Spanish Nationals: the largest in-person Premodern tournament yet
Spanish Nationals: the largest in-person Premodern tournament yet
PLUS: Checking in on Show and Tell, interviews with Pablo Suárez Fernandez and William Hirst
Opening Remarks
Welcome to the first issue of BANDING, the newsletter all about the Premodern format of Magic: The Gathering. The content of this newsletter will change and adjust based on what’s happening in the format but my goal is to include some combination of interviews from the community, event announcements, deck techs on brews, highlighting content, format discussions, and more. Expect releases to happen once or twice a month.
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As always, you can find me on Twitter and YouTube.
Spanish Nationals, the largest in-person Premodern event yet
The Spanish Nationals featured an astounding 138 players and took place over two days on November 12 and 13. Let’s take a quick peek at the top 8:
Elves — Pablo Suárez Fernandez
GW Prison Oath — Lucas Marín
Parfait — Pablo Marcos
UR StifleNought — Juan Carlos Membrilla
RG Goblins — Yuse García
Devourer Combo — Javier Moreno
RG Goblins — Fran Cabanillas
Mono U StifleNought — David Cortés García
Quick thoughts:
No surprise to see Elves at the top but the pilot is probably a familiar name after winning the event last year and placing second in the European Championships. I had a quick interview with him further down.
Nice to see GW Prison Oath there! I considered it a “tier 1.5” deck for quite some time but the lack of results caused me to reconsider. I still think it’s quite strong but perhaps all the Mox Diamond attention is being allocated to Parfait these days.
Goblins put up a solid showing, though neither was able to convert to Top 4. The deck is frighteningly powerful but loses a lot of luster in an open deck list environment when your opponent can be more prepared for a first turn Goblin Lackey. The seventh-place list also ran three Naturalize in the main!
The two trendiest flavors of StifleNought also had good showings with UR placing fourth and Mono U grabbing eighth. The two Alexi’s Cloak in the sideboard of Mono U is an interesting one… kind of like extra counters that prevent later interaction too.
Parfait is a good deck and Pablo Marcos has been one of the leading innovators and pilots for the deck lately. I think I need to do a deep-dive into it in a future issue.
For the rest of the top 32 lists, be sure to check out tcdecks.net which includes two Survival Opposition, a Three Deuce, and an Aluren list!
Explaining Elves with Pablo
Pablo Suárez Fernandez and his trusty Elves deck won the Spanish Nationals, the largest in-person Premodern tournament to date with 138 players. I sent him over a few questions and he was kind enough to oblige me with his elven wisdom!
BANDING: How did you get into Premodern?
Pablo Suárez Fernandez: I started playing Premodern with the community of my city (Valencia), when Sete Bandrés, one of the organizers of the “Technoliga Valenciana de Premodern” lent me a Sligh deck to play in one of the tournaments. I enjoyed the format a lot and as I was a Legacy Elves player, I started building a Premodern Elves deck, very different to the current Survival lists.
You just won the 138-player Spanish Nationals event with Elves after winning it the year prior. You also got runner-up at the 124-player European Championship. What’s your process for preparing for these large events?
In our community we have a team of people who love the format and we play three or four times a week to practice, taking beers, and playing different decks. We also have a weekly event every Saturday when we play our league and we usually are between 10 and 15 people.
Elves is often considered one of the best decks in Premodern. Tell us, how do we beat the deck? What decks and sideboard cards do you fear?
The deck isn't easy to beat, as it has a lot of windows and versatility. You could face Elves in two ways: 1) you can be faster or 2) you have a recurring and/or efficient board wipes (Engineered Plague, Pyroclasm, Oath of Druids with Shard Phoenix, Humility).
Many Elves lists playing Survival of the Fittest had dropped Biorhythm but you’ve continued to play it with a lot of success. What do you find appealing about the card?
The short answer is that Biorhythm is very good against combo and control decks and its an easy way to race them. The long answer is that it’s my pet card, everytime I cast it, even if I will lose after doing it, I sing a song (and all the crew starts to sing too) called “Ritmo de la Noche - Chocolate” as the card in Spanish is called BiorRitmo.
Other notable differences between some other Elves lists are that you play Tribal Forcemage instead of Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and you also play Caller of the Claw in the main. What is your thought process here?
Tribal Forcemage is a cheaper version of Kamahl, but it is an Elf, so you could bounce it with Wirewood Symbiote to use it multiple times. In my opinion it is better if you want to win fast.
Caller of the Claw is one of the silver bullets I always play, as it could give you a lot of games main deck against a sweeper.
The Spanish Premodern scene is one of the strongest around the world. How was the community there built up? What do you think are some of the factors of its success?
Yes, the Spanish scene is amazing. People live the Premodern events like a party where you could enjoy the Gathering part of the game. In our community every Saturday we join for having lunch and after that we play Magic with a beer in one hand and the cards in the other. I started playing Premodern late, after the pandemic, so I am not sure when the communities were built here, but in last Nationals I enjoyed playing against a lot of people from different communities, with a lot of variety.
Let’s Show and Tell some decks
It’s now been nearly two months since Show and Tell has been unbanned in Premodern so let’s check in on where some of the ideas of where the card could fit into:
Dream Halls — Iñaki Puigdollers had the honor of contributing to the official Premodern blog with his take on Show and Tell in Dream Halls. Premodern MTGO also showcased a match with it against The Rock.
Reanimator — Tom Metelsky went 7-1 in the Fall Brawl with his UB Reanimator list with a full set of Show and Tell in the main. He faced off against Mono U StifleNought in the quarterfinals.
Devourer — LannynynyMTG has had some success with Show and Tell in Devourer Combo alongside a Multani sideboard. The deck may have also been spotted by yours truly at a recent NYC meetup going off on the second turn…
Recycle, Form of the Dragon, Sneak Attack — Missing in action? If anyone has seen these decks utilizing Show and Tell lately with some success please share!
Overall seems like it was a solid unban, juicing up some combo decks while not devastating the format in any particular way. But two months is also not a ton of time, let’s keep an eye out and see what else the community can refine or invent. I’ve seen the maildays, I know you all have Show and Tells you’re playing with!
Talking About Tog with William
William Hirst took down the September webcam monthly with Psychatog, a nostalgic favorite that I’ve taken a spin through a monthly before as well (though with far less impressive results). He also appears to be the top seed for the November monthly! Enjoy this lightly edited Q&A I had with him:
BANDING: How did you get into Premodern?
William Hirst: I was introduced locally to Premodern by Brian Kowal, who I believe was playing a match with Michael Heup at Misty Mountain Games. All I needed was to see Jackal Pups swinging and I was sucked in.
Although often rated as underpowered in Premodern, you’ve now had two successful webcam monthlies with Psychatog, placing fourth in July and winning in September, what draws you to this deck?
Psychatog has been an incredibly dangerous threat since its release and has been a hit across formats. The versatility it offers in matches far and wide speaks for itself. It can let you be aggressive and controlling at the flip of a switch. The deck also is situated in two powerful colors that have answers to almost any threat you could imagine. This combination led me to believe that putting in the work to optimize a list was worth it.
And do you feel like your list is close to optimized or are you still testing out various slots?
In my opinion this is the closest to optimized I have seen for the archetype. You can certainly make changes to numbers based on meta choice but the framework is extremely solid. I have moved beyond Dr. Teeth to new pastures but I think I’ll be back at some point!
What decks are you most excited to play against while on Psychatog? What decks and sideboard cards do you fear?
Any midrange deck and most combo decks felt amazing. You have the appropriate disruption and response to most threats they present. Red aggro is also not horrible due to the ability to play Blue Elemental Blast/Hydroblast and Engineered Plague… and Elves can be thought of the same. I really, really fear Ux Dreadnaught. Their ability to get under your spells and protect at the same time is terrifying. As far as sideboard cards, Tormod's Crypt is the epitome of feeling bad and requires changing up the game plan to maneuver around it.
Your signature innovation in both of your Psychatog lists are the four main deck Engineered Plagues, what’s the deal with those? How did they perform for you?
If you look at the field of most Premodern decks, you will struggle to find a deck that is not impacted by a Plague in Game 1.
Elves: All the things
Sligh: Grim Lavamancer and Ball lightning
UW: Soldier tokens and manlands (Faerie and Worker)
Enchantress: Enchantress
Goblin: All the things
Angry Hermit: Hermit Druid
Devourer: Phyrexian Devourer
I'm sure I could continue on, but the point is it is rarely a blank, especially in a deck that can pitch it to Psychatog or use it as buyback for a Forbid. It also frees up four spots in the sideboard to optimize towards other matches. It worked as you would expect and it is my firm belief that Psychatog, in the UB form, will not perform as well without it main. Shout out to Brian Kowal for the constant reinforcement that this was a good decision, he was correct.
You’ve streamed and created Premodern content, including the Triple Decker Challenge, Premodern Fridays at Misty Mountain Games, and more. What are your plans going forward with these initiatives? Anything else you want to share about your content creation?
I plan on continuing to grow these things behind the scenes. Most of the streaming from Misty Mountain Games will be done on their channel on Twitch. I think my next move is parallel to the newsletter. I am working on building a proper site that will contain a plethora of deck techs, links to decks, tutorials etc. I am aiming to make a true Premodern hub for the community. As this continues on, I may retreat slightly from competitive play but I'll still be around.
Other Results
[Canada] 22 players competed in the first-ever ChaosCon in Ottawa with Reanimator taking it down. Check out the deck photos here, including a spicy deck with four Avatar of Will.
[United States] Dark Parfait took down an event at ELD’s Time Vault Games outside of Boston, with the rest of the top four comprising UB StifleNought, Frantic Storm, and The Rock.
[Argentina] 31 players took part in a tournament with Mono U StifleNought winning, followed by Dead Guy Ale, Replenish PandeBurst, and RW Rift.
[Germany] The first Wanderlust Cup held at BB-Spiele in Rosenheim with 21 players with Goblins defeating Parfait. TideStill and Pit-Rack also made top four.
[Sweden] The Northern Sweden Championship took place over the weekend with Anton Glans winning with Mono U StifleNought.
Content for Consumption
I wrote an Introduction to Premodern guide… be sure to share it with those looking to learn more about the format!
Legendary writer Mike Flores recounts his quest to redeem RW Rift-Slide with a recent outing to the NYC Premodern meetup. Always entertaining and informative, be sure to have a read. And not just because he calls my deck “[…] hideous and gorgeous. Like a car crash. But, like, if a shiny red Lambo literally Sideswiped a MacLaren.”
The fourth season of the Premodern Showdown Series had its finals on November 17th between Rich Shay and Tom Metelsky. I won’t spoil the result but it’s hard to resist checking out these two titans of Premodern battling it out.
Fpawluszmtg released an Angry Hermit video of his play through an MTGO league. The deck continues to impress and more people are wondering why it hasn’t seen more play after Flint Espil took down the North American Premodern Championships with it. Looks like Premodern MTGO may also have some videos posted of it soon too.
Reminder that the Super Gauntlet is still in full swing. Here’s the American bracket and the European bracket. Games are being streamed on Twitch and the VODs can be found on YouTube.
Chapter 41 of the officially licensed Magic manga, “Destroy All Humankind. They Can’t Be Regenerated.” has been translated and features Enchantress vs. Mono Blue Control.
Upcoming Happenings
[Online] It’s the end of the month which means signups for the December webcam monthly are coming up. Keep an eye out for a post from Andrew Walker in the Premodern Online Play Facebook group.
[Italy] The Italian Championships take place on Saturday, November 26th in Bologna. This is a big one with registrations now closed with a 128-player cap. I believe the event will be streamed (or at least captured for VOD) so be on the look out!
[United States] The Bearded Dragon is holding a Premodern $1K on Sunday, November 27th in Bernardsville, New Jersey. For pre-registration and additional details, head here.
[United States] Eternal Weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is firing three-round Premodern challenges with three on Friday, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. View the schedule here.
[United States] Misty Mountain Games alongside Cloudgoat Ranger in Madison, Wisconsin is hosting the Midwest Premodern Championship on December 10th. The tournament will also be raising funds for Briarpatch Youth Services. Details can be found here.
[United States] Just announced: Seattle will host a tournament next year on Saturday, February 11th, 2023. Follow along here for more details.
Have some Premodern streams or events in your local area coming up? Give me a heads up and I’ll try to include it in here next time.
Before you go…
Phil Blechman’s Premodern rap still doesn’t get enough love! Have a listen and enjoy a few of your favorite cards mentioned over some nice beats.