So this past weekend I had a great showing at GP San Diego. Even though I couldn’t lock up a PT invite I did finish 12-3 with at 21st place. I’m pretty happy with the finish considering how little testing I did for the event.
| Planeswalker (2) 2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes Creature (28) 4 Deathmist Raptor 4 Den Protector 4 Elvish Mystic 4 Fleecemane Lion 2 Hidden Dragonslayer 2 Warden of the First Tree 3 Boon Satyr 2 Courser of Kruphix 3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer Instant (6) 3 Dromoka’s Command 3 Valorous Stance Land (24) 8 Forest 6 Plains 1 Blossoming Sands 1 Mana Confluence 4 Temple of Plenty 4 Windswept Heath | Sideboard (15) 1 Dromoka’s Command 1 Valorous Stance 4 Hangarback Walker 2 Evolutionary Leap 2 Unravel the Æther 1 Glare of Heresy 2 Tragic Arrogance 1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion 1 Wingmate Roc |
The main deck was pretty much the same 60 as Brian Kibler’s. I made some slight tweaks to the board and added in a Wingmate Roc, Elspeth Sun’s Champion, and the 4th Dromoka’s Command over the two Hushwings and 1 Unravel the Aether. Let me tell you kids something — this deck was the real deal. It’s got everything you would want. It’s got early aggressive draws with Fleecemane Lion and Warden of the First Tree, but staying power with Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor loops. To top it off you have Nissa, Vastwood Seer and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes as your planeswalkers for the late game. All of your removal spells and creatures are super mana efficient and your mana base is clean and painless. Dromoka’s Command was by far the MVP this weekend; that card was a Swiss Army knife. I’m pretty sure I used every mode in every combination possible. The Evolutionary Leap and Wingmate Roc were the only cards out of the sideboard that I never drew when I bought them in. So I don’t know if they are good in the matchups where you would want them (Leap for control and Wingmate for mirror), but in theory they are powerful in the right matchup.
I normally don’t audible to a new deck a week before a GP because there is hardly enough testing time. However, this deck was the exception. I was playing testing with Eddie Caudill and I was on Abzan Megamorph (my deck of choice for San Diego originally), but I was getting wrecked in our games. We played 10 games and I won one of them. I had watched him play some games against red and the deck was holding up pretty well against it. So a few days before the GP I decided to go with the GW aggro deck having played zero games with it. Thanks to Phimus Pan, Chris Worman and Eddie Caudill for letting me borrow some cards.
We arrive mid day on Thursday and decided to go to the beach to relax a bit. On Friday we went to the convention site to see some people, trade, sell, and buy some cards. There were some occasional “testing” when we had the chance. Before I knew it, it was already Saturday and the GP was stating. I had 2 byes to start off the day and got some food before round 3 started.
Round 3 Jeskai Aggro (0-2)
I play a southwest grinder from Vegas and faced what might be a tough matchup: Mantis Rider. I guess I got my just desserts for shelving this guy and crossing over to play green creatures. That card was very hard to deal with in this deck. Valorous Stance can’t destroy it, and you have to hope they don’t have a removal spell to interact with your creature if you use fight mode on Dromoka’s Command. I lost two very close games where I had my opponent dead with no cards in hand and just needed him to fade a draw step. Alas in both games he managed to steal it from me with an off the top Stoke the Flames and a Dig Through Time to find the burn.
Round 4 R/G Devotion 2-0
I thought that this match up was going to be tough, but it was actually not bad as long as you draw some amount of Valorous Stance and Dromoka’s Command you are okay. I managed to two for one my opponent with Dromoka’s Command by fighting an Elvish Mystic and Courser of Kruphix. I followed up with a Valorous Stance on a Polukranos, World Eater and my opponent was out of the game. In game 2 I used Elspeth, Sun’s Champion and Tragic Arrogance to wipe his board. Embarrassing thing about this game was that I missed an on board kill and almost gave the game back to my opponent. Luckily he didn’t draw anything and I was able to win the game.
Round 5 Abzan Control 2-0
This round was quite a blowout. I single handily won with a two for one when I used Dromoka’s Command to fight with Fleecemane Lion against unmorphed Den Protector and made him sacrifice his Courser of Kruphix. In game 2 we exchanged resources mostly him killing off my creatures and playing Siege Rhino. I stuck a Deathmist around for defense as I used flip Nissa along side Ajani to gain incremental card advantage. Nissa soon threathened her ultimate and my opponent scooped.
Round 6 Bant Heroic (2-1)
These games were all very interesting and interactive. I managed to steal game one because I was in a tough spot and used Valorous Stance on my opponent’s only heroic creature and he didn’t have a protection spell. Game 2 we got to a damage race and I put my opponent on a 1 turn clock to kill me. On my opponent’s upkeep my opponent used a God’s Willing to scry into a Dromoka’s Command to remove my morphed Deathmist Raptor and got me. In game 3 I had a very aggressive draw with Fleecemane Lion, Deathmist Raptor and double Dromoka’s Command to clear the way to win the match.
Round 7 UB Control (0-2)
This round I faced against GP Denver winner Andrew Brown. He was on UB control and I have not had a chance to test this match. In game 1 he buries me in card advantage and I wasn’t able to overcome it. He used both version of Silumgar (Dragonlord Silumgar and Silumgar, the Drifting Death) to kill me. In game 2 my opponent had a few spicy cards like Ice Fall Regent and Harbinger of the Tides to hold down my team. In the final turn I lost to a top decked Harbinger of the Tides that bounced one of my Deathmist and blocked another preventing a lethal attack. I lost the following turn from an attack from his Ice Fall Regent and Ugin’s Ghost Fire.
Round 8 Abzan Aggro (2-0)
My opponent was a pretty nice guy from the local area. We exchanged some pleasantries and got down to business. My opponent was on a lower to the ground Abzan aggro deck with Kytheon, Hero of Akros in it. I managed to create a chain with Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor. My opponent shortly conceded after I was able recur two Deathmist twice. In game 2 my opponent flooded and I was a little mana light. My opponent stayed aggressive and I had to be on the defense. I managed to play my Hidden Dragonslayer and Den Protectors to stem the bleeding before mounting a comeback and sealing the deal with a Boon Satyred Hidden Dragonslayer.
Round 9 Mono Red Burn (2-0)
At the bubble seat so one of us would day 2 and the other would not. My opponent was on mono red and had a very slow start. He was stuck on lands, but played 3 Abbots of Keral Keepagainst me. He had Eidolon of the Great Revel in play and I was trying to outrace it by playing bigger creatures. He got me down to 1. I had drawn a timely Dromoka’s Command that fought one of his blockers to clear the way for my pack of Deathmist Raptors.
In game 2 my opponent became the control deck. He killed every single one of my creatures and landed a Chandra, Pyromaster. I managed to set up a recurring chain of Deathmist and Den Protector to attack and play defense. My opponent got Chandra up to her ultimate and I wasn’t able to break through to stop my opponent from using her ultimate. I was about ready to scoop it up and move to game 3, but then my opponent’s face said otherwise. Was it possible that out of 10 cards my opponent whiffed? He only found a Wild Slash, which was not enough to kill me. I started playing every creature I had to kill my opponent as soon as possible. I topdecked a Dromoka’s Command to prevent his exquisite fireworks on the last turn to win the game.
Round 10 U/R Thopter (2-0)
This was the first time I played against this deck. However Valorous Stance and Dromoka’s Command pulled their weight. It allowed me to deal with two Ensoul Artifact creatures in game one, after getting those two for ones I managed sweep up the game pretty easily. In game 2 my opponent kept a hand with no color sources. We still played games of Magic where we had Hangarback Walkers staring each other down. I managed to Unravel the Aether my opponent’s Hangarback Walker and pressure him with mine. At the end of the game he showed me his hand full of red and blue cards he couldn’t cast.
Round 11 GW Aggro (2-0)
My first mirror match! In 10 rounds I have played against several different archetypes. This match up came down to who was the better technical player. My opponent made some aggressive plays that ended up losing him the game. He used his Dromoka’s Commands too early and at the wrong points in the game. In game 2 I managed to flip Nissa, Vastwood Seer and get her active and threatened to ultimate her for the win. My opponent conceded when he had no way of interacting with me from Ultimating Nissa.
Round 12 U/R Thopters (2-0)
I thought my opponent was on Jeskai because on the first few turns he only played a Temple of Epiphany and Island with no other plays. But then played a Ghost Fire blade and Ensouled it. Luckily I had my handy dandy Dromoka’s Command to end that nonsense. I played a few creatures and unmorphed Den Protector to bring back the command from my graveyard and my opponent had enough and reached for his sideboard. In this game 2 my opponent went wide and generated a lot of thopters that I had a hard time dealing with. I was holding a tragic arrogance and I was not able to play it with 4 mana. After the turn he dropped me to 1 I drew a windswept as my 5th land. We quickly move onto game 3 and I managed to set up an aggressive game with Boon Satyrs, Courser of Kruphix and Deathmists. My opponent set up a thopter spy network, but was on chump block duty due to his low life total. I managed to chipped away at his life with one unblocked creature. I revealed another Boon Satyr of off Courser and my opponent did not have enough blockers for my last creature which got pants upped with the Boon Satyr
Round 13 Abzan Control (0-2)
I play none other then platinum pro Paul Reitzel. We got deck checked this round and we had some quick banter as we waited to get our decks back. I don’t think I played poorly or made any mistakes. I flooded a lot in game 1, in one turn I thought he was going to play an Elspeth and made a line that would have been good against it. Instead of Elspeth he played Dragonlord Dromoka, that brick walled 2 of Den Protectors. He then plays Languish and sweeps my board. In game 2 I had 3 lands and never drew a 4th land for multiple turns until he was able to land an Ugin. At this point I was pretty far behind. He also flipped a Nissa and was threatening to ultimate both Ugin and Nissa to end the game.
I felt pretty defeated as I was just knocked out of top8 contention and also from getting an invite. Even though I was 10-3 at this point I was still in the money and can still earn some pro points.
Round 14 Abzan Aggro/Midrange (2-1)
My opponent’s deck for this round was quite interesting. He had Warden of the First Tree, Seeker of the Way, and Anafenza, the Foremost in his main but had also had Elspeth, Tasigur, and Ugin. Our game 1 took 40 minutes where I used monstrous Fleecemanes, recurring Deathmists, and a leveled Warden to wither away his Elspeth soldiers and finally take Game 1. In Game 2 he played multiple siege rhinos and Ugin to win the game very quickly. With roughly 12 minutes left in the round I opened with a very aggressive Fleecemane, Deathmist Raptor, Den Protector and Valorous Stance hand. I was able to apply pressure quickly and deal with any threats. I managed to build Den Protector up to a 5/3 to KO an Elspeth. A few turns later after drawing lands my opponent conceded.
Round 15 UR Thopters (2-0)
In this last final round I got paired up against a grinder out of Houston. He was fresh off a Top 8 at GP Dallas. My opponent being on U/R allowed my double Valorous Stance hand to be really good as I was able to destroy 2 Ensoul Artifact creatures. I also used Dromoka’s Command to grow a Nissa in combat to kill a blocker and use it to fight off a thopter. My opponent ran out of gas and packed it up for Game 2. My opponent’s hand was pretty reactive in this game 2, as he was killing off my creatures with roast and shrapnel blast. He did manage to set up a Thopter Spy Network, but did was not in a position to attack with all of his thopters as I had quite the board presence with Deathmist Raptor, Den Protector, and Courser. I eventually drew a Dromoka’s Command to deal with the Spy Network and my opponent didn’t draw any more gas to keep up with green army.
After 15th rounds of Magic, I finished $500 richer and had 3 pro points to start off the season. If I was to play the deck, I would run the same 75 again as it was a great deck choice for the weekend. I think going forward this deck will still be a solid contender in the meta game. I had a great weekend in San Diego. I got to see a lot of old friends, cast spells, and eat a lot of delicious food. I want to travel to the next west coast GP and have such similar results and a top 8 berth again. I hope to see some of you there.