PTQ Salt Lake *Top 8* with UW

by Bryan Greer | posted at 2011-03-17 08:59:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Bryan Greer, Magic the Gathering, Extended, Pro Tour Qualifier, PTQ, UW, Tournament Report, Tourney Report, Nagoya

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first tournament report here on TheStarkingtonPost.com. Before I started I want to thank Bill for giving me this opportunity to share my story with the greatest community around.

Before I delve too deep into this story I think it would be appropriate to give some back story leading up to my deck choice and decision to drive down to Salt Lake. I just recently started playing Magic again after about a year hiatus. The itch had taken hold of me and the recent Worlds coverage had given me a desire to get out there and play. The Extended season was just around the corner and after watching the Worlds coverage I was fairly confident that I would play some Extended.

Coming up to March I still had not attended a PTQ and it was becoming apparent that I probably would only attend my local city PTQ near the end of the season. Coming up to Game Day our local store ABUGames decided to up the prize pool to a cool $500 for first place. This of course gathered some good attention and several players from Utah decided to drive up to Idaho for a chance at the prize. For this event I decided to roll out with the U/W/r CawBlade deck with maindeck Cunning Sparkmage. I had tested the deck quite extensively and I felt that the Sparkmages were going to be a huge asset in the main. I cut the counterspells to the sideboard and went to battle. Unfortunately my metagame call didn't help and the Sparkmages would find themselves on the sidelines for games 2-3. What I did learn from this event though was the power level of the Sword/Stoneforge Mystic package and knew that if I were to go into a PTQ tomorrow I would play a similar list. I ended this tournament in 2nd place losing to a Utah player who had thrown the wool over my eyes with his version of RUG. I honestly felt the matchup was in my favor, but the entire game I was playing around cards that weren't in his 75. After the event I chatted it up with the Top 8 players and learned that there was a PTQ the following weekend in Salt Lake. The thought of traveling 400 miles with no testing didn't seem appealing.

The following Wednesday my testing partner called me up and asked if I would reconsider going down for the PTQ. He shipped me this nice Bant list that he wanted to play and decided that we would get together that night and battle a few games to see how it played out. Anyone who knows me knows me as a Faeries player. Every chance I can play Faeries I play Faeries so it seemed obvious that it would be the first deck I sleeved up and played. If I was going down to an event with little to no testing I wanted to play a deck that I was somewhat familiar with. After beating my head against a wall for a few hours I decided that Faeries was no longer the path I wanted to take. The power level of a resolved Sword of Feast and Famine was just too much for me to really overcome. Couple that with the fact that Mirran Crusader was the real deal I decided that I didn't want to play seven rounds of splash damage hate. Stan convinced me that the Bant deck was the real deal and that I should play it instead. We built a second copy and decided that our limited testing would have to do. Even though the Bant deck seemed fine I still had an urge to play different cards. I knew that if I was going to go to the PTQ I wanted to be slinging Cryptic Commands, Kitchen Finks, Wraths, and Jaces. I couldn't find a way to get those cards into my deck so I decided to look around for other ideas. I finally decided on this for the PTQ.

Bryan Greer U/W Sword for PTQ Salt Lake City

1 Mulldrifter
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Kitchen Finks

4 Mana Leak
4 Cryptic Command
2 Spell Pierce
3 Path to Exile
2 Day of Judgment

2 Sword of Feast and Famine

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Gideon Jura

4 Seachrome Coast
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
5 Island
3 Plains

Sideboard:
2 Day of Judgment
2 Sower of Temptation
2 War Priest of Thune
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sword of Body and Mind
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Flashfreeze
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Path to Exile

The list definitely seemed solid and it has all of my favorite cards. I also was pretty happy to walk out with a deck that included the Sword/Mystic package.

We gathered our troop up and headed down to Salt Lake around 6 p.m. Our car included my fiancée Shannon who was going to run the Bant deck I had originally sleeved up, Stan who was still on Bant, Ethan who decided that RDW was the deck of choice, and myself running my UW build. Good times ensued throughout the car ride and the conversation didn't ever seem to stop. It amazes me how the conversation can flow from discussing the metagame to talking about Pokemon to trying to remember all of the avatar cards in Shadowmoor and Eventide. As we got closer to Salt Lake we discovered that In-and-Out was now open there. Ding! If you've never had an In-and-Out burger I strongly recommend it, and I was determined to get myself a double-double and some cheesy fries. After getting our delicious food we found our hotel and decided to rest up before the event. Stan and Ethan had their own room and they decided to brew up a new list for Ethan. The idea of going with them and tricking out my deck was enticing, but I've learned from many a failed PTQ and GP to just leave my deck the way it was. The only revisions I made were to add Gideon Jura to the maindeck and cut some of the Mulldrifters.

The night didn't go well though as I had a hard time sleeping with a stomach full of double-double and cheese fries and I definitely didn't feel 100% when the clock went off at 8:30 a.m. We descended on the event center that was located in a university. This was probably the best venue I've been to in a long time for a PTQ. It almost had the feeling of the first GP I ever went to in Denver. Cascade Games was running the event and may I applaud them for being very professional and keeping things on time.

My round one opponent was a nice guy but I was immediately thrown off when he started shuffling up his un-sleeved deck. I've played many a Magic game and whenever my opponent has an un-sleeved deck I generally get a good feeling for the match. He eventually presented his deck and it definitely felt larger than normal. I counted it out and it had 75 cards. I asked him how many he ran in his maindeck and he responded with 75. Ding! You always have to be wary of these players though because they can throw some weird concoction that you're not really ready for. He won the die roll and opened with a Swamp and Vector Asp. You can't imagine the mental fist pump that I had right here. I eventually played a Kitchen Finks and killed him with that. My opponent never attacked or blocked, and it was a good start to a PTQ.

1-0

Round 2 I played against a Bant player. The notable event was that after he beat me game one he wanted to shake my hand. I was a bit put off by this and told him I'll shake his hand after the third game. He didn't offer to shake my hand after the third game when I won 2-1.

2-0

I don't know if this is fully correct, but I believe I boarded:
-1 Mulldrifter -4 Mana Leak
+2 Day of Judgment +2 Sower of Temptation +1 Path.
I wanted to be able to control their creatures.

Round 3 I lost to a quick Monored deck that beat my triple Kitchen Finks hand game one. It was pretty awkward resolving three Kitchen Finks and still losing. One notable play was when he cast a Ball Lightning and was attacking with it and two Figure of Destiny that were 4/4s. I made the poor decision to Path the Ball Lightning for fear of actually taking 5+ damage from the trample. In reality I should have chumped the first Figure and the Ball and Path'ed one of the other Figures. By doing this I would make his board pretty poor and I would still be in an okay shape with two persisted Kitchen Finks. My play gave him a better board position with two 4/4s which eventually went super saiyan on my face.

-3 Vendilion Clique -3 Jace, -1 Mulldrifter -1 random card
+2 Flashfreeze +2 Burrenton Forge +2 Day of Judgment +1 Path to Exile +1 Baneslayer Angel. I cut the Jaces because they felt too slow for this matchup. I definitely felt like I wanted more access to Forge-Tenders here too.

2-1

Round 4 I played against a Bant player. The power level of my deck combined with the wrath effects made this an easy match, and I took it 2-1 using the same board strategy as my previous match against Bant.

3-1

Round 5 I played a mirror match against a player that I've played many times before. I had crafted a perfect turn where I could get Sword in play equipped to a Clique and smack him and untap and play a Jace, I just had to hit a fifth land drop. Unfortunately I didn't hit my land drop and I had the awkward decision of just playing the Sword, playing the Jace, or holding back for Cryptic. I opted for the Cryptic which became a poor decision when he had the Spell Pierce. Games 2-3 though were in my favor as I crushed him with Gideon and eventually Sower'ing his equipped Mirran Crusader.

-4 Kitchen Finks
+ 1 Path to Exile + 2 Sower of Temptation + 1 Sword of Body and Mind. I felt like I wanted a way to deal with their Swords, but after playing this matchup I think I would rather have more Sower effects.

4-1

Round 6 I played versus a Faeries player. He of course opened up with Thoughtseize taking my wrath and than slammed the t2 Bitterblossom. Whenever a Faerie player opens with Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom it is pretty disheartening. He decided to get aggressive and played a Sword and tried to get in there with a Mutavault. I bounced the sword with a Cryptic and drew a card. Since he was tapped out I was able to sneak a Gideon Jura into play. Gideon Jura was pretty pissed and let the Faerie player know it. I continued to draw lands but my opponent couldn't kill me because of Gideon fogging each turn. I eventually resolved a wrath with Mana Leak back up and started getting aggressive with Gideon and a Colonnade. Some well played Paths eventually cleared the room for Gideon to smack me into a win. Game 2 was very similar with Gideon and Jace holding hands and a Kitchen Finks keeping my opponent from gaining much of an edge.

-1 Mulldrifter -3 Vendillion Clique -1 random card
+2 Sower of Temptation +2 War Priest of Thune +1 Path.

5-1

Round 7 was an ID, but my opponent was playing 5CC with one-for-one removal spells and red sweepers.

5-1-1

The Top 8 included:
2x Faeries
2x Affinity/Tempered Steel
2x Boros
1x UW
1x 5CC

My Quarterfinals match was, unfortunately, unexciting. My opponent was playing the Affinity-like deck and killed me on turn 3 before I could do much of anything by dumping his hand and a Tempered Steel with two artifact lords. Game 2 was good as Kitchen Finks made short work of his team, but game 3 had me drawing land after land, unable to keep up with the little dudes. I was eliminated from the event but had a great time playing.

I was especially surprised with the fact that I did so well with little to no testing. I had only played my UW deck on the Thursday before with some friends at a local draft night. So what would I change and how did I feel playing the deck? Throughout the tournament I found myself wanting to have access to Lightning Bolt. The ability to deal with little creatures and Mirran Crusader is huge. The fact that it also gives more reach against Jace is huge. Along with Lightning Bolt I really wanted to be casting some Ajani Vengeant. My buddy Ethan, who had decided to switch his RDW to Boros the night before, said that his Ajani in the board was a huge asset to him on his way to making the Top 8. If I could rebuild my deck I would remove the Mutavaults, cut the 'Drifter, cut the Spell Pierce, and find some room for Ajanis, Bolts, and maybe some Arc Trails.

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions or comments you can reach me a deckbuilderradio[AT]gmail.com.

 

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