Zvi's Day 3 Worlds Report - MBC

**Ah, day three, the Meatgrinder. At least, that’s how I looked at it. Six rounds, single elimination, if I make it through I’m in the top 8. And I was ready. While I had previously been unhappy with my choices in MBC, Seth Burn had recommended a deck we later named Forgotten Waters. I looked at the decklist, and saw a lot that I liked. But what I didn’t like was the mana curve. There’s a limit to how many four casting cost cards one deck can play. I convinced him to take out Stinging Barrier and otherwise fix the curve, putting in more things to do turn two and turn three, and what emerged was this amazing listing:

Round 13: Dirk Baberowski, B/w Control

I already knew this, but Dirk makes it abundantly clear while we’re waiting to start that he does NOT like mbc. He’s playing a B/w control deck with Primevil Shambler, Chilling Apparition and Ascendant Evincar as his three creatures. His white is Disenchant, Seal of Cleansing and Topple. He may have had others but I didn’t see them. Anyway, he takes game one by removing all my creatures and taking me out with a Primevil Shambler. This turns out to be one matchup where I don’t have enough cards to sideboard in, and I leave two Rising Waters in that I’d prefer to be without. Still, I’m happy to get the Armors, the Lenses and the Bribery. Game two involves me trading a lot of creatures for a lot of removal and having one still there when the smoke clears, which went in for the kill. Game three I don’t have one left when it clears, and he’s got down a Chilling Apparition but he’s taken some damage. I lose a few mana sources as we go into topdeck mode, and I come up with the Bribery. I go for Ascendant Evincar and it goes all the way.

Round 14: Gerrardo Godinez, White control

Game one I had to use Troublesome Spirit to stabilize, and I didn’t have an Eye or Bouncer so I couldn’t lay Rising Waters. He had down Story Circle to stop my attack. Then he played Predator, Flagship and holding Waters wasn’t an option for much longer. But I couldn’t get through, and Predator killed off the Spirits one by one over many turns. I think about siding out Waters but decide that’s impossible against a deck with Predator in it. So of course he gets down an Aura Fracture I can’t stop quickly, then follows it up with Story Circle and Predator, Flagship with six lands and a Tooth of Ramos. So I lose, right?

Nope. I had mulliganed, but I’d found the one card that could save me: That good old Bribery. I was going to go with two of them, but someone who shall remain nameless convinced me I wouldn’t need them since we would go with Outriggers against B/G. Big mistake. But I had the one Bribery, and out came a Jeweled Spirit right before the Predator. I knew long term this game was over, but if I could keep drawing lands I might be able to sneak it out before he could kill the Spirit. Here goes nothing. Every turn I would attack with everything, he’d spend five mana to kill Spirit and I’d sacrifice two lands to save it. The Spirit and some of the blue creatures would do damage to him. Finally it came down to whether I could draw a land in two turns to keep the Spirit one last turn, and I got it. Game three was an anti-climax, though, because he stalled on lands and I just went in for the kill.

Round 15: Casey McCarrel, U/B Nether Spirit

I know he’s playing U/B control with Nether Spirit, but I don’t know the details. Game one I start with a land heavy hand, usually good against control, but I draw nothing but more of it. I cast a Zeppelin, he counters, untaps and casts Rystic Scrying. At least he doesn’t have a Spirit to discard. I figure if I give him his mana I’m dead; all I have is one Zeppelin and he just discarded a Snuff Out. So I play Rising Waters, the other non-land card in my hand. Many, many turns later the Nether Spirits finally get discarded and then they go in for the kill. Casey remarks that "I considered putting Rising Waters in this deck, I seemed to work better under it than you." I admitted I was hoping he would counter it but that I had no choice. At any rate, those Waters were history. My plan was simple: Grab every creature I could and throw them at Casey, and hope he didn’t have the counters and removal to handle it. The plan worked. Game three I got lucky and found Bribery as well, so I got to take a Nether Spirit out of his deck (when he had one in play as well). Stalled on land, he couldn’t cast Dominate even if he had it (and I would have countered if he’d tried), so he was forced to trade Spirits and that was the game even if I hadn’t been going in for the kill anyway. His deck was full of card draw and answers but was super fragile: He must deal with every single creature I play with a separate card, or he loses.

Round 16: Kyle Rose, B/G (Feature Match)

Oh well, this day didn’t seem to be getting any easier. He took game one with a ton of black removal, showing Seal of Doom, Vendetta and Snuff Out. Sometimes they just draw too much and there’s nothing you can do. Game two I stalled at two lands and I thought it was all over. But all he had out was a Silt Crawler. I heard in the match write up he was slow playing, but I didn’t think he was at the time. I took one hit down to 17, then I used Submerge to buy time and try to stay above 15 for Blastoderm. A Blastoderm came out and did its 15 as I finally pulled out of the land stall. At some point it dawned on me how bad Rose’s draw was and that I might actually win, and after pumping out creature after creature I traded for everything he’d drawn and did. Game three it was his turn to stall on land, and I didn’t have a problem finding threats. A few Airships came over with support and it was over.

Round 17: Sigurd Eskeland, Pure Mirror (Feature Match)

We knew it was coming, we just didn’t want it to happen this round. But we had to play. I won the die roll and looked at my opening hand: Three bouncers and Rising Waters. Wow, that’s the best draw you can have if you get backup for the Waters. He played a Bouncer as well, I attacked to try and trade and he blocked. Out came Bouncer number two. He played another as well, and I attacked again. His comment was "don’t want to think," and I don’t think he realized that there’s a good shot I had number three the way I was acting. I did, and he didn’t have a third so he started playing flyers. Then I played Rath’s Edge and showed the other half, the Rising Waters. There was literally nothing he could do, except possibly put enough pressure on me by having Bouncer number three right away. He didn’t, and I returned his creatures and went in for the kill. Game two was also pretty lop sided. He went first, dropped a Bouncer and a Flowstone Armor I couldn’t deal with, and I didn’t have a good enough curve to put any pressure on him. He controlled the air and swept in for game two. Game three the differences in our sideboarding finally showed, as I had left in the Chimeric Idols and he had not. I played out two Idols on turns three and four, and he didn’t have a Bouncer. I was looking like the favorite to win on tempo from going first, as he had played a 3 power flyer every turn starting with turn three but nothing that could block on the ground. I used Gush looking for a Troublesome Spirit or Waterfront Bouncer to lock up the game, got a Spirit off it, and that kept the air force at bay while the tanks rolled in. I was one match away.

Round 18: Bob Maher, Jr., B/G (Feature Match)

Maher has 39 points to my 37, and I’d just as soon not play against the Great One (and my 4th PT Champion in a row for the day) when Top 8 is on the line. In addition, there were decks that I was a much bigger favorite against with 36 points; I was the only 37 and there were no 38s, and ranked 7th, so I had expected to be paired down. What was worse was that he could have drawn in (and possibly lose in) but I clearly could not. But I had zero chance with a draw so we had to play. But before we can do that, we get deck checked, so we sit around while he figures out his chances if he loses and we watch another match for Top 8, where the player I lost to in round 12 is playing for it with B/G against a rebel deck. Maher figures out he can do it if things break his way. When we’re shuffling again, I comment it would be great if we both make top eight, and he asks, "So you’re putting me on losing?"

Game one was the traditional way this deck loses to B/G without running into mana trouble or missing multiple drops. I didn’t have a second turn play, he went first, he had a good solid curve and a Snuff Out for my first creature. At this point, I needed to lay a defensive creature because I’d fallen behind, but all I could cast was a Zeppelin. They’re fine in the matchup, and it would end up winning the game for me if I could get his attack under control, but he had two more removal and that meant I couldn’t afford the loss of time and he marched in for the game. I did the same thing I did against Kyle Rose, again hedging my bets between Airship and Zeppelin. He again offers me a draw, which is probably worth about $1000 more than losing to me, but there’s no way I’d do that; I tell him to ask again if I’m about to lose. Game two he didn’t get land and I destroyed him quickly, so it came down to game three. One game to make the top eight.

I look at my opening hand, and I had two Islands, Bouncer, Gush, Daze and a three drop. If I drew my third land, I would be all set unless I couldn’t find any creatures. I cast a second turn Bouncer, he uses Vendetta to kill it, he puts down Chimeric Idol. I now had found Troublesome Spirit and Thwart as well, so I knew unless his hand was amazing it would come down to this turn. Draw an Island or Rath’s Edge and I was probably going to the top eight. I drew the top card and it was - Troublesome Spirit. All right, here goes. I tapped two Islands, returned them to my hand to cast Gush. If I get one of the two Eye of Ramos still in my deck I still have a decent shot. I draw the third Island as the second card, but no Eye. I lay a Chimeric Idol to try and trade with his, and discard a Bribery I’d probably not get to cast in time. The Great One plays a Blastoderm. I return my only Island and Daze. I replay the Island. He plays Saproling Burst and I Daze. I replay the Island. He plays Saproling Burst. I Daze again! How many more threats can he have? I’m still at 20, he’s just used up five of his threat spells, and now I have the hand to compete if I can just get my lands onto the table. I untap and draw Waterfront Bouncer: Suddenly I think I’m actually going to win. He untaps and plays - Thrashing Wumpus.

Anything but that. Anything but that. Now I need a Submerge in the next few cards, or the life lead he’ll get before I can lay a blocker will win him the game. I get down Troublesome Spirit with two more in my hand to maybe start putting pressure on him, but he has Vendetta for it. If I use Thwart to stop it, I can’t lay lands in time to get a decent air force and the Wumpus will kill me. I realize that the only way to win if I don’t Thwart now is to Thwart the Wumpus next turn, so I don’t mind fingering three of my Islands. Maher says "that’s the look of a man who’s going to Thwart", but I couldn’t do that and win so I let it die. I now have only one chance: I have to draw Submerge, use it on Thrashing Wumpus, play Troublesome Spirit, use Thwart on Thrashing Wumpus, untap, lay a second Spirit when I get four mana again, and hopefully fly over for the kill before he finds another Wumpus or Burst. Still, if I draw the Submerge that scenario is actually likely. But I draw, and it’s not Submerge. We shake, and he goes on to the top eight. I expect to end up about 12th, but because of an intentional draw between Humpherys and Clegg and one other match I end up 10th. I look at what I get for that, and think to myself, hey, I just made the US National Team! I was upset about not pulling off what Maher called "The Impossible Dream", but when you go into day 3 in 50th you really can’t get that upset about 10th.

So that was it - I was one Island short. I find out later that Maher’s opening hand only had two land in it, and no threats that cost less than four mana. Those are the breaks. The next day, I watch some of the team competition and help Maher prepare for his quarterfinal match for a while until I just can’t watch any more Magpile against Tinker. I write a feature match for the Sideboard in the last round and get a great match to watch and write up (that’s why they call him the Mauler). The next day, I cover Maher’s quarterfinal since I’d watched so much of his practice and I considered it the most interesting quarterfinal matchup. Maher makes the finals to become Pro Tour Player of the Year, we get to see Darwin Kastle waving a German flag in the semi-finals, and the best player in the world, Jon Finkel, wins the World Championship in a great final.

The team final was - something else. I won’t get into the details here, but I saw what I saw and what I saw I can only explain one way. But in spite of everything the USA pulled it out. After that, we got into a long discussion about Magic theory, and I woke up about an hour and a half after I’d planned to, with that same amount of time to get to the flight, but I made it with about ten minutes to spare thanks to a brilliant taxi driver. As a nice bonus, Gab Tsang and Gary Krakower were on the plane, and it was more than half empty. So, to sum up -

Just wait ‘till next year!

- Zvi Mowshowitz

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