10 Ways To Do Better At Your Next PTQ

1. Test your deck.

Any deck you take to a PTQ you want to have tested for a minimum two weeks before hand, hopefully more. Test online, test offline, play it at FNM, read about it. Test as much as you think is necessary, then double it. Then test some more. The more you test the better you'll become with the deck, and it's important to get every advantage you can get.

Yes, sometimes people can win with a brand-new deck or an audibled deck, but most PTQ's are won by someone who has mastered a particular archetype that is well-placed in the metagame. Which brings me to point 2...

2. Analyse the metagame.

And make sure it's up-to-date. For example, people who played Kithkin last week were likely to get their asses kicked, even though it was a great, PTQ-winning deck just a fortnight ago. The metagame can change very quickly.

If you don't analyse the metagame, it's like not bringing a sideboard. Why the hell would you go to a PTQ without a sideboard? Exactly.

3. Bring two different decks.

There's no rule that says you need to know your deck in advance. This is NOT contrary to Rule 1: you simply need to do more testing. Test both decks. And don't pick two similar decks, like Elf Combo and Kithkin which are both vulnerable to the same thing. A better idea might be Kithkin and Five-Color or Jund. Both are very, very different and beat different decks.

Arrive early before the tournament, and scope out the PTQ metagame, then pick which of the two decks you will use based on that information. Some call it overkill, but why would you not get every advantage you can get? More than two decks is not recommended however, because it's hard to test more adequately.

4. Get a good night's sleep beforehand.

Yes, this is obvious. Yes it's been said before. Yes, you already know it. But so many people don't DO IT. I know I would much rather be well-rested for a tournament than bleary-eyed and subsiding on caffeine. You may not feel the difference, but you'll probably have lots of 'bad luck' that day, and end up dropping. But through no fault of your own of course. *end sarcasm*

If you're serious about the PTQ, get a good night's sleep. If you have to choose between fine-tuning your deck and adequate sleep, you haven't prepared enough. Have your lists ironclad several days in advance.

5. Bring more than 15 sideboard cards.

An extension of Part 3. However, there's an art to this. Rather than tossing together 15 cards 10 minutes before registration ends, have a piece of paper with a few different sideboard plans on it. An example might go like this for GSS Jund:

Cards to bring:

Anathemancer

Jund Charm

Thought Hemorrhage

Firespout

Deathmark

Broodmate Dragon

Maelstrom Pulse

Sygg, River Cutthroat

Stillmoon Cavalier

Five-Color Control Centric Metagame:

4 Anathemancer, 4 Jund Charm, 4 Thought Hemorrhage, 3 Firespout

Jund-Centric Metagame:

4 Anathemancer, 4 Firespout, 4 Deathmark, 2 Broodmate Dragon, 1 Maelstrom Pulse

Fae-Centric Metagame:

4 Firespout, 3 Deathmark, 1 Broodmate Dragon, 2 Maelstrom Pulse, 2 Sygg, River Cutthroat, 3 Stillmoon Cavalier

Note that especially in the Fae example, where you have almost an auto-win against them, you not only aim your sideboard at the dominant deck, but also at the deck that BEATS the dominant deck. Note these sideboards are very rough, and probably not optimal for the situation. (I would run Anathemancer maindeck in a PTQ now anyway).

6. Eat healthily.

Eating highly crappy, greasy food is a norm at tournaments, and is fine for FNM, but if you've done all this extra preparation, you may as well eat well. Otherwise it's like fitting your car with the latest and greatest safety features and parts, and then feeding it garbage fuel. Treat your body with more respect than that.

It may be hard to obtain food at the event that's healthy, so a good idea might be to pack some sandwiches just in case. Still healthier than take-out, and quicker to eat, and it won't grease up your sleeves either.

7. Play precisely.

Unlike in FNM, where it's usually fine to draw then untap, or forget your Bitterblossom trigger until you're about to play a land, these things can haunt you in a PTQ. A couple of missed triggers and that's a game loss right there. And won't that make you feel stupid?

Announce when you're entering the following: upkeep, draw, main, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, postcombat main, end. Anything more is fairly anal, but those seven are a necessity. Also, don't play two spells at once. Allow your opponent time to reply. Give them about 3-5 seconds unless they give a verbal cue that they are considering. Such a wait time is expected and will not get you penalised for slow play.

Work out your plays in your head during your opponent's turn so you don't spend 20 seconds every turn thinking: only when your draw changes your plans. That'll make it far less likely for you to be warned for Slow Play. However, it is worth noting that some minor infractions will receive two warnings rather than one. Of course, it's best to avoid them altogether.

8. Be ruthless.

On the flip side of 7, is to penalise your opponents for their misplays. If they flip over one of your cards, or miss a trigger, or play too fast / too slow, CALL A JUDGE. Your opponents will do the same to you, and I've heard several cases where a player has committed a minor infraction, their opponent chose not to penalise it, and then that player did the same thing again later that match, and were warned. If they'd called a judge first time, it would have been a game loss, and they would have won the match.

Always call a judge if players don't play correctly. And if you make an obvious mistake, call a judge immediately rather than trying to hush it up. You're more likely to receive a lighter penalty if you call a judge after flipping an opponent's card rather than try to shrug it off and have the opponent call one instead (and they almost certainly will).

9. Know your tiebreakers.

You're 6-1, and you're offered a draw by your last-round opponent. You don't take it, and lose, and later find out you would have gone into the Top 8. Even worse, you DO take it, and wind up 10th place. Know your tiebreakers. Before the round starts you should know whether or not you can ID into the Top 8 (this only matters in rounds 7+, so is not applicable to all players, but it would suck to hit a miracle streak then not have the knowledge you need to hit the Top 8).

Knowledge is power. If you can ID into the Top 8, go ahead and try. But you need to know if you can first.

10. Maintain focus.

You're in the Top 8, but you've just fought 6-8 grueling rounds of Magic. In an ideal situation, you've ID'ed the last round and can relax and grab some food with friends before the Top 8. However, if that's not possible, at least take a few minutes to relax your mind and bolster your resources. The Top 8 will be the toughest part of the tournament. You don't want to be playing at anything less than your best.

Now sometimes you'll do everything right and still X-2 drop: this advice is not an automatic ticket to the Pro Tour. But there's only finite amounts of PTQ's in a year (This advice is even more important in Australia. The competition is only slightly less than America, and unless you're willing to fly, there's only 1-2 PTQ's you can get to in a year!) and you may as well do your best. Do not take a PTQ likely. Don't attend on a whim. Some of the area's best will be there, and the more preparation you do, the better.

Because rest assured: if you're not well-rested, prepared, tuned for the metagame and ready to play your best, you'll be competing against someone who is.

Until next time, may you prepare for a month so that people can label you an overnight success when you win.

Next Level Faeries: First Impressions

Well, I've tested Next Level Faeries a bit today, and I've come to the following conclusion: it is awesome.

I changed the list slightly since yesterday. Here's the list I tested with for all the matches today:

Lands (25)

4 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

3 Island

1 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Secluded Glen

4 Sunken Ruins

1 Swamp

Creatures (13)

4 Mistbind Clique

3 Scion of Oona

2 Sower of Temptation

3 Spellstutter Sprite

1 Vendilion Clique

Spells (22)

4 Bitterblossom

3 Broken Ambitions

4 Cryptic Command

3 Firespout

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

Sideboard (15)

4 Anathemancer

3 Double Negative

2 Glen Elendra Archmage

2 Jace Beleren

2 Sower of Temptation

1 Flashfreeze

1 Puppeteer Clique

We have the decklist, now let's justify it's existence. Into the testing!

Match 1 vs. Elf Combo

He starts out fast and I start out slow. He plays 2 Elvish Visionaries, a Llanowar Elf, and a Devoted Druid. I kill the Devoted Druid with Lightning Bolt and play Bitterblossom. I Spellstutter Sprite a Heritage Druid, and flash in a Scion of Oona so I can block a Visionary with my now 2/2 token. He plays Heritage Druid and Ranger of Eos for 2 Nettle Sentinels and hits me to 11 next turn. I play another Scion of Oona and use my 3/3 army to swing for lethal.

Game 2, I sideboard in a Flashfreeze for a Terminate.

He plays 2 Llanowar Elves and Heritage Druid while I build my manabase. He plays Eos and Nettle Sentinel, and I sprite the Sentinel. After he draws, I Vendilion Clique him, seeing a Mirror Entity, Regal Force, Nettle Sentinel and Dauntless Escort. I toss the Regal Force (normally, I'd toss the Entity, but I have a Sower in hand which at the moment appears my one chance to win the game).

I block Ranger of Eos with the Clique, and he plays out his hand. I use Sower of Temptation to steal Mirror Entity. He plays an Imperious perfect and I take 7. He passes, and so do I. He plays Coat of Arms, setting himself up for a blowout Cryptic Command, which I gratefully take, tapping his guys and countering the trumping artifact.

I pass, and he plays Mirror Entity. I Broken it for 2, forcing him to tap two Llanowar Elves or let it get countered. After a think, he taps the Elves and swings. I flash in a Scion and block the Perfect with a 3/3 Sower, and he sacs the Escort to save it. I untap, activate Mirror Entity for all 6 of my mana, and swing with a 6/6 Scion, 7/7 Sower and 7/7 Sprite to win the game and the match.

1-0.

Match 2 vs. U/B Mill

I mulligan to 5. Not good. He plays a Turn 2 Howling Mine, and I flash in a Spellstutter Sprite. I swing, and pass. He passes, and I flash in a Scion. I swing for 3. He plays Infest. I use Cryptic Command, and he Countersqualls it. I pass. He plays Jace, which I Broken Ambitions, and he uses another Countersquall. He uses it's +2 ability, and I use double Lightning Bolt to kill it. I play Bitterblossom.

He untaps, and plays Time Warp go, Time Warp go, Wall of Frost (keeping in mind he's drawing 2 cards per turn off Howling Mine) and says go. I pass. He plays Mind Funeral, and Twincasts it, leaving me with 27 cards left in my deck. I play Mistbind Clique, which gets Essence Scattered. He passes, and my second Clique also gets Scattered. My Cryptic Command gets Countersqualled, and the same thing happens AGAIN next turn.

He plays Mind Funeral and mills 4 land in a row, but then plays another Mind Funeral dropping me to 6 cards. I play all my Faeries, but am unable to find the last Scion I need to win the game before I run out of cards.

Game 2 I side out my Firespouts, Sowers and Terminates for Glen Elendra Archmage, Double Negative and Anathemancer. He's not running many nonbasics, but it's better than a 4 mana 2/2.

I play a Turn 2 Bitterblossom, which he finds hard to deal with. He plays Howling Mine. I pass, and he goes for a second. I use Spellstutter Sprite, and Bolt him down to 17. I swing, and flash in a Scion. He plays Mind Funeral milling me for about twelve cards, and I swing for 7. Failing to find an answer at 10, facing 9 damage next turn and a Lightning Bolt as soon as I draw it, he concedes.

Game 3

I mulligan to 5 again, but he plays Turn 2 Howling Mine, alleviating my concerns of mana screw. I play Turn 2 Bitterblossom. He plays Turn 3 Howling Mine, and I match it with a second Bitterblossom! I start swinging in earnest, including a Spellstutter Sprite flashed in at EOT. He plays MF + Twincast for 22 cards. I take advantage of his being tapped out and swing with 6 Faeries, flash in a Scion of Oona, and play Lightning Bolt to take out his last 15 life in one hit.

Afterwards he showed me an Infest, and says he knew he should have played it, and that he made a mistake. I agree, tell him he'll get better with more testing, and we part ways.

2-0.

Match 3 vs. B/W Discard

He has an evil little deck with Duress, Thoughtseize and Scepter of Fugue, with Nyxathid and Baneslayer Angel as finishers.

Game 1 he plays Thoughtseize for my Turn 2 play, then Sign in Blood, then Scepter of Fugue, then Duress. I've basically already lost this game. He plays Thoughtseize, which I Broken, then play Bitterblossom. I go for a Mistbind Clique on his upkeep and he Doom Blades it. He takes my last card in hand with Scepter and plays Nyxathid. Next turn he plays Baneslayer Angel. I use Vendilion Clique to reveal 2 Path to Exile and Mind Shatter. I keep playing to find out what else is in his deck, but he plays a second Nyxathid and I scoop.

I sideboard out Firespouts for Anathemancers and something else for Archmages.

Game 2 he plays Scepter of Fugue, and I play Anathemancer Turn 3 and Archmage Turn 4. He plays double Path to Exile, and I play a second Archmage. I play Lightning Bolt, and hit him to 14, then play Jace, last card in hand. He plays Baneslayer Angel a couple of turns later. I use a third -1 to kill my Jace, then play another one from my hand and draw with that. He Paths my Archmage and kills Jace, then plays a second Baneslayer Angel. I play Bitterblossom. He purges it, and that's the game right there.

2-1.

Match 4 vs. Grixis Mannequin

At first I think it's the mirror match Game 1 as we both play identical lands. I play a Jace, which gets Broken Ambitioned, and then he evokes a drifter. I play Jace 2, and he plays Mulldrifter at full price. I Sower it, and use Jace's +2 to go to 3 counters. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill my Sower, and I play end of turn Spellstutter Sprite, which gets through, and end of turn Scion, which gets hit with Double Negative. I use Terminate and Mistbind Clique when he taps out, and he uses Cruel Ultimatum. Ow.

I've never, ever won a game where my opponent has resolved Cruel Ultimatum. Nor have I lost a duel where I resolved it. But I play on anyway. I Mistbind Clique my last guy, and pass. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill it and then plays a full-price Mulldrifter. I use Sower of Temptation, and he uses Bogardan Hellkite to kill Sower and Jace. I draw land, Broken Ambitions, and Bitterblossom and die to the dragon.

Game 2 I sideboard in my Puppeteer Clique and my Flashfreeze for Firespouts. I might have sided in Archmages too. Can't remember.

Game 2 I play Bitterblossom, and he passes for a couple of turns. I start attacking. When he evokes a Mulldrifter, I Spellstutter Sprite it. I Puppeteer Clique his Mulldrifter and swing. He plays a Mulldrifter and I Bolt it, and he concedes, and just like that it's on to Game 3.

Game 3 I play a Bitterblossom, and he uses Broken Ambitions. He gets stuck on 3 mana, and I play Jace. He draws a Crumbling Necropolis as his fourth mana, and I use Jace and pass. He Makeshift Mannequins for a discarded Hellkite, and I Cryptic Command it. He Makeshift Mannequins during his turn for a Hellkite, killing Jace. I Lightning Bolt it, and it dies thanks to the mannequin counter on it. I draw into a second Mistbind Clique with no other Fae, but I've drawn lots of lands with Jace, thinning my deck.

I draw the bomb, playing Puppeteer Clique. By some miracle it resolves, and I aim the Hellkite squarely at his face, knocking off half his life total. Next turn I Terminate my own Clique, stealing his Mulldrifter. I swing, he uses Volcanic Fallout. I CC to bounce my Clique and draw, and he Fallouts in response. Fine by me. He drops to 6, and I play the double Lightning Bolts I'd been saving in my hand for the win.

3-1.

So all in all I'd say that Lightning Bolt is very useful in the Faeries deck, and I would continue to use it if I was a Fae player. I might also consider taking out a Firespout and Terminate for 2 Time Warps, and 2 Double Negatives in the sideboard for Firespouts, which without green mana can't hit any of your guys! I think with tuning and testing, Next Level Faeries is a viable deck for FNM or even a PTQ. I'd love to hear any success you have with the deck, either by Twitter (my username is mtgsalivanth) by blog comment, or by e-mail (at www.salivanth@live.com).

Until next time, may you test before taking my word for it:)

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

It can be very hard to get people to play a match to conclusion in MWS. Especially if it's your last match of the day.

Lightning Bolt is AWESOME. Terminate is less awesome due to the mana, and nonblack is almost never relevant. I would consider replacing it with Doom Blade maindeck.

Grixis Mannequin runs Cruel Ultimatum! Don't tap out against it!

Time Warp + Howling Mine is a powerful tempo boost.

See you tomorrow!

Faeries Never Dies!

Faeries is dead. Dead as a doornail, dead as Elvis, dead as the dinosaurs. Right?

I seem to remember this stuff being said before. Oh that's right. It was after Conflux, when Volcanic Fallout came out. Of course, Great Sable Stag is in a whole new level. Faeries can still survive. But it has to change a bit. It has to give a little to get a little. And that little is a little thing called Lightning Bolt.

As Wizards probably intended, Lightning Bolt is the perfect answer to Great Sable Stag. For one mana, it kills it. And in this world where playing UUU, WW, GG and RR in the same deck is perfectly reasonable, we can pretty easily make a splash for some of Red's greatest.

Here's the list that came 5th at France's Nationals. (Two other Fae decks placed higher, but they used Time Warp, and we're going with a tried and true build here.)

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants
4 Agony Warp
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Tribal Instants
3 Peppersmoke

Basic Lands
5 Island
3 Swamp

Lands
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Gargoyle Castle
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Puppeteer Clique
1 Sower Of Temptation
3 Stillmoon Cavalier
3 Countersquall
3 Flashfreeze
3 Thoughtseize

Not bad, but with 3 Fae decks in the Top 8, I think that GSS is more popular in America than France. Since most of my readers are American, we need to tune it to the GSS-stuffed metagame.

Here's my proposed list:

Next Level Faeries:

Creatures
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion Of Oona
2 Sower Of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite

Instants

3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command

4 Lightning Bolt

3 Terminate

Legendary Creatures
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers
2 Jace Beleren

Tribal Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom

Basic Lands
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain

Lands

3 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Mutavault

4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Puppeteer Clique
4 Anathemancer

3 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Flashfreeze
3 Double Negative

I haven't actually tested this list yet, but I intend to once Magic Workstation decides to be nice. Sometime in the next few days I'll post a report of the testing. I'm sure I'll come into direct contact with Great Sable Stags. In the meantime, feel free to test and adjust the decklist yourselves. The sideboard of this deck is tuned towards Jund and Five-Color decks specifically, since they'll show up in big numbers at PTQ's and other events, which is what this list is aimed towards. I hope it does well for you.

I like Faeries. I think it has it's place in the metagame. It's a good foil to Five-Color, which has now risen to dominance. Hopefully this can bring it back as a Tier 1 strategy.

Until next time, may what you thought was dead rise from the grave.

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

I intend to make this a regular posting whenever I learn something about Magic, so I can share it with all of you. Some of these lessons aren't from today, but I'm catching up.

Never, ever, play Cruel if you even think the opponent might have a possibility of having a counter. Especially if he plays 5CC better than you.

Ajani Goldmane gaining life is actually good against Blightning. Especially if you defend him with Harm's Way. Eventually, they'll run out of gas and you can play a big-ass Avatar. Or a token generator and give the tokens +1/+1 countery goodness.

Figure of Destiny is absolutely nuts against 5CC. If you're at 6 mana, you have an 8/8 in 2 turns for one card.

Goldmeadow Stalwart isn't that good in a 14 Kithkin deck. Path to Exile and HW are better draws.

See you tomorrow!