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« Reply #20 on: September 03, 2007, 06:10:26 pm » |
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I am Eric Blegen, finished #2 with 10 pts, and here is my take on the tournament.
The top four were as follows:
Kyle with UGr Grow (4 Goyf, 4 Mongoose, 4 Dryad, 4 Fire/Ice, 4 Bolt)
Eric Blegen with an original UB FishyTog (list below)
Mark Trogdon with modified Angel Stompy (3/4 Exalted, 1 Avenger, Jitte, True Believer, Silver Knight, StP)
Doug Linn with an original GWB Control Deck (deed in SB, Tormagoyf, Bob, Monastary in maindeck)
Other notable decks were:
(name not remembered) U/G Threshold (Werebear, Mongoose, Goyf, Wasteland)
(name not remembered) Ichorid deck with bridge, dread return for flame-kin
Jacob Redfern with High Tide (3 pts)
(name not remembered) with The Epic Storm (0/3? pts)
What my take on the tournament was:
Combo bombed in the Aggro/Control heavy environment, due to Mainboard cards like daze, Force of Will, and Duress as well as the odd spell snare or counterspell. Deed, Explosives, Chalices and powder kegs came in from the boards to take wins from the often viable golbin plan of an earlier storm for TES yielding 12-20 golbins. Solidarity took a blow from the large amount of spell snares being run, (possibly because of the predominance of goyf, bob, and just about every spell in this format) and made wishing for wipe away almost a necessity after boards against chalices set to one. The bridge deck, in all matches I saw, was typically one turn or one crypt away from winning all the matches it lost. Bride/Ichorid had many turn one/two kills and I believe that the raw speed of the deck makes it a more viable option in this metagame, as the possibility of a turn one kills denied Thresh/Grow decks their two or three cantrips to dig for additional permission, as well as the certainty of beating goblins with their slower clock and (generally) absence of permission/hate.
U/B Thresh/Grow seems to be a strong choice yet, with 1st and (fifth?)place finishes going to the only two in the tournament. The stifles allow for random victories against combo, as well as acting as a turn one sinkhole against newer or inexperienced players. (I decided to cut stifle from my list as it often is nearly dead against good players, and ends up being Force-fodder in most of the top 8 games where better players play around it.) Goyf is as allways a highly efficient beater and arguably the best creature in the format, providing a good clock and another answer to gobins' 'aggro'(debatable) plan. Spell snares dominate most opponents in the meta, and the red versions' burn elements wreck havoc on most every deck currently played. (though their usefulness in the mirror is lessened significantly) I feel that versions of Grow with mainboard wastelands are superior insofar as they don't hit a speed bump against landstill's defenders or random decks using factory. Wasteland also forces Grow decks to run additional land slots, and lowers the chances of game losses to poor opens without land, as well as can just randomly win games against opponents who keep such one-landers. With brainstorm, serum visions, and (opt/portent) in the deck, wastelands often can be shuffled/ scry'd away when not needed, and easily found when the situation demands it. The sideboard package of Top/Counterbalance is a powerful tool in the mirror, and against certain combo decks. If you have the duals/fetches and are up for a deck that really tests a pilot's skill, this may be the deck for you. (top 8 matches between these decks often come down to the correct choice of fetching, brainstorming, and holding mana open for spell snare/bolt/counterspell)
There was an omonous lack of golbins at the tournament, with only one deck full of green guys making an appearance, though not into the top four. (cannot remember color-combination, but I heard RW, which would be better against aggro-control and bridge/belcher/tes type combo with swords, and rule of law in the board) Perhaps a sign of Goyf's current hype, the little guys have been stepping out of the vial into the defense, rather than charging head-first into a field of avengers, werebears, and sea-drakes. The goyfs raw size often necessitates a three or four-for one trade, which no deck can afford to do agaisnt Thresh/Grow. I've personally tested the goblin-fish/goyf matchup many times with both mono-red red-white, and red-black goblins, and it looks to be abysmal from every angle. Could this mean Goblins will pass the torch of 'the deck to beat' down to Thresh/Grow? Perhaps some game breaking (and hopefully pro-green) goblin awaits in Lorwyn to bring back the stablizing deck of Legacy, but until then, lackys will continue to be fire/iced, bolted, and stifled until they find themselves starring down a 4/5 goyf.
My deck, which I am calling UB FishyTog, was designed to utilize my favorite creature, (who is now vying for most powerful against goyf) Psycatog. I've loved Looter il-kor ever since his release in Timespiral block, and routinely first-pick him in limited. His synergy with tog is undeniable, and I consider his 2 mana price tag to be roughly equivalent to an opt and a bolt, as he nearly always resolves, and will often do between 3 and 5 points of damage, while smoothing out your draw and providing tog-chow for later. Bob seems like a natural fit in a UB tog deck, as his card advantage allows you to find, feed, and backup tog with countermagic. Shadowmage was added as another card-drawing engine. (i have absymaly poor luck, and need all the card quality/advantage i can to survive floods and stalls) The deck is rounded out with Permission in the form of duress (now thoughtseize), daze, and Force, with creature removal in Sudden death(now slaughter pact) and Damnation. (which can yield massive advantage, as tog forces opponents to commit dudes to the board, and works well with the four factories and card-selection) I chose sudden death over smother after much playtesting with both, as smother often had to be played around daze, and was never guaranteed to resolve, so the 1BB often was equivalent to the 2B of a smother. (around daze) it routinely kills Goyf, and kills other important guys like spike-feeder, werebear, bob, and monastery. My list was as follows, and was wholly original, developed over a month and a half by myself and team-mate, Anthony Cuevas.
4 Chrome Mox
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Shadowmage Infiltrator
3 Psychatog
3 Damnation
4 Dark Confidant
3 Duress
3 Sudden Death
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Looter il-Kor
//Sideboard: 15
SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
SB: 3 Extirpate
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 4 Engineered Plague
SB: 2 Vedalken Shackles
Cleaned up your decklist. --Matt
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