I didnt playtest. Not even a game of MWS (see community forum).
With a week to go, i found out that I could take the time off my research to compete. I had previously developed a deck in connection with conely woods as seen here,
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=38293.0, and wanted to take my own shot with it. I called Edword to mail me the deck from CO.
It never got here. Something bad happened, and it was returned to sender. So I showed up to this event without a deck. I had maybe ten vintage playables on me. However, with the help of Nat Moes, Jimmy McCarthy, Jamison Bryant, Brain Demars, and Nam Q Tran I put the following together:
4 FOW
3 bob
4 sss
3 vclique
4 aven mindcensor
2 tseize
2 duress
ancestral
twalk
2 trinket mage
pneedle
relic
Explosives
VT
DT
hurkyls recall
2 PTE
bstorm
top
mystical tutor
3 waste
strip
3 delta
3 strand
island
swamp
plains
2 usea
scrubland
2 tundra
sol ring
blotus
3moxen
sb:
e tutor
darkblast
perish
2 seal of cleansing
worship
2 bitterblossom
2 cannonist
2 cabal therapy
tcrypt
jitte
e flux
something else bad. prob an enchament. i was convinced an e tutor board was strong
theres no point to do a day one report. soly will cover our match, where i lost g3 to d blast (blowout). So will Mennendian in his next article. I dont want to think about how bad my g2 DT was, instead of holding up SSS. I was tired, and playing poorly. No comments please.
I lost to twaun g3 as well, when he had a turn one smokestax. i had the out of lotus into flux when he binned his chalice @0 to his stax i need a two lands though, cause he has a stax at one and a freaking sphere in play. i set it up after drawing the lotus, crafting my hand by playing draw discard for like ten turns. the turn he does it I tell him i get to punish him because he made a fatal mistake. then he draws strip mine the turn after i go land, lotus. i have to sac my lotus upkeep. bummer.
i finished 12th day one. the list was pure garbage, no one should play it. conely only won his event because he is a world class player who can play three turns in advance consistantly. had he not been focused on nationals, i would have gotten more feedback on what was wrong with the list. oh well.
the best thing that day was the dinner afterwards. mennendian vs lemon chicken. steve didnt win. not even close.
on the trogvan ride back to the hotel, steve wont stop talking about null rod. The best thing trinket mage did all day was pitch to FOW, and the one ofs sucked ass. Fixed that. Somehow tinker wound up in there, though the night is a blur, so I can't take full credit on that one.
Again mad props to the above players, who lent me new cards so that I could tune my list.
I played this day two:
1. Steve Golenda (Fishless Fish)
4 Null Rod
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Dark Confidant
4 Force of Will
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Thoughtseize
3 Duress
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
SB:
1 Wasteland
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Sacred Ground
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Darkblast
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Perish
2 Yixlid Jailer
The deck was strong, but seriously misbuilt. You will see a trend of how I boarded that will reveal this.
fishless fish was the deckname, I'm not on a team named fishless fish, though it appears that way. I'm actually unsigned, though that might change
I lost every die roll except for the finals, where I needed it most.
RD1 vs ichorid.
I keep a hand of wasteland, two fetches, two duress effects, fow and a clique. He mulls to three, and starts with bazzaar. Draw null rod. I waste, and he never pulls back in it. Clique is strong here, allowing me to cycle away a duress, finding a tinker for inkwell.
I take out null rods and cannonist and sculler for jailers, crypt, wasteland, darkblast, and swords to plowshares.
G2
He keeps seven, and I waste his bazaar again. Dark confidant comes down. I draw into a swords to nuke his ichorid in his upkeep, then a jailer to shut him down.
Rd2 vs some random thing.
G1 he plays crap like looter il kor, I play tinker for inkwell after clearing the way with clique. He finds a platinum angel. I find a swords with mtutor.
I boarded in dblast and another swords and a wasteland, taking out ethersworn cannonist, sculler, and basic plains.
G2 Is all me. I swords his looter, which seems to be his draw engine. At one point we have a FOW fight, which sees me pitch two blue creatures to two FOW, during his turn. With each of us hellbent, I draw: ancestral recall.
Seems good. I recall into: Dark confidant, FOW, Clique.
I had the nuts. I won.
Rd 3 vs Tezz (Paul Mastriano)
I love getting to play the vintage heavyweights. After besting Steve yesterday, I want to make it two for two vs world champions.
G1 he has a turn one tinker for sphinx of the steel wind. I spend my first turn wastelanding. I spend the second turn wastelanding. I take sphinx beats for two turns, letting him climb to 28. I vamp for swords upkeep off mox jet, duress him, and swords his dude. Mindcensor comes down, and plucks away at his life total, while he has nothing but a sol ring in play. I put down a null rod and hold some countermagic and a waste. Also, two bobs, because I was at lower than seven. I duress every now and then to see what he's been drawing. I win pretty easily.
I side out my plains for a waste. I bring in the other swords for a cannonist.
g2 I blow my wad on a turn one tinker for inkwell. He baits the FOW and blue card out of me, leaving me hellbent. He then hurklys recalls me. I somehow draw out of tihs situation, and win. But I don't remember how or what I drew.
Rd4 vs B/R stax (Yangtime)
G1 I lost because I flipped inkwell off bob. I got him down to 6, and he has two bobs in play. next turn I can swing for 3 with SSS and aven. I just need some help from his bobs. I am at 2, and he has a barbarian ring in play, but only six cards in grave and no red source. His bobs flip a mox and black lotus. lotus gives him threshold AND red.
I side out null rods, cannonist, sculler, tinker/inkwell, and mindcensor for two kataki, two sacred ground, two seals, jitte, d bast, and the wasteland.
I tell him that Fuckin Lou warned me about him, but that I am winning this tournament.
g2 I open up on a turn one or two kataki. Yangtime punishes my ignorance for thinking that card is even close to good, keeping two moxen around at the expense of a sol ring, then entombing for d blast when I land bob. He has no black source, so I am sweating a black source off the top as I have jitte in hand, and three land in play. I play a sacred ground to ensure no wasteland keeps me off this play.
He draws a black source. It was super demoralizing. I walk away from the table before even filling out the match slip. They call me back, and I tell him that I want a t8 rematch.
To be fair, g1 was a fucking intense and awesome game. He played perfectly. He got a little lucky, but he can't control his draws. Just his plays. Since those were superb, I couldn't be too upset.
I wander outside, find a patch of grass to sit on, and take a few minutes to just breathe. It was good.
R5 vs Naya Zoo
G1 he plays lotus, teeg, goyf. I almost scoop on the spot, but play a few turns to try and see more of his deck. On the inside I die a little. I have one game more to lose and my tournament is over. I really think it is at this point. Naya is a nightmare matchup.
Somehow in the process I make him think I'm on some sort of Tezz deck. I think. I know he said afterwards that he boarded wrong.
I side out 4 null rod, 3 duress, 2 thoughtseize, sculler for swords, 2 jailer, jitte, perish, wasteland, 2 kataki, seal, and cannonist. My game plan involves lots of chump blocking while trying to draw to perish, jitte, or tinker for blowouts.
g2 I turn one play fetch and pass. I turn two play jitte, so that I can tinker it away. He taps out, and I tinker up inkwell. I tutor for time walk and get there.
g3 He plays mountain go. I have a turn one bob. I set my tinker up, with a FOW backup, because he obv has reb. I use wastelands to keep him off double red, and tinker up the big guy. It gets there.
Its a pretty serious beat. He doesn't take it the best. I can understand.
Rd6 vs BUG fish (Brian Fisher)
G1 he lands a quick goyf. I mystical tutor and entertain the possibility of getting a swords to plowshares. I go for ancestral instead. yeah, i lost to that goyf. It did all twenty. I'm an idiot, I knew better.
I bring in jitte, d blast, swords, perish, a seal, and the wasteland for 4 null rods, cannonist, and sculler.
g2 sees me land a quick bob, and though I flip inkwell right away, I kill every creature he plays with d blast and get there.
g3 I don't remember much, only that I get to try and race his goyf with some fliers. I am drawing thin when he lands an ancestral, trying to find a jitte, perish, or tinker for the win. I am badly behind in the race when he plays a second bob. The next turn, his bobs flip a FOW and a trygon to his bobs. He plays trygon, I spend a turn not attacking. his bobs are nice, and he losses just one to a duress. He sends with trygon and goyf, I flash clique, dont take anything from his hand, and trade with trygon. Over the next two turns, I swing him down to three, leaving back a SSS, bob, and having an aven in play and tapped. He sends with 2x bob and goyf, and I chump goyf and trade bobs. I go to one. I expect to untap and to put him at one with his bob in play. Maybe I draw time walk or jitte. Otherwise, I need his bob to kill him.
He plays time walk. I am stunned. The game went from being mine to being his. Its not like I have another blocker. That goyf is going to kill me, unless he flips something that costs three.
I am pretty certain my tournament is over. I stand up and shake his hand. He played well, aside from casting that second bob which let me back into a game I had no business being in. He flips FOW to bob and I actually jump with joy.
Rd7 vs Bob tendrils (Soly)
ID
I do some stuff to kill time. Including getting a pokemon training pin from Nat, who I promised before rd1 that if I t8ed, I would put above my t8 ptq pins. Moreover, that I would refer to the battleground as a pokedome and shout out "I choose you Spellstutter Sprite" at least once.
I thought it was funny. My t8 opponents did not.
T8 vs Ad Nas
The games were blowouts, not even close.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40623218@N07/3740596760/in/set-72157621627970319/Look at his list, look at mine. It's just not fair. I had time to run over and punch TheSpookyKid's sandwhich while playing.
T4 vs Tezz (Jaco)
G1 I choose to keep delta, 2 tseize, duress, SSS, v clique, FOW on the draw. I dont ever draw another land, and even worse, he has two duress to take my duress and a tseize.
I side out cannonist, sculler, plains, for wasteland, swords, and d blast.
G2 I decide to fight over ancestral with FOW. I need to choose between pitching v clique and tinker. I dont have an artifact. I decide on v clique, because Tinker can just win the game. I duress and waste him. I draw null rod and play it. He plays bob. I realize I have a one turn window to draw a land to tinker. I just craig jones it into play. Inkwell gets there.
While reviewing my sbing, I realize that my last game was played incredibly terribly. I went on a subtle form of tilt after not drawing a land all of g1. I got lucky as hell. It would not happen g3. I would actually have to best my opponnent.
I switch out a swords for a seal. I expected goyfs, but did not see them. I saw a threads of disloyalty on my duress turn instead. I left in the white bordered one, cause his deck was so pimp. Why try and compete?
While presenting, he counts 61 cards. I silently freak and count my board. 14 cards. My tournament is over. I count again, and its suddenly 15. He counts again, and its oddly (evenly?) 60. Neither one of us could count for a second there, and it was terrifying.
g3
My memory is blurred. I play land, go, land, go end step SSS. I untap and waste. He plays sol ring, and I SSS it. I then need to decide between null rod and bob. I go for the bob. It was a huge mistake. He goes broken, with a mox, demonic tutor, and a mana crypt into tinker.
I'm 100% sure now that my tournament is over. Then he gets a Sundering Titan, and nukes my two lands, but has to sac down to an island himself. I realize I win the game right there, just as soon as I draw a land with confidant.
Bob flips a strand. I opened on the swords, and fetch scrubland to take down the robot, and take out his island. I swing with the team. No lands, three creatures should win vs no lands, just one bob. He finds a top quickly, and a basic island. I get to null rod two turns later, which shuts off the top and a mox. I bait a drain at one point, and when I swing with the team that turn, he cracks his delta--which was his only untapped land. I respond with clique, and take his darkblast.
I'm suddenly in the finals.
T2 vs B/R stax (yangtime)
Thats right. Epic rematch. You want a glimpse of the games I bet, but I was dead ass tired and g1 took an hour. I opened on mox jet, tseize (taking stax or tangle) and ancestral myself. From there it gets blurry. I remember having to sweat a cabal pit. I try to stay ahead with flash creatures, although I do this too seriously. I cracked lotus for clique with a cannonist in play, end step, after playing a FOW. The head judge backs up the game, and I didn't ask for the lotus back, but he was kind and I got it. I cliqed upkeep that next turn, then dropped null rod to keep him off his mox jet, and to be able to tap another permanent to tangle wire. Eventually, he has to cabal pit his own bob to not die, and I sweat two turns of bob activations on my part while at four to get there. I fell to one life from those bobs. It was scary.
see, look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40623218@N07/3739806331/in/set-72157621627970319/I'm told it was an epic game. It took a lot out of me.
I sided out 4 null rod, sculler, cannonist, tinker, and inkwell. I brought in 2 seal, 2 kataki, tormods, d blast, swords, and jitte.
g2 I know he opened on a turn one voltaic key and turn two demonic tutor, but did not get tvault, as I had him convinced I had FOW somehow (I didnt). I remember two turns of horrific play by myself. The first is being so terrified of a revealed tangle wire to bob that I cliqued upkeep, as he had bazzaar out. If he draws, he can draw two, discard three and still have one card in hand that will prob be a land. then he will have wire in his yard, and will be a welder away from winning the game. It was a bad play, as he could have drawn shit like Trike during his draw step. Plus, he might not have thought of that line of play. It was just bad to clique upkeep. End of draw is such a standard play in certain scenarios, and this was one of them.
The other was when I responded to Crucible by mystical tutoring for FOW, then b storming into it. I put tcrypt on top for bob, but somehow brainfart and wind up with two mana open, a extra FOW in hand, and my SSS two cards down. oops! wanted the FOW two cards down, and the SSS to flash in combat. Yangtime attacked with a bob and I wanted to smash my head into a wall.
the game ends with him about to be able to lock up the board, and my mindcensor catching an entomb. my fliers had beaten him down enough that he had to not flip a two casting cost card to bob to survive, but duplicant seals the deal.
Props:
Everyone who lent me even a single card. Without you, neither day would have been possible.
Mennendian, for giving me null rod thoughts. And for being "the sucker who ordered that"
Matt Hazard, for the ride there and back
Yangtime, who not only played very well both matches, but hooked me up with a sweet hotel spot.
Mark Trogdon for both the event transportation and for attacking with savannah lions and still winning
Soly, for being the real deal. Can your ego chew on that, or is it full yet?
Jimmy, because Perish was nuts. Also, pics.
People who tinker for robots I can beat.
Making good on my promise to Yangtime
Dark Fucking Confidant. I promise I'll play four of you next time buddy.
Slops:
Idiot kids who didn't know how to behave during the first days finals match. You know who you are, and if you mock me ever again, I will make good on another promise.
Chopstix
Suicidal birds who attack Hazard's car.
People who step on kittens. WTF? Seriously. Thnx Twaun.
