A couple of weeks ago, some local San Diego folks alerted me to the fact that there is an upcoming tournament at GenCon SoCal for a full playset of dual lands for first prize. I figure that if I make Top 8, that should be worth my time, as it’s only about an hour north of where I live. I’ve been prepping a couple of decks during some playtesting sessions over the past couple of weeks, and decide at the last minute to play my build of the DredgeATog deck. Here’s the list (which is almost identical to the list in the
DredgeATog thread. To make this otherwise somewhat dull report a little extra juicy for the readers, I'm going to list how I've pimped it out (for those of you like that sort of thing, ala JDizzle, KandyKid, etc.):
BHWC DredgeATog v1.1, by Jaco 11-07-2005
Business Spells (36)
4 Force of Will (signed & customized by Terese Nielsen)
4 Counterspell (Japanese Foil)
4 Intuition (Japanese, signed & customized by April Lee)
2 Cunning Wish (Japanese Foil)
4 Brainstorm (Japanese Foil, signed by T. DiTerlizzi)
4 Accumulated Knowledge (Japanese Foil, signed by Randy Gallegos, signed by Richard Garfield)
3 Deep Analysis (Japanese Foil, signed by Darren Bader)
3 Psychatog (Japanese Foil, signed & customized by Crazy Carl Winters)
2 Stinkweed Imp (Japanese Foil)
1 Genesis (Japanese Foil, signed by Mark Zug)
1 Wonder (Chinese Foil, signed by Rebecca Guay)
1 Life From the Loam (Foil, signed by Terese Nielsen)
3 Darkblast (signed by Randy Gallegos)
Mana Sources (24)
4 Mox Diamond (Japanese, signed by Dan Frazier)
1 Cephalid Coliseum (Japanese Foil)
2 Lonely Sandbar (Chinese Foil)
1 Barren Moor (Foil, signed & customized by Heather Hudson)
1 Wasteland (Foil, signed by ?)
4 Polluted Delta (3 Asian Foil, 1 English Foil, all signed by Rob Alexander)
1 Flooded Strand (Asian Foil, signed by Rob Alexander)
3 Underground Sea (2 Beta, 1 FBB, all signed by Rob Alexander)
3 Tropical Island (Beta)
2 Island (Saga Foil misprint, signed by Donato Giancola)
1 Snow-covered Island (German FBB)
1 Swamp (Beta, signed by Dan Frazier)
Sideboard (15)
3 Duress (DCI Foil)
3 Engineered Plague (Japanese Foil)
***Cunning Wishable***
1 Gifts Ungiven (Japanese Foil)
1 Diabolic Edict (DCI Foil)
1 Corpse Dance (Japanese, signed by Brian Snoddy)
1 Berserk (Beta, crimped, signed & customized by Richard Garfield)
1 Naturalize (Japanese Foil)
1 Hydroblast (German FBB)
1 Blue Elemental Blast (Beta)
2 Coffin Purge (Japanese Foil)
The difference between this and the initial list I presented were:
-1 Psychatog
+1 Deep Analysis
I would not normally advocate this change, but I expected to face mostly Control and Aggro-Control decks, so I made the change at the last moment. I also left out the 1 Echoing Truth from the Sideboard at the last moment, which I think I would rather have than something else in the board. In retrospect, I was completely happy with every main deck slot, and those are pretty much the only changes I would make to the deck/sideboard if I took it to a tournament again.
Round 1 vs. Nguyen Vu (playing UG Madness, with Survivals)I am paired up vs. Nguyen, a friend I know from playing Vintage/Type 1 in various SoCal tournaments.
Game 1: Nguyen wins the die roll and leads off with a Basking Rootwalla, I believe, which I let resolve. I’m not sure here, but I think I Darkblast it, and then get a Stinkweed Imp online, because he never did damage to me this game. The only damage I took were from flashing back 2 of my Deep Analysis, and from fetchlands. I got control of this game early with a creative Intuition for Life From the Loam (I had already seen one cycling land), Deep Analysis, and Wasteland. At some point a Pithing Needle he casts Pithing Needle, and I let it hit the board, and decide to beat down with a flying Genesis (Wonder), coupled with a Stinkweed Imp. This is a good example of why there are almost never wrong threats (Genesis, and Stinkweed Imp, for example); only the wrong answers (Pithing Needle).
Game 2: Nguyen goes first again, and leads off with something like a first turn Tormod’s Crypt, which I think I attempt to Force of Will, and he counters back with a Force of Will of his own. So I guess it’s going to be that kind of game. We both kind of plod along carefully, and I make him think about using his Tormod’s Crypt when I cast Accumulated Knowledge twice in the same turn, and then somehow get Deep Analysis in my graveyard. He doesn’t bite, and on my next turn I flash back the Deep Analysis to draw a couple of more cards. After an unexciting exchange of turns that end up with a Darkblast and something else juicy in my graveyard, he sacrifices Crypt to remove everything. Afterwards I immediately Intuition for another Deep Analysis, Stinkweed Imp, and something else juicy (I believe I had Life From the Loam in my hand at this point, but had not revealed it yet). I got the Imp because he had a couple of semi-menacing creatures out that I needed a blocker for, as I only had a very small Psychatog on the board. I don’t have a whole lot in my hand, except maybe one Counterspell, Force of Will, and a blue card, and he casts another Tormod’s Crypt. I think I attempt to Force this, and it gets countered by a Circular Logic or some such nonsense. So I play around that by slowly beating with Tog and pumping it with the few cards in my graveyard. He then is able to resolve a Survival of the Fittest on the board, and buys himself a couple of turns, and I believe I Coffin Purge his Squee. He ends up Crypting me somewhere along this time, and I immediately get the Life From Loam engine going then after building up my hand. Shortly thereafter I get a Wonder in the graveyard, and have lethal damage from Dr. Teeth for the win.
Games 2-0; Matches 1-0
Round 2 vs. Dean (playing Throbbing Pink Weenie v212.33)In round 2 I get paired against another familiar foe, our buddy Dean from down in San Diego, who regularly plays Legacy at Game Empire (which to my knowledge, hosts the largest weekly Legacy tournaments), and who BHWC occasionally playtests with. Dean invented ‘Throbbing Pink Weenie,’ and regularly has success with various aggro-control decks.
Game 1: I win the die roll and lead off with Polluted Delta, Mox Diamond, and pass the turn. Dean doesn’t do a whole lot this game, and keeps drawing land every time he fetches a land, and I subsequently shuffle and/or cut his deck. By the 5th turn I’ve got a full hand, the Life From the Loam engine going, and he hasn’t mounted any type of offensive. From our playtesting earlier this week, we both know this game is over, and Dean scoops to save time.
Game 2: I don’t do a whole hell of a lot this game, but neither does Dean. Occassionally he damages me with Lightning Helix or Lightning Bolts, but eventually gets out a couple of Pithing Needles, both naming Psychatog. Between various removal and tons of card draw and counters, I handle most of his threats over the course of 40 minutes. While I dig and dig and dig for some semblance of a threat, Dean gets out a Mystic Crusader with threshold, and slowly beats in increments of 3 damage. I eventually find some juice, but it’s too late, and for me to sac my fetchlands and do anything I’ll be staring down lethal damage on his turn. I scoop and we go to game three with 10 minutes to sideboard and shuffle.
Game 3: We have about 9 minutes to play, and I get the defensive cards in hand, and it’s a draw.
Games 3-1-1; Matches 1-0-1
Round 3 vs. Nick Trudeau (playing BHWC RUG ATS)Once again I’m paired against a familiar face, this time being BHWC teammate Nick Trudeau. Nick recently finished in 27th at the Legacy GP: Philadelphia, playing the same deck. At this point, Nick is 2-0, and I am 1-0-1, so he scoops to me for BHWC glory, and for Crom. At this point I’ll be 2-0-1, and he’ll be 2-1, so it should be easy for us to both make Top 8 in a 5 round swiss event.
Games 5-2-1; Matches 2-0-1
Round 4 vs. Shawna Robbins (playing B/G Land Destruction)Once more, I am paired against a local playtest partner from San Diego. Shawna is one of the owners of Game Empire down in San Diego. She’s piloting a deck with mad disruption (Duress, Hymn, Ice Storm, etc.), along with Eternal Witness, Ravenous Baloth, Golgari Grave-Troll (2 copies, I think), Pernicious Deed, and some techy stuff like Lose Hope (to answer Goblin Lackey, Dark Confidant, and random peasants). Also included are the often devastating Haunting Echoes, which I obviously would never like to see.
Game 1: I win the die roll, and drop a Mox Diamond and land on the first turn, then Accumulated Knowledge on her end-step. I then get an early Life From the Loam via Intuition on her second end-step, and am easily able to handle her land destruction and various disruption elements. She draws and casts a string of Eternal Witnesses, but I have counters for all of them. I eventually get a Psychatog out I think, and finish her in one fell swoop. An early Cephalid Coliseum, coupled with the Life From the Loam, let me filter though all the goods in my deck and make my graveyard fat pretty quickly.
Game 2: I keep an average hand that Brainstorms don’t smooth out, and she overwhelms me with double Duress, land destruction, Eternal Witness, blah blah blah. I pull a couple of tricks, but am never really in this one as she manages to keep me off balance enough to beat down in big chunks with a Ravenous Baloth and Eternal Witness.
Game 3: I get some early acceleration in the form of Mox Diamond, and somehow draw the beatdown hand in the middle of the game. I drop an early Psychatog, then Geneis, then Stinkweed Imp in succession, and she counters with Ravenous Baloth, Pernicious Deed, and Engineered Plague (naming Psychatog, I believe). I eventually activate Genesis to get the Psychatog back, and manage to keep enough of her threats off the board to kill her before time expires.
Games 7-3-1; Matches 3-0-1
Round 5 vs. Jonathan (playing Pikula’s B/W aggro control)At this point Jonathan is 4-0, and I am 3-0-1, so we can draw into the top 8, but he insists on playing it out. I’m not about to concede to that deck, or someone outside of BHWC, so we play.
Game 1: I win the die roll, drop a first turn Flooded Strand and Mox Diamond, and pass with first turn Counterspell in hand and mana available. Jonathan starts by dropping a Cursed Scroll, which I don’t care about, so I cycle a Lonely Sandbar on his endstep. On his second turn he once again does nothing I care about, and on his second end of turn I believe I Intuition for Life From the Loam, Wasteland, and Darkblast, which I could play defensively with later. I got the Wasteland because he only had non-basics in play at the beginning, and on my next couple of turns I dredge Life From the Loam back for Lonely Sandbar, Flooded Strand, and Wasteland, and destroy his mana base. I love how my deck can switch roles like this. Aggro, control, and combo. It’s a beatiful thing. By the time Jonathan draws into multiple non-Wasteable Swamps, I have a grip full of counters and answers (including double Darkblast), and it’s only a matter of time before I draw into a Psychatog with my massive graveyard. I do a few turns later, and we move on to the next game.
Game 2: I keep a questionable hand, and Jonathan has close to the nuts. He disrupts me enough for him to drop a Hypnotic and Dark Confidant that get through for a few turns, and that makes the difference in the game. I eventually stabilize somehow, and the game gets to a point where Jonathan draws consecutive Vindicates to destroy both of my Psychatogs, and he is then able to overrun me. Had it not been for him drawing 2 Vindicates on successive turns, I probably could have pulled this one out, but it was not to be.Â
Game 3: I go first and he gets a couple of threats out, including a Hypnotic Specter which rocks me for a couple of turns before I get out a Stinkweed Imp and Engineered Plague for his ninnies. In another war of attrition, we are both top-decking, and he eventually gets the upper hand, but I fight back. He proceeds to get out 2 Withered Wretches, which keeps my graveyard empty, and a Dark Confidant, which keeps drawing him Duresses and Hymn to Tourachs to keep my hand empty. It also manages to keep eating life away from Jonathan. We get to a point and the end of the game, where he swings through, I calculate some damage, and then assign a single blocker. I then swing with my whole team, and on his turn if he reveals a spell from the Dark Confidant he will lose, and if he draws a land he will win. He draws a Swamp, and I lose, putting Jonathan at 5-0 in the Swiss rounds, and the first seed in the top 8.
Games 8-5-1; Matches 3-1-1
Round 6 (Top 8 Quarterfinals) vs. Vince (playing R/W Vial Goblins)I enter somewhere in the middle of the seeds, and am paired against one of the 2 Vial Goblin decks that made top 8. Vince is relatively new to Legacy, but plays the other Wizards’ supported formats competitively, and seems well-versed with Vial Goblins.
Game 1: Vince wins the die roll, mulligans, and then has nothing I’m concerned with. I have Darkblast in hand, coupled with Intuition and a couple of Force of Wills, so Vince can’t mount much of an offensive. I also get out a Stinkweed Imp and start beating down, before Dr. Teeth joins the fray and takes Vince’s life from 14 down to 0.
Game 2: I side in 3 Engineered Plagues, 1 Blue Elemental Blast, and 1 Pyroblast. I look at an opening hand of 2 non-basic lands, Mox Diamond, 2 Engineered Plagues, and a couple of other blue cards. I contemplate, and keep because I am on the draw. If I draw another land in time I’ll win this game. He leads off the game with a Wooded Foothills, sacs it for a basic Mountain, and drops Goblin Lackey. Predictable, but I can deal with it if I get another land in the next few turns. I draw a spell, play my land and , and pass the turn. He plays a land, attacks with Lackey, drops a Goblin Matron from the trigger (fetching Goblin Ringleader, if I recall correctly), and passes the turn. I draw more business, and pass the turn. On his turn I think I counter a Goblin Piledriver, he attacks with Lackey and Goblin Matron, drops the Ringleader off the Lackey trigger, and reveals something weak like Goblin Lackey and Mogg Fanatic. On my turn I miss another land drop, and on his 4th turn he drops Dust Bowl, attacks, and promptly blows up my land. On my turn, I finally draw another land (a Tropical) and play it. On his turn, he top decks a mountain, then swings and blows up my Tropical again. On my turn I draw another land, play it, and then he top decks another land on his turn. Wash, rinse, repeat. Damnit. I lose that game 3-5 points of life at a time, and we move on to game 3.
Game 3: I keep a hand with 3 lands, Mox Diamond, Engineered Plague, Force of Will, and a blue card. I am playing first, so this is obvioiusly keepable. On my first turn I only play the Polluted Delta, and then pass the turn. He drops a Goblin Lackey again, and I let it resolve. On my turn I play another Island or something, and pass the turn. On his turn he plays a Mogg Fanatic, attacks with Goblin Lackey, and the trigger brings something like a Ringleader into play. It reveals a Warchief, Goblin Lackey, something else annoying. He plays the other Lackey and passes the turn. I draw, play the Mox Diamond, and slam down the Engineered Plague. He frowns, throws Mogg Fanatic at me, and then I announce Goblins and savage his board. He draws, attacks with Goblin Warchief, and does little else of consequence the next few turns. I go combo and Intuition for Life From the Loam, Darkblast, and Wasteland. I keep him off Plateau with a Wasteland, and Darkblast anything else away the next couple of turns. I then draw into a second Engineered Plague, slam it down, and announce Goblins. We both know the only way he can beat me is if he draws and resolve his Disenchants, or his Lightning Bolts and Sirocco (if he even had that; I can’t remember). I pretty much have my way with the rest of the game, and draw into the third Engineered Plague. I then drop his life from 19 to 0 with a couple of swings from Psychatog.
Games 10-6-1; Matches 4-1-1
Round 7 (Top 8 Semifinals) vs. Andy (playing R/W Vial Goblins)So in the Semifinals I get paired against the other Goblins player, and I’m not very sad.
Game 1: I keep an opening hand with Darkblast, but with no Force of Will. Andy wins the die roll and leads off with Aether Vial, which I’m less than pleased to see, but I have Darkblast to hold off any Lackey or Mogg Fanatic at least. After a few turns of unexcitement, I have destroyed some of his creatures with Darkblast and Stinkweed Imp, but only have a couple cards in hand, and no tempo. I eventually get out a Psychatog and something else, and I have a couple of Deep Analysis in my graveyard, along with most of my dredge cards. I am low on life, so I don’t even think about it at the time, but in retrospect after the tournament my teammate Nick reveals to me that I could have cast the Deep Analysis, dredged a shit load of cards into my graveyard, done it again with the other Deep Analyis, and then attacked with a flying Psychatog (Wonder in grave) for lethal damage (18+). I didn’t realize this, so I am forced to make some other uninspiring moves, and he eventually nibbles me to death. After the fact, I am definitely dissapointed in one of my two errors (that I can remember) for the tournament, especially since it cost me a game.
Game 2: My opening hand consists of lands, Mox Diamond, Darkblast, some draw, and Engineered Plague. I slow roll the first Engineered Plague, then drop it and Brainstorm into another one. After I cast that the only thing my opponent can muster is a couple of Lightning Bolts, and I quickly drop a Psychatog, cast Cunning Wish for Berserk, and mercilessly drop his life from 19 to negative something.
Game 3: Between Darkblast, Engineered Plague, and Stinkweed Imp, my opponent can’t muster much. He gets through for a few before I drop the second Engineered Plague. After the game slows down I have the Life From the Loam engine going again, and drop the third Engineered Plague. I then cast Psychatog with something like 6 counters in hand, then on my next turn I cast Cunning Wish for Berserk again, and Psychatog swiftly beats down for way more than lethal damage.
Games 12-7-1; Matches 5-1-1
Round 8 (Top 8 Finals) vs. ? playing UWG Threshold)It’s 2:30 in the morning, so I offer my opponent a split for all the monies. He accepts, I drop from the tournament, and we split 50 duals (40 for first, 10 for second), and we each get our own sealed box of Ravnica, 12 packs of 9th, and the good old Italian Legends. BHWC teammate Nick Trudeau finished in the top 8 as well, but got bounced in the first round by the threshold player who made the finals. He gives me some of his packs (he won a box of Ravnica and 12 9th edition packs), and I give him some of my duals, for BHWC glory, and for Crom.
The deck definitely felt competitive against all of my opponents, and I was confident I could win any match, but it never felt totally broken. Even when I had the Life From the Loam engine going in a variety of ways (which also help out when you draw into Mox Diamonds after the first 2 turns), I always felt like I was in a good position, but never felt like I had broken the game open. Also, as I said before in the other thread, in my testing against Goblins, I never needed to board in more than 3 Engineered Plagues. My results against my top 8 opponents validated these testing results to me. The combination of 3 Plagues and 3 Darkblasts is enough to keep them off balance long enough to lock up the game in your favor, especially if you know how and when to mulligan. I wouldn’t be opposed to boarding in a 4th Plague, and possibly cutting the Hydroblast from the sideboard, but if I added anything else to the board, it would probably be the 1 Echoing Truth that I often play.
Thanks go out to all my San Diego homies for playtesting, to Brent for lending me some Tropicals when I left mine in the parking garage, and to all my opponents, none of whom acted like asses.
Fire away with any questions you have, and I’ll try to answer them whenever I have any time. BHWC4alltheM0n13s.
