Mods, feel free to move this report wherever is most appropriate.
After spending three weeks on SlapJack, my Auriok Salvagers/Lotus/Spellbomb Combo Control Deck, after submitting it to the rigors of TMD's finest, I, LotusHead, finally had a chance to test my deck in combat: at the pretty much fully powered playing field of C&J's Thursday Night Sanctioned T1 no proxy tournament.
Out of 5 rounds, SlapJack won 4 matches, and got a bye on round one. The top 2 other finishers drew due to time. (Neither had won at that point.)
The Field: Nineteen players with Hulk Smash, Dragon Semi-Powered with Bazaars, Charbelcher, Fish, Stompy, Suicide Black, Control Slaver, Workshop Prison, UG Madness, Sligh, and I belive Keeper. Everything. (No 7/10 or Draw7 as far as I saw.)
The Deck: SlapJack by LotusHead (see other thread for decks inner workings.)
Mana:
4 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Flooded Strain
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Island
7 SoLoMoxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
Combo Critters
4 Auriok Salvagers (Infinite Mana with LED/Lotus)
4 Trinket Mages (Tutor for LED/Lotus/Spellbomb)
Counter/Control
4 Force of Will
2 Mana Drain
2 Ertai's Meddling
1 Stifle
1 Misdirection
Draw/Search
4 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Cunning Wish
2 Intuition
1 TimeTwister
Utility/Kill
1 Gorilla Shaman
1 Pyrite SpellBomb (Kill card)
2 AEther SpellBomb
2 Chromatic Sphere
1 Engineered Explosives
Sideboard
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Blue Elemental Blast (used once...)
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Brain Freeze (Backup Kill card) (used once...)
1 Stifle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Energy Flux
1 Capsize
1 Blood Moon
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Ebony Charm
1 Hurkle's Recall
1 Glasses of Urza (for a control matchup. Didn't happen)
Round 1: I get a bye. I pace nervously, amazed at all the power in one place. (No power where I'm from.) I purchase 2 Goblin Welders (C&J's has tons of singles. Everything.)
Round 2: I play against Tim with U/G Madness.
Opening Hand: Mox Saphire, Volcanic Island, Chromatic Sphere, Vampiric Tutor, Flooded Strain, Trinket Mage, Force of Will. In other words, perfect. As I set my combo up, he tries to Force my Salvager, so I Ertai's his Force for 1. Next upkeep, FoW resolves, fizzling. I combo off and we go to game two.
Opening Hand: Land, Mox, Mox, Mox Monkey, Land, Ertai's Meddling, Force. Tim plays mongrel, I for some reason decide not to force it. I play land mox mox etc. Tim plays another mongrel, which for some reason, I decide not to force either. Both kill me 2 turns later. Lesson Learned: Force Mongrels! On to game 3.
Opening Hand: Land, Land, Force, Force, Salvagers, Lotus, Intuition. I win turn 2. Timmy is a little annoyed at SlapJack winning just like that, but then proceeds to tell others about how he died. SlapJack starts getting a rep around the shop. Next to me was an intense Fish vs Workshop Prison. I didn't get to face either of them.
Round 3: Riz playing Suicide Black.
Opening hand: Land, Trinket Mage, Salvager, Force of Will, Sol Ring, Pyrite Spellbomb, Lotus. He goes first and Duresses my...Force of Will!!! I don't really remember the rest of this game, as I had all my combo pieces ready to go. I won soon after.
Game 2: Riz isn't sure what to sideboard, but he does start with Swamp, Lotus, sac Lotus, Hymn, Hymn. and turn two, Dark Ritual, Yawgmoths Will, Lotus, Dark Ritual, Hymn, Negator. I basically get smashed by the Negator. Lesson Learned: Read the friggin' card. I had a Pyrite Spellbomb at one point, and could have Zapped the Negator for 2. He had 2 permanents total. I simply thought Negator worked like Flesh Reaver. I was wrong. I loose.
Game 3: I get a broken openning hand, and play mox, mox, mox, Intuition for Lotus, TimeTwister or Misdrection. He gives me Black Lotus. I win next turn.
For the record: Riz and I play 2-3 games afterword for fun, and he finally sideboarded properly against me. Null Rod and Nether Void really really really hurt me. His Void was Italian. I thought it was an Abyss. I was wrong. I lost more games than I won in the for fun matchups.
Round 4: Jay playing Ankh Sligh
Game 1: I combo out early on. I win. He sideboards like a madman.
Game 2: He bolts everything that moves, sending in Pups turn after turn, and kills me. SlapJack, where did your brokenness go? I thought I would get some cool stuff after my opening hand. I didnt.
Game 3: I have an excellent opening hand, including Blue Elemental Blast. I need 6 mana with Lotus to combo out. I drain anything he casts to get the needed mana. Turns out it was Ankh that gets drained. I BEB his REB to make the Drain stick. I combo out next turn. I have to explain a few times that if not disrupted, I can combo with Salvager/LED and say, Chromatic Sphere to get neccessary kill condition. I did have to make sure that I would not take mana burn if he had say, Fireblast or Pyrokenesis in hand (Red's two pitch spells.). Side Note- his Rack and Ruins from the board were worthless since I comboed out with Land Land Land Lotus while he was tapped out.
Round 5: Apperently, Finals: Daniel playing Green Stompy.
Game 1: He Berzerks for 20 while I was at 18 with a chump blocker. His River Boa had island walk, so the point is moot, but, Berzerk for 20??? I Forced his first boa, the second one resolves, with a lucky Seal of Strength (thanks to ESG) resolved. Turn 3, he casts Rancor (4), pops seal (7), pitches something green for +3 green pitch spell, Berzerk! Ack! For the record, SlapJack had all the cards in hand to win next turn. Just had to wait after playing top-decked Trinket Mage.
Game 2: Oppening hand: Land, Land, Land, Lotus, LED, Mox, Sol Ring. I keep for some reason. He begins the beats, and has his Hidden Gibbons in from the board, waiting... I too was waiting. I topdecked a Misdirection, and then a BrainStorm. When he made his move with his Giant Growth thingy, I cast Brainstorm (activating the Gibbons into 4/4 beatsticks), hardcast Misdirection onto non-attacking Gibbons, and actually brainstormed into Salvager and Trinket Mage. Yay me! I win next turn!
Game 3: I combo out at 7 Life. His Rogue Elephant, while bad ass and Rancored, is no match for my mighty AEther Spellbomb. (MVP versus Berzerk based decks. It's a must counter. Heh. )
Top 8 (of 19) Results
1) LotusHead- SlapJack (Salvagers)
2)Brian Woo- Control Slaver
3) Jay Hood- Sligh
4) Dennis- Hulk Smash
5) Raiyaan- Powerless Bazaar Dragon
6) Riz- Suicide Black
7) Gim- Fish
8) Manuel- Semi-Powered Bazaar Dra
The other two top players finishing their round 5 game were Brian (2nd) (TheLegendOfMagic) playing Control Slaver and Dennis (4th) playing Hulk Smash. They drew due to time. When the points were totalled, I win 1st, a DCI Plains (which I immediately marked up in red ink with 1st Place, SlapJack, 7/15/02, LotusHead, C&J's, etc) and replaced one of the Islands in my deck with it. Oh, and I also won a foil DCI Serum Visions. (if only it were Brainstorm...but it's still cool.)
One thing that most of my opponents commented about, to observers was that they weren't sure of how to sideboard against SlapJack. Here's a tip: Null Rods f-me up. I can deal with them, but it is very very very difficult. Null Rods are so much a must counter, that I may let everything else resolve as long as it's not Null Rod.
Dennis with Hulk Smash was willing to play 3 games with me for fun, no sideboarding. This is my first time playing against Hulk Smash (or Tog or Growatog for that matter). Now I see how it works. He beat me 2/3 times, but my Aether Spellbombs were MUST counters. My chump-blocking Trinket Mages depleted his graveyard. I still lost, but was grateful to have the experience of being on the receiving end of Hulk Smash (and not just reading threads theory about it...)
Props:
- C&J's for having FREE T1 Tourneys with loads of excellent powered players.
- My Deck for putting up a fight in all but one round (see round 4 against Jay's Sligh deck)
- My "Magic Bag" for having at least $2 in change to get back across the tollbride in Martinez after my ATM was (I guess) left at the Mini-Mart across the street from C&J's.
- Spellbombs for being the Bomb in so many different cases. (AEther, we love you...)
- Trinket Mages for being the best damn Non-Duressable tutor Chump Blockers in the business.
- Misdirection for doing it's thing at least 3 times at the tournament, all of which were like FoW#5 without the life loss.
- The players at the tourney for appreciating my deck that I built. (Go Rogue Decks!)
- The Tourney Pairing Program for not matching me up against Control Slaver, Fish, Charbelcher, or Bazaar Dragon. I wanted a piece of each of you, but at least I got my victory in...
Slops:
- The mini-mart across the street for keeping my ATM card. Hint: When someone pays via ATM and PIN numbers and such, give 'em back their cards. If they know the PIN, it's their card. I live an hour away from C&J's and I really really really wish I had more than 40 cents to my name to go get some Diet Coke.
- My cellphone for not ringing anymore. People call, my phone just doesn't ring. Got to fix it tomorrow. Today was Tournament Day.
- The Tourney Pairing Program for not matching me up against Control Slaver, Fish, Charbelcher or Bazaar Dragon. I really really really wanted a piece of each of you.
