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UW at the NYC 5k - 9th

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We are immersed in one of the best times for standard throughout the year. The rotation of Bloodbraid Elf, I mean Alara block, is a welcome change to many, especially for those who enjoy casting Jace, the Mind Sculptor. With states this weekend closely followed by multiple $10k weekends (Boston and Nashville), everyone wants the hottest standard tech. This weekend's NYC $5k is going to be a heavy influence on the metagame over the next two weeks, and I was fortunate enough to top 16.

Going into this hometown $5k, I wanted to be the person casting the most powerful spells. I didn't want to get too cute or do something unreliable, so I quickly made a list of what I thought the best engines of standard were. To me, in no particular order, they were:

I thought these would be the deciding cards (and of course decks) of standard. They were some of the most powerful cards in the format, and they were very easy to build around. In addition, many of these engines were easily meshed. For example, Primeval Titan + Eldrazi Mana, or Vengevine + Eldrazi Monument. Next level Bant is a mashup of Jace and Vengevine. Quest for the Holy Relic is the only one of these that isn't easily compatible, but it is capable of the most powerful draw in the format, which is always something to keep a close eye on.

While I was originally pretty high on a deck that involved Jace, Vengevine, and Eldrazi Monument, I decided it wasn't interactive enough for my tastes, and I really wanted to be the person casting Day of Judgment, not the person casting creatures. Once that thought was sculpted in my mind, I brewed a U/W deck and tested it throughout the week. Here is the list I played:

If you are the type who hasn't played a deck like this in a tournament before, you will probably be looking at my myriad of 1-ofs and thinking to yourself "This can't be right". Let me go ahead and say that with 4 Preordain, 4 Jace, and 12 other cantrips, you see over half your deck in any given game. Here was my reasoning on some of the more questionable numbers:

3 Wall of Omens, 1 Sea Gate Oracle

Wall is much worse now than it was with Bloodbraid in the format, and although it still is an incredible card, in many match ups it is just a 1W cycler that interacts well with the other cards in the deck (such as Venser, Sun Titan, and Day of Judgment). The 1 Sea Gate was originally a 2-of, but I wanted more room for other cards, and the Trinket Mages filled up the rest of the 3-slot nicely.

1 Sunblast Angel

This should be in every U/W deck for as long as this card is legal. This card is very similar to the singleton Martial Coup that was so popular last season, except it costs a mana less and comes with a better body. 4/5 flying is at an all time high right now, blocking Celestial Colonnade and Vengevines, as well as flying over their untapped creatures to hit their planeswalkers. It's not entirely impossible to play around, but what are they going to do, not attack? I wouldn't play more than two, as you can't overload on 6 mana wrath effects, but when this card is good, it instantly wins the game.

1 Stoic Rebuttal, 1 Into the Roil

Before I added these, I had the 4th Trinket Mage and 1 Chimeric Mass, but I wanted more 2 more cards that were answers to Eldrazi Monument, and those were the cards that were the easiest to cut. Stoic Rebuttal is less of a singleton and more of a 5th counterspell, but it's a good tool to have when they can pay for a Mana Leak. Into the Roil is extremely good right now, and I wish I played more of them. The card is a good way to deal with Planeswalkers, Eldrazi Monument, Volition Reins, Quest for the Holy Relic, Luminarch Ascension, and just about everything else. Even bouncing a Joraga Treespeaker can buy you the time you need to be in the game. I will be playing more in states.

The sideboard is sprinkled with 1-ofs, but most of them are self-explanatory. The Gideon Jura should have been in the main over the 2nd Elspeth. All is Dust is a really great way of dealing with opposing planeswalkers and Eldrazi Monument (though it doesn't kill the monument, it will die to its own trigger in their upkeep), but again, 7 mana is a lot when your lands don't tap for 2.

This is my tournament report, and I'm sorry if I forgot your name.

Round 1 – Mono White Quest for the Holy Relic

This round was unfortunate for my opponent. Both games he mulliganed, one game he got stuck on 2 lands, and neither game did he accomplish his quest. A good draw with that deck is weak to Day of Judgment and creature removal. A bad draw with that deck is cold to it. Sometimes when you're so far ahead, you go on autopilot. At one point during this match I Sunblasted my own Gideon. Yeah, well played.

1-0

Round 2: U/R Control – Jason Ford

Jason Ford is a friend that flew in from Minneapolis and was staying at my house. You never want to be paired against your friends, especially those who are nearly level 4. I met him a few years ago, and saw him a lot between GP Columbus, Nationals and PT: Amsterdam. We played the same 75 in Columbus (he top 4'd and I wasn't good enough to day 2). Needless to say, we frowned and shuffled up.

Game 1 I stick a Trinket Mage who gets in for 12 damage before we fight over some big spells. I resolve Elspeth Tirel, he sticks Jace, the Mind Sculptor, I return fire with a Sun Titan getting back Trinket Mage, and he demolishes me with "Bounce your Sun Titan, Destructive Force". I end up winning a nailbiter with only 3 lands in play by pressuring with a measly few Elspeth tokens through a Frost Titan thanks to all the damage the turn 3 Trinket Mage dealt.

Game 2 He resolves a Jace Beleren on the play, I don't have a turn 3 play, and he counters every spell I cast for the rest of the game. He casts Volition Reins on a chalice for 2. This game was over in minutes.

Game 3 We battle hard, with many Jaces being cast back and forth. He resolves Jace and I'm forced to play Venser, and play a few turns of land go. My Venser goes to 9 and threatens ultimate opposing his 6 lands. He casts Volition Reins and I don't have the Mana Leak to stop him.

1-1

Round 3: R/G Valakut Ramp w/ Koth

Game 1 is a long, 30 minute affair that involved 7 or 8 activations of Elixir of Immortality over the course of many turns against his quickly depleting number of mountains in deck. I never let him land a Primeval Titan, while I deal with his multiple Koths and Wurmcoil Engines. I stabilize at 4 life against his 2 Valakuts in play thanks to a Tectonic Edge and an Elixir. I quickly shoot up in life by casting Trinket Mage and fetching Elixir of Immortality each turn. He was at 50 life from Wormcoil Engine and many turns later, he died with 8 cards in his library from Colonnades.

Game 2 was a much shorter affair, with a Jace and plenty of Flashfreezes and Mana Leaks to keep him off doing anything.

2-1

Round 4: Vengevine Elves – Miles Rodriguez

Miles is another friend who I often test with and was using the 75 card deck I lent him. Knowing his exact numbers made it easier to play around stuff then it would have been otherwise. Of course, he had the same advantage. I win the die roll and it was a huge advantage.

Game 1 he mulligans and I Journey a Fauna Shaman. His mulligan and slow start catches up to him as he draws 3 Nissa's Chosen, and has to play into a Day of Judgment. When I have it and he draws 1/1s for the rest of the game, I win.

Game 2 he sticks a Nissa Revane, a Wurmcoil Engine, and an Eldrazi Monument, as I desperately try to fight him off. He keeps enough pressure on through different types of permanents that I get overwhelmed.

Game 3 was an incredibly long and close game that came down to him missing his 4th land drop, me having 3 Journey to Nowheres and multiple Into the Roil, then finding Gideon Jura, and using Venser to blink my Sejiri Refuge on and off the battlefield to keep myself at 1 life staring down an unanswered Llanowar Elf. Time gets called as I have Venser, Gideon, and Jace in play, but over the course of 2 turns I ultimate Venser and swing with Gideon and Colonnades for 20.

3-1

Round 5: U/W Control – Lucas Siow

Lucas is yet another friend I played on the day, though we first met each other while playing DotA. I spent the previous night showing off his incredibly hilarious video on the legacy metagame.

Game 1 he's pretty advantaged but then misses on land drops despite brainstorming with Jace. His dig for a land next turn gave me the opportunity to double Tectonic Edge his lands, and my Everflowing Chalice lets me ride the land advantage to victory.

Game 2 my turn 3 Trinket Mage gets bounced by Jace before I tap out to play a Chalice on 2. My Sol Ring felt like it was just as big of an advantage as Jace was, and soon I was just using cantrips while always having the resource advantage in a Mana Leak war. Many Trinket Mage for Elixir of Immortality later, and my life total sat high on 50 with him only having Collonades to attack me with. He couldn't afford to tap out on his turn to pressure, so we kept fighting battles over Jace, without either of us ever coming closer to winning the game. By the time the game ended, he had 20 cards left in his library, and I had kept cycling through so many cards that I simply had more spells cast in deck due to Elixir than he had answers.

4-1

Round 6 – Boros Bushwhacker

Game 1 he starts with a Steppe Lynx that goes on a Journey, then has a very burn-heavy draw as I activate Elixir of Immortality 3 or more times.

Game 2 he keeps a Goblin Guide into Plated Geopede hand with no white mana. My Wall of Omens helps keep the pressure off as I cantrip blockers. As he was choked on white mana, when I draw a Kabira Crossroads off a Goblin Guide trigger and then cast Venser, he has no way to get past my barrier of creature removal and life gain.

5-1

Round 7 – Eldrazi Green – Tim Landale

Tim was 6-0 and paired down against me, and he was able to double draw in. At 5-1, I knew I had to play it out, and after apologizing for interrupting his draft, we battled.

Game 1 he plays Joraga Treespeaker into Overgrown Battlement, and two Explores later, my Mana Leaks didn't do anything, and I had no way to kill him before getting Annihilated.

Game 2 much of the same happens, his Treespeaker plus ramp giving him far too much mana. When his Primeval Titan gets countered, I miss a land drop and try to dig for one, figuring he didn't have the Summoning Trap, and if he doesn't have another Primeval Titan, he can't cast anything currently scary for less than 10 mana. His next turn's Primeval Titan gets Day of Judgmented along with his Treespeaker and Battlement. But of course, the Titan gave him an Eye of Ugin and a Tectonic Edge, so when I soon am on four lands and he resolves Terastodon, the game is all but over. Knowing he's in with a double draw, I ask if he wants to draw, and he kindly accepts despite having inevitability.

5-1-1

Round 8 – Genesis Wave/Monument Elves – Steven Juseck

I lost to Steve in a swiss + top 8 sealed the day before, and was looking to take it back. He was 5-0-2 and was a lock with a win, but my 5-1-1 meant I could possibly squeak in at 8th. We heard our names be called for the feature match, and I prepared to battle on ggslive. He looked up at the camera and seemed fairly nervous, and it was visible during the match.

Game 1 – It looks bad as he casts Nissa Revane, but after some 2/3 beats and life gain, Sunblast Angel makes an appearance and then takes down Nissa. A Mana Leak later, and he dies to fliers while being blocked by Wall of Omens.

Game 2 - He curves out and sticks Nissa into Garruk into Genesis Wave X=5 for Eldrazi Monument and I die the turn before I can cast All is Dust after digging through 20 cards.

Game 3 - Me being on the play lets me cast multiple Journeys on his accelerants and after a few Day of Judgments and powerful white spells later, he was overwhelmed.

6-1-1

At this point I know that 2 of the 6-1-1 players will make it, and 2 of them won't. I pray that my loss to Jason Ford in round 2 (who was also in top 8) was enough to keep my breakers up, but the 3-byes a few people had meant I was nowhere remotely close enough after losing round 2. I ended in 9th.

9th place stings, but $100 doesn't, and I was happy to have won back to back $5k feature matches with Trinket Mage (the previous being Legacy with Shield Sphere and Vengevine). I'm definitely playing U/W in NY states, though I will likely have changed a few cards by then. I know I want to keep Trinket Mage, but I think I want Frost Titan somewhere. The Leonin Arbiters were awful, and I'm going to change my sideboard, as well as try to figure out something that can beat Eldrazi Green.

Eldrazi Green was a large portion of the top 16, so there will likely be lots of it at states. The match up is bad against an average player (but winnable if they make mistakes), and downright impossible against someone who knows what they're doing. I'm going to play U/W and hope that none of my better opponents are playing Eldrazi Temple and Summoning Trap. People will likely be switching to aggro to beat the Eldrazi decks, and those are the decks you want to be playing against.

Thanks for reading, and have fun at states!

Nick Spagnolo

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