T1 Tourney Report *T 1/19*

[timw]

Thursday was my first sanctioned T1 tourney in a while. The last time I played sanctioned T1, Necropotence was unrestricted and I had 4 in my deck.

Based on a tourney report found on the mana drain, and reports from fellow GoBer's, I decided to check out the T1 tourney. From the report, it sounded like there was dragon and academy running around, so I wasn't sure what to play. In the end, I decided just to take Mind out for a spin and try it out, even though dragon is definitely one of it's worst matchups, and academy probably isn't any better. Luckily nobody was playing combo that day. All in all, it was a fun tournament with 19 players playing that day.

Round 1 - Gary Dumlao playing U/W millstone control?
I don't remember this match that well. It was over pretty fast, with early beats going all the way. His millstone was no good against threshold creatures. He was also running shifting skies and hydroblasts.  

Round 2 - Kevin Duda - Mono Black beats?

Game 1 - He drops Sarcomancy and Carnophage early on. I drop a keg, and he makes the mistake of playing 2 two casting cost creatures (I think they were dauthi slayer and skittering skirge?). I keg for 2 and drop Mystic Enforcer.

-2 Back to Basics
-1 Seal of Cleansing
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Mystic Enforcer

Game 2 - He drops two sarcomancies and I keg all the zombie tokens. I seem to recall using STP on a couple of his creatures. He perishes away 2 mystic enforcers, but the third one goes all the way.

Round 3 - Brent Peterson playing Keeper

Game 1 - I seem to recall getting one half of the tax/rack combo out, but the other half getting FoWed (I think I had the tax). A bear and a mage get countered, but I manage to drop B2B and he concedes.

-1 Swords to Plowshares
-1 Werebear
-1 Meddling Mage
-1 Mystical Tutor
+2 Back to Basics
+1 Misdirection
+1 Seal of Cleansing

Game 2 - This was an interesting game. He plays and drops a turn 1 Rootwater Thief using a mox! I'm surprised. I resolve land tax, but he never plays another land for the whole game. I have a demonic tutor and get back to basics, which resolves, but he gets a sol ring to power the thief. I seal the sol ring. He Yawgmoth's Wills (with a lotus) to get the sol ring back into play. Nine turns later he caps every creature out of my deck, with me holding a bunch of counters and land.

Game 3 - I drop a first turn Mystic Enforcer, followed up by a Meddling Mage naming Balance and a Devout Witness. He manages to fire the Meddling Mage, but I have a Fow for the Balance.

Round 4 - NaClhv playing the mirror.
This match is kinda fuzzy in my mind, but this is generally how it went.

Game 1 - He drops library of alexandria. I drop trade routes and werebear with a lotus. I manage to resolve ancestral recall, but I can't deal with the card advantage. I get a scroll rack into play, but no tax. I try to balance, and he counters. I regrowth the balance, and he counters again. Finally I drop two mystic enforcers and swing with one. He has 2 werebears and a meddling mage out, STPs my untapped enforcer, and timewalks for the win.

-3 Scroll Rack
-2 Back to Basics
-2 Powder Keg
-2 Land Tax
+2 Meddling Mage
+1 Mystic Enforcer
+2 Swords to Plowshares
+1 Tormod's Crypt
+1 Misdirection
+1 Aura Fracture
+1 Seal of Cleansing

I make the choice of going aggro and sideboarding out tax/rack, intending to stop his combo with my mages. It seems to work okay.

Game 2 - This game goes on for a while. I seem to recall him balancing at some point, then dropping a meddling mage naming STP. This is a mistake since I soon drop mystic enforcer, and his STP isn't any good at stopping it. I seem to recall having a tormod's crypt on the board, and it making a difference since he couldn't play an enforcer to stop mine.

Game 3 - This game is fuzzy. I think I just dropped some early beats including an enforcer and went all the way.

Final standings:
Timw playing Mind
NaClhv playing Mind
Brent Peterson playing Keeper
Fishhead playing German Stacker

my decklist, for reference.
4 Land Tax
        3 Scroll Rack
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mox Diamond
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Sol Ring
        5 Island
        6 Plains
        1 Library of Alexandria
        1 Gemstone Mine
        1 City of Brass
        3 Undiscovered Paradise
        1 Devout Witness
        2 Meddling Mage
        2 Werebear
        1 Whirlpool Warrior
        2 Mystic Enforcer
        1 Seal of Cleansing
        1 Swords to Plowshares
        2 Back to Basics
        2 Powder Keg
        1 Misdirection
        3 Force of Will
        1 Trade Routes
        1 Zuran Orb
        1 Time Walk
        1 Mind Twist
        1 Regrowth
        1 Balance
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Fact or Fiction
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Ancestral Recall

Any comments or suggestions welcome.

[dandan]

Well done.

Mind has its doubters (including me) but I hope in the future people will be a little more receptive to new ideas, even if they are wrapped in a little BS about percentages.

I'd like to understand your reasoning behind expecting Dragon and academy and playing a deck that loses to both!

[psyduck]

probably because it was a real tournmaent and regardless of the metagame you gotta run your new deck. anyways, mind came 1st and 2nd in a 19 man tourney. a small but definitely solid step. congrats to nachlv and timw

[Raziel]

Great report. Thursday night T1's are a blast. What did you run in your sideboard?

[timw]

Here's my sideboard. It might also answer the Dragon/Academy question.

Tormod's Crypt
Aura Fracture
Seal of Cleansing
Misdirection
2x Meddling Mage
2x Swords to Plowshares
Mystic Enforcer
Ivory Tower
Moat
Chains of Mephistopheles
Hurkyl's Recall
2x Back to Basics

Against Dragon, I intended to SB Aura Fracture, Seal and 2x STP. If Aura Fracture or Seal resolves, that's pretty much game.

Against Academy, I'd SB Chains, Hurkyl's Recall, Crypt and B2B and hope for the best.

Mostly, I wanted to see how my SB would hold up. It turns out it didn't really matter.

[Razor]

Quote Game 2 - This was an interesting game. He plays and drops a turn 1 Rootwater Thief using a mox! I'm surprised. I resolve land tax, but he never plays another land for the whole game. I have a demonic tutor and get back to basics, which resolves, but he gets a sol ring to power the thief. I seal the sol ring. He Yawgmoth's Wills (with a lotus) to get the sol ring back into play. Nine turns later he caps every creature out of my deck, with me holding a bunch of counters and land.

Do you think you'd have better survived Thief if you'd written off your plan to Tax and started playing lands so that you could solve the Thief problem?  Usually, if I get a first turn Tax, I'll still play enough land to get a threat going or else to get control.  I don't start worrying about taxing until later on especially against Aggro decks with tons of cheap threats because they all need less land in play than I do.

Quote Chains of Mephistopheles:
  Info: Color=Black     Type=Enchantment           Cost=1B               LG®
  Text(LG+errata): If a player would draw a card except the first one he or
    she draws in a draw step, that player discards a card from his or her hand
    instead.  If the player discards a card, he or she draws a card.  If the
    player doesn't discard a card, he or she puts the top card of his or her
    library into his or her graveyard.

What deck do you Sideboard Chains of Mehistopheles in against?

[timw]

Razor:

I was planning to SB Chains against Academy / Turboland / random combo that draws lots of cards. I don't know if it's very good, but I thought it was worth a try. Unfortunately (?) I didn't play against any decks like that so it sat in the SB.

The game where he dropped the thief, I could have played land, but I wouldn't have been able to deal with the thief anyway. This being keeper, I sideboarded out my swords to plowshares, and I never drew a creature. I also thought he would be forced to play land since I resolved the B2B, but he had a sol ring going.