Card To Be Signed: Last time it was Fill with Fright. This time it was Terror. I had to win my 6th round to make top 8, but lost to Kyle Leith (last time I beat him in the elimination rounds) so I had him sign a Chittering Rats. It was appropriate because Kyle likes to talk… a lot of shit… but it’s funny… occasionaly.
Anything I’d Like To Say:
What is the point of an inside lane of a rotary circle? Who would use it?
Props:
-Everyone I played. The games were awesome and this time no little assholian kid.
-TO (hatcher?), for giving out door prizes. AWESOME door prizes. To bad Ravager got banned in type 2, the foil Viridian Shaman I won ain’t worth much anymore. lol.
-TO, for ordering Pizza and charging as much as he paid for them (next time if I’m there, order one pineapple!)
-Dominos, for the 5-5-5 deal.
Slops:
-None. Cause this was a fucking awesome tournament.
Decklist:
(copied from
http://ca.geocities.com/pilarskijics4m/index.htm#cerebral; changes in bold)
Mana (19):
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
<b>1 Seat of Synod
1 Great Furnace</b>
1 Tolarian Academy
8 So Lo Crypt Moxen
Draw (14) :
4 Bazaar
4 Squee
4 Thirst For Knowledge
2 Intuition
Threats (16) :
3 Sundering Titan
1 Worldgorger Dragon
2 Triskelion
4 Animate Dead
<b>3 Force of Will
2 Duress</b>
1 Possessed Portal
Restricted for a Reason (7) :
Ancestral Recall
Mytsical Tutor
Yawgmoth's Will
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Tinker
Time Walk
Sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Necromancy
3 Ray of Revelation
3 REB
Explanation of Changes:
First of all. I made a lot of game errors today. As well as deck building errors. Dunno wtf was I doing. Rushed into things without a lot of preparation and planning.
The Furnace/Seat change was to help go off with dragon and kumano. I made this change right after I won the Mox Jet two weeks ago.
Then Trinisphere got the axe. Then I took some belief that there would be lots of graveyard hate since there were so much graveyard stuff going on last tournament there.
Original plan was no dragon at all, and 3 forces and 3 duress. This worked out pretty well. Then for some reason I decided to take out one duress for the dragon. Dragon can still draw games and it can still win with Trike on the table. Chances of having a welder around while I dragon’ed off I felt were pretty high. I was wrong. I was wrong about A LOT of things.
I had been warned ahead of time by teammate Pete (who top 8’ed with UB Fish and lost to Kyle Leith in the first of elimination rounds) that Duress would be competing for black mana which I probably wouldn’t have available. He was right. In goldfishing I always felt I had ample mana, but I was mana screwed plenty of times today.
So why the inclusion of Duress in the first place? Force of Will was there to answer Trinisphere, but those numbers are going down, so Force remained a reactive free (important) answer whereas Duress is a proactive answer that competes for turn one welder. I felt the dragon combo wasn’t necessary (even though it steals games) and that it was more important to make sure my other threats resolved. Dragon and Kumano are not threats, but duress is.
There was also anticipation for lots of combo decks. Duress helps against combo as well as the 4 chalice in the side. I put small slips of paper onto my Duresses saying “What if I were FoW” and “What if I were Kumano.” They wouldn’t have helped. Having the duresses also makes sideboarding harder. Normally I side our the Dragon/Kumano. Now I don’t know what to get rid of.
Oh. And if I had to choose between Kumano, Hellkite, Memnarch, Laquatus, or Witness, I choose Kumano. Witness is to confusing for me and I don’t feel like figuring it out and I have a thing for Kumano. Not in that way. Hardcasted Kumano first turn against fish… fun.
And now the matchup analysis.
The Matchup Analysis:
Round 1: Cyle playing Bird Shit
Game 1: First error of the day is forgetting to play mystical end of turn so I have to do it on my upkeep. He then dazes my Thirst for Knowledge which hurt a lot. He has library on the table and I can’t get rid of it so even though I’ve animated a Titan and hardcasted a Trike... he has drawn plenty of swords and beats me with werebears and mongee (plural of mongoose?).
Game 2: I draw like crap and (error number 2) forget to return a Squee which screwed me over because then I have nothing to pitch to force after I bazaar. I try to animate Titan which resolves but he gets to swords it. Woulda been nice if I coulda dumped the Squee to bazaar so I would’ve had the blue spell to pitch to force. I don’t know why, but I boarded in a Tormod Crypt which he stifles. I animate a Titan which he swords and wished he had a stifle for. Then I animate a welder and even though he’s drawn many cards off library this game as well, he doesn’t find another answer and portal lock comes online next turn.
Game 3: Time is called after he plays a land (it’s library, he’s also played his recall each game too). At the end of 5 turns, he has a 4/4 and a 3/3 versus my 7/10. I’m at 26 life and him at 20. I swing for 7 and we draw.
Random Note: I love werebear. He’s so cool.
Round 2: Chris with W/U Scepter & Soldiers
Game 1: I win the die roll and cast Tolarian, Mox, Walk. Top a Tinker which gets forced. His Mox Proxies > My Myr/Mox Proxies. I try to Bazaar, he stifles, then next turn wastelands with crucible. I hardcast Squee to try and race my own crypt (which I’m doing pretty good at… the die I’m rolling appears to only roll evens while he calls odds. Finally he starts calling evens and the die continues to roll evens. Lol) After Squee takes a half of his life total, he cycles a decree for 2 soldiers. Squee gets owned. I draw a black lotus but his 2 aura of silences turns black lotus into a negative mana gain of one. Nice tech.
Game 2: We both have early lotus’s and I hardcast force while he tries to play spells. I animate a titan and swing a few times bringing him to 2 life while I’m at a nice 26. He curses at the “Leaves play Trigger” because he was hoping it was a “goes to the graveyard trigger” (guess what white spell he played). He fetches to bring him to one so he has mana up for his Annul on a Stick but that doesn’t stop Tinker for Trike. Force of Will is no good in this situation either.
Game 3: We joke about Mana Crypt. Everytime Chris’s opponent plays a Mana Crypt, Chris wins. I have a crypt in hand but nothing to accelerate but don’t play it. Chris plays aura of silence and I cry. I end up discarding the crypt and win the game. Not quite. We go to time but Chris scoops to me because I have portal lock. Chris, you’re a very fun and noble opponent. You have set the example, I shall do the same one day for another (unless it’s round 1).
Random Note: You were right about crypt.
Round 3: Anthony with RUB/Workshop
Game 1: He gets pyrostatic pillar down which I cringe at because I look at my hand and realize I’m going to be taking A LOT of damage. I get a welder and titan on the table while I’m on 8 life. I’m hoping he’s not playing Burninator. He’s not.
Game 2: I side in Ray of Revelation simply for Pillar because they hurt so much. Of course he had sided them all out. I’m ready for portal lock so I try to weld out my pearl for my portal but his monkey eats it. Then I realize he only has 2 untapped lands and I should’ve targeted my Sol Ring. Next turn I weld in portal. We both have two squees but I have a 7/10 and he has a masticore with only a workshop and darksteel ingot for mana.
Random Note: At least 3 game errors total in that match.
Round 4: Eastman with Sensei Sensei
Game 1: I have a slow start and he kills me turn three. He has all his bases covered. After he brain freezes me he casts Deep Anal targeting me. If I had gotten an untap phase, I could’ve welded in Possesed Portal and hold 4 squees in hand.
Game 2: Chalice for 1, Chalice for 2. I feel safe. Except I have no threats. I was hoping to get a welder down before my chalice but I had to chalice while I had the moment of opportunity when he was tapped out. I can still depend on Squee for a kill. Unfortunately Dave, as I said earlier, has his bases covered. He DT’s for Rushing River and my chalices go back. He Frantically Searches for Helm of Awakening, finds it, and my brain explodes as the hydrogen in it expands as they turn to ice.
Random Note: Sensei Sensei…. Who knew.
Round 5: Sam with Control Slaver
Game 1: Look I misplay again! I Yawg Will so I can replay a TFK so I can animate a titan. Oh wait, Titan gets removed from the game. I’m stupid. He has one card in hand and two mana open. I have to play this or die. I hardcast possessed portal. He drains it.
Game 2: I get to animate Trike to shoot his welders and eventually animate a titan. Beatings ensue.
Game 3: I manage to slip 3 welders through the counter wall while I have Bazaar and Triple Squee. Things get crazy. Mana Drains and Force of Wills can’t do anything.
Random Note: Playing on a pizza box was pretty cool. Trading slices of cold pizza for foil islands is pretty cool too.
Round 6: Kyle with Gifts-Belcher
Game 1: He resolves a gift and belcher. Next turn it’s mana severance and me shuffling up.
Game 2: My hand is TFK, Mox, Lotus, Animate, Welder, Titan, Force. I keep even though I have nothing to pitch to force. I’ve had a long day and I don’t care, I felt as though I don’t deserve to move on considering all the horrible playing I’ve done. So I play reckless and decide to keep. After the game he tells me his hand was 5 lands, TFK, and Gifts. Didn’t matter. Cuz after the Mox, Lotus, TFK; and 8 turns, I drew no other lands. I sat there… won a foil viridian shaman door prize… and then I finally drew a land! Great Furnace taps for red mana and Goblin Welder walks into the huge wall of blue.
Random Note: Mana screw… not good.
Final Random Note: I should go retire back to my cave again. Maybe this time I’ll have the will to stay in it.
