Simic Flash Top 4 SCG Classic Tournament Report

Well, the first paper constructed event of the season was this past weekend at the StarCityGames Standard Classic in Philadelphia and with the doubters still out there of Simic Flash, I thought it best to put it to rest and show that the deck could be piloted to a top 8. The field was 128 exactly so the tournament was 7 rounds. Here’s the list I played:

 2 Opt (XLN) 65 
 2 Unsummon (M20) 78 
 4 Spectral Sailor (M20) 76
 4 Brineborn Cutthroat (M20) 50
 3 Wildborn Preserver (ELD) 182 
 4 Brazen Borrower (ELD) 39
 4 Quench (RNA) 48
 4 Once Upon a Time (ELD) 169
 4 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
 4 Nightpack Ambusher (M20) 185
 3 Frilled Mystic (RNA) 174  
 1 Castle Vantress (ELD) 242
 7 Island (ELD) 257
 6 Forest (ELD) 269 
 4 Temple of Mystery (M20) 255
 4 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246 
 
 3 Veil of Summer (M20) 198
 2 Negate (M20) 69
 2 Disdainful Stroke (GRN) 37
 3 Aether Gust (M20) 42
 2 Mystical Dispute (ELD) 58
 3 Shifting Ceratops (M20) 194

I’ll be doing a more in-depth deck guide on Simic flash, but as of now the only change I’d make to the list is -1 ceratops +1 negate in the board.

Now to the report!

Round 1 vs. Esper Stax

I won the die roll and took the play.

Game 1: I played spectral sailor t1. He resolved egg and drew a card. I held up 3 mana turn 3 and he went for teferi which I quenched. Turn 4 he had another teferi so I flashed in 2 threats and overwhelmed it. I beat him down with those threats, then resolved a nightpack ambusher. I held up frilled mystic the rest of the game and just beat him down with ambusher + friends. Quick Game 1.

Game 2: He went for a quick teferi but I had quench on turn 2 to counter his turn 3 play again. Held up counter-magic, waited til his end phase, then played protect the ambusher and won the game.

Round 1: 2-0

Overall Record: 1-0

Round 2 vs. Mono Black Aggro

Won the die roll again. I’m kinda good at that as you’ll see.

Game 1: Turn 2 he attacked with knight of the eblon legion and I managed to wildborn preserver attack and get the freebie in. Highly recommend not attacking with knight unless you have 3 mana up against flash. He managed to get a spawn down but I bounced with brazen borrower and then countered. Nightpack for the finish.

Game 2: He got off to a quick start and curved out with regisaur and spawn of mayhem. Not much I could do, he just had all the 1 drops and all the 3 drops which is tough.

Game 3: The play again! I got a big cutthroat which he managed to get rid of with rider but I managed to land 5 mana and play a nightpack. He murderous rider, I veil of summer. GG. Boy is that card good. In like every single matchup.

Round 2: 2-1

Overall Record: 2-0

Round 3 vs. Gruul Aggro

Won the die roll

Game 1: I got a brineborn cutthroat down turn 2 and he played the 2 mana rioter. I had to stall for a couple turns but I had a bunch of counterspells in hand so I didn’t let him get his Domri (key card in the matchup as my opponent pointed out) down and managed to counter his questing beast, that + opt grew my blue tarmogoyf and I managed to get there.

Game 2: Boy, this one was a grindfest. He resolved the rioter I played preserver. He followed up with Domri the next turn. He kept playing hard to deal with threats via the Domri since they were uncounterable and I would block and kill them through Brineborn cutthroat. End board state he got a Skarrgan Hellkite down and I had an ambusher, he -2ed Domri and got them to fight and that was too much for me. Big scoop.

Game 3: Opponent mulligans. Turn 2 cutthroat, turn 3 quench Domri. Game stalled out after that. I had nightpack in hand so I managed to resolve it. He had lava coil, I had frilled mystic. Drew the second nightpack ambusher and my board got too big and I swarmed and lethaled.

Round 3: 2-1

Overall Record: 3-0

Round 4 vs. GB Adventure

Won the dieroll, let’s go baby!

Game 1: He got off to a fast start with the inkeeper (best card in any deck it’s played in) then I played cutthroat. I managed to bounce it with borrower then cutthroat (not before he drew 2 cards of course). From there, I used my life total as a resource and went down pretty low (to 8 I believe) and then got my ambusher down. Ambusher overwhelmed him and I managed to steal game 1.

Game 2: Double innkeeper draw a million cards. Seems good. GG.

Game 3: This game my opponent drew a bunch of removal on a mull to 6. I managed to get my ambusher down. He killed it with noxious grasp after 1 wolf token with the board still clogged. I played a second and backed it up with veiling his rider. The third ambusher proved too much and I managed to take the game on the clogged board with double ambusher eventually overwhelming him.

Round 4: 2-1

Overall Record: 4-0

Round 5 vs. GW Adventure

I won the die roll. Yay!!

Game 1: Double innkeeper into faerie godmother draw 2. Then draw 4 more. Then draw 6. Yeah. This wasn’t close.

Game 2: Same as game one. Oh well. Guess you can’t win ’em all.

Round 5: 0-2

Overall Record: 4-1

Round 6 vs. GW Adventure

Won the die roll. Holy moley how do i do it?!!?

Game 1: Opponent took a mulligan. Hand didn’t amount to much, they just kind of sputtered and died. I tempoed them out with brineborn and preserver and beat down and ended with ambusher. Smashed his face in a lil’ bit.

Game 2: Double innkeeper. Then he attacked with one and I got preserver down and blocked it and it died. Then, he played a third. I wish there was something more to say about these games. Remember, if your opponent plays double innkeeper, scoop.

Game 3: My opponent got an innkeeper down this game and I had to grind him out, no choice, no answers in hand. I tempo played with aether gust on a lovestruck beast to slow him down and he put on top. That gave me the window to get down ambushers x2 and block out his threats and they eventually overwhelmed the board. Ambusher + backup is pretty much the only way to win this matchup.

Round 6: 2-1

Overall Record: 5-1

Round 7: Mono-Red

And I…. lost the die roll. On my win and in. Against mono-red. Feelsbadman.

Game 1: Smash. Smash some more. Rimrock knight my face. No answers, go to 1. I resolve some threats and grow them a bit, trade a bit. I get my ambusher down and get countermagic up. Ambusher proves good enough and I manage to take it on the draw.

Game 2: Opponent smash. Then rimrock. Then slaying fire. Then I’m at 0. Not much of a game.

Game 3: This one was tight. He got off to an explosive start with Scorch Spitterx2 I managed to get a preserver down and blocked. He shocked my preserver. Next turn I played another threat and he burned it out. That happened twice more, I was down to 8. Then, I managed to stick my ambusher and protect it for a couple turns with counter-magic. I went down to 1 again, but this time drew a frilled mystic after trading his board away and was able to counter his last threat then swing for lethal.

Round 7: 2-1

Overall Record: 6-1

BO8 vs. Fire of Inventions

Unfortunately, my opponent got a decklist error here and so lost game 1.

Game 2: I got a preserver down and whacked him a couple times. He played fires of invention turn 4 and drawn into dreams, I let them both resolve. Next turn, he cast another drawn from dreams which I let go through and a fae of wishes for chandra, swung at him for 5 and he was down to 12. He then cast Chandra and cleared my board, but I was on 5 mana so I deployed 2 threats then swung out at the Chandra and killed it. Next turn, he decided to scry on his upkeep so I brazen borrowered his Fire of Invention so he was tapped out and could only play one spell, then cracked in for 5. Next turn, he replayed Fire and then followed it up with some spell I can’t remember, I deployed another threat then swung in for lethal.

BO8: 2-0

BO4 vs. GW Adventure

Game 1: Double innkeeper, deployed all her threats, nothing I could do. I managed to draw 4 brazen borrowers but she had a giant killer so she tapped one of them down when I was swinging for lethal, though it was close. She beat down rather quickly and I didn’t get there.

Game 2: This game was downright insane. She got 3 giant killers down and was tapping down all my threats but I had ambusher so my board was building. In these board stall situations, she never managed to draw into another adventure card, so I overrun her with wolf tokens and stole it.

Game 3: I got down double ambusher and overwhelmed her after letting her hit me a couple times with some 1/1’s. I just kind of got there this game and there wasn’t much she could do about it. GG.

Overall Synopsis

So, this is where the story ends folks. I decided to end up scooping up my BO4 match since Aaron’s in a tight SCG points race right now and I think she’s a pretty great player and wanted to give her her best shot at making the Player’s Championship.

The deck was incredibly strong all weekend, I topdecked pretty well and the Castle Vantress proved worthwhile in matchups when I managed to squeak it out. I like the deck, and unsummon proved a powerful option too.

Overall, I like the changes I’ve made to the deck, and highly recommend picking this up if you’re thinking about it. Make sure to check out my article coming later this week that’s an in-depth guide to simic flash.