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)

• 2 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 4 Scrap Trawler
• 2 Glint-Nest Crane
• 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Lands (17)

• 4 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Forest
• 2 Glimmervoid
• 4 Sanctum of Ugin
• 4 Spire of Industry
• 2 Inventors' Fair

Spells (33)

• 2 Chromatic Sphere
• 4 Chromatic Star
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 4 Ichor Wellspring
• 4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 2 Mind Stone
• 3 Mishra's Bauble
• 1 Pyrite Spellbomb
• 3 Terrarion
• 4 Mox Opal
• 4 Ancient Stirrings

Sideboard

• 3 Defense Grid
• 2 Grafdigger's Cage
• 2 Fatal Push
• 2 Kozilek's Return
• 3 Nature's Claim
• 3 Lingering Souls

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