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It\u2019s been almost half a year since the report I wrote about SCG Richmond in August. Sadly, the was the last significant event I played in, thanks to how hectic moving to Korea was and how my schedule has worked out. Before moving, my intention was to play a lot and write a lot about the Korean MTG scene, however my job prevents me from attending FNM and it\u2019s been hard finding time or money to play weekends. But, today (or for the US, last night), I got to play my first PPTQ in Korea (with my fianc\u00e9 cheering me on). Hopefully I\u2019ll do more of these before long. Anyway, let\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n
Overall<\/strong><\/p>\n Game-face on, ready to get on the subway and rep TEG 9,000 miles away<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m pleased with the results. I picked a deck I liked the style of (anyone who knows me can probably guess the deck without reading further), and I changed some cards based on what\u2019s been being played and what I expected to see. I expected to play a lot of the most recent top 8 decks. Despite it not being successful in the last two weeks, I went with U\/W Approach. There were 30 people in attendance, and I went 3-0-1 in Swiss before drawing into the top 8 in fourth place.<\/p>\n It’s honestly amazing they fit 30 people into this small store.<\/em><\/p>\n Round 1: Win 2-0 versus Grixis Energy, 1-0\u00a0 match record<\/strong><\/p>\n Game one went exactly as it should have. He didn\u2019t have any early threats, and his hand was all removal. He sunk two Vraska\u2019s contempt <\/a> into killing my Dovin Baan<\/a> through counter magic, just because I drawing cards.\u00a0 He finally got down The Scarab God<\/a>, and I tapped out for Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>. He swung in for 5 irrelevant points of damage, and I targeted myself with Ipnu Rivulet<\/a>. He conceded, unable to do anything before the Arrival of the Second Sun.<\/p>\n In game two, I had no early removal where he had double Glint-Sleeve Siphoner<\/a> into Rekindling Phoenix<\/a> and Dream Stealer<\/a>. My turn 4 Glimmer of Genius<\/a> found a copy of Approach of the Second Sun<\/a> to go with the one already in my hand. I played Regal Caracal<\/a> to get in front of his creatures on turn 5, and used turn 6 to search for another land and set up my Search for Azcanta<\/a> to flip. Turn 7 I cast the first Approach, and then on turn 8 I hit his Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> with Jace\u2019s Defeat<\/a> when he tried to stop the second Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n Round 2: Win 2-0 versus Grixis Energy (again), 2-0 match record<\/strong><\/p>\n Game one was even worse for my opponent in round two. His hand was also just removal spells and a Glimmer of Genius<\/a> backed up by only finding 6 lands. While he could only draw and pass the turn, I cast two copies of Glimmer of Genius<\/a> and kept making land drop after land drop, while looking for Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>. I eventually found out, and followed it with the next turn casting Pull from Tomorrow<\/a> for 6., leaving open mana in case of Supreme Will<\/a>. On the next turn he has two Disallow<\/a>, but I have my own Disallow<\/a> and Censor<\/a> that punished his missing of land drops.<\/p>\n Game two became a literal cat fight. He had no early interaction or creatures, so my Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> got in for 5 and was joined by Regal Caracal<\/a> and Company. By the time he got The Scarab God<\/a> down, he killed the Regal Caracak<\/a> as he dropped down to 1, and then reanimated it as a 4\/4. I followed with another Regal Caracal<\/a> and he followed with removal spells, bringing us even on creatures. Gideon of the Trials<\/a> showed his last card was a Negate<\/a>, making way for Bafflind End<\/a> to remove a cat token and bring an end to the round.<\/p>\n Game 3: Draw 1-1 versus U\/B Control, 2-0-1 match record<\/strong><\/p>\n Anyone who knows me knows how much I abhor matches not finishing in time. My opponent spent half the time reading cards and asking the judge what something does. Somehow, despite having to interact in a foreign language and figure out what his cards were by the picture (Fatal Push<\/a> FNM promo threw me for a moment since I didn\u2019t get to earn any), I was the faster player.<\/p>\n Game one was a series of unfortunate draws. I drew all of my Baffling End<\/a>, an Aether Meltdown<\/a>, 5 lands, and no other interactive cards until I eventually drew 3 more land too late. I stopped his end step Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> only to run into The Scarab God<\/a>. I dropped a Fumigate<\/a> after he reanimated the Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> and slapped the Aether Meltdown<\/a> onto The Scarab God<\/a>. Despite the incredibly long clock of his 1\/5, I couldn\u2019t find anything. When his deck started becoming thin, I went for the Ipnu Rivulet<\/a> plan and was immediately punished by flipping two Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> into his yard. I\u2019m not sure if I pulled the trigger on the lands too soon, here, but I was probably just going to die anyway.<\/p>\n Game two was very long, a little frustrating, and ultimately satisfying. My opponent opened with a Deadeye Tracker<\/a> on turn 2. He Supreme Will<\/a>ed my Glimmer of Genius<\/a> on his end step, opening the way for me to play Dovin Baan<\/a>. I halfway wish I hadn\u2019t played the card, as my opponent spent forever reading it and called the judge for Oracle 3 times on this card. To be fair, my card is in English. To also be fair, you shouldn\u2019t need to read it that many times. It\u2019s not exactly a complicated walker. By the time he finally kills Dovin Baan<\/a>,\u00a0 he\u2019s way behind on cards. I tap 7, and he\u2019s expecting Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>. When I instead laid down Nezahal, Primal Tide<\/a>, our match became the feature match of the store until its conclusion.<\/p>\n My copy of this card is in Korean, yet my opponent still had to read it 8 times. I\u2019m not exaggerating \u2013 I counted. My opponent instinctively threw down his Torrential Gearhulk<\/a> before he realized he couldn\u2019t make use of the Disallow<\/a> in his graveyard. We ended in a board stall because my 7\/7 would die against his double-block with the Deadeye Tracker<\/a> from turn 2. He tried to Vraska\u2019s Contemplation<\/a> it, so I drew my card and activated the ability. He responded with his second Vraska\u2019s Contemplation<\/a>, so I drew my card and activated the ability again. I had no cards in hand, but neither did he. Regal Caracal<\/a> was met by a Disallow<\/a>, but the Nezahal, Primal Tide<\/a> trigger found the Negate<\/a> to match. We went to turns, and on turn 1 I cast Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>. On turn 3, I hit myself with Ipnu Rivulet<\/a> and threw out a Glimmer of Genius<\/a>. Didn\u2019t bother fighting, because Nezahal, Primal Tide<\/a> would just give me the card anyway. When it came time to resolve the second Approach of the Second Sun<\/a> on turn 5, another trigger found the Jace\u2019s Defeat<\/a> to seal the deal. The Elder Dinosaur is an absolute house against control decks. According to my fianc\u00e9, it was the topic of every conversation nearby for the next 10 minutes.<\/p>\n Round 4: Win 2-0 versus R\/B Cycling,<\/strong><\/p>\n Disclaimer: I won the round, but I loved his deck. Game one the guy got busy early with a Vile Manifestation<\/a>. Some may remember how much I loved kicking butt with this guy in my Esper Gift deck before I left the States. I was very excited to see this card. He started cycling out all of his Sweltering Suns<\/a> and Razaketh\u2019s Rite<\/a>s to grow his Standard Tarmogoyf<\/a>. I faded his Hazoret, the Fervent<\/a> and The Scorpion God<\/a> with a pair of counter spells before finding a Baffling End<\/a> for the 3\/4. When I cast Approach of the Second Sun<\/a> against an empty board, he scooped it up.<\/p>\n For game two, I was much closer. I had a slow hand with Dovin Baan<\/a>, Cast Out<\/a>, and double Regal Caracal<\/a>. He took the planeswalker with a Duress<\/a> on two. I used the Cast Out<\/a> to stop his Treasure Map<\/a> from flipping, and he followed it with Gonti, Lord of Luxury<\/a>. Another Duress<\/a> took a Fumigate<\/a> I drew as he cycled two Vile Mutation<\/a> to get a land. He played my Regal Caracal<\/a> from Gonti, Lord of Luxury<\/a> and I had to stop it with Disallow<\/a> before deploying my own set of cats. He slammed The Scoprion God<\/a> in response, and it didn\u2019t go particularly well from there. A few -1\/-1 counters followed by a Chandra, Torch of Defiance<\/a> took the Caracal out. I managed to get Approach of the Second Sun<\/a> off as my second set of cat tokens died. He dropped me to 8 with The Scarab God<\/a>, Gonti, Lord of Luxury<\/a>, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance<\/a> threatening lethal the next turn. I went for the Ipnu Rivulet<\/a> and Glimmer of Genius<\/a> plan to get through the top 6 faster, and he forced a shuffle with Field of Ruin<\/a>. I didn\u2019t find it on the scry 2, but a miracle draw for turn led to both my opponent and the judge extending the hand for good game.<\/p>\n Round 5: Intentional Draw with a Mono-Red player to make top 8, finish Swiss rounds in 4th at 3-0-2.<\/strong><\/p>\n Quarterfinals: Lose 1-2 versus Mono-Red<\/strong><\/p>\n Game one went long. He started the game with a Shock<\/a> to the face after seeing my Irrigated Farmlands<\/a> for turn one. Between some hasty creatures and Lightning Strike<\/a>, I quickly found myself low. I managed to Supreme Will<\/a> his Hazoret the Fervent<\/a> and almost got him to exile his own Earthshaker Khenra<\/a> from the yard by targeting his Scavenger Grounds<\/a> with my Field of Ruin<\/a>. I finally found a Settle the Wreckage<\/a> and Fumigate<\/a> before getting off Approach of the Second Sun<\/a>. Unfortunately, a top deck Hazoret the Fervent<\/a> was able to throw enough damage at my face.<\/p>\n For game two, I opened with Authority of the Consuls<\/a>, which was particularly good against his Kari Zev, Skyship Raider<\/a>. I strung Censor<\/a> and Supreme Will<\/a> for his next threats before exiling the 2-drop with Baffling End<\/a>. My first Gideon of the Trials<\/a> got an emblem down before he found a Hazoret the Fervent<\/a>. When I removed his creature and put down the second copy of the planeswalker on a clear board at 17 life, he scooped it up.<\/p>\n Game three was just a nightmare. I had to mulligan into a slow hand, and proceded to draw a second and third copy of Glimmer of Genius<\/a> and a copy of Torrential Gearhulk<\/a>. He curved out with two Bomat Courier<\/a> and Ahn-Crop Crasher<\/a> into double Chandra, Torch of Defiance<\/a> through my Supreme Will<\/a>. The game was over quickly. I packed up, picked up my 4 prize packs, and went to eat some very subpar \u00a0\ub5a1\ubcf6\uc774 (ddeokbokki) with my fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n The Deck:<\/strong><\/p>\n Here’s the list:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theendgamesblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20180128_105534-300x225.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n\u00a0Why kill it when you can play “win the game” instead?<\/em><\/p>\n
It’s good in basically every matchup.<\/em><\/p>\n
Use with extreme caution.<\/em><\/p>\n
The hero of Jurassic World and blue mirrors!<\/em><\/p>\n
With enough cycling, it’s basically Tarmogoyf.<\/em><\/p>\n
I would be okay if they had banned this card instead.<\/em><\/p>\n
I love playing her. I hate playing against her.<\/em><\/p>\n
Main Deck<\/h3>