Standard

Vincent Thibeault’s Canadian Nationals Report (2nd) – Part 1

The Tale of a Man That Wore Two Different T-Shirts in the Top 8

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by Vincent Thibeault

This is NOT your typical tournament report.  You will not see any boring round-by-round analysis where all the author talks about is how he won because the opponent missed a land drop.  Vincent Thibeault took 2nd place at the 2010 Canadian National Championship and he wants you to feel like you were right there with him on his journey.  This is definitely the most entertaining tourney report I have ever read and I hope you guys agree!

I was asked to write about my experience as a player at the Canadian Nationals 2010. Here is the story I came up with.

Suddenly I was wide awake. Where was my cell phone? Right… 5 am, I still had enough time, the tournament was only starting at 8.45. Should I go back to sleep? The thrill and the feeling of anticipation meant that it would be impossible at the moment, so I stood up and went into the living room, turning on my laptop and getting a glass of water and an orange. While the computer was loading, I double-checked the content of the bag I was going to bring to the Canadian National Championship of Magic the Gathering 2010. My standard deck, sideboard and tokens.  Check. My other box and sleeves for the draft part. Check. Some healthy snacks like fruit and nuts. Check. Dice, pen and notebook. Check. My Manadeprived  T-shirt was already in my bag, so I could change once I get to the site, planning to cycle there to get all pumped up and energetic for the start of the hostilities.

I sat down on the couch, revised my sideboarding plans versus different match-ups, confident in the ability of the Titan Valakut Ramp to get there. I had switched lists the evening before, and I usually disapprove doing so, but it was a tweaked version of a deck that was in the playtesting team gauntlet and I was familiar enough with it to play it well. I had a lot of different decks that I practiced with, including Aggro Spread’em, GW Eldrazi Ramp, UG Polymorph and UW Sundering Titan Control. The Valakut list I was playing was all ramp spells and threats, and it was strong but I could not get a game versus Sovereign Conscription with a lot of counters. I would have to bring back the Lightning Bolts into the maindeck and cut some of the ramp spell to get a chance in that difficult match-up.

During the grinders, a member of team Chex under the banner of captain KYT, Michael Lambert, managed to win with Titan Valakut as well as Dan Lanthier. I decided to check out Lambert’s version (though it was Jeff Casselman that lent him the deck) and it was love at first sight. Oracles of Mul Daya maindeck as well as Summoning Trap were making the deck a lot more explosive and a lot trickier than before. I changed the sideboard a bit and then had my final version. Here is what I sleeved.

Standard deck – Valakut Titan Ramp – 2nd place at the Canadian National 2010

Evolving Wilds
Forest
12  Mountain
Terramorphic Expanse
4  Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Avenger of Zendikar
Oracle of Mul Daya
Overgrown Battlement
Primeval Titan
Siege-Gang Commander

Cultivate
Khalni Heart Expedition
Lightning Bolt
Rampant Growth
Summoning Trap

Sideboard

Back to Nature
Burst Lightning
Obstinate Baloth
Overgrown Battlement
Pithing Needle
Ricochet Trap

The deck was solid and getting a lot of hype, but it was still pretty new and some players would not have prepared properly against it. More importantly, it was not yet on Modo, and i felt this fact would give me a little edge.  It seemed to have a lot of positive match-ups, like Jund, Turboland and midrange creature decks like Naya and Next Level Bant. The UW control match-up was not so bad either, having 2 Summoning Trap maindeck and 2 Ricochet Trap in the side to deal with potential counterspells. Leyline of Sanctity was quite a tough card to deal with but I had 3 Back to Nature in my sideboard, and those could take care of Spreading Seas, Oblivion Rings and potential Luminarch Ascensions, even if I doubted they would side it in against me. The Overgrown Battlements were quite useful, serving as more ramp spells if I was facing the mirror match, or allowing me to survive few more turns against Jund, RDW, Naya or any aggro decks. Ricochet Trap is the nuts against Turboland, countering their counters or even better, changing the target of Time Warp. Burst Lightning was mainly to burn Birds and Cobras and the Needle was there to stop Planeswalker nonsense and maybe Fauna Shaman. The Summoning Trap gave the deck a surprised factor and more than one opponent would perish with the Trap played at the end of their turn.

So I was lying on the couch, waiting for the computer to download, feeling quite ready for the Standard portion of the tournament. The draft part would probably be a lot harder. To prepare, I participated in the pre-release tournaments and up to yesterday my performance was not too great. I managed once to get into the final of one of the five drafts I played in, which seemed to show that I was not ready. The last match I played was against a Mono Black deck and I realised that that color was usually underdrafted, a lot of these cards demanding 2 black mana coming really late. I noticed too that blue and white were the most popular colors in our area. If only I could draft black today, I think I would have a chance.

I was quite tired so I watched old episodes of Curb your Enthusiasm on my computer, dozing and thinking about drafting pick order and the relative popularity of each draft archetype. At 7am my British wife, Rebecca, came out of the bedroom, making sure I was awake, wishing me good luck and going back to bed. I made some coffee, ate some oatmeal and after checking one last time the content of my bag I was on my way to the tournament. I would have to play at my best today if I wanted to have a chance. After all the playtesting sessions with the Face à Face team at Robert Anderson’s house with his fellow teammates, including Alexander Hayne, Nicolas Leblanc and Joey Smith, and the many games on Magic Workstation, all this time spent preparing, we would finally see, today, if I was up to the challenge. I left my flat, got outside, unlocked my bike and started cycling towards the Palais des Congrès, where the tournament was. On the way my iPod was playing some of my favourite songs, including Eminem and Paul Oakenfold, so I could get all psyched up for the tournament. Riding at a good pace, breathing slowly and calmly, I was getting to the arena, bearing in mind that I would not get eaten alive by the lions without a fight.

I got to the tournament site, got two Valakuts that were not foil for my deck, sat and talked with KYT and other friends, saw Joey Smith that managed to qualify at the last grinder with Time Sieve (!), waiting for his parents to come over and sign the necessary forms. I wrote down my decklist, hearing about the new tech versus Valakut, which would be Mindlock Orb, wondering if I should find space in my sideboard for an answer to it. Very few decks could use that tech, decks not relying on fetch-lands like Time Sieve or UW control. The card was kind of narrow, not that good in other match-ups, so I decided against preparing for it and in the end I did not face it. Mindlock Orb could however become a problem if people believe it is important to hate Titan Valakut. I wished good luck to at least 20 other players that I knew well, people from Montreal mostly and then the tournament started.

Here are my matches on day 1:

  1. Turboland: 2-1
  2. Mythic Conscription : 2-1
  3. Jund : 2-0
  4. UB : 2-1
  5. RW: 2-0
  6. GRU: 2-1
  7. UW : 2-1

My drafts went pretty well even if I got a little bit short of creatures in the first draft. Here are the decklists I played:

2 Stabbing Pain
1 Unholy Strength
2 Bloodthrone Vampire
1 Nantuko Shade
1 Doom Blade
2 Sign in Blood
1 Nether Horror
2 Mind Rot
1 Crystal Ball
1 Liliana’s Specter
1 Quag Sickness
2 Phantom Beast
1 Gravedigger
2 Nightwing Shade
2 Rotting Legion
1 Corrupt

14 Swamp
3 Island

The first card I drafted was Nantuko Shade in a weak pack. Was it a sign from the Magic gods? Could I really draft monoblack as I intended? I got passed late Nightwind Shade and Liliana’s Specter. I tried to draft some good blue cards but in the end I did not get enough playable so I just decided to splash the two Phantom Beasts. I did not think much of the beast before Francis Cormier told me it was nuts and as I know he is an excellent drafter I took his word as an article of faith. Those beasts won me quite a few games and were literally beasts for their casting costs. Stabbing Pain was used more than once at the end on my opponent’s turn to prepare an alpha strike. Sign in Blood was quite useful as card advantage and getting to your bombs and removals is key in that format, and I used it once to finish off an opponent. I picked up Crystal Ball second pick and think it is one of the strongest uncommon of the set. I finished 3-0 with this deck, most of my games being long-drawn affairs but where I managed to play tight and stayed focused (or should I say, in the magic zone).

The second deck I drafted was as well mono-black, splashed with red and blue cards. I first-picked an Air Servant over an Overwhelming Stampede, wanting to stay as far away from green as possible, but then blue dried out and I got late picks Sign in Blood and Liliana’s Specter (again) so reading the signal I knew that the color was open. The deck has a lot of card advantage and is lacking good rare bombs but it is very synergetic and the curve was low enough.

1 Lightning bolt
2 Black Knight
4 Sign in Blood
1 Crystal Ball
1 Act of Treason
2 Barony Vampire
2 Liliana’s Specter
1 Gargoyle Sentinel
2 Gravedigger
1 Howling Banshee
1 Foresee
1 Azure Drake
1 Rotting Legion
1 Air Servant

1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Island
1 Mountain
12 Swamp

Relevant sideboard cards:
1 Combust
1 Act of Treason
1 Viscera Seer
1 Fling

The deck was low on creature spot removal but tons of my cards allowed me a massive card advantage: 4 Sign in Blood, 1 Crystal Ball, 2 Liliana’s Specter, 2 Gravedigger and 1 Foresee.  Some people frowned at the number of Sign in Blood in the deck, saying that without life gain it was a bit much. They were, however, useful all day and I did not regret having them in the deck. With all the draw effects I never had any problems getting my colors. I had a feature match Sunday morning with the deck and you can see it here in action.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/canat10/day2#2

At the end of day one I was undefeated, to the pleasure of my good friends cheering for me and my ego which at that point felt quite self satisfied. Nothing is wrong with enjoying a bit of social recognition from your friends and the magic community. I have however in the past already messed up when I thought the victory was in the bag so I would have to keep my fighting spirit for the next day.

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