Incredibly difficult and interesting online game.

Basically, it's a series of puzzles, the objective being to get to the next screen. The first several are quite easy, but after that the game gets much harder. There will be a few easy ones that you will manage to solve quickly, but its very hard not to get stuck for a few hours/days on one. Usually you can solve one in about 30 minutes.

What I like most about this game is how it doesnt really ever get boring. To find the solution, you often have to google for obscure information/translators/whatever, or download specific programs, all while following twisted chains of logic. Friggin hard. Most of the clues come from the html code / the webpage. This game really tests your skill at internet too

Sword of Fire and Ice usually only comes in when Rods go out...

imo, the only problem with Eternal Witness is Mana Drain. But recursion is so good in Fish that I think it's worth running anyway... at least as a 2x. I usually don't drop it turn 3, I usually don't need to. Please test it just a bit before bashing it...

The lack of removal -
I cut the Suq'Ata Firewalkers from Jorlove's old list (for the Witnesses) because I'm sort of hoping the number of Welders will go down... ie, that the meta will hate out control slaver, but I will definitely add 3 Blue Blast to the sideboard though.

Black Lotus-
Since when did Fish ever run this :S

Factories and Treetops - I'm trying to get away with running a 1GG card as well as a ton of 1U cards, while running a bunch of colorless nonbasics. Can you blame me for cutting a Factory for a Treetop? It's really not that much worse than conclave :S

I've tested this like 10 matches, so it most likely sucks, but its an interesting list and I feel like posting it:

FarFarFarWorseThanFish.dec or JehovaKnowsThisIsWorseThanFis h.dec

2 Island
4 Tropical Island
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Mishra's Factory
2 Treetop Village
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald

4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 River Boa
3 Eternal Witness

4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Stifle
1 Daze
1 Oxidize
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
3 Null Rod
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

SB:
complete shit, but what I've got at the moment is this:

3 Root Maze
2 Seasinger
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Null Rod
3 Energy Flux
1 Black Lotus
3 ELVISH LYRIST

I haven't yet put quite enough thought into this sideboard, and I think y'all can tell :/

Really Wierd Things:

Eternal Witness.

He is incredible. Yes, he requires double green, but this deck can manage it. He is incredible. Want proof? Play Type 2. then play s'more T2. then, if you haven't experienced kidney failure, you can call yourself a man. Even if you are a barely post-pubescent 15 year old (...like me.)

Treetop Village.

This is probably better than Faerie Conclave except it produces green mana and makes the mana base really janky. But I've been lucky enough to maintain at least 1 blue source even in the face of Wasteland. Something tells me that will end fairly soon.

The 4 Janky 1-of Utility Spells.

These will usually show up an average of 1 time per match because this is fish. If you're me, this means you can bluff against slightly bad players. If you're sexier than me, this means you can bluff against slightly better players. If you're PTW, you can make all of your opponents take it up the pooper.

Don't pay attention to the sideboard, except for maybe Sword of Fire and Ice which has been quite good every time I've dropped it... and Seasinger is hotter than your sister.

This is a list I've been toying with, as I've refused to completely give up on Fish seeing as its the only deck I can build without 30+ proxies.

        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Strip Mine
        4 Wasteland
        4 Mishra's Factory
        1 Faerie Conclave
        3 Island
        1 Polluted Delta
        4 Flooded Strand
        4 Volcanic Island
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        3 AEther Vial
        2 Crucible of Worlds
        2 Daze
        4 Force of Will
        3 Voidmage Prodigy
        3 Curiosity
        4 Standstill
        3 Cloud of Faeries
        3 Spiketail Hatchling
        2 Hearth Kami
        2 Gorilla Shaman
        4 Grim Lavamancer

SB:
2 Energy Flux
2 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Null Rod
4 Goblin Welder (these have been excellent.)
4 open slots

Currently I'm testing Forbidden Orchard in the sideboard... the logic behind it is that I have more wastes than Oath, so I can conceivably flood them with creatures rendering Oath useless. Results have been mixed, I'll keep these in for now. If bad players continue to cut Pristine/Iridescent Angel from Oath however, these will probably be completely unnecessary as Bouncers and Drakes will be able to deal with most threats. But I do like the idea of giving Oath a taste of its own medicine...

Aether Vials have been very sexy, especially if dropped turn 1, making Trinispheres much less painful. It also gives a nice boost against control/oath, allowing you to drop most of your creatures without fear of counter. If I do see a drop in the number of Iridescent Angels, Vial can make Gilded Drake deadly. I <3 Vialing a Spiketail or Voidmage as well...

Hearth Kami is probably the most controversial pick, and a 4th Spiketail/Curiosity + a 3rd Gorilla Shaman might be better, but he is a nice answer to Crucible/Trinisphere, and he is a 2-drop, making him droppable on a Vial for 2 (the most common setting).

The big con of all this is the loss of Null Rod. However, Null Rod alone can't manascrew control decks, and with control decks running more basic islands, it becomes quite difficult to gain tempo via mana denial. Thus the addition of Aether Vial. Gorilla Shaman and Hearth Kami can still perform a decent job of mana denial anyway though... although I would like to have a 3rd Gorilla Shaman. The only problem with that is I don't want to draw multiples, although I often want them early. I should probably make room for a 3rd, but I'd prefer 2.5 Mox Monkies if I could run that  

LMK what you think...

It doesn't really matter if anyone has already done it, I just think its a good idea for right now and no one seems to be discussing it. I haven't seen anyone siding Orchards vs Oath yet though...

Also, @Negator, I board out 4 Phid and 4 Island for 4 Orchard and 4 Seal of Cleansing. I have not been boarding in Seals vs those decks, although I have been boarding in Seals w/o Orchards vs Belcher and other assorted combo.

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Leak
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
4 Ophidian
2 Morphling
4 Back to Basics
4 Impulse
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Powder Keg
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Time Walk

5 Moxen
5 Wastes
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
4 Flooded Strand
1 Tundra
8 Island

sB:
4 Flux
4 Orchard
4 Seal of Cleansing
2 Old Man of the Sea
1 Gaea's Blessing

Pretty self-explanatory. A fairly mundane build of MonoBlue, with Seal/Orchards sb to beat Oath. I really like running Orchard against them, because you have more Wastes + 1 Crucible, so the Orchard war should be in your favor. Running Orchards against them also allows you to play your Morphlings even when they've resolved an Oath. Seal of Cleansing is as always a beating.

Excellent workshop matchups, B2B and Flux are always a beating.

Again, testing limited, but its fairly obvious from past finishes that monoblue doesn't suck.

LMK what you think and how it works for you....

Mmm...

Been thinking about a switch from 1 Control Magic to 1 Ensnaring Bridge in the SB. Ensnaring Bridge is better against Oath, although Control Magic is pitchable to FoW... Testing has yet to show whether the Bridge is better against other decks, but I guess other people have tested it and I'd like to get their opinion... both are fetchable with Enlightened Tutor...

@barrin

You may be right about the draw engine, but it really isn't a problem with the deck and I don't think that change, if necessary, should be made without testing saying that it should be... Mmm...

Flying Men is a great card, but Cloud of Faeries synergizes with Standstill/Null Rod/Meddling Mage/Spiketail Hatchling much better if you happen to play a conclave first turn, and don't forget that Cloud of Faeries can cycle (minor, but useful in suprisingly many games.) However, it's fairly easy to argue from this that this deck lacks enough one drops (only 2 conclaves, an Enlightened Tutor and technically one mox) but Swords to Plowshares is often my first turn play against many decks. Still, a valid point.

Yes, Misdirection is pretty much dead vs artifacts. and yes, I switched Dazes out just for the Oath matchup. Well, what can I say, I side them out vs artifacts and Daze is usually dead vs Oath, esp. if they play around it.

mmm... @Gabe,

In testing this I haven't really seen much to indicate that Curiosity is so bad. I felt that a bit when Kami was maindeck, but with Spikeys back, I'm not noticing any ill effects.

As for 'Mancer, hes better in the Workshop and Fish mirror matchup, but Meddling Mage is better in the Oath matchup, and you can always Mage for Welder or Grim Lavamancer if they haven't already dropped or if they have you haven't already StPed it.

Triple post :>

And its not quite EBA

Its just that many of the cards from EBA are excellent for aggro-control heh...

Now here is the list I am testing currently after discussion on IRC (Magic-League :s) and some testing:

//NAME: Untitled Deck
SB:  1 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  1 Control Magic
SB:  4 Kami of the Ancient Law
SB:  2 Maze of Ith
SB:  2 Crucible of Worlds
SB:  1 Null Rod
SB:  2 Energy Flux
SB:  2 Serenity
        4 Swords to Plowshares
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        2 Null Rod
        2 Misdirection
        4 Standstill
        4 Force of Will
        4 Curiosity
        4 Cloud of Faeries
        1 Exalted Angel
        2 Old Man of the Sea
        3 Spiketail Hatchling
        1 Enlightened Tutor
        4 Meddling Mage
        1 Strip Mine
        4 Wasteland
        1 Polluted Delta
        2 Faerie Conclave
        4 Mishra's Factory
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Island
        4 Flooded Strand
        4 Tundra
        1 Plains

Pretty much the same, except with Kamis finally cut from the MD since they are usually terrible, and with Enlightened Tutor which looks quite promising, allowing me to run a few 1-ofs. A bit slow, yes, but when I'm not dropping a Conclave first turn I can often fetch a Standstill/Null Rod, or even a Mox Sapphire if I want to drop a turn 2 morphed angel/Old Man/Energy Flux post sb. Speaking of post sb, it also fetches Serenity, Seal of Cleansing, Crucible, or Control Magic. Just kind of helpful for utility's sake. The deck still has very positive matchups against Oath (well, as far as I can tell after 3 test matches :S), so I am pleased.

LMK what you think..

This is an answer for Fish, not for control

In other news, I think I'm gonna go ahead and take advice about Exalteds. They have been a bit clunky, and I miss Spiketails

So in the maindeck, I am going -2 Exalted Angel -1 or 2 Kami of Ancient Law, and +3 or 4 Spiketail Hatchling. I can't forget that this is still a mana denial deck and not just an oath killer deck... thanks for the comments so far  

Mmm... True, Control Slaver might be an issue :/

I need to test vs that

But this deck can still be Fishy against Control Slaver, utilizing its mana denial, Standstills, etc.

...However, at least Lava Dart is a dead card  

As for the Bouncer/Drake issue and the Misdirection issue, Please read my posts :/ First off, I'm running 2 Misdirection maindeck. *cough*

Secondly,
I've tested Waterfront Bouncer and Gilded Drake, and they just don't cut it against Pristine and Iridescent Angel, which a smart Oath player should probably bring in vs Fish.

@absolute.

erm.



StP is good against:
Oath
Fish
Aggro
Welder decks
Dragon

StP isn't completely dead against:
MonoBlue
4CC

StP is bad against:
Storm without Xantid Swarm.

I've probably forgot some decks here, but my point is that StP is almost never a dead card.



If you read my sb plan vs Oath, I don't bring it in vs Oath. It's for workshop aggro, ravager, and stax, which all are present in decent numbers in my metagame. Serenity is definitely better than Naturalize against these decks.



I disagree completely. I've tested Ug Fish with Bouncer/Drake MD and Emerald Charm, more bouncers, and Maze of Ith sb against Oath, and I still died terribly most of the time because of Pristine/Iridescent angels boarded in.



Dont hate 3cc cards in moderation. I've run Old Man of the Sea and Suq'Ata Firewalker in Fish decks as 2 or even 3-ofs in Fish (as have many people) and Exalted Angel really isn't more than a 3cc card.

This deck CAN resolve spells. You have so many cards they need to counter, and a better draw engine, as well as 4 Force of Will and 2 Misdirection, which is as many free counters as they do.



I've tested both Ug and Ur Fish with 2 Waterfront Bouncer and 2 Gilded Drake mb and 1 Drake and 1 more bouncer SB.  I have been preferring this build because Waterfront Bouncer and Gilded Drakes are very very poor weapon against the protection angels, as i stated in my above post.



:/

4 StP, 4 Force of Will. That's how I plan to do it. Read what Serenity does, read what Energy Flux and Null Rod do. And test it pls. This deck does not roll over a die to workshop.



Do I really have to respond to this after what I've said already in this too-long for comfort reply?

No, really, I’m serious. People have been contemplating many different cards for U/r Fish to deal with oath, I’ve tried them, they really aren’t very good at all. This decklist can deal with oath however:

Note: this is edited list. Original list that people commented on had Kamis mainboard etc etc.

4 Meddling Mage
4 Cloud of Faeries
2 Old Man of the Sea
1 Exalted Angel
3 Spiketail Hatchling

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
2 Null Rod
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Plains
1 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Sapphire

SB:
3 Serenity
2 Energy Flux
1 Null Rod
2 Crucible of Worlds
4 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Seal of Cleansing
2 Maze of Ith


I like this list. Meddling Mage is awesome sauce vs Oath. Yes, you can still get screwed over by the random 1st turn mox orchard oath, but this deck has a much better matchup. Swords to Plowshares is also fairly decent, and from the SB Maze of Ith/Seal of Cleansing/Kami of Ancient Law (ph33r) are pretty damn helpful as well.
I’ve been doing:
-1 Exalted Angel
-2 Old Man of the Sea
-1 Cloud of Faeries
-3 Null Rod (mana denial is a difficult route to victory vs them, but even so this may be a mistake I'm continually making. Please comment on this   )

+2 Maze of Ith
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+4 Kami of Ancient Law


The workshop matchups don’t suck too much worse either. You still have access to all of Fish’s hate save Rack and Ruin, and I much prefer Serenity in that spot. Swords to Plowshares can deal with Welders, and Meddling Mage can stop em before they’re down. If they run Blood Moon, well, Mr. Kami can help.

I’ve been doing:
-1 Exalted Angel
-1 Curiosity
-2 Cloud of Faeries
-2 Misdirection

+2 Energy Flux
+3 Serenity
+1 Null Rod

I haven’t tested the mirror match yet, but it seems like a possible problem. Suq'Ata Firewalkers will help from the sideboard, but some changes may have to be made if this becomes an issue.

I’m planning on doing:
-3 Null Rod
-4 Standstill

+2 Crucible of Worlds
+2 Suq’ata Firewalker
+2 Maze of Ith
+1 Seal of Cleansing

I haven’t tested vs Tendrils either yet, but it seems like I can only do better because of Meddling Mage and Serenity in addition to the Null Rods and Force of Wills it already has in other versions of Fish.


Discuss, etc.

For U/R Fish:
I am running 2 Waterfront Bouncer and 2 Gilded Drake maindeck, with 1 of each sideboard as well as 2 Maze of Ith sideboarded... This has been working at least fairly decently... Maze of Ith thankfully stops the protection angels...

For U/G Fish:
I haven't tested the matchup yet, but I am considering Bouncers and Drakes, Mazes of Ith, and also Emerald Charm for enchantment destruction... I think there are finally enough dangerous enchantments to run 2 or 3 sb :/ I need to test this though.

Quirion Dryad is interesting... hes a nice fattie, but I think we are overrating him. He doesn't really fit with the strategy of the deck, and can be taken out pretty easily. He doesn't have the evasion that River Boa does, and unlike the Boa can easily be bolted. After a few goldfishes and 1 match testing Dryad (I know its not enough) although he can get pretty big without too much trouble, a card like Call of the Herd might be better in that slot. Anyway, heres my current list for UG Fish:

4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spiketail Hatchling
4 River Boa
2 Old Man of the Sea

4 Force of Will
2 Daze
2 Oxidize
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Null Rod

2 Island
4 Tropical Island
1 Yavi Coast
5 Fetchlands
5 Strips
1 Mox
4 Mishra's Factory
2 Faerie Conclave

SB:
2 Suq'Ata Firewalker
3 Energy Flux
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Stifle
2 Maze of Ith
3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Naturalize

I've been messing around with the SB a bit... Naturalizes I'm testing out of paranoia vs MonoBlue and Oath. Stifles are back in because of combo, and I probably don't need that many Energy Fluxes...

I actually had a talk with a Wizards employee associated with reprints, while riding back from the JSS on the shuttle to the airport (although The Atog Lord did most of the talking). Basically, they will never allow proxies and they will never reprint power or any expensive cards for the dealers' sakes. Yes, the people at WotC know about proxy tournaments, although they obviously don't advertise them, and they are glad that they exist. Great article, I hope it can clear up some of the ignorance surrounding Type 1...

Yeah, I haven't been finding the root mazes that useful. Combo recently seems to have sort of crawled into a corner and died. 3 Bouncers is a lot, but I always want to see one vs Aggro, and I want to have one vs Dragon. If I get doubles vs Aggro, thats fine, I can pitch one. Basically, I really really want to have one vs Fish/Sui/O-Stompy/Dragon/TnT, which makes up a large portion of the meta. Perhaps 2 would work, but there is never an instance where I regret drawing them. I should test with 2 though...

as for the root mazes, naturalize seems like a good replacement. I'll go -3 root maze +2 naturalize (or Oxidize, i hate chalice for 2) +1 something random depending on incorrect assumptions of what the ever-changing metagame will be like.

Here it is.... :

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=7151

I'll be posting my 9th place UG Fish report on Starcity

gj PTW!

The only real use for it in my limited testing (in monoblue fish a while back) has been as a fairly decent anti-storm/belcher hate card, which would allow you to win by either drawing answers for you or providing a 1 mana double/triple time walk, long enough for you to drop Null Rod. Apart from that, it's been a bit less than stellar.

Sigh... The objective of proxies here is to prevent metagame distortion. Alright, who likes that? Most of you do, thats good. If you don't, then you should know that some people have only just enough $$$ to barely cover the cost of online trading + just a few cards + tournament entry fees + non-magic related stuff. Proxyless environments are just unfair to 14 year olds such as myself. I can only afford what MOTL and maybe a $15-$30 cash investment can cover, which is pretty much everything that I can build with 5 proxies with duals being the most expensive cards I need to obtain. 'Nuff said about that.

However, the question is, how many proxies should be allowed?

Er, well, I don't think there is a correct number. I agree that proxying fetchlands etc goes a bit too far, ESPECIALLY if the sets are still in print or if they are commons. Therefore I think that there should be a certain list of cards that can be proxied, i.e, $30+ cards according to MOTL values. This would cover pretty much everything from Berserks on up.

An attempt at combo:

12x Plains
12x Forest

4x Worldy Tutor
4x Enlightened Tutor

4x Angelic Protector
4x Warrior En-Kor
4x River Boa
3x Lancers En-Kor

4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Animal Boneyard
3x Worthy Cause
3x Lightning Greaves


It can protect itself pretty well till it combos off, then it decks the opponent with its 61 cards.

Fish is just scary-good.

Try to think about it this way.

Fish, I would say, has a larger number of threats than any other aggro deck (Maybe a bit less than Big-O, but I think it's more). Fish will usually have 20+ creatures including manlands. Fish also has INSANE card draw. This allows it to draw tons and tons of creatures, which it can play at a steady rate, while also allowing the deck to have answers to gamebreakers (Null Rod, Counters, etc). Fish can stop gamebreakers, Fish will always have a ton of threats in hand/in play. It's all in the draw engine. That's one reason why Oshawa Stompy is so good as well, because it has a draw engine and hate cards/answers too. That's also why decks like Sligh and 10-Land Stompy aren't really good for the meta.  The huge number of threats that Fish has is why it is not just a suboptimal landstill. Landstill is waaay different because it has just a few threats.

Of course one could still argue that the great hate cards Fish has make it good, but Fish requires the very solid and consistent base of creatures and card draw to effectively use those hate cards. They're just specialized and metagame tuned answers that stop gamebreakers. They're part of what make Fish an aggro-control deck. I'm almost ready to call Oshawa Stompy sort of an aggro-control deck...

My deck is sooo svg.... ph3r teferi's isle....

Just a short drive up from North VA is Dream Wizards in Rockville MD (very southern MD)... they have very nice bi-monthly tournaments, and the prizes are pretty nice... (the prizes of the last 6 months have been Time Walk, Juzam, Workshop, and Boxes)

Heh, cool... I didn't know so many Type 1 players posted on TMD...

Yeah, I was holding Warchief, etc.



Thanks



obv :S

Heh, thanks...

The deck has been great, and one main change I made was cutting the Chrome Mox...and that wasn't just because I was already maxed out at 5 proxies. In testing I found that it just wasn't really that necessary and I found myself always wishing it was a land. Perhaps that was because I found myself drawing 4-mana source hands quite often and wanting as little card disadvantage as possible. But that itself is a very small arguement over a single mana source.

The heart of the deck is quite solid though...

One thing I might do is cut a Sol Ring for another Gempalm Incinerator. This is probably wrong, but I found during the tournament that the Sol Ring wasn't really needed that often, and it might be better to cut it for the 3rd Incinerator than a Warchief.

The bi-monthly Dream Wizards tournament rolled in again, and I was debating whether to play Fish or Food Chain Goblins. I know the intracacies of mono-u Fish extremely well by now, so I was leaning a bit towards playing Fish since I knew I would make much fewer play mistakes. However, I had been testing Food Chain Gobs alot in 1.5, and when Vegeta2711's primer came out, I decided to start doing some major testing with it. I didn't have too much time to test FCG though. When I got to the tournament they told me I should run FCG, and I thought what the hell and played it. This was the decklist I used:

5x Mountain
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Taiga
2x Karplusan Forest (Didn't have 4 Taigas and I already had 5 proxies)
1x Lotus Petal
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine

4x Goblin Piledriver
4x Skirk Prospector
4x Goblin Lackey
4x Goblin Recruiter
4x Goblin Warchief
4x Goblin Ringleader
2x Siege-Gang Commander
2x Goblin Matron
2x Gempalm Incinerator
1x Goblin Sharpshooter

4x Food Chain

SB:
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Blood Moon
3x Naturalize
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyrokinesis
1x Gaea's Blessing

So uh, here's the report:

Round 1:
U/W Control

Game 1: I don't remember too much about this, except that I had Turn 1 Lackey, Turn 2 Brokenness. I got him down pretty low, but on his 4th turn he cast Wrath of God....   . However, I drew into some more beats off Ringleaders and then a Recruiter, so I won. During this game I had to flip for Mana Crypt 4 times, and I lost each flip (I was using a penny). It's was a bit annoying, but it didn't kill me fortunatley [/end foreshadowing]

Sideboarding: I ph34r the Decree of Justice, so I leave the Sharpshooters in:

-4 Food Chain
-2 Gempalm Incinerator

+3 Naturalize
+3 Red Elemental Blast

He had a lot of basic lands, so I opted against Blood Moon. The Naturalizes were for Ivory Tower (this was a bit annoying game 1 :S) and any Moxen/Kegs/etc he played.

Game 2: I decide to keep a 5 mana source hand. It has a Lackey and a Siege Gang for its non-land cards, but also a Strip Mine and a Wasteland. He plays a few lands, but I destroyed many of them, drawing into 2 more Wastelands as the game progressed. He got stuck at 2 land, then 3 land, and beat him pretty soon.

Games 2-0 Matches 1-0

Round 2:
Deathlong

Game 1: He's just too fast for me. I don't have a turn 2 kill hand, and he kills me pretty easily.

Sideboarding:

-2 Gempalm Incinerator
-1 Goblin Sharpshooter
-3 other stuff I can't remember right now...

+3 Naturalize
+3 Red Elemental Blast

Game 2: I make a pretty dumb play mistake, I cast Recruiter when I still need to pop my fetchland   . I pop it and cast another Recruiter from my hand to compensate for this mistake, but he Forces it. However, I am very lucky. He runs out of steam after using up the Force and after I REB his Ancestral Recall. However, I have 3 1/1 goblins out, and he has his hardcasted Elvish Spirit Guide. I can't take advantage of his position, and we are both reduced to topdeck mode. With effectively no cards in my hand and literally no cards in his hand, he casts Memory Jar. I draw into a Red Elemental Blast in my new hand, so I'm feeling semi-secure. He floats a lot of mana, then casts Windfall. I REB, and he's forced to go down to 2 black and 1 blue in his mana pool to hardcast a Force of Will. We draw 6 cards, and he is forced to burn, taking him down to 4. He makes the mistake of casting Mana Crypt before the Jar brings him back to 0 cards, he loses the flip on his next upkeep and I win. w00t.

Game 3: I am very happy as I draw a Turn 2 kill hand that will kill on Turn 3 even if he has a counter. However, he goes first and wins on turn 2.

Games: 3-2 Matches 1-1

Round 3:
Gay/red

Game 1: I mulligan down to 6 and keep a 1-land hand drawing (it had Prospectors and Lackeys). After topdecking a second land, he wastes it and leaves me locked on 1 land for a few turns, and he has blockers for the lackey. By the time I am able to draw into more land, he has gained a solid advantage and I lose.

Sideboarding:
-4 Skirk Prospector
-1 Goblin Warchief
-1 Goblin Matron
-1 something else I cannot remember
(I'm still not entirely sure how I should SB vs Gay/r...)

+2 Pyrokinesis
+3 Blood Moon
+2 Red Elemental Blast

Game 2: My memory is a bit hazy here, all I remember is that I won very fast.

Game 3: I mulligan down to 6 after seeing a 6-mana source hand, and received one with just one. I keep it, and topdeck a Mana Crypt. I proceed to draw into a few more mana sources and start dealing a fair amount of damage, although it's not as fast as I would like because my opponent stalls me a bit. While this is happening I proceed to lose every Mana Crypt flip. The final situation is this: I have 2 life left. I also now have lethal damage on the board. He passes the turn. I lose the 5th flip in a row that game, 9th flip in a row total. After the match my opponent tells me that the heads of pennies are heavier than the tails, so there's about a 60% chance the coin will land on tails. Thats why my opponents always picked tails...

I'm pretty sure I cannot top 8 by now, but I decide to stick it out since 1-2 3-2s will make it in if that player has excellent tiebreakers. Mine are already looking pretty decent, so I stay in.

Games: 4-4 Matches: 1-2

Round 4:
Wierd Artifact Beatdown

My opponent is playing a wierd version of artifact beatdown with Urzatron instead of Workshops...

Game 1: He doesn't draw into any creatures and can only be spectator to my beatz...

Sideboarding:
+3 Naturalize

-2 Gempalm Incinerator
-1 Skirk Prospector

I just assume he's playing a bad version of Welder Mud, so I leave in the Sharpshooter but take out the Incinerators.

Game 2: He drops a turn 2 Metalworker, turn 3 Phyrexian Collosus, and turn 4 Triskelion. He would've easily won, but I had a Food Chain on the table and a Goblin Matron & Goblin Ringleader in hand. I Matron for Recruiter and go off.

Games: 6-4 Matches: 2-2

Round 5: BG Beats

This was pretty standard PT Funkish beats w/ Deed and stuff...

Game 1: I burn his blockers with Gempalm Incinerators and gain massive card advantage with Recruiter/Ringleader.

Sideboarding:
-2 Skirk Prospector

+2 Pyrokinesis

Game 2: I have a fast start again, with Recruiter advantage etc. I have a board with Piledrivers and a Warcheif out, with Double Warchief + Piledriver + Ringleader backup in my hand in case he deeds. He does play Deed, but only has enough mana left after casting it to use it for 1. I kill him during the next turn. During this match I cast Mana Crypt too, and I lost both flips even after not using a penny... that's 11 in a row :S

Games: 8-4 Matches: 3-2

My tiebreakers are pretty good, so I manage to squeeze into 8th seed.

I check my pairing... Marc Perez (PTW)...  

I prepare myself for the challenge.

Quarterfinals:
PTW w/ Gay/red

Well, I'm a bit optimistic, since from my testing Food Chain has a pretty good matchup vs Gay/r, although not as good as I'd like.

Game 1: I'm really cautious this game, setting up my board carefully. I have Food Chain on the board, and I decide to combo off. I have a Matron and a Recruiter in hand, so I decide to bait out any counters he might have and cast Matron. It resolves, and I get Recruiter and cast it... and it resolves too. I know he must have some sort of counter, so I stack the deck with double Ringleader on top and have the rest of the stacking be as if the first Ringleader didn't exist. He gets the Voidmage Prodigy down, and counters my Ringleader, but the second resolves and I combo off and win, leaving 2 lands open to prevent him from double spiketailing me. Phew...

Sideboarding: Almost the same as in the last Gay/r match.

Game 2: I start some beats off and manage to hold him off red mana w/ strips for a while, but then he starts gaining control after getting a red source. I play Blood Moon and stop his manlands now that control is shifting and my double piledriver beats have ended, but it isn't enough to stop him. My only chance is to topdeck a Pyrokinesis which would deal enough damage to kill him, but he's got complete control and wins.

Game 3: Ahh... this is perhaps one of the coolest games ever... I have the combo kill in place, with a freshly dropped recruiter. However, the turn before I can cast the Food Chain, I make a big mistake. I have only one green source, my Taiga, and a Wasteland untapped. However, PTW does a Jedi Mind Trick on me :S He drops a Cloud of Faeries with Mox Sapphire, Strip Mine, and Island as his mana sources, telling me he's leaving a colorless floating. He does it all very carefully as if he's planning something big. I forget to Wasteland his Strip Mine in response to the Cloud of Faeries, so he untaps his lands. I realize my mistake right then, and he Strips my Taiga. My deck is stacked with lots of goblins that cost RR or 4+ Mana, and the only lands I have access to in my hand/in play are Wasteland, Wasteland, and Mountain. My only out to this is Goblin Matron which is pretty close down, which I draw and cast to shuffle my library. He has the Stifle   . I have one more out, which is cycling Gempalm to kill his creature blocker and Wasting his manland blocker, but he plays around this and I have no way of winning... That was an incredibly fun game though.

So uh... there ends my report. I suspect that PTW ended up winning a Dream Wizards T1 the 4th time in a row...

Yeah, I guess I sort of forgot about that. The rules are broken alot though... I remember that they talk a bit about TMD though, there is a lot of reference to decks "from TMD" and Jhaggs has been posting the primers there and they're sources. There was even a thread asking what your TMD username was once... the point i'm making is that although they officially say that references to outisde stuff is not allowed, it sort of happens. Anyway, I think the forums are getting better there since they have some good people, and now I have no idea what point I'm trying to make, since jhaggs has already made their forum good. So uh... I guess this means I don't know what TMD should do  

Meh, forget this message.