Hi everyone. I'm Gert Rammeloo and I'll post a tournament report here. Credit where credit is due this thread was what made me play Dark Times at the Dutch open. Anyway, I wasn't intending on writing a tournament report beforehand and I didn't take any notes, so the match reports will generally be pretty basic and superficial. (Edit: it turned out to be a lot longer than I expected)
First, some explanation on card choices: I don't own Imperial Seal, Mox Jet or Black Lotus. If I did, I would definitely play these cards.
I didn't run the Helm/Leyline combo main deck because I wanted to go all in on the hate cards. Incidentally, Null Rod served me very well.
I also believe that Tendrils is a more than capable secondary kill option, despite the budgetary nature of this deck and the general lack of brokenness. Chalice storms nicely (doesn't require any mana and several combine very well with Will), and a Dark Ritual or 2 go a long way. I also have tutors to get the missing cards, be that Dark Ritual or Demonic Tutor (I will often play Vampiric Tutor for Demonic Tutor, and then Demonic Tutor for both Will and Tendrils).
I thought a long time about whether or not to include Necropotence and it can be a drag to draw it early on, but it is just too powerful. It actually won me 2 games and never clogged any of my hands.
Anyway, on with the tournament report. Since I did not intend to write this and do not attend tournaments regularly, I do not know the names of any of my swiss round opponents. I hope this does not offend anybody. With regards to the top 8 players, their full decklists can be found here:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=41499.0 Round 1: Mono red aggro (2-1)
SB: -2 Chalice, +2 Massacre
This was a very intruiging deck. I think this guy ended up going 3-3 or something, so that was pretty good. Cards I remember being in this deck are
Blood Moon
Magus of the Moon
Ancient Tomb
Simian Spirit Guide
City of Traitors
Manic Vandal
Dead/Gone
Lightning Bolt
Umezawa's Jitte
Cunning Sparkmage
Figure of Destiny
I think he was packing 8 Moon effects total, so you can see how this matchup could be a little annoying. The first game I got a Marit Lage token on turn 3 I think without having encountered any hate.
The second game he got a Magus of the Moon out quickly with some smaller critters (2 Figure of Destiny I think). I didn't see Massacre and Diabolic Edict didn't succeed in getting rid of Magus of the Moon. His Figures of Destiny were growing quickly and beating me down.
However I had played a Confidant early on and was getting close to a Tendrils kill. Near the end I had 9 lives and a Dark Confidant left, he had 2 4/4 Figure of Destiny and a Magus of the Moon and I was planning to block one FoD with Confidant, play a Vampiric Tutor to Will EoT and kill him with Tendrils in my turn.
However he drew a Cunning Sparkmage and I couldn't play Vampiric Tutor anymore (to be fair, he had a lot of topdecks).
The third game I Thoughtseize'd a Magus of the Moon and took it from there (Marit Lage kill). Luckily, I didn't see Blood Moon at all.
Round 2: MUD (0-2)
SB: - 1 Darkblast, -1 Tendrils, -2 Chalice, +4 Emissary of Despair
I always like to side out Tendrils in this matchup because let's face it, that's not happening. Darkblast is not very good here either.
Anyway, I didn't stand a chance this round.
He won the die roll and played a first turn Smokestack the first game. I had no Rituals or Chalices to get more than 1 permanent going and basically lost against this play. I wasted 2 or 3 Workshops but he got another one and killed me shortly after that.
Anyway I mulliganed to 6 and kept a pretty average hand. I was a little short on mana and he actually immediately stripped my Urborg. I didn't draw lands and the Wasteland I was holding couldn't get me to play any cards.
Round 3: G/W aggro (2-1)
SB: -3 Null Rod, +2 Massacre, +1 Perish
Cards this guy was running:
Aethersworn Canonist
Gaddock Teeg
Mother of Ruins
Root Maze
Swords to Plowshares
Pithing Needle (SB)
Qasali Pridemage (I'm actually not positive of this, but he had to run them, right?)
The first game he was mana screwed like nobody's business. He had just a single plains and I don't think he played any cards. He was really unlucky because he drew like 7 cards beyond the opening hands and didn't see any lands. I got a couple of StP's out of his hand and, belatedly, finished with a Marit Lage.
(My game was pretty bad as well, though nowhere near his).
Game 2, I played abysmally. He got a pair of Mother of Ruins out quickly and I didn't succeed in dealing any damage with a pair of Hexmages and a Dark Confidant. He got a Pithing Needle out so the Tendrils option was looking like my easiest way out. At one point I had all the pieces and was ready to blow a Vampiric Tutor at the end of his turn for Will or Demonic.
The interesting thing here is that I was holding a Null Rod this game (the single one that I had left MD) but didn't think to play it because I hadn't seen a single artifact yet. I just kept it in my hand even though I didn't use the mana for any other cards.
He still had just his plains and the turn after which I was planning on killing him he drew a Lotus Petal, and played a Canonist. Now I had to work around this creature and ended up losing a game I clearly should have won. I remember scooping afterwards even though I had a Massacre which would have cleared the board (I don't think it would have won me the game but I could have tried, at least).
Looking back on that game, I was amazed at how badly I played there. I think my hunger was getting to me here.
Game 3, he actually had his first good game (no mana screw) and we were trading blows. We ended up in a sort of stalemate and I drew a Necropotence. At this point I had a Dark Confidant in play, 2 cards in hand and 18 lives remaining.
I paid 8 lives (somewhat arbitrarily, though I could assume a 10-card hand would contain some dead cards like Chalice or excess lands). I drew some Edicts but the bunch was pretty bad overall. In addition, he Nature's Claim'd my Necro. However when it was my turn again I revealed a Will with Confidant and killed him on the spot (my graveyard had, among other things, a Demonic Tutor in it).
I actually had a Tendrils kill in 2 of the 3 games here, despite Canonist and Gaddock Teeg. I should've won this game sooner but was very glad to be able to finish it after all.
I'm not sure what changed after this game, but I played a lot more relaxed and generally better from here on out (though I hadn't made any mistakes, as far as I could see, before this game either).
Round 4: Counter-top (2-1)
SB: -4 Chalice, +4 Sadistic Sacrament
The only piece of power this guy was packing was Ancestral Recall, I think, so I decided to side out Chalice of the Void. Game 1 I resolved a Necropotence and it just got me too many cards (hand disruption + combo assembly). I still wasn't sure what my opponent was playing exactly but I hadn't seen a lot of threats so I thought Sadistic Sacrament could be useful here.
Game 2 I resolved a Sacrament on turn 1 with a Ritual (he was tapped out). I took Jace, Inkwell Leviathan (Tinker didn't have other scary targets, just Liquimetal Coating) and Sower of Temptation.
His kill condition and this point was 4 Gorilla Shaman and 1 Sower of Temptation. There were 20 minutes so I felt like I could coast this one out to a slow 1-0 victory. However I don't like this sort of douchy stuff so I just kept playing like I would have otherwise.
He had a Counterbalance with a Sensei's Divining Top and had clearly taken control of the game (though still without any threats). Shortly afterwards he started eating my lands with Shaman/Liquimetal Coating (I didn't succeed in resolving a Null Rod). I played a Necropotence in a controllish fashion (going from 20 to 17 lives) and he played a Pithing Needle on it. I quickly conceded and we had a good 15 minutes left going in to the final game.
I decided to keep Sadistic Sacrament because I felt like it somewhat castrated my opponent. I resolved it again, picking the same targets. His other Sower of Temptation was in his hand (I had seen it with Duress or Thoughtseize, but was forced at that time to pick a different target).
I resolved a Hexmage and was beating him down with it. I had a Dark Confidant in my hand but didn't want him to take it with Sower so I kept it. He seemed reluctant to play his Sower on Hexmage but I figured he obviously would at some point, so I did want to drop extra threats.
As soon as I could, I dropped 2 Dark Confidants in the same turn (I knew from disruption that they would resolve). He played a Sower for Confidant, then in my turn I Darkblasted Sower twice. At that point I had 2 Dark Confidants and a Hexmage and I beat him down quickly.
Round 5: MUD (2-0)
SB: -1 Darkblast, -1 Tendrils, -2 Chalice, +4 Emissary of Despair
I'm not sure what happened the first game. I think I wasted one of his Wastelands and got a Marit Lage out pretty quickly.
The next game I got an Emissary of Despair out on the first turn and it went all the way. I never missed a land drop which turned out to be necessary. My opponent dropped a Lodestone Golem on turn 3 I think, and the next turn he dropped another one but failed to attack with the first one. If he had done so, he would've won this match (which he quickly realized himself). His Tanglewire came just short of having me tap my Emissary.
Round 6: ID into top 8.
Quarter Finals: Thomas Hendriks playing elves combo
SB: - 1 Tendrils, +1 Perish
I knew Thomas' deck very well my brother plays it occasionally. I understand that Perish doesn't really stop this deck, however with Null Rod stopping Skullclamp and Duress/Thoughtseize against Glimpse of Nature I tend to force this deck into an aggro playstile.
What really won me this match though (both games) was Chalice with 1 counter on it. I resolved several just in case he would play a Viridian Shaman. The first game he played around the Chalice with Timberwatch Elf (he had a Quirion Ranger from earlier). I drew a Diabolic Edict, he sacrificed Quirion Ranger, he attacked with Timberwatch Elf and I blocked it with a Confidant.
He didn't find an answser to Chalice and I beat him down. The next game was similar except I got a Marit Lage out here.
Semi-finals: Steven van den Bulck playing Prototype MUD
SB: -1 Tendrils, -1 Darkblast, -2 Chalice. +4 Emissary of Despair
I wasn't familiar with this deck but Null Rod was a trooper here. Game 1 I disrupted him sufficiently and finished him off with a Marit Lage.
Game 2 he got out a pair of Golems quickly and trampled me.
Game 3 he was mana screwed. I think I had a Chalice out on 0 (not sure) and a Wasteland was his only land. I had a Wasteland, 2 Swamps and 2 Confidants in play and he had just a Wasteland (I think, not 100% sure).
In my turn I reveal a Vampiric Tutor with Confidant. At that point I was thinking for a while what I should pick: Dark Depths (I had a Hexmage in my hand) or Null Rod. There was no way I could play the Vampiric Tutor and resolve Hexmage the same turn, so I decided to go for Null Rod and waste his Wasteland. This made me kill like 2 turns slower I think, but I had taken all direct threats from his hand with discard and he literally had no mana, so I didn't see him surving that.
Finals: David Martinez playing Madness
SB: -4 Null Rod, +4 Leyline of the Void
Props to David for this deck, very original and great all around. I was lucky to be done with my semi-finals relatively quickly and was able to see an entire game of David's semi-final, so I sort of had an idea of what I was up against. I did not like what I was seeing. From what I hear, David also played the finals of the Dutch open last year with a madness deck (though he lost then).
We both mulliganed and I kept a pretty sub-par hand. I had only 1 land. I resolved a Thoughtseize, and, retardedly, pick FoW over Mystical Tutor. Immediately after doing so, I realize he's going to cast Mystical Tutor for Life from the Loam EOT and strip lock me, which he did.
I don't think I would've stood a chance either way because I would still have been mana screwed, but I still should've picked Mystical Tutor. In fact, in retrospect, I'm not sure why he didn't respond to Thoughtseize by playing Mystical, though my memory may be a bit fuzzy here.
Game 2 I kept a hand with 2 Confidants (but no Leyline) and got some draw going.
The thing about David's deck is that it takes a while to start dealing damage. I had a nice little Confidant draw engine going, he was dealing some damage with a power 3 Tarmogoyf and a Bloodghast. I was getting low on life but assembling a Tendrils kill. I started pitching some creatures to Tarmogoyf and keeping Confidant to draw me into some Rituals/tutors etc (I had a Tendrils in hand). In this going back and forth, I drew 2 Thoughtseizes (which were useless because of my low life total) and I tried twice to get a Will going with Dark Ritual but these were Circular Logic'd (I heard he drew 2 Circular Logic and a FoW with a Recall).
So he drew some nice cards with Recall, but on the other hand he was unlucky not to draw a land sooner and kill me with another Bloodghast sitting in his graveyard. I felt I came pretty close this second game, but it definitely deserved to go to David all the same. Great deck.
