The Preparation I’m a big fan of the SCG Regional events, they occur during the Pro Tour and give us mere mortal magic players a place to play. The tournaments also can be molded from the Pro Tour, talk about a quick turn around. My friends from DC remember Eldrazi winter, which was a year ago this weekend, they remember walking into the Tournament, and after one round realizing they brought a knife to a gunfight. Last Regional I actually played next to a guy that had Matt Nass’s top 8 marvel deck, it's a fun tournament that you can prepare for and then still get curveballs thrown at you. That Tournament was also my first top 8 at a large event (230ish people), and it felt like my “break out” moment, I had been doing well in local IQ and PPTQ but circuit, this was my first large event that I top 8’ed. Obviously I wanted to run it back, but I was a bit nervous, it was my first time playing Junk at a large event. I recently made the switch to Abzan about nine months ago, so I was a bit nervous. I've played Modern since the format began, so I knew what the deck did and have played it a couple times, but this was the first time I 100% delved into it. Testing for this tournament was a bit difficult, with bannings and Aether Revolt the format was much different with only two classic results of data. I leaned on a tournmanet report from Chad Harny a Top 8 competitor at the Columbus classic w you should check it out here. Even though we disagree on what BG archetype is superior, he has good ideology, and I took it into account while building my 75. I did most of my testing with an accomplished modern player from upstate New York, John Bresett. He has quite a bit of experience playing Rock style decks, and has been a consistent modern play for years. I also tested a lot at Labyrinth Games, as they have a very diverse modern metagame there, and I appreciate how a lot of players there approach the format. Fatal Push is a huge improvement for Abzan decks, while Path to Exile is the best removal spell in modern, Fatal Push gives the deck another turn one play. I ended up running three Pushs and four Paths in my starting 60. Making room for the Fatal Pushs caused me to change the ideology of my deck, I used to be on the Noble Hierarch plan in previous seasons. I figured the format would become more fair as Dredge and Linear aggro decks were taken down a peg and Fatal Push would give fair decks another tool to play with. So I cut the Noble Hierarchs and made my deck more midrangey, just a pound for pound more powerful deck. Here is my 75. A huge breakthrough in deck building was Gideon Ally of Zendikar, the card is the truth in any fair match up, and even when its not at its best, its such a potent threat that my opponents had to respect it. Whenever I drew Gideon it completely dominated the game, it was a board stabilizer, a threat from multiple different angles, a clock vs combo decks, and a 2-1 in the mirror, it's really the only four drop I’ve ever felt comfortable with in BG decks, or truly feared when I played against them. I would feel comfortable that against a wide open field Gideon is miles better than any other four drop option that Abzan has access to. My land base is also slightly different because of Gideon, I decided add two Concealed Courtyard to up my white source count to 14. I also was not impressed with Shambling Vent, I decided to cut down to one and play two Hissing Quagmire, as it trades with all the Eldrazi, and Tarmogoyf. My sideboard was built to fight burn where I had six cards, land based decks, and graveyard strategies. The Zealous Persecution and Creeping Corrosion were my sudo wraths, I didn’t want to play Damnation in my Lingering Souls deck, but I wanted an out to Etched Champion the only card that gives me a lot of trouble against Affinity. The Tournament There were 292 people and 9 rounds in Baltimore, it was going to be a long grueling day of Modern and I was excited to get started. Round 1: Grixis Delver 2-1 Win 1-0 Record I Thoughtseize him in game one and his hand was Serum Visions, Bolt, Mountain, Mana Leak, Darkslick Shores, Spell Snare, and Tasigur. A pretty good hand from my opponent, I ended up taking a Spell Snare to force through a Tarmogoyf so I could begin to establish a board preseance. I start beating him down but a couple turns later he stabilized with a Tasigur and began to take control of the game. I eventually foulmd a Lingering Souls, but I’ve been getting clocked by a Vendilion Clique and my opponent eeks out enough card advantage with Tasigur and finds a bolt and finishes me off. Side Boarding I board out almost all of my removal because they usually take out their Delvers to try and blank my removal. I like Boarding in Leyline of the Void against Grixis, I actually think they’re game two configuration is really difficult to handle. It's just hard to grind through Tasigur, Snapcaster, Kolaghan’s Command, and Ancestral Visions (if they have it), I feel like I need the help in game two, and Leyline has been great in testing. Out: 2 Decay, 3 Push, 1 Inquisition, 1 Tarmogoyf In: 3 Leyline of the Void, 2 Thragtusk, 2 Kitchen Finks Game 2 I Leylined him to start the game, land a Gideon on four prompting a concession. Leyline just completely invalidates their entire strategy and really is a KO. Game 3 I don’t remember much about this game, I know that I Thoughtseized him and took a mana leak to set up a Liliana in a position where it’s discard ability was taking spells from my oppoent, and forced him to play a Tasigur into the edict or discard it. Round 2 UWR Control 2-1 Win 2-0 Record Game 1 My opponent ran me over in game one, I drew two threats and two discard spells, usually that is a good mix but he answered my threats, and top decked a Nahiri on turn four and I found no answer the Plansewalker. Side Boarding I board out most of my removal against UWR, but I like to keep in 3 Fatal Push because it can kill Celestial Colonnade and Snapcaster. Out: 4 Path, 2 Decay, 1 Cut In: 2 Kitchen Finks, 3 Fulminator Mage, 2 Thragtusk Game 2 I keep a slow hand with Liliana, Fulminator, Lingering Souls, Kitchen Finks, and three lands. I would’ve sent that back on the draw but on the play I can jam Lingering Souls on 3 and if I draw a discard spell or a two drop I can create a board state where I can handle a Nahiri. I drew a Thoughtseize, on turn two and found a Snare, Path, Bolt, Cryptic, Nahiri, and two lands. I decided to take the Cryptic because I either pressure the Nahiri or stone rain my opponent to buy time, and Cryptic Command is the most powerful card in his hand at that point. I decide to jam Fulminator on turn 3 because I drew another for my draw step and I was hoping I could fade a counter spell off the top from my opponent. It resolved, I stone rained him on three, and on four, then landed a Liliana on five essentially shut him out of the game. Game 3 This game was very similar to the second, I cleared out his counter magic, leaving him with Paths for my threats which is an exchange I’m ok with. I land multiple Fulminators and set him behind on mana, and my advantage snowballs out of control. Something I noticed in this game was that I had a serious mana advantage throughout each game and I think my opponent made mistake by Ghost Quartering my manlands, but the Paths were really costly against a deck that has such late game mana syncs as Abzan. Round 3: Eldrazi Tron 0-2 Loss 2-1 Record Game 1 I kept a hand that had quite a bit of removal with pressure, it seemed like a good keep in the dark, but I could be in trouble in certain match ups with my starting hand. It turned out I needed discard, into a threat, into Liliana, to compete against the big mana decks. He Ulamoged me on turn five and then cast Kozilek on turn six… Sideboarding I don’t have a lot for this match up, I decided to skimp on it because I don’t think the matchup becomes much better even if I devote five or six sidebaord slots to it. Out: 3 Fatal Push In: 3 Fulminator Mage Game 2 I mulligan to a five card heater, I’ve got a Blooming Marsh, two Goyfs, Inquisition, and a Liliana. I scry to the bottom, see my opponent's hand, which is very slow, I take his only search piece and hope to rip a land. I don’t… and miss a second land drop for three total turns and he Ulamogs my only two lands. Round 4: UWR Control 2-0 Win 3-1 Record Game 1 Lingering Souls is the real MVP here, I just grinded through all of his counter magic and landed a Liliana when we were both top decking. I finished the game with Lingering Souls and Gavony Township. Sideboarding Same as Round 2 Game 2 I make either a really good, or really bad play in this game on my second turn of the game and I'm still not really sure about the decision that I made. When I Thoughtseized my opponent I saw they had one Land, Cryptic Command, two Remands, and two Path to exile. I decided to take Cryptic Command because the rest of the hand is very redundant and it's the most powerful card in their hand. My opponent misses his third land drop and I decide to not cast anything on my third turn, I did this because I knew it would just get Remanded and give him another chance to draw out of his screw. He misses another land drop, but I also miss my fourth land drop. With both of us missing land drops we are now at parity in the game. I decided I didn't want to play draw go with my opponent unless I was making land drops, I didn't want to get into the late game at parity with my opponent having blue cards in their deck means their late is just better then mine. If I could've kept playing lands the I would've played draw go because I was gaining an advantage in that scenario. After I start casting spells the game goes on normally and and we begin trading resources. I end up landing a Thragtusk which brings along a huge presence on the board. My opponent had to deal with it using a Path and a Snapcaster, that Thragtusk turned into five life and two lands putting me way ahead on mana, a common theme against UWR. With my mana advantage I was the first to cast two spells in a turn, or cast a spell and activate a man land, I ended up accrewing just enough advantage to land a Liliana, which put us both in top deck mode, a place where my deck was much better. Round 5: Junk 2-0 Win 4-1 Record Game 1 Round five was my first mirror match, I had set my deck up to win the mirror so I was excited when I saw a turn one Shambling Vents. We traded Vents, and he was the first to deploy a threat with a Tarmogoyf on his turn. The next turn was the real crossing point in the game for me. I had three plays, I could either deploy my own Goyf, or hold of Decay for his Goyf, or wait for him play a Liliana and Decay it. After going in the tank for awhile I realized that I should take the hit on the chin from his Tarmogoyf then if he follows up with a Liliana I can Decay it deploy my Plansewalker in hand and edict his Tarmogoyf. This line of plays allows me to 1-1 trade with his Liliana because the discard is symmetrical, and I can turn my Liliana into a 2-1. I just wanted to deny him from getting value from his Liliana, and allow me to deploying my walker on turn three into an empty board. It turned out the exact sequence of events occurred, he then untaped and Decay’ed my Liliana giving me the first two for one of the match, while not adding to his board presence which let me play a Gideon on an open board and control the rest of the game. Sideboarding I take out 9 cards in this match up, discard is terrible, you want nothing but gas for the late game topdeck fights. Liliana is also terrible in the mirror. A lot of BG players have different opinions about Liliana than I do, and I’d like to say that I aggressively sideboard out my Liliana’s so this should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, I think there is no excuse for having the card in your deck on the draw. The edict and the discard isn't worth a card when the match up is so reliant on Lingering Souls. I think on the play you may be able to convince me some are ok because you can get their two drop. Out: 3 Inquisition of Kozilek, 3 Liliana, of the Veil, 3 Thoughtseize In: 2 Thragtusk, 2 Zealous Persecution, 2 Kitchen Finks, 3 Fulminator Mage Game 2 This game was my best played game of the tournament, I assessed my in game role very well, and played to my outs. It's exactly what I want to focus my play around as a magic player. My opponent and I traded threats and removal spells in the early game. I untapped on my third turn and cast a Lingering Souls, passed the turn, and my opponent laid a fourth land and played two Goyfs. I had the first big decision of the game, I was holding a Zealous Persecution and a Gavony township. My options were just attack for two and chump block both of his Goyfs and try and play a longer game. My other line was flashing back my Lingering Souls and look to blow him out with a Zealous Persecution inside of combat. For this to go poorly for me he would need two removal spells to save his Goyfs, and kill all my Lingering souls tokens. I determined I wasn’t going to beat two removal spell regardless of which line I decided to take, so I choose to play like he didn’t have it. I double blocked each Goyf, crossed my fingers… and the blowout occurred, I traded two tokens, and a card for two Goyfs, I was ahead on board and feeling pretty good. My opponent had a great follow up though as he emptied his hand to play a Sigarda. Sigarda not being as good against my post board configuration as other BG configurations its still a 5/5 flying hexproof creature, and without Damnation in my deck I can’t interact with that card outside of combat. I untaped and ripped a Scavenging Ooze, which was a great draw to help and mop up the carnage of the game. My opponent and I started the race with the life totals of me 12 to his 18, we were both playing with perfect information as we were both empty handed. The race was so interesting, deciding what I could attack with, if I had to chump block was really difficult, I found myself using the logic “even if my opponent draws the best card I can beat it if I do this”. We attacked back and forth each of gaining a little life, until I drew a Grim Flayer. Grim Flayer is fantastic in a race, because it deals large sums of damage and dug me to what I needed, it ultimately won me the game. This game was all about playing to my outs, and knowing my role in a match up, and assessing my role within the game. I went from being on the defense, to shifting to a race one turn later while I was down six life, because I determined it was the only way I could win. Round 6: Affinity 2-0 Win 5-1 Record Game 1 In the first game I Inquistioned on one and took his Mox Opal, (card should be banned) landed a Tarmogoyf then beat him down with removal spells to back it up. Sideboarding Out: 3x Liliana, 2x Gideon, 1x Thoughtseize In: 2x Zealous Persecution, 3x Fulminator Mage, 1x Creeping Corrosion. Game 2 My opponent got stuck on one land and I Fulminator Mage’d him on turn three and cast a Creeping Corrosion on turn five. That was pretty much all she wrote, there wasn’t much to say about this game, my opponent kept a questionable hand that didn’t develope and I drew my sideboard cards. Round 7: Infect 2-0 Win 6-1 Record Game 1 A pivotal decision in this game occurred on the first turn, I Thoughtseized my opponent and saw a hand of Become Immense, two Ground Swells an Inkmoth, a Blighted Agents, a Noble Hierarch, and a Windswept Heath. This hand was a heater, it was also pretty good against Thoughtseize, because of the redundancy. I decided to take the Hierarch because it was the only thing that was unique, as well as it being the best individual card in their hand. This game turned into a grind fest, I would say the duration of the game was 10 to 12 turns. We traded one for one and a Liliana helped take over the game by getting rid of his pump spells, while incidentally removing some creatures from the board. I drew a Grim Flayer while we were both in top deck mode and as I've stated Grim Flayer really snowballs the game out of control. Sideboarding Out: Out 3 Liliana, 2 Gideon, 2 Scavenging Ooze In: 3 Fulminator, 2 Zealous Persecution, 2 Collective Brutality Game 2 Each of mulligan to start the game, I think this favors me a little because I am on the draw and can recoup advantages while infect needs a critical mass to win the game quickly. I Thoughtseized my opponents only infect threat but saw quite a bit of pump in his hand so I was still at the mercy of the top of the deck. I had no pressure so we played draw go for a while until he assembled the combination of Dryad arbor and Pendlehaven. I top decked the perfect card for this situation, a Collective Brutality. Because my opponent was being aggressive with the Pendlehaven I could cast it using all three modes. He saved his Dryad arbor, with a pump spell, but I got a Become Immense out of his hand leaving him with just a land, and I Time Walked him with life gain mode. My opponent played a Glisner elf on his turn and then I played a Grim Flayer on mine. My opponent then top decked a Noble Hiearch and hit me for 3 poison. On my turn I attacked with my 4/4 Flayer and found a Zealous Persecution on top of my library, a card that if used right would surely end the game. I added another Flayer to the board with the intention of chump blocking to coax out a pump spell from my opponent which would leave him empty handed, allowing my Zealous Persecution to be a 3-1. The exact scenario played out occurred, and I completed the 3-1 on my turn essentially ending the game. Round 8 Restore Balance 2-0 Win 7-1 Record Game 1 I’m sitting down next to my opponent, 8th in the standings going into the round. I’m in a win and draw in to Top 8 scenario because I have solid tie breakers. I win the die roll and lead off with a Thoughtseize, when my opponent showed me his hand, my heart sank a little bit. I saw a Plains, the B/R mana rock, Blood Moon, Violent Outburst, Demonic Dread, Anger of the Gods, and an Emrakul. I’m a little concerned because I don’t know what’s going on, I’ve played against Restore Balance before but I’ve never seen an Emrakul in their list. I actually call a judge over and ask for confirmation that Hyper Genesis is on the ban list. Once I confirm that I take the B/R mana rock cause I have a Tarmogoyf is my hand, the artifact makes it huge, and I can fetch a basic forest to play my second Tarmogoyf on turn three. I’m not really proficient with his deck, and I clearly still don’t know why the Emrakul was in there, but that hand seemed like a mulligan to me. It easily folded to a Thoughtseize, or just not drawing a second land, and both of those thing happened. Sideboarding I still have no idea what’s really happening, the Emrakul really threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I contemplated bring in my Leylines cause he could be a Goryo’s Vengeance deck also, but I didn’t want to dilute my deck too much just on suspicion. I figured he had a Greater Gargadon so I should keep in some number of Path to Exiles, with a Murderous Cut. I decided to Bring in my Kitchen Finks cause they attack and persist, and was thinking I’d maybe play a mana denial plan with Fulminator Mage and aggressively destroying the mana rocks. Here is what I decided to do. Out: 3 Fatal Push, 3 Path to Exile In: 2 Collective Brutality, 2 Kitchen Finks, 2 Fulminator Mage Game 2 My opponent resolves a Demonic Dread cascading into Restore Balacne just to answer my Tarmogoyf that was beating him down. The problem for him was that he didn't have a Greater Gargadon on suspend so each one of us kept our lands. We both played draw go for a little while as I was flooding out and didn't want to play my lands in case he found a way to Armageddon me. I finally found a second Goyf as I began to race against the suspend counters. He eventually got the Greater Gargadon in play, but I was sitting on a Maelstrom Pulse, when I cast it he extended the hand and I had gone to back to back SCG Regional Top 8s!!! Top 8 Game 1 Check this list out that I’m playing against. Count em, four main deck Etched Champion… decklists weren’t public at the time of the match, but I was in for an uphill battle.
Game 1 The first meaningful play of the game was on turn three when my opponent played and Etched Champion on after I took a hit for seven off a suited up Ornithopter. I would’ve decayed the Ornithopter before taking seven, but I had a Liliana in my hand, and I really wanted my opponent to feel “safe” and tap out for an Etched Champion. I figured he had a champion because he left one card in his hand after play only an Ornithopter on turn two and attaching it to a platting. He did exactly that, I decayed his Ornithopter and made him sacrifice his Etched Champion. He untaped and play his second Champion, and that I couldn’t answer it, and an Etched Champion wearing a Cranial Platting will end a game gast. Sideboarding Same as Round 6 Game 2 I kept a hand that was decent, I had a discard spell that would hopefully hit an Champion, two removal spells, a Fulminator, and three lands. Looking back on this hand, I think this was a hand that I shouldn't have kept because I'm relying off the top of my deck to win me the game. I have a hole lot of ways to stop my opponent from winning, but my hand was played towards a long game, and with out Stony Silences I don't want to play a long game against four Etched Champions. The game went long, and he ultimately found his Etched Champions with Ravengers to help increase his clock, and just like last time, I was out of the Tournmanet. Recap An absolutely fantastic weekend for me, I was proud of the way I played, I think I only made one mistake, which was the hand I kept in game 2 of my Quarterfinals. Moving forward I think I’ll concede that I need Stony Silence. I hate playing Stony, there is only one card in Affinity gives me trouble, but that card is just too good, and I need to respect it. I wouldn’t change my main deck, the balance of Threats vs. Discard vs. Removal all felt really good, and my mana base was very smooth. The all star of my weekend was Gideon, It dominates fair match ups like no other four drop Abzan has access to does. One of my friends I rode with was playing Abzan as well, and at the end of tournmanet he agreed that he would've been happier having Gideon vs. the Seige Rhinos in his list. The card acts as a clock, incremental advantage, a 2-1 in the mirror, and a board stabilizer, its versatile, and efficient, everything a BG deck would want. Anyways, thanks for reading, hopefully the next time I write one of these I talk about making out of the first round!
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