MTG: Modern, UWR Midrange, 1st Decked Out Qualifier

I have some bad news and good news for you guys, I broke up with Twin :'(. I'll let that sink in for a bit. She's moved most of her stuff out of my apartment (account), but she left her 3 puppies (Kiki Jiki's) behind and they're starting to burn a hole in my pocket(thankfully got rid of them!). Things had taken a turn for the worse, every date(mtgo daily) we had started off really well (2-0), but things always seems to take a turn for the worse (0-2) for some insane reason. After four "dates" in a row, the emotional roller coaster, sense of wasted time and money, made me realize we hadn't had any fun since Grand Prix Toronto. May'be some day we'll get back together, but right now we're in different place.

After a few days I found a sweet profile (decklist) floating around, shortly after I met UWR Midrange online. Our small talk went well, and we made plans too meet up at the Decked Out Modern 2k Qualifier. Here's a few changes she made to her outfit(decklist) before we met.

-2 Aven Mindcensor, +2 Wall of Omen

Curve consideration, had too many 3 drops. Was told Mindcensor was only good vs Kiki Pod, and I expected either a lot of Jund or Burn (local shop metagame).

-1 Electrolyze, +1 Izzet Charm

Curve consideration again, most games I just really wanted a versatile 2 drop.

-2 Tempest of Light, +2 Spellskite

GW Aura (Boggle) has become virtually extinct. I went with Spellskite as a comparable hate card, but more versatile across the board, I brought it in vs Jund, Twin, and Tribal Zoo (r1).

UWR Midrange - Modern

Creatures: 14

1 Thundermaw Hellkite

4 Snapcaster Mage

4 Geist of Saint Traft

3 Vendilion Clique

2 Wall of Omens

Spells: 21

3 Izzet Charm

4 Lightning Helix

3 Remand

3 Path to Exile

2 Mana Leak

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Electrolyze

Lands: 25

2 Hallowed Fountain

2 Steam Vents

1 Sacred Foundry

1 Sulfur Falls

1 Glacial Fortress

4 Celestial Colonnade

2 Tectonic Edge

4 Arid Mesa

4 Scalding Tarn

1 Plains

1 Mountain

2 Island

Sideboard 15

2 Counterflux

1 Batterskull

1 Baneslayer Angel

2 Engineered Explosives

1 Rule of Law

1 Disenchant

2 Pyroclasm

2 Sowing Salt

1 Relic of Progenitus

2 Spellskite

Here's a quick summary of my games. 

Round1: Deathrite Tribal Flames Zoo, 2-0

g1: I out helix'ed/geisted him ftw (for the win).

g2: I took 2 to turn 1 bolt a Deathrite, afterwards he stalled on 3 mana. On his upkeep I Pathed his Goyf, he got a a basic that made his fourth color then I tectonic edged his only green source, Stomping Ground.

Tectonic Edge Wins: 1

Round2: Spirit Jund, 2-0

g1: Geistd him good and hard.

g2: I gained 12 life off double Helix double Snapcaster. Wall of omens bought a ton of time against his 3 power army. Eventually went on the offence about turn 8 with V Clique and Geist, I was surprised how many cards I had access too from Snapcaster, Remand, and Wall of Omens.

g3-4: We played a few more fun games after, I won both. G3 I was able to keep him off double Black by Bolting his Deathrite and Tect Edging his Blood Crypt

Tectonic Edge Wins: 2

Round3: UW Control, 2-0

g1: Beat him down with a Vendilion Clique

g2: He stalled on 3 lands for a while, his fourth land was a Seachrome Coast that let me Tect Edge him back down to 3 and seal the deal with V Clique beats.

Tectonic Edge Wins: 3

Round 4: RG Tron, Sansan Zhen, 0-2

I just got smashed, nothing too see here. He played tight and didn't walk into Izzet Charm or Remand. We played about 3 practice games after where I barely managed to take one win. I consciously never showed him a Sowing Salt.

Round 5: Intentionall draw vs Smallpox.dec

Pox probably takes me to value town everyday unless I get Wall of Omens or turn 2 a Snapcaster for "guard" duty for Geist.

Quarterfinals: URg Twin, 2-1

g1: I flood forevar, double Tect him to stall/take pressure off, eventually Colonadde beat him down, weird game.

g2: Good blown out by the incredible duo of Blood Moon + Spell Pierce, alas I drew NO FETCHES EVAR this game :(.

g3: Turn2 Spellskite, T3 Engineered Explosives for 3, T4 V Clique, + removal in hand, kinda hard to lose from that position

Semifinals: Concession (aka Subway run!)

Both me and Sansan got conceded into the finals, weird.

Final(countdown): RG Tron, Sansan, 2-1

g1: Karn smash (again!).

g2: Sowing Salt FTW! Since I didn't show Sansan Salt's during our 6 games, so he toke a conservative line when he assembled Tron by leading with Oblivion Stone (neuters my offence) instead of running into soft counters, which bought me time draw Sowing Salt.

g3: Sansan mulls to 5 on the play, I draw double Tectonic Edge to break the Tron with Remand/Izzet Charm to keep him in check. My clock lethargic with Snapcaster making an appearance around t7, and V Clique on t8. After Remanding his Sylvan Scrying for the third turn in a row he plays Pyroclasm, at this point I have 5 lands in play, one is a Celestial Collanade, 3 are untapped, my hand is V clique, Lightning Bolt, and 2x Path to Exile, and he is at five. I double Path both my creatures, fetching a Mountain and Plains, untap, animate Collonade, hit him to 1 and then Bolt him.

Tectonic Edge Wins: 4 (I've missed you sooooo much <3)

So I just had to get a weeee bit lucky to take down the finals and win the 2 byes for the Modern 2k on February 16^th. Thanks to Harry Tarantula for hosting the qualifier and thanks to Decked Out for hosting really awesome tournaments in Toronto. "Sadly" it seems I'm going to have to shell out a 100$ or so for a playset of Geist's so I can PTQ again Online and practice up for the 2K. Here are some card choices I've been Pondering over.

Sowing Salt/Molten Rain: I felt Sowing Salt either needs a 3^rd copy since we don't see if often as 2of and it's critical vs Tron, or alternately we could go with 4x Molten Rain and have a aggressive LD plan.

Kitchen Finks: Seems like an interesting addition. Offers a different type of removal resistance from the rest of our deck, we can't really overload their removal but we can demand different types of answers.

Cryptic Command: The synergy between Snapcaster, Geist, and V Clique with this card is bonkers. Since you're role in match ups is very dynamic you can fully use every mode on Cryptic. Nothing seems sweeter then tapping down their team for lethal, unless you're returning Snapcaster with Cryptic while countering a spell.

Wall of Omens: I was impressed with it's spot on the curve, and it's utility against Jund's array of 3 power/dmg cards.

Path to Exile: We have a hard time beating Tarmogoyf and Kitchen Finks, perhaps a 4^th for the board.

Remand: MOAR! With Bloodbraid Elf being evicted soon Remand is well positioned again across the board.

Grim Lavamancer: I absolutely love this card against a ton of the field,it dominates creature match ups, compliments your burn nicely, and can run away with games against Jund if left unchecked.

Sun Titan: Mostly as a value creature to go over the top of other grind/fair match ups. If Phantasmal Image becomes better then we can go deeper on a "combo" Titan.

Tectonic Edge: A surprising amount of wins came my way cause of Edge, I wonder if the mana base can support a 3^rd.

Fetchlands: Blood Moon seems very popular right now, in my experience fetching a basic or two goes a long way toward negating it's effect. I'd like too go up to 11, which would power up a potential Grim Lavamancer.

Well that's it for this week. If you've got any questions, suggestions, or comments please feel free to post em.