Jacksonville NC, Mox Emerald Results

14 people showed up for the mox tournament at Head2Head Games in Jacksonville, NC on Saturday, which means it was 4 rounds of swiss and cut to top 4.

Standings after 4 rounds were as follows.

1   Coins, Derek 10pts
2   Carter, Jay S 10pts
3   Elderfield, Darien C 9pts
4   Cavenaugh, Justin E 9pts
5   Wiley, Garrett L 9pts
6   Svien, Micheal D 6pts
7   Gross, Robert 6pts
8   Flores, Oscar R 6pts
9   Kahler, Jeremiah 3pts
10   Guy, Damion 3pts
11   Rowland, Daniel A 3pts
12   Morris, Dick 0pts
13   Cannon, Kevin 0pts
14   Black, Thomas 0pts

In top 4 Derek beat Justin, Jay beat Darien.

In the finals Jay was victorious over Derek, winning a Mox Emerald for his troubles.

The lists are as follows:

Jay Carter
(Dredge)
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Gemstone Mine
4 City of Brass
4 Serum Powder
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Unmask
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Dread Return
1 Ancestor’s Chosen
1 Realm Razor
1 Flame-kin Zealot
1 River Kelpie
1 Angel of Despair
1 Careful Study
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Darkblast
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Ichorid
4 Bridge From Below

SIDE
3 Emerald Charm
3 Pithing Needle
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Contagion

Derek Coins
This will never work
4 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Echoing Truth
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Rule of Law
3 Isochron Scepter
3 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Morphling
1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
2 Meddling Mage
2 Mana Drain
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Flooded Strand
2 Tundra
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Academy Ruins
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
2 Snow-covered Island
1 Plains

SIDE
4 Hydroblast
4 Annul
4 Seal of Cleansing
2 Hibernation
1 Vedalken Shackles

Justin Cavenaugh
(ANT)
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Chrome Mox
2 Underground Sea
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Tropical Island
1 Island
2 Swamp
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth’s Will
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Ad Nauseam
2 Tendrils of Agony
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Ponder
4 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Timetwister
1 Necropotence
1 Brainstorm

SIDE
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Chain of Vapor
4 Dark Confidant
4 Extirpate
3 Massacre

Darien Elderfield
List withheld upon request

Garrett Wiley (yes, I’m posting mine, mostly because I have something of a tournament report)
UbaStax
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Wasteland
4 Barbarian Ring
3 Mountain
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Strip Mine
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Goblin Welder
4 Crucible of Worlds
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
3 Smokestack
3 Uba Mask
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Trinisphere
4 Null Rod
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl

SIDE
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Viashino Heretic
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Ensnaring Bridge

Rd 1 VS Jeremiah (RG Beats)
So playing UbaStax and having my first round opponent as the antithesis for all things stax (especially when it runs 2 seal of primordium and 3 ancient grudge main deck) I am a little dejected but I try my best anyway.
Game 1 on the play
I start off with a crucible, some moxen, a chalice at 0 and a null rod (I had no Idea what I was playing at this point or that chalice would have gone down for 2). He starts off with a fetchland and passes. My turn I wonder what decks play wooded foothills as I play bazaar, activate and pass. He plays pithing needle on bazaar and passes. I draw into strip mine and get rid of one of his three lands and pass. He plays Tin Street Hooligan and breaks my strip lock before it can even start. I draw into some spheres, wastes and more null rods while he beats me down with hooligan and mogg fanatic. I stabilize at 8 life by playing welder to eat the fanatic and a b ring to eat the goblin. I have another b ring on the table until he plays a magus of the moon and I have to take it as I look at my $300 mountains.

Game 2
Pretty simple here. He lays a tarmo and proceeds to destroy every single artifact that I can put into play until it kills me. Interesting to note is that I was unable to lay chalice at 2 thanks to his null rod, and the next turn I drew into ensnaring bride, but it would have just eaten one of the 3 ancient grudges in his grave or the seal that he played the turn before (that would have been countered had he not played a null rod).

Some bad beats, but I have faith in the Baby Blender so I decide not to just drop.

Round 2 vs Micheal (Tezzeret)

Game 1 on the play
I open with mox, chalice at 0, and smokestack with a turn 2 crucible lined up. He doesn’t have a force and I win. He later tells me that he had key and vault in his opening grip, I drew null rod on my first draw. I love this deck.

Game 2
He opens with a moxen and something irrelevant.
I go ruby, mox monkey, it eats a force. I lay chalice at 0 (I’m holding smokestack so I don’t want him to have extra perms later down the road) and then go workshop trinisphere. It resolves, I get the second turn smokestack and draw a crucible on my third turn and he scoops.

Round 3 vs Dan (TPS?)
My notes are bad on this one, we start a little late in the round and I draw a nuts opening hand that has spheres and smoke to stop anything he can do, he scoops.

G2 was kind of epic, I remember getting an insane hand with waste lock and smokestack but he double duresses me. I get out a mox monkey, mana crypt and waste lock (after drawing into a new crucible) when he twisters. I draw into an awesome hand with bazaar, b ring, smokestack and academy. Somewhere in there I get another mox monkey online and provide the beats. He tries to get out from under the locks with a hurkyl’s recall but isn’t able to gain enough tempo to go for the win due to a mana miscalculation (He thought he was one short when he wasn’t) and I was able to replay everything so he scooped.

Round 4 vs Robert
He seems kind of depressed that he has to face the squirrel crusher and puts up little resistance and scoops the match to a second turn strip lock (when I was on the play).

So after going 3-1 I miss top 4 on tie breakers and get to grab a bite to eat as I cool my head.

I think stax in general is a great deck to play right now, it just needs to run 4 null rod, 4 chalice, 4 bazaar and 5 Spheres. In my opinion, any stax deck that doesn’t run those cards right now isn’t built correctly. Null rod alone cuts off three of the most popular win conditions (yawgwill, key vault and painter grindstone) not to mention given a hefty boon against many other decks.

As far as my list is concerned, Uba Masks aren’t needed, I never got the lock nor did I ever feel it even would be necessary to win.
Ghost Quarter is still on trial, I never got to use it.
The sideboard is still untested as I never actually saw a sideboard card throughout the day except against RG Beats where it was just heading for the grave.
I think 3 Smokestack is correct as long as you have a draw engine. I’m not sure which games it happened in but I know that bazaar drew me into smokestack #1 and #2 a couple of times.
I’m on the fence about mox monkey. He did his job during the day, but I feel like there might be something better for the deck space. He currently serves as a backup to chalice (which is normally a backup to smokestack) and a redundant null rod, being able to eat sol rings and mana vaults (and voltaic keys) with ease.