Tournament Report: TCGPlayer $5000 Standard with BW Tokens

It's late again.

I'm sitting at my desk, with my deck laid out across it. Half of it is sleeved, half of it is sitting with a pile of other cards. Most are terrible, but some of them are getting serious consideration, despite their flaws.

“You getting any sleep tonight?” comes the voice over Skype. A friend of mine – he's not going to the tournament tomorrow.

“Yea,” I respond, only half sure that I'm telling the truth. “I just need to figure this out.”

“Wasn't it a good matchup? You said it yourself – you're 10-2 against Delver in Competitive REL events.”

“It's different now.”

Each card seems heavy, like I'm a novice deck builder fumbling through his first attempts at a mana curve. I look back up at the screen, with Gerry Thompson's list writ large across it. The Big Bad Wolf, come to knock my house down. Things were different when their whole deck could be beaten by two anthems and a Lingering Souls. Back then, the only thing with 4 toughness was a Sworded creature, or an ephemeral angel. Now they had 3/4 flying Snapcaster Mages. How do you even compete with that?

I finish the deck, then look back over towards my bed. I need to be up in not-very-long to drive for two hours to Edison. I have no idea what to expect for a $5k tournament. I've never been to anything bigger than a PTQ, and even that was just the once.

And Delver beat you twice there too.

It's late, and my mind is getting to me. Time to get some sleep and come at this fresh in the morning.

---

It's huge.

I walk in, nearly an hour early for the tournament and there's already more people than the PTQ that I attended. I grab a decklist and a registration sheet and get to work building. I run into some people from the Depot, and a bunch from All-Stars. Some of the local grinders are here too, and I make a point of saying hello's to them. A bunch are still frantically putting cards together. I don't know how you can justify showing up to an event without a deck built. That just seems like setting yourself up to lose.

I scout the room, and I don't trust what I see. I hear people talking about Wolf Run, and Three-And-Two-Half-Color-Control (which wins this week's deck name of the week award). I see a couple people sleeving up mono-green Infect, which I’m fairly sure has a good matchup. Nowhere, of course, do I see Delver.

Maybe everyone’s afraid of it. Maybe no one will be running it because they’re expecting hate?

A guy can be hopeful. I’d rather go against a room of anything but Gerry T’s Delver today. I don’t think I broke the format with my tech. I don’t think I’ve even substantially altered the deck. I’m pretty much running the same thing I had been with minor sideboard tweaks – they’re not even anti-Delver tweaks. My game plan is to ignore that Restoration Angel exists and just hope that the ground I gain because of the lack of Sword of War and Peace is better than the ground I  lost to an extremely well-tuned list and Restoration Angel.

Here’s what I register:

Some comments about the cards here might be warranted. The maindeck is my typical, though I’d wanted to squeeze in two Go For The Throat, I ended up not being able to because I couldn’t find a pair the night before. I’d have cut an Oblivion Ring (to the sideboard) and a Doomed Traveler to fit them, and I think they’d make the deck run more smoothly.

Sideboard wise, I was trying some new things. Angel’s Tomb was tech from MTGO. There’s a vaguely successful tokens build incorporating it as an answer to Wolf’s Run. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I’m trying it. Same goes with the Demonlord of Ashmouth. I was concerned with the color commitment, but if I could resolve one against Wolf Run, there isn’t much that they can effectively do to stop it post-sideboard. I actually wanted to run Indomitable Archangel in both spots, but I didn't have them handy. Maybe Restoration Angel would be a consideration as well?

The rest is just tweaks on existing numbers, which I actually have started to like more than I have before. This bodes well for me, and makes me feel much more comfortable when sideboarding on the spot. I traditionally haven’t used sideboard guides, because I feel like we should be flexible when boarding, but it’s important to have easy things to side-out in matchups.

During the player’s meeting, we’re informed by a judge not using a microphone that we’ve got 309 people, and that there will be nine rounds. So, average length of a Grand Prix. That seems…

I do some math. We’re starting at around 11am. If each round goes for an hour, that brings us to 8pm. Top 8 will take another 3 hours, and that’s 11pm. Assuming each round is no more than an hour. I quickly estimate that the winner will be leaving here around dawn.

Lovely.

They post pairings in four different places, depending on last name, and I make sure that I’m at my spot way in advance of the postings. I like getting to my seat before my opponent and setting up – and it works this time. I sit down across from a guy named Matt.

Round 1 – Matt with Kamikaze

The Kamikaze deck is the closest thing that we have to a Standard Combo deck. It uses Blood Artist and Zombies to get off to an aggressive start before sacrificing all its creatures for lethal through Falkenrath Aristocrat or Killing Wave. Unfortunately, their game plan relies on getting early damage in, because in the late game it’s rare for them to be able to Killing Wave for more than 10.

He starts with a Gravecrawler against my Champion/Gather Draw. We both beat each other down as I add an Anthem and he adds a Geralf’s Messenger. I toss an Oblivion Ring on the Messenger and he calls it a day after I gain twelve from Vault of the Archangel.

Sideboard: +3 Celestial Purge, +3 Timely Reinforcements, +1 Mortarpod, -1 Angel of Jubilation, -3 Hero of Bladehold, -3 Oblivion Ring

The thought behind sideboarding is that the late game favors me if I can get any life-gain. I just need to survive till then. My plan is to have a lot of early board presence. I really like this sideboard, and I encourage you to try it out if you’re running base-white.

Unfortunately for me, my deck shuts that plan down immediately by forcing a mulligan to 5 off of two no-land hands. The mull to five is strong though. Another Champion/Gather/Honor hand. He tries to bury me in his card advantage, throwing removal and bodies at me, and my life dwindles into the single digits without me really being able to compete, but a clutch Mortarpod keeps his Blood Artists at bay, and blocks his stronger zombies long enough for me to churn out a full-value Lingering Souls that kills him in two turns with Vault to back me up.

1-0  (2-0 in games)

Round 2- Matt Thompson with Kamikaze

Before the round, I’m sitting there and talking with a friend of mine from the New York shop. I’m chatting about how I crushed Kamikaze, and he’s doing the same about Humans. My opponent looks nervous. I’m vindicated when he plays a turn one Diregraf Ghoul.

Game one is absurdly close. We trade damage for a while, and I’m gaining a ton of life almost as fast as I’m losing it. I bounce from 7 up to 15, taking him down to 6 life, with lethal on the board. Desperate, he plays a second Blood Artist and then Killing Wave for 3, sacrificing his whole team and forcing me to sacrifice mine or die. I go to one life, and him up to fourteen.

Being on one life against a deck that runs Geralf’s Messenger, 4/1 haste creatures, and I assume some manner of burn spells is very unnerving. I panic for a turn or two, attacking with a Champion and Doomed Traveler to gain one life via Vault once he removes the Champion. I’m on two, and it’s his main phase.

He plays nothing and passes. I let out a huge sigh of relief, and draw a Midnight Haunting. He plays nothing again, and I fire off the Haunting, swinging me back to nine life the following turn off a Vault activation.

Sideboard: +3 Celestial Purge, +3 Timely Reinforcements, +1 Mortarpod, -1 Angel of Jubilation, -3 Hero of Bladehold, -3 Oblivion Ring

It worked last time, so I went with the same sideboard plan. Game two was quick, after my turn 2 Mortarpod trumped his turn 2 Blood Artist. I timely Reinforcements to trump his gravecrawler, and once I get a pair of anthems going, he’s forced onto the defensive and never comes back.

2-0  (4-0 in games)

Round 3 – Ryan with Delver

I’m nervous going to round 3. Anyone can win two, but starting off 3-0 seems so much better. I’m confident, but being at the literal top table is a little surreal, especially after you notice that Jackie Lee and Mike Flores have both picked up early round losses. If they’re losing, do I actually just have the best deck for the room?

My opponent looks vaguely hipster-ish, but smiles and seems like a cool guy. He doesn’t banter much, and we start the round. He begins with a mulligan to six, but manages to dig out of it through raw card efficiency. An early snapcast-ponder puts him back to parity with me, and I beat him down pretty hard until he casts a Restoration Angel to protect an attacking Geist of St. Traft. On two life, he goes offensive, forcing blocks for me to survive on two life myself, which I can’t capitalize on because of a second Restoration Angel and a Angel-Snapcast-Vapor Snag to stop my two remaining flyers.

Sideboard: -3 Hero of Bladehold, -1 Angel of Jubilation, -1 Doomed Traveler, +3 Timely Reinforcements, +2 Nihil Spellbomb

The second game goes my way, with me slowly draining him out after casting a Timely Reinforcements for full value. He isn’t able to put on enough pressure to deal with it and the follow up, and I kill him with plenty of cards left in hand.

One of his friends comments over his shoulder: “This seems like a terrible matchup for you.”

He nodded and admitted to it. “It’s probably not what I’d like to be playing against.”

Game three goes to time. After our long drawn out first game, even the abbreviated second doesn’t stop it. As time is called, it’s my turn, and I have nineteen flying power on the field across eight or nine creatures. He’s on 17, and I have an active Vault of the Archangel. He has a Sworded up Angel (War and Peace), a normal Angel, and a Geist of St. Traft, plus a flipped delver. I am on 24, and have a couple of cards in hand, so does he.)

We trade back and forth, and it’s turn 4 – my last turn. He’s on five, and I still have more than double lethal damage on the field. He’s tapped out on creatures, but not on mana. I’m at seven. We have a huge crowd, as a game at the top table going to time and still being close despite a complex board position tends to attract people.

I swing out for lethal, tapping out because I don’t have an intangible virtue. I activate Vault of the Archangel. He starts tapping mana. Snapcaster Mage, targeting faith’s shield.

“That’s some kind of protection thing?”

He nods.

“Alright?” I say. “Can I see the card?”

He tosses it over to me and I read it with dread. Fateful Hour. If he’s at five or less, it also gives protection to him. In this case, from white.

“I don’t gain any life, do I?”

He shakes his head.

“I think you’ve got this one.”

I extend the hand.

2-1 (5-2 in games)

I’d like to note that this game was 100% non-loseable. First, I’d used a Nihil Spellbomb much earlier in the game to dig for a land, to activate Vault of the Archangel. This wasn’t strictly necessary, but if I had held it even a turn longer, I’d have been able to remove the shield from his graveyard and win. Digging for the land may still have been the correct choice, and only now reading my recap am I realizing that I made a misplay on my last turn.

At the time, my options seemed to be “Attack for the win” or “Defend for the draw”. Either way, Faith’s Shield giving protection from white wins him the game. However, if I had forced him to use Faith’s Shield to defend my attack, by only attacking with half my force, I could have survived by blocking his whole team and drawing the match.

I didn’t take the Faith’s Shield in his graveyard into account, and I should do that more often. Noting what spells are available for Snapcaster Mage is not something that you can ignore in the matchup. I don’t think I played badly here, and I honestly think that the match should have ended in a draw if I played it well, or a win if I had thought to hold my spellbomb.

Round 4 – John Reuben with Delver

I was pretty bummed out after my last round. I’d really been hoping to go 3-0 and position myself well for the second third of the tournament. Losing, especially in such a close match, had me questioning things left and right.

I sit down to my opponent, and he plays out a Seachrome Coast into Ponder to start. I come out the gate quickly, beating down with a Doomed Traveler and Champion. I add an anthem to the board, and then a Lingering Souls takes down the game.

Sideboard: -3 Hero of Bladehold, -1 Angel of Jubilation, -1 Doomed Traveler, +3 Timely Reinforcements, +2 Nihil Spellbomb

In our second game, I mulligan to six, and lose a close match that was broadly because I ran out of token generators and couldn’t find a black source to flash back the pair of Lingering Souls rotting in my graveyard. This is, to my knowledge, the first time that a mana-color issue has screwed me in this deck. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

Game three isn’t close. I get early presence, and he can’t recover fast enough even through a Timely Reinforcement.

3-1 (7-3 in games)

Round 5 – Derek with Delver

A third successive Delver opponent puts me a little sour-mouthed. Can’t I go back to fighting Zombies? Those are easy. It’s almost like I’m playing against an expected meta. That’s still relatively new to me – considering that the majority of tournaments that I’ve played in have had a meta entirely dependent on who the good players in the room are. I’m going to need to get used to that going forward.

My first match went long, and ended with me barely grinding out a win with a last-second Vault activation. He can’t quite get the last three points of damage in, and I take the match.

Sideboard: -3 Hero of Bladehold, -1 Angel of Jubilation, -1 Doomed Traveler, +3 Timely Reinforcements, +2 Nihil Spellbomb

Game two sees me mulligan to six, and then lose a close race to Sword of War and Peace on a Restoration Angel. He ends on five life, and a Vault, or removal spell, at any point would have won the game for me.

Between games two and three, I sideboard out two Oblivion Rings and bring in two Divine Offering.

Game three ends up being a tragedy as I lose a race to Restoration Angel in the late game. Ironically, I lose with a pair of Divine Offerings in my hand, no targets for them, and plenty of mana to tap. If only they had been Oblivion Rings…

3-2 (8-4 in games)

Aftermath

Despite there being four more rounds, it was nearing 4 o’clock and I since I was most likely out of the range of the top 32 prize pool, I decided that the rest of the night would be better spent trekking up to New York in time for dinner. I spent the rest of the weekend with my family and saw my brother graduate from my High School – which is always a nice turn.

I’m not sure what the answer to Delver is. I feel like there needs to be one, and that if there is, I’ll need to find it. They've gotten stronger, but in different ways. I think Tokens is still a good place to be against them, but it's going to need to evolve a bit. Expect a very different list next week.

This weekend, I have FNM and a pair of GPT’s at Ron’s Comic World. I’ll be attending those, if only for the experience and the Planeswalker Points. I’m at 313 for the season so far, which puts me in easy range of my first GP Bye for next season. Those byes are going to turn out to be important, since I’ll be attending GP Boston and GP Philadelphia during that season, and byes at either are likely to be very important to my success there. I’m not at the point of assuming that I can win a GPT for any given event, and so getting 2 Byes from points would be spectacular. I’ve got a ton of big events coming up, and doing well at them should make that threshold reachable.

In the meantime, I’m brewing aggressively for the Worlds Qualifier on the 16th. I really would like to do well there and come out with a strong record. I may just take Tokens, but if I do, it’s something that I want to come with something stronger. Maybe an Esper List foregoing the Champion/Gather/Honor package for Favorable Winds, Snapcaster, Delver, and Restoration Angel? That seems like giving into the Delver Menace, but it might just give me the best chance to win this thing.

All I know is that all this talk of banning Ponder and Snapcaster doesn’t matter in the least to me. The Qualifier is on the 16th, and the next ban announcement isn’t till the 20th. After that, it’s all Legacy practice until Atlanta, and then the M13 prerelease the following weekend. I won’t be playing Standard post-ban until Connecticon on July 13-15.

Here’s hoping that the format sorts itself out soon.