Hello everyone,
Last Sunday, I participated in the RCQ Modern tournament at the Face à Face store in Montreal. No fewer than 41 players were present; a fierce competition. Since I don't play Modern regularly at the moment, I decided to stick with a sure thing: Boros Energy.
In Round 1, I faced Azorius Blink, who, like me, relied on the strength of Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride, but also on the addition of Phelia and Quantum Riddler for card advantage. The first game was close at the beginning, and I even thought I had the upper hand by bringing him down to 5 life. The game turned in his favor when he finally managed to keep a Phelia in play and make it big enough for me to kill. The second game was less successful, as he destroyed two of my lands on turn 3, and I was stuck with only two Plains in play for the rest of the game. I stayed in the game surprisingly long thanks to Guide of Souls and well-placed Wrath of Skies, but I still ended up with seven red cards in hand.
In Round 2, I was really worried my tournament was over when I realized my opponent was playing Boros Land Destruction. Despite my deck only having two colors, I only had two basic lands, making this type of strategy devastating if I didn't get ahead quickly. I lost the first game with no lands in play. I then won the second game with a quick start. Unfortunately for my opponent, he mulliganed with four cards in the third game, and I won despite his best efforts.
In Round 3, I played against Prowess. Although I lost the second game, I believe my deck has the advantage against this strategy. These were two decks with a lot of interaction, but the Prowess deck's interaction is also useful for killing the opponent (Lightning Bolt, Lava Dart, etc.). However, when the Prowess deck needs to use its interaction to kill creatures, it lacks the firepower to finish the job in terms of life totals. The Prowess deck also has fewer creatures than Energy, making it easier to neutralize.
In Round 4, I played against Esper Frog. Essentially a Dimir Frog deck, but with a touch of white for a few sideboard cards. The first game was close, with a life total race that my opponent won because he recognized the right moment to start attacking. If he had waited another turn, it would have been too late. The second game came down to a choice my opponent gave me: sacrifice my Guide of Souls or one of my two Ocelot Prides in response to my Ajani. At that point in the game, I opted to keep my Ocelots and establish a massive board presence, threatening to kill my opponent in two turns. Unfortunately, this didn't work around Meathook Massacre, which wiped out my cat army and restored all of my opponent's life points. If I had chosen to keep Guide of Souls, it would have been big enough to survive and continue putting pressure on my opponent.
Round 5, I played against Grixis Frog where, once again, the red element was there for sideboard cards. This time, I won quite convincingly in two games. The red element allowed me to add cards like Pyroclasm, which is good against the cat portion of Boros Energy and can already be covered by the Dimir base of the deck (Meathook Massacre, for example). My previous opponent's touch of white allowed him to play cards like Celestial Purge, which are good against the Phlage portion of Boros Energy, but much more problematic against Dimir Frog. Therefore, I would tend to favor Esper Frog over Grixis Frog if I had to add a color to Dimir Frog, but it depends a lot on the expected decks at each tournament.
Round 6, I played against Amulet Titan. In the first game, my opponent assembled an infinite mana combo with Amulet of Vigor, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Springheart Natuko, and a bounce land on turn 2. Unable to kill the Dryad on my turn 2, he won on his turn 3. In the second game, my opponent based his hand on his Urza's Saga, which I destroyed on my turn 3 before he could search for an Amulet of Vigor. I was thus able to finish the game quickly with my creatures. In the third game, I once again had interaction for my opponent's saga, but he had a second one and even an Amulet in hand. So, he assembled his combo again and killed me in the same turn.
With a win in the final round, I could have reached the top 16 with a slim chance of the top 8, but unfortunately, I finished 21st with my 3-3 record. All in all, a decent result. If I were to play another game today, it would be against Esper Frog, where I think I could have played better.
As always, I thank Leo Cards for their support. Now, I'm getting down to practice for the RC Standard in two weeks in Ottawa!