September Mythic Qualifier Weekend Prep
After mostly taking off from MTG from 9/4-9/7, I jumped into a short week with a tall task: locking in a deck for this weekend’s very long-awaited Mythic Qualifier Weekend.
It’s interesting to see that Historic, with such a deep pool of cards, is very much comprised of only four Tier 1 decks: Goblins, Sultai Midrange, Rakdos Lurrus and Jund Sacrifice (arguably the best deck in the format).
After playing Bant Control for most of last week with limited success, I decided to dive into the public decklists to find something I might be more successful with. Amidst all of the Jund Sacrifice, Goblins and Sultai Midrange lists I saw out there, there was one archetype out there that caught my eye: Gruul Aggro.
Aside from jamming Gruul as a kid when I first started playing, I played a bit of Green-Red Monsters a few years ago, which led me to swear off playing any deck that doesn’t have blue or black.
Fast forward to September 8th, 2020, when I found a Gruul list that went 6-0 in a competitive event. Sure, aggro decks can catch folks off guard from time to time. But after reviewing the list, there was one clear card in it that distinguished this Gruul deck from the beefy creature-piles I previously swore off: four copies of Collected Company.
I knew going into the week that I would have limited time to test and practice different builds, especially with an extra busy workload in my 8-5. I figured that this was an archetype I could easily master. Additionally, it’s not a bad idea to approach a tournament like a Mythic Qualifier with a linear, streamlined deck that looks to win games FAST.
With those thoughts in mind, I pulled down the 6-0 list and started jamming the ladder. I was able to get from Platinum 4 to Diamond 4 in 24 matches with Gruul, making a couple tweaks along the way. Here’s how the matches went, along with a screenshot of the final list.
P4.0 - Jund. W 2-0
P4.2 - Mono U. W 2-0
P4.4 - Simic Ramp. W 2-0
P3.0 - Gruul Aggro. W 2-0
P3.2 Jund. W 2-1
P3.4 - Rakdos Goblins. W 2-1
P2.0 - Mirror. L 0-2
P2.0(-1) - Jund. L 0-2
P3.4 - Mono Green Ramp. W 2-1
P2.0 - Rakdos Goblins. L 0-2
P2.0(-1) - Sultai. L 0-2
P3.4 - Simic Ramp. L 0-2
P3.2 - Concession. W
P3.4 - Mono Black. W 2-0
P2.0 - Mono White Artifacts. W 2-1
P2.2 - Jund. W 2-1
P2.4 - Jund. L 0-2
P2.2- Jund. L 0-2
P2.0 - UW Auras. W 2-1
P2.2 - Esper Humans. W 2-0
P2.4 - Mono Blue. W 2-0
P1.0 - Rakdos Lurrus. W 2-0
P1.2 - Jund. W 1-0
P1.4 - Temur Flash/Midrange. W 2-1
I made it to Diamond with a 16-7 overall record (not counting the concession), which is decent for two days of laddering. The deck performed surprisingly well against Mono Blue and Sultai, but obviously, Jund Company and Bant Control are the two worst matchups for this deck.
We don’t have a great way to deal with board wipes, and against Bant and Sultai we have to play the cat-and-mouse game of trying to apply maximum pressure while not over-committing to the board.
When it comes to the Jund matchup, Jund is a natural predator for Gruul, since every one of our creatures is a target for Claim the Firstborn.
Rampaging Ferocidon is a surprisingly useful sideboard card, and I brought it in often against Jund and Goblins. Against Goblins it’s a good way to punish Krenko and Muxus (to an extent). It doesn’t entirely negate Cauldron Familiar triggers, as you still lose life from Witch’s Oven activations (but so does the opponent). However, we need any and every angle we can get to compete with Jund.
I was considering Harsh Mentor as an option for dealing with Jund, but the 2 toughness means that it’s very, very dead when a Mayhem Devil is on board. I also tried Ahn-Crop Crasher in the maindeck, but it feels like way too much of a liability with Claim the Firstborn everywhere. Another tweak I played a bunch of matches with was adding a third Embercleave in lieu of Rhonas. The verdict is still out on whether or not this is an ideal adjustment, but I ultimately went back to 2 Cleave.
After reaching Diamond on Wednesday night my good friend helped me test. He threw everything at me, from Jund and Rakdos to Bant, UW Auras and Goblins. Out of 10+ matches, I think I won all but two. Though I feel that I played very well, my friend seems to run into pretty bad variance every time we play direct challenges against each other. Not sure what to think about that.
A Rough Thursday
After reaching Diamond on Wednesday and having a promising night of testing, I jumped back onto the ladder on Thursday. In 12 matches I went 6-6, never making it out of Diamond 4. Each win followed by a loss, and each loss followed by a win. Frustrated, I decided to get some fresh air and go on a walk with my boy Bricks, who just celebrated his 12th adoptaversary on Monday.
On a side note, I couldn’t be more grateful to have such an awesome dog and kindred spirit as him as my best friend. My wife and I are incredibly lucky to have found Bricks, out of all of the dogs in the entire universe - and to have had him in our life for all these years.
That face and that personality do wonders for exiling any and all frustration.
After the walk I decided to try Mono Green Planeswalkers, going 1-5 with the list. I knew that the deck would be challenging, considering that it utilizes a toolbox sideboard strategy. But the deck is fairly intuitive and pretty powerful, despite some user errors. I may revisit this deck down the line, but I don’t think it’s going to be a feasible choice for this weekend.
In Closing
As I write this I’m getting ready to resume testing, though I’m still not settled on a deck. My uncertainty isn’t a great sign as I get ready to play my fourth Mythic Qualifier Weekend, but had I played more Historic in August, I definitely wouldn’t be in this situation.
I’m unsure of whether or not yesterday was merely one of those days, or if Gruul truly is THAT poorly positioned in the meta. It’s still difficult for me to fathom registering an aggro deck, but if today goes well, that’s the road I’ll take. If not, I do have a Bant Control list ready to go that I’m a bit more confident in. Ultimately, this won’t be the last Mythic Qualifier Weekend I play in, and I will qualify for a Mythic Invitational. It’s just a matter of when.
Good luck to everyone playing in this weekend’s Qualifier, and thanks for reading. I’ll be back next week with a recap of the event.
Have a great weekend!
