Presents and Stuff
by Paul ‘Frodo’ Muller
Its Thursday! This means only one thing: it’s time for a look at competitive magic and a review of the Invitational this past week. Last Sunday, Tom “The Boss” Ross took down the invitational for the second time in a row. Talk about being on a heater! First off, I would like to congratulate him on the win. He is a prime example of how playing the decks you know can add those few percentage points to your win rate and push you over the top. He came into the weekend with everyone in the room essentially knowing 140+ of his 150 cards, and he still was able to crush the field. We all knew Ross would be on Rabble Red and Infect; the surprise, however, was not his deck but Reid Dukes'. The invitational runner up was playing four (count them - FOUR) Genesis Hydras. We've all had an idea of the power of this card, but for the most part no one had found a real home for this powerhouse until now.
**On a side note, a big congratulations to one of our strong local players, James Rynkiewicz, who placed 13th overall in the invitational and for following up that performance with a top 8 Sunday in the legacy portion of the Open series. James did much better than I did this weekend when It came to magic. **
On Saturday I started round 1 game 1 of the Open with a mull to 5 keep 1 land playing Jund walkers vs U/W control featuring Detention Spheres and no Planar Cleansing. It should be close to a bye for my deck, but variance was having none of that.. I kept my one scry land hand and . . . died with one land in play. Just one of those games. In game 2 he died horribly by way of Rakdos’ Return and 4/4 lands thanks to Nissa. Game 3 was a marathon affair which finally ended with him casting a third Revalation followed up by an Aetherling.
**On a side note, a big congratulations to one of our strong local players, James Rynkiewicz, who placed 13th overall in the invitational and for following up that performance with a top 8 Sunday in the legacy portion of the Open series. James did much better than I did this weekend when It came to magic. **
On Saturday I started round 1 game 1 of the Open with a mull to 5 keep 1 land playing Jund walkers vs U/W control featuring Detention Spheres and no Planar Cleansing. It should be close to a bye for my deck, but variance was having none of that.. I kept my one scry land hand and . . . died with one land in play. Just one of those games. In game 2 he died horribly by way of Rakdos’ Return and 4/4 lands thanks to Nissa. Game 3 was a marathon affair which finally ended with him casting a third Revalation followed up by an Aetherling.
On to round 2, and I'm in the dream-crush bracket. Every win is someone eliminated from top 8 contention. Let’s get there. I'm paired against a homebrew R/G Rabblemaster with Ghor-Clans and mana dorks. it was mediocre at best and he died to a swift 2-0 due to my plethora of removal spells.
With 2 rounds down and 8 to go to try and get my top 8 with thoughts of grinding out the next 8 rounds. I sat down to my round 3 opponent who immediately began flooding the board, or at least attempting to with white creatures. Luckily, the build of Jund Planeswalkers I was playing had no shortage of removal and every time he played a creature it died, up until he “end of my turn” casts a raise the alarm into a return to the ranks for four. Luckier still, I still had a Mizzium Mortars and 6 mana. That was the end of that nonsense. Once again, a quick 2-0 and finally a positive record.
Time for round 4 and a harder matchup in B/W midrange. Luckily, he couldn’t count and tapped out for an Elspeth to kill 2 of my 4/4 lands while I still had a Nissa on board and he had no blockers at 4 life. and on to 3-1 I went.
After stringing a few wins together I was finally feeling good about my deck and possibly salvaging my day after a round 1 loss. I sit down across from my opponent and as we shuffle up my opponent inadvertently shows me a Temple of Abandon; he’s on R/G or Jund and I mulligan accordingly. I get to blow him out with a quick Rakdos’ Return and take game 1 nice and easy. In game 2 I out-ramp him a second time and Return away his hand, redirect the damage to kill his Domri Rade, and leaving him with nothing but a couple lands. He scoops on the spot and we are on to 4-1!
And with that we move to round 6 and the mono black match-up. Thoughtseize, Pack Rat into me dying game 1..this fun cant end soon enough. He loses game 2 to removal and a couple Rakdos’ Returns. On to game 3, my most tilting loss of the day. We trade Recourses off until I can land a late Xenagos and start killing him. With him at 2 life, I make my 4th Satyr token. He has 3 mana (including a Mutavault) up and a Pack Rat in play. I swing for what should be game... and get blown out by his final draw step which just happens to have been a Bile Blight. 3 turns of me bricking later, I die with my opponent at 2 life and an awful taste in my mouth.
We are sadly dead for top 8 but not that sweet $100 for top 32, so it’s worth it to keep playing. We move on to round 7: a U/W control deck and a very good pilot behind it. After 3 grindy games I’m able to squeeze out a game 3 win just as time expires on the round.
We get to keep grinding for at least another round, but this is the final round for me as I run into a burn deck piloted as well as the deck can be. Also, there were terrible threat-less draw steps on my end. We are dead at 5-3 and, with the option to grind out the last 2 rounds to try and make $50, I decided I’d had enough for one day and dropped to eat, trade, and hang out with friends. It was a great decision for me . Anyway, these events are special because of the people you get to hang out with, not just because of the tournament.
Now, I know I’m not your writer for spoilers, but when I woke up Sunday morning I spoiled everything for my roommate for the weekend (sorry Jay Dee for the early wake-up). To be fair, there was good reason for my excitement: FETCHLANDS CONFIRMED!! I’m still excited and will continue to be excited for the foreseeable future.
While waking up to sweet spoiler news got me out of bed Sunday, the idea of getting to jam my favorite format got me to the tournament hall nice and early. I got my Shardless deck all sleeved up and ready to go, sat down for round 1, and my opponent cast a turn 1 veteran explorer. I do love an un-winnable match-up in the morning. He followed up with a Cabal Therapy turn 2, flashed it back, got some basics, took my Shardless Agent, and proceed to cast a turn 3 Thragtusk.. After slogging through it and the beast it left behind(I did, in fact, bring 2 spears) he proceeded to cast a Scapeshift while I was at 5 life. He had 8 lands in play.
On to game 2 of this wonderfully fun match-up. This time my opponent Burning Wished for a Scapeshift while he had a second Valacut in play. It did way more than 20 to me and I super died. Well, at least I got that impossible match out of the way.
Round 2 and I sit down and watch as my opponent proceeds to cast a Veteran Explorer and then a Cabal Therapy followed up by Birthing Pod. My day of Legacy ended before it even got going. I didn’t win a game - didn’t come close. Thank you Recurring Nightmare, Birthing Pod, and all of your value-oriented friends. The bright side of losing horribly is that I got to spend the whole day trading, picking up some really sweet cards, and hanging out with my friends once again! Despite not winning, I had an amazing weekend that only hanging out with great friends all weekend could bring.
With 2 rounds down and 8 to go to try and get my top 8 with thoughts of grinding out the next 8 rounds. I sat down to my round 3 opponent who immediately began flooding the board, or at least attempting to with white creatures. Luckily, the build of Jund Planeswalkers I was playing had no shortage of removal and every time he played a creature it died, up until he “end of my turn” casts a raise the alarm into a return to the ranks for four. Luckier still, I still had a Mizzium Mortars and 6 mana. That was the end of that nonsense. Once again, a quick 2-0 and finally a positive record.
Time for round 4 and a harder matchup in B/W midrange. Luckily, he couldn’t count and tapped out for an Elspeth to kill 2 of my 4/4 lands while I still had a Nissa on board and he had no blockers at 4 life. and on to 3-1 I went.
After stringing a few wins together I was finally feeling good about my deck and possibly salvaging my day after a round 1 loss. I sit down across from my opponent and as we shuffle up my opponent inadvertently shows me a Temple of Abandon; he’s on R/G or Jund and I mulligan accordingly. I get to blow him out with a quick Rakdos’ Return and take game 1 nice and easy. In game 2 I out-ramp him a second time and Return away his hand, redirect the damage to kill his Domri Rade, and leaving him with nothing but a couple lands. He scoops on the spot and we are on to 4-1!
And with that we move to round 6 and the mono black match-up. Thoughtseize, Pack Rat into me dying game 1..this fun cant end soon enough. He loses game 2 to removal and a couple Rakdos’ Returns. On to game 3, my most tilting loss of the day. We trade Recourses off until I can land a late Xenagos and start killing him. With him at 2 life, I make my 4th Satyr token. He has 3 mana (including a Mutavault) up and a Pack Rat in play. I swing for what should be game... and get blown out by his final draw step which just happens to have been a Bile Blight. 3 turns of me bricking later, I die with my opponent at 2 life and an awful taste in my mouth.
We are sadly dead for top 8 but not that sweet $100 for top 32, so it’s worth it to keep playing. We move on to round 7: a U/W control deck and a very good pilot behind it. After 3 grindy games I’m able to squeeze out a game 3 win just as time expires on the round.
We get to keep grinding for at least another round, but this is the final round for me as I run into a burn deck piloted as well as the deck can be. Also, there were terrible threat-less draw steps on my end. We are dead at 5-3 and, with the option to grind out the last 2 rounds to try and make $50, I decided I’d had enough for one day and dropped to eat, trade, and hang out with friends. It was a great decision for me . Anyway, these events are special because of the people you get to hang out with, not just because of the tournament.
Now, I know I’m not your writer for spoilers, but when I woke up Sunday morning I spoiled everything for my roommate for the weekend (sorry Jay Dee for the early wake-up). To be fair, there was good reason for my excitement: FETCHLANDS CONFIRMED!! I’m still excited and will continue to be excited for the foreseeable future.
While waking up to sweet spoiler news got me out of bed Sunday, the idea of getting to jam my favorite format got me to the tournament hall nice and early. I got my Shardless deck all sleeved up and ready to go, sat down for round 1, and my opponent cast a turn 1 veteran explorer. I do love an un-winnable match-up in the morning. He followed up with a Cabal Therapy turn 2, flashed it back, got some basics, took my Shardless Agent, and proceed to cast a turn 3 Thragtusk.. After slogging through it and the beast it left behind(I did, in fact, bring 2 spears) he proceeded to cast a Scapeshift while I was at 5 life. He had 8 lands in play.
On to game 2 of this wonderfully fun match-up. This time my opponent Burning Wished for a Scapeshift while he had a second Valacut in play. It did way more than 20 to me and I super died. Well, at least I got that impossible match out of the way.
Round 2 and I sit down and watch as my opponent proceeds to cast a Veteran Explorer and then a Cabal Therapy followed up by Birthing Pod. My day of Legacy ended before it even got going. I didn’t win a game - didn’t come close. Thank you Recurring Nightmare, Birthing Pod, and all of your value-oriented friends. The bright side of losing horribly is that I got to spend the whole day trading, picking up some really sweet cards, and hanging out with my friends once again! Despite not winning, I had an amazing weekend that only hanging out with great friends all weekend could bring.
I cant thank everyone who made the weekend great enough; you guys are the absolute best!
-Paul
You can contact Paul via Gmail and Facebook:
Paul is a local tournament player in the NY area.. Frequents many stores and a good player with good insight to the game.
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