The "deck discussion" can be found here. Originally I had posted my own topic but it got merged with this thread. I put alot of thought and design into the deck (i think alot of groups have their own versions) and all my card choices as well as my deck list can be found there. I believe mine to be the most optimal with it's game plan. Since all my explanations are found there, I'm just going to link to that thread (in the Vintage Open Forum) and write a report about my matchups.
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=27029.0I played combo all day pretty much. This sucked cuz Ichorid's combo matchup is pretty sub-par. Who would expect such a high combo turn out???
The Report:
Round 1: Justin Bransfield with Storm-Combo
Not-so-familiar face at first. He let his hair grow out. He also knows what I'm playing because I let one of our mutual friends Cerebral Assassin. He plays CA with no sideboard and goes 3-1 drop.
Game 1: We both mull to 6 and I'm on the play. I play turn one bazaar and fiend. I grab his ancestral recall. Next turn I therapy away his demonic tutor. He's left with ritual, force, jar. He has swamp and island in play. Bazaar get's dredge going and Justin dies as his hand is torn apart by further ichorid/therapy.
Game 2: He mulls to 5, and me to 6. He forces my putrid imp, plays necropotence, gets tinker for colossus shortly.
Game 3: I play bazaar and get a chalice which I play for 0. I literally dredge half my deck and see all my therapies except no ichorid or coffin purges. He really need to play a crypt, so he has to do crazy shit on his turn... bounce chalice, recoup his demonic tutor, tutor for crupt, remove my yard. Then he topdecks the tinker which turns his mana vault into an 11/11. I couldn't win anyway after the crypt.
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Round 2: Nick with Drain-Storm-Combo
Friendly character. Good games.
Game 1: I get bazaar and chalice turn one. Then get a second bazaar going. Ichorids come.
Game 2: We spend alot of time playing the mind game as I play my discard effects. He has to play a small tendrils to stay alive, but he inevitably dies to the recurring ichorids.
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Round 3: Kent with Flame-Vault Combo
A person I've played often and often beaten. This time he gets me though. Congrats on making top 16.
Game 1: I play putrid imp and cabal therapy and start dredging. He slowly takes his time. Builds up his mana. Time vaults and flame fussilades.
Game 2: I play lotus, fiend, therapy which kills his hand. Horrors come for the beats.
Game 3: I am able to pull off playing a fiend, then tolarian winds, then dropping a psychatog. Unfortunately he gets the single planar void he sideboarded in from out of nowhere and my ichorids start vanishing. Psychatog can't finish him off in time when he flame-vaults me.
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Round 4: Joblin Velder with Cerebral Assassin
Fun games. Your funnest games definately come when you're 1-2 and have no chance of top 16ing.
Game 1: We both get bazaar's going. He animates titan and he intuitions for trike with welder in play. Trike blocks ichorid and shoots down the other ichorids. Then trike comes back for more. Damn you Welders and Velder.
Game 2: I have in my notes "I have nothing. Opponent wins"
My friend playing cerebral assassin reports to me that he just made a fish player cry by playing first turn kumano off mox ruby, mox sapphire, black lotus. I laugh and wish I was playing CA. He tells me that he's 3-1 and getting ready to leave.
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Round 5: Andrew with Dragon
Game 1: He gets compulsion and dragon going.
Game 2: He tries to dragon combo and asks if I scoop. I say no, so he gets Shivan Hellkite and asks if I scoop. I say no. He tries to shoot me and I tell him that everytime he shoots me he shoots himself with his CoB. Later on he tries to combo again, but this time I have the coffin purge for his Ambassador Laquatus. Ichorids overun his hellkite.
Game 3: I fiend his dragon and early tog goes the distance.
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Round 6: Andrew with Gifts
Game 1: Off my first turn bazaar I get chalice for 0 and a mesmeric fiend out. Ichorid combo comes soon.
Game 2: I play heavy discard early on and he tries to counter. Eventually we both have empty hands but he tops the gifts and gets a pentavus on the table. I have recurring stinkweed imps and he doesn't realize how good imp is. Imp trades with pentavus and then he gifts again. I lose. My mistake for not boarding in coffin purges.
Game 3: He gets early tinker for colossus. I play chain of vapor. He forces. I play chain of vapor #2. Mwahahaha. This one goes to time and a coin flip because he has Colossus but Mana Crypt on the table. The game ends in a draw and was reported that way, but we played it out. Lucky son of a gun survived both the coin flips as he time walks.
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Round 7: Ronald with Dragon-Combo
Game 1: I mesmeric fiend his dragon and I get quickly get ichorid going. During one of my draw steps, he necromancies my Grave-Troll and he has 3 xantid swarms in his graveyard. He continues to try to stop me by playing orim's chant on the following turn. Finally he tries to go for the win. He casts saphire charm and PHASES OUT my mesmeric fiend and bazaars, but he doesn't get his animate.
We call a judge over to see if he knew his phasing rules. He had to go get another judge. We didn't really care about who won the game, but for clarification in case this ever happens to anyone else: If mesmeric fiend phases out, the card stays removed from the game.
Game 2: I am able to cabal therapy away his animate dead and dance of the dead. I coffin purge 3 cards and somehow he still manages to find more dragons than I can purge and win.
Game 3: It's Psychatog versus Squee. Psychatog soon gets backed up by team ichorid and squee is swarmed.
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Round 8: Dom with Suicide Black
Game 1: He's stuck on one mana so he duresses me three times, netting a total of zero cards. I feel bad cause at this point we're just playing for fun.
Game 2: Darkblast rapes his 2/1's and 2/2's. He prevents me from recurring my ichorids until I kill the wretch.
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And that was it. I leave Waterbury a bit dissappointed with my performance due to bad matchups. I still feel Ichorid is a strong deck in the right field of aggro/stax/control. The "Tournament of Champions" didn't happen. I stuck around a bit to play a few games for fun: Dan who plays TMWA from Myriad Games and Nicolae Almighty, whom discussed with me about my Ichorid deck over the internet.
I also would like to thank all the people who I mooched cards and stuff off:
GI: Chain of Vapor
Random Steve: Chain of Vapor
Outlaw: 50 Cent Tog
Jay Budha: Tog, Needle
Hatcher: Deckbox
Until Waterbury 9... This is Zheng. No more magic.
