TO Report: The Council Open #3 - TPG - Bloomsburg, PA - 12/11/10

[Kameli0n]

Big thanks goes out to all that made the trek down here to The Player's Guild in Bloomsburg, PA to play some vintage magic. 26 players battled today despite the holiday season. Big thanks to Eric again for letting us use his space for vintage cards, and a bigger thanks for everyone who came out to support the Council Open.

The Metagame Breakdown:

Drains:
Tezzeret: 1 - 3.85%
Oath: 5 - 19.23%
Tezzcast: 1 - 3.85%
Jace Control: 2 - 7.69%
GAT: 1 - 3.85%

Workshops:
Aggro: 4 - 15.38%
Espresso: 1 - 3.85%

Combo:
ANT: 1 - 3.85%
Gush Storm: 1 - 3.85%
Elf Combo: 1 - 3.85%

Bazaars:
Dredge: 2 - 7.69%

Null Rods:
Noble Fish: 4 - 15.38%
Dark Times: 2 - 7.69%

This event was run with 5 swiss rounds with the cut to top 8.

Top 8 Pairings and Results

Fulmer, Allen vs. Kohler, Justin - Fulmer wins
Brown, Brandon vs. Keeton, Andrew - Keeton wins
Duffy, Sean vs. Fisher, Ryan - Duffy wins
Mastriano, Paul vs. Nowakowski, Stephen - Nowakowski wins

Top 4 Pairings and Results

Fulmer, Allen vs. Nowakowski - Fulmer wins
Duffy, Sean vs. Keeton, Andrew - Keeton wins

Finals

Fulmer, Allen vs. Keeton, Andrew - SPLIT

     A big thanks again to Eric for helping us out with a location to play, and another thanks for inviting us to come back in the future for more fun events! And again, thanks to everyone for coming out to help support the game! Congrats to Allen and Andrew for splitting an Unlimited Signed Mox Emerald and 100 dollars in table credit!

Note: The highest placing list with no proxies was Paul Mastriano. Due to his dedication in spending his money on magic cards, Paul was given a Zendikar fetchland of his choice. Obviously he took a Misty Rainforest.

Top 8 Decklists:

Finalist - Allen Fulmer
Espresso Stax

4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
3 Rishadan Port
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Black Lotus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Sol Ring
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Sphere of Resistance
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinisphere
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Tangle Wire
4 Smokestack
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Duplicant
3 Serum Powder

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Pithing Needle
2 Duplicant
2 Spawning Pit
2 Relic  of Progenitus
3 Maze of Ith

Finalist - Andrew Keeton
ANT

3 Underground Sea
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Ponder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Necropotence
2 Island
2 Swamp
2 Marsh Flats
3 Chain of Vapor
3 Duress
3 Cabal Ritual
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Tendrils of Agony
4 Polluted Delta
4 Chrome Mox
4 Thoughtseize
4 Dark Ritual
4 Ad Nauseam

SB:
1 Tundra
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Pithing Needle
3 Yixlid Jailer
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Serenity

Semi-Finalist - Sean Duffy
"Something.. something.. something.. Darkside"

3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
1 Forest
5 Swamp
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland
3 Dark Depths
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Dark Confidant
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Necropotence
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Grim Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
2 Nature's Claim
1 Diabolic Edict
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Duress
4 Thoughtseize
1 Pithing Needle
1 Pernicious Deed
4 Dark Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Yawgmoth's Will

SB:
3 Oxidize
2 Nature's Claim
2 Pernicious Deed
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Oppression
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
1 Darkblast
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Perish

Semi-Finalist - Stephen Nowakowski
Gush Storm

3 Island
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mana Crypt
4 Force of Will
3 Mana Drain
3 Spell Pierce
3 Repeal
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Fire/Ice
4 Gush
4 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Fastbond
1 Regrowth

SB:
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Yixlid Jailer
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Engineered Plague
1 Tinker
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Nature's Claim

Quarter-Finalist - Brandon Brown
Noble Fish

4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Trygon Predator
2 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Thada adel, acquisitor
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Force of Will
3 Null Rod
4 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Meddling Mage
3 Spell Pierce
3 Daze
3 Swords to Plowshares

SB:
3 Nature's Claim
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Kitaki, War's Wage
2 True Believer
1 Energy Flux
2 Ravenous Trap
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Aven Mindcensor

Quarter-Finalist - Paul Mastriano
Tyrant Oath

4 Preordain
4 Oath of Druids
4 Force of Will
4 Gush
3 Thoughtseize
2 Tidespout Tyrant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Fastbond
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brain Freeze
1 Ponder
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Flash of Insight
1 Krosan Reclamation
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Island
4 Forbidden Orchard

SB:
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Forest
1 Rebuild
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Mana Crypt
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
2 Nature's Claim

Quarter-Finalist - Ryan Fisher
"Santa's Little Helpers"

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Quirion Rangers
2 Wirewood Symbiote
3 Priests of Titania
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Skullclamp
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Regal Force
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
5 Snow-covered Forest
2 Savannah
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Grapeshot
1 Jaroga Warcaller

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Serenity
2 Gleeful Sabatoge
3 haddock teeg
2 Caustic Wasps

Quarter-Finalist - Justin Kohler
Aggro Workshop

4 Lodestone Golem
4 Steel Hellkite
4 Sphere of Resistance
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Tangle Wire
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Metalworker
2 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Sculpting Steel
1 Trinisphere
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Black Lotus
4 Mishra's Workshop
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Wasteland
2 City of Traitors
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy

SB:

4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Crucible of Worlds
4 Duplicant

Again, thanks for all the support. The date of the next Bloomsburg Council Vintage event is set for January 15th, 2011 at this point in time. If anyone has any input on this date please let me know asap. Thanks again everyone!!!!! And once again, Congratulations Allen, Andrew, and Paul!!!

[rpf5029]

There should be 3 x Gaddock Teague in my sideboard...

[Kameli0n]

Updated. Thanks for pointing out my flaws. Let me take the time to remind you that you wear a barbie doll around your neck to magic tournaments. That is all. Thank you.

[Evenpence]

That has got to be the quickest ever tournament organizer update of full lists.

Bravo.

[Tobi]

That has got to be the quickest ever tournament organizer update of full lists.

Bravo.

QFT! Awesome coverage. And very interesting decklists. Thanks for that!

[Kameli0n]

Thank you for all your positive praise and encouragement!

[rpf5029]

Updated. Thanks for pointing out my flaws. Let me take the time to remind you that you wear a barbie doll around your neck to magic tournaments. That is all. Thank you.

That's your mascot  you're speaking about, sir! 

I didn't mean anything accusatory by my comment... I've been known to forget to put things on my list; I wouldn't have been surprised if I jut forgot 'em. 

[Kameli0n]

Lol. No, they were there. I just forgot to pit them in because I couldn't read your hand writing an forgot to come back to update it whn I figured it out.

[personalbackfire]

Thanks to Kamelion for hosting another great event!
Congrats to my car for a good showing and everyone else who top 8ed!
It was good to see the Penn State guys as well, as it’s been awhile.

I decided to play a Gush Storm deck heavily based on the European lists after I read an article by Matt Elias suggesting that is the path forward.  For me, it seems like most of these Euro Tournaments that are being won by Gush all follow the same general formula of no vault/key, repeals, pierces, and storm finishers. This could be for a number of different reasons but I didn’t bother with figuring them all out. I brewed up a deck list based on them and ran it against Allen playing MUD. It tested well so I decided to go for it. Being as these tournaments are on the smaller side historically I thought it would be a good tournament to try it out at.

I was unsure of Spell Pierce and Fire/Ice going into the tournament. My testing against Mud did nothing in terms of incentive to play either, but since I didn’t test against anything else I didn’t want to mess with them. The list is posted above.

Round 1: Bant Fish
G1: He drops 2 Tarmogoyfs on turn one. I play some cantrips, get stuck on mana, and can never recover from 8 a turn. It was pretty unfortunate as I had the fastbond in hand with a Gush but could not get to a Tropical in time before his second swing taking me to around 3.

Sided in 2 REBS, 1 Claim, 1 Tinker, 1 Sphinx
Out: 3 Spell Pierce, 1 Hurkyl’s Recall, 1 Tendrils
I think Boarding in Claim was a mistake since I have 2 Hurkyl’s and 3 Repeals main deck anyways.

G2: I play an Island and cantrip. He has a turn one Noble Hiarch. I get down a fastbond and gush twice into a Tinker for Sphinx. He tries to STP it a turn or two later but I have the Force. Sphinx takes it down. I asked him why he kept in STP and he replied to be on the safe side and that he wasn’t sure what was in my deck.

I sided out my Claim for the pyroblast thinking it would be better since I saw him discard Meddling Mage and still have not seen a Null Rod.

G3: He gets down a turn 1 Thada. My turn gets pretty obnoxious as I have Lotus, a Mox, ETW, Brainstorm into 2 more Mox and drop empty on turn one.  He swings with his Thada and takes my Ruby since he can’t cast anything else. I am fortunate to have Timewalk for the win.

Round 2: Trygon GAT
G1: I mulligan to 4 keeping Ponder, Land, Force, Hurks. He was on 7, it wasn’t even close.

Sided in 2 Rebs, 1 Pyroblst
Out: 2 Hurks and something random. I think I kept in Fire/Ice for some reason thinking it would be good, but it most likely should have come out.
G2: I don’t remember much of this game or match for that matter since I was on tilt from G1 and getting paired down and what that meant for my tiebreakers. Nonetheless I should have focused on the match but it was hard to think I even had a chance as not running Duress/Seize made me an underdog. I played a turn one Preordain or Ponder and that’s all I remember. He took control of the game in pretty short fashion and I lost.

Rd 3: Aggro Mud
I win the die roll!
G1: I keep a fastbond Gush hand and pass back with 3 Lands, Drain, and Force in hand. A few turns later I hurks him then cast a game winning will.

Sided in: 1 Hurks, 1 Tinker, 1 Sphinx, 1 Nature Claim
Out: 1 Gifts, 1 Tendrils, 1 Fire/Ice, 1 Spell Pierce

Really I could had left in Gifts, but it’s a 4 cast cost spell that is hard to cast. Spell Pierce isn’t overly exciting so siding the other 2 out seems reasonable. I don’t like playing decks with 2 Storm finishers and Tinker/Bigman, so that’s why I sided out Tendrils.
G2: He has turn one Trinisphere, turn two Chalice at one and followed it up by a Lodestone.

G3: Oh the power of Gush and drawing good! I keep a double gush turn one fast bond hand that leads to a time walk and Vamp for Will. On my time walk turn I play Will and do it all over making a ton of ETW tokens and casting Time Walk.

Rd 4: Bant Fish
G1: He gets me down to a pretty low life and has an active Selkie(?) which is drawing him cards. I am at 7 life when I cast Vamp for Will, play a fastbond, Gush a few times and Tendrils him out for the win.

G2: He gets stuck with just a Noble Hiearch while I Tinker for Sphinx and win in pretty easy fashion.

Top 8: Paul Mastriano w/ Tyrant Oath
He mulls to 5 and I mull to 6. I start out by Preordaining twice then casting a gush before he does anything. I am pretty far ahead and when I go to cast will, I am almost certain I am going to win. That is before I punted in the face of certainty to make it interesting. I felt limited on Mana so I needed to cast DT for Fastbond to start gushing again in the Will, instead I had a brain fart and saw the 3 lands in my hand and 2 lands in my graveyard and grabbed ETW assuming I would be able to play all my lands. The result of this is that I cast Recall then Discarded 3 or 4 cards down to 7 and went pretty heavily on tilt. I find this game interesting because it really exemplifies how people act when they think they are losing or winning. As soon as I passed the turn I slumped over in my seat knowing Paul wouldn’t let that mistake go unpunished. On the other hand Paul sat up in his seat and began to play more confidently knowing he had escaped death on my doing and could feel the tide changing.

I also gave myself no chance of casting the ETW in my hand when I discarded down to 7 ditching a Hurks and Repeal that could be used to generate storm.  I had no idea how I was even going to win this game but my opponent wasn’t doing a ton either, getting mana flooded.  A few turns later I drew Vampiric Tutor and cast it grabbing my sole win condition, Jace. I immediately began to fate seal and played pretty conservatively keeping up multiple counterspells over doing other things.  At one point I cast Empty for 6 tokens which made 0 to no sense but it all worked out. I ultimated Paul and won the game.

Boarded in 2 Reb, 1 Engineered Plague, 1 Natures Claim, 1 Pyroblast
Sided out 2 Hurks, 1 Fire/Ice, 1 Spell Pierce, and a random card.

G2: Repeal finally shows up. I keep a hand that has a Pierce, Repeal, Drain, Mana Crypt, Land, Preordain, and another land. Paul plays lotus petal and mox into an Oath. He then plays Black lotus and uses it to Demonic Tutor putting Orchard into play. On my turn I main phased repeal on oath drawing repeal. This was incorrect since I should have waited for him to give me a token at the end of my turn to do that. He spends his turn re casting Oath. On my turn I cast repeal on Oath again drawing into another card that isn’t force. However fortune shines on me when I rpreordainl into Force.  Paul spends his next turn casting Oath into my Force and that was pretty much the game. He later tries to cast Jace into my Drain, which I use the mana to fuel out a Will which produces a lethal tendrils

Top 4: Allen w/ Mud
G1: I don’t remember much he was on the play and I was able to hit land drops under spheres and a tangle wire. I had a hurks in my hand and he failed to produce pressure under the Tangle Wire. When it was convenient for me I cast Hurks EOT and followed it up with a Will, which prompted a concession.

G2: I mull to 4 and don’t ever have a chance.

G3: This one is frustrating. I keep 1 Island, 1 Preordain, 1 Brainstorm, 1 Hurks, 1 Force, 1 Gush, 1 Mox Emerald. I turn one Preordain and miss on the land. I then force his turn one Sphere, untap and brainstorm into Recall but not land or force. On his turn he plays chalice at one and the game is all but over.  Perhaps I should had Mulled. I usually never keep one land hands and I got punished for it.
If I had to change the deck I would consider cutting a fire/ice for maybe a land. The deck did feel land light but I’m not sure. I would also consider cutting Spell Pierce for Thoughtseize. This deck may be weaker in the Blue matchup and I feel like Seize would go a long way in solving that. Half of the reason to include Fire/Ice is to deal with Bob but with Repeal & Seize it might not be necessary.

Anyways, that was my tournament. I walked away with -$40 dollars and a Mana Drain.

Also, thanks to all my opponents. You were all a pleasure to play against.

[Mr. Type 4]

This was a good time!

Congrats to the winners and to Steve who took me out.  He was probably the worst pairing for me in that top 8, although I know I made the wrong decision in game 2. 

I guess the next big one is New York - see you all there!

[Greolin]

Thanks again for another great tournament Sean, still love being able to sleep in and still play magic.

Grats to the other members of the top 8.

[XxtSundaybxX]

A few weeks ago I decided to get back into vintage, or to really get back into vintage. Meaning purchase my own cards since i was borrowing cards to play in tournaments, and never really knowing what I would be playing until my friends decided what they wanted to play the night before the tourney. So I started thinking about a deck to build. Typically I would play a blue deck but i refused to pay the inflated prices that were being asked for staples such as fow,jace,duals, etc. So I decided I would buy cards for shops and win the blue cards, it ends up costing about half of the price. So two tournaments later the deck has paid itself off and i have over half of the cards I need to build any blue deck in the format. Not too bad. That being said, on to the report.

My list can be found at the top of the thread so I see no reason to repost it

I dont remember all of the details 100% so If something is incorrect please feel free to jump in and correct me

R1-Brian Carey-Oath
I win the die roll and lead with sphere, he forces. He plays a turn 1 spell that sphere would have affected but I cannot remember what it was. then sometime later the board state is smokestack,sphere, chalice? on my side and land,sapphire,key, vault on his side. He was forced to pass the turn tapped out from playing key vault, not having enough mana to activate. so he passes the turn and I ramp stacks to 1 on my upkeep. I pass the turn and he untaps and says im going to take infinite turns do you want me to play it out? I remind him he has to sac a permanent every turn to smokestack, so unless he draws a land every turn he cannot continue to take turns. He takes 1 turn then sacs 1 piece of the combo then I ramp stacks, clear his board and win with lodestone.
G2- I dont remember much but I boarded in Duplicants and Maze of iths because i saw orchard game 1, but he then oaths inkwell up and i cant answer
G3 - This game is close and looks bad for me but on turn 4 or 5 he taps out(2 lands and 2 moxes) to play tinker for inkwell. Im holding smokestack inhand and chalice for 1 is out so he cannot claim. However Im at 14 so two attacks and its over and he has enough permanents out to sack to smokestack without me changing his board state. He attacks me to 7 and passes. I ramp stacks to 1, and play a waste and cast Dup with no imprint to block inkwell so i dont die. He attacks i block and go to 4. On my turn I ramp stacks to 2, waste a land and then strip his island so he now has land, inkwell. pass the turn, clear his board. We play draw go for 2 turns becuase i didnt have any threats to play. He has no lands out and i have a sphere and chalice and i draw losestone, play it, and win.
1-0

R2-John Jones-Tezzcast
G1-John gets a deck reg game loss
G2-  I mull to oblivion(4) and then he wins easily
G3-I believe John mulls this game but im not sure. I get turn 1 sphere and turn 2 port into turn 3 lodestone i believe. He swords' my lodestone, I play another while keeping him short on mana with port. I have lethal on the board and John has the hurkyls but not enough mana to cast it. He would have had to hurkyls me on his upkeep to stay alive so it would have just been an attempt to stay in the game. After the match he comes up to talk to me to tell me that on the top of his deck he has grim monilith but forgot that lodestone only affects non artifact spells so he would have been able to hurkyls me but it would have only been a timewalk for me to then replay everything.
2-0

R3-Brandon Brown?-Noble Fish
G1-I think I won the die roll and i lead with sphere. He counters(force?). He plays a turn 1 spell. I play a turn 2 threat, however I know he has daze and i have a chance of walking into it however i also have a play for next turn that i want my workshop for so if he dazes he sets himself back his landdrop and cannot waste me. He dazes. replays his land and passes. I play turn 3 lodestone, turn 4 lodestone.
G2-I dont remember much of this game at all I just know I won.

So now Im 3-0 and I can draw in. So the pairings go up and there are 3 3-0's. So I get paired down while Pmas and sean Duffy draw.

R4-Ryan Thompson-Aggro Mud
G1-Ryan wins the roll and leads with turn 1 worker pass. I lead with shop,mox,manavault,crucible,tanglewire. I keep him off metalworker a few turns but its not enough, He gets there with hellkite.
G2-I lead with turn 1 crucible and I have waste in hand. I think he plays metalworker? but i have wire and when finally gets worker active he doesnt have any serious threats i cant deal with. I play karn and win.
G3-I cannot remember much of this game either. I think he leads with sphere of resistance but i cant be certain. He gets a metalworker down but no threats to play with it so he starts attacking. I had ancient tomb out so i took a few points from that and then he plays lodestone. I have maze for the lodestone but then he plays dup with no imprint. he then draws waste to waste my maze and then attacks for 8 putting me low on life. i replay maze and a smokestack and end up ramping the stacks to 3 to clear his side of the board and then attacking with the lodestone that I duplicanted from him.
4-0

R5-Sean Duffy-Dark Depths-ID
4-0-1

Top 8
Justin Kohler-Aggro Mud
G1 I win the die roll and i cannot remember a whole lot of this game. I know it goes a little longer. At some point I get karn down and im attacking for like 8 a turn and he then sculpting steels my karn. However Im holding 2 more karns and a Duplicant. I play another karn and swing for 5 with serum powder and thorn.
G2 He leads with ancient tomb, mox, go. (details later) I ask him if hes sure and he says yes. I play turn 1 lodestone with shop and mox. he sculpting steels my lodestone and passes. i play a land and tangle wire and pass. He taps down everything to wire and wastelands my workshop i believe and then passes. I have enough permanents to tap to my wire to leave my lodestone up and i attack for 5. He still only has 3 permanents on his turn so he has to tap down again to wire and plays a chalice for 0 to get more permanents out. I then attack for 5 again.  He plays a metalworker on his turn and passses. At this point hes at lethal life but he has his lodestone to block my lodestone now. So I play the Duplicant that ive been holding on his lodestone so hes forced to block with his metal worker. I pass and he draws a blank. After the game, I asked him why he kept a hand with no turn 1 threat on the play. He shows me his opening hand which was: Karn, ancient tomb, mox pearl, tangle wirex2,wasteland, and x. I feel like if his deck creates a serious turn 1 threat the matchup can go either way. But by not playing anything turn 1 Im at a huge advantage in this matchup. I agree with Justin and I think thats a solid han d in the mirror match I just dont know if i could definitely keep it or not. Also not drawing another land really hurt him as well.

Top 4
Steve Nowakowski-Gush Combo w/ repeal

Steve and I drove to the tournament together and we were hoping not to have to play till the finals but the bracket did not work out that way. Oh well. Steve and I test on a regular basis and we tested this matchup about 25-30 games a few days before the tournament. It was brutal, I think it ended up being something like 20-5 in his favor. Which is terrible for a deck that is supposed to be my best matchup. So needless to say i wasnt to thrilled about this matchup.i
G1- I win the roll, and keep my opener with turn 1 sphere with tanglewire,2x wasteland, jet, port. I have 2 threats and i figure i also have double wasteland if he lays non basics, natually steve plays triple misty rainforest getting 3 islands over the first 3 turns. i play turn 1 sphere he forces. I top deck sphere andplay sphere and port. On his upkeep i port him and he lays a land and passes. on my turn i play tangle wire and pass. Now at this point I need a threat to stay in the game as hes tapping down every turn to wire and i have port. If i can draw a threat, Im inthe game. I dont. Steve never misses a land drop, plays moxes and lotus and then hurkyls me and combos wtih will and I die. I play a chalice at some point in the midst of drawing a bunch of mana.
G2- Steve mulls to 4, I have turn 1 lodestone, turn 2 sphere, turn 3 stacks
G3- I mull my 7 becuase i feel it doesnt have enough early pressure. Steve leads with usea,emerald, preordain. I play turn 1 thorn, steve forces. He then brainstorms hoping to hit land and fails. He hits recaill but i play chalice for 1 on my turn. It goes down hill from here. I get out a karn and eat his emerald and then start attacking.

Finals
Andrew Keeton-ANT
Steve and I have plans and want to leave so Andrew and I split despite him probably being my best matchup ever.

Props:
New faces and chill players
Shawn for running these things
Eric for letting us use the store
Paul for telling us ridiculously Hilarious stories
Our car's results

[Mr. Type 4]

Paul for telling us ridiculously Hilarious stories

I'm always good for a couple of these.  Nice report, allen.

[Kameli0n]

Thanks forge detailed reports guys.

[FunkyMo]

Andrew K. here.

@Allen
Haha, don't think I wasn't aware about how lopsided it would be.  I was trying to be all "yeah I guess I'll split" when inside I was thinking "splitsplitsplitsplitsplitplea sesplitsplit."

Top 8 Report

Rounds 1-5, Quarterfinals, Semifinals
I didn't face any Workshops so I didn't auto-lose.

Sorry my report is so short but that's mainly because a) it would be a lot of "I Duress/Thoughtseize and take FoW/Drain.  Mox/Dark Rit/Lotus into Necro/Ad Nauseam/YawgWill.  Tendrils. and b) it's the truth.  I have protection from bad matchups.

Thanks all for a good time and thanks to Steve for having made plans