[Pseudo-Report] Tog In Garden City

[SpencerForHire]

Alright so I think you are all due for a bit of background.  I haven't played Magic in a bit.  While I had my last girlfriend my luck was somehow directly tied to how our relationship was doing (emotions I'm sure).  Either way after we had broken up I had been trying to play Magic with little luck.  Now this is not some emo story, I am just explaining my thought process going into this tourney.

When I went in I expected to stomp on Threshold with some tech and then immediately get stomped on by some better players than myself.  I guess when you plan something it will always backfire no matter how well you plan it though.  As such I did not get my usual chance to scrub out due both to some savage randomizing of cards (See: Shuffling) and some calm thinking and planning on my part (See: Bringing The Right Deck, and Playing Card Right).

Alright with all that gibberish out of the way I will recall this as best as possible.  Keep in mind I did not write out much in my game notes besides life totals and such so you will really only be getting notable moments (which are the only really interesting ones anyways).  (As you can see this list is tuned primarily to combat Aggro which I expected alot of to my early dismay.)

First the list:

// Lands
    4  Tropical Island
    4  Underground Sea
    4  Flooded Strand
    2  Windswept Heath
    2  Island
    1  Forest

    3  Lonely Sandbar
    1  Cabal Pit
    1  Wasteland

// Creatures
    4  Psychatog
    1  Wonder
    4  Nimble Mongoose

// Spells
    4  Brainstorm
    3  Intuition
    2  Life from the Loam
    1  Mystical Tutor

    4  Force of Will
    4  Counterspell

    2  Vedalken Shackles
    2  Pernicious Deed
    2  Putrefy
    2  Ghastly Demise
    1  Darkblast
    1  Crime/Punishment
    1  Haunting Echoes

// Sideboard
SB: 3  Engineered Plague
SB: 1  Pernicious Deed
SB: 3  Naturalize
SB: 2  Coffin Purge
SB: 2  Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 2  Duress
SB: 1  Massacre
SB: 1  Haunting Echoes

Round 1 vs UB Infernal Tendrils
This guy was a great guy and a really good player.  Despite all my matchups today I was sweating this one the worst.  I dare not think what might have been had I not run a deck with heavy countermagic.

Game 1 consisted of me trying to figure out what he was playing as he just dropped a few islands and swamps.  I figured it out shortly after when he dropped double Lion's Eye Diamonds and Tendrils me for 8.  I had to put the pressure on fast.  I began swinging with Mongoose but he had quite a bit of life and it was going to take to long.  I kept watching his acceleration and tried to keep him low on storm.  I got a tog out and he followed up with another storm which brought me down to 1 exactly.  I swung on the following turn for the kill.

Game 2 was just as rough.  He started the game by bringing me from 19 (after a fetch) to 3 life.  I kept swinging with a Thresh'd goose while countering ANYTHING I could.  The game went to time and I won by technicality.

1-0


Round 2 vs UGB Threshold (Cancerstix)
Have you ever been told that Shackles is stupid good?  I know I have.

Game 1 was pretty even due to Confidant.  I was getting punked by the little guy and he was similarly hitting 2 cost guys all the time on the upkeep.  I pulled a shackles, took a werebear that was just dropped and rid that to the win.

Game 2 was just stupid in general.  After mulling to 5 and getting beat down to 8 life I finally came back with (you guessed it) Shackles.  I grabbed me a Werebear to block, let Confidant eat at my opponent for a bit and after he dropped Sea Drake I dropped a Deed for 2 and stole the drake instead thanking him for a nice kill condition.

2-0


Round 3 vs Solidarity (KrzyMoose)

Game 1 was pretty quick.  I really didn't have anything to keep him off me and I milled over pretty quick.  A 3/3 untargetable is no clock for this damn sexy blue deck.

Game 2 was rough and I mean REALLY rough.  Time was of the essence.  The first game was a 40 minute game of actions and reactions to each spell being played.  This game was me trying to kick him hard in the gut before he could move.  Some Duresses and Countermagic kept me in the game just long enough to win with about 3 minutes left in the round.  The whole thing ended in a draw.

2-0-1


Round 4 vs Solidarity (UrzaInsane)

We look at each other, look at our scores, laugh out loud, then quickly ID.

2-0-2


I spend this time getting re hydrated and feeling pretty good that I've even made it thus far.  All of the Top 8 get prizes so I have not wasted 5 + hours of my day by coming.  Who could feel bad about that?

Top 8

Quarterfinals vs Solidarity (KrzyMoose)

Game 1 I pounded on Richard pretty hard.  He faced some Mongoose and Tog action in some form (this game wasn't too memorable) and he decked me with his life total at 8.

Game 2 was the play of the day.  We were pretty even, he was drawing good cards to combo with but a few disruptions from Duress kept him down until I got a Tog on the board.  Now comes the really interesting part.  He was at 11 and I was going to lose I could feel it.  I started with a Haunting Echoes on my first mainphase.  He responds and mills me for 39 cards, exactly the number of cards in my deck.  I was like well there goes the Top 8... Until I realized that he had no way to force me to draw, and I had an untapped Tog staring him down in the face.  I ended the game by turning Tog sideways and about 5 shocked onlookers wondering how the hell I pulled that one off.

Game 3 was luck.  Richard had (after Duressing a remand) a hand of 3 resets and 3 brainfreezes.  A second duress hit another remand and left him the same way.  He never had a chance as I took him apart piece by piece with Mongoose and Tog swinging.

Semifinals vs Life (MasterShake)
Haunting echoes really pulled it off for me here.  Every game I played it to severally thin down my opponents deck and help me with the win.

Game 1 I played just like most others, I went beatdown fast and hard while stopping EVERY combo piece I could.  Infinite life is rough even when I have a way to help try and deck him.  All in all it works and he goes down pretty fast without getting what he needs, a long game though.  I believe we timed this game at an hour and twenty five minutes.

Game 2 was hilarious.  I try the same strategy and do pretty well, I echoes him for most of his combo pieces but he still had some in hand.  When I get him down to 3 life he combos and goes to exactly 15,000,000,003 life.  I tried to deck him out but in the process didn't think about it and brainstormed.  I had 1 less card in my deck than him.  GG me.

Game 3 was scary.  I thought he had me but I just kept the pressure on, nothing really exciting happened here.  Not echoes for his entire deck like the previous two games, nothing of that nature.  Just some action reaction spot removal and a Mongoose and Tog swinging, he went into topdeck mode pretty early on thanks to some counters and duresses which he really couldn't recover from.  A very scary match but I eventually came out on top.  Oh, did I mention he was swinging with gentlemen the entire time two and the life total at the end was my 4 life to his 2 life before I won?

Finals vs Solidarity (UrzaInsane)
We both decide we are very tired (and also teamates which doesn't hurt) so we decide to split and I concede to him for the purpose of scoring.  An amazing end to an awsome day and a new string of luck on my part.  I couldn't have been happier after the biggest dry season of scrubbing out and the like on my part.




Props:
- Cancerstix for putting on a great tourney and then having the Fortitude to represent even though he had to be somewhere.  An amazing guy and we should thank him for showing that MI has a decent dedicated crew of players EVEN when competing with an event like Regionals.
- Guaranteed Prize Support
- Everyone who showed, I was really impressed by the size of the turnout and I just can't wait to see what happens when there isn't regionals on the same day.
- Matt for bringing chips!
- Team Predict for representing
- Pande for being a sweet place to have a tourney
- Anything awsome I may have forgotten


Slops:
- My innability to count to 6 (mulligan issue)
- Regionals having to be the same day
- Me having the shakes because my body hates me
- Ghastly Demise for being useless in the Combo match

[urza_insane]

Awesome report and awesome tournament. Great job, I can't wait for the next! Maybe I'll actually play you next time?

Congrats!
-Matt

[MasterShake]

You commented that you took Meloku out of the deck, I think she should go back in, because while every time you detnoated Deed, you gained card advantage, you lost all of your threats. Meloku has the ability to dodge that where as Mongoose and Tog do not.

[SpencerForHire]

You commented that you took Meloku out of the deck, I think she should go back in, because while every time you detnoated Deed, you gained card advantage, you lost all of your threats. Meloku has the ability to dodge that where as Mongoose and Tog do not.

That is quite possible, my second thought was to run more Crime/Punishment instead because the casting cost was more selective when choosing .  With deed it is everything.  With Punishment I would be more specific on targets.

[Kilz88]

If you want specific mana cost destuction you should use Engineered Explosives. I doubt you would have to kill anything more than 3. But I personally highly disliked your deck so do whatever you want.

[Liek]

I was going to play in this event, but as stated, Regionals was the same day. Boo.

Anyways, I would like to know when the next Pandemonium Legacy tournament will be.

[Matt]

If you want specific mana cost destuction you should use Engineered Explosives. I doubt you would have to kill anything more than 3. But I personally highly disliked your deck so do whatever you want.

There's several 4cc cards that are nice to wipe out (Humility comes to mind). Also, C/P is Mysticalable where other options are not.

[Anusien]

How were the Nimble Mongeese first?  I really think it seems like they would be awesome, but you didn't really run up against any aggro.

How was Deed for you, even?  You didn't face any aggro except the Threshold deck where Deed seems like incredible overkill.  Would running more Shackles/removal fill the same role?

The Cabal Pit and Wasteland.  Were they worth anything?

[SpencerForHire]

Individual Card Performance: (As Requested By My Anus)
Nimble Mongoose -
Mongoose was the man in every matchup.  He created a solid clock in EVERY single game.  Despite all my games taking way too long they didn't have an absurdly large amount of turns.  The goose kept combo from filling out its hand and it was even better against aggro.

Pernicious Deed -
I would never think of cutting deed, replacing it with Punishment seems possible, but not Shackles or anything of that nature.  The deed hits everything I need it to and for that it is my "oh shit" button.  Just because I faced alot of combo doesn't mean it isn't necessary.  I ran into every combo player but one when playing.  The rest of the field was Threshold and Goblins/Burn/Zoo.  In any of those matchups I would be playing Deed that much more.

Cabal Pit-
The pit helped in some of my matchups but not too much.  It was a much stronger card against life than anything.  It allowed me to consistently remove combo pieces before he could play the second with little or no issue (minus the 1/3 buggers).  It doesn't help too much against Threshold but against Zoo and Burn it is much stronger.  Again, a powerful card had I faced any of these decks, I just didn't happen to.

Wasteland-
Wasteland kept every deck I play in check.  Every single person knowing I ran even one wasteland was fetching for basics almost entirely.  It really allowed me to keep Life's "Lifelands" under control as well.  I'd be more willing to cut the pit than this baby.

The big worthless card at the moment was Ghastly Demise, it helped in one matchup and I almost can see replacing them with maindeck Duresses.  We shall see what my future testing says.

[nietzsche]

I tried to deck him out but in the process didn't think about it and brainstormed.  I had 1 less card in my deck than him.  GG me.

Have you tried running a lone volrath's stronghold?  I run a tog list very similar to yours, but i added in the one stronghold, and have never looked back.  Not only does it keep you from ever decking agaisnt the random mill decks (or times when you have to go deck out) but it can be a one shot stop to high tide on the off hand occasion, and it makes sure you never run out of guys.
Every now and then it is possible to randomly mill away all your togs with dredge, but with a stronghold that is never an option, and if the strognhold is wastelanded you have life from the loam to get it back.

[SpencerForHire]

I have plenty of threats, too many to worry about milling them all away.  That would be sloppy to pull off on my part.  Also the manabase is rather tight and I barely even want to run Cabal Pit so fitting another nonbasic one of is almost out of the question.  I would much rather with Genesis over that.

[cancerstix]

Nice report Spence...except for the emo beginning.   I really enjoyed the games we played (lying my ass off).  It was great drawing all three of my Ghastly Demise against you in game one.  In game two, I knew Diabolic Edict would be sweet, and that Duress would wreck you, while Needle would shut down Deed, Shackles and/or Wasteland.  What I failed to realize is that 2 Portent, 2 Brainstorm and Dark Confidants would somehow not give me the Needle.  I can't believe I managed to rip all three of your deeds though (had to counter one).  It's also pretty funny how we were having a conversation about how good Shackles is right before the tourney, then you go and pwn me with them.  Next time we play, minus my blatant errors, I will have to redeem myself.

[SpencerForHire]

Nice report Spence...except for the emo beginning.   I really enjoyed the games we played (lying my ass off).  It was great drawing all three of my Ghastly Demise against you in game one.  In game two, I knew Diabolic Edict would be sweet, and that Duress would wreck you, while Needle would shut down Deed, Shackles and/or Wasteland.  What I failed to realize is that 2 Portent, 2 Brainstorm and Dark Confidants would somehow not give me the Needle.  I can't believe I managed to rip all three of your deeds though (had to counter one).  It's also pretty funny how we were having a conversation about how good Shackles is right before the tourney, then you go and pwn me with them.  Next time we play, minus my blatant errors, I will have to redeem myself.

Ghastly Demise is gone from my list now, and I am majorly refining it so it is much better against every matchup since I noticed a few cards performing terribly besides demise.  Don't forget I had all my demises game 2 as well.