Hello everyone, welcome to my humble little blog.
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Today I'm here to tell you about the SLAM Series Qualifier tournament that I played in over at Big Easy Comics in Covington or Mandeville or some such place. This is a new and local tournament series that 3 great game shops are kicking off (+1 Gaming, Rocket's Hideout and Big Easy) and the idea is that each of the Qualifiers gets you a bye in the big tournament that will happen some time in the future. To try and get folks excited about the qualifiers themselves the shops are putting up some pretty solid prize support, in this case the top prize was a box of Modern Masters.
Now I can't really explain WHY but this tournament felt like a big deal going in. I don't mean to be dismissive of the prizes, they were very good, but I've played in Magic tournaments with much more on the line whether it be money, product or a combination of both. Obviously I wasn't the only one that felt that way because 72 people showed up to play for the box of Modern Masters, a heck of a lot more than I think anyone expected!
The venue was the brand new location of Big Easy Comics, they just moved into a space that's at least double the size of their previous one (I forgot my ruler so I can't be sure how big it actually is) and the tournament area is nice and roomy. On the kinda negative side, I had to walk through the most glorious area full of toys and collectibles and that made it kind of difficult to play Magic when all I wanted to do was buy things.
The crew from Slidell represented I believe 12 people but it could have more, I know there were 2 cars of 4, 1 truck of 2 and a car of 2 but I'm possibly forgetting someone. Whoever you are, you have my deepest apologies. I spent the car ride over agonizing over the last few card choices of the Esper Control deck I'd decided on while everyone else seemed mostly content with what they were running.
After we filed into the store and I wiped the drool from my mouth caused by the killer Gentle Giant Star Wars figures we had to walk by I had to nail down my final 75. The last choice was between a 2nd Aetherling and an Elspeth in the main deck. I had decided on Elspeth, largely because a friend gave me a Japanese Elspeth Emblem he had just pulled, but then swapped to Aetherling when I realized I hadn't brought any Soldier tokens with me. Science.
Here's the deck I brought to battle with:
2 Aetherling
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Prophetic Prism
2 Doom Blade
3 Azorius Charm
3 Devour Flesh
1 Hero's Downfall
3 Dissolve
4 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Island
3 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Watery Grave
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Hallowed Fountain
Sideboard
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Pack Rat
3 Last Breath
2 Gainsay
2 Negate
3 Thoughtseize
2 Sin Collector
1 Pithing Needle
The list largely comes from a set of videos that LSV posted on channelfireball.com last week but it's been adjusted somewhat thanks to lots of discussion with friends who've been playing Esper a lot more than me. LSV had only the 2 Aetherlings to win with and had a couple of Thoughtseizes in the main deck, I ended up playing the Blood Barons in the hopes of winning some rounds quickly since real life control matches tend to take quite a big longer than ones on Magic Online. The Pack Rat is all LSV's doing and it was without a doubt the best card in the sideboard.
I played a Prophetic Prism because there are times playing Esper where you are shy of that second white source for verdict or that second blue for, well, everything. It took the spot of a Divination and in all honesty it's probably wrong to make that swap. That said, I didn't hate the Prism.
The tournament started just a little bit late, there was some pretty serious fog and they wanted people to drive safely getting to the site, and the judge announced we'd be playing 7 rounds before the cut to Top 8. They also announced they were extending the prize support down to 24th place because the attendance was higher than expected, a pretty awesome thing to do.
I'm going to do a pretty brief write-up for each round rather than try and run down too many specific events. I tend to remember way too much about individual games of Magic and it all kinda comes pouring out when I start typing. If you want more info about anything I'd love to talk about it.
Round 1 - John Arnaud w/Esper Control
And right off the bat I was paired with a car-mate who's running probably 70 of the same cards as me. John is one of the reasons I arrived at the deck list I used and he's been playing Esper to consistent finishes pretty much since Theros was released. I was definitely expecting a round one loss here.
Game 1 - John overwhelmed me with threats, first casting a Elspeth then an Aetherling. I eventually answered the Aetherling by spending 3 removal spells only to see a second Aetherling land. John closed the door on the game by casting Sphinx's Revelation to activate his Blood Baron's Mega Evolution and finished me off.
Game 2 - I hit my land drops and landed a Jace with Gainsay mana up while John stalled on 4 lands for a couple of turns. My Jace fed me cards and other Jaces while John had to scramble to not only answer my Jaces but hit land drops. John eventually scooped to a resolved Aetherling.
Game 3 - Thoughtseize into Sin Collector stripped John's hand of action and allowed me to again resolve Jace safely. I beat down for a few turns with Sin Collector and eventually resolved Aetherling for the win yet again.
I felt very fortunate to escape the mirror with a win against a more experienced opponent. John would go on to finish in the top 16.
Round 2 - Ryan Arbour w/ GW Critters
Ryan was a fella with a similar story to mine. Played around the beginning of the game, quit for a long time and recently picked it back up. His deck was full of hard to deal with creatures like Witchstalker, Sylvan Caryatid and Experiment One as well as Ajani and other tricky spells.
Game 1 - I was able to Supreme Verdict away a couple of guys and then use spot removal to keep Ryan's board down while I dug for a threat. I continued to dig with Revelation and Jace but it took me quite a while to find an Aetherling with which to kill him. There were several turns where Ryan was drawing live to kill me because he had so much time.
Game 2 - Supreme Verdict again arrived right on time to clear away several hexproof critters and Pack Rat arrived early to the party to run away with the game.
Round 3 - Jeffrey Clark w/ Boss Sligh
I played Jeffrey once before at the Gamer's Paradise playset tournament just after Theros released. He was a quiet, pleasant opponent.
Game 1 - Jeffrey kept a somewhat slow hand that started on a Chainwalker and drew quite a few lands considering the low number I know were in his deck. I had a hand with a few removal spells and kept his board low enough for a Blood Baron to win. I could tell he was frustrated to draw so poorly.
Game 2 - Jeffrey came out of the gates much faster with a Firedrinker Satyr that he rode for a few turns rather than overextend into a Wrath. I again had enough spot removal to get me to a wrath at a comfortable life total. Pack Rat showed up again, first in chump blocking mode and then in take over the board mode, and teamed up with Aetherling for the kill.
Round 4 - William Byerly w/ Mono Black
William was a new opponent to me but he seemed very comfortable in the tournament setting and played very tightly. Game 3 of this match was one of the most epic games of the day.
Game 1 - William jammed a turn 2 Pack Rat followed by a turn 3 Mutavault and make a rat. He was pretty aggressive with making guys and got in quite a bit of damage through the rats and Mutavault but I eventually drew a Sphere and a Doom Blade for the Vault. The game wrapped up with an Aetherling. William didn't draw any Underworld Connections this match which I credit with me winning relatively easily.
Game 2 - I mulliganed to 6 on the draw and kept 3 scry lands. William Duressed and then Thoughtseized me while my deck failed to supply any more lands beyond the ones in my opening hand. William had also sideboarded into Lifebane Zombies which I was happy to see so I could play around it in game 3. I died pretty quickly.
Game 3 - I was the one with the Thoughtseize this game and I got to follow it up with a Sin Collector as well. William had a Connections this game as well as a Whip and 2 Gray Merchants. I jammed turn 5 and turn 6 Blood Barons with a Sin Collector to deal with the first Devour Flesh but I barely kept my head above water once the Merchants started to get cast. I was in an awkward spot where I couldn't afford to kill a Merchant while the Whip was in play and we just continued to trade hits until I drew a Sphere for his Whip. William correctly dropped a Desecration Demon and a Pack Rat onto the board to force me to play Supreme Verdict and we were back to parity. He played a second and then third Underworld Connections, digging for something, but my end of turn Revelation found a Detention Sphere for all 3 of them. We ended up running right down to the wire but my Aetherling a Blood Baron did just enough damage to kill William on turn 5 of turns. Like I said, epic!
Round 5 - Tony Derbigny w/ GB Kibler
Tony is one of the owners of a sweet gaming store in Prairieville, Gamer's Paradise, and he's usually so busy running the store that it's a rare sight to see him in a tournament. Obviously he needs to play more often since he was one of the last 4 undefeated players at this point in the tournament!
Game 1 - Tony put me under quite a bit of pressure with Dreg Manglers and Varolz. I had to use a removal spell on his end step to feed into Supreme Verdict on Varolz, a play I'm not sure was even correct. Abrupt Decay on a Sphere brought back a different Mangler but an Aetherling stabilized me just in time and I was able to follow it up with a second Verdict.
Game 2 - Tony straight up ran me over in this game, Elvish Mystic brought out a turn 2 Mangler and then a second one jumped into the mix. I barely had time to play a 4th land before I was dead.
Game 3 - I had a little more removal this game and was on the play so I bought myself enough time to land a Blood Baron. I had already taken a bit of damage and Tony was very close to racing my Vamper but a second one came off the top of my deck just in time to bring me out of range.
Round 6 - Matt Young w/ Esper Control
Matt is a constant face around the top table at local tournaments and I was happy to be able to intentionally draw with him as the last 2 undefeated players.
Round 7 - Dylan Leblanc w/ Gr Devotion
Dylan was a new face to me but he was incredibly excited to draw with me into the Top 8. One of his friends was standing close and they both explained to me that this was Dylan's first big tournament and he couldn't believe how well he was doing. I congratulated him and wished him good luck in the top 8!
I got to walk around a bit during the last 2 rounds and several of my friends were still in the running so I got to see some of the other players going into the top 8 while I checked up on them. After everything shook out and the few who were forced to play out the last round finished up I was in 3rd place after Swiss, this gave me a big advantage in my Quarterfinals matchup...
TOP 8!
Quarterfinals - Tom Ross w/ Boss Sligh
I don't know Tom personally but I know he's been getting a lot of press lately for playing a very fast red deck. He was super nice to me before our games, wished me luck and came off like a generally good guy. It was a big deal for me to be on the play in this matchup and I think that was one of the only reasons I even stood a chance in game 1.
Game 1 - I kept a pretty good hand with Devour Flesh, Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict in it and had a good mix of tapped lands and basics so I didn't murder myself just playing lands. I was able to nab 2 Foundry Street Denizens with a Detention Sphere and then used the Devour Flesh and a Doom Blade to deal with the rest of Tom's creatures. He must have thought I was playing as if I didn't have a Supreme Verdict because Tom looked surprised when I wrathed a squad of dudes he dumped onto the board. Tom scooped to an Aetherling.
Game 2 - I mulled to 6 and ended up keeping a pretty slow hand with Jace and a Supreme Verdict. Tom cracked me up by saying "I don't usually do this, but I'm going to mulligan." He opened on a 1 drop of some kind but didn't follow it up with anything...not even a land. I was able to Charm his guy to the top and then saw his hand with Sin Collector. Tom eventually drew a second land and started to add to the board but it had taken him too long and Jace, Blood Baron and Aetherling won for me.
Tom shook my hand and congratulated me but I could tell he was frustrated. I wanted to try and comfort him somehow, show him how prepared I was for the matchup, but I know if I'd been in his shoes none of that would've helped.
Semi-Finals - Matt Young w/ Esper Control
Matt and I were both done with our Quarterfinals match before any of the others had finished so we were able to just head-first into the mirror, something I'm sure neither of us was particularly thrilled with. While we were drawing opening hands Matt must have spaced out because he drew 9 cards straight into his hand. I felt bad about it but we had to call the judge over because I had no idea how it was supposed to be resolved. As it turns out, Matt was essentially forced to mulligan down to 6 on the play. I always feel a bit awkward in these spots, it was obvious that Matt wasn't trying to actually start the game with 9 cards and I know was pretty aggravated with himself, but I'm not sure of any other way I could've handled it.
Game 1 - Matt's mulligan hurt him a bit as he stalled at 4 lands while I continued to hit them. I jammed a Blood Baron on turn 6, hoping to get it countered. Matt wrathed it instead which allowed me to resolve a Jace with Dissolve mana up. Jace fed me spells while Matt had to react to what I was doing. Eventually I played an Aetherling with Dissolve up and Matt scooped. I was pretty surprised to see a main deck Sin Collector from Matt before the game ended!
Game 2 - I had an excellent draw for post board games casting Thoughtseize on turn 2 into 2 Sin Collectors on turn 3 and 4. Not only did they clear the way of 2 counterspells but they did quite a bit of damage on their own. I added a Blood Baron when Matt was forced to Hero's Downfall one of the Collectors and beat Matt down to 4 life before he cast Supreme Verdict. We spent several turns drawing, playing lands and passing before Matt cast a Sphinx's Revelation for the full amount. I proved that I was just drawing super hot by casting a Revelation for all but 2 and finding a Negate for his Revelation. Eventually I found an Aetherling to finish things and move on to the Finals.
Finals - Jared LaCombe w/ Rw Devotion
Jared and I have met once before, in the Quarterfinals of tcgplayer States a little while back, and I joked with him that I was there to take my revenge. Jared's been on a bit of a tear lately, first winning the Theros Playset tournament at Gamer's Paradise, then winning States and then taking 2nd at an SCQ event and I definitely wasn't as confident as I tried to sound. We chatted a bit and worked out a prize split, each of us was willing to take half of the Modern Masters box and half of the Theros box, but we decided to play for the title itself.
Game 1 - Jared ran me over with small Red guys into Fanatic of Mogis and Stormbreath Dragon while a was stuck at 1 blue source and only 4 lands for as long as it took to die. By the time Jared swung in for lethal I was holding 3 Jaces, Aetherling and a Sphinx's Revelation that I couldn't cast.
Game 2 - I opened on a Thoughtseize that probably won me the game, I took a Burning Tree out of a hand of 2 of them, 2 Fanatics and a Nykthos. Jared was light on lands and I killed his Burning Tree to prevent Nykthos shennanigans. This game dragged out quite a while and Jared looked quite miserable as I dug for a way to kill him after stabilizing. I was pretty scared of being burned out since I gave him so much time to draw into burn but he never found anything but creatures I could blow up and Pack Rat eventually showed his face to do the deed.
Game 3 - I again opened on a Thoughtseize and saw a hand of 2 Boros Charms, Warleader's Helix, Stormbreath Dragon and Fanatic as well as a Nykthos. This was my turn 2 on the draw and I actually felt pretty good there despite the amount of damage his hand represented. I took one of the Boros Charms and Jared used the other on my end-stop but didn't have anything to follow it up with on his turn 3. I was forced to sit on a Dissolve for several turns and didn't have a 4th blue source which stranded a Jace in hand for quite a long time. Both Jared and I missed land drops for a few turns and he played an Aurelia's Fury on my upkeep the turn before he would've been forced to discard. I re-read the card and cast Pack Rat with Dissolve mana up. I had to be very careful not to go bonkers on Pack Rat, especially after Jared cast Mizzium Mortars on my Rat forcing me to make another one which allowed a Stormbreath Dragon to whack me. Luckily I had a removal spell for the Dragon when I untapped and after a few more turns of slowly ratting it up I swung for the win.
Jared was pretty frustrated with his draws that game and immediately questioned his buddies about whether or not there was a better way he could've played the last game. I was pretty impressed with that as it shows someone who wants to improve rather that someone who just wants to complain when things don't go his way. I was congratulated by my buddies and April from Rocket's Hideout as well as basically everyone I walked past. April brought me into the main room of Big Easy to take a picture and Steve smiled big at me as I walked by. Everyone was so nice!
I got to spend the rest of the night amongst the Slidellians who'd come out and we had a blast eating, drinking and generally being merry at The Chimes which I'd never been to before. The food was good and they had a ridiculously large menu of beverages to choose from, definitely recommended if you're in the area.
In the end I felt very fortunate to have won the event outright, especially through the lineup of players that I had to face. I had a great time and want to encourage anyone who's able to visit Big Easy's new location right around the corner from 2nd and Charles in Covington. Also, if you're around Baton Rouge you should go to Rocket's Hideout or Gamer's Paradise a little farther away and if you're in Metairie you better go to +1 Gaming. For that matter, if you end up in my neck of the woods you need to visit Magic Comics and Hobbies in Slidell. Literally EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is super cool and super nice.
If you like what you read please check back with me when you get a chance. I try to write here at least twice a week and more often when I have something interesting to say. If you've got any suggestions please let me know, I like getting better at things.
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