Block PTQ season is well on its way. I've only had the pleasure of playing one tournament of the format but it was a decent experience. I have to start by saying that Faeries is the best deck in the format. Deal with it. A lot of people seem to have negative feelings towards it which I don't quite understand. Every format has that deck that's just more powerful than the others. Bitterblossom is the best card in the format, and Faeries utilizes it the most effectively. However that makes you feel, it's a fact you need to face to compete in this format. Now that that is out of the way, let's move on to the PTQ. I arrive to the tournament site deckless as usual, although I've been told there is most of a Faeries build waiting for me somewhere. I get lost in Wizard World and wander around among Storm Troopers and The Jokers until finally getting my bearings and headed in the right direction. I was then stopped by three seperate security officers as if there was a memo that went out to all personal telling them to make me even later than I already was. I finally get inside and Owen Turtenwald continues to sell me on the merits of Faeries. Even though I had never played the deck, I was obviously willing to try it if it had such strong support. My friend, who happens to be the greatest person in the world and my personal hero, Nick Larsen had the deck ready for me except for 2 Mutavaults and 1 Sunken Ruins which I was able to get from other friends just in time. This was the list I played:

4 Broken Ambitions
4 Bitterblossom
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Cryptic Command
2 Thoughtseize

4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Sower of Temptation
2 Vendilion Clique

9 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Secluded Glen
4 Swamp

Sideboard
4 Shriekmaw
3 Puppeteer Clique
2 Thoughtseize
2 Incremental Blight
2 Mind Shatter
2 PepperSmoke

Changes I would make for the future would be cutting the Vendilion Cliques. I agree with Paulo that they are amazing in Standard, but in Block there aren't really any Wren's Run Vanquishers to trade with or Profane Commands to get rid of, and there definitely aren't any Treetop Villages to block. I would play another Thoughtseize as they were amazing all day main, I sideboarded in my other two in 10 of my 11 matches, and Faeries is only going to go up in popularity. The other can stay as a Vendilion Clique or become the 26th land. As Gerry Thompson says, if you have the best deck and are a good player, the only way you can lose is inconsistancy, so adding the extra land helps minimize the variance that is out there to ruin your tournament. Using that slot and cutting a counter that isn't Cryptic Command could make room for Ponders as well.

The sideboard was a bit of a mess. As good as the Mind Shatters seems in theory it actually ended up doing nothing. Against the Reflecting Pool decks which the Mind Shatters are supposed to be best against, the entire gameplan against them is based on Cloudthresher. It's very possible I was just playing this matchup incorrectly, as I said I have no experience with the deck, but it seemed like I played a Bitterblossom or another guy then Thoughtseized and hit with Mutavaults to be proactive while forcing the inevitable Cloudthresher before moving in on either a Cryptic Command or Puppeteer Clique for the win. By then with enough mana to protect the gamebreaking spell. If I were to cut them they would become a third PepperSmoke as the mirror is the most important match-up to have an edge in deck for. This is due to the early stages of the game being very luck dependant. The last slot would either be the fourth Sower of Temptation or an additional swamp to help cast your black spells post board (and to get up to 5 mana more easily for Puppeteer Clique). Let's get to the tournament itself.

Round one - Conrad Duncker UB Control

I played against a Rogue Blue Black concoction. He didn't know anything about the format, whipped it together and played and it showed as it lacked some key elements a deck like that would need such as Oona. Game one he mulliganed to 4. Game two I kept a two lander and he Fulminator Maged me a lot. Game three I had a Bitterblossom and he didn't have any real answers.

Round two - Bryant with Assassin Elves

A guy from the local FNM that I would attend if I played FNM. He was packing the Scarblade Assassin deck with an Elves base. Both games were cakewalks as Mistbind Clique blew him out repeatadly and Sower of Temptation stopped any chance at a comeback.

Round 3 - Quick'n'Toast

Game one I kept a slow hand and when I Broken Ambitioned his Cloudthresher he clashed into a Makeshift Mannequin. I probably should have mulliganned. game 2 I shred up his hand with Thoughtseizes and Vendillion Cliques before playing a Puppeteer Clique. Cloudthresher comes into play on my side and kills the persister giving me a Mulldrifter and 2 cards. I swing in and he has to chump Cloudthresher with his 2/1 Kitchen Finks. He reaches to put the Finks in his yard and I thought he was reaching for Cloudthresher so I pushed it towards him, then tried to play a land. He called a judge saying I triggered my EOT triggers from Puppeteer Clique and was now trying to play a land. I explain I thought he was attempting to shortcut the process since I was tapped out and that I had drawn a land off of Mulldrifter and obviously was going to play it before passing to my end step. The Judge thinks for a while and rules on intent that I was indeed attempting to shortcut and wanted to play the land. He conceded shortly after to my much stronger board. Game three I Thoughtseized him to force through my Mind Shatter for 2 before drawing 2 more Thoughtseizes and stripping his hand of anything. I then had Puppeteer Clique ready to kill him but still no 5th land. He plays an Oona and I Broken Ambitions it to tap him out and scry to find a land. I don't and put it on bottom, he hit a Kitchen Finks that got milled away by the X spell. I drew and it was a Sower. Not what I was looking for but it will do, except he draws a Firespout and gets his faux dragon back. I can still draw a land and Decimate him but it was not to be and I lost a few turns later.

This is where the tournament got awkward. He accidentally filled the match slip out backwards having me win, and I signed without noticing and we turned it in. You can imagine how surprised I was when my next seating was at table 4. When I find out I'm obviuosly happy for the free win but I can't beleive how upset I would be if I was on the other end of it. It happened at Regionals to a friend of mine, SCG P9 Champion Jerret Rocha. He beat writer Adrian Sullivan but the slip was filled out incorrectly. I know from this experience that it is completely unrepairable, and I'm quite upset that it had to happen like that but I move on with my tournament.

Round 4 - John Siadak with Barkshell.dec

I blow him out by Thoughtseizing his first Teeg, Inversioning the second, and Cryptic Commanding twice after that. Game two was pretty similar, but I Shriekmawed a lot. It was pretty uneventful. We played some more games afterwards and in one of the games I almost Thoughtseized one of his Leiges before he pointed out that it would just come into play. That would have been awkward if I did that in match since I had no idea it had that ability.

Round 5 - Kyle Boggemes with Patrick Chapin's Solar Flare with Mistmeadow Witch

Game one: Thoughtseize, Bitterblossom, Bitterblossom, Scion, Cryptic Command. Game two: Thoughtseize, Bitterblossom (Wispmared), Bitterblossom, Bitterblossom, Cryptic Command, Sower your Reveillark. Neither game was close as I got incredibly lucky openers. Sometimes Faeries does that.

Round 6 - Chris Anderson with Merfolk

Great guy, decent player too. We mess with him a lot and give him a lot of flack, but only because he's cool enough to deal with it. I have a turn 2 Bitterblossom but had to lay an Island which let his Bannerets and Syggs hit me for free pushing the race in his favor. I got rid of Sygg and tried to Inversion his Banneret but he had Mirrorweave to turn his guys into Scions. He couldn't attack that turn as I had more guys, but he would just knock me to 1 with the Banneret next turn making Bitterblossom kill me and I knew he had a counter from a clashed Broken Ambitions earlier so I packed them in. Game two was much of the same except I was on the play and had 2 Cryptic Commands so I won the race. Game three I Shriekmawed and Inversioned his early drops and double Mistbind Clique locks him up for long enough to kill him with the 4/4s.

Round 7 - Faeries

I'm the only 6-0 so I'm paired against a 5-0-1 so he can't draw. Game one I have Bitterblossom and he doesn't and can't figure out how to win through it. Game two I mulligan to 5 and he has Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom. Game three I Thoughtseize his Bitterblossom and he doesn't know how to utilize his important spells to gain an advantage without it so I have no problem punishing the misuse of his spells.

Round 8 - Faeries

An obviously horrible player I had no problem playing it out when Kyle asked me to. I wasn't sure why since he was locked into top eight so a loss wouldn't knock him out, but it was just to help his tiebreakers.

Game one I mulligan and we both had Bitterblossoms but he tapped out for a Mistbind Clique allowing me to land a Scion. He had Sower of Temptation but I had Nameless Inversion. Game two we both mulligan and have weak draws. He lands a Mistbind Clique and I Sower it after he attacks. He taps out to Sower it back. I Crash with my Sower and he blocks with his. I make fun of him to his face about how horrible this play is and he doesn't understand why. PepperSmoke or Scion and I get his 4/4 back but if course I don't have anything so I take the trade and his 4/4 eventually kills me as we both draw nothing of relevence for the next 4 turns. Game three we both have Bitterblossoms. I Thoughtseize his Cryptic Command to land my Scion of Oona. He has one too and I wait until he taps low, which he obviously does because he's bad, so I can PepperSmoke it and push advantage.

Top 8 - Chris Anderson again with Merfolk

Game one I have a Bitterblossom and a Mistbind Clique. He hits me low with Sygg and needs to hit one more time to have my enchantment kill me on my upkeep. I had already Thoughtseized his Cryptic Command and showed he had a Mirrorweave. I attack with everything and he activates his Mutavault and Mirrorweaves it stateing "there are so many things you could have right now". I show him my hand of 3 counters and that's it. Game 2 two I had to lay an Island early and his Islandwalkers raced me the turn before I could alpha strike with Scion to kill him. Game three I kill everything early with lots of Nameless Inversions and Shriekmaws. I had a dominating position and a crucial Mistbind Clique closed the deal.

Top 4 - John Siadak again with GW

Game one I Vendilion Clique him and his hand is 2 Shield of the Oversoul and an Oblivion Ring. I let him keep all of those awful cards and play a Bitterblossom which he obviously Oblivion Rings. This opens me up to Sower the guy he puts the first Sheild on. He then tries to put the other on something but Cryptic Command bounced it and countered a Cloudthersher after the two Shielded creatures stared at eachother for a few turns. Game two I played aggresively early and it ended up with me beating down with a far superior board due to Mistbind Cliquing three times, but being dead to a Cloudthresher. He never drew one and I drew second Mutavault so I could attack with another Mistbind since I had enough blockers to not be lethally attacked back allowing me to be lethal in two swings.

Finals - Faeries

The guy who knocked my friend Josh out of Top 8. He played pretty poorly but what can you do. Game one I Thoughtseize his Bitterblossom then Spellstutter a Ponder after he played a Spellstutter Sprite for no value. He attacks and I block due to having a Sower, so having him Scion it would be the best possible scenario, and trading with it would be fine too. What he does instead is stack damage and champion it to a Mistbind Clique, which I'm more than ok with since I get to untap. I Sower of Temptation it and Broken Ambitions his Sower attempting to still it back. He clashes a Namless Inversionon top and obviously uses it to kill Sower. He draws a Bitterblossom the next turn and it makes a lot of guys. I Cryptic his men and draw and he draws and passes. I had been sneaking in damage because he was misplaying horribly early, so he was down to 3. I had a Mutavault that if it got through would make his Bitterblossom finish him off. I draw a card and play a Secluded Glen revealing Vendilion Clique. This is where it got tense.

He has 7 mana up, as do I. I have Clique and Broken Ambitions in hand. He has 2 cards in hand and a Nameless Inversion in his graveyard. If he has Cryptic Command, I can Broken Ambitions it for exactly enough, but I can't counter Nameless Inversion. My other option is to Vendilion Clique him before activating my Mutavault and taking his Nameless Inversion, but if he had Cryptic Command he would just bounce Mutavault in response and kill me. My decision was based off of him already having used a Nameless Inversion this game, and because if I read correctly for Inversion and Clique him he can just draw another out (Mistbind, Cryptic, Nameless, PepperSmoke, Spellstutter, Scion). I play around Cryptic Command and just attack leaving up the counter, but he has the Nameless Inversion and I lose. After the match Steve Locke says I should have played this turn differently but I'm not sure. Either way I agree when he says that I should have won this game.

Game two we both have Bitterblossoms. I kill his Scion and Mistbind Clique forces him to burn his Cryptic Command so he can't defend against my Cryptic Command to tap his guys for lethal two turns later. He didn'tmake any attempt to protect his Scion.

Game three I keep a questionable hand of Swamp, Swamp, Mutavault, Scion of Oona, Scion of Oona, Nameless Inversion, Bitterblossom. I don't draw blue quickly enough to push Bitterblossom advantage so we trade guys until I get a blue source. I play a Mistbind to try and land my Scions. He floats all 8 of his mana and draws. He plays a Scion and announces declare attackers step meaning he burns for 5. He attacked incorrectly for more than lethal in a way that a PepperSmoke on his Scion would not only make his attack not lethal, but would allow me to swing back to knock him to 1 with a Bitterblossom in play, but of course I don't have one. Now he's off to the pro tour but what can you do. Now I'm not playing Magic again until US Nationals where I'll be playing side events keeping my Constructed rating intact to maintain my third bye at GP Denver. See you all there.

-AJ Sacher
WotC_Sucks (at) Yahoo (dot) com

Related to: Magic: the Gathering

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