I was glad that one of the greatest events organized by Wizards - the Grand Prix series had finally set its stage on Malaysia after some time.
Playing competitively and finding myself the way into Pro Tour has always been my dream, because I felt that monetary commitments have been made to get into this hobby, might as well go all the way and fight to be the greatest. Moreover, Grand Prix is known to be the best way, but also the hardest way to get yourself into Pro Tour.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Grand Prix was held at my homegrown country, I had no choice but to miss it. October was the first month of my internship and I was still in the process adapting to my new lifestyle. What's more, the event entry is also super expensive. Unless I cashed out, else the whole trip is going to be a waste of time, money and effort. That's the price of going competitive. Its cruel, but I admit I wasn't ready financially. It held me back. Yes, gaining exposure is good, but at that cost, I thought I was paying too much, maybe it was just me, because all my friends from Kampar joined.
Fortunately, Kaladesh Game Day was about the same time as well. At least, I was offered an affordable option. The week before GP KL, I made up my mind and tell myself I'm going to try my best to win this, because I'd won none, only made good finishes.
The Deck Decision
Moving forward, the meta-game from Pro Tour gave us an idea on the meta-game structure. Well, if we look closer at the overall Standard constructed performances, UW Flash is the one that actually making a strong finish despite having the Top 8's dominated by control decks. This gave me an idea of how the format will look like eventually --- its "creatures matters" format all over again, only without the oppressive Collected Company. Maybe the control decks were well positioned given the number of Aetherworks Marvel decks presented during the Pro Tour, we never know, but for now, those were the winning decks that I needed to pay attention to.
Finding a way to beat UW Flash and other aggresive, creature based decks while having a game against control is a puzzle for me to solve. I dislike mirrors, so i automatically moved away from UW Flash and other popular choices. I looked through my collections and these bumped me up an idea.
To beat instants is to have the better instants. Spell Quellers hits your stacks, Reflector Mages bounces and Avacyn zips right through at the worst time you wanted. YOU WISH AVACYN HADN'T GONE MAD !!!
Heck, what if I avoided the stacks, and play stuffs that don't care about whatever UW Flash does?
Zombies, they come from Hell, not Heaven. Abominates? Let's not talk about it ...
The card combinations was very interesting and I'd always wanted to play decks with a lot surprise and flexible synergies. Your graveyard becomes your 2nd card library and everything you discard has 75% relevance most of the time. The threats are very resilient if they don't pack the hates. Zombies fills my bank, but I needed a shell to pull them together. Then, I remembered the brew I made and posted on Magic: The Gathering Facebook group (Sadly it didn't got much attention...). It was BR Zombies, very much similar to what this guy played on Pro Tour.
7-3 was a solid finish, and this sparked my interest and I quickly take the deck to play-test at Cockatrice.
I was sold.
The deck was nuts! Taking over the UW Flash matchup completely while having game against RW Vehicles despite being slightly unfavorable against BG Delirium due their main board Kalitas. The important I was missing was that 4 Smuggler's Copter, but I believed I could mitigate the set-back of losing the MVP card of the format by replacing them with:
- 2 Tormenting Voice
- 2 Perpetual Timepiece
I went again with the budget version of mine. Surprisingly, it still did well, only to pick up defeats that would have been won if I'd Smuggler's Copter to race because I durdled to make my Zombie engines work via the replacement cards. Anyway, that's the price I needed to pay for not playing the Choppa.
The Game Day
Guess I was lucky to made the correct deck choice. My positioning was very good on the fieldwhich helped me cruised my way to win the Game Day.
Game 1: vs. UR Dynavolt Tower 2-0
Game 2: vs. Temur Energy Aggro 2-1
Game 3: vs. RW Vehicles 2-0
Sadly, only 3 matches were played due to the small number of participants as a lot of players already went for GP KL. But, three rounds were equally stressful and losing a match could mean the end of my attempt to win the whole event.
Final Thoughts
Cryptbreaker over-performed for me. An early Turn 1 Cryptbreaker is very game deciding as it sets the pace of the game and helped to further my aggressive game plan while setting up for my graveyard shenaningans. Voldaren Pariah is also one of the key to the deck, as she fills up the slot to be the "boardwipe" to keep opposing creatures and board state under control. The fact that you can reanimate your Amalgams and Haunted Dead again after the sacrifice is a huge blow out to any decks trying to claw back into the game. Moreover, the deck naturally dodges sorcery speed board wipes and the decline of Emerge variants make the deck's positioning even better. Cathartic Reunion and Smuggler's Copter too are unarguably the best new additions for the zombies. They helped to mitigate the issue UB Zombies had: Hand size maintenance and clock-speed.
Alas! Zombies finally set foot into Standard, planeswalking all the way to ... Kaladesh ?! Well, that's a little off place ... Considering a 1/1 Spirit or 2/2 Zombies crewing a Choppa ... That must be in our dreams xD
Although the 3 pillars of standard are no doubt GB Delirium, UW Flash and RW Vehicles, I believe BR Zombies come very close to occupy the 4th spot, being the "underdog" of the format.
Looks like I'll need to save up and buy those damn Copters ... Time to break the bank ? lol
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Opponent:"Surge Reckless Bushwacker, attacking for 20."
Adrian: *1 Spirit, 1 Haunted Dead and a Copter ... (5 untapped mana)*
Adrian:"Before blockers ...*Crews Copter* Declare blocks, Copter block Bushwacker, trigger draw and discard. *Madness Pariah* Sacrificing 3 creatures (Spirit, Haunted Dead, Smuggler's Copter), transform Pariah."
Opponent:"... (Attacks no longer lethal)"
Adrian:"End of 2nd Main Phase, activate Haunted Dead, triggering 2 Prized Amalgams during end step. (15 power on board)"
Opponent: *Looking at 14 life ...* *Scoops*
Lesson: DON'T MESS WITH ZOMBIES.
Fortunately, Kaladesh Game Day was about the same time as well. At least, I was offered an affordable option. The week before GP KL, I made up my mind and tell myself I'm going to try my best to win this, because I'd won none, only made good finishes.
The Deck Decision
Moving forward, the meta-game from Pro Tour gave us an idea on the meta-game structure. Well, if we look closer at the overall Standard constructed performances, UW Flash is the one that actually making a strong finish despite having the Top 8's dominated by control decks. This gave me an idea of how the format will look like eventually --- its "creatures matters" format all over again, only without the oppressive Collected Company. Maybe the control decks were well positioned given the number of Aetherworks Marvel decks presented during the Pro Tour, we never know, but for now, those were the winning decks that I needed to pay attention to.
Finding a way to beat UW Flash and other aggresive, creature based decks while having a game against control is a puzzle for me to solve. I dislike mirrors, so i automatically moved away from UW Flash and other popular choices. I looked through my collections and these bumped me up an idea.
Heck, what if I avoided the stacks, and play stuffs that don't care about whatever UW Flash does?
Zombies, they come from Hell, not Heaven. Abominates? Let's not talk about it ...
The card combinations was very interesting and I'd always wanted to play decks with a lot surprise and flexible synergies. Your graveyard becomes your 2nd card library and everything you discard has 75% relevance most of the time. The threats are very resilient if they don't pack the hates. Zombies fills my bank, but I needed a shell to pull them together. Then, I remembered the brew I made and posted on Magic: The Gathering Facebook group (Sadly it didn't got much attention...). It was BR Zombies, very much similar to what this guy played on Pro Tour.
7-3 was a solid finish, and this sparked my interest and I quickly take the deck to play-test at Cockatrice.
I was sold.
The deck was nuts! Taking over the UW Flash matchup completely while having game against RW Vehicles despite being slightly unfavorable against BG Delirium due their main board Kalitas. The important I was missing was that 4 Smuggler's Copter, but I believed I could mitigate the set-back of losing the MVP card of the format by replacing them with:
- 2 Tormenting Voice
- 2 Perpetual Timepiece
I went again with the budget version of mine. Surprisingly, it still did well, only to pick up defeats that would have been won if I'd Smuggler's Copter to race because I durdled to make my Zombie engines work via the replacement cards. Anyway, that's the price I needed to pay for not playing the Choppa.
The Game Day
Guess I was lucky to made the correct deck choice. My positioning was very good on the fieldwhich helped me cruised my way to win the Game Day.
Game 1: vs. UR Dynavolt Tower 2-0
Game 2: vs. Temur Energy Aggro 2-1
Game 3: vs. RW Vehicles 2-0
Sadly, only 3 matches were played due to the small number of participants as a lot of players already went for GP KL. But, three rounds were equally stressful and losing a match could mean the end of my attempt to win the whole event.
 |
| Me (on the right) and the 2nd place finisher, Shawn (RW Vehicles). |
Final Thoughts
Cryptbreaker over-performed for me. An early Turn 1 Cryptbreaker is very game deciding as it sets the pace of the game and helped to further my aggressive game plan while setting up for my graveyard shenaningans. Voldaren Pariah is also one of the key to the deck, as she fills up the slot to be the "boardwipe" to keep opposing creatures and board state under control. The fact that you can reanimate your Amalgams and Haunted Dead again after the sacrifice is a huge blow out to any decks trying to claw back into the game. Moreover, the deck naturally dodges sorcery speed board wipes and the decline of Emerge variants make the deck's positioning even better. Cathartic Reunion and Smuggler's Copter too are unarguably the best new additions for the zombies. They helped to mitigate the issue UB Zombies had: Hand size maintenance and clock-speed.
Alas! Zombies finally set foot into Standard, planeswalking all the way to ... Kaladesh ?! Well, that's a little off place ... Considering a 1/1 Spirit or 2/2 Zombies crewing a Choppa ... That must be in our dreams xD
Although the 3 pillars of standard are no doubt GB Delirium, UW Flash and RW Vehicles, I believe BR Zombies come very close to occupy the 4th spot, being the "underdog" of the format.
Looks like I'll need to save up and buy those damn Copters ... Time to break the bank ? lol
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opponent:"Surge Reckless Bushwacker, attacking for 20."
Adrian: *1 Spirit, 1 Haunted Dead and a Copter ... (5 untapped mana)*
Adrian:"Before blockers ...*Crews Copter* Declare blocks, Copter block Bushwacker, trigger draw and discard. *Madness Pariah* Sacrificing 3 creatures (Spirit, Haunted Dead, Smuggler's Copter), transform Pariah."
Opponent:"... (Attacks no longer lethal)"
Adrian:"End of 2nd Main Phase, activate Haunted Dead, triggering 2 Prized Amalgams during end step. (15 power on board)"
Opponent: *Looking at 14 life ...* *Scoops*
Lesson: DON'T MESS WITH ZOMBIES.
