Vintage Breda with Painter

[Odd mutation]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've posted here but I thought I'd try again. I have been busy with moving and in August I had to undergo surgery on my right leg, so there hasn't been (enough) time for my beloved hobby. I was delighted to play again, to compete once more with the best players around.

The tournaments in Breda are known for being well organised, pleasant affairs, where all the good players come together to compete in a friendly but competitive manner. As I have been playing Painter a lot lately and have been happy with it so far and since I think it has a good game against almost anything in the format right now, it was my weapon of choice against the field of 50 participants.

First up, I'll discuss my list:

Main deck (60)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Echoing Truth
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
3 Painter's Servant
2 Grindstone
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Island
3 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy

Sideboard (15)

3 Pithing Needle
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tropical Island
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Flame Jab

Whenever I build a deck, I start with a list of cards I would like to play or that I consider useful. Then I scourge the net for decklists that have been doing well, with special attention to decklists from players I consider to be good (if not the best). I was especially interested in the lists from Rich Shay, Andy Probasco and Owen Turtenwald, so a lot of credit to these guys for their cunning lists and their performances on 'the field of battle'. The above list is a compilation of their lists, with some personal preferences.

Some remarks on my list

1 Echoing Truth: I really like this card. You'll see that it's missing in the lists I mentioned above but I've always liked it and it's there to stay, saving me many times.

4 Mana Drain: You'll see lists playing one extra blast instead of the fourth Mana Drain but I like it the way it is now. Maybe I'll change it in the future...

6 Fetchland: Since I regularly side in the Tropical Islands, testing showed me I could use an extra fetchland to make sure I would always have the colors I'd need.

1 Engineered Explosives: Has been really great! This card can solve almost any problem that has gotten through the wall of countermagic. I first started with EE in the sideboard but it made it's way into the main rather quickly when I found myself siding it in all the time during testing.

1 Library of Alexandria: I've had it on the table a few times but I cannot remember using it's card drawing ability that many times. If I decide to cut it in the future it will become either an Underground Sea, an Academy Ruins or an extra Island.

0 Academy Ruins: It's not fantastic but sometimes good. It doesn't solve anything you cannot avoid from happening with tight play. I consider it 'win more'. I found it particularly interesting in the Ichorid match up -you wouldn't say at first but with my sideboard options it seems to play out that way- and the Slaver match up -removing artifacts in my graveyard versus Goblin Welder activations or returning Engineered Explosives for instance.

3 Pithing Needle: These come in versus Stax, all kinds of Fish, Ichorid and Control Slaver, although not always all 3 of them.

4 Tarmogoyf: The Tarmogoyfs, together with 2 Pithing Needle, have been winning my Fish matchups consistently during testing.

2 Tropical Island: Necessary if you'd like to actually cast the Tarmogoyfs. I would also board them in when playing against Null Rods or slow matchups like Stax or even control matchups. I'd take out the Mana Crypt -which has cost me games I was winning but maybe that was the pilots' doing, not the deck- and Mox Pearl because I prefer lands in these matchups, especially going second.

2 Tormod's Crypt: To help me against combo and Ichorid.

1 Flame Jab: This was an experiment and is cut from the new list...

The list fared well against anything I've played against, in testing and in tournament play. If I lost I could more often then not trace it back to a play mistake. If I played really tightly, I would almost always win. The more troublesome match up is Stax but maybe that's more because of my inexperience in that match up.

Since I'm unable to drive myself, because of the surgery, I traveled to the site with one of my friends from Balen (Belgium). We meet up with some other friends at the site and talk with all the familiar faces around, which is almost everybody there. There were 60 people preregistered but only 50 people made it. Still plenty and we're soon off for 6 rounds of swiss with top 8 to be played afterwards.

I'm doing all of this from memory, so please correct me if I get anything wrong. All opponents were really nice people and overall, the quality of play was high.

The tournament itself

Round 1: Peter Reynders with Grim Long

Peter is a friend of mine with whom I've traveled to a lot of tournaments. He's also my regular test partner at my new place in Hasselt (Belgium) and my ride home. In testing, I've been able to win rather consistently, so let's see what happens in a real tournament. So, no surprises on the match up and we're off!

Game 1 revolves around Peter trying to resolve Wheel of Fortune after I Force of Willed an earlier attempt to go broken. In his turn he plays Lion's Eye Diamond, then removes Simian Spirit Guide from the game for one red mana with 3 cards left in his hand. I have Engineered Explosives at '0' on the table and ponder for a short while... and then decide to pay 2 to blow it up. Peter now has to discard his hand if he wants to use the LED or lose it. Of course he moves the artifact to his graveyard. After that, it's over soon. If he had played the LED after he would have removed the Simian Spirit guide from the game, I wouldn't have had the chance/priority to 'counter' his LED with my Engineered Explosives when he put the Wheel of Fortune on the stack.

EDIT: read BigBarn's response!

Sideboard: +2 Tormod's Crypt, +1 Flame Jab (if he has Confidant or Xanted Swarm), -1 Red Elemental Blast, -2 Pyroblast (I think).

Game 2, Peter leads with first turn Duress to take my Mana Drain, while I have Tormod's Crypt in hand. Next turn I drop the Crypt and it will spell victory as Peter will be stuck with Yawgmoth's Will in his hand. When he realizes his mistake it's too late and I Paint and Grind myself a win.

In later rounds, Peter will get a buy and has to play one of the people who traveled with him to Breda. Must be nice to drive all the way to Breda to play 'new faces'!

Round 2: Iso Been with Mana'd Ichorid

In testing, I seemed to be doing pretty well against Ichorid. The most deciding factor appeared to be whoever was going first, with Chalice on '0' backed up with a discard spell to be the most troublesome for me... next to all the other troublesome things Ichorid does by nature of course.

Game 1, Iso starts off with a Bazaar of Baghdad. On my turn I try the first turn Tinker for Colossus trick, even though I knów that this doesn't always get it done versus Ichorid. Iso proves just that and wins the next turn... I should have Tinkered for Tormod's Crypt instead...

Sideboard: +2 Tormod's Crypt, +3 Pithing Needle, -4 Mana Drain, -1 Pyroblast (I think).

Game 2, I lead with Pithing Needle naming Bazaar and Tormod's Crypt naming his Graveyard. I am able to Paint and Grind his Library a bit later, countering Breakthrough and friends.

Game 3, I have to mulligan to 4! Normally I would never do that but versus Ichorid I know I have to have something good or it's not going to happen. He had kept his opening seven so... I draw Black Lotus, Engineered Explosives, Land and Ancestral Recall...

Wow! Welcome to Vintage!

My Ancestral Recall gives me Sensei's Divining Top, Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle. I control most of the game and in my final turn after time was called, I play Yawgmoth's Will and proceed to see something like 12 cards from the top of my Library. All I need is a Painter's Servant to take it home and I've got all the mana I need. No Servant answers it's masters' call though and no Tutor either.

We draw.

Still, after a mulligan to four against Ichorid's full grip of seven, containing Bazaar, one shouldn't complain, really...

Round 3: Jeroen Schaffhausen with Stax

I've played Jeroen before and he's a very good player who (almost) always makes top 8! I played him the tournament before this one -in Mol, Belgium- and he easily won. I was playing 3 Ingot Chewers in the sideboard at the time and my match against Jeroen made me decide to change them into Rack and Ruins. I still stand by that decision.

Game 1, he wins it in traditional Stax style. Smokestack with a lot of smoke counters on and I'm done. Something very peculiar happens during this game 'though. At some point, as I'm loosing to Smokestack, Jeroen forgets to sacrifice 2 permanents to his Smokestack. I don't know why because he would never forget it normally, he's too skilled a player! And I should have noticed it too. Anyway, we are in his main phase now and I've just countered a Chalice of the Void when he says he forgot to sacrifice two permanents. We call over a judge and... the judge wants to give him a game loss! Seems rather harsh...
Even more weird: the judge is in doubt and thinks about a game loss or restoring the game state and not even giving a warning (which is actually what I think would be appropriate). Even móre weird, he offers ME the choice... There is just no way I'm making the call and Jeroen says that this would indeed be 'highly irregular'. So we restore the game state and Jeroen doesn't even get the warning, which I think would be appropriate. Very weird situation...
To the judges defence, they had experienced some computer trouble after the previous round which they had to resolve really fast, so he had been under considerable pressure. But still... that was not a good showing!

Sideboarding: +3 Rack and Ruin, +3 Pithing Needle, +2 Tropical Island, -2 Red Elemental Blast, -2 Pyroblast, -1 Mana Crypt, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Demonic Tutor (I don't want to have to fetch black mana), -1 Fact or Fiction, -1 Tormod's Crypt. In Mol, I tried bringing in the Tarmogoyfs as well but that didn't work. So I kept the combo in this time, which is the right thing to do in my opinion.

Game 2, I'm able to win thanks to Pithing Needle on Wasteland and a Rack and Ruin. Interesting to note, if Jeroen would have gotten the game loss in the previous game, this would have been my revenge for last tournament!
I wouldn't want to win it that way anyway, so we shuffle up for game three.

Game 3 looks good until I 'forget' to Force of Will his Memory Jar when he has 5 mana left after casting the Jar... He wins shortly afterwards... I'm so ashamed of my misplay that I don't even want to tell him that I had the Force of Will, although I do show it when I pack up my cards.

Round 4: Maarten with Enchantress

Maarten is a nice guy with an interesting deck choice but with no game against my deck. I win it relatively easily. The second game, all I had to do was to get rid of his Wheel of Sun and Moon, with which he had targeted himself. I even have to do that twice -thank you Yawgmoth's Will, who needs Academy Ruins- and it's all over in something like 4 turns.

Round 5: Marcel Gelissen with Stax

Another Stax match up, against a player who also had his fair share of top 8's. No problem, I love to play challenging games!

I go first and lose game 1 to Karn and his friends: Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Metalworker. It's close though because at some point I have Darksteel Colossus in play and 4 lands to 'counter' a Tangle Wire. He topdecks the first Tangle Wire which cuts off my mana supply to do even worse things in my turn and then he topdecks the second Tangle Wire to finish me off! Man... He informs me that he also topdecked the Mishra's Workshop in his first turn. Magic is just a game of cards...

Sideboarding: +3 Rack and Ruin, +3 Pithing Needle, +2 Tropical Island, -2 Red Elemental Blast, -2 Pyroblast, -1 Mana Crypt, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Demonic Tutor, -1 Fact or Fiction, -1 Tormod's Crypt.

Games 2 and 3 are mine as I get to Paint and Grind very quickly. Game three I have Force of Will, 2 x Thirst for Knowledge, land, land, Painter's Servant, Grindstone in my opening hand. I only have to Force a Trinisphere and that's it. Well, actually it was a little bit more complicated then that but I don't have the notes to prove it...

Round 6: Duncan with UW Artifact Aggro (Harlequins version with some tweeks)

I've met Duncan at the previous tournament I played in Breda. He's a great guy, a great player and we have some sort of friendly feud going on: I lost to him last time and I'm determined to beat him this time! All in good fun of course.
When we recognised each other at the site on Sunday, we talked a bit and were joking that we would have to play each other at some point. Now it's gotten even bigger: the winner will make top 8, the loser will be left with only consolation prices!

Game 1, all I see is some Etherium Sculptors and a Master of Etherium after I drained a Ethersworn Canonist. That's not enough to really trouble me and I win this one. Still, very intense game with high quality gameplay, just the way I like it!

Sideboard: +3 Rack and Ruin, +2 Pithing Needle, -1 Tormod's Crypt, -1 Sensei's Divining Top, -1 Vampiric Tutor, -1 Demonic Tutor (I fear Wasteland, which he doesn't play), -1 Pyroblast (something like that).

Game 2, Duncan gets Counterbalance Top down and that's really bad for me. I can get rid off the Counterbalance but I just don't get a Painter's Servant in time to win the game. I die to Ethersworn Canonist beatings.

Sideboarding: I bring in the Tarmogoyfs for the combo because I've seen 2 Seal of Cleansings and a Dispeller's Capsule last game. I also return the Pyroblast because I recognize the danger of Counterbalance.

Game 3 comes down to this stack: Duncan's Counterbalance, my Mana Drain, his Force of Will, my Force of Will, his Force of Will, my Brainstorm getting me nothing. Counterbalance sticks! Dammit! I can't get rid of it, even though I try a couple of times but Ethersworn Canonist is not making it any easier for me. The Counterbalance counters everything I try to play and I die to two Canonists beating down. My savior Tarmogoyf got eaten by the Counterbalance too...

I did make a mistake on my second turn though. I had a Volcanic Island untapped and an uncracked fetchland and I forgot to Brainstorm at the end of Duncan's turn. It might seem small but it just might have made a difference: I wouldn't have had to use the Volcanic Island to Brainstorm and it might have gotten me the extra Blast I needed to win that counterwar over the Counterbalance and maybe the game.

Looks like I'm the loser, again! I still think I have a good match up against this deck. I just need to keep Counterbalance off the table! It was the first time ever I had to play against this deck -I did see Harlequins' list but didn't really study it- and I did ok. Next time Duncan... Next time!

I'm stuck at sixteenth with two Chinese Apocalypse boosters, which give me Death Grasp and Vindicate. Sweet! First time I ever get anything good from a booster.

I noticed some good and interesting plays on my part, as well as (sometimes small) play mistakes but this report is long enough as it is. I did learn a lot this tournament and I'll be back for more soon! Watch your back Duncan!

To the organisers

Thanks for another great tournament, at a great location, with good and friendly opponents!

The only thing that might be up for improvement is the judging. But to your defense: it was the first time in my experience that something went wrong that badly. Still, Jeroen and I were able to work it out in an appropriate manner but it might turn out differently another time, with less 'friendly' players...

"I'll be back!"

Thoughts on the deck, afterwards

I still like the deck a lot and consider it a contender in today's metagame. The only changes would be on the sideboard.

This is the sideboard I'm trying now:

3 Rack and Ruin
3 Pithing Needle - You can stop Planeswalkers with Pithing Needle!
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered explosives - They have been wonderful overall and I hope they'll help me to get a better Oath match up too.
2 The Abyss - I want to try them versus Fish and maybe Oath. If they don't do what I need them to do, they might change into Sower of Temptation.
1 Underground Sea - I really liked bringing in extra lands in several matchups. It's black because of the 2 The Abyss, otherwise it would be an Island or a Volcanic Island.
1 Academy Ruins - It helps in the Control Slaver and Ichorid matchups and it's an extra land to bring in, which proved to be 'tech' on several occasions.

I might try changing the number of The Abyss to 3 and if that doesn't work I'll change them to 3 Sower of Temptation. This will be up to testing. If I up the number of The Abyss, the Academy Ruins is the first candidate to go. It might have to go anyway, if I decide to bring in the fourth Rack and Ruin.

Testing testing testing...

Thank you

Thank you for reading this far! I hope it was a good and interesting read.
I would be happy to read your constructive criticism on the deck itself, my particular decklist, my sideboard plans and my performance.

Previous reports can be found here and here.

Robrecht.

EDIT: I apologize for any spelling mistakes! I have edited this post a million times but they seem to multiply overnight...

[The Atog Lord]

This is a very well-written report. Thank you.

[Marske]

It's a very nice written report !

The judging issue will be taken care off I'm glad you realized they had been under a lot of pressure and you guys where able to restore everything back to normal and play out the game.

Also thanks a lot for your compliments and I hope to see you 7 December (the next tournament).

[BigBarn]

Round 1: Peter Reynders with Grim Long
...Game 1 revolves around Peter trying to resolve Wheel of Fortune after I Force of Willed an earlier attempt to go broken. In his turn he plays Lion's Eye Diamond, then removes Simian Spirit Guide from the game for one red mana with 3 cards left in his hand. I have Engineered Explosives at '0' on the table and ponder for a short while... and then decide to pay 2 to blow it up. Peter now has to discard his hand if he wants to use the LED or lose it. Of course he moves the artifact to his graveyard. After that it's over soon. If he had played the LED after he would have removed the Simian Spirit guide from the game, I wouldn't have had the chance/priority to 'counter' his LED with my Engineered Explosives when he put the Wheel of Fortune on the stack.

Simian Spirit Guide is a mana ability, and doesn't use the stack.  He doesn't have to pass priority to you to wait for the R to go into his mana pool.  He can put LED on the stack, pass priority to you, then after LED resolves, he can RFG the Guide, then play Wheel without passing priority.  OR he can do it in the order you suggest.  Either way, you never have an opportunity to blow up his Lion's Eye Diamond until he's already used it in response to his own Wheel.  The order of the LED/Spirit guide isn't relevant here (or normally).

[Odd mutation]

Hi BigBarn,

Thank you very much for clarifying that! Of course you're right. I didn't realize that it is a mana ability. I thought to have done something really clever...

Robrecht.

[The Atog Lord]

Robrecht,

As I said above, great report. Here are a few questions. First, how was Top? It's a card I included in my list because it can smooth early draws, though I am hesitant about its vulnerability to Null Rod. Is it better than something like Impulse would have been?

Second, what about Crypt compared to Relic of Progenitus. Crypt costs nothing, which is a plus. Relic costs one to play and one to use, though this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The one mana cost circumvents Chalice of the Void, a primary tool of Ichorid decks. It also cantrips, and that can be positive too.

How about Tezzeret -- would he have been worth included, or do you think his cost would have been prohibitive?

As for the proposed sideboard. I don't think The Abyss would be effective against Oath. Given the stacking order, The Abyss resolves before Oath, so you'd get hit by a Dragon before he falls into the Abyss. Second, Akroma is immune to it anyways.

[Odd mutation]

Hello Rich,

Thank you very much for your response.

Sensei's Divining Top: When I was building my list, I started out without Top. In testing against Control Slaver -piloted by a friend of mine who is something of an expert of the deck as he has been playing it for years now, getting multiple top 8's and tournement wins (he got 2nd in Breda!)- I noticed that the games where he would get Top out, he got a great advantage over me. Those games were definitely harder to win and I was always tempted to counter his Top. So I tried to play one copy myself. I haven't regretted it since as Top indeed smooths out my draws to a great extent! As I'm playing 6 fetches, compared to the 5 I usually see in other lists, I get an extra advantage. I will not cut Top from my list, it has been really good to me. Especially in matchups that tend to go long.

Playing against decks packing Null Rod, I will side it out however. I realize that Engineered Explosives also gets locked down by Null Rod but the effect of Engineered Explosives before the Rod comes down and afterwards, once I get rid of the Null Rod, is far greater then Sensei's Divining Top.

In conclusion: yes I think Sensei's Divining Top is a very good card which deserves a spot in this deck. I do think it's better then Impulse because it gives you an edge against several matchups that the one-shot power from Impulse cannot top (no pun intended). I'm actually a fan of Impulse but I think there isn't room for a full set -I started with Impulses in the deck- and one Sensei's Divining Top is better then 2 Impulses in my opinion.
Playing against Null Rod decks, it gets sided out.

Tormod's Crypt versus Relic of Progenitus: I have been thinking about this one too. I decided against Relic because I don't want to remove my own graveyard! I have won so many games thanks to a Yawgmoth's Will into a full graveyard, I wouldn't want to take away that advantage.

Indeed, Tormod's Crypt is free of charge which is another plus over Relic. However, you do make an interesting point with the Chalice on 0 from Ichorid because that is actually the only times I lose from that deck: discard spell on my Force of Will, Chalice for 0! It slows me down just enough for them to take the game. Tormod's Crypt actually does the same to them: it slows them down, it doesn't outright win the game, so I can get my combo out and active. That's why I said in my report that this matchup is mostly decided by whoever goes first. If the Ichorid doesn't get the Chalice at some point, the game is usually mine.

At first glance, the advantages of Relic over Crypt seem to be when facing Goblin Welder and Tarmogoyf, especially as I don't play mine anymore after sideboard.

I will have to give the Relics a shot in testing though before I can give a definite answer. It's all too much just theory now and I don't like that too much. Nothing beats experience...

Tezzeret: funny you mention him because after the tournement, I was thinkig of adding one copy to the deck. I don't have the testing experience yet but I would think that he is indeed a little bit costly.

I could see him being added over the Fact or Fiction though. He does what I want the Fact to do and maybe more. It's definitely something I'm prepared to test. I wouldn't want to add more then one copy though.

If I do decide to add him to the deck, I'll have to beware of trying to do too many cool things. I know I'll be tempted to add a Time Vault and maybe even a Voltaic Key too -although the Key would probably be taken out at some point because it's simply not needed. At first Glance, the Time Vault combo doesn't add anything that isn't already in the deck. It looks like it only helps against the decks that pack a Gaea's Blessing to disrupt the Painting and Grinding you're about to do. In those cases, Tezzeret can get me a Tormod's Crypt just the same.

Also, if Tezzeret does make the cut, I think I will add a Trinisphere to the sideboard for the combo matchups.

I will test him in the Fact or Fiction Slot!

The Abyss: you can see that I haven't actually tested it yet... Of course you're right, you still get hit by their flyers. They won't even mind they have to sack any because it will just give them another beater to finish the game. Indeed, akroma couldn't even care less about The Abyss.

How did you do against Oath decks? Do you think the two extra Engineered Explosives in the sideboard will be enough to tilt the matchup in my favor?

What do you think about The Abyss in the different Fish matchups? I realize it doesn't work against the UW Canonist decks -because they are all artifact creatures and The Abyss misses those- but there I will have the advantage of bringing in Rack and Ruins and extra Engineered Explosives with the new sideboard.

Combo matchup: until now I have been winning almost all of my combo matches. Do you consider it a good matchup? I was a little bit surprised I was doing that well against those decks. I don't know if it's a playskill matter because combo is so difficult to play perfectly and that's what's necessary if you want to do well. If you can master combo, I believe it's the best choice/most powerful choice to play. I was actually thinking of adding 2 Arcane Laboratories to the sideboard.

Thank you very much for your response and your work on the deck!

Robrecht.

[Zieby]

Hi Robrecht,

Very nice and detaild report.
I'm sorry for the judging situation and I'm glad everything worked out just fine.

I would like to play you next time for my re-match from the first tournament in Breda.

See you on the 7th of December.

Greetz Arjan

[mulder]

Nice report Robrecht, I always like reading well-written reports and yours always happen to be of high quality. Too bad you just missed out on top 8, but better luck next time.
Tournaments in Breda are always nice and I'll try to be there too next time, hopefully to win another Library or better 

Ilja

[The Atog Lord]

Combo vs Painter is not a matchup that I have tested much. That said, I'd focus on beating the Ad Nauseam variety were I concerned about the matchup.

The Angel Oath matchup is something which I have not explored in detail, and Red Blasts should take care of any Djinns. As for Angels, if that proved to be a problem, you could always board dedicated hate. However, I'd imagine EE to be sufficient.

As for The Abyss, I think Jeff Carpenter's deck makes that plan less than amazing. I might try Sower of Temptation along with the aforementioned EE.

[Odd mutation]

Hi,

Decklists have been posted here.

Robrecht

[Odd mutation]

Hi,

You can also find the decklists here.

The winner's report is here

Another top 8 Report by Duncan Keijzer:

I piloted this deck to a top 8 finish in a 50-person tournament in the Netherlands yesterday. Let me start with my list first:

UW Artifact Agro

3   Flooded Strand   
2   Polluted Delta   
2   Island   
3   Tundra   
3   Mishra's Factory   
1   Black Lotus   
1   Mox Jet   
1   Mox Pearl   
1   Mox Sapphire   
1   Mox Emerald   
1   Mox Ruby   
1   Mana Crypt   
1   Sol Ring   
1   Tolaria West   
4   Etherium Sculptor   
4   Master of Etherium   
4   Ethersworn Cannonist   
2   Ninja of the Deep Hours   
4   Force of Will   
4   Thorn of Amethyst   
3   Counterbalance   
3   Sensei's Divining Top   
2   Sword of Fire and Ice   
2   Relic of Progenitus   
1   Enlightened Tutor   
1   Time Walk   
1   Brainstorm   
1   Ancestral Recall   
1   Tolarian Academy   
1   Engineered Explosives   

Sideboard
3   Leonin Abunas   
2   Relic of Progenitus   
4   Meddling Mage   
1   Tundra   
3   Seal of Cleansing   


I chose Engineered Explosives for the last free slot and it was definitely good. It gets rid of Oath, Chalice and EtW/Zombie tokens and you can tutor it up with both Enl. Tutor and Tolaria West. It is a versatile tutorable maindeck solution to a lot of resolved things.

I used the sideboard Harlequin suggested (except for Abunas instead of Custody). Meddling Mages were solid, just like the extra land in the sideboard vs. stax (and thus the extra basic in the main). I never boarded in Abunas (I ran them over custody because the local seller didnt bring his tempest binder). I still believe he is better against fish, but I didnt face that deck yesterday. However I believe that defensive sideboarding isn't the way to go. I will test 3 Pithing Needles in this slot. That improves the Ichorid matchup and several others naming Tezzeret, Grindstone, Wasteland, Welder.

My tournament went like this:
Round 1: Oath 2-0
Round 2: MUD 1-1 (i was losing when time was called and managed to stay alive in the extra turns)
Round 3: Ichorid 2-0
Round 4: MUD 2-0
Round 5: Drain Tendrils 1-1 (we finished g2 when there were 5 minutes left and decided not to start g3)
Round 6: Painter 2-1 (CounterTop really shined in this match)

Top 8: Aggro MUD 0-2

So didn't lose a match in the Swiss, but got knocked out in t8. We had a random pairing in the t8 (don't know if that's normal these days?) and I think I would've gotten further wouldn't I have been paired against MUD (the t8 was: me, MUD x2, BUG Fish, Slaver, Drain Tendrils, Goblins and Ichorid I think).

I might write a more detailed report if I have time this week. The deck is a solid contender in the current metagame, but workshops aren't the best matchup. Thorn, Canonist and CounterTop are quite useless and chalice@2 can really hurt. The aggro versions have large men on top of that and the pro-blue part of Sword of Fire and Ice makes their men nearly unblockable.

Edit: I would also replace one of the sideboard Relics with a Tormod's Crypt. That way you can tutor a Graveyard Removal card with Tolaria West.

Greetings,

Robrecht

EDIT: Sorry Duncan... fixed!

[Duncan]

Another top 8 Report by Duncan Keyzer:

We had a random pairing in the t8 (don't know if that's normal these days?) and I think I would've gotten further wouldn't I have been paired against MUD (the t8 was: me, MUD x2, BUG Fish, Slaver, Drain Tendrils, Goblins and Ichorid I think).

I'll have to rectify this statement of mine. I ended op 4th and played against number five, so it was a normal pairing. Someone told me it was random and i actually believed him because I thought my opponent finished 1st and I was sure I didn't go into t8 as 8th.

Thanks for posting my little 'report'!

ps. It's Keijzer, not Keyzer