PTQ Kyoto Tournament Report in San Antonio, TX
October 21, 2008
Last Saturday, I played at a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) about 4 1/2 hours from my place. There were around 70 players so the tournament was seven rounds.
Here is the sealed card pool I opened from my one tournament pack and two boosters.
| PTQ Kyoto in San Antonio: Shards of Alara Card Pool | |||||||||||
Green (15)
White (6)
Blue (9) | Black (14)
Red (9)
Green/White (1) White/Blue (2) Blue/Black (1) Black/Red (1) Black/Red/Green (2) Black/Green (1) Red/Green (1) Red/Green/White (1) Red/White (1) Colorless Artifacts (3) Lands (6) |
| |||||||||
It wasn’t an amazing card pool but it seemed solid. It had only one bomb, Broodmate Dragon. Although Manaplasm can be very good in an aggressive deck or a deck with a lot of good instants. I didn’t have a lot of good instants but I did have the cards to build an aggressive deck.
I had solid creatures at every point on the mana curve. However, my removal was not very good. I had Executioners Capsule, 2 Bone Splinters, Oblivion Ring, Infest, and Bloodpyre Elemental. You could also count Vithian Stinger but it only deals with a few creatures.
Playing both Bone Splinters was going to be risky because I only had two token generators, Dragon Fodder and Necrogenesis. I had a couple unearth creatures too but it still seemed suboptimal to play both Bone Splinters.
Infest was also an iffy removal spell because many of my good cheap creatures would get destroyed. Plus, against the Naya decks with a lot of fatties that regularly make top 8, Infest is not that good.
My mana fixers were solid, so I could easily splash my removal spells.
I thought of playing a devour based deck with Dragon Fodder, Thunder-Thrash Elder, Rockslide Elemental, Thorn-Thrash Viashino, and Necrogenesis. However, it seemed too inconsistent like a bad combo deck. If I didn’t get Dragon Fodder or Necrogenesis early, I would be playing a 2/2 trampler for four mana, a 1/1 first striker for three mana, and another 1/1 for three mana. That seemed pretty bad.
In the end, to maximize Manaplasm, I went with a straightforward Jund aggressive decklist that splashed white for Bull Cerodon and Oblivion Ring. I hoped to kill my opponents quickly with my cheap creatures and removal. If I couldn’t do that, then hopefully one of my big expensive creatures would finish them off.
| Jund Beatdown With a White Splash | |||||||||||
Creatures (17) | Spells (6) Lands (17) |
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Match 1
Game 1
My first game went according to plan. I won the die roll and elected to play.
I played a bunch of creatures including Topan Ascetic, 2 Viscera Dragger, and Scavenger Drake. He had some creatures but I cleared the way with my removal. Soon, he was at low life. When he played Hellkite Overlord, he had to leave it back to block because it was his only creature.
I dropped Bull Cerodon and attacked with everyone for the win.
Game 2
I got an early 2/2 Wild Nacatl and Manaplasm while he summoned Sprouting Thrinax. He chose not to block my Manaplasm when I made it bigger through an Obelisk. Instead, he attacked back with his 3/3. I chose not to block. He played Rhox War Monk.
I sacced Wild Nacatl to Bone Splinters to kill Rhox War Monk and attacked again. He played Jund Battlemage and seemed to get the upper hand with 1/1 Saproling chump blockers. However, I drew Oblivion Ring to deal with Sprouting Thrinax. Then, drew my sixth mana source and dropped two 4/4 flying dragons for the win.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-0-0
Match 2
Game 1
My opponent had a good Naya deck with removal and big creatures. I saw Naya Charm, Resounding Thunder, Resounding Silence, and Branching Bolt. His big creatures included Bull Cerodon, Rakeclaw Gargantuan, and Rockcaster Platoon.
I got a pretty fast draw in game one but he had a lot of removal including a two-for-one with Branching Bolt. After he killed most of my creatures except some small ones, I got mana flooded and lost to his fatties.
Game 2
I drew a lot of creatures and he didn’t have a lot of removal. I lowered his life total pretty quickly. After he played some big creatures to stabilize, I played Broodmate Dragon to win in the air.
Game 3
I made a big mistake early in the game. I had Topan Ascetic and one other small creature. His board was empty but he had five mana untapped. I played another small creature and attacked with just Topan Ascetic. I tapped my creatures to make Topan Ascetic a 4/4 before damage but he responded with Branching Bolt to kill it.
It probably wouldn’t have mattered though. He had too much removal and big fatties this game. And I didn’t draw my big creatures or my removal.
Matches 1-1, Games 3-2-0
Match 3
Game 1
He got land flooded. My draw was not very fast, but I did draw Broodmate Dragon, which he could not deal with.
Game 2
I drew a lot of creatures but I didn’t see any removal. He played enough blockers including Guardians of Akrasa to stop my early rush. Some of his blockers had exalted, so it was really bad for me when he played Battlegrace Angel.
His Angel attacked as an 8/8 because of exalted. I blocked with Broodmate Dragon and its mate. However, he had Sigil Blessing.
I should’ve conceded since he was at 34 life. I only had a couple cards that could kill his Angel. There were only 15 minutes left in the round. Plus, even if I killed his Angel, he still had a slight creature advantage on the board.
I didn’t draw anything to deal with his Angel so it was on to game 3 with 10 minutes left in the round.
Game 3
I had an excellent opening hand for a game I had to win in ten minutes.
Turn 1: Played Forest and Wild Nacatl.
Turn 2: Played Mountain and Rip-Clan Crasher.
Turn 3: Played Plains and Manaplasm.
However, I took me awhile to draw my fourth land and all the spells in my hand cost four or more, so Manaplasm stayed small for awhile.
I still brought his life total down quickly since he didn’t have many early plays. Finally, I ripped my fourth land when time was called. I played Rhox Charger and he had to chump Manaplasm. On my next turn, I swung with all my creatures for the win.
Matches 2-1, Games 5-3-0
Match 4
Game 1
My opponent was mana screwed early, so I was able to get a bunch of attacks in. He played Drumhunter to try to build up his manabase, but I killed it with Executioners Capsule. When I played Cavern Thoctar, he started chump blocking it. Also, he was able to play two Vithian Stinger to kill my small creatures. However, even his Vithian Stingers had to chump block.
When he got to six mana, he played his own Cavern Thoctar. I thought I had the game won when I played Broodmate Dragon. He played Bloodpyre Elemental to kill the non-token dragon. He was at five life and I attacked him down to one in the air.
On his turn, he drew his card, thought for a bit, and conceded. Right after he conceded, he realized he could’ve stayed in the game. He had Jund Charm and two Vithian Stinger to unearth. This play would’ve killed my token dragon.
I only had a land in hand so he definitely had a chance to come back and win the game.
Game 2
He had two Vithian Stinger so I thought about boarding out my creatures with one toughness. However, I just resigned myself to getting lucky and playing my Vithian Stinger first.
I had a great draw with early creature drops and removal to clear the way for my attacks. Also, I got lucky and drew Vithian Stinger first. He played the first fattie, Cavern Thoctar, but I killed it with Bloodpyre Elemental and Vithian Stinger.
I attacked with all my creatures to bring him down to three life. Then, I played Broodmate Dragon for the win.
After the game, he told me he had Blood Cultist along with the two Vithian Stinger. He had Blood Cultist in hand but I played my Vithian Stinger right before he drew the Swamp he needed. I definitely got lucky to play my only pinger before he could play any of his three pingers.
Matches 3-1, Games 7-3-0
Match 5
Game 1
I had the perfect fast beatdown draw with cheap creatures and removal. He was color screwed. I didn’t lose any life while his life totals looked like this:
20
15
13
4
concede
Game 2
I didn’t have a fast draw or removal this game. He played a bunch of big creatures including Jungle Weaver and Rockcaster Platoon to lock up the ground. Then, he attacked a couple times with Sharding Sphinx for the win.
Game 3
I mulliganed to five. He had the nuts exalted draw. I lost.
Matches 3-2, Games 8-5-0
Match 6
Game 1
He had a slow draw and made a play mistake by not cycling on his turn. This made him miss a crucial land drop. I played Rip-Clan Crasher on turn two and hit him four times before he killed it with Executioners Capsule. By then, I had Carrion Thrash and removal for the win.
Game 2
He elected to draw. He had another slow draw while I did this in the first couple of turns:
Turn 1: Played Forest and Wild Nacatl.
Turn 2: Played Mountain and Rip-Clan Crasher. Swing for four.
Turn 3: Played Swamp and Manaplasm. Swing for four.
Turn 4: Played Resounding Roar on Manaplasm. Swing for ten.
He conceded on his turn 4 after he drew his card.
Matches 4-2, Games 10-5-0
Match 7
Game 1
I had another fast draw and took down his life total to three with a bunch of small creatures and removal. He found some removal and big creatures to almost stabilize the game. On the last turn, we both had two creatures. My creatures were both 3/3s but his creatures were bigger. He was tapped out, so I cycled Viscera Dragger, unearthed it, and attacked with everyone for the win.
Game 2
This was similar to the first game. I came out fast with small creatures and removal to knock down his life total quickly. He found enough creatures and removal to almost stabilize.
I had him down to four life. He played Blightning to wreck my whole hand. I had a 2/2 as the only creature so I attacked him down to two life. He ripped his eight land and played his last card, Prince of Thralls. I topdecked Broodmate Dragon for the win.
Matches 5-2, Games 12-5-0
My record was good enough for 11th place out of 71 players. I felt pretty good about my performance because I only lost to a top 8 player and another player who also went 5-2-0.
I totally forgot to collect my prize of booster packs. The tournament organizers had left so I thought I was out of luck. However, one of the judges, Chief, gave me boosters out of his judge rewards, since he was going to see the tournament organizer the next day. Thanks, Chief!
Post-Tournament Thoughts
If I was to play in the tournament again, I would make these changes.
-1 Blightning
-1 Scavenger Drake
-1 Swamp
-1 Swamp
+1 Gift of the Gargantuan
+1 Drumhunter
+1 Mountain
+1 Necrogenesis
My land was off again. I need to build my decks more quickly to make sure I have enough time to tweak the manabase.
Blightning and Scavenger Drake were not that great. Someone told me to play Gift of the Gargantuan because it helps me draw Broodmate Dragon earlier. That makes a lot of sense, so I will definitely be playing Gift of the Gargantuan if I have a bomb like Broodmate Dragon.
A couple players told me that Drumhunter is actually pretty good. I think it could’ve helped me a lot especially in the creature stalls.
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, a Magic The Gathering pro, said Necrogenesis was awesome. It stops unearth and gives you something to do with your mana if you draw too many lands. I think I could cut a land for Necrogenesis because I have Obelisk of Jund, Druid of Anima, three cyclers, Gift of the Gargantuan, Drumhunter, and a relatively low mana curve.
2 Responses to “PTQ Kyoto Tournament Report in San Antonio, TX”
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I agree with you on Drumhunter and GotG but you might be wrong on Blightning. It works into the card advantage scheme provided by the previously mentioned two cards and supplements your creature removal abilities.
Yeah, I have nothing against Blightning. It’s wrecked me a couple of times. I just think it’s very inconsistent. It’s either really good or subpar in my experience.
Really good if you can hit two great cards, but subpar if you just hit a couple of lands.
I don’t like too much variance, so I try not to play it. I’d rather have a more consistent card. However, if I had to play it, because of a lack of playables in my chosen colors, I wouldn’t feel too bad. It’s definitely playable and not a bad card.
Also, I think it’s a good strategy in Shards sealed to play a lot of creatures (15 or more), so my spell count is pretty low. This means Blightning usually gets cut because I’d rather play removal, card draw, and Giant Growths for my spells rather than Blightning. Those spells seem more consistent than Blightning.