MTG Salvation

ROUND 3 vs Embry (URGW Kiki-Twin Combo)

Game 1

I win the toss and lead off with a Mishra’s Factory into a Sorcerous Spyglass turn 2. I know I saw Splinter Twin / Search for Azcanta / Izzet Signet, all pretty unnameable for Sorcerous Spyglass. Since I have to name the actual creature Splinter Twin is enchanting on not Splinter Twin, I just named Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Embry plays Izzet Signet and passes. Embry playing Izzet Signet over Search for Azcanta made me believe that Embry drew a 4-drop to play on turn 3. I just play a land and bash in with Mishra’s Factory. Embry follows up with not a 4-drop, but just land into Search for Azcanta (in my opinion Search for Azcanta would’ve been the better turn 2 play for more digging, but whatever). On my fourth turn I cast Ral Zarek and just start using his + ability to give him as much Lightning Bolt ammo as I can.

On Embry’s upkeep, Search for Azcanta mills a Zealous Conscripts and then Embry plays a Feldon of the Third Path. Not wanting to get my Ral Zarek stolen by a reanimated Zealous Conscripts, I immediately bolt the Feldon on my turn with Ral Zarek and cast The Abyss. Search for Azcanta mills an Island on Embry’s turn and Embry just plays a mountain and passes. I start beating down with Mishra’s factory and continue ramping Ral Zarek up. In response to Ral Zarek tapping down a land, Embry casts Supreme Will (Impulse Mode) and in response I cast Thirst for Knowledge and discard blightsteel Colossus.

On Embry’s turn, Search for Azcanta mills a Recruiter of the Guard and transforms. Embry then cast Deceiver Exarch and then enchanted it with Splinter Twin. Fortunately for me, this doesn’t win right away since Deceiver still has summoning sickness. Unfortunately for me, Deceiver Exarch still goes infinite in response to The Abyss trigger, so I had to deal with it right away. I luckily had both Shriekmaw and Control Magic in my hand. Wanting to humor myself a bit, I decide to Control Magic the Deceiver Exarch so that I can go infinite on my own upkeep, but Embry has the Dismember to ruin my dreams. I just continue with my business pumping Ral Zarek and bashing with Mishra’s Factory. Things get interesting when Embry casts Wheel of Fortune and follows it up with Bribery for my Sundering Titan (I believe I drew Blightsteel Colossus on the wheel? Or maybe Embry just wanted to blow up my lands, I don’t remember). Sundering Titan blows up 3 of my lands and I cast Diabolic Edict to take out the Titan, blowing up even more lands.

I drop a land, some mana rocks I drew off Wheel of Fortune and continue business as usual with Ral Zarek and Mishra’s Factory. Embry plays Avalanche Riders to blow up another one of my lands and take down Ral Zarek a peg or two. I cast Scroll Rack and Embry casts Fact or Fiction on my EOT. The two piles I made were Gemstone Mine / Worldly Tutor / Daze and Celestial Colonnade / Force Spike. Embry ended up taking the Colonnade / Force Spike. On my turn I cast Daretti, Scrap Savant and sacrifice my Talisman of Unity to reanimate Sundering Titan (a lot of land destruction this match!) As a last ditch effort to stay in the game, Embry casts Time Spiral and found the Bribery to steal my Blightsteel Colossus, but Ral Zarek just tapped down the Blightsteel Colossus and I was able to swing for lethal.


Game 2

Embry is on the play and leads off with Needle Spires while I start with Grand Coliseium. Embry’s next turn was Shivan Reef, pass while I drop Mishra’s Factory into Talisman of Indulgence. Embry follows up with Mountain into Eldrazi Displacer. Cute, on my 3rd turn I end up casting Tinker for Sundering Titan, blowing up Embry’s Mountain (I had zero basics in play). Embry drew and wasn’t able to drop a land and just had to pass. I swing in on my turn and Embry chump blocks with Eldrazi Displacer and I cast Thran Dynamo. Embry fails to draw another land and I start coming in with Mishra’s Factory and Sundering Titan. Embry draws a 3rd land and plays Imperial Recruiter and tutors for Deceiver Exarch. On my next turn I cast Ral Zarek and blow up the Imperial Recruiter and swing in. Embry cast Deceiver Exarch on my turn, targeting Sundering Titan but I had Triskelion for the last points of damage for the win.

Won my first 3 matches, w00t!

Round 2 vs Sever27 (Mono Red Aggro Burn)

Game 1

This wasn’t much of a game. I mulled to 6 on the draw and Sever just beat me up with turn 1 Firedrinker Satyr / turn 2 Keldon Marauders. On my turn 2 I cast Sorcerous Spyglass and named a Koth of the Hammer I saw in his hand. He proceeds to play Jackal Pup and continues his relentless assault against me. He eventually Abrades my Sorcerous Spyglass and I Diabolic Edict his Jackal Pup. Ended up dying to Incinerate and Chain Lightning

Game 2

I figured Upheaval was pretty useless in this match and boarded it out for Psychatog since I needed more board presence early game. I lead off with Creeping Tar Pit and he has a Chain Lightning to burn me with. Turn 2 I lay down an Orzhov Signet and he Magma Jets me. Turn 3 I go all out and Tinker for Blightsteel Colossus and he followed up with Firedrinker Satyr into Bonesplitter which did nothing. Hurray AIDS BOT!


Game 3

I notice going into game 3 that Sever was taking a while to sideboard. I assumed this meant that he was boarding in his white mana fixing so he can bring in Journey to Nowhere to deal with my giant robots. I mulligan on the draw and had something like Tinker / Island / Mishra’s Factory and scried away a Thran Dynamo. Sever leads off with Arid Mesa (which confirmed my white splash theory) into Stromkirk Noble and I play Mishra’s Factory turn 1. He swings in and grows his Stromkirk Noble, plays a land and passes. I play Island and pass hoping Mishra’s Factory would make him think twice about attacking. He doesn’t take the bait and attacks anyways while I choose not to activate Mishra’s Factory.

Sever drops Firedrinker Satyr and plays a Sacred Foundry untapped. The untapped Sacred Foundry scared me a bit because I had Ancient Tomb to cast Tinker on turn 3. Originally I was planning on going for Sundering Titan but him purposely paying 2 life for Sacred Foundry made me think he had Abrade. On my third turn I use Mishra’s Factory to activate itself and tap Island / Ancient Tomb to cast Tinker and sacrifice my animated Mishra’s Factory. I ended up going for Blightsteel Colossus again because I knew he had two answers for Sundering Titan (Abrade / Journey to Nowhere) but only one answer for Blightsteel Colossus. He does nothing on his turn

Turn 4 was a bit of a dilemma for me. I had Earthquake but my only red source was City of Brass. I was at 10 life and Earthquake for 3 would’ve wiped his entire board for Blightsteel Colossus to just win instantly. Unfortunately, I would’ve taken 3 damage from Ancient Tomb and City of Brass and 3 damage from Earthquake, which would’ve taken me down to 4. I knew he had a Fireblast in his maindeck so I wasn’t too sure what I should’ve done. I ended up just attacking with Blightsteel Colossus and he was forced to block with his 3/3 Stromkirk Noble. I then Earthquaked for 1 (took 2 because of City of Brass) and took out his Firedrinker Satyr. He didn’t have Fireblast but he did have Char and got me down to 2 before I fully infected him with AIDS.

Quote from calibretto »

I voted for burn to win it all because I'm loyal to the deck.

Burn player is currently 1-2 : / Still has a chance for 5-2!

*OP updated with deck lists*

WAVE 1 UPDATE: Draft Summary and Round 1 vs Steve_Ice

DRAFT SUMMARY:

Had to decide between P1P1 Tinker or Eureka. I knew Tinker was better bet overall, more consistent deck that can bleed over into Wildfire / Upheaval ramp shenanigans and can still form a decent deck if I whiff the draft. I saw Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas around P1P3 / P1P4. I don’t remember what I took over them, but I figured at least one of them would wheel. At the end of pack 1 I realized that neither Tezzeret / Daretti wheeled and was kind of scared somebody was trying to cut me off of artifacts. Also didn't have any Tinker payoffs at this point.

I belive my P2P1 was Ancient Tomb and I eventually picked up Upheaval in pack 2 I believe. Don’t remember too many details about pack 2 except that I still did not have a Tinker payoff. P3P1 I eventually saw Sundering Titan which I instant-scooped and was passed Blightsteel Colossus P3P6.

ROUND 1 vs Steve_Ice (URW Jeskai Balance Control)

Game 1

If I have any personal demons, it’s Steve_Ice. I probably faced Steve_Ice more than anybody else and he definitely has a winning record on me. It’d probably be a lot more close if a good amount of those wins didn’t involve us unearthing card bugs (that always screwed me over).

Anyways, won the die roll and we just played draw / go for a while. I had an early Creeping Tar Pit / Mishra’s Factory, but I didn’t activate them because I couldn’t risk them getting blown up. I also had Tinker but I had to play around his counters. On my 4th turn I resolve a Baleful Strix and started activating Mishra’s Factory the next turn to chip Steve_Ice down. Steve_Ice eventually played a Glory-Bound Initiate. Having only two mana left up, I knew he couldn’t counter Tinker (decklists are public and he didn’t have any hard 2-cmc counterspells). I went for Tinker and he Condescended for 1 to get the Scry 2. Tinker found Sundering Titan and he conceded with I nuked 3 of his lands to my 1 land loss.

Game 2

I mulligan to 6 on the draw. Steve_Ice decided to go Legacy / Vintage on me with turn 1 Ponder into turn 2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy while I had a turn 2 Talisman of Indulgence. Steve_Ice activates JVP once and discards an Island and plays Faerie Conclave and Harsh Mentor. I Earthquake for 2 to take out the JVP / Harsh Mentor but Steve_Ice was able to rebound on turn 4 with Treasure Cruise. I cast Baleful Strix on my next turn but Steve_Ice comes in with Fiery Confluence as a gut punch to blow up my Talisman / Strix while doming me for 2. I play a Mishra’s Factory and cast Thirst for Knowledge on Steve_Ice’s end step, discarding a Sundering Titan I couldn't cast.

Following up Thirst for Knowledge I tap out for Meloku because I figured I just win if I untap unmolested. Unfortunately he was able to exile it with Palace Jailer and gain a huge advantage with monarch that I was in no position to easily take. On my next turn I was torn between casting Ral Zarek and Control Magic. I decided to play Ral Zarek trying to bait out a counterspell, but he let it resolve and I blew up his Palace Jailer. Faerie Conclave picked off Ral Zarek on his turn. I went in with Mishra’s Factory on my next turn but he had a Lightning Strike to zap it. On his turn he played Thundermaw Hellkite and bashed me for 5. He then cast Monastery Mentor but I Diabolic Edict in response take out the Hellkite.

On my next turn I Control Magic the Monastery Mentor. He swings in with Faerie Conclave and then casts Inferno Titan, pointing the burn at me. I cast The Abyss and make a Monk token in an attempt to take back Monarch next turn. The Abyss ate his Inferno Titan on his upkeep but I ended up dying to Snapcaster Mage - > Fiery Confluence to the dome (I was at 5 or 6). I think leading off with Ral Zarek over Control Magic may have been a mistake, but I’m not sure if that would’ve changed the outcome of the match. Monarch is too brutal : /


Game 3

Poor Steve_Ice had to mulligan down to 5 while on the draw. He had a turn 1 Ponder while I had a turn 2 Baleful Strix. I had a Tinker in hand but I had to play around his counter magic, so I resolved an Orzhov Signet and used the signet mana to cast Sorcerous Spyglass. Spyglass was key here because it either baits out a counter, reveals a counter, or shuts down a potential Dack Fayden. Steve_Ice ended up countering my Spyglass with Izzet Charm, leading me to believe that he had a Dack Fayden he was trying to hide / protect. On his turn he casts Chart a Course and discards a Mountain. On my turn I attack with Strix and then sacrificed it to Tinker on my post-main to search for Sundering Titan which blew up 2 of his lands I believe. On his turn he cast Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. I swing in with Sundering Titan, which he left unblocked and followed up with Deep Analysis.

In a last-ditch effort to stay in the game, Steve_Ice activated Jace to loot. He discarded Sword of Light and Shadow and triggered Jace to transform. He flashbacked his Chart a Course and re-cast it, discarding a Hallowed Fountain. On my next turn I swing in with Sundering Titan again and tap out for AEtherling, thinking he wouldn't be able to stop both of them (I forgot he had Balance, whops). Steve_Ice casts Treasure Cruise to try and dig for an answer but scoops. He said discarding Hallowed Fountain was a mistake because of Balance (not sure if he drew it?) I had him pretty low though so not sure if Balance would’ve tipped the scales in his favor.

Tinker too strong!

Today I finally get to introduce something that I’ve been planning since early October, the Online Cube Invitational! The invitational consists of myself and 7 other hand picked players who will be duking it out in an 8-man round robin with a cut to the finals. The draft portion will take place today and the matches will be played out in a span of two weeks.

Scoreboard: https://tinyurl.com/yb9zhytz

Cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/43897

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/steve_man_64 (subscribe if you want to watch whenever I'm on)

Player List (going off their Discord names):

SteveMan
CubeIsBetter
Embry
Sever27
Steve_Ice
StrictlyCheese
TheCubeMiser
THUNDERWANG

DECK LISTS:

Embrychi: Four-Color (URGW) Kiki-Twin Combo

CubeIsBetter: Four-Color (RBGW) Super Friends Goodstuff

Steve_Ice: Jeskai (URW) Control

THUNDERWANG: Orzhov (BW) Armageddon Stax Aggro

Steve_Man: Grixis (UBR) Tinker Upheaval Artifact Ramp Shenanigans

TheCubeMiser: Sultai (BUG) Cheaty Face Oath

StrictlyCheese: Grixis (UBR) Sneak Attack

Sever27: Mono Red Aggro Burn

Quote from calibretto »

This is really cool. I wish it was something that was being streamed live (kind of like the VSL) with commentary and such. That would be awesome. Either way, though, it'll be cool to see this play out. Good luck, all!

I'll be live streaming when I can, but probably won't post videos to Youtube (not sure if I have recording capability?) Maybe something to think about for the next one.

Managed to fire a few drafts with HOU this weekend, here's my initial results, I went Boros Aggro once and Grixis twice.

2-1 Boros Aggro

3-0 Grixis Tinker Upheaval (no HOU cards drafted : / )

2-1 Grixis Wildfire Upheaval

HOU card testing results (so far)

Adorned Pouncer

- I saw it a few games but I always killed it. I was playing Boros Aggro and my I kept depriving my opponent of mana or just killing him outright before he could eternalize it. Not a good showing, but most 2-drops would've been just as dead in that scenario, I definitely see the potential though since 5 mana eternalize isn't bad for a 4/4 double strike

Supreme Will

- Versatile but nothing special, saw it used as a Mana Leak most of the time. I like it more than Censor and Pull from Tomorrow from AKH since it has a higher impact than Censor and more mana efficient than Pull from Tomorrow. Plays well with Spells Matters type cards and is never dead.

Kefnet's Last Word

- Saw it played once to steal my Hazoret (which wasn't active for him). Ended up just burning him out, so it really didn't matter. I drafted it in one of my Grixis control decks and was literally the last cut since I already had Control Magic / Sower of Temptation. I would've sideboarded it in vs the Reanimator player or somebody else who was heavy on artifact ramp. Needs more testing.

Magus of the Crucible (Ramunap Excavator)

- Was the tournament MVP of the Naya deck piloted by Thunderwang that defeated my Grixis Upheaval / Ramp deck in the finals. He says he assembled Strip Mine lock 4 times throughout the tournament. Being tutorable with a bunch of green cards is pretty huge. Definitely exceeded my expectations during its debut.

Abrade

- I didn't see it cast, but my decks definitely could've used it. Abrade really isn't a card that you need to test to see its potential, so no worries there.

Burning-Fist Minotaur

- Played it in my Boros Aggro deck and it was never in my hand early, I usually cast it a turn or two before I was about to lose : / Regardless, it did have damage potential and if my opponent made a mistake, Minotaur could have killed them. Needs more testing, but it seems promising so far given its current position of the bottom ranked 2-cmc red drop.

The Scarab God

- I drafted The Scarab God in one of my Grixis decks but never got a chance to cast it. There was one opportunity where I could have cast it and stole a Grave Titan, but I decided to go the Upheaval route instead. Needs more testing, but the potential is definitely there.

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh

- I definitely made the play of the night with Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh. One thing that nobody mentioned in the SCD is its application with Upheaval since you don't have to cast the card immediately with his +2 ability. So I had Bolas in play against my opponent who had an Inkwell Leviathan that was able to kill me in two turns. My first +2 with Bolas revealed a Tangle Wire which I chose not to play because my opponent had a Winter Orb. I don't exactly remember what the second +2 revealed, but EOT I cast Venser to bounce Winter Orb so I can untap for Upheaval because Inkwell Leviathan was lethal next turn.

My third +2 showed Hedron Archive, so I cast Upheaval with 4 mana floating. Post-Upheaval I played a land and cast Hedron Archive for free via Bolas and was able to recast Bolas, +2'd a fourth time and revealed Thran Dynamo, which I cast and used to play 2 other mana rocks which allowed me to play Ugin on my second post-Upheaval turn. Best debut for a card ever, and I only used one of his abilities!