I wasn't planning on writing a tournament report but after the insistence of: TheAtogLord, Joblin Velder and others I decided to do so. The best way to begin is with a decklist of the horrible contraption that took me to 16th place:
Pillar Sligh2k5
The Beats: 16
4 goblin vandal
4 mogg fanatic
4 grimlavamancer
4 jackal pup
Burnination: 12
4 lightning bolt
4 lava dart
3 shrapnel blast
1 black vise
General Domination: 8
4 ankh of mishra
4 pyrostatic pillar
Hating The Meta: 4
4 pyroblast
Mana: 20
4 mishra's factory
1 mox ruby
3 great furnace
12 mountains
SB: 15
3 tormods crypt
3 null rod
3 goblin bombardment
3 threaten
3 bloodmoon
Alot of you are reading through the DL and are obviously confused and laughing,please post any questions and I will be happy to answer them. Now for the actual matches, and I am sorry I but I didn't take notes so the matches may be abit blurred.
1st round U/b fish
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with a mogg fanatic not being sure what I am faced against. This illicit a small frown from my opponent so I assume he is playing some sort of aggro. I later find out he is playing fish as several turns go past and he drops the usual fish creatures. We trade back and forth for awhile with alternating swings this is when the turning point comes he goes to play curiosity and a I respond with a lava dart taking his board. After that I get afew more swings in he goes to play a creature and I respond with 2 bolts for the game.
Game 2 I decide not to sb as I have plenty of answers main to his creature/counter base. He leads off with a land and passes the turn we go back and forth afew turns building our mana bases with my factorys swinging all the while. I am allmost sad to win this way but he kept a no creature hand and I just had factorys and burn so I win the match with little resistance.
2nd round R/g dryad sligh
I go into the match pretty worried as I know he has more burn and bigger guys than I do.
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with a lavamancer hoping it will draw some burn, instead he keeps throwing all his burn at my dome and a huge dryad finishes me off.
Game 2 I bring in threaten hoping to steal one of his dryads for a turn and win the game, which turned out to be a huge mistake. We go back and forth throwing some burn at each other testing the waters for sb cards, unfortunately from my list you can see I get the worst end of this exchange. I manage to threaten his dryad which should have been game but he responds with a forked fireblast and a bolt I shake my head and walk away angry.
3rd round 3 color oath
Game 1 I have no idea what he is playing so I toss out critters like no body's business, I end up being lucky and he just keeps drawing lands. I end up winning game 1 without even knowing what I am playing against so I have no idea how to sb until my opponent mutters how he never draws oaths. At this point all I can think of I am totally screwed and am going to go 1-2 and drop. I bring in bloodmoons and bombardments and hope for the best.
Game 2 Knowing what I am faced against I am much to timid with my creatures and decide only to try and burn him out. Afew turns pass and I draw goblin bombardment I play it, my opponent sees goblin in the name and lets it resolve thinking it was and actually goblin. At this point I go berserk playing guys swinging and burning him down, eventually he gets me in terrible position with a pernicious deed and drops an angel. it swings in for 5 turns and I lose the game
Game 3 This ones for all the marbles I dont change my sb but to change my strategy. I end up playing the beatdown deck getting him down to 5 in afew turns in which he resolves an oath. I am scared he is going to oath out a plats and I am going to lose but instead an ancient hydra comes out. I flash back lava dart at eot killing it and swinging in next turn for match(not sure why he didn't kill my guys). Though it didn't matter much I drew a shrapnel which would have ended the game either way.
I am feeling on top of the world now doing the "impossible" beating oath with an aggro deck. I end up going into round 4 pretty arrogant after that huge win.
4th round Old School WW
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with the traditional jackal pup to which he responds next turn with a savanna lions(revenge of 1997) We go back and forth my burn taking his guys his swords RFGing mine, then the hammer drops glorious anthem. My jaw drops I am going to lose to this enchantment, as I have exhausted my burn and am facing down afew shadow creatures
Game 2 I dont sb and keep a so so hand with a pair of factorys some burn and a mountain. A pair of samurai of the pale curtain have me in a bad spot when low and behold an anthem drops. I know when to call it a day and scoop up my cards realizing I have to win my next 4 matches to have a chance at top 16
5th round control slaver
I am matched up against a friend and testing partner of mine, so jokingly before the game starts I ask him to just give me the win as I have the more powerfull deck
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with a vandal much to his dismay. We start going back and forth me dropping guys burn and utility, him doing nothing but drawing. Eventually I get him in a position with an ankh, pyrostatic pillar in play and a lava dart in yard with him being at 3 life, we scoop up our cards and go to game 2
Game 2 I board in null rods only as he is playing traditional slaver deck with 4 islands md. Much like the first game I build up creatures and burn while he keeps drawing dead. The game lasts only afew turns and I walk off with my 1st of 4 needed match wins.
6th round 3 color parfait
Game 1 I win the roll and lead of with a jackal pup. His turn 1 consists of plains land tax, at this point I am all but wooping for joy seeing I am looking at a possible bye. I swing in for afew turns about turn 5 he drops a humility and turn 7 a moat. I respond in the next few turns with afew bolts and throw a shrapnel blast at him for game at him.
Game 2 I bring in null rods to stop the tax rack draw engine. By turn 2 he has tax/rack active and I only have a lonely jackal pup and factory out so I do what sligh does best go aggro. I limp into the match win with with 4 damage a turn from the factory and pup. I never realized how slow the deck really is.
7th round 3 color GAT
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with a jackal pup to which I get a smart ass comment of " son this is type 1 the extended tourney is down go play your jackal pups their". Afew turns pass of me beating down and dropping some guys, then the one creature I didn't want to see comes out dryad. We have a large burn vs counter war which I win and kill dryad, at this point my fat grave and pair of lavamancers look pretty appealing to my opponents clear board. I swing and burn for afew turns when he topdecks a tog.
I throw some more small burn at him from lavamancers and darts which illicit a scoop from my opponent.
Game 2 I bring in nothing and hope to win the same way I won game 1. I end up leading off with a pup again. Turn 2 I get a pillar down much to my opponents dismay and followed it up with a turn 3 ankh turn 4 second pillar. Afew burn spells my opponent is locked out I get a match win with jackal pups. :p
8th round 2 land belcher
Game 1 I win the roll and lead off with a vandal hoping I might get a turn and have a chance at winning the match. His first turn he explodes but ended up running out of gas. I draw play a land mox swing in break an artifact and drop a pyrostatic pillar. For several turns we go back and forth him drawing nothing me just busting up his artifacts. Eventually he realizes he cant win and we go to game 2.
Game 2 I side in null rods and hope for the best. Belcher does what its should 1st turn win consisting of: channel into memory jar into belcher for the win, as he draw both lands between opening hand and jar. I am seriously bummed at this point and really hoping to just get this highest not proxy prize.
Game 3 I lead off with a blackvise and pass. Very much like game 1 he goes for broke and stalls. At this point I start the burnination throwing out shrapnel blasts, darts and on turn 4 eot 3 bolts. After the three bolts I have to make the comment light you up bitch, the problem is at this point all I am holding is a dart and a pyroblast. He draws and plays a mana crypt and tries to resolve a twister which I hit with the pyro, and smile as I now have a win condition on the board. We play draw go with him taking some crypt damage bringing him down to 2. He looks at his hand I look at my double dart in grave he check to see what I am looking at and scoops up the cards.
I turn in the match results slip and am elated I pulled the impossible off 6-2 with sligh winning 4 matches in a row. After waiting for the longest 15 min. of my life Ray starts to announce the top 16. By this time unknown to me word has gotten around that have a chance to make it in with sligh which made for a rather interesting reception when my name is called. Friends and alot of people I dont know start cheering for me like crazy during which I learn that I am going to get matched up against Carl"lava dart" Winters. Before the match me Rich and Carl joke about how I have the ultimate in anti Carl tech 4 lava dart main. At this point I would stop with the match results and have you turn to the coverage which aught to be going up in the next few days as I am sure my memory is to muddled to do justice to the match.
