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MOL PTQ: *Top 8*
by Lucas Horta | posted at 2010-04-05 22:18:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Extended, Pro Tour Qualifier, San Juan, Magic Online, MTGO, MOL, MODO, Thopter Depths, Lucas Horta
Greetings!
I’m Lucas Horta, a Brazilian you might know better as in5ano on Magic Online. I don’t have much success in paper events other than a Top 32 at Nationals and a Day 2 at GP São Paulo, but I recently Top 8’d back to back PTQs on MTGO with Dark Depths. This will be an extensive report about the last one, with some advice on how to play the deck for those of you who still have PTQs to attend this season.
For reference, here’s the list I ran:
2 Island
2 Swamp
2 Repeal
2 Smother
Sideboard:
I saw this list in the “Dailies” section of MagicOnline.com, piloted by LSV himself to a 3-1 finish. It was beautiful, I couldn’t change a thing. So on to the report!
Round 1: crispauly – Swans
MOL events are pretty sweet since you can scout all your opponents from round 2 on, but unfortunately I had no idea what my first round opponent was playing, so I had to keep a generic hand. I started off shipping a no lander for two River of Tears, Swamp, Tolaria West and Thopter Foundry on the draw. Crispauly played a turn one Dakmor Salvage which made me put them on Dredge, so I had no big hopes of winning. When my opponent played a Misty Rainforest on turn 2 and just passed, I was a bit confused – was it Swans? I tried for the turn 2 Thopter Foundry but was Condescended; yes, it WAS Swans. My opponent proceeded to play an untapped Steam Vents and cast a Blood Moon. Whoops. We played draw-go for a while, until they found their fourth land to lay down a Chalice of the Void for 2. By then I had drawn a couple Moxen but not enough colored spells (or Repeals) to fetch Engineered Explosives with Tolaria West, so after my opponent cast a Glen Elendra Archmage, then Meloku, I was clearly out of that game.
I sided: -2 Smother, +2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Game two saw me shipping two hands until I was content with Urborg, Thoughtseize, Tolaria West, Chrome Mox, and Thirst for Knowledge. I Thoughtseized my opponent on turn one seeing Blood Moon, Chalice of the Void, two Jace, Seismic Assault, Scalding Tarn and an Island. I took the Blood Moon. Crispauly ripped a Mox, removing Seismic Assault and dropped Chalice at 1. We played draw-go for a couple turns and when they tried an end of turn Thirst, I had Muddle for it. I cast my own Thirst binning a Sword of the Meek and passed with four lands on the battlefield, Dark Depths and Sword in hand. Luckily for me, my opponent's fourth land drop was Dakmor Salvage so no Jace. I ripped a Dark Confidant and cast it alongside a Sword of the Meek in case I was facing Extirpates. A Swans of Bryn Argoll, not Jace, came down so I thought I was probably facing someone with the Assault already. Bob revealed another Bob, I attacked with it and got two free cards from a block. At that point my hand was Chrome Mox, Dark Confidant, Vampire Hexmage, and Slaughter Pact. I cast the Hexmage and the Mox, removing Bob, in case I needed to both kill Swans and get away from a Blood Moon. Crispauly just played Jace, fatesealed me and passed. I considered not killing Swans and drawing 20, but I guess winning is better, so I won.
For game 3 I didn't have to mulligan Thoughtseize, River of Tears, Tolaria West, Compulsive Research, Muddle the Mixture, Slaughter Pact and Dark Confidant. My opponent mulliganed down to 6. My turn one Thoughtseize revealed Scalding Tarn, Forest, Tolaria West, Jace, and Condescend so I took the Jace. I played a turn 3 Dark Confidant with a mana up, but it was Condescended for one anyway ('Pauly's third land was a Tolaria West). Scry paid off with a Blood Moon, but my trusty Bobby gave me a Repeal (unfortunately no colored mana or a fourth land drop, though). My Swans opponent played their fourth land and dropped Chalice at 2 again, hoping for another lock, but I had the Best Two Drop Evertm to pull me out of it – and that it did – revealing a Chrome Mox and a Compulsive Research into another Mox. My opponent could only play draw-go while I was building infinite card advantage until Glen Elendra Archmage was dropped with no blue mana up. Crispauly played a Chrome Mox and when I repealed the Blood Moon in response, declined to imprint anything. On my big turn, I Thoughtseized the Blood Moon (seeing a Condescend – why wasn't that imprinted on the Mox?), cast Engineered Explosives for zero and blew it, cast Thopter Foundry and transmuted for the Sword. My opponent never drew anything relevant and died to my Thopters.
1-0
Round 2: Fakeshaver – Hypergenesis
MTGO sometimes doesn’t keep all of your replays, and that happened to this one, but my story is I made a crucial, game losing mistake. On my turn 3 I had Hexmage and Dark Depths and decided to wait until my opponent's end of turn to make the 20/20, fearing Oblivion Ring. Fakeshaver just went for the combo in response with Violent Outburst and destroyed my land with Angel of Despair, then used Terastodon targeting their own lands for an army of Elephants.
We have interesting things to consider here: by doing this, I also enabled my opponent's Demonic Dreads. If they had both O Ring and Violent Outburst, I was dead anyways. If it was just the O Ring, we get a turn to maybe Thoughtseize them or reassemble our combo. If it was Outburst and just one flier, they’re dead. So the optimal play here is just release the 20/20 on our own turn. I promptly facepalmed and proceeded to sideboarding.
I sided: -2 Repeal, 2 Thopter Foundry, 1 Sword of the Meek, 2 Smother, 1 Engineered Explosives for +2 Damnation, Chalice, 2 Jace, 2 Gatekeeper of Malakir, 1 Ghost Quarter
I mulliganed into a sick six card hand of Tolaria West, Sunken Ruins, Dark Depths, Vampire Hexmage, Chalice, and Thopter Foundry. I played Chalice and Foundry on turn two, then combo'ed on turn 3. My opponent couldn’t answer either problem.
On game 3 my opponent went deep in the tank for about three minutes and finally decided to keep. I took the time to do the same, and kept myself Dark Depths, Thirst for Knowledge, Jace, Chalice, Tolaria West, Dark Confidant, and Thoughtseize. I had 19 outs for black sources and plenty of time if my opponent couldn’t answer the Chalice. Fakeshaver had back-to-back Reflecting Pools and I could see why it took so long to decide to keep the hand (after I played Tolaria West, Dark Depths, Chalice, my opponent probably thought the same). Fortunately for me, Shaver missed a third land drop and I didn’t, so I Thoughtseize Oblivion Ring after seeing Violent Outburst, Terastodon, Ardent Plea, Angel of Despair, Compulsive Research, and Bogardan Hellkite. My opponent still had no third land and I had another River of Tears, coupled with a Thoughtseize I had gotten in my first draw step. I took a freshly drawn Ingot Chewer, cast Dark Confidant and passed. I started missing land drops, but it was affecting my opponent more. By the time the third land did show up, I had Muddle the Mixture to counter a Compulsive Research. I finally drew a four land to play Jace and lock out my opponent with fateseal, winning with assorted bashing bears (aka plan D).
2-0
Round 3: tmoney846 – Hive Mind
I had to mulligan a pretty decent hand of Thirst for Knowledge, Chrome Mox, Repeal, Swamp, Thopter Foundry, Smother, and Tolaria West due to not doing a damn thing against the combo. My six-card hand was much more interactive with Compulsive Research, Thopter Foundry, Thoughtseize, Muddle the Mixture, Urborg, and Island. I Thoughtseized Hive Mind turn one after not seeing anything relevant other than a Spell Snare and we played draw-go for awhile. On turn 3 I ripped another Thoughtseize to protect my Dark Confidant, but Tmoney had another Snare, so I just took Pact of the Titan instead and passed. We played draw spells in the form of Compulsive Research for me and Ponder for my opponent and at turn 5 they went for a tapout, Simian-enabled Hive Mind. That was my window to transmute for Vampire Hexmage and cast it. Tmoney tried Pact of Negation, but my copy from Hive Mind countered and I had more than enough mana to pay for it and bash with Marit Lage.
I sided: -2 Smother, 1 Slaughter Pact, 1 Thopter Foundry for +1 Chalice of the Void, 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and a Ghost Quarter. In case you don’t know, Chalice won’t stop their combo. I have it in for one to counter Repeal, Serum Visions, Ponder, and Rite of Flame.
I mulligan to a six card hand of Chrome Mox, 2 Swamp, Island, River of Tears, and Muddle (I should have mulliganed to 5). My opponent had a couple Serum Visions while I cast turn 3 Jace, imprinting Muddle on Chrome Mox. Bolt took it down. I Thoughtseized and saw, among other things, Hive Mind and both colors of Pacts; I took the Hive Mind. I started thinking about it and it made no sense to take the red Pact, since my opponent probably had six Pacts left (not counting Tolaria Wests) but only 3 Hive Minds. A turn later, I transmuted Muddle for Vampire Hexmage but Tmoney had ripped a Spell Snare. Then on my opponent's next turn? A second Hive Mind. Nice draw.
On game 3 I kept Academy Ruins, Sunken Ruins, 2 Jace, Urborg, Dark Confidant, and River of Tears. I cast turn two Bob, which was Bolted, but my opponent stalled on just one land. That let me play an unharmed Jace on turn 4 to lock the Hive Mind player out of the game.
3-0
Round 4: Sphynxx – BW Pox
At least that’s what I assumed from watching replays. I never saw a Smallpox, but all the other cards such a deck would run were there. I kept Swamp, River of Tears, Engineered Explosives, Tolaria West, Slaughter Pact, Dark Confidant and Thirst for Knowledge. My turn 2 Bob met a turn 2 kicked Gatekeeper (off a Mox imprinting Stoneforge Mystic and a filter land). A few Kitchen Finks were up next, and I had to decide which combo to go for with Muddle as I had both Dark Depths and Thopter Foundry in hand. It was not likely my opponent had any main deck answers to the tokens, so I went for that. Sphynxx managed to drop me down to 3 with a Sword of Light and Shadow, but by the time Stoneforge Mystic hit to find the good Sword, it was too late.
I’m unsure of what I sided, but it was probably -2 Repeal, 1 Slaughter Pact, 1 Vampire Hexmage, 1 Dark Depths for + 2 Jace, 2 Gatekeeper, and a Damnation to take care of opposing Bobs I wasn’t even sure were in my opponent's deck. The Marit Lage combo wasn’t that great since they have (or at least I think) Paths AND Smallpoxes.
On game two I kept 2 Mox, Gatekeeper, Tolaria West, River of Tears, Urborg, and Dark Confidant. I went for the turn one Bob, imprinting the Gatekeeper. I don’t know how many games I’ve lost where I went turn 1 Bob and they didn’t have an answer for it (except maybe against Zoo), so I felt pretty good. My opponent had a turn 2 Bitterblossom and a turn 3 Augur of Skulls, while I went Compulsive and Thirst so that the Augur wouldn't do anything except maybe attack for 1. And that it did. I ended up drawing into the Marit Lage combo with Damnation in hand, a card my opponent Thoughtseized. I then made the 20/20 anyway and a Bitterblossom became Forcefield for Sphynxx. I Thoughtseized, seeing 2 Engineered Explosives and ended up drawing one of my many outs to the fliers, bashing with the 20/20 on turn 6.
4-0
Round 5: HungryHungryHomer – Zoo
I lost my replay for game 1 and unfortunately am unsure of how I lost it, but I know I mulliganed to five and my opponent had a maindeck Negate for the win.
I sided -1 Compulsive Research, 1 Thirst for Knowledge, 1 Dark Depths, 1 Vampire Hexmage, 4 Dark Confidant for + 1 Jace, 2 Damnation, 3 Deathmark, and 2 Gatekeeper. I think I should’ve kept in a draw spell for one of the Swords; feedback on that is appreciated.
For game 2 I kept Sunken Ruins, Dark Depths, Island, Academy Ruins, 2 Thoughtseize and Damnation. I Thoughtseized a Meddling Mage, then Bant Charm on turn two after ripping the Hexmage (I guess that’s why I play the deck). My opponent couldn’t rip an answer in two draw steps and lost.
For the decider, I kept Thirst, Smother, Mox, 2 River of Tears, Urborg, and Gatekeeper. Homer had a turn 2 Meddling Mage for Hexmage which I promptly Smothered, but thinking back I’m not sure I should have, since my opponent would probably try to protect it from Gatekeeper by sacrificing some other guy, and Gatekeeper trades with the 2/2 Mage all day long.
My opponent ended up just making another Pikula (not. Pikula got robbed.), which I then Gatekeepered away after drawing Jace. Hey, if I wasn't going to be put under any pressure, 7 Gatekeeper attacks was all it would take. I bounced a Tarmogoyf, but my opponent replayed it alongside a Treetop Village. I then bounced 'Goyf again and transmuted for a Smother, playing a Mox and imprinting a Muddle to have mana up to protect Jace. Homer just replayed Tarmogoyf and a Qasali Pridemage. I Brainstormed into the combo plus a Deathmark (LOL, HL), killed the 'Goyf, cast the combo and passed. Pridemage attacked alone and I blocked, then made a 20/20. Remember to do that, so you at least don’t lose your life (or in that case, your Jace) if they have an answer.
My opponent had a Bant Charm for that and played a Noble Hierarch. I drew a Deathmark and Brainstormed into Damnation, land, and Foundry. I Deathmarked the Pridemage (which ate my Mox) and played the Foundry. Treetop Village attacked Jace and Bant Charm countered my attempt at Smother. It was about turn 12 and I was still at 20, so the game SHOULD be mine. I still had a Muddle, so I transmuted it for Sword with Damnation in hand to my opponent's six lands (1 Treetop), Noble Hierarch, and a card. My Gatekeeper was Pathed away, as my opponent was down to 6 life already, but ultimately proved unable to deal with my tokens.
5-0
Round 6: fivefloors – Ug Faeries
I was pretty happy with keeping 2 Dark Confidant, Thirst, Muddle, Academy Ruins, Mox, and Hexmage on the draw, until Fivefloors Snared the first Bob and Mana Leaked the second. I unfortunately drew Urborg a turn late, so I never really had access to blue mana and a Vendilion Clique paired with a couple Spellstutters (one just to bash, another countering a Thoughtseize) made short work of me. My opponent even had Threads for my third Bob and suspended an Ancestral Visions. How rude.
I sided in a Jace and Chalice for 1 of each Vampire Hexmage and Dark Depths.
For game 2 I kept River of Tears, Sunken Ruins, Muddle, Compulsive Research, Vampire Hexmage, and Dark Depths, leading with Sunken Ruins. That’s a nuance of the deck you want to remember doing, as you might draw a Chrome Mox to power up the turn 2 combo. I ripped a Bob for turn two, and my opponent didn’t Snare. On the next turn I attacked with it and traded for a Spellstutter Sprite. That let me resolve my combo and I passed. I was going to wait a turn since I had Muddle and 'Seize in hand, but my opponent thought I had pressed f6 (which passes priority until end of turn) and played a post-combat Damping Matrix. I wasn’t born yesterday so I made a 20/20 and won. Fish.
For game 3 I kept Dark Confidant, 2 Thirst, Repeal, Slaughter Pact, River of Tears, and Academy Ruins. Mana Leak hit my turn 2 Bob and on my third turn, Fivefloors cast Vendilion Clique at end of turn. I waited to see which card would be chosen (it was Pact) and Thirsted, discarding Academy Ruins and another Thirst which left me with a Repeal, Thoughtseize, Muddle, Vampire Hexmage, Smother, and Dark Depths in hand. My freshly drawn Thoughtseize was Mana Leaked and I passed with two lands up. My opponent played a Mutavault and saw Vendilion Clique get Smothered. I played Urborg and Hexmage with 3 mana up, Repeal and Muddle in hand (both of which my opponent knew I had). Sower of Temptation came down for Fivefloors, which prompted a 20/20 in response to the trigger. I then drew a fifth land to Repeal it and my opponent complained about me slowrolling it. I mean, I didn’t even tap the other four before playing the fifth, so go figure. I was 6-0 and possibly locked for Top 8.
At that point I was pretty happy to have Top 8’d back-to-back online PTQs.
6-0
Round 7: oab0119 – Mirror
Game 1 I mulliganed to 6 into 2 Sunken, River of Tears, Chrome Mox, Smother, and Compulsive. Oab didn’t have a lot of action for the first turns, so I went aggro with a turn 2 Hexmage (HL). I Compulsive Researched, my opponent Thirsted, I Seized seeing 2 Jace (nabbing one) and my opponent cast the other copy. That play netted a Brainstorm until I attacked for 2 and killed the Jace with Hexmage's ability to clear the way for casting my own copy. Thoughtseize hit my Smother, and Oab played a Hexmage for my Jace (I had hid a Bob in the trenches). The next turn my opponent Muddled for Smother and killed my Bob. I ripped a second, and Engineered Explosives took it down. I cast a generic Explosives for 2, as I had no more spells in hand (just lands) and I felt I'd rather do it than lose it to a Thoughtseize.
The game went on for several turns with both of us doing nothing. I drew a Thopter Foundry but never the Sword and at some point my opponent cast Dark Confidant so I had to Explode the board away (keeping a token that was Smothered later on). If I had kept Thopter Foundry in hand, my opponent's Thoughtseizes would have become useful (food for thought). At some point I drew Hexmage for my Dark Depths I had lying around and made the brilliant play of another Dark Depths. My opponent, of course, ripped a Hexmage to kill Marit Lage with the legend rule. Pwned. Oab ended up assembling Thopter/Sword in consecutive turns and I lost.
I sided: +2 Jace, 2 Leyline, 2 Gatekeeper, 1 Ghost Quarter for 3 Dark Depths, 2 Hexmage, 1 Slaughter Pact, and 1 Sword of the Meek. I sided like that because my opponent only had one piece of each Foundry and Sword. If they have more, I definitely sideboard differently, swapping at least a Repeal for a third Leyline and maybe the fourth as well. An alternate, better sideboarding plan would involve maxing Hexmages and sideboarding fewer Dark Depths, maybe going down to just one of each Thopter piece due to the fact Vampire Hexmages double up as Jace removal, but I wasn’t able to figure that out on the fly and just did what I did.
We both kept sevens, mine being River of Tears, Sunken Ruins, 2 Tolaria West, 2 Thoughtseize, and a Mox. I 'Seized Thopter and Jace in consecutive turns, and we played draw-go for a while until I played Jace. My opponent had Scademy Ruins in play and transmuted for Sword. I Ghost Quartered away the Academy Ruins, then transmuted and played my own. We traded Smothers for Bobs and assembled Thopter/Sword. Oab's only out was probably an Extirpate but it wasn't found in time.
We were running pretty low in time (5 minutes or so each) so I think I sided out some pieces of the Thopter Foundry combo for more Hexmages and Dark Depths.
Game 3 was uneventful. My opponent resolved a turn 4 Jace I couldn’t answer (I had a turn 0 Leyline, a Smother, and a Gatekeeper, but you can’t solve all the problems in the world) and locked me out of the game, eventually getting Jace to 13 loyalty and killing me.
6-1
I was still pretty sure I was in, as I was 3rd place when round 8 started, and was paired up against the lonely 7-0. I asked if my opponent would scoop but I had just played their friend, so no.
Round 8: mikeward – Hypergenesis
For game 1 I kept Mox, 2 River of Tears, Sunken Ruins, Bob, Smother, and Tolaria West on the draw. I just can’t mulligan the turn 1 Bob. Obviously I ripped Thoughtseize, so turn 1 Bob had to wait. My opponent had Hypergenesis, Angel of Despair, Progenitus, Fungal Reaches, and Simian Spirit Guide after I took Compulsive Research. Bob soon followed and my opponent suspended the Hypergenesis. I transmuted for Dark Depths with Muddle in hand and 'Seized away Progenitus, leaving my opponent with Angel, SSG, and another Fungal Reaches. The next turn saw me transmuting for Hexmage and playing it. I wasn’t committing my mistake again (well, fear of Oblivion Ring) and sacrificed Hexmage when he charged Reaches at end of turn. Mike didn’t draw an answer for Marit Lage.
I sided the same as against my other Hypergenesis opponent.
G2 I mulliganed into a pretty decent hand of Thoughtseize, Hexmage, Urborg, Tolaria West, Swamp, and Ghost Quarter. My opponent opened on a Fungal Reaches and I 'Seized away SSG, seeing Progenitus, Ardent Plea, 2 Violent Outbursts, and Hypergenesis. Would you have 'Seized away Progenitus? I had ripped a Bob on that turn. My opponent missed a land drop, I played Bob, Mike played a Forbidden Orchard and passed, Bob revealed another Bob and I had no blue mana to transmute yet, so I just went for the 20/20 when my two Bobs gave me the combo. I Ghost Quartered away Forbidden Orchard, and while my opponent did have a basic Forest there wasn't a third land to cast the cascade spells.
7-1
So that was it. Another Top 8 and I was facing, again, a Zoo deck. This one was pretty sweet though, with Lightning Angels, a card I love. The Top 8 consisted of my opponents from round 7 and 8, 3 Zoo decks, another DDT deck, a Scapeshift deck and, well, me.
Top8: Yummytoad – Zoo
I lost the die roll and mulliganed to 5 (I know right?). Thirst, Bob, Muddle, Pact, and Mox on the draw would have to do. Yummytoad opened with a 1/1 Wild Nacatl and I ripped a Tolaria West. My opponent made the Nacatl a 2/2 and passed with Breeding Pool and Hallowed Fountain up. I ripped Academy Ruins, played Mox removing Bob and passed. Yummytoad played an untapped Steam Vents and I Thirsted during the attack, fishing for a Bant Charm. I figured if my opponent Bant Charmed it I could safely Pact the 3/3 and buy more time to find either combo. The next turn saw me paying for the Pact with no land drop and 2 Muddles in hand. Toad proceded to play back-to-back Knights of the Reliquary while I never drew anything relevant, so I was dead.
I sided the same as against my previous Zoo opponent.
I finally kept a 7 of River, Thoughtseize, Damnation, Slaughter Pact, Repeal, Island, and Mox. The turn 1 'Seize revealed Nacatl, Scalding Tarn, Tarmogoyf, Hallowed Fountain, Misty Rainforest, Pridemage, and Ancient Grudge. My opponent played 'Goyf and I Repealed it. The 'Goyf was re-cast alongside Noble Hierarch which I Damnationed away, fearing a Negate my opponent had maindeck that I had seen before when scouting (it was actually Remand, but I think it still applies).
My opponent cast a Knight which I Slaughter Pacted, then had a Hierarch and a Qasalir Pridemage, with Ancient Grudge and another card in hand. I went for Hexmage, transmuting Muddle and after blocking the 4/4 Pridemage I made a 20/20 to see it die to Bant Charm. I then ripped another Muddle and cursed myself for not waiting a turn. Would you have?
Instead, I transmuted for Gatekeeper of Malkir and my opponent sacrificed Noble Hierarch to it. I just kept getting attacked with the Pridemage, still with two cards in my opponent's hand, so I ripped another Muddle for another Gatekeeper and beatdown time it was. We went draw-go for a couple turns, only I had 4 power to attack with, but I was drawing Moxen and extra Urborgs. Yummytoad Pathed away one of my Gatekeepers, falling to 5 and I drew a Dark Depths to slowly build my very own Marit Lage.
My opponent ripped a Knight and dropped to 4, cracking a fetch land. I went draw, go in the face of the 6/6. Toad just passed back fearing my mighty 2/2 and I drew a Deathmark for the Knight, but that just meant my opponent could get a Treetop out of the deal by sacrificing the Knight in response. I was attacked down to 12 with Treetop and Toad Pathed my other 2/2, at 2 life. I drew a Thirst and passed with nine mana up and three counters on Dark Depths. I got bashed down to 9, and I went deep into the tank and decided not to make the 20/20, thinking maybe that Thirst would give me the Thoughtseize or Muddle to secure the win. It didn’t, but it did give me a Smother and a Deathmark. I played a Thopter Foundry on my turn, the dead Mox in my hand, Deathmarked Knight and passed. Toad ripped a 'Goyf and obviously had the Path in hand for my 20/20. There was no attack with Treetop and the only card left in my opponent's hand was that Grudge. I drew Sunken Ruins and passed, Toad bashed with Treetop and 'Goyf, which I Smothered, but my opponent ripped yet another Tarmogoyf. At the end of turn I made two tokens out of my Foundry, since if I played any artifact my opponent could just Grudge my Foundry in response, so I was in for at least a point of life as Toad only had 2 mana up. I drew Jace for Tarmogoyf, attacked my opponent down to 1 (after a token was Ancient Grudged) and passed. Jace died to Treetop, my last token was Re-Grudged, Tarmogoyf was re-cast, and I died.
7-2
That left me pretty bummed out, especially since I had “wasted” that Damnation on turn 4 and my opponent never had the Negate (actually Remand), but I still think I was right. My hand was pretty good and I just couldn’t afford them having the counter and playing around my Damnation, but 18 Worldwake packs is nowhere near as saucy as a PT spot and $1k.
I did Top 8 back-to-back 120+ (128 then 154) player PTQs with no IDs (both at x-1), so that’s quite the confidence boost for my upcoming paper PTQ in two weeks.
A word on some cards:
Jace is amazing. Remember Jace and Gatekeeper is a pretty sweet engine, so cutting a Sword and a Foundry for a Jace and a Gatekeeper is something I would consider. You even free up two sideboard slots, so you could add more Chalices, a Tormod’s Crypt, Extirpates, or whatever is good for your meta. I don’t recommend running Gerry’s fetch lands and Watery Grave, however, as the life loss and the fewer basics cost me three out of the five games I played before just switching them back to basics and the fourth River.
Echoing Truth might be miles better than Into the Roil, but it’s still worse than Repeal. The only situations you might find yourself needing to tutor for a bounce spell are against an opposing Marit Lage or Damping Matrix, but you have enough maindeck answers to the former and you’d side out the Echoing Truth against decks running the latter. As a friend pointed out though, if you expect a lot of Dredge, Bitterblossom, and all those decks we don’t see online anymore, it might be pretty sweet to have it instead of one of the Repeals. Also, as Katsuhiro Mori did, you could cut the Slaughter Pact for it, maybe shipping the Pact to the board. Don’t cut the Academy Ruins, though. Thopter recursion is too big for the mirror and control matchups.
The minimum number of Deathmarks you want is three. Zoo is not an easy matchup and it’s the only deck I don’t win over half my matches. Prepare and test against it.
Zoo players: Meddling Mages suck against DDT. Seriously. Pridemages, on the other hand, are a threat by themselves and can kill the Foundry or manascrew us, if the situation arrives.
Everyone else: Night of Soul’s Betrayal is probably the best thing there is against DDT, but unfortunately you can’t fit it in any good deck. If you can come up with something that doesn’t die to the rest of the field, go for it, but don’t play the Nicol Bolas deck. Seriously, it was a 21 player PTQ.
And just remember to think about what you could draw before you play your first land. What if you draw a Chrome Mox? What about a combo piece?
DDT is definitely the deck of the season, so be prepared with it or be prepared against it.
I hope you liked reading my article, it was a blast writing it, and I hope to see you again soon.
Lucas Horta
in5ano on MTGO/IRC.
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Lucas Horta is a computer science student from Brazil. He started playing Magic during Exodus, and since then has become a serious competitive player. To date he has managed the rare feat of pulling off back-to-back PTQ Top 8s on Magic Online, arguably the toughest PTQ environment in the world. He resides in the northeast of Brazil in Fortaleza.