Bring it on,
.
Luiggi
OK.
Reason for playing this deck was the expected metagame. I originally wanted to play Bird Shit but after asking around I got the impression that the power level was too low too justify that deck choice. In my opinion Bird Shit does best against powered Drain, Ritual and Bazaar decks, not against aggro decks playing with Wasteland. Since I expected a lot of budget decks I went with U/G Fish because it could run Jitte, a card I thought would be amazing against those kind of decks.
Round 1 vs Suicide Black:
Game 1 he breaks my turn 2 Standstill with a Dark Ritual followed by a Masticore which I counter with a Force of Will. In my turn I drop a Jitte and attack with a Rootwalla. He tries a Powder Keg but I have a Spiketail/Daze to counter it. Rootwalla gets a Jitte next turn and successfully swings. Eventually he gets out a second Powder Keg but by that time a 11/11 Rootwalla is able to finish him off.
In game 2 I am mana screwed after mulliganing into a 1 land hand. Since I was on the draw I figured I could keep, needing only to draw a land or a Vial in the next too turns. Of course I didn't but luckily my opponent was stuck on 1 land as well. He did however have the classic Ritual > Hypnotic Specter opening. The Specter allowed me too madness my Rootwalla into play but besides that neither of us where doing much of anything. After a few turns I was the first to topdeck a land so I could play my Waterfront Bouncer. Next turn I bounced his Specter to his hand and by the time he was starting to recover me army of small men was able to finish him despite 2 Contagion.
Round 2 vs R/w Goblins:
Game 1 I get a gameloss for misregistring my decklist. I am so ashamed.
Game 2 goes according to plan. I counter a Piledriver and a Warchief, get a Rootwalla with a Jitte out and swing. He plays a Matron, looks through his deck and scoops.
Game 3 is rather simple as well. I Daze a Piledriver, counter a Warchief with a Spiketail Hatchling and then get a Wild Mongrel out. And thats it basically. Mongel holds of all of his weenies, turns into a Ninja after attacking unblocked and then returns again thanks to Vial. He plays for a few more turns but then decides too scoop.
Round 3 vs Stax:
Game 1 starts with a mulligan from my side into a hand thats neither good, not bad enough too mulligan. His turn 1 Welder goes untouched but I Daze his turn 2 TFK. It doesn't really matter though. His Tangle Wire and Smokestack keep me down long enough while a second Welder joins his side of the board. Eventually he gets out a Sundering Titan and smashes me.
Game 2 I again start of with a mulligan, keeping a very risky hand of 1 land, a Vial, a Force, a Standstill, a Spiketail and a Rootwalla. He of course has the Strip Mine for my land, after which I naturally don't draw into anything
. I do get out a pair of Rootwalla's while his Sphere of Resistances keep me from doing much once I do find a Island. After a few turns of me beating down he tries a Trike but thanks to his Sphere's I can counter it with a Spiketail. He then of course has a second Trike and wipes my board. Meanwhile I still don;t draw anything usefull while he has a Tangle Wire out and draws into a Karn. On my next turn I finally draw a third land so I can play my Oxidize but it doesn;t really matter. He draws into more good cards while I can;t fight back so I scoop. Perhaps I should have mulligan-ed but I really believe I lucked-out on this one (probably not true since everyone says that about his loses, but hey, it is how I felt about the match and since its my "report" I'll write it however I see fit damnit).
Round 4 vs Control Slaver/w black:
Game 1 I keep a hand thats very risky, containing no disruption whatsoever, but I risk it knowing he was playing a control deck.
My first turn Aether Vial resolves which pretty much ended the game. Even though I played horribly, making for 4 mistakes and missing 7 points of damage, he can;t stop my onslaught of creatures coming from Aether Vial and in the form of Ninjas and man lands.
Game 2 goes a lot worse. I again have a turn 1 Vial and even a turn 2 Standstill. When he breaks my Standstill with a Recall I can even counter it with a Force. However, I can;t stop his turn 1 LoA, nor his turn 2 Welder and his turn 4 TFK. Thirst lets him discard a Platinum Angel which wins him the game. I do have a Waterfront Bouncer but he has, not 1, but 2 Lava Darts to deal with it. At the end of the game though I still had a shot. I could animate a Factory, attach a Jitte too it and then swing. This would have allowed me too kill his welder and gain enough life so the next attack from his Angel wouldn't be lethal. Unfortunately he had Durres-ed me the turn before, taking my Chalice of Vial so he could switch that with my attacking Factory.
Third game goes perfect. I again get a first turn Vial, followed by a Chalice for 0. Vial lets me play a Spiketail with which I attack in my turn. He does have a Lava Dart but I counter it with a second Spiketail. Thanks too my Wasteland and his LoA he doesn't feel like sacricing his second Volcaninc so Spiketail is able to turn into a Ninja. Soon a second Ninja joins the team and after I get a Mongrel out he is soon done for.
Round 5 vs 4cc Tog:
In the first game I get owned pretty badly. I keep hand thats neither good nor bad leading with a turn 1 Rootwalla. On his turn a Daze a Sol Ring off a Ruby, thinking he is playing combo. He isn't, he just forgot to play a land first. On my turn a simply start beating down but after I few turns that stops thanks to a Psychatog. While I am drawing nothing relevant he is setting up a Yawgmoth;s Will which is big enough to blow me away.
Game 2 doesn;t start any better. I mulligan too 5 and keep a 1 land hand. I get a first turn Vial and a second turn rootwalla but unfortunately both get blown away by a Engineered Explosives. Fire deals with my second Rootwalla leaving me with nothing but a Factory. Somehow though that is all it takes as my Factory is able to walk the distance in the next 7 to 8 turns.
Game 3 is savage. My opponent needs to Force my Daze targetting his second turn Demonic which gets him a Recall. I wasteland his Sea in my turn while he can 'only' play a Recall on his turn. I have a second Wasteland in my turn while he just says ''go''. For the next 5-8 turns or so he doesn;t draw into any land at all while my Chalice keeps his mox-en at bay. With him doing nothing I can easily build up an army, finishing him off in a few turns.
Round 6 vs combo Mud:
Game 1 leads with a mulligan from his side and a double mulligan from my side. He has a ton of mana but not much to do with it besides 2 Tangle Wires and a Time Vault. Meanwhile I get a Vial out and start putting Spiketails into play. Time Vault keeps me under his wires for a few extra turns but eventually they hit the bucket. He keeps drawing mostly mana sources and I can finishen him off before he can draw into anything else.
The second game goes a lot worse. I cant stop his T1 Jar, T2 Lodestone Myr, T3 Metal Worker and T4 Staff of Domination despite 2 Wastelands. He goes infinite and I scoop.
The third game gets pretty close. I start with a Vial and a Chalice, getting out a small team in the next few turns. His Smokestack is annoying but without a lot of permanents he is only able to hold it for so long. Meanwhile I am using my Waterfront Bouncer to keep his Metalworker from losing summoning sickness. This actually proved to be pretty good since he had 2 Platinum Angels in his hand.
This report is already a lot longer then I expected it would be so I'll just wrap it up by saying that I was pleased with my deck choice and had a great time at the tournament.
