End of August Recap - Big September Ahead

Really quick - before we get into the heart of this post, please read the article I posted this week if you haven’t already. Fighting racism is something I care deeply about, and it would mean the world to me if you read it and shared it with your friends and social networks as well. Fighting racism and using your voice to do so IS MYTHIC.

The August 2020 season is over, and for the first time since April I didn’t reach the Top 1200 of Mythic in Constructed. I was able to reach Mythic on the 6th, and after playing Temur Adventures for most of the month, I finished around 92%.

Fortunately, there was no need for me to reach Top 1200 aside from personal satisfaction. Considering I’m already qualified for the upcoming Zendikar Rising Mythic Qualifier Weekend, I primarily used August to experiment with a new Standard format, and prepare for and play two Red Bull Untapped events.

Ultimately, I found that in the past few weeks Standard simply was a Sultai or bust format, even though there were multiple events that the archetype hadn’t actually won. With Temur Adventures, my win rate against Sultai was around 30% in August. By sticking with Adventures, I knew that I was giving myself a ceiling due to the unfavorable Sultai matchup, but I really enjoy playing the deck so much.

A Missed Opportunity

After playing Red Bull VI on the 22nd, I hovered between 800-1499 on the Mythic ladder for most of the final two weeks of August. Ultimately, I decided not to grind hard and go for high Mythic, and I regret that. I also regret not playing more Historic in those final days, especially because I still ended up missing Top 1200. Had I played more Historic in the end of August, I’d actually be better off than I am now, because I’d be more familiar with the format. And as I just found out this week, Historic is the format for the upcoming Mythic Qualifier Weekend - and now I’m scrambling to prepare for it.

Additionally, the truth is that regularly putting ourselves in Challenging situations is what makes us grow. If you’re really focused on improvement at Magic and reaching the highest level of play, then I encourage you to be careful about how and when you take “breather periods.” Yes, it’s important to get away from the game from time to time to refresh and recharge, but never let some meaningful achievement (e.g., a great tournament finish, reaching Mythic, qualification) warrant a “take it easy” approach towards gameplay.

If you’re going to get away from Magic, then actually do that. Don’t play the game at all for a few days, a week, or whatever time period you need to recharge. If you’re in a period in which you have no other tournament to prepare or qualify for, then find something new to pursue that will help you develop. Learn a new format or revisit one you haven’t played in a while. Go on MTGMelee and find a tournament to prepare for.

These are things I should have done in the final days of August. Instead, I played games here and there on the ladder to try to maintain rank, which was a totally non-productive limbo to put myself in. Perhaps I’m being too hard on myself, but still, I wanted to highlight this missed opportunity to improve, in hopes of helping others steer clear of making the same mistake.

Adventure’s Over: Let’s Get Historic

In the final hours of the August 2020 season I was in the low 90% range and decided to start jamming Historic. The first deck that caught my eye was the Bant Control list championed by El Gran Boa. He tweeted about how the deck helped him hold Top 5 on the Mythic ladder for some time, if not through the end of the season. Figured that would be a good place to start. And I mean, a deck with Uro and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria seems pretty, pretty juicy. Here’s how my first matches with the deck turned out in the dawn of the September 2020 season:

• Bant Flash 1-2

• Boros Aggro 2-1

• Mono Green 2-1

• UW Auras 2-1

• Sultai 0-2

• Jund Coco 1-2

• Mono Black Zombies 2-1

• Bant Control 2-1

• Mono Green 1-2

• Mono Red 2-1

• Mono Black GPG 0-2

• UR Control 0-2

• Mono Green Artifacts 0-2

• Gruul 0-2

• Jund Coco 0-2

• Abzan Aristocrats 1-2

I made a good bit of small tweaks here and there over the course of these matches, which would probably explain the negative record. That and my general inexperience with the deck. Additionally, I’m still in the process of developing and mastering my skills and heuristics as a Control player. Despite the 9 losses, this has been a very positive learning experience thus far, and I’ve tried my best to approach my matches as if I were sitting in a classroom.

The one tweak I am really happy with is adding 2 Settle the Wreckage to the sideboard, as my general impression of Historic thus far is that it’s a very creature-heavy format. Additionally, having at least 2 Grafdigger’s Cage in your sideboard is non-negotiable. It feels about as necessary as Mystical Dispute was from March-July in Standard, and I could even see maindecking some quantity of Cage in this list. The obvious issue is the non-bo with Uro, so you need to be prepared to win without him if you’re going to rely on Cage to hose the opponent. Scavenging Ooze is also a friendly addition to the deck and it can definitely help mitigate the efficacy of the many graveyard strategies out there in Historic. The issue is drawing it consistently, and I could see adding more than 1 to the board. My current list doesn’t run any yet, however (see below).

I’m starting to experiment with Brazen Borrower in lieu of Commit/Memory and Blink of an Eye, and so far I really like it. I haven’t been able to find enough ideal spots to cast Memory, and more often than not I’ve been forced to cast Blink without kicker. Additionally, having another early source of pressure with a 3/1 flier is a strong way to get an edge in these grueling mirrors. Here’s my latest list:

I also played a bit with Sultai Control and Gruul Aggro. Sultai has all the tools to compete, but it might not be as great if Bant Control sees an uptick. Gruul is surprisingly strong against other aggro decks, but for obvious reasons, I’d much rather be playing one of these UGx control decks.

Esper and Orzhov Discard (Yorion) seem like strong strategies as well, but I’m unsure of how well they would fare against the various Coco decks out there - which don’t seem to care about your spot removal and random hand disruption. Additionally, do you really want to be playing Burglar Rat and Doom Foretold if God-Pharoah’s Gift decks begin to comprise more of the meta?

That about does it for my initial thoughts on Historic. I’m currently traveling to visit some friends and family for Labor Day, so I likely won’t have much of a chance to play over the next few days. After that I’ll be prepping for the upcoming Mythic Qualifier though, and I’m excited about the preparation and testing process ahead of this long-awaited tournament.

Thanks for reading.