Something that Works for me (CC Tourney Report)

In last month's tournament for the Jet Cape Cod players just didn't make the cut, so this time around we were determined to make at least somewhat of a better showing. Most of us ended up in the 3-2 position which sadly enough is better across the board than last tournament considering a few of us couldn't make it.

Come Jan 1 I had already built a "9 proxied" version of Dragon( simply because i don't have the power or Bazaars) and felt confident going into this tournament. -Borrowing power cut the deck down to the 5 proxies i was looking for. I gave myself a month of playtesting against all sorts of decks however Things changed between Jan 1 and Feb 1. It looked as if people were expecting to get paired up against aggro in this tournament, so it sounded as if Control was going to make a huge showing. My chances were getting weaker and weaker as the month progressed. By Saturday however my spirits were still high and i was going into it ready to have fun.

The pairings come up at around 3:30( after getting a frantic phonecall from Kowal telling us to stall the tournament due to fantastic direction printing on his part and the great driving skills of Ill.) Tourney starts simply because we wanted it over by store closing at midnight. They're still not here and make it just in time to play one game against each other.

-I get paired up against Xellos Matellium ( a local running a U/B control/sui build with force of wills and not enough pitch cards. Game 1 i go off on turn 2 so we go to Sideboards. It doesn't look as if he knew what had hit him and had no sideboard ready. However game two he takes a first turn negator to my dome and i didn't see an animate spell anywhere.

This time i side in the fourth necromancy and out comes a chain of vapor.

I open with mox, mox, bazaar, turn sideways hoping for the first turn kill. Draw into jankyness and drop the ambassador already in my hand. Turn two i see the dragon i'm looking for and go off with force backup.

2-1 (1-0)

-Round two i get paired up against Mastertap with his Ponza build he threw together the night before. Hate.dec #1. Game 1 i drop the animate on turn 2 and we go to sideboards. I saw a bit of what he was playing and chose to throw out the stifles for 3 Plated Slagwurm.

Game 2 it lasts much longer than i had hoped with 2 crypts sitting on the board.(in his post he only said 1) I dig for a few turns finally come up with a lotus and hardcasting a slagwurm, him having no cards in hand. 2 turns later it looks like i have a win with a swing and 2 force's with pitches in hand. I completely space and start talking with other people completely being a dumb player and not remembering that pitching also pings me for 1. I (because i rock so much) let him chain me to 1 life and then he drops a bolt, i say "force.....fuck, game 3"

Game 3 he drops more crypts and i simply can't recover. i hate magic....

3-3 (1-1)

Round 3 I get paired up against Palinchron.dec( no TMD name) right next to Ill and Plainswalker down at the end tables... rock on for uncomfortable chairs. Needless to say I'm the first one reporting to James sitting behind the Computer.

5-3 (2-1)

Round 4 I get paired up against Slaver. Sorry but i don't remember your name, it wasn't Ray but I'm not sure who else played it. Game 1 he drops welder and monkey and swings 3 turns in a row.... Bad move, With welder tapped i mill the hell out of his deck as i see a platinum angel hit the GY.- thank god for maindecked Chain of Vapors just in case and rock on for welder tapping mistakes.

No sideboard for me, I didn't think of anything that could have helped)

Game 2 he quickly tinkers for the angel and when im at 7 i go for the draw because i can't find a chain in sight.

Game 3 I beat out the clock and drop the animate spell with force back up just incase.

7-3 (3-1)

Round 5 was a really tough matchup. After the 4 guys at tables 1 and 2(times like these i wish i was good with names) check over the standings for a few minutes they decide that them ID'ing is the right move however myself and Dom(playing GAT) should not ID simply because one of us won't make the cut. I had shitty tiebreakers anyways so knowing my luck... bleh.

The specifics are fuzzy however i remember the dryad on the board wailing away at my dome throughout game 1 as i fail to have my animate spell succeed. Game 2 i throw in the fourth necromancy in hopes of out stacking him along with 2 defense grids and 2 crypts. Oopsies, were those pernicious deeds in the sideboard that neither i nor Crater Hellion(roadtrippin) sided in against GAT in our matchups. we decided afterwards that doing so next time would be a good thing. I throw down an animate with Force backup with intuition pitch and a stifle in hand. He tells me to choose my animate target, i say dragon he says purge. I say force he says okay. He stifles the leaving play effect of my permanents coming back and there's simply nothing i can do, realizing the blue mana was tapped so i couldn't have even stifled the "permanents leaving" before he casted his stifle. Bah to playmistakes.

7-5 (3-2)

The tournament was great and I know where I screwed myself over. In Round 2 i lost the matchup, my deck did not, which angers me greatly. On that note Good Games to all and i always have fun when people can make it down for our scrubby tournaments here on Cape. Thanks guys.
I'm sick as a dog so i'm not posting my updated list right now. I'll do it later on after an 8 hour nap or so......................)

-Richard Kirchner.

EDIT: Okay, so it's only been six hours, here's what i played with in the tournament with some minor details as to why some things were played

Mana Production:

4 Polluted Delta
3 Swamp
2 Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus

Draw/ Fetch/ Tutor

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Intuition
2 Compulsion
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Hate/ Control

3 Xantid Swarm( In the tournament due to the lack of control i took out 2 for 2 chain of vapor - which i severely regretted against GAT in round 5)
3 Force of Will
3 Stifle

The Win(s)

3 Necromancy
3 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead(I still feel being able to untap without paying just incase is more important than the +1/+1 that Dance gives)
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Caller of the Claw

Sideboard:

1 Necromancy(against control this extra stack winner is a must)
2 Defense Grid(If these come out against any sort of control i win....even a force costs 3, a life and a card)
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Pernicious Deed
1 Sliver Queen
3 Plated Slagwurm(in my metagame with scrubs running rampant this is abetter option than Verdant, and if i played it right it would have won me round 2)
1 Verdant Force

END NOTE: The biggest regret i had throughout the day was not giving me an option to side in the other 2 Xantid Swarms just incase. I'm really hitting myself for that.