This was my first tournament since Waterbuy two years ago. Myself and two other Penn Staters decided to head down to Blue Bell to have some fun and maybe win a Mox. None of us were really sure what to expect in a Future Sight legal format. But we were fairly sure that Ichorid and Flash would be well represented. There was only one Flash-based deck but as expected five Ichorid decks showed up. For several weeks I was set on bringing Dragon despite all of the graveyard hate intended for Ichorid and combo but the night before my friends convinced me to run U/W Fish instead. It was a good choice but I was also extremely lucky in the timely cards I drew and to not run into Ichorid at all.
My decklist along with the entire top eight can be found here
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=33209.0Round 1 vs Bernie with UrBana Fish (I lose the die roll)
Game 1 can be summed up essentially as I get Jotun Grunt and win. I do however make the first of many misplays throughout the day and name Gifts Ungiven with Meddling Mage. This was fairly early in the match and I think that I only saw U. Sea, Volcanic, Gorilla Shaman, and maybe Brainstorm. I've playtested with U/W Fish very little and on top of that I don't believe that I've ever playtested against UrBana.
Side In: 2 Sacred Ground, 1 Swords to Plowshares Side Out: 3 Null Rod This matchup is already very strong in favor so I didn't have much in the SB for it.
Game 2 I also got an early Grunt online but was helped tremendously that I had Sacred Ground in play when he had two Wastelands. The Sacred Ground was later neutered by Bernie's Planar Void which he brought in for Grunt. I also got two Mages in play naming Dark Confidant and Dimir Cutpurse but I wasn't sure how helpful they were. He played a Pithing Needle on Umezawa's Jitte which I later told him that I didn't have in the SB because I was too poor to own any. Yeah I was proxying 4 Meddling Mage and 3 Jotun Grunt in addition to Black Lotus, Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl, Time Walk, and Ancestral Recall. Nick, the judge for the event, was jokingly making fun of me having to proxy Mage and Grunt despite owning cards like Wasteland and Polluted Delta.
1-0 (2-0)
Round 2 vs Allen with Pitch Long with Badlands the most broken card in Type 1 (win the die roll)
Game 1 I play a turn two Null Rod, he FoW, I FoW back and I slowly beat him down to three with dumb creatures. Eventually he builds up mana, bounces my Null Rod, and Mind's Desires for six or seven. Unluckily for him, he hits three lands or so, Ancestral Recall which wasn't much better, Demonic Tutor, and Grim Tutor. After thinking for a few minutes he scoops because Demonic Tutor was one mana short of winning and Grim Tutor wasn't an option at three life.
Side In: 1 Echoing Truth, 1 Stifle, 1 Trickbind Side Out: 3 Swords to Plowshares, even though I expect him to bring in Thrashing Wumpus and/or Darksteel Colossus
Game 2 He keeps a decent hand versus fish that has an early Empty the Warrens making eight Goblins. Again I was very lucky that he only had one card in hand and afterward and that I had Mystical Tutor in hand to get Echoing Truth before the Goblins got to attack. Later he builds up enough mana to cast Thrashing Wumpus and with only one card left in hand so my Force of Will counters the Wumpus. Then when he was at 2 life, he Timetwisters and was convinced by Evenpence to draw his seven face up. The only threat he reveals is Memory Jar and I show him Mystical Tutor and Brainstorm which get me Stifle. At some point in this game I named Massacre with Mage which he didn't board in. I'm a terrible Fish player.
2-0 (4-0)
Round 3 vs Chris with ICBM Oath
This is one of my two friends that I came with so we decide to go get lunch and discuss if we should draw or who should concede. It was too early to draw so based on matchups Chris decides that conceding to me is best and says that if I don't top 8 he's kicking me out of the car on the highway.
Round 4 vs Joe with Ritual Gifts (I win the die roll)
Game 1 I was EXTREMELY lucky this game because of Meddling Mage. I never attacked with more than one Mage and I never attacked with any other creature. I think it was seven straight turns that Joe drew horribly and I did draw, swing with Mage, go. The first Mage I played named Gifts which Joe later said was the top card and the second mage which he could have FoW named the EtW that he was planning to cast next turn.
Side In: 1 Echoing Truth, 1 Stifle, 1 Trickbind Side Out: 3 Swords to Plowshares
Game 2 Darksteel Colossus
Game 3 I get an insanely lucky opening 7 (2 Null Rod, FoW, blue card, and 3 mana sources) and Joe keeps what he later said he should have mulled. With only 1 Island and no other mana sources, he Mystical Tutors for Ancestral and passes. I play a Null Rod which I let him FoW. He tries to play Ancestral on this turn and I FoW. Then I play Null Rod on my turn and slowly beat him with dumb creatures.
3-0 (6-1)
Round 5 vs Robert with Ichorid we ID
4-0-1 I Finish Swiss with the most points and get top seed.
Top 8 vs Joe again with Ritual Gifts (I win the die roll again)
Game 1 I get him down to six before he Tendrils me with Duress backup just in case I was running maindeck Trickbind. I could have won though if I wasn't so inexperienced with U/W Fish. He Mystical Tutored for Chain of Vapor on his turn and passed. On my turn I beat him down to six with a Grunt and a two power creature. If I would have played my Brainstorm during my main phase instead at end of turn in response to the CoV then I would have found the Time Walk in my top three cards that could have won me the game. Oh well.
Side In: 1 Echoing Truth, 1 Stifle, 1 Trickbind Side Out: 3 Swords to Plowshares
Game 2 I get a Mage out naming Gifts and a Grunt. They beat down while I deny him mana. Afterwards he said that he should've mulled.
Game 3 At some point he plays Y. Will and immediately said that he just blew the match before I could respond. I was tapped out and only had one card but it was Daze and he had to let his Y. Will get countered. Eventually after 2 power creature beats he dies to Mana Crypt. Another hand that he said he should've mulled.
Top 4 vs Greg with Slaver/Gifts (He rolls a 14 and comments that it was his highest roll of the day by 10. I sort of feel sorry for him when I roll a 17.) You can read his report here
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=33210.0 so I'm not going to go into much detail.
Game 1 He had an insane opening hand that was all combo and wins on turn 3 I believe.
Side In: 1 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Sacred Ground for Crucible/Strip, 3 Annul, 1 Stifle, 1 Trickbind Side Out: 2 Isamaru, 3 Savannah Lions, 1 Echoing Truth, 2 Daze I think
Game 2 Draw go for infinite turns until he dies to Mana Crypt.
Game 3 I would have won if didn't try and Annul his Memory Jar. Yet another misplay because I forgot he had a REB in his yard while Y. Willing. And the fact that I don't know my decklist well enough to have left that blue mana open for Trickbind.
I had a lot of fun and we picked up quite a few foil cards to pimp out our Type 4 stack. I'd like to thank CCGames for hosting a great tournament. It might have been our first time there but it definately won't be our last. Having a high level judge there was nice even though at times he taking things a little too seriously. Thanks to all of my opponents. All of you were very friendly and definately made playing there much more enjoyable. Major slops to Dekalb Street and Mapquest for causing us to be late. We got on Dekalb Street at 8:40 thinking we were making great time and didn't arrive at the tourney until 9:40. I didn't have a SB prepared nor was U/W sleeved and beforehand I was frantically getting all of that together.
