Anyone who has been participating in the Twitter/Google Wave enabled Standard discussions leading up to States this year is probably familiar with Thomas Dodd aka Amistod. Below is his tournament report from states. Enjoy!
Hey guys, it is Thomas, coming to you from just outside Atlanta. We had a great 2009’s turnout down here and I would like to share the deck I played. But first, a short PSA on Blightning.
If you like to gamble, start playing with this deck:
Crypt Combo AKA “Crabs”
4 Crypt of Agadeem
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 U/x Fetch Land
2 B/x Fetch Land
5 Island
2 Swamp
4 Hedron Crab
2 Kederekt Leviathan
2 Fatestitcher
4 Extractor Demon
4 Rotting Rats
4 Architects of Will
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Monstrous Carabid
3 Corpse Connoisseur
4 Grim Discovery
4 Traumatize
Sideboard:
4 Duress
4 Blister Beetle
4 Disfigure
3 Pithing Needle
I haven’t played the sideboard listed here, but its what the people who are placing in MODO events are playing so it must be good!
If you don’t know how this deck works, its pretty simple: mill yourself with Crab and/or Traumatize, mise a Crypt somewhere in the first 4 turns, then make a bunch of mana with at least one crypt activation and Unearth FTW. If your opponent has infinite life, then you just mill them out via Extractor Demon triggers.
Of course it is not always that simple, because rarely is your hand the right combination of Crypt/Crab/Traumatize/Grim Disco. The nut draws with this deck easily win turn 4, but the sub-nut draws have you mulliganning to 5 and hoping to get there on Cycling.
Because of the inconsistencies (I have played somewhere in the range of 100 games with this deck, that’s how badly I wanted it to be good) the matchup against any deck that can goldfish a turn 4 win is pretty bad. Red Deck Wins is virtually impossible (although i have not tried the Disfigures). Against Boros you can get there off a heavy Rotting Rats draw and chump blocking until you can systemagically set up your graveyard. Jund is a favorable matchup, especially if they do not have main deck Jund Charms, and double especially if they don’t have Goblin Ruinblaster main. Mono-Green is also favorable since they do not get nearly as fast a start as any of the decks mentioned previously. Against both Jund and Green, Unearthing (or even hard casting!) a Leviathan turn 4 or 5 will give you more than enough time to complete your kill.
You can’t really beat any deck that has Goblin Ruinblaster, Ajani Vengeant, Acidic Slime, or any of the blue enchantments that turn your land into something other than Crypt of Agadeem.
Against control decks (if you manage to spot one online, which is very rare) you are practically a lock game 1 because they can’t interact with you at all while you goldfish your win. Post board you can just side in your duress/negate and take your time. Set up your graveyard and you can even make them discard their whole hand via rats if you want before you attempt to go off.
In essence, this deck is a total crap shoot against the format. If I were to run it at states tomorrow, I would predict a 5-3 finish, probably good enough for like, 6 packs. I do think this is a deck to keep an eye on, however, should the format slow down at all. If any kind of control deck emerges from Worlds (happening this week for anyone who didn’t know), or if for whatever reason the red decks fall from popularity, then it is possible that Crypt Combo could be very well positioned for states. I am certainly going to keep it in mind, but in the meantime, there are quite a few other decks that have caught my eye, which I will write about as I get the chance to play with them.
As a side note: I have finally returned to Magic, and intend to start posting here again regularly! I have been pretty busy with a lot of other stuff the past few months and had to put the game on the back burner. In addition to having time to play, I have installed Windows on my Mac, and can now play MODO, which is absolutely insane. If you feel like playing some games, chat me up in game (my name is sloppystack, just like Twitter! PS: Follow me (and top8games, fivewithflores, and mattwang97) on Twitter!).
~WillPoP
Mike and BDM discuss (among other things) the Top8Magic.com M10 preview card… Mold Adder! You may need to turn the volume up a bit as this was recorded on BDM’s iPhone.
BDM and Flores are finally reunited in an intimate one on one podcasting session. In Part 2 they discuss an interesting strategy that emerged from PT Honolulu, Alara Block constructed, and Type 2.
BDM, Flores, WillPoP, and Level 3 Judge Eric Smith discuss a couple of potential new mechanics that could arise from the M10 rules changes.
BDM, Flores, WillPoP, and Level 3 Judge Eric Smith talk briefly about mana burn, and Mike tells us about his T2 Cascade deck.
Flores and WillPoP discuss Jund Ramp’s position in the format, and whether or not to add Chameleon Colossus.
A few weeks ago, the results of Regionals were the only resource available to ambitious magic players prepping for upcoming Standard GPs and PTQs. Those results brought us the “next big deck” in the form of Cascade Swans, which went on to win GP Barcelona and was the deck of choice for many last week at GP Seattle.
In the days following Regionals, Evan Erwin/SCG were diligent in tweeting links to the top 8 deck lists as they appeared. Going over the top 8s, region by region, I saw pretty much what I expected: a lot of token decks. It was not until Evan tweeted the results from Charlotte that I saw this very unique list:
Masters of the Universe!
Island x4
Adarkar Wastes x4
Arcane Sanctum x4
Exotic Orchard x4
Mystic Gate x3
Underground River x4
Elsewhere Flask x4
Mind Stone x3
Scourglass x3
Thousand-year Elixir x3
Esperzoa x3
Etherium Sculptor x4
Filigree Angel x2
Grim Poppet x2
Master of Etherium x3
Master Transmuter x4
Sphinx Summoner x3
Sharuum The Hegemon x3
Sideboard
Relic of Progenitus x3
Guile x3
Negate x4
Path to Exile x3
Sen Triplets x2
Seeing a deck like this make top 8 was especially exciting to me as rarely a week went by pre-Regionals without someone around the office (i.e. Ferrandynamo) talking about an artifact/Master Transmuter deck. Transmuter just got us excited, and it was easy to come up with various scenarios by which to “live the dream.”
Master Transmuter was so exciting in fact, that it inspired the pilot of the above deck to get back into Standard. Tony Purrazzella had quit playing standard when Kamigawa came out, opting instead to play older formats. While Tony wasn’t actively playing Standard, he still kept up on the format by frequenting dailymtg.com. It was the Building on a Budget article from March 5th (written by none other than our good friend Jacob Van Lunen) that got Tony seriously interested in the format again.
“I read through the article and I thought Transmuter was an amazing card; it reminded me of Tinker so much, and had such an old school feel for me.” Said Tony, when recounting his first encounter with the card. “Then I saw Thousand-Year Elixir. At this point I was sold, I was making this deck and trying it out.”
Tony invested a whopping $25 in Magic Online to build up his deck and set to testing. After a couple of weeks, Tony was set to commit himself to Standard again. For the month prior to Regionals, Tony re-acclimated himself to the format, visiting his local card store and refining the build with friends. Tony recounts that at first the deck was a tough sell to his buddies:
“I ran into an old Magic friend of mine named Derrick, so I told him I had a Transmuter deck and it was pretty good. He responded by saying something like ‘yeah I’ve tried that out, it wasn’t very good.’ We went out to his car and started looking through his deck and comparing notes; he kept talking about how Transmuter would die… what happened was that he didn’t realize that returning an artifact is part of the cost for Transmuting!”
Despite missing out on a qualification for Nationals, Tony has plenty of confidence in the deck and plans to play it throughout the Standard PTQ season. I asked Tony how he has changed the deck now that Regionals results have been made public.
“The only thing I have changed so far is putting in Wraths instead of Relics in the sideboard, to help out with tokens. I’m thinking about changing the Paths to Condemn since I usually only side them in against Bant, and I would rather not give them the land.”
When asked about the threat of Swans, Tony suggested that either Runed Halo, Rule of Law, or Ethersworn Cannonist could also be shifted into the sideboard, but he was going to wait to see if the deck became popular in his area before he committed to making that change.
For anyone interested in trying out the deck, Tony has this piece of advice:
“This is not a control deck. That is the biggest misconception. I win very many games without Transmuter and/or Elixir. It is really an aggro deck, I promise you! Think about Tinker (99-00); it played very aggressive in the early game and then assumed control of the board. My deck is identical to Tinker in many ways, since that is how it was designed.”
Special thanks to Tony for sharing his Regionals experience with me and taking the time to talk about his deck. I love that he was able to approach the format from a different angle and succeed with such an interesting deck choice. Hopefully you all are as excited about this deck as I was when I first came across it.
~WillPoP
Going into Regionals, I was pretty sure that my deck choice (obviously Jund Ramp) was solid. After hours of play and discussion with Mikey J, I was convinced that Jund was the deck to play for the tournament.
I woke up Saturday morning to what looked like rain outside. I hit the streets around 7:30, caught the bus across town, and took the 1 train down to Penn Station to meet up with a bunch of other NY magic players that were also planning on taking the 8:14 train to Edison. I found a seat in the middle of the train and popped on the headphones (LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver) for the hour long ride.
The venue is about a mile walk from the train station in Edison. I joined up with “Siege-Gang Ferrando,” Devon, GCB, Alex B and Regionals first-timer Seong An. Seong easily identified us as Magic players and joined us for the hike through commercial New Jersey.
We arrived at the venue (basement of a church) in the middle of a funeral procession and quietly worked our way to the side entrance. I am 6 cards short going in, still missing 1 Karrthus, 1 Cloudthresher and 4 Rampant Growth. I find fivewithflores and he informs me that the dealers are sold out of Karrthus. Luis “Not Vargas” Neiman hooks me up with the Rampant Growths. Lucky for me, Seong had a Karrthus and Cloudthresher that I could mise. I register and write down my decklist and pretty soon the round starts.
Round 1, Mike with 5c Control
Game 1 we both mulligan to 6. I win the die roll and make Civic Wayfinder, then Kitchen Finks, and they take him from 20 to 0 after being joined by a Treetop Village a few turns later. Mike misses a few land drops and I’m not sure he even played a spell at all.
I figured him for 5c control because of all his vivid lands and side in the Anathemancer/Karrthus/Primal Command package.
Game 2 I mulligan and we trade hits back and forth with with early finks. Eventually Mike turtles up behind a Wall of Reverence and a Plumeveil. He counters my relevant threats while gaining life each turn. Eventually he finds a Broodmate Dragon and finishes me off.
Game 3 we both keep 7 and I have a strong hand which includes none other than my borrowed Karrthus. I begin chipping away early with a Anathemancer, bolting him for 4 and getting him down to 12 before he gets a Wall of Reverence going. On my turn 6 I have a Broodmate and Primal Command, but opt for the Command to try to fish up another Anathemancer. He counters it, untaps, and slams down a Broodmate on his 6th turn. I pray for 7th land but draw Rampant Growth instead and have to settle for playing my own Broodmate. Mike plays Cruel Ultimatum, and I show him the Karrthus I am forced to discard in my hand. At this point MJF has found his way to my table, sees the board, and declares me the winner. Of course I rip a Makeshift Mannequin to bring back Karrthus, steal his dragons, and attack him for 23. He blocks the 7/7 with his wall and stays alive at 6 life. Mike untaps and Wraths the board but two turns later I find my 7th land and Unearth Anathemancer for 9.
1-0
2-1
Round 2, Justin with Red Deck
I win the die roll again and get to go first. Justin has a slow hand with no action until a turn 3 Ram Gang. I take hits and accelerate, then play three consecutive Broodmate Dragons.
Game 2 Justin keeps a hand that I can only assume has multiple Demigods. His turn 3 play is a Everlasting Torment, which prevents me from gaining life off a Kitchen Finks… but doesn’t prevent the Finks from beating him down. Justin never finds his 5th land, and I follow up my Finks with a Dragon and finish it.
2-0
4-1
Round 3, Noah with GW Tokens
Game 1 our hero is again on the play but mulligans a hand 3 Forest, 3 Cloudthresher, and Gift of the Gargantuan. I mulligan into three consecutive no-land hands and obviously get rolled when I keep on 3. I am pretty confident in that mulligan, as Gift is not an ideal turn 3 play, and that hand had no hope against an aggressive deck.
Game 2 I keep a 7 card “speculative” hand with a Fallout, Mannequin, Civic, and Gift. The Fallout is dead as his draw consisted of Dauntless Escort and Liege. My first Gift shows me 4 lands, while my second Gift shows me 4 creatures, none of which are the Shriekmaw I would need to turn the game around. I finally draw a Shriekmaw when I am on 1 and Noah has three or four men on board. In retrospect that may have been a borderline keep, but I had the right lands to Fallout if he had had a bear-into-procession draw I was hoping to see.
2-1
4-3
Round 4, David with Bant
Game 1 is the only game I won against David, and it was the game I deserved to lose. I made multiple mistakes in this game, the worst of which was not using Banefire on his Bant Bird and playing Shriekmaw on his Rhox War Monk instead of Rafiq. By not killing Rafiq I ended up having to chump block most of the game while working him down to 7 with the Shriekmaw. The turn that I would have to chump with the Maw I drew a lethal Banefire to steal the win.
Game 2 I drew all my Banefires and none of my Shriekmaws. I kept trading 1 for 1 with his guys, hoping to draw some action for the Mannequins in my hand. I run out of answers and never get a threat, and finally succumb to an exalted BoP.
Game 3 was really close, and I am sure I made a mistake somewhere because I felt like I should have won it. Instead, my final life total shows David ending the game with 70+ life. David got out a Behemoth Sledge and kept threatening to crush me with giant, doublestriking lifelinkers. I cleared the board multiple times with Shriekmaws and Caldera Helion, but David always had another Rafiq or Rhox War Monk to pick up the Sledge. We go to turns and David continues to play threats while I stop drawing answers.
I am pretty sure that I sideboarded wrong for this match. I left in Volcanic Fallout, which is dead against the cards that matter. I boarded like I would against GW, bringing out Dragons and some gifts for Helions, Maw, and Terror; not realizing that Dragon is my best threat here since he has no way he can block a flying creature other than Birds. Instead I should have taken out Fallouts and a Gifts for the Primals, which could have been used to remove his equipment or search up removal.
2-2
5-5
Thoroughly dissapointed, and tilting pretty badly after losing a matchup that I think is pretty favorable, I vent to Mike and he convinces me to stay in to try and get some packs and practice with the deck.
Round 5, Adam with Naya 5-power
Game 1 I lose my first die roll of the day and Adam comes out slow with a turn 3 5/4. I play a Civic, take a hit from the Beast, and follow up next turn with a Finks. I take another hit and Adam plays Spellbreaker Behemoth. Luckily I have a Shriekmaw + Mannequin, which is followed up by a dragon. I swing him down to 5 and finish him with Banefire.
Game 2 plays out pretty much the same way, except now I have more Shriekmaws and a couple Primal Commands to go get them. I don’t remember the specifics of this game other than that I slowed him down early by evoking a Shriekmaw on his Bloomtender. I ended the game at 22 so it must have been pretty one-sided.
3-2
7-5
Round 6, Eric with BW tokens.
I win my 5th die roll of the day and keep a hand that is gas against anything but BW tokens: Civic Wayfinder, Shriekmaw, Fallout, Mannequin, 3 Lands. However, Eric has the triple Sculler + Glorious Anthem draw. My plays this game were Civic Wayfinder and Makeshift Mannequin targeting Civic Wayfinder.
Game 2 is much closer. I burn 2 Banefire early to kill an Elspeth and Ajani, and have a Fallout to keep him off his triple Winbrisk Heights. Eric has a Bitterblossom and we are each getting in damage when we can. I make a big mistake towards the end of the game: I have a Civic and two 4/4 fliers on the board, while Eric has a medium sized token army. I play a Helion here to wipe his board, and foolishly choose to Devour my 2/2. I had a Mannequin in hand, which could have been used 2 turns later to wrath him again. Instead I make an irrelevant 4/4 and lose the game a few turns later when Eric is able to pop all his Heights (Cloudgoat, Ajani, and something else) and slowly supersizes his team. I lose this game with Eric on 4.
3-3
7-7
Seong watches me take a third loss and tells me he is dropping and heading back. I decide to drop here so I can return his cards, and we end up traveling back to the city together.
Despite practicing with the deck, I made too many mistakes and put myself out of contention. I still think the deck is great and I am planning on playing it in any upcoming PTQs. Mike finished 6-2, you can see his tournament report on his blog, and it looks like a couple players made top 8 with the deck as well. I encourage anyone who is undecided on a PTQ deck to consider Jund ramp as it is favored against a lot of decks in the field, and seems to be 50/50 against its worst matchups.
How did your Regionals go? What did you end up playing? I know (from Twitter) that a couple people did pretty well. Let us know how your tournament went in the comments.
~WillPoP
BDM and Mike discuss the results from NJ Regionals.
WARNING: Some background noise.
