Developments in Durdling—Knuckle Up, Buckle Up

2nd Place, 7th Place, 3rd Place. CAN I JUST WIN A PPTQ already? Ha, I can act like I’m salty, but really I was just doing so well last week I couldn’t do much more than smile after Sunday.

I played in the Montasy Modern PPTQ for Milwaukee, went with my Grixis Twin list and killed it! I”l give you the quick Break down.

BUG Value 2-0

Jiayi had a solid take on BUG Value. He went with Manaleaks over Remands. There wasn’t a ton to say in the first game. We both drew poorly and I just got to combo off later in the game. Game 2 I played Blood Moon that cut him off Black and left him with out 1 Blue mana. From there I was able to Twin out pretty easy. As I’d fetched basics.

Affinty 2-0

Paul was on a Burn style Affinity deck. His Opener in game one was 3 Ornithopters and a Signal Pest. Not amazing but still a lot of Damage early. I drew a Pestermite to block his Pest. Followed that up with Electrolyze and Kolaghan’s Command. Just valued him out of the game after a few turns. The 2nd game was much of the same. I was starting to feel very good about choosing this deck.

Gruul Burn 2-0

Goblin Guide, Check. Eidolon, Check. I’m not sure about Tarmogoyf and Kird Ape though. I played a lot of Burn in Modern last year. The deck’s advantage is that it dodges/gets value out of it’s creature suite before the opponent can deal with them. That said Atarka’s Command doesn’t like more creatures in the deck. Access to 8 Skullcrack effects is also sweet. Both games I Turn 4 Combo’d with Deceiver Exarch. In game 2 I went down to 1 life. I was just lucky he didn’t have a final damage spell. His Tarmogoyf could have been the spell he needed to kill me. I have dreams of winning my next match and drawing in.

Storm 2-0

As a Storm mage last year I learned to hate this match up. I wasn’t reactive enough to stop Twin from doing whatever it wanted and I couldn’t play Empty the Warrens as a 1 turn or two turn clock. As a Twin Player I could not be happier for this to be my win and in. The first game I just Remanded and Spell Snared until I had the Combo. The second Game I waited til turn 5 with 5 mana open. John (my opponent) tried to play Pyromancer’s Ascension. I Snared it. Then he dropped his 4th land and started comboing off. storm counter 6 or 7 was an Empty. EoT Deceiver Exarch main phase Twin. Looks like I’ll be drawing my way into the Top 8!

Affinity 2-0

Of course I get paired down! But from a fair amount of between round scouting and chatting up the other players I know I’m sitting down across from Affinity. The first game was close because I could deal with his Etched Champion. Eventually I just cast Twin on a Pestermite. There was a lot of X/1 killing and Plating Snaring between then and there but the Champion was ticking my life total toward Galvanic Blast range. Greedy? Maybe. But you gotta risk it if you want to win sometimes. Game 2 He mulled to 5 and kept a slow hand. I played the slow game and just attacked with Snapcaster Mages and Tasigur.

Finally, in the Top8. and at Top Seed no less. I feel loose, and ready to smash.

TOP8

U/R Twin 2-1

Game one, I just didn’t cut it. I was land light and by the time I was ready to play Magic, Ben was already pressuring me pretty hard. The Game was his and he took it. I set up my board assuming that I’d have to play Twin sooner or later. In both of the Next two games I’m playing Control and filing out my Combo (saving 1 Splinter Twin). I slam a Vedalkan Shackles against him. From there He has to wait until I tap it. A few turns later I take his Grim Lavamancer. A turn after I have Twin, Exarch, and Counter Flux in my Hand and pass. He plays his own Exarch. I’m good with that. On his turn he slams Twin. I cast Exarch and tap his Exarch. “Twin Resolves.” I couldn’t help but smile. Ben is sweating. Eot I Deal him damage with the Lavamancer, he’s at 5. “I’ll Shackles your Exarch. He responds with a 2x Lightning Bolt. I follow it up with my own Twin. and win that game. The third game looks much like the second but I’m lapping him on cards and I have 2 Shackles out. Eventually I play Tasigur and the game is mine. The judge gives me a few minutes to rest and right into the Quarters.

RUG Twin

Keane Frady recently won his appeal from a banning for offering a prize split… long story short he’s back. And he’s not lost much edge. I took the first game and was feeling pretty good. The second and Third games were out and out his though and my hot streak ended for the day. I took home a Bayou for my trouble. ONCE AGAIN I was one game short for a trip to an RPTQ. Keane and Marley (the other finalist) agreed to a prize split legally and Keane is on the way to an RPTQ. ONE GAME!

Oh well that’s the game. Top 4 is pretty nice.

So, on Monday, I knew I’d need to keep up the heat at Twenty Sided. The Stakes are up as $15 is now the entry fee and $60/$45/$30 is the knew prize pay out for 4-0/3-0-1/3-1. With my head screwed on straight after Li’s advice last week, and a Sideboard for this pyscho Meta I’m ready to see whats up.

Elves 2-1

James “JIMMY TRON LANDS” Chang is gonna have get a new nickname… Jimmy “Green Mans”. IDK. This is never an easy match for me. I have trouble with Wastelanding his Basic Forests/Quirion Ranger is a headache. Wirewood Symbiote is also a pain in the ass. Lucky for me he had a Fetchland opener and I kept a 2x Stifle hand. I played it slow hoping I could kept up Stifle and develop my board after turn 2. I was able to keep him off his play for just long enough in the first game. The Second I was racing a Progenitus… so yea. The Third game was tight, Even after 2 bolts and 2 Rough/Tumble James was still looking to go off. I had him on the ropes but a simple top deck could have meant it was his game pretty easy.

RUG Delver 2-0

Andrew made the switch recently over to RUG from BUG. I’m at an inherent advantage in this match thanks to just playing the shit out of the same deck every week. You don’t really notice mistakes you make with RUG (little nuances really not mistakes) until you get to the mirror. It’s all a dance. He stifles you, you stifle him. Wasteland party then the Delvers came down on his side in pairs… I had a Forked Bolt. Honestly, I think that was the play the ended the game. It’s all card for card in this match. The game took a while to end but I had 3 Dazes and he had 6 land so those Dazes were only good as Brainstorm fodder. The second game He drew a solid Stifle Wasteland hand… I opened with 5 Lands hoping to play around that stuff until I could Fetch/Brainstorm and Upgrade my hand. I was hot on Wastelands my myself and I got all his Trops as they hit the board. Countered on Goyf with a Snare and held up a stifle and snare the rest of the game as my Mongoose got to work.

Esper Blade 2-0

Brook Li’s deck is tough because he still rocks Lingering Souls. I need to really do work to make sure he doesn’t just chuck a sword on them and end my plan. The first game I was able to get in with a Delver and a Mongoose with Bolts saving my Delver and a allowing me to stop him from equipping a Sword of Fire and Ice for just long enough to finish the game. The second game was text book RUG delver. Stifle and Wasteland him off a color (white) and Tarmogoyf’s ended the game with 4 Swords to Plowshares sitting in his hand.

I stuck by RUG and split in the final round with Another RUG player Dan “FUN POLICE” Sacco netting $45.

Good week for me. And I picked up a little value for my time. That’s a really sweet turn around from what’s been happening lately.

Now, I’m off to Grand Prix Atlantic City. The Jewel (NOT) of the East. Insert “CAN WE GET A GP NYC?” rant here. And throw in a “WHY IS IT 2015, AND MTGO IS TERRIBLE AND DOESN’T HAVE A MAC CLIENT.” for good measure.

Anyhow, I’m hoping to do well enough to finally day 2 one of these things. Otherwise I’ll be playing in the Super Series on Sunday.

Here’s my Lists for the deck if you want something like that.