DECK: Esper Mentor

Esper Mentor was an archetype that always vaguely interested me, but I never saw I list I liked and didn't invest any effort into developing my own. I was spared by Hanni Alnimer, who made Top8 at Eternal Weekend a month ago with this list.

I don't think there's anything innovative in Hanni's list, but something about it just "clicked" with me. I picked up Mentors and Therapies and have now played four weekly events with the deck (11-5-1 record), tweaking it along the way. Here is where I'm currently at:

Win-cons

Instants & Sorceries

Lands

Sideboard

Link to Imgur album w/ full-size images

As you may notice, I haven't changed Hanni's MD spellbase at all, which feels very good and tight so far. This is my first experience playing with Cabal Therapy and Monastery Mentor (not to mention 12 cantrips), which give the deck a different texture than classic Esper Deathblade and have led to many misplays. What I've enjoyed casting the most is Gitaxian Probe. While obviously great with Therapy and Meddling Mage, even individually the card is incredibly powerful. 

Tournament Report: Top16 @ SCG Classic with Punishing Zoo, 10/29/17

After going 1-3 drop with Punishing Maverick in the SCG Open on Saturday, I decided to play Punishing Zoo in the Classic on Sunday. My experiences getting hosed by Liliana the Last Hope (maindeck!) and Izzet Staticaster in the Open led me to consider that Zoo may be in a better spot than Punishing Maverick at the moment.

Zoo is specifically stronger against the popular Grixis Delver and Czech Pile-style decks for several reasons. Maverick is a slow, synergy-based strategy that can be effectively combated by their efficient disruption. Its also vulnerable to cards which have become prevalent like those mentioned above and Kolaghan's Command.

On the other hand, Zoo has more individually powerful cards, and can match these decks on the efficiency axis with a 1-mana threat in Wild Nacatl and additional 1-mana interaction in Lightning Bolt. Against Delver its very realistic to race without drawing any interaction, which Maverick can almost never do. You're also less vulnerable to sweepers since you can present a decent clock with fewer creatures.

I ended up on the list below, which can also be found here.

Punishing Zoo, 10/29/17
Creature Spells (20) 4x Noble Hierarch 4x Wild Nacatl 2x Qasali Pridemage 2x Scavenging Ooze 1x Gaddock Teeg 1x Voice of Resurgence 4x Knight of the Reliquary 2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar	Noncreature Spells (17) 4x Green Sun's Zenith 4x Lightning Bolt 4x Swords to Plowshares 4x Punishing Fire 1x Sylvan Library
Lands (23) 4x Wooded Foothills 4x Windswept Heath 2x Savannah 2x Taiga 2x Plateau 1x Forest 1x Plains 1x Dryad Arbor 3x Grove of the Burnwillows 1x Karakas 2x Wasteland	SB: 3x Surgical Extraction SB: 1x Gaddock Teeg SB: 2x Pyroblast SB: 1x Wear / Tear SB: 1x Reclamation Sage SB: 2x Crop Rotation SB: 2x Ethersworn Canonist SB: 1x Bojuka Bog SB: 1x Umezawa's Jitte SB: 1x Chandra Pyromaster

I made a few adjustments to the maindeck since last playing it in June. The "grind slot" changed from a Planeswalker to the 4th Punishing Fire. I also cut the 3rd Qasali Pridemage for a Voice of Resurgence based on Voice's sterling performance in Maverick so far. Lastly, Skarrg, the Rage Pits was replaced with a 2nd Wasteland, mostly due to concern with the Lands and Turbo Depths matchups. Skarrg is a true beating against True-Name Nemesis, but we don't need the extra help against decks employing that card.

I honestly didn't put enough thought into the sideboard, which is functionally the same sideboard I play in Maverick. I incorporated the Crop Rotation package without being certain of its effectiveness in the absence of Dark Depths.

There were 119 players in the tournament so it was 7 rounds. Mine went as follows:

Round 1: Canadian Threshold (2-1)
Round 2: Czech Pile (2-1)
Round 3: Death & Taxes (2-1)
Round 4: Aggro Loam (1-2)
Round 5: Czech Pile (2-0)
Round 6: Sneak & Show (0-2)
Round 7: Grixis Control (2-0)

At 5-2 I had good enough breakers to slide into 15th place.

The only bad matchup I encountered was Sneak & Show, which I regrettably punted a winnable game 1 against. The deck performed well against the various fair Blue decks I expected to face. As long as significant quantities of such decks exist in the meta, Zoo has a chance to be relevant. While not a very impressive result, I hope this provides some visibility to the Zoo archetype and demonstrates that it has life in the current meta.

As a postscript, I would like to congratulate my car mates Matt Kuranda and Caleb Comptois for making Top 8 and Top 32 respectively in the Open!