Badmouthing Owen on these boards will get you no where. The people that don't like him don't like him, and the people that do like him love him. All you're doing is make yourself look immature. He was telling you about a blatant misplay you made because you missed it, not to be a dick cause he was upset at the loss. He takes losses better than almost everyone I know. If you want to go to the scoreboard to defend your point, I split the finals of this tournament with Ben, and Owen was apropriate throughout.

On a different note, this deck seems really bad. It's been said before, but Bob doesn't fit in this Angel deck at all. By that I mean those Pacts and Angels don't fit in this Bob deck.

Congrats on the 3rd/4th.
-AJ

I played almost the same list day 1, starting 4-0 but quickly falling out of contention after that with a combination of multiple mulligans and weak technical play on my part. The deck is very strong, and I enjoyed playing it a lot. I played a 2-2 duress/thoughtseiz split, and a 2-2 sower/threads split. The Tormod's Crypt was stone dead all day and belongs in the board in my opinion, as I'd rather have a second Engineered Explosives or the AEther Spellbomb main. Loam was unreal all tournament (good to see you're using the brainstorms into ancestral argument Owen) and the Will was fantastic the one time I got to cast it. ICBM really dominated SCG Chicago weekend. Hats off.
-AJ

1. What do you predict the turnout to be? 500
2. How many Force of Wills do you expect to see in the Top 8? 28
3. How many Wastelands in the Top 8? 8
4. In the top 8, what will be the most popular:
a. Blue card:Brainstorm
b. White card:Swords to Plowshares
c. Green card: Protean Hulk
d. Red card: Red Elemental Blast
e. Black card: Duress
f. Gold card: Meddling Mage
g. artifact: Lotus Petal
h. non-land card (most popular of 4a-g): Brainstorm
5. What's going to be the highest placing combination deck? Hulk Flash
6. What's the most common basic land type in the Top 8? Island
7. What's the most common dual land in the Top 8? Underground Sea
8. Goblins in the T8? (yes or no) No
9. Hulk Flash in the T8? (yes or no) Yes
10. Threshold in the T8? (yes or no) Yes
11. Fish in the T8? (yes or no) No
12. Survival.dec in the T8? (yes or no) No
13. High Tide in the T8? (yes or no) No
14. Landstill in the T8? (yes or no) Yes
15. BW Deadguy Ale (Disruption) in the T8? (yes or no) No
16. Gamekeepers/Salvagers in the T8? (yes or no) No

BONUS
17. ______________ [deck] will take first place. Thresh
18. Who will win: Pro or Not? Pro
19. The winner will be: ______________. Osyp
-AJ

Meandeck Tendrils loses to a lot of Maindeck cards also, plus he clearly stated he didn't want to play combo, although I'd totally run it on sheer brokenness.

I'd go with Ichorid. It's ridiculous without board. You only have to play around Tormod's Crypt in a few match-ups, and everything else just rolls over.
-AJ

Brainstorms with no fetches requires specific deck conditions to be acceptable. This deck does not have those conditions.

Why play spell snare over duress?

If you're playing blue, isn't time walk a must?

Darkblast seems like a must in the board since gorilla shaman and goblin welder both give you a one way ticket to frown town.

Chromatic Star will allow you to play less seats for more red and black sources and still be able to splash ancestral and walk.

Cranial plating seems better than myr enforcer. This makes flipping a ton to bob not possible, and should up your fundamental turn by at least .5 against combo.

Here's what I'd be looking at with that limited of a cardpool for T1:

5 Mox
1 lotus
1 crypt
4 glimmervoid
4 vault of whispers
4 great furnace
1 seat of the synod
4 red elemental blast
4 duress
2 atog
4 worker
4 ravager
4 disciple
4 bob
4 star
4 skullclamp
4 chromatic star
1 ancestral
1 walk

sideboard
4 lightning bolt
1 pyroblast
4 overload
3 spell snare (even though it might be hard for the mana, it also hits hurkyl's recall in addition to rod, so it's kind of necesary to fight hate. it's also good against oath and fish)
3 darkblast/pithing needle

overload is definitly the best answer to rod though even if you can only cast it off voids on the draw, but if they don't have turn one rod on the play, you can float the red off something else and cast it. Hope this helped. Good luck.
-AJ

There's no reason to not play it. Even if they have MisDs you can just protect it with lock peices (sphere of resistance and tapped out of the few mana sources they have left), use it as a blank (pitch to bazaar), or not cast it (it's worth having the one dead card in a string of circimstances then missing out on the explosive advantage it gives you when not in that exact situatoin).

Then post-board, Gifts always boards out its MisDs since it's really the only card to hit, so you obviously keep it in and can run it out there with minimal protection.
-AJ

Becker, you're such a control player at heart. Come over to the darkside; we have chocolate...

The problem I have with PitchLong is Force, even though it's way better on the draw and against Stax, but it's sooo much worse against Gifts which is really prominant right now. The last two tournements I've attended in the area consisted of Gifts, and hate-on-gifts Fish (with a little more combo and workshops showing up at pastimes last time), and Playing the beatdown is much more effective against Gifts. It allows you to be proactive rendering MisD's dead and burns counters more efficiently (in a game of attrition, not necesarily speed as much). This is how I see it:

Pitch counters are better than Duress because they have less impact on you comboing when protecting the win. It takes 2 black mana to get rid of two counters, but getting rid of counters like that hurts on the pitchlong plan too, having 2 forces is a little more likely thanks to MisDs, but having two and two blue cards all in hand that you don't need in order to combo, then the statistics start weighing against you.

Obviously this isn't what the deck was designed to do, but it seems like the more likely scenerio when looking at the metagame.
-AJ

3 fetches and 4 fetchables? GWS has made you more and more like Becker...

I like the list though. Wires could definitly hit the bench though. I'd cut 2 fetches for a creature and 3rd wasteland, and the wires for crucible and either the 4th waste or the last Bob.

I'd also suggest testing Gamble in this deck since it can get the red mana more easily, and with so many cards via Bob, and Welders letting it act as Entomb, I could definitly see it being a good addition (You'd have to up Welders and/or Bobs to the full playset to get the right circumstances to fully abuse it). It also has great synergy with Crucible acting as a Crop Rotation, but you sac a card in hand instead of a land. For example:

4 Shops
4 Factories
4 Badlands
3 Bazaar
3 Wasteland
1 Srip
1 Academy
1 B-Ring
1 Cabal Pit

7 SoLoMox
1 Vault

4 Chalice
4 Resistance
4 Crucible
3 Smokestack
1 Trike
1 Trinisphere

4 Bob
4 Welder
2 Gamble
1 Demonic
1 Vampiric
1 I. Seal

The problem is it doesn't have the ultimate piece of mana denial in Null Rod. I kind of want to play it over Chalice since chalice for 0 is often underwhelming, and at 1 or 2 it hurts you pretty badly as well.

Well even if Gamble sucks (Which it could, I just say my ideas, not that they're necesarily good ones) then I still think the mana base could use less fetches and more wastes (if colored sources is a problem you could cut the second utility land in cabal pit for a blood crypt).

Either way, great deck guys. Keep up the good work.
-AJ

I was about to point out that you could've tinkered out spellbomb and won, but i seee you mention that at the end of the paragraph. Nice job. I'd be playing Bomberman here, but there are too many chalices and null rods.
-AJ

Nice job TK. Congrats on yet another preformance. Too bad you are the worst sideboarder I have EVER SEEN.

Sorry about the Rack and Ruins; I'm a little ADD.
-AJ

Also there's no downside to pitching your second leak to Force, but with Snag you may need to making only the THIRD one you see better than leak.

Also, people play spells with 2 mana open all the time in order to play their drain on your counter. With Leak, you make them use their drain, but with Snag they can just pay it. Then you still have to counter it but they still have their drain.

I'ts not as good as leak in many ways, and i'm not even going to get into sideboarding options. It's a good card, just not in here.
-AJ

You just have to know how to hate it, and do it. I agree, it's a stupid deck to play and to play against. I was playing against cookie the other day and it's really stupid.

Not only was it not fun, but it involved very little skill. Yes, this is a problem in vintage, but it will die out just like the first time Ichorid hit the scene (even though that build sucked monkey nuts compared to the new ones). The surprise factor is good, but eventually people realize it's easy to hate and play against it, and it starts losing more and more until it dies out for the most part.

Caltrops doesn't do it because Sutured Ghoul's huge.

Ensnaring Bridge doesn't do it because sometimes it's hard to get down to 3 cards, let alone stay there (especially against a deck that doesn't play spells. It also costs 3.

Waste/Strip don't do it cause they still get an activation out of bazaar, and it doesn't get the second one. It also sets YOU back a land drop which is hard for some decks since it is kind of a race.

Pithing Needle is alright, but if you're on the draw they still get to use it once. It's also extremely Ancient Grudge-able. It's tough because you want to board counters out since they don't cast stuff, but you need it to protect your hate. Probably just pull out the drains and keep in forces for the decks that play'em.

Tormod's Crypt seems to be the best answer. If you play one, even though you're starting with 6 cards it should buy you enough time to race. If you get two you're in good shape. The problem with this is the 'grudge eot, bazaar infy'. Again, keeping certain counters in might be essential just to protect your hate (And for Dread Returns). There's also the problem of Chalice of the Void. Again, pitch counters and prayer.

3-4 Crypts and 2-3 Needles. That's 5-7 slots, but a lot of people are playing crypts already for old Ichorid, Dark Rits, and Slaver and a few play Needles for Welders, Vials, Bazaars, and Wastelands already. It'll take a few more slots now that the builds are more broken, but it's all about proper metagaming.
-AJ

Pitchlong versus MDG is obscenely in the favor of the Drains. With 4+ more actual counters, and Scrolls quickly grabbing pitch-magic makes it really tough. The thing is that Misdirection becomes a way to counter your combo protection, whereas with Duress you can't do that. Also, without dilluting the deck with more reactive cards, and none-black spells you can go more balls out with Grim due to the higher threat density and the fact that the disruption doesn't need cards to pitch.

While Pitch has a stronger match-up against Null Rod Fish and Stax, and is generally more resiliant. In a Gifts heavy, high-powered metagame I'd go with the more broken version with Duress.
-AJ

In your deck, the only time Vamp gets countered is if you have Oath on the board and no orchard, and the other deck has no way to win before the angels take it or deal with the Orchard/Oath/Win Cons after they hit the board. The right play is to wait.

Other than that you did play quite well. Congrats and good work. My only other problem I had with your 'play' was deck's build. I remember when I first entered vintage Gifts Oath was my deck of choice, that build seems much stronger in my opinion, but I guess time will tell.

It was a really well run tournement with Pastimes sticking with Gaurenteed prize support even though tournout was slightly awful. I told them they need to advertise the tournements a little more. YOU BETTER ALL BE THERE.

Congrats around.
-AJ

If you want to, MD SSS. My suggestion would be if you can't beat'em, join'em.

URBana Fish by Becker is a great deck that beats up on a lot of major archtypes (has some problems with combo from what I've seen, but nothing that's not sideboardable), and absolutely kills the Fish mirror.

Waterfront Bouncers and FTKs with the availability to planar void and duress, rack and ruin and blasts, and the blue power and countermagic makes it very flexible in every match-up post-board and the ability to win aggro-control style is awsome. I recomend testing it.
-AJ

The name Stax doesn't originate from the use of Smokestack. The name is an acronym:

t - the
S - $
A - 4 (look similar)
k - k (meaning thousand)
S - Solution

The $4k Solution

tS4ks

switch the t and the S and it comes to St4ks, or Staks. Stax being the shorthand. The price of Bazaars, power, and Workshops combine to make it one of the most expensive decks in the old metagame. The name is now used for any archetype based around locking down the board prison-style utilizing Workshops ever since.
-AJ

Edit :: I don't want to get into an arguement here. I know you know JD, I'm just clarifying for anyone who actually thought that's why the deck was called Stax.


http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=5273

Still there are stronger 'Place Holders' than FoF and Gifts. I know I used to love playing with a Recoup in that slot because it pitches to TfK and still is useable, and makes Will, Demonic, Tinker, and Time Walk even more insane obv.

Gifts just doesn't have the set-up it needs in this deck, and in my opinion you're better off playing a(nother) merchant scroll or misdirection (or maindeck REB) because these are cards that contribute to your gameplan, whereas gifts just doesn't do what you're asking most of the time.
-AJ

Lots of Duresses and lots of Goblin Welders don't mix.

I never ran two slavers. Testing showed it clogged up the hand a lot and didn't pitch to force enough, you know, being an artifact and all. The thing is it has a huge drain target on its head, and you need an active welder and a thirst in order to make it even close to good. One makes it so you can get it if you need it, sometimes you'll draw it and just be able to pitch it because it costs 6, and it's great to tinker for against combo if you can survive to activate it.

All in all I think Slaver needs to change a whole lot to even be considered viable anymore as the other drain archetypes seem to be preforming on a higher level at the moment. I'm not sure why, maybe because some match-ups make welders dead cards causing auto-mulligans, or it has less counters than gifts allowing them to force through my card draw. The win condition is also somewhat weak compared to gifts or bomberman right now. I'm not sure what it is but the deck needs some major renovations.
-AJ

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be annoying. I was just messing around/trying to see both players' hands in the laziest way possible. When I realized it was getting on your nerves I stopped (and actually left for a bit). So yeah, sorry about that.


You had the honor of being my first infinit lock in tournament play I beleive. Both of our matches at CoD have been good. Now we just need to meet again for the rubber match, hopefully in the finals next time.


Thanks. That hand was pretty sick. You played it well though, running bait out before trying the second Eye (which I assume was the vamp target?). Luckily I didn't get greedy and just scrolled for a counter and not ancestral right away. Good games again.

Hope to see you all at Game Universe.
-AJ

Who cares, I'm busy still trying to get used to seeing the number 3 next to the word Brainstorm.

I don't think it'll ever settle in...
-AJ

I got yelled at 

Quite frankly, there are two reasons to play Duress in Gifts.

1. You're desperately afraid of split second spells in your meta
2. You're not confidant in your ability go play the most powerful version of the deck.

By dilluting the core of the deck with more black cards than needed you hurt your mana base as well as the density of control elements that work in conjunction with eachother. You can't Merchant Scroll for Duress. Being able to build your hand to the point where Yawgmoth's Will will resolve is what Gifts does best. Duress is an unecesary safety net for control mirrors. You 'ensure' that will resolves by playing a stronger early game and developing a hand that puts you in a position to win the game.

Just my opinion. I beleive the most condensced version of the deck is the best because it's consistant.
-AJ

Reuse FTK much?
-AJ

Sorry Becker, I was scooping up game one but I had a lot of Fish hate for the other games although I didn't know you brought in lots of blue blasts against me, which would have hurt a little. I was mostly just bitter about losing since I could've had a good shot but lost some close games with to David right before.

Thanks for all of your comments guys.
-AJ

I'm AJ Sacher (pronounced like the sport. You know, tennis). Some of you know me, most of you don't. Well these past two weekends have been pretty good for me Top 4ing Pastimes' Type 1 event, and then the next week Top8ing the College of Dupage Tournament (and Top8ing the Pastimes Legacy Tournament the next day, but I won't report that one). I had to go through a lot of matches, and didn't take notes. I have a diagnosed photographic memory, but that doesn't make me any less stupid so please correct me if you see errors. Enjoy:

PART I

It was the First of October, and I had just gotten up. Late night before and I got very little sleep. My family, including myself, have been out of commission due to illness for about a week and I felt like complete ass. I got up anyway and made sure the tournament was still on. I get down to Pastimes in Niles and meet with some people before filling out the decklist:

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Merchant Scroll
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Misdirection
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Burning Wish
1 Recoup
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Rebuild
1 Fire // Ice
1 Hyrkal’s Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
7 SoLoMox
3 CryptVaultPetal

Before I get to my sideboard let me talk about the main deck a little first. I registered in a rush because I picked up my sheet well after last call for sign-ups, so I put Rebuild instead of Chain of Vapor in the deck by mistake. I realized it after I turned in my sheet so I fixed the deck real quick before the first round in order to match my sheet. I played kind of a classic list without stuff like Tendrils main, or Vampiric Tutor and went more for just raw control power. I think the ability for the deck to find, use, and utilize counter magic and card draw is what makes it good—not its ability to race combo with certain hands. The sideboard:

1 Rebuild
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Flame-tongue Kavu (loved to have more, but lost all mine)
1 Massacre
1 Pyroclasm
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Spell Snare
2 REB
1 Pyroblast
2 Goblin Bombardment
1 Threads of Disloyalty

The board was thrown together and it shows, but turned out quite alright. It has some cards that I’m a big fan of in FTK and Bombardment, and addresses the match-ups that I felt were weak. It turned out quite alright. Sideboarding is one of my strong suites, where playing any match-up that's not the control mirror is not nearly a strong suite so I wasn't too worried about that part of my deck.

Round 1 – Oath Salvagers pile 1-2 0-1

My opponent was a friendly random playing what looked like Salvagers, and out of nowhere played Oath. He took game one with a Darksteel Colossus he Oathed up early.

I don’t remember how I boarded. Just that some blasts were played. I win game two with an avalanche of card advantage scrolling up an early Ancestral and following it up with Drain on a Salvagers into Will which led to scoopage. Somewhere in here I saw a Zuran Orb and Fastbond, so I boarded in a Rack and Ruin for Crucibles and what-not.

Game three I keep a decent but slow hand, and he goes off turn 2 with LED and I only have a MisD. It sucks because going off at that time was a mistake for him and it won him the game. Oh well.

Round 2 – Goblins 2-1 1-1

I get a game loss for registering 59 cards (third Misdirection missing), and am not looking forward to playing this match-up. It’s not that it’s hard, it just doesn’t suite my playstyle well. Game one I get the nuts with a turn one Ancestral, turn two Tinker, turn three Time Walk. Game two I get a turn 4 win with not much pressure thanks to countering Piledriver and him not having much pressure (or any REBs). I dodged a bullet there pulling it out with a game loss.

Round 3 – 9-Strip Kudzu WTG thing 2-0 2-1

I win turn two casting Ancestral, Misdirecting his, Tinker, Walk, Will.

I helped him make a few last minute changes to his deck so I know he’s playing Stifles instead of Dazes.

-Fire//Ice, Rebuild, Tinker, Darksteel Colossus, Burning Wish
+Flame-Tongue Kavu, Rack and Ruin, Tendrils of Agony, REB, Spell Snare (Kudzus, Werebears, counters, and Null Rods)

I play some stuff, counter some stuff, let some stuff resolve. My deck is more efficient at the control game though, so I hit hard with consecutive Ancestral and Thirst protecting them well until I let a Kudzu or something hit. Meanwhile I’m still drawing cards and tutoring for stuff while he is low on cards. I just win the late-game in the control match-up and combo for the win.

Round 4 Oath 2-0 3-1

I have an AVALANCHE of card advantage with an early Ancestral, lots of Brainstorms and Merchant Scrolls. I’m a turn away from getting Library active and he’s at 15 from Orchard spirits with 3 now on the board, so he has to run an unprotected Ancestral out there for fear of falling too far behind. I Misdirect it getting an extra draw off Library and close the game HARD (he wouldn’t scoop because he’s a friend of mine messing with me, so I stormed up to around 30 with a Darksteel Colossus on the board, I’m about to take another turn via Time Walk, and he’s at 4. That’ll learn’em. That’ll learn’em really good.).

-Mystical Tutor, Fire // Ice, Mox Pearl, Tinker, Colossus, Burning Wish
+2 Bombardment, 2 Spell Snare, Tendrils, REB

He plays Arcane Lab for some reason, and I let it resolve because I...because I’m not Long? Well I lock him under his own lab because I have more counters and better ways to find and use them. I counter some stuff like an Oath and an Impulse. I have a REB but I’m not blasting Lab because I have superior position so he’s the one that has to do something eventually. Sure enough after a few turns he plays some moxen and Lotus, but even when he can’t play spells for the rest of the turn I don’t REB sitting on a superior hand and a stronger deck for this type of situation. Like I thought he eventually does as expected and flinches first: He drops Razia using 2 Orchards and the Lotus. Obviously I counter, then beat for two a turn until he dies. Thanks for both the win condition (spirits) and for allowing me to lock you under your own lab for the win.

What are friends for?

Ben Carp – ICBM Oath – ID 3-1-1

Top Eight – Josh Rayden - Gifts

Some Merchant Scrolling early led to a slight edge on card advantage going into the mid-game. Leaving two mana up with only 3 cards in hand I put him on Drain and Ice his Lotus Petal leaving him with just a Flooded Strand open. I then untapped and Ancestral. With a slightly more developed mana base and up three cards in hand Josh had to make a move before I could roll my advantage further. It was a Gifts, and I cast Gifts in response. He attempted the Drain I put him on earlier, but I misdirected it to his own Gifts and winning was a formality from there.

-Mystical Tutor, Fire // Ice, Hyrkal’s Recall, Mana Drain
+2 REB, 1 Pyroblast, 1 Rebuild

Some stuff happened involving lots of bad cards being cast like Merchant Scroll and Thirst for Knowledge. Finally something relevant happened and I Ancestral Recalled myself. Huge stack, counter-war, and at the end I got to resolve Recall with nothing in hand going to 3 cards. He untapped, drew for turn, played a land, and Ancestralled going up to three in hand also. I ripped some business and kept the fort locked down with counters while setting up my hand with Brainstorm, Fetch, Brainstorm. Finally I cast a Gifts and the Tendrils of Agony kill took it home.

Top Four – Dan Carp – Gifts

He goes busted. I bounce the DSC after taking a cock-slap to the dome, but he just locks me out and hardcasts the mothertrucker.

-Fire // Ice, Mystical Tutor, Hyrkal’s Recall
+2 REB, 1 Pyroblast

I kind of just win. I drag it into the late-game with counters and punch an Ancestral through, followed by Thirst and eventually Gifts. This game went how it was supposed too, even though it took a lot of concentration because obviously Carp’s no slouch.

-Gifts Ungiven
+Mystical Tutor

I saw Tormod’s and would rather find and protect Tinker than try and go for the overwhelming Will. We both keep and he goes Mox Emerald pass. To have the balls to keep a no-lander on the play shows he’s got Ancestral and at least one counter, or Mana Crypt and Tinker plus the counter, or both. Well either way he draws a land…then another land….and then Lotus. Sure enough with the proper resources his hand was insane (how could it not be in order for a competent player to keep it?) and a few turns later I run a desperation Ancestral which gets Misdirected. Next turn involved a Gifts Ungiven, Chain of Vaporing his moxen and being able to Vamp for Tendrils, Ancestral into it, and blast it off with no mana to spare, and for exactly lethal. Well played Dan, even if you are a land-ripping lucksack that win still took focus.

Well Pastimes ran quite a good event, even if prizes didn’t go down to 8th and they didn’t give a lunch break, which seem to be two negative reoccurring themes with the Niles events. The prizes were all in good condition, and the swiss was run smoothly with a generally good atmosphere. A lot of fun all around. More people should come out to these events.

PART II

I’m unsure whether I’m going to the Time Spiral PTQ at Pastimes, or the double power Type 1 event at College of Dupage when I go to sleep, but then I woke up at 9:15 the next morning and checked the start times and punched the numbers: Pastimes event starts at 10 and it’s a twenty minute drive, whereas COD is a noon start and a 45 minute drive so I choose the one that gives me time to eat breakfast and shower over the one where I leave half naked and hungry right then. I get there a little early and chat with TK and Ben Carp for a bit, do a little barning and fill out a registration sheet. Here’s what I played this week:

4 Brainstorm
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Misdirection
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Recoup
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Burning Wish
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hyrkal’s Recall
1 Red Elemental Blast
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Tolarian Academy
7 SoLoMox
3 CryptVaultPetal

Sideboard
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Flame-Tongue Kavu
1 Massacre
1 Pyroclasm
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Spell Snare
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Tormod’s Crypt


Round 1 – Matt Morrison – Counterbalance Control

Game one I don’t really remember what happened besides me losing a lot. Top + Counterbalance + Bob = Frown Town.

+1 REB, 1 Pyroblast, 1 Massacre, 1 Flame-tongue Kavu, 2 Spell Snare, 1 Threads of Disloyalty
-1 Mystical Tutor, 2 Mana Drain, 1 Misdirection, 1 Gifts Ungiven, 1 Merchant Scroll, 1 Burning Wish

I kind of just win. Spell Snare kept a Bob off the board, Massacre got Duressed but then Flame-Tongue Kavu took it home wiping out another Bob.

-Threads of Disloyalty, Demonic Tutor
+Mystical Tutor, Pyroclasm

More of the same stuff, this time with a Planar Void involved, but kill stuff; counter stuff; win.

Round 2 – Kevin – Uba Stax

I win the roll and go pretty broken with first turn Drain mana, drain Crucible into Tinker and Merchant Scroll for FoW. Tangle Wire does some stuff but he can’t dig far enough with Bazaar for an answer to the 11/11.

-3 Misdirection, 1 REB
+2 Rack and Ruin, 2 Tormod’s Crypt

I didn’t have an extensive sideboard for Stax so I was a little nervous when I saw him bring in well over 7 cards. I do have the Force for his first turn In the Eye of Chaos though. On my turn I Time Walk into Merchant Scroll for another force. He Vamps and I Drain something, then Force another In the Eye of Chaos. A few turns of draw-go under Tangle Wire allows me to hit some crucial non-wasteland-able mana sources. He drops Karn and I Rack and Ruin it and a Wire at 2ish and he eats his Mana Crypt in response. His life total was quite low (10ish) from dubs City of Brass being tapped for mana and for Wires, and his turn one Crypt hit him once or twice over the course of the game. He dropped a Smokestack and my hand was Gifts, Rack and Ruin, Darksteel Colossus. I had a bunch of mana up and just kind of sat. Stack has to ramp up so there’s no reason to blast it and a mana source. Sure enough down comes Chalice at 2, so I get the 2-for-1 and Gifts into the Tendrils kill with ease thanks to being up multiple permanents and with Kevin out of threats (and cards) at a low life total.

Round 3 – Brad – Reanimator

I get paired down and no disrespect but it was kind of a cakewalk. It was really just not a competitive Type 1 deck since it plays like Long but then doesn’t win on the spot, and rolls over to Tormod’s Crypt even more. Game one I Merchant Scroll for Ancestral, cast it going to 8 in hand to pitch DSC, Drain Necromancy into Gifts and just kind of win I let him have Razia off an Exhume and Chain of Vapor it Misdirecting the copy to my Mox Sapphire allowing me to replay it putting Drain mana back onto the board.

I talked to him in between matches asking what he does against combo trying to see what he’ll bring in against me since I have no idea. I assume Duresses but I’m not sure. He says he implies he doesn’t have Extract, Tormod’s Crypt, or Leyline of the Void throughout our conversation so I board as follows:

-Tinker, Colossus, Burning Wish, REB
+Tendrils of Agony, 2 Tormod’s Crypt, 1 Spell Snare (Animate Dead and Exhume)

Much of the same. At one point during my combo turn (turn 5-6) I had 15 mana floating and cast Will. That was fun.

Round 4 – Tommy Kowlith – Scepter Control

ID

Round 5 – Eric Becker – URBana Fish

ID

I’m not even talking about the Top Eight. Between play mistakes, poor draws, terrible sideboard decisions, and a little luck on the part of my opponent (turn one Duresses against very vulnerable hands games 1 and 2, then turn one Tormod’s Crypt games 2 and 3 even though he only brought in two). I’m not saying bad beats or anything (I only mulled once), in fact just the opposite: it was a fun well fought match. It’s just frustrating working so hard and coming so close just to lose straight up. Especially because I think I could’ve taken Becker taking home power with TK. Oh well. Great games anyway.

Props
COD, for being an awesome venue
Morrison for being hilarious
TK and Becker for taking home some power
Chipotle for being tasty
Becker for the ride to lunch and lending me a MisD (which I still have to get back to you)

Slops
Me for losing
Endress for not even showing up
Endress for having me not see him since GenCon
Endress for being a rascal
Soly for the Sack-Taps
Ben Carp’s “Life” bringing everyone into Type 4 games they don’t want to play
Sullivan Solution for being more annoying than Stax to play against.

-AJ Sacher
MagicFruit10@Yahoo.com

I've been testing a version like that for a while as well. I haven't taken it to a tournement yet, and Top 4ed last weekend with my normal list (FoF has never been in it).

If you do that plan like I am going to, might I suggest Cabal Ritual instead? It's another mana, which makes it 2 more mana than Dark Ritual coming out of Will which allows you so much more flexability. Threshold is hardly a problem since if you're going for the Will-->Tendrils, then you've either already resolved Gifts filling the bin, or just a lot of set-up cards. Thresh is obv not hard to obtain in this deck making Cabal significantly better than Dark.
-AJ

Yes you can, but it does not draw a card if you're coming out of a Yawgmoth's Will.

Either way, I think Star warrants a slot in the deck, but not egg's. The egg allows you to continue your streak of black cards while allowing a brainstorm in between. Egg, although a bad card itself, is both necesary and insane in this deck. I'm sure Stephen'll back me up on this: allowing you to cast ALL of your spells as oposed to one color is some good I hear.

Both cards net a -1 in mana, and cantrip-replace themselves, and getting 2 mana is just as hard as getting 3 thanks to all of the accelerants in the deck.

I think star should be in the deck, but not for Egg.
-AJ

Edit :: Are you trying to take Repeal OUT of the deck? That card IS the deck! It generates mana with some artifacts, creates insane storm+evens out on cards AND mana (as oposed to just cards with chromatics), and can pop chalice with ease! The cards is a workhorse and an internal engine in the deck; one so powerful it resurected the deck upon being printed.

I agree with Stephen here, but my list is a little different than the typical Meandeck lists. You absolutely need 4 scrolls though. That card is stupid if you know how to play with it. People that say the second one is not as good as the first are just wrong. The second one is better, because that's when you usually get Ancestral (unless you already have two pitch counters when you play your first scroll).

Find Ancestral
Play and Protect Ancestral
Find Gifts
Play and Protect Gifts
Play and Protect Will
Win

Now Merchant scroll is very difficult to play with properly but the more testing you do the more you'll realize how ridiculous it is.

as for Gifts, I only run 3. Now here me out. With all of the tutor power in the deck (Merchant Scroll) and drawing power (counters for more turns, and Scroll-->Ancestral+Brainstorm) finding a Gifts when you need it is not hard. In the metagame full of prison where you don't want a four mana spell clogging up your hand, and Pitchlong, where you'll be using them to fend off early threats via FoW and MisD anyway, because if you don't you won't GET to have four mana.

I also don't play Fact or Fiction, but that's a whole other debate. I play one Thirst so if I have DSC in hand late game I can scroll for it to shuffle it back and draw three in the process instead of getting brainstorm. Also this allows me to cast gifts for gas much like the versions that run FoF do for the control mirror. The list:

4 Merchant Scroll
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall

1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Burning Wish
1 Recoup
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 DSC

1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Misdirection

1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
1 Fire // Ice

5 Fetch
3 Island
2 Snow-covered Island
2 Underground
2 Volcanic
1 Tolarian
7 SoLoMox
3 CryptVaultPetal

it's very solid, and I've been playing it for a while. Odds are I'm changing to a rogue deck I've been working on though.
-AJ

I did something similar to that in Control Slaver, but now that I'm playing Gifts I've realized that the card Gifts Ungiven is one of the best Yawgmoth's Will set-up spells every printed.

Fish is obviously not all that great of a match-up, but if you can counter their Kataki's and Jotun Grunts (nothing else really matters as long as you keep an eye on your life total) then winning through a counter or two is not that hard. Obviously it's a nice luxury to chuck an 11/11 on the board, and that's why he's in the deck (even just as a threat meaning Tinker is a must-counter for them allowing Will to resolve. Another good point is that because Fish is such an underpowered deck, your draws will be better than there's. MDG's threat density is obscene compared to UW. This means that the late-game benifits you, and if you Tendrils for even a little, or get your DSC StPed, the life you gain gives you time to set-up the other win.

DSC is stupid good obviously, and is the only reason to be running Tinker, but the threat of the 3 mana 11/11 is too great to remove from the deck. This doesn't mean that Tendrils isn't much more efficient though.
-AJ

Because of the splash hate that can make Tendrils much more difficult like Tormod's Crypt. It also allows you to just go busted turn one and end up with an 11/11. I've tried Gifts without it (on MWS, so it wasn't that great of quality testing but still) and it functions similarly but misses throwing Tinker into a Gifts pile and either get the Lotus you wanted, or shove a huge-ass onto the field forcing your oponent to deal with it.
-AJ