Tournament Report - T1
Karlsruhe, 03.12.2005
Tobias Egelhof - UB Horden Tendrils
Team "Demonic Hordes Hessen"
Since I am a litte bit late with the report and don't have much time anyways, I'll keep this report short, or quick and dirty if you prefer it that way...
Last Karlsruhe I played our team's incarnation of a mono-black Tendrils combo deck, wich went quite well (2nd place - refer to report:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=25381.0 ).
The next step in evolving this deck naturally consisted of the inclusion of blue, mainly to be able to bounce problematic permanent hate, or to use bounce spells to produce a lethal spellcount. Of course adding blue also led to the inclusion of 4 Brainstorm and Ancestral Recall, as well as Mox Sapphire, which was absent in the mono-black version being an off-color Mox. The manabase was changed from 4 Swamp, 4 fetch to 1 Swamp, 1 Island, 1 Underground Sea and 4 Fetch. The last land-spot turned into the Mox.
You may notice the absence of Timetwister. This was done because
a) we did not want to give the opponent any form of card draw or hand refresh
and b) we did not want to empty our graveyard, since getting threshold is often crucial.
The sideboard should address the worst matchup - fish or birdshit. Our first idea was to include 4 Phyrexian Negator, Tinker, Colossus and Timewalk. In testing, this turned out to be too weak, so we decided to keep Tinker Colossus Walk and replace 4 Negator with 4 Defense Grid. The rest of the sideboard was filled with various bounce spells and 2 lands (Swamp and Island). Adding the two lands improved the deck's consistency while slowing it down a bit.
"Horden Tendrils goes UB" - UB 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 Mox Sapphire
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Duress
4 Infernal Contract
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
3 Spoils of the Vault
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
60
Sideboard
4 Defense Grid
3 Chain of Vapor
2 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Island
1 Swamp
The tournament started with 30 participants, so it's 5 rounds of Swiss.
1st round
Lukas Hellmann - 5c Stax
First game I loose the die roll and in conclusion, the game. He comes out with Sphere of Resistance, another Sphere and some beats.
I side in the 2 lands and some artifact bounce with spread CC to handle Chalice, as well as the Colossus (which was obviously wrong, but it didn't matter
).
I start with 1st turn Contract, followed by Tinker for Colossus. Second turn I attack and kill with Tendrils.
Third game he tinkers for Platinum Angel first turn. I cast Contract, play some spells and Tendrils with 7 copies on the stack. He attacks with Plat and casts Titan, nuking my Swamp. I Walk, tutor for Will and Tinker for Lotus. Will-turn Tutor finds bounce for Plat.
He should definitely have tinkered for Trinisphere...
1-0-0
2nd round
Patrick Hineß - UR Stax
We get called for deckcheck, which I win
There was one card missing in his sideboard listing, so he gets a gameloss. We start 15 minutes late into our match.
He wins the die roll and starts with Welder. I start with first turn Bargain, draw 16 cards and win.
Poor him, thats really an ugly way to loose a match...
We play one for fun, which he wins. In the end, he places 6th.
2-0-0
3rd round
Marcus Quandt - UR Control Workshop
Being teammates, we decide to ID. Nevertheless we play the match for fun.
I win the die roll (yeah!) but start slow. He forces the Contract I had tutored for and starts laying some pressure in form of Juggernaut. For some rounds he attacks and continues receiving no damage from his Crypt. I collect some cards in my hand until the last possible moment, and finally cast 2 Tendrils for 3 and 4, bringing him to 2 life and me to 15. On his turn, he looses the die roll for the Crypt and I win the first game.
The next two games are a mess for me. He cripples my mana and counters my bounce.
2-0-1
4th round
Alexander Thomas - Birdshit
Finally, the matchup I was most afraid of and which I wanted the most! I played Alexander last tournament and we ended in a draw. Now I had new secret tech and hoped for a good game.
First, I start loosing the die roll. This game he counters everything I present him, even Duresses. My Anc gets misdirected...
So I start sideboarding like mad. In come Swamp, Island, Tinker, Walk, Colossus, 4 Defense Grid and one Chain of Vapor, out go Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, 3 Spoils, one Tendrils, one Contract, two Spheres and Bargain. He assumes I still use the Oath transformation.
He realizes he got tricked when I play my first turn Defense Grid, but is able to Force it. He manages to cast Null Rod and a Meddling Mage, naming Tendrils of Agony, but I can Hurkyl's Recall the Rod and Chain of Vapor the Mage.
Third game I duress him, taking Brainstorm and leaving Stifle. After some turns I get Defense Grid out, Contract, and cast Will with a lot of mana. I generate even more mana out of my graveyard but need to cast three more Contracts, two Brainstorms and one Ancestral Recall to finally find the Tendrils to win.
3-0-1
5th round
Peter Sieb - 4c Druid Dragon
I win the die roll and start with Duress, taking Duress. He topdecks a Mox and casts Hermit Druid. I know he has an animate spell in hand, so he will win next turn. I struggle to get to 10 spells, but the card that the cracked Chromatic Sphere gives me is a fetchland, so I end up with a Tendrils for 18. He wins on his turn. That was fast.
I side in more bounce and start again with Duress, again taking Duress. He then again (!) topdecks a Mox and casts Druid. I know he doesn't have the animate spell this time, so he has to wait. I cannot kill him either, so we sit for a few turns until he tries to win by activating the Druid and casting Animate Dead. I show him the Chain of Vapor I am holding.
Now its all or nothing in game three. I am able to Duress him, seeing nothing dangerous and Bazaar of Baghdad. He uses Bazaar and gets Druid out. I cast Necropotence and set 15 cards aside, keeping a Chain of Vapor and enough gas to kill next turn. He thinks a long time and then activates the Druid, flashbacks Krosan Reclamation, activates Bazaar and realizes, he is holding only one card in hand... Anyway, he couldn't have won this match.
4-0-1
So I win the tournament and take the Underground Sea (not the Scrubland!) as prize.
Props:
Karlsruhe for being nice as ever.
Richard Lessmann for trading me an Imperial Seal! I will definitely name my next child Richard! Even if it's a girl!
Slops:
Tournament starting late again because of people coming late and then starting to write decklists...
