Lots of UGx and a Match Against a Pro
Tuesday, 7/14/20
Didn’t have much time to play today, so I ended up jumping on Arena for some late night laddering to stay fresh and fulfill daily gold objectives.
After reaching Mythic on Monday and some heavy duty laddering over the weekend, I wasn’t super compelled to get a bunch of matches in tonight. Still on the same list from Monday. Here’s how the matches went.
99% - Simic Flash - Win 2-0. Early concession from a mana screwed opponent in G1. After seeing three lands and 2 Growth Spiral, I knew I was playing against UGx, and that was it. I tried my best to sideboard as conservatively as possible, but with the knowledge I was likely playing against another end step deck. Brought in Commence the End Game and extra copies of Negate and Aether Gust. I shaved on Uro, Scorching Dragonfire, one Reclamation and one Explosion. I got there in G2 by playing around a Frilled Mystic with explosion in hand.
On the gamebreaking play, I move to my end step with Wilderness Rec trigger on the stack, float my mana and pass the turn. Still on my end step, opp flashes in Frilled Mystic with nothing else in hand, making an easy explosion. These UGx matches are never simply, but good read and sideboarding on my part after limited information in G1.
1372 - Bant Flash - Loss 0-2. Frustrating loss but played the best I could. I mulliganed in both games, ran out of spells in G2 and died with Explosion in hand - credit to the opp for never tapping out and never providing me with ideal spots to cast anything.
99% - Temur Flash/Midrange - Loss 1-2. Another really tough UGx match. Opp ran Shifting Ceratops in the main deck - an effective metagame call that ultimately paid off for them against me.
97% - 4C Friends - Win 2-1. While this was a 4C deck, I never actually saw a red mana source in three games for Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, leveraging only Interplanar Beacon to get him on the battlefield. As is the case against any UWx deck, being able to keep Elspeth Conquers Death off of the battlefield at all costs is the key to victory for Temur. Many Sharks and Brazen Borrowers helped me get there in G3. Good win.
98% - Golgari Midrange - Win 2-0. Brought back memories of me strictly jamming Golgari Adventures last fall through the release of Theros Beyond Death. With the tables turned, the victory was bittersweet, and having access to 3x Brazen Borrowers was quite helpful here.
Wednesday, 7/15
99% - Bant Ramp - Win 2-1. Hard to explain, but this was an odd match, with some lines of play that just felt uncharacteristic of what I’m used to from Bant opponents. In G1 I mulled to 5 and mulled to 6 in G2. Fought hard through a Teferi, Time Raveler in G3, thanks to Brazen Borrower beats and a 3pt. Explosion to get Teferi off the board and refuel my hand. Commence the Endgame and Uro were key in this match, though I normally shave down to 1 Uro in this matchup. Perhaps that’s why I have so much trouble with Bant, though Uro is typically not a turn 3 play here.
1317 - Mono Blue (AutumnLily) - Win 2-0. Well, I’ve played against Autumn a few times digitally, and it only went in my favor once. This marks the second time, but win or loss, it’s always an enormous privilege to play against Autumn and other pros on the ladder. These opportunities aren’t uncommon on Arena, and it’s incredibly important you make the most of them when they come your way.
I always try to approach these types of matches with the following goals:
Forget who I’m playing against,
Make the very best play, each and every time,
Pay extra attention to the opponent’s decisions and lines of play,
Win the match.
Fortunately, this wasn’t the version of Mono Blue that Autumn used to claim the Mythic Championship I trophy, but still a classically tempo-based deck with many of the necessary tools to beat Bant or Temur Rec.
I also knew going in that my opponent, in addition to being a Mythic Champion, is also extremely experienced with Temur Rec. I knew they would know my plays before I made them, but I know all too well that dwelling on that fact would actually hinder my ability to make winning decisions. For me, being able to focus on simply making the best plays made this match much easier to navigate - even if it was against a non-tier 1 deck.
With all that said and without going into a play-by-play, this was actually one of my best executed matches in recent weeks. Notable points:
In both games I was forced to deal with early Ptermanders. It’s important to not lose track of how close a Pteramander is to adapting. Once it does adapt, there are few ways for Temur Rec to cleanly deal with it, as a 5 pt. Explosion is far from an ideal way to get it off of the battlefield - IF it does resolve.
Fortunately I had Scorching Dragonfire in hand in G1 to deal with the 1/1, but knew I’d need to play around Lofty Denial. I believe I was able to resolve the scorch in response to a Petty Theft. A couple turns later I resolved a 6 pt. Explosion, which wasn’t enough to get the opponent’s life total to 0, but enough to get them to move onto G2.
In G1 I also decided to dispute a turn 3 Winged Words. I had two Mystical Dispute in hand, and a Winged Words on the stack seemed like a good opportunity to deprive my opponent of valuable resources. Otherwise, I don’t like the idea of countering card-draw spells.
Going into G2 I wanted to fully leverage my ability to play end-step Magic, keep the board clear and draw more cards than my opponent. Centering my gameplan on trying to resolve a Wilderness Rec against Autumn would be a sure way to lose the match. I boarded as follows:
-2 Wilderness Reclamation, -2 Expansion/Explosion, -1 Aether Gust, -2 Uro
+2 Scorching Dragonfire, +2 Flame Sweep, +1 Nightpack Ambusher, +1 Brazen Borrower, +1 Shark Typhoon
In G2, I was able to scorch an early Pteramander, but my opponent responded by flashing in a Brazen Borrower and a Spectral Sailor. On my following end step, I waited for the opponent to activate the Sailor before sticking a Flame Sweep. After that, we fought over my two Nightpack Ambushers for a couple turns, before my opponent ran out of gas and conceded.
While the win was against a non-tier 1 deck, a win is a win and we don’t diminish our wins - especially when it comes against a pro.
After two sweet victories in Constructed I opted to jam some Core Set 2021 Premier Drafts, which I haven’t done too well with lately. I went 6-3 with a sweet Abzan counters list, followed by 1-3 with a not nearly as good Abzan list. Here is a screenshot of the 6-win list.
That’s it for this Tuesday and Wednesday. The Red Bull International Qualifier III is this weekend, and I’m going to try my best to stay up late and get it in (start time is 3:00AM EST!). If I end up playing I’ll be sure to post a recap of the event next week.
