I would like to point out that you all suck.

I just got a very convincing spoof email. Here's the first part of it:
"Due to recent activity, including possible unauthorized listings placed on your account, we will require a second confirmation of your identity with us in order to allow us to investigate this matter further.Your account is not suspended, but if in 48 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to suspend your eBay registration. If you received this notice and you are not the authorized account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of eBay policy to represent oneself as another eBay user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law. eBay is committed to assist law enforcement with any inquires related to attempts to misappropriate personal information with the intent to commit fraud or theft. Information will be provided at the request of law enforcement agencies to ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

I just dumped over $1200 worth of cards on eBay, which is uncharacteristic of my account, so I thought it was legit. It had a pretty convincing site linked to it as well, but the link didn't have ebay.com anywhere in it, only an IP address.

And then the email said "eBay will request personal data (password, credit card/bank numbers, and so on) in this email." So I clicked forward, Spoof@ebay.com. But I thought you all should know.

Feel free to move this to whatever forum thought best.

Peace,
The Soup

I am finally making it to GenCon after going to the past half a dozen Origins.  So, as the title states, who else will be there?  And don't forget to put your TMD Name somewhere on your badge if possible.

Also, does anyone have crash space available?  I'm content to sleep on the floor and I'll bring my own pillow

The Soup

Old School TN-- Timetwister recurrsion.  So if you counter the Crucibles, the Timetwister, the Yawg Will, AND the Regrowth you win.  That's pretty much the way all combo works.  If you have enough counters you win, otherwise combo wins.

But keep in mind that especially against 4cc, 7 strip effects can make UU for drain a bit difficult.

You have no idea how happy I am to see TurboNevyn-style decks do well!  I do have to inquire as to why "Animal Farm" however.

Congrats for pushing through the flak and criticism and not giving up.  I played with a vaguely similar build when CoW was still called the whatever Plow, and quickly gave up.  

TN for Life!  (Bah, now I finally have to find some workshops...)

The Soup

Yes, that's most definately an important lack of an "L" in there     And has anyone else had the distinct opportunity to attempt to post on TMD using a Pentium 75 and a 14.4 modem?  Yeah, 3 hours later I got to finally read two posts...

Oh, and for the record I think Riggy summed up my thoughts a bit more completely, thus most of my original post was unnecessary (except for the part about the final ruling being correct).

The Soup

I was involved with the Time Walk debacle, so I'll clear a few things up:

I cast Time Walk, my opponent attempts to misdirect, I state that I didn't believe he could, we call the judge.  The Judge mentions that there was a new (?!) errata and that Time Walk was indeed targetted.  I politely challenge the ruling and ask if he would check on that.  SEVEN minutes pass as first one judge and then another goes off to find some sacred tome of knowlege that is oh-so-cleverly locked away with no key.  It went up to Head Judge (not TO, AFIAK), and it was ruled that Time Walk was NOT targetted.  

Now, I shall spew forth my opinions on a very specific matter.  IF YOU'RE NOT CURRENTLY JUDGING AN EVENT, SHUT THE HELL UP.  It helps no one for half a dozen players who "know" the rules shout out answers, most of the time contradicting.  There's only one answer that's important to anyone, and that's the answer of the Head Judge/TO.  What do you want the judge to say, "Well, gee I thought it was ruled X, but now that Player Q has informed me that it works this way, I'll rule Y."  Come on.  

This is not an attack on any specific player(s), but just as an example, take the Columbus Mox tourney from a few months back where we had no Judge.  Morphing was ruled to be countered by Damping Matrix by several players who "knew" the rules.  

Judges make bad calls.  It happens.  Some things can easily be prevented (with an oralce text, for example).  But rulings need to come from judges, not players.  Period.  I'll take an incorrect ruling from a judge before I'll take a correct ruling from another player.  That's part of the game.  

But now I think we should get back on topic.  Ahem.  He lost to Darksteel Colossus?!  How terrible.  Why that's almost as bad as Hi-Val not dropping his mox before animating his Dragon...

The Soup

I'll be joining my Team Mercy compadres for Type 1 goodness.  But I think I'll sit out at least one 'main event' for the 1.5 Creature Feature for pure novelty

The Soup

I think Dust to Dust needs a mention-  1WW Remove two target artifacts from the game.  Unfortunately it *is* at sorcery speed and white to boot, but I think the removed from game aspect is not to be taken lightly.  Granted, in actual game play getting double white can be tough, but in theory it should work

The Soup

I've been looking for a way to resurrect TurboNevyn since the restriction of Gush, and when rumors of CoW hit, I spent many hours trying to use it.  And I got nowhere.  Nether the less, I will continue my quest to make use of my explorations again

The Soup

[quote="dmessiah Just a quick question: what do you name with Mage vs Tog?  The obvious answer seems to be "Psychatog", but I could see merit to naming "Cunning Wish" since it kills berserk plus most of the non-deed answers they have game 1. Thanks.[/quote]

"Using Meddling Mage is an artform"-- Someone on one of the plethera of EBA posts.  

Naming TOG is actually a fairly poor choice, as they can continue to draw bunches of cards and, in effect, grow their tog while they wait for an answer.  Game 1 I name Cunning Wish first, P. Deed second, unless I know their build runs more than 1 deed main deck.  Deed destroys so much stuff that the Deed is more dangerous than Mr. Teeth himself.  Also remember that Damping Matrix does a good job of stopping TOG, and both Wish and Deed stop Matrix.  

But of course, it also depends on what's going on in the game.  If the TOG player just AKed for three and Merchant Scrolled for the 4th on his last turn, AK isn't a bad call.  Or if you've used 2-3 Mana Drains and he has yet to cast one, Drain works too.  MM is very situational and you have to be mindful of what has been played, as well as what you expect will be played.  

Hope this helps,
The Soup

Not really sure what "Dryad Hate" consists of, but here's a link to my Mint Skittles (EBA, no black) which ran both:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15831

The Soup

Bah!  If you can't write an article that handles every conceivable possibility, including and especially Desert-Camel Decks and Millstone/Control, then you shouldn't write articles at all.  Geesh.

Btw, no silent "h"-- "Jon" will suffice  

The Soup

I'm guessing you've never had a Null Rod Welded away?  I agree with most of what you said, but against Staks/MUD/Slaver, I think I prefer shutting off Welder to shutting down mana sources.  

The Soup

While they do two different things, they are similar enough to compare.  Although I have been known to pack both in the same deck.  If you expect a field of Tendrils variants, Null Rods.  Against Madness, Slaver, TOG, et al, Damping Matrix is far superior.  Of course, it also depends on what you're running.  If you need your Grimmies to shoot fire, then better stick with the Null Rod.  

The Soup

Of course, if you're really good (or lucky), as the control player you can purposefully say "Draw, Go" if you have an outlet for mana drain mana.  Several times while playing Mint Skittles/EBA, a tastey Drain target has equaled Morphed Angel or Damping Matrix for free, which I had not planned to cast as I wanted two islands open.

"Aha!  But I know that you are an intelligent man and an intelligent man would put the poison as far away from himself as possible.  So clearly I can not choose the glass in front of me!"

Other tricks can involve only declaring an attack step on occasion, implying to your opponent that you do have a drain in hand, when in fact you may not.  

Mana Drain is absolutely a psychilogical card worthy of discussion, and I'm very glad Kevin brought it up.  But it's not quite as simple as it originally looks.  You can think yourself in circles, especially if you also have to consider whether or not your opponent has read the article

The Soup

If a resolved DMatrix "shuts down enough to win with ease" against Slaver, I have to question the experience of the Slaver player (no offense intended, Slaver is a *tough* deck to truly master).  I've lost several games to Pentavus/Trisk beat down with no Angel in sight.  And Rack & Ruin is quite the house.  My point is that often DMatrix can use the help of his little brother Null Rod.  Yes, it can be welded.  But MM naming Welder and Null Rod just adds more threats they need to counter/remove.



Don't misunderstand what Hi-Val and I are saying-- Matrix is absolutely superior to Moat against Hulk.  But against a deck running 8 counters and a bunch of draw, I like to have more "must-counters."  I would side in Matrix before Moat, but that doesn't necessarily mean Moat doesn't make the cut, for the very reason you point out-- Artifact Muation sucks against Moat, and hopefully you can pull off a MM naming Deed.



Then you're a luckier man than I.  I've had opponents down to 4 life before recurring Slavers sealed the game.  



To be honest, this is a card that I have not playtested with.  My gut says no.  It doesn't produce White, and more importantly, there are very few games where I have a fistful of cards.  I usually sit at 2 or 3 and then Library is pure jank.

Regarding the White source issue, I'm toying with something that I'm actually a bit embarassed to even mention.  -2 Underground Sea, +2 Scrubland.  I know, I know, Scrublands in type 1.  With six blue duals, 4 fetches, and more basic Islands than plains (for Blood Moon), I think the deck can support a few non-blue duals.  It also will make Fetching a little easier if I already have 1 island and 1 Tundra and want both black and WW.  Testing will hopefully see if this is viable.  Another option is Mox Diamond, which would also help with Blood Moon.  I may replace Sol Ring with it and see...

The Soup

Null Rod is not a "play-as-soon-as-you-draw-it" card.  Evaluate the situation and then make an informed decision.  Opening hand of Mox, Mana Crypt, Land, Null Rod will not make the Rod a first turn play.  However, if you draw 2-3 more lands and your oppoent is using lots of articats, play it.  It's an absolute house against decks that don't have an answer for it.  If it's not applicable at the moment, try to Brainstorm it away.  But it wrecks Slaver (until they find an answer or Weld it away), most combo, and TOG (if they're mana light and have several moxen).  It's too good to not at all.  But, yes, I did side it out occasionally.

Go back and read your own report again regarding Moat.  It slowed your opponent down until he drew Wonder.  What would have happened if you hadn't had Moat?  More beats a lot quicker.  It's also strong against Tog, O. Stompy, random Aggro (which I expected at the Grand Prix), and even Slaver (if D. Matrix is out, their only flyer is Pentavus and maybe Platinum Angel).  Will Moat single handedly win games?  Probably not.  Does it help?  Absolutely.  

D2D is still strong, but it may not make the cut until I adjust the mana base.  WW is a requirement, period.  No angel= suck.  If I'm going to run enough white for Exalted, I'll try to work with D2D again as well.  

Regarding the Wastelands, see above-- I need colored mana.  It did allow Steve to run rampant with a Library for several turns, but I think that game was lost anyway.  

Chains... eh... Last minute decision for techiness.  Yeah, mostly for Draw.7, but I'd probably side it in against 3 color TOG (Against 4 Color I think BEB is stronger, and there's not enough to side out).  Besides it's wicked tech with Skeletal Scrying main....

And Hi-Val hit it on the nose-- "Anything that runs Negator and Phid is outdated."  But I'd also add, anything that doesn't include MINIMUM 2 Damping Matrix isn't worth playing ATM.  In my opinion, Matrix is what makes EBA playable right now.  

Peace,
The Soup

Unless there's a universal policy preventing such, I would prefer if this report was *not* moved to the Tournament Forum so that I may respond to any comments.  Thanks.

Before I delve into the actual report, I’d like to take a moment to state that, in general, I believe the casual use of profanity and crude humor is rather base and illustrates a lack of creativity and being an ignorant buffoon.  But there are times when one doesn’t mind appearing a buffoon.  This is one of those times…

WARNING:  This tournament report contains adult content not suitable for children.  It’s Type One Gone Wild!  With sexy magic co-eds willing to bear all!  Or perhaps not.  But it does contain references to bestiality, masturbation, and perhaps even animal masturbation.  Viewer discretion is advised.  

It’s not a long drive from Oxford, Ohio to Columbus, but part of me wanted to skip the tournament, perhaps just sit back with a few cold ones, maybe watch a little “Mork and Mindy” on Channel 57.  But then I remembered how boring Oxford really is.  

If I’m going to head to Columbus for a Saturday tournament, I’ll always try to make time Friday night to hit my old magic hangout on the west side.  A place where I can usually make up my gas money with a few easy trades.  The folks there lined up like the Pharisees at the whorehouse to trade with me.  The best cards I lost were Vampiric Dragon and RV Shivan Dragon and I pulled in 30-40 cards either for Five Color or for my “One step above jank” binder.  Two guys claimed to actually get wood from looking through my binder.  I didn’t check the accuracy of their statements, but I did ask them to avoid getting spooge on my Type 1 goodies.  

For the past few tournaments I’ve taken “Mint Skittles” which has evolved into something that remotely resembles EBA.  I took 6th at the last Columbus Mox tourney and a solid first place at the Grand Prix Columbus Type 1.   But in the past month and a half, more things went in and out of my deck than Paris Hilton.  And with all the alterations and a SB that was created mostly the morning of the tournament, my deck decided to treat me like a Babylonian whore.  And not in a good way.

4x Underground Sea
4x Tundra
4x Flooded Strand
3x Island
2x Plain
1x Strip Mine
1x Black Lotus
3x Mox Sapphire, Pearl, Jet
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Duress

4x Meddling Mage
4x Exalted Angel

1x Ancestral Recall
4x Brainstorm
1x Time Walk
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x FoF
1x Skeletal Scrying
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Vindicate

3x Damping Matrix
2x Null Rod

SB:
2x Chains of Mephistopheles
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Dust to Dust
2x Stp
2x BEB
1x Damping Matrix
1x Moat
3x Orim’s Chant

The tournament was an hour late getting started due to four guys from Cleveland having car trouble, and we opted to wait for them.  Type Four ensued, much fun was had by all, and I was taught that “counter-wars” are relatively difficult to achieve when one can only cast one spell per turn.  And Doug learned that the alternate casting cost of Force of Will is about as useful as sporting two-inch wood.

Round 1:  Jason, TMD “The Captain.”  Control Slaver.
From very limited playtesting Friday night, unpowered Control Slaver absolutely wrecks me.  Powered, it makes me feel like a soiled tissue after a long night of watching Paris Hilton videos on the internet.  

Game 1 I manage to drop 2nd turn Lotus, 2 Moxen, hard cast Exalted.  Jason Forced, removing Thirst for Knowledge, I Forced, removing Meddling Mage.  Angel resolves.  Turn three I cast a savage Demonic Tutor and make the first of many play mistakes for the day.  Not mistake like accidentally sleeping with your sister when you’re drunk mistake, but more like forgetting to rewind your roommate’s copy of Luscious Babes of Nazi Germany mistake.  I only had two mana available so I opted for Null Rod which I could cast immediately, over say, Damping Matrix or Ancestral or any other freaking card in the deck.  It’s important to note that my opponent had a Welder in play.  Null Rod becomes Black Lotus, and beats begin.  The Angel swung for three turns before an insane Fact or Fiction seals my doom.  Hooray for Mindslaver!

Game 2 my opponent parised to six.  I dropped an early Meddling Mage naming Rack and Ruin, as I also had a 2nd turn Damping Matrix.  My mage was beaten like a wanker owing money to the mob by sided-in Flametongue Kavu.  “Planeshift tech for your Planeshift tech.”  His tech was better than mine.  A morphed Angel met the same fate, and I couldn’t stop a pair of 4/2 monsters the likes of Anna Nicole’s hoo-has.  

Games 0-2
Matches 0-1

Round Two:  Tim Allen with Draw.7.
Game 1 was dubbed “The Game That Never Was” as we both agreed to never speak of it again, and to pretend that it never happened.  Ergo, the following is a fictitious account of something that didn’t occur.

I started off with Land and Mox, but Tim cast a second turn draw 7 which left me with zero mana producers in hand, but him with almost all land.  I Forced his Timetwister and his storm count putzed out at seven.  I play Draw-Go as I can’t find land to cast all the goodies in my hand.  Soon after Tim cast Diminishing Returns (removing Tendrils in the process), and I draw Ancestral, Brainstorm, Skeletal Scrying, and no freaking lands.  I have 1 land and two Moxen.  Ancestral resolves, no land.  Brainstorm resolves, no land.  Next turn I Skeletal for two, no land.  Meanwhile Tim hard casts ESG because “mis-assignment of roles=game loss” and everyone knows the combo player is the beatdown. Tim drops a second ESG and the beating continues.  

The entire time I felt like I was masturbating with my clothes on—the win was so close, and yet, in the end, just damn frustrating.

I finally manage to draw my last Mox (still no land), and cast Fact or Fiction.  My opponent wisely separates the cards into threats (angel) and lands, and I opt to take the lands. I topdeck two more lands and have zero threats in hand.  ESG’s get me down to six and I find a Meddling Mage (naming ESG, but he becomes a chump blocker anyway).  Then Tim cast Bargain and me with a Drain but no other spells.  Even with Tendrils removed, I believe he can find Burning Wish within 13 cards, so I drain the Bargain, topdeck land, and fucking burn to death.  Yea…  How unbelievably pathetic.  But of course, none of this ever happened…

Game 2:  Draw sevens get countered, I can’t find threats, he plays Xanitc Swarm.  I’m holding FoW and Mana Drain and think to myself, “I wonder if Snoopy ever got it on with Lucy, because damn was she fine,” and then decide to let the Swarm resolve in case he was baiting me for another spell this turn.  And I’m an idiot.  He passes the turn and I draw shite.  Over the course of the next three or four draw sevens I encounter multiple FoW’s, Mana Drains, even a few Orim’s Chants.  And I can’t cast a single one.  

Games 0-4
Matches 0-2

With only 18 people at least I can still make top 8 at 3-2.  And I figure with an early 0-2 at least I won’t have to face amazing players and I might even dodge Slaver completely.  And I get paired with Steve Menendian with Meandeck Slaver.  Wtf?  Yeah, he’s 0-2 as well.

Round 3: Steve Menedian with some jank pile of cards that includes Goblin Welder and Mindslaver.  How can it possibly be any good?
Steve won the die role.  I kept an opening hand containing Force of Will and some other things, while Steve parised to six.  He dropped first turn Lotus (no land drop) and I paused to consider Forcing thinking he might be mana light, but then I remember how much Steve uses “smoke and mirrors” and he might be wanting me to think he’s mana light and he’s holding a fist full of lands.  Mox Sapphire followed Lotus, pop for red, Welder gets Forced, Sapphire becomes Tinker food, which equals Gilded Lotus.  An amazing Fact-or-fucking-Fiction of Thirst, Thirst, Ancestral, Mana Vault, Mox Pearl later, and Steve doesn’t even bother to lube up before ass-raping me.  

Game Two: I manage an early Damping Matrix and two morphed Exalteds as I sit on Island, Tundra, Mox Sapphire and no fourth land in sight.  Steve casts a Brainstorm and comments “This will take me a while to decide” and proceeds to sit and ponder which of three cards to return to the top of his library.  While Steve contemplated, I just daydreamed about what I wanted to do with Kevin’s mom, a goat, and a jar of peanut butter.  He casts some ass-backwards Nemesis card that apparently not only kills an artifact, but it’s free if your opponent is playing the best color in Magic and you control a mountain.  However, it still costs three if you forget to cast Blood Moon first.  My beats plus Mana Crypt damage plus City of Traitors brought Steve down to four before Trisk kills one morphed Angel and Memnarch steals the other.  Gilded Lotus = fiipped angel and I cry like a little bitch.  

Games 0-6
Matches 0-3  

I hadn’t even won a single freakin’ game!  I seriously pondered dropping so I can catch a few hours of sleep before heading to work at midnight.  I decided to play another round, as Type 1 is Type Fun, and I get paired with a freaking bye.  I drop and make the drive home.  Overall it would have been more advantageous had I stayed home and had anal sex with my goldfish and roommate’s cat.  But such is life.

As I ducked out early, I just saw the top 8 list.  I'm glad to see someone use EBA a bit more intelligently than I did, as well as all three of my opponents ended up in top 8.  

In conclusion, remember, “It’s the queers, there in it with the aliens; they’re making landing strips for gay Martians!  I swear to God!”

Props:
Mike for loaning me cards for Grand Prix tournament and I forgot to thank him
Doug's girlfriend (Erin?) for baking us cookies, giving me some wicked-good painkillers, and getting an invite to join Team Meandeck before they realized she planned to sell their secrets to Russia
Ghengis Khan simply for being Ghengis Khan
ESG for being able to beat
Steve for opting to not randomly flip through my graveyard while not my current opponent
Fazzoli’s for incredible lemon freezes
My roommate’s cat for reasons better left unsaid
Stuart, for not being like everyone else, here in the trailer park

Slops:
My deck for deciding to suck
Meddling Mage for having a toughness of two and bending over to FTK
FTK for being good and not being in my deck
Tundras for boycotting rounds 2 and 3
Kevin’s mom for not returning my phone calls
Work for expecting me to be there at midnight
Ohio drivers for not understanding the concept of SLOWER TRAFFIC MOVES RIGHT
Memnarch for stealing my Exalted
Dust to Dust for having WW in the casting cost
And for fucking snow in early April

Despite my loathing of Type II, I decided to head to Grand Prix Columbus because a) I figured the trading would be decent, and b) I heard there was going to be a sanctioned Type 1 event.  I didn’t find out about the Type 1 until sometime mid-week, and I didn’t have time to play-test.  But I made some significant meta-game alterations to my “Mint Skittles” and played 10-12 games Saturday afternoon at the Grand Prix.  I wasn’t too thrilled with my SB, but the rest of the deck looked pretty solid.  

My original version of the deck can be found here

Mint Skittles Take 2:  Back With Black

4x Meddling Mage
4x Exalted Angel

4x Mana Drain
4x Force of Will
4x Duress

4x Brainstorm
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Fact or Fiction

1x Time Walk
1x Yawgmoth’s Will
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mindtwist

2x Swords to Plowshares
1x Vindicate
2x Damping Matrix

1x Mana Crypt
1x Sol Ring
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Sapphire
4x Tundra
4x Underground Sea
4x Flooded Strand
2x Island
1x Plain
1x Strip Mine
3x Wasteland

SB:
Moat
2x Stp
3x BEB
3x Dust to Dust
1x Serenity
2x hibernation
2x Damping Matrix
1x Vampiric Tutor

I won’t veer too far into card choices, as I don’t believe that’s really what a tournament report should do, and I’m in the process of writing a full deck analysis which will hopefully be finished in the next few days.  Briefly, I added Black mostly for Duress, as it complemented Meddling Mage very well, especially in such an unknown meta.

Five rounds of Swiss, no top 8.  Eighteen players.  When I started playing I hadn’t intended on writing a report, thus my notes are very vague.  I added details as it went on.

Match 1:  Kevin Cron, Meandeck Slaver.  I had faced Kevin at the last Columbus Mox Tourney, but I received my match loss for forgetting to un-sideboard completely.  I joked that I was glad to be facing him in the first round, as I hadn’t had time to screw up my SB yet.

Game One consisted of an early Damping Matrix and two Meddling Mages, naming Pentavus and Memnarch.  I believe Kevin scooped after the second mage, as he didn’t have any win conditions left besides Welder beats.  
- Vindicate, - Mindtwist, - FoF, - Mana Crypt*, - Time Walk, -Yawgmoth’s Will.  +2 BEB, +2 Dust to Dust, +2 Damping Matrix.  

*This was probably a misplay, and should have been – 1 Sol Ring instead, which I did throughout many of my later matches.  

I have absolutely no notes for Game 2.  I won with Angel beats, if I remember correctly.  And I dropped Damping Matrix at some point.  After the match Kevin said, “I think we have a new arch-type to discuss.”  And we went on to discuss my changes and why I felt comfortable adding black.

Games: 2-0
Matches: 1-0

Match Two: Doug playing basically Meandeck Slaver, mostly powered (including my borrowed Emerald).  Doug and I are teammates and neither of us was thrilled with this pairing, although our playtesting suggested I had the upper hand.  

Game 1 I dropped two early Mages naming Goblin Welder and Thirst for Knowledge.  Mages swung for game.

Game 2, I had an early Mage for Welders, and later Angels sealed the deal.  Afterwards we discussed the strength of a deck that sides out half the restricted list.  (SB same as Game 1, except Sol Ring instead of Crypt).  

Games 4-0
Matches: 2-0

Match 3:  Someone I knew from Cincinnati but whose name I have forgotten, playing Smmenen’s borrowed un-powered Dragon.  He mentioned he was unpowered, and I laughed and said, “Thanks, now I know I don’t need to mulligan if I don’t have the Force.”

Game 1: He Vampiric very early in the game, which I let resolve as I was holding back a Wasteland.  I dropped a second turn Mage naming Animate Dead, and he got one use from his Bazaar before I killed it.  Mage swung for two turns before a Damping Matrix sealed the deal.  I asked him why he scooped to Matrix and he said that Laquatus was his only win condition.  So obviously I sided in the other two J
- Mindtwist, -Time Walk, -FoF, -Sol Ring, -Yawgmoth’s Will, -Vindicate.  +2 Damping Matrix, +2 BEB, +2 StP.

Game 2:  My notes indicate that I “had fun.”  I had an early hand full of counters/duress which paved the road for Mages naming P. Deed and Animate Dead.  I drained an Intuition and Forced a Vampiric Tutor back to back, and my mages went all the way.  I was getting sick draws.

Games: 6-0
Matches: 3-0

Match 4:  Sam with Ankh Sligh.  Sam was a real cool guy who didn’t know about The Mana Drain (I rectified this) and he said this was his first Type 1 tournament ever.  I didn’t see any power, although someone else said he had at least the Ruby.  

Game 1:  I won the die roll and managed first turn Duress, pulling the Ankh.  He dropped first turn Black Vice, which ended up not doing too much damage, as I sat at 5 cards for a while.  But I saw Fanatic, Jackal Pup, and Gorilla Shaman.  So turn two I Forced the Pup (removing Time Walk), as I knew I didn’t have any blockers any time soon.  I had a morphed Angel by turn 5 or 6, but no second white and me sitting at 10.  I brainstormed into Tundra and swung with a flipped angel, although he replied with a vicious Price of Progress for 8.  I dropped a second angel, and the life gain from my two Exalteds ended up being all the difference.  I squeaked by game 1.
SB: - Vindicate, -Mana Crypt, -2 Damping Matrix, -Yawg. Will, -Fact or Fiction.  +3 BEB, +1 Moat, +2 Stp.

Game 2 was just odd.  My opponent Parised to six and dropped a first turn Wasteland.  I fetched a basic island, but then we both played Draw-Go for several turns.  Sam couldn’t pull a red source, although he did drop an Ankh of Mishra at some point.  My only early threat was a Meddling Mage naming Price of Progress, but he met an early demise to a Pyrokenisis (removing Pyroblast).  Topdecking my Lotus allowed me to hard cast an Angel (with Mana Crypt), and the three damage a turn from Crypt was negated with life gain.  Lack of red sources for so long ended up costing him the game, as he had no answer for my Angel.  

Games:  8-0
Matches 4-0

Round Five I was paired with Stephen Menendian giving me a second shot after losing to him in the Top 8 at Columbus.  But with no Top 8 here, the winner of our match would take first, while the loser might end up as low as 4th depending on tiebreakers.  I had beaten Meandeck Slaver quite solidly thus far today, and Steve didn’t want to risk getting less than 2nd.  He offered to draw, giving me a guaranteed first place and box of Darksteel.  Something about IDing in the final round didn’t sit well with me, but I had nothing to gain from playing it out.  So I accepted and we played for fun.  And Steve absolutely destroyed me.  

My notes on this match are very sketchy, and Steve’s report is much more detailed and complete.  If this match interests you at all, I’d recommend reading his

Game 1 I had early mana denial with two wastes, and Crypt allowed a second turn Morphed Angel.  Brainstorm found my second white source, and the beats began.  But he had the Force of Will for my Matrix which would have sealed the deal.  The Angel got him down to five life before things turned for the worse.  Late in the game Steve cast a Brainstorm to refill on threats.  I responded with a brainstorm, finding Force (removing Time Walk), but he also had FoW backup.  His brainstorm resolved and that ended up being the game.  I Swords one Welder, but he topdecked another and recurring Mindslaver made my Angel fairly useless.  

Game 2 I stopped taking notes, but I remember it wasn’t nearly as close.  I flat out was pnwed.  

So what did we learn today?  EBA-ish decks are underrated and have a fairly decent matchup with Slaver (although I still need to do much more testing against Hulk).  Steve top-decks like a world champ, and his only possible “play mistake” was IDing J .   And never get involved in a land war in Asia.  

Anybody want to trade a Mana Drain for a box of Darksteel?

It would be silly to make a guess from only what you've listed here, but if that's what you want, sure:  I've purchased two collections that sound about the size of what you have, for $2k and $3.5k, although the first one was before the P9 spike.  Depending on condition of your beta power, I'd say you'd be hard pressed to get too much more than $3,500.  What it comes down to, in part, is few players/collectors have several grand to toss around, and dealers really will screw you if they can.  If you get a rough list together of the big stuff (with general conditions), shoot me an email and I'll make an offer.  

Btw, did you play BBS at Origins two or three years ago?  I played a Matt Smith once, although it is a common name     I was playing TurboNevyn at the time.

The Soup

Apparently I'm out-voted here, as anyone who didn't referred to it as U/W control or EBA, did indeed call it "Mint Skittles" (which is like 3 whole people).  So, Mint Skittles it is.  

I'm actually working on a deck analysis of sorts, which may be up for discussion in the next couple days.


The Soup

Steve--

A few simple, silly type-o's like "than" instead of "they" or something equally mundane, and then a "your" instead of "You're" towards the end of the article.  The "your" thing is a personal pet peeve of mine, hence the jibe.  But I'm not going to re-read the article just to nit-pick.

On topic:  Do you think Draw7 is less skill intensive than Long?  I haven't goldfished yet with Draw7, but I'm guessing it will be slightly easier to pilot.  Do you agree?

The Soup

What's entertaining is that I was going to comment that Orim's Chant stops the combo fairly effectively  Not that too many folks play MD Chants, but I had fun with them in Columbus.  My opponent Wheeled with floating mana, dropped a Sol Ring, and I Chanted in reponse.   He not only took several points of burn, but was forced to pass the turn.  Especially with all those draw 7's, if they have an untapped white source, it's a threat.

With regards to Xantic swarms:  Always attack before casting your draw7.  I realize this probably sounds like a no-brainer, but, again, in the last Columbus tourney, my opponent didn't realize mana pools were emptied before and after the attack phase.  He started to "combo off" with an untapped Swarm and I ended up stopping the combo and he took mana burn.

Btw, the ESG beat down is plausible, especially if both win conditions are removed.  If I hadn't drawn that Chant, I would have been facing several little green men.

Steve--- your article seemed to have more grammatical errors than normal.  Did you not proofread, or is Spring Break causing mental lapses?

The Soup

I understand the temptation to include mystical, and if this wasn't such a tight deck, I'd consider it, but never at the expense of Enlightened.  I'd also include the fourth Rod or fourth Chant ere I'd toss in Mystical, for THIS metagame.  

Questioning the Enlightened is really not understanding why this deck is so much different than EBA.  The Rods/Matrix weren't just "good cards" tossed into a U/W control deck, rather they're the focal point of the deck.  Same for B2B, although, I admit it didn't pull it's weight enough this week.  Although, against Madness my opponent tapped all his non-basics to swing with pumped Rootwallas AND had already tapped his Bazaar.  I cast Enlightened on his endstep, and B2B hits play.  

To sum up, it's not about "drawing one [Rod/Matrix]" at some point in the match.  It's about getting the right card when you need it, which against combo, is right-freaking-now.   With mystical, my best chance would be mystical for ancestral and hope to draw what I needed.  

Oh, and as an added bonus, Enlightended can grab Seal of Cleansing game two, unless of course there's a chalice for 2

The Soup

If you don't mind a "short" drive, there's a weekly Type 1 in Blacksburg (Virginia Tech) at Fun and Games.  There's a few TMDers there (riggy, and I can't remember the other guys' handles).  The competition is decent, they allow 5 proxies, and I think the entry fee is like $2.  And every 4-6 months I make the drive down

The Soup

Thanks guys.  While I doubt it would have affected any match losses, it certaintly could have saved me some game losses which would have affected various tie breakers.  Oh, well.  It happens.

The Soup

JP, if you're right, I'll be just a little upset.  As relatively informal as this tournament was, we called for a Judge to get the ruling, and it came back as Damping Matrix stops Morph.  This affected my playing the rest of the day (holding back Matrix until I unmorph angel, waiting to hard cast Angel, even siding out Matrix).

I would be very interested if someone could give a definitive answer.

The Soup

I think everyone can agree that the most recent 100% proxy tournament in Columbus was a blast.  I certainly enjoyed seeing fellow TMDers, several of whom I had only read their posts but had not met in person.  

Twenty-four players, five rounds of Swiss and then Top 8.  I Smurfed into Top 8 with a deck, that by all rights, is quite a pile:  

Smurf Acne.dec

4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
2x Stifle
3x Orim’s Chant
4x Meddling Mage
2x Back to Basics

4x Brainstorm
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Deep Analysis
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Enlightened Tutor

2x Exalted Angel

3x Null Rod
2x Damping Matrix

1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Black Lotus
1x Sol Ring
4x Tundra
4x Flooded Strand
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
4x Island
4x Plains

SB:
4x BEB
1x Stifle
1x Deep Analysis
1x Seal of Cleansing
3x Dust to Dust (savage tech)
3x Stp
2x Exalted Angel

When one glances over this decklist several questions should spring to mind, not the least of which is “THAT top 8ed?”, along with “Why Smurf Acne?”   The second answer is much simpler that the first—It’s mostly blue, but it’s the white stuff that’ll keep you from going to the Prom.  The first question really boils down to meta—it was a full proxy tournament and I was expecting Tog, Slaver, and combo.  Look over the deck again.  Was this a heavily meta-ed deck?  Of course.  In fact one of the original name choices was Meta.dec.  But it worked.

Is it simply EBA without Black?  I feel the differences are pretty profound, but I also see the similarities.  I wanted the safety of non-basics, as well as the freedom to run B2B myself.  Besides, look at awesome combo potential here:  Exalted Angels with Damping Matrix; Back to Basics with Tundras; and the game sealing ability for first turn Mox, Sol Ring, Null Rod.  Pwn!!11

Obligatory pre-tournament ramblings:  I made the drive from Cincinnati to Columbus the night before and made some quite spectacular trades at my old high school hang out, The Guard Tower (2 non-blue duals for $50+ in cards… twist my arm).  Saturday morning I woke up, finished throwing together a SB and ran Map Quest to find The Soldiery.  I turned a 20 minute drive into 45 because I can’t follow basic instructions (“Bikers… I’m an idiot”).  I filled out a decklist form and began chatting with some friends from Cinci as well as fellow TMDers as we waited for pairings.  Much laughter was had at the expense of Smurf Acne.  

“My whole deck is tech—I just don’t have any win conditions”

[For the record, my notes are sketchy at best.  Any inaccuracies are in no way intentional and I welcome corrections or comments.  Flame towards my deck design can be sent to please_audit_me@IRS.gov]

Round 1:  I faced off against Ryan and his STAKS variant with Mindslaver
Game 1: I won the coin flip.  Second turn I drained a Trinisphere, followed by third turn Meddling Mage (MM) naming Welder.  MM beats go the distance, with adequate control back up.

Game 2: I Parised to six cards keeping Fetch, Pearl, Ancestral, 2 Orim’s Chant, and Brainstorm.  Pretty solid, right?  Not when he drops Chalice for zero and wasteland.  I then had to decide if I wanted an island for Ancestral or Plain for double chant.  I go for double chant and scoop three or four turns later due to no more mana and savage artifact beats.  But I’m not sure the Ancestral would have been much better.  

Game 3:  Ryan was forced to Paris to 5, while I kept an opening hand of Mox, Land, FOW, 2 Brainstorm, MM, and Damping Matrix.  I topdecked or brainstormed into a 2nd land which allowed for 2nd turn Damping Matrix.  I Forced his Trinisphere and Goblin Welder met BEB.  Fourth turn Angel proceeded to beat.  I attempt to flip angel only to learn that Morph abilities are “activated creature abilities” and Damping Matrix doesn’t play well with others.

“Reading my own cards is tech”

MM and Morphed angel beat down for the game.  

Matches: 1-0

Round 2:  Oshawa Stompy played by a guy whose name escapes me at the moment.  This match I realized how important it is to a) remember what MM named and b) call the correct card when MM resolves.

Game 1: I Forced his early Troll Ascetic realizing I don’t have much to defend against the beast, although this does allow a Survival to resolve soon after.  I draw several MM’s and name, in order, Troll Ascetic, Arrogant Wurm, and Wild Mongrel.  He survivals for several Basking Rootwallas, but soon after I drop Damping Matrix.  I can’t afford to trade, even at 2:1, due to Mages stopping more creatures from dropping.  It becomes draw-go for several turns until, with a twist of key tech, my opponent begins to hard cast ESG’s.  Matrix prevents my angel from flipping over and becoming useful, so my colorless Gray Ogre takes out an ESG, but eventually I’m forced to trade some mages.  His horde is unleashed, and we move on to game 2.  

Game 2:  My opponent keeps a hand of multiple survivals and Squee but no real “threats.”  I cast first turn MM naming Survival (at least I learned from game 1), and Meddling Mage beat down commences.  He ends the game holding all four Survivals and cursing my silly mage.  

Game 3:  Much like the second game, an early Mage prevents Survival, counters hit opposing big creatures, and some combination of MM’s and Exalteds swing for the kill.  

A lot of this match was luck, I admit.  But I also wasn’t too prepared for this match-up.

Matches: 2-0-0.

Round 3:  I get paired against Meandeck Slaver, played by Kevin (I think);  I believe his TMD handle is CHA1N5--- sorry about not writing your name down, it was a fun match.

Game 1: An early Damping Matrix slows him down a little, and his own Mana Crypt deals some considerable damage.  MM names welder and more beats.  I run out of counters for his Wheel of Fortune, however.  He drops stuff, stuff, and more stuff, including Academy.  I’m holding a Null Rod off the wheel and as he begins to tap out without much an actual threat on the board I begin to get my hopes up.  It’s amazing how Time Walk can suddenly turn everything around.  He untaps and does what workshop decks do.  I loose.  

Bonehead play of the day:  As SBing for game 2, I notice that both of my DA’s are still in the board.  My third Stifle had remained in my maindeck instead of coming out after my match with Stompy.  I inform my opponent, and I take the match loss.  

(We play another game for fun, SB’ed, and I managed to eek out the win—I still wonder if I could have pulled the win without that screw up.)

Matches: 2-1-0

Round 4:  Dave with a Twister-Tendrils variant.  

Game 1:  I have no idea what Dave is playing, and he ESG’s for a turn 1 Fastbond followed by no land.  I scratch my head and play land, go.  Realizing he is playing some type of combo and is waiting to draw his final piece, I’m forced to play a blind Meddling Mage to start the beats.  I name Twister, which while not a horrid choice, upon reflection is pretty bad.  But the beats ensued.  I end up holding a fist full of counters and Dave casts mystical for Yawg Win followed by Brainstorm.  A counter war over Brainstorm results in Will sitting on his top deck for another turn.  I drop Mage naming Will, and life is good.  

Game 2:  I keep a hand with drains and Stifle, but no FoW (I’m a bad player).  First turn Xantic Swarm, second turn he combo-ed off.  

Game 3:  I Paris to 6, but manage to draw seven cards.  Oops.  So we throw that hand back in and I end up keeping 3 lands, 2 Stifle.  At least I’m going first, right?  He drops an early Xantic, but can’t find the necessary combo pieces.  After floating several mana, my opponent cast Wheel of Fortune, which resulted in Stifling the Swarm and Mana Drain.  My opponent is out of cards and burns.  I end up dropping Mage naming Tendrils. A couple turns later, a very unlucky Diminishing Returns results in Burning Wish being removed from game.  Before scooping however, my opponent realizes he can still beat me with savage ESG beats.  He still has 6 or so mana floating from the Diminishing Returns and he cast Sol Ring.  I have a fresh fistful of cards and I respond with Orim’s Chant.  He had two tutors in hand and enough mana to hard cast at least two ESG’s.  He burns for a bit, and MM beats.  To add insult to injury, my fresh MM named ESG

Matches:  3-1

Round 5:
After entirely too much deliberating, arguing, and general nonsense, we factor that my opponent and I can ID into the Top 8.  I’m tempted to play it out, as I’m not a huge fan of IDing, but how can I pass up Smurf Acne in the Top 8?

3-1-1.

I end up paired against Smmenen (Feel free to call him Cinnamon—he likes it.  Really.)  This is his chance for paybacks from Origins, when his mighty STAKS fell to the wonders of my TurboNevyn.  After some friendly jibes about the condition of my 3-year-old Dragon Shield sleeves, comments on the communicable diseases contained therein, the illegitimacies of Smurf Acne, and entirely too much shuffling, we finally played Magical cards.  

Game 1:  I cast an early Ancestral, Steve responded with FoF, and I forced.  Wasteland took out his Academy and left him with Volcanic (Shivan Reef?) and Workshop.  Exalted beats sealed the deal as Steve struggled to find more mana sources.  

Game 2:  I end up with land flood, and Steve asks if I’m sure I’m playing with 25 mana sources and not 30.  Oh, and I did I mention how much Chalice for 2 sucks?  MM, Null Rod, Mana Drain… just a few cards.  Savage beats= game 3.  

[Steve’s report differs from mine slightly.  I think one or both of us is mixing up games 2 and 3, but it doesn’t matter too much.  I scooped in game two well before “recurring slaver,” and my notes indicate that his Slaver into my topdecked Ancestral was game 3.  But all in all, no inaccuracies of consequence from either point of view.  His report.]

Game 3:  
I parised to 6, playing first turn land, Mox.  2nd turn I dropped a Morph creature and FoW the opposing Thirst for Knowledge.  And then my notes get really sketchy and again, Steve and I don’t have the same records.  I drop a Mage for Welder and unmorph my Angel.  At some point I get up to 30+ life before a 5/5 Pentavis stops me cold.  I had sided in all three Dust to Dusts verses three different opponents and had yet to see one.  While I wait for D2D, Steve drops a boatload of mana and Slaver.  He slaves, topdecks my Ancestral.  Two or three turns later I finally see my D2D, but it gets Forced.  Meanwhile 5/5 Pentavus has whittled my life points down to single digits.  Fat swings for the kill.  

The moral of the story?  Don’t leave Ancestral Recall on the top when your opponent activates Mindslaver.  That’s just being a bad player.  

I had to work 3rd shift Saturday night back in Cincinnati, so after my match loss I swing by to see my parents whom I missed Friday night, grabbed some free food, and made the two hour drive to work, where I typed most of this tournament report.  I didn’t even know my rank was 6th until Sunday evening when I woke up and checked the web.

All in all, not a bad bit of work.  And I didn’t netdeck  

And congrats to Doug Linn who split the top prize and helped me put this deck together.  And it’s not Mint Skittles, however much you’d like to believe it.

I've been using DragonShield exclusively for several years.  They are a bit dirty, but then I've played with them everywhere and I use the same ones for whatever my deck of the moment is.  I don't remember ever having one break, and they're great to shuffle with.  They're all the same size, too  But one of my favorite aspects of DS is the box they come in-- perfect size for a full deck + sideboard.

The Soup