Stubborn, Hellbent & Mindful: Mythic Qualifier Recap

As the pros went to battle at the Mythic Invitational this past Saturday, thousands of other players - including yours truly - made a bid to qualify for the next one at the first Zendikar Rising Mythic Qualifier weekend, hosted on MTG Arena.

This was my fourth ever Mythic Qualifier, and with no qualifiers in July or August, the wait for this one felt like ages. As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t realize until less than two weeks before the event that the format for this tournament was Historic. The problem is that I had been playing Standard all summer, and I had almost no familiarity with Historic.

To make the challenge even more difficult, I knew I would be out of town visiting friends and family from the 2nd-7th of September. As a result, I was left with very little time to learn the format, find an archetype I liked and test different matchups and configurations within each archetype (you can read about my week of testing in my last post: September Mythic Qualifier Weekend Prep).

Here, I’ll go over the final hours of preparation and break down my matches at the qualifier, including any valuable takeaways. There were definitely a handful of sick plays, important mindset insights and some substantial mistakes worth highlighting. Grab a drink, read on and level up.

Friday, 9/11 - More Stubbornness, Followed by an 11th Hour Decision

After wrapping up work around 5 or so, I got right back to the ladder to prep for the Qualifier. I still wasn’t locked in on a deck, though I played Gruul Company all week and felt pretty comfortable with it. As such, I started my final preparations there. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get any traction, going 5-8 over 13 matches.

From there I switched to a Mono Green Planeswalkers list, and as much as I enjoyed playing it, I only went 1-4 with the deck. I even tried Jund Citadel for a couple matches and lost them both, likely due to my inexperience with the deck.

By this point, it was late - and I mean like 3:00 AM late. Of course, I knew better than to stay up this late the night before a tournament, but there I was, beyond the 11th hour with an important decision to make. I could stick with Gruul and try to land a win or two, or I could cave in and play one of the big three: Jund, Rakdos or Sultai.

So I figured that if I’d cave in, I might as well do it with a few old friends: Uro, Shark Typhoon and Growth Spiral. And so, I decided to take old Sultai for an early morning spin, pulling off three impressive match wins in a row.

I wish I could remember exactly whose Mythic Invitational list I pulled down, but I knew I wanted one running maindeck Elder Gargaroth, as the body, versatility and value of this card in an aggressive meta seemed pretty strong. I also knew that maindeck Aether Gust would be a must - but I was unsure of the right quantity. Of course, a full week or so of testing would have helped me get these numbers right, but that’s what happens when you grind with a bad deck all week and decide at the 11th hour to switch to something else. Finally, I also knew that I wanted a single copy of Ugin for good measure and an edge in the mirror. Here’s the list I ultimately took to war:

Saturday, 9/12

After staying up until nearly 5:00 AM EST, I woke up to my alarm at 10:45 AM, giving me 15 minutes to register for the Qualifier and submit my decklist. I added a third Aether Gust, and also debated adding a couple copies of Wilt to deal with the many troublesome artifacts out there in the meta. I submitted the list you see above and went back to bed for a few hours. I woke up around 1:30 PM EST, and the extra sleep definitely helped. Here’s how the matches went.

Match 1 - Temur Midrange. In G1 I kept a hand with 4 lands, two Extinction Event and a Krasis, making a bet I was against aggro. Bad bet. My opponent hit three Growth Spiral into two Nissa. I untapped, played my own Nissa, attempted to swing with an animated Overgrown Tomb and Eliminate his land with said Tomb. Before I declared attacks, my opponent cast Abrade on my animated Tomb, and from there I cast Eliminate on their Stomping Ground. The opponent ended up running away with that game.

In G2 I was the one to land three Growth Spiral. All three were in my opening hand, as well as two Nissa and two lands. I ultimately took this game. However, I made a critical mistake at one point that nearly cost me the game. As I prepared to close out the game, I cast a Thoughtseize, and my opponent responded with Sublime Epiphany, attempting to copy their shark token, counter Thoughtseize and bounce my Nissa. I needed to respond by floating my noncreature lands so that I could recast Nissa, animate another land and swing in for fatal. I did not float the mana and follow this line, simply because I didn’t think it through enough. I ended up winning that game anyway, but that was a huge mistake I was quick to take note of.

In G3 my opening hand had four lands with Growth Spiral, Thoughtseize and Scavenging Ooze. On turn 1 I took my opponent’s Nissa with Thoughtseize, which also revealed Growth Spiral and two Uro. On the following turn I responded to their Growth Spiral with my own Spiral. They proceeded to cast Uro, after which I resolved my Oozie boy, who was able to exile the Titan of Nature’s Wrath and many other things. I ran away with the game from there. Win 2-1.

Match 2: Dimir Control. In G1 my opp kept a land-heavy hand. My turn 1 Thoughtseize revealed Ashiok Nightmare Muse, Brazen Borrower and four lands. I picked the walker. On turn 3 I cast another Thoughtseize, nabbing my opponent’s Murderous Rider since I had Nissa in hand. I took G1 pretty easily, despite two relatively dead Aether Gust in hand.

In G2 my opp stumbled on mana, while I kept a five-lander with Spiral and Krasis. My Opp played a turn 2 Thoughtseize, selecting Shark Typhoon (why they took this and not the Krasis, I can’t explain). From there I continued hitting land drops before playing a 2/2 Krasis and getting beats in.

The play of the game happened when my opp cast Search for Azcanta, and I cycled away a Triome to see if I could land one of my two Negate. BINGO! After countering Search I untapped, drew Nissa and started getting in. I eventually drew my second Negate to counter a last-ditch Extinction Event from my opponent. Win 2-0.

Match 3: Jund Sacrifice. After this match I noted that I regretted not putting Wilt into the deck, but in hindsight I don’t know that it’s a very productive thing to be playing right now. In this match my opp had answers for my Gargaroth in both games 2 and 3. They also hit their Soul-Guide Lantern in the final two games. The opponent took this match, despite my best efforts. Loss 1-2.

Match 4: Mono Red Goblins. My opp flooded out in G1, and my turn 1 Thoughtseize only added insult to injury. In G2 I made a risky decision by keeping a two-lander with Languish, Growth Spiral, Gargaroth and Eliminate - all of which are consistent with what the win looks like against Goblins. The only issue was that my two lands offered no sources of blue mana. Fortunately I ended up finding the blue mana source and hit hit all of my land drops on curve. I flashed in a 4/4 shark at one point to block a 2/2 Skirk Prospector. The final blow was a Languish and two Aether Gust. I noted that I took all four Thoughtseize out for G2. Win 2-0.

Match 5: Mono Black. In G1 my opp got me down to one life, courtesy of a late Rankle and a few other innocuous ground beaters. I was able to play a late Nissa, which gave me a blocker and the ability cast my Eliminate on my opponent’s turn. Still at one life on my following turn, I untapped, cast Ugin and my opponent scooped on the spot.

In G2 I kept a slow hand with Languish, Uro, Nissa and 4 lands. My opponent dropped three Knight of the Ebon Legion over their first two turns, followed by a Spawn of Mayhem. On turn 3 I played Uro and prayed that my opponent wouldn’t draw Thoughtseize or Duress to take my Languish. Fortunately they didn’t. On turn 4 I gave everything -4/-4, and also played my own Thoughtseize to take their Phyrexian Obliterator. PHEW! Good thing I kept in all four of my Thoughtseize for this match.

On my opponent’s next turn they played Liliana, Waker of the Dead, and I was forced to pitch a land. From there I untapped and played Nissa, which prompted an immediate concession from my opponent. In sideboarding, I took out Ugin for Heartless Act and the two Gust for Languish. Win 2-0.

Also, I didn’t realize until after this match that you’re eliminated after 3 losses - not after two. That was definitely a welcome surprise. At this point, I checked to see what I would get if I ended with 4 wins, which was also a big mistake. Doing so, I gave power to the idea that I might only get 4 wins - and that’s definitely a mindset miscue you should try to avoid.

Match 6: Jund Sacrifice. Not too much to say here. Though the opponent stumbled on land in G1, I also had an awkward draw. I picked Witch’s Oven with a turn 1 Thoughtseize, and they ended up drawing two more, followed by a Cauldron Familiar. In G2 they played Act of Treason to steal my Gargaroth and win. The turn before that, I elected to use both copies of Eliminate in hand to kill their two Priests. I ended up drawing Extinction Event the following turn, which was super unfortunate. Not sure how much this was in my control, but the responsibility still falls on me. I’ll need to pay extra close attention to this matchup going forward. Loss 0-2.

Match 7: Rakdos Lurrus. In G1 I kept a five lander with Typhoon and Eliminate. I drew more lands, and my opponent played a timely Thoughtseize to take the Typhoon.

Mindset Note: in between G1 and G2 I wrote in my notes that I got there in G2 by keeping a better hand. Athletes do this type of thing all the time, saying that they’ll win games or win championships, and I know for many it comes off as being overconfident. For me, this was my way of putting the ideas into the universe that I could win the next game, that I was confident in my ability to do so, and that I knew exactly how I would. There’s a big difference between being cocky and being confident, and I encourage you to explore what that looks like.

As it would turn out, I got there handily in G2, keeping a better hand and riding Grafdigger’s Cage to victory.

In G3 I mulled to 6, drew another Cage but my opponent immediately took care of it with Bedevil. They followed up with a Thoughtseize to make me discard my Cry of the Carnarium, which would have blown them out, since they had Lurrus and two copies of Stitcher’s Supplier on the battlefield. Loss 1-2.

Final result: 4 wins, 3 losses (10-7 overall)

Closing Thoughts

I’m not one to settle for less, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize that this was my best result out of four Mythic Qualifiers on Arena. All things considered, this was definitely a step in the right direction.

I can go on and on about my mistakes before the tournament even started - from not knowing the format for the tournament ahead of time, to not playing enough Historic, and playtesting a bad deck all week. While I won’t forget those mistakes, it isn’t productive to continue rehashing them. Recognize the mistakes, learn and move forward.

At the time of publishing this article (Thursday AM), I’m pleased to announce that I reached Mythic last night, making it 11 months in a row to get there. I did so with my old friends Uro, Growth Spiral and Shark Typhoon, but made a bunch of tweaks along the way. You can find my latest list on Twitter.

Zendikar Rising releases on Arena today, which means Standard rotation is unofficially here. I’m sure you’re as pumped as I am - if not even more so. Battle for Zendikar was the set that first introduced me to competitive Magic, and I’m looking forward to reaching the Mythic Invitational while Zendikar Rising is in Standard.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the new set!