Rhythmik Study: All Roads Lead to Washington

As some of you likely do not know, about this time last year, I left my old Stomping Ground in the Virginia Beach area for the (depressingly) Magic-free Wasteland called Lakeland, Florida. I was a 19 year old college drop-out living on his own, working two jobs and still not making enough money to pay the bills, so an opportunity to move to Florida to go back to college seemed amazing – until I realized the game I spent almost half my life being obsessed with wasn’t played anywhere in a forty-mile radius. While I may complain about the lack of a player base in my new semi-permanent home, it was this very fact that got me started playing Magic Online, making me a better player than I ever could have dreamed of being had I spent my whole life playing only Paper Magic. Fast-forward to April 2010. Just recently (6 April, to be exact) was my 21st Birthday. All hazy memories aside, this event made me come to a realization – I have nothing left to look forward to, aside from kids, marriage, and lower car insurance rates. From now on, I know I’m going to have to create my own milestones, since I’ve passed every one the government and public education have set for me.

Which brings me to the whole point of this mini-series. In keeping with my goal to make it to the Pro Tour by 2012, for my 21st birthday, I decided to fly back to my old home and take the metagame by storm. Equipped with only a binder of cards, a deck box with 75 sleeves, and a mediocre 1740 rating, my goal is to earn as many byes as possible at Grand Prix – Washington D.C. through a series of four Grand Prix Trials, a Pro Tour Qualifier, and every FNM, Prerelease, and 16K event I can find. My current schedule is as follows:

24 April 2010 – Grand Prix Trial, Virginia Beach, VA
1 May 2010 - Grand Prix Trial, Portsmouth, VA
8 May 2010 – Pro Tour Qualifier, Richmond, VA
9 May 2010 - Grand Prix Trial, Virginia Beach, VA
16 May 2010 – Grand Prix Trial, Norfolk, VA
22-23 May 2010 – Grand Prix, Washington, D.C.
6 June 2010 - Star City Games $5,000 Open, Philadelphia, PA

Zendikar is Screwed

For those of you who won’t be getting to play with Rise of the Eldrazi for another month, take my word – Rise of the Eldrazi sealed sucks. While I love the flavor of the set, there isn’t enough common removal for the big “Deal with me” bombs, and while the best method for this format is to be on the draw, if an opponent gets a Turn 5 Eldrazi, that extra card is infinitely worse than that extra turn you would have needed. Draft, however, is one of the most fun draft formats I have ever played. Drafting this set requires you to actually pick and stick to a pretty rigid archetype, as opposed to whatever colors you find prettiest at the time. I’ll probably touch base on how to play RoE draft in a later article, but suffice it to say, it’s actually rather intricate, and very fun.

What I really want to talk about with this set is Constructed. While it’s obvious that this set is almost solely for the purposes of limited, and I know I’ll be taking any prize packs I have to open in Zendikar or Worldwake, there are a couple of rares I would like to rant and rave about.

Vengevine - Dear Lord, this card is ridiculous! While I will admit I was horribly underwhelmed when this card was spoiled, during testing, I realized how amazing this card really is in a deck that can support it. Sorry, Jund players, but no matter what you say, this card just does not fit in that deck. Jund likes to play wars of attrition, and only play one spell from their hand per turn. The only card that will ever trigger Vengevine would be Bloodbraid Elf into Sprouting Thrinax or Putrid Leech, both of which are rare occurrances, and if that happens, another 4/3 with haste is just a win-more card, anyway. Master of the Wild Hunt just does what Jund wants to do so much better, and fits at the same spot on the mana curve.

Student of Warfare – While I haven’t done enough testing with this guy to have a concrete judgment on him, he’s not as good, or as bad as people are claiming him to be. While it’s true that leveling him on Turn 2 is overextending, and begging for removal (and game-losing tempo-loss), that’s not how this card is meant to be played. Every deck in the format has enough access to one-cost removal that it is not worth it to try to attack for three on Turn 2, instead of playing your Kor Firewalker or your White Knight. I believe that these Levelers are meant to fill out your mana curve, not to be your mana curve, and once players learn how this guy is meant to be played, then he will likely become a force to be reckoned with.

Gideon Jura – Maybe I’m missing something here, but a 5-mana Fog that turns into a 6/6 dude that dies to damn near ALL the removal in the format is pretty unexciting to me. Pass.

Rise of the Grand Prix

With the first Grand Prix Trial scheduled for the day after the release of Rise of the Eldrazi, I had to do a lot of proxied up testing of decks I had never played before. One card that I was really starting to see the potential of was Vengevine, and wanted to use it in a deck that not only utilized the card, but abused the hell out of it. After a good deal of brainstorming, I came up with this deck that uses a bit of the Boss Naya and Naya Lightsaber shells.

Rhythmik Vengevine Naya

Creatures (27) 1 Baneslayer Angel 2 Birds of Paradise 4 Bloodbraid Elf 3 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Ranger of Eos 1 Scute Mob 2 Stoneforge Mystic 3 Vengevine 4 Wild Nacatl Other Spells (9) 1 Ajani Vengeant 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Behemoth Sledge 1 Garruk Wildspeaker 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Oblivion Ring Lands (24) 4 Arid Mesa 1 Evolving Wilds 5 Forest 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Mountain 2 Plains 2 Rootbound Crag 1 Raging Ravine 1 Sejiri Steppe 2 Stirring Wildwood 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Verdant Catacombs Sideboard (15) 1 Goblin Guide 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Stoneforge Mystic 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 2 Qasali Pridemage 2 Path to Exile 4 Cunning Sparkmage 3 Dauntless Escort

Buy this Deck

Let me start by saying card availability was an issue. I was only able to obtain three Vengevine, so the singleton Garruk Wildspeaker was put in its place because it sits at the same spot on the curve, and I found it provides a comparable card advantage.

This deck was ridiculous in testing, and failed to disappoint in the trial. The Vengevine reload package of Bloodbraid Elf (Which only has SEVEN non-creature spells in the deck to hit) and Ranger of Eos (who, if played correctly, nets you TWO Vengevine reloads, or can fetch up a couple of Noble Hierarchs to push through a 6/5 hasty ‘Vine during clutch time) has proven to be the best available in the format, and had me unearthing Vengevines at least two games per match all day. This card also helps not only mitigate an early Blightning, but can make it devastating for an opponent if you sandbag a couple of one-drops.

The sideboard is the same as Boss Naya, aside from one Emrakul for any random Turbo-Fog decks, so you should sideboard accordingly.

Baby, Bye Bye Bye

There is no better feeling than knowing the day of a Grand Prix that you can sleep for three hours, collecting wins while others spend time scrubbing out, and that was the feeling I was after. Armed with my new deck, and an amazing feeling after going 7-1-1 with the deck at a local tournament the night before, I was ready for anything. Unfortunately for me, only 16 people showed up to the trial, so only one bye would be given out. However, these were the sixteen best players in the area, including a former National’s team player and a player who made Top 16 at Worlds during Time Spiral-Lorwyn Standard. The tournament was determined to be Four rounds with a cut to Top 8.

Round 1 – UW Tap-Out Control

Game 1, I lose the die roll, and keep a relatively slow hand. My opponent gets Baneslayer online before I can really do too much to stop her, and I scoop my cards up rather quickly.

Game 2, I keep a hand with a Hierarch, a Knight of the Reliquary and a Vengevine, and bust through his Wall of Omens, putting a ton a pressure on him. I force a Mind Spring for three, followed by a Martial Coup for four for enough chump blockers to survive a turn. He can’t muster a miracle, and concedes.

Game 3 is pretty much the same thing. I get two early Vengevines, and he has to Coup for four again before scooping.

Record – 1-0

Round 2 – Grixis Control

Game 1, my opponent mulligans to five on the play, and can’t play a single spell before Vengevines and Wild Nacatls beat his face in.

Game 2, I land a Turn 3 Vengevine, and he plays a Vampire Nighthawk. I play another Vengevine and swing with both. He blocks, and I follow up with a post-combat Wild Nacatl, returning the first Vengevine. I hold Ranger of Eos backup as I swing into his second Vampire Nighthawk. I flash him the Ranger, and he concedes.

Record – 2-0

Round 3 – Runeflare Trap

Game 1, I win the die roll, and keep a two land hand, knowing that my opponent will draw me into the lands I need. My Nacatl, Vengevine, and Bloodbraid Elf that I’m drawing from Howling Mine are enough to get him to 6. He combos out after a few turns, and during my draw step, he plays Runeflare Trap with Twincast. The three draws I had that turn drew me into the second Lightning Bolt I needed to finish him off before his kill could resolve.

Game 2, my opponent mulls to six with one land, hoping to get a second to cast the two Howling Mines he had in hand to combo out. He gets his second, but his Howling Mines keep drawing both of us into spells – ones that I can cast, and ones that he can’t. This wasn’t even really a game.

Record 3-0

Round 4 – Jund (Intentional Draw)

My opponent and I decide to draw, but play a game for fun while waiting for other matches to finish. Stuck on three lands, I still manage to get him to 8, while he has me at twelve. He lands a Broodmate Dragon, while I draw into a Behemoth Sledge without enough mana to equip to my 10/10 Knight of the Reliquary. Thinking I have one more turn, I pass priority, ready to gain enough life to stem any damage that I would take. However, he immediately plays Sarkhan the Madl, and -4′s him to deal me eight, then swings for eight. Good. Game.

Quarterfinals – Boss Naya (No Vengevine)

This was the match I had been waiting to play. I really wanted to prove how much better the deck has become with the addition of Vengevine. I don’t remember much about Game 1, except that I won pretty convincingly. Game 2 was the most exciting. In Game 2, I get a lot of early beats on him with a Turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary, while he gets a few Wild Nacatls as well as his own Knight, and beats me down hard. I play a Vengevine, and block a Nacatl, and he drops his Plains for a Sejiri Steppe to protect the Nacatl. My next turn is Bloodbraid Elf into Cunning Sparkmage, returning Vengevine. He swings with all of his creatures when I’m at 2, forcing a Vengevine block. At this point, I hadn’t even noticed that his Nacatls were 2/2, having sacrificed his only Plains for a Steppe. He then sacrifices his only Forest for a Plains to make the Nacatls 3/3, again to kill my Vengevine. The very next turn, I peel Stoneforge Mystic off the top to tutor up Baslisk Collar with the mana leftover to play and equip it to Cunning Sparkmage, killing his Knight of the Reliquary and keeping him off Green mana for the rest of the game. All he can muster is one Emeria Angel before scooping his cards up. I was later told by my buddies looking at his hand that he was holding a grip full of green, and that killing his Knight won me that match.

Semifinals – Traditional UW Control

This wasn’t really a match. I kept a solid hand Game 1, and got off to a great start with a Turn 2 Knight of the Reliquary, but didn’t see another spell all game.

Game 2, I keep a loose hand, and still do nothing but rip lands. I even got to the point where I was swinging with Stirring Wildwood equipped with Basilisk Collar, and had a Birds of Paradise swing for two once. I was able to get Cunning Sparkmage with Basilisk Collar out, but once he got Jace and Elspeth online, all I could do was extend the hand. I can only take solace in the fact that he went on to win the finals, and that he did Top 16 Worlds a couple of years ago.

Another Week, Another Trial

So that’s it for this week. As far as my opinions on the deck, I think I still have some number tweaking to do. Interestingly enough, the card I found myself siding out every game was Baneslayer Angel. It ended up sitting in my hand way too often to want to keep in the 75. I’ll be doing a lot more testing over the week in 16K event. My goal is to get as many byes as possible for the Grand Prix, even if they have to be ratings based. As I said before, on 1 April, my total rating was 1740, and as of the week before this trial (19 April), my total rating was 1801. I’ll be keeping you posted on every aspect of my grinding up to the Grand Prix, including Grand Prix Trials, Pro Tour Qualifiers, and maybe even some 16K Events. Since I’m still taking my hiatus from Magic Online to focus a bit on my Paper Magic career, until next time…

…See You in Washington!

Rhythmik