Top 8ing at Bluebell

[personalbackfire]

I appolgize if I get any of this wrong, I dont take notes so this is all from memory.

I decided to try a different version of Tezz for todays event.

I took this:
( I think its only a card or so off DA's list)
1 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
4 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 banana Vault
1 banana Crypt
1 Black Lotus

1 Inkwell Leviathan

4 Force of Will
4 banana Drain
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Misdirection
4 Nights Whisper
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Time Vault
1 Voltiac Key
2 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Rebuild
1 Brainstorm
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Ponder
1 Yawgmoth's Will

Sideboard:
2 Duress
2 Annul
1 Firespout
1 Psychatog
1 Island
1 The Abyss
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Leyline of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tomord's Crypt
1 Yixlid Jailer

Rd 1: Nick Detwiller w/ Stax
Nick is a good stax player who plays with the Forino brothers and Chang. Game one I mull to 5 and keep a 3 land hand with Inkwell and REB. He plays an early Smokestacks which gets there.

Game two I power out a turn one Tezz and fetch for Vault. He top decks Needle and plays it naming Vault. A few turns later I Demonic for Hurks and win.

Game three I dont remember. He won in pretty crushing fashion.

Rd 2: Ad Naus
My oppenet was really nice, who said he had not played in 8 years and was just trying to see if the deck was good and have a good time. His list was different, and I think on the bad side. He had Power Sinks, Angle Grace, Balance, and I think he drained my one card. Game 1 he gets stuck on one land while I have a hand with infinate counters. I eventually get there with my combo.

Game 2 he fires off an ancestral and draws 4 cards. I call a judge and he is rewarded a game loss. I felt bad and did not know that that would be the ruling. We finish the game for fun and I win eventually.

Rd 3: Ralph Forino with Stax
I am alittle disheartened to see I got paired against another good Stax player. He had beatened Folinus round 1, and I have played him before so i knew the challenge ahead of me. Game 1 I play a a land and he wastes it. Next turn I play a Island and I think Sol Ring and he Stips my land. Somehow Recall is in my gy, im not sure if i casted it turn one or not, I forget. Anyways I topdeck lotus and play lotus and will Ancestral and TFK and get way ahead. I have 3 Forces and 2 Drains in my hand when I pass. I win shortly after.

Game 2 He plays turn one Crucible. I get off a turn one tinker for Inkwell. Next turn he follows up with Tangle wire, then a Stax a turn later. Needless to say I did not get there. This is the second tournament in a row I have played Ralph and played a turn one tinker and had it not get there.

Game 3: He mulls to 5. I get my combo off turn two or three with drain back up.

Rd 4: Jon Richards w/ RemorasBobs Drains.tezz

Game 1: He leads with Remora. I make all my land drops then he lets Remora die. Im not sure why he did this, it seems like a misplay. He follows it up with something irrelavent. A few turns later I get off yawgwill and stitch together my combo.

Game 2: I want to say he won with Tinker -> Inkwell.
Game 3: Game three he had bob I think, I dont remember much. I won with Inkwell I think.

Rd 5: I get to go get some food while others compete for the remaining top 8 spots.

Top 8: Charles w/ Oath
This is one a friend who is rather good at magic, he is going to the pro tour in 2 weeks, so I knew it would be hard. I had just watched him knock out Jeff in rd 5 as well, so here we go.

Game one I mull and he plays 2 or 3 duress/seizes gets an oath down and swings with Inkwell. I have one turn to do things. Lucky I run top and top and see will dt and land. I draw Will, play it cast Recall, from my gy, and timewalk. On my Time Walk turn I forgot that I had put Rebuild in my deck instead of Hurks. I cast Nights whisper, then Demonic for what I want to be Hurks, realize I had Rebuild and that I couldnt cast it because I played Whisper, when I didn't need to and lose.

Game two he has an early Oath with Orchard. I get in play a sol ring and TimeVault. My hand is utter crap though and have to top deck like a chance to win this one. He Oaths of Progentitus while im at around 16. He passes the turn, I untap timevault  instead of taking my turn,  since he didnt play anything and he wont be able to oath again. This shoulld buy me an extra turn. As it turns out on his turn he Wipe Aways my Timevault so im back down to only having one more turn to win. He swings with his big guy and passes. I draw another land and lose the game.

Overall, I liked the deck and the lack of duress did not seem to really matter. Rebuild is completely wrong and should have been Hurks. My sideboard also felt wrong. I think I would cut the Tog for something that would help in the Oath match.

[TD]

Game 2 he fires off an ancestral and draws 4 cards. I call a judge and he is rewarded a game loss. I felt bad and did not know that that would be the ruling. We finish the game for fun and I win eventually.

Wow really? That seems a little extreme. I wonder if he had a warning for the same infraction in RD1.

[personalbackfire]

Yea I thought it was alittle extreme as well but I guess that is the ruling? Im not sure if he had another infraction or not either.

[Suicideking]

Ive seen people get gamelosses for drawing extra cards with out warning.  It may be judge dependent but it does happen a lot.  I saw a kid draw three of top on accident and got an immediate game loss.

[rikimaru75]

What was the reason for the Abyss in the board?  vs. Fish?

[personalbackfire]

Yea it was for fish. Usually there are acouple of people that play fish at Bluebell so I wanted to have something to board against them. However, I did not get paired against any fish so it sat in my board and did nothing all day.

[Prospero]

Yea it was for fish. Usually there are acouple of people that play fish at Bluebell so I wanted to have something to board against them. However, I did not get paired against any fish so it sat in my board and did nothing all day.

Abyss doesn't seem like such a bad call in the Blue Bell meta.  I saw Tezz for three rounds, Coatl Gro, and then drew with Steve Silverman, running Dredge.  I saw some real crazy stuff there on Saturday though, including W/B aggro, old school Goblins, and a few Fish builds. 

Sean Lind, get back to playing real Fish! 

While the result wasn't what you were looking for, I enjoyed our match.  Game one featured a turn one Trinisphere if I'm not mistaken.  I don't really remember game three either.

[personalbackfire]

While the result wasn't what you were looking for, I enjoyed our match.  Game one featured a turn one Trinisphere if I'm not mistaken.  I don't really remember game three either.

It is always a pleasure playing you and the Forino brothers.  You are probably correct about game one having a turn one trini, I dont really remember. I just remember us both agreeing game one and game two were not real games haha. Game three was the decider that went to you.

Congrads on your endless top 8ing.

[Prospero]

While the result wasn't what you were looking for, I enjoyed our match.  Game one featured a turn one Trinisphere if I'm not mistaken.  I don't really remember game three either.

It is always a pleasure playing you and the Forino brothers.  You are probably correct about game one having a turn one trini, I dont really remember. I just remember us both agreeing game one and game two were not real games haha. Game three was the decider that went to you.

Congrads on your endless top 8ing.

Raf and Vinnie are awesome, but there are a bunch of you NJ/PA guys who aren't half bad either...

Haha.  Thanks, I wish it was endless, but I'm not so sure on that one.  

Connecticut on Saturday could be a humbling experience.  Lord knows the last time I ventured to GamingEtc I came back home with my tail between my legs...