I would never cut the Darksteel Colossus from the deck. Tinker-Colossus is just about the best silver bullet ever, it deals with a lot of problematic situations. It's not always possible to get the Gifts engine running and in those situations, resolving a Tinker for Colossus is all you need. How is the Tendrils kill easier to set up when compared to Tinker-Colossus? Colossus only takes one slot in the maindeck and it makes the deck so much better in a lot of situations, so why would you ever cut it? Also, the cards you want to add are pretty expensive and not that flexibel. I think one Cunning Wish might be ok, but I really don't like the other cards that much.

I considered the Needle's but I didn't know what to take out. I really wanted the Rack and Ruins and one more Rebuild for the Misdirections and I should have played the Blue Elemental Blast for Echoing truth or maybe Fact or Fiction (I really hate sideboarding out Fact). But on the other hand I didn't want to sideboard in to many cards because I really liked the way the deck was working pre-sideboard. Against most decks sideboarding doesn't even matter that much because Tinker solves so many problems (I never won with Tendrils but I think it belongs in the sideboard). Welders are a problem though, so I should have boarded in the Needle's. Cunning Wish is probably better than the Echoing Truth, Echoing Truth wasn't completely useless but most of the time it get's pitched to Fow or Misdirection.

My only loss (playing Meandeck Gifts) came in the 3rd round against the Aggro Workshop deck. It was a bit difficult to sideboard against because of the Goblin Welders. I took out the Misdirection for more artifact hate and I should have boarded in the Blue Elemental Blast. I might replace the Echoing Truth with a Fire Ice for some more Welder protection. A Mind Twist should probably go in the sideboard, it would have been amazing in some of my matches. But overall the deck worked really well, it's pretty consistent and I had some really broken plays during the tournament. Good job on the deck Steven.

I don't think so. It's not something your opponent can help. I always tell my friends what their opponents are playing if I know. It's something different when your opponent shows you cards because of the way he's holding his cards or drawing them. That's something your opponent can help and I feel you should tell him right away.

At Pro tours they do try to limit the amount of scouting but it's very difficult to stop. There are quit a number of large teams or groups of players from the same country that share information, so stopping it entirely is almost impossible. They usually ask you to leave the playing area when your match is finished so it can take quite some time before your team has all the decks. I personally don't mind getting information about my opponents decks through scouting.  

I am quite against shuffle peeking and similar things. You should tell your opponent right away when is showing you cards unknowingly. I'm not sure if it's illegal not telling them, but it is quite unsportsmanlike.

Why would you cut Cunning Wish for situational cards? Cunning Wish is the solution to just about any problem. You can either get a removal spell or find something to make Psychatog lethal. I run 4 in my UBr Tog deck and I would never go below 3.

In a Wasteland-heavy metagame I wouldn't want to run Smmenens list. I really like having 3 Island en 6 Polluted Delta/Flooded Strand. The only card you really miss is the Artifact Mutation but it's not very easy to cast. I think Annul is a decent replacement considering you can keep a stable manabase.

If you like Library and you can find the space for it in your deck, play it. It's not such a big issue. I don't have it in my current list (the Italian build) but I can understand people who want to play with it. It has advantages and disadvantages, you should make your decision on what you value most (in your metagame).

Seal of Cleansing can't be pitched to Force of Will and you'll never search for Seal of Cleansing with an Academy Rector. So it isn't superior.

Why do you play with Chain of Vapors? I played this deck quite alot some time ago and I always played Rushing River. It can bounce multiple targets and you don't have to worry about your own spells (like an early Illusions without the Donate) being bounced.  It is a bit more expensive to play with but much more reliable.

Mox Diamond isn't that bad. It makes it almost certain than you can win in one turn because getting blue mana isn't always easy, even with a Bargain in play.

I usually played 3 Duress in this deck. The deck is pretty good against control even without Duress but I think it's superior to cards like Future Sight, Mystical Tutor and Time Twister.

Don't forget to bring a Vintage deck to the PTQ, I could use some playtesting . I'll be there sunday too.

I think that Colossus is an ok secondary wincondition in decks like TPS but in a deck like 4cc I don't like it that much. Even in a deck like TPS it's played in the sideboard most of the time. I think 4cc shouldn't run it, not even in the sideboard. I do like the Karn. In order to make as few possible changes to the basic 4cc skeleton just playing with a Crucible and a Karn should be enough to justify the inclusion of Tinker. I'll probably replace the Colossus with a Mystical (I really like that card and I think it becomes better with the Tinker) and try it out if I can find the time.

You're probably right on the Matrix, it's not going to get Tinkered for most of the time. Good job on the deck btw

I like the idea of adding Tinker but do you really have to play with the Colossus? I think I would rather play with the Platinum Angel or only the Karn. Sure, it's less powerfull, but you can actually cast those cards quite easily. I think of Tinker mainly as a second Crucible, any other non-mana artifact should be very powerfull on its own. In a deck like this I don't want to see too many dead draws. You do have Brainstorm but that's not always going to work.

I think you could also add a Damping Matrix to the SB (or maindeck depending on your metagame) since it helps against Welders and Charbelchers and other random stuff.

I think holidays had a definite impact on this tournament. Several of the good and powered dutch players were missing and I can't remember ever seeing such a high turnout for Eindhoven.  Antwerpen had a highly powered environment the last time I played there, but that mainly was because of the high number of Eindhoven regulars showing up. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon because it's hard to get there, the quality of the price-support varies and the Judge is not very good.

How is this borderline? I've played in several GP's and PT's and I'm quite sure I would get into a lot of trouble if I tried this there. It's still bribery and a good judge will probably give you a DQ without prices. If you're not sure what you can and cannot do, just call a judge and ask him to intervene when you or your opponent cross the line.

Rudy is quite right in the Kerz thing. In the past there have been several players who were suspended because of bribery (and writing about it). You obviously didn't know (and according to your reply still don't know) that you and your opponent were wrong, but please be more carefull next time.

I think there's a pretty good chance that I'll be going, if so, I'll have one with me.

I don't think this card is needed. With 3 Shamans post sideboard and both Firestorm and Snuff Out to Wish for, Slavery is a good enough matchup. It could be nice if I had the sideboardspace for it but I don't.

It's more like CAB domination, if almost all the good players play the same deck, this is the result you can expect. I think GermBus is solid but like Rudy said, Tog is better. Too bad I couldn't go

Tom

I asume that you mean Wishing for a Snuff Out in responce to him trying to combo? If you play Ghastly Demise you can still go for BEB, it does basically the same thing. The biggest disadvantage of the Snuff Out is that you need an Underground Sea for it to work. Mox Jet is not good enough. So maybe Vendetta is the better option because a situation were you have black mana but no Underground Sea might happen against a deck with 5 Strips.

I'll try the third Intuition, I'm sure it will be better than Gush in this deck. A Deep Analysis would be nice to have in the sideboard but I'm a bit worried about Exalted Angel. With one Wishable removal spell you don't have to worry too much about it. Snuff Out seems like a good idea. I was also thinking about Ghastly Demise but Snuff Out is a bit more reliable and flexible.

I will never play with more than 60 cards. It may help your manabase but it reduces the change of drawing one of your restricted cards. Maybe the difference is minimal but I just can't imagine writing down a decklist with 61 cards.

Tom

I really liked the Firestorm. I only had to Wish for it once but in that game it turned a lost game into a win (see my previous post ). I missed Fire Ice in the last match I played because my opponent had a Maze of Ith but Time Walk solved that problem (though my opponent had to make a mistake for that to work, Mazing an unpumped Tog is pretty horrible). Fire Ice is helpfull sometimes but I wouldn't cut Firestorm for it, I think Firestorm will let you win more games than Fire Ice.

I didn't really like the Gush in this deck, it was a bit to situational. I'll try Merchant Scroll or Intuition over it next time.
I liked the Oxidize, depending on the matchup I switched artifact removal from sideboard to maindeck and the Oxidize gave me some more options.
The third Gorilla would have been nice but I didn't really miss it.
I don't think a second Deed is needed, between Firestorm and the artifact removal there aren't a lot of things this deck can't handle.
Blue Elemental Blast was great, I boarded it in against the 3 Slaver decks I played against and it served me well.

I never Wished for Vampiric Tutor and I'm thinking about cutting it. I haven't played against the Germbus deck but I'm thinking about adding a Terror or Terminate (probably Terror because getting 2 support colours is a bit difficult with all the Wastelands being played)

Tom

Thanks  

It was a nice tournament. The highlight of the day for me was Firestorming two Phyrexian Negators for 4, causing my opponent to sacrifice all of his permanents, including a Goblin Charbelcher with me at one life.

I agree with the idea behind this sideboard. I do think you should always play a Vampiric Tutor in your sideboard. I played Control Slaver in Moll this weekend and I Wished for it in about three games, getting a Will or Time Walk to set up a Mindslaver lock. I also like having a third Rack and Ruin because I sometimes want to sideboard 2 into the maindeck and that would leave me without a Wishable Rack and Ruin.

I'm not sure if the Smemnarch is good in Control Slavery. Rudy (morefling) and Hero (pyromaniac) played it in their maindeck but it doesn't seem that good to me. I don't think it's broken enough without Gilded Lotus. I played it in my sideboard for use against other artifact based decks but I only sideboarded it in once. Hero and Rudy were happy with the maindeck Smemnarch so it might be better than I think.

My decklist is off by 2 cards. I played a Stripmine and a Wheel of Fortune, and I only played 2 Fire Ice maindeck. The Wheel was awfull, I cast it twice and lost both  games.

The Nethervoid matchup was very annoying. I played against it second round and I got destroyed in both games. I was lucky to get a draw last round against the URfish deck. The deck ran very smoothly in the other matches.

Nice report Bram

I also decided to play in the Saturday Type 1 event after having a really bad day in the Friday event. In the Friday event I went 2-3 playing Budde Trix. I beat a UG madness deck (no Bazaars with some Moxes and FoW’s) and a WG deck with Ornithopters and Kobolds and lost twice to Tog and one Fish deck. All the matches I lost went to three games but the deck clearly wasn’t good enough. For the Saturday event I decided to go with the latest Zherbus Keeper deck because it looked very consistent and control is very nice if you want to outplay your opponent.

Round 1: Roy (RG Madness)

I really didn’t like this pairing since Roy is a good friend of mine and he is the person I test with most of the time. Roy was playing with the RG Madness deck Serge Metz used in the last Dulmen.

I get to play first and start with a Brainstorm out of a Mox Sapphire and play a land. Roy starts with a land and Mox, Naturalizing my Mox Sapphire. End of his turn I Mystical Tutor for Ancestral Recall. In my second turn I play Ancestral and Strip his land. Roy drops a land and a Mox and doesn’t do anything else. I then proceed to cast Black Lotus, sacking it for a Yawgmoth’s Will, Mox Sapphire, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Stripmine, Black Lotus and Gorilla Shaman destroying his side of the board. I win easily after that, playing a Decree for two Angels a few turns later.

Game 2 Roy again has a poor hand. I have Ancestral in my opening hand and mana screw him early with some Wastelands. He never recovers and I beat him again with two Angels, countering his only out, a Price of Progress for 14.

1-0-0

Round 2: Hero (Dragon with Swarms)

Game 1 Hero isn’t able to kill me fast enough. I’m able to destroy his Bazaars, get some card advantage with Ancestral and Scrying and I kill him with Shaman’s and Soldiers.

Game 2 was more interesting. I Waste an early Bazaar but he get’s another one and a Compulsion into play. I cunning Wish twice for a Coffin Purge, removing his Squee’s and counter and Plow his Swarms and animated Fatties. Because I didn’t know the correct wording of Animate Dead I made a stupid mistake by not responding to the Reanimation of a Verdant Force by Coffin Purging it. Because of this I have to Fire my own Gorilla Shamans to play a Balance. After the Balance I counter and Stifle his last Reanimation spells and he scoops when he has no more Animate effects in his deck.

2-0-0

Round 3: Francis (Scepter with Orim’s Chant)

I have a really good draw in the first game. I play an Ancestral early on and Waste and Stifle some lands. Skeletal Scrying gets me some more card advantage and he scoops when I show him the Will.

Game 2 was really weird. I don’t see any black mana for about 10 turns and he is beating me down with 2 Mishra’s Factories. When I am really low on life I draw a Wasteland followed one turn later by a Brainstorm that gives me a Stripmine. I’m at 1 life at this point and I still haven’t seen a black mana source. I make five Soldiers with a Decree and start beating down. I topdeck an Underground Sea and cast a Demonic Tutor followed one turn later by a Yawgmoth’s Will. He counters both. When he is at 2 life he resolves a Yawgmoth’s Will that was not exactly gamebreaking. He tries to kill himself by casting a Vampiric Tutor but I let him take it back. The Will gives him a Delta, taking him down to 1 life and he plays Brainstorm and Time Walk. In his next turn he play’s a Scepter with an Orim’s Chant on it. No more attacks for me… Another Scepter is cast with Mana Drain imprinted. I manage to win by Stifling his Scepter on Chant. He has to Drain this and since he cannot take burn he plays a Morphling on his turn. I Cunning Wish for Fire and Fire him at end of turn to take the Match because he doesn’t have enough mana to Drain and Chant.

3-0-0

Round 4: Bram (Kaervimon) (TPS)

I won this Match 2-0. Bram covered this match already so I won’t go over it again.

4-0-0

Round 5: Steffen (Ankh Sligh with Lackey’s and Null Rod)

I lose the first game very badly after winning the die role. I have to Moxes in my opening hand but he starts with a Goblin Vandal. On my second Turn I Wish for a Swords and Swords his Vandal. He drops a Null Rod. Over the next turns he resolves 2 Ankh of Mishra’s and some Goblins and I can’t do a thing.

Game 2 I didn’t have any artifact mana. He draws 2 Wasteland and a Stripmine, mana screwing me and beating me down with lot’s of small Goblins.

4-1-0

Round 6: Cedric (Stacks)

Game one we both start Wasting lands. We’re both screwed so we get into a topdeck war. I Force of Will a Winter Orb and a Smokestack and Waste the Mishra’s Workshop he used to play the Smokestack with. He manages to resolve a Tangle Wire but it doesn’t have much impact since we’re both low on permanents. I eventually get some mana into play and gain board control with a Shaman. A cycled Decree followed by a Yawgmoth’s Will forces a concession.

The second game was over quickly. I mana screw him again and easily gain control after this. A Decree for Angels does the job again.

5-1-0

Steffen wins with a 5-0-1 record and I’m in second place, winning a nice amount of boosters. I was really happy with the performance of the deck, going 10-2 in games. The sideboard served me well, I think I used all the cards except the Damping Matrix but that probably had to do something with my matchups. I have to agree with Bram that the Judge for the Type 1 events was really bad but overall it was a nice event.