Mile High Comics Type 1

Jackalope and I made it down to Mile High Comics Saturday morning for their $500 Type 1 tournament. Even though all the hype was about GrowTog, I decided to resurrect my Keeper (modified towards Tog) and go with that. Here's the decklist (very similar to Zherbus' build):

4 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Underground Sea
4 Volcanic Island
4 Tundra
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Misdirection

2 Cunning Wish
2 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Future Sight
1 Fact or Fiction

1 Time Walk
1 Mind Twist
1 Yawgmoth?s Will
1 Zuran Orb
1 Gorilla Shaman

2 Morphling

1 Balance
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 The Abyss
1 Fire/Ice

Sideboard:
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Disenchant
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Misdirection
1 Plague Bearer
1 Aura Fracture
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Circle of Protection: Black

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Anyway, on to the tourney.

90+ people showed up for the event but Mile High only has seating for 64, so those who weren't pre-reg'ed got turned away. It was 6 rounds of Swiss cut to the top 8.

Round 1 vs James (Mono Black Pox)
Game 1 - He won the die roll and we both kept our hands. He started with Swamp, Ritual, Ritual... (I was like uh-oh) Tainted Aether, burn for 1. Hmm, not nearly as bad as I thought. For those of you wondering what Tainted Aether does, just know that it is horrible against Keeper so I let it resolve. I Balance with no cards in hand and a Zuran Orb on the table. A few turns later he still has no land and I drop Morphling who went the distance.
Game 2 - He boarded out a lot of cards and I figured he went into a beat down deck. I was right and countered a couple Negators, then sat behind COP: Black for a few turns. I dropped the Abyss and hid behind those two enchantments until I resolved a large Yawgmoth's will and played a Morphling from the grave who attacked for the win.
Games 2-0
Matches 1-0

Round 2 vs Lee (Mono Green Elves/Stompy)
Game 1 - I lose another die roll and he Land Grant the first turn after playing a forest. His hand is filled with green stuff, elves, Rancor, Vine Dryad and Bounty of the Hunt. I Fired an elf in response to a Rancor and he didn't Bounty it, so they went away. I resolved Future Sight and the Abyss and Morphling took his sweet time showing up, but eventually did.
Game 2 - He played Multani's Presence first turn, but I had no problems with that. I went Mox Sapphire, Lotus, Tundra, Morphling. Keeper goes beatdown. His next turn he plays an elf and tries to rancor it, but I Misdirection targetting my Morphling and 3 turns later I win. 4th turn kill with Keeper? Heh.
Games 4-0
Matches 2-0

Round 3 vs Bob - Clown of Tresserhorn (UB Masknaught - fully powered)
Game 1 - He started with a little early disruption, but no first turn Mask. I StP'd a Hippie and then he resolved a Mask. I took a 12 point hit from a Dreanought, then Cunning Wished for a Shattering Pulse which took care of the Dreadnought and Mask in successive turns. Morphling cleaned up the rest.
Game 2 - He opened with a Swamp and passed the turn. I opened with Lotus, Mox, Land, Future Sight. I could have dropped a Morhling, but it would have been unprotected and I figured he sided in Diabolic Edicts. Needless to say Future Sight is some good and I went on to win game 2 easily. Bob was a fun opponent and it was cool hanging out with him, Drew, Matt and Karen all day. Bob also came back from lunch wearing a huge baloon clown hat that he got at Chic Fillet. Props to Bob.
Games 6-0
Matches 3-0

Round 4 vs Terry (GrowTog fully powered)
Game 1 - I knew what Terry was playing and knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. He dropped an early Dryad and all my attempts to get rid of it ended up being futile. Two Togs joined the fray. Not long afgter that my Gorilla Shaman and Morphling were chumping blocking for me to stay alive. Regardless, my life was quickly reduced to 0.
Game 2 - I debated taking out Ancestral as I had sided everything else out that could be Misdirected. I chose not to and made a choice to only play it if I was sure it was going to resolve in my favor. We battle back and forth, I strip his Library of Alexandria and then he starts putting some pressure on with a Dryad. With 2 Misdirections in his graveyard and a Red Elemental Blast back-up, I go for the Ancestral. He Misdirects it to himself. No problem, I REB. He Gushes into a Force of Will. Ah well, the game was out of reach at that point and I picked up my cards.
Games 6-2
Matches 3-1

Round 5 vs Jonathan (TnT not fully powered)
Game 1 - He opens with Forest, Elvish Lyrist. Not quite optimal for TnT. His next turn he lays a Goblin Welder. I take the opportunity to Fire them both and continue to build my mana base. Next turn he drops another Welder. Still no tubbies on his side of the board. That Welder chips me down to 12 life and he's still yet to cast a tubby of any sort. I play Morphling and he scoops at 17 life.
Game 2 - He got a better draw this game and opened with a Sylvan Libray. A Survival resolved shortly after that and the engine got going a bit. I managed to keep the Welders off the table with StP and a Blue Elemental Blast, and my Shaman kept the Moxen and other small artifacts at bay. I got out a Morphling and followed it up with a Cunning Wish for Shattering Pulse. It was pretty much academic from there.
Games: 8-2
Matches: 4-1

Round 6 vs Keith (Mono Red Sligh/Burn)
We ID and just kinda hang around and watch the other top tables. Every match was played out except for ours which was good for me because I went from 7th seed to 6th seed in the Top 8.
Games 9-2
Matches 4-1-1

Top 8:
1 Wally - GrowTog
2 Terry - GrowTog
3 Adam - Full English Breakfast
4 Alex - GrowTog
5 Kenny - DragonCombo
6 Me - Keeper
7 Keith - Sligh
8 John? - Masknaught

So I was seeded 6th going into the top 8.

Top 8
Quarterfinals vs Adam - fellow Ft. Collins player (Full English Breakfast, fully powered)
Out of all the people I wanted to see in the Top 8, Adam probably would have my first choice. The Top 8 had 3 GrowTogs, 1 MaskNaught, 1 Dragon Combo, 1 Sligh, 1 Full English Breakfast and me.
Game 1 - He starts out slow and plays a bird with an Elvish Spirit guide. I consider Force of Willing the bird since he played no land, but I pass on doing so. His only source of colored mana is the bird and he plays a couple Duresses and a Cabal Therapy with it. Hmm, maybe should have countered the Bird. Another one joins it and I've had enough of them and Fire them both. He sees no blue sources until it's too late and Morphling swings for the win.
Game 2 - He goes Mox, Mox, Tropical Island, Bird. It was joined by a Wall of Roots and a Survival. I resolve the Abyss and it starts to eat away his creatures. I Cunning Wish for Shattering Pulse and take care of his two Moxen, attacking his mana base. I Wasteland a Bayou, then resolve a HUGE Yawgmoth's Will. I replay the Wasteland from the grave, Demonic Tutor getting a Wasteland and then Vamp for a Wasteland. His mana base completely in disarray, I lay a Morphling who goes the distance.
Games 11-2
Matches 5-1-1

Semi-finals
The Top 4 looked like this:
Terry vs Me
Alex vs Wally

I was matched up against Terry playing GrowTog again. We all agreed to a prize split. I ended up with $100 and $12.50 in store credit. Three out of the Top 4 were GrowTogs and it's not even April 1st yet. Overall I was very happy with the way the deck performed and would play it again in the same field with only 1 adjustment to the board. -1 COP: Black, +1 Powder Keg. Thanks for reading!