RCQ Win Recap: Waste Not Updates & RC Prep

Recapping My RCQ Win This Past Weekend, Going Over Updates to Waste Not, and What's Next as I Prepare for the RC in Washington DC!

Discover how I won the RCQ, updated my Waste Not deck, and am preparing for the Regional Championship in DC. Get insights and tips!

I finally did it. I won a RCQ to qualify for The Regional Championship at SCG Con in Washinton DC this October. The entire situation is still kind of surreal to me, and I feel like I still shouldn't have won. Luck was on my side that day, and I'll take the win. I played really well, but still not perfectly. I've been telling people that I didn't make any mistakes that were costly enough to make me lose - but I definitely made mistakes. This will be part of my gameplay improving process as I prepare for the RC in DC in October, as the competition will likely be much less forgiving. I used an updated list of the Waste Not Deck that I previously did an article for, and the deck is feeling incredible. The list is pretty much set in stone for now, and the only changes I would make would be based on card availability. I would like to add one more Sunken Citadel to the main deck, and one more Ashiok to the sideboard. Today, I'll go over my Top 8 matchups particularly, and I will examine some game play, and how I managed to beat a couple of decks I maybe shouldn't have been able to beat.

Total Cards:

Top 8 Gameplay

In the quarterfinals, I played against Gruul Prowess. This was a pretty good matchup for me, given the fact that deck has tons of spot removal, and multiple edict effects that can play around their protection spells. I also had to hope that I didn't draw three Thoughtseize. In game one, I was able to deal with their creatures, and they honestly didn't pop off too much with buffing their creatures to the point where I was too concerned with my life total. I was able to resolve a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse on curve, and it basically felt like I took over the game after that. In game two, I definitely fell behind due to them having a Lovestruck Beast that was basically eating up any creature that I threw in front of it. I did not resolve a Sheoldred this game, and ended up losing. In game three, it was very similar to game one where I dealt with their early creatures, and then resolved a Sheoldred on curve, then the opponent ended up conceding as I took over the game, and they were top decking. Biggest takeaway from this matchup: Keep a Sheoldred on the board for long enough, and you will win a lot of games.

In the semifinals, I played against a cheeky combo deck that I had lost to at a previous RCQ. I knew what to play around, having lost to it before, so I knew when to leave up mana, and what cards to worry about. I won the first game because their deck revolves around using Agatha's Soul Cauldron to give a creature the ability to make infinite mana with Grinning Ignus, then venture into the dungeon enough to drain my life total to zero. Thankfully in game one, the opponent did not find their Cauldron, and I was able to beat them down with a Sheoldred, and a Hostile Investigator and we went to game two. For game two, I boarded in Cling to Dust, and Unlicensed Hearse. I also brought in an Ashiok. Our main focus here was graveyard hate - especially at instant speed. In game two, the opponent was able to find a Cauldron, then really make the game go on for a long time because they were able to continually recast creatures from the grave with Emry. This allowed them to have a chump blocker every time, and gain life when Haywire Mite left the battlefield. Thankfully, I had a Hostile Investigator and a Sheoldred on the board for the majority of this game again, and the Sheoldred staying on the board proved to be too much. This one was a little tougher, however, because they found two Grinning Ignus, so I had to constantly hold up mana for Cling to Dust. This definitely caused me to take off a lot of turns, and we kind of ended up in this game of chicken where we were waiting until I had an extra four mana to escape Cling to Dust from my graveyard before I could cast any other spells. Equally, I ended up having to Thoughtseize a Duress out of my own hand because the opponent started off turn zero with a Leyline of Sanctity. That was another reason that this game went forever. I ended up winning with Sheoldred triggers, as my opponent could no longer maintain enough life gain to outpace my pressure. I did this all off of a mulligan to five. I almost just scooped after being on five cards and seing the Leyline, but I didn't want to give up a free win, so I played it out, and I was glad that I did!

In the finals, I played against a friend who was playing Niv to Light. That deck is supposed to have a good matchup against me, and the removal that it has is virtually perfect. It is one of the few decks in the format that can amass more value than mine, and somehow I was able to win, but it did take all three games this time. I also beat them in round two of the event, so I went into the finals thinking that there was NO way that I beat Niv twice in the same day, but I wasn't going to fold just because of the odds not being in my favor. Game one we were able to keep the opponent top decking, and get a good bit of value from Waste Not. Kaervek, The Punisher also allowed us to re-cast many spells from our grave that kept their hand empty, and board clean. This allowed me to keep a Sheoldred on the board with Kaervek, and they were able to be the beat down that we needed to win game one. In game two, it was a little different. The opponent was able to cast Bring to Light and resolve a Tybalt, then take our Sheoldred. This is something that usually means it's the end, and it effectively was. I wasn't able to gain enough of an advantage on the draw in this game. In game three, it was more similar to game one, but the opponent had some better top decks that caused the game to go longer. I had a Sheoldred on the board for a while, but what ultimately won it for me was chaining two Invoke Despairs off of the draws that the first one got me. The opponent not having a way to attack my hand allowed me to resolve the spell on consecutive turns, and since the opponent did not have a Tybalt on the board as a planeswalker to sacrifice, I was able to win. For this matchup, I brought in both Invoke Despair, a Blot Out, and traded a Thoughtseize for a Duress. I also brough in Ashiok, because one of their Niv creatures allow them to cast spells from the grave, not to mention it also shuts off Bring to Light. While I was incredibly fortunate to draw well and get the wins that I did, I do believe that I played well overall, and that I played to my outs, which is just about all we can do as players.

Cards that Shined

This card is an absolute powerhouse in both pioneer and standard. It provides so much value. Who would have thought that a three for one would be a good magic card???

As I stated Earlier in the article, keeping a Sheoldred on the board for long enough is enough to win games, and in this tournament, it was what I needed to have on the board at the right time to be a huge difference-maker in my matchups.

If you have followed me as a creator for long enough, you know that this is my favorite card. It is an absolute bomb, and the fact that it is even good in an eternal format just shows how relevant it is, and how scared of it people are. The deck only allows me to play it in the sideboard, however, and it is admittedly not good in every matchup.

Obviously, cards like Waste Not, Go Blank, and Liliana of the Veil were good, but these are staples in the Waste Not deck, so they are expected to perform well.

This is the first major tournament I have ever won, and I hope it to be the first of many. Thank you to those who have followed me along this journey, and this recap, and I will catch you next time!

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Check out more content by Numbskull

Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

You didn't think I could only give you one dragon deck, did you? I honestly saw too many fun options to do just Boros, so today I'm bringing you another. This one steers toward the more midrange, good ol' honest Magic side of things. I wanted to center a deck around something that is more consistent with the status quo of dragons: carnage and destruction. We have plenty of removal in this deck, and a creature that doubles as a board wipe when needed. Since we aren't doing a super fancy combo in this deck, I wanted to add element of ramp to get to the higher mana spells that we have in the deck. We will be able to use early creatures to help out with that, and also a new fancy artifact. We will torch the board and force our opponents to be more resilient than we are, while flying over the top of what they might manage to keep on the board. Let's take a look at the deck and then I'll tell you some of my favorite things about it. You can see some of the fun that we will have right off the bat with this deck. We are looking to smash aggro decks, and still punish other decks that don't play to the board. Although this one has fewer dragons on paper, we have a few permanents that can actually turn into them, and this leads to some cheeky interactions. Let's check out some of the new cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm that are in this deck, and then we will go over some fun combos! Key New Cards

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

There is an ongoing argument in both Standard and Pioneer currently. What color combination is the best for aggressive decks? We have seen people try out Jeskai Aggro to try and incorporate the best of both worlds between Azorius Aggro, and Boros Aggro. Some like to stick with Gruul Aggro because of the high rolls that it allows for, and there is also an argument that sometimes all you need is mono red - and the results have proven as much in major events. There has been a bit of a surge of some Mardu Aristocrat/Sacrifice decks, and today's list will follow that to some degree. We went a little bit more aggro-based, but there is a combo element to it, along with a healthy sideboard that should provide for balanced gameplay. We will look to get a bunch of creatures onto the board, and then create a bunch more based on the amount that we have, while punishing the opponent when they die. If that isn't enough, the go-wide strategy should also allow us to swing for ample damage at an ample pace. A new ability called Mobilize that is being brought to us in Tarkir Dragonstorm is going to allow us to pull off some pretty powerful swings in combat. Mobilize allows us to create a bunch of tapped and attacking 1/1 tokens based on either the number behind it, or circumstances that pertain to "X." Something that is particularly fun is that we can benefit from our creatures dying, because the mobilize ability requires us to sacrifice the creatures that we get from mobilizing at the beginning of our end step. This is yet another deck that can allow us to win on the end step which is always fun. Another fundamental reason why I think the deck is good is because we are rewarded for something that would normally be considered a setback. If you find enough ways to turn negatives into positives, it usually can translate into the small margins that win you a match. Enough of me blabbing. Let's take a look at the cool new cards! Key New Cards

Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

We have seen the vast majority of the cards that will be released in Tarkir Dragonstorm, and the excitement is definitely building. Magic players are expecting this to meet the hype that Duskmourn brought us, and hopefully more. We were left a bit underwhelmed with Aetherdrift, but this is proving to be all but a filler set. It's something that is so easy to be excited for. Who doesn't love dragons?! Anyone with an ounce of nerdiness is interested as soon as they hear the word. Although I don't have a dragon deck for you today, I am going to do my obligatory Mono Black Deck for the new set. If you have read my articles in the past, you know that I do one every set - and this one is no different. We finally have enough cards from Tarkir to give me what I needed to make a new-and-improved Demons list for you. We have a new one that will let us pull off some combos on earlier turns, and hopefully have a better body early on to put pressure on aggro decks. I think that should give us a better shot against the meta, since the threat of a 5 damage crackback can definitely give someone extra things to consider in combat phases. He also isn't a bad creature to discard, as he has an ability to activate from the graveyard. This will help us against the bounce/pixie decks. We have ample graveyard hate and removal for the graveyard combo decks, so I like most of our matchups against the current meta. The only thing we will have to see with time is if the meta shifts with this monster of a new set. We really have some fun cards to add here, and we are adding another type of threat to the deck. We have historically not used our graveyard for much, but now we are able to get additional value from it with a new addition. Our sideboard even has a dragon with an adventure that reads like The Meathook Massacre! I've said enough, let's check out these cards. Relevant New Cards

Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

We are officially in the perpetual spoiler season of the MTG year, and Wizards has not been disappointing us. Most people can get behind a set centered largely around dragons, and it definitely helps that the plane itself is one that we have wanted to see them bring back for a long time. Over a decade later, we are going back to Tarkir. I played a good bit of Magic and did a lot of deck building the last time we had some fun dragons on Arena, and I knew that this set was going to call me back to those days. My favorite archetype a couple of years ago was Boros Dragons. I largely played that in the Alchemy format, but I am going to bring you a Boros Dragons Standard Deck today. We are going to take advantage of a combo that is used in Standard currently, but we are going to use a different payoff this time. We are going to cast dragons for FREE and then either they will have the opponent dead just from entering, or we will hopefully have a way to give them all haste! We will take a look at the new cards that are awesome. Then I'll let you know about the combo that will help us get there. We want to keep the board as clear as we can for our dragons and then slam them all on the board at once to clean things up. We also have some smaller creatures that we can use to chump block earlier in the game. When needed, we also have board wipes to deal with other creatures. New Cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm

I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

It's been a few weeks since Aetherdrift came out, and we are starting to see the cards that are standing out in the meta. We didn't expect the set to change things too much with regard to what we have been seeing. What we did get from it is a nice supplement to many other decks. Although we did not get a ton of format-shaping cards, we have seen a couple that have lit up fringe archetypes. What I've brewed for today plays off of a familiar archetype, and it was one that we kind of already had, but it allows us to pivot in a certain way and get additional value from it that we may not have gotten in the past. One of the biggest things that our deck can do is have plenty of action on the end step/cleanup step. It's an interesting scenario because usually when we think of the cleanup step at the end of each turn, we remove damage, and we discard to hand size. Usually discarding to hand size is pretty much the final step, and there aren't any triggers... until now. We will be using Monument to Endurance to have triggers when we discard to hand size, and get additional value from it. Now we don't care if we end the turn with nine or ten cards in hand, because we are going to benefit from it. This will help us possibly get in some finishing damage against our opponent, or get extra value. It is worth noting that this will cause triggered abilities on the cleanup step, and this is something that our opponents can respond to. This has historically been a point in the turn where no player can respond to actions. We'll take a look at the relevant cards in the deck, and then I'll detail a few fun combos that we may see during gameplay. Relevant Cards

We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

The economy on MTG Arena has always been a pain point, and a grand debate over how far a digital version of a card game should go to ensure players feel as if they are getting proper value for their time. Wizards has two different versions of its beloved game on the internet, and they both seem to have their benefits and drawbacks. On February 11, Arena launched the Achievement System to reward players for hitting milestones in-game, and completing specific tasks. While it is always fun to do these kinds of things in each game, something that gamers always do is assess whether the reward for doing so in-game is worth putting forth the extra effort for the task. While there are some things in the achievement tab that I believe to be kind of fun, and certain things that I know people will want, I view the entire thing as largely a waste of time. Today we will look at why the new feature on Arena simply isn't enough for what the game should have, and what it could be. The Good and The Bad There are plenty of things that we love about Arena, with how it is the easiest way to play our favorite decks from Standard, and not spend thousands of dollars in doing so. It is probably the most efficient way to try out decks. We also love the wildcard system. Although it is not the easiest to obtain them, it is great that a rare/mythic wildcard could buy a rare/mythic card that is of any value and it still just costs one wildcard. This was especially helpful in getting a play set of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I still don't have a play set in paper simply because I don't want to spend that much money on it, but on Arena it was easy. I had the wildcards to do what I needed. The only part where this may be lacking is the economy itself. What if we could earn wildcards for hitting certain achievements (I.E. the achievement tab giving us wildcards instead of sleeves, etc.)? I believe that the rewards from this new feature being solely cosmetic underscores the ongoing issue of the economy on Arena simply not being enough for us.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!