Ah, the World Cup Qualifiers.
For the large, large majority of the season, I thought I might have been lucky enough not to have to try to grind my way into a spot on the Canadian team. Alas, as well all know, not only did my closest rival make the top 25 he needed to pass me, he also happened to just win the Pro Tour.
Fine!
Still, having not played a single match of Standard since PT Honolulu (sorry Wizards, that’s PT Tour Dark Ascension” isn’t it) I wasn’t planning on trying my luck at the WMCQ. However, after talking to Hayne, Cappy, Noah and Pascal, they somehow convinced me that it would be pretty sweet to play in this team event. Next step: what should I play? I spoke with them independently, they all answered separately.
Hayne: “Delver”
Cappy: “Delver”
Pascal: “Delver”
Noah: “Well I’ve been working on thi*ignored*
The problem was that I had never actually played a match with Delver. Once that news came up we agreed that I would have an impossible time winning mirrors. I looked at some alternatives. I looked at Humans, Zombies, RG, Grixis and a few others before Matt Mealing posted a Pod list he was working on. Now there’s something I’ve played before! I worked on it a bit, and read a few articles, ending up quite a bit closer to what Brian Kibler suggested that I expected. Here’s what I ran:
[deck title=Pod]
[Creatures]
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Restoration Angel
2 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Zealous Conscripts
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Birthing Pod
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
2 Rootbound Crag
2 Cavern of Souls
6 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Gavony Township
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Stingerfling Spider
1 Combust
1 Plummet
1 Celestial Purge
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Wolfir Silverheart
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
We went to register, and I was beside Kyle Duncan, Noah and Steve Tomik. All three of them were like “De don’t need ID right? And various people vouched for them. Then I went up and had to present ID THREE TIMES! Needless to say I got some good ribbing for that. Noah and Mealing were originally going to play a more Pod heavy version, but both audibled to a monstrous 5 colour value aggro deck, went 0-2 and dropped.
So how did it go?
Round 1 vs Jake (Mirror)
I led off with a [card]Birthing Pod[/card], while Jake had a geist and an o-ring for my pod. I dropped a wolfir to halt his attacks and he got in with a few spirits from a [card]Geist-Honored Monk[/card] before we stalled out. I had a Township out and he didn’t. Game two, after Jake used his trusty sideboard guide, he presented me with a 59 card deck. Apparently his sideboard guide told him to take out 6 cards and add 5. Not a guide I would recommend! It’s been a while since I’ve had one of those, but I’ve lost to stupider mistakes. I told him not to let it get to his head and took my free win. Oh well.
1-0
Round 2 vs Carl (Delver)
Game one I overran Carl with golem tokens and [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card]s. Game two I mulled to 4, and actually had a decent start but my golems didn’t match up well with his [card]Restoration Angel[/card], especially when it picks up a sword. At the beginning of game three, Dan Lanthier, who was in a strange mood all weekend, came up to our match midway through and announced to my opponent, “You know Marc Anderson won our last Nats right? He was the national champion!” Game three was pretty grindy, with Carl again getting a [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] active, but he made a few mistakes and on one key turn he forgot to equip one of his blockers after attacking and I got through for a bunch of damage. The following turn I needed a way to get an extra point through and had quite a few live draws. Topdecked a geist. Lovely. Not sure if I should be thanking Dan for that one or not.
2-0
Round 3 vs David Goldfarb (Wolf Run Ramp)
With that on my mind, my fourth round opponent sees my ManaDeprived shirt, and asks if “I’m on the team”. I say that I am and he says, “oh so you must be good? What are your accomplishments?” Well with Dan nowhere in sight I recount my resume and he says, “Oh shit.” That made me feel nice.
Game one I get a nice draw. Turn two Geist, turn 3 Borderland, turn 4 Angel, turn 5 Angel, turn 6 Geist plus Metamorph copying Geist. His meager titan is no match. Game two he does his thing and game three I triple Sword him to death.
3-0
Round 4 vs Jamie Naylor (UWR Miracle)
Apparently he built his deck last minute the night before, and game one he laments a deckbuilding error of not having enough Plains to search for with [card]Evolving Wilds[/card]. I get him to counter one of my dudes then smash him with [card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card] and a fresh [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card]. Game two I get a hit in with a [card]Sword of War and Peace[/card], but he plays a Tamiyo and taps the geist. I topdeck a Conscripts and think I have him dead, but apparently you can’t untap something wearing a [card]Sword of War and Peace[/card]. Oops! He then does some fancy work with [card]Terminus[/card] and [card]Noxious Revival[/card] and Wraths my board a few times. I’m never able to get too much on to the board and Tamiyo locks me down. He Entreats for two and starts beating in while I have a few draw steps but hit land after land. Finally I’m at two… and [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card] to the rescue again! He makes me nervous with a [card]Think Twice[/card], Lighthouse activation and flashback [card]Think Twice[/card] to find an answer but whiffs.
4-0
Round 5 vs Francisco Leon (Mirror)
Francisco mulls to 5 on the play, but we still have quite a match. He gets me down to 7 with Geists, Thalia and some [card]Fiend Hunter[/card]/Garruk shenanigans but eventually my maindeck Swords pull me back and I get through. Game two things are looking decent until turn 5 he miracles a Bonfire for three and it’s game over. Game three I get my Pod active and bury him with card advantage.
5-0
Rounds 6 and 7
ID with Phil Samms and Omar Beldon. The top 8 looks pretty stacked including from top to bottom Lucas Siow, Will Bax, Steve Tomik, Myself, Dan Lanthier, Derek Lansche, Omar Beldon and John Bentley. That means…
Quarterfinals vs Dan Lanthier (Delver)
Well so far at every non PT event Dan and I have played in, we have both made top 8 and I have beaten him in the semis. This time we meet in the quarters so maybe he has a chance. I have the honour of playing first due to standings and I play turn 1 Birds, turn 2 Geist and smash. He leaves Leak open but turn three comes the Cavern-inspired Huntmaster and he can’t recover after having basically been Timewalked. Game three I get out a [card]Blade Splicer[/card] and a [card]Borderland Ranger[/card], but my token hits a snag. On my turn 5 I attack with both, with him having a Delver in play. He flashes in an Angel and blocks my Borderland and I have the Bonfire for two for the full value. I follow up with a Huntmaster and a couple of Angels of my own and my record against Dan continues.
Semifinals vs Lucas Siow (Delver)
Last time I played Lucas was in the finals of provincials, which he won (after I had beat Dan in the semis of course) so I wanted to get revenge. Game one my maindeck swords do the job. Game two I’m way ahead on board and have things locked up for the finals where I will play the winner of Will vs Tomik and…wait what? [card]Day of Judgment[/card]? In Delver? Ewwwwww. Game three Lucas gets out a [card]Consecrated Sphinx[/card]. I’m able to copy it with Metamorph, but just as we begin drawing cards on his draw step, he hits a [card]Divine Offering[/card] after I’ve drawn 6 cards and he draws the full 12. I didn’t win that one.
Lucas won the finals and I’m very happy that we have a strong team member. Going forward I would definitely recommend my list to anyone interested in Standard. It’s very powerful and has some starts that no deck can keep up with. The only thing I would change is to cut the [card]Stingerfling Spider[/card] and the second Grudge from the board and replace them with more [card]Plummet[/card]s if you still expect to see Delver in your neighborhood. If you want tips on sideboarding I’m gonna have to stick to the Gerry T words of wisdom and instead of presenting a guide (which you should never use), message me what you think you would do in certain situations and I’ll be happy to provide feedback. First of all a big thanks to Chris Seifert, for lending me half the deck, and to Cappy and Noah for filling out what I was missing. Congrats to Lucas and to Pascal (for winning the PTQ on Sunday) and good luck to all those competing in Alberta!
Thanks,
Marc Anderson
*EXTRA*
As I’m finishing this piece, it turns out a number of extremely generous people are willing to donate cards/money for me to go to Alberta and give it one last shot. I have taken a look at the flights and it looks feasible, so I think I will be trying it out after all. By the time this goes up we will already know the winner, and I’ll see whether or not it’s worth writing another report!
I’m amazed at all the awesome people in the community who have contributed, so I’d like to take a minute to thank Chris Seifert, Doug Potter, Alex Hayne, Lucas Siow and Matt Mercier as well as countless others for making a trip out of nothing. Here’s to hoping I take it down!
Marc Anderson is the current Canadian National champion. At the most recent World Championship, he was able to add a 12th place finish to his resume.