Monday, March 19, 2018

KCI Combo Tournament Report - SCG Dallas Top 8

Introduction:
Howdy! You probably don’t know me, but my name is Jeremy Frye. I recently won GP Santa Clara with my teammates John Martin and Will Ho. I had already planned on playing SCG Dallas far in advance, so unfortunately we couldn’t keep the same team together. I traveled there to battle instead with Will Ho and Travis Brown and ended up having a great weekend. We top 8ed coming out of the swiss in 3rd seed and ended up losing in the quarter finals.

I’m writing this today to give a tournament report on my favorite unique modern deck Krark-Clan Ironworks combo, which I have named “Scrap Iron”. I tried to take detailed notes so I could remember everything accurately. First off, I’ll start with the decklist:
Scrap Iron

Creatures (10)

Lands (17)

Spells (33)

Sideboard

Tournament Report:
Round 1:
Team: Win 1-0
Personal: Loss 1-2 Burn Total: 0-1
Explanation: Game 1 I have a turn 3 win on the draw but the Burn player plays a turn 2 and turn 3 Eidolon. It is too much for me to fight through and I die shortly after.

Game 2 I keep a decent hand on the play. Burn’s hand is slow and doesn’t have any hate cards so I combo out quickly.

Game 3 my teammates have already won so the round is over (feels nice) but we play it out anyway for fun. I mull to 6 on the draw and keep a sketchy 1 lander that needs to hit an Ancient Stirrings or a 2nd Land in the first 2 turns. A scry to the bottom and a few turns later I’m discarding to hand size while dead on board.

Round 2:
Team Win 2-0
Personal: Win 2-0 UR Kiki-Jiki Total: 1-1
Explanation: Game 1 my opponent stumbles and is stuck on 2 lands for multiple turns. I wait and don’t play KCI into his obvious remand and eventually he taps out for a Spreading Seas to cantrip. I win on the following turn.

Game 2 I play several bait cards which all get remanded into eventual Snapcaster Remand. It comes down to a turn where they have Vendilion Clique and 2 Snapcaster Mages in play ready to deal lethal the next turn and the Clique looks at my hand to see KCI and Lingering Souls. He takes the KCI and I draw another off the trigger. If he had had a Remand for my KCI he would have taken the Lingering Souls to set up lethal so I slam the KCI and combo off to his groans.

Round 3:
Team Win 3-0
Personal: Win 2-0 Dredge Total: 2-1
Explanation: Game 1 I attempt to combo turn 3 but fizzle out so I set up the board to win the next turn and pass. He puts more dudes into play but there is no way for him to kill me. I untap and win on my turn 4.

Game 2 my Dredge opponent mulls to 3 and keeps with no pressure or interaction. My hand contains a turn 4 win as well as a Grafdigger’s Cage so the match is over in short order.

Round 4:
Team Win 4-0
Personal: Loss 0-2 Merfolk Total: 2-2
Explanation: This is normally a very good matchup but I get a bit unlucky. Game 1 I get stuck on 3 colorless lands with 3 Ancient Stirrings and a KCI in hand. Any mana source to play KCI or green source to play Ancient Stirrings most likely wins the game but I eventually die from doing nothing.

Game 2 my hand is slow but very interactive. The hand was most likely a mulligan because my 3 lands were Darksteel Citadel, the worst land in the matchup. I am eventually punished by them when he Hurkyl’s Recalls me back to the stone age and I can’t rebuild fast enough to live through his attacks.

Round 5:
Team: Win 5-0
Personal: Win 2-0 Bant Company Total: 3-2
Explanation: Game 1 I’m on the play and have a turn 3 win before he can really play anything.

Game 2 he plays a turn 3 Scavenging Ooze with 1 green mana up and Ghost Quarters my Sanctum of Ugin, but I am able to “half-combo” and make enough mana to hardcast Emrakul on turn 3 without using the graveyard.

Round 6:
Team: Loss 5-1
Personal: Loss 0-2 Grixis Fiend-Shadow Total: 3-3
Explanation: Game 1 He has a turn 4 kill with Kiln Fiend with a Stubborn Denial for the KCI I attempt to win with on my turn.

Game 2 we get in a long board stall where I end up with Lingering Souls tokens and a 8/8 Hangarback Walker versus his Death’s Shadow and Kiln Fiend. I am set up to kill him with fliers in the next couple turns until he attacks with Death’s Shadow 1 turn. I block with the Hangarback since I am convinced he is trying to Temur Battle Rage for lethal. Instead he kills the Hangarback and after the Thopters are made he casts Rakdos Charm to deal 12 damage to me because of the amount of creatures I had in play. Was not a card on my radar to play around, but props to him for finding that line.

Round 7:
Team: Win 6-1
Personal: Win 2-0 Affinity Total: 4-3
Explanation: Game 1 he has a slow draw and I combo him on turn 4.

Game 2 he has another very slow draw but is holding up Ancient Grudge for my KCI. He taps down to only enough mana to cast Grudge and on my turn I play KCI. When he has a chance to respond he Grudges the KCI to which I make extra mana and then sacrifice to itself. Then I play the 2nd KCI I had in my hand and continue to combo off into a win. After the game he reveals he had yet another Ancient Grudge in his hand and says he got greedy tapping low for a faster clock.

Round 8:
Team: Win 7-1
Personal: Win 2-0 Grixis Death’s Shadow Total 5-3
Explanation: My team is featured on stream this round which you can watch here. Game 1 my first KCI is met with a Stubborn Denial, but I have a 2nd one to play the next turn. That one resolves and I hardcast an Emrakul in no time.

Game 2 is long and drawn out but I get a Hangarback going which holds back his attacker, then cast some Lingering Souls which dispatch him in short order.

Round 9:
Team: Win 8-1
Personal: Win 2-1 Jeskai Control Total: 6-3
Explanation: This was probably my most intense match of the tournament. My standard teammate Will gets a game loss due to a Deck Registration Error and my other teammate and I have very tough matchups. Game 1 he stumbles on land and I end up slamming a KCI and hoping for the best. He doesn’t have a counter for it and I manage to combo off.

Game 2 He plays a turn 3 Stony Silence and I have no Nature’s Claim in hand. The game lasts about 6 more turns but I never draw a Nature’s Claim and eventually die.

Game 3 he plays a turn 2 Stony Silence but I am ready for it and Claim it immediately. The game drags out for many many turns with 2 of my KCIs getting countered. We are drawing and passing for many turns where he Vendilion Cliques me and sees a Defense Grid and KCI that I am holding. He takes the Defense Grid which shows me he has a counter but not the ability to hold them up through a grid. I play an Inventor’s fair and then try to set up for a win over the next couple of turns. I tutor for another Defense Grid, and cast 2 Nature’s Claims on 2 of my Ichor Wellsprings to draw deeper for another Grid and keep myself alive longer. I finally draw a 2nd Grid and lead off with them 1 by 1. The first is countered by Ceremonious Rejection, and then a Snapcaster is fashed in to target the Rejection but he doesn’t cast it yet so the 2nd Grid resolves. He has enough mana to hold up the Rejection still so I pass the turn. He attacks me down to 9 on his turn and passes back so I shrug and cast KCI on my turn which resolves. I hardcast the Emrakul that has been sitting in my hand for a while and manage to win the game which wins the match for my team.

Round 10:
Team: Win 9-1
Personal: Win 2-0 RG Valakut Total: 7-3
Explanation: Game 1 I combo off on turn 4 easily against his 0 interaction.

Game 2 I Nature’s claim a Relic of Progenitus end of turn, untap and jam a KCI. He Ancient Grudges a Myr Retriever with the KCI on the stack and I manage to win easily from there. I explain to my opponent after the round he wanted to save the Grudge for the KCI itself.

Round 11:
Team: Loss 9-2
Personal: Win 2-0 Burn Total: 8-3
Explanation: Game 1 He is on the play but gets stuck on 1 land. I play a KCI on turn 3 and manage to win easily.

Game 2 I mulligan to 5 and keep a weak hand with KCI and Hangarback Walker. My opponent keeps 7 but it turns out they were very reliant on creatures. My Hangarback Walker stone walls their creature attacks and they draw lands while I eventually draw enough gas to combo off.

Round 12:
Team: Loss 9-3
Personal: Loss 0-2 Grixis Death’s Shadow Total: 8-4
Explanation: Game 1 He has a fast clock with a Stubborn Denial for my KCI when I attempt to win.

Game 2 I keep a 1 lander with an Ancient Stirrings. The Stirrings finds no 2nd land, nor does the top of my deck for a couple turns which puts me way behind. When I am finally able to set up casting a Defense Grid into a KCI, he has a Stubborn Denial with 4 mana up. I die the next turn.

Round 13:
Team: Win 10-3
Personal: Win 2-0 Grixis Death’s Shadow Total: 9-4
Explanation: Game 1 I have probably the best hand I’ve had the entire tournament. I cast a KCI on turn 2 using double Mox Opal which he counters with Stubborn Denial. I then cast another KCI on turn 3 and manage to combo off.

Game 2 I play a turn 2 Defense Grid while my opponent is tapped out. I follow it up with another Defense Grid on turn 3 into a safe KCI on turn 4 which lets me easily combo into Emrakul.

Round 14:
Team: Win 11-3
Personal: Win 2-1 Bant Knightfall Total: 10-4
Explanation: Game 1 I win on turn 3 before my opponent can do much of anything.

Game 2 my opponent plays a Stony Silence which I have no current answer too. I draw my basic forest the turn before he Ghost Quarters my Spire of Industry and then I make a critical mistake. I play out the forest which he then Ghost Quarters the next turn, leaving me with no lands that can produce green mana. When I do draw the Nature’s Claim a couple turns later, I am unable to cast it while I slowly die.

Game 3 my opponent has no Stony Silence, but sets up a quick Ghost Quarter lock with Ramunap Excavator. I am able to cast KCI on turn 4 anyways and win easily.

Round 15:
Team: Win 12-3
Personal: Win 2-1 Affinity Total 11-4
Explanation: Game 1 I keep a decent hand with a turn 4 KCI. Affinity puts a fast clock on me which I slow down with an Engineered Explosives. I play KCI on turn 4 and attempt to combo, but fizzle from drawing too many lands. I manage to set up the board in a way with Hangarback Walker to live 1 additional turn. I untap on turn 5 and attempt to combo again, but the few extra draws I get are met with even more lands and I fizzle once again and die.

Game 2 he has a quick draw that puts me low fast. I am able to play various removal spells and Lingering Souls as chump blockers to live against his lethal threats on the board for 4-5 turns. Finally I draw a KCI and combo off.

Game 3 I mull to 5 and he mulls to 6 and we are both stuck on 1 land for multiple turns so the game is slow. I draw out of it first and begin setting up a board of blockers. He is slower to get out from the mana slew but eventually deploys Rule of Law. I have an Engineered Explosives for 3 to keep it in check on the next turn. After a few more turns of stalling and setup, I pop the Explosives at the end of his turn, untap, play KCI, and win.

Quarterfinals:
Team: Loss 12-4
Personal: Loss 0-2 Bant Company Total: 11-5
Explanation: Game 1 he sets up his combo fast while holding up Spell Queller mana. I have no answer to Queller without EE so I decide to make him have it buy casting KCI and he does. He combos out over the next two turns.

Game 2 I have a decent hand but he has a turn 2 Kataki, War’s Wage which slows down my board development a lot. I manage to draw a Fatal Push to deal with it but he already has more of his board set up with Spell Queller mana open. I bide my time to try and find an Engineered Explosives or 2nd Fatal Push to free my KCI after he Quellers it, but draw many lands instead. Eventually he finds a Fauna Shaman to search for his combo which forces me to jam the KCI. He Spell Quellers it, untaps and combos me.

Conclusion:
It was an unfortunate way to end the day as my Standard Teammate Will flooded out in his games as well, but it was a good run. I’m happy with the deck and its performance and will most likely run it back again the next modern tournament I play in.

If you want to ask me any questions or are interested in what I’m doing, feel free to check out my social media links below. Farewell, and happy Trawling!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ghostsonforever/
Twitter: @Ghostsonforever
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ghostsonforever

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GP Santa Clara 1st Place - Legacy Grixis Delver

Howdy, my name is Jeremy Frye and I’m the Legacy player from the recent GP Santa Clara winning team. I’m here to talk about a deck that is near and dear to my heart: Grixis Delver. I’ve been playing this deck for a few years and have tried more cards than I’d like to admit so I’m going to go over my card choices for the event and how I think it might change in the future.

First things first, my GP Santa Clara list:
Creatures (14)

Spells (28)




Lands (18)


Sideboard (15)


Before I discuss what’s different about this list, I’d like to go over what cards I consider core to the Grixis Delver strategy:

Creatures (13)


Spells (24)


Lands (17)


Sideboard (8)


Stated simply I think there are 5 spell and 1 land flex spots mainboard, and 7 flex spots sideboard. As for how I chose to modify these, the first thing I did was play 1 True-Name Nemesis main deck. I’ve flip-flopped a lot on this spot, playing a Vendilion Clique in the past as well as no 3 drop creature before, but for this tournament I felt like I would have to play against a lot of lands and control type strategies in the later rounds. These are the matchups where True-Name Nemesis shines, while if I was expecting a more combo heavy metagame, I would have perhaps gone back to my tried and true Vendilion Clique.

The other 4 spell slots go to whichever various disruptive cards you choose to play which can very well be a meta call. I went with 1 Abrade, 1 Spell Pierce, and 2 Cabal Therapy. The Abrade was a new addition (previously a dismember for me) which I added to give an out to artifacts main deck, primarily Chalice of the Void. Spell Pierce is the best 1 mana counterspell to play in the main deck so I always want to make sure I have at least one in the list. Cabal Therapy is a “combo” with Young Pyromancer as well as Gitaxian Probe and has a lot of strength in many matchups. I feel like every Grixis Delver list needs at least 2 in the 75 although whether you run them main board or sideboard is meta dependant. The ability of them to swing a lot of games with turn 1 Gitaxian Probe into Cabal Therapy the best card is powerful enough for me to run the main. If I didn’t I would most likely add a 2nd Spell Pierce and another removal spell (Forked Bolt) or Cantrip (Preordain).

Finally, the land flex spot I chose to run was Badlands for 2 reasons: I want a 3rd black source in the mana base because of my double black spell in the sideboard and when I have a Underground Sea and a Volcanic Island in play, I love having a land to fetch that prevents my opponents from Wastelanding me off a color.

Moving on to the sideboard, this is much more open ended. You could make an argument for countless cards to play in these slots so I’ll just begin by giving you the reasons for mine.

1 Grim Lavamancer: I feel like you always want a way to deal consistent damage in the creature matchups. I’ve seen Izzet Staticaster played in this kind of slot before, but I value the 1 vs. 3 mana cost, and 2 vs. 1 damage to be of higher value than hitting all creatures with the same name.

1 Snapcaster Mage: For this slot I just wanted a way to draw more hate cards in different matchups without running more of that one specific card. Snapcaster was a way to have another Surgical Extraction in the matchups where they matter, another Pyroblast in the matchups where they matter, etc.

1 Abrade: As I played more with Abrade main deck, I learned that it was the perfect card to have in a lot of matchups. Take lands for example. Most of the time I found them to board in Tireless Tracker and various hate artifacts against you post board. Guess which card deals with both of them? Boom baby!

2 Umezawa’s Jitte: These two spots were similar concessions to creature matchups like the Grim Lavamancer was. Those matchups are typically difficult for Delver, so I wanted a card that could just slam the door if you got it online. Following that logic there wasn’t a game in the tournament I lost after I played and equipped a Jitte.

1 Cabal Therapy: I’ve already sung the praises of Cabal Therapy a few paragraphs back. There’s another one here in the sideboard for more of the same reasons. Sometimes it’s so good you want 3.

1 Marsh Casualties: This was my odd choice for this tournament. It allows you to have a semi one-sided board wipe in certain creature matchups (can you tell I was really worried about those?) but it also serves the alternate purpose of dealing with an opposing True-Name Nemesis cleanly.

If I were to play another tournament going forward knowing what I know now I would make a few changes to the list. Main deck, I would change the Badlands into an Underground Sea. While it’s a very close decision in my eyes, it’s Wasteland protection did not come up as many times I wanted it to be a blue producing land. I would also change 1 of the 2 Cabal Therapies to a 2nd Spell Pierce. In a lot of the matchups I played I would have prefered the Spell Pierce since you do not always know what to name with the Therapies game 1.

As for the Sideboard, I would only change the Marsh Casualties to a 2nd Diabolic Edict. It was a bit of a failed experiment and as I found myself staring down the barrel of many many Marite Lieges this tournament, another Edict would have been very helpful.

That’s all I have to say for today. Thanks for reading and feel free to hit me up anytime at an event or on social media. May the Delver flips be forever in your favor.
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Thursday, March 15, 2018

RB Hollowvine Tournament Report - SCG Dallas 9th Place


Intro:
 Howdy folks, my name is Jeremy Frye and I’m here to talk about RB Hollow Vine (or as I like to call it, Vengeful One) which I played to a 9th place finish this past weekend at SCG Dallas. You can take a look at the decklist here. Just for a little bit of background I won GP Santa Clara with my team on Legacy Grixis Delver and top 8ed the last SCG Dallas with my team on Modern KCI Combo. I had been brewing with this deck for a couple of weeks so when I saw another SCG was coming to Texas I was excited to try it out. Essentially, I took the typical RB Hollow One shell and cut the Bloodghasts for Vengevines, the Lightning Bolts for Insolent Neonate (essential if you are playing a Vengevine deck) and the Collective brutalities for Wild Cantor (a way to trigger Vengevine more easily). This turns the deck into a hyper aggressive deck with no interaction which it attempts to not need by how quickly it kills. Anyway, without further ado, here is how my tournament went.

Round 1: 1-2 Loss BW Eldrazi & Taxes
Game 1: I have a slow start and we get into a race situation. I have the win if I draw a land or Hollow One to trigger my Vengevine but miss.
Game 2: We have an explosive start and our opponent concedes shortly after.
Game 3: We both have slow starts, but I make a crucial mistake and miscount my Tasigur delve. This delays me returning a Phoenix from the graveyard which misses out on 4 damage. My opponent kills me at 3 life.

Round 2: 2-0 Bant Control
Game 1: I have an explosive start and he chains 3 Cryptics in a row to stay alive at 1 life for a few turns, but doesn’t find anything relevant and dies afterwards.
Game 2: I have super fast start and he doesn’t find anything relevant as he dies on turn 4.

Round 3: 2-0 RG Ponza
Game 1: My opponent mulls and puts 2 lands in play, casting no spells before I kill him.
Game 2: My opponent has no early plays as I get a Hollow One, Vengevine, and Phoenix into play on turn 2. He casts Anger of the Gods on turn 3 but my Hollow One lives. It gets there with the help of a Flameblade Adept.

Round 4: 2-1 Jund
Game 1: I have an explosive start with a Gurmag Angler my opponent can’t answer. It gets across the finish line paired with some Phoenixes.
Game 2: I feel like I overboard for this game and have a mopey draw with some removal but no clock. He runs me over with Tarmogoyf + Ooze eventually.
Game 3: My draw is a bit subpar, and is slowed down by an Anger from my opponent. A top decked Gurmag Angler into Phoenix is able to steal it as my opponent draws irrelevant cards.

Round 5: 2-0 Bogles
Game 1: I have a good start with a lot of power vs. his 4 power bogle. There is a turn where he can top deck a lifelink enchantment to beat me, but he doesn’t and my Hollow Ones and Vengevines cross the finish line.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans and has a subpar hand, which is no match to my very strong draw. He gets run over pretty fast.

Round 6: 2-0 Free Win Red
Game 1: He has a turn 0 Gemstone Caverns which allows him to cast a Chalice on 1. Luckily since I was on the play, I managed to discard a Vengevine turn 1. I cast creatures into his Chalice to trigger my Vengevine and start the beat down. A Blood Moon shuts off my delve threats, but in a crucial turn I am able to cast a Hollow One and a Flameblade Adept to trigger the same Vengevine again. During all these triggers, my opponent forgets about his Chalice on 1 so my Flameblade resolves. They cross the finish line eventually.
Game 2: My opponent has a slow draw, which I am able to capitalize on with a ton of fast power. He dies after casting a turn 4 Pia and Kiran Nalaar.

Round 7: 2-0 Jeskai Control
Game 1: Turn 3 Gideon of the Trials into turn 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor has me worried, but I dump so many creatures into play he can’t deal with them. He Cryptic taps my team for a couple turns, but succumbs to the hoard afterwards.
Game 2: I have an insane draw that can reanimate 3 Vengevines on turn 2, but my opponent has a turn 2 Runed Halo naming Vengevine. And assortment of Hollow Ones, Gurmag Anglers, and Flamewake Phoenixes are able to get the job done after my Liliana, the Last Hope kills his Clique and Snapcaster.

Round 8: 2-0 RB Hollow One
Game 1: We cast burning inquiry back and forth and have a close race of his Hollow One, 2 Bloodghast, 2 Phoenix vs. my 2 Hollow One, 2 Phoenix. I manage to squeak out a win in the race at just a few life.
Game 2: He has a turn 2 Hollow One, but my turn 2 consists of Ancient Grudging his Hollow One while playing one of my own and attacking with Flameblade Adept. He isn’t able to come back from such a tempo swing.

Round 9: 2-1 Tribal Zoo
This match was featured on camera.
Game 1: My opponent mulls to 5 and my mediocre draw is able to beat his even worse draw.
Game 2: I cast a couple of Burning Inquiry and Goblin Lore, but I hit the bad side of the RNG and discard all my relevant cards. I die shortly after.
Game 3: On the play I have a turn 1 Flameblade Adept into turn 2 double Vengevine + Hollow One. No one can do much against this draw and my opponent was no exception as he dies turn 3.

My friends and I enjoy some time in downtime Fort Worth. Including eating some delicious BBQ and getting a little too drunk. I fall exhausted into bed with dreams of what is going to happen on day 2.

Round 10: 2-1 Bogles
Game 1: After a mull my opponent has a bit of a weak draw and has to suit up his Dryad Arbor. My draw ends up being very aggressive and I am able to kill him before he gets much going.
Game 2: I have another pretty explosive draw but my opponent has exactly what he needs with a Bogle, some 1 mana enchantments into a Daybreak Coronet. I try to live long enough to find Engineered Explosives as my only out, but die before finding it.
Game 3: My draw is pretty clunky, but my opponent’s is even more so. He plays out 3 different Bogles and 2 Kor Spirit Dancers, but his only enchantment is discarded by my Burning Inquiry. He eventually has to chump block with his Bogles and then I clean up his Kor with an Engineered Explosives on 2. Not much he can do to come back after that.

Round 11: 2-1 Burn
Game 1: My draw is good but my opponent’s is better and he is on the play. I get to a point where I have lethal the next turn, but it is too slow to race his draw that included triple Lightning Helix.
Game 2: I have an ok draw on the play to my opponent’s ok draw. My opponent makes a crucial mistake when he lets me go to combat with my Vengevine in play, triggering my Flamewake Phoenix. He then still has to path my Vine while allowing me to have the Phoenix in play. It helps me win the close race.
Game 3: My opponent’s hand is really bad and he is flooded. I have a fast start and he is forced to bolt and path my creatures. It gets to a point where I have a massive board to his nothing, and have 17 life to his 3 when he drops and Ensnaring Bridge with 1 card in hand. I only have a Flameblade Adept in play that can attack, but on my next turn I attack him to 2 and drop the 2nd Flameblade Adept that I had in my hand. He draws for turn and reveals that both his cards are lands so he cannot empty his hand all the way and I steal that game that almost turned so wrong.

Round 12: 2-0 Eldrazi Tron
Game 1: I have a super explosive start to the point that the first creatures my opponent plays are already in chump block mode. There wasn’t much of a way for him to come back after that.
Game 2: I play a turn 1 Flameblade Adept but then make a crucial mistake with my opponent’s 2 mana up. I have a Burning Inquiry and a Street Wraith in hand and lead off by cycling the Street Wraith. My opponent then exiles it with Warping Wail in response. If I had been thinking about the card I should have lead off with Burning Inquiry and then cycled Street Wraith in response to the Warping Wail, thereby making it have an invalid target. I’m still able to assemble a clock despite this debacle and it becomes apparent my opponent’s hand is weak. He attempts to equip a Basilisk Collar to a Walking Ballista, but my Dismember in response is lights out.

Round 13: 1-2 RG Ponza
I lose this round to the eventual winner of the tournament.
Game 1: I keep an explosive hand with 2 lands on the play. Turn 1 burning Inquiry discards my 2nd land but lets me play a turn 1 Hollow One. He plays land Utopia Sprawl and on my turn 2 I Faithless Looting to discard 2 Flamewake Phoenix but miss my 2nd land drop. On his turn 2 he Molten Rains my only land. I proceed to draw for turn, attack with Hollow One, and miss my land drop for the next 5 turns as he slowly takes over the game. If I ever hit another land I would have had lethal with the Flamewake Phoenixes in my graveyard as my opponent wins the game at 2 life.
Game 2: My opponent mulls on the draw and my hand is super explosive. He concedes only a couple of turns into the game.
Game 3: We have a long, drawn out game where my draw doesn’t come together well. He has an eventual Scavenging Ooze that gets rid of a lot of my recursive creatures and over time his better late game spells overwhelm my all in cards.

Round 14: 1-2 Storm
Game 1: We both get deck checked and then my opponent gets a game loss for a deck list misregistration. I guess we had both managed to get this far into the tournament without a deck check.
Game 2: We shuffle up with my opponent on the play but are not allowed to sideboard. Storm is a terrible matchup for the configuration of my deck and he manages to dispatch me on turn 4 before my next turn lethal.
Game 3: I don’t get a ton of early pressure on the board from an awkward draw and he Remands me turn 2 into an Unsubstantiate on turn 3. This slows me down immensely and he is able to easily assemble a turn 4 win through my 0 disruption.

Round 15: 4 Color Pyromancer
Game 1: I have a pretty great nut draw with the help of 3 Vengevines and he scoops up his cards pretty quickly.
Game 2: My super early start almost gets the job done, but a Blood Braid Elf into Traverse grabs Hazoret the Fervent which is able to stone wall my Gurmag Anglers. We enter a long stalemate where no one can attack as he slowly builds up his board. I’m searching for Flamewake Phoenixes to attack over in the air, but in my single minded game plan I forget that Street Wraith is a swampwalk creature and cycle it to continue looking. If I had played out the Street Wraith is would have been able to get there. As you can probably tell by now, I find 1 Phoenix which is able to attack him down to 1 life, but he lethals me on the next turn.
Game 3: Neither of our draws is very explosive but it comes down to a crucial turn. My opponent has a Nihil Spellbomb and I activate an Insolent Neonate to discard a Phoenix and put cards in my graveyard for delve. He thinks for a while about cracking spellbomb in response to the Neonate draw, but eventually decides not too so that he can play around future recursive threats or draw a card off of it. I then delve the entire graveyard except for Phoenix for Tasigur, and when I go to combat he is forced to use it to exile just my Phoenix. This put him too far behind to come back and I am able to put the game away.

Conclusion:
 From round 13 on I thought I had 3 consecutive win-and-ins to top 8, and after losing the first 2 it felt great to clinch the last one. The announcer states that there are 8 people at 12-3 and only 5th-8th place left. I waited in anticipation as the read off the list of names for top 8...and hung my head in disappointment as mine wasn’t on there. 9th place was where I ended up off tie breakers since losing the first round of a tournament can be pretty devastating to them. Still I had a great finish and a great time with my teammates and friends. I’m glad I got the chance to play the deck I had been brewing in modern as well as put up a good result with it.

Until next time folks!
Jeremy Frye

@GhostSonForever


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Location: 2110 W Slaughter Ln, Austin, TX 78748, USA
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KCI Combo Tournament Report - SCG Dallas Top 8

Introduction: Howdy! You probably don’t know me, but my name is Jeremy Frye. I recently won GP Santa Clara with my teammates John Martin a...