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Magic Online PTQ - 6/17

I went 6-2 in the PTQ this past Thursday evening. Here are the replays:

R1 W vs. Turboland


R2 W vs. Jund


R3 W vs. Mythic


R4 W vs. UB Hedron Crab/Vengevine


R5 L vs. Jund


R6 L vs. Boros Bushwacker


R7 W vs. Next Level Bant


R8 W vs. Turboland

My Jund list

And if your curious what I'm running:

4 Putrid Leech
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Sprouting Thrinax
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Vengevine
2 Siege-Gang Commander

4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Bituminous Blast
2 Eldrazi Monument

4 Savage Lands
4 Raging Ravine
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Doom Blade
4 Blightning
3 Royal Assassin

Things I'm consdering:
* I'm bringing Blightning in a lot, but I cut different things for it. Against Blue control decks, it's Thrinax, in the mirror it's Maelstrom Pulse, and I certainly don't really want it main deck against dedicated Vengevine decks.
* Royal Assassin may not be correct against Mythic, they may become some other removal spell. It's also kind of difficult to cast.
* Lightning Bolt is for Mythic, but it's not Forked Bolt because I'd rather have Bolt against Red Deck Wins, which is very much a deck online.
* Eldrazi Monument > Sarkhan the Mad in a fight, and it isn't even close. I could see running both, but definitely not the planeswalker over the artifact.

Summary of Standard season

My Standard PTQ season has been extremely mediocre after Extended season:

Portland: 5-3, knocked out in 4th round of 8
Indy Regionals: 3-2 drop (8 rounds)
Seattle: 3-2 drop (8 rounds)
MODO PTQ 6/6: 4-4, knocked out in 6th round of 8
SCG 5K Seattle: 5-3 drop, knocked out of T8 in 7th round of 9, knocked out of money in 8th

All of these I played Jund, and for monetary reasons, I'd probably continue playing Jund. Plus I think the deck's still the most powerful deck in the format. And I'm more or less +EV in 2-man queues with the deck. Since putting the deck together, my online rating has gone from 1590 to swinging between 1650 and 1730, mostly in the 1690-1700 range. I guess at the height of my Magical powers, I was 1750-1800 in Limited, but still not even close to infinite, but I don't know what the gamut of ratings in Constructed is.

Anyway, I'm very comfortable with Jund and think I can keep tuning it to the metagame and put up good numbers and keep getting better with the deck. I'm not convinced it's super draw/cascade dependent because I know I'm playing very loosely. Will continue on with the PTQ schedule, and should probably get my Limited chops going too: I've drafted maybe 5 times since Standard season started, and all of the drafts have gone terribly!

This summer is the summer I actively get better at Magic, because although I think people regard me as a decent/not bad player, I'm really tired of losing to good players late in tournaments and would like to put up some damn finishes!

Online PTQs

The eternal quest for a balance between Magic and social life has likely axed another PTQ from my schedule, so I think I'm going to commit to investing more in MODO cards and play in online PTQ's. Here are the ones I think I can do:

Sunday, 6/6/10   7AM PDT
Sunday, 6/13/10   3AM PDT
Thursday, 6/17/10   6PM PDT
Sunday, 6/20/10   3AM PST
Thursday, 7/8/10   6PM PDT
Sunday, 7/11/10   7AM PDT
Sunday, 7/18/10   7AM PDT
Sunday, 7/25/10   11AM PDT

Seriously, I'm going to do every single one of these.

End of the season, and start of Standard

Extended is over, and I'm pretty sad to see it go. I 6-2'd the last PTQ with Faeries Thopter again, a deck which I've never had as much success as I have this season:

R1 W vs. Dark Depths
R2 W vs. Bant Foundry
R3 W vs. Dredge
R4 L vs. Jon Zoo (Scapeshift Zoo)
R5 W vs. Dredge
R6 W vs. Bant Foundry
R7 L vs. Dark Depths
R8 W vs. Blood Moon Zoo

I made a pretty subtle judgment error against Jon in Game 3 because, knowing that he had Scapeshift in hand, I auto-piloted and presumed that Scapeshift would take away all my life points. However, since he has Mountains in play, he doesn't have enough left in his deck to go for the full amount. The board is me with the Thopter Combo online at about 22 and five mana up, and him with lots of lands, a Knight of the Reliquary and a Scapeshift. He casts Scapeshift, and I tap 3 for Thirst for Knowledge because I think I'm just dead. I don't find Muddle the Mixture, and he sacs 4 lands to do 12 to me. He then plays a Sejiri Steppe to give Knight of the Reliquary pro Thopter Combo and attacks. I can gain 2 life, but I still end up about 1 short. What should have happened is me not tapping 3 for Thirst so I have more life to gain and I don't die. I'm bad.

So this is what my PTQ Puerto Rico season looked like:

EXTENDED Record Deck knocked out?
PTQ Seattle I 2-2 UG Scapeshift R4/8
GP Oakland 3-3-1 Bant Charm Zoo R5/9
PTQ Oakland 5-3 Bant Charm Zoo R7/8
PTQ Vancouver 4-3 Thopter Faeries R5/7
PTQ Boise 5-2 Thopter Faeries R6/7
PTQ Seattle II 6-2 Thopter Faeries R7/8
SEASON TOTAL 25-15-1 (61.79%)

I bested my win rate from last PTQ season, so this was my best PTQ season to date, but no blue envelope and no Top 8 pins yet. I think the deck mattered tons; it was a mix of raw power with it's sick T1 starts of Bob and Bitterblossom, and surprise with the Thopter Foundry combo jammed in there.

My rating is currently 1921, possibly 10-15 points higher if I can successfully hound a tournament organizer to submit a 16K sealed at a convention that I 5-0'd. This month I have two PTQ's, but I cannot attend Regionals and the cut off is the beginning of June. I have to get to about 2020 to qualify for Nats by then, and I'm thinking about booking a ticket and going right now even if I don't qualify. If I don't grind in there, I will have at least another PTQ to grind to add to the paltry three I'm currently slated for.

So I have the lofty goal of qualifying for Regionals off of rating this coming month. I think I'm going to book a ticket for Minneapolis to commit myself to it. If I don't make it, I will go to grind in. That next month will be a Star City 5K and another PTQ, then nothing for the rest of the season until Nationals in August and Grand Prix Portland in September.

I think I'm insane. I asked a couple friends who are in the GP/Magic jet set if I was insane. Response?

Yes (see: anyone who plays magic)

PTQ Boise

I went to Boise this weekend for a PTQ and played Thopter Faeries again. The only change I really made was make an Island an Academy Ruins, which was never relevant, and make the Negate in the sideboard a third Damnation to shore up the Zoo matchup.

I went 5-2. I lost in Round 6 playing for the top 8, which makes me 0-5 lifetime in such situations.

More relevantly, in Round 1 I'm playing the stone mirror. I win Game 1, and Game 2 I keep a hand with Bitterblossom, Spell Snare and mana and nearly instantly keep. He plays a land and announces Thoughtseize. I think about what he's going to take, and of course it's the Leyline of the Void in my hand.

Huh?

Yup, that just happened. I was so tunnel visioned on seeing a Bitterblossom and Bitterblossom counters (which I thought would matter in the matchup) that I totally forgot to play Leyline when the game started! Of course, that game, he puts together the combo and wins. He wins Game 3 after that too.

I made excuses like that it was the first time I've ever had Leyline of the Void in my opening hand in a match. I don't know if it was my focus at the table or what that made me not think to start with that on the table, but whatever it is, it's probably the reason I'm 0-5 in getting into top 8's.

The rest of the day on my scorepad, in addition to writing "BPV" at the top of the page (ironic because PV doesn't do things like miss Leylines), but under it "SLOW DOWN". I went 5-1* after that abortion of an opening round.

You can console me all you want, but the player I want to be doesn't make mistakes like that.

Anyway, I'm behind the deck more and more now. I really think it beats everything in the format that isn't Zoo. You also have the rogue advantage of people not knowing your deck from the cards you play, tricking people into thinking you're straight up Faeries and then getting off the combo. I'm so behind the deck that I'm considering buying a ticket to Houston for the Grand Prix in two weeks.

* My results if you care:
R1 L Thopter Faeries
R2 W Brozek Deck Wins
R3 W Bant
R4 W Thopter Ironworks
R5 W Bant Charm Zoo
R6 L UW Thopter Control
R7 W Mono Red Burn