>> The "What's that do??" challenge!
Ok in my report, I have obscure cards. so when you see an asterix {*} next to a card name, you have 3 things to guess.
1) What does the card do (more or less)
2) What Set was it in
3) What is its casting cost
Open up the card search tool of your choice -after- you guess and score yourself:
1 thing right = 1 point
2 things right = 3 points
3 things right = 5 points
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So, its Saturday Night. I had just finished a great match of "Adult Beverages and Wii Sports." Of course this is the best time to build a deck for an un-known meta.... clearly.
So I brush the dust off good'ol Jaws and lay it out on the table. Imediately I de-sleave the pyrostatic pillars. I was ready to cut them even before the will-less tourney and now will less combo I was certain they were going into the binder of forgotten sideboard techs.
I also took the 4th null rod off the board, removed the mind's eyes, and removed slice and dice from the board. This left me with a solid shell for the deck.
First order of business: I added in 2 mountains (because I felt I was a bit mana-light last tourney). I was Immediately disapointed. First off, I own 9 foil Ice-age Arena mountians, and in with that now had a 4th ed mountian and a Mirroden mountian. Also .... I had 11 freiking mountains! Fetches were out because Orb is spesifically in the deck to punish fetchlands. I though breifly about running (if your squimish - you probably want to look away) [shame] Sandstone Needles{*} ... but I didn't [/shame]. I ultimately settled on running Barbarian Ring. Sure, my deck has very few ways of growing a graveyard; and sure I run 4 bloodmoons main ... but theres no way Im running 4 hot purple sky foil arena mountains and 2 dumpy mountains. So I settled on 7 and 4 hotness-mountians to barbarian rings. I figgured they could be randomly good - but more often than not they were just going to be mountains that deal me some damage.
Now filling the rest of the spots was not too difficult. I have always considered running Dead and Gone. In one card, it is useful against most decks that swing for the win. It always ends up on the cutting room floor though. It seems like a perfect time to give these babies a test drive. I also add In a dupe maindeck. Again, adding a little exta ooph against creature decks.
So I'm sitting there looking at my board of 10 cards wondering what am I going to add to those last 5 spots. I start going over the matches in my head and I am very statified. Then I think -- Oh crap - Oath! So I start flipping through that same binder of old sideboard cards and start milling over my options. I finally decided on 3 jester's cap and 2 extra dupes. I spend like 20 mins thinking about simic sky swallower and realizing that my option are: Rough and Tumble, Ensnaring bridge, Goblin Bombardment, and thats about it. ALL those cards pose a serious problem to my winconditions .. the only possible card is Magnetic Mountain{*}.
I decide, F* it, If they side SSS against me, and I can't cap it away, and they win 2 out of 3 .. they diserve it.
After I finish my deck, I re-build Eric's deck I dust off all those foilly oath creatures we have and throw his deck together.
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The day of:
So its the morning, and I gather up the cards and we get out of the house around 8am. I hand write the dirrections just route-# and Exit. We get down to I-93 and for some un-known reason I wrote down Exit 3. So we are driving up and done exit 3 like WTF?? I go north again, which takes like forever to find exit 4 and I promptly turn around. After another quick survey of exit 3, we get back on 93 going south and take exit 2. Everything looks good and we show up around 10:30. As I pull into the lot, there are -very- few cars. Now ... TWICE in relatively recent history, I have dragged Eric out to a tourney only to find out that it is "Next Weekend." So Eric gives me this -look- and we enter the store. Dan greats us as usual, and there are a few other players. so I am instantly relieved.
I get down to my board, and I look at 5 REBs and 3 Darts. And I think "Damn, thats a too much fish hate." I start thinking what do I need all these rebs for anyway? I glance around the room, and I see ~gasp~ another oath deck. All of a sudden I have a mini-SSS panic attack. I start thinking to myself .... yes Magnetic Mountain it makes so much sense! Orb + Magnetic Mountain is AMAZING! So I quietly sideal up to the counter and quietly ask Dan if he happens to have any Magnetic Mountains in stock. He checks, and they don't. I take this as a not-so-subtle hint from the ultimate observer that the card is terrible and should not be run. So I finally end up with the following list:
4 Shops
4 Barbarian Ring
7 FOIL ICE-AGE ARENA MOUTAINS
5 Mox
3 Lotus, crypt, ring
4 Monkey Spirit Guides
Static disruption:
4 Blood Moon
4 Orb of Dreams
3 Null Rod
1 Trinisphere
Utility Creatures (and other stuff)
4 Welders
3 Viashino Heretic
3 Dead and Gone
1 Wheel of Fortune
Man-Meat:
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Razormane
2 Greater Gargidon
1 Duplicant
BOARD:
3 Caps
2 Dupes
5 REBs
3 Darts
2 Spree
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The Rounds --
Now, to be honest, I find this the least interesting part of a report. I generally look at the matchup and the record and I can basically fill in the details myself. So I'll try and rapid fire these the best I can and put in the critical plays/mistakes that won or lost the match.
Round 1 - Control Slaver
Game 1: On turn 2 I cast a blood moon, he has Volc and fetchland up. He reads the card and says ok. I consider playing a moxen, but pass the turn. He says: "At your end of turn I fetch" I remind him that he cannot fetch a basic mountain, and he says "ok, then in response to blood moon I fetch" I as politely as I can stress that, although the play is legal, it is too late. I ask him if he wants me to call the judge over to make a ruling, but my opponent takes it like a man, chalks it up to experience, and continues on. I start beating away at him, and he eventually gets an Island to cast gifts. His piles are not that scarey without will - I'm holding a Dead//Gone so I have him if he goes for tinker -or- for welder.
Game 2: He gets a 3 islands in play before I drop the Moon-bomb. So this game is on. When I do drop the Moon, he fetches in response and gets an underground and casts vamp. I assume hes getting a bounce spell. I suspend a Gargidon and pass. I think maybe a turn goes by and eventually (still at 3 life) he bounces my blood moon. He is thinking and thinking and thinking. I interrupt him and say "want me to make this easier?" he looks at me confused. I point out that when I get priority, I'll float 2 red, sac down to gargadon until I get threshold, and Barb-ring you twice. GG? ... GG.
Win in 2 games.
Round 2 -- Mono-Red Burn
Game 1: I mull to 6, and I have shop, Mox, and 3 redlands, and a welder. Not great, but its a 6 hand so as long as I draw some creatures I'm good to go. He plays mountain - go. I play mountain welder go, and he Bolts it EOT. I draw 3sphere on turn 2 and play mox, shop, 3sphere go. He never gets back in that game.... however I do spend like 7 turns drawing lands and mox. I have 15 mana up by the time I draw a Gargadon ---- AND I FOOLISHLY SUSPEND IT!! Had I hardcast it, the game would have been over much sooner. My opponent is at 3 lands and he is just punching whatever I cast, I do however get to eat it with gargadon. I eventually cast Gargaon (that costs me 3 mana anyway because of trinisphere). And I beat face. My opponent has 4 lands up, and he attempts to Bolt and Fireblast the gargidon. I remind him that it will cost 6 mana to do that even with ACC. We discuss it abit, and Oli backs me up. The judge is still deckchecking Oli and his opponent. My opponent agrees, and then takes 9 to the face, and the game is over after that.
Game 2: I take out the Null Rods and the dead/gones and add in 3 darts, and randomly throw in some jester's caps. I want to get rid of shattering spree before it becomes a problem. I leave in moon because he has man-lands. Game 2 he goes something like Land, Lotus, Double lavamancer Chainlightning off a 6 hand. by the end of his turn 2 he has no hand, and 2 lavamancers. I have a good control hand, but not much in the way of disrupting the mancers. I drop a Simulacrum and it gets bolted... I start fealing the beats. I rip into Dart and clear his board. I eventually Cap him and take his 2 remaining lavamancers and his 1 shattering spree (he has no hand). The game ends soon after.
Round 3 - TMWA
So I sit down against this guy, and I am not happy. It seems like every recent tourny I go to, I end up facing this guy. And every time he beats me. Well this time my mountians beat his mountains.
Game 1 - We do some stuff, He seeks a gargadon and goes to a million life. I get welder with a recurring jar. I use the jar durring my upkeep to feed a Razormane however every time I pop it he draws into Orim's chant and I end up just milling myself for 7 >_<. At one point he STPs the razormane and I have like Simian Spirit Guides as my only win condition left. He is digging for a grunt but can't find it. I eventually win.
Game 2 - I get blow outa the watter. I have 2 viashino's in hand, and a blood moon. I forget what I do, but I have mountain double mox and some artifact in play I think its Orb. He casts a lotus that is tapped, and then casts DT. A turn passes and he He sweeps my board with shattering spree for 4. I draw another vaishino and pass, he plays a confidant, pass. I draw a land or something, I have all 3 cost stuff and 2 manas. He reveals Therapy off the confidant and guesses blood moon gets a hit, then obviously flashes it back to hit TRIPPLE viashino. GG!
Game 3 - I am a bit foolish in the beginning, I have 2 lands 2 mox a welder and a simulacrum. I attack with both the welder and the sim, because I don't have any artifacts in my yard. I immediately regret that decision because he shattering sprees my board again. Had I left the welder up, I could have responded in-between the copies and salvaged an artifact. I uber-lucky draw into pearl, play it and weld back in the sim. I just abuse sim, and eventually get a Dupe online with welder to prevent any creatures from stoping me. Dupe and Sim do the welder-dance for a few turns and I have gained too much ground for him to make a comeback.
Game 4 against Kyle with CS.
Game 1 Is a bit of a shut-out. I start with: Land Mox Lotus, pop lotus for RRR tap mox for Null Rod (I know hes playing slaver so if Rod resolves I know hes Force-less) then play Wheel with only a dead and gone left in hand and 0 mana floating. I draw him into a really crappy hand of 1 land... and walk away with game 1.
Game 2 is a very long game. He has double welder up and I have double Viashino up with a bloodmoon. I have 3sphere, Orb, and Null Rod, as my only artifacts that are around. I have only 1 artifact in the bin. He does a ton of welding those 3 nasty artifacts around and eventually establishes a slave lock with 2 mins left in the round.
Game 3 - we shuffle up, and I have a 7 card hand with ZERO mana. when I mull it, he makes some sassy remark about burning the clock. I drop shop -> orb, which I guess is playing for the draw.... and time is called shortly after. He showed me his hand afterwards and it was like every broken blue card in the game. So I guess he woulda won that one.
Draw!
Round 5 - my brother and I are the only two 3-0-1's so we are paired and we obviously ID.
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Durring round 5, I wander over to Dan playing a Tee-shirt challenge. I am suprized to see that he is playing Mono-Green Beserker stompy! Well... by 'playing' I mean getting totally destroyed by smokestax + 3sphere on an empty board.
I chat with him a little bit, and talk about how in the first lotus tournament we ever went to, Jer got 2nd with Beserker Stompy. I was suprised to discover that Dan was NOT running Invigorate{*} We talk briefly about how I play the deck in legacy and how Invigorate + berserk is +5 free damage.
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Top 8 - w/B Stax.
I have alot of respect for this build. However, I think in terms of Red stax vrs Urbog stax .... Bloodmoon is the ultimate trump card. Ontop of that I have maindeck Heratics and Simulacrums - both big headaches for any deck running smokestacks and tanglewires. Lastly I have welders and he doesn't.
Game 1 - despite my statistical lead, he rolls me like a turkey wrap!!! He goes Stax-Busted on my sorry but. By the end of turn 2 he has shop, land, mox, Smokestack @ 1, and trinisphere. Simian Spirit Guide gives me the change to "Fight the good fight" but ultimately its not enough.
Game 2 and 3 - My overwhelming hate density takes the game as expected. There is an interesting balance turn, but having double lava-darts in hand turn that around to him discard a card, and us being even on land count. I still get wrathed. But its not enough (because I'm holding a simulacrum in hand just incase he wipes my board).
I am playing next to my brother who is playing Oath. He's paired against Burn ... which again is OVERWHELMINGLY in Oath's favor. Esp because Eric is packing like 13 counterspells.
I chat with opponent about un-conventional shop decks, and we share some ideas about where his deck can go. All in all, hes a good guy and a good player, but he got owned by pairings.
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Top 4- Oli with CS.
It was a pleasure to play against Oli. And I usally don't get to play him ... well because hes a good player and I'm a scrub
.
Game 1 - I can't get anything relevant to stick. We go a long way just accumulating resources. At one point he drops a Slaver and activates it off some drain mana and ... while he doesn't do anything hugely important, he wins shortly there after (after burning a dead/Gone). I think this is the game where we ended with him at 5 life, and me at 1. I had triple barbarian ring with plenty of threshold... but NO mountains to active them win. I was just praying I could rip lotus and win on the spot. No such luck.
At some point in this game, I have a blood moon in play, and Oli announces that he plays a "Volcanic Moutain" And I say "... I think thats a real card" -- Well, I was wrong, the card I was thinking of is Active Volcano{*}... and in my defense the picture on the card is of a volcano on an island.
Game 2 - I don't really remember the specifics of this game. I remember Rebing a Brainstorm as the only card in his hand, and then dropping a viashino. I have enough steam to win.
Game 3 - I again, can't get an early advantage. I fumble around a bit while he runs out 3 thirsts in 3 turns. Eventually he gets double trike up with a welder .... yeah ... thats game.
Well, cutting that 4th rod really bit me this time. I didn't see ONE rod in 3 games. Oh well.
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Eric eventually looses his match, and we decide (with Dan's permission) to pool our 3rd and 4th prize dollars to get something good.
We are unsure what to get, and Dan runs though a list of availible cards. He names Berserk, and I ask the price. Now, In my legacy deck, I only own 3 berserks... and Dan mentions that he might be doing a back to back Vintage-Legacy tourney at some point. Well I'm sold, a Berserk and a pack is what Eric and I end up with. Not too bad.
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So for those of you too lazy to read the entire report, the "What's That Do?" cards where:
- Sandstone Needle
- Magnetic Mountain
- Active Volcano
- Invigorate
Good luck!
Oh and Award yourself a bonus point if you didn't have to use this summary section, and actually read the post to find the cards. ^_^
Bragging Rights:
1st so far:
2nd Zues with 3+1+1 = 5!
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