After waffling between Bomberman, Tyrant Blue, and Tog, I figured I would go for broke, and just assemble a rag-tag team of mono blue control deliciousness. In the face of a Flash and Oath meta, saying "no" consistently means you can tell to live the tale later.
Here's the list I ran:
// Lands
8 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Academy Ruins
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
// Creatures
3 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Ophidian
// Spells
2 Misdirection
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mindslaver
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Tinker
1 Time Walk
3 Repeal
4 Mystic Remora
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
3 Spell Snare
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Powder Keg
SB: 3 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 4 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Brain Freeze
SB: 3 Back to Basics
The list is pretty self explanatory. Meloku solves most of any aggro answer, and often by the time he hits the board, its game over the next turn or the one after. Spell Snares are the new Leak. Right now competitive decks are either "Play Merchant Scroll" or "Fight Merchant Scroll." Fighting is more fun, so here's my tussle.
I didn't take notes, so forgive me, these are rough estimates. Only the highly interactive games did I remember clearly.
Round 1: Cranky Oath Man
Game 1: Game one I get an early remora out. He feeds the snake with a ponder or two, then goes for broke with an Oath of druids, which I Spellsnare. He tries to break out from under the remora with an Ancestral Recall, which I misdirect. The rest of the game are merely motions. After 2 more Oaths are countered, a Phid followed by a Collossus makes short work of him.
Out: Melokux1, Fact or Fictionx1, Darksteel Colossusx1
In: Brain Freezex3
Game 2: I keep a shakey 6 hand of Sapphire as my mana source, but repeal, remora, brainstorm. He thoughtseizes and takes my sapphire, but I'm a pro and rip a Polluted Delta, much to my opponent's disgust. However, Oath of Druids comes out one turn too early for me to lay my EE at 2, and then blow it, so I end up cantripping while killing spirit tokens. Eventually my attempts pitter out and a Tyrant, mox, lotus, and tendrils make me lose lots of life and him gain lots.
Game 3: I don't have an early remora, but I have spellsnares galore. He goes for an early ancestral, which is misdirected to me. setting me up for remora goodness. I know we have little time left in the round so I'm pushing forward quickly, knowing he can win explosively, while I need inertia to guide me. I end up tinkering up Mindslaver and time walking, while he has two oath of druids in play and an orchard in play, but I have no spirits. Knowing as soon as he taps the orchard eot, I can slave him for his oath turn. He takes the bait and gives me a dude eot, and goes to burn & untap (and oath), but I remind him I get priority again after the trigger of Orchard in eot, and slave him. With both triggers of oath on the stack, I have him resolve the first trigger, oathing in a tyrant, then in response to the 2nd, tap orchard for U, and pass priority to resolve the 2nd oath trigger. A bystander mentions they're not 100% sure I'm able to resolve the oath trigger that only triggered off my single spirit at this game state, and a judge is called, but they confirm that Oath does check both at time of triggering and resolving, and we proceed. He oaths in his 2nd tyrant, which includes a flash of insight. I spend about 1 minute looking through his graveyard, counting blue cards, looking at black tutors, and thinking about my flash of insight, and most importantly, what bounces on tyrant I would need to completely decimate him. He calls a judge over for slow play, and I continue. A Flash of insight for 10 shows me all but one card in his deck, which I stack to give me DT, then chain of vapor. I use CoV to clear his board, saccing as many lands as possible, and putting his tyrants in his hand. The 3 spirit tokens take it to victory, as I know his next 9 draws will yield nothing.
Cranky Oath Man refuses to shake my hand afterwards to good games played, the only opponent to do so this day. hrumph.
1-0-0Round 2: Black Discard Nice Guy
This guy was quite nice, and I've seen him around Myriad, often piloting a Legacy discard deck mod'd for Vintage. You'd be surprised how often other-format-silliness can beat some archtypes (See Norwich being won by Legacy Thresh), however Remora and Meloku are found early, countering discard effects combined with The Rack. Both two games end quickly, however we do play some games for fun afterwards, in which he melts my face with multiple megrims , ravenous rats and cry of contagions.
2-0-0Round 3: Ron White Plays Goblins!
Game 1: Even knowing what Ron is playing beforehand doesn't help at all, as often the hordes will swarm you regardless. Although I attempt to stave off the red monsters, Double earwig squad changes my "outs" to "nots", before I get a chance to lay meloku. Saw almost all badlands game one, so thought I might catch him by surprise with Back to Basics.
Out: Remorax4, Misd x1 In: B2Bx3 Power Kegx2
Game 2: I see an early tinker, so I take the DSC route to victory, and prevent his Goblins to Prowl, and then make them block, quickly going to game 2.
Game 3: I counter his first three goblins (Piledriver, Matron, and Incinerator), while he is stuck on one Red and lots of colorless. An early Meloku spells his doom. Ron is a great guy, and its sad to win off mana screw, but I'll take it! Gobins is a horrible matchup!
3-0-0Round 4: Rich Meyst with Mana'd Ichorid (my memory is really fuzzy of our swiss rounds. I end up playing Rich in the Finals, which I remember more clearly)
Game 1: I get mowed down on turn 2. Who'da thunk? Ichorid took game 1. =P
Out: Spell Snarex3, Repealx3 (I realize this is an insane mistake, and rectify this in the finals), FoF, Phidx2, Melokux1, Sol Ring, Darksteel Colossus
In: Powder Kegx2, Tormod's Cryptx4, 3x Brain Freeze, 3x Back to Basics.
Game 2: I have multiple crypts, and counter his Chain of Vapor on my stuff. Appropriate crypts later, I finally get there with a slaver, decking him.
Game 3: He mulls to 4, but apparently get amazing stuff, which I soon see. I keep a hand of 2x Tormod's Crypt, Mystic remora, and drain. He bazaars into a needle on Tormod's one mana before my answer. I fail to dig my way out before bazaar takes him to Victory.
3-1-0Round 5. Scott, with the Hat who drove us up playing Staxxless Staxx.
Game 1: Scott performs a savage ninja cut, cutting me to zero mana sources for my 7, 6, and 5 hand. So I gladly keep a hand of Sol Ring, island, brainstorm, Drain. He plays Crucible Go, I play my sol ring thankful of no sphere effects. He plays gemstone mine go. I play a 2nd island ripped, and almost don't counter his eot Vampiric Tutor, which would've ended the game with Strip Mine, however, it is drained. During his Turn he DT's with a bazillion mana available, and hardcasts Sundering Titan, nuking one of my islands. Like a pro I rip a 3rd land off the top, casting Meloku with one mana open to counter any crucible-strip shenanigans. The land becomes a 1/1 chump blocker against sundering titan while meloku and one flyer take it home over the course of 6 stressful turns.
Out: Misdx2, FoF, Ophidianx2, Spellsnarex3
In: 2x Powder Keg, 3x Hurkyl's Recall, 3x Back to Basics.
Game 2: Scott leads with Shop, mox, mox, Mana Vault, Chalice at zero, Chalice at 1, Chalice at 2 (which I have to counter) I lay a land, go. He casts Demonic Tutor on his turn. I play Powder Keg, and pop it, nuking nearly his entire board. From this point on Mana Vault is slowly eating away his brains, and a library of alexandria & Meloku soon take it home.
4-1-0Round 6. ID With Ollie. We're sneaky folk.
Top 8Round 1: Mark Tuttle playing Flash
Game 1: I go first, planting a remora with lots of moxen to back it up. To his credit, his realizes he has to make this quick and dirty, and assembles his combo as soon as possible, letting me draw cards with him the whole time. With double backer he tries to muscle through a Flash, but the last draw trigger from Mystic Remora on his last counter yields me my 3rd Force of Will. I Love Mystic Remora.
In: Brain Freezex3, Powder Kegx2
Out: FoF, 2x Ophidian, 1x Meloku, 1x Darksteel Collossus
Game 2: Is slowed by a spellsnare, then led with a mystic remora. After a few turns of laying down mana, Mark Tuttle starts to get these crazy maniac kind of cackles, not the healthy kind, and T00L just keeps saying "Dude lets just go get ice cream, you're done." I have seen Tuttle slow-roll some seriously powerful comebacks, so I did not slack any, however, when the slaver finally revealed his hand, it was all combo pieces and pacts, which led to his timely demise in his next upkeep.
Round 2: Quarterfinals Matt McNally, who is NOT Kyle Lieth, playing Gush Tendrils
Game 1: He obliterates my hand with 3 duress effects. For 3 draws interspaced in these which are not molested by hand disruption I rip forces, which buy me pivotal turns, however I know I need some card regeneration to recoup my 2-for-oneing I'm doing on his threats. He eventually Yawgs to victory before I can stabilize.
In: Brain Freezex3, 2x Tormod's Crypt
Out: FoF, 1x Meloku, 1x Darksteel Collossus, 2x EE (First time I've sided them out)
Game 2: We both Mull our hands to 6, which are quickly reduced to nothing over a counter war over an ophidian, which I win. Although I am getting two cards a turn, the top 6 cards are mana sources, and Matt resolves a Necropotence, which enables a savage Yawgmoth's will largely on the back of a single dark ritual. Although he has the proverbial so many insane plays, his limited life supply means he has to get lucky with his 7 cards off Ancestral, ponder, and brainstorm. He tried his darndest, but couldn't get there, so went to game 3, much to my delight.
Game 3: Has him locked out very early with a tormod's crypt, mystic remora and lots of mana. I end up resolving a Phid, which makes a languishingly painful although surefire process out of Matt's demise.
Finals!: Rich Meyst with mana'd Ichorid (Now where have we seen this before! Swiss rematch!)
I briefly entertain the idea of a split, but my ride graciously allows me to play it out over their preferences to get headed home.
Game 1: I keep a silly hand of a turn 3 tinker if I do not rip a moxen, or a turn two tinker with a moxen. I end up brainstorming into a moxen and throw a DSC down on the board in hopes of getting there game one, a near impossible task against ichorid for pure control. Through a series of subtle yet significant misplays involving needing to therapy himself several times, Rich ends up not getting there.
Out: Spell Snarex3, FoF, Phidx2, Melokux2, Sol Ring, Darksteel Colossus, Mana Drainx2
In: Powder Kegx2, Tormod's Cryptx4, 3x Brain Freeze, 3x Back to Basics.
Game 2: I Keep a weird hand of Library, lotus, Back to Basics, islands, blue spells, and tormod's crypt. After he Careful Studys, I play Library of Alexandria, tap to draw, play black lotus, play back to basics locking out my own land, but now His lands are lotus petals. I crypt appropriately and have zombie protection in the form of kegs and explosives. When Rich saves up enough gas to go off, he has to use Ancestral Recall for a 3 draw dredge explosion, but I misdirect it onto me (my 3rd misdirected ancestral today). This effectively ends the game, as it takes him off discard-dredging, and Rich scoops soon afterwards.
Huzzah! made it there with Mono Blue Control!The delicious spoils were mine, to acquire scrumptious schwag and loot galore from Myriad's endless supply of Foils, Power, and Plunder.
Props:Scotts comfortable car, despite having 5 people in it.
Spellsnare, for being amazing at all times.
Liars dice, for being both pirate like and ninja like at the same time.
Engineered Explosives, for always being relevant.
T00L, for thinking the the absurdity that follows me in magic is comedic
Island
Slops:Opponents refusing to shake hands after games
Not eating anything except for a Bagel all day
Academy Ruins, for never returning a single item of relevance while having so much potential.
::Edit:: Names changed to protect the rights of the innocent ::Edit::
