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MasterShake
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« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2007, 12:21:00 am » |
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I suppose I too should write a report of sorts.
The morning starts the night before where I've built my sexiest build of Life.dec to date, and I play to annihilate the competition. I go to bed aiming to get six hours, feeling good about the day to come.
The day begins with a ring at my door. I've slept an hour longer than I was supposed too. I look at the clock, it reads 9:23, which is ten minutes fast, so it's 9:13. We're late. The tournament begins in just over 45 minutes. I rush to get dressed, answer the door, and gather all of my stuff. There was one thing I didn't notice, however. My hetro-life partner, Kacey Keel was visibly in no shape to play Magic, let alone drive. The details may need to remain a mystery, but needless to say, I drive his car the rest of the way. We almost get hit twice, and we arrive on site with roughly 5 minutes to fill out a deck list, on an empty gas tank, and best of all, without the deck that I had intended to play. Which leaves me with:
Truffle Shuffle: The ultra sub-Par build:
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Pernicious Deed
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Vindicate
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Eternal Witness
3 Krosan Tusker
2 Gigapede
2 Grave-Shell Scarab
2 Haunting Echoes
2 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
4 Windswept Heath
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Scrubland
4 Bayou
2 Forest
2 Swamp
2 Plains
Sideboard:
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Orim's Chant
4 Loxodon Hierarch
2 Smother
1 Wrath of God
The board is probably the thing I am most upset about. I was fortunate enough to bring Smother with me, but not Infest, which I prefer to run. I'm just generally very unhappy with my board aside from the Therapy and Hierach counts, which are normal. The main deck is a whole other fiasco. No Savannahs. A friend has half of the Savannahs that I normally use, the other half are left at the house in Life.dec. The solution? 3 more Fetch lands to replace Savannah. I really don't like it, but it's better than running 3 more basics. I'm really concerned because I only have 1 Damnation in the deck, depending on WW for each copy of Wrath of God, that, and I like to play decks that use Savannah.
I fill out the decklist (incorrectly...) and am able to settle down just before I need to play.
Round 1: (Lost my Notes) with Meat Hooks.
Game 1: I had overheard this guy while I was filling out my deck list trying to figure out if his board should have 2 Stifle, 2 Krosan Grip or 2 Pithing Needle. I figured he was playing Threshold. He wins the die roll and leads Flooded Strand -> Plains. Befuddled, I just think that maybe he really wants an un-Wastelandable Swords outlet. I lead with Swamp, Duress which reveals two Sinew Slivers and Brainstorm. I take the Brainstorm and comment that this is going to be much easier than Threshold as I look at the two Deeds in my hand. I play some Sweept effects that 2-1 his creatures, He gets me down to 10ish before I lay down Gigapede and, he has no answers.
Sideboarding -3 Vindicate +1 Wrath of God +2 Smother.
Game 2: He gets the turn 2 Crystaline Sliver nuts, and is able to counter my first Deed. He plays some more creatures, I blow them up with a Wrath, he plays a couple more, I kill them with a Deed. Haunting Echoes removes all but Winged Sliver and Plated Sliver, it also hits all of his counter magic aside from Stifle. He plays a couple more guys, I try to Deed, he Stifles it, but, I just kill his Slivers 1-1 with Swords and Smother.
1-0 (2-0)
As I hinted, I incorrectly filled out my deck list (I was in such a hurry) Apparently, my registered deck was supposed to contain 4 copies of Wrath of God in the sideboard, instead of the 1 (increasing m SB to 18 cards, and 6 WoG in the deck, total.) I get a game loss for my next game... hoo-ray.
Round 2: Andrew with TES
Game 1: I think he's playing Goblins while he suffles up, (obviously I didn't see any cards) and in a way, he kind of is. I keep a hand of 2x STP, 1 Duress and 4 land. I am on the play, and Duress. I see a hand of LED, Burning Wish, Gemstone Mine, City of Brass, a Chrome Mox and Brainstorm...! Holy shit, this is bad, bad, bad. TES needs to win one game for the match? This is the worst news ever. I take the LED and hope he ends up going for the Tomb or Urami win, so I can have a chance. His hand is hurt pretty badly by the Duress, so I have a little time. I draw into a Hymn, eventually, and Eternal Witness returns it eventually. With 6 cards in hand, he figures that it's time for him to go off, rather than face another Hymn. We both sit at 17 life. He quickly raises his storm count to lethal, but seems to have a lot of mana problems. He plays Diminishing Returns, which draws me into a hand that wins if he doesn't. He plays LED and Burning Wish, breaking the LED, leaving himself only 3 black mana. I figure that at this point he has fizzled. He wishes for Pain's Reward, his own tech. and instant;y bids 16 life. I can't out bid him, so with 0 mana floating, he draws 4 cards, and then picks up all of his cards and gets ready for game 2.
Sideboarding: -1 Damnation -2 Wrath of God -1 Vindicate -4 Swords to Plowshares +4 Cabal Therapy +4 Orim's Chant
Game 2: I draw an absolute God hand, assuming he doesn't win on turn 1. I draw the cards in this order: Orim's Chant, Swamp, Duress, Cabal Therapy, Cabal Therapy, Bloodstained Mire, Orim's Chant. I am so relived about this. I don't have an answer for Dark Confidant, but I know that I'm in good shape. He leads City of Brass, go. I play Duress and he shows me: 3 Plunge into Darkness, 1 Chrome Mox, 1 Burning Wish, 1 Dark Confidant. I take the Bruning Wish, as I have Therapy for the Plunge, which makes me incredibly happy. He imprints a Plunge on the Mox, and plays Confidant. I Therapy the 2 remaining Plunge into Darkness, and Therapy a Dark Ritual. The game drags on for a bit, He is taking more damage off his Confidant than I am, and at one point he gets up to 4 cards in his hand. He attempts to go off, and in response to an Burning Wish + LED I chant him, he wishes for Diminishing Returns. my turn, I flash back Therapy with Eternal Witness and Vindicate his Confidant. I play Gigapede and another Eternal Witness while he draws dead. and I quickly bring him down to an uncomfortable life total (1). He starts trying to go off, with 3 cards in hand, I Chant him in response to the first ritual, and he mana burns to death. Phew.
2-0 (4-1)
Round 3: Todd with UGw Threshold.
Game 1: I've known Todd for a while, but I've never played against him. I assume he is good, and he knows what I'm playing, and understands that it's a complete nightmare for him. I draw into 12 lands, and see one removal spell the entire game.
Sideboarding: -2 Swords to Plowshares +2 Smother
Game 2: I mulligan down to 6, and keep a 1 land + top. I draw no land for several turns, the game is over, it just takes him a while to deal 20 damage.
2-1 (4-3)
Round 4: Stephen with Affinity
Game 1: I'm feeling pretty low coming into this, losing to the single deck I'm supposed to beat. But, my heart sprung a fountain of joy when my opponent played a first turn Great Furnace and Ęther Vial. I peek at my hand (I'm on the play, so I all ready have a fetch down) 1 Pernicious Deed, 1 Swords, 1 Hymn and 2 more lands. I fetch for Scrubland eot, play Bayou on my turn (draw into a land) and Hymn him. I'm upset when dice rolling gets me Seat of the Snyod and Blinkmoth Nexus. This is eased when he misses his 2nd land drop. I play a turn 3 Deed (drawing into a 2nd deed that turn) and the game ends shortly there after.
Sideboarding: -3 Duress +1 Wrath of God +2 Smother
Game 2: The first card I draw is Deed, and there are lands there as well, so I'm happy. He leads with turn 1 Disciple, and then turn 2 Frogmite, then turn 3 Disciple, then turn 4 Disciple and Myr Enforcer. At this point, I have Deed on the table, and I start counting. I'll lose 12 life if I activate Deed. This is unfortunate seeing as how I'm at 11. I start cleaning house, first Vindicating a Disciple, and then Plowing the Enforcer. He brings me down to 7 with attacks. I vindicate another Disciple before I Deed @1, bringing me to 3. He plays a land and another Myr Enforcer, and passes. I play Eternal Witness, returning Swords, and remove his other 4/4. On his turn, he plays Therapy, naming Eternal Witness. I show him the lone card in my hand: Haunting Echoes. He looks at this yard for a moment, and decides not to flash back Therapy, removing his lone creature. On my turn I in fact do remove his graveyard, he loses Myr Enforcer, Cabal Therapy, Disciple of the Vault and a couple of other non-creature spells. He topdecks a Ravager. I use top on my turn to turn up a Swords and Swords the Ravager. He allows it. He plays a land, I draw Gigapede and play it. He plays another Ravager, I dig up another Eternal Witness to get my Swords back to kill it. He runs out of creatures, and Gigapede becomes too much of a hassle, so he picks up his cards.
3-1 (6-3)
Round 5: I don't know his name, but we're both on Turffle Shuffle
We ID, he realizes that he is 8th seed, and the poor guy in fact does get knocked out, by a guy with 7 points going into this round, but he says that he wouldn't take it back either way, because the Truffle Shuffle Mirror must be the most annoying thing ever.
3-1-1
Top 8. I'm 8th seed. And fate takes a hand to make it so that I play against U/w Landstill, which is in first after his 5th round opponent fell asleep. Read Josh's report above for more information on that.
Round 6: Austin with U/w Landstill
Game 1: I played this very same match last month, and I was very unhappy with the outcome. Austin runs a number of Wastelands and Dust Bowl. These cards make me unhappy, especially the latter. Last time we played, he won, but I was very sure of my chances to win. This game is very, very long, He keeps a slow hand (As if Landstill had fast hands) And I tried to keep him off blue mana with Vindicate (he kept a 2 wasteland hand) for a few turns, but he kept topdecking it. He burns up counters on Hymns and Duress gets Decree and what-not. I get a Deed on the table, which stops his Factories from coming after me, and helps me kill his Crucible when it comes down. I finally hit a creature, Grave-Shell Scarab (Chuck) and good ol' Chuck went through every piece of removal left in Austins deck, and all of his man-lands to eventually win the first game.
Sideboarding: -3 Wrath of God +3 Loxodon Hirearch
Game 2: Austin counters my turn 1 Top, and gets a Standstill down, which is only broken on my 3rd turn, when I move to play a Deed. Aptly, the Deed is countered. I take 4 points off a Factory, while Austin throws Counterspells at Hymn to Tourachs. I get a Deed on the Table, which kills the pace of the game. He plays Crucible, I eot Deed, he Stifles it. I Vindicate the Crucible on my main phase. I try to resolve another Deed on my turn, he Forces it. I play some Hirearchs, he Stifles a Life gain ability, and Plows it, I play another, it sticks around long enough to be Wrathed. I duress on my turn, getting Decree of Justice. he plays Dust bowl, and uses it. I use Top to draw into Haunting Echoes (Gigapede is the next card) and I ask him if he has a counter. He doesn't, and thusly loses every business spell in his deck, but keeps all man-lands. The game then comes down to Gigapede bashing into a sea of Factories and Faerie conclaves, when I don't have enough Swords to kill them all.
4-1-1 (8-3)
Top 4: Round 7: Craig with WGb Zoo.
Game 1: He was scouting my incredibly long match with Austin, and knows exactly what I'm playing. I have only a very faint idea of what he is playing. Game 1, I keep another 1-land-and-top hand. I don't see lands quickly enough, and he beats me quicker than I'd like
Sideboarding: -4 Duress +2 Loxodon Hierach +2 Smother
Game 2: I'm feeling very bad about this, and wonder if I can turn this around. My hand looks good, 3 lands, Swords, Hymn, and a couple of other decent effects. I manage to stay-off his quick creature plan, and Deed away a Jitte and creature, only to play another Deed. I finally get good ol' Chuck (Grave-Shell Scarab) on the table, and he is larger than anything that Craig can get on the table.
Game 3: I'm feeling much better, especially after I see my hand, 4 lands, and a deed, a Damnation and Duress. He leads with duress, taking my Duress. I play land-Go, after drawing into Swords. He plays a Watchwolf, I allow it to stay around, so I can 2-1 if he tries to Rancor it. He hits me, plays another critter, my turn, I play Deed, he attacks for 5, I play land-go. He attacks, I clear the two men, and he plays two more. I Damnation them away, he plays a creature, I kill it. This process continues over the next several turns. Finally, I land a Gigapede and then Eternal Witness, and then Chuck. He hits a Jotun Grunt, and Equips it with Jitte, but I just Deed his side off the table.
5-1-1 (10-4)
Finals: Round 8: Josh with Goblins.
Before we start, I ask him if he would like to concede to me, he gives it serious though. I keep silent. I don't have a ton of experience at events like this, so when it comes to negotiating in the final stages, I don't know exactly what I may or may not do. I assume that offering him a prize split would be collusion or bribery, or something of that nature, and would get me Disqualified. As I later find out, I am quite wrong, and once again, I learn a lesson the hard way. I'm not confidant at all in this match, as my board sucks for it, and this land split is really, really bad for me.
Game 1: He wins the die roll. I have a pretty decent hand, Swords, Deed, Wrath, and some lands. I keep, he keeps. He has a slow start, which benefits me. His turn 2 Piledriver is sent to live on the farm, but, He hits me for several damage, He plays Warchief, and gets in for a couple. I play deed. He matrons for Piledriver, plays it and brings me down to 7. I activate Deed on his turn, after his attack step has come and gone. He plays Ringleader, drawing Warchief and something else. I play Grave-Shell Scarab, he plays Warchief, Matron (Getting Ringleader) and Fanatic. but holds back the attack. I tap out to cycle Krosan Tusker, and play Deed. He plays Ringleader (hitting only Siege-Gang Commander) and cycles Gempalm at Chuck. I drop to 2 life. I deed on his turn, he plays Siege-Gang afterwords. I play Wrath of God on my turn. He has been commenting this entire game about his topdecking, and I'd like to imagine that he topdecked the 4th Goblin Warchief that finished me off, as I had no answer in hand.
Sideboarding: -4 Duresss +1 Wrath of God +3 Loxodon Hirearch, this isn't amazing, but if I can get lands on the table... it'll be all right.
Game 2: On the play, I have Top, and I also have Swords for his turn 1 lackey. The problem is, this is a 1 land hand (and the lands is Plains.) I take the chance and keep it. I swords his Lackey, and then hit a bayou. It is immedeatly destroyed, he hits port, and I don't see lands in my top 3. Finally, I get my 2nd plains, but at this point, he's amassed a small army that I can do nothing about, as he has 2 Ports active.
So, in conclusion...
Truffle Shuffle, or whatever you would like to call it, is really an amazing deck. While it doesn't have the same ultra-strong synergies that many of the other decks in the format depend on, it has an all around strong game against the environment. Combo really is seldom a problem, as you have umpteen hate cards game 2/3 and typically enough game 1 to hold them off for a decent shot at a win. It can out-control other control decks, and keep most aggro (although I know my normal build struggles a bit with Goblins) But, the deck probably has the single best game against Random in the environment, and while I did lose to threshold today, the Threshold (and Fish) match is so lopsided, it really is not funny, if you're the Thresh/Fish player.
I'm am really disappointed that I lost to Threshold, and that I am too inexperienced to know what I can and cannot do in the final round of a tournament. The day was really awful, overall. I am very surprised and happy with how the deck and I preformed, I only wish that I could have been able to make the fixes that I wanted. Actually, I wish I was able to play the deck that I forgot. I suppose I'll have one last chance to win some byes, I'd better make it count, because winning 15 rounds in a row is hard.
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