[Report] Finals Split with Grim Iggy

[emidln]

I split in the finals with Grim Iggy at I-Con 2007. 18 people showed up for 4 rounds of swiss with a cut to top8.

Grim Iggy by emidln

3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tundra
1 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Mystical Tutor
4 Infernal Tutor
4 Grim Tutor
4 Brainstorm
1 Intuition
3 Ill-Gotten Gains
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Orim's Chant
1 Wipe Away
1 Echoing Truth

sideboard:
3 Empty the Warrens
4 Dark Confidant
2 Orim's Chant
1 Rebuild
1 Echoing Truth
2 Chain of Vapor
2 Cabal Therapy (these really want to be Abeyance)

Round 1 vs Vroman's Loam Deck (I play first)

Vroman was running his modified Kobe Loam deck. From talking with him after the round, it's the same maindeck he's posted about before with a retooled sideboard.

Game 1 I lead with Tundra go. He plays a Mox Diamond pitching something, a land, and a sylvan library. I eot for the accel piece I need to go off and win with 2x LED + Infernal Tutor on my turn 2.

I think I go:

-1 Wipe Away
-1 Ill-Gotten Gains
-1 Intuition
-2 Orim's Chant
+1 Rebuild
+4 Dark Confidant

Vroman starts off with Mox, Land, Null Rod. My hand is brainstorm x2, fetch, land, mystical tutor, and infernal tutor. I play a land, eot brainstorm into the nuts of rit, led, and mystical and proceed to mystical for an etruth on turn 2, etruth null rod eot turn 3 and kill him on turn 4.

1-0

Round 2 vs U/B Iggy Pop (I'm on the draw)

I have a turn 2 kill, but he casts IGG on his turn 2 to take it away from me. Thsi would turn out to be the story of this game. I Grim Tutor for chant at some point and stop him a few times. We spend some time with him letting me recur Orim's Chant off his IGG and me almost going off before he tries again. He eventually gets down double defense grid and recurs Duress/Infernal/Cabal Rit with just enough gas left to kill me. This game takes like 35 minutes.

I go:

-1 Echoing Truth
-1 Wipe Away
-2 Ill-Gotten Gains
-1 Intuition
-1 Empty the Warrens
+4 Dark Confidant
+2 Orim's Chant

reasoning that Chant is a better timewalk here, and he is straight U/B so I don't need to worry about Chant/ETW from him. Confidant also beats. Anyway, I get a turn 1 Confidant, a turn 2 confidant, and kill him in short order.

Game 3, he duresses me seeing confidant x2, dark rit, cabal rit, delta, petal, grim tutor and hits my dark rit. I topdeck dark rit and drop 2 confidants. I win on turn 2 or 3 with chant backup.

2-0

Round 3 ID with Imperial Recruiter Aluren

We talk about Legacy and Vintage for a bit and I get some food.

2-0-1

Round 4 against Goblin Sligh

I offer to I.D. but this guy wants to play. I'm in anyway even at 2-1-1 so I'm not too concerned.

To make it short, I lose to Goblin Piledriver + 3x Raging Goblins and some other burn the turn before I go off. I mulled, then kept a slow hand after what I heard about this guy from his other opponents.

I think I sideboard in some number of Empty the Warrens for bounce spells since I saw him playing against other storm combo and hadn't seen anything relevant.

Game 2, I get a turn 2 ETW for 10 but he has infy + 1 burn including Goblin Grenade. I brainstorm on turn 1 and see Tendrils, Tendrils, Empty the Warrens. Yeah, that's how you lose to sligh.

2-1-1

Top 8 against Sligh (he wins the roll)

Game 1 I kill him in short order with a Tendrils to the face turn 2. It involved a lot of busted cards.

Game 2, I'm forced to go through my loop with Grim Tutor due to a lack of other business (I had IGG, Grim Tutor, and not enough mana to Grim Tutor for Infernal Tutor for more IGG). He has incinerate + fireblast + mogg fanatic.

Game 3, I kill him in short order with a Tendrils to the face on turn 2. This involved me arbitrarily inflating the storm count because I was being an asshole at this point.

Top 4 against Vroman's Loam Deck

Game 1 he opens with a Children of Korlis. I tutor up echoing truth turn 2 after a brainstorm his the nuts of infernal, led, dark rit. He plays a second one. At this point. I consider my options and decide that I need to go for ETW with Chants. I work out a way to get a ton of Goblins into play and do it. They remove the Children one turn at a time while he finds a Jotun Grunt. After he rids himself of his Children but gained a Genesis to go with his Grunt, I swing putting him at 3, then Grim Tutor for Orim's chant. I chant him with kicker on his upkeep and win on my turn.

I go:

-2 Orim's Chant
-2 Ill-Gotten Gains
-1 Intuition
-2 Tendrils of Agony
-1 Wipe Away
+3 Empty the Warrens
+4 Dark Confidant
+1 Rebuild

Game 2 I keep a hand on the draw with 0 mana sources, but it wins immediately if I draw one of the 20 mana sources left in the deck. He opens up with SoR, followed by SoR, followed by wastelands, and then devastating dreams. I concede to save time.

Game 3 I lead Tundra go. He plays Waste, hit the Tundra, which I respond to with Mystical for Infernal Tutor, then he passes. On my turn I make 18 Goblin tokens. Off the IGG, he takes land, land, Deed. He lacks the time to get to 3 mana and loses.

Finals vs B.C.'s SI.

We split and walk away with 2 Force of Will and 2 Taiga each.

Props:

B.C. for playing and doing well with SI
B.C. for loaning me a Volcanic Island seeing as I loaned mine out not knowing I could play today
Demon for loaning me stuff for Vintage and Legacy because I don't organize my cards (I know I own more than 2 Gemstone Mine...somewhere)
Everyone who made it to the event, it was fun, and the prize support was insane.

Slops:

Children of Korlis
My brother Jarred, for taking my magical cards with him to football camp
Me, for keeping bad hands against Sligh
Me, for punting in Vintage.
People who don't play Tendrils
Dealers, for not having Abeyance
Me, for forgetting to add in Brainstorm the first time around.

[Matt]

Nice job, I love the deck - as I love all Tendrils decks. Too bad I cannot afford to own 4 Grim Tutors.

This is, like, Rainbow Veggie Tendrils 2007.

[oneofchaos]

I counted 56 maindeck cards

[emidln]

I counted 56 maindeck cards

Me, for forgetting to add in Brainstorm the first time around.

I fixed the list. I guess I take Brainstorm + fetch for granted because it's always there for me when I need it.

[BC]

I'm just going to piggyback my report onto yours:

My list:

4 Land Grant
2 Bayou
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Phyrexian Walker
4 Shield Sphere
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Culling the Weak
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Cruel Bargain
4 Infernal Contract
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Ill-Gotten Gains
2 Tendrils of Agony
2 Empty the Warrens
1 Goblin Charbelcher

Sideboard:
3 Naturalize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Duress
4 Tomb of Urami

The tournament was 18 people or so, 4 rounds of Swiss, cut to top 8. I got some really lucky matchups in the Swiss:

Round 1 - Richard w/ Mono-White Rebels Life Gain Combo
It was pretty apparent that it was this kid's first Legacy tournament. He was playing unsleaved and wasn't familiar with many of the cards I played. I wasn't worried about winning the match, and he was nice enough, so I didn't push it too hard and gave him a few turns. Game 1 I dropped EtW for 10 guys turn 1 and beat for the win a couple turns later. Game 2 I kept a hand that probably shouldn't have been kept, but still was able to Draw 4 a couple times and win with Belcher on turn 3 or 4.
1-0

Round 2 - Aaron w/ (mostly) Type 2 Mono-Green Stompy
This kid actually ended up with a good enough record to make Top 8 (2-1-1, I believe), but had to drop out of the tournament because he had to get home or something. After the Swiss he told me he played Tendrils combo 3 times and won against 2 of them. Game 1 I got sort of a slow hand, but was able to drop EtW for 14 dudes on turn 4. I was a turn away from attacking for the win, but I was at 5 life due to a couple Draw 4's, when he dropped an Uktabi Drake and buffed it with Might of Old Krosa and flew across to pull out the win. Boo. Game 2 I IGG on turn 1 to Mind Twist him down to 3 cards, then get a Belcher win on turn 3. Game 3 I dumped a bunch of goblins on the table turn 1 or 2 and it was over fast.
2-0

Round 3 - Tim w/ Sligh
At this point I can draw into the top 8, but when I offer my opponent a draw he says "I came to play, I'd rather just play it out". I explain to him that if we draw, we're both definitely in the Top 8, but if we play, the loser might not make it at all. He says "I didn't come here to make Top 8, I came here to play Magic". I smile and say ok, deciding at that point to beat him in the most vicious way possible. Game 1 he plays Mountain, pass. I play Bayou, pass. He plays Mountain, pass. I storm up to ten and Tendrils him for the win on my second turn. Game 2 it doens't even go that long. He play Mountain, pass. I storm up to 15 before I stop counting, I got myself down to one life with 4 Draw 4's, but I ask him if he has a Lightning Bolt or a Shock or something, and he doesn't. I Tendrils him for infinity. That's the match, but I just want to say that this guy was a prick. After game one he said something like "nice deck, you probably just found the list on the internet, right?" After the match, Ogre talked to him and his friends for a while, debating the pros and cons of netdecking (even though I don't feel much like a netdecker with this deck). In any case, he was terrible and I'm glad I beat him viciously.

Round 4 - The Jaker w/ Goblins
ID - We go get some wings from Hooters.

Top 8 - Dave w/ Mono-Black Deadguy Ale Type Deck
I consider this probably the worst matchup for SI. Dave was 2-2, but made Top 8 due to the fact that Aaron (round 2 opponent) had to drop out of the tournament. I curse my luck, but Dave starts talking about how inexperienced he is with the deck, so I think I might have a chance. Game 1 he Duresses first turn, but takes completely the wrong card. I Draw 4, then spend a couple turns getting beat for 2, then win on turn 4 or 5 (I think with goblin tokens, I'm not 100% sure). Game 2 I keep a hand with a lot of acceleration, but no business. I figured I would draw into something, but that doesn't turn out to be true. He beats with Dark Confidants and such for the win. Game 3 I take out my SB cards, reverting to the original list. Turn 1 I storm up to 11, Draw 4 myself down to 2, but never find the finish and have to pass the turn. Turn 2 I get what I need and find Belcher for the win.

Top 4 - Jacob w/ Recruiter Aluren
Game 1 I get a very solid opening hand and drop 18 goblin tokens turn 1 or 2. Win two turns later. Game 2 I side in Therapys and Duresses, which prove to be useful. I Therapy 4 times, taking Aluren, Intuition, Recruiter. He sees NO disruption either game, and I am able to drop 20 goblin tokens on turn 2 or 3 and swing for the win. This win broke a very long losing streak I have with Jacob in tournament play. I think the last time I beat Jacob in a tournament was I-Con 2006. Seriously.

Finals - emidln w/ Grim Iggy
Split - Each of us walks with 2 Force of Will, 2 Taiga.

Conclusions:
- This build is fine, even without maindeck disruption. This was not exactly a rigorous test though, as I was blessed with very favorable matchups.
- I only won with Tendrils twice throughout the whole tournament. I won with EtW five times and Belcher three times.
- I barely used my sideboard at all. There are some matchups where speed is the best thing you can bring to the table.
- It was a good couple of tournaments, and the prizes were ridiculous (especially for Vintage). Thanks to everyone on the organizing side.

[Arakkis]

top 4 decklists are on my post in the vintage tournament report/result forum

[aTn]

Does anyone have an approximative metagame breakdown for this tournament ?

Congrats on your finish ! Nice deck !