5/7 Chicago Sapphire Results

[Moxlotus]

1st/2nd: Eric Becker with Urbana Fish
1st/2nd: Dan Carp with ICBM Oath
3rd or 4th: Rhyno with IT
3rd of 4th: Joe with IT
5/8: Me with GWS Oath
5/8: Rich with U/W fish
5/8: AJ with Slaver
5/8: ??? with 5-color tangle Stax

Light on Stax, little heavy on oath.  Pretty balanced metagame overall.

1st: Sapphire
2nd: Beta Wheel
3: Foil Factory
4: Foil Crucible

I played a standard GWS Oath list -4 Leak, +4 Chalice since I was expecting 0 Dragon, maybe 2 Stax decks, and a bunch of combo and Slaver.  Definitely the right play.  In the side I replaced Rods and a Trike with a Volcanic and 3 REB.  I liked the REBs, but Extracts blow ass against IT.  They are seriously worthless and would be better as Rods.

Rnd 1: Slaver
Game 1 I win because I’m Oath.  Game 2 my hand is waste, waste, orchard, oath, stuff that aren’t moxen.  He leads with volcanic.  I waste.  He plays volcanic.  I play Orchard and do something that costs 1.  He plays Ancestral and then doesn’t play a land.  I waste.  He draws a card and scoops.

Rnd 2: Slaver
Game 1 I get him to 1 and have both guys on the table.  He EOTFOF(followed in a few turns by the YL) into Demonic or 4 mana.  He takes 4 mana and this gives him the 10 he needs to cast and activate Slaver.  He has a Welder and gets 7 or 8 Slaves without doing much of anything to me because he didn’t realize he could deck me with Oath+Brainstorm.  Instead he ends up doing stuff and I concede with 25 minutes left after he has infinite slaves.  Game 2 and 3 I smoke him because I’m Oath and he’s Slaver.

Rnd 3: 5-Color Stax
My opponent is like 16 and this is his second tournament.  He seems a little nervous but is a cool guy and makes top 8.  He leads turn 1 Welder.  I play turn 1 Oath (Blessing in hand).  He doesn’t do much of anything and I Oath away all but 5 cards to hit Akroma.  I draw Razia.  I blessing back Walk + 2 FoW in case he gets Tangles going.  He does and gets 2 in play at some point.  I wait it out and Force something that was key FTW.  Game 2 he gets turn 1 Cap.  I oxidize.  He doesn’t do much of anything and I Oath and kill him with Razia chillin’ in hand after waiting out some tangles.

Rnd 4: Rhyno with IT
I can’t draw because Rhyno is 2-0-1.  Game 1 I mull to 5.  Yep, that was a good game.  Game 2 I turn 1 Extract to see 4 Tendrils.  I take will.  He beats me down with a pair of Bobs and mini tendrils me to death. 

Rnd 5: Eric with Urbana Fish
He concedes to me

Top 8: ??? with IT
Game 1 I end up Duressing, Fowing and getting a chalice for 0.  This delays my death for a while until he uses Intuition to play around my chalice.  My chalice also allows him to cast and recast 2 moxen so he gets enough storm.  Game 2 we each mull.  My hand is City, Duress, Duress, Extract, stuff.  I turn 1 duress and see land, sapphire, cabal rit, vamp, intuition, intuition.  I take cabal rit.  He plays a mox he draws, the sapphire, and the land.  I Extract and see 2 Tendrils and take 1 thinking I can use my other Duress and disruption to slow him down enough to remove the second Tendrils.  I don’t and he uses Intuitions and Vamp to find accelerants for a tutor he draws.  I get owned.

I’m happy with the way Oath performed, losing only to IT.  Intuitions allow that deck to work around my Chalices which really sucked for me.  I was happy with beating Stax and the Slaver players and making top 8.  Maybe next time I’ll figure out how to beat IT with Oath.

[AngryPheldagrif]

How extensively have you tested the IT versus Oath matchup with maindeck Chalice? I've never had much of a problem with the deck, though I do play 4 more slots of disruption than you.

Oh yeah, and I won again. Nothing special, just Oath doing it's job.

Round 1: Endress with some sort of Shop Aggro
Oath does it's thing.
1-0

Round 2: AJ with Slaver
Oath cannot lose to Slaver.
2-0

Round 3: U/W Fish T8 guy
We split a close pair of games, then I annihilate him with multiple strips for every land, Rushing River on the pair of Aether Vials, and then Orchard, Oath for the win.
3-0

Rounds 4+5: Draw in.

Quarters: AJ with Slaver again
I get a game loss for effing up my sideboard registration. I 2-0 him anyways. I end up giving him a dual out of pity since there were no 5-8th place prizes. I was his only 2 losses on the day. Oath versus Slaver equals rough beats. At least that's what my notes say.
4-0-2

Semis: Rhyno with IT
We play some setup first game, but I get the gas and he doesn't. When he scoops to Angels, my hand was Drain x3 and Force x2 with 4 blue mana on the board. Game 2 involves me Wasting my own land to Balance and blow up three of his. While he rebuilds his mana I drop Chalices at 1 and 0 followed by an empty Oath after countering his 2 Confidants. I drop Chalice for 2 and we play draw, go for literally 20-30 turns cumulatively. Eventually he realizes that I will draw an Orchard before he draws his Rebuild, so he goes for a desperation Timetwister. I draw 6 dead cards and an Orchard. He doesn't find Rebuild.
5-0-2

Finals: Becker with his weird Fish list
I'm surprised he made it considering it was metagamed against the nonexistant Gifts, but props to him regardless. I probably would have smashed him but I split anyways.
5-0-3


Good tournament overall, but the prize support (beat to shit and inked Unlimited Sapphire and folded in half Beta Wheel for 32 people) was pretty mediocre. They could at least have pitched a few packs to the T8ers.

That makes 3 win/splits, 1 T8, and 1 scrub-out in my last 5 tournaments. I love this game.

[Smmenen]

Which oath list do you think is best in this metagame?

[M.Solymossy]

ICBM,  no doubt.  We play more control than any deck in the format.

4 drain
4 force
2 duress +1  or 2 SB
4 chalice
3 Null rod
1 Rushing river
2-3 needles after board


Plus, our list just butchers control slaver.   We're fast, AND we're heavy on control.

[Sephiroth_FFVII]

Congrats on the finish. BTW how is the stax match-up for ICMB oath?

[M.Solymossy]

Dan and Ben can comment more than I can, but from my limited experience, it's very good.   Stax has gone away from the hate, and Needles can shut off random Seal of Cleansings.   Duplicant is a pain, but if the Duplicant gets your angel, you just beat with the other one.

[AngryPheldagrif]

The Stax matchup varies greatly and is highly dependent on what version you are facing and how prepared they are for you. 3-4 Energy Flux is the standard sideboard complement, whereas theirs varies greatly. In general, 5cStax is much more problematic. They are likely to maindeck Seal of Cleansing and/or Swords to Plowshares as well as sideboard random things like Ray of Revelation. UbaStax is generally favorable and not just because my brother and Vroman seem to get matched up every tournament. The deck has virtually no way to win the sideboarding war, since Energy Flux crucifies virtually every single one of their plays, Wasteland handles Maze of Ith, and the quadruple win condition plan trumps Jester's Cap and Duplicant.

If I had to quantify it, I would rate UbaStax as even to favorable and 5cStax as unfavorable to even.

The metagame fragmentation's forcing of Stax out of many metagames is one of the reasons this deck has been having more success and visibility of late. Gifts, Control Slaver, and Storm Combo, probably its three best matchups, continue to grow in popularity while Stax and UW Fish get more and more marginalized, even losing their ability to reliably handle Oath as they adjust to a larger metagame.

As to Smmenen's question, I believe that ICBM Oath with the heavy duty 2-pronged control plan is the vastly superior choice for the metagame. The deciding factor is combo, which GWS Oath is very poorly equipped to handle, whereas our build was designed to take down combo with a very high degree of consistency.

On a final note, the actual control complement includes 2 Null Rods. I have no idea why 13Nova listed three, but he wasn't involved in the deck's innovation so he must be working off an outdated list or something.

[Smmenen]

The Stax matchup varies greatly and is highly dependent on what version you are facing and how prepared they are for you. 3-4 Energy Flux is the standard sideboard complement, whereas theirs varies greatly. In general, 5cStax is much more problematic. They are likely to maindeck Seal of Cleansing and/or Swords to Plowshares as well as sideboard random things like Ray of Revelation. UbaStax is generally favorable and not just because my brother and Vroman seem to get matched up every tournament. The deck has virtually no way to win the sideboarding war, since Energy Flux crucifies virtually every single one of their plays, Wasteland handles Maze of Ith, and the quadruple win condition plan trumps Jester's Cap and Duplicant.

If I had to quantify it, I would rate UbaStax as even to favorable and 5cStax as unfavorable to even.

The metagame fragmentation's forcing of Stax out of many metagames is one of the reasons this deck has been having more success and visibility of late. Gifts, Control Slaver, and Storm Combo, probably its three best matchups, continue to grow in popularity while Stax and UW Fish get more and more marginalized, even losing their ability to reliably handle Oath as they adjust to a larger metagame.

As to Smmenen's question, I believe that ICBM Oath with the heavy duty 2-pronged control plan is the vastly superior choice for the metagame. The deciding factor is combo, which GWS Oath is very poorly equipped to handle, whereas our build was designed to take down combo with a very high degree of consistency.

On a final note, the actual control complement includes 2 Null Rods. I have no idea why 13Nova listed three, but he wasn't involved in the deck's innovation so he must be working off an outdated list or something.

Are you going to post the most recent list?

[Dante]

The Stax matchup varies greatly and is highly dependent on what version you are facing and how prepared they are for you. 3-4 Energy Flux is the standard sideboard complement, whereas theirs varies greatly. In general, 5cStax is much more problematic. They are likely to maindeck Seal of Cleansing and/or Swords to Plowshares as well as sideboard random things like Ray of Revelation. UbaStax is generally favorable and not just because my brother and Vroman seem to get matched up every tournament. The deck has virtually no way to win the sideboarding war, since Energy Flux crucifies virtually every single one of their plays, Wasteland handles Maze of Ith, and the quadruple win condition plan trumps Jester's Cap and Duplicant.

If I had to quantify it, I would rate UbaStax as even to favorable and 5cStax as unfavorable to even.

The metagame fragmentation's forcing of Stax out of many metagames is one of the reasons this deck has been having more success and visibility of late. Gifts, Control Slaver, and Storm Combo, probably its three best matchups, continue to grow in popularity while Stax and UW Fish get more and more marginalized, even losing their ability to reliably handle Oath as they adjust to a larger metagame.

As to Smmenen's question, I believe that ICBM Oath with the heavy duty 2-pronged control plan is the vastly superior choice for the metagame. The deciding factor is combo, which GWS Oath is very poorly equipped to handle, whereas our build was designed to take down combo with a very high degree of consistency.

On a final note, the actual control complement includes 2 Null Rods. I have no idea why 13Nova listed three, but he wasn't involved in the deck's innovation so he must be working off an outdated list or something.

Are you going to post the most recent list?

From what I saw at Pastimes on 4/30, it's very similar to the one posted in the open thread - 4 drain 2 null rod 4 chalice 2 duress.

[AngryPheldagrif]

The Stax matchup varies greatly and is highly dependent on what version you are facing and how prepared they are for you. 3-4 Energy Flux is the standard sideboard complement, whereas theirs varies greatly. In general, 5cStax is much more problematic. They are likely to maindeck Seal of Cleansing and/or Swords to Plowshares as well as sideboard random things like Ray of Revelation. UbaStax is generally favorable and not just because my brother and Vroman seem to get matched up every tournament. The deck has virtually no way to win the sideboarding war, since Energy Flux crucifies virtually every single one of their plays, Wasteland handles Maze of Ith, and the quadruple win condition plan trumps Jester's Cap and Duplicant.

If I had to quantify it, I would rate UbaStax as even to favorable and 5cStax as unfavorable to even.

The metagame fragmentation's forcing of Stax out of many metagames is one of the reasons this deck has been having more success and visibility of late. Gifts, Control Slaver, and Storm Combo, probably its three best matchups, continue to grow in popularity while Stax and UW Fish get more and more marginalized, even losing their ability to reliably handle Oath as they adjust to a larger metagame.

As to Smmenen's question, I believe that ICBM Oath with the heavy duty 2-pronged control plan is the vastly superior choice for the metagame. The deciding factor is combo, which GWS Oath is very poorly equipped to handle, whereas our build was designed to take down combo with a very high degree of consistency.

On a final note, the actual control complement includes 2 Null Rods. I have no idea why 13Nova listed three, but he wasn't involved in the deck's innovation so he must be working off an outdated list or something.

Are you going to post the most recent list?

1 Black Lotus
4 Chalice Of The Void
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
2 Null Rod
4 Oath Of Druids
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Crop Rotation
4 Force Of Will
4 Mana Drain
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rushing River
3 Thirst For Knowledge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Akroma, Angel Of Wrath
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
1 Demonic Tutor
2 Duress
1 Gaea's Blessing
1 Time Walk
2 Snow-Covered Island (tech)
4 Forbidden Orchard
4 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pristine Angel
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Tinker
4 Energy Flux
1 Massacre
1 Darkblast
1 Balance
1 Duress
2 Spawning Pit


The sideboard is metagamed, though in general I'd trust everything but the last 2. Those were placeholder slots.

[AJFirst]

Quarters: AJ with Slaver again
I get a game loss for effing up my sideboard registration. I 2-0 him anyways. I end up giving him a dual out of pity since there were no 5-8th place prizes. I was his only 2 losses on the day. Oath versus Slaver equals rough beats. At least that's what my notes say.
4-0-2

Thanks again for the dual. It was a fun tournement in all, even though you beat up on me all day.

The ??? playing slaver in the top eight was me, AJ Sacher. The ??? player piloting teched out IT to the 4th place finish was Joe. We're starting to do well whie the rest of our team isn't as much, but hey, we're two for two in top eights for the Pastimes Emerald and the CoD Sapphire.

On the way up (I was driving with Joe) I turn to him and go "ICBM's going to be there, right?"
"Yep"
"They're playing Chalice Oath, aren't they?"
"Yep"
"I have a bad match-up against Chalice Oath, don't I?"
"Yep"
"It's going to be a long day"
"Yep"

I ended up slipping a Tundra main and 3 StPs in the board, but the only time I saw even one was in the Top Eight with 2 Null Rods and a Chalice at 1 in play. Hope to see you guys next week if I can get a ride, and again at the end of the month at Pastimes.
-AJ

P.S. the UW Fish in the T8 was Rich, who is on our team whether he likes it or not. He works at Pastimes, I'm sure most of you guys that go out there for the T1 tournements with power on the line know who he is.

[Hydra]

I'm shocked and appaled that Dan didn't mention the real MVP of the tournament: The big box of Goldfish crackers.  That box was savagely owning hunger left and right.

Edit: Fixed a typo.

[RThomas]

I'm shocked and appaled that Dan didn't mention the real MVP of the tourament: The big box of Goldfish crackers.  That box was savagely owning hunger left and right.

QFT.

Nothing bad to say about this tournament. Good times.