GP Vancouver Platinum Ponza 9-0 Match Breakdown

[KouriNick]

This weekend I played Platinum Ponza (Platinum Ponza (9-0 GP Vancouver "Mega-Modern" side Event)) at the Modern Grand Prix in Vancouver Canada, and while I went 5-4 in the main event and didn't get to Day 2, I was the only undefeated player in the 187 player "Mega Modern" side event.

If you're interested in playing the deck or have questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask. Here's also a breakdown of how the matchups went so you can see how the deck plays out and maybe why I played the cards I did.

Match 1, Naya Burn: Burn is supposed to be this decks worst matchup, as it can kill us before we're able to ramp into anything meaningful. Thankfully, that's what Madcap Experiment + Platinum Emperion is for. Game 1 we landed a Madcap at 6 life, and he had no way to kill Platinum Emperion, snagging us the win. I sided out the combo and the blood moons (trying to Blank Destructive Revelry) and lost Game 2 to a slow hand. Game 3 we were able to Kitchen Finks, into Obstinate Baloth, into Thragtusk, and the lifegain overwhelmed our opponent and we got there.

Match 2, Mono Red Prison: I'm still not 100% sure what my opponents deck was trying to do. We were able to T2 Stone Rain, into T3 Acid-Moss, into T4 Inferno titan, and he just scooped. All I saw was 3 basic Mountains, Desperate Ritual, and a Fulminator Mage. I sided out Blood Moon, and Game 2 was nearly an exact repeat of Game 1, only instead of Inferno titan, we landed a Stormbreath Dragon. This game my opponents only play was a Trinisphere off a T2 Desperate Ritual.

Match 3, Naya Burn: Our second Burn match went a lot like our first. This time, we got stuck on 3 mana with a Madcap in hand, and were burnt out. Game 2 I sided out a lot of Land Destruction and brought in Life-gain creatures, leaving the Madcap combo in place (since he hadn't seen it). Game 2 Landed an Emperion and our opponent scooped on the spot. Sided out the Madcaps Game 3, and were able to outvalue our opponent with a combination of Primal Command, Thragtusk, and Eternal Witness. After the match, our opponent revealed he had 3 Destructive Revelry in hand.

Match 4, 8-Rack: By far the most fun match of the day, and the most fun opponent to play against. Land Destruction Vs. Hand Destruction. Game 1 I drew 3 stone rain and never hit a threat, while he had double The Rack and Shrieking Affliction on me. Needless to say, he quickly killed me. I sided in value cards and took out all the LD and blood Moon. Game 2 I caught him off guard with an Obstinate Baloth and beat him to death with it. Game 3 went very long, and at one point he had 4 copies of Pack Rat in play. I then miracled a Bonfire of the Damned for 5, and wiped his board, which let me get ahead of him with Scavenging Ooze. He played very cautiously around Baloth all through Game 3, even though I never drew it. I think that, beyond anything else, won me the game and the match. Getting into people heads like this, and making them play around parts of the deck that may or may not even be there, would become something of a theme from this point forward.

Match 5, Rallier Zoo: My opponent's deck was sweet, playing a T1 mana dork into T2 Renegade Rallier to get back a fetchland and ramp himself even further. Game 1 Platinum Emperion bought me a few turns before he found a Path to Exile. The next turn I was able to play the bonfire in my hand for 7 mana and wipe his board. A top-decked Inferno Titan got the rest of the way there. Game 2 went T2 Blood Moon, T3 Acid-Moss on his basic Forest, T4 Inferno Titan and he never recovered.

Match 6, Bant Eldrazi: My opponent played exceptionally well, playing around all the right cards without ever overextending or being too cautious. However, Stone Rain, Blood Moon, and Bonfire of the Damned were all enough to clean up his board and keep him from playing anything relevant. Eventually, I was able to land a Stormbreath Dragon and kill him with it. Game 2, we got locked out of the game by Eldrazi Displacer + Thought-Knot Seer. He had enough mana to filter our top 3 cards and make sure we never hit gas. Amazingly, by game 3 he still hadn't seen Madcap Experiment or Platinum Emperion, and sticking one let me beat in for 12 (off a kessig wolf run). My opponent was slightly tilted at this point as he attacked into my tapped Emperion, dealing no damage. After this, a top-decked Inferno Titan took over the game and the match

Match 7, Eldrazi Tron: My opponent should have won this match. Game 1 we stream rolled him with Blood Moon, Acid-Moss on his Wastes, and Inferno titan, and Game 2 he locked us out with Walking Ballista and Basilisk Collar). Game 3 we landed a Thrun, the Last Troll and Blood Moon. Our opponent had a Thought Knot-Seer and a Walking Ballista with 3 counters. He had 6 mana and we were at 9. He was at 7 life, and we had as much as 10 mana available to us. We sided out 2 Bonfires, so the odds are drawing one to win the game were low. Over the next half dozen turns, we Played an Inferno Titan (Pinged him for 3, Ballista on 5 counters). I passed, and he ticked Ballista up to 6 counters. He had 7 mana, and ticked up Ballista once to 7 and passed. At this point, had He just attacked with Thought Knot-Seer and Ballista, we'd have been forced to block, leaving us without a board (no green mana left to regenerate Thrun because I tapped badly), and him with a Ballista with 7 counters. He could have then killed us the following turn. Instead, because he passed, we got to attack with titan, ping him for 3, have it die to ballista, then Eternal witness it back to our hand and play it again to kill him. He was the last 6-0 opponent, making us the only undefeated deck at the event.

Match 8, Abzan: We were both guaranteed a spot in Top 8, so we did an intentional draw, then played out the match to see how it would have gone. I don't know if it was because the game didn't actually count, but our opponent kept some really sketchy hands that were either very weak to Blood Moon, or to Land Destruction, and we got both games cleanly without  taking any damage to anything other than our own fetchlands.

Match 9, TOP 8, Quarterfinals, 4 Color Humans: Our opponents deck was sweet, and he played fantastically Game 1. Thankfully, a Miracle Bonfire for 4 was enough to wipe his board and let us stabilize. Shortly thereafter, we landed a Platinum Emperion that carried us through the rest of the game. Game 2 our opponent was worried about Land Destruction and kept a 4 lander with 2 mana dorks. On T2 we bonfired for 1, killing a single Noble Heiarch, and T3 we acid-mossed him off Blue (for Reflector Mage). He then stuck a Thalia's Lieutenant, pumping his second noble. We then miracled a Bonfire for 3, wiping the board and clearing way for Stormbreath Dragon to win the game over the next 4 turns.

After the Quarterfinals, the top 4 agreed to split the prizes. Not bad for my first Grand Prix

If I were to change anything about the deck. I may consider bringing a second Eternal Witness into the sideboard, as it always wildly over performed whenever it was cast. I'd probably take out the Sudden Shock, as It was never really relevant. Typically, we want our opponent to be trying to answer us over us answering them. Finally, the Vandalblast in the sideboard also under performed, and I'd probably bring a 3rd Baloth into the side to improve the Matchup against Liliana of the Veil.

Thank you for taking the time to read this novel of a post, and I hope this makes you more interested in trying out Platinum Ponza!