Stages of Grief: Doomsday at the SCG Worcester Classic

When Gitaxian Probe was banned, Doomsday, barely clinging to life after losing SDT, was pronounced dead. We Doomsday players began the recovery process, sorting through our emotions. Most everyone is familiar with the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I never made it past the first.

I am a Doomsday player, always have been. I have little interest in playing other decks, so I needed to get Doomsday back to tier 3 where it belonged. I didn't like the lists others were trying (mostly involving a swap of Street Wraith for Probe), and set out to redesign the list a bit, trying to increase the overall power level of the cards and reduce the number of dead cards in the deck. I took an ANT-hybrid list to a local win-a-dual and scrubbed out hard. I went back to the drawing board and devised a new list with multiple Infernal Contracts. I started jamming games in the MTGO practice room, and it tested suprisingly well. I dropped the list in the Doomsday Discord, but had a hard time getting anyone else on board since it was so different from what others were trying at the time. As I got more comfortable with the new piles, I played a few leagues, and after cashing most of them I was able to convince a few of the remaining Doomsdayers to take it for a spin. A couple had good results at their weeklies, so I was pretty sure I wasn't just getting really lucky and might actually be on to something. I 4-1'd my last 2 leagues before the SCG Worcester weekend and was feeling pretty good about the list.

On Sunday I got up at 6am, drove 40 minutes to a friend's house, and then got in his car and rode another 1.5 hours to Worcester. We met up with the rest of my crew who had been there since Saturday, all of whom had scrubbed out of the main event. Resleeved, wrote out decklists, talked shit, etc. A little after 9:30am, pairings go up for round 1 and I mentally prepare myself to get my dick kicked inside-out.

R1 vs UB Reanimator

Game 1 I lose the roll and fan out a turn 2 kill. My opponent starts with a Verdant Catacombs and passes. I get my hopes up for a non-blue deck, thinking I'll be able to jam next turn. I play a fetch and pass. On their turn, my opponent plays an Underground Sea and passes and I revise my plan. I figure they're on some kind of 3 or 4c Pile type list, and so I spend my turn 2 on a Ponder, looking for discard but not finding any. They EoT Brainstorm, then untap, Careful Study pitching an Iona, and Reanimate it naming Black. I could potentially race that if I can make goblins with only artifacts this turn, but my Brainstorm doesn't turn up the cards I need and I scoop before I reveal too much info.
-1 Rain of Filth, +1 Cabal Therapy
Game 2 is a massacre as well. I mull to 6 and its kind of slow. They get Griselbrand on t1 or 2. I die in a hurry. This matchup is awful, especially when I don't have gravehate, so I try not to let it get to me.
(0-1)

R2 vs TES

Game 1 their hand relied heavily on Ad Nauseam, which I snagged with discard. They hit back with some discard, but I managed to reassemble before they did and killed with Doomsday into a Tendrils.
-1 Preordain, -1 Rain of Filth, +1 Infernal Contract, +1 Cabal Therapy
Game 2 begins with cantrips on both sides. On their turn 2, they start doing math, redo the math, and then Thoughtseize my Burning Wish and just pass the turn. I draw and see they are doing math still. I figure I don't have another turn, and my hand is 2 Rituals, LED, LP, and Infernal Contract, with 2 lands on board. I have 18 life. I look at my opponent and say "uh, y'all mind if I hit that yeet?" and they look confused. I jam, leaving me a ton a black mana floating, with a little blue and red available from the petal and a land. 9 life left. The first Draw 4 hits another and a couple rituals. I keep going. 4 life left. The second Draw 4 hits 2 lands, Doomsday, and the third Draw 4. I have exactly 6 black mana left. Doomsday to 2 life, then draw 4 to 1 life. Petal, Ritual, Ritual, Tendrils.
(1-1)

R3 vs OmniTell

Game 1 I lose the roll again. I strip their hand with discard and on turn 3 they have nothing, and I can kill on my turn 4. Unbeknownst to me, they topdeck Cunning Wish. I go for it, and they let me resolve Doomsday and then wish for disruption and I die.
-1 Preordain, +1 Cabal Therapy
Game 2 I duress on my first turn, they brainstorm in response, and I see only lands and Emrakul. They hid a Show and Tell on top, and Emmy comes out on turn 2. I can't put together a win before it kills me.
(1-2)

At this point I'm basically on the bubble for top 16, and breakers would still need to go my way but I came to play Legacy so I resolve to rattle off 5 wins in a row and top 16.

R4 vs Death and Taxes

Game 1 I lose the roll again. My hand is a little slow but I turn 1 Thoughtseize a Thalia. Unfortunately they draw another before I can win, and I can't find a wish to try to get rid of it. More creatures come down and I die. -3 Duress, -1 Preordain, +2 Abrade, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth
Game 2 I have a turn 2 Doomsday kill on the play and their single Plains does nothing.
Game 3 I Thoughtseize on turn 1 and see Rest in Peace, Stoneforge Mystic, Serra Avenger, and some lands. I completely disrespect the RiP and take the Mystic. My opponent topdecks another Mystic and decides to play it. I win with Doomsday before the Batterskull can come down.
(2-2)

R5 vs No Show

A win is a win but I would have rather actually beaten someone. I'm not sure why this person no showed, its possible I got a pair down and they didn't want to keep playing at 3 losses but didn't formally drop. (3-2)

R6 vs Eldrazi Aggro

Game 1 I lose the roll again, and my opponent leads on Temple into Mimic. I figure this is the end of the line as it's another miserable matchup. However, they have the aggro draw with no interaction, and I'm able to make 12 Goblins on turn 3. It's close, but it was enough.
-2 Preordain, -1 Rain of Filth, -1 Duress, +2 Abrade, +1 Echoing Truth, + 1 Chain of Vapor
Game 2 they have turn 1 Chalice on 1, Turn 2 Thorn, Turn 3 Trinisphere. I lose
Game 3 I lead on Thoughtseize and take a Chalice but they have a 2nd. They wasteland me and drop Chalice@0. I have more lands, and since I can cantrip, I'm able to put something together withing a turn or 2. I play Petal into Chalice to get threshold, then ritual into Doomsday, and set up a pile with a basic Swamp instead of the normal Petal to cast more rituals. It makes exactly 10 storm, and I'm still alive.
(4-2)

R7 vs 4c Loam

Game 1 my opponent was kind of salty, already complaining about playing against unfair decks all day. They mulliganed and kept a very fair hand and despite some Wastelanding, I got the win with Doomsday.
-2 Preordain, -1 Rain of Filth, -1 Duress, +2 Abrade, +1 Echoing Truth, + 1 Chain of Vapor
Game 2 my opponent starts with just a land and passes. I discard a Chalice that they were holding to put on 1, and so they just drop Bob for their turn. I cantrip and hope they don't draw into something nasty. Bob flips a land, and they tap out for Knight. I start my turn with a Dark Ritual. They sigh heavily and throw up their hands. I play Doomsday. They sigh again, and throw up their hands once more. 10 Sighs and hand throws later they sign the match slip.
(5-2)

So here we are. One more match win and I might make top 16, although my breakers aren't great so it's not a guarantee. I made it this far though so might as well give it a try.

R8 vs Death and Taxes

Game 1 I lose the roll, but my opponent mulls to 5 and plays a plains and passes. I only have a cantrip for my turn. My opponent doesn't have a 2nd land, and I survive the crucial second turn. I cantrip again, and when they still don't have the 2nd land I win on my 3rd turn.
-3 Duress, -1 Preordain, +2 Abrade, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Echoing Truth
Game 2 I mull to a mediocre 6, and get locked out hard by Thalia and Prelate.
Game 3 I mull again, but this 6 is better. Potential turn 2 kill if my ponder hits something good. Unfortunately it doesn't and I spend my turn 2 Wishing for Massacre preemptively. This buys me a turn since my opponent doesn't want to run their bears into a board wipe, but I still can't find the ritual or LED I need to go off. My opponent plays out their bears and a Chalice. I Massacre and Wish again for By Force, but they Vial in a second Thalia. Soon a Prelate joins it and I get beaten down before I can find more removal.
(5-3)

So ends my run for top 16. I ended up in 40th place when all was said and done, so I'm not sure if I actually would have made top16 even if I had won. Regardless, 6-2 would feel better than 5-3, but I think it's safe to say the deck is still moderately functional. I've gotten close to 5-0s in leagues, and I was one match win from a potential top16 at a sizeable paper tournament. It's frustrating to choke in the last round, and I seem to do it so often I feel like I might be cursed, but I'm trying to shake it off.

If you want to see me play Doomsday, I've been trying to stream 1-2 times a week (usually Wednesday, Thursday or Friday) at twitch.tv/ddftguy and I upload all my past streams to YouTube.

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