PPTQ season was now in its tail end with only a handful of qualifiers remaining. I was pretty much out of touch for Standard Constructed for a while as my practice since GP Shanghai in October was focused on Khans of Tarkir Sealed. I had a Red White deck courtesy of Sam Pardee which I was piloting during my free time and was yielding pretty good results but however much as I plighted to my Team Decards to pilot the RW aggro to Grand Prix Manila, no one was convinced that the deck was consistent enough.
Fast forward a few weeks later, Fate Reforged was released on a Friday but I didn't have the time to grab any new singles and decided to sleeve up the RW Aggro with adding just a single copy of Wild Slash (to replace the singleton Magma Jet) as my only change from FRG. Had I had a little bit more testing, I would have battled with Outpost Siege for that tournament. But I came out slightly short, falling to Au Yong Wai Kin in the semi-final mirror match. Au Yong didn’t end up winning and Chye (who was spectating our matches) reiterated again that RW was NOT the deck that could go all the way and he issued the ultimate challenge:
“If you really want to win, I will build you a deck and you run it next week.”
Challenge accepted.
On Thursday night (2 days before the tournament), Chye handed me a tuned Abzan Control list (no Svylan Caryatid’s) much like the version Steve Rubin and Dan Messer piloted in the previous week SCG Open. I watched all their games on Youtube and took the deck for a spin on MTGO. Fate Reforged was not released on Magic Online yet so I had to substitute the single Ugin, the Spirit Dragon for a Duneblast. The deck was showing mixed results and I tweaked the sideboard back and forth. I told Chye of what I did (especially on the Duneblast) and he mocked me:
“Its not the sameeeeeeee!!” referring to my Duneblast for Ugin swap.
So in the end, I went for his list of 75 and registered the following:
4 Siege Rhino
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Tasigur the Golden Fang
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Abzan Charm
3 Bile Blight
2 End Hostilities
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Read the Bones
4 Thoughtseize
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
2 Llanowar Wastes
4 Windswept Heath
1 Temple of Plenty
3 Temple of Silence
3 Caves of Koilos
2 Plains
2 Forest
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard:
1 End Hostilities
1 Liliana Vess
3 Drown in Sorrow
3 Nyx Fleece Ram
1 Read the Bones
3 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
The above list is the pretty much stocked Abzan Control list, with a tiny exception of Nyx Fleece Ram. The Ram offered a incremental advantage over red decks which allowed the deck to chip back precious life points. Ironically I did not match with any red decks (aside a Jeskai tokens deck) which I did side in but only to push my life totals from 20 to 27. But interestingly it played a pivotal role in my quarterfinal matchup.
60 players registered for this PPTQ. Round 1, I took down a Blue Black Control with timely use of resources, not allowing the control to get ahead on card advantage. In Round 2, I was paired against a Jeskai tokens which ended up in a 40 minute game 1 which I should have lost, had he not missed multiple triggers on his Outpost Siege naming "Dragons". But i finished him off in game 2 within 6 minutes as he was never in the game, trading my removal and board wipes (Drown in Sorrow) as Siege Rhino kept battling. Round 3 was versus another Blue Black Control and the deck executed its game plan perfectly, again draining the control players resources and not letting him getting ahead on cards.
For reference, side boarding plan was:
+ 3 Nissa, Worldwaker, 1 Liliana Vess, 1 Read the Bones
- 3 Bile Blight, 1 End Hostilities, 1 Hero's Downfall
I kept a single copy of End Hostilities for Silumgar, and this was turned to be a key decision as my control opponent slammed his Silumgar only to get Thoughtseize'd (for his only business card in hand) and Hostilities. Game was over soon after.
Matches (3-0)
Games (6-0)
Round 4 was against Temur midrange. I was in firm control in both games, but in Game 2, I declined to add a Rhino to put the nail in the coffin when my opponent had 1 open mana (Shivan Reef) for fear of Stubborn Denial. Idiot of me.....
Matches (4-0)
Games (8-0)
ID the next two rounds and was seeded 6th for the top 8. Not the greatest, but with no red aggro decks in the Top 8, i felt slightly "advantaged" going on the draw.
Top 8 - Quarterfinals Abzan Aggro
In the opening game on the draw, I kept a land light hand that had 2 Siege Rhinos and a Thoughtseize. I fired the discard spell on turn 2 and chose Sorin Solemn Visitor over Siege Rhino, a huge mistake despite me holding no additional lands after playing my second land. I drew 2 straight lands, but he had answers (and tempo) to my Rhino's and I was soon down a game. My first game loss of the weekend.
For game 2, I made an interesting sideboard decision to side in Nyx Fleece Ram. I was hoping the Ram would be able to brick wall almost any attacker and that's what happened when the Ram stood in front of a turn 3 Anafenza and held ground until I could resolve an Elspeth. My opponent didn't give up and kept pressure with Wingmate Roc. A Glare of Heresy dealt with the actual half while the copy went straight for the Sun's Champion. End Hostilities reset the board, but a Nissa Worldwaker posed a new threat on the board. Several soldiers had to die for the cause but was replaced the next turn. Nyx Fleece Ram added more defensive presence, but Nissa would get one more 4/4 into play. Nissa's tokens went again at Elspeth and this time all soldiers and the Ram chumped. Next draw.... Hero's Downfall.
The Downfall took care of the annoying planes walker and Elspeth went down to 1 loyalty to Plague Wind his side of the board. And just like that, the air was clear and stood the golden Fleece Ram chipping back precious life points. Elspeth regain loyalty points and the game was soon over.
For the decider, I kept a reasonable strong opener and despite a land heavy opening hand, my opponent still managed to stay in the match with back to back Siege Rhinos. But Abzan vs Abzan was about attrition and we went back and forth trading resources and we each were giving little to each other. Abzan Charm was used to draw cards as opposed to removal to dig for better answers. Each Elspeth got Glared. But I stuck a second and things started moving my way. Nissa on his side made another showing, but Nissa was on defensive duties now. Despite a Murderous Cut to prevent lethal, Ugin the Spirit Dragon dealt the final 3 points of damage to send me into the semi-finals.
Matches (5wins 2 draws)
Games (10-1)
Semi-finals was against Kenneth Tang on Green Black Constellation/Devotion. Kenneth had been running hot all day, curving into Frontier Siege + Hornet Queen all day long. But against a very disruptive Abzan deck, his parts just didn't come together. Despite a turn 6 Ugin to wipe the board clean (his creatures against my active Tasigur), I had multiple Hero's Downfall to follow up.
The second game was not much different as he was stuck on lands after his early Elvish Mystic got Bile Blight-ed. Siege Rhino ended the game quickly.
Matches (6wins 2 draws)
Games (12-1)
Finals - Terry Soh (Abzan Control Mirror)
You couldn't ask for a more colossal finals between two heavyweights playing almost identical decks. Terry's deck was more tuned to beat the midrange with main deck Utter Ends and Nissa's and boarding into the full four Nissa's post board. Surprisingly Terry is Chye's (my deck designer) teammate, and Terry chose to run his own anti-midrange list over the 75 Chye handed me.
Game 1 was a battle of attrition where resources are traded back and forth. It's a common theme for Downfall your Elspeth, Utter End your Rhino. My Sorin Solemn Visitor vampire token got in for a few points and Terry started to flood even with Courser of Kruphix in play. So having steal game 1 despite being on the draw and inferior card selection, it was only a game away from securing this PPTQ.
For the mirror, I chose the following sideboard options:
+ 3 Nissa, Worldwaker, 1 Liliana Vess, 1 Read the Bones
- 3 Bile Blight, 2 End Hostilities
No Glare of Heresy for this matchup as the Abzan Control mirror was about efficient removal that could take care of a wider set of threats. Here was where Utter End shined (not in my deck sadly) and once again, I was not favoured. Terry had Thoughtseize on turn 2 for Courser of Kruphix. I shuffled up my deck to thin my deck and drew - Courser! The Courser revealed Rhino on the top and I could feel my grip on the match slowly tightening. Terry had his his own Courser and Downfall for my Rhino. My Thoughtseize stripped Elspeth, but Nissa was revealed on the top of his deck (from the Courser). Setting up the next turn, I played a second Courser and passed with mana open. Nissa made a 4/4 but passed and she fell to a Downfall end of turn. Elspeth Sun's Champion made 3 tokens and with two Coursers holding ground, the Elspeth started building loyalty and eventually hit her ultimate for a lethal swing.
Matches (7 wins 2 draws)
Games (14-1)
Great win overall. Not a PTQ invite, but its one step closer to qualify for Vancouver. Big thanks to Chye (the guy with the big smirk in the picture below) for the great list. He did put hours into fine-tuning every single card and convinced me to run Nyx Fleece Ram which single handedly was the MVP of my quarterfinal matchup.
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