My Molten Tale | A Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease Report

My Molten Tale | A Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease Report
by Marlon Egolf

What: Scars of Mirrodin Prerelease
When: 9/25/10; 9:30-ish
Where: Knights of Columbus in Charlestown, MA
Why: I MUST CRUSH PEOPLE WITH ROBOTS!!!1!
How: Well…

I arrived at the event site at my customary 9:30 time, fully equipped with my fifty pound backpack and my trusty pair of crutches (yes, I’m still a gimp). There was a pretty long line to sign up for the next available flight, but fortunately one of my partners in crime, Mr. Steven Bond, had arrived a few minutes before and was already pretty far up the line. I walked up and loudly said something along the lines of, “Thanks for saving my spot, dude”, and hopped in next to him. Kind of a shady move, but I’m on crutches for Christ sakes. I deserve some sort of special consideration. We signed up for the flight, which fired after only a few minutes, and sat down to crack our first Scars of Mirrodin boosters. Here’s my pool:

The green had the best bombs, so I know that was one of my colors. I figured the best support color would be blue, since there were counters, pseudo-removal, and the always awesome Trinket Mage. Here’s what I put together:

This deck looks pretty strong at first glance, as it has five of my six rares, and most of the other cards are solid overall. However, as I played games with the deck I noticed that the overall synergy wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Essentially, it was lacking a sufficient quantity of artifacts to power up metalcraft. But this is what pre-releases are all about – figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Fortunately, these tournaments allow for deck changes between rounds, something that I definitely took advantage of.

Quick rundown of my rounds:

Round 1 vs Steve Bond (obv)
Steve had both Precursor Golem and Sword of Body and Mind, two cards that are tough for a U/G deck to deal with.

Game One he played the Golem, and I had to kill all the copies one by one. I knew that he had an Untamed Might in his deck, so I made sure to kill off the original golem first. I can’t really remember much else about that game, except that I won.

Game Two was much longer and more drawn out, as we developed a pretty large board stall. I had Engulfing Slagwurm, but he had a Blight Mamba to keep it at bay. Eventually he got the sword down, tapped my only artifact creature with his Vedalken Certarch, and got a hit in. I threw a Bonds of Quicksilver on his tapper, but the mill effect from the sword left me with only about nine cards left in my library. I couldn’t find an opening to attack through for a while, but with three cards left I drew Mindslaver, made him do terrible things to himself, and took the match.

It always sucks to play against a friend round one, but fortunately Stevie ended up finishing 3-1. Sword of Body and Mind is pretty sick, after all.

Round 2
I don’t really remember much from this round, just that I won both games. I do remember that in game two, he played a Myr Galvanizer on turn three, and then another one on turn four. The following turn he attacked into my two 2/2 Carapace Forgers and my Darkslick Drake. I traded one of my bears for his two myr lords, and that was pretty much the game.

After this round I sided out the Disperse and one of the Bonds of Quicksilver for a Neurok Replica and a Flight Spellbomb. There were too many occasions where I needed metalcraft to trigger but I was one artifact short, so I basically had to add “worse” cards to make my deck better (although Neurok Replica is probably just straight-up better than Disperse).

Round 3
Game One I lost to a couple fully-powered Carapace Forgers and another Precursor Golem. This game contained the most unimpressive X=7 Genesis Wave ever – four lands, my two counterspells, and one 2/2 forger.

Game Two he played another 2/2 that quickly became a 4/4 after a turn five golem. I Mindslavered him on turn six, but couldn’t find a removal spell for his trio of dudes and I died.

Losing round three after starting out 2-0 is always a kick in the balls, since you face the prospect of finishing 2-2 and basically wasting four rounds. Time to man up.

Round 4 vs Cecil
I can’t remember what this guy’s name was, although I know that it definitely wasn’t Cecil. However, we will be seeing him again, and it’s important that we have some way to identify him, So Cecil it is.

Game One I started off really slowly while Cecil beat me up with 2/2’s. At one point in the game I was at eight, staring down a pair of 2/2s and a [Tel-Jilad Fallen, with only a Trigon of Infestation for defense. Big C attacked with all his guys, and I made a 1/1 insect with infect.

(*SIDEBAR* I’ve noticed the tendency for people to treat infect like it’s basically wither, only better. It’s not. In many situations it’s much worse. For instance, when you only have one or two infect creatures in your deck, the poison counters that they give to your opponent can be completely irrelevant, especially if the rest of yoru creatures are on the typical “kill them with damage” plan. You might have noticed that I opened a Cystbearer in my sealed pool that I didn’t play. If Cystbearer was a 2/3 with wither it might have made my deck. However, since I had no other infect creatures, it would have had to hit my opponent five times by itself in order to actually accomplish anything. In my deck, it might as well have been a 2/3 with wither and defender. That’s what’s going on in this game situation that I interrupted. If his Tel-Jilad Fallen didn’t have infect, then I lose the game. As it happens, I can absorb up to three hits with his 3/1 infect guy and my life total is unchanged. This is the biggest thing to think about when deciding whether to include infect creatures in your deck – do you truly have enough of them to make playing ANY of them worth it? You wouldn’t play Flames of the Bloodhand in your Millstone deck, would you?)

Since I hadn’t taken any infect damage yet in the game, I let his 3/1 through and the insect blocked a 2/2, turning it into a 1/1 while I take two damage in the process. I eventually stabilize at two life with him still at twenty, leading to a long board stall where he can’t attack with his Liege of the Tangle because I have an 8/8 Enzuris Brigade as well as an Engulfing Slagwurm. After about ten minutes I draw Mindslaver and slave his mind into a suicide attack.

Game Two he plays a piece of random equipment on turn two and then a turn three Kemba, Kha Regent. I have no way to get rid of it, so I insta-scoop.
Game Three we both get out a bunch of creatures, but only one of us has a Mindslaver.BRAAAAAIINNS

I was happy to get to 3-1 with this deck, since I knew that I had misbuilt it, although I’m pretty sure I was in the correct colors. Though it wasn’t the optimal build from the outset, it’s easy to play the wrong cards when you’ve never played a format before, and I consider it a learning experience. I signed up for another flight, vowing to myself that my next deck would suck less. I’m not going to bother listing all the cards I opened, just the deck and the relevant sideboard cards:

I decided to start the Bloodshot Trainee, since I would have three ways of increasing its power to four (the Axe, the Exoskeleton, and Trinket Mage for Axe), and a repeatable four damage effect is extremely powerful. It turned out to be correct, as every time I cast him I also had a piece of equipment to go along with him. Sadly, each time he found himself instantly killed as soon as he came into play, but at least including him in the deck turned out to be the correct move, even as removal bait. I didn’t start the Contagion Clasp because I found myself without any cards that would take advantage of the proliferate effect, meaning clasp would end up being a sorcery speed Scar for twice the price. As for the Kuldotha Forgemaster, I didn’t think the Tinker effect would be worth sacrificing three artifacts, especially with all the matalcraft in my deck. I would end up being wrong about both cards.

Round 1
My round one opponent was also U/R, with some metalcraft guys and removal.
We traded guys and removal for the early turns of the first game. On turn six he played out Helter-Skelter Dragon (Hoard-Smelter Dragon), but I had Turn to Slag (AKA my one out) and killed it. I bated out a couple of counters and then stuck the Masticore, which did its thing and killed him. During the course of the first game I found that I never really had quite enough artifacts in play to enable my metalcraft guys. I also had Bonds of Quicksilver in my hand for this entire game. I decided enough was enough, and sided out the Bonds for the Contagion Clasp. I figured even if I don’t have proliferate, the clasp still kills a Myr and gives me another artifact in play. As for the Bonds, I don’t think I see myself starting that card anymore. This format is all about synergy, especially in blue, and a four mana, non-artifact, sometimes removal spell just doesn’t cut it. It’s a nice card to have for the sideboard against something like a large flyer, but it really seems sub-par in the maindeck.
Game Two he killed me with a turn five Precursor Golem. Sigh.

The third game he again had the golem on turn five, but I topdecked a Shatter and killed it. I played the Kuldotha Phoenix, but it got Bonded. We each traded creatures and removal spells, until I eventually drew Masticore and he died almost instantly. The card is just that good.

After the game I permanently sided in the Kuldotha Forgemaster, taking out a card that I can’t remember. I figured that Molten-Tail Masticore was so good that the card disadvantage that it took to Tinker him out would be irrelevant, as he would win me the game all by his lonesome.

Round 2
This was kind of an interesting round, to say the least. I won the first game pretty quickly, but I got the impression that my opponent was not very skilled, despite having won the first round. My impression was confirmed game two, when he chose to play and passed the turn without playing a land. I wasn’t sure if he was up to something tricky, so I didn’t say anything as I took my turn and passed back. Sure enough, he didn’t play a land on turn two either, and had to discard. I informed him that if he didn’t like his opening seven, he was allowed to take a mulligan. His response was, “I know, but I didn’t want to go to six and get mana flooded.”

Worst. Logic. Ever.

Since that round was over so quickly, I had time to crutch across the street to The Ninety-Nine and enjoy a few tall brewskis before the next round. It’s important to stay hydrated, after all.

Round 3 vs Cecil
Rematch! Cecil seemed eager to get revenge on me for knocking him out of prize in the first flight, although he was reasonably pleasant about it.
Game one I curved out well and 2 for 1’d him with an Arc Trail. He played Helter-Skelter Dragon on turn six, but I had already damaged him to a point that not even the dragon could save him. I played an unblockable Scrapdiver Serpant, and he was dead on the board.

The only thing I remember about game two, other than I won, is killing his Myr and Kembas Skyguard with Arc Trail when he was stuck on three lands. I probably finished the deal with Masticore

Cecil seemed a little disappointed to have lost the grudge match, but sometimes you just get beat.

I was happy to be 3-0, since some of the other DraftMagic folks were heading over to the Ninety-Nine for some dinner, and I was hoping to split the finals and head over as well. However, when I saw my round four opponent, I got the feeling my request for a split would be denied.

Round 4 vs Jackie Li
I’d seen Jackie play at a few tournaments, including this year at regionals when she finished top 4, and I’d played against her in this season’s last standard PTQ. She struck me as a very tight player, and more importantly at this juncture, someone who wouldn’t want to split. Sure enough, she wanted to play it out. She was pretty confident, and I had seen her cast a Wurmcoil Engine earlier in the tournament, so I knew I was in for a tough one.

Game one we both played some dudes, removal, and what not. On turn six she did indeed drop the Wwurmcoil Engine, which I broke in half with a Shatter. On my turn I killed one of the halves with an Oxidia Scrapmelter, and then traded with the other one. At this point I had plenty of creatures in play, including the forgemaster, and she was down to one card in hand and some chump blockers on her side. I attacked for lethal with a bunch of artifact creatures and a Scrapdiver Serpant, making sure to leave the forgemaster untapped. She dispelled the the serpent and went to two.

Now, the obvious play here is to just re-cast the Serpent and pass. But I got a strange vibe from Jackie, specifically an “I have a Sunblast Angel somewhere in my deck” kind of vibe. I figured that if I replayed the Serpant and she drew the Angel, she would just concede the game and I wouldn’t get confirmation that she had one in her deck. If she did happen to have one in her deck, and drew it, I could just fetch Masticore and kill her in response to her casting it. Since Sunblast Angel a card that requires being played around, me getting the information that she has the angel is more important than her knowing that I have a Masticore. The Angel is something you need to be prepared for, whereas Masticore just comes out and kills you. So I decided to just pass the turn.

Sure enough, she untapped, drew, and cast Sunblast Angel. Information obtained! I activated the Forgermaster, grabbed the Masticore, and killed her.

Game Two I came out pretty fast, Contagion Clasping her first Myr, and getting down a Palladium Myr and a Trinket Mage for Darksteel Axe. Turn five I equip the mage and swing into her empty board, but keep the Palladium Myr back. Sure enough, she has the Angel on her turn, killing my mage. I untap and play my gamebreaker, Molten-Tail Masticore. Jackie attacks with the Angel during her turn, plays a 1/1 and passes. During my upkeep, I discard the Phoenix to the Masticore and metalcraft it back into play. Now I have a whole bunch of attackers. I start to turn my team sideways, and then realize I can equip the Axe with my last two available mana. So I do, because that can put her low enough so I can just dome her with the Masticore next turn.

STOP

This is a situation that every magic player gets themselves in at one time or another. Said player is so far ahead that all they can do is think of how easily they can win. In a situation where you have your opponent dominated, your quickest path to victory is exactly what you need to NOT focus on. Instead, try and figure out how you can lose. Think about the cards that are available in the format, and how they can beat you. In this instance, I was so focused on the impending crushing of my opponent that I completely neglected to play it safe. I didn’t consider what card could beat me, when the obvious answer was sitting right in front of me.

GO

So I equip, attack, and Jackie takes all the damage, going to four. Then she takes her turn and plays a SECOND Sunblast Angel (foil this time) and completely decimates my entire board, including the Masticore that I don’t have the mana to regenerate. I lose the game in short order after that.

Always consider how you can lose the game, even if it seems like a long shot. Don’t be a greedy douche.

I was pretty annoyed with myself after that misplay, but there was still another game to play. I should mention that my main motivation for victory wasn’t the extra prize packs, but rather, that I wanted to keep my undefeated round four record pristine. You see, literally every time I’ve gone into round four of a prerelease at 3-0 and my opponent has declined a split, I’ve won the match. I think I was something like 7-0 in these specific circumstances. I have a theory that refusing to split is bad Magic karma, and is punished by a loss. I did not want that theory to be proven false.

Game Three I mulled to six, but Jackie mulled to 5. I blew her out with an Arc Trail on her Myr and Kemba’s Skyguard, and used my Vedalken Certarch to tap one of her four lands during each of her upkeeps, so that she couldn’t get the many to cast any of her six mana bombs. A couple Lumingrid Drakes later, and I took the match very unceremoniously. Theory intact!

So overall on the day I went 7-1, which I was happy with, and I also learned some very important lessons about the fledgling Scars format. Namely, you have to commit. The two prevailing strategies in Scars limited are infect and metalcraft, and both require that you build your deck as synergistically as possible. If you’re trying to go infect.dec, then creatures that deal normal combat damage don’t advance your game plan at all, and decent “filler” creatures should be prioritized much less than they would in other sets. The same goes with metalcraft. Playing a random spellbomb over a card like Dispel or Soul Parry might be the difference between winning and losing, as strange as it may seem. This isn’t M11; deck synergy in Scars will trump random “good” cards the vast majority of the time.

I hope you found this report helpful, or at the very least, interesting. Scars looks to be one of the best limited sets we’ve seen in a long time, and I cannot wait until it shows up on MODO so I can draft it 5 times a day.

Feel free to tell me in the comments how badly I misbuilt my first deck!

Thanks for reading!!
-Marlon Egolf