Standard PPTQ at Two Stompas (10/1/2015)
I can't believe I get addicted into Magic in a very short amount of time. Suddenly, I bought a premium access to SCG articles. Suddenly, I began to watch countless Magic video in Youtube. And suddenly, I found myself sitting in a chair for my first ever PPTQ in Two Stompas. I'm so very excited.
I went with Joe Lossett's winning W/U Heroic from SCG Columbus. Reason for playing this deck is simple, I need a budget deck with low curve, straightforward play, but still competitive. W/U Heroic serves all of my interest.
Luckily because I'm already in a good term with Stompas' crew, I managed to assemble all 75 cards from Joe Losset's list in only a week. Thanks to mas Malik who lent me most of the core card, for Mark who lent me the shop's Flooded Strand, and for Wildan who lent me his Mana Confluence in the last minute.
For the gameplay itself, W/U Heroic is ultimately straightforward. Make your creature bigger than any blocker opposing player can cast before the fifth land drop and finish them right at turn 5. This deck is obviously not the best deck in the current format, but it is a good meta call to prey on the top tier deck because most of them are midrange oriented strategy deck that only matters after turn 5.
However, because of its straightfroward nature, this deck can't improve much in post-sideboard game. Therefore it's pretty hard for this deck if it found itself in an unexpected matchup with a non top tier deck. Unfortunately, I found that kind of matchup twice yesterday. Here is my result:
2-0 Jeskai Tokens
0-2 Mono Red Heroic
0-2 Ascendancy Combo
2-0 Abzan
2-0 Abzan Midrange
3-2, 9th Place
I found a matchup with Abzan deck is very favorable to me. They don't play that much of a removal and most of them are very costly. They also started to play really slow so my creatures can finish them faster.
Only once in the fourth round against Elvin that I finished him too late that he managed to cast a Siege Rhino and a Wingmate Roc. The reason is that I'm trying to kill his Sorin when it actually is not a threat at all. Luckily, just when he about to make a comeback with the second Sorin and his lifegain, I managed to get a Stubborn Denial to counter that so I can finish him in the next turn.
The matchup against Jeskai is kinda tricky because he has a lot of cheap removal spell between Magma Spray, Lightning Strike, and Stoke the Flames. I can't get my creatures whose number is very small in my deck to get removed in the early game, so I need to play around it. The trick I use is to wait until the third land drop so I can cast my creature and still leave an untapped land to cast God's Willing.
However this trick forces me to play late and I found myself in a swim or sink situation where a victory is decided in a single attack. His board is a Rabblemaster with 5 Goblins, and 2 Warrior tokens from Raise the Alarm, meanwhile my board is only a tapped 9/9 Hero of Iroas equipped with Spectra Ward and a Battlewise Hoplite.
I kept a Stubborn Denial in my hand, in case he casts a Jeskai Charm or a removal spell to get rid of Battlewise Hoplite. Luckily, he didn't and my hoplite was able to block Rabblemaster so only 7 damages came from the tokens and my Hero of Iroas can finish him in the next turn.
Against Mono Red Heroic, I found it a very difficult and a challenging matchup. Mono Red Heroic can start becoming a big threat in a turn 2, thanks to Titan's Strength, and my W/U Heroic just couldn't catchup with that. After sideboarding, I can get a decent blocker in form of Lagonna Band Trailblazer, but it still not enough since he has Hammerhand who can neutralize my blockers.
I actually still has a chance to win since I draw an Ordeal of Heliod. I know it's true that his deck can put a lot of pressure earlier than my deck, but it ran out of gas so quickly that his deck can become unimpressive once it hits turn 4 or 5. Ordeal of Heliod with a huge swing of life can buy me a lot of time to reach that is what I believe, so I immediately casted it.
However, I made mistake since my enchanted hoplite is being removed by his Stoke the Flames in the next turn. If I was smart, I would wait until next turn, so I can cast both my protection and my Ordeal of Heliod, ensuring that the 10 life gain will come in. But I was stupid so I lose that game.
The most unexpected matchup of all is against Ascendancy Combo. I am completely unaware of the existance of this deck. Not one articles in SCG has mentioned anything about Ascendancy Combo in Standard. Indeed I have watched Boss Renee played with Ascendancy Combo using Fatestitcher in Modern, but I never thought that Standard also has this kind of deck.
The one who pilotted this deck is Taufik. Boss told me that he's one of the few pro players in Indonesia who has travelled into so many tournament. I'm pretty surprised that I have to fight the guy that I was being told a few minutes before. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, they say.
Anyway, playing a W/U Heroic against Ascendancy Combo is just auto-lose. My main deck doesn't have any removal whatsoever so there is no way I can interrupt his combo. Worst of all, he put a lot of blockers so I can't finish him fast enough before he started to play his combo.
Even in the sideboard, I only have a single Erase to remove his Ascendancy which eventually being countered by Swan Song. I actually made a mistake by not sideboarding my 3 Stubborn Denial, it would be more effective to counter his Ascendancy.
I also made a mistake by taking out all of my protection since I thought his deck wouldn't have a removal spell. After the game, I realized that I would need as many protection as possible so I can get past his blockers and finish him before he started the combo.
In the end, I got a 3-2 result and finished in 9th place.
Quite close to Top 8, people said. Mark told me that I got 9th because one of the match in the 5th round went draw. If any one of that guy gets a win, I can be pushed to 8th Position. However, I'm not blaming that draw.
If I want to blame anything for my failure to reach top 8, then I will blame my stupidity for casting an Ordeal of Heliod without an untapped land to cast a protection in Mono Red Heroic matchup and I will blame my inability to sideboard properly against Ascendancy Combo.
In the end, it was a fun experience, meeting with a lot of Magic players from Jakarta. I got a lot of lesson to. I was blatantly copying Joe Lossett's list, including his sideboard, without adjusting it to Jakarta's meta. It was pretty much because I don't know the meta, obviously, but I should actually ask about it to Stompas' Crew so I can manage my sideboard better.
If I'm going to another standard tournament, I'd probably put an extra copy of Lagonna Band Trailblazer and a single copy of Last Breath in my sideboard. The extra Lagonna is obviously for the Mono Red deck, because apparently there are still a lot of people playing a budget deck and the Last Breath is for Ascendancy Combo or any kind of deck that desperately need an effective removal.
So there goes my first Standard tournament and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. The mistake, however must not be repeated in the next tournament. Next week is going to be a pre-release of Fate Reforged and I can't wait for that. Moreover, there are a lot of cards from FRF that I believe can improve the W/U Heroic. It's going to be another first experience for me and I bet it will be fun =D
I went with Joe Lossett's winning W/U Heroic from SCG Columbus. Reason for playing this deck is simple, I need a budget deck with low curve, straightforward play, but still competitive. W/U Heroic serves all of my interest.
Luckily because I'm already in a good term with Stompas' crew, I managed to assemble all 75 cards from Joe Losset's list in only a week. Thanks to mas Malik who lent me most of the core card, for Mark who lent me the shop's Flooded Strand, and for Wildan who lent me his Mana Confluence in the last minute.
For the gameplay itself, W/U Heroic is ultimately straightforward. Make your creature bigger than any blocker opposing player can cast before the fifth land drop and finish them right at turn 5. This deck is obviously not the best deck in the current format, but it is a good meta call to prey on the top tier deck because most of them are midrange oriented strategy deck that only matters after turn 5.
However, because of its straightfroward nature, this deck can't improve much in post-sideboard game. Therefore it's pretty hard for this deck if it found itself in an unexpected matchup with a non top tier deck. Unfortunately, I found that kind of matchup twice yesterday. Here is my result:
2-0 Jeskai Tokens
0-2 Mono Red Heroic
0-2 Ascendancy Combo
2-0 Abzan
2-0 Abzan Midrange
3-2, 9th Place
I found a matchup with Abzan deck is very favorable to me. They don't play that much of a removal and most of them are very costly. They also started to play really slow so my creatures can finish them faster.
Only once in the fourth round against Elvin that I finished him too late that he managed to cast a Siege Rhino and a Wingmate Roc. The reason is that I'm trying to kill his Sorin when it actually is not a threat at all. Luckily, just when he about to make a comeback with the second Sorin and his lifegain, I managed to get a Stubborn Denial to counter that so I can finish him in the next turn.
The matchup against Jeskai is kinda tricky because he has a lot of cheap removal spell between Magma Spray, Lightning Strike, and Stoke the Flames. I can't get my creatures whose number is very small in my deck to get removed in the early game, so I need to play around it. The trick I use is to wait until the third land drop so I can cast my creature and still leave an untapped land to cast God's Willing.
However this trick forces me to play late and I found myself in a swim or sink situation where a victory is decided in a single attack. His board is a Rabblemaster with 5 Goblins, and 2 Warrior tokens from Raise the Alarm, meanwhile my board is only a tapped 9/9 Hero of Iroas equipped with Spectra Ward and a Battlewise Hoplite.
I kept a Stubborn Denial in my hand, in case he casts a Jeskai Charm or a removal spell to get rid of Battlewise Hoplite. Luckily, he didn't and my hoplite was able to block Rabblemaster so only 7 damages came from the tokens and my Hero of Iroas can finish him in the next turn.
Against Mono Red Heroic, I found it a very difficult and a challenging matchup. Mono Red Heroic can start becoming a big threat in a turn 2, thanks to Titan's Strength, and my W/U Heroic just couldn't catchup with that. After sideboarding, I can get a decent blocker in form of Lagonna Band Trailblazer, but it still not enough since he has Hammerhand who can neutralize my blockers.
I actually still has a chance to win since I draw an Ordeal of Heliod. I know it's true that his deck can put a lot of pressure earlier than my deck, but it ran out of gas so quickly that his deck can become unimpressive once it hits turn 4 or 5. Ordeal of Heliod with a huge swing of life can buy me a lot of time to reach that is what I believe, so I immediately casted it.
However, I made mistake since my enchanted hoplite is being removed by his Stoke the Flames in the next turn. If I was smart, I would wait until next turn, so I can cast both my protection and my Ordeal of Heliod, ensuring that the 10 life gain will come in. But I was stupid so I lose that game.
The most unexpected matchup of all is against Ascendancy Combo. I am completely unaware of the existance of this deck. Not one articles in SCG has mentioned anything about Ascendancy Combo in Standard. Indeed I have watched Boss Renee played with Ascendancy Combo using Fatestitcher in Modern, but I never thought that Standard also has this kind of deck.
The one who pilotted this deck is Taufik. Boss told me that he's one of the few pro players in Indonesia who has travelled into so many tournament. I'm pretty surprised that I have to fight the guy that I was being told a few minutes before. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, they say.
Anyway, playing a W/U Heroic against Ascendancy Combo is just auto-lose. My main deck doesn't have any removal whatsoever so there is no way I can interrupt his combo. Worst of all, he put a lot of blockers so I can't finish him fast enough before he started to play his combo.
Even in the sideboard, I only have a single Erase to remove his Ascendancy which eventually being countered by Swan Song. I actually made a mistake by not sideboarding my 3 Stubborn Denial, it would be more effective to counter his Ascendancy.
I also made a mistake by taking out all of my protection since I thought his deck wouldn't have a removal spell. After the game, I realized that I would need as many protection as possible so I can get past his blockers and finish him before he started the combo.
In the end, I got a 3-2 result and finished in 9th place.
Quite close to Top 8, people said. Mark told me that I got 9th because one of the match in the 5th round went draw. If any one of that guy gets a win, I can be pushed to 8th Position. However, I'm not blaming that draw.
If I want to blame anything for my failure to reach top 8, then I will blame my stupidity for casting an Ordeal of Heliod without an untapped land to cast a protection in Mono Red Heroic matchup and I will blame my inability to sideboard properly against Ascendancy Combo.
In the end, it was a fun experience, meeting with a lot of Magic players from Jakarta. I got a lot of lesson to. I was blatantly copying Joe Lossett's list, including his sideboard, without adjusting it to Jakarta's meta. It was pretty much because I don't know the meta, obviously, but I should actually ask about it to Stompas' Crew so I can manage my sideboard better.
If I'm going to another standard tournament, I'd probably put an extra copy of Lagonna Band Trailblazer and a single copy of Last Breath in my sideboard. The extra Lagonna is obviously for the Mono Red deck, because apparently there are still a lot of people playing a budget deck and the Last Breath is for Ascendancy Combo or any kind of deck that desperately need an effective removal.
So there goes my first Standard tournament and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. The mistake, however must not be repeated in the next tournament. Next week is going to be a pre-release of Fate Reforged and I can't wait for that. Moreover, there are a lot of cards from FRF that I believe can improve the W/U Heroic. It's going to be another first experience for me and I bet it will be fun =D
Comments
Post a Comment