The MTG Source

Just a college student documenting his thoughts on MTG and my tournament results and experiences. Probably going to focus on Limited, Standard, and Modern but may touch upon other thoughts as well.

[themtgsource]

SCG Atlanta Modern Premier IQ

This past weekend I attended the SCG Atlanta Modern Premier IQ and finished in 20th place playing Melira Pod

Decklist:

Lands (23)

3 Forest

3 Gavony Township

1 Godless Shrine

2 Marsh Flats

1 Misty Rainforest

3 Overgrown Tomb

1 Plains

2 Razorverge Thicket

1 Swamp

1 Temple Garden

4 Verdant Catacombs

1 Woodland Cemetery

Spells (8)

2 Abrupt Decay

2 Chord of Calling

4 Birthing Pod

Creatures (29)

4 Birds of Paradise

3 Noble Heirarch

1 Viscera Seer

1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

1 Scavenging Ooze

1 Spellskite

3 Voice of Resurgence

1 Wall of Roots

1 Eternal Witness

4 Kitchen Finks

1 Orzhov Pontiff

1 Reclamation Sage

1 Sin Collector

1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence

1 Murderous Redcap

1 Ranger of Eos

1 Restoration Angel

1 Reveillark

1 Shriekmaw

Sideboard (15)

1 Slaughter Pact

4 Thoughtseize

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Kataki, War's Wage

1 Qasali Pridemage

1 Dismember

1 Eidolon of Rhetoric

1 Orzhov Pontif

1 Sin Collector

1 Entomber Exxarch

1 Thrun, the Last Troll

1 Thragtusk

The first round of the tournament I was paired against a RG aggro deck based on Kiln Fiend and Violent Outburst, I won the round quickly 2-0 and advanced to 1-0. In the second round. I played against Affinity, losing the first game but winning the second game. The third game I mulliganed to six and kept Forest, Kataki, Wall of Roots, Kitchen Finks, Viscera Seer, and Linvala. I drew a Razorverge Thicket so I could play Kataki but my opponent had Gut Shot. The game cam down to me not drawing a black source to play Viscera Seer to combo off and I dropped to 1-1.The third round saw me paired against UW Tron, and I quickly lost to fall to 1-2. In the fourth round I was paired against the modern version of Mono Black Devotion and I won 2-1 after some interesting and close games. The fifth round I squared off against 8-Rack and luckily my opponent didn't see any of his racks so I could stay in the game and top deck impactful cards. Depending on Ensnaring Bridge is rough against a deck with so many ways to destroy and tutor. With the win I advance to 3-2. The sixth round was easily the roughest round of the day. I was paired against a U/W Gifts Tron deck and comboed my way to 200 billion life but my board was cleared before I could use Murderous Redcap. After casting an Emrakul and annihilating all of my permanents my opponent demonstrated that his game plan was to mill me out using Wrath of God and Emrakul (He could Wrath his own Emrakul to ensure that he wouldn't mill out, therefore milling me out) and asked if I wanted to concede the game. However, with 25 minutes left on the clock to potentially win 2 games against an unfavorable matchup I thought my best bet was to just play out game 1 and hope that we ended up in a draw so I could still be live for the top 32. That is exactly what ended up happening (I ended the game at 199,999,999,851 life), much to the disappointment of my opponent and his friends (his friends called over a judge to make sure I wasn't slow playing, the judge however recognized that I was not slow playing and was only drawing and discarding on my turn). I think my opponent actually could have milled me out if he had just played draw-go but he thought he should be casting 3 Thirst for Knowledge and Sphinx's Revelation for 14 every turn. The 50-minute game 1 draw put me to 3-2-1 and put me in a position to 2-0 for top 32. In round seven I was paired against a B/R Demigod of Revenge homebrew which I easily defeated in two games by comboing to "infinite" life. My last round I was paired against a Jeskai Control deck. I lost game one to a loose keep and an Ajani Vengeant Ultimate but won game two thanks to a combo. Game three saw my opponent mulligan to six and then stumble on lands and he was overrun by my Scavenging Ooze and friends. The win put me to 6-2-1 and into 20th place overall. The day as a whole was successful, it was rather unfortunate that I was paired against two Tron decks because the Tron matchup is very poor. I was also surprised to not play against any Burn decks, I thought Burn would be out in force so I added a Thragtusk to the sideboard on Saturday night.

[themtgsource]

SCG Atlanta: RW Burn TOP 100

This weekend I competed in both the SCG Standard Open and the SCG Modern Premier IQ in Atlanta. I finished in 100th place in the Standard Open play RW Burn (Decklist below). I started off the day against B/W Midrange, a similar list to the one The Pantheon played in Portland. After losing game 1 to a maindeck Whip of Erebos and two Desecration Demons, I won the next to games thanks to the strength of Boros Charm and Stoke the Flames. Round 2 I found myself paired against SCG ranked Logan Mize. We were called to the feature match area where we played an off camera feature match. Mize was on Mono-Blue Devotion, a deck that had been dominant early in the season, placing 3 people into the Top 8 at Pro Tour Theros, including the eventual winner. I won a close game one thanks to Young Pyromancer making tokens. Mize mulled to 5 game two and missed some land drops and was quickly overrun by a flurry of burn spells. Round 3 I was paired against a Pro Tour competitor Jonathon Marsh, Marsh was playing B/W Midrange and quickly dispatched me in two games thanks to Blood Baron of Vizkopa. Round 4 I played against Mono-Black Devotion, losing a very close game 1 and then losing to Whip of Erebos game 2. At this point I was 2-2 after starting 2-0, and all hopes were bleak, I knew I would have to win 5 of the last 6 rounds to cash the event. In Round 5 I was paired against the M15 upstart Rabble Red. I was quickly disatched game 1 thanks to being stuck on lands and then won the next to games thanks to the strength of Satyr Firedancer and its combo with Searing Blood allowing me to 3 for 1 my opponent. Round 6 played out very similarly to Round 5, me losing a fast game 1 to Rabble Red and then winning both post-board games thanks to the strength of Satyr Firedance and Searing Blood. Round 7 I was paired against an interesting Mono-Black Homebrew that featured elements of Mono-Black Aggro and Mono-Black Devotion. I defeated my opponent thanks to Chandra's Phoenix's recursion ability to climb to 5-2. At this point I was feeling very confident about my deck and my ability to win 2 or 3 more rounds and finish in the money of the event. However, round 8 saw me paired against Greg Jackson, a friend from one of the local LGS. Greg was on a fairly stock Mono-Black aggro and promptly defeated me game 1 due to the sheer speed of the deck. Game two saw us locked in an intense struggle where I had 2 turns to draw any 4 damage burn spell to finish me off, but a glut of lands from my deck spelled my doom and knocked me to 5-3. Now I needed to win my next 2 rounds to be able to Top 64 and finish in the money. Round 9 saw me paired against another B/W midrange deck, I won game one without losing any life and then mulled to 5 for game 2 where I lost fairly convincingly, I then won game 3 thanks to a mull to 5 from my opponent. Going into the last round I needed a win to finish in the Top 64 and was paired against GW aggro, a fairly close matchup. My opponent and I both thought whoever was on the play was a favorite, making the die roll very critical. He won the die roll and game 1, I was on the play for game 2 and then won. Game 3 saw him on the play and quickly attacking. He played an Advent of the Wurm and I had a Chained to the Rocks to remove it but unfortunately my lands were Mutavault, Mutavault, and Battlefield Forge. I lost the game and the round, but I think if I could've cast Chained to the Rocks I would have been able to win the match.

Lands (23)

8 Mountain

4 Temple of Triumph

4 Mutavault

4 Battlefield Forge

3 Sacred Foundry

Creatures (8)

4 Young Pyromancer

4 Chandra's Phoenix

Spells (29)

4 Shock

4 Boros Charm

4 Lightning Strike

2 Magma Jet

4 Skullcrack

4 Searing Blood

4 Stoke the Flames

3 Warleader's Helix

Sideboard (15)

3 Chained to the Rocks

2 Eidolon of the Great Revel

2 Glare of Heresy

4 Satyr Firedancer

2 Banishing Light

2 Goblin Rabblemaster