1-7 Milwaukee Results

[M.Solymossy]

The tournament had a VERY good showing from GWS, ICBM, some guys from Waukesha, and Green bay, and other areas as well.

The field was VERY little mana drains.

8 UW Fish
7 Belcher
3 Traditional oath
2 ICBM oath
2 GWS oath
1 GiftsOath
2 Traditional Stax
2 Control Slaver
1 Controlicore
1 Grim Long
1 TPS/r
1 TPS 
1 Intuition-TPS
1 GWS bazaar Tog
1 Dredge-a-tog
1 Zombies
1 Gifts
1 BW Fish
2 dragon
1 sharazad
1 Workshop Slaver
1 UG Fish
1 Wild Zombies Homebrew

43 people.  INSANITY.

The top 8:

Eric Becker GWS v. Matt Morrison GWS
Jeremy Seroogy ICBM v. Kurt Walley 
Tommy Kolowith ICBM v. Brian Fisher GWS
Jamison Bryant ICBM v. Chris Nighbor

Eric Becker v. Jeremy Seroogy
Tommy Kolowith v. Jamison Bryant

Eric Becker Splits with Tommy Kolowith

Both ICBM and GWS did Very Well.  3 of 8 ICBM and 3 of 7 GWS member's Top 8ed, 1 GWS top 4, 3 ICBM top 4, 1 of each finals.


Eric Becker  Intuition-TPS
-List Withheld by Request-

Tommy Kolowith  ICBM 5Color Uba Stax
3 uba Mask
3 Tangle Wire
3 Sphere of Resistance
1 barbarian ring
1 tolarian academy
2 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
4 Mishra's workshop
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Bazaar of baghdad
1 trinisphere
3 crucible of worlds
1 gilded lotus
5 mox
1 lotus
1 ancestral recall
1 vampiric tutor
1 Demonic tutor
1 March of the machines
1 crop rotation
1 tinker
4 goblin welder
1 gorilla shaman
1 duplicant
1 triskilion
1 wheel of fortune
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
4 smokestack
1 Balance

Sideboard:
2 Seal of cleansing
2 Swords to plowshares
2 choke
1 duplicant
2 rack and ruin
2 in the eye of chaos
3 chalice of the void
1 Jesters cap

Jamison Bryant: TPS
1 black lotus
5 mox
1 ancestral
1 time walk
1 timetwister
4 dark ritual
1 cabal ritual
4 brainstorm
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 lotus petal
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 yawgmoths will
1 yawgmoths bargain
1 minds desire
1 necropotence
1 mystical tutor
1 wheel of fortune
1 rebuild
1 chain of vapor
4 polluted delta
4 underground sea
1 badlands
1 tolarian academy
2 island
2 swamp
4 duress
2 tendrils of agony
1 memory jar
1 tinker
1 cunning wish
1 gifts ungiven
4 force of will

Sideboard:
2 tormods crypt
2 damping matrix
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Cranial extraction
1 rebuild
1 brain freeze
1 coffin purge
1 hurkyl's recall
2 spawning pit
2 echoing truth
1 gifts ungiven

Jeremy Seroogy:  Traditional Stax (with ICBM tech)
TheSp0okyKod
4 mishra's workshop
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Wasteland
1 strip mine
1 babarian ring
5 mox
1 lotus
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
1 sol ring
4 chalice of the void
3 sphere of resistance
1 FASTBOND
3 crucible of worlds
1 ancestral recall
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 engineered explosives
1 triskilion
1 sundering titan
1 crop rotation
1 karn, silver golem
1 tinker
2 seal of cleansing
2 goblin welder
2 gorilla shaman
4 smokestack
1 tolarian academy

Sideboard:
2 rack and ruin
2 tormos crypt
2 triskilion
4 JUGGERNAUT
1 duplicant
2 swords to plowshares
2 ray of revolation

Brian Fisher:  GWS 5Color Ubastax
4 Mishra's workshop
3 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
1 Barbarian ring
1 Tolarian academy
3 Bazaar of baghdad
4 wasteland
1 Strip mine
5 mox
1 lotus
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
3 uba mask
3 crucible of worlds
4 smokestack
3 chalice of the void
4 smokestack
1 trinisphere
1 null rod
1 karn, silver golem
1 duplicant
1 sundering titan
4 goblin welder
1 gorilla shaman
1 vampiric tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 ancestral recall
1 tinker
1 crop rotation
1 choke
1 balance

Sideboard:
2 seal of cleansing
3 null rod
2 viashino heretic
1 choke
1 duplicant
2 darkblast
3 ray of revolation
1 chalice of the void

Matt Morrison:  GWS Bazaar-Tog (he get's the What the F--- Award for this) 
4 force of will
4 circular logic
2 duress
2 turbulant dreams
3 intuiton
4 bazaar of baghdad
4 squee goblin nabob
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 mystical tuor
1 crop rotation
1 ancestral recall
1 life from the loam
2 golgari grave troll
2 psychatog
1 yawgmoths will
1 krosan reclamation
1 time walk
1 fastbond
4 polluted delta
3 underground sea
1 tropical island
2 island
2 wasteland
1 strip mine
2 riftstone portal
5 mox
1 black lotus
1 sol ring
1 mana rypt

Sideboard:
1 darkblast
1 boseiju who shelters some but not most.
1 wonder
4 cabal therapy
3 pithing needle
3 zonbie infestation
2 pernicious deed

chris nighbor:  Icbm-style oath of druids
5 mox
1 black lotus
1 ancestral recall
1 time walk
1 vampiric tutor
1 rushing river
1 demonic tutor
4 mana drain
4 chalice of the void
4 duress
4 oath of druid
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
3 thirst for knowledge
1 razia
1 Akroma
1 gaea's blessing
4 forbidden orchard
2 polluted delta
2 flooded strand
2 underground sea
2 tropical island
1 strip mine
2 wasteland
2 island

Sideboard:
1 ancient hydra
1 pristine angel
1 woodripper
3 tormods crypt3 energy flux
2 pithing needle
1 darkblast
1 rushing river
1 tinker
1 darksteel colossus

Kurt Wally: controlicore
4 polluted delta
4 tundra
4 volcanic  island
4 goblin welder
4 flooded strand
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
4 mana drain
4 thirst for knowledge
4 swords to plowshare
3 masticore
1 strip mine
1 platinum angel
5 mox
1 mindslaver
1 lotus petal
1 balance
1 time walk
1 lotus
1 ancestral recall
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
1 fact or fiction

Sideboard:
1 masticore
1 pyroblast
1 red elemental blast
4 wasteland
4 guilded drake
4 rack and ruin



The compitition was VERY fierce.  At this tournament we had:
Curt Walley (gencon top 8)
Matt Endress (gencon and SCG top 8)
Brian Fisher (SCG top 8)
Ben Carp (SCG top 8)
Josh Rayden (SCG Top 8)
Matt Morrison (SCG top 8)

as well as several others that have won local power tournaments.


I played grim long and ended up getting crushed by Seroogy's Stax list (first turn chalice =0 chalice =1 , second turn Crucible + Strip mine, droping his whole hand, and casting balance) and then by Jamison.


My props:
40+ people for coming to milwaukee and playing in this amazing tournament
me, for using elvish spirit guides to go Aggro.
Matt endress, for listing akroma on his decklist as "Akroma the F'ing nuts".. it made me laugh
GWS and ICBM for having more than 10 guys at tumbleweed, that was great. 
Adderal for making me not want to eat

Slops:
me, for using elvish spirit guides to go aggro.
Everyone, for not having foil cities and rituals to trade me!
Xantid Swarm X1 in the main and 2 in the sideboard, for being the most useless pile of garbage in grimlong.
Adderal for making me not want to eat.
 

UW Fish I have to say is a threat in this area apparently that cannot be avoided.  It is however, very beatable, but it does have all the threats to give the metagame fits.


On a side note, everyone should go to Appleton on the 28th to play for a mox!


-Discuss

[Juggernaut GO]

march of the machines sounds good to me, but I thought only scrubs played that shit

[TheUprisal]

That 5color Ubastax deck was fucking savage, it ripped me a new asshole in the first round.

Congrats to top 8, and mad props to the store for running the tourney very efficiently.

Also props to 13nova and SpookyKid for being 2 extremely friendly, yet savagely funny guys

[The_spooky_kid]

I must say that the tourney was awesome.  I only lost to Matt Morrison round 2, because I totally didn't know what the hell he was playing until like 1 turn before he killed me.  GWS dredgatog is a pretty savage deck i must say.  The I lost to Eric in the semi finals playing his savage storm based combo deck.  Chris nighbor playing oath joined ICBM so technically we had 4 in the top 8.  I decided to try something new with my list.  first off fastbond is insane in 5 color stax.  second a workshop aggro sb conversion tends to beat other stax decks.  It won me a lot of games, and my opponents completely didnt expect it...  My list had balance and trinisphere in it,and it only ran 2 goblin welders, not 4.  IMO In my build goblin welder isn't necessary to win, but he's a good option to have.

[Hydra]

I went 4-2 at the tourney playing Gifts, getting savaged both times by Fish with sub-optimal draws and some funky tech from the Fish players (Rootwater Thief against a deck with only two maindeck ways to win game one sounds pretty decent to me). 

It was a great event, and the Tumbleweed GWS-ICBM pow-wow afterwards was an amusing time, props to whoever picked the place, but slops for the place giving us the only non-hot waitress.

[Smmenen]

holy shit.  The world has just ended.  The two most popular decks were 2 land belcher and Fish! 

I'm a bit surprised that Belcher didn't do a better.  I counted 10 genuine Ritual decks.  That's nearly 25% of the field.  Wow. 

[Komatteru]

I'm a bit surprised that Belcher didn't do a better.  I counted 10 genuine Ritual decks.  That's nearly 25% of the field.  Wow. 

As am I. That field is pretty ripe for Belcher.  No Mana Drains just make life soooo easy for Belcher, although Fish is a bit rough.  The lack of Stax does hurt Belcher as well, as Belcher just rips traditional Stax to shreds.

[Moxlotus]

I was wondering what tore Fish and Belcher up since neither made top 8?

I also have to give a Matt Morrison props for Turbulent Dreams-he tried finding a maindeck option for Oath that didn't suck flaccid monkey wang against every other deck.

[Hydra]

Slops to Moxlotus for not showing (that is, if he is who I think he is).

As far as Belcher goes, a lot of the Belcher players I saw were just not particularly skilled with the deck.  I played against two of them, and admit to being a complete and total lucksack in one game.  He got down a turn one Belcher...  Only for me to top deck a Pithing Needle.  The other Belcher had some insane draws, but couldn't power through my Forces/Drains.  Otherwise, the people piloting Belcher just crapped out with the deck...  None of Belcher decks were in position to place heading into the final round.

The highest Fish finish was 9th with 12 points.

[M.Solymossy]

@ Smemmen and JDizzle:  It's true, a lot of the belcher players were not very skilled with the deck.  Several of the fish players got wrecked by the combo decks, I know I powered through a Meddling mage on tendrils AND TRIPLE Stifle in one match versus uw, and just turn 2'd the other fish i played (UB).

Jdizzle thank you for giving me some advice on the sideboard.  I found Pyroblast better than reb, because you can still target lands in order to +1 the storm count.  GrimLong is turning into my pet deck, so any future help you and stephen could give me is greatly appreciated.

[TheUprisal]

Yep, I was feeling really, really good about bring Belcher, but the fact it was my 2nd Vintage tournament ever really, really showed.  Oh well, its how you learn.

And so did the fact I've only been playing since Legions.

But you know what? Im not quitting.  I did infinitely better in my games than i did at SCG: Chicago, so I will be truly competitive soon.

I played Ubastax (got rocked by turn 1 and 2 trinispheres, with no welder in sight), I played the mirror (lost die roll, 3 turn 1 wins...obviously him, me, him) won a fish matchup, and lost to TPS in 3 by me comboing turn 2, him comboing turn 2, and me setting up to win w/ Necro but him killing me only needing a storm of 5.

So I dont think my play skill was all that shitty.  I just got beat. 

[The_spooky_kid]

Round one I played 13nova and his grim long deck.  Game one I got an early lockdown and killed with karn and his animated friends.  game 2 I had a decent lock started and I balanced with only 1 card left in hand.  I couldn't draw any color sources and after a little bit of draw go he comboed me out.  game 3 was close but I put the lock down and killed with sundering titan.  1-0 

Round two, I played against Matt Morrison.  Game one He saw an early bazaar of baghdad.  I was completely clueless as to what he was playing, but I thought he was playing dragon.  So I set challice of the void at 1 and 2.  later in the game a bunch of dredge spells came up and then tog went the distance on me.  game 2 I mull to 5 and see shop mox 3sphere and 2 other cards.  I was on the play so I turn one dropped shop, mox, 3 sphere.  He had FOW.  he followed by a wasteland on my shop.  then I couldn't find a land for 8 or 9 turns then he ran over me with zombie tokens from zombie infestation.    1-1

Round three I played against dragon.  It didn't have bazaars in it from what I saw though. It was more of a legacy build.  Game one I dropped a sphere of resistance turn one.  he dropped a Land and said go.  Turn 2 I dropped a challice at one and dropped a mox.  turn 3 i dropped a crucible, and after went to town with wasteland.  soon after winning.  Game 2 we both drew 7 and he said he was on the play.  He just said go to me which was odd IMO.  I dropped a turn 1 trinisphere which sweetened the deal.  He drops a land and says go.  I topdecked a crucible and had him in a lock with wasteland and he conceeded.    2-1

Round 4, I played against Oath.  At first I thought he was playing fish, like I have seen him play in the past.  he won the dice roll and dropped a land and an off color mox.  I dropped a wasteland and mox jet and demonic tutor for a challice of the void.  he EOT brainstormed.  Next turn he went land go.  following turn i dropped a shop wastelanded his land and secured down a challice set at 2.  after he played very little things and i furthered my lock.  beating him.  Game 2 I got a turn one challice at 0 and sphere of resistance.  I dont remember much after that, but I killed him with karn.   3-1

Round 5, I played against a BW fish deck with kataki main.  I was honestly convinced it was a very bad matchup for me.  Challice of the void set at 1 and 2 shut him down game 1.  game 2 he killed me with a samurrii of the pale curtain.  game 3. Fastbond was the MVP of this game.  I turn one fastbond into a laod of land. challice at 1 and 2 locked him down followed by juggernaut for the kill.  4-1

Round 6, I had to Play a fellow team member Jameson Bryant playing TPS.  after looking at the standings we drew into the top 8.

round 1 in top 8, I played Kurt Walley with his controlicore deck.  game one I got a challice of the void at one out.  he got out an early masticore and beat me down for victory.  game 2 I decided to go with my sb conversion.  juggernauts trikes, dupes, and rack and ruins in. sphere of resistance, 2 smokestacks, 1 challice, seal of cleansing and fastbond out.  game 2 I challiced at one right away. Getting rid of welder, Stp, brainstorm, and other things was good.  I got him in a crucible lock early on I believe and won game 2.  game 3 I wasnt confident in the sb conversion in this match but I kept it in, I brought my 4th challice back in and 1 smokestack for my gorilla shamans.  I remember getting out a at 0 and having a crucible.  He got out a masticore and started goign the distance.  I dropped a late 3sphere and a karn.  karn met STP and after getting me to i believe 8 he ran out of gas for masticore.  juggernaut went in for the scoup phase.

round 2 in top 8 I had to play a grimlong/ tps deck.  It played a lot different than I thought.  Game one I got challice at 1 but he played around it and went off. Game 2 i mulled to 6.  I had a ton of mana excel but no gas after, and he killed me shortly after. 

The only thing I would change in mydeck now is I like having the 4th sphere of resistance.  If I cant refit it in the main board Im for sure going to have it in my sb.  Fastbond was a new addition to the deck.  It won me 2 games IMO having it opening hand.  It is definitly staying in.  When I was coming to this i expected a lot more stax than what showed.  I thought the best way to beat stax was to go aggro on its ass so thats what I was prepared for.  I also sb heavy toward oath, because Its always been a popular choice.  I'm sure I missed some plays here and there but this was going off complete memory no notes. Sorry if I had any minor things wrong.

[M.Solymossy]

Spooky Kid:  Mox Sapphire, Ancestral, Mox pearl, Sol Ring, Mishra's Workshop Tormods Crypt Chalice for 0 Chalice for 1 Crucible of Worlds Pass
13Nova: *sigh* City of Brass go.
Spooky kid: Strip mine, strip out City, Cast the rest of his hand into his chalices, Balance, Tormod's.
Me: draw go
Him Draw go
*ten turns later*
 Sphere go.
me: draw go
him draw go
*several turns later*
Him: Sphere # 2
me: Sigh
him: Triskilion beatdown FTW.

Until he played sphere # 2, my hand was ESG, ESG, City of Brass, Jet, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Grim Tutor.  ALL I needed (with 27 cards in my yard, none of which being yawgmoth's will) was to draw ONE hurkyl's Recall.   

[Rhyno]

First of i want to thank everyone who came out for this one!! For such a large tournament everyone helped to make it run as smoothly as possible. Congrats to Eric and Tommy!! We plan to do 4-5 more of these this year so keep watch. This was the second in arow where our attendance increased a fair amount. Again thanks to the players and staff for being apart of this great event.

         

[49 Cents]

Wow. The metagame in Europe (at least in The Netherlands) is sooooo different than the American meta.. This tourney proves that once again.

[M.Solymossy]

You really cannot understand the American Metagame by this tournament Alone.


@ everyone:  Is there anything else you would like me to add to my tournament results for the next time I post?

[49 Cents]

Sure I can't but there are so many decks played that are virtually non existant over here.. Belcher and UW fish simply ISN'T being played for instance..

[Komatteru]

That high of a Belcher and Fish representation is pretty unusual.  One would expect to see more of those decks in low-proxy tournaments, since Belcher requires only six pieces of power and Imperial Seal (and a bunch of junk after that) and Fish takes 4 pieces of power and some duals and Forces.  It it interesting that those two decks appeared in such high numbers.

[Methuselahn]

That high of a Belcher and Fish representation is pretty unusual.  One would expect to see more of those decks in low-proxy tournaments, since Belcher requires only six pieces of power and Imperial Seal (and a bunch of junk after that) and Fish takes 4 pieces of power and some duals and Forces.  It it interesting that those two decks appeared in such high numbers.

Being from MN, I have to blame Wisconsin in general for this typical odd behavior. 

@ everyone:  Is there anything else you would like me to add to my tournament results for the next time I post?

Hmm, It may be helpful to list deck archetypes next to players' names when listing who made top8 + the breakdown.  Having to look at the name and then scroll up and down multiple times to see what faced what in the top 8 is cumbersome.  Deck names next to the players' names makes analysing it so much easier IMO.

[Tha Gunslinga]

A major reason for the lack of Belcher in the top 8 may be the presence of Chalice; I was able to 2-0 Belcher in the first round due in part to Chalice (that and my Explosives at 0 that wiped his entire board, sans one land that was quickly Wasted).

[edit]: I was under the impression that there were 46 people there, since I recall the existance of a table 23.

To sum up the deck breakdown, btw:

10 Fish
7 Belcher
7 oath
1 GiftsOath
1 Gifts
2 Traditional Stax
2 Control Slaver
1 Controlicore
1 Grim Long
3 TPS
2 Tog
2 Zombies
2 dragon
1 sharazad
1 Workshop Slaver

[The_spooky_kid]

there were 2 uba stax and I think a 3rd control slaver... in addition to the list.

[Komatteru]

A major reason for the lack of Belcher in the top 8 may be the presence of Chalice; I was able to 2-0 Belcher in the first round due in part to Chalice (that and my Explosives at 0 that wiped his entire board, sans one land that was quickly Wasted).

That shouldn't be it.  I had no problems winning through Chalices galore in Chicago.  In fact, I seem to recall winning a match in two games in which both Chalice for 0 and Chalice for 1 were played in the first two turns...

[The_spooky_kid]

haha rub it in now... We'll meet again and I'll get revenge...

[Avatar`]

I played in this tourny and I went 3-3 Overall I had fun, this was my first tourny and I played Belcher.



Read the rules. No large sig images. http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/index.php?topic=18027.0 -Klep

[RThomas]

I was another one of the belcher dudes.  I was not feeling particularly up to par on this particular saturday, and it showed; scrubbing hard like I indeed claimed I would, and dropping to go home, order a pizza, and watch Titanic in fullscreen. 

My teammate was one of the UW fish guys; see above story for his day.

[M.Solymossy]

I didn't think I did too badly after losing first round in a SAVAGE 3 game matchup between myself and a Teammate.  I was rolling until the end when I Played another Teammate Jamison in three close games, and then lost to yet another teammate playing yet again when I duressed his whole hand away, and drew Cabal Ritual, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal in concecutive turns allowing him to finally combo off, and then in game 2 had second turn Lotus Recall Ritual Ritual Tolarian Demonic Yawgmoths Will hand.

[Dante]

... and dropping to go home, order a pizza, and watch Titanic in fullscreen. 

I'm perplexed...  was the viewing voluntary?  Please, please tell us you were somehow forced to do this....

[M.Solymossy]

... and dropping to go home, order a pizza, and watch Titanic in fullscreen. 

I'm perplexed...  was the viewing voluntary?  Please, please tell us you were somehow forced to do this....

I think we can just assume his boyfriend made him watch it  LOL
*Edit: Disclaimer*  I am not calling you homosexual or anything like that, I was just making a joke as to why any male would want to watch Titanic*

[Dr Evil]

The oath list comes 2 cards short to be al legal deck.

[Whatever Works]

Wow. The metagame in Europe (at least in The Netherlands) is sooooo different than the American meta.. This tourney proves that once again.

This is definetly not your typical American metagame... Not at least in NE...

NE would maybe be 5% Fish/Belcher... 30% CS... 10% Dragon... 20% Stax... 20% Gifts...15% Combo