Eudemonia 2007 Time Walk Tourney Results/pics

[LotusHead]

Top 8
Brett Allen BOMBERM4N
Eirik Aune UB Storm
D4n Messinio WUB Fish
Christiaan Royer Hulk Flash
Chris Tolar $t4ks
Webster UB Storm
P4ul Gaither Mono-Black
Eric Campusano UB Fish (maybe with white)

Web n Brett split in the finals, but played once to see who would get the free bye for the Lotus Tourney.


Uh...


G4len's Sliver's get in there, turn sidew4ys, 4nd deliver twelve poison counters in 4 vint4ge tourn4ment. Sweet.


Junior prob4bly won this one. The Cl4w....


Paul Cheon got owned by the Old Man. actualy, Eric's DarkBlast on Old Man Pwned Pauls Old Man. Or Something. JUDGE.


Nice Lotus Proxy.


Ouch...


Robert The Swordsman's SB Tech...


Who will win?


RobertTheSwordsman vs Vincent. Robert hopes Vince will go Doomsay, to be thwarted by the Tormod's Crypt that is clearly in pay.  He does (lost in comboland), and Robert wins this g4me... That's a shitty Black Lotus proxy in Vincent's hand.




Dan Vs Eric Top 8


Webster vs Chris Top 8


Brett vs Christiaan Top 8


Eirik vs Paul Top 8


Web vs Paul Top 4


Brett vs Dan Top 4


Brett has the win on the field, but doesn't try going broken for three more turns...




Pics, etc, soon...

[tomjoad]

As a recently "reformed" T2 player, this was my first real T1 experience and, though I didn't do particularly well, I had a great time. Well run event + Exciting format = Me looking forward to the Sapphire tourny. Congrats to Christiaan and Eric (who both beat me in the Swiss) on the top 8.

[pyr0ma5ta]

I don't go to a Eudo tournament and everyone has 2-power dudes in their deck all of a sudden?  I see that even the Storm players went back to their old friend Bob.  Of course, this metagame is going defunct in T-minus bout tree fiddy minutes, so it doesn't matter anyway. 

Glad to see everyone had fun.  I'm all sunburned from gradumacation and such.

[hiryu]

Nice pics as usual, Lotushead.  Though enough with the 4s already.   Here's my report.
---

On the Saturday before Eudemonia’s Time Walk tournament, I check the SCG reports and see that Smmemen has a new deck that’s the awesome technology.  I figure that will probably be my deck.  Then at the end of the day I find out it’s TPS.  So tired of TPS.  I notice that Bomberman had also done pretty well and decide it’s high time I tried that deck.  I put it together and goldfish a few hands.  My god is it terrible.  How does this deck ever win?  Meh, let's run it anyways and see what the fuss is about.

As part of my time-tested process of screwing up perfectly good decks, I decide to add random cards… some Wastelands, Stifles, maybe a Daze?  (Flash is in full force out here.)  A lone Jotun Grunt looks up mournfully from my disassembled fish deck... OK, you’re in.

Round 1 vs Galen (Hulk Flash)

I lead with a land and Lotus, and he plays an Underground Sea and passes.  I end step pop out an Aven Mindcensor.  He Brainstorms in response and I return my land to Daze his Brainstorm (I don’t have a second land in hand anyways).  I brain fart and forget to float mana, so it turns out he can Daze my Daze.  His Brainstorm and my Mindcensor resolve.   A couple of turns later, he casts a Chain of Vapor on my Mindcensor, casts Summoners Pact for an Elvish Spirit Guide, and Flashes.  However, I have one Island up and a Stifle, so his Hulk does nothing.  I considered waiting to Stifle the Karmic Guide, which would be a little better in general, but hitting the Hulk seemed safest given that he couldn’t pay for his Pact anyways.  Pact takes it down.

In game 2 Galen runs out a turn 1 Venomous Sliver.  I take two poison counters before nerfing it with Engineered Explosives.  Feeling my shields were down, Galen Pacts up a Hulk and Flashes, but I have enough counters to stop him, and the Pact Police come for Galen again.

1-0 matches, 2-0 games

Round 2 vs Robert (UB?)

In game 1 Robert played a lot of Wastelands, a Strip Mine, a Crucible of Worlds (countered), and a lot of artifact mana.  My Trinket Mage went all the way.  I figure he’s Stax and bring in Energy Fluxes.  How awkward when he leads with several basic Islands in game 2.  At least the Flux killed some of his Moxes.  Again Trinket Mage goes all the way.  That guy's a monster.

2-0 matches, 4-0 games

Round 3 vs Web (Drain/Confidant Tendrils)

This is Web’s first played match, since he got paired against friends the previous 2 rounds.  In game 1, my Mindcensor is great.  Web is struggles to find black mana (I think I drew some Wastelands).  He fires off a fetchland and misses in the top four cards, and that’s that.  In game 2, I Wasteland and Strip, but he has two Bobs out.  They give him Force of Will and Tendrils.  I only have two mana sources and a grip full of Trinket Mages and countermagic.  However, his Bobs have put each of us to 7.  Web taps out to cast his Tendrils with a single storm copy.  I Force one copy, and Daze the other.  He Forces my Daze, I Misdirect, and he Forces again.  So I go to 4 and he goes to 6.  I draw another blank and his Bobs reveal Old Man of the Sea and… Force of Will.  Lucky…

3-0 matches, 6-0 games

Round 4 vs John (Grim Long)

It’s a 5 round event, so I can take a draw here, but I get paired down.  My hand is not that great, but it has a turn 1 Force/Misdirection.  I lose the roll and end up having to use the Force on some outrageous sequence of plays.  This leaves me with lands, Mox, and Jotun Grunt.  The Grunt comes down and attacks twice.  I draw more lands.  He starts to go off with a Timetwister, but his tutors and Cities of Brass, and the Grunt have left him at 1 life.  The Twister finds me a Mindcensor to finish it.  In game 2 he gets a turn 1 Necro and pulls up thirteen cards.  He sets up the win on turn two, casting Yawgmoth’s Will and sacrificing Lion’s Eye Diamond in response.  Looks pretty good until a bystander points out that Necro/LED don’t play well together.  With his tutor removed from the game, he cannot go off and mana burns to death.  John was a nice guy and drove a long way to play, so I offer the draw anyways; I’ll be guaranteed to be paired against another 3-0-1 in the last round.

3-0-1 matches, 8-0 games

Round 5 vs Dan (UWB fish)

ID

3-0-2 matches, 8-0 games

Top 8 vs Christiaan (Hulk Flash)

The first action of the game is when Christiaan casts Vampiric Tutor and I respond with Mindcensor.  Christiaan has the Force and I think it’s over.  However, he still has to spend next turn Merchant Scrolling for Flash.  This gives me time to cast Trinket Mage for Tormod’s Crypt.  He casts Flash and by now I have Mana Drain mana up.  I think and I think about how he can win through Tormod’s Crypt and decide he can’t, so I let it resolve.  He gets Carrion Feeder and Body Snatcher, pitching Kiki-Jiki.  Then he plays his last card: Imperial Seal.  I draw an Echoing Truth and use it on his Body Snatcher (Crypting when he sacrifices it to Carrion Feeder) to be safe, although the only card I can think of that would wreck me here is Wipe Away.  It becomes a race between Trinket Mage and his 2/2 Carrion Feeder, though I have a substantial head start.  When he gets to 3 life, he can hard-cast a Protean Hulk, but I have Mana Drain.

Game 2 is a lot closer.  I can stop any combo action, but he hard-casts Sundering Titan, destroying both of my lands.  I draw Trinket Mage and play it off my Mox and Sol Ring, finding Aether Spellbomb.  He Massacres my Trinket Mage and Mindcensor and attacks for 5.  I bounce the Titan and rebuild my mana, eventually getting another Trinket Mage down.  When he gets to 5 he casts a desperation Flash.  I figure he’ll get Karmic Guide, in which case I can Tormod’s Crypt and Swords to Plowshares before blockers.  But instead he gets double Elvish Spirit Guide!  I lose my Mage and end up having to Swords his other Grey Ogre.  About a million turns go by before I draw another creature, but it gets it done.

4-0-2 matches, 10 games

Top 4 vs Dan (UWB Fish)

Dan gets a turn 1 Confidant, and turn 2 Duress and another creature.  However, I turn 1 Brainstorm, Mox, Aether Spellbomb, and turn 2 Trinket Mage for Lotus.  He Duresses, seeing my only card (Auriok Salvagers), then triumphantly drops Tormod’s Crypt, and plays Meddling Mage on Trinket Mage (?).  I draw a Trinket Mage and play the Salvagers.  On my next turn he has five mana up, so I wait a bit in case he has double Force of Will.  Though looking back at the board in Lotushead's picture, I was probably fine.  Anyways, eventually I start to go off; he tries to stop me with one Force of Will and Tormod’s Crypt, but they do nothing.  Except that I embarrassingly miscalculate and lose my Spellbomb by bouncing his Meddling Mage too early.  No matter; I can still play my Trinket Mage in hand for Engineered Explosives and destroy all of his non-land permanents for the short remainder of the game.

Game 2 is anti-climactic as Dan mulligans and I mise into the combo again.  Dan asks for my win condition.  In case infinite mana and card draw isn't enough, Jotun Grunt gives me infinite turns, too.

5-0-2 matches, 12-0 games

Finals vs Web (Drain/Confidant Tendrils)

I’m kind of tempted to play out the finals, but my ride needs to go, and Web and his friends have a restaurant to get to.  So we decide to split the prize as store credit and play a single game to see who gets the bye and free entry for the Lotus tournament (which is tied to second place).  Web wins the die roll and resolves turn 1 Ancestral.  Ah well, it was a good run.

5-1-2 matches, 12-1 games


Props to Eudemonia for another fine event!

 - Brett Allen.

[Webster]

Metagame breakdown:

4  / drain bob tendrils
4  fish
2  flash
2  bomberman
1  pitch long
1  / grim long
1  shop aggro
1  ichorid
1  doomsday
1  5-c stax
1  bob TPS
1  ritual gifts
1  mono  aggro
1  / fish
1  other

The  / drain tendrils list seemed ok on paper but was grossly underpowered in gameplay. I was given the task of making a tendrils list that had both confidant and leyline main so I started with diceman's drain tendrils list from 3/24 @ The Untouchables and modified it taking into consideration a heavy presence of leylines and mindcensors along with ichorid and flash.

I arrived at Eudemonia after picking up a tasty yet grossly overpriced venti drip from starbucks setting me back a cool $1.80. When my friends got there they said that the deck actually couldn't win. "MAYDAY MAYDAY" "BREAKER NINE SIX CHARLIE ZULU BRAVO" "WE ARE GOING DOWN" "REQUEST MED-EVAC"  That's probably what was going through my mind at that point, yet my countenance would have reminded someone of a deep mountain lake in late autumn; cold, serene, unreadable.

"Really?", I responded.

I got my arm twisted in to adding tinker/colossus main at the last minute which was the rescuse craft that helped the deck escape "victoriously" from the tournament. I felt like I had been in a movie, narrowly escaping a deadly trap set by cunning villainous pursuers.


[begin scene] "GET TO THE CHAAAPAAHHHH !!!!1~!!@!11!!!!11ONE!!!!ELEVENTYONE!1111!!1!!1@1!"

*SETTING: Midday, amazon jungle cliff rich in overgrowth and wildlife; poisonous snakes, colombian drug cartel henchman, one predator, ravenous monkeys all around.*

*ENTER hero, wounded with bones broken in 45 locations, running valiantly towards vietnam-era rescue helicopter as enemies pursue. Hero breaks left then right, expertly evading his pursuers; the pain is agonizing.*

*CAMERA moves from our hero in the jungle to behind the helicopter hovering next to the cliff. Hero is in sight running towards the chaapaahhh. Pursuers are still hot on his trail. With a sudden burst of speed hero sprints towards the cliff; 20 yards, 15, 10, 5. Hero, with a great cry leaps into the air, arms outstretched reaching for the chaapaahhh 6 yards away. CAMERA changes view to being perpendicular to the angle of hero's leap with a slight angle upwards; sun is almost directly behind; time slows down to a crawl. Hero's shout of determination is not enough to drown out the deafening rhythmic noise of the chaapaahhh's rotars.

"FWOOMPH....FWOOMPH...FWOOMPH"

*Hero, glistening with the perspiration of adrenaline and determination, grabs onto the landing bar of the chaapaahh while his darksteel rescuer helps him through the bay door of the craft as it flys away to safety.* [/endscene]




The deck didn't have enough mana really and was very reliant on chain of vapor, rebuild, and yawgmoth's will to play a lethal tendrils. Even with a few swings from dark confidant, without chain, rebuild, or yawgmoth's will, making tendrils lethal was almost impossible. The idea was good in theory but when converted to actual gameplay, it unfortunately came up far short of what I would call tier-1.

Loose Pre June1-B&R Announcement Resilient Metagamed Drain Tendrils Deck.failure:

4 dark confidant
2 tendrils of agony
1 darksteel colossus

4 force of will
3 mana drain
4 leyline of the void
3 duress
1 chain of vapor
1 rebuild

4 brainstorm
2 thirst for knowledge
1 ancestral recall
1 fact or fiction

1 mystical tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 tinker

1 yawgmoth's will
1 time walk

7 solomox
1 lotus petal
1 mana crypt

1 library of alexandria
1 tolarian academy
3 flooded strand
2 polluted delta
1 tundra
3 underground sea
3 island

SB:
3 old man of the sea
2 smother
3 energy flux
2 extirpate
1 duress
1 echoing truth
3 aven mindcensor



The mana base was incorrect. It should have been:

1 tolarian academy
4 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 tundra
3 underground sea
3 island
1 swamp

Duress probably would have been better in the SB which would have freed up some space in the main for some combination of: 15th land, 4th mana drain, 1-2 dark ritual.

Now that the B&R Announcement is "officially" in effect, the metagame will obviously change to incorperate some new and old strategies and their foils, but I can only gush the future on what will emerge at the top; everything else is shop talk.

[LotusHead]

Metagame breakdown:

4  / drain bob tendrils
4  fish
2  flash
2  bomberman
1  pitch long
1  / grim long
1  shop aggro
1  ichorid
1  doomsday
1  5-c stax
1  bob TPS
1  ritual gifts
1  mono  aggro
1  / fish
1  other

M4ke that one Bomberman, one SHIT.dec piloted by me.

I "testing" (ie, game one vs whatever I have proxied up...) it was good, but I was so shortsighted as to not even settlie on a sideboard.  What I came with was the fifteen I tossed in there out of the trade binder.

In all farness to Dan Cunningham's list, I had like one card of it for my SB.

Frickin' 3 Back To Basics in the side. WTF?. Terrible.

I got stomped.

Austin took 20  Minutes to throw together SlapJack 2k7, so beware.

RobertTheSwordsman, Chris Tolar amd company came up from 7 hours awy to participate in our Eudemonia tourney, so props to them.

Next tourney I will pwn MoFo's.

[Dnine]

In that third picture Junior lost that one.  Exalted angel beets harder then 3 welders and a factory.  He had no weld targets in his graveyard. 

As for the top 4 matchup with Brent, when I duressed you revealed the trinket mage, not the scavagers.  That's why Mage is set on it.  You commented that it was the first time you've seen him all day after topdecking it.  I didn't know before that if you were playing him or not becuase everyone I asked hadn't seen him.  I may have been able to capitalize on your mistake to not return the spellbomb if I would have saved my force for the trinket mage.  who know's though, the force may have been the reason you forgot.  Either way there wasn't much I could do.  In game 2 you pretty much had a god hand that couldn't lose.  You swords my first mage and forced my second while still having the pieces to combo off turn 3.  Meanwhile I muled to 6 and brainstormed into 3 mana sources with no shuffle effects. 

As for my deck I'd comment more on it, but it really is nothing special.  Basically I tested GAT the night before.  It dawned on me the morning of that gush wouldn't be legal for another 4 days so I through together a fish deck.  Pretty sad actually, but hey, it top 4'd.  The mindcensors are really good, but I'm sure most already figured that out.  The 3 crypts main were not bad, but I didn't face gush(I mean flash, my bad) or icorid all day so they weren't as good as I wanted and came out quite a bit.  I ran 2 exalted angels in the side as I could only find 2 jits for the mirror and was too lazy to find anything else.  They were just sitting in my binder staring at me, bagging "please play me".  They actually were the all stars of the board winning me 2 out of the 4 matches I won.  All in all not a bad deck, but I must admit I got a little lucky and had some help from misplays to make it to the top 4, I only wish I could have had a better showing at the end.

[pyr0ma5ta]

That is possibly the funniest thing I've read in a month, Web.  And I don't just mean the story, either, that decklist is pretty hilarious looking.  No Merchant Scrolls?  It doesn't feel like you'd ever be able to cast a Tendrils since you don't have Rituals.  And didn't you guys learn the lesson yet?  I played Bob and Leylines together, and it made me lose!  Why would you do that again?  :p  Congrats on winning yet another tournament, despite running a suboptimal deck this time.

Lotushead: That last picture is definitely not the win on board: there's a Crypt.

Dnine, there's a reason you didn't face Gush: it wasn't legal.  And Gush decks don't use the yard that much, really.

[Webster]

That is possibly the funniest thing I've read in a month, Web.  And I don't just mean the story, either, that decklist is pretty hilarious looking.  No Merchant Scrolls?  It doesn't feel like you'd ever be able to cast a Tendrils since you don't have Rituals.  And didn't you guys learn the lesson yet?  I played Bob and Leylines together, and it made me lose!  Why would you do that again?  :p  Congrats on winning yet another tournament, despite running a suboptimal deck this time.

The required maindeck bobs and leylines took up too much space. I wanted to run scrolls but there just wasn't enough room. I had some before the tinker and DSC got swaped in. There should have been at least one ritual in there to begin with to help comboing out with will. The changes I suggested in my last post would have made the deck a lot easier to win with but that's hindsight. We actually didn't test the deck against anything at all. Not a one. There were only a few goldfish hands.

I lost 2 games to bob; one against Brett in the swiss and another against Paul in top4. Against Brett I revealed in order: force of will, tendrils of agony, dark confidant, duress, thirst for knowledge, force of will. Throw in a fetchland and a force of two and that's a recipe for disaster. I drew 2 mana sources during that fiasco of a game.

Against Paul I revealed about 14 points of damage, including DSC which was kinda meh. That was game 1 where I had bob in play for 5 turns and tinker in hand along with force backup. Guess who never drew a land in those 5 turns. I was a sad panda.

Dnine, there's a reason you didn't face Gush: it wasn't legal.  And Gush decks don't use the yard that much, really.

I think he meant flash.

[LotusHead]

Lotushead: That last picture is definitely not the win on board: there's a Crypt.

So?
With Lotus, 2 Tundra plus isl4nds, Brett can float PLENTY of mana, then salvage in response.  Only Extripate (or bad plying) would have owned Bomberman in that scene.

LISTS

1st Place - Brett Allen
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Mana Drain
4 Trinket Mage
2 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Stifle
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Misdirection
1 Echoing Truth
1 Daze
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Auriok Salvagers
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sol Ring
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
4 Island
2 Plains
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
1 Strip Mine
2 Wasteland

Sideboard
2 Energy Flux
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Honor the Fallen
2 Serra Avenger
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Seasinger
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Orim's Chant
1 Disenchant
1 Back to Basics

2nd Place - David Ochoa
4 Dark Confidant
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Duress
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Rebuild
4 Brainstorm
2 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
3 Island

Sideboard
3 Old Man of the Sea
2 Smother
3 Energy Flux
2 Extirpate
1 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
3 Aven Mindcensor

Dan Messineo - "NOT GAT"
3 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Tundra
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gush
4 Duress
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Jotun Grunt
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Tormod's Crypt
4 Dark Confidant
4 Meddling Mage
4 Brainstorm
1 Repeal
1 Misdirection

Sideboard
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Yixlid Jailer
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 True Believer
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Exalted Angel
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Paul Gaitner - Mono Black Discard - "It's Jenky Time!"
1 Stripmine
4 Wasteland
14 Swamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Black Lotus
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Hymn to Tourarch
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Hypnoitc Specter
4 Dark Confidant
4 Yixlid Jailer
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Null Rod
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor

Sideboard
4 Pithing Needle
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Masticore
3 Diabolic Edict

[hiryu]

As for the top 4 matchup with Brent, when I duressed you revealed the trinket mage, not the scavagers.  That's why Mage is set on it.  You commented that it was the first time you've seen him all day after topdecking it.  I didn't know before that if you were playing him or not becuase everyone I asked hadn't seen him.  I may have been able to capitalize on your mistake to not return the spellbomb if I would have saved my force for the trinket mage.

Well, if you hadn't forced the Lotus, I wouldn't have lost my Spellbomb and therefore I would have had infinite draw, so the Trinket Mage would have been unnecessary.  Maybe you're right about the Duresss... there was definitely a point in the tournament where I drew Trinket Mage right after someone Meddled it, but it may not have been that game.  That whole report was just from memory and life totals.

And pyr0ma5ta, Crypt doesn't do much other than force you to spend 1W again.  So it is the win... even if he has double Force and Crypt, I have WWWW4.  Even if he can counter 3 times, I can just not sacrifice after the third counter (or not play it... but since I know he has another Meddling Mage, that's slightly risky).  But instead, my first mistake was to use the Wasteland, which left me short on mana, and my second mistake was to use the Spellbomb first, which makes no sense.  I think I was focused on getting infinite Explosives, which is almost as good as infinite cards in that matchup.  Except that nothing's as good as infinite cards... mmm... cards...

[brainiac7]

Doomsday, especially at my level of skill, takes a lot of concentration. So much so, I forget about what
my opponent has on the table as I construct the "winning" pile. Since I had Cabal Ritual in hand,
Dark Ritual in the GY and Tendrils in hand with enough junk in the yard to make a lethal Will, that was my focus.

When Robert, a very pleasant and patient opponent, flashed me the Tormod's Crypt, it was like I was 5 years old,
all over again, when a neighborhood bully
took my brand new Big Wheel   Don't bother trying to Supersize the Big Wheel.


The offending Black Lotus proxy

will be deproxified and upgraded to BB Black Lotus by the Sapphire Tournament! A sharpie was nowhere to be found
as I scrambled to complete my deck before the first round started, thus the hastily scratched out proxy Tundra became the glory you see above.

[Pave]

I live on the other side of the world and found this thread very entertaining.  Keep up the good work, guys.  Love the pics.

[pyr0ma5ta]

I lost 2 games to bob; one against Brett in the swiss and another against Paul in top4. Against Brett I revealed in order: force of will, tendrils of agony, dark confidant, duress, thirst for knowledge, force of will. Throw in a fetchland and a force of two and that's a recipe for disaster. I drew 2 mana sources during that fiasco of a game.

Against Paul I revealed about 14 points of damage, including DSC which was kinda meh. That was game 1 where I had bob in play for 5 turns and tinker in hand along with force backup. Guess who never drew a land in those 5 turns. I was a sad panda.

Dnine, there's a reason you didn't face Gush: it wasn't legal.  And Gush decks don't use the yard that much, really.

I think he meant flash.

Funny, substitute all those card names you mentioned for "Leyline of the void" and you have my game 3 against Galen! 

As for the comments on the Salvagers picture, I am aware that he can activate more than once, but I seem to have missed the Mox/Waste over on the right.  I had thought he could only activate 3 times, meaning Stifle x2 or Stifle + Fow is bad news.

[mutedequilibrium]

Here's the Stax list I piloted that took me to the top 8:

Spearmint Stax 6•17•07

// Lands
4 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
3 Mishra's Workshop
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Bazaar of Baghdad

// Artifacts
5 Mox
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt

4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere

1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Sundering Titan
1 Platinum Angel
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives

// Spells
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 In the Eye of Chaos
1 Crop Rotation
3 Goblin Welder
1 Balance

// SB
2 Triskelion
2 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of the Void
1 In the Eye of Chaos
3 REB
3 Aven Mindcensor

Some of these card choices [and quantities] might seem a bit unorthodox. They are, so I'll go over some reasoning for them.

Ancient Tomb: I've always loved Ancient Tomb, and considering how [mostly] irrelevant life is for Stax, it seemed like a no brainer to support Aven Mindcensor. Stax's biggest problem has always been losing the die roll, and having to be on the draw. Stax's 2nd biggest problem is bounce [Chain of Vapor, Hurks, Rebuild]. Turn 2 disruption such as Tangle Wire and Null Rod in hopes to "undo" their first turn progress is great and all, but Mindcensor's potential for stopping search for said bounce was far too great to ignore. Mindcensor alleviates both problems. Ultimately, it was cut from the main, but Tomb proved so useful [for Explosives, casting Sphere, casting coloured spells with Sphere out, ITEOC, etc] that it stayed regardless.
3 Workshops?: This was a decision I had originally made when Aven Mindcensor first came out, to make room for the Tombs. 3 Tombs was my original choice [the alternate config being 4 Shop 2 Tomb, which is still in debate], so it made sense to cut a shop.
Bazaar: This has always been a staple for me. It's a free discard outlet, it's uncounterable, it's ridiculous with Welder, it's ridiculous with Crucible. No brainer.
2 Crucibles?: Smokestack appears to be too slow right now with Flash, Ichorid, and Combo. Taking Smokestack out has always been a back and forth affair for Stax with me, and Crucible is simply not as important without it. Also, basics are rampant and warrant a 3 Waste/1 Strip config, making Crucible even less necessary, and allowing room for better bombs/lock pieces.
Karn: This slot was originally held for Gorilla Shaman, but I was straight up concerned about Aggro. Shaman & Welder are the original dynamic duo for artifact sweeping. Karn can also do this. I felt the inability to kill Sol Ring, Vault, or Null Rod was a worthy trade off for a quicker win and an answer to aggro.
Platinum Angel: This slot was originally Mishra's Factory, which replaced Barbarian Ring when I went down to 1 Bazaar from 3 [after Uba's cut some time ago]. Trading Factory for Platz was an absolute last minute decision [literally as I was writing out my decklist 5 minutes before the tournament started]. I figured it helped my matchup vs Aggro and Ichorid far more than Factory would. Platz has always felt like training wheels to me [endless testing with John Hodge with Grim Long has shown me Platz is terrible vs combo, as they always find mass bounce when they're going off anyway], but gets a lot more viable when Mindcensor is involved. This ends up saving my ass vs Luis in one game, where Factory would have done nothing.
Demonic Consultation: This card has been nothing but gold. Seeing it win John several games with Long where he could not have won otherwise piqued my interest about it's use in Stax. It's been a boon for sealing the game far more than it's been a path to failure. I tried this years ago when Cron used it, but I realize I didn't understand it's purpose then like I do now. Absolutely a staple.
The Board: Triskelions were for random Stax encounters, but mostly for Bob and other Aggro. Leyline is like, the board card right now, so that doesn't really need to be explained. Mindcensor is dead vs Ichorid [probably my worst matchup], so keeping it in the board vs combo [where it shines most] is where it stayed. ITEOC is just too good to be a 1-of at times, and I figured more people would be getting their last run with Gifts before new un/restrictions took place. REB was strictly to stop mass bounce from combo, but proved to be absolutely useless all day when Mindcensor was involved, and often competed with Mindcensor for certain matches. Also, REB sucks vs Pact of Negation.

Much thanks to LotusHead for the music sharing, Eirik for proxy talk, Eudemonia for putting on damn good tournaments, and the good players I played all day.

[Robert the Swordsman]

Despite my mediocre performance, I had an awesome time.

I look forward to being up there again.

[Hell of a Hat]

Demonic Consultation: This card has been nothing but gold. Seeing it win John several games with Long where he could not have won otherwise piqued my interest about it's use in Stax. It's been a boon for sealing the game far more than it's been a path to failure. I tried this years ago when Cron used it, but I realize I didn't understand it's purpose then like I do now. Absolutely a staple.

Would you mind going a bit more in depth on "it's purpose" in the deck? (since it is something you did not understand and now do)  At first glance it looks like it would be painful in a deck with so many one ofs.

[LotusHead]

I saw him consult for a shop to hardcast a Titan for the win in one game. (and that was a three of).

[mutedequilibrium]

Demonic Consultation: This card has been nothing but gold. Seeing it win John several games with Long where he could not have won otherwise piqued my interest about it's use in Stax. It's been a boon for sealing the game far more than it's been a path to failure. I tried this years ago when Cron used it, but I realize I didn't understand it's purpose then like I do now. Absolutely a staple.

Would you mind going a bit more in depth on "it's purpose" in the deck? (since it is something you did not understand and now do)  At first glance it looks like it would be painful in a deck with so many one ofs.

Here's where I'm going to get all philosophical, and say some things a bunch of people are probably going to disagree with.

Back in the day, I figured this was just another tutor with a potentially big drawback. I saw this as a terrible way to get my biggest bombs [the 1-ofs] as well as removing other 'outs' in the process. Looking back, I realize I misunderstood DCs use [labeling it as "just another tutor with a potentially big drawback"], and because of this I was misusing DC entirely. Using DC in a casual way that one would use another tutor is absolutely NOT how it's supposed to be used.

I realized 2 things, 1 about the safe and 2 about the risky:
1.] I usually get land with it most of the time [like Shop, Tomb, or Waste], or 4-of lock pieces [Tangle, Chalice, Sphere]. This is usually fine. Example, one game [in testing] went something along the lines of: Petal, DC [for chalice], play chalice 0, they Force, play Tomb, play Sphere, go. That was followed up by Waste, land, land - ITEOC. Was this situational, or was it interaction with a bunch of 3-4 ofs? DC is a situational card that rewards the ballsy, and if it's understood, it's both a situational card that interacts well with the rest of the deck. I've DCd for 1-ofs numerous times, and only once did it bite me in the ass. If you're even slightly good with statistics, you can feel justified about using it.
2.] Most players don't like the idea of their library being removed, being that you can't get it back again. Personally, I don't really give a damn about my library if I can win right now. If I know that if I get card X, I will win right now, then I'm going to DC for it. Stax isn't like control, where you can draw, pass, and still be okay. Constant pressure that builds up every turn is 100% necessary. What a lot of players [that I've seen, personally, as well as myself back in the day] have misdiagnosed about Stax is that you've already lost your advantage by going draw-go, and thus lost the game. It's hard to "come back" for Stax, other than cards like Tinker, Balance, or Will. If one is in a position to DC for something risky to win the game now, or play it safe, pass, and thus let up on your accumulated pressure, I say it's always better to DC now since passing after doing nothing is probably going to lose you the game anyway [unless they themselves draw and go, which you shouldn't be depending on anyway].

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.