Someone mentioned that Leyline+Edict will get rid of Emrakul.
That doesn't work. All of the Eldrazi have similar wording to DSC. They all have a replacement effect which shuffles them back into their owner's library. When 2 different replacement effect would effect 1 card the owner of the card decides which effect happens and unless they want to remove Emrakul they probably wont.

Rank   
  1    Fraiser, Corey   Painter
  2    Roberts, Chris    Oath
  3    M., Matt   Noble Fish
  4    Leavitt, David    Green Tezz
  5    Brennan, Adam     REAL Fish (Merfolk)
  6    Morin, Wayne    MUD
  7    O., Matt    Tezz of some sort
  8    Vallas, Nick    GW Aggro
  9    Burque, Jason   Noble Fish
 10    Grenbaum, Micah    Control Slaver
 11    Stahl, Tyler    Noble Fish
 12    Scurio, Joe    2 Land Belcher
 13    McCloud, Duncan   ??
 14    Connoly, Robbie   Roblins... What else?
 15    Rosa, Bill    Tezz probably
 16    Fontes, James  Metalworker Combo MUD

Its strange because Type 1 doesn't make you bad at other formats, but other formats make you bad at Type 1.

Farias was playing Shops and I was playing Tezz.

I need to learn how to play this format again. Too much Extended and Draft changes the way you play.

The biggest factor for me to not go to a tourney would be scheduling. This combined with the travelling distance is a major problem. I work at night now so having to wake up 3-4 hours before a tourney, ussually between 5 and 6 AM, on a saturday morning after working till Midnight is a bit tough. For a tournaments that are far enough away to warrant a hotel stay, I would have to take the friday previous to the event off and make myself unavailable for working saturday. On top of this adding the cost of a hotel room stay to the entrance fee starts to make them a bit more costly than is really worth it, at least for me.

Not to dimminish what Travis has done in the past, but I feel that if his most recent event had been in MA it would have had better attendance. I could be wrong but it feels like most of the players in the NE area are from MA, but also making it easier for the NH players to get to could have affected attendance as well.

In discussing this with a friend recently it makes sense that adding a hotel room stay for a good portion of the expected players could push them away from coming, especially with where the economy is and where it looks like its heading. For me coming up with $25-$30 to play in an event isn't ever an issue, but taking days off from work and spending $60-$80 is a bit more prohibitive. I would expect this to be true for alot of people.

Corey

It depends on the build and what you've used already, but something like Demonic Tutor, Tinker, Painter's Servant, and Grindstone ussually ends the game. As the situation dictates the piles can be adjusted.

Corey

This is an interesting idea.

There are four suggestions I have.

1: I would strongly consider running 4 Misdirections instead of the 4 Mana Drains as they allow you to protect your "combo" post Mirror.

2: Kaervek's Torch instead of Fireball. I understand that it doesn't deal with Plats, but its harder to counter making back-up less important.

3: Chromatic Spheres instead of the Mox Diamonds. You have a ton of Colorless mana and they make Personal Tutors better. Also this would allow you to run Mana Severence so that post Mirror you don't draw any land.

4: Windfall seems pretty good post Mirror as you will always draw at least five if you can cast it.

Corey

Here is my list and you can see my tourney report here http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=36217.0.

Corey Fraser

Maindeck
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Snow Covered Island
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald*
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl*
1 Mox Ruby*
1 Mox Sapphire*

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain****

3 Painter Servant
2 Grindstone**
1 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Goblin Welder
1 Mindslaver

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Thirst for Knowledge

1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tormod's Crypt
 
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Gifts Ungiven

SB
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Duress
2 Lava Dart

Couple of things I was thinking while reading this.

Countryside Crusher seems like he would fit right in the deck. Crusher seems like virtual card advantage after he hits because he helps with dead land draws and if you have Life going he can get pretty big pretty fast.

Also Cold-Eye Selkie is a castable draw engine for this deck. Its a bit slow but it should hit against almost everything.

No one else has seemed to mention this yet, but Kataki seems more like a sideboard card to me. I could be wrong but those seem like they could go without much of a problem.

Corey

  A few weeks before tournaments I usually start to think about what the format looks like and what I want to play in the upcoming tourney. Usually I come up with something I'm pretty sure is good vs the field I expect and throw it together and start testing and tweaking it. This time it was a bit different, I struggled to come up with something I felt was strong enough to deal with Slaver and hang with the other decks I expected. I had a few ideas but couldn't really settle on anything. During this time I had a few more losses in some drafts than I normally have and my confidence was a bit shaken. After a long talk with my friend and teammate Pat, my confidence was slightly renewed and I forced myself to come to decide on what I was playing that day on my dinner break from work. This happened to be on Thursday night, a little late to get much testing done I would say. I took an idea I was toying with and wrote down a decklist to hopefully get some testing in on Friday before work.
 
  Thinking back to when Slaver got pushed out of the metagame before, I realized something and I think I had my answer. Slaver got pushed out by faster Drain decks, like SSB and Meandeck Gifts. What I realized was in order to beat Slaver I had to be faster than it. I know it sounds simple but after two weeks of agonizing about what I was going to play it was a bit of a relief to have this Epiphany. Having also recently gotten some advice from some of the better players and deck builders around, a bit of goldfishing, and 11 games of testing on Friday this is the list I played.
 
Better than Slaver
Maindeck
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Snow Covered Island
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet 
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

3 Painter Servant
2 Grindstone
1 Trinket Mage
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Goblin Welder
1 Mindslaver

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Thirst for Knowledge

1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tormod's Crypt
 
1 Mystical Tutor 
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Vampiric Tutor 
1 Demonic Tutor 
1 Yawgmoth's Will 
1 Tinker 
1 Time Walk 
1 Gifts Ungiven

SB
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Ingot Chewer
4 Duress
2 Lava Dart

  For the first time in a few weeks I didn't have to think about what I was going to play over the weekend and it felt good and I felt confidant in my list despite some of my teammates disliking a few of the card choices.

  Friday night I try to get out of work earlier than normal and get to bed earlier than normal as well, working second shift has changed my sleeping schedule a bit and sometimes its hard to get to sleep before 2 or 3 am and trying to get up at 7 am after that to play Magic isn't very fun.


  Saturday morning comes and I drag myself out of bed at 7:45 so I can get ready to pick people up. I get to Nick M's house at 8:30 and have to wait for him to do something inside and then we're off to get Micah and JTL at Micah's house. About half way there Nick tells me that he forgot to leave his car keys at his house for his brother. We get to Micah's at about 8:50 and Micah has to grab a few things while JTL and Nick start talking about what Nick still needs to borrow to get his deck under the 15 proxies. After dropping Nick's keys back at his house we set out for the tournament site in Worcester running about 15 minutes later than I wanted to. The ride is pretty uneventful aside from Nick figuring out who he is borrowing what from. That is until Micah notices that he has a few extra proxies in his deck because he never switched out his playtest cards, there is a few minutes of panic until he realizes that he is still under the proxy limit, he just has to make some better proxies in the car. Also at some point on the ride JTL decided that he wanted to play DSC instead of Sundering Titan as his big man. Since he doesn't own one he asks if anyone has one he can borrow and because he didn't mention it before we left no one does. At this point I'm a bit confused as to why I'm the only one who is actually prepared for this thing, thankfully I'm the one driving.

  We get to the site without any further complications. Everyone is under the proxy limit and have deck lists all written out, JTL and Nick did theirs in the car. We chat with a few people including ELD and Nick R. Nick R notices the "retro" two-in-one gaming system and asks to play, he and JTL battle it out in some Sega NBA game that I can't remember the name of. I'm pretty sure Nick won. While this is going on I'm helping Pat C with his sideboard and discussing his deck a bit. Micah finds a DnD Minis figurine that the store is selling for $10 but is $50 in Scrye and he could trade for about that or sell it to our local store for a decent amount. After a few announcements the tournament is underway with exactly 30 people.

My notes aren't as good as I wanted them to be, so if I don't remember all the details please forgive me.



Round 1: Thomas with BR Goblins

Gm1: Before the game starts he makes a comment about playing more spells than permanents trying to trick me into thinking he is playing a Long style deck, I hear him but pay no attention. I win the roll and my hand is pretty good. Thomas also keeps. I think I play a bunch of mana and a Painter on turn 1. He plays an Auntie's Hovel revealing Lackey and then plays the Lackey, which I'm pretty sure I think about even though I don't have a counter and I do have a blocker. On my turn I play a Grindstone but don't have the mana to activate it, so my opponent gets another turn. He didn't do anything relevant and I don't actually remember him attacking with the Lackey either. On my third turn I Grind him out for the game. I'm pretty excited about this because with my lack of testing I still was a bit curious if my deck actually worked. I comment that I really didn't expect this match and I'm not sure how I'm going to sideboard.

   SB +2 Lava Dart +2 EEs  -1 H Recall -1 Mindslaver -1 Mana Drain -1 Merchant Scroll, I think that's what I did

Gm2: We both keep seven. He starts with Mountain Lotus Petal (an Asian Language one, which I didn't even know existed until then) into Frogtosser Bannerett and swings for 1. I believe on my turn I cast a Goblin Welder and said go. He attacks without playing a land and in his second main phase he removes a Simian Spirit Guide and casts a Goblin Matron searching for Goblin Piledriver. On my turn I play a second land, a mana crypt that was in my opening hand and a Trinket Mage for Mox Sapphire get a blocker who wouldn't die in combat to the Bannerett and to keep Mana Drain up to protect myself from Earwig Squad. He doesn't attack and cast the Piledriver which I let resolve. On my turn I want to say I drew Sensei's Top, cast it and looked at the top 3 with Mana Crypt, drew Ancestral and cast it getting Top Lotus and Tinker I believe. I recast the Top and looked and found Tormod's Crypt which I missed when I sideboarded. I then played Lotus saced it and using the Tops draw ability before welding the top for Lotus to draw the Mox. I played the Mox Tinkered for DSC and cast Empty the Warrens for 14 goblin tokens, to which my opponent scooped. That was quite the embarrassment of riches.

  Matches 1-0 Games 2-0

  I went to ELD to request my match slip as we were the first ones done and he hadn't started printing them yet. This gave me a good chance to scout, an opportunity that I rarely get as I usually play slower control decks. The room appears to have 5-6 Shop decks, 5-6 Long Style combo decks, 5-6 Aggro decks, 2 Ichorid, 2 Slaver and some other random stuff spattered in. There is part of the room I'm unable to scout because of the way the tables are set up and a display case, but I feel like I have a pretty good idea of the meta and I'm pretty happy with my choice despite the lack of Slaver.

I think my group gets some pizza and talk about whats in the room a bit now.



Round 2: Dan with Mask Naught, I'm pretty sure its Dark Illusions (Makes Top8)

Gm1: I win the roll and keep a hand with turn 1 Gifts, Fow and a blue card. Dan mulls to 5, brutal. Turn 1 I play a land a mox and Mana Crypt and cast Gifts getting Goblin Welder, Tinker, Painter's Servant, and Grindstone, he gives me Tinker and Grindstone, there really isn't a good way to split that, I think he is hoping I only run one copy of both Painter and Grindstone and have to Tinker for DSC. On his turn he fetches and plays a mox, he casts Phyrexian Dreadnaught off the mox and attempts to Stifle his ability, I simply Force his Stifle and he loses his guy. On my turn I cast the Grindstone off my Mox and cast Tinker saccing the Mox to get Painter. He doesn't do anything on his turn and passes. I activate grindstone targetting him and he doesn't have the Stifle or a DSC in his library so he scoops so I don't see his deck. I again comment that I didn't expect this deck and I'm not sure how to sideboard for him. Although in the previous round I saw him with Dark Confidant on the table.

   SB -DSC -Trinket Mage -Tormod's Crypt -Mindslaver -1 Merchant Scroll +2 Lava Dart +2 EE +1 Rack and Ruin, I'm pretty sure those are what came in, what came out is a little foggier.

Gm2: We both keep our 7. Dan starts out land mox lotus. He cracks the Lotus for Illusionary Mask and I don't have a counter, but I have a Welder so its OK. It resolves and he puts a face down one casting cost creature into play, hmmm I wonder what that is. On my turn I fetch for... he tells me to wait as he Trickbind's my fetchland to win the game. Without the fetch I can't cast my welder to turn his 12/12 into a Black Lotus and then his Mask into a 12/12 that sacs himself. I pass. To add insult to injury Dan casts a Dark Confidant to which I stare at my Lava Dart that's stranded in my hand, which would have only mattered if the Welder hit the table. Oh well can't get them all.

   SB nothing.

Gm3: I'm on the play and keep. Dan mulls to 6 and doesn't look happy about it. On turn 1 I think I cast Mana Crypt and play a land to Cast Thirst for Knowledge and discard some artifact, but I don't remember which. Dan fetches on his turn and passes. I take damage from Crypt and play a land and a Painter's Servant naming Green, then pass. Dan fetches again and plays Dark Confidant which resolves, I don't like that as I'm pretty sure my hand isn't great. I draw Force and play a land and pass again. He reveals Trinket Mage on his turn and draws another card, but can't swing into my Painter so he passes. I draw Sensei's Top into Ancestral into at least 2 more mana, Grindstone, and Empty the Warrens. I figure that I cast the Grindstone have him counter I counter and if he has a second counter I cast Empty for a bunch of guys. He doesn't have any counters and I grind him out of turn 4.

   Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-1

  At one point in this match I see my teammate JTL walking around and I thought to my self, DARN he beat me to finish this round. JTL and I talk for a bit about how ridiculous we are drawing. We find out Nick M and Micah got paired and Micah won, they ask if a 3-2 can make it and I say I'm pretty sure its possible, but you won't know until later in the tourney. Micah says we should go get Ice Cream and there is a soft serve place across the street. Micah and I get some, but JTL doesn't want any, it was a really nice visit because not only did we get Ice Cream on a really hot day but the store was air conditioned unlike the tournament site. Micah devoured his and got a headache, I took my time. We do a bit more scouting and talk with some other people until round 3 is paired. I find out I'm playing a teammate, Pat C. It sucks to play teammates, to make matters worse Pat had a draw in the first round.



Round 3 Pat C with Grinding Hips and update of Sex.dec

  We discuss what we want to do because regardless of the match results we need 2 wins between us for us to both make top 8. We come to an understanding that there while be some sort of prize split should one of us make top 8 and the other misses, however we don't discuss actual numbers and we start our match.

Gm1: I win the roll and we both keep. I cast a turn 1 Painter off a land and a Mox. He fetched on his turn one and I think passes the turn. I play another land and start attacking, I'm pretty sure I play another Mox and cast a second Painter during my second Main. On his turn I think he casts Ancestral which I drain, he passes. I play another land, burn for one and swing for two. We both play lands and pass with me attacking. On this endstep he tries for E Truth on my Painters to buy some time as he is at 14 and it doesn't look like his deck is helping him any. I Drain the E Truth. Then on his turn he tries for EE at 2 and I drain that as well. He goes to scoop and I go, my hand isn't that good right now you could draw a Goyf and still be in this. He picks up his cards and flips the top card of my library revealing Trinket Mage which would have gotten grindstone for the win regardless if he scooped or not.

   SB I brought in T Crypts and EE, but I don't know what I took out.

Gm2: Pat mulls to 5 and I keep my seven. He plays a land and says go. I draw Empty the Warrens for my turn and play three moxes and a land then Empty for 8 guys. Pat scoops it up after I attack once and he draws his card for the turn.

  I fill out the match slip without thinking about it, because I guess Pat wanted to talk a bit more about what we should do. Thinking about it afterwards I think that we should have decided to guarantee that one of us makes the top 8 so we both get something. Having me take the win does that, the other way would not guarantee us anything.

   Matches: 3-0 Games: 6-1

Pat and I go over to the Ice Cream store now so Pat can get some Ice Cream and we both get to borrow some AC.



Rd 4: ID with Rich Shay

  JTL, Nick R, and I are all in the top 8. We ask where the subway is and take a walk. We get some subs and chat for a bit, then head back to make sure we are back on time to ID in Rd 5.

Rd 5: ID with Nick R.

  The Top 8 is announced and three of the spots belong to Team 508. Unfortunately JTL and I are paired. So we are only allowed to take half of the top 4 as the split doesn't seem very good for the top 8.



Top 8: JTL Painter with REBs.

  Incidentally we came up with our lists independently and started from two different places. I started from Slaver, JTL started from MS Paint and we ended up with builds that only differed by 6 cards. Before the match started we discuss a prize split resulting in the winner of the match giving the loser of the match $30 out of their winnings, giving the winner $80 and the loser roughly $60 after you include their pick from ELD's 5th-8th prizes.

Gm1: We both know each others lists so this should be interesting. JTL wins the role and we both keep. I think JTL plays a land a mox and Sol Ring on turn 1 and says go. On my turn I play Tormod's Crypt and a land. I try for Ancestral to which JTL responds with Thirst. I let Thirst resolve because I want to make sure my Ancestral resolves. He pitches T Crypt and tries for Force my Recall, but I Force back drawing into another Force and some other stuff. He goes for Ancestral on his turn and I Force. He plays a land and passes. I play a land and I mox I believe and pass back. He draws and says go, on his end step I go for Thirst trying to bait a drain and I do. On my turn I DT for Lotus to cast Yawgmoth's Will, trying hard to play around REB. I think I have an extra blue card in hand so after Will resolves I have an active Force from the yard. I replay a fetch and a Lotus and Ancestral into a bunch of good stuff. I pass back. I believe he plays Painter and Grindstone in the same turn without enough mana to Grind me. On my turn I play a Grindstone and activate it targetting him. He mills until he hits DSC. On his turn he grinds me hoping DSC is in my hand, which it isn't. I draw the big guy and pass the turn. He dies.

   SB I know I bring in 4 Duress and I think I bring in 1 Rack and Ruin. I think I cut Mystical Merchant Scroll Hurkyl's Recall and 2 other cards.

Gm2: We both keep our seven with JTL on the play. My notes are pretty sparse for this game as from what I remember it was a bit more intense than gm1. He has an early thoughtseize and a Trinket Mage a bit later which gets him Grindstone. He beats me for a while with Mage until I'm down to 4. I believe a key play JTL made was REBing my T Mage because it would have gotten Lotus for me to cast Yawg Will with what I remember to be a pretty good yard. At some point I Rack and Ruined his Grindstone and a Mox. I cast a Painter after I got rid of his Grindstone and looks like I eventually found Grindstone and he had DSC in his hand.

  I felt like JTL played very well in this match and if I didn't know his list I wouldn't have been able to play around REB like I did and may have lost because of it. I'm pretty sure I out drew him like I out drew all of my opponents on the day, but it wasn't as far a blowout as some of my other games.

  The Top 4 of David Laurence, Nick Rodrigues, Myself, and Demonic Attorney split for $110 each. Team 508 took down half of the Top 4. I picked up an Asian Yawgmoth's Will, an Asian Signed Lotus Petal and an ELD Proxy Mox Pearl for another teammate to complete his set.

  We set out to head back to our local store Battlegrounds to meet up with some people and hand out for a bit. Pat B and Pat C were there I arranged out driving situation with JTL and Pat B for Sunday. Pat C told me his plans for Sunday had changed and he would like I ride as well, since he is on the way it was no big deal.



  Sunday morning I can wait to wake up until 8:30 and have plenty of time to get ready and eat and have time to pick up JTL and Pat B in Brockton and then pick up Pat C in Quincy before heading up to Myriad. As I head out to my car I realize I don't have the addresses with me, so I go back in the house and get them, while I'm inside I decide to check TMD and notice someone asked for the results from Saturday and I post them. This car ride is much less eventful as everyone is prepared today except JTL has to write out his deck list in the car. We get to Myriad and get in line to register, I give Dan my debit card to run a tab and then we sit down. I see Jeff Carpenter with a pile of artifacts, I immediately know what he is playing and I don't like it very much. Pat C sits down and asks me about his board, cause he wasn't happy with some stuff from the previous day, I tell he him needs at least one Hurkyl's Recall in the board and I point at Jeff and indicate its for him. JTL walks over and asks to borrow a Rack and Ruin and indicates that he saw what Jeff was playing as well. While we were getting ourselves prepared we somehow forgot to mention something to Pat B. All of this will have effects on the tournament. The tournament gets started with 20 people.

Round 1: Pat B with Control Slaver

  I can't avoid playing against teammates. Pat mentions that he would draw but has had bad experiences doing that in the past.

Gm1: Pat wins the roll and accidentally draws 8 cards. I ask if he knows which card it was and he says he thinks so, but doesn't sound sure. Dan tells us that its a warning and a forced mulligan to 6. Pat mulligans to 5 and keeps. I have to mulligan to 6 and keep a hand with Ancestral with Force backup. Pat plays a Fetch and a Mox Monkey. I cast Ancestral on my turn and I draw into some stuff. Pat beats me with the Monkey down to 12. I'm pretty sure I cast some card draw but I can't seem to find a win condition while he is beating me. Eventually I find Vamp for Yawg Will and Pat scoops it up to a healthy yard.

   SB: 4 Duress come in. I'm pretty sure Merchant Scroll, Mystical, Drain and DSC come out.

Gm2: Pats on the play and I mulligan again. Pat Thoughtseizes me a couple times early and both of us end up depleting our hands. Pat gets a top in play and starts choosing which cards he wants to draw. I try for, I think a Thirst when he only has two cards in hand and he Drains it. He uses the mana to Top. My next turn I try Yawg Will which he Drains again, I didn't figure he for double drain there. He hardcasts DSC and kills me in two turns.

   SB: No Changes

Gm3: I'm on the play and we both keep 7. He Thoughtseizes me early. I get Yawg Will to resolve and cast Ancestral into some goodness and Empty the Warrens for 14 goblins. He untaps and cast E Truth on my goblin army. However it is revealed to me later than I should have cast Demonic Tutor for Black Lotus to get one more mana in order to play Duress then Empty the Warrens. If I did it that way I would have won. However neither of us is able to win within the time and we get a draw.

  Matches: 0-0-1 Games: 1-1-1

Round 2: Jeff playing Belcher

Gm1: I win the role. We both keep. My hand plays out Painter on turn 1 with Grindstone in hand with enough mana to activate on turn 2. I just have to hope my opponent doesn't have Force or can't win on turn 1. I pass. He plays Land Grant and I look at his hand carefully trying to decide if I should counter land grant even though I don't have the ability. I do however notice that his hand lets him win on turn 2 if he gets a turn 2. Fortunately for me he doesn't get one. Its also I good thing for me that I didn't name blue with my painter as he had a Pyroblast in his hand.

   SB In 4 Duress 1 Rack and Ruin Out 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Drain 1 DSC 1 Mindslaver 1 Other card.

Gm2: We both keep. Jeff appears to have kept a shaky hand when he doesn't do much on either turn one or two. I duress him and take a Simian Spirit Guide on the logic that he could block if he casts it. A few turns later I duress again and he asks if I want to take the other Spirit Guide he drew, at this point I realize I couldn't have taken the first one, so I call a Judge and let him know both of us are bad at magic. I eventually beat down with 2 Painters and a Welder for the win. At some point I Rack and Ruin some important stuff.

  This is probably the silliest combo vs combo-control match I've ever been a part of. Game one both of us have turn 2 wins and game 2 is won with me attacking with three one power guys.

Matches: 1-0-1 Games: 3-1-1


Round 3: Matt with Gilded Claw

 I'm pretty sure Matt is playing some sort of Shop deck as that's usually what he plays, although I have seen him play fish before.

Gm1: I win the roll and I decide to play this game like a complete moron. I fetch out an Underground Sea and cast Vamp in response to a Thorn of Amethyst. I'm sure I got the wrong card with Vamp anyway. I end up losing to my Mana Crypt Damage, a Juggernaught, and 2 Wastelands which could have been avoided. I don't really see anything from him aside from 2 Spheres 2 Wastes and Jugg.

   SB In 2 Rack and Ruin 2 Ingot Chewer Out I don't remember what I boarded out here other than Tormod's Crypt.

Gm2: I have a turn 1 Tinker for DSC, but Matt has turn 1 Welder to answer it. He takes 11 and I think I cast Trinket Mage for something and he ends up going all the way.

   SB I bring in Lava Darts because I saw Welders, but wasn't sure if he was Mono-Brown from game 1.

Gm3: He gets some early disruption that I fight off and he drops a Jugg and try to fight the good fight with my Welder vs his Welder and Jugg. I wish I could have drawn more Artifact hate or any of my Lava Darts because he finds another Welder. I do finally get Grindstone into play with Painter and activate it, but its a huge mistake which both of us missed. I was at 2 life and I had a tapped welder. When I mill him he could weld in his Trike and kill me. However he tells me he put Blessing in his SB because he saw the results I posted before the tourney and he Welds in two Juggernaughts before Grindstone resolves and I die anyway.

Matches: 1-1-1 Games: 4-3-1


  I look at the pairings and I'm kinda happy I got paired down, hopefully my opponent will concede because with two losses they are very unlikely to make top 8, while I still have a chance.

Round 4: Craig Dupre with Grim Long.

  Unfortunately Craig feels that he has enough of a chance to make top 8 that he wants to play.

Gm1: Craig wins the role. He thoughtseizes my Force on his turn 1. On my turn 1 I played Lotus DT for Recall Fetched to play Ancestral and cast Vamp for Tinker because I drew a Mox and Sol Ring which I also cast. I figured that if I Tinker for Slaver Craig has to win on his turn 3 or he loses. Unfortunately for me Craig casts Yagmoth's Bargain on turn 2, however he draws some cards and decides to pass the turn in order to get an untap to make winning easier. I have Thirst in my hand and I figure if I can thirst into any Mox and Time Walk I can still win, because I have two lands in hand. The first card I see is Goblin Welder then I see Mindslaver then a Goblin Welder, that's pretty bad for me. I could have at least seen a Force. I discard the Slaver and play both welders and hope he passes back to me, which he doesn't.

   SB In 4 Duress 1 Tormod's Crypt Out 1 DSC 1 Empty the Warrens 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Trinket Mage 1 Sensei's Top

Gm2: We both have to mulligan and I keep a hand that I know isn't good enough but mulling to five seems like its a loss anyway. I play my land and pass. Craig does the same. I draw a mox and cast Thirst on my turn. The first card I draw is Duress and I'm hoping to see one of three cards; Lotus, Petal, or Jet. I don't. I hope Craig passes the turn back to me as I have Duress and Mana Drain and will have the mana to cast both next turn and I figure that will buy me a lot of time. Craig casts Bargain again on turn 2 and this time wins right there. I decide to drop.

  I feel like Game 1 I could have played differently. In retrospect I think it was a misassignment of roles on my part. I need to play the Control deck in this match. I'm pretty sure Land Lotus DT for Force and Vamp for Drain/Ancestral. If I get a counter for turn 2 Bargain doesn't his and the rest of his hand was mana. I'm pretty sure it would have taken him a while to find more bussines, so DT for Force and Vamp for Ancestral seem much better than the play I made.

   Matches: 1-2-1 Games: 4-5-1

  The tournament is over for me, but everyone I drove goes on to make top 8. Overall I don't see the deck being at fault for my performance on Sunday. I definitely didn't play up to my ability. In fact I played pretty terribly all day.

  Team 508 did end up taking 3 of the top 8 spots again. The system is obviously against us already because two of my teammates played in the top 8 again. We only placed one in the top 4, Pat B. However he played Jeff Carpenter and no one actually spoke with Pat B about what Jeff was playing and didn't make sure he added additional artifact hate in his board as I mentioned earlier.

  Team 508 brought 6 people on Saturday and 3 of us made top 8 with 2 of us making top 4. On Sunday we only brought 4, but 3 made top 8 and 1 made top 4. For the weekend Team 508 represented 6 out of a possibly 16 top 8 spots and 3 out of a possibly 8 top 4 spots. As it turns out Team 508 also dominates in the carpool drawings winning it both days, JTL got it on Saturday and I got it on Sunday.


Corey Fraser

Top 8:

1: David Laurence: Ichorid
2: Demonic Attorney: Pitch Long
3: Rich Shay: Pitch Long
4: Corey Fraser(me): Painter
5: James: Painter
6: Nick Rodrigues: Control Slaver
7: Dan: Mask Naught (Dark Illussions maybe)
8: Travis LaPlante: Shops (I only saw Shops when I saw him playing)

David, Chris, Myself, and Nick split in the top 4.

I didn't want to butcher James' and Dan's last names so I ommited them.

Eric,
You can prereg me. If Micah, Yokomoto, and JTL aren't already prereged they are in my car and you can prereg them too.

Corey

This recently came up in a draft.

I have Grim Poppet my opponent has one creature with one counter on it from Grim Poppet. He attacks, I block, and he Mirrorweaves my Poppet. At this point how do we resolve which creature ends up with the counter? Before damage is put on the stack both players can move the counter to the other creature. This also could happen with damage on the stack. How do we figure out which creature dies and which lives?

Thanks

Corey

If you give him Tinker and Walk does that limit what he can do with Will if he doesn't have another Mana Source in hand or on top of his library? If you assume both reads are correct that he has Will but no land then giving him the mana to play Will seems like a mistake. It seems like because your options are all poor, then at least forcing your opponent to have the third mana for Will seems better than giving him the win with you needing to rip FoW, Sapphire, Lotus, or Petal.

This definately could be wrong, but its just a thought.

Stefan,
How did the 24 mana sources treat you? When playing Slaver before the norm was 25, I think. Also boarding down to 23 seems pretty risky. Although it worked out for you.

Also as I mentioned at the tourney, I'm not sure about Leyline when Flash is gone. It just seems like a couple more Crypts plus something else might be better. Obviously it worked out for you, but I'm more curious to here your thoughts on it.

Corey

Steve,

If you wanted to try to include 2 Tops, the first card I would look for a possible cut would be Rack and Ruin. Control Slaver traditionally had very good matches vs Shop based decks so I see the Rack and Ruin as a little unneeded main.

Also couldn't 4 big artifacts be a bit more of an issue with only the single Brainstorm?

Corey

It took a while to read this whole thread and I didn't want to post right after I read the announcement because I knew I was being a little irrational. Over the last month when people began talking about the health of the format and the upcoming B/R anouncement and I was asked I said that I didn't think the format was healthy as is and that I thought something needed to be done about Flash. On top of that I didn't think hitting Scroll would hurt Flash significantly enough and Scroll should also be restricted based on the principle that it is a Tutor and Tutors in general need to be restricted. The final thing that came up was what I thought about Gush and in my opinion it should have never been unrestricted. However in the end I truely didn't beleive that the DCI would hit all three cards at once.

When I saw the announcement I was shocked.

The only logic I can see in restricting Brainstorm and Ponder are that the DCI realized that by restricting Flash, Gush and Merchant Scroll would create a situation where Mana Drain decks would be the best in the format again. So they decided to restrict cards that enable the Mana Drain decks. If this is how this happened I don't understand why they didn't just restrict Mana Drain.

I've basically been playing Mana Drain decks exclusively for the better part of my Magic career and I realize that a big problem with innovation is Drain.

In my opinion restricting Brainstorm+Ponder will result in games more dependant on luck and based almost exclusively on your opening hand because without the fixing Brainstorm and to a lesser extent Ponder provide you aren't able to recover or find answers early enough. Restricting Mana Drain would actually be something that would cause creativity and inovation, replacing Drain with Counterspell just doesn't work. Restricting Brainstorm+Ponder basically does this to exsisting Drain decks -3 Brainstorm +1 Ponder +1 Scroll +1 Mana Source. Not much creativity or inovation there.

I honestly believe this is a mistake on the DCI's part and that Drain is really the card that needs to go.

I also I'm not very happy with the other changes Wizard's has made to the sets coming out in the future, but thats a completely different conversation.

In the end it just feels like the people who make these decisions really have no idea how the game works or how these changes will affect the game.

Corey

Just an initial impression is that you could probably do without the 5 color mana base, Simian Spirit Guides, and the E Tutor. Something like this for a mana base is what I would suggest.

10 Mox Lotus Petal Crypt Vault Ring
1 Academy
5-6 Fetches
3 Volcanic
2 Underground
2-3 Island
Total of 24 Mana Sources

The other thing I would suggest is adding Merchant Scroll for the last 2 Spirit Guides and the E Tutor. After the Servant is in play Scroll can grab REB/Pyro and Vamp as well as the normal stuff it can get.

Also I would go with Ponder over Street Wraith. With Ponder you get to see more cards and gets you what you need now as opposed to just one random card.

Corey

I don't think you can assume I have Tinker and Will in my opening hand and with only one source I think you need to try to dig for mana with the ponder. Cause if I don't have Will where does Extirpate get you?

Star

This card can have the same effect as Sage the same turn and it could theoratically do more.

Dread Return targetting Riverkelp
Riverkelp triggers and you draw(dredge)
Cabal Therapy (Triggers Riverkelp's ability) saccing Riverkelp (Returns to play via Persist Triggering another draw)

Thats 3 dregdges and if you get another therapy or dread return its probably more. Its probably not needed or much better than Sage but it looks like its another option.

Star

Echo what Rich posted, Thanks again Eric.

Also Flash appears to be at least warping people's sideboards. 6 of the top 8 had 4 Leylines in the board.

Star

Rich,
Congrats on your finish. How was the transformational sideboard vs Flash? Did you consider Spell Snare instead of Duress?


Star

First off, Congrats.

Couple of things I was wondering. Was the Single Drain worth it over the 4th Snare or 3rd Misd? In some limited testing with a control deck with no drains people often times play around them because they expect them. Also was Cunning Wish worthwhile with a limited number of targets? I know you got me with one, but how was it the rest of the day? Also I really want to ask how you came up with that board configuration but you said ignore most of it.

Star

The Combo Slaver list looks very much like some of the Hybrid Slaver/Gifts lists that were running around before Meandeck Gifts became popular.

Also Do you have a metagame breakdown?

Thanks

Star

The deck does seem to have maybe 1 or 2 more sources than needed vs most decks right now, I haven't seen that many Shops recently. Also I sort of expected a Smother in the board. This deck does look pretty good though.

I think the reason it probably hasn't seen much play is that in the past I thought GAT had a good match vs Tog. If you just look at the decks GAT runs more counter, draw/search, and more threats. It seems this deck would have a weak match with GAT and that deck is pretty popular from what I can see. This deck would seem to have a good match vs Tyarnt Oath although I would prefer more duress for that match.

If GATs numbers drop a little more I think this deck would probably see some play.

Star

Any more updates? Was the top 4 all GAT? Finals? Is it over?

First off, A job well done to Jeremiah and his team for doing as well as they did despite forgetting their decks at home.

@Hulk: The tournament did play out without any sort of split. One was discussed before each of the elimination rounds, but no agreement could be made.

The Tryant Blue deck is very neat check out the thread. http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=35244.0

Star

Has anyone suggested splashing black? DT Will and Duress seems like they would help up the decks raw power.

I personnally really don't like MisD at all in a control deck. MisD is really only good at protecting your own spells while giving up CA. It can perform some neat tricks but in my experience it takes a lot to set up those situations. I feel that duress can perform both roles of protecting your spells and stopping your opponent's game plan without giving up CA. Obviously your response would be that the deck can afford to run MisD and lose some CA because it draws an incredible amount of cards. Well this is not quite true in the early game giving up advantage early doesn't seem like something this deck can do because it doesn't seem to have the capability to dig itself out of a hole. Although I could be wrong and you have more experience with the deck.

Adding DT and possibly Vamp give you options when you board in the Oaths. Without the black tutors you really are kinda stuck Brainstorming to find them. Remora and Meditate aren't gonna get you there vs any aggro strategy.

About Will. Basically it gives the deck one last chance to dig out of a hole. Its really far too broken not to run. I don't know what else to say about it.

Basically what I would suggest is:
- 4 MisD
- 1 Plagerize
- 1 Timetwister
- 1 Plats

+ 4 Duress
+ 1 DT
+ 1 Vamp
+ 1 Will

This could possibly make the Meditate weaker with less pitch counters but I think it may make the deck overall a bit better.

Star

The issue I ran into running Wastes was that I frequently wouldn't have two islands for Gush. Wastes would seem better in the deck before Gush was unrestricted, but you need to be able to frequently draw islands early.

Star

I started testing versions of this deck when I read this thread the first time. I've only been testing on Workstation for whatever thats worth, but this is what I've come up with. I tried a version with 4 Merchant Scroll and it just seemed slower and ran less smoothly than this.

Mana Base
1 Strip Mine
2 Underground Sea
4 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Strand/Delta
1 Lotus
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring

Disruption
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
1 Echoing Truth

Search Effects
4 Brainstorm
1 Vamp
1 Demonic
1 Mystical
1 Imp Seal

Combo
4 Horn of Greed
4 Gush
3 Explortion
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Zuran Orb
1 Trade Routes
1 Fastbond
1 Burning Wish

Extra Broken
1 Ancestral
1 Walk
1 Yawg Will

SB
Wish Targets
1 Braingeyser
1 Eye of Nowhere
1 Tendrills of Agony
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tinker
10 Other Cards

I was thinking you could probably cut the Explorations down to 2 because your first tutor ussually goes for Fastbond anyway. How exactly do you go infinite with Chasm? Without being able to sac the lands? Or do you just not go infinite and hope your opponent doesn't Strip/Waste?

What do you guys think?

Star