[Report] Loosing life in Karlsruhe - 2nd place with Horden Tendrils

[Tobi]

Tournament Report - T1
Karlsruhe, 05.11.2005
Tobias Egelhof - Horden Tendrils
Team "Demonic Hordes Hessen"


Prologue
Becoming daddy leads to playing combo decks that try to win on turn 1. Here is why:
On september 22nd my daughter was born, and since then I had very few sleep and much time to play with myself. And since combo decks are perfectly good for playing a lot of goldfishes, that's basically what I did between changing babies nappies and carrying her around, trying to get her to sleep.
I started with Meandeck Tendrils, goldfished about 500 times (no joke), read the primers and tournament reports and finally found out that this deck is too skill intensive for a tired guy at a tournament.
Next, I took the Spoils-Dragon list my team played recently and tried to trim it more towards 1st turn kills, which worked quite well, and designed a transformational tendrils sideboard to neutralize dragon hate in game 2. In testing with my team, the tendrils configuration (though sub-optimal) turned out to be quite strong and, more important, fun like hell.
So we threw the dragons out and built a mono black tendrils deck that featured Infernal Contract, which turned out to be incredibly strong. It did not produce as many 1st turn kills as we wanted, but was solid enough to do the job sencond or even third turn with Duress and Unmask support.
With minor last-minute modifications, this is what I finally took to Karlsruhe:


"Horden Tendrils" - Mono B Tendrils

4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
4 Duress
4 Infernal Contract
4 Night's Whisper
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Spoils of the Vault
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
2 Tainted Pact
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
2 Swamp
60

Sideboard
4 Unmask
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Oath of Druids
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Woodripper
1 Krosan Reclamation
15


The Oath sideboard should help some problematic matchups, like Stax. And avoid the post-board hate in game 2.

Even more important than designing a new deck is finding a name for it. Suggestions were "Dämonische Hoden" (Demonic Balls), "Testicle Tendrils", "Hordes Black", but we finally just named it "Horden Tendrils". Boring and simple.


The tournament started in time, we had good conditions and 29 people showed up. On we go with...


Round 1
Benjamin Maier
RG Beatz

He wins the roll, starts with Forest-go and I start filling out the game result strip.
First game is a second turn kill with Bargain.
Second game I side in Oath, oath up Akroma and win a turn later with Krosan Reclamation flashed back on Will.
That was easy.

Life 1st
Benjamin: 20 0
Me: 20 18 16 2 22

Board
Out: 2 Contract, 4 Spoils, 4 Fetch
In: 4 Oath, 4 Orchard, 1 Akroma, 1 Reclamation

Life 2nd
Benjamin: 20 14 0
Me: 20 19 15 13 8 22

Games   2:0:0
Matches 1:0:0



Round 2
Oliver Salten
Gifts Oath

Oliver hasn't won a match against me since back in 2004 when he was playing TNT and I had RG Beatz. He tries to remember our match record and hopes to catch up a little. He doesn't know that I have the evil contract on my side... MWUAHAHAHA (and btw I know what he is playing - a quick win on turn one leads to good knowledge of other players decks)
First game I start winning the die roll and open with Swamp Duress. He frowns and shows me his hand with a lot of mana, Ancestral and Demonic Tutor. I decide the Ancestral can give him more that the single Tutor and take it away. 3rd turn I win after drawing 4 cards for 10 life.
I side in 4 Unmask, 4 Orchards and the Reclamation.
Second game he mulls to 6 and I start with Orchard something. My hand turns out to be bad and I have to lay another Orchard, giving him too many tokens without actually doing something. He finally gifts and already has Will in his hand, which ends this sad game.
Third game starts with Swamp Duress. I draw cards with Night's Whisper, Contract, giving him a token and cannot do anything else but Tendrils for 16 and end with no cards in hand. Luckily, I topdeck Tendrils, topdeck Unmask and Demonic Tutor. Tutor gets countered, Tendrils ends the game.
Record against Oliver - 4:1 

Life 1st
Oliver: 20 19 0
Me: 20 10 30

Board
Out: 4 Fetch, 4 Spoils, 1 Tainted Pact
In: 4 Orchard, 4 Unmask, 1 Krosan Reclamation

Life 2nd
Oliver: 20
Me: 20 19 18 14 12 7 0

Life 3rd
Oliver: 20 4 0
Me: 20 18 9 7 23 22 21 18 17 16 20

Games   4:1:0
Matches 2:0:0



Round 3
Daniel Illig
Ankh Sligh

Back in 2004, when I lost to Oliver, in the same tournament my second loss was to Daniel (playing Reanimator). So now, for symmetrical reasons, I had to win.
First game I win the roll and start with Swamp Duress (taking Lightning Bolt), Mox Chromatic Sphere. He goes Lackey go. I sac the Sphere, cast Night's Whisper, play another Mox and another Sphere. He attacks, Lackey's effect brings Siege-Gang Commander to play. Then lays Strip Mine and casts Ankh of Mishra. Stripping my Swamp would probably have been the better move. I cannot go off, because I have Cabal Ritual and only 5 cards in my grave and give the turn back to him. He attacks with Goblins, brings Zo-Zu into play and finally strips my Swamp, which gives me threshold and enough mana to contract and win.
I side in Oath and win without problems, bringing Akroma to play and having Ritual and Yawgmoth's Will in hand...

Life 1st
Daniel: 20 0
Me: 20 18 16 15 9 4 24

Board
Out: 2 Contract, 4 Spoils, 4 Fetch
In: 4 Oath, 4 Orchard, Akroma, Reclamation

Life 2nd
Daniel: 20 14 0
Me: 20 16 13 10 24

Games   6:1:0
Matches 3:0:0

Good start. I wait for my deck to backfire and it does so in...



Round 4
Alexander Thomas
Bird Shit

I know what he is playing, and I am afraid.
Good news is, I win the die roll and can start with Duress, revealing Force and Daze. I take Force and give him a turn. Second turn I start drawing cards by signing infernal contracts, but finally he is the one that ends up looking old
I know he has Daze, so I have to keep that one mana open all the time. As I cast Contract he shows the Judge standing besides us one of his cards and asks if he can use it. Judge says no and I guess he has Misdirection or Stifle. With 3 mana open I cast Yawgmoth's Will, in response sac the LED so I can pay for Daze and win the first game.
Of course I board the Oath stuff plus Unmask...
Second game is a nightmare. I manage to get Oath out quite fast, but have no Orchard. We stall out with Null Rod in play and me drawing a lot of zero-mana spells until I finally find an Orchard. He stifles the token production and wastes the land, so we stall out a little more until finally he bounces Oath, casts Meddling Mage naming Oath of Druids and I get beat down by Werebears and Mongeese. I hate Bird Shit.
Ninja sideboarding starts and I take like 20 cards out and in and out and in until I finally end up with the same configuration as before
My first turn seems very strong, with Swamp Ritual, Duress, Consultation, Vampiric. I start casting the Spells in row and consult for Oath. This is why Spoils is better than Consultation: with Spoils I would have taken 5 Damage and probably won the tournament. With Consultation I remove 6 cards, one of which is Oath, and then Reclamation, Akroma and Will until the next Oath shows up. I have no clue what to use Vampiric Tutor for now, take Necropotence and pass the turn. Luckily, timeout is called and Bird Shit is too slow to kill in 3 rounds, so I luck into a draw.

Life 1st
Alex: 20 0
Me: 20 10 5 4 2 22

Board
Out: 2 Contract, 4 Spoils, 4 Fetch, 4 Spoils
In: 4 Oath, 4 Orchard, Akroma, Reclamation, 4 Unmask

Life 2nd
Alex: 20 19
Me: 20 19 17 5 0

Life 3rd
Alex: 20 19
Me: 20 18 17 16

Games   7:2:1
Matches 3:0:1

Only one player is at 4:0:0 after round 4, so there is still a chance to win this one. We go into...



Round 5
Jens Jaeger
Zombie Infestation

Jens defeated my wife at the last tournament in Darmstadt, and since beating pregnant women is inacceptable at all and this is family business either way, he has to die! Slowly! No wait, not slowly, painful!
He wins the roll and starts with Bazaar, discarding Squee and some stuff. I cast first turn Tendrils for 20 without Duress.
Second game he starts with some land, I unmask a Mana Crypt away and manage a 2nd turn Tendrils for 16, followed by a Necropotence, setting 15 cards aside. 3rd turn its Unmask (removing Yawgmoth's Will), he counters with Circular Logic and I cast Tendrils for 6.
Jens is a nice guy and looses with a smile. I forgive him for his faults in the past...

Life 1st
Jens: 20 0
Me: 20 10 30

Board
Out: 4 Spoils
In: 4 Unmask

Life 2nd
Jens: 20 4 3 0
Me: 20 19 9 7 23 8 14

Games   9:2:1
Matches 4:0:1


Sadly, Bird Shit looses to Oath and I end up second, taking home a Bayou as prize. I should have taken the Tropical Island, but was too confused, so I made Peter happy...


Props:
- Karlsruhe having more T1 players again
- friendly atmosphere
- Simon for missing the window as he threw Alexander's deck to him - it was close!
- Rych for borrowing me weird cards last minute
- Richard for being the only one with Portal cards (Imperial Seal, Grim Tutor)

Slops:
- Demonic Consultation!

[Gabethebabe]

Cool deck. Congrats on being a daddy. One is manageable, but ever since I had my second one, my vintage rating has dropped to below 1800. So you are warned.

I suppose you don´t own an Imperial Seal?

Could one Bayou find a place either maindeck or in the SB?
Fetchable green doesn´t look bad with your SB strategy.

[heiner]

why not run 4 bayou instead of the swamps and 4 land grant instead of the fetchies?

[Gabethebabe]

why not run 4 bayou instead of the swamps and 4 land grant instead of the fetchies?

This is an amazingly bad idea. Very bad. Utterly bad. Newbie forum bad.

Have you ever heard of a card named Wasteland?
Also it would hurt your Tainted Pacts.
Land Grant is good in Belcher, because that deck runs as few lands as possible. In this deck it sucks, because showing your hand and making your lands counterable is a significant disadvantage. Also the shuffle effect of Land Grant doesn´t help this deck. So that´s why your idea is that bad.

[heiner]

This is an amazingly bad idea. Very bad. Utterly bad. Newbie forum bad.

I almost took that for an affront but luckily I cannot take people with DCI < 1800 seriously.


Wasteland can be definitely a problem but your other points are kind a weak. Take Overgrown tomb to improve tainted pacts if you wish. Belcher plays 2 fewer lands so the difference really isn't that big. It generates storm and thins out your library faster than fetchies. I think its worth testing.

[rvs]

This is an amazingly bad idea. Very bad. Utterly bad. Newbie forum bad.

I almost took that for an affront but luckily I cannot take people with DCI < 1800 seriously.


Wasteland can be definitely a problem but your other points are kind a weak. Take Overgrown tomb to improve tainted pacts if you wish. Belcher plays 2 fewer lands so the difference really isn't that big. It generates storm and thins out your library faster than fetchies. I think its worth testing.

The point Gabe made about showing your hand, and the possibility of your lands being countered IS a serious argument, and reason enough to not run land grant in a deck like this one. I suppose you should take me seriously then, as my DCI is > 1800 :p

[Dozer]

Take Overgrown tomb to improve tainted pacts if you wish. Belcher plays 2 fewer lands so the difference really isn't that big. It generates storm and thins out your library faster than fetchies. I think its worth testing.

I see no reason why anyone should make a mono-colored deck vulnerable to Wastelands. The thinning of Land Grant isn't noticeably faster than Fetchies are. Also, this deck runs eight lands, Belcher runs two, so the difference is noticably big.

Tobi, congratulations on your child and your finish!

[heiner]

Also, this deck runs eight lands, Belcher runs two, so the difference is noticably big.

No, belcher runs 6. (four land grant + 2 land).

Drawing lands is bad as it causes you to stall. Thats why meandec.tendrils played grants.

[Tobi]

At one point I was thinking about the use of Land Grant and Bayous instead of Swamps and Fetchlands. The point is, if this deck was meant to win on turn one, like Meandeck Tendrils, Land Grants may have their merit. But as I focused more on a combination of disruption and draw, I needed a stable manabase. In testing (and in the tournament), basic Swamps proved to be golden.
One Bayou as fetchable green source is acceptable, and it also helps Tainted Pact. How lucky I took the Bayou as prize and skipped the Tropical 

BTW, I have a rating < 1800 as well. And my wife too. And she beat Heiner at the tournament in June. 

[Blitzbold]

Nice report and pretty cool deck. I already liked it when browsing the results.

Props:
- Karlsruhe having more T1 players again
- friendly atmosphere

Sadly I only managed to play two times in Karlsruhe during my internship. I am already looking forward to play with you guys again. Philip is currently moving to Frankfurt - I think he already got in contact with you? - and I am definately goin to visit him. Greetings to Markus and Rich!

[Gabethebabe]

I almost took that for an affront but luckily I cannot take people with DCI < 1800 seriously.

That is 1-0 for you.

I suppose you should take me seriously then, as my DCI is > 1800 :p

Now you´re 1-1 against the Dutchies.

BTW, I have a rating < 1800 as well. And my wife too. And she beat Heiner at the tournament in June.

Aha, now your own countrymen are turning against you! 1-2 for me.

No, belcher runs 6. (four land grant + 2 land).

Flipping a Land Grant makes your Belcher activation stop, then?

Drawing lands is bad as it causes you to stall. Thats why meandec.tendrils played grants.

MD Tendrils plays Land Grant, because they are amazing with brainstorm. A free shuffle followed by a draw spell wins games. The deck of Tobi doesn´t need shuffle effects.

[heiner]

At one point I was thinking about the use of Land Grant and Bayous instead of Swamps and Fetchlands. The point is, if this deck was meant to win on turn one, like Meandeck Tendrils, Land Grants may have their merit. But as I focused more on a combination of disruption and draw, I needed a stable manabase. In testing (and in the tournament), basic Swamps proved to be golden.
One Bayou as fetchable green source is acceptable, and it also helps Tainted Pact. How lucky I took the Bayou as prize and skipped the Tropical 

I am glad you tested it and it proved to be suboptimal. Thats probably the best argument against land grant.

BTW, I have a rating < 1800 as well. And my wife too. And she beat Heiner at the tournament in June. 

Ohh yes, it was a slaughter. She had like turn 2 3sphere+stack+crucible both games with another smokestack in the yard and a FOW in mine. I cant wait to get revenge

No, belcher runs 6. (four land grant + 2 land).
Flipping a Land Grant makes your Belcher activation stop, then?

Ok, lets do it ONCE more. If Tobi ran 4 land grants he would also ran 4 lands. That is 2 (two) more than belcher does.

Very Happy Very Happy Aha, now your own countrymen are turning against you! 1-2 for me.

I am glad to hear that! 1-2 for you means 2-1 for me.

[And11]

First of all, congratulations on the newcomer and your accomplishment with this deck.

After I finished reading the report, I immediately sleeved up the deck with minor changes. I switched the Tainted Pact's with Underground Sea and Ancestral Recall and put three copies of Hurkyl's Recall in the board, as the Stax matchup really needs help outta the board. IMO, random Orchard/mox/Oath won't do it.

If I manage to dig up the cash to travel the 4½ hour train ride to Copenhagen (capital of Denmark), I'll definately be bringing Horden Tendrils and let you know how it went. I just love combo and have been playing it ever since I got a hold on full power (and foil Rituals and Duress ). U/B TPS, U/B/r Gifts TPS, DeathLong, GambleLong, OathWitnessLong, HighTideGifts, BlueBalls and now this. I can't wait for people asking me what Infernal Contract does. Unfortunately, I haven't got a hold on 4x Grim Tutor yet, so GrimLong will have to wait... Anyways, have fun babysitting and thanks for the basic idea of this Tendrils combo deck.

EDIT: I just realized that I've included Sapphire and cut the 4th Tendrils. The deck is running smoothly and I would never go back to your configuration.

Greetings from Denmark,
/Andreas

[reBU5]

Hi, glückwünsche and nice list. I did couple games with it on MWS today and it went pretty well. I know the list is very tight but would You cut anything for 5th Mox and/or Imperial Seal? or why didn't You play them?

[Tobi]

I didn't play Imperial Seal because I do not have it (no proxy tournament).

Regarding the last Off-Color Mox: colored mana is important, thats why I played Chrome Mox and Diamond over the Sapphire. It may be added though, cutting a Swamp, which may lead to more vulnerability to Null Rod and colored manascrew.
After resolving an Infernal Contract you have spent 3 black mana and probably already had your landdrop. That's when drawing off-color Moxen sucks (that is also the reason for including the Chromatic Spheres).

[reBU5]

Right, black mana is mvp all the time. I asked because I found that 5th mox and Seal are very usefull especially after 1st game when I put Oath in and I did it almost every time when I played this deck. I cut Tainted Pact and Demonic Consultation but I don't think this was the right move. My testing was very limited and this changes are probably unnecessary. What would You cut for Seal? Anyway nice deck.

[Tobi]

Tainted Pact is the weakest card IMO. I included them last minute when I had no better idea. They can be good EOT to find something useful, but most of the time they do not find what you really need (though they remove the cards you don't need).

If I had Imperial Seal I would cut a Pact. For the Mox I would try to cut a Swamp, since the mana count is already very high (28).

Demonic Consultation is too good to cut.

[Phele]

Why not cut Mana Vault for the fifth Mox? Mana Vault gives you just a netto plus of one more colorless mana what you don't need that much anyway. But I would guess that you have to spend one of the much needed black mana to cast Vault and the Mox is for free.

Great deck and nice idea! Biggest thumb up for reactivating another old card – Infernal Contract – being unused so far like Old Man of the Sea, In the Eye of Chaos or Time Vault.

[carlossb]

Great deck and nice idea! Biggest thumb up for reactivating another old card – Infernal Contract – being unused so far like Old Man of the Sea, In the Eye of Chaos or Time Vault.

The idea of using Infernal Contract in a Tendrils deck was suggested by Smmenen 9 months ago:

 

//Lands
    1  Bayou
    1  Gemstone Mine
    1  Tropical Island

// Creatures
     4  Elvish Spirit Guide

// Spells
    1  Demonic Tutor
    1  Chrome Mox
    1  Mana Crypt
    1  Sol Ring
    1  Mana Vault
    1  Demonic Consultation
    1  Yawgmoth's Will
    4  Tendrils of Agony
    1  Black Lotus
    1  Mox Emerald
    1  Mox Jet
    1  Mox Pearl
    1  Mox Ruby
    1  Mox Sapphire
    4  Land Grant
    1  Lion's Eye Diamond
    4  Cabal Ritual
    4  Dark Ritual
    4  Spoils of the Vault
    1  Lotus Petal
    4  Chromatic Sphere
    1  Ancestral Recall
    4  Brainstorm
    4  Infernal Contract
    4  Darkwater Egg
    1  Retract

The main differences are the Darkwater Eggs and the ESGs which allow you to win a turn or two earlier, instead of the fetchlands. And of course, the Oath sideboard.

However, this is the first time someone achieves a good result in a tournament with a variation of it. Congrats!

EDIT:
and cutting the Brainstorms as you don´t have too much blue (this is a mono black version) and the suffle efect of the LandGrants

[Tobi]

Mendeck Tendrils Primer, part 2: http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8884

D. Infernal Contract
This card is hot. I tried it in the mono-Black version, but I couldn't get it to be more consistent than what we had. This is a card innovative deck designers among you should pay attention to for the future.