[Report] Southside Comics, 7/17/05 (sixth place)

[Matt]

Southside Comics, Sunday 1.5 (July 17th, 2005)
Eleven players, straight swiss (four rounds)

I arrived and, as this was a sanctioned tournament, got me a DCI number. I didn't have a lot of time to scout so I just played Tide again. I saw a goblin deck so I switched a Phid to another Hydroblast, but otherwise, identical list to yesterday's.

The decklist:

//Mana Engine
3 High Tide
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Turnabout
2 Peregrine Drake
1 Snap

//Draw spells
4 Diminishing Returns
4 Ideas Unbound

//Findit, findit
4 Brainstorm
4 Impulse
3 Merchant Scroll
3 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor

//Miscellany
2 Force of Will
2 Tendrils of Agony

//Lands
4 Underground Sea
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
11 Island

//Helps me go off
SB: 1 High Tide
SB: 1 Snap
SB: 1 Mystical Tutor

//Utility
SB: 2 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 2 Hydroblast
SB: 2 Force of Will
SB: 1 Echoing Truth

//Anti-control
SB: 3 Ophidian
SB: 2 Brain Freeze

This tournament was of much higher caliber, everyone had duals and Forces and whatnot.

The Metagame:
Elliot, graveyard.dec (nether shadow, death spark, ashen ghoul)
Ryan (Fish)
Zane (WW/u, splashing for Stifle and Condescend)
Derek (Landstill?)
Patrick (Vial Goblins)
Matt (Tide)
David H. (Enchantress)
Robert (Super Gro)
Michael (unknown, I think it was landstill?)
John (Rock)
David L. (Affinity)


ROUND ONE
vs. Ryan (Fish)
Game One: I lose the roll, he mulligans to six. He plays out some Grim Lavamancers and Clouds, and counters me out when I try to go off. I sideboard -4 Ideas Unbound, -3 Cunning Wish, -2 Drake, +3 Phid, +2 BEB (I expect REB), +2 FoW, +1 Tide, +1 Echoing Truth. Game two is much the same as game one, including his mulligan to six. C'mon, it's Fish vs. Tide, I was never in this.

ROUND TWO
vs. Patrick (Vial Goblins)
Game One: He also mulligans to six. I sense a trend. He has a start that goes: lackey into piledriver, fanatic + vial...then he runs out of steam and I roll him over and tickle his belly for 26 life.
Game Two: Sideboarding -2 Wish, -2 FoW, +2 BEB, +2 Hydroblast. He REBs my Brainstorm on turn one, I BEB his Warchief, and he has dick-all after that. On turn five he taps out for Sidege-Gang Commander and I go for it, since he has no mana to REB with. Tide, Cloud, Cloud, Drake, Turnabout, Ideas, Returns, Scroll for Mystical, Mystical for Tendrils, Brainstorm to draw it and kill.

ROUND THREE
vs. David L. (Affinity)
Game One: He gets the Plating and I cannot for the life of me find a Tide. When I am at 12 he attacks for exactly enough to killHe says he didn't see enough of my deck to know what to sideboard (he only saw Brainstorm, Impulse, and Ideas).
Game Two: I have nothing to sideboard either. He gets a Ravager and Disciple down but it's not enough and I go off at eleven life.
Game Three: He gets me to seven this time, after I Force a Plating. Again I have a hard time finding Tide but I get it eventually and win at seven life staring down a veritable horde of guys - two Disciples, a Worker, a Frogmite, and two Myr Enforcers. Had I expected Affinity, a Rebuild or Hurkyll's would have been a nice Wish target.
It looks like he just took T2 Ravager Affinity (complete with Vials) and added Petals over Chromatic Sphere (which is a mistake).

ROUND FOUR
vs. Robert (Super Gro)
Ugh, my OTHER worst possible matchup in the entire format.
Game One: I actually draw both Tendrils and three Seas but when I have to try to combo off I fall short of mana and don't actually Tendrils him for anything.
Sideboarding -3 Wish, -2 Ideas Unbound, +2 Force of Will, +1 Snap, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Tide.
Game Two: He gets Meddling Mages to sideboard in, I get useless nothings. Apparantly he also runs Stifle maindeck, what a joy. Again, I have no hope of this matchup.

So I win sixth place on tiebreakers, which is the lowest place to get payout. I get a pack of Judgement (Crush of Wurms, Phantom Centaur) and a Viridian Zealot, which alleviates me from having to decide between Uktabi and Lyrist in my survival deck. Some guy got two Darksteel packs and pulled both Swords and a Skullclamp, and another guy got a single Judgement pack and got Living Wish and Cabal Therapy. Bastard.

I had considered playing U/G/r madness (red for Fire/Ice and sideboard cards), and in retrospect I probably should have. It would have been better in rounds one and four, and would have probably been good enough in rounds two and three. This one guy, Elliot (who astute readers may remember as being the whiny goblin-playing cunt from the last time I played here) refused to concede against David's Enchantress deck, after he had Cranial Extractioned his Sacred Mesas out. But David had Elephant Grass and had used Words of Wisdom to reduce Elliot to a soft lock of one land, which he had NO WAY to break. He was being a total cock as usual, inventing all these ways he could theoretically win, none of which worked because they relied on him having mana. Eventually the round timed out and David won 1-0.

As I drove home the sky was glorious.

[Danzig]

Which decks were top 4?

[Bardo]

Game Two: He gets Meddling Mages to sideboard in, I get useless nothings. Apparantly he also runs Stifle maindeck, what a joy. Again, I have no hope of this matchup.

Didn't you imply I was clutching at straws suggesting Meddling Mage and Stifle as way to hate Solidarity in another thread around here? Or was I misinterpreting you?

If the first case it true: It appears I am vindicated here Matt.   If, on the other hand, the second is true: nevermind.

then he runs out of steam and I roll him over and tickle his belly for 26 life.

But that made me laugh.

And what's the Bloodstained Mire doing in place of Strand #2?

Good job - But you should've play Grow.

[Matt]

No, I was saying that Gilded Light was grasping at straws. Because it's not actually better than just another stifle/counterspell, and it's way more narrow, in a worse color. Meddling Mage has ever been the bane of combo decks.

I only own 2 Delta, 1 Strand, 1 Mire for fetchlands. The practical difference between Mire and Strand (or even delta) in this deck is nil (and depending on Pithing Needle might actually be better). I am looking into upgrading the Mire to a Strand sometime, though.

I would have LOVED tro play Gro. Seriously, it's very possibly my favorite deck archetype EVER. But I only have acess to one Tropical Island. Next tournament, I'm going to see if I can borrow 2-3 more and if so, then I'll probably play GAT (Rich's list from Origins, though I'll have to work in P.Deed somewhere).

I don't remember the top four too well. I know Enchantress made it, and I know Rock was #1. I don't know the other two and I don't remember exactly where Enchantress landed (though I highly suspect #2).

But wait, let's see if I can't do it by process of elimination. I know Robert and I were 2-1 in the final round, and he beat me, so he was in there for sure.

I know some decks that DIDN'T make top four: me, affinity, goblins, WW, graveyard.

 so cutting those out we're left with:

known to be in top four
1st place = John (Rock)
2nd place = David H. (Enchantress)
Robert (Super Gro)

Possibly could be the fourth
Ryan (Fish)
Derek (Landstill?)
Michael (unknown, I think it was landstill?)

Now, I got sixth place, and I know three people who did better than me, so of Ryan, Derek, and Michael, two of them got 4th/5th and one did worse than I. So I hope that's close enough.