Standard Events & Thoughts On Mythic Laddering
The past 10 days or so haven’t been the most exciting, but they still presented a good share of lessons and perspectives that are worth exploring.
A majority of my matches in this time period were in Traditional Standard Events, with some Premier Core 2021 Drafting and a couple ladder matches here and there in order to maintain my rank. Some thoughts on rank maintenance.
Not every player believes in the rank maintenance approach, which I completely understand and respect. Some players believe that once you reach Mythic, you should continue to grind the ladder every day and work through the inevitable rising and dropping of your ranking. Not playing doesn’t actually help you improve at the game, and if the Mythic ladder pairs you against the best players, then you should play most of your matches there. Play the best players, worry less about ranking and focus on playing your best Magic. This is a completely reasonable approach, and likely the most optimal for those dedicated towards improvement.
The other school of thought is more conscious of the day-to-day volatility of the ladder, and prioritizes a long-term strategy in order to reach Top 1200. This player will reach Mythic, work towards a relatively high ranking, and play as needed in order to maintain a Top 1200 ranking through the end of the month. This has traditionally been my approach and I’m continuing to take it in July, even though I’m already qualified for the qualifier event in September.
Considering that I’m already qualified though, most would say that this month is actually good time to take the first approach. However, I still set a goal this month to at least beat my ranking from last month (#920), and I’m aiming to beat my all time best (#255 in May).
In other words, I’m trying to treat this month like any other month that I’d be trying to qualify. Doing so, I’m reinforcing the competitive drive I need in order to achieve the sustained success I’m aiming for in MTG. Or am I?
The truth is that playing to preserve doesn’t equate to playing to improve, just as ranking isn’t a clear indicator of your skill level. It’s an internal conflict of sorts and I wonder how many other players have a similar experience. Either way, it’s a conflict I look forward to exploring - and challenging - this week and in the coming weeks.
With that, onto the matches.
Friday, 7/17
1288 - Rakdos Sac. First ladder match in a few days and I’m paired against Ross Merriam. I’ve never actually met him or played against him, but he seemed like a super nice guy when I saw him at an RPTQ in Raleigh in 2018. Awesome opportunity here to play against a great and super experienced player.
After losing to a nut draw in G1, I was able to push through a textbook G2 win with Reclamation and Explosion. G3 is where it really got interesting.
My opponent was relatively tight on mana much of the game, though Rakdos is designed to be able to win on 3-4 lands. Late in the game my opponent has two Witch’s Oven, Gutterbones and a Cat on the battlefield. I have two Reclamation, an Uro in the yard and I’m at 5 life. On his end step I cycle a dead shark into the graveyard so that I can untap and escape Uro to get to a safe life total.
Now at 8 life, I move to my end step, facing down two untapped ovens and the threat of a Claim the Firstborn (you have to assume that the Rakdos player always has it). I float my mana, let the first Wilderness Rec trigger resolve and activate Castle Vantress - I’m presented with a Steam Vents and a Blast Zone. Leaving the Blast Zone on top, I cast Growth Spiral and put Blast Zone on the battlefield. Before I get a chance to activate it my opponent concedes. Win 2-1.
937 - Mono Green. A lack of turn 1 plays from the opponent in both games made this match much easier to manage than normal. I did make a bad misplay in 62, in which I had a Nightpack Ambusher and a 3/3 Wolf on the battlefield, with a second Ambusher in hand. Opponent swings with a Lovestruck Beast and a Gemrazer mutated onto an Oakhame Adversary. I flash in the second Ambusher and use it to block the Gemrazer, forgetting that it has deathtouch from the Adversary. A very avoidable mistake, and luckily I wasn’t punished too badly. Win, 2-0.
Red Bull International Qualifier III: 1-2. I stayed up until 6AM Saturday playing this event. For me, the goal was to get more comfortable with playing Open Tournaments in a digital format, since trying to shift my sleep schedule to accommodate this tournament would be too difficult.
The first match was against Sultai. After winning G1 handily, I nearly had G2 in the bag when my opponent was able to Heartless Act my Nightpack Ambusher. They eventually top decked an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and I drew more of my 28 lands. In G3, hand disruption via Agonizing Remorse and Thought Distortion did me in. Massive credit to my opponent for truly playing to their outs in G2 and playing an all-around great match.
My second and third matches were the mirror. I drew poorly in both games of the first mirror match, while my opponent drew better and played really well, giving him a 2-0 win. The second mirror match was against an unorthodox version of Temur and a less experienced pilot. I took this match 2-1 and waited an extra 20 minutes or so for the next round to start. By the time 6:25 AM hit I decided to try to salvage my Saturday and go to bed.
Hats off to the tournament organizers for making this event run much, much smoother than the first one. Very grateful for the opportunity to play a free tournament - I hope they start holding these events during more ideal times for players in U.S. time zones.
Monday, 7/20
1044 - Abzan Midrange. This is a new deck I read about, and it has all of the tools to compete in the meta, especially against Temur Reclamation. Despite poor decisions in G2 I played well enough to dig myself out of an Elspeth Conquers Death and take the match 2-0. Countermagic is really valuable in this matchup, especially Negate.
Wednesday, 7/22
1080 - Rakdos Sac. Tried a newer build of Temur featuring 3 maindeck Wilderness Reclamation and a maindeck Commence the Endgame. Probably didn’t play this match optimally but opp had solid draws both games. Loss, 0-2.
1318 - Orzhov Blink. Went back to my build and took this match 2-1. Since the opposing deck is so heavily focused on hand disruption, our gameplan here is to prioritize the things that draw cards, such as Chemister’s Insight, Commence the Endgame and Shark Typhoon. I like to shave a single Uro, but it’s important to remember that Orzhov and Esper will typically bring in extra copies of Kaya against you. It’s optimal to cast your Uro when you can escape it in the same turn, or if you can counter a Kaya on the following turn.
Thursday, 7/23
1050 - Mirror. Beat #56 ranked player and played really well. After taking G1 in clean and efficient fashion, in G2 I played an early Uro because I had nothing else productive to do while taking the opponent’s Spectral Sailor beats. The key play in G2 was when I used a Narset’s Reversal on a Growth Spiral - not an ideal use of a super valuable card, but the play helped me pick up some ground and slow down the opp at the same time. A great lesson in why it’s important to not always wait for the perfect moment to use a card. Win, 2-0.
Standard Events: Thursday 7/23, Friday 7/24, Saturday 7/25
With a solid Mythic ranking, I used these days to test different versions of Temur Rec in Traditional Standard Events. Normally, Standard Events are where most players go to test different brews. Some other players know this fact and play Standard Events with Tier 1 decks in order to get an easy 5 wins and 2K gold. As such, a majority of my matches in the 3 events I played were against Tier 1 decks, with many mirror matches. For me, this was a good thing, as it enabled me to get quality testing in against the decks that I’m trying to improve my performance against.
EVENT 1 : 1-2. Ran a version more tuned to the mirror. Didn’t play my best in this event as a whole.
Esper Doom - W 2-0
Sultai - L 1-2
Bant - L 0-2 in a particularly lopsided match.
EVENT 2: 3-2. Ran the same list with more success, but my two losses came in the mirror, the exact matchup I’m trying to improve against.
Mirror - L 0-2. A miscalculation in G1 on the opponent’s available mana left me very dead to their Explosion.
Izzet Midrange - W 2-0
Mono White - W 1-0. Came back well in G1 and stabilized at 3 life. Key play was casting Shark Typhoon with Reclamation on the battlefield, casting a Commence the Endgame, untapping and playing Uro. Opp mulled to 4 in G2 and conceded with no play.
Mirror - W 2-0
Mirror - L 0-2. After a lopsided game 1, I played nearly flawlessly in G2, but my one mistake proved to be fatal. In short, I had my opponent dead to an Explosion if I had attacked with my Brazen Borrower, 3/3 wolf token and Nightpack Ambusher. I only attacked with the Brazen Borrower. No idea how I missed this. The game unraveled from there. Very disappointing, but an important lesson nonetheless.
EVENT 3: 2-2. Ran the same list a third time because maindeck Commence the Endgame is incredible.
Esper Walkers/Foretold - L 1-2
Sultai - W 2-1
UW Control - W 2-1
Bant - L 1-2. Played to my outs to an extent. In game 2 my opponent had a 3/3 land, a Jolrael and a 2/2 Cat token. I envisioned a play in which I would put a 1/1 shark on the field to block in combat and dig for an Explosion. I could use the Explosion to kill the 2/2/ Cat or Jolrael and survive. Well, after cycling the Typhoon I did get the Explosion, but I created a 2/2 shark token and didn’t have enough mana to kill a second creature. Fatal miscue on my part and I need to do better about playing to survive. Survival plays may not always feel great but sometimes they lead to wins. Need to do better about making those plays with precision.
EVENT 4: 5-0. Went back to one of my builds with maindeck Bonecrusher Giant, but added a maindeck Commence the Endgame.
My lack of success with the other build is entirely on me, but there is something to be said about playing better with lists that you’re more comfortable with. There’s also something to be said about playing a list UNTIL you’re comfortable with it, but that exploration is for another article.
This event felt more like the Traditional Standard Events I’m used to, with less Tier 1 decks.
Dimir - W 1-0
Temur Elementals - W 1-0
Mirror - W 2-0
Mono White - W 2-0. Copied a Raise the Alarm early on because I saw a potentially dead card in hand with Expansion/Explosion. Doing so saved me a ton of damage.
Mardu Aggro - W 2-1. This was a scary close match, and super fun. I copied a Stomp twice with two Expansion to kill my opponent in G3.
Other Events
On Friday 7/24 I played the FNM At Home: Historic All Access Event to a fast 2-0 with Jund Dinosaurs. This deck brings back memories, as it was the archetype I used to reach my first Top 1000 of Mythic players exactly 1 year ago. My updated list is below.
After several unsuccessful Core 2021 Drafts, I finally landed my second 7-win draft in Core 2021 with a sweet Rakdos list. Only lost 1 game with this deck.
In Closing
I realize that this is a super long entry. Last week I didn’t have as much time as normal for Magic, and I prioritized using that time to play rather than write.
Outside of the game, my full time job was a bit more demanding than normal, and I also realized that I generally wasn’t being my best self the past few weeks. Without getting into too many details, last week gave me a good chance to rebalance myself, re-prioritize and level-set on what is next in my greater quest for continuous personal growth and development. As such, I’ve started taking clear action on how to become a better listener and how to best use every second of my life.
With all that said, my Grind Journal entries will be much more concise going forward.
Regarding my internal laddering conflict, I plan on putting the pedal to the metal this week, and will hopefully reach high Mythic by 3:00 PM EST Friday. I think that writing this journal entry helped illuminate the importance of playing fearlessly, focusing less on maintaining a rank and focusing more on truly improving at MTG.
Thanks for reading.
