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Editor's Note: Lee sent me this article last week, but due to a crazy week at work I did not get around to posting it. I sincerely apologize for the lag. -- Trick
In the days of old, weekend tournaments running both days were common place. I recall having PTQs with attendance of over 300 people all vying for just 2 invitations seemed like the ONLY thing a "real" magic player could look forward to. Then on Sunday, one could supplement their weekend with a hefty cash tourney. This weekend brought back some of those fond memories as Unity Entertainment provided the Central Florida Regionals on Saturday and a PTQ for Austin on Sunday, and what a weekend it was!!!
While the Standard gauntlet has been thoroughly reviewed, analyzed and documented. I believe we've only touched the tip of what will be Standard in the future. Everyone knows that the percentage favorite right now is the popular Token deck. This deck comes in many variations and while I didn't play to crush dreams at this years Regionals (as I'm already qualified for Nationals) I did watch. I did, however, participate in the PTQ on Sunday and this is what I ran:
24 lands
Sideboard
2 Wispmare
This is a fairly standard build for this deck. One of the thing I found was that it simple to play but very difficult to sideboard. All I can say is weigh what you truly don't need for things that you do in each match. :P
I started the day 0-2 in the PTQ and ended it at a 5-3 which was an ok 31st out of 154. Hopefully, this will help me stabilize any losses in points that might occur, but what I really want to point out is that so many players are to hasty in dropping when they begin a day badly or not to their expectations.
Top Level Magic is one of analysis, self analyzing and, just, time. All too often people chalk up the day as a loss and head somewhere to feed their faces. What a person should be doing is playing a few rounds more to see whether it is the deck, the player or the field. You can't just look up the latest "winning" decklist, jump into a tourney and expect the best results. There are others who have spend countless amounts of hours testing and playing their decks to near perfection. On top of that, you might recover some lost rating points that just might be beneficial to you in the future.
Anyway, here are some of the matchups for me:
5 Color Control - 0-1 in matches 1-2 in games - While I feel Identity Crisis is a VERY good card, I just didn't feel as if I could get away with tapping 6 mana and NOT running into a Cryptic Command or a Broken Ambition. Thoughtseize, to me, felt more versatile and easier to cast with a followup threat. The key here is to control their removal or card draw so they have to live with playing so many lands. The game I won was due to a turn 2 and turn 3 Sculler taking Wrath of God and Esper Charm. I left him with Broodmate Dragon, Cruel Ultimatum and lands. In game 3, I used Thoughtseize and Sculler to reach the same parity but drew lands instead of threats for what could have been the same result.
Sanity Grind - 1-0 in matches 2-1 in games - This deck is annoying to me. I don't know that there's truly any skill with it as their is randomness. While I think that this deck can possibly achieve a 50-50 matchup I think that it's under peak draws meaning it's not very good. You side out Path to Exile and Finks for Thoughtseize and you move forward with beat down. If you can take away the Howling Mine then you're golden. However, if you aren't able to shut that down, then take away Sanity Grinds.
GW Token - 1-1 in matches 3-3 in games - I knew that this deck would be played by many of the South Florida players, but I didn't prepare for it like I should have. David Irvine is a very well known Pro originating from the South Florida area and seems to have decided this is the best deck at the moment. With that being said, it doesn't take much for the sheep to flock. Don't get me wrong, I respect David Irvine immensely and the deck IS a top tier deck. However, Irvine's top 8 finish signaled what would be a very high GW attendance and knowledge of the Metagame is very important. It runs several of the same weapons as BW Tokens but has bigger creatures. Wilt-Leaf Liege with Finks AND Anthem make for very large guys which are just too tough for the BW version to overcome. One MUST save the PTEs to remove those guys and hope that you can gain permanent advantage and eventual victory. Wrath of God really should be cast to allow your blossoms or token generators to take effect.
Bant Aggro - 0-1 matches 0-2 in games - In theory, Bant's biggest problem is that it gains by attacking with one guy. Scullers seemed to be a good beginning for me but too many lands allowed the enemy to regain momentum. Wrath of God served me well again. While Puppeteer also put things back to my court it just wasn't enough. Countermagic can always help a deck maintain an advantage, but I think that Bant is merely a midrange middle tier deck at it's current state.
BW Tokens - 3-0 matches 6-2 in games - While my strategy worked out vs BW Tokens, it was unfortunate that I had to play anything else :) Maindecking Zealous Persecution was helpful. On top of that Puppeteers grabbed Cloudgoat Rangers for more dudes, and that was all Maindeck. After the board, Batwing Brumes hit my opponents for 4, 6 and 8 allowing for HUGE lifeswings and game changing situations leading to my victories. I boarded out cards like Redcap and Path for Brume and Wispmare, because you can only lose if the opponent gains too much advantage and if that happens Brume turns the tide. Wispmare ideally takes Anthem but can and should take down early Blossoms.
That does it for my results and tournament analysis. I do think the new Jund Aggro is a fine concept and will probably run that in the future. I couldn't help but feel guilty for not running the Fae, but maybe next time. I hope you enjoyed this bit of information. Wish me Luck at this year's National Championship!!!
