Saturday, March 27, 2010

Extended GPT Tournament Report **2nd Place**

It's pretty late here (past midnight) so I wont bother writing a fancy introduction about how Grand Prix Houston is a week away and how I decided that a local GPT would be my chance to get a feel for the Extended format first hand and possibly take home some free wins. Instead I'll just cut to the chase. I spent most of FNM testing various extended decks, unsure of what I wanted to sleeve up, but in the end I decided on Martyr Lark (for two reasons: 1) Card availability and 2) It was the only deck I knew well enough to not misplay very often). So I went home, slept, and woke up ready to take down the tournament. To be totally honest, I did not expect to make it into Top 8, let alone be 1 card away from winning the whole thing (more on that to come... lol) so when I got to the store I took a quick survey of what people were playing and sleeved up this list:

Martyr Lark:
http://mtgurl.com/FwZn


So there's the deck. I wont take the time to explain things because this deck is actually pretty deep. There are so many sick interactions that just take over the game. This deck has an auto win against pretty much every aggro deck in the format (Zoo, Boros, RDW, Scapeshift, etc) and can hold it's own against Dark Depths (survived 2 attacks from Marit Lage before finally losing to a Rite of Consumption). I personally think this is the best deck to play in Extended at the moment. The sideboard let's you tweak things even more in your favor. Thada Adel is insane and demands a removal spell (she comes in against Thepths to steal their Thopter Combo and use it myself). Teferi makes the control matchups significantly better, Crovax stops Thopter Combo and Dark Depths (even though he is usually too slow), and of course Chalice and E.E. are good as well.

On to the report.

Round 1 vs Red Deck Wins (Auto Win #1)
When the pairings for the first round went up I was both extremely happy and pretty bummed at the same time. I was happy because I knew my opponent was playing Red Deck Wins (which is essentially an auto win for Lark) but I was bummed because the reason I knew my opponent was playing RDW was because my opponent was a good friend of mine. We shuffled up and the beatings commenced. Game 1 I had Martyr of Sands in my opening hand which single-handedly negated all of the damage my opponent dealt me that game. I quickly took control of the board and my opponent scooped up his cards, knowing he couldn't restabilize in time. Game 2 was just like the first, Martyr of Sands negated all the life I initially lost and gave me a chance to overrun my opponent with 1/1 Illusion tokens (thanks to Meloku).

Record: 1-0 (2-0 in games)

Round 2 vs Living End (Auto Win #2)
Round 2 was another round where I knew what my opponent was playing ahead of time. He had been sitting next to me the previous round so I knew he was playing Living End (yet another amazing match for Lark, seeing as Lark WANTS spells to come out of the graveyard). Game 1 I use Wrath of God to restabilize post Living End after a fairly uneventful start. I quickly amassed too many good spells in my graveyard to make Living End a profitable spell and my opponent scooped up his cards. Game 2 my opponent started off with a Leyline of the Void in play (ouch) but it was no match for Martyr of Sands (MVP of the Tournament). I hold off all his threats and swing for the win in the air with Lark and Mulldrifter.

Record: 2-0 (4-0 in games)

Round 3 vs Hive Mind Combo (aka WORST MATCH UP!)
Round 3 I was paired up against Hive Mind, the one deck I DIDN'T want to see. Lark has no outs once Hive Mind hits the board so the plan is to keep them off of Mind with Meddling Mage while amassing a small army of creatures to try and deal 20 damage before they finally find a way to bounce/kill Mage and resolve Hive Mind. Game 1 goes pretty badly (as expected). I land a Meddling Mage, but after a few turns of "Land, Go" my opponent Slaughter Pact's my Mage, plays Hive Mind, and then Pact of the Titan to seal the deal. Game 2 is much of the same, except this time it's Summoners Pact that wins it.

Record: 2-1 (4-2 in games)

Round 3 vs BG Depths
My opponent had been paired down, so I tried to convince him that scooping to me would put us both at 3-1 and therefore guarantee that both of us would get into Top 8. He declined my offer and we played it out. I honestly dont remember much about this match up, other than that in Game 3 he double Thoughtseized me to get rid of both Paths I was holding and then swung in with a 20/20 the next turn to finish the game.

Record: 2-2 (5-4 in games)

At this point I was pretty bummed because my friend had been told that there was no chance a 2-2 record would make it into Top 8. I shuffled up my cards and sat there sulking in my defeat. But when Top 8 pairings were posted I was informed that I had made it in. I literally fell out of my chair in excitement and ran over to the list to see who I was playing. To my dismay it was going to be a rematch vs Hive Mind. "Well," I thought, "at least I made it to Top 8."

Top 8 Round 1 vs Hive Mind Combo
Game 1 was by far the greatest win I've ever achieved. I had 4 land on the board, a Meddling Mage naming Hive Mind and a Martyr of Sands. My opponent draws his card, thinks, then procedes to Slaughter Pact my Mage. He then combo's Seething Song's and Desperate Rituals into enough mana to cast Hive Mind. He then plays ANOTHER Seething Song, but counters it with his own Pact of Negation. "GG?" He asked as he stared at my 4 mana, thinking I was going to be 1 short of playing the 5 mana required to stay alive. "Not quite" I said as I played Path to Exile on my Martyr, getting my 5th land and winning me the game (my opponent didnt have enough mana to pay for both Slaughter Pact and Pact of Negation). Game 2 I got destroyed (as expected). Game 3 rolls around and my opponent has to mull to 4. We play a few turns as he's stuck on 2 islands. He draws his card for turn then proceeds to cast Manamorphos and immediately draws a card. I point out that he didn't have a Red or Green mana to pay for the Manamorphos. I call a judge and he scooped up his cards and walked away.

Top 8 Round 2 vs Kyle Sanchez playing Scapeshift Landfall Zoo (the deck designed by Jon Loucks from Channel Fireball)
I sit down for Round 2 and begin to realize that the tournament could be mine to win. I looked at the 3 other decks that remained, and all of them were very good matchups for me (Zoo, Boros, and Depths). I ended up against Zoo. But this wasn't your ordinary Zoo list. This was the Zoo list designed by Jon Loucks from Channel Fireball. The point of the deck was to pump out a bunch of small landfall creatures and then Scapeshift for 5 or 6 in order to make all the tiny 0/1's and 1/1's into massive 14/15's and 19/19's. However, Zoo is an easy match up for me, and so is Scapeshift, so I wasn't too worried. Game 1 I take control with 3 Martyr of Sands and win the game with at least 10 creatures in play (thanks to the always awesome Martyred Rusalka + Body Double combo). Game 2 I stall on land and he bashes my face in with a 19/19 Plated Geopede. Game 3, like the first, is dominated by life gain and I win when my opponent runs out of options and scoops.

Alright, Top 2. I made it. I learn from the judge that my opponent is playing Brozek Boros. Sweet! An easy matchup! This tournament is in the bag! Well, as it turns out, the tournament wasn't as "in the bag" as I thought It would be...

Top 8 Round 3 vs Brozek Boros (THE FINALS!)
Games 1 and 2 were nothing special. Game 1 I get the nut draw and curve out perfectly. My life total never drops below 15 and I end the game with a few fliers. Game 2 I have to mulligan down to 4 and get my face stomped in. Game 3 is where all the action happened. My opponent and I both started out slow, but he manages to get my life total down to 7. I Chalice for 2 (which apparently made every card in his hand dead) and start to take control with a Meloku making a token or 2 every turn. I finally draw Lark, and I have a Martyr of Sands sitting in my graveyard just in case things get ugly (I also have Venser in hand so I can bounce the Lark if I need to get Martyr in play). I swing my opponent down to 3 life and decide to get greedy and play a second Lark instead of leaving 7 mana open and just passing the turn. My opponent proceeds to Shard Volley me at end of turn, putting me at 4 life. "I need to draw Char." he told me, "It's my only out". The rooms is silent as he slowly reaches for the top of his deck. He looks at it and his friend (standing behind him) freaks out and screams "NO WAY!!!". My opponent shows me the Char he ripped off the top of the deck and everyone goes nuts! Unbelievable! The one card he needed to win the game was on top. Words cant even describe the feelings I had. I realized my horrendous misplay and how it ultimately cost me the tournament (and $100 and 3 Byes at GP Houston). I shook hands with my opponent, congratulating him on his win and packed up my things. I walked away with $100 in store credit, but I still felt cheated by my bad play.

Overall I think the deck preformed very well. Martyr of Sands is probably one of the best cards to play in Extended at the moment. The ability to erase 15 points of damage for 1 mana is absolutely absurd, especially when you can essentially do it as many times as you want thanks to Lark and friends. I would strongly encourage everyone to at least test with Lark and experience the sheer power and card advantage the deck has. Aethermage's Touch was a beating in every game, and the fact that it bounces the creature you find back to your hand makes the card even better when paired with Lark or Mulldrifter or other creatures with "come into play" abilities. You can expect me to be rocking this deck at GP Houston in a week and hopefully I can avenge my terrible misplay.

Thanks for Reading! I apologize if there are spelling or grammar mistakes. As I stated in the beginning of the article, it is well after midnight here and I'm both physically and mentally exhausted from a long day of playing Magic.

3 comments:

  1. Note: Apparently I cant steal Thopter Combo. The Sword of the Meek goes into my opponents graveyard so I couldn't keep the combo going. That sucks :(

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  2. You're recap of the way our games went in top4 are wrong. And wtf, why didn't you name drop me? Your articles are painfully hard to read, lacking in content, and you would do well to re-read your work a couple times before you submit it.

    I also didn't get the deck from JL, although I'm not doubting he came up with it.

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  3. Thanks for the advice Kyle. I realize that the article is pretty terribly written, but I was pretty exhausted from the tournament. And I apologize that the Top 4 recap wasn't correct. Most of my games in Top 8 kinda melded together. I think it was the Boros player who I landed 3 Martyr's against. Either way, the basic idea was there. I be sure to take better notes at the GP.

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