#rptq

Preparations:

There isn't much to talk about. Despite a lot of other players being impressed with Mardu Ballista, I found a lot more success with lists closer to Marco Carvalho's list from the MOCS, especially with UR-X Dynavolt Tower decks supplanting BG Snake as the “third” pillar of the format. I came to the conclusion that, between Mardu decks getting slower and other control decks creeping into the format, a more aggressive build for Mardu would be a good selection for the weekend.

Creatures (20)

4 Toolcraft Exemplar 4 Thraben Inspector 4 Scrapheap Scrounger  4 Veteran Motorst 2 Pia Nalaar 2 Archangel Avacyn

Vehicles (6)

4 Heart of Kiran 2 Cultivator's Caravan

Spells (11)

3 Fatal Push 4 Unlicensed Disintegration 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Lands (23)

4 Inspiring Vantage 4 Concealed Courtyard 4 Spire of Industry 1 Aether Hub 2 Shambling Vent 1 Needle Spires 1 Smoldering Marsh 3 Plains 3 Mountain

Sideboard (15)

4 Shock 3 Release the Gremlins 1 Fatal Push 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar 1 Anguished Unmaking 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship  

Round 1: 2-1 vs Jeskai Tower

After a fairly routine game 1, game 2 was within grasp. However, at a critical turn I announced combat with no Toolcraft Exemplar, and was too late to crew my Cultivator's Caravan with my Scrapheap Scrounger. He scraped by at one life with a series of good topdecks. Game 3, I got to play protect-the-planeswalker with a Chandra and won the match with her emblem.

Lesson learned.

OUT: 3 Fatal Push, 2 Pia Nalaar, 1 Archangel Avacyn

IN: 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 1 Release the Gremlins, 1 Anguished Unmaking

Round 2: 2-0 vs UB Control

Not much to say for both games. Without seeing a Yahenni's Expertise, I was able to save my vehicles for a critical turn by forcing my opponent to use his removal on Veteran Motorists and Thraben Inspector. Unlicensed Disintegration finishes off a Torrential Gearhulk and my opponent.

OUT: 3 Fatal Push, 2 Pia Nalaar, 2 Archangel Avacyn 

IN: 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 3 Shock

Round 3: 2-1 vs Mardu Vehicles

Despite me being on the play, it was my opponent who dropped multiple Toolcraft Exemplars and Scrapheap Scroungers to put the beatdown on me. My opponent got stuck on mana game 2, and game 3 was decided by me being able to Release the Gremlins from a Heart of Kiran and a Skysovereign. I thought that he was on the Ballista plan, but after game 3 I saw that we were pretty much on the same game plan.

OUT (play): 2 Pia Nalaar, 2 Thraben Inspector, 2 Archangel Avacyn

IN (play): 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 2 Release the Gremlins, 2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

OUT (draw): 1 Thraben Inspector, 2 Scrapheap Scrounger, 1 Toolcraft Exemplar

IN (draw): 3 Release the Gremlins, 1 Anguished Unmaking

Round 4: 1-2 vs RB Aggro

This deck was rad. My opponent had returned to his first PPTQ since quitting the game eighteen years ago. His deck was much-more creature-oriented with the likes of Kari Zev, Lanthu Hellion, and Scrapheap Scrounger and zero vehicles from what I saw. However, the real interesting part of the deck was the eight threaten effects he ran – four Kari Zev's Expertise and four Wrangle. Game one was about me failing to find a pilot for my three vehicles on the field while my life was whittled down by a Kari Zev and occasionally a Wrangled Thraben Inspector. I was able to outrace my opponent game 2, but game 3 was a complete breakdown on my part. Being on the draw, I mulliganed into a hand of Concealed Courtyard, Inspiring Vantage, three Scrapheap Scroungers and Cultivator's Caravan. I failed to draw a third land while my opponent played a Kari Zev into multiple Lanthu Hellions.

My sideboard plan was awful and I can't really remember it, but looking at it now, it probably SHOULD be something like this.

OUT: 1 Toolcraft Exemplar, 4 Scrapheap Scrounger

IN: 1 Fatal Push, 1 Anguished Unmaking, 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship,

Round 5: ID vs RW Tower

Despite the loss in Round 4, I was in third place, with the best breakers among the 3-1s. I figured that even if I played it out, I couldn't do better than third if the top table drew. They did, as did the table below me, so I took a chance with the draw, figuring that only one or two players could jump over me in seeding.

I got dinner with my opponent from round 4, and actually learned a lot about collecting baseball cards and how lucrative it could be. It was nice. :)

Quarterfinals: 2-0 vs RW Tower

As it turned out, only one player jumped over me in seeding, so I got to start the quarterfinals as the number 4 seed against the player I drew against in round 5. He had a Red-White control deck that looked to get advantage with Fiery Temper, Cathartic Reunion, and Nahiri, the Harbinger. As it turned out, it couldn't really deal with Scrapheap Scrounger coming back multiple times, and without Dynavolt Tower, it couldn't generate enough energy to beat a Heart of Kiran. Game 2 was a little closer, but without any counterspells or hard planeswalker removal, my opponent ate too many two-for-ones killing two Gideons and had nothing left for the third.

I couldn't help but think “I wish @languishedunmaking was here to see this.”

OUT: 3 Fatal Push, 2 Pia Nalaar

IN: 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, 2 Release the Gremlins, 1 Anguished Unmaking  

Semifinals: 2-1 vs Mardu Ballista

Probably my most challenging match of the tournament. Even with me on the draw, I was able to curve out against my opponent, who didn't present any action besides a Scrapheap Scrounger. My opponent curved out on me game 2 and had the Unlicensed Disintegrations for my lone blocker. Game 3 presented an interesting board state. My opponent was at 8 life, with two Scrapheap Scroungers, a Thalia, Heretic Cathar, and a Nahiri, the Harbinger with six loyalty, and was tapped out. I was at 10 life with an Archangel Avacyn, a Thraben Inspector, a Shambling Vent I could activate, and a Cultivator's Caravan. My options were to crew the Caravan with the Thraben Inspector and the Shambling Vent and present lethal by attacking for 9, or attack for 7 with the three creatures. If my opponent's blocked, I would have lethal with the Avacyn flip. My opponent was in the tank for a while before letting the attack through and dropping to 1, which let me gain two life from my Shambling Vent and insulate myself from Unlicensed Disintegration if my opponent topdecked it. He wasn't able to and conceded the match.

OUT (play): 2 Pia Nalaar, 2 Thraben Inspector, 2 Archangel Avacyn

IN (play): 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 2 Release the Gremlins, 2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

OUT (draw): 1 Thraben Inspector, 2 Scrapheap Scrounger, 1 Toolcraft Exemplar

IN (draw): 3 Release the Gremlins, 1 Anguished Unmaking

Finals: 2-0 vs UR Tower

I hadn't been paying much attention to the other matches, but it turned out that my finals opponent was the player who jumped over me in the standings, so he got to be on the play. The match grinded out for about twenty-five turns. My opponent resolved two Dynavolt Towers, which chewed through a lot of my creatures and ran my out of Scrapheap Scrounger targets. With a few maindeck Negates from my opponent, I even ate through all four of my Unlicensed Disintegrations. Despite that, I had whittled my opponent down to two life when my opponent let me untap with a Toolcraft Exemplar. When he went to shoot it with the last of his energy, I was able to save it with Archangel Avacyn, which sealed the match when my opponent conceded. Game two was a little tighter on my end, as I was able to leverage my threats better and not expose them to removal unnecessarily. Despite my opponent negating two Gideons, I was able to pressure him with a Heart of Kiran and, when he found an Aether Meltdown for it, I was able to play a second Heart of Kiran and finish my opponent off.

OUT: 3 Fatal Push, 2 Pia Nalaar

IN: 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance, 2 Release the Gremlins, 1 Anguished Unmaking  

Review/Changes

While I'd love to say that I found a gaping hole in the meta, in all honesty I just picked a good weekend to play aggro. The meta is pretty much settled, but there's an opportunity to sneak under some opponents who try to sideboard against you expecting a heavy planeswalker package. Mardu Ballista is probably the more powerful version of the deck in a vacuum, but if the meta continues shifting to a midrange/control environment, an aggressively-leaning version of Mardu Vehicles could be primed to make a comeback. I won't have much opportunity to play competitive Magic between now and Amonkhet, but if I did, I would be tempted to try lists closer to Lucas Esper-Berthoud's PT-winning list that was still utilizing Inventor's Apprentice to try and overload the removal from the other decks in the format. In the meantime, I gotta get good at Sealed for the RPTQ. :|

I’ve been grinding Arena Competitive Constructed matches with Esper Control trying to get ready.

So far I’m 10-3 over the last two days. 

It’s paying off (I can tell because of the little tweaks I’m making here and there), but it’s exhausting. And all the pros that I would turn to are too busy arguing about the Hall of Fame vote (which is a completely different topic I’ll talk about next week.)

Anyway, here’s a live look-in at my testing process:

Good news everyone! I didn’t lose any of my matches!!!

I finally got a chance to play my RPTQ online last weekend. Without a local RPTQ in Denver this season, I couldn’t find a reasonable place to travel. And so I took my trusty [mtg_card]Arcbound Ravager[/mtg_card]s into battle online last Saturday. Affinity had felt well-positioned for a while in Modern, but people have started to catch on. These days you run into more interaction than before.…