Waterbury Highlander results

[Pern]

Although Highlander need be anything but casual,
I'm posting this here so the others can chime in should they choose to.

Reigning Highlander World Champion Simon Cooper took it home again with his combo deck.
This time I made him work for it, ending up in second
with WW Equipment transforming into Rebel Parfait.
I swept DyannahTheUntouchable's Keeper, Philatio's combo, and Kowal's Keeper.

Jacob Orlove got third.
I didn't get to see his deck.
I also didn't get to play against the red deck
that Harriet Cooper beat me with in Endicott.

Banning Tendrils at this tournament definitely helped.
The replacement kills are all less synergistic as well as
more complex and/or more easily stopped.
This gives other decks a fighting chance.
Game two against Simon it seems to me I stopped an early Colossus,
then Grim/Power, then Salvagers/Spellbomb,
before dying to Grim/Power/Stroke off Yawgmoth's Will.

Phil and Simon think Lotus is the real problem.
I can see their point, but Lotus does help all the decks.

[Jacob Orlove]

My list is here.

I played a slightly different SB, cutting a few cards like the feeder for Arcane Lab and Root Maze, but even 7 anti-combo cards wasn't enough to stop mind's desire into bargain two games in a row round 1.

My games against Kowal were utterly awesome, though.

[Kowal]

Here's what I played to an astounding 0-1-3 finish.  That's right, three draws.  I went to time, HARD.


The Revenge of 1998 (or, I forgot to raid my type four for Holistic Wisdom)

Force of Will
Mana Drain
Counterspell
Mana Leak
Prohibit
Disrupt
Stifle

Swords to Plowshares
Reciprocate
Fire/Ice
Engineered Explosives

Regrowth
Yawgmoth's Will
Crucible of Worlds
Mind Twist
Time Walk
Isochron Scepter
Mindslaver

Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Merchant Scroll
Tinker

Future Sight
Skeletal Scrying
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Impulse
Braingeyser
Deep Analysis

Burning Wish
Cunning Wish

Platinum Angel
Morphling
Gorilla Shaman
Rootwater Thief

Black Lotus
Sol Ring
Mox Emerald
Mox Pearl
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire
Mox Ruby

Library of Alexandria
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Dust Bowl
Polluted Delta
Flooded Strand
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Underground Sea
Tundra
Tropical Island
Volcanic Island
City of Brass
Undiscovered Paradise
Island
Swamp
Plains

The sideboard was utter jank, so I won't even bother posting it.

Mini report:


Round One:  Simon Cooper (returning champion) with Combo

Game one I Vampiric Tutor hoping to get one more turn to live so as to set up a mindslaver.  Unfortunately for me, Simon finds Bargain and goes off with Grim Power.
Game two I manage to keep Simon's hand down, but he successfully resolves Jar.  He passes the turn, and I Demonic Tutor for my Stifle, which stops his jar and wins me the game.
Game three goes to time.  He has colossus out, but I have platts.  On the 5th of the 5 turns, he topdecks goblin welder, but can't weld out the platts.
0-0-1

Round Two:  Dyannah the Untouchable with SamiteDealer's pimpin' Highlander Keeper

We never complete game one because it lasts around 55 minutes without a winner.  She resolves early Tinker for Mind's Eye, which more than trumps my Brainstorm on Isochron Scepter.  I'm forced to take some very bizarre paths to try to win, such as Engineered Explosives for five to remove the Eye.  On turn five of the five turns, I'm around 8 mana too short to Stroke of Genius her out for the win.
0-0-2

Round Three:  Jacob Orlove with "Strange Synergy"

Game one he beats the bajeezus out of me with a bunch of little dorks while I'm trying to set up a Future Sight.
Game two he gets early Survival, but can't find a green source after I kill his manas.  It takes me around eight turns to find a removal spell for the Survival, and after that, it merely takes a Regrowth'd Time Walk for Morphling to go all the way.
We don't have time for a game three.
0-0-3

Round Four:  Dan Richardson (Pern) with WW/Equip that morphs in to Parfait
Game one Dan is a little stalled, but ends up finding the parts to make me hurt.  A lot.
Game two Dan equips a mom with Sword of Light and Shadow, and starts beating my brains out.  I manage to stabilize with a protected Platinum Angel once me and mana are friends again, but with time being called, I scoop in the interest of food.
0-1-3

Obviously the biggest problem with the deck is the very slow win condition, and the lack of Holistic Wisdom.  I'm going to rework the manabase and add a mix of Decree, Exalted, Psychatog, or possibly even Charbelcher in order to get the kill speed higher.

[Pern]

Jacob, your deck looks awesome.
I wish I'd played you.
How'd the mana base work out?
The Snow-covered Forest is a nice touch,
makes my 16 Plains feel like cheating.

Speaking of which, here's my deck list.

-- The Plantation --
    16 Plains
    1 Kjeldoran Outpost
    1 Wasteland
    1 Strip Mine
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Chrome Mox
-- The Rebel Yell --
    1 Ramosian Sergeant
    1 Ramosian Lieutenant
    1 Defiant Falcon
    1 Whipcorder
    1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
    1 Nightwind Glider
    1 Thermal Glider
-- Other Dorks --
    1 Mother of Runes
    1 Weathered Wayfarer
    1 Benevolent Bodyguard
    1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
    1 White Knight
    1 Silver Knight
    1 Leonin Skyhunter
    1 Soltari Priest
    1 Longbow Archer
    1 Devout Witness
    1 Soltari Visionary
    1 Exalted Angel
-- Their Toys --
    1 Enlightened Tutor
    1 Land Tax
    1 Tithe
    1 Scroll Rack
    1 AEther Vial
    1 Steelshaper's Gift
    1 Skullclamp
    1 Lightning Greaves
    1 Mask of Memory
    1 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Sword of Light and Shadow
    1 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Kirtar's Desire
    1 Seal of Cleansing
    1 Disenchant
    1 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Phyrexian Furnace
-- Sideboard --
    1 Gilded Light
    1 True Believer
    1 Abeyance
    1 Orim's Chant
    1 Rule of Law
    1 Reciprocate
    1 Wing Shards
    1 Ghostly Prison
    1 Story Circle
    1 Humility
    1 Aura of Silence
    1 Abolish
    1 Replenish
    1 Argivian Find
    1 Dust Bowl

[Nomad]

My list is over in the open forum.  A really fun tournament, Pern I was really impressed with the 'working' you gave me...

[Jacob Orlove]

Jacob, your deck looks awesome.
I wish I'd played you.
How'd the mana base work out?
The Snow-covered Forest is a nice touch,
makes my 16 Plains feel like cheating.

I ran into trouble one game, but that was because Kowal had dust bowl and wasteland out, and I'd had to keep a mediocre mana draw because it had turn 1 survival with force backup (He had a force too! It was bizarre). Other than that, the mana worked great. The snow covered forest was excellent.

I really wanted to play you, too. All I got to play against was combo and control.

[DyannahtheUntouchable]

i came in fifth, my pimp deck rocked socks.... even though i lost.. ben im sorry...  we were playing dyannah wins.... ^_^ i win ^___^ tinker for minds was good and dot you forget it.... you shoul put fire/ice or counter on the isochron scepter... it would have proved better use for you.. ive learned that ^__^ i want a rematch nexttime it wont be a draw... muah ha ha ha  

[Pern]

Well, DtU, I enjoyed our games.
You piloted a beautiful and difficult deck pretty well.
I look forward to facing you again
once you've had a little more time driving it.