Dipping my toe(s) into the Shallow Grave - A Premodern MTG Tournament Report
**Round 1:**
Opponent: Mono U Storm (On the Play)
:white_check_mark: :X: :white_check_mark:
Game 1: Mulligan'd to 5, still managed to assemble the combo on turn 3.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod. This has basically become my go to sideboard changes. The 13 other cards in my sideboard are all instants and can be grabbed with Cunning Wish, and I would rather see that card than hope for one of the others. If I ran 2 Chain of Vapors, I'd consider bringing them in sometimes.
Game 2: Kept what I thought was an okay hand. I wasn't sure about pulling in Null Rod because I couldn't remember if U Storm runs tormod's crypt. Turns out this list did, it didn't come into play in game 2. He cast crypt, I cast Null Rod. In the end, I couldn't assemble the combo and the turn before I could he went off. The moment he started tracking storm and cast Meditate I scooped. He revealed the Brain Freezes in hand.
Game 3: Turn 1 Buried Alive, was just the Shallow Grave away from getting the turn 1 kill. I drew the other combo piece turn 2, protected it with Orim's Chant on Turn 3.
**Round 2**
Opponent: Standstill (technically?) (On the Draw)
:X: :white_check_mark: :X:
Game 1: Mulligan'd to 5, honestly should have gone to 4 cards just for a shot at seeing cards I wanted. Eventually scooped because I was just going to die to a Mishra's Factory and my own lands (trying to assemble the combo).
Sieboard: -1 Krosan Cloudscraper, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Perfect hand, just needed 1-2 more mana sources, got the combo turn 4 protected with Orim's Chant.
Game 3: Mulligan to 6, had Gemstone Mine, Ancient Tomb, and City of Brass, Cunning Wish, Intution, Cabal Ritual. He Mana Leaked my Intuition and I could have played the Ritual first to pay for the Mana Leak, so I defnitly punted that game. Spent a few more turns trying to assemble the combo, finally scooped when my hand was Corpse Dance, Reflecting Pool, Dark Ritual, and Cabal Ritual x3. So rough.
**Round 3**
Opponent: RG Goblins (On the Play)
:X: :X:
Game 1: Buried Alive Turn 1, get wastelanded, no way to get to 3 mana and cast Intution; get goblin'd.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Wasteland, Wasteland, Wasteland. get goblin'd. Nothing I could do.
I definitely felt the tilt setting in. 2 matches in a row where the deck struggled to get the combo, but 3 wastelands in a row is just variance. I reported the match and then we played 2 casuals post board and I won both, which made me feel better about the matchup.
**Round 4**
Opponent: Enchantress (On the Play)
:white_check_mark: :x: :white_check_mark:
Game 1: Mulliganed to 5, had most of the combo, drew the mana I needed, won turn 4 or 5.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Had the combo by turn 3, had a null rod out because he did have Tormod's Crypt, but he kept a lone Plains untapped for about 4 or 5 turns and I couldn't find the protection for the combo.
Game 3: Mulligan to 5, my hand was Ancient Tomb, 2 Lotus Petals, Intuition, Buried Alive. I put back another Petal & Cunning Wish, a heck of a combo win. Ended up drawing the Shallow Grave off a turn 1 portent, and so I intuition'd for Orim's Chant.
In the end, I knew I was not going to be able to play Top 8 if I made it (a rare possibility of a 3-2 making Top 8), and this was one of our regulars/teammate, so I gave him the 2-0 to give him a better chance to make it.
**Round 5**
Opoonent: Sunscape Familiar Brew (On the Play)
:x: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark
Game 1: Assembled the combo on like turn 3 or 4, no protection, forced him to have Swords, he had swords. I had a cloudscraper in hand and I wasn't going to win, so I went to game 2.
Sideboard: -1, Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Turn 2 kill.
Game 3: Mulligan to 6, Hand was City of Brass, Ancient Tomb, Intuition, Intuition, Cunning Wish, Cabal Ritual. Turn 2 he cast Meddling Mage, and he spent a lot of time hemming and hawwing about Shallow Grave or Corpse Dance, in the end he picked Shallow Grave. My original plan had been to Cunning Wish for the Corpse dance in my sideboard, but I drew Corpse Dance on my turn 1 draw. Turn 2: Intuition #1: Krosan Cloudscraper. Turn 3: Intution #2: Portent, Sutured Ghoul x2. He'd been stuck on lands, but turn 4 he tapped the 2 lands he had to cast Waterfront Bounce. No mana? Jam the combo. I cast Corpse Dance turn 4 for the win. Deck was really interesting, and revolved around reducing the cost of his spells and then getting a lot of value out of cards like Roar of the Wurm, Quiet Spec, Deep Analysis, but he never got to show off what his deck could do. I couldn't recover from getting Swords'd game 1, and I just went too fast for him. I think new achievement unlocked by using Inituitions as my Buried Alive. Inefficient, yes, but with the possibility of a second mage coming down I didn't want to broadcast that I was getting Buried Alive to combo off.
Overall Thoughts: I don't recommend playing in a more competitive premodern tournament after working all day friday, and flying home late and getting to sleep at 3am just to get up a few hours later to game. Besides the fact that I was going to play this deck anyways, I needed to play something that wouldn't be too complex with how little sleep I got the night before, so the deck with the most reps it is!
I think I played the day well overall. The match losses were mostly due to variance, with my game 3 loss in Round 2 being the big one, tapping my mana like a dum dum to not protect the Intuition was not a smart move. I think the deck is the best it's ever been, though it does feel slower in a lot of cases when you're having to intuition for the combo piece you're missing. I almost wish there was a way to get Buried Alive from the sideboard when possible, but I don't think the deck has the space for it.
Opponent: Mono U Storm (On the Play)
:white_check_mark: :X: :white_check_mark:
Game 1: Mulligan'd to 5, still managed to assemble the combo on turn 3.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod. This has basically become my go to sideboard changes. The 13 other cards in my sideboard are all instants and can be grabbed with Cunning Wish, and I would rather see that card than hope for one of the others. If I ran 2 Chain of Vapors, I'd consider bringing them in sometimes.
Game 2: Kept what I thought was an okay hand. I wasn't sure about pulling in Null Rod because I couldn't remember if U Storm runs tormod's crypt. Turns out this list did, it didn't come into play in game 2. He cast crypt, I cast Null Rod. In the end, I couldn't assemble the combo and the turn before I could he went off. The moment he started tracking storm and cast Meditate I scooped. He revealed the Brain Freezes in hand.
Game 3: Turn 1 Buried Alive, was just the Shallow Grave away from getting the turn 1 kill. I drew the other combo piece turn 2, protected it with Orim's Chant on Turn 3.
**Round 2**
Opponent: Standstill (technically?) (On the Draw)
:X: :white_check_mark: :X:
Game 1: Mulligan'd to 5, honestly should have gone to 4 cards just for a shot at seeing cards I wanted. Eventually scooped because I was just going to die to a Mishra's Factory and my own lands (trying to assemble the combo).
Sieboard: -1 Krosan Cloudscraper, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Perfect hand, just needed 1-2 more mana sources, got the combo turn 4 protected with Orim's Chant.
Game 3: Mulligan to 6, had Gemstone Mine, Ancient Tomb, and City of Brass, Cunning Wish, Intution, Cabal Ritual. He Mana Leaked my Intuition and I could have played the Ritual first to pay for the Mana Leak, so I defnitly punted that game. Spent a few more turns trying to assemble the combo, finally scooped when my hand was Corpse Dance, Reflecting Pool, Dark Ritual, and Cabal Ritual x3. So rough.
**Round 3**
Opponent: RG Goblins (On the Play)
:X: :X:
Game 1: Buried Alive Turn 1, get wastelanded, no way to get to 3 mana and cast Intution; get goblin'd.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Wasteland, Wasteland, Wasteland. get goblin'd. Nothing I could do.
I definitely felt the tilt setting in. 2 matches in a row where the deck struggled to get the combo, but 3 wastelands in a row is just variance. I reported the match and then we played 2 casuals post board and I won both, which made me feel better about the matchup.
**Round 4**
Opponent: Enchantress (On the Play)
:white_check_mark: :x: :white_check_mark:
Game 1: Mulliganed to 5, had most of the combo, drew the mana I needed, won turn 4 or 5.
Sideboard: -1 Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Had the combo by turn 3, had a null rod out because he did have Tormod's Crypt, but he kept a lone Plains untapped for about 4 or 5 turns and I couldn't find the protection for the combo.
Game 3: Mulligan to 5, my hand was Ancient Tomb, 2 Lotus Petals, Intuition, Buried Alive. I put back another Petal & Cunning Wish, a heck of a combo win. Ended up drawing the Shallow Grave off a turn 1 portent, and so I intuition'd for Orim's Chant.
In the end, I knew I was not going to be able to play Top 8 if I made it (a rare possibility of a 3-2 making Top 8), and this was one of our regulars/teammate, so I gave him the 2-0 to give him a better chance to make it.
**Round 5**
Opoonent: Sunscape Familiar Brew (On the Play)
:x: :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark
Game 1: Assembled the combo on like turn 3 or 4, no protection, forced him to have Swords, he had swords. I had a cloudscraper in hand and I wasn't going to win, so I went to game 2.
Sideboard: -1, Cabal Ritual, -1 Corpse Dance; +2 Null Rod
Game 2: Turn 2 kill.
Game 3: Mulligan to 6, Hand was City of Brass, Ancient Tomb, Intuition, Intuition, Cunning Wish, Cabal Ritual. Turn 2 he cast Meddling Mage, and he spent a lot of time hemming and hawwing about Shallow Grave or Corpse Dance, in the end he picked Shallow Grave. My original plan had been to Cunning Wish for the Corpse dance in my sideboard, but I drew Corpse Dance on my turn 1 draw. Turn 2: Intuition #1: Krosan Cloudscraper. Turn 3: Intution #2: Portent, Sutured Ghoul x2. He'd been stuck on lands, but turn 4 he tapped the 2 lands he had to cast Waterfront Bounce. No mana? Jam the combo. I cast Corpse Dance turn 4 for the win. Deck was really interesting, and revolved around reducing the cost of his spells and then getting a lot of value out of cards like Roar of the Wurm, Quiet Spec, Deep Analysis, but he never got to show off what his deck could do. I couldn't recover from getting Swords'd game 1, and I just went too fast for him. I think new achievement unlocked by using Inituitions as my Buried Alive. Inefficient, yes, but with the possibility of a second mage coming down I didn't want to broadcast that I was getting Buried Alive to combo off.
Overall Thoughts: I don't recommend playing in a more competitive premodern tournament after working all day friday, and flying home late and getting to sleep at 3am just to get up a few hours later to game. Besides the fact that I was going to play this deck anyways, I needed to play something that wouldn't be too complex with how little sleep I got the night before, so the deck with the most reps it is!
I think I played the day well overall. The match losses were mostly due to variance, with my game 3 loss in Round 2 being the big one, tapping my mana like a dum dum to not protect the Intuition was not a smart move. I think the deck is the best it's ever been, though it does feel slower in a lot of cases when you're having to intuition for the combo piece you're missing. I almost wish there was a way to get Buried Alive from the sideboard when possible, but I don't think the deck has the space for it.
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