Double Trouble in Little New England: Top 16 at TMD Open, Top 8 at Myriad Games

[TopSecret]

This tournament report will be pretty quick and light on details,
since I did not take any notes besides life totals and cards revealed from effects.
If I mess up somewhere in here, feel free to let me know.


While looking through the Conflux Spoiler, I notice two cards that hold promise:
Kederekt Parasite http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=189080
and Bloodhall Ooze. http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=159610

Well, these cards are obviously off the wall broken.

Kederekt Parasite deals 2 damage per turn when activated,
making it the damage equivalent of Kird Ape or Savannah Lions,
which have both seen play.

However, as soon as the opponent plays Thirst for Knowledge, Brainstorm, Ancestral,
or other such draw card, Parasite will have dealt 3 more damage,
putting it on par with Wild Nacatl.

Similarly, Bloodhall Ooze, is only a little better than Kird Ape
when one of its requirements is met, but if you fulfill both,
the Ooze is even better than Wild Nacatl.

To make both of these cards work, a significant amount of creatures is necessary.
Coincidentally, this works out wonderfully according to my observations,
since there are very little board sweepers being played at the moment.
Also, a lot Vintage decks are currently unprepared for a swarm of creatures
presenting a faster-than-fish clock.

With these ideas in mind, along with the expected meta, I decide to play
the first draft of my deck at a Myriad games tourney in preparation for Waterbury.

This is what I played:

A Conflux of Dead Babies

4x Kederekt Parasite
4x Bloodhall Ooze
4x Wild Nacatl

4x Tarmogoyf
4x Dark Confidant
4x Tin Street Hooligan

4x Path to Exile
4x Artifact Mutation
4x Sudden Shock
4x Thoughtseize

1x Taiga
1x Savannah
1x Bayou
1x Plateau
1x Scrubland
1x Badlands
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Windswept Heath
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Ruby
4x City of Brass

Sideboard
4x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Red Elemental Blast
4x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Yixlid Jailer
1x Gaea's Blessing


Round 1: The Bye

1-0

Round 2: Eric with Tezzeret

Game one Eric’s hand is not fast enough to keep up with my quick draw.

Game two I am combo’d out quickly.

Game three, I have another quick draw, and the game comes down to Eric’s
Brainstorm, which he puts a lot of thought into. After resolving, he quickly dies to beats
and double Sudden Shock. Post-game, Eric explains that he had the choice
between casting Balance and trying to assemble his combo,
and that he mistakenly chose the combo route. Lucky for me, I guess.

2-0

Round 3: Jeremiah with Tezzeret

Game one I entirely punt the game, forgetting to burn Jeremiah at the end of his turn
without enough mana to play both Sudden Shocks on my turn.
I had lethal damage otherwise.

Game two I decide to kill Jeremiah’s Mox with Tinstreet instead of his Voltaic Key.
Always, always kill the Key. Jeremiah casts a tutor to get Time Vault for the game.

2-1

Round 4: Dan with Tezzeret (maindeck Goyfs and Bobs)

Game one I beat down for the win.

Game two I get a clock on the board, tap out, and Dan plays his combo unmolested.

Game three Dan gets an Inkwell Leviathan, which I am not in a position to race,
and which I have no maindeck answer for. I knew that Inkwell was the best choice
for the meta, but I didn’t think everyone else did. ‘Never underestimate your opponents,
I guess. Inkwell was everywhere at Myriad,
meaning that it would be everywhere at Waterbury.
I try to race, but fail. After the game, I am informed that there was a second line of plays
I could have made that would have put me in a better position to potentially kill Inkwell
with blockers, depending on my draw. I forgot that two Tarmogoyf and another dork
could potentially save me in such a case. I make sure to take note of this.

2-2

Round 5: Arik with BUG Fish (maindeck Darkblast [apparently])

Game one I use removal to take out his guys and beat down for the win,
while Arik repeatedly attempts to summon Darkblast from his deck, but to no avail.

Game two, my hand is a little slower, and Arik manages to draw enough guys
to keep me at bay. He continues asking his deck for Darkblast.
Eventually, I get two active Parasites to whittle down his life during the standstill.
When I think his life is low enough to go for it, I incorrectly declare attackers
at least one turn too early. However, Arik assumes I have Sudden Shock in hand,
leading him to block incorrectly. This allows me to carry the game.

3-2

I end up making top 8 due to tie breakers as the only nine point player.

Round 6: Ron with Goblins

This match is an unforeseen problem.
I never anticipate Goblins at Myriad, so I usually end up losing to it.
I’ll have to remedy this in the future.

Game one I try to kill Ron before he assembles a game winning combination of goblins,
but I fail to get there, leaving him at eight life.

Game two I try the same plan, getting Ron to three life, but his goblins overwhelm me.

Final Record: 3-3


So, I made top 8, which is better than I usually do.
Also, this was in spite of my idiotic play errors,
so I begin to feel that the deck shows promise.

However, the disruption I played at Myriad was sub par,
since neither Path to Exile or Artifact mutation can answer Inkwell Leviathan.
Every game I drew them, I wished that they were guys or burn.

My Parasites also had some difficulty becoming active, so I determine I need
more red drops. I decide on Tattermunge Maniac for this over Kird Ape,
since my deck is moving in a more “all in”, aggressive direction,
and Maniac deals the same damage as Kird Ape while activating Bloodhall Ooze to boot.

I also determine through testing that Tidehollow Sculler
would be better than Thoughtseize, since it adds to my clock.

Luckily, my teammate Oliver convinces me to play Lightning Bolt
over Reckless Charge, a card that I have an unhealthy amount of admiration for.
It’s so good when I’m goldfishing!

After determining my maindeck, I decide on hate for combo, Ichorid, and shop.
I want to put hate for goblins (HATE), but I can’t find room,
since I expect the metagame to be
Tezzeret, fish, shop, Ichorid, combo, and Oath, in that order.
I decide to give up on the Oath match, hoping there won’t be many Oath players present.

I also leave out maindeck answers to Colossus, assuming that everyone will play Inkwell,
which can be raced with dudes and burn.

At Waterbury, I find my metagame analysis to be accurate, much to my delight.

This is what I played:

31 Men and a Dead Baby

4 Kederekt Parasite
4 Bloodhall Ooze
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Wild Nacatl

4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Tinstreet Hooligan

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Sudden Shock

3 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 City of Brass
2 Badlands
2 Taiga
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald

Sideboard:

4 Children of Korlis
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Yixlid Jailer
3 Ancient Grudge

Round 1: Jo (spelling?) with BUG Fish (maindeck Tinker, Inkwell)

Game one I have a first turn Tattermunge.
Jo opens with land, Lotus, Goyf, Dark Confidant.
Thanks to a fetch and Lotus, Jo’s Goyf is unscathed in mandatory combat.
My hand is not as explosive, but I hope to win.
I drop a Confidant and Goyf at normal speed, and a Bolt resolves to kill his Confidant,
but he drops another. The game goes back and forth. Eventually, he Tinkers for Inkwell,
but I have two Tarmogoyfs and a Bob to block. I win at two life, almost dying
to my own Confidants.

Game two Jo has a Stifle and a Wasteland for my mana, followed by an early Tinker
versus my empty board. I can’t catch up.

Game three Jo’s hand is not fast enough to keep up.

1-0

Round 2: Lou with Mono Red (Magus of the Moon, Countryside Crusher, and burn)

Game one Lou is mana light and my deck is quick enough to overwhelm him.

Game two my draw is quick and I beat down for the win,
despite forgetting that Fireblast can pump Crusher during combat.

2-0

Round 3: David with UB Faerie Fish (Spellstutter Sprite, Bitterblossom, Factory)

Game one I beat down quickly without much resistance.

Game two, David opens up with an early Chalice for one.
I had luckily boarded in at least two Grudges
on the assumption that he would have Jitte post-board.
Both Grudge and it's flashback get Forced, and a turn or two of draw-go ensues before
I play a Tidehollow Sculler, revealing his hand of Lotus and Ancestral. I take the Ancestral.
I continue to topdeck more guys, while David’s draws are lacking.

3-0

Round 4: Michael with Oath

I lose the die roll for the first time in the tournament.
Michael comments that this is first die roll he has won.
I note that this bears bad omens for the match, and I will surely lose.

Game one Michael opens with a fetchland and a Thoughtseize.
I’m not sure what I’m up against, so I drop an Ooze.
Michael then casts Vampiric and drops an Oath.
I can either Bolt my own Ooze, as Michael has no Orchard,
or I can attempt to race, since Michael’s lifetotal has been notably lessened by
both Thoughtseize and Vampiric. I do some math while looking at my hand
containing a second Ooze, Parasite, Goyf, and Bolt, among other things.
It works out that I can kill him if he’s playing something other
than double Hellkite Overlord or angels.
Hmm. What are the odds? I figure that it’s no good trying to leverage enough
resources to play a slew of guys all at once, since he could just drop an Orchard,
counter the second or third guy in a turn, or do something silly, so I decide to go for it.
I start dropping guys. Michael hits a Hellkite, and swings.
I swing in. Michael hits an Inkwell Leviathan. Lucky me.
I swing in and throw burn for the game.

Game two Michael fails to draw an Oath.

4-0

Round 5: Chris with Artifacts (Sphere of Resistance, Memnarch, Juggernaut, Time Vault)

Game one Chris drops multiple Spheres, but I have enough mana to cast guys.
I get two Scullers, taking his Time Vault and his Juggernaut.
Chris’ Spheres prevent him from getting enough mana to cast his Memnarch.

Game two I get a turn one Parasite, and then draw Tinstreet Hooligan
and Ancient Grudge in multiples.
While I kill Chris’ artifacts he Hydroblasts my Tinstreets to keep my Parasite inactive.
Eventually, a Tinstreet sticks after Chris plays a Memory Jar. I let the Jar stay,
and Chris pops it on his turn, taking seven damage.
I’m living the dream!
Chris drops a Trike to take out my team and then I Sudden Shock it.
I play a Confidant that gets into the red zone.
Chris plays a Juggernaut, but I have double Lightning Bolt to win the game.

5-0

Round 6 and 7: ID

I have the privilege of time, so I walk across the street to get dinner at the Dutchess,
draw little illustrations on my Tarmogoyf proxies, and play some Type 4.

I end up placing second in the swiss.
I’m feeling pretty confident, since I am well rested for my top 16 elimination round,
but I make sure to stay keen and put my game face on, since anything could happen.

Round 8: Sean with nearly manaless Ichorid

I win the die roll. I decide to pile shuffle a little more than usual
in an attempt to ensure good hands. There’s no time limit, so no one cares.
In hindsight, this behavior is likely illogical,
since I usually pile shuffle at least two times before every match.
I can’t imagine an extra shuffle doing much good.
I end up having to mulligan to five.
Sean then begins mulliganing with Serum Powder, revealing that he’s playing Ichorid.
I don’t feel so bad about my mulligan to five anymore.

Game one Sean kills me with little resistance.

Game two I board in four Children, four Thorns, and four Jailers, hoping it’s enough.
I get a good hand with mox, land Sculler, taking Sean’s only dredger.
I then follow up with a Children, then a Thorn and a Jailer, which prompts a scoop.

Game three Sean keeps his seven card hand.
My opening hand is five mana, a Nacatl, and a Children.
I opt to mulligan, but my next six has no mana.
I mulligan to five cards, including a Jailer, a Children, and dudes.
However, my only mana source is a Taiga.
I opt to keep, since the chances of drawing a land to cast my hate
seem better than the chances of mulling into a livable hand of four.

Sean plays a Bazaar and drops a Dread Return, an Ichorid, and a Bridge into his ‘yard.
I draw a Tattermunge and play it, menacingly.
Sean activates his Bazaar again, ditching dredgers.
He then drops a second Bazaar and dredges into four Narcomoebas,
two more Bridge from below, Cabal Therapy, and a Platinum Angel.
Sean makes over twelve power in zombies and a Platinum,
which will be fatal next turn with his Ichorids.
I attack with Tattermunge Maniac, which he takes (Get there!).
I then drop another Tattermunge Maniac, which I drew (rawr).
I end up not having enough power to race. I die next turn.

I was hoping that Children and Thorn would be enough combined with Jailer,
but from what I saw in these games,
I will need to pack more devoted Ichorid hate in the future,
like Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus.

Final Record: 5-1-2


I did get pretty good matchups for pairings,
but I am still happy with the deck’s overall performance.
As long as people continue to play Inkwell Leviathan over Colossus
and build their decks without ways to deal with a butt-load of creatures,
playing a bazillion dudes, with Kederekt Parasite, Bloodhall Ooze, and burn
should be able to do well.

Thanks for reading.

Props:

Myriad Games for running consistent Vintage events
Ray Robillard for running consistently awesome Vintage events
My opponents for being amiable
Oliver for convincing me to play Lightning Bolt instead of Reckless Charge
Jeremiah Rudolph and Jeff Carpenter for being like foxes
The Dutchess across the street for providing decent food in a convenient location

Slops:

Me for forgetting to introduce myself before asking for a draw by name

[oneofchaos]

congrats on the finish!  Swift like a fox eh?

[sundering jerk]

Round 4: Michael with Oath

I lose the die roll for the first time in the tournament.
Michael comments that this is first die roll he has won.
I note that this bears bad omens for the match, and I will surely lose.

Game one Michael opens with a fetchland and a Thoughtseize.
I’m not sure what I’m up against, so I drop an Ooze.
David then casts Vampiric and drops an Oath.
I can either Bolt my own Ooze, as David has no Orchard,
or I can attempt to race, since David’s lifetotal has been notably lessened by
both Thoughtseize and Vampiric. I do some math while looking at my hand
containing a second Ooze, Parasite, Goyf, and Bolt, among other things.
It works out that I can kill him if he’s playing something other
than double Hellkite Overlord or angels.
Hmm. What are the odds? I figure that it’s no good trying to leverage enough
resources to play a slew of guys all at once, since he could just drop an Orchard,
counter the second or third guy in a turn, or do something silly, so I decide to go for it.
I start dropping guys. David hits a Hellkite, and swings.
I swing in. David hits an Inkwell Leviathan. Lucky me.
I swing in and throw burn for the game.

Game two Michael fails to draw an Oath.

why did you keep calling him David?

regardless congrats on killing oath with a creature deck. What turn do you win on usually?

[TopSecret]

why did you keep calling him David?

regardless congrats on killing oath with a creature deck. What turn do you win on usually?

It's a typo. Thanks for pointing it out. I must have confused names while writing the report.

I usually win on turn four while goldfishing.

[Xyre]

How does the manabase work? How many lands do you usually try to get into play? If you're only trying to get 2 lands at a time, I might suggest more rainbow-lands, like Undiscovered Paradise.

[TopSecret]

How does the manabase work? How many lands do you usually try to get into play? If you're only trying to get 2 lands at a time, I might suggest more rainbow-lands, like Undiscovered Paradise.

I don't think I'm very good with manabases, so if you have any specific advice, it'd be much appreciated.

The manabase is fairly consistent, although adding another land would likely be helpful if room can be found.
I've found I often get too few land more often than too many when mulliganing.
Perhaps cutting a Sudden Shock or a Sculler for another land would be best.

Fetching the correct dual-land at the start of each match is actually a little tricky at first, but it should be doable with the correct planning.

Hitting each land drop to get at least three mana in play by turn three is usually the goal to best curve into a fast kill.
However, operating on two mana is possible in a tight spot, but not optimal.

There are two problems with playing more rainbow-lands.
First, Wild Nacatl is best enabled by playing fetches and duals,
so adding more rainbow-lands could make pumping Nacatl less consistent.
Also, fetchlands are helpful for pumping Tarmogoyf, but this is a minor concideration.

However, Nacatl is, in my opinion, one of the best cards in the deck as it stands, because it is very efficient at increasing the clock.
So, there would have to be a very good reason to change the manabase to accommodate more rainbow-lands,
since this would lead to Nacatl being less effective and possibly dropped.
If a card can be found to adequately fill in for Nacatl
or a card is printed that is good enough to justify changing the manabase to accommodate it,
then maybe adding more rainbow-lands will be worth it.

I am a big fan of rainbow-lands, so I have considered adding more before.
I'm not a manabase expert, but from my experience with the deck, adding more rainbow-lands would probably not be worth it,
but I will keep the addition of one Undiscovered Paradise in mind as a possibility if I do further tweaks.

Thanks for mentioning Undiscovered Paradise. I forgot about it.
It could be pretty good as a 1-2 'of in a more multi-color centric deck.

[urweak]

I think we played on MWS at some point, i really like the deck. Congrats on doing well with it.

[TopSecret]

I think we played on MWS at some point, i really like the deck. Congrats on doing well with it.

I don't use MWS, so it must have been someone else. Thanks for the congrats.

[Oath of Happy]

Wow, congradulations on your finish, as well as making an awsome deck.  Did you consider any of the great white creatures that white has to offer, like kataki, gaddock teeg, or a lone isamaru? or are they just too slow and not disruptive enough?  Also, what matchups do you bring in the thorns vs other than storm and ichorid?  I like the idea of making a balls to the wall aggro deck.  It's very powerful and people are always unprepared for it.

[TopSecret]

Wow, congradulations on your finish, as well as making an awsome deck.  Did you consider any of the great white creatures that white has to offer, like kataki, gaddock teeg, or a lone isamaru? or are they just too slow and not disruptive enough?  Also, what matchups do you bring in the thorns vs other than storm and ichorid?  I like the idea of making a balls to the wall aggro deck.  It's very powerful and people are always unprepared for it.

The main problem with white creatures is that they do not activate either Bloodhall Ooze or Kederekt Parasite
unless they are multicolored, like Sculler.
So, any white creature that is added must be far better than any green, red, or black creature that's competing for the slot.

I did consider adding white creatures, but I couldn't think of any that would have been worth it in the meta.

Against the expected decks, Gaddok Teeg didn't do enough. I was expecting mostly Tezzeret, Fish, Stax, and Ichorid.
Against Tezzeret, he stops Tezzeret, Engineered Explosives, Force of Will, Gifts...etc., but not the cards that matter most.
In the Tezzeret matchup, your main goal is to kill the opponent ASAP before the Key-Vault combo can be assembled.
Gaddok doesn't stop the Vault combo and he doesn't stop cheap tutors from assembling it.
I didn't see him being any better against Fish, Stax, or Ichorid.

He is green, which is nice.

Sculler got added because he is never dead in a gamestate or matchup and he is not possible to play around.
This was important because the meta was fairly diverse with plenty of rogue decks.
My personal goal was to build the most explosive, consistent version I could
so that I could beat the expected decks and any rogue decks that showed up.

The other white guys you listed were considered, but I didn't think any of them were good enough.

In the right meta, I could see maindeck Kataki being worth it.

The Thorns were mainly for combo and Ichorid and not much else.
The deck can't race combo, so the Spheres are necessary,
and against Ichorid, they're brought in for similar reasons.

That said, because of my matchups, I didn't end up using my sideboard, other than the Grudges,
except against Ichorid in the top 16,
and I didn't get any real testing done with the sideboard.
So, as a word of caution, my sideboard is quite possibly awful.

[Anusien]

Have you considered Tribal Flames?  Seems like you could easily fire it off for 4 or 5 if you add an Island (which also gives you Daze, if you want).

I imagine you do a lot of fetching for Bayou and Plateau.  I'm not sure if you want to concentrate on Badlands and Taigas because then you end up having to tutor up a splash color, and then you have one land in your primary colors and one land in your splash colors . If you fetch up a Taiga, for example, you need another red or green source for Tin-Street Hooligan, so your two lands can only make three colors.  You're definitely skimping on the white sources by the way.  If you keep the Children of Korlis in the sideboard:

The pairs:
Taiga/Scrubland
Badlands/Savannah
Plateau/Bayou

The goal with the new manabase is generally going to be to fetch up a main color and an off-color with whatever land you have turn 1, and fetch up the other land turn 2.  You generally only need Plateaus and Bayous for that.  The situation may arise where you only have the one land and need to get a weird set of colors, hence the adjustment.  You may consider -Mox Pearl +

Suggested manabase with the same number of sources.

4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Plateau
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Scrubland
1 Badlands
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal

Pearl needs to be tested out; it only casts 16 cards in the maindeck (not counting Tinstreet) but it can power up all 15 cards in the sideboard.  If you do cut it, replace it with the 8th fetchland, most likely.

I think it's a pretty cool idea and I'm glad you had some success with new cards.

[Qube]

Nice to see that you take it into top 16 

Have you ever mention a more hatefull version with Null Rod (because it's so powerfull) and Root Maze (for being green and fuck of the fetches, drain.decs and give you more time to win.) also Kederet make more damage over time with Root Maze.

I thought about a list like this one:
http://www.deckcheck.net/stats.php?id=70431

what do you think? have root maze, null rod, pyrostatic pillar and thorns a chance in the deck?

[policehq]

Good job on the tournament, but the formatting of all your posts is very annoying. Punctuation is sufficient, without pressing enter as if you're writing an emo blog, to create a break before a new idea.

Leave the modding to us please.  -Eastman

[TopSecret]

@ Anusien

Thanks for the feedback. I will keep your manabase suggestions in mind the next time I get a chance to tweak the deck.

I did originally have Savannah to fill out the dual-land combinations, but when goldfishing, I found it to be a liability in the opening hand more often than I needed it to team up with Badlands, so I took it out. I will reconsider Pearl, and I'll take a look at Lotus Petal, although I am guessing that Petal's extra acceleration won't make it worth including over a permanent manasource. I do like the idea of dropping City of Brass from the maindeck for more duals and fetches. It is noteworthy that my large number of proxies did carry some weight in the deckbuilding process, as I ended up proxying most of the duals even with maindeck Cities, in addition to Tarmogoyfs and power. I also added Scullers last minute, without making adjustments.

I did consider Tribal Flames, as well as the addition and/or the splash of blue, but I couldn't justify it to myself, under the assumption that the added inconsistency in the manabase would outweigh the rise in power from Tribal Flames, Ancestral, and Timewalk. In hindsight, Tribal Flames may have been worth it over Sudden Shock, with or without the blue splash, since I never ended up benefiting from split second against a Psychatog or Sower with Force backup during either tournament. I will keep the additional splash in mind, since I usually favor adding more colors to my decks. In a similar vein, it may end up being a good idea to drop white entirely. There are a lot of directions I am considering.

@ Qube

I did seriously consider Null Rod. For me, it came down to playing Sculler or Rod, and I went with Sculler. I'm currently undecided about whether or not to include Rod, so I'm regarding it as more of a metagame decision than anything else.

I think a more hate centered deck could be successful, but it is a different direction than I was looking to pursue with my deck. I was hoping to go for raw power to catch people expecting a slow clock unawares. This paid off at Waterbury, as I was paired against a lot of rogue decks, where hate would have been ineffective. My metagame is currently a lot of Tezzeret, and then some fish and rogue decks. Because of the rogue factor, I am more interested in designing a balls to the walls aggro deck with a decent Tezzeret matchup. I have also played a lot of hate decks before, so I am personally trying a change of pace.