Top 8 Bluebell

[personalbackfire]

After testing some Grimlong and losing to Tezzeret 0-3 I decided to go with Tezz. My one man team Folinus doesn't show up because he believes in the power of extended. That is too bad, he should have played some Vintage
Here is the list... it is pretty standard
2 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 banana Vault
1 banana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Inkwell Leviathan

4 Force of Will
4 banana Drain
2 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Misdirection
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Vault
1 Voltiac Key
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Echoing Truth
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Sb:
1 Tropical Island
4 the goofus
3 Ancient Grudge
1 REB
1 Extirpate
1 EE
2 Relic
2 Crypt

(I didn't take notes so this is all off memory)

Rd. 1 Rit/Drain/Tendrils deck?
Game 1 is ridiculous. I keep a one land hand with Ponder. (IMO Ponder is good, the only reason I would see cutting it is for a 16th land) I have either Key or Vault and Ponder into a second land and the other piece and something else. Turn three I win with Force and Drain backup. It was nice
Game 2: Tinker big man early on gets it done

Rd. 2: Carlos with Mono Red Workshop Aggro
Game 1: I lose pretty hard.
Game 2: I keep a sketchy hand. It was I think Sol Ring, banana Vault, Vamp, Voltiac key and 2 lands. I believe I mulled into this. I played everything land Sol ring banana Vault and Key. He played a strip on my Sea. I drew a card and played Trop. He didn't do anything relevant. The Next turn I get my Delta and cast vamp on his end step for TimeVault. I cast it and start taking infini turns which he makes me play out to see my deck. I had boarded in Tcrypt, the goofus, and Grudges but non had showed up in play so I eventually get a tezz down and he scoops.
Game 3: I mull two hands that had one land, I'm loving life right now. My 5 card had was pretty redic though. It was Goyfx2 Scroll and 2 lands, one of which was Trop. I get two Goyfs down and Scroll for Force and win.

Rd 3: Painter
Game 1: He gets down a Grindstone and is grindstoning me every turn. It gets pretty annoying. It gets to the point where im holding Gifts and he taps out to counter something on my turn. I take the opportunity to cast gifts, myself tapping out. Right now there is literally nothing in my deck. My DT was in the graveyard. my Inkwell was in the graveyard, things were looking grim. To win I had to resolve Will. I grab Mystical, Vamp, Gorilla Shaman and Top. He gave me Top and Mystical. On his turn he makes the game losing play of playing his own Academy to kill mine, and tap down to only have 2 lands available for something irrelevant. He passes the turn. My upkeep I Mystical, he realizes the mistake he made, I grab will and he scoops.

Game 2: I get there with Inkwell (this guy is good). The only play I remember is him duressing me late in the game seeing Grudge, Extirpate, Duress i think, and something else. He looked confused and lost shortly thereafter.

Rd 4: I get paired against my friend Josh playing Drain Empty the Warrens with Timevault and Key. He goes on to top 8 and unfortunately beat me in top 8.
One of these games he leads with Library and still loses, I am not sure how that happened... Maybe Inkwell got there, not sure. In between games I begin to have a love affair with Goyf and board him in. He does not appear in the 2nd game and I win with the silly combo in my deck.

Rd. 5: Noah with Tezz. He had drew with his friend rd 4 so he had to play me.
I dont remember much about these games other then I won with Key Vault both games, I believe.

Rd. 6: Another friend, AJ wants to play it out since there is a point system that goes on at Bluebell. I oblige. He is playing Landstill, a terrible match.
Game 1: It wasn't even close, he had his way with me. Jeramy Beaver is watching as well with some others making jokes the whole time since that match didn't matter at all. He was telling me just to scope and save the embarrassment, I probably should have. Regardless it was fun to play AJ being as I had never played him in a tournament.
Game 2: He counters two goyfs with Null Rodd on the table. Next turn I Demonic for the goofus then cast it and he gets there.
Game 3: He was way in control of this. I Duressed him and saw threads, EE, bounce, Drain, Force some other stuff. There was little my the goofus in my hand could do.

5-1 Top 8 time WOOT!
Top 8: Josh again. Different verdict this time.
Game 1: He wins the die roll nice... This game goes on for awhile. Both of our hands become depleted and I Mystical for Tinker. He has a force and I have a Force, I am thinking I have this in the bag. I Tinker, he counters, I force back and look through my deck only to realize my Inkwell was not DSK and had been pitched to a TFK earlier in the game. AWESOME! I am pretty upset with myself for this and get top. Luckily Top is still insane and when I Top EOT Tezz is the 3rd card down. GG.
Game 2: Love affair with the goofus is still going on so I board 3 in. Also the Reb Trop and Extirpate came in. I Duress him on my turn and take Drain. Next turn I Extirpate it, how could I lose? Eventually we are playing draw go and I get a the goofus down. He looks to be taking it all the way. That is untill my friend Josh Resolves an TFK which was apparently ridiculous because he got both pieces of key/vault and won on his turn. Our mutual friend Allen had called him a Sac so yea, stinks but oh well.
Game 3: I sided 1 the goofus back out for an Ancient Grudge. I played a Shaman early on and it looked to be taking things down. I eventually drop a the goofus which was probably incorrect since I had 6 banana including that green source, with Shaman on the table and grudge in my hand. I had been holding Tinker all game though because I knew he had Force from a early duress and I wanted him to counter the goofus so I could resolve tinker. He also had Library so the longer the game went the less likely I would be to win. On his turn he cast Vault, then Key, I respond by Ancient Grudging his vault, he Forces and I lose (I did not have the green to flash it back, since I casnt the goofus). Allen and Josh point out that I should have not grudged and just killed his Key with the 4 banana I had available with Shaman. He would have gotten an extra Turn but not gone infini. It turns out he would have drawn Tinker so it might not have mattered. I had tinker but he still would have had the force.

I won a Force for my troubles. Tezz is still broken.

Props:
All of my opponents for being awesome and fun to play against. (Sorry I don't remember all of your names)
Mike for  putting on a fun Bluebell event
Tezzeret for being awesome.
Everyone who top8ed!
Allen for always telling me the wrong play I make.

Slops:
My play in top 8.

[M.Solymossy]

Nice job on the top 8!  Sucks that you lost, but it's also a good thing that you realize your mistakes, and can correct them for the next event.



Oh, and I still think Tarmogoyf is awful.

[personalbackfire]

Thanks Soly,

About Goyf: Maybe he is like a security blanket for me against fish and shops, I don't know. All I can say is he seems to make winning against shops easier and he's won me games against BUG so for now, he will have slot.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

I got 2nd place winning a Timetwister...i call the deck empty vault.

4 force
4 drain
4 thirst for knowledge
1 fact or fiction
1 gifts ungiven
1 gush
1 brainstorm
1 ancestral recall
3 thoughtsieze
1 duress
1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 merchant scroll
1 yawmoths will
5 moxen
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt
1 mana vault
1 sol ring
1 chain of vapor
1 hurkyls recall
1 empty the warrens
1 time walk
1 misdirection
1 time vault
1 voltaic key
1 tinker
1 inkwell leviathan
1 ponder

1 library of alex
1 tolarian academy
3 delta
2 strand
2 volcanic island
3 underground sea
2 island
1 snow-covered island

SB
2 empty the warrens
3 relic of prog
2 extirpate
1 reb
1 pyro
1 duress
1 rack and ruin
1 rebuild
1 hurkyls recall
2 jailer

Round 1 vs Fish (Brian Beurgard)
Game 1 got off a huge will, ended up with 30 warrens tokens and time walked for the win
Game 2 turn 3 warrens for 12 tokens for the win

Round 2 vs Thoughtcast tezz (forget name)
Game 1 He draws a ton of cards. I end up controlling his hand with duress' ang get off a small warrens for 6 tokens, knowing that his hand is bad. He top decks echoing truth and i loose from there
Game 2 This match was kind of a blur but i beleive he hard casts leviathan, then i procede to tutor up hurkyls as he had cracked lotus to cast. I Get key vault for the win.
Game 3 I open up with library which goes all the way drawing alot of cards and forcing out a key vault for the win. At one point in the game my hand was pyro, force, extirpate, drain, fact, X, X....seems pretty good in the drain mirror sitting on library!

Round 3 vs Slaver (Marc Frias maybe???)
Game 1 He has 2 active welders, im drawing a ton of cards only discarding leviathan to my grave. I set up key vault forcing him to weld leviathan into play for the win
Game 2 I warrens for 12 tokens early for the win

Round 4 vs Tezz w/ green and red (My friend Stephen)
Game 1 He duresses me alot and i get smoked like a philly
Game 2 I am sitting on a library, and somehow dont draw any duress effects or mana drains and he forces out a key vault for the win

AT THIS POINT I AM 3-1 AND NEED TO WIN NEXT ROUND!!!

Round 5 UR landstill (forget name)
Game 1 He gets a turn 3 crucible strip on the table so I think at that point the game is over....Demonic for my black lotus. I end up being able to duress him twice taking force, and mana drain (at this point he has echoing truth and stifle in hand aswell, so its not looking good for a win with warrens). While i keep playing lands to play spells. I end up drawing a couple off color moxen to give me some type of mana. A turn after I duress the second counter out of his hand i resolve will, with tolarian in grave, 2 duress, demonic, etc, etc...I duress truth and stifle, then warrens for 12 or 14 i think it was FOR THE WIN!!!!! THANK YOU WARRENS!!!
Game 2 I duress his null rod, and at this point i have 3 force of wills in my hand with 3 blue cards aswell. I tinker for leviathan a few turns later sitting on alot of disruption for the win!

Round 6 ID w/ a friend playing tezz (Joe Davis)

Top 8 vs Tezz (Stephen from swiss)
Game 1 I get smashed by alot of disruption and duress'...he seems to draw EXTREMELY well!!!
Game 2 this game is somewhat of a blur, but he gets out a goyf, and i get lucky thirsting into the nuts 2 turns in a row, while i was holding time vault and drew into the key.
Game 3 He has a mox monkey out and a goyf out starts beating me down. At one point he only has 3 mana out and i have key vault in hand so i play time vault, then key (thinking he will use monkey and eat my key but i will get another turn anyways from untapping vault in response) But instead he is holding ancient grudge and casts that while I am holding a force for the win! Afterwards I looked at the top card of my deck to see if it would have made a difference if he would have used mox monkey instead of grudge. I had tinker on top to get the leviathan. Although he made a play mistake, I still believe i would have won the game

Top 4 vs Tezz (Joe Davis)
Game 1 He keeps a hand with library and no land on the draw hoping to draw into colored moxen or land. While I'm in christmas land and go turn 2 tinker for leviathan, he goes Force, I go Force, he goes Misdirection, I go FORCE!!!! Thats what you call christmas land!!! I proceed to will 2 turns later digging into a force just in case he has an awnser for the leviathan
Game 2 He goes all in on a turn 1 tinker for leviathan. I dont have the force. Leviathan swings once, then I demonic tutor for hurkyls. He swings again, now I'm at 5 life, then I hurkyls, he has the misdirection, but I have the force. I take the game from there

Finals vs Oath (Matt Elias)
Game 1 He gets the nuts while I mulligan to 6. He goes turn 1 duress, Turn 2 oath with force back up too!!!
Game 2 I mull again to 6 with a hand of force, drain, thirst, sapphire, land, X...He goes turn 1 duress, strip mine turn 2, then turn 3 or 4 resolves oath and I loose again. I feel this matchup is not as bad as it actually went. I feel i drew poorly and he drew really well.

...personalbackfire i love you...also thanks Mike for putting on a sweet tournament

[Nehptis]

So, what are we looking at here a Top 8 of:

Oath
Key/Vault
Key/Vault
Key/Vault
????
????
????
????

I'll guess the other 4 are:
Fish
Shop  (There's usually a number of Good Shop players in BB.)
Shop
R/G Beatz

Usually, BB does not have a large # of Ichorid players.  But, it's recent surge of popularity could have resulted in it showing up in BB.

[personalbackfire]

...personalbackfire i love you...also thanks Mike for putting on a sweet tournament

Awl man I <3 you too!

So, what are we looking at here a Top 8 of:

I think top 8 was
Tezz
Vault/Key With Empty
Whatever deck Joe Davis was playing (vault/key combo)
UR Landstill
Metagame Deck with Esparza (sp?)
Oath
Elves
Mono Red Shops ... I thnk

[rikimaru75]

oshkoshhaitsyosh, I was your round three opponent instead of round two.

Also, I enjoyed coming down with some of Team Baltimore.  It was a fun, competitive tournament, and I'd like to come again sometime.

[oshkoshhaitsyosh]

oshkoshhaitsyosh, I was your round three opponent instead of round two.

Also, I enjoyed coming down with some of Team Baltimore.  It was a fun, competitive tournament, and I'd like to come again sometime.

fixed 

Yeah more of team Baltimore should come aswell its nice getting a big turnout. Enjoy playing you guys.

[TD]

Mike (the TO) should really put up a more official tournament breakdown with T8 player names and deck lists along with some kind of metta breakdown so that it will actually count towards the TMD vintage rankings system.

[Luecifer]

...personalbackfire i love you...also thanks Mike for putting on a sweet tournament

Awl man I <3 you too!

So, what are we looking at here a Top 8 of:

I think top 8 was
Tezz
Vault/Key With Empty
Whatever deck Joe Davis was playing (vault/key combo)
UR Landstill
Metagame Deck with Esparza (sp?)
Oath
Elves
Mono Red Shops ... I thnk

Your partially right with mono red shops and metagame. I was the shop player in the top 8. It was a blue/red shop aggro list with esperzoa. I was going to let Mike post the lists but if anyone would like more info on my deck I can discuss it with you.

The top 8 as i remember was myself playing shops, Juan Sanchez playing painter, Matt Elias playing oath, Noah, Josh and Joe Davis playing Tezz, AJ playing landstill and the gentleman playing Elves Im sorry I never caught your name.

Jon Richards

[Nomad]

I forgot how shop heavy it usually is there, so I basically just looked over the control heavy Waterbury top 16 lists and thought, "I can do OK in that kind of meta", then showed up with the usual affinity and wasted no time getting smacked up by Oath, stax with bonus Powder Kegs and Energy Flux.  At least I stayed out of the 0-2 bracket...

[Prospero]

I forgot how shop heavy it usually is there, so I basically just looked over the control heavy Waterbury top 16 lists and thought, "I can do OK in that kind of meta", then showed up with the usual affinity and wasted no time getting smacked up by Oath, stax with bonus Powder Kegs and Energy Flux.  At least I stayed out of the 0-2 bracket...

Sorry about our match Simon.  It wasn't terribly interactive.

To the best of my knowledge there were only three Shop players in a field of 44, my 5cStax and two UbaStax/Mono Red Stax variants.  Almost all the NY Stax players missed this event.