[Report] 1st out of 10, Spartanburg 6/16

I had been looking forward to this event for a few weeks, and wasn't sure what deck I wanted to take. I have a great deal of experience with oath, but that was months ago and I didn't have the same confidence in the deck in the current environment. Also, I wanted to run something more broken, and Oath has a very rigid structure. I had been thinking about slaver but decided eventually to put gifts together and see what I could do with it. The first version of the deck I put together didn't have welders because I would rather run slaver if I was playing welders. So my initial experience with the deck was that it didn't do much, and it relied on resolving one spell to win. I thought this sucked a lot. So I started messing with the configurations, cutting belcher and severance early, putting in a little more draw. I tried out 4 duress but having 4 seas just didn't work out with the hugely red sideboard. Finally the night before I cut the furnaces, which were crap, and put explosives in the deck. Here is what I ended up playing; I will explain some of the choices after.

"Gifts"

3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Island
3 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus

2 Skeletal Scrying
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Darksteel Colossus
4 Force of Will
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Yawgmoth's Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Time Walk
1 Recoup
1 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Duress

SB:
4 Rack and Ruin
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroclasm
1 Mind Twist
1 Pyroblast
1 Primitive Justice
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Strip Mine

Now, some notes about the maindeck. I didn't run Snow-Covered Island. I didn't know how many players there would be who kept up with the current environment, but playing a snow-covered land is a big flashing alert to your opponent telling them to dig for graveyard removal. I wanted as much surprise factor as I could get. In testing I never gifted for land and I was very glad I made this decision. Early in testing I cut mystical, but later on when I took the furnaces out, I had room for it again and this card is so good in this deck. If you can draw/tutor for will, you can gifts for recall/walk/tinker/lotus and just go nuts next turn. Mystical is really strong. Scrying is very solid, and is great against welders. I never had to use it against welders but I am glad they are in the deck, since if your opponent tries to weld out your colossus and you cast scrying in response, they waste an activation and you draw some cards. Two scryings are a minimum in this deck. I was expecting some aggro so I kept the life loss as low as possible; additionally, I hate getting stuck with colossus in hand and I tried to pack the deck with as much draw as possible, so 3 thirsts.

So I get there about a half an hour before the tournament was supposed to start (the start time was 2:30 on the website), and Cullen and Hill aren't there yet. I was talking to Hill the night before about what we expected and I was sure he was coming, so when Cullen showed up I asked him what was going on, since it was pretty close to start time. He said Hill would be late, and the storeowner put him in the bracket and started the tournament anyway. If he didn't show up his opponent would get a win. So I figured he would show up soon, and not get a loss.

Round 1: Cullen with UW fish.

I question my own understanding of the DCI pairing software since we both have good ratings. Anyway, we talk a bit and shuffle up.

Game 1: I don't remember who won the roll but Cullen mulligans to 5 and only draws 2 lands this game. I tinker early and he doesn't draw the swords, despite ninja drawing some cards.

sideboarding: I put in some blasts, I think I took out scryings and fof.

Game 2: Cullen goes first, and mulligans again (he mulliganed both games, once to 5 and once to 6 - I think I have them in the right order). I keep a hand with lots of lands and brainstorm. I think he plays chalice for 0 this match. However, he lacks more than one mana source and I just lay lands, draw cards, and eventually recoup-tinker with a huge mana advantage.

1-0-0

Round 2: Ashely with White Weenie.

Hill showed up just as round 2 was starting. Ashley got the bye from their match last round but was irritated because she came to play magic, and didn't like sitting around for an hour or so. I don't remember who won the roll this time.

Game 1: I blind tinker turn 2, and she draws the swords 1 turn too late.

sideboarding: I don't think I did anything.

Game 2: I screwed up this match big time. She doesn't attack with her weenies, likely fearing tinker + walk craziness. I take a huge will turn, getting wish and walking 4 times. I swing many times with colossus, but she has an en-kor creature out and redirects damage. I made a significant mistake in the ruling here, since trample damage assigns a maximum of the toughness of the creature, and she redirected all of it. I really have no idea what I was thinking. Anyway, she has lot of chumpers. So she starts taking turns again and drops maze of ith. I have no answer. Frustrated with my failure and unware of the timeleft (5 minutes!!!), I scoop, hoping to pull out a 2-1.

Game 3: Of course, I go into extra turns as soon as I draw my hand. I am a shit player for drawing with white weenie (no offense to ashley).

1-0-1

Round 3: Dennis (the TO) with Kobold awesomeness

I question his decision to play in the tournament he is organizing while also playing a combo deck. I think he just laughed.

Game 1: I win the roll. He mulligans to 6. I play island and say go. He drops some acceleration and kobolds. I force a skullclamp, and he has no more action. On my turn I lay sea, explosives for 0, and blow it, taking 3-4 permanents. He never recovers from this initial loss and I combo him out later.

sideboarding: I don't remember, but I think it was nothing since my board sucks against combo.

Game 2: On turn 2 he gets a storm count like 10 or something, but can't complete the play and passes back. I draw explosives again and use it after he takes crypt damage once. I get out a colossus and hit him once, taking him to 6. On the last turn before he would die he has 2 bayous out. I don't know what he is holding. He casts tinder wall and I think for a long time, eventually deciding to drain it without any more counters. It turns out it was the right play since he was holding other stuff, including will.

2-0-1

Round 4: Guy with affinity (sorry I forgot your name)

Game 1: He gets a slow start, I drain something and just go nuts.

sideboarding: +4 rack and ruin. I take out unneccesary stuff.

Game 2: He casts a disciple and in response I rack his board, taking glimmervoid with it at the end of turn. He hits me once with the disciple before I go off.

3-0-1

So I make top 4 and am still irritated by my massive stupidity round 2. Hill wins the matches he was actually in the store for so he is second seed while I am first. He is playing Dennis and I am playing Neil.

Top 4: Neil, with Ironworks

Game 1: He doesn't cast a spell until turn 4. It's an ironworks. Drain into brokenness.

sideboarding: same as affinity

Game 2: He has more spells this game, casting talisman and he gets an academy out. I counter his first ironworks and he casts another, so I use the drain mana to rack it and a mana souce. A couple turns later I rack two more mana sources. I go off easily.

Finals: Hill with his trademark stax deck. Before the match, the owner comes over and answers our questions about what the prize will be. He has 2 options, a cash payout and a store credit payout. The cash prize for second is equal to the entry fee and first isn't much better, so we obviously take the credit. I tell Hill I have no use for credit there and say I'd be willing to split. We work out a deal we both like and then it's on to our match. My memory is pretty fuzzy from this match since I didn't take notes and it lasted a really long time, but I think I got most of it right.

Game 1: I mulligan to 6. He get out a smokestack and I think chalice for 0, and my permanents start disappearing fast. I tinker out a colossus and try to race him before he completely locks me out, but he draws a strip before I do any damage and I scoop on the verge of having 0 permanents.

sideboarding: +2 crucible, +4 rack and ruin, I think I took out library, possibly duresses (they came out either game 2 or 3), fof, and a scrying, which was stupid. I should have taken notes here.

Game 2: I force a turn 1 ancestral. He gets out stack and leaves it at 1 counter. I have an early crucible and I keep a steady amount of permanents. I force a welder and he casts chains afterwards since I am tapped out. This nullifies 1 brainstorm that I draw later. He also gets out a chalice, I think for 0. There are about 15 turns of me sacking an island and replaying it with crucible, and him drawing crap. Meanwhile I am trying to get something useful out of my deck. In my first ~35 cards I see 1 rack and ruin which I used early. I drain another welder and then burning wish for pyroclasm, which kills two welders. Then it is safe to rack and ruin the chalice and I think crucible, and I go off with the tutors I have amassed over the course of the game. I think I resolved will near the end of the game.

sideboarding: some more adjustments, I put the 2nd scrying back in since I thought I would get to use it this time.

Game 3: He gets a turn 1 smokestack. I play explosives for 1, and then he plays chalice for 0. Great. He gets a chains out soon after. Eventually he sacs both of them though, since chains hasn't stopped much and he has some acceleration in his hand. I play some moxes and a crypt. I draw a rack and ruin but I have no red. Eventually I find a volc, and wait. He has a spellbomb (which is there to bounce my colossus if i get it out) and a glimmervoid. He keeps sacking the glimmervoid and replaying it, so I wait for him to draw something worth casting and bring a shop back instead. When he does this, I rack two lock parts. Then I topdeck another rack, and cast it right away, leaving him with no permanents somehow. He gets two shivan reefs and I get a will, and I take a long turn. I burning wish for mind twist and twist him for 2 (his whole hand), taking 2 REBs, which would have killed me since he had 2 red mana. By this time my mana and card advantage is too much. He tries to psych me out by misrepresenting the game state but is just joking, of course. This was a long match but a lot of fun.

So hill gets a gigantic amount of store credit and I get a card from him, and it's getting late and there is a drive ahead. So I say thanks to everyone and head out. Hopefully there will be another one soon, with more people. I thought more people would show up this time, and I thought the quality of decks would be much higher. But it was still fun to play, especially the finals, and I look forward to going back.

Props:

Anna, for being awesome and providing transportation
Dennis, for agreeing to post annoucements on TMD
Hill, for showing up

Slops:

The highway, for not leading Hill directly to the store like it's supposed to.
The guy who took down a bunch of tables and then set them up again right after, making a huge racket

Thanks to everyone who showed, and I welcome any discussion of the deck.