Looking at this compilation of card choices from last month and comparing to what I've already seen for April, I can say that this is a perfect example of 20-20 Hindsight.

The metagame shift from heavy Mishra's Workshop to Aggro-Control (in the form of Hulk Smash! mainly), leads me to believe that certain sideboarding strategies in the weeks to come will really turn these numbers around.

Look for Energy Flux, Rebuild, Oxidize, and Artifact Mutation use to fall off.

Look for Ground Seal, Tormod's Crypt, and Planar Void to jump onto the scene as the shear number of Animate effects in the metagame demand some planning for. Planar Void is one of the most underrated cards in the meta right now, completely hosing Ghoulnought, Hulk Smash!, Reanimator, Bird Sh*t! (threshold), and hampering Oath (sans Gaea's Blessing). I predict Black to start putting pressure on decks like these that abuse the graveyard.

As Null Rod use drops off a bit, Combo will arise for a few weeks until it comes back. Decks with access to Red should start pulling in the Pyrostatic Pillars and Blue should keep thinking about Arcane Laboratory, although over the last month its appearance has been all for nothing as the metagame was very Combo-UNfriendly.

Engineered Plague may see increased use as it slows Oath down severely, and most of the Aggro decks out there are packing a fair amount of small creatures (Plagues naming Goblins, Spirits, Elves, Lizards, or even Atogs would do quite well in today's metagame).

As the shift goes away from heavy artifact, Lava Dart finds itself on the cutting block. Some may keep them around as there are still decks that abuse Goblin Welder (Control Slaver and Control Titan especially), but not in the same vast numbers as last month's report indicates.

Disenchanting effects will be at an all time high, but players will still need the versatility to choose between Enchantment break or Artifact break. Disenchant, Naturalize, and Hull Breach may see increased play.

Maze of Ith is super hot right now as the majority of the decks you're going to see around here are creature-based (save for the combos out there). Keep an eye for these to see more play as more and more players adopt the Aggro and Aggro-Control builds prior to the Combo Spring that's just around the corner.

Combo around the Guild won't be all that heavy, but there are between 6-10 players that can field some pretty sick decks out there and are capable players. Aggro and Aggro Control will be most of the field though, in my opinion.

Hope these numbers help. Sorry in advance for the weird format, but there isn't a "Tab" option for making columns, or at least I haven't figured it out yet.

Here are all the Color by Color Breakdowns added together for March, and listed by use.



Restricted List       /   Restricted List Sideboard
Black Lotus 28          (Fact or Fiction 2)
Mox Sapphire 25          (Tolarian Academy) 2
Strip Mine 25          (Vampiric Tutor) 2
Ancestral Recall 26          (Balance) 1
Mox Emerald 23          (Crop Rotation 1)
Sol Ring 23          (Gush 1)
Mox Jet 22          (Mind’s Desire 1)
Mox Ruby 20         (Necropotence 1) 
Demonic Tutor 18          (Strip Mine) 1
Mox Pearl 18          (Tinker 1)
Mana Crypt 18
Time Walk 17
Mystical Tutor 17
Yawgmoth's Will 12
Tinker 11
Vampiric Tutor 11
Library of Alexandria 10
Lotus Petal 10
Gush 8
Mana Vault 8
Fact or Fiction 7
Tolarian Academy 7
Chrome Mox 7
Regrowth 5
Lion's Eye Diamond 4
Demonic Consultation 3
Memory Jar 3
Mox Diamond 3
Wheel of Fortune 3
Crop Rotation 2
Grim Monolith 2
Mind Twist 2
Windfall 2
Balance 1
Black Vice 1
Channel 1
Enlightened Tutor 1
Fastbond 1
Mind Over Matter 1
Timetwister 1

Artifact          /   Artifact Sideboard
Null Rod 22          (Chalice of the Void) 27
Crucible of Worlds 17          (Null Rod) 7
Sundering Titan 16          (Tormod's Crypt) 7
Chromatic Sphere 12          (Triskelion) 7
Trinisphere 12          (Trinisphere) 5
Triskelion 11          (Duplicant) 4
Darkwater Egg 8          (Goblin Charbelcher) 4
Helm of Awakening 8          (Mindslaver) 4
Su-Chi 7             (Tsabo's Web) 4
Gilded Lotus 6          (Jester's Cap) 3
Chalice of the Void 5          (Sphere of Resistance) 3
Duplicant 5          (Sundering Titan) 3
Darksteel Colossus 5          (Crucible of Worlds 2)
Engineered Explosives 5      (Cursed Totem 2)
Platinum Angel 5          (Damping Matrix 2)
Juggernaut 4          (Isochron Scepter) 2
Possessed Portal 4          (Spawning Pit) 2
Powder Keg 4          (Engineered Explosives) 1
Smokestack 4          (Masticore 1)
Tangle Wire 4          (Platinum Angel) 1         
Aether Vial 3
Ankh of Mishra 3
Memnarch 3
Nevinyrral's Disk 3
Razormane Masticore 3
Skullclamp 3
Library of Leng 2
Pentavus 2
Zuran Orb 2
Darksteel Ingot 1
Isochron Scepter 1
Karn, Silver Golem 1
Masticore 1
Mindslaver 1
Sensei's Divining Top 1
Scrabbling Claws 1
Solemn Simulacrum 1

Blue          /   Blue Sideboard
Force of Will 97          (Energy Flux) 27
Brainstorm 78          (Stifle) 25
Mana Drain 52          (Arcane Laboratory) 17
Thirst for Knowledge 28       (Gilded Drake) 16
Cunning Wish 22          (Hurkyl's Recall) 11
Intuition 21          (Blue Elemental Blast) 10
Mana Leak 17          (Annul) 5
Circular Logic 16          (Echoing Truth) 4
Deep Analysis 16          (Force of Will) 4
Accumulated Knowledge 12       (Propaganda) 4
Standstill 12          (Seasinger) 4
Aquamoeba 11          (Back to Basics) 3
Impulse 11          (Control Magic 3)
Counterspell 10          (Disrupt 3)
Stifle 10             (Dominating Licid) 3
Daze 8             (Hindering Touch) 3
Ophidian 8             (Waterfront Bouncer) 3
Mental Note 6          (Bribery) 2
Misdirection 6          (Chain of Vapor) 2
Wonder 5             (Old Man of the Sea) 2
Cloud of Faeries 4          (Riptide Entrancer) 2
Meditate 4             (Rushing River) 2
Serum Visions 4          (Seal of Removal) 2
Annul 3             (Brainstorm) 1
Dominate 3          (Counterspell) 1
Future Sight 3          (Gift's Ungiven) 1
Morphling 3          (Gush) 1
Sleight of Hand 3          (Misdirection) 1
Spelljack 3             (Morphling) 1
Spiketail Hatchling 3          (Stroke of Genius) 1
Voidmage Prodigy 3          (Tinker) 1
Back to Basics 2          (Wonder 1)
Blatant Thievery 2
Compulsion 2
Echoing Truth 2
Gifts Ungiven 2
Pulse of the Grid 2
Scalpelexis 2
Arcanis the Omnipotent 1
Chain of Vapor 1
Clone 1
Hurkyl's Recall 1
Merchant Scroll 1
Rushing River 1


Red          /   Red Sideboard
Goblin Welder 38          (Red Elemental Blast) 31
Squee, Goblin Nabob 19       (Rack and Ruin) 21
Goblin Lackey 12          (Lava Dart) 7
Goblin Piledriver 12          (Blood Moon) 3
Goblin Warchief 11          (Pyroblast) 3
Goblin Matron 8          (Worldgorger Dragon) 3
Goblin Recruiter 8          (Lightning Bolt) 1
Goblin Ringleader 8          (Threaten) 1
Siege-Gang Commander 7
Worldgorger Dragon 7
Blood Moon 6
Gempalm Incinerator 6
Goblin Grenade 4
Grim Lavamancer 4
Incinerate 4
Lightning Bolt 4
Mogg Fanatic 4
Pyrostatic Pillar 4
Raging Goblin 4
Reckless Charge 4
Goblin Sharpshooter 3
Skirk Prospector 3
Rack and Ruin 2
Anger 1
Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker 1

Green          /   Green Sideboard
Wild Mongrel 26          (Ground Seal) 19
Arrogant Wurm 24          (Naturalize) 17
Basking Rootwalla 24          (Oxidize) 15
Elvish Spirit Guide 13          (Xantid Swarm) 10
Land Grant 12          (Root Maze) 7
Ground Seal 9          (Berserk) 3
Food Chain 8          (Ifh-Biff Efreet) 3
Werebear 8          (City of Solitude) 2
Nimble Mongoose 6          (Hidden Gibbons 2)
Berserk 4            (Xantid Swarm 2)
Eternal Witness 4          (Genesis) 1
Fyndhorn Elves 4         (Spore Frog) 1
Hidden Gibbons 4
Llanowar Elves 4
Rancor 4
Survival of the Fittest 4
Timberwatch Elf 4
Tinder Wall 4
Treetop Scout 4
Wirewood Pride 4
Xantid Swarm 4
Elvish Herder 3
Krosan Colossus 3
Krosan Tusker 3
Naturalize 3
Root Maze 3
Viridian Zealot 3
Mirri's Guile 2
Quirion Dryad 2
Roar of the Wurm 2
Sylvan Library 2
Wellwisher 2
Elvish Scrapper 1
Exploration 1
Gaea's Blessing 1
Living Wish 1
Oxidize 1
Priest of Titania 1
Worldly Tutor 1

Black          /   Black Sideboard
Duress 23             (Duress) 9
Animate Dead 16          (Phyrexian Scuta) 6
Dark Ritual 15          (Ghastly Demise) 5
Cabal Ritual 8         (Coffin Purge) 4
Tendrils of Agony 8         (Necromancy) 4
Skeletal Scrying 7          (Innocent Blood 3)
Night's Whisper 6          (Phyrexian Negator) 3
Spoils of the Vault 5         (Planar Void) 3
Apprentice Necromancer 4      (Ashen Monstrosity 2)
Buried Alive 4         (Night of Souls' Betrayal) 2
Putrid Imp 4          (Tendrils of Agony) 2
Terror 4             (Zombie Infestation 2)
Cranial Extraction 3          (Diabolic Edict) 2
Exhume 3            (Skeletal Scrying) 2
Necromancy 3          (Sickening Dreams 1)
Stitch Together 3
Body Snatcher 2
Withered Wretch 2
Recurring Nightmare 1
Skeletal Scrying 1
Spirit of the Night 1

White          /   White Sideboard
Swords to Plowshares 19       (Ray of Revelation) 10
Exalted Angel 9          (Serenity) 7
Decree of Justice 8          (Swords to Plowshares) 5
Astral Slide 4          (Disenchant) 3
Gilded Light 4         (Orim's Chant) 3
Renewed Faith 3         (Decree of Justice) 2
Stioc Champion 3          (Ghostly Prison 2)
Disenchant 2         (Sacred Ground) 2
Rule of Law 2          (Seal of Cleansing) 2
Seal of Cleansing 2          (Wing Shards 2)
Wipe Clean 2         (Circle of Protection: Artifacts 1)
Akroma, Angel of Wrath 1       (Pristine Angel) 1

Gold and Split-cards    /   Gold and Split-cards Sideboard
Meddling Mage 11          (Pernicious Deed) 7
Artifact Mutation 3         (Artifact Mutation) 4
Fire/Ice 3             (Iridescent Angel) 1
Psychatog 3
Lim-Dul's Vault 2
Lobotomy 2
Disenchant 1
Merieke Ri Berit 1
Pernicious Deed 1

Non-basic Land       /   Non-basic Land Sideboard
Wasteland 73          (Wasteland) 7
Polluted Delta 46          (Maze of Ith) 6
Flooded Strand 43          (Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale) 1
Tropical Island 40
Underground Sea 31
Bazaar of Baghdad 24
Mishra's Workshop 20
City of Brass 20
Tundra 19
Volcanic Island 18
Gemstone Mine 13
Taiga 12
Mishra's Factory 11
Faerie Conclave 8
Wooded Foothills 8
Windswept Heath 7
Ancient Tomb 6
Glimmervoid 6
Bayou 5
Seat of the Synod 5
Barbarian Ring 4
Forbidden Orchard 4
Secluded Steppe 4
Tranquil Thicket 4
Riftstone Portal 3
Scrubland 3
Wirewood Lodge 3
Great Furnace 2
Nantuko Monastery 2
Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1
Karplusan Forest 1

Basic Land
Island 83
Forest 39
Mountain 31
Swamp 19
Plains 9

Taking aside the decklists from our last tournament, I crunched the numbers to see exactly what the metagame looked like.

20 people entered and the overall metagame turned out pretty Control heavy as Psychatog made it’s return and Mishra’s Workshop made a hasty exit.  Combo showed up stronger than normal also. (According to the official results, 20 people entered, and 18 played the final round.  I have a total of 19 decklists so I have no idea who I am missing.)

Aggro-Control
Gregg Seaverson Hulk Smash!
Tommy Kolowith Hulk Smash!
Patrick Titterud Hulk Smash!
Tony Higley Cerebral Assassin
Josh Bayer UGB Madness
Todd Otto RG Beatz
Nick Kinney UR Fish
Mike Solymossy Masknought

Control
Jeremy Zwirn Control Slaver
Ben Carp 3-Color Control
Brad Thompson UB Control

Combo
I@n DeGraff Gifts
Jon Tschida Doomsday
Andy Hiser 2-Land Belcher
Matt Hannafin Tendrils
Jeremy Sauld Dragon

Aggro
George Andrews Bombs over Eau Claire
Chadd Aspseter Elves

Prison
Josh Olson STAX

According to the decklists that were registered at the beginning of the tournament, there was 1 illegal decklists entered.

Jeremy Sauld 58 card maindeck (Top 8 )

On to the color breakdown. Every tournament I will be posting the cards used by everyone there, divided first by Restriction, then by artifacts, the 5 colors, gold/split cards, non-basic land, and finally basic land. Sideboard cards are denoted by parentheses.

Restricted List
Black Lotus 18
Mox Sapphire 17
Ancestral Recall 16
Mox Ruby 15
Demonic Tutor 14
Mox Emerald 14
Mox Jet 14
Time Walk 14
Sol Ring 13
Mystical Tutor 12
Yawgmoth’s Will 12
Mox Pearl 11
Vampiric Tutor 8
Library of Alexandria 7
Mana Crypt 7
Strip Mine 7
Lotus Petal 6
Tinker 6
Balance 5
Chrome Mox 4
Gush 4
Mind Twist 4
Tolarian Academy 4
(Vampiric Tutor 4)
Crop Rotation 3
(Fact or Fiction 3)
Lion’s Eye Diamond 3
Mana Vault 3
Demonic Consultation 2
Fact or Fiction 2
Mind’s Desire 2
Mox Diamond 2
Necropotence 2
Timetwister 2
(Tinker 2)
Black Vise 1
Channel 1
Grim Monolith 1
(Gush 1)
(Library of Alexandria 1)
Memory Jar 1
(Memory Jar 1)
(Mind Twist 1)
Regrowth 1
(Strip Mine 1)
(Timetwister 1)
(Tolarian Academy 1)
Trinisphere 1
Wheel of Fortune 1
(Wheel of Fortune 1)
Windfall 1
(Windfall 1)
Yawgmoth’s Bargain 1

Artifacts
(Chalice of the Void 9)
(Null Rod 9)
Chromatic Sphere 8
(Tormod’s Crypt 6)
Crucible of Worlds 5
Goblin Charbelcher 4
Illusionary Mask 4
Phyrexian Dreadnought 4
Smokestack 4
Sphere of Resistance 4
(Cursed Scroll 3)
Darksteel Colossus 3
(Defense Grid 3)
(Ensnaring Bridge 3)
Nevinyrral’s Disk 3
Phyrexian Furnace 3
Skullclamp 3
Sundering Titan 3
(Sundering Titan 3)
(Triskelion 3)
(Darksteel Colossus 2)
Engineered Explosives 2
(Engineered Explosives 2)
Mindslaver 2
Platinum Angel 2
Triskelion 2
(Duplicant 1)
(Isochron Scepter 1)
(Jester’s Cap 1)
Karn, Silver Golem 1
Pentavus 1
Possessed Portal 1

Blue
Force of Will 52
Brainstorm 49
Mana Drain 36
Cunning Wish 21
Intuition 15
(Stifle 14)
Accumulated Knowledge 12
Thirst for Knowledge 11
Deep Analysis 10
(Propaganda 10)
(Hurkyl’s Recall 7)
(Back to Basics 6)
(Echoing Truth 6)
(Arcane Laboratory 4)
Circular Logic 4
Counterspell 4
Extract 4
Impulse 4
Meditate 4
Standstill 4
Stifle 4
(Energy Flux 3)
Gifts Ungiven 3
(Blue Elemental Blast 2)
(Chain of Vapor 2)
Compulsion 2
Fabricate 2
(Misdirection 2)
Rebuild 2
(Rushing River 2)
Voidmage Apprentice 2
Wonder 2
(Annul 1)
(Brainstorm 1)
(Counterspell 1)
(Gifts Ungiven 1)
(Hibernation 1)
Hurkyl’s Recall 1
(Stroke of Genius 1)
Willbender 1

Red
(Red Elemental Blast 21)
(Rack and Ruin 19)
Goblin Welder 11
Squee, Goblin Nabob 11
(Lava Dart 6)
Gorilla Shaman 5
Worldgorger Dragon 5
Grim Lavamancer 4
Incinerate 4
Kird Ape 4
Lightning Bolt 4
(Blood Moon 3)
(Pyroblast 3)
(Pyroclasm 3)
(Fling 2)
(Pyrokinesis 2)
Anger 1
Beacon of Destruction 1
(Firestorm 1)
(Shattering Pulse 1)
Viashino Heretic 1
(Viashino Heretic 1)

Green
Arrogant Wurm 8
Basking Rootwalla 8
River Boa 8
(Naturalize 7)
Wild Mongrel 7
(Xantid Swarm 7)
(Ground Seal 6)
Rancor 5
Berserk 4
Elvish Spirit Guide 4
Land Grant 4
Llanowar Elves 4
Root Maze 4
(Root Maze 4)
Timberwatch Elf 4
Tinder Wall 4
Elvish Herder 3
(Elvish Spirit Guide 3)
Ground Seal 3
Hidden Gibbons 3
Hidden Guerrillas 3
Naturalize 3
Treetop Scout 3
Wirewood Pride 3
Xantid Swarm 3
(Berserk 2)
(Call of the Herd 2)
(Choke 2)
Elvish Vanguard 2
Eternal Witness 2
Fyndorn Elves 2
Mirri’s Guile 2
Moment’s Peace 2
Roar of the Wurm 2
Troll Ascetic 2
Wellwisher 2
Elvish Lyrist 1
Elvish Scrapper 1
Living Wish 1
(Moment’s Peace 1)
Oxidize 1
Priest of Titania 1

Black
Duress 29
Dark Ritual 16
Animate Dead 7
Cabal Ritual 5
(Duress 5)
(Coffin Purge 4)
Doomsday 4
Tendrils of Agony 4
Unmask 4
Cranial Extraction 3
(Cranial Extraction 3)
Necromancy 3
Sengir Vampire 3
Skeletal Scrying 3
(Tendrils of Agony 2)
(Withered Wretch 2)
Dance of the Dead 1
(Diabolic Edict 1)
(Ghastly Demise 1)
(Phyrexian Negator 1)
(Shallow Grave 1)
(Snuff Out 1)
Spoils of the Vault 1

White
(Ray of Revelation 6)
Swords to Plowshares 6
(Swords to Plowshares 4)
Auriok Salvagers 2
Exalted Angel 2
Seal of Cleansing 2
Decree of Justice 1
(Disenchant 1)
(Dismantling Blow 1)
(Orim’s Chant 1)

Gold and Split Cards
Psychatog 11
Pernicious Deed 7
(Artifact Mutation 5)
Fire/Ice 5
Artifact Mutation 2
Lim-Dul’s Vault 2
Lobotomy 2
Pernicious Deed 2

Non-basic Lands
Underground Sea 34
Polluted Delta 32
Wasteland 23
Tropical Island 21
Volcanic Island 21
Flooded Strand 18
City of Brass 14
Bazaar of Baghdad 13
Gemstone Mine 12
Taiga 8
Tundra 6
(Maze of Ith 5)
Windswept Heath 5
Mishra’s Factory 4
Mishra’s Workshop 4
Treetop Village 4
Wooded Foothills 4
Riftstone Portal 3
Wirewood Lodge 3
Gaea’s Cradle 2
Seat of the Synod 2
Undiscovered Paradise 2
Bayou 1
(Riftstone Portal 1)
(Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale 1)

Basic Land
Island 36
Forest 12
Swamp 7
Mountain 1
(Swamp 1)

Mox Pearl Tournament

Number of rounds completed: 5

Final result:
=============

1 Degraff, I@n
2 Andrews, George
3 Seaverson, Gregg
4 Zwirn, Jeremy
5 Sauld, Jeremy
6 Tschida, Jon
7 Kolowith, Tommy
8 Higley, Tony

The final was a single-elimination with 8 players

Swiss Top 8:
============
<-----Tiebreakers----->
Match P-Game Game Oppon. Awrd
No Name Points Win % Win % Win % No.1 1-8 Byes

1 15 Degraff, I@n 11 56.0000 85.7143 57.5685 - 3
2 5 Sauld, Jeremy 10 54.6667 66.6667 53.6364 - 3
3 9 Andrews, George 10 53.3333 66.6667 58.2540 + 2
4 13 Seaverson, Gregg 10 53.3333 66.6667 54.6667 - 2
5 14 Tschida, Jon 10 52.0000 63.6364 54.3651 + 2
6 12 Kolowith, Tommy 9 52.0000 71.4286 60.9206 + 2
7 19 Zwirn, Jeremy 9 48.0000 54.5455 48.9744 - 1
8 20 Higley, Tony 9 46.6667 80.0000 50.3968 - 1



Player Summary:
===============

Enrolled 20
Deleted 0
Drop-outs/Removed/Cut 2
Played the last round 18

04-08-05 Mox Pearl Top 8 Decklists

1st Place
I@n DeGraff
[I@n]
Gifts-Salvagers

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4c Brainstorm
3x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Cunning Wish
3x Gifts Ungiven
3x Phyrexian Furnace
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Regrowth
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
2x Auriok Salvagers
3x Duress
1x Balance
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Sol Ring
1x Lotus Petal
4x Island
3x Tundra
2x Flooded Strand
2x Tropical Island
1x Polluted Delta

Sideboard:
1x Duress
1x Gifts Ungiven
2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Stroke of Genius
3x Pernicious Deed
1x Shallow Grave
1x Tinker
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Ray of Revelation
1x Disenchant
1x Coffin Purge
1x Library of Alexandria

2nd Place
George Andrews
[nightwind]
Bombs over Eau Claire

1x Black Vise
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Basking Rootwalla
4x Arrogant Wurm
2x Roar of the Wurm
3x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring
1x Anger
1x Wonder
3x Ground Seal
1x Crop Rotation
3x Squee, Goblin Nabob
3x Stifle
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
3x Windswept Heath
3x Riftstone Portal
4x Tropical Island
4x Taiga
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

Sideboard:
3x Red Elemental Blast
3x Null Rod
3x Gilded Drake
3x Ray of Revelation
3x Artifact Mutation

3rd Place
Gregg Seaverson
Hulk Smash!

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Brainstorm
4x Accumulated Knowledge
3x Psychatog
3x Duress
3x Cunning Wish
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Deep Analysis
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Intuition
1x Fire/Ice
1x Mind Twist
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Gush
1x Sol Ring
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Mystical Tutor
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
4x Underground Sea
4x Volcanic Island
1x Library of Alexandria
3x Island

Sideboard:
1x Cranial Extraction
1x Lava Dart
1x Stifle
1x Vampiric Tutor
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Isochron Scepter
1x Rack and Ruin
1x Echoing Truth
1x Fling
1x Shattering Pulse
2x Propaganda

4th Place
Jeremy Zwirn
Control Slaver

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Brainstorm
4x Thirst for Knowledge
2x Intuition
2x Deep Analysis
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Cunning Wish
4x Goblin Welder
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
2x Mindslaver
1x Pentavus
1x Platinum Angel
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
5x Island
4x Volcanic Island
2x Underground Sea
3x Flooded Strand
2x Polluted Delta
1x Library of Alexandria

Sideboard:
1x Tormod’s Crypt
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Jester’s Cap
1x Triskelion
2x Blood Moon
2x Rack and Ruin
2x Lava Dart
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Echoing Truth
1x Fact or Fiction

5th Place
Jeremy Sauld
[jeremy_78]
Dragon

1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt
4x Worldgorger Dragon
4x Squee, Goblin Nabob
3x Xantid Swarm
2x Duress
4x Force of Will
3x Animate Dead
3x Necromancy
1x Dance of the Dead
2x Lim-Dul’s Vault
2x Compulsion
3x Intuition
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Eternal Witness
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
2x Underground Sea
2x Swamp
3x Tropical Island
1x Island

Sideboard:
1x Duress
1x Xantid Swarm
2x Sundering Titan
2x Pernicious Deed
2x Stifle
2x Echoing Truth
3x Chalice of the Void
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Engineered Explosives

6th Place
Jon Tschida
Doomsday

4x Dark Ritual
4x Brainstorm
4x Unmask
4x Force of Will
4x Doomsday
4x Duress
2x Cabal Ritual
2x Rebuild
1x Time Walk
1x Beacon of Destruction
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mind’s Desire
1x Gush
1x Timetwister
1x Chromatic Sphere
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Necropotence
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Lion’s Eye Diamond
1x Lotus Petal
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
4x Underground Sea
4x Polluted Delta
3x Island
2x Flooded Strand
1x Swamp

Sideboard:
3x Old Man of the Sea
3x Null Rod
3x Back to Basics
3x Defense Grid
3x Energy Flux

7th Place
Tommy Kolowith
[TK]
Hulk Smash!

3x Psychatog
3x Cunning Wish
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
3x Intuition
2x Deep Analysis
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Sol Ring
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
3x Duress
1x Mind Twist
4x Accumulated Knowledge
4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
4x Brainstorm
1x Mystical Tutor
4x Underground Sea
3x Volcanic Island
3x Island
1x Library of Alexandria
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand

Sideboard:
2x Propaganda
1x Stifle
3x Red Elemental Blast
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Lava Dart
1x Gush
1x Rushing River
1x Snuff Out
1x Coffin Purge
2x Rack and Ruin
1x Fling

8th Place
Tony Higley
[gnomehunter]
Cerebral Assassin

1x Ancestral Recall
1x Balance
1x Tinker
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Time Walk
1x Possessed Portal
4x Force of Will
1x Eternal Witness
1x Worldgorger Dragon
1x Triskelion
1x Platinum Angel
2x Sundering Titan
3x Intuition
1x Thirst for Knowledge
4x Squee, Goblin Nabob
4x Goblin Welder
4x Animate Dead
1x Mana Crypt
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Sol Ring
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Darksteel Colossus
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
1x Tolarian Academy
2x Seat of the Synod
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine
1x Strip Mine

Sideboard:
1x Duplicant
1x Triskelion
1x Riftstone Portal
2x Rack and Ruin
2x Ray of Revelation
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Xantid Swarm
2x Arcane Laboratory

Taking aside the decklists from our last tournament, I crunched the numbers to see exactly what the metagame looked like.

16 people entered the April Fool’s Day Sanctioned Type 1 Tournament, 

Aggro-Control
Joe Schultz Meandeck Oath
Josh Bayer UGB Madness
Todd Otto RG Beatz
Chadd Aspseter UG Madness
Jake Hustad Hulk Smash!
Kyle Clemins UBW Landstill
Patrick York UW Landstill
Adam Boese URB Echoing Iso-Togavolver Blast
Chris Lehman Welding Goggles

Control
Matt Hannafin Control Titan

Combo
Josh Curron Ghoul Reanimator
Tony Higley Ghoulnought

Aggro
George Andrews Bombs over Eau Claire
Tim Kline BG Reanimadness
Nick Kinney Food Chain Goblins
Jordan Johnson Piledriver Sligh

According to the decklists that were registered at the beginning of the tournament, there was 1 illegal decklists entered.

Joe Schultz 59 card main deck (Top 8 )

On to the color breakdown. Every tournament I will be posting the cards used by everyone there, divided first by Restriction, then by artifacts, the 5 colors, gold/split cards, non-basic land, and finally basic land. Sideboard cards are denoted by parentheses.

Restricted List
Sol Ring 11
Strip Mine 10
Lotus Petal 9
Demonic Tutor 7
Mox Diamond 6
Mana Crypt 5
Mox Emerald 5
Ancestral Recall 4
Chrome Mox 4
Mind Twist 4
Mox Sapphire 4
Mystical Tutor 4
Crop Rotation 3
(Fact or Fiction 3)
Library of Alexandria 3
Mox Jet 3
Mox Ruby 3
Vampiric Tutor 3
Balance 2
Black Lotus 2
Entomb 2
Gush 2
Mana Vault 2
Time Walk 2
Tinker 2
Yawgmoth’s Will 2
Fact or Fiction 1
Mox Pearl 1
Necropotence 1
Tolarian Academy 1
(Vampiric Tutor 1)
Wheel of Fortune 1
(Wheel of Fortune 1)
Windfall 1
(Windfall 1)

Artifacts
(Null Rod 16)
(Tormod’s Crypt 9)
Isochron Scepter 7
(Chalice of the Void 6)
Chalice of the Void 4
Illusionary Mask 4
Phyrexian Dreadnought 4
Sundering Titan 4
(Ankh of Mishra 3)
Crucible of Worlds 3
Distorting Lens 3
(Ensnaring Bridge 3)
(Claws of Gix 2)
Duplicant 2
Nevinyrral’s Desk 2
(Phyrexian Furnace 2)
Platinum Angel 2
Skullclamp 2
Tormod’s Crypt 2
Triskelion 2
Darksteel Colossus 1
Engineered Explosives 1
(Memnarch 1)
Mindslaver 1
(Platinum Angel 1)
(Triskelion 1)

Blue
Brainstorm 35
Force of Will 32
Mana Drain 15
Deep Analysis 13
(Stifle 13)
Mana Leak 10
Cunning Wish 9
Accumulated Knowledge 8
Circular Logic 8
Intuition 8
Standstill 8
(Blue Elemental Blast 7)
Thirst for Knowledge 7
(Gilded Drake 6)
(Energy Flux 5)
Blue Elemental Blast 4
Careful Study 4
Counterspell 4
(Disrupt 4)
Impulse 4
Stifle 4
Wonder 4
Aquamoeba 3
(Arcane Laboratory 3)
Cetavolver 3
Echoing Truth 3
(Propaganda 3)
(Bribery 2)
(Dominating Licid 2)
(Chain of Vapor 1)
(Echoing Truth 1)
Misdirection 1
Morphling 1
(Rushing River 1)

Red
(Red Elemental Blast 22)
Lightning Bolt 16
Incinerate 10
(Pyroblast 10)
Chain Lightning 8
Goblin Lackey 8
Goblin Piledriver 8
Mogg Fanatic 8
Blood Moon 7
Goblin Grenade 6
Goblin Warchief 6
Siege-Gang Commander 6
Fireblast 4
(Goblin Vandal 4)
Goblin Welder 4
Kird Ape 4
Lava Spike 4
Pyrostatic Pillar 4
Raging Goblin 4
Reckless Charge 4
Red Elemental Blast 4
Shrapnel Blast 4
Dragon Breath 3
Goblin Recruiter 3
Goblin Ringleader 3
Gorilla Shaman 3
(Gorilla Shaman 3)
(Meltdown 3)
Price of Progress 3
(Rack and Ruin 3)
Rakavolver 3
Squee, Goblin Nabob 3
(Blood Moon 2)
Goblin Sharpshooter 2
(Pyrokinesis 2)
Skirk Prospector 2
(Spark Elemental 2)
Anger 1
(Boil 1)
Cosmic Larva 1
(Firestorm 1)
(Goblin Goon 1)
Rorix Bladewing 1

Green
Basking Rootwalla 16
Wild Mongrel 15
Arrogant Wurm 12
(Naturalize 9)
Ground Seal 8
Hermit Druid 7
Naturalize 7
(Root Maze 6)
(Xantid Swarm 6)
(Ground Seal 5)
(Oxidize 5)
Oath of Druids 4
River Boa 4
Roar of the Wurm 4
Root Maze 4
Elvish Spirit Guide 3
Food Chain 3
Krosan Reclamation 3
Moment’s Peace 3
(Quirion Dryad 3)
(Berserk 2)
(Call of the Herd 2)
(City of Solitude 2)
Mirri’s Guile 2
Rancor 2
Troll Ascetic 2
Gaea’s Blessing 1
Verdant Force 1

Black
Duress 15
Animate Dead 8
Dark Ritual 7
Exhume 6
Reanimate 6
Cabal Therapy 5
(Diabolic Edict 4)
Necromancy 4
(Planar Void 3)
Sutured Ghoul 3
(Dance of the Dead 2)
(Engineered Plague 2)
(Ghastly Demise 2)
Night’s Whisper 2
Avatar of Woe 1
(Coffin Purge 1)
(Skeletal Scrying 1)
Spirit of the Night 1
Visara the Dreadful 1

White
Swords to Plowshares 5
Decree of Justice 4
(Ray of Revelation 4)
(Swords to Plowshares 3)
Akroma, Angel of Wrath 2
Exalted Angel 2
(Decree of Justice 1)
(Disenchant 1)
(Dismantling Blow 1)
(Pristine Angel 1)

Gold and Split cards
Psychatog 7
Fire/Ice 6
Artifact Mutation 5
(Pernicious Deed 5)
(Psychatog 4)
(Artifact Mutation 3)
(Delirium 3)
Lim-Dul’s Vault 3
Razorfin Hunter 2
Shadowmage Infiltrator 2
(Fire/Ice 1)
Iridescent Angel 1
(Iridescent Angel 1)
Pernicious Deed 1

Non-basic Land
Wasteland 23
Tropical Island 20
Polluted Delta 17
Underground Sea 16
Flooded Strand 14
Taiga 12
Wooded Foothills 12
Bayou 11
Bazaar of Baghdad 8
Forbidden Orchard 8
Mishra’s Factory 8
Faerie Conclave 7
Volcanic Island 7
Windswept Heath 7
Barbarian Ring 6
City of Brass 6
Great Furnace 4
(Maze of Ith 4)
Mirrodin’s Core 4
Scrubland 4
Treetop Village 4
Riftstone Portal 3
Tundra 3
Bloodstained Mire 2
Underground River 2
Gemstone Mine 1
(Riftstone Portal 1)
Seat of the Synod 1
Shivan Reef 1

Basic Lands
Mountain 30
Island 29
Forest 8
Swamp 4
Plains 3

Featured Match 3
George Andrews vs. Jake Hustad
Finals

George wins the die roll 19-16 and elects to play. George starts out with a Bazaar of Baghdad, activates it, and dumps a Basking Rootwalla, Rifstone Portal, and a Squee into the graveyard, playing the Rootwalla and passing turn. Jake starts out slow with an Island and passes. George topdecks a Black Lotus, plays it, and activates the Bazaar, dropping a Roar of the Wurm, Squee, and Anger into the graveyard. George lays a Taiga, and attempts to flashback Roar of the Wurm, but Jake Forces it. Jake lays a Volcanic Island, casts Impulse and passes. George plays a Mox Sapphire, lays a Windswept Heath, breaking it for a Tropical Island, and activates the Bazaar again, dumping Squee, Wonder, and Arrogant Wurm into the graveyard, playing the Wurm, but Jake has another Force of Will. Jake lays a Polluted Delta, breaks it for an Island and casts Blood Moon to stop the Bazaar. George lays a Windswept Heath (now a Mountain) and casts Thirst for Knowledge, discarding another Basking Rootwalla and Squee, casting the Rootwalla. Jake lays a Polluted Delta (Mountain) and passes. George continues the Rootwalla beats and lays a Strip Mine (Mountain) and swings for lethal damage.

George 20-19
Jake 20-19-18-17-16-15-11-5-0

George Sideboarding: -4 Ground Seal, -2 Artifact Mutation, +3 Ray of Revelation, +3 Red Elemental Blast

Jake Sideboarding: -2 Mana Leak, -1 Impulse, +3 Control Magic

Game 2, Jake elects to play first, starting slowing with an Island and passing. George has the turn 1 Bazaar again, and also plays Mox Ruby and Black Lotus, activating the Bazaar. He dumps Ray of Revelation, Taiga, and Windswept Heath into the graveyard and passes. Jake Wastelands George’s Bazaar and passes, but George breaks the Lotus for UUU and casts Thirst for Knowledge, discarding a Roar of the Wurm and a Basking Rootwalla, playing the Rootwalla. During his turn, he plays a Mox Sapphire, and activates the Bazaar again, dumping Anger, Rifstone Portal, and another Taiga into the graveyard. Jake lays a Volcanic Island and passes. George Strip Mine’s a Volcanic during his turn, but Jake follows up next turn with another Volcanic Island. George lays a Taiga and continues the Rootwalla beatdown. Jake lays a Polluted Delta and passes turn. George drops a Tropical Island and the lizard continues to chip away at Jake’s life total. Jake has no play on turn 6 and passes, George activates his Bazaar again and drops another Rootwalla, Wild Mongrel and a Tropical Island into the graveyard, attempting to play the Rootwalla, but Jake Mana Drains it. George has the Red Elemental Blast for the Drain, and Jake Forces the REB (pitching Control Magic). Jake has no play again and has to pass turn, staring down the lone Rootwalla. George flashes back the Roar of the Wurm, but Jake has the Force of Will (pitching Fact or Fiction), but George was sitting on the Red Elemental Blast and the Wurm sticks, swinging for lethal damage.

George 20
Jake 20-19-18-15-12-9-8-7-0

Featured Match 2
Jake Hustad vs. Joe Schultz
Game 3

I missed the first 2 matches while recording George and James’ games, but I made it over to the other table for Game 3. Jake won game 1, Joe won game 2, so Jake elects to play. Jake starts out with control’s best turn 1 play, by laying a Library of Alexandria and passing turn. Joe draws and lays an Island and passes. Jake draws his card, draws off the Library and Strip Mine’s Joe’s Island, but he Brainstorms in response. Joe lays another Island and passes. Jake draws from the Library again, plays a Lotus Petal, and lays a Volcanic Island and passes. Joe continues his slow play by laying another Island. Jake lays a Volcanic, draws off his Library, and casts Impulse, putting 2 Blood Moons on the bottom of his library. Joe draws but doesn’t have a play so he is forced to discard a Duress since he still hasn’t seen a Swamp. Jake plays a Mox Pearl and is forced to discard a Blood Moon, seeing all of Joe’s Islands in play. At the end of Jake’s turn, Joe casts Accumulated Knowledge for 1 card. Joe lays a Polluted Delta and passes again. Jake draws his extra card from the Library and casts Powder Keg, but Joe Mana Drains it. Joe lays another Island, breaks his Polluted Delta for an Underground Sea, and uses his Mana Drain mana to Mind Twist Jake for 4 cards, Jake activates his Library in response, drawing a card, and casts Ancestral Recall on himself, which Joe responds to by casting Disrupt, targeting the Ancestral. Jake uses his Lotus Petal to pay the 1 extra mana from the Disrupt and Joe casts Force of Will on the Ancestral in response (pitching another Disrupt). Jake casts Force of Will (pitching Mana Leak) on the original Mind Twist and it sticks. Jake casts Ophidian during his turn and passes. Joe lays another Underground Sea and casts Duress on Jake, stealing a Red Elemental Blast, and then casts Demonic Tutor. Jake attacks with the Phid, getting a card and casts Time Walk. Joe Mana Drains the Walk. Joe casts Psychatog during his turn and takes a point of mana burn from the Drain. Jake casts a Powder Keg and passes. Joe has no gas left and has to pass. Jake turns the Keg up a notch and passes. Joe still doesn’t draw into anything and passes. Jake activates his Library for the extra card and turns the Keg up to 2. He plays another Volcanic Island and passes. Joe still has no gas and has to pass, but Jake casts Impulse at the end of his turn. Jake turns the Keg up to 3, activates the Library for a card, lays a Polluted Delta, and breaks it for an Island. Jake activates the Keg, killing Psychatog and Ophidian. Jake then plays another Ophidian and passes and Joe casts Intuition at the end of Jake’s turn, grabbing Accumulated Knowledge, Accumulated Knowledge, and Deep Analysis. Jake let’s Joe keep the Deep Analysis. Joe casts Accumulated Knowledge for 4 cards during his turn, Jake Mana Drains it, but Joe casts another Disrupt on Mana Drain which Jakes pays the extra mana for. Joe then hardcasts Deep Analysis and passes. At the top of turn 13, Jake casts a Morphling and attacks with the Phid for a card. Joe responds during his turn by Duressing away a Fact or Fiction, laying his own Library of Alexandria, and casts Skeletal Scrying for 4 cards, which Jake casts Force of Will on. Joe lets that resolve and flashes back Deep Analysis and plays a Lotus Petal. Jake attacks with the Morphling and the Ophidian for a card and passes. Joe casts a Psychatog during his turn but Jake Red Elemental Blasts it at end of turn, which Joe Mana Drains. Jake takes his turn and Red Elemental Blast the Tog again, swinging over with a 5/1 Morphling and the Ophidian for another card. Joe draws his card and scoops. Jake advances against George Andrews in the finals.

Jake 20-19-18-17
Joe 20-19-18-17-14-9-4-scoop

Featured Match 1
George Andrews vs. James Tork
Semi-finals

Game 1, George wins the die roll and starts off with a solid Windswept Heath, breaking for a Tropical Island, and casts a Sol Ring. James starts out in typical Elf deck fashion with a Forest into Llanowar Elves. This is where George gets brutal. George topdecks a Black Lotus, plays it, lays a Bazaar of Baghdad, activates it and drops a Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm and Arrogant Wurm into the graveyard, playing each for its Madness cost (Rootwalla for free, Arrogant off the Lotus, and the other Arrogant off the Tropical/Sol Ring) and passes. James continues laying the elves, dropping another Forest, playing a Priest of Titania and a Treetop Scout and passes. George casts Ancestral Recall on himself, lays a Taiga, activates his Bazaar and drops Basking Rootwalla, Basking Rootwalla, and Arrogant Wurm into the graveyard, casting all three again, and swinging with his first 3 creatures, bringing James to 11. James lays a Wirewood Lodge and casts an Elvish Herder and passes. James decides he’s had enough of this game and scoops during George’s turn.

George 20-19
James 20-11-scoop

Game 2, James goes first, starting off with the standard Forest-Fyndhorn Elves and passes. George lays a Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates, pitching a Riftstone Portal, Anger, and a Stifle in the graveyard. James lays a Forest and casts the big man, Timberwatch Elf. George lays a Tropical Island, plays a Sol Ring, casts Thirst for Knowledge, and dumps another Riftstone Portal and a Wasteland into the graveyard (and also an Artifact Mutation until we tell him he only has to discard 2 cards to the TFK). James gains some momentum by casting Llanowar Elves and an Elvish Herder, and attacking with the Fyndhorn. Timberwatch pumps up the Fyndhorn and George takes 5 from a stampeding elf army. George plays a Mox Emerald, activates his Bazaar, dropping another Bazaar, Arrogant Wurm, and Artifact Mutation into the graveyard, playing the Arrogant for its Madness cost. George lays another Bazaar, and casts Gilded Drake, targeting the Timberwatch Elf and passes. James, undaunted, casts Rancor on his newly acquired Drake and beats George’s face for 5 in the air. George lays a Windswept Heath, breaking it for a Taiga, and activates his Bazaar again, pitching Squee, Arrogant Wurm and a Tropical Island into the graveyard, again playing the Wurm for 3. George casts a Wild Mongrel, and activates his second Bazaar, hoping to find Wonder. He doesn’t and pitches a Gilded Drake, Wild Mongrel and something else and scoops.

George 20-15-10-9-scoop
James 20

Game 3, George elects to play, starting with a slow Tropical Island-go. James begins the onslaught with a Forest into an Elvish Herder (gotta keep those elves in line). George lays a Bazaar and activates it, dropping a Wasteland, Squee, and a Stifle into the graveyard. James Strip Mines George’s Bazaar and plays an Elvish Scrapper, swinging with the Herder. George retaliates by Strip Mining James’ Forest and passing. James lays another Forest and casts Skullclamp. George lays a Windswept Heath and casts a Basking Rootwalla off his Tropical. The elves continue their beatdown for a few turns until George breaks his Heath for a Taiga and pumps the Rootwalla to block, but James casts Wirewood Pride to even the odds and kill both his Herder and the Rootwalla. George casts Artifact Mutation on the Skullclamp, netting 1 token. James sends the Scrapper and George blocks, but another Wirewood Pride pumps up the Scrapper and kills the token. George lays a Riftstone Portal and hardcasts Squee. James answers with another Elvish Herder. In standoff mode, nothing happens for a turn until George lays a Wild Mongrel during turn 9. James plays Llanowar Elves and passes. The Mongrel gets chumped by the Scrapper in combat and during James’ turn, he casts a Viridian Zealot. George activates the Mongrel and pumps out a Basking Rootwalla and Arrogant Wurm. George topdecks Wonder and the beats go to the skies. James tries to stabilize with a Timberwatch Elf, but George casts another Arrogant Wurm at the end of his turn. George swings, pumping up the Mongrel with Squee. James plays Fyndhorn Elves and a Treetop Scout and passes. George finally gets the Gilded Drake and steals James’ Timberwatch Elf and James scoops to send George into the finals against the winner of Jake Hustad and Joe Schultz’ match.

George 20-19-17-15-14-13
James 20-19-15-7-scoop

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave birth to it comes again. In one Age, called the Second by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose across the snowy streets of Eau Claire. The wind was not a beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But is was a beginning. -Robert Jordan

East the wind blew as the stalwart players from Eau Claire battled up to 16 inches of drifting snow to make it to the Adventurer’s Guild for their turn at being number 1 in Sanctioned. 12 players proved that there is no better place to be on a Friday night than in a cold basement playing cards.

My name is Chris Lehman, and here is my story.

I am a self-proclaimed Green player, both by skill and by color of choice. I don’t practice, I rarely play, and most of the time I scrub out. The winds showed me that although metagame cards are a hot commodity, there isn’t a lot they can do to compare to the speed of the Power 9 in Sanctioned. My deck of choice was an unpowered U/G Madness build sporting 6 hate cards maindeck, in the form of 3 Ground Seal and 3 Null Rod.

Sanctioned U/G Madness
Mana
2x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
3x Island
3x Forest
4x Tropical Island
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
3x Elvish Spirit Guide

Beats
4x Wild Mongrel
3x Aquamoeba
4x Basking Rootwalla
4x Arrogant Wurm
2x Werebear

Spells
1x Gush
4x Brainstorm
3x Deep Analysis
3x Null Rod
4x Force of Will
4x Circular Logic
3x Ground Seal

Sideboard
2x Arcane Laboratory
3x Root Maze
3x Gilded Drake
3x Naturalize
1x Oxidize
2x Maze of Ith
1x Wonder

I really liked the maindeck Ground Seal, especially in my Reanimator matchup, but I was expecting Dragon and Cerebral Assassin matchups more than anything. Cerebral was there but Dragon didn’t make it. I am really considering maindecking Living Wish to fetch up Gilded Drake, Maze of Ith, and Wonder tho. Most likely in the Ground Seal spot. Ground Seal maindeck makes up for the lack of Ancestral Recall (kinda), and stops Welder and Animate Dead in game 1. The maindeck Null Rods are pretty sexy, stopping Meandeck Tendrils if I can get it out turn 1 with an Elvish Spirit Guide. I do miss Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, and Mox Diamond, but they end up being dead cards in mid- to late-game with Null Rods. One thing I decided against was the Tinker/Darksteel Colossus. Initially, I had 4 Null Rods, and then the Tinker/Colossus in place of either the 3 Ground Seal or the 3 Elvish Spirit Guide, but I chose more mana over the Big Man.

On with the report.

Round 1
Kinney with Piledriver Sligh
[kinney]

Kinney and I played about a dozen games or so right before the tournament (shortly after I bought the last 2 Maze of Ith upstairs), and I won 1 game. To start I had 2 Waterfront Bouncers in the sideboard, but they proved much too slow for this deck so I cut them, hoping to find a Maze early on. They also help against just about all the decks I saw that night, with the exception of Meandeck Tendrils.

Knowing how unfavorable this match seemed to be, I knew I needed to play pretty tight and make sure I had a fast enough hand to start. I win the die roll 15-3 and elect to play. Kinney has to Mulligan to 6 and keeps a land light hand (big surprise for Piledriver).

I lay a Tropical Island and pass. Kinney plays a Barbarian Ring (his only land), and I Brainstorm at the end of his turn. During my turn, I lay an Island, and play Aquamoeba which quickly gets Lightning Bolted. In response, I pitch a Rootwalla and a Deep Analysis to the Aquamoeba, and it lands in the graveyard. Kinney drops another Barbarian Ring and passes. I lay another Tropical Island, bring the beats with the Rootwalla, and play a Werebear. Kinney lays a third Barbarian Ring and again has to pass. I bring the Rootwalla/Werebear beatdown and pass, keeping my mana open. Kinney topdecks a Goblin Lackey which I Circular Logic (hardcast). During my turn I play an Arrogant Wurm from my hand and continue the beatdown. Kinney finally gets a Goblin Warchief in play, but during my next turn I play an Aquamoeba and he enters his scoop phase.

Me 20
Kinney 20-19-18-16-15-13-12-9-Scoop

Sideboard: -2 Null Rod, +2 Maze of Ith

Game 2, Kinney starts off with a Mountain into a Mogg Fanatic. I draw and lay my Maze of Ith, passing turn. Kinney lays another Mountain and plays a Goblin Piledriver, and attacks with the Fanatic who gets lost in my Maze. I lay a Forest and play a Rootwalla, but he sacrifices the Fanatic to ping it. Kinney plays another Piledriver and attacks, but gets lost again. I lay another Forest, and play my second Rootwalla. Kinney lays another Mogg Fanatic, and pings the Rootwalla, but I use an Elvish Spirit Guide to pump it up. He has the Lightning Bolt, so it still dies. Both Piledrivers come across, but one gets lost again. I lay a Tropical Island but have no gas in my hand. The Piledriver beatdown continues. I topdeck a Windswept Heath and break it for another Tropical Island. Kinney tries spoils my plans next turn by laying another Mountain and casting Blood Moon which meets a hardcast Circular Logic. He doesn’t have the extra 3 mana so if fizzles. Next turn I topdeck an Arrogant Wurm and hardcast it, hoping to stabilize, but he has the double Goblin Grenade to hit me for exactly 10 and I die.

Me 20-17-14-13-10-0
Kinney 20

Game 3 sees me going first again, and I keep a land light hand. I lay an Island and cast Brainstorm during my main phase. Kinney answers with a Mountain and another Mogg Fanatic. I dug into a Flooded Strand for a Tropical Island, and use an Elvish Spirit Guide to cast an Aquamoeba, keeping 1 blue mana open for a Logic. Kinney drops a Barbarian Ring and attempts to Incinerate my Aquamoeba, which meets a Logic. I topdeck a Strip Mine, killing his lone Mountain and pass. Kinney tries to Lightning Bolt my Aquamoeba, but I meet it again with another Circular Logic. Next turn I activate the Aquamoeba to drop out an Arrogant Wurm and swing. Kinney drops a Fanatic and passes. Wurm and Aquamoeba come across for a few turns, and Kinney continues to pound my face with his lone goblin. Kinney needs to block so he chumps the Aquamoeba, which I pump once with a Rootwalla, and then pump again with an Elvish Spirit Guide to make it live. He has the Lightning Bolt for it though and he is able to cast a Lackey. Lackey brings in a Siege-Gang Commander and it begins to look grim on my side of the table. I have to hardcast an Elvish Spirit Guide after my Wurm gets hit with a Goblin Grenade and another Fanatic takes out my Rootwalla. I topdeck a Werebear and through all his removal I now have Threshold. Werebear and Elvish Spirit Guide go the distance.

Me 20-19-18-17-16-14
Kinney 20-19-18-17-16-13-9-8-6-2-1-0

Games 2-1
Matches 1-0

Round 2
George with Bombs over Eau Claire
[nightwind]

I have no idea what George is playing at this point as I was in the top 8 room and everyone else was in the main playing area. George wins the die roll 12-3 and elects to play but has to Mulligan to 6. He starts out fairly well with a Tropical Island, Mox Ruby, and a Basking Rootwalla. Great, a mirror match. I draw and play a Flooded Strand, break it for a Tropical Island, and meet his Rootwalla with my own. George lays a Ground Seal, nets a card, and plays a Taiga. Ok, now I see it’s not a mirror match, as this is the 3 color fully powered Madness type. I don’t draw into any more land, but drop a Wild Mongrel and pass. George plays a Windswept Heath and passes. George plays a Rifstone Portal during his turn, and breaks the Heath for another Tropical Island. I have nothing so I begin the attack with the Mongrel and Rootwalla, pumping the Mongrel with a Deep Analysis and Ground Seal. George is able to hardcast an Arrogant Wurm and passes. We’re at a standstill and I pass. George attempts a Thirst for Knowledge, but I activate the Mongrel with a Circular Logic, so he passes. I pass again, having enough cards to kill his Wurm with the Mongrel, but during his turn he attempts another Arrogant Wurm which I meet with another Circular Logic. He scoops having no hand.

Me 20-19-18
George 20-19-18-13-12-10-Scoop

Game 2, George starts again, this time starting much better with a Taiga, Mox Sapphire, and a Wild Mongrel. I draw and lay a Maze of Ith. George gets out a Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates, pitching a Basking Rootwalla, Red Elemental Blast, and another Bazaar in the graveyard, playing the Rootwalla. During my turn I lay a Windswept Heath and attempt to fetch up some land, but he has the Stifle. Next turn, he activates Bazaar again, pitching another Rootwalla, a Windswept Heath, and a Black Lotus into the graveyard, playing the Rootwalla but I feel it is necessary to Force of Will it. I lay a Forest and pass the turn. George lays a Tropical Island and passes. I Brainstorm, but he cast Thirst for Knowledge in response, but allows it to go through. I’m running out of gas, so I am forced to hardcast Wonder. George activates his Bazaar on his turn, pitching Anger, Taiga, and another Bazaar into the graveyard, and casts another Wild Mongrel. I tap out to cast Deep Analysis, but he has the Red Elemental Blast for it, and the Mongrels finish me off.

Me 20-19-18-17-16-14-13-12-5-0
George 20

Game 3, I elect to play first but have to Mulligan to 6. I begin with a Windswept Heath, breaking it for a Tropical Island, and casting a Rootwalla. George plays a Wasteland, a Mox Sapphire, and a Black Lotus, and thankfully passes. I lay a Wasteland and bring the beats. George lays a Heath and breaks it for a Tropical Island as well. He breaks the Lotus for UUU and hardcasts Wonder. I lay another Wasteland and bring the beats. George plays a Tropical Island and swings with Wonder. I bring the Rootwalla beats over, hoping to race him, but don’t draw into anything useful. George lays another Heath, breaks it for a Taiga, plays a Mox Emerald, and attempts to hardcast an Arrogant Wurm, but I have the Force for it. I bring the beats again and pass. George casts Ancestral Recall, plays a Bazaar and activates it, pitching Roar of the Wurm, Arrogant Wurm, and Stifle into the graveyard, playing the Arrogant. I Wasteland his Bazaar, but the damage is done. I lay a Tropical Island and play an Aquamoeba, but I don’t know if I can race him. George drops another Bazaar and activates, pitching Thirst for Knowledge, Basking Rootwalla, and another Bazaar, playing the Rootwalla. The Wurm, Wonder beatdown continues. I lay an Island, and cast Gush, but draw into nothing that I can cast and have to scoop, seeing lethal damage next turn.

Me 20-19-17-16-14-12-6-1-0
George 20-19-18-15-14-11

Games 3-3
Matches 1-1

Round 3
Dan with Mono-Black Reanimator

Dan came from around Wisconsin Rapids in horrible weather just to play Magic, so I have to give props to him and James for making the trip. Like most of the players at tonight’s tournament, I have no idea what to expect. Dan owns me 11-5 on the die roll and elects to play.

Game 1, Dan starts out with a Swamp, Mox Diamond (pitching another Swamp), and casts a Putrid Imp. I still have no idea what he’s playing, so on my turn I start out with the standard Forest-Rootwalla and pass. Dan breaks the game open on turn 2 by laying another Swamp and casting Buried Alive, dropping a Sundering Titan, Exalted Angel, and Arcanis the Omnipotent into the graveyard. The Imp beats face. I have the answer to this dilemma, and on my turn I lay an Island and drop the Ground Seal I had in my opening hand. Dan knows his main win condition is shot at this point, but he casts another Buried Alive, this time dropping Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker, another Exalted Angel, and another Sundering Titan into the graveyard, giving him Threshold. The Imp continues his slow beatdown and its off to the races. I lay a Wasteland (completely useless in this game), and play an Aquamoeba. Dan ends up Duressing away a Circular Logic, and casts an Apprentice Necromancer. I attack and drop an Arrogant Wurm off the Aquamoeba and the game is over.

Me 20-18-16-15-13-11-8
Dan 20-19-18-17-9-0

Game 2, Dan elects to play again, but has to Mulligan to 6. He starts with some disruption this time, Duressing away a Brainstorm (obviously, he was hoping to snag a Ground Seal). I begin by laying a Tropical Island into a Rootwalla. Dan answers with a Putrid Imp and passes. I topdeck a Windswept Heath, break it for another Tropical and Brainstorm into another Brainstorm into a Wild Mongrel. Dan breaks his Polluted Delta for another Swamp and passes. Mongrel hits and that spells Dan’s doom. He plays an Apprentice Necromancer for chump blocking, seeing as he has no way to get creatures into his graveyard yet, and I still haven’t seen a Ground Seal. The Mongrel starts to make quick work of him, and the turn before he is forced to block with the Necromancer, he casts a Buried Alive, dropping 2 Exalted Angels and a Solemn Simulacrum into the graveyard. With his only method of reanimation gone, my Mongrel and now 2 Rootwallas do him in.

Me 20-19
Dan 20-19-18-12-11-10-6-0

Games 5-3
Matches 2-1

Round 4
Joe with Hulk Smash!
[TheBaker]

Joe usually plays Oath, but I scouted him out earlier and saw he was playing Hulk Smash, a highly unfavorable match for me. The only saving grace is that I think he is out of the top 4 due to drawing twice, but I was wrong. Winner is in, and I win the die roll 7-4 and begin play.

Game 1, I lay a Flooded Strand, break it for a Tropical Island and cast a Rootwalla. Joe starts out with a Swamp and Duresses away a Ground Seal, citing that he didn’t want me to draw any extra cards, and then lays a Lotus Petal. On my next turn I lay a Forest and drop the Null Rod, but he breaks his Petal in response to Brainstorm, but the Rod sticks and the lizard beats face. During his turn he lays a Polluted Delta, and breaks it for an Island. I lay another Tropical Island and cast a second Rootwalla, which he Brainstorms in response, but can’t find an answer. Joe Cunning Wishes up a Ghastly Demise at the end of my turn, and lays a Bayou during his, but has no business spells yet. My lizards continue to chip away at his life total. Joe lays another Island and casts a Demonic Tutor which I attempt to Circular Logic (hardcast), but he Mana Drains it. During his turn he blows some Mana Drain mana on an Intuition, dropping a couple of Accumulated Knowledge into the graveyard and draws his 3 cards. Joe plays his Psychatog at this point. During my turn, I Brainstorm twice looking for another threat, and lay a Forest. Joe goes into land-go mode for a few turns, laying an Island and Underground Sea as we’re in standoff mode. I hardcast a Deep Analysis, and he lets it through. He continues to play land-go with a Tropical Island. I Brainstorm again during my turn and drop a Mongrel, but he hardcasts a Force of Will. Joe has nothing to do on his turn and passes. Next turn, I play an Aquamoeba, and he Skeletal Scrys for 3 in response. Joe is low on life so I swing with both Rootwallas. Here was my play mistake: I forgot about the Ghastly Demise he Wished for at the beginning, and I lose both Rootwallas. I pitch a Deep Analysis to the Aquamoeba and pass. Joe Duresses away another Circular Logic, hardcasts his own Deep Analysis, Brainstorms, Accumulated Knowledge for 4, and lays a Tropical Island. I flashback both Deep Analysis and cast a Rootwalla off the Aquamoeba. Joe lays another Underground Sea, attempts to cast Intuition, that meets a Circular Logic for 14. Joe casts Regrowth on his Accumulated Knowledge, and AKs for 4 again. During my turn I lay a Wasteland and cast a Ground Seal, a turn too late. Joe lays a Bayou, casts Yawgmoth’s Will, Demonic Tutors for another Cunning Wish for Berserk, Duresses me, and swings. I die a horrible death.

Me 20-19-16-13-0
Joe 20-19-16-15-11-9-7-4

Game 2 I elect to play first, but have a slow hand, breaking a Windswept Heath into a Forest and passing turn. Joe starts out by breaking a Polluted Delta for a Swamp, Duressing away a Null Rod, and passes. I lay a Tropical Island and cast my topdecked Wild Mongrel. I pitch a Deep Analysis to the Mongrel and pass. Joe lays an Island, casts a Sol Ring, then Intuitions up 3 Accumulated Knowledge. During my turn I attempt to flashback Deep Analysis, but it meets a Force of Will. Joe drops an Underground Sea, Accumulated Knowledge for 3 into an Accumulated Knowledge for 4. Joe runs out of gas, and has to discard a Swamp at end of turn. I manage to slow the game down to a crawl by casting an Arcane Laboratory, hoping to stall him. Joe answers this with another Underground Sea and a Psychatog. I flashback another Deep Analysis that I pitch to the Mongrel but it gets Mana Drained. With his Drain mana, he Intuitions up 3 Cunning Wishes. I Brainstorm on my turn and pass, faking the counter. He casts Cunning Wish at the end of my turn to ensure I can’t Force it, and get his Berserk. He swings in for the win without even casting it next turn.

Me 20-19-18-15-12-0
Joe 20-19-18-15-14-11-10

Games 5-5
Matches 2-2

All in all it was a fun time, although the weather was really crappy. I am beginning to see how nice it is to have free mana in the form of Moxen and elite card draw like Ancestral Recall. I do think budget U/G Madness is viable, but it benefits SOO much from the 5 proxy environment (Ancestral, Walk, 2 Moxen, and Lotus). Arcane Lab was alright, but I think there were other options available to me that I should have pursued. Naturalize and Oxidize are still pretty hot.

Props to:
The guys who actually showed up to play during a freaking blizzard
The guys from Wisconsin Rapids who made a 3 hour drive here just to play
James Tork for playing Elves and getting into the top 4 undefeated

Slops to:
World of Warcraft for sucking away hapless gamers everywhere.
The weather for sucking major balls
Kinney for owning me before the tournament and then getting rolled by me in 3
Me for not having Power anymore

Taking aside the decklists from our last tournament, I crunched the numbers to see exactly what the metagame looked like.

12 people entered and the overall metagame turned out pretty much one-sided as Aggro-Control sprouted up everywhere, along with 2 combo decks, 3 aggro, and 1 control deck.

Aggro Control was came in force, represented by:
Taylor Hustad Bird Sh!t
Tony Higley Cerebral Assassin
Chris Lehman U/G Madness
Joe Schultz Hulk Smash
Josh Bayer U/G/B Madness
Adam Boese Astral Slide

Control did indeed make an appearance, although it only consisted of:
Jake Hustad U/R Phid

Combo was on a decline also, bringing in:
Daniel Rech Reanimator
Matt Hannafin Meandeck Tendrils

Aggro made a strong showing, putting up decks like:
James Tork HolyfreakinElves.dec
Nick Kinney Piledriver Sligh
George Andrews Bombs over Eau Claire

According to the decklists that were registered at the beginning of the tournament, there were 3 illegal decklists entered.

Josh Bayer Psychatog in the deck but not listed on decklist
Matt Hannafin 59 card maindeck
Nick Kinney 59 card maindeck

No one in the top 4 had illegal decklists.

On to the color breakdown. Every tournament I will be posting the cards used by everyone there, divided first by Restriction, then by artifacts, the 5 colors, gold/split cards, non-basic land, and finally basic land. Sideboard cards are denoted by parentheses.

Restricted List
Strip Mine 7
Sol Ring 6
Demonic Tutor 5
Lotus Petal 5
Ancestral Recall 4
Chrome Mox 4
Mystical Tutor 4
Mox Emerald 4
Mox Jet 4
Black Lotus 3
Gush 3
Library of Alexandria 3
Mana Crypt 3
Mox Ruby 3
Regrowth 3
Vampiric Tutor 3
(Fact or Fiction) 2
Mana Vault 2
Mox Diamond 2
Mox Pearl 2
Mox Sapphire 2
Time Walk 2
(Vampiric Tutor) 2
Balance 1
Crop Rotation 1
(Crop Rotation) 1
Demonic Consultation 1
Enlightened Tutor 1
Fact or Fiction 1
Grim Monolith 1
(Gush) 1
Lion’s Eye Diamond 1
(Mind’s Desire) 1
Mind Twist 1
(Necropotence) 1
Tinker 1
(Tinker) 1
Tolarian Academy 1
(Tolarian Academy) 1
Yawgmoth’s Will 1

Artifact
Null Rod 9
(Chalice of the Void) 7
Chromatic Sphere 4
Darkwater Egg 4
(Null Rod) 4
Sundering Titan 4
Helm of Awakening 3
Powder Keg 3
Skullclamp 3
(Crucible of Worlds) 2
(Cursed Totem) 2
(Damping Matrix) 2
(Goblin Charbelcher) 2
Library of Leng 2
(Tsabo’s Web) 2
Crucible of Worlds 1
Darksteel Colossis 1
Engineered Explosives 1
Masticore 1
(Masticore) 1
Platinum Angel 1
Possessed Portal 1
Solemn Simulacrum 1
(Trinisphere) 1
Triskelion 1
(Triskelion) 1

Blue
Force of Will 24
Brainstorm 19
Mana Drain 12
Deep Analysis 10
Circular Logic 8
Cunning Wish 6
(Gilded Drake) 6
Intuition 5
(Stifle) 5
Thirst for Knowledge 5
Accumulated Knowledge 4
Impulse 4
Mana Leak 4
Meditate 4
Ophidian 4
Aquamoeba 3
(Control Magic) 3
Daze 3
(Disrupt) 3
Mental Note 3
Misdirection 3
Stifle 3
(Arcane Laboratory) 2
(Blue Elemental Blast) 2
Morphling 2
(Seasinger) 2
Arcanis the Omnipotent 1
(Chain of Vapor) 1
(Hurkyl’s Recall) 1
Rushing River 1
(Rushing River) 1
Wonder 1
(Wonder) 1

Red
(Red Elemental Blast) 11
Squee, Goblin Nabob 7
Blood Moon 6
(Rack and Ruin) 5
Goblin Grenade 4
Goblin Lackey 4
Goblin Piledriver 4
Goblin Welder 4
Incinerate 4
Lightning Bolt 4
Mogg Fanatic 4
Raging Goblin 4
Reckless Charge 4
Goblin Matron 3
Goblin Warchief 3
Siege-Gang Commander 2
Anger 1
Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker 1
Worldgorger Dragon 1

Green
Wild Mongrel 14
Arrogant Wurm 12
Basking Rootwalla 12
(Naturalize) 9
Ground Seal 7
Werebear 5
Berserk 4
Elvish Spirit Guide 4
Fyndhorn Elves 4
(Ground Seal) 4
Land Grant 4
Llanowar Elves 4
Rancor 4
Timberwatch Elf 4
Treetop Scout 4
Wirewood Pride 4
Elvish Herder 3
Krosan Colossus 3
Krosan Tusker 3
Naturalize 3
Nimble Mongoose 3
(Oxidize) 3
(Root Maze) 3
Viridian Zealot 3
(Berserk) 2
(Hidden Gibbons) 2
Roar of the Wurm 2
Sylvan Library 2
Wellwisher 2
(Xantid Swarm) 2
Elvish Scrapper 1
Eternal Witness 1
Priest of Titania 1
Worldly Tutor 1

Black
Duress 11
Dark Ritual 7
Animate Dead 4
Apprentice Necromancer 4
Buried Alive 4
Cabal Ritual 4
Putrid Imp 4
Tendrils of Agony 4
Terror 4
(Duress) 3
Exhume 3
(Ghastly Demise) 3
(Innocent Blood) 3
Night’s Whisper 3
(Phyrexian Scuta) 3
Stitch Together 3
(Ashen Monstrosity) 2
Body Snatcher 2
Spoils of the Vault 2
(Zombie Infestation) 2
(Coffin Purge) 1
(Diabolic Edict) 1
(Necromancy) 1
(Phyrexian Negator) 1
Recurring Nightmare 1
(Sickening Dreams) 1
Skeletal Scrying 1
(Skeletal Scrying) 1

White
Swords to Plowshares 6
(Ray of Revelation) 5
Astral Slide 4
Exalted Angel 4
Gilded Light 4
Renewed Faith 3
Stoic Champion 3
Decree of Justice 2
Disenchant 2
(Ghostly Prison) 2
(Swords to Plowshares) 2
(Wing Shards) 2
Wipe Clean 2
(CoP: Artifacts) 1
(Sacred Ground) 1

Gold and Split cards
Meddling Mage 4
(Pernicious Deed) 4
Artifact Mutation 3
Psychatog 3
(Psychatog) 3
Merieke Ri Berit 1
Pernicious Deed 1

Non-basic Land
Wasteland 19
Tropical Island 18
Polluted Delta 17
Bazaar of Baghdad 8
Underground Sea 7
Flooded Strand 6
Windswept Heath 5
Barbarian Ring 4
City of Brass 4
Gemstone Mine 4
Secluded Steppe 4
Taiga 4
Tranquil Thicket 4
Volcanic Island 4
(Wasteland) 4
Bayou 3
Riftstone Portal 3
Tundra 3
Wirewood Lodge 3
(Maze of Ith) 2
Nantuko Monastery 2
Seat of the Synod 2
Great Furnace 1

Basic Land
Forest 20
Island 19
Swamp 12
Mountain 9
Plains 7

Top 4 Decklists 3-18 Sanctioned Tournament
1st Place
George Andrews with Bombs over Eau Claire
[nightwind] [/color]
4x Arrogant Wurm
4x Basking Rootwalla
3x Squee, Goblin Nabob
4x Ground Seal
3x Artifact Mutation
3x Thirst for Knowledge
4x Wild Mongrel
1x Wonder
1x Anger
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Sol Ring
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
1x Crop Rotation
2x Roar of the Wurm
3x Windswept Heath
4x Taiga
4x Tropical Island
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
3x Rifstone Portal

Sideboard:
3x Null Rod
3x Red Elemental Blast
3x Gilded Drake
3x Ray of Revelation
3x Stifle

2nd Place
Jake Hustad with U/R Phid
[Jake][/color]
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Mana Leak
4x Ophidian
4x Impulse
3x Powder Keg
3x Blood Moon
2x Morphling
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Masticore
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
1x Sol Ring
1x Lotus Petal
6x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Volcanic Island
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Library of Alexandria

Sideboard:
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Red Elemental Blast
3x Control Magic
3x Rack and Ruin
1x Masticore

3rd-4th Place
James Tork
HolyfreakinElves.dec
4x Treetop Scout
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Timberwatch Elf
3x Viridian Zealot
3x Elvish Herder
2x Wellwisher
1x Priest of Titania
1x Elvish Scrapper
4x Berserk
4x Rancor
4x Wirewood Pride
1x Regrowth
3x Skullclamp
1x Chrome Mox
1x Strip Mine
3x Wirewood Lodge
13x Forest

No Sideboard

3rd-4th Place
Joe Schultz with Hulk Smash
[TheBaker]
1x Mind Twist
3x Duress
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
1x Skeletal Scrying
2x Intuition
1x Regrowth
3x Psychatog
4x Brainstorm
4x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mox Diamond
3x Cunning Wish
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Sol Ring
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Pernicious Deed
3x Deep Analysis
4x Polluted Delta
1x Library of Alexandria
3x Underground Sea
2x Tropical Island
2x Bayou
7x Island
2x Swamp

Sideboard:
3x Disrupt
2x Xantid Swarm
1x Berserk
1x Skeletal Scrying
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Coffin Purge
1x Naturalize
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Rushing River
1x Pernicious Deed
1x Gush
1x Ghastly Demise

Corrected.

Yes, I understand this and I CORRECTED it.

Corrected

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave birth to it comes again. In one Age, called the Second by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose across the snowy streets of Eau Claire. The wind was not a beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But is was a beginning.
-Robert Jordan

East the wind blew as players from Eau Claire, Minnesota, and Milwaukee all battled each other for the coveted Unlimited Mox Pearl and the even more coveted Moxen Master T-Shirt at the Adventurer’s Guild in Eau Claire, WI. The wind carried snow and ice, but players would come heedless of the dangers and regardless of work schedules.

My name is Chris Lehman, and here is my story.

I am a self-proclaimed Green player, both by skill and by color of choice. I don’t practice, I rarely play, and most of the time I scrub out. The winds changed today as I battled the odds to finally be put out in the semi-finals. My deck of choice was U/G Madness, which I had never played before, although I have done quite well with its cousin, Oshawa Stompy. My decklist looked something like this:

March Madness

Mana
2x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
3x Island
3x Forest
4x Tropical Island
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Black Lotus (proxy)
1x Mox Emerald (proxy)
1x Mox Sapphire (proxy)

Beats
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Aquamoeba
4x Basking Rootwalla
4x Arrogant Wurm
2x Wonder

Spells
1x Gush
1x Ancestral Recall (proxy)
3x Brainstorm
3x Deep Analysis
3x Null Rod
1x Time Walk (proxy)
4x Force of Will
4x Circular Logic

Sideboard
3x Arcane Laboratory
2x Stifle
3x Gilded Drake
3x Naturalize
1x Oxidize
3x Energy Flux

All in all, I would say the overall deck is solid, although 4 Null Rods might be the key, taking out either a Deep Analysis or Aquamoeba.

On with the report.

Round 1
Brad with UB Anti-combo goodness (plus Turbo Bigman)
I’ve seen Brad around the store and feel badly about one of the Eau Claire boys having to go to the losers bracket right away. I just hope its not me. Things start going downhill immediately as I lose the dice roll 20-12. Sweet.

Brad goes first playing Island, Mox Jet, Black Lotus-go. I answer with by fetching up a Tropical Island, hardcasting a Basking Rootwalla and passing. He lays a Polluted Delta and passes. I fetch up a second Tropical Island and lay a Null Rod. He breaks the Lotus for UUU, casts Counterspell and mana burns for 1. He Ancestral Recalls into some other goodness, and soon an Aquamoeba joins my side of the table and I begin beating face. Brad continues to lay lands, Brainstorming into a Tinker. I activate the Aquamoeba for Circular Logic, spoiling his plans. He Forces my Mongrel and then casts Yawgmoth’s Will, recasting Tinker and grabbing the Colossus. By this point he is at 4 life and I still have an Aquamoeba and Rootwalla on the board. I swing, pump up the Rootwalla to bring him to 1. He casts Lobotomy, and sees my hand of Wild Mongrel and Aquamoeba. Odd choice, but he steals my 3 remaining Aquamoebas. In standoff mode, I hardcast a Deep Analysis, draw my cards and pass. He continues to lay land sources, but I limit him with a Wasteland on an Underground Sea. I attempt to hardcast another Deep Analysis, but he Mana Drains it, but draws nothing and dies to mana burn.

The Game was Over When: Rootwalla and Aquamoeba began attacking.
Me 20-19-18
Brad 20-19-18-14-10-6-5-4-1-0

Game 2, Brad elected to play again, starting off with Island, Mox Jet into Demonic Tutor. I had the Force in hand, but decided to let him play, figuring I could counter his money spells later. He passes and I Fetch up a Tropical Island, and drop the Rootwalla for the early beatdown (apparently Rootwalla>Darksteel Colossus). Brad lays a Mox Diamond, pitching a Swamp to it, lays an Underground Sea and decides to Tinker. Yeah right. Force of Will. My turn I lay my land, and beat face with the BIG MAN…er, lizard in this case. I get hit with another Lobotomy, but I have the mana to hardcast Circular Logic with 4 in the graveyard. Next turn he hits my again with Lobotomy, and I Force it. Brad drops 2 Polluted Deltas in both of his next 2 turns and passes as the Rootwalla gets jiggy with it. I Wasteland his Underground Sea, and he Fetches up an Island and a Swamp. He lays another Swamp, Brainstorms, and hits me with Duress. He eats my third Force. The turn before he dies, he casts Cranial Extraction, naming Force of Will, saying “I always wanted to do that.” Good games, and the Rootwalla went the distance.

The Game was Over When: Tinker was countered.
Me 20-19-18-17
Brad 20-19-16-13-10-7-4-2-0

Games 2-0
Matches 1-0

Round 2
Xue with STAX

Xue is so cool. He just has really horrible luck when playing against me. He’s one of the guys who braved the weather to come over from the Cities area. The last time I played him was in my first Mox tournament when I was playing O-Stompy. These games turned out similarly, but he PWNED game 1. The dice hates me out again, losing 5-10.

Game 1 started out with his UBER hand of Mox Ruby, Goblin Welder, Mishra’s Workshop, Trinisphere-go. Yeah, go…home!!! I lay a Wasteland and nuke his Workshop, but am short on mana to begin with. He drops a Wasteland and I meet that by dropping 2 Windswept Heath on my next 2 turns. Glimmervoid shows up over there and he casts Thirst for Knowledge, pitching a Crucible. I’ve been completely blue screwed, so I’ve been discarding (Wonder, Deep Analysis, and Wonder) for the last 3 turns. He welds in the Crucible, plays his Wasted Workshop, and casts a Tanglewire. Undaunted I tap my 2 lands (now Forests) and brace myself. Smokestack joins the fun, getting a counter, and finally Karn hits, and his artifacts start swinging, killing me in short order.

The Game was Over When: Turn 1 God start for STAX.
Me 20-19-18-16-8-0
Xue 20

Post-sideboard, my Workshop-based decks’ matchup increases significantly. I elect to go first. Xue is forced to Mulligan to 6, which makes me smile inside. I have a less than stellar hand, going Forest-go. He drops the Wasteland and Black Lotus, breaking for RRR, casting a Welder and dropping the Trinisphere. Super. I follow up my stunning turn 1 play with an Island-go. Xue is out of gas, but has board control and starts the Welder beats. I am NOT dying to Welder beats! My next turn, I drop the Tropical Island, and Oxidize the Crucible. Woot! Xue is now trapped under his own 3Sphere, much like our first matchups way back at the Emerald tournament. Xue draws absolutely nothing, pitching artifacts to the graveyard, while I lay a Mongrel, followed by a Null Rod, followed by a Time Walk, fetch up another land, flashback some Deep Anal action, and let the Mongrel do the hokie-pokie all over his blanked out board (he does have to block the Mongrel finally).

The Game was Over When: Crucible went into the graveyard with a tapped Welder in play.
Me 20-19-18-15
Xue 20-18-16-14-11-9-6-4-0

Game 3. Ah, the pressure. Xue is obviously going first in this one, dropping Mox Emerald, Sol Ring, Wasteland and Crucible. Sweet. The other member of the Axis of Evil. Well screw that. I go Island, Black Lotus, break for GGG, cast Basking Rootwalla and Null Rod. Axis this. Xue follows up with a Workshop, and passes. I drop a Forest, cast another Rootwalla and proceed to beat. Xue gets absolutely nothing out as I Naturalize his Crucible, Brainstorm into Ancestral Recall, netting an Island and some sweet countermagic. Xue finally draws into Karn, but Karn meets Force of Will and the Rootwallas are off to the races. Whoo-hoo!

The Game was Over When: Null Rod hit the table.
Me 20-19
Xue 20-19-15-11-7-5-1-0

Games 4-1
Matches 2-0

Round 3
Jeremy with Dragon

I’ve only played Jeremy in Type 2 Sealed, but he seems like a nice guy and a solid player. The second I see a Bazaar, I have 4 choices in what he’s playing: A) Dragon (or MADragon), B) Bombs over Baghdad, C) O-Stompy, or D) Cerebral Assassin. It turns out to be Dragon, a match I have begun to hate. On an lighter note, I do end up winning the dice roll 18-13. Maybe my luck is going to change. (Also on a side note, I haven’t won a match during Round 3 since returning to Magic late last year /end sidenote).

Game 1, I bluff Mana Drain by going Island, Mox Sapphire-go. Jeremy starts with a Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates it, dumping Squee, Worldgorger Dragon, and Lim Dul’s Vault into the graveyard. I Wasteland his Bazaar and pass, having no threats. He plays an Underground Sea and passes. I Wasteland his Underground Sea and still have no threats, so I pass. He lays a Tropical Island, and casts a Xantid Swarm. I hate that guy. Next turn, Null Rod comes online. He lays a Swamp and casts Animate Dead, targeting his Dragon, and goes infinite. Jeremy casts a Demonic Tutor for Intuition, naming Triskelion, Eternal Witness, and Necromancy. I’m an idiot, and give him the Witness, not realizing Null Rod is in play. He recurs the Triskelion with the Witness, and wants to machine gun me with him. I’m about to scoop when I see the Null Rod inconspicuously on MY side of the board and tap on it to tell him his combo doesn’t work now. Play mistake number 1. He calmly Intuitions again, dropping Compulsion, Ancestral Recall, and Compulsion on the table and I choose the Ancestral. He makes me draw out my deck by recurring it with Eternal Witness. Play mistake number 2 is when I don’t make him play it out so I can draw into some sweet lovin’, but I realize my Naturalizes are all in the sideboard so it didn’t make much difference. On to game 2.

The Game was Over When: I mentioned the Null Rod after the Intuition, and he didn't overextend into his combo, giving me a small chance.
Me 20
Jeremy 20

Game 2, Jeremy has to Mulligan to 6 (yay for me), and I keep an ok hand. I elect to go first, dropping a Windswept Heath, grabbing a Forest, and passing the turn. Jeremy lays the good ol’ Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates, dropping Squee, Worldgorger Dragon, and an Island into the graveyard. I topdeck a Rootwalla, and it hits play. Jeremy Bazaars again, dropping his recurred Squee, another Dragon, and a Tropical Island into the graveyard. Jeremy’s next turn goes something like, Mox Sapphire, Ancestral, break a Delta for a Swamp (he mentions that it isn’t Snow-covered or something), activates Bazaar again, dropping Squee, Compulsion and Underground Sea in the graveyard and passes. Mongrel hits play a little late, but he is my main Madness outlet and I have Circular Logic in hand as well as Force. Jeremy goes off this turn, laying a Swamp, and casting Animate Dead on his Dragon. I activate my Mongrel to Circular Logic it. He Forces my Logic. I Force his Force. He Forces my Forces and says good game. Dammit!

The Game was Over When: I lost the only counter war of my evening.
Me 20-19-18
Jeremy 20-19

Games 4-3
Matches 2-1

Round 4
Andy with 2 Land Belcher

Crap and double crap!!! I used to play up at the Andyland tournaments and after I got out of Magic, I sold my cards to Andy. Andy then proceeded to trade up and do some finagling and ended up with this monstrosity of a deck, all foiled out and a big pain in my colon. I know his deck very well, as he usually beats the crap out of me every time we play so I’m hoping I can get an early Null Rod out and stall the game long enough before his 1 maindeck Oxidize comes online. I get destroyed on the dice roll, 12-18.

Game 1. I Mulligan down to 5, hunting for a Force of Will and Null Rod. Andy doesn’t drop the explosive turn 1 Belch or the Channel/Colossus on me, but still hurts by going Mox Jet, ESG into Tinder Wall, Chrome Mox (imprinting Goblin Welder), Goblin Welder-go. Yay. My grip of 5 is super land light, having only a Strip Mine, so I lay it and pass. Andy is kinda stalled out, but somehow manages to get another Tinder Wall in play (I am assuming he dropped another Mox in there somewhere). I rip a Wasteland off the top and lay the Rod. Woot. Andy shrugs and and sac’s his Tinder Walls (and some other mana source) for a Belcher and passes. Its do or die time for me, since its only a matter of time before he can find some kind of usable mana source, and tutor up his Oxidize. A Windswept Heath turns into a Tropical Island, and my Rootwalla lands on the table. Andy passes and passes, seeing nothing. Another Tropical Island nets me a Wild Mongrel and I dump a Deep Analysis a turn later. Those 2 go all the way. I didn’t know this until next game, but all along Andy thought I was still playing O-Stompy and had only splashed blue for the Wonders. He must have forgotten the Deep Analysis that I pitched to the Mongrel. Lucky me!

The Game was Over When: Null Rod sticks, and Andy stalls out.
Me 20-19-18-15
Andy 20-19-14-8-5-0

Game 2, I know Andy brings in the Big Man, so I’m leery of it (for obvious reasons). I decide against siding in the Gilded Drakes because I felt that I could simply stop Tinker or Channel from going off instead with 8 counterspells, and the Belcher can be stopped by Null Rod. In come all my artifact hate though, and that proves to be enough. Andy starts off with one of those UBER grips, going Tropical Island, Lotus Petal, breaks the Petal for G, casts Tinder Wall, breaks the Wall for RR, casting Sol Ring and Chromatic Sphere, and then taps the Trop and the Sol Ring for Tinker (sacrificing Chromatic Sphere)…which eats up a Force of Will. BWAHAHAHAHA! Not only did I rape Andy’s hand, but I stopped the Big Man. I am so cool sometimes. I think Andy said it best when he looked at me funny and said, “You run Force of Will?!?” Yup, Andy, I do. Now onto MY first turn. I drop a Flooded Strand and lay a Mox Sapphire and pass, having nothing important to do. Andy scares the crap out of me, casting Living Wish. Grrrr. Then I think to myself, “Self, he cast a Tinker and we both are assuming he was going for the Big Man. What can he Living Wish for, barring a second Colossus?” I agree with myself as in comes a Tolarian Academy, using Sol Ring as fuel for it. Great. Mana. Well off the top I rip a Naturalize, destroying the Sol Ring, so he’s reduced back down to just his Tropical Island for mana. Next turn, Wasteland eats his Academy and I pass. Andy still has no fuel to go. I finally topdeck the Null Rod and then a Time Walk. Andy casts Ancestral Recall on himself a turn later and then Land Grants for a Bayou. Do or die time for Andy. Spoils of the Vault naming Oxidize. Andy is at 19 life. Oxidize is like 29 cards down. I did have a second Null Rod in hand, but at the time hadn’t cast it or didn’t have the mana. Andy says he could have Belched that turn once the Rod was gone, and I don’t doubt that. I’m thanking the Magic gods that I squeaked that one out.

The Game was Over When: Tinker was countered.
Me 20-19-18
Andy 20-19-0

Games 6-3
Matches 3-1

Round 5
Jamison with Control Slaver

I offer Jamison of the Milwaukee crew the draw thinking he was also 3-1 (turns out is is 2-1-1) and after doing the math, he has to play. No idea what he’s playing since I didn’t do that good a job scouting out over the rounds (actually I did do some kickass scouting, but all on the wrong people). I get dominated on the die roll, losing 11-20.

Game 1, Jamison elects to play and starts out Polluted Delta into Volcanic Island, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, and after looking at his hand, passes. I’m thinking he has the Thirst in hand. He’s looking thirsty. I lay a Windswept Heath and break for a Tropical Island and pass. He EOTs a Thirst for Knowledge (when you’re thirsty, just get a Sprite next time), dumping another Thirst AND a Mana Drain in the graveyard. That didn’t work out as well as he would have hoped I am assuming. During his turn, he Demonic Tutors up Ancestral Recall, his Flooded Strand turns into a Volcanic again, and a Welder hits play. I lay a Forest and draw out a Force with an Aquamoeba (see, they ARE good for something). I could have cast a Mongrel, but I would always want an Aquamoeba to be Forced over a Mongrel. During his turn it goes from bad to worse for me, when it goes, Time Walk into a Yawgmoth’s Will, but it only nets him a Flooded Strand (into an Underground Sea), and an Ancestral and another Time Walk. He plays Mana Crypt off his second Ancestral draw and plays it. Soon he has a Tolarian Academy and a Mox Emerald in play too, so he has a bajillion mana to work with. He Duresses my hand and nails one of my Circular Logics. My Mad(ness) top-decking skills finally kick in as I rip off a Wasteland for his Academy and then a Time Walk. Mongrel finally hits and I’m feeling pretty good. He Rack and Ruins his own Mana Crypt and Mox Pearl after taking 3 to the dome (assuming for Welder targets), and then his deck stalls out on him. I was able to Mongrel him turn after turn without him drawing any answers (or me a Null Rod).

The Game was Over When: Jamison's deck stalls after Yawgmoth's Will, 2x Ancestral, and 2x Time Walk. There seems to be a limit to broken...
Me 20-19-18
Jamison 20-19-18-17-16-15-12-7-6-3-0

Game 2, another Workshop deck and another 10-12 card sideboard switch. I think I left the Gilded Drakes out this time though, since the only thing other than the Titan that I would want were his Welders, and I thought that all the hate would just come back to haunt him here. Turns out I didn’t even need that much.

He elects to play AGAIN, and has to Mulligan down to 5. This was key. His opening hand was playable but he didn’t feel comfortable with it. His grip of 6 was worse, and at 5 he stopped but had no mana sources. After passes with nothing to do, I laid a Flooded Strand and a Mox Sapphire. A few turns later he grabs a Flooded Strand of his own, and activating my Flooded Strand in response, grabbing an Island, I Stifle it, basically sealing him out of the game at that point. I cast Time Walk for the extra card to press my advantage, lay another land and drop a Mongrel. No Force in hand, it resolves. I break a Windswept Heath to fetch up another Tropical Island, bringing my land count to 4. FINALLY Jamison gets a Flooded Strand in play, breaks if for a Volcanic. I topdeck Strip Mine. Strip hits the Volcanic and he attempts to Brainstorm. I Circular Logic the Brainstorm, which finally draws a Force of Will. I Force of Will his Force, and he scoops. Bad Slaver, no cookie!

The Game was Over When: I Stifled his Fetchland.
Me 20-17-16
Jamison 20-19-17-16-14-11-9-7-0

Games 8-3
Matches 4-1

Ahhh, the Top 8, I have come home. It think there was 4 guys from Milwaukee and 4 from Eau Claire in there, but I can’t think of our 4th. Andy with Belcher just squeaked in on a draw result from I@n Degraff and Tony Higley (Food Chain Goblins vs. Cerebral Assassin), and Jeremy with Dragon also made it. If you are the last guy that I can’t remember, sorry, but I was kind of playing in the other room at the time.

Elite 8
Tommy with Cerebral Assassin

I’ve seen this deck before when George Andrews played it, and I really liked it (this has nothing to do with the fact that I own a playset of Bazaars, really). I’ve never played the matchup but I’m feeling that I can win this one, maybe not game 1, but post-sideboard. I destroy poor Tommy on the die roll, 17-9.

Game 1, Tommy has to Mulligan to 6, so that’s good. I have my BAHROKEN start, going Island, Black Lotus, break Lotus for GGG, draw out a Force of Will by playing Wild Mongrel, and lay my key spell, Null Rod. He responds with a Gemstone Mine and passes. I’m out of gas, but the rod is in, so I pass (ok, THAT just sounded wrong). He drops another Gemstone Mine and casts Animate Dead…I’m like WHAT?!? Until I see my Mongrel hanging out in MY graveyard. Force of Will eats the Animate. I lay a Forest and finally topdeck a Rootwalla, followed by another Mongrel. They go the distance.

The Game was Over When: I Force his only business spell, Animate.
Me 20-19-18
Tommy 20-19-18-13-8-3-0

Game 2 sees similar sideboarding to my Workshop opponents, grabbing Naturalize and Oxidize and Gilded Drake (yes, Gilded Drake). Tommy shuffles up and has a God Hand of his own, going Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl (any more Power 9 in there?!?), casts Intuition for 3 Bazaars, and activates it, dropping Squee, Bazaar, and Platinum Angel in the graveyard. Super. I did the math and see that 3 out of 4 Bazaars is good for me. I respond to his nice broken start by going Strip Mine, strip his Bazaar, Black Lotus, break for UUU, Null Rod, Brainstorm. Yup, GG. Complete stallage on his part at this point. I lay an Island, and cast Time Walk. I am so mean. I lay a Forest and cast a Mongrel. I chip away at his life, faking some countermagic while he gets a Gemstone Mine active and a Tolarian Academy. Intuition hits again, naming Animate Dead (I even called what he was going to get). Animate Dead was fine (obviously since I was holding a Gilded Drake and 2 Naturalizes), and I elected to just seal the win with a Naturalize on the Animate instead of stealing the Angel (although I think I would have got UBER COOL points just for being…well, UBER COOL). Next turn, I dump my hand to the Mongrel and have exactly enough for the win.

The Game was Over When: Null Rod stops his broken start.
Me 20-19
Tommy 20-18-16-14-12-11-9-7-0

Games 10-3
Matches 5-1

Final 4
Dan with Aggro Slaver

I have to say, 13nova rubbed a lot of people the wrong way when he started posting smack on the Adventurer’s Guild boards about how Milwaukee was coming up to own everyone and blah blah blah. Once I started talking to him, he’s actually pretty cool to hang around. Dan…not so much. Honestly, I’ve never played against someone so cocky in my life. Hopefully it was just the match and not his overall play-style, but Dan earned a Big Jackass point with me. /end rant. The die seemed to agree with me, netting me an 11/3 win.

Game 1 I kept a first turn Mongrel, but no Wasteland and no Null Rod. Having just scouted out Dan’s previous matchup, I should have known better, but out comes my Green-ness after waltzing up to the top 4. I lay a Forest, Mox Emerald, and play a Wild Mongrel. Woot! Dan responds on his turn by going, Mox Sapphire, Mishra’s Workshop, Sol Ring, Time Walk, Trinisphere. Hmmm, not so hot. I was basically trapped under the 3Sphere and he stole my Mongrel with his Duplicant, laid a Wasteland, and as I’m kinda just hanging out, drops a Memnarch, stealing my Emerald. Su-Chi followed suit and we were off to game 2.

The Game was Over When: I didn't Mulligan into a Null Rod, Wasteland, and Force of Will.
Me 20-18-12-0
Dan 20

Game 2, I get to go first again, and I brought friends…12 of ‘em from the sideboard. I have Oxidize, Naturalize, Gilded Drake, Energy Flux, and Stifle. They don’t like Dan as much as I don’t like Dan (Self doesn’t like Dan either for that matter). I start out with a Tropical Island into a Rootwalla. Dan starts slow with a City of Brass. I have no land so the Rootwalla beats are coming. Dan lays a Workshop and casts Chalice for 2. Yeah right. Force of Will. I MIGHT have been able to let that go, but I always hate those things. The Chalice was only Force bait as he lays a Crucible next turn along with another City of Brass. Force of Will again BEEHOTCH!!! Flooded Strand turns into an Island and the beats continue with my big manly lizard. I Wasteland his Workshop to stem the flow, but Gemstone Mine shows up on his side and he’s loaded for bear with mana. Triskelion hits. Super duper. Trike eats my Rootwalla. Another City of Brass finds its way to the table, as does a Welder. Naturalize hits Trike but he pings me twice. I don’t know how much mana anyone would ever need, but Dan finds a Workshop on top of his library. He attempts to Ancestral. Here’s a neat sidenote: All day I’ve been letting Ancestral Recall go through…until now. Circular Logic steals it, but he still lays a Duplicant (not imprinted, of course). Duplicant gets welded into a Crucible and the mana continues, while I’m still on the short side. I Oxidize the Crucible, but it’s pretty much too late. I even drop a later game Energy Flux, hoping to sweep the board away. A Titan finds its way into the graveyard and soon I’m down to 2 mana after his Mana Vault turns into a 7/10 walking Armageddon. He plays a Sol Ring, and drops the Mindslaver, activates it and I’m out.

The Game was Over When: I drew into a Mox, Lotus, and a couple lands when I needed to draw into my Dan hate.

Games 10-5
Matches 5-2

All in all, it was a really fun time. Sorry I wrote such a long-winded report, but everyone who saw my notes knows how detailed they are. I did mess up a couple of details and went off memory, but you get the gist of it.

Props to:
The Adventurer’s Guild for having ANOTHER good turnout for a Mox Pearl
13nova for bringing me my 4th Foil Energy Flux
Todd Otto for returning my cards before I punched him in the face
Timmy for convincing me that Null Rod maindeck is hotter than Naturalize
Andy Hizer for sneaking into the top 8
I@n DeGraff for playing budget for a change
Jay Goodman for making the trip up from Madison, even though it wasn’t for the tournament
Robert Jordan for inspiring me to steal his opening style from the Wheel of Time series

Slops
Timmy Deering for running an almost card-for-card copy of my deck and scrubbing out
Sethy and Otto for not playing
The Guild regulars for not representing as well as hoped
Nate for not even letting get a Moxen Master T-Shirt even though I really wanted one badly
Dan for being a retard (who names off each and every top deck?)
Arcane Laboratory for being pretty useless today, although had I DRAWN it, that might have been a different story

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave birth to it comes again. In one Age, called the Second by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose across the snowy streets of Eau Claire. The wind was not a beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But is was a beginning.
-Robert Jordan

East the wind blew as players from Eau Claire, Minnesota, and Milwaukee all battled each other for the coveted Unlimited Mox Pearl and the even more coveted Moxen Master T-Shirt at the Adventurer’s Guild in Eau Claire, WI. The wind carried snow and ice, but players would come heedless of the dangers and regardless of work schedules.

My name is Chris Lehman, and here is my story.

I am a self-proclaimed Green player, both by skill and by color of choice. I don’t practice, I rarely play, and most of the time I scrub out. The winds changed today as I battled the odds to finally be put out in the semi-finals. My deck of choice was U/G Madness, which I had never played before, although I have done quite well with its cousin, Oshawa Stompy. My decklist looked something like this:

March Madness

Mana
2x Windswept Heath
2x Flooded Strand
3x Island
3x Forest
4x Tropical Island
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Black Lotus (proxy)
1x Mox Emerald (proxy)
1x Mox Sapphire (proxy)

Beats
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Aquamoeba
4x Basking Rootwalla
4x Arrogant Wurm
2x Wonder

Spells
1x Gush
1x Ancestral Recall (proxy)
3x Brainstorm
3x Deep Analysis
3x Null Rod
1x Time Walk (proxy)
4x Force of Will
4x Circular Logic

Sideboard
3x Arcane Laboratory
2x Stifle
3x Gilded Drake
3x Naturalize
1x Oxidize
3x Energy Flux

All in all, I would say the overall deck is solid, although 4 Null Rods might be the key, taking out either a Deep Analysis or Aquamoeba.

On with the report.

Round 1
Brad with UB Anti-combo goodness (plus Turbo Bigman)
I’ve seen Brad around the store and feel badly about one of the Eau Claire boys having to go to the losers bracket right away. I just hope its not me. Things start going downhill immediately as I lose the dice roll 20-12. Sweet.

Brad goes first playing Island, Mox Jet, Black Lotus-go. I answer with by fetching up a Tropical Island, hardcasting a Basking Rootwalla and passing. He lays a Polluted Delta and passes. I fetch up a second Tropical Island and lay a Null Rod. He breaks the Lotus for UUU, casts Counterspell and mana burns for 1. He Ancestral Recalls into some other goodness, and soon an Aquamoeba joins my side of the table and I begin beating face. Brad continues to lay lands, Brainstorming into a Tinker. I activate the Aquamoeba for Circular Logic, spoiling his plans. He Forces my Mongrel and then casts Yawgmoth’s Will, recasting Tinker and grabbing the Colossus. By this point he is at 4 life and I still have an Aquamoeba and Rootwalla on the board. I swing, pump up the Rootwalla to bring him to 1. He casts Lobotomy, and sees my hand of Wild Mongrel and Aquamoeba. Odd choice, but he steals my 3 remaining Aquamoebas. In standoff mode, I hardcast a Deep Analysis, draw my cards and pass. He continues to lay land sources, but I limit him with a Wasteland on an Underground Sea. I attempt to hardcast another Deep Analysis, but he Mana Drains it, but draws nothing and dies to mana burn.

The Game was Over When: Rootwalla and Aquamoeba began attacking.
Me 20-19-18
Brad 20-19-18-14-10-6-5-4-1-0

Game 2, Brad elected to play again, starting off with Island, Mox Jet into Demonic Tutor. I had the Force in hand, but decided to let him play, figuring I could counter his money spells later. He passes and I Fetch up a Tropical Island, and drop the Rootwalla for the early beatdown (apparently Rootwalla>Darksteel Colossus). Brad lays a Mox Diamond, pitching a Swamp to it, lays an Underground Sea and decides to Tinker. Yeah right. Force of Will. My turn I lay my land, and beat face with the BIG MAN…er, lizard in this case. I get hit with another Lobotomy, but I have the mana to hardcast Circular Logic with 4 in the graveyard. Next turn he hits my again with Lobotomy, and I Force it. Brad drops 2 Polluted Deltas in both of his next 2 turns and passes as the Rootwalla gets jiggy with it. I Wasteland his Underground Sea, and he Fetches up an Island and a Swamp. He lays another Swamp, Brainstorms, and hits me with Duress. He eats my third Force. The turn before he dies, he casts Cranial Extraction, naming Force of Will, saying “I always wanted to do that.” Good games, and the Rootwalla went the distance.

The Game was Over When: Tinker was countered.
Me 20-19-18-17
Brad 20-19-16-13-10-7-4-2-0

Games 2-0
Matches 1-0

Round 2
Xue with STAX

Xue is so cool. He just has really horrible luck when playing against me. He’s one of the guys who braved the weather to come over from the Cities area. The last time I played him was in my first Mox tournament when I was playing O-Stompy. These games turned out similarly, but he PWNED game 1. The dice hates me out again, losing 5-10.

Game 1 started out with his UBER hand of Mox Ruby, Goblin Welder, Mishra’s Workshop, Trinisphere-go. Yeah, go…home!!! I lay a Wasteland and nuke his Workshop, but am short on mana to begin with. He drops a Wasteland and I meet that by dropping 2 Windswept Heath on my next 2 turns. Glimmervoid shows up over there and he casts Thirst for Knowledge, pitching a Crucible. I’ve been completely blue screwed, so I’ve been discarding (Wonder, Deep Analysis, and Wonder) for the last 3 turns. He welds in the Crucible, plays his Wasted Workshop, and casts a Tanglewire. Undaunted I tap my 2 lands (now Forests) and brace myself. Smokestack joins the fun, getting a counter, and finally Karn hits, and his artifacts start swinging, killing me in short order.

The Game was Over When: Turn 1 God start for STAX.
Me 20-19-18-16-8-0
Xue 20

Post-sideboard, my Workshop-based decks’ matchup increases significantly. I elect to go first. Xue is forced to Mulligan to 6, which makes me smile inside. I have a less than stellar hand, going Forest-go. He drops the Wasteland and Black Lotus, breaking for RRR, casting a Welder and dropping the Trinisphere. Super. I follow up my stunning turn 1 play with an Island-go. Xue is out of gas, but has board control and starts the Welder beats. I am NOT dying to Welder beats! My next turn, I drop the Tropical Island, and Oxidize the Crucible. Woot! Xue is now trapped under his own 3Sphere, much like our first matchups way back at the Emerald tournament. Xue draws absolutely nothing, pitching artifacts to the graveyard, while I lay a Mongrel, followed by a Null Rod, followed by a Time Walk, fetch up another land, flashback some Deep Anal action, and let the Mongrel do the hokie-pokie all over his blanked out board (he does have to block the Mongrel finally).

The Game was Over When: Crucible went into the graveyard with a tapped Welder in play.
Me 20-19-18-15
Xue 20-18-16-14-11-9-6-4-0

Game 3. Ah, the pressure. Xue is obviously going first in this one, dropping Mox Emerald, Sol Ring, Wasteland and Crucible. Sweet. The other member of the Axis of Evil. Well screw that. I go Island, Black Lotus, break for GGG, cast Basking Rootwalla and Null Rod. Axis this. Xue follows up with a Workshop, and passes. I drop a Forest, cast another Rootwalla and proceed to beat. Xue gets absolutely nothing out as I Naturalize his Crucible, Brainstorm into Ancestral Recall, netting an Island and some sweet countermagic. Xue finally draws into Karn, but Karn meets Force of Will and the Rootwallas are off to the races. Whoo-hoo!

The Game was Over When: Null Rod hit the table.
Me 20-19
Xue 20-19-15-11-7-5-1-0

Games 4-1
Matches 2-0

Round 3
Jeremy with Dragon

I’ve only played Jeremy in Type 2 Sealed, but he seems like a nice guy and a solid player. The second I see a Bazaar, I have 4 choices in what he’s playing: A) Dragon (or MADragon), B) Bombs over Baghdad, C) O-Stompy, or D) Cerebral Assassin. It turns out to be Dragon, a match I have begun to hate. On an lighter note, I do end up winning the dice roll 18-13. Maybe my luck is going to change. (Also on a side note, I haven’t won a match during Round 3 since returning to Magic late last year /end sidenote).

Game 1, I bluff Mana Drain by going Island, Mox Sapphire-go. Jeremy starts with a Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates it, dumping Squee, Worldgorger Dragon, and Lim Dul’s Vault into the graveyard. I Wasteland his Bazaar and pass, having no threats. He plays an Underground Sea and passes. I Wasteland his Underground Sea and still have no threats, so I pass. He lays a Tropical Island, and casts a Xantid Swarm. I hate that guy. Next turn, Null Rod comes online. He lays a Swamp and casts Animate Dead, targeting his Dragon, and goes infinite. Jeremy casts a Demonic Tutor for Intuition, naming Triskelion, Eternal Witness, and Necromancy. I’m an idiot, and give him the Witness, not realizing Null Rod is in play. He recurs the Triskelion with the Witness, and wants to machine gun me with him. I’m about to scoop when I see the Null Rod inconspicuously on MY side of the board and tap on it to tell him his combo doesn’t work now. Play mistake number 1. He calmly Intuitions again, dropping Compulsion, Ancestral Recall, and Compulsion on the table and I choose the Ancestral. He makes me draw out my deck by recurring it with Eternal Witness. Play mistake number 2 is when I don’t make him play it out so I can draw into some sweet lovin’, but I realize my Naturalizes are all in the sideboard so it didn’t make much difference. On to game 2.

The Game was Over When: I mentioned the Null Rod after the Intuition, and he didn't overextend into his combo, giving me a small chance.
Me 20
Jeremy 20

Game 2, Jeremy has to Mulligan to 6 (yay for me), and I keep an ok hand. I elect to go first, dropping a Windswept Heath, grabbing a Forest, and passing the turn. Jeremy lays the good ol’ Bazaar of Baghdad, and activates, dropping Squee, Worldgorger Dragon, and an Island into the graveyard. I topdeck a Rootwalla, and it hits play. Jeremy Bazaars again, dropping his recurred Squee, another Dragon, and a Tropical Island into the graveyard. Jeremy’s next turn goes something like, Mox Sapphire, Ancestral, break a Delta for a Swamp (he mentions that it isn’t Snow-covered or something), activates Bazaar again, dropping Squee, Compulsion and Underground Sea in the graveyard and passes. Mongrel hits play a little late, but he is my main Madness outlet and I have Circular Logic in hand as well as Force. Jeremy goes off this turn, laying a Swamp, and casting Animate Dead on his Dragon. I activate my Mongrel to Circular Logic it. He Forces my Logic. I Force his Force. He Forces my Forces and says good game. Dammit!

The Game was Over When: I lost the only counter war of my evening.
Me 20-19-18
Jeremy 20-19

Games 4-3
Matches 2-1

Round 4
Andy with 2 Land Belcher

Crap and double crap!!! I used to play up at the Andyland tournaments and after I got out of Magic, I sold my cards to Andy. Andy then proceeded to trade up and do some finagling and ended up with this monstrosity of a deck, all foiled out and a big pain in my colon. I know his deck very well, as he usually beats the crap out of me every time we play so I’m hoping I can get an early Null Rod out and stall the game long enough before his 1 maindeck Oxidize comes online. I get destroyed on the dice roll, 12-18.

Game 1. I Mulligan down to 5, hunting for a Force of Will and Null Rod. Andy doesn’t drop the explosive turn 1 Belch or the Channel/Colossus on me, but still hurts by going Mox Jet, ESG into Tinder Wall, Chrome Mox (imprinting Goblin Welder), Goblin Welder-go. Yay. My grip of 5 is super land light, having only a Strip Mine, so I lay it and pass. Andy is kinda stalled out, but somehow manages to get another Tinder Wall in play (I am assuming he dropped another Mox in there somewhere). I rip a Wasteland off the top and lay the Rod. Woot. Andy shrugs and and sac’s his Tinder Walls (and some other mana source) for a Belcher and passes. Its do or die time for me, since its only a matter of time before he can find some kind of usable mana source, and tutor up his Oxidize. A Windswept Heath turns into a Tropical Island, and my Rootwalla lands on the table. Andy passes and passes, seeing nothing. Another Tropical Island nets me a Wild Mongrel and I dump a Deep Analysis a turn later. Those 2 go all the way. I didn’t know this until next game, but all along Andy thought I was still playing O-Stompy and had only splashed blue for the Wonders. He must have forgotten the Deep Analysis that I pitched to the Mongrel. Lucky me!

The Game was Over When: Null Rod sticks, and Andy stalls out.
Me 20-19-18-15
Andy 20-19-14-8-5-0

Game 2, I know Andy brings in the Big Man, so I’m leery of it (for obvious reasons). I decide against siding in the Gilded Drakes because I felt that I could simply stop Tinker or Channel from going off instead with 8 counterspells, and the Belcher can be stopped by Null Rod. In come all my artifact hate though, and that proves to be enough. Andy starts off with one of those UBER grips, going Tropical Island, Lotus Petal, breaks the Petal for G, casts Tinder Wall, breaks the Wall for RR, casting Sol Ring and Chromatic Sphere, and then taps the Trop and the Sol Ring for Tinker (sacrificing Chromatic Sphere)…which eats up a Force of Will. BWAHAHAHAHA! Not only did I rape Andy’s hand, but I stopped the Big Man. I am so cool sometimes. I think Andy said it best when he looked at me funny and said, “You run Force of Will?!?” Yup, Andy, I do. Now onto MY first turn. I drop a Flooded Strand and lay a Mox Sapphire and pass, having nothing important to do. Andy scares the crap out of me, casting Living Wish. Grrrr. Then I think to myself, “Self, he cast a Tinker and we both are assuming he was going for the Big Man. What can he Living Wish for, barring a second Colossus?” I agree with myself as in comes a Tolarian Academy, using Sol Ring as fuel for it. Great. Mana. Well off the top I rip a Naturalize, destroying the Sol Ring, so he’s reduced back down to just his Tropical Island for mana. Next turn, Wasteland eats his Academy and I pass. Andy still has no fuel to go. I finally topdeck the Null Rod and then a Time Walk. Andy casts Ancestral Recall on himself a turn later and then Land Grants for a Bayou. Do or die time for Andy. Spoils of the Vault naming Oxidize. Andy is at 19 life. Oxidize is like 29 cards down. I did have a second Null Rod in hand, but at the time hadn’t cast it or didn’t have the mana. Andy says he could have Belched that turn once the Rod was gone, and I don’t doubt that. I’m thanking the Magic gods that I squeaked that one out.

The Game was Over When: Tinker was countered.
Me 20-19-18
Andy 20-19-0

Games 6-3
Matches 3-1

Round 5
Jamison with Control Slaver

I offer Jamison of the Milwaukee crew the draw thinking he was also 3-1 (turns out is is 2-1-1) and after doing the math, he has to play. No idea what he’s playing since I didn’t do that good a job scouting out over the rounds (actually I did do some kickass scouting, but all on the wrong people). I get dominated on the die roll, losing 11-20.

Game 1, Jamison elects to play and starts out Polluted Delta into Volcanic Island, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, and after looking at his hand, passes. I’m thinking he has the Thirst in hand. He’s looking thirsty. I lay a Windswept Heath and break for a Tropical Island and pass. He EOTs a Thirst for Knowledge (when you’re thirsty, just get a Sprite next time), dumping another Thirst AND a Mana Drain in the graveyard. That didn’t work out as well as he would have hoped I am assuming. During his turn, he Demonic Tutors up Ancestral Recall, his Flooded Strand turns into a Volcanic again, and a Welder hits play. I lay a Forest and draw out a Force with an Aquamoeba (see, they ARE good for something). I could have cast a Mongrel, but I would always want an Aquamoeba to be Forced over a Mongrel. During his turn it goes from bad to worse for me, when it goes, Time Walk into a Yawgmoth’s Will, but it only nets him a Flooded Strand (into an Underground Sea), and an Ancestral and another Time Walk. He plays Mana Crypt off his second Ancestral draw and plays it. Soon he has a Tolarian Academy and a Mox Emerald in play too, so he has a bajillion mana to work with. He Duresses my hand and nails one of my Circular Logics. My Mad(ness) top-decking skills finally kick in as I rip off a Wasteland for his Academy and then a Time Walk. Mongrel finally hits and I’m feeling pretty good. He Rack and Ruins his own Mana Crypt and Mox Pearl after taking 3 to the dome (assuming for Welder targets), and then his deck stalls out on him. I was able to Mongrel him turn after turn without him drawing any answers (or me a Null Rod).

The Game was Over When: Jamison's deck stalls after Yawgmoth's Will, 2x Ancestral, and 2x Time Walk. There seems to be a limit to broken...
Me 20-19-18
Jamison 20-19-18-17-16-15-12-7-6-3-0

Game 2, another Workshop deck and another 10-12 card sideboard switch. I think I left the Gilded Drakes out this time though, since the only thing other than the Titan that I would want were his Welders, and I thought that all the hate would just come back to haunt him here. Turns out I didn’t even need that much.

He elects to play AGAIN, and has to Mulligan down to 5. This was key. His opening hand was playable but he didn’t feel comfortable with it. His grip of 6 was worse, and at 5 he stopped but had no mana sources. After passes with nothing to do, I laid a Flooded Strand and a Mox Sapphire. A few turns later he grabs a Flooded Strand of his own, and activating my Flooded Strand in response, grabbing an Island, I Stifle it, basically sealing him out of the game at that point. I cast Time Walk for the extra card to press my advantage, lay another land and drop a Mongrel. No Force in hand, it resolves. I break a Windswept Heath to fetch up another Tropical Island, bringing my land count to 4. FINALLY Jamison gets a Flooded Strand in play, breaks if for a Volcanic. I topdeck Strip Mine. Strip hits the Volcanic and he attempts to Brainstorm. I Circular Logic the Brainstorm, which finally draws a Force of Will. I Force of Will his Force, and he scoops. Bad Slaver, no cookie!

The Game was Over When: I Stifled his Fetchland.
Me 20-17-16
Jamison 20-19-17-16-14-11-9-7-0

Games 8-3
Matches 4-1

Ahhh, the Top 8, I have come home. It think there was 4 guys from Milwaukee and 4 from Eau Claire in there, but I can’t think of our 4th. Andy with Belcher just squeaked in on a draw result from I@n Degraff and Tony Higley (Food Chain Goblins vs. Cerebral Assassin), and Jeremy with Dragon also made it. If you are the last guy that I can’t remember, sorry, but I was kind of playing in the other room at the time.

Elite 8
Tommy with Cerebral Assassin

I’ve seen this deck before when George Andrews played it, and I really liked it (this has nothing to do with the fact that I own a playset of Bazaars, really). I’ve never played the matchup but I’m feeling that I can win this one, maybe not game 1, but post-sideboard. I destroy poor Tommy on the die roll, 17-9.

Game 1, Tommy has to Mulligan to 6, so that’s good. I have my BAHROKEN start, going Island, Black Lotus, break Lotus for GGG, draw out a Force of Will by playing Wild Mongrel, and lay my key spell, Null Rod. He responds with a Gemstone Mine and passes. I’m out of gas, but the rod is in, so I pass (ok, THAT just sounded wrong). He drops another Gemstone Mine and casts Animate Dead…I’m like WHAT?!? Until I see my Mongrel hanging out in MY graveyard. Force of Will eats the Animate. I lay a Forest and finally topdeck a Rootwalla, followed by another Mongrel. They go the distance.

The Game was Over When: I Force his only business spell, Animate.
Me 20-19-18
Tommy 20-19-18-13-8-3-0

Game 2 sees similar sideboarding to my Workshop opponents, grabbing Naturalize and Oxidize and Gilded Drake (yes, Gilded Drake). Tommy shuffles up and has a God Hand of his own, going Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl (any more Power 9 in there?!?), casts Intuition for 3 Bazaars, and activates it, dropping Squee, Bazaar, and Platinum Angel in the graveyard. Super. I did the math and see that 3 out of 4 Bazaars is good for me. I respond to his nice broken start by going Strip Mine, strip his Bazaar, Black Lotus, break for UUU, Null Rod, Brainstorm. Yup, GG. Complete stallage on his part at this point. I lay an Island, and cast Time Walk. I am so mean. I lay a Forest and cast a Mongrel. I chip away at his life, faking some countermagic while he gets a Gemstone Mine active and a Tolarian Academy. Intuition hits again, naming Animate Dead (I even called what he was going to get). Animate Dead was fine (obviously since I was holding a Gilded Drake and 2 Naturalizes), and I elected to just seal the win with a Naturalize on the Animate instead of stealing the Angel (although I think I would have got UBER COOL points just for being…well, UBER COOL). Next turn, I dump my hand to the Mongrel and have exactly enough for the win.

The Game was Over When: Null Rod stops his broken start.
Me 20-19
Tommy 20-18-16-14-12-11-9-7-0

Games 10-3
Matches 5-1

Final 4
Dan with Aggro Slaver

I have to say, 13nova rubbed a lot of people the wrong way when he started posting smack on the Adventurer’s Guild boards about how Milwaukee was coming up to own everyone and blah blah blah. Once I started talking to him, he’s actually pretty cool to hang around. Dan…not so much. Honestly, I’ve never played against someone so cocky in my life. Hopefully it was just the match and not his overall play-style, but Dan earned a Big Jackass point with me. /end rant. The die seemed to agree with me, netting me an 11/3 win.

Game 1 I kept a first turn Mongrel, but no Wasteland and no Null Rod. Having just scouted out Dan’s previous matchup, I should have known better, but out comes my Green-ness after waltzing up to the top 4. I lay a Forest, Mox Emerald, and play a Wild Mongrel. Woot! Dan responds on his turn by going, Mox Sapphire, Mishra’s Workshop, Sol Ring, Time Walk, Trinisphere. Hmmm, not so hot. I was basically trapped under the 3Sphere and he stole my Mongrel with his Duplicant, laid a Wasteland, and as I’m kinda just hanging out, drops a Memnarch, stealing my Emerald. Su-Chi followed suit and we were off to game 2.

The Game was Over When: I didn't Mulligan into a Null Rod, Wasteland, and Force of Will.
Me 20-18-12-0
Dan 20

Game 2, I get to go first again, and I brought friends…12 of ‘em from the sideboard. I have Oxidize, Naturalize, Gilded Drake, Energy Flux, and Stifle. They don’t like Dan as much as I don’t like Dan (Self doesn’t like Dan either for that matter). I start out with a Tropical Island into a Rootwalla. Dan starts slow with a City of Brass. I have no land so the Rootwalla beats are coming. Dan lays a Workshop and casts Chalice for 2. Yeah right. Force of Will. I MIGHT have been able to let that go, but I always hate those things. The Chalice was only Force bait as he lays a Crucible next turn along with another City of Brass. Force of Will again BEEHOTCH!!! Flooded Strand turns into an Island and the beats continue with my big manly lizard. I Wasteland his Workshop to stem the flow, but Gemstone Mine shows up on his side and he’s loaded for bear with mana. Triskelion hits. Super duper. Trike eats my Rootwalla. Another City of Brass finds its way to the table, as does a Welder. Naturalize hits Trike but he pings me twice. I don’t know how much mana anyone would ever need, but Dan finds a Workshop on top of his library. He attempts to Ancestral. Here’s a neat sidenote: All day I’ve been letting Ancestral Recall go through…until now. Circular Logic steals it, but he still lays a Duplicant (not imprinted, of course). Duplicant gets welded into a Crucible and the mana continues, while I’m still on the short side. I Oxidize the Crucible, but it’s pretty much too late. I even drop a later game Energy Flux, hoping to sweep the board away. A Titan finds its way into the graveyard and soon I’m down to 2 mana after his Mana Vault turns into a 7/10 walking Armageddon. He plays a Sol Ring, and drops the Mindslaver, activates it and I’m out.

The Game was Over When: I drew into a Mox, Lotus, and a couple lands when I needed to draw into my Dan hate.

Games 10-5
Matches 5-2

All in all, it was a really fun time. Sorry I wrote such a long-winded report, but everyone who saw my notes knows how detailed they are. I did mess up a couple of details and went off memory, but you get the gist of it.

Props to:
The Adventurer’s Guild for having ANOTHER good turnout for a Mox Pearl
13nova for bringing me my 4th Foil Energy Flux
Todd Otto for returning my cards before I punched him in the face
Timmy for convincing me that Null Rod maindeck is hotter than Naturalize
Andy Hizer for sneaking into the top 8
I@n DeGraff for playing budget for a change
Jay Goodman for making the trip up from Madison, even though it wasn’t for the tournament
Robert Jordan for inspiring me to steal his opening style from the Wheel of Time series

Slops
Timmy Deering for running an almost card-for-card copy of my deck and scrubbing out
Sethy and Otto for not playing
The Guild regulars for not representing as well as hoped
Nate for not even letting get a Moxen Master T-Shirt even though I really wanted one badly
Dan for being a retard (who names off each and every top deck?)
Arcane Laboratory for being pretty useless today, although had I DRAWN it, that might have been a different story

Taking aside the decklists from our last tournament, I crunched the numbers to see exactly what the metagame looked like.

27 people entered and the overall metagame turned out fairly evenly split between control, workshop, and aggro-control.

For Control decks, the following people entered with:
Ben Carp 3 Color Control (UBW)
Scott Hansen U/W Phid
Lenny Thao 3 Color Control (UBW)
Brad Thompson U/B Control
Joe Schultz 3 Color Control (UBW)
Adam Boese Mono-U Sensei
Mike Solymossy Control Titan

Worshops were everywhere, and were represented by:
Dan Carp Workshop Aggro (Mindslaver sideboard)
Jamison Brigand Control Slaver
Xue Vang STAX
Ryan Spindler 7/10 Split
Jake Hustad Workshop Red

Aggro-Control showed up in numbers with:
Chris Lehman U/G Madness
Patrick Titterud U/W Landstill
Tommy Kolowith Cerebral Assassin
Tim Deering U/G Madness
Luke Stevens Oshawa Stompy
Tony Higley Cerebral Assassin
Taylor Hustad Bird Sh!t
Nick Kinney U/R Fish

Aggro-Combo numbers were about right, making up:
Justin Curron Food Chain Goblins
I@n Degraff Food Chain Goblins
George Andrews Meandeck Oath
Josh Bayer Jabroni-tog (Grow-a-Tog w/Crucible Combo kill)

Combo was under-represented but still strong with:
Jeremy Sauld Dragon
Andy Hizer 2-Land Belcher
Matt Hannafin Meandeck Tendrils

According to the decklists, there were also 6 illegal decklists entered into the tournament. Obviously some were just errors while writing down the decklists on the tournament sheet, but these are what I found:

Taylor Hustad 59 card maindeck
Tony Higley 2 Mox Jets in maindeck
Justin Curron 10 card sideboard
Xue Vang 6 Glimmervoids maindeck
Patrick Titterud (top 8 ) 59 card maindeck
Mike Solymossy (top 8 ) 14 card sideboard

*EDIT* Mike's sideboard contained 15 cards, but Echoing Truth was not listed.
Now for the color breakdown. Of the five colors in Magic, Blue was the overall favorite, followed in a near-split by Red and Green, then Black, and finally a small showing of White. Artifacts were heavy to say the least, representing the second-most played source of cards.

Card by card breakdowns are broken up first by the Restricted List, Artifacts, Blue, Red, Green, Black, and White, followed by Gold and Split cards, and finally the Land breakdown. Sideboard cards are given in parentheses. Find out what was hot and what was not.

Restricted List
Black Lotus 25
Mox Sapphire 23
Ancestral Recall 22
Mox Emerald 19
Mox Jet 18
Strip Mine 18
Mox Ruby 17
Sol Ring 17
Mox Pearl 16
Mana Crypt 15
Time Walk 15
Demonic Tutor 13
Mystical Tutor 13
Yawgmoth's Will 11
Tinker 10
Vampiric Tutor 8
Library of Alexandria 7
Fact or Fiction 6
Mana Vault 6
Tolarian Academy 6
Gush 5
Lotus Petal 5  
Chrome Mox 3
Lion's Eye Diamond 3
Memory Jar 3
(Vampiric Tutor) 3
Wheel of Fortune 3
Demonic Consultation 2
Mind Twist 2
Regrowth 2
Windfall 2
(Balance) 1
Black Vice 1
Channel 1
Crop Rotation 1
Fastbond 1
Grim Monolith 1
Mind Over Matter 1
Mox Diamond 1
(Strip Mine) 1
Timetwister 1
(Tolarian Academy) 1

Artifact
(Chalice of the Void) 20
Crucible of Worlds 16
Null Rod 13
Sundering Titan 12
Trinisphere 12
Triskelion 10
Chromatic Sphere 8
Su-Chi 7
(Tormod's Crypt) 7
Gilded Lotus 6
(Triskelion) 6
Chalice of the Void 5
Duplicant 5
Helm of Awakening 5
Darksteel Colossus 4
Darkwater Egg 4
(Duplicant) 4
Engineered Explosives 4
Juggernaut 4
(Mindslaver) 4
Platinum Angel 4
Smokestack 4
Tangle Wire 4
(Trinisphere) 4
Aether Vial 3
Ankh of Mishra 3
(Jester's Cap) 3
Memnarch 3
Nevinyrral's Disk 3
(Null Rod) 3
Possessed Portal 3
Razormane Masticore 3
(Sphere of Resistance) 3
(Sundering Titan) 3
(Goblin Charbelcher) 2
(Isochron Scepter) 2
Pentavus 2
(Spawning Pit) 2
(Tsabo's Web) 2
Zuran Orb 2
Darksteel Ingot 1
(Engineered Explosives) 1
Isochron Scepter 1
Karn, Silver Golem 1
Mindslaver 1
(Platinum Angel) 1
Powder Keg 1
Sensei's Divining Top 1
Scrabbling Claws 1

Blue
Force of Will 73
Brainstorm 59
Mana Drain 40
(Energy Flux) 27
Thirst for Knowledge 23
(Stifle) 20
Cunning Wish 16
Intuition 16
(Arcane Laboratory) 15
Mana Leak 13
Standstill 12
Counterspell 10
(Gilded Drake) 10
(Hurkyl's Recall) 10
Accumulated Knowledge 8
Aquamoeba 8
(Blue Elemental Blast) 8
Circular Logic 8
Impulse 7
Stifle 7
Deep Analysis 6
(Annul) 5
Daze 5
Cloud of Faeries 4
(Echoing Truth) 4
(Force of Will) 4
Ophidian 4
(Propaganda) 4
Serum Visions 4
Wonder 4
Annul 3
(Back to Basics) 3
Dominate 3
(Dominating Licid) 3
Future Sight 3
(Hindering Touch) 3
Mental Note 3
Misdirection 3
Sleight of Hand 3
Spelljack 3
Spiketail Hatchling 3
Voidmage Prodigy 3
(Waterfront Bouncer) 3
Back to Basics 2
Blatant Thievery 2
(Bribery) 2
Compulsion 2
Echoing Truth 2
Gifts Ungiven 2
(Old Man of the Sea) 2
Pulse of the Grid 2
(Riptide Entrancer) 2
Scalpelexis 2
(Seal of Removal) 2
(Seasinger) 2
(Brainstorm) 1
Chain of Vapor 1
(Chain of Vapor) 1
Clone 1
(Counterspell) 1
(Gift's Ungiven) 1
(Gush) 1
Hurkyl's Recall 1
Merchant Scroll 1
(Misdirection) 1
Morphling 1
(Morphling) 1
(Rushing River) 1
(Stroke of Genius) 1
(Tinker) 1

Red
Goblin Welder 34
(Red Elemental Blast) 20
(Rack and Ruin) 16
Squee, Goblin Nabob 12
Goblin Lackey 8
Goblin Piledriver 8
Goblin Recruiter 8
Goblin Ringleader 8
Goblin Warchief 8
(Lava Dart) 7
Gempalm Incinerator 6
Worldgorger Dragon 6
Goblin Matron 5
Siege-Gang Commander 5
Grim Lavamancer 4
Pyrostatic Pillar 4
(Blood Moon) 3
Goblin Sharpshooter 3
(Pyroblast) 3
(Worldgorger Dragon) 3
Skirk Prospector 3
Rack and Ruin 2
(Lightning Bolt) 1
(Threaten) 1

Green
(Ground Seal) 15
Arrogant Wurm 12
Basking Rootwalla 12
(Oxidize) 12
Wild Mongrel 12
(Xantid Swarm) 10
Elvish Spirit Guide 9
Food Chain 8
Land Grant 8
(Naturalize) 8
Hidden Gibbons 4
(Root Maze) 4
Survival of the Fittest 4
Tinder Wall 4
Xantid Swarm 4
Eternal Witness 3
(Ifh-Biff Efreet) 3
Nimble Mongoose 3
Root Maze 3
Werebear 3
(City of Solitude) 2
Ground Seal 2
Mirri's Guile 2
Quirion Dryad 2
(Berserk) 1
Exploration 1
Gaea's Blessing 1
(Genesis) 1
Living Wish 1
Oxidize 1
(Spore Frog) 1

Black
Animate Dead 12
Duress 12
Dark Ritual 8
Skeletal Scrying 7
(Duress) 6
Cabal Ritual 4
Tendrils of Agony 4
(Coffin Purge) 3
Cranial Extraction 3
Necromancy 3
(Necromancy) 3
Night's Whisper 3
(Phyrexian Scuta) 3
(Planar Void) 3
Spoils of the Vault 3
(Ghastly Demise) 2
(Night of Souls' Betrayal) 2
(Phyrexian Negator) 2
(Tendrils of Agony) 2
Withered Wretch 2
(Diabolic Edict) 1
(Skeletal Scrying) 1
Spirit of the Night 1

White
Swords to Plowshares 13
(Serenity) 7
Decree of Justice 6
Exalted Angel 5
(Ray of Revelation) 5
(Swords to Plowshares) 5
(Disenchant) 3
(Orim's Chant) 3
(Decree of Justice) 2
Rule of Law 2
Seal of Cleansing 2
(Seal of Cleansing) 2
Akroma, Angel of Wrath 1
(Pristine Angel) 1
(Sacred Ground) 1

Gold and Split-cards
Meddling Mage 7
(Artifact Mutation) 4
Fire/Ice 3
(Pernicious Deed) 3
(Iridescent Angel) 1
Lim-Dul's Vault 2
Lobotomy 2
Disenchant 1

Non-basic Land
Wasteland 54
Flooded Strand 37
Polluted Delta 29
Underground Sea 24
Tropical Island 22
Mishra's Workshop 20
Bazaar of Baghdad 16
City of Brass 16
Tundra 16
Volcanic Island 14
Mishra's Factory 11
Gemstone Mine 9
Faerie Conclave 8
Taiga 8
Wooded Foothills 8
Ancient Tomb 6
Glimmervoid 6
Forbidden Orchard 4
(Maze of Ith) 4
Seat of the Synod 3
Scrubland 3
(Wasteland) 3
Bayou 2
Windswept Heath 2
Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1
Great Furnace 1
Karplusan Forest 1
(Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale) 1

Basic Land
Island 64
Mountain 22
Forest 19
Swamp 7
Plains 2

Top 8 Decklists

1st-2nd Place
Dan Carp with Jesussaves (on long distance).dec
1x Memory Jar
1x Yawgmoth's Will
2x Memnarch
1x Demonic Tutor
2x Sundering Titan
2x Crucible of Worlds
3x Gilded Lotus
1x Pentavus
1x Darksteel Ingot
1x Mana Vault
1x Gemstone Mine
3x City of Brass
4x Mishra's Workshop
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
1x Time Walk
4x Goblin Welder
4x Su-Chi
1x Triskelion
1x Duplicant
2x Intuition
4x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Tinker
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Trinisphere

Sideboard:
4x Chalice of the Void
3x Triskelion
3x Jester's Cap
3x Duplicant
2x Mindslaver

1st-2nd Place
Jeremy Sauld with Dragon.dec
[jeremy_78]
4x Worldgorger Dragon
4x Squee, Goblin Nabob
4x Xantid Swarm
1x Triskelion
1x Eternal Witness
4x Force of Will
1x Ancestral Recall
4x Animate Dead
3x Necromancy
3x Intuition
2x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Compulsion
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
3x Underground Sea
3x Tropical Island
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
2x Island
1x Swamp
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Ruby
1x Black Lotus
1x Mana Crypt

Sideboard:
1x Triskelion
3x Chalice of the Void
3x Stifle
3x Pernicious Deed
2x Sundering Titan
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Echoing Truth

3rd-4th Place
Mike Solymossy with Control Titan
[13nova]
3x Goblin Welder
1x Triskelion
2x Sundering Titan
1x Crucible of Worlds
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
4x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Mystical Tutor
2x Intuition
4x Mana Drain
4x Thirst for Knowledge
3x Cunning Wish
1x Tinker
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timewalk
2x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
3x Volcanic Island
1x Underground Sea
4x Island
1x Strip Mine
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Jet
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt

Sideboard:
1x Stifle
2x Rack and Ruin
2x Red Elemental Blast
1x Rushing River
2x Lava Dart
1x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Sphere of Resistance
2x Back to Basics
1x Echoing Truth

3rd-4th Place
Chris Lehman with March Madness
[fool]
4x Wild Mongrel
4x Basking Rootwalla
4x Arrogant Wurm
4x Aquamoeba
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Black Lotus
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
3x Null Rod
4x Force of Will
1x Gush
4x Circular Logic
2x Wonder
3x Deep Analysis
3x Brainstorm
4x Tropical Island
3x Island
3x Forest
2x Flooded Strand
2x Windswept Heath
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

Sideboard:
3x Arcane Laboratory
2x Stifle
3x Gilded Drake
3x Energy Flux
3x Naturalize
1x Oxidize

5th-6th Place
Benjamin Carp with IwishTheWorldWasFlatLikeTheOl ddays.dec
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Brainstorm
4x Duress
2x Cunning Wish
4x Skeletal Scrying
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Time Walk
1x Yawgmoth's Will
2x Crucible of Worlds
2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Balance
1x Decree of Justice
2x Exalted Angel
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring
1x Library of Alexandria
4x Flooded Strand
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
3x Tundra
3x Underground Sea
2x City of Brass
2x Island

Sideboard:
3x Serenity
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Swords to Plowshares
2x Isochron Scepter
2x Orim's Chant
1x Dismantling Blow
1x Coffin Purge
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Stifle
2x Decree of Justice

5th-6th Place
Patrick Titterud with U/W Fish
4x Flooded Strand
4x Tundra
3x Mishra's Factory
3x Faerie Conclave
2x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Black Lotus
1x Mystical Tutor
4x Standstill
4x Force of Will
3x Meddling Mage
4x Cloud of Faeries
3x Voidmage Prodigy
3x Counterspell
3x Cunning Wish
2x Rule of Law
3x Spiketail Hatchling
3x Swords to Plowshares
2x Daze
3x Aether Vial

Sideboard:
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Serenity
1x Energy Flux
2x Annul
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Stifle
1x Disenchant
1x Counterspell
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Orim's Chant
1x Misdirection

7th-8th Place
Tommy Kolowith with Cerebral Assassin
[TK]
4x Squee, Goblin Nabob
1x Black Lotus
1x Platinum Angel
1x Triskelion
4x Force of Will
3x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Mana Crypt
1x Time Walk
4x Animate Dead
1x Mox Ruby
2x Sundering Titan
4x Goblin Welder
1x Tinker
3x Intuition
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Eternal Witness
1x Mox Sapphire
2x Possess Portal
1x Sol Ring
1x Worldgorger Dragon
1x Mox Jet
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Pearl
4x Bazaar of Baghdad
4x Gemstone Mine
4x City of Brass
2x Seat of the Synod
1x Tolarian Academy

Sideboard:
3x Worldgorger Dragon
2x Red Elemental Blast
3x Ray of Revelation
2x Chalice of the Void
2x Necromancy
2x Xantid Swarm
1x Mindslaver

7th-8th Place
Andy Hizer with 2-Land Belcher
[hyze]
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Brainstorm
1x Windfall
1x Living Wish
1x Demonic Consultation
4x Land Grant
4x Tinder Wall
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Mox Ruby
4x Goblin Charbelcher
4x Chromatic Sphere
1x Sol Ring
3x Goblin Welder
4x Dark Ritual
1x Mox Emerald
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Lotus Petal
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
1x Memory Jar
1x Spoils of the Vault
1x Tinker
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Mana Vault
1x Time Walk
1x Mox Jet
1x Oxidize
1x Black Lotus
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Mana Crypt
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Grim Monolith
1x Channel
1x Bayou
1x Tropical Island
1x Chrome Mox
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Timetwister
1x Yawgmoth's Will
1x Mox Pearl

Sideboard:
1x Xantid Swarm
1x Phyrexian Negator
3x Duress
2x Naturalize
1x Sundering Titan
1x Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale
2x Tendrils of Agony
1x Brainstorm
1x Strip Mine
1x Maze of Ith
1x Tolarian Academy

MOX PEARL TOURNAMENT

Number of rounds completed: 5

Final result:
=============

1 Carp, Dan
2 Sauld, Jeremy
3 Solymossy, Mike
4 Lehman, Chris
5 Carp, Ben
6 Titterud, Patrick
7 Kolowith, Tommy
8 Hiser, Andy

The final was a single-elimination with 8 players

Swiss Top 8:
============
<-----Tiebreakers----->
Match P-Game Game Oppon. Awrd
No Name Points Win % Win % Win % No.1 1-8 Byes

1 12 Solymossy, Mike 13 52.0000 72.7273 57.2692 - 2
2 2 Lehman, Chris 12 49.3333 72.7273 52.7692 - 2
3 7 Carp, Dan 11 53.3333 85.7143 57.2121 - 2
4 8 Carp, Ben 11 52.0000 87.5000 51.7762 + 1
5 23 Sauld, Jeremy 10 64.0000 70.0000 64.2338 + 3
6 13 Titterud, Patrick 10 46.6667 72.7273 50.1429 - 1
7 17 Kolowith, Tommy 10 41.3333 58.3333 44.2308 - 0
8 1 Hiser, Andy 9 54.6667 53.8462 56.6480 - 1


Byes:
=====

Round 1: 15 Vang, Xue
Round 2: 22 Thompson, Brad
Round 3: 19 Spindler, Ryan
Round 4: 6 Boese, Adam
Round 5: 20 Andrews, George

Drop-outs
=========

After round 3: 10 Hansen, Scott
After round 3: 28 Hustad, Jake
After round 5: 24 Bayer, Josh

DQs:
====

None

Player Summary:
===============

Enrolled 28
Deleted 1
Drop-outs/Removed/Cut 3
Played the last round 24
_________________
Work hard, Play hard!