So close, and yet, i'm a chump...

I finally went to a non-power saturday tournament at TnT in Hadley. The prizes were just packs, and the turn out was missing some of the high-profile players that show up to the power-prize events.

However, there were almost 20 people, and brian (one of the top players in the area) and a few others did play. Overall the caliber of decks present was underwhelming, but i needed practice with alice, so here we go...

my deck, in case anyone wondered:

mana base (20):
4 tropical islands
4 land grants
1 wooded foothills (all i got, incidentally, i kind of like the 5th fetcher)
1 sol ring
1 wasteland (my strip mine was on loan)
1 forest
8 islands

creatures (10)
1 morphling
3 ophidian (i have become increasingly disenchanted with wearbear, and the deck needs more draw without ancestral)
2 wearbear
4 quirion dryad

utility (15):
1 sylvan library
1 merchant scroll
1 fact or fiction
4 gush
3 impulse
2 brainstorm
3 powder keg

counters (15):
4 counterspell
4 force of will
3 misdirection
2 mana leak
1 divert (there's alot of sui around)
1 daze (everyone says it sucks, it continues to be a champ for me at least once a round. this says alot since i usually side it out)

round 1, Wbr rogue (i didn't do names this tourney)

this guy just started playing again, he was running a fully powered aggro deck that had some questionable deck choices. game 1 i get early kegs and a big dryad, end of story. game 2 takes a bit longer, as he stp's my crew. i eventually drop morph and ride for the win. (1-0, 2-0)

round 2, mono-g AoS

i played chris (same matchup) in the top 8 at the last power tournament. he's a good player, who really enjoys the game. unfortunately for him, i always draw like a champ against him. in the top 8, he had a first turn: forest, 2x spirit guide, wild growth, squirrel nest. i topdecked my lone strip mine...

this time around game 1 i get an opening hand misd, and take his squirrel nest. his vineyard helps me just as much as him, and i beat him down with a dryad and squirrel tokens

game 2 i stave off his combo pieces for a while, but he eventually gets out 3 enchantress effects and does very bad things.

game 3, an early vineyard and another misdirected nest make it a quick game. (2-0, 4-1)

round 3, ponza-sligh

this was a frustrating matchup as alice hates having her lone green sources destroyed (or rishadan ported). the first game i never went below 10, and found a bear and morphling to finish him off. the second game was long. i eventually conceded when he wasted my last green source while i had no threats on the table (and less cards in library). last game i side in the oath engine, and we sit staring at each other for turn after turn with him laying and sac'ing an occasional fanatic. i usually don't use the conversion sb against sligh, but since he had so much land-d i didn't have a choice. (2-0-1, 5-1-1)

round 4, Bw aggro-control

this deck was piloted by mike, who has won a local fame (infamy?) for walking in a few weeks ago, unannounced, and winning the unl lotus tourney with a sui deck packing chimeric idols and skittering skirges. after this round, i'm convinced he should have stayed with that deck.

game 1, he gets some early disruption, but i keg away any threats. i eventually outdraw him, drop a dryad and beat. game 2, he draws alot of stp's. i eventually find morphling and win. i later found he was playing desolation angel as his big win; i think his deck was a little too rogue. (3-0-1, 7-1-1)

top 4, r/g threshold beats.

i really liked the deck this kid was playing. it used efficient creatures, with a few cool tricks. game 1, he has mongoose, wearbear, but i'm feeling ok as i drop a keg. he then drops 2 mongrels, and i move the keg to 1 counter, getting ready to clear his forces next turn. he untaps and casts song of blood?!? i look at the misdirection in my hand and mutter. he flips 3 creatures into his graveyard, including brawn. his forces now look like: 6/3 nimble mongoose, 7/4 wearbear, and 6/3 and 5/2 mongrels, all with trample. moving on to game 2... i get out an early oath (which he looks at quizzically) and stomp him with a blue flying creature. game 3, see game 2. (4-0-1, 9-2-1)

Finals, WW shadow
the only girl at the tournament was piloting a standard ww (with empyrial, etc). she was noticeably a little nervous, and i did my best not to make it a casual game.

game 1, she drops threat after threat and i can't counter them all. no kegs or creatures in sight, and i quickly go down.

game 2, enter the oath conversion. she doesn't see it coming, and morphling makes quick work of her. during this game she armageddons, to which i gush, and she's left with very little as i momentum swings my way. this might have been the only play error she had all match.

game 3, i have this terrible habit of going on auto-pilot once i get an oath out against aggro. i let her resolve too many shadow guys, and my lack of weaver (i really need to get one of those guys) does me in. i die with a morhpling on the table and a powder keg set to 1 (she attacked with 3 2cc creatures for the win).

congratulations to the girl (didn't get her name). i played very poorly last game and she played flawlessly. i still need lots of work with alice, mostly games 2 & 3 as i have trouble playing psuedo-oath. however, i do end up going 4-1-1, 10-4-1. i'm very satisfied with the deck, i just need to work on my playskills.

incidentally, if you read this rogue, i would really like some more arguments against daze. it really does work for me time and again. is this a sign of me playing more inexperienced players and lower tier decks?

-GI