Top 8 with Gifts at CCgames tourney

[OfficeShredder]

I'm not sure if I have quite enough insight to be the one giving a report, but I took some notes during the tourney with the theory that if I prepared myself for winning, I would win, and it seemed to pay off.  So here goes:

I went into the tourney with an exact rip of meandeck gifts, practically card for card.  I didn't know what kind of metagame to expect, and wasn't familiar with the intricacies of the matchups, so I was prepared to go a respectable 3-2 or something.  For those interested, here's my decklist:

2x Misdirection
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain

4x Brainstorm
4x Merchant Scroll
4x Gifts Ungiven

1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall

1x Burning Wish
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Recoup
1x Yawgmoth's Will

1x Rebuild
1x Chain of Vapor

4x Island
3x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x Tolarian Academy
10x Black Lotus Petal Moxen Mana Crypt/Vault Sol Ring
5x Fetchland

SB:
3x Duress
2x Tormod's Crypt
1x Stifle
1x Trickbind
1x Accumulated Knowledge
1x Deep Analysis
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Fire/Ice
2x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Empty the Warrens

Card choices:
3x Underground sea - initially I was only going to run two, and another island, but decided that since there were up to 15 proxies at the tournament, I wouldn't be seeing a lot of wastelands.  And with the duresses in the sideboard, I wanted early black mana when needed, so went with an extra sea.  This turned out perfectly as I saw 1 wasteland the entire day

Burning Wish vs Tendrils maindeck: I decided to put the wish maindeck so I could grab Empty the Warrens if I had a mini-storm possibility.  This turned out to be an excellent decision, but not really for the reasons I thought

1x Accumulated Knowledge: This is just tech against intuition.  I never drew it though, so I can't say how good it was.  And I was always merchant scrolling for other spells before intuition would hit the board; this is probably indicative of how AK is not a good sideboard card after all.  On to the matchups:

Round 1: Mike with Bomberman

I lead off game 1 with a mulligan.... bad start to the day.  My hand is 2x Gifts, Mis-D, FoW, 2 lands.  Mike's on the play, and casts ancestral recall.  I Mis-D, he FoWs, I FoW, and he's stuck with some mana in his hand.  I win with colossus (a recurring theme) off a tinker with no protection since I highly suspect he has nothing to stop it.  I recall reading a great gifts player will only tinker with protection for the colossus.... well, I'll make the claim a perfect gifts player knows when it's time to tinker without counter backup.

Sideboard:
+2 Tormod's Crypt
-1 FoF
-1 Rebuild
I wanted to put duresses in, but had little practice with the sideboard (made it the night before the tourney, expecting to play a bunch of tendrils and drain decks), and didn't know what to take out for them.  I cut Rebuild because it was pretty much useless in the matchup, and FoF because I often find myself cutting that, or pitching it to FoW.  I really don't like the card that much, because it's marginally worse than gifts most of the time

Game two:  This one's pretty epic... he leads with an early tinker mage... I let it resolve, hoping he goes for a lotus so I can counter it and hit it with crypt.  Instead he grabs a crypt, and starts beating me down.  We exchange counters, and I am left with a brainstorm that shows mox emerald, burning wish, and sol ring.  I put the wish back on top of a land from my hand, and decide to play the emerald, wish, and EtW for 6 to gain the initiative on attacking next turn (I had a mana drain in my hand, and nothing else).  Instead, he drops an intuition and a tinker mage... the intuition got counter (I think it was intuition, something that cost three), and my 6 goblin tokens start looking like junk against his mages.  So instead I cast burning wish, with no real strategy of what to get.  I choose Deep analysis, and draw four cards.  This gives me vampiric -> tinker, again with no counter backup, but he's out of hand, so it's OK.  I swing with colossus, putting him at 7.  Unfortunately for him, he can't block the colossus and live, and his next attack leaves me at 1.  It turns out he sided in 3 REBs and 2 pyroblasts, but only gets one all game.  This means he was out-countering me 2-1, but still lost out on the counter war in the end.  Lucky me

1-0 (2-0)

Round two: Colby (Evenpence) with Tendrils (not sure what variety)

Game one: I have what looks like an OK hand,  but after my success with colossus the last two games, I blow it.  Not realizing he's even playing a combo deck at the time, I tinker to colossus on turn four figuring the worst he can do is deal with it, leaving me with a strong  hand.  Instead, he drops a cabal ritual and yawg will, and finishes with tendrils.  A blow to my ego to be certain

Sideboard:
-2 Mana drain
-1 Rebuild
-1 Chain of Vapor
-1 FoF
-1 Merchant Scroll
-1 Gifts Ungiven

+2 Tormod's Crypt
+2 Duress
+1 Stifle
+1 Trickbind
+1 AK

I put in the AK because I saw him intuition.  He told me before the matchup he loved playing against drain decks, because he always outdraws them.  So I cut my mana drains, since I'm pretty sure what he really did was just not care about most of his stuff getting countered.  I also cut some of my slow card drawing spells, because I needed to cut something.

Game two - Another epic game two, this is what he sees:
Turn one - mox sapphire, go.
A soft hand?  Perhaps.  But EOT mystical for ancestral, with 2x FOW backup is pretty powerful.  I go on to draw some mana, and outcounter him despite cutting my mana drains.  I drop a will with very little mana, and manage to do nothing but tinker out a colossus and drop a time walk.  He just tapped out last turn, so it's a safe play.  I have an empty hand at that point except for burning wish... I hit him with colossus, and consider what to wish for.  In retrospect, wishing for time walk would have been smart, but I wish for duress, and find him holding a chain of vapor.  I pluck that from his hand and win the game.

Game three - I still feel bad about this game.  I go mox pearl, mana vault, mox sapphire, tinker.  I have 2x gifts and FOW in my hand.  I force a bounce spell, then topdeck mis-D just in time to hit his ancestral recall.  I couldn't have given myself a better hand if I tried.  It should be noted the last card in my hand was yawg will... even if I couldn't cast it, it still made my hand even more broken

2-0 (4-1)

Round three: Matt with 5c stax

Game one:  I don't remember much about this one.  All I wrote down is "tinker", and i see his life total drops by 11 twice.  I think we can figure out what happened though.

Sideboard:

-2 Misdirection
-1 Fact or fiction

+2 Empty the warrens
+1 Hurkyl's Recall

I didn't side in the crypts, and I should have, but oh well.  FoF comes out again because I needed to take something out, and it's always the sore thumb in my hand (except this one time I flipped will, lotus, demonic tutor, gifts ungiven and time walk.  That was magical)

Game two: He drops a turn one trinisphere.  Whoops.  I spend the whole game getting to three mana, then drop a mana crypt and mox emerald.  I plan to chain of vapor his chalice for two at EOT, then hurkyls, and ancestral on my turn and hope to draw something.  Instead, he drops karn and kills me.  There wasn't much I could do for this one except mulligan my forceless hand.  Of course, I did mulligan my first hand, and accidentally drew 7 (I wasn't thinking), so had to mull to 5, which pretty much sealed the deal.

Game three: He plays a chalice after I drop my mox pearl, then trys to play crop rotation.  I need to play my academy next turn to hit my land drop, so I force it to keep his from coming out (I assumed he was going for academy or workshop, and workshop probably meant I wasn't tinkering either) after mana draining something; I don't remember what.  Next turn I brainstorm into a demonic tutor, which grabs tinker.  I tinker, since based on his board it looks like his hand can't stop him (specifically, no red mana or welder I'm hoping).  I'm right, and win two turns later

3-0 (6-1)

Round 4: Tom with gifts.  Tom and Kevin, the B/U/W fish type deck (but not actually fish according to him), convince me that if I draw, I can get into the top 8 next round even if I do.  So we ID.

3-0-1

Round 5: Kevin with a fish-like deck.  We ID to seal the deal for both of us getting top 8.  It turns out I could have lost and still made it, so I thank Kevin for convincing me to draw last round.

3-0-2

Top 8: Joe with Oath

I don't know if Oath is a bad matchup for gifts, or if my hands were just bad (they weren't anything special either game, and both games he had orchard+oath with lots of counter backup early), but this goes pretty poorly

Game one: He gets an oath out, and grabs akroma.  I tinker for colossus, and after we swing, he's at 5, I'm at 9.   Looking good... then he drops time walk and I lose.  I hate time walk

Sideboard:
+3 Duress
+1 AK

-1 Rebuild
-1 FoF
-1 Gifts Ungiven
-1 Merchant scroll

I probably should have sided in stifle/trickbind to save me turns against oath, but didn't think about it until it was too late.

He had an intuition last game, so I try the AK again

Game two:  I duress him, but he brainstorms in response, and all I see is too much counter power and too much draw power.  I get a tinker-colossus after his oath gets online, but he casts wipe away and wins the game

Thoughts:
In the three matchups against tendrils, bomberman, and 5c stax, at no point (except for the turn I was losing), did I feel like the game had spiraled irrevocably out of control, despite claims by both the bomberman and tendrils pilots that their decks were teched to beat gifts.  Whether it's because I have skill, the balls to tinker with no backup, or luck has yet to be seen.  I never burning wished for tendrils or Etw, but it did win the game twice getting deep analysis and duress, so it's not getting taken out for tendrils.  Against oath, I just felt pretty impotent the whole time, especially since I had no real sideboard cards against oath (like, a way to bounce creatures maybe...).  I was right in predicting no fish decks, since there was only one, and I'm glad I only put one sieboard slot to the matchup (and the fire/ice should have been put in for the stax matchup, but like I said, I'm dumb). 

In terms of card choices, I like running the full suite of mystical vampiric and demonic more and more, as all of them can get me tinker.  I can't remember which game (probably game one vs. stax), I cast merchant scroll for mystical tutor, which both confused the opponent and lets you get tinker out fast (a trick learned after losing to ichorid more than I could care during my testing).  The sheer mass of tinker tutor paths is obnoxious, and definitely needs to be abused.  In the sideboard, I would really love a fourth duress, and would probably cut the AK, the fire/ice, or one of the hurkyl's.  Also, if I owned a third crypt, I would probably put another tormod's in the sideboard, even if it wasn't used very much; it just makes you feel safe.

Props:
Tom and Kevin for convincing me to ID
Evenpence for not breaking down and crying after my perfect game three finish
The card dealer for having beat plateaus cheap
Goblin Welder for never showing its ugly face anywhere near my colossus.

Slops:
Forbidden Orchard.  That should be restricted or something.  If anyone has anti-oath advice, send me a PM or post it here, because I felt impotent against the deck.
The road out of the parking lot from the tournament, for getting me lost (I drove back and forth about 500 feet away from the parking lot trying to figure out where I was for 20 minutes)

[ErkBek]

Slops:
Forbidden Orchard.  That should be restricted or something.  If anyone has anti-oath advice, send me a PM or post it here, because I felt impotent against the deck.

Spell Snare is really good vs. oath. It hits oath, drains, Chalice @1, Walk, DT.....just about everything.

So you won with DSC a lot, fear wipe away at all?

Congrats on the t8.

[someone_unimportan]

Most narrow sideboard cards for oath EVER: Spawning Pit and Goblin Bombardment

[OfficeShredder]

So you won with DSC a lot, fear wipe away at all?

Not really... obviously, there was always the potential for it to come up and bite me (see my last oath game), but:

a.) on the forums people were talking about how colossus was obsolete because of wipe away. Hence, I thought I wouldn't see it a lot (metagame tech)

b.) I mostly played it after my opponent exhausted his resources playing other things.  If he ended up with a wipe away in his hand, most of the time I feel I would have been able to ramp up to 11 mana before anything significant happened in the game anyway, because it was right after both players tapped out over a counter war (started by opponent).  Opponents usually don't try to go broken and tap out if they're holding something that can unequivocally stop your plays, instead they'll wait until they have enough counters and such to make sure it gets through, since they can't lose in the interim (and at no point in any game was I in a position to hit them with tendrils anyway, so tinker was the only threat)

[standingstoic]

I was Joe with Oath. Facetime++

Yeah, our games were pretty unfair, to be honest.  I drew like a monster and just had everything I could possibly need.  I nearly went giddy with joy when I brainstormed into that walk game one.  It was quite ridiculous for certain.

After playing yesterday, I totally agree with everything you say about Orchard.  There was not a single instance all day that I was unhappy to draw it and I totally agree with whatever opponent I played that suggested that it should be legendary (Which may have been you, in fact).  Ultimately, I don't know what gifts really has against a good oath draw sometimes because it seems to be almost as fast as the combo.  Granted, I'm nowhere near confident about this, as I don't really heavily playtest or anything, so take it with a grain of salt.

Also, I totally did not Intuition in game one.  Intuition is junk, I says.  :lol:

[Evenpence]

Your draws were absolutely ridiculous in our matchup.

I played both games that I lost absolutely perfect - there was nothing I could do.  I slowrolled reb and chain to make you go for tinker and you did.  It was absolutely unbelievable.  I mean, I had recall, reb, something else very useful, and a chain of vapor, and you stopped me game 3.  Ridiculous.

If you would have wished for time walk which was the obvious play, imo, I would have won because I had REB and red mana open (it was a ruby, not a volcanic).  I mean, by duressing me when I have four cards in hand is clearly worse than getting Time Walk because I can tutor up chain of vapor and kill you with it.  But, because you didn't realize that play (you had already time walked off the Yawg's Will and it was RFGed) and took duress instead, I lost that game.  FROWN  TOWN.  Whatever, it worked out for you, and if I caught a break like that, I'd be really happy that I pulled it out, so grats to you.

I really thought you could win via Yawg's Will fairly easily - you didn't tutor up additional accel (I wasn't sure if you had any) so that you could seal the deal.  Regardless, if you had any kind of a tutor in your hand, you could have double tendrilsed me as you had Lotus on board, but somehow you were like one short.  I think merchant scrolling/tutoring somehow for Chain of Vapor would have won you the game as well.  There were alot of outs you had and I was surprised that you didn't see them, but whatever, you're still getting into it, and from what I see, you're a quick learner.

I can't believe you boarded out drains against me, but it sorta makes sense I guess.  I do kill people before the get to access their drain potential alot, and it's true that I don't care about my stuff getting countered most of the time, funny that you actually realized that enough to board out drains.  Techy decision, and it probably is best against me, especially when you're bringing in cards that you CAN use early game, like trickbind and duress.

I also lost to some weird four color Fish deck that played like infinite 3 and 2-ofs, random 1-of Jitte, and like 8 meddling mages.  Or, at least it seemed.  I also didn't have certain cards in my board to beat Fish, which was a definite error on my part.

Still, I don't feel like I deserved to win the tournament.  I had sideboard construction errors, and probably a play error or two that I didn't see.  Definite sideboard construction errors though.  Still getting used to combo I guess.

[desolutionist]

I can't believe you boarded out drains against me, but it sorta makes sense I guess.  I do kill people before the get to access their drain potential alot, and it's true that I don't care about my stuff getting countered most of the time, funny that you actually realized that enough to board out drains.  Techy decision, and it probably is best against me, especially when you're bringing in cards that you CAN use early game, like trickbind and duress.

I don't think it had anything to do with your deck.  You're just a very responsive player regardless of the circumstances, which often misleads your opponents.

[negator7]

I was Tom with Gifts.  Nice report and thanks for the props.  I ended up splitting in the finals with Oath. 

I couldn’t agree more with your choice of running a third extra Underground Sea.  I actually ran four and cut the islands down to three for very similar reasons (four Duress in the SB).  The only main difference in our main decks was that I chose to run Tendrils instead of Burning Wish and cut one Misdirection to run Dark Ritual.  The main thought behind those decisions was that I wanted to be able to combo off faster when needed.  The other main difference was that our sideboards were very different.  Other then the four Duress’s and two Crypts, I ran Pithing Needle (for Bomberman and Ichorid), two Repeals (Fish and also comes in to help accelerate the Tendrils combo in certain matchups), three Blasts, Hurkyls, and two Fire/Ice. 

Boarding out the Drains definitely makes sense, especially if it’s on the draw.  I did it during three different rounds.  They came out for games two and three against Ichorid where they are virtually useless for Needles and Crypts.  They also came out against Fish for game two when I was on the draw.  Sometimes they are just too slow. 

Oath doesn’t feel like that bad of a matchup to me.  It just sounds like you lost to busted draws.  I wouldn’t worry about finding any anti-Oath tech for your sideboard since Oath isn’t exactly a huge presence right now anyway.  Often times you can just Tendrils them out even if they resolve an Oath against you since it takes them a couple of turns to kill you.  I would try moving the Tendrils to the main for the post board games to speed up the combo option.   It could just replace the Wish since you don’t really have any great targets in the SB against Oath anyway after boarding. 

Joe, I was the guy who said that Orchard felt like it should be legendary.  Everything about the card just feels like it should have been printed that way.  It wouldn’t really change Oath even if it was though.

[Implacable]

Oath isn't a terrible matchup for Gifts, although ICBM does pose problems.  It's the disruption-heavy builds that Gifts has trouble with; it generally rolls over GWS-style Oath, because it's faster and has just as much counter-magic.

[OfficeShredder]

Yeah, our games were pretty unfair, to be honest.  I drew like a monster and just had everything I could possibly need.  I nearly went giddy with joy when I brainstormed into that walk game one.  It was quite ridiculous for certain.

I hate broken hands if they're not mine 

Out of curiosity, if you have an oath in play, can you tap forbidden orchard to put a token into play in response to it triggering (similiar to what ichorid does with dredging)? Because otherwise forbidden orchard would be good sideboard tech.

Also, I totally did not Intuition in game one.  Intuition is junk, I says.  Laughing

Maybe I didn't side the AK in then... I wouldn't have put it in if I didn't see intuition.

Boarding out the Drains definitely makes sense, especially if it’s on the draw.  I did it during three different rounds.  They came out for games two and three against Ichorid where they are virtually useless for Needles and Crypts.  They also came out against Fish for game two when I was on the draw.  Sometimes they are just too slow.

I never saw ichorid or fish, so that was the only chance where it made any sense.  It should be noted I was on the play, which is why it probably seemed a strange move, but I was working on a couple of ideas:

1.) At the beginning of the match he cheered because I was playing a drain deck.  Hence, drains aren't that good against him (bad logic, but oh well)

2.) I really didn't want to cut draw power, since then I saw myself getting outdrawn and losing no matter how many counters are in my deck

3.) He would probably assume the drains were still in the deck, so they would work virtually as a way to slow him down anyway.

I would try moving the Tendrils to the main for the post board games to speed up the combo option.   It could just replace the Wish since you don’t really have any great targets in the SB against Oath anyway after boarding.

Good idea for next time

Joe, I was the guy who said that Orchard felt like it should be legendary.  Everything about the card just feels like it should have been printed that way.  It wouldn’t really change Oath even if it was though.

If they had flying I would be happy, because then it would be easier to just oath out a colossus after he takes a swing (I tried blocking a flying creature with them at least once in our match... they're fricking spirit tokens!)

Other then the four Duress’s and two Crypts, I ran Pithing Needle (for Bomberman and Ichorid), two Repeals (Fish and also comes in to help accelerate the Tendrils combo in certain matchups), three Blasts, Hurkyls, and two Fire/Ice.

I would definitely cut one hurkyl's from my board... going into the matchup against stax, I realized boarding two seemed like bad news vs. chalice at two, and if I wasn't boarding two against stax, well.... probably not so useful to put the second one in.  And the AK was a pretty useless card, it's too situational, and basically just counters the intuition, and sets up their fourth AK

I don't own pithing needles, so that option was out (although I could have gotten them from the dealers I suppose, but I wanted beat dual lands instead.  I love beat dual lands).  I would probably add the fourth duress, since there's always going to be a matchup where you just need as much disruption as possible, and would probably put the second fire/ice in (I was going to run 3, but ran out of room in a serious manner with a 21 card initial sideboard).

[Nehptis]

Good report and great tourney as always.  I'd love to see a metagame breakdown and top 8 deck lists.  But, I know Mike has limited time to provide post tourney info.  So, anyone of you single guys with spare time should consider contacting Mike and typing up some deck lists.  Perhaps Mike could scan and email them over to you for easy processing.  It would be nice to have our info added to the SCG deck list and tourney databases.  It seems like MCCC tournies have filled that metagame gap for the Vintage scene on the East Coast between Waterbury and Richmond.

From my recollection:

5 Storm (Played 3 - 2 PL, 1 Gifts).
4 Fish (Played 2 - UBW, UWR).
1 Oath.
2 Stax.
3 Ichorid.
3 Bomberman.
2 Slaver.

[negator7]

The decks that made the top 8 that I know of were:
Oath (Finals split)
Gifts (me - Finals split)
Ichorid (top 4)
U/B/W Fish variant
Gifts
Bomberman
Slaver

I ‘m missing one deck that for the life of me I can’t remember. 

My list:
 
4x Force of Will
4x Mana Drain
1x Misdirection

4x Brainstorm
4x Merchant Scroll
4x Gifts Ungiven

1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Ancestral Recall

1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Recoup
1x Yawgmoth's Will

1x Rebuild
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Dark Ritual

3x Island
4x Underground Sea
2x Volcanic Island
1x Tolarian Academy
5x Moxen
5x Black Lotus, Lotus Petal, Mana Crypt/Vault, Sol Ring
4x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand

SB:
4x Duress
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Red Elemental Blast
2x Fire/Ice
2x Repeal
1x Pyroblast
1x Pithing Needle
1x Hurkyl's Recall

[ashiXIII]

The list you're missing from the top 8 was 5 color Stax.

[desolutionist]

I might as well squeeze my tournament report in before this thread is locked.  (but I do hope it is after Davis posts the pictures, if he does at all)

The Deck:

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
2 Misdirection
4 Merchant Scroll
2 Repeal
1 Rebuild
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Skeletal Scrying
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
3 Gifts Ungiven
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Burning Wish
1 Recoup
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gush
1 Cabal Ritual
24 Mana

3 Empty the Warrens
3 Flametongue Kavu
1 Rebuild
2 Tormod's Crypt
4 Duress
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Darkblast

Round 1: (Stax)

I mulligan to 5. I'm a terrible player.  I shouldn't beat Stax game 1.  I just got lucky with a Brainstorm. (Or maybe it had something to do with my timing of Rebuild?)  Anyway, he had my Wastelocked but it didn't matter because I clearly outplayed him with my Rebuild.

-2 MisD
-1 Burning Wish
-1 Tendrils
+3 Warrens
+1 Rebuild

Game 2 was the first time I've ever used my tech (EtW) in a tournament.  He had Titan out with other various lock pieces.  I played Rebuild, produced 36 Goblins, and ended my turn.

2-0 (1-0)

Round 2: (UWB Fish)

I knew what he was playing and expected to destroy this guy post-board with Warrens, so I played awkwardly and didn't really do anything other than attempt to win on the first turn.  

-4 Drain
-1 MisD
-1 Scroll
-1 Tendrils
+3 Flametongue
+3 Empty the Warrens
+1 Darkblast

It didn't work out the way that I wanted it to because of his double-bobs.  My only significant play was playing a Warrens for 3 copies (1 was FoWed) and trading them with 2 Bobs and a Meddling Mage on Flametongue.  I played Flametongue next turn but it was countered and he swung for lethal next turn.

0-2 (1-1)

Round 3: (Confidant Tendrils/Anti-Meta)

He leads game one with a Leyline of the Void.  He didn't do anything for the majority of the game other than a Phyrexian Negator here and a Bob there, so I just countered relevant spells while sculpting my hand with Library.  So my hand is now Ancestral, Misdirection, Force, Force, Scrying, Yawgmoth's Will, Land, and Repeal with plenty of mana on the table.  I decide that I will probably at least hit a Merchant Scroll into Gifts with my Recall/Scrying, so I Repeal his Leyline, draw into another land, play the land, and pass with one mana untapped.  He replays the Leyline.  Since the game has been pretty stagnant thus far, I Force it (pitching Misdirection).  He then plays Timetwister.  I Recall in response and see 3 lands, which means that I cannot counter it.  It resolves and I draw an opening hand of no counter magic to stop his Dark Rit - Dark Rit - Demonic - Tendrils.

I sided in 4 Duress and kept a suboptimal hand for game 2.  I decided that I lost the game when he resolved an early Bob.  He Duressed me of my Counterspells and Tinkered for Colossus.  I wasn't able to draw an answer within the last two turns that I had more than 0 life.

0-2 (1-2)

So I decide to drop.

[Khahan]

I'll be seeing Mike Thursday night. I'll ask if he has all the decklists still and do what I can to post them. No promises. 3 kids and  a full time job is what I'm contending with.  At the least, I'll try to get a breakdown of the deck types and top 4 lists posted.

[Evenpence]

I'd like my decklist withheld, if you wouldn't mind.  I haven't decided if I want to release it before Waterbury.  After Waterbury, I'm almost positive it will be coming out, so until then, if you know what the deck does, please don't let the cat out of the bag.

I also won't be attending Waterbury, but someone from ICBM (or possibly Blitzkrieg, even though I don't think anyone on that team is going) might be using my deck.

[OfficeShredder]

I don't think anybody will put tech into their sideboards to fight merfolk.dec, but your secret is safe with me


 

[Khahan]

Little mini report (I had a report all but ready to go...only 1 round left to type up and I got interrupted. When I got back, a storm had knocked out the power and stupid me didn't save):

Round 1 vs Bomberman
I won a very long game that went back and forth. He resolved a salvagers which I killed with a duplicant. He was setting up to go off when I brought out sundering titan. I finally won with about 12 mins left in the round.
Game 2 he started out assembling pieces. I let him get the lotus (doesn't matter if its in the yard or in play) and he pushed through a trinket mage.  I was drawing dead for a long time...all mana and counter spells. He beat me down to 11 life and tried a second trinket mage which I countered with mana drain. I had a tendrils in hand, sunk the mana drain mana, but decided to hold the tendrils a bit longer hoping to combo out for the kill. I was at 1 life and pulled ancestral. Played that and a few other spells and tendrils for 10 to him. I go back to 11 life. One of the spells I played was triskelavus. We were on time and hit turn 5. My next attack phase would have killed him (his board was clear and my trisk was a 1/1.  I got the win 1-0.


Round 2 vs gifts.
This is generally a bad match up for me, made worse when I draw nothing but mana in game 1 and get mana screwed in game 2. Not to take anything away from my opponent, he sided in properly, ripped a promising opening hand of mine w/ double duress and made a nice play in game 1 to ensure the win through my force.  I lose 0-2.

Round 3 vs gifts
Game 1 I keep an opening hand with a force, a merchant scroll, echoing truth and some other stuff. On about turn 3 when I'm still not sure what he's playing, I have to force a spell. My choice for pitch cards are the bounce or the search. I threw the merchant scroll out.  The next turn he tinkers with no cards in hand and mutters something about bounce. Lo and behold, the echoing truth 'slips' out of my hand.  I return the colossus to his hand and that is the only card he has. He is in top deck mode...which is a bad thing to be in against my deck. 
Game 2 I go nutz turn 1 loading the board with mana (crypt, lotus, jet and land).  I draw into yawg will but his board is already set pretty nice.  I use the will to recur some stuff in my gy on turn 2 and wreck his board position.  On turn 3 I pitch a jesters cap to thirst and weld it in (welder was countered on turn 1 and replayed on turn 2).  I activate it and he has a yawg will and 3 gifts that looks threatening. I guess his tendrils is in hand and take the will and 2 gifts.  From there, he's in top deck mode. I almost hand him the game the very n ext turn getting into a counter war over one of his spells (I was looking for drain mana for my turn 4). I win the counter war AND he mistaps mana leaving himself with only a single black source so no tendrils. STupid me, I got lucky.
On my turn 4 I hard cast slaver and have the mana to activate it and about 4-5 artifacts to keep recurring it. He scoops.
I win 2-0

Round 4  vs Pitch Long
He wins the die roll and opens land-go.  I do a land-go.  On turn 2 I draw into ancestral and cast it and draw a ruby and a welder and a thirst!  On his turn 2 he combos out! 
I believe game 2 went pretty similar
I lose 2-0.  He won both through a FoW.

Round 5 vs grim long
I know I won game 1 at 1 life. He tried to go off and I had a well-timed mana drain stop him. He was short on resources and did a mini tendrils that couldn't quite kill me the next turn. He was hoping to draw another tendrils but I got sundering titan, cleared his board and beat him down.
Game 2 I should have mulliganed the hand but was curious to see what happened. I drew into nothing and lost horribly.
Game 3 was epic. I got a fast start w/ double goblin welder and began my 'non-stormed tendrils' each turn (I attacked for 2 each turn...its not that hard to get). I really had nothing going on in the yard. I was doing quite well until he combo'd out for 16 putting me at 2 life and him at 32. I beat him down 27, then my welder deck comboed out and I had a storm count of 16 when I finally cast tendrils. For the record, I could have pushed the storm count about 4 more spells higher!  NICE

I won 2-1 and finished in 10th place. 
My only disappointment was round 2. I would have loved to have actually been able to do something but I just drew dead. I can't complain about my round 4 loss. I drew really well and was set up really nice to do some damage. But my opponent piloted his deck superbly.


Props to Mike for another great tournament.  Props to the dealers for being cool. Picked up a pithing needle, my 4th volcanic island and earthcraft (just got that for gits and shiggles).
Props to Montgomery County Community College for allowing Mike to hold the tournaments there.


Slops to whoever dropped the massive duke in the men's room.  That had to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life.  I swear on my kids' lives...that thing was so big it could not fit down the toilet. There is no way on this earth that it came out of a human body.  Avoid the second stall in the men's room for future events.

Oh, and slops to myself for forgetting to fix my deck since the last tournament. I had tried out Wheel of Fortune last time and discovered this meta is just too infested with gifts and combo to run it. And I forgot to take it out.

I was playing basically the same slaver-combo deck I played last time. Its been tuned further and if not for some mana issues in round 2 I believe I would have top 8'd this one.

[standingstoic]

If no one can come up with lists, I'd be more than glad to type up mine if I can get a chance to lay the deck out and make sure I didn't lose anything along the way.  To be honest, my list is pretty janky and full of questionable card choices, hence why I have no desire to put a report together.  Most of the matches would involve hilarious things like "So I pitched a Voidslime to a misty", and "I didn't really know what to do, so I boarded in Twincast and Rebuild so I could have more junk to pitch."

Also, I'd really like to say that I have had an awesome time both times I came down for these events.  Some of the friendliest and most casual crowds I've ever had the pleasure to play the game with. Thanks guys!

[desolutionist]

*Pictures taken by Joe Davis*



Complete with regard to every detail, Kevin is analyzing the game state and eventually concluding that 2 is "low".



 



Dan Herd, or notoriously known as theGuyWhoFarted, is eating the sandwich that was responsible for three of us being 10 minutes late.



I don't know what this guy is playing.  SlaverShopAggro?



A Blitzkriegian with Manaless Ichorid against MDG in Top 4.



Meddling Mage in Bomberman is hot tech.



5 Color Magic and a big belly.



2 Headed Giant.

Unfortunately there are ZERO pictures of me OR the tournament organizer, Mike. 

[kev]

I look more like I am napping than analyzing the game state

These tournaments are always a blast.  One day i will actually break my recent habbit of not losing a game in swiss only to get slaughtered in the 1st single elim round, but even so its still fun. Congrats to Tom for splitting in the finals in only his 2nd tournament in the format!

I played EBA (not ubw fish) with lots of echoing truths (everybody loves Etw) and Grunts in the Negator slot. I think it was a good choice because of the amount of drain decks that generally show up at Montco, but I did not realize just how bad the Ichorid matchup was.

[desolutionist]

Yeah, I think it was Joe that said Blue Bell is one of the hardest local tournaments because of skill of the people playing in them; we have a handful of name players as well as a dozen or so could-be name players.

[Khahan]

Well, spread the word and bring teammates!!!!

When I talk to Mike tomorrow I'll suggest he give out prizes to first time players and people who bring along new players.

Also, don't forget his new promotion.  He will be keeping track of all players records throughout the year. At the end of the year the player who has the most points in regular swiss will win a piece of power!

This of course means that drawing is not always the right choice.

[Midknight]

The picture with the mirror of Boomerman, i'm on the left side of the picture. You can see by looking at Volcanic Island in the picture, I was splashing red. I actrally added red mainly for the sb. I had 3 Red Elemental Blast and 2 Pyroblast and 3 Flametounges in the board. I also change the main deck alittle bit from the usually version. I cut the Mana Leaks and added Fact or Fiction, one Merchant Scroll, and aditional land. I also cut the Cunning Wishes because I limited my space in the sb by adding red and change them to Repeals. I also change out one of my three Aether Spellbombs to a Pyrite Spellbomb. I wish I didn't run that extra land, I got mana floaded to many games. There were way to many times, I got unlucky not hitting any artifacts with my Thrist for Knowledge. If I could change it again, I cut the extra land and add another artifact, uppering the count to 14 maindeck artifacts. Early game I played my Moxes, I wanted them on the board and then Thirsting into no artifacts sux. With the decline of Fish and Stax, I think added red was the right choice. I lost to Gifts and Drain Intution Combo. I won agaisnt Slaver, Mirror, and 7/10. So I fininish 3/2 just missing the top 8.     I really like running the one random Merchant Scroll, it searches for so many cards, Repeal, Recall, Fact or Fiction, Counter, Thrist, and brainstorm. I think Fact or Fiction should be maindeck in the deck, for one more mana its so much better than thirst. But again I got very unlucky with drawing into artifacts with thirst.

[Nomad]

Round two: Colby (Evenpence) with Tendrils (not sure what variety)

Did the world change while I've been away?

All the same, besides the Bomberman presence, I think I'd have had a hard time with the metagame...

Nice pics Joe.

[OfficeShredder]

Round two: Colby (Evenpence) with Tendrils (not sure what variety)

Did the world change while I've been away?

I thought it was drain tendrils, but didn't see a mana drain.  So it was a tough call.  I think he posted the list on one of the waterbury threads somewhere

[MISTERTREK]

Hey Everyone!

It's Mike, The T.O. I'd first like to thank everyone once again for attending my events. I feel we really are building an amazing T1 community here in the Mid Atlantic region. Our February event will be our 11th T1 event run, and they just keep getting better every time. I am so proud of the quality of players and the quality of PEOPLE that we are drawing. If you haven't attended one of the events, I think that the testimonies of the posts on this thread will justify that we do run quality events with quality prizes and quality fun!

OK, here were the deck lists for the top 8. Please excuse any typo's due to my lack of knowledge or lack of players hand writing skills 

1st - Oath - Joe Denoy

4 x Oath of Druids
4 x Chalice of the Void
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
2 x Misdirection
2 x Voidslime
2 x Null Rod
1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Darksteel Collussus
1 x Simic Sky Swallower
1 x Lotus Petal
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Crop Rotation
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Time Walk
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Tinker
4 x Force of Will
1 x Merchant Scroll
1 x Wipe Away
1 x Gaea's Blessing
2 x Island
4 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Tropical Island
2 x Polluted Delta
2 x Flooded Strand
1 x Strip Mine

Sideboard

1 x Twincast
1 x Krosan Grip
1 x Rebuild
1 x Jesters Cap
3 x Oxidize
4 x Pithing Needle
4 x Blue Elemental Blast


2nd - Gifts - Thomas Hepp

4 x Gifts Ungiven
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Merchant Scroll
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Force of Will
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Lotus Petal
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Sol Ring
1 x Misdirection
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Ancestrall Recall
1 x Time Walk
1 x Tinker
1 x Tendrils of Agony
1 x Chain of Vapor
1 x Rebuild
1 x Dark Ritual
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Recoup
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Darksteel Colossus
4 x Polluted Delta
4 x Underground Sea
3 x Volcanic Island
2 x Island
1 x Tolarian Academy
1 x Flooded Strand

Sideboard

4 x Duress
2 x Fire/Ice
2 x Repeal
2 x Red Elemental Blast
2 x Tormods Crypt
1 x Hurkyl's Recall
1 x Pyroblast
1 x Pithing Needle

3rd - Tendrils - Bernie Parisi

1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Time Walk
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Chain of Vapor
1 x Rebuild
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Force of Will
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Lotus Petal
1 x Tendrils of Agony
1 x Darksteel Colossus
1 x Tinker
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Mystical Tutor
2 x Merchant Scroll
3 x Intuition
1 x ?
1 x Misdirection
1 x Tolarian Academy
1 x Library of Alexandria
1 x Flooded Strand
3 x Volcanic Island
3 x Island
2 x Underground Sea

Sideboard

1 x Sundering Titan
3 x Empty the Warrens
2 x Red Elemental Blast
1 x Pyroblast
4 x Duress
3 x Flametounge Kavu
1 x Hurkyl's Recall

4th - Underpantz Gnomes - Matt McCormick

4 x Serum Powder
4 x Chalice of the Void
4 x Unmask
4 x Cabal Therepy
4 x Golgari Grave Troll
4 x Leyline of the Void
4 x Stinkweed Imp
4 x Golgari Thug
3 x Dread Return
2 x Dragon Breath
2 x Sutured Ghoul
4 x Gigapede
4 x Ichorid
4 x Nether Shadow
4 x Bazaar of Baghdad
4 x Petrified Field
1 x Strip Mine

Sideboard

3 x Pithing Needle
1 x Ray of Revelation
4 x Riftstone Portal
4 x Ancient Grudge
3 x Tormad's Crypt

5th - 8th

Kevin Sigman

4 x Underground Sea
4 x Tundra
3 x Polluted Delta
3 x Flooded Strand
1 x Island
1 x Scrubland
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Black Lotus
4 x Dark Confidant
4 x Meddling Mage
3 x Jutan Grunt
4 x Force of Will
4 x Brainstorm
2 x Stifle
2 x Thirst for Knowledge
2 x Mana Drain
3 x Duress
4 x Chalice of the Void
1 x Time Walk
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Swords to Plowshares
1 x Echoing Truth
1 x Orim's Chant

Sideboard

2 x Pithing Needle
3 x Swords to Plowshares
2 x Seal of Cleansing
2 x Blue Elemental Blast
1 x Disenchant
1 x Darkblast
1 x Echoing Truth
1 x Orim's Chant

Matt Parisdirt

4 x Wasteland
4 x Smoke Stacks
3 x Crusible of the Worlds
3 x Goblin Welder
3 x Chalice of the Void
4 x City of Brass
4 x Gemstone Mine
1 x Gorilla Shaman
1 x Trinisphere
1 x Crop Rotation
1 x Karn Silver Golem
1 x Balance
1 x Duplicant
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Tinker
1 x Pithing Needle
1 x Strip Mine
1 x Sol Ring
1 x In the Eye of Chaos
1 x Sundering Titan
1 x Triskelion
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Tolarian Academy
1 x Mishra's Factory
1 x Barbarian Ring
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Ancestral Recall
4 x Mishra's Workshop
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Pearl
4 x Sphere of Resistance

Sideboard

3 x Juggernaut
3 x Tormad's Crypt
1 x Duplicant
1 x Pithing Needle
1 x Jesters Cap
2 x Ray of Revelation
1 x Chalice of the Void
1 x In the Eye of Chaos
2 x Ancient Grunt

David Putnins

1 x Darksteel Colossus
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Burning Wish
1 x Recoup
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Chain of Vapor
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Rebuild
1 x Time Walk
1 x Tinker
4 x Mana Drain
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Merchant Scroll
4 x Gifts Ungiven
2 x Misdirection
4 x Force of Will
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Ruby
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Sol Ring
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Tolarian Academy
1 x Polluted Delta
4 x Flooded Strand
4 x Island
3 x Volcanic Island
3 x Underground Sea
1 x Lotus Petal

Sideboard

1 x Deep Analysis
2 x Tormad's Crypt
1 x Accumulated Knowledge
3 x Duress
2 x Hurkyl's Recall
1 x Stifle
1 x Trickbind
2 x Empty the Warrens
1 x Fire/Ice
1 x Tendrils of Agony

Jeremy Beaver

4 x Underground Sea
3 x Polluted Delta
1 x Flooded Strand
1 x Island
1 x Swamp
1 x Tolarian Academy
2 x Tendrils of Agony
3 x Chromatic Star
3 x Grim Tutor
3 x Cabal Ritual
4 x Force of Will
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Dark Ritual
2 x Misdirection
1 x Memory Jar
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Yawgmoth's Bargin
1 x Yawgmoth's Will
1 x Demonic Tutor
1 x Rebuild
1 x Chain of Vapor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Necropotence
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Minds Desire
1 x Imperial Seal
1 x Tinker
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Mana Vault
1 x Lions Eye Diamond
1 x Sol Ring
1 x Black Lotus
1 x Mox Sapphire
1 x Mox Emerald
1 x Mox Jet
1 x Mox Pearl
1 x Mox Ruby

Sideboard

1 x Sundering Titan
1 x Tropical Island
1 x Bayou
1 x Massacre
1 x Hurkyl's Recall
2 x Elvish Spirit Guide
2 x Tormad's Crypt
3 x Engineered Explosives
3 x Xantid Sworm


Our next event is scheduled for February 10th. Keep an eye on the announcement board for details.

[ashiXIII]

Thanks a lot Mike for getting these up! If you'd like, at the next MCCC, I'll take the top 8 decklists before I leave and post them for you.

[Midknight]

Thanks Mike, for the top 8 deck list. I am so glad you run these type 1 touraments, because with out this, I would have so far to travel to play in a type 1. For the amount of people and the price its well worth it and lots of fun.

[yespuhyren]

I don't know what this guy is playing.  SlaverShopAggro?

Looks like Gilded Claw to me.