SCG 5k Philadelphia

EDIT: If you read this, I'd love if you would comment! I haven't written a report like this so any feedback is much appreciated :)

We just got back from the 5k, and I wanted to write a little bit about my deck and how it worked out. I thought about playing Mythic Conscription, but eventually decided to go with Jund because I think it can win from more unfavorable position, and is better against slightly rogue-y stuff like Time Sieve or Runeflare.

I was, however, really concerned about the UW and UWr matchup. At nationals qualifiers, I played Trace of Abundance but I felt like it didn't quite do enough and of course requires that you haven't been Spreading Seased already. I also wanted to have a definite plan in the mirror, and against Vengevine decks. Here's what I played:

4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Putrid Leech
2 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Sprouting Thrinax

2 Bituminous Blast
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Sarkhan the Mad
2 Terminate

4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Forest
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard:

3 Blightning
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Consuming Vapors
1 Doom Blade
2 Forked Bolt
3 Jund Charm
2 Prophetic Prism
1 Siege-Gang Commander


I cut the main deck Blightnings for two reasons. I expected a lot of UWx, and the deck has so many cantrips now that an early Blightning often doesn't do much. In fact, until I know whether they are playing UW or Super Friends, I don't really want to Blightning since you can improve the Super Friends matchup quite a bit if every Blightning hits a planeswalker. Obviously a late Blightning (when they have two cards in hand) is still great, but I didn't feel like it was really earning the maindeck spot. Secondly, there are at least three reasonable-to-good Vengevine decks in the format now, and I didn't ever want to get blown out that way game one.

Instead, I ran Hell's Thunder main. I wasn't worried about blowing them early against control since they come back, and they kill every Ajani V the turn after he comes out, while Blightning doesn't. They are a completely awesome cascade off a Bloodbraid, and as anyone who has played Jund vs RDW knows, really good in the mirror. Furthermore, your opponent will often try to not go to three against Jund for fear of Bloodbraid, Blightning, or Bolt, so the one extra damage is sometimes important.

The other slightly weird thing is the Ruinblasters. I included them because I wanted to have plenty of answers to Colonnades without running any more Broodmates. I decided that they were likely to be good in nearly every matchup, and I found that I was often playing Bloodbraid with 5 mana in testing anyway, because of the number of CITP tapped lands in the format combined with the fact that you usually play a Catacombs first against UWx.

Alright, onto the games! I'll talk about the sideboard as it comes up.

Round 1 vs Super Friends

Game 1 I lost the die roll, and my opponent mulliganed to 5, but I had a slow hand that I didn't feel I could mulligan. We played the attrition game for a very long time until I finally won with a double activated Ravine (so that it wouldn't trade with a Colonnade- I learned that from Brad Nelson's videos, thanks!) The bad news is that the game took 30 minutes. I was super nervous about running out of time at this point.

I brought in:

- 4 Sprouting Thrinax
- 2 Terminate

+ 2 Consuming Vapors
+ 1 Doom Blade
+ 2 Prophetic Prism
+ 1 Chandra Nalaar

I wanted to bring in removal that couldn't be Flashfreezed, and I like Chandra against control since she kills big things and her ultimate is pretty quick should you need to hit shroud critters (it's not a perfect solution but it gives you an out). Thrinax is a badass but gets worse with Purge and is clearly hard to cast in the matchup.

Game 2 I mulliganed to 5, had a land made into an island, and generally lost to Baneslayer (out of the board) without doing much. We went on to game 3 with 7 minutes.

Game 3 I kept a reasonable hand, but had to deal with a turn 3 Elspeth and then a turn 4 Gideon, so I wasn't close to winning when time was called. I think with more time I would have won, but that's neither here nor there.

My opponent was really nice and great to play against, but I was surprised when I found out that he assumed I had boarded out removal for game 2. I don't think I would want to take out removal in this matchup regardless, because you are always happy to hit a wall, Colonnade, Elspeth token, or active Gideon. I just wanted to make the point that I think a lot of players assume that their opponents will board so as to make their lives easier, and I think it's a lot better to respect the matchup and realize that your opponent has an idea of what you might be doing. A similar thing happened to my fiance, who was playing UW. He played against Jund, and after boarding his opponent played a Malakir Bloodwitch. Justin played Day of Judgement, and his opponent was absolutely offended that he had kept them in. Yeah. He didn't want to lose to Bloodwitch. It's shocking.


Just a note- I don't think I boarded correctly there. I boarded differently against Super Friends for the rest of the day.

Round 2 vs Super Friends

In Game 1, I felt that my opponent and I both had good draws, but about four planeswalkers and one Siege-Gang in, I found a second Siege-Gang and he didn't have an answer.

I brought in:

- 2 Terminate
- 4 Sprouting Thrinax

+ 3 Blightning
+ 2 Prophetic Prism
+ 1 Doom Blade

I realized that against UWr I really wanted the Blightnings, and planned to bring in Consuming Vapors if I saw Sphinx of Jwar Isle. I also have possible outs to the Sphinx in form of Sarkhan dragons, so it's not hopeless.

Game 2: What I remember about this game is that my opponent played Gideon, I didn't have a pulse, and his deck turn played Elspeth and made Gideon a dude. I had terminate mana, and killed it. He played a Kor Firewalker protecting Elspeth, and I Doom Bladed it. On his next turn he played a wall, I played a Bit Blast into Bloodbraid into Blightning, and got Mind Spring and Jace from his hand as well as offing the Elspeth. In other words, I had sick cascades and he took a couple risks that I happened to have the answers to. With that said, I felt really good about UWx all day and was definitely hoping for that matchup.

Round 3 vs Billy Moreno's LD deck

Game 1 I mulliganed and kept a slow hand with Bloodbraid, and he accelerated into Bloodbraid into Resounding Wave on a manland and then Roiling Terrain. It wasn't pretty, and Chandra finished me off.

I brought in:

-4 Putrid Leech
-4 Hell's Thunder

+ 2 Forked Bolt
+ 3 Jund Charm
+ 1 Chandra
+ 2 Prophetic Prism

I wasn't sure how to board this matchup. I'd played the deck so I knew what was in it (although Chandra isn't canon). I wanted to kill his Cobras, and I thought Jund Charm could either sweep his board (their guys are small) or possibly hit my graveyard to stop Roiling Terrain from killing me in a dire situation. I'd bring in Prophetic Prism against any Spreading Seas deck.

Game 2 was, as my (SUPER nice and not smug) opponent said, his best possible draw. He went Spreading Seas, bounce your land, Roiling Terrain, Roiling Terrain, Acidic Slime. I died with one land in play. Yikes. Oh, and I mulliganed to 5.

We talked afterwards and my opponent said he felt that he couldn't lose to Jund. Can I just say that I disagree with this in every way? For one thing, saying that about any two decks is basically just untrue. Every deck in the format right now is capable of falling on it's own face and just failing to find things or do anything. Secondly, any deck that is three colors can have a problem with Blightning and LD, and that is definitely what I found in testing. Finally, double all of that when you are playing against Jund. Jund has insanely powerful draws, out card-advantages everyone, and can win out of nowhere. That's why it's annoying, that's why it's powerful, that's why people play it. Sometimes you just win. I'm not some sort of filthy Jund apologist- I think it has a number of rough matchups right now and I approach this format with a lot of respect for the tier one decks. There are a lot of really hard to beat god draws out there. Let's not claim that any particular matchup is a bye. It's not, and it's not helpful to act like it is.

Alright, end aside.

Round 4 vs WG tokens with Vengevine

I lose the die roll and play manlands and Hell's Thunder to my opponents not playing anything. I play a Siege-Gang, he O-rings it, and I pulse the O-ring. I ride my 7 goblins to victory. He discarded a couple times, and I saw Elspeth, Vengevine, and a last ditch Martial Coup.

I boarded:

- 3 Goblin Ruinblaster
- 4 Leech
- 1 Hell's Thunder

+ 2 Forked Bolt
+ 2 Consuming Vapors
+ 3 Jund Charm
+ 1 Doom Blade

I'm sure this wasn't optimal but I wasn't sure what he was playing. I didn't see any non basics, and I wanted the Hell's Thunders in, so I took out Goblin Ruinblasters. Of course this is going to bite me in the ass.

Game 2 I keep a good hand, and play a turn 3 Thrinax. My opponent plays a Vengevine and declines to attack. I untap and Consuming Vapors. He plays a Ranger and fetches a Scute Mob, and plays both, bringing the Vine back, and doesn't attack. He ends his turn and goes to bin the Ranger, and I have to stop him. I untap, put the Consuming Vapors on the stack, and Jund Charm, and feel deeply fulfilled. Then he Rangers twice, I jund charm for his double vengevined graveyard, and he kills me with Stirring Wildwoods I can't answer.

Game 3 I take a few hits from Vengevine and deal with a Firewalker and kind of stabilize. I play a Sarkhan and make a dragon and things look good. He O-rings my Sarkhan and paths my dragon and attacks me 7. I block with a land the next turn and go to 4, and then he plays a scute mob and a Vengevine and swings for a million. Le sigh. My fiance is 3-0-1 now so I'm playing still.

Round 5 vs Super Friends

I sit down, and the guy next to me says that he likes my tattoos. The guy on the other side is like "That's a good line. 'Does this smell like cloroform?' is a better one." Laughs all around. Geez, I just COULDN'T SAY why more girls don't play magic.

My opponent wins the die roll and plays a colonnade. Then I play Hell's Thunders and attack with lands while my opponent never finds another land. He discards Gideon, Elspeth, other control-y type stuff, and is remarkably not angsty about the whole thing.

I didn't see any Ajanis, so I board for UW:

- 2 Terminate
- 4 Thrinax

+ 2 Prophetic Prism
+ 2 Consuming Vapors
+ 1 Chandra
+ 1 Doom Blade

Game I get a little flooded, a leech gets Purged, and a doom blade on an active Colonnade gets negated. I go down to one while he has two Colonnades. I resolve a Bit Blast into prophetic prism (not the sexiest but it got a land off the top), and then the next turn I resolve a Ruinblaster on the second Colonnade, and win from there. My opponent is really friendly the whole time, probably the best experience I have had while winning in pretty luck driven ways.

Round 6 vs Mythic Conscription

I sit down and my opponent and I introduce ourselves. A judge drops off the slip and I'm like, "Oh, you're that Jonathan!" It's Jonathan Medina, who I follow on twitter. We chat a bit and I joke that I'm excited to finally play against Mythic. I lose the roll and mulligan twice, and then draw my card and find Consuming Vapors, and scoop them up. I explain that I forgot to de-sideboard, and that I get a game loss. Jonathan doesn't want to call a judge because we're both sure it's a game loss. I realized after the match that we should have anyway because I should have gotten a warning, but I didn't think about it at the time. That was embarrassing moment number 1, by the way. I sideboard:

- 4 Leech
- 4 Hell's Thunder
- 1 Broodmate

+ 2 Consuming Vapors
+ 1 Doom Blade
+ 2 Forked Bolt
+ 1 Chandra Nalaar
+ 3 Jund Charm

I'm on the play so I would consider bringing in Blightning, but I suspect that Jonathan is bringing in Vengevine, and Jund Charm is never dead in the matchup. It sweeps some boards, clears up for consuming vapors, and makes a Knight smaller. And then when you are ready to win, it helps you do that.

I keep a hand with forked bolt and consuming vapors. Jonathan opens with a turn 2 cobra, but I have the forked bolt, and I'm relieved that I had it when I see the fetchland the next turn. He makes a Hierarch and a Cobra, I Vapors, and then I Bloodbraid into Thrinax. He Bant Charms the Thrinax and swings in with a Vengevine. I trade next turn, he plays another, I kill it, and then the turn after I cascade into Jund charm and remove them from the game, then win with Chandra.

Game 3 I keep a removal heavy hand again and Forked Bolt a cobra. I ruinblast a colonnade, kill a knight, and eventually play out a Siege Gang he can't answer.

Jonathan was super gracious the whole time, and told me that he was going to drop and get to the trading. We talked about the Pack to Power project a bit, and about Mythic and Jund in general. This was my first biggish event so I was super excited to not only meet but actually play someone I knew of from the magic writing world.

As a side note, yeah, I know I was pretty lucky to know what Jonathan was playing in some detail. That's the magic of the internet, I guess.

Round 7 vs UW (Justin Treadway)

This round I was paired against my fiance. This is a big bummer, since we decided that we'd drop when we were both x-3.

Game 1 I won easily. I had an early Putrid Leech and Hell's Thunder, he played a Jace, I played another Hell's Thunder and ate the Jace. He played a Baneslayer, I topdecked a terminate and then cascaded into third Hell's Thunder off a Bloodbraid.

I boarded like so:

- 2 Terminate
- 4 Thrinax

+ 2 Prophetic Prism
+ 2 Consuming Vapors
+ 1 Chandra
+ 1 Doom Blade

He had a spreading seas but I had a prism, and put enough pressure on that he had to play Gideon and then Baneslayer without negate backup, after I Ruinblasted a Colonnade. I topdecked the land I needed to Bit Blast a wall, and Hell's Thunders saw me through the last points.

Sooo.... that's not how I wanted that to go. At Nationals Qualifiers we were paired up in round 2, though, so I guess it's an improvement. Nonetheless, I'm super excited to have done very well against control after being worried about the matchup. I definitely got lucky, but my opponents for the most part had decent draws and plenty of action, and I felt like the Hell's Thunders were critical.

Round 8 vs Jund

In this round, I'm paired against the guy that gave Justin his second loss, so I know he's playing Vengevine Jund. I keep a land with a few too many tap lands, and have a slow start while he stalls out on lands but has a cobra. I keep back a ruinblaster to try to stabilize, but eventually he terminates it, finds a fetch land, and Vengevines me to death.

I board:

-4 Leech
-3 Ruinblaster

+ 3 Jund Charm
+ 2 Forked Bolt
+ 1 Siege-Gang
+ 1 Consuming Vapors

I saw an assortment of fetchlands including Terramorphic and Marsh Flats game one, and think he might not be playing many nonbasics.

Game 2 he accelerates into a Siege Gang off a Lotus Cobra, and I Jund Charm for profit, then beat down with a Bloodbraid and Thrinax while he can't find much action.

Game 3 I mulligan and keep an unexciting hand some lands, an Bloodbraid, a Jund Charm, and a Consuming Vapors. He accelerates into a Leech and a Ruinblaster off a Cobra, and I Jund Charm in response to his destroying my only red source and go to 12 from the Leech. He plays a Vengevine and takes me to six, and I untap on my turn 5 with 3 lands and draw a red source. I miscount, play Consuming Vapors instead of Bloodbraid, and die to Vengevine and a Raging Ravine. Of course I realize my mistake as soon as I do it, my heart sinks, and I spend the rest of the night thinking about what would have happened. I look at my deck afterwards and find that the Bloodbraid would have hit a Thrinax, so that's particularly heartbreaking. I guess you have to make mistakes to learn from them, but I know I'm going to be thinking about that one for days. Yep, that's embarrassing thing to admit on the internet number 2.


Anyway, I had an awesome time, played against universally rad opponents, and was super happy with my deck. I'd recommend it for control and mythic heavy metas, but I think I need to work on it or practice more against Vengevine decks. Starcity Games throws a great event- it was a beautiful venue, basically ran on time, and seemed really smooth throughout. Maybe I can talk Justin into the Baltimore 5k in November? :)