The Grind

Greetings AZMagicPlayers! Dozens of you undoubtedly are familiar with me and my brother Leon from many PTQs in the southwest region spanning the last decade or so, but this last weekend, we made our shortest journey to one that was not on MODO in our lives: A commute of about 10 minutes to our regular hangout and occasional place of employment, Manawerx.

As unexcited as many people were for Modern as a format, I was equally excited to be playing my Mono Blue Faeries brew that I’ve been playing since the birth of Modern, finishing 9th place in my last PTQ. At the time, I suffered a relatively poor Jund matchup, particularly their brutal Bloodbraid Elfs. As many of you have heard, and had to audible off of your old trusty standby, that was not going to be a problem this go around.

Creatures (20)
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
4 Phantasmal Image
2 Pestermite
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Mistbind Clique

Spells (18)
4 AEther Vial
1 Dismember
1 Cackling Counterpart
4 Vapor Snag
3 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
2 Sword of Feast and Famine

Lands (22)
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
16 Island

Sideboard (15)
2 Steel Sabotage
3 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Dismember
2 Dispel
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Spellskite

Short, and sweet. In my local shop I tend to be typecast as a control player, but this brew is pretty tailor fit to my ideal play style, tempo, speed (flash), manlands, and one of my favorite cards of all time, AEther Vial.

Vial on 2 is something you often want to enable every creature in your deck to be instant-capable, also adding it to Phantasmal Image for maximum deadliness. They can only respond to an AEther Vial activation, so by the time you show them the image, you’ve already capped their legend or started triggering abilities that matter. Not uncommon after a point to just curve up the Vial and start dropping Mistbind Cliques, though.

Spellstutter Sprite counters a lot, but often it’s a side benefit to the fact that you want to jam a Faerie anyway, giving serious consideration to a green splash for something like a Scryb Ranger, a card that does a lot of what this deck wants to be doing in the early game. Ryan Leeper suggested the same, splashing green, but given the format, I really like a deck without fetchlands, causing you to start at a lower life total, as well as enabling Deathrite Shamans that are sure to be all over the place. Vendilion Clique is a recent addition, and a card I am tentative about. It is very popular, Legacy playable, and commands a hefty price tag, at least pre-modern masters, but I think it is slightly overrated. I was satisfied with it, but I think what most people forget is that the ideal Vendilion Clique doesn’t take a card, and doesn’t even necessarily have to come down on your opponent’s draw step.

Mistbind Clique ends games quickly. Any combination involving Vapor Snag/AEther Vial+Cryptic/Phantasmal can time walk your opponent several turns in a row, and it doesn’t take long to deal 20 with just a couple guys. Mistbind gives this deck a ton of play, depending on what you champion (manlands are usually your insurance, the ability to Mistbind with a Faerie+ threaten to activate Mutavault is a common 5 mana play).

The ideal 5 mana play is Sword + equip, get in and untap. Devastating on even a Mutavault of Faerie Conclave, sword threatens to attack past Kitchen Finks, Deathrite Shaman, and Tarmogoyf, giving you tempo and damage in games you would otherwise be way behind by letting you fight back in the damage and mana race. Scion granting shroud seems like simply a side effect of being printed before wizards went all hexproof happy, but luckily games where you assemble a pair of Scions or scion plus Phantasmal usually don’t require a sword anyway, but even sicker is that even if they manage to break the softlock, the 6 manlands usually allow you to attack with a sword the turn after a wrath effect anyway.

Remand got the nod over Mana Leak not because I’m sure it was better, and I think it’s close, but Remand is the type of card this deck can thrive on, allowing you to delay your opponent’s action and getting you closer to what are usually your many outs. I cut the fourth Cryptic days before the tournament, and it was probably the right call. I expected to play a fair amount of Splinter Twin as well, and fighting through Dispel and Spellskite with Cryptic Command is just pretty unreasonable, but doing it with countermagic, Vendilion Cliques, and Mistbind Cliques seemed a more reasonable approach.

I like Threads over Vedalken Shackles in the sideboard for being more mana efficient, and often just as good. I made a strong effort with most of my slots to beat various combo decks, and toyed with Relic in the main for a short time, to give me another one mana play and fight opposing Deathrites. Dispel wasn’t great, but I don’t think I’d run the deck without it. Spellskite proved to be pretty unreliable against Splinter Twin, as experienced Twin players probably know, but I also had it in mind against possible Infect decks, RDW, and Zoo, since he’s got a big butt.

If you like tapping lands, but not on your turn, I would strongly recommend checking this bad boy out.

Round 1-Trevor Carr, 5-Color Zoo

My amigo Trevor here wins the roll(lucky), and shows me an aggressive opening with Steppe Lynx, Deathrite Shaman, and Kird Ape. I assemble a few beats, get a peak at his hand with Vendilion and don’t have to take anything, but the block I make to stabilize the board drops me to 5, and as soon as he confirms my life total I knew he’d drawn the tribal flames. Game 2, I open on a nice, aggressive Dismember, and a pair of Threads of Disloyalty that play with precision timing past and around his Qasali Pridemage. Trevor was on the mulligan this game, and with Threads to subdue his Lavamancer and Vapor Snags to keep his Steppe Lynx in check, I am able to send it to three. Game 3 is a heartbreaker: He opens up on Deathrite Shaman and double Dark Confidant, but is drawing mostly lands, getting flooded into the late game. His Deathrite get’s bounced, and then countered, so he replaces with a Kird Ape, the only additional action he’s been able to stick with his Bobs. With a board whittled down by his removal spells to Spellstutter sprite, Vendilion clique, no manlands, against an opponent tapped out, I can either attack him down to 3, and be dead on board if his Bobs don’t kill him, or attack him down to 4 and leave Spellstutter back to block. I should certainly have put them all in the middle here; he is pretty unlikely to draw 3 damage worth of spells on his upkeep, but he’s drawn and fetched so many lands at this point that it was way more unlikely that he drew a series of cards that didn’t end the game immediately. Sure enough, he drew Tribal Flames and Lightning Bolt, punishing me for a bad judgment call, and teaching me a valuable lesson about the numbers. Given more time, I think I would have arrived at the right call, but I made too hasty a decision. GG

0-1

Round 2-David from Samurai, R/G Tron

Me and David talked Modern earlier this week at Manawerx, and have met each other in passing in the early rounds of a few larger tournaments now. He goes first, but my matchup against his version of Tron is pretty much mine to lose. I’ve got game against most of his most powerful effects, and game one with a pair of Vials on 2 and two Images in my hand, basically daring him to resolve a Primeval Titan. I played a Sword, but had no creatures to equip for several turns, meanwhile I just set up to play defense against his most dangerous lines (vial in Image beats Through the Breach Emrakul handily, as well). By the time he got rolling with Tron, I’d found a way to cheat in a Mistbind clique and start stealing his turns, while doubling up on mine with the Sword. Game 2 was a lot of the same, I set up a line of defense with Phantasmal Image, acknowledging while I did so that my hand was semi-soft to a Karn, despite me having a Mutavault. I got to stick a Spellstutter Sprite for value, countering a Star, but his Karn had to exile my Sword when he played it. The game got real interesting going late, as he stuck a Wurmcoil Engine I was just shy on killing him with my copying twice and Vapor Snagging. He also seized the opportunity to peel a couple of artifact removal spells to delay my copied engines, but he never found an opportunity to attack, and I put the match away no later than I would have been wanting to start game 3.

1-1

Round 3-James Baker, my boy JPB, on Hatebears/Death and Taxes

James’ lunge into competitive magic has seen him audible into a few different roadtrips at the last minute, often buying/trading for last minute decks, valuing the experience gained from the tournaments enough to work hard to make it happen. Respectable, for sure. He was short a few cards from his ideal list, and it’s always brutal to play a friend, but hey, I was getting used to it at this point. First name basis with all 3 opponents thus far. I won the roll, joking that maybe I should have drawn, and he proved me right by drawing and playing a turn 1 AEther Vial, as I had to wait til turn 2 for mine. Luckily his Vial meant I probably didn’t need to bother holding up my Spellstutter anyway, but it was still a little bit of a dagger. He hit me with a leveled up Student of Warfare a couple of times, but I fought back with multiple Mistbind Cliques, which when it hits is devastating to a variety of strategies. Control decks need their mana (and often just fighting over a clique on their upkeep can do enough damage), and even aggro decks can’t easily evade a 4/4 flier without access to their mana (nevermind the opportunity for shroud). Game 2 was a lot closer, requiring me to copy his Kitchen Finks at one point (seems only fair, I lent him 3 for the tournament). I ended the game at 3 life, but Phantasmal Imaging on persist/undying guys is just as good as it was a minute ago in Standard, and was able to defeat my comrade.

2-1

Round 4- Clinton, from Flagstaff, U/W Control

Supreme Verdict is a fine card against me, and I knew that coming into this tournament. The Vapor Snag and Dismember in my opener looked good before I knew what he was on, but obviously wound up pretty poor. My Vial opener allowed me to use Phantasmal Image on his Vendilion Clique for added value, copping a peek at a hand that included a pair of Tectonic Edges, Supreme Verdict, Sun Titan, and Path to Exile. The Edges were pretty good against my manabase in general, but the Sun Titan would require some serious stones on his part against my Phantasmal Image deck. He assembles not insignificant beats, but beating Celestial Colonnade with this deck is not on the hard side of things, so I basically just didn’t give him a good spot on any of his Wraths, and when he used them I assemble a voltron with Scion of Oona, he attempts Path, Vial in Image on Scion. Game 2, I take the mulligan to 5, but find a turn 1 Vial that wreaks havoc on his ability to interact. I stick a Sword of Feast and Famine, and use it just greedily enough to win back some of my shattered card advantage, but my draw crumbles to his Sun Titan + Tectonic Edge. If I’d had Image, it’s probably pretty beatable, but it’s no surprise being down that many cards. Before game 3, he acknowledges with a groan that if that’s how close the game was on 5 cards, he was less than optimistic about game 3. For game 3, his turn 3 tectonic edge looks really good against my draw, minus the fact that it was his third land, so I know he probably can’t afford to use it. We both miss a couple of land drops, but my deck is a lot more prepared for it, with AEther Vial, and topping out at 5 mana. We exchange a couple of awkward turns, him going to discard, me smoothing out my draw with a Cryptic to bounce his land and draw a card. My first attempt was met with Mana Leak, dropping his shields for a turn, my next one, after he’d drawn his fourth land, met with Snapcaster Mage + Mana Leak, all fine since it’s depriving him of valuable interactive resources. Supreme Verdict is fine against me, minus the fact that it’s a sorcery that costs mana, and I play in a manner conservative enough to bleed out my control opponent. I’ve been in his boat a few too many times, so I just picked my spots, when to do nothing, and when it was far more punishing to just pile on the board. I win handily.

3-1

Round 5- Christian Nickerson, U/R Splinter Twin

This format reminds me of Legacy often, like when my friend Christian leads with a fetch, Steam Vents, Sleight of Hand, and the game takes on a different dimension, I start scrambling for answers immediately, not sure how quick you’re going to need them. I tested this matchup a decent amount, but not adequately enough to prepare me to make maximum effectiveness of my Spellskites, or properly know their limitations. Game one, we trade faerie beats with his Pestermite, while I have to tick my vial past two, causing me on the most important turn of the game to have to bang on 2x Phantasmal Image on his defensive Spellskite. This play is fine and seems quite disruptive, and although they can disrupt his combo, he had the Deciever Exarch in play and the Kiki-Jiki in hand, the two combo pieces that cannot be Spellskited. I take a game 2, I remember being dead at one point where I’d bounced his Kiki Jiki in response, but represented disruption in such a manner that he decided to wait a turn and not rush the combo. My onboard Spellskite complicates things this game as he only has Pestermite to combo, and Mistbind Clique fights on his upkeep do not leave enough mana to fight back. Game 3 is more of what I frequently experienced in testing: relatively short games in terms of turns, 7-10, but a long, drawn out process. Most of my disruption is again based on Spellskite, punished by his Kiki-Jikis showing up over Splinter Twin. I am able to vial in a phantasmal to kill the first Kiki-Jiki, but he picks a spot for the second one where he has just as many answers as I have to break his combo, and he earns the W.

3-2

Round 6- Brian Kobel, 4-Color Zoo

Brian is a dear friend of me and my brother, often making fun of judges at player meetings around the country. I go first with a Vial, and he has an aggressive start with fetchland into Steppe Lynx. A peek at his hand reveals Deathrite Shaman, Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, and Loxodon Smiter lying in wait, while starting my beats for 3 in the air, and I play a sword. I have a Mutavault, and am a land drop away from being able to equip it to bash, as well as unlock my Cryptic Command. My fourth land comes as Mutavault, enabling me to attack with mutavault and keep my 5/3 vendilion clique on D, with enough life to play with. Vapor Snags and the like are devastating cards in these situations, as much so as they ever were in standard, and the game is sealed when I draw an Island on my next turn. Game 2, I’ve got a lot of play with my Spellstutter Sprites countering still relevant one drops, with Mutavault backup on 3 mana to counter potential Goyfs or Bobs. He throws some burn at my face (I remember Boros Charm) as a fighting chance against my eventual Mistbind Cliques, but it comes too slow against serious beats in the air. Deathrite Shaman once again proving to be pretty poor against me in general.

4-2

Round 7- Ryan Leeper, U/W/R Tempo

Ryan and I met at my last modern PTQ, a year ago, and have played once since, at the SCG Open in Phoenix. He’s a hell of a player, maybe the best in Tucson save grandmaster Dusty himself, and we look forward to a tight match with no punting allowed. Our match was a tight one, and every bit deserved the decent number of spectators for a match without any realistic top 8 implications. I win the roll, him already joking that I might still be on Faeries from our last match, me remembering him on Pod. The Steam Vents, although tensing me up for the possibility of combo, quickly led to a Geist of Saint Traft, which left me in bad shape, without an Image in sight. His Vendilion Clique gets some mileage despite not being able to attack, but Eiganjo Castle adds to the Geist of Saint Traft debacle, and I am unable to find a line to victory, leaving him at 12 life.

Game 2, I mulligan a nice lands and spells 7, determining that it doesn’t do enough against my worthy adversary. and I like my odds better on 6. He think tanks for a minute, before joining me, causing me to comment that he might respect me as much as I respect him after all. My 6 has a turn one Vial, causing a headache for even the most deadly and efficient of removal spells against a bunch of guys with flash that can grant shroud on a whim. I take care to not overplay into a Supreme Verdict, until such a time as I can tap all his land son upkeep, and Restoration Angel is not able to provide enough Snapcaster value to fight through my 5/5 clique. The sight of Restoration Angel locks up in my head that I want to board in my second dismember, a thought I had seriously considered while sideboarding for game 2. I had Dispel in as well, to try and fight his Electrolyzes and access to things like Cryptic Command or Sphinx’s Revelation.

Game 3 might be the best game I played all tournament. I keep one Mutavault and an AEther Vial, swamped with gas, a keep questioned by some spectators after the match, but one many of my better friends know I would make all day, every day. I draw an Island to raw dog a Spellstutter Sprite before missing a land drop, but before long he Paths to stem the bleeding. His Geist deals 12 on the back of Eiganjo Castle before I find a Geist, still having my Vial on 2 and finding a spot to stick a Pestermite, stemming his ability for free Vendilion beats. Going later into the game, I could feel combinations of Restoration Angel and Snapcaster Mage in his hand, and being at 8 life, I had concerns about being burned out as well as letting the Restoration Angel/Colonnade steal life against me. A pair of Mistbind Clique as my vial ticked up to 4 answer both of the requisite questions, as well as allowing me to attack for actual points of damage, but also requiring me to temporarily champion a much needed Mutavault (I never hit more than 4 lands this game). On 8 life and drawing mana for options, I have a lot of lines available to defend against his threats, including Spellstutter Sprite and Dismember, but with only 8 life to play with against the deck splashing for burn, I tread tentatively. End of my turn while he has mana he tanks, electing to just cast Restoration Angel and sit on his Snapcaster in hand (I didn’t know he had it, just felt it), going down to two cards. I determine my best chance of winning the game, a very close race situation, equivalent to a game of chicken, against two cards in hand, I go down to 4 life to dismember my own Mistbind Clique. He ponders, describing with admitted accuracy what a sick play it happens to be, since I have another Mistbind Clique championed, and he has to try to counter, which means casting Snapcaster Mage for which I have the spellstutter sprite ready, with just enough faeries available at any given moment for all of those things to go off. He could have had the burn to kill me on the spot when I went to 4, but there aren’t a lot of options for fighting through his board that don’t wind up casting that Dismember, and by doing it the way I did it denied him access to his top card, which wound up good enough for me to lethal him on the next turn.

Awesome game, great tournament in my hometown game store. Mad props to Dusty: don’t you know no one ever wins two in a row? Good luck at the PTs man, you obviously deserve it. Until then I’m chasing.

I was quite satisfied with my deck, and of the two rounds I lost, tighter play would have guaranteed me the ability to overcome one of those defeats. Some kind of old adage in there somewhere, about how if you play better, and deserve to win, well, :) maybe next time. I’m really getting back into playtesting and sick of losing all the Magic tournaments again, so I’m optimistic about the upcoming season and events. They’re always fun to me, win or lose, I’m gonna tighten up the screws and try and represent Arizona and Manawerx as best I can. Hopefully I can make the Arizona Magic Invitational, Dusty’s sweet side project while he’s not busy winning PTQs.