Reno crew checking in after a very eventful drive home that saw us arrive here after 3:00 a.m.
Tyler and I prepared really well for this tourney and our testing gauntlet was a perfect representation of what showed up. We played mono black decks based very closely on Max Brown's 1st place Blue Bell deck (in fact my maindeck was only a couple of cards off). I put it into our testing gauntlet on a whim and it tested so well that Tyler and I both resolved to play it and didn't bring any other cards on the trip that would allow us to audible out of our decision. It turned out to be a good call. Here's a report of my day:
Round 1 - David D. (Dredge)
I lose the die roll and keep a very solid hand hoping not to be Duressed. David plays an Undiscovered Paradise and I do a little internal happy dance. The Dredge match was like 80-20 in testing. He plays Breakthrough but sees no gas and he passes. I play Swamp, Dark Ritual, Vampire Hexmage and pass. Turn two he dredges a few, hits a Narcomoeba and Landfalls a Bloodghast into play. I play a turn two Dark Depths and pass. His turn three does nothing and I create a big 20/20 at end of turn and Darkblast his Narcomoeba. I swing in for game on turn 3.
Game 2 I start off with Leyline and David asks me what it does. When I tell him, he seems a little unhappy. He plays a land (City, I think) and passes. On my turn I play a Yixlid Jailer (which he Forces) and another Swamp and pass. On turn 2 he plays Chain of Vapor, Bazaar and activates and sees nothing really gassy. I play an irrelevant turn two and pass. He dredges into all of his Grave-Trolls and I'm looking at a little trouble. Until I rip Lotus to replay the Leyline. He does nothing and passes and then I rip Extirpate, hit his Trolls and start drawing pressure which puts the game away shortly after.
Round 2 - Jeff H. (Iona Oath)
I played two Jeff H.'s today, so I'll refer to this Jeff as "Fob".
Game 1 is a back and forth affair that sees Fob dig and try to assemble business while I slowly set up the big 20/20. Eventually I get it into play and pass. Jeff starts the most ridiculous digging turn I've ever seen, including Yawg Will, two Ponders and various other goodies. When he's on two land and Ancestrals, I feel really excited. Then he plays Mox Pearl and Echoing Truths with his last two mana. I don't recover and he wins.
Game 2 was a big learning experience. My first turn was pretty irrelevant and Fob plays a turn one Oath with Orchard. I play mana, attack with a token and pass holding up Diabolic Edict. Unfortunately, I learned that Iona's ability can't be responded to and my secret plan to steal the game despite his explosive start turns into a lesson in humility and a lost match.
Round 3 - Dylan (Dredge)
I lose my third die roll on the day and watch as Dylan Bazaars out some good Dredge stuff. If I had him scouted, I would have mulled to Leyline and won game 1 very easily. Dylan had me scouted and fires off a Therapy for the Vampire Hexmage in my hand (dirty!
) and I lose quickly.
Game 2 was my Christmas gift to Dylan. I start with turn 0 Leyline, Swamp, Pithing Needle on Bazaar to keep a Chain of Vapor from letting him back in the game. A little overconfident in the game state, I play a Urborg way earlier than I needed to and then VT for Hexmage. Dylan gets to 3 lands and starts casting Stinkweed Imps that slowly chip away my life total I Darkblast a Narcomoeba and have Hexmages holding down the ground against Bloodghasts. At this point I was still sure I'd find a Dark Depths and just win. I didn't and lose to dirty beats. If I had just stayed patient, he wouldn't have had three mana-producing lands, I could have blown up all of his other creatures with Darkblast and I could have sailed through the game, double Darkblasting Imps as needed. I got overconfident, sloppy and took a loss because of it.
At this point I'm really pissed-off. I always play like crap in NorCal and I have a serious mental block when I play there. I resolve to turn this around, get the proverbial monkey off my back, win two more matches and give myself a shot at top 8.
Round 4 - Jeff H. (ANT)
I had talked with Jeff earlier in the day and knew he was on ANT. Tendrils match-ups were the worst in testing, so I was apprehensive. I go first and use Wastelands to keep him off his mana. He eventually plays Ad Nauseum and I know he has Chain of Vapor in his hand with Dark Depths, but no Hexmage on my side (though she was in my hand patiently waiting for a second black mana). He fizzles dropping himself to 1 in the process. I top deck the second black mana I need and drop the pretty vampire into play. He draws nothing and passes. I attack, he Chain of Vapors the Hexmage and I respond by making Marit Lage and passing. He draws dead and I swing in for game.
Game two, he goes off turn 1 and we go to game 3. I had brought in 2 Mindbreak Traps and a second Sensei's Divining Top for this match-up. Jeff remarked that people not playing Mindbreak Trap has been really helpful for Tendrils. I agree and we go to the next game.
Turn one I play a Dark Ritual, Top and look at my top 3. The third card I see is the Trap. I put it on top and pass. He does nothing relevant and passes back. On my upkeep, I use Top's ability to reorder cards. Jeff astutely points out that I am going to see the same three cards and in a show of unprecedented sportsmanship offers me the opportunity to take the play back. I comment that I need to learn from my play mistakes and that it will stand.
Each turn I keep rearranging to keep Trap on top. Eventually he tries to go off and I activate Top, draw Trap and shut his win down. I mention that he could have bounced the Top and Duressed before playing Tendils and he would have beat me. He agrees and we play on. Jeff attempts to go off again on a Yawg Will turn and forgets to replay his Lotus which would have made him able to hit lethal storm. Instead he Twisters, plays Ad Nausseum, drops himself to 1 without seeing gas and plays Thoughtseize to go out in style.
Round 5 - Mike K. (Noble Fish)
This match was TOUGH in testing. Fortunately, Team Scrubby Bubbles has over 50 games of testing experience for this match-up, making me pretty comfortable. Mike also seemed a little bummed about the match-up since he played and lost to Tyler earlier in the rounds. Game 1 plays out as well as I can expect and I win around turn 4 with the big 20/20.
Game 2 is Mike's turn to go nuts as he plays Noble Heirarchs aplenty and swings with a really big Meddling Mage that's doing double duty by keeping my Hemage in hand.
Game 3 starts with a Thoughtseize to clear the way, then a vampire then a Dark Depths into a big creature. Mike has no pressure for me early, draws dead after I have Merit Lage and I wait for the Top 8 announcement with baited breath. I end up seeing that Dylan and Fob are playing (as Fob was paired up) and I know a Dylan win gets me into top 8. Jeff wins 2-0 (like he always seems to do when the pressure's on, that's why he's such a good player) and I end up 9th missing tiebreaks by 2%.
It was fun to see how different my and Tyler's sideboards were, yet how well they worked for both of us. I'm sure he'll post a report on his day later. I really had a lot of fun at this tourney and look forward to getting out more during the rest of the year.
