Almost but not quite, 9th place at Grudge Match III

[XxtSundaybxX]

In the weeks leading up to this tournament, I put alot of thought and testing into my deck. I wanted to be playing the perfect list for this tournament. Which was obviously East Coast Wins, the deck Shawn Anthony and myself had been building,tweaking, and testing for quite some time now. The reason I chose this deck is because its very well positioned in the format right now. Gush was pretty much non existent for the most part before, people were playing dark confidant. Since gush is so much faster than bob it seemed like a fine choice. Then Paul and Steve created a list with Bob AND Gush and performed extremely well at champs with the deck so I knew alot of people would be picking the deck up. However this deck still has a very good matchup against Paul and Steves list because you still dont care about dark confidant and you definitely dont care about trygon predator. So I finally settled on a list. Or so I thought. I had previously been playing mental missteps in the deck, over the original spell pierces. However after the most recent NYSE tournament, despite the fact that I won, I felt like something was missing from the deck. I was worried about early threats resolving such as jace,tinker, or even yawgmoths will. resolving before I could get mana drain online that is. On top of that people were starting to play spell pierce again which would make casting mana drain harder, needing 4 mana to get around pierce. So that being said I considering playing pierce itself again, or thoughtseizes. thoughtseize seemed poor because there are top decks and so many draw spells that duress effects just felt week. So I went back to testing spell pierce. After testing with it I felt "okay" about it but i really wasnt thrilled, for two reasons. ECW plays aggressively, so not being able to tap out and make plays to keep spell pierce up is not something I was happy about. The other is, once your opponent knows your on spell pierce, its much less effective unless they have no choice but to play into it. All of that being said I wrote out my decklist and I was ready to go. About 5 minutes before the tournament started Shawn and I were talking and I realized mental misstep was the way to go. Part of this was due to the fact that through all of the tournaments I played in, I only lost a handful of games to those "fast threats", the other is that mental misstep doubles as a hard counter for every answer that dredge has for our hate. And since Mark Hornung just won champs with dredge, I knew dredge would be in full force.

So after 7 rounds of swiss, Im 5-1-1 and I end up 9th place just missing on breakers. With my only loss making the top 8. All of that being said here is the list I played:

Allen Fulmer - East Coast Wins - 9th place - frown town

1 Black Lotus
5 Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Tropical Island
2 Island
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
2 Mental Misstep
4 Gush
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
2 Preordain
1 Ponder
3 Jace the Mindsculptor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoths Will
1 Hurkyls Recall
1 Timewalk
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Fastbond
1 Timevault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Senseis Divining Top
1 Blightsteel Colossus

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the void
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Pithing Needle
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Natures Claim
1 Hurkyls Recall
2 Ingot Chewer
1 Firespout
1 Mountain

The following report is from memory so I apologize if I miss something

Round 1 - Colin? - Dredge
G1- Colin Mulligans, And again,and again. So i put him on dredge. He gets to 4 cards and serum powders, yup dredge. He mulls to 1, no bazaar. I keep a hand of lands, force of will,gush, and a mox and 2 other cards. He passes and i play land pass. He passes and I draw mystical, so i play land and pass. He passes again and I mystical for tinker and he scoops.
G2- I keep my 7 of land,land,sol ring,crypt,jailer,ponder,misstep. He keeps his 7. Plays bazaar and passes. I play crypt, sol ring, sea, jailer. He looks disgusted. I draw mystical on my turn 2 but ponder first seeing, gush,ancestral,mental misstep. so i float a U gush to draw the recall and the misstep(giving  me double counter), then cast mystical for tinker and he goes for chain of vapor on his turn which i misstep and then he scoops. He shows me his hand which has 3x natures claim in it. Rough.
So i just 2-0d dredge. sick life. good start to the day
1-0

Round 2 Matt Pate - Bob deck?
G1 - Before the game starts the judge tells us not to start. He then comes back and says Matt will be recieving a game loss for mis registering his sideboard at 13 cards. Sorry Matt.
G2 Matt plays first and casts preordain, not liking either card and draws a random. The passes. Turn 2 Matt plays top and continues to top on upkeep every turn and never sees a second land. I dont remember much of what I played this game, I know I assembled Key Vault with protection.
2-0

Round 3 - Shawn Tappen - Show and Oath
G1. Im attempting to set up tinker with double counter back up with my hand being drain,force,tinker and will. Shawn beats me to it casting tinker and I drain. he Forces. I think about it and my graveyard is good but its not auto win good where will becomes lethal, so I force pitching tinker. now i only have a land and will in my hand to his 2 cards. I untap and use the drain mana to cast will to get ahead. I have lotus and timewalk and Recall i beileve in the yard and i draw into jace so i get so far ahead Shawn cant get back in it.
G2. Shawn plays show and tell into progenitus and I lose. I did not know he was on show/oath going into this game because all I saw was tinker g1.
G3. I lead with land mox lotus timewalk. play a land and hand drain up for his turn 1. He mulled to 6 and casts turn 1 show and tell which i drain, I cant take the chance hes bluffing the creature. He passes and I play a land and i have 2 lands and a sol ring out and a gush and something else in my hand. I pass. he plays oath of druids, but no orchard out with 2 cards in hand and I think to myself that he mulled to 6 and he had turn 1 show and with only 2 cards in hand he probably doesnt have the orchard and iI have time. Wrong. He plays orchard. I draw gifts for the turn, so I think im okay because hell oath and ill cast eot gifts and win because my yard will be insane from casting gifts and having gush in hand and lotus already in there. He activates oath and the first card he reveals is dragons breath and says " by the way, its Emakrul" causing me to sac all of my perms. so i gifts which resolves and he gives me ancestral and vamp. I cast Ancestral. Then I gush my 2 lands back to my hand and draw my card for the turn. I have no outs other drawing crypt or 2 moxes and yawgmoths will. I dont. I lose.
2-1

Round 4 - David Ata- Paul and Steves deck
G1. I know David Ata from NYSE tourneys and at the most recent one he was playing a variation of east coast wins and was talking to me about the deck so we got to talk for quite a while. I dont remember alot of this game except I drew alot of mana and he gets ahead with bob and I cant come back.
G2. I win this game with tinker-->bsc
G3. This game goes on a for a while and time is winding down. I have a bomb in my hand(dont remember which one) and 2 mana drains, and 2 gushes and 4 lands out. I need to make a decision at this point because I cant have any protection for any of my plays because both of my counters are drains and I only have 4 mana out. So if I get overly aggressive and David goes for the win I could get blown out, so I hold back because a draw at this point still gives me a shot at contention where as a loss im out. David vamps for a card on his eot and I think hes going for will. He draws and passes. On my turn I play a land and pass. he does the same. Now on my next turn i try to cast a gush, and David thinks about countering it for a long time, and I mention you need to make a decision because were running out of time. he lets it resolve. I dont draw anything useful. I replay the land and pass. David Passes. I Go for Gush again and David thinks long and hard again about it, eating up alot of time on these 2 decisions so I kindly mention he needs to make a decision again and he is about to force of will it and then lets it resolve. I dont draw anything of relevance to allow me to try and win this turn. He goes for a bomb on his turn, i cant remember what it was but I have double drain for it and he gets stopped and we end up going to time.
2-1-1

Round 5 - David Reitnaur - Nightswhisper/gush
I drove to the tournament with Dave, as we are really good friends so this kind of sucks.
G1. We both mull to 5 and I win a LONG drawn out game 1.
G2. This game also goes long and I have a top out feeding me counters for all of daves bombs. time runs out and I get a 1-0 win
3-1-1

Round 6 - Jesse Martin - Gush tendirls - Shays list
I sit down and ask Jesse if he remembers me, that we played at a tourney quite a while ago in a tps mirror match. He does remember and we chat about it for a few seconds and shuffle up.
G1. I keep a strong 7 with land,,mox,key,vault,force,misstepand jace. He keeps his 7 as well. I play land mox key pass. He plays library pass. I cast Timevault, He draws with library in response and forces the TV. I force back pitching misstep keeping the jace so if he has the second force I have a bomb if i get another land or a gush. I dont have the second land so i cant take turns so I have to pass. However he pitched his hurkyls to his force of will so I as long as he doesnt actually kill me with tendrils then im fine. He draws and then draws with library and thinks for a second. Then he casts fastbond and I get a little worried. He lays another land and preordains and doesnt get there.
G2. Jesse mulls to 5 and I keep my 7 with Force and a blue card and timevault in hand and merchant scroll with a mox and 2 lands. Jesse goes for turn 1 twister with lotus and I force. I draw reb and lay a land and pass. Jesse eot mysticals for recall and draws and casts the recall which i reb. He has no cards in hand now. On my turn im going to merchant scroll for ancestral and cast it with my 2 lands and a mox. But on my turn I draw key. so I apologize to Jesse and cast key,vault and pass. He draws and scoops.
4-1-1...living the dream

Round 7 - John Lessard. Remora control
John tells me he was in the car that came from New England that was late and they got round 1 losses. So not bad to be 4-1-1 at this point for him.
G1. He mentions after the game starts that he put me on dredge because there was another kid that looked like me with pink sleeves(i was using pink sleeves) that was on dredge and he thought it was me. I get way ahead and lock him out with Jace and fateseal/ultimate him.
G2. He keeps his 7 as do I.  He lays a land and plays sol ring. and play a land and pass I believe. He goes for turn 2 mystic remora which I force of will. I have ancestral in my opener that resolves and I get ahead with drain in hand. I drain something and cast a Jace with REB backup and FoW. I fateseal every turn witih Double counter in hand and then ultimate him.
5-1-1

At this point im feeling pretty good because my only loss is in the top 8, so I thought I had pretty decent breakers. Boy was I wrong. Chaz looks over the standings with me and tells me that its going to be really close between myself and Egan. When the standings came out Egan just squeezed in ahead of me and Im dream crushed. Hard. Regardless of the outcome I had a blast like usual at the tournament and I guess I cant be too upset. 9th/84 isnt bad I suppose. Just not the turnout i was looking for due to all of the preperation I put into the tournament. I usually feel like I need to make changes to  my list after a tournament, even if I win, but after this tournament I would sleeve up the exact 75 and play it again with no doubts.

Thanks to Nick for another great tournament and Congrats to the entire top 8.

[tzeentchlord9]

You were absolutely correct when you countered the show and tell in g3. I had progenitus in my hand again when I went for it turn one. I drew blightsteel then which is the only way I knew it was emrakul coming up off the oath. I'm sorry you and Josh didn't make it into top 8. I definitely expected to have to play against either or both of you again. I look forward to sitting down from across from your team branded playmats in the future. 

[PhilipJFry]

If I may be so bold as to suggest, you fellas need to write more about this deck and your successes with it.  I greatly enjoy reading tournament reports and the like about the deck.  With all your success, I am amazed to not see more copycat lists out there.  So please keep it up, write more about the deck, etc.  Congrats on your nice finish, even if you'd have liked to be one higher.

[desolutionist]

thats too much work man nawh mean?

[XxtSundaybxX]

Thanks for the kind words. I will keep writing about the deck and it's success as it happens. That is provided that I remember enough to actually write a report. Most if the time, if I don't write a report it's because my memory failed me. As far as to why people aren't really copying the list, there were a few local guys that took a fair amount of interest in the deck but not a ton. I think that's partly due to the fact that it was not really represented at gencon, shawn went 6-2 and also won the 2nd prelims but I could not go due to work, so like I said it wasnt really represented. The other reason I believe is because once gencon happened steve and Pauls deck gained so much popularity because of the reputation they uphold and because theyre deck has a really solid shops matchup game 1 as well as 2 and 3. That's not saying that this deck has a bad shops matchup, just until people jump all over answers to trygon predator again then he's the best answer you have.

[desolutionist]

It's actually just an illusion that Trygon is any good against shops.  You're going to waste your Lotus to put him out and it will be met with a Metamorph or Dismember.  Trygon is too expensive, color hungry, slow, and easily dealt with.

[V is for Vintage]

Thanks for the kind words. I will keep writing about the deck and it's success as it happens. That is provided that I remember enough to actually write a report. Most if the time, if I don't write a report it's because my memory failed me. As far as to why people aren't really copying the list, there were a few local guys that took a fair amount of interest in the deck but not a ton. I think that's partly due to the fact that it was not really represented at gencon, shawn went 6-2 and also won the 2nd prelims but I could not go due to work, so like I said it wasnt really represented. The other reason I believe is because once gencon happened steve and Pauls deck gained so much popularity because of the reputation they uphold and because theyre deck has a really solid shops matchup game 1 as well as 2 and 3. That's not saying that this deck has a bad shops matchup, just until people jump all over answers to trygon predator again then he's the best answer you have.

Jeremy Beaver and I both talked to Shawn at worlds, and piloted this deck (+ or - 1-2 cards)  and both had decent showings. ( I went 5-2, then scooped Glackin into the T8, Jer made top 16). Jer also won a 32 man side event at Gencon with it. Shawn Anthony won the 2 bye grinder the day before worlds with it, I top 8'ed a 32 man side event with it.
We both piloted similar versions at The Grudge Match, and Jer had a pretty rough day, but I came in 13th, so not terrible.

This deck can take on alot of different roles depending on the situation. Sometimes it's a control deck, sometimes it's a combo deck, but it's always alot of fun. Though the deck does have some cheap, easy wins, it's a very skill intensive deck, maybe another reason players choose to shy away from it.

Personally, I'm surprised at the low showing of this deck myself, but I'm not complaining. If people continue to underestimate the value of the power of this build, I can keep winning with it.

Great report though, I think all of us out there who have been ousted of a T8 due to tiebreakers can sympathize.

[XxtSundaybxX]

I actually forgot that you and Jer played the list. Jer also PMed me a few  days before gencon with some questions about our list. Im glad you guys had success with it. Much like you mentioned the deck can take so many different roles and it definitely is alot of fun to play. You guys played library correct? How did you like it? I feel like im always looking for specific colored mana so playing library makes that harder. Shawn had it in his deck until just a few minutes before the tourney started at the grudge match and he ended up switching it out for a polluted delta. I dont know if he regretted that decision or not, or if he was content without library in the deck. i feel like most of the blue decks are pretty aggressive right now, making it possibly harder to get library online. Just my thoughts.

[Nefarias]

Round 6 - Jesse Martin - Gush tendirls - Shays list
I sit down and ask Jesse if he remembers me, that we played at a tourney quite a while ago in a tps mirror match. He does remember and we chat about it for a few seconds and shuffle up.
G1. I keep a strong 7 with land,,mox,key,vault,force,misstepand jace. He keeps his 7 as well. I play land mox key pass. He plays library pass. I cast Timevault, He draws with library in response and forces the TV. I force back pitching misstep keeping the jace so if he has the second force I have a bomb if i get another land or a gush. I dont have the second land so i cant take turns so I have to pass. However he pitched his hurkyls to his force of will so I as long as he doesnt actually kill me with tendrils then im fine. He draws and then draws with library and thinks for a second. Then he casts fastbond and I get a little worried. He lays another land and preordains and doesnt get there.

What was your reasoning behind playing the Voltaic Key first instead of the Time Vault? If you lead with the Vault, you can play Key on turn 2 and have the mana to activate. Did you not want to give him an extra draw step to find Misstep? Or think that a turn one Key wouldn't get Misstepped even if he had it?

[XxtSundaybxX]

That is a good question. I'm not completely sure anymore what was going through my mind. I knew he was playing missteps and that's most likely the reason I ran key out first because he has so many cards to dig for misstep. The other possibility is that like I mentioned this was written from memory so it's possible that last card was not a jace and it might have been a 1 drop I wanted access too. But I don't think that's what it was. And he's definitely less likely to misstep the key if I play it before the time vault. Although unless I need misstep for protection for my bomb on my turn I would be misstepping key.

[V is for Vintage]

I actually forgot that you and Jer played the list. Jer also PMed me a few  days before gencon with some questions about our list. Im glad you guys had success with it. Much like you mentioned the deck can take so many different roles and it definitely is alot of fun to play. You guys played library correct? How did you like it? I feel like im always looking for specific colored mana so playing library makes that harder. Shawn had it in his deck until just a few minutes before the tourney started at the grudge match and he ended up switching it out for a polluted delta. I dont know if he regretted that decision or not, or if he was content without library in the deck. i feel like most of the blue decks are pretty aggressive right now, making it possibly harder to get library online. Just my thoughts.

Library is INSANE. I urge you to playtest it. It shines particularly against other gush decks.  Just like, in your testing, landing Jace first will end the game in the gush mirror, landing library early does the same thing.  I've never had a problem with the color wheel playing the 6 fetches and the library. In fact, early library draws you into more land, and a late game library means you already have an established mana base.

Not only that, but as counter intuitive as it sounds, Library is just amazing with the gush engine. If you have 4 cards in hand, and pay alternate cost for gush, that puts 5 cards in your hand (minus gush, + 2 land), then you draw 2, which puts you up to 7. Gush refills your hand by +3, making library almost never a dead draw.

The games with library simply become control games, where your drains and forces keep the opponent from ever doing anything. In one of the grinders at worlds, against a blue deck, I was literally drawing so many cards per turn with the combination of library and Jace that I simply countered anything relevant until he died to his mana crypt rolls.

Library also makes hands that are normally not keepable, hands that you would run with. At the Grudge, game 3, I had one hand that was 3 land, misstep, Blightsteel, Drain, Library. Snap keep on the draw. Game wasn't even close. The advantage is just too hard to keep up with.

It's also great under mystic remora. it puts a ton of pressure on the remora player, and allows you to be the one defining the tempo of the game

Library's in a very good spot right now due to the underwhelming amount of duress effects in the environment. If decks were playing duress over misstep, library might not be as viable, but I'm in love with the card right now.

[Gekoratel]

I think its interesting the mental dialog you had about running Spell Pierce or not.  I've never been a huge fan of Spell Pierce except in Owen's winning Worlds deck last year because you attacked the manabase you got more mid-late game value out of the card.  Otherwise it becomes irrelevant too quickly into the game for my taste.  Now with the addition of Mental Misstep becoming a staple blue card Pierce becomes even more poorly positioned.  It will lose early game wars against Misstep without them needed to invest mana and then becomes a blank late-game.  I will be very surprised if Spell Pierce remains popular with Misstep in the format, just doesn't make sense to me.

[desolutionist]

I agree Jeff.  I'd like to see what smmenen has to say on the topic.  He played 4 at Gen Con and I overheard him exagerrating about how bad Mental Misstep is.

[XxtSundaybxX]

Mental misstep is definitely the way to go right now. Even if people switch to duress effects it's still just as valuable. Im surprised that I actually talked myself into even testing spell pierce. I think Steve played pierce in his deck because he mentioned that playing and resolving tinker is his most important plan and spell pierce is probably more solid for that role. However this deck doesn't crutch on tinker resolving. I also feel that misstep is just a better card in the format at the moment.