Duck Weekly Tourney #15

[AmbivalentDuck]

Hi all!

Avacyn Restored will be legal for this tournament.  Cards must be on the official Wizards spoiler to be playable.

Every week, I'm going to start a 8-player single elimination bracket.  Rules are very similar to the TMD online invitational:
1. Games are played publicly on Cockatrice
2. Players have at most a week to complete each match.
3. Lists must be posted after all round 1 matches are complete.
3a. You cannot change lists between rounds.
3b. You must show your list at the beginning of each match after the first so your opponent can verify against your posted list.
4. Prize is the opportunity to play a featured match against a well-recognized member of the Vintage community.  (Volunteers?)
5. Drops after the bracket is drawn are final.  Nobody can fill that slot.
6. Brackets will be fully randomized.  There will be no preference or "seeds" of any kind.

Registration will be closed once we have 8 people or about a week passes and I remember to draw up a bracket.

Players signed up as of last update:
1. AmbivalentDuck
2. Shax
3. Guli
4. Grand Inquisitor
5. BC
6. Nataz
7. Credmond

First matches must be complete by May 7th.  If all matches complete before then, the next set will be due within a week, and so on.

[Guli]

+1

[Grand Inquisitor]

+1

[BC]

I'll try it.

[nataz]

in like flyn

[credmond]

Count me in . . .

[AmbivalentDuck]

Bracket is up:
Shax vs Bye
Nataz vs Guli
Credmond vs BC
Grand Inquisitor vs AmbivalentDuck

[BC]

I lose to credmond 0-2.  Game 1 I have too little mana and lose to Kataki and my own Ancient Tomb.  Game 2 I have way too much mana and lose to lots of monsters while I have no business.  Bad beats.

Here's what I was playing:

4 Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Buried Ruin
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Academy
5 Mox
1 Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Karn
4 Tangle Wire
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere
3 Ratchet Bomb

SB:
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Razormane Masticore
2 Triskelion

[credmond]

BC's deck was fighting him with either too little land or way too much land. My deck churned out the weenies and landed Kataki in both games.

Hijacked this deck from Europe. Plays pretty well for a bunch of weenies.

4 Aven Mindcensor
1 Gideon's Lawkeeper
2 Goldmeadow Harrier
2 Grand Abolisher
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Batterskull
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Stony Silence
4 Swords to Plowshares
5 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
4 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Karakas
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Meekstone
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 2 Devout Witness
SB: 1 Gideon's Lawkeeper
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 1 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 3 Ravenous Trap

[Guli]

in like flyn

Will you be online today?

[nataz]

missed that this had started. Yea, how about 10 pm EST? I have to work late tonight.

[Guli]

Here is the list I played:

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
1 Plains
3 Savannah
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Aven Mindcensor
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thornscape Apprentice
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Scryb Ranger
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Stony Silence
4 Mental Misstep
3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Horizon Canopy
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 4 Nature's Claim
SB: 4 Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist

G1: I play an early stony because I saw him missing a land drop. He had a mountain and a jet. I build up with GSZ/Dryad and Noble and get in Thalia. I start beating with it with 3 exalted backup. All this time he had Bob. He starts bringing in Tarmogoyf. I was holding an other GSZ. Time to use it. I get Ranger with Misstep in hand and also Aven is in my hand. At this point I just want to finish him off with flying + exalted and block some Tarmogoyfs with my Ranger+Dryad combo. It works, ranger gets there.

G2: He opens up with a fetchland. I open up with forest/Noble. Then he follows with Bob and I play Thalia hoping he will bolt it cause I have a Knight of the Reliquary and MM backup. This is exactly what happens, he bolts Thalia and I resolve KotR. The Knight becomes a big problem in a couple of turns. He puts double Goyf in play defending against the growing KotR (with again +3 exalted backup). Slowly the Bob's are killing him while I keep him busy with Knight and some additional threats here and there. Eventually I win because he reveals Broodelf and something else getting his life total to 1. I just draw and pass to avoid blocking from Bob's and it works, I take it 2-0.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Won 2-1

Game 1: I have 3 mana in my opening hand, and see no more.  I have 2x Flusterstorm, but all of my threats in hand are 3 CMC and he has multiple Moxen out early.  I'm dead in the water.

Game 2: I have Lotus, Tarm, Time Walk opener.  I beat him for 3 for forever, occasionally stopping to fluster something.  We're both VERY mana screwed to the point where I Merchant for FoW and sit on double FoW to stop whatever he casts to save himself, but...it gets countered, pumps Goyf, and he's at 0.  17 cards into each of our decks, he's at 3 permanent mana sources, I'm at 2.

Game 3: Epic game.  He resolves an early Ancestral, but I stop the second (via snap) with a Flusterstorm.  The matchup is very back-and-forth.  We both have Trygons.He eventually gets a Stoneforge which I Sower to stop any shenanigans.  I attack with Stoneforge (which he blocks, wtf?) to free up my Sower to attack.  There's some back and forth as my life total dips from a Crypt and Missteps.  I get an Edric and connect with 2 critters for a nice Ancestral effect and Trygon his hardcast Batterskull.  At eot, he vamps for Yawg Will.  In his first main, he casts it and I'm at 4 life with FoW in hand, Crypt in play, and lethal damage on the board.  I feared Fluster, so I don't hardcast the FoW since that requires cracking a fetch.  It would have left me with Snappy in hand and Brainstorm in my grave to try to find my Nature's Claim.  Ultimately, I decide Will into Time Walk and other goodies is scarier than coin flip odds of losing.  I FoW...and win the coinflip.  Edric and 5 other critters attack for massive damage, even if he'd had removal.

Match came down to a coinflip.  Good games GI.

Here's my list:
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
3 Island
1 Forest
4 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath
1 Ancestral Recall
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
4 Flusterstorm
4 Mental Misstep
4 Force of Will
4 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
3 Tandem Lookout
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Trygon Predator
SB: 3 Nature's Claim
SB: 3 Sower of Temptation
SB: 4 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Ravenous Trap

In case anyone is actually following the evolution of this thing, Edric turns out to be far better than Tandem.  So, the 3/4 split got reversed.  He's such a lightning rod for removal that legendary is seldom a meaningful drawback.  Moreover, when he's not facing removal, you're simply winning.  Ponder failed to prove its worth and got replaced by Fluster #4 to add even more pressure vs other blue decks.  I'm considering replacing Sowers.  A white splash for StP and Stoneforge Mystic is very tempting.  Alternatively that new Ulvenwald Tracker is very cute in the mirror.  I'm also considering Surgical Extraction over Rav Trap to help combat other Snappy decks.  Many options.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Bracket is updated:
Shax vs Guli
Credmond vs Me

[Shax]

My match was decided on a ruling and good play all around from me and my opponent.

GG , I'll get you next time.

PS: I only elected for the game to end in a tie because that was what I was told was supposed to happen. Otherwise I would have had a 5/5 Flyer with him at 9 life, two lands and 1 card in his hand. The odds were in my favor there and yeah he could topdeck something, but to assume I just WANT to tie is perposterous. If I'am playing Dragon I take a risk game 1 anyways just by playing the deck.

[Guli]

G/W Ranger/beats vs Dragon

game 1: I mull to 5 (terrible hands)
But I stick in an early Pridemage and slowly try to make it a game.

Result: Shax forced a tie in game 1 with Dragon/Necromancy aura after I stp his Dragon which got countered by Force and then I sac my Pridemage to nail animate death. He did have an Oona in his grave so we discussed for a while about the loop. In my opinion he should have ended the loop by animating Oona. We just went to the next game.

I won game 2, which means I am leading 1-0 at this point. Nothing interesting happened.

I also won game 3, which made the score 2-0 in my favor. Game 3 I stick a Thalia and ride it to victory.

[AmbivalentDuck]

G/W Ranger/beats vs Dragon

game 1: I mull to 5 (terrible hands)
But I stick in an early Pridemage and slowly try to make it a game.

Result: Shax forced a tie in game 1 with Dragon/Necromancy aura after I stp his Dragon which got countered by Force and then I sac my Pridemage to nail animate death. He did have an Oona in his grave so we discussed for a while about the loop. In my opinion he should have ended the loop by animating Oona. We just went to the next game.

I won game 2, which means I am leading 1-0 at this point. Nothing interesting happened.

I also won game 3, which made the score 2-0 in my favor. Game 3 I stick a Thalia and ride it to victory.

I misruled in game 1.  Shax (with an empty board) used floating mana to Necromancy a Worldgorger.  I incorrectly ruled that he would not be forced to use cards outside the loop (the Oona in his grave) to break the loop and that the game ended in a tie if he so desired.  He elected that the game end in a tie.

[Guli]

No, you cannot force a draw with an optional ability. The rule that allows loops to result in a draw only does so for mandatory actions:

    104.4b If the game somehow enters a "loop" of mandatory actions, repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw. Loops that contain an optional action don't result in a draw.

And yes, there is a rule that forces you out of the loop, though you get to choose how often to repeat the loop:

    714.2a At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a non-repetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can't include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.

    714.3. Sometimes a loop can be fragmented, meaning that each player involved in the loop performs an independent action that results in the same game state being reached multiple times. If that happens, the active player (or, if the active player is not involved in the loop, the first player in turn order who is involved) must then make a different game choice so the loop does not continue.

http://draw3cards.com/questions/2002/can-you-force-a-draw-with-an-optional-ability

[AmbivalentDuck]

It's actually not an optional ability.  Worldgorger and the reanimation enchantments all have mandatory abilities.  If someone plays Worldgorger and Necromancy in an otherwise empty board/graveyard state, the game ends in a draw unless a player CHOOSES to interfere.  The problem with my ruling was that there was a way to break the infinite loop using only the mandatory abilities: reanimating Oona.

In any case, you would have had Plains + Forest facing down Oona, not an appealing prospect.  Shax had the option of not "forcing a draw," instead reanimating Oona, and chose not to.  I'm just lucky that I didn't hideously bias the outcome of the match with my error.

[credmond]

It's actually not an optional ability.  Worldgorger and the reanimation enchantments all have mandatory abilities.  If someone plays Worldgorger and Necromancy in an otherwise empty board/graveyard state, the game ends in a draw unless a player CHOOSES to interfere.  The problem with my ruling was that there was a way to break the infinite loop using only the mandatory abilities: reanimating Oona.

In any case, you would have had Plains + Forest facing down Oona, not an appealing prospect.  Shax had the option of not "forcing a draw," instead reanimating Oona, and chose not to.  I'm just lucky that I didn't hideously bias the outcome of the match with my error.

Since there was more than one target, Shax didn't have the option of forcing a draw. He is required to break the loop and animate Oona or lose because of stalling.

[Guli]

Yep, that is what I tried to explain but I got overruled

[AmbivalentDuck]

G1: I'm holding 2x Island, Time Walk, 2x Edric, UG Moxes, and FoW.  I land an early Goyf, Force an early Stony, and the CA quickly becomes overwhelming.
G2: Mana denial + Stoneforge into 2x Batterskull.  I'm mana screwed and it gets ugly fast.
G3: I have a 5 land opener, shutting down his deck's best chance at the win.  Ooze and Snapcaster come down and just act as a clock.

I go 2-1 against monowhite.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Beat Guli 2-0

G1: I cast and then recur Ancestral while he's mana screwed.  Ridiculous CA -> swarm -> death.
G2: I misstep a turn 1 Hierarch and learn that he had to topdeck more mana sources.  I'm swarming with an Ooze followed by a Tandem, bringing massive CA.  I Time Walk, recur it with Snappy, then play an Edric.  Massive CA -> massive swarm and I win.

I've now won two (or three if you count the 1v1) of these in a row and strongly urge others to test this list.