[Report] 13th @ Waterbury VIII Day 1 with Team Batman Guano!

[doomhed]

Hallo all.

It’s been a long time since I have put up some decent numbers at a major Vintage event, so I have decided to write a report for it this time. I was playing the Penultimate Aggro/prison build, U/W/G fish, AKA Birdshit, AKA Batshit or Guano. My team has been working on a list since last January and we used it to place 1 member (Brian Rozzero) into the top 8 @ waterbury VII. The work we did on this deck changed the way it plays dramatically. Without further rambling, here is the list we used:

Guano, AKA Batshit

Manabase (21)-
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Emerald
1x Strip Mine
1x Savannah (Awesome all day)
2x Windswept Heath
3x Flooded Strand
3x Tropical Island
4x Tundra (Rozzero played with a 6th fetch replacing 1)
4x Wasteland

Beaters (11)
4x Meddling Mage
4x Nimble Mongoose
3x Werebear (Wish we had room for the 4th)

Other Spells (28)
4x Force of Will
4x Stifle (Insane all day long)
4x Brainstorm
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Daze
3x Orim's Chant (Also insane)
3x Null Rod
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Time Walk
1x Gush

Sideboard
4x Ground Seal
4x Blue Elemental Blast
4x Ray of Revelation (Better than I expected, but mainly on day 2)
1x Null Rod
1x Orim's Chant
1x Psionic Blast (Rozzero used the 4th werebear)

Well, on to the report. I apologize for not having names for everyone, but my notes have disappeared.

Round 1- Unknown, playing either TPS or gifts.

Game 1- Turn 1 Tinker DSC, I force pitching Daze, he has the force backup and I cannot find a Swords.
 
SB- -2 Daze, +1 Null Rod, +1 Orim's Chant

Game 2- I Stifle his turn 1 fetch, turn 2 Meddling Mage naming Tinker, turn 3 Meddling Mage naming Tendrils of Agony.

Game 3- Turn 2 tinker DSC, I cannot find a Swords.

Matches- 0-1-0
Games- 1-2-0

I was obviously not very happy, but I kept my spirits high and proclaimed, "I'm just gonna win out till last round".

Round 2- N00b, playing VERY bad Burning Slaver

Game 1- He drops turn 1 Glimmervoid, Lotus Petal, Sol Ring, Welder. I drop turn 1 Tundra, Pearl, Null Rod. Turn 2 I Swords his Welder and go to town with Nimble, Werebear and Mage.

SB- +1 Null Rod, -1 Werebear

Game 2- He goes turn 1 Watery Grave, Ancestral, Ruby, Chalice for zero. I drop consecutive Nimbles and Swords a Welder, obtaining quick threshold on the backs of Wastelands, Stifles and Orim's Chants. I stifle the trigger on a Triskelion and win the game. 

Matches- 1-1-0
Games- 3-2-0

Round 3 - J.P. Meyer, Playing U/W/B Fish with Confidant, FEATURE MATCH

Game 1- I keep a great opener with turn 1 Ancestral, which resolves. I Stifle a fetch and Swords a few creatures. I keep anything other than Confidant off the board, because Confidant does a lot of work for me. I overrun him with Nimbles and Werebears.

SB- -2 Null Rod, +1 Psionic, +1 Chant

Game 2- He opens with Savannah Lions and Isamaru turn 1. I cannot keep up.

Game 3- I early rush with 2 Nimbles on turn 1. J.P. is getting flooded on basic Plains and starts discarding cards. I lay down a Meddling Mage naming Savannah Lions. He gets down some black mana and starts pumping out guys. He swings sending me to 10 and I do the same. He reveals a force with his confidant and I Orim’s Chant with kicker. Next turn I swing in with a Bear, 2 Nimbles and a Mage. He chumps. He draws and extends his hand.

Matches- 2-1-0
Games- 5-4-0

Since there was about 20 minutes left in the round, I go watch my lackey play a great 3rd game against Ultima. He was so worked up about playing Ultima that he was shaking after the match.

Round 4- Ultima, playing TPS with Drains

Game 1- I cast Chant and Stifle a Tendrils with storm of 11. I win shortly thereafter.

SB- +1 Null Rod, +1 Chant, +1 Ray. –3 Daze.

Game 2- I lay turn 1 Null Rod, turn 2 Meddling Mage naming Tinker. He hardcasts Memory Jar after bouncing my Null Rod and I Stifle it.

Matches- 3-1-0
Games- 7-4-0

Round 5- Friendly British Guy from Myriad Games playing Bomberman.

This guy was really fun to play, but I had an annoying individual hovering around the table during 2/3 the match, commenting on my deck contents from playing one of my teammates earlier.

Game 1- He went turn 1 tinker DSC, which I Plowed. I then won the game before I could be sure what he was playing. I saw alot of acceleration and drains/force, so I assumed he was playing TPS with drains like Ultima.

SB- Out 1 Brainstorm, 1 Wasteland (he had a lot of basics), in 1 Chant 1 Null Rod

Game 2- I don’t draw anything relevant and lose to Auriok Salvagers after a Rebuild on my Null Rods.

Game 3- I lay down savage beats, Strip his 2nd Island and lay Null Rod, then get a Meddling Mage naming Salvagers. I Swords a Colossus and still am laying down the beats. In the last turn he had before death he tried to Chain of Vapor one of my Nimble Mongeese. Again, Mongoose beats for the win.

Matches- 4-1-0
Games- 9-5-0

Round 6- Whiny Kid playing Grimlong

This kid complained about how my team single handedly knocked all but one of his friends out of T16 contention. He also complained about everything in the match. “You couldn’t have any more main deck hate against me than you have.� And the personal favorite “You’re so lucky�.

Game 1- I beat him insanely fast. If he hadn’t cast a Necropotence I would have thought he was Oath.

SB- out 2x Swords, in 1x Null Rod, 1x Chant

Game 2- I keep Force, Brainstorm, Chant, fetch land, Swords, Sapphire, Stifle. He casts Duress turn 1, taking Force. I draw Force. He tries to hardcast Bargain, I Force. He flips out. The game goes on to the point where I have a Mage naming Tendrils of Agony and I have a Nimble on the board with 1 card less than threshold. He pops the Jar successfully but has very limited mana. He goes for the Will and I Force pitching Daze. He is out of mana and is very unhappy.

Matches- 5-1-0
Games- 11-5-0

Round 7- Nice Guy playing Oath

Game 1- I keep Force, Stifle, Daze, Waste, Strip, fetch on the play. I keep him from ever getting enough mana to do anything. He finally gets the mana to Oath and I Orim’s Chant him and Force it.

SB- in 3 Ray of Revelation, 1 Orim’s Chant, out 3 Null Rod, 1 Brainstorm

Game 2- I make a lot of stupid errors and he gets the game.

SB- in 1 Ray of Revelation, out 1 Daze

Game 3- I get a Meddling Mage naming Oath and ride him to victory.

Round 8- Brendon Ward, Gifts Oath

I am in 10th after last round, he is 8th. We can both safely draw in. So we do. Coincidentally, he was the teammate of the Grimlong player from earlier. The only one my team didn’t eliminate.

Matches- 6-1-1
Games- 11-5-1 (19 points)

Top 16-
Corey Mann, playing Gobbos/g
Corey is a really great guy. I have played him and his brother in many tournies over the years and they are always fun to play against.

Game 1- I Waste and Stifle every land I can and I use every Jedi mind trick I got to keep myself alive. I was holding lands for a majority of the game.  I cannot find a Werebear in time to save my ass.

SB- in 4 BEB, 1 Psionic Blast, 1 Orim’s Chant, out 3 Null Rod, 3 Daze
 
Game 2- He gets the most insane opening ever and I cannot get a Force online. I get overrun. He had the REB for my BEB, and I just died.

Overall I am very happy with the build. I believe it is the most underplayed deck in Vintage. If I were to play this deck today, the last card in the SB would be a Hydroblast. This deck is at its best against combo, control and aggro/control decks. It has hard times against good 5C Stax players. I was banking on not too many good Stax players showing up. If you expect a lot of Stax, you can SB 4 Sacred Grounds in the place of the 4th Null Rod, 4th BEB, Psionic/Hydro, and 4th Ray.

Props-
Great tourney, some great players, and a great jacuzzi.
Nimble Mongoose, for being INSANE all day long.

Slops-
Werebear for not showing up game 1 of my T16 match.
A lot of whiny children (WTF was it with 13 yr olds @ this one?), no hot lesbian action, and Mixing Mike for being a wussbag and not showing up.

Also, to any players living in RI, if you see anyone in possession of my fuzzy deckbox, email me. There is a $200 reward for information leading to the party who stole this deck. Not only is it missing, but another deckbox was also taken.

Missing Cards of note-
4x S-Chinese meddling mages
4x Italian Force of will
4x French Orim’s chants
3x Unlimited Tropical islands
1x German WB tundra
2x Foreign Windswept Heath
1x S-Chinese Flooded Strand
4x Japanese Nimble mongeese
3x Japanese Werebears
3x foreign Ice age brainstorms
1x foil stifle
4x Foil Ray of Revelation
4x Japanese Ground Seals
4x Asian BB BEB
4x Signed Ice age Swords to plowshares
4x Korean Wastelands
1x German BB Strip mine

the other stolen deckbox
3x Spanish oath of druids
1x Korean Oath of druid
1x Japanese Squee
and Parts for oath, dragon, fish, and slaver, all rare.

Thank you all
Email- Doomhed@gmail.com 

EDIT- Major Props to everyone who donated cards to me to Help myself and Jess Rebuild our decks, Especially Jeff Anand, AKA Samite Healer. YOU, sir, are the man.

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

That is by far one of the best Threshold lists I have seen so far in this format. Orim's Chant makes perfect sense to act as Mini-Time Walk 2, 3, and number four. Congrats on your win. I have one question though did you ever feel the deck falls too much into top deck mode way too early?

P.S. Sorry about the loss it looks as bad as mine. Seems like this Waterbury was full of sneaky guys stealing valuable stuff. I really hope people start bagging these bastards in the act.

-Elias

[Englishman_in_NH]

I have to agree about the random person standing over us round 5, it was a little off putting, when he would ask questions while we were playing.

By the way, no tendrils in my deck, possibly you are thinking of the Darksteel Colossus I discarded to thirst game one. Game three I think mage was naming salvager's.

Either way thanks for the games, some of the most interesting I've played in a long time, I always felt I had a chance to come back with something busted, I was just a turn too late.

Congratulations on running such a fine tuned deck to top 16.

[LouGodKingofDustBunnys]

Congrat's on your finish Doomhed, and I'm sorry to hear that your fuzzy deckbox was stolen. I played day one and judged day two, and you showed me your fuzzy box sometime during the day, and I have to say it was amusing.

On the thief of players items...this is getting to be to much, and I think that something might have to be done to prevent or at dissuade this. I have some ideas I'm going to run by Ray, some of which I'm not going to get into here, but the possibility of either having to close the doors between rounds and check everyone that wants to leave, to not allowing people to carry around bags inside the room might have to be considered. I, for one, would rather not have us doing any such thing, but if this keep going on...Something will have to be done. Our format is probably..no scratch that...is the most closely knit and most sociable of all formats, and we CAN NOT allow scum to ruin it for us.

[Nastaboi]

Do you really need Ground Seals? I see you brought them in zero times, and have like bazillion ways to foil Dragon even without. IMO the deck has more issues with Stax lists packing Chalice, as one for one is deadly if played early on. How do you deal with that?

You played against no Gifts, how do you feel about the matchup? I think that you have slight advantage in the first game, but their REBs (and sometimes Pyroclasm) tend to turn boarded games into their favor. Would you bring in BEBs and how many, or do you just bring in 4th Rod and Chant and race?

This deck is at its best in Oath and pure combo matchups, which you rightfully won. I for myself have not yet found a list that beats both Gifts and Stax.

[Evenpence]

On the thief of players items...this is getting to be to much, and I think that something might have to be done to prevent or at dissuade this. I have some ideas I'm going to run by Ray, some of which I'm not going to get into here, but the possibility of either having to close the doors between rounds and check everyone that wants to leave, to not allowing people to carry around bags inside the room might have to be considered. I, for one, would rather not have us doing any such thing, but if this keep going on...Something will have to be done. Our format is probably..no scratch that...is the most closely knit and most sociable of all formats, and we CAN NOT allow scum to ruin it for us.

We're also the format with the most expensive cards.  My advice is to trade outside and only bring the deck you're playing into the tournament with you along with your life counters, dice, etc.  This will prevent people from stealing your stuff.  You can always keep the deck you're playing in sight, and you can always keep your trade stuff in sight.  Sure, it's a pain, but it solves the problem, even with a little bit of walking.

If that's not the most pleasent option, (and thievery, sadly, will always occur when a quick two grand is to be made by stealing someone's non-proxy deck), then you can always resort to checking people's bags and such as they leave.  The sad thing is, they'll just take the cards out of the deck box and put them into their own deck boxes (which they specifically purchased beforehand for the purpose of thievery, and put the stolen cards in there, and pitch the owner's deckbox.  I mean, you'd have to check every single card of every single person leaving the tournament.

Thieves are crafty, and will even take the cards out of the sleeves in a secret location and slide them behind their cards in a binder to get away with it.

Once you actually have the cards, it's not that hard to not get caught.  The hard part is actually getting the cards without anyone seeing you take them.  Some people, though, excel in this most of all, then they'll pass the cards off to someone else who hides them for them.  This is commonly known as "passing", or "the transfer," or "swapping", or "checking."  If you've got two people working a tournament to steal cards, chances are they'll never be caught, as one guy can almost just blatantly steal something in front of everyone, but what?  They're suddenly gone.  While he's getting harassed about stealing the cards (if that ever even happens) the other guy is taking them out of the sleeves in the bathroom stalls and putting them into his binder (as it's normal for people to take their cards with them into stalls, and no one would EVER blame anyone for that).

Anyway, advice is:  Always keep your cards in sight, and never let anyone look through them while you're playing a game, etc.  Also, I frown on having other people be your sentries, because they don't own the cards, even though they're your good buddy, and they'll keep a 'good eye' on them.  If they're not owned by the person, they're not going to treat them as though they were, and won't be watching your cards every second.

The thief that stole your stuff should be crucified.

[doomhed]

the cards were stolen after we got back to RI. we were @ dennys and they disappeared somewhere between us leaving and me getting my cards home. they were either left on the table and swiped before I made it back there to check (which was not a very long time span @ all), or someone who rode with me took them. since both myself and one of my teammates are nearly 100% sure I carried them out to the car, I dont know. All I know is the enitre deck has alot of very uncommon and peculiar card that are gonna be harder to move than usual, since most of RI hates foreign cards.

My stax matchup has alot to do with 2 things- playskill and speed. In general, there are not too many stax players who are as good with thier deck as I am with Guano. I live, breathe, eat and sleep this deck. I have been told I have said "meddling mage naming burning wish" in my sleep. your main goal is to abuse early chants as time walsk to stall their setup, then only counter the following cards- Chalice for 1/2 or smokestack. everything else you can deal with.

Believe it or not, the ground seals were not for dragon (although I sometime bring them in against superior dragon players). I eat dragon alive. MD I have 4 stifles/swords and null rods. SB I have rays and BEB. seals are for control slavery, workshop aggro, and U/B fish/Sui matchups. CS and workshop aggro see play in the NE and can wreck my deck without the proper support. U/B fish/sui uses withered wretch, which hoses a major componant of this deck, the extremely Early threshold factor of Time walking with chants. Hell, the main reason we use no black lotus is that we dont like null rod getting welded away, and the 3rd mox allows for even more broken openings as a conisitant mana source.

the truth of the matter is, there is nothing in the deck you usually dont want to draw other than lands and there are only 21 sources in the deck. this deck is a topdeck machine, as there are ton of cards maindeck to break every type of game wide open.

Gifts is where knowing your opponant is needed. you need to board Bebs and ground seals against pyroclasm/fusillade and recoup. you need to bring out 2 wastelands for the other null rod and orim's chant. you essentilly become thier worst nightmare post board. since you take game 1 a majority of the time, you need to hate yer way into a 2nd win at any cost.

And englishman, thanx! i'll fix the report.

[fitz712]

 at this waterbury a friend of mines stax deck got stolen

[patlam]

hey doomhed,

long time no talk. congratulations on the finish and sorry bout the stolen deck. take it easy.

Posts like this should be a PM.
-Jacob

[seer]

How do you stile the trigger on triskelion? Isn't trisk gaining counters a static ability?


Oracle text: Triskelion comes into play with three +1/+1 counters on it.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from Triskelion: Triskelion deals 1 damage to target creature or player.

[49 Cents]

'Comes into play'. So you can Stifle it if you like. So Triskelion will be 1/1 when played while a Humility is in play..

[Jacob Orlove]

If Trike was a triggered ability, it would say "when Triskelion comes into play". It doesn't. The ability is not triggered, so you can't stifle it.

[49 Cents]

Really? Then I know a judge who screwed me over at least twice 

[seer]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing as Orlove. There is no when. Of course there is no "as" either which is how that is usually worded.

[Jacob Orlove]

+1/+1 counters don't use the "as" wording.

[doomhed]

http://gatherer.wizards.com/gathererlookup.asp?set=FourthEdition&name=triskelion#

his was a 4th edition one. I made the play based on the wording I saw on the card at hand. there was no reason to assume they changed the wording (ironically, all my mirroden ones are japanese...so I didn't even realise the change. 

[Imsomniac101]

Congratulations on the excellent finish. I was about to comment on how you would be raped by Stax as you have nothing for this abysmal match. Then I saw this:

It has hard times against good 5C Stax players. I was banking on not too many good Stax players showing up. If you expect a lot of Stax, you can SB 4 Sacred Grounds in the place of the 4th Null Rod, 4th BEB, Psionic/Hydro, and 4th Ray.

Your bet obviously paid off. Good job.

Overall I am very happy with the build. I believe it is the most underplayed deck in Vintage. If I were to play this deck today, the last card in the SB would be a Hydroblast. This deck is at its best against combo, control and aggro/control decks.

I agree with almost everything you said about the deck and most card choices. The sideboard was a bit dubious to me but that was due to the concern of facing Stax. Also Ground Seal was a bit meh for me as all the matches where you'd side it in are already highly favourable for you. Extracts would have gone a long way for you, I think.

I'm still all about MD Annul's though. However, you don't have any MisD's anywhere, since you advocated them so strongly in our discussion about the deck I'm abit puzzled about their non-inclusion.

I live, breathe, eat and sleep this deck.

try replacing "this deck" with "guano". It leaves a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth 

Anyway, congrats again.

EDIT: a word about your Gobbos matchup. I've played this matchup many times and I've noticed that you get better results by siding out Mages rather than Dazes. Mages are really weak in this matchup as they're really vulnerable and far worse when you're expecting REB's. Just be wary that if you do side them out, that you might not be able to chump block an early lackey (you're playing 4x mongoose anyway).

[gamermk]

I'm just wondering how strong gush was for you. It seems a little out of place.

[doomhed]

From Countering wastelands to giving quick threshold, to gaining me more mana of the appropriate color, Gush was phenominal all day. I actually was happier with it than I was with Ancestral (who didnt show up most of the day). If it werent restricted, I would be running 4.

Honestly, I would never side out the mages. In this matchup you need the warm bodies. the dazes are not as good because all thier threats cost so little. Day 2 I sided The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, which helped against the 2 aggro decks I played.

MD annuls were great at one time, as were misdirections, but our Love of Orim's chant is well founded. Orim has done us good. There is nothing like time walking 2-3 times per game to screw up an opponant. hell, we are looking for ways to wedge a 4th in.

[Imsomniac101]

Honestly, I would never side out the mages. In this matchup you need the warm bodies. the dazes are not as good because all thier threats cost so little. Day 2 I sided The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, which helped against the 2 aggro decks I played.

It's not that the Dazes are better. It's just that the Mages are extremely vulnerable. Plenty of Goblin decks run 4 REB's or more not to mention the large amount of removal they already have. In my experience the UW investment isnt worth it.

I've been playing around with your deck and am going to suggest a few changes. I hope that I don't sound arrogant but the mana-base felt unwieldy. Proposed changes:

-1x Tundra
+1x Plains (or extra fetch)
I love the Chants and I know you do too.

-1x Mox Emerald
+1x Basic Island
Brainstorms are extremely important in the deck.

-1x Windswept Heath
+1x Flooded Strand
These can now fetch every land in the deck including the island

I've also run into a fair amount of mana-flooding with the 21 sources that you're running. Just a note.

Sideboard:
-4x Ground Seal
-1x Psionic Blast
These cards might have been just a meta choice (you didnt say).
These cards are basically redundant and can be replaced with something for the meta.

Still. Props for the high finish. I hope you continue the good work on the deck; I'm also a believer that the deck is underplayed.

[doomhed]

It's not that the Dazes are better. It's just that the Mages are extremely vulnerable. Plenty of Goblin decks run 4 REB's or more not to mention the large amount of removal they already have. In my experience the UW investment isnt worth it.

I've been playing around with your deck and am going to suggest a few changes. I hope that I don't sound arrogant but the mana-base felt unwieldy. Proposed changes:

-1x Tundra
+1x Plains (or extra fetch)
I love the Chants and I know you do too.
-1x Mox Emerald
+1x Basic Island
Brainstorms are extremely important in the deck.
-1x Windswept Heath
+1x Flooded Strand
These can now fetch every land in the deck including the island

I've also run into a fair amount of mana-flooding with the 21 sources that you're running. Just a note.
Sideboard:
-4x Ground Seal
-1x Psionic Blast
These cards might have been just a meta choice (you didnt say).
These cards are basically redundant and can be replaced with something for the meta.

Still. Props for the high finish. I hope you continue the good work on the deck; I'm also a believer that the deck is underplayed.

Well, there is alot to cover here, so this may take a few mintues. First off, you need 21 sources. this deck has extremely demanding color requirements, which strain even the tightest manabase. this is also why you cannot run basics. I ran basics @ a the beanie exchange with another teammate the week before waterbury. I lost 4 games to color screw by dawing basics in opening hands and in general drawing them. Wastelands do suck, but basics are not versitile enough for the deck. Mox Emerald was really great all day, being an on-color way to help drop a turn 1 Null rod. The honest truth is that this deck cannot afford basics of any kind. The Mana Flooding will happen sometimes, but the deck needs the sources against Stax. Also dont forget the Wastelanding of your own lands to obtain threshold....I did that at least 5 times day 1 alone...... it single handedly beat the englishman.

The Ground seals were for the control slaver matchup, which without them can be difficult. With waterbury being in the NE, I assumed there would be a good smattering of CS.....unfortuneately, ppl actually learned from thier mistakes last time and didn't play it. Gary=Sad panda.
We had a rock solid 14 card SB, and we wanted a 15th card. I had 2 beta Psionic Blasts begging to be played with, so we put it in on a dare. It was good, but not good enough to stay. I also kinda wanted People to freak out thinking it was a legitimate attempt @ a SB card.

I ran the Heaths as a more of to keep ppl from Killing my fetches with Needles.....no one expects me to run mostly heaths, so they many times name strand with needle when I have used 1 of the 2 already, thinking I have 3 left. it happens in tight matches when they are looking for something to name with the 2nd needle (after wasteland).

Sadly, I wish I could post the newest build, but we are planning a trip to the Double P9 in the Down Dirty, so I can't let that out