Today I'm going to bring you my report for the first PTQ for the extended season that I've attended offline. I'll share my decklist, some of my games, and analyze the Top 8 results. Enjoy!
In the weeks leading up to the PTQ I had been playing a Faeries list I worked on with fellow Macheteer mlmcc1. With this list I was able to 4-0 a Daily and crush several 8-mans before Top 16'ing a PTQ. However, I noticed a shift away from 4cc and Sun Titan decks which were easy prey and towards Fauna Shaman Jund, Naya, and Monored, which posed severe problems for the deck.
From there, I decided to start from scratch and attack the metagame from a new angle. I found Cunning Sparkmage to be the card I absolutely wanted. This card wrecks all the Noble Hierarch decks and constantly harasses a Bitterblossom. The most natural shell for Sparkmage would be either Naya or Jund. However Jund's lack of 1 mana accelerators detracted from one of Sparkmage's strongest uses: killing a mana creature on the play. So I turned to a fairly stock Naya list and started making changes.
The first thing I wanted to incorporate into Naya was Sovereigns of Lost Alara. There are matchups such as Omen Valakut or Pyromancer's Ascension where the standard Naya plays of Vengevine and Bloodbraid Elf would not be fast enough to kill the opponent before they set up their combo. Additionally, Sovereigns provided a way to come over the top in the mirror, which often became bogged down on the ground by recurring Vengevines.
The next step was to add Vendillion Cliques, which allowed the deck to tutor for disruption via Fauna Shaman, and beat Cryptic Command decks by preventing the "fog" mode by casting a Clique on their turn. With that much blue in the deck, I was just a Flooded Grove away from playing Papa Jace himself, and as this card would solve many problems Naya could not solve alone (Wurmcoil Engine, Knight of the Reliquary, Baneslayer Angel, drawing too many blanks, etc), Jace was a seamless fit.
Late into testing, Gandhi suggested adding Ancient Ziggurat. Given that the deck was almost all creatures, this land would only delay casting Mindsculptor and Conscription, which is something I could live with. The matchups where the delay matters, ie I am looking to resolve a Mindsculptor, are also the matchups where the game will go long. On the other hand, Ancient Zigguarat fixing all my mana in the early game and still coming into play untapped past the third land( unlike scars duals) would be very important in the aggressive and combo matchups.
And so was born Hawaiin Punch:
Hawaiin Punch | The Rusty Machete
32 Creatures:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Fauna Shaman
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Vendillion Clique
3 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Vengevine
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
3 Spells:
2 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Eldrazi Conscription
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Fauna Shaman
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Vendillion Clique
3 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Vengevine
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
3 Spells:
2 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Eldrazi Conscription
25 Lands:
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Arid Mesa
1 Flooded Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Copperline Gorge
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Ancient Ziggurat
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Arid Mesa
1 Flooded Grove
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Copperline Gorge
15 Sideboard:
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Primal Command
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sun Titan
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Inferno Titan
1 Realm Razer
1 Jace Beleren
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Primal Command
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sun Titan
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Inferno Titan
1 Realm Razer
1 Jace Beleren
The sideboard was built on-site under time pressure and card availability. It should have a 2nd Sun Titan, another Sparkmage, and a Sejiri Steppe instead of the Jace, Inferno Titan, and Primal Command.
On to some gameplay:
Round 1:
I played against someone attempting to use Master Transmuter to cheat out some artifact fatty. Unfortunately for him he never drew the Transmuter and I had Pridemages for his Master of Etheriums.
I left in Jace for this matchup as it would give me an out to Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
Round 2:
I beat U/W Sun Titan. He did a lot of nothing game 1 while I chained Vengevines.
Game two I made the mistake of not playing Clique into a potential Mana Leak, not thinking ahead and considering he probably boarded those out. Due to my error he was able to tap out for a Baneslayer and race my team. I did get a Real Razer down and Fauna a Birds of Paradise to chump, but the Baneslayer had come down too quickly for me to race it.
The third game I resolved my Sun Titan, getting back Fauna Shaman. He resolved his, getting back Wall of Omens. It was pretty elementary from there, though I played a Mind Sculptor for fun.
Round 3:
Game 1 I am quickly behind to the Jund draw of Bolt into Leech into Terminate into Elf + Bolt. I use a Vengevine and a Knight of the Reliquary to block Leech and Lavaclaw. He pumps the Leech, going to 12, and I Edge my own Bosk, to put Knight up to 5/5 and eat the Lavaclaw. This sets up an untapped red source to cast the Bloodbraid Elf in my hand and kill him on the swing back. Unfortunately I miss, so I Knight for the land, then Elf to rebuy Vengevine and put him to 8, leaving back the Bloodbraid and Fauna Shaman to prevent Elf into Terminate from killing me. My opponent concedes on his turn.
Game 2 I keep the one land triple mana guy draw. I am quickly dispatched by Maelstrom Pulse after missing lands.
Game 3 Sun Titan + Kitchen Finks grinds down my opponent and his Finks and Bloodbraids pretty much singlehandedly.
After my match is over, I head over to watch East Lansing ringer Ray Perez play Sun Titan versus Merfolk. I comment after the match he should learn to ration his removal and ignore his opponent's grey ogres when he has a Sun Titan in play. I was very harsh on the Merfolk deck, claiming it had no place in the metagame nor did it even have good matchups, since it had just lost to Sun Titan, a slow control deck. This was all done within earshot of the Merfolk player, which must've made him pissed.
Round 4:
I play a very frustrating match against mythic, and lose 1-2. I lost the die roll, and therefore lost games 1 and 3, both of which I would've easily won on the play. Due to the advantage of going first, my opponent was able to resolve Elspeth under minimal pressure game one, and hold up Mana Leak for my explosive Hierarch, Hierach, Fauna Shaman draw in game 3 while also enabling turn 4 Sovereigns.
Round 5:
Game 1 I lose because I am on the draw. He Scapeshifts me the turn before I could Sovereigns him.
Game 2 I crush him with Bloodbraid Elf into Vendillion Clique rebuying Vengevine on turn 3. The Clique takes Volcanic Fallout and he dies next turn.
Game 3 I keep Hierarch, Hierarch, Shaman, and he has the Fallout on 3 with Titan on 5. When I Clique him on turn 6, he has double Scapeshift in hand and I concede.
Round 6:
I destroy a Faeries player in both games, the second of which he played 2 Wurmcoil Engines and I did not cast Sovereigns or Basilisk Collar.
Round 7:
Game 1: The Jund player I played this round kept a hand without removal and never drew any.
Game 2: I lose this game from a very dominant position due to a combination of Fallout + Lightning Bolt which killed my entire team, including Baneslayer Angel. Lack of a Sejiri Steppe in my deck definitely hurt as during the midgame he was able to Shriekmaw my Sun Titan when I had active Knight of the Reliquary.
Game 3: I beat him easily with Finks and Vengevines valuing him out. Knight was big enough to stop his early beaters, and Tectonic Edge kept him off his Bloodbraids for a turn.
Round 8:
Game 1: I land a Sparkmage after getting my first three guys Thoughtseized and Disfigured. My opponent revealed a Scion of Oona on turn 1 so I know one of his cards is unplayable. I get a few more guys Mana Leaked. When I get to Jace mana, I slam it, as I have the read his hand is all Scions. Jace resolves, and brainstorms me into lands and Birds for a long time. My read was in fact completely right, as my opponent gets triple Scion into play through my Sparkmages using a Cryptic Command. However he is too far behind and I kill him with Noble Hierarch attacks, and Cunning Sparkmage activations to the dome.
Game 2: I keep a threat-light hand and flood out after an onslaught of discard and removal. He left in both Vendillion and Mistbind, which I took note of.
Game 3: I had Fauna Shaman active.
Several things were transparent from my PTQ experience:
1. Sejiri Steppe needs to be in the 75. Having a Mother of Runes effect out of Knight of the Reliquary is invaluable against Jund and Faeries postboard as they will be overloading on removal. It also helps cast Sun Titan!
2. The blue was very good, though Vendillion far outperformed Jace.
3. Cunning Sparkmage is the man, and there should be a 4th in the board.
4. Nobody competently plays Faeries at Midwestern PTQ's.
5. Kitchen Finks is really really annoying for any aggressive strategy (including Blue Naya).
6. Beating an active Shaman is nearly impossible for any non-combo strategy.
Congrats to Kurtis for Top 8'ing the PTQ with U/W Faeries! He unfortunately lost to Mythic in the top 8, and the finals was won by the same Mythic player that beat me in the Swiss. My read on Noble Hierarch decks being popular was dead on, with 3 of the Top 8 decks relying on mana creatures. U/x control decks accounted for another 3 spots, with Monored and the Valakut deck (piloted by my round 5 opponent) rounding out the top 8. Blue Naya has strong matchups against most of the Top 8, and only Monored and Valakut would pose serious problems postboard. Some sideboard slots can be devoted to Forge Tender or Refraction Trap to counteract these decks if the need arises.
Good luck to everyone in Atlanta this weekend!
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