(This post is copied from
www.MTGOntario.com by me. If you've read it on one site, save yourself the read unless you enjoyed it the first time.)
I had originally planned to show up for the Hairy T's tournament on Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn't do adequate time appreciation, and found myself stuck in both bad traffic and snowy conditions at 1:45pm on the QEW at Cawthra. Plus, I was still trying to make another stop on the way (had to drop my fiance off at her friend's house while I went to the tournament). Exiting at Cawthra, I knew that day was a write-off. Lucky for me, I still had this tourny to attend.
I showed up around 11:30am on Sunday ready to go. I pulled out a list of the last few cards I needed for my deck and grabbed up 3x Choke, and 2x Withered Wretch. Unfortunately, there weren't any Diabolic Edicts, so I decided to go without them. I also picked up a nice Antiquities Mishra's Factory (Summer, I think), and went about retrofitting my deck & sideboard.
Then I grabbed an Inquest.
And a drink.
And played my electronic crossword.
Yeah, I waited a while. People started to come in around 12:30pm, and even then we waited for more people to show up. All in all, I don't think the tournament got started until around 1:50pm. In the meantime, I managed to get in a game against a guy named Tony who was playing a white Cleric deck. I'd never given those white creature-theme decks any credit, but I must say he was surprisingly resilient. I managed to get the upper hand eventually (I can't remember exactly, but I think it was thanks to a Pernicious Deed followed by Nether Void). Good warm-up game though. After a bit, I talked to some of the other entrants - Seth and Andrew specifically, who sat down for a casual game together beside me. We chatted a bit, and managed to tempt Andrew with my spare Abyss.
Now, on to the rounds.
Round 1: Vs. Paul (Schriar (sp?)), playing an old-school Red-Green deck. Paul was playing a deck based around big, fast, fat creatures like Shivan Wurm, Ball Lightning, Blistering Firecat, and small quick helper creatures like Orcish Lumberjack and Tinder Wall. I admire the deck because I've been thinking of doing something like that for a while now, but without my own courage to just go old-school like he did.
To be honest, this whole round was full of disappointment. Me & Paul didn't know each other, so we did some friendly egging at each other throughout the match, but all in all it ended up in a timing and rules misunderstanding. Paul was rather disappointed and maybe a bit pissed, but everything was all right in the end.
Game one ended too quick. Paul got the head start and threw out Tinder Walls and Orcish Lumberjacks. Everything was looking good for him - fast mana, a Lotus Petal - in desperation, I threw out an early 3rd turn Nether Void and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the worst happened - Paul drew Lotus Petal #2 and conceded the game. Apparantly, he'd left it in accidentally beforehand while playing fun games at the coffee shop just down the street.
I sided in 3 Contagions for the next game.
Game two was the real downer - it was shaping up to be a good game, what with me getting out some creatures to stave off his early offenses and a well-played P. Deed. The end of the match came after a timing & rules misunderstanding, when Paul sacrificed a Tinder Wall for RR and then attacked with a Rancor'ed Tinder Wall. If he announced an attack before sacc'ing the Tinder Wall, I didn't hear it, and so I called him on it thinking he was trying to float mana from one phase to another. That felt really painful, and after some deliberation and concession from Paul (who apparantly would have won either that turn or the next), I went to my turn: Black Lotus, sac for BBB, toss a Dark Ritual or 2, YawgWin, replayed a load of mana and a load of disruption to clear the board (including 2 Contagions to clear his creatures), get a creature down, and throw down a Nether Void. (Phew!) Paul scooped, and that was the end of the match. My record: 1-0 matches. After the match, me & Paul talked a bit about our decks and the air gradually cleared.
Round 2: Vs. Seth, playing Keeper Seth's a nice guy. Wished me luck for all the games, and played well.
Game one: the details escape me right now - I managed the win easily enough thanks to an early onslaught of creatures and bad draws for him. Apparantly, we played long enough for me to recognize the deck as Keeper, which tipped me off in sideboarding.
While considering Chains of Mephistopheles and Choke, as well as reshuffling my deck to obscure what I would take out, Seth mentioned that Misdirection is my enemy, further cementing my strategy - rip out the Withered Wretches and Hymn to Tourachs. I sided in 3 Chokes and 3 Chains of M.
Game two: We both battled back and forth a bit at the start, with me killing his manabase at the start which he countered by... playing more land.
Seth tapped out in the early mid-game to play a few spells, which is when I applied the Choke, leaving him with a meager Mox Pearl for mana. I also threw down a Chains of Mephistopheles to kill any card-advantage he might attempt to muster. I hammered at him with 1, and later 2 Mishra's Factory's for a while. At one point, I successfully cast Necropotence to keep excellent card advantage, and popped a P. Deed for 0 to kill his Mox Pearl. Bad luck persisted for Seth as he drew and played Painlands, which combined with my Factory beat him down to a few life points. He cast Brainstorm at one point (which didn't have the effect he'd hoped for as the Chains killed his hand), and played a very usable Undergroud Sea. His last turn consisted of him casting a Demonic Tutor for a Balance, and play a Fetchland. My next turn consisted of Sinkhole'ing his Sea to leave him with Painlands, beat him to 1 life, and pass the turn. He didn't draw any mana sources, didn't have anything available beyond pain/fetch lands, and that was the game. My record: 2-0 matches.
Round 3: Vs. Mark, playing U/B BBS/Phid (using Shadowmages instead of Ophidians). Mark handed me 2 game losses, in a painful fashion for me.
Game one: I couldn't get a foothold in this game. Mark busted out 2 Isochron Scepters - one with Ancestral, and the other with Fire/Ice. He ended up walloping me with a Morphling.
I made my first & only sideboarding mistake - I sided in 3x Naturalize, 3x Choke, and only 1 Chains of M. I chose to use Naturalize because those Scepters really freaked me out, and I was expecting more of the same in the second game. I also didn't see his Shadowmage Infiltrators to know enough to throw in more Chains.
Game two: Mark controls, controls, controls, and beats me down with a Morphling again, all the while using his Shadowmages to get excellent card advantage and draw into enough counters to keep me perfectly at bay. I draw no useful business spells, instead finding all 3 Chokes and a Naturalize. My record: 2-1.
Round 4: Vs. Andrew, playing Food Chain Goblins. Last time I played against a Goblin deck, I was pwned. This time, I was prepared. This time I knew what to do. And thankfully, my deck and shuffling didn't let me down. I knew enough to BLOCK GOBLIN LACKEY, and had altered my deck to be Negator-less.
Game one: Andrew and I trade creatures in combat, him attempting to run a Goblin Lackey through my Nantuko Shade. We do this a few times with me playing a fair amount of disruption and gaining board advantage until I finally draw a Nether Void coupled with a creature. Bam.
During the match, I noticed some Volcanic Islands although I didn't see any blue spells. I balked a moment before deciding to side nothing - If I started feeling "blue" in the 2nd game, I'd sideboard for game 3.
Game two: See game 1 with more early disruption. P. Deed and Nether Void with Factories seal the deal easily, and I come through the fog of indecision unscathed. My record: 3-1.
I'm in the final 4. Go figure!
Semi-finals: Vs. Mark, playing U/B BBS/Phid. I was worried going into this round - Mark routed me 2-0 earlier. I remembered how much he counted on card advantage to keep moving, and played accordingly.
Game one: Unfortunately for me, without my sideboard I'm really not anything to his deck. Card advantage got the better of me and I went down to a Morphling, again. Ugh.
I sideboard correctly this time - 3x Chains of M. and 3x Choke. Forget Naturalize.
Game two: Chains of M. comes out, and that's all she wrote. I fling through enough creatures to net the game.
No sideboard changes.
Game three: Alright, admittedly my commentary on the first 2 games sucks. This is the one that sticks out in my mind though. We start off evenly by both parising. We continue evenly, when I play a 2nd turn Sinkhole. He Misdirects it to my Swamp, and we're still deadlocked at 1 land each. I play another land and aim a Hymn to Tourach at him, which he Force of Will's, pitching a Morphling ("That really hurt", he commented). Third turn, I defer a regular land drop to play a Wasteland, waiting for turn 4 to do a regular drop and play Hypnotic Specter, which gets countered. He Duresses me on his turn, and decides in the end to make me ditch a Duress, despite more tempting targets. After a bit, we get to about equal life levels when he gets down a Shadowmage. My turn, I drop Chains of M. and a Factory. He groans, and proceeds (with a lightened hand) to attack, then discarding a card and drawing to the Chains. I swing with my Factory. This continues for a while, me whittling his life down faster than he can hit mine. All the while, he's using the Shadowmage to exchange cards in hand, and I'm watching him pitch all kinds of counters - Mana Leaks, Mana Drains, Forces.... it was really quite incredible to watch. He catches on after a while, opting at one point not to use the Shadowmage's draw ability. Nothing changes on my part though, and I keep consistent. I throw down a 2nd Factory after a bit to hit harder, and once I cast Choke, the game is solidly in my favor. I win handily, and it's on to the finals.
Finals: Vs. Al, playing Oshawa Stompy (I think). We chat about the prizes: 1 Legends Booster for 1st place, and $14 for 2nd. Alternatively, the guy behind the counter informs us that 1st place could decide to take $40 instead. I have to get going, and Al's tired, so we forego the Legends booster and agreeably split the 1st & 2nd place total of $54 for $27 each. I pick up 2x Stifle ($20 total) and a Cunning Wish ($9, I pony up the extra $2), then say my thank you's and goodbyes and head home to my fiance's mom's apartment for dinner.
In hindsight, I would have loved to play against Al - I haven't gone against a Stompy deck with Nether Void, and it would have been a VERY enlightening experience. I'll have to wait for that matchup, I suppose - Al told me that his deck is basically a win against my deck, which I believed at the time. Feeling more composed now, I'll talk trash: Oshawa Stompy relies pretty heavily on being able to discard and play through Madness, or draw fast using Bazaar of Baghdad. Try those 2 tricks while facing down a Nether Void or a Chains - I could have pwned you
Sideboard MVP: Chains of Mephistopheles. With card advantage and drawing being such a staple in the Type 1 scene, this card is the *perfect* answer. I'm almost on the fence about maindecking it.
