Arsenal
06-06-2014, 04:30 PM
My LGS started to run the SCG IQ Series last Saturday. We normally fire FNM Modern with 20-30 players, so I was anticipating a similar turnout for the IQ. We fired with 20 players, so that meant 5 rounds of Swiss, then cut to Top 8.
I’ve played UWR for the last 1.5 years to moderate success, but switched to Melira Pod after GP Minneapolis as I believe Melira Pod is the best deck in Modern currently and allows a bit more wiggle room to “play”.
This is the 75 that I registered:
Main
1 Viscera Seer
1 Spellskite
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Spike Feeder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Shriekmaw
1 Reveillark
1 Archangel of Thune
2 Voice of Resurgence
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Birthing Pod
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Chord of Calling
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Forest
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
Side
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Path to Exile
1 Sin Collector
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Round 1: Storm
Game 1: My opponent is unfamiliar with the format as well as his deck, so I’m able to seize the opportunity and deploy beater after beater while he struggles to assemble his combo. Scavenging Ooze is particularly strong here as I’m able to effectively turn off his newly cast Pyromancer’s Ascension by eating the majority of his yard cards. I turn green dudes sideways until he’s dead.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Linvala, -2 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Spellskite, -1 Shriekmaw. +4 Thoughseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Harmonic Sliver.
Game 2: I was able to land an early Birthing Pod and was able to not die until I Pod-chain into Eidolon of Rhetoric. He reads the card, does some thinking, surveys the board, and then scoops. This card is just brutal if it gets on board versus Storm.
1-0 Matches, 2-0 Games.
Round 2: Amulet Combo
Game 1: My opponent opens with the nuts and Hive Mind-Pact combo kills me while I cannot interact with him in any meaningful way. I don’t sweat it too much as I know that I’m a bit of a dog to combo Game 1, but gain significant % points on them postboard.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Spellskite, -1. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch.
Game 2: I open with a disruptive hand of Thoughseize, lands and Eternal Witness. Snap keep. My hand plays out as it should and I pick apart his hand while deploying beaters. He is never able to assemble the combo or even a reasonable defense to my dudes.
Game 3: He keeps a solid hand, albeit a bit slow. He casts Azuza, lays his extra lands, then I Abrupt Decay it eot. From there, I Thoughseize his Primeval Titan, leaving him with no action in hand and relying on topdecks. Mine are better than his and I attack him dead.
2-0 Matches, 4-1 Games.
Round 3: Red Deck Wins
Game 1: My opponent mulligans to 5 cards and is on the play. He goes “Mountain -> Suspend Rift Bolt, pass”. My heart smiles a bit knowing that he doesn’t have 20 point of damage left in his hand. He’s never able to threaten my life total and I’m able to beat him with green dudes.
Sideboarding: -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer. +1 Thrun, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +1 Scavenging Ooze.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans to 6 and proceeds to do what RDW does. There’s a point in the game where he casts Torpor Orb and I have a Finks in hand. I eot Abrupt Decay it, then proceed to cast Finks. I go from 4 life to 10 life via Finks and Spike Feeder and never look back.
3-0 Matches, 6-1 Games.
Round 4: UWR Control
Game 1: My opponent cannot answer my Birthing Pod and I’m able to chain into value creatures that he has no effective answer for. I did not see a sweeper from him, so I assume he didn’t run any maindeck or just never saw it. I kill him with turning dudes sideways.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Shriekmaw, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -2 Abrupt Decay, -1 Chord of Calling. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Path to Exile.
Game 2: My opponent has an aggressive hand that allows him to be the aggressor with multiple burn spells and multiple Snapcasters. There comes a point in the game where he has lethal attack on board, 1 card in hand. I have NOTHING on board and 2 cards in hand. He alpha strikes, but his Snapcaster meets my Path and his Colonnade meets my Slaughter Pact. I proceed to topdeck into the nuts and resolve Birthing Pod, creature -> chain into Voice, chain into Finks. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
4-0 Matches, 8-1 Games.
Round 5: UWR Midrange
As the only 4-0 players left, we elect to ID into the Top 8.
Top 8: Scapeshift
Game 1: As I played against this player the night before at FNM, we are familiar with each other. He’s playing a straight GR version of Scapeshift that focuses a bit more on ramping and removal.
He absolutely blows me out with Volcanic Fallout with my +1/+1 Pontiff trigger on the stack onto a board of Finks and Eternal Witness, thinking I’m going to swing for big money. He then lands a Scavenging Ooze, eats all of my dudes, attacks me, resolves Prismatic Omen, then a massive Scapeshift for the ultra rub-ins.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Shriekmaw, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Chord of Calling, -1 Birds of Paradise, -1 Spellskite. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Harmonic Sliver, +1 Thrun, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Path to Exile.
Game 2: I open with a disruptive hand of Thoughtseize and Sin Collector. I Thoughtseize him and see 2x Anger of the Gods and a Volcanic Fallout. Yowza. I take an Anger with Thoughtseize. I then cast Sin Collector turn 3 and take the other Anger, leaving him with Volcanic Fallout and he’s now drawn Primeval Titan, but can’t cast it just yet. He casts Fallout, wiping my board. I rip Eternal Witness, get my Thoughtseize back, grab his Titan, then proceed to topeck into Finks and Township. He draws no gas and dies.
Game 3: I open with on-curve dudes and a Township. I keep, thinking that my avenue of victory is to just deploy dudes, pump them out of sweeper range, and force him to have the combo. This bears out and I have 4-5 dudes on board with an active Township while he draws nothing but ramp spells, but no Scapeshift and no Primeval Titan.
1-0 Matches, 2-1 Games in Top 8.
Top 4: GW Boggles
Game 1: He’s on the play and opens with turn 1 Hexproof dude. I realize that I must focus on the combo in order to win this game, so I craft multiple turns of casting Finks, Chording for Melira, playing Eternal Witness for Chord, then Chording for Viscera Seer. My opponent has 1 card in hand, I’m at 1 life when I Chord for 1… he has the Path to Exile and I lose. This loss stung.
Sideboarding: -2 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Linvala, -1 Shriekmaw. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Harmonic Sliver.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans down to 5, presumably to find a threat. He keeps and I turn 1 Thoughtseize him. I grab his only threat, a Qasali Pridemage, and he’s pretty much dead in the water for the rest of the game. I cast Spellskite, Finks and he scoops.
Game 3: My opponent opens with turn 1 Hexproof dude. His turn 2 he plays Rancor x 2, attacking me for 5. I Thoughseize him, see 2 Pridemage and lands, so I grab a Pridemage. Turn 3 sees him cast the Pridemage, attacking me for 6. My turn 3 I cast Pontiff, killing his Hexproof dude, but his Rancors return, he re-plays them both on Pridemage and I die. Had he not had 3 creatures in his opening hand, I think I could have stabilized as I was holding my own Pridemage and Harmonic Sliver with Birthing Pod, but alas, it was not to be.
1-1 Matches, 3-3 Games in Top 8. I finish in 3rd Place good for $50, some SCG goodies like a playmat and pins.
Overall, I was happy with my performance and my build. I felt comfortable playing it throughout the day, liked the versatility of it and was amazed at how well it could navigate itself out of hairy situations. Not bad for a month of Melira Pod under my belt.
I’ve played UWR for the last 1.5 years to moderate success, but switched to Melira Pod after GP Minneapolis as I believe Melira Pod is the best deck in Modern currently and allows a bit more wiggle room to “play”.
This is the 75 that I registered:
Main
1 Viscera Seer
1 Spellskite
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Spike Feeder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Shriekmaw
1 Reveillark
1 Archangel of Thune
2 Voice of Resurgence
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Birthing Pod
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Chord of Calling
1 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Forest
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacombs
Side
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Thoughtseize
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Path to Exile
1 Sin Collector
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Round 1: Storm
Game 1: My opponent is unfamiliar with the format as well as his deck, so I’m able to seize the opportunity and deploy beater after beater while he struggles to assemble his combo. Scavenging Ooze is particularly strong here as I’m able to effectively turn off his newly cast Pyromancer’s Ascension by eating the majority of his yard cards. I turn green dudes sideways until he’s dead.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Linvala, -2 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Spellskite, -1 Shriekmaw. +4 Thoughseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Harmonic Sliver.
Game 2: I was able to land an early Birthing Pod and was able to not die until I Pod-chain into Eidolon of Rhetoric. He reads the card, does some thinking, surveys the board, and then scoops. This card is just brutal if it gets on board versus Storm.
1-0 Matches, 2-0 Games.
Round 2: Amulet Combo
Game 1: My opponent opens with the nuts and Hive Mind-Pact combo kills me while I cannot interact with him in any meaningful way. I don’t sweat it too much as I know that I’m a bit of a dog to combo Game 1, but gain significant % points on them postboard.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Spellskite, -1. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch.
Game 2: I open with a disruptive hand of Thoughseize, lands and Eternal Witness. Snap keep. My hand plays out as it should and I pick apart his hand while deploying beaters. He is never able to assemble the combo or even a reasonable defense to my dudes.
Game 3: He keeps a solid hand, albeit a bit slow. He casts Azuza, lays his extra lands, then I Abrupt Decay it eot. From there, I Thoughseize his Primeval Titan, leaving him with no action in hand and relying on topdecks. Mine are better than his and I attack him dead.
2-0 Matches, 4-1 Games.
Round 3: Red Deck Wins
Game 1: My opponent mulligans to 5 cards and is on the play. He goes “Mountain -> Suspend Rift Bolt, pass”. My heart smiles a bit knowing that he doesn’t have 20 point of damage left in his hand. He’s never able to threaten my life total and I’m able to beat him with green dudes.
Sideboarding: -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer. +1 Thrun, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +1 Scavenging Ooze.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans to 6 and proceeds to do what RDW does. There’s a point in the game where he casts Torpor Orb and I have a Finks in hand. I eot Abrupt Decay it, then proceed to cast Finks. I go from 4 life to 10 life via Finks and Spike Feeder and never look back.
3-0 Matches, 6-1 Games.
Round 4: UWR Control
Game 1: My opponent cannot answer my Birthing Pod and I’m able to chain into value creatures that he has no effective answer for. I did not see a sweeper from him, so I assume he didn’t run any maindeck or just never saw it. I kill him with turning dudes sideways.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Shriekmaw, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -2 Abrupt Decay, -1 Chord of Calling. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Path to Exile.
Game 2: My opponent has an aggressive hand that allows him to be the aggressor with multiple burn spells and multiple Snapcasters. There comes a point in the game where he has lethal attack on board, 1 card in hand. I have NOTHING on board and 2 cards in hand. He alpha strikes, but his Snapcaster meets my Path and his Colonnade meets my Slaughter Pact. I proceed to topdeck into the nuts and resolve Birthing Pod, creature -> chain into Voice, chain into Finks. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
4-0 Matches, 8-1 Games.
Round 5: UWR Midrange
As the only 4-0 players left, we elect to ID into the Top 8.
Top 8: Scapeshift
Game 1: As I played against this player the night before at FNM, we are familiar with each other. He’s playing a straight GR version of Scapeshift that focuses a bit more on ramping and removal.
He absolutely blows me out with Volcanic Fallout with my +1/+1 Pontiff trigger on the stack onto a board of Finks and Eternal Witness, thinking I’m going to swing for big money. He then lands a Scavenging Ooze, eats all of my dudes, attacks me, resolves Prismatic Omen, then a massive Scapeshift for the ultra rub-ins.
Sideboarding: -1 Murderous Redcap, -1 Melira, -1 Viscera Seer, -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Shriekmaw, -1 Orzhov Pontiff, -1 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Chord of Calling, -1 Birds of Paradise, -1 Spellskite. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Sin Collector, +1 Entomber Exarch, +1 Harmonic Sliver, +1 Thrun, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Path to Exile.
Game 2: I open with a disruptive hand of Thoughtseize and Sin Collector. I Thoughtseize him and see 2x Anger of the Gods and a Volcanic Fallout. Yowza. I take an Anger with Thoughtseize. I then cast Sin Collector turn 3 and take the other Anger, leaving him with Volcanic Fallout and he’s now drawn Primeval Titan, but can’t cast it just yet. He casts Fallout, wiping my board. I rip Eternal Witness, get my Thoughtseize back, grab his Titan, then proceed to topeck into Finks and Township. He draws no gas and dies.
Game 3: I open with on-curve dudes and a Township. I keep, thinking that my avenue of victory is to just deploy dudes, pump them out of sweeper range, and force him to have the combo. This bears out and I have 4-5 dudes on board with an active Township while he draws nothing but ramp spells, but no Scapeshift and no Primeval Titan.
1-0 Matches, 2-1 Games in Top 8.
Top 4: GW Boggles
Game 1: He’s on the play and opens with turn 1 Hexproof dude. I realize that I must focus on the combo in order to win this game, so I craft multiple turns of casting Finks, Chording for Melira, playing Eternal Witness for Chord, then Chording for Viscera Seer. My opponent has 1 card in hand, I’m at 1 life when I Chord for 1… he has the Path to Exile and I lose. This loss stung.
Sideboarding: -2 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Linvala, -1 Shriekmaw. +4 Thoughtseize, +1 Harmonic Sliver.
Game 2: My opponent mulligans down to 5, presumably to find a threat. He keeps and I turn 1 Thoughtseize him. I grab his only threat, a Qasali Pridemage, and he’s pretty much dead in the water for the rest of the game. I cast Spellskite, Finks and he scoops.
Game 3: My opponent opens with turn 1 Hexproof dude. His turn 2 he plays Rancor x 2, attacking me for 5. I Thoughseize him, see 2 Pridemage and lands, so I grab a Pridemage. Turn 3 sees him cast the Pridemage, attacking me for 6. My turn 3 I cast Pontiff, killing his Hexproof dude, but his Rancors return, he re-plays them both on Pridemage and I die. Had he not had 3 creatures in his opening hand, I think I could have stabilized as I was holding my own Pridemage and Harmonic Sliver with Birthing Pod, but alas, it was not to be.
1-1 Matches, 3-3 Games in Top 8. I finish in 3rd Place good for $50, some SCG goodies like a playmat and pins.
Overall, I was happy with my performance and my build. I felt comfortable playing it throughout the day, liked the versatility of it and was amazed at how well it could navigate itself out of hairy situations. Not bad for a month of Melira Pod under my belt.