Casual Magic

Ohio States Top 8 Tournament Report

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Round 1: Sarah playing a UWG Rafiq deck

Game one I was on the play and kept a three land hand with Jace and Wrath of God. Jace doesn’t live past a cantrip and I never hit my fourth land to Wrath a board of Rhox, Rafiq, and Colossus.

Game two I side in one condemn and one remove soul for two Jund Charms. On the play again, this time I’m able to hit four lands easily and after clearing the board and a condemn, I play Realm Razer with Ajani in play. Razer finishes the job.

Game three Sarah mulls down to six on the play. A turn two Mimic then followed by Kitchen Finks brings my life down to 8 before Ajani helixes the mimic and the Kitchen Finks is Condemned. Towards the end of the game, Sarah has Rafiq in hand and mimic in play. All I have is a Elspith token in play and I’m at six life. If she plays the Rafiq pre combat and swings with a 5/3 trampler with double strike I would have died. Fortunately for me, she decides to wait a turn, attacks with mimic, I block and trade creatures. I’m able to untap and play Realm Razer with Elspith in play and give Razer +3/+3 and flying each turn until to pull out a round one victory.

1-0

Round 2: Adam playing 5-color Cruel

Game one is fairly elementary, he doesn’t know I’m playing planeswalker deck, so he plays a Cruel Ultimatum on turn seven after I’ve tapped out for Ajani ( or Elspith, didn’t notate it). Discarding three cards, I keep Realm Razer, untap, cast Razer.  I’ve got a planeswalker in play at this point and Adam scoops to go to game two.

Game two and three are just as fast as game one but Adam takes them both after Mind Shattering my hand both games, I’ve got Negates boarded in for such shenanigans but never draw them. He finishes me off with Cruel Ultimiatum and Thresher each game. 

At this point I realize I should have tested the sideboard versus 5-Color more than just a few FNM match ups. Game two and three I can’t tap out early and just push through planeswalkers, instead protect my hand with counterspells and not to lose to discard.

1-1

Round 3: Ryan UWG Home-brew

At this point I’m a little discourage as I brought Planeswalker Control with sole intent of beating 5-Color, them’s the beats I guess. Anyways, Ryan is playing a really cool deck that is also designed to beat control. He’s got Footprints of the Stag and Treetops to dodge counterspells and the only creature he cast all three games was Rhox Pancake guy. He’s good goodies like Bant Charm, Resounding Thunder to cycle and Cryptic Commands.

Game one he gets a turn two Footprints on the play and follows up with Tree Top Village and they go the distance. Trading Wrath of Gods for tokens just doesn’t get it done. He ends game one with 21 life thanks to Rhox.

Game two I’m on the play and, sorry I don’t have much notes on this, but he cycles Resounding Thunder to kill one of my planeswalkers, but I’ve got Esper Charm for Hoofprints and Realm Razer for his lands.

Game three he’s on the play and we’ve used up quite a bit of time to get here, we’ve got like five minutes after resolving mulligans to finish. He’s on the play, but I get Ajani out with him being stuck on lands and keep one of his tri-lands tapped until Ajani gets to ultimate and Ryan scoops before I can remove the counters. Now, I just want to mention that it really was a pleasure playing with Ryan. Even though I could destroy his lands, there was no garuntee that I could have finished his life total to zero with in the remaining time. He could have taken his turn, slow played a little and squeaked in a draw. I wouldn’t have held it against him had he played for the draw, he would have been well with in his rights as a player to do it, I hope I can return the favor down the road.

2-1

Round 4: Phil R/b Blightning

Phil starts talking to me before the round starts, he knows Ruben from Ohio U who in turn knows what deck I’m playing. I’m praying it’s not a mirror match as I never tested it and can’t imagine it’s very fun.

Game one I’m on the play and casts tarfire turn one and two. Turn three he blights me, then blights me again turn five! That leaves me with one card in hand and Phil tapped out. The card I’m holding is Realm Razer and if I can top deck a land that doesn’t come into play tapped then I can at least even up the life totals with a couple of swings. I get my top deck, we remove are lands from the game and Razer goes the distance.

Game two Phil is on the play and gets a turn one Figure of Destiny, drops Ghitu on turn two then I condemn a 4/4 Figure turn three before damage then untap and play Elpith. He gets in with Ghitu then taps out for Demigod of Revenge and swings at Elspith. I’ve got Condemn for that guy too.  I drop Jace and Garruk, Phil spends four direct damage spells to kill those two planeswalkers, but at this point I’ve got Elspith at +8 and pop her ultimate ability, play Realm Razer with three 1/1 soldier tokens in play as well. Phil scoops and my mind starts to drift to making top 8.

3-1

Round 5: Nick Reveillark with Fulminator Mage

I tested many matches with the U/W Llark deck and that match up is very good as Remove Soul main deck hits Reveillark and I’ve got Naya Charms main deck as well. But Nick is playing Fulminator Mages and Boomerangs. 

Game one he’s on the play and goes turn two boomerang on my vivid. Turn three play Fulminator Mage, sac Fulminator destroy Reflecting Pool. Turn four end of my turn Makeshift Mannequin targeting Fulminator and I have no shot to win.

Game two I’m on the play, Nick gets a Stillmoon Cavalier in play, I Wrath it away. On turn five he taps out for Reveillark and my sideboard tech Counterbore hits the perfect target. I look through his deck, he’s got no real win condition with out Revillark unless he can catch me sleeping and slip in a Stillmoon and pray I don’t have a Wrath for it. Realm Razer hits the table a few turns later, but I’m not afraid of any instant speed removal since I looked through his deck. He scoops at nineteen life.

Game three I don’t have much notes but as I recall it was that exciting as he mulled to five on the play, I took one pain from my lands and I don’t recall if it was planeswalkers or Razer that winded up being the threat but Nick scooped at twenty life. I’m lead to believe it’s Ajani keeping his lands tapped, but I could be wrong.

4-1

Round 6: Devon (sp?) R/B Tokens Torrent

I played this match up enough to know what’s in his deck and the variations to watch out for, but I have a lapse in judgement game one and die on turn six.

Game one Devon is on the play, turn two and three he plays Dragon Fodder. I remove soul a Nantuko Husk turn four and I untap looking a horde of tokens. I’ve got quite a few options at this point. I can Wrath away his board, Play Ajani or leave Cryptic Command mana up and catch something juicy. I leave my mana up to cast Cryptic Command just incase something crazy happens, but mostly I want him to over extend or play Bitterblossom so I can counter it. He doesn’t do anything but take me down to ten and passes the turn. Hmm. Maybe I should have tapped his team down or something. I untap and drop my fifth land. Once again, I can Wrath, play Ajani, or Cryptic Command on his turn. I decide to play Ajani, tap one of his creatures and Condemn something on his turn if needed then untap and play Wrath of God. I pass, he casts Torrent of Souls targeting Nantuko Husk and I can’t Condemn anything with my Yavimaya Coast untapped. (High fives face) He gets in for more than lethal.

Game two I’m on the play and he only damages himself this game with Thoughtsieze and Bitterblossom. He’s stuck on two land and I play Ajani to keep one of his lands tapped. I keep multiple faerie tokens off the table and leave my mana open to counter whatever he plays. I drop a Garruk, make some beast tokens and attack. On to game three.

Game three he’s on the play, he gets Dragon Fodder then Husk to take me down to 14. I drop Elspith, make a blocker. He drops Bitterblossom, attack Elspith and drops her to two counters. I play Wispmare to destroy Bitterblossom and make another blocker with Elspith. Once again he attacks Elspith and I block to keep her alive, he drops Kitchen Finks. I untap Wrath the board, Finks comes back, I make a token and Devon scoops the next turn as I get Realm Razer out with Elspith. 

5-1

Round 7: Anthony with Kithkin

Anthony was a nice guy to play with, very outgoing and knowledgeable about many formats, including Type 1. Unfortunately for Anthony I redesigned my deck before the tournament to beat Kithkin game one. 

Game one he’s on the play and I force him to sac his Forge Tender to prevent Jund Charm damage. His Meadowgrain Knight and Wizen Cenn take me down to 12 life, I condemn a guy, untap play Elspith then follow up next turn with Razer. We move on to game two with Anthony at 25 life.

Game two Anthony chooses to play first and drops Figure of Destiny. He’s not pumping Figure, instead dropping other kithkin. I’m able to Wrath the board at 3 life, he plays a Meadowgrain Knight, I cast Ajani, helix the Knight to go up to 6 life. He pays four mana for a 2/2 and attack me instead of Ajani. I play Realm Razer and he casts Unmakes it, floating the mana. He does so where we get our land back in play, but I cast Elspith and the two planeswalkers take the dubya.

6-1

Round 8: Ryan 5-Color Cruel

At this point, I need to win with the hope of drawing into top 8. 

Game one Ryan mulls to six and I’m on the play. I get a turn four Garruk, make a token. I get in there once with the beast token. Nothing really happens until turn seven. He goes to hard cast Mulldrifter and leave one Island and one Reflecting Pool untapped. I Cryptic Command choosing to counter Mulldrifter and bounce his Island. Ryan is unable to stop my Realm Razer the following turn and we go to game two.

Game two he’s on the play and goes turn one Pithing Needle choosing Garruk, then things get long and drawn out. I’m able to resolve Elspith and start making tokens. I keep attacking with a soldier token and he just sits back and take the damage. This game he’s playing around Realm Razer, which was a good idea because I wind up drawing all three. I try to resolve another planeswalker and still have five lands untapped. He Cryptic Commands the planeswalker and I cast Counterbore targeting his Command. I get to look through his deck and hand. His win conditions are one Cruel Ultimatum, two Brood Dragons, one Ajani Vengent, and one Cloud Thresher. With this in mind I leave Remove Soul mana up at all times, oh, and he’s got Resounding Thunder in hand. He shuts down Elspith with the other Pithing Needle, then I attack him to 8, then drop Ajani Vengent and helix him to five. He lets the soldier token take him down to four the following turn and I keep his Reflecting Pool from untapping. He plays Kitchen Finks and I let it resolve despite a Remove Soul in hand and he goes to six. I draw my second Ajani, I remove the final two counters from the Ajani in play to helix Ryan to three, cast my second Ajani and finish the job.

7-1

Round 9: I draw with a Faeries player, which is really good for me, because he could have kept me out of top 8 had we played.

7-1-1

Standings are announced and I make top 8. Yeah!

Round 10: Quarter finals top 8: B/G Elves

I’m not sure how good of a matchup it is for me going in, because Jund Charm doesn’t do anything and TreeTops are bad for me if I don’t draw Condemn. 

Game one I’m on the play and he goes turn two 3/3 elf, I get Jace in play turn three and draw a card. (I believe this was a mistake and should have let us both drawn a card to keep Jace alive another turn). He attacks Jace and plays the other 3/3, revielling Chameleon Colossus and drops a Treetop Village. I play another planeswalker and it gets killed by both elves on his turn, followed by Chameleon Colossus. At his point I haven’t drawn any Wraths and no Condemns. I really wanted to punish him for over extended, but you can’t always get what you want.

Game two I’m on the play and it’s a long one. He gets in early with two 3/3 elves and a Llanowar Elf. I drop an Ajani to helix one of them and then Condemn the Mutavult  he sends at it the following turn while I take three to the face. I’m able to Wrath the board. He untaps, drops a Treetop and a Garruk. I keep targeting his Treetop to not untap and he keeps untapping it with Garruk. At some point he decides to attack me instead of Ajani, but still keeps Ajani off of ultimate periodically attacking him. I slowly lose chunks of three life to Treetop and really needed to draw Condemn for his Treetop. I do not and extend the hand.

7-2-1, 8th place.

Planeswalkers Control is a lot of fun to play. I feel, some of the positive value of playing the deck is gone now that more people are familiar with the deck and don’t automatically think you’re playing 5-Color Control. None the less, I’ll continue to play it. I reviewed a couple of other lists of top 8 planeswalker decks and notice one guy didn’t like Condemn and another didn’t play any blue deck. Condemn was an all-star every time I drew it and Jace is the best planeswalker next to Elspith. Playing with Jace, I believe letting your opponent draw cards and adding two counters is better in a vacuum. Every time I removed one counter with Jace and he died the next turn to one creature I felt bitter for not adding two counters. Everytime Jace lived long enough to draw me and my opponent four cards, I seemed to pull out a win.