[Report] Third place with Almost Blue on December the 13th, 2009 in Hengelo

[Zieby]

Ok, how do you prepare for a tournament. A good night sleep, no alcohol, allot of testing and a good discussion about the metagame with your team mates.
The first 2 points I forgot for this Event, because I had a party organized by the company my wife is working at the moment. I had been drinking and it was 03:00 at night, when we finally arrived in our bed. The next morning the alarm was ringing at 07.00. Out of bed and still sleeping under the shower…
When I arrived at the location where I would meet the rest of the Crew I already saw Marius (Marske), Martin (Art of War) and Dennis (Wiakiki) and Bart (Ancestral_Recall) is walking to our direction a few minutes later.
We Go on our way and is Marske already told you guys, we had a little bad luck with finding the correct direction due to talking to much and sleeping to little.
We Arrive in time for the registration and talked al little with all the folks we knew, I get my 4 Dark Confidants from the Dealer so I didn’t have to Proxy a card in my deck. So what you all want to know is what the hell did he play (because of the little sleep I had and the fact I didn’t take any notes, the facts in this report will be not of a very high standard).

Almost Blue
Suggested by Arjan Bos (Team R&D)
Credits for MattMaxx
// Lands
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Island
    2 Underground Sea
    2 Misty Rainforest
    1 Tolarian Academy
    1 Swamp

// Spells
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Mana Crypt
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Lotus Petal
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Ruby
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Sol Ring
    4 Force of Will
    3 Spell Pierce
    1 Misdirection
    3 Repeal
    1 Rebuild
    1 Hurkyl's Recall
    1 Chain of Vapor
    2 Tormod's Crypt
    2 Sensei's Divining Top
    1  Ancestral Recall
    1 Brainstorm
    1 Ponder
    1 Time Walk
    1 Thirst for Knowledge
    1 Frantic Search
    1 Timetwister
    1 Fact or Fiction
    1 Gush
    1 Mind's Desire
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Merchant Scroll
    1 Gifts Ungiven
    1 Vampiric Tutor
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    2 Brain Freeze

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Dark Confidant
SB: 2 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Extirpate
SB: 1 Tinker
SB: 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
SB: 1 Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Claws of Gix
SB: 2 Old Man of the Sea
SB: 1 Pithing Needle

Round 1: Martin with Sad Sac Sui (Tripple S)
This is not even funny anymore, not  only did we drove together to this event, this is the second time in the last 3 tournaments we play each other in the first round. On top of that, His deck is designed to kill Combo, with 4 Sad Sac’s in the main it is very hard.

Game 1: I keep a normal hand with turn 1 Spell Pierce up after winning the Roll, this is important for the Sad Sac I knew he was playing. Play Island and go, He tries for the first turn Sad Sac, I Pierce it.
Untap, draw and play a land for the turn. In my third turn I come to more than 17 storm and play Brain Freeze so he is killed in his next upkeep.
Game 2: In the early turns I can stop the Sad Sac from resolving but pitch the wrong card, I keep a Merchant Scroll in hand and remove the Chain of Vapor, I can’t find any lands and draw Jewel after jewel with a Null Rod in play. If I only had pitched the correct card, he can ride the card advantage and the beats from confidant till the end.
Game 3:This one is epic, I resolve a Old Man of the Sea and Steal a Bob from him, He resolves a Sad Sac and Removes Sphinx, Will and the second Old Man. With Bitter blossom in play he loses life each turn and at the moment he is at 5 life I give him his second Confidant back, his life drops to 2 and then with the Bitter Blossom to 1, He attacks me with his army and I am at 1. Next Turn he is killed by his own Bitter Blossom.

Games 2-1-0
Matches 1-0-0

Round 2: Arjan with Tezz (Oath board)
This fellow is not a familiar face for me, but after some small talk about the last tournament he starts the match after winning the Roll.

Game 1: My opponent starts with a first turn Island with EOT Mystical Tutor for Ancestral, Second turn he plays a Underground Sea and passes, I play my second land and Passes back……. EOT Vampiric Tutor for ? Then he announces the Ancestral, I Force and Ancestral leaves the stack, now before  we proceed to his turn I play a Brain Freeze for 12 cards with Tormod’s crypt already in play.
I mill Tezz and Inkwell and Will so I’m fairly confident that I will take this game, a few turns later I storm the rest of his deck into his Grave Yard.
Game 2: I keep a hand with Island, Top, Mox  and some other cards like a Spell Pierce. I proceed to not draw a single land in the coming 6/7 turns, this puts me to much behind and I can’t come back into the game (I also made a huge error by not responding to Y-Will with the Tormod’s Crypt that was lying in the corner of my Battlefield).
Game 3: Goes to time after I saved my sorry ass from a Tinkered Inkwell.

Games 3-2-1
Matches 1-0-1

Round 3: Jean-Paul with Naughty Tezz (as he calls it, I believe)
JP is known for his homebrew Tezz list with Dreadnought and Magus of the Moon, both additions I do not fair because of my basics and bounce suite. So we start the match with me winning the Roll.

Game 1: I can stop his early TV+Key and then he  resolves a Magus of the Moon, I really ***** this one because I let my fetch in play without responding, now I have only 1 Island and 1 Swamp. Later this game when he had lethal on board I punt 1 more time by not using top correct, this brings me to the fact that I missed one Mana to protect my double Brain Freeze from a Stifle he could have. As you already should guess, the stifle resolved and he attacked me the next turn for the game.
Game 2: I have an Early confidant that feeds me with too much cards to handle for him. I storm him for his entire Library around my tenth turn.
Game 3: We only have a few minutes left on the clock and I didn’t want a draw so I decide to board my Tinker Sphinx in For the possibility of a quick Tinker Kill. I fan my starting 7 and see a first turn Tinker with Fow back-up, and a Spell Pierce . Do I have to tell anything more…….

Games 5-3-1
Matches 2-0-1

Round 4: Goswin Zeeman with Belcher
I know Goswin fairly well and he also joined me on a road trip to Bazaar of Moxen 2 last year where he top 4ed the Legacy event. I knew from scouting he was playing Belcher so we start the game and I win the third Roll.

Game 1: I open a hand with BF, Mox, Land and some other cards, after playing the mox and the land I pass the turn. He storms to 5 and cast Windfall, I respond with a BF to mill 18 cards. He then proceeds to Empty the Warrens for 18 Goblins. OK. This is a 2 Turn Clock. I believe I drew Demonic tutor and was holding Will in hand. I play my fetch and pass the turn to see him cast a Belcher and attack me for 18, remaining only 2 life. My third turn I can Storm the remaining cards from his Library with a big Y-Will. I played Demonic for Lotus and from there could chain spells with my bouncers.
Game 2: I let welder come into play so I can Bounce it to his hand with a Repeal. After Force and Spell Pierce kept Goswin in check (Forcing Welder, Piercing Channel) and the cards my bob gave me I could easily storm to Storm 20 with Tormod’s Crypt in play.

Games 7-3-1
Matches 3-0-1

Round 5: Marijn with Selki Strike (I hope the name is correct)
I do not know this guy but it is a locale player that doesn’t travel to Vintage tournament in the rest of The Netherlands. I lose the Die Roll (3-2).

Game 1: He starts with Tundra and Go. I start with the most broken hand of this tournament. I play Tormod’s Crypt, Mox Ruby, Mox Sapphire, Tolarian Academy, Sol Ring ,Mystical to Gifts Ungiven and I receive the Vampiric Tutor and the Mind’s Desire (To GY Demonic and Black Lotus) and play ancestral recall, all this with Pierce back-up. I pass the Turn, Next turn I play Desire for twelve after I vamped for Hurcyl’s recall to play on myself. Desire revealed 2 Brain Freezes so that was game.
Game 2: I get some early beats, after some digging I and up with Tinker and double force back-up in my hand. I tinker Sphinx, he plays Mystical at and of turn but can’t find any solution for the Big dude and scoops (He didn’t have an answer for Inkwell and there for he didn’t side boarded his STP’s, in the end it didn’t matter with the back-up in my hand.

Games 9-3-1
Matches 4-0-1

Round 6: I’m paired to my Team mate Guus and we can safely draw into top 8 so I have a break to get some rest. We See that Duncan (also Team R&D) can also draw into Top 8 and that Marius (the 4th player of Team R&D) is fighting the mirror for the Top 8 spot. We are thrilled.

ID

With no match losses during the day I feel confident in this top 8.

Top 8: Frank van Rijn with ANT
This is a very solid player with 7 out 9 top 8 in Breda if I’m not mistaken and just missed top 8 during the Nationals. But because this is a combo mirror I feel very confident with my BF.

Game 1: He gets an early Ant but can’t get the Kill together, but he gets a very strong board position with allot of artifacts and lands. He can Counter all relevant spells that I cast to get back into the game and finally he gets a tendrils in his hand with the Hurkyl’s recall to create the required storm to kill me.
Game 2: He Tries for the first turn Ant without back-up, I have Fow. I also have Spell pierce to give me protection for the early game. After I grafted the strongest hand and him with only 2 mana in play I set-up a big Desire. This brings me the game.
Game 3: I can control the early game with Fow and Pierce. I stop a Sad Sac if I’m correct and can proceed with a very big will turn. At one point I put Demonic Tutor on the Stack and he responds with BF, Storm 8, I respond with vamp to BF, draw BF with Repeal and play double BF with Demonic still on the stack. All resolves and Frank scoops it up and give me his hand to gratulate me with the top 4.

Top 4: Duncan Keijzer with Sad Sac GWSx.
We discuss a split, but I choose to play it out. Mainly because this is my first shot of ever playing the finals and splitting would result in a very difficult way of distributing those cards. Because Duncan is my fellow Team mate I relax, but I relax to mutch…..

Game 1: After some small fights in the early game and my forcing a Bob (Should not have done that) he can Mystical for Sad Sac, that’s game……
Game 2: The early game he Durres me twice with me not having allot of gas I chose to Tinker for Top so I could sculped my hand…. Instead I should have tinkered for Mox pearl. With Academy in play and Sphinx in hand I should be able to Race him. It will make his tendrils Kill allot harder. After this mistake I cannot come back into the game (Little side note: Duncan Sad Sacced my Will Twister and second BF) and I lose in the end.

I’m pleased with the result and realy, realy like this deck. The Brain Freezes in the main a just to sweet and strong. This deck is a House against TPS, ANT and Random Combo lists due to the fact you can win in their turn. Selki and other non Sad Sac aggro is not as bad as it seems due to all the main deck bounce. After boarding you have a very low curve and the Bobs, Old Mans and Tinker Sphinx.

Props:
•   For making Top 4.
•   For having Team R&D taking place 1,2 and 3 of this event
•   For the organization of this well run event
•   For the wicked Prize support
•   I Received 4x Bayou
•   Maxx Matt for sharing some thoughts about this deck in the TES topic
•   TEAM R&D for all the support and help during testing and tweaking.

Slops:
•   For WotC making Sad Sac.
•   For the D-Tour through Germany
•   For Marius not making Top 8

Greetz Arjan


If I made any mistake, please feel free to correct me.

Below link is to the Top 8 Decklists.
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=39465.0

[Marske]

@Arjan,
Very nice report !! As I said during the car ride home, GG and well played good sir !

[The Atog Lord]

Well done Arjan. Thanks for the report, and congratulations.

I want to ask how you liked Brain Freeze over Tendrils. I know that I prefer Tendrils, in no small part due to Oath's ability to circumvent a Brainfreeze kill. Also, Tendrils has a smaller footprint -- you only need a single copy of the card, and no maindeck Crypt to prevent unfortunate things like letting the opponent set up a Krosan Will.

[Duncan]

Top 4: Duncan Keijzer with Sad Sac GWSx.
We discuss a split, but I choose to play it out. Mainly because this is my first shot of ever playing the finals and splitting would result in a very difficult way of distributing those cards. Because Duncan is my fellow Team mate I relax, but I relax to mutch…..

Game 1: After some small fights in the early game and my forcing a Bob (Should not have done that) he can Mystical for Sad Sac, that’s game……
Game 2: The early game he Durres me twice with me not having allot of gas I chose to Tinker for Top so I could sculped my hand…. Instead I should have tinkered for Mox pearl. With Academy in play and Sphinx in hand I should be able to Race him. I will make his tendrils Kill allot harder. After this mistake I cannot come back into the game (Little side note: I Sad Sacced my Will Twister and second Old man, first was smothered) and lose in the end.

Actually I Sad Sacced Twister, Will and the 2nd Brain Freeze (after you've Brain Freezed me for 15, including Will) to deny you your combo kill. You were left with 3 Confidants and 2 Old Man (and Sphinx in your hand) vs my 4 Confidant, 2 Tendrils, Vault+Key and 3 Sacrament to remove even more. I had 1 Confidant on Board and the 2nd in hand at the time.

Anyway, thanks for the report, it was a great day and a good match.

[Zieby]

@ Marius,
Thanks for the props

@ Rich
I realy liked the BF, It is never a dead card, because you can stop the Top deck tutor's and the Tormod's Crypt in the Main is very hard to combat for TPS or GWSx, it also gives you a fighting chance against Ichorid game 1.
You don't need 2 Copies of BF to be succesfull, but this way you can Pitch one or just give a small BF followed with a seccond one.
Creating storm with this list is mutch easier then with TPS. This deck is designed as a turn 4/5 combo but with a very high disruption suite. I think BF is also possible due to the fact there isn't allot of Oath in Holland, the crypt's also help in this slot.

@ Duncan
You are correct, also thx for the props

[MaxxMatt]

@Zieby

Hi Arjan,
many many thanks for the credits and your choice to pilot this ALmostBlue build.
You did very well in an unpredictable metagamesuch as yours, full of almost any kind of different decks.

Your SPierce over MDrains swap sounds to have beengolden against all the aggressive decks. You had had additional protection against their own deadly first turn flood of spells and especially against SadSac, I suppose they have been gamebreaking, don't you?.

Have you missed sometimes MDrains drained mana during longer games? Could you describe your feelings about an enhanced vulnerability over CotV@1 against $t4k$ and a little less weight during counterwars against Tezz/Oath/TPS?

Will you change something in your sideboard after the tournament? Gyx against Oath are needed? Old Mans over Sowers for a lower cc curve?

Thanks again and good luck for your next Almost blue tournament!!!


@Bfreeze & Oath

Hi Rich,

I have to give you credits about Oath with Gaea's Blessing being a little bit more difficult to kill with Freezes because you have to let Blessing trigger, put it on stack and then eventually pull out an Instant kill with a combination of spells, drawers targeting him and at least a T.Crypt on board. It may sound more complex rather then it is in a real life game, especially because morden Oath use Krosan Reclamation instead of Gaea's Blessing to fuel both his combo and win. Against KReclamation, a decent board position, maindeck TCrypt and a couple of spells will easily finish the opponent. Iona, of course, when in play, will deplete your hand of blue spells all at once. While this seems dramatic, Iona itself isn't enough to win for an Oath deck without a grave to feed YWill. Against Oath, Repeals and bouncers give you both tempo and fuel for miniFreezes to ruin Oath unflexible winning plan. I'm confident about BFreeze being more reactive and crucial than ToA, even in this matchup!

[Zieby]

@ MaxxMatt
Thanks for the props

Your SPierce over MDrains swap sounds to have beengolden against all the aggressive decks. You had had additional protection against their own deadly first turn flood of spells and especially against SadSac, I suppose they have been gamebreaking, don't you?.

They where indeed pure GOLD, I countered 3 Sad Sacs, one Ancestral and a Turn 2 Channel from Belcher during the tournament.

Have you missed sometimes MDrains drained mana during longer games? Could you describe your feelings about an enhanced vulnerability over CotV@1 against $t4k$ and a little less weight during counterwars against Tezz/Oath/TPS?

About Mana Drain, the Drain Mana was never missed, the fact that I did not have a Hard counter when my opponent had 10 mana on board was more a problem. I think 1 Drain should be added but I don't know yet with what to replace it.
I didn't face shops but I believe that CotV could be handled with the bounce you have and for the second game you board them out.
When fighting TPS Oath and Tezz I realy liked the fact that they need to take the 2 extra mana into account for their spells, this slows them down and that is the only thing you want to achieve.

Will you change something in your sideboard after the tournament? Gyx against Oath are needed? Old Mans over Sowers for a lower cc curve?

The Claws of Gix, I don't know if they are needed in the future tournament. Old Man is just sick against all Fish variants and Stax and I love this guy. Sower is not my favorit becuase of the curve and the fact you can use him once, If I had one more slot in the SB it could be an extra Sower. I do think that I should play a Mind Break Trap or 2 in the SB against TPS, Oath and Tezz.

Greetz Arjan

[LennoxLewis86]

Arjan,

Great report and congratulations on your fine performance (especially with 4 hours of sleep playing that monster of a deck). I especially love the way you are hard on yourself and your lines of plays. I believe that people who notice their misplays and remember them accurately will improve each game they play. This must be true especially for you because you made top 8 at Nationals and here you are taking 3rd place. You must be confident in performing well in Breda when the stakes are really high. See you there man!

[Zieby]

@ Onno,

I agree completly with you on this. I always try to look where I made a mistake also when I won the game. I try to never blame the fact my opponent was lucky and try hard to find what I should have done differently.

Thanks again for the props.