[Report] Smmenen blue wins a Samurai Sword

[Magi]

Team Canada Roster

Darren “the Foolish Mortal� playing Trinistax (personal build)
Kurt “the Canadian Juggernaut� playing Death Long (standard)
Kyle “the Warhammer� playing Dragon (standard)
Adrian (Kandykid) “the Polish Piledriver� playing Trinistax (personal build)
and me, Earl (Magi) “� playing Smmenen blue (99% copy from his latest build)

I played at the Ancestral Recall tournament at Mirkwood games on Saturday. The format of the tournament is 6 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to the top 8. There were 40 players in total who registered. The first 2 rounds I feel were to weed out the randomness, so if by third round you were at the top tables, it was a good bet your opponent wasn’t some random. I was hell bent on playing Animal Farm for this tourney, but I couldn’t get the cards in time, so I decided to go with something which I thought would have a lot of surprise factor.

There were a TON of Dragon players at this tournament. At the top table it seemed every other player was a Dragon player. Eventually the top 2 people  would be Dragon players as well. There was a healthy mix of everything here aside from the Dragon anomaly . One of team Canada even played Death Long! It was shaping up to be a good day.

Here’s what I put on my deck registration sheet:

Bolt Blue aka. Smmenen.dec

Permission://
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
4x Mana Leak
1x Misdirection
1x Counterspell
1x Miscalculation

Draw/Manipulation://
4x Impulse
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Timewalk

Creatures://
4x Ophidian
2x Morphling

Utility://
3x Powder Keg
4x Back to Basics

Mana://
1x Black Lotus
5x Moxen
1x Sol Ring
1x Library of Alexandria
1x Strip Mine
4x Wasteland
3x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
7x Island

SB://
4x Energy Flux
4x Propaganda
3x Control Magic
2x Blue Elemental Blast
2x Chalice of the Void

Round 1: B.G. Feller playing mono B Scion of Darkness

Game 1
He starts off with a Disciple (the one which you sac it and 2 other clerics to bring out the Scion guy) and it proceeds to deal me close to 8 damage before I can get a Phid on the board. He gets Necro into play, but he uses it and I keep all the nastiness off the board until he Necros himself low enough for Phids to become lethal.

-4x B2B
-1 MisCalc
-1 Powder Keg

+3x Propaganda
+3x Control Magic

Game 2
I get an early Propaganda on the board, Control Magic a Rotlung Reanimator, and then get a Morphling on the board. A total smashing.

Games 2-0, Matches 1-0

Round 2: Calvin Kester playing Dragon Reanimator (Bladewing the Risen)

I should have lost this round, both games, due to my sheer stupidity. I somehow ended up with a draw (1-1). Many play errors on both sides, some which are just mind boggling. My opponent made one mistake that cost him game 2, and gave me the draw for the round.

I will leave it at that.

Games 3-1, Matches 1-0-1

Round 3: Christian playing Dragon (normal combo version)

Game 1
An early B2B leaves him floundering. I counter all his stuff. Drop a Phid, then a Morphling. Onto the next game.

SB nothing

Game 2
My opponent mulled to 4. I also drew into a B2B. He accumulated enough land to make one push with I’m guessing some Rituals or whatnot in hand. He cast Duress on me, and I revealed my 3x FoW in hand. He scooped.

Games 5-1, Matches 2-0-1

Round 4: Darren playing his build of Trinistax

Game 1
He manages to sneak through a Welder into play. Nevertheless, I keep countering and digging, hoping to find a Keg. He finally gets a Juggernaut on the board, which I am ill-equipped to deal with.

- 1x MisD
- 1x Miscalculation
- 1x Mana Leak
- 3x Powder Keg

+4x Energy Flux
+2x BEB

Looking back, I feel I sideboarded poorly for this matchup.

Game 2
Darren draws into gas, gas, gas. A Tangle Wire slows the game down for both sides. However, I manage to puke out a Phid, and then I draw into a Flux. Darren, having more artifact mana sources than lands, scoops.

Game 3
Darren gets into play the early Trisk. Welder soon joins him. I manage to draw into a Flux and cast it. Trisk pings me then dies. There are no other artifacts on the board. Darren gets another Welder onto the board, and the 2 goblins swing until I’m at 3. I drop a couple of Phids to halt their attack, but if Darren can get an artifact into play, he can weld it for the Trisk and ping for the win. The race is on to see if I can get my Keg before Darren can get any artifact on the board. Finally, Darren casts Mox Ruby, which I counter, but he also had a Lotus in hand and he cast that. I had no counters in hand.

Games 6-3, Matches 2-1-1

Round 5: Alex Hughes playing Landstill

Game 1
B2B drops early. Then it’s land-go land-go for both sides for quite a long time, with me countering anything he tries to play, until finally he scoops.

- 1x Powder Keg
- 1x Miscalculation

+2x Chalice of the Void

Game 2
Same deal as game 1. B2B. This time he saved some trouble and scooped early once I countered his few REB’s. I think I got a Phid on the board as well.

Games 8-3, Matches 3-1-1

Round 6: Hector playing Animal Farm

Game 1
Hector does a noble deed. Since even if he won the match, he wouldn’t be guaranteed a spot in T8, whereas if I won this match, I would be in for sure, he told me that if we ran out of time he would just concede, as game 1 took up a good portion of the round time. Hector gets a couple of Explorations into play, and then sneaks out a Crucible. I manage to play a B2B right after he taps out though. His Wasteland is tapped, so he has no out and anything he tries to do I counter. He finally draws into another Wasteland, so he’s nuking his lands and replaying them. I drop a Morphling and 2 Phids, and after a couple of swings, he scoops. He made a couple of good pushes though with Echoing Truth, trying to bounce my B2B at end of turn. I also made a play error. I failed to put a fuse counter on my Keg one turn, and as a result it never reached 3. If I had gotten rid of Crucible the game would have gone a lot more smoother.

- 1x Miscalculatoin
- 1x Misdirection
+2x Chalice of the Void

Game 2
We play this game out for a bit, but I slap a B2B on the board. Rather than try and fight it out, Hector extends his hand and wishes me luck in the top 8.

The standings going into top 8 were Kandykid in first, and me in sixth. I am unsure about the other placings, but there were atleast 2 Dragon in there and an Animal Farm. KK was playing his build of Trinistax. I got paired up against the Animal Farm deck.

Top 8

Quarterfinal: Geoff playing Animal Farm

Game 1
I dealt with him the same way I dealt with the previous Animal Farm deck: B2B. He’s just slowed to a snails pace because of B2B, with me countering anything important, until I drop Morphling with some Drain mana.

- 1x Miscalculation
- 1x Misdirection
+2x Chalice of the Void

Game 2
I finally get a Chalice in my opening hand (I should have boarded more of these). I keep my hand, even though it doesn’t have FoW, because I can go Chalice for 1 first turn and stop all his Xantids, Duress’, Explorations, and Fastbonds. Guess what, he goes first turn Fastbond, and drops the Nut on me by playing 3-4 land, Horn of Greed, Gushing, Ancestral Recalling, getting a Crucible into play, and finally ends with OATH OF DRUIDS. I did not board in Control Magics. I’m like whatever, Chalice for 1 go. He slows a bit, not drawing too much business. Normally he would be able to go nuts with Fastbond + Horn, but he was at 8 life and he didn’t have Chasm in play. I drop a B2B, and proceed to just sit there on my ass with 5 counters in hand. He plays stuff, if I don’t like what it is I counter it, but I let his Horns and his Explorations through. He’s rifling through his deck, trying to find an answer. I eventually draw into a full hand of 7 counterspells (3x Leak, 2x Drain, 2x FoW) and now I’m just tossing every non-counter card I draw. Finally, with no cards left in library, he makes one final push, and tries to cast Battlefield Scrounger! (I was expecting a Darksteeel Colossus as his Oathable creature). Countered. Game.

Semifinal: GMontag playing Dragon

Game 1
He goes first turn Xantid Swarm. I get a B2B in play but not before he gets a Dragon in the graveyard,via. Bazaar. I have counters in hand, but Xantid biatch is on the board, so they’re useless. He has an Emerald and a tapped Bayou in play. I draw into Keg and cast it. One more turn, and Xantid dies and all my counters are online. He draws a black source and animates on his turn before any of that happens though.

-1x MisD
-1x MisCalc

+2x Chalice of the Void

Game 2
I mull to 5! Keeping a hand of Lotus, LoA, Morph, and 2 Drains. I play a Lotus and LoA first turn. He played a Buried Alive I think via Ritual, I used the Lotus to drain it. Next turn I burn for 3 because I have no sink. He lays an Emerald and Xantid! Surprisingly, he draws gas and I draw into some land and a Phid. I’m on the verge of Stabilizing, but he finally ends up discarding Dragon from a too full hand, and going off the turn after.

I was supposed to play the loser of the other semifinal match to determine 3rd place, but instead I just conceded to him because it was late, and my prize was better. Instead of the 6 Draft sets I was supposed to get, I got store credit and purchased a Samurai Sword. Had I finished 3rd and gotten the Berserk, I would not have been able to trade that in for credit because the Berserk was being supplied by the organizer of the tourney who was not affiliated with the store.

It was a great tournament.

The obligatory Props/Slops

Props:
GMontag and the rest of the US crew for organizing this thing. You can count on team Canada coming down and representing.
B2B for just being the bombiest bomb that ever bombed.
Mirkwood games for having an excellent selection of cool swords, spears, canes with hidden swords in them, war flails, pens with hidden knives with them, “dragon fangs�, and scented candles.
My teammates for supporting each other in playtesting, getting/lending cards etc.
Gabe for teaching me what “The Plunge� was.
Doctor J for getting us safely to and from the tourney.
Anyone else who feels they deserve props.

Slops:
Xantid Swarm
Xantid Swarm
Xantid Swarm
Mount Vernon food outlets for closing soo early on a Saturday (the entire town seems to shut down after 7:00pm)
Xantid Swarm
Me, for my horrible plays in round 2 (seriously, they were BAD).

PeAcE

[Magi]

My experience with monoU was enjoyable. I certainly took a lot of people by surprise. It's only a matter of time before people shift and adjust to it though.

I have quite a few thoughts on this deck and some card choices, but I'll put them out tomorrow, as it's kinda late for me.

[Gabethebabe]

Impulse > Brainstorm??

[Nantuko Rice]

Impulse > Brainstorm??

Yes it is.

I think Magi should've ran the version with 4 Chalices in the main. For some reason I like that one better. But if not in the main, 4 chalices probably should've been in the sideboard.

-1 flux -1 prop +2 chalice, IMO

In case you haven't read the article by Smenenenenene, Impulse gets you the card that you need, it digs through your library alot better than brainstorm. Brainstorm is good because you get to "see" your next 2 cards that you'lll be drawing. If you lack a way to reshuffle, then brainstorm isn't to good when none of your following cards are lands. Mono-blue is very mana intensive and missing a landdrop hurts.

My experience with monoU was enjoyable. I certainly took a lot of people by surprise. It's only a matter of time before people shift and adjust to it though.

Actually, it's more like people are adjusting to Crucible + waste and thusly B2B will probably get cut from the maindeck soon. I've built a 4cc deck but am looking towards to playing a R/G Beatz Variant and quite possibly Sui Black.  

[Whatever Works]

I like your build and it is something similar to what i run. I preffer the kind with the maindeck Chalices, but thats just prefference. I was wondering if you had considered this for the sideboard:

-2 Reb
+2 chalice

My thought would be that the REB's wouldnt work well with chalice, because chalice is best at 1 (keeping welder/swarm) of the board. And REB also costs 1 so thats not the greatest synergy. Another reason for running more chalices in the board would be to draw them earlier in the game when they are most usful (or you can just maindeck them).

How did you like the miscalculation in the deck??? The card seemed slightly random, and though its fairly good card overall do you believe its optimal? Also were there times where you wish you had a maindeck answer to something like a first turn juggernaut, or would that just cause a scoop?

Why did you not sideboard chalice in against stax/welder.dec? For me at least the card really shines. In the opening hand if im going first i can drop at 0, or at 1 (and just completely shutdown welders, and the 3-4 REB's that were most likely sideboarded in against me.

Great tournement report!