And at magic-league.com

It was a really nice event, and I'll join next year for sure again. I went 6-2 in the swiss, getting 14th or so. TPS didn't disappoint me at all

Ouch, I was just hoping for some free duals, but when you guys enter it will be a bit harder ^^ But it's really cool, and you should definitely join in. The metagame on magic-league is kinda random and unpredictable, but most players are not really good, so I will see you in top8 I hope

It looks okay, except for the Therapies. They just don't seem to fit in this deck. You should try Force of Will. It's better in protecting your combo, and also protecting against big threats of your opponent, which might occasionally win a game because of the ability to counter a topdecked will. Put a misdirection in the sb to wish for against opposing counters.

Squee + Bazaar is not good in this deck since a Squee in your graveyard above the golem will make you wait a full turn to go off. This deck can go off at instant speed, if there is a Golem in the graveyard.

I would cut a few lands for the other moxen, a sol ring and mana crypt, to be able to wish or hardcast the golem early if neccesary.

Looks like a good deck, with a bit of TPS feeling.

Quit magic Just kidding, insider's joke.

I agree that this deck is good in a random metagame. I also agree that this deck needs sphere of resistance maindeck, it might not be good to board in, but maindeck it can really screw your opponent, while him being on a clock. I also agree you should nee a Mox Emerald[/u] I think you forgot to post it.

Good luck with the deck, ill test it a few games later this day

Actually, it is, when you have Woodripper in your graveyard at the moment you cast Shapeshifter, it will come into play with it's fading counters, and being able to shoot them at your precious artifacts. If you drop something else in the yard before it dies for fading, the fading will stop.

@ Dozer

Did you play in that block? Will was ridiculous with dark ritual but most of all with Memory Jar and Academy. They banned Jar and Academy in no time, so will wasn't as broken in block anymore. They didn't ban Artifact land and Disciple + Ravager in block neither, only in Type 2 because it appeared everywhere, just like in block, but they didn't want to admit they were wrong for printing cranial plating. When they had no choice they banned ravager and disciple + lands. Without broken cards around, Will isn't as insane as it is in current vintage. We all know that Will isn't as insane in decks like Sui and Rotten Fish. Some builds cut him, and I agree. The Urza block decks in the later stages look a lot like those decks. You can obviously go broken lategame, even in block, with like 3 dark rituals and returning skirge and plaguelords. But Will needs other broken cards to combine with, like lotus, recall and time walk. If they ban Will, they will be able to unrestrict other things, not sure which, but most broken spells are even more broken if you can play them ALL twice because of will.

I would love a report necro ^^ Nice job on winning, we haven't heared about sensei in a while

Ah ok, my bad

Nice report

I know for sure you don't play block or standard, because of this:


Thats always nice


Was there a mirror gallery in play? If not... kiki-jiki is Legendary ^^

Nice to see you're doing so well with the deck

Earthcraft + Squirrel Nest is there

Power Artifact + Grim Monolith is there

Black Lotus or Lion's Eye Diamond + Auriok Salvagers is there

Metalworker + Staff of Domination is there (you need at least 3 artifacts in hand though)

There are almost infinite more (no pun intended) but I can't think of more right now...

Dzy

I think you should test it, because I think because Fish already has so much dead draws mid-late game, another would hurt even more. Since Fish doesnt play Drains, hardcasting is no option either until very-very-very lategame, when you've probably lost anyway.

I don't think you should play a Tolarian Academy because the power of this deck (if it has any  ) is the power of basic land. Even with a fully powered MUC deck, I would not play Academy, because it's wasteable, and doesnt lead into broken first turn plays, except maybe Tinker. In this deck Island > Academy, from my point of view

Ok Do you happen to have all the top8 Decklists? I couldn't find them on n00bmagic.nl.

I will look for top 8 decklists soon and post them here. It was kinda random. I'll edit this post when I got the top 8.

No problem at all, I won at the way you should win of oath, beating him up with Orchard tokens The chalice shut him quite some too, he was holding 3 brainstorms which he couldn't cast. While having fetch on the table. I was really surprised he had no counters for my Fow on his oath, maybe he had REBs, but with chalice on 1

If you only want the Tourney report and the decklist, scroll down.

Sunday morning, 8 am: I have just gotten up for like 30 minutes, took a shower and ate something. Steven comes pick me up at my home with his borrowed car and we go off to come pick up Armand. When we arrive at the place he would be, no Armand to be seen. I call him, I get his voicemail but see that I got a text message from him earlier, that he couldn't go because he had some trouble with his parents... great, lets get on with the two of us then. Steven and I are both playing TPS, almost the same build. We are both very familair with the deck, we tested a lot, and because the tourney was 12 (!!) proxies, I expected a lot of control, the best matchup for TPS.

The room opened up at 10 am, and we got in Leiden at 9:30, but not able to find the room. After asking several people, we finally get there at 10:30, seeing there is a lot of control as we expected. I borrow some money of Pyro to get new sleeves, and start resleeving. At 11:30am round 1 finally starts.

The Deck of all Decks:

Mana:
    1 Tolarian Academy
    1 Library of Alexandria
    2 Swamp
    2 Island
    4 Underground Sea
    1 Flooded Strand
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Dark Ritual
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Emerald

Protection:
    4 Duress
    4 Force of Will
    1 Cunning Wish
    1 Rebuild

Tutors:
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Vampiric Tutor

Draw 7:
    1 Tinker
    1 Memory Jar
    1 Timetwister
    1 Time Spiral

General Draw:
    4 Brainstorm
    1 Ancestral Recall

Broken:
    1 Necropotence
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
    1 Mind's Desire
    2 Gifts Ungiven
    1 Time Walk

The Kill:
    2 Tendrils of Agony

The Sideboard:
SB: 2 Chain of Vapor
SB: 2 Rebuild
SB: 2 Misdirection
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Darksteel Colossus
SB: 1 Platinum Angel
SB: 3 Skeletal Scrying
SB: 1 Brain Freeze
SB: 1 Capsize
SB: 1 Fact or Fiction

Some choices about the maindeck. I decided to play the Spiral over the rebuild 10 minutes before the tournament started, because I felt that the deck sometimes just sometimes runs out of gas and needs a good topdeck before getting crushed. Topdecking a Spiral late game is good I actually only used the Time Spiral once, but it won me the game, so I think I'll keep testing Spiral in the second rebuild slot. The sideboard has some random choices like a lot of bounce, but I feared stacks and chalices, and I could not find any Hydroblasts or Red Elemental Blasts (which would not have helped me anyway). The Platinum Angel was there mainly against Oath, the Rebuilds for the Stax matchup, Colossus against fish, Scryings for Drain decks, or the mirror and FoF just as a basic Wish target. On to the rounds.

I am very bad at remembering names, I only remembered one. I'm sorry!

Round 1, UGw Oath: Game 1 I see a FoW, a Drain and an Oath, but no Orchard, so I take his Fow. Next turn I go Necro and win. Game 2 he goes broken turn 1: Lotus Sapphire Orchard Chalice for 0 and he passes. I drop a fetch land and when I activate it, he Stifles. Ok, I still got a fetch and a sea on hand. Next turn I fetch again, and he Stifles again.. He drops wasteland, great. I play my sea, and Sol Ring, which he naturalizes and activates his wasteland. He counters some Stuff of me after I have an island. In the mean while he has heared of the player next to him that chalice for 1 is so good against TPS (not ment to inform my opponent), my opponent had no idea, but he follows the advise, and I'm totally locked out with only one land on the table and chalice for 1 and 0 on the table. I start kicking with the spirit tokens. 18... 16... 14... 12... 10... 7... 4... 1... I won by spirit beatdown He tried to play Oath when he was at 10, but I fow'ed as a desperate action just because I had no other choice then to win by spirit beatdown. Amazingly he had no counters himself and he failed to find another oath.

Matches 1-0, Games 2-0

Round 2, Parfait: I had no idea what he was playing until I remembered he was talking about playing Belcher instead of the old kill, Island Sanctuary, so he was playing Parfait. Ok, not too shabby I tell him parfait is dead, he answers with: "Yes, I know, but I like it" Ok that's perfectly fine, he apparently won round 1, but I don't fear his deck at all. He wins the roll and starts with Lotus, Pearl and further nothing. I get to get turn 1 Sapphire -> Recall, Sea, Jet, Ritual, Ritual, Bargain. Game 2 I side in my Colossus because I expect him to board out his STPs and his only answer would be Balance, with no way to tutor it without land tax/rack combo. He goes down to 5 cards, and I know I win this match. He goes turn 1 ruby, pearl, jet, thran foundry, I didn't even bother to read it, which I should have. I go turn 1 duress, turn two bargain, turn 3 make a hell lotta mana, tutor for will, will, in response he activates thran foundry. I read it and slap myself. But with the mana left over and the tendrils in my hand I tendrils him for 14 life, and win next turn with the new life gained from the Tendrils.

Matches 2-0, Games 4-0

Steven, the guy I carpooled with, is 2-0,4-0 too, with almost the same list, so we're pretty confident about making top 8.

Round 3, Sui-Black. I get to play ANOTHER bad deck (no offense though) I look at my hand, and I'm pretty confident, I don't know what happened exactly, I got turn 1 duress, had a shitload of mana in my hand, and a bargain and a necro which I could cast both next turn. I take his duress over his hymn with my duress because he had no mana to cast hymn this turn. He topdecks a ritual and hymns my bargain and something random away. I go necro, and force his negator, which seals the game. Game 2 I go turn 1 Necro and misdirect his Hymn.

Matches 3-0, Games 6-0

This is where the real fun starts, too bad it was against Steven though. I get to play the mirror match, we calculate if we can draw into top 8 and we decide to just play. Game 1 I don't remember too much about, but I know I lose to a huge will turn 4 or so. My first game I lose this tourney. He had the duress 2x, I had none. This mirror is all about duresses. I board in my 2x Misdirection and 3x Skeletal Scrying because you never want to give the other TPS player a new hand. I start, and duress him, nothing broken. He brainstorms, duresses me, takes my will or so. This goes forth a few games, he's down to two cards, I have 3 cards, he has a lot of mana I have only 3 seas or so. He vamps for Will (i supposed) I have no FoW on hand, so I was afraid it was over. I topdeck a necro, draw 9 cards, keep a hand which will win me the game next turn with Fow for his will and misdirection for his fow (which he probably didnt have because he would have countered my necro then) I countered his will and he gave up. 1-1 Game 3 was the nicest game the whole tourney I had. I kept a hand with 2 land, brainstorm, scrying, petal, duress, misdirection. He goes turn 1 fetch, pass. I duress him, see his hand of 2 fetch, 2x scrying, recall and fow. I take his Fow. He drops a fetch and a crypt, plays ancestral, I misdirect it, and he slaps himself for not seeing that coming. In response he Scrys for 2 but it doesn't matter, I draw 3 of his own ancestral. Next turn I duress his other skeletal away, and drop a lot of mana and a Necro. I draw to 8, discard one, and I'm in full control, he has only 1 card in hand, which is a land. He topdecks and plays a Gifts, but I counter it with a hardcasted Fow. He extends his hand and I win the mirror.

Matches 4-0, Games 8-1

Round 5, Stax. I am hungry, I'm in top 8 for sure but he doesn't want to draw, he just wants to play (he's in top 8 for sure too) I keep a mediocre hand, and scoop after I fow two threats. Game 2 I keep another mediocre hand and scoop almost immediately, because I was hungry.

I get some food, smoke another ciggie and I watch Steven play against Elves in a fully powered meta at table number 4... Ok.. weird. I see Steven smash his face game 1, and see him board in Colossus. Game 2 Elves are just too fast built up, and Colossus gets outraced. Steven thinks for a second and decide to keep in the Colossus. He gets a perfect hand with a turn 2 colossus and a Time Walk in his hand to kick Elves in the nuts. He brainstorms and accidentally puts the tinker on top... Ok, shit happens, he time walks and draws the tinker into Colossus. His opponent plays another elf, and a Timberwatch Elf. Stevens hits for 11, and passes. His opponent goes Quirion Ranger, Quirion Ranger, and can chump his colossus by pumping 3 times with the Timberwatch, and eventually he races Steven out. :[ Ok, Steven feels bad, everybody laughs at him because he lost to elves, and right they are!

The players of the top 8 get to choose or we play for the mox and the other players get some boosters (we only had a 40 man turnout, from 40 people, the mox would be turned out) and I came here for the mox, like everyone else, not for some Ali, from Cairo which I will never play anyway, nor bad duals.

Round Top 8, Elves. Haha, I feel overconfident because I get to play the Elves. I keep a slow hand. He outcheats me with an emerald turn 1, into... Wirewood Hivemaster! He goes Concordant Crossroads, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhron Elves, Skullclamp. I decide to Fow the skullclamp because of all the tokens he gets with elves. His hand is empty, and kicks me for 5. I brainstorm, find nothing useful, and pass. He topdecks another skullclamp and finishes me that turn Ok, shit happens, I have to become some less confident, and tell him a bit cocky, ok whatever, you win game 1, I'll go turn 1 bargain next game, and win Of course you get it, I draw 1 card, Sea, next card, Ritual, next card, Lotus, next card, Bargain. =] Three other random cards, but I win game 2. Because I had seen his decklist because it is top 8, I saw he has only one answer to Platinum Angel, a Zealot he could tutor up with wirewood heralds. I boarded in the Angel just to get some extra turns to set up the combo. I get turn 1 Swamp, Ritual, Necro, draw 6 extra cards, no blue mana source. On my next turn I vampiric tutor for Tinker, draw 7 cards, so that I precisely don't die to his elves on the board, and draw not one single blue mana source, so I extend him the hand. I feel real bad about losing to elves. He faced three TPS players, and kicked them all three in the nuts with as only hate 3 root mazes... which I never even saw.

I get TWO boosters, for getting top 8. Two...

Props:
 - A real good organised tourney
 - Steven, for driving
 - My deck for doing good in general
 - Misdirection for drawing me three cards of Steven's Ancestral.
 
Slops
 - The heat
 - Pyro and RVS, Pyro going 1-4 (actually 1-3, because the judge didnt drop him (well, he scooped round 4 because RVS dropped too, so actually 2-2)) and RVS, going 2-2
 - My deck crapping out on me
 - Armand's parents for not letting him go

Omg, i didn't even notice it, neither did my opponent... LOL I'll apologise to that opponent as soon as Ill see him

@49 cents: Ive done that too, actually a couple of times, he went nuts in the game, he casted 3 cranials naming replenish, form and confinement, he figured i had no win left, so he asked me to give up. I didn't because all i needed was to dig up a lotus to hardcast three squees and ride them to victory

The problem with Land Grant and 8 lands in your deck is that you might have Land Grant as your only Mana source in your hand and because you show your hand and they see that you're holding no other mana sources they can Force it, setting you back a few turns. Same problem against Stax, when they go turn 1 Sphere of Resistance or even worse, Trinisphere (won't happen too often, but sometimes they can go random broken) You have a bit of a problem. Add the Strips, and you have an even bigger problem.

I don't say you shouldn't play or at least test the Land Grants, but I think that there are too many matchups where youd rather have a fetchland, despite the lack of synergy between fetch and root maze or Ankh, than a Land Grant.

I don't know, I think it should be something with vipers, something like Protector of the Shadow Vipers

The problem with running this in Solidarity is that it is a sorcery, Solidartiy's key card, next to High Tide is Reset, which can only be played in your opponents turn. You win about 95% of the games you win in your opponents turn, just because of Reset. Or did you mean you wanted to play this card to set up the combo? Then I think there are better cards, like Meditate.

Actually Root maze doesn't salvagers if they use the LED, because it does not need to tap to be used.

It is a triggered ability that will only trigger when the spell is actually played, not already on the stack, that is just like adding counters to chalice of the void in response to a spell won't work either, because it checks when it is played.