Mana Clash 1st Place Tournament Report

Mana Clash 1st Place Tournament Report

After 3 Tournaments, 15 hours of nonstop concentration, and no notes my memory is hazy at best, but I’ll do my best to recreate the matches while giving some helpful information. As another Disclaimer: I am HORRIBLE with names so I give fun-filled descriptions of people instead and hopefully people can chime in with their names.

:: Disclaimer :: This is LONG! 15 hours of Magic doesn't go unspoken for! :: Disclaimer ::

Phase I
Type 1 Deck
Ed’s Icky Breakfast

// Lands
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Bayou
2 Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
4 Ichorid
4 Stinkweed Imp
2 Sutured Ghoul
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
1 Krosan Cloudscraper
4 Nether Shadow
4 Ashen Ghoul
1 Devouring Strossus

// Spells
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
2 Dragon Breath
4 Serum Powder
1 Mox Jet
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Unmask
3 Darkblast
1 Chrome Mox
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Black Lotus

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Duress
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 4 Leyline of the Void
SB: 4 Emerald Charm

Here’s a quick primer as I’m sure Harlequin, will post an official one later.

Redefine Card Advantage. 50% of magic is in the mulligans and this deck takes that phrase literally.

Serum Powder finds you Bazaar while not hurting your deck due to losing restricted win conditions. You don’t start the game without Bazaar.

Free disruption buys you 2-3 turns.

You win on turn 3-4 with 80% consistency.

As a teaser, nuances Harlequin will cover are the multitude of ways of playing around Tormod’s Crypt, Leyline of the Void, and the lesser-seen Planar Void. Ok, onto the meat!

Round 1
Thin Italian guy with a bowler’s hat. He was a pleasant guy playing Control Slaver. This one was in the bag.

Game one:
Island Go turns into me bazaaring then chrome mox for B. He lays down moxen land Welder. I darkblast eot. And proceed to bazaar like a maniac. Turn 3 he does nothing. I cabal therapy on the blind when he has 3 mana open. “resolves” I name Thirst for Knowledge. Rip out 2 TFKs and he’s sunk like the Titanic.

In: Duressx4 Out: Darkblast, Vamp Tutor, Nether Shadow, Ashen Ghoul

Game two:
Its Hazy. But I got an Unmask + duress on turn 1. And he gets tramplified by a gigantic cookie monster before he can recover.

Round 2
Playing against the guy who lent me the commons I needed to play this deck. Very nice guy. A little crazy, but very nice. He’s playing Control Slaver and he knows what I’m playing, so he knows his days are numbered. He jokingly says “So… I’m gonna need those cards back now…” Thank god he was joking…

Game one:
He starts with Library go. Bazaar finds me an Unmask and Chalice. I take his hand and get rid of the good parts leaving him with a Jar, Slaver, Gifts; none of which he has any chance of casting. Soon Gifts and Jar join their friends in the graveyard and we go to game 2.

In: Duressx4 Out: Darkblast, Vamp Tutor, Nether Shadow, Ashen Ghoul

Game two:
He starts with Library go. Its sooo good, and yet, soooo bad. I throw 1 disruption into his delicious hand of 6, 3 turns in a row and he puts the Sad-Panda face on. Cookie Monster 30/20 makes his appearance RawR.

Round 3
Playing against a guy with a scar on his face, who’s probably the happiest guy of magic I know. His name I can never remember, maybe Stefan?, so I’ve given up on trying, but we have some history, which he reminds me of this time. When we play I always win through total lucksacking while misplaying horribly or I win with the most randomly rogue decks imaginable. Either way it spells his doom. I honestly never got to find out if he was playing Gifts or Slaver. But I opted for Gifts when making sideboard choices. Tinker was the only threat I saw in these games.

Game 1:
This Sassy Maroo gets a turn 2 tinker and deliberates for a gooood while thinking about what to get. He eventually gets DSC. I ask him to let me know after the match what he was thinking over for so much and he agrees. But didn’t because he/we forgot. That donkey puncher…
Anyhow. He seems pretty happy about his BmoC 11/11 so I start my Bazaar insanity and realized there’s one thing that I like more than an 11/11 indestructible trampling monster. Yup. It’s a 38/26 hasted trampling Cookie Monster that just wants you cookies and won’t relent. This poor sap had to calculate blocking damage on a DSC and realized this was a bad sign. He attacks out of spite after realizing he dies next turn either way.

He exclaims while sideboarding that he is thrilled that Brassman tests the most random of decks against him as he knows the Ichorid match up fairly well and has “secret sideboard tech” against it. I’m thinking “Oh shaet, some psycho put Leylines of the Voidx4 in their Sideboard”. But that’s ok. I have secret sideboard tech against HIS secret sideboard tech!

In: Duressx4 EMERALD CHARMx4 Out: Darkblastx3, Ashen Ghoul, Nether Shadowx2, Ichorid, Sutured Ghoul

Game 2:
I watch his hand keeping like a hawk. And he keeps his opening hand. Which seems odd of he’s running Leylines, but this only means I’m even MORE screwed because he has 6 good cards and a Leyline in play. So I look at my hand and happiness washes over me. Bazaar, Bayoux2, Emerald Charmx2, Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll. This couldn’t get much better… OK! I keep! Any affects? Turn 0 plays? “No” O.o Whaaat!? Humph. I feel disappointed. And he senses this and asks what I expected. Leyline of Course. “Nope” and lays a Tormod’s Crypt and 2 moxen, no land. Well right. This can still work out fine for me because Emerald Charm is AWESOME. I draw a Duress and use it taking important things, I think a brainstorm. Next turn bazaar. Bazaar using emerald charm on the bazaar to untap and we get 2 Bazaars in 1 turn hurray!. He blasts my grave after it gets too ferocious, but I continue to bazaar and I get enough creatures in play. Strip his hand with cabals. Smash with the Cookie Monster with 4 cards left in the library.

Round 5
Herbig (who’s name I can only remember by saying the phrase “Her big brown eyes” per “Dead Like Me”) playing Grimlong. I got paired down, so I was a little sad. Knowing the other 4 Undefeateds were Slaver and I would roll them, but hey random generators can’t love you forever. I know Herbig only plays highly mathematical and calculating decks which go oh my god crazy and win. So I assumed he was playing combo, probably grim. Good guess. Bad situation. Even with running maindeck chalices and 8 disruption, 12 with side this is a rough matchup at best. They’re just faster and stronger.

Game 1:
I mull down to 5 and he wins on turn 2 with my only disruption being a cabal in the yard aching for creature snacks to be used.

In: Duressx4 (sensing a trend?) Out: Darkblastx3, 1x Nether Shadow (the slowest creature)

Game 2:
He plays 1st turn Necropotence in a 6 Hand and draws 9 making his super duper awesome hand. I play a chalice, which he forces. Then I unmask and remove the Timetwister, which he questions the rfg’ing of due to a discard affect but quickly reneges his questioning although I offer a judge ruling. I’m pressured to kill him next turn but can’t and bazaar the sauce into my graveyard but I know I need an unmask to survive another turn. I Bazaar down to 1 card in my next upkeep keeping a black card after seeing only 1 unmask gone and 2/3 of my library in my graveyard. I cross my fingers and draw a card instead of dredge. Unmask. Wooooo hoo! Love you deck. Cast the unmask taking a hurkyl’s and survive another turn to win.

Game 3:
I mull 2 serum powder 5 hands and keep a hand of Duressx2, Bazaar, dredge, dredge. I see two out of three bayous RFG’d from serum powders and I know this isn’t going to be good. I dig dig dig for mana, an unmask, or a chalice but all I find is poop.

Round: 5
Mr. Smarmy Man with a black hat. This guy had even more ego than I do, and that’s impressive! He knew what I was playing and I suppose felt the best way to win was extremely aggressive psychological badgering. If I were a self-conscious and timid magic player instead of the overly confident pompous jerk that I am, I would call a judge for poor sportsmanship, but I figured that what would be even better than crying to authority would be to firmly plant him in his grave. Metaphorically of course, I’m not crazy. Oh, he’s playing Gifts.

Game 1:
He gets a DSC out and the cookie monster is 1 turn too late. This could make things difficult for me planting his grave methinks… I might be joining my Grave Trolls…

In: Duressx4 (has anyone caught this trend yet?) Out: Darkblastx3, Vamp T

Game 2:
Island, Go. Bayou. Cabal Therapy. “Response Brainstorm” *he brainstorms stuff* “ok. Resolves” “I name brainstorm”. The look of horror and bewilderment on this guy’s face was like a goddamn Picasso. Well more like a Salvador Dale / Edvard Munch but you get the idea. I tear out 2 brainstorms, those being his only gas seeing not much else. Over the course of the next 3 turns I extract anything worth anything from his hand and the tears are near brimming. Sad for him, Joy for me.

Game 3:
He plays Island Go. I say ok. Untap upkeep, go to draw and he says “WAIT!” and drops a mox ruby. Nut uh Sir. You said go I agreed and I’ve changed phases. Put it back. He makes his best “pout” face and does it. (score one for the good guys, which are really the bad guys, but with good intentions) I draw my card lay down Bazaar Mox Jet, Chrome Mox with B, Chalice for 0, Duress. I really love this deck. He brainstorms and afterwards and has 2 moxen, brainstorm, 2 lands, recoup. Goodbye Brainstorm. He plays Mystical Tutor with 2 islands and ALMOST gets ancestral recall but sees the Ichorid & Ancestral-hungry-Cabal Therapy in the graveyard and makes a good decision and goes for chain of vapor. I bazaar in vain for a few turns giving him unfortunate untap steps to stabilize while I dig with bazaar. Finally the deck goes bonkers and puts all the goodies into the grave briefly and then the important goodies into play. In the crucial turn when I’m about to Cookie Monster him to death I count up 11 damage on the board out loud and look at my sutured ghoul in the grave then cabal him. In response he Gifts Ungiven and I’m thinking “this is interesting.. what’s he going to go for?” and when he gets Black Lotus, Lotus Pedal, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt I give out a big ol’ grin as I realize he thinks he’s going to live another turn. Nope. He doesn’t see the Devouring Strauss or Dragon’s Breath in the graveyard. RawR! Cookie Monster wins.

So one loss to my worst matchup isn’t too bad. The deck is savage and my baby. I love it and it loves me back. Woot! Dual lands

Phase II
Quick break to deconstruct/construct Legacy decks and then its off to the races for Part II ! Legacy Tournament!

Legacy Deck
Mono Red Gobs
// Lands
3 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
6 Mountain

// Creatures
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Goblin Tinkerer
1 Goblin King
1 Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
2 Siege-Gang Commander

// Spells
4 AEther Vial
2 Chrome Mox

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Pyrokinesis
SB: 4 Pyrostatic Pillar
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt

Its goblins, what do ya want? I maindeck 3 tinkerers because they’re amazing in a healthy environment, but I should’ve realized everyone would be playing crazy variants and there would be minimal netdecking. Regardless I did well enough to make the cut.

Round 1
Matched up against crazy-legacy player with Tattoos and a serious love for Legacy. He’s playing Scepter-chant with Izzit-rites combo.

Game 1
He gets a scepter out without enough to pay kicker for 3 or 4 turns, enough for my slow goblin hand to take him down to 7. I have a vial out though and I find matron-siegegang before he finds his combo pieces.

In: 4x Pyrostatic pillar Out: Incinerators

Game 2
I get a hand of 3 goblin tinkerers and he does his best to burn them out before I run him over. Tries. But ultimately fails.

Round 2
Play against a local Vintage player whose name escapes me playing Dredge-a-Tog

Game 1
I have turn 1 lackey met with turn 1 darkblast. And he recurs darkblast every turn until a Tog discards wonder and flies over my men.

In: Rebx4 Tormod’s Cryptx3 Out: Fanaticx4 Incineratorx3

Game 2
He drops a plague on turn 3 but double Piledrivers ride me to victory.

Game 3
A long grueling match where I see no Rebs or crypts, draw every mana source in my deck, and eventually Tog makes mince meat of me

Round 3
Herbig again! Again he is playing combo, this time in the form of Solidarity. I don’t scout, its Herbig!

Game 1
A medium speeded start pressures him to combo out with 4 lands, which he does.

In: 4x Pyrostatic Pillar 4x Reb Out: 4x Incinerator 4x Fanatic

Game 2
I keep a risky hand of 1 red mana, 1 rishadan, 1 wasteland, 1 pyrostatic pillar, and RR goblins. The Pyrostatic is forced and I pay dearly for keeping as I draw my remaining 3 wastelands and 2 rishadans slowing his win down considerably, but only delaying the inevitable with no double red. I deserve to lose this one for my arrogance.

Round 4
I’m playing the second guy who lent me the cards to play goblins of course. I’m doomed to play the generous people out there. He’s playing magus of the jar.

Game 1
I start with rishadan. Vial. Thinking I’ll be able to keep him off his mana. He draws a card and discards a magus of the jar. “utoh”. I realize this is going to end poorly and play a land just hoping he’s not going to go ridiculous and I can start tapping lands. He plays “land. Lotus pedal, Lotus pedal. Led. Led. Ritual. Shallow Grave. Popping the Leds blue and black. Then continues to go ridiculous.

In: Pyrostatic pillar x4 Tormod’s Crypt x4 Out: Incineratorx4 Fanatic x4

Game 2 & 3
First turn Pyrostatic pillars end in victory.

Round 5
Playing the only girl attending playing Threshold. Must concentrate on magic. Must concentrate on magic.

Game 1
I draw triple piledrivers & some buddies.

In: Tormod’s Cryptx3 Out: Tinkererx3

Game 2
I see no crypts but we have lots of combat exchanges and skirmishes. She can’t find Green mana to save her life but is happily making a sizable roast out of my guys in the meantime. In what ended up being the pivotal turning point she taps a Volcanic Island and Rebs my Warchief. Reb? And she says “yup” *blink blink* There’s a moment of realization here where she looks towards her sideboard while she realizes she sided in her Rebs instead of Bebs. Quite Harsh. But everyone was exhausted at this point so it was understandable.

Woot! Finals! I made zee Finals! I scamper over to the tables where the sets are laid out to determine a strategy.

Phase III
Limited Rotisserie Draft of Revised, Arabian Nights, & Antiquities (It was an incredible blast)

I have never drafted before. So this portion was the most exciting but also the most intimidating. The Top 8 read like an all-star roster of magic and this did little to ease my worries. Standing next to people with a massive amount of experience drafting, a deep knowledge of older lesser-used card power levels, and generally amazing magic players was quite the thrill even if daunting.

As I saw it there were many approaches to take. All of which were based off what your first pick was. Pestilence was probably my first choice. No other card clearly is a 2-for-1, which is as much of card advantage as I would expect in a draft; after this was Balance, then Wrath of God, then Hypnotic specter, then likely a tie between Crusade & Bad Moon but only if you’re committed to that archetype/color.

People mentioned that adaptation was highly relevant; if you were fighting someone for a color you would both be weak and the stronger fish would chomp you.

I’m 6th in the lineup, with a second card coming soon thereafter, which I consider fortunate. I get to see what the majority of the players are going for, while still being able to gain a foothold in my choice without reciprocation from others.

So onto the drafting!

Revised first!
Here are the first few picks. Fireball goes first. I forget pick 2. Disintegrate (Feinstein) 3rd. Nate Pease takes Pestilence (damn him! Now my plan has to change). Wrath of God goes 5th. I nab Balance. Serra Angel goes. I forget Herbig’s pick.

From here on I see people fighting/sharing red and many people splashing black or fighting for it. The choice seemed obvious. With Balance being safely absent, a very slow “meta”, and lots of hate/burn white weenie seemed to be the choice having speed, combat tricks, and protection (literally).

Important Revised picks somewhat in order: Balance, Swords to Plowshares, Crusade, Savannah Lions, White Knight, Helm of Chatzuk, Blessing. After this I draft all the white cards possible with priority on any with banding. It should be noted that Nate Pease starts losing his mind after he gets his 7-8 key black cards in his denial Pit Lord deck (Twist, Lord of the Pit, Demonic Hordes, Hypnotic Specter, Dark Ritual, Pestilence) and just tells people to “pick the lower left white card randomly” because he can’t be bothered with walking over to the table to pick any card, which makes me bug out. So I have to do a little bit of moving good white cards from the bottom-corner for horrible ones to prevent him grabbing key cards that I know I can hold out on.

Arabian Nights next!
Brassman lays down 35 Brassman along with the Arabian Nights set (there is 1 in it after all), and makes the pouty-face when noone wants Brassman in their draft.

There are some great picks here in this tiny set, especially for white weenie. Banding, pumps, destruction how can I go wrong? I go Jihad, King Suleiman (a MUST have, almost got it for 1st pick), War Elephant, Repentant Blacksmith, Moorish Cavalry, Army of Allah, Abu Ja’far, (someone takes my camel just for aesthetics grr!) Flying Carpet.

Antiquities go go go!

This set is horrible for WW. I get a Strip Mine and hope for a second of the four, but alas no. Instead its COP: Artifacts and no more significant lands or potential artifacts are left by the time it comes back. I grab Battering Ram.

I think I was the only person with a near 40-card deck, which seemed odd.

// Lands
13 Plains
1 Strip Mine

// Creatures
1 Battering Ram
1 Pearled Unicorn
1 Moorish Cavalry
1 Northern Paladin
1 Wall of Swords
1 War Elephant
1 Repentant Blacksmith
1 White Knight
1 Savannah Lions
1 Benalish Hero
1 Abu Ja'far
1 Samite Healer
1 Mesa Pegasus
1 King Suleiman

// Spells
1 Army of Allah
1 Jihad
1 Flying Carpet
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Helm of Chatzuk
1 Holy Armor
1 Righteousness
1 Death Ward
1 Lance
1 Holy Strength
1 Crusade
1 Balance
1 Disenchant
1 Blessing

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Conversion
SB: 1 Artifact Ward
SB: 1 Black Ward
SB: 1 Circle of Protection: Artifacts
SB: 1 Circle of Protection: Black
SB: 1 Circle of Protection: Green
SB: 1 Green Ward
SB: 1 Red Ward

Round 1
Dave Feinstein
Up until recently I thought Feinstein was a royal jerk! But I realized he’s quite the fun guy and that’s his sense of humor, which puts him pretty close to me. Result? He rocks. I noticed he was drafting Red-Black so I’m pretty confident in these matches.

Game 1
I lay down a White Knight with Holy Armor and later Blessing making him nigh-indestructible. The Fein can’t compete.

In: COP Black, Black Ward, Red Ward Out: Righteousness, Lance, Flying Carpet

Game 2
I have a slower more controlling hand, he Demonic Tutors on turn 2. His Turn 4 he casts Flashfires and I cannot stabilize in time.

In: Conversion (why I didn’t put it in at first I’ve no clue. But I figured “lets get dirty”) Out: CoP Black

Game 3
I get out a Pro Red and Pro Black creature, and lay down Conversion turn 5 or 6.

Round 2
Herbig! AGAIN! Every format of every tournament I play this guy! I saw him draft Meekstone, Colossus of Sardia, and red and black so I’m thinking this is going to be a repeat of Round 1. I’m sure he’s not happy about the matchup.

Game 1
I drop some guys, he drops Erg Raiders, I drop more guys. He never gets enough mana to go crazy.

In: CoP: Artifacts, Conversion Out: Lance, Balance

Game 2
I have trouble getting beyond 2 mana and his Erg Raiders are being mean to me. Finally I get a Samite healer with blessing, which slows his Raiders. He has huge issues finding red mana and I’m holding conversion in my hand for the longest time waiting. He gets some red and Earthquakes the board for 4 killing all but my man with the blessing. I then apply conversion to end THAT sassiness. He gets his 9th mana and casts a Colossus of Sardia. I Disenchant it End of Turn. He can’t recover.

Round 3
Finals!
I know I saw this guy drafting blue, white, & Urza lands, including Serra Angel and Serendib Efreet. So I’m thinking Draft-Keeper. I’ll admit this guy has stones.

Game 1
I keep a hand of Savannah Lions, 4 plains, 1 Strip Mine, & Swords to Plowshares. He goes island, Mana Vault. I strip the Island and he puts on the Sad Panda face. He plays plains. I play plains Savannah Lions. He plays more plains and looks sad. I play Blessing and don’t miss a land drop. He tries to stabilize with Serra Angel but the Lion is hitting every turn for 2, 5, 6, 0(when he is forced to block with Serra Angel), 8

A brief humorous sideboard moment. We both glance at our sideboards, look at each other. Realize we have no hate for each other and sideboard nothing. (I later find out he maindecks the CoP white. What a jerk!
In: NOTHING! Out: NOTHING!

Game 2 (Was truly epic)
I keep a hand of creatures, mana, and pumps. Couldn’t be happier. I also spied my favorite drafted beater “King Suleiman”. He lays island, Mana Vault again! I go plains, go. He plays a turn 2 Serendib Efreet drawing oo’s from the crowd and I chuckle. Turn two I lay King SULEIMAN! Take a 3 damage Efreet beating and on my turn smash the Efreet. (admittedly I later was informed I should have let the Efreet tick him for 1 more damage in his upkeep. But King Suleiman waits for NO MAN). He lays down Living Wall, which draws hushed whispers. Again I chuckle laying down Battering Ram! Roar! And there was much rejoicing. Someone makes the comment “This deck has answers to EVERYTHING”. Admittedly the Battering Ram is only so good, as regeneration stops its ramming abilities, but it’s the idea that counts. He gathers more urza lands and begins to stabilize, finally laying down Aladdin’s Ring. I rip a Disenchant and hit it in my turn only to have it Counterspelled! One Counterspell used so very well! More cheering. He has to bobble a few turns while untapping Mana Vault to reduce his damage while achieving Aladdin’s Ring active status. I have been holding back on my Jihad in hand because his whole damn board is lands and artifacts! The land drop before Aladdin’s Ring goes active he casts Control Magic on my tapped Battering Ram making me gasp not out of shock, but in joy. I untap and Cast Jihad with exactly enough damage to swing for the win.

Hurray!

Incredible tournament done by Ray. It was exhausting and exhilarating.

Props:
One-with-Chaos & his bud for lending us the tons of cards we needed to play
My team “Stick to the Plan” for sticking around until 10:30 am
Ray and his incredible tournaments that are always fun and fair
Herbig for teaching me humility though Zen beatings
King Suleiman

Slops:
Mr. Smarmy Hat Man
Nate Pease for “chaos drafting” into my color