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A Tale of Two Cities
John Treviranus
11/19/2009  this article! - or -
[Article discussion now available to all readers!] This past weekend in Minneapolis was probably one of the best Magic related experiences I've had in some time. I did not day two, no, even after finding myself with a 6-0 record in the tournament. But does it really matter after all? It was not until 1pm on a Friday afternoon until I heard my ride pull up in front of my apartment. I glared down from the huge patio windows on my 2nd story apartment building that I call home. I yelled for Madison, my roommate and partner in Magic (or crime, whichever is best for the given day) to grab our backpack before sliding eagerly down the steps and into the back of a small green car. It was time to play some ‘crads' I exclaimed. A four hour car ride flew by like four minutes, and before I knew it I found myself sitting around a tournament table with a black sharpie proxying up a few extended decks to pass the time while our ride, Jason, battled it out in a grinder. Although there was largely no one who I was really excited to see at the night before the GP, it was nice for a little rest and relaxation with my friends. Fast forward to the morning of the event, where I was shipping along a mediocre sealed pool, and found myself with the following set of cards looking back at me. I have put * next to the cards that really appealed to me during building. White 1 Brave the Elements 1 Nimbus Wings 1 Makindi Shieldmate 2 Noble Vestige 1 Kor Hookmaster 1 Ondu Cleric 1 Pillarfield Ox 1 Kor Outfitter 1 Devout Lightcaster 1 Kor Sancifiers 1 Kazandu Blademaster * 1 Kor Aeronaut 1 Kor Duelist 1 Arrow Volley Trap * Blue 1 Living Tsunami * 2 Reckless Scholar 1 Merfolk Wayfinder 2 Spell Pierce 1 Tempest Owl 1 Quest for Ancient Secrets 1 Spreading Seas 1 Lethargy Trap 1 Summoner's Bane Black 1 Grim Discovery 1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet * 1 Mindless Null 1 Desecrated Earth 1 Ravenous Trap 1 Bog Tatters 2 Crypt Ripper * 1 Disfigure * 1 Giant Scorpion 1 Feast of Blood 2 Hideous End * Red 1 Magma Rift 1 Tuktuk Grunts 1 Torch Slinger 1 Zektar Shrine Expedition 1 Spire Barrage 1 Highland Berserker 2 Ruinous Minotaur 1 Runeflair Trap 1 Quest for Pure Flame 1 Goblin War Paint 1 Goblin Bushwhacker 1 Demolish 2 Burst Lightning * Green 2 Oran-Rief Survivalist* 2 Nissa's Chosen* 2 Territorial Baloth 1 Vastwood Gorger 1 Glazing Gladeheart 1 Greenweaver Druid 1 Turntimber Basilisk 1 Turntimber Ranger * Land 1 Kazandu Refuge 1 Kabira Crossroads 1 Soaring Seacliff Artifacts 1 Adventuring Gear 2 Explorer's Scope 1 Spidersilk Net 1 Stonework Puma 1 Blazing Torch 1 Hedron Scrabbler 1 Expedition Map 1 Eldrazi Monument * I believe two cards are missing, both of which were rares and neither worth any mentioning whatsoever. Regardless, the only three ‘real' colors here to toy around with are green, black and red. Red had easily the weakest of the three, so I cut it in favor of a consistent green/black deck. I really hated that I had to be playing green, but the cards were just fine. Here is the deck I registered. 2 Crypt Ripper 1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet 1 Disfigure 1 Giant Scorpion 2 Hideous End 2 Oran-Rief Survivalist 2 Nissa's Chosen 2 Territorial Baloth 1 Glazing Gladeheart 1 Turntimber Ranger 1 Turntimber Basilisk 1 Greenweaver Druid 1 Stonework Puma 1 Eldrazi Monument 2 Burst Lightning 1 Expedition Map 1 Kazandu Refuge 9 Forest 7 Swamp 1 Mountain In retrospect, I should have been playing a Bog Tatters or perhaps a Vastwood Gorger over some number of Territorial Baloth. They got sided out pretty much every match for fatter and better guys. One note of question that many people brought up to me as I was playing in the tournament was the red splash. My deck's mana is pretty harsh and it is difficult to cast spells on time often, especially with Nissa's Chosen and Hideous End being in the same deck. I did have some fixing in the form of map and Refuge, but it wasn't quite enough to support my splash fully. Either way, I had to play these Burst Lightnings. I looked over my purely B/G sealed deck only to see that my deck had zero outs to a resolved Vampire Nighthawk. Yes, that's right, my deck without Burst Lightning was a dead to just a single Vampire Nighthawk. That alone warranted a splash in the deck. I chose to draw in every match. There are decks you play with and decks you draw with, and while the general consensus is that the format is extremely fast, this deck is not. You will win games in the long run in two very specific ways. You will either resolve Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet, and go to town, or have many dorks in play while you resolve Eldrazi Monument. Knowing that these were my two outs to any deck meant that the extra card was worth it to me. Additionally, with two Nissa's Chosen and two survivalists, I felt as though I could regain tempo on defense very quickly. More often than not, I was correct in drawing, but at least twice on the day I felt as though drawing cost me the game. After I had spent a grueling eleven or more hours card battling, losing in the last round to miss day 2, I sulked around a bit at the event while talking with friends about as much non-magic related stuff as I can. This is not the first disappointment I've suffered recently, but hopefully I can make it my last. It is the last Magic tournament I'll attend until the Madison Wisconsin PTQ coming up, and then the 2009 State Championships. Because of this, all my focus will be on standard. I feel that the tournament going on as I write this in Rome will determine a lot about the coming months of standard. Worlds is always a huge event, and knowing what the pros are playing in standard will give us all huge Insight into the world of successful decks. Based on what I've heard from friends, there are many Nissa related cards, and Bushwhacking going on at the top tables – how exciting! There is such a dichotomy between all of the relevant formats right now. Extended is all about combo, and Standard is all about the beat down, and sealed is as fast as I've ever seen it. The variety we are getting in our day to day Magic lives is very fulfilling as a player, and Wizards of the Coast is doing a fantastic job keeping this amazing game as interesting and as fresh as possible. While admittedly I have been taking a bit of time off of my usual infinite testing the past couple days after the GP, I have had some time to be thinking about where I want to be going in the coming standard. Here is a deck list that reflects my current feelings about the 5cc archetype.
The ways in which I've adapted to the metagame are relatively important. Namely, Maelstrom Pulse has found its way back into the main deck through the increase in popularity of planeswalkers (such as Nissa Revain and Garruk Wildspeaker) and Eldrazi Monument. This alone was enough to warrant its inclusion, however it is still a strong card regardless that can answer a large plethora of threats. Day of Judgment has been excellent in doing exactly what a wrath effect should, and I felt was needed with more and more fast aggro decks popping up. One card that I'm sure is raising an eyebrow is Divination. Jace Beleren was always a cheerleader against the aggro decks. A three mana cantrip and nothing more, and a huge loss of tempo whenever he was put into the battlefield; I saw no reason to be playing him. I did know however that I wanted more card draw overall within the deck. Divination is the only ‘real' option we have left, and it's honestly not that bad. Mulldrifter was rarely ever anything more than a turn three card draw effect (though its usefulness as a 2/2 flier and its synergy with Cruel Ultimatum is missed) and this is no different. Simply drawing two cards is often key in keeping yourself alive by drawing into more removal, and fixing your mana. This is a classic example of a mediocre to bad card making its way into a deck because it is fulfilling a certain role. Sure, I'd rather have any card draw spell with the word ‘instant' on it, but we can't always get what we want. Divination is a fine role player regardless of its obvious faults, and does exactly what the deck wants on turn three. Overall I can't condone fully the idea of playing this strategy in standard right now. My choice still defiantly goes to Nissa Monument. I do not see what other decks can do right now to fight this strategy, or what cards directly beat it. I'd love to hear comments on my article regarding what all of you have been doing to adjust to Nissa Monument being in the meta game, and how your decks have changed since its induction to the format. Back to the GP: After my day1 failure, I found myself very unmotivated to play in the PTQ on the following day. I had poured so much effort into that event that I still felt completely exhausted by the idea of playing any Magic whatsoever, and certainly not invigorated by my disappointment. In fact, the only reason our car came back to the event (none of us had made day 2) was so my friend Jason could take his level 1 judge test, which he passed with flying colors. I spent the literal entire day analyzing and building sealed pools of friends who were playing in the event, and their prior sealed pools from day 1. It occurred to me during building somewhere around the 10th sealed pool that so many people were dramatically under practiced in Zendikar sealed. My preparation for this GP consisted of finding three to five sealed pools a day, building them and gold fishing them on workstation while making the proper adjustments as I went. I even went so far as to look over prior pools after I had learned things to determine if my builds were in retrospect, the correct builds. Point being, half of the people I had asked couldn't even count their Zendikar sealed experience on two hands. To me this is completely unacceptable. As players who are serious about playing to the best of their ability and playing to win – your entire sealed performance hinges on that thirty five minute deck construction period. Entire matches can be won or lost based on that half of an hour deciding how many forests you play, if you should be playing Blazing Torch or Adventuring Gear, or even if a splash for your two Journey to Nowhere is needed. All of these types of important decisions are invaluable to your success throughout the nine round gauntlet that your deck is embarking with you upon. Day two'ing a magic even is hard enough on its own, but miss building your sealed deck by even three cards is more than enough to knock you out of contention before you've even sat down for your first round. Think about it guys. Coming prepared to an event is the number one way to win. I realize some of us aren't quite this competitive, and are really just playing to have fun, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't maximize your chances too. It is as easy as recording booster packs you open on a piece of paper and using those resources to build a sealed pool later. Even building a couple sealed pools a week can teach you so much leading up to an event! Hopefully I did not come off as preachy to my readers, but I feel like it had to be said. There is nothing like preparation that will catapult you to the top tables at an event. Join me next week for a look into the Worlds tournament in Rome. Thanks for reading! |
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