Temur Rhinos RCQ Win Tournament Report

 Hey, Magic spikes!

 Another season of RCQs is upon us, and this time around, the stakes here in SoCal have never been higher. With season 5 having modern as the prioritized format, a lot of players that have already bought into the format (or maybe didn't enjoy pioneer) will be out in full force as it's still the most popular format in competitive Magic. Some stores here would even sell out RCQs in full capacity a week in advance. For the more seasoned players in the area, if you've stayed the course getting reps with your deck of choice on the side while pioneer was in full swing the previous two seasons, you were going to get rewarded a skill edge here barring volatile changes to the meta.

 That said, I'm a firm believer that with modern in particular, deck choice is a much higher priority than it would be in other formats. Your matchup spread has to be considered if you want to find success here. The temptation might be strong to bring what you have and run something offbeat that you maybe know well (think Merfolk, Affinity, UW Control, Scapeshift, etc.), but in a competitive environment, as we have locally, the deck will only take you as far as the top tables will allow you to. As someone who plays mostly pioneer nowadays, I had a big decision to make in regard to what matchups I'd like to be favorable when choosing my deck for this season. Assuming that I'll be playing at the top tables for a majority of the season playing responsibly, I wanted something that can hang with the top tier decks, particularly Rakdos Scam, Rhinos, Tron, Yawgmoth (it's popular here), and 4C Omnath. With the banlist showing no changes recently minus Preordain returning, and the very recent rise of Beanstalk, these decks are here to stay at the top for the time being and demand your respect.

 Before going into my deck choice, I'd like to briefly introduce myself.

 You're likely seeing me for the first time. Hi! My name is Prez Kuhnke, a new addition to The Logic Knot. Formerly a competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! player and web show actor from northern Wisconsin, nowadays I grind through the Magic scene in SoCal. My accomplishments so far include winning fourteen prereleases, making double mythic on Arena twice, seventeen Top 8 appearances at competitive REL so far, including winning a 1K and four RCQs, and recently cashing within Top 64 at the Regional Championship in Dallas. My favorite format is Pauper.

 I qualified in our first RCQ in season 4 back in April and had five months off from the grind before returning in season 5, knowing that I would have to play modern. I tried my best to make it work with Domain Zoo (and Jeskai Fair Breach briefly), but unfortunately found that I was losing too many matches when falling behind on board after turn 3. Playing reactively felt rough if I didn't have pressure from a Territorial Kavu, Scion of Draco, the usual suspects. I got tired of losing heavily to anything representing Pile decks and being a walking signpost for Blood Moon, which I knew was going to be a problem with Scam spiking in popularity at the time. Preordain might have fixed the problem of playing from behind by giving the deck better filtering, but I wasn't willing to play something that can easily fold to early interaction or its draws after the initial seven, as much as I liked the deck.

 So what do we do? My checklist looked for something consistent, positioned well against the top tables (most importantly Scam), and can play interactively if possible. After doing some digging on matchup spreads online and consulting with a select few trustworthy players over Discord, I found my answer.

THE DECK

 Temur Rhinos! I intended to test Tron and Rakdos Scam on MTGO after a trial run with Rhinos, but this deck had a lot going for it that I enjoyed immediately, especially with high consistency and less greed on the mana base in the Temur variation. Obviously getting two 4/4 Rhinos off eight cascaders by turn 3 or the occasional turn 1 suspend come with great rates, but being able to interact with Force of Negation, Subtlety, and Fury to minimize some early game disadvantages cascade decks have (and eliminating the fear of tapping out) feels fantastic in today's meta. Not to mention also recently getting even better with Lorien Revealed to smooth out the mana curve and add a blue card to the pitch count for these cards. This is also a tempo deck where you can most times dictate the speed of the game at your own pace, which a lot of people don't know at first glance of Rhinos. There's an invisible learning curve to playing tempo decks that I think gets taken for granted, but luckily this wasn't an issue as I spent every RCQ pioneer season exclusively playing Bant Spirits and felt very confident transitioning into Rhinos. So much so that in my first RCQ playing this deck in paper, I went into Top 8 as the number one seed in a stacked field and made the finals (in a one-slotter though, big sad). Having two Gemstone Caverns is also a big asset with play-draw mattering a lot in this format. Just be sure to take out a Caverns for a Boseiju, Who Endures post-sideboard on the play, as Caverns is a legendary land.

 This is all great, but how does it fare against the rest of tier 1? Well, seeing as how I'm packing three mainboard Subtletys (a rare answer to turn 1 Grief + Scam on the draw) and Temur Rhinos topdecks really well, Rakdos Scam is favorable. We won't go into the field afraid of the big baddie. My best matchup is Yawgmoth, which is very popular locally and is a favorite to anyone who sticks with one deck and reaps the rewards of pilot skill. Similar situation with Amulet Titan. Tron feels slightly favorable in my experience. The only matchups this high up I don't like is Omnath/Bean piles. The uprising Up the Beanstalk hype from earlier this season skewed this matchup from 50/50 to unfavorable. Having to Force of Negation a two mana cantrip and still face down The One Ring and other high-value cards already feels like losing.

 The only other matchups I don't want to see are scarcely represented in SoCal, which I just listed earlier. Dimir/Azorius Control, Merfolk, and Affinity aren't seen here anymore. The only other matchup left is the unwinnable one, Living End. Scarce too, but still looming. Literally everything else in between this and the top 5 decks are favorable if not 50/50. This deck henges the bad matchups very well locally.

 I felt confident enough in my 60 mainboard to leave it unchanged for the entirety of this season. The only real noticeable difference between a stock list and mine is that I'm on a Dismember instead of the 4th Dead // Gone and I'm playing two Murktides instead of one. (Spoiler alert, they never came up in this event.) The sideboard, however, has seen some slight adjustments throughout this season. I'm on two Endurances instead of the traditional four to accept my death against Living End and make room for two more sideboard spots. I'll throw Endurance in anyway for matchups where I expect a lot of cascade hate, as I can still get there the fair way with these, Bonecrusher Giants, and late Subtletys and Furys. The sideboard Flame of Anor helps henge the matchups where I have to sideboard a lot of cards out and deal with Engineered Explosives and Chalice of the Void, plus is a nice audible include when sideboarding if I see something random I don't like. Drawing cards and having another blue/red pitch card in the Plan B of the deck also feels nice. Three Mystical Disputes in the sideboard is normal, but there's a debate on having them mainboard or not. I like them in the sideboard because I need to make room for my 60 to be well-rounded in tempo game 1. You can play Disputes mainboard if you feel your local meta demands it.

 Decks that play Mystical Dispute mainboard will need to make room for this slightly more reactive plan. With my list, we're squeezing in the extra threat with a 2nd Bonecrusher Giant and electing to play a 2nd Flame of Anor mainboard compared to the decklist below. If you like mainboard Disputes, I personally recommend local RCQ grinder Wappa Hamada's list, who is also qualified for Denver. The 3rd and 4th Dispute mainboard typically comes at the expense of the Bonecrusher Giants and/or Brazen Borrower.

 Our decks are very similar compared to a few weeks ago as we bounced ideas off each other before an RCQ in Santa Barbara and fine-tuned our sideboards and flex spots to the best of our abilities. He's also on one Mutavault instead of the 2nd Gemstone Caverns. Being able to talk deck construction with someone else on the same deck and posting very good results is a big asset if you want to avoid hyperbolic decision-making.

 Being able to play Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon feels nice too. This is another flexible choice if you want to toss in a 3rd moon effect. Commandeer is a new addition to my sideboard to help the mirror match as people are realizing that Rhinos is a good deck and admittedly is a tilt response to Up the Beanstalk and The One Ring.

PROLOGUE

 I played very poorly at my RCQ the week before this one, reeling from back-to-back twelve-hour shifts at work, six hours of sleep, and two hours of driving leading to punting away a win-and-in match for Top 8 and finishing 9th. Embarrassed, but determined to rebound, I try to dedicate more time for sleep, eat and drink more before the event, and avoid post-work tilt in an effort to come into this one healthier. This time we're going to Game Cellar in the El Monte/Temple City area. My girlfriend Amanda is with me in the car to keep me company and lift my energy. Shoutout to all of the supportive women in our community.

 Onto the tournament.

ROUND 1 - WIN 2-0 VS Rakdos Scam (1-0)

 Glad to see you so early, big bad.

 I'm on the play and game 1 starts off slow for the Scam player with just casting a turn 1 Ragavan, which I don't really care about. I cast a Shardless Agent to get my first pair of 4/4 rhinos for the day, which are promptly met with a Fury plus scam effect on the opponent's next turn. A very sad development, but I still hold a Violent Outburst in hand to get the board back later and I Gone (The lesser-used half of Dead // Gone) to bounce Fury. a 4/4 double striker is bad news bears for me. I get more Rhinos out and Fury eventually gets hardcasted again, and sadly the game drags on too long several turns later and the opponent is going wide with two Orcish Bowmasters to get my life total to four. I'm not drawing help and I spread out my lands and bluff interaction to buy me some time, but luckily still have a rhino left and draw into a Subtlety to help stabilize and threaten seven damage at a time, which is enough to take game 1.

+2 Endurance
+1 Flame of Anor
+1 Fury
+1 Subtlety
-3 Force of Negation
-1 Crashing Footfalls
-1 Shardless Agent

 I mulligan to six and I'm met with a turn 1 Grief, but no scam effect. I don't think I understand why my opponent would pull the trigger turn 1 without knowing what else was in my opponent's hand, but it's a fine thought here with me already down a card from a mulligan if my opponent is content with playing fair. He rips my only cascader, but I have a Flame of Anor and an Endurance to support my backup plan. I get in some damage slowly with an Endurance and I eventually draw another cascader, but my opponent casted a turn 3 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. I Petty Theft a Chalice of the Void and attempt to Boseiju his Reflection before it becomes problematic, but the opponent now has a scam effect in hand with two cards left. I'm met again with Fury, giving me problems swinging the momentum back to the opponent and threatening to copy Fury on the backside of Kiki Jiki to close out the game, but I still have a fresh set of rhinos to try and get there. I draw a clutch Dismember to finally kill a flipped Reflection, but the damage has been done by copying Fury. I try to sneak lethal with a flashed Brazen Borrower off an adventure, but crazy enough, my opponent didn't side out Orcish Bowmasters, and my flying plan is axed quickly. With my opponent at 7 though, I finally get in four damage and double Fire him to win the match.

 Very gritty games, which can still happen in this matchup, but we have the benefit of better topdecks and bigger bodies in the aftermath of interaction.

ROUND 2 - WIN 2-0 VS 5C Rhinos (2-0)

 It's a mirror match, and game 1 ended up being insane. Before even starting the match, we have to consider leaving our fetchlands uncracked to potentially play around Fire // Ice. My opponent accidentally flips over their 7th card, revealing a Subtlety in their opening hand that they keep. I thankfully have a lot of cascaders in hand to meet my opponent's advantage of also having access to the extra cascader in Ardent Plea. With my opponent being on the play and getting a cascade in first, we proceed to see all eight copies of Crashing Footfalls resolve with neither of us having a Force of Negation to stop it, with almost all sixteen rhino tokens dying from my opponent attacking and me doing even trades on the draw, with a Petty Theft and Leyline Binding here and there of course. Several turns have passed and neither of us has made any real progress at getting the other player's life total to zero, a classic slugout. When this happens, Temur is favored here as we have Bonecrusher Giants and Subtletys game 1 to close out, which 5C's advantage comes from the consistency of having more cascaders, which doesn't help here anymore. I draw cards with Flame of Anor and my opponent is down to one card in hand late, the Subtlety I saw at the start of the game, and I'm slowly chipping away bit by bit and his life total. My opponent finally needs to hard cast the Subtlety, where I eat it with one of my own, and we get there in an ugly game 1.

+3 Mystical Dispute
+1 Fury
+1 Commandeer
-2 Subtlety
-3 Dead // Gone

 This is a rare matchup where we don't want the Subtletys. It's a 3/3 flyer, but the hits are limited and I can live with one Drannith Magistrate on board. I'll keep one in to keep another blue card to pitch to Force of Negation if necessary and to respect the Magistrate if I see it off a cascade. (Yes, 5C Rhinos can do this.) I don't like Dead // Gone here either because paying three mana (a lot in this deck) to answer a single rhino and losing tempo and card equity early isn't where I want to be. The sideboard Flame of Anor would be better if you want to keep some more expensive spot removal.

 I start with an early Gemstone Caverns on the draw and suspend a Crashing Footfalls turn 1. On my opponent's turn 3 upkeep to play around Force of Negation, I cast a Violent Outburst to get some rhinos, and my opponent casts a Commandeer pitching away two blue cards to steal my rhinos. Unfortunately for the opponent, I have a Commandeer of my own to take Crashing Footfalls right back. Being ahead on board and both of us burning three cards in our hand in that exchange, my opponent quickly concedes. The worst part about this wild interaction was cleaning up our boards with cards flying all over the place in the middle of me cascading about fifteen cards and pitched blue cards being everywhere. Regardless, we're now onto the win-and-in match with this being a five round swiss event.

ROUND 3 - WIN 2-1 VS Yawgmoth (3-0)

 We get possibly our best matchup for the win-and-in. This one goes our way a majority of the time in part due to having plenty of creature answers with Subtletys, Furys, and whatnot, but more importantly with the density of our threats. Presenting a turn three clock in the form of eight trample damage completely overruns Yawg's ambitions of chump blocking and generating value without much consequence. The trample keyword will prove to be a nightmare for the opposing Young Wolf, insect tokens, and toolbox targets. Not to mention having Dead // Gone and Fire // Ice to accidentally have a good removal selection for the early game.

 Unfortunately, after a turn 3 Shardless Agent into the rhinos, the opponent gets enough stops with a turn 4 Grist, the Hunger Tide to take down one token, then I realize I'm drawing into nothing but lands and several Force of Negations, which aren't great here. He then sticks a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician that I don't find an answer to and my other rhino gets reduced to a 1/1. I eventually find answers to the main threats such as Yawg and eventually Grist and find some Force targets (Chord of Calling being the main one), but the poor draws continue into an empty hand and I don't find another cascader in time to stop my opponent going wide, chipping away with just an Orcish Bowmasters, an Amass token, and a Strangleroot Geist. I even dedicated a turn to hard casting a Lorien Revealed and got mostly fodder. Tilting, sure. But not the end of the world. Sometimes Yawgmoth itself can be the only stop the deck needs on board. We can't have them all.

+2 Endurance
+1 Subtlety
+1 Fury
+1 Boseiju, Who Endures
-2 Force of Negation
-1 Brazen Borrower
-1 Crashing Footfalls
-1 Gemstone Caverns

 Before I go into detail on the rest of this match, I want to share a piece of philosophy that I feel needs to be reflected upon by anyone serious about getting better at Magic.

 My round 2 opponent on 5C Rhinos whispered some spicy tech before I would go to play round 3, knowing that I was likely to play against one of a handful of undefeated Yawgmoth players. He insisted I side in Commandeer to combat Agatha's Soul Cauldron and possibly shut down their deck, flip Chord turns to my high-value creatures, and possibly get a funny reverse Necromentia naming Yawgmoth. I don't mean this with any disrespect toward my opponent as I know he's made Top 8's with me in the past, but I disregarded this advice when sideboarding going into game 2. Why would I ignore this coming from another Rhinos player?

 The reason for this is that this matchup is already favorable and I'm trimming similar cards (the Force of Negations) and doubling down on the Subtletys and Furys to respect the few cards that flip the matchup against me in the namesake Yawgmoth and an early Grist, basically going the opposite direction of trying Commandeer. This tech also contradicts the principles of sideboarding I picked up from a select few Rhinos players I trust (Regional Championship invitees and Pro Tour members). Holding up my hand with the liability of needing two extra blue cards for a situational win-more tech card is how I can accidentally wait too long and lose if I deviate from my normal game plan. When you play a matchup as gifting to you as this one is, the onus is on the opponent to take more risks to get the W, not the other way around. This matchup is mine to lose as long as I put myself in the best position I can to simply answer my opponent's threats and exploit the Achilles heel that is my trampling 4/4's. Don't panic, play solid, and don't draw poorly like in game 1. This ties to me practicing what I believe to be good critical listening, which EVERY Magic player will need to learn to avoid subtle hyperbolic traps. The full conversation, however, is something I will have to save for another article.

 Game 2 features another early Shardless Agent and another early Grist to send away a rhino, but this time we have a second cascader. In the face of three rhino tokens, my opponent does land another Yawgmoth, but has to pay a lot of life and basically sell the farm on my next combat to stop the bleeding off a potential whopping twelve trample damage. The opponent draws a handful of cards, but I'm so far ahead on board that it doesn't matter and the clock is still too much to overcome.

+1 Gemstone Caverns
-1 Boseiju, Who Endures

 Game 3 ends up with our best case scenario. I Dead // Gone an early Delighted Halfling, Ice a land, then cast a Violent Outburst to put even more pressure onto an underdeveloped board for the opponent having only a Young Wolf and I believe a Wall of Roots. He casts a Yawgmoth that I snap tuck with a Subtlety and quickly bowl over my opponent uninterrupted.

ROUND 4 - ID VS Rakdos Scam (3-0-1)

 With only four undefeated players left, we all unanimously agree that we're going to draw no matter what our matchups are. I get Guillermo Sida (who won the aforementioned season 4 Collector Legion RCQ with me) on Rakdos Scam, and we all leave for lunch for the round. Amanda wants In-N-Out, which I immediately deny knowing how SoCal packs them to the brim, and we settle for getting her McDonald's.

 With six X-1s alive going into round five and the other two drawers being Angel Zamora on Yawgmoth and Crosby Lewis on Living End, I decide that I'll play Angel for the 1st or 2nd seed if I get him round five, but will otherwise try to talk Crosby into the draw. I don't want to risk losing seeding and getting catapulted into the 2 vs 7 bracket with him on the draw. Living End is literally my worst matchup and basically free elo for Crosby.

ROUND 5 - ID VS Living End (3-0-2)

 I offered the draw to Crosby, staying tight-lipped about what I was playing when asked. We shake hands before I tell him that I'm on Temur Rhinos and that he squashes me easily in the matchup. I just need to avoid him in Top 8 and win two more matches for one of the two invites.

 Mission accomplished, right? Haha. Nope.

 To my dismay, as I'm playing casual pauper with Amanda outside, I find out that the two top tiebreakers in the X-1's took an intentional draw instead of playing and leaving the other four to fight for their tournament lives while Angel and Guillermo play for the 1st seed, undoubtedly locking me as the 5th seed playing against Living End on the draw.

TOP 8

 Yup, just as I feared. I've never been so tilted going into a Top 8, especially with the rest of the field feeling so favorable for me. But we need to shake that off and just play the best we can. Top 8 decides not to split the share of the $1,000.

 Onto playoff Magic.

QUARTERFINALS - WIN 2-1 VS Living End

 And of course, this is how I die. It must be nice when his cascades literally just counter mine, Living End has free tempo on me, and game 1 is unwinnable for me having no help for th-
-oh, wait we won? Oh wow.

 Game 1 goes about as well as you would expect though. I mulligan to six to dig aggressively for Force of Negations. (You have to in this matchup.) I suspend a Crashing Footfalls turn 1, but I don't find my third land drop and Crosby takes advantage of this by casting a Violent Outburst on my turn to deny any chance of a Force stop, and I scoop it up. To make matters worse, I only have two Endurances in my sideboard to diversify the fifteen in my list and willingly fold against an already abysmal matchup. Life is pain.

+3 Mystical Dispute
+2 Endurance
+1 Flame of Anor
+1 Boseiju, Who Endures
-3 Dead // Gone
-1 Subtlety
-1 Fury
-1 Dismember
-1 Gemstone Caverns

 Game 2 goes much better for me, I have a Violent Outburst, Mystical Dispute, Force of Negation, Flame of Anor, Crashing Footfalls, and two lands in my hand. If I draw my third land, we're in business. I eventually draw into it and don't see a cascader from Crosby yet, so I cast Violent Outburst on his end step and it resolves. He needs to dig for his clapback by cycling more. Crosby goes for an Outburst of his own cascading into Living End and I counter it with a full cost Mystical Dispute with fingers crossed. My prayers were answered and I got the stop that I needed. Surprisingly, the two turn clock is enough as I draw into a Bonecrusher Giant to Stomp him for lethal after my 2nd rhino combat went uninterrupted and all of a sudden we're going to game 3.

+1 Gemstone Caverns
-1 Boseiju, Who Endures

 I'm blessed with another banger of a hand, this time also carrying an Endurance in addition to the Mystical Dispute and Force of Negation. In what I can only describe as divine intervention, Crosby has a good grip of cascaders in hand as I find out after the match as well as a few cyclers, but takes two damage off of shocklands twice and fails to find his third land drop a few turns in.

 My eyes go wide. I'm curving out perfectly again and have a legitimate chance to steal the match.

 I do the usual cascading thing and he still doesn't find the land. Next turn I play my fourth land drop and bring him from 16 to 8. With all of the answers in hand ready to be unleashed, he says he'll likely win if he draws land number three, and instead topdecks Living End and I take the match. His hand ended up having a Violent Outburst, some Shardless Agents, and two Force of Negations. This brutal line on my turn puts us both down some cards, but I may still get there with a pitched Endurance three damage at a time after all of the counterspell trades are done.

 We decided to split the money going into Top 4 with each of us receiving $150. In a twist, the 1st through 4th seeds all lost, meaning I also now get to go against the 8th seed on the play with one of the invites to Regional Championship Denver on the line. My Yawgmoth opponent from round 3. Perfect.

SEMIFINALS - WIN 2-0 VS Yawgmoth

 Allow me to reintroduce myself.

 I mulligan to six, but my opponent goes down to five. Turn 1 starts with me blasting a Delighted Halfling with a Dead // Gone, then casting a turn three Shardless Agent into the Rhinos. A Yawgmoth eventually enters the fray, but with it on the stack and three cards in my hand, I blast two more of his smaller creatures to offer him fewer Yawg activations, where I then Dismember it with my last card in hand. He gets some value on its way out and weakens my board a bit, but I'm too far ahead for it to matter and we win game 1 in quick brutal fashion.

+2 Endurance
+1 Subtlety
+1 Fury
-2 Force of Negation
-1 Brazen Borrower
-1 Crashing Footfalls

 I'm able to slow him down again with another early Dead // Gone and an Ice on a Forest, and the opponent gets off to a slow start as I get a Violent Outburst off. He dumps his hand into a Wall of Roots, Young Wolf, and other miscellaneous things with a Grist, but not much action happens aside from killing one of my rhinos. To be more aggressive, I pitch a Fury to simplify the board, killing Grist and a 0/3 Wall of Roots and hold up that free mana to go for the nail in the coffin with another Outburst on his end step, but I have to wait in case he has Engineered Explosives or something equally scary on his turn, to which I have an Endurance I can always just flash in. No such thing comes up, I Outburst on his final end step, and I land the finishing blow with twelve damage to punch my ticket for Denver.

 Not much longer after that, Guillermo Sida won the other semifinal match and we take the two invites together again just six months after the last time we did this! We were simply meant to be.

FINALS - LOSS 0-2 VS Rakdos Scam

 Guillermo intentionally conceded to me in the finals at Collector Legion to let me have the lanyard there, so we both agreed that it was only fair that I return the favor here and let him have this one. We were both ready to cash in on our newly found store credit and call it a day. No celebration dinner this time around. I'm tired and I want to go home.

EPILOGUE

 Overall, I'm happy with how the deck has felt this season and my play throughout this particular tournament. My only negative takeaway in gameplay was not playing around scam effects better while attempting to channel Boseiju to blow up the flipped Fable of the Mirror-Breaker in round 1 game 2, getting punished for waiting until the end step to try. If we know that this is going to be the line, consider blasting it before it becomes a creature. Although it didn't come up in this event, I wanted to mention something else for post-sideboard consideration if you choose to play this deck. If you suspend a Crashing Footfalls and are light on interaction, be careful suspending another one next turn or cascading another one the turn before the suspended Footfalls resolves. In the face of Chalice of the Void and Engineered Explosives, it's really easy to accidentally 2 for 1 yourself.

 Combining my experiences in RCQs with my matches played over XMage and MTGO leagues, I'm considering running it back with Rhinos for Denver but will still keep Tron in the bank if I want to play on a different axis of Magic in the face of Beanstalk and Scam. Local Tron expert Joe Lossett (who made Top 4 here as well) advised me of the potential pitfalls of needing to be able to make responsible decisions, especially with mulligans, and getting bored of repeatedly playing the same linear game plan. I'm not afraid of the challenge if I decide that I want to play Tron come February.

 The metagame in Denver will vary from what I've experienced here in SoCal and Rhinos can lose some points in that regard, so I'll continue to spectate results across the board with the help of Kazi's fantastic RCQ reports on this site assuming I'll be playing against "table 1" decks from the get-go at the Regional Championship. That said, I'll keep Rakdos Scam as a third option with its unprecedented ceiling as turn 1 Grief plus scam effect makes literally every matchup the right side of the tables for you and you're now all of a sudden playing the undisputed best deck in modern. When the dream doesn't happen turn 1, you're forced into the fair Rakdos Midrange plan and can fall victim to the topdecks much easier than you would in pioneer with so many must-answer bombs spread across the format. I would need to ask for feedback from some Scam players I trust to get the skill percentage points needed to play it confidently when I have to fall back on fair Magic.

 The mainboard feels great and will likely leave it unchanged if I were to run it back, but the sideboard can still be developed a little more. Having one Obsidian Charmaw hanging out was a little awkward. Depending on how much I care to respect Amulet Titan and Tron, I'll need to decide on whether doubling back to two or playing none is more appropriate. Commandeer will also be evaluated. The rest of the sideboard seems rock solid, even the extra Subtlety.

 Compared to tournament reports I've written in the past, I'm aware that there isn't much variation in my matchups compared to others. So to compensate for this, I'll be sharing a sideboard guide for most of everything else with some principles taken from Pro Tour LotR Top 8 player Marco Del Pivo. Most of these decisions, however, are of my own accord from personal experiences.

SIDEBOARD GUIDE

 This guide is reflected from my 75 played throughout this report, ignoring swapping the Gemstone Caverns for a Boseiju on the play. Comment below if you have any questions or personal takes for me.

PERSONAL STATS FOR NERDS

 Not including intentional draws/concessions, my total win-loss record this RCQ season (all were modern) is 22-9, a 71% match-win percentage collected from six events. Attached below is my personal spreadsheet from playing exclusively online, cumulating to a 47-12 record and an 80% match-win percentage across 59 matches. Follow me for tips on how to talk to girls, you nerds.

 Special thanks to Adam Fischer, friend, and father of local Magic celebrity Dana Fischer, and Logic Knot teammate Devin Fong for being gracious enough to let me borrow cards from them to make the dream happen, my girlfriend Amanda for the consistent support this season, and to Wappa Hamada for conversing about our lists. Couldn't have done it without you guys.

 Good games, everyone.

~ Prez Kuhnke