[Report] In Tog We Trust - T4 Split in Denver

[Godot]

Santioned Type 1 today in Denver for $400.  Clown of Tresserhorn lent me his power(mad props) so I actually get to play a good deck this time.  I take Tog and anticipate seeing tons of 4c Control.  There was mad 4cc back in February with lots of fully powered players.  Unfortunately I only saw 1 4cc in the whole field--tons of random aggro instead.  I think there around 47 people in the tourney.

So I show up early and scout around a little bit.  I dont really see any slavery or dragon so I take the Shaman and 1 Coffin Purge out of my board for more generally useful stuff and we're off.

Round 1 - Duncan with Workshop Slaver

After dropping the Shaman of course I play slaver first round.

Game 1 - Im not really in this game.  I duress away an early TFK and take care of an early welder.  Sadly he has another Welder and just kinda takes over from there.  He wins eventually  with slaver lock.

Game 2 - I Artifact Mutation his Gilded Lotus on like turn 3 or 4 and he concedes.

Game 3 - He gets a slow start.  On Turn 3 I go for the win.  I Yawg Will with Mystical and Time Walk in the yard.  I Walk and Mystical for Artifact Mutation.  His board consists of  2 Underground Seas and  Gilded Lotus.  I go to Artifact Mutation the Lotus and he BLUE ELEMENTAL BLASTS!  I about shit myself.  Now Im in topdeck and he gets a slaver down.  He starts taking my turns but cant really do anything else.  Eventually time is called, but he cant find a way to kill me and we draw.  Not the best way to start.

0-0-1

Round 2 - Mark with Ug Madness

Game 1 - I goldfish and kill him turn 5.

Game 2 - See game 1.

1-0-1

Round 3 - Jay with Zoo

Game 1 - I draw 43 cards by turn 5.  The 42nd card is the first Tog I see.  I kill him turn 6.

Game 2 - He gets me down to 1, but I still kill him on about turn 5 or 6.

2-0-1

Round 4 - Eric with Red land destruction type thing

This is Erics first Type 1 tourney and his deck isnt the best, but hes doing well, so good for him.

Game 1 - I drain several stone rains/avalanche riders  and similar stuff and kill him on turn 6.

Game 2 - He boards in 7 blasts, but I still goldfish and kill him around turn 6 or 7.

3-0-1

Round 5 - Jeff (r3as0n) with Hulk

Jeffs a fellow Freak-a-leak so these games a pretty laid back even though we both really need the win.

Game 1 - He out draws me like nobodys business and just wins.

Game 2 - This is probably the most all around broken game I've ever played.  I drop turn 1 LoA.  He drop Sapphire and Ancestrals.  I cant counter.  He draws into LoA and drops it with 7 in hand.  I draw into Ancestral on my turn and it resolves.  He twists me soon after and takes Will and other goodies.  I resolve Intuition for 3 Deeps and then he resolves Intuition too.  I proceed to drop about 3 Togs but none stick around long enough to be able to attack, and he eventually wins.

3-1-1

Round 6 Drew (spankweasel) with 4cc

Drews a chum and we're playing for a T8 spot--not the most desirable situation to be in.  I was mentally out to lunch during this match.  Basically the winner of this match will make T8 and I had talked a lot of shit about the Hulk v 4cc matchup so I was stressin.  Every time I talk trash it almost always seems to come back and bite me in the ass.

Game 1 - Hulk just has more in the gas tank and soon enough my draw engine kicks in and I pwn him.

Game 2 - I think I countered some early stuff.  He resolved ancestral and a morph, but never got up to 2 white mana.  I die an especially sad pathetic death to a morph.  I resolve intuition really late, but I dont have enough life to use Deep Analysis and all my other useful cards are 2 ofs so I cant really come back.

Game 3 - He wastes my first 3 lands - all Underground Seas.  This isnt good.  He morphs up and Angel and smacks me.  I rip the Delta, get my 4th Underground Sea and Snuff Out the Angel.  He has no gas while I resolve Inution, Tog and Wish.

4-1-1

The T8 looks something like this if I remember correctly:
1 - Jeff(r3as0n) with Tog
2 - Rob Raven with Mud
3 - Brad with GAT
4 - Jim (Godot) with Tog
5 - Eric with 12stonerains.dec
6 - Some dude with 7/10 (not sure if he ran FoW or not)
7 - ????
8 - Some dude with Ravager Affinity



Top 8

Eric from Round 4

Game 1 - I get first turn LoA, drain a bunch of stuff and win around turn 6 or something.

Game 2 - First turn LoA again and I kill him around turn 7 or 8.  He sided in 7 blasts again so I had to slow roll the kill til I could handle 2 blasts he was holding.

Top 4

Jeff and I get paired up in the Top 4 so we decide to split the whole Top 4.  Each of us gets $100 and 4 packs so its all good.



Props:
Clown of Tresserhorn for lending me his power
Team Freak-a-leak for taking 2 of the top 4 spots.
Snuff Out - This was my MVP all day.  Free removal is a wonderful thing.
Mile High Comics for another well run tourney

Slops:
Pernicious Deed - I cut this MD a couple months ago.  I didnt SB this in, much less use it all day.
Mana Crypt - This card has been costing me a lot of games recently.  Im hella tempted to cut this.

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Good shit yo! It's nice to see my power put to good use   . Seriously though...Team Freak-a-leek is outta control. Like every tourney we go to, we win and put others in T4. We're like Shortbus of the scrubs! We pwn CO.

As for card choices, Godot's list doesn't have MD deed, something I'm against. Deed is mad good, and even though I said I wouldn't play deed if he put up good showings without it, I probably will stick by it. As for Mana Crypt, I'm on the fence. It loses me games, but I can't cut it. Smmenen would be so mad at me!

[Godot]

It's nice to see my power put to good use

yeah, seriously dude, its not like you ever win anything with it  

[whitepanther]

What was your sideboarding like against 4cC, I was curious because it appears you took out 4 Accumulated Knowledge in Round 6, so what did you bring in?

[Razvan]

Very nice report. The Snuff Out in the sideboard is, as they say, keen.

I think this proves why Hulk is essentially a sideboard deck, and why it is so strong because of it. Well done.

[Godot]

What was your sideboarding like against 4cC, I was curious because it appears you took out 4 Accumulated Knowledge in Round 6, so what did you bring in?

Out of curiousity what makes you think I sided out AKs?

My sideboarding for game 2 was:
+1 Deep Analysis, +1  REB
-1 Mana Crypt, -1 Tog

My opponent appeared to leave StoPs in and time was running low so for game 3 I put the 3rd Tog back in.  I think i took out the REB for it but Im not positive.  So my sideboarding for game 3 was:
-1 Mana Crypt
+1 Deep Analysis

[Clown of Tresserhorn]

Oh man, you left out REB game 3 vs. keeper? That's kinda risky....but I guess their draw is all unREBable.

As for Mana Crypt, I'm testing Tog without it. Like, it gets sided out sooooo frequently, plus, now you have sol ring. The only mathup it dramatically helps is vs. combo where you can have 3 mana by turn 1 to do silly stuff, like wish--->snuff out their dragon.

[majestyk1136]

I was the "dude with 7/10," and yes I ran Force.  I went 4-1-1 in Swiss with my only loss coming from Brad when my deck decided to lay a complete egg.  I redeemed myself in the t8 when I ran him out of the barn with Memnarch and Titans set to "vengeance."  First time I won money playing magic however...  All around a good Tournament and good times.

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

lmao snuff out.  That's some secret tech .

I havn't felt the desire to cut crypt in my testing, but maybe that's just because I always win like 3/4 of the flips .

I think deed is a powerhouse, plus it lets you kill your own crypt bfore it kills you .

I'm surprised you only sbed 1 REB.  Usually 2-3 can be really good in helping to win counter wars.  Was there no room in your sb or did u just not sb all of them vs the 4cc?

[Godot]

I think deed is a powerhouse, plus it lets you kill your own crypt bfore it kills you

Deed is powerful, but in about 90% of the cases where you can drop deed and take control you could just as easily drop Tog and win the game outright.  I'd rather get rid of deed and fill that slot with something generally more useful.  

I'm surprised you only sbed 1 REB. Usually 2-3 can be really good in helping to win counter wars. Was there no room in your sb or did u just not sb all of them vs the 4cc?

I only run 2 REBs in the SB, and they are more for the mirror match than 4cc.  Against 4cc REB just isnt all that useful.  It doesnt hit their draw engine or most of the other major bombs.  I'd much rather have Duress #4 before REB #1.  The key to the matchup is stopping their scryings, not fighting over your own draw spells.  Duress plays the same function as REB but gives you more utility and, most importantly, hits their draw engine.

[TrixR4Kidz]

I think deed is a powerhouse, plus it lets you kill your own crypt bfore it kills you

Yes there is also another spell in MTG that allows you to kills your own crypt that only costs 1 red, and he's a crazy gorilla, I CANT QUITE think of his name, but i'm pretty sure it's better then the random green/black cost of deed, If a reason for you running deed is "it kills your own crypt" then you really shouldn't be running it.


YES I know his name is gorilla shaman

[Gandalf_The_White_1]

I know; I was just joking about that use of deed being important.

It's true that many time you can just draw like mad and win outright, but sometimes deed is necessary to save you- sometimes.  The decision should basically be based around how often you find the deed is necessary.  In my testing, I am quite happy with it.

Edit: @ Godot: I think you are right about the usefulness of REBvs duress in the 4cc matchup.

[Green Knight]

Grats on the T4 Jim, very cool!

Was Drew playing a pretty standerd build of 4cc?

Was this:
"1 - Jeff(r3as0n) with Tog
2 - Rob Raven with Mud
3 - Brad with GAT
4 - Jim (Godot) with Tog"
the final Top 4 that split?

I'd love to see deck lists, do you have them by chance? If not I'll bug Aaron and see what I can find.

Only 47 people!? Good ol' summer time, but we just fell short of Dr. S stats, sad day...

[Godot]

Grats on the T4 Jim, very cool!

Was Drew playing a pretty standerd build of 4cc?

Was this:
"1 - Jeff(r3as0n) with Tog
2 - Rob Raven with Mud
3 - Brad with GAT
4 - Jim (Godot) with Tog"
the final Top 4 that split?

I'd love to see deck lists, do you have them by chance? If not I'll bug Aaron and see what I can find.

Only 47 people!? Good ol' summer time, but we just fell short of Dr. S stats, sad day...

Welcome back from Hawaii dude.

Im almost positive Drew played 4 Tundras, but other than that I dont believe there was anything out of the ordinary.

The T4 was actually:
1 - Jeff (r3as0n) w/ Tog
2 - Raven w/ Mud
4 - Jim (Godot) w/ Tog
6 - Some dude (majestyk1136) w/ 7/10

As for the T8 decklists, I meant to ask for them before I left, but I forgot.  The 47 people was just a guess, there may have been more, but there definitely were not as many people in attendence as in Feb.

[majestyk1136]

I can supply my 4th place Decklist.

7-10 Split
        3 Sundering Titan
        4 Goblin Welder
        3 Chalice of the Void
        1 Memnarch
        2 Triskelion
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Tinker
        1 Timetwister
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Wheel of Fortune
        4 Thirst for Knowledge
        1 Fact or Fiction
        4 Force of Will
        4 Brainstorm
        3 Mishra's Workshop
        2 Ancient Tomb
        3 Glimmervoid
        3 Shivan Reef
        2 City of Brass
        1 Tolarian Academy
        3 Gilded Lotus
        1 Windfall
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Black Lotus
SB:  3 Trinisphere
SB:  2 Blue Elemental Blast
SB:  2 Fire/Ice
SB:  1 Platinum Angel
SB:  2 Rack and Ruin
SB:  2 Duplicant
SB:  3 Tormod's Crypt

Only 3 shops.... what a shame.