https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/visual/1120227
First outing with the white sideboard, had the wind to my back up to the quarterfinals where I was blown out by Affinity. Overall thoughts for the build is that I'm happy. I was one of 4 people on Ponza out of 49 players, the only one with a white sideboard but one other Ponza guy made Top 8.
I can't really assess Mizzium Mortars too well, as none of the decks I played against would let it shine. Perhaps that's a testament to why it should've just been bolt. Rest in Peace and Stony Silence are extraordinary for us. Between the two of them and Blood Moon, I can't think of a tier deck that isn't heavily disrupted by atleast one. Frank Karsten says you want 13 mana sources of a color to reliably have it T1. With 9 fetches, 1 Temple Garden, and 6 dorks (4 Sprawls I don't want to name white, but can do so in a pinch), I feel that's enough when you count dorks as half a source. I don't like Sacred Foundry or a basic Plains. I had a hard enough time accepting Kessig Wolf Run because of how it looked in my opening hand.
Going forward, I only want to change the Mizzium Mortars, but I haven't decided whether that wants to be another bolt or a second Courser of Kruphix. She's so bonkers with Tireless Tracker, and the format is aggressive enough to ask for two (despite my pairings).
Onto the match reports!
Round 1: Jeskai Control (2-0)
Lost the die roll. My notes say that I didn't run out a T2 play either game, opting to hold action for turns I was more likely to get it through. I have a lot of practice against Jeskai, so I'm pretty good at reading hands.
First game I resolved 3 bloodbraids, hitting stone rain, bolt, and birds of paradise. Didn't see a blood moon game one, but I didnt let him see enough mana to snap anything valuable enough to compete with BBEs.
Sided out 1 Arbor elf, 1 Chandra, and Mizzium mortars for 2 Rest in Peace and Thrun.
Second game, I just ran the same gameplan and happened to find Thrun around T6, so I tossed him in. He cast Supreme Verdict as an act of desperation, I regen'd Thrun, and he extended the hand.
Match 2: G/R Tron (2-1)
Won the roll. There are no unique match notes.
Game 1, we both mull to 5. I keep a hand with Arbor Elf, Sprawl, and 3 lands because I know he's keeping a bad five and drawing into any action will probably win the game. We aren't called 3 drop tribal for nothing. I drew Molten Rain to play T2, and Inferno Titan to play T3. Victory.
Game 2, I had stony, moon, ramp, tracker, lands. He had k return and 2 natures claims. Without a clock or disruption, he eventually lands worldbreaker.
Game 3, I have T2 stony silence which blanks his expedition map. Turns 3 and 4, I spent BBE'ing into dorks. He O stones. I respond with Blood Moon, stranding Ugin in his hand. My next turn I cast Inferno Titan, and he's one mana short of hardcasting an answer for it. He spent the rest of the tournament telling everyone about me :)
Match 3: Burn (2-1)
Lost the roll. Burn is always an interesting matchup post-sideboard. Pre-sideboard, I kept a hand that couldn't function without a dork, so searing blaze was effectively a T2 win.
Sideboard out 2 of the Blood Moons and all the Rains, putting in 2 Finks, Baloth, Thrun, Trinisphere, Abrade, Sweltering Suns, and both Angers.
Game 2, my T2 Courser revealed a Finks, I put him to 0 with 14 health remaining.
Game 3, he played a T3 Ensnaring Bridge, which I thought was cool because I followed up with Trinisphere and the game became "something that resembles, but isn't quite Modern". I dropped Pia and Kiran to start pressuring while I hopefully rip a Chandra off the top and really get the race going. My answer came in the form of Abrade, which let me drop the Bridge on his end step and swing all, saccing my thopters for the last bit of lethal, despite his block and removal.
Match 4: Grixis Control (2-0)
i would be comfortable without a sideboard in this matchup. We have 30 cards in this deck that they need to stop us from resolving, and it's too great a mix of creatures and non-creatures to ensure they have the right answer at the right time. Even a late Blood Moon can be crippling.
Game one was over in a flash, T2 Moon then Bloodbraid cascade into tracker. He T1 Thoughtscoured, hoping to T2 Tasigur, but that didn't exactly work out.
Sideboard: 3 Rest in Peace, 2 Finks, 1 Thrun in. 2 Tracker, 1 Titan, 1 Arbor Elf, 2 Chandras out. This feels like overboarding, but I basically wanted to maximize the number of resources he needs to keep me off him.
Game 2, he got his T2 Tasigur, which I followed with Rest in Peace. Pia and Kiran came down and he had to stop swinging in, then a Blood Moon to take him off black. Stone rains took him from 3 to 2 to 1 islands, and a lone thopter clocked him pretty low. He said, "I'll see you in the top 8" and extended the hand.
So I locked into the top 8 with a record of 4-0-2, with the best breakers of 4-0 players. Grixis control player chewed up Humans and Jeskai Control after losing to me to come in as the number 1 seed for Top 8.
But the excitement ends there, because not even Stony Silence can stop Affinity without properly clearing the board, and I failed to draw the third mana source I needed for that. Beat down for 2 a turn, dispatching and Galv blasting my Tireless Trackers until he finally got me with double Galv blast. I don't even wanna talk about Game 1.
Sideboard for Affinity: Take out all Rains, bring in 3 Stony Silence, 1 Abrade, and 3 sweepers.
As for Grixis Control opponent, he chewed up the other ponza pilot but lost his following semifinals match. Our rematch will have to wait for Monday.
Flip
