In the end, I finally decided to write a tourney report for the Beanie Exchange Tourney on 12/10. My memory is a little fuzzy from the event and I only ended up writing notes from my first game of the first match so bear with me. I ended up winning with Bomberman for a very nice Mox Ruby. Here’s my decklist:
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Darksteel Colossus
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
3 Trinket Mage
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
3 Auriok Salvagers
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Disenchant
2 Duress
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
1 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
3 Island
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Underground Sea
Sideboard
3 Meddling Mage
2 Hide/Seek
1 Pithing Needle
1 Serenity
1 Mind Twist
3 Swords to Plowshare
2 Jotun Grunt
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Decree of Justice
Round 1 Sam Best with Gifts
Game 1: Sam is a nice guy who I played a few years ago. I had no idea what he was playing but I remember him being fond of Control Slaver and he has a nice Goblin Welder drawing on his playmat. Sam wins the dice roll and drops a bunch of mana and passes. I also drop a lot of mana and pass, my hand is 3 Mana Drains. I duress him a turn later to see Misdirection, Chain of Vapor, and a blue card , I take the random blue card . We draw-go for a while, on his end step I cast thirst and surprisingly it resolves, I draw another thirst and cast it, which also resolves. I have Ancestral Recall but I can’t back it up since he has Misdirection and I don’t wanna tap out against him I untap and cast a Salvager, it gets Mana Drained and I allow it. On his turn he gifts with the drain mana and I mana drain it, he Misdirects the drain and in response I cast Ancestral Recall which resolves. I don’t have a force so the gift resolves and shows me Will, Tinker, Ancestral Recall and Lotus, I give him Will and Tinker figuring that he had no way to get black mana and his graveyard wasn’t too impressive and if he used Tinker to get out DSC, I would just use the Swords in my hand. If he doesn’t win on his turn I would cast another Salvagers with drain backup and Combo off He Tinkers for Mox Jet which surprised the hell out of me. He taps Mox Jet to cast Dark Ritual (last card in his hand) and then tries to go off with Will. His graveyard is pretty lousy except for the Recall/Lotus and he ends up Tinkering for DSC with a few cards in his hand. I untap, cast Salvagers, he has no counter , and I combo him out with Spellbomb/Lotus.
Game 2: I start off much better than Sam and resolve an Auriok Salvager which beats him down for a while and then later a Trinket Mage for Black Lotus, so I can have the mana to cast Force of Will, the last card in my hand. I can’t combo off so I pass the turn. Sam draws and passes back. I top deck Thirst for Knowledge which draws me Brainstorm, Mox Ruby, Hide/Seek and I discard the Mox Ruby. I cast Seek on him, he’s not happy and he scoops before I can look through his deck. I’m a little baffled why he didn’t play the rest of the game out but he only had 2 cards in hand, was at 8 life, and he probably figured he couldn’t win if I took either his DSC to put me at 29 life or what may have been his only Tendrils.
Record 1-0-0
Round 2 Dan Yarrington with TMWA
Dan wrote a much better report on this round than I probably will be able to so I’ll make a link to his report instead.
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=31391.0Record 1-0-1
Round 3 Jason with MUD
Game 1: He casts Metalworker and I plow it. He then casts lots of artifacts like Sphere of Resistance and Smokestack and I lose.
Game 2: This is easily one of the most bizarre games I have ever played. I kept a decent hand but with only an Underground Sea for mana. I start with Sea and a Brainstorm which sadly finds me only Library for mana. On his second turn he casts TWO Jester Caps with mana to activate them both. I have two forces with the necessary blue cards but I let them resolve because I have Trinket Mage and a Decree in my hand. He takes my 3 Salvagers, DSC, a Trinket Mage and puts them aside. He then spends about 2 minutes looking through my deck. I’m hoping he doesn’t notice the Serenity. He looks through my deck like 4 times and finally takes a Trinket Mage, whew. Hopefully, I can draw some mana and a Serenity and blow up the board. He passes the turn and I draw and play Tolarian Academy which kills his Academy and leaves him with an Ancient Tomb for mana. He strips the Sea and casts a Sphere of Resistance. I take my turn and I draw a Mox which I cast via Library. He takes his turn, wastes my Library and casts 2 Tormod’s Crypt, both resolve. His life is already at like 12 at this point because of the Tombs and burn. I manage to draw an Island but I still can’t cast anything besides a Force. I sit by and do nothing while over a few turns he casts a Chalice for 0, another Sphere of Resistance and a Trinisphere. At this time I have cast nothing in the game besides a Brainstorm and a Mox. I finally draw another land and I’m able to cast Force of Will. I think he tries to cast a Metalworker which I force. I go to my turn, fail to draw a land and pass. He casts another spell (I forget what it was) and I force again. I draw another land, I’m up to 4 mana and I can now finally cast the Mana Drain in my hand or cycle decree for 1 token. He is at 3 life just from the Ancient Tombs and mana burn. I pass the turn, he draws his card and passes back to me. On his end step I cycle for 1 soldier token and draw a Time Walk!! I say to Jason “Niiiiiiiiiice”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkeCGwycsh8I untap, attack with the token, cast Time Walk, take my extra turn and attack him down to 1 life. I have a Force of Will and a Drain and he has only 3 mana available that is not Ancient Tombs. He does nothing for his turn and I attack with the soldier for the win.
Game 3: I keep a decent hand which has an Underground Sea, a Brainstorm, a Force, Tinker, Swords and another card. He goes first and leads off with a land and passes. I drop the Sea and pass. He attacks my Sea with a wasteland on his turn and I Brainstorm into the nuts: Mox Sapphire, Sol Ring and a Mana Crypt. He passes, on my turn I cast Sapphire, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring and Tinker, sacrificing Mana Crypt for Darksteel Fathead. Jason is not pleased. On his turn he casts Tangle Wire and burns for 1. I tap my three permanents under Wire and I draw a Mox Pearl which I play. He taps out and plays Karn which I can’t Force because I have no other blue cards in hand. I tap Pearl, Sapphire and Sol Ring. I draw a Tundra and cast the Swords I have been holding on his Karn. His life goes up to 23 from the swords and then to 12 from the DSC, still two more turns of beats. He draws, cast nothing for the turn and passes. I attack and get him down to 1. He draws his card and scoops.
Record 2-0-1
Round 4 Rich Meyst with U/R Ophidian
Rich and I are both in good spirits since a win here sends us to the top 8 and even the loser still gets another game for a chance to get in. I beat Rich in August at the last Beanie tourney I went to so I’m pretty sure he wants revenge.
Game 1: Rich goes first and leads off with a Library and passes. I cast Duress on my turn and see Blood Moon, Time Walk, Thirst for Knowledge, Misdirection, Mana Drain, and a Wasteland. I have no idea what deck he was playing. I decide to take the Misdirection, shutting him off Library for a turn. Eventually I get my own Library and start drawing cards as well, I resolve a Salvagers. A few turns I combo off and win. Rich didn’t play too many spells that game and I didn’t see any win conditions so I still had no idea what he was playing.
Game 2: I manage to Tinker for a Darksteel Fathead which gets hit with Wipe Away. I cast a Salvager and then Rich nukes my guy from orbit with a Flametongue Kavu. I try to swords the Kavu but he counters. The Kavu goes all the way.
Game 3: I cast two Trinket Mages and a Salvager. He casts an Ophidian which slows down my attack. I attack with the two mages every turn and leave the Salvager back on D to stop him from drawing cards. Rich is at 4 life with only Ophidian as a blocker so I attack with the two mages and the Salvager, before he declares blockers he casts Teferi, didn’t see that coming. He blocks a mage and kills it. I pass and on his turn he drops Meloku. He starts beating me down with Meloku and his army of fliers while I draw junk. Rich attacks and knocks me down to 4, but only leaves 2 tokens, and an Ophidian as blockers. If I draw Engineered Explosives on my turn I can blow up his tokens, recur explosives with Salvagers and blow up anymore fliers he makes and attack for the win. I fail to draw the explosives and I scoop.
Record 2-1-1
Round 5 Jim with Gifts
Game 1: If I win this round I make top 8. I saw him playing gifts earlier in the day so I knew what I was up against. My memory of this game is very bad. I remember he tapped out on turn 2 to cast Merchant Scroll for Recall. On my turn I cast Duress, he Forces, I Force back and take his Recall. I get two Trinket Mages on the board and start the beat down. On his upkeep he casts vamp, draws his card, casts Black Lotus and then Empty the Warrens for 6 tokens, didn’t expect to see that main deck. I have a strong hand still so I’m not worried. Two turns later I manage to combo him off for the win
Game 2: I keep a very risky hand of Meddling Mage, Lotus, Yawgmoth’s Will, Demonic Tutor, Force of Will, Ancestral Recall and a random card. He casts a land and a Mox Ruby and passes. I cast the Lotus for blue and cast Recall, he misdirects it, I force back, he casts REB on my force, he draws his 3 cards and I burn for 2. Well, I’m pretty sure I lost this game. I pass, he plays a land and passes. I draw Mox Pearl and play it. On his turn he plays another land and passes. I draw Mox Jet and Demonic Tutor for………a Polluted Delta which I play. He casts Empty the Warrens for 8 tokens and I feel a little hopeless. On my turn I crack the fetch for a Tundra and go for the last resort and cast Will which ……resolves? I replay Lotus and Delta, crack Lotus for black, cast Demonic Tutor and get Engineered Explosives, cast it for 0, I can blow it now but I won’t get to use my Ancestral Recall. I cast the Recall, burn for one, and pass the turn. On his turn he attacks for 8 and passes. I blow up the goblins with Explosives and pass the turn. We each draw-go for a while. He casts Recoup on his Warrens and gets 4 goblins. He attacks with the Goblins for a few turns. I’m down to 3 life from goblin beats, mana burn, fetches and Forces. He attacks with his 4 tokens and I cycle Decree for 3 soldiers and kill 3 of his goblins, taking me down to 2 life. I draw Hide/Seek and hit him with Seek. I look through his deck and it looks like he only has 2 Empty the Warrens left as win conditions, I take a Warrens which puts me at a comfortable 6 life. Jim doesn’t really play much for the rest of the game and I end up casting some guys and beating down for the win.
Record 3-1-1
I manage to get 7th place so I get to play against Rich who got 2nd seed.
Top 8 Rich Meyst with U/R Ophidian.
Game 1: I cast a Trinket Mage for Black Lotus into a Thirst for Knowledge while he casts Ophidian. Neither creature can kill each other so they stare at each other for a while. Rich plays a Blood Moon which only shuts down my Seas because I have Islands and a Plains out. I cast a Salvagers which gets me infinite mana from Black Lotus, but I have no cards to go off with. I cast an Engineered Explosives for 3 to blow up his Ophidian and Blood Moon. Next turn I cast Thirst and I draw a Tinker. I Tinker for Darksteel and pass the turn. Rich doesn’t cast anything so I untap and attack for the win. It only occurred to me after the game that I could have just Tinkered into Aether Spellbomb and drew my whole deck but the fathead got the deed done anyway.
Game 2: Rich leads off with an Ancestral Recall and has to discard a card. I try to cast a Trinket Mage and he counters it. After a few turns, Rich casts an Ophidian. I cast Swords on it, he forces pitching a mana drain, I cast another Swords and this one resolves. Next turn I draw Trinket Mage and cast it. The turn after that I cycled Decree for 5 tokens on his end step. Mage and Soldier beats seal the deal.
Top 4 Dan Yarrington with TMWA
Dan’s report pretty much covers everything so here is the link again
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=31391.0Finals Dan Cunningham with Bomberman
I offer Dan the split since I didn’t want to play the mirror and wanted to get some food but he refuses. I watched one of his earlier matches and I’m pretty sure he only plays U/W so I know I have the advantage in the matchup. My friends say that if I win, I get to take them out to Chili’s, I agree to their demands.
Game 1: I win the roll and play first. I manage to Duress him early taking a nice blue spell I can’t remember and resolve a Trinket Mage. I have control of the game but then he drops Pithing Needle naming Auriok Salvagers, the two Salvagers in my hand laugh at me. I cast a Salvagers and a turn later I draw an Engineered Explosives, cast it for one and combo off.
Game 2: I draw my opening hand and its pure sex, Library, Double Force, a land, Trinket Mage, Brainstorm, Thirst for Knowledge. The only way he can deal with the Library is probably Pithing Needle which he may have sided out so I know I probably won this game. Dan leads off with an Ancestral Recall which I let resolve and then a Chalice for 0. I drop Library and pass. I draw a card on his upkeep, he drops a land and passes. I play a land, cast a Sapphire into Chalice accidently (which actually put me back on course to use library since I had too many cards in hand) and then Time Walk. I use Library again, play another land and pass. Dan drops a Meddling Mage, I let it resolve, he names Aether Spellbomb. On my turn I use library again, drop another land and pass. He attacks with his guy and then drops another Meddling Mage naming Trinket Mage. At his EOT I cast swords on the Meddling Mage naming Trinket, he Mana Drains it. A turn or two later I cast Explosives for 2 and kill his Mages. I cast a Trinket Mage and a Jotun Grunt. I forget to pay for the upkeep and my Grunt dies. I get out a Salvager, I can make infinite mana, I have Decree AND Will in hand. I know I got this game in the bag so I start making dumb mistakes because I’m going crazy with glee. I make some mana, cast Will first like an idiot and then almost blow my Lotus which would have RFG’ed it. I cast Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, Jotun Grunt and then go to my extra turn. I forget to pay the upkeep for the Grunt AGAIN so he dies. I have Lotus/Spellbomb so I properly combo off and win the game.
I shake hands with Dan Cunningham, grab my nice Mox Ruby, and then we head off to Chili’s where I get some tacos and drink like 5 glasses of water. I foot the bill, the teammates pick up the tip and we head home.
The tourney was a blast and I’m glad I stopped playing Control Slaver. I felt a lot more comfortable playing Bomberman and the results showed.
