Volt
06-30-2008, 11:50 PM
Here is the version of Nourishing Lich that I played. It's a bit different from Krieger's. It might even bear a slight resemblance to Aggro Loam.
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Taiga
2 Badlands
2 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Forgotten Cave
3 Tranquil thicket
3 Wasteland
1 Volroth Stronghold
4 Mox Diamond
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Seismic Assault
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Terravore
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Burning Wish
3 Life from the Loam
2 Devastating Dreams
3 Terminate
Sideboard
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Devastating Dreams
1 Hull Breach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reverent Silence
1 Shattering Spree
1 Unearth
3 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of the Void
Round 1 vs Alix Hatfield (Obfuscate_Freely) w/Cephalid Breakfast
Game 1: Alix opens by Thoughtseizing a Burning Wish from my hand. He follows by dropping a Dark Confidant on turn 2, and then a pair of Nomads En-Kor on successive turns. After not doing much of anything for the first 4-5 turns, I finally drop a Terravore. Somehow, Alix never finds the Cephalid Illusionist to complete the combo, despite having Bob advantage. Terravore goes all the way.
Game 2: Alix opens with Tundra. I waste it. Alix plays a City of Brass. I play land, Mox Diamond, Loam. Alix draws a card and passes. I waste the City. Alix scoops.
Round 2 vs Ryan B. w/Goblins
Game 1: Ryan opens with Lackey, which hits on the next turn, dropping a Matron into play. He fetches a Commander, which hits the board on the following turn. I DD for 2, wiping his entire board, lands and all. He never recovers.
Game 2: More of the same, pretty much.
Round 3 vs Nick Colpron (Yawgmoth) w/Doran Rock
Nick beat me a few weeks ago at the Mirkwood tournament, playing these same decks. Still, I'm pretty sure the matchup is no worse than 50/50 for me, and probably a little better than that.
Game 1: I waste a couple of his lands and keep him from playing Magic.
Game 2: I waste a couple of his lands, but don't quite succeed in keeping him from playing Magic. At one point, he has lethal damage on the board in the form of a goyf and a Tombstalker. I had been dredging Loam for the past few turns, and manage to cycle my way into a Devastating Dreams just in the nick of time. Nick scoops after I wipe his board.
Round 4 vs Geoff Cannard w/ Elves!
I've played against this deck many times before, and I know how dangerous it is. Don't laugh. It's dangerous.
Game 1: Geoff quickly runs me over with a horde of pointy-eared forest-dwellers. At one point, I EE a couple of them away, but it barely slows him down.
Game 2: He plays out a bunch of elves in the first couple of turns, and then Glimpse of Nature on turn 3, which leads to several more elves hitting the board. Fortunately, he doesn't find the Staff combo or Concordant Crossroads, so I live to see another untap. I DD his board away, and he doesn't recover.
Game 3: This is a nail-biter. Geoff mulls to 6 and gets off to a bit of a slow start. I drop a Seismic Assault on turn 3, and think to myself that this match is pretty much in the bag. Nuh uh. Geoff untaps his lands, draws a card, taps a Savannah and a Forest, and plays... Absolute Law! Frak, I'm screwed. No, wait... If I can't kill his elves, maybe I can race him by throwing lands at his dome. I have the Loam engine going, so I spend the next few turns dredging and Assaulting, while Geoff continues to swing at me with a growing army of elves. Thing is, I know I'm going to come up short unless I can find a cycling land so I can Loam twice in 1 turn and throw 4 lands at his head. I go through 40% of the deck, but never find a cycling land. I have just enough to get Geoff down to 1 life before dying to elf beatdown. Grr.
Round 5 vs Chris Buker w/Trinity Green(?)
Chris is an amazingly good player who has T8'd at pro events. However, I get the impression he's a bit rusty and is borrowing a (bad) deck from a buddy just to play in this event.
Game 1: He plays a Rofellos, which I quickly Terminate (every time I play that card, I'm tempted to say "You're terminated, f_cker!" ala Sarah Conner). I drop a fatty. Chris plays a Tangle Wire, which slows me down a little bit. A couple turns later, he plays another Tangle Wire, but I continue the beatdown. Eventually, he scoops.
Game 2: Not much different than the first game. This was an easy match.
Round 6 vs Brent w/UGB Psychatog
This is the last round before splitting to Top 8. Brent and I are both 4-1. Hoping that we can both draw in, we look at the standings. Unfortunately, there is the possibility that we could get leap-frogged, resulting in one of us getting bumped out of T8. So, we play.
Game 1: I Waste-lock Brent early on. He gets a couple of basics out, but is never really able to play Magic.
Game 2: Similar to game 1, but it goes a long time because I can't get a threat to stick. Finally, I drop a Terravore and Seismic Assault on consecutive turns. Brent plays a Psychatog, which gives me a moment's pause. However, he only has 8 cards in his yard and 4 cards in hand. I have 3 lands in hand, and a Loam and several more lands in the yard. I dredge, and then Loam. With 6 lands in hand, I start throwing them at the tog, forcing Brent to empty his yard and most of his hand. Finally, he just lets the tog die, at which point I swing with the 'vore. Technically, it isn't lethal, but Brent sees the writing on the wall and scoops.
T8, Round 1: Brian Crownhart (Maverick676) w/Weird Level Blue
Game 1: Continuing a common theme, I waste-lock Brian and generally keep him from playing Magic. He manages to Swords my first 3 guys, but I eventually get one to stick.
Game 2: Not much different from the first game.
T8, Round 2: Brett Lindholm (Linkxwing) w/UWB Landstill
First of all, this was easily my worst-played match of the day. I lost some of my focus and played too loose. I made several play errors, including tapping my mana wrong, playing the wrong land, passing the turn without Loaming, etc. Nick was standing behind me, watching me play. I think I made his brain hurt. It didn't matter. My deck carried my play mistake-making ass to victory.
Game 1: I Waste-lock him and prevent him from playing Magic. He counters or Swordses my first few threats, but I eventually get one to stick.
Game 2: We both end up a bit mana-screwed for much of this game, as I waste a few of his lands, and he EE's away a couple of my Mox Diamonds. I can't find Loam or Wish, and I go for a long stretch without drawing land. I have a bunch of cards in my hand that I can't play because I don't have the right colors. The first few threats I drop don't live very long. At one point, I swing with a 5/5 'vore. Brett Extirpates my Wooded Foothills, shrinking my vore to 3/3, and then activates a Mishra Factory, blocks, and pumps the Factory up to 4/4. I have the choice of cycling a land in my hand to bring my guy back up to 4/4 and trading with the Mishra factory, but I realize I wouldn't be able to do anything else that turn. I decide to leave the mana open so I can cast Crusher in my second main phase. I proceed to go like 5 turns without revealing a land, before Brett finally blue-blasts the Crusher. Finally, after many turns, I find another threat (I think it was another Crusher) and get it to stick long enough to finish the job.
T8, Round 3: Brad Gourley w/ RGB Goblins
Brad offered to concede the match (and thereby 1st place) to me, with the agreement that I would give him my 9th draft pick in exchange for his 10th. I agreed.
So, that's it! I picked Underground Seas with my 1st pick, and ended up with Plateaus for the 10th pick.
Overall, it was an amazingly fun and successful tournament, and I would say that even if I hadn't been fortunate enough to win.
Here are the Top 8 decklists (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=246991&postcount=70).
Props:
Mike Van de Water - For doing such a great job of directing and judging the tournament.
Team Unicorn - for coming all the way out to the west coast to play magic with us, and for being uniformly fun, cool dudes to hang out with.
Blind Onion Pub - for having awesome pizza and letting us hang out a half hour after closing without complaint.
47 players - A massive thank you to everyone who came to this tournament.
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Taiga
2 Badlands
2 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Forgotten Cave
3 Tranquil thicket
3 Wasteland
1 Volroth Stronghold
4 Mox Diamond
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Seismic Assault
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Terravore
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Burning Wish
3 Life from the Loam
2 Devastating Dreams
3 Terminate
Sideboard
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Devastating Dreams
1 Hull Breach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reverent Silence
1 Shattering Spree
1 Unearth
3 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of the Void
Round 1 vs Alix Hatfield (Obfuscate_Freely) w/Cephalid Breakfast
Game 1: Alix opens by Thoughtseizing a Burning Wish from my hand. He follows by dropping a Dark Confidant on turn 2, and then a pair of Nomads En-Kor on successive turns. After not doing much of anything for the first 4-5 turns, I finally drop a Terravore. Somehow, Alix never finds the Cephalid Illusionist to complete the combo, despite having Bob advantage. Terravore goes all the way.
Game 2: Alix opens with Tundra. I waste it. Alix plays a City of Brass. I play land, Mox Diamond, Loam. Alix draws a card and passes. I waste the City. Alix scoops.
Round 2 vs Ryan B. w/Goblins
Game 1: Ryan opens with Lackey, which hits on the next turn, dropping a Matron into play. He fetches a Commander, which hits the board on the following turn. I DD for 2, wiping his entire board, lands and all. He never recovers.
Game 2: More of the same, pretty much.
Round 3 vs Nick Colpron (Yawgmoth) w/Doran Rock
Nick beat me a few weeks ago at the Mirkwood tournament, playing these same decks. Still, I'm pretty sure the matchup is no worse than 50/50 for me, and probably a little better than that.
Game 1: I waste a couple of his lands and keep him from playing Magic.
Game 2: I waste a couple of his lands, but don't quite succeed in keeping him from playing Magic. At one point, he has lethal damage on the board in the form of a goyf and a Tombstalker. I had been dredging Loam for the past few turns, and manage to cycle my way into a Devastating Dreams just in the nick of time. Nick scoops after I wipe his board.
Round 4 vs Geoff Cannard w/ Elves!
I've played against this deck many times before, and I know how dangerous it is. Don't laugh. It's dangerous.
Game 1: Geoff quickly runs me over with a horde of pointy-eared forest-dwellers. At one point, I EE a couple of them away, but it barely slows him down.
Game 2: He plays out a bunch of elves in the first couple of turns, and then Glimpse of Nature on turn 3, which leads to several more elves hitting the board. Fortunately, he doesn't find the Staff combo or Concordant Crossroads, so I live to see another untap. I DD his board away, and he doesn't recover.
Game 3: This is a nail-biter. Geoff mulls to 6 and gets off to a bit of a slow start. I drop a Seismic Assault on turn 3, and think to myself that this match is pretty much in the bag. Nuh uh. Geoff untaps his lands, draws a card, taps a Savannah and a Forest, and plays... Absolute Law! Frak, I'm screwed. No, wait... If I can't kill his elves, maybe I can race him by throwing lands at his dome. I have the Loam engine going, so I spend the next few turns dredging and Assaulting, while Geoff continues to swing at me with a growing army of elves. Thing is, I know I'm going to come up short unless I can find a cycling land so I can Loam twice in 1 turn and throw 4 lands at his head. I go through 40% of the deck, but never find a cycling land. I have just enough to get Geoff down to 1 life before dying to elf beatdown. Grr.
Round 5 vs Chris Buker w/Trinity Green(?)
Chris is an amazingly good player who has T8'd at pro events. However, I get the impression he's a bit rusty and is borrowing a (bad) deck from a buddy just to play in this event.
Game 1: He plays a Rofellos, which I quickly Terminate (every time I play that card, I'm tempted to say "You're terminated, f_cker!" ala Sarah Conner). I drop a fatty. Chris plays a Tangle Wire, which slows me down a little bit. A couple turns later, he plays another Tangle Wire, but I continue the beatdown. Eventually, he scoops.
Game 2: Not much different than the first game. This was an easy match.
Round 6 vs Brent w/UGB Psychatog
This is the last round before splitting to Top 8. Brent and I are both 4-1. Hoping that we can both draw in, we look at the standings. Unfortunately, there is the possibility that we could get leap-frogged, resulting in one of us getting bumped out of T8. So, we play.
Game 1: I Waste-lock Brent early on. He gets a couple of basics out, but is never really able to play Magic.
Game 2: Similar to game 1, but it goes a long time because I can't get a threat to stick. Finally, I drop a Terravore and Seismic Assault on consecutive turns. Brent plays a Psychatog, which gives me a moment's pause. However, he only has 8 cards in his yard and 4 cards in hand. I have 3 lands in hand, and a Loam and several more lands in the yard. I dredge, and then Loam. With 6 lands in hand, I start throwing them at the tog, forcing Brent to empty his yard and most of his hand. Finally, he just lets the tog die, at which point I swing with the 'vore. Technically, it isn't lethal, but Brent sees the writing on the wall and scoops.
T8, Round 1: Brian Crownhart (Maverick676) w/Weird Level Blue
Game 1: Continuing a common theme, I waste-lock Brian and generally keep him from playing Magic. He manages to Swords my first 3 guys, but I eventually get one to stick.
Game 2: Not much different from the first game.
T8, Round 2: Brett Lindholm (Linkxwing) w/UWB Landstill
First of all, this was easily my worst-played match of the day. I lost some of my focus and played too loose. I made several play errors, including tapping my mana wrong, playing the wrong land, passing the turn without Loaming, etc. Nick was standing behind me, watching me play. I think I made his brain hurt. It didn't matter. My deck carried my play mistake-making ass to victory.
Game 1: I Waste-lock him and prevent him from playing Magic. He counters or Swordses my first few threats, but I eventually get one to stick.
Game 2: We both end up a bit mana-screwed for much of this game, as I waste a few of his lands, and he EE's away a couple of my Mox Diamonds. I can't find Loam or Wish, and I go for a long stretch without drawing land. I have a bunch of cards in my hand that I can't play because I don't have the right colors. The first few threats I drop don't live very long. At one point, I swing with a 5/5 'vore. Brett Extirpates my Wooded Foothills, shrinking my vore to 3/3, and then activates a Mishra Factory, blocks, and pumps the Factory up to 4/4. I have the choice of cycling a land in my hand to bring my guy back up to 4/4 and trading with the Mishra factory, but I realize I wouldn't be able to do anything else that turn. I decide to leave the mana open so I can cast Crusher in my second main phase. I proceed to go like 5 turns without revealing a land, before Brett finally blue-blasts the Crusher. Finally, after many turns, I find another threat (I think it was another Crusher) and get it to stick long enough to finish the job.
T8, Round 3: Brad Gourley w/ RGB Goblins
Brad offered to concede the match (and thereby 1st place) to me, with the agreement that I would give him my 9th draft pick in exchange for his 10th. I agreed.
So, that's it! I picked Underground Seas with my 1st pick, and ended up with Plateaus for the 10th pick.
Overall, it was an amazingly fun and successful tournament, and I would say that even if I hadn't been fortunate enough to win.
Here are the Top 8 decklists (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=246991&postcount=70).
Props:
Mike Van de Water - For doing such a great job of directing and judging the tournament.
Team Unicorn - for coming all the way out to the west coast to play magic with us, and for being uniformly fun, cool dudes to hang out with.
Blind Onion Pub - for having awesome pizza and letting us hang out a half hour after closing without complaint.
47 players - A massive thank you to everyone who came to this tournament.