Battle of the Stores 2015

Battle of the Stores 2015

This past weekend I competed in the first ever Battle of the Stores event, hosted by South Florida Magic.  All of the card/game/magic shops across South Florida sent 1 or 2 teams of their best players to compete for the trophy.  This means all of the teams were composed of the top players from their area, including the PTQ top-8 regulars and a few Pro Tour competitors.  I was humbled to be offered a slot on our team from Wizard’s Tower (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wizards-Tower/148158092053364?fref=ts).  68 players representing 17 teams prepared for battle.

I joined the team as the Limited Specialist, but before we get to that, let’s break down this unique tournament.  This was a Team Event, with teams of 4 players.  Teams played three matches at the same time, A, B, and C, versus players A, B and C from the opposing team.  The fourth player was the team coach - the coach was able to tag in for his teammates up to four rounds over the event.  All teammates were able to communicate freely with each other, with no such thing as outside assistance within a team.  The formats were three rounds of Team Sealed (8 packs DTK, 4 packs FRF) to build three decks, and then three rounds of Team Unified Standard (limit of 4 of any non-basic card across all three standard decks), with a cut to Top 4.

Now, I said a moment ago I was not intending to play Standard.  I was to be team coach, and to play the limited portion of the event, with a skilled Standard player taking care of the rest.  We had some… roster issues.  The slot of our fourth player fluctuated between three men, with our final coach Chris being signed on Friday night before the event!

So… I had less than 24 hours to learn both my deck and the entire standard metagame!  I watched a few SCG videos of Bant Heroic in action to study up.  I trusted my technical play, and being a team event I was able to lean heavily on Jelle, (who played the deck at PT: Dragons of Tarkir) for key strategic advice.  Jelle was playing Esper Dragons, and Mike was playing our unique take on a mono-red deck splashing black.

The event started at 11 AM after some small logistical delays - props to Head Judge Matt Rossi, along with Dave, Chris, and the CoolStuffGames and SouthFloridaMagic crews for making it all run amazingly after that.  After an hour building three decks out of our sealed pool, we had come up with three strong decks.  Chris was to be running G/R featuring 3(!) Temur Battle Rage, Jay was running U/B control featuring Crux and a red splash for Kolaghan and Pyrotechnics, and I had B/W aggro.  Here was my decklist and the cards I boarded in: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1238389

During deckbuilding I said this was exactly the deck I would have wanted to build and play if I could have custom-chosen our sealed pool.  As our limited matches played out, that was absolutely correct.

Round 1

Bye!

Luck is an extremely important skill.  We immediately left to go have lunch and rest up for the next nine hours we would be in the trenches.

Team record 1-0.  

Round 2

vs PPF, feature match, on camera vs Joe

I was sad to face our long-time friends in round 2, but given only 17 teams that is not too unlikely.

In game 1 I got a lot of early pressure down and finished things off with Palace Siege.  Blood-Chin Rager was an all-star.  Game according to plan.

In game 2 I lost my turn two Blood-Chin to a Douse in Gloom and got into a losing race, finished by a dashed Kholaghan for lethal.

In game 3 I played a creature on turns two and three, and that was too much for Joe to handle.  He lead off with Corpseweft into Outpost Siege  This delay in action let me hold up Center Soul to protect my creatures from his removal spell, and he he never had time to cast a relevant creature.  At six life he tried to dash something in and gain life with Butcher’s Glee, but by then I had both of my sandblasts to seal the deal.

Individual sealed record 1-0, team record 2-0

Round 3

vs Lawrence

Game 1 I put a lot of early pressure on Lawrence while he stumbled slightly on lands.  A key turn allowed me to snowball the game by capitalizing on his error.  Lawrence attacked me with a 3/2 Hardened Berserker.  I blocked with a 2/2, and then he used Coat with Venom to save his creature.  He then cast a creature post-combat for 1 less mana.  I said no, and immediately called a Judge.

You see, the card reads “Whenever Hardened Berserker attacks, the next spell you cast this turn costs 1 less to cast.”  Because he had cast Coat with Venom during declare blockers, he had already wasted the cost-reduction effect from his trigger.  The judge ruled as such, and Lawrence was forced to pass the turn with no plays having effectively used two mana up while already being slightly behind.  I was able to apply additional pressure to capitalize, and win a few turns later.

Game 2 he curved out beautifully while I had kept too-slow of a hand starting with a morph on turn three.  My teammate and I had agreed the hand was a poor keep but keepable.  Maybe I should have gone to six anyway, knowing my deck had so many two drops and being on the draw?  In hindsight keeping that slow of a hand on the draw seems incorrect, but I also hadn’t seen very much of Lawrence’s deck to know how aggressive/defensive he was likely to be.

After game 2, I lowered my mana curve of my spells to win what I expected to be an upcoming race.  I also brought in my mind-rot effects, because he had emptied his hand very quickly in game two, so if I knew I could hit higher value with them.  I boarded out my two large/expensive creatures for the two discard spells..

Game three I kept a hand with no swamp, mind rot, and a good curve of white spells… and Lawrence mulliganed to five.  I never did draw a swamp, but with his mulligans I was able to win the match anyway with Elite Scaleguard to finish.

I had won my match and Chris had lost his.  Jay had won game 1, and was in game 2 as time ticked down.  If we don’t lose this game (don’t even have to win, just Not Lose), we win the match, and if we lose this game we draw the match.  It was very tight, and on turn 5 of extra turns there were a number of draws our opponents could have had… but they didn’t get there.

Individual sealed record 2-0, team record 3-0

Round 4

vs Louis, feature match on camera, switching to standard

At this point I should mention that our store sent two teams to the event.  We were team Wizards, and our sister team was team Tower.  At this point, our store had been on camera three times already, and I was on camera for the second time!  Cool!

Remember, we switched from limited to standard from round 4 onwards… and I had never played a single game with Bant Heroic before!  I knew I was in trouble and was relying on my team quite heavily.  Jay had helpfully provided detailed sideboarding guides for both Mike and I covering all of the major matchups we expected to face.

In game 1, I had a very interesting decision.  I mulliganed to six and had one land plus the correct assortment of creatures, protection spells, and Dromoka’s Command and an ordeal.  Given that the deck plays almost no spells that cost three or more, it seemed like an excellent speculative keep, and I conferred with Jay to confirm.  He agreed it was a keep over mulliganing to five - the upside was very high if I drew a second land in two or three turns.

I spoke with the commentators after the match, and they asked me “What was with that hand game 1?”  The truth is, the deck is unreliable.  It is capable of suffering from wrong-half-of-deck syndrome if it draws the wrong mix of creatures or protection spells in the wrong order, and also capable of running out of gas without hitting any card draw.  The potential upside on a very strong hand like that is far greater than a random five-card hand.  

Don’t be results-oriented - despite never drawing that second land, it was correct to keep that one-land hand on the draw with this deck.

Louis was playing Abzan Midrange with Wingmate Roc.

Game 2 we both mulliganed, and I had a strong opener with a 1 drop into ordeal plus protection.  He Thoughtseized my Ordeal, and I drew poorly to his turns 4 and 5 siege rhinos.  I had a small window where my out was the chance that he would miss the ability to kill my blocking creatures to trample through for lethal, but he saw the line of play and killed me.

I lose the match, and my team does as well.

Individual Standard record 0-1, team record 3-1.

Round 5

vs David

David was playing Mardu Dragons, a nightmare matchup.  I have few ways to stop edict effects, and he is chock-full of them.  I was narrowly able to overpower him in game 1, but crushingly defeated in games 2 and 3.  I made a HUGE mistake in game 2 by casting a creature on turn 2 instead of waiting until turn 3 when I could have protection from removal up.  Don’t do that if you play the heroic deck!

Our team lost the match, and morale was low.  I was worried we were going on tilt.  We had had excellent tiebreakers (>69%, next highest in our bracket was <60%) going into the round thanks to our bye.  All around the event hall people were debating whether any X-2’s were going to be able to make the Top 4 cut, the general consensus being no.

I knew that if any X-2 was going to make it, it was going to be us, though.  Our tiebreakers were the best.

Individual Standard record 0-2, team record 3-2.

Round 6

vs team South Florida Magic, vs Mike.  Feature Match - My teammate Mike was on camera.

This was the final round of the swiss, and we had gotten paired up.  We were at 9 points, and SFM was at 10 points.  They asked us to concede, but we declined.

It turned out I was playing versus R/G Dragons.  A big dumb green deck.  (eeexcellentMrBurns.gif).  Big green decks are what Heroic wants to face all day long, and as such I win game one like childs play with two Dromoka’s Command and a third in hand.  Even my opponent Mike was sadly laughing at how I killed him on turn five.

Game two I was slowed down by a Hornet’s Nest and then incorrectly did not count his nykthos mana correctly to realize he could cast the Ugin I knew he had.  I overextended my hand into exile, and had no chance to recover.  I am told Heroic can never beat a resolved Ugin, and I quite honestly believe it.

Game three started off very well for me.  He played mana dorks and Coursers of Kruphix, while I started Making Creatures Really Big.

My teammate won his match on camera, so either Jay or I needed to win ours.  Both teams were paying close attention to my match versus Mike, as it was getting rather tense, despite me being slighly ahead going into the midgame.  Jay ended up losing his game and match, and all eight players on both teams were focused entirely on my Game 3.  Critically, Mike had run low on resources and had few cards in hand.  He cast a Polukranos and passed the turn.

After I untapped and drew, here was the board state:

Mike:

15 life

Untapped Nykthos, rest of lands tapped.

Polukranos, Nylea’s Disciple, Sylvan Caryatid, Rattleclaw Mystic, all untapped.

0 cards in hand.

Jacob (me):

25 life

Seeker of the Way

Favored Hoplite (0 counters)

Lagonna-Band Trailblazer (4 counters)

3 cards - God’s Willing, God’s Willing, Ordeal of Thassa

What follows was simultaneously the most important and the worst game of the tournament.  I would like to remind you, that between the 8 members on both teams all watching this next turn play out, there were at least three judges (including myself) and two Pro Tour competitors, all focused 100% on this game.  I may have a few details slightly wrong or out-of order, given the complexity and pressure of the situation, particularly who-said-what-when.

Every single play below was debated and discussed by the members on the appropriate team at length.  During this process time had been called in the main round, though we had a time extention for being in the feature match area.

I cast God’s Willing targeting Favored Hoplite, triggering heroic and prowess.  I named green and scryed Dromoka’s Command to the top of my library.

I cast Ordeal of Thassa targeting Favored Hoplite, triggering heroic and prowess.

I attacked with all three of my creatures, triggering Ordeal and Sacrificing ordeal.

His team deliberated about if, and what target, Polukranos should monstrous.

I drew Dromoka’s Command and a Land.  My hand is now Command, God’s Willing, and a land.

In declare attackers, I deliberated with my team at length.  We eventually decided the best line was to use the Command before blockers to fight and kill Polukranos with Lagonna-Band Trailblazer and add a counter to favored hoplite.  Triggering Heroic, Heroic, and Prowess.  This would force him to block and lose enough devotion to no longer be able to draw and play Ugin.

His team deliberated about if, and what target, Polukranos should monstrous and if/how it should block.

Mike said “Okay, that happens”.  I added counters appropriately and put Dromoka’s Command in my graveyard.

Mike moved to activate Monstrosity and I called a Judge.  My interpretation was that they had decided not to activate, and he was now doing it as an afterthought.

The judge ruled in his favor, and I appealed.

The Head Judge upheld the ruling and said that Mike had yielded priority to the topmost item on the stack (prowess trigger) and could now activate monstrosity.

In response to the ACTIVATION of monstrosity (before the “when ~ becomes monstrous” ability triggers), we elected to use God’s Willing to give the Trailblazer protection from green so that polukranos was forced to choose Seeker of the Way as the only legal target, because Hoplite and Trailblazer had protection from green.  A judge was called to confirm that this is how Polukranos works (I have ruled on this issue before and knew it did, my teammates and opponents required clarification).  Heroic and prowess triggered.  I scryed a creature to the bottom.

We realized we had just given our Trailblaze protection from green, making it an illegal target for our Dromoka’s command.  Our opponents cheered, smiled, and pumped the fist in a small victory.

It dawned on us all that, long ago, as the very first action of this turn, Favored Hoplite had been given protection from green.  It was never a legal target for the Dromoka’s Command.

I called the Head Judge.  I was given a warning for Game Rule Violation, and my opponent was given a warning for Failure to Maintain Game State.  

The ruling was eventually made that the board state was irreperable and irreversible, and the stack was to continue resolving.

Polukranos fought and blocked Seeker of the Way, I gained 12 life, my opponent dropped to 3.

He drew for turn.

I drew gods willing and won the match.

This one turn took over thirty minutes.

Individual Standard record 1-2, team record 4-2.

***

Take a moment to process that whole series of events and recover, exactly like we couldn’t.  We had another match to proceed to.

Semifinals

Team Wizards made the top 4 as 4th seed!  Our comrades Team Tower ALSO made top 4, and was in 1st seed!  (Congrats Shawn, Brad, Ryan, and Carl!!) That meant one of us would have to eliminate the other in the semifinals.  I was playing versus Brad, with Esper Dragons.  The commentators made the incorrect call and decided NOT to feature the civil war, because we had been hogging the camera all event.  The featured the other semifinals match instead.  Boo.

Whereas the last round of the swiss was the worst round of the event, the semifinals was the best.  In game 1 I got a lot of early pressure and dropped Brad to 3 before Ojutai anticipating every turn locked me out.  It was a close one.

I don’t remember the exact specific details of game two or game three, which is very sad because it was the best match I played.  I think in Game 2 I kept a hand with two treasure cruise and was able to out-resource him slowly over time.  In game 3 he was slighly having mana issues with a Haven of the Spirit Dragon slowing him down from having both double blue and double black.  I was slighly stumbling stuck on two lands, but with a hand containing God’s Willing, Treasure Cruise, Stubborn Denial, and Disdainful Stroke and a creature in play I was not remotely out of it.  Sadly my creature was small, my life total pad only shows him dropping in small attacks.

He made a key misplay in the match when I put an Ordeal onto my Favored Hoplite and attacked with it.  I drew two cards, and he blocked with Dragonlord Silumgar.  We moved to damage, and I informed him that damage to Hoplite is prevented.

Game three was the same situation as Round 6 - my teammates were 1-1, so the match hinged on my and Brad’s game with all of our teammates weighing in.  Basically, the summary of game 3 is that I was able to hold up and use my protection and counterspells at maximum efficiency.  After I won the match, the table judge offered me congratulations on a perfect game.  He said we accurately maximized each and every counterspell and maneuvered them by correctly choosing which one to use when multiple options were available.  I am very proud of how we - not just I, but we - played that game.

Individual Standard record 2-2, team record 5-2.

Finals

vs Justin

I was featured again on camera in the finals. I had fun informing him “I would like to anticipate at the end of your turn, too”, with Justin laughing at me wishing for a Hive Mind in play.

The match can be summarized in one sentence from someone who was watching the stream: “It was awesome seeing Jacob’s match get cut off by his team WINNING THE TOURNAMENT!!”  

Record: 2015 Battle of the Stores Champions!!

In Conclusion:

My personal overall record was 2-0 in limited + a bye, 2-3 in standard counting the finals as a loss.  I won the limited games I came to play, and stepped up to perform in the matches where it counted most in Standard.  My team was incredible, and I give them all of the credit.  

Thanks to my teammates Mike, Chris, and Jay, as well as the whole crew of staff and judges that put the event on.  Thanks to all of my opponents for the great games.  Thank you to luck for a first round bye and topdecked God’s Willing's.  And most of all, thank you to Dave Foreman, owner of Wizard’s Tower - “Best prices and most comfortable chairs of any Magic: The Gathering venue I’ve ever been to!”