Modern FNM May 27 – Round 3 Feature Match –Dan Pietrangelo (Abzan Collected Company) vs. Nicola Mucciante (G/W Hate Bears)
Prior to the game, both players (who know each other quite well) discussed how long they’ve been playing their respective decks. While Dan is a relatively new Abzan CoCo player, having adopted the deck after his Splinter Twin strategy was banned, Nicola has been playing Hate Bears for a prolonged period of time.
“How long have I been playing this deck? Too long,” Nicola remarked, shaking his head. Despite having a few other decks in the works, he’d decided to lean on an old favourite for this FNM.
Dan promptly lost one of Nicola’s dice while attempting to roll to see who would win the decision to play or draw. After recovering the die from under my foot, Dan won and proceeded to choose the play.
Game 1
Dan kept a hand of Verdant Catacombs, Noble Hierarch, Windswept Heath, Gavony Township, Scavenging Ooze, Godless Shrine, and Kitchen Finks.
Nicola had Horizon Canopy, Tectonic Edge, Scavenging Ooze, Voice of Resurgence, Loxodon Smiter, Noble Hierarch, and Leonin Arbiter.
Dan started Game 1 on Noble Hierarch. Nicola mirrored Dan’s play, casting a Hierarch of his own while taking a pain off his Horizon Canopy. Dan’s second turn saw him cast a Kitchen Finks off his Hierarch and two lands, presenting the first threat of the game a turn early thanks to some mana acceleration.
Nicola again mimicked Dan’s play, using his own mana acceleration to play a big threat – except Nicola’s was a Loxodon Smiter, which was now the biggest creature on the battlefield. On Dan’s next turn he attacked with Finks, offering the trade thanks to his Hierarch’s exalted trigger, but Nicola wisely declined the offer and merely took the damage. Dan followed up with a Scavenging Ooze and shipped the turn.
Nicola began with another Hierarch before attacking with Smiter for a whopping 6 damage. Nicola followed up with Leonin Arbiter before missing his land drop – if Dan wanted to keep Nicola off mana, those two Noble Hierarchs would prove to be juicy targets in the next few turns.
On Dan’s turn, he attacked Nicola down to 9, passing with 5 mana up. Dan had a Gavony Township in play and was threatening his deck’s namesake card, Collected Company, by passing with his mana open. Nicola couldn’t find another land, but was able to play a Voice of Resurgence while using a Tectonic Edge to keep Dan off white mana outside of his Noble Hierarch. Nicola passed the turn after, holding his Smiter back.
Dan took his turn and attacked with his exalted Finks once more, finally prompting a block from Nicola who traded up his Voice of Resurgence for the Elemental token it produces. Dan passed and Nicola played a Scavenging Ooze of his own pre-combat to grow the Elemental further before crashing in with the token, which prompted Dan to block with his own Scavenging Ooze and attempt to eat his own Hierarch in grave – Nicola refused to take the bait, leaving up his only green source to prevent Dan from being able to go off with a Finks combo the next turn.
On Dan’s turn, he played a Fiend Hunter, eating the Elemental token for free before attacking with Finks into a board of Arbiter, Ooze, and Loxodon. Nicola traded the Loxodon for the Finks and ate it from the grave with its persist trigger on the stack – a sharp intake of breath from Dan revealed he might have forgotten about that line of play when he attacked. Dan passed, and Nicola played a Qasali Pridemage and attacked with a 6/6 Scavenging Ooze after a whopping 3 exalted triggers from the two Hierarchs and newly found Pridemage. Dan chumped with the Fiend Hunter, and Nicola passed.
Dan passed the turn back very quickly, and Nicola took his turn at an equally blistering pace, asking if he could move to combat. Dan paused Nicola and fired off a Collected Company pre-attacks, and found just a Melira, Sylvok Outcast and Wall of Roots. Nicola attacked with the giant Ooze, Dan blocked with Wall and floated a G mana, and before Nicola could exit combat Dan used the green mana to crack his own Horizon Canopy, looking for action.
Dan found it, too! He played his own Pridemage before a Murderous Redcap killed one of Nicola’s crucial Hierarchs, which had been helping him play out the game despite being stuck on one land for a number of turns. Nicola took his turn, attacked with ooze, and Dan blocked with Pridemage. Nicola played an Aether Vial post-combat, now safe from the Pridemage, and passed. Dan passed his next turn, Nicola attacked for 6 and dropped Dan to 6, and then followed up with a second Arbiter.
Dan passed again, and Nicola attempted to eat one of the creatures in Dan’s graveyard. This was enough to make Dan act, as he cast a Chord of Calling for 1 that tapped him completely out, including his creatures, because he had to pay 2 for the Arbiters. Dan found a Viscera Seer, attempted to combo using his Melira, Redcap, and Seer, and Nicola calmly ate the Redcap with its persist trigger on the stack to end the first game.
For the second game, here’s how players sideboarded:
Dan –
OUT: 2 Chord of Calling, 1 Aven Mindcensor, 1 Spellskite, 1 Birds of Paradise, 1 Qasali Pridemage
IN: 3 Path to Exile, 2 Abrupt Decay, 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Nicola –
OUT: 3 Qasali Pridemage, 3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
IN: 2 Dismember, 1 Flickerwisp, 2 Sunlance, 1 Gaddock Teeg
Game 2
Nicola began the second game as one usually does - discussing how bad his Merfolk match-up was while waiting for Dan to finish sufficiently randomizing his deck. "You should make sure to write about how Dan shuffled his deck for a literal three hours," suggested Nicola, and I obliged.
Dan kept a hand of 1 Noble Hierarch, 1 Collected Company, 1 Spellskite, 1 Murderous Redcap, 1 Temple Garden, 1 Horizon Canopy, and 1 Eternal Witness.
Nicola chose to mulligan down to 6, keeping a hand of Aether Vial, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Dismember, Scavenging Ooze, Razorverge Thicket, and Horizon Canopy. He scryed a Leonin Arbiter to the bottom.
Dan took 1 off a Horizon Canopy to lead off the game with a Noble Hierarch. Nicola took his turn to Dismember the Hierarch, taking 4 to do so. Dan played his second land - another Horizon Canopy he had just drawn - and took 2 to cast a Spellskite before passing his turn back.
Nicola played a Horizon Canopy of his own and followed up with a Scavenging Ooze. Dan shocked himself with a Temple Garden and played Eternal Witness, grabbing his Hierarch back. Dan was already down to 13 because of his manabase this game. Nicola played a Thalia and a Ghost Quarter and passed, while Dan followed up with just the Hierarch he had gotten back and passed as well.
"I really wish I'd kept my scry," lamented Nicola, who wished he had the Arbiter to prevent Dan from searching up a land from Nicola's Ghost Quarter. Nicola played a Voice of Resurgence and passed, and Dan responded by casting a Kitchen Finks and shipping the turn back as well.
Nicola drew. "Do I do it for the article?" He'd just drawn an Aven Mindcensor, and was strongly considering casting it during his own turn and using the Ghost Quarter. Instead, Nicola played another Voice of Resurgence and passed again. Dan drew and cast another Finks, and life totals were beginning to stabilize.
Nicola drew another Dismember, moving to combat and swinging with both Voices. One was blocked by Spellskite and the other got in for 2 damage. Dan was unwilling to trade a Finks in while Nicola still had a Scavenging Ooze with green mana up.
Dan drew and passed with 4 mana open thanks to the Hierarch. Nicola ran back the same Voice attack and Dan made the same blocks, taking another 2. Dan finally found a 4th land, Verdant Catacombs, and fetched immediately - Nicola considered flashing in the Mindcensor, but resisted the temptation. Dan cast a Collected Company on his turn, paying 5 thanks to Nicola's Thalia, and found just 1 Scavenging Ooze, bottoming 2 Path to Exiles in the process! What a disaster.
Nicola finally decided to flash in the Mindcensor on Dan's end step, and then took his turn, playing a Hierarch and attacking Dan with an exalted Mindcensor to drop him down to 5 and present a 2 turn clock. Dan drew a Viscera Seer and cast it, passing back.
Nicola attacked again for 3 in the air, and Dan dropped to a fragile 2 life. Dan cracked one of his Horizon Canopys to take a draw, and then took his turn. Dan played a Windswept Heath, then presented an Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, having assembled the infinite life combo on board. Dan passed. He'd need Nicola to make a mistake and tap out so that his Scavenging Ooze couldn't break up the combo any longer.
Unfortunately for Dan, no such mistake was forthcoming. Nicola simply turned the Mindcensor sideways, Dan attempted to start the combo by sacrificing Finks, and Nicola calmly used his Ooze to exile it from the graveyard with its persist trigger on the stack. That was enough for Dan, who had seen enough and packed it in on the game and the match.
