Modern

The Start of Something Great – Part Two

For part one, click here.

While I didn’t 3-0 the pod, I was still feeling pretty good about the result. I met up with KYT and team after the draft portion to see how everyone was doing. We all had varying results, but none of us went 3-0. KYT was pretty upset with his draft, going 1-2, but he had a look in his eyes that screamed “CRUSH!” I would later find out that he would do just that, starting out 4-0 in the Modern rounds.

Modern Deck Construction:

In the months leading up to the Pro Tour, I was playtesting exclusively UWR control. I had tuned my deck to have an amazing matchup against Pod, and to do the best I could against UR Delver. I was feeling somewhat confident with the results. But then the bannings happened, shaking everything up. I could no longer count on the metagame I had prepared for. To make things worse, my deck was getting crushed by a lot of different archetypes. It was clear to me that I did not want to have a reactive strategy in Modern. I then moved to [card]Splinter Twin[/card], but the matchup against Junk was absolutely abysmal. I was winning less than 40% of the matches against the deck that was sure to take a large chunk of the metagame. With only a week and a half to go before the tournament, I needed a new plan, and fast.

I made a spreadsheet of the various different matchups in the expected metagame, and surprisingly, Red Burn was best positioned against the field. It did great against any deck with Islands. I was also crushing Junk at something like 65% win pre-board and at least 55 post board. My only concerns were the unwinnable matchups in Bogles and Soul Sisters. After extensive testing vs the Bogles matchup, I learned that [card]Deflecting Palm[/card] was the answer I needed. It improved the matchup by a lot, so I dedicated 3 sideboard slots to this card, as it was also useful in the Burn mirror, against Affinity, and Infect.

My first iteration of the deck was straight RW Burn. I was having good results, but I was not able to goldfish hands faster than some of the combo decks. I needed the deck to kill even faster, and increase my odds at the turn 3 kill, all of which involved having access to more [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s.

The solution was adding black for bump in the night. Having 18 main deck “Lightning Bolts”, made [card]Monastery Swiftspear[/card] equal to or possibly better than [card]Goblin Guide[/card]. The deck was incredibly fast. To compensate the changes, I cut a copy of [card]Searing Blaze[/card], [card]Boros Charm[/card], one Eidolon, and a land from the main deck.

Here is the Modern list that I ran at the PT:

Mardu Burn by Chris Woodall

[deck]
[Lands]
2 Arid Mesa
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
5 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]
[Spells]
3 Boros Charm
4 Bump in the Night
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
4 Rift Bolt
3 Searing Blaze
2 Shard Volley
4 Skullcrack
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Rain of Gore
3 Rakdos Charm
3 Deflecting Palm
1 Searing Blaze
1 Lightning Helix
2 Wear // Tear
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

The sideboard was obviously built to address the expected metagame. The Firewalkers flat out win the burn mirror. [card]Rain of Gore[/card]s for any deck boarding in a lot of lifegain (these worked great against Junk all weekend.) [card]Rakdos Charm[/card] is a card that is actually able to fill 9 sideboard slots in 3 cards. Artifact hate for Affinity, graveyard hate for the various random combo decks in the field, and most importantly: stops [card]Splinter Twin[/card] dead in its tracks by killing them when they try to combo off with “one billion creatures.” As mentioned previously, [card]Deflecting Palm[/card]s were for the various creature decks that try to “go big.” I also boarded them in against Tron in case they god a god draw and resolved a turn 3 [card]Wurmcoil Engine[/card]. [card]Searing Blaze[/card] and Helix were for additional help against any creature based deck, and the [card]Wear // Tear[/card]s are self explanatory.

Modern

Round 4 vs Gaudenis Vidugiris (Infect)

I waited until the next round was announced, and sat down against my fourth round opponent: Gaudenis Vidugiris of CFB Pantheon.

He won the die roll, leading with [card]Noble Hierarch[/card]. If I had known what he was on before keeping, I surely would not have kept the hand that I did. It had all “Spikes”, and none of the “Bolts”. He was able to pull off the turn 3 or 4 kill (I do not recall which). I had no interaction, and we were soon sideboarding for game 2.

I board in my trump card: [card]Deflecting Palm[/card], also adding [card]Searing Blaze[/card], and an additional Helix. My opener contained a hand of 1 land and no early interaction – I had to send it back. I kept a hand of 2 Bump, Bolt, Eidolon, and two Mountains. With no black source, it was essentially a mull to 4, but I decided to keep it. I played a land, and bolted his first Infect creature at the end of his turn. My draw step: another Bump. With a sigh, I played the second Mountain and dropped the Eidolon. I was sure I was going to lose this game, with no other action, and no way to defend myself. As it turns out, Infect cannot beat Eidolon, period. He chained a bunch of spells, to try to put a clock on me, but eventually found himself in a situation where he couldn’t cast a single spell. Somehow I had managed to put myself into game 3.

He is on the play and mulls to 6. My opener was amazing. Two fetchlands, [card]Deflecting Palm[/card], [card]Searing Blaze[/card], Spike, Bolt, Guide. I was feeling pretty good.

He plays a turn 1 [card]Noble Hierarch[/card]. On my turn, I drop a [card]Goblin Guide[/card] and send him in. It gets blocked by a [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] + [card]Mutagenic Growth[/card]. On his turn, he plays [card]Glistener Elf[/card] + [card]Blighted Agent[/card], with two cards left in his hand.

In my mind, the game was pretty much locked up in my favor. However, I made a critical mistake. I decided to [card]Searing Blaze[/card] his [card]Blighted Agent[/card] on my turn 2, not wanting to fight a pump war on his turn. I also counted the number of cards in his graveyard (relevant for [card]Become Immense[/card]), and he would have been card short to delve + Might of Krosa to swing for the required 10 poison. (I had not taken damage yet.)

What I did not factor was that he could draw [card]Gitaxian Probe[/card] PLUS Might of Krosa PLUS [card]Become Immense[/card] targeting [card]Glistener Elf[/card] to swing for 10 poison on turn 3 on a mull to 6. I felt foolish for not holding up mana for my [card]Deflecting Palm[/card], which he certainly would have moved in on during that turn with that hand. My lack of experience in Modern had gave me my second loss at the Pro Tour. I was a bit tilted at this point.

2-2

Round 5 vs Richard Tan (UWr Control)

My fifth round opponent (Richard Tan) was playing UWR control, a matchup I was both very familiar with, and comfortable with.

I open a 0 land hand, and send it back. I keep a hand with one land and a [card]Goblin Guide[/card] on the draw. I play my Guide, swing in, and it gets Bolted. Draw steps 2, 3 and 4 yield more burn and no lands. Things were still ok, because I was not under pressure. I had him at 12 life, but I still didn’t have a second land to turn on the rest of my hand. On his turn 4 he drops Tasigur. Apparently he was UWrb. That Tasigur went all the way, as I never saw my second land.

Game two, I keep a perfect one lander: double [card]Goblin Guide[/card], Swiftspear, and 3 Bolts. I send in the first Guide, and pass. On my turn, I cast the second Guide (drew a 2 cc spell), and swung in with both. One got shocked, the other got in. He passes with two lands up. On my turn 3, I draw an Eidolon. I drop my Swiftspear, and send in both creatures. [card]Lightning Helix[/card] hits the [card]Goblin Guide[/card]. He plays a turn 3 Tasigur. I draw my second land on turn 4, but it was too late. He rides his Tasigur to win.

Tasigur really does add a solid element to UWR that the deck traditionally does not have: a form of early pressure. I still feel that if I had hit the second land on turn 2 in either game I would have won them both, but I do think the black splash may be relevant for the UWr deck going forward. It also gains [card]Slaughter Games[/card] and possibly [card]Crackling Doom[/card] as a 2 of in the sideboard against its worst matchups. I discuss these changes and the matchup with my friendly opponent, and sign the match slip.

The level of variance I had experienced so far at this Pro Tour was absolutely brutal. There could be arguments to be made for mulling both 1 landers (again), but I don’t think it was correct. The deck intentionally has a low land density because it never really wants to draw more than two lands. Three is fine. Mana flood will kill you faster than mana screw will. It’s a combo deck at heart, and as any combo player knows, you just have to accept the consequences if things don’t go your way.

After grabbing a sandwich and sharing my bad beats with the team, I take a moment to sit by myself and think about what was going wrong. I mean, at 2-3, if this was a Grand Prix, I would have dropped. But it was a Pro Tour, and I was determined to put up a respectable finish. My goal was to day two my first Pro Tour, and I had three rounds left to go. I was still live for prize, and even top 8, so I convince myself to shake it off, and give it my best.

2-3

Round 6 vs Jarvis Yu (Junk)

I don’t have a whole lot of good things to say about this opponent. Being on Junk, it was clearly a bad matchup for him, but his tilt took it to a whole new level. He claimed I missed an Eidolon trigger in a very close match, when he had not given me a chance to even announce the trigger. It ended with a judge call, and him dead.

He tried more of the same in the second matchup, even trying to mis-represent his Tarmogoyf’s toughness. I am fair and polite to every opponent, but when things start to head in this direction, my demeanor changes and I put on a very serious attitude with him. There was no small talk for the remainder of the match. After casting [card]Skullcrack[/card] in response to a [card]Siege Rhino[/card] and a [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card], he finds himself dead on turn 5. He did apologize for his poor behavior at the end of the match, so at least there was that.

3-3

Round 7 vs Sean Knowelden (GW Hatebears)

I had actually never tested this matchup, as it was a very fringe deck with very poor matchups against many of the popular decks in the field, so I did not expect to see this at a Pro Tour. But here we are.

I am told this is an OK matchup for Mono Red Burn. It is certainly not OK for a BRW burn deck. With so few lands in the deck to begin with, and a high density of fetchlands that get turned off by Thalia, Mindcensors, and [card]Leonin Arbiter[/card]s, this matchup is almost unwinnable on the draw.

Game one, my only land gets Ghost Quartered with a Leonin in play.

Game two, he is able to Flickerwhisp my first two burn spells due to an [card]Aether Vial[/card], and then is able to lock down my lands again.

3-4

At this point, I have another little chat with myself. I wanted to make day 2, and badly. It was the goal I had set for myself before arriving, and I needed to prove to myself I could do it. Even if I didn’t win a single match of magic for the remainder of the weekend, I needed to win the next one.

Going into the last round of the day, I was consoled by several longtime Pro Tour mainstays that share their stories of not making a single day 2 until their fourth or fifth Pro Tour. I did feel a bit better after that, but I was still determined to make it. This was my win-and-in, and I was determined to pull it off. The final round pairing announcement was made, and I was off to my table.

Round 8 vs Yuuya Watanabe (Junk)

As I was walking to my table, I recognized Yuuya as I walked past him. I had then realized I had walked one table too far. I hadn’t read the name of my opponent before seatings, so I had no idea what was in store for me. When I looked at the table number that Yuuya was sitting at, my heart sank. Yep, my win-and-in was against (arguably) thwe best player in the game: Yuuya Watanabe, two time player of the year with a resume that would make most pro players jealous.

I wished him luck, and game one commenced.

He wins the roll, and keeps his 7. I keep a very solid hand of: Fetch, Mountain, [card]Boros Charm[/card], Spike, Bump, Rift, Swiftwspear.

He turn one shocks for an [card]Inquisition[/card]. I bet he wishes he could have those two life back after realizing I’m on burn. He bins my Boros Charmand passes. I play the Mountain into Swiftspear, jam for 1, and pass.

He plays a fetch and passes. On my turn, I fetch/shock for a black source, cast bBump + Spike, and swing in with a 3/4 Swiftspear. It gets eaten by an abrupt decay.

On his turn 3, he drops a Liliana. I bin a land, he bins [card]Lingering Souls[/card]. My turn 3 (with life totals 11 to 17), I suspend two [card]Rift Bolt[/card]s, with no cards left in hand.

Turn four, Yuuya plays a 4/5 Goyf, and flashes back [card]Lingering Souls[/card]. Liliana goes up to 5 loyalty, and on my turn, I point both [card]Rift Bolt[/card]s at his dome, to take him to 5 life. With the life totals now 5-18, I draw a land. I play it and pass.

Turn five: He swings in for 6 total, dropping me to 11 life. Liliana goes up to 6. He flashes back [card]Lingering Souls[/card], and passes the turn. My draw step: Boros charm. I pass.

Turn 6, he Ultimates Liliana, separating my two lands. I point the [card]Boros Charm[/card] his dome to put him at 1 life, and when his Liliana trigger resolves, I am left with one land in play, no cards in hand. He attacks for 8, leaving back one 1/1 flyer. I fall to 3 life, and move to my draw step revealing:

[card]Lightning Bolt[/card]! I flashed it to Yuuya, he nodded, and scooped up his cards. I was sure it had to with karma for all the variance I had experienced over the weekend. It felt good.

Game two: Both of us kept our openers. He took [card]Goblin Guide[/card] from my hand turn 1 with an untapped Swamp into [card]Inquisition[/card].

I fetched, played a Swiftspear, swung for 1. He played a Goyf on turns 3 and 4, which were both 4/5s. The race was real, but he came out way ahead. I believe he was at 9 life when I died. [card]Tarmogoyf[/card] pressure + hand disruption is exactly what Junk needs to pull off a win.

Game three I open a hand with no creatures, but a hand full of burn and two lands. It’s a snap keep, but you never feel good about keeping an opener without creatures in any matchup. I play a turn 1 [card]Lava Spike[/card], and pass the turn.

He plays a fetch and passes. I draw: an Eidolon. I fetch/shock for [card]Blood Crypt[/card], and play Eidolon. He answers it with an [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], and I draw a [card]Lava Spike[/card]. At this point, I could just start firing off 1 mana burn spells, but he will untap with three mana open, which is in [card]Timely Reinforcements[/card] range, so I decide to hold up my [card]Skullcrack[/card] and burn at end of turn. He plays turn 3 Liliana: and I hear a groan as I pitch a lava spike with two untapped lands. I end of turn boros charm, dropping him to 11-16. I draw a bump (with no black source), and pass with [card]Skullcrack[/card] up. I pitch the bump to Liliana, and he plays double goyf to empty his hand. The race is on. I cast [card]Skullcrack[/card] at end of turn to drop him to 8. His goyfs were 4/5. I had two bolts in hand, and a drawstep to go.

I drew a Swiftspear, and decided not to cast it, passing the turn. Swiftspear gets binned to Liliana, I take 8, and I burn him for 6. Life totals are now 2-8, and once again, I’m needing to topdeck any burn spell to win.

Sure enough, a [card]Skullcrack[/card] rolls off the top of the deck, and I take the match. It was an extremely tense match for both sides, and an important win for me. Yuuya was clearly disappointed, but he demonstrated great sportsmanship and congratulated me on the day two finish.

4-4

That night, the team went out for dinner and shared stories. KYT and Tallagrucci crowned me “The Slayer of Yuuya” , and bowed down to my sheer superiority. Heh. Seriously though, I had an amazing evening with the crew, and this will be one night I will remember for years to come. KYT finished the day with a 5-3 record, setting himself up for a potential deep run.

We went back to the hotel room, did a few drafts, and headed to bed.

Day 2 and Beyond

Now I would like to tell you that this is where it all turned around. That I took my day 2 qualification to the final rounds, and finished in 10th place. But that didn’t happen.

My draft was quite possibly the worst draft I have ever had. The person who had been passing to me switched colors, and the person passing to me in pack two jumped into a 3rd color, both effectively cutting me off from any kind of quality picks. I drafted my position at the table as best I could, but the cards were just not there for me. The rares I opened were: [card]Crucible of the Spirit Dragon[/card], [card]Howl of the Horde[/card], and [card]Dragon Throne of Tarkir[/card]. I was forced into GB, (never where you really want to be in Fate), and the quality staples just never showed up. I registered my deck hoping that I could somehow pull off a miracle, but the deck performed just as badly as it looked on paper.

An 0-3 limited performance put me out of the money, but I decided to play it out. For the experience, and because I really had nothing better to do.

The next three rounds were fun, stress free matches. I won my next three rounds against Adam Jansen, Carlos Alexandre Santos Esteves, and Christoffer Niemi. In round 15, I lost to Craig Wescoe in game 3. And to finish out the day, I unfortunately lost to Anton Ivanov (to mana flood this time.)

I finished day 2 with a 7-9 record. While it was less than steller, it is respectable for my first outing.

Wrap Up

I have to say, that after experiencing my first Pro Tour, my desire to stay on the train is here more than it was even initially. The event in itself was simply an amazing experience. From the beautiful convention center, to meeting a lot of great players and familiar faces, to having the shot at some serious cash… It all has me extremely excited for my future magic career.

I’m going to be doing everything in my power to qualify again. I’ve got 8 Pro Points to my name, and the goal is to hit 20 by the end of the season. Wish me luck!

Thank you to everyone who has had the endurance to stick it out through the entirety of this tournament report, and I hope to be bringing you news of solid finishes sometime soon!! Adios!

~Chris

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