Result: 1st Place and 7 / 1 / 1 in matches
I wanted to play UW Control in this tournament, but come Wednesday I realized I hadn't really tested in two weeks and I only had like twenty games with it. I decided to play this again, despite being grumpy that I have an abysmal Titanshift matchup. I was up to one in the morning jamming some extra practice games. Luckily, I was able to sleep in and make a nice breakfast before heading over to the shop which was a five minute drive from my apartment. I picked up some Leyline of Sanctity's from a friend and submitted my decklist.
Also, if you're interested in my sideboarding, I've included that above.
Round 1: Duke's Eldrazi Tron (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
Game 1: I recognize Duke from an IQ I played at this shop a month earlier where I got stomped by his Eldrazi Tron. We roll the dice and I am on the draw. We then both mulligan to six. He puts a chalice on two on his turn two and I cry, looking at my T1 tapped Celestial Colonnade and my Serum Visions and 2x Path to Exile. I lose shortly after a he gets two 3/3 Walking Ballista's.
Game 2: I'm on the play and Duke and I both keep our hands. I manage to delay the game until I can go for the combo with Negate backup. He doesn't do anything relevant this game.
Game 3: I'm on the draw. Duke mulligans and I keep. He plays an Urza's Power Plant, an Urza's Mine, and an expedition map. I play eenie-meenie-mynie-mo with my Spreading Seas target and choose the Power Plant. This wins me the game. I read his T4 Reality Smasher when he doesn't play his Eldrazi Temple he searched and sandbag Saheeli Rai in favor of holding up Blessed Alliance. He wants to smash. I do not like his stick, so I do not let him smash. I untap and play Saheeli with Path to Exile backup and win the following turn.
Record: 1 / 0 / 0 (2 / 1 / 0 in games)
Round 2: Sam's Gifts Storm (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
Game 1: Sam is a friend. I was joking before the round that we needed to dodge each other until after round 3. I think I jinxed us. I'm on the draw and keep a 7. He mulls to six. I go for the long con, attempting to delay his storm plan. He taps out multiple times after I'm at six lands but I still lose with a Felidar Guardian in hand and no Saheeli. It's a sad day.
Game 2: On the play, I jam a turn two Rest in Peace into a turn three Saheeli. He scoops after I Engineered Explosives his Empty the Warrens tokens to get to game three with time left.
Game 3: I am on the draw. I repeat the first three turns of game two. I get put to three life in turns after he Swan Song's his own Manamorphose. I am able to deal with his threats, barring he draws a Grapeshot or a Lightning Bolt on his final turn. But I topdeck a Felidar to win the game on T4 of turns. Not many notes, but this game was long and the first in a series of lucky combo pieces. Sam got 9th on breakers, which was unfortunate.
Record: 2 / 0 / 0 (4 / 2 / 0 in games)
Round 3: Mike's Jeskai Geist (L: 2 / 0 / 0)
Game 1: Mike is a local to the Lafayette area. He is on a beautifully foiled out Jeskai Geist list. Notably, I lose the dice roll but he puts me on the play. He does this because he believes I am on Jeskai Geist as well and he wants the card advantage. I think this was a mistake, but I have less time on that deck. I win after Remanding his Geist of Saint Traft two or three times in order to try and get him to tap out. He never does, but I am able to finally play my combo and win because of an unanswered Jace that gets two downticks to find combo piece number two and a Dispel.
Game 2: Mike puts me on the play gain. He misses two land drops, but I path a Snapcaster Mage so I can preserve my lifetotal. His turn 3 he jams a Geist of Saint Traft. I untap and Supreme Verdict. This probably wasn't the greatest sequencing ever. I jam a Saheeli turn 5 and he Vendilion Clique's me to cycle my Felidar Guardian. I draw a Felidar Guradian off the Clique. I then topdeck my third and final cat. I feel no shame. I take my win.
Record: 3 / 0 / 0 (6 / 2 / 0 in games)
Round 4: John's Boros Burn (L: 1 / 2 / 0)
I want to preface this by saying that I have never top 8'd a tournament. It makes me sad, but usually when I start off (3 / 0) I quickly find myself (3 / 3). I was excited to play burn, as I packed nine hate cards for it.
Game 1: I am on the play. We enter the draw go phase while I look for combo pieces with Saheeli but he gets it as I let him stock up on burn spells in hand. I have answers for two, but he has three. Such is life.
Game 2: I keep my hand on the play. On turn two I top deck a Leyline of Sanctity and frown. I play a turn three Kitchen Finks into Leyline into turn five Felidar Guardian into turn six Felidar Guardian. This is why I switched off Timely Reinforcements. Finks represents way more life gain, especially if he's forced to block it. I am able to swing three and then blink to gain two. This enables me to lock him out with his own Eidolon of the Great Revel's. He scoops it up.
Game 3: I am on the draw. I keep and play a T0 Leyline. I top deck a dispel, revealed to Goblin Guide to prevent him from hitting my Leyline with Destructive Revelry. I play a Finks which he double bolts. A few turns later, I punt super hard when I scry my 6th untapped land to the bottom without looking at what I drew off Serum Visions. Hint, it was the second half of the combo. I'm dumb. And sad. He puts me to lethal range off Eidolon of the Great Revel and I topdeck a Kitchen Finks. I play to my outs, Supreme Verdict or Engineered Explosives on two, but he is able to remove my Felidar Guardian with Exquisite Firecraft and I die. Time to win and in.
Record: 3 / 1 / 0 (7 / 4 / 0 in games)
Round 5: Jon's Counters Company (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
Game 1: I am on the draw and keep a two lander. These are the only lands I see for the first six turns of this game. I am not pleased. I fight hard, with two Lightning Bolt, two Path to Exile, a Lightning Helix, and a Snapcaster Mage. However, he eventually gets me to zero with exalted dudes. I see my top 8 dreams slipping away.
Game 2: I am on the play and I keep my hand. I'm not exactly sure when I combo off this game, but his life total goes from 13 to 0 with no other notes. I really don't remember this game as I'm very tired at this point.
Game 3: I am on the draw and I keep my hand. Jon mulls. He goes to 1.7x10E6 life on turn three. I remove his infinite life enablers, Vizier of Remedies and Viscera Seer with Electrolyze. I play a turn four Saheeli Rai with Path to Exile backup. I uptick to find Supreme Verdict on top. I path his 4/3 exalted Kitchen Finks that's pointed at Saheeli. He deploys another. I untap, wrath his board, and hold up Snapcaster Mage. I scry Felidar to the top, putting Saheeli to five. He plays another two Noble Hierarch and activates Gavony Township, swinging for five at my Saheeli. I send Snapcaster bravely into the night. With him tapped out, I deploy my combo and make 1.7x10E6 + 1 cats and it's off to round six.
Record: 4 / 1 / 0 (9 / 5 / 0 in games)
Round 6: Cody - Knight Company (ID: 0 / 0 / 1)
Looking at standings I am in fourth and top of the 12 point players. We are both locked for Top 8 so we agree to draw. Though I believed I was favored in this matchup, perhaps incorrectly because I was unaware that he was running Voice of Resurgence in the main, I felt food and a break was better for me. I am excited for my first top 8! I am not excited to learn that there are two Titan shift who also made the cut.
Swiss Record: 4 / 1 / 1
The Top 8:
This top 8 was:
John on Burn
Scott on Jund
Mark on Titanshift
Cody on Knight Company
Myself on Jeskai Saheeli
Julian on Jeskai Geist
Mike on Jeskai Geist
Josh on Titanshift
Top 8 - Quarterfinals: Cody's Knight Company (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
Game 1: Cody is the 4th seed so he gets to play. This game was intense and I had to play carefully, as he represented both Spell Queller and Path to Exile the entire game. The first time I go for it, he has the path for my Felidar. Eventually, however, he taps low with one card in hand and I go for it again. He makes me cycle through the combo. At first, I'm not sure why. But out of instinct I choose the original Felidar. This is almost ALWAYS the correct choice, especially when your opponent has a Qasali Pridemage in play that you didn't even notice.
Game 2: I am on the draw again. I get mugged. I hard misplay, trying to Lightning Helix a Knight of the Reliquary when he had a second untapped Knight. He gets his Knights to 4/4 off an activation and a fetch. I should have hit the Selfless Spirit so I could try to Supreme Verdict. However, he had the Spell Queller to finish me off when I attempt to Snap + Helix to live one more turn.
Game 3: I am on the play. I keep a reasonable hand with a Supreme Verdict, a Path to Exile, and a Serum Visions. Cody ends up tapping low for a Voice of Resurgence and a Noble Hierarch. On his endstep before my turn 4, I path the voice then Wrath. I follow up with a Saheeli Rai with Path to Exile and Negate backup and then combo off shortly after scrying Felidar Guardian to the top.
Record: 5 / 1 / 1 (11 / 6 / 0 in games)
Top 8 - Semifinals: Josh's Titan Shift (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
It finally happened. I dodged this match up all day, but Josh beat out John's burn on the draw. Josh is another semi-local guy and I played around/against him a lot this summer when I lived in Indianapolis. He's a really great guy, a good sport and has a great laugh. My only problem with him is his deck choice. ;)
The top four decided to split prizes so I am not feeling super pressured as I go into this match. At the very least, I've done well. I still would love a chance at the invite though, so I keep my head in the game.
Game 1: I am on the play! Josh was 8th seed, so I get the choice. This is a huge factor in this matchup so I am very happy. I keep a hand with the combo, but play cautiously. I take some bolts off an early Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Remand his Primeval Titan he plays on turn five. On his turn six I Path to Exile the titan and Lightning Bolt his Sakura-Tribe Elder with Path and Titan ETB on the stack to make sure he has zero interaction when I untap as I've found my sixth untapped land. This allows me to combo off on my turn seven. This is a late combo time for the deck but it worked out how I wanted. Generally you do not want to play your combo pieces early as Titan Shift does not have enough instant speed interaction but does have plenty of damage to spread around. Unless you know you can go Saheeli on three into Felidar on four safely, it is not wise to play the pieces early.
Game 2: I am on the draw. Not much to say here besides I don't hit a Leyline in turns 0-4 and I get slammed with a Scapeshift I can't counter on like turn 8. He did say he was flooded for a while, but ultimately I was further behind.
Game 3: I am on the play. I don't like my opening seven. I also don't like my opening six. I am ok with my opening five. It's a Desolate Lighthouse, Felidar Guardian, Felidar Guardian, Remand, and Negate. I scry a Hallowed Fountain to the top. I Remand his first play to find a Steam Vents. I top deck a Saheeli Rai. I jam Saheeli to find another Hallowed Fountain on Top. I don't combo off, choosing to hold up negate and play the hallowed fountain tapped since he has four untapped lands. He doesn't think I have it and taps out for Hour of Promise. I Negate it and jam Felidar to go to the finals. This is why I play this deck. It steals games.
Record: 6 / 1 / 1 (13 / 7 / 0 in games)
Top 8 - Finals: Scott's Jund Midrange (W: 2 / 1 / 0)
Is it still 2014? Scott is on the most classic of all Junds, with two Kalitas and an Olivia. No death's shadows, just good all IoK into Bob into Lili plan. The finals is Steam Vents vs. Overgrown Tomb and we are both excited to play it out.
Game 1: I am on the draw. He mulligans and doesn't have any hand disruption until turn three, which is too late for him as I take him off black with a spreading seas. By the time he does find his black source he's forced to deploy threats, though he does Thoughtseize my first Felidar guardian. I deploy a Jace on T5 and downtick on my T6 to find my missing combo piece to win.
Game 2: Im on the draw and I keep my hand. He again doesn't have discard but deploys a Goyf and a Scooze, and a Liliana. I am force to put EE on two. Unbeknownst to me, he has 2x Abrupt Decay and 1x card:Kolagan's Command in hand. He doesn't deploy that on my stuff when I tap out for a fetch. I try to combo off twice, only to discover he has that removal. It worked out for him, but he could have ended the game much faster if he'd kept his Scooze (5/5 on death) and Goyf (6/7 w/ artifact in GY) around.
Game 3: I'm on the play! We trade threats and answers back and forth, but he ends up with a Liliana and I end up with a Saheeli in play. He's at 8 and I'm at 4. He has a 6/7 Goyf. I top deck a spreading seas and scry path to the top. I play seas to limit his red/black sources. He untaps and upticks Liliana with two cards in hand. I path the Gofy. He's forced to choose between a removal spell and another goyf to keep. He pitches the goyf and doesn't find another threat the entire game. I attempt to smack him to 4 with my Colonnade, he terminates it. I ping him to 7 and bottom my scry. I rip a Keranos and scry a Felidar to the top, putting him to 6. I bolt him to 3 off the Felidar draw, scry an EE to the top, then arrive at a dilema. He has two cards in hand now and a Liliana at 6. I play Felidar and go for it, figuring I just keep Keranos if he answers the combo. At this point, his only out is 2x Lightning Bolt on me and I know he didn't have it because I tapped out the previous turn. I'd rather burn the possibility of a single bolt on Saheeli now. He doesn't have it, so I win. I was not expecting this.
Record: 7 / 1 / 1 (15 / 8 / 0 in games)
Final: 7 / 1 / 1
My deck drew extremely hot this tournament. I have the practice with the deck, but it also was very forgiving to me all day. I top decked the combo four times. That's four "free" wins. I played the deck because I was comfortable with the archetype and knew the deck was unknown just enough to get me there. The only hard punt I made was in round four, game three, and that was entirely my fault. The deck tried to give me the win, but it didn't happen.
I'd also like to reiterate a point I made earlier in this guide about this deck. This deck wins because people don't expect the combo. They see Hallowed Fountain and Steam Vents and think Geist of Saint Traft, not Saheeli Rai. It's a huge advantage, but it's not likely to last. Additionally, people often mix up how to sideboard against it. Josh brought in Ancient Grudge believing I had to copy the artifact cat. Others tap out or tap low expecting me to mess up in their favor with effects like Qasali Pridemage. Sometimes they don't have a choice, but that's why I'm happy to go for it.
Thoughts on my list:
I'm probably not going to change my list up too much. I may drop another bolt for a Detention Sphere as that card was incredible all day. I love flickering it for value with Felidar Guardian. Kitchen finks was also an incredible addition to the list. I may try running one or two in the main eventually, as it has an incredible power to extend my game. Flickering or copying it against burn felt like cheating.
