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Captain’s Log #13 – Cone of Game

Despite not having written a new entry in this column for roughly five months, I hadn’t swayed away from my goal of working hard to make it to the Pro Tour for the first time in my life. I’m looking at my Planeswalker Points history for the year of 2014 right now and I’ve actually played in six Grand Prix so far, which is a significant amount for an unqualified Canadian.

Well, I’m happy to say that all the hard work paid off as I just qualified for Pro Tour Washington this past weekend!

Before the PTQ

I had prepared a good amount for the M15 Team Sealed main event at Grand Prix Portland. My teammates were Travis Sowers and FlamingSheep, both video producers here at ManaDeprived.com. Travis and I were part of a team that finished 5th at Grand Prix Providence last year and we had every intention of one-upping ourselves.

I’m not the type to complain about pool strength but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a strong sense to vomit when we were told which pool we were keeping to build with. All three of us flew in from the East Coast, so it was a little heartbreaking to know that we probably each threw a large amount of money into the garbage, but of course, you always try to make the best with what you have because that’s all you have control over. There’s always the chance that better decks stumble against you.

Our positivity led us to a 6-1 start, but ultimately, we didn’t make it to Day Two with me losing the last rounds of the tournament. I know it’s not 100% on me, but I couldn’t help but feel that I let my team down. I was the unofficial captain and the best player on the team yet I couldn’t seal the deal for us. I vowed to become the best M15 player I could be in time for the new PTQ season.

It didn’t start off all that great though as I was unable to win my first twelve 8-4 drafts on MTGO, but I kept at it and even forced myself to record a daily draft which explains the random influx of Drafting with KYT videos. As of now, I have made the finals of 7 out of my last 8 online drafts, winning 6 of them.

The PTQ

The PTQ was hosted by my sponsor Face to Face Games at the Sheraton Hotel. It was head judged by Chris Lansdell from Newfoundland and the whole tournament ran smoothly (or should I say CLSmoothly…).

During the deckbuilding portion, I was reminded of Franky Richard, my dear friend who had to skip the event for another occasion. One of his biggest pet peeves at Sealed events is people complaining openly about their pool strength. Sammy T, known for being outspoken, was sitting next to me and he wasn’t going to let someone who received [card]Burning Anger[/card] in his pool complain and get away with it.

I, on the other hand, had nothing to complain about. I looked at my cards and saw a 40-card combination that was going to give me a real shot at clinching a top 8.

Sealed PTQ

Spectral Ward and Burning Anger? Along with all these other auras to make [card]Brood Keeper[/card] insane? There’s a few things that keep this deck from being a 10/10. It didn’t have enough removal spells for large bombs. It overly relied on [card]Constricting Sliver[/card] to take care of problematic cards like Souls. I nearly dropped a match against a deck containing [card]Soul of Zendikar[/card]. The deck could have certainly used a [card]Devouring Light[/card] or a [card]Pillar of Light[/card].

And of course, a single copy of [card]Heliod’s Pilgrim[/card] would have upgraded the deck significantly, but again, I was beyond pleased. My main concerns were the fact that my sideboard contained zero artifact/enchantment hate and that my deck looked like it would matchup poorly against a good GW Triplicate Spirits/Sanctified Charge deck.

I went 6-1-1 in the Swiss portion, losing only to fellow friend Dan Lanthier who also sported [card]Spectra Ward[/card] in his deck. I lost in three games where the last game had me keeping a two-lander with [card]Raise the Alarm[/card] only to draw my third land when it was too late. For the most part, my deck ran like a well-oiled machine.

One funny thing that I realized is that against certain decks, I wasn’t really sure if I was supposed to search something up with [card]Hoarding Dragon[/card]. If they exile it, I’m not getting the artifact and sometimes, I wish the artifact was still in my deck. It’s not uncommon for a [card]Gargoyle Sentinel[/card] to be one of my few good draws in a scenario.

The Top 8

The top 8 was about to start. Philippe Gareau, a fine gentleman from Quebec City, had been asking around to see if any of the top 8 participants had drafted. Apparently only he and I had a significant amount of experience with the draft format. On top of that, the most accomplished player in our pod, Dan Lanthier, genuinely did not know all the cards in the format. I was really confident to win it all.

I was confident prior to the top 8. I trained hours for this opportunity. Unlike my fellow beloved Eh Team podcasters Jeremey Schofield and Scott MacCallum who have had impressive finishes in their own right, I don’t believe in “the zone”. I believe in being prepared when the cards are going your way.

One of my best friends Alexander Hayne was still on his way back from Australia after having played Grand Prix Sydney, but he was making sure that I knew he was cheering me on. I told him how confident I was and this is something that I have never felt before because net-decking was a big part of my Constructed game. Get the right amount of preparation and confidence will come to you too! That’s the real reason Scott has been crushing with #TeamGeist in the Modern format.

FB_Convo_With_Hayne

I sat down for the top 8 draft and opened my first booster pack. I saw [card]Resolute Archangel[/card] and thirteen other unexciting cards, so I slammed the Angel. I don’t think it’s the craziest of cards but it’s a solid curve topper. I then get passed a [card]Devouring Light[/card] and an [card]Ulcerate[/card]. I take the white card and at this point, I’m open to the idea of forcing white and giving the clear signal to Toby Rosman on my left that he should be in black.

The boosters played into my strategy. Every pack that came to me happened to contain only one solid white playable. I took it and passed everything else to Toby. In the end, there were only two white drafters, my finals opponent and myself. That’s pretty crazy when it’s consensus that white is the strongest color in M15 Limited.

In Pack Two, I opened [card]Triplicate Spirits[/card], whereas Toby who ended in BG Self-Mill was looking at [card]Soul of Theros[/card] and [card]Cone of Flame[/card]. According to him, there weren’t any good BG cards, so he decided to hate on the Soul. I took the Cone, thinking red might be open from my left, but it really wasn’t. I was only able to fill out the rest of my deck because again, there were only two white drafters.

Draft PTQ

The finished product didn’t have as many bomb threats as my Sealed deck, but it had premium removal. It also contained one very important copy of Cone of Game.

In top 8, I faced off against Philippe Gareau who drafted one of his fave archetypes in BG Self-Mill, which as previously mentioned Toby had also drafted in the same pod. It was a close match, but I was able to put him away with flyers. One of the games required me to go all-in with [card]Sungrace Pegasus[/card] before he threw his [card]Flesh to Dust[/card] and sure enough, the removal spell was exactly one turn too late.

In top 4, I played against some 4 color monstrosity. In Game One, he was dominating the board with a [card]Welkin Tern[/card], a Paragon of the Gathering Mists, and a [card]Nimbus of the Isles[/card]. When I was about to lose, I drew [card]Cone of Flame[/card] to destroy his blue army and comeback for the win. It was such a devastating draw that my opponent coined the card Cone of Game. Game Two saw my opponent curve out in spectacular fashion: [card]Frenzied Goblin[/card] into [card]Welkin Tern[/card] into [card]Necrogen Scudder[/card] into Kird Cheiftain. And yes, he had exactly Mountain, Island, Swamp, and Forest.

Game Three, my opponent was punished for his mana as he only had red and black lands out. However, he was able to deal with all of my threats to the point where he had multiple cards in hand but I had none. Luckily, I was able to draw [card]Resolute Archangel[/card] into [card]Sacred Armory[/card] before my opponent cast any of his cards.

The finals were actually sort of anti-climatic. My opponent who was playing GW had slow starts in both games while I had extremely aggressive ones. To give you an idea, he had to quickly go into chump block mode against my [card]Juggernaut[/card] with a Mark of Honor on it.

After I attacked for lethal and my opponent extended his hand to me, there was a huge sense of relief inside of me. I had finally did it. I turned around and was elated to see Barry Hum and Jake Meszaros there. These are two guys that I have played at my local store forever with and we have always talked about one of us making it to the Pro Tour someday. I have played Magic with Barry for over 10 years. Davies Clarke was also there for me and he was the first person I met at an event that complimented me on my work with ManaDeprived.com. This whole experience was making me go down memory lane.

I can’t forget to mention that it was extra sweet to have Chris Lansdell and Salvatore Reda witness my first Pro Tour berth.

I did it. I finally did it.

Thanks to everyone on Twitter and Facebook who congratulated me on my finish. I read everything and they all made me feel really good.

Before I end this article, there’s a few random thoughts I have on the format that I wish to share. Maybe it will spark some discussion.

BG Self-Mill

There aren’t that many unique archetypes in M15 outside of UR Artifacts and the BG Self-Mill deck. The BG Self-Mill deck consists of a few components. It uses cards such as [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card] and [card]Necromancer’s Assistant[/card] in order to fill the graveyard. It then uses spells like [card]Unmake the Graves[/card] and [card]Restock[/card] to gain an advantage. Lastly, it can play a number of [card]Undergrowth Scavenger[/card]s because they will tend to come into play with a large number of counters.

I’ve tried to build this deck and I’ve faced it multiple times online. In both cases, the BG Self-Mill deck generally lost, so I currently think that it’s an archetype that I want to be avoiding. For one, I think it can be too slow. While you are spending time milling yourself and casting [card]Unmake the Graves[/card], your opponent can be putting a lot of pressure on you, especially in the air. [card]Netcaster Spider[/card] is definitely a key card to have if you must go BG.

I also think the deck is too inconsistent. At Grand Prix Portland, my teammate Travis, had 2 [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card]s, 2 [card]Necromancer’s Assistant[/card]s, and 4 [card]Undergrowth Scavenger[/card]s in his deck. Sometimes, I would look over at his hand and see that if he were to cast a Scavenger, it would come out as a 2/2. That’s awful.

And sometimes, the [card]Undergrowth Scavenger[/card] will come out as a 16/16, but so what? If your opponent has a creature with deathtouch or a [card]Coral Barrier[/card] out, you are not getting in for massive damage anytime soon. I watched Travis lose as he cast multiple giant Scavengers that were too slow to steal the game from him.

In one round, one of Travis’s opponents came up with a smart sideboarding plan. He brought in his own [card]Undergrowth Scavenger[/card] along with a [card]Hot Soup[/card]. Travis was able to cast a few decent-sized Scavengers in the game, but his opponent was able to lay down the last one and it was the biggest one.

I’m always open to be wrong, so I did ask my friend Jon Stern about his thoughts and he told me that he liked the archetype more than me while also stating that he’s not that impressed with [card]Undergrowth Scavenger[/card]. I was intrigued. His approach is to draft bombs and [card]Endless Obedience[/card], so that his deck is essentially able to draw into these bombs at a more frequent basis. What would constitute as a bomb in this deck? [card]Hornet Queen[/card] for one. If I am ever giving BG another chance again, I am going to keep Stern’s approach in mind.

Overrating Frost Lynx

I overrated [card]Frost Lynx[/card] when I first drafted this set. It’s not that it’s not a good card, but I was regarding it as a premium pick when it’s actually not that high on the scale. It’s a tempo card that’s dependent on the rest of your deck. You are getting the most value out of the card when your deck is able to consistently attack with multiple one and two-drops. I really didn’t see it that way early on and simply couldn’t understand why I was losing with a deck that contained 4 copies of [card]Frost Lynx[/card].

Although some pros have listed it as the best blue common, for me, the real reason to go blue is [card]Welkin Tern[/card] and if I can supplement my [card]Welkin Tern[/card]s with [card]Frost Lynx[/card]s, then I am a happy blue mage for that draft.

Closing

Best of luck in your own PTQs and hopefully, I will be seeing some of you at Pro Tour Washington in February.

KYT
@kytmagic

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