the burn.
Board for game 2: -2 Dig, +2 Magma Spray. Won game 2, though he got me down to 8. Was fairly back and forth.
Board for game 3: Realized I should also take out the Dragons since I didn't want to tap out for them at 5. Too slow. So brought in the 2 Banishing Light in their place. I don't remember the details of this game but the pad of paper has me going 20, 18, 17, 9, 8, dead and him at 19. So yeah.
1-2 on tournament. At this point I'm very tempted to drop and hope to spike Modern side events with UR Delver but I decided to stay until my 3rd loss. The 3rd loss came in round 10.
Round 4: Mono Red Boss Style (again). 2-1 Win
This kid pissed me off right from the start. I think I had to tell him twice to stop looking at my cards when he was shuffling them. He also asked me which "version" of Jeskai I was on and what changes I had made after I played a few cards. I would have shrugged that off as casual chatter if it weren't for the obvious peeking at cards while shuffling. He beat me game 1 very convincingly. My notepad has me going 20, 19, 15, 6, dead and he stayed at 20. But I was mad.
Board for game 2: -2 Dig, -2 Dragon, +2 B-Light, +2 Magma Spray. I didn't make changes for game 3. Both games I kept removal heavy hands, controlled the board, and turned the corner when the time came. Very typical for burn vs. aggro matchups.
This was the beginning of my 6 round win streak, and I attribute it to him getting me upset. Apparently I play better angry.
2-2 on the day
Round 5: Jund. 2-0 Win
Caryatid, Courser, Stormbreath, Deathdealer, Garruk, Thoughtseize, Downfall, and some burn. Seems like a collection of decent cards. But flyers are too strong and Stoke is a clean answer to Dragon. You're even trading up on mana without convoking.
SB: -4 Magma Jet, -1 Rabblemaster, +3 Disdainful Stroke, +2 Banishing Light
3-2 on the day
Round 6: Sultai Control: Win 2-1
This was a close matchup. The guy told me he had beaten 2 other Jeskai decks on the day and liked the matchup. Well, game 1 he died with me at 25 life
Board: -2 Rabblemaster, -4 Magma Jet, +1 Gainsay, +3 Disdainful Stroke, +2 Banishing Light. Game 2 he out powered me with multiple
Nylea's Disciple and a Prognostic Sphinx. It was a very close game, a lot of good back and forth.
Game 3 I kept the same board plan. This was also a very close game. It ended with him representing lethal, me hellbent, and him at 3 life. He passed the turn and I topdecked the Stoke the Flames after not drawing action for a few turns. There were 2 times he was about to stabilize where Banishing Light saved my bacon - once with Courser and another with the 1-of
Bow of Nylea. After the match I realized I had misplayed earlier, though, and could have dealt an additional 3 to him. So I'm glad it wasn't a punt.
4-2 on the day.
Round 7: Green Devotion: Win 2-0
I don't have many notes on this matchup. Game 1 I beat him while I was at 20 life and game 2 he died with me at 22, though I dipped to 19 at one point (probably a painland activation). My board plan was: +2 Banishing Light, +3 Disdainful Stroke, -1 Dig, -2 Jet, -1 Rabblemaster, -1 Chandra. I wasn't quite sure how to board so I just hedged in a few areas.
5-2 on the day
Round 8: Jeskai Ascendancy: Win 2-0.
I was surprised my opponent's deck had made it this long at x-2. He was running some infinite life combo with
Oreskos Sun Guide, using
Retraction Helix to tap it, similar to its use in the more popular version. Maybe I got lucky he didn't land any Coursers, but I burned out every creature he played and beat down with Mantis Rider and Seeker. I did land an Erase on Ascendancy in game 2.
SB: -2 Dragon, -2 Dig, -1 Chandra, +2 Erase, +2 Magma Spray, +1 Glare of Heresy
6-2 on the day.
Round 9: Mirror Match. 2-1 Win
My opponent (Anthony) is a very good local player and I groaned a little when I saw him sit down across from me. I knew I had an uphill battle based purely on quality of opponent. He took game 1 in VERY convincing fashion, too, furthering my belief that he was simply better than me.
SB: -2 Seeker, -1 Magma Jet, -4 Rabblemaster, -3 Hushwing Gryff, +3 Disdainful Stroke, +2 Prognostic Sphinx, +2 Banishing Light, +1 Gainsay, +2 Glare of Heresy
Game 2 was over quickly. We were both missing a color but while I was missing blue he was missing red, so my Seeker went the distance. I got blue in time to burn him out with Charms.
Game 3 was fairly protracted but he mulliganed to 6 and Prognostic Sphinx took over the game.
7-2 on the day. Since my 2 losses came in rounds 2 and 3, though, I couldn't draw into top 32 (prizes were top 8 prizes, then 9-32, and 33-64 and I knew I had no shot at top
. The standings confirmed that I was 40th place heading into round 10.
Round 10: Mono White Tokens: 1-2 Loss.
Ugh. WTF IS THIS DECK?!? That's pretty much all I was thinking throughout this matchup. Apparently the list was on the Pro Tour a bit but I didn't notice it and didn't do an ounce of prep work, even if just theory, for it. I think I had to read
Launch the Fleet like 3 times. He was running somewhere between 2 and 4 Mana Confluence but I don't know what for - all I saw were white cards. I guess the PT list is U/W?
He was on the play and he won games 1 and 3. I basically won game 2 on the back of 6 Mana Confluence activations.
SB: -2 Dragon, -2 Dig, -1 Chandra, -1 Stoke. +2 Glare, +2 Banishing Light, +2 Magma Spray. In retrospect, Chandra is better in the matchup than Jeskai Charm but I actually got good use out of Charm's first mode because I could reset counters from Heroic and tempo him a bit with putting Brimaz on top.
7-3 on the day. 63rd place, just barely winning $50.
I'm proud of the way I battled back and rattled off 6 wins in a row, though I'm sure a few of those were against poor opponents/decks since I was in the X-2 bracket very early. I'm still a little sore after the round 10 loss because I don't know where that list came from. DPaine told me it was a pretty rough matchup for us because they spam so many dudes that it overloads our spells. It certainly played out that way.
I hadn't played a single game with the deck prior to the tournament, though I played with similar RW and Mardu Burn lists. I think I was undervaluing Dig (boarded it out a lot, even though it helps you find your actual sb pieces) and overvaluing Jeskai Charm (kept it in more than I should have, even though it doesn't impact the board enough). I also think flyers are insanely valuable in this Standard.
I'd like to try something along these lines:
[deck]
Creatuers - 16
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Hushwing Gryff
4 Mantis Rider
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Spells - 19
2 Dig Through Time
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Jeskai Charm
1 Dissolve (or Negate)
Planeswalkers - 1
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Land - 24
3 Flooded Strand
4 Mystic Monastery
3 Shivan Reef
3 Battlefield Forge
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Island
3 Temple of Triumph
2 Temple of Enlightenment
Sideboard - 15
2 Magma Spray
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Banishing Light
1 Suspension Field
1 Erase
2 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Negate
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Glare of Heresy
[/deck]
If GP LA's Top 8 is to be believed, mono red aggro will be everywhere so that fact plus 2 of my above losses makes not having Anger in the board a big mistake. Also Negate is probably just better than Gainsay, though it can't hit an opposing Sphinx. That's what Stroke and MD DIssolve are for, though, so I keep the same number of answers and gain a better counterspell in the board.
In their place, I will add a third Anger and a Chandra.