Congrats on the finish Doug. I knew when I saw the pairings for my first match of the day that it would be a long day. There is a small comfort in losing to the eventual champion.


Actually my Mana Crypt would not let me die a fetch death and finished the job in my upkeep. But you would not believe how many successful Crypt rolls I made during the day, including a run of six straight. About the only thing that went right that day. Anyway, glad to see you played great, perhaps I can avenge the loss in Chicago?

Congrats Brian, your win % in power tournies is sick!

 
I've seen Brian go 2/4 aggro-beat down so many times it isn't even funny. Wizards should restrict Duplicant! 

Hey, I posted a report on a 9 man event, so I guess 11 isn't bad.  :lol:

Nice read, but what was with all the Grim Long decks?

Also, is 4 Barbarian Rings nescessary? Better than having 4 Wasteland?

Congrats on the win/ split Sam. Given the remaining players, do you think this list could have went all the way? Did you ever draw a card and wish it was something else?

Looks like the competition way pretty tough, nice report.

Great report Geoff. I thought for sure if you made it past Trogdon the Ruby would be yours, as Gifts, like Long, have a hard time against you. I guess it wasn't meant to be.


My draw 7's were brutal all day.


It would appear that it should work the way it was played.

Imperial Seal on the stack-->
Bazaar on the stack-->
You Pass-->
Me Pass-->
Bazaar resolves, draw two, discard three-->
Seal resolves, search.

I was good with it. If it's wrong may be someone could point it out.


I watched Marks side of games two and three, and both times, when he needed some gas to put you away, he kept drawing mana. If only Wizards would print a 1CC artifact that would let you look at the top three cards of your library and put them back in any order for only one mana, AND let you tap it to draw a card, and then put said artifact on top of your library, Hmmmm.



You absolutely must keep playing this deck, you have been so close, and play the deck very well. And don't worry, Gamers Lounge events are a blast and I want some revenge, pink plasties be damned!

The Dummy 1 - The Brain 0.

I own the Brain, (both literal and figurative). Jeff did manage to beat Geoff Moes, who played hardcore Ichorid in our q-finals match. If only my deck hadn't poo'd on me in game three, {sigh}.

Once again a great event put on by the Gamers Lounge. Dave is first class, and the tourneys are always a blast, including the 3 minute "BAAOOOOOOMMM" fest between JR and Justin. I can't wait for the next one, maybe I'll even make the poop cake dinner at Dianes.

JR Goldman, you have been put on official notice.

I predict Meandeck Bomber-Braids 2K7 will be tearing up the next SCG power tournie. You just watch and see! 

Nam, you are the most Asian dude I know! lol


About the deck: This deck has been in my MWS for a long time, and I like to goof off with it. Try out random or rediculuos cards, and just plain have fun. When I was trying to decide what deck to play a week before the tourney, I went through my usual couse of switching decks 20 times, based on a few bad test runs. So I got to this deck, tinkered with it and finally settled on it, mostly because it was fun to play.

OK, let's start with Meddling Mage. Mage was fantastic all day. It was rare that he was dialed into anything other than Yawg Will. The mana base performed well enough, and I had no problems casting him. Not having Duress really didn't hurt because I usually knew what I was playing against, (round one bye and small turn out). Being able to shut off  opposing Yawg Will is good, and if not, he drew out counters, so I could play out other business.

Psycatog. Ah, good old Mr. Teeth. He only made it into play once, and was unremarkable. I had black in the deck for other reasons, so he seemed like a good idea. But he wasn't that good, and I would have rather had another Mongoose. With all the GY hate these days I'm amazed he would see any play at all.

Mongoose. At recent RIW events, the resident Canadians have been running a U/G thresh deck that has performed well. I faced it in the top 8 of the RIW Lotus tournie a few months back, and the deck just churns out threats. I wanted to go in that direction, and had two options, Werebear or Mongoose. I figured the 3/3 untagretable for one had more upside than the 4/4 mana bear for two. It proved to be the correct choice, as I was alway wanting that guy. I'll probably drop Tog for another one, but I'll be testing Grunt in that slot too.

Daze. Daze was great early, but late game it was pretty much a dead card. I really wanted 5 strip effects, but the mana base was so dilluted, I couldn't stretch it any further. I may try Spell Snare in that slot, or look for other ideas.

Serum Vision. Vision was not terrible. Usually when I scryed, one went to the top, and one to the bottom. I think only once did I send both down (land x2). As far as mana smoothing, it did get me to land, but it wasn't game breaking. It could have been Opt, or something else, but nothing else seemed better. I like the Merchant Scroll idea and will be testing.

Berserk. Sometimes you just want to play with a card. I have this really nice Beta that I got from my good friend Dan, and it has been sitting in my collection binder for way too long. I don't think I used it to win at any point, but it did help me to kill myself. 

As I said above, I want to cut the black, and stick with a three color mana base. The deck is a blast to play, and if you like tempo, this deck has it.

The most important thing to remember, it was a small tournie, and I got the first round bye. I only had to win two rounds to be able to ID into top 4. I'll be doing more testing, hopefully  in a larger scale soon.

Thanks for the interest! If you want to know more about it PM me.

Thanks Brian. The best ones couldn't make it, but RIW still represented.



Bring it on Ohio. C'mon up and try to rip Michigan power. HAHAHAHAHA! 



This tournie was so much fun! I hope you guys can make the next one. I know I'll go out of my way to make the Sandusky events, two hour drive be damned!

You were by far, the toughest match-up I faced all day. You played like a champion. And that is no insult to anyone I played. The competition level was top notch.

I did have one advantage going into the match. Living in Michigan, I have had to play against argueably the best Tog player ever, Josh Franklin, in several power tourneys. Josh has inadvertently taught me how to play against Tog. And while it is never easy, it did give me a slight advantage.


That was the hottest play of the day, that I saw. Followed closely by your C. Wish for MisD on my Chant during your upkeep.

As I said, I was exteremly lucky all day, and the Sapphire should have been yours. I figure your odd sleep deprivation fetish was what ultimately did you in. I see you winning power in near future, (with the proper amount of sleep).

Great report!

First and foremost I have to give props to Dave, owner of the Gamers Lounge. Actually paying out the Sapphire with only 9 in attendance was awesome. Second, I have to say winning was more luck than skill, and as you read, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

I wondered if I should bother posting a report due to the small turn out. I mean how much could be learned? But what the hey, the deck did win power, so here it is.

Grow-a-whatever

Land

3 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Strip Mine

Creatures

4 Quiron Dryad
2 Nimble Mongoose
3 Meddling Mage
1 Psycatog
1 Darksteel Colossus

Spells

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
3 Daze
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Gush
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Wipe Away
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Disenchant
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Berserk
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald

SB:

3 Null Rod
3 Orim's Chant (All Star)
2 Pithing Needle (Honorable Mention)
2 Energy Flux
2 Engineered Plague
1 Darkblast
1 Rebuild
1 Tormods Crypt

So I take the roughly 2 hour drive from Detroit to Sandusky, very boring, and so much freakin' Christmas music, I wanted to rip my hair out. Oh, wait, I don't have much. I arrive at The Gamers Lounge around 12:40 to find only a few guys there, mostly from the Clevland crowd. What? No Trogdon? No Yang? No Demars? No Nichalo? No Droba? No Menendian? No Mastriano? Where is everybody? (Enter the luck factor, none of the Michigan crew came, and only half the Clevland guys, and only one Mean Deck (Lyle)). I see Nam Tran when I get there and ask if they are even going to have a tourney? He replies, "I paid, I'm gonna play no matter what". I figure he is right, I drove 2 hours, I might as well play some Magical cards, even if it was for store credit. I find out later that Dave (store owner, and down right nice guy), is going to pay out the Sapphire, no matter the attendance, what a great guy!  I make some SB changes (no Oath in site), do deck reg, and BS with everyone. The tourney begins, but unfortunately the printer isn't working, and they have to call out the pairings. Who do I play???

Rd. 1.
BYE playing with myself (The luck continues)

Oh hurray! Every time I get a round one bye, I usually follow it with round two and three loses, and a long drive home. It does however give me a chance to see the field. No Stax, no Oath, no combo (unless you consider Bomberman combo), one Gifts, one U/B Fish, one U/W Fish, and what??? Psycatog. Yes, Twaun007 wasn't playing his usual Twaun-Stax. Interesting field tilted in my favor (more luck).

1-0/ 2-0 (not really)

Rd. 2.
Nat Moes playing U/B Fish

Nat finished in the top 8 at the last Sandusky tournie, but I didn't play him.

Gm.1
He opens with Withered Wretch and gets Bob online. I get Psycatog to stick, but Wretch keeps him a 1/2. Nat Forces my Recall, so I Swords Bob. I get Dryad in play, but he doesn't stay. Tog picks away at his life, and Meddling Mage joins him to finish up.

Gm. 2.
I make my first mistake of the day, keeping a one land hand, with BS and Serum Visions. I thought I would draw into gas before he coud out tempo me. Wrong! Nat goes Island, Martyr of Frost, (what the hell does that guy do?).  I play Tropical and BS, find USea, and another BS, I should be alright. Next turn Nat plays Wasteland, goodbye Tropical. I draw, play Sea, Vision into nothingness, pass turn. He plays Mox and  Strip Mine, whacks the Sea, and Ninjas out NoTDH. I do nothing for a few turns while he beats me down with Ninjas and Martyr of Frost. He uses Martyr to counter the other BS and  I scoop at 9 life out of frustration, annoyed at myself for keeping a bad hand.

Gm 3.
For being such a pain the last game, my deck rewards me (more luck). Within the first two turns, I resolve Ancestral, Time Walk, and Tinker, all with Force back up. Nat tries to recover, but Darksteel does what he does best, and pulls out the random win. Stupid.

2-0/ 4-1

Rd. 3.
Nam Tran playing Control Burning Slaver

I know Nam from, Richmond, and Chicago, and RIW. I make a comment that I have never beaten him, and he says I will. I'm not so confident. Historically my record vs anyone even remotely close to resembling an Asian is like 0-500, including my only loss in the Swiss rounds last month here in Sandusky to him. Nam is a great guy, our matches are alway interesting.

Gm. 1.
Nam has to mulligan twice. He starts slow, and I drop Dryads and Mongeese. He still ends up with a Tinkered Sundering Titan in play, against my army, we trade swings, his Titan against my two Dryads, 1 with 4 counters 1 with none. He plays a Welder but is forced to use him as a blocker as lethal will be coming across otherwise. I drop a chump third Dryad, which seals his fate as he is at 1 life.

Gm 2.
Nam doesn't do much for the first few turns, other then fetch lands. I get a quick Mage to stick naming Tinker. Mage is soon joined by a Dryad who quickly beat him to 1. He tries to win with the Wish /Tendrils kill but winds up just one tutor or one mana short. Good games tho'. I feel like I stole this one.

3-0/ 6-1

Rd.4
Twaun (Twaun007) playing  Psycatog

I know I don't have to play, so we do some calculating. Twaun is sitting good with tie breakers, and should finish 4th seed. We only broke to top 4, (obviously). If he chose to play, and lost he would be out, so we agree to ID. He does in fact finish in fourth.

3-0-1/ 6-1

Top 4

Brendan (I don't know last name, sorry)  playing  Gifts
Brendan is a nice guy. I'm pretty sure I have played him before, but can't for the life of me, remember when.

Gm. 1
Brendan muls, and I am on the play. I start with Lotus into GGG into Mongoose, resolves, Dryad meets Force. Land, A. Recall, (hotness!). Goose gets pumped up while Brendan sculpts his hand. Goose plucks away and I manage to Tinker out DSC to finish up before he could go broken. God DSC is stupid!

Gm. 2
My turn to mul. We do little early, I see no dorks and he sculpts his hand, setting up for a nice Yawg Win. Finally he Wills, I respond, A. Recall, he responds Misdirection, I respond, Orims Chant, resolves. So he gets 3 cards and no Yawg Will, a hallow victory. A few turns later I try to Force his Tinker, which meets Mana Drain. My life goes 20, 19, 8, loser. Did I mention that DSC is stupid?

Gm. 3
By far the strangest game against Gifts I have ever played. Brendan has to mul again (letting me know he threw back a saucy hand of DSC and NO mana). I play, fetch, use it, pass. He draws, plays Volcanic Island, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, burns for one. I draw Strip Mine, (how lucky), Strip Volcanic, pass. He draws and passes. I draw, play a land, attempt Null Rod, he Fow, I respond with FoW, he scoops. I sit there mystified for a moment, but then Brendan explains that he had drawn DSC again, but had enough mana to cast him next turn, but the Rod killed that plan and he had no gas. Strange game.

I finish before the other two finalist, Twuan and Matt, so I go watch their game. I'm actually hoping for Twuan to win, because Matt has many 2/2's, Jotun Grunt, and Wastelands. Twuan has two Togs and no strip effects. Considering my mana base, and limited ability to deal with Grunt, go Tog.

Finals
Twaun playing Psycatog

We mull around the idea of a split, but could only come up with $90 and some store credit. I really would have liked a split, Twaun played so great all day, albeit long, so both combatants would have come out with some prize, but it's rare that power tournies are played out, and IMHO this is the reason we play the game. For the "Power" and glory!  I figured my odds at 50/50, not great, not terrible. We shuffle up.

Gm. 1.
He's on the play. We both fetch, and trade Forces. He gets Tog to stick, gets in two damage. I draw nothing in the shape of a body. I try to Demonic for help but Twaun Drains it. He draws, attacks, and takes two mana burn from from Drain mana, leaving us both at 16. I draw nothing, and Tog kills me next turn after Twuan draws and discards about a hundred cards. 10 castable creatures in the deck, I draw 0 in 6 turns + opening grip, how sad.

I side in Needles, Chants, and Null Rod as he uses tons of artifacts.

Gm. 2.
I get early Dryads and get Vamp for Pithing Needle, shutting off Tog. Twaun, per usual draws tons of cards, and finally gets a Tog down, but Needle keeps him from winning. I have him at 3 with lethal swinging next turn, and play a chump Dryad which he should have Drained. I have Chant, and try to Chant him during his upkeep, (yeah! I win! Yea right!). He responds, C. Wish into MisD, how nice, (never saw that coming). So I'm effectively Chanted, and he does some card drawing and stuff, but winds up two mana short for the win, see above. Passes the turn and proceeds to lose. (Luck still in play).

I side Rods back out, as I decide they are worse than whatever I sided out originally.

Gm. 3.
He goes first, land, Mox, Mox, pass. Nice. I draw, fetch into Tundra, Mox, Mage (Yawg Win). My Mage and his Deep Anal and Fow's take him to 7 in a few turns. I drop Mage #2 (E. Truth) and Needle Tog. Ironically I draw Tog the next turn, but he becomes FoW fodder for his Smother on Mage #2. He drops Tog and passes. He Smashes my Needle but I   have StP back up, but I don't really want to give him massive life.  Mages beat him to 2, drop Needle #2, and will get him next turn. I Force his Intuition during my end step. He draws, draws a bunch of cards, does some math, and shakes my hand. These games were very intense!

So after almost 10 hours of Magic (thanks Twaun ), I scoop the Sapphire. Not mint, but it cleaned up nicely.

All in all a great tournament. It would have been better with more players, but sometimes it just goes that way. As I said I was really lucky, and sometimes the cards just fall right for you. It was just my day.
 
Again, thanks to Dave for putting on the event, and paying out with low attendance. I will be traveling to Sandusky often, as it's a great enviroment, and a damn nice store.

It was great seeing every one who showed up, and playing some awesome games.

Hopefully we can get a bigger turn out next month.

***A note about the deck. I totally created this deck, it's concept and design were solely thought up by me. Anyone who makes any claims to Grow, Gro-a-tog, or Grow-a-whatever, is obviously mistaken. I'll be looking for Mean Deck "Grow" at the next Star City. (This is an inside joke, you had to be there ).

Seriously about the deck, black should not be in there. I never once Yawg Willed, and rarely Tutored. They will probably be replaced with 3 Thirst and one more Goose for the Tog, as I was always wanting that guy.

Ohio has National Champions, Michigan has guys that win power. Seems fair. lol

Props:

Dave, you already know why.
All who attended.
My wife, for understanding.
Toledos Vintage Rap station, oh so good!

Slops:

Sandusky, for not having a freakin Mc D's on the waterfront.
JR's deck for hating on him all day.
No time limit rounds.
Tired old X-mas music.

Mods I apologize if I should have just piggy-backed this  in FFY's post. While the topic is related the content is quite a bit different. Also, I haven't got to do this in a long time. 

I'd like to preface this by saying that about 4 months back I went to a small local Vintage tournie. I was playing Sullivan Solution at the time, and I got pwned by a 13 year old playing sui-black circa 2001. I had wondered at that point, if the game had passed me by? I've been playing a long, long time and I hadn't won a tournament in over two years, thanks in large part to team VAG. I was through, had enough, done. Well I saw the announcement for the RIW b-day Lotus and I couldn't resist. Now mind you, I had not played a single game in close to four months, and I had no idea the goodness that Time Spiral has brought to the format. I wanted to play something rogue, so I built a few old decks, and every time I tested vs EBA they got smashed. So I figured if you can't beat 'em.....

EBA

1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
4 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
1 Scrubland
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
3 Phyrexian Negator
2 Withered Wretch
4 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Echoing Truth
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Seal of Cleansing

SB:
3 Energy Flux
2 Pithing Needle
3 Null Rod
3 Engineered Plague (MVP)
2 Leyline of the Void
1 Darkblast
1 Seal of Cleansing
 
Nothing flashy, nothing broken, the deck just does what it does. Disrupt and protect early, develop mid-game, smash late.

Round 1

Marcel Moore(?) playing Tendrils.

Game 1: Marcel plays some combo pieces. I force Recall. Negator and Bob hit the table and I serve beats before he can combo out.

Game 2: I get Meddling Mage out on Yawg Will, and Bob and start beating. He Tinkers out Memory Jar, which I stifle, and Marcel replies that I should have saved it for the Tendrils, I say, "we'll see". I get Negator down and have Swords in hand thinking if he gets off Tendrils I can Swords the Negator, gain the 5 life, and win with the little dorks. So Marcel ramps up, and decides to play two extra spells, which puts well more than lethal on the stack and my plan out of range, so I just die. As it turns out he had Force back up, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Game 3: I get Null Rod out early to go with Mage on Yawg Will. We Force and Fetch, and Mage pecks away. Marcel plays Necro, and I consider Forcing it but decide to let it in. As the Skull comes down time is called. That leaves me with turns 1,3, and 5, with him at 12 life  and me with just the Mage in play, but I have two Forces in hand. Need to draw a Negator, sorry only a fetch land. I swing and pass. I figure he's going for the draw, but suprisingly he Necro's for 7, leaving him at 3, pass turn. I draw, great, Black Lotus, works great with Null Rod down, but I play it anyway figuring if he bounces Null Rod I can hard cast both Forces. Swing, pass. He's at one, and I got him next turn, if I make it. He's goes for it, attempting to bounce the Mage, I show him the Forces, and he shows me the Yawg Will. If I couldn't have stopped the bounce he would have rolled over me with a loaded yard. Takes guts to play for the win, nice job Marcel.

2-1/1-0

Round 2

John Frank playing Slaver Variant
I can't remember to much of these games and my notes are shady.

Game 1: I get Bob down and reveal an early Force to start me off at 15 life. Wastelands help John into mana screw, and he scoops after a few turns. I hate winning that way.

Game two: All I remember is I got several Bob's out and Withered Wretch removed Burning Wish and the new Triskelion from his yard, which killed his offense. And at some point  I was at 5 life for two or three turns with one Bob out and John was hoping I'd flip a Force.

4-1/ 2-0

Round 3
Ben Perry playing Ichorid
Me and Ben go way back, and have played some great games.

Game 1: By turn 3 Ben has 40 cards in the yard and 3 Ichorids, I have a land and a Mox. I do a little math, and we go to game two.

Game 2: (I actually have good SB for this) I draw the stone cold nuts, Pithing Needle, StP, StP, Tundra, Pearl, Stuff. Needle comes down right away and Bazaar is turned off. We call a judge to find out rulings for Ashen Ghoul and I find out that Ashen Ghoul ability is activated, so Needle number two prevents Ghouls. Ben plays Ichorid, I Swords, Ben plays Ichorid, I Swords, Ben plays Ichorid, I Swords. He says, "you gotta be f*cking kidding?" Sorry old friend. Negator soon comes down to finish the job. He does get his final Ichorid out, but I dredge about 4 draws and kept Darkblasting him off the table.

Game 3: Leyline of the Void starts the game. Needle again shuts off Bazaar. Cut off from that avenue Ben goes Imp aggro, and is beating with three Imps. He had the oddest Ichorid draw I have ever seen, having two Cities and two Cephalid Coliseums in play. Most of his damage was self inflicted. I Finally get Mage and Negator out and he get out Ahsen Ghoul and Imps. I Darkblast ghoul and find E. Plague for the Imps and trample over for the win.

6-2/ 3-0

Round 4

Brain Demars playing Burning Slaver
I've played Brian probably 10 times in two years. Before this match I've beaten him once. I was hardly optimistic.

Game one: I get a Mage and Bob out, he mows them down with Trike. Titan comes down and wrecks my board, before he goes Plowing, (at least thats what my notes say). Brian has all the pieces for the Slaver lock and I scoop.

Game Two: All I remember is Waste and Strip and Bob, and maybe a late Negator. At the end of game two Brian comments that we should speed it up a little, as I think he was worried about running out of time. I say, "no problem", as this deck has a very limited decision tree, (play a land, disrupt, play a dork).

Game Three: I come out flying, as my deck has provided me with a perfect mix of dudes, disruption, and double FoW. I can tell Brian was annoyed, but hey, everybody gets lucky some time. I tell Brian, "don't worry you'll get me in the first round of the top 8 and whip my a$$". 

8-3/ 4-0

Cool, I can draw in from here.

Round 5
Steve Menendian playing Gifts
As I have never played Steve, I would have liked a shot, but there was no point at the time.

ID
8-3/ 4-0-1
 
Round 6
Arend Kahling
I have also never played against Arend, maybe next month.
ID

8-3/ 4-0-2

Top 8

Dirty Hairy (Sean from team Canada) playing UG Threshold

Game 1: Trygon Predator wrecks face. I hold him off for a while but he has more dorks, and I can't find answers fast enough.

Game 2: He beats me down to 9 fast, but I stablize with creature control, and E. Plague. I get 2 Mages to stick and hold him off just long enough to win. At some point mid-game, the other three matches must have ended and they were already talking about a split. I agree, that IF I win, I was good with it. I really didn't think I was going to pull it out at that point.

Game 3: I get Leyline out to start the game to stop his threshold, but it gets shot down by Predator. Swords and E. Plague do the job again, as I have Plague x2 on Hound, to get rid of his Mongrel, and Mage on Echoing Truth to make 'em stick. Mages and Negtor do the dirty work. Very intense games, could have gone either way.

Smennen, Arend, Demars, and I split. I figure of the remaining decks, mine had the least chance to win against the other three. And Brian would have been the next round. As I said I hadn't beaten Brian twice in one year, the odds of beating his twice in one day, yeah right!

Overall a great day.

Props:
Pam, for putting on the best tournaments in the state! And for the bad a$$ RIW shirt. Thank you!
All the K,zoo- BC guys, all the Ohio guys, and all the Canadiens. Thanks for making the long trip. It was great to see every one, and play some great games.
Engineered Plague for saving my a$$ all day.
Demars for his drunken phone call story. Classic.
Judge Dave for having to put up with endless stupid questions.
All the RIW regulars, and the Michigan Vintage community at large.

Slops:
Kurt for finishing 9th two days in a row.
Demars for losing a Mana Drain.
Pac-Man for not showing up.

Brian, I checked my case and my deck box. I did not have your Drain. As my sleeves are obnoxious yellow, I'm sure we would have noticed a red sleeve in my deck. Hopefully Kurt finds it, or it turns up elsewhere. Could you have lost it in the round of 8?

As Fast Eddie said at the end of The Color of Money: I'm back!

 

Seems like Dark Confidant fits into the scheme. With your highest CC being 4, his benefits would surely out weigh his set backs. Have you considered Demonic Tutor or Yawgmoth's Will? Both could be useful. DT gets your resets or early N. Void, and Yawg Will could pull a losing effort into a win. I used to play this deck a long time ago, but I used Negator in place of Mongoose. Fun deck to play!

Congrats Brian. The only thing keeping you from winning the P8 was the words, "I concede" coming out of your mouth. I watched your match vs J.R. in the semi's, that was a great match!




So tell us Paul, what's it like living in Christmas land? :p
 
Anyway, even those of us who scrubbed had a great time. Pam is first class.

@FRANK SOMETHINGOROTHER

Nice to see you come out of retirement Dan. I see Belcher was good to you.

Yes, it was EBA, and for whatever reason, I can seem to get Oath to finish here in Michigan. Chalk it up to dumb luck or I am just a bad magic player. But then again neither can anyone else, so who knows?


You forgot to mention that I drew 0 Forces and 0 LANDS for like 8 turns. But that is how all my game 3's in top 4 end.

Great job tho' Pac, glad to see you finally won. And yea, the win-loss thing really sucked. No doubt Franklin should have made T8, and Minore probably too.


@ Revvik: Pam said it will be on May 21 I believe. But I can't remember what she said it would be for. I'm sure, "no-show Demars", will post it soon. (j/k Brian)

While Library doesn't accelerate casting any of the above, it does produce mana, so technically it will help cast them. I still say Library is essential in winning the mirror. Although intelligent play and patience may make it unnecessary.

What is the average turn you go off with this version?
Is 2 Gifts Ungiven enough? Do you ever feel like anything else should be Gifts?
Seems like Null Rod + Chalice 0 would really hurt this deck. Although Kowal won w/o any main deck bounce in NY. Have you tested vs decks with Null Rod/ Needle?

I really like the Burning Wish plan. I imagine Echoing Ruin will be an auto-inclusion in the Board.

My initial testing has show that the first list cannot beat Gifts, (using Kowal's winning list from Baldwinsville). It was a perfect 0-10 in goldfishing, and a perfect 0-10 vs. capable opponent, (minimal play mistakes), playing said Gifts deck. The newer list was 2-8 in goldfishing, (Platz and large amounts of hate in play and bad hands for Gifts.), and 1-9 vs player, (very close win/ next turn loss).

With this analsis, it's my opinion that this deck isn't worth further testing vs the rest of the field, as Gifts is probably the most commonly played deck, and I don't think the numbers vs Oath or Fish will be much better.

I think that U/W fish is a better version of what this deck it trying to be, because it has a  better draw engine and counter back up.

Good luck with any further development.

Just looking at the mana base, I'm not sure what you've changed, but there are some questions.


Shivan Reef- Not Fetchable. Should be Steam Vents or another Fetch.
Mishra's Factory- What is this doing here? Very random as a one of.
Tolarian Academy- What are you ramping up to? You're not running the full compliment of Moxen, so any early acceleration, (1st turn), is minimal at best.
Lack of off color Moxes and no Mana Crypt- All are cheaper Welder food, can power out faster EE's and higher Chalices. They ramp Academy up faster, and power out 1st turn Jitte's and Vial's, ect.
LoA- This deck wants to dump cards to enable E. Bridge right? What does this do then? It might as well be Darksteel Citadel, (Welder food + Crucible recursion = some good) or at least Wasteland #4.

Other items of interest:

Magus of the Unseen- Seems like a dead card vs Oath, FCG, and Fish. and only marginally good vs Stax. In the 2 cc spot I think Guilded Drake would be much better, (takes flying legends, but also does the trick vs 11/11's). While he doesn't steal Moxes, what else are you going to take other than DCS? Mindslaver? Belchers? I doubt you'll get those opportunities.

Where is Time Walk? Needs no elaboration.

The lack of a solid draw engine and no tutors is scary. Against most other blue decks you are going to get out drawn 3 to 1 on an average turn, not including tutors.

You are running Tinker but no DSC. Why? Let's face it, his random I win factor is huge. That's why he is featured in almost every blue deck, and is a SB option in Oath, (and sometimes a main deck inclusion). And he gives you a viable clock.

I can almost see the Slaver skeleton in this deck, with all the draw, counter, and Slaver components removed, for suboptimal Fish components.

@Eddie

This is a blatant assumption. You would have to be a master of every deck to play them all perfectly. And even if you were, the correct play is not alway evident. So assuming you make the correct play every time is a ridiculous statement.

This is impossible. I have goldfished hundreds of decks, and this just can't be accomplished. You need to know whats in the other decks hand, to make correct plays on their behalf. While it's nice to think you're doing the right thing, and playing the right play, let's be honest.
Goldfishing is what it is....goldfishing.


I don't understand this logic. Couldn't they just play two Land Grants from hand, play a land, pitch a ESG, play Channel, and play Belcher for the win? And yeah, that does happen often.


12 spells isn't impossible to achieve playing Gifts. Any good Gifts player will attest to this. I've pulled off second turn Tendrils for well into the 30 damage range, it's not that hard. Into Chalice for 0, sure that is harder, but you're not always going to get optimal draws either.

I'm going to MWS the deck up, with some tweeks of course, and see what it does. Somehow, I don't think my numbers will  match your testing numbers, but we'll see.

Congrats on the Recall, looks like you had some nice wins against some tuff competition. I've been a big advocate of Extract, hopefully it will see more play now.


 You should see the top 8's in Michigan. It's like murderers row, Demars, Franklin, Nicholo, and the Western Michigan crew, Revvik, Bob M, Nicolae Almighty, and the rest of that group, mix in an occasional JDizzle. Now thats scarry!

The top 4 consisted of Bob (Kzoo'er)  playing Iron Giant, Joel (from Portland Oregon),  playing Stax, Other Kzoo guy playing CS, (I think), and myself playing Oath (Obviously).

I played Bob, and lost a close game three, both at 1 life, because my deck decided to do a 38 card Oath with blessing in my hand, and no way to get it back to my library, leaving me with 5 cards. Damn bad luck!

Joel lost to CS, and they never played the final match, and were working on a split. You'll have to PM Demars for the lists.

Another great RIW event!

Of the 4 useable creature sacrifice cards:

1. Spawning Pit
2. Claws of Gix
3. Goblin Bombardment
4. Skullclamp

Skullclamp was least used as tech. Mostly because good Oath players gave you tokens at your end phase, allowing them to Oath on thier upkeep. The other 3 they could sac the token right away, thus preventing you from Oathing.

But when I do go up against Affinity/ Ravager/ Kobold-Clamp decks I always counter the Clamps, because opponent drawing cards is a bad thing! And Ravager can easily race you.

And in the mirror, I always found getting to your Orchards and Wastelands first was the best method of winning.

First question, are you running powered or unpowered Oath?

Why would you need 4 Arcane Labs? I think 3 should be more then enough.

Why would you use Aether Burst over Echoing Truth. While Burst gets more creatures, Truth gets permanents. Ensnaring Bridge, Mindslaver and Nevinyrral's Disk come to mind.

Cloudchaser Eagle is bad. Why would you run this over Naturalize?

Pristine Angel, Iredescent Angel, Platinum Angel are all good I hear.

Are you running enough artifacts to support Tinker/ DSC?

Guilded Drake is OK in the SB too.

Other cards I have ran in the Oath SB:
Oxidize
Pithing Needle
Energy Flux
Ground Seal
Tormod's Crypt
Ancient Hydra (Although it should be MD)
Auriok Salvagers + Pyrite Spellbomb + AEther Spellbomb (Conversional SB, really funny)
Null Rod
Maze of Ith
Rack and Ruin
REB
BEB


Hopefully this will give you some good ideas.

This post may be useful: http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=23861.0

Brians list is very tight, and the deck is brutal to play againt, (I know because I have, and I've seen it in action vs. others).

Is Monolith/ Power Artifact really needed? It seems like a win more condition, as Tinker/ DCS or Drain mana into Decree, should do the job, in the given amount of time. This is a control deck after all.

-1 Monolith
-1 Power Artifact

+1 Mana Drain
+1 Skeletal Scrying

Sensei's Diving Top is really good in this deck!

With only one way to recur your graveyard, why Gifts (U3) over Intuition(U2)? Or anything else for that matter? (Impulse, AK (U1))

-2 Gifts

+1 Skeletal Scrying
+1 Sensei's Diving Top


Nice deck overall.

It seems like Orim's Chant would fit into this deck. It would be useful to force through Geddons, Swords, and Mages in a control heavy enviroment. And it punks combo.

Balance is mandatory, as is Scroll Rack if you're running the Tax/ Rack draw engine (some good! ).

I think you may have to cut the creature base to about 16-18 dudes, although you'll have to decide who gets the axe. -1 Lions and -1 Believer maybe?

Why would you ask anyone else what to play at a tournie? Deck decisions should, for the most part, be made from within.

What kind of player are you? What kind of decks do you normally play? What decks can you win with?

Aggro
Aggro-Control
Control
Control-Combo
Combo

Do you like up tempo creature kill? Or maybe you like taking 20 minute turns amassing tons of mana, and storm count, and killing with a large Tendrils? Prehaps you like countering everything your opponent plays, until you can drop Morphling, or Tinker out Darksteel Beatstick?

Knowing what decks you may face, and how to play your chosen deck against them, will help. But going into a big tournie, with a new deck, that does not fit your style of play can lead to a very dissapointing 0-2 drop.

I think your Fish deck is solid. If you are comfortable with it, that should be the way to go. Fish doesn't have too many auto-losses, and has proven very competative.

Good luck at your tournie!

I agree that the Chalice-TFK build  may be the best in the format right now, as it looks like the Meta may be shifting back to heavy control, with the resurgence of Fish. I think 3/4cC is going to make a comeback and TFK helps keep up with the draw power of Skeletal Scrying, and you should be able to keep up with their counterspells.

How is Pithing Needle working out? I tried them and didn't think they made enough difference to include them. I traded them for REB's.

Also, how do you deal with a first turn Workshop, Mox, Chalice set at 2? Or 3Sphere?

All in all a solid build tho'.

-1 Slaver
+1 Living Wish

As far as fast enough? More testing is needed. I like the concept of Slaver Oath, it looks like fun.

Sideboarding back to conventional Oath is a good idea too, as your opponent will side in Slaver hate.

Could Needle make Extract playable?

Extract           U
Sorcery
Search target player’s library for a card and remove that card from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

It's blue (pitchable to FOW), and it's casting cost is only U.

Knowing what your opponent is playing first turn would be huge in setting up the Needle, and you get to RFG one of their cards as an added benefit. If only it were an instant!

I think you could drop Gush for Mystical Tutor. Tutor will allow you access to Intuition faster, and will also allow you to find answers as needed. Two Naturalize should be sufficient, and one Blessing has never been a problem.

Lotus Petal or Mox Diamond would really help to power out first turn Petal/ Diamond- Orchard Oaths, and would allow second turn Intuitions. Sol Ring wouldn't hurt either.

Including a third creature is a good idea, and Oath players are coming around to Ancient Hydra. I have personally been testing Triskelion, as he's is good to dump Mana Drain mana, and requires no colored mana to cast, and does roughly the same thing as Hydra.

I've also been playing Crop Rotation with some sucess. Early, it is a, "must counter" spell, and late it will get Strip/ Waste, but it's still in testing, as sometimes it is a dead draw.

everythingitouchdies is correct, do a search on Oath and you will see a ton of great information, especially the Mean Deck builds.

And yes Ben, your white border Yawg Will and Academy are amazing. 

Here is another thought.
It would be a real bummer to off the Lotus for 4 Drains and some other T1 goodness, just to have the Drains get restricted later on down the road. I know they are not restricted now, I don't even think they are on the watch list?? But how many people have posted on how Drain needs to be banned? And since I've been playing Magic, (1995), Lotus, nor Recall have gone down in price.
I played U/G Oath for awhile without Drains, with very good results, and never really missed 'em that bad.