The bi-monthly Dream Wizards tournament rolled in again, and I was debating whether to play Fish or Food Chain Goblins. I know the intracacies of mono-u Fish extremely well by now, so I was leaning a bit towards playing Fish since I knew I would make much fewer play mistakes. However, I had been testing Food Chain Gobs alot in 1.5, and when Vegeta2711's primer came out, I decided to start doing some major testing with it. I didn't have too much time to test FCG though. When I got to the tournament they told me I should run FCG, and I thought what the hell and played it. This was the decklist I used:
5x Mountain
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Taiga
2x Karplusan Forest (Didn't have 4 Taigas and I already had 5 proxies)
1x Lotus Petal
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Emerald
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Crypt
4x Wasteland
1x Strip Mine
4x Goblin Piledriver
4x Skirk Prospector
4x Goblin Lackey
4x Goblin Recruiter
4x Goblin Warchief
4x Goblin Ringleader
2x Siege-Gang Commander
2x Goblin Matron
2x Gempalm Incinerator
1x Goblin Sharpshooter
4x Food Chain
SB:
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Blood Moon
3x Naturalize
3x Red Elemental Blast
2x Pyrokinesis
1x Gaea's Blessing
So uh, here's the report:
Round 1:
U/W Control
Game 1: I don't remember too much about this, except that I had Turn 1 Lackey, Turn 2 Brokenness. I got him down pretty low, but on his 4th turn he cast Wrath of God....
. However, I drew into some more beats off Ringleaders and then a Recruiter, so I won. During this game I had to flip for Mana Crypt 4 times, and I lost each flip (I was using a penny). It's was a bit annoying, but it didn't kill me fortunatley [/end foreshadowing]
Sideboarding: I ph34r the Decree of Justice, so I leave the Sharpshooters in:
-4 Food Chain
-2 Gempalm Incinerator
+3 Naturalize
+3 Red Elemental Blast
He had a lot of basic lands, so I opted against Blood Moon. The Naturalizes were for Ivory Tower (this was a bit annoying game 1 :S) and any Moxen/Kegs/etc he played.
Game 2: I decide to keep a 5 mana source hand. It has a Lackey and a Siege Gang for its non-land cards, but also a Strip Mine and a Wasteland. He plays a few lands, but I destroyed many of them, drawing into 2 more Wastelands as the game progressed. He got stuck at 2 land, then 3 land, and beat him pretty soon.
Games 2-0 Matches 1-0
Round 2:
Deathlong
Game 1: He's just too fast for me. I don't have a turn 2 kill hand, and he kills me pretty easily.
Sideboarding:
-2 Gempalm Incinerator
-1 Goblin Sharpshooter
-3 other stuff I can't remember right now...
+3 Naturalize
+3 Red Elemental Blast
Game 2: I make a pretty dumb play mistake, I cast Recruiter when I still need to pop my fetchland
. I pop it and cast another Recruiter from my hand to compensate for this mistake, but he Forces it. However, I am very lucky. He runs out of steam after using up the Force and after I REB his Ancestral Recall. However, I have 3 1/1 goblins out, and he has his hardcasted Elvish Spirit Guide. I can't take advantage of his position, and we are both reduced to topdeck mode. With effectively no cards in my hand and literally no cards in his hand, he casts Memory Jar. I draw into a Red Elemental Blast in my new hand, so I'm feeling semi-secure. He floats a lot of mana, then casts Windfall. I REB, and he's forced to go down to 2 black and 1 blue in his mana pool to hardcast a Force of Will. We draw 6 cards, and he is forced to burn, taking him down to 4. He makes the mistake of casting Mana Crypt before the Jar brings him back to 0 cards, he loses the flip on his next upkeep and I win. w00t.
Game 3: I am very happy as I draw a Turn 2 kill hand that will kill on Turn 3 even if he has a counter. However, he goes first and wins on turn 2.
Games: 3-2 Matches 1-1
Round 3:
Gay/red
Game 1: I mulligan down to 6 and keep a 1-land hand drawing (it had Prospectors and Lackeys). After topdecking a second land, he wastes it and leaves me locked on 1 land for a few turns, and he has blockers for the lackey. By the time I am able to draw into more land, he has gained a solid advantage and I lose.
Sideboarding:
-4 Skirk Prospector
-1 Goblin Warchief
-1 Goblin Matron
-1 something else I cannot remember
(I'm still not entirely sure how I should SB vs Gay/r...)
+2 Pyrokinesis
+3 Blood Moon
+2 Red Elemental Blast
Game 2: My memory is a bit hazy here, all I remember is that I won very fast.
Game 3: I mulligan down to 6 after seeing a 6-mana source hand, and received one with just one. I keep it, and topdeck a Mana Crypt. I proceed to draw into a few more mana sources and start dealing a fair amount of damage, although it's not as fast as I would like because my opponent stalls me a bit. While this is happening I proceed to lose every Mana Crypt flip. The final situation is this: I have 2 life left. I also now have lethal damage on the board. He passes the turn. I lose the 5th flip in a row that game, 9th flip in a row total. After the match my opponent tells me that the heads of pennies are heavier than the tails, so there's about a 60% chance the coin will land on tails. Thats why my opponents always picked tails...
I'm pretty sure I cannot top 8 by now, but I decide to stick it out since 1-2 3-2s will make it in if that player has excellent tiebreakers. Mine are already looking pretty decent, so I stay in.
Games: 4-4 Matches: 1-2
Round 4:
Wierd Artifact Beatdown
My opponent is playing a wierd version of artifact beatdown with Urzatron instead of Workshops...
Game 1: He doesn't draw into any creatures and can only be spectator to my beatz...
Sideboarding:
+3 Naturalize
-2 Gempalm Incinerator
-1 Skirk Prospector
I just assume he's playing a bad version of Welder Mud, so I leave in the Sharpshooter but take out the Incinerators.
Game 2: He drops a turn 2 Metalworker, turn 3 Phyrexian Collosus, and turn 4 Triskelion. He would've easily won, but I had a Food Chain on the table and a Goblin Matron & Goblin Ringleader in hand. I Matron for Recruiter and go off.
Games: 6-4 Matches: 2-2
Round 5: BG Beats
This was pretty standard PT Funkish beats w/ Deed and stuff...
Game 1: I burn his blockers with Gempalm Incinerators and gain massive card advantage with Recruiter/Ringleader.
Sideboarding:
-2 Skirk Prospector
+2 Pyrokinesis
Game 2: I have a fast start again, with Recruiter advantage etc. I have a board with Piledrivers and a Warcheif out, with Double Warchief + Piledriver + Ringleader backup in my hand in case he deeds. He does play Deed, but only has enough mana left after casting it to use it for 1. I kill him during the next turn. During this match I cast Mana Crypt too, and I lost both flips even after not using a penny... that's 11 in a row :S
Games: 8-4 Matches: 3-2
My tiebreakers are pretty good, so I manage to squeeze into 8th seed.
I check my pairing... Marc Perez (PTW)...
I prepare myself for the challenge.
Quarterfinals:
PTW w/ Gay/red
Well, I'm a bit optimistic, since from my testing Food Chain has a pretty good matchup vs Gay/r, although not as good as I'd like.
Game 1: I'm really cautious this game, setting up my board carefully. I have Food Chain on the board, and I decide to combo off. I have a Matron and a Recruiter in hand, so I decide to bait out any counters he might have and cast Matron. It resolves, and I get Recruiter and cast it... and it resolves too. I know he must have some sort of counter, so I stack the deck with double Ringleader on top and have the rest of the stacking be as if the first Ringleader didn't exist. He gets the Voidmage Prodigy down, and counters my Ringleader, but the second resolves and I combo off and win, leaving 2 lands open to prevent him from double spiketailing me. Phew...
Sideboarding: Almost the same as in the last Gay/r match.
Game 2: I start some beats off and manage to hold him off red mana w/ strips for a while, but then he starts gaining control after getting a red source. I play Blood Moon and stop his manlands now that control is shifting and my double piledriver beats have ended, but it isn't enough to stop him. My only chance is to topdeck a Pyrokinesis which would deal enough damage to kill him, but he's got complete control and wins.
Game 3: Ahh... this is perhaps one of the coolest games ever... I have the combo kill in place, with a freshly dropped recruiter. However, the turn before I can cast the Food Chain, I make a big mistake. I have only one green source, my Taiga, and a Wasteland untapped. However, PTW does a Jedi Mind Trick on me :S He drops a Cloud of Faeries with Mox Sapphire, Strip Mine, and Island as his mana sources, telling me he's leaving a colorless floating. He does it all very carefully as if he's planning something big. I forget to Wasteland his Strip Mine in response to the Cloud of Faeries, so he untaps his lands. I realize my mistake right then, and he Strips my Taiga. My deck is stacked with lots of goblins that cost RR or 4+ Mana, and the only lands I have access to in my hand/in play are Wasteland, Wasteland, and Mountain. My only out to this is Goblin Matron which is pretty close down, which I draw and cast to shuffle my library. He has the Stifle
. I have one more out, which is cycling Gempalm to kill his creature blocker and Wasting his manland blocker, but he plays around this and I have no way of winning... That was an incredibly fun game though.
So uh... there ends my report. I suspect that PTW ended up winning a Dream Wizards T1 the 4th time in a row...
