I was convinced that Long, in any common form, was a poor metagame choice for this event. I knew that there would be a lot of combo as a response to Ichorid and Flash, making Grim Long no better than Ichorid. I also knew that there would be a lot of Forces, Duresses, and Misdirections, making Pitch Long a little better, but still bad. Ritual Gifts had everything that I wanted in my Roanoke deck: both the inherently fast elements of a deck capable of keeping up with the format and enough disruption to slow the opponent down when it can't.
Ritual Gifts4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Brainstorm
3 Gifts Ungiven
2 Merchant Scroll
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Recoup
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Rushing River
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
-------------
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Mana Drain
3 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
Timetwister and Wheel of Fortune are, in my opinion, the best draw/recovery spells at the moment. They can create huge card advantage/quality swings when timed correctly. The fallacy with Draw7s is that you should be using them to "go off"; I can't count the number of times someone has suggested Tinker/Jar. I played them very conservatively, only once or twice throughout the day, and frequently sided out Wheel for more relelvant cards.
I used Rushing River at Roanoke because of the permanent disruption being played. It's more common now to run into opposing board positions of Leyline and Chalice, Mindcensor and Tormod's Crypt, or some combination of non-artifact permanents that can't be answered with a Chain of Vapor or Hurkyl's Recall. River is expensive and less synergistic than mass artifact bounce spells, but it is the overall best multi-purpose solution to hate. (It can also generate storm in a squeeze)
My first round was against Mike from the New England area. He was playing a mono-red (Magus of the Moon) deck with a lot of disruption. I play a turn two Bargain after I see the basic mountains and quickly win game one. I bring in Tinker, DSC, and Wumpuses and win around his double Null Rod, double Pithing Needle (Necro/Bargain), and TCrypt hate. I noticed he was playing ELD proxies and we talked for a little about playing in the New England area.
Round two was against
meadbert (Albert Kyle) of Manaless Ichorid. I had a really awesome turn two Gifts hand that probably would have won me the game, but he messed up and drew twice because of Bazaar confusion. The judge issued a game loss, which I tried to refuse accepting, but Al complied with the judge's ruling anyway. I opened game two with a Leyline and turn two DSC, but he bounced both and I lost. I noticed in this game that he sided out Flame-Kin Zealots or whatever combo kill he was using for Chain of Vapors, so I brought in Wumpuses, which won me game three.
My third round opponent was Jeremy Beaver, one of the good Long players in the Blue Bell area. Game one he obviously kept a shaky hand, given away by his Vamp for Ancestral. I didn't blow my Force on it and won via turn 3-4 Gifts with Force backup (even though he didn't have a Force anyway) I knew he sideboarded Jester's Caps for this kind of matchup, so I brought in my Tinker Colossus kill. I Tinkered for Colossus on my first turn and he dropped Jester's Cap on his second. He doesn't draw anything and I win. After the match he showed me that he could have dropped the Cap on turn one without Force backup but if the Cap was forced, he would have lost the game. (I didn't have Force) I don't remember if he could both play and activate the Cap, so it might have not mattered. Jester's Cap is really interesting and probably wins random games, but I don't think it's the best plan. For 6 mana, Long can be doing better things (like Grim Tutoring for Will); attacking win conditions is a pretty weak plan in this matchup.
I knew what
Brian Demars, my next opponent, was playing from scouting eariler in the day. He Duressed my Duress turn one and I drew Force. He didn't do anything exciting on his next turn and probably just Recalled or Scrolled for a Force. I drew Merchant Scroll, Scrolled for Force, and passed with Force, Force, Dark Ritual, Gifts, x (non-Blue). He went all in on a Bargain so I Ritualed and Gifted for Scroll, Brainstorm, Timetwister, and some bounce spell to double Force it. I obviously won shortly after. I knew he wouldn't sideboard anything stupid, so I board out my only two bounce spells, LED, and Wheel of Fortune for 4 Mana Drains. Game two was a little ridiculous. He Duressed me at some point in the game taking my Yawgmoth's Bargain and leaving me with Recoup and three mana. I topdeck Mox Ruby (!!!) and Recoup Scroll for Recall. Next turn I topdeck Dark Ritual and play Recall, which is Forced, putting us both into topdeck mode. He draws and passes. I draw another Ritual and pass. He draws and passes. I draw Will and win. He's obviously annoyed, but
whatever.
I IDed with Brassman round 5, rested on SCG's comfy leather sofa for a while, ate some great chili dogs, let my teammates know how I was doing, and watched my friend, Dan, playing Bomberman beat my other friend, Allen, playing Pitch Long.
It annoyed me at the time that I played out my round 6 match, after being first in swiss, against Juan Rodregiez to give my friend Dan a chance to top 8. (he lost anyway) I went into the match knowing that I could lose and still make top 8 and also knowing that my opponent couldn't draw in. I would have felt really bad if I beat Juan, but the decision to play it out ultimately put me into the finals. I didn't have anything to board in against Juan, but not boarding at all, as I did in round 6, didn't get me anywhere either. I called my teammates, Roger Sorino and Kevin Sigman, after the round to confirm that the obviously unfavored matchup will be in the top 8 and to figure out how to beat it with the sideboard that I had. We decided on boarding in Drains, becoming a traditional Gifts-style deck post-board because it historically beat [old] Bomberman (even though we weren't sure how it would work against [new] Bomberman). Coincidentally, I played Juan in the semis, where my very tight game 3 win was complemented by applause.
I was bumped all the way to 8th after the loss in round 6 and was in Christmas Land knowing that I would have to play against Demars again in the quarters. He beats me game one with Bargain, almost fizzling. I bring in Mana Drains and resolve my own Bargain. I draw to 7 and pass the turn with
low life. He plays Mox, Mox, Dark Ritual, and I Force it, which is met with Pyroblast. I have another Force, but don't want to pitch the blue cards in my hand, so I draw a few more cards and pitch a Brainstorm. I win on my turn via Will. He Duresses me turn one in game three, taking my Duress, and sees that I have Twister so he plays all of his artifact mana sources. Eventually we're both topdecking until I hit Scroll for Mana Drain. I then draw consecutive countermagic over the next 5 or so Draw, go turns until he FoFs (I Drain). I play a Gifts with double Force/MisD backup and win.
I started to zone out due to exhaustion against Juan in the semis. All I remember about game one and two is winning and losing. Game three was pretty incredible though. A few turns before I won, I Chained his Tormod's Crypt so I could cast Gifts for the win. He Crypted in response (obv) and I cast Gifts. He played Mindcensor in response, but I didn't have a Force. The top 4 cards of my Library are Emerald, Delta, Delta, and some card so I get the Emerald. A few turns later I have Lotus, Will, and Drain in my hand. I play Will and he responds with Chant, which is Drained. I Chain of Vapor my Emerald, Lotus, and his Mindcensor, recast Gifts for a way to get Tendrils, and win with exactly enough mana.
My final opponent was a little too hyper for my state. I only remember winning game one. I brought in Wumpuses and Tinker/DSC. I have the win game two but mess up. I have an Underground Sea and Black Lotus with Vampiric Tutor, two Brainstorms, Duress, and Dark Ritual in my graveyard. I know that 2/3 of his hand is Meddling Mage and Kataki from an end of turn Rushing River. The correct play would have been to sacrifice Black Lotus for Black, Duress, Dark Ritual, Vamp for Tendrils, tap Sea to Brainstorm for Tendrils. Instead I sacrificed Black Lotus for Blue and used one of my BB for Tendrils on Duress. I scooped. Game three I play a turn 1 Tinker and he can't topdeck a bounce spell. I win a Black Lotus.
The deck that I've been testing for Waterbury is literally two different cards from the deck I used to win Roanoke. I swapped two illegal Gifts Ungivens for Mind's Desire and Necropotence.
Ritual Gifts (TPS) 2K7.54 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
4 Brainstorm
1 Gifts Ungiven
2 Merchant Scroll
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
1 Recoup
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Mind's Desire
1 Necropotence
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Rushing River
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
-------------
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Mana Drain
3 Thrashing Wumpus
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
Recoup is still really good with only one Gifts. There are plenty of opportunities to Recoup non-Will cards to get back into the game (just this weekend I converted Recoup, the only card in my hand, into an Ancestral Recall) and, in a Yawgmoth's Will reliant deck, is essential for recovering countered or Duressed Wills. Recoup/Gifts is comparable to Tinker/DSC or Tinker/Jar. The deck doesn't bother relying on accelerating into a Gifts pile, but neither did my Roanoke deck. (I won less than half my games via Gifts) Gifts is just another bomb like Yawgmoth's Bargain, that given the correct mana wins the game immediately. So of course at times you miss the 2nd and 3rd copies of Gifts, but the deck still plays the same.
