Team Modern Super League 2 continues next Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern (GMT -4) on twitch.tv/magic. Zack Kanner also contributed to this post.
The Brothers Who Bash defeated the Brew Crew 4-1 in Week 7 of Team Modern Super League 2. The victory brought the Brothers Who Bash to a 2-0 record, advancing them directly to the semifinals, while the Brew Crew dropped to 1-1 and will meet another 1-1 team in the quarterfinals.
After seven weeks, we’re officially halfway through the first half of Team Modern Super League 2, and what a ride it’s been. We saw the release of a new set of Modern-focused cards (with a second new set arriving in just a few days) and even witnessed the banning of an oppressive deck. At the midpoint of the season, both the Brew Crew and the Brothers Who Bash came out with their non-Bridge from Below decks to battle. With no fear of dying on Turn 2 to Altar of Dementia, Bridge, and Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, we got to see a lot of new cards take the stage for both teams.
The Results
Match 1: Corey Baumeister (Infect) defeated Pleasant Kenobi (Neoform Combo)
Match 2: Brian Braun-Duin (Grixis Whirza) lost to Caleb Durward (Rakdos Unearth)
Match 3: Brad Nelson (Eldrazi Tron) defeated Saffron Olive (Free Spell Temur)
Match 4: Brian Braun-Duin (Devoted Druid Combo) defeated Corbin Hosler (Merfolk)
Match 5: Corey Baumeister (Izzet Phoenix) defeated Caleb Durward (Goblins)
Feature Match
Normally in this section we highlight one game from the week that was really sweet, but this week we were treated to two rarities in the same match. Yes, I am talking about the match where Corey Baumeister won two games piloting Infect where he dealt a total of ZERO infect damage.
(Skip to 13:57 if the embed does not do so for you.)
Infect vs Neoform Combo is a matchup that was set to be blazing fast, where we expected to see players die very early in the game. Game 1 certainly did not disappoint, though both PleasantKenobi and Baumeister started by taking a (London) mulligan. Being down a card didn’t stop PleasantKenobi from deploying two lands, an Allosuarus Rider, and then a Griselbrand on just the second turn! From there the game was quite easy, as PleasantKenobi drew his entire deck and used a trio of Simian Spirit Guides to power out a lethal Lightning Storm.
Once the players went to their sideboards, Baumeister got to add a couple copies of Spell Pierce and Path to Exile in an attempt to give him a chance to fight back against PleasantKenobi’s fast combo. Both players took mulligans to six in Game 2, as well, and PleasantKenobi kept a hand that could once again make a Turn 2 Griselbrand, and on the other side of the table Baumeister had a hand with no infect creatures!
What Baumeister’s hand did have, though, was a Noble Hierarch and a Spell Pierce. PleasantKenobi got kind of greedy and went all in on Turn 2, running straight into that Spell Pierce, leaving him with just a pair of lands in hand. From there, Baumeister got to work with a Dryad Arbor beating down with the help of the exalted triggers from Noble Hierarch. A couple attacks and some pump spells made “quick” work of PleasantKenobi.
In Game 3, Baumeister kept a five card hand with two Noble Hierarch, two Scale Up, and a Breeding Pool, against kind of a non-functional hand from the Neoform Combo deck. Baumeister wasted no time turning his Hierarchs into wurms which quickly turned into a victory for Brother Who Bash!
Very rarely do we get to see a match where Infect puts up the W while dealing exclusively normal combat damage, but sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt and Baumeister did just that.
Standings
Qualified for the Semifinals
2-0 Brothers Who Bash
2-0 Pamplemousse
In the Hunt
1-1 Mage Market
1-1 Brew Crew
1-1 ChannelFireball
0-1 Scary Pterrys
0-1 Stream Team
Eliminated
0-2 Play Design Team
Schedule
Round 2:
July 16
Scary Pterrys vs Stream Team
Quarterfinals:
July 30
TBD
August 6
TBD
Semfinals:
August 13
TBD
August 20
TBD
Finals:
August 27
TBD
If you’re in the market for more Modern Team Super League action you can always check out our exclusive look at the deck lists on Tuesdays, recaps like this one on Wednesdays, or even catch the show itself on Tuesdays at 9PM Eastern over at twitch.tv/magic.