Type 1 Tournament Report
-or-
I am Incredibly Pleased That None of My Opponents Reached Over the Table and Strangled Me to Death
Part 1 – In which I make the obligatory pre-tournament commentary.
C&J's Collectibles in Newark, CA holds Type 1 events every Thursday night. I went a few times during the summer, but hadn't been since then, since my fellow "teammates" and I -- if you can call us that, given that we've never actually played in a tournament as a team -- have been working or going to school.
What did Chris Pikula say? "Nothing destroys a Magic career like a job."
Anyway, I finally made it back up to C&J's, and here is my story.
16 people showed up last night, among them regulars from this board such as Brian (Fishhead) and NaCihv, whose name I don't remember.
The metagame was quite diverse, in my opinion. Deck archetypes included Keeper (at least 3), Sligh, A Beautiful Mind, Reanimator, Nether Void, Turboland, and others. There was a pretty decent amount of power flying around.
I chose to play Academy. Five hours later, I had a very large headache. I really should learn how to play aggro decks, and just swing with dudes.
Part 2 – In which I present my decklist.
4 Force of Will
3 Meditate
3 Impulse
1 Braingeyser
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Frantic Search
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Capsize
1 Tinker
1 Mind over Matter
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Abeyance
1 Crop Rotation
1 Regrowth
1 Fastbond
1 Wheel of Fortune
5 Moxen
3 Helm of Awakening
2 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Memory Jar
1 Lotus Petal
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Undiscovered Paradise
2 Underground Sea
1 Tolarian Academy
Sideboard – I’m not sure about the Abeyances in the board. I’m considering removing them for more Misdirections and/or REBs. I will make some more comments about my sideboard at the end of the report.
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Misdirection
2 Abeyance
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Mind Twist
1 Balance
Part 3 – In which I discuss the tournament itself.
16 people means four rounds of swiss, after which there will be one person left undefeated. So if you want to make it sound really fancy, I guess you could say that the tournament was 1 round of swiss, with a cut to the Top 8 after that.
Round 1
I am paired against Brent Peterson, who is playing fully-powered Turboland, though this is not immediately known.
Game 1
I keep a pretty solid hand, which has me lay some free mana and play Wheel of Fortune. Things are set up well, and I pass the turn. Brent plays a Flooded Strand, and passes back. I’m pretty sure I either went off on that turn or the next – either way, I had a very strong draw and it was over on either my second or third turn, so I still didn’t really know what Brent was playing.
Unsure what to do, I sideboarded as follows:
+1 Phyrexian Negator
-1 Fastbond
Game 2
The tables turn, and I spend the entire game watching Brent play. I’d never actually seen a Type 1 Turboland deck, so it was pretty fun to watch him goldfish (that statement alone is how you know I’m becoming a combo player).
He does something like Fastbond, land, land, float blue, return the lands to Gush, repeat 3 times. Along the way he plays Extract (!) and RFGs my Academy – VERY BAD TIMES – but I don’t scoop in response because I want to see how his deck wins, and I do have the Negator. Unfortunately, Brent has Glacial Chasm, draws his entire deck, wishes for Sickening Dreams, and we take a trip back to sideboard land.
+1 Fastbond
-1 Phyrexian Negator
Game 3
Time is called early on, but that doesn’t actually matter since someone will go off within five turns.
We both spend the early game setting up the pieces of our combo, and eventually I feel like I’m ready to go for it, with a Memory Jar on the table. I crack the Jar, and draw my cards. I toss an Abeyance at Brent, and he comes back with the hated Misdirection, which would be less than credible if it resolves, because I would lose the nice set of cards that the Jar gave me. Fortunately, I have Force of Will and Meditate in hand, so I Meditate in response, Meditate again, Abeyance him a second time, and then Force his first Abeyance. I win from there.
I really enjoyed playing against Brent – he’s a very good opponent, and a nice, fun guy. We spent the remainder of the tournament rooting each other on (combo player solidarity and all that).
1-0 / 2-1
Round 2
I am paired against Kevin Duda. I saw Kevin playing before the tournament started, and I know that he is running Secret Force, I think the build that was popular somewhere around Van de Logt’s Worlds.
So this match is representative of how disgusting Academy is against a deck that doesn’t pack much disruption for it. All I saw in the first game were Elves before it was all over, and in the second game, Kevin conceded after I Forced the Sex Monkey that he tried to drop on my Crypt. I purposely tried to make that last sentence as odd-sounding as possible.
I felt kind of bad for Kevin – he’s a nice guy and from what I observed earlier a proficient magician. He just got stuck on the wrong end of a very bad matchup.
2-0 / 4-1
Round 3
I am paired against Brian (Fishhead) who is playing the new version of Keeper, with the Onslaught lands, no green, and the Power Artifact/Grim Monolith combo. Brian has been known to alternate between that deck and TnT, and before the match started, I complained about the Keeper choice, and asked him “why can’t you just be a nice person and bring TnT to the tournament?” Brian’s response – “Because I thought you might be coming.” I seem to be developing a reputation as the annoying jerk who plays Academy. I think next week I just Stompy.
Brian and I have played a few casual games between rounds in the past, but this is the first time we’ve been paired up under the lights. And such bright lights they are, here at C&J’s. Believe you me.
Game 1
Why does the Academy deck even bother with game one against control? What do you want me to write? It was a slaughter, plain and simple. I goofed around a bit with Abeyances, draw cards, etc, but Brian was never really in danger of losing control of the game. There was one opportunity where I may have been able to get lucky. I think Brian was holding one counter, and I had Abeyance as my only card. I played it, leaving three mana untapped, and Brian chose to let it resolve. I suppose if I were very good at Magic, I would have peeled Timetwister and tried to win. But I peeled land and proceeded to get my scoop on shortly after.
Sideboarding against control is always fun. I board the entire package. I’m assuming that Brian knows I’ll be going for the Negator beats, but there isn’t really anything I can do about that. If I don’t transform, I definitely lose.
+ Everything
-3 Meditate
-3 Helm of Awakening
-2 Candelabra of Tawnos
-1 Fastbond
-1 Crop Rotation
-1 Memory Jar
-1 Tinker
-1 Time Spiral
-1 Frantic Search
-1 Mind over Matter
Game 2
This was actually a fairly interesting game. We both have lots more permission, so we have a few little counter wars, and eventually we’re both pretty much in topdeck mode. I apologize for not remembering more specifics about this game, but I was pretty nervous and trying to focus, so my memory of exact plays is shady. Anyway, the turning point came when Brian Stroked for 5 and I Misdirected. I think the MisD got me a Negator, and that was that.
Since Brian doesn’t have Moat, I revise my sideboard a little bit, bringing back some random blue cards that I can just pitch away.
+1 Frantic Search
+1 Meditate
-2 Seal of Cleansing
Game 3
Brian plays a land. I play Mana Crypt, land, Negator, and Brian doesn’t have a Force of Will. Nor does he have an answer in the next four attack phases. Negator is almost like swinging with Morphling, which is good, since my knowledge of combat rules is questionable to say the least.
Brian is an excellent player, and I really enjoy playing against him, as well as talking to him about the matchups and deckbuilding. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to talk/play more in the future. I’m sure Brian can add a few details about our match as well.
3-0 / 6-2
Tangent
It’s late summer, at a Houston PTQ in Sacramento. I’m at table 2, undefeated with U/G threshold. I’m at 2 life, with a couple of guys untapped on my side. My opponent attacks with his team, and I block his Arrogant Wurm with one of my 1/1 dudes and nothing else. We place damage on the stack.
Him: Trample over for 3.
Me: Huh?
Him: The Wurm tramples. You die.
Me: <dumbfounded> Trample?
Him: <points to the card, where it does in fact read “Trample”>
All My Supportive Friends: What the hell are you doing at table 2 if you don’t know what trample is? Stupid blue mage.
This is why I only play with Morphling. No one blocks in Type 1 anyway, right? I didn’t Q, by the way, though one of the competitors in the Top 8 didn’t want his pin, and I mised it, allowing me to offer the false impression that I am good at this game.
Round 4
This is the final round, and I am paired against Keeper once again. This time my opponent is Ken Johnson. His build seems to be a slightly more traditional Keeper, though I’m not sure about the specifics.
Game 1
Again, an unmitigated disaster. I lose, and it’s not even close.
I sideboard the 15 card package, as described in the previous matchup.
Game 2
This was a fairly interesting game, in which I eventually prevailed with a Negator, but what I want to discuss is a decision that I made early on, which I’m thinking was incorrect.
At the end of Ken’s first turn, I had a Vampiric Tutor in hand, and the means to play a second turn Negator if I tutored for it. However, the control player in me spoke up, and I tutored for Ancestral Recall instead, which met REB. In that situation, would it have been better for me to just go TurboNegator and hope he doesn’t have Force rather than try to generate some card advantage with Ancestral? I think so, in retrospect, but maybe I’m only saying that because Ancestral didn’t resolve.
Game 3
I have a first turn Jet, Sol Ring, land Negator. Ken seems displeased. On my second turn, he takes 5, and I am eager to have as fast a clock as possible, so I play a second Negator, which he Forces. My third turn brings Ken to 9, and my fourth turn brings him to 4. On this turn, Ken misdirects my Mind Twist back to me, leaving me with 2 land, Sol Ring, Moxen, a Negator, and a Mana Vault that I tapped that turn to play Mind Twist. Ken untapps, plays Zuran Orb, sacs all his land, and plays Balance.
He’s back to 8 life, neither of us have land or a hand or creatures. We draw-go for a while, he lays some artifact mana, tutors for Academy, and tries for a large Braingeyser. I have REB for it, and topdeck Negator the following turn, which goes the distance.
A very close game. I feel like it was probably correct to play the second Negator, but I am unsure. Perhaps someone with more experience in attacking could offer their opinion.
Anyway, it was fun to play against Ken. We were both pretty tired by the end of the match, since it was 11:30, but we enjoyed it. He’s a good player, though in places he seemed a bit tentative with Keeper. Keeper, however, will do that to you. It’s not an easy deck to play by any means. I hope to have a chance to play against Ken again.
4-0 / 8-3
So I’m the winner for the night. My prize is one of those forms that I fill out and they send me some foil card or something. I am such a miser.
A final note about the sideboard – I have posted several times on Mana Drain, lamenting the weakness of the transformational sideboard against control. While it served me very well tonight (I didn’t lose a single post-sideboard game), I am still not convinced that it is the best answer, but it certainly seems like a pretty good one for the time being.
If you read all the way to here, props to you.
--Max
Edit: My overall record with Academy in sanctioned tournaments is now 9-1-3. I love this deck.
