#tournamentreport

The most recent Pauper Modern Tournament on 6/22/2019 was my second Magic tournament ever, and I am very happy to have won 3-0 despite the low turnout. I brought my Mono-Black Corrupt Control deck, which is all about keeping the board clear while I build up mana for big spells. With the release of Modern Horizons, I felt that the deck received a significant power boost that gave it a good chance at winning.

  In the first match I played against Justin, who was playing a White Soldiers deck. Notable cards were [[Loyal Cathar]], [[Kjeldoran War Cry]], and [[Guardians' Pledge]]. [[Loyal Cathar]] was fairly annoying to deal with, as it has an undying-like ability that my [[Crypt Rats]] couldn't deal with, and it took two cards to remove. I won both games as he couldn't keep creatures on the board long enough to do damage to me, but on game 2 he managed to bring me down to 2 life with the anthem cards.

In the second match I faced Todd and his Green Tron deck. Notable cards were [[Self-Assembler]], [[Ulamog's Crusher]], [[Eldrazi Devastator]], [[Deadly Recluse]], [[Pulse of Murasa]], [[Feed the Clan]]. [[Self-Assembler]] guaranteed a threat every turn, [[Deadly Recluse]] meant that blocking would be a dilemma, and [[Pulse of Murasa]] brought back cards that were previously dealt with, while also gaining a decent bit of life.

- Game 1 (LOSS): I was unable to draw enough Swamps to survive, despite digging deep into the library using three [[Sign in Blood]]. By the time I lost, I only had four swamps out.

- Game 2 (WIN): He sided in some lifegain cards like [[Feed the Clan]] that turned the game into a big grind. I had played a [[Pristine Talisman]] early, so we were both gaining and losing small amounts of life constantly. I was able to keep his big beaters off the board and did enough damage with [[Gurmag Angler]] and [[Corrupt]] to win.

- Game 3 (WIN): He was able to play his big Eldrazi creatures every turn with the help of [[Pulse of Murasa]]. However, they were almost always dealt with immediately with the likes of [[Geth's Verdict]] and [[Defile]]. Speaking of [[Defile]]: just 1 mana to give the fattest creature in Pauper Modern, [[Eldrazi Devastator]], a -9/-9 reduction? This card was amazing throughout the tournament. None of his important creatures stuck, so I was able to use [[Corrupt]] and [[Consume Spirit]] to close out the game.

In the third and final match, I was up against Matt with a Blue Delver deck. Notable cards were [[Phantasmal Bear]] and [[Cloudfin Raptor]], which made the deck seem more like a blue stompy build. He had the usual blue Delver stuff like [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Faerie Miscreant]], [[Spellstutter Sprite]], and [[Ninja of the Deep Hours]] as well.

- Game 1 (LOSS): He was able to drop his [[Cloudfin Raptor]], [[Faerie Miscreant]], and [[Phantasmal Bear]] within two turns. The damage added up too fast and my [[Crypt Rats]] came in too late.

- Game 2 (WIN): I sided in [[Shrivel]] and had [[Crypt Rats]] in my opening hand. I stalled a bit by using [[Tendrils of Corruption]] to keep me alive, while waiting for more and more small creatures to come out on his side. I dropped the [[Crypt Rats]] and wiped the board, and won with the usual cards.

- Game 3 (WIN): The [[Stormbound Geist]] came into play, two of them in fact. These are typically a pain to go against because of Undying, but once again [[Crypt Rats]] came in clutch. By putting two activations of its ability on the stack, the first activation will kill Geist and trigger Undying, only for it to die immediately afterwards from the second activation. I managed to draw multiple [[Crypt Rats]], which massacred everything else that came out. Rat damage, Gurmag, and Corrupts then won the game and tournament.

For more details on my deck, check out the tappedout page. I cover a bit of strategy and sideboarding cards. I've only been playing Magic for six months so if anyone has suggestions for any of my decks, please post some comments to let me know!

Saturday, August 26, 2017, the PAUPER MODERN tournament at 1pm at It’s Your Move Oakland: my own personal worst performance ever in PaupMod.

I (jesse) have been playing PaupMod for ~2yrs now, and I have ~20 decks you can find at http://tappedout.net/mtg-deck-folders/pauper-modern-rules/ but I’ve never lost a tournament so drastically as last Saturday.

We had 8 players. I brought my “PaupMod Afflingity” deck. I had practiced with it earlier in the week against Ben “BeCard4″’s blue urzatron, a PaupMod version of http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/12-07-16-pauper-tron/ that removes

2x capsize

3x preordain

in favor of

2x anticipate

2x vapor snag

1x ghostly flicker

Afflingity beat urzatron handily 5-2, once satisfyingly [[Fling]]'ing a [[Myr Enforcer]] for the win, and I learned to drop 2x [[Terrarion]] and 1 [[prophetic prism]] for 1x [[Lightning bolt]], an extra [[1x springleaf drum]], and a 4th [[vault skirge]].

So going into the tournament here was my list:

4x Fling 4x Galvanic Blast 1x Lightning Bolt 4x Thoughtcast 4x Chromatic Sphere 4x Chromatic Star 4x Cranial Plating 2x Springleaf Drum 4x Atog 4x Frogmite 4x Myr Enforcer 4x Vault Skirge 4x Darksteel Citadel 2x Evolving Wilds 2x Island 5x Mountain 1x Swamp 3x Warped Landscape Sideboard: 4x Apostle's Blessing 4x Electrickery 3x Krark-Clan Shaman 3x Lightning Bolt 1x Nihil Spellbomb

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/paupmodafflingity-paupermoderncom/

First round I challenged Craig's RatLock, except "challenged" may be too strong of a word, as I not only lost both games but failed to damage him in one of them. RatLock went on to win the tournament, here's the list:

1x Bojuka Bog 4x Dimir Aqueduct 3x Dismal Backwater 4x Evolving Wilds 4x Island 1x Serrated Arrows 8x Swamp 1x Ghostly Flicker 2x Mana Leak 2x Mnemonic Wall 4x Mulldrifter 3x Mystical Teachings 4x Sea Gate Oracle 4x Chittering Rats 1x Dead Weight 2x Disfigure 2x Doom Blade 4x Geth's Verdict 1x Grim Harvest 1x Victim of Night 2x Agony Warp 2x Soul Manipulation Sideboard: 1x Beckon Apparition 2x Crypt Incursion 1x Dead Weight 2x Doom Blade 1x Echoing Truth 1x Lose Hope 2x Negate 1x Repeal 2x Spell Pierce 2x Wail of the Nim

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/pauper-modern-rat-lock

Craig won both games without ever actually assembling his proper RatLock combo against me (it consists of [[ghostly flicker]]'ing a [[chittering rats]] every single turn by making the flicker's 2nd target a [[mnemonic wall]], so Oppenent never draws a new card). Instead he got to just beat me down with [[mulldrifter]] and, ugh, [[sea gate oracle]] aka "SeaDaddy." Several times I managed to equip a [[Cranial Plating]] on a [[Vault Skirge]] or even an [[Atog]] but he managed to [[Doom Blade]]/[[Disfigure]]/[[Geth's Verdict]] it every single time.

My second match was against Matt who'd just lost to Huck. Matt was playing his red/black madness/burn centered around [[thermo-alchemist]]. I won the 1st game quickly, cockily [[fling]]'ing an [[atog]] in response to an already-fatal [[galvanic blast]] and then not even bothering to side in the extra [[lightning bolt]]'s even though I knew [[thermo-alchemist]] was coming to get me. For game three I sided out multiple [[Vault Skirge]], a very short-sighted move against a deck that wants to win with [[alms of the vein]].

My third match was against Kyle who'd just lost to TD Eric's InfiniElf/"Midnight Gond" combo, which enchants [[Midnight Guard]] with [[Presence of Gond]] to make infinite elves and then (unlike its Legacy and even some Modern counterparts) then has to wait a turn to attack for the win. Eric even declared during their match that he was creating 1 Avogadro's Constant of elves.

Kyle was playing a red deck that closely resembled my first-ever PaupMod deck except [[sprinting warbrute]] was still in and he had maindecked [[brood birthing]] and [[hand of emrakul]]. Again I won 1 of the 3 games. [[Galvanic Blast]] is perfect against [[sprinting warbrute]] because it's instant and exactly 4 damage. In one loss I nearly managed to win despite several attacks from [[hand of emrakul]] by chumping and sacrificing away my lands, but I didn't have spare artifacts to sacrifice away because I'd just used them all to all-but-kill him with a [[fling]]... exactly the problem with this deck described by Eric in his preface to his Blue PaupMod Affinity.

So I won 2 games and 0 matches. The final was Craig's RatLock versus Huck playing my PaupMod Raid Tremors which looks like this:

1x Icatian Crier 4x Kor Skyfisher 4x Mogg War Marshal 2x Soul Warden 4x Squadron Hawk 4x Suture Priest 4x Lightning Bolt 4x Gather the Townsfolk 4x Boros Garrison 6x Mountain 7x Plains 1x Quicksand 4x Wind-Scarred Crag 4x Impact Tremors 3x Journey to Nowhere 4x Raid Bombardment Sideboard: 4x Electrickery 1x Journey to Nowhere 1x Oblivion Ring 1x Relic of Progenitus 4x Sundering Growth 4x Veteran Armorer

So this past weekend I took legacy elves  to SCG Cincinatti to play in my first open. I just finished the deck this past week (except for fetchlands), and was excited to play it for the first time. What I didn't expect was how well I did. I ended up placing 26th place, with a record of 6-2-1, and moneying my first legacy tournament.

Full Report under the break

(This tourney report was shamelessly copy-pasta'd for the record, and I'm not sure how helpful it'll be to a Tumblr audience which may or may not know about ANT.)

Tournament Report:

For background, I played Ad Nauseum Tendrils, a deck which people seem surprised to learn that I'm quite comfortable with. I audible'd from Miracles because I felt unprepared to play the deck in such a deep field with higher than normal pressure with only two weeks of practice. I placed 43rd with a 6-3 record in a field of what I believe was 385.

  Round 1 v. TES: Despite being the slower deck, we managed to trade games 1 and 2. In game 3, he had a fantastic hand which was one mana short of killing me, so he made goblins instead and I was able to untap and kill him. WIN

  Round 2 v. Belcher: In the first game, I mulliganned, and did not keep a discard spell. I was quickly met by many, many Goblins. On my last turn, I topdecked Tendrils to naturally kill him at 14 life. That was pretty strong. I mulled to five in the second game, lacking a discard spell, and ate Char. In game 3, I mulled to 5 as well, keeping Echoing Truth but no discard, which was great for his goblins. A timely Duress grabbed a top-decked Belcher and I killed him. WIN

  Round 3 v. Aluren: In the first game, I Cabal Therapy'd to see the entire combo sitting in his hand, minus an Aluren: I was evidently the first player he'd met to know what he was trying to accomplish. I took his Recruiter, and then an Aluren, and killed him there-after. In game 2 he had a Wasteland DRS/DRS hand, and I couldn't cobble my combo together as I ripped away Force and Swan Song. I died to Cavern Harpy and Parasitic Strix making sweet love to my life total. In game 3, he mulliganed to 5, and got annihilated promptly. WIN

  Round 4 v. MUD (As piloted by Ali Aintrazi): In game 1, he lands a Chalice on 1 on the first turn. I go off immediately on my turn, but severely mess up my Ad Nauseum, forgetting that Infernal Tutor really needs an LED to kill someone. I could've kept going and potentially found the kill, but I was two LEDs down and my odds of success, even if I'd made the right play, were low. In the second game, I Cabal Therapy'd for Chalice on the idea that it was the worst thing he was most likely to do to me Turn 1, and missed, seeing Trinisphere. I got Wasteland'd the next turn, and had to Ponder to a find a land for a discard spell on top of my library. He topdecked the Grim Monolith and slammed Trinisphere into play, and I loss promptly after. LOSS (Ali placed 12th).

  Round 5 v. Dredge: I don't remember winning game 1, but I think he scooped it up pretty quickly. In game 2, he mulled to 4, and miraculously topdecked Cabal Therapy into Surgical Extraction on Infernal Tutor to make my next turn win, or any win, impossible. In game 3, he mulls to 5 again, and I keep an extremely greedy Infernal Tutor/Surgical Extraction hand. I extract his Troll in response to a Breakthrough, and we both totally miss that he never drew his cards for Breakthrough as we got caught up doing Surgical Extraction antics, and I went on to win the match. WIN

  Round 6 v. Sneak and Show: I manage to kill him in game 1 by ripping away two Forces and playing around a Daze. Ezpz. I played around a Blood Moon he brought in Game 2, but instead of trying to lock me out of my mana, he did the thing where he puts Griselbrand into play, finds Emrakul, and I die. In game 3, I rip a Sneak Attack from a Griselbrand, Emrakul, 2x Lotus Petal, Sneak Attack hand, and he immediately draws Ponder, finds another Sneak Attack, and I die before I can win. It was really frustrating to take that loss in the manner. LOSS

  Round 7 v. Esper? Stoneblade: Game 1 was uneventful, as he kept a hand good against creatures and I robbed him of his counterspell. His game 2 hand was nigh unbeatable, with 2 Snap, 1 Flusterstorm, 1 Counterspell, and a Force being encountered. In game 3 I ripped his hand, which was quite soft to disruption, to shreds, and then combo'd out. WIN

  Round 8 v. UWR Delver: Despite this being a rough matchup, my opponent had really poor hands and played extremely suboptimally game 1'd, tapping out and also not Wastelanding me ASAP. He could've pushed himself to an absurd 29 life by Swording his own creature, but I managed to hit 13 storm just barely and kill him through his misplay. In game 2 he mulled to 6 after I made some comments which turned out to be in poor taste about him having Batterskull in every hand. His 6 card hand had Wasteland, Force, and Spell Pierce, which I promptly tore away and then killed him. WIN

  Round 9 v. Storm: I'd like to say this matchup was close, but it's about as lopsided as the mirror can get. He killed me on turn 2 in the first game after an amazing Brainstorm into 2 LED on the play, after using his turn one to Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy, ripping 3 (THREE) Infernal Tutors from my hand. In game 2, I failed to bring in Confidants, but my objective was to kill him faster, which turned out to be misguided as my Probe revealed 2 Duress, 2 Ponder, 1 Cabal Therapy. I ripped away Therapy with Therapy, but my own Ponder was taken, stranding me with Tendrils, Ad Nauseum, Infernal Tutor, and a ritual. My hand was further picked apart, and my opponent hit solid cards with the one Ponder I let him cast before taking the otherm finding multiple LEDs, which I thankfully snagged with a Cabal Therapy, but more importantly 2 Dark Confidants + 1 which was Infernal'd for. I had a chance to dome my opponent for 12 naturally, but I opted to wait, which was clearly wrong as my opponent knew about one of my LEDs and had a Cabal Therapy waiting to be flashed back in the yard. While trying to find the Past in Flames after hitting him for less than lethal was a slim out, it was probably worth a shot. Sadly, he found a Cabal Therapy on his draw after two Bob triggers, and the therapy in the yard was irrelevant as I died to Bob-induced beatdown into Tendrils. LOSS (My opponent got 16th.)

  All in all, finishing 6-3 feels kind of like an average result, which is not to say that I didn't run quite hot, or that my matchups (78% combo) weren't a little strange, or even that I played well (when I only played mediocre with very little inspired play). What I really mean is that in another universe, I go on to achieve top 16, or perhaps top 8, which would have been a really satisfying experience, whereas top 50 feels like a consolation prize. I didn't earn either spot, obviously, but the goals feel so achievable it's a little bit of a let-down to not achieve them, even when I made the mistakes which inhibited me from succeeding. If you have questions about my list, it's exactly Erik Rill's from about a month ago, and if you have any questions about the games or deck, I'll do my best to answer them.