get drunk or die shrimping- my top 4 finish at midwest premodern champs
After mulliganning more than I believed it was possible during CubeCon this past week, ending with my worst lifetime cube record, I decided I needed to win a Magic tournament. Midwest Premodern Champs was at the CubeCon venue so complaint equity would've been very high if I scrubbed given all my friends were in the same room (shoutout Mogg Fritz Hofmann for top 8ing CubeCon). While still recovering from the Mogg Squad team dinner and the 9-beers-later drunk premodern unofficial side event I ran after on Saturday, I signed up 20 minutes before reg was due the following Sunday.
Sufficient bullying from the other Moggs when I considered other decks (Shay Burn, Replenish, HFeb) caused me to register my preferred weapon, a slower build of Dreadnought teched for Replenish, Terravore, and aggressive red decks:
Some Notes on Card Choice
Without writing a full book on Dreadnought, a few notes on card choices:
2 Gush- This flavor of dreadnought likes keeping lots of lands in play during postboard games. While this is suboptimal when shoving on two or three, it's a tradeoff I'm happy to make in the Madison meta.
0 Peek- This card fucking sucks, the difference between seeing 1 card and 2 is absurd, play Sleight if you want another 1 mana cantrip, if you're comfortable paying 2 play Impulse. If you play enough games you can pretty easily discern when to shove and when not to shove in each matchup.
4 AK- Wins the Dreadnought (without AK) mirror on its own and gives you a fighting chance against most UW control stock lists where you'd otherwise have trouble.
Maindeck Brain Freeze- Gives you game against Replenish G1 and stomps Landstill into the dirt. Expected meta at Midwest Champs was going to have much less Enchantress due to budget constraints, so I was happy to play two copies between main and side.
Legacy's Allure- Absolute banger of a card, singlehandedly can make otherwise hard matchups in sideboarded games winnable, especially black midrange decks like Rock and Moneyball. Steals Mage, Elephants, Graveborn Muse, and Withered Wretch.
Matchups
R1- Robert, UG Ramp (1-0)
My first match wrapped up very quickly, my opponent was on a UG ramp brew that wasn't prepared to kill a 12/12. Shoved into early dreadnought both games, and because my opponent was mostly casting ramp spells early, I could hold my countermagic for more relevant threats. 2-0
R2- Housing, Goon Goblins (2-0)
My good friend Housing was my second round opponent, and Goblins can be a tricky matchup given the potency of Goblin Lackey in G1. While Housing had a fast clock in G1 taking me to 0, my 6 anti-goblin sideboard cards went the distance in games 2 and 3. Managed to make a midgame dreadnought while keeping Lackey and other potent goblins off the board with blasts and flares. 2-1
R3- Sam Black, Chromatic Control (2-1)
Sam Black is the hardest person to pair into in Swiss, and this match might as well have been a bye for Sam. Three Gaea's Blessing with counter backup maindeck makes freezing a non-plan, and shoving into Sam's plethora of free countermagic is a fool's errand. Postboard, the multitude of anti-dreadnought plans between Mage and Abeyance make shoving even worse. While Dreadnought has very few truly heinous matchups, this is certainly one of them. 0-2
R4- Brian Coval, Terrageddon (3-1)
Round 4 paired me into famous YouTube eternal gamer Brian Coval, and while many folks would've been scared to pair into Brian, I don't think this matchup is particularly close. Between Legacy's Allure, Back to Basics, and Web, it's pretty easy to pick up a sideboard game after shoving in G1. Brian managed to take game 2 off me with double Nimble Mongoose beatdown after he had another removal spell for second Dreadnought, but I had a grip of countermagic in G3, leaving him out of contention for top 8. 2-1
R5- Dools, Survival Tradewind (3-1-1)
Homie draw, giving us both a win and in rather than knocking one of us out. Shoutout Dools for being cool as shit. 0-0-3
R6- Casey, Zoomer Rock (4-1-1)
Casey is one of the strongest players in the Mogg Squad, coming in hot off two NRG Modern top 8s. Unfortunately, his "Zoomer Rock" build of Rock, consisting of efficient black creatures and discard paired with Call and Deed has a much tougher time against Dreadnought than other similar midrange decks like Moneyball Black. Between some card advantage off a couple AKs in game one and using Legacy's Allure grabbing a Graveborn Muse in G2, as well as some mulligans on Casey's part both games, I cinched top 8 with a win. Shoutout to Casey for being supportive of me throughout top 8! 2-0
Quarterfinals- Drew, Goblins
Put dreadnoughts into play on Turn 3 both games. Had blast backup game 2. Match took 5 minutes, which was lovely since my hangover was almost destroying me at this point. 2-0
Semifinals- Ricky, Stasis
I misplayed throughout this matchup, and I should be ashamed. Frankly, I was too tired to continue playing, but one player continued to refuse to split the remaining pool, so I blind freezed Ricky in G2, saw two blessings, and collected my $250. 0-2
Final Thoughts
Don't play magic tournaments hungover, but if you do, do it with your friends. Shoutout to all the Moggs for cheering me on throughout the tournament, especially Luke for checking in with me after each match.