Report Top 8 Ragnarok 3.0 - Spy by Michele Barzanti

Introduction

I'm Michele Barzanti, wolf777 on mtgo, from Lega Pauper Ferrara and this weekend I top8'ed at IPT Ragnarok 3.0 (and won Team Trio Ragnarok 3.0), organized by Lega Pauper Parma.

Everything started on Friday when i decided to take a shot with the deck on MTGO and got a Trophy. My first thought was: "this deck feels pretty solid". Then my mate Paolo Baroni (aka paul16) convinced me that the deck perfectly fitted my playstile and that i had to bring it to the IPT on the following day.

I brought with me two listed decks: Spy and Tide. While Talking with Michele Baroni, i told him that i would have picked a deck based on his choice: in he case he picked Jund, i would have played Tide; otherwise, if he picked Fams, i would have gone with Spy. I guess it didn't go well for him as much as me, considering that in his first turn he was paired with Elves…

Decklist

The main choices that we made (obviously the day before) are:

• 5 lands over 4 with 2 Swamps and 3 Forest to give more consistency against Cleansing Wildfire matchups (paired with Acorn Harvest maindeck)
• 2 Axebane Guardian to have more consistency in the midrange plan against creatures-based decks
• 2 Mesmeric Fiend maindeck to have an answer against instant graveyard hate and counters

Tournament

Round 1: Mono U Faeries

Game 1 and 2

are pretty similar:

He starts with a fast beatdown that i can stop with a mixture of Generous End and Sagu Wilding hard-casts and Dread Return

• Match: 2-0
• Score: 1-0

Round 2: Jund Wildfire - Lorenzo Aldegheri

Again, G1 and G2 are similar:

I can cast a series of creatures that will allow me to win before turn 5 on G1 and before turn 6 on G2 with a Maesmeric Fiend cover up.

• Match: 2-0
• Score: 2-0

Round 3: Elves

This matchup is a race on who's faster to close the game or, in his case, to gain enough lifes to make it impossible for me to deal lethal damage.

I won the dice G1 and get a strong opening hand that will allow me to close on turn 4, just before his lethal.

Game 2

he gets in much before, killing me on turn 5 with Timberwatch + Quirion Ranger

Game 3

he starts really fast, playing double Wellwisher and Quirion Ranger that will make him gain 33 life on my turn 4, where i am obliged to try the combo, which luckily will deal exactly 33 damage.

• Match: 2-1
• Score: 3-0

Round 4: Cawgates - Giovanni Rosso

I already knew it was a bad matchup, and it went as planned:

Game 1

i'll concede upon Prismatic Strands in graveyard.

We talk about the fact that i had to dodge him to win this round and we go straight to G2, where, after some tricky combat, i manage to bring it home.

Game 3

there's nothing to do, his deck does what it's made for and i have zero possibilities.

I'm sure that i made a suboptimal siding in this matchup, i'm gonna write the one that i think is correct, adding my oversiding in brackets

• Match: 1-2
• Score: 3-1

Round 5: White Weennie

After some bad decision made from my opponent, that we talked about after the games. I manadge to win both matches with the combo.

• Match: 2-0
• Score: 4-1

Round 6: Mono R Pingers

This is the match for which i prepared the side and it paid off:

Game 1

he kills me pretty fast.

Game 2

i mull to 5 and manage to bring in enough blockers to stall the game and gain life, until i'll kill him with 2 Sagu Wilding.

Game 3

i manage to stop his race pretty fast and, after resolving 2 Relic of Progenitus, I win by going off with the Spy.

• Match: 2-1
• Score: 5-1

Round 7: 4 Land Spy

After a full day of talking, we got paired for the win-and-in and we both knew that it is a mirror.

Game 1

i manage to win by double casting Balaustrade Spy on him in a single turn, decking him.

Game 2

he goes off much before me.

Game 3

thanks to a lucky topdeck, i Balaustrade Spy myself, knowing he hasn't Faerie macabre in hand.

• Match: 2-1
• Score: 6-1

Top 8

Quarterfinals: Cawgates - Giovanni Rosso

It's a rematch and i'm tired, he will win pretty easy.

Same siding as before.

Final Thoughts

I wanna thanks again my friend Paolo for having me bring it and his brother for "forcing" me to use it effectively. It overperformed the whole weekend, permitting us to win the Trio the following day. After these games, and further testing on the list, i'm still convinced that 5 lands is better than 4, if you expect a meta with a lot of midranges.

Last but not least, i wanna thank everyone for "The Gathering", as it has been a fantastic weekend with a lot of nice and beautiful people. See you at the next tournaments!