Report on my tournament experience at the Type 1 tournament on
Sunday June 13th at Dreamers in St. Louis Park, MN
1st Prize: Signed, Unlimited, Black Lotus
2nd Prize: Signed, Unlimited, Ancestral Recall (if 60 or more players)
Format: Type 1, 3 proxies allowed.
My friend Dan and I leave at 9am, have a run of the mill 2.5 hour drive. We arrive
an hour and a half early, to find that the store isn't open yet. Lucky for us, the
owners are there early too, and let us in. We register for the tournament, and sit down.
I am playing Goblin Sligh (decklist to follow), Dan is playing Keeper (w/Exalted Angel
and Morphling). We play a practice 'match' and I smash his Keeper as usual.
The final turnout is 68 players, meaning the Ancestral Recall is in play, and there will be 7 Rounds of Swiss, followed by cut to Top 8.
My deck:
"Goblin Sligh"
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Raging Goblin
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Gorilla Shaman (Metagame call)
2 Blood Moon (Metagame call)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Reckless Charge
1 Black Lotus (Proxied)
1 Mox Ruby (Proxied)
4 Barbarian Ring
15 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Shattering Pulse
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Scald
2 Flaring Pain
4 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blood Moon
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Tormod's Crypt
Round 1 starts, and I am playing Chris, with BFD/ 7/10 Split
I win the roll and elect to play, always a good start with Goblins.
I keep a hand with Lackey, Raging Goblin x 2, some Mountains and Burn.
Turn 1:
I play Mountain, Lackey go.
He plays: Workshop, Mox, Trinisphere, go.
Turn 2 I attack with the Lackey, dropping a Raging, and a Mountain.
He plays land, Chalice for 2 (presumably to keep me off Piledrivers)
Turn 3 I attack for 2, and drop the second Raging Goblin. My draws have been mostly
irrelevant, though I am finally up to 3 land.
The rest of the game goes like this: He hurts himself with Mana Vault and Ancient Tomb, going down to
6
but brings out a Sundering Titan, which stares at my Lackey for several turns, before
its friends, Sundering Titan #2, and Sundering Titan #3 show up to the party. He swings
with a Titan, my Raging Goblin takes one for the team. I draw nothing, and pass the turn.
He draws and plays Triskelion. Facing down 3 Sundering Titans, I scoop.
In: Rack and Ruin, Shattering Pulse, Blood Moon. Out: Incinerates
Game 2 I keep a hand with 2 Barbarian Rings as my lands, at least 1 Raging Goblin,
and 2 Rack and Ruin. I am playing again, so I drop Raging Goblin, attack for 1, go.
He drops: Workshop, Trinishpere for the second game in a row. My Raging Goblin attacks
mercilessly as he fails to find any action. Turns 3 and 4 are of note, as I finally have
3 mana to play Rack and Ruin, targeting Trinisphere and Mox, which meets Blue Elemental
Blast. I swing for 1 and pass, and he has no action and passes. Turn 4 I play Rack and
Ruin targeting Trinisphere and a Mox, which again meets BEB. My Goblin Rages some more,
eventually bringing him down to 14 before I find a Gorilla Shaman to keep him company.
He plays Chalice of the Void, with 1 Counter, which would shut me down, except for
the fact that I have Gorilla Shaman in play already, which I promptly use to kill his
Chalice. Misplay, or Mind Game? I don't know.
I still have only 1 Mountain, 2 Barbarian Ring, however the Raging Goblin, Shaman and
a Goblin Grenade bring him down to 5 with me on 10 from my own Rings, and him with
dead Goblin Welders (traitors!). The Shaman attacks for 1, and the Threshold ability of the
Rings let me finish him.
Game 3
He is playing and gets another early Trinisphere, while I have no Turn 1 play, and play
Mountain, go for 3 turns. He counters my Piledriver, and I pass. Eventually, he drops
a Platinum Angel, which I fail to draw burn for, and gets a Goblin Welder and a Sundering
Titan to keep her company. The Angel finishes me.
Chris was a good player, with a good deck and eventually made top 8.
1-2, 0-1
Not the start I had hoped for, obviously.
Round 2, Josh, playing R/G beats
Game 1: We trade blows, my Raging Goblin + Reckless Charge (and Flashback) vs. his
Treetop Villiage and Skyshroud Elite. Eventually, as in, Turn 4, I'm at
7. I attack him to 10 and pass the turn. EOT he Bolts me twice, untaps, and Incinerates
me.
I don't bother sideboarding, as my board didn't have anything for the
pseudo-mirror.
Game 2: He plays early Call of the Herd, while Bolting my Goblins. When he Flashes back
the Call, and I don't draw my own Bolts, I lose.
1-4 games, 0-2 matches
Round 3, Taylor, playing G/b beats, with Black for creature kill only.
Game 1 we trade blows, him with River Boas, me with Raging Goblin, Gorilla Shaman, and
a couple of Reckless Charges. A few turns of this and we are both at 5. Eventually he
finds Call of the Herd again. After blocking his Elephant for a turn I Concede with no Goblins, facing
River Boa x2 and 3/3 Elephant.
I see only Forests, and think he's playing Mono Green. Out: Blood Moons. In: Disks.
Game 2 sees me get the early Beats with Raging Goblin, and him with nothing, though he
does play Bayou and Smother my Raging Goblin. However I draw Siege-Gang Commander, which
is too much for him, and I win.
I don't change my sideboard plan.
Game 3 we exchange blows again, him with Troll Ascetic, me with Mogg Fanatic, Reckless
Charge, and eventually Goblin Grenade. With me on 6 and him on 9, he pulls Call of the
Herd again, and I lose.
2-6 games, 0-3 matches. I'm out of Top 8 contention, but we keep playing anyway. With
luck I can still make 4-3.
Round 4, James playing Mono Blue Stasis (!) with Forsaken Cities for the lock.
My friend played James in round 3, so I know ahead of time what I am facing.
Game 1 he has the Zephyr Falcon beats, and no Stasis. I have Raging Goblin beats, which
he never blocks. Eventually, we are both at 13, and I find a Piledriver. When he can't
counter it, a Bolt to the Falcon clears the way, and I win a few turns later.
In: Red Elemental Blast x 4. Out: Blood Moon x 2, Incinerate x 2.
Game 2 sees him counter my threats, eventually playing Stasis. I draw no land for
several turns before finding Black Lotus, which I break for Red, Lightning Bolting
him 3 times. He takes it all, passes, plays Chill and Time Vault. He skips most of his
turns using the Time Vault while I discard, and he counters once I do get 3 untapped lands into play.
Eventually, I have 5 cards in my Library. I count my lands in play, and realize that I have
3 Mountains left in my 5 card Libary. I scoop, hoping for enough time for game 3, as this
game took quite some time.
Game 3 I get the early beats, but he eventually gets Stasis going again. He plays Chill
and counters some of my spells. I manage a Goblin Grendade somewhere in here. He plays a
***Second*** Chill, but loses the Stasis lock
for a turn when I manage to REB it for 5 on his end of turn step. I untap, and he counters
my 2 spells for the turn, leaving me 4 untapped land. He plays another Stasis, and I
draw no land for a few turns, but manage to have Goblin Lackey and Siege-Gang Commander
in hand. He maintains Stasis, and passes the turn. I topdeck the Lotus and try the Lackey
as time is called in the round. He has no counter, and I pass. He maintains Stasis, and
plays a 3rd Chill! However, it's too late, as I swing with the Lackey, drop the Siege-Gang
Commander, and shoot him with a token with him on 2 life. We finish just as the Judge
asks me how it's going.
3-5 games, 1-3 Matches. My friend loses this round, putting him out of Top 8 contention
too, but we decide to keep playing.
Round 5, Ben, with Blue/White/Black unpowered Keeper (sort of).
Game 1 he rolls over to my Raging Goblin and Goblin Lackey, with Bolt doing cleanup
duty.
I see Blue producing lands, so I bring in Scald and some Blasts for Incinerates and random
cards.
Game 2 he Vampiric Tutors early, and I have the early beats, as usual. I get Scald into
play, and he starts taking damage, eventually playing The Abyss. Unfortunately for him,
I have Siege-Gang Commander, his 3 friends, and a few other Goblins, and
they finish him quickly.
5-5 games, 2-3 Matches
Round 6: Josh, playing (no joke) Kobold Clamp! My friend had played him in an earlier
round as well, so I had the scouting report on his deck, in addition to having seen
a decklist on various message boards. He wins the roll and elects to play.
Game 1 is worth the turn by turn plays:
Turn 1: Him: Swamp, Go.
Me: Mountain, Mogg Fanatic, go.
Turn 2: Him: Swamp, Spoils of the Vault, naming Skullclamp. He starts flipping cards,
with him counting out loud, and me counting on my fingers. I run out of fingers, and he
runs out of lives, not finding Skullclamp in the 1st 20 cards. Quote "I love that
card."
I don't sideboard anything.
Game 2 I beat him up for a few turns, but nothing serious. He gets Kobolds and a Clamp
and a Carnival of Souls and combos me out with Tendrils of Agony.
I reconsider and board in the Rack and Ruins and the Shattering Pulse.
Game 3 is the best game of the 3. An early Piledriver + Mogg Fanatic has him down to 10,
when I throw 9 points of burn to bring him to 1, but fail to do the last point. I Rack and
Ruin a Clamped Ornithopter (and the Clamp), and he draws 2.
On his turn, he plays a Mana Crypt, a Kobold, and a Tendrils to bring him back to 7. On my turn, I
draw Incinerate, which I play to bring him to 4. On his turn, the Crypt backfires on
him, bringing him to 1, but he has another Tendrils and 2 spells to put him back to 7
again. I draw nothing for 2 turns, and neither does he. His Mana Crypt backfires twice
more in a row, putting him on 1. I have Siege-Gang Commander, but have been stuck on 4
lands. On my turn, I draw Black Lotus, which I play, break for Red, playing the Siege-Gang
and shooting him with a token for the win. This was a tense game for me, as any turn
could have been my last.
7-6 games, 3-3 matches
Round 7 I fail to write down my opponent's name.
He is playing U/W Landstill w/Decree of Justice
Game 1 sees me get out to a good start, but he tutors up a Balance, plays it, and drops Standstill. I get
nothing on my turn, and he Cycles for EOT 3 Soldier Tokens.
I draw no more creatures for many turns, eventually
having to resort to Bolting Soldier Tokens. His Standstill fills his hand, and his Soldiers
do me in as he counters the 1 or 2 Goblins I do draw.
In: Blood Moon, Blasts. Out: Incinerates.
Game 2 is tense, as we go back and forth, me managing to get what I thought was the
upper hand, getting him down to 4 life. He topdecks Balance, plays it, and starts beating
down with his Faerie Conclave. When I am at 8 life, I finally manage to Bolt him, giving
me Threshold, but no Barbarian Ring. He beats me a few more times, and I finally draw the
Ring. When I play it, a brief discussion of how the Stack works ensues, and he eventually
realizes that he has to respond to my sacrifice of the Barbarian Ring by trying to find
a Swords to Plowshares for the Mishra's Factory that he played last turn. After many
card drawing spells, he finds the Swords to live, but can't attack in case I topdeck a
lethal Goblin. Instead, I topdeck a Bolt, which he can't counter.
Game 3 I get the most broken hand of the tournament for me: Mountain, Mox Ruby, Black
Lotus, Red Elemental Blast, Blood Moon, Mogg Fanatic, Mountain.
Turn 1 he plays Tundra, Go.
I play Mountain, Mox, Lotus. I break the Lotus for Red and play the Blood Moon, with the
REB as backup. He has no counter, and it resolves. I play Mogg Fanatic, and he concedes.
Final Standings:
9-7 games, 4-3 matches, which ends up being good enough for 27th place out of 68 people.
My friend takes 29th place, after losing to 1 or 2 land Belcher for the second time in 7
rounds.
Overall it was a fun day, despite my mediocre finish.
For reference:
The Winner's Report is here:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17818&highlight=dreamers
