Hello Magic Fans! It’s me Daphne Dukes, Langden Games Roving Reporter, some of you may know me form my regular appearances keeping players up to date on the store Blood Bowl League, but in the off season I also pen the occasional written article, so here we are!
Saturday 30th July saw Langden Games run it’s third and final RCQ of this season, it was the 5th such event we’d hosted and as always was well attended with 26 people taking part on the day!
Shop stalwart Mark Boast, aka Boasty, took part and ended up winning the day and wanted to share his thoughts on the event and his day, so without further ado I’ll hand you over to Mark!
Daph out! xx
Some of you may know me as the jolly chap that plays mono white decks, but to introduce myself. I am Mark Boast I play predominantly Modern and Pioneer at the shop. Since having my baby girl (Tilly) I haven’t been able to make it to the shop or play as much as I would like, but now I have qualified I am going to have to play a lot more Pioneer in the lead up to Lille on September 30th!
Well to be honest, I was not even intending on playing the RCQ – but as the wife was away at a wedding (I wasn’t invited!!) and mum and dad were happy to babysit so I decided to come along. I had paid for the event pass on MTGO to allow me access to the whole card pool and play as much Magic: The Gathering as I could in a month! I tested some Modern – Boros Legends – tired some vintage but after watching Doomwake on Youtube playing, I decided to have a go with Boros Convoke! I tested a few builds, I eventually decided the Burning-Tree Emissary version suited my play style the best. It’s explosive and games can be short, but the down side is it is not resilient as others.
After playing over 100 matches with the deck and testing in 6 Pioneer Leagues, I was sitting at a game win percentage of 56% and match win percentage of 59% (these all being saved on a spreadsheet!) and felt the deck was great and decided to bring it along to Langden for the RCQ.
The deck list I finalised on was:
Goldfish Deck Link: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/visual/5777168
I had been relatively settled on my list, but late on Thursday I swapped a Castle Embereth for a Den of the Bugbear, which as you will see came in very handy!
Got to the shop nice and early and got to see and catch up with a lot of friends, something I love about Langden Games!
First Round
2-1 UW Spirits
Got paired with a lovely chap from Lowestoft on Blue White Spirits. During our chat he told me he had borrowed his deck from a friend and wanted to test it out. We unfortunately had the deck check so 10 minutes later we got the games started!
Game one, I kept a 1 lander that had one drops and Gleeful, with an explosive turns if I got the second land, unfortunately the second land never came and he managed to get creatures on the board that eventually killed me.
I sided in the Rending Volleys, taking out the Clarion Spirits, though it made flyers I felt that this was too slow to trigger, I maybe wrong but I wanted to keep it explosive. Game two, I kept a 2 lander with Gleeful, 2 one drops, Burning Tree and a Bushwhacker, land one drop creating an artifact, turn 2 drew a Loxodon and played that with another one drop then turn three ultimately swung for lethal with the Burning Tree into Bushwhacker.
Game three was less of a smash, but I just made a large board and killed for lethal. He did comment on that he was not sure what I was on and did not side in the settle the wreckage – that card would ruin me as I only have one basic.
Second Round
2-0 Mono Green
Again, got paired with a lovely fella from Cambridge, but this was a very quick match. I unfortunately had the nuts two games in a row, swinging for lethal or almost lethal by turn 3! I sided in my Seismic Stomp, two Forge Devils and two Declaration in Stones, for Clarion Spirits, Loxodon and an Epicure.
Third Round
2-1 Lotus Field Combo
This was a match against a very good friend Joe! He came to my wedding! I was surprised to see him on Lotus combo, but on the play this feels like a decent match up in my favour.
In each of the three games, I had 3 goblins on turn one! Quick game one followed by Joe clearing the board and managing to get Dragonlord Dromoka and turning the corner. In game three, he was again one turn short of comboing and having myself having lethal on the board.
Fourth Round
ID – Boro Covoke
Another fantastic player on the same deck as myself! We talked about each other’s build and had a good friendly chat! ID’d due to the field and this would get us into the top 8.
Fifth Round
ID U/W Spirits
As top seed, the top 8 all ID’s to get to the finals. This allows me to take the number one seed and the play throughout the top 8.
Quarter Finals
2-1 Boros Pia
This was a close match up, the Pia deck can certainly grind and hit hard with their prowess creatures. They can also ‘combo’ off with their Runaway Steam-kin. I tested with this deck prior to deciding to play convoke, I felt that the deck was not as explosive.
Game one, I was explosive with Turn 2 Loxodon followed by almost lethal Bushwhacker – opponent scooped.
Game two, the opponent had early interaction, keeping my side of the board relatively clear. Resolved Showdown of the Skalds with a Steam-kin, allowed him to ‘storm’ off and with a large board I scooped with them having lethal on board.
Game 3, I did some chip damage to the opponent through my one drops then Burning-Tree into Burning-Tree into Bushwhacker them to 6, but then for two turns I just saw just lands! Manged to peck him to 1 life but it looked like the game and the match was lost, but my opponent miscounted my creatures available to me, and I was able to drop a land and activated Den of the Bugbear and the Goblin created was able to attack for the final point of damage.
Semi Finals
2-0 Mono White Humans
Against the team captain for the Templars from Norwich, Rocco, he was on Mono White Humans and a match up that I felt was very good. Rocco was unlucky to mulligan in both games, and was unable to get a creature to stick on the board, it really felt like two ‘non’ games – and in all honesty I hate winning like that, But it took me to the finals!
Finals
2-1 Lotus Field
The other semi final was against two of my opponents I beat in the swiss, it was Mono Green verse Joe on his Lotus Field deck. Joe eventually combo’ed and it was me against my mate in the final.
We both were keen to win and have the winner photo on the Langden website and Facebook page! As I was the top seed, I got to take the play.
I mulliganed to 5 with 3 spells and 2 lands, unfortunately I started well but only drew lands, got Joe down to one (I actually miss calculated my attack – I guess maths is for blockers!) and he managed to combo off with Approach of the Second Sun (it was good to see him go off!).
Losing on the play did not feel good, especially as this was a good match up! But I got to go on the play again for game two and the explosiveness came off again, turn four victory with convoke big boy and the little lads coming in for lethal.
The final game of the RCQ was very interesting, I was on the draw and kept a 1 lander, with one drops into double Burning-tree and a Bushwhacker. First turn I did not draw a land but played Thraben Inspector, with a clue, the second turn arrived and so did the land! A second one drop (Epicure) and a Gleeful Demolition on the Blood Token created, and then a convoked Knight-Errant to pick up a Ornithopter and a Bushwhacker.
By the third turn Joe had a Voyaging Satyr and a Lotus Field on the battlefield and I swung with my Burning-Trees that had been Bushwhacked with my one drops – he was down to 6 and needed something big! His forth turn he used the Satyr to allow him to tap Lotus twice for WWW and GGG to cast his Dragon Lord Dromoka! Was the game going to turn in his favour, but off the top a drew an Inspiring Vantage that allowed me to cast Chop Down on the Dragon, and I swung for lethal!
What an amazing day of magic and seeing my friends! I will need to get in some more testing in for Lille, but I felt that the deck suited my game style and was in a good field for the day. I can honestly say I would have been as delighted to my mate Joe win too and felt that he had to be in the picture too!
I will represent my local game store as well as I can in France, and who knows I might get lucky and get to the Pro tour! Remember you have to be in it to win it!
Up the Towen!
Mark Boast
