Pro Tour: Aether Revolt
February 3-5th 2017
1st Draft
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8《Plains》 8《Mountain》 -Lands (16)- 3《Audacious Infiltrator》 1《Aether Chaser》 1《Ghirapur Osprey》 1《Bastion Enforcer》 1《Glint-Sleeve Artisan》 1《Herald of the Fair》 1《Spireside Infiltrator》 2《Spontaneous Artist》 1《Propeller Pioneer》 1《Lathnu Sailback》 2《Dawnfeather Eagle》 -Creatures (15)- |
1《Alley Evasion》 1《Conviction》 2《Siege Modification》 1《Irontread Crusher》 2《Consulate Dreadnought》 1《Aradara Express》 1《Chandra, Torch of Defiance》 -Spells (9)- |
My first pick was a 《Consulate Dreadnought》, a card that many people vastly underestimate
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Crew 6 might look like far too steep a cost but, so long as you try to keep in mind that you want creatures with Power 3 rather than 2, especially in White or Green this can rather easily be accomplished. It’s not unusual to be able to start swinging in for 7 by Round 4 with the Dreadnought, and the only thing that can threaten it is a few removal spells & Deathtouch.
The reason why I think it is a good first pick is because a powerful colorless creature will rarely get cut because even you went into a different color and/or deck archetype. I feel it’s as safe a first pick you can have.
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My second pack was very weak so I ended up picking 《Audacious Infiltrator》 for its ability to crew the Dreadnought.
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Third pick was Dawnfeather Eagle, and I was now solidly in White.
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My 6th and 7th picks was a pair of 《Siege Modification》. I was thinking about closing out games fast with the 《Consulate Dreadnought》 synergy.
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Followed by yet another Consulate Dreadnought that I first picked in my second pack.
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In the third pack I managed to get a 《Chandra, Torch of Defiance》 as a third pick, when she got passed to me it was incredibly hard to try and keep a straight face.
If you read some of the comments from Pro Tour: Kaladesh you might have noticed that nearly every pro thought 《反逆の先導者、チャンドラ》 or Skysovereign were the cards they thought was by far the biggest bombs.
This is even more unusual if you consider the fact that red also has amazing commons like 《ショック》 & 《Chandra's Revolution》. The reason why I could get is as a third pick is most likely because of how strong red is, so players are afraid of going all in on red and failing to make a decent deck.
| Round | Opponent’s Deck | Win/Loss |
| Round 1 | GW | ×○× |
| Round 2 | RB | ×○× |
| Round 3 | RG | ○○ |
1-2
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The 《Consulate Dreadnought》 & 《Siege Modification》 combo is powerful, but I got destroyed because everyone was able to get their hands on plenty of artifact/enchantment removal with 《Daring Demolition》, 《Caught in the Brights》 & 《Disenchant》. Since if your opponent doesn’t have removal he is just straight up dead, but if he does have it you open yourself up for a 2 for 1 loosing 2 very important permanents, I tend to enjoy these types of high risk high return plays.
My deck was also completely lacking removal & combat tricks, so if my opponent played something that I couldn’t trade with there was nothing I could do.
In essence winning in Limited is about, not allowing your opponent’s powerful cards to stay on the battlefield, while trying to keep yours on it. This way of thinking can also be applied to Constructed.
Realizing that the shortcomings of my deck was the inability to protect my cards in any way, while having almost no ability to interact with my opponents, definitely not a great spot to be in. So instead I started preparing myself mentally for Standard.
Day 1: Standard
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4《Plains》 4《Concealed Courtyard》 4《Inspiring Vantage》 4《Spirebluff Canal》 4《Spire of Industry》 2《Aether Hub》 -Lands (22)- 4《Toolcraft Exemplar》 4《Thraben Inspector》 4《Veteran Motorist》 4《Scrapheap Scrounger》 2《Thalia, Heretic Cathar》 2《Depala, Pilot Exemplar》 -Creatures (20)- |
4《Unlicensed Disintegration》 3《Metallic Rebuke》 4《Heart of Kiran》 3《Cultivator's Caravan》 4《Gideon, Ally of Zendikar》 -Spells (18)- |
4《Fatal Push》 3《Fragmentize》 2《Archangel Avacyn》 2《Negate》 2《Skysovereign, Consul Flagship》 2《Chandra, Torch of Defiance》 -Sideboard (15)- |
The Deck: 4 Color Vehicles。
My approach to picking decks are usually based on “How many & what cards does this deck need to win? Is the mana-curve where I want it to be?” The less cards needed, and the cheaper they are the better. Toolcraft Exemplar, Thraben Inspector, Scrapheap Scrounger & 《Heart of Kiran》are the 4 different core cards that will win you the game, even if you double-mulligan.
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To some extent Magic is a game of chance, sometimes you will mulligan or double-mulligan, but what you can do to alleviate this issue, is prepare a deck that can win even after a double-mulligan. No matter what other decks I tried, I just wasn’t beating 4C Vehicles, so instead I decided to play it at the Pro Tour.
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I tried putting Toolcraft Exemplar, Thraben Inspector, Scrapheap Scrounger & Heart of Kiran into other builds as well, but wheather it was UW or GW both decks required me to play 6 or more plains and I would lose out on the incredibly powerful removal called Unlicensed Disintegration.
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I figured the metagame would revolve around Heart of Kiran, so I decided to play Veteran Motorist and Depala, Pilot Exemplar to make sure my Heart of Kiran would be bigger than theirs.
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I also wanted to interact with the Saheeli combo, so I went 4C to be able to cast Metallic Rebuke.
| Round | Opponent’s Deck | Win/Loss |
| Round 4 | Jeskai Saheeli | ○×× |
Lost the first game, and i was now off to a 1-3 start.
“Even though he practiced so hard & did his utmost, how can this be!” by: Haruko-san (Slam Dunk)
I started feeling quite tilted, so I got some food and a drink while trying to get my head back in the game.
| Round | Opponent’s Deck | Win/Loss |
| Round 5 | Jeskai Saheeli | ×○○ |
| Round 6 | GB Energy | ×○○ |
| Round 7 | RB Vehicles | ○×○ |
| Round 8 | 4C Saheeli | ○○ |
Somehow i managed 4 straight wins for a 5-3 Finish. Day 2!
Day 2: Draft
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8《Swamp》 8《Mountain》 -Lands (16)- 1《Aether Chaser》 1《Thriving Grubs》 2《Alley Strangler》 1《Lawless Broker》 1《Reckless Racer》 1《Weldfast Engineer》 1《Prakhata Pillar-Bug》 1《Scrapper Champion》 1《Ovalchase Daredevil》 1《Maulfist Squad》 1《Foundry Hornet》 2《Reservoir Walker》 1《Wayward Giant》 1《Noxious Gearhulk》 1《Fen Hauler》 -Creatures (17)- |
1《Shock》 1《Subtle Strike》 1《Destructive Tampering》 1《Yahenni's Expertise》 1《Inventor's Goggles》 2《Irontread Crusher》 -Spells (7)- |
I First picked Yahenni’s Expertise followed by Reckless Racer into Baral’s Expertise. I took this to be a sign that Blue was open, and next up I was passed a Maverick Thopterist so I kept an open mind towards a UR deck.
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While drafting pack 2 almost no blue cards came around, and I found myself picking up red cards again such as Shock & Aether Chaser together with some black cards.
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I opened a Noxious Gearhulk in my third pack, so I was definitely going RB!
| Round | Opponent’s Deck | Win/Loss |
| Round 9 | UB | ○○ |
| Round 10 | GU | ○○ |
| Round 11 | UR | ×× |
2-1
Having faced 3 Blue opponents I realized I made the right choice to get out of blue. I do however regret making a big mistake in Game 2 vs the UR opponent having costed me the game.
Onwards to Standard~
Day 2: Standard
| round | Opponent’s Deck | Win/Loss |
| Round 12 | Mardu Vehicles | ○○ |
| Round 13 | Mardu Vehicles | ×○× |
| Round 14 | Mardu Vehicles | ○○ |
| Round 15 | GB Counters | ×○× |
| Round 16 | Mardu Vehicles | ×× |
2-3!!
In the Vehicles mirror-match whoever goes first is wildly favored, and it gets even more one-sided if whoever plays first opens with a Turn 2 Heart of Kiran. I also failed to predict such a Vehicles heavy metagame, and I really should have put Fatal Push Mainboard and the Metallic Rebuke Sideboard instead.
I finished 9-7 netting me 4 Pro Points. If only I hadn’t thrown away that game vs the UR opponent in my second draft I could have at least taken home some prize money.
Figure out the play
You Life：20 Battlefield： 《Aether Chaser》(Tapped) 《Reckless Racer》(Tapped) Servo Token (Tapped) 《Swamp》(Untapped) 《Mountain》(Untapped) 《Mountain》(Untapped) 《Mountain》(Untapped) Cards in Hand: 6 《Mountain》 《Shock》 《Subtle Strike》 《Alley Strangler》 《Lawless Broker》 《Yahenni's Expertise》 |
It’s your Combat Phase,《Reckless Racer》Is attacking with his ability on the stack.
What is the best card to discard based on the known information?
Did you ponder your options? Click here to see my reasoning!
My Reasoning
Because I had a solid hand, instead of focusing on this game I was already planning ahead for game 3. However, that was just me being negligent.
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I decided to discard the Mountain, because I had only black cards in hand and thought I should consider game 3, so I didn’t want to discard 《Yahenni's Expertise》 and show him I had it, even if it was useless in the current situation.
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I drew a 《Fen Hauler》, then played my 《Lawless Broker》 and ended my turn.
My opponent then proceeded to kill my 《Reckless Racer》 & tap down my swamp on my upkeep with 《Chandra's Revolution》. I drew into 《Irontread Crusher》 but not enough mana to play it so I attacked and passed the turn without playing anything.
My opponent then plays an 《Aether Theorist》 and on my upkeep yet another 《Chandra's Revolution》 so I couldn’t play the Crusher this turn either and my fate had been decided.
A game where I would have won if I’d just have discarded the useless 《Yahenni's Expertise》 and kept the Mountain instead. just because i didn’t wanna give away the information… I truly regret not pondering what cards my opponent might be playing that could ruin my day while also not paying enough attention to what was in my own deck.
Instead of thinking ahead for Game 3,
always make sure to win Game 2 first!
Until next time,
Yuta Takahashi
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Nickname: "An-chan"
He is a considerable force with numerous achievements to his name, such as teaming with Kentaro Yamamoto to finish runner-up at the Two-Headed Giant Pro Tour, winning two consecutive domestic Grand Prix on the wings of Faeries,and much, much more.
Adept at a variety of formats, he also deftly won Japan’s very first Legacy Grand Prix in 2015.
He has an earnest approach to Magic, but carefully reserves his passion within, earning him a reputation for "Indomitable Stoicism."
