Subscribe via RSS
UK Nats Qualifier *3rd* with Polymorph
by Andrew Morrison | posted at 2010-03-22 21:53:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Standard, UK, Britain, England, Nationals, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Qualifier, Polymorph, Andrew Morrison
The story of this qualifier starts about six weeks ago in early February. Grant Hislop and I had just finished another mind numbing Extended practice session and were chatting about the fact that the qualifiers were starting so soon this year. Having played so much Extended we were keen to start brewing Standard decks and Grant soon started clogging my inbox with various monstrosities. Then came a revelation:
2 Plains
2 Island
5 Forest
4 Explore
4 Negate
I loved the look of this deck and immediately let Grant know that I wanted to work on it. Several emails followed with assorted refinements and wacky ideas (some of which I could never let go of as we shall see). A brief intermission occurred as we focused for a time on the Extended Glasgow PTQ. With both of us posting poor results Grant joked “So this is the result of so much extra work, I give up!” However lazy bums that we are, we soon discovered that playing Standard is more fun than beer and strippers – no, wait that’s not right, Standard is more fun than….. What is Standard more fun than? Oh I know, getting turn 1 Nacatled or Thoughtseized every game.
Grant emailed to let me know he had given the deck a fundamental overhaul and it was now just two colors cutting the white altogether:
4 Ponder
4 Explore
4 Negate
7 Island
6 Forest
Soon we started testing the deck in earnest. The first session was very promising; the deck crushed Vampires which couldn’t get close to taking a game and had to attempt to play defense because of its lack of a decent clock. Negates and excellent manipulation would always get around their removal though. Chapin/Nassif’s UW deck was also quite easy to dispatch with too many threats from us for them to easily contain (at this time 7 planeswalkers and Polymorph). During this first session we also had a very positive record against Jund. This was a little surprising and in retrospect Jund may have suffered from clunkier than average draws here. In future sessions the Jund results rolled back to something close to 50-50.
The way the deck plays out is manipulation, acceleration, and a small amount of defense with the goal of having an Iona as fast as possible. Choosing a color is fairly simple: black against Jund (for Maelstrom Pulse), white against Naya and UW Control, white against Mythic (post-board you may want to name blue if you do not have Negate mana or Naturalize to combat Mind Control). As a general rule you want to name black or white if your opponent is playing either color as these contain the best removal spells. Of course all of the multi-color decks have outs post Iona, but they should only have three turns to make it happen. In practice this deck can act quite like a very aggressive strategy like Affinity or Boros, punishing slight early game stumbles from the opponent in brutal fashion. A quick Iona or turn three planeswalker on an empty board is big trouble for most opponents.
In the course of the next few practices we started to notice that Polymorph’s hand was fuller than the average deck. Whilst this might not seem like a cause for concern to most people, it made me think perhaps the deck could be a little more focused. We started by completely cutting Treasure Hunt (from a 4-of) and replacing it with 3 Rampant Growths and a 26th land. The next game I ran out of gas and joked to Grant I could really use a Treasure Hunt about now. We added one back for a Rampant Growth and were reasonably satisfied. Around this time we were discovering that Jund was emeninently capable of swarming us post-Iona with the likes of Siege-Gang Commander, Bloodbraids, Saproling tokens and creature lands. Overnight I decided I wanted the fourth Garruk in place of the Treasure Hunt. Whilst Blightning can often make planeswalkers poor against Jund we really just needed something to stall them until Iona had killed them and Garruk is very good at this job.
With the 1st qualifier fast approaching we spent a whole day in the pub……
……well you should try staying out of there when Grant is your testing partner. : ) But seriously we knew we needed to put some effort into sideboarding and I had to lend Bruno Panara yet another massive stack of cards (I feel a little bad here as I shouldn’t be picking on him after he died to some 1/1s) and the pub was easy for everyone to meet up. For the sideboard we knew we wanted Flashfreeze as red seemed to be where a lot of our problems were coming from (Jund and the one truly bad match up so far – Red Deck Wins). We also wanted Naturalize as we figured Boss Naya players would side in the equipment/Sparkmage package. Dispel seemed like a reasonable card to help us out against Monored and could also come in for UW Control (the no counter version was not well known at this point). Unsummon also seemed good for the decks that would try to race us post Iona (Jund, Naya, White Weenie). From here Grant and I diverged a little as we both had our pet terrible cards we wanted to work. Grant was toying with Vines of Vastwood as a way to break through Wall of Denial, whilst I was more worried about speed and had dreams of Whiplash Trapping people. What was supposed to be a general sideboard session turned into wailing and rending of garments as we desperately battled against 4 Duress and 3 Goblin Ruinblaster on the play and 3 Master of the Wild Hunt on the draw. Six anti-Jund cards (4 Flashfreeze, 2 Unsummon) turned into 8 as we added 2 Fog in an attempt to not get overwhelmed by Jund's creatures. Grant didn’t seem too concerned as he believed people’s lack of knowledge concerning our deck would skew the seemingly 50-50 post-board results towards favorability. The most encouraging thing I took from this session (other than the general experience) was the fact that our wins seemed to be mostly blowouts whilst Jund’s seem to take a little more work. We settled on -2 Jace, -2 Negate, -2 Wind Zendikon, -1 Ponder, -1 Tec Edge, +4 Flashfreeze, + 2 Fog, +2 Unsummon. I was not very happy with siding out both Zendikons, but it really seemed like the best option available. We had tried siding out Rampant Growths, but speed seemed to be a key factor for us.
Whilst Grant knew far in advance that he wanted to attend this qualifier and booked a cheap train ticket, I dithered around with unattainable dreams of attending GP-Brussels. After some researching of the travel costs it looked like even if I “brunoed” it, it was going to be a minimum of £150 weekend.
In the end Jeremy decided Nats was more important to him than PT San Juan and would drive down to Newcastle so I was decided as well.
Mother’s Day started with a phone call to the best woman in the world, who was a little disappointed at my still single status. (I’m too involved with innovations, married to mulligans, etc. Somebody please stop me!)
The car ride started out relaxing enough until I got an urgent phone call from Grant saying he had missed his train! (See Grant’s report for the rather amusing story of how this happened.) Jeremy the saint of course turned the car around and headed back towards Edinburgh. After picking up Grant, a delightful drive through the Borders was passed with such diverse conversational topics as children’s bible stories, basic land art, and Willem Dafoe – sex god or craggy faced minger. (In the unlikely event that any ladies are reading, please let us know).
After my poor navigation or Newcastle’s poor signage failed to get us to the venue at the first attempt (once again you decide!) we ended up in a simple room above a nondescript pub. Here is what I registered:
Opposable Digits
4 Ponder
4 Explore
4 Negate
5 Island
5 Forest
Sideboard:
2 Unsummon
2 Fog
2 Dispel
The head judge announced the size of the tournament and the number of rounds and slots available (32, 6, and 4 respectively).
Then he said:
“Right this is the Newcastle nationals qualifier, any questions?”
Some random punter:
“What’s the capital of Algeria?”
TO:
“Algiers, anything else?”
And so commenced an enjoyable and generally friendly tournament.
Round 1 – Jund (Michael)
Game 1 My opp mulled to five so I felt pretty good, I made a Khalni Garden, then whiffed on a Ponder. Meanwhile evil is making turn 3 Leech, turn 4 Leech, turn 5 Leech, even with an Into the Roil thrown in, that’s quite a clock and I quickly succumbed. Game 2 I was considering whether to go for it against untapped mana or wait 1 turn for Negate backup. Whilst I was trying to get the read on him (too much poker) I noticed his Thrinax actually had a friend down below in the form of Raging Ravine. With this extra pressure I decided immediacy seemed appropriate and fortunately Polymorph was uncontested. Don’t remember too much about game 3 except that we were close to going to time and a crowd was gathering. I usually welcome this kind of attention as I am a devotee of Neil Rigby, and enjoy playing the showman in my own small way. However on this occasion, I would have preferred to fly under the radar to maximize the rogue nature of the deck. I think I Unsummoned a Raging Ravine as well – good times.
1-0
Round 2 – Boss Naya (begins with J)
Game 1 he is a little slow and I get down an Iona, however he has Birds of Paradise for a free turn! This kind of thing is crucial in the Naya matchup as post Iona you are usually racing. Luckily a little Wind Zendikon comes to help me out with the clock and finishes him off. I noticed here that in the manner of Howling Mine decks you have to watch your opponent is complying with the game state as most people are not used to playing Magic with certain cards. There’s nothing sinister, but sometimes people forget they have to do something or are forbidden from doing something.
Sideboarding: -2 Jace, - 3 Negate, - 1 Wind Zendikon, -1 Ponder, +3 Flashfreeze, +3 Naturalize, + 1 Unsummon.
Game 2 I kept a double Flashfreeze hand which it turns out is not very good against double Ranger of Eos hands.
Game 3 He got down a quick Basilisk Collar, I didn’t draw a Naturalize, and I lost the fight to control his Sparkmages and Scattershot Archers.
1-1
Round 3 - Monogreen (Robert)
Game 1 His first play is Leatherback Baloth whilst I am Pondering, Exploring and Halimar Depthsing like there is no tomorrow. I get down Iona shortly thereafter and he scoops them up. Yay for mono-color decks!
Sideboarding: -4 Negate, +4 Flashfreeze.
Game 2 he mulls to 6 and doesn’t play a spell before I turn 3 Polymorph.
2-1
Round 4 - Boss Naya (Andrew Devine)
Game 1 he wins the roll and keeps and I throw back a marginal hand for a good six. He is slow with no early plays, and it transpires no green mana. He spends turn 3 O-Ringing a Plant and when Iona comes down his board isn’t developed enough to compete.
Game 2 and again he is not particularly fast although he does have a Collar. I have Naturalize but dither on whether to wait for him to spend the equip mana. It turns out to be relatively moot as I play a Garruk and, as I have 2 more in hand, I start making Beasts and protecting Garruk with Plants. Eventually I’m in a position to start attacking and Wind Zendikon goes offensive at the same time. A Sledge is Naturalized along with the Collar. Then he plays a Ranger which I fear will get 2 Nacatls and get him back into the game. Imagine my relief when I see 2x Scattershot Archer searched up. I put him away with Beasts and ask him afterwards about the Ranger. Turns out he sided out Nacatls for the equipment, etc. package. The thing I fear most as a Polymorph player is speed from the other side of the table, but of course it’s tough to sideboard against rogue decks.
3-1
Round 5 - UW (with counters) Control (Rob Catton)
Game 1 I lose the role and mulligan to an awkward six. Turn 2 I draw a Halimar Depths and decide I want to know what’s happening right away. I’m punished by a turn 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor and stare helplessly at the Negate and Misty Rainforest stranded in my hand. I try to fight with some Into the Roils, Negates, Garruks, and Jaces, but his faster start combined with Colonnades ripping my planeswalkers apart are enough to gain control.
Sideboarding: -1 Into the Roil, -1 Wind Zendikon, +2 Dispel.
Game 2 I threaten him with planeswalkers which encourage him to tap low to attack them and I force a Polymorph through. Rob was quite pleased with himself in this game when he resolved a Telemin Performance. However I had a Jace in play which Unsummoned Iona and put her back into my library – Jace is a very nice card!
Game 3 As we are shuffling, 10 minutes left is called and we speed up. With our mediocre tiebreakers a draw knocks us both out here. He is not happy with his hand and Mind Springs early followed the next turn by a tap out for Baneslayer Angel. Of course I have a Khalni Garden and a Polymorph. I Explore and Halimar and see Jace smiling back at me. Time is running low though and gets called on his turn. I Jace Unsummon the Baneslayer but can see a Colonnade which will buy one turn to get the draw. I start talking to him asking if we played for longer if he would have any outs. He says double Jace, but before Iona kills him that seems unlikely. He doesn’t seem to be budging and I don’t want to straight out ask the question. At the end of turn 2 I realize I forgot to memorize the Halimar stack and can’t decide whether to crack a fetch in an attempt to find the Tectonic Edge. I don’t find it and he gets his block in. Now I am uselessly using Jace and Halimar Depths on turn 5 and the judge starts pressuring us for a result. In a highly honorable act Rob informs the judge the result is 2-1 to me. I then thank him and commiserate. Rob was my toughest opponent of the day and I hope to see him at Nats this year.
4-1
Round 6 – Jund (Richard Smith)
Grant who is also on 4-1 at this point informs me that he has heard Richard vow to play his last round despite being 5-0 in order to help out a friend who is top of the 3-2s and could possibly make it. When we sit down Richard tells me the same thing, and after some talk of what he will do if his mate loses and some discussion with the judge on dos and don’ts we started playing. To his credit Richard was never comfortable in the role of dream crusher and apologized for the situation. Game 1 was a standard Polymorph and bounce game, with Richard’s draw not being quite smooth enough to compete. At one point he was attacking with Raging Ravine (4/4), Putrid Leech, and Sprouting Thrinax. He was on 15 and I was on 16. I blocked the Thrinax with Iona as I was hoping he would pump Leech to reduce my clock. He did, and I Into the Roiled it. Richard seemed like a very deliberate player, but I’m not sure if he checked his life total before pumping there.
Game 2 was a double Garruk game and I was able to defend them well enough to get a few creatures and attack him to 10. The board stalled and I had two spells left to his Terminate in hand (his frustration at the way he tapped his mana let me in on this). Then he got Bloodbraid into Blightning getting Jace, my hand, and a hasty attacker all for the low price of four mana and one card. He continued to draw spells while I drew blanks and it was over a couple of turns later.
Now I can see the friend has finished and is sitting alone at his table. I try to catch his eye, in the hope that he will wander over to us, but then he gets out his phone and starts doodling around, argh! The judge is back and encouraging us to play. I want to say I think the judge handled the situation quite well considering how I was pressuring him, a good job by him.
Game 3 my hand was decent and I used bounce aggressively in the early game to protect my future planeswalkers. An Iona came down on an empty board and my opponent scooped them up seeming relieved that he hadn’t beaten me. What a nice guy!
I jumped out of my chair hugging Grant (who had been watching since winning his match) and declaring him a genius for everyone to hear. This was one of my happiest Magic moments and well worth savoring. Remember people we are not robots, let your emotions out!
I finish 3rd with Grant in a very deserved 1st place. Justice for the man who had a great idea and then brewed it till it was ready.
The drive home was filled with much mutual back slapping and congratulations from Jeremy.
By 10 O’clock the adrenaline had drained from me and I collapsed into bed, still grinning from ear to ear.
The best part of this experience was the feeling of being part of something different.
As Chapin says “Innovate”
Thanks for reading
Andy Morrison
arw_morrison@hotmail.com
wizardlah on mtgo
Props
Jeremy for driving all the way their and back (and investing in Jaces).
Everyone who loaned me cards.
Rob Catton for being a gentleman.
DCI Reporter for not pairing me and Grant during the tournament.
Grant for buying all of us bacon sandwiches on the road and for being inspired.
Slops
Artwork for Ravnica Forests
Whoever decided to have qualifiers for an August tournament in March.
Jeremy for 0-3 sucking out (but mainly for forgetting Trace of Abundance can pay for Quenchable Fire).
Discuss this article in our forums.
Follow us @starkpo.
Email the author.
Become a fan.
Hailing from the UK, Andrew started playing Magic casually around Ice Age. He made an effort tighten up his play beginning in Mirrodin. That has brought him eight PTQ Top 8s, and an appearance at Pro Tour-Kuala Lumpur.