Great times is probably the best way to describe this tournament, even though alan at pastimes forgot that when the temperature exceeds 90 degree's, turning on the AC isnt a bad idea. Anyway ill begin by saying that after 3 months of testing for this event I wasnt exceedingly happy to find Oath of Druids was a good deck 2 weeks before the tournament, however unlike the rest of the people who I test with I didnt go insane bringing in hate for the deck. Just prior to the tournament I caught up with John(Vincent on TMD) and we started talking about the Oath matchup.. again. He had decided to have maindeck seal of cleansings AND sideboard Goblin Bombardments, AND Duplicant. Briliant though it may be to hate 1 deck and 1 deck only I didnt go along with him, my decklist was as follows-
4 Goblin Welder
4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
2 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
2 Mindslaver
1 Pentavus
1 Sundering Titan
1 Platinum Angel
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
4 Volcanic Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Darksteel Citadel
3 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
Side:
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Duress
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Spawning Pit
1 Duplicant
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Rack and Ruin
3 Flametongue Kavu
3 Old man of the Sea
Round 1- Chris Byrnes(or is it Brynes?) Playing.. Lodestone Myr combo?
We begin with me winning the roll to go first, I lead with the basic off color mox island opening and think its a good start... then I see a workshop and wish that god had been nice to me and handed me a sapphire to go along with my mana drain. I see a smokestack that gets forced. I draw ancestral recall, play volcanic. my ancestral looks something like this Black Lotus, Tinker, Mox Emerald. I was playing a deck with no counters... that game ended to a pentavus that just couldnt die in 5 turns(he got a staff of domination out long enough to gain some life.
Game 2: This game was honestly horrible and I dont know how I won... as I didnt untap for the first 20 something turns. I saw 3 Tangle Wires 2 Staff of dominations 2 Icy Manipulators a smokestack and a lodestone Myr(the last 2 got rack and ruined) Somehow I untap and procede to drop an obsurd hand that I had been accumulating, involving a mindslaver. Loe and behold when I slave him he has a time vault in hand. Got 200 million turns anyone? yes.
Round 2 Brian ?(sorry I didnt write your last name down) Playing a Cslaver mirror
Game 1 I mull to a bad 6 card hand and get raped, I really dont want to go into detail because the game lasted about 3 turns.
Game 2 His mana crypt deals more damage to him than I do, however I manage to resolve a pentabus and unload a token before it becomes a mox, I cant really get the bus into play because of the stupid welder war but the token(along with the crypt) goes the distance.
Game 3- This was TERRIBLE for him as my topdecks were insane, I resolve a fast mindslaver and activate it to hold him down for a while while we have wars over his sundering titan with our welders, my topdecks look something like ancestral into FoF Drain land, fof into some serious insanity that involved a pentabus, and an infinite slaver combo that involved his welder after a long.. long... game. Good job man, I know you werent happy to lose to a scrub
Round 3- Bob Yu(Clown of Tresserhorn) Playing Stacks(for some reason..)
We both get deckchecked, and exchange some jokes about how the other person needs another one. He offers to let me condede to him, I offer to hold onto his deck while he leaves the building, great fun.
Game 1- We both fetch a bit, I get out a bus, he tries to balance, I counter with him having 0 cards in hand and a lot of gemstone mines in the yard, harsh
.
Game 2- This was... bad? my notes show him getting out a sundering titan, and me getting exactly 0 damage in. Maybe he remembers a bit more than I do?
Game 3-I feel bad because I didnt take notes on this game, however I remember it being the most fun I have ever had playing magic. Bob was probably the coolest opponent I had that day, and the question still lingers.. did he really go to panda express..?
Round 4- Phillip Schmidt Playing It's raining men
I hated this match really bad because he's on GWS, and im like... near GWS or something, anyway I felt bad playing him but I had to so..
Game 1- I had the joy of getting my manacrypt to screw me down to 11 life, then I had the greater joy of fetching twice to counter a spell, then the even greater joy of facing a juggernaught and a su chi for... exactly 9 damage.
Game 2- When I side I boardin in 3 ftk's and 2 Rack and ruins
I see the first turn welder second turn tinker hand... I look through the deck then realize the problem with the GWS pet deck, it not only has no answer to pentabus but dies miserably to fliers, what joy! about 5 turns later after I had blocked a su chi FAR too many times for lethal damage and a Juggernaught even more the 9 tokens finnaly go the distance.
Game 3- This one was about pentabus from my end and I was willing to throw away a tinker to get it, he leads with first turn welder, and I tinker the bus out. After that it gets kinda rough as I only see citadels and an academy for mana sources, topdeck of the gods is Fact or Fiction, revealing Mox pearl Mox Ruby Welder FtK Island, he separates the welder from the rest, not knowing(of course..) that im holding 2 other welders. I take the red source, drop the FTK the next turn killing a su chi and block a jugggy, then Rack and Ruin, then finnaly drop a welder, then another, I should probably add that when that FTK comes down im at 2 life, and the welder puts me to 1, I win the game with a bus that cannot be stopped and some very happy dancing goblins.
Round 5 Stach ? Playing 4cc
Im not going to go into detail with these games, both of them involve hiim seeing multiple drains forces and tinker into collosus, and me seeing exactly 2 counters. I lose badly and within 4 turns game 1, and get mana screwed game 2, I go brainstorm put welder on top and duplicant after it, duress him which he drains, my notes say(from a previous duress) that he is holding Swords so I just go for the tinker, he rebs. Stupid brainstorm fetchland chain.
Round 6 Avoy playing Fish
Mike Purn decides to hang around and watch this game, so I get his expert commentary from a type 2 perspective(he hasnt played type 1 to my knowledge.. ever?)
Game 1, I see the NUTS draw Trips on Drain Thirst Island Mox Sappire and im going first, this game goes my way all the way even though his opening hand had 2 null rods and 2 wastelands. I really dont want to take any credit for playskill on this one, this is a cheap example of slaver doing all the work for me
Board in 3 Old men 3 Ftk's and a DSC
Game 2- This one is pretty nuts to with drains, In this game I see ancestral 3 brainstorms and 4 Thirsts, and unfortunately the only hate spell I saw was DSC which I couldnt cast, I lose this one and start to feel my hopes of top 8 shrinking by the moment.
Game 3- I go first, we have the island, volc go thing going for a while because hes afraid to tap his lands to activate his mishra's factory, his lavamancer from turn 1 deals a fair ammount of damage by attacking until I see the following ancestral. Tinker Ftk Mox GG fish?. Play the FTK he lets it resolve killing his mancer so I think im gravvy, play the tinker, counter war ensues and I win at 14 life, he knows there is no way to go the distance but because this would be his second loss he tries to topdeck his way out of it, and fails. The collosus goes all the way and another FTK joins the fun. I admit that I felt like a lucksack that game but hey, it is a random game.
Round 7 Brian Fisher
Also on GWS, I also know him, and unfortunately we cannot draw, we both need a win(he needs one in the next 2 matches, I cannot lose.)
Game 1 involves the following INSANITY. He goes chalice for 0 workshop, I prepare to scoop my cards but think better of it, I can still topdeck a second land and maybe break free. Then something wonderful happens, he doesnt have a spell. We have the draw discard go thing going for a while, I discard the following- Pentabus Mindslaver Platinum Angel. thats all that matters because I hit the welder, then the second and Brian scoops.
Game 2 was even worse, I keep this hand FoF, Drain, Drain, Rack and Ruin, Mox, Lotus Mindlsaver. First turn for him was chalice for 0 and chalice for 1 go. OUCH. I discard the slaver and think I need to win game 3, he gets the plat angel out while I lucksack like a whore 3 consecutive lands, Underground, Island, VOLCANIC. my god im a lucksack some times. Rack and ruin the angel and the chalice 0 with me at 2, drop my moxen and my lotus, Thirst, drop an academy play and activate a mindslaver, He responds to the activation with Ancestral, with Chalice ont he stack he rebs it =( no abusing his ancestral for me... I get his turn and rack and ruin his mox and his chalice, play his brainstorm and see (with titan and duplicant in his hand, land Trike and some other spell) I remove his duplicant from the game give him a spell he cant cast and leave a land on top. drop 2 welders and flash him the 4th land I need to go infinite, he cannot win that turn so he scoops.
Round 8 Stephen Menendian playing Doomsday
Yeah right.. like we played this one out.
Top 8, Josh Playing 5/3
First turn trinisphere, second turn juggernaught third turn sundering titan, GG?
for some strange reason I think hes playing stacks so I leave the FTKS in the board, and I lose because of it.
Game 2 was much more insane for me as I lead with duress, get beaten down by a juggy a bit, then rack and ruin and go infinislaver on him. He scoops.
Game 3. He leads with first turn welder, and im an idiot, I dont force it because I think its bait for trinisphere, NOT LIKE THAT MATTERS. he goes memory jar and I feel like quitting magic.
I got to talk with people for a while, felt bad for dante because I felt like dieng at 1 AM, and had great fun watching the Myr deck own it up, and a very good impersonation of a certain SCG Writer.
I feel bad as in the draft Roland takes the Jet, and I get the timewalk, but I already have one and.. well I have a timewalk for trade so yay.
Props-
Smmenen for being both armenian and the grand master of the scrub.
Clown for being so cool and having worked at panda express
GWS for either scrubbing out or making top 8, the crap?
SCG for giving out power
Slops-
Tony for being a fat lazy mofo who orders FAR too much food at wendies
GWS for scrubbing out or making top 8, the crap?
Pastimes for not understanding that its WAY too hot in there
Chris Janjigian
5th Place
One of the massive 2 Armenians at SCG 3, Ranked second behind the other armenian in swiss. Go armenians?
