Its a pretty good turnout at C&Js, lots of powered decks and good players. I played Keeper. As I discussed somewhere else, I played a version of Keeper which is within maybe 4 cards (including sideboard) of Carsten Kotters Keeper from Monnchengladbach.
I played a second Mis-D main instead of the Recall; I started one Keg main instead of the Shaman because I expected more aggressive decks than powered decks. (A point on which I was wrong.) I played 2 Aura Fracture instead of 1 in the SB and two more Kegs.
Round 1: Dave (NaChlv) with ABM
NaChlv already posted a report on this match and I replied, check it out for the details.
In short, I win the first one when he surprises me by conceding with Mystic Enforcer in hand. The second one he starts with 3 Islands and a Mox Sapphire, which is not an optimal start for a Tax/Rack deck. I have 3 Mana Drains and he resolves nothing.
Round 2: Justin (Saucemaster) with Parfait
We've been playing this matchup at FNM for a while now, it seems to highly favor Keeper. Especially with the addition of Cunning Wish for Shattering Pulse, Parfait has a hard time getting going.
Game 1: I win the first by doing what Combo Keeper does; he resolves Mesa and then says, "Oh, I am going to die now?" when I dont look worried. (Must practice poker face.) Grim, Power, Stroke and the game is over.
Game 2: He gets his revenge here, I Mana Drain something mostly irrelevant because I want a big turn with FoF and Cunning Wish. I draw poop off the FoF and am tapped out, he EoTs for Blood Moon. Bad news. I go to town with Shattering Pulse though, because I have nothing but Mountains.
I make a mistake in the mid-game as we are both draw-going. I have 2 Mis-Ds and a Fow in my hand. That means I can only keep one other card in hand; I have to choose between D Tutor and Y-Will. I choose Will, thinking I can get the Tutor back with Will. Um, no, because I will only ever have one source of black mana again; the Mox Jet. I draw the D-Blow and wish that I hadnt screwed up; I could Tutor for the Pearl and smash the Blood Moon and get back in the game. Shortly after he drops a second Blood Moon and I am hosed. I'm not sure that my mistake made any difference; it would still be hard to juggle all my win conditions even after I had broken out of the Moon; losing Will means I have no recursion. But its always better to make fewer mistakes rather than more.
Game 3: Keeper does what it does after sideing in this matchup. It resolves Aura Fracture and then sits back and waits for the opponent to try a to get rid of it. This game goes to the timelimit, I've seen 3/4s of my deck and not found a win condition. Fortunately, I'm able to put together the combo on the 2nd turn of overtime.
Round 3: Max (Spevack) with Academy
This is covered in Max's report; he won the tournament so go check it out.
Game 1: Max Time Walks and Merchant Scrolls for Ancestral, I Ancestral in response to his Ancestral and am able to FoW him. I Time Walk and drop Wastelands by the ton; eventually I Cunning Wish for Shattering Pulse and play a Dust Bowl. A brutal beating ensues, except for the point where I let him Abeyance me. Fortunatly, he draws nothing and I do not get the loss I so richly deserve.
Game 2: I'm not quite sure what the SB strategy is for Academy, other than I suspect it involves Negators and ReBs. I side out my Abyss, which is probably a mistake; I also bring in the Mox Monkey, which might be another mistake. I get a Geyser for 5 Mis-Directed and am quickly crushed. "Hmmm, thats a surprise."
Game 3: Here is a Haiku to describe this game:
First turn Negator
I draw cards and find just land
My life ebbs by fives
Round 4: Kevin with G Utility
Game 1: Kevin says how much he fears my deck and then proceeds to beat me with two topdecked Treetops after I Balance away the board and lay the Abyss. Hmmm.
Game 2/3: I win very long games; my win conditions are hiding deep in the deck. In one I lay the Morphling to hold off his horde of 1/1 and 2/2 dorks and he Natural Orders one of them away for Verdant Force. I dont have enough life to deal with this, so I have to -3/-3 my Morphling and then Mystical for Balance during my upkeep. Eeek.
Fun Games: Brent with TurboNevyn
I win the first two pretty easily; in the first, Brent is maybe too aggressive trying to drop Fastbond and I simply counter it. He cant get find an Exploration, eventually I let him have a Horn. He concedes when I Wish for Shattering Pulse and then refuse to use it because I am drawing as many cards off LoA+Horn as he is off Exploration+Horn.
I lose the third when he resolves all of his important spells and starts drawing his deck.
Conclusions: Wow, this is a lot longer report than I expected.
But here are some comments on specific things:
Dust Bowl: Oh my. I was doubtful about this, its been months since the tech was introduced and I have been shunning it. But it was great. I was never sad to see the thing, and especially in the first game against Academy it provided a lot of pressure.
CoP:Red: Boo. I was hopeful about this, but I ended up siding the darn thing out every time. And being sad when I drew it. Part of this is matchups; CoPs are not the plan against Parfait or Academy for instance. I expected a lot more Sligh. Actually, this is maybe the problem with the Alter Reality tech: There are three decks who cant deal with your CoP; Sligh, Sui and MonoU. Everyone else expects to have to smash an enchantment (Moat) to win. I really could use that one more slot in the SB too. (Now, if Alter Reality said "Change the word 'non-basic' to 'basic'" I'd play 4 of them.
Combo: The Combo has been very good to me in general. Tonite it was hiding at the bottom of my deck a lot. Not sure why; it might be that I faced dangerous opponents all night and I had less room to manuever for setting up the combo.
Anyway, I hope this is interesting and if you played at C&Js or want to play there, feel free to send me a PM. I'd like to collect everyones name so we can try and organize showing up.
