VML Season 13 Week 7 Player Showcase
It’s the final week of division play for Season 13. The top 2 players in each division plus 16 wildcard players will advance to the playoffs, however the top player in each division will get a bye into top 32. This week, I interviewed the players who are on the bubble to make playoffs and need to win their match.
Amanda Cossai
Amanda is 4-2 in Division 11 playing a variety of different Blue decks. This week she registered Dimir Control against Maria Tagi-Zade on Dimir Midrange.
Why did you choose your deck this week?
Wanted to try Doomsday Excruciator
Doomsday Excruciator
as soon as I saw someone else playing the deck, and I was very impressed with how it performed against the current top meta decks.
What does your testing process look like?
I spend the first few days of every week identifying the most consistent and best overall decks. Then I make the selection from those decks based on what I expect my opponent to be playing.
How do you feel about your matchup?
I think it can go either way, as both of us don’t interact well with the opposing deck. I have no reliable ways to deal with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
, and the opponent has no counters in the main deck (except Ertai Resurrected
Ertai Resurrected
) for my combo.
What was your hardest match this season?
Last week’s match against Azorius Tempo. It felt like my opponent was playing with a 60 card hand while my deck did not manage to do its thing at all.
How has the VML helped you improve as a player?
It’s a source of motivation to continue improving at the game. I got my first RC invite through the VML and since then I have been to 3 RCs with a 4th coming up soon. In my country, the competitive Magic community is very small and in some seasons, we do not even have a single RCQ. With such limited opportunities, it is good to have a place to show what I can do.
Maria Tagi-Zade
Leading Division 11 with a 5-1 record is Maria. While she is locked for playoffs, winning this week gives her a bye to top 32, while a loss means she’ll have to play in the round of 48.
Why did you choose your deck this week?
I chose my own build of Dimir Midrange featuring Nashi, Searcher in the Dark
Nashi, Searcher in the Dark
because it performed really well on a Magic Arena ladder and because of my play style: I’m a midrange player through and through. Also I thought it would be a nice full circle moment because I played Dimir Midrange on week 1.
What does your testing process look like?
This season I had a wonderful testing team, shoutout to Gdinut, our team leader. We were very involved and helped each other out in terms of meta gaming, deck choice etc. I would also like to give a shout out to my husband Eldar, with whom I actually play-tested all my match-ups.
How do you feel about your matchup?
I’m a bit concerned because I unfortunately have a lot of useless cards in the main deck against my opponent’s deck, but I believe I still have an edge in this match-up. I trust that I can choose the right strategy and hope for the good draws!
What was your hardest match this season?
I have a feeling that this week’s match is going to be the hardest.
How has the VML helped you improve as a player?
VML structure reminds me of a marathon, so it definitely made me more mentally resilient and patient as a player.
Anna
Anna is one of the most experienced VML players, playing in nearly every season. She’s 4-2 in Division 9 and is playing Gruul Prowess versus CliffBoyardee’s Azorius Tempo.
Why did you choose your deck this week?
After playing with a bunch of archetypes, I found a bunch of decks in the meta had weaknesses that I did not like. Gruul Aggro did well in the Standard Showcase on MTGO and felt like its matchup spread was pretty decent. Even in the removal heavy matchups, which can be tough for this style of deck, Snakeskin Veil
Snakeskin Veil
and Urabrask's Forge
Urabrask's Forge
give you ways to play through the onslaught of interaction. In addition, I loved the way Embersqueak (Manifold Mouse
Manifold Mouse
) played out in my testing matches. It being an engine to turn on valiant every turn lets you save combat tricks for when you need to get across the finish line.
What does your testing process look like?
I generally take a look at what decks have been performing in recent tournaments. I then try to look for decks with well thought out plans and sideboards for the current meta. I then play a bunch of them in random ladder games and some in house games versus my girlfriend Emily Anders. After taking these steps, I’m pretty confident in my deck selection. I then test different sideboard configurations against what my opponent is bringing for the week and find the best plan with the cards I registered for the week.
How did your match go?
I was able to win my match 2-0 this week! In game 2 I was facing down double Abhorrent Oculus
Abhorrent Oculus
and a Haughty Djinn
Haughty Djinn
, 2 Eyeballs attacked putting me dead on my opponent’s next turn. I was able to topdeck a Slickshot Show-Off
Slickshot Show-Off
and trample over the manifests and Djinn with a double striking Heartfire Hero
Heartfire Hero
for just barely enough damage!
What was your hardest match this season?
I would say my match versus Sammy. I registered Leyline of Resonance Prowess into a Boros Sheltered by Ghosts aggro deck. Having exile removal for any nonland permanent that gave lifelink made it very difficult to make forward progress in the goal of reducing my opponent’s life total to zero.
How has the VML helped you improve as a player?
I think the VML has given me the opportunity to practice deck selection. Being able to bob and weave to try to accrue small percentage points of advantage versus your opponent for the next week is one part of it but also being able select decks that are cohesive and have plans for decks that you might not have put your opponent on is crucial for being successful in this format.
Marceline.O
Marceline is the newest player this week, playing in her second season. She’s 4-2 in Division 7 with exclusively Domain Ramp, which she brought again this week against Keira playing Golgari Midrange.
Why did you choose your deck this week?
Domain is the deck I’m most familiar with and also very well positioned for the format especially with all of the new overlords.
What does your testing process look like?
Typically it involves evaluating decks that have been doing well in other events, and in depth testing against those lists with teammates and friends.
How did your match go?
I felt good about the matchup I had this week, Domain is usually well positioned vs Golgari and the way it can outvalue it and bounce back from hand hate showed this week.
What was your hardest match this season?
My toughest matchup was probably week 1 vs Noor who was on a sweet UW control deck, it’s a deck that had historically done well vs domain and faer’s design of the list allowed for taking advantage of the innate advantage control has there.
How has the VML helped you improve as a player?
The VML has given me a tournament format to constantly improve and focus on even during off times of actual traveling, it also has let me have constant connection to very strong and wonderful players.