Grand Prix Lyon 2018 Quarterfinals (MODERN) Turn By Turn Analysis (Cappiello-Mono-Green Tron vs Kowalski-R/G Eldrazi)
The previous article looking at the final match of the Grand Prix Lyon received some useful feedback that I incorporated into this article. I hope this article will help everyone better understand modern gameplay at the professional level. Having already looked at how Kowalski played his R/G Eldrazi deck against Abzan, it only makes sense to see how it performed against one of the most pervasive decks in the format....TRON.
The facts of this match:
1. The match went to 3 games with no individual game making it past turn 6.
2. Kowalski played Thought-Knot Seer 5 times in the 3 matches. Twice he chose to exile Ancient Stirrings, Sylvan Scrying once, Oblivion Stone once and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger once.
3. Cappiello made Tron by turn 5, 4 and 5 respectively. He lost the first game, won the second and lost the last game.
4. Kowalski's deck won on turn 6 and turn 4. Cappiello won on turn 6.
Game 1
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Tower and Chromatic Sphere.
Logic: Cappiello wants to get his Tron pieces as fast as possible. Urza'a Tower is one of them (Urza's Mine and Urza's Power Plant are the others). Together these will allow him to tap 3 lands for 7 mana with additional Tron lands adding to the pool. This is the primary win condition for all Tron decks. With this mana he can ramp into a number of powerful creatures and/or planeswalkers. Chromatic Sphere gives him card draw and 1 free mana to cast a follow on spell.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Grove of Burnwillows (Cappiello's life goes to 21) and casts Ancient Stirrings. He takes Reality Smasher.
Logic: Ancient Stirrings allows him to dig out the missing piece of his mana curve. Selecting Reality Smasher is an indication that Kowalski has a solid mana curve up to 5.
Turn 2: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a card. He plays a second Urza's Tower and a second Chromatic Sphere.
Logic: The second Urza's Tower indicates to Kowalski that Cappiello is at least 2 turns away from setting up Tron.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays Eldrazi Temple and casts Matter Reshaper.
Logic: Eldrazi Temple can tap for 2 mana. Matter Reshaper is a tough turn 2 creature that represents a powerful creature and card advantage (when it dies).
Turn 3: Cappiello plays Forest and casts Oblivion Stone.
Logic: Oblivion Stone can destroy every creature on the battlefield. Cappiello realizes that with Matter Reshaper on the board and Reality Smasher in hand, and his distance from assembling the Tron pieces, he needs to set up his defense.
Turn 3: Kowalski attacks with Matter Reshaper. Cappiello's life drops to 18. Kowalski casts Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ancient Stirrings
Walking Ballista
Kowalski chooses Ancient Stirrings (exiled).
Logic: Ancient Stirrings represents the immediate threat. If Cappiello is allowed to cast it, he could quickly find a missing Tron piece. The other cards in his hand need Tron to work.
Turn 4: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a card. He plays Urza's Mine and passes turn. He is 1 card away from assembling Tron.
Turn 4: Kowalski plays Reality Smasher and swings in with all 3 of his creatures. Cappiello's life drops to 6.
Turn 5: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant (Tron achieved). Passes turn.
Logic: With Oblivion Stone out, he can destroy anything that Kowalski puts on the battlefield, and he can activate it whenever he wants to. Waiting makes sense just in case Kowalski decides to cast another creature with haste.
Turn 5: Kowalski swings in with all creatures. Cappiello activates Oblivion Stone and destroys Kowalski's 3 creatures. The Thought-Knot Seer death trigger draws Cavern of Souls (played-creature name: ooze). Kowalski plays a second Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
World Breaker
Walking Ballista
Kowalski chooses Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and casts Scavenging Ooze.
Logic: Ulamog is the greatest threat. This also represents the point of no return for the game. Even with Tron assembled, Cappiello has lost his greatest comeback creature and has a quickly dwindling life total. Playing Scavenging Ooze allows Kowalski to control the graveyard and to gain life in addition to putting a powerful creature on the board.
Turn 6: Cappiello plays Urza's Powerplant and casts Walking Ballista for 6. He removes 2 counters and kills Scavenging Ooze.
Logic: Scavenging Ooze represents lethal damage due to its ability to pump. With only one chump blocker, he needs to get rid of as many attackers as possible.
Turn 6: Kowalski casts Reality Smasher and swings in both creatures. Walking Ballista blocks Thought-Knot Seer. Cappiello's life drops to 1. Kowalski casts Lighting Bolt.
Game 1 ends.
Game 2.
Cappiello is on the play.
Cappiello mulligans to 5, scrys and puts the card on the bottom.
Kowalski mulligans to 6, scrys and puts the card on the top.
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant and casts Expedition Map.
Logic: Expedition Map is one of the best ways to search out other Tron lands.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Cavern of Souls, names Human and casts Noble Hierarch.
Logic: Noble Hierarch can provide both ramp and extra damage with Exalted.
Turn 2: Cappiello plays Forest and passes turn.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays land and swings in with Noble Hierarch. Since Noble Hierarch has Exalted it does 1 point of damage reducing Cappiello's life to 19. At the end of his turn, Cappiello sacrifices Expedition Map and finds Urza's Tower.
Turn 3: Cappiello casts Ancient Stirrings and keeps Chromatic Star. Cappiello plays Urza's Tower and casts Chromatic Star.
Logic: Cappiello has all of his Tron pieces in hand and will be able to play pretty much anything on his next turn.
Turn 3: Kowalski plays a second Noble Hierarch and swings in dropping Cappiello's life down to 17 (Exalted trigger x 2).
Turn 4: Cappiello plays Urza's Mine (Tron assembled). Cappiello casts Karn Liberated and activates his +4 ability (Target player exiles a card from his/her hand). Kowalski chooses Cavern of Souls. Karn's loyalty is at 10.
Logic: From the first game Cappiello knows that Kowalski has a 5/5 creature with trample and haste in his arsenal (Reality Smasher) so he needs to up the loyalty on Karn so he can stay alive. Rather than exiling one of Kowalski's Noble Hierarchs and leaving Karn vulnerable to attack, he opts to use the +4 ability.
Turn 4: Kowalski casts Reality Smasher and swings in at Karn dropping his loyalty down to 3. He plays Grove of the Burnwillows.
Turn 5: Cappiello uses Karn's +4 again to exile a card from Kowalski's hand (Endbringer). Karn's loyalty is now 7. Cappiello plays Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and uses it's casting trigger to exile Grove of the Burnwillows and Reality Smasher.
Board state:
Cappiello has a Chromatic Star, Karn Liberated and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
Kowalski has 2 Noble Hierarchs.
Logic: Kowalski is staying in the game because he hopes to draw an Eldrazi Obligator. This would reverse the game in his favor. With the Obligator, he could take control of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and immediately swing in at Karn-killing two birds with one stone.
Turn 5: Kowalski plays Matter Reshaper and passes the turn.
Turn 6: Cappiello activates Karn's -3 ability and exiles Matter Reshaper. Kowalski responds by playing Dismember on Matter Reshaper.
Logic: If Matter Reshaper goes into exile, it's death trigger doesn't happen. Dismember is fairly useless at this point against Ulamog. Kowalski needs Eldrazi Obligator. He needs to draw cards.
Kowalski reveals Thought-Knot Seer. Since it's CMC is 4 it goes into his hand.
Cappiello attacks with Ulamog. Kowalski exiles the top 20 cards of his library and his life drops to 4.
Cappiello casts Thragtusk and Chromatic Sphere.
Turn 6: Kowalski casts Thought-Knot Seer, exiles Oblivion Stone from Cappiello's hand and concedes.
End game 2.
Game 3.
Cappiello mulligans to 6. Kowalski keeps.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Eldrazi Temple and passes.
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant and casts Chromatic Star.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays a second Eldrazi Temple and casts Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Chromatic Sphere
Ancient Stirrings
2 x Sylvan Scrying
Wurmcoil Engine
Kowalski chooses Ancient Stirrings.
Logic: Again, Ancient Stirrings represents the most immediate threat. The faster Cappiello gets Tron assembled, the faster he reaches his win condition.
Turn 2: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Star and draws a card. He plays Sanctum of Ugin and casts Sylvan Scrying. He finds an Urza's Tower and passes turn.
Turn 3: Kowalski plays a land and another Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Oblivion Stone
Urza's Tower
Wurmcoil Engine
Sylvan Scrying
Kowalski chooses to exile Sylvan Scrying.
Logic: Prevent Cappiello from digging out the last piece of Tron.
Kowalski swings in with Thought-Knot Seer and drops Cappiello's life total to 16.
Turn 3: Cappiello plays and sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a Sylvan Scrying. He plays it and digs out the last piece of Tron.
Turn 4: Kowalski plays Lightning Bolt taking Cappiello's life down to 13, plays Reality Smasher and swings in for 13.
End Game 3.
Kowalski wins the match.
Overall Game Analysis
The R/G Eldrazi deck took advantage of the first four turns more consistently than the Mono-Green Tron deck. Even though Tron was consistently assembled by turn 5, it really needed to be in play by turn 4 to overcome the power presented by Kowalski's turns 3,4 and 5. As stated in fact #3 above.-when Tron came out on turn 4, it won. When it came out on turn 5, it lost.
Kowalski played Thought-Knot Seer to great effect-using it in game 1 to strip away every threat as it was presented. In game 2 it came out late and Kowalski failed to find any significant creatures to fill the gap.
In game 3, Kowalski's drawing of 2 Eldrazi Temples enabling a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer shifted control of the game early.
While Tron is a powerful and incredibly consistent deck, R/G Eldrazi puts power on the field early and just as consistently. This early game ability takes advantage of Tron's greatest weakness-turns 1,2, and 3.
The MVPs of the game: Thought-Knot Seer and Lightning Bolt, followed closely by Reality Smasher.
The facts of this match:
1. The match went to 3 games with no individual game making it past turn 6.
2. Kowalski played Thought-Knot Seer 5 times in the 3 matches. Twice he chose to exile Ancient Stirrings, Sylvan Scrying once, Oblivion Stone once and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger once.
3. Cappiello made Tron by turn 5, 4 and 5 respectively. He lost the first game, won the second and lost the last game.
4. Kowalski's deck won on turn 6 and turn 4. Cappiello won on turn 6.
Game 1
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Tower and Chromatic Sphere.
Logic: Cappiello wants to get his Tron pieces as fast as possible. Urza'a Tower is one of them (Urza's Mine and Urza's Power Plant are the others). Together these will allow him to tap 3 lands for 7 mana with additional Tron lands adding to the pool. This is the primary win condition for all Tron decks. With this mana he can ramp into a number of powerful creatures and/or planeswalkers. Chromatic Sphere gives him card draw and 1 free mana to cast a follow on spell.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Grove of Burnwillows (Cappiello's life goes to 21) and casts Ancient Stirrings. He takes Reality Smasher.
Logic: Ancient Stirrings allows him to dig out the missing piece of his mana curve. Selecting Reality Smasher is an indication that Kowalski has a solid mana curve up to 5.
Turn 2: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a card. He plays a second Urza's Tower and a second Chromatic Sphere.
Logic: The second Urza's Tower indicates to Kowalski that Cappiello is at least 2 turns away from setting up Tron.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays Eldrazi Temple and casts Matter Reshaper.
Logic: Eldrazi Temple can tap for 2 mana. Matter Reshaper is a tough turn 2 creature that represents a powerful creature and card advantage (when it dies).
Turn 3: Cappiello plays Forest and casts Oblivion Stone.
Logic: Oblivion Stone can destroy every creature on the battlefield. Cappiello realizes that with Matter Reshaper on the board and Reality Smasher in hand, and his distance from assembling the Tron pieces, he needs to set up his defense.
Turn 3: Kowalski attacks with Matter Reshaper. Cappiello's life drops to 18. Kowalski casts Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ancient Stirrings
Walking Ballista
Kowalski chooses Ancient Stirrings (exiled).
Logic: Ancient Stirrings represents the immediate threat. If Cappiello is allowed to cast it, he could quickly find a missing Tron piece. The other cards in his hand need Tron to work.
Turn 4: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a card. He plays Urza's Mine and passes turn. He is 1 card away from assembling Tron.
Turn 4: Kowalski plays Reality Smasher and swings in with all 3 of his creatures. Cappiello's life drops to 6.
Turn 5: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant (Tron achieved). Passes turn.
Logic: With Oblivion Stone out, he can destroy anything that Kowalski puts on the battlefield, and he can activate it whenever he wants to. Waiting makes sense just in case Kowalski decides to cast another creature with haste.
Turn 5: Kowalski swings in with all creatures. Cappiello activates Oblivion Stone and destroys Kowalski's 3 creatures. The Thought-Knot Seer death trigger draws Cavern of Souls (played-creature name: ooze). Kowalski plays a second Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
World Breaker
Walking Ballista
Kowalski chooses Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and casts Scavenging Ooze.
Logic: Ulamog is the greatest threat. This also represents the point of no return for the game. Even with Tron assembled, Cappiello has lost his greatest comeback creature and has a quickly dwindling life total. Playing Scavenging Ooze allows Kowalski to control the graveyard and to gain life in addition to putting a powerful creature on the board.
Turn 6: Cappiello plays Urza's Powerplant and casts Walking Ballista for 6. He removes 2 counters and kills Scavenging Ooze.
Logic: Scavenging Ooze represents lethal damage due to its ability to pump. With only one chump blocker, he needs to get rid of as many attackers as possible.
Turn 6: Kowalski casts Reality Smasher and swings in both creatures. Walking Ballista blocks Thought-Knot Seer. Cappiello's life drops to 1. Kowalski casts Lighting Bolt.
Game 1 ends.
Game 2.
Cappiello is on the play.
Cappiello mulligans to 5, scrys and puts the card on the bottom.
Kowalski mulligans to 6, scrys and puts the card on the top.
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant and casts Expedition Map.
Logic: Expedition Map is one of the best ways to search out other Tron lands.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Cavern of Souls, names Human and casts Noble Hierarch.
Logic: Noble Hierarch can provide both ramp and extra damage with Exalted.
Turn 2: Cappiello plays Forest and passes turn.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays land and swings in with Noble Hierarch. Since Noble Hierarch has Exalted it does 1 point of damage reducing Cappiello's life to 19. At the end of his turn, Cappiello sacrifices Expedition Map and finds Urza's Tower.
Turn 3: Cappiello casts Ancient Stirrings and keeps Chromatic Star. Cappiello plays Urza's Tower and casts Chromatic Star.
Logic: Cappiello has all of his Tron pieces in hand and will be able to play pretty much anything on his next turn.
Turn 3: Kowalski plays a second Noble Hierarch and swings in dropping Cappiello's life down to 17 (Exalted trigger x 2).
Turn 4: Cappiello plays Urza's Mine (Tron assembled). Cappiello casts Karn Liberated and activates his +4 ability (Target player exiles a card from his/her hand). Kowalski chooses Cavern of Souls. Karn's loyalty is at 10.
Logic: From the first game Cappiello knows that Kowalski has a 5/5 creature with trample and haste in his arsenal (Reality Smasher) so he needs to up the loyalty on Karn so he can stay alive. Rather than exiling one of Kowalski's Noble Hierarchs and leaving Karn vulnerable to attack, he opts to use the +4 ability.
Turn 4: Kowalski casts Reality Smasher and swings in at Karn dropping his loyalty down to 3. He plays Grove of the Burnwillows.
Turn 5: Cappiello uses Karn's +4 again to exile a card from Kowalski's hand (Endbringer). Karn's loyalty is now 7. Cappiello plays Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and uses it's casting trigger to exile Grove of the Burnwillows and Reality Smasher.
Board state:
Cappiello has a Chromatic Star, Karn Liberated and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
Kowalski has 2 Noble Hierarchs.
Logic: Kowalski is staying in the game because he hopes to draw an Eldrazi Obligator. This would reverse the game in his favor. With the Obligator, he could take control of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and immediately swing in at Karn-killing two birds with one stone.
Turn 5: Kowalski plays Matter Reshaper and passes the turn.
Turn 6: Cappiello activates Karn's -3 ability and exiles Matter Reshaper. Kowalski responds by playing Dismember on Matter Reshaper.
Logic: If Matter Reshaper goes into exile, it's death trigger doesn't happen. Dismember is fairly useless at this point against Ulamog. Kowalski needs Eldrazi Obligator. He needs to draw cards.
Kowalski reveals Thought-Knot Seer. Since it's CMC is 4 it goes into his hand.
Cappiello attacks with Ulamog. Kowalski exiles the top 20 cards of his library and his life drops to 4.
Cappiello casts Thragtusk and Chromatic Sphere.
Turn 6: Kowalski casts Thought-Knot Seer, exiles Oblivion Stone from Cappiello's hand and concedes.
End game 2.
Game 3.
Cappiello mulligans to 6. Kowalski keeps.
Turn 1: Kowalski plays Eldrazi Temple and passes.
Turn 1: Cappiello plays Urza's Power Plant and casts Chromatic Star.
Turn 2: Kowalski plays a second Eldrazi Temple and casts Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Chromatic Sphere
Ancient Stirrings
2 x Sylvan Scrying
Wurmcoil Engine
Kowalski chooses Ancient Stirrings.
Logic: Again, Ancient Stirrings represents the most immediate threat. The faster Cappiello gets Tron assembled, the faster he reaches his win condition.
Turn 2: Cappiello sacrifices Chromatic Star and draws a card. He plays Sanctum of Ugin and casts Sylvan Scrying. He finds an Urza's Tower and passes turn.
Turn 3: Kowalski plays a land and another Thought-Knot Seer.
Cappiello's hand:
Oblivion Stone
Urza's Tower
Wurmcoil Engine
Sylvan Scrying
Kowalski chooses to exile Sylvan Scrying.
Logic: Prevent Cappiello from digging out the last piece of Tron.
Kowalski swings in with Thought-Knot Seer and drops Cappiello's life total to 16.
Turn 3: Cappiello plays and sacrifices Chromatic Sphere and draws a Sylvan Scrying. He plays it and digs out the last piece of Tron.
Turn 4: Kowalski plays Lightning Bolt taking Cappiello's life down to 13, plays Reality Smasher and swings in for 13.
End Game 3.
Kowalski wins the match.
Overall Game Analysis
The R/G Eldrazi deck took advantage of the first four turns more consistently than the Mono-Green Tron deck. Even though Tron was consistently assembled by turn 5, it really needed to be in play by turn 4 to overcome the power presented by Kowalski's turns 3,4 and 5. As stated in fact #3 above.-when Tron came out on turn 4, it won. When it came out on turn 5, it lost.
Kowalski played Thought-Knot Seer to great effect-using it in game 1 to strip away every threat as it was presented. In game 2 it came out late and Kowalski failed to find any significant creatures to fill the gap.
In game 3, Kowalski's drawing of 2 Eldrazi Temples enabling a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer shifted control of the game early.
While Tron is a powerful and incredibly consistent deck, R/G Eldrazi puts power on the field early and just as consistently. This early game ability takes advantage of Tron's greatest weakness-turns 1,2, and 3.
The MVPs of the game: Thought-Knot Seer and Lightning Bolt, followed closely by Reality Smasher.
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