OFF TO THE PLAYERS TOUR

On January 11, 2020, I won the 30-person Modern WPNQ (PTQ) at my local store, Millennium Games.  For the second time within the past twelve months, I spiked a Modern PTQ with Burn. 

RETURNING TO THE OLD PTQ SYSTEM

The old (or new, however you look at it) PTQ system is a welcome one to me for a few reasons:

• Math

Current System:  PTQ win = Players Tour Invite (You need to win one tournament)

Previous System:  PPTQ win = RPTQ Invite = Pro Tour Invite (You need to win two tournaments)

• Dispelling My Personal Grinder Ethos

Managing the psychology of the grinder ethos took its toll on me.  When I began playing Magic in 2012, I quickly identified that the path to success was best accomplished by grinding.  By grinding, I mean opening up your calendar mid-Autumn, circling dates of big tournaments in the next calendar year, buying a few plane tickets, booking a few hotels, and understanding that the more shots you took the better chances you had of hitting the bullseye. 

Currently, there’s no more tangible example of grinding than MTG:Arena: Climbing the ladder to hit mythic, then spending two days playing an online Grand Prix, only to do it again and again.  It’s the reason I don’t play MTG:Arena. 

While grinding might be a choice for some players and a lifestyle that works for them, it’s not for me.  Family and work obligations prevent me from cavorting around the continent hoping to spike.  Additionally, it’s my opinion that I’ve contributed to a culture of toxic grinding, encouraging and congratulating my friends’ ostensible dedication to the game when they return from a disappointing 9-6 GP finish only to prioritize squeezing in an extra Grand Prix into their already tenuous schedule.

For me, going to RPTQs embodied grinding and I’m happy to be out.  The updated PTQ system affords me the opportunity to attend a PTQ locally and then spike right away rather than return to the pervasive sheep-herding from event to event.

• My Privilege

Magic isn’t my top priority.  I’ve got a partner and two year-old son who love me, a job I love, and a few other hobbies to propel my sanity through the month.  I’ve already been on the Pro Tour, which was my top Magic goal, and so I’m no longer chasing that Holy Grail.  PTQs returning to my local area is a huge deal because I don’t have to drive three hours to Toronto anymore to try to chase my Magic dream (or to Seattle, for that matter, where I won my last PTQ).

Additionally, this local PTQ hosted 30 people.  The last local PTQ I attended was 13.  13!  This is a far cry from the PTQs of old, sometimes hosting 300+ players.  As all the current Grand Prix PTQs remain around 100+, there’s no better way to make the Players Tour than through local events.

MY ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THE PLAYERS TOUR

If you want my advice on what I think is the easiest way to qualify for a Regional Players Tour at the current time, I advocate this:

1. Scour the PTQ list for events relatively near you.
2. Call the store to ask about how many players attended the last PTQ OR find some other way to decipher typical attendance numbers.
3. Prioritize attending a few of those events over any others, notably Grand Prix.

THE TOURNAMENT

I was delighted the PTQ was Modern.  Unlike Standard or Pioneer, my history with Modern is weathered, yet strong, and every time I sit down for Round 1 I feel as though I’m being welcomed home.  Since 2012, I’ve played BW Tokens and Burn competitively, generally switching to Burn when Tokens is bad (which happens to be most of the time), and I’ve cashed three Grand Prix with both decks (twice with Tokens, once with Burn).   I won a June 2019 MCQ with my stock Burn list, and changed just one sideboard card this time around (adding the 4^th Kor Firewalker and removing the 3^rd Rest in Peace).

My deck:

REASONS I PLAYED BURN

A friend of mine commented recently that Mono-Red Prowess may be better than Burn in the current meta, and I tended to agree.  I still played Burn for these reasons:

First, I’ve always been leery about single-creature-based gameplans.  It’s much easier to stumble because the prowess deck is less redundant.  Like Burn, you generally need to mulligan hands without a turn 1 threat.  However, when your turn 1 Goblin Guide bites the dust, his two damage is usually all you needed from him.  Fatal Push and Lightning Bolt can wreak more havoc on a gameplan more reliant on creatures.

Second, I’m not that good at Magic.  Burn is my jam.  I’ve spent years playing it and I know it much better than a random audibled deck.  My biggest success in Magic is 100% based on learning two Modern decks and rotating them (BW Tokens led me to pick Burn as my second choice since it’s good against Tokens’ bad matchups).

Third, Burn is good in the current meta, even if Mono-Red Prowess is better according to MTG Goldfish.

Fourth, BW Tokens is not a good choice in the current meta.  I chose trying to win over having fun this tournament.

Round 1 – Bant Stoneblade – Dave – Won 2-0 (Oko was still legal at this time)

Even with low attendance, Rochester, NY PTQs are pretty stacked.  Dave’s attended the last two PTs and he was qualified for Phoenix.  Game 1 he drew Oko too late and game 2 he never had it.  I discovered Eidolon of the Great Revel is really, really good versus this deck.  This match highlighted Burn’s redundancy.  Even though Bant Stoneblade might be a bit of an unfavorable matchup, notably due to Oko presenting so much lifegain, Dave has to draw certain cards to win, whereas I generally only have to draw cards.  Burn gets there so many times when an opponent stumbles (more on this later).

Round 2 – Burn – JP – Won 2-0

I love playing the Burn mirror.  There’s no better way for me to feel competent with this deck than to battle against it.  Game 1 I was on the play and so had a huge advantage to start.  Game 2 I drew 3 Kor Firewalker and that was that.  After the match, we discussed our deck differences – JP eschewed all Skullcrack and 1 Lightning Helix for 3 Skewer and 2 Light up the Stage.  One huge difference between my deck and many other successful Burn lists is Skullcrack over Skewer.  I prefer Skullcrack mostly because it’s a three-damage burn spell for two-mana, whereas Skewer off the top might cost three-mana.

Round 3 – Eldrazi Tron – Derrick – Won 2-1

One of Burn’s tough matchups, but totally winnable.  I was fortunate that game 1, he cast Chalice for 1 after I cast all my 1cmc spells.  Game 2 his Warping Wail was just enough to get me.  I had three outs to win that game (Boros Charm), but missed.  Game 3 he natural drew tron (on the draw), but no Matter Reshaper or anything before turn 3 was just way too slow for my gas.

Round 4 and Round 5 – IDs

Quarterfinals – Burn – JP – Won 2-1

Against the same Burn player from the Swiss, I was on the play.  Game 1 I barely got there, and the story of this match was making the most out of much tougher situations than the ease of Round 2.  Game 2 I played way too cautiously – I played not to die when I should have just been going for the jugular and I finally lost.  Specifically, I held up a bolt over many turns not to die to a top-decked haste creature (which he never drew).  Game 3 started very poorly, as he pathed my turn 2 Kor Firewalker after I burned myself playing Scared Foundries.  I drew no more Firewalker that game, but somehow I closed it out, again, just barely.

Semifinals – Bant Stoneblade –  Ricky – Won 2-0

This match was a clinic on the redundancy of Burn.  Game 1 he kept a one lander with 3 Noble Hierarchs and it turned into another clinic, this time one on killing Hierarchs.  Game 2 played out differently and the game boiled down to a Batterskull arms race.  I blazed his first Stoneforge, but the second stuck.  Luckily, I had a Skullcrack the entire game and on the turn where he was set to gain his life, I cracked him.  I needed one more draw step and that was that. 

My opponent was upset with his poor draws, as would I if I’d been in his seat.  One of the benefits of playing Burn is that this rarely happens to you.  Sure, you have some games where it’s correct to keep a 1- lander, but you’re never going to have the complications of one-land decisions that a three-color deck full of mana dorks presents.  My opponent’s misfortune highlighted a second reason to play Burn – the deck wins at times without putting in too much effort.  Imagine you are a professional player in a sport of your choosing.  Imagine a scenario where, perhaps 10-15% of the time, when you show up to your game you only need to play at 50% of your potential to beat your opponent.  That’s what Burn does.  You don’t need three colors to materialize, you don’t need both halves of your deck to cooperate, you really don’t need much, whereas often your opponent will need an absence of mediocre draws to get their operation running at an adequate, let alone optimal, capacity.  (FYI I think BW Tokens is the complete opposite and needs to show up firing at at least 75% potential, and 100% if you don’t include Auriok Champion in your list).

Finals – Humans – Nick – Won 2-1

Well, this was one for the ages.  Nick, a local player, beat my friend Jason in his bracket, which was good because the Humans matchup was better for me, but poor in the sense that Nick historically always beats me.  In fact, earlier in this tournament, he reminded me of the time he top-decked a 1-outer (Sleep playing Mono-Blue) to beat me in a PPTQ match some time ago.  I also remember him top-decking the 4-mana GW lifelink human in a Standard PTQ as well to come from behind another time.  Alas, my track record vs. him wasn’t great.

Since I was the 2 seed and he was 3, I was on the play, and game 1 went like clockwork for me.  Things were going well game 2 until I made the biggest mistake in paper Magic (at least one that I caught) in the past year.  Having suspended double Rift Bolt on my turn 2, I passed to Nick, who dropped Meddling Mage, naming Rift Bolt, on his turn 3.  My big mistake here was mental – I fell into an emotional reasoning thought error – I was immediately hard on myself for not anticipating his play – when looking back my play was objectively the correct play.  I got so stuck in my head, so upset with myself for not foreseeing Meddling Mage and then I asked a question (I’m not sure whether to Nick or to our judge sitting next to him) to confirm where I thought the Rift Bolts would go.  These two pieces filling all the space in my mind, I absent-mindedly drew my card and immediately realized I could have just Pathed the Mage in my upkeep.  Looking back, a lack of mindfulness and operating in the present precluded me from seeing the correct (and obvious!) line before it was too late.  Well, I went on to lose that game and started game 3 with a well of self-criticism that I immediately worked to keep at bay.   Jason, sitting next to me, later told me he thought I still would have lost, even with the Rift Bolts doming for 6, but I’m pretty confident that’s not the case.

Game 3 was nuts.  I was on the play, but we both mulled to 6 and I was on the back foot the entire time.  He was at 8 life when the last spell in my hand, Skullcrack, got stolen by Kitesail Freebooter and I had 0 cards left.  He had Noble Hierarch, Champion of the Parish, Kitesail Freebooter, and Mantis Rider.  He had also drawn about three cards off horizon lands by this point.  Things were looking grim and I resigned myself to losing the match.  Then, I untapped and drew Searing Blaze.  What an incredible stroke of good luck.  During his combat next turn, I fetched and blazed his Freebooter, chumped a huge Champion with Goblin Guide, and somehow stayed alive at 5 life.  I fired off the Skullcrack end of his turn, leaving him at 2 life and with me inexplicably drawing for the win on my next draw step.  This was it, I needed it NOW, a huge Champion of the Parish coming in to kill me versus no creatures of my own.  Realizing how exciting this match was going to end, I asked the judge and Jason if they wanted to turn the card over for me.  They declined and I threw over…Grim Lavamancer.  Ugh, the best card in the matchup, just way too late.  Good game.  Good match.  Goodbye Players Tour.  The circumstances dire, I somehow stopped myself from making a bigger mistake than the Game 2 fiasco by shaking Nick’s hand in concession.  Instead, I threw down the Lavamancer, hoping to chump the Champion, resigned to die to an infinity of his top decks, most likely Reflector Mage.  Thalia’s Lieutenant also would have done the trick as it would have pumped Noble and Mantis Rider for the win.  Regardless, I’m sure Nick had many lives draws.  Nick untapped and drew.  And then…he did nothing.  He didn’t slam Reflector Mage or do anything to indicate he was going to kill me.  This moment brought me back to the final turn of my semi-finals match versus my Infect opponent at the Seattle PTQ I won in June:  Cringing, waiting with baited breath to die, only to be frozen in limbo.  Nick went to combat.  He allowed my Lavamancer to chump block the Champion and I fell to 2 life (I took 3 from Mantis Rider).  So we were both at 2 life.  He said, “Pass turn.”  Wow.  Somehow I’d escaped the turn.  Here I was with one more top-deck opportunity loaded in the gun.  Nick had a tapped Champion of the Parish (four, maybe five counters?), an untapped Mantis Rider, and an untapped Noble Hierarch, which meant any creature I top decked wouldn’t be enough to save me.  It had to be a burn spell that wasn’t Searing Blaze, or at least a Sunbaked Canyon to attempt to draw into another spell.  I said as much.  This time I didn’t ask for anyone else to reveal my fate.  I untapped, drew a breath, and flipped over my top card.  Lava Spike for the win.

I’M A LUCKSACK

To say I got lucky is an understatement, though to be fair, it took me two top-decks to seal my trip to the Players Tour.  As was the case in the semi-finals (vs. Bant Stoneblade), Nick’s Humans deck let him down.  He literally drew three more cards than I did game 3, and they weren’t enough.  However, I’m not discounting my sequence of incredible fortune (i.e., my last three draw steps).  I drew the only card that could have gotten me back in the game, Searing Blaze, then I top-decked an answer to block his Champion of the Parish, and then I top-decked the Lava Spike to win.

I’m incredibly fortunate to have attended a very small local PTQ and very lucky that my deck got the job done.  3 Burn players made top 8, reinforcing the notion that Burn is pretty good in my local meta (even with Oko), and should be even stronger now that Oko has left us. 

THANK YOU

I can’t say enough about all the great Magic players I know in Rochester and in Albany.  Out of my play group/local store, there are many players who are definitively better at the game than I am (Dave and Nick, I’m looking at you.  Also, my great friend from Albany Scott, who qualified for almost every PPTQ when those were around).  I’ve gotten better by playing against you and players like you – THANK YOU!  While I’m luckier than most to have spiked two PT invites in the past year, I’m even luckier to be able to play at an incredibly high level right down the street.

HOPES AND WISHES

I hope to do better at Players Tour 2 than I did at Mythic Championship VI, my first Pro Tour, where I finished 2-5-1.  Specifically, I hope to open a Pack 1 Pick 1 single-color bomb instead of a multi-color bomb, and to win one match of constructed, whatever the format (which has yet to be announced).  While I’ll trifle with Standard or Pioneer, as needed, my biggest wish would be to sit down for the first constructed round, take a deep, cleansing breath, and feel at home shuffling up either a bunch of lightning bolts or a bunch of flying tokens.