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Naurion
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« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2008, 10:23:37 am » |
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Thanks for getting the results up so quickly, TripleAgent!
Here is my attempt at a Tournament Report:
[Report] First Place at "Vintage Comes to Baltimore" Tournament
For reference here is my Decklist:
4 Serum Powder
4 City of Brass
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Petrified Field
1 Strip Mine
4 Bridge from Below
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
2 Darkblast
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Unmask
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Dread Return
1 Ancestor's Chosen
SB:
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Emerald Charm
3 Wispmare
Petrified Field was the worst card in the list. I was only supposed to run 2, but I couldn't find a fourth Golgari Thug. I ran Ancestor's Chosen over the other options because Long and Shop Aggro composed probably half the decks there. I cut the third Darkblast in the board since CS was under-represented.
Anyway, this is how I remember my games playing out:
Round 1 vs Marc Frias, playing U/B/R Painter Combo w/ Drains, REBs, Wasteland and Timetwister.
Game 1 I win the die roll and elect to play first. My first hand contains Serum Powder, 2 Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Bridge from Below, and 2 Grave-troll. I think that might be too much to RFG, so I Paris to 5 and keep a hand with Bazaar and Unmask. He keeps his opening 7.
I drop Bazaar and activate dropping a Therapy, Ichorid and a dredger, then Unmask him, which he Forces pitching a Mana Drain. Pass. He plays a fetch and passes. I dredge and put Narcomoeba and Ichorid into play, then Therapy targeting him, he thinks, then reveals his hand on accident. I tell him I'm supposed to name a card first so he picks it up and I name the DT that I saw, leaving him with a Vamp. Mana Vault and fetch. He has nothing other than a turn 3 Wasteland, so its academic from there, but he was nice enough to play a Painter's Servant the turn before I attack with 3 Ichorids and like 8 tokens when he is at 10. So I finally know what he is playing.
Game two I shuffle in the SB and take out 15, bringing in Leyline removal and bounce. He looks at his hand of 7 then throws it back to stay at 6. I Mull to 6 also. I have turn 1 Chalice. He doesn't do anything relevant until my turn 2 upkeep: I just used Bazaar to dredge 12 cards, including 3 Cabal Therapy, 2 Narcomoeba, and a Bridge. Before my draw he Extirpates on Therapy. So I continue to dredge and attack for the win on turn 4 with Ichorids, tokens, and Dread Returned Grave-troll.
I win 2-0.
Round 2 vs Ralph Parsinitz playing Mono-Brown Shop Aggro
Ralph wins the die roll and plays first. I start with turn 0 Leyline of the Void, which ends up being amazing for me. He plays Shop, Metalworker. Pass. I just Bazaar dredgers into the yard and pass. He reveals a SoFI, Trike, Ravager, and a second worker and plays Ancient Tomb, Trike, Sword, and a Ravager, equips Sword to Triskelion and ends his turn.
I dredge and put a Narcomoeba into play and a Bridge in the yard. I then play my second Bazaar, activate to dredge and pass. Here I think Ralph makes a mistake and uses Tike to ping Narcomoeba and the Resulting token. He attacks me to 13 and draws off SoFI, plays the second worker and Ravager. On my turn I dredge and get a few Narcomoebas and an Ichorid. I attack, but he blocks. Pass. On his turn he wastelands one of my bazaars and tries to grow Trike with Ravager, but I remind him Modular depends on the creature hitting the graveyard. He attacks me to 4. On my turn I dredge down to 4 cards in my deck, return Ichorids and Narcomoebas, then attack and Dread Return Ancestor's Chosen to gain 40 life. The 4 Bridges give me like 20 tokens and he scoops.
Game 2 I sideboard for the Leyline he doesn't end up having, but I'm sure to keep mine in for the Modular shenanigans, and to protect my Bridges. I mull to 6. He starts by putting Tormod's Crypt into play, Ancient Tomb, and a Sphere. I shrug and Bazaar cautiously. I don't remember all of the details, but he was mana-light after I Strip Mined him turn 2. He finally Crypts me on upkeep, taking a Bridge, an Ichorid, and Maybe one dredger. I then activate Bazaar and drop my other dredgers. I have to dredge pretty low (I think to 1 card) because I needed to hit the last black creature in my deck to attack for just enough.
I win 2-0.
Round 3 vs Nat Moes playing Belcher.
I know what he is playing, but he doesn't know I'm Ichorid. I convince him that I'm playing Force of Will, but I don't know if that affected his decision to mull to 5 or not. He plays first with Mox Ruby, Welder, go. I play Bazaar and dump Ichorid, Thug and Serum Powder. I Unmask (pitching Bridge, my only other black card was Darkblast, which I wanted to use on his Welder) seeing: Gutteral Response, Belcher, LED, and ESG. I take the LED. On my upkeep I dredge my Thug and hit a Grave-troll. I return Ichorid, dredge more, attack, get tokens and pass. He can do little else but weld Ruby into LED, I Darkblast in reponse. I eventually attack him out.
He is on the play again and keeps his hand of 6. He plays Ruby and 2 Rite of Flame into Belcher instead of Empty the Warrens. I Bazaar, Unmask a Tinder Wall (leaving him with Empty and Tinder Wall), then play Chalice and pass. He can't do much after my turn 2 Therapy for 2 Emptys in his hand (one he drew) and concedes the turn before I attack for lethal.
I win 2-0.
Round 4: ID
Round 5: ID
At 3-0-2 I'm in top 8.
Quaterfinals vs Jeff Folinus playing Grim Long.
I came into the top 8 knowing I was likely playing against Long, but I was dismayed to learn I was playing against Jeff. I used to test with him when we were in Undergrad together and he is a phenomenal player -- he is frequently in PTQ top 8's and has won his share of power over the last few years. He is easily the best player in the tournament and playing a deck that should destroy me. I think my only hope is to win the die roll and hit early disruption in games 1 and 3.
To my dismay he wins the roll and choses to play first. He keeps his opener while I mulligan to 4. We joked about how he hasn't had a turn 1 win yet this tourney and I haven't mulled to 1 yet, and this might be both. He doesn't have the turn 1, but he Duresses my Unmask and passes. I drop Bazaar and drop dredgers. He plays a Grim Tutor and passes. I dredge enough to Therapy him twice. I name Dark Ritual and miss the first one, then take his Jar which he can cast next turn. He topdecks Wheel of Fortune and draws into Rituals and Will.
I take my first and only game loss on the day.
I know his SB and the only graveyard hate he has for me is a pair of Extirpate. I board in lands and Charms, and I keep in Ancestor's Chosen because I'm on the play, and I might have a shot to use it. This game we both paris to 6 and keep. I lead with Bazaar and Chalice of the Void. He plays Ritual, Necro and pays 12 life. When he's done choosing his hand, I untap dredge, return an Ichorid, dredge more, attack and pass since I hit zero Cabal Therapy. It doesn't end up mattering since Chalice does all the work for me. On his last turn he attempts Wheel of Fortune, but doesn't hit the gas he needs.
Game three I board out Ancestor's Chosen and a Dread Return and put some cards back that might give me consistency. We both keep 7 and I play a turn 0 Leyline. He opens with Jet, Sapphire, Sea, Grim Tutor, pass. I play Bazaar and make my biggest misplay of the day: I discard a Cabal Therapy when I have a City of Brass in hand. I notice very subtle misplays I make with Bazaar activations all the time, but this one is glaring and I think it will cost me the game. I resolve a Chalice on zero and pass. Jeff draws then plays Tinker for Jar and ships the turn. On my turn two I get the nuts dredge: out of 18 cards I hit 3 Narcomoeba, 2 more Therapy, and the rest of my Bridges. I Therapy on Dark Ritual and see Ruby, Petal, Cabal Ritual, and Mind's Desire. I take the Desire and Ritual and end my turn with 12 zombies in play. Jeff Jars on upkeep, plays Ancestral, 2 Rituals, 2 Night's Whisper, Demonic Tutor, but can't do anything else.
I win the game and match and I'm shocked I could steal this one from such a skilled player with a superior deck. Chalice of the Void champs this match.
I win 2-1.
Semifinals vs Bryan St. Claire playing the so called "Next Level Tog"
I watched Bryan play all tournament to figure out exactly what he was playing. His deck supported Duresses, Force of Will, Mana Drain, Confidant, Trinket Mage, Counterbalance, Top, Cunning Wish, and a singleton Psychatog. I was most worried about his maindeck T. Crypt and Leylines + Pithing Needle post board.
I win the die roll and play first. We both keep 7 and I lead off with Bazaar, of course, and attempt a Chalice, which gets Forced. He plays land, Mox, Confidant, pass. I dredge and hit Narcomoeba and 2 Bridges. I Therapy him naming Trinket Mage and he shows me Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and Force. I take my 2 zombies and pass. He plays mana and passes. I return an Ichorid and maybe hit more 'moebas, but he ends up block my Ichorid to remove the bridges, but 4 tokens are enough to take it down.
Game 2 I sideboard in 10 Leyline removal spells since I know he has them. Bryan ends up mulling to 4 and can't pull much together other than chain of vapor on an Ichorid turn 3. This game I hold back my second Ichorid and a Grave-troll in my hand just in case he rips a T. Crypt or Mage, but really it was just academic since he had no gas to start. I beat down with Ichorid, tokens and eventually a Grave-troll I believe, for the win. He never saw any hate cards against me, but I had the removal spells and the backup Ichorid + dredger just in case.
I win 2-0
Final vs Marc Frias playing Painter.
So in the finals I replay my first round match. I win the die roll and keep my opening hand of 7 that looks really solid: I have Bazaar, Unmask, Chalice and dredgers. But when he picks up his hand, he is completely honest that he didn't return his deck to an un-sideboarded state. And this would has been relevant since his last match was Ichorid. He gets a game loss.
Game 2 I sideboard in my Leyline removal. This is probably the longest game I had on the day, going to turn 7 or 8. He is excited to keep his 7 and puts a Leyline into play before I even look at my hand to see if I will mulligan. He takes it back when I tell him I didn't get to mulligan. I keep a hand of 5 with Bazaar, Gemstone, Chain of Vapor, Emerald Charm and Bridge from Below. He gets his turn 0 Leyline and turn 1 fetchland. I play Gemstone--> Emerald Charm right away to avoid Mana Drain. It resolves, so I pass. He plays a land and passes. I draw another Charm, play Bazaar and pass because I don't want to give him Extirpate targets on my turn. He casts Vampiric Tutor on Upkeep for Lotus, then plays Lotus into Leyline. I get excited because I have 2 answers and misplay by letting it resolve without activating Bazaar. Fortunately, he doesn't have backup and my EOT Emerald Charm resolves. I Bazaar, then take my turn activating again on upkeep. I still have no dredgers but all the Leyline removal in the world. I draw and play City of Brass. He plays land and passes. On my 4th upkeep I finally hit a Thug and dredge it for the turn. I still don't have guys, so he casts EOT Gifts Ungiven getting Extirpate, DT, Y. Will, and Timetwister. I bin the Will and Twister and give him DT and Extirpate. On his turn he Extirpates my Bridges but can't cast DT since he is out of black. On my upkeep I get things going with dredging, putting Ichorid and some number of Narcomoebas in play, attacking and Therapying the DT out of his hand. From here his life total goes 16, 13, 6, 0.
I win 2-0.
This was my first time playing Vintage since before Gifts was restricted and I lost only one game on the day to Jeff. I finished up 12-1 in games. I earned a Mox Emerald for my troubles.
Ichorid is a savage deck. Cabal Therapy and Chalice are insane while the rest of the disruption package is very solid. The consistency and speed of the deck is incredible.
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