X9 Hadley - top 4 w/ GWb Exalted Haterator

[Pern]

X9 Hadley - top 4 w/ GWb Exalted Haterator

Sketchy reporting ahead. I didn't expect to top. I didn't even do life totals on paper.
Some of this is certainly wrong. It may all be fiction.

Were you ever one of those guys who wanted to throw together some random deck
right before a tournament, and have it be the right thing out of left field?
Dream come true. Bob likes swinging as a 5/4 beater.

Playtested at X9 Tuesday, and all my decks were crap.
Matt had some GWb thing running Canonists that looked interesting.
I went home, pulled out those colors, and started over.
Some of the card choices happened because I wanted to go no proxies.
I only have 1 Goyf, 1 Teeg, 1 Shusher. I was pretty happy with the build, though.
Goldfished it, played a couple games against Sam's Oath, and that was my prep.

main
4 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
2 Bayou
2 Scrubland
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Pearl
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine

4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Aven Mindcensor
3 Noble Hierarch
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Dark Confidant
2 Ohran Viper
2 Jotun Grunt
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War's Wage

4 Duress
3 Null Rod
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor

side
4 Orim's Chant
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Krosan Grip
1 Vindicate
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Pithing Needle
1 Serenity

Round 1 - Ethen, clerics
Ethen had driven his little brother to the tournament.
It turns out Bob is better than Dauntless One.

Round 2 - Eastman, something blue blackish and stormy
Game 1 seems to me he opened on Thoughtseize, taking one of the two Ohran Vipers I had in hand.
His maindeck plan against aggro was to tinker up Inkwell Leviathan.
Ohran Viper thinks that's pretty funny.
He went for it anyway, following Tinker with Walk.
At one point I actually swung into his untapped Leviathan. I got to draw a card.
Then the Viper went back on block duty while Grunts came out to soak up any trample damage.
I probably killed him with Mindbleeper, or I resolved Edict. Long game.
I sided out Swords, completely forgetting about his Confidants.
Game 2 I think he wasted my Savannah. Bob drew him cards, and I died to storm with two Chants in hand.
Game 3 I had him on the ropes, but we timed out.

Round 3 - Scott, 'nuff respect to the Workshops
Kataki played heavily, and Welders didn't stick over there. Swords are good.
Game 2 Wheel of Sun and Moon made sure the goblin wouldn't do much anyway.
Fast two games.

Round 4 - Chris?, Painter/Vault hybrid thing
Mulled heavily, mana screwed for another fast two games, this time against me.
His deck was interesting.

Round 5 - don't remember your name, sorry, Oath
I think I scooped to an early Oath into Magistrate.
Games 2 and 3 were lopsided.
I've got pretty good game against Oath.
Even if I don't get turn 1 Duress, Hierarch and ESG both help to fuel an active Pridemage turn 2.
When Oath does stick for a turn, I've got Edict.

Top 8
Eastman again.
I got solid draws both games, and he didn't.
One game he went all in for insufficient storm just to stay alive,
and I think the other game he got stuck dredging Darkblasts.

Top 4
Ray Robillard, representing the Workshops
Being the scrub that I've always been, I very rarely get to sit across from Ray.
He was feeling like shit, which I countered by misplaying ferociously.
They were still great games, very swingy.

Game 1 my turn 1 land Lotus was followed by his turn 1 Chalice at 2 plus maybe a mox and Mana Vault.
My turn 2 Pernicious Deed blew his board and let me play Bob.
I proceeded to walk straight into Magus of the Moon,
holding a fetch to bluff instead of playing it so I could fetch a basic in response.
I don't remember what killed me.

Game 2 was pretty much just trading beats.
Magus showed up again, but my basics and Hierarch didn't care.
My 2 Aven Mindfrickers brought it home by a hair.

Game 3 I wanted to have Vamp available eot1, had the Bayou in hand,
looked at it, spaced out and then played my fetch instead.
Of course his turn 1 was awesome, so I need the Vamp,
and I had to crack the fetch for another Bayou instead of a Forest.
Magus came down right on schedule.
Eventually I drew a forest, played Hierarch, which got me Vexing Shusher
to neuter his everpresent Chalice at 2, but I was already too far behind.
Solemn Simulacrum recursion was awesome for Ray that game.

Chris T and I both went home with Foil Tinkers as the 3/4 split.


Pridemage, Mindcensor, and Null Rod are the deck, but the other toys did well, too.
Ohran Viper was a star all day. More Teeg and Shusher would've been good.
Vamp was awesome. I like it better than Demonic in this deck.

I sided the Sword of Fire and Ice out most games, and never sided in the Canonists.
I had Serenity in hand but never wanted to play it, because it would've blown my Null Rod.
I never drew Vindicate or Pithing Needle. Everything else got used.

I may need a basic swamp and a different array of fetches.
It's tough, though. My mana was really consistent, barring Magi and Strips.
I don't want to up the fetch count, because I think Mindcensors are coming hard.
It's about time they made enemy color fetches, don't you think?

So there you have it. Big fun at an enjoyable tournament.

[Smmenen]

needs more D. Consult.  Nice job. 

[mdenny]

Congrats again Dan, I was very happy to see you playing GWB and I liked the addition of Orhan Viper. How did you like Duress and would you play it again over thoughtsieze? and also im wondering if Grunt or goyf were better for you? I think its  a cool departure from the more aggro list that smmenen wrote about. Hope to see you next tuesday!

Also to smmenen I tried your list and felt like I would have rather had an edict or swords over the D. Consult.

[Eastman]

Great job with the list Dan and congrats on the finish on Sunday.  I have been telling people for the last few days of the nightmare that was thoughtseizing you and seeing two vipers (with BB left in the pool, island untapped, and emerald/tinker in hand).  Oh well, we had fun games!

A few thoughts on your list, and on some other aggro lists from this weekend.  I played in three different tournaments for good money this weekend, and played against Qasali Pridemage in all three.  That guy is pretty good.  Combined with Noble Heirarch and Goyf, there is a good strong backup for Null Rod there that I think should define a new aggro archetype. 

Again, great work and good report!

[Grand Inquisitor]

Great work, Dan; 'gratz!

It looks like you've only got 8 one-drops (not counting Stp), did you ever wish you had either more acceleration or more early plays?

[Pern]

re 1-drops, the 3 ESGs speed things up. I could use another.
I tended to have really good turn 2s.
I'd like to lower the average cost to minimize Bob's pain, especially if I go Thoughtseize.
On the other hand, I love all the 3-drops.
Way too many possible directions to go with this archetype.

re Duress vs Thoughtseize, my pair of Thoughtseizes were in Sam's deck.

re Demonic Consultation, great card in a different deck, with more 4-ofs.
I don't Premium, haven't seen your article.

Clearly, with the last two blocks, Wizards are trying to make creatures
strong enough to put them back into the game. I would say they've succeeded.
The number of guys with multiple abilities really reduces the number of dead draws.

[Diakonov]

Nice work, Dan.  Just watching you play that deck was fun.

[hulk3rules]

Nice deck Dan and congrats. 

Do you go to X9 most Tuesdays? 

[ITT666]

Do you go to X9 most Tuesdays?

Brian Phelon, Dan Richardson... Magic The Gathering?  What is this 2003? Have we entered a time warp? I hope not I was such a bad magic player back then. 

I was informed you had quit Dan, anyway congrats on the finish, and good to see your playing again! I guess it just proves the old adage "nobody every really quits magic."

Are you playing any limited, or is it just the 60 card decks? Hard to even call Vintage constructed, it just feels so far separated from the wizards supported 60 card formats. But that's a whole other topic so...

@mdenny,  Are you Matthew James Denny, I assume so since people were calling you Matt. Good to see you back in Magic as well. Especially nice to see one of the first people to teach me the game back on the scene. I hadn't seen you in the shop for about 5-6 years, it's unfortunate your return comes after my departure, but I am happy to see old faces back in action.

That your on the tournament organizer side of things doesn't surprise me a bit.

Keep it up, Hadley is so lucky to always have somebody to take up the mantel of tournament organizer. Whenever one stops/goes away there's always another to take his/her place.

[Pern]

@ITT66 - Ethan. Wow. All I do is draft Monday nights, with the occasional EDH.

@Hulk - Tuesdays are pretty random. I come if I can. Sam too.

[mdenny]

Holy Crap! Ethan? Wow haven't seen you in forever man. Where have your travels taken you?

@Hulk I'm at the store every Tuesday night from about 6-9 to play Vintage or Legacy with anyone who is willing to show up. We usually get between 2-5 players but im hoping to get this number to the 6-8 range by the end of the summer. Right now, Dan and Sam are the only people i could call my semiconsistent player base but there are a couple of converts who i will hopefully be getting to play and as always, the more who show, the more fun it is.

[Smmenen]

re Demonic Consultation, great card in a different deck, with more 4-ofs.

Consult is really good with 3-ofs as well.   

You have more than enough 3-ofs and 4-ofs to support Consult.

You can Consult for:

Duress
Null Rod
Confidant
Mindcensor
Pridemage
Fetchland
Wasteland

Seems amazing.

Also, if you are facing a Leviathan, I would Consult for Diabolic Edict in a heartbeat. 

Consult is certainly better than Demonic Tutor in your deck.   

[Diakonov]

...it's unfortunate your return comes after my departure, but I am happy to see old faces back in action.

Ethan!  This is Matt Snow.  Where the heck did you go?

@ everyone else,

I might be around for some random Tuesdays starting in a couple of weeks.

[ITT666]

Ethan!  This is Matt Snow.  Where the heck did you go?

Holy Crap! Ethan? Wow haven't seen you in forever man. Where have your travels taken you?

Hey Matt... Matt

I've been all over the last 2 years, at the moment I'm living in  Bangkok.

Glad to see a resurgence of TI at the store. Not going to lie if I was there I would still be playing other formats predominately, but I love magic in general and a new found support/resurgence of TI at our shop is good. As I said old faces returning is also great.

Magic, regardless of the format is great and I'm happy to see more tournaments, more players (some old, some new,) and more support/TO's being there for the shop (hard to call it X9 when us old timers (if you can be an old timer at the age of 20,) have known it by so many names.)

Matt (Deny not Snow) keep up, what I can only assume, is great work!  And Snowman keep on doing your best to keep those crab decks in check  

Glad to see I haven't been forgotten

Ivantheterrible

[Diakonov]

Snowman keep on doing your best to keep those crab decks in check  

lol

Hey I can't guarantee anything.  You know how those crabs are.  Persistent.