Monday, February 11, 2013

Thirst for Knowledge - Stay on target...

6:26 PM | Posted by | | Edit Post

My plans for this past weekend went down in a blaze of glory.  I had originally planned to go to Roswell, GA for the PTQ Dragon's Maze but due to family issues I couldn't make it but at least I had a backup plan.  My backup plan was to head to my FLGS and play in a Trial for GP Charlotte.  I opened an insane, bomb heavy pool:


White

Smite
Aerial Maneuver
2 Angelic Edict
Basilica Guards
Court Street Denizen
Debtor's Pulpit
Frontline Medic
Guildscorn Ward
Murder Investigation
Righteous Charge
Smite
Zarichi Tiger

Blue

AEtherize
Clinging Anemones
Frilled Oculus
Incursion Specialist
Last Thoughts
Leyline Phantom
Metropolis Sprite
Skygames
Spell Rupture

Black

Basilica Screecher
Contaminated Ground
Crypt Ghast
Death's Approach
Gateway Shade
Killing Glare
Lord of the Void
Shadow Alley Denizen
Slate Street Ruffian
Wight of Precinct Six

Red

Bomber Corps
Cinder Elemental
Furious Resistance
Homing Lightning
Mark for Death
Ripscale Predator
Scorchwalker
Skinbrand Goblin
2 Structural Collapse
Tin Street Market

Green

Adaptive Snapjaw
Burst of Strength
Disciple of Old Ways
Greenside Watcher
Ivy Lane Denizen
Serene Remembrance
Slaughterhorn

Stay on target...

Artifact

Boros Keyrune
Razortip Whip
Riot Gear
Skyblinder Staff

Non-basic Land

Gruul Guildgate
2 Simic Guildgate (1 Foil)
Orzhov Guildgate

Simic

Hydroform
Mystic Genesis (Foil)
Nimbus Swimmer
Bioshift

Dimir

2 Deathcult Rogue
Psychic Strike

Orzhov

2 Executioner's Swing
Merciless Eviction
Vizkopa Confessor

Gruul

Frenzied Tilling
Gruul Charm
Ruination Wurm
Zhur-Taa Swine
Skarrg Guildmage (Foil)
2 Primal Visitation
Burning Tree Emissary
Pit Fight
Rubblebelt Raiders

Stay on target...

 Boros

 Boros Charm
Sunhome Guildmage
Firemane Angel
Fortress Cyclops
2 Martial Glory
2 Ordruun Veteran

A friend of mine got there late and couldn't play be he saw me sorting through my pool and knew what kind of power I had.  He left and came back later for the store's 6 PM event and we had this discussion:

Friend: So you won right?
Me: Nope.
Friend: Made the finals?
Me: Nope.
Friend: Top 8?
Me: Nope, try a 1-3 record with mana problems all day.
So, what happened?

It was a combination of several things actually but all of them fall into a category that was talked about just last Wednesday by Marshall Sutcliffe in his article Sealed Deck Reality Check.  You probably know Marshall Sutcliffe from his podcast Limited Resources.  Marshall is known as a very good limited player.
One of the reasons that I have been very successful at CCG's that I have played is due to my prowess as a Limited player.  Several of my qualifications (and near misses) has been playing in Limited formats.

Why then did I fail?  Let's go over what I did wrong so that you won't make the same mistake.

Incorrect Deck Building

If you noticed the list above, then you saw the obvious power cards.  Blue had a couple of nice cards and so did Simic but I didn't feel it was enough to warrant using them.  Black had some removal spells and a bomb and Orzhov had several removal spells but I didn't feel there was enough synergy between the Black cards and the White ones.  Dimir was also a bit out of luck other than the Deathcult Rogues and the counterspell.

That left me with White, Red, Boros and Gruul.  So here is what I registered and sleeved up:

Burst of Strength

Bomber Corps
Skinbrand Goblin
Disciple of Old Ways
Greenside Watcher
Skarrg Guildmage (Foil)
Burning Tree Emissary
Pit Fight
Boros Charm
Sunhome Guildmage
Martial Glory

Court Street Denizen
Frontline Medic
Slaughterhorn
Boros Keyrune

Cinder Elemental
Homing Lightning
Scorchwalker
Ivy Lane Denizen
Firemane Angel
Ordruun Veteran

Adaptive Snapjaw
Zhur-Taa Swine

8 Mountain
4 Forests
4 Plains
1 Gruul Guildgate

Do you see a problem here?  Just like a fancy sports car, it might look great but if it is stuck in the garage because it won't run then you have a problem.

So when did I notice a problem?  During my round 1 match vs. Mikhail Steelman, game one I drew nothing but Forests when I need to draw a single Plains and lost game 1.  I went on to win that match but sadly that was the only match I won all day.

Mana problems doomed me all day.  I had little mana fixing and banked on drawing the correct colors to win.  The games that won (or were extremely competitive) I did just that.  Most games however were not like that and I folded like an origami tiger.

Better Mulligan Strategies

Even though I built my deck incorrectly, I could have still fought through some of the issues by mulligan aggressively.  Games where I took the chance and mulligan aggressively, I did well or even won.  Games where I did not do so or I took chances due to needing to draw 1 land of a certain color, I lost and did so horribly.   I did not listen to Obi Wan Kenobi and 'Use the Force'.   Bad decisions equals game loss.

The Punt

Even with all that, I still had the opportunity to Top 8 and maybe pull out something miraculous.  In round 4, I was playing Franklin Cammack.  I'd lost game one (again horribly) sideboarded in several cards to fix the problem and had an amazing start.  Then I attempted to save my Bomber Corps and kill an Warmind Infantry with a Boros Charm by giving my creature double strike...Except Bomber Corps has 1 power...>_<

Opponents' life total at the end of the game: 4

Corrections for the future

After all the disappointment, I wrote this down as a learning experience.  The deckbuilding mistake is one that I have rarely made in my competitive career in any game.  I had a pool back in Rise of the Eldrazi that had, not 1, but 2 Gideon Jura and I didn't even play White.  I won that event playing a Green / Black ramp deck using commons like Even the most season veteran gets blindsided by doing something like this.   I figured out what I should have built after it was already too late to do anything about it.  Here is how I would have built the deck if I had a do over:

Bomber Corps
Skinbrand Goblin
Disciple of Old Ways
Greenside Watcher
Skarrg Guildmage (Foil)
Burning Tree Emissary
Gruul Charm
Pit Fight

Slaughterhorn
Boros Keyrune
Frontline Medic

Firemane Angel
Cinder Elemental
Homing Lightning
Mark for Death
Scorchwalker
Rubblebelt Raiders
Ivy Lane Denizen

Angelic Edict
Adaptive Snapjaw
Zhur-Taa Swine

Ripscale Predator

Ruination Wurm

1 Gruul Guildgate
8 Mountain
6 Forest
2 Plains

This version would have been more consistent while retaining a good amount of the power found in my pool.  Going Boros was almost impossible due to the low number of cheap White only cards.  By using White as my splash color, it gave me access to another removal spell Angelic Edict and 2 power card in Frontline Medic and Firemane Angel without going overboard in a color that I had very few ways to cast spells in.  Marshall Sutcliffe talked about this toward the end of his article Sealed Deck Reality Check last Wednesday.    

As far as the other mistakes, mulligans are extremely hard in a sealed deck (or draft) format.  Unlike any constructed format, you don't get to practice enough with your deck before hand.  Keeping sketchy hands can be even worse in limited than it is in constructed because you have less information about your deck in limited based on performance numbers.

As for the punt, I had seen Firefist Striker all day.  Firefist Striker was a 2/1, Bomber Corps was a 1/2 and I got their P/T confused.  The biggest correction that I could have done there was to slow down and read the blocker.  Then I could have made a better decision.  The Boros Charm would have still been in my hand and  Franklin would have died to the Boros Charm 4 to the dome 2 turns later and we'd have been off to game 3.

The Learning Experience

At the end of Star Wars Episode 3, Yoda tells Obi Wan Kenobi about a technique he learned from another Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn that allowed them to communicate through the force even though Qui Gon Jinn was dead.  We see this used during the original trilogy between Obi Wan and Yoda as well. Yoda was the oldest Jedi Master and even he learned something new.

If you want to get better at anything, you must learn from your mistakes.  These are mistakes that would even cripple a Pro Tour champion, let alone a washed up old mage like myself.  One of the biggest reasons I wrote this article was both for your benefit as well as my own.

Thanks for reading,

Bradley Reeves

Infecting Magic one grinder at a time

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