RC Ottawa: Recap

I competed at RC Ottawa this past weekend, which was a lot of fun. I had a good run that just fell short. This recap mostly goes over the matches I played, as well as some of the things I want to take away from the experience. This was my second RC, so there were still a lot of rookie mistakes I was making both in and out of gameplay that I’d like to correct.

I finished the event at 9-5, which is a result I’m happy with. What really defines this event for me, however, is how close I was to converting the run into a top finish.

Preparation/Deck Choice

I didn't have many doubts when it came to deck choice; I have countless hours on Golgari Airship and I felt confident with the deck.

There's a lot to gain from expertise on a deck, even if it isn't a combo strategy. Airship has a lot of niche interactions and places to optimize, and it was clear to me that it would let me play at my full potential for the tournament.

The rogue factor also shouldn't be dismissed, as not many people have tested against the deck. Even though Airship is a fairly straightforward midrange deck, most opponents have to come up with a gameplan on the fly.

Golgari Airship RC Ottawa

The Event

My goal for this RC was to at least make Day 2 and hopefully do better than I did last year. I didn’t have particularly high expectations though, mostly because it was only my second RC and I know how much variance can happen at events like these.

The morning of the event, I played a practice match on Arena. I was feeling pretty nervous and didn't have much of an appetite because of it.

I did get to see the tournament metagame before the event started:

Day 1 Metagame

The metagame was fairly similar to what I expected. The only deceptive part was how much control there was in the field, as it was split between Jeskai Control and 4c Control.

Control was on my radar, but I had mostly dismissed it as a smaller portion of the metagame and believed the matchup was good enough that I wasn't really worried about it.

This ended up being pretty wrong, as I played against control five times and all three of my losses day 1 were to it.

Matches

Here is my tournament path:

Tournament Path

Day 1

Day 1 was 9 rounds, with 6-3 being the cutoff. 72 players qualified for Day 2 out of 306 players. Matches were open decklist with 52 minutes allotted per round.

My opponent had a game loss due to a late deck submission, so we went directly to game 2 with no sideboarding and my opponent on the play. I won that game and took the match.

The match was really short, so it didn't feel like I was properly warmed up yet, but I was still happy to start with a win.

I was able to get Phoenix Fleet Airship online before the opponent could find Jeskai Revelation, and the pressure closed the game quickly.

I got the airships down but still lost to back-to-back Jeskai Revs. A lack of card advantage due to not finding Obsessive Pursuit made it really hard to keep up in the late game.

There was also an interesting judge call this game. I said “move to end step” and paused. My opponent responded with “at the end of your end step, cast Jeskai Revelation.” I clarified that I intended to put my airship triggers on the stack first, while my opponent argued that I had missed them. We called a judge, and the ruling was that because the triggers had no targets, they were not considered missed.

Pretty similar to game 1 and fairly quick, as I was able to get my airships online without any meaningful interaction from my opponent.

This was an extremely tight game. I tried to navigate using airships to kill my opponent while not exposing them to board wipes. This ended up being really difficult due to not having any card advantage.

At one point I went up to eight airships while my opponent had an Ill-Timed Explosion. Killing one of my airships saved the rest, though the same trick wasn't available the following turn — there were simply too many of them.

For as long as possible I held off animating, believing I could keep chipping in. Two Jeskai Revelations later, I was forced to animate all of my airships by sacrificing a mutagen token targeting an opposing monk because I needed blockers to stop my opponent from killing me.

My opponent had several pieces of burn to finish the game.

I was able to enact my gameplan and my opponent was simply too slow to catch up.

I had a very green midrange hand consisting of Badgermole Cub, Sentinel of the Nameless City, and Mutagen Man, Living Ooze. The hand simply didn't produce enough pressure or disruption to stop my opponent from just being proactive with Tablet of Discovery and Jeskai Revelation.

My opponent mulled to 4, and did put up a decent fight although the disadvantage was too large.

My opponent’s removal lined up really well and they were able to Strategic Betrayal my Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker after killing my Gene Pollinator. I did resolve an Urgent Necropsy that dealt with Professor Dellian Fel, Unholy Annex, and Keen-Eyed Curator, but I was out of gas at that point and had no answer to my opponent’s Restless Cottage.

I got off to a strong start and my opponent not hitting their 4th land drop meant they couldn't keep up.

What I remember most from this match is that my opponent had 2 GRVs. One for resolving Improvisation Capstone incorrectly; they kept flipping cards even after revealing Jeskai Revelation. The other one was looking at an extra card when drawing by mistake. My opponent was trying to be intentionally careful after both of those, and almost committed another one lol.

I also missed an airship trigger for going from 1 to 2 airships. I was really devastated in the moment, but it didn't really matter since I was out of gas and my opponent had 2 Jeskai Revs as follow up.

I got completely overwhelmed by Amalia, Leonardo and 2 Case of the Uneaten Feast.

Both games 2 and 3 were similar midrange battles. I was able to establish card advantage with Obsessive Pursuit, and with a steady stream of removal I was able to prevent my opponent from building up an engine.

I commented to my opponent afterwards that I was surprised they weren’t playing Clarion Conqueror in the sideboard. It definitely would have made the matchup harder.

My opponent went turn 1 Drum into turn 2 Quantum Riddler. I had a funny moment where I instinctively said “end step exile Daydream” with The Ooze, even though my opponent didn’t have it.

I was able to use Obsessive Pursuit to establish card advantage and eventually started attacking with large lifelinkers once I found a Mutagen Man, Living Ooze.

They got off to a fast start with a turn 2 Quantum Riddler, however I had removal for it. They then built up their board with Sage of the Skies and tried to pressure me in the air.

I feel like this is where the rogue deck advantage came in, as my opponent didn’t really clock me bringing in sweepers for the matchup. I resolved a devastating Day of Black Sun that left them with only a single Gran-Gran trying to pull them back into the game.

Meanwhile, Obsessive Pursuit was drawing me an extra card every turn, which let me out resource them.

This was my first feature match and I was kind of dreading playing against control again, however I quickly spotted something I could exploit in this specific list. There wasn’t a true sweeper anywhere in their deck, which made Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker extremely difficult to answer.

My entire gameplan basically became landing the lizard and riding her to victory.

Beseeching for Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker worked, but without a way to put a counter on her it just wasn’t enough. A pivotal map token revealed a passage instead, which meant I couldn’t destroy my opponent’s Table of Discovery.

My opponent was then able to overwhelm the 5 damage a turn with Jeskai Revelation and eventually take the game.

Even though Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker wasn’t able to get there in game 1, the plan stayed the same. I was once again able to Beseech the Mirror for Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker, but this time I had Obsessive Pursuit to provide counters.

With Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker growing into a threat my opponent had no answer to, the lethal attack was met with a scoop.

I had a decent green midrange hand, but I also had Duress to help clear the way. I took an Essence Scatter from my opponent, which opened the door for a Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker from hand. My opponent missing a land drop also gave me an opportunity to resolve it without much worry.

Once Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker was down, my opponent tried to accelerate into their own gameplan with Table of Discovery. I was able to destroy it by removing a counter that I got from a map token, which left my opponent with very few outs. Their only line was Pyroclasm into flashback Pyroclasm, which they didn’t have.

This was the final match of the day, and I did feel a weight off my shoulders since I had already locked up day 2. I still took the match seriously though, since I wanted to set myself up well for the next day.

I got down fast airships and was able to win this one fairly easily.

I had a decent start, but played the game slowly to avoid getting blown out by a sweeper. My opponent wasn’t really interacting with me, and the turn 4 sweeper I was expecting never came.

I ended up Beseech the Mirroring for Duress, since I already had good pressure and I had a feeling my opponent was sitting on their one of Ultima. My opponent’s hand was Jeskai Revelation and Ultima. Ultima looked completely backbreaking and, given the pressure I had, I felt I could beat a Revelation, so I took the Ultima.

My opponent then casts Flashback for Ultima, which was completely backbreaking.

I had a decent hand along with a Duress. I checked my opponent's hand and took the only counterspell from their hand. I proceeded to try and play out my threats, but back to back counterspells off the top left me out of gas. My opponent was able to easily scale and win from there.

Day 2

Going into Day 2, I didn’t have particularly high expectations since I knew a single loss would put me out of contention. Lowkey, I think that actually helped me play better since I felt more relaxed and had less pressure on myself.

I got run over by Sazh's Chocobo. My opponent played a turn 2 Badgermole Cub without a turn 1 play, so I felt it was safe to use my Witherbloom Charm on the Cub instead of developing my own gameplan.

My opponent then played Sazh's Chocobo and followed it up with two Icetill Explorers. The pressure was just too much.

My opponent had a double Sazh's Chocobo start, but I also had a really strong Gene Pollinator, Badgermole Cub, Obsessive Pursuit hand.

I cast Day of Black Sun for X=1 to clear both chocobos, and from there I was able to take advantage of Obsessive Pursuit to quickly close out the game.

My opponent missed their fourth land drop, but they still had a lot of pressure. Professor Dellian Fel helped stabilize some of it, but my hand was also awkward because I had three Beseech the Mirrors, which locked me into a pretty rigid one spell a turn gameplan while also lacking bargain fodder.

I’m pretty proud of the sequencing here, since it let me make use of all three Beseech the Mirrors. The first went for Nowhere to Run, killing a Surrak, Elusive Hunter. Bargaining the Nowhere to Run found The Ooze, which exiled an Esper Origins and gave me more fodder.

The last Beseech the Mirror found Phoenix Fleet Airship, which turned the game around and let me start attacking. My opponent had a Sapling Nursery that was just too late, and I was able to swing through two treefolk for the win.

My opponent was taking a really long time to look through my decklist. Players have two minutes to review decklists, but my opponent spent close to ten minutes on it while shuffling.

This ended up resulting in a deck check, since our match had started noticeably later than the ones around us. In hindsight, I probably should have called a judge or at least mentioned that we should get started, but I was trying to be patient and give them time.

When the judges returned from the deck check, they informed me that I had received a marked cards warning. The issue was with the Cortex sleeves I had sleeved up on Friday. They came as a set of two packs, and the insides of the sleeves were slightly different even though the exteriors looked identical.

This became obvious once the deck was sorted and viewed from the side, where the difference could clearly be seen. Thankfully, the judge said I only needed to resleeve after the match.

My opponent had a rough time finding anything meaningful and could only come up with two Hearth Elementals, which I was able to answer and comfortably win the game.

At one point they accidentally dropped a Burst Lightning, which gave me information and let me attack for lethal without worrying about interaction.

My opponent’s hand didn’t really function this game either. They deployed an Eddymurk Crab and Hearth Elemental, but ended up stuck with a bunch of lands in hand.

My opponent conceded a bit early, which was understandable since I had just exiled their entire graveyard and had a Professor Dellian Fel on board.

This was a backup feature match however it got no airtime, since we finished extremely quickly.

I had The Ooze in my opening hand, so I was feeling really good. I got it down early and my opponent had no answer.

I was able to control my opponent’s graveyard for the entire game, only really letting them cast expensive Eddymurk Crabs, which made the game really easy to manage.

This was more of a traditional early game against Spellementals, where the Spellementals player takes the control role. I used Earthbend on a Restless Cottage as a way to keep my opponent’s graveyard under control.

My opponent wasn’t able to find a threat quickly, while I was able to establish a Sentinel of the Nameless City that kept attacking turn after turn.

I eventually beseeched for Strategic Betrayal on a pivotal turn where I expected my opponent to deploy an Eddymurk Crab. My opponent chose not to, which set them back significantly and allowed me to close out the game on the following turn.

This was another feature match and I was internally pumping myself up. This was a win and in for being able to ID the next round for at least top 12, so I could definitely feel the stakes.

I felt the matchup was good for me, so I was feeling confident going into it.

I kept a solid six and started the game with a decent hand. The game went back and forth, but I wasn’t able to find key pieces of removal for Hardened Academic or Cool But Rude on important turns.

I knew I was in a lot of danger, but I was still surprised when I died by just how much damage my opponent was able to put out in a single turn.

I had a really fast start with double Badgermole Cub. Mutagen Man, Living Ooze combined with Obsessive Pursuit was generating an insane amount of value.

The game ended when I beseeched for a second Obsessive Pursuit, presenting lethal on board.

I kept a solid hand with a good amount of interaction in Intimidation Tactics and Tragic Trajectory. Both Iron Shield Elfs fell to removal, leaving my opponent with just a Cool But Rude.

My opponent had removal for my Badgermole Cub, but the position still felt good with Beseech the Mirror and another Cub in hand. Their topdeck was Hardened Academic, probably their best draw in the situation.

Missing my fourth land drop then meant I couldn’t beseech by bargaining the Gene Pollinator. The only line was deploying Badgermole Cub and Mutagen Man, Living Ooze and hoping to survive long enough to beseech for Urgent Necropsy and answer both threats.

My opponent was able to deterministically kill me from 16 by gambling for Practiced Offence and attacking with Hardened Academic. Goes to show the power of this deck and Practiced Offence in particular.

I probably shouldn’t have played this match. At that point I was live for top 16 on breakers and the increase in prizing, while my opponent was locked out of top 16. Drawing the match would have put both of us into prizing.

IDing for prizing never came up and I was honestly still a bit disappointed from the previous round, so I just decided to play. In hindsight it wasn’t a good decision, since I clearly wasn’t in the right mindset for the match and ended up throwing two very winnable games because of it.

I ended up finishing 34th, just outside of prizing, while my opponent finished 18th. It was a disappointing way to end the event, but it was still a learning experience.

My opponent had a mediocre start and I went for a greedy Airship line. There was a tell that they had Erode, and I completely ignored it. That ended up leading to me dying to my own Obsessive Pursuit on upkeep.

The game was going well again. I got down a fast airship and was in a really strong position. I then got baited into animating my airship by an attack and got hit by Pyrrhic Strike, which destroyed both of my airships.

My opponent was then able to deploy several threats and also had Disdainful Stroke for my Beseech the Mirror.

Reflections

Overall, I was happy with my performance over the weekend up until the last round. I’ve thought over my win and in quite a bit, and I don’t think there were any lines I could have taken in those games that would have led to better outcomes, so I’m at peace with it.

Losing the last round and leaving with nothing did leave a bitter taste, but it doesn’t take away from the rest of the weekend.

The biggest strategic takeaway from the event was not to dismiss certain matchups, especially in such a wide metagame. I didn’t face a single Prowess deck in 14 rounds, despite spending a lot of time preparing for it. Meanwhile, control ended up being one of my most played matchups. It really reinforced how important it is to prepare for the wider field and not just the decks expected to be most popular.

Going into the event, I lacked paper practice, but my board state management held up well throughout the weekend.

The main issue was that I missed a few triggers on day 1, which is honestly a product of playing mostly on Arena where the game handles everything automatically. It wasn’t really a gameplay issue as much as needing more physical reps with the deck.

Something I’ve also been working on over the past few months was tracking life totals with a lifepad instead of relying on my opponent or Companion, and that definitely paid off. There were a few moments where my tracking differed from my opponent’s, but overall I was able to keep up with everything and felt much more comfortable with it than I would have previously.

There were definitely some doubts about whether Airship was actually going to perform, since Arena ladder is a very different environment from an RC. This result gave me confidence that I can trust in myself and my testing. The deck performed, and it validated a lot of the work that went into it.

Aside from the RC itself, I really enjoyed the gathering and met a lot of cool people. Really looking forward to the next one.

If you have any questions or want to discuss the deck, feel free to join the Discord.