[Report] SCG Duel for Duals Oct 7th and 8th

[Hanni]

Tournament Results

I decided that it was time for the deck to get some tournament results so I spent about $700 building the deck so I could take it to the SCG Duel for Duals on October 7th and 8th, 2006.

For the tournament on both days I ran the exact same deck.

UWb Fish

Lands (17)
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tundra
4 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Plains

Creatures (16)
3 Mother of Runes
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
2 Azorius Guildmage

Spells (27)
4 Brainstorm
4 Serum Visions
3 Daze
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Duress
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard (15)
2 Serenity
4 Engineered Plague
2 Perish
3 Engineered Explosives
3 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa's Jitte

I couldn't get any sleep the night before Day 1.

DAY 1

ROUND 1
Table 11
Jesse Pinchot
GBr Rec-Sur

Game 1
I play turn 1 Mother of Runes and Daze his turn 2 Survival. He gets Flametongue Kavu out (which doesn't kill anything with its CiP effect) and gets SoFI on him. My opponent can't stop my aggro base of Mother of Runes, Meddling Mage on Survival (and another on Recurring Nightmare I think) and Azorius Guildmage, so I win game 2.

Game 2
I counter two early game Survivals and Meddling Mage on Recurring Nightmare and Survival win it for me again. Jotun Grunt works his magic and I think I get an Azorius Guildmage with a Jitte (not sure about the Jitte) that wins the game.

1-0

ROUND 2
Table 6
Joey Dial
Mantle Affinity

Game 1
He mulligans to 5 and opens with Tree of Tales, Arcbound Worker, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, and Frogmite. He doesn't draw into much else and my 2-3 StP's and Azorius Guildmage finish him off (I think I had Grunt too).

Game 2
We both play land drop go on turn 1. His turn 2 Cranial Plating meets Daze. Azorius Guildmage + Jitte put him too far behind. To top off the overkill, I draw Serenity and wipe away his entire board.

2-0

ROUND 3
Table 5
Kenneth McGlothlin
Mono Red Goblins

Game 1
I basically get a severe land flood and cannot stop his Goblins nuts draw and Mother of Runes and Azorius Guildmage can't hold him off. I scoop on turn 7 I think.

Game 2
I play Wasteland from hand to play a Mother of Runes. He Wastelands my Tundra. I fetch a basic Plains and it's the only land I see for the rest of the game (I drew into cantrips but had no Island to play them, I fetched a basic Plains because I had another Mother of Runes in hand at the time). I manage to get 3 Mother of Runes into play to keep the board locked but he eventually has the ability to push through and I never see land drop # 2.

2-1

ROUND 4
Table 16
Alix Hatfield
UGw Threshold

Game 1
I Duress him early. I play Confidant and I counter 2 StP's in following turns. I draw into Jotun Grunt and Umezawa's Jitte and the match ends pretty quickly.

Game 2
I play turn 1 Mother of Runes and turn 2 Duress and cantrip. Mother of Runes keeps Meddling Mage (naming Nimble Mongoose) protected and my topdeck of Perish to kill his Werebear does him in.

3-1

ROUND 5
Table 4
David Gearhart
Solidarity

Game 1
I play Mother of Runes and 2 Jotun Grunts early so he doesn't combo out (which was 1 misplay that costed me the match) and a severe land flood keeps me from putting on a clock or hitting him with Duress. Mother of Runes gets him down to 11 life by around turn 8 or so and he combo's off on me for the win. I have 3 Force of Wills in hand with 5 untapped lands and I allow his High Tide to resolve, hoping to counter Reset (which was the other misplay that costed me the match). My hardcast FoW on Reset is responded with Reset and my FoW removing FoW is responded with a 3rd Reset ftw.

Game 2
After shuffling my deck and presenting it to my opponent to cut, I notice I forgot to put the RFG Force of Will back in the deck. I tell him, put it back into my deck to reshuffle, and he calls a Judge over. I get a game loss or match loss and a warning that will be reported to the DCI.

3-2

(At this point I can no longer Top 8 and my mind isn't into the game anymore, losing against my decks favorable matchup).

ROUND 6
Table 8
Daniel Signorini
B/r Sui

Game 1
He hits me too hard with Wasteland, Sinkhole, Duress, and Hymns and I can't stabilize. His board of Wretched Anurid and Nantuko Shade does me in.

Game 2
I Daze and FoW his early game Sinkholes and Needle names Wasteland. Jotun Grunt and others finish him after StP's remove his blockers.

Game 3
I play Mother of Runes into Dark Confidant into Meddling Mage (naming Bolt) into Jotun Grunt. I forget to pay Grunts upkeep the following turn (my mind still isn't in the right place from the Solidarity matchup). I swing with Confidant and Mage and he blocks with Negator and Rotting Giant. I give Confidant pro red and Mage dies and he responds by Bolting Mother of Runes. The game goes downhill from here, which is unfortunate because I had such a dominant board position that would have easily won me the game.

3-3

ROUND 7
Table 12
Chris Coppola
R/w Goblins

Game 1
I mulligan to 5 from 2 no land hands. I can't answer 1st turn Lackey but all he can Lackey into play is a Mogg Fanatic. His StP's and Incinerator's keep me off my aggro to equip Jitte and I'm eventually overwhelmed.

Game 2
He plays 1st turn Lackey and I let it resolve with Daze and FoW in hand. He attacks with Lackey and puts Siege Gang into play. After he passes, I drop Engineered Plague. He casts Piledriver and I let it resolve (saving the counters for Disenchant on Plague). I get some aggro into play and a topdecked Engineered Plague causes him to scoop.

Game 3
He gets off to a really slow start and I turn 1 Mother of Runes into turn 2 Confidant. Confidant creates too much card advantage that he can't handle (I countered his Ringleader). I win this one without Jitte or Plague.

4-3

DAY 2

ROUND 1
Table 4
Eric Darland
Wub 3c Angel Stompy

Game 1
He mulligans to 5 and his low amount of lands slow him down. I out advantage him with Dark Confidant and cantrip. Mother of Runes gives me board advantage against his Silver Knights and I swing for the win.

Game 2
He mulligans to 6 and keeps another low land hand and my early StP's keep him off aggro. His StP's also keep me off aggro. My Meddling Mage on his SoFI proves lethal mid game because he finally draws into land and 2 SoFI (which he shows me after the match). I don't remember exactly what else I had in play but I swing in for the win.

1-0

ROUND 2
Table 11
Brian Lusk
UG Madness

Game 1
He mulligans down to 5. I Duress him to find out he has 3 lands and 2 Arrogant Wurms. I play Meddling Mage, naming Wild Mongrel. His only played threats were a Rootwalla and 2 Arrogant Wurms, but 2 StP's answer the first 2 and Mother of Runes swings my Grunts in ftw.

Game 2
I rip him a few times with Duress and Meddling Mage names Aquomeoba. He gets Jitte into play but StP and Perish keep him off aggro. I build up a nice horde with Mage, Confidant, Azorius Guildmage, and Mother of Runes. I get him too low in life before he can play Wonder and equip with Jitte, so he attempts to stabilize by gaining life with Jitte. He has active Jitte equipped for around 6-7 turns before I finally finish him off.

2-0

ROUND 3
Table 7
Buckingham, James
R/w Goblins

Game 1
I get a very good start and keep him away from an explosive one. I manage to get him to 4 life with a Grunt in play but his 3 StP's and 2 Incinerator's throughout the matchup keep me off my aggro. He eventually wins.

Game 2
I draw a no land hand and mulligan to 6. I play Tundra into Pithing Needle naming Vial turn 1. He Wastelands my Tundra. I play Underground Sea and spend the next few turns cantripping to find my 3rd land. I finally find it and play Engineered Plague but his nuts draw of Ringleader into Ringleader into Ringleader gives him 3 1/1's that eventually finish me off. I get Jitte into play but I cannot commit a threat to the board against his 2 StP's and 3 Incinerator's.

2-1

ROUND 4
Table 10
Nick DiTizio
UGw Threshold

Game 1
Game 1 he has land issues and his cantripping doesn't dig into enough fast enough. Meddling Mage naming Nimble Mongoose protected by Mother of Runes and Jotun Grunt with Umezawa's Jitte kill him very quickly.

Game 2
We both get solid starts with mine being a bit better. I play Mother of Runes into Meddling Mage but he plays 2 Pithing Needles on Mother of Runes and Jitte. I draw into 2 Jittes, giving me 2 dead cards, and 2 Mother of Runes. I cantrip 1 Jitte and 1 Mother of Runes away and my board position is very favorable with Jotun Grunt. I forgot to pay the upkeep the following turn (the misplay that costed me the win) and my second Jotun Grunt is met by Counterspell. He manages to kill me off with Nimble Mongoose and Werebear.

Game 3
We are getting close to time and the matchup starts off slow. The round goes to time and I manage to survive the turn before he would kill me.

2-1-1

ROUND 5
Table 10
James Peyton
Solidarity

Game 1
Im stuck on 1 land and cantripping multiple times reveals no lands. He combo's off around turn 5 or 6 and I lose. I keep my hand because it has Duress, 2 Meddling Mages, Daze, Serum Visions, and Tundra.

Game 2
I mulligan to 6. Again I'm stuck on 1 land and cantripping multiple times reveals no lands. He combo's off around turn 5 or 6, after I draw into my second land and play Duress, and he fizzles out and scoops.

Game 3
I realize my opponent is stuck on 1 land on my turn 2 so I play Pithing Needle naming Flooded Strand. He topdecks Polluted Delta. I Duress his High Tide. I play Jitte. He plays FoW 3 times to keep me off aggro but the card disadvantage that provides to him in combination of the 2 Duresses I rip off the top of my deck kill his hand. I topdeck Meddling Mage and name High Tide, and Meddling Mage with Jitte equipped finishes him off very quickly.

3-1-1

(At this point I'm in 13th place with bad tiebreakers and I have a very slim chance of making Top 8 if I win the next match and a few people lose the next match).

ROUND 6
Table 7
Palmer Smith
Mono White Angel Stompy

Game 1
We both open with turn 1 Mom's. I rip his hand with Duress and Meddling Mage names Parallax Wave. I gain card advantage over him with Duress and card quality with cantrip. My Umezawa's Jitte destroys his Umezawa's Jitte and Azorius Guildmage keeps his Mom from protecting his guys. I eventually win this one.

Game 2
We both open with turn 1 Mom's again. We both toss StP's around and my Jitte destroys his Jitte again. He eventually gets an Exalted Angel in play and his double Parallax Waves secure his victory.

Game 3
We start game 3 with 1 minute left, after I had to mulligan, and we don't get far enough for either of us to win. Instead of drawing, my opponent lets me win since I have a chance to make Top 8 and he doesn't. I commend him for being a very nice guy.

4-1-1

I end up coming in 10th place due to terrible tiebreakers. I think I could have made Top 8 if I wouldn't have misplayed against Threshold for a draw Round 4.

So basically, I'm not sure what I placed Day 1 but I placed 10th Day 2. This was my first tournament and I made a ton of misplays and mistakes. I only played on MWS for testing so my real life game skills were a little unexperienced. I pilot my deck very well but stupid mistakes like forgetting to pay Jotun Grunt's upkeep happened at the most inopportune times. I could have easily made Top 8 both days but unfortunately I did not. 10th place isn't too bad though and I'll redeem myself at the next large Legacy event.

PROPS:

Props to everyone at the event that I talked to for being such cool people. You all made my tournament experience much funner.
Props to SCG for holding such an awesome event.
Props to B/w Deadguy, 4c Landstill, 43 Lands, and BBS for making Top 8 in a format that labeled them all as dead decks.

SLOPS:

Slops to me being a noob and making a ton of misplays and mistakes.

[Anusien]

It was awesome to meet you and hang out with you.  I'm glad the tournament went well for you, and I hope you'll continue to be able to make SCG events.

One thing I want to start doing at these things is make sure to get one full match in, just for fun, before the tournament.  You know how round 1 is always a warm up?  I want to warm up before the tournament starts.

But yeah, the trick is to see your misplays and never ever make those mistakes again.  Like I told you on Saturday, you know for a fact you're never going to get a GL like that again.  By the way, I should have said to you before, if you pile shuffle into 7 piles, the last card will land on the 4th pile.  If it doesn't, count your deck and find the last card.

But yeah, you made the right metagame choice and beat some really solid players; two things that you did a whole lot better than I did.

[KrzyMoose]

Fish was moved to Proven! Yay!

Not too bad for your first big event (or, your first event ever).

It helps a lot to actually practice with the real cards, because then you're used to physically putting counters on Grunt, or returning pitched FoW cards. 

[Anusien]

I almost missed a Grunt upkeep because my dice were still in my bag.  On his turn I had to go "Oh whoops" and get counters from my bag and put them on the table, and the judge was watching carefully to make sure I didn't put something on top of my library.

[Production]

Very nice job, I've been tinkering with UW fish on and off for a few years, which gradually became UWb and every time you update I find that I'm usually making the wrong move by diverging from your lists. Too bad you got screwed day 1, I can't believe someone would be such a jerk as to call a judge over for that. Keep working on the play mistakes though, I know from experience that this deck can go horribly wrong when you forget an important upkeep, mis-stack from a cantrip, or otherwise defeat yourself when the opponent can't.

[keys]

Fantastic report.  And I'm really impressed with how well you placed, being that it was your first live event.  Plus, I love to see fish decks do well.

Question:

I play turn 1 Mother of Runes and Daze his turn 2 Survival. He gets Flametongue Kavu out (which doesn't kill anything with its CiP effect) and gets SoFI on him.

If your Mom is untapped, wouldn't the only legal target be the FtK itself (assuming you give Mom pro red in response)?

[Parcher]

Too bad you got screwed day 1, I can't believe someone would be such a jerk as to call a judge over for that. Keep working on the play mistakes though, I know from experience that this deck can go horribly wrong when you forget an important upkeep, mis-stack from a cantrip, or otherwise defeat yourself when the opponent can't.

While there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Gearheart is a jerk, he had no choice in this matter. Both players are equally responsible for maintaining a legal game state. If he had allowed the game to continue knowing a card was missing, he was more at risk for a penalty. If he had allowed the card to be replaced and a Judge had been informed, they both would be liable. While I don't think it was classy, it was the only position he could take and still insure no culpability in the illegal game state. Hanni himself said it was a technical error due his physical lack of experience playing the deck, and while dissapointed, held no grudge toward David (for this anyway).

[Anusien]

Too bad you got screwed day 1, I can't believe someone would be such a jerk as to call a judge over for that. Keep working on the play mistakes though, I know from experience that this deck can go horribly wrong when you forget an important upkeep, mis-stack from a cantrip, or otherwise defeat yourself when the opponent can't.

We were actually discussing this.  The opponent really doesn't have an option other than to call a judge.  I know DG and I don't think he said, "Judge give my opponent a GL" (especially because that will get him owned), but if something irregular happens, you HAVE to call a judge.  If a judge was standing behind DG and he said, "It's okay, shuffle it back" he would get into trouble himself... and can you imagine if the judges did a mid-round deckcheck?

If your Mom is untapped, wouldn't the only legal target be the FtK itself (assuming you give Mom pro red in response)?

It depends whether Hanni saw that or just gave MoR Pro: Red in response to the ability trigger.

[Production]

Unless I'm misunderstanding what Hanni said, this all occurred before the game began and before anyone had their hands. I don't see how the game state would be disrupted by a player noticing "Hey, I accidentally left a card out, let me shuffle it back in and then you can reshuffle it, sorry for wasting a little of your time." It certainly doesn't seem like something to get a game/match loss over, nor does it seem like something to involve a judge in when there's a fairly simple resolution: saying "sure, you can shuffle in that card that I know you removed from the game last game, because we haven't even finished shuffling yet anyway, so that we can get on to playing this card game we are here to enjoy playing." I guess I'm really out of it when it comes to this kind of event though, people are probably so bloodthirsty when it comes to genuinely cheating that you have to be pretty nasty about calling over judges just to be safe.

[SpencerForHire]

Unless I'm mistaken you seal the deal for all sideboarding and fixing up of the deck between games when you present your stack to your opponents for shuffling.

[Anusien]

Hanni presented.  That seals it up.

[KrzyMoose]

you seal the deal for all sideboarding and fixing up of the deck between games when you present your stack to your opponents for shuffling.

Yep, this is the truth.

While it is quite unfortunate, especially given that the game hadn't actually started, it's what had to happen.

It's just another reason you HAVE to test with the real cards before competing in a sanctioned event.

[firberothers]

Pile shuffle FtW, well at least a chance to win.

[ptbnl]

To give someone a game loss for something like that is lame. He's obviously not trying to cheat. In fact, his honesty is being penalized. I have no idea what "game state" refers to, but the very first strategic decision that happens after sideboarding and choosing to play/draw is mulliganning. Presenting your deck to be shuffled and then taking it back does not reveal or affect any strategy whatsoever. I hate drastic rulings for ticky tack stuff. Two NFL teams flip a coin before kick off. "Call it in the air", but the coin falls to ground before the player calls heads or tails, game loss. Gee, that's a great ruling.

[Klep]

To give someone a game loss for something like that is lame. He's obviously not trying to cheat. In fact, his honesty is being penalized. I have no idea what "game state" refers to, but the very first strategic decision that happens after sideboarding and choosing to play/draw is mulliganning. Presenting your deck to be shuffled and then taking it back does not reveal or affect any strategy whatsoever. I hate drastic rulings for ticky tack stuff. Two NFL teams flip a coin before kick off. "Call it in the air", but the coin falls to ground before the player calls heads or tails, game loss. Gee, that's a great ruling.

Presenting your deck is an act of affirming that it is both legal and sufficiently randomized.  If you present a deck that is missing a card (for whatever reason) and thus does not match your decklist or is otherwise illegal, then you have an illegal deck, and the penalty for an illegal main deck is a game loss at all RELs.  The reason for this is that it is very easy to gain an advantage by changing the contents of your deck (whether the change was intentional or not).  Judges also have to be consistent in applying the penalty guidelines in order to avoid any allegations of favoritism or other malfeasance.  Sometimes this may result in rulings that don't seem "fair,"  but it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the judging system.  This is why you should take care to ensure your deck is correct before you present it.

[SpencerForHire]

Dude presents a 59 card deck (intentionally or unintentionally), then ...
Senario 1 - Judge does a random deck check, finds that it only has 59 cards.
Senario 2 - Opponent pile shuffles and finds it has 59 cards and calls the judge.
Senario 3 - Opponent cuts the deck and gives it back. Then dude says "Wait, I just realized there's only 59 cards in it."

In all senarios, an illegal deck is presented and the possible unfair advantage is prevented. But there's a key difference to Senario 3. It is the one senario in which you can know the dude is not trying gain an unfair advantage.

You can't pile shuffle an opponents deck can you?  If so I am almost positive you have to regular shuffle afterwards as pile shuffling doesn't count as randomization.

[ptbnl]

Dude presents a 59 card deck (intentionally or unintentionally), then ...
Senario 1 - Judge does a random deck check, finds that it only has 59 cards.
Senario 2 - Opponent pile shuffles and finds it has 59 cards and calls the judge.
Senario 3 - Opponent cuts the deck and gives it back. Then dude says "Wait, I just realized there's only 59 cards in it."

In all senarios, an illegal deck is presented and the possible unfair advantage is prevented. But there's a key difference to Senario 3. It is the one senario in which you can know the dude is not trying gain an unfair advantage.

[jazzykat]

I feel that it sucks too but I understand the rule was made so that it does not require any interpretation. You present a non-legal deck for whatever reason you get a game loss.

Personally I would have let the guy put the card back into his deck if he was the one who noticed the card was missing. Actually in a sanctioned tournament one of my buddies noticed I was missing the card not me and he let me just put it back in. He also knows I have no interest in cheating. Besides he now gets to make fun of me as a "cheater", if hewould have made me take a game loss he would have been labeled as a "lame ass" that had to resort to getting game wins against me through technicalities.

[Anusien]

When your opponent presents his deck you are allowed three options:
A) Do nothing
B) A simple cut (swapping two halves of the deck)
C) Randomize the deck, after which your opponent can get one final simple cut.  You may pile shuffle the deck during this phase; or do anything you want.  You're just on the same obligation to end with a sufficiently randomized deck that your opponent had.

It's obvious that whichever judge that came over did not think that Hanni was cheating.  If the judge had suspected Hanni of cheating, there's only one penalty for that: Disqualification without prize and follow-up investigation by the DCI.  The ruling is so stiff because it's very disruptive for the game, and it prevents any sort of problems.  What if the player doesn't catch it until after he's drawn his opening hand?  Until he's trying to combo off?

[ptbnl]

The ruling is so stiff because it's very disruptive for the game, and it prevents any sort of problems.

It's no more disruptive than if the dude took an extra 30 seconds to sideboard or shuffle. If you want to give the dude a game loss for delay, that's a different story. Also, from my perspective, handing out questionable game losses is a worse disruption for the game.

What if the player doesn't catch it until after he's drawn his opening hand? Until he's trying to combo off?

Well, in these cases, strategy has been revealed or affected, so I could understand a game loss at this point.

[Bardo]

First off, well done Hanni!

Also, this was a nicely written report.

For readers who haven't been following Hanni's (recently moved) thread in the Proven forum, I'd just like to note that he hasn't made a change to the deck since he posted it (other than to add in a couple of Serra Avengers in place of the Azorius GMs)! This is an impressive display of consistency.

But I have a few questions:

- What's going on with sideboarding against High Tide? I can see pithing a Strand or whatever in Game 1 in they were being maindecked, but did you really bring in Pithing Needle? It seems like you might bring in another Jitte or something in place of the StPs, but you're already pre-boarded against combo and don't need bad artifacts in this match.

- After all of the mulligans you took, are you considering going up to 18 lands (+1 Island)? I've tested your deck with the crummy MWS shuffler and found that I was mulliganing more than I wanted. I don't think 17 lands + 8 cantrips (+4 x/1 card drawing bolt-baits) is enough to consistently hit your land drops.

But again, well done and congrats.

[KrzyMoose]

he hasn't made a change to the deck since he posted it

Er, that's not entirely accurate.  He's been editing the original list on the front page since we've been developing it.

Also, Gearheart said you didn't know how to play the Solidarity matchup in his report.  This is a problem, seeing that it's part of the Big Three.  You definitely need to practice it - just because you're running Duress and Mage and counterspells doesn't mean you automatically win.

I would definitely go up to 18 lands.  I've been running that number forever, including Wastelands, and never have had a problem

[Hanni]

I know how to play against Solidarity, I just had a few misplays against Gearheart game 1. I played my Grunts too early, because I was hoping it would stall him from going off long enough until I could draw some aggro. This weakened my clock considerably. I also should have Forced his High Tide but I waited for the Reset, which I Forced and he responded to it with Reset, which I Forced and he responded to it with Reset. Triple Reset wasn't something I was expecting, maybe double, but not triple. Another thing about game 1 was my serious land flood, my deck has no use for 6+ lands unless I have Azorius Guildmage out and I'm facing aggro.

Regardless, I still know how to play the Tide matchup. There's not much to it. You want to put on a clock as soon as possible. If you have no clock, they have all the time in the world to set up. You want to keep them from going off, which can be done with Duress or Meddling Mage naming High Tide. Once they combo off, you want to fizzle them by countering the High Tide or Reset, or by countering their flashbacked Flash of Insight or Stroke of Genius (casting it on themselves). Sometimes, countering a Meditate can fizzle them too. Some of the decisions are more about luck and timing rather than playskill (when it comes to what to counter), but attacking their mana development is usually the best way to go. Pithing Needle on fetchlands is great out of the board (not as good as Stifle, but Pithing Needle is more useful in other matchups). I bring in 3 Needles and 1 Jitte in place of 4 StP... the extra Jitte helps me put on a faster clock if I don't draw into multiple aggro threats early on.

I've tested the Tide matchup enough. I know for a great certainty that my deck has a 70/30 or better matchup against it preboard and postboard. The only reason the matchup isn't 100/0 is because my deck can occasionally get land screwed or land flooded, and sometimes they can combo out before I draw into any disruption. It's still a 70/30 matchup and it's a matchup the deck should win 7 games out of 10.

My play mistake against Gearheart (the whole RFG thing) shouldn't discredit this decks matchup against Solidarity in the least. I won't be making mistakes like that anymore at future events and you can all expect me to 2-0 Solidarity the next time I play against it.

[Bardo]

@ Hanni - You didn't answer my questions about High Tide sideboarding (Needle?) and going up to 18 lands.

[Hanni]

I don't think that my deck land screwed me because of the difference between 17 and 18 land, I think it was due to my poor shuffling (as I said, I don't play much IRL magic, it's mostly on MWS). Same games I was heavily flooded, other games I was land screwed. On average, I've never had a problem with the 17 land count and I never really felt a difference when I switched over from 18 to 17. I'll keep it in mind during testing, though I think the 17 land count should be fine.

As far as Solidarity goes, I boarded out 4 StP for 3 Needle and 1 Jitte. I named fetchlands with Needle to try and slow down their mana development and I used Jitte to increase my clock when applicable. (Check out my report for the Solidarity matchup Day 2 Game 3, I used both Needle and Jitte during Game 3).