Preparing for the Baltimore 5k

The most important part of the preparation for a constructed tournament is the 75 cards you register. It's also important to recognize that when you are choosing a deck to play for a tournament, you're not making 1 decision--you're making 75 decisions. Based on the metagame you are expecting, you should carefully consider and reconsider each card in the deck before packing them all away into a deckbox.

This is a list of questions I always ask myself before every constructed tournament:

1. Why am I playing this deck/archetype over another deck/archetype?
2. Is this the best 75 for this specific tournament?
3. Why am I playing X copies of [insert cardname] instead of Y or Z copies?

If the answer to any of these questions is "I don't know," you probably aren't ready to win the tournament.

More often than not, answers to question 1 will be related to power level, comfort level, consistency, or ease of use. For this particular tournament, I chose U/W control because I felt that it was the most consistent deck and the deck with which I most comfortable. On sheer power level, U/W doesn't compare to Mythic or Naya Shaman; after all, you are trying to do fair things while they search their deck for +10/+10 enchantments or full sets of haste creatures by turn 4. On the other hand, with great power comes great hate, and I didn't want to walk into a room playing a deck with a huge target on its head and very few outs to bullets like Linvala, Keeper of Silence. In addition, I had very little experience casting Noble Heirarch into Knight of the Reliquary, so how could I expect to outplay my opponents who'd been slinging forests for an entire season? I started this season off winning a SCG 5k with Super Friends, so finishing the standard season with a similar deck only made sense.

This is the list I decided to play against a field of 500:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

2 Baneslayer Angel

1 Sea Gate Oracle

3 Sun Titan

3 Wall of Omens

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

2 Courier's Capsule

3 Day of Judgment

1 Deprive

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

1 Everflowing Chalice

2 Jace Beleren

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

2 Journey to Nowhere

4 Mana Leak

2 Oblivion Ring

3 Path to Exile

1 Relic of Progenitus

[/Spells]

[Lands]

1 Arid Mesa

4 Celestial Colonnade

1 Gargoyle Castle

4 Glacial Fortress

1 Halimar Depths

6 Island

5 Plains

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Sejiri Refuge

2 Tectonic Edge

[/Lands]

[Sideboard]

1 Mindlock Orb

1 Ethersworn Canonist

1 Baneslayer Angel

1 Meddling Mage

2 Celestial Purge

2 Flashfreeze

1 Negate

1 Path to Exile

2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Telemin Performance

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

Every card was chosen very specifically, and I think that one-ofs are very powerful and underrated in archetypes that regularly see 60% of their deck every game. While I'd love to talk for pages about each card choice, half of the cards in the deck are rotating in a few short days, so I will save you the trouble. This is the story of my weekend!

After flying to DC (my hometown) from Florida, I finalized my last few sideboard cards and readied for battle in the morning. The time from 7 AM to 10 AM was a blur, but I had to buckle down when I lost the die roll in Round 1.

Round 1, Andrew, Turboland

Not knowing what my opponent was playing, I started the tournament with a mulligan to 6 before keeping a hand with lots of creature hating cards including Day of Judgment, Wall of Omens, and a Sea Gate Oracle. I was horrified when my opponent opened on Halimar Depths -> Forest -> Rampant Growth and I fought back with a Wall of Omens into Sea Gate Oracle. On turn six my opponent cast an Avenger of Zendikar with eight tokens before playing a land to Mana Leak my Day of Judgment with his last card in hand. When he untapped, he cast a Primeval Titan off the top of his deck to attack me for exactly lethal after blockers, leaving me with another Day of Judgment in my hand just short of untapping.

SB:

+2 Flashfreeze, +1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, +1 Mindlock Orb, +1 Telemin Performance, +1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Meddling Mage, +1 Negate, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

-2 Journey to Nowhere, -3 Wall of Omens, -1 Relic of Progenitus, -1 Day of Judgment, -1 Path to Exile, -1 Sun Titan

Game two I was able to Mana Leak my opponents turn three spell before untapping into a turn four Mindlock Orb followed by turn five Baneslayer Angel and turn six Elspeth to take my opponent down in two turns with my 8/8 Angel and her friend Serra Angel (known in some circles as Celestial Colonnade).

My opponent opened on a mulligan in game three and I was able to cast Telemin Performance for a Primeval Titan on turn five after he tapped out to pay for Mana Leak on a ramp spell. After searching for two lands from my deck, Andrew fired back with an Avenger of Zendikar, but the mana boost I received from the Primeval Titan allowed me to untap into both Elspeth and Jace, the Mind Sculptor unsummoning his Avenger (to prevent him from Time Warping me dead) and sending my Titan in the air for 9 damage, leaving my opponent on zero outs.

1-0

Round 2, Marcus, Jund

After I lost another die roll, the opposition opened up on a Lavaclaw Reaches and I already knew I was in good shape. After sending his turn two Putrid Leech on a Journey to Nowhere, I trapped his turn three Sprouting Thrinax in an Oblivion Ring. When my opponent spent his fourth turn attacking with Lavaclaw Reaches, the game was already locked up. I cast some planeswalkers and Sun Titans into my opponent's Maelstrom Pulses and Terminates until the coast was clear and stuck a Baneslayer Angel to ride to victory.

SB:

+1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Baneslayer Angel, +2 Flashfreeze, +2 Celestial Purge, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, +2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

-1 Sun Titan, -2 Jace Beleren, -2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, -1 Deprive, -1 Everflowing Chalice, -1 Relic of Progenitus, -1 Day of Judgment

My opponent mulliganed to six on the play before casting Duress and seeing four lands, Courier's Capsule, Day of Judgment, Celestial Purge. He took Celestial Purge before curving out Putrid Leech, something that got counterspelled, Bloodbraid Elf -> Putrid Leech. I cast the Day of Judgment before he untapped and played a land and Duressed me again. Unfortunately for him, Duress was his last card in hand and I endstepped my Capsule activation before untapping into a string of white Mythic Rares and burying him.

2-0

Round 3, Harry, Mythic

I lost my notes for this round, but I do recall that it was an extremely tight match. I was able to capitalize on Mana Leaking a Sovereigns of Lost Alara in game three and my opponent's impatience cost him when I came out on top.

SB:

+1 Mindlock Orb, +1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +1 Meddling Mage, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, +1 Path to Exile, +1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

-3 Wall of Omens, -2 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Sun Titan

3-0

Round 4, James, Mythic

James is one of my friends, so I had already talked to him throughout the day and knew what he was playing. He mulliganed to six and I was relieved when he didn't have a turn one play. I cast Journey to Nowhere on his turn two Lotus Cobra and he missed his fourth land drop. I stuck a Jace and Fatesealed him to death, lucky to avoid his hand of Jace, Jace, Elspeth, Sovereigns.

SB:

+1 Mindlock Orb, +1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +1 Meddling Mage, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, +1 Path to Exile, +1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

-3 Wall of Omens, -2 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Sun Titan

Game two was much of the same as he mulliganed to six again before I killed his early Noble Heirarch and he was stuck on three Forests while I bashed him to zero. I was excited to actually finish one of my rounds in less than 15 minutes playing U/W!

4-0

Round 5, Jon, Eldrazi Ramp

Game one was a 30 minute match that involved lots of spells I didn't want to see my opponents cast. Jon stuck an early Oracle of Mul Daya before curving out into Primeval Titan, Ulamog, and Emrakul. After wrathing away the Oracle and Titan, I was able to Journey to Nowhere Ulamog and Oblivion Ringed Emrakul after taking 15 from his free Time Warp. I counterspelled an All is Dust before Tectonic Edging my opponent's Eye of Ugin. It wasn't long until he played another Eye of Ugin and tutored for another All is Dust and resolved it before Tectonic Edging 2 of my 3 white mana sources leaving me with no outs.

SB:

+2 Flashfreeze, +1 Meddling Mage, +1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Mindlock Orb, +1 Telemen Performance, +1 Negate

-3 Wall of Omens, -2 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Sun Titan, -1 Relic of Progenitus

Game two I opened up on two lands, two Mana Leaks, Journey to Nowhere, Oblivion Ring, Mindlock orb. I counterspelled my opponents turn two spell knowing that I could Journey whatever he Summoning Trapped into if he had it. He simply passed the turn. I missed my third land drop and counterspelled his turn three play, at which point he double summoning trapped into Ulamog and Terastodon before destroying all of my permanents and slaying me.

4-1

Round 6, Evan, Naya Shaman

This was a GGslive.com feature match and I was excited to be back on camera. Game one my opponent stuck a Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar, but because of the pressure from Vengevine and Bloodbraid Elf, I was forced to start running out my Sun Titans into his Sparkmage/Collar to try to find answers. I didn't find any before he found an Inferno Titan to finish me.

SB:

+2 Flashfreeze, +2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +2 Celestial Purge, +1 Path to Exile, +1 Baneslayer Angel, +1 Ethersworn Canonist

-2 Sun Titan, -2 Courier's Capsule, -2 Jace Beleren, -2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, -1 Everflowing Chalice

Game two I saved all my removal and counterspells for Sparkmages and Collars knowing that he would keep them in because of all of the Mythic Rare creatures he saw in game one. I landed an early Relic of Progenitus and was able to neuter the Naya graveyard based creatures until I eventually I stuck a Sun Titan who got there.

Game three I cast two Baneslayer Angels before my opponent sparkmage/collared one down. I untapped into a Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and was able to attack my opponent with Baneslayer Angel while Linvala played defense against Bloodbraid Elves and Fauna Shamans. Eventually Evan cast his own Baneslayer Angel that traded with mine, but with my 40 point life cushion I was able to send Linvala in for the last 9 points of damage.

5-1

Round 7, Frazier, U/W Control

This match was a pain. I had to call a judge almost immediately to observe my opponent for slow play after I opened up turn one Relic of Progenitus on the draw. This didn't stop Frazier from coming out of the gates with a turn 6 Sun Titan to accompany his empty graveyard (Relic is awesome!). We traded bombs for removal spells until he was outclassed by the card advantage my Sun Titans provided (since they actually returned cards to the battlefield).

SB:

+1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, +1 Negate, +1 Meddling Mage, +1Telemin Performance

-2 Day of Judgment, -2 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Journey to Nowhere

Game two started with about 20 minutes left on the clock, but a Meddling Mage naming Path to Exile kept my second Sun Titan alive long enough to recur somewhere around 10 Tectonic Edges and Celestial Colonnades before my opponent was buried in card advantage and Serra Angels. There was really nothing interesting about this match as is the case with lots of U/W mirrors; it was just the slowest and most inevitable grind to victory that the judges would allow as they observed my opponent.

6-1

Round 8, Mythic, Eli

Game one saw me losing another die roll before my opponent opened up on a Noble Heirarch. I caught my opponent with an early wrath before he stuck a Jace, the Mind Sculptor and started digging for solutions. My opponent eventually cast a Baneslayer that I let resolve despite the Deprive in my hand, thinking that I would find a removal spell in time because of my high life total. I didn't.

SB:

+1 Mindlock Orb, +1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, +1 Meddling Mage, +1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, +1 Path to Exile, +1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

-3 Wall of Omens, -1 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Sun Titan, -1 Relic of Progenitus

In game two, Eli started with an aggressive draw but ran out of gas soon when I punished him for over-committing with a slow-rolled Day of Judgment. By turn six he had only one card left in hand to my five—it wasn't a solution to Sun Titan and I was able to finish the game in three combat steps.

Game three was a long grind that involved a six-card starting hand with two lands, a Sea Gate Oracle, two Path to Exiles, and a Mindlock Orb. I found my third and fourth Path to Exiles before I found my fourth land and Pathed my own Sea Gate Oracle to catch up on mana before landing a Mindlock Orb on my side of the board. I cast my other three Path to Exiles on my opponents three Sovereigns of Lost Alara over the course of five turns. My opponent recovered with some Knight of the Reliquary beatdown until I was able to stabilize at 6 with a Jace unsummoning his Knight. Eventually he caught a couple Dauntless Escorts off the top of the deck and put me down to two life before Jace found me a Baneslayer Angel which ended the game unanswered.

7-1

Round 9, Jon, Pyromancer's Ascension

Win and in! After I lost the die roll for the 7^th time on the day, my opponent opened up Island, Ponder and I was quickly in dire straights. He did a lot of sitting around and setting up at first while I resolved a Jace Beleren and pumped him up to 9 counters. While giving your combo opponent gas seems awful, I cannot afford to tap out on the draw starting on turn four, which means that I cannot realistically play threats until I hit 8 mana for a Jace or Elspeth or 10 mana for a creature spell, leaving Jace Beleren as my only threat. Realistically, if I can mill 20 cards from his deck I can probably hit a Call to Mind or a couple Pyromancer's Ascensions, the cards he cannot win without, significantly reducing his chance to combo. With Jace at 9 counters, he threw lots of bursts and bolts, leaving him with only a few cards in hand, but I couldn't provide a clock and he eventually stuck two Ascencions and Time Warped. On his third extra turn, he found the Call to Mind on top of his deck to seal the game.

SB:

+1 Ethersworn Canonist, +1 Meddling Mage, +2 Flashfreeze, +2 Celestial Purge, +1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, +1 Negate, +1 Telemin Performance

-1 Wall of Omens, -1 Sun Titan, -1 Baneslayer Angel, -1 Relic of Progenitus, -2 Journey to Nowhere, -3 Day of Judgment

I had the "nut draw" if U/W Control has such a thing. I opened up on the play with a hand of three lands, two Mana Leaks, my one-of Negate, and Jace, the Mind sculptor. I countered some early See Beyonds and continued to topdeck the rest of the counterspells and Oblivion Rings in my deck while killing my opponent with Serra Angels.

In game three I opened up a hand with Wall of Omens, Path to Exile, Elspeth, and some countermagic. I stuck an early Elspeth with protection thanks to my favorite version of Rampant Growth—Pathing my own Wall of Omens. I didn't have much in the way of countermagic, but I Flashfreezed an Ascension and won a counterwar which left my opponent with very little in the way of gas. He bricked for five turns while I was able to finish him off with Elspeth and Serra Angels, and I was into top 8!

8-1

Round 10, Jund, Sean McKeown

ID.

8-1-1

Top 8, Quarter Finals, Axel, Pyromancer's Ascension

Bill Stark did coverage of this match here.

This was a really close match that involved losing the die roll (again) and some great topdecks by Axel, ending my run at a second SCG trophy.

Afterthoughts on the tournament:

First of all, if you like food, do not play U/W control, since it isn't unlikely that you will not eat until midnight.

Secondly, when playing control, you will have inevitability over almost all of your opponents, so preventing your opponent from winning is almost the same thing as actually winning. What I mean by this is that rather than focusing on how to win the game, know how your opponent intends to win the game and what cards specifically put you under, then play to prevent him from doing anything relevant. With 4 copies of Jace and six 3CMC (not including two of the Jaces) or less cantripping spells, we will always find the Sun Titan eventually and he will always put away an opponent that doesn't have an overbearing board position on you. This is especially important when playing against combo decks like Mythic who try to distract you with cards like Knight of the Reliquary and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. If there aren't mountains in play, you probably aren't in danger even at one life as long as you have board control.

Third and finally: for pros, grinders, and casuals, Baltimore showed the darker side of the magic community when tens of thousands of dollars were stolen in magic cards all over the building. For your next event, it is very little effort to put a leg of your chair through a loop on your backpack at the start of each round to guarantee your belongings remain yours!

Special thanks to road battlers Omar and Nick and battle maiden Amanda for traveling to DC to be my berserker comrades!

Thanks for reading! Leave feedback and let me know what parts of the article were interesting and what parts were just useless!