by Jake “the Professor” Meszaros
Jake Meszaros continues his unlikely streak of good results as he was able to follow up a 1K win with a Provincials Top 8. He details his tournament and unravels his unique Fauna Shaman deck that actually contains a singleton Ornithopter.
It’s 7 PM on Monday, October 4th and I’ve been sitting in a car for the last 11 hours on my way back from a wedding in Detroit. I know that Champs is this upcoming weekend and I have absolutely no idea what the Standard decks will look like. Eager to get home and test, I remember that I have a History PowerPoint to do and a paper to write for my English class, which leaves me no time to test until Thursday, cutting things pretty short. I’m really not liking my chances at this point…
Tuesday and Wednesday come and go and all my homework is done, so I finally have a chance to scour for some tech. While I did my work the night before, I discussed possible tech with KYT and Jeff Casselman, hoping they might have some ideas for me. However, the main deck discussed was Mono Red, which I really didn’t want to play as it feels too dependent on the meta, which I expected to be a lot of U/W Control. Finally, I found a list that did well at the 2010 TCGplayer Wizard World Series that seemed like something I would like. Here’s the original list piloted by Jim Davis:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Inferno Titan
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Lotus Cobra
1 Memnite
3 Trinket Mage
4 Vengevine
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Brittle Effigy
4 Mana Leak
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Forest
4 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
3 Raging Ravine
4 Scalding Tarn
Sideboard
3 Arc Trail
1 Brittle Effigy
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Manic Vandal
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Unified Will
This list seemed to have the same feel as the Naya Shaman list I played at a recent 1k where I split for first. There were a few changes I wanted to make in order to better suit what I thought would be a heavy U/W field. First off, in the 50-60 games I tested with the deck on Magic Workstation, I really didn’t like Wormcoil Engine as I felt like every time I would play it, it always ate a Condemn, Brittle Effrigy, Journey to Nowhere, etc. So, on recommendation of Jeff Casselman, I replaced it with a Frost Titan which provides an immediate effect and is harder to get rid of.
Another card I wanted to add into the deck was Renegade Doppelganger as it has synergy with Vengevine, both Titans, Lotus Cobra, Fauna Shaman, Cunning Sparkmage and even Birds of Paradise! I cut a Mana Leak and the Goblin Ruinblaster for it.
Here’s the final list I played.
1 Ornithopter
1 Memnite
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Inferno Titan
1 Frost Titan
2 Renegade Doppelganger
3 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Trinket Mage
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Vengevine
4 Lotus Cobra
1 Brittle Effigy
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Mana Leak
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
5 Forest
4 Island
1 Mountain
3 Raging Ravine
3 Copperline Gorge
After a disappointing 2-2 finish at the local FNM that Friday with the deck, I was a little nervous to play it, but ten episodes of ‘Just Shoot Me!’ did the job of calming me down and letting me get some well needed rest. Thank you, David Spade!
My alarm went off that morning at 6:30 so I had two hours to get ready and get to the bus station. After a nice shower and breakfast, I put on my Mana Deprived t-shirt, woke up my father and made him sit in the car while I drove to the bus station (god I love having a learner’s permit). I met up with some fellow Team Chex members and we were off!
When we got there, I saw the most popular deck was U/W, just as I expected. After making some adjustment to my sideboard, I finally settled on this:
Sideboard
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Tunnel Ignus
1 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Unified Will
2 Arc Trail
3 Naturalize
Many of you might be wondering, “Why is Sea Gate Oracle in the sideboard?”. Quite frankly, I’m asking myself the same question. I think I cut Goblin Ruinblasters for these and I’m not quite sure why. Oh well.
Round 1: Nicholas LeBlanc with Eldrazi Green
I was happy to see I was playing LeBlanc first round because he’s a super nice guy and I was sure it would be a fun game. Before we even started, he managed to get an edge by mind-tricking me into thinking he was playing Mono Red and I bought it 100%, I won’t lie. Luckily for me, I kept a sketchy hand for the Mono Red matchup, which ended up being a good one for the Eldrazi Green matchup. However, I lost fairly quickly as I did not realize that Emrakul cannot be countered, leading to my demise in both games. Oh well. The round was fun and I don’t mind losing to a good player. However, losing the first round meant that I could not lose one more round if I had a prayer of making top 8.
I’ll review the sideboard plan because I wasn’t sure of how to properly side. I look forward to any comments about improving my boarding methods.
+3 Tunnel Ignus, +3 Unified Will, -Sparkmage Package, -1 Mana Leak
Round 2: Vampires
I didn’t know who the guy was but he seemed like a nice guy. He was fairly new to the game, but he was a good player nonetheless. I won the round 2-0. After the round, I went to go watch the local Team Chex killer/Team Chex captain KYT go on to win his match over one of three Team Chex members.
For the Vampires matchup, Sparkmage combo is essential, so I went +1 Sprakmage, +2 Arc Trail, -3 Mana Leak.
Round 3: Olivier Bouthot with Elves
This matchup really made me angry because this meant that one Team Chex member had to eliminate the other, which really sucked! I won both games off of nuts draws. In game 1, I had triple Lotus Cobra, Cunning Sparkmage, Inferno Titan and Basilisk Collar all out of turn 4! I think this was the most relaxed game I’ve ever played at a big tournament. I was playing a player from my own team and one of the guys who came to watch from our store was watching the game. It was like an FNM!
The sideboard plan was the same as for Vampires, only I added 2 Naturalise for 2 Dopplegangers, which didn’t feel fast enough for the matchup.
The lunch break ensued this round. It was a much needed time to relax and prepare myself for the final stretch to make top 8. We had five guys on our team who still had a chance to qualify, so we were all a little worried of facing each other.
Round 4: Jackson with Tempered Steel White Weenie
This matchup was extremely scary unless Basilisk Collar/Cunning Sparkmage/Inferno Titan hit the board fast. In each of the three games, I fell behind early. However, both games I managed to have a Collar and Sparkmage or Collar and Inferno Titan hit the table, I won. My opponent was rather quiet in this round so there isn’t as much to say about this round. He seemed unhappy about losing the round. This round did teach me that Steel Overseer is really annoying because if you don’t deal with it, everything becomes bigger and incredibly difficult to handle.
As for sideboarding, I went +3 Naturalise, -3 Mana Leak, as I felt as if I needed to be faster than him. I can’t afford to always keep that mana open so I took the Leaks out for removal.
Round 5: Stéphane with U/W Control & Round 6: Mathieu Tremblay with U/W Control
After four rounds, I hadn’t seen one U/W matchup so I was happy to finally see one. Vengevine is just too much for the U/W player to deal with because even if he counters, I still cast my creatures, leading to angry plants beating him in the face, and that’s exactly what happened in this matchup. I got out fast enough to win both games and I was headed to the top 8, or so I thought. I was almost sure that 13 points would be enough to squeeze me into the top 8 and I had 12. However, when the standings sheet was posted, I saw that I was in 10th and I had the worst tiebreaks among the people who had 12 points. So, I had to play a win-and-in for a spot in the top 8.
As the pairings came up for round 6, I knew I would probably be playing Mathieu Tremblay, who was playing a U/W Control list with Linvala, Keeper of Silence mainboard, something that scared the willies out of me. I saw the pairings, and my old nervous self came back. In all previous tournaments that I’ve played in where I play against a good player or am playing in a key round, I start to misplay a lot and usually lose the round. However, up until now, I had kept my emotions in check and had stayed calm. Luckily, I managed to stay calm through the first two games, but when game three came along, I was panicking.
I had three Vengevines in my graveyard, a Renegade Doppelganger in play, and a Vengevine and an Ornithopter in my hand. I attempt to play the Vengevine, but he counters. I slowly put the Ornithopter on the table, the 4 Vengevines come back, the Doppelganger copies them, and I swing for 20. I see Tremblay’s hand start to move and I feel my legs starting to shake, what does he have to stop my play? The hand moves past his lands and he puts out his hand – I did it. Tremblay is a first class player who‘s also a class act. I was glad to play against a player like that in the win-and-in game.
Quarterfinal: Kiefer O’Connor with Eldrazi Green
I won’t discuss this round much as there isn’t much to say. I got pasted, plain and simple. Game two I stick a turn 2 Tunnel Ignus, only to be met with THREE Overgrown Battlements and a turn five/six Emrakul- it was dirty. My opponent apologized after, which wasn’t at all necessary. I don’t mind losing like that. I don’t feel I misplayed in that match so I’m generally satisfied with the round.
Afterthoughts
Well, the tournament was tough, but I came out with what I wanted: an extremely awesome-looking playmat. I think that the most important part of this tournament was that I started to lose my jitters; splitting first at that 1k in August really helped me. I’m not trying to be cocky or arrogant when I say this, but I feel like I’m starting to fill out and use the few skills that I have to my advantage. I want to keep gaining experience and finding tricks to help my game get better.I still have a lot to learn, though, as I’ve been told my body language is extremely easy to read and it becomes easy to determine my hand.
Speaking of tricks, I think I’ve found one for nervous players: put one song on repeat on your music playing device. Having a consistent flow of one song that you really like helps you stay calm and motivated for the round. Personally, I use ‘All I do is Win’ for the extra motivation, but use whatever suits you best!
Shout outs
Julien Laterreur, Mathew Poirier, Vasil Maystorov and Pierre Calvez: Thank you so much for lending me some cards. I’ll return those eventually!
Team Chex: You guys are the best! Without your encouragement, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today.
KYT: You’ve helped me improve my game so much and brought Canadian Magic to an all time high, a HUGE thanks!
All my opponents: Thank you for being extremely good people and great players!
The rest of the top 8, especially Justin Richardson: Nicely done! Thanks for avenging me, Justin!
Finally, while this is a top 8, it’s not the same thing as top 8’ing a PTQ. Conley Woods recently published an article on how Champs is more of an opportunity to meet and play with the other players in your community than winning, and I agree 100 percent with him. Since there is not a huge first prize like at Regionals or PTQs, you end up playing more for the love of the game, and I think that this year’s Champs did just that. I’m hooked on this game and with the great MTG community that we have in Montreal, I don’t think that’ll ever change.
Until next time,
Jake “The Professor” Meszaros
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.
