Top 4 Blue Bell Game Day 15

Here is my first ever tournament report. Thanks to Brian Carey and Ralph Parsinitz for the great games, and to Nick Coss for hosting yet another great event.

My Decklist:

1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Pear
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Time Vault
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Sol Ring
2 x Sensei's Divining Top
2 x Voltaic Key

1 x Inkwell
2 x Jace the Mindsculptor
1 x Tezzeret the Seeker

4 x Preordain
1 x Imperial Seal
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Ponder
1 x Tinker
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Time Walk
1 x Merchant Scroll

4 x Force of Will
3 x Mana Drain
2 x Ancient Grudge
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Brainstorm
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Deglamer
1 x Gifts Ungiven

4 x Misty Rainforest
4 x City of Brass
2 x Underground Sea
1 x Island
1 x Snow Covered Island
1 x Tropical Island
1 x Volcanic Island
1 x Scalding Tarn
1 x Tolarian Academy

4 x Leyline of the Void
3 x Nature's Claim
2 x Red Elemental Blast
2 x Pyroclasm
1 x Pyroblast
1 x Lightning Bolt
1 x Pithing Needle
1 x Forest

Rd 1 - Justin Kohler - Stax

I know that Justin is on shops, as that is the only deck i have ever seen him play, and i feel that i have a slight edge in this matchup as i have a main deck deglamer and 2 main deck ancient grudges. Game one sees me assemble key / vault in the first 2-3 turns before he can get into the game. Game 2 was actually pretty terrible, as i had answers for his first 2 threats, then we played land-go for about 6-7 turns till i assembled key vault. This was the first time i have beaten justin in a tournament, as in the past he always seemed to have a never ending stream of threats, so this was a nice turn of events.

2-0 1-0-0

Rd 2 - Brian Carey - Elephant Oath

I had only ever played Brian Carey once before, on the day when my cards went missing, and similar to our last match, he beat me pretty soundly. I don't remember much of what happened here as it was very traumatic, but it G1 Brian was able to resolve an early oath to which i had no answer, while in G2 i was able to assemble key vault with protection. G3 was my biggest regret of the day, as i had a win in hand, but misplayed pretty badly. I Preordained in two successive turns trying to find some counter magic or an explosive victory, which left me unable to answer his turn 2 key / vault. If i had used the Demonic in my hand to find a force of will, the rest of the gas in my hand would have seen me to victory, unfortunately i just didn't see that play, and wound up losing the match. I would get my revenge later in the day however.

1-2 1-1-0

Rd 3 - Jim Chianese - Oath

As i shuffled Jim's deck pre game 1, i happen to spill his cards on the tabletop (I shuffle good), but i manage to avoid seeing what he is playing. G1 i assemble Key / Vault after some good interaction, and Jim keeps trudging on to see my win condition. My plan was to simply cast Yawgmoth's Will and replay the Inkwell ( true story, the reason the Inkwell was in my graveyard in the first place was it got countered after i hard cast it) in my graveyard to avoid him seeing anymore of my deck than necessary, but i got antsy and cast will too early, which forced to play a Jace at which point he conceded. Game 2 saw my hand with lots of gas and i was able to force into play vault with either a key or a tezzeret to untap it.

2-0 2-1-0

Rd 4 - Shawn Griffith - Dredge

This was a pretty bad match, G1 Shawn keeps a hand with a bazaar but no dredgers, and isn't able to find any for 3 turns, which gave me enough time to set up infinite turns. So an unlikely G1 win against the Dredge. G2 I open with a Leyline of the Void, but Shawn wound up keeping a handful of hate and destroying it turn 1. Unfortunately, while his hand was hate heavy, he never managed to get the dredge engine going.

2-0 3-1-0

Rd 5 - Vito Picozzo

Vito and I decided that since we drove down together, that it made more sense to ID and both have to win and in in the 6th round, instead of one of us potentially shutting down the day of the other one. This was good as it allowed me to get my first food of the day.

ID 3-1-1

Rd 6 - Ralph Parsinitz

Ralph Decides that he can't realistically make it into the top 8 and chooses to scoop me in, but not until after playing some ass clenchingly tense games. G1 he opens with an ancestral, then follows it up in succession with Lotus , DT, Mystical and all sorts of other ridiculous cards, so i concede as i am clearly over matched. G2 i manage to squeak out a victory as i have the right mixtures of counters and tutors. G3 has attracted a huge crowd, with all sorts of discussion about the outcome of this match possibly determining the fate of the tournament, as if Ralph dream crushes me, Jake Gans would have to face Evan Hundertmark in the finals which should be a blowout for Evan, bringing Jake's amazing run of victory to an end, but we both ignore all the chatter and keep turning cards sideways. The big play in this game occurred while i was tapped out with no force in hand, so Ralph has carte blanch to go nuts. he lays some artifact mana, lays a voltaic key, then goes to lay a card down sideways, and i feel my heart drop into my stomach. He takes a little too long to do it however, and when he finally reveals the card it is a Grim Monolith. Whew. Lots of disappointment from the crowd, and i proceed to untap and assemble key vault to victory. This was a really good match, and the tenseness of not knowing if he was actually going to dream crush me made it a lot more enjoyable, as well as Ralph being just a general pleasure to play against.

2-1 4-1-1

Top 8 - Brian Carey

I went into this match with a heavy heart, as i was now 0-2 against Brian Carey in tournament play. G1 i snap keep an opening hand consisting of 2 Mox, 2 Force, Tolarian Academy, Fetch land and Tinker. As soon as he says keep i blurt out, "oh wait, this hand isn't any good against you" and we both laugh. I am on the play and cast Tinker and Force his counter, and i can see Brian thinks that he has lost. But when i reveal Inkwell he seems a lot happier. An aside, i chose Inkwell over Blightsteel Colossus because there is a lot of targeted bounce and removal floating around, from swords to plowshares, to jace, to chain of vapor, even deglamer, as well as others i can't probably think of. In hindsight, i feel this was a terrible idea because it cost me this game, but i think Inkwell still deserves a place somewhere, maybe a slot in the board. So Brian takes his first turn and plays an orchard and passes. I swing in for 7 and EOT Brian gives me a spirit token and Mystical's for Hurkyl's, now i know i have lost as my last draw was just more mana, and he still has a full grip of cards. He untaps and bounces my guy and and i think plays an oath here as well giving me more tokens. i keep swinging with my little dudes when he oaths out a Bightsteel. I buy myself a turn and Deglamer it, only for him to oath up a terastadon, giving me 2 3/3 elephants as well as the spirit tokens. he next oaths up an Iona(blue) and my game is getting worse and worse. I swing him down to 2 life with my little army of guys before he finds a demonic tutor for time walk and stomps all over my face.

G2 i keep an opening hand of Pearl, fetch, key, key, vault, claim, claim. It has been a long day and i was happy with a top 8 appearance and figured this would be a good hand to go out on. I open with Pearl, fetch for trop, vault, which resolves. he plays a land and two or more moxen ( i think just two) and passes. i untap and go to resolve a key, to which he hurkyl's my vault and pearl away. i replay the pearl and attempt to replay the vault and it gets spell pierced. he untaps and strips my trop leaving me with no way to cast the claims in hand as i didn't think to board in the forest as i forgot he ran strip mine, and i think my day is over. we play for a few turns with it looking increasingly grim for me, until Jake Gans walks over and tells me i am going to top-deck will like a champion. He was half correct, as my last draw before i lost the game is a brainstorm, which i cast only to find Will , Merchat Scroll, Ponder, getting rid of the uncastable nature's claims in hand. i have just enough mana to Will, recast Vault, and go infinite, to which Brian does not have a counter. I think Jake Gans has X-ray eyes.

G3 Brian opens with a ton of mana, to which Ralph, who was watching the game, cold calls the last 2 cards in Brians hand as spell pierce and Tezzeret. Unfortunately he was only half right, as Brian does not have the spell pierce for my Force on his Tezzeret. I don't remember the rest of the details of this particular game, but similar to my t1 tinker, the turn 1 tezzeret just doesn't get there, and i proceed to the top 4.

2-1

Top 4 - Will Magrann

It had been a very long day of magic at this point, so G1 of this match was pretty terrible.
G1 i see an opening hand of imp seal, vault , key, City, and 3 other cards that were not helpful. i decide to keep as i am on the play, and for some reason was banking on lodestone golems being his only resistors. i imp seal for a second land, and not a lotus like a good player. and he proceeds to go shop, mox, mox, sol ring or lotus, and drops thorn of amethyst and lodestone golem. I play my land a key, thinking that if my next card is a land i am still in the game. unfortunately for me his next play is a metamorph on the lodestone, and i realize that even if my next card is a land, the repeated activations of the city will leave me at exactly ten life, and his too lodestones will kill me, my only out here is a lotus, which i do not draw. so on to G2.

G2 i just could not get out from behind his threats, i nature's claim a golem i think or a smokestack. then i am forced to vamp for an ancient grudge to kill a smokestack and a golem. While i am trying to build some sort of board presence he slams down another golem, and i can't find an answer before he kills me.

0-2

All in all this was a very good day, and with the exception of not playing Blightsteel, and one huge play error against Brian Carey in the swiss, i felt everything went as well as could be expected.

FINIS.