Tuesday Night Magic @ The Source

My wife went to volunteer on Tuesday night, so I went to Tuesday Night Magic at The Source. I wanted to go bowling but I when I found out that States was this weekend, I decided to go to TNM instead. I’m thinking about going to FNM and if I do well there, then I might go to States on Saturday, but we’ll see. I texted Cheng if he wanted to go but he was busy. I paid $5 as an entrance fee, and ended going 3-0-1, getting a three way tie for 1st. Two other people also went 3-0-1. I played Cruel Control, here’s my decklist:

9 Creatures:
4 Mulldrifters (you need card advantage to win)
4 Kitchen Finks (one of the best creatures in the game)
1 Nucklavee (you get 3 for one with this guy: 1 red sorcery, 1 blue instant, and 4/4!)

24 Spells:
2 Cruel Ultimatum (powerful card, why? because it gives you a six card swing, a 10 life swing, & a 2 creature swing)
1 Raven’s Crime (card disruption was key to a couple of my wins)
4 Wrath of God (an essential)
3 Firespout (another essential, in this meta-game you need 7 mass creature removal spells)
2 Bant Charm (essential against persist creatures)
1 Condemn (I’m still deciding if this is better then Bant Charm, Codemn costs only 1 mana while Bant costs 3, but Bant does give you two other options)
4 Cryptic Command (one of the most powerful card in the game)
2 Negate (great against other Cryptic Commands and Planeswalkers)
2 Esper Charm (more card disruption or advantage)
2 Sylvan Scrying (to avoid mana-screw situations and to grab my Treetop Village to attack or my Springjack Pasture for producing tokens to block)
1 Oona’s Grace (more card advantage)

27 Lands
4 Reflecting Pool (I’m so glad I got these when they were only $13)
1 Treetop Village (sometimes my only creature/win condition after a Wrath or Firespout)
1 Springjack Pasture (creates blockers, mana, and life!)
1 Mystic Gate
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Cascade Bluffs
2 Flooded Grove
4 Vivid Creek
4 Vivid Meadow
3 Vivid Grove
2 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Craig

15 Card Sideboard:
1 Nucklavee (never sideboarded it in)
3 Austere Command (never sideboarded it in)
2 Esper Charm (card disruption/advantage, saved me many times)
3 Jund Charm (more mass removal, saved me many times)
1 Firespout (more mass removal)
2 Negate (countered Planeswalkers and other powerful spells)
3 Dragon’s Claw (never sideboarded it in)

Here’s the Battle Report!

Match 1 vs. Xai Lee’s W/G/R Agro-Control Deck (a fellow Hmong player who plays with other Hmong people, he said that he plays with a guy named Rocky. That name sounds really familiar! I think Vern might know these guys; His deck had 4 Sarkhan Vol, Elspeths, Mutavaults, & weenies)

I was able to control his creatures therefore beat him and his Planeswalkers down. He just started playing about 9 months ago so I afterwards we talked about his deck. His deck was interesting and resembled a deck on M:TG.com called the “Fellowship of the Ring” with 14 Planeswalkers in it! There are also 4 “ring” cards in the deck, hence the name the name of the deck: “The Fellowship of Ring.” Haha, I love it!


Match: 2-0, Record 1-0

Match 2 vs Bill’s B/G Quillspike/Devoted Druid Combo Deck (This guy’s deck was stacked! He had Bitterblossoms, Thoughtsiezes, Profane Commands, Chameleon Colossus, Rite of Consumption, Murderous Redcap, etc.)

I won the first game after 25 minutes of play with my Treetop Village. He won the second game after 2 minutes of play. He was able to set off his combo by the forth turn. In the third game, we went back and forth as we both played Kitchen Finks after Kitchen Finks. With life totals at 17 for him and 8 for me, I was able to play Cruel Ultimatum, changing the momentum. I drew a Treetop Village and was able to beat him as the judge called “time.”

This guy was a lot of fun to play. You could tell that he was really smart because he’s the guy that Nameless Inversioned his Murderous Redcap. I think what really won me the 3rd game was that I decided to draw allowing him to play first. He drew a bad hand and mulligan’ed.

Match: 2-1, Record 2-0

Match 3 vs Steve’s B/R/G Tokens Deck (He had Sprouting Thrinax, Dragon Fodder, Hunting Triad, Necrogenesis, Loxodon Warhammer, Furystoke Giant)

This was also a very smart player. He kept on Necrogenesis’ing my Kitchen Finks, I think he must of did it 4 times throughout our entire match. His deck was really tough on me because I would Wrath and more tokens would come out then I would Firespout and more tokens would come out. He was never able to set off his Furystoke Giant, because I kept his token count low.

I won the dice roll and decided to let him play first and I draw. This again helped me because he mulligan’ed and I kept my hand giving me a 6 to 8 card advantage before I even played a land. Card advantage is so important for me! I won the first game. He won the second. So for the 3rd game, I let him play first again and he mulligan’ed AGAIN! I kept my hand and AGAIN I had a 6 to 8 card advantage from the start. In the third game, “Time” was called and we had 5 turns left to finish the match. He had 18 life and 3 1/1 Elf tokens. I had 20 life, a Nucklavee, a Treetop Village, and a Kitchen Finks with a -1/-1 token on it. With 3 turns left, I tapped all his creatures and returned one of his tokens to his hand, which RFG’ed (removed from game) with a Cryptic command and I swung in for 9 damage, leaving him with 9 life left. With 2 turns left, he passed the turn to me. With the last turn in my control, I remember him saying “Well if you can’t kill me this turn, I guess we’ll draw.” Lucky for me I had another Cryptic Command in my hand. I tapped all of his creatures, RFG’d an Elf token, and swung in for another 9 life, winning the game with no time left and the last turn allowed! I called it a “Walk Off Grand Slam!”

Match 2-1, Record 3-0

Match 4 vs. Hanie Xiong’s White Agro-Control Deck (I’ve played against this guy before at FNM. He’s a little slow and slurs a bit but that’s because he’s got a disability but he is still a pretty good M:TG player. His deck had Elspeth, Knight of the Meadowgrain, Idyllic Tutor, O-Rings, Runed Halos, Pithing Needles, Endless Horizons, “Exalted” creatures, Figure of Destiny, etc.)

In game 1 I let him play first and I drew, which was a bad move on my part because he had 1 drop in the form of Figure of Destiny. Eventually he beat me with 36 life left. In game two, it was an epic battle, but I finally won because I kept on Raven’s Crime’ing him (Seriously! Raven’s Crime is becoming one of my favorite cards). Card disruption can wreak havoc. In the third match, time was called and our five turns ended up in a draw. I COULD OF TOTALLY WON THE GAME AND MATCH AND THE WHOLE TOURNAMEN! There were moments where I would Oona’s Grace and he would discard a card, he must of thought that I Raven’s Crime’d him. Of course, I corrected him. There were other moments where I would Cryptic Command him and he would tap all of his creatures, even though I said “Counter your spell and draw a card.” Of course, I corrected him. I could of won if he didn’t play so slow, but that’s not his fault and I shouldn’t take it against him. I think people take advantage of him at times too. But I’ll take an honest draw any day over a dishonest win.

Match 1-1-1, Record 3-0-1

In the end, there was a three way tie for 1st. The other guys playing for 1st & 2nd had a draw as well. The weird thing was that Hanie and I were playing for 3rd & 4th but he dropped down and got 6th or 7th place, I don’t quite remember. I won 7 boosters but went home with 6. There was this Hmong kid there about 14 years old that kept on following me around. I think the kid went 0-4, but he kept on talking to me, plus I was there alone, so I talked to him as well. I think he was the younger brother of my first opponent Xai Lee. After the prizes were handed out, he wanted to play against me but I said that I had to go home, so I gave him a booster.

Some things I learned while there:
1. Even when your Vivid lands have no charge counters, your Reflecting Pool still gives you any mana of your choice. Even if you only have a Springjack Pasture, your Reflecting pool still gives you any mana of your choice! Cool!
2. Guess who plays TNM at the Source? IAN!!! I wanted to play Ian but never got a chance to. About half of my cards I got from him. Too funny!
3. I received 7 points of damage from 1 Murdereous Redcap in one turn! My opponent, Bill, Nameless Inversion’ed a Murderous Redcap to do 6 damage. Even though the Redcap dies from the Inverson, it’s ability still happens because it’s already on the stack, and it uses its it’s current status (formerly a 2/2, now a 5/-1) to do 5 points of direct damage. When the Redcap returned into play with its Persist ability my opponent then removed the -1/-1 counter with his Quillspike to have it do not 1 but now 2 more points of damage. Totaling 7 points of damage!
4. You can regenerate a creature even though it hasn’t received lethal damage. It’s like a floating ability, IF the creature receives lethal damage, it regenerates and becomes tapped. IF IT DOESN’T receive lethal damage, then nothing happens.
5. When a persist creatures hits the graveyard, it’s persist ability stacks and when it stacks, IF YOU CAN REMOVE IT with cards like Necrogenesis, then it does not return back into play because it’s RFG’d (removed from the game). One guy kept on doing this to my Kitchen Finks.
6. The first rule of M:TG is to have fun. Have fun by winning, by losing, by learning from your mistakes, by being on top of the ball in your decisions, by making new friends. Have fun.
7. I got to practice honesty and generosity at TNM. How weird but cool at the same time!