North star cup IV/2021

Sep 25

Tournament results and personal report by organizer (Slotherine)

The first North star cup of Fall 2021 is now over, and great times were again had! I had the itch to play some Swedish Old School with the unofficial Scryings expansion and we quickly assembled a nice little 9 player tournament with 4 rounds of Swiss and a grand showdown final. It was also the first time I hosted a tournament on Tolaria and I can't praise the application enough. Good job Slanfan!

Tournament results

Here are the final standings of the Swiss.

BerserkerMaskNought 4-0 (Tuukkeli)
BW Pox 3-1 (Erkka)
4cMaskNought (UBWR) 3-1 (Iksa)
MonoB Pox 3-1 (Preacher)
Winter Orb Stompy 2-2 (TeroL)
4cMasknought (BRGU) 2-2 (Slotherine)
5cMirror 1-3 (Cazze)
GR Lumberjack Ponza 0-2 [dropped after R2] (Prote)
UR Jokulhaups 0-4 (lm)

In tightly fought finals BerserkerMaskNought beat BW Pox 2-1

Musings on what to play

I had various established Old School archtypes I thought about taking for a spin with some Scryings spice but quite early decided to try out something only supported and made possible with the unofficial expansion. Shout out to Magnus for this creation, adding lots of unexplored brewing space and seemingly well balanced cardpool for some additional Old School fun for us all to enjoy. Few words on our metagame: as people are just beginning to explore the format there was clearly few things people just had to get out of their system, namely MaskNought variants and The Pox. We had three 3 MaskNought decks and 2 Pox decks in the 9 player tournament. Rest of the field was Green Winter Orb, RG Lumberjack Ponza, 4c Mirror Universe and Jokulhaups.

After I ordered in a load of Scryings cardboard that I thought might be staples of sort I went about brewing with a good brew or two. The quiet hours after the kids go to bed is when the magic happens. I came up with a pretty straightforward monored goblins and then a version that splashed for black and then with white or both, but I just didn't feel like suicide bombing with Goblin Grenades this time around. I did take a glance at some sort of ponza deck with Pillages and Hammer of Bogardan with some artifact destruction provided by Vandals and/or Tinkerers. Dwarven Miner is also a card I would very much like to play in Scryings. Then I did stare at some sort of green stompy, but I just played mono green to end the old school spring season of 2021. Pox is also something I love to play every once in a while, but not this time, the weather was still too nice and I was rather relaxed, feeling good after the summer vacation.

So I ended up with 4cMaskNought. I just went all in with the cards I wanted to play this time around, maximum greed and worry about deck efficiency later. Honestly I rarely design decks that have such obvious flaws, but now I just felt like it. Illusionary Mask is in my opinion one of the coolest combos enabled with the expansion. First off the deck feels naturally UBR as that is also the required colors for Lord of Tresserhorn. Playing blue power is something all the combo decks are looking to do and having access to counterspells is a good protection plan for sure. Now I don’t own a single piece of blue power and only hold 3 Volcanic Islands as my blue duals, so going Grixis something I ruled out right there and then. Looking at my duals at the moment (4 Badlands, 4 Plateau, 3 Volcanic Island, 2 Bayou, 1 Savannah, 1 Taiga) I could sport optimal mana for BR or RW color combinations, and good enough for UR. I figured I would just play a mainly BR-based Dark Ritual deck going for some greedy Juzam or Hypnotic beats and add the MaskNought combo. At least I know what my deck is trying to do here, just all the 2 for 1 plays as quickly as possible and hope that it's strong enough to win the game for me. And hey on turn 1, Badlands, Dark Ritual, Illusionary Mask and drop a Dreadnought sounds decent enough!

I love to slam my Juzams and felt like I would have to make up for my dual land restrictions so I decided not to worry about City in a Bottle too much. Full 4 City of Brass and 4 Juzam Djinns it is then. I hoped people wouldn't play CiaB too much as I predicted they would want to try out as many of the new cards as possible. I also utilized the addition of Undiscovered Paradise and went balls deep with the mana base adding Bayou and some surprise green cards to catch my opponents off guard. I accepted that Blood Moon and Dwarven Miner might very well be cards that I will just lose to and that's it. Loads of white stuff like Swords to Plowshares, Disenchant and suchs seems very stong against my deck, but looking at the list I was hoping to have a shot as there are a lot of explosive and strong plays this pile can pull off. Adding Hypnotics and Juzams to the Mask combo as a second point of attack might feel a bit redundant but excluding an all star like STOP, they do require different types of answers from the opponent. So if I can't protect my combo or stop my opponent from casting problematic spells I will just try to barrage my opponent with various quick threats.

Tournament report

R1 2-0 WW against TeroL on Mono Green Winter Orb

So right off the bat I faced one of the piles I contemplated on rolling with in the tournament. The green deck tries to disrupt mana development with the Orb and play past it with mana dorks and added sweet synergies provided by Quirion Ranger.

G1 I drew in a mask and nought hand rather quickly and gave my opponent no time to answer my 12/12. I think my opponent might have had a monkey in hand but wasted it on the Mask when my Nought was hiding. Perhaps some kind of misconception on Mask rules, but then again, it might have been a difficult game for him having to take in Nought for a turn with no instant speed answer for it.

G2 I was rather worried about the sideboard games as I was sure the green deck has access to all sorts of artifact hate. Winter Orb was not to be worried as I could go off with little mana and as I also played Dark Rituals to help with that, and with those Rituals the access to some quick Hypnotics or Juzáms added to my comfort level. I took out artifact removal and boarded in more creature removal. My memory fails me on what decided the game, but I did win the race. I think I also took care of something green with an Earthquake for 1. I was happy with the result, I feel that after sideboarding it is not an easy matchup for the Mask.

R2 0-2 LL against Tuukkeli on UG BerserkMaskNought

G1 I mulled down to 6 cards on the draw for t1 Juzám. He had the turn 2 Time Walk for additional land and Factory as blocker. I had a backup Juzám with Ritual in hand so I decided to see if he was holding the Giant Growth or not as I could not really play around it. He did have it, killing my Juzam. I followed with my next Juzám but he played an Unstable Serendib that flew faster to victory. Eventually my Djinn was forced to just hold back as blocker when Rogue Elephant and other green creatures swarmed the battlefield and that was it. I played a Mind Twist for 1 for additional information and he dropped the Illusionary Mask, INTERESTING!

G2 Sideboarded in Blasts, additional artifact removal and Terror. Out with Sylvan, one Lord, Regrowth, Reconstruction and something (I was sure he would be light on artifact removal in game 2). I kept a hand with Terror, Blast, Crumble, lands. I think he played Boa that I took down. I put down a Hypnotic but then he followed up with Efreet. I tried to blast it but he answered with a blast. The Efreet then goes all the way with Growth and double Berserk. I just felt silly holding my artifact removal and taking in the flying berserker. I think the UG version has a little edge in the combo match up just because it is playing blue. Also the aggression provided by mix of fast green beats, evasion provided by Efreet and the potential for extremely explosive hands with Unstable, Growth and Berserk just feels like too much trouble for my unoptimized pile to solve in time. Well deserved victory for the more streamlined deck. Looks like both of us had the idea to back up the combo with some good old aggressive creatures.

After the game I decided to show him that I am also playing the combo. In game 1 I did draw a mask but decided to conceal the information. In game 2 I drew two Noughts but no Masks. We shared some laughs, neither of us got the combo in these games.

R3 2-1 WLW against Cazze on Mirror Universe

G1 I kept a Mask and Nought hand, played turn 2 Sylvan and he mirrored the play. Turn 3 Mask and Nought was enough with him drawing a extra card with Sylvan and me following with Strip Mine, Factory hitting with the Nought and a Bolt to finish things off in one swift strike.

G2 I had no idea what to side, I did take out a couple of bolts because I saw no little creatures hitting the board. Also Sylvan is rarely played in aggro decks. Put in Avoid Fate and Crumble because I saw Zuran Orb and fully expect there to be some targeted removal for my main combo. Mulled down to 4 cards. Lost to Sylvan and Mirror Universe with a huge Fireball. Just couldn't assemble aggression in time and when I did he had the Maze for my Nought. My greedy manabase made me mulligan 3 hands, this is fair.

G3 I brought in Tranquility and Shatter, and put the bolts back (to respond to mirror tricks). Out with terror, one Lord and Juzám as I did also see the Maze. I keep a 6. Lotus hand with T1 Hypnotic, Factory and Sol Ring. Opponent goes Taiga, Fastbond, Taiga and Tropical Island to pass. I start discarding with the Hypnotic and try to finish the hand with a Sol fueled Mind Twist. He has a Mana Drain for 4 and uses it for a huge Braingeyser. I think the games is over. I drew a new Factory to add to the clock. My opponent gets a huge flood of counterspells. The beats from Hypnotic make him discard a couple of Disenchants and additional beats by the two Factories are enough and I escape with the win, feeling really lucky as I did see Bolts from my opponent earlier. He was just really unlucky with the game deciding Geyser, though he might have been extremely lucky to hold up the Drain for my potentially game ending Sol powered Twist.

R4 0-2 LL against Erkka on BW Pox

G1 I am on the play and feeling nervous as I have heard what type of deck I am playing against. I mull to 5 because of my poorly designed greedy deck. We play a weird game. I draw a lot of responsive spells and get back in the game even after a Pox and couple Sinkholes striking back with Pillage on Scrubland, Strip on Scrubland and Shatter on one of the two Racks. I am feeling good with Sylvan Library and Mox, but then a timely Disenchant takes care of my Sylvan and opponent top decks a Statue down with two Dark Rituals from 1 swamp in play. I am dancing around with 1-3 cards in hand and taking a damage here and there from the Rack. Then I lose the race when opponent gets back to 2 lands and start getting in with the Statue. My Hypnotics stop attacking and chump in desperation. Finally there are no outs, I lose.

G2 I board out Terror, Lord and two Bolts, bringing in 2 Gloom, Shatter and Crumble. Mull to 5. Keep a T1 City, Ritual and Gloom. I have a Mask and Factory in hand. Opponent strips the City. I congratulate him as that feels like the play that takes the game. And yeah, sure enough I draw the Nought, I play down the Factory, I know my opponent is sure to cast a Sinkhole soon enough so that I need to top deck a land asap. For several turns I draw no land. When I do, it is too late. Pox sure can make a player feel sad.

Looking at the decks, one of the two better Mask decks in the tournament went undefeated and the most efficient looking and synergetic Pox got also into the finals. Well deserved I would say.

Report of Final games

So the final was the BW Pox that I lost to in the last round vs. The BerserkMaskNought that steamrolled me in round 2.

G1 the BerserkMask was on the play and started to pull away in the game with Sylvan and Bazaar synergy, drawing extra cards with no pressure from the Pox. Pox played had mulled to 5 and had only a Strip and a Charm as early interaction. Stop slowed the beatdown taking out a Mishra. Llanowar swinged in couple of times with Growth. Then Pox is resolved. Mask is still able to dig with Sylvan and plays down a creature with 1 green mana. It eats a STOP as a colorless 2/2. Another creature is masked down with 1 green mana. Disenchant from top of the deck is cast on Mask, hoping that the played creature is not Nought - but it was, game over.

G2 Pox starts with Swamp, Sol Ring against Mox Strip from the BerserkMask and adding a succesful Chaos Orb flip on another swamp the very next turn. Then Mask is able to develop with a Factory and Elves. Beats begin. Pox is stuck with Scrubland and Sol. Then the Pox drops a Maze to slow the clock down. Black Knight hits the battlefield. Then Mask is played with a concealed creature with 1 green mana. Game slows down. Some chumps, some trades by the Pox and finally Jade Statue comes down. Mask digs for more creatures, casting couple of Lat-Nam's Legacies. Two Pox in back to back rounds wreaks havoc. Statue hits and then something 2UU comes masked. Statue hits again and is blocked with Giant Growth fueled Efreet. Maze untaps Statue, a great play by Pox, presenting a difficult situation for the Mask with maze and with the upkeep damage from the Efreet, all this while facing a lethal swing back from Statue if Efreet goes in. 1-1.

G3 Another Sylvan game by BerserkMask with Mox and Sol, playing T2 Efreet and Rogue. They are dealt with Balance but in response to that a Legacy is cast, so Mask immediately gains some traction while Pox is also forced to discard more. Elf comes down and a follow up Masked creature sure enough is the Nought. Berserking Nought takes down the game number 3 and takes the tournament in a great final!

Final thoughts on the Scryings

The format adds a bit of speed and power to Swedish Old School, and a ton of new viable deck options. I think we did learn some new prominent play patterns, sideboard strategies and effects of the new Scryings cards to the playability/power of different card or deck choices. When getting ready for my next Scryings tournament, here are some random pointers;

Lat Nam’s Legacy is really good! In addition to card draw, it suffles your deck for Sylvan, and protects you against discard.
have a plan for a quick a Dreadnought or a reanimated fatty
crowd control is needed if Goblins show up
try to have some plan for resource-depleted games against Pox or have the option to deny the card.

How the format will shape is anybody's guess as it is still so unexplored, but the brewing space feels real fun, thoughtful and provides us with some refreshing Old School MtG. Next time I think our little Finnish playgroup will try out the Scryings expansion with Atlantic B&R and add manaburn to the mix as an mad experiment. This is not saying there is something wrong with the intended combination or Swe B&R list with Scryings - I am sure we will get to play more of it soon in some Tolaria tournaments.