Sweet Victory with GW Tokens at the Top Deck 15K
Okay, I told David Reinecke that I will and want to write an article… but only if I did well in the R15k tournament…
Last time I said that, was two TMR R10K events ago, when I lost in the 5th round to Damain Andrews with my awesome version of Colourless Eldrazi, against his GR Tron… which in my opinion was meant to be heavily favoured to me, as I played 4 Chalice of Voids and Thought-Knots (So, Either I put heavy pressure early or pretty much lock him out early)… but 2-1 sent me packing. So I thought, perhaps I gave myself the kiss of death once again for the first ever R15k Standard event!
Anyways… So going into this R15k event I knew that there was at least 8 really good decks out there… from:
Esper Dragons, Grixis Control, Coco Bant, GB Aristocrats, GW Tokens, Mono-white Weenies, 4C Rites and GB Season’s Past….
Plus other decks that can also come out really strong with the right draws which include:
Jund Ever After, BW Control (Enchantment version or Eldrazi version), UW Control, Eldrazi Aggro, Izzet Control (Mill version or Goggles / Thing in Ice version)
Bottom-line… The field was WAY open to many decks!
I decided to go with an Aggro deck (My style of play), but where almost every card I played had card advantage built into it… and that my opponents needed many different types of answers to deal with all my threats! This deck was GW tokens.
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Lands (25) 4 Canopy Vista Spells (21) 4 Oath of Nissa
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Creatures (14) 4 Hangarback Walker Sideboard (15) 1 Secure the Wastes |
Some differences to the net decks:
- 2 Fortified Village: I seriously considered 0 copies of this card… as it is bad for several reasons: It comes into play tapped, when you need typically your 4th + land drop and you rip the land from the top (So it is VERY bad late game)… it is not so great early game… as it does not synergise with Canopy Vista… And to compensate for this reduction from 4-2… I increased my Oath of Nissa to 4 (from 3).
- 3 Westvale Abbey: I dropped from 4 to 3 copies… but did not want to drop to 2 copies as some versions does… as Westvale is sometimes my only out against decks like GB Aristocrats and 4C Rites, where life gain and flying is critical. 4 Oath’s also help to get the Westvale… which suggest 2 copies again… perhaps I need to drop 1 for a Forrest… (Not for Fortified Village!)
- 2 Declaration in Stone: I had to choose long and hard between Stasis Snare and this card for main deck removal (Alongside the awesome Dromoka’s Command’s)… Stasis was instant speed and didn’t give clues… but Declaration was 1 white (Double white mana could be an issue), 2cmc, and could remove multiple copies… and can also remove multiple tokens, without generating clues (good against Hangerback and Secure the Wastes / Mirror)... and by playing these main deck, I freed up slots in my sideboard.
- 1 Evolutionary Leap: This card is amazing… sacrifice a token or a creature that’s about to die… and get a token generator (Hangerback) or an awesome Archangel! Or one of the only 6 other creature cards, 4 of which are likely 4/5 Vigilance for 2cmc. This card had to be main… and an extra one in the side… to replenish my hand against board sweeps. It also activates Archangel.
- 2 Lambholt Pacifist: Again freeing up slots in my SB. This card is great against Coco Bant, GW tokens and White Weenie, as it buys a bit of time… but it’s also easy to activate with all my anthem effects and Dromoka’s Command.
- 0 Thraben Inspector: I just could not get myself to play this card… it feels so weak, I instead further justified my 4th copy of Oath of Nissa (1 drop slot), but rather played more power house cards in my deck such as Pacifist/Evolutionary Leap/Declaration in Stone. I also knew that there is a reasonable chance that my first land drop could be coming into play tapped.
Sideboard Options:
- Evolutionary Leap: For Control and Bant Coco match-ups.
- Sigarda: For any matchup with Archangel (Mirror), as well as control matchups that run Grasp of Darkness, Ultimate Price and Languish. The token effect is also great so getting an emblem early with Gideon could be important.
- Dragonlord Dromoka: Pretty much the same reasons as above… but also great against Aristocrats… as you need to gain the life… to combat the life loss from cut throats….
- Secure the Wastes: Helps to activate Westvale against Aristocrats… but great against control… to flash in a few dudes after a board sweep, with hopefully a few anthem effects waiting.
- Hollowed Moonlight: Great against opposing Secure the Wastes, Coco’s and Hangerbacks… as well as the odd Ever After deck out there. (Also ok against Aristocrats)
- Felidar Cub and Angelic Purge: Mainly there for Virulent Plague… The Cub is also great to fetch with my Leaps… and the Purge can be used in more situations by simply sacrificing an Oath or a token.
- Den Protector: To recur my solutions in (6) above. Can also be found with Leap… and gives more options for grindy match-ups.
- Clip Wings: This would come in with Den Protector against Dragons (Especially Ojutai) and Westvale Abbeys.
- Tragic Arrogance: Mainly for White Weenie, 4C Rites, Aristocrats, GW Tokens and even the odd BW enchantment deck. This card is also good to trigger your Archangel.
- Declaration in Stone: This is just for those bigger threats and potentially token match-ups. Westvale, Aristocrats (to exile those cut throats), Hangerback and creatures with Graveyard effects.
So, what was my good match-ups and bad ones (according to me)
Good:
Control decks (But not Season’s Past… as here I have no interaction to stop the loop), Coco Bant (I can block the creatures, race with creatures and also wipe his board with Archangel Avacyn)… with so many control type decks out there… I felt good with continues token generation, and instant Waste, Archangel and Westvale options.
Even:
GW Tokens, White Weenie, Eldrazi Aggro/Control… it’s a race to Archangel against WW … but for GW tokens, the Archangel could be a trap… See my Top 8 match against Jacque. Against Eldrazi it’s just a race… pack more out faster.
Bad:
GB Aristocrats, 4C Rites and Season’s Past. These aren’t auto-losses… but I would have to come out better than average and hope they come out worse than average…
So, How did my Tournament go?
Round 1: (Jund Dragons)
I played an unknown player to me… He apparently is linked to a shop and build his own home-brew to just come for fun. We had quite a nice chat at the start of the match. Homebrews can go easily… or expectantly bad…
First game: I think he started and showed my Hangerback a Draconic Roar, revealing Thunderbreak Regent… So I knew basically what his deck was about. I kept up the pressure and won the game relatively easily as he had some mana issues. I recall him playing the flip Nissa as one of his creatures.
Second game: I chose to Mulligan… and then I had only 2 Plains in my 6 card draw, but also 2 Hangerbacks and an Oath of Nissa and a scry waiting… so I kept. I scried away a green card to the bottom. Then for the next 6 turns I drew only 2 lands, which was another Plain and Fortified Village which came in place tapped… but I also drew 2 Hangerbacks (So I drew all 4.. which is good if you are stuck without green mana J)… He played 2 draconic roars, Grasp of Darkness and put down a Dragonlord Kolaghan and other stuff… but his hand was dead with 1 Ultimate Price and 1 Thunderbreak Regent… as he never got double red and he could not target my thopters/Hangerbacks. (After playing my 4th Hangerback… then only did the Kolaghan come… hehe… so no trigger)
2-0
Round 2: (BW Control (Eldrazi))
I played an unknown player to me again… He was a really friendly guy, always laughing and again looked like he was just having fun.
First game: I think I started and packed out nicely, he got rid of a Gideon with Transgress, played a creature, Reality Smasher and Sorin… I played my Archangel, put a counter on with Dromoka’s Command… which then blocked the smasher and fought the creature… then killed Sorin, who killed my 2/3 Advocate… and then went for the win.
Second game: He had Ruinous Path and Reality smasher. I handled the smasher with a Declaration in Stone and basically packed out for the win.
2-0
Round 3: (GW Tokens)
I played an unknown player to me again (3 in a row… I normally know my opponents, but I guess magic is growing and that’s good!)… He was a bit more serious guy, I knew he knew about me and asked if I went on the Pro Tour and I said no, but I went to Worlds a few years back, when it was held in Rome. He was geared up and ready to beat me down!
First game: He won the dice roll and decided to start. I remember this game as it was actually quite interesting. We had very similar hands… but his hand was actually better. He had an Archangel, Dromoka’s Command, Sylvan Advocate and lands in hand… I had Archangel, Dromoka’s Command, Hangerback and lands. (This was at least in our hands based on the plays… but I trumped him with my copies… see below)
He played turn 2 Advocate. I played turn 2 Hangerback. He then played his turn 3 land and I could see him seriously contemplating killing my hanger back… but he didn’t feel it was worth it, so he attached I didn’t block and passed the turn. I then on my turn 3 played a land and said he can go… he thought for a bit again… and proceeded to his turn 4. After playing his 4th land, the jitters got to him and he felt compelled to now play Dromoka’s command to fight my guy, before Hangerback got too big. I responded to his Command with an activation and then my own Dromoka’s command, which was a great deal for me. I think he then, with his remaining 2 mana Declaration in Stoned my Hangerback. In my turn I played 2 Sylvan advocates, and passed… he in his turn 5 played a land and passed the turn. I played my 5th land… and suspected he had an Archangel, so an attack would have been a bit of a waste… rather wait for my 6th land… I passed and he then flashed in his angel. In his turn he attacked, where I flashed in my angel, killing his… which lead to a quick game win.
Second game: I don’t recall exactly what happened… but I won this one.
2-0
Round 4: (Mono White Weenies)
This time I played someone I knew from previous tournaments, even though we have not played each other more than once I think. We greeted and chatted a bit and got ready for the match. We both knew that this match was important to win… as a 4-0 record meant that either of us could ID the next 2 rounds into top 8.
First game: My opponent started… I could see he really wanted to mulligan (As he had a one land hand), but he decided to keep, as he had 3 1 drops… as luck would have it, he drew a second land of the bat! So, Turn 1 he plays the Thraben Inspector, I followed with my Oath (Getting land). He then plays his Consul’s Lieutenant and attacks. I play on my turn 2 a Lambholt Pacifist. He missed a land drop and declaration in stone my guy, swinging for 3 and getting renown. My turn 3 I played Nissa and created a plant. He then missed a second land drop, but played Thalia’s lieutenant, pumping his guys and attacked Nissa with both guys, I blocked the Lieutenant and Nissa took 3 damage. My turn 4 I play a land, create a plant and cast 2 Advocates. Turn 5 he misses a land, has an easy Declaration in stone on my Advocates, and swings with the team at my life total, I didn’t block. My turn 5 I can’t exactly remember, but I think I cast Gideon and created a 2/2 knight and a plant. He then in his turn played a knight of white orchard and a Dragon Slayer, and decided to go and kill Nissa with all his attackers, where I chose not to block. I really needed an Archangel now… as his guys are on 3 toughness and I running out of time. My turn 6, I had 3 clues (from the 2 stones)… and also a Secure the Waste in hand. I was also on 7 life at this point… so I would either have to play Secure to survive if he attacked for lethal somehow or I could pop the clues if he goes for my planeswalkers. So in his turn he then played something and swung at my Gideon and my life total… I could block, lose Gideon and then sac the 3 clues… one at a time hoping for immediate answers like Dromoka’s commands, but ultimately I needed the angel… I got a Hangerback in the 3 cards, but no angel… the game was almost over. In my turn I then drew the angel… and played Hangerback for 0… This killed his board in his upkeep, which lead to my victory.
Second Game: He played inspector, followed by flip Gideon and another 1 drop, I played an advocate and had an angel, Gideon and Tragic Arrogance in hand… the games was pretty much over in 5 turns.
2-0
Round 5: (Coco Bant)
This time I played a friend of mine, Jarcque Henning. One of SA’s best players. But we knew that we are very likely to top 8 if we ID. So we drew. We then played for fun and discussed our decks a bit… where he told me he plays to Archangels in his Coco Bant deck… and I said I play all 4 copies… The fun result was 2-1 for me… but I won the dice roll… and I think that makes a big difference in a match against Jacque.
1-1
Round 5: (4C Rites). This time I played another friend of mine, Sarvesh Balkaran. Another fast and upcoming player. We worked out with him playing up he must have good tie-breaks, and playing up, I would only improve his tie-breaks further, so we had an ID as well. We then played for fun and discussed our decks a bit… where we said what we would sideboard and basically and came down to Tragic Arrogance from my side and Negates from his… The fun result was 2-1 for him… he won the dice roll… again a deciding factor… and we didn’t play with sideboards in any of the 3 games.
1-1
Final Standings after 6 rounds:
- Keraan Chetty
- Rudolf Keller
- Damain Andrews
- Jacque Henning
- Me (Theuns Prinsloo)
- Sarvesh Balkaran (I was relieved, as it would be bad if he didn’t make it somehow)
- Bevan Schimper
- Jason Ward
Ok, So I knew I was going to play Jarcque… and he was going to start… so It was going to be extra tough! But I tough my deck had an edge on his deck. Looking at the rest of the top 8, I saw some really tough competition … Jason Ward knocked me out in the quarters of the previous TMR R10k event… Damain basically knocked me out of the TMR event before that!
But!! I had my daughter there with me… She is 8 years old and my number 1 supporter! I had to trade my Grisselbrand playmat with someone else for an Aurelia, the Warleader playmat… as she didn’t like the “ugly” picture on my playmat… Heading into the top 8, she tells me not to play James again…. So I thought… James???? It rings a bell… then I knew who she meant, but I now only had James in my mind… so I was running blank… Then I remember his name... it’s Jason… Jason Ward… She saw him knock me in in the previous TMR quarters and didn’t want it to happen again… haha.
But now I had to focus on the game at hand. I got quite a few good luck kisses for this quarterfinal match! So I was ready!
Quarter-final: (Coco Bant)
Jacque Henning… Top 16 player in SA (My view)
First Game: We packed out on both sides, I then cast my Evolutionary Leap… he then in his turn attacked and played Dromoka’s command to beef up his creature and to fight, I think that was a bit of a misplay, as he didn’t let me sacrifice my Leap. He says he needed the +1/+1 counter to keep the pressure. Anyways… This game got real interesting from his turn 4, where he preceded to play Coco on 3 consecutive turns! He did however play his 5th land first, and the Coco’s always came at the end of my turn. I kept blocking with a Hangerback, then sacking the hanger back to find another Hangerback… so I had game through all of this… as I was digging for an Archangel and Jacque was keenly aware of this… little did I know that I am squarely falling into his trap….. So in my next turn after he had already played 2 Coco’s in a row… I got my Archangel… I then sacrificed a token and knew all his stuff would die in his upkeep except for one due that had 2 +1/+1 counters on. He then played a 3rd Coco at end of this turn…and tapped my angel and bounced a dude back to my hand, so ….. Here it comes…. In his upkeep with my angel trigger on the stack, he plays his own Archangel! Making his stuff indestructible… meaning my army goes… and he simply attacks for the win! Damn…. I didn’t even consider that line of play!
Second Game: Now I was on the back foot… but at least I will start… I do not recall exactly how the game went, but I think played a lot of dudes quickly, played a secure the waste for 4/5 at the end of his turn followed by 2 anthem effects… and attacked for the win.
Third Game: Tis game felt like it took forever… both of us was stuck on 4 lands for at least 7/8 turns… for him it’s probably okay, but for me with my Archangels… its bad… and our Sylvan Advocates didn’t like the land shortage at all! I played cleverly around one or two things, and when he played a Coco, I had it covered with a Hollowed Moonlight… and when I played a Tragic Arrogance, he had it covered with a Negate… we were Head to Head! I then go my Leap… and had my Angel… but I was so scared of activating the Angel… only to lose to an Angel on his side like game one!... So I pumped my guys big enough to survive the 3 damage first… A clever card I saw in this game on Turn 4 from him was a Surrak! Which hit me on turn 4 for haste with one of his 3/3 dudes… I stoned it, he then found another one with his Duskwatcher… so I knew he had it… so…
the game basically ended with me activating my angel, but tough enough creature on my side and 2 mana open for a Dromoka’s command should I need it. He then didn’t draw a 6th land to pump his on-filed advocate and also allow him to play another advocate and Surrak, giving the advocate haste… he says that would have been enough. I don’t know, as I had a command in hand… but the game ended in my favour.
This game felt like it took forever… and it was because he plays most of his spells at the end of my turn, (flash creatures and Coco), but also I can’t simply activate my Angel… knowing what happened game one.
It was a tough match against a tough opponent. (Even though Bant should be one of my easier match-ups… showing you the effect skill has on a match)
2-1
Semi-final: (GB Seasons past)
Jason Ward (Aka, James J)… Top 16 player in SA (My view)
Here my daughter gave me even more kisses! So cute… J I needed it to beat the guy knocked me out in the previous quarter-finals!
I was so happy to find out that I placed higher than James and therefore I got to start… every little bit helps… but against a good player, I feel it helps a little bit more!
First Game: I think Jason mulled to 6. I played a turn 2 Pacifist, Jason played a turn 2 transgression, taking a Nissa/Gideon. I then on my turn 3 top-decked a Nissa… casting the Nissa… I then wanted to avoid the Grasp of Darkness… with a Dromoka’s Command in hand. So I just created a plant. In his turn I think he might have played read the Bones. I then in my turn did the anthem on my Nissa and passed the turn with Command in hand and a flipped Pacifist. Jason felt a bit upset that he didn’t act sooner to Grasp the Pacifist… he then did something, I then in my turn played a land, holding a Secure the Waste back and created a plant… I followed end of his turn with a few tokens, then did a Nissa anthem in my turn and cast a Gideon emblem as well in my turn for the win.
Second Game: I do not exactly recall what happened… but I won… I think Jason had to mulligan again…
2-0
Final: (GB Greater Aurora + Seasons past)
Damain Andrews… Top 16 player in SA (My view)
You will notice that I said Top 16 players to all 3 my opponents… this is no coincidence… Damain took me out of top 8 contention 2 TMR events ago… and he is a really good player.
I was ranked below Damain in top 8 standings… so he started.
First Game: Damain mulled to 6 and I think I mulled to 5. This game was bad for me… as he played turn 4 Explosive Vegetation and then a Nissa’s Renewal the following turn… We discussed that tokens count as permanents toward the Greater Aurora spell… so instead of me being to aggressive… I rather loaded my Hangerback Walker, with a Dromoka’s command in hand to kill him when the time comes… He also played a Dark Petition, getting a Green Warden… returning the Petition…. This happened again in the following turn… and I didn’t like the card advantage he was getting with an Aurora looming… So I misplayed… by playing Declaration in Stone on his Wardens… in helped, but I didn’t know that I could not let my Hangerback fight my own guys with Dromoka’s Command… so when he played Aurora… I tried to respond, but was told I couldn’t… this left me a bit bleak… and I lost Game 1.
Second Game: Here we both mulliganed down to 5! I started… and pumped out fast and hard… and got a quick win, with emblems, anthems and soldier tokens. It was an amazing 5… it went Oath, 2 drop, Nissa, Gideon and Secure for the win…
Third Game: I do not exactly remember… my brain was fried… I remember having huge board presence and Damain was desperately looking for a Languish. He played a Nissa that flipped… and on my turn I played anthem and emblem and hit him pretty hard for 13… taking him down from 27 to 14 life… I had in fact misplayed here… as I should have rather done 4 damage less to his life and killed the Nissa… So… he then in his turn drew a card.. then Nissa gave him a land, then he cast Ob Nixilisk, and drew a Languish of it… whipping all but one of my creatures… I was upset… if I killed Nissa… he would have drawn a land of the Ob Nixilisk and not a Languish… and he would in any event have had one less permanent should he have casted Aurora….
The game went on… 2 turn later he plays Aurora with a 15 count on his side and a 10 count on my side, I tapped my 5 manna to add it to my pool (creating at least WW for my angel). I then drew my 10, it contained 6 lands (Both fortified Villages), secure the wastes, angel, command and something else… So at the end of his second main step (where he cast Aurora), he still had 1 Black in his pool and 1 Swamp untapped with a total of 10 life.
I had to keep a land back otherwise the 2 Villages would be tapped in play. So I had 5 lands in play and 5 mana in pool… I could Secure for 9 soldiers… and Dromoka to add a counter hitting for 10… but hoped he didn’t have Grasp of Darkness or Similar… So I went for it. He then Grasped 1 dude, leaving me with 8 soldiers… In my turn I then realized I still have the emblem and went for the win.
2-1
$$$$ Damain and I made a deal… instead of R5000 and R2600 (1st and 2nd)… we made it R4000 and R3600. (Obviously at the start of the match this was agreed :)