PTQ Report: Dark North *4-3*

Hi again!!
It's been about 2 days since the ptq, which was rightfully won by a friend of mine, Gonçalo Sequeira, who some of you may know as GFSS, that Magic-League über-legend.
So, this blog is mine, not his, so I will stop talk about him (please continue to read, I am a decent player too!!). Jokes aside, he did rightfully won the tournment since he practiced hard with the deck, which is a Zoo btw, not really high tech, just the Boros Fury-Shield on the sideboard. Gonçalo is a pretty solid player, and in my humble opinion, he's struggling as the best national constructed player with Márcio Carvalho. He sucks on limited though.

Another player that also deserved to win that top8, and was a victim of severe bad beats, was João Andrade. You probabilly know him since he was the living end that lost to GerryT on a Magic Online PTQ. He was playing living end on this ptq as well. And man, he can really make that thing look like a deck.
The third player, who deserved to win the tournment was me. Why? Because I had the best deck for the meta!!! So why didn't I win? Because I mulliganed a lot? No, maybe 3-4 mulligans all day, but I won those games. Got Screw/Flood? Nope. My opponents topdecked all day??? I guess not. So, why didn't I win? Because during my testing I underestimed tier 398 decks. When I practiced with UB Depths for the other ptq, I got assured I had trained against ALL possible decks in extended. People called me crazy, because most decks don't see play, but still I had to be prepared. For this ptq, I just practiced against zoo's and dark depths. So I did deserved to win, but at the same time I didn't because I flawed my practice and was punished by it. Fail and learn.
But, what did I play after all? BG Depths, aka, Dark North.
Hey wait!! Isn't that list by Chris Fennell just some cheaper version of the DDT? Yes and no. So with into the north, you can really combo faster with dark depths and also with rite of comsuption and 8 discard spells you will kill them more often and safer. Also you got the goyf jitte plan, not as good as the thopter one, but a much more easier and less corruptable one.
So, for reference, the list:

// Lands
4 [CS] Dark Depths
3 [RAV] Overgrown Tomb
1 [CS] Snow-Covered Forest
5 [CS] Snow-Covered Swamp
4 [PLC] Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs

// Creatures
4 [RAV] Dark Confidant
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [ZEN] Vampire Hexmage

// Spells
2 [SHM] Beseech the Queen
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [M10] Duress
1 [ZEN] Grim Discovery
3 [CS] Into the North
1 [M10] Naturalize
2 [SHM] Rite of Consumption
4 [RAV] Shred Memory
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
1 [BOK] Umezawa's Jitte
1 [ON] Smother

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ON] Smother
SB: 4 [MOR] Bitterblossom
SB: 2 [RAV] Darkblast
SB: 4 [GP] Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 [ARB] Maelstrom Pulse

The list is pretty much similar to the Chris Fennel one, I just switched the Pendelhavan for 1 mox, since I was mulligan some times due to the useless green mana, and cut one beseech for a smother. I hate beseech. On the sideboard, I'd rather a good card against zoo than a second jitte.
I'm pretty satisfied with my changes, and I guess I wouldn't change anything else.

As for the tournment:

R1 Zoo

So it begins. I keep a nice hand and open with Tomb into seize, eating 4 points of damage to see his hand of 2 Knight's, Bant Charm, 2 Qasali's and a nacatl which was discarded. Unfortunently he topdecked a loam lion to start some early beats. Next I ramp up a into the north for the great depths. Next he attacked me with an exalted Loam Lion. I topdeck an hexmage, duress his bant charm and he topdecked into nothing and we went into game 2.

He had no 1st play which was great for me, but I had a seize to see his hand: Path, purge, bant charm and 3 lands. Took away his bant charm. He played draw go for some turns, while I was transmuting into rite of comsuption. Drew the hexmage, made token rite it. He called a judge to certify he couldn't stop the slaughter.

R2 BW Vampox

So, maybe you are familiar with me getting all the weirdest matchup's, have you seen this one? I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK??
So he opens with duress, taking a rite, then smallpoxes while having a flagstones in play, next turn he seizes and extirpates my hexmages. Do I need to say more?
Game 2, I open up with some seizes and duress, taking his extirpates and celestial purge. The he lays a nighthawk, I play hexmage with a depths in play. I attacks me with the nighthawk and I block with marit lage, he plays another one.
So this is where I may have misplayed, but please, tell me what you think:

He was at 22 with a nighthawk. I had 4 mana with a bitterblossom and a pulse in hand. So I got 2 choices:
Kill his hawk and swing for 20. Play Bitterblossom so I can have a late game in case he draws some answer (he plays purges, path, small pox, gatekeeper, god knows what else!). I opted to attack into his hawk and play bitterblossom. He had the smallpox. I start to build an army, and start to draw blanks while he draws bloodghast, gatekeeper and nighthawk.

So ok, I lost, rightfully. But really? Did he expect to win a tournment with an anti depths pile? wtf? I put him on a 2-2 drop, he got 3-2.

R3 Mirror, but really mirror

LOL, so I got paired with the only guy who has the same deck as mine. Nice.
Game 1 He mulligans, and I open with a dark confidant. Later I seize him and took away his only spell, shred memory, played another dark confidant, and he conceded.
Game 2. He mulligan to 5, and I kept a decent hand. He opened with an urborg. I go with swamp duress and see his hand:

Darkblast, Hexmage, Dark depths, goyf

So, I am dead. Still, I passed. He played dark depths and hexmage and passed, which was a huge mistake since he gave me an out. I really need my deck to give me a dark depths!! PLEASE DECK!!! I draw a blank... I want to scoop, but my inner force makes me to want into the north. So I play into the north. He says: "Ok". Got it? I won the game! lol
So I broke his depths, then his urborg, played bitterblossom, hexmage and overwhelmed him with my army.

R4 Tribal Zoo

So he mulligans, and opens up with a wild nacatl, and I build up my combo with into the north. Later I know that he tribaled me for 5 leaving me at 7. Then I duress away his tribal flames. He attacked me and I chumped nacatl with hexmage, made token and went to 5. He drew blank and he went into game 2.
Game 2 was an exactly copy of game 1 really lol.

R5 Zoo

When I saw my oponent I loled because it was a small kid. He was 15 years old. But hey he was 3-1!
So game 1 I opened with urborg-depths-hexmage and he didn't have any white mana open so game 2.
Game 2 I kept a skechy hand, which I need a black mana source, which I didn't drew and rightfully lost.
Game 3, he had an slow start and I am able to attack with a jitted goyf and kept thing under control with discard and win. Still, props for the kid!

R6 UW Foundry

Time for the "WTF match" number 3.
So I mulliganed for 5 and seize him and discard a muddle. His hand was pretty irrelevant to me.
At some point he casts tezzeret and search's up for the sword of the meek. If he had searched up for the thopter, I had the naturalize, so this way was harder. On my turn, I had the option to muddle into into the north or hexmage way his tezzeret. I went for the combo! Next he searched up for thopter. I comboed and killed his thopter and started to block his tokens. When I was at 5, he attacked me with 5 tokens, blocked one and went to 1. This was his huge mistake. I swing for 20, left him at 3, muddle for rite and won.
So, now was the hard part. How to side? I didn't know. Which plan to follow? Goyf + jittes or dark depths? I mean if he played the thopter, I couldn't win with goyfs, on the other hand, he was going to have much more out's for the hexmage combo.
Result: I tried each game plan and failed horribly. Thing is, I deserved to lost! Sure I did! I didn't know what to do, rightfully I lost.

I should have dropped now, I was too much tired, and my chances for top8 were minimal. So played into a zoo, with a few misplays and a little bad luck, and I got 4-3.

So, I think this deck is great, it's awesome. I should have practiced a lot more. It can get you so much free wins. Some by comboing way too early, others by not letting mistakes pass by. I mean, I was playing really focused in spite of getting paired with that vampox thing. But when I got the foundry deck, I didn't really know what to take, which plan to follow... I really messed up. So this is the part for I didn't deserve to win the ptq, and got out of contention. It was sad. Still, my losses were to the almost worst players I got all day. It was a matchup thing, not playskill/luck.
So I got still 2 more ptq's, I don't know I am going to play again this deck, maybe, maybe I will return to the UB, or maybe something way more t3chier...

Cya!!