Battle for Baghdad - in Listowel!

Battle for Baghdad – in Listowel?

Listowel is a small town in Southern Ontario where the tournament was held.

The format of this tourney is not true Type 1, the difference being no Power 9 allowed and no sideboards. It isn’t really a casual tournament however, since there were 120 people there playing for a Mox Ruby, Mirror and other decent stuff. There are certainly some free wins but there are a good chunk of very competent players as well. The reason for not allowing sideboards is to support the open play format they use.

You are randomly paired up round one, play one game against that person. Go report at the desk and get your card stamped (smiley face for winner, something else for loser). The winner then plays the next victor in line and the loser the next loser who comes up. Three hours of this, then the top 32 (based on win %) play single elim (best 2 of 3) the rest of the way for the good stuff and everyone else plays single elim for some lesser prizes. You must play a minimum of 10 games in the open play to qualify for the single elim rounds. It is a nice fast way to cut to a Top 32 (or whatever) and yet even if you lose a lot in the open play you know your day isn’t over. You also really get to play against a variety of decks.

The Bingeman’s-Stratford-Listowel circuit is complete, to start again around June. I played mono black Nether Void at all three and added to my already impressive total of “almost but not quite” finishes. After finishing top 16 and Stratford and Bingeman’s I ended up 4th at Listowel.

The expected GAT metagame did not materialize. I did not see a single Psychatog the whole day and the few Grow decks were traditional builds. What did amaze me was the emergence of Bazaar of Baghdad. I had never personally seen this card played before Sunday and when I had seen it in decklists it was usually to facilitate a reanimator deck or Ashen Ghouls. I saw the Bazaar-Squee engine power up at least three totally different decks; a TnT-Mask hybrid, Replenish-Pandeburst combo and Reanimator. It obviously worked since Wayne won the tournament with his TnT-Mask mutant beating Ryan with the Replenish-Pandeburst combo. Eight Bazaars in the finals! It is a great combo for a non sideboard environment since people can’t afford to main deck graveyard hate (Except Wayne who won the tournament basically on the back of a single Tormod’s Crypt he had main deck! The man is a visionary, not only did he use the Bazaar-Squee engine but he was ready for the mirror!). In a “real” Type 1 environment with sideboards I question the effectiveness of the engine since it is so easily hated out.

The tournament started late naturally since Daylight Savings Time messed with the heads of many, esteemed head judge Mr. Pengally included. My decklist:

14 Swamp
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

4 Ritual
4 Duress
4 Hymn
4 Sinkhole
3 Nether Void
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Powder Keg
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
1 Cursed Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Necropotence
1 Sol Ring

I went up from Cambridge and picked up Phil Miles (Mono U) and Ed Armstrong (U/r counterburn) in Guelph. We arrive and see the usual suspects among a good turnout of around 120 people. 7-3 will get you into the Top 32.

Round 1: Adam, U/W traditional Replenish/Opalescence

This deck combos at least one turn slower than others in the format (Gorger.dec, Aluren, SquirrelCraft, Pebbles, Mask, Pandeburst) and needs four mana so it isn’t hard for me to disrupt long enough to lock down with a Void. I can’t remember exact details but I know I got a decent draw with discard and a Sinkhole or two and a Void hit to end any hope of a comeback for him. A Shade finished.

Me: 20
Adam: 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 0

Round 2: Mike Hall, Suicide Black

Mike won Bingeman’s not long ago (beating me in the open play along the way) so I know this will be a tough game. I win the roll and Paris into a good hand but no first turn play. 2 Swamp, Demonic Tutor, Hymn, 2 Hyppies. He Duresses and takes my Tutor. I Hymn away an Edict and Shade and he drops a Shade. I drop a keg and eat some Shade damage and he Sinkholes a land. I return the favour and get a Hyppie out and he sticks at two land. I Keg the Shade away and drop another Hyppie and they go all the way.

Me: 18, 16
Mike: 18, 14, 8, 1, 0

Round 3: Arthur, B/w zombie/clerics.

He goes first and gets a turn 1 Festering Goblin and Turn 2 Shepard of Rot. I get Sol Ring, then Nether Void turn 2. I have no Kegs or critters but assume I will find something before the two weenies can deal twenty. With all the disruption in my hand and my Sol Ring negating Void he should never get to cast another spell. He doesn’t as I Sinkhole and Hymn him and eventually I Keg away the Goblin and lay a Shade with many swamps available.

Me: 19, 17, 15, 13, 12, 11, 10
Arthur: 18, 16, 14, 0

Round 4: Petr, Oath.

Petr is a regular at these and always seems to be in the top 8. We’ve played a few times and the matches are pretty even.

I again have Sol Ring in my opening hand and decide to Consult for a Void reasoning that it will cripple him for so long that I will wreak havoc on his land and hand by the time he ever has mana to cast anything. This plan doesn’t work out since Petr has a ton of land in hand and draws more. Worse still, I lose about 40-45 cards of my library to the Consult before I find one of my three Voids and nine of my thirteen damage sources are gone. I now only have about ten cards left and one Factory in my hand to kill Petr with before I get decked. I have one Shade left in the deck that could finish things quickly. The factory chips a bit before he Plows it and I do pull the Shade with enough cards left to theoretically win but of course he counters it and I enter scoop phase.

Me: 20, 22
Petr: 18, 15, 13

3-1 so far.

Round 5: Denholm, Reanimator

I played Denholm at Bingeman’s last time and plan my opening hand accordingly. I get a good one with a Duress and two Wasteland and they slow him down while I get a keg to start building counters. He gets a Vampiric Tutor off and then Intuitions for three ridiculous fatties (Akroma, Reya and Visara I think) and I thought I was done for but he doesn’t have a reanimation effect. I get out a Hyppie and then another and they finish him before he can pull a reanimate/animate off the top. He is swinging back at me with one and then two factories but is too far behind to race. He had a few turns to top deck but by that point the keg was also up to enough counters that I could take out whatever he brought into play.

Me: 17, 13, 9
Denholm: 18, 16, 12, 8, 4, 0

Round 6: Rob, Goblins

This goes as most of my games do against Sligh/mono red. I clear the board with a Keg and then drop Nether Void and they either never cast another spell or never anything of consequence. A large Shade does twenty in three turns or so. It is a common misunderstanding that Sligh is a problem for Void. It isn’t. I win slightly more than 50% against a good anti control sligh (with Ankh’s and Scrolls) and a good 66% against Sligh with “bad” cards like Fireblast and Ball Lightning.

Me: 19, 18
Rob: 18, 12, 5, 0

Round 7: Chris, Gro

Chris is a friendly guy I’ve seen at a few of these. He changes decks fairly often so I assume he is playing Sligh which I saw him with at the last Bingeman’s but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he has something else. He goes first and lays a Tropical Island. I assume Oath and Wasteland it. He doesn’t see another land for quite some time so we have nothing resembling a game. After I Duress him and see 3x Gush, Werebear, Misdirection and Daze I realize he is playing Gro. He FoW’s a couple spells but I get a Hyppie down and then a Shade to mercifully end it. He never has more than one land in play during the game but takes the mana screw without a word of complaint. Gro does tend to just lose to Wasteland sometimes.

Me: 20
Chris: 18, 16, 15, 13, 11, 4, 0

Round 8: Steve, Green/x?

He lays a Utopia Tree with two Forests so I assume he had another colour but he never resolves a spell after I Sinkhole on turn two and drop turn four Nether Void. Again a Shade makes short work of the game under the Void.

Me: 20
Steve: 18, 15, 9, 3, 0

Round 9: Ian, Stompy

I win the roll which turns out to be very unfortunate for Ian. He has what is a perfect Stompy hand if he had gone first. Elvish Spirit guide, Land Grant, 2x Boa, 2x Skyshroud Elite, Hidden Gibbons. Once I take his Land Grant with my turn one Duress, the hand turns from excellent to horrible in one fell swoop. He drops the Gibbons with ESG and then peels a Forest and drops the two Elite on consecutive turns. I ignore the Gibbons as I have all of one instant in my deck (Consult, which ironically was in my hand) and Keg the Elite away but I only have one Factory on the board for offense and he finds another Forest and drops his two Boas.

Now I’m worried as I have no way to kill regenerators but I do Sinkhole one forest and am only taking two per turn from the snakes since the Factory can keep holding one off. I get another keg and figure I can kill one Boa at least if he doesn’t find another land. However, he errs and when I have one counter on the keg he taps out on his turn to drop a Ghazban Ogre. On my turn I drop another counter on the keg and gratefully blow both Boas away. The Factory holds off the Ogre until a Hyppie shows up and starts going over for damage and a Shade joins in soon after to pull it out.

Me: 19, 17, 15, 13, 9
Ian: 18, 16, 12, 8, 0

Round 10: John, white weenie

John gets a fairly quick start with Deftblade Elite, then another, then Beloved Chaplain, then Savannah Lions. Fortunately I Duress turn one and pull a Crusade and get one, then two Kegs to clear the board after taking a fair chunk of damage from Glorious Anthemed weenies. I then drop an active Cursed Scroll that ends any critter threat from him and start scrolling away at him. A Shade does the lion’s share of damage.

Me: 19, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 5,
John: 14, 12, 6

9-1 after 10 rounds but there is still over an hour left in open play and then a break for lunch. I really don’t want to sit around for an hour and a half so I decide to keep playing until I get my second loss since I will easily make Top 32 with two losses. I was not trying to bolster my ego or crush dreams I was just bored. Besides I do like playing magic, especially against new decks.

Round 11: Andrew, mono green fat.

He doesn’t draw any acceleration so his Baloth’s and Rhox sit in hand while I Sinkhole a land or two and get a big Shade out. He did hit me once with a Blanchwood Armoured Werebear but it was academic.

Me: 15
Andrew: 18, 14, 12, 5, 0

Round 12: Matt, R/B/w Tombstone Stairwell/Goblin Bombardment/Alter of Dementia combo. Odd deck, I thought it was a Pebbles variant at first but it was not strictly combo, the Stairwell combo was in there along with Ghitu Slingers and Av Riders and Flametongues. Rectors help find the combo.

I draw two Wasteland and a couple Sinkholes and he never has more than two land in play before a Nether Void hits. The only spell he resolved was a Soul Warden but it was on D since I played a Shade and then the Void soon after. Soul Wardens don’t play D very well it turns out.

Me: 20
Matt: 21, 19, 18, 7, 0

Round 13: Dennis, mono red.

I drop turn two Void via either Sol Ring or Ritual and then keep dropping land and start Sinkholing his. He bolts once in response to the Void and never casts anything else. I believe he concedes shortly after.

Me: 17
Dennis: 20

Round 14: Lucas, Elves

Lucas is young and has a deck that is more than 60 cards so I underestimate him at the start of the match. I feel badly about that mental arrogance because it is quickly apparent that although his deck is hardly optimal he is a decent player. It won’t take him long to be a very good player judging by what I saw in our match.

He drops a 1/2 elf of some kind early (tap to give +x/+x to target creature where x is # of elves in play) but I do the Sinkhole, Void thing again and he doesn’t get to play much else. I have only a Factory for offense and I attack with it only to be stunned when he blocks with his elf and taps it before damage is assigned to pump itself to 2/3 killing the Factory and staying on the board. I am disgusted with myself for missing the play (How many times have I done the same thing with a Factory? A thousand?) and impressed that he had the presence of mind to do it. It doesn’t matter as I drop a Hyppie that s l o w l y outraces the elf. I get a Cursed Scroll to help at the end.

Me: 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14
Lucas: 18, 16, 14, 10, 8, 6, 2, 0

Round 15: Mike, mono green.

Judging by the life totals he hit me with something fairly fat while a Shade took him out but I have no memory of the game at all.

Me: 15, 10
Mike: 16, 14, 8, 2, 0

Round 16: Andrew, Worldgorger

I knew he was playing Gorger from seeing him play beside me earlier and he kind of hinted at it as we started the game. “Pick a big number.” “Okay, a million. That how much you going to Ghitu Fire me for?” “Yep”. Well, not really since I won the roll and my first turn consisted of Swamp, Ritual, Ritual, Hymn you, Consult for Hymn, Hymn you again, go. Turn two I drop Nantuko Shade, turn three Sinkhole one of his lands. I Duress him and see Ghitu Fire, Animate Dead, Buried Alive. He only has one land so I figure it doesn’t matter but I take the kill card. He actually makes a game of it despite my grotesque start by Ritualling off a Buried Alive next turn. Hell! Now all he has to do is peel a land and he can Animate for the draw. I draw and lay a Hyppie, he doesn’t pull land. I swing with the Hyppie and Shade with a 50% chance of ripping the Animate away and I nail it. It turns out not to matter since he never gets a second land.

Me: 20
Andrew: 18, 14, 12, 5, 0

There is about 20 minutes left in open play at this point so I turn in my card. I guess 15-1 will probably make the cut.

I grab something to eat and gab with Phil and Ed. Phil was 9-1 with his mono U and Ed took his U/r to 8-2 so all of us comfortably make Masters. I end up first seed and play against Matt Coles from round 12.

Top 32: Matt Coles, B/R/w “Machine Gun” Stairwell/Bombardment/Altar

Game 1: I Duress and whiff as he has 2x Slingers, 2 Flametongues, a Rector and land. I don’t mind missing with the Duress since I have a Wasteland and Sinkhole so his three and four casting cost hand isn’t too scary. He draws into a bit more land but no white mana. My first Shade eats a Terminate but I have two Factories out that start to hit and he has to cast Slingers targeting me and then chump when I attack with one Factory and pump it. His Flametongues sit in his hand and the Factories finish it.

Me: 19, 17, 15
Matt: 18, 17, 15, 11, 9, 7, 3, 0

Game 2: I stall with only one swamp for a bit and get one Wasteland off but he draws a lot of land and gets a Rector out turn four. He then gets Altar next turn. I have a Shade out so I swing into the Rector figuring I can’t really afford to wait and see if I pull a Hyppie or Scroll to win around it. He fetches the Stairwell and starts swinging with three zombies. I block with a Shade and get two Hyppies milled early so I’m not taking much damage but I’m losing six cards on his turn and mine. He can only keep the stairwell for three turns but that still mills 36 cards away. I have less than ten cards left and my Yawgmoth’s Will is still in there so if I pull it I can pull off a gigantic turn and drop about three Shades and three Hyppies into play and still win. He plows a Factory and then drops a Soul Warden next turn, mills me for one with the Altar and I lose the Will. I can’t finish him before I get decked.

Me: 19, 18, 16, 14, 10, 7, 9, 7
Matt: 18

Game 3: I get a nice opening hand with 2 Swamp, Hymn, Sinkhole, Hyppie, Demonic Tutor, Keg. He gets turn one Soul Warden but I then cast Hymn, Sinkhole, Hymn on the next three turns and he is left without much in the way of hand or land. I drop a Shade and then a Hyppie, Wasteland another land to keep him below four mana and it is on the next round.

Me: 19
Matt: 21, 19, 20, 16, 12, 13, 7, 0

Top 16: Marco, Goblin Sligh

Game 1: I keep a mediocre hand with Swamp, Factory, 2 Kegs, Duress, Will, Ritual. He lays a Fanatic and I Duress a bolt. He lays a Lackey, Chains me and hits for 1. I drop Keg. He hits again and puts Flunky into play with Lackey and drops another Flunky with mana. I keg the 1/1’s away and then Ritual, Will, double Ritual out Keg from the ‘yard and Hyppie from my hand. I still don’t have a second Swamp. I eat six from the Flunkies and swing back with Factory and Hyppie deciding that I have to race and pray he doesn’t draw burn. I take another six from Flunkies to go to three (eek) and keep whacking with the Hyppie and Factory since I still can’t find any land. He lays a Barbarian Ring and I mentally put myself to 1. I hit back to put him at four. He draws, looks at his paper where he is also writing life totals and Lightning Bolts...the Hyppie.

Naturally I was taken aback since the thing to do seems like Bolting me for the win. I assume that he looked at our life and somehow confused the totals (they were written correctly on his sheet, I checked) and thought I was at four and he was at three. He didn’t have enough mana to Ring me and Bolt me so if he thought I was at four he had to Bolt the Hyppie or die next turn. I asked him afterwards and he said he did mix up the totals.
A mistake but lets all remember that Gary Wise had an opponent at 2 life, drew a Shock and Shocked a critter at a Pro Tour not long ago. If one of the best players in the game can make that error then I think Marco doesn’t have to feel too badly about it.

Game 2: After a mulligan Marco hits with a Raging Goblin turn 1. I Duress and see only land Fanatic, Raging Goblin. That cheers me considerably since I have a Keg in my hand. He drops Fanatic next turn and Reckless Charges it and swings for five. I feel less cheery and drop my Keg. I eat two more and he passes. I keg the wee ones away and drop a Hyppie. He drops Rager and passes. I hit with Hyppie and pull land out of his hand. I Ritual, Will and cast Keg and Sinkhole. He again has no play and the Hyppie goes in. I Keg the Raging Gobbo away and the Hyppie and Factory finish it with an active Scroll chipping in and keeping the board clear of goblins on his side. Marco drew a fair chunk of land this game and no burn at all.

Me: 19, 14, 12, 11
Marco: 19, 17, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5, 3, 0

Top 8: Petr, Oath

I was watching Petr play against Sligh to see who would face me. I was really hoping for the Sligh deck since it is an easier match up for me but I wasn’t optimistic given that Sligh generally has a pretty tough time with Oath, especially if the Oath player knows what they are doing. Unsurprisingly Petr wins in two.

Game 1: Petr makes an uncharacteristic error and keeps a one land hand with no Brainstorm. That is suicidal against my deck (which he knows most of or all the cards in). Between five strips and four Sinkholes the odds are close to 100% that I will kill a land on my first or second turn. I Strip Mine the Tropical Island he drops and he doesn’t see another land for at least two or three turns and that is far too late. He Forces a Shade and then I drop Void while he has one land on the table to my five or six and he scoops.

Me: 20
Petr: 19, 17, 13
Game 2: I look at an opening hand of 2 Swamp, 2 Ritual, 2 Factory, Wasteland. That is not great, but playable against Oath since I really want to see Factories and the Wasteland can stunt him a little. He lays Tundra and says go. I peel....Nether Void. That seems like a good draw. I double Ritual and lay Void. He has no Force, I burn for one. I drop Factory next turn. Then another Factory. Then ANOTHER Factory. Then Wasteland his only white producing dual since he had four land and could have plowed something. He does manage to Plow one Factory and the turn after he does I peel my fourth Mishra’s. What an utterly ridiculous draw. Oddly, I win that game.

Me: 19, 21
Petr: 18, 15, 12, 8, 6, 2, 0

I toddle over to watch Wayne playing against a U/r Phid deck. The winner is my next opponent. I don’t know the U/r player and I know Wayne is a really nice guy but I am fervently rooting for the U/r. I like my match up against that deck very much and Wayne’s Mask/TnT hybrid is probably the single worst match up in the entire room for me. Wayne takes it. Crud.

Semifinals: Wayne, TnT/Mask mutant.

Game 1: He gets a Bazaar going with Squee and then a Juggy via Workshop. I chip away at his hand with Duress and Hymn and eat two turns of Juggy love. I then trade a Factory for the Jubs. I manage to Keg away a Dreadnaught that gets Masked out and I’m not liking how this game is going. I’m stuck at three land but I have a Ritual and pull another and then a Will and get a big Will turn off that turns the game around since it leaves me with a Shade and Factory on the board, Shade in hand and him with two forest and a Taiga on the board. I hit hard a couple times and he gets another Bazaar and digs for an answer. He is down to nine after I hit and will die next turn to two Shades and Factory. He has an Anger in the ‘yard so I held back one factory to chump with since I am at ten and I don’t want to die to a top decked ‘Naught. He draws, Bazaars leaving him with two cards in hand. He taps two mana and lays two Dreadnaughts and attacks for the win.

To sum up, the only way he could win that game is if two of his remaining three Dreadnaughts were in the top three cards of his library...and they were. A particularly galling loss since I had started badly and figured the game as lost, then made a lucky comeback with the Will and thought I had the win only to have it snatched away. I blue the air with some profanity but really, can I complain about luck after what I did to Petr in game two? Apparently I can.

Game 2: More of what I expect from the match up as I Duress a Mask away, Wasteland a Workshop, Keg a Welder and it just doesn’t matter. He finds another Mask quickly and gets a Dreadnaught out and it turns out my face plays D poorly against 12/12 tramplers.

Me: 20, 10, 0
Wayne: 20

I end up playing Ed Brown for 3rd/4th. I wanted to get home but he wanted to play it out. If he had anything other than Sligh I would have said to hell with it but at least the games would be fast. Ed wins two relatively close games although I still stand by my assertion that the match up favours me.

A good tournament, I had a good time and could rest easy knowing that it is almost impossible for me to beat Wayne’s deck. He goes on to win the whole Shebang, a nice birthday present for him. Congratulations Wayne.

Tony Drew