ReapLace report--2nd place

[Saucemaster]

So after weeks of constant goldfishing but very little actual playtesting with ReapLace, I decided to just bite the bullet and play it at a tournament.  What can I say, I'm a fan of the "throw 'em in and see if they can swim" approach.  So I put together the closest approximation of ReapLacement Killers that I could manage--I'm missing Emerald and Twister, so I substituted a plain-vanilla Tropical Island for the Emerald and a third Cunning Wish (they're wonderful in this deck) for the 'Twister--I thought very seriously about whether it was worth it to keep Tolarian in despite having 4 Moxen as opposed to the full set and decided that while it was a close call, it was probably worth it nevertheless.  This turned out very well in round 2, so it seems to have been the right call.

The field, as Fishhead noted in his Gro-Atog report, was pleasantly strong tonight.  My own pairings were of mixed strength, but given the paucity of ReapLace information, I'm posting anyway.

On to the tournament:

Round 1: Danny, playing a (very suboptimal--think OBC) WW/r.

Game 1: He wins the die roll and plays first.  He mulligans.  He mulligans again.  I decide to mull, with only one land in hand.  I keep with Merchant Scroll and AK in hand, among others.  He plays Plains, Suntail Hawk.  

To recap so far: my opponent has mulled to five and played SUNTAIL HAWK first turn.  I'm going to tell you right now that I lost this game.  How in HELL did I lose it, you ask?  Read on!

Okay, so seeing that first-turn play, I think to myself, "Well, apparently I have a hell of a lot of time to set up then, don't I?"  Rather than Scroll for Ancestral like I usually would, I decide to go Mox-Tropical-Scroll for Intuition.  He hits with Suntail Hawk and plays something-or-other Martyr (W, 1/1, sacs for 3 life).  I am feeling very good right now.  I play a land, say go.  He swings with both, and at EOT I Intuition for AKs.  During my turn, to avoid missing a land drop, I play the first AK (for 3).  I draw three lands.  Hmm.  Well, I won't miss that land drop.  He takes his turn, plays a Phantom Nomad, and swings for another 2.  I am feeling supremely confident as I AK for 4 at the end of his turn.  I draw a Mox, 2 land, and Ancestral.  Boy, that's a lot of land.  But hey, that's Ancestral.  Surely I can't draw MORE land?

Wrong.  So wrong.

I do end up drawing Balance off the Ancestral, and Balance a couple turns later--to save my ass, as I've been taking 4 damage a turn for a while now--when he has two cards in hand.  My notes are sketchy as to what I had in hand when I Balanced, but I remember thinking that I had two decent cards to keep--one Reap, I think, though I hadn't seen any Laces yet.  In response, he plays SONIC SEIZURE, discarding the mountain he has in hand.  SONIC MF SEIZURE.  So I've just Twisted myself.  Great.  He topdecks a creature, I topdeck nothing, and he kills me.

I curse my deck and start to feel very bad.  I just lost to Suntail Hawk, folks.

I pile shuffle and then riffle a LOT.  Then I pile shuffle again.  I decide to play, draw my 7, and guess what?  One land, and no spells that cost less than 2.  I mulligan.  Guess what?  I mulligan again.  Okay, now I'm getting nervous.  He mulls once, so at least it's better than it could be.  I play a land, say go; he plays a first turn Suntail Hawk again.  Still, no matter how bad the last game was, Suntail Hawk kinda makes me smile, and I think, "What the hell, I can't possibly lose to Suntail Hawk twice in a row."  Turns out I'm right, as I draw Scroll, Scroll for Ancestral, cast it during his next turn as he beats with 2 1/1s, Lace a Plains, Reap the Lace, Lace again, and on turn 5 Intuition for Reaps, and Reap back Reap and Intuition at the end of his turn. I then go off during my turn.

THAT's how it's supposed to work.  Game 3 is more of the same, as for the third game in a row he drops a first-turn Suntail Hawk (hehe!), I Intuition for AKs at some point, draw like half my deck, then Reap into infinity.

Round 2:  Dave (NaClhv) with ABM.

I will say that after playing against ABM with a number of decks, I do respect it--but I know it's weak against combo, and I've got 4x Duress and 4x FoW just to make sure I can force it through in the unlikely event that he's got one of his Forces to try to disrupt me.  That, and I'm playing, as spin13 said, 5-Regrowths.dec.

Game 1:  I don't remember what he played this game.  A couple lands, I think.  I go first turn Sapphire, U.Sea, Walk.  Second turn Tropical, Scroll-->Ancestral.  Then the next turn I Regrow Ancestral.  Nice game.  I think I end Lacing, Reaping a Lace, and re-Lacing at the end of his turn, then Intuition-->Reaps during my turn, and go off (I'd drawn the Lotus already).

Game 2:  He plays, and drops City-Sol Ring-Scroll Rack.  Not what I'd love to see, but he doesn't have that many cards left to Rack away, and it's not game over by any means.  I Duress and see Demonic and Yawgwill, and take Demonic.  He scrolls for 2 next turn, then drops a Meddling Mage, naming Reap.  I am mostly unaffected by this, as I'm sure I can force through a Balance when I need to.  I think I end up burning an AK at the end of his turn, as I'd just drawn a second.   He scrolls for 3 and drops ANOTHER Mage, naming something that's not Balance (I didn't write down what).  I am still unconcerned.  Until he plays Extract.  

Shit.  I think about it for a while, but I don't have an answer in hand.  I AK for two, and still find no answer.  Now I think for a *very* long time about how to win without Lotus.  It's possible, but highly unlikely, and I don't like my chances against 2x Meddling Mage in the meantime.  I put my odds of winning this game at far, far less than my odds of winning next game, and I don't want to use up valuable time that could be spent winning game 3 in trying to win a near-unwinnable game.  Easy decision.  Just to make sure, I ask him what he's Extracting before I decide to scoop.  He says Lotus, so I scoop.

Game 3:  I announce first-turn Duress and he groans loudly.  That makes me almost as happy as Suntail Hawk.  Blood Moon follows the Dodo and the Triceratops into oblivion.  I don't have much in my notes for this game, but have him dropping Tax and Rack by turn three.  Unfortunately for him, I go off on turn 4. This is where Academy saves my ass--he's Racked away 6 lands the turn before, so I have to assume he has a Force and play around it.  I have Reap, Force, and Academy in hand, and have drawn a Lotus.  If Reap resolves, I win.  I have nothing to pitch to FoW, so I'm about to say "go" when I realize that I'm an idiot.  I drop Lotus, Academy, float UU from Academy (Mox Pearl in play already), THEN sack the Lotus for Green with enough mana to hardcast FoW.  He Forces the Reap, I Force back, GG.

Round 3:  Mark, playing a multi-color controllish combo thing.

Mark's deck has done well so far, but frankly, I have no idea what he's playing.  This is because Game 1 goes something like: Keep a hand I probably shouldn't have (it was a potentially very explosive hand, but I had to topdeck well if something got countered).  He DID have a first-turn Force, but I topdecked what I needed, and went off by turn 4 or 5.  Game 2 I get a very solid hand with Duress and Force backup, and win with ease.  All I see are Tundras and Tropicals, Forces and Drains.  I frankly have no idea what he was playing except that he called it a combo deck.

Round 4, final round: Brian (Fishhead) playing Gro-Atog.

I'd talked to Fishhead for a while before the tournament, and was pretty certain in any case that a new Top-8 Dulmen deck would prove too strong a temptation for Fishhead to ignore, so I knew that I was facing Gro-Atog.

A few words on the matchup: This is a nightmare.  Hell, this is beyond nightmare.  This is Dante-Must-Die mode, right here.  First problem: free counters and card drawing, and lots of it.  Second problem: while you're trying to work around those constantly-replenished counters, you've got to face down a big threat in the form of either Dryad or Tog, either of which can just up and kill you next turn.  This means that you've got to decide whether to use counters to stop his pressure, to protect your answer to his pressure (Balance), or to force through combo pieces.  

But the BIG problem is Gush.  As long as you haven't Duressed him to make sure he has no Gush, or put him pretty certainly on a non-Gush hand, he's going to have to play two non-Island permanents before you can safely combo.  This is a *HUGE* problem if he realizes it, because all he needs is one non-island permanent (Dryad or Tog) to kill you.  Fishhead described this matchup as auto-lose, and while that's not entirely true (you have draws that can win, esp. if you can assemble the combo + Duress + Force/additional Duress backup), it's very close to being the truth.  I wouldn't expect to take more than one match in four at best, and frankly, that feels like a significant overestimation.

Game 1: I have a good start: Pearl, Ruby, U. Sea, Duress, then Balance him when I realize I can force it through.  He's Duressed and Mind Twisted for 3.  However, after this I'm so focused on trying to read his hand, and plan 4 turns ahead at all times so that I can assemble the combo and play around counters, that I entirely forget about Gush.  That's my big mistake this game, and after he Gushes back a Sea that I'd painted black, the two Reaps in my hand are useless and I'm cursing myself for an idiot.  That was ALMOST game until the Gush, and I walked into it.  Unfortunately, there was actually nothing else to Lace anyway, until he dropped LoA and went crazy on me.  From there, he runs away with the game, and I'm forced into such a defensive position that I have to start Forcing Dryads.  He wins the counter war over the second Dryad, counters my last-minute Time Walk that was going to buy me a topdeck, and finishes me off.

Game 2:  He'd mentioned having Crypts against Reanimator, so I sneakily side in the 2x Bind that I have SB and my lone Morphling, in case I can't force the Combo through.  My notes are sketchy as to what exactly I took out; at least 2 Cunning Wish, if I remember correctly.  I debate the Tangles for a while in my head; I'd been planning my SBing for this matchup beforehand, but I decided that the Tangles just wouldn't do enough in this matchup.  I'm stuck with a horrible choice here; his deck is Aggro-Control, and mine is Combo with the ability to become very Controllish.  Aggro-Control is designed to beat both Combo AND Control, so no matter which way I side (go uber-control on him and rely on Morphing, or go balls-out and try to force through the combo), my chances are horrible.  I decide I'm going to try to combo, which I'm starting to think is the wrong decision.  For the entire game, I'm sitting on 2x Lace and 1x Intuition, which is (of course) game if I can force it through.  I never get a chance.  See Fishhead's report for this one--he's holding four counters from the word go, if I remember correctly.  He outdraws me after countering one of my intuitioned-for AKs, which if I remember correctly I knew would get countered, but I had some way to fetch the big AK.  It didn't matter, as I was dead before I had a chance.

So I settle for second place.  I get in a few games against Mask for testing purposes, and I'm pleasantly surprised to win 3/3 very easily.  I do *NOT* expect the matchup to be easy in general, as I'd assumed that Reap would be a little slow goldfishing against Mask, but my disruption is good enough to slow him down, and his just gives me 5-Regrowth targets.  3 games does not a conclusion make, however.

Comments, criticisms, all welcome.  I hope those of you who are ReapLace fans, or interested in the deck, find this helpful in some way.  This deck is almost illegally fun to play, if you're actually twisted enough to play it in the first place--you will always have about 5 options at all moments and you're constantly trying to plan 3 to 4 turns ahead to get around disruption, counters, outrace aggro, etc.  Your Poker skills will come in handy here--think of it as being just a little bit like Hold 'Em.  If you're masochistic enough to enjoy this, it's a great deck--if you play combo precisely so that you don't HAVE to worry about these things (think Dragon* ) , then this is not the deck for you.  

*No disrespect to dicemanX or the deck--just a good-natured little jab here.

For reference, the decklist:

ReapLacement Killers 2003

(Azhrei's build, folks, not my own, except for the substitutions noted above.  I'm using a SB similar to spin13's from his earlier ReapLace report, which I also highly recommend you read if you're interested in the deck)

4 Intuition
4 Force of Will
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Prismatic Lace
3 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor

4 Reap
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library

4 Duress
2 Deathlace
1 Demonic Tutor

1 Balance

6 SoLoMoxen (missing Emerald)
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
2 City of Brass
4 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
2 Tundra

SB:
3 Tangle
3 Naturalize
1 Reclaim
2 Bind (These should be Interdict for ease-of-casting purposes, but I couldn't find mine)
1 Misdirection
1 Abeyance
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Deathlace
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Morphling

[spin13]

The difference between Bind and Interdict really depends on whether you except to be facing decks with Crypts that also pack REBs.  Bind is technically superior if you can assure green mana, but mostly for the non-blueness.  I can't think of the last time I saw somebody Cycle a card in competitive T1, or activate a Necrosavant or Carrionette (yeah Brothers Very Grim!!).   I happened to play Interdict because I own them.  The exact Paragon listing of ReapLacement Killers includes 3 Bind, however, which leads me to believe its all a matter of circumstance.

As for conceeding to Extract, I don't think that was quite the correct play.  While I will often win by Reaping infinite Time Walks until I either have enough mana and/or card-drawing/search to find Lotus, I don't think Lotus is -always- necessary for winning.  If you can manage to go off against somebody who has drawn more than 10 cards all game, I think Walking will give you enough room to win.  It will, of course, take even more time than infinite mana Ancestral recursion, but its not impossible if you're able to Lace a third permanent before you are close to decking yourself.  Assuming 20 cards in your library, I think you will have enough turns to Ancestral and drop land so that you can hard-cast a Stroke their way.  As long as you honestly believe you can win, there is nothing wrong with fairly playing out the game to its conclusion regardless of time limits, especially late in a tournament.  

 -Eric\n\n

[Saucemaster]

on Interdict vs. Bind: Yeah, Bind is fine--however, I'm mostly concerned with ease of casting, and there are definitely times when I'm going to go off but only have enough green mana for the Reap, and not Reap + Bind (should the Bind be necessary).  But, as you pointed out, Interdict is REBable, so I suppose it's a trade-off.  I'm not sure it's entirely clear which one is better here.

On the Extract play:  Yeah, I debated this with myself for quite a while.  Basically, it boiled down the fact that I gave myself good odds on winning game 3, and figured that the odds I'd at least draw this game (w/o Lotus recursion) in the time left were actually worse, at which point the decision was relatively easy.  It's not entirely clear to me that it was the right play, but knowing that these tournaments are always straight-up Swiss, with no cut to T8 or T4, means that taking a draw is usually a bad idea--one or two people will usually go undefeated.  And I wanted it all, damn it, I wanted it all!    Looking back on it, I think you may well be correct.  At the very least, I could have played a few more turns just to see if I topdecked something absurdly broken.

[Fishhead]

Well, with Meddling Mage naming Reap on the board you had a limited number of turns to find that miracle answer.  You have to resolve Balance to win, if I read the deck correctly?  I suppose you might hang on and see what happens since the two Mages will beat you down pretty darn quick.  On the flip side, ABM takes forever to take its turns since there is Taxing, then shuffling, then Racking.  And then the actual play of the turn.  I'd guess you probably made the right call.

[NaClhv]

Congrats on being the first person ever to write a tournament report claiming victory over ABM.  And good job overall.

Game 1, I mulligan down to 6, and keep a hand with 2 plains as the only source of mana.  I die with those two plains (which were black at this time, of course) as my only permanents, with two meddling mages in my hand.

Game 2, I get 2 mages, extract, and scroll rack.  I felt pretty good, and ended up winning.

Game 3, I keep a hand with 6 mana sources and a blood moon (hence the groan in response to the duress).  I eventually somehow get tax-rack, but on the very next turn after I get the rack, I lose the game in the way that Saucemaster described.  I die, with tax-rack on the board, and two meddling mages in my hands.

Overall impression:  I should mulligan more.

[Fishhead]

Quote Game 3, I keep a hand with 6 mana sources and a blood moon (hence the groan in response to the duress).

Although 2 of these 6 sources are Moxes, so you had the potential for first turn Blood Moon, yes?  Its a gamble, but I would probably keep.  If he doesnt have the FoW or Duress then you write the winning side of the report.

[Zherbus]

Quote (NaClhv @ Jan. 25 2003,03:51)Congrats on being the first person ever to write a tournament report claiming victory over ABM.  And good job overall.

Actually, I hate to rain on your advertising campaign here, but that's not true. A few weeks ago, IAmFishman beat it in Hadley, Mass. Look for it here.

Saucemaster, great job with a severely underplayed deck. I am ultimately glad to see it make an excellent showing.

[NaClhv]

Zherbus-Thanks for the correction.  You know, I actually found that thread earlier, by searching for ABM.  But by reading just a couple of paragraphs which contained "ABM", I only got the impression that someone was playing the deck, and didn't know that it was one of the decks in the tournament report.  At any rate, thanks for pointing this out, since it will help me get more information from that thread about how ABM is doing.

Fishhead-I think I had one mox, and city of traitors.  Earliest that Blood Moon could have hit was 2nd turn, and I was going second.  I'm pretty sure I should have mulled that hand, although that might just be hindsight talking.

Actually, I think what would be helpful (for all of us) is to just sit down together, grab a deck that we all know decently, and draw opening hands, and talk about whether to keep or not.  I have a feeling that my mulliganing practices are very different from many other people's, so I want to see when others mulligan.

Saucemaster-Now that you've completed a tournament with the deck, what do you think of it?  You noted that the combo was slow:  Does it have any advantages?  From what I can tell, it has the surprise factor going for it (it's not played much, so not many people know what to expect), but other than that, it's not particularly disruptive, nor fast, nor resilient.  The fact that one is required to have a lotus to play the deck, too, is a strike against it.

At least, that's the impression of someone who's played against the deck only once.  As someone who's played with the deck in a tournament, what do you think?