[Report] PT Amsterdam T1 Side Event

[Bram]

At the PT Amsterdam, various T1 side-events were held. This is a short report about the Saturday one where 36 people attended. After some discussion of our new TPS/Long build, this was the ideal testing ground. I went 3-2-1, which wasn’t enough to T8. I wrote this report anyway for those who care about this particular combo build. The major findings were that the deck in it’s current form just isn’t good enough, but that it’s still a viable build that deserves further research. A major advantage is the fact that it isn’t hated out as much as Long was anymore, but this is largely offset by the fact that it has no margin for error (you need to manage your mana just right because of the lack of LEDs) and as such is infinitely more difficult to play than Long ever was. For reference, the list I played:

        4 Xantid Swarm
        1 Mind's Desire
        1 Chain of Vapor
        1 Memory Jar
        1 Tinker
        1 Necropotence
        1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Hurkyl's Recall
        1 Frantic Search
        1 Windfall
        1 Diminishing Returns
        1 Wheel of Fortune
        1 Timetwister
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Burning Wish
        2 Tendrils of Agony
        4 Brainstorm
        1 Lion's Eye Diamond
        1 Chrome Mox
        1 Lotus Petal
        1 Mana Crypt
        1 Mana Vault
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Black Lotus
        4 Dark Ritual
        4 Elvish Spirit Guide
        1 Tolarian Academy
        2 Underground Sea
        4 City of Brass
        4 Gemstone Mine

SB:  4 Seal of Cleansing
SB:  1 Simplify
SB:  1 Hull Breach
SB:  1 Balance
SB:  3 Meltdown
SB:  1 Tendrils of Agony
SB:  1 Diminishing Returns
SB:  3 Pyroblast

Round 1 – Jochem (Keeper)

Great. My playtest parter in the first round. Oh well, I went 5-1 against him the day before, so I wasn’t too worried. Even so, I lost game 1. He was able to FoW my Swarm and had an addition copy on hand, preventing me from going off early. A mox monkey stalled my attampts at recovery and a cycled Decree put me on a clock during which I found no answers.

Game 2 went better. I resolved a Will whhile as 18 life and proceeded to show him my hand after which he conceded.

Game 3 just lasted and lasted and lasted and we were called for time. After a Mind’s Desire that had gone horribly wrong (the best thing in it was an ESG...) I started beating him with the Elf and he did the same with a monkey. I had to topdeck a Will in my final turn to go off, and since he couldn’t win even by using a Decree, so he used a Mystical to fetch a FoW just in case I would make that lukcy topdeck. We drew.

0-0-1

Round 2 – Thomas (Shining)

Thomas was playing an unpowered version of The Shining. I never had many problems at all with this deck, even decent, powered builds, when I played Long, but this was damn tricky, and annoying as well since he actually had a phone coversation during the game. How rude! I lost game one after he brought hinself down to 10 by using multiple fetchlands under a Fastbond. I could take him down during the following turn with an easly Tendrils but he managed to play one for 9 copies while I was at 17.

Game 2 was even harder. He almost went nuts on me and played tendrils for 7 copies taking me down to 6 and himself to 31 with a Zuran Orb in play. This was gonna be hard. Some tutoring action helped. I played a Chain of Vapor with multiple copies on myself, recast my artifacts and did the same thing with Hurkyl’s Recall. A well-placed Will and a tutored Lotus ramped the spell count up to 15; enough to take him down (not forgetting the Zorb).

Game 3 was easy, fortunatley. He thought we would draw, but I just needed 2 turns to set up the win. I won the the 2nd turn of the extra time.

1-0-1

Round 3 - Marco (TPS)

Another playtest partner. This is a bad matchup for me. Even post-restriction, I’m faster, but he’s more resilient, packing FoWs and Abeyances. I beat him in game 1 and 2 without any difficulties to speak of, however. He made the mistake of not playing Abeyance on my critical turn in game 1, and just drew crap in game 2.

2-0-1

Round 4 – Tom (Zherbus Keeper)

ANOTHER guy I know well. Tom van de Logt is a great guy, but I didn’t come all the way to Amsterdam to play against people I can play in Eindhoven all day for free Oh well, at least my games against Tom are usually interesting and weird and this was no exception. In game 1, he drew a really good hand as he had done all day long and with the power of hindsight, I should have mulliganed since my one shot depended on a turn 1 draw 7 which, properly exectuted, would have invloved saccing my LED. The look on his face made me chicken out however, and I played the Windfall without saccing the LED. He did counter it nevertheless, stating it was a shame I hadn’t sacced the LED as well. This was a very poor play by me. I should have either mulliganed or executed my initial plan without hesitation (he mulligined to 6 so there was a less than 40% chance he even HAD a FoW...). In the latter case however, I would have lost even more quiclky than I had now.

Game 2 was looking up since I resolved a turn 1 Necro off a Petal / Ritual (no land). I got greedy and decided I wanted to combo out the turn after sonce I was relatively sure he would have no counter by then. I payed 12 and drew a relatively good and which I screwed up completely, having to discard way too much good stuff ( a decision which took me the better part of 5 minutes). I had two chances to win two turns afterwards (Twister and Will) but he managed to FoW one and Drain the other, leaving me with the interesting board situation of:
a.   no hand
b.   4 life
c.   a Necro in play
d.   3 mana in pool without any sinks
e.   a Mana Crypt in play
That’s game, boys!

2-1-1

Round 5 – Yannick (Scepter control)

Game 1 saw him resolving 3 scepters early on: one with an AK, one with a Hurkyl’s Recall (?!) and one with a Mana Drain. Given my hand, I had no choice but to concede and try again.

Game 2 gave me another turn 1 Necro. I decided to take Tom’s advice to heart (hell, he IS an ex world champion after all and take it more slowly, refilling my hand to 7 every EOT. I didn’t draw all too well, but I had what I needed to go off when at 4 life.

Game 3 gave him the upper hand quicky. He resolved a mox monkey with which he beat me to 12, a Time Walk, an Ancestral and Intuitioned for AK’s, giving him incredible card advantage. The he played Will and repeated it all again. My heart sank. He played an Isochrin Scepter with a Stifle on it (?!) and passed. I couldn’t believe it when he allowed me to resolve a Will and Hurkyl’s Recall his Scepters to go in for the kill in the extra time once again. He should not have lost that game.
 
3-1-1

Round 6 – Richard (Vengeur)

Richard is an eloquent Englishman with a profound knowledge of the rules of the game. He was also a pleasure to play and we hand three interestign games. I won game 1 in turn 2, seeing only a Birds of Paradise and a piece of power on his side of the board and succesfully guessed what he was playing.

Game 2 went too slow for me. I needed both a Mystical and a Vampiric to set me up for the win. When I finally played a draw-7 after I had attacked with a Swarm, I thought I had won right there, completeley forgetting his morphed critter might be a Voidmage Apprentice. Well, it was. I was forced to wish for Balance to reset the board (I had no land and he had 4, plus a some annoying utility creatures so I needed to even th odds). After checking the wording of balance (what happens first) the graveyward order was fortunate for him. During his next turn, he was able to make his one remaining Shapeshifter a Dreadnaught and killed me.

Game 3 would decide if I’d T8 or not. Things went relativley well with me resolving a Swarm and setting up for the win. I needed two more turns when he played 2 face down dudes. I was at 14 life at that time. I was forced to attack with the Swarm as resolving my Lotus was the one shit I had to win the turn after. I just hoped he’d morphed 2 BOPs to scare me off. Well, he didn’t. A Dreadnaught and something I can’t quite remember smashed my face in.

3-2-1

SLOPS:
Everything. The deck was not what I had hoped, I made critical errors, the judges were more concerned with chatting up ugly chicks than with running the tourney and when they WERE there, they made bad calls (“Forgot to enter 4 Welders on your MUD list? Here’s a caution.”) or displayed horrible rules knowlegde (“If you have played a Will and habe 10 cards on hand at EOT, they go to the graveyard upon discarding.”) and the pairings weren’t random (order of registration). Type 1 is undersupported at such events.

DECK CONCLUSIONS:
- Chrome Mox is ass.
- ESG is relatively good even though ppl laugh at it.
- Swarm is much better than I had ever expected
- the SB is crap

[GotRealLucky]

Nice report Bram

I also decided to play in the Saturday Type 1 event after having a really bad day in the Friday event. In the Friday event I went 2-3 playing Budde Trix. I beat a UG madness deck (no Bazaars with some Moxes and FoW’s) and a WG deck with Ornithopters and Kobolds and lost twice to Tog and one Fish deck. All the matches I lost went to three games but the deck clearly wasn’t good enough. For the Saturday event I decided to go with the latest Zherbus Keeper deck because it looked very consistent and control is very nice if you want to outplay your opponent.

Round 1: Roy (RG Madness)

I really didn’t like this pairing since Roy is a good friend of mine and he is the person I test with most of the time. Roy was playing with the RG Madness deck Serge Metz used in the last Dulmen.

I get to play first and start with a Brainstorm out of a Mox Sapphire and play a land. Roy starts with a land and Mox, Naturalizing my Mox Sapphire. End of his turn I Mystical Tutor for Ancestral Recall. In my second turn I play Ancestral and Strip his land. Roy drops a land and a Mox and doesn’t do anything else. I then proceed to cast Black Lotus, sacking it for a Yawgmoth’s Will, Mox Sapphire, Ancestral, Brainstorm, Stripmine, Black Lotus and Gorilla Shaman destroying his side of the board. I win easily after that, playing a Decree for two Angels a few turns later.

Game 2 Roy again has a poor hand. I have Ancestral in my opening hand and mana screw him early with some Wastelands. He never recovers and I beat him again with two Angels, countering his only out, a Price of Progress for 14.

1-0-0

Round 2: Hero (Dragon with Swarms)

Game 1 Hero isn’t able to kill me fast enough. I’m able to destroy his Bazaars, get some card advantage with Ancestral and Scrying and I kill him with Shaman’s and Soldiers.

Game 2 was more interesting. I Waste an early Bazaar but he get’s another one and a Compulsion into play. I cunning Wish twice for a Coffin Purge, removing his Squee’s and counter and Plow his Swarms and animated Fatties. Because I didn’t know the correct wording of Animate Dead I made a stupid mistake by not responding to the Reanimation of a Verdant Force by Coffin Purging it. Because of this I have to Fire my own Gorilla Shamans to play a Balance. After the Balance I counter and Stifle his last Reanimation spells and he scoops when he has no more Animate effects in his deck.

2-0-0

Round 3: Francis (Scepter with Orim’s Chant)

I have a really good draw in the first game. I play an Ancestral early on and Waste and Stifle some lands. Skeletal Scrying gets me some more card advantage and he scoops when I show him the Will.

Game 2 was really weird. I don’t see any black mana for about 10 turns and he is beating me down with 2 Mishra’s Factories. When I am really low on life I draw a Wasteland followed one turn later by a Brainstorm that gives me a Stripmine. I’m at 1 life at this point and I still haven’t seen a black mana source. I make five Soldiers with a Decree and start beating down. I topdeck an Underground Sea and cast a Demonic Tutor followed one turn later by a Yawgmoth’s Will. He counters both. When he is at 2 life he resolves a Yawgmoth’s Will that was not exactly gamebreaking. He tries to kill himself by casting a Vampiric Tutor but I let him take it back. The Will gives him a Delta, taking him down to 1 life and he plays Brainstorm and Time Walk. In his next turn he play’s a Scepter with an Orim’s Chant on it. No more attacks for me… Another Scepter is cast with Mana Drain imprinted. I manage to win by Stifling his Scepter on Chant. He has to Drain this and since he cannot take burn he plays a Morphling on his turn. I Cunning Wish for Fire and Fire him at end of turn to take the Match because he doesn’t have enough mana to Drain and Chant.

3-0-0

Round 4: Bram (Kaervimon) (TPS)

I won this Match 2-0. Bram covered this match already so I won’t go over it again.

4-0-0

Round 5: Steffen (Ankh Sligh with Lackey’s and Null Rod)

I lose the first game very badly after winning the die role. I have to Moxes in my opening hand but he starts with a Goblin Vandal. On my second Turn I Wish for a Swords and Swords his Vandal. He drops a Null Rod. Over the next turns he resolves 2 Ankh of Mishra’s and some Goblins and I can’t do a thing.

Game 2 I didn’t have any artifact mana. He draws 2 Wasteland and a Stripmine, mana screwing me and beating me down with lot’s of small Goblins.

4-1-0

Round 6: Cedric (Stacks)

Game one we both start Wasting lands. We’re both screwed so we get into a topdeck war. I Force of Will a Winter Orb and a Smokestack and Waste the Mishra’s Workshop he used to play the Smokestack with. He manages to resolve a Tangle Wire but it doesn’t have much impact since we’re both low on permanents. I eventually get some mana into play and gain board control with a Shaman. A cycled Decree followed by a Yawgmoth’s Will forces a concession.

The second game was over quickly. I mana screw him again and easily gain control after this. A Decree for Angels does the job again.

5-1-0

Steffen wins with a 5-0-1 record and I’m in second place, winning a nice amount of boosters. I was really happy with the performance of the deck, going 10-2 in games. The sideboard served me well, I think I used all the cards except the Damping Matrix but that probably had to do something with my matchups. I have to agree with Bram that the Judge for the Type 1 events was really bad but overall it was a nice event.

[carl]

Round 6 - Richard (Vengeur)

Game 2 went too slow for me.
<snip>
After checking the wording of balance (what happens first) the graveyward order was fortunate for him.

From D'Angelo's rulings on Balance:

All cards sacrificed at one time go to the graveyard simultaneously. All cards discarded go to the graveyard simultaneously. As always, you pick the order they end up in the graveyard. [D'Angelo 1998/02/03]

So, what happens first doesn't matter.
It seems Richard didn't know the rules that well after all ;)

Thanks for the report.

[rvs]

Carl said:
So, what happens first doesn't matter.
It seems Richard didn't know the rules that well after all

Funny you should mention this, as he is actually a DCI judge, and a nice guy in general too, but he also didn't know about the new dreadnought rulings.