Side Event Satisfaction at 2026 Sacred Torch Showdown III w/Oath Ponza

Magic: The Gathering · by Joseph Datko · August 1, 2026

First, thanks to the organizers: Order of the Sacred Torch, the Hex & Co. staff, event judges, and Premodern players. I would have had a great experience regardless of my results, and while the numbers aren't impressive, they're above my recent average in local league play. I can credit that improvement to deck selection and eating at regular intervals through the day.

5-Color Oath Ponza

DECKLIST_START

Creatures (4)

4 {Terravore} [1][g][g]

Instants (4)

4 {Swords to Plowshares} [w]

Sorceries (8)

3 {Thermokarst} [1][g][g]
3 {Winter's Grasp} [1][g][g]
2 {Vindicate} [1][b][w]

Artifacts (8)

4 {Mox Diamond} [0]
4 {Sphere of Resistance} [2]

Enchantments (7)

4 {Oath of Druids} [1][g]
3 {Sylvan Library} [1][g]

Lands (29)

4 {Gemstone Mine}
4 {Mishra's Factory}
4 {Rishadan Port}
4 {Treetop Village}
4 {Wasteland}
3 {City of Brass}
3 {Windswept Heath}
2 {Forest}
1 {Plains}

Sideboard

4 {Meddling Mage} [u][w]
3 {Call of the Herd} [2][g]
2 {Pyroclasm} [1][r]
1 {Aura of Silence} [1][w][w]
1 {Cursed Totem} [2]
1 {Enlightened Tutor} [w]
1 {Gloom} [2][b]
1 {Naturalize} [1][g]
1 {Zuran Orb} [0]

DECKLIST_END

I wanted to play a different deck for this event. Really, I would have liked to play plenty of other decks, but this archetype is the one at the optimal intersection of proven power and my confidence in piloting.

Don't get me wrong, I love mana denial strategies to a degree that is psychiatrically concerning, but Premodern has so many options and I'm greedy for them.

Before this year, I'd preferred a [g][w] core to the build, but like many people who hate lands and spells, I found Claire Ackerman's performance at Lobstercon 2026 inspiring.

{Terravore} by Jim Nelson

The risks of a more fragile manabase are clear, but the upside in access to additional power and flexibility convinced me. A trial run at our weekly league just before Sacred Torch Showdown III 2026 reinforced this in a couple of ways.

First, in game one, this deck mostly presents as [g][w], which gives an information advantage post-board even if the opponent is aware of the possibilities.
Second, when I was anxious about some matchups in testing, I could reassure myself with sideboard countermeasures from any color combination. I tried to keep the list disciplined against my characteristic inclination toward toolboxy dilution of the main gameplan. I did go with an {Enlightened Tutor} package in the sideboard.
- Roland Chang gave me advice about it for a different {Terravore} deck I played, and I felt the argument held up well enough here as well. It seemed more counterintuitive in a max-{Sphere of Resistance} build, but in testing, I found surplus mana and draws often enough to go ahead. Among the tutor sideboard package, {Zuran Orb} was the one I was most into, and it ended up doing the most for me.

Round One vs. {Gaea's Blessing} Control (Veeohla)

This is one of those decks I would have liked to play. It was fortunate for me to pair into it for the first round, easing my nerves looking at an archetype I know pretty well. I found a good rhythm for my own game clock management, which is my most significant current weakness right now as a player and person. Fumbling that early would have sunk my mental game for the rest of the day.

{Gaea's Blessing} by Rebecca Guay

Game one went well for my opponent, securing an early {Scroll Rack} to present a string of basic lands. I knew it was settled when {Capsize} with buyback was set up, but we were running smoothly enough that I felt fine letting a few more turns pass to gather information.

Post board was a different matter, with all the elements of mana denial coming through. My name spoken in the same sentence as {Gaea's Blessing} usually results in an unintentional draw, but we were among the early finishers this round.

Round Two vs. 4c {Psychatog} (Joyfulwaffles)

I don't feel bad about this kind of matchup in principle, but I made a key strategic error that really hurt my chances. I hardly play against any flavor of {Psychatog} in the local scene, and for whatever reason forget that any of them outside of the classic [u][b] version exist.

On the way to the event, I reviewed this mental gap to think about the possibilities of Gro-a-Tog and friends. Trouble was, despite showing {City of Brass} and {Mox Diamond}, this deck didn't have the Gro component. I had already tunnel-visioned into sideboarding like I would see more than {Psychatog} as an offensive threat.

{Psychatog} by Edward P. Beard, Jr.

I'm not sure it would have changed the eventual outcome since I still don't have a lot of reps in any flavor of the matchup and my opponent was sharp. Ultimately, I didn't feel too bad about getting my first loss out of the way.

Round Three vs. [r][g] Goblins (Sunny)

I tried to scribble a few different clever introductions here, but the fact is Sunny is one of the real Torch-bearers for the Sacred Order, and I can just skip it because the NYC Premodern community already knows what a superlative gentleman he is better than I can say.

I recognize Sunny most as an enjoyer of fine brews; playing against his trademark {Food Chain} deck was one of my favorite matches of all time, but I most recently faced him on [r][g] Goblins at a $1K earlier in 2026 and had a notion he might run that back.

Being right about that was good for me, since my deck cooperated and gave me the tools to close the match in two games. The key moment was opening game two with {Mox Diamond} and {Zuran Orb} but sandbagging both. I didn't fully understand my choice, but seeing {Goblin Tinkerer} come out on turn two brought it together.

{Goblin Tinkerer} by Hannibal King

I kept them in hand until I was ready to play out a small {Terravore} alongside them. Tinkerer broke the {Zuran Orb}, but I had a chance to grow the {Terravore} past what {Goblin Piledriver} could take down and untap with the {Mox Diamond} to keep pressing the board.

Round Four vs {Stasis} (Drew Glauberg)

My opponent was seated next to me in round one but got spirited away for the feature match, so neither of us had a chance to look over at each other's decks. The golden Aetherdrift basic land played out on turn one delayed my recognition just a little longer, but it was an {Island}, and it delivered an early {Stasis} followed by {Root Maze} to leave me no further doubts.

Game two went briskly the other way. I felt pretty good starting game three with {Meddling Mage} into second {Meddling Mage}. Unfortunately, I made a bad call here, not understanding the state of the art among {Stasis} practitioners.

I named {Upheaval} with the second {Meddling Mage}, thinking it would be the last resort and something I could otherwise not deal with in the long game. As I learned afterward, my opponent didn't play it in the main and had not sided it in. What's worse, he imminently had access to {Stasis}, {Root Maze}, {Forsaken City}, and {Powder Keg} to put me in a losing position.

{Powder Keg} by Dan Frazier

Holding up the {Forsaken City} let me estimate incorrectly that I had time to afford not naming {Stasis}. I also figured I could draw an out to {Powder Keg}. With an active {Rishadan Port} I would have some input on when a {Boomerang} could be used, if it was even in the deck (it wasn't).

Having all of the lock pieces plus {Powder Keg} was unlikely, especially since he only had one more card in his library than I did at that point, the result of minimal digging in the early turns.

Looking back, maybe the correct play would be to not cast the second {Meddling Mage} at all and leave some colored mana sources up. {Upheaval} wasn't something he could have cast soon anyway, but I wanted a faster clock at any cost knowing {Root Maze} was out there.

Since we had some time, Drew gamely played out the match to let me test {Zuran Orb} and 29 lands against a single {Black Vise}, though the latter prevailed with single digits of cards left in our libraries.

{Zuran Orb} by Sandra Everingham

I didn't know a rebound side event was in the works until shortly before the event, and I misunderstood the announcement about the timing of it, so I almost didn't register. I told Drew that I had planned to stay in the main event to fight for good breakers for my opponents, but as it turned out he didn't need any of that to make it to the semifinals.

Side Event

Round One vs. [u][b] Reanimator (ManaCrip)

This is a matchup that has felt bad in practice but seemed navigable in theory. Playing many basics and sometimes needing only one mana to go off is a structural mismatch. {Meddling Mage} isn't as helpful with the variable mix of reanimation spells.

Some luck is involved if {Oath of Druids} will help, and it wasn't with me in game one. Two flips off it gave me two 5/5 {Terravore}s, opposite a parade of {Akroma, Angel of Wrath}, {Phantom Nishoba}, and {Avatar of Woe}.

I'm used to the more aggressive/hasty Dragon Reanimator build that's a standard for fellow Queens resident Nick Weidner, so I was hopeful that I'd have more room to maneuver in the subsequent games as long as I could avoid {Avatar of Woe}.

{Avatar of Woe} by rk post

Environmental factors probably helped. The afternoon sun had hit an angle that started driving beams through the full-length windows onto the side event space, and none stronger than the one pointed directly at my opponent's seat. I shut down game two on the play, and my luck reversed on {Oath of Druids} flips in game three.

Opposite an {Akroma, Angel of Wrath}, I flipped and then cast double-digit {Terravore}s, hoping they, along with {Treetop Village} on standby, would be enough to get past whatever my opponent flipped.

He started revealing cards on the next upkeep, and the feared {Avatar of Woe} appeared...until we realized that the quick flipping had shown a {Putrid Imp} just before it. The uncastable [6][b][b]-drop became the card drawn for turn, and the threshheld Imp couldn't help block.

Later in the event, a local legend playfully teased me for my deliberate {Oath of Druids} flipping technique, but I'll stick with it to avoid jumpscares.

Round Two vs. [r][g] Goblins (Alex Profaci)

As it turns out, the rest of my day was running the gauntlet of new fathers in the community, though fortunately for my record, not included were defending league champion Jeremy Siegel nor Matt Melachrinos, who was coming off a strong Lobstercon run; congrats to you both.

I hadn't seen Alex in a while and, while I now knew why, I didn't know what deck I was about to see. I was too lucky in this match, even laying out two {Oath of Druids} while holding a third plus interaction.

Round Three vs. Hermit FEB (Taylor Holland)

Taylor is my neighbor around the way and my source for all news and insight into HFEB. He's got plenty of successful reps with 5c Oath Ponza and knew most of my list. My only trial with HFEB needed his backseat driving, so in theory it disadvantaged me out of the gate.

{Unearth} by Don Hazeltine

In my favor was the bulk of the Oath Ponza archetype specifically preying on the core elements of his deck, which game one bore out. I laid out enchantments and used removal; he did not find a line in time. He'll surely tell me after reading this, but in game two I made what felt like a risky change and went with {Meddling Mage} over {Oath of Druids}. I thought that on the draw I could have {Meddling Mage} name {Survival of the Fittest} or {Unearth}, use other means to keep him off [u][u] to cast {Volrath's Shapeshifter}, and intangibly I felt burned by bad variance on {Oath of Druids} flips on my side.

It didn't occur to me until later that I could have skipped {Meddling Mage}, boarded in other countermeasures, and freed the slots to keep {Oath of Druids} by going down one or two {Terravore}s to improve my odds on a decisive flip. My choice resulted in a bizarre, drawn-out game two resulting in {Palinchron} and {Karmic Guide} killing me while multiple {Wall of Roots} held off any return swings from Mishra's Factory. This was enough of a lesson, and I successfully reversed course on the play in game three.

{Karmic Guide} by Heather Hudson

Deck Review

I haven't had chance to check in with the other local {Terravore} enthusiasts, but this deck felt strong and competitive against everything I saw. I only recall one instance (maybe round two of the main event) where I missed a colored source that narrowed my options, but it wasn't decisive in a losing effort.

Conversely, in round three, game one of the side event, a {Vindicate} cleared a {Survival of the Fittest} that was otherwise lethal the next turn. Maybe that slot is a {Naturalize} in a [g][w]/[r][g] list and I'm fine, or maybe it's another {Thermokarst}, or even a {Smokestack}, or something else that wouldn't have saved me. That's the thesis of the deck as I see it and it held up once again.

Of the deliberate card choices, {Zuran Orb} met my high expectations even without facing a [r] deck. It supported {Terravore} in the combat math against Goblins and Reanimator, and while there was a misalignment in timing, it showed that it might have a role in holding off an active {Black Vise} in the {Stasis} matchup. It makes their dependence on {Upheaval} as a final move less secure, and seeing my opponent cast a defensive {Stasis} encouraged me about my prospects of lasting in a longer game by preserving my life total.

{Vindicate} by Brian Snõddy

{Zuran Orb} even came in against HFEB, since my training on the deck included Devourer/Scrounger lines aiming at exactly 20 damage. Having an option to get over that or prioritizing moves that limit the damage output available through Scrounger after a {Hermit Druid} line weakens that side of the deck and non-combat lines in general. Since that's probably the stronger attack for them against the mostly sorcery-speed mana denial deck, it can fill a supporting role behind the much stronger first-line defenses that are already built in.

The best thing {Enlightened Tutor} did for me all day was to get cast through a {Sphere of Resistance} to get a second {Sphere of Resistance} when I already had complementary enchantments set up. It's a theoretically weak case in service of a position where I was ahead, but it took that good position and made it almost impervious, so I can give it a good review on the light duty performed.

{Gloom} never came in and still feels gimmicky, but I consider it a safe investment in hindsight. I rightly feared {Replenish} and was lucky enough to dodge Bryan Gulotta's backward cap campaign that continues to maraud the regional Premodern scene.

If I had to run it back immediately, I'd make no changes, 75/75, and try to make better strategic choices in each match.