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FreeZRManX
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« on: July 25, 2004, 01:03:14 pm » |
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7/23/04
Dreamers Friday Tournament
Jacob Orlove's "WTF/r"
THE METAGAME:
3 U/r Fish
2 4cc
2 TriniStax
1 WTF/r
1 Food Chain
1 CoinFlip.dec
1 Unknown
Let's get straight to the report.
-Round 1-
Jon, 4cc
Game 1:
Him: Me:
20 20
19 19
16 18
15 17
14
12
9
SCOOP
He wins the roll, and elects to play first. We trade early blows. A fetchland on my side is Stifled on my first turn (!). The Stifle itself, however, garners a timely Force of Will, as I have kept a mana-light hand, and the Volcanic Island it fetches is tapped for a Grim Lavamancer. After Lavamancer has seen two turns on the board, I make a River Boa, and true beatdown commences. At this point, he plays a Crucible of Worlds (!), but luckily, he was no Wasteland or Strip Mine in his graveyard, so I elect to allow it to resolve. Somewhere during the beatdown, he cycles Decree of Justice, but I have the Stifle for the Soldier token trigger. With him at 9, I draw into Call of the Herd, he has no more answers, and we move to Game 2.
IN: 3 Red Elemental Blast, 2 Oxidize (fearing more Crucibles)
OUT: 3 Null Rod, 2 Daze
Game 2:
Him: Me:
20 20
19 19
17 18
16
13
8
3
2
X
He again has Stifle for my turn one Polluted Delta activation (!!), which again garners a Force of Will. I hold off on a turn one play, allowing me to delay his development by bluffing the Stifle. Second turn land, Mox, River Boa with regeneration mana up makes for very good times, as he does not have immediate access to a Swords to Plowshares. A Curiosity later, the beats become truly savage. A Lavamancer joins the party, and the dynamic duo beat down for a while, eventually joined by a Call of the Herd. The first Call is countered, but the flashback gives me the game, despite his effort to slow the kill by Icing the Call token.
1-0
2-0
-Round 2-
James, TriniStax
Game 1:
Him: Me:
20 20
18 13
16 12
15 11
12
10
8
7
5
4
X
I keep a Mox, Volcanic Island, Grim Lavamancer, Gorilla Shaman, three green card hand with great trepidation. To my great surprise, he mulligans to 5 (!), with myself on the play. Land, Mox, Gorilla Shaman is some good versus Stax I hear. He plays a land and a Welder, which I answer back to with the (inactive) Grim Lavamancer. Later in the game, after staring each other down in a creature lock, he plays an Ancient Tomb, and makes a Mana Vault and a Chalice for Zero. The turn after discarding Sundering Titan. How Lucky! However, the turn after the big man comes down, I rip a green source and play out a River Boa. After taking seven from the angry Titan, my Boa shuts him out of the attacking game, leaving a Curiositied Spiketail Hatchling and an active Lavamancer to whittle at his life total, before alpha striking him with my entire team.
IN: 2 Energy Flux, 2 Oxidize
OUT: 2 Daze, 2 Stifle
Game 2:
Him: Me:
20 20
19 19
17 18
15
13
12
10
7
4
1
X
Turn one Grim Lavamancer, turn two Null Rod with counter backup leaves him in a world of hurt. However, into the midgame, while beating with a Factory Worker, he sees his out and Rack and Ruins my Worker and my Null Rod. The first effort at such a play is Force of Will'd, but the second attempt unfortunately resolves. On his turn, he makes a Gilded Lotus for his efforts, paining him with an Ancient Tomb. On my turn, to support my mana denial plan, I Oxidize his Lotus and drop a Call of the Herd token. He is hosed fairly thoroughly by the loss of the Lotus, sticking him at five mana for the remainder of the game. Call of the Herd goes all the way.
2-0
4-0
-Round 3-
Pedro, 4cc
Game 1:
Him: Me:
20 20
18 21
16 19
14
11
8
3
X
A turn one Grim Lavamancer goes farming, paving the way for a second turn 'Wasteland, blow the Tundra, Mox, River Boa' with counter backup. Later, a Grim Lavamancer adds to the beats. Late game, a Fire/Ice at both of my men resolves, but I save the Boa, gifting him a valuable extra turn. Later on in the game, however, when I am tapped out from casting Call of the Herd, a Fire/Ice sent the way of my men resolves after he Mana Drains my Force of Will (!!!). However, he has few cards in hand, and few colored sources in play due to a second early Wasteland, and he burns for five on the mana. The Call token seals the deal two turns later, despite an Ice to dig for an answer.
IN: 3 Red Elemental Blast
OUT: 3 Null Rod
Game 2:
Him: Me:
20 20
19 19
18 18
16 17
14 16
13 18
12 17
11 16
10
9
5
1
x
This game, my deck sees two Wastelands, two REBs, and all four Force of Wills (!!) to his three answers (two Flametongue Kavus (countered) and a resolved Swords to Plowshares on a Curiositied Boa). In the early game, a Grim Lavamancer vanquishes a face-down Exalted Angel, as he can't find 2WW to unmorph it, or a Swords/Fire for my man, despite double Brainstorm on his main phase. He can force little through my virtual counter wall, and he dies to a Call of the Herd/Grim Lavamancer tagteam. I feel thoroughly like a lucksack, as I suspect I should.
3-0
6-0
-Round 4-
Sam, Food Chain Goblins
We ID into Top 4. However, at my request, we test the matchup. I ended up 5-1 in games. River Boa is, once again, a total house.
With my zero game losses, I end up as first seed.
-Top 4-
James, TriniStax
Game 1:
Him: Me:
20 20
SCOOP 19
He is on the draw. I go 'Polluted Delta, sacrifice for a Volcanic Island. Tap for R: Grim Lavamancer, go'. He goes 'Draw, land... Why the hell do I have EIGHT cards in hand?! Game 2...'
Unfortunate, as far as I am concerned. Experience with the deck is more important at this point than wins. But alas, Game 2 begins nonetheless.
***RULES QUERY: Is there any legal way to resolve this *without* giving a game loss to the player drawing the extra card? James is a really classy guy, and would be among the last people I'd *ever* suspect of cheating. Plus, in this case, I would rather have played it out and gained another game's experience, regardless of whether it led to a win or a loss by me.***
IN: 2 Oxidize, 2 Energy Flux
OUT: 2 Daze, 2 Stifle
Game 2:
Him: Me:
20 20
18 19
17 18
15 17
13 16
11 15
7 14
5 13
4
3
2
1
X
I drop an early Boa and Lavamancer, and counter his early Trinisphere and midgame Blood Moon. A second Lavamancer joins the party. I am mana-light this game, and accidentally tap out for something inane (PLAY MISTAKE). At this point, he goes 'Tap 6: Make a Pimpbot' and in my head, I hear 'Let's go to game three'. He shoots up my team, and proceeds to beat me with his 1/1 for approximately a month, while digging with Thirsts for Knowledge. I topdeck, in order: Land, Land, Null Rod, Spiketail Hatchling, Oxidize. As the Hatchling races him, he attempts to hardcast Sundering Titan, and takes 2 from his Ancient Tomb. I, in response, go 'Float green. On comes into play, Oxidize' for the GG's. He has very few mana sources after the Null Rod and double Sundering Titan triggers, and dies to a lone Spiketail, unable to cast the Platinum Angel in his hand.
4-0
8-0
-Top 2-
Pedro, 4cc
Pedro wants to go home, so we split. All in all, excellent showing by the deck. The card quality in this deck is ludicrous - almost everything is flat-out awesome. River Boas won me at *least* three games on the night on their own, and Call of the Herd is a *fantastic* backbreaker lategame against Control. Oxidize in the sideboard is hot like crazy - it single-handedly won me *BOTH* post-sideboarding games against TriniStax. I really like this deck, as you can probably tell, and would like to see its development continue further. Now, the obligatory decklist:
-Decklist-
Mana's
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
-25-
Threats
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 River Boa
4 Spiketail Hatchling
2 Call of the Herd
1 Gorilla Shaman
-15-
Draw
4 Curiosity
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
-9-
Disruption
4 Force of Will
3 Null Rod
2 Stifle
2 Daze
-11-
Sideboard
2 Oxidize
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Energy Flux
-
1 Oxidize
1 Rack and Ruin
1 Fire/Ice
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Firestorm
-15-
Props to Jason for running a fantastic tournament week in and week out, and to River Boa, for being ridiculous.
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