[Primer] - Ad Nauseam Combo [[Procellam Legit]]

Modern Oloro_Magic

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First Paper Tournament Since Lockdown! 2020-09-05 —Sept. 7, 2020

Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to be able to compete in a small modern tournament at my local game store under multiple restrictions due to COVID-19. When I say small, I mean very small, only 6 players were given entry due to social distancing measures taken by the store; temperature was taken at the door, no cutting decks, and we played behind screens. All in all the tournament was run rather well in line with local guidelines during COVID-19. Given the small amount of players only 3 rounds were played before prizing, the results of which are outlined below:

RD 1 vs. Eldrazi Tron 2-0

E-Tron has always been a fairly good matchup as the deck tends to not interact with Ad Nauseam in a meaningful way. Be aware of Thought-Knot Seer stripping your hand and Karn, the Great Creator shutting off your mana acceleration however. Game one was a non-game, opponent mulled to 5 and didn't get off to a fast start, largely relying on a Mazemind Tome to even out their draw, a strategy that didn't end up working out in the end, won turn 4 via Thassa's Oracle + Spoils of the Vault after resolving Phyrexian Unlife the turn previous.

OUT: -1x Sleight of Hand, -2x Pact of Negation | IN: +1x Thoughtseize, +1x Echoing Truth, +1x Path to Exile

Game 2 followed a similar pattern to game 1, opponent had a bit more of a clock but lacked any interaction, was able to curve Phyrexian Unlife into Ad Nauseam on turn 4 and win without any resistance. Good start to the tournament. 1-0.

RD 2 vs. Sultai Uro Field Pile 2-1

Game one can be chalked up to human error on the part of the opponent. After 7 turns of developing mana and playing draw-go magic, opponent decided to attempt to resolve an escaped Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath to provide some form of a clock leaving 2 mana up, having the combo in hand and a Pact of Negation, I went for it. Opponent attempted to use Force of Negation not realizing the free clause does not apply on their turn, a poor mistake from the opponent as Force of Negation was their only counter in hand and they had no responses.

OUT: -2x Phyrexian Unlife, -2x Thassa's Oracle, -1x Sleight of Hand, -1x Spoils of the Vault | IN: +3x Veil of Summer, +1x Thoughtseize, +1x Gideon of the Trials, +1x Pact of Negation

Game two I simply didn't find the combo, I had three counters in hand and enough mana but never found the Ad Nauseam. Opponent for their part got Field of the Dead going fairly quickly, and later after 5 turns of draw-go was able to find a window to resolve Jace, the Mind Sculptor, from there I was simply outvalued and eventually beaten down by Zombies. Moving to game three, again the opponent made a fairly high profile error, on turn 6, whilst I had combo mana up, they cycled a Shark Typhoon at the end of my turn using all their mana (presumably because they had Force of Negation in hand). This gave me a window, with a Pact of Negation also in hand, to attempt to win, luckily they only had the one Force of Negation, the unfortunate part for the opponent however was that they also had a Veil of Summer in hand which would have been enough meaning they only needed to leave up one mana from the cycle to win. They didn't though and they made their second large mistake of the match, acknowledging their own lack of focus following game three. 2-0.

RD 3 vs. Jund 2-0

Opponent here was a good friend I know well which added a bit to this match. I entered as the sole undefeated in the field so I knew a win would secure the tournament in my return to paper magic, if I lost the tournament would go to tiebreakers. As I have articulated before I feel fairly confident about the jund matchup, yes they are interactive, but if you can steal game one you are in great shape. Opponent here had no opening hand discard which was a huge plus, instead hoping to win with a fast clock via Tarmogoyf. Unfortunately for opponent I was able to win turn 3 using a Pentad Prism on turn 2, and a Simian Spirit Guide to create 6 mana for Angel's Grace + Ad Nauseam. Opponent promptly scooped.

(ON THE DRAW) OUT: -2x Pact of Negation, -1x Sleight of Hand, -1x Phyrexian Unlife, -1x Thassa's Oracle, -2x Spoils of the Vault | IN: +4x Leyline of Sanctity, +1x Veil of Summer, +1x Path to Exile, +1x Slaughter Pact

As I state in the sideboard guide in the primer, I like to be slightly more reactive against jund variants on the draw, Veil of Summer becomes worse when it can't block a turn one discard spell, and as such I only bring in 1 as some additional cover and bring in some removal as I expect my opponent to look for a balance between discard and a faster clock due to Leyline of Sanctity. That said, here I began the game with Leyline of Sanctity. Opponent, to their credit, kept a hand largely built around Liliana of the Veil invalidating this, but unfortunately this plan was too slow and I was able to win off the back of a Lotus Bloom and holding my draw in the face of Liliana of the Veil. 3-0!

SUMMATION

In summary then, the first paper tournament back was a good success and a welcome addition back into non-mtgo games. The deck performed quite well and I was overall happy with the results. I expect to adjust the sideboard for local tournaments as I see what is showing up consistently in these small tournaments over the next couple weeks, notably Abrupt Decay does not feel particularly great locally coming out of this tournament but more data is needed in this regard. I feel though, despite only having three rounds, that the small meta was relatively diverse, so these changes will take some time to be implemented.

I finished as the sole undefeated, with the prizing, which understandably was low this time out, I purchased a Modern Horizons pack, pulling The First Sliver, not a bad conclusion to the day. Really it was just great to get back to playing in paper after such a long time off, hopefully we will be able to expand entry soon and the deck keeps performing.

Vale,

Oloro