Post-WMCQ Bandung Reflection

After two weeks, I finally got the time to write my WMCQ Bandung experience. Not that I have no time, since I have quit my job, but I was too busy playing Persona 3 Portable (on my tab) and getting my Clash Royale account to Arena 6 (which I did last night! Yippee!)

Anyway, WMCQ Bandung has been pretty good on me. Despite being Modern, a format I despised for being way too diverse and unpredictable, I managed to get an okay result from the tournament. I chose my deck based on LSV's advice which suggests you to always play a deck with linear plan as opposed to play a deck that plans to interrupt other's plan.

Like I said, Modern is way too diverse of a format, with way too many branch of archetypes, which can kill you in less than 4 turns. In a format like that, playing an interruption-based decks is abnormally difficult, since you don't have a spell that can universally interrupt all of those deck's play (*cough Force of Will). Unless you are playing Jund (which has hand disruption and fast clock) or Jeskai Nahiri (which has Nahiri, duh), you are better off playing a linear aggro deck that demands answer from your opponent.

Since my deck choice was limited to the team's arsenal, I decided to choose Burn as the deck to play. I considered Infect for a brief moment but decided that the comboriffic deck was too hard for me to master in a few days (and Wildan is definitely more experienced with that deck). Zoo-Whacker was also considered but I feel like the deck is too glass-cannon and Lightning Bolt wrecks it hard (and the mirror is bullshit). With that consideration, I decided to finally play Burn and read Anthony Lowry's primer (spoiler: it helps a lot).

Here is the list that I played:

Creature  (17) 4 Goblin Guide 4 Monastery Swiftspear 4 Wild Nacatl 1 Grim Lavamancer 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel Spell (24) 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Lava Spike 4 Rift Bolt 4 Searing Blaze 4 Atarka's Command 4 Boros Charm

Land (19) 4 Bloodstained Mire 4 Arid Mesa 3 Wooded Foothills 4 Sacred Foundry 2 Stomping Ground 2 Mountain Sideboard (15) 3 Destructive Revelry 1 Smite to the Smithereens 3 Kor Firewalker 2 Skullcrack 2 Deflecting Palm 2 Path to Exile 2 Gut Shot

As for my teammate, Ebnu got a Jund deck from Patrick who unfortunately can't go to Bandung (lucky for Ebnu). Wildan was thorn between playing Grixis Control or Infect. I strongly recommended him not to play Grixis because of the reason I mentioned above. Still, he was unconvinced. But at the last minute, he decided to play Infect because he lacks some tech cards for Grixis Control. I applaused his decision.

The tournament starts pretty rough for me as I was paired with Abzan Company a.k.a. Creature Toolbox a.k.a. the infinite life combo burn killer. Truly, the deck was a nightmare to play against for a Burn deck. Especially when my opponent combo'd out in both games. However, after playing some friendly matches with Dimas who used the same deck (post-tournament), I realized that the matchup wasn't really that hard.

The biggest mistake I did during WMCQ was that I didn't bolt the bird (or the mana dorks) during the game. I thought that by bolting the bird, I will lose the damage that I needed to win the game. In fact, if I bolted the bird, my opponent will be forced to shock their land more often since they need the mana-fixing. Most importantly, bolting the bird will hurt their tempo and possibly keep them under-pressured by my creatures. But a mistake was a mistake and my mistake lost me that game.

On the bright side, I won my second match against fellow Burn player and the third match against Tron (which is a favorable matchup). The 4th match got me paired with Nuriz who played Affinity. Before the tournament started, I jokingly suggest Nuriz to remove the Spellskite from his sideboard because it will be bothersome for some people. Indeed, the Spellskite was the main source of problem for me in game 2. I was forced to use 2 spells to kill it which gave him a lot of time to pressure and kill me.

Fortunately, Nuriz didn't get a fast start in all games because he was more akin to keep Spellskite in his opening hand, which made it a very close matchup. On the crucial moment in game 3, my Goblin Guide reveals Galvanic Blast from his top deck. Although I attacked with big team supported by Atarka's Command and holding Boros Charm with two mana open, I still can't deal lethal to him. Especially with two big Steel Overseers blocking some of my attack.

So I made a calculation and found out that he will kill me on the next turn with his top decked Galvanic Blast. With that in mind, I decided to cast Boros Charm on double-strike mode to one of my creature to kill his Steel Overseer who was blocking it. With no threat left on the board, we were forced on top deck mode. Fortunately, I keep on drawing burn spell while Nuriz draws Ornithopter and Memnite with no Cranial Plating. The match was decided not long after that with my win.

With 3-1 record going on Round 5, I was confident that I can still reach Top 8. However, fate plays their cruel little trick by pairing me against Wildan on the Round 5. Like, seriously!? Sitting across Wildan at that time was like a bad joke. We can't decide what we have to do. Obviously, losing at that round means no Top 8 for one of us, and both of us don't want to be the person who do that to the others.

Wildan and I go way back in this game. For me, he was one of my first friend who taught me a lot to be better in this game. With his big collection of cards whom he always shared with me, I managed to play in a lot of Magic tournaments and got good results from them. Finally, we decided to build a team, together with Ebnu, with dreams on conquering many Magic Tournaments in the world. Getting to Top 8 together as a team is definitely one of our dream. So when I sit across Wildan at that crucial matchup, I realized that I don't want to be that guy who willingly take away our dream as a team.

In that kind of situation, the best choice is to intentionally draw (ID). Then if both of us can win the next two rounds, we'll have a good chance to get to the Top 8 together with 5-1-1 records. However, I realized that winning two rounds consequtively in Modern was not an easy proposition. On the other hand, if one of us win this match, they will only need to win one more round and ID with the next opponent to secure a Top 8. After hearing my reasoning, Wildan finally agreed that one of us must be sacrificed in order to give a better chance on putting one of us into Top 8.

After playing that game for a while, I realized how selfish and disgusting I am as a person. I know and Wildan knows that Burn is a bad matchup for Infect, meaning that my chance of winning that game is way higher than Wildan's. I realized that what I did that time was convincing Wildan to sacrifice his dream in order for me to have a better chance on getting Top 8. How disgusting I was, right? In the end, I won that game. Crushing was the more correct wording since Wildan can't really do anything against the barrage of burn spells that I throw at him.

Wildan was ready to sign the form when I finally said, "Are we seriously going to do this?" I realized that I was trembled by fear. I mean, by doing that, I have seriously, selfishly, threw away our dream on getting to Top 8 together. By doing that, I have really hurt the bond that has been created by our team. I think Wildan realized that too since he pulled his pen away from that form. After discussing a bit, we came to the conclusion that we will ID that round and try our best to win the next two rounds. I was relieved. I realized that I finally made the right decision. I won't sacrifice the bond between this team just to selfishly fulfill mine.

Still, fate tried to pull their cruel little trick when we found out that Ebnu was also at 3-1-1 record going into Round 6. Meaning that there is a high possibility that our team can get paired again in the next rounds. I said, damn, what a bad joke. However, there was nothing that we can do and we agree that if one of us got paired again in the next round, then a sacrifice must be made (since 3-1-2 record won't get either of us anywhere).

Fortunately, none of us got paired in the 6th round. Unfortunately, I lost in the 6th round against Death and Taxes due to some serious misplay. I was seriously depressed. However, Wildan and Ebnu won that round and it cheered me up. At least, our team still have the chance to made it to Top 8. The only thing I can do was winning my 7th round to increase Wildan's tiebreaker.

The last opponent I played on that tournament was Nick who played Living End. Truly a hard matchup, but still a very close one. On the crucial moment in Game 3, I convinced Nick not to do an alpha-attack and leave one blocker behind. Strangely, it worked! I can't believe I managed to pull that kind of thing against Nick. That one act gave me enough life total to crack a fetch-land in order to get the third land that I need to deal lethal on the next turn with Bolt and Boros Charm. It was a peculiar moment for me and I was so happy about it.

However, Wildan and Ebnu lost that 7th match, cutting all of us from the Top 8. Still, I feel like we have done our best as a team and the result showed that.

Wildan, Ebnu, and me finished the tournament with a same record of 4-2-1 and ranked very close to each other. I think it was what matters the most for now. I believe that the tournament has strengthen our bond as a team and it will be beneficial in the long run. We are still far away from being Team Pantheon or Face to Face Games or even East West Bowl, but we were already on the path to get there.

In fact, we got an additional member in the aftermath of the tournament. After talking to Didit for a while, he agreed to join our cause. We will fight together from now. Finally, we got the 4th member that we desperately need in order to do a proper playtesting. Only time can tell what will happen next.

May we drink the victory wine together in a not-too-distant future.

Amen.

P.S.: On the side note, we still haven't decided a name for our team, aren't we? C'mon guys, make your mind =D