MPDC 35.02

Here's my second attempt at PDC. In the first tournament I ran a monowhite beatdown build but I always felt like I was barely in the games so this time around I decided to run a deck with a little more longevity:

4 Catalog
4 Drag Under
2 Ingenious Skaab
4 Convolute
25 Island
2 Exultant Cultist
4 Just the Wind
2 Wretched Gryff
4 Deny Existence
4 Stormrider Spirit
1 Select for Inspection
2 Revolutionary Rebuff
2 Tezzeret's Ambition

4 Negate
1 Dispel
4 Fogwalker
4 Turn Aside
2 Sleep Paralysis

Monoblue Control! I would play more Select for Inspections but I haven't drafted any yet. I initially wanted to play UR Thermo-Alchemist but to my surprise I only had 2 even though I drafted decks around the card. The buying bots must have took them. So as I was building the deck I noticed that I barely had any red cards anyway so I cut the colour completely and ended up with this. I cobbled this together half an hour before registration started so I didn't playtest it at all. I just ran solitaire a few times to see what the hands would look like. I ran 25 lands because hitting every land drop is crucial in decks like this. Today MPDC is packed so it'll be a cut to Top 8. Going 2-1 will probably be the bare minimum to even have a chance. Let's see how I do.

Match 1 I'm up against a UB control deck splashing white for Ironclad Slayer and Aviary Mechanic. I did not expect a control matchup in this format and I have a feeling that it's going to be tough. The first couple turns we both hit our land drops and he has access to both blue and black mana. He starts things off on turn 5 and plays a Self-Assembler which I Convolute. I play a Stormrider Spirit at the end of his turn which promptly gets Murdered. With some of his mana tapped I play Ingenious Skaab. On his turn he plays Boon of Emrakul which I also Convolute. I get to hit for 2 but a second Boon kills off the Skaab. At the end of his turn I play a second Stormrider. Again, Murder destroys my flier. He taps out for Wretched Gryff and draws a card while I play Deny Existence but my hand is running out of gas. He plays Take Inventory twice but I counter the second one with Revolutionary Rebuff. He finishes his turn by getting back his Boon with a Slayer. The Slayer stats to do some damage while I play another Stormrider and hit for 3. I know he has the Boon so I Drag Under my own creature to draw another card. He plays a Mechanic and bounces the Slayer to get back another Boon. After killing the Stormrider. At this point I can't stabilize and lose the game a few turns after.

I side out the Drag Under as there aren't any good targets and the Revolutionary Rebuff. I side in Turn Aside and Negate. We each spend the first 3 turns playing lands and sculpting our hands as he plays Take Inventory and I play Catalog. I Convolute his Self-Assmebler but let his Slayer hit the board as he has no enchantments in his bin. I hardcast Wretched Gryff with 1 mana open for Turn Aside which I used to counter Oblivion Strike. This keeps my Gryff alive until I can untap. I play Tezzeret's Ambition to refuel my hand. For some reason I thought the Gryff was an artifact but of course it isn't and I pitch and Island. We start trading swings at each other and he plays a Dead Weight to shrink the Gryff.  I flash out a Stormrider Spirit and attack with both my fliers leaving the life totals at 14-12 in my favour. He tries to Dead Weight the Gryff again and we get into a counter fight. I Negate his Dead Weight but he Negates that. I try again and he has the same answer but this time I Convolute and come up on top. Catalog twice helps me refuel my hand and he plays a second Slayer to grab a Dead Weight. He doesn't play it though as he needs mana to Murder the Stormrider. Turn Aside puts a stop to that plan and I leave him at 4 life. He hits with the pair of Slayers and leaves me at 2 life. I stop his Wretched Gryff with Deny Existence. My opponent decides to put the second Dead Weight on the Stormrider instead of killing the Gryff. I attack with just the Gryff, leaving him at 3 life. Post combat I bounce the Gryff with Just the Wind and replay it. He plays Prophetic Prism and Take Inventory, replenishing his hand. He attacks with the Slayer and I chump with the Stormrider to prevent any shenanigans with a post combat Dead Weight or Boon of Emrakul. Turns out it's the right play as my opponent scoops them up but shows me the Boon before he concedes.

Game 3 started with me being short on mana as I missed multiple land drops. Fortunately there wasn't any pressure on my opponent's side as I'm sure he was sculpting his hand and preparing for an attrition war. I finally hit 5 lands and play a Stormrider Spirit which gets killed by Complete Disregard. I play Tezzeret's Ambition, desperately looking for lands. Somehow I still miss my land drop and at this point I discarded 4 or 5 cards. My opponent manages to stick a Wretched Gryff and Ironclad Slayer on the board while my Skaab has a Dead Weight on it. I sacrifice the Skaab to my on Gryff and finally start finding land. My opponent decides this is the time to start a fight so he plays Murder on the Gryff. I Negate it but he plays a second Murder. Turn Aside from my side stops the second one but he plays a third Murder. I try to stop it again with Turn Aside but Negate from my opponent has him ending up on top and my Gryff his the graveyard. He comes in with his team and leaves me at 2 life. I can't come back from this and scoop them up. Missing land drops probably caused me to lose so I'll have to think twice about keeping hands that may not have enough land.

I end up getting a bye for Round 2 so let's move on to the last round of Swiss. I'm paired up against BG splashing blue for Wretched Gryff. I start things off by playing Deny Existence on his Seedsculptor. I probably should have let that one through as it wasn't a big threat. I then Convolute his Wild Wanderer. Twice. All the while I'm hitting every land drop. Renegade Freighter comes down for his side as he catches me with my mana tapped when I play Tezzeret's Ambition to refuel as I'm running out of gas. He takes this opportunity to play a Self-Assmebler which Crews the Freighter to try and smack me for 5. I bounce it back with Just the Wind and Convolute it when he tried to replay it the next turn. I also Revolutionary Rebuff a second Seedsculptor. I play Wretched Gryff which gets Complete Disregard. This whole the the Self-Assembler is taking out huge chucks of my life total. Wild Wanderer hits the table as I'm out of gas and Rush of Vitality kills off my Gryff. I'm down to 4 life when Catalog find me two Exultant Cultist to put up as blockers. Grasp of Darkness takes out one of the Cultist but I end up finding another Catalog which I use to madness out Just the Wind to bounce the Assembler and allow me to trade the Wanderer for my second Cultist. He replays the Assembler and I Drag Under it but all I have left are lands. Although I put up a good fight I don't see a way out even after drawing a Stormrider Spirit so I scoop them up.

I sideboard the same way as Match 1 and we both keep are starting 7. I start things off with Convolute on his Renegade Freighter and Deny Existence on his Wild Wanderer. I let Pilgrim's Eye hit the board and I play Stomrider Spirit at the end of turn. I try Catalog at the end of my opponent's next turn and he takes the opportunity to play Grasp of Darkness. I Turn Aside the instant and Catalog refuels my hand. Convolute stops his Self-Assembler while our two fliers continue to exchange blows. With the life totals at 17-11 in my favour, I use my last counterspell to stop a second Self-Assembler. A Kujar Seedsculptor makes it on the table. I hardcast a Wretched Gryff which draws me a Catalog but the Gryff itself gets hit with a Grasp of Darkness as my opponent sends both his creatures in to drop me to 14. I play a Tezzeret's Ambition off the top and Madness Just the Wind to bounce the Seedsculptor while my hand is full of gas.  He replays the Seedsculptor and I play an Exultant Cultist. He holds back his attack and chumps the Stormrider with his Pilgrim's Eye as he's at 2 life. He draws for the turn and then concedes.

For Game 3 I try to be aggressive and run out my Skaab on turn 3. Complete Disregard kills it and I'm beating myself up for tapping out. Luckily he passes the turn. My opponent does nothing for the next few turns as I play a pair of Catalog to mold my hand. On turn 9 he plays his second spell but I Convolute his Self-Assembler. I reply with Wretched Gryff and mana open for Turn Aside. Turns out I didn't need it as he plays a second Assembler which hits the table because I don't have any counters left. I play Ambition to change that and Madness Just the Wind one more time.  His next attempt at casting the Self-Assmebler is met by Convolute as my Gryff is taking chunks of his life. Seedsculptor resolves and I Turn Aside Murder. He untaps and plays a Narnam Cobra. Grasp of Darkness goes after the Gryff and I slow roll my second Turn Aside, responding with a Catalog first, bouncing the Cobra with Just the Wind and then countering the removal spell. Another Complete Disregard tries to kill the Gryff and again I come up with the Turn Aside. He attacks with the Seedsculptor and I let it through even though I have a Stormrider in hand - I don't need to risk my flier as I'm at 16 life after the attack. Cobra comes back down and I decline to counter it with Deny Existence, again, I'm winning this race even with the extra creature. I flash out the Stormrider at the end of his turn and drop him to 2 life.  He swings back and plays Wretched Gryff which is the perfect target for my counter. After losing the Gryff my opponent scoops and I make it into Top 8!

In top 8 I'm playing against BR Thermo-Alchemist deck which is something I haven't seen before so this should be interesting. I keep a spotty hand with just a Stormrider and Convolute. He starts off with the Thermo-Alchemist which I can't counter on the draw. However I do get Convolute the second Alchemist. Unbelievably, he plays a third Alchemist and I don't have an answer for it. I play Select for Inspection after the first Alchemist pinged me and then Revolutionary Rebuff it when he attempted to recast it as he was stuck on three lands. Tormenting Voice tries to fix that problem for him and he even Madness out Alms of the Vein with the discard but still no land drop. This whole time the one Alchemist left on the board is pecking away at my life total. I run out a Stormrider to try and race but he's at 23 and I'm at 11. I play Just the Wind to bounce the Alchmiest while holding up Deny Existence. I finally get to counter the third Alchemists and it looks like I'm in control of the board. My opponent misses another land drop and has to discard due to being over hand size. He ends up discarding another Alms and getting another 6 life point swing. He finds his final Alchemist while I play another Stormrider. I start hitting for 6 damage and Drag Under the Alchemist but I only have 2 Islands in my hand. Out of gas, his Alchemist comes down again and Lightning Axe (pitching Galvanic Bombardment) kills one of my Stormriders. Tormenting Voice gives him more gas while the Alchemist hits me again. I'm at 6 after a second Bombardment kills my final Stormrider. Mad Prophet shows up for his side while I play my Skaab and bounce his Alchemist with Just the Wind. Lightning Axe on my Skaab discarding Fiery Temper was the final nail on the coffin.

In Game 2 it looks like my opponent sided in some disruption as his first play is Mire's Malice which I Revolutionary Rebuff. Tormenting Voice + Alms of the Vein combo shows up again while I Catalog to search for some cards also. The Alchemist hits the board and I tap out to Flash Stormrider end of his turn. He plays Lightning Axe and Madness our Twins of Maurer Estate. I Drag Under the vampire but can't muster anything else. A second Alchemist joins the first but I bounce one of them to try an buy some time. He replays the Alchemist and tries to Lightning Axe + Twins again. I Turn Aside the Axe but the vampire makes it onto the table. My blocks aren't good so i send the Stormrider over and bounce the Twins when it attacks. My opponent casts Mire's Malice with Awaken and I Convolute it. The Alchemists are doing work and I can feel the game slipping away. Lightning Axe + the same Twins try to take out my spirit but I have another Turn Aside. I'm all out of gas when Self-Assembler shows up and I've seen enough.

Making it to Top 8 earns me 1 tix which is amazing for a free tournament. Especially if you get through with a bye. The deck was thrown together but worked surprisingly well. I would just maindeck the Turn Asides though as they are very good. Drag Under wasn't as impressive as I thought they would be because you have to tap mana on your turn and which means you won't have mana open for counters. Also almost every creature I faced had great come into play effects and bouncing them is not ideal. Having said that, Just the Wind is great as I pitched it to discards for Catalog and Tezzeret's Ambition many times. I'll probably be tweaking this deck to run for the next tournament I'm able to attend. Hopefully I get a little further next time.

-ThePaperboy