SnapCastro Mage – Super IQ Tournament Report

Hey guys, hope you had a good time at the Star City Super Invitational at Amazing Discoveries, I know I did. I didn’t make Top 8 like I had planned but I did have a solid 10th place finish. Congratulations to my teammates Jeffrey Mccoy and Aaron Lettes for both making Top 8, and to Donald Sheldon for taking first. To start, let’s take a look at what I played Saturday for the Standard portion.

U/B Control

Let’s look at my matchups and how I did.

Round 1

I played a guy named Ben, who said he had seen me at the StarCityGames Open in Phoenix.  He was playing Bant Pod. Game 1 he started with a Thalia, and then a Blade Splicer. Those 2 cards would end the game quickly. Game 2 I ended up killing his board and won with Jace, Memory Adept. Game 3 my opponent managed to get me to 1 life with a Thalia and Blade Splicers, I was able to draw multiple Black Sun’s Zenith to wipe his board and once again win with Jace as my opponent got land flooded.

2-1
1-0

Round 2

Played another guy named Ben but this time it was Ben Chamberlain. I’ve seen this guy  before at tournaments in Phoenix, and he’s a fairly good player, but sadly he was the only other guy besides myself playing Blue Black Control. He started off milling me with his Nephalia Drownyard turn after turn, until I finally resolved a Jace and Milled him to death. I have to give him props because he did try to stay alive by playing Blue Sun’s Zenith. That way I could never actually win with the milling factor, but I had triple Mana Leak for it, which ended a long game 1. Game 2 he was able to mill me with his own Nephlia Drownyards. Game 3 we didn’t do much, but I saw him discard an Army of the Damned which kind of scared me, but I drew the Nihil Spellbomb to deal with it. I ended up winning a counter war when he tried to resolve a Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, he had only 3 mana left open after that and that’s when I decided to land a Jace, Memory Adept. He tried to Dissipate it but I had the unfortunate Mana Leak for his Dissipate. I could tell he knew he was in trouble. Turns out he was right, because that Jace would win the game once again.

2-1
2-0

Round 3

I ended up playing my good teammate and friend Jeffrey Mccoy. He was playing his Mono Green Dungrove Deck. His deck was one of the very few decks I did not want to play that day, because his deck has a lot of hexproof creatures. Game 1 he started off with a Birds of Paradise into a Dungrove Elder, which led to me playing a Jace and milling him. I cleared his board with a Black Sun’s Zenith, which ended that game when he counted his deck and saw that he only had about 11 cards left. Game 2 was a blowout, Jeff consecutively went turn 2, 3, and 4 Dungrove, I had to Black Sun for 2, and weaken his Dungrove’s, but he drew the forest to make his Dungroves lethal. Game 3 started off kind of bad because he was applying pressure with Dungrove Elder, Thrun, and Strangleroot Geist. Jeff had the pro play by blowing up my second Darkslick Shores, which was my second black source. That play would end up winning the game, because I was unable to play Black Sun’s Zenith.

1-2
2-1

Round 4

I ended up playing a guy named Landon who was playing Grixis Infect, a very weird but potentially powerful and explosive deck. He didn’t do much in the 2 games we played, but game 2 he was able to play 3 Ratchet Bombs for any of my Planeswalkers, I ended up drawing a Ratchet Bomb of my own, and was able to push through with my Nephalia Drownyard, and my Jace for the 2-0 win.

2-0
3-1

Round 5
I played my good friend Joseph Tatum. He was playing what I thought was a popular deck for that day, Esper Delver. Game 1 he started off with a turn 1 Delver which I met with a Doom Blade. He played the new card Favorable Winds that pumped up his flipped Delvers and his Lingering Soul spirits. That would be the end of me for game 1. There were a lot of spirit tokens that I couldn’t kill because he had the Mana Leak and Snapcaster Mana Leak for the win.

Game 2 he kept a kind of controlling hand, which gave him a valuable lesson to not keep a hand that doesn’t kill me on turn 5, making Jace win yet another game for me. Game 3 he had the explosive hand with a turn 2 flipped Delver and a Favorable Winds to pump it, but I countered it. I ended up countering a couple more spells, to make it possible for my Batterskull to start winning the game for me. I countered 2 of his Dungeon Geists to keep the pressure going, and that Batterskull ended him making it that much easier for me to top 8.

2-1
4-1

Round 6
I initially thought I could intentionally draw into Top 8 with a  4-1-1 record, but when they put up standings, I was at the bottom of the 12 pointers being in 9th place, so it was not possible for me to draw in. I was forced to play against my good and well-known friend Ryan Leeper, who was playing U/W Delver. Game 1 he started out with a flipped Delver, and an Invisible Stalker, that I Black Sunned away. Unfortunately that was just bait for him to play his Geist of Saint Traft, which would end up killing me game 1. Game 2 was kind of going my way until he dropped a Runechanter’s Pike. I Black Sunned away his board but I also had nothing. He topped decked a Geist of Saint Traft, which was an amazing top deck on his part, but I to can play this game. A Black Sun’s Zenith off the top would end his Geist of Saint Traft. I thought I was in good condition, but he drew an Invisible Stalker that he would equip with a Runechanter’s Pike and get in for 13, ending my chances for Top 8.

0-2
4-2

Even know I didn’t make top 8 and I was pretty disapointed and angry for not making it, I still had a pretty solid finish, and lost to two great players who did well in the top 8. I hope we have more of these tournaments down here in the future and maybe I could top 8 those. I would also give a MVC award to Jace, Memory Adept for winning 8 out of the 9 games I won, until next time the Snapcastro Mage.

Snapcastro Mage
Team Fall From Hell