Interview with Pioneer League Winner Trinket9

Our recent AFR Pioneer League was taken down by none other than last season’s runner-up, Trinket9 on the same deck, Mono Green Stompy. I was able to ask him a few questions after his first League win in UOL.

Why did you select Mono Green Stompy for your deck this season?

Ironically, since my return to UOL tournaments in STX season, I’ve only played Mono Green. Last season I secured first seed in top 8, got all the way to the finals, and just missed out on the win to Niv (on Bant Spirits) in a close 3-2 final. After some consideration with two other decks, I decided that I’m going to try this again and chase the dream. 

What were those other decks? Why didn’t you play those?

WG Book Combo and Bant Spirits. I tested these decks against Niv but ultimately I felt like my Mono Green list might just be better. Book Combo was very underwhelming. As for Bant Spirits, it’s obviously a good and established archetype, but it felt like it wasn’t really an upgrade over Mono Green. And I just felt a connection to “my own” Mono Green deck, which has been doing really well despite being off meta.

What does it mean to you to have gotten your first League win?

It really does mean a lot. I’ve been playing UOL leagues since 2017 and despite finding moderate success (for example, I made top 4 in every single league in STX season), I’ve never been able to win a league. I played one Modern league final against Temur4life a long time ago and lost 3-2 (I was on Spirits, he was on Death’s Shadow). After 3 years, in the previous season of Pioneer I made another final against Niv and again lost it 3-2. I’m glad it finally happened this time, even though I was close to losing from 2-0 up. Here’s to more league wins in the future!

What was your hardest game or match you played?

Actual hardest match? Hands down round 4, because I had exactly one window to play it for one hour on Wednesday and was also forced to use Untap on a phone for the first time. Huge kudos to TheJapanHobbyist for not only making the time work, but also being understanding with me trying to make my way on the phone client lol. Had he not been able to play then, I would have a second loss, wouldn’t get into the top 8, and you’d be talking to someone else right now.

However, on actual merit with the game of Magic, the choice is hard between Semifinals and Finals. Both matches went very close with 3-2. In the Semifinals against CheeseyPuffey on UW Spirits, I should not have won. I secured g1, but then lost g2 and g3. Several punts on my opponent’s side, particularly in game 4 where he easily had lethal (across two turns) but chose to stay back instead and gave me a chance to topdeck again and again until the right cards came up. My opponent also miscounted the P/T of his creatures (Spirits runs a lot of lords) at one point which resulted in more of them dying than he expected. Silver bullet Skyreaping came through to secure game 5 and the match for me after the opponent had trouble keeping his opening hand. 

In the finals against Xahhfink on Bard Class Combo, there was close combat math every game. It was a match for incremental advantages. I was able to secure game 1 being on the play, and game 2 with a topdeck Aspect of Hydra, to put me at a 2-0 lead in preboard games. Then I lost two games in a row thanks to my opponent doing what their deck was supposed to do. G4 was particularly close, but Bard Class came through for Xahhfink despite some whiffs. In g5, the opponent was able to just deprive me of a turn four kill with the 1-of sideboard Burning Hands, but in the end other creatures buffed by a massive Aspect came through to secure the 3-2 victory in the match and in the league.

What changes would you make to your deck in the future? Is there anything new from the Innistrad sets?

From Innistrad sets, no, nothing in particular unfortunately. The deck did get an upgrade with AFR though, in Werewolf Pack Leader. As for changes, on one hand I really want to give Ghalta, Primal Hunger one more shot, but on the other I’m not sure if that’s really worth it, especially since the only line of play that allows you to drop it on turn 3 requires two mana dorks, otherwise you’re just short. You don’t need to change something that works well!

What are you playing in the new season of Pioneer?

Having achieved my goal with Mono Green Stompy, taking revenge for the loss to Niv in STX season finals, I ended up playing Naya Winota. I’ve played Winota in Standard and a bit in Pioneer during testing. It’s a meta deck, but it’s fun and I like the archetype a lot. I wanted to brew a tribal deck (I’m a huge fan of the archetype) – either Humans or Zombies, but in the end lack of time to test due to various things resulted in me going with the well tested Winota list. I’m still very keen on brewing these decks in the future, and utilizing my favorite card from VOW Torens, Fist of the Angels (or Torens the Tank Engine, inside joke about him making “train” tokens). It will be a nice throwback to my old GW Humans deck in Frontier.

Zombies didn’t receive enough support, and while Champion of the Perished is by far the best tribal card in the two sets, by itself it isn’t enough. I’m very disappointed with how little tribal support VOW has to offer, with all the lords being 4 mana (Edgar, Charmed Groom and Sigarda, Champion of Light) and therefore not CoCo-able, or off-color and not even full lords (Bladestitched Skaab). The biggest tribal support seems to be for Vampires, but given that much of it is tied to the very, very, mediocre Blood tokens, I think I’ll pass.

Thank you for talking with me, and congratulations!

Thanks for the interview, and hopefully I’ll see you here after I win this season 🙂

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