Winter Ball II - Eureka_Shivan 6th Place

Winter Ball II - 6th Place Report - Eureka_Shivan

The Beer:

Compared to my first visit, I chose a better selection more in tune with what I look for. For style points, a lot of the beer names fit my fantasy jam.

King’s Ransom - 7/10: Having released the week of the tournament it was a must try. To some a 7 is disappointing, to me it just wasn’t on par with the rest of my picks.

Metro Gnome - 9/10: Saisons are one of my favorite beers. Very happy with this Belgium. A good one to go to in-between rounds of the other beers.

Squeegee Master 10/10: Highest score given across my two visits to Silver Branch Brewery. Gose is the way to go.

Sacred Table 8/10: A strong 8 for sure. The tropical aroma really came through on it.

Overall: Strong 9/10 for the beer selection available

My Deck:

Unlike the beer, my deck was not a brew. I acquired several key blue dual-lands and Legends cards since Dice City’s Fallen Empires 25th Anniversary and decided to play the best deck my collection supported - The Deck. While I have only played 2 matches of The Deck leading up to the tournament, my best/favorite playstyle to pilot is Control. Was considering Dib-Atog as my other choice.

Main deck, 3 decisions were part of my weekend strategy...

First, I played 2x copies of The Abyss and included an alternate win-con of The Hive. In addition to locking down the board, by not having Wrath of God I needed a way to 2+ for 1 creature decks. Very happy with the decision of 2x Abyss - it won games on its own multiple times. The Hive was meh at best and will look to replace it.

Second, I played a copy of Disrupting Scepter. I wanted to gain an edge in Control matches G1, but often found myself siding this card out. A lot of decks I saw at the tournament were agro decks maining or splashing white with 4x Disenchant. It never felt good to spend 3 mana on a card that didn't affect the board immediately or disrupt my opponent heavily. I plan on replacing this card going forward.

Third, I played 3x Counterspell. I feel Counterspell is more of a role-player in disrupting bigger mana decks than it is an all-star in any match-up. From this, I wanted to focus on cards better at locking down the game. While I don’t think I missed not having a 4th Counterspell, I would have definitely played it over Disrupting Scepter in hindsight. Sometimes experiments don't payoff and I am ok with that.

Side board... I played 4x Red Elemental Blast and 4x Blue Elemental Blast because I wanted to be really efficient in interacting with my opponent. My thought process was that cheaper interaction enables more activations of The Hive. Control Magic served as a creature catch-all and a method to close out games vs. Mid-Range builds. Moat was an attempt to slow down creature decks that I expected to be in high attendance. Moat underperformed the most - having had 2x Abyss in the Main, I didn’t struggle with locking down games. I wish I had a cheaper creature sweeper spell for the following decks: White Weenie, Mono Black, and Goblins. I will have 1x Earthquake in the 75 going forward and am looking to fit a second copy of Control Magic.

To the best of my memory these are how the matches went down...

Match 1 vs. Goblins (W 2-1):

On the play I kept a hand of Disenchant, Swords to Plowshares, Mox Pearl and 4 Lands. T1 I led Land + Mox. T2 my opponent played Mountain into Goblins of the Flarg. T3 I drew a Disenchant and played Land. T4 my opponent Lightning Bolt’d me and hit with Goblin. I eventually used Swords on a 1/1 Goblin to slow down my opponent’s clock (mountain walk on Goblins of the Flarg did work vs. my Mishra’s Factory). My opponent followed up with a Ball Lightning that left me at 4 life. Some number of turns after this, I had to cast Swords on my own Mishra’s Factory to live . I ended up dying a slow death of 1/1 beats.

Sided in: 4x Blue Elemental Blasts, 1x Moat, 1x Circle of Protection Red, 1x Divine Intervention and 1x Island

Sided out: 3x Counterspell, 2x Jayemdae Tome, 1x The Hive, 1x Disrupting Scepter, 1x Library of Alexandria

G2 I controlled the board with The Abyss. Eventually I pulled off a Mirror Universe activation and brought myself back to 21 life while my opponent went to 7. I believe I finished this game off with a Fireball. Of note, my opponent used an Artifact Blast against me at some point.

G3 I kept my hand based on 3x mana sources and Moat. I took some Goblin and Lightning Bolt damage for a few turns and eventually resolved Moat. Low at 6 life, I jammed a Mirror Universe without counter-magic backup. I felt this was the crux of the match as my opponent reasonably could have had Artifact Blast in hand as I had not given them a target yet. Mirror Resolved and my next turn I went to 19 life. I believe I closed the game out with Mishra’s Factory.

Match 2 vs. Pink Weenie (L 1-2):

G1, on the draw I kept a slow hand hoping to draw into some action. I took some early damage by a T1 Savannah Lions from my opponent and eventually Swords’d it. My opponent developed their board with White Knight and an Icatian Lieutenant - made my idle Disrupting Scepter look really silly. Failed to find my Balance in time and died.

I was unsure how to sideboard. I didn’t know if Pink Weenie played enough red cards to make Blue Elemental Blast worth it. Could I afford to risk casting a 2 mana ‘do nothing’ card such as Circle of Protection Red while they smash with white 2/2s? How long could I expect Moat to last against a 4 Disenchant deck.

Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Moat, 1x Island, 1x Control Magic

Sided out: 2x The Abyss, 1x Disrupting Scepter, 1x The Hive, 1x Jayemdae Tome

G2 I Disenchant a Land Tax that stalled my opponent’s development for several turns. Eventually I got value off of my Library of Alexandria and countered my opponent’s meaningful plays. Mishra’s Factory closed it out.

G3 I mulliganed and kept with Swords, Disenchant, Mox, and 3 Lands. My opponent led with a Land Tax and passed. I aggressively Disenchanted my opponent’s Land Tax T2 in hopes of stalling a T3 double W spell. My opponent played a Plains and put a creature on the board T3 and T5. I drew a Mox and used T6 to Swords my opponent’s creature. My opponent played a Blood Moon that crippled my white sources of mana. At this point, I believe I had Island, Mox Sapphire, and Mox Emerald as non-red sources. I lost to continued pressure with a hand full of white spells.

In retrospect, I was too aggressive with my Disenchant and paid for it. Having been inexperienced with what the red splash in Pink Weenie played, I didn’t consider Blood Moon at all (Land Tax was a definite tip-off to this G2). The best part of The Deck is there are no excuses for losing - I grabbed a bear and waited for the next round.

Match 3 vs. Mardu Troll (W 2-1):

G1 I am on the play and I believe I had a hand with Tundra, Ancestral Recall and 5 other cards. T1 I played Tundra and passed. T2 upkeep I played Ancestral Recall and main phase my opponent Dark Ritual’d a Hypnotic Specter. I Swords’d my opponent’s Specter and controlled my opponent’s mana. I played the Hive. I win with a Wasp-token, 2 Mishra’s Factories, and counter-magic. I recall only seeing black and white spells along with Badlands. From this, I assumed they were some Troll deck but wasn’t sure what their density of red spells was. I decided to hedge and not put in all my Blue Elemental Blasts.

Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Island, 1x Control Magic, 1x Divine Intervention, 1x Island

Sided out: 2x Counterspell, 1x Regrowth, 1x Recall, 1x The Hive, 1x Mirror Universe

G2 I died to a slew of Troll, Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning while I stared at a Regrowth I couldn’t cast.

Sided in: 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Circle of Protection Red

Sided out: 1x Mana Drain, 1 Counterspell, 1x Regrowth

G3 was wild (sequencing of several parts may be off as we took a lot of turns). I played an early Library of Alexandria and was forced to use Fireball to kill my opponent’s Hypnotic Specter. Some turns later I landed The Abyss to control the board. For several turns, my opponent played Land and passed while I drew 2 cards every turn thanks to my Library. Opponent played a Hymn to Tourach that put me under 7 cards. I put a Mishra’s Factory into play. My opponent passed. I drew Timetwister and held it as my opponent was low on cards. I played a second Mishra’s Factory and got in with both copies for a few consecutive turns. I drew and cast Mind Twist to clear my opponent’s hand. My opponent drew and passed back. I activated both of my Mishra’s Factory and one is Swords’d - opponent goes to 2 life at this point. My opponent drew and passed. I played my third Mishra’s Factory and attacked with one copy that met a Disenchant. My opponent drew and passed. I played my fourth copy of Mishra’s Factory and attacked with one copy that met another Disenchant . My opponent drew and passed. I activated my last copy of Mishra’s factory and it was yet again Disenchanted. This meant my opponent top-decked Swords -> Disenchant -> Disenchant -> Disenchant to keep themself alive. I had no more win conditions left in my deck and only 1 way to recur cards via Timetwister (because I sided out Recall and Regrowth). Despite having a full grip, I could not risk my opponent playing Hymn to snag my last shuffle effect - I netted 0 cards in hand while my opponent drew a new 7. After a few turns passed, I drew Demonic Tutor and got Fireball for lethal.

Lesson learned, keep in Regrowth to help with game inevitability.

From here on details get hazier...

Match 4 vs. UB Altered Flyers (W 2-0):

My opponent’s deck centered around 8 cards, 4x Serendib Efreet and 4x Sengir Vampire, they had recently received after being artist altered. The Abyss and Counterspell lined up really well vs. this opponent. They had a secondary angle of attack in Underworld Dreams + Howling Mine which was some cool tech.

Match 5 vs. WB Pestilence Ale (W 2-0):

My opponent was a bigger WB build playing Serra Angel and Sengir Vampire. Similar to my previous match, The Abyss and Counterspell lined up really well. During one of the games after I had the board locked down my opponent landed Pestilence and brought me down to 3 life. In the same game, I didn’t have counter-magic in hand and my opponent could have top-decked a second copy for the win. Fortunately, I closed the game out before it came up. My opponent ended up having the best non-powered deck of the night and also made top-8.

Match 6 vs. 4-Color Erhnamgeddon Atog Pile (W 2-1):

G1 I removed one Erhnam Djinn with Balance and got beat to death by a second Erhnam Djinn. In addition to dual-lands, I believe I saw Ankh of Mishra, Sylvan Library, and a Bazaar of Baghdad from my opponent. Did not have a great sense of my opponent's deck contents at this point.

Sideboarding is mostly a blur.

G2 had a good bit of back and forth in the beginning. Eventually I won off the back of my opponent’s Atog thanks to Control Magic. I believe I grew Atog to a 9/10 as part of a lethal attack. Nerves kicked in as making Top 8 relied on the third game.

I switched up how I sideboarded after seeing more red spells from my opponent.

G3 I had my most powerful opening turns of the tournament. I was able to heavily disrupt my opponent’s artifact permanents and kept the board clear of creatures. The game ended at a point where I was drawing multiple cards a turn, controlling my opponent’s mana, and beating in with Mishra’s Factory.

After winning this match I grabbed my second Squeegee Master of the night to celebrate.

Final: 6th Place at 5-1