ToC 6 Top Eight!

[Redman]

Well, it's finally time...6 rounds (well most of the 6th round anyway) has been played, and it's time to announce the Top 8 for the 6th Tournament of Champions

The bracket is as follows

 --------------------------------
  1 ( 48) strangely_not_alex@yahoo.co,
  8 ( 32) misunderstoodprophet@hotmai,
 --------------------------------
  5 (  5) chm23@drexel.edu, -
  4 (  9) davecw2@hotmail.com, -
 --------------------------------
  3 (  2) cf@wt.no, -
  6 ( 40) radagast-@europe.com, -
 --------------------------------
  7 ( 25) kirikayumura@yahoo.com, -
  2 ( 51) tntdrew@rogers.com, -
 --------------------------------

Please get your results to me as soon as possible, by next Monday night at the latest. I figure with 8 people this should go much quicker, so I'll move on as soon as everyone's results are in.

[Redman]

And to note: I think it is the duty of every participant to submit a tournament report.

The decks, for reference:

1. #16 strangely_not_alex@yahoo.com   

//NAME: PT Funk
// Bring In the Noise
        2 Diabolic Edict
        4 Hymn to Tourach
        4 Duress
        4 Pernicious Deed
// Bring In The Funk
        2 Spiritmonger
        4 River Boa
        4 Hypnotic Specter
        4 Phyrexian Negator
// Get Down, Get Down
        1 Sylvan Library
        1 Regrowth
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Mind Twist
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
// Jungle Boogie
        4 Dark Ritual
        2 Llanowar Wastes
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        1 Sol Ring
        2 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        3 Forest
        7 Swamp
        4 Bayou
// Sideboard
SB:  2 Diabolic Edict
SB:  2 Wasteland
SB:  3 Compost
SB:  2 City of Solitude
SB:  1 Choke
SB:  2 Powder Keg
SB:  3 Planar Void

2. #43 tntdrew@rogers.com   

Decklist:

15 Swamp
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

4 Dark Ritual
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Hypnotic Spectre
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Phyrexian War Beast
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Sinkhole
2 Diabolic Edict
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Yaawgmoth's Will

SB:

4 Contagion
4 Masticore
3 Ebony Charm
3 Dystopia
1 Phyrexian Warbeast

3. #28 cf@wt.no   

Decklist for Tainted Mask 2002-07-20:

        3 Tainted Pact
        1 Recoil
        1 Diabolic Edict
        1 Yawmoth's Will
        1 Necropotence
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Demonic Consultation
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Mind Twist
        2 Hymn to Tourach
        4 Duress
        2 Unmask
        2 Hypnotic Specter
        2 Phyrexian Negator
        4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
        4 Illusionary Mask


        3 Mishra's Factory
        2 Underground River
        4 Snow-Covered Swamp
        4 Swamp
        4 Underground Sea
        1 Black Lotus
        4 Dark Ritual
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Pearl

Sideboard:
2 Phyrexian Negator
1 Lord of Tresserhorn
2 Recoil
2 Dystopia
2 Contagion
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Cursed Totem
1 Zuran Orb
1 Timetwister

4. #15 davecw2@hotmail.com   

name of deck : ducktape.dec

decklist with sideboard :
SB:  3 Gilded Drake
SB:  4 Sphere of Resistance
SB:  4 Tormod's Crypt
SB:  4 Fire/Ice
       4 Mishra's Workshop
       4 Volcanic Island
       2 Shivan Reef
       3 City of Traitors
       2 Candelabra of Tawnos
       1 Ancient Tomb
       1 Tolarian Academy
       1 Crosis's Catacombs
       1 Lotus Petal
       1 Mox Diamond
       1 Mox Sapphire
       1 Mox Ruby
       1 Mox Pearl
       1 Mox Jet
       1 Mox Emerald
       1 Sol Ring
       1 Black Lotus
       1 Mana Vault
       4 Defense Grid
       1 Tinker
       1 Memory Jar
       1 Timetwister
       1 Ancestral Recall
       1 Wheel of Fortune
       1 Karn, Silver Golem
       2 Null Brooch
       4 Goblin Welder
       4 Meditate
       4 Tsabo's Web
       4 Smokestack
       4 Tangle Wire
       1 Soldevi Digger

5. #57 chm23@drexel.edu

147258.dec

4 Shivan Reef
4 Volcanic Island
4 Fire/Ice
4 Mana Leak
SB: 3 Flametongue Kavu
SB: 4 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 4 Blood Moon
3 Ophidian
2 Merchant Scroll
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
3 Misdirection
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
7 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Black Lotus
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Time Walk
2 Morphling
4 Rootwater Thief

6. #10 radagast-@europe.com   

Name of deck: U/B Keeper Redux
Decklist:
SB:  4 Phyrexian Negator
SB:  3 Duress
SB:  2 Back to Basics
SB:  2 Chill
SB:  1 Teferi's Response
SB:  1 Powder Keg
SB:  1 Masticore
SB:  1 Ensnaring Bridge
        8 Island
        2 Swamp
        2 Underground River
        4 Underground Sea
        2 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        1 Library of Alexandria
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Emerald
        2 Morphling
        1 The Abyss
        1 Nevinyrral's Disk
        1 Powder Keg
        1 Psionic Blast
        1 Capsize
        1 Diabolic Edict
        1 Duress
        1 Vampiric Tutor
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Mystical Tutor
        1 Merchant Scroll
        1 Impulse
        1 Fact or Fiction
        1 Skeletal Scrying
        1 Stroke of Genius
        1 Concentrate
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Mind Twist
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Counterspell
        2 Misdirection
        4 Force of Will
        4 Mana Drain

#7. 58 kirikayumura@yahoo.com

Tinman Beatdown

Artifact (9)
1 Black Lotus
1 Masticore
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Zuran Orb

Black (5)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edit
1 Mind Twist
1 The Abyss  
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Blue (19)
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Misdirection
2 Morphling
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Teferi's Response
1 Time Walk

Green (2)
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library

Red (1)
1 Gorilla Shaman

Split (1)
1 Fire / Ice

White (3)
1 Balance
1 Dismantling Blow
1 Swords to Plowshares

Land (21)
4 City of Brass
1 Library of Alexandria
2 Mishra's Factory
1 Strip Mine
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Volcanic Island
3 Wasteland

Sideboard  (15)
1 Aegis of Honor
1 Aura Fracture
1 Caltrops
1 COP: Black
1 COP: Red
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Powder Keg
1 Pyroclasm
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Scrying Glass
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Response

8. #56 misunderstoodprophet@hotmail.com

//NAME: Clubber Lang
        4 City of Brass
        4 Underground Sea
        4 Tundra
        4 Scrubland
        4 Wasteland
        1 Strip Mine
        1 Sol Ring
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Pearl
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Yawgmoth's Will
        1 Fact or Fiction
        1 Demonic Tutor
        1 Skeletal Scrying
        1 Mind Twist
        1 Time Walk
        1 Ancestral Recall
        3 Psionic Blast
        4 Duress
        4 Vindicate
        2 Masticore
        3 Phyrexian Negator
        3 Serendib Efreet
        4 Meddling Mage
        4 Savannah Lions
SB:  1 Masticore
SB:  1 Balance
SB:  3 Crystalline Sliver
SB:  1 Aura Fracture
SB:  2 Blue Elemental Blast
SB:  3 Samite Ministration
SB:  4 Swords to Plowshares\n\n

[Pegasus Token]

How did Msckmagnet not make it?  I'd like to see the points because it looked like he could draw in what with two of the other people capable of 13 points or more playing each other and thus one of them not making it.

[Redman]

It ended up with 6 people at 13 points, but Cf won, so had 15 points, meaning one of the 13 pointers was going to miss t8. The tiebreakers then made the decision. If either the reporter software or I am at fault, please let me know.

The standings were as follows:

T1ToC6 Take 5, Standings after round 6
 
                                         Op-Match  PL-Game  Op-Game  Matches
Rank Name                         Points     Win%     Win%     Win%  P/W/D/B

   1 strangely_not_alex@yahoo.co,     16  64.8148  73.3333  62.2787  6/5/1/0
   2 tntdrew@rogers.com, -            16  62.5000  78.5714  59.1270  6/5/1/0
   3 cf@wt.no, -                      15  44.4444  73.3333  44.5989  6/5/0/0
   4 davecw2@hotmail.com, -           13  63.7037  71.4286  63.3394  6/4/1/0
   5 chm23@drexel.edu, -              13  58.3333  69.2308  57.2314  6/4/1/0
   6 radagast-@europe.com, -          13  58.3333  60.0000  58.4061  6/4/1/0
   7 kirikayumura@yahoo.com, -        13  56.4815  62.5000  54.3651  6/4/1/0
   8 misunderstoodprophet@hotmai,     13  54.2593  75.0000  54.0842  6/4/1/0
   9 Msckmagnet@aol.com, -            13  53.7037  64.2857  54.5063  6/4/1/0
  10 oyama@its.caltech.edu, -         12  58.3333  66.6667  53.1291  6/4/0/0
  11 RichardBWade@aol.com, -          10  53.7778  63.6364  53.3333  5/3/1/0
  12 stillb0rn@hotmail.com, -         10  52.7778  52.9412  53.9683  6/3/1/0
  13 richardmattiuzzo@rogers.com,     10  45.3704  60.0000  47.6619  6/3/1/0

I believe the problem is that there were 9 people capable of 13 or more points, and basically all the 12-12 matches IDed, but the the one 12-9 match had the 12 person win.\n\n

[waywreth]

So, when does TOC 7 start?  I think I joined the Manadrain after this whole thing began, and I'd like the opportunity to play in the future.

I'm guessing there are others wondering as well.

Thanks,

Waywreth

[Abra_Volta]

I find this top 8 very interesting.

What happened to the legions of Stacker players?

I thought I also remember someone saying Keeper would be smashed to tiny little bits. I also remember Zherbus saying no one plays Keeper due to all the hate against it in the ToC, yet one is here in the top 8.

It's nice to see a Suicide Black made top 8. Actually, it's nice to see a whole lot of black in the top 8. I think there are more Negators than Mana Drains (15 vs. 12).

Good luck to all in the Top 8. I'm looking forward to see who comes out on top.

[Anonymous]

Hell Yeah Smokestack! Lol old ducktape is so untuned nice job duck.

[Pegasus Token]

Quote (Redman @ Oct. 14 2002,19:33)It ended up with 6 people at 13 points, but Cf won, so had 15 points, meaning one of the 13 pointers was going to miss t8. The tiebreakers then made the decision. If either the reporter software or I am at fault, please let me know.

The standings were as follows:

T1ToC6 Take 5, Standings after round 6
 
                                         Op-Match  PL-Game  Op-Game  Matches
Rank Name                         Points     Win%     Win%     Win%  P/W/D/B

   1 strangely_not_alex@yahoo.co,     16  64.8148  73.3333  62.2787  6/5/1/0
   2 tntdrew@rogers.com, -            16  62.5000  78.5714  59.1270  6/5/1/0
   3 cf@wt.no, -                      15  44.4444  73.3333  44.5989  6/5/0/0
   4 davecw2@hotmail.com, -           13  63.7037  71.4286  63.3394  6/4/1/0
   5 chm23@drexel.edu, -              13  58.3333  69.2308  57.2314  6/4/1/0
   6 radagast-@europe.com, -          13  58.3333  60.0000  58.4061  6/4/1/0
   7 kirikayumura@yahoo.com, -        13  56.4815  62.5000  54.3651  6/4/1/0
   8 misunderstoodprophet@hotmai,     13  54.2593  75.0000  54.0842  6/4/1/0
   9 Msckmagnet@aol.com, -            13  53.7037  64.2857  54.5063  6/4/1/0
  10 oyama@its.caltech.edu, -         12  58.3333  66.6667  53.1291  6/4/0/0
  11 RichardBWade@aol.com, -          10  53.7778  63.6364  53.3333  5/3/1/0
  12 stillb0rn@hotmail.com, -         10  52.7778  52.9412  53.9683  6/3/1/0
  13 richardmattiuzzo@rogers.com,     10  45.3704  60.0000  47.6619  6/3/1/0

I believe the problem is that there were 9 people capable of 13 or more points, and basically all the 12-12 matches IDed, but the the one 12-9 match had the 12 person win.

It was just that Msckmagnet had the better breakers (was listed that way anyhow) pre-Round 6 and Round 6 should not have changed the order of the people with 13 points as they all played people with the same records. Either that was flawed, or this is.  That's just my take, though.

[Fishhead]

Quote I think it is the duty of every participant to submit a tournament report

Well, every participant that isnt banned from the boards anyway.  Poor Duck.    

Quote I thought I also remember someone saying Keeper would be smashed to tiny little bits.

This is a pretty typical showing for Keeper; one in the T8.  A lot of the Keeper arguement has been blown out of proportion; and people who said "there are a lot of tough decks out there and Keeper is only one of them" are somehow quoted as saying "Keeper sucks and will lose".  Nope.  Keeper is still a good deck; enter enough of them played by good players and some of them will filter through to the T8.  Same as any other good deck.  But even more good Keeper players will be watching the T8 from the sidelines because they didnt get the breaks you need to advance through round after round of tight matchups.

[Redman]

Quote Well, every participant that isnt banned from the boards anyway.  Poor Duck.    

Not an excuse. He can e-mail it to me.

[nargoT]

THE QUACK HAS FALLEN

Using my ultra super powers, I nargojojo destroyed the evil one known as psyduck

[Matt The Great]

Cool, I might get to crush you again.

[NaClhv]

Why is psyduck obligated to submit a tournament report?  For the benefit of the board that's banned him?  That's a strange logic.  

If he submits a report, he legitimizes the opinions of those who decided to ban him.  He lends support to the notion that the members of this board are the final authority in type 1 strategy.  Why would he want to do that?

If he doesn't submit a report, he lends support to the idea that in fact, many of the best type 1 players and strategies ignore this board.  As someone who's been banned, wouldn't he want to support this idea over the alternative given above?

Anyway, going back on track, what can we tell about the type 1 metagame from this ToC?  I'm surprized at the variety and the rogueness of the decks in the top 8.  I mean, I've always said that type 1 is a much more wide-open format than the people here on themanadrain suggest, but I never imagined that the format would be this wide-open.  Most of the decks above would be flamed out of the forums if someone claimed that they're a good type 1 deck.  Kudos to all of you who tried something new and did well with it.

As far as I can tell, the suicide black deck and the keeper decks are the only standard decktypes.  I like the kind of metagame that this represents:  25% of the tourney-winning decks are one of the standard archtypes, while the remaining 75% are rogue decks.  Now, you can't draw the above conclusion from just this ToC, but it would be sweet if it were true.

Oh, and meddling mages are tech, especially when you know the opponent's decklist.  Nice call on running them, Redman.  Unfortunately, I didn't stay in the tournament long enough to have a really cool meddling mage play (like playing it in the second game and naming a sideboard card), but I wish I did.  Did you get to pull any of those plays off?

Can we get some commentary on or from those people who played with unconventional cards, and did well with them?  For example, I'm interested in how those maindeck rootwater thieves worked out, or those vindicates.

[Matt The Great]

I don't know if I'm included in the list of "unconventional card choices," but I've given detailed reports on every match so far, most of which have gone entirely unresponded to, leaving me the bitter, angry shell of a man you see before you.

[Fishhead]

Quote If he submits a report, he legitimizes the opinions of those who decided to ban him.  

An interesting question.  The Duck was banned, AFAIK, because he got in a couple flamewars over ABM (two warnings) and because he called Zherbus a naughty name (third warning = boot).  It doesn't have anything to do with his playskill.  

So, I see a report as just being a report.  Perhaps even an opportunity for vindication.  (Not that, as "Matt the Great" points out, anyone will bother reading reports, but oh well.)

OTOH, I can also understand the point - "You banned me, why am I supporting your website?"  Fair enough; Carter already won the Nobel Peace Prize for this year, leaving the Duck with little motivation to try and be the big man and bury the hatchet here.  

More importantly though, are you playing this Friday?  Newark has been pretty quiet since school started, frankly so has Berkeley.

[Shaman]

Uhm...

Considering the results I mailed to Redman I am surely at 12 points (4-2), so I could maybe be 10th, or 11th: but I can't see my name in the top 13 players...well, It does not matter since I am not in the top 8, but maybe something has gone wrong.

Just my two cents.

---Shaman---

[Redman]

Quote Why is psyduck obligated to submit a tournament report?

Why? Not for the benefit of this board, more for the benefit of people, well, people a lot like you. After all, it's tourney reports where you'd find answers to questions like

Quote Can we get some commentary on or from those people who played with unconventional cards, and did well with them?  For example, I'm interested in how those maindeck rootwater thieves worked out, or those vindicates.

Especially considering the "unconventional" aspect of psyduck's deck, I think it would be in his, yours and our collective interest for him to submit a report. That is why I require it.

And if you want to find out about my deck, read the tourney report which I was actually submit this time.

As far as the strangeness of the Top 8, I think you need to realize the fact that most people don't play their "best" deck in a ToC. That, and half the people drop means that this is a test of endurance and dedication as much as anything else. That and I see it as a chance to have fun, not prove that one deck is neccsarily the best.

The one benefit to competitive play here is that sometimes decks that would otherwise be thought of a pet projects become more well known as a result of the ToC (cf  Deck Parfait), which is further justfication of tourney reports.

[Redman]

And Matt, I read your reports, and I really appreciate that you freely give them, especially since I'm seeting such a poor example. It's just that your report was so well written it required no clarification.

[Anonymous]

I'll talk to Psyduck about writting a report, nice hand Nargot I heard you drew 3 fows in first 3 turns while have no mana from smokestack lock. Psyduck is the creator of ducktape but both him and I have been working on standardizing a decklist, great improvements have been made since time of TOC, but I am a 90 percent sure that he would not like to post the decklist, because he plans on bringing it to Origins 2003 and the current decklist is very strong.

[nargoT]

I didn't have any mana on purpose, I was holding lands in my hand after I forced him to to put 2 counters on his stack by playing a thief.  I was using my rope-a-dope strategy on him and it worked well.  He ended up losing about 20 permanents to stack whereas I lost around 5.  After he let the stack go he had 1 permanent and 1  card in hand, I had no permanents but a full hand including and LOA.

[Anonymous]

Nice strategy it sure payed off but as I told duck he probably could have kept you at bay with 1 counter on smokestack, and hopefully drawn into something. Well nice job winning beware of the furture tuned ducktape.

[Matt The Great]

Quote (westredale @ Oct. 17 2002,16:06)Well nice job winning beware of the furture tuned ducktape.

I, for one, will never fear ducktape'd furniture. It's so...tacky. \n\n

[nargoT]

If he didn't go to 2 counters on the stack, I would have stolen the karn from his deck with my thief.  It was all part of my master plan.

[Anonymous]

Lol I forgot old smokestack only ran 1 karn.

[Often Lost]

Heh, nargoT is an awesome Magic player. He does shit for a reason. Makes me look stupid  

[Redman]

I have results from you guys, but, I'd like to see some reports.

[nargoT]

I didn't know if you wanted a full toc report or match by match or whatever.  Or if you wanted us to e-mail you reports, but I will post a little summary of my match against the ducky here.

In game 1 I kept a 2 fow, time walk, fof, 3 mana source hand (or I think I did), he ended up getting a smokestack in play, but as was my main strategy I kept him without a welder.  He had the stack at 1 counter and I kept my permanents on the table to a minimum to make sure his stack would just blow up his own permanents.  When I had a mox, a land and a thief in hand I dropped all 3 in one turn when I started with an empty table, this forced him to put a second counter on the stack or lose his karn.  He did put the 2nd counter on the stack and I let all my permanents die.  He tried to keep the stack alive, but I had FoW for his major card draw, and I could drop a land/mox and fire a welder to stop those, eventually he had to sac to 1 permanent with 1 card in hand and he let the stack go.  At this point I had a  full hand with an LOA, so I easily won that game from this point.  From a rough esitmate I would guess his smokestack killed atleast 15 of his permanents and about 6 or 7 of mine.  

I sided in BEB to give me an extra way to kill welders even though they aren't particularly great because my misdirections were completly dead.  In this game I held him off any gamebreaking cards for a while and managed to theif away everything scary in his deck.  Nothing too exciting happened here.

[Radagast]

I suppose I will post mine here as well. I was play U/B Keeper Redux against CF (Tainted Mask). It was pretty late when we played so I may mix up what happened in which game, so I apologize for that in advance.

Short summary for those too lazy to read --
Game one he wins with a lucky topdecked Yawgmoth's Will.
Game two I win with a lucky topdecked Yawgmoth's Will.
Game three I manage to get the perfect broken topdecks I needed to beat his broken hand (Duress + Mask + Dreadnaught x 3, to be exact).

Game 1 --
I manage to open with Underground Sea + my one maindeck Duress, and see a great hand with Mask, Dreadnaught (I think), Ancestral, and others. I take the mask, hoping to be able to FoW the Ancestral. However, he goes land-lotus-duress-hippie, which is bad news. I get down a Keg before the Specter destroys my hand completely, but 1-2 turns later CF topdecks Yawgmoth's Will, and proceeds to get rid of the rest of my hand, draw 3 cards, and play a Mask. I blow it up with my Keg, so then he plays a second and a facedown creature. I lose.

Sideboard --
Out: 2 Misdirection, 1 Capsize, 1 Stroke of Genius
In: 2 Duress, 1 Ensnaring Bridge, 1 Powder Keg

Game 2 --
I decide to keep an interesting hand of land, land, duress, FoW x 3, Counterspell. I open with the duress, and see some mana including a ritual, a fistful of discard, and a Demonic Tutor. After some thinking, I take the tutor, figuring my counters and his discard will basically negate each other, so I'd best take his only 'business' spell. This turns out to be the right choice. He gets a Factory and next turn a Negator; EOT I Edict which gets the Factory. At some point around here I believe I do Scroll-Ancestral (or was that last game? :\). Stuff that I cannot remember happens, I topdeck a Will, get all broken on him, and eventually win.

Sideboard -- same as last game

Game 3 --
This game was a battle between his broken hand and my broken topdecks.
For once, I'm not the one opening with a Duress. He takes my Force of Will over Counterspell. I untap, and mise a Time Walk, which turns out afterwards to be exactly what I needed to not lose horribly (well, maybe a Sapphire would've been ok too). I go Land - Mox - Time Walk - Land - Mox. CF frowns, and plays a Negator which gets the Counterspell. I proceed to get my second incredible topdeck: Ancestral Recall. I can't quite remember what exactly happened from there, except that had I not gotten that Time Walk, he would apparently have gone turn 2 Mask, turn 3 Naught - Naught - Naught. Ouch. After the in-between stuff I can't remember, I Tutor for a Mind Twist, and tap out (no FoW) to take his hand, hoping he doesn't topdeck anything. It turns out he has a Vampiric though which he casts in response, and I didn't think of -- thankfully he only gets a Hymn (dunno whether he could've gotten anything better; probably not otherwise he'd have gotten it), which gets my Concentrate and FoW.
*slaps self*
But it leaves my Morphling, which I play with the topdecked 6th mana source for backup. Morphling does him in, with the only other interesting part being the topdecked Bridge which I decide to play (Morphling still doesn't do much against 12/12 tramplers, and I didn't want him to get rid of it with topdecked discard), delaying the Morphling beatdown somewhat.

All in all, very good games

[Redman]

Thanks guys, I do appreciate it. If you're waiting until the whole tourney is over to give a report, that's fine too.
The last match should get the report here or on a seperate thread soon, but here are the semifinal matchups:

First, a rematch from the swiss, we'll see if I can figure out what to name with Meddling Mage the second time around, or whether we'll find ourselves with the unexpected(?) control-on-control final.
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 8 ( 32) misunderstoodprophet@hotmai,
 5 (  5) chm23@drexel.edu, -
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And second, a streamlined Keeper redux will challenge the representative of NG 5-color Keeper. Promises to be a clash of control titans.
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 6 ( 40) radagast-@europe.com, -
 7 ( 25) kirikayumura@yahoo.com, -
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[-CF-]

OK, tourney report follows.

Round 1 vs Koen's pandeburst.
Oops. Bad start.

Round 2-4 vs Stackers and something really random.
12/12, fritt fritt.

Round 5 vs Zherbus' Void
12/12, fritt fritt.

Round 6 vs Magimaster
He didn't have time to play.

So, with 5-1 I made top8.

Quarterfinals vs Radagast.

Game 1: 12/12, fritt fritt.

Game 2: He duresses my demonic tutor. I have discard, he has counters. They cancel each other out and he draws better afterwards.

Game 3: I duress, take his FoW. He has NOTHING. I can go turn 2 Negator OR vampiric for Mask (I have naught in hand). He draws Time Walk though and gets counterspellmana. I lure out his lone counterspell with the Negator and prepares for instant win next turn. Then he, of course, draws Ancestral. I assure you, it all went even better for him after this.

So once again I lose to a blue-based deck I'm supposed to beat  in the top8. Third time's the charm?

--
Chris