Regional Championship Dallas: Recap
On the weekend of June 3rd and 4th, 1200 Players from across the US competed in the Regional Championship in Dallas, Texas. I was lucky enough to be one of those players. In this article, I will recap my both decklist and my tournament experience and matchups.
After months of testing, I decided to play Izzet Gearhulk Creativity, which as the name suggests is a Blue & Red deck that uses Indomitable Creativity to Cheat out Torrential Gearhulk for value. In this case, the 3rd card key to the strategy is Magma Opus, a perfect card to hard cast and flashback off of Torrential Gearhulk. The treasure creation ability also allows a turn 4 Creativity enabling you to get 14 mana of cards (Gearhulk + Opus) for only 4 mana. Here is the list I used:
I also have attached my sideboard plans in this spreadsheet: FINAL Opus Hulk SB
For some commentary on my list, I went with 2 Behold the Multiverse in the main because I have had it in my sideboard for Rakdos, but because the deck had space I brought them in as more turn 2 action and a Thoughtsieze proof card. When Rakdos opponents often wait for t2 or t3 Thoughtsieze, safely protecting it with Foretell make sure they can't just Thoughtsieze you out of the game. Additionally, I almost never side it out as it digs for removal and counterspells very efficiently.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is tech for the Rakdos matchup I got from the LMS Valencia winner and tech that served me VERY well. It can't kill Sheoldred but it kills everything else and can kill something while then becoming a must-answer threat.
With the Rakdos matchup, depending on the number of Sheoldreds and Bankbusters, Fading Hope and Prismari Command are more or less valuable. Additionally, Make Disappear is a very bad card in the matchup but somewhat necessary as it stops a turn 3 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker from them. Because of the density of Thoughtsieze and Duress's once your opponent sees a Make Disappear its value plummets. I like to cut 2 if not 3 for this reason.
Going into this event I felt very confident with my list and feel the same way afterwards. I felt that outside of Lotusfield every matchup felt winnable and post board there are no super bad cards. Even in unfavorable matchups the deck always has a plan. I know I am gonna bring it to all my RCQs. If you have any questions about the Sideboarding let me know as I have reasoning for all of it but my logic is not infallible.
Matches:
Round 1
Archetype: Mono-Green Devotion
Result: 1-2
Record 0-1
In this round I had to mulligan to 5 in Game 1 which was definitely game-losing as I put up a fight, but being so down on cards, I couldn't fully put a stop to my opponent. In Game 2 I kept a strong 7 with a Fable and multiple points of interaction. I eventually locked him out with flipped fable + Torrential Gearhulk. In game 3 I mulliganned once but kept a hand without enough pressure as it had plenty of interaction but I knew it lost to multiple 3 drops. Of course, my opponent then drew 4 Trolls and 1 Polukranos to just completely overwhelm me. I think this match came down to keeping a hand that doesn't beat a very specific draw and then my opponent having that set of cards.
Round 2
Archetype: Lotus Field
Result: 1-2
Record 0-2
Lotus Field is an atrocious matchup. Almost impossible to win. By a miracle, I won game 1 by creating 2 treasure tokens with 2 Opus's then playing an Indomitable Creativity for 2 to draw 4 cards, deal 8 damage, and put 18 power on board. In game 2 I lost as they combo-ed through my disruption. In game 3 I had to mulligan to 4 as my first 3 hands had 0 land so I had almost nothing and lost.
Round 3
Archetype: Convoke
Result: 2-0
Record 1-2
Against Boros Convoke I have a great matchup. My interaction is very good as I can kill tons of early creatures to prevent convoking and I can counter bigger spells in the late game. Not only that but Gearhulk + Opus can typically wipe their board and kill at least 2 if not 3 or 4 creatures. In both games, I did this and just smoked them. In game 1 I got to Divide by Zero the same Knight Errant of Eos twice effectively timewalking them.
Round 4
Archetype: Rakdos
Result: 2-1
Record 2-2
Rakdos is a pretty good matchup. In game 1 your combo is pretty unbeatable and in games 2 and 3 you're slightly unfavored due to their amount of hand hate but you typically can win one of the post-board games. In this founc I comboed my opponent in game 1, in game 2 they were able to resolve a Sheoldred I couldn't answer that then killed me. In Game 3 I was triple Thoughtsiezed but a Chandra, Torch of Defiance got me back in the game by drawing me a card, generating mana for a hard cast Magma Opus. Eventually I emblemed the Chandra to cast 2 spells and deal 10 damage to their face. Chandra feels really good against Rakdos and I genuinely believe it is underplayed in the current meta. Being able to ramp, kill something and generate card advantage is very good.
Round 5
Archetype: Mono-White Humans
Result: 0-2
Record 2-3
Mono-White should be a favorable matchup. In this tournament, it did not feel that way. Game 1 your combo typically blows them out by killing at least 2 creatures, however in this game my opponent won the die roll and played Invasion of Gobakahn and Thalia to make my hand effectively uncastable or by the time I could cast it was far too late. In game 2 my opponent had 2 Thalia's and Coppercoat Vanguard to tax me out of the game. Similar to discard spells, 1 tax piece can be played through but 2 is much harder and 3 is very very difficult. The real out to such a situation is a board wipe, like Brotherhood's End, something I did not see. I also made a mistake in game 2 by not playing around My opponent's ability to pump their Thalia's Lieutenant at instant speed with Castle Ardenvale. After this, my back is up against a wall. 6-3 is necessary to advance so I needed to win 4 in a row to qualify for day 2.
Round 6
Archetype: Rakdos
Result: 2-1
Record 3-3
In game 1 I kept a pretty unbeatable and Thoughtsieze-proof hand that had 2 Magma Opus, 2 Creativity, 1 Gearhulk, and 2 lands. I also drew well which resulted in me casting Magma Opus off of Torrential Gearhulk 3 Times. In game 2 I kept a hand with interaction but a turn 2 Thoughtsieze to open the door for a Liliana of the Veil meant I couldn't answer it and it eventually sacrificed half more board something that you can't really recover from. In game 3 I did my exact plan, I interacted by killing creatures and eventually getting off a Gearhulk+Opus to just out-value them.
Round 7
Archetype: Rakdos Goblins
Result: 2-1
Record 4-3
This game was pretty wild as I was playing against a Goblins combo deck that uses Chainwhirler and Touch of Moonglove to wipe your opponent's board and deal them tons of damage. Game 1 I died out of nowhere to the combo after feeling pretty safe. Being so unfamiliar to the combo I likely could have played around it better but did not. Games 2 and 3 I brought in more interaction and took out slower cards like Divide by Zero. The deck largely can't deal with a Gearhulk into Opus and the Combo in conjunction with the abundance of removal in the early turns makes the matchup feel pretty good. The deck felt very formidable though, talking to my opponent he won an Last Chance Qualifier with it which is pretty impressive.
Round 8
Archetype: Mono-White Humans
Result: 1-2
Record 4-4
I was finally removed from contention in round 8. I kept a hand that jammed an Indomitable Creativity on turn 4 when I should've mulliganned to more interaction. A Thalia kept me from casting my Creativity and removal spells I drew and gave my opponent enough time to kill me. In game 2 I interacted heavily by baiting out a Brave the Elements on my Fry to then untap and wipe the Board with Brotherhood's end. This slowed them down enough for me to use a Gearhulk and Magma Opus to clean up the board. Game 3 with my opponent being on the play and having a turn 2 Rest in Peace into Thalia meant I couldn't use Gearhulk for Opus and instead just had a 5/6. This resulted in my unfortunate demise.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and think it is an opportunity that if you qualify for and have the money for is absolutely amazing. I got to experience a great convention, play some great magic and have an amazing time. The opponents you face here are by far the best you'll get outside of the Pro Tour and you can feel it. There are no free wins here and every game is very interesting and challenging. Also, I got to emblem a Chandra, Torch of Defiance so that was pretty sick. If you have any questions let me know and I will gladly answer them, this deck is super fun and I highly recommend it for your upcoming tournaments!
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