The Beer
Compared to my first visit, I chose a better selection more in tune with what I look for. For style points, a lot of the beer names fit my fantasy jam.
King’s Ransom — 7/10: Having released the week of the tournament it was a must try. To some a 7 is disappointing; to me it just wasn’t on par with the rest of my picks.
Metro Gnome — 9/10: Saisons are one of my favorite beers. Very happy with this Belgium. A good one to go to in-between rounds of the other beers.
Squeegee Master — 10/10: Highest score given across my two visits to Silver Branch Brewery. Gose is the way to go.
Sacred Table — 8/10: A strong 8 for sure. The tropical aroma really came through on it.
Overall: a strong 9/10 for the beer selection available.
My Deck
Unlike the beer, my deck was not a brew. I acquired several key blue dual-lands and Legends cards since Dice City’s Fallen Empires 25th Anniversary and decided to play the best deck my collection supported — The Deck. While I have only played 2 matches of The Deck leading up to the tournament, my best/favorite playstyle to pilot is Control. Was considering Dib-Atog as my other choice.
Main deck, 3 decisions were part of my weekend strategy…
First, I played 2x copies of The Abyss and included an alternate win-con of The Hive. In addition to locking down the board, by not having Wrath of God I needed a way to 2-for-1 creature decks. Very happy with the decision of 2x Abyss — it won games on its own multiple times. The Hive was meh at best and will look to replace it.
Second, I played a copy of Disrupting Scepter. I wanted to gain an edge in Control matches G1, but often found myself siding this card out. A lot of decks I saw at the tournament were aggro decks maining or splashing white with 4x Disenchant. It never felt good to spend 3 mana on a card that didn’t affect the board immediately or disrupt my opponent heavily. I plan on replacing this card going forward.
Third, I played 3x Counterspell. I feel Counterspell is more of a role-player in disrupting bigger mana decks than it is an all-star in any match-up. From this, I wanted to focus on cards better at locking down the game. While I don’t think I missed not having a 4th Counterspell, I would have definitely played it over Disrupting Scepter in hindsight. Sometimes experiments don’t pay off and I am ok with that.
Side board… I played 4x Red Elemental Blast and 4x Blue Elemental Blast because I wanted to be really efficient in interacting with my opponent. My thought process was that cheaper interaction enables more activations of The Hive. Control Magic served as a creature catch-all and a method to close out games vs. Mid-Range builds. Moat was an attempt to slow down creature decks that I expected to be in high attendance. Moat underperformed the most — having had 2x Abyss in the main, I didn’t struggle with locking down games. I wish I had a cheaper creature sweeper for the following decks: White Weenie, Mono Black, and Goblins. I will have 1x Earthquake in the 75 going forward and am looking to fit a second copy of Control Magic.
The Matches
To the best of my memory, these are how the matches went down…
Match 1 vs. Goblins — W 2–1
G1: On the play I kept a hand of Disenchant, Swords to Plowshares, Mox Pearl and 4 Lands. T1 I led Land + Mox. T2 my opponent played Mountain into Goblins of the Flarg. T3 I drew a Disenchant and played Land. T4 my opponent Lightning Bolt’d me and hit with Goblin. I eventually used Swords on a 1/1 Goblin to slow down my opponent’s clock (mountainwalk on Goblins of the Flarg did work vs. my Mishra’s Factory). My opponent followed up with a Ball Lightning that left me at 4 life. Some turns later, I had to cast Swords on my own Mishra’s Factory to live. I ended up dying a slow death of 1/1 beats.
Sided in: 4x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Moat, 1x Circle of Protection: Red, 1x Divine Intervention, 1x Island
Sided out: 3x Counterspell, 2x Jayemdae Tome, 1x The Hive, 1x Disrupting Scepter, 1x Library of Alexandria
G2: I controlled the board with The Abyss. Eventually I pulled off a Mirror Universe activation and brought myself back to 21 life while my opponent went to 7. I believe I finished this game off with a Fireball. Of note, my opponent used an Artifact Blast against me at some point.
G3: I kept my hand based on 3x mana sources and Moat. I took some Goblin and Lightning Bolt damage for a few turns and eventually resolved Moat. Low at 6 life, I jammed a Mirror Universe without counter-magic backup. I felt this was the crux of the match, as my opponent reasonably could have had Artifact Blast in hand — I hadn’t given them a target yet. Mirror resolved, and my next turn I went to 19 life. I believe I closed the game out with Mishra’s Factory.
Match 2 vs. Pink Weenie — L 1–2
G1: On the draw I kept a slow hand hoping to draw into some action. I took some early damage from a T1 Savannah Lions and eventually Swords’d it. My opponent developed their board with White Knight and an Icatian Lieutenant — made my idle Disrupting Scepter look really silly. Failed to find my Balance in time and died.
I was unsure how to sideboard. I didn’t know if Pink Weenie played enough red cards to make Blue Elemental Blast worth it. Could I afford to risk casting a 2-mana ‘do nothing’ card such as Circle of Protection: Red while they smash with white 2/2s? How long could I expect Moat to last against a 4-Disenchant deck?
Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Moat, 1x Island, 1x Control Magic
Sided out: 2x The Abyss, 1x Disrupting Scepter, 1x The Hive, 1x Jayemdae Tome
G2: I Disenchant a Land Tax that stalled my opponent’s development for several turns. Eventually I got value off my Library of Alexandria and countered my opponent’s meaningful plays. Mishra’s Factory closed it out.
G3: I mulliganed and kept with Swords, Disenchant, Mox, and 3 Lands. My opponent led with a Land Tax and passed. I aggressively Disenchanted their Land Tax T2 in hopes of stalling a T3 double-W spell. My opponent played a Plains and put a creature on the board T3 and T5. I drew a Mox and used T6 to Swords their creature. My opponent played a Blood Moon that crippled my white sources of mana. At this point I believe I had Island, Mox Sapphire, and Mox Emerald as non-red sources. I lost to continued pressure with a hand full of white spells.
In retrospect, I was too aggressive with my Disenchant and paid for it. Having been inexperienced with what the red splash in Pink Weenie played, I didn’t consider Blood Moon at all (Land Tax was a definite tip-off to this G2). The best part of The Deck is there are no excuses for losing — I grabbed a bear and waited for the next round.
Match 3 vs. Mardu Troll — W 2–1
G1: I’m on the play and believe I had a hand with Tundra, Ancestral Recall and 5 other cards. T1 I played Tundra and passed. T2 upkeep I played Ancestral Recall, and main phase my opponent Dark Ritual’d a Hypnotic Specter. I Swords’d the Specter and controlled my opponent’s mana. I played The Hive and won with a Wasp token, 2 Mishra’s Factories, and counter-magic. I recall only seeing black and white spells along with Badlands. From this, I assumed they were some Troll deck but wasn’t sure of their density of red spells. I decided to hedge and not put in all my Blue Elemental Blasts.
Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Control Magic, 1x Divine Intervention, 2x Island
Sided out: 2x Counterspell, 1x Regrowth, 1x Recall, 1x The Hive, 1x Mirror Universe
G2: I died to a slew of Troll, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning while I stared at a Regrowth I couldn’t cast.
Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Circle of Protection: Red
Sided out: 1x Mana Drain, 1x Counterspell, 1x Regrowth
G3 was wild (the sequencing of several parts may be off, as we took a lot of turns). I played an early Library of Alexandria and was forced to use Fireball to kill my opponent’s Hypnotic Specter. Some turns later I landed The Abyss to control the board. For several turns, my opponent played Land and passed while I drew 2 cards every turn thanks to my Library. Opponent played a Hymn to Tourach that put me under 7 cards. I put a Mishra’s Factory into play; my opponent passed. I drew Timetwister and held it as my opponent was low on cards. I played a second Mishra’s Factory and got in with both copies for a few consecutive turns. I drew and cast Mind Twist to clear my opponent’s hand. My opponent drew and passed back. I activated both Factories and one was Swords’d — opponent goes to 2 life. My opponent drew and passed. I played a third Factory and attacked with one copy that met a Disenchant. My opponent drew and passed. I played a fourth Factory and attacked with one copy that met another Disenchant. My opponent drew and passed. I activated my last Factory and it was yet again Disenchanted. That meant my opponent top-decked Swords → Disenchant → Disenchant → Disenchant to stay alive. I had no win conditions left in my deck and only 1 way to recur cards via Timetwister (because I sided out Recall and Regrowth). Despite having a full grip, I couldn’t risk my opponent playing Hymn to snag my last shuffle effect — I netted 0 cards in hand while my opponent drew a new 7. A few turns later, I drew Demonic Tutor and got Fireball for lethal.
Lesson learned: keep in Regrowth to help with game inevitability.
From here on, details get hazier…
Match 4 vs. UB Altered Flyers — W 2–0
My opponent’s deck centered around 8 cards — 4x Serendib Efreet and 4x Sengir Vampire — that they had recently received after being artist altered. The Abyss and Counterspell lined up really well vs. this opponent. They had a secondary angle of attack in Underworld Dreams + Howling Mine, which was some cool tech.
Match 5 vs. WB Pestilence Ale — W 2–0
My opponent was a bigger WB build playing Serra Angel and Sengir Vampire. Similar to my previous match, The Abyss and Counterspell lined up really well. During one of the games, after I had the board locked down, my opponent landed Pestilence and brought me down to 3 life. In that same game I didn’t have counter-magic in hand and my opponent could have top-decked a second copy for the win. Fortunately, I closed the game out before it came up. My opponent ended up having the best non-powered deck of the night and also made Top 8.
Match 6 vs. 4-Color Erhnamgeddon Atog Pile — W 2–1
G1: I removed one Erhnam Djinn with Balance and got beat to death by a second Erhnam Djinn. In addition to dual-lands, I believe I saw Ankh of Mishra, Sylvan Library, and a Bazaar of Baghdad. I didn’t have a great sense of my opponent’s deck contents at this point.
Sideboarding is mostly a blur.
G2: Had a good bit of back and forth in the beginning. Eventually I won off the back of my opponent’s Atog thanks to Control Magic — I believe I grew Atog to a 9/10 as part of a lethal attack. Nerves kicked in as making Top 8 relied on the third game.
I switched up how I sideboarded after seeing more red spells from my opponent.
G3: I had my most powerful opening turns of the tournament. I was able to heavily disrupt my opponent’s artifact permanents and kept the board clear of creatures. The game ended at a point where I was drawing multiple cards a turn, controlling my opponent’s mana, and beating in with Mishra’s Factory.
After winning this match I grabbed my second Squeegee Master of the night to celebrate.
Final: 6th Place at 5–1.
Closing Notes
It was a blast going back to Silver Branch Brewery for this tournament — huge thank you to Dice City for organizing it. Really enjoyed the beer selection. Seeing Philadelphia and PA folks was awesome (congrats to Will for taking down the event). Aside from my error in Match 2, I’m happy with my overall play and 6th-place result. Definitely changing 2–3 main and sideboard slots the next event I play The Deck at. Now it’s time to brew with some newly acquired cardboard from the weekend…
Prize & Swag
