Of course. I played in Day 1 of the Open too so I'll post a report for that event later. In the Classic I faced:
Matchups:
0-2 vs. Storm
2-0 vs. Grixis Control
2-0 vs. Burn
2-0 vs. Lands
2-0 vs. D&T
2-0 vs. D&T again
2-1 vs. U/W Delver-Blade
0-2 vs. U/B Death's Shadow (top 8)
The card choices are mostly typical for C/g builds with three exceptions:
- New Kozilek over Old Kozilek. Old Kozilek dies too easily to StP and does not always draw enough cards. Often I have no cards in hand and new Kozilek is a better topdeck in that situation. New Kozilek is also uniquely helpful against Burn (discard Wail to counter Price) and with all the deck's 1-drops usually protects itself against StP. I've played the new version for a few months now and I don't think I've ever lost a game after drawing 7 with it.
- 1 From Beyond. With 4 Wails there is one flex slot left, and I wanted a card that could act as a removal spell, threaten planeswalkers, and be another win condition when topdecking. I went 5-4 in Day 1 of the Open on Saturday with Walking Ballista in this slot and was not impressed. Kolaghan's Command and StP deal with Ballista too efficiently and pinging the opponent in response is virtually never relevant since when you win you do not care about their life total. Also, in order to have a relevant number of counters Ballista usually has to be cast for 6 or 8 mana which is not always possible. From Beyond provides a stream of chump blockers (thereby acting like a removal spell), the Scions can attack planeswalkers, and obviously you can sacrifice it to search for an Eldrazi. Also relevant is that From Beyond tutors for All is Dust and is an additional card type for new Emrakul that even puts itself in the graveyard. From Beyond was responsible for winning a game against Grixis Control and another against D&T.
- 1 sideboard Thought-Knot Seer. This is for snagging counterspells against control and disrupting combo. In particular, removing a Price of Progress while turtling behind Glacial Chasm and removing Emrakuls after a Show and Tell into Omniscience.
Match Reports:
Round 1: (Storm)
Game 1: I mulligan to 5 with multiple Cloudposts and an old Emrakul. He mulligans to 6 and takes some time to set up, but I draw green cards with no Forests.
-3 Pithing Needle, -2 Ugin, -3 Maze, -1 From Beyond, -1 Ulamog, -1 All is Dust
+2 Ratchet Bomb, +2 Sphere, +2 Trinisphere, +1 TKS, +3 Surgical, +1 Depths
Game 2: I mulligan to 6 and keep 2 Forest, Trinishere, Crop Rotation, Surgical, Depths. I don't find a third mana source before he Duresses the Trinisphere, but I eventually draw all three Surgicals. I extract some cantrips to cut off threshold on some Cabal Rituals, but as a result he gets to hard-cast Tendrils putting me to 2 with a second Tendrils in hand. He goes for it but I have Crop Rotation for Glimmerpost to go to 1. Unfortunately I topdeck nothing useful while he gets Infernal Tutor for Ad Nauseam and combos off.
Round 2: (Grixis Control)
Game 1: I get Hymned down to zero cards in hand, but he does not find Force of Will for my topdecked Ugin which proceeds to take over the game. Tabernacle eats two Gurmag Anglers.
-1 Needle, +1 Spyglass
I make this switch against control because the peek effect on Spyglass makes it more likely to bait a counterspell, and the information can be valuable.
Game 2: He has no early discard and just plays Baleful Strixes into Jace, but does not counter From Beyond. He opts not to attack with the Strixes in order to protect Jace, and an Ugin exiles his board before dying to Bolt. He has another Jace but no blockers so he fateseals me so the Jace won't die to Eldrazi Scions. Scions peck Jace down to 3 and two of them pay for a Spell Pierce so that a second Ugin resolves and bolts away the Jace. Kozilek cleans up.
Round 3: (Burn)
Game 1: I am on the draw, mulligan to 6, and keep a Cloudpost on top, which Goblin Guide puts in my hand. Fortunately I have two Candelabras so after turtling with Glacial Chasm + Thespian's Stage I have the mana to cast Ugin to clear his board and Kozilek to provide action and protection. I have a Chasm-Stage which I turn into a Cloudpost so that I can attack him. In combat he attempts to Searing Blaze Kozilek for the win but I pitch a Warping Wail to counter it.
-1 Bog, -1 Maze, -1 Tabernacle, -3 Needle, -1 From Beyond, -1 Wail
+2 Trinisphere, +3 Krosan Grip, +1 Thought-Knot Seer, +1 Dark Depths, +1 Sphere of Resistance
Sphere of Resistance is not great against Burn, but it costs 2 so Kozilek can counter Price with it.
Game 2: He has a slow hand (due to bringing in Ensnaring Bridge) so I manage to stabilize at 12 life with a TKS removing a Fireblast. I Map for Eye of Ugin which is my 5th nonbasic, so he Prices me on the end of my turn. In response I search for Kozilek, then Rotate the Eye into a Chasm and turtle for a couple of turns. Kozilek draws me into Ulamog + Karakas so I go after his lands and he scoops.
Round 4: (Lands)
Game 1: This is a name-recognized SCG player and I know what he is likely to be playing. He plays a Forest and passes, I do the same. He plays a Stage, I do the same. He Wastelands the Stage and I let it happen, then I Rotate for Bog in response to Loam on Wasteland. He has a second Wasteland but decides to copy his own Forest rather than destroy the Bog in response to my Pithing Needle, which names Wasteland. This mistake cost him the game, as I was eventually able to Vesuva-Bog away his Loam, Depths, and singleton Ghost Quarter while gaining enough life to survive Marit Lage. He tries to Punishing-Fire me but I have an Ugin ticking up and a Kozilek to draw more action, while all he has to stop me are Ports. Somehow I never find a Candelabra but it doesn't matter as he concedes the match in order (so I was told) to go to a football game.
Round 5: (D&T)
Game 1: I am always happy to see a T1 Mother of Runes. I get multiple Mazes and a Candelabra to hold off his creatures while I wait to draw a Forest to cast Crop Rotation for Eye of Ugin and the win. For some reason he gets Flickerwisps with Recruiter instead of Phyrexian Revoker to shut off Candelabras. I eventually draw New Emrakul to eat away at his board and he decides to go to the next game.
-1 Bog, -1 From Beyond, +1 Spyglass, +1 Grip
Game 2: He has multiple Ports which seriously constrain my mana, but he has little pressure. Eventually he assembles enough creatures that I Rotate a Maze into a Tabernacle to tie up his Ports, which allows me to clean up with All is Dust and then an Ugin to take out the leftover Revoker.
Round 6: (D&T)
Game 1: He has Wasteland, Port, and Vial but no serious threat. He Flickerwisps out my Needle in order to Wasteland a Cloudpost which keeps me off of threats for several turns, in which Maze + Candelabra works overtime. I have a Tabernacle in play and cast From Beyond, which I then sacrifice to get new Emrakul and make him not pay for his creatures, then put a Revoker on Vial. The game is not completely decided, but he scoops anyway.
-1 Bog, -1 From Beyond, +1 Spyglass, +1 Grip
Game 2: I have no Needle and he has a curve of creatures. I bait him into Wastelanding a Maze so that I can Rotate it into a Cloudpost and start ramping, and copy it with a Stage before it gets Wastelanded. I Vesuva the Cloudpost-Stage and then he Surgicals my Cloudposts, but I have a Candelabra so all is well. I Eye for Ulamog to exile his Ports, and he knows from the Surgical that I also have New Emrakul so he scoops.
Round 7: (U/W Delver-Blade)
Game 1: I am on the draw and mulligan to 5 whereas he blind-flips a T1 Delver and has 3 Wastelands. Having no Needles, I lose.
-1 From Beyond, -1 Wail, +1 Ratchet Bomb, +1 Grip
I expect that he has Back to Basics and I know he has TNN, so I bring Grip for the former and Bomb for both.
Game 2: I am light on mana but Wail away his T1 Delver, after which he has little pressure. He does have a Back to Basics which leaves me with two Forests as mana sources, and a Wasteland for my one Cloudpost. I have Ratchet Bomb in hand but wait to cast it until I have a third mana in order to hold up Crop Rotation for the Wasteland, but after Vendilion Clique arrives I decide to take the risk and tap out for Bomb. For some reason he Wastelands my Tabernacle instead of the Cloudpost, and over three turns I tick up the Bomb and get two more Cloudposts. Bomb takes out the clique and the Back to Basics, allowing me to cast New Emrakul to make him waste his threats.
-1 Wail, +1 Grip
Having now seen Back to Basics I want some more action and Warping Wail is worse on the draw when its main target is Delver.
Game 3: I resolve a T1 Needle and have Maze to hold off his Delver. He lands a Jace and starts fatesealing, but I have an Ugin in hand so when he Ponders with two cards in hand I Rotate a Forest in response which he (correctly) Forces pitching the other card. As a result he can't counter the Ugin which cleans up his board, then Kozilek finishes the job (protecting himself from a StP and a Council's Judgment).
Quarterfinals: (U/B Shadow)
Game 1: I am the fifth seed so I'm on the draw. He has a bunch of cantrips and two Wastelands for Cloudposts, but two Mazes hold off his two creatures. He has counterspells for the All is Dust and the Ugin, so the third threat is too much for the Mazes.
-2 Wail, +1 Spyglass, +1 Dark Depths
Game 2: I put T1 Needle on Wasteland, then attempt to Wail away his 1/1 Death's Shadow but he protects it with Daze. I again get two Mazes to hold off two Delvers, but he cantrips away all his other cards for an additional two Shadows and an Angler. I Map for Chasm but find no action in time.
Thoughts:
- From Beyond is very good in its role.
- Storm seems to be less common than before, and Sphere of Resistance is in the sideboard for basically that matchup and Food Chain. I plan to replace one Sphere with a third Trinisphere and use the new sideboard slot for something that's good against Death's Shadow.
- 3 Warping Wails might be OK.
