[Announcement] 4x Needle, 4x Mage tourney. Garden City, MI. Sept 2

I decided to do something random and play the old extended staple, Red Deck Wins. Mini-report, I guess...

4 Jackal Pup
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Mogg Fanatic
2 Genju of the Spires

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
2 Seal of Fire
4 Tangle Wire
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Fireblast

4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland
8 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Ensaring Bridge
4 Shattering Spree
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Red Elemental Blast

It probably looks like a pile, but it tested well. I swear.

Round1: Brian Demars, playing some variety of Mindslaver deck with Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top.
Game 1 he assembles Top+Counterbalance. My only way to win is to accumulate a hand of infi Bolts, play a bait spell, get him to tap Top to put it on top for Counterbalance, and Bolt, Bolt, Fireblast him. Instead, I draw a thousand lands, and end with 7 Mountains, 3 Ports in play, with Mountain and Mire in hand.
Game 2 I resolve Cursed Scroll, he gets Top and Counterbalance again, I Scroll him out from 15.
Game 3 he has Counterbalance and Top on turn 3 again. How lucky.

Round2: Bye.

I won.

Round3: Standard Zoo deck.
Game 1 he plays some Ravnica duals and a Kird Ape, I have a very strong draw where I Wasteland him, kill his Ape, and lock him for 3 turns with a Tangle Wire.
Game 2 he comes out really fast, plays Silhana Ledgewalker, Moldervine Cloak on it, and bashes me. I get a Genju hit in there, so we're both low. He's at 6, I'm at 4 after another Ledgewalker hit. He Chars me, I Bolt and Fanatic him, causing a draw.
Game 3 he mulls to 5, plays turn 2 Ledgeguy, turn 3 Jitte, turn 4 equip Jitte and bash. I burn him down to 6 or so, but his Jitte is definetly going to kill me. I think to myself, "My deck is terrible. I'm going to lose to a 5 card hand from a Standard deck." So, since I'm so good at Magic, on my last turn I draw Ensnaring Bridge. He doesn't draw enough burn to finish me, so Cursed Scroll wins it.

Round4: Dan, playing UGBW Threshold.

We ID. I eat food.

Quarterfinals: Dan, UGBW Threshold.

Game 1 he has double Goose and a Confidant. I decide not to burn it, hoping to mise a win by burning him instead. I have Cursed Scroll active, burning him, with Fireblast in hand, but my lands are 3 Ports and a Mountain. I draw into Lavamancer as well. The last turn he's at 7, I can upkeep Scroll him, rip Mountain, Lavamancer him, float R for Daze, and Fireblast him. I do all of this, and he Swords to Plowshares his Bear and kills me.
Game 2 I resolve turn 2 Pyrostatic Pillar. It hurts him a lot. A second Pillar is countered, a third one eventually causes a concession.
Game 3 he Stifles my turn one fetch. Not much I can do, I'm quickly tempo'd out and overwhelmed by Brainstorms and animals.

Not that I deserved to be in the top 8, but I wish my deck performed a little better than it did. It felt like I was playing weak cards, the deck was definetly very underpowered and probably should not be played ever again by anybody.

Also, congrats to Phil and Ari, for making top 4 and finals split respectively in thier first legacy tournament.

I'll be playing something good next time, I promise.