I was up bright and early Saturday morning, carrying an enthusiasm on my birthday that I hadn't held on that day in quite a while. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with celebrating the anniversary of my presence being brought forth into the world. It has significantly more to do with heading down to the Queen City to play some Modern and hang with the wife and friends. Win or lose, I love playing this game. When I get the opportunity to play in a large event, in my favorite format, it's bound to be a good day.

In the end, I was disappointed with my results. I finished as a Leatherback Baloth, which was at least 2-3 wins shy of what I was hoping to get. Considering that 6-3 was good for the second day, it's unfortunate that I played as poorly as I did. Most of my losses were by my own hand. Poor choices, missed plays, and occasionally just the fates let me where I was. As for the deck itself, I loved it. While I would probably make a change here or there, I can say definitively that I also would have no problem sleeving up the same 75 as I went to battle with on Saturday. Keep in mind, I am not saying that I would absolutely make no further changes to the deck, but instead, I would have no heartburn playing it as currently constructed. Most decks probably have some sort of improvement that could be made, and this one is no exception.

That being said, there were times where I just felt I was missing something. I lacked the reach that was so ingrained into my play style from years of playing R/G in Modern. I missed those burn spells, and haste creatures. I couldn't help but think how great Blood Moon would have been in so many matchups. I mean look at the Top 32 decks from the event. How many of those decks are weak to one of the strongest enchantments in Modern?

This got me thinking. Rather than just write up a tournament report talking about how badly I played, it would be fun to talk about the tournament, and do a brief comparison between the deck I played, and the deck(s) I usually play, to see which one would have fared better, based on theory and experience. This also would allow me a more unbiased analysis as to whether or not the R/G deck really had better matchups or if I was just pining for familiarity.

For reference, here is the deck that I played at the event:

While not perfect, this is the Green Moon deck that I've most recently played:

Enough preamble. Let's just jump right in.

Round 1 and Round 2: Affinity

My first two rounds were against Affinity. I have to admit, I really like this matchup with G/W. Even with what I felt was a positive matchup, I only ended up splitting these rounds, as I lost the first 1-2, and won the second 2-0.

The first round, I rolled in game one, and brought in three Stony Silence for three Wilt-Leaf Liege. My opening seven had nothing but gas, with both Suppression Field and Stony Silence, coupled with Noble Hierarch and a couple more beaters. Note that I did not mention having any land. I would be remiss if I didn't say I was super tempted to keep that hand on the draw, and hope to rip the land for a second turn Stony. I did not risk it, and made the correct decision to mulligan. I looked, and there was a land on top. Sometimes being right does cost you Magical Christmas Land, although I find it difficult to regret what 99.99% of the time is the obvious correct choice. I kept a hand of three land, a Path to Exile and a couple creatures. Affinity did what Affinity does, and I lost, drawing nothing relevant the entire game. I kept my opening seven in the third game, and would have had a second turn Stony had my opponent not had a first turn Thoughtseize. I proceeded to get flooded, and he proceeded to win. While not the outcome I was hoping for, sometimes it happens.

The second round was brutal, as I quickly dispatched the Affinity deck with a third turn Suppression Field in the first game, followed by huge guys, and prevailed with the infamous third-turn Stony in the second. That round played out much more like I expected it to.

Comparison: The G/W list is very good against Affinity. Between the taxing, shutting off, and exiling everything, it's hard to get much better. Conversely, the R/G list has Blood Moon, burn spells, Shatterstorm, and Ancient Grudge, which is also pretty formidable. Assuming average play, where answers are actually drawn, I still think G/W has a slight edge. There is not a huge difference between the expected outcome on either side, regardless.

Round 3: Elves

I shuffled up for this game, after losing the high roll, and looked at my opening seven. It wasn't great, and I considered for a while what to do. I had a Stirring Wildwood and Sunpetal Grove as my only lands, a Noble Hierarch, two Suppression Field, a Path to Exile, and a Loxodon Smiter. I actively recall saying to myself, "As long as this is not Burn, Elves, or Bogles, I should be good." Turns out, it was Elves. It was not a very interactive game, as I proceeded to draw another rather worthless copy of Suppression Field, and nothing else of consequence. I lost. Badly. Elves are not ever a slam dunk, and even having a plan, which I wrote about last week, it's not a matchup that I feel really confident about. Game two went a little better, as I got some big guys out, pathed his first Ezuri, Renegade Leader and had a Gaddock Teeg keeping his hand clogged with multiple Chord of Calling and Collected Company. Mirran Crusader never came out to play, and I fell a couple points of damage short of getting a third game. When he topped his next Ezuri, it was over.

Comparison: This is not particularly close. With mass removal effects, burn, and flying guys, R/G has a significantly better matchup against Elves than the G/W deck does. It should also be noted that Elves plays a surprisingly low number of basics for a Mono-Green deck, making Blood Moon not terrible.

Round 4: Lantern

It would be disingenuous to even imply that this deck was on my radar at all. When you expect to do well, or even OK, you also think you aren't going to see these types of decks. Fortunately, I was prepared only due to card choices. After getting milled out in the first game while hoping to get one of the remaining Qasali Pridemage in my deck so I could attack for lethal, I brought in Leyline of Sanctity and Stony Silence, removing all copies of Wilt-Leaf Liege, a lone Suppression Field, and a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Turns out that a Thoughtseize took out my Stony Silence before I could cast it, but it did not matter. I drew the aggressive creature half of the deck and finished him off in short order. In the deciding game, I had double Stony Silence, double Suppression Field, and a Leyline of Sanctity on the board, with a ton of creatures and slowly pecked away with a Noble Hierarch, as I was under triple Ensnaring Bridge. Eventually, he played Ghirapur AEther Grid and paid the four mana to shoot down my hierarch. A Nature's Claim later, and he was able to pay four mana to ping me. Not the most efficient way to being me down from 28 life. He was at a mere 8 from multiple hierarch pokes. I had, realistically, one out...Hurricane.

Eric, my travel companion for OKC, was by this time watching my match. He has been pretty adamant about how bad Hurricane is. You could reasonably say that he's not a fan. Finally, my victory condition came up. Having only nine lands in play, my Thalia was going to make it difficult. I needed one more land to win. My next draw was a land, but it was a Stirring Wildwood. Once more turn was all I needed, and I got it, killing my opponent. I looked at Eric. "You see that...you see it?", I queried. He laughed. "No. Don't even start," he said

Comparison: I think G/W has the edge in this matchup, as shutting off the crux of the Lantern deck, and allowing time to draw the outs seems fairly strong. Again, those awesome sideboard cards played a major factor. G/R, as I have built, is not completely without game here. Post board, I have up to 10 burn spells at my disposal, as well as Ancient Grudge and Shatterstorm, both of which will take care of the annoying Ensnaring Bridge issue. Also, both Eidolon of the Great Revel and Burning-Tree Shaman are continued sources of damage, as they have to cast everything in hand every turn to keep me under bridge, and they must activate their artifacts to mill me. While this may not be a complete slam dunk in favor of G/W, it is still a win between the two.

Round 5: Tron

Tron is a deck that anyone can beat if they are ready and prepared for it. I had a plan, but my plan hinges on being on the play, and my opponent not getting natural Tron without search. Two out of three games, the exact opposite happened. He won the roll, and went first in the odd numbered games. While I got a bit unlucky with getting flooded in game one, it didn't change a non-searched natural Tron into Karn Liberated, into double Wurmcoil Engine. I sideboarded and in the second contest, was able to hit a second turn Stony Silence. From there, he never assembled Tron, and my creatures overran him. Game three was not fortunate. My opponent resolved and activated a combined six Chromatic Stars and Chromatic Spheres in the first three turns while assembling natural Tron. I had a Suppression Field, which, for the record, does nothing against Star or Sphere. It did hinder his ability to activate a Karn one turn. I ended the match with no permanents in play, thanks to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Comparison: I'm not necessarily a huge fan of either of the decks, as constructed, against Tron. G/R does have the Blood Moon advantage, which can possibly slow down Trons development long enough to just get there. I could see tinkering with the board a bit to possibly improve the matchup with Molten Rain or even Sowing Salt. G/W is not completely without answers as constructed, but I don't think it's favorable. It is possible that the deck may want a Ghost Quarter or three in the mix for these matchups, and I can see that being completely reasonable.

Round 6: Mono-White Death and Taxes

I won the die roll and started off with a Hierarch. As soon as he went Plains, Aether Vial on his first turn, I knew he was going to be Mono-White Vial, and played accordingly. I dropped a second turn Suppression Field. He played a second land and ticked up his Vial, while I played a Smiter. He missed his third land for several turns. He did cast a couple 2-drops, and stopped his Vial at 3. When he was tapped out, I played a second Suppression Field, and he never was able to activate the Vial. I quickly got my fatties on line, and won. My opponent looked at me and said, "Man, I'm used to being the tax guy. I've never had it happen to me before." Know how Taxes plays, I thought I would shave a little cost wise, and went with both Crusaders from the board in place of two of the Liege. I didn't have to worry, though, and I flushed the board with guys, and dropped another Suppression Field to shut down his/interfere with his Ghost Quarters and Vials.

Comparison: I don't think there is one. R/G is a pretty mana intensive deck, and I've lost to Death and Taxes many times with it due to that fact. I lose a couple lands due to Leonin Arbiter and Ghost Quarter, and all of a sudden I can't do anything. Meanwhile, the G/W list seems perfectly constructed to beat Taxes at its own game. Knockout win for G/W.

Round 7: Grixis Delver

Hands down, this was the most enjoyable round of the day for me. Yes, I lost. Badly. Quite honestly, my opponent was one of the most friendly, funny, and generally interesting guys I've ever played. Sure, there are some guys who are awesome while they are winning, and jerks when they are not, but this guy was friendly and outgoing from the start, even with the folks just sitting around him before the match started. Even though I lost this match 2-0, I learned quite a bit. Suppression Field was good, but not game breaking against the deck. Of course, I never had it on turn 2, and the earliest I saw it was turn 4, past the time where it forced them to be land locked. It did have quite the impact on the game, both with activating Jace, cracking later lands and not having the mana required for the line of play they were used to from practice, etc. I brought in Rest in Peace from the board, and it was very good as well, and he had to trade multiple spells to get rid of it, using a Cryptic Command to bounce it, and a Snapcaster Mage plus Cryptic to counter it on the way back down. Even if the first game wasn't really close, the second was a battle of inches, and he gained a few more than I did.

Comparison: My hate for this deck with G/W was useful, but not game changing. This is a deck that plays few basics, and makes use of all three colors quite a bit. Due to the greedy mana requirements, Blood Moon based strategies seem ideal. The rub for me has always been my difficulty in dealing with turn two or three X/5 creatures, which was one of the defining factors in me eschewing R/G for this tournament. All things being equal, though, I think it's reasonable to believe that if I answer the X/5 question, R/G has an edge over G/W.

Round 8: Chair

Few things are more frustrating than spending the entire day at an event, even doing poorly but sticking it out to play, and showing up at the table to face off against the dastardly chair. I personally wish WotC would track the No-Drop/No-Shows, and after a players 3rd one, give them a 30-day break to think about it. It's rude and inconsiderate. Checking the drop box is not a difficult task. Thinking you may stick around, and having your buddies convince you to leave for food happens. But, before you leave, walk to the main stage and put your name on the list of drops that they have right there...for your convenience...for the people that drop post match slip turn in. Ok...off my soap box.

Comparison: This is a dead heat. I believe I can say with relative certainty that as long as I can find my table, I could take down the dastardly chair pretty much 100% of the time with either deck. I've done poorly enough at so many events that this was not me first rodeo against this opponent, and I'm thus far undefeated.

Round 9: U/W Control

This was the match that led me down the path of this article. My 1-2 loss to a deck I felt I was prepared for is what really opened my eyes to the weaknesses my choice had. Few decks run sweepers quite like U/W Control. After thoroughly stomping through the first game, the subsequent games ended miserably. I would play creatures and swing in a time or two, and the board sweeper would hit. I would play a couple more creatures I was holding back, and I would occasionally get to swing in a time or two, but more often I would just get swept again immediately. To be fair, I never saw my Gaddock Teeg, which makes short work of sweepers...at least until Path to Exile or Detention Sphere makes an appearance. I hated that I could never put my opponent on the back foot. I had no hasty attackers, or uncounterable burn, like Banefire, to reestablish myself. If this match served no other purpose than to bolster my dislike, disgust, distaste and loathing for U/W, then it served its purpose well.

Comparison: In this one, there is no comparison. The R/G list I play is so significantly better in this pairing that the G/W deck could ever hope to be. It's commensurate with asking someone allergic to fish if they would like cod (G/W) or steak (R/G) for dinner. It's just that lopsided of a victory for R/G.

In the end, if I have a viable way to handle the X/5 guys, R/G may be the way to go for Oklahoma City. Or possibly I could try to shore up those matches that are inferior with G/W. It's not like I have a lot of time to decide, as I leave early Friday morning to head to the GP. I won't be surprised if the evaluation and decision runs late into Thursday night.

I don't regret playing G/W in Cincinnati. I kept a few sketchy hands that cost me games, and made several other mistakes that were also detrimental to my progress, such as missing multiple Voice of Resurgence triggers and once playing a Kitchen Finks and saying "go" rather than gaining my two life. My poor play should not reflect negatively on the deck, even if I feel that the deck is missing something. At the end of the day, I got to spend my birthday playing a card game I tremendously enjoy, and hanging out with the wife and some Magic friends. Even if I would have gone 0-9, it would have been a good day.

Peace,

Carl Wilt