RC Ottawa Tournament Report
The Regional Championship in Ottawa was this past weekend and I decided to sleeve up the winningest deck in the format, Temur Rhinos. I had been working on a Grixis Wizards list and have had some minor success with the deck, but I didn’t have enough time to tweak the list to the point where I would be confident in my 75. The other deck I considered playing was Mono-Black Coffers, which may have been a solid choice as local Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth enjoyer Gabe Vienneau cashed the tournament with it! Temur Rhinos was the natural conclusion I came to considering the success the deck has had recently, the favorable matchups, and the experience I already have with the deck.
This was the list I ended up registering:
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Round 1: Temur Rhinos (2-0)
Game 1: I cast Violent Outburst on my opponent’s turn and announce my cascade trigger. They tap 3 mana and I’m sure they’re going to Tishana’s Tidebinder me. Instead, they make a fatal error and cast Force of Negation, while the only target is my Violent Outburst. My Rhinos resolve and get the job done.
Game 2: This one is a quick one as they don’t find their third land, and I make Rhinos for the next 3 turns.
Round 2: Domain Zoo (1-2)
Game 1: This is my first introduction to the breakout combo of the weekend, Leyline of the Guildpact and Scion of Draco. If they get both of these cards out, Scion of Draco does it’s best impression of Progenitus, granting First Strike, Lifelink, Vigilance, Trample, and Hexproof to all of their creatures. I make a lot of 4/4’s but they assemble the combo and I can no longer win in combat.
Game 2: I land an early Blood Moon. They sneak 2 Scions into play before the Blood Moon but there is no Leyline in play so I get to Force of Vigor them both away. Eventually they answer my blood moon late in the game which allows me to cascade multiple times in their end step, and attack for lethal.
Game 3: This is a fast one as they immediately assemble Leyline and Scion again, beating me in a few short turns. I pick up my first loss and I am 1-1.
Round 3: Mono Green Tron (2-0)
Game 1: I make some 4/4’s and my 3 Subtleties are enough to handle their threats while I deal lethal damage.
Game 2: I’m a lucky dog and put Gemstone Caverns into play. I must make a choice whether to apply pressure or Boseiju their Tron land. I decide in my head they don’t have it and get aggressive. I hold my breath as they look into my eyes and play Urza’s… Saga. I start attacking them and keep them off Tron to win. I’m now 2-1 after the third round!
Round 4: Temur Slogurk Assault Loam (2-0)
Game 1: I make Rhinos, and then I Tishana’s Tidebinder their One Ring, easy peezy.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 cards and start with Gemstone Caverns. I have very little resources but luckily, they take far too long to get anything going. They have used their Wrenn and Six ultimate and burn through 4 One Rings as I make more and more Rhinos. They draw the majority of their deck but never find any Seismic Assaults to kill me or a Lightning Bolt to finish me with the Wrenn and Six emblem. I end the round at 3-1.
Round 5: Living End (1-2)
Game 1 all comes down to the die roll as they cycle and then Living End in my 3rd Upkeep. With no way to stop them, I succumb to the creatures in the Graveyard.
Game 2: This time I’m on the play and get to Tidebinder their cascade triggers. I beat them with some Rhinos before they get their graveyard into play.
Game 3: We have a lot of back and forth this game. I have a Force of Negation, but they Grief it away. I draw another one and make rhinos in their end step and get to Force of Negation their Living End. I even draw a Mystical Dispute to beat another Living End! I attack them to 6 and pass, thinking I have this locked up. They draw up to 3 cards in hand and exile a Troll of Khazad-Dum to another Grief. My heart sinks as they take my Mystical Dispute and cast a main phase Violent Outburst to kill my rhinos and bring back a lethal board. Another loss puts me to 3-2.
Round 6: UW Hammer (0-2)
Game 1: This is a bit of a weird one. Me and fellow Rhino maker Chris Brackley are waiting at the tables right outside of the hall doors. MTGMelee goes down for a few minutes, and we wait for it to come back up. We both see our pairings and arrive at our matches. I sit down and I am made aware that I am 2 minutes late and receive a game loss. Apparently, there was an announcement but the hall is a little too loud for us to hear it.
Game 2: Hammer excels pre-sideboard which is all they need to win the match. Two hammers and a Shadowspear takes it. Sadly, I put myself to 3-3.
Round 7: BW Death’s Shadow (2-0)
Game 1: I remove a bunch of threats and make rhinos. He uses his Dauthi Voidwalker to cast my Crashing Footfalls, but I have a Force of Negation for it and attack for lethal.
Game 2: My opponent plays an Engineered Explosives but adds more to the board and plays a Dauthi Voidwalker. I take this opportunity to Violent Outburst, then untap and attack. They’re at ten and my second Violent Outburst makes my rhinos lethal. Back to a positive record at 4-3!
Round 8: UR Murktide (2-1)
Game 1: I suspend Crashing Footfalls turn one and then turn 2, overloading their counter magic. I take two Ragavan hits and then start making rhinos and attacking to get the win.
Game 2: They have a Ledger Shredder which grows large enough to block my rhinos while they counter most of my threats. They swing in the air for lethal.
Game 3: They make another large Ledger Shredder, but I resolve some rhinos. I draw my Otawara to get rid of the massive Shredder. They spend all their mana putting blockers in play, and I draw enough removal to deliver lethal. I end the day at 5-3, good enough to move onto Day 2!
Round 9: UB Ring Control (2-0)
Game 1: I cast Violent Outburst with Force of Negation backup and make quick work of them!
Game 2: We both take a mulligan; I suspend some Crashing Footfalls and hold some Tidebinders in hand. I draw more rhinos and Force of Negations while they miss their fourth land. I have lethal in play and they find their fourth land, but it’s a Polluted Delta, which I can Tidebinder to stop them from surviving. I start with a win up to 6-3.
Round 10: RB Scam (1-2)
Game 1: I suspend some early rhinos which he can’t take from my hand. They eventually come off and win the game.
Game 2: Legion’s End out of the sideboard clears my rhinos and I go to 1. I stabilize but die to their Mount Doom.
Game 3: I pressure their life total with rhinos but they make their own with Dauthi Voidwalker. I think it’s close but then they Legion’s End my rhinos again. I have Subtlety and can put them to 3, but not 0 before they attack for lethal. I end the round at 6-4.
Round 11: UB Death’s Shadow (2-0)
Game 1: They put themselves to 12 and I get to cast Dead to kill a 1/1 Death’s Shadow. They had no tricks, so it stayed dead. Later on, I get to Tidebinder a fetch land they desperately needed to grow their Death’s Shadow, winning combat before my giant Murktide Regent finishes the job.
Game 2: They have a Chalice of the Void to slow me down, but I draw my Otawara. I return it to their hand and then make some rhinos and start attacking. I accidentally put myself dead to a removal spell, forgetting about Menace on my opponent’s Stalactite Stalker. I ride the wave of luck and they don’t find it and offer the handshake. I rise to 7-4!
Round 12: Domain Rhinos (0-2)
Game 1: I open with Gemstone Caverns and they open with Leyline of the Guildpact. Remembering how devastating Leyline with Scion of Draco was in my second round, I decide to Boseiju away my opponent’s Leyline. They had just surveiled with Thundering Falls and kept it on top so it was extra enticing to make them shuffle. Unfortunately, this decision allowed them to cast their cascade spell a turn early and I can’t keep up with their pressure.
Game 2: They have Leyline again but no Scion. We trade rhino after rhino. I cast a Lorien Revealed hoping to pull ahead, but they have Force of Negation. They find more rhinos to defeat me, and I fall to 7-5.
Round 13: Merfolk (2-1)
Game 1: I try to cascade on their turn, and they flash in Vodalian Hexcatcher. I have the Subtlety to get rid of it, but they have a Subtlety for my Subtlety. They counter my Footfalls and I die to the Folks.
Game 2: Pretty uneventful game where Rhinos does what Rhinos like to do and attack my opponent from 20 to 0.
Game 3: The last round is the most anticlimactic round as my opponent mulligans to 5. They put a Cavern of Souls and a Chalice of the Void into play and pray. My hand had a Flame of Anor to destroy it and they never find their second land. The rest of my hand is three Violent Outbursts to end the match.
My final record was 8-5 to finish 83rd out of 479 players. Sadly, I did not make it to the record needed for minimum prizing, but with 5 rhinos decks making the top 8 of the tournament, I’m happy with my deck choice. With this tournament done, I will be onto preparing for the Standard RCQ season! The format is wide open with the latest set just releasing, and I’m excited to get to play and try to qualify for the next Regional Championship!
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Written By: Travis Benedict |
