Tournament Report - Scylla's Minsc & Boo at Ka0s Treasure Series 4
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes by Bram Sels
Ka0s Treasure Series 4 Tournament Report
Last weekend I participated in the Ka0s Treasure Series 4 remote cEDH tournament. Those of you following me on Twitter know that I'm a frequent competitor at Mox Masters, the monthly remote cEDH tournament run by Playing with Power and EminenceTCG, and I was excited to give Ka0s a go for the first time.
On Twitter I posted a poll* to help me pick out which deck to bring to this event. After doing my homework about what the Ka0s meta looked like, using results gathered in Eminence's EDH Top 16 tool, I chose to go with my comfort deck "Minsc & Boo, Hampter (MID)Ranger". Unlike my friend Jake FitzSimons' "Hulkstorm" list, my Minsc & Boo list is focused around a midrange-value game plan using the best creatures Gruul has to offer.
Round 1, Current Record 0-0-0:
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons vs Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes vs Tayam, Luminous Enigma vs Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
This was a very interesting game to start off my day. I've never played against Hapatra before but some table talk gave a better idea of how it uses Persist creatures to combo out. I kept a slightly slower, creature-filled hand under the assumption that Tayam was going to slow the board down with stax. I very quickly realized my mistake when the Hapatra had a turn 2 Hapatra and a turn 3 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and 0 stax pieces in sight from Tayam. Our creatures were toast for sure.
It took Hapatra a considerable amount of time to try and win, nearly ending our game in a draw as they played through two Orcish Bowmasters. Bowmasters absolutely put in the work here, forcing the Hapatra player to sacrifice all of their lands with their Sylvan Safekeeper just to keep their engine alive. Unfortunately, this all culminated in a fatal misunderstanding between the Tayam and Sisay players on how Ravenous Squirrel interacted with the current board state. This led to Hapatra being able to freely draw through their deck, after removing the Bowmasters, until they hit a Blood Artist effect which won them the game.
I have a lot to take away from this one. I definitely should've spoken up about the Squirrel since I knew what was about to happen, but the Tayam player was being slightly louder than me and reassured our Sisay it wasn't worth burning their Mindbreak Trap on it. The biggest thing I learned was how good Hapatra is at clearing creature heavy boards and converting that into card advantage. I was not expecting my board of all support creatures to get shredded by Yawgmoth and the snake squad. Such a cool deck!
Round 2, Current Record 0-1-0:
Krark, the Thumbless & Silas Renn, Seeker Adept vs Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy vs Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes vs Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Looking at this pod while loading into Spelltable had me scared. I had a feeling KrarkSi was going to try to go for a really fast win and I knew that I absolutely lost the grind against two Kinnans. My window to win this game was going to be really tight, but keeping a hand that had a turn 1 Ragavan into turn 2 Minsc & Boo w/ a Finale of Devastation made me feel good.
KrarkSi drops their own turn 1 Ragavan, and the Kinnans both start with rocks/dorks for ramp. Turn 2, Krark attacks me with their Ragavan and the table tries to convince me to trade mine with theirs. I absolutely do not, and they rip my Protean Hulk off the top. I was sad, but I knew Hulk was not going to be how I won this game. They play their Krark and pass. The Kinnans continue to ramp, but I feel the noose tightening on me.
I hit Krark back with my Ragavan and rip an Imperial Recruiter. I chose to cast it to grab Dockside Extortionist instead of getting Minsc & Boo online, since I had Finale in hand already and everyone else dropped 3+ rocks each at this point. If I get to untap, I'm going to go for it.
On their turn 3, Krark casts Tainted Pact and wins their Krark flip. The copy gets their Thassa's Oracle and the original clears away their deck. They cast Thoracle, and this is where I once again should've used my voice. I had Red Elemental Blast in hand and the mana to cast it, but there's no way that the two Blue players didn't have an answer. I didn't bother to table talk at all, and when priority came to me I used the blast. It resolves, completely shutting down Krark's win attempt and effectively taking them out of the game.
Kinnan #1 passed to me, and it was looking like I was in the clear to go for an "after win" attempt. I start off going to combat, attacking Kinnan #1 with my Ragavan. I hit a Green Sun's Zenith off the top of their deck.
"Holey moley," I say to myself, "I don't even need my Finale for this!"
In main 2 I cast my Dockside and... it immediately eats a Mana Drain from Kinnan #1. Huuuge facepalm moment for me, and I'll explain in further detail below what I should've done now that I'm looking at it all. Hindsight is 20/20.
What I ended up doing was using my remaining mana for Green Sun's where X = 3 to get an Eternal Witness, adding back Dockside, and then just praying for another turn. I pass the turn to Kinnan #2, who had their Basalt Monolith + an outlet in hand which they use to win the game with all their creatures and Finale X = 10+.
What should I have done? I should've read my dang cards, that's what! I often forget that Finale of Devastation can get a creature from the graveyard as well as the library. What I could have done was cast Finale where X = 2 to get back Dockside, and then use their Green Sun's for Temur Sabertooth to win. Learning moment!
Round 3, Current Record 0-2-0:
Sisay, Weatherlight Captain vs Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes vs Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer vs Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer
After having a really nice conversation with my previous pod, and getting a nice snack between rounds, I was locked and loaded for my round 3 pod. At this point I was mostly just playing for fun since I'd need to go 3-0 to still be in contention for top 16. I kept a slightly suspicious second 7 under the premise that at this point I needed to take some high risk-high reward plays.
I was in the driver's seat for the entirety of this game. While the early turns were unremarkable, they allowed me to go for a total of 3 win attempts over the course of the game. I made my first attempt after I had set up Selvala, Heart of the Wilds with a 7/7 Boo on board. I had Hyrax Tower Scout and a tutor for Temur Sabertooth in hand. However, this first win attempt was foiled when I ate a Swords to Plowshares in response to my Temur Sabertooth activation. Slightly frazzled, I chose to set up for a very risky Underworld Breach line on my following turn. This win attempt was significantly riskier and resulted in a near-total punt on my part. The same Rocco who had the Swords hit my Underworld Breach with a Force of Vigor in response to my Gamble. After I had already dumped my hand for Lion's Eye Diamond.
With only Temur Sabertooth and Hyrax Tower Scout on my board and hellbent, I was in heart of the cards mode. Well, call me the Queen of Games because I top decked Goblin Matron. This was the tutor I needed to search for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. I barely had enough mana to cast Kiki, make a million 3/3 Scouts, and I got myself a much earned win.
Maybe my dream of top 16 isn't dead after all!
Round 4, Current Record 1-2-0:
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes vs Najeela, the Blade-Blossom vs Selvala, Explorer Returned vs Tymna, the Weaver & Jeska, Thrice Reborn
One of the most fun games I've played in a while. I got to see fellow tournament grinder Memo in this game, piloting their Najeela list. I can't remember the details for my mulligans, but I was in a fairly commanding lead throughout the first 3 turns or so. The Selvala player then, kind of anxiously, went for a win attempt that was stopped by Najeela. Tymna/Jeska hadn't done much at this point aside from setting up both Hope of Ghirapur and Ranger Captain of Eos. Things were looking good.
On turn 4 or 5 I had managed to set up a board of Kiki-Jiki, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Dockside Extortionist. This would mean that I'd be able to control most of the creatures on the board, always have enough mana for my spells, and likely grind out enough value to win in a turn or two. Before the end of my turn I went for a greedy play. I can admit that I 100% threw it here. I was very tunnel-visioned on getting to monkey slam a Kogla, the Titan Ape, not thinking about the interaction I had in hand still. I make a deal with Tymna/Jeska not to remove their Ranger Captain, assuming they'd use it to try and stop Najeela's or Selvala's win attempt.
Boy howdy am I glad we made that deal because it was immediately paid off. However there was a slight misplay from the Tymna/Jeska player on when to use their Ranger Captain, and Najeela went for a Final Fortune overtop of the activation. This is also when we had to break the unfortunate news to the Tymna/Jeska player that Hope of Ghirapur needed to have attacked the player you wanted to Silence. Najeela casts an Ad Nauseam in their Final Fortune turn, and after Jimmy Neutron Brain Blasting™ found the line to get the win.
Although my chances of topping were now nearly impossible, I was glad I got to have a great game. I also believe this win ultimately got Memo into the top 16, so I can't really be sad that someone I'm a fan of got there.
Round 5, Current Record 1-3-0:
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin vs Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes vs Tymna, the Weaver & Kraum, Ludevic's Opus vs Thrasios, Triton Hero & Dargo, the Shipwrecker
I decided to play my round 5 game for funsies, mostly because there was still technically a chance that I could top with a 2-3 record. Additionally my girlfriend, who was competing beside me all day, was 1-2-1 and might've topped if she won her final round.
I had maybe the craziest hand ever. Two lands, a Jeweled Lotus, Lotus Petal, Ragavan, and more to follow up this incredible turn 1 Minsc & Boo and Ragavan. It was time to put the pressure on. Having played against Ob Nixilis a few times before, I knew that a Kraum 2.0 was going to be something I couldn't deal with. Everyone else had kept a very slow start and wouldn't be deploying their commanders until turn 4 at least.
Moving into my turn 3 I chose to +1 Minsc & Boo one more time to get 10 more Boo damage in. This was an incredibly greedy play, and it did not pay off for me when the Blue Farm player dropped a Toxic Deluge for 10 life and completely reset only my board. Note to aspiring Minsc & Boo Midrange players: if you can draw 7, do it!
Ob Nixilis is deployed on turn 4 and adds in a Mayhem Devil and Mana Barbs on turn 5, and we are suddenly in massive danger. As a table we talked it over and without making any kind of deal I chose to take one for the team and remove the Mana Barbs. Similarly the Blue Farm player casts Demonic Tutor for a Swords to Plowshares and fires it off right away, removing the now 12/11 Ob Nixilis. This ended up being a bit premature.
We go into Thrasios/Dargo's turn 5 and with all the advantage stripped from Ob Nixilis, the Swords gone from Blue Farm, and everyone being tapped out, they go for the win attempt using Dargo and Greater Good to dig. They get there once they hit Breach + Lotus Petal.
Even though I lost, I'm very happy I played this round. The Thrasios/Dargo was FreedomWaffle, another frequent remote tournament player, and they were super chill and fun to be around. They also made me feel particularly happy by how excited they were to tell the rest of the pod how Minsc & Boo was an infinite mana outlet. That kind of excitement is what fuels me to play this deck in events.
Final Thoughts
I'm really happy with how Minsc & Boo performed. It's my main deck and I'll never get tired of representing it at tournaments. I'm also glad my research into previous tournaments was mostly right!
The one thing I was extremely scared of was the LOTR card Orcish Bowmaster. Seeing as it directly hoses multiple parts of Minsc & Boo's gameplan, I'm relieved that it only came up a single time throughout the whole day. I hope I'll get more practice against the card soon. Especially after hearing about its impact at other tournaments this weekend.
In the end this was another tournament of growth for me. I learned so much during the games and even more while getting to look back at it all. I'm very much an "into the fire" kind of learner, and I can tell that my skills as both a pilot and a social player continue to grow after each tournament.
