This past weekend I played in a PTQ in Burlington, NC. With moving to Wilmington, NC to work at Cape Fear Games, in the past year the only tournaments I have had time to play in were 2 FNMs and States. Let's just say it's been awhile for competitive magic.
Saturday June 19th, was a Standard PTQ, and was expected to be larger than the previous Burlington PTQ (Ext). This was not the case, and 74 of us registered and sat down to sling cards for seven rounds of swiss.
The Deck
I've always loved the 1 card combo of Sovereigns of Lost Alara, and for a brief period tried to fit the "Sovereigns Package" into every deck in Standard, even Jund. That didn't work out so well, but is a topic for a different article. The only real question was how to fine tune the numbers in the main, whether to have Rhox War Monk and/or Dauntless Escort in the main or sideboard, and how to fill out the rest of the sideboard. Here's what I registered.
As you can see, it's a typical build of Mythic. I choose to go with Dauntless Escorts main, and Kor Firewalkers over Rhox War Monk in the board. I only played 3x Baneslayer Angel and 3x Escort to make sure I had 7 Planeswalkers.
Sideboard
As the photo shows, I highly value Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and would even consider main-decking her over Baneslayer. At the very least keep 3x in the board. She's just valuable in many matchups, including the new Dredgevine deck. The big problem with the main deck is the lack of removal. This means the mirror is decided over the die-roll and whoever can get a conscription first. This makes the Path to Exiles and Bant Charms out of the board more valuable. I would probably increase one or both (or put the Qasali Pridemages back in). Deprive is cute, but Negate may just be better in most cases. It's nice to have a catch all and Bant Charm does just fine. I think some combination of 4x Bant Charm/Negate is probably enough. It is nice to have every card be a threat, and the more non-threats you swap out for, the longer it takes for you to win. Having said that, here's the sideboard I would play if I were going to play this deck this weekend.
2x Bant Charm
2x Negate
3x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2x Path to Exile
3x Qasali Pridemage
1x Emerge Unscathed
2x Celestial Purge
The three other cards I would consider are Oblivion Ring, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, and Vapor Snare. The latter two would replace the Celestial Purge for the Jund Matchup. Although, with Sarkhan the Mad being popular and so good, Celestial Purge shines. This leaves both Rhox War Monk and Kor Firewalker without a home. I wouldn't expect to face more than 1 or 2 RDW decks.
As for the manabase. I feel this is one of the better builds. Having all 8 green fetchlands with 4 forests helps ensure the 16 mana creatures will get out in due time. I haven't missed the Tectonic Edge yet, but would put one in should I remove some of the Negate/Bant Charms from the board. The only change I would make would be to go down to 3 Celestial Colonnades and add in an Arid Mesa. There were a few times when I wanted to have my Knight of the Reliquary gain an extra +1/+1 and have a Plains for a Gideon/Elspeth/Baneslayer Angel. Also, the added fetch land would help increase the potency of Lotus Cobra.
The Tournament
When I arrived at the event the rest of the Cape Fear Games crew had already set up our dealer table and those that were playing were putting the last minute touches on their deck registration sheets. I was able to borrow most of my cards from Greg Respet, and a few from Arian Gulick. I finished my deck registration sheet and grabbed a last minute 4th Sovereigns of Lost Alara from Justin Cavenaugh and got ready to play round 1.
*The below matchups are what I believe the people were playing from my notes of tracking life point totals.
Round 1, Mike, Mythic, Game 1
Mike wins the die roll, which turns out is pretty important in the mirror. It did help that he mulliganed to 6. I get in a few swings with an exalted Birds of Paradise and Lotus Cobra. I promptly get pounded to 2 by something carrying a Conscription. I then untap, draw a fetch land (any land would do), cast my own Sovereigns and swing in for the lethal 14.
Game 2,
He mulligans again, but gets some offensive force to bring me down to 7. I get a Baneslayer out and am able to profitably block and then start to race with the aid of a Noble Hierarch. An active Celestial Colonnade helps seal the deal.
1-0
Mirror Sideboard Plan
-3 Dauntless Escort, -1 Elspeth, -1 Baneslayer Angel
+2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +2 Path to Exile, +1 Bant Charm
Round 2, Orrin, Jund, Game 1
I start on the play and face down a turn 2 Putrid Leech. Blightning wrecks my hand and I'm faced with a decision to either cast a Baneslayer Angel, or Dauntless Escort. I choose the Baneslayer as either a Blightning or removal would bin my Baneslayer. However, without removal, I'm far ahead. He Bloodbraids into a Terminate. For the rest of the game, I didn't really have a chance, as Jund does what it does. He ends up doing 13 damage the last turn with Dragon token swinging, Sarkhan the Mad adding more Dragon damage and following that up with a Blightning.
Jund Sideboard Plan
+2 Celestial Purge, +2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +1 Bant Charm, +1 Emerge Unscathed
-3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, -3 Dauntless Escort
Game 2, Again I'm on the play and again he has a turn 2 Putrid Leech. However, my turn 5 Sovereigns deal over 12 and he concedes after not finding an answer.
Game 3, He decides to play, and again has a turn 2 Putrid Leech. I'm able to play a critical Bant Charm as we both fall to 11 life. I untap and land a Sovereigns putting the game away.
2-0
Round 3, Matt, UWR Super Friends, Game 1
I originally put him on some version of UW Tapout. I started with a Forest into a Birds of Paradise. He played a Celestial Colonnade. I dropped a Lotus Cobra and a Celestial Colonnade adding Green for a Noble Hierarch. He played a turn 2 Spreading Seas on my Colonnade. I played another Noble Hierarch and swung in for 4 with an exalted Lotus Cobra. He tapped out for a Sea Gate Oracle. I top decked a fetchland, added 8 to my mana pool, hard-cast Eldrazi Conscription on my Lotus Cobra, and made him sack 2 permanents before dropping him to 2. He later realized he could have sacrificed his Spreading Seas (which would have opened up my Colonnade for a future attack), and Sea Gate Oracle, and then untap and play Day of Judgement. Instead, he sent a land an Oracle to the grave thus ending the game.
Game 2, What I remember about this game was playing Jace and Fatesealing and seeing an Ajani Vengeant on top and leaving it as he had four lands out without Red mana. That proved to be a good play as it took him about 4 turns to get red mana and he died shortly after activating it once.
3-0
Round 4, Chris, Dredgevine, Game 1
I won the die and Chris started off with a mulligan. I conscripted something quickly and won. I hadn't done my research and didn't know what this deck was about, and didn't sideboard very well for it. I didn't see Vengevine, only Bloodghast and Extractor Demon.
Game 2: He comboed out and crushed me with 16 power of Vengevines ala Renegade Doppelganger. Yes, you read that right, Renegade Doppleganger.
Game 3: I mulliganed, but was able to get a Baneslayer online to halt the crazy shenanigans. He had an opportunity when he played a Hedron Crab to copy it with a Doppelganger and mill 6 which would have drawn him into a Sedraxis Alchemist and would have won him the game. However, he did not and I was able to squeak out another victory. I was his only loss, and this deck looks really fun and will surely be popping up in more places.
4-0
Round 5, Mike #2, Jund, Game 1
Jund grinds me out, and kills me without much of a fight.
Game 2, I mulligan but use a timely Celestial Purge and Bant Charm and am helped by him stumbling on mana for a turn.
Game 3, He never got more than 2 lands, and without a red source to terminate. I Bant Charm his turn 2 leech away, and his 2x Maelstrom Pulse got online too late.
5-0
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Round 6, Ali, Turboland, ID
After round 6 my breakers were at 69%. But that doesn't mean anything unless you win it all.
Round 7, Wesley, Mythic, ID
The comical part here is because my rating was so low, by Drawing with Ali and Wesley, I gained 12 and 7 points respectively.
Top 8 Included at least 2 Mythic Decks, 2x Turboland (with an interesting Naya version), DredgeVine deck and 3 others.
Round 1, Wes (from round 6), Mythic Mirror, Game 1
He won the die roll, and had great hand minus a Sovereigns. He ripped it turn 3, which made my turn 3 Sovereigns irrelevant.
Game 2, He mulliganed to 5, and was never really in it.
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Game 3, I felt in control of the game with a turn 3 Linvala shutting off his Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch and Wes from Double White. I got in 2 swings with Linvala and Celestial Colonnade which I realized later was a mistake. I should have just attacked with Colonnade to play around Gideon Jura. Gideon came down and killed Linvala. I still would have had to attack Gideon and he probably would have won anyway, but it would have helped me have a slightly better chance of surviving. The second misplay came when I had an active Colonnade and I swung only to get chumped by a Birds of Paradise. I could instead have dropped a Noble Hierarch and chump blocked with it to gain a few more turns. However, the top of my library was Birds, land, land. So, it didn't really matter. Other than those two misplays, it was a well played match by both players.
Congratulations to Ali Aintrazi for winning the PTQ with Turboland. Best of luck in Amsterdam.
Mythic is a great deck to play, but I think that's mostly because it has a Sovereigns package. I would play any deck with the 1 card combo. Maybe RDW could splash for the U and W.
Until next time, keep it Basic.
14 Comments
Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't an ID mean the match didn't happen and you don't exchange points at all? Am I mistaken? (It's been almost a decade since I last competed in anything constructed irl.)
An ID counts as a draw - both players get 1 point. A win is worth three points, a loss nothing.
You are thinking about the "draw" procedure for splitting the finals of a single elimination 8 player event, like a draft. In the paper world, you can split the finals, and most tourament organizers create a prize payout that supports this. (Like 8-4 - or 6 each if you split.) However, ending the match in a draw causes two problems. First, the tournament software does not always like splits - sometimes it insists on having a winner. Second, if a high rated player draws with a lower rated player, the high-rated player loses some points. To avoid both problems, most scorekeepers simply drop one of the two players in the finals, and the other player wins with a bye. The final results still show the dropping player finishing second, and no one loses points to a match that was not played.
Note that I'm not saying anything, here, abotu whether IDs are good or bad. I've written 10k+ words on that elsewhere. (Check my archives.) I'm just explaining how it works, in paper, at the moment.
As Pete said, it really depends on the rating of the players. If the ratings were equal, no points would be exchanged. The further the two players are apart, the higher the percentage of the K value will be exchanged to bring their ratings closer to the result, which is even.
I am aware of the meaning and calculation of ratings and k values thanks. I was simply thinking that there was something about IDing into a top 8 that meant no game was actually recorded as played. I'd forgotten (its been a decade or so) that IDs while having controversy for screwing with tie breakers are not the same thing as what I was thinking of that came up recently when someone was banned online for it. Pete covered that. I too could fill a book with my opinions on the fairness of IDing but since it is the accepted norm now there is no point. It is not going to change.
I'm actually unfamiliar with the nuances of ratings. Does this mean that when we play MTGO limited tournaments, our rating will spike higher if we beat someone else who happens to have a high rating as opposed to a low one? Or is this only PTQ-level etc.
It happens online in all the various tournament formats it just doesnt really count for anything.
Ratings online mirror your ratings in paper (though they are separate things.) Unfortunately the powers that be decided that ratings amount to bupkis online and decided to never use them again (until further notice.) Now the only one who can see your rating is you. The point gains are based on the K value of tourneys. The higher the K value (8, 16, 32) the more points you and your opponent have at risk. The way ratings increase and decrease is based on expected results for one rating facing another. If you are low enough rated and you face someone with tons more than you, you can actually gain points for drawing with them. Hence the above conversation. Unfortunately this only means anything in real life.
During the initial MODO beta my limited rating hit the high 1800s and stayed there but the things that were notable were that there a) lots of bad players drafting since it cost nothing. And b) Since the drafts were free if you were ok at them you could keep your ratings up just by playing enough. Very few points did I gain for beating anyone over 1900 (I lost to them I mean.) I miss the over 1700 and over 1800 table avatars. Sad that they trashed them along with the tables (which I don't miss.)
I live about 30 minutes from Burlington...the last area PTQ i went to was tsp-block. The crowd there was about 200. Im starting to wonder what's going on with NC magic or if it is just this part of the state.
Having grown up in Durham and living in Burlington currently (but only playing online - oops), I don't understand what could be the problem with this part of the state. There are probably 1.5 million people within ~30-45 minutes drive and another couple million if you're willing to drive further (charlotte and richmond aren't THAT far).
Are you saying people around here just aren't playing magic? Maybe the problem is that all the college kids are home for the summer?
I didn't mean "couple million" just million (Charlotte ~700,000 - Richmond ~200,000). I don't think my first estimate was too far off though.
well people in greensboro arent really playing. I live on campus at UNCG and I have met maybe 8 people who play after a year. So I mostly play online as well. I know the area used to be vibrant when DJ's was around in High Point. But I have not heard much about Lucky's Card Shop which is the current local magic shop.
The last PTQ I went to in NC was also the TSP block PTQ which took the attendance record for largest PTQ in NC at the time. I believe this tournament was an anomaly and isn't indicative of competitive magic in NC.
lol, well that may explain why it looks like it has died down in recent years for sure. I know the SCG events get a lot of attendance but then you also have people travelling from all over to be there.
I traveled 9+ hours down to NC to go to Cape Fear Games... though it was just to sell off my remaining paper and not to play lol