December 11th – Team Unified Standard
Last night before the big day, we decided to think through the seatings. My initial idea was to roll a dice to determine everything. But Raymond, from his experience had a different idea, so I we followed the captain’s call and had Syed in Seat A, Wei Han in Seat B and myself in Seat C.
Round 4 versus Ecuador
1. Syed vs Atarka Red, Wei Han vs Ramp, Me vs 4C Rally. Lottery could not be worse. But I have faced worse uphill battles. But late in my game one versus 4C Rally, I knew this was not our day.
2. My resolved Dragonlord Ojutai had gone in for 2 hits (looking at six cards, taking 2 meaning cards). I had dealt with most of my opponents board, carving the way to just needing to stop a top deck Rally the Ancestors. My opponent knew that was his only own and started to proactively sacrificed his Scions to get extra scrye triggers. But from his expression, he wasn’t getting it. But I knew I was tempting fate. Ojutai needed to deliver. The dragonlord got in one more hit, bringing my opponent to 3 life looking at another three cards for a precious counterspell. It offered Dig Through Time. I main-phase the Dig, ploughing through the rest of my graveyard for that one precious spell (which I still had 6 in my deck).
3. I kept my composure and passed. With one last frantic knock on the deck – there it was. Rally the Ancestors. Good game. 15 minutes left on the clock.
4. I looked over to Wei Han, he was down a game but in control for the 2nd, but Syed had gone down against Atarka combo.
5. I shuffled up quick, but without Monastery Mentor in my deck, I wasn't climbing out of this quickly. Or so I thought.
6. I had answers for my opponents early spells by force spiking his early drops. On my turn 5, it was a critical moment that I needed to draw a 5th land (which needed to be a white source or Haven) to cast my Dragonlord Ojutai to at least have a chance to steal a draw. I didn’t had time to run the numbers in my head, but I knew I had more than half of my lands in my deck produced white. My draw --- > Shambling Vent. I sunk back to my seat, played the tapped land and passed.
7. Ojutai did follow the next turn, but my opponent had already resolved a Collected Company and it was all-downhill. Our backs were now against the wall.
Round 5 versus Columbia
1. Syed vs Esper, Wei Han vs BW Control, Me vs Atarka Red. I can only laugh about our pairings again.
2. Wei Han got the easy match while I struggled in game 1 versus Atarka Red stuck on 4 lands. Syed almost stole game 1, but his second Ulamog (off a Sanctum of Ugin) met a desperation Dig Through Time from his Columbian opponent who dug out his last Utter End. Unable to follow up his offense, the Esper was given the breathing space it needed to take over.
3. Game 2 I climbed back out to win and set a decider. Wei Han had already cleared his match and Syed was still in game 2, looking gloom. So Wei Han and I navigated the final critical turns of my match, me on just 3 life. Opponent with a Lightning Berseker in play, dashed and just dealt me 5 along with a flipped Chandra in play with 6 loyalty counters. I was holding a Negate and a Dragonlord Silumgar he already knew from earlier.
4. The Chandra ticked up and got me down to 1 and pass. I slammed the Silumgar, stole the Chandra and went “limitbreak”. My opponent declined to trade his Beserker for Silumgar and passed. I drew Tasigur and kept 2 open. 5. My opponent next play was a morph and I instinctively said “Ire Shaman” but it was duhh a Den Protector which flipped and recur ---- Dragon Fodder that promptly got Negated. Chandra Emblem continued to deal three and suddenly I was an attack away for the win, if I could draw a removal.
6. Ultimate Price. Set. One constructed match win down.
Round 6 versus Indonesia
1. At this point, we felt we had a chance. Indonesia was not the best of opponents for us to overcome. The matchups seemed fine as well. Me vs Esper tokens, Wei Han vs Atarka Red and Syed vs Green White Megamorph.
2. But my game one was short on mana stuck on three lands with my opponent resolving Gideon, Sorin and Ob Nixilis and game two I had 3 spells and 9 lands the entire game. It wasn’t even close.
3. Wei Han nicked out a close win versus Atarka Red and it was all down to Syed.
4. Syed split his first two games and in a critical decider he was forced to keep four lands, a Leaf Gilder and Ugin. It was a gamble and he was punished with a furious curve from his opponent topping out with a Whisperwood Elemental. It was game over.
Round 7 versus China
1. We had nothing else to play for but end the tournament with a win. China, who started 0-3 in the Sealed portion (losing to us in Round 3) was also out for blood revenge.
2. And as though the Magic gods were punctuating an end for Team Malaysia, China rolled out all the stops to demolish us. My match versus Sun Bo was unexciting. My Duress and flashback Duress (with flipped Jace) stole his double Collected Company and he had nothing else, but he peeled CoCo #3 off the top and went crazy. Game two I was severely mana-screwed but hung on with just two lands and a Jace. Somehow managed to stay in it going up to five lands and finally resolving my Dragonlord Ojutai on turn 15 with my opponent hellbent. Off the top – Rally the Ancestors for gazzilion……
So we ran bad. We crashed bad. Thoughts ran along my head wondering could we have done anything different. I felt the decks were fine, but many plays and perhaps seating plan didn’t go our way. It was just not our weekend for Magic.
So congrats to Team Italy and also our neighbours Team Thailand. May Thai Force (top decking like a pro) always be with you.
Epilogue
Aside from bad beats in the WMC, Barcelona was great. Food was great, people was great and I can say on behalf of my team, we had a blast.
So despite all the downs, here’s a couple of clips of what we did outside Magic (please mind the amateur videography and noise):
Editors note: That last video with Raymond didn't manage to come together. Much apologies...
Also, I wanna give big thanks and credits to a few mentions before I sign off –
1) My wife, Emily – my motivator who has been my driving force for this campaign. She felt our loss as much as we did, but she will always be there to drive me forward
2) Team Decards – notably Eugene Tong and Shawn Khoo, who invested time to help us test all our crappy brews
3) Chye and Joe Soh – for last minute intensive limited testing. Learned more in two days compared to two weeks of practicing on our own
4) Cards & Hobbies – our training base for Malaysian team for past 6 weeks leading up to the main event. Thanks for hosting us.
And finally.... one more before we head home:
Gracias!
-pm-
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