During the last 3 weekends in a row, I played in 3 medium sized tournaments. Those tournaments included the NY P9 held in Baldwinsville, Cleveland’s Mox Ruby tournament, and now this weekend’s Chicago Lotus tournament. I finished 3rd, 5th/6th, and 3rd/4th at those tournaments, respectively. So for all of you who seriously think there’s a “seeming disappearance of 5c Stax,” my performances as of late prove that this deck is far from fading away. Am I just extremely lucky? Maybe. But it takes more than just luck to reach 3 Top 8’s in 3 tournaments in 3 weekends. I did not have the easiest rounds of Swiss by any means either. At this tournament, I had to win out against Vroman as well as Matt Morrison in successive rounds to make it into this Top 8.
With that said, I think the deck below is surely something to be reckoned with.
Changstax 20061 x Black Lotus
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Sol Ring
3 x Sphere of Resistance
1 x Trinisphere
3 x Crucible of Worlds
4 x Tangle Wire
4 x Smokestack
1 x Triskelion
1 x Sundering Titan
1 x Darkblast
1 x Imperial Seal
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Tinker
1 x Crop Rotation
2 x Gorilla Shaman
4 x Goblin Welder
1 x Swords to Plowshares
1 x Balance
1 x Barbarian Ring
1 x Bazaar of Baghdad
1 x Strip Mine
1 x Tolarian Academy
3 x Gemstone Mine
4 x City of Brass
4 x Mishra’s Workshop
4 x Wasteland
Sideboard:
3 x Chalice of the Void
3 x Duress
1 x Fastbond
1 x Jester’s Cap
2 x Rack and Ruin
2 x Ray of Revelation
2 x Tormod’s Crypt
1 x Viashino Heretic
The maindeck has really no explanation right now, except the fact that I have kept it the same since going to the NY P9 tourney. As for the sideboard, Lyle_H and I discussed sideboarding options for both of our decks on the way up to Chicago. During that 6 hour drive, we also tried to predict the metagame for this tournament as best we could. We predicted that the metagame would be filled with Stax variants for sure, some Oath, and a lot of Confidant-Combo decks due to the popularity of TT Confidant lately.
Based on that, I took out my two Choke’s and replaced them with a Fastbond and a Jester’s Cap. I felt that the Fastbond had potential to blow open the Stax mirror match, while the Jester’s Cap was there for taking out Combo decks’ win-conditions. The Duress’s were something I wanted to try out just for this tournament over Red Elemental Blast’s. I wanted to test something that seemed a little more pro-active in the face of control decks and disruptive against combo decks.
Round 1 vs Rafe Colton (ICBM) with Tendrils ComboGame 1
I was on the play and kept a hand that provided a first turn Shaman and 2nd turn Tangle Wire. I had no idea what he was playing, but after my Tangle Wire hit, he attempted to go off. He got in a storm count of 4 before playing his Mind’s Desire for 5. This had to be the worst Desire I had ever seen. After shuffling and cutting his deck 5 times, his deck produced: Brainstorm, Land, Land, Tolarian Academy, and LAND. His deck essentially fizzled for this game, so I won with double monkey beats.
Game 2
I resolved and used a Jester’s Cap on him, taking out two Tendrils and Tinker. I figured he had his Darksteel Colossus in hand considering he did not scoop on the spot. He got up to around 7 mana on the board, but with my lock components disabling his mana base, I never let him have a chance to hardcast DSC. He eventually scooped after I locked him down completely.
After the match, he told me that he had Tendrils in hand and all he needed was 1 free mana source from the Mind’s Desire to resolve the Tendrils on me in Game 1. How unlucky…
Record: 1-0-0Round 2 vs Jacob Riehm (Team Ogre) with DawnoftheDead.decGame 1
Once again, I had no clue what I was up against. I mull down to 6 and proceed to get spanked by his Null Rod with my own Mana Crypt in play. He gets threshold pretty quickly through a series of Life from the Loam dredges and starts attacking with his 4/4 Werebear. With Balance in hand, I block the 4/4 with my little army of Welder and Shaman on his turn. I Balance away his Werebear, but with Null Rod in play and my Mana Crypt eating away at my life, I lose quickly.
Game 2
I locked Jacob down pretty hard with a few Tangle Wires in this game. Apparently, he had many play errors during this match and I finished him off quickly with Trike beating him, then pinging him for the last few points.
Game 3
Without much time on the clock left, I could not finish him off completely, even though I had a lock on the board. I thought it was hilarious how we frantically played the first 5 turns of this game before we both realized this would end up in an inevitable draw.
Record: 1-0-1Round 3 vs Adam Cyr with GWS OathGame 1
On the draw, I resolve a Tangle Wire and lock him down pretty hard. I follow it up with other lock components and he scoops before I can really figure out what he’s playing. I figured it was Oath because he used an Impulse and had a Forbidden Orchard out at one point.
Game 2
With a Duress, Tangle Wire, Crucible, Workshop, Demonic Tutor, and some non-workshop mana from the start, I had one my best plays ever. I played a first turn Duress on him which he responded by casting Ancestral Recall. I saw that he had 2 Mana Leaks, Impulse, Brainstorm, Orchard, Razia, Wasteland, Oxidize, and Duress. I took out his Duress with mine. Next turn, I played Demonic Tutor with an untapped Workshop on the board. I knew he had one Mana Leak left and mana up after countering one of my earlier spells, so I feigned getting a Strip Mine, but instead picked Black Lotus to cast 2 threats that turn. With Wire and Crucible in hand, I really wanted to resolve the Wire to shut down his mana so I could put down more threats. After tutoring, I cast my Crucible which got Mana Leak’d, then plopped down Lotus and Tangle Wire. During the following turns, I racked up a few Spirit tokens which eventually smashed in for the kill under a solid lock.
Record: 2-0-1Round 4 vs Chris (ICBM) with 5c Stax (Workshop Aggro post-board)Game 1
He was on the play and led with a land, welder, followed by a Chalice for 0. I kept a land heavy hand with first turn Crucible/Strip lock and Sundering Titan. I kept him at very minimal mana during this game, and eventually hardcast the Titan for the kill.
Game 2
I mull down to 5 because I did not see anything that could live past a Chalice for 0. Eventually, I settled on a pretty slow hand, but he locked me down and killed me with Karn.
Game 3
Once again, I mull down to 5 because of sub-par hands. I eventually keep a hand that has a Tormod’s Crypt and Chalice for 0, but he transformed his deck into something else. With a first turn Juggernaut and second turn Trike coming at me, the welder in my hand was useless. I died quickly soon thereafter.
Record: 2-1-1Round 5 vs Robert Vroman (Team Ogre) with UbaStaxGame 1
After last round’s beating, I tried to stay as focused as possible for this big match. Vroman and I both mull down to 6. He was on the play and started off with a Chalice for 0. He apparently kept a mana light hand because he missed his next two land drops. During that time, I threw down my Trinisphere and Crucible locked him out completely.
Game 2
He led with a first turn Welder, then followed it up with a 2nd turn Shaman which ate one of my moxen. That deadly duo locked me down completely, destroying my Crucible I had put out first turn. I could not recover after he laid down a Chalice for 1 and a Sphere of Resistance, so I scooped to save time.
Game 3
This game was definitely one for me to remember because of an insane play. I led with Lotus, Jet, and Crucible, with Rack and Ruin and Vampiric Tutor in hand. I passed the turn without playing a land. Vroman played Barb Ring, Sapphire, and Null Rod. In response to the Null Rod coming into play, I Vampiric Tutor’d up Strip Mine, sac’d Lotus for RRR, and let the Null Rod resolve. With the floating mana, I Rack and Ruin’d his Null Rod and Mox. That play devastated his plans as I stripped away his land and got a Smokestack set at 1, locking him down for the win.
Record: 3-1-1Round 6 vs Matt Morrison (GWS) with 5c Suppression Field StaxGame 1
Ok… so on the play, Matt went: Chalice for 0, Workshop, Chalice for 1. I thought about the brutality of that opening play for a couple of turns before I scooped. OUCH!
Game 2
I shuffled up, boarding in all my mirror-hate, and reset my mindset. With my small guys dominating the board in this game, I quickly had him locked down and eventually took the game.
Game 3
Matt mulled down to 5 and it pleased me to see that, however his hand was quite resilient. He plopped down an early Juggernaut, which I promptly removed with Balance. A couple of turns later, I hardcast my Sundering Titan into play for one swing, but he Balanced my big guy away his next turn. He eventually put a Dark Confidant into play while I sat on a useless tapped Mana Vault and a lot of mana. With his Confidant beating me down and my Mana Vault eating my life away, I swore the game was over. The entire time, I used Bazaar to rifle through my library in hopes of finding a Tinker. The Tinker of course did not come, but the turn before I was about to die to Confidant beats, I found a Barbarian Ring. He was at 5 life at this point, so all I could do was pray that he’d topdeck something 3 or higher with Confidant. He topdeck’d a Juggernaut and took 4 to the head!!! I turned my Barbarian Ring sideways and sac’d it for the win! Matt now has all the rights in the world to call me a luck sack now. Even with this loss, he still made it into the Top 8 because of his strong Swiss record.
Record: 4-1-1Top 8
Quarterfinals vs Eric Becker (GWS) with Super Secret Intuition-based Tendrils ComboGame 1
I had no experience prior to playing against this deck before this match, so I just did my thing. First turn Trinisphere sounds pretty good against combo. I followed it up with a Tinker for Titan. Shortly after the Titan came into play, Eric said, “This is one of the worst beatings I’ve ever taken with this deck.” In three short turns, I took down game 1.
Game 2
This game, I got out a first turn Tormod’s Crypt, Welder, Shaman, and Chalice for 1. I thought this play was rather risky, but it was the best I could come up with. Now that Chalice for 1 was out there, it shut down a lot of his spells. He got out a second turn Confidant for some card advantage, but I think the Chalice at 1 crippled him a little. During my next turn, I laid down a Tangle Wire so I could have more time to hopefully set up a decent lock. He continued drawing an extra card per turn, taking some damage here and there while I carefully only attacked with Gorilla Shaman and not my welder, just in case he decided to block. Eventually, I locked him down with that single Tangle Wire long enough for the little damage per turn to ad up. He made an attempt to get out of the lock at the last second with an Intuition for two Hurkyl’s Recall and Rebuild (which I gave him). On his last turn, topdecking a Grim Tutor with his Confidant took him down to 1 life and he floated mana into his draw step. He then played the Rebuild, resetting my board, except creatures. To no avail, he did not have enough mana do much and extended out his hand for the match.
Semifinals vs Jacob Riehm (Team Ogre) with DawnoftheDead.dec Game 1
I mull down to 6 to keep an ok hand without a real first turn play and Tinker out a Titan eventually to destroy three of his lands. Next thing I know, he Sundering Vitae’s my Sundering Titan. By that time, he already had enough of his board set up with his Zombie Infestation and Life from the Loam engine going, that I didn’t stand a chance.
Game 2
This game was not exciting for me at all. First off, I had a huge brain-fart while sideboarding. It did not occur to me that siding in my Ray of Revelations against his deck was a good thing. I attribute it to the lack of experience against any deck of that sort and also to being pretty careless. He gets a quick start with first turn Zombie Infestation and forces me to Crypt away his Squee and land he discards for a Zombie Token. I eventually get him down to one card in hand and Duress him, to find a Bazaar. He plops down his Bazaar and gets a Life from the Loam engine going for a lot of Zombies and they eat my brain… after it farted.
I split the 3rd/4th place prizes of an Italian Mana Drain and an Unlimited Berserk with Chris from ICBM. I really didn’t want to play that out because I had enough of Workshop mirrors for the day. I took the Drain, while he got the Berserk along with 2 welders and a stifle from my binders. I had an amazing time talking to people about strategies and Trinispheres. I'll miss you guys at Richmond, but good luck to all!
Props:*Jon Donovan for being a kickass TO, letting us play 6 rounds instead of just 5, and letting me roll 20-sided dice
*Stasch for supplying the tournament with an awesome prize structure for only 37 participants
*The sweet tournament venue
*All of the participants for going to this tournament instead of the PTQ
*Lyle and JD for help with metagame prediction and support
*Jesus Roxas for providing Lyle and I a great homestay
*Team Ogre, GWS, and ICBM guys for good times
Slops:*Stupid snowstorm on the way back to Oxford, OH
*Mike Solymossy (13NoVa) for doing so well through the Swiss, only to leave the tournament empty-handed
*Me brainfarting against a new deck
