M13 GAMEDAY: IT'S A MIRACLE!

“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Matthew 26:52, King James Version

I find not so subtle irony in using a biblical text as the heading to a dissertation on a deck that primarily plays cards with the Miracle mechanic in Magic The Gathering. The verse is paraphrased for this instance as “Live by the Miracle, die by the Miracle.”  Our first M13 Gameday at Lilac House saw that phrase become cliché.

The Miracle mechanic reads as follows, courtesy of the Comprhensive Magic Rules:

702.92. Miracle

702.92a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.10). “Miracle [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it’s the first card you’ve drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost.”

702.92b If a player chooses to reveal a card using its miracle ability, he or she plays with that card revealed until that card leaves his or her hand, that ability resolves, or that ability otherwise leaves the stack.

The lowers casting cost for many of these spells is a single mana of the appropriate color, making these spells into game changers.  I ran my venerable Sigfried & Roy deck, a WB Planeswalker build that has mutated into a Miracle deck, playing 4 Entreat the Angels:

4 Banishing Strokes:

and 4 Terminus.

A field of 15 walked into Lilac House for M13 Gameday. Four rounds of Suiss with a top 4 play off for a box of M13. There were a fair share of inexperienced players, perhaps a quarter of the field; however the bulk of those in attendance are certified threats in any match. Roughly two thirds of the competitors had won Saturday Standard or FAM events at the venue since its inception.  

Round one I faced Steve Wizins and his Solar Flare-esque Esper deck. Steve is a competent player and I knew his deck would be a challenge. Game one was mostly in Steve’s favor through out. He would counter what I would play or answer with an oblivion ring or some other solution. Eventually, he was able to maintain a pair of Sun Titans on board with Liliana constantly making me sacrifice creatures. Then I top decked Entreat the Angels and put seven angels in play. He was able to eliminate 2 of them and fell the remaining 5 the next turn. 

Game 2 wasn’t as exciting. Steve managed to use Surgical Extraction twice, once on my Entreat the Angels and the second on my Lingering Souls. Inkmoth Nexus got the job done, though. Steve would draw sorcereries or land on each of 8 turns until I got out a second Inkmoth Nexus and won by infect. Death by paper cuts over 9 turns. Steve would finish the day 3-1 and make top 8. 

Round 2 gave me Matt Comfort, playing in his first tournament after many years of playing casual Magic, so he knew what he was doing. Matt’s mono green deck had got him by in round one. Our first game saw Terminus eliminating his substantial field while a Batterskull did him in. Matt had missed a Miracle trigger early on and beat himself up for it the rest of the game.  Game two was also in my favor, as I was again able to control his creatures with Terminus and Banishing Stroke and use Gideon Jura’s soldier ability to beat Matt down. Eventually Ajani, Caller of the Pride hit the table and gave Gideon double strike and flight for the coup de grace. Matt also made top 8 and finished the day 3-1. 

Round 3 brought Rich Bourque and what we call the Freedom Fries deck. Rich threw the deck together that morning and went into playing it pretty much blind. UWR Planeswalker control miracle beat down is the best way to describe it. I asked him if it was USA Super friends. He said it was French, so we’ll go with Freedom. I’ll explain the “Fries” later.  

I lost both games in quick succession to Rich. Each game I was mana constipated. I was 2 land behind in game 1 when Rich finally ended my miserable existence. In game 2, I mulliganed to 6, kept a 2 land hand resulting in drawing no more lands the rest of the game. Rich crushed me. C’est la vie. Voulez vous. Rich became the top seed in the play off after drawing with Bill Barrett in Round 4. 

Round 4 was now do or die for me. My recent nemesis, Mark Carfagno Jr, had been on a small winning streak against me. Mark Jr and I are evenly matched, and in general play he beats me as often as I beat him. He ressurected what I beleive is his best standard deck, his UW Token-Spirits, for Gameday. Junior meant business. And he brought it to me. Game one saw him quickly getting a pair of Captains on the table, but Lingering Souls and Gideon Jura prevailed, giving me a first game win. Game 2 saw Lingering Souls and Ajani, Caller of the Pride come to my aid once again. Mark couldn’t keep up with my spirits or my Banishing Strokes, which I used to remove his anthems from the battlefield.  

My win against Junior got me into the top four as a #3 seed. I would face the #2 seed, Bill Barrett, in the first round of the play offs. Dave Lewis squeaked in to the top 4 with his infect deck. Rich had solidified his #1 seed position and would see Dave first. 

Bill and I have along history in Magic and gaming in general. Because of this we are VERY competitive against each other. Sometimes it seems like we are ready to kill each other due to the manner of high powered verbal slugs we tend to point blank fire in one another’s face. But it’s the way we are. We enjoy it. It fires our blood. And facing each other in the first round of the play offs is something expected.  Yankees/Red Sox.  Syracuse/Georgetown.  Hatfield & McCoys.  It's that kind of rivalry.  The match was as good as the hype. Both of us played our hearts out and we actually were both VERY subdued vocally.  This wasn't about getting in each other's heads.  This was about playing the best Magic either of us could. 

And we did. 

Except for Game 3.

Game 1 saw my Miracles working in my favor once again. Terminus would clear his field and Gideon, with the help of Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue, would see to a quick win in game one.  

Game 2. Well. What can I say about Game 2 other than TOO MANY ZOMBIES. I felt like that guy Shane shot in the leg on Walking Dead.  Bill played 1-3 zombies every turn. No Terminus = dead Tom. Game 2, Bill eats my brains. 

Game 3 is bittersweet to me. I won with Gideon, but in all fairness to Bill, he got severely land flooded. I tip my hat to Bill for his great sportsmanship in that game in spite of the outcome no being his favor. I wished we could have had a better game.

As our fantastic match transpired, Rich took Dave Lewis down in 3 games. Dave quickly won the first game, but suffered from a lack of creatures in the following games.  All day we had seen how Rich's deck capitalized on any sputter his opponents' had.  This was no different.  Congrats to Bill Barrett & Dave Lewis for well played games!  

M13 FINALS! SIGFRIED & ROY Vs. FREEDOM FRIES! 

Rich Bourque has had my number lately. I’ve somehow let him get in my head. I went into this match telling myself I could do it, that there is no way in hell my deck would poop on me again. And it didn’t. 

This match has been called EPIC by some, GREAT by others. I know it as a nail biting stress fest. I regret we didn’t have the capability to video the match. It was that good.

Game 1: Rich mulliganed to 5 and got mana screwed. I am able to get far ahead and beat him down with Gideon. This game isn’t much to talk about. We sideboard and go to game 2. 

Game 2 sees me pulling out every stop against Rich and coming at him aggressively. He is able to answer everyone of my advances and finally gets Tamiyo, the Moon Sage to do her bidding on me until he top decks an Entreat the Angels to overwhelm me. 

Game 3. Wow. What can I say about this game other than simply AWESOME!I brought the Kitchen Sink on Rich this game. But made one fatal mistake, well three of them – to be precise. Thinking Rich had instant creature removal in his hand, after playing a Gideon I failed to attack him on three separate turns, opting instead to use his “Attack Me!” ability. This proved to be my downfall. After I finally realized he had no instant removal and started attacking him, he had gained an advantage with creature and Tamiyo. I was able to ultimate Ajani, Caller of the Pride; putting 28 some odd cat tokens into play after Rich had top deck Miracled an Entreat the Angels. The playing field seemed to be in my favor, until Rich top decks ANOTHER Miracle, this time it’s a Bonfire of the Damned.

He fried my field.
Within 2 turns I am at zero life.
I kicked myself for not side boarding in Witchbane Orb. I had forgotten he played the Bonfire in the deck and had died by the very game mechanic I utilized so proficiently in my own. Kudos to Rich for a match well played. "Live by the Miracle, FRY by the Miracle" is more like it.

Congratulations to Rich Bourque for becoming our first Gameday Champion at Lilac House.

It's remarkable that 3 of our top 4 decks ran Miracles.  This bucks the current metagame of most venues in that the only "Delver" deck in the tournament took 5th. That in itself is a miracle. 

I was satisfied with my 4-2 record overall, though I know that won’t get me far in an “Open” type gathering with larger attendance and 4 digit cash prizes. There I would be facing a field where nearly 60% of my opponents will be playing some sort of "Delver" based deck.  I will have to adapt to that meta game, and that surely means adding the dreaded BLUE to my deck, making it an Esper build.  I've play
tested variants of my deck using blue with mixed results and have yet to find the right balance of the three colors. But I'm getting close. In order for this deck to remain viable it must evolve.

I certainly lived by the miracle and sure as hell died by it. Until the next time I win, lose or draw and proclaim once again . . .



“IT’S A MIRACLE!”



. . . PEACE!