The night before I meet with some other players so that I don’t have to make the train trip by myself. After a short night we make our way to the Gameforce Store. About 40 people subscribe and this leads to 6 swiss rounds and than a top8 elimination. We speculate a little about what score might make it, and our conclusion is that 4-1-1 should be enough, and maybe a lucky 4-2 might slip in (depending on how much there is being drawed on the top tables).
I was packing TPS, because of a few reasons. First of all I like to play with the Type1 goodies, second of all I really liked the stability of TPS compared to other combo decks and third I still believe it is the best deck right now (I have to admit that I failed to prove it this time)
This was my list:
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Swamp
7 Solomox
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Memory Jar
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Yawgmoth’s Bargain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Rebuild
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Lim-Dûl’s Vault
Sideboard:
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 Rebuild
3 Skeletal Scrying
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Mind Twist
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Hydroblast
1 BEB
2 Chain of Vapor
1 Darksteel Colossus
Round 1: Jos with 4colour controlI knew what he was playing since we had a little chat before the pairings were announced, so I knew I was facing a deck I could and should beat.
Game 1:
I lead of with a Duress and see all kind of expensive spells, after having him discard his FoW he is left with Wish, Decree, FoF, Cucible and some Wastelands. He gets Crucible on the table but since I knew it was coming I had only fetched out basics and I had all my 4 basics on the board. I hardcast a Jar and use it next upkeep. My 8 cards contain a Duress and a Will, so the other 6 don’t really matter since I already had assembled quite a juicy graveyard.
Game 2: (In: 3 Scryings, 1 Tendrils, Out: 1 Windfall, 1 Tinker, 1 Jar, 1 Rebuild)
I hadn’t prepared much for this tournament, but I did work on the sideboard plan against control decks and Scryings proved by far the best option. The third Tendrils seems a necessary evil, but you might be able to get away with just 2.
My LoA gets wasted after drawing 1 card from it, and he resolves Ancestral. Since I was fetching basics again he couldn’t really keep my mana down, but once he found a Rack & Ruin and resolved it, I was left with only three land. But I had used a Duress to make sure he didn’t have any countermagic (aside from the REB in his hand). So with a Ritual I resolved a Scrying for 5 cards. This put me in control of the game, and after another Scrying for 4 on his next upkeep I had little trouble finding my Will for the win, I even put a Lotus on top of my library with a LD Vault for some more fun.
1-0 , 2-0
Round 2: David with TPS (with wheel)Game 1:
I play Island, Mana vault and he answers with an Academy and nothing else, he seemed to have kept a very risky hand, and I tend to punish him for that. Too bad my hand was depending on my own Academy, but since it’s dead now I use the new legend rule to get rid of his. After a conformation of the judge both Academies hit the graveyard. A little later I draw a Jar and I manage to cast it on the next turn. After popping my Jar I draw pretty bad, so the only thing I manage to do was putting a (lethal) Will on top of my library to make sure I could win next turn. But he knew this too since I used Mystical, so when he drew Jar, he played it and immediately used it, to ruin my plans. He did however have little mana left to do anything important with his temporary hand. When I got back to my original hand I managed to resolve the Spiral I still had in there, and it gave me enough fuel to win this game.
Game 2: (In: 1 Scrying, 1 Colossus Out: 1 Rebuild, 1 Windfall)
He managed to kill me on his first turn with very good backup at all times. There is really nothing I could do about it
Game 3:
I mulligan into a pretty sub par six-card hand, and know my changes of winning this game will be slim. I Duress him and find out he’s a little light on mana, so I figure I might still stand a change, but his next draws reveal Academy and Mana Crypt. I try to slow him down by forcing a Ritual somewhere, but it doesn’t really matter. His Twister finds him a Lotus and a Ritual for even more mana, but no tendrils yet. He does have a Jar however, and I can’t stop it, and the Jar does reveal him a lethal Tendrils
I feel bad about losing this match, but since the Mirror is almost a coinflip which is basicly decided by luck I can’t really blame myself. I figure that I have to win next 3 rounds to make sure I get in.
1-1 , 3-2
Round 3: Bapthist playing Control MadnessI already played against him several times the last tournaments and at all times I seemed to have the perfect foil to his deck. But this time he came prepared. Not only did he have 4 FoW and 4 Logic, he also had 2 Stifles maindeck, as I found out later.
When he was watching my games in the last round I explained him why I tried to Force and Ritual and some point and he could only agree with me after my explanation. Now that I had to play him he knew what to do :S
Game 1:
I keep a fairly slow hand, but since I knew he wasn’t playing combo I figure I might give it a try. He opens extremely quick with Lotus and Mongrel, but than burns for 1, making it a less impressive opening. I Vampiric for a Bargain, but when I cast ritual next turn he Forces it. If we wouldn’t have forced it I would have resolves a Bargain after Duressing away his Force. I struggle to find anymore black mana sources while he kept beating me down while getting card advantage with Bazaar and Squee/Deep Analysis. I resolve a desperate will at some point but when I play the fetch-land out of my graveyard he suprises me with a Stifle, and I don’t get my second black source jet. A little later I do, and I manage to get the Bargian into play with 7 lives left and almost tapped out. If I give him one more turn I’m dead, so I have 6 cards to find a Tendrils and the mana to cast it. But with three Rituals wasted already the changed seem rather slim. I pay 1 life and draw … Lotus, with the remaining 5 lives and a Brainstorm I don’t find a Tendrils, but I do find a Desire I can cast using all my mana resources. The second for my Desire reveals is a Tendrils…
Game 2: (In: 1 Chain of Vapor, 1 Colossus, Out: 1 Windfall, 1 Rebuild)
I resolve a first turn Necro with Force backup, but he does put pressure on me with some creatures. After stopping a Null Rod from resolving I manage to resolve a Tendrils for 16 lives giving me some air to breath and some lives to waste. The cards I draw from Necro are poor and after Duressing him I know he gets a small change to kill me. He had 2 Rottwallas in play and only 1 land to produce mana. However I knew he was holding Jet and a Land, so if he could draw Emerald or Lotus (he could also bazaar in hope to find a lotus, but he forgot) he would be able to deal me the lethal 6 damage.
He did not find any of those two but he did draw some card with something. When I played a Jar he tried to counter it with a Stifle, just to realise he just had flashed to wrong card, he quickly replaced it with the Logic he wanted to play but this piece of information he just gave me proved crucial. I let him counter my Jar, because I couldn’t stop the stifle, and I manage to Walk and pay the last 2 available lives. I already tutored for a Tendrils but he was still holding his stifle. I did have a Force I could hardcast to stop the stifle, but I didn’t have a spell to boost the storm to 1, which I needed to kill him since he was a 4. The two cards I draw were a land and a Duress so I managed to resolve a Tendrils for exactly 4 lives.
Afterwards he showed me all the hate he had boarded in, in totall I ewas facing 8 Counterspells, 2 Stifles, 2/3 Null Rods, 2 Arcane Labaratories and 2 Tormod's Crypts. Combine that with an active Bazaar digging into alll this hate and I think I was pretty lucky these last games. They both were very intense and included some very nice plays from both of us.
2-1 , 5-2
Round 4: Tim with StaxI tested against Stax after sideboarding quite some, since I knew there would be some Stax and I didn’t want to play a deck with a bad matchup against it. With 6 bounce all artifacts finding one isn’t a problem, however there is one problem: Tangle Wire. Aside from Wire there’s really little to be scared of, since you can just bounce them all eot and combo out, or draw-seven all his cards away next turn.
Game 1:
I keep quite a slow hand, but I guessed that I would draw into gas with LoA and Brainstorm. My LoA gets wasted and I don’t really draw into much useful. He starts locking me down with Trinisphere and Wire, which I couldn’t stop because of Welder. Eventually I get cast a Lim-Dûl’s Vault at the end of his turn to find one of two Rebuilds, and I succeed after having paid 7 lives (so I saw 40 cards, before I finally found a Rebuild) I didn’t have much more live to spare to go search for the other one, but neither were the other four cards around the first one any good. I figured I might still stand a change and brainstormed into Will and Ritual I has just stacked on top. The turn after Tim wasted my land which was deciding for the game. Next upkeep I could play my rebuild, returning my Mox and Mana Vault, but I would be tapped out on land and with only 1 coloured mana I could cast Ritual, Vault and Will and replay lots of rituals and duresses, but I didn’t have a Tendrils, nor a blue mana to get one (I would have been able to win with a single blue mana)
This loss feels pretty bad because I drew crap for so long, and a single Tendrils would have won me the game. Now I know that, if I even reach game 3, he will start it, and then a Trinisphere could be devastating.
Game 2: (In: 1 Rebuild, 2 Hurkyl’s Recall Out: 1 Tinker, 1 Jar, 1 LD Vault?)
Again I don’t have an explosive hand and he has an early Tangle Wire. I have to focus on winning after bouncing all his artifacts again. He does have a Chalice for 0 slowing me down but he does not have a Trinisphere jet so I Ritual into Demonic and Vampiric, fetching Lotus and Twister. With a Rebuild in my hand I plan on bouncing all his artefacts in my upkeep and then Twister them away, probably resulting in a win for me. He does draw the only card that could stop this play though: Strip Mine, and after wasting my Island I am left without blue mana. After not drawing blue mana for 5 turns it’s too late too recover.
This loss felt even worse, since again he had the Wire, but on top of that he drew the only card that could stop my Twister. I feel like I deserved at least a third game, but hey: that’s life.
2-2 , 5-4
Round 5: Stijn with B/G dragonGame 1:
I have no clue what he is playing, but he plays forest birds of paradise on his first turn. I figure he must but playing some kind of survival/mask deck, and I think I have all the time to go for the kill. But when I fail to do anything important with my 7 new cards from Jar next turn I see him discard all kind of Dragon Components because of my jar. He crops into a Bazaar and tries to find a Animate to go off, but fails. I brainstorm into a Bargain and draw 10+ cards, after a Rebuild I have enough spells to make my Tendrils lethal.
Game 2: (In: 1 Tormod’s Crypt, 1 Chain Of Vapor Out: 1 Windfall, 1 Rebuild)
I mulligan into a hand with 4 Land, Ancestral and Tendrils. He goes first and Duresses me. I draw a Duress and play it seeing 2 Oxidizes some land and a ESG. Apparently he didn’t have a real good hand either. While I topdeck like 5 lands in a row he draws into 2 Chalices, casting both, for 0 and for 1. Then he draw Survival and starts thinning his deck like a madman, in order to have more change at topdecking an Animate. With 8+ land on the board I finally draw into a Rebuild and I cast it eot. Then I brainstorm, fetch, brainstorm, mystical all at the end of his turn. Next turn I crypt him and play a Spiral, gaining ±5 mana in the progress and I draw into 6 crap cards and a Desire which reveals a Tendrils among others.
I didn’t deserve to win that last game, since he had all changes to draw an animate but failed too. However with him having no counters I would be pretty confident if we had to play game 3 too.
3-2 , 7-4
Round 6: Mitchell with MUDIt always fun to play agiant MUD since I saw the deck grow, and I think I can say that I pretty much know all the ins and outs. It didn’t matter much these 2 games though.
Game 1:
I win the die roll and continue my luck by drawing this incredible powerful hand: Mox Jet, Black Lotus, Brainstorm, Dark Ritual, Necropotence, Windfall, Sol Ring. I pop the Lotus for blue and brainstorm into more mana. Then I play my Necro and follow it with a Windfall for the full seven cards. He must have been stunned by this opening because instead of discarding his hand, he shuffles it back into his library.
I could have called the judge and see him get a gameloss, but if there is one thing I don’t like it’s these kind of penalties (maybe cause I receive them from time to time for forgetting to deside or only listing 59 cards etc.0). I let him put the top 7 cards into his graveyard before drawing his seven for the Windfall and we continue our game.
Still in my first turn I play a Swamp (I hadn’t even used my landdrop at this time) and a Duress taking his Sphere. I let him resolve a Metalworker and combo out soon after with a Rebuild and a Tendrils.
Game 2: (In: 2 Hurkyl’s Recall, 2 Rebuild Out: ??)
I mulligan to 5 and after a FoW I am left with only three cards in my hand, I never really stand a change this game.
Game 3:
I remember very little about the beginning of this game, and I forgot to take notes of this game. What I do recall however is a Situation in which I am able to bounce all his artifacts in my upkeep, and then I have to gamble that my Ancestral, played with Will, will reveal something juicy. It does, I get a Necro into play and draw enough cards to find a FoW for any threat he might recast. I take one more turn with Time Walk and draw some more with Necro allowing me to win next turn.
4-2 , 9-5
My resistance has been pretty good so if one 4-2 will make it into top8 it will probably be me, however it turns out that just enough people drew to make me come in 9th , as the first person with 12 points.
My loss to Stax doesn’t really bother me, I just drew very bad both games and I still have a change in both games, so with a little more luck it shouldn’t be a problem. Combo mirrors do seem like a problem though, there’s just little you can do to influence the matchup. Stifle is your best sideboard option, but it pretty weak and you would need at least 3 of them to see any influence.
Another option is the “Dutch Solution� which basicly comes down to copying the tech the Eindhoven crew used in their early versions of the deck: White. White gives an incredible card in the mirror with Abeyance. Enlightened Tutor also seems like a card that might be worth considering. This could lead to these changes:
- 1 Library Of Alexandria (it wasn’t really spectactular and when adding white I don’t want to cut too much basics, it would still play it in an UB version though)
- 1 Swamp
- 1 LD Vault
+ 1 Scrubland
+ 1 Tundra
+ 1 Enlightened Tutor (Lotus, Necro, Bargain)
And as a possible sideboard:
3 Abeyance
3 Skeletal Scrying
1 Tendrils of Agony (could be switched with something else)
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Hydroblast
1 Darksteel Colossus
3 Hurkyl’s Recall (most of the time it’s superior to Rebuild)
---
Props:
- Organisation for having a Top8, it's soo much better than just Swiss, even when you don't make the cut.
- Desire for Showing a Tendrils every single time I cast it.
- Very very high power level (cards and skill), this makes tournaments soo much better.
Slops:
- Belgiums
(Again I beated three of them, but they swore for revenge so will see what the future will bring)
Koen
PS: I know I screwed up the grammer by using different times but I guess it shouldn't be too hard to follow.
