[Report]Dragon Steals the Bazaar at Warp 9

[everythingitouchdies]

On Saturday Warp 9 comics in Clawson Michigan held a type 1 no proxy tournament for a bazaar of baghdad. I think we had 26 players, it was 4 rounds of swiss and then top 8 single elimination.

1st Place: BUG-eyed Dragon

Decklist:

Creatures:
4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Ambassador Laquatus
1 Sliver Queen

Animation:
4 Animate Dead
3 Necromancy

Control:
4 Force of Will
3 Duress

Tutors:
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
4 Intuition

Utility:
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Compulsion
1 Ancestral Recall

Mana:
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
2 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Verdant Force
2 Sundering Titan
3 Xantid Swarm
2 Pernicious Deed
1 Coffin Purge

4 rounds of Swiss:

Round 1: U/G madness

I didn't expect this matchup, and I was not sure how it would play out. Game one I played my combo 4th turn, and forced it through a circular logic for the win.

SB: -1 Squee, -2 LD vault, +3 Xantid Swarm

I sideboarded conservatively, and it paid off. I cast duress turn two only to see BEB, 2 circular logic, and FOW. I hit the blast, and attempted to play Xantid Swarm. It gets, forced as he is tapped out (from play Aquamoeba.) Turn 3 he draws a land, swings and passes the turn. My turn 3 I draw bazaar, pitch the dragon and force through a circular logic again for the win.

2-0 Dragon

Round 2: 4 Color Control

I keep an opening hand that has bazaar, Ambassador, Dragon. I play first, playing the bazaar and dumping the combo. He wastes on his turn and plays a mox. Turn 2 I duress, hitting cunning wish. The game starts to go wrong, as my 2nd bazaar gets wasted and I sit with 3 squees in hand along with a FOW and an animate that I am afraid to cast. An agel and two soldier tokens beat me to four, and at this point my hand now has a second FOW and a second animate dead. Alas, he stripped my underground sea and I have only one black source. I have no choice, seeing two open blue, a jet, and a lotus open to stop me. I confirm that he has six cards in hand, and play the animate. He sacs lotus, taps jet, taps land to hardcast FOW. I smirk at the sight that he has no drain, but fear the untapped Tundra. I FOW in return, animate resolves. I cringe as I put the come into play ability on the stack, and breathe a sigh of relief as he doesnt respond. I steal the late game with nothing left to hope for.

Sideboard: -1 squee, -1 dragon, -1 intuition, -2 lim-duls vault, +2 sundering titan, +3 xantid swarm

Another long game, animating sundering titan and having him STP'd leaves my opponent without land, ruby/jet only. Two FOWs in hand with stuff to pitch, I combo off and Force it through. Things are beautiful in the garden of dragon.

2-0 Dragon, 2-0 for the day

Round 3: U/W standstill

I heard some guys talking about this one, calling it a weird fish deck. I was not happy to see U/W anything, and this was particularly bad.

Then we got into the games and he told me he had only one mana drain and no power. He tells me this as Lim-duls vault goes wrong at the end of his second turn and leaves me at 9 (looping all the way through the deck back to the demonic tutor I was looking at in the first place.) I steal game one on the 4th turn, after duressing to see no counter magic.

Game two, I fetch, vampiric, and take two points from a Darksteel Brute. his 4th turn he plays disc, I FOW, he FOWs. I cringe, draw bazaar and win on my turn.

2-0 Dragon, 3-0 for the day

Round 4: FCG

Its Gimbles, who beat me in the finals for a berserk a month ago. I offer him a draw, but he needs to play it tp make top 8 (I got paired down?) so we play. He mulls to 5, much like I did both games at our last meeting. I make a joke, but he is too sad to laugh. Lim-dul's vault sets up the win, which happens 3rd turn.

Game 2 is beautiful. He mulls to six, keeping a hand with ground seal in it. I duress it away on my first turn (I didnt side out duress, heh heh.) and combo on my 3rd turn unimpeded.

Top 8: U/W standstill revisited.

My opponent is devastated to play me again. I take quite the beating from some manlands game one, breaking a standstill with a duress, breaking another one with a demonic tutor for a duress 2 turns later, duress and win.

Game two I forget to SB. I combo turn 3 with FOWs galore in my hand.


Top 4: O-Stompy

I sat down and the kid and his dad are talking alot of smak about dragon. I didnt realize he had just beat a suboptimal dragon deck and was unaware of what I was playing. I thought the deck slander was directed at me so I sat quietly. I went 1st, played underground sea, sol ring and passed. he played a bazaar, removed ESG and played ground seal, which I FOW'd. I went and played a land, passed the turn. he plays a forest and bazaars, puts a rootwalla out. I end of turn Vampiric for bazaar, play it and combo out. He shows me that he has a naturalize that he couldnt play because he only has 1 forest, but 2 more in hand.

Game two I got one of those degenerate hands that no one ever wants to see. He tells me he didnt know I was playing Dragon til I went off and I explain I thought he knew because of all the trash talking. I lighten up (he is an eleven year old kid afterall) and he takes it very well when a qucik combo finishes the round. I congratulated him on making top 4 (he beat so many people who were a little upset, happy to see me avange them) and happily went to the final table.

I saw that 4 color was playing against sui to compete against me. I didnt know who I wanted to win. I already stole one win from 4cc, I didnt think I could do it again but the guy playing sui not only had everything that I hate to see, but he also seemed to have a really strong grasp on what he was doing. 4cc won game 3, and he groaned when he saw he was playing me.

Finals:

Game One: I went first, played bazaar and once again deposited dragon and ambassador in the G-yard. He wasted the bazaar, played a sapphire and ruby, passed back. I drew the blue card I needed for FOW, played a swamp, mox and sol ring. He casts brainstorm at the end of my turn, I necromancy in response. I force it through and he draws out on his own brainstorm. Hard times.

Game two: I might have had this one if not for gush. I animated a sundering titan, he wished for gush and picked up his lands. I placed my bayou and underground sea in the graveyard, and when it got StP'd next turn I lost my swamp. Landless and getting beat down by a gorilla shaman, I eventually lose to a morphling played off yawg's will.

Game 3: I resolved Xantid Swarm turn 2. I have sliver queen and titan in my graveyard, I have a Bayou and a swamp, his only land on the board is volcanic. I realize he is land screwed and I animate the sliver queen. Onlookers seem shocked, thinking this is the wrong play. He draws a land after I duress away a FOW, plays it. I animate the titan hitting his lands, he mysticals for balance. I beat him down before he can play it, holding two FOWs in hand.

Dragon takes the Bazaar of Baghdad, 4cc gets a bayou, badlands, and a birds of paradise.


Thanks to everyone who came out, I hear they are doing another one sometime in August (Library maybe?) and thanks to the guy who hooked me up with my 1st mana drain. Hope to see you all again.

EITD

[dicemanx]

Congrats on the victory with Dragon. You had some quality opponents, so the victory was all the more impressive. I want to add two things:

1. This is the first Dragon report in a long while that featured a *good* build for a change .

2. You needn't think that you "stole" victories from 4CC. 4CC can have a tough time because it has limited removal game 1, and game two you can bring in tricks to contend with added StP/BEBs. Games usually come down to whether or not they can deal with your card drawing engines. The match-up is probably around 50/50, depending on the Dragon build.

[everythingitouchdies]

Congrats on the victory with Dragon. You had some quality opponents, so the victory was all the more impressive. I want to add two things:

1. This is the first Dragon report in a long while that featured a *good* build for a change .

2. You needn't think that you "stole" victories from 4CC. 4CC can have a tough time because it has limited removal game 1, and game two you can bring in tricks to contend with added StP/BEBs. Games usually come down to whether or not they can deal with your card drawing engines. The match-up is probably around 50/50, depending on the Dragon build.

Thanks for the props.

Before some changes to my sideboard for this tournament 4cc used to be terrible for me, I didnt run swarms or the titans before. With the necessary changes, and the fact that I play dragon against control decks every week, regardless of how much I have to work for my victories, it proved to be a pretty easy day overall. There was all the usual hate (almost everybody eagerly dug their anti-dragon tech out of their board) and I waded through leaving a pile of bodies in my wake.

The other new thing to this deck was the Lim-Dul's vaults. I have used them in the past but before this tournament they were deep analysis. I am much happier with the vaults, but I still wonder if they are the best card for that slot.

EITD

[Shock Wave]

Congrats on the victory with Dragon. You had some quality opponents, so the victory was all the more impressive. I want to add two things:

1. This is the first Dragon report in a long while that featured a *good* build for a change .

2. You needn't think that you "stole" victories from 4CC. 4CC can have a tough time because it has limited removal game 1, and game two you can bring in tricks to contend with added StP/BEBs. Games usually come down to whether or not they can deal with your card drawing engines. The match-up is probably around 50/50, depending on the Dragon build.

Thanks for the props.

Before some changes to my sideboard for this tournament 4cc used to be terrible for me, I didnt run swarms or the titans before. With the necessary changes, and the fact that I play dragon against control decks every week, regardless of how much I have to work for my victories, it proved to be a pretty easy day overall. There was all the usual hate (almost everybody eagerly dug their anti-dragon tech out of their board) and I waded through leaving a pile of bodies in my wake.

The other new thing to this deck was the Lim-Dul's vaults. I have used them in the past but before this tournament they were deep analysis. I am much happier with the vaults, but I still wonder if they are the best card for that slot.

EITD

Agreed, this is an excellent build! Congrats on the T8. I'm curious though, why did you side out the vaults as opposed to Demonic and Vampiric? Vault is far more important...

[rvs]

Agreed, this is an excellent build! Congrats on the T8. I'm curious though, why did you side out the vaults as opposed to Demonic and Vampiric? Vault is far more important...

I disagree. Demonic gets you something RIGHT NOW. I'm pretty sure I'd rather take out a Vault than a Demonic. I think Vampiric is on the same power level as vault. It can be cast a turn earlier, usually fetching a gamewinning card, or Vault, that comes online a little later, but sets up a sequence of cards to win the game. It is really situational to decide which would be better.

Congrats on the win. Only 7 animate effects is the first thing I noticed. You didn't miss the 8th one all day long I assume? Personally, I would cut the 4th intuition for the 8th animate (which would be Dance of the Dead). Other than that, I like your build a lot!

[everythingitouchdies]

I disagree. Demonic gets you something RIGHT NOW. I'm pretty sure I'd rather take out a Vault than a Demonic. I think Vampiric is on the same power level as vault. It can be cast a turn earlier, usually fetching a gamewinning card, or Vault, that comes online a little later, but sets up a sequence of cards to win the game. It is really situational to decide which would be better.

Congrats on the win. Only 7 animate effects is the first thing I noticed. You didn't miss the 8th one all day long I assume? Personally, I would cut the 4th intuition for the 8th animate (which would be Dance of the Dead). Other than that, I like your build a lot!

Vampiric Tutor was worth its weight in gold for me all day. The immediacy of Demonic makes it overall more appealing than the vault, even though the vault is an instant. I never even considered keeping the vaults in over the other tutors, probably because they were the newest and seemingly most dispensible card. It may not have been the right choice, especially since it reduces my blue count, but it ended up working out.

I never failed to have an animate when I needed it (as I only lost one game all day.) I intuitioned one time for animate deads, I tutored one time for necromancy, but other than that I always drew it. The 4th intuition was considered a possible cut, but I went with it and the card seems to get better every time I play it. I prefer it right now to anything I have tested over it, including the 8th animate spell.

The best thing I did was cut time walk for the 3rd compulsion. I dont know why I really had the time walk in to begin with, but I certainly dont miss it.

EITD

[BreathWeapon]

Go Sundering Titan, I love that card in Dragon

Did you find Sliver Queen to be all that useful for you? I bought into the whole "+1 Queen = +2 FoW Targets" argument, but she never seems to do anything for me.

[everythingitouchdies]

Go Sundering Titan, I love that card in Dragon

Did you find Sliver Queen to be all that useful for you? I bought into the whole "+1 Queen = +2 FoW Targets" argument, but she never seems to do anything for me.

There was one game against O stompy on where I had to pitch ambassador to a FOW a root maze, and I turned around and won with the queen. Also, in the finals, game three, I had the queen and a titan in the graveyard, but my opponent had only one land and it was not optimal to animate the titan, sliver queen was blocked once by g shaman but her token got through, and then when he played another land and she was joined by the titan it was exactly what I needed for the win.

At a tournament a couple weeks ago I animated her second turn against fish game one and beat down for the win.

Synopsis: I love Sliver Queen.

EITD

[dicemanx]

A good rule of thumb is that you should run two win conditions (with one being a Queen), unless you have MD Swarms. It's not so much the pitchability to FoW issue, its more that you need to have Animate targets beyond the WGD.

The immediacy of Demonic makes it overall more appealing than the vault, even though the vault is an instant. I never even considered keeping the vaults in over the other tutors, probably because they were the newest and seemingly most dispensible card.

All of the tutors have upsides and drawbacks. Vault is clearly the strongest of the tutors (it's like a Vamp Tutor on steroids), but it's the most difficult to cast consistently in the early going. It really depends on the mana base. Running 20 sources with much off-color mana makes casting it more difficult, and perhaps makes the Vampiric and Demonic slightly better.

[urza_insane]

Congratulations on the win! Right when everybody thinks its safe to take their Dragon Hate out of the board it comes and kicks butt. I'm mad I wasn't able to show up, I had a Birthday Party to attend. If theres another one in august I would really appreciate a PM (or if somebody posts it) I would love to be able to come!

Thanks

[Bronx]

First of all, I am glad to see a recent win from Dragon. I am a Michigan local and would have been there if it weren't for work. I had a handful of friends who were able to make it and I was especially dissapointed. I really needed the bazaar because I have made the recent change to Dragon.

The version that I am testing is just U/B. I never thought it important to include green, mind you I am new to the archetype. Is is the splash, in your eyes, worth it for the significane of swarm and the SB deed?

For reanimator tech, I include three Titans in the SB. I have not bothered with the Verdant Forces. Do you think that they serve some significance? If so, what scares you to the point where you need a 7/7 and lots of tokens versus a 7/10 land destroyer?

I have found one of the best cards in my deck to be Deep Analysis. Although I do not know why, I have not run Vampiric or Vault. Maybe a little extra tutor makes more sense than a little extra draw. The DA also works to get a single turn kill with Laquatus.

I have also run Caller of The Claw over Sliver Queen. I like Caller because it doesn't force me to float mana if I don't have it. But, Sliver Queen can work as a beatstick in odd situations. I'll test it.

[everythingitouchdies]

First of all, I am glad to see a recent win from Dragon. I am a Michigan local and would have been there if it weren't for work. I had a handful of friends who were able to make it and I was especially dissapointed. I really needed the bazaar because I have made the recent change to Dragon.

The version that I am testing is just U/B. I never thought it important to include green, mind you I am new to the archetype. Is is the splash, in your eyes, worth it for the significane of swarm and the SB deed?

For reanimator tech, I include three Titans in the SB. I have not bothered with the Verdant Forces. Do you think that they serve some significance? If so, what scares you to the point where you need a 7/7 and lots of tokens versus a 7/10 land destroyer?

I have found one of the best cards in my deck to be Deep Analysis. Although I do not know why, I have not run Vampiric or Vault. Maybe a little extra tutor makes more sense than a little extra draw. The DA also works to get a single turn kill with Laquatus.

I have also run Caller of The Claw over Sliver Queen. I like Caller because it doesn't force me to float mana if I don't have it. But, Sliver Queen can work as a beatstick in odd situations. I'll test it.

Point by point, at some moment in the last seven months I have said the same things you are saying. But I was wrong, and I will break it down for you.

I think splashing green is a must for the Xantid Swarm. I will say, however, that the only match I sided deeds in was one where I didnt need them. I will probably cut them for something more focused on what I wanted the deed for, in particular Naturalize. My build runs only 20 mana sources, a portion of which die if I deed. For the most part, everything I would hit with deed I can hit with naturalize.

I ran this deck b/u for the last couple months. It fairs well, but the sudden upper hand in the control matchup that Xantid swarm gives (if nothing more than being a one drop must counter or kill) is imperative. I finally made the change and I do not regret it.

Titans and Forces: Two titans is enough to level the field against 4cc and Tog. But you dont want to side titan in against Fish, or against Stax. Thats where Verdant force comes into play. Fish cant handle him. He turns stax back in on itself. And he is even a decent SB choice against Sui black, which is not one of dragon's finer matchups. Two of each would be fine, but three has made a healthy difference.

I was running deep analysis. I cut it for lim-dul's vault. I will never go back. The DAs were good, but they do not win the game (well, unless you flash them back after milling your opponent.) What I mean is that they do not setup a win, they do not find needed cards, they do not fill your hand better than squee, and they do not belong in this deck. I promise you, if you are worried about needing to win now, mill them 3 at a time and make inventory of their deck. Not many people are going to let you do that, so they scoop.

I prefer sliver queen to caller of the claw. I have tried them both, and the original reason I switched was to up the blue count. But then it started winning me games on its own, especially against Fish. The only advantage of Caller is the ability to win under root maze, which I have seen once in two months and I FOW'd it.

The thing with Dragon is that you cant just pick it up and play it. It still gets hated, and if you dont expect everything your opponent has against you its going to be dissapointing. Depending on your metagame, it may be extremely rough. You have to be patient and learn this deck, it is not as easy to play as it looks from across the table. But I encourage you to play it, and play it well.

EITD

[Shock Wave]

Agreed, this is an excellent build! Congrats on the T8. I'm curious though, why did you side out the vaults as opposed to Demonic and Vampiric? Vault is far more important...

I disagree. Demonic gets you something RIGHT NOW. I'm pretty sure I'd rather take out a Vault than a Demonic. I think Vampiric is on the same power level as vault. It can be cast a turn earlier, usually fetching a gamewinning card, or Vault, that comes online a little later, but sets up a sequence of cards to win the game. It is really situational to decide which would be better.

Demonic Tutor resolves = I get Ancestral or a Bazaar.
Vault resolves = Odds are I am winning next turn

Demonic = Sorcery. A smart opponent will always stop your DT if you have no Bazaar in play.

Vault = Pitches to FOW

I think considering that this build runs 3 basics (a hell of a lot) and 4 fetches, having 2 mana on turn 2 to cast Vault should not be an issue.

All of the tutors have upsides and drawbacks. Vault is clearly the strongest of the tutors (it's like a Vamp Tutor on steroids), but it's the most difficult to cast consistently in the early going. It really depends on the mana base. Running 20 sources with much off-color mana makes casting it more difficult, and perhaps makes the Vampiric and Demonic slightly better.

They all have upsides and drawbacks, but the upsides clearly outweigh the drawbacks when considering LDV. You're right about the manabase, but this deck does run a lot of basics and fetches, so like I said, having the mana shouldn't be an issue.

[Windfall]

Ben --

I heard about your win, and I've just read the report.  I wanted to say great job!  I'm proud of you and I wish I could have been there to make your path to first more difficult =)

I had to be out of my apartment that day and turn my keys in, etc... which was a bummer because I really wanted to go to that.  Now you've got 5 Bazaars... just the prize you needed =D.

It looks like you've come a long way with your deck.  I promise you that if you just keep playing it, it will only get better.  Skill improves with each match and I wish you the best of luck with Dragon in the future.  Now that you're running Xantid Swarms, I can't beat you with MonoU Trix!  I should see you tomorrow at Pandemonium should you attend.

     ~Mark B.

[Freddy Furious]

First I'd like to say congrats on the win. Its great to see dragon do well.

However I just thought I might mention something I havent seen anyone explain and that is, Why chalice?

I assume its in there to set at 1 to stop most dragon hate. Which would be fine if chalice didnt leave play in the middle of the loop, but it does. So when it comes back in it has 0 counters So your opponent can cast whatever they would have prior to loop #1.

So if im wrong and its in there for something else, I apologise for not seeing it.

-Fury

[Bulls on Parade]

However I just thought I might mention something I havent seen anyone explain and that is, Why chalice?

I assume its in there to set at 1 to stop most dragon hate. Which would be fine if chalice didnt leave play in the middle of the loop, but it does. So when it comes back in it has 0 counters So your opponent can cast whatever they would have prior to loop #1.

So if im wrong and its in there for something else, I apologise for not seeing it.

-Fury

Well, a turn one Chalice for 0 obviously hurts a good chunk of decks, but additionally it stops your opponent from playing Tormod's Crypt. Although this obviously isn't the card's only function, it definitely serves a purpose here. However, I wouldn't argue that there are certainly better choices for those slots.

[Angel]

That tournament was the hotness, even though I scrubbed out playing borrowed U/G Madness. Mad congrats on the bazaar! Nice to see Dragon win again. I gotta say, even though Dragon was really expected to make a huge showing, NOBODY packed hate... Not even me. Forgetting Tornod's Crypts at home = not tech   . Actually, I stand corrected. The 11 year old kid who Stomped (literally) most of the good players (namely, J-Dizzle and myself) was packing hate. Revenge for madness  

For all those interested, there will be another tournament in the upcoming months. It could be as soon as something like three weeks. The prize will be a card of similar if not better quality. These tournaments are really awesome, there's an A&W a couple buildings down and a candy store right next to it. Awesomeness. Thanks to all who came out, and to those who couldn't, hope to see you next time!

[everythingitouchdies]

First I'd like to say congrats on the win. Its great to see dragon do well.

However I just thought I might mention something I havent seen anyone explain and that is, Why chalice?


-Fury

Chalice is what I used to side in before I ran xantid swarms against 4cc. A chalice for 1 against 4cc is amazing, but its not as good as a swarm in any case. Also, A certain WINDFALL has been known to play a certain DRAW 7 and it levels the field a bit in that matchup.

In reality, I didnt use it a single time all day, and I am now seeking another card to fill the slot. I prepped for things I didnt see, but I didnt ever need anything I didnt have.


Windfall (Mark) thanks for the props. See you monday at pandemonium with Bazaar #5/6 heh heh.

Angel: What are you talking about no hate? Did I play you 1st round? I think I duressed away a BEB 2nd game. BEB is way worse than crypt.

4cc had coffin purge, stifle, and a random goblin sharpshooter against me, not to mention swords and BEB.

u/w standstill added underground seas to add diabolic edicts along with the tormod's crypts and maindeck N disks.

FCG had ground seal which I duressed away, but didnt get a chance to do anything anyway (except lead with a wasteland both games)

And the first matchup of top 8 was the kid with O stompy (who wrecked ya all) and he tried to play root maze game one and died with naturalize in hand... and he sided in crypts too I think.

All in all it wasnt the most hate filled day but it was still there. The only deck I had great sideboard for was 4cc, fortunately its the only one where I needed it.

EITD.

[Angel]

Heh, I forgot about the Landstill turning black for edicts... and the fact that he brought crypts with him... Still, for how much the T.O. was raving about Dragon owning everyone in the face, one would have thought there would have been many more players ph34ring the DARgon.

And yes, you did play me first round   . The BEB wasn't meant for you actually, it was for the FCG I never got to play.  

Hope you owned at Pandemonium. One of these days I'm going to have to take a crew up there. It sounds like it's a blast  

John

[Andreas]

Some more questions about your decklist:

1) Have you tried a build with all 5 moxen?

2) Have you missed the 4th compulsion?

3) Have you considered replacing the Maindeck Duress with Xantid Swarms?

[SpencerForHire]

First: In all it was a pretty decent turnout, good job on the win man.
Second; The prize was good, next time should be even better, people need to show, there will probably be one in early August and it is supposedly 5 proxy.
Third: You say the sharpshooter in 4cc is random but we all know the truth.  That is possibly the sweetest tech I've seen in a while.  Reason: sharpshooter ruined the fish deck.  It also was quite nice as an anti-combo ultimadum versus your dragon deck because he could certainly finish you off before you could kill him with your own dragon.

None the less it was extremely fun, and despite bad luck I've come up with a few changes that will make the now farely common combo decks get a run for their money.  Hope more people will show next time, I'll be posting a very accurate ad just as soon as I know what's going on.

[everythingitouchdies]

Some more questions about your decklist:

1) Have you tried a build with all 5 moxen?

2) Have you missed the 4th compulsion?

3) Have you considered replacing the Maindeck Duress with Xantid Swarms?

I dont play five moxes because I dont own them. Actually I borrowed the emerald last minute from a friend and it made a huge difference. If I did play all five moxen I would have to up the mana count by 1.

I dont miss the 4th compulsion at all. I think it would be needless excess. The fact is that at this tournament I had some broken topdecks, often throwing the bazaar out, knowing it would be wasted, just to dump the dragon in my hand (because intuition finds kill conditions too) and then draw the ambassador off the top.

I would never take Duress out of this deck. Its not just getting the card, its also seeing the hand. Xantid swarm is amazing, but you have to resolve it, then hope it doesnt get STP'd or Fire/iced before it can swing.


Gimbles: I called the sharpshooter random because I didnt expect it. I agree that it is amazing against fish, as it proved wholeheartedly during the tournament. As for its anti-dragon use, I dont know that I would rely real heavily on that. I have faced it many times, and I have yet to lose a game to goblin sharpshooter.

Also, I am excited about another tourny, get the announcement out as soon as you can, and I HOPE ITS NOT 5 PROXY.

EITD

[urza_insane]

I can't wait until the next tournament, hopefully I'll be able to show this time. I actually hope that it is 5 proxy. The warp 9 meta isn't necessarily the most competitive/powered and having 5 proxy would deffinitly increase the ammount of people who show up. If it doesn't end up being 5 proxy then I'll live, but I think it would be great if it were! Well, we'll just have to wait and see!

[Bronx]

Xantid Swarm is especially helpful if it can maintain its position on the board. However, 4CC has plenty of answers to it. I am not saying that Xantid Swarm is useless versus 4CC (Believe me, I know it's good), but Chalice just seems to prevent them from casting answers versus Dragon. But then again, with Brainstorm and Swords gone, you still have eight counterspells to worry about. When I think about it, I'm not sure which one really does make more sense.

[everythingitouchdies]

Xantid Swarm is especially helpful if it can maintain its position on the board. However, 4CC has plenty of answers to it. I am not saying that Xantid Swarm is useless versus 4CC (Believe me, I know it's good), but Chalice just seems to prevent them from casting answers versus Dragon. But then again, with Brainstorm and Swords gone, you still have eight counterspells to worry about. When I think about it, I'm not sure which one really does make more sense.

I thought the same thing, really wanting to play the chalice. It kills all the 1cc answers, brainstorm, ancestral, etc. And it gets disenchanted, stops your duresses, and all out doesnt do anything more for you than swarm.

In addition, you animate dragon, the chalice leaves play, comes back with a mighty big zero counters on it, and the dragon gets StP'd. Ouch.

In conclusion, Xantid Swarm = good tech Chalice = bad tech

EITD

[moonkhan]

Keep PM-level content to PMs.
-Jacob

[SpencerForHire]

Unfortunately, in relation to the next tourney he says their probably won't be one this summer meaning I'll be gone for now on.  I hope to see some reports pop up and I might keep in contact with the store so I might still even post tournament advertisements for you all.

In relation to the topic at hand:
I understand that sharpshooter isn't mad tech versus dragon but if I can get one out first turn it might at least stall you the turn I need to win against you.  And in the end, every turn matters.