1st/2nd with Mean Snake. NOW A FULL REPORT!

So I'm not nearly as stressed anymore with school, because I found some time to catch up on my programming assignment, RFID Paper, and Global Health Concerns Essay. So I decided I'd try to write this up to the best of my abilities.

I've been testing various Remora Tezzeret decks without Mana Drain for the last month because quite frankly, I was just bored with Normal Tezzeret. I was recently offically added to the Team Meandeck Roster, so I wanted to do well, and prove that it was a good decision. So after some work from the team, and specifically Jimmy McCarthy, who also offered me a place to stay, we both sleeved up this:

Mean Snake.dec
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3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Forest
4 Island
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
2 Lorescale Coatl
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Vault
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Spell Pierce
2 Thoughtseize
2 Mana Drain
2 Nature's Claim
4 Mystic Remora
1 Tinker
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Nature's Claim
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Darkblast
1 Infest
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Pernicious Deed
2 Old Man of the Sea
1 Trapmaker's Snare
1 Yixlid Jailer

Round 1: Peter playing Dark Depths.

Game 1:
Before the round begin, the TO (eric) asks who's deckname is "a deck for people who don't own power". My opponent raises his hand, because he forgot to put his name on his deck. I immediately think Dredge. I am okay when he opens Swamp-> Duress. We go back and forth with my counters and his duresses, and eventually I land Key + Vault, but with 0 cards in hand and completely tapped out, unable to use the key. Unfortunately, as soon as I say "hope you don't play Null Rod", he does. Frown Town. But my deck has multiple ways to answer that, and luckily, in concurrent turns I draw a 3rd land, and Hurkyl's Recall.

game 2:
I assume he's playing Sui Black or the Black Dark Depths Deck. Unfortunately, He duresses my demonic tutor in hand, leaving me brainstorm, 2 moxen, a crypt, and land. I don't do anything as he lands Dark Depths/Hexmage, and I assume Marit Leige comes into play on my EOT. I think about mystical for Demonic, then Demonic for Jace and bounce the 20/20 after Darklbasting the 2/1, but unfortunately my Demonic Tutor is in the bin. I decide drawing 3 cards for U is better chances for getting me jace than a blind draw, and mystical for recall. I die due to drawing Thoughtseize, Force, Hurkyl's.

Game 3:
I don't really want to write about this. He mulligans to 6, but has swamp into duress, and then lotus petal. I thoughtseize back, and see Dark Depths, Demonic Consultation, Hexmage. I take Hexmage. He draws and passes, and I do the same. He then Consults for Hexmage. On his turn he plays it, and I force. I then draw Pithing needle and call judge. I forgot how the interaction worked, so I ask if I can shut off Dark Depths with the needle. My intention was to shut off the 20/20, because I forgot that it's effect happens the second counters are off, and is not something you actually trigger. The judge answers my question honestly, and I name Dark Depths. Stupid me. I immediately realize the mistake. And then a turn later, a 20/20 infuriates me as I am so awful.

0-1

I'm already somewhat upset with myself at this point. I then overhear Eric and Shannon, the TO's talking about my Mis-Registered deck. Great. Game Loss going into round 2. What an Awesome day! /sarcasm

Round 2: ??? playing what I assumed was the deck

Game 1(2): I play land go, and my opponent does the same. We play that for a couple turns, as I have Island, Sea, Trop, against his 2 blue lands, Strip Mine, and Wasteland. He for some reason isn't wasting any of my mana, so I land a remora. He plays into it with a couple moxen, Key, and then attempts to tinker. I win the coutner war, and land my own Key/vault on my turn.

Game 2(3): He plays 4 artifacts into my remora as he's mana screwed, and I'm assuming he has something he's trying to ramp mana to protect, as his artifacts were 2 mox, sol ring, and lotus. I hurkyl's him on EOT, and pay for Remora. He plays into it again, and he goes for tinker. He doesnt havee a key or vault around, so I'm only concerned about Titan. We start a counter war, with me still drawing cards. He has 2 mana open, and I can't afford to have him play Key from his hand after the tinker, so I spell Pierce it to use up his mana. After he pays that, I force again, and he forces. He finds the 7/11, and has 0 cards in hand. I eot mystical for will. I don't pay for remora, and I play will with lotus. Suddenly, he doesn't get turns.

1-1

Round 3: James King with Dredge
I drove with James and the whole time I put him on Oath. Turns out during our lunch break, I find out he's playing Dredge. Thankfully Jimmy tells me he boards Force of Will, so I know the gameplan.

Game 1:
Unfortunately, James' deck does what it does, and I die within 2 minutes.

Game 2: He dredges into 2 bridges, an inchorid, 3 Narcomoebas and a bloodghast pretty early, and it forces me to Trap him with Narco triggers on the stack, with mana up for Spell Pierce in case he has force of will. on my turn I land more mana, and Trapmaker's Snare up another Trap, which buys me two turns. Those two turns were enough to KeyVault him out.

Game 3: I trap him once, and have Pithing Needle on Bazaar and Cephalid Coliseum. He EOT bounces my Needle on Bazaar, which I let go because I'd rather Trap him with Force backup. He EOT bazaars, and discards a bloodghast and another Dredger. He then dredges on his draw step, and dumps another Bloodghast. This is where he makes a real mistake. He dredges 11 more before playing a 2nd land, allowing me to trap him with force backup fro his force. He ends up with just a 1/1 flyer in play. He hits me with it for 4 turns as I rename Bazaar with Needle, and Eventually I keyVault out.

2-1

Round 4: Jeremy Seroogy with RG Golem Stax

Game 1:
I open up with Crypt + ISland, to play through potential spheres. Unfortunately, he has a Seal of Primordium, and after trying to bolt me via coin flip, he blows up my Crypt. I play a Tropical island, but he has wasteland. The game ends with a little more fighting, when he has welder + Factory, Smokestack, Sphere, and Crucible+Waste.

Game 2:
I land a turn 1 remora, which he is forced to either wait out or play into. He plays into it, and my pithing needle assures I have a stable mana base. I key vault him at somewhat low life when he has Factory in play.

Game 3:
He keeps a hand that I believe was sketchy. When I counter his sphere he doesnt play anything relivent, and I play my Tezzeret with Force, Thirst, Natures Claim, and Hurkyl's Recall in hand.

3-1

So I started out pretty poorly, but worked my way back. Unfortunately, I have to play my final round... against TK.

Round 5: Tommy Kolowith with BUG Fish

Game 1:
I win the roll and open Trop, Jet. He has Emerald, Sea, Bob, Lotus. I EOT Vamp, which resolves and I find lotus. I also EOT claim his lotus, which he responds to with Ancestral Recall. PRetty good opener there, but at least he can't spell pierce me now. I play Lotus, sacrifice it for Bluex3, and tap jet. I announce Tinker with U in pool, which he attempts to force. I'm quite estatic as I was going to go for my Inkwell and hope he didn't have an answer, but my Mana Drain now allows me to find Key, and then 2nd mainphase play Vault, winning the game.

Game 2:
He opens Land, Go. I open Ruby, Top, Tolarian, representing Mana Drain. He wastes me, and I spin top. Over the next several turns I play mana sources and I have Key+Vault giving me an extra card, while he's playing a Tarmogoyf a turn. I'm letting them resolve as they're only 2/3s, and I'm digging for anything that finds Vault. I find Demonic tutor, and End the game with Force + Pierce backup.

4-1

Started out really poorly, and landed in the top 8. This is pretty good. It gets even better for me when I find out my opponent is on the UGW Fish deck, which I built my sideboard specifically for.

top 8: Michael K. With UGW Fish
Game 1:
I land a turn 3 Coatl, and he has a pridemage. Unfortunately for him, Ancestral Recall and Brainstorm make my coatl too much to handle, and key+vault adds insult to injury.

Game 2:
I land Jace, and start drawing some cards. One of those cards is Coatl. I land it, then Jacestorm, which imediately makes it big. He unfortunately countered my Pernicious deed, and attacks Jace. I Could block it with Old Man, but that guy is keeping him from casting anything but Goyfs, which he only had 3. I decide to let jace die, and just play the waiting game. This is enforced when I play my 2nd old man. His goyf eventually dies to a Darkblast + Coatl block, and I bash for 12 in my next turn.

top 4: Jake Kempfer with The Deck.

Game 1:
Jake opens with Recall, which I force. He forces back, and suddenly I like the value of forcing a 2nd time. Unfortunately, so does he. Later in the game I have 3 mana to his 4, and he taps out to play Leyline. I assume he has Helm in hand, and Drain it. On my turn I land my Brainswalker, and use 0 loyalty to do some insane plays. He plays Helm on hs next turn. for several turn he is helming me, and eventually he helms out Will and Time vault. I really want him to helm into a Coatl, so I can -1 my jace and then play a win condition, but I'm very scared about him randomly getting my Inkwell with it. For some reason though, he helms on his turn. I assume he has a time Walk and is trying to snag a creature, but he doesn't. He passes back, and I EOT vamp for Tinker. I brainstorm, and then tinker. On my next turn I put him to 3, with 1 card in hand. I'm only worried about him drawing leyline, since with 5 lands he can just kill me. Luckily I thoughtseized his Will earlier, so I +1 Jace and see that he has City of Brass. I say "I'll pass turn. It's a City of Brass. Good Luck". He thinks quickly about helming himself, but realizes it's only Target Opponent. and Scoops, knowing I wouldn't possibly leave a good card on top.

game 2:
He mulligans to 6, and I immediately know that my Thirst + Misdirection hand with mana will steal his recall. I know The Deck too well. Sure Enough, on his turn 2, he plays Mox Jet, and Scrolls up ancestral. I was worried that he would pass turn then have Recall + Spell Pierce. He goes for the recall though, and I end up drawing 3. On my turn 2, I land Jace, and the game is just over. The Card selection I have is too much, and eventually I Key-vault out for the win.

Finals: JudasKilled (AKA FUCKTEZZ, playing Tezz, obviously!)
I have a very good matchup, but am feeling really exhasted and I have a paper due the next day that I hadn't finished, as well as an hour and a half drive back to Grafton to say bye to my folks, and another 45 minute drive back to Sheboygan. He wants to split, and I agree. I give up a Library and 15 dollars of my own, plus the second place prize of Grim Tutor for a 1/2 split.

Props:
Jimmy McCarthy and the rest of Meandeck
Rich Shay who played his oath build against me a little bit on Friday, as well as helping with deck theory
Andy Probasco, for also helping with Deck Theory
Team Serious! 1000%
The gentleman who traded 2 Misty Rainforests and A German BlackBordered Sea to me for 4 Japanese Chalices, a beat German BB Badlands, and a FWB Trop. It was a fair trade, but I finished my set of German Sea's!
Xtreme Games as always. Some of the best TO's around.
Xtreme Games for trading me a Jace + Old Man for my english Wastelands. IK wastelands are going up, but Jace is insane and I will be getting a Japanese one shortly!

Slops:
Anyone who could have showed, but Didn't.