For the first episode of his new series Modern Magic on MTGO Academy, we are tremendously pleased to introduce you to German pro player Simon Goertzen. Simon is perhaps best-known for winning Pro Tour – San Diego in 2010 with his tuned Jund build shortly after ending American pro Luis Scott-Vargas’s record 17-0 streak in the Semifinals of the Top 8. (You can read the coverage by clicking here.) Simon also reached Top 8 standing at Grand Prix – Paris in 2008 and finished in 5th place with his team at Pro Tour – Charleston in 2006. An extremely proficient deckbuilder and player, we look forward to learning from his experience and expertise.
— MTGO Academy staff
Introduction, Draft, and Deckbuilding
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Nice draft. Looking back, you really should’ve picked the Mycosynth Wellspring. I think it is very underrated atm, but you can not expect it to go late. Would pick it over mediocore cards.
Simon, you did a great job there. I have a few questions regarding the draft and hope you find the time to answer them:
P1P4 – you are discussing Necropouncer, Thundering Tanadon, Leeching Bite but don’t consider the big poison guy in Chained Throatseeker. Have you given up the idea of being in poison at this point already or do you think that the Throatseeker is just not the same power level as the mentioned cards?
P1P6 – You pick up the Gitaxian Probe here which comes around late and is generally not that important in limited. The Mycosynth Wellspring might not be that great of a card but as you said yourself it helps in case you want so splash more powerful cards later. As you don’t know if that will be the case you probably should have picked it up here. It would have certainly helped you later with mana fixing and as Kuldotha Flamefiend fodder.
I enjoyed your explanations during the draft and the games and hope to see more from you in the future.
Nice brew, I like your comment “We’ll see how this monstrosity does”.
Also, in regards to Rust Tick – a “Tick” is a bug that attaches itself to you and sucks your blood, so the Rust Tick probably lives off iron or something like you had said. I don’t think I ever realized it was an insect either, though!
enjoyed this a ton! thanks, Simon!
(and no, sorry, us native English speakers also don’t know why a tick, which is a tiny insect, would be 1/3).
You should have picked up the Sphynx, I think. Even if you don’t have metalcraft, its a pretty good creature.
Nice Draft, good commentary!
Great set of videos. I would never have known this was your first time recording. Looking forward to the next one!
Fantastic videos. Your explanations are very helpful.
A tick is an insect, and I believe it’s name is a play on the word “rustic” which is usually associated with old/outdated things. Having 3 toughness simply makes it more useful, I suppose.
How long have you been playing magic, and how long have you been speaking english?
Great job, again.
wait, Is there any reason you don’t watch the replays? Your opponents deck in the finals was ridic. Sheoldred is scary as hell.
I really enjoyed this draft. There was good technical play and good analysis of decisions.
I’m looking forward to more videos or articles in the future
really enjoyed your draft, very informative and tightly played.
i hope to see more of your drafts here.
i would have sb in the immolating soul eater more often, as well as bonds of quicksilver vs aggressive decks, otherwise i have not noticed anything i would have done differently.
First of all: Thank you for all the comments and feedback! I really appreciate this opportunity to produce Magic-related content for the community and the possibility to reach so many of you thanks to MTGO Academy. I hope you enjoy the upcoming episodes of Modern Magic as much as I enjoy making them. On to the questions:
@Andrew & Matt: P1P7 is interesting, as it comes down to a decision between two colorless, low-impact cards — Mycosynth Wellspring and Gitaxian Probe. Given the final decklist, I agree that the Wellspring would have been better in my deck to stabilize the manabase and to increase the artifact count. However, at that point in the draft I only have green and blue cards in my pile. In my experience, the Wellspring is basically worse than a basic land in most 2-color decks which means I am not planning to maindeck it at this point. Thus, I decided go for the Probe, which I can cast and which helps me to make the correct decision in tight situations, for example when pondering questions of combat, the use of countermagic or removal, and overall gameplan.
Regarding the Chained Throatseeker in P1P4, I am just not that fond of it. If I manage to make it good, it would probably mean picking up more Blighted Agents, which I don’t see happening realistically, and it would also devalue the Spire Monitor I already have. I just don’t think that the power level of Chained Throatseeker justifies this early risk. However, it is not out of the question to pick it.
@milegyenanevem: I believe you are spot on with your comment regarding Argent Sphinx, this was one of the mispicks I was thinking of during the introduction. I should have taken it for two reasons: It’s power level justifies the commitment to blue, considering the UU cards alredy drafted and the high quality of blue cards in SoM. This is a key point in the draft where I was too scared to commit. The second reason, which makes it even worse, is the fact that my evaluation of Rust Tick was off based on my previous (pre-NPH, or even pre-MBS) experiences with it. It has to be valued much lower as it does not reliably do enough and I should have picked the Sphinx for power level reasons alone.
@Cock Horse: I started playing casually in 1998 during Urza’s Saga, and played my first constructed PTQ during Christmas days of 2002, which qualified me for PT Venice 2003. I have been learning English since 5th grade at age 10. I have also been to the US numerous times (for as long as 10 months) as well as reading, writing and speaking English almost daily for years.
There are a couple of reasons why I do not like to watch replays. I usually don’t have the time, especially when recording, and it’s really annoying when MTGO bugs out when I do. The second reason is that I believe it helps me to prepare better for upcoming tournaments, as well as work through the decision tree myself instead of relying on additional information. Last but not least, in a video which shows me drafting and playing, I prefer to focus on the in-game information and strategy at hand much more than outside information when explaining my motives behind certain decisions.
@durdle: I actually thought that I boarded in the Souleater quite aggressively, but you might be right. I am not sure, however, how Bonds of Quicksilver would have helped me against a truly aggressive deck. Which of the matchups are you referring to?
Sehr guter content, danke !
Excellent commentating and technical play, and Cock Horse (really?) is correct, Rust Tick is a pun on the word rustic, since a rust tick is as bizarre a concept in English as German.
Even though you accidentally lost due to clicking submit, I very much liked your strategy for game 2. Whenever I am playing against a deck with a bomb finisher I can’t beat (Geth, Sheoldred, Wurmcoil Engine, Chancellor of the Dross, Elesh Norn, Hoard-Smelter Dragon – take your pick) the correct answer is to just go aggressive, especially if you have a fliers deck. Just saving removal for Sheoldred doesn’t work (if you even have it) because black is very capable of buying her back.
It didn’t work out, and you probably lose either way, but it is better than the alternative, pray that Sheoldred is at the bottom of their deck.
I thought you stumbled a bit in draft (probe over wellspring when you have splashable green cards seems poor, and came back to bite you) but those picks happen to us all. It is worth noting that Mycosynth Wellspring is underrated since it is one of very few splash enablers and can also give great value in the right deck.
Also, please get them to change your write-up. You seem like a very accomplished player (I don’t follow pro players so I am unsure where your accomplishments rank) but I do know that someone of your skills greatest magical achievement can’t possibly be beating another player with Jund.
Winning a Pro Tour with any deck is a pretty big deal. It’s a multi-day tournament against other extremely competitive players, and you have to qualify even to attend.
Nice Draft, i like.
Little nitpick: A tick belongs to the arthropods,but is not an insect (which are also arthropods) because ticks in fact are spiders (together with mites).
after first 2 picks, it’s pretty standard imo, not much else you can do.
i hate the first pick, but im not saying its bad
but:
play the 4/3 and if you dont, pick the hill giant, i think you need the pressure.
just fat + flying and not much removal is meh.
like your style so far.
i would not second guess yourself on the sphinx and probe picks, they were both at least fine.
but please explain why you like that first pick, given that you dont pick the throatseeker.
i dont like the seeker either, but then again i would almost never first an agent.
i think i rather have the 1/4 even, which you didnt even mention.
@BT: Clicking submit was just unfortunate as I was far from done with sideboarding. Without a doubt, however, the loss was well-deserved nonetheless. I do not think that I win more than 2 out of 10 matches against my final opponent’s deck, even with “perfect” sideboarding.
From my comments above, you can see how I think about Mycosynth Wellspring – although my personal opinion might of course be off. A further argument against an early Wellspring is that I am not looking to splash green at this point in the draft (or in any draft, basically). On the other hand, if green ends up as one of my main colors I can still pick up Viridian Emmissary and Horizon Spellbomb later, if I know for sure that my manabase needs fixing.
Winning the Pro Tour is definitely my greatest magical achievement ;-). I just happened to be playing Jund and I had to stop LSV in the semifinals to get there. As he seemed unstoppable at this point and was setting a new record for most consecutive wins at the pro tour, it was something which PT San Diego will be remembered for. That, and the power of Bloodbraid Elf.
@chris: I don’t know exactly which Hill Giant you are talking about, but I should have picked Tangle Mantis instead of Ogre Resister in one of the later MBS packs. It would have made a great addition to my deck.
I like to firstpick a Blighted Agent for its potential in aggressive (low-curve) UW or UB infect decks. It’s playable on its own, poses a serious threat as early as turn 2, and can be combined with equipments and pumpspells to great effect. Chained Throatseeker does none of the above. Thus, I am basically looking for a second (or more) Agent to move in on Infect. After my second and third pick and solid alternatives to Throatseeker in P4, I did not expect to see another Blighted Agent and decided to dismiss the infect plan at this point.
yeah, you were obv distracted there
i was talking about the metalcraft hillgiant which came very late in pack 3. i just think u needed 4drops.
Great videos, Simon. Welcome to the Academy!
Just wanted to thank you for good video. Im not hardcore drafter but this format is interesting and you did well. Obviously the deck you faced in the finals was nuts and it would have been very lucky if you managed to beat that.
Keep up the good work! Any plans to continue to break this format or are you gonna jump into M12 or something other?
-yugular
RE: yugular:
Simon will be returning on August 2nd with another NMS Limited video, and I believe he has suggested that after that, he will be transitioning to another format, probably M12.