Hey everyone,
last Saturday the Season 12 Finals of the Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS) took place. Since I had either missed or failed the finals of previous months, I was looking forward to this last one, especially because it was Legacy!
I've been playing Sneak and Show at basically every large/important tournament for the past three years, so the deck choice was quite clear for me. I was close to breaking up with the deck after a disastrous GP Seattle performance, but that couldn't make me forget all the good times we've had (especially GP New Jersey, where old Sneaky helped me qualify for my first ever Pro Tour), so after some ventures into more fair strategies directly after GPSeaTac, I returned to old faithful.
I spent most of November grinding QPs (Qualifier Points), of which you need 35 to enter the MOCS Finals. At the end of season 12 I ended up on 51 QPs, had tuned my list to what I hoped was close to perfection, and therefore felt well prepared to crush this tournament!
You can read my thoughts about current configurations of Sneak and Show in the corresponding thread.
This is the list I played:
Unfortunately, the first 6 rounds are missing from my replay history, so please excuse me if I remember some details incorrectly.
191 MTGO grinders, 8 rounds + Top 8, let's go!
Round 1 UG 12 post
I barely remember anything from game 1, except that I won rather quickly via Sneak Attack.
In game 2 my opponent resolves a Needle on Sneak Attack and naturally draws their Karakas, which should be pretty close to a lock. I break the "lock" by EOT casting Wipe Away on Karakas and putting an Emrakul into play with Through the Breach, wiping the board clean and winning with Sneak Attack a few turns later.
2-0 in games
1-0 in matches
Round 2 Esper Blade
Game 1 I resolve an early Sneak Attack after I get Thoughtseized. I struggle to find a creature while my opponent develops their board with Jace, Stoneforge Mystic and Karakas. The turn after Jace resolves, I manage to find an Emrakul, wiping a large part of the board. I Preordain into a second Emrakul a turn later.
Game 2 I cast Misdirection on Thoughtseize and see that my opponent only has Swan Song as permission. I cast a Show and Tell into their Swan Song (I get a shiny foil Swan from the foil Swan Song) and Sneak an Emrakul into play a few turns afterwards.
4-0 in games
2-0 in matches
Round 3 Miracles
Game 1 I keep a strong hand with two or three enablers. Unfortunately, my opponent has two Force of Wills and a Counterspell (if I recall correctly), and eventually assembles Countertop with Jace. I don't remember how I died, might have been Snapcaster/Clique beats or Angel tokens.
Game 2 I have an early combo with double counter-backup.
Game 3 is hilarious:
6-1 in games
3-0 in matches
Round 4 Merfolk
Game 1 my opponent only has Cursecatcher and True-Name Nemesis as early-game creatures, which is far too slow of a clock against me. I assemble a FoW-protected Sneak Attack with 3 open mana by turn 4 or 5.
Game 2 takes a long time and ends with me casting Show and Tell on 4 life, putting Griselbrand into play. My opponent puts in a Master of the Pearl Trident that I knew about, making the two Mutavaults lethal. Luckily, the last card I have in hand is Red Elemental Blast.
8-1 in games
4-0 in matches
Round 5 Grixis Delver
I barely remember anything from games 1 and 2, but it probably was the usual back-and-forth of him trying to clock me while having enough permission. Game 3 he has Double Force of Will for my protected Show and Tell and is close to killing me. On the last turn before I die (we're both basically hellbent) I topdeck Show and Tell and Griselbrand saves the game for me.
10-2 in games
5-0 in matches
Round 6 BUG Delver
Game 1 he has two Hymns and 1 Thoughtseize and draws a timely Force of Will to prevent a comeback.
Game 2 I get Thoughtseized (discarding Blood Moon) and Cliqued, taking Misdirection from my hand of Show and Tell - Emrakul - Misdirection. I didn't want to cast Show and Tell into Emrakul without a blue card for Misdirection or counter-backup for Liliana. I draw Volcanic Island from Clique and get Hymned on my opponent's following turn, leaving me with only Volcanic Island in hand. I can't recover from that.
10-4 in games
5-1 in matches
I have replays from the following rounds, so the report will get much more detailed from now on.
Round 7 Infect (Hall of Famer Olle Rade)
Game 1 on the draw I mulligan to a 6-card-hand with Sneak Attack, Force of Will, Brainstorm, Ponder, Emrakul, Volcanic Island.
He mulls to 5 and plays a turn 1 Glistener Elf. I draw Show and Tell and cast Ponder, which he Dazes. On his turn 2 he replays the Tropical Island, attacks me for 1 Poison counter and passes. I draw another Ponder, it resolves and I pass the turn with an untapped Island in play and Ancient Tomb on top, certain to be able to win on my next turn via FoW-protected Show and Tell.
He brainstorms on his main phase, puts me to 2 Poison and plays Dryad Arbor. On my turn 3 I cast Show and Tell with Volcanic Island open. He dazes, I pay, Show and Tell resolves. I put Emrakul into play, he gets a Blighted Agent. I still have Force of Will in hand to deny any Invigorate+Berserk plans, but he concedes anyway.
Game 2 I mulligan again, keeping a hand of 3 fetch-lands, Ponder, Preordain and Sneak Attack. I scry and keep Blood Moon on top. He has the Turn 1 Glistener Elf again.
I Ponder into Emrakul+Show and Tell on my first turn, praying that I make it to turn 3.
Naturally, he has the turn 2 kill of Invigorate+Berserk.
Game 3 is a very exciting one. In real-life tournaments I'm usually very calm, but during this match I got very nervous.
I keep a hand of Brainstorm, Brainstorm, Ponder, Wipe Away, Ancient Tomb and two fetch-lands. Wipe Away has led to many blowouts against Infect before, so I hope it can carry this game.
I Ponder into Lotus Petal and Blood Moon, cast the Lotus Petal, leaving Blood Moon on top, and pass the turn. He casts Gitaxian Probe, which makes the Wipe Away much less exciting. His follow-up is a Misty Rainforest, no 1-drop - which is great for me - and a passing of the turn.
I draw the Blood Moon, play my second fetch-land and pass the turn. His lack of a turn 1 play heavily signals Spell Pierce, so I cast neither the Blood Moon nor a Brainstorm yet.
On his second turn Olle plays an Inkmoth Nexus before passing the turn. I Brainstorm EOT, hoping to find a counter to push through Blood Moon on my next turn.
Brainstorm draws me two Volcanic Islands and a Ponder, pretty dissapointing. I put back the two Volcs and fetch on my upkeep. I draw Griselbrand for the turn.
At this point I have a few different options. I could cast Blood Moon with two Mana open, playing around Spell Pierce. In hindsight that might have been the best play, but I was afraid of him countering the Moon and killing me on his next turn. So I decided to leave up Wipe Away and Ponder, to look for protection, an enabler or more mana-sources to be able to cast Blood Moon with Wipe Away as backup.
Ponder shows me Sneak Attack, Scalding Tarn, Ponder. I keep Sneak Attack on top, draw the Scalding Tarn, play Ancient Tomb (to conceal information and because I don't plan on Brainstorming anyway), and pass.
He plays Wastelandand uses it to destroy my Ancient Tomb, making his potential flurry of soft-counters a lot better and throwing me off my game-plan.
I draw Sneak Attack, play Scalding Tarn and pass with Brainstorm, Wipe Away, Sneak Attack, Blood Moon and Griselbrand in hand.
Olle plays a Forest and casts Noble Hierarch. Blood Moon will still shut off Inkmoth Nexus, but won't provide too much mana-denial anymore. I cast EOT Brainstorm into Emrakul, Sudden Shock and Ponder, putting back Emrakul and Ponder. I draw Ponder, fetch an Island and cast Ponder. I see Force of Will, Force of Will, Scalding Tarn. At this point my game-plan is still to build up a solid base of mana, until I have enough mana to resolve one of my high-impact spells with Sudden Shock as backup. I draw Scalding Tarn, leaving FoW on top, and pass the turn.
He plays another Wasteland (did not expect that out of Infect), wastes my Volcanic Island, which leaves me with two Islands, a Scalding Tarn and a Lotus Petal. He animates Inkmoth Nexus and attacks me for 2 Poison before passing the turn. I fetch the two Force of Wills away, since I need mana more than anything right now.
I draw my third Island, play it and cast Blood Moon with two mana open. At this point even if it resolves, it might not have as much impact as I'd want it to have, so I let his Daze (which heavily signals Spell Pierce) counter it.
Olle goes for Become Immense on Inkmoth Nexus on his next turn, to which I respond with Sudden Shock, killing the Moths. I resolve Sneak Attack on my next turn, while Olle Ponders into Blighted Agent. I untap, draw Emrakul, activate Sneak Attack, put Griselbrand into play, draw 7 cards, play Lotus Petal, put Emrakul into play and win the match.
12-5 in games
6-1 in matches
Round 8 Lands (Daryl Ayers) Win-and-in!
Game 1 is very uneventful. I keep a 7-card-hand on the play with 2 Sneak Attack, Emrakul, Griselbrand, Spell Pierce, Brainstorm, Island. Daryl mulls to 5. I play Island and pass the turn. He starts off with Mox Diamond (which I should have Spell Pierced) and Rishadan Port. I don't Brainstorm as he Ports me on my upkeep and draw a third Sneak Attack... He casts Exploration and plays Dark Depths + Thespian Stage on his turn 2. I Brainstorm-lock myself and get killed by Marit Lage two turns later.
Game 2 lasts 23 turns, so I won't describe it turn-by-turn.
Game 3 Daryl mulls to 4 and I have a turn 2 Sneak Attack powered by an Ancient Tomb and two Lotus Petals.
14-6 in games
7-1 in matches
I finish in third seed after Swiss. Daryl sneaks in as 8th, so we might get a rematch in the finals.
Quarterfinals BRg Reanimator
My opponent plays an interesting Reanimator list full of 4-ofs with A LOT of discard.
Game 1 I keep a turn 1 Griselbrand hand on the play, my opponent mulls to 6. I go for it, Griselbrand faces... nothing, and we move on to game 2.
Game 2 I keep a controlling hand of Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm, Preordain, Wipe Away, Lotus Petal, Island, Volcanic Island. My opponent starts off by revealing Chancellor of the Annex and Thoughtseizes Preordain away. I cast Lotus Petal into the Chancellor-trigger and pay for it. Over the next turns my opponent casts more discard spells, always taking the combo-pieces I drew, leaving Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm and Wipe Away in my hand for a long time.
He seemingly struggles to find a reanimation spell and uses 2 Faithless Lootings to dig through his deck.
Eventually, I find Grafdigger's Cage, which buys me enough time to find Sneak Attack for the win.
16-6 in games
8-1 in matches
Semifinals Miracles
I know what my opponent is on from previous encounters in Daily events. I won our last two matches (with BUG Delver and Sneak&Show) and got flamed heavily and needlessly after each of those matches, so I'm especially motivated to win.
I win the die roll and mulligan into a strong hand of Emrakul, Sneak Attack, Preordain, Force of Will, Scalding Tarn, City of Traitors. I scry Volcanic Island to the top, play Scalding Tarn, and pass the turn. He plays a Volcanic Island and passes.
I draw my own Volcanic Island, play it and pass the turn again, preparing for a FoW-protected Sneak Attack on my next turn. He plays an Island, jams Counterbalance, misses on the blind CB-trigger and gets annihilated a turn afterwards, losing his whole board of Counterbalance and three lands. I cast Preordain post-combat, drawing a Brainstorm. Emrakul dies, my Graveyard gets shuffled back into my library and I pass the turn.
Over the next few turns I draw a ton of counters, rewarding my choice of not Brainstorming without a fetch-land / another cantrip to avoid Brainstorm-locking myself. Eventually, I find a fetch-land and Brainstorm into another Emrakul.
Game 2 I have to mulligan two 0-land-hands away and keep an okay 5-card-hand of Brainstorm, REB, Griselbrand, Emrakul and Scalding Tarn.
The game goes on for longer than expected, but I only find two enablers in 15 turns, which get easily countered. He eventually assembles Countertop+Jace and beats me to death with a Vendilion Clique and an Ethersworn Canonist.
Game 3 I keep a solid hand of Island, Mountain, Misty Rainforest, Ancient Tomb, Omniscience, Brainstorm, Ponder. I Ponder into another Ponder, while he plays a Tundra and passes.
I fetch away the third card from the first Ponder (another land) and cast the second one. I see FoW, Spell Pierce, Sudden Shock and decide to keep them.
My opponent plays an Arid Mesa and passes, while I do the same with a Scalding Tarn. On the end of my turn he fetches and casts a Snapcaster Mage to put some pressure on my obviously slow draw.
On his turn he plays another land, attacks me, and passes.
I draw Sudden Shock, the third card from Ponder, play Mountain and pass the turn with Ancient Tomb, Omniscience, Brainstorm, Spell Pierce, FoW and Sudden Shock in hand. Brainstorm is by far the most valuable card in my hand at this point and I want to hold on to it as long as possible.
He swings with Snapcaster Mage, plays a 4th land and casts Ethersworn Canonist, which I kill with Sudden Shock on his end step.
I draw Show and Tell. He only has two mana open at this point, so my plan is to resolve Show and Tell this turn with double counter-backup (FoW+Pierce). I Brainstorm into Griselbrand, land and another FoW, put back the land and the FoW and cast Show and Tell with Spell Pierce, FoW, Omniscience and Griselbrand in hand.
He Counterspells my Show and Tell, I Spell Pierce his Counterspell, Show and Tell resolves. I decide to put Griselbrand instead of Omniscience into play, to play around Vendilion Clique / Venser off of Show and Tell.
My opponents puts another Ethersworn Canonist into play, which is extremely convenient for me and very bad for him as it allows me to counter his Jace and Entreat the Angels, which he attempts over the following two turns, without him being able to counter back.
He concedes as I Force of Will Entreat the Angels.
18-7 in games
9-1 in matches
Finals Elves (Andrew Cuneo)
Game 1 I keep a hand of Sneak Attack, Sneak Attack, Ponder, Brainstorm, Force of Will, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn on the play. I ponder into two Islands and 1 fetch-land, which I shuffle away, and draw a Brainstorm.
Andrew plays Verdant Catacombs, cracks it for Bayou and casts a Deathrite Shaman.
I draw Emrakul for the turn, play Scalding Tarn and pass.
Andrew casts Nettle Sentinel and Quirion Ranger on his turn, plays Windswept Heath, and passes the turn.
I Brainstorm eot, drawing Lotus Petal, Sneak Attack, Ponder. I put back two Sneak Attacks and crack the fetch, firing off another EOT Brainstorm to dig for a sol-land or a Show and Tell to annihilate Andrew on my turn. I find City of Traitors, Force of Will and another Lotus Petal, put back FoW and City of Traitors. I draw City of Traitors for the turn, cast Lotus Petal into Sneak Attack into Emrakul and pass the turn with FoW, FoW, Ponder in hand.
Andrew casts a GSZ for Dryad Arbor and passes the turn.
I draw another sol-land and find a second Emrakul in my Ponder to finish him off.
Game 2 I keep a mana-heavy, but potentially explosive hand of Ancient Tomb, Ancient Tomb, Misty Rainforest, Volcanic Island, Lotus Petal and Brainstorm. I hope to avoid a turn 1 Thoughtseize (assuming he would name Show and Tell with Therapy).
Andrew also keeps his 7 and starts off with Bayou into Heritage Druid.
I draw a third sol-land (ugh), play Volcanic Island, cast Lotus Petal, and pass the turn.
After attacking me for 1, Andrew casts Cabal Therapy, which I let resolve quickly (to avoid him putting me on Brainstorm). He names Show and Tell and sees my hand of Brainstorm, Griselbrand and five lands. After that he plays Gaea's Cradle and casts another Heritage Druid, before passing the turn.
I draw Force of Will for the turn and cast Brainstorm. I draw Scalding Tarn, Show and Tell, Preordain, putting back Force of Will (to protect it from a flashbacked Therapy) and a land. I play City of Traitors and cast Show and Tell.
Andrew puts Elvish Visionary into play, facing my Griselbrand.
On his next turn he casts Nettle Sentinel, plays Dryad Arbor and casts Natural Order. I use Griselbrand's ability to draw the Force of Will I left on top and counter the green Tinker.
Andrew flashes back Cabal Therapy, naming Emrakul, which misses, and passes the turn.
I draw my card for the turn, it's another land. At this point I have 7 lands, Force of Will, Sneak Attack and Lotus Petal in hand, with Griselbrand, City of Traitors and Volcanic Island on the battlefield.
Since I'm at a healthy 11 life, I draw another 7 cards pre-combat to find an Emrakul. I do find one, cast Sneak Attack and kill Andrew on turn 3 with the unbeatable 22-duo of Griselbrand + Emrakul.
20-7 in games
10-1 in matches
And just like that, I'm re-qualified for the Pro Tour (Shadows over Innistrad in April in Madrid) and the Magic Online Championship! In addition, I receive a full foil set of Battle for Zendikar and 180 Battle for Zendikar packs.
To close this report, I would like to send out a huge thanks to:
- Team MTG Berlin / Team Neo Berlin (RIP): Matteo, Robert, Andi, Eike and Basti, for cheering me on in our Facebook/Whatsapp chats throughout Saturday night! Your support means a lot to me!
- Team JwPoA ;-) , Chris and Marcel
- Decan, who finished 26th in the MOCS, and Adelorenzi for interesting and funny conversation between the rounds, and cheering me on through the Top 8 playoffs.
- Everyone else who messaged me to wish me luck or congratulate me
- You, for reading this report : )
Twitter: @JPAnghelescu
You're welcome, was a blast following your great run! You certainly deserved it with all the testing you have done! Also thanks for the report.
I'm wondering if your semifinal opponent has seen omniscience in G2 or in a match you two played before. Bringing in Ethersworn Canonist (he brought TWO) is bad when you dont have any karakas' and try to win through countering Sneak and Show's business spells. But from my own experience with him i would guess he just tried to use canonist as a beater and didnt think too much about boarding and/or counters from your side
In the finals against Cuneo, from the elves side: Wouldnt it be better to flash back the therapy and hope to just name the correct card after you resolved the bs? In this situation bs is almost like a tutor effect.
This JPA... Congratz mate, you deserved the win.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
TEAM MtG Berlin
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
Originally Posted by phazonmutant
Congratz JPA!!
Awesome deck, awesome results, awesome report!!! You have become my S&S deity ever since I decided to pick this deck up (4 Emrakuls away from finishing it). It is very satisfactory to see you getting such a reward after so much work and effort behind the deck and the S&S thread. I am really happy to see you triumphant and look forward for more awesome results and reports from you!
Cheers!
great report! Very interesting and i think i learned a lot just reading this. Thank you! Show and Tell is my favorite card and i soon played it for a year now in different builds.
Ethersworn Canonist is fine in the matchup. The idea is that he can counter all my enablers 1 for 1, without the possibility of a counter-war. Once I resolved the combo, he/she is not only useless, but often benefits me (like it did in game 3). It definitely helped that he played 0 Containment Priest, even though I had Sudden Shock in game 3, anyway.
This meffeo... Thanks for your support.
I'm very honored, thank you for the kind words.Congratz JPA!!
Awesome deck, awesome results, awesome report!!! You have become my S&S deity ever since I decided to pick this deck up (4 Emrakuls away from finishing it). It is very satisfactory to see you getting such a reward after so much work and effort behind the deck and the S&S thread. I am really happy to see you triumphant and look forward for more awesome results and reports from you!
Cheers!
I'm glad you liked it. Good luck in your S&t adventures.
Twitter: @JPAnghelescu
Nice report!
Congratulations! :)
Show and Tell is one of my most hated cards, and I couldn't imagine playing it in a millions years... but all the same, good luck on a Standard Pro Tour :D
When you feel someone is close to joining the dark side:
Twitter: @JPAnghelescu
<--- Adelorenzi
Great job man! You have to crush the Pro Tour now, better start learning how to do combat math ;)
I don't have much to add but, impressive finish! Good job, congratulations!
I was just thinking, and it's interesting how seemingly, Wipe Away and Sudden Shock have replaced Fire // Ice. Seems legit.
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