Tournament Report - Mile High

Mile High Type 1 for $$$$

Registration started at 10am, but I didn't make it to the shop until 10:15. Fortunately, enough people that preregistered didn't show up so I made it in. I was #8 on the waiting list and the first 12 people on the waiting list made it.

I played Paragon Keeper. I made a couple changes to the list posted by Azhrei:

Main Deck
-1 City of Brass, +1 Undiscovered Paradise
-1 Wasteland, +1 Dust Bowl
-1 Merchant Scroll, +1 Vampiric Tutor

Side Board
Abeyance
Diabolic Edict
Keg x2
Moat
(instead of Skeletal Scrying, Gorilla Shaman, Swords to Plowshares and Pryoclasm/Peacekeeper)

These changes served me well, though I wished I had the second mox monkey instead of a keg when I faced a mirror in the sixth round. Other than that, I think these were correct. Dust Bowl *wrecked* the house. It was simply amazing. Even against two of the mono-color decks I faced, it killed more lands than a wasteland would have.

I had no idea what to expect in the Denver metagame, since I've never been to a Type 1 tournament around here, and almost no one plays Type 1 other than the crappy 5-color/250 format. I decided to go with more anti creature in the board because I figured on more creature based decks.

The tournament was 64 person, 6 rounds of swiss with Top 8 to finish. The total prize was $500. Unfortunately, I didn't make Top 8. My ending record was 4-1-1. Not bad for not playing type 1 for seven years. Here's the matchups:

Round 1. Steve Parrish playing monoblack jank.

Steve's deck had almost no focus. It had no hymns that I saw, no sinkholes, no disruption worth mentioning at all. This round was like a bye.

Game 1: I force of will his hypnotic, draw lots of cards and drop The Abyss. Eventually I draw into a Morphling and Superman for the win. Yawn.

Game 2: I know he's not playing SuiBlack, so I keep a shitty hand: Strip Mine, Sol Ring, Abyss, Ancestral, Mind Twist, FoW, some blue spell. I fail to draw color producing lands for three turns and he manages to get me to 11 with some janky Dauthi critters. I finally get a Polluted Delta, grab an underground sea and throw his creatures in the abyss. I force of will a hypnotic in there somewhere. Morphling says hi for five in four turns... three of those were my turns in a row. Time Walk, Yawgmoth's Will-Time Walk is good right?
Match Record: 1-0. Game Record: 2-0.

Round 2. David playing reanimator, I think.

David has a lot of creatures that cost more than 6 to cast. He also doesn't own any moxes, lotus, or any of that nonsense. No, instead he uses some bad cards to generate mana, like blood pet, burnt offering and peat bog.

Game 1: He throws creatures in the graveyard, forgets to attack with blood pet, drops some artifact I've never heard of but puts cards from a library in the graveyard... I counter some stuff to keep my hand size at 7, play lots of broken card drawing and drop abyss/morphling in consecutive turns.

Game 2: He plays some black discard that costs X1B discard X cards from hand, make me discard X from hand... for 1 card. He makes me discard the Morphling I draw opening hand (yes, I should have Parised that away, but the rest of the hand was so good and his deck is so bad). Unfortunately he doesn't see a third land for about 5 turns, while I have a library going. I eventually get a tutor so I can get morphling in play and he concedes when I show him my hand of 3 Force of Will, 2 Mana Drain and a Wish.
Match Record: 2-0. Game Record: 4-0.

I'm not the greatest Magic player around. I'm not even that great... but still, I'm disappointed that I haven't played any good players with good decks. It isn't a test of my skill with Keeper when I play against totally bad decks. People who play "Type 1 Casual" really have no business in a hardcore competitive tournament for $500.

Round 3. AJ Hill playing Teletubbies/Tinker.

Finally, a good player with a good deck. I didn't know this going into the match, but AJ is #4 in Colorado for Vintage.

Game 1: This was a great battle. he starts off with some Su Chi action and brings the beats. I finally rid him of this menace after I get to 11 life. I pay a few more life using sac lands and Force of Will and push a mind twist on his hand through. I get a Gorilla out, blow up some moxes and a sol ring, and jump on his head for 1 in six turns. I finally get a Morphling in play and he tries to Tinker on the following turn. I Mana Drain the Tinker. He Forces the drain. I drain the force, knowing that I have a Yawgmoth's Will on top (thx mystical tutor), to give me 8 colorless to play with. My turn, out of (BAD) habit from Type 2 competitive play, I declare my attack. With 8 mana in my pool. I'm at 6 life. I feel stupid. He said "okay, I take 6 from the Morphling / Shaman..." I said "No, I die when I attack." "Huh?" "Mana burn." "Oops, well, I wouldn't have caught it either." Thats what I get for playing a deck with mana drains after a 7 year hiatus from Type 1. Bleh.

Game 2: This was a great battle and I wish I had better notes. We go back and forth gaining card advantage, counter-warring, and I go dust bowling for workshops. He gets a Triskelion in play after I dropped a Morphling... and a Back To Basics with my happy duallands tapped. It was close, but I was 4 damage short of killing him due to a plowshared Su Chi early in the game.
Match Record: 2-1. Game Record: 4-2.

Round 4: Chris someone playing black/white with 4 casting cost 2/2s...

This wasn't even close. The first game consisted of me explaining to him what Vampiric Tutor, Morphling, Ancestral Recall, and the Upkeep step are. I did go down to 14, but that was mostly due to my own fetchlands and city. Both games I had a Morphling in play and untargettable by turn 5.
Match Record: 3-1. Game Record: 6-2.

Round 5: Adrian playing White Weenie.

Adrian is a nice girl who likes the color purple. She played against another Keeper deck first round, that I saw.

Game 1: The weenie beats come out hard and fast. I just can't draw answers for the life of me. Plenty of counters, but she had more creatures. Insanity.

Game 2: This was pretty one sided for me. I dropped an early morphling which evaded Plowshares three times. A moat sees play for the first time of the day and her team is held back.

Game 3: Tundra, Sol Ring, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Balance, Force of Will, something else. I drop half my hand on the first turn. She drops 2-3 creatures by her second and gets me to 12. I balance her team and her hand and rebuild with a brainstorm and mystical ancestral. I draw lots of removal and counters and my morphling saves the day.
Match Record: 4-1. Game Record: 8-3.

Round 6: Zach Gable playing Keeper.

Ugh, mirror match. I watched Zach play against another Keeper deck earlier (the one that beat Adrian round 1). His deck is all black border and I'm jealous. Unfortunately, we both have 12 match points and it looks like only 15's are making it into top 8, with possibly 1 person with 13 points. We determine that we can't draw and both make it in, so we play it out.

I really wish I had kept better notes on this match, above all others. But I knew time would be a factor so I kept it brief. Sorry .

Game 1: I drop a Library first turn. We all know what that means. It goes unmolested for a good 5 turns, netting me so many more cards than Zach that he is calling me a savage cheater. He drops a lotus and tries to mind twist my hand, with 3 cards left in his. I misdirect it back to him. He pitches a manadrain to force of will the misdirect and I say "I hope that last card is worth it..." and manadrain his force of will. He drops a Yawgmoth's Will in the graveyard. Not bad. On my turn, I drop a dustbowl and mox monkey and blow up some land and moxes. He strips my library finally, but I yawg will it back and do some other broken things (time walk, brainstorm, tutor, brainstorm again). Eventually I get the morphling in play and he's only got a city of brass when his life turns 0. Bet he didn't know that Keeper is a land destruction deck.

Game 2: This game is much like the first, except he gets the Library, the card advantage and the mind twist. Yuck. I never draw a way to get rid of the Library until late in the game. We finish with 5 minutes to play the third game.

Game 3: This was spectacular. Easily, the best play of the day in any match happened here (confirmed by several other top 10 players). The game starts off with him getting a savage first turn library, with lots of card drawing. I get some, but not much counter backup to push threats through. I drop a dust bowl, pop off a few of his lands including a mishra's factory and his library. Time is called and we have five turns. He goes, I go. Then he goes... Mind twist for 6. I happen to have 6 cards in hand. He's still got 7. However, my six cards are all counters:

"Mana Drain the Mind Twist?"
"Red Blast the Mana Drain."
"How about you Mind Twist yourself then? Misdirect it" (pitching a manadrain)
"No. Red Blast the Misdirection."
"Force of Will the Red Blast on the Misdirection." (pitching a braingeyser - hell the MD was countered)
"Force of Will the Misdirection." (pitching something)
"Red Blast the Force of Will."

Rawr! He did in fact mind twist me for 6. But I also Mind Twisted him in the end. It didn't matter though, since there was no damage on the board on either side and my turn was the last of the match.
Match Record: 4-1-1. Game Record: 9-4-1.

The standings after round six were posted. I was 9th. Zach was 8th. Damn match-wins. Oh well. I alright about my record, though I'd feel better if I played against better players with better decks. I feel incredibly stupid for the mistake I made against AJ, but hey, that won't happen again. I'm quite pleased that I had an opportunity to finally play the deck at all in a tournament. 4-1-1 isn't bad for someone who hasn't played the format for 7 years.