I played in the SCG Open in Atlanta this weekend, and managed to finish in 8th.  I am very proud of this accomplishment and is my best performance so far in this game.  I have now achieved one of my Magic resolutions this year, which was to qualify for the SCG Invitational or Pro Tour.  Still working on the Pro Tour side, but I will be attending the SCG Invitational in Atlanta on April 5-7.  What follows is my tournament report from this past weekend.


I decided to play the Esper Spirits deck I discussed last week.  As I mentioned there, I knew I wanted to play Geist of Saint Traft.  After considering all the options from last week’s post, Obzedat is what finally decided it for me.  I knew everyone was used to the Bant and WUR Geist decks, so I wanted to play something people wouldn’t expect.  I had a feeling people wouldn’t know how to deal with Obzedat this first weekend and it seems I was correct.  The card was insane for me all weekend.

You can see my complete decklist here on the SCG website.

Round 1 – Aaron Muncy

Aaron was playing an interested Bant list that was full of Jaces, Thragtusks, and Entreat the Angels.

Game 1 – He was on the play, but I got the aggressive start with an unanswered Geist on turn 3, followed by a Captain on turn 4.  He was able to resolve a Jace, but Geist + Angel quickly took care of that.  He then resolved a couple of Thragtusks, but I had resolved a Lingering Souls with flashback, and with the Captain out, he was not able to keep up.

Game 2 – He chose to play again, and miracled an Entreat on turn 3 for one Angel.  I had a Detention Sphere for the Angel.  A couple of turns later, he miracled another Entreat for 4 Angels.  I was able to eventually deal with all of the Angels, but when he miracled a third Entreat a few turns later, it was pretty much over.

Game 3 – This time I was on the play and lead with a Lingering Souls on turn 3.  I followed up with a Captain and the game didn’t last too much longer after that.

1-0

Round 2 – David Hammill – Junk Reanimator

Game 1 – I was on the play and had to mulligan to 6.  I had an early Lingering Souls to start applying pressure, while he played some spells to fill his graveyard.  I had Obzedat on turn 5 and a removal spell for his reanimated Thragtusk.  Obzedat closed the game pretty quickly after that.

Game 2 – This game was one of the most interested games I played all day.  Turns out, he was also playing Obzedat and reanimated him on turn 5 choosing to exile him at end of turn.  I then cast my own Obzedat on my turn 5.  However, I played a Blind Obedience on turn 6 that caused his to always enter the battlefield tapped so it could never attack.  Mine was in full on aggro mode though.  He played a consistent stream of chump blockers while we traded Obzedat triggers, but I eventually was able to swing through the victory.

After the match, I asked my opponent why he never left his Obzedat in play to legend rule mine away.  Turns out he never realized it was a “may” trigger.  Another the lesson in “read the card” learned.

2-0

Round 3 – Caleb Crotts – Boros

Game 1 – I was on the play.  My early game was thwarted by a turn 2 Thalia from my opponent.  I used an Orzhov charm to kill her, and then the following turn played a Lingering Souls.  I followed that with a Drogskol Captain.  He was creature lite, but kept throwing burn at me.  A couple of Azorios Charms for lifelink put me out of reach, while my spirits finished the job.

Game 2 – He was creature lite again, so he hit me with a Boros Charm on turn 2.  I had a Lingering Souls to start. His turn 3 Boros Reckoner was met with a Devour Flesh and a flashback on Lingering Souls.  He couldn’t find burn spells to take out my creatures and I drew my Vault of the Archangel to make sure my life total stayed high.

3-0

I was pretty happy so far with the deck’s performance, especially given the little amount of testing I had been able to do.

Round 4 – Brian Braun-duin – Humanimator

I was pretty excited to play against someone of BBD’s ability.  Plus it was my first feature match, although it was an off-camera feature match.  Brad Nelson will be posting an article about this deck later this week.

This match was not even close.  Game 1 he hit the perfect mills and hit his combo quickly.  Game 2 I had to mull to 4 and still did not see anything good.  He crushed me.

3-1

Round 5 – Chris Hoalt – BG Zombies

Game 1 – I was on the play, but had to mulligan.  He played a turn two Lotleth Troll which I was able to Devour Flesh.  His second Lotleth Troll was quickly followed by a Knight of Infamy and a Rancor.  I could not find a way to deal with it in time.

Game 2 – On the play again and muilliganed to 5.  However, my five cards contained a Geist of Saint Traft which I resolved on turn 3.  He played a couple of zombies but I drew into appropriate removal spells to deal with any blockers and Geist got the job done.

Game 3 – He was on the play and had to mulligan.  He started attacking early with a Slitherhead.  He had a Messenger on turn 3, but I soon found a Dungeon Geist to keep it locked down.  A second Dungeon Geist on defense made sure his guys stayed home, while I attacked in the air.  A Detention Sphere for his Desecration Demon on the last turn sealed the deal.

4-1

Round 5 - Adam Beauchamp – RDW

Game 1 – I was on the play and he mulliganed to 6.  However, his six was pretty perfect and a steady stream of creatures and burn spells kept me on my back foot the whole game.

Game 2 – I had a Geist on turn 3 and removal for his early guys.  At one point he played a Thundermaw Hellkite, but I had a Ultimate Price ready.

Game 3 – He led on Reckless Waif which flipped after my turn.  He played a second Reckless Waif on turn 3.  I played a Lingering Souls.  When he attacked with the first Waif (now a 3/2 cause it had flipped), I decided to single block with a Spirit token instead of double blocking to trade.  I assumed he would pass the turn and let the other Waif flip on my upkeep.  I was correct and it did, but I had a Detention Sphere in hand to take out both at the same time.  At that point, I became the beatdown and started swinging, while he just threw burn at my face.  He almost got me at the end, but I had a Devour Flesh on my own Restoration Angel to gain 4 life that put me just out of reach.

5-1

Round 7 – Matt Willi – Rakdos

Game 1 – He had a few early drops and we traded a few times in combat.  I had Obzedat on turn 5 though and that sealed the deal.

Game 2 – He was on the play but did not have many early drops.  He did have a couple of Falkenrath Aristocrats though.  However, I had Dungeon Geists to deal with them and swing through for the game.

6-1

I knew at this point I had a pretty good shot at placing in the money but I started setting my eyes on top 8.

Round 8 – Derrick Roper – Esper Tokens

Game 1 – He was on the play.  He had a turn 3 Lingering Souls and I had a turn 3 Geist.  He had a Devour Flesh to answer it though.  He followed with a Sorin on the next turn.  It would have been rough, but I top decked Obzedat on turn 5 and it was over pretty quickly.

Game 2 – Turn 3 Geist, turn 4 Drogskol Captain met no resistance from him.  Three swings and it was over.

7-1

At this point, I was pretty much locked for Top 64, so I was already pretty happy.

Round 9 – Aaron Deforge – Jund Midrange

This was an on camera feature match, so I was very excited.  You can see the match here (my match starts at 5:26:30).

Game 1 I was nervous because we were on camera and I made a few large misplays as you can see in the coverage.  After that game, though, I got it together and was able to pull it out for games 2 and 3.

8-1

I had reached the moment of truth.  There were 9 people at 24 points or better. So someone had to play down.  I could draw and hope the paired down player lost and I would be locked for top 8.  Or, I could play it out and risk missing top 8 if I had lost.

Round 10 – Ryan Lee – Jund Midrange

Ryan was really cool and we quickly discussed the merits of playing or drawing.  I had a feeling he was on the Jund Midrange deck because he was friends with the opponent I had just played and I overheard his other friends talking about it.  Ultimately, we decided to play two games.  If it went 1-1 we would take the ID and let fate decide.

Game 1 – He came out swinging and was able to deal with my Geist of Saint Traft.  I managed to sneak some damage in, but an overloaded Mizzium Mortars did me in.

Game 2 – Game 2 was pretty much the opposite.  I had removal for everything he played and lots of spirits got the job done.

We took the ID and left it to chance.  In retrospect, I should have just played it and not risk it.  I was took excited and stressed by the possibility of Top 8 to think clearly, and let it ride.  It didn’t matter though, because the other 24 pointer who got paired down lost, and we both made it to Top 8.

At this point, I was ecstatic.  I went through all of the stuff the top 8 have to do before actually playing and then sat down for the Top 8 match against Joe Herrara.  There is not much to tell about this match.  I saw 5 lands between both games and his Naya Human deck ran me over.

I finished 8th overall, a finish that makes me very proud.  It was enough to qualify me for the Invitational in Atlanta in two months, so I now I have to start getting my first real taste of Legacy.

Game

Match!

Set

The deck performed pretty well for me on the day.  I made the right choice in Obzedat.  That card is just bonkers and people were not prepared for it.  Plus, Drogskol Captain really helps protect it from the few ways your opponent can deal with it.

Blind Obedience is also a card that was better for me than I expected it. I see a lot of people of talking about it in control decks, but I think Glenn Jones said it best during the coverage of my camera match.  It is very efficient at dealing with blockers, which allows Geist to do a significant amount of damage early.

Devour Flesh, on the other hand, was very underwhelming.  I will probably move those to the board going forward to curtail other Geist decks, and look for better removal spells.  I have considered Dimir Charm.  And you can use it to get rid of any potential chump blockers your opponent may be topdecking.

That’s it for this War Report.  I will have a new Ideas Unbound tomorrow looking at some of the other decks that did well in Atlanta.

Eddie Walker