Saturday, September 9th Arkham Asylum: Mox Pearl

[kalithrian]

This tournament was held at Arkham Asylum for a Mox Pearl. The turnout was roughly 32 people, and there were 5 rounds of swiss cut to a top 4.

I was playing something similar to a 4 color fish deck that placed 2nd at a lotus tournament in Eudemonia. I made changes based on my expected metagame, and on my preferred play style. Another reason I chose this particular deck was because it was not very far off from the EBA build I had been working on previously, and I do not like derailing from my original game plan (stop my opponent from winning while smashing them with something efficient).

Main Deck

4 Jotun Grunt
4 Meddling Mage
4 Dark Confidant
2 Azorius Guildmage

4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Stifle
4 Hide//Seek
2 Misdirection
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Darkblast
1 Ancestral Recall *
1 Time Walk *

3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 City of Brass
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Sapphire *
1 Black Lotus *
1 Mox Pearl *
1 Mox Jet *
1 Mox Ruby *

Sideboard

4 Kataki, War's Wage **
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Orim's Chant
3 True Believer
2 Pyroblast

Some big differences between the original build and my build:
The biggest difference is probably that I only ran 5 fetch lands. The original build ran 8. I expected to see a fair deal of stifles and shadow of a doubt, but I did not see any of it. I replaced this with a library, city, and strip mine. This probably was a mistake, but it won me a very particular control matchup the first round, so complaining will get me nowhere.

I also feel I should explain the random darkblast in the maindeck. There were a two reasons for this: swords is good, but darkblast is a 0 for 1 or a 0 for 2 in certain matchups. I saw the decks before the tournament, and they all had at least a couple small creatures save 2 random combo decks which I didn't play against all day. Lucky me, I'm grateful I ran it. The second reason is that I only own 2 black-boardered copies of swords to plowshares, and I'm a little bit ocd about things like that.

The sideboard changes were more jittes, pyroblasts. Most of this was based off convenience. The pyroblasts were in case some random guy brought a mono blue deck. The jittes were because I felt my matchup against aggro was still subpar. Needless to say, the jittes won me matches, and I played the pyroblast once all day, maybe. It killed a manta rider. Orim's chants were for aggro-hate (can't go wrong with some extra WW time walks), and the kataki was there for stax and control slaver, for at least a bit of an edge against stax and to rub the salt in the wounds of cs.

On to the 5 rounds of swiss!

Round 1: Me vs. Jason playing B/U control.
I've known jay for many years now, and he's playing an old standard deck from tempest block with some updates. It has a lot of shadow creatures, tinker, colossus, isochron scepter, lobotomy, and bouncing beebles for his tech.

Game 1 - He mystical tutors for a lobotomy. I play seek to shuffle it away, and I grab a colossus from his library. I noticed some shadow creatures, and he has a bouncing beebles on the table turn 2 or 3. He resolves an isochron scepter imprinting counterspell (after the grunt is on the table). He's running grim monolith//power artifact which he somehow resolved both games. This allowed him to abuse the isochron scepter while playing lobotomy and taking all of my swords to plowshares.. He brings me down to about 13 with his beebles before my early game bob and gruntt go all the way. He scoops before my next grunt turn (I think he did the math wrong, because it looked like my grunt would die. I could be wrong though)

Game 2 - I am not sure how I sideboarded, but I think i brought in true believers and pyroblasts, and sided out stifles and 1  misdirection. I did this because I did not want to impair my control too much, and pyroblast seemed more flexible than stifle. The extra aggro is all I really wanted, at least the true believer could protect me at the same time as it smacked down.

The game went a lot differently than the first game. I set up an early library hand (something I can keep around seven cards). He doesn't seem to see many creatures until mid-game, after I have a mage and bob on the table (naming tinker) and he has yet another powered monolith. The beebles were not enough, as I randomly drew the darkblast and killed them on my following turn (upkeep db, dredge-draw replay it). I think most of my life loss was due to bob (a misdirection and a hide//seek). The beebles could not attack as I did not play any artifacts.

2-0 Me.

Second Match: Me v. Andrew? with salvagers.

Game 1: I'm not sure about this game at first, as he resolves a turn 2 salvagers and I seek him eot to try and figure out what he's going to win with. He's at 1 card in hand (he overextended), and I had a turn 1 libarary, mox jet, confidant. I saw some aether spellbombs, but no pyrite spellbomb and prayed I would not see a pyrite spellbomb from his hand the following turn. He fizzles, my life drops a bit to bob and I end up stp --> salvagers, prevent him from resolving anything relevant, and beating down with double grunt on the board. I am pretty sure my last turn consisted of a 9 card hand with no lands in it.

Game 2: I sideboarded in orim's chants and pyroblasts. No super-chains for you. I sided out misdirections and a couple hide//seek and lotus petal. I'm not sure if he had a transformational sideboard or not, but I remember I got the early - game beats in, played seek picking a salvager. His deck didn't change much, he did resolve a tormod's crypt and this is where I misplayed...
I didn't realize you did not choose the graveyard until AFTER he has the opportunity to crypt. But, I make him crypt himself and I lose my grunt, and win anyways with a second and even THIRD grunt. I wish I had a stifle for that, would have saved me plenty of trouble. I think I darkblasted my own grunt this game at his eot just to get the additional card in the graveyard to keep it alive.

2-0

overall 2-0

Match 3: Tony playing Stax
I think his only proxies were a black lotus and the blue cards.

Game 1: I get him to 3 life with some swinging monstrosities. He ramps his smokestack up to 3 and I can't keep up, but he recovers. I was a bit of a jerk when I wouldn't let him back up to my EOT to weld out smokestack (which I probably should have done in retrospect, would have won me the game if I knew i had a hide/seek on top of my deck). Several turns later he recovers before me with a trike, and wins. Nice demonic tutor choice if I ever saw one.

Game 2:  I side in katakis and side out misdirections (only really good against his ancestral) and I think 1 stifle and 1 force, if I recall correctly.
He gets mana screwed, and I win with a good hand. Didn't see a kataki until the turn I swung for the kill. He crypted to try and stop my grunt, and this is when I learned that you could not do it in the fashion we had wished. I believe he had first turn trinisphere (negligible), but lost to his tapped mana vault and confidant beats until I really had the board advantage to win.

Game 3:
I saw kataki on turn 6. Needless to say, he gorilla shamans my mox, I'm like "okay that's fine", and then he plays trinisphere off a no-land hand. Wow that sucked. I didn't see a third mana until later, and i think I died to trinisphere beats (care of Karn). I'm dead by the time I see the mana to play kataki or hide/seek or anything like that. Things came full circle, and I guess I deserved this loss because I was a bit of a jerk game 1 n not letting him back up to my eot phase to weld out the smokestack.

1-2

overall 2-1

Match 4: Jodi playing R/G slivers.
I have a few comments to make: The deck's designer, Mark, has been in the vintage format for longer than I've been playing magic. Thanks again for challenging my utmost play skill through yet another new player. And thank you as well for introducing me to real magic years ago.

Game 1: I get overrun by lots of creatures that do stuff for eachother. She lightning bolts my creatures, swings with spined sliver, muscle sliver, and barbed sliver. I seek a barbed sliver to give myself another turn and pray for ancestral into timewalk into two swords to plowshares. No such luck this time. I notice she has very little defence, and hope that she does not side in artifact removal for game 2.

Game 2: I feel bad, as she shuffled in her sideboard, we go to begin she draws a splinter (which she protested she did not side in). We count the cards in her sideboard and count 3. Oh well, it was only a game loss.
I sided in jittes and orim's chants, took out stifles and 2 hide//seek. My opening hand spelled GG for slivers (darkblast, jotun grunt, jitte, black lotus, fetch, fetch, ancestral). I wave to the awesome hand, and see something similar for game 3.

Game 3: Well, at least everything is sorted out, and I have confidence that since she isn't playing splinter, I don't have to worry about disappearing Jittes. I give her option to go first or second, and I think she chooses first. Either way, I had more cards than her the entire game. I play turn 1 bob, turn 2 jitte, and I win with it. I remember misdirecting her lightning bolt at a horned sliver, and then darkblasting away a muscle sliver and swordsing a barbed sliver. Bob went most of the way, with a grunt or two to clean up late game. Every time I chanted her, I remember she drew a land and played it (she had no cards in hand most of the game). That was well worth my while...

2-1

Overall 3-1

Round 5 - Justin with monoblue oldschool fish.

I get paired up, thankfully Tony was doing marginally well. I wish he didn't have to leave after this round, so I could try and beat him in the top 4.

My opponent is undefeated, and I have 1 loss. We thought of drawing in then we realized I had no chance if that were to happen, even with Tony leaving. I offer him the opportunity to scoop, jokingly, as he is in the top 4 no matter what. He laughs and starts drawing his hand.

Game 1: He opens with a manta rider, I open with an underground sea, go. He goes to curiosity his manta rider, I say "sure" and he attacks. I ask him if he has any effects before combat damage, he blinks says no and I reveal a darkblast from my hand. I love 0 for 2's. He almost restabiliizes this game with an aether vial and a masticore (i seek 1 out, but it doesn't occur to me that he's ramping to 4 on the vial, and that's the only thing he can play. I really should think more often). Random guys go all the way, and I keep card advantage over him the whole time. He overextended, I suspect intentionally as he wanted me to follow suit and go to topdecking which his deck could vastly win on. I guess I won game 1, and he didn't do a whole lot. He was depending on curiosity to regain card advantage, and admits to the misplay since he knew I was playing darkblast.

Game 2: Nobody seems to know I'm running only 1 darkblast, I think we should keep it a secret. I side in jittes and pyroblasts and side out 4 hide//seek and 1 stifle ( I heavily debate the choice of stifle even now, but i feel it is a subpar card against something with only fetches and vials to stifle ). I think it's all self-explanatory. He's playing mono blue and has tiny creatures that die to jitte. I seem to be winning with board advantage on him most of the game, and the jitte just helps me maintain it in lieu of the darkblast. I think jitte in the sideboard is good, surprising, and helps me prevent a lot of disruption from going on post-board. He made and amazing play which, don't tell him or anything, won me the game. I remember being at 7 life and i go to swords his lord of atlantis. he misdirects it at BOB and I draw force the next turn. Grunt was too good though, and I win with that in spite of the crypts.

Reasons I feel I won easily against the undefeated: My deck was properly metagamed, his was rogue and surprising. Overall, my creatures were more efficient than his. Other than that, our blue control slots were very similar: misdirection, brainstorm, and force of will. The best thing he could have had happen to him is that I don't see the colours I need and regret the changes I made to the original list (cutting fetches). I won though, and it was a fun match even if he didn't put up much pressure with his deck.

2-0.

Top 4.

Tony had to leave, although he would have been top 4. My teammate, Aaron Schilly, lost his last round and I was forced to play Terri, instead of my teammate. He probably would have won between us, as during playtesting his deck was a bit more consistent and a bit better metagamed than mine was.

First elimination: Terri with Suicide Black. I feel that if she was running plague spitter, I would have had no chance.

Game 1: This is stressful for her. I misdirect two hymn to tourachs back at her. Equivalent to mindtwisting herself of resources, she tries to stabilize with nantuko shades which I answer with double darkblast and darkblast respectively. I don't see a lot of manabase disruption from her, not that it would work against me that game anyways. I had card advantage and a grunt wins me the game in spite of her edicting my guildmage.

Game 2: She sides in forsaken wastes and nullrods, I side in jittes and true believers (out 4 hide//seek, 1 stifle, 1 lotus petal). I was cool about it and shuffled my sideboard in and took out 15 cards. That was fun, I'm not doing that ever again. I think it went a lot like this: she resolves turn 1 forsaken wastes, and turn 2 nullrod. I resolve turn 1 jitte. My turn 2 bob is diabolic edicted (maybe she sided those in addition to chainer's ?). She overruns me with a hypnotic specter, forsaken wastes giving us both like ages of doing nothing, and my bob 2.0 helping her win with the hyppie. I never saw her negator, I wonder if she sided it out to my singular volcanic island. I just got rolled.

Game 3: I don't change anything, but I don't see a true believer either. I think it goes a lot like game 1 except she gets no nullrod, and I get a jitte. I see like 3 grunts and they go all the way through hymn to tourachs and the suches. I think I remember her edicting herself after my brainstorm. Misdirection is sneaky, and fun.

2-1

Last round: Wow I'm grateful Justin beat Charles' combo deck with his blue fish. I expect an easy last round.

Game 1: He says "I've got a hunch" goes turn 1 chalice for 1 with force backup. He calls in the reinforcements and quickly overruns me with rootwater thief, manta riders, and lord of atlantis. I think I had a grunt, which was negligible. He didn't need the masticore.

Game 2: I sideboard the same, he takes crypts and I think that's all I saw him sideboard. First time around I saw him sideboard more cards. Anyways, I jokingly suggest that he chose not to side in crypts and he laughs and says "yeah i want to try something different". I see three tormod's crypts, which still aren't enough to stop my jotun grunts. 1 died and I had a stifle. I recovered my graveyard afterwards, and quickly overran him even through his post-game chalice for 1. When his hand disappears, so do his answers.

Game 3: We trade some cards from our hands in the early game. I don't think he sees more than 1 crypt this time around. I remember darkblasting a bob, then grunting it back, losing the grunt to a surprise masticore. He's stuck on two land, how miserable. I won with a bob equipped with a jitte. The last chance for him to win was as follows: I swing in with bob with double counters on the jitte into his masticore untapped to block. He's at very little health, and i darkblasted his masticore on my upkeep and dredged it back on my draw. He blocks, I double-pump bob and he regenerates masticore. I say "oh okay, i forgot about that" And I put 2 counters on the jitte, then darkblast the masticore again and double jitte the masticore to finish it off. He ends up with 2 more cards in his hand, which are not the right answers to bob with a jitte.

2-1

Overall: WINNER!

So, today was fun. I feel that I learned a lot about type 1 tournaments: If you do well consistently, you don't see combo. Play the decks that beat everything, let other people play the decks that beat combo. Overall, I'm glad I cut exalted angel from my deck for jotun grunt. I think the fact that you can drop early game grunts and still keep it alive long enough to be threatening is cool. I was probably playing the grunts wrong by dropping them while staring at tormod's crypts. Maybe not, though. I feel my deck was properly metagamed, and if I play against stax again I will probably lose still, but at least with more style. I would like to thank everyone for supporting me, and being civil players. I also apologize for any parts of matches which my brain filled in for me, and did not actually happen. I would apologize for everything I forgot, but then I don't keep detailed reports of my matches (which I should from now on, if I plan on doing well more often).

This was the first piece of power I have ever won, a MOX PEARL. Perhaps it will inspire me to play parfait at starcitygames boston.