[Report] Draw-7 5th @ Game-Universe Mox Tournament

[AngryPheldagrif]

I just got home from the T1 tournament around an hour ago, figured I'd post a report. For reference, format was 10-proxy with a $20 entry fee. 1st place was a Mox Sapphire, while 2nd and 3rd got $75 and $50, respectively. There were 5 rounds of Swiss, followed by single elimination T8.

My deck, Team DD Draw-7 w/jankboard

1 Memory Jar
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Necropotence
2 Tendrils of Agony
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
3 Diminishing Returns
4 Force of Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Mind's Desire
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Windfall
1 Crop Rotation
1 Fastbond
1 Wheel of Fortune
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Dark Ritual
1 Black Lotus
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
2 Glimmervoid
1 Tolarian Academy

SB:
4 Xantid Swarm
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phrexian Dreadnough
3 Hurkyl's Recall

*note* The board is indeed janky, but we're not called Team Drunken Dreadnought for nothing. The Recalls were in because of the artifact heavy metagame, and are generally more efficient than Oxidize for various reasons.

Round 1, Belcher
Game 1: He wins the roll, opens with 2 Moxen, Crypt, and a Belcher. I have no Force and he wins.
Game 2: (Sideboard in 3 Recalls over some stuff) I open with a decent hand, he opens with Mox, ESG, Channel, Belcher (which I Force), Mox Jet, Demonic Tutor. Now I figured he'd just get another Belcher, play it with Channel, and win. Apparently, he didn't realize that you can keep Channeling throughout the turn. We stalled out for a bit, but I Brainstormed twice, and saw nothing but mana with no tutors or Draw-7s. In desperation, I hard-cast a pair of ESGs for the beatdown, but I ran out of Recalls long before they could beat him to 0. Eventually Belcher stayed and I lost.
Games: 0-2, Matches: 0-1

Round 2, Control (somewhere between Keeper and Hulk)
Game 1: We stall for a bit, I sit with some Moxen and stuff. Eventually, I topdeck Lotus, play Hurkyl's on me, replay the Moxen, and have exactly enough mana to play both my Tendrils for exactly 30 damage.
Game 2: (Swarms come in) I combo out quickly, he can't do anything about it.
Games: 2-2, Matches: 1-1

Round 3, Dragon

Game 1: I mulligan into Lotus, Ancestral (gets Misdirected ), Brainstorm, Moxen, LED, Timetwister. Say go, Force something and then go off with Memory Jar soon afterwards.
Game 2: (Don't remember if I boarded or what) We both mulligan down to 5, except I Timetwister away his great hand and proceed to win turn 2 after a Desire for 5 on turn 1.
Games: 4-2, Matches: 1-1

Round 4, Hulk

*note* Since we're both 2-1, I offer to draw him. Since only 3-1-1 and 4-1 will make Top8, if we draw we both get if we win round 5, if not, then only 1 of us even has a chance to make it. He refuses, says we'll see later.

Game 1: He has tooo many counters, Drains twice and Forces. I Brainstorm into 3 mana and scoop.
Game 2: (In desperation, since he refuses my offers of a draw, I sideboard in the Mask-Nought setup) I get a turn 1 Swarm, then a Turn 2 Mask-Nought. He manages a Cunning Wish for Oxidize after taking 12, then we kinda stall out. I get in a Necropotence, then proceed to pay almost all my life. I'm left with a god setup of Dreadnought, 2 Forces, and 2 other blue cards. He does a bunch of stuff, I'm scared to death, he eventually just draws a bunch and passes the turn. I lay the Nought then pass. My heart feels like its going to explode at this point. Eventually, he Cunning Wishes for Hurkyl's Recall. I don't know why he did this, since I was sure he'd drop a Deed or Tog. All that it does is bounce my Mask and Moxen, which doesn't matter since I hit him with Nought the next turn under a Swarm. I never did figure out why he did it.
Game 3: We're running out of time, and since there was just enough time left for him to kill me, I reoffer him the draw and he accepts it at the urging of his teamates. It's debatable whether or not I should have done this, as I could have beaten him within the 5 extra turns by reverting back to regular setup. I doubt I could have gotten through his Forces and the pair of Misdirections, but it doesn't really matter since I can T8 either way as long as I win round 5.
Games: 5-3, Matches: 2-1-1

Round 5, Dragon
Game 1: It's pretty hellish as I go off like mad and finally....he Stifles it. I had the misfortune of running into the one bloody Dragon build on the whole darn planet that maindecks Stifle. In the end it didn't matter, though, because I had enough mana to continue going off with Memory Jar, and the second Tendrils around he has no Stifle.
Game 2: (SB in the Xantids) He opens with Chalice for 0. Fuck. I look at my Jet and Lotus powered hand and he combos out effortlessly long before I can do anything.
Game 3: It's close, but I power out a Tendrils and Force his Stifle. He had lost most of his Forces in a Jar hand so it's T8 for me! I anxiously await the T8 postings, worried because my tie-breakers have a history of screwing me over. I make it safely, and ironically enough, the guy I drew with in round 4 made it too. He ended up in second.
Games: 7-4, Matches 3-1-1

Quarter Finals, 7/10 split

*note* I'm playing against a guy whose topdecking skills rival Mike Long's. I swear, it's just freaky how well he does what he does. This is supposed to be one of my decks best matchups, as Titan does virtually nothing against me, but I'm still worried.

Game 1: I go first, keep a very nice hand. I play Land, Mox, Lotus, Twister. He Forces. He goes land go. I play Mox, Tinker. He Forces. I'm officially screwed. He then drops 2 Workshops in a row and then a Memnarch and a Triskelion, while I draw nothing. How lucky this guy is is illustrated by the fact that his opening hand had 2 Forces and 2 blue cards, and he then drew perfectly into the Workshops and bodies.      
Game 2: (Swarms and Recalls go in) He is thankfully combo-light, as I go off with Mox, Ritual, Demonic for Lotus, Lotus for Will, Will back Lotus, Demonic for Tendrils, win.
Game 3: He drops turn 1 Chalice for 1 (I couldn't figure out why he did this. Sure it hurt, but if he'd have dropped it for 0 then I wouldn't have been able to do anything at all.) I misplay, and end up 1 mana short of Recalling him and then Wheeling. I Wheel into some stuff and a Jar, and I pitch my hand to LED then Jar. I Jar into 4 lands, 2 Brainstorms, and a Ritual. He then drops Chalice for 2 and Trinisphere. Since Chalices for 2 and 1 cover my only removal, I no longer can win. He puts in a Titan the next turn, and, with a heavy heart, I scoop.
Games: 8-6, Matches: 3-2-1

Some of us then drafted, in which I proceeded to pull no bombs whatsover, and go 3-3 with an ok beatdown deck with Joiner Adept and some Sunburst stuff. We draft off the rares and I end up with a Broodstar for 5th pick.

Props:
Draw-7: for kicking ass.
Mask-Nought: for being cool, if doing nothing.
Store: for subsidizing the pizza.
Some 7-mana Sunburst thingy that can trade counters for abilities: for being my 'bomb' in a few games.
Mind's Desire: for just owning everything in sight. Also uncounterable.

Slops:
Force of Will: me and my combo deck are soooooo sick of this damn card.
7/10 split: for running the goddam Forces.
Belcher: for comboing out faster than we and getting better hands.
Brainstorm: for showing me 3 lands every damn time I needed draw spells.
Mirrodin Block: for being such mediocre, bombless draft material.
Echoing Ruin: for not being a bloody instant.
Mirror Golem: for somehow being a bomb in draft when it has pro-artifacts and creatures.
Broodstar: for being another damn dollar rare and all that was left for my 5th pick.
Some guy: for passing not one but two Cranial Platings to the guy playing black.

Peace out,
-Dan Carp, the AngryPheldagrif

[TrixR4Kidz]

Nice report dude, congrats!


I luv the mask/nought sideboard, It's hilarious, Draw 7 is the shiotttt

[Outlaw]

I played agaisnt Draw7 recently in a jet tourney, I was playing FCG and lets just say i went 1-2.  Draw7 is consistant, and with a sb that turns it into a heavy hitter, it looks solid.  Great job!

[Lost In Admiration]

I'd like to note that it is absolutely clear that Brian wins with 7/10 exclusively because he draws extremely well.  He has not, I repeat, HAS NOT tested with the deck hours upon hours and by no means has any skill.

[Squee]

I'd like to note that it is absolutely clear that Brian wins with 7/10 exclusively because he draws extremely well. He has not, I repeat, HAS NOT tested with the deck hours upon hours and by no means has any skill.

LOL.  

Anyway, topdecks are part of magic and 7/10 just has so many cards it can draw to go broken it seems like it happans all the time.  I know as he did against me too.  

Nice report though, and thanks for providing a decklist as James didn't give me your list to post but I edited it in.  Congrats on the finish.

[VGB]

That maindeck is probably the tightest I have ever seen for D7.

Any cards you wish you had played in retrospect? (Burning Wish, etc.)

And your sideboard is the suck - you don't want to be playing something that is killed by the same hate, transformationally speaking.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Instead of the MaskNought board, why not run Dryads and growing aids? You said it was an artifact-heavy meta, so I can't imagine it's easy to keep Dreadnoughts in play, and the Draw7s should keep each and every Dryad able to go the distance no matter what stage of the game it is.

[AngryPheldagrif]

Basically, the choice was:
10% They sideboard out their creature hate while not sideboarding in specific artifact hate.
10% Trinisphere and Chalice for 0/1 suck, MaskNought beats them.
80% We are Team DD. Slightly inebriated and proud of what we do best.

As for why we chose the Naughts over Dryads, there's no real reason. But originally it was MaskNought transforming into Draw-7, so it really was just a switchup when we saw that Draw-7 was a superior deck.

-Dan

[goober]

Draw7 isn't that inconsistant, in the last 2 tournies I went to with it I came in 8th and second, with both of those not being the deck's fault.  I misspoke on LED mana, and Turn 1 trinisphere games 1 and 3 beat me.  Losing to FCG is rare, very rare.

I am not so sure about your changes to the maindeck.  While I would love to fit in the Hurkyl's and Chain, Time Walk does not belong in this deck.  It is far to dead a card.  You aren't running Chrome or Diamond which I think is a large mistake.  They are both increadible.  Many games they have been the 4th mana for a Returns.  They also weaken the maindeck Chain and Hurkyl's, in case you want to use them on yourself.  I think the best course is to turn the Hurkyl's and the Time walk into the 2 Moxen.  I would say turn the Chain into a 4th Diminishing, because having as many draw7s as possible is vital to its strategy, but maindeck solutions to Trinisphere, Mage, Chalice, and Null Rod might be better.  Mad testing to commence.

About the masknaught SB, I don't think that ever will actually be more useful than having more answers sideboard.  Mine is currently 4 Hurkyl's, 4 Chain, 4 Xanthid, 1 Sorrow's Path, 2 Glyph of Doom.  It would be 3 Glyph of Doom but I can't find another.  I don't run the maindeck Hurkyl's and Chain, but you would definitly want to SB the Chrome, Diminishing, and Diamond (assuming you don't maindeck one over time Walk.  So that in matches where the Chain and Hurkyl's are dead, you can go off faster. The 3 empty slots are only because I thought of every matchup I could have, and didn't see me sideboarding anything but the Chain (Null Rod, Meddling Mage, random enchantment), Hurkyl's (Workshop decks), or Xanthid (Anything with 4 FoW + some other counter).  If you want to be able to shift into beatdown definitly go Dryad, but I can't think of an instance where SBing them in is a good plan.

If you are hardset on keeping Chain and Hurkyl's I would take out different cards than the Diamond and Chrome.  Those 2 are definitly above the bottom 2.  In your build Time Walk and Crop Rotation are probably the 2 weakest cards.