I am hoping that Steve (personalbackfire) gives a detailed report of his own on the thread in regards to his matchups.
Well I didn’t take notes so unfortunately It wont be too detailed but I will try.
Rd 1: Lotus Cobra Tezz
Game 1: I mull to 5 and lose the die roll. On my first upkeep my opponent plays Recall which resolves. I then go for a turn one Bob, which gets forced. He has a Bob and it resolves. EOT a Mystical for Recall and fire it off. It draws me into a Tarmogoyf that starts going to work. After some turns of me Duressing him he casts Gifts (the only card I don’t know) for Key, Tezz, DT, Lotus. Since he is at low life and is sort of limited on mana I give him key and Tezz. In retrospect I believe this to be a misplay. I should have given him Lotus and Tezz instead. Anyways he takes an extra turn and dies to his bob.
Game 2: We both keep 7 and he leads with Recall on my first upkeep again. I am pretty sure this game starts exactly how the last one does. I go for Bob that gets forced, he plays Bob and it resolves. This time I mystical for Darkblast instead of Recall since we are closer in cards and I Darkblast his Bob. I’m not too sure what happens after but it most likely involves Tarmogoyf being a fast clock and a lot of Duressing.
Rd 2: Oath
G1: I get a deck registration game loss since I forgot Merchant Scroll and apparently can’t count despite checking it twice. Damn one ofs…
G2: He leads with Seize I believe. I play a turn one Bob. On my next turn I duress him and see he has Oath and Vamp but it tapped out so I take Oath then Duress again to take the Vamp. Duress continues to keep him off anything while I draw cards and go for Will. I am at pretty low life so I Demonic for top and play it and time walk after gushing to swing for lethal. This is a misplay as pointed out to me after the match. Since I only needed a turn to swing I should had Demonic for Brainstorm to storm some lands back on top ensuring I would hit a zero. I believe I was at 1 or 2 life.
Game 3 is more of the same as game 1. I duress to keep him off things while I play Bob and Tarmogoyf eventually going for a Will turn. This game is fun for me because I get to Gush pre will, then again during the Will which is always sweet, and still had 3 lands up. I once again Demonic for Top and play it but this time it is dicey as I still have 2 turns to live through Bob and I was only at one life.
Rd 3: TPS
G1: I believe I mull to 6. I am pretty sure he duress me turn one taking Vamp over Drain when I had Sapphire and blue lands. I play turn one sapphire land and pass. He passes back when I draw duress and see Jar, Sapphire, Crit, Bargain, and a land maybe? I take the Crit and play a Bob a turn later and the game is over.
G3: I can’t remember, but it most likely involves a lot of Duressing and Bob, and maybe Tarmogoyf. My opponent was not really into this match. I would have to think that GAT in its current form is at its best against Combo, and really good against Tezz style decks.
Rd 4 Draw with Cobra Tezz
Rd 5 Draw with MUD
Top 8 Ichorid
G1: Goes way to long for the dredge players liking even though he kept 6. I play a pretty big Tarmogoyf as he continues to get pretty unlucky with bazaar. I eventually lose the game when my opponent had 6-10 cards left in his library
G2: I keep a hand with Lotus, Jailer, Brainstorm, Relic, and no Land. I Brainstorm into a land, and I think Time Walk. After the time walk turn I have Relic and Jailer in play. My opponent cannot find an answer and loses to Jailer beats.
G3: I keep a pretty lose hand with Leyline but luckily my dredge opponent doesn’t get an answer within the first few turns. I am able to Demonic for Jailer and start the beats. I then play Bob and eventually Drain his Chain on my Leyline and win.
Top 4: Lotus Cobra Tezz
I don’t remember most of the specifics of this match. I just remember game one I mull to three and game 3 I win with a Will that nets a lot of ETW tokens and Time Walk.
Finals: Trygon Tezz
G1: I keep a solid hand of some Duresses and Bobs but I am limited on Mana. I can never get past two pretty much the entire game. The match starts with me losing the die roll and my opponent turn one Recalling on my upkeep again. I play a Bob pretty early like turn one or two that immediately gets dark blasted. He ends up with 2 Trygons at some point beating down and I just don’t get anywhere.
G2: I don’t remember much of this game other then the ending turns. I also know I play a turn one or two bob that gets darkblasted immediately again. At the end of the game he is at pretty 2 life and I have a Goyf down facing his Bob. He then attempts to play Trygon that I drain, I don’t attack and pass. He flips Brainstorm over then scoops.
G3: I open up with a Bob again. I then get another Bob down again. He Demonics that I let resolve, then plays Recall, which I let resolve. I am holding Force, but my only blue card to pitch is Mystical and im not too worried about Recall since I am already way ahead. He darkblasts my one bob then time walks himself by darkblasting my other. At one point I have Goyf and timewalk in hand when I duress my opponent seeing Force, Trygon, Will (I think) and Reb. This is kind of a blow because I have the game won if I can resolve Goyf and Time Walk, but that doesn’t seem to be looking like its happening any time soon. I take the Will. I then play goyf into his force and pass the turn. On my next turn I draw will and win.
Sorry that some games are hazy and most aren’t too detailed. As I said I didn’t take notes and wasn’t planning on writing a report.
I would like to say it was sweet getting to talk with Joe for a bit about rituals and I hope you continue to pursue that over the devil (MUD)
Sorry I didn’t get to play against MUD and can’t really talk about that in too much detail. I did play some games against it with straight UGB Gat a few nights ago and can say it is rough, but not unwinnable. I remember I opened up on Bob and Time walk the one game and still lost. MUD is just really good. I have not gotten to play any post board games and can’t really speak on that but I am sure Menendian can, as it seems to be his pet deck.
Thank to my opponents, as they were all a pleasure to play and thanks to Shawn and the owner of the store for putting on the tournament!
Congrats to Folinus and the rest of top 8.
