Greetings AZMagicPlayers! My name is Jonathan Kornacki, and frequent readers of this website may be familiar with my infatuation with the pretty little sprites,by and far the most successful decklist I’ve ever accepted as my own design, I’ve never done worse than X-2 in a major event with the Fae, and have played so few non-major Modern events that they don’t have a place on the chart. The PTQ in Flagstaff marked the end of Modern season for me, so the last chance to play the deck perfectly tailored to my play-style for a while.
| Creatures (19) 4 Spellstutter Sprite 4 Phantasmal Image 4 Scion of Oona 2 Vendilion Clique 1 Sower of Temptation 4 Mistbind Clique Spells (19) 4 Vapor Snag 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Dismember 1 Repeal 4 Aether Vial 2 Mana Leak 2 Sword of Feast and Famine 1 Cackling Counterpart 3 Cryptic Command Land (22) 16 Island 2 Faerie Conclave 4 Mutavault | Sideboard (15) 2 Phyrexian Revoker 2 Threads of Disloyalty 3 Spellskite 2 Dispel 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Faerie Macabre 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Dismember |
The Gitaxian Probe was an effort on my part, with the decks heavy reliance on Aether Vial, to play a 59 card deck. Earlier versions of my list have included as many as 4 probes, when I had Snapcaster Mage, but the deck also places strong value on conserving its life total better than most in format decks. The Repeal was a late addition to give me a catch-all, an out in situations where another might not exist, such as bouncing a cheap enchantment on a Slippery Bogle, in order to counter/disenchant a Daybreak Coronet. The fact that it cycles is also a pretty big game, as I was lacking things like the maindeck Relic of Progenitus and Remands that I had in prior versions. Mana Leak just proves to be so much better, in practice, than Remand. Cackling Counterpart serves as a 5th, usually worse, but usually not by much, copy of Phatasmal Image, but also has pretty big upside, being an instant without Aether Vial, and having a pretty feasible flashback cost, especially when sorting out triggers with Sword of Feast and Famine.
I left for Cab Comics in the morning from my home at Manawerx, accompanied by my little brother and our long time mentor Jose Ramos, who has forgotten more about Magic than most people will ever know. Bit of a drive from Phoenix, but it was a relatively pleasant time of year in Flagstaff. We were competing with a Grand Prix in San Diego for the same format for players, but I expected a bigger turnout regardless, as the PTQ kicked off with 67 players. With many of the faces in the room being familiar, I wound up with…
Round 1- Kyle Fader, on Birthing Pod
My friend Kyle won the roll on me, and started off with a Noble Hierarch. off of a fetch and a shock. I used my first turn to Vapor Snag, attempting to slow down whatever he was on, and he followed up with the Hierarch and an Avacyn’s Pilgrim. He caught me on a turn where I committed Sword to the table, opting to stick a Birthing Pod, which gave him access to Wall of Roots. He developed a board with a lot of mana and a Birthing Pod, as I got in my first Sword hit, but had not yet drawn enough blue mana to efficiently be able to tap through combat and use my Cryptic to bounce his Pod. He Podded for Kitchen Finks, and Restoration Angel on the following turn, blunting my clock in a major way. I don’t believe I’ve ever lost to Birthing Pod with this deck, mostly because it continues to do fairly powerful, backbreaking things into the mid to late game, with just enough disruption to really wear on a Birthing Pods resources, primarily life total and creatures. I eventually drew the land for Cryptic, allowing me to tap all his guys(mostly mana, and a blocker) on upkeep, also using the bounce effect to keep him off of Pod. Kitchen Finks beats are thorough, but raceable for this deck, and I ended the game at 13 life.
Game 2, I had Grafdigger’s Cage in my opening hand, but sandbagged it, finding other ways to spend my mana. It did mean he got an activation out of his Pod before I shut it down, but it meant that our early dance didn’t have the option of hitting my Cage. I had Vial, and he had Qasali Pridemage. I had Phyrexian Revoker on Pridemage, His mana draw containing a pair of Birds of Paradise, I used my second Revoker on Birds, for which he had Path to Exile…at which point I used Phantasmal Image on my Revoker, naming Birds again. It was then that he played and activated Pod, for an Image of his own, on my Revoker, naming Aether Vial. His triggered abiities and creatures with nothing better to do put a fair amount of pressure on me, but I again came out on top in the race, mostly due to my creatures having incredible synergy together, while his are strung together by mana cost.
1-0
Round 2- I believe my opponent’s name was Paul, but I seem to have lost the notes. He was on U/W/R Midrange.
Game one, I remember playing some awkward lands that let him pretty safely slam a Geist of Saint Traft on turn three, on the play, and looked pretty good, but I untapped, cast a Gitaxian Probe, and Phantasmal Imaged his Geist. It took the wind out of his deck, wasn’t exactly an expected answer, and I was able to play around his hand pretty easily. They have a lot of removal, but most of our stuff has flash, and most of this deck really loves getting Path to Exiled. I don’t remember any details about the second game, sadly, but I did win the match 2-0.
2-0
Round 3- James Paul Baker, yet again, on Blistercoil Weird combo.
Thank goodness I was testing against this guy all week, or I may well have had no idea what his deck was capable of. For those of you unfamiliar, this Blistercoil Weird/Paradise Mantle combo is swiftly capable of turn two kills, packs in the neighborhood of 10 lands, and 32 one-mana cantrips. As an example of it’s raw power, I played first, James mulliganed to 4 in game one, and switfly killed me on about turn four as I was applying pressure. I think I had a Vapor Snag and a Repeal to disrupt him, but didn’t have time to get to Cryptic Command, and he knew the entire time, due to his full sets of Peek and Gitaxian Probe. Game 2 and in came the hate. His deck is capable of going off with haste (Crimson Wisps), and through various forms of hate based on his sideboard. With more removal in game two, I was able to tank Blistercoil beats for long enough, setting up to play around if he did draw the combo, that by the time he found it he was too low to survive my forced fizzle via Dismember. I’m pretty sure he saw my Phyrexian Revoker during this game, prompting him to bring in his Smelts. For game three, I took a mulligan to find a more disruptive opening, and found all I could ask for against his seven. I didn’t write down my hand, but at 18 life I think he used a pre-emptive peek effect prior to ‘going off’ and scooped to me immediately. James is a great guy, and was running on no sleep, playing up against me, so he was largely considering giving me the win anyway.
3-0
Round 4- Nick, Tron
Nick remarked that he had been sitting next to me and wasn’t looking forward to this match. Apparently, because he thought I was on Eggs, the villain of this format. He won the roll, and led off with Tron Piece, Tron Piece, Tron Piece, Karn, on turn three. My deck blessed me with a Mana Leak, and not a Remand. The following turn, my play was a draw-step Vendilion Clique, seeing a hand of all colorless mana except for a couple of Chromatic Stars, a Sylvan Scrying, and a Wurmcoil Engine that I promptly shipped to the bottom. I crossed my fingers as my line became clear: He spent his turn cycling mana Stars and Sylvan Scrying for all the lands. I untapped with land #4 in my hand, the Clique in play, and a hand with 2 Mistbind Cliques, and a Vapor Snag. my opponent on 20. I attacked for 3, Mistbind Cliqued him on his upkeep, untapped, attacked for 4, Cliqued him again on upkeep, untapped and attacked for 7, and had a manland, making the Vapor Snag on my second Mistbind Clique lethal.
Game two, I took a mulligan, and looked on as my opponent played a Torpor Orb on turn 2. That card is pretty marginal against me, as I considered it in my own sideboard against certain decks, but certainly not bad for a deck with as much mana to be deprived of as Tron. This time his early Karn stuck, but he missed on a critical decision. I was tapped out, having just cast a Sword, with a Vial on two. I’d briefly considered playing my Spellstutter Sprite on turn 2, since he had the Orb, but opted to wait for a line very similar to this…he -3d his Karn to exile my Aether Vial rather than my Sword, allowing me to Vial in a Sprite, and kill his Karn. His Oblivion Stone represented an answer to the Sword, but would also cost him his Torpor Orb, so he elected to cast Wurmcoil Engine, causing flashbacks to an old standard format where all you had to do was copy that guy a couple times and bounce him.
He was forced to pop his Oblivion Stone at a pretty inoppurtune moment, leaving me with pressure in the form of 3/3s, that were able to seal the deal with the help of a well-timed Vendilion Clique, in response to his Torpor Orb, that he was casting right after the Oblivion Stone blew up his first one. Without the Wurmcoil, that had been bounced prior, my Mistbind Cliques, which might well be the original Restoration Angel, were able to seal the deal.
4-0
Round 5- Dillan, with Bogles
He mulliganed game one on the play, against my one land keep on 7. We both knew what each other were playing, the tournament having been whittled down to 4 undefeateds at this point, and him having beaten my little brother with a very similar list early in the tournament. His pressure was slow to start, with a Spirit Mantle on a 1/1 hexproof attacking me for two. I bricked on my second land drop, but found it on turn three, just in time to Mana Leak his topdecked Daybreak Coronet. My hand was slow to start, but had access to the bigger spells I was coveting for the matchup, namely Cryptic Command. Tanking two a turn all the while, I landed a pair of Spellstutter Sprites that applied some pressure, but he made a critical misplay when I cast my Scion of Oona, cracking a fetch for a Temple Garden, taking three, for a Path on one of the Sprites. I can’t blame a new player for this kind of error, Scion was sadly printed at a time before wizards started haphazardly throwing around words like ‘hexproof’ for no apparent reason, and he thought that the Scion guarded itself. His use of the Path both cleared the way for my Sword, as well as enabling me with the mana to use it, holding up Cryptic Command, which was good enough to seal the game.
Game two I was on the mulligan, and could contrive only modest defense for his threats. My Spellskite came too late, unable to steal his Daybreak Coronet, as his Bogle was the only thing currently enchanted.
For game three, he was on the mulligan against my turn one Aether Vial. His first play was a turn two Kor Spiritdancer, which looked competent enough with the hand I got a peek at off of Vendilion Clique. His first enchantment of the game did trigger his Spiritdancer, but I responded with an activation of my Vial on two…for Spellskite, stealing his Ethereal Armor. At this point the game became Exactly ‘defend my Spellskite from Path to Exile’, which I did in reasonable fashion, using Cryptic Command to counter one copy, while assembling pressure, and finding Sprites to deal with any further removal.
5-0
Round 6- Matt, Eggs
ID.
Having locked up my spot, he inquired whether I intended to play the last round. I told him I did, for the standing, and right to play first, he said he would probably draw to take a break from playing eggs. An interesting tiebreaker situation arose, whereby I was likely to be paired with my dear friend Caleb Tefft, with whom I would consider an ID, but I still wanted to play, as it was likely to be entertaining, and informative.
5-0-1
Round 7- Caleb, with U/R Delver
The same deck he plays in Legacy. Game one was fairly uneventful, and fitting my karma for insisting we play rather than just give him the draw (I was playing down). I mulled to five on the play, and got apesmashed by Goblin Guides that revealed no lands.
Game two was exactly the opposite, and comical to watch by all accounts. He opened up on double Goblin Guide against my Spellskite, and I drew about 7 lands over the next five turns turns, as he remained unable to remove my Spellskite. We both commented that I would have been super dead if I’d just had to draw all those lands.
Game three, we both kept seven, and he fired on Goblin Guide followed up by Delver of Secrets. The Delver flipped naturally, joined by a second Insectile Aberration before I found any Vapor Snags.
In an act of almost nauseating generosity and class, after our match, Caleb filled out the match result slip a draw, feeling he owed me some favor from too long ago to remember. An absolute class act on his part, unexpected, was rewarded by granting me second seat in top 8, with Caleb in third.
5-0-2
Top 8- Glenn, with Melira Pod
We didn’t get decklists for this Top 8, which I found strange, but decided to take the good with the bad since I was the rogue deck. I played first, and his first turn of the game was a Kitchen Finks on turn three. I had a Vial and Sword of Feast and Famine draw that was quickly able to to gain a significant advantage against my slower opponent, and his Birthing Pod shenanigans were hampered by my counterplay. He podded for a murderous redcap, for which I had an Image to Vial in, and then a Vapor Snag. His final ditch effort of the game was a Podded Phyrexian Metamorph to copy my Sword, equip to the Finks and attack, but my Vial had ticked up to four, and I got him with Sower of Temptation.
Game two, he boarded in some Lingering Souls, but only got to cast one half before my Relic of Progenitus, which whittled on his graveyard for turns and turns before being cashed in for a Murderous Redcap trigger, after I’d already Phantasmal Imaged a copy. We traded down cards, and I had a heavy Mutavault draw that started to pay off, as he had to Pod multiple mana dorks for copies of Melira to just trade off, but I still had two copies when I found a Scion of Oona to close the game.
Top 4- Jorge, with Eggs.
It’s too bad this deck is liable to get banned before I care about Modern again, as this matchup is pretty awesome. The only player seated higher than me was Matt from round 6, who lost in top 8, and we conversed briefly as he left the venue, wishing me luck. I asked him about the matchup, and he said it looked atrocious for Eggs. Game one demonstrated this in pretty spectacular fashion…I had a Mana Leak for his Reshape, a Spellstutter Sprite for his suspended Lotus Bloom. Didn’t draw an (almost) dead Vapor Snag into so late in the game it didn’t matter.
Game two, I had an awkward double Faerie Conclave draw with Aether Vial, while he suspended double Lotus Bloom on turn one. By the time they came off, I was able to counter one, but I was slow to apply pressure, attacking for only one a turn while leaving up my mana to interact with him with Dispel, Relic of Progenitus, and one of Spellstutter Sprite or Mana Leak, but he had the Silence, plus double Second Sunrise to steal the game. Game three was pretty academic, as he started missing land drops while I played a Vendilion Clique, a great clock against his deck, and saw a hand containing only land, and three Second Sunrise effects, with almost no eggs in sight. We played a few turns as I assembled a hand that literally didn’t have time to play a Relic for protection…my other options were just too powerful. I had double counterspell up, in addition to Vial in a Phyrexian Revoker to shut off any Lotus Blooms that did try to enter via Reshape. He wished me luck, and called me his personal hero for playing Faeries.
Top 2- Robert, BUG Infect
Again getting to play, I started with an Aether Vial while my opponent mulliganed to 5. I believe my opponent put one copy of Inkmoth Nexus onto the battlefield, while I played two Scion of Oonas, and a Phantasmal Image on Scion, and killed him swiftly with a Mutavault. Game two he also mulled to 5, and started off with a Plague Stinger, and an Inkmoth Nexus. He was forced to use his life total pretty aggressively, casting Gitaxian Probe and an early Mutagenic Growth. I drew more Spellstutter Sprites than the ones he saw with the Probe, enabling me to get even more value as the game dragged on. He dealt three infect to me, but somehow, my deck would not deny me another Pro Tour berth. He also lost with class, wishing me good luck on the Pro Tour.
This third PTQ victory is an opportunity being taken none too lightly by me. This very article is taking place during an hours long test session for the PTQ in Tucson this next weekend, and Amazing Discoveries. I’d like to thank Cab Comics for hosting this event, as well as everybody at Manawerx, and AZMagicPlayersin general for making me the player I am today, and I intend to represent in San Diego.
Thank you for reading! <3
Awesome read! Clean up in San Diego!