Dreamer's Top Eight Sunday March 14, 2004

[Frost]

56 Players showed up for this month’s Type 1 at Dreamer’s in Minneapolis.  Congratulations to Brad Ojala who won the Mox Sapphire with his Oshawa Stompy deck.

The Metagame breakdown for this month was:
9 R/G Beatz
4 Tog
4 Fish
4 Sligh/Goblins
3 Dragon
3 EBA
2 Sneak Attack
2 Void
2 TnT
2 Stax
1 Parfait
1 SnowBlower
1 Mono Green (Splash Red) LD
1 Affinity
1 Star Spangled Slaughter
1 UrPhid
1 Grow
1 Suicide
1 Draw7.dec
1 Combo Slavery
1 MadDragon
1 Oshawa Stompy
1 Clerics
1 Mono Green Beatz
7 Unknown Decks (Somehow my notes only have 49 decktypes but there where 56 players who had signed up)

Top Eight Decklists

1st Place
Brad Ojala – Oshawa Stompy
14 Forest
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Lotus Petal
4 Elvish Spirit Guides
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Troll Ascetic
4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Hidden Gibbons
4 Null Rod
2 Naturalize
1 Berserk

Sideboard
3 Xantid Swarm
3 Root Maze
3 Cursed Scroll
2 Ground Seal
2 Naturalize
2 Oxidize

2nd Place
Brian Cox – Combo Slavery

4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
3 Gilded Lotus
2 Volcanic Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
3 Goblin Welder
3 Metalworker
1 Pentavus
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Duress
3 Cunning Wish
3 Mindslaver
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Future Sight
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Panoptic Mirror
1 Memory Jar
 
Sideboard
3 Fire/Ice
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Coffin Purge
1 Ebony Charm
1 Firestorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Hibernation

3rd / 4th Place
Jeremy Zwirn – R/G Beatz
4 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Taiga
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Treetop Village
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine
4 Kird Ape
4 River Boa
4 Troll Ascetic
2 Gorilla Shaman
2 Skyshroud Elite
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Naturalize
2 Rancor
1 Call of the Herd

Sideboard
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Blood Moon
3 Root Maze
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Forgotten Ancient
1 Naturalize

3rd / 4th Place
Jason Henke – MadDragon
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
2 Bayou
2 Badlands
1 Forest
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Shivan Hellkite
1 Anger
4 Animate Dead
4 Duress
4 Survival of the Fittest
1 Demonic Tutor

Sideboard
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Artifact Mutation
3 Engineered Plague
2 Tormond’s Crypt
2 Naturalize

5th / 6th / 7th / 8th
Lee Hall – R/G Beatz
8 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
4 Blurred Mongoose
3 River Boa
3 Troll Ascetic
4 Call of the Herd
4 Naturalize
4 Urza’s Rage
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Price of Progress
3 Blood Moon
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Burning Wish

Sideboard
4 Artifact Mutation
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Ground Seal
1 Hurricane
1 Pyroclasm
1 Kaervek’s Torch
1 Chain Lightning
1 Pulverize

5th / 6th / 7th / 8th
James Beltz – Fish
4 Flooded Strand
4 Volcanic sland
3 Snow-Covered Island
2 Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Ruby
1 Chrome Mox
1 Black Lotus
4 Flying Men
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Spiketail Hatchling
3 Serendib Efreet
4 Standstill
4 Curiosity
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
3 Daze
3 Stifle
3 Earthquake
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Sideboard
4 Chill
4 Pyroblast
4 Gorilla Shaman
3 Rack and Ruin

5th / 6th / 7th / 8th
Phil Doyle – Mono Green (Splash Red) LD

4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland
3 Snow-Covered Forest
2 Windswept Heath
1 Strip Mine
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Terravore
3 Troll Ascetic
1 Flametongue Kavu
4 Ice Storm
4 Thermokarst
4 Tangle Wire
4 Powder Keg
3 Root Maze
2 Naturalize
2 Creeping Mold
1 Winter's Grasp

Sideboard
4 Artifact Mutation
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Damping Matrix
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ground Seal
2 Pyroclasm

5th / 6th/ 7th /8th
Steve Reinertz – Draw7.dec

4 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Saphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Lions Eye Diamond
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Diminishing Returns
3 Chromatic Sphere
1 Memory Jar
1 Minds Desire
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Tinker
1 Burning Wish
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fastbond
 
Sideboard
4 Xantid swarms
2 Naturalize
1 Hull breach
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Regrowth
1 Balance
4 Misc Junk (Unfortunately these cards were not listed in the e-mail he sent me)

TMDers present who missed the Top 8
Craig Olson (Milton) 4-1 with UrPhid
Jon Tschida (Frost) 3-0-2 with Dragon
Ian DeGraff (I@n) 2-1-2 with Tog
Steve Petersen (waSP) 2-3 with SnowBlower

Jason Webster would like to thank all those who came out to the tournament and to let everyone know that there will be a tournament for a Black Lotus on the Second Sunday of June.  I will post more information closer to the tournament date.

[waSP]

I'll post my decklist along with a small report on the 'morrow.

Despite my poor performance, my streak of consecutive top 8's including one of my decklists continued.  The Land Destruction deck was my build (with a 1 card difference).  The next time it sees play, it will include at least 2 Swords of Fire and Ice.  PH34R!

[Dr. Sylvan]

To think I almost missed this thread! Thanks for the email, Jon.

That high RG metagame presence just wreaks of waSP influence. :)

[Milton]

TMDers present who missed the Top 8
Craig Olson (Milton) 4-1 with UrPhid

It sucked to be me.  To go 4-1 and not make finals really sucked.  There really should have been six rounds.  Jason felt bad that I didn't make finals with a 4-1 record (it came down to the third tie-breaker) so he gave me $20 in store credit, but I would have liked to play for the Mox.

Oh well.  Shit happens.

[CrazyCarl]

Congrats on the awesome attendance.  You guys may be able to start Lotus tournies...

[Methuselahn]

Jason Webster would like to thank all those who came out to the tournament and to let everyone know that there will be a tournament for a Black Lotus on the Second Sunday of June.  I will post more information closer to the tournament date.

I believe this tournament will actually be Unlimited Proxy and 20$.  "If enough attend, a mox will be put up for second"

[I@n]

The Lotus tourney will be in June  I dont believe it has unlimited Proxies though.

I must admit it was good times,
WAsp is perhaps the most important person who plays out of Dreamers. His deck designs greatly influence the meta game.

It seems funny looking at type 1 right now some metagames are so saturated with Tog the tog players are running Cabal Interrogator in the Mirror , other places of the US mindslaver owns, And at Dreamers R/G is top dog.  
Right now green is the most powerful color at least in Minneapolis.  Largely because of the holy green trinity  naturalize, survival of the fitest and berserk  or is it deed?

I wanted to thank Milton for loaning me the lotus.  I need to play tog faster so I don't draw so damn much.  Lesson learned.
Maybe next month I'll play something with Mishra's Sweatshop.

Until later.
-i@n

[Jhaggs]

Awesome tournament!  In second place, was that Browser with the Panoptic Mirror tech?

I@n,

   It has been a while since I have seen you post on the net.  Whatever happened to the goblin build that you were trying to incorparte black with?  Did you self that project?

[I@n]

I had no idea that people actually respected me I mean after all  I'm not even a FULL TMD member.  

About the goblin deck.  To me goblins evolved as an anti-control deck and it does actually do fair against combo because of Pyrostatic Pillar (depending on the combo). However in my metagame big aggro rules the roost and goblins have trouble playing against free 4/4 creatures.

I have a pet project going on right now of working on Food Chain Goblins and a Blue Green Red version of Goblins based on my orginal gen con build.

Ill try and keep everyone posted.

[Jhaggs]

I had no idea that people actually respected me I mean after all  I'm not even a FULL TMD member.  

About the goblin deck.  To me goblins evolved as an anti-control deck and it does actually do fair against combo because of Pyrostatic Pillar (depending on the combo). However in my metagame big aggro rules the roost and goblins have trouble playing against free 4/4 creatures.

I have a pet project going on right now of working on Food Chain Goblins and a Blue Green Red version of Goblins based on my orginal gen con build.

Ill try and keep everyone posted.

LOL...you have name recognition!  Finishing in the top 8 at gencon with goblins was pretty spectacular.  Its tough to forget that.  Also, there are many members on this site that I have respect for that do not have a full account.  All in due time...Keep us posted on your builds!

Back to the tourny, looking at the decklists, there was alot of a great new additions to existing builds.  Panoptic mirror, snow covered lands, firestorm, just to name a few.  This sounded like a great time...

[Suckamouf37]

I had a great time, even though my deck was total junk.  I beat Methuselahn(Jeff) playing R/G in the first round, then lost to Parfait, Draw7, and budget Dragon.  I expected to play more RG, or at least more aggro.  Oh well, I was able to put FCG together and I can't wait for the June tournament.

Also, does anyone know if Jason is going to run the April tournament on Easter, because that's the 2nd Sunday.

[I@n]

Attendance would be poor as most of us have families and would be unable to go then.

[Tempe]

Then only the Jews would show up . Heheh, yeah!

Anyways, once again, I couldn't make it, either to the full tournament or the friday night proxy tournament 2 days before. Hopefully, I'll pick up the necessary cards to complete Nitro Elves, and give it a run in a _real_ tournament sometime.

Of course, none of you guys probably remember me, as I've only played in a non-proxy tournament there once, the month before Entomb was officially restricted (I was playing Dragon). I ended up losing at the T8, but it was a good time. I'll have to try it again some time, but the fact that I'm 15 and without an allowance or a ride kind of puts a hindrance on my playing.

By the way, without Deck Reg, how did you get all of that information Frost? At least, there was no deck reg when I was last there about 5 months ago. Was it added?

Note: This is Kheoinn from the old TMD boards, if that helps to jog memories.

--Tempe

[Suckamouf37]

That's what I was thinking.  I talked to Jason last Tuesday at the draft, and he said that he was probably going to make the 1st place prize a Workshop, 2nd a Drain, and with that sort of support, it'd be tough to get a turnout.

[Frost]

@ Tempe

Basically once I realized that 3-0-2 would not be enough to make the top eight (actually it could have been but I needed a lot of help), I talked to Jason about getting the top eight decklists to post.  As people were loosing waSP and I were frantically writing down decklists, with the exceptions of Brian Cox and Steve Reinartz, who e-mailed them to me.

waSP and I also did some coverage on 2 of the 4 Quarterfinal matches, both semifinal matches and the finals.  I hope to get those posted soon so people can take a look at what transpired.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Basically once I realized that 3-0-2 would not be enough to make the top eight (actually it could have been but I needed a lot of help), I talked to Jason about getting the top eight decklists to post.  As people were loosing waSP and I were frantically writing down decklists, with the exceptions of Brian Cox and Steve Reinartz, who e-mailed them to me.

<3 Frost & waSP. <3 <3 <3

I urge you to keep up this practice so the SCG-reading world can see the power of the RG Beatz.

[waSP]

Laff, I need to write my report, but I'd rather get the coverage typed up so I'll be brief.

Round 1 against Tog

He takes game 1 in Tog fashion.. I tried to race him but no.

Game 2 I win with fast beats and Deed I think.  I had infinite Call tokens this game (Maze of Ith was awesome).

Game 3 He can't find any draw and I eventually kill him with Elephants.

Round 2 against Madragon

His beats are quick and I'm forced to extend lest I succumb.  He finds his combo.

He gets me low, I have Ground Seal, Tormod's Crypt and something else on the board to stop any Dragon nonsense.  A pair of Troll Ascetics hold back the tide, but Deed never comes to save the day.  (It was atop my deck the turn after he swung for lethal damage).

Round 3 against TnT

I make a terrible mistake because I forget I'm playing a reactive deck (vs. R/G Beatz).  He kills me with Bosh.  Didn't activate Deed to kill Survival + Welder.

I can't find any enchantment removal to deal with Blood Moons.  I don't see fetches and he gets me with some creatures eventually.

Round 4 against R/G Beatz

I race him by one turn.

I race him by one turn again.  Ravenous Baloth is SOOOO good.

Round 5 against EBA

My deck coughs up 0 white sources and 0 green sources.  I sit on 4 Swords and a some other fun cards while he casts 3 Meddling Mages.  Vindicate kills Maze of Ith.

My deck coughs up 4 Wastelands and no other lands.  I can't cast any spells and Meddling Mage again wrecks me with beats.

A very disappointing finish.  I wish I could have played Ravager .  That deck is insane.

My list for all you who for some reason care.

Snowblower

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
3 Treetop Village
3 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Scrubland
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
1 Swamp

3 River Boa
3 Call of the Herd
2 Troll Ascetic
2 Ravenous Baloth

4 Pernicious Deed
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Duress
4 Naturalize
1 Balance
1 Maze of Ith
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Regrowth

Sideboard
4 Seal of Cleansing
2 Serenity
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Maze of Ith
1 Abeyance
1 Ground Seal
1 Damping Matrix

[Beowulf]

I went table by table writing down archtypes during round 3 at Frost's (Jon's) request, that's why the list is incomplete. I'm sure most of the ppl who went 0-2ed proceeded to drop.

[Frost]

@ Beowulf

Thank you for doing the survey for me.  It is nice to see what people were bringing.

For those who are interested, I played Dragon yesterday.  Here is the deck I played to a 10th place finish:

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
3 Swamp
2 Island
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Ambassador Laquatus
4 Force of Will
4 Duress
3 Compulsion
3 Animate Dead
3 Dance of the Dead
2 Necromancy
2 Intuition
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Lim-Dul's Vault

Sideboard
3 Stifle
3 Recoil
3 Tormond's Crypt
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Verdant Force
1 Sliver Queen

My rounds went:
Rd 1 against Sligh 2-1
Rd 2 against EBA 1-1-1
Rd 3 against Tog 1-1
Rd 4 against FCG 2-1
Rd 5 against GayR 2-0

[kakeboy07]

sounds like jason finally got a good turnout after a couple of crappy ones.  I never got that library off you in kc jon (did you play that creased bazaar?).

Im also glad to see more dragon and maddness playing in minneapolis.


Craig Olson (Milton) 4-1 with UrPhid  and not making t8 is just sick. That really sucks.

When anyone gets word as to when the next months tourney is... could you please post it up on here?  Thanks


great list jon (good interviewing beo)


You posted the tmders who didnt make top 8... which tmders were in top 8?? you never posted their handles, and i was wondering who they were.

[Frost]

Quarterfinals Match Brian Cox (Browser) playing Combo Slavery vs. Lee Hall playing R/G Beatz
Game 1
The first couple turns both players worked on developing their respective mana bases.  Brian made the first move when he Ancestral Recalled himself and followed that up with a Metalworker.  Lee did nothing more than play a Mountain on his turn giving Brian a chance to take a broken turn.  Being the good Slavery person he is, does.  He proceeds with a Duress to which Lee responds with a Price or Progress dealing four damage to Brian.  The Duress snags a Naturalize and Brian creates two Gilded Lotuses and a Mindslaver.  Lee brings forth Urza’s Rage on the poor little Metalworker but Brian follows with a second on his next turn.  Brian also Thirst for Knowledge, Tinkered away a Mox for a Panoptic Mirror and decided he needed to take full control of both players turns by activating his Mindslaver.  Lee draws and shows Brian a hand of all land.  Over the next two turns Brian manages to find a Goblin Welder and Vampiric Tutors for a Time Walk to seal his victory.
Game 2
Remember back in the old old old Extended days there was a deck called DrawGo?  The decks did nothing but play lands and say “go!”  No?  Perhaps you were too young to remember, but I do.  Brain and Lee decided to revisit those glorious days by doing nothing but playing mana sources for five straight turns!  The end of Brian’s fifth turn, Lee got started by flinging a Lightning Bolt at Brian’s head.  And then . . . played a Forest!  Brian summoned forth a Metalworker on his turn to which Lee promptly replied by making the artifact mutate into three 1/1s that served him.  Lee swung for three damage on his turn and cast a Call of the Herd to help increase the pressure on Brian.  Brian tried to make a blocker by casting Pentavus but history has a way of repeating itself as Lee managed to mutate that into seven 1/1s.  Brian had enough mana available to make two tokens of his own but they were not enough to stop the hoard from taking Brain down to eight life.  Lee cast a Price of Progress to seal the deal.
Game 3
Lee finds himself in the unfortunate spot in Magic by having to mulligan down to five.  Brian is able to capitalize on Lee’s bad luck by playing a second turn Memory Jar and sacking it to find himself with a hand of Underground Sea, Mox Ruby, Black Lotus, Gilded Lotus and a Metalworker that all find their way into play.  Sometime on Lee’s turn, however the metalworker decided to take a trip to the local Incinerator never to return.  Well unless Brian welds him back into play!  Low and behold a Goblin Welder does appear on Brian’s side of the board.  Much to his chagrin it is met by the rage of mighty Urza.  Brian, not to be dissuaded spawns another Goblin Welder on this time it comes with a Mindsalver.  Lee can do nothing more than summon a Troll Ascetic as Brian proceeds to abuse his newfound weapon.  After two activations and a Pentuvus joining Brian’s war machine, Lee offers Brian his concession.

Brian Cox 2, Lee Hall 1

Congratulations to both Lee and Brian for making it this far.  I am working on getting through my notes for the semifinal match now and will post that as soon as I am done.

[Arcanis]

Salutations. Not that it matters much to the quality of this thread (my apologies in advance to you especially Jon), but since I haven't shown my face around here in so long I figured I'd help to *partially* answer the question as to which of the t8 folk have I.d. here.

I am Phil, the ill-fated wanderer who called upon the power of the broken snow covered landzorz to win me games. I used to post on the old MD once and a while, but that was a while ago. As a side note I'd like to thank both waSP and Frost for pushing me to play... Brian/Browser had a say in it too.

A combination of school work, college visits, working as a pharmacy technician, and debating over magic vs. women kept me from playing for a long time (I'm amazed there was ever any debate at all anymore in my mind).

My props go to Jon for lending me Terravore #2-3, since I refused to purchase non foil ones before the tourney (this ended up costing me), being the senile old hermit that I am... Brian, for playing such a techno deck and doing well... all my opponents, for being GREAT guys to play against and fair in both victory and defeat... Jason, for holding such awesome tournies... and Steve for being gracious in his hard day and offering constructive advice on how to approach my t8 matches, since I apparently have magic alzheimers, or something close to it...
Steve, man, I'm sorry I failed you, it wasn't meant to be. I can't help that the deck didn't draw a single threat except for a lonely Troll when I was pounded mercilessly in the most embarrassing and one sided routage in the t8      da*n you Terravore, for never being castable/showing up in 5 straight games. I wanted to cry, but that would have been a questionable call in that situation. At least it was proven that Thermokarst wins games.... take that Nick G, and dropping only fetchlands and a 3 cc lotus under TriniSphere and weldable fatties conversely looses games againt TnT... who would have thought... *sigh*  

Concerning Milton/Craig's crisis, I can only say "that sucks".  Man, I sort of wish afterword you could have taken my place, at least you would have done better then me, because there's no way it could have been worse. I wanted to win to give the day some purpose, the lesson I learned was that loosing and winning are what you make of them. I was glad to have had some "worthy moments" in my day, including a win with a single elf under a nethervoid during a game that included me blowing up 3 Nantuko Shades, hyppies, too many lands too count, and getting my board cleansed by Perish, Deed, and edicts. And, yes, of course there was the ridiculous first turn "snow covered forest, go". broken. *bows in submission to SC lands*

Anyway I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time with that lamenting recount, but I DID give props where they are due, and I did mention that I have posted here, one way or another. I might do a report to assist with the t8 matches in case mine doesn't go up. If for some ludicrously unexplainable reason anybody would like to ask questions or other random things, I'll be happy to respond as best I can. Once again, mad props to aforementioned folk, and congrats to the tourney winner. It was a fun time!

[ascribe]

This tournament brought players in from at least 2 1/2 hours away, most notably Brad Ojala, who won the Sapphire with Oshawa Stompy. It was an encouraging day for people who know Brad, since he has been a bit discouraged about his prospects playing in Type One tournies without access to power. With a little bit of help from his big-daddy-godfather Travis, Brad played a deck that only had a lotus petal as a restricted card yet sported four shiny Bazaars of Baghdad. He then proceeded to take apart most of the competition with a unique style that had his supporters grinding their teeth and fighting the urge to cry out.

But perhaps the best part of the story is the fact that Brad is just about one month shy of his 14th birthday. It left all of us who are about double his age grinning on our ride home. I would imagine it left several people unfamiliar with Brad shaking their heads and wondering how the hell he did it. We are used to it.

In case anyone was wondering, I was the guy with MadDragon. Please don't expose my mistakes in the semifinals (hell, pretty much all day) too harshly, OK guys?

What a great turnout. Dreamers needs to expand into the dojo next door.

[Suckamouf37]

I would imagine it left several people unfamiliar with Brad shaking their heads and wondering how the hell he did it.

You said it.  I watched most of the last game of the last round.  It was excruciating.  But I gotta hand it to him, not many players can come back from a Chain of Vapor while being Mindslavered.  Granted Brian didn't see how to get the Null Rouds out of his hand, but it was still nuts.

[Milton]

I thought I'd add my own tournament report.  Here is what I played:

The Showercap

4 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will
3 Misdirection

4 Ophidian
3 Gorilla Shaman

4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

3 Fire/Ice
3 Cunning Wish

1 Ancestral
1 Time Walk

5 Moxes
1 Lotus
4 Wastelands
1 Stripmine
4 Volcanic Islands
2 Islands
4 Polluted Delta
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Library of Alexanderia

Sideboard
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Fire/Ice
1 Dominate
3 Rack and Ruin
1 Hibernation
1 Misdirection
1 Stifle
2 Red Blasts
1 Blue Blast
1 Hurkyls Recall

The deck trys to throw out a first turn Standstill as often as possible.  Also, I like the ability to play land-mox and have Mana Leak available turn one.  Sometimes a turn one Phid comes out, but not too often.  I prefer Misdirection right now because there is a ton of aggro in our meta and Misdirection just helps keep the Phids alive long enough to draw some cards.  Also, I find that Leak is superior to Drain in most cases right now, especially considering the mana destruction elements of Shaman, Wastes and Strip.  In fact, most of my games were won due to mana destruction.  

I've played this deck to a top eight finish at Dreamer's three tournaments in a row.  I figured I was about due for a win.

-Round 1 v. dude playing Sneak Attack

Game one:  I lose the roll.  He goes first.  Turn one he plays Plateau, Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox and says go.  WTF?  A random scrub?  I own random scrubs.  I look at my had of Wasteland, Fetchland, Fire/Ice, Island, Standstill, Standstill and Mana Leak.  Not bad, but a Shaman would have been really nice.  I draw another Fire/Ice, play a Fetchland and pass the turn.  On his second turn he casts Sneak Attack, plays a land, throws out a Weatherseed Treefolk and attacks for five.  Treefolk returns at end of turn.  I need a Cunning Wish to get Blue Blast to take out the damn Sneak Attack.  On my turn I draw a Factory.  Shit shit shit.  I play Factory and say go.  He Sneaks out a Treefolk and a Serra Avatar.  I Ice the Avatar (thank god) and take five more.  Shit shit shit.  I draw another Factory.  The game ends a couple of turns later, me wondering how the hell he cast a turn two Sneak Attack.

I sideboard in nothing, confident that I can keep Sneak Attack off the table.

Game two: He casts a turn two Sneak Attack after he Gambles on turn one.  I have no counter, but I have a turn two Cunning Wish for Blue Blast.  I have a turn three Phid and I stabalize for two or three turns, swinging with Phid and drawing land mostly.  On his third turn he casts Grim Monolith.  On turn four he casts Shivan Phoenix.   I have no counter.  I lose to a damn Shivan Phoenix.

Holly shit.  Lost to a scrub round one.  This was going to be a long day.  I knew if I ran the table for the next four rounds I would make finals, but I didn't have the draws.  I wasn't feeling the cards.  We have all been there.  The round one loss shook my confidence.

To be fair to my opponent, he shocked the hell out of many players and went 3-2 on the day, including a shocking win over Steve Simon in round four.  Gamble is a pretty good card.  The Sneak Attack player wasn't nearly the scrub I thought.

Games - 0-2
Matches - 0-1

-Round 2 v. big guy who owns a store playing Black Wennie with White

The danger of the round one loss is that you may not be facing an established deck archtype round two.  The rogue deck that may give you fits... perhaps the new player who thinks 8 Red Blasts / Pyroblasts should be maindeck fare.  With my confidence badly shaken I sit down for round two.

Game 1:  He wins the roll and goes first.  He plays Swamp, Mox Jet and casts two Carnophage.  I have no Fire/Ice, no Force.  Nothing.  Five turns later I was dead.  I had managed to cast a Phid and had Forced a Skittering Skirge, but I had no Fire/Ice or Cunning Wish for his Phages.  Damn.

Sideboard out two Gorilla Shaman and one Standstill for three Lightning Bolts.

Game 2: I go first, play a land and say go.  He has a Scrubland, Ritual, Duress, Hymn.  Duress took my Misdirection, Hymn took a Standstill and a Factory.  I Wasteland his Scrubland and he misses about five land drops while I manage to stabilize, cast two Phids and lock him down with a Standstill.  By the time he has land it's over.

Game 3:  He goes first.  I have an Island, Pearl, Sapphire, Force, Fire/Ice, Mana Leak, Phid.  Very good hand.  He plays a Scrubland and casts Duress.  He sees my hand and curses.  By the way, what would you take?  I probabally would have taken Sapphire to prevent the turn one Phid, but he took Force.  Maybe he had a good second turn play and needed to pull the Force.  I draw a Wasteland and play Island, Mox, Mox, Phid.  On his turn he plays a Cave of whatever (white black painland) and cast Skittering Skirge.  I draw a fetchland and Waste his Scrubland on a hunch.  On his turn he misses his land drop and passes the turn.  I draw another Wasteland, kill his last land.  He misses another land drop and I Fire his Skirge.  I win with two or three Phids on the table, two or three Factories in play, a Shaman in play.  I counter Sarcomancy after wondering if I should Dominate the token (funny).  I counter Skittering Skirge and I fire another Carnaphage.

Games - 2-3
Matches - 1-1

-Round 3 v. Kid playing Goblins and Burn

Game 1:  My notes are sketchy, but I lost.  He had some Goblins that beat me down to 12.  I stabalize.  He casts Goblin Grenade, Lightning Bolt and FireBlast on his turn.  I die.

Sideboard out two Standstill, one Gorilla Shaman for three Lightning Bolt.

Game 2:  I win handily, mostly due to an early Phid and two Misdirections.  I have a second turn Fire for his turn one Cadet turn two Lackey.  That, along with Bolts on Piledrivers, is enough to get Phid through.

Game 3: I win handily, mostly due to Fire/Ice and Mishra's Factory.  

Games: 4-4
Matches: 2-1

-Round 4 v. Some mean guy named Sean (I think) playing something

Game 1: He goes first.  He plays a Plateau.  I have a two Wasteland hand along with a Lotus and a Phid.  I cast a first turn Phid and Waste his Plateau.  On his turn he plays another Plateau and passes.  I Waste again and swing with Phid.  He draws, misses his land drop and says go.  On turn three I play land, Mox, Standstill.  That's a Standstill on turn three with a Phid in play.  He scoops, complaing about not drawing mana and me being lucky with my Wastes.

Sideboard nothing.  I have no idea what he is playing.

Game 2: I roll him with three Wastelands and one Strip.  My first Wasteland is for his Tundra.  At this point I am very confused as to what he is playing.  My second Wasteland is for a Plateau.  My third Wasteland is for another Tundra and my Stripmine killed a Plains.  He had a Plains and a Mountain in play at the end of the game.  I had a double Phid, Gorilla Shaman and two Factories with Standstill in play, Ancestral, two Forces two Cunning Wish, along with some other stuff.  He scooped.

I offer him my hand and wish him luck.  He wants to see my deck, insinuating that I am running more than four Wastelands.  Basically calling me a cheater.  WTF?  I go through my deck with him and show him.  I tell him that my deck creates a soft lock with mana denial, Phid, Standstill and Factories.  I say "it's like Fish, but with Phids instead of Curiosity'd Faries".  He then angrily accuses me of netdecking.  What is this, 1995?  Netdecking?  Nope.  This is my own deck.  Most people think it's crap.  He storms away angry.  

Games: 6-4
Matches: 3-1

Round 5 v. Derek F. playing TnT

Derek is a pretty good player and TnT can be a rough match-up for me.  Standstill is pretty bad agaisnt TnT if they have a Survival in play.  Phid doesn't have the beef to go against a big Jugg.  This one is going to be tough.

Game 1: He plays a pretty good hand.  I have a turn one Shaman with a Mox.  He has a turn two Survival, playing a Forest on turn one and a Mox on turn two.  Me without a Force of Will.  I kill the Mox and have a Wasteland for another one of his lands.  He sits with a lone Forest in play, Survivaling for six or seven turns while I build up a nice army.  Eventually I cast a Hibernation and a Standstill with a couple of Phids in play.  I got damn lucky.  Turn two Survival is usually game.

Sideboard out three useless Misdirections, two Standstill, in three awesome Rack and Ruin and two Lightning Bolts.

Game 2: I have no notes.  It was a mess.  We were both tired.  We both made some mistakes.  I had Rack and Ruin on his Sui Chi and Mox on turn three.  I had Rack and Ruin on his nest Sui Chi and one of my Moxes on turn five.  I Fire a Welder.  I somehow establish with Phids.  In the late game I have two Phids in play, along with two Factories and two Shaman.  He has five lands.  He casts Survival.  I Leak.  He pays three extra.  My mistake.  Leak isn't a counterspell if he has the damn mana.  My fucking mistake.  So, to keep Survival off the table I have to Force, expending all of my counter spells in hand.  I try to justify saying that he probabally had a Red Blast in hand and I needed to Leak to get him to tap out so my Force could go through, but it was a pretty bad mistake.  On my turn I swing.  He is at seven life, but he has a graveyard full of Anger and big dudes.  On his next turn he plays a land (six lands in play) casts a Welder, with Anger in the yard.  I Fire the Welder and my opponent, bringing him down to six life.  He brings back a Juggernaut from his graveyard in response.  I have two Factories, two Phids and two Shaman in play.  I got him.  Afterwards he said that he should have hard casted a Triskellion from his hand, blocked and pingged away, instead of going for the Welder.  

Games: 8-4
Matches: 4-1

I'm in the finals.  4-1 will get me in, despite my bad tie breakers.  Derek was the only established player I played all day.  He was the only one with an efficient deck.  I look forward to the final eight, knowing that I will play against someone with a deck archtype for which I have prepared.  I really want to play Brian Cox with is Slaver deck.  I think the three Shaman and four Wastelands are going to be good against him.  I hope I don't have to face Dragon or O Stompy.  I'm thinking about O Stompy.  That match-up is going to be all about killing Bazaars and using Factory to stall while I find Hibernation.  Bolts will definatily come out of the board for Misdirections.  That will be a tough match-up for me.  I'm hoping I can face Brian.  The pairings are up for the final eight, and I'm not there.  WTF?  There were 56 players and only five rounds.  My 4-1 record got me ninth.  My tie-breakers were really bad.  I guess it came down to the thrid tie-breaker.  So, I missed the top eight.  How often does that happen.  Go 4-1 and miss the top eight?  Jason, the TO, felt bad.  I got $20 in store credit for my troubles and my string of top eight finishes comes to an end.

-Props to Ian for going undefeated (3-0-2) with Tog, usually a fast deck.  Ian, buddy, you gotta pick up the pace a little.  Or go back to Goblins.
-Props to Steve Simon for being a pretty good sport when he got Thorn Elementaled to death.
-Props to the guy who won.  I have no idea who you are and you won a tough final.
-Props to the high turn out.

-Slops to Joel and Nick.  Did you two guys stay at home touching yourselves all day?
-Slops to my round four opponent.  Could you be more rude, please?
-Slops to only five rounds!

[sneakattackkid]

I agree it definitely should have been 6 rounds.  I lost in the 1st round so I thought I had no chance to make top 8, but won out and got the 6th seed with my U/R skies deck.  Considering I have no fish in my deck I'm not sure why you would call it that.  Anyway the problem with playing there I quickly realized is the higher quantity of beatdown which I wasn't able to beat very easily.

[defector]

I'm glad to see someof you had a good time there, I had as bad a day as I can remember.  I scrub out at dreamers every month, and I don't know why.  I played stax.  Nothing went well for me, I lost to R/G beatz round 1, couldn't catch it both games.  Lost to the goblin kid Roud 2, lost to a fish deck round 3, lost to something I can't recall round 4, lost to some goofy cleic deck built around edgewalker(wtf?) round 5.  Sorry, I got discouraged, my notes were covered in blood and tears after the second round.  Never play with a hang over, or if your me  Anyway, great turnout, quite  a day.  I alomost convinced my girlfied to player her madness, but she decided to watch instead, hopefully next month.  My freind went 2-3 or 3-2 with gorger(u/b).
defector

[Frost]

@ defector

Funny, of the six pieces of power I have won in the last year, three of those have been won with a hang over.     Go figure!

Also, I keep seeing posts by you but I am not quite sure who you are at Dreamer's.  Let me know!

[Kalvalin]

I just wanted to reply to this and say congradulations to my main man Brad for winning! I did pretty well with a barrowed TnT build (3-2). I also find it amazing that of the two of us who played TnT at Dreamers we both have the same first name, which confused me in earlier posts. I had a great time, the best ever at a type 1 event...I didn't play against a single deck with countering ability! I had fun beating SnowBlower, R/G Beats, and Ravager, and even enjoyed the wolloping I recieved from R/G L.D...Playing and loseing to Slavery kinda bit the big one though. Once again, thanks Travis for the use of your deck, and I hope next time at Dreamers we will have such a good turn out!