morsaaa's Tournament report — The Bearded Dragon Finals Split

Magic: The Gathering · by Phil Blechman · February 7, 2025

Written by Adri

This is a two-part, two-perspective tournament report of The Bearded Dragon Games Win-a-Duel on Feb. 1, 2025. This is the tournament report from Adri's perspective. Read Matthieu's perspective here.

Prologue

The Night Before

After coming from a birthday party, I message Matt. He wanted to test around 8 p.m., it’s currently close to 11 pm. He’s recovering from a three-hour nap.

Matt knows he’s playing Sneak and Show after saying he’d play Delver or UB all week. He’s had much success on MTGO Challenges with Sneak and Show, so it seemed a solid pick in an unknown meta.

Through much outreach, we expected about 20 people from the NYC area at the tournament. We know most of them play UB Tempo or UB Reanimator.

I wanted to play fair blue control. I’ve played Jeskai Control the longest, but knowing how much the deck struggled in the past against Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Reanimator, I wanted to play something else. I had been on a tear with Esper Tokens, but went to turns every round at the last local game store (LGS) weekly against better opponents. I was concerned about being too tired to do well in later rounds.

Samwise, the Stouthearted by Marko Manev

Matt and I narrowed down to two decks: Grixis Control or Esper Samwise with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

Not even close. I quickly attribute the outcome to being too new with Grixis Control. I stayed with what I knew: Esper Samwise. I can already visualize the plays: Kaito +1, attack, Karakas Kaito back, ninjutsu in, surveil draw. Samwise loops. My opponents in shambles. Nothing can go wrong. Just get a few reps in to get warmed up and ready to go.

Even less close than before; it felt like playing Vintage vs. Limited. It was midnight and my identity crisis started. Maybe I should play Jeskai. Or Stoneforge. Mono Black?

Matt pulls me from the abyss and sends me a deck that's “right up your alley." With caution, I open the link expecting a Yorion pile. Instead, I find this atrocity:

I protest that I’m not only a control player, but a blue control player. This deck doesn’t even play the cat I like: Ocelot Pride. “Just try it,” Matt says.

It’s not close. Matt screams at me, but I can’t hear him over the sounds of my Magic player identity shattering.

We play a final match, this time with Matt on the draw. I lose the match in a close sequence. Satisfied with this, we decide I’ll play Mardu Cats and crowdsource the few cards I needed with a few changes:

Basically the same list. I played one Bloodstained Mire because I couldn't find any more in time. Loran of the Third Path was added instead of a fetchland for some artifact hate with the small flicker subtheme (and Karakas). Loran helps against hosers like Ensnaring Bridge or Chalice of the Void.

Since I expected a lot of UB, I changed Snuff Out for Path to Exile, arguing that most people will fetch their basics against me anyway as a four Wasteland deck.

Equipped with Mardu Cats, I watch Strassdaddy’s trophy run* with the list before going to sleep.

*Unfortunately the VOD is no longer available. I still recommend Strassdaddy's Twitch channel for cool music and more brews.

The Day of the Tournament

I woke up 45 minutes late. With barely enough time to hit the gym, get all the cards I need, put together my bag, and make my way to our meeting spot, I finish sleeving my deck in a nearby Starbucks.

Matt arrived first; he woke up an hour late.

I went to shake his hand; he went for a fist bump. I tried to reciprocate, he tried reciprocate. On the third attempt, we greeted each other correctly. “Great start to the day”, I said.

Our other carmates, Dom and Omar, arrived shortly after. We made our way to The Bearded Dragon Games (TBDG) in Bernardsville, New Jersey. En route, we discussed bounties on winning games against our friends in another car.

The tournament hits full capacity at 48 players. I scouted the room; tons of good players, including Eternal Weekend Top 8 folks, NYSE finalists, and some new faces, too.

Round 1: Yorion Death and Taxes (MonoW)

I had recently lost to BW Taxes playing Esper Tokens when I thought could out-grind them. I get in the mindset that I needed to end the game quickly.

Game 1

We traded blows until Broadside Bombardiers plus Ajani, Nacatl Pariah take over the game.

Game 2

A grindy game where we both forget that the other person has Karakas to bounce Phelia, Exhuberent Shepherd and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, respectively. Eventually, the board state was:

My 1/1 Orc Army to my opponent's Pre-War Formalwear, two Skyclave Apparitions (a two mana value, and three mana value under them), and a Recruiter of the Guard that tutored Flickerwisp the previous turn.

Pre-War Formalwear by Josu Hernaiz

I had two Swords to Plowshares and a Containment Priest in hand with enough mana for all my spells. My opponent attacked with the Recruiter, looking to trade with my token. I plow one of the Apparitions;l my opponent plowed the Illusion token; I plow the other Apparition and successfully block and kill the Recruiter.

My opponent cast the Flickerwisp; flickers Pre-War Formalwear. I let it resolve and cast Containment Priest after my opponent targeted Recruiter, exiling it. From there, I deployed Phelia and exile his creatures one by one until receiving a concession.

Round 2: UB Reanimator

Game 1

I opened on Badlands into Thoughtseize, seeing my opponent's hand of one fetch and no cantrips. I take Reanimate, my opponent plays Underground Sea and casts Brainstorm, I Wasteland their only land — they don’t draw any more lands.

Game 2

My opponent mulls to six and keeps a hand of four lands, including Wasteland, Shoot the Sheriff and Ponder. They cast Ponder, Wasteland my land, and passed. I played a dual and pass. They draw Wasteland, Wasteland my land, and pass.

I miss drawing land for three. I find one just in time to plow a reanimated Troll of Khazad-dûm that would have swung for lethal. The match goes long; I plowed an Atraxa, Grand Unifier that revealed Archon of Cruelty, quadruple blocked a Troll twice, and pinged two Brazen Borrowers while at 3 life and my opponent one mana shy of hardcasting Archon. Ultimately, I pulled through, but felt like I got away with murder.

At this point, the only sustenance I'd consumed was an iced latte from Starbucks. My good friend, Sam, pitied me and offered some pumpkin seeds, which resurrected me before the next pairings posted.

Round 3: UB Reanimator

My opponent, NYC local and close friend from the enemy car, Bill, had been on the warpath for the last few rounds, defeating my carmates, Omar and Matt. I needed to put a win on our car's scoreboard, but wasn't confident.

Bill is an generally happy guy, but locks in during competitive play; ruthless at the table. I jokingly suggested drawing to avoid another team kill, but Bill declined — he was out for blood.

Game 1

An early Barrowgoyf went the distance. Bill had removal for my creatures and counterspells for my removal. Two Barrowgoyf hits revealed two Brazen Borrowers, which bounced my blockers.

Game 2

I Wasteland his first and only land.

Game 3

Bill mulled to six and