“Let me guess. This is another article about how you Top 8ed an event with U/W Aggro-Control and still couldn’t win a tournament…”
Well, I won’t lie. All of that is true except for the deck I played. I only had one goal for States this year. I just wanted to have fun!!
To be honest, I usually only play Magic: The Gathering competitively. Sure, I do have fun playing competitive Magic, but I don’t often play Magic for fun (if this makes any sense). However, I wanted to change that this weekend! I wanted to play with cards that I enjoyed playing. I proceeded to make the following list of cards I enjoyed using:
- Cards that make me draw cards.
- Get out of Jail Free cards.
- Instant cards.
- Gift cards from various stores.
- Cards with unique effects.
- Three Risk cards, all of which I own the territory and get two extra armies.
- Faerie cards.
- Watchwolf!!!!!
Seeing as I could only use three items on this list (my States did not accept my Kohl’s Gift Card…), I went to work reading articles and figuring out what cards I wanted to run. I knew that I wanted to play a deck with Think Twice and Desperate Ravings.
For me, the most notable lists I remembered reading from last week were from Patrick Chapin and Mike Flores articles about Grixis Vengeance and U/R Control, respectively. They even both considered the cards that I wanted to play! Saturday morning, I jotted down both of their decklists and sideboards and was off to the tournament.
Legacy specialist William Nehlsen was kind enough to give me a ride to States. It is not the cardboard or cash that makes this card game; it is all about the friendships you build through it! Will was kind enough to ask me about myself and what I thought about the new format. After I answered his questions, I decided to ask him about himself. He told me about how he went against my article’s advice and played in a few Prereleases on Magic Online and opened a few Snapcaster Mages and Stromkirk Nobles and won quite a few packs. I told him that not everyone could be a master like him, but there are exceptions to many rules.
When I got there, I sat at a table with a bunch of friends from the local store I go to sometimes over the summer. Most notably, there was William Nehlsen and Peter Yong. Peter is a very good friend and a really smart individual. I was able to come in second in a StarCityGames.com $5,000 event before the Open Series started solely because of him. I was playing my pet deck at the time, Faeries, and Volcanic Fallout had just come out. I had him build a version of Five-Color Control that was pre-boarded against Faeries. It had a mix of Volcanic Fallouts, Cloudthreshers, Plumeveils, and such. However, it trained me to naturally play around those cards and made that event particularly easy for me.
Enough stories about my past, back to the present! Peter was first telling me about how U/B Control had to be the best deck in the format no doubt. Maybe he just had some future sight that Jeremy Neeman was going to win the Grand Prix with U/B Control. One thing he did tell me is that he considered playing red instead of black on the back of Desperate Ravings, a statement that strongly made me really consider playing a deck resembling Patrick Chapin Grixis Vengeance list. Lastly, Peter gave me a very quick rundown of his opinions of the format, and I built my list according to his pieces of advice. Thanks a ton, Peter!
One of the biggest innovations was actually a sideboard card. I knew that I wanted to have an alternate win condition that was cheap (preferably less than three mana), not an artifact or enchantment, and not red or black. I knew a creature could be a good idea, since they should side out a ton of their removal spells. I also wanted to dodge both Revoke Existence and Celestial Purge, two cards that I knew come in against a deck that has Burning Vengeance in it. For that reason, I decided to play Delver of Secrets as a four-of in my sideboard.
Delver of Secrets does exactly what I want it to do. I can play it the turn before I have to hold up Mana Leak. It dodges all of the relevant hate cards. It seems like it would be a total blow out against control decks. To be honest, I brought in Delver of Secrets against everything but Red Deck Wins. It was an all-star!
Ten minutes before deck registration, this is the deck I registered:
Creatures (3)
Lands (14)
Spells (43)
Props to Sparky for telling me to run a single Batterskull in the sideboard. It was sweet, but Wurmcoil Engine did have its moments as well.
Tournament Report Time!!!
Round One – Carl Naumann – U/B Tezzeret
After some friendly chatting with Carl before the game started, it seemed like he understood this format very well. When he played Island into Vault Skirge on turn 1, I assumed he was playing Tempered Steel. Much to my surprise, he played a Swamp on turn 2, attacked, and then passed. I played a Desperate Ravings at the end of his turn, which tipped off the deck I was playing. Eventually, he went for a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, which got Mana Leaked. He started attacking me with Inkmoth Nexus with a Sword of Feast and Famine, but I was able to stick a Burning Vengeance and shoot all of his Inkmoth Nexuses and his Liliana of the Veil; eventually Devil’s Play sealed the deal.
Game two, he started off very aggressively with two Vault Skirges. I thought I would be moving onto game three when none of my draw cards were yielding Burning Vengeance or Geistflame, since I sided out Slagstorms. However, I had a few well-timed counters for his important cards like Liliana of the Veil and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Wurmcoil Engine also got Mana Leak, and the rest was elementary.
1-0
Round Two – James Lisk – Solar Flare
My opponent questioned what deck I was playing and my ability to play when at the end of his turn 2, I flashed in a Snapcaster Mage. I knew from his manabase that he was playing Solar Flare. If he wanted, he could Mana Leak it. If he did, I would be able to slam down Burning Vengeance and force him to have an Oblivion Ring as well. If he let the Snapcaster Mage resolve, I could apply pressure and just sit on my counterspells. The Snapcaster Mage was able to get in for four damage before he decided to pay four life to Dismember my Snapcaster Mage so that he could play around Mana Leak. My first round opponent felt like it was okay to take damage against a Burning Vengeance deck as well, but I don’t think people understand the way Burning Vengeance works.
Even though it is a control deck and life typically matters less against these style of decks, Burning Vengeance is a different deck. The fewer cards you have to flashback to Shock them with Burning Vengeance, the sooner you can kill them. Your goal isn’t to stop your opponent from winning. It is to burn them out before you die. This is another explanation as to why I am not afraid to just run out Snapcaster Mage on turn 2, seeing as how Snapcaster Mage is a lot worse in this deck than normal in control decks.
Anyhow, we got to the point where we both had virtually no cards in hand and were having a topdeck war. He played Wurmcoil Engine, but I realized that my “dead” card was an Ancient Grudge, which I used during his combat step next turn. On my turn, I drew my singleton Sever the Bloodline and killed both Wurm tokens, which have the same name. He followed up with an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite two turns later, but I had drawn a Mana Leak my previous turn.
On his turn, he ripped Unburial Rites and got back Wurmcoil Engine. I drew my singleton Tribute to Hunger and flashbacked Sever the Bloodline to get rid of the Wurmcoil Engine. He flashbacked his Unburial Rites to get back Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, which I promptly made a Tribute to Hunger. I went up to 27, and we were now at an impasse . Eventually, he ripped a Sun Titan to get back Liliana of the Veil. The two turns before he was about to ultimate her, I drew Burning Vengeance. He played Phantasmal Image to copy Sun Titan and knocked Liliana of the Veil up to six counters. I did some quick math.
He was at twelve, and I had seven mana untapped. At the end of his turn, I flashbacked Geistflame and Desperate Ravings, hitting him for five. Then, on my turn, I flashbacked Desperate Ravings, Think Twice, and Geistflame to kill him. That was a close one!
In game two, I played a turn 1 Delver of Secrets. He decided to turn 2 Dismember it, so I was forced to land-go on turn 2. He attempted a Liliana of the Veil, which met my Mana Leak. I played a second Delver of Secrets on turn 3. He tried another Liliana of the Veil, which I Negated. On my upkeep, Delver of Secrets flipped, and I bashed in. When he played his third Liliana of the Veil, I slammed down my Mana Leak on it. Eventually, at seven life, he was forced to Oblivion Ring my Insect. I flashed him Devil’s Play, and the game was over.
2-0
Round Three – Bernie Hsu – U/W Shape Anew
In the first game, he got some massive beatdown on. I was unable to stop Blade Splicer, Winged Splicer, and Venser, the Sojourner. However, in the second, I had to fight for my life. He was able to get three Blade Splicers out, but my singleton Sever the Bloodline was able to stop his Golem onslaught. Eventually, after five fails, Delver of Secrets flipped and bashed him down to eleven. At this point in time, I felt like he didn’t have any more counterspells, so I played Devil’s Play for eleven, and he had to scoop them up.
The third game was very interesting. I decided to take out my Delver of Secrets and bring in the two artifact fatties in Batterskull and Wurmcoil Engine. Bernie already Revoke Existenced my Burning Vengeance, so I had to think quickly on my feet. By now, we had amassed quite the crowd, and I love to put on a show!
On turn six, he was tapped out for a Venser, the Sojourner, which I Negated. I was safe to play the Wurmcoil Engine in my hand, but I didn’t. Spectators looked a little confused. He tried to Shape Anew his Inkmoth Nexus, but I was able to Ancient Grudge the Inkmoth Nexus in response. Next turn, I dropped my seventh land and Wurmcoil Engine onto the table. He slammed down an Oblivion Ring on my Wurmcoil Engine, but in response to him targeting the Wurmcoil Engine, I flashbacked my Ancient Grudge with my untapped Copperline Gorge. The Wurm tokens went all the way.
3-0
Round 4 – Toby Natale – Solar Flare
With his Liliana of the Veil sleeves and playmat, I put Toby on Solar Flare. He did not disappoint me. We played a rousing game of land-go. Unfortunately, he drew two Forbidden Alchemies and two Think Twices to my two Think Twices. I was able to Sever the Bloodline his Consecrated Sphinx, Mana Leak his Gideon Jura a couple of times, flashback Sever the Bloodline on his Wurmcoil Engine, etc. Eventually, I played Devil’s Play for “enough to kill you,” which he Mana Leaked. I got less greedy on the flashback and played it for only half of his life total in order to play around another Mana Leak. This one went through. I proceeded to play my other Devil’s Play that I ripped next turn to kill him.
Game two was pretty easy. I was able to beat him down with my transformed Delver of Secrets and Snapcaster Mages.
4-0
Round 5 – Joseph Behring – U/W Invisible Puresteel
“Is your last name Sukenik?”
“Sure is!!”
“I read your articles! It is so great to meet you.”
It is people like this that really make me smile and feel proud of myself. I really appreciate all of you guys who read my articles and truly enjoy them. It makes me feel a lot better as a person, and you guys probably don’t understand how much it means to me.
In game one, he got an early Invisible Stalker with a Sword of Body and Mind on it. Luckily, I had my singleton Copperline Gorge on the battlefield, and his first mill hit my singleton Ancient Grudge. I was able to flashback the Ancient Grudge on the Sword and take over the game with Burning Vengeance.
In the second game, he kept a sketchy one-lander and tried to put up a fight with his multiple Flayer Husks. Unfortunately, I had both Geistflame and Arc Trail in my hand, and that was game.
I was surprised about how gracious he was even though he lost. He was still very smiling and happy; it sort of reminded me of myself. The way a person acts when he or she loses can tell you a lot about that person, and it was great meeting Joseph as well.
5-0
Round 6 – John Price – Wolf Run Ramp
I knew this match was going to be a hard one. I was against both my worst matchup and against a very good pilot. Most of my deck had literally no chance against Thrun, the Last Troll.
In the first game, he was able to resolve Primeval Titan after I tried to just counter all of his ramp spells. Perhaps I was being too greedy in trying to mana-screw him out of the game, but I saw him in a similar situation in the Top 8, and he lost that game because of it. Maybe it was just a judgment call.
In the second game, Delver of Secrets was able to bring the beatdown. He did have a Thrun, the Last Troll attacking every turn though. Eventually, I set up a play where I would be able to Tribute to Hunger him and Ancient Grudge his Inkmoth Nexus, which was his only other “creature.” Unfortunately, he had double Beast Within in his hand and was able to protect his Thrun, the Last Troll. However, I was able to rip a timely Devil’s Play to put away this game.
In game three, John decided to play very cautiously with his Inkmoth Nexuses and Kessig Wolf Run to not get blown out by Geistflame or Ancient Grudge. However, thirteen of my fifteen draw steps yielded lands since the beginning, so frankly, I literally did the best I could do with the cards I was given when it came to bluffing. I would have been able to win the game with Devil’s Play if my Forbidden Alchemy had been able to hit both Geistflame for my hand and Ancient Grudge for the graveyard to finish off all of his Inkmoth Nexuses.
5-1
Round 7 – Mike Sammut – Red Deck Wins
I have to admit that I was not the happiest person to be playing against Red Deck Wins. In the first game, I tried to keep up with his curve of Spikeshot Elder into Stormblood Berserker into Chandra’s Phoenix with my Burning Vengeance. However, I could not fight the Phoenix coming back every single turn, and we were off to game two.
I felt like I was going to have a chance with my two Slagstorms in his hand. That is, until he played double Vulshok Refugee. Luckily, I was able to play Batterskull at ten life. My Germ token traded with a Vulshok Refugee and a Spikeshot Elder ping. On my next turn, I Geistflamed his Spikeshot Elder and was able to sneak in a Snapcaster Mage at the end of his turn to wield my Batterskull. Once it was confirmed that he didn’t have any burn in his hand, my 6/5 Snapcaster Mage was able to steal this game. Thanks again, Sparky!!
In the last game, Mike started with a Grim Lavamancer into a second Grim Lavamancer. I had the opportunity to Slagstorm them both away on my third turn, but opted not to. This proved to be very good, as he played Koth of the Hammer on his fourth turn, which I was able to counter with my singleton Flashfreeze. At the end of his turn, I Geistflamed his Grim Lavamancer and flashbacked during my main phase to kill the other one.
He took this opportunity to slam down yet another Koth of the Hammer, and his Mountain smacked me down to twelve. I only had one choice on my turn; I Slagstormmed players to hit Koth of the Hammer and played another Geistflame from my hand to finish him off. With three cards in his hand, Mike Incinerated me down to six and then played a bloodthirsted Stormblood Berserker. I played another Slagstorm, this time on creatures. He untapped and played a Shrine of Burning Rage. With nothing good in my hand, I had to cast a Forbidden Alchemy to dig for my Batterskull or Wurmcoil Engine. I was able to get the former into my hand.
I slammed it down and passed. With two cards in his hand and Shrine of Burning Rage at two counters during his upkeep, I held my breath as he drew his card for the turn. When he passed, I quickly untapped, drew my card and pushed my Germ into the red zone. Once it connected, I knew the game would be a piece of cake.
6-1
I was able to draw into the Top 8 at this point.
6-1-1
Top 8 – Bob Leong – Wolf Run Ramp
Bob was trying to get revenge for the time that I got eighteen Goblin tokens into play on turn 2 during Regionals a few years ago.
In the first game, I run out Burning Vengeance on turn 3 so that way I could Mana Leak his first Primeval Titan. His second one resolved, but I had my singleton Sever the Bloodline in my hand. After removing it, Bob followed up with a third Primeval Titan. Flashing back Sever the Bloodline took care of this one, too. Luckily, with many Desperate Ravings in my graveyard, I did not have to worry about his Inkmoth Nexuses killing me at all. Eventually, I was able to burn him out with all the cards in my graveyard.
On the draw, and after mulliganing, I kept Island, Mana Leak, Mana Leak, Delver of Secrets, Dissipate, and Devil’s Play. First, I drew a Negate. Then, my Delver of Secrets revealed another Mana Leak. Bob was about to resolve his third Viridian Emissary, so I countered it with Mana Leak on turn four, but this allowed him to resolve a Ratchet Bomb to kill my freshly flipped Delver of Secrets.
In the final game, my hand was a couple of lands, Slagstorm, Flashfreeze, Mana Leak, and Dissipate. Unfortunately, he was able to cast a turn 3 Thrun, the Last Troll that was unstoppable.
So, this is my third States loss in the Top 8. However, I had a ton of fun playing this deck! Something needs to be done about Thrun, the Last Troll though. Maybe Phantasmal Image is the answer. I might work on it on Magic Online. I definitely suggest giving this deck a spin. Let’s see what new brews we will see this weekend in Baltimore. I know I will be watching from home!
Thanks for reading,
Jonathan “Watchwolf92” Sukenik