The Panthers are going to win.

I know there are people out there who have lots of lame magic jokes. You know, those jokes where your "other" friends would just look at you funny and call you a fag, but if you tell it in a magic store the whole place starts laughing? I want to hear if anyone knows any good ones. I'll start off with two.

How are Yawgmoth's Will and the H-Bomb similar?
They both have the random "I win" factor.

You're momma's so fat she can block as though she had flying.

Did anyone notice on of the guys names on the results list?

321 Martino The Forest

I know there aren't many people in NC who play type 1, but if there is anyone out there who is interested in playing in a small torunament on Saturday 10.15.05 at around 1pm, we will be having one at the Bragaw Activity Room at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC). Entry will be $10-15 per person and the prize will be a "good" type one card, or cash (you can probably decide) based on attendance. Right now, we are expecting about 10 people to come. 15 proxies is the max. This isn't going to be very organized or anything so don't expect a Waterbury. If you're interested in coming email me at jcvinci@ncsu.edu or call me at 919-961-3841.

Thanks,

Cody

blah blah blah moved to newbie

- (insert moderator name)

Please see rule #4, point C: http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=18027.msg299973#msg299973
Verbal warning to you (NOT to the thread starter).

As for the thread, it gets merged with the preexisting RGbeats thread.

-Jacob

is there anyone out there in the raleigh/durham NC area or close by who want to get together and play some competitve type 1? there's 3 other guys that I play with here but i'd like to play against some other people and see some new cards.

cody

wow i cant wait to bring my twiddledrix deck to the next SCG!!! i hope i dont have to play too many mirror matches because that could get annoying

Please stop making EBA shittier and shittier. Without exalteds you are going to have an even more horrible fish matchup and a crappier control matchup.

win by activating it?

I've put a new 5/3 modified decklist together to deal with the current metagame. Before anyone bashes it, I urge you to test with it. It's just as effective as the old 5/3 deck lists with an alternate win that can end the game very fast. I'm running 3 sword of the ages. I realize it costs 6 mana which seems a bit expensive, but its really meant to be welded in on the end of your opponents turn, then you swing with your creatures, and then sac them to win the game. So why play sword of the ages over mind slaver? Well, they are two different decks. One is an aggro deck and one is a control deck with a combo finish. This deck runs sword of the ages to expedite victory, and also allow you to win in the face of an Akroma, Angel of Wrath, or other blockers your opponent may have.

Here is the Decklist:

5/3 Sota (soda) by Cody Vinci

Creatures (14):
1x Duplicant
4x Goblin Welder
4X Juggernaut
1X Karn, Silver Golem
1x Platinum Angel
2x Su-Chi
1x Sundering Titan

Disruption (5):
4x Sphere of Resistance
1x Trinisphere

Broken (6):
1x Tinker
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Memory Jar
1x Time Walk
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Demonic Tutor

Draw / Graveyard Outlet (4):
4x Thirst for Knowledge

Mana Sources (26):
4x City of Brass
4x Gemstone Mine
4x Mishra's Workshop
4x Wasteland
1x Stripmine
1x Tolarian Academy
8x SoLoMoxenCrypt

Other Artifacts (6):
3x Sword of the Ages
3x Crucible of Worlds

Total: 61 Cards

Sideboard (under construction):
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Seal of Cleansing
2x Jester's Cap
3x Tormod's Crypt
2x Rack and Ruin

Total: 15 Cards

So there is my first version of the deck after testing it for a few days. The deck has no bad matchups I can see so far, although against combo an early sphere of resistance or trinisphere is necessary. Most people don't see the sword of the ages coming and in the first game a surprise win is very common. Of course, this deck doesn't need the SOTA to win and often does just out aggro your opponent. The reason I want to discuss this deck instead of just take it to the next starcity and see if it surprises the metagame is mostly because I don't have enough power and no workshops. Right now the deck has 61 cards, and I can't decide what card to cut. I really just want to get some thoughts on the deck and see if other people's play testing with it yields as rewarding results as I have been seeing. Thoughts/ Suggestions? Thanks...

Cody

I took the balance out of the deck as soon as SCG-VA was over. It pretty much sucks in the deck since there are so many creatures. I think something like a 4th brainstorm is a much better choice. Personally, I don't like skeletal scrying. I think the main reason for this is because I am always trying to work towards a well orchestrated yawgmoth's will and skeletal scrying has no synergy with it. I think it may have a place in the deck (no more than 2), but it's just personal preference, and by no means a necessity for the deck to function and win.


Cody

The sideboard I ran at the last SCG - VA needs to be completely redone. I still think null rods and chains may have a place but the sacred grounds need to go. As far as the draw engine goes, I am still convinced that having 4x impulse is the way to go. When I play this deck, I am always working towards setting up a broken Yawgmoth's Will turn. The impulses allow me to do this and my opponent had no idea what I'm doing. I've tested this deck in various match-ups probably about 200 times and over 50% of the time I am able to set up a mid to late game Will with ancestral or lotus in the yard. Without impulses, this is significantly harder to set up. Also, with a brainstorm and impulse in hand the ability to look through seven cards at one time and find that force of will / mana drain / STP you are looking for is very powerful. I have also dropped the mind twist I ran at SCG for a 4th duress.  Some new sideboard cards I am considering is 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All, 3-4x phyrexian furnace, 3-4x energy flux, 3-4x null rod, and 3-4x chains of mepho. Any thoughts on that?

Cody Vinci

Rocky.... congrats on your finish and it was fun/challenging playing against you. Hope to see you in the top 8 again at the next SCG.

Cody

The chains can't really be replaced because they serve so many functions. They stop other draw heavy control decks from out drawing me, limit uncounterable draw (bazaar of baghdad), and stop many combo decks from going off. With that said, I would recomend arcane laboratory to deal with combo in their spot if you're worried about that and tsabo's web to deal with bazaar and manlands. I got my Italian chains pretty cheap so if you really want to get them look around on ebay and I think you can get the for around $30 each.

cody

I considered shadowmage but never tested with them. i dont think i have enough room and i only run 22 mana sources (including solo3moxen) so my first turn brainstorms are sometimes important for finding that extra mana source. I will have to test them out when I get a chance though and I like them better than phids.

i actually asked him after the game why he didn't take the lotus, and he said he didnt realize i could cast a first turn mage at the time. i'm not trying to bash brandon... just telling you what i know from my matches.

With my newly assembled team making our first appearance at a major Type 1 event, I can’t really complain with a 6th place finish and a mox ruby, although I know I could have done better. I played an EBA-ish deck, modified from a deck list that sparked interest in me in the article “A Vintage Year in Review” by Steven Menendian on magicthegathering.com. The other three members of Team Rex entered with Stax, Oath, and Cerebral Assassin.

The deck I saw in the article was as follows:
Main Deck
3 Underground Sea
4 Tundra
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
1 City of Brass
3 Ophidian
4 Meddling Mage
3 Phyrexian Negator
2 Exalted Angel
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Duress
2 Vindicate
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
Sideboard
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Exalted Angel
1 Moat
1 Disenchant
1 Serenity
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Energy Flux
1 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Stifle
1 Ebony Charm
3 Damping Matrix

I decided the Ophidian’s were not good enough to use as a draw engine since they do not guarantee me drawing cards since they are creatures, and they cost 3 to play. I’m not really getting to draw any cards until turn 4 most of the time, and that’s if the creature is unblocked. With decks like oath, jugs, and stax providing early answers, I felt ophidian was a bit too slow. I took the 2 vindicates out mostly because they are too slow and cannot play through tangle wire since they are at sorcery speed. Also, the 2 colors needed doesn’t make it any more appealing. I felt increasing the STP count to 3 in the main deck was the right choice and was a definite success by the end of the day. I put in four impulses into the main deck, which I prefer over brain storm, but still kept 3 brainstorms main deck. I particularly like the impulses because I have 4 Chains of Mephistopheles on my board, which I will get to later. Other main deck changes I made was adding a balance (why not?) and a mind twist, which is ridiculous off the drain and won me a few games. I upped the sac land count to 6 to smooth the mana base and added 3 islands to protect against wastelands. In the end, I didn’t have room for wastelands and strip and the deck functioned well without them.

So here’s the deck I went with for the tournament…

4x polluted delta
2x flooded strand
3x island
3x tundra
3x underground sea
2x city of brass
1x mox jet
1x mox sapphire
1x mox pearl
1x sol ring
1x black lotus
4x meddling mage
3x phyrexian negator
2x exalted angel
1x yawgmoth's will
1x fact or fiction
4x mana drain
4x FOW
3x duress
1x ancestral recall
3x swords to plowshares
1x mind twist
1x time walk
4x impulse
1x demonic tutor
1x mystical tutor
1x balance
3x brainstorm

sideboard:
1x swords to plowshares
4x sacred ground
3x energy flux
3x null rod
4x chains of mephistopheles

The sideboard from the deck I saw in the article was not well-equipped for this metagame and so I completely redid it. I used the 4 sacred grounds for stax decks, and unless they have disenchants or seals, they are going to be hard pressed to win the game. The energy flux was for workshop decks, null rod for combo and control slaver, and chains could easily be boarded in for brainstorms and are awesome against combo, bazaar of Baghdad, and decks that run brainstorms and thrist for knowledge.

After some serious testing against some of the most popular decks around (although I didn’t get to test at all against control slaver), I felt really comfortable with my deck and was ready to see how it did. Here’s my best attempt at a match report. I tried to take notes but soon found out that I couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing and take notes at the same time, a skill I will try to develop.

Round 1- VS Brandon Leonhardt - Doomsday

Game 1: I drop a land and pass the turn. He drops a polluted delta and grabs an underground sea to open with a duress. I respond with a mystical for ancestral and he takes an impulse out of my hand. I drop another land with meddling mage in hand but I don’t know what he’s playing. I pass the turn. Nothing from him so I ancestral on his end step into a duress. I duress him on my turn revealing an unmask, doomsday, and some other stuff. I take the unmask and drop a meddling made set to doomsday. Mage swings for the win and is sped up with help from his friend phyrexian negator.

Game 2: I board in 4 chains of mephistopheles and out comes 3x STP and 1 brainstorm.  He is on the play and opens with another duress. Cards of interest are black lotus, meddling mage, and mana drain. I have the first turn meddling mage and I am concerned when he takes my mana drain. I begin to wonder if he has boarded in creature removal. I draw another drain, and as tempting as it was to play the mage I sit on my drain, still wondering why he didn’t take my lotus. I drop a chains of mephistopheles and I don’t see how his combo can work with that in play. I then cast the mage once I had drain back up and that was game. It turns out he didn’t have any removal and just misplayed.

Record: 1-0-0

Round 2- VS Jeremy Zwirn- Control Slaver

Game 1: About two minutes into the game the head judge informs him that his deck list only has 56 cards and that results in a game loss. I see some blue dual lands but nothing else.

Game 2: I take a risk and board in my chains again and take out the brainstorms and something else. I realize he is playing control slaver a little too late since his combo is set up and he begins taking my turns… next game….

Game 3: I take the chains back out and put in 3 null rod and bring my main deck STP count to 4. He manages to resolve a first turn welder, and after a good bit of both of us sitting on counters he builds up enough mana to hard cast a mindslaver. My first misplay of the day follows as I break my lotus and hardcast a FOW on his slaver. Not only did it not matter if I counter it or not (with welder in play), but now my null rods can now be welded out for my lotus!! Wow… I’m really stupid. I instantly realize what I have just done but now it’s too late. He begins to take my turns but time is running out fast. He doesn’t have the infinite combo yet and I have a phyrexian negator and morphed angel in play with mana to unmorph it. Time is called with the 5 turn rule in effect. He attacks with my phyrexian negator, blocking with his welder and taking 4 damage. He sacs the negator to itself. On his turn, he drops an engineered explosives set to 0 and blows up my unmorphed angel. This game ends in a draw.

Record: 1-0-1

Round 3 - Hill Redwine - TriniStax

Game 1: I know Hill is playing Stax since we’ve played before last year at SCP9 and recently at a tournament in NC, and I’ve been watching him when I got done so far today. So far he’s 2-0 and off to a great start. He opens up with a workshop and trinisphere which quickly sees a force of will removing an impulse. I set a meddling mage to crucible of worlds and pass the turn. I think for about another 4 or 5 turns Hill doesn’t see another land and I swing with an Angel to win the game. Not too fair of a game but the turn 1 trinisphere is always worth a shot.

Game 2: I board in 4x Sacred Ground and 3x Energy Flux. I take out Yawgmoth’s Will (which will result in a second misplay of the day), time walk (extra turns against stax seems bad),  3 duress, and 2 brainstorm. I manage to drop a sacred ground on turn 3 and from there I don’t see a creature in quite a long time. He has boarded in some STP of his own and REB so when I finally do see a creature it didn’t stay in play. After sometime I manage to resolve an energy flux, and he has no welder in play (I STPed one). He decides to keep his crucible of worlds and has to sac some artifacts. Sacred ground sets up a very long game if I don’t see any creatures or he has STP. Hill decides to drop a smokestacks (as drain bate) which I don’t take. He sets 1 counter to it. I sac a land and it is returned to play with the sacred ground. He sacs his smokestacks to itself. I finally find an exalted angel and the begin swinging. I also drop a second energy flux. I hear the judge say there is about 2 minutes left and begin taking really fast turns. Hill points out that there is no rush since if we tie I win the match. I was like oh yeah… and felt pretty stupid. I fact or fiction on his end step and Hill give me a pile of 3 cards (one a negator) and the other 2 cards containing a mystical tutor. I take the tutor seeing a lotus in my yard with lots of mana and mystical up a yawg’s will on his end step too. Oh wait, I boarded it out. DERF. I end up not wanting anything and just get a demonic tutor so I can get another creature to put into play. Time is called soon after and I don’t have enough time to swing for the win. But as Hill pointed out, I still got the match.

Record: 2-0-1

Round 4 - Brian DeGuia - 5/3

Game 1: This was a very quick game as he got a turn 2 jug and I got a turn 3 morphed creature. I unmorph my flyer turn 4 and gain all that life I’m losing from his jug. He’s on a 5 turn clock and I’m holding counters and draw a STP to deal with his threats.

Game 2: I board in 3x energy flux and 1 STP. Out comes 3x duress and 1 negator. He opens up very strong with a turn 2 jug off a workshop and wasteland. I have one land in play and can’t do anything. I drop another land and set a meddling mage to jug. He plays another waste land and mox saphhire and he tinkers out a colossus. I was wondering why he didn’t waste my two nonbasic lands and secure a victory but I wasn’t complaining. Suddenly I am back in this game as I drop an energy flux on my turn. On his upkeep, he questions if he has to sac colossus since it’s indestructible but the judge tells him the oracle on flux reads sac, not destroy. He lets his jug die and saves his colossus with his 2 wastelands. He swings with big boy and puts me at 2. On my turn, I swords his colossus and he gets really pissed off since he should have won the game. Well, after that a negator comes down and a hand full of counter magic secures me this win.

Record: 3-0-1

Round 5 - Jay Coffman - Stax / 5/3 hybrid

He asks me if I want to draw since he’s 4-0. I can’t and I ask him if he wants to concede since he’s 4-0. He considers it but we figure out that 2 people 3-1-1 won’t make top 8 and we play it out. Jay was one of the nicest people I played all day and I was glad to see him go on to take second place. Great job.

Game 1:  I duress turn 1 and see a city, jug, crucible, another jug, glimmervoid, and smokestacks. I take the crucible and pass the turn. He manages to get his smokestacks out and a crucible. I have like 2 lands afer he wastes one and with a 5/3 staring me down I can’t recover.

Game 2: I board in 4x sacred ground,1x STP, 3x energy flux. Out comes 3x duress, 1x negator, 3x brainstorm, and 1 impulse. I drain a Jug his second turn and twist away his hand on turn my third turn. The following 2 turns I set 2 meddling mages to jug and welder before he could play either. I resolved a sacred ground which made his smokestacks and wastelands useless. He eventually gets enough mana to hardcast a triskelion and shoots my mage set to goblin welder. He gets a welder in play and his 5/3 is back on the table. I have taken a bunch of damage from my 2 cities this game and he hammers me down to 3 life before I STP his jug. I play a negator and pass the turn (this stupid, stupid play ends up costing me the game) as he plays a tinker on his turn. I have to tap my 2 cities (putting me at 1) to drain it. I flip over my card that I would otherwise draw and reveal to him an energy flux. I burn for 1 and lose the game. He congratulates me on a great second game and I wish him the best of luck.

Record: 3-1-1

Round 6: I am paired with my teammate Wadie Shahin and we are both 3-1-1. He is playing stax. We look at our tie breakers and I am 2 places ahead of him. Since we know two people won’t make top 8 that are 4-1-1, he concedes to me to prevent any chance of neither of us top 8ing. I had to sleep in the same bed as this guy Saturday night in the motel. What does that have to do with anything? I don’t know, but I love you man, like, you’re ridiculous. Almost as much as force spike.

Record: 4-1-1

With the cut to top 8 I am ranked sixth and face off against Rocky McCumbee. I scramble to find out what he is playing so I don’t have blind meddling mages. One of my teammates informs me he is playing Oath, since he “crushed” Rocky’s oath round 1. I wasn’t there to confirm that, but I would not be doing any crushing of my own.

Game 1: This match-up is pretty simple. If he manages to resolve an oath, I lose. If I manage to resolve a meddling mage set to oath, he loses. Needless to say, he gets his oath before I get my meddling mage. Boo.

Game 2: The previous rule does not apply. He gets his Oath resolved again. However, I’m not giving up without a fight. My exalted angel is able to do some serious damage before his creatures start pouring down and I pound him down to 8 life. I also have dropped a meddling mage set to counter spell. He oaths out pristine and iridescent and doesn’t swing, fearful of taking damage at his fragile life total. I cast a yawgmoth’s will (with force back up) sacing a black lotus to cast it, and using and island so I can float a black. I have a bunch of crap built up in my card. I duress twice, after my first one is mana leaked (I don’t pay 3). I rip an intuition out of his hand with my duress. I cast a time walk from my graveyard, a morphed creature, I mystical up a demonic tutor (since I need more creatures to overwhelm him) and I impulse. This yawg’s will took me about 15 minutes since I had so many options from my yard but in the end won me the game. I tutored up a negator on my time walk turn and cast it. He doesn’t do anything and says go. I unmorph the angel and swing with my 2 negators, mage, and exalted. No matter how he blocks, he takes 8. This game seemed like it took forever but I secured the victory.

Game 3: He is on the play and I have to mulligan down to 5 cards. However, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. My 5 cards consisted of Force, Impulse, Mox pearl, Land, meddling mage. Wow. I know I have a good shot at winning now if I can resolve my first turn mage. He opens up with land, lotus petal, oath. I force it. He forces back. Good game. I can’t recover and my meddling mage is useless.

So looking back, I didn’t do anything amazing to get sixth at starcity p9. I got lucky at times and was paired up with my teammate in round 6 to get into top 8. I had my worst match up, control slaver, get a game loss because of a decklist infraction. He probably would have taken the match instead of a draw if he wrote out his full deck. I just used meddling mage effectively throughout the day and relied on my sideboard and exalted angel to win me games. But after all, control decks aren’t supposed to do anything amazing to win games. I know I could have given the other players a run for their money in the semis and finals but I didn’t get a chance to prove my deck. I still think meddling mage is a card that does not see anywhere enough play and I hope my performance brings some interest to it. Any feedback on my deck and sideboard would be greatly appreciated since this is pretty much the same version since the first time I put the deck together. The only thing I have changed is to put the chains on the board and brainstorms main deck. Thanks to all the people who came out to the tournament despite the weather, and thanks EJ for picking me up from school and driving us over there and just being ridiculous.

Cody

what about the whole 12 blue cards including FOW thing???



you sure?

its a good thought i suppose, however they just give you tokens at the end of your turn and since clamp works at sorcery speed the oath is still going to trigger. you're better off with something like swords to plowshares and not worrying about the 1/1s.

cody

i dont think u can drop cards like mind tiwst, fact or fiction, mystical tutor, and balance. you said that mind twist is only good once in a while, but there are so many other cards in your deck only good once in a while. i'd rather have a mind twist off a mana drain than a decree of justice. lets say u can produce 5 mana on your turn off a drain. 4 cards or 2 tokens? id rather rip cards out of their hand. other cards like yawgmoths will, library of alexandria, duress, skull clamp, ophidian, and goblin trenches are only good "once in a while," yet they are still in the deck. i dont think mind twist is so conditional to warrant not running. as long as they have cards in hand its pretty unconditional. ok so fact or fiction i think is unquestionable. i dont think trying other things in its place is a good reason not to run it. it's restricted for a reason. also, i think mystical tutor is better for a few reasons in your deck than vamp tutor. it's blue, so u can use it for force. you dont lose 2 life. with your mana base it will be easier to cast since all of the dual lands run blue. finally, most of the time all u want is instant or sorcery. speaking of blue mana, i think you should make the swamp and plains into islands or other dual lands. when you have an early mana drain you're going to regret having plains and swamps. as for the balance... do you ever find yourself having less creatures than your opponent? i do. balance is way too broken to take out. put that back in, please. honestly, i think you need to take your skull clamps out and go back to the drawing boards. you say you have red in there for ONE card. the obvious direction of the deck is back to an EBA variant, or 3 color control. when you take out red your mana base will be more stable and i think you'll be happier with the deck. i recently put together a 3c EBA type deck and i was quite pleased with the results. if u want a copy of the deck message me.


cody vinci

Ok, so I slapped together an EBA variant for this tournament in  high point, nc for a ruby. We took 5 guys from Raleigh to play in the tourney and it was a lot of fun. 19 people showed, josh and david from shortbus made an appearance, both doing very well. David won with stax and josh made semis with a deck i've never seen before. From what I saw he tinkered out collosus and platinum angels pretty consistently. Other than that I can't tell you what he played. I never got a chance to play him since we split for 3rd / 4th after we both lost in the semis.

so here is the deck list...

4x polluted delta
2x flooded strand
3x island
3x tundra
3x underground sea
2x city of brass
1x mox jet
1x mox sapphire
1x mox pearl
1x sol ring
1x black lotus
4x meddling mage
3x phyrexian neagator
2x exalted angel
1x yawgmoth's will
1x fact or fiction
4x mana drain
4x FOW
3x duress
1x ancesteal recall
3x swords to plowshares
1x mind twist
1x time walk
4x impulse
1x demonic tutor
1x mystical tutor
1x balance
3x chains of mephistofeles

sideboard:
1x swords to plowshares
4x sacred ground
3x energy flux
4x seal of cleansing
3x plague spitter

first off i want to say that meddling mage is really really good and won me the game on numerous occasions, especially against oath. Out of the 19 decks there, 6 people were playing oath. However, only 2 top 8'ed and none made semis. I decided to run chains in my maindeck based on all of the brainstorms, thirsts, AKs and other less played draw engines in almost every deck. However, looking back i regret running them and trying to force the obvious impulse synnergy upon them. Id much rather have brainstorm in the future and keep the chains on the board, if at all, to bring it it when needed. If I don't drop the chains turn 1 or 2, it really slows down my pace or doesn't even effect the game significantly enough for them to be good.

onto my sideboard.... I expected a heavy oath and stax environment and i was quite pleased with my sideboard options. 2 guys i came with were playing stax, the other oath, and the other one cerebral assassin. the 4 sacred grounds are SOOOOOOO good against stax that if i can get one out in the first couple of turns i win against stacks 95% of the time. so maybe 4 is overkill for one deck, but i am not going to pick up my shit to a crucible waste or strip, and smokestacks is useless with the sacred ground in play. the 3 plague spitters were there to deal with non stax welder decks, but i didnt get a chance to use them. i am going to take them out of my board since they dont work with phyrexian negator so i have to board out my negators for them. the 4 seal of cleansings on my board helped me beat up oath throughout the day and were a good choice. energy flux was there to disrupt workshop decks and the lone STP just b/c i couldnt fit it in main deck and i like have 4 against certain decks (namely oath).

sorry for the crappy report i cant rememeber everything...

round 1: VS Ryan Quick playing Stax

of course round one i have to play one of my friends from back home, but oh well thats what happended.

game 1: i play first, but he effectively gets an early trinishphere out with smokestacks following and crucible of worlds. I pick up my stuff with hardly any permanents in play. Good start im thinking to myself.

game 2: I board in 4 sacred ground and 3 energy flux. out comes time walk, 3 chains, yawgmoths will, 1 impulse 1 negator.

I am able to get out my sacred ground pretty early in the game. I know he is running rey of revelation (since we wrote out of deck lists next to each other) so i call that with my mage. i drop a negator and beat face for a few turns. he casts a tinker, which i cant counter, and i expect to see a duplicant that he has on his board, but instead he tinkers up a sundering titan. I have a city of brass in play and swords it EOT. I continue negator beats and end up winning the game. (I later found out that he somehow forgot to board in the duplicants and it could have cost him the game).

game 3: i mulligan down to 6 cards and keep my first turn lotus energy flux. ryan can never really recover from the slow down of the first turn flux and i win the game on negator beats.

1-0

Round 2 VS Andrew Polyniak playing Oath

This is my buddy from high school and teammate so we think about our options for a while and we agree to draw. We figured that if we make top 8 we will draw at some point so we might as well draw now.

1-0-1

Round 3 VS Steve ???? playing oath (sorry steve i forgot your last name)

game 1: i effectively resolve a turn 3-4 meddling mage naming oath of druids. i want to say just pick up your stuff and lets move on to game 2. however, i learned not to be so cocky. i have another meddling mage in hand, and i consider droping it naming akroma, but i feel this is overkill. I continue with mage beats and he goes land, lotus, akroma, and i dont have a counter. i was about to shoot myself for not droping the name on akroma. anyway, he swings 3 turns and i lose. im pissed.

game 2: I board in 4 seals and 1 swords. out comes 1 balance, 3 chains and 1 impulse.

i go first and go first turn duress, with meddling mage in my hand. the 3 cards than concern me were mox emereld, oath of druids, and tinker. after some thinking, i take the emerald to prevent the first turn oath and later tinker. im pretty happy seeing no force and no first turn counter. i pass the turn. he says land, go. i go meddling mage, which is forced (nice top deck steve). so, the game isnt mine anymore. i pass the turn. he drops an oath. i draw a seal of cleansing and its gone. after some counter wars i get out another meddling mage and actually win with it this time.

game 3: wow. wow. wow. i dont know how i won this game. ok so after a some more counter wars we get to the point where he hard casts a pristine angel. i begin to wonder why the deck even runs oath of druids. he swings for 2 turns.i have no cards in hand. i top deck a duress, i see FOW, FOW, time walk. after some thinking i take the time walk, but double force basicaly spells game over for me with no cards in hand.  i have already accepted defeat. but then on steve's turn he swings with the pristine, and drops an oath of druids to untap hisangel (he said he was fearful of swords). im like hmmmm... ok im suddleny back in this game. i activate the oath on my turn, praying for the exalted angel to come out. however, i get a meddling mage instead name force of will since he has in hand. i top deck a swords to plowshares and sit on it since his pristine angel is untapped. he swings with the pristine angel putting me and 5 or 6 life. he then casts another oath of druids to protect his angel, but i respond with a swords and he is really mad at himself. i then top deck and exalted and he scoops. whew. that was a close one.

2-0-1

round 4: VS oath (forgot his name, sorry)

game 1 / 2: I get out an early meddling mage both games. sorry i cant say more but there was nothing really else that happended.

3-0-1

round 5: we congradulate each other on top 8ing.

3-0-2

TOP 8:

Round 1 vs food chain goblins (cant remember name)

I am surprised to play against food chains goblins and feel unprepared.

game 1: i dont remember much from this game but i never lost control of the game. i had double swords and then yawgmoths willed and double swords again. i won the game with exalted angel.

game 2: i board in 3 plague spitter, 1 swords. out comes 3 chains and 1 duress.

this game is just like game one. i establish early control and counter some creatures. i took the bate too many times and walked into an unexpected blood moon.  i had some islands out but all my cards in hand required black or white. i had nothing to do but sit back and watch him beat in my face. erg....

game 3: more swords to plowshares action + negator = easy win. i swords his first turn lackey and drain a warchief into a negator. i sit back on a swords and he cant recover. he gets out a recuiter though and gets a ringleader and 4 piledrivers. i go meggling mage: piledriver. good game.

Round 2: VS wtf/R (cant remember name)

game 1: i am able to drain a spiketail and twist his hand away early game. next turn i go morped angel. fish has no chance against this and i pull out an easy win.

game 2: early man land beats hammer my life pretty hard. i keep having to tap my city and im losing life fast. i get out a plague spitter, killing his 1/1 flyers, but dealing quite a bit of damage to myself. i draw a meddling mage, naming river boa. next turn, he fires me. oh yeah, im at 2 life. i guess i should have named fire/ice.

game 3: i keep a 1 land hand with a sol ring. im not really sure what i was thinking, anywaym, i need an undergrund sea for my duress. he wastes next turn and i sit on no land for a long time. he wastes again and pulls out an easy win. i should have mulliganed but i get what i deserve.

i split with josh for $20 store credit each, a big drop from that first place mox. i had a great time at this tournament at DJs Cards in High Point and picked up some valueable lessons for star city next weekend. See you all out there.


- Cody Vinci