[Report] Milwaukee 5-proxy 4/25/04

Despite having a book to read and an essay to write for Wednesday as well as 3 other papers to write, I decided to attend this event. I figured even if I don't go, I'll be thinking about it all day, so I won't get any work done. On the bright side, during the hour and half before the tournament and in between rounds, I was able to make decent progress on the text.

I played Zherbus Keeper with the following sideboard:

4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Coffin Purge
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Disenchant
1 Gush
1 Gorilla Shaman

I went with Keeper because I expected 1 each of Dragon, Landstill and Mask and a bunch of random aggro. My reasoning was as follows:
1. Exalted Angel would solve most of the aggro matches
2. Strip effects would help out against Landstill and Dragon
3. Actual removal would be good against both Dragon and random aggro

There were 20 people at the event. I saw or know of the following:
1 Suicide Black
1 Dragon
1 Madness
2 Keeper
1 Workshop Slaver
1 Mono Blue beatdown
1 TnT-Mask Hybrid
1 UBG Mask with Green for Berserk and Naturalize
1 EBA
2 Landstill
1 Hulk

Unfortunately I didn't keep detailed notes, but I'll do the best I can to summarize my matches.

Round 1: Ed with EBA

Game 1:

He leads off with a Duress and then his following turn follows with a Meddling Mage which I force. I use Strip effects to cut off his blue mana supply and leave him with a Basic Plains. My Mox Monkey beats to the head for a few turns until I cycle a Decree for 6 to finish off.

Game 2:

He mulligans to six to lead off. He resolves a Mox Monkey that beats me down for a few turns. I strip his land and eventually he's left with just moxen in play. The monkey beats me down to 4 when I resolve and morph an Angel. He tries to Ancestral. I Force. At the end of his turn I Cunning Wish to Vamp Tutor for a Monkey. I resolve the Monkey and clear his side of the board. He draws his next card and scoops.

Round 2: Ed playing Madness

Game 1:
I start off by playing a land a Mox Monkey. He Careful Studies an Anger and a Rootwalla. On his next turn he brings out a Wild Mongrel and pitches Wonder to it. Both Incarnations are active. I had Mystical in my hand so I could fetch Balance but I was waiting for the right moment. When he beat me down to 6 life he had 3 creatures on the board and an empty hand. I tutored for Balance in his end step. I cast Balance leaving my Monkey and his Mongrel. It wasn't enough. He cast another creature and beat me down to 1. I scooped after looking at my next card.

Game 2:
I had a strong Wasteland heavy hand as well as the Mystical for Balance. I used Wastelands to control his mana. After he emptied his hand, I Mysticaled for Balance with a Pearl and Island in play. Aside from his creatures he has 1 land, a ruby and a jet. I play a Wasteland, tap the Pearl and Island for Balance sacking the Island and wasting his land after Balance. We were both in topdeck mode. I play a Morphed angel when I hit 3 land, but I can't find a 4th land in time before he gets more creatures to finish me off.

Round 3: Peter with Hulk

Game 1:
He resolves a lot of his card Drawing, but apparently he was drawing plenty of land as opposed to business spells. My Wastes and Shaman slow him down until I play and Morph an Angel which goes the distance.

Game 2:
He leads off with a land. On my turn I drop Pearl, Jet, Ruby and Lotus. Then I cast Balance which he forces. I sack the Lotus for 3 Blue. Use 1 to Brainstorm. I play a Sea, and use all my remaining mana to cast Fact or Fiction, which also resolves. Well, I had a pair of Monkeys in my hand, but Pete resolved his first and get rid of my only Red Source at the time. I take Monkey beats all the way down to 9, but at the same time I control his mana with Wastes, which complements his land light draws. I get an Angel out. I resolve a Will with an ample graveyard and he scoops.

Round 4: Arthur with the Mono Blue Beatdown deck

First off, let me explain describe this deck before I get into the match. I saw no counters of any sort in the deck. I did see Veiled Crocodiles, Dominating Licid, Somnophores, Legacy's Allure, Fog Elementals, Shimmers and Grafted Skullcap.

Game 1:
I go Island, Jet, Time Walk, Sapphire, Ancestral. On my next turn I lay out a Tundra. I drop a good chunk of my hand - I can't remember what, probably Sol Ring and Lotus. I tap Demonic Tutor for Balance and cast Balance to Mindtwist away a good portion of his starting hand. It's a pretty slow game, he beats me down. I drain something and hardcast decree for 2 Angels which mop up.

Game 2:
We play a lot of draw-go. He gets a Legacy's Allure into play which does build up a lot of counters. He also gets an Energy Flux into play. His creatures get me to 14. I disenchat his Allure at his end step. I play and morph an Angel. At this point he has 3 Veiled Crocodiles in play. He tried casting a Grafted Skullcap which I countered. To empty his hand he cast Zephid's Embrace on my Angel. He attacks with his Crocodiles and brings me to 9. I tutor for Balance to control the Croc population. Angel beats go the distance.

Round 5: Bryan with Slaver

We ID into top 8, but we play a few games for fun.

Top 8: Matt with Keeper

Going into this match a knew a few things about his deck. He was running maindeck Humility with 3 Decrees. I also know he has Stifles, but I'm not sure if those were main or sideboard.

Game 1:
I keep a Waste heavy opening hand. I manage to stall him for a bit but he recovers and ends up mana screwing me after completely outdrawing me.

Game 2:
I had a wondeful 7 card hand. Unfortunately I had no mana at all. My 6 card hand is decent. I play a fetch. He taps out to Time Walk, I fetch for an Island in response because I'm wary of Stifle. I also brainstorm to look for land and come up empty. Time Walk resolves and he ends up dropping Moxen and Lotus to cast Future Sight on his Time Walk turn. I don't have a force, but I do have a Red Blast without any red sources in play or in hand. Well, it resolves. To make a long story short, he goes nuts with Future Sight, while I struggle to find land. He spent his turns building his board position and wasting my lands. He cycles decree for 5. I play it out to hope for something, but he Mind twisted away my Will and a few other good cards a few turns earlier, so my efforts were probably in vain.

Aside from just being mana screwed in the Top 8, I was pretty pleased with how the deck and I performed today. I definitely enjoyed the tournament.