Ohio Mox Tournament - The Results

[Tin_Mox5831]

We had a smallish but very talented field of 19 players including several SCG T8ers as well as two Vintage World Champions to sling cards for the guaranteed Mox Sapphire.

(Note: Players requested sideboards be withheld, so in the interest of fairness and in spite of my absolute hatred of this practice, all sideboards have been withheld. I know something you don't know! /endtaunt )

After 5 rounds of Swiss, the Top Eight was set and included such timeless hits as:

Jerry Yang
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 City Of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Bazaar Of Baghdad
4 Bridge From Below
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
4 Darkblast
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Narcomoeba
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Unmask
3 Ichorid
3 Life From The Loam
2 Dread Return
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Akroma, Angel Of Wrath
1 Sundering Titan


Francis Hart
5 Moxen
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
3 Island
2 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
3 Thirst For Knowledge
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
1 Regrowth
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Fact Or Fiction
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Vault
1 Thoughtseize
1 Voltaic Key
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ancestral Recall


Justin Dewey
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
4 Chalice Of The Void
4 Smokestack
3 Staff Of Domination
3 Crucible Of Worlds
4 Metalworker
1 Trinisphere
4 Sphere Of Resistance
1 Thorn Of Amethyst
3 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Duplicant
2 Triskelion
3 Juggernaut


Juan Rodriguez
4 Bazaar Of Baghdad
4 Dryad Arbor
3 City Of Brass
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Chalice Of The Void
4 Unmask
4 Narcomoeba
4 Bridge From Below
4 Serum Powder
3 Ichorid
3 Golgari Thug
3 Dread Return
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
2 Darkblast
1 Angel Of Despair


CJ Moritz
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
11 Island
3 Sea Drake
4 Augury Adept
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tinker
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Chalice Of The Void
3 Daze
3 Null Rod
1 Misdirection
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Echoing Truth
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Mystical Tutor


Mark Trogdon
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
4 Underground Sea
8 Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Darksteel Colossus
4 Dark Confidant
4 Sigil Tracer
1 Time Walk
3 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Force of Will
4 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Mana Drain
4 Cursecatcher
2 Echoing Truth
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Tinker


Andriy Yatskiv
4 Bazaar Of Baghdad
4 Dryad Arbor
3 Dread Return
4 Chalice Of The Void
4 Bridge From Below
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Unmask
4 Serum Powder
4 Leyline Of The Void
4 Ichorid
4 Narcomoeba
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Thug
3 Street Wraith
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
1 Angel Of Despair


Will Schilling
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
2 Wasteland
3 Island
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Thirst For Knowledge
3 Impulse
2 Tarmogoyf
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ponder
1 Gush
1 Sundering Titan
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Regrowth
1 Fact Or Fiction
1 Brainstorm
1 Tinker
1 Echoing Truth
1 Crucible Of Worlds
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Triskelion
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall

The Quarterfinals played out like so:

Andriy Yatskiv defeated CJ Moritz
Will Schilling defeated Mark Trogdon
Francis Hart defeated Jerry Yang
Juan Rodriguez defeated Justin Dewey

Despite the allure of the Unlimited Mox Sapphire, the semifinalists inquired about a cash split. After some number crunching and some heavily coerced singles sales to recoup my impending losses, the deal was done and each of the semifinalists got a quarter share of a $360 cash pool.

Although I noticed plenty of things that I definitely could've improved upon, I feel like it was a decent effort given the fact that it was my first T.O. experience ever. Although I was visibly frazzled most of the day, I truly enjoyed the opportunity to run this tournament and spend time with so many cool folks. It was great to see the people I already knew, and it was a pleasure to meet the rest of the players who helped make this tournament happen.

Thanks guys!

- David

[Tin_Mox5831]

Jerry has asked that I show his sweet sideboard plan, so here it is:

4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Force Of Will
4 Oath Of Druids
2 Hellkite Overlord
1 Gaea's Blessing

Pretty neat switcheroo, if you ask me. I was walking around while judging in round 1, and I saw Jerry dredging and doing other Ichorid-y things, then I come over to watch him in the Top 8 and he's Oathed up a Hellkite Overlord. What the hell? I think I had an aneurysm and an orgasm at the same time. Sexy time.

[Mr. Type 4]

This was a really fun tournament.  It's too bad it didnt get more people, because it was a really good time!

[MagusResolvesFTW9889]

Yea, good tournament, not too diverse of a meta though

[yangtime]

This tournament was fun times.  I'm certainly looking forward to the upcoming tournaments nearby in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Dave, do you anticipate holding a second tournament?

[Tin_Mox5831]

Maybe. Honestly, I wasn't really upset about the turnout, just burnt out after a busy day. I mean, as long as the venue got paid for and the prize is covered, I'd run another one for sure. I don't have deep pockets, but I would run another one like this. Maybe the next one will just be a cash prize tournament or something like that. I'm still learning for sure, but you guys will love the huge space I plan on using next time. Loads of space and half the price of the conference room.

[RitNecroWin]

Dave, Congrats on a finely run Tournament. The PGH crew has been raving all day to me about it. It def. sounds like your on the way to being a successful TO; let me know if I can help you in any way in the future.
I really wish I could have made it out =(  My sister in law still hasn't had the baby! - I look forward to seeing you on the 22nd.

[madlucas]

I would really ike to see CJ Moritz sideboard if possible.

[CJster]

My board looked like -

3x Phyrexian Dreadnaught   - Anti Aggro and Ichorid
3x Stifle  - Anti Aggro and Combo
2x Pithing Needle  - Ichorid and Goblin Welders
4x Back to Basics  - For Slaver and Fish
2x Propaganda  - Anti aggro and Ichorid
1x Hurkyl's Recall  -  Shops

The Back to Basics were poo and having more Propagandas is just better.

Stifle/Nought - Never got them both together to make it happen.  Nought was only useful and getting rid of a few Bridge from Belows.  May up each to 4x or take them out.

[andrewpate]

My board looked like -

3x Phyrexian Dreadnaught   - Anti Aggro and Ichorid
3x Stifle  - Anti Aggro and Combo
2x Pithing Needle  - Ichorid and Goblin Welders
4x Back to Basics  - For Slaver and Fish
2x Propaganda  - Anti aggro and Ichorid
1x Hurkyl's Recall  -  Shops

The Back to Basics were poo and having more Propagandas is just better.

Stifle/Nought - Never got them both together to make it happen.  Nought was only useful and getting rid of a few Bridge from Belows.  May up each to 4x or take them out.

I see that you lost to Ichorid in the top 8, so your (fairly unorthodox, you must admit) sideboard plan apparently did not pull enough weight.  Would cutting the Stifle/Dreadnaught plan entirely and just going to 4xPropaganda for aggro and 8xnormal anti-Ichorid cards like Tormod's Crypt or whatever be a better call?  Or did you just get unlucky in the top 8 and actually the sb you currently have works well against Ichorid?

[CJster]

It is very unorthodox - it was my test of finding sideboard cards which are good in multiple different matchups.  I have already altered the board for this deck again for more testing.

The stiflenought is in there to help me deal against heavier aggro.  They are my hardest matchups it seems.  Stifles I can board in against combo where dreadnoughts are useful against the bridges in ichorid.

My matchups during the swiss was almost all combo so I had to do very little boarding that whole time with my only true lose coming from a Tezzeret and a 1hr+ round. 

The T8 ichorid lose were still great games. I boarded in 10 cards for this matchup (maybe too much). Game 3 came to me only finding dreadnoughts to get rid of bridges but no other answers.  I eventually lost to Ichorid triggers.  My experience against ichorid is fairly newbish.  I need to do alot more testing to see what cards really worked for me in that matchup.

[Nehptis]

I'd like to see a report by Will Schilling as well as his SB.  The deck looks simple and obvious.  But, I don't believe I've seen it before.  I like how it can win with Goyfs or Titan or just control the game with Counters and CoW.

[Mr. Type 4]

I'd like to see a report by Will Schilling as well as his SB.  The deck looks simple and obvious.  But, I don't believe I've seen it before.  I like how it can win with Goyfs or Titan or just control the game with Counters and CoW.

Will is one of my buddies i met at work. He was really into Magic online, but we turned him on to Vintage. He rolls with the Pittsburgh crew and doesn't have a TMD account yet (but should def get one).  His deck is UGB Keeper originally designed by Brian Demars - I also played it at a couple tournaments.  It's a really good deck.   

[SuckedBackIn]

Will here and this is my first tournament report by request.

Well I did not really take the greatest of notes (none in fact) so most of this will be from memory. Sorry for the lack of actual plays, mistakes, or decision trees. Unfortunately I have tweaked the SB multiple times since this tournament so I can’t really give the whole list. I do know that my Ichorid package has stayed:
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Trinisphere
3 Pithing Needle

I really like these cards as they don't just stop Ichorid. 90% of them are good for other match-ups as well. It seemed to do the trick. I’ll get to that with my round 4 opponent.

Round 1 – Steve Menendian with TPS

He wrote a really good write up of this match so mine won’t even be close since he had pretty clear knowledge of my hand the entire time thanks to duress. My opening hand was:
Force of Will
Force of Will
Island
Mox Emerald
Mystical Tutor
Echoing Truth
Tinker

I won on the back of tinkered Colossus hitting both of his lands. Game 2 he just could not find a Tendrils and died to mana burn after getting more storm than he ever could have needed. We talked about this pretty extensively after the match and there were just so many different lines of play that it just felt like there could have been a better way to play it without killing himself.  I was repaid for my luck in my next match. What goes around comes around…

1-0
Round 2 – CJ’s Mono Blue stompy
This just is not a good match-up for me. He swamped me with card draw. I seem to remember him getting A. Call both games in the first 2-3 turns. I lost to Sea Drakes never really seeing any business.

1-1
Round 3 – Ellis with Keeper
Ellis rode with us in the car from Pittsburgh and him and I talked at length about which way to take the deck. He ended up playing the older version of my deck that utilized what we referred to as MegaZord. It is the 3 card combo of Crucible of Worlds, Fastbond, and Zuran Orb. I felt that this was a bit fragile and kind of clunky although he did say he was able to assemble it a couple of times. This was the most frustrating game of magic that I have ever played. Knowing his entire deck I completely over-thought every play. I ended up winning game 1 with Triskelion and a ‘Goyf overwhelming him with better card draw and digging power. Impulse is far greater than Strategic Planning in this deck.

Game 2 was the stalemate of the century as we both were able to play Sundering Titan and I managed to bounce my own Mana Crypt to stay alive and push the match to turns taking the win. I think I took about 12 damage from my crypt in 5 turns while he took none. I should have taken him to a craps table after the way he was rolling the dice this game.

2-1
Round 4 - ??? playing Ichorid
Ichorid does what it does game 1 and rolled over me.

Game 2 I sided in my whole package and was lucky enough to open with this hand:
Polluted Delta
Pithing Needle
Tinker
Mox Emerald
Mana Crypt
Regrowth
Island
Here is how it went down. Fetch for Underground sea, play mox, play Pithing Needle naming Bazaar, Tinker (Crypt -> Trinisphere). Go. I think he just passed. I dropped my island and played the Yixlid jailer that I had just drawn. That pretty much ended things. I did manage to find Yawgmoth’s Will eventually and Tinker for Triskelion just in case though : ) About midway through this game he confessed that he did not have any artifact hate.

Game 3 we ended up drawing to turns. Shuffling Ichorid just takes forever…..I would have won this one as well but I just could not get anything big enough to really kill him in the time that we had. He went down to 4 cards that didn’t have a Bazaar. I think he showed his hand and it was 2 Nacromoeba and city of brass and bayou to play them for blockers. His plan at that point was just to stall it out since he could not deal with the hate.

2-1-1
Round 4 - ??? Belcher
I played my opponent at Worlds in Chicago a few months ago and we talked about it while we shuffled up. I was playing goblins and game 1 managed to get a turn 1 Lackey that stuck and managed to win that one despite his turn 1 Trinisphere in response. He also managed to get the sphere turn 1 in both game 2 and 3 as well. It was crazy.
Anyway, game 1 he managed to just “go off” after winning the die roll. I could not manage to find a Force of Will in the top 14 cards (He played Wheel of Fortune).

Game 2 it was payback time. Turn 1 Tinker into Trinisphere. I can’t really remember what I won with but I don’t think he ever really got to play a spell.

Game 3 was much of the same except I managed to get a Pithing Needle on Charbelcher. Again can’t remember what I won with but it could only be Goyf or Sundering Titan as I think I sided out the Triskelion for this one.

3-1-1 On to the top 8

Mark Trogdon
This is the 4th time that I have played Mark in the only 5 tournaments that I have been to. He beat me in my first ever Vintage game but ever since it has been one sided. I don’t think he has taken a game from me. Sorry, Mark.

He hates my deck and it is not a favorable match up. In both games I managed to out draw and out counter him.  Game 2 I had a turn 1 Tinker for Crucible with Strip Mine in hand. He did manage to provide some pressure early with a Dark Confidant that was being very nice to him with Moxen and Lands then decided to slap in the face with a FoW the turn after I was able to get Sundering Titan into play. I was able to resolve Ancestral Recall and Yawgmoth’s Will in both games and Time Walked into the Top 4 after a saucy Impulse out of the yard.

In the end, we decided to split the prize since most of us had to get home for work or school. I'm glad that I didn't have to play any of the Oath SBs that were out there since I feel that is unfavorable. My top 4 opponent was my round 4 opponent so I think I had the upper hand in games 2 and 3 but still a risky match. Thanks for splitting.

Impulse was an all-star and Ellis agreed that it was better than the Strategic Plannings that he was running. Impulse is also just a bit cheaper. : )

I was going to name it P.M.S. or the Paul Mastriano Special because of his help with this particular build on the ride out but in the end I'm still searching for the right Urban Dictionary entry. Sorry again about the lack of a true sideboard but I think that those are the only cards that have stayed the same. I think there was a Massacre in there and maybe a Hurkyll's Recall or Rebuild. Sorry : (

[RitNecroWin]

@bait_bludgeon : Generally when folks don't post there boards, there is a reason.
I'm guessing this was the case here....

[Twaun007]

@bait_bludgeon : Generally when folks don't post there boards, there is a reason.
I'm guessing this was the case here....

Meandeck doesn't want to release its secret tech.





Tarpan...... Oops.

[CJster]

@bait_bludgeon : Generally when folks don't post there boards, there is a reason.
I'm guessing this was the case here....

Meandeck doesn't want to release its secret tech.


Tarpan...... Oops.

Twaun is still hiding his Mountain Goat combo from the world.

There was I guess 1 person that requested this.  No one else heard about it until the day this was posted.

[RitNecroWin]

@bait_bludgeon : Generally when folks don't post there boards, there is a reason.
I'm guessing this was the case here....

Meandeck doesn't want to release its secret tech.





Tarpan...... Oops.

Ok, seriously... who the hell leaked Tarpan! Can't keep anything a secret these days!

[Tin_Mox5831]

Yeah, this whole SB thing is based on a single request. I'm just too damn nice to everyone, I guess. I shouldn't have caved on this issue, and if I run more of these, I'll likely disclose all the relevant information. No single player (Although I loved having you all come out) is more important than another.

[Mr. Type 4]

2 Trigun predator

Trigun is def one of my favorite shows.  Lots of secrets in that sideboard, lol.  Massacre - shocking.  Pithing Needle - holy &*%&% !

[SuckedBackIn]

In my case it was a little bit of not wanting to give away everything and just plain not remembering.

Anyway the tournament was fun and I was really glad that we were able to split so I could get home earlier than 1am. I would certainly do another one as it was close and well run.

[bait_bludgeon]

wow my bad. I clearly did not read that whole top paragraph. if you want at any time im more than willing to commit suicide. plz iont mind.

[Twaun007]

Twaun is still hiding his Mountain Goat combo from the world.

Ohhhhh Nooooo's! My Anti slaver tech is leaked!

[RitNecroWin]

Yeah, this whole SB thing is based on a single request. I'm just too damn nice to everyone, I guess. I shouldn't have caved on this issue, and if I run more of these, I'll likely disclose all the relevant information. No single player (Although I loved having you all come out) is more important than another.

I've found at our events and several local event's more and more players are requesting SB being with-held. I 100% agree that if someone wants to with hold then they should be allowed. I look at smallish, local events as practice for 'the big show' ScgP9's, Waterbury's and the like. If people don't want there tech leaked, then it shouldn't be IMO> of course, word of mouth does usually get out, but often times, players can't remember or didn't see all of the SB.

Ellis- Don't kill yourself......... We need you around for gas money     j/k or am I?

[bait_bludgeon]

Ellis- Don't kill yourself......... We need you around for gas money     j/k or am I?

I have purpose!

Regardless i do apologize for being a dumbass.

[SuckedBackIn]

It is ok. You did loan me the massacre that sat in my hand for 26 turns in our second match. I won't completely let you off the hook though. You can just pay for my share of gas next time!