Uncle Yorion's MWC30 Tournament Report

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Before We Start

Hi everyone, I’m 葉永丞 David Yeh aka 約力昂大叔 Uncle Yorion. My record at the 2024 MWC30 World Championship was 8 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw, finishing 23rd (9th to 24th place earns a spot at the first Pro Tour of 2025), and I took home $13,000 USD prize money!!!

This post is very long~ please read it with some music on :D

Pre-Tournament Preparation

Compared with last time, when I played the Pro Tour the week after Outlaws of Thunder Junction released, this time there was much more prep time (release at the end of September, tournament at the end of October). The less prep time there is, the more it favors teams with a full roster, since they can test Limited and Constructed early with proxies. For Limited, my discussion partners this time were 蹦蹦 (陳柏宏), 小石 (石惟中), 李俊廷, cephille, zhi-mao, 曾國輝 and 洪誠駿, while for Constructed they were 蹦蹦, 小石, cephille, 曾國輝, 洪誠駿, 葉秀軍 and the members of 殺隊. Everyone plays some Limited when a new set comes out, so the discussion was lively, and we quickly found the stronger color combinations (Simic, Boros, Gruul) and the weaker ones (Selesnya, Orzhov). The weekend before Worlds was Taiwan’s MIT#7 Pioneer event, and I’m very grateful to the other partners who took time to help research Standard, so that during our prep we didn’t fall into an echo-chamber mindset and had more people helping to watch the meta direction and the strengths and weaknesses of decks.

Constructed Deck Choice: Orzhov Demons

蹦蹦 started from Golgari for inspiration, while I began practicing with Dimir first, and 小石 seemed to start with American Control. After BLB, Standard’s spectrum was stretched very wide: there was ultra-fast Boros Convoke and Gruul Prowess, but also very slow Mono White and Domain. After DSK arrived, Leyline of Resonance and Turn Inside Out let the red Mice aggro decks run even more rampant. DSK’s Overlord of the Hauntwoods was also a godsend for Domain, giving it both acceleration and a finisher, and it even triggers Up the Beanstalk, which is absurd.

In the first week of October we decided to play a deck with Unstoppable Slasher. For one, everyone fears its combination with Bloodletter of Aclazotz; for another, it isn’t very afraid of the common Go for the Throat and Cut Down (Anoint with Affliction turned out to be what everyone later discovered kills Unstoppable Slasher and Heartfire Hero well), and of course it isn’t afraid of Liliana of the Veil’s edict either. By chance I noticed at a Japanese Pioneer tournament that Mono Black was using Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber together with Pioneer’s Mutavault and the like, which looked very powerful, so we started from Mono Black and built a lesser version of the Demon deck.

After only a few days we felt Mono Black’s sideboard wasn’t comprehensive enough. Withering Torment can only answer two types, and although Standard has many enchantments and few artifacts, Urabrask’s Forge is easy to die to if left unchecked, so we figured we should go back to splashing green or white. The problem with green is that there are too many strong cards (huh?). Never mind the other green cards, playing Golgari means you will certainly include Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers and Glissa Sunslayer, and the whole deck structure would change.

In the end we chose to add white, with Temporary Lockdown, Rest in Peace, and Beza, the Bounding Spring in the sideboard to handle various unfavorable matchups. The new Dimir, although it looks cool with attacking and drawing at once, can’t gain life and has too little room for error. In the first two turns, a single big hit from the Mice aggro decks leaves it helpless, and it can’t answer artifacts and enchantments either, you can only rely on counterspells, discard and bounce. We have terribly short arms, unlike the foreign pros with their long reach, so we have to accept our fate.

Deck Introduction

Decklist link

Main Deck

Starting with the maindeck: Archfiend of the Dross and Unstoppable Slasher are maxed out. I tested Beza in the main or a fourth Bloodletter, but they’re not as versatile as two copies of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Preacher of the Schism, once very strong, now doesn’t win as fast as Slasher. If I want card advantage, I’d use Cruelclaw’s Heist rather than slowly drawing with the Preacher, let alone that the slow-draw engine has now become Unholy Annex.

For the comparison of Cut Down and Anoint with Affliction, the GF site already has an analysis, so I won’t repeat it. The deck has many one-ofs. I mentioned this at the earlier Seattle PT, and recently michaelchen also talked about it at MIT#7. It has a lot to do with Open Decklists: for many cards with similar effects, I’d rather split them up and make the opponent guess, and some similar cards won’t be all in or all out. For example, against Mono White I’d bring in Go for the Throat but want to keep Anoint with Affliction, or against black Slasher decks I’d want Ghost Vacuum, and against Azorius Oculus I put in all four graveyard hate cards, because if I don’t draw them I won’t win.

While climbing the ladder we found the maindeck Cruelclaw’s Heist very good. Against midrange/control we always choose Gift to gain the card-quantity advantage, and against aggro we don’t Gift and just remove the biggest threat (per the World Championship deck/single-card statistics, there were five maindeck copies total: 3 mine, 2 蹦蹦’s). The three-mana sorcery Legions to Ashes, although clunky, is also necessary, and it happens to kill a whole swarm of prolific Mice at once. The sideboard originally had a fourth copy, which I changed to The End as an instant-speed answer to anything. It’s still seven pieces of one- or two-mana spot removal. I know some players still prefer three Cut Down plus four Go for the Throat, and that’s all open to discussion with no absolute right or wrong, but I’d still recommend having at least Nowhere to Run and Get Lost to be more comprehensive.

For a big tournament, 26 lands: I’d rather draw two extra than get stuck for two turns. If I had to say where Orzhov really loses to Golgari and Dimir, it’s that the manlands are too bad (at least give me a 4/4 lifelink), but the sideboard has many two-white cards, especially needing to cast Temporary Lockdown on time on turn three, so more dual lands are still needed. At most three colorless utility lands. I tried Escape Tunnel, which plays like Fabled Passage ninety percent of the time but gives a chance for Slasher and Bloodletter to kill in one hit. Later I chose Sandstorm Verge, letting Archfiend and Bloodletter reliably finish off the opponent. I only activated it once during the tournament, but many opponents picked it up and thought about it for ages, and it felt like their attacks and defenses became a bit more conservative. Then there’s Cavern of Souls. Since Standard has no strong No More Lies / Three Steps Ahead decks, at most there’s Negate and Disdainful Stroke, so in the end I chose not to play it.

Finally, there’s Blazemire Verge, which a great many people asked about. Standard doesn’t have many fetch lands, and actually four or five basic lands are enough to find, so Blazemire Verge is, for the most part, just played as a Swamp. It has three uses, two of them related to Cruelclaw’s Heist. First is Kicker: if you steal a Domain Archangel of Wrath, you can kick it with black and red (I tested this on ARENA). Second is Adventure: if you steal Imodane’s Recruiter // Train Troops in game one, you can first (colorlessly) go on the adventure to make two tokens, then depending on the situation (using red) call the creature itself, so you can cast either side. The same goes for Gruul’s Picnic Ruiner // Stolen Goodies: you can cast Stolen Goodies via the Adventure (colorlessly), or (using red) cast the 2/2 body to block, or just (colorlessly) cast it outright. The third use is confusing the opponent. In Open Decklist play, the time to look at a decklist is limited, so adding a variable for them to rack their brains over works: usually the opponent stares at it for ages and can’t figure out the reason, and PROs always overthink, afraid of being tricked. In any case, once they start spiraling, they’re already under my illusion (one Japanese player even said after the match that he thought I had Torch the Tower. Buddy, it’s an Open Decklist, please read the decklist properly). If I were playing Golgari, Orzhov or Dimir today, as long as the basic land count allowed it and I had Cruelclaw’s Heist in the deck, I’d still put Blazemire Verge in place of some Swamps. Personally I think it would work even better outside of Open Decklist events. In the eight Standard rounds at MWC30, six opponents asked me after the match what Blazemire Verge was for, and I just said it’s a Swamp~ wink~

Sideboard

The reason to play Orzhov is the strong white sideboard cards. As I said earlier, cards with similar effects can be spread out, and you decide how many to bring in depending on the situation. For example, Rest in Peace and Ghost Vacuum: against Azorius Oculus you need both, while against black Slasher decks you only need Ghost Vacuum. Some Orzhov sideboards on MTGGoldfish run 2 to 3 copies of Kaya, Intangible Slayer. I personally recommend having at least one The Eternal Wanderer, who has built-in sweeping, single-target removal, and making soldiers for offense and defense, especially her first ability to flicker your own Archfiend of the Dross or the opponent’s Urabrask’s Forge.

Below are my notes on the sideboarding plans. They’re not very clear, so just get a feel for them.

And finally, my personal mascots.

The victory charm (Ajani) has been truly miraculous from last year until now, go get one~
The dog and Wiglett plushies are special-grade cursed spirits. When the match starts, be sure to point them at your opponent. The Japanese players smiled when they saw them, and got cursed to death without ever realizing it~

The Two Days Before the Tournament

On the night of 10/23 (Wed) I flew to the US, arriving in Los Angeles that evening and staying at a nearby hotel. The next day, 10/24 (Thu), I flew on my own to Las Vegas to meet 蹦蹦 and 小石. After arriving at the hotel in the afternoon, we discussed the officially announced field breakdown, for example: Dimir midrange outnumbering Golgari midrange means we’re doomed, there are way too many Temur Otters, what is everyone even playing, how to beat the winning plan of Dimir Demons (we figured Cruelclaw’s Heist is a great counter) and how to handle Golgari Ramp (again relying on Cruelclaw’s Heist). The thorniest matchups were still Dimir midrange and Azorius Oculus.

On Thursday night at the player registration party, we picked up our badges and small gifts, and I have to say the gifts this time were very generous! I even opened an alternate-art Abhorrent Oculus and The Wandering Rescuer from a Collector Booster, what a haul!

And in Frank Karsten’s article Magic World Championship 30 Metagame Breakdown, my and 蹦蹦’s Orzhov Demons were also featured!

After the registration party we decided to head back to the hotel early. The three of us pulled up the DSK card list and shared our views on draft color combinations and first picks.

Day 1 2024/10/25

Day 1 departure photo

小石 and I were both too nervous to sleep well, and both woke up at four in the morning to zone out for a while. It might also have been 蹦蹦’s Deafening Clarion blasting us awake. After the start of the event, the officials explained that today you needed four wins to advance to the second day, and anyone with ten wins would make the Top 8.

Getting autographs from 俊廷, who came to challenge Worlds last year, and from Kai Budde. Voidmage Prodigy + his Pro Player card, a shared memory of our generation!

R1 to R3 DSK Draft

In the first draft, at my table I only recognized Yuta Takahashi, and he sat across from me (terrifying).

Pack one opened Enduring Vitality, which suits Selesnya/Gruul/Golgari, and there was no better choice. The third pick passed Hedge Shredder, so I followed the signal and ended up with 12 green playables.

Pack two opened Dazzling Theater // Prop Room. I took Most Valuable Slayer, then Wildfire Wickerfolk came, making me think for a while I’d go Gruul delirium. Unexpectedly red started to dry up, and then I saw Winter’s Intervention and Murder in succession, and with four cards left Valgavoth, Terror Eater came, which left me a bit stunned~ While sorting my picks in the middle of pack two, I figured it would be either Gruul or Golgari~

Pack three opened The Swarmweaver! That settled it, Golgari!!!
Kona, Rescue Beastie and Drag to the Roots came in succession, and the rest was filling out the creature count, putting together a sideboard, and picking up scraps. I had enough playables, with some options to swap in from the sideboard. After swapping decks with 蹦蹦 and 小石 to look, mine counts as having both a theme and strength, and I rated it 9 / 10 myself.

Day 1 draft main deck

Day 1 draft sideboard

R1 Mauro Sasso XX

In both games I was controlled to death by fliers and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and only Drag to the Roots could kill a planeswalker…

This is the guy in the Messi jersey. You can see Kai Budde sitting in the same seat at the table behind me. Too bad I never got the chance to play him directly.

R2: Daniel Goetschel XX

In both games the Temur Rooms widened the card quantity gap, and in one game I even got hit by The Rollercrusher Ride…

R3: Yuta Takahashi OO

My opponent was the famous Yuta Takahashi, who played Gruul delirium and had the super bomb Valgavoth’s Onslaught.
In game one, I used two Bashful Beastie with Killer’s Mask to force him into two unfavorable trades and won.
In game two I had Kona, Rescue Beastie and Wary Watchdog on the battlefield, while he had Cryptid Inspector and six lands, enough to cast Moldering Gym // Weight Room, but he didn’t use the gym and chose to play Wickerfolk Thresher instead. So after I killed the Thresher, Kona attacked, and then I jumped to Valgavoth, Terror Eater XDD
If he had cast the gym, he’d have a 5/5 and a 3/4 Cryptid Inspector, and Kona naturally wouldn’t have attacked~

Japan’s Faerie King cursed for a while and then started unsleeving his deck. I felt a bit bad for him, but that’s MAGIC~

R4 to R7 Standard Constructed

R4 Robert Wagner Krankel Golgari Midrange OXX

In game one, the cards I stole with Cruelclaw’s Heist left him unable to cope.
Games two and three were very similar: neither Duress nor Cruelclaw’s Heist managed to hit an Unholy Annex, both Archfiends got hit by removal one after another, and then the opponent cast two Unholy Annexes in a row, and his card advantage crushed me.

R5 Adam Edelson Gruul Prowess OO

This was one of the matchups I most hoped to face.
In both games one and two I won by killing everything and then winning with Archfiend or Sheoldred, and Nowhere to Run helped a lot. According to the official single-card statistics, only 蹦蹦 and I had Nowhere to Run in the maindeck.

R6 Yiren Jiang Dimir Midrange OO

The opponent was a friendly Chinese player. His deck looked like an older build: it had Deep-Cavern Bat but no Kaito, had Enduring Curiosity but no Gix, and ran 24 lands. But in both games he stumbled and couldn’t develop, and I used lots of discard to cover my spells resolving, smoothly winning an unfavorable matchup~

R7 MASAHIDE MORIYAMA Gruul Prowess OO

A big name from Hareruya, ninth place at last year’s Worlds, very impressive~
In both games one and two I won by killing everything and then winning with Archfiend or Sheoldred XDD That’s how I put it, but in the first two turns I used discard to reduce the damage taken, guessed at the opponent’s possible plays to respond accordingly, or BLUFFed as if I had something.

In game two the opponent was a bit too hasty. He used Rockface Village to pump Manifold Mouse, tapped it, and attacked. I asked whether I could block now, he said yes, so I blocked with Bloodletter, and then he said it was a 2/2 with double strike.

So I called a judge. I explained to the judge that the opponent had attacked without ever mentioning Manifold Mouse’s ability. After questioning, we had also reached the declare blockers step. After asking both sides for their views, the judge ruled that Manifold Mouse has two choice points: first choosing which Mouse, second choosing double strike or trample. The opponent had made neither declaration legally, so it was just a 2/2. Bloodletter survived because of that, which made a huge difference, and with Unholy Annex I finished the game in two turns.

A small mistake like this is not allowed at the professional level~ Take it as a lesson~

DAY 1 record 4-3

I could tell my two teammates were very sad about not making Day 2, but all we could do was keep playing~

Day 2 2024/10/26

Opening remarks on Day 2: 57 players remained (I think there were 113 at the start).

R8 to R10 DSK Draft

The second draft was with nine players I had never played before.
Pack one opened a Leyline (Sad). I really didn’t want to take a two-color card first pick, but there was truly nothing better (surely not Vanish from Sight), so I took Inquisitive Glimmer, and then Unwilling Vessel, Grand Entryway // Elegant Rotunda, and two Unsettling Twins came in succession.
Pack two opened Entity Tracker, great! Toby, Beastie Befriender was passed, also great! And then blue Rooms kept coming~
Pack three opened Reluctant Role Model, which was decent, and Fear of Abduction was passed!

Overall I had enough playables and a sideboard to swap from, but no game-winning super bomb. It looked a lot like what you’d get at an ordinary Friday Night Magic (FNM) XD There were very many usable common creatures, and deckbuilding was painful because of the decisions, with the fear that if I got the maindeck wrong I could easily lose game one and have to come back from behind for two games~ I rated it a 7/10 draft deck myself.

Day 2 draft main deck

Day 2 draft sideboard

R8 Derrick Davis OXX

A very pure Simic deck, two copies each of the gold uncommons, and it also had Malevolent Chandelier to avoid milling itself out. It was probably the best deck at the table.

R9 Mauro Sasso OO

I was paired again with the Messi guy from yesterday’s R1, and this time he played Boros Toys.
In game one I cleared the way once, then Reluctant Role Model carried it with flying and lifelink all the way. In game two I played two Cult Healer and won the life total RACE against him.

R10 Rastaf OO

The opponent played Selesnya Survival, using blue Rooms like Bottomless Pool // Locker Room and Meat Locker // Drowned Diner to widen the hand size gap, with Fear of Abduction exiling my own Unsettling Twins and his threats to create a card advantage. When I won both games my hand was full of gas and the opponent had run dry.

The feel of these three rounds reminded me of drafting at CM about 15 years ago, almost entirely common and uncommon interaction, with no big surprises but very stable decks. Luckily the tuition I paid for drafting back then wasn’t wasted.

R11 to R14 Standard Constructed

R11 Alan Andrzejewski OXO Boros Enchantments

The only Boros Enchantments deck in the whole tournament, like a deformed child of Gruul Prowess and Azorius Enchantments. I saw him packing Shardmage’s Rescue and Sheltered by Ghosts to gross out opponents.
In game one I opened my hand with four cards showing three lands and Nowhere to Run, and nothing else mattered (beaming).
The opponent’s Skrelv, Defector Mite was dumbstruck at the sight of Nowhere to Run XD Total blowout!
In game two I drew too few threats, and my only Archfiend was about to blow itself up so I had no choice but to RACE, miscalculated the life totals, and got run over.
Game three was again Nowhere to Run and various removal spells suppressing him, both Legions to Ashes hit Forge at the right time, and I won with Archfiend and Beza.

R12 Rei Hirayama XOX Temur Otters

The opponent was a HARERUYA big name. Having looked at his deck, he had no Stormsplitter and relied purely on Valley Floodcaller pumping the whole team, along with Stormchaser’s Talent and This Town Ain’t Big Enough to LOOP.
In game one I carelessly got Invasion of Ixalan // Belligerent Regisaur blown up by the prowess otters, and in the end I lost, inexplicably, to two Belligerent Regisaurs from flipped battles.
In game two, discard and Liliana asserted dominance over the card count. Of the three Enduring Vitality in his hand, my The End answered them all and he conceded.
In game three I was stuck on four lands the whole time and never drew graveyard hate, and I got played to death by Stormchaser’s Talent recursion~

With this one loss, it was confirmed I could no longer reach ten wins and the Top 8 QQ A bit sad, but I kept playing for ranking and prize money~

R13 Takumi Matsuura XOO Gruul Prowess

Two HARERUYA big names in a row, this one being 4th at this year’s Seattle PT, and in a draft I had once been crushed by his Selesnya Mounts.
In game one I didn’t have enough removal to keep up with his creature count, and in the end I got killed by his double-striking Mice that he’d pumped everything into.
In games two and three after sideboarding, he played a long game, using Emberheart Challenger and Questing Druid // Seek the Beast to gain card advantage. Luckily Legions to Ashes hit Forge at the right time, and he couldn’t answer Sheoldred, even casting Pawpatch Formation just to draw cards, which was super pathetic~
He even threw down the last two Pawpatch Formations, which was a bit classless~

R14 Intentional draw (would have played XOO) Gruul Prowess

The opponent was the American veteran Brian Boss. He proposed that we were at the tail end of eight wins, so the winner’s prize was not guaranteed to move up a tier, but the loser would drop a tier, and if we drew the floor was $10,000, or with luck $13,000. Calculating this kind of ranking is what I’m worst at. Having heard him out it made sense, plus the win count at Worlds is unrelated to Adjust Match Point, and I was very tired from not having adjusted to the time difference, so I agreed to the draw.

After we agreed, he said I was right to draw. His Gruul deck had Leyline of Resonance, specifically to kill midrange decks. I told him, buddy, I’ve beaten three Gruul Prowess decks these past two days, sit down and shuffle.

In game one he had Leyline of Resonance, turn one Monastery Swiftspear, turn two a scheming Slickshot Show-Off. On my turn two Duress took Monstrous Rage, and on turn three I thought for a long time about whether Legions to Ashes should pick Swiftspear or the Leyline, and I chose the Leyline. He said I was right, since damage is higher if Leyline of Resonance is out. So his Swiftspear + Show-Off pumped by Monstrous Rage, plus two Might of the Meek, smacked me in the face.
Games two and three were about the same as my other matches. When he was on the draw I guessed he’d play the Leyline, so I won smoothly, ending this World Championship.

DAY 2 record 8-5-1, 23rd place
Brian Boss himself finished 24th (truly good at calculating). If I hadn’t drawn, I’d have been 9-5, with the best case maybe 11th and the worst case maybe 20th. That’s how it goes~ It’s already much better than the Seattle PT~

In the evening I took 蹦蹦 and 小石 around the casino for a big meal~

Day 3 2024/10/27

I went into the venue early with 蹦蹦 and 小石 to enjoy MAGIC CON, and we even ran into ClarkShih, who was visiting the expo. Along the way I traded my own singles, bought a pile of merchandise, and turned into a ruthless artist-signature machine, blowing over 500 bucks~ (shh)

Conclusion

This was my second time traveling abroad for a big tournament, or the third if you count the second-day PTQ in Seattle. From the end of September I prepared until the trip abroad, within limited time (shift work / looking after the three kids), and practicing only on ARENA. I was lucky not to meet too many unfavorable matchups, and I won the favorable ones too, so I’m very satisfied with this result.

As for the main/sideboard plans for the deck, my read on the META wasn’t far off, and the feel for draft Limited has come back too. Next year’s first event, the Chicago PT, is at the end of February, and there should be five or six Taiwanese players there. I hope we can achieve great results again.