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OpporSunity Knocks: PTQ Nagoya Report *1st*

Hello everyone! For those of you who don’t know me (basically everybody) my name is Brian Su. I’ve been a PTQ grinder in Alberta for the last few years, making a few Top8 appearances but never quite taking it home. That all came to a end this past weekend as I took down the PTQ in Edmonton for that sweet, sweet trip to Nagoya. One dainty step for me, several huge lumbering steps for gigantic Chinese men on the Pro Tour.

So why should you care about me and a soon-to-be dead format? There are still a handful of PTQs left to play of course, and Japan is still a pretty sweet trip for anybody. But really, the best reason would be to meet me in Nagoya, to revel in my glorious presence and watch this dorkus punt his first Pro Tour appearance in ridiculous fashion.

Pointless introductions aside, here’s what I played:

[deck title=RG Valakut by Brian Su – 1st]
[Creatures]
4 Primeval Titan
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Acidic Slime
[/creatures]
[Spells]
2 Volcanic Fallout
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rampant Growth
4 Explore
3 Scapeshift
2 Cultivate
2 Primal Command
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 Prismatic Omen
[/spells]
[Land]
11 Mountain
5 Forest
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Raging Ravine
[/land]
[Sideboard]
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Gutteral Response
3 Natures Claim
2 Acidic Slime
1 Inferno titan
1 Reverberate
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Volcanic Fallout
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Kindly hold your disgust as yet another RG Valakut player gushes about his decklist before getting to the actual report.

Actually this is an adjustment of Nicholas Verrall’s winning list from the March 13 PTQ in Fargo. I had played a much different version at the last Alberta PTQ in Calgary, with [card]Green Sun’s Zenith[/card] in the main and a [card]Plated Geopede[/card] sideboard plan. After getting crushed into 9th place from tiebreakers, I was thoroughly disgusted with my list and had a mental list of changes to make. After a few weeks of testing variations of RG Valakut with and without [card]Prismatic Omen[/card], [card]Green Sun’s Zenith[/card] and some number of [card]Summoning Trap[/card]s for the Faeries matchup, I stumbled upon the Fargo list and decided to run it. The numbers are pretty spot on, with the caveat that most Valakut lists, like many Jund lists of last season, tend to blur together from similarities. There are a few things to note though.

In the beginning of the season, a lot of extended RG lists ran [card]Fire-Lit Thicket[/card] as a way of getting double green. This meant having an extra Mountain in play instead of a second Forest, for easier Valakut activations sans [card]Prismatic Omen[/card]. Since then, most players have correctly cut them all to run additional basics and fetchlands. I found that you wanted a fairly large amount of fetchlands in order to double activate [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card] and [card]Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle[/card]. You want as many basics as possible to maximize value from those fetches, and there’s simply not enough room for Thickets after that. The minimum number of Mountains seems to be at least ten, though eleven is more common.

Another notable evolution has been a reduction in the number of [card]Scapeshift[/card]s and [card]Prismatic Omen[/card]s in the main. True, there were some early lists that ran no [card]Prismatic Omens[/card] in the maindeck, preferring to side them in, but the more common configuration was four of each. They’ve been slimmed down to three each, as you may find yourself drawing multiples too often. Despite the increasing presence of [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card] and enchantment removal in general, I believe three Omens is still correct as you can play around their disruption, as I will discuss later on.

For the past few weeks, Boros, Naya, and various other red-based aggro strategies seemed to be on the rise, with a smattering of Grixis control and Elves as well. No blue spells generally means good times for the Valakut players since you tend to goldfish faster than the straight aggro decks do, as long as you have a small suite of removal available. At the same time, there will always be a few Bant and Faeries players popping around, often piloted by skilled players, so I knew I didn’t want to give up too much percentage there. The one-one split of [card]Harrow[/card]/[card]Cultivate[/card] became two [card]Cultivate[/card]s. I added a miser’s [card]Acidic Slime[/card] instead of the 28th land. It might have been a bit greedy to squeeze even more value from [card]Primal Command[/card], but I wasn’t impressed with Oracle very much and wanted a utility creature to kill manlands and as an additional answer to [card]Eldrazi Monument[/card]. Despite a magnificent number of mulligans during the actual tournament, I still don’t miss the 28th land.

[card]Raging Ravine[/card] was a late addition. There have been lists with and without it because it’s quite the double-edged sword. There are times when resolving Titan and fetching Mountains or Valakuts actually doesn’t do anything. If you don’t have an Omen in play and you suspect your Titan will just die immediately when your opponent untaps, that play doesn’t give you a lot of value. Ravine does give you an extra threat that gets around a Jace bounce, [card]Cryptic Command[/card] tapping your Titan, and in many cases, [card]Runed Halo[/card] blindly naming Valakut. That said, Ravine might need to be cut again if Boros players continue in their trend of sideboarding more [card]Tectonic Edge[/card]s in addition to their cookie-cutter [card]Burrenton Forge-Tender[/card]s.

The sideboard is also fairly standard. There are the prerequisite slots for [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] (or [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card] in some lists), [card]Nature’s Claim[/card], and [card]Guttural Response[/card]. [card]Acidic Slime[/card]s are for the mirror, UGr Scapeshift, and slower match-ups. The [card]Inferno Titan[/card] is a must-have against Boros, White Weenie and Naya. Those aggressive match-ups put so much pressure on Valakut that a fast [card]Primeval Titan[/card] without Omen means you’re dead. It’s actually somewhat superior to [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card] against an opposing [card]Burrenton Forge-Tender[/card]. They can block it every turn but you’ll be wiping their board at the same time until the trigger is pulled on the damage prevention effect.

[card]Reverberate[/card] was a suggestion from a friend and a second copy might be better than the third [card]Guttural Response[/card]. The ability to copy [card]Cryptic Command[/card], [card]Cruel Ultimatum[/card] and [card]Scapeshift[/card] is not only insane, but hilarious. Copy your Cruel, bring back Titan, filter three cards and kill you on my untap? The true miser could go so far as three [card]Reverberate[/card]s. The [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card] was also a last-minute addition after seeing quite a few Monowhite control lists at the site.

You may notice in my sideboarding choices below that I side out [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card] and [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card] in every match that I play. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Expedition because of consistency issues. The same sentiment applies to Oracle. They’re very important cards in the Valakut mirror, both RG and UGx, but they’re not particularly useful against anything else. They’re certainly fine in Game 1, but you’d much rather have your sideboard cards than inconsistent ramp. Because the deck can easily kill someone with [card]Scapeshift[/card], regardless of how many land you have, the extra mana ramp from Expedition and Oracle is not as necessary.

The event itself was attended by 102 players. Matthew “Time-Out” Tang was the head judge. With some light scouting, a fine cup of Seattle’s finest (supposedly) and a healthy dose of “Double-checking my decklist so I don’t get a game loss that puts me into ninth place again,” we were off.

Aside: I heartily apologize if I do not remember everyone’s names and all the details of the matches. I’m just horrible with names, as I usually just remember faces. I was also on the verge of succumbing to a cold on the day of the tournament, so my memory is a little sketchy. Some of the game 2s and 3s might be a little mixed up. As I’m sure all my opponents stalk me obsessively, please just let me know if I get anything wrong with a comment, e-mail (or creepy note left on my bedside table, you sick, sick people), and I’ll try to get it corrected ASAP.

Round 1
Member of Team Pig Mat playing Bant

Game 1. I mulligan a hand with no green mana into a two-lander, including a Rampant Growth and Explore. He opens with some combination of [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card] and [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] fetching a [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] while I do not draw a fourth land. I die shortly after.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-1 [card]Primal Command[/card]
+2 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card]
+1 [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]
+1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]

Game 2. I keep land, Rampant, Bolt, Omen and [card]Scapeshift[/card]. My opponent has a relatively slow start, with a Pridemage eating a Bolt. Ramping into [card]Acidic Slime[/card] kills his lone blue source and I combo off shortly after.

Game 3. He opens up with a Pridemage, which I Bolt again. An early Forge-Tender also locks down the Fallout in my hand. Unfortunately for me, he follows up the 1/1 with a Knight of the Reliquary and another Pridemage, leaving a single mana untapped. On my turn, I untap, drop a Prismatic Omen and play an Evolving Wilds, with double Valakut on board. I put three damage each on Pridemage and Knight, expecting him to sacrifice Pridemage, forcing the activation of Wilds in response so I can wipe his team. Instead he looks at my Valakut and sacrifices his Forge-Tender. I pause for a moment, pass priority, he says OK and I inform him his remaining two creatures are dead. Cue the face-palm moment as he realizes Forge-Tender did nothing. Apparently you can still sacrifice the Kithkin with no red sources in play or on the stack. I draw Titan for lethal two turns later.

1-0

Round 2
Mich Maes playing Grixis Control

Game 1. We both keep on seven. An early [card]Thoughtseize[/card] strips a Titan out of my hand, leaving me with only lands and no action. A couple turns of draw-go follow, then multiple [card]Cryptic Command[/card]s leave me very far behind. I eventually resolve a [card]Primeval Titan[/card] which gets bounced with Jace, then countered upon re-entry. A [card]Vampire Nighthawk[/card] is slowly beating me down, until a [card]Cruel Ultimatum[/card] finishes me off.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-1 [card]Primal Command[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-2 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
-2 [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]
+3 [card]Guttural Response[/card]
+1 [card]Reverberate[/card]
+2 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]
+3 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]

Finks isn’t particularly good for this match-up but it can at least put some pressure on in the mid-game or force a removal spell. I knew from birding his previous round that he had [card]Sedraxis Spectre[/card] as well so I left in a few Bolts just in case.

Game 2. I get [card]Thoughtseize[/card]d for a Titan and a [card]Vendilion Clique[/card] takes away [card]Scapeshift[/card]. It might have been the other way around, but who can really remember when your hand is getting stripped. He taps out for a Jace after wrecking my hand with yet another [card]Thoughtseize[/card] and I cleverly draw Titan on that turn. I now have the option of either playing the Titan this turn, fetching Valakut and Raging Ravine, or playing [card]Acidic Slime[/card] to slow him down, then Titan the next turn with Gutteral mana available. I go for Titan, banking on it surviving for a turn. He untaps, doesn’t have the removal spell and dies a few turns later to Valakut and [card]Raging Ravine[/card].

Game 3. Unfortunately I don’t remember most of the details of this game. At some point he taps out for Jace again, and being the clever player that I am, I draw two [card]Primeval Titan[/card]s in a row to put him under a lot of pressure. He was one mana short of [card]Cruel Ultimatum[/card], I think, but I had [card]Reverberate[/card] in hand for shenanigans. Lucky for me that fortune cookie last night said “Your lucky numbers are 4, 37 92, and [card]Primeval Titan[/card].”

2-0

Round 3
Blake Murdoch playing Boros

Game 1. I mulligan down to five searching for a green source or a Mountain and Bolt. Blake opens with [card]Goblin Guide[/card] into [card]Figure of Destiny[/card], and I Bolt the latter. I succumb to a second Figure and [card]Plated Geopede[/card] while stuck on four land.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
+1 [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]
+1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+2 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
+1 [card]Inferno Titan[/card]

Game 2. I keep a reasonable hand with Fallout, Rampant, [card]Scapeshift[/card] and lands. He opens this time with [card]Steppe Lynx[/card], and turn 2 [card]Arid Mesa[/card] into [card]Goblin Guide[/card], revealing a land. Then he pauses for a moment and plays a second Lynx. I untap, Fallout his team and kill him two turns later with [card]Scapeshift[/card] and Omen after some land-go from his side. I guess his hand was all land at that point, so he was just trying to kill me as quickly as possible, gambling that I wouldn’t have the sweeper.

-1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+1 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]

Game 3. I changed my boarding slightly as I decided he was far less likely to walk into a Fallout this game. I knew he had boarded in Forge-Tender and Fallout is not especially effective on the draw. It’s very easy to play around as long as the Boros player’s hand is reasonable. I kept a double Rampant hand that would allow a turn 4 [card]Inferno Titan[/card], which is exactly what happened. Boros led with Figure, Guide, Lynx and Forge-Tender. The quick [card]Inferno Titan[/card] following an early [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] on Figure takes down his team. I start attacking with [card]Inferno Titan[/card] while he chumps with Forge-Tender every turn as the rest of his creatures die.

3-0

Round 4
Josh Roach playing Boros

Game 1. I lose the die roll and mull down to five again, digging for some action. I had scouted the match-up previously and I knew I couldn’t keep any hand without some relevant action. In a theme that would occur quite often during the tournament, my first hand contained no Mountains, the second had no Forests, and I kept two Mountain, Fallout, [card]Scapeshift[/card], [card]Cultivate[/card]. I draw a Raging Ravine to spit in my own eye and succumb to his [card]Plated Geopede[/card] beatdown.

I board the same as for Game 2 from the previous round.

Game 2. I keep a hand with ramp spells and Fallout into a turn 5 Titan if uncontested. Unfortunately, my opponent drops Stoneforge to fetch [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card], then plays around Fallout by leaving up an Arid Mesa for his Plated Geopede and Steppe Lynx. I’m forced to Fallout end of turn, hoping to topdeck into another sweeper. I brick on my draw and he has double [card]Tectonic Edge[/card] to keep me off [card]Scapeshift[/card]-ing into lethal.

3-1

Round 5
Thomas Chan playing Red Deck Wins

Game 1. I mulligan a sketchy one-lander and keep a weak six with a Bolt and some ramp spells but no action. I quickly succumb to his [card]Hellspark Elemental[/card], Ram-Gang and burn draw.

Here I’m slightly on tilt as this match-up is not particularly good for me. Also, a friend next to me who knows my opponent well mentions that he’s some sort of millionaire investment banker (apparently true). Not only am I in for tough games 2 and 3, but now I realize his diamond ring-encrusted fingers are bedazzling me with the sparkly allure of financial stability. As a student and aspiring pro magic player, such things are beyond me.

-1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]
-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-2 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
+3 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
+1 [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]

Game 2. I keep a hand with turn 4 [card]Scapeshift[/card] and [card]Prismatic Omen[/card]. I am somewhat shocked when he drops Tunnel Ignus turn 2 and I’m caught without a Bolt. This results in a free three damage off of a [card]Cultivate[/card], followed by an [card]Explore[/card], choosing not to play my extra land for the turn. I then untap, drop Omen, play a land to Valakut his Ignus, then [card]Scapeshift[/card] for lethal.

Game 3. Unfortunately, my opponent was stuck on two land for the entirety of this match. I had Bolt for his first creature and took hits from Goblin Guide down to ten before I untapped and cast [card]Scapeshift[/card].

4-1

Round 6
Travis Towns playing URw Pestermite Combo

Game 1. Scouting again pays off well as I happily keep four land, [card]Rampant Growth[/card], double Bolt. After tapping out a few times in the early game to cast [card]Preordain[/card]s, we both settle into draw-go mode. I eventually resolve a [card]Prismatic Omen[/card] with plenty of land and kill him with fetchlands. He cast an early [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card] that I let live for a few turns while I set up the Omen to kill it. He used the +2 immediately to protect it from Bolt, which I had been sitting on all game. I had drawn a Fallout as well and contemplated binning it at the end of his turn, but decided it wasn’t a huge threat. I was confident I could use my double Valakut to take Jace down before its ultimate. I also got pretty greedy and tried to [card]Primal Command[/card] a Celestial Colonnade, hoping he wouldn’t realize he could activate in response and fizzle it. I wasn’t under any pressure and really only made the play out of a sudden giddy desire to trick a friend. He activates Colonnade in response, and we look at each other for a moment. I shrug sheepishly and we both laugh at how greedy I am. A few turns later I slip through a [card]Primeval Titan[/card] fetching Ravine and Valakut. The attack next turn is met with Cryptic to tap it down but I play another Titan post-combat. Happily, I manage to take the only Game 1 I would win on the entire day.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-1 [card]Scapeshift[/card]
-1 [card]Primeval Titan[/card]
-2 [card]Primal Command[/card]
+1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+3 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card]
+2 [card]Guttural Response[/card]
+1 [card]Reverberate[/card]
+1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]

Game 2. We both comment about how we’re sideboarding as I bring in most of my board, while he has a host of dead cards like [card]Wall of Omens[/card] and [card]Path to Exile[/card] that he doesn’t have enough replacements for. Similar to the first game, we spend our first three turns drawing cards and ramping, respectively. He taps out for a Jace, again using the +2 ability immediately. I ramp up to seven mana with [card]Cultivate[/card] and pass back. He brainstorms, missing a land drop and passes back on four land. I play [card]Acidic Slime[/card], with [card]Reverberate[/card] mana up. The obvious [card]Cryptic Command[/card] comes down and there’s a moment of tension as he decides on modes. Eventually he settles on countering the Slime and bouncing a Valakut, to which I respond with [card]Reverberate[/card], bouncing Colonnade and countering his Cryptic. Slime resolves, he goes down to two land in play and quickly succumbs to my follow-up Titan with Gutteral backup.

5-1

Round 7

Intentional draw with RG Valakut.

5-1-1

Top 8

Quarterfinals
Chris Gagnon with UW Merfolk

The nightmare matchup. We joke that the only reason Chris is even playing Merfolk for this tournament is so that if he makes Top 8, even if he doesn’t win, Mike Flores will mention him in an article. We’ll have to see in the coming weeks if he gets some notoriety out of it, but more power to him.

Game 1. His early weenies get killed with Bolt and Fallout. We settle into a bit of a stall as we’re both a bit heavy on land. Chris is obviously holding up Cryptic so I try for some ramp spells to bait but he refuses to bite. Meanwhile I’m fishing for information by asking about his hand but he remains ahead. I resolve a [card]Prismatic Omen[/card] with a couple Valakuts on board, but his double [card]Spreading Seas[/card] keeps him afloat. A [card]Silvergill Adept[/card] and some [card]Mutavault[/card] beats soon have me walking the plank.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-1 [card]Scapeshift[/card]
-2 [card]Primal Command[/card]
+1 [card]Reverberate[/card]
+2 [card]Guttural Response[/card]
+3 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card]
+1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]

I had found out earlier that he was running [card]Meddling Mage[/card] in the sideboard, some number of Forge-Tenders, and Stoneforge in the main. No mention of maindeck [card]Spreading Seas[/card] though. What a card shark.

Game 2. Turn 1 [card]Cursecatcher[/card] is followed by a turn 2 [card]Meddling Mage[/card]. I respond to the Mage with a Bolt on [card]Cursecatcher[/card]. He tanks for a moment and names [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]. My turn to hesitate as I smell something fishy. I Bolt his Meddling Mage, untap and [card]Cultivate[/card]. We both settle for draw-go as I refuse to toss anything out into his sea of Islands and he won’t tap below four mana. He eventually drops a creature, leaving up the obvious [card]Cryptic Command[/card] yet again. I untap with ten mana and play [card]Primeval Titan[/card]. Another tense moment and the crowd waits with bated (baited) breath. He taps out to Cryptic and I show him the [card]Scapeshift[/card] for lethal.

Game 3. The clincher is here. He leads with [card]Cursecatcher[/card] which eats a Bolt right away. We had discussed the match-up a bit earlier and decided that Bolting a Cursecatcher was worth it for both of us, oddly enough. I didn’t want the tempo disruption and he felt happier running out bigger creatures later for pressure. An early Stoneforge fetching [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] puts me under pressure as I am stuck on five land for a bit. I pitch an [card]Explore[/card] to Sword, holding Primeval and [card]Scapeshift[/card], with Omen in play. A follow up [card]Meddling Mage[/card] naming [card]Primeval Titan[/card] makes my decision a lot easier as I just toss the Titan away. He also plays a [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card]. I draw [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] to off the [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] and draw a Valakut as my sixth land to kill one of his creatures. Unfortunately, he plays a [card]Spreading Seas[/card] on it, drops a Tectonic Edge and hits me down to 13.

On my turn, I untap and consider my options. My board is [card]Prismatic Omen[/card] and six land, including a [card]Terramorphic Expanse[/card] and Valakut-Island. I know he doesn’t have a counter in hand as he revealed a [card]Merrow Reejerey[/card] for [card]Silvergill Adept[/card] and played the [card]Mutavault[/card] he drew off of it. I decide to [card]Scapeshift[/card] for two reasons. In one case, he might not realize he can still [card]Tectonic Edge[/card] my Valakut-Island still and I just kill him. In the other, I can [card]Scapeshift[/card] for triple Valakut and hope to rip a sixth land on my turn. His next attack would put me to one life.

Because Chris is a champion, he uses the Edge on my Valakut, and I sacrifice four of my five lands to fetch triple Valakut and an Evolving Wilds. This gives me half of my deck as an out. He untaps, attacks me down to one and I rip an [card]Evolving Wilds[/card] to deal thirty-six damage.

Semifinals

Nathan Cole playing GW Aggro

I had the distinct pleasure of playing against a man who looks exactly like the late great Bob Ross. In the ultimate irony, upon my cheeky query, he had no idea who I was referring to.

Game 1. I mulligan into a slow hand with a Bolt, unsure of how much pressure he would put on me. Nathan starts with double [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card] and a [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] fetching [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card]. I bin the first Pridemage but do not find a quick answer to the Mystic and die soon after.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-1 [card]Primal Command[/card]
+1 [card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]
+1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+1 [card]Inferno titan[/card]
+1 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
+1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]

Game 2. I kill another early Pridemage but don’t have an answer to the [card]Fauna Shaman[/card] after. I ramp up mana while he uses [card]Fauna Shaman[/card], pitching [card]Vengevine[/card] to find Stoneforge. When he taps out for Stoneforge the next turn, I untap and kill him with [card]Scapeshift[/card] and Omen. My happy little trees turn into Molten Pinnacles for huge damage.

Game 3. Tedious as it is to read, a [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card] is not long for this world. In this match-up, he’s certainly a Lightning rod. An early Stoneforge fetches [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card], but I have the [card]Acidic Slime[/card] to answer. Nathan then drops a [card]Sword of Body and Mind[/card] but I have the mid-combat [card]Nature’s Claim[/card] to off the Sword and block with Slime. We then go into a stall as he doesn’t have much pressure but does play double [card]Tectonic Edge[/card] to take me off Titan Mana. This leaves him with very little land but I’m stuck on five myself. I attack with [card]Raging Ravine[/card] and we both draw nothing for a turn or two. I rip a sixth land and drop [card]Primeval Titan[/card]s on consecutive turns for the win.

For this match in particular, I may have mixed up game 2 and 3, but I suppose its irrelevant. Remember there are no mistakes, only happy little accidents.

Finals
Michael “Spongebob” Schwarz playing Boros

First blood is dealt as Mike mentions how we have a combined ten or so Top 8 appearances and over a dozen ninth place finishes. What a dreary life us grinders lead.

Game 1. I mulligan a hand with no removal into four land, [card]Acidic Slime[/card], and [card]Explore[/card] on the draw. I quickly succumb to landfall creatures while drawing three more land. I lose game one but fortunately I’ve had plenty of experience this tournament with that occurrence.

-1 [card]Oracle of Mul Daya[/card]
-3 [card]Khalni Heart Expedition[/card]
-1 [card]Scapeshift[/card]
-1 [card]Primal Command[/card]
-1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]
+2 [card]Nature’s Claim[/card]
+2 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
+1 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+1 [card]Inferno titan[/card]
+1 [card]Ratchet bomb[/card]

Game 2. From the testimony of several spectators, Mike kept a questionable hand with double Forge-Tender and not much else. That’s certainly all I saw as I was able to quickly ramp up to seven land without pressure. [card]Rampant Growth[/card] was followed by [card]Explore[/card] into another [card]Rampant Growth[/card]. Scapeshift and Omen won the game on the spot.

-3 [card]Volcanic Fallout[/card]
+1 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
+1 [card]Primal Command[/card]
+1 [card]Acidic Slime[/card]

I took out Fallout on the draw. This might be controversial but the match-up is very dependent on which player goes first. It’s far too easy for a Boros player to have either Forge-Tender or a draw that is simply not vulnerable to Fallout, either through [card]Figure of Destiny[/card] or leaving back fetchlands to protect Lynx and Geopede.

Game 3. Mike opened with Guide and Figure. I Bolt his Figure, then have the perfect draw again with Rampant into Explore and Rampant. Mike still has plenty of pressure as he has another Figure, leveled up to 4/4, and Guide beating me down to four. Another Figure post-combat threatens the win next turn. I draw a critical Bolt on my turn and play a Finks to go up to six. We both tense as he begs his deck for a one-time [card]Path to Exile[/card] but he bricks. I block his 4/4 Figure and Bolt his 2/2 Figure in response when he tries to level up for lethal damage. I then untap, slam down [card]Inferno Titan[/card] to kill his Guide. [card]Inferno Titan[/card] then takes over the game as all his creatures die and I play a [card]Primeval Titan[/card] to seal the deal.

The crowd breaks into raucous applause and I still can’t quite believe I’ve taken down my first PTQ win. After trying for the past few years and a few near-misses I finally get my chance. In a serendipitous turn of events, the head judge of the PTQ, Matt Tang, will be judging in Nagoya and happens to be one of my best friends, so it should be an epic journey.

I’d like to thank all my friends and family for being awesome. Playtesting, theory discussions and just grinding away together has been key to my success in Magic these past few years. Props to Matt Tang, Jason Ness, and Brendan Capel for running a smooth event. I hope to see some of you in Nagoya and have a balling good time. You can’t miss me. I’ll be the really really (really) tall Chinese guy with the huge grin and bassoon voice.

Cheers!

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