Seattle PTQ – Crazy Combos, Good Plays, Top 8 Lists, And More!

Hey there everybody, my name is Andy”SweetCandy”Wilson. I’ve written on TCGPlayer.com before but only for the WOWTCG. After a fresh night sleep after the PTQ this Saturday I am ready to talk to you about my experience. And why this has been a great and valuable PTQ. I’ve been playing competitive magic only for a short while, however I’ve been pretty successful playing other card games competitively. I hope that this will expedite the learning process for this game like it has done for others.

I’d like to start things off with this. I did badly. I went 4-4 with UB Fae, I don’t know my final standing I forgot to check because I was too excited watching Jonathan Loucks T8 with Kiki-Jiki Combo. Yes, you can read that again. Kiki-Jiki, yeah seriously, I’m not kidding.

For a good week I was playing with Bant and was pretty comfortable with the lists I was coming up with but then I hit a cold streak and freaked out. Not being very good at this game yet I talked to people who were. I asked Glenn Jones for help and he gave me the Fae list he used to get his envelope the week prior. I had never seriously prepared with blue before this list two days prior to the event, I did little testing and found that the deck was surprisingly natural for me to play. I also asked A.J. Sacher for his opinions. With that info and a little more input and brainstorming with Jones this was the list I settled on.

Lands:26
2 Polluted Delta
5 Island (4)
4 Mutavault
3 Riptide Laboratory
4 Secluded Glen
1 Watery Grave
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Steam Vents
4 River of Tears

Creatures:13
4 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Sower of Temptation
2 Venser, Shaper Savant

Spells:21
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Mana Leak
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Spell Snare
2 Stifle
2 Cryptic Command
2 Engineered Explosives

Sideboard:15
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Wretched Banquet
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 4 Thoughtseize
SB: 3 Damnation

The deck’s pretty solid, Thoughtseize was a determining factor for me when I did finally decide that I wanted UB Fae. When I was looking over the list the first time I was pretty skeptical, but then I saw the Thoughtseizes and thought “I’ll figure it out.” I’ve realized that I am far more likely to play any deck that has Thoughtseize in it. However going back I think I’d play NLU with Goyfs, I like green, and I like shackles. The meta is shifting towards more decks that play dudes, which to my understanding NLU is better against. Wretched Banquet was surprisingly cool during testing, and good the one time I drew it. Blue will lose to Zoo because Zoo will play an ape or cat T1 and will get you for 8-12 damage before the game becomes reasonable for you. Wretched Banquet is good at stopping that initial onslaught without compromising position for counterspells. It seems silly but I’d give it a shot if I were you.

So if I did so horribly why would anyone want this list? Because me being a bad player shouldn’t take away any credit from this deck. I’m pretty sure it’s good, and I’m pretty sure I’m bad with it. You should always stay true to yourself. I’m not really a blue player and shouldn’t have pretended to be for this event. It was a bad decision and my results reflect this. It’s why Osyp Lebedowicz played Slide at his PTQ, and why I should have played Bant or Loam at mine.

Bant is the new deck on the block and is not getting enough respect. I believe this is because
A) It has only been out since Conflux
B) There are so many ways to build the deck. People build it wrong and then test those decks and dismiss the deck.
It may be irrelevant now because the extended season is pretty much over, but be ready to see this thing next year and most likely more in Standard as well.

On to the report!!

Round 1 – Zoo
My opponent was a cool, nice, friendly guy. He was playing Zoo, which I was unhappy about. This matchup is good for Zoo and the Fae player has to be good and know what to do to win this matchup. Things were looking bad for me.
G1: He absolutely blew me out of the water. There was a communication mix-up about my sprite resolving or not. This communication error wouldn’t have happened had I played the deck more and knew specifically what needed to be make clear to my opponent and me. I decided to concede the argument and scooped up my cards for G2
G2: He mulls to 5, gets somewhat flooded, I get my good cards sans Jitte. When he had an empty hand and mostly empty board and I had Mutavault, Riptide Lab, Sprite, and a lot of land and cards he decides to save some time and scoop.
G3: I play badly and I lose.
I would have liked to see Jitte in one of these games, as it is probably the strongest card in this matchup. But asking for better cards is the chumps’ way out. Anyone can win if they automatically get the cards they want when they want them. I should have played better.

Anyways 0-1 has been my lucky start before so I was still optimistic that I’d be able to put up some solid results.

Round 2 – NLU
I honestly don’t think there was very much I could have done to win this match.
G1: I had a solid hand, Lands, Vision, Clique, Counterspells. I drew a 4th land but not a 5th, meanwhile he made 8 or so land drops, and was able to play all sorts of craziness.
G2: I had a solid hand, Clique, Lands, Visions, and 1 Cryptic Command. I drew a total of 17 lands and no more counterspells, because I drew no counters I couldn’t win any wars over my own visions, or stop his Elendra from hitting the table. It was not a fun game =(.

So 0-2 is pretty bad, however dropping at 0-2 is even worse in my opinion. When you drop at 0-2 you are essentially giving up valid tourney experience and the possibility of going X-2. X-2 is respectable, 0-2 drop almost never is. There are obviously exceptions to this rule. Maybe you’re way too tired/hungry to enjoy or learn from a game of Magic. Maybe you really want to draft, or maybe you want to watch a friend beat people with Kiki-Jiki. The latter tempted me but I decided to grind it out.

Round 3 – Fog/Underworld Dreams.
Whenever James Lee is staffed at an event we always go to McDonalds before hand and eat breakfast and drink O.J. We noticed people laying out cards on the table and I decided to do some very early scouting. I had gathered that one of the players had a red deck, and the other player had a deck that confused me and had a bunch of cards that I had never seen before. I was about to find out what he was playing. He told me this was his 1st PTQ and that he had never played against Fae. I told him that they were extremely powerful and I had a feeling he was about to find out why.
G1: He played a t2 Howling Mine and I guessed Martyr. My t3 Clique revealed Underworld Dreams, and a bunch of fogs. I was basically able to Riptide Lab my Sprites to handle his fogs and I killed him.
G2: Basically the same as G1 except he didn’t hit the lands that he wanted.

1-2 woot woot.

Round 4- UG Tron
This guy was really fun, and nice. He said he’s mostly a casual player that got dragged out to the event by his friends. If this weren’t the scrub bracket I probably wouldn’t have believed him.
G1: This game goes pretty long and he assembles Tron pretty quickly. However he’s not playing the Academy Ruins + good artifacts plan; so his end game can’t trump my Riptide Lab + good stuff.
G2: He drew Tron and a lot of mana, he had oblivion stone hanging out for a the entire game. I was hitting him for 4 every turn with double Mutavault, and occasionally playing Clique and bouncing it back to disrupt his hand and dodge the stone. Eventually Mutavault stupidly seals the deal.

2-2, the scrub bracket has been good to me.

Round 5 – NLU
G1: We both draw good cards and but he makes a mistake in one of my end steps and loses a vital counterwar, I played a bit tighter than he did and won… How unexpected!!=)
G2: Turns out he’s a much better player than I am and beats me =(.
G3: I kept a REALLY sketchy hand, mostly because I didn’t see any of his shackles. I had some good stuff but no colored land, now this would normally be an auto-mulligan, and I probably made the wrong decision by keeping. But I hadn’t seen any shackles and the hand had double Mutavault. So my plan beat him up with Mutavault and draw some blue lands within 3 turns. I didn’t draw any blue almost all game. I did almost beat him with my Mutavault plan. He was at 8 or 10 or something silly, he didn’t really have any reasonable ways to answer my Vaults either, until he drew and could play shackles. Once Shackles hit the board I knew it was over. A spectator brought to attention my (probably bad) decision to not mull. I told him that I hadn’t seen shackles and figured I could just kill him with Vaults (Almost worked). My opponent said “Well, I’m not playing black so I must be playing the other good stuff.” This makes total sense; But one of those obvious things I hadn’t learned yet having played the deck for two days.

2-3, my dreams of going X-2 to make it look like I lost on the bubble and almost topped 8 are crushed.
Oh well. At this point I’m really tempted to drop and just cheer Jon on.

Round 6 – Through The Breach Combo
G1: He mulls to 5, I play a Clique and see his hand and I choose the right piece, Pull Through The Breach to send to the bottom. He essentially draws blanks and I kill him with Clique.
G2: Again he mulls to 5, I Clique him in the end step of his t3 and he responds by playing with the combo.
“Holy crap that’s instant?” I said.
I considered scooping up my cards but was wondering if the trigger was missed and if the hulk would die at the end of my turn. I called a judge and received that very ruling. I drew and had the options of Vensering it back to his hand, or playing Stifle. I chose Stifle and he scooped up his cards.


3-3, cool I guess. I spend the extra time in the round enjoying the pizza I had made the night before and watching John Loucks. I also saw a GREAT play by Bill Stark. It was his Naya Zoo deck –vs- Domain Zoo, it had gone to time and extra turns. Bill had plenty of life left and his opponent was at one. It is the final turn 5 and Stark draws his last card. It is Ranger of Eos, I see him draw it and think
“Oh man, play it, Mogg Fanatic, win. Brilliant.”
So Bill Stark plays Ranger, points to the Mogg Fanatic in his graveyard and says.
“I can just play Ranger, get Fanatic and shoot you.”
His opponent mulls it over and scoops up his cards.
An onlooker says
“Shouldn’t he have made you play it out? I mean just in case?”
Stark replied
“Yes.”
The onlookers mostly dispersed. So I asked Stark.
“So, you gotta tell me. Did you have it?”
“No.” He only had 2 Mogg Fanatics in the deck, and they were both in the yard.
At this point I burst with excitement and laughter, what an example of good Magic, and I got to see it in real time. Not just read it on TCGPlayer.com. I was later criticized because my behavior. His opponent was sitting down still and for me to reveal that he had just made a huge mistake and then jump with laughter and glee could easily be considered rude. I am not one to hide and stifle my own emotions, especially ones of happiness and love. Hopefully this serves as a valuable lesson to everyone reading it. Making your opponent play it out is almost always the best idea, even if the outcome seems obvious. Maybe your opponent gets to excited and draws extra cards, maybe he doesn’t realize that he can’t leave the main phase without mana burning, maybe he doesn’t actually know how the Hulk Flash Combo works (coughSteveSadincough). Stark was criticized by some, and high-fived by others. I want it to be on record that I 100% agree with Stark’s play. Anyways I strongly recommend that you read about the play in more depth at Stark’s blog http://www.thestarkingtonpost.com/.


Round 7 – Mono White Martyr Control
G1: He has me pseudo locked out with Halo’s. I had Jitte with counters and Clique but couldn’t really do anything. I drew Explosives and didn’t do anything for a few turns, I drew Venser and bounced my jitte in his end. Then I blew up his halos with explosives replayed the Jitte and started winning with Riptide Lab.
He’s a bit frustrated because he said Riptide Lab is nearly impossible for him to beat, unless his opponent’s bad. He said that I wasn’t, which I was unsure of, but I figured I may be bad, but I’m not play dumb with Riptide Lab dumb… Right? Right? Wrong!
G2: He’s hitting me with an Exalted Agnel and I’m chumping with Sprite and bouncing it back. I accidentally tap Riptide Lab for Sprite and block. I lose =(.
G3: If don’t play dumb this match is a bye. So I decided to play well and win the third game.

4-3, I feel like such a fighter.

Round 8 – Astral Slide
My opponent receives a game loss for deck registration error, it seems kind of dumb being x-3’s at table 37 in the final round to get deck checked. But an illegal deck list is an illegal deck list. He beats himself up over his game loss, I ask him if it’s his first one. He tells me yes. Having the messiest hand writing on earth and receiving plenty a game loss for it, I tell him with a smirk
“It gets easier.”
For Fae to win the Slide matchup a few things need to happen. Fae gets strong draws, stop the slide from hitting, and stop the Rift from resolving and play around Cloudthresher. This however requires your opponent to have an average game, and for you to have a pretty good draw. Another thing that can happen is that the Slide player could simply be bad. Slide is a very difficult deck to play and players who aren’t well versed with the deck will often make mistakes and lose to Fae.
G2: He has multiple slides and he manages to stick one. He has average draws, but plays very well. He beats me.
G3: I Clique in t3 to reveal double slide and other good stuff. He sticks slide, plays well and beats me.

I think one would normally be upset and discouraged at 4-4, while I was somewhat. I got what I deserved. I wussed out at the last second, sold out, wasn’t true to myself, and played a deck I shouldn’t have. Also Jon Loucks is a friend of mine, I know how bad he wanted this to win this baby, and I was extremely happy for him to be in the T8.

That’s the end of my tournament but not the end of my report. I managed to snag the T8 lists so I’ll post them here and give a little insight to some other things I noticed throughout the day. If I have commentary to provide in addition to the lists I will provide it. If any of these decks are yours and you want to give me some insight please message me, I will provide contact info at the end of the report. I’d also like to mention that there is no Fae, Quentin Martin got 9th due to bad tiebreaks, and was playing the Fae list he wrote about on SCG with a few card changes.


LISTS FROM PLACES 5-8

Ken Nichols – Affinity

Creatures: 28
4 Master of Etherium
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Arcbound Worker
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
4 Ornithopter

Stuff: 14
4 Cranial Plating
4 Thoughtcast
2 Fatal Frenzy
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Chromatic Star

Land: 18
4 Great Furnace
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Vault of Whispers
4 Ancient Den
2 Blinkmoth Nexus

SideBoard: 15
4 Thoughtseize
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Path to Exile
1 Seal of Fire
3 Ancient Grudge


Sebastian Denno – Mono White Martyr

Creatures: 8
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Eternal Dragon

Stuff: 27
4 Runed Halo
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Martial Coup
2 Banefire
2 Decree of Justice
2 Condemn
4 Wrath of God
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Path to Exile

Lands: 25
1 Mistveil Plains
4 Cloudpost
4 Vesuva
12 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry

Sideboard: 15
3 Detrivore
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Rule of Law

The field was surprisingly aggressive making this deck a pretty good call. I personally would be scared to play something that loses to Raven's Crime/Relic. But he sides Relics himself, so I am going to assume that he knows things that I cannot even begin to comprehend.


Bill Stark – Naya Zoo

Creatures: 28
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
2 Mogg Fanatic J!!!
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Figure of Destiny
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Wholly Thoctar
4 Ranger of Eos

Stuff: 11
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Seal of Fire
4 Lightning Helix

Lands: 21
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Windswept Heath
4 Stomping Ground
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 Mountian
1 Forest
1 Plains

Sideboard: 15
4 Ancient Grudge
4 Duergar Hedge-Mage
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
3 Path to Exile

I just want to say that Wholly Thoctar is ridiculous and if I were playing Naya Zoo I'd be playing 4 of them. I've seen some lists play 2-3 and I don't understand why. That guy's a beast in just about every matchup. He fights dudes very well, and he fights your opponent's face very well. If I were playing Naya Zoo I'm pretty sure I'd want to play this guy all the time, every game. Also Ranger of Eos is absolutely ridiculous. He's a body, and he's gas, but not just any gas. TUTOR GAS! The best kind. Seriously getting a 3/2 and drawing 2 dudes of your choice is very strong. It's a great way to grind out your opponent in the mirror, or a way to play enough threats to get there against control. If you haven't seriously considered playing Ranger in your deck, I suggest you do that.

Max McCall – Astral Side

Creatures: 8
2 Eternal Witness
2 Loxodon Heirarch
4 Kitchen Finks

Stuff: 25
4 Astral Slide
4 Life from the Loam
3 Lightning Rift
3 Spark Spray
4 Path to Exile
2 Wrath of God
3 Edge of Autumn
1 Lightning Helix
1 Worm Harvest

Land:27
4 Secluded Steepe
2 Forgotten Cave
4 Tranquil Thicket
3 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Flagstones of Trokair

Sideboard: 15
2 Duergar Hedge-Mage
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Slice and Dice
1 Wrath of God
1 Lightning Helix

There's not very much I can say about Slide as I have little experience playing the deck. I have played Loam somewhat extensively and think that 2 Ghost Quarters is the right amount. The singleton Wurm Harvest looks like a good idea to me. I remember Max saying something along the lines of replacing Slice and Dice with Cloudthreshers.

LISTS FROM PLACES 3-4

Joel Popick - Loam

Creatures: 11
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of Reliquary
4 Kitchen Finks

Stuff: 21
2 Path to Exile
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Dark Blast
1 Wurm Harvest
2 Crime//Punishment
2 Putrefy
2 Thoughtseize
4 Raven's Crime
4 Life from the Loam

Land: 27
4 Windswept Heath
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Treetop Village
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Twilight Mire
3 Barren Moor
4 Tranquil Thicket
2 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Forest

Sideboard: 15
3 Extirpate
2 Thoughtseize
2 Damnation
2 Putrefy
2 Pithing Needle
1 Crime//Punishment
3 Loxodon Heirarch.

Loam decks are hard to judge effectively since they can be built in so many different ways. I really like Joel's sideboard. I think that 2 Ghost Quarter's the right number. But that doesn't make it so.


Dwayne St. Arnauld – Bant

Creatures: 21
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Knight of Relinquary
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Rhox War Monk
3 Trygon Predator
2 Sower of Temptation

Stuff: 16
3 Bant Charm
4 Mana Leak
2 Path to Exile
2 Stifle
3 Spell Snare
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Land: 23
3 Breeding Pool
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
3 Treetop Village
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Plains
2 Forest

Sideboard: 15
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Venser Shaper Savant
1 Trickbind
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Rule of Law
1 Path to Exile
4 Kataki's War Wage

Bant is the new kid on the block, and if you aren't respecting it you should be. If you write this deck off either as a deck choice, or as a viable deck you'll have to play against, you will be punished. Exalted is an incredibly strong mechanic, it allows Heirarch turn on Umezawa's Jitte, it allows the Bant player to break Goyf stalemates, oh yeah did I mention that it makes his dudes better at fighting than your dudes AND allows him to play better dudes than you? Gaddock Teeg is a card that finds itself in the mainboard often, but I prefer Elendra over Teeg because it can loosely serve the same purpose and it a bit more versatile and is an absolute BEATING to the Fae Machine. Trygon Predator is an undervalued card when people build Bant decks. Think about any match you'll play. Chances are they play Artifacts and or Enchantments that you care about, it also neutralizes their Jitte and allows you to maximize yours. Try Trygon Predator, you won't be disappointed.

SECOND PLACE DECKLIST!

Jeff Cunningham – Bant

Creatures: 21
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Troll Ascetic
3 Glen Elendra Archmage

Stuff:14
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Bant Charm
2 Stifle
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Path to Exile

Land:25
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Treetop Village
2 Flooded Strand
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Dryad Arbor

Sideboard: 15
3 Cranial Extraction
2 Stifle
2 Trinket Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Reilc of Progenitus
1 Kataki's War Wage
4 Worship

Hell yes! This is what I'm talking about. This Bant deck is HARDCORE! This deck really wants to go, T1 Heirarch/Bird T2 Good Dude T3 Jitte/Sword/Elendra. A curve like that is really hard to beat. I think that 3-4 Bant Charms if the right number, as that card can make game breaking plays in just about every matchup (even teps ding!). Worship in the side is absolutely game breaking vs any deck that wants to beat you by fighting you with their dudes, just by playing 4 ascetic in the main and 4 Worship in the side you can virtually put a line through a large amount of the format. Playing Bant has made me love Troll Ascetic. I've always hated him. He seemed dumb and clunky. In a format with a lot of Fae he's such a powerful weapon, a dude that cannot die through combat or be shackled is NOT a dude Fae wants to fight. Being able to play him on T2 may not even give the Fae player an option to fight him with countermagic. Sword of Fire and Ice is an additional beating to the Fae Machine. I'm not 100% sure if it's better than simply playing Shackles in your Bant deck (Yeah you can do that, it's busted trust me.) but Shackles requires a lot of islands and that may not be something you're down with. The 1 Dryad Arbor confuses me, the only reason I can think to play it is because it can't be shut down by Pithing Needle against Tez. Anyways if you're looking to play Bant this is the build I would recommend. Not only is this Bant deck incredibly strong, it will give you a good introductory course on how to understand how Bant is supposed to play out.

First Place Decklist

Jonathan Loucks – Kiki-Jiki-Lark-Combo-Midrange??

Creatures: 16
3 Trinket Mage
4 Pestermite
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Reveillark
1 Body Double

Stuff: 20
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chrome Mox
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
4 Mana Leak
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Wrath of God
1 Resurrection
1 Firespout

Land: 24
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Rugged Prairie
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Great Furnace
1 Ancient Den
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Island

Sideboard: 15
1 Pact of Negation
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Gilded Light
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
1 Rule of Law
1 Trickbind
1 Stifle
1 Shatterstorm
1 Kataki's War Wage
1 Wrath of God
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
1 Firespout
1 Volcanic Fallout

Holy Crap, Yeah seriously. I'd like to list some quotes I heard over the day regarding Jon's deck.

“Jon needs to t8 and win this PTQ so he can make Seattle look bad to the entire world.”
-Unknown
“I think I drafted this deck once…”
-Ricky Boise

“Jon's deck could only have been built after starving himself and not sleeping for 3 days, and then being guided by his animal spirit guide.”
-James Lee

Now before you judge this deck, put yourself into the shoes of all of Jon's opponents. You're X-0, doing fine. Jon Loucks sits in down in front of you and you know he has a reputation of playing crazy decks. He opens up with land Sunbeam Spellbomb. Then he plays Chalice for 1 (I don't know if Jon would ever do this, or even if it's a good idea. I simply want to convey the fact that playing against this deck, without looking at the list will leave your horribly confused.) Then he plays Pestermite in your end step. Think about those bizarre plays. How do you play? What do you do? Do you kill Pestermite? Is that actually the card he played? Did he seriously open up with Sunbeam Spellbomb? What's going on? You're almost guaranteed to make a sub optimal play. The instant you do. BAM YOU'RE DEAD! 30,000 Pestermites are on the table in your end step (or something).
Seriously. Honestly how do you not make mistakes against this deck in the swiss of a PTQ? How do you sideboard correctly? How do you not Panic and have a mini internal freak out? I also want to point out the ultimate jackpot of his sideboard that many people will write off as jank. Notice how he spreads his hate around. This is a good idea. Notice how he plays 1 Kataki, 1 Shatterstorm, 1 Recall in the board. It is so much harder for decks that are narrow and linear to deal with such a diverse range of answers. Next time you put 4 Rule of Law or 4 cannonist in your sideboard for TEPS ask yourself this. Is it easier or harder for TEPS to deal with a wider range of answers? Because the answer will most likely be harder, If you stick double Cannonist you still lose to an Echoing Truth, but if one of those was a Rule of Law you're in business.

You do not beat this deck by beating the combo. Many people will look at this deck, find a way to beat the combo and write it off thinking “Ok, I play Pithing Needle naming Kiki-Jiki. Combo's beat and game is over.” This is simply untrue and if you think this way, not only will you lose to this deck, but you will remain significantly worse at Magic (and most likely other things you do). I saw Jon beat his final opponent games 2 and 3 with his Kiki-Jiki removed from the game via Cranial Extraction. Infact I kind of freaked out when I saw Kiki-Jiki gone in game 2, I motioned Zaiem to talk to me away from the table (I imagine that he had some hand in building the deck since those two are almost always partners in crime.) and I asked him.
“How does Jon win this game?”
He said
“He just fights him with dudes, Reveilark hits for 4. Jon has won a lot of his games by just fighting.”
That's exactly what Jon did. Finks hits for 3 and then in your end step Pestermite comes down and taps your blocker and Jon domes you for 5. Then you have to beat Reveilark and Body Double, and deal with the crazy toolbox aspect of the deck.

I congratulate and thank Jon at the same time. I want to say how happy I am for you, from Bizazz stands alone (if only you could Kiki-Jiki that guy), to Webster and Ice Trap. I know how bad you wanted this win, and I'm glad you got it and proved something to me and maybe the whole community. I also want to thank you. This tournament was a crossroads in my Magic “career”. I was beginning to think that I couldn't innovate in this game, that I couldn't be great or push the envelope. That I'd just have to play by the rules and play blue like all the other good players. Not only did you prove me completely wrong, you inspired me and hopefully others to stay true to themselves and know that if they build good decks, play good magic. It doesn't matter what other people say because in the end they'll be walking away with the envelope.

I hope that everybody enjoyed this read, and also learned something (it is a bit of a doozy). By now you've probably forgotten that I went 4-4, and so have I. This was a great weekend for Magic, and I wouldn't change a thing. However I hope things that bode better for me at GRAND PRIX MUSTACHIO!!! I'm starting to grow mine out now because I can't actually grow facial hair.

Hopefully I'll be back for more writing goodness. I enjoyed writing this, but I like to be very thorough which sometimes prevents me from starting articles. However if there's good feedback and people want to read my material I will definitely be back. Being my first magic article, feedback, opinions, be they good or bad would be super awesome.

Contact info

Andy”SweetCandy”Wilson on the boards
AndyWilson187 on the aim machine
AndyWilson22@gmail.com on the email machine.
http://twitter.com/AndyWilson22 on the twitter machine.

(P.S. I look like this)