Eldariel
10-14-2008, 09:31 AM
Before you ask, yes, I'm writing this for an online tournament. For some reason, they don't populate this particular forum and are generally buried in appropriate deck threads, but this one was plain cool enough to write about (mostly the Top 8).
My deck should be a surprise to approximately nobody, although the fact that this started during the Source-tournament meant I didn't have time to alter my build. So I played Faerie Stompy as follows:
// Lands
4 [EX] City of Traitors
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
9 [UNH] Island
// Creatures
1 [SC] Shoreline Ranger
4 [AN] Serendib Efreet
4 [FD] Trinket Mage
4 [P2] Sea Drake
3 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
4 [LRW] Mulldrifter
3 [LRW] Pestermite
// Spells
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
3 [DS] Sword of Light and Shadow
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
1 [SOK] Pithing Needle
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [US] Back to Basics
SB: 2 [MM] Misdirection
SB: 3 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 3 [A] Blue Elemental Blast
I really want to try Glen Elendra Archmage out since it gives us additional tools against combo and control, archetypes the deck has relatively little to side in for. Misdirections are quite poor nowadays since the aggressive black decks seem to have lost their popularity since the printing of Tarmogoyf (Eva Green isn't putting up numbers for some reason) and aggressive red decks are plenty good without them.
Blue Elemental Blasts are there for decks that pretty much lose to Chalice (Burn - if I don't draw Chalice, BEB helps out), decks against which I want Chalice at 2 (Aggro Loam, for example) and on the draw against Goblins as an additional out to turn 1 Lackey.
Anyways, as we got started there were 53 registrants which meant 6 rounds of Swiss and cut into Top 8. Anyways, on to the adventure! Or tournament or whatever...
[b]Round 1 - Daze playing Mono-Black Control
Game 1: I punt the roll and he lays a swamp with no plays. Curious, but I put him on Sui Black-variant for the time being. After he passes turn 2 with a mere Swamp-go though, I figure there's something else behind this. I put him on black-based control and play out equipment. I figure he'll mostly have removal at 2CC and drop Chalice at 2 before playing creatures. He drops Korlash off Cabal Coffers and while I have the Sower in hand, I figure he may have another one and let him Grandeur instead of dealing with another one. So I fill my hand with a Mulldrifter and take Korlash to 9 after he complies by Grandeuring.
He Beseeches the Queen for Staff of Domination, which I promptly Trinket>Needle. I bash his face in with SoFI'd Mulldrifter and he Beseech>Evoke Shriekmaws my Trinket to hit me down to 4. I drop a second SoFI and knock him down to 5. Then I finally Sower-kill the Korlash (since I don't have any Swamps), dropping myself to 2 with Tomb in the process (since he didn't Beseech for Consume Spirit, I assume he simply doesn't run it). He double Innocent Bloods my board, but since my hand is stocked, it's simple enough to drop a few more threats (including more Mulldrifters) to draw out his removal. Finally, Sea Drake gets there three turns later.
I have no recollection as to how I sided although I believe I took out a Pester or two, some Chalices and maybe SoFI for Back to Basics, Misdirection and second Needle.
Game 2: I open up with the mighty "Mull to 6" and he opens up with a Hymn on turn 2. Since I have only so many lands in hand, I opt not to risk it and Force pitching Force. I manage a turn 2 Serendib Efreet. He has Urborg/Coffers and threatens to go nuts really soon. I attack, he Smothers and I Mulldrifter for some cards. He Beseeches for second Cabal Coffers and I'm not happy. I swing with Mulldrifter and since it's clear I'm not gonna win without a small miracle, I try his rules-savviness by Trinket > Needling Cabal Coffers. Unfortunately, he knows it actually does nothing (turns out he actually does it for LED every now and then...) and proceeds to drop Oona, which I promptly Sower. He Damnations and I drop a Drake, he Beseeches and drops another Oona, which I again Sower. However, he hardcasts Shriekmaw and I'm simply buried under the mana advantage.
Game 3: I open up with the mighty Mull again and keep my 6. He's fine with his 7 and I Drake 'er up turn 1. He Hymns City and B2B and I take him down to 12. Evoked Mulldrifter follows and undoes the hard work his Hymn did (I'm stuck on mana though). He Smothers Drake and I respond with SoFI. He Korlashes while I drop a hard Mull. He again Grandeurs and fishes up some more Swamps. He once again has Coffers and Urborg, and Korlash hits me for 7. My SoFId Mull halves his lifetotal, while Sower turns his Korlash traitorous. He Damnations, which I Force and he drops Oona. I SoLS my Drifter and swing through FTW.
After some chatter about our respective siding and builds, and good luck wishes we're off.
Match: 2-1
Total: 1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Marit with Rats!!!
Game 1: I mull to 5 while he keeps 7. Seemed bad. He wins the roll, cycles 3 (!!) Street Wraiths and drops a Swarmyard for his land, which elicts "WTF?!" from me. I play Island-go for two turns, he tries Aether Vial which I obviously Force. He plays Umezawa's Jitte and we continue draw-go (he has a Swamp which makes me believe I'm in a black-only tournament). He reaches 7 cards first and discard Cabal Therapy. I draw my land and promptly drop Serendib. He finds Ravenous Rats and I discard my Sower which I'll never get to cast. Serendib swings in, Sea Drake comes down, Shriekmaw gets Forced, he drops to 4, second Serendib joins the party, he Shrieks my Drake and succumbs to Efreet beats.
I side out stuff for Jittes in my side, and probably for Needle and EE to deal with Vials and his Jittes. I'd imagine I sided out some number of Chalices and possibly SoFI or SoLS - my memories aren't that accurate.
Game 2: He Therapies a Drake outta my hand revealing Force, Island, Shoreline, Tomb, Sower and Drifter. He drops a Skullsnatcher to which I respond with "Uhh, what?" After he confirms that he's indeed playing Rat Ninjas, he flashbacks Therapy and I Force pitching Shoreline (since I want to retain my Mulldrifters, thank you very many - I drew another one). Next turn I Evoke the first Drifter, while he again tries a Vial and I again Force pitching Sower. My first Drifter found a Tomb so I hardcast the second one. He remarks my Force Aptitude and thanks whatever gods he worship about not bringing SI this time. Mulldrifter gets Jitte'd up, I Pester his lands to stall him for a turn, swing him to 14 with 4 Jitte-counters, drop Efreet while he Shrieks and I swing him to 4 spending the Jitte-counters (in case he has a Jitte of his own). I drop a second Efreet and he reveals a handful of gas (including BALTHOR THE DEFILED! IN AMERICA...er, LEGACY!) without the mana to make good of it, and attackers to Ninjutsu in the Throat Slitter.
We chitchat about times long past including the time I lost to him playing SI 0-2 with FS ('cause I only had one Chalice main and despite mulligans and siding never saw a Chalice, a Trinket or a Force in the two games), and realize that we've expended our bad luck here. After that, on to the adventure!
Match: 2-0
Total: 2-0 (4-1)
Round 3 - Cabal-chan with Merfolk
Game 1: This was a pair-down I recall. I lose the roll. Yea, I suck at d20s. I mull and he drops a Tundra, saying "he's praying", which is good for me 'cause in games involving me, people don't have luck. I turn 1 Trinket into Chalice ('cause Tundra + Cabal-chan = UW Merfolk - elementary math). He drops a Mutavault and a smiley, and I know my aura of no luck has defeated him. I attempt a Chalice at 2 (since that's what Merfolks are all at) and he obviously Forces. He swings at me with Mutavault while I Sea Drake into evoked Mulldrifter. Expectedly the Drake eats StP and he activates the Vault off Wasteland again. Trinket Mage + StP put me ahead in the liferace 14-13 and me playing dudes kinda puts me ahead him not playing dudes. I drop a Serendib while keeping on the Trinket beats. He cannot swing back with Muta and I'm decidedly ahead. I swing him down to 8 and Trinket again, with the CiPT Stifled. I trade Trinket with Muta, while he beats with the other one and combined with Tomb pain I'm at 9. He drops to 3 and upkeep Pester on his mana seals it. I reveal the Sower and Drifter in my hand.
Siding again doesn't come back to me (this was over a month ago), although I'd imagine I just side Jittes for SoLSes here. I may have brought in Back to Basics too, I'm not sure (since he's very non-basic heavy). Anyways, I don't keep SoLS in since he has so many guys I don't want sticking around that I want to focus on cards that can actually kill his guys immediately.
Game 2: I ask about his Back to Basics and turns out he doesn't play it in that build - what a surprise! He opens with Muta/Waste while I open with Tomb/Island into Efreet on which we trade Forces. He drops Reejerey while I Trinket > Needle his annoying Muta. He drops a second Reejerey and taps my Trinket, beating for 3. Between Tomb, Efreet and Force, I've taken significant damage and am down to 7 in the end. I SoFI up the Efreet and swing him to 9. He finally draws into a second blue, drops Puresight, taps my blockers and swings FTW. I realize that I coulda probably killed the Reejerey with a SoFI (had I played it earlier over two turns) and kinda kick myself for letting him get double lord.
Game 3: I open with Drake, he opens with Swords. I drop SoFI which he promptly Needles. Great. Still, I just play Efreet and he once again stumbles on mana. Efreet swings at him and I drop a second Drake. He drops a Wakethrasher while I swing 7 to the dome. He drops Lord of Atlantis and swings at me for 5 with Thrasher and 3 with Muta, dropping me to 14. It's worth noting that I could've played two Islands, but I'm rather sticking to Mox+City for the very reason that a Lord of Atlantis would mean I couldn't chump while racing. I swing him to 3 and drop a Mulldrifter (which also finds a Jitte). He draws, shows me Sygg and points out how he's 2 damage short and scoops 'er up. I figured as much - he'd probably have removal for the blocker, but he wouldn't have removal and lethal - thank god for Chrome Mox not being an Island (and removing the need for a removal spell).
Again, the obligatory postmatch chatter follows with analysis on his build, luck and the universe. Afterwards, I proceed to the 3-0 brackets. I also realize I'm yet to play against any decks from DTB, and I'm in the top tables. WTF?
Match: 2-1
Total: 3-0 (6-2)
Round 4 - Eseph with Food Chain Goblins
Game 1: I win a die roll 7 to 2 (WTF?) and proceed to keep. He follows the suite. I play turn 1 Island and he responds with Taiga-Lackey. Rg(b?) Goblins, figures. I've got a good hand though (with SoFI coming in 2 turns) so I figure this'll be easy beats. He drops turn 2 Lackey though and Efreet is forced to home defense duty, joined by Trinket Mage finding Chalice (at 2, probably). Then he plays turn 3 Food Chain off Tomb. And I go "WTF?!" He proceeds to Matron for Kiki-Jiki, play 3 Ringleaders, Kiki-Jiki some more (he plays 4 Kikis, it seems like) finding 3-4 Gobs with every Ring and vomits his deck on the table, finishing with Lightning Crafter + Kiki.
I side SoLS out for Jitte - I keep Chalices in as I'm on the play and plan on laying one turn 1 if possible.
Game 2: I open with Island vs. his Taiga-go. I drop Trinket for Needle and he only plays a land. Mulldrifter finally sees Warchief, which I promptly Sower. I Needle Kiki to prevent dumb stuff from happening and he Matrons for Pile, while I beat him down to 6, Matron chumping Warchief. He says he wanted to draw Gempalm (he had 4 mana), but I point out to my Force and his Goblin-count, which means he couldn't have killed my dudes in the first place.
Game 3: I side in BEBs for Chalices. I keep 7-card hand with no turn 1 answer to Lackey, but with a solid EE for turn 2. He plays Lackey (sigh) and I respond with Island-go (sandbagging the EE - he probably doesn't see it coming). Indeed, he drops Kiki off (he plays only 2 SGCs so I was fairly certain he wouldn't have that) the Lackey and plays Prospector. With EE, he's left with nothing to copy and I'm a happy camper. Kiki swings, but he has little else in terms of plays and I drop Pestermite>Sea Drake>BEB his Kiki and I Jitte 'er up and win. A short game - he was relying on the Lackey to go all the way and it really would've if it weren't for the EE.
We again chat about his deck, some particular build things (seems he plays too few lands), siding and all that. At 4-0 I should be able to draw in. On to Top 8!
Match: 2-1
Total: 4-0 (8-3)
Round 5 - IBA with The Mighty Quinn
Game 1: So I get the obligatory pairdown. Joy. He has the wrong deck initially, but after some hassle, we get going (with me rolling high again - WTF?). He plays Quinn, I play FS and neither of us is really making a secret out of that. I figure that with Chalice at 1, the match should be relatively easy for me. Indeed, I open up with Trinket for Chalice and he StPs in response to me playing it at 1. Efreet is met with Runed Halo and I go for Drake beats. He drops Painter for white, while I drop another Chalice at 1 as a contingency to not get comboed out. Drake + Sower draws a Wrath and I drop a SoLS. Equipped Pestermite gets there and and draws another Wrath. I drop a Trinket and have it faced by Moat + Servant. After that though, Mulldrifter comes up and knocks him to 4 with another Drifter and Pestermite waiting on the wings. This ends it in short order.
I don't do much siding beyond siding out Sowers for Needle and Jittes, I recall (I should've brought EE in too in retrospect, and kept some Sowers in to counteract Runed Halos).
Game 2: He opens with Top while I open with Chalice. I Mox>Shoreline into Efreet, which gets Halo'd, and Trinket for Chrome to enable more plays in my hand. Indeed, I play-equip SoFI next and while he does the "Top + Sheets Cheat". He drops Painter on Red to knock my SoFI off (and I commend him on the play), but I keep on the beats. He drops Eternal Dragon to stall the beats, and I play Pestermite to tap his Eternal Dragon and swing through. He untaps, I SoLS and win.
Post-match chatter, talk about his weakness to Chalice at 1, match expectations, Legacy, awesomeness and so on.
Match: 2-0
Total: 5-0 (10-3)
Round 6 - Emidln with Fetchland Tendrils
We're both at 5-0 and while I offer the game, he says he'd prefer ID so we don't get paired before the finals and I accept.
Match: 0-0
Total: 5-0-1 (10-3)
Top 8
You may check the decks here (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=132872). The Top 8 by seeds is:
1. Me with Faerie Stompy
2. Emidln with Fetchland Tendrils
3. Mahonen with Dreadstill
4. Avatar of Light with Swan Thresh
5. Marit with Ninja Rats!
6. Eseph with Food Chain Goblins
7. IBA with The Mighty Quinn
8. Nihil with Aggro Loam
I'm quite bamboozled at the weirdness and that 4 of my opponents Top 8d. Anyways, matches 1-8, 2-7, etc. and I'm up vs. Nihil. Normally that would worry me (since Nihil is a friggin' awesome player), but Aggro Loam is quite the good match-up so I'll trust in my deck for this one.
My deck should be a surprise to approximately nobody, although the fact that this started during the Source-tournament meant I didn't have time to alter my build. So I played Faerie Stompy as follows:
// Lands
4 [EX] City of Traitors
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
9 [UNH] Island
// Creatures
1 [SC] Shoreline Ranger
4 [AN] Serendib Efreet
4 [FD] Trinket Mage
4 [P2] Sea Drake
3 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
4 [LRW] Mulldrifter
3 [LRW] Pestermite
// Spells
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
3 [DS] Sword of Light and Shadow
4 [MR] Chrome Mox
4 [MR] Chalice of the Void
1 [SOK] Pithing Needle
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [US] Back to Basics
SB: 2 [MM] Misdirection
SB: 3 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 [FD] Engineered Explosives
SB: 3 [A] Blue Elemental Blast
I really want to try Glen Elendra Archmage out since it gives us additional tools against combo and control, archetypes the deck has relatively little to side in for. Misdirections are quite poor nowadays since the aggressive black decks seem to have lost their popularity since the printing of Tarmogoyf (Eva Green isn't putting up numbers for some reason) and aggressive red decks are plenty good without them.
Blue Elemental Blasts are there for decks that pretty much lose to Chalice (Burn - if I don't draw Chalice, BEB helps out), decks against which I want Chalice at 2 (Aggro Loam, for example) and on the draw against Goblins as an additional out to turn 1 Lackey.
Anyways, as we got started there were 53 registrants which meant 6 rounds of Swiss and cut into Top 8. Anyways, on to the adventure! Or tournament or whatever...
[b]Round 1 - Daze playing Mono-Black Control
Game 1: I punt the roll and he lays a swamp with no plays. Curious, but I put him on Sui Black-variant for the time being. After he passes turn 2 with a mere Swamp-go though, I figure there's something else behind this. I put him on black-based control and play out equipment. I figure he'll mostly have removal at 2CC and drop Chalice at 2 before playing creatures. He drops Korlash off Cabal Coffers and while I have the Sower in hand, I figure he may have another one and let him Grandeur instead of dealing with another one. So I fill my hand with a Mulldrifter and take Korlash to 9 after he complies by Grandeuring.
He Beseeches the Queen for Staff of Domination, which I promptly Trinket>Needle. I bash his face in with SoFI'd Mulldrifter and he Beseech>Evoke Shriekmaws my Trinket to hit me down to 4. I drop a second SoFI and knock him down to 5. Then I finally Sower-kill the Korlash (since I don't have any Swamps), dropping myself to 2 with Tomb in the process (since he didn't Beseech for Consume Spirit, I assume he simply doesn't run it). He double Innocent Bloods my board, but since my hand is stocked, it's simple enough to drop a few more threats (including more Mulldrifters) to draw out his removal. Finally, Sea Drake gets there three turns later.
I have no recollection as to how I sided although I believe I took out a Pester or two, some Chalices and maybe SoFI for Back to Basics, Misdirection and second Needle.
Game 2: I open up with the mighty "Mull to 6" and he opens up with a Hymn on turn 2. Since I have only so many lands in hand, I opt not to risk it and Force pitching Force. I manage a turn 2 Serendib Efreet. He has Urborg/Coffers and threatens to go nuts really soon. I attack, he Smothers and I Mulldrifter for some cards. He Beseeches for second Cabal Coffers and I'm not happy. I swing with Mulldrifter and since it's clear I'm not gonna win without a small miracle, I try his rules-savviness by Trinket > Needling Cabal Coffers. Unfortunately, he knows it actually does nothing (turns out he actually does it for LED every now and then...) and proceeds to drop Oona, which I promptly Sower. He Damnations and I drop a Drake, he Beseeches and drops another Oona, which I again Sower. However, he hardcasts Shriekmaw and I'm simply buried under the mana advantage.
Game 3: I open up with the mighty Mull again and keep my 6. He's fine with his 7 and I Drake 'er up turn 1. He Hymns City and B2B and I take him down to 12. Evoked Mulldrifter follows and undoes the hard work his Hymn did (I'm stuck on mana though). He Smothers Drake and I respond with SoFI. He Korlashes while I drop a hard Mull. He again Grandeurs and fishes up some more Swamps. He once again has Coffers and Urborg, and Korlash hits me for 7. My SoFId Mull halves his lifetotal, while Sower turns his Korlash traitorous. He Damnations, which I Force and he drops Oona. I SoLS my Drifter and swing through FTW.
After some chatter about our respective siding and builds, and good luck wishes we're off.
Match: 2-1
Total: 1-0 (2-1)
Round 2 - Marit with Rats!!!
Game 1: I mull to 5 while he keeps 7. Seemed bad. He wins the roll, cycles 3 (!!) Street Wraiths and drops a Swarmyard for his land, which elicts "WTF?!" from me. I play Island-go for two turns, he tries Aether Vial which I obviously Force. He plays Umezawa's Jitte and we continue draw-go (he has a Swamp which makes me believe I'm in a black-only tournament). He reaches 7 cards first and discard Cabal Therapy. I draw my land and promptly drop Serendib. He finds Ravenous Rats and I discard my Sower which I'll never get to cast. Serendib swings in, Sea Drake comes down, Shriekmaw gets Forced, he drops to 4, second Serendib joins the party, he Shrieks my Drake and succumbs to Efreet beats.
I side out stuff for Jittes in my side, and probably for Needle and EE to deal with Vials and his Jittes. I'd imagine I sided out some number of Chalices and possibly SoFI or SoLS - my memories aren't that accurate.
Game 2: He Therapies a Drake outta my hand revealing Force, Island, Shoreline, Tomb, Sower and Drifter. He drops a Skullsnatcher to which I respond with "Uhh, what?" After he confirms that he's indeed playing Rat Ninjas, he flashbacks Therapy and I Force pitching Shoreline (since I want to retain my Mulldrifters, thank you very many - I drew another one). Next turn I Evoke the first Drifter, while he again tries a Vial and I again Force pitching Sower. My first Drifter found a Tomb so I hardcast the second one. He remarks my Force Aptitude and thanks whatever gods he worship about not bringing SI this time. Mulldrifter gets Jitte'd up, I Pester his lands to stall him for a turn, swing him to 14 with 4 Jitte-counters, drop Efreet while he Shrieks and I swing him to 4 spending the Jitte-counters (in case he has a Jitte of his own). I drop a second Efreet and he reveals a handful of gas (including BALTHOR THE DEFILED! IN AMERICA...er, LEGACY!) without the mana to make good of it, and attackers to Ninjutsu in the Throat Slitter.
We chitchat about times long past including the time I lost to him playing SI 0-2 with FS ('cause I only had one Chalice main and despite mulligans and siding never saw a Chalice, a Trinket or a Force in the two games), and realize that we've expended our bad luck here. After that, on to the adventure!
Match: 2-0
Total: 2-0 (4-1)
Round 3 - Cabal-chan with Merfolk
Game 1: This was a pair-down I recall. I lose the roll. Yea, I suck at d20s. I mull and he drops a Tundra, saying "he's praying", which is good for me 'cause in games involving me, people don't have luck. I turn 1 Trinket into Chalice ('cause Tundra + Cabal-chan = UW Merfolk - elementary math). He drops a Mutavault and a smiley, and I know my aura of no luck has defeated him. I attempt a Chalice at 2 (since that's what Merfolks are all at) and he obviously Forces. He swings at me with Mutavault while I Sea Drake into evoked Mulldrifter. Expectedly the Drake eats StP and he activates the Vault off Wasteland again. Trinket Mage + StP put me ahead in the liferace 14-13 and me playing dudes kinda puts me ahead him not playing dudes. I drop a Serendib while keeping on the Trinket beats. He cannot swing back with Muta and I'm decidedly ahead. I swing him down to 8 and Trinket again, with the CiPT Stifled. I trade Trinket with Muta, while he beats with the other one and combined with Tomb pain I'm at 9. He drops to 3 and upkeep Pester on his mana seals it. I reveal the Sower and Drifter in my hand.
Siding again doesn't come back to me (this was over a month ago), although I'd imagine I just side Jittes for SoLSes here. I may have brought in Back to Basics too, I'm not sure (since he's very non-basic heavy). Anyways, I don't keep SoLS in since he has so many guys I don't want sticking around that I want to focus on cards that can actually kill his guys immediately.
Game 2: I ask about his Back to Basics and turns out he doesn't play it in that build - what a surprise! He opens with Muta/Waste while I open with Tomb/Island into Efreet on which we trade Forces. He drops Reejerey while I Trinket > Needle his annoying Muta. He drops a second Reejerey and taps my Trinket, beating for 3. Between Tomb, Efreet and Force, I've taken significant damage and am down to 7 in the end. I SoFI up the Efreet and swing him to 9. He finally draws into a second blue, drops Puresight, taps my blockers and swings FTW. I realize that I coulda probably killed the Reejerey with a SoFI (had I played it earlier over two turns) and kinda kick myself for letting him get double lord.
Game 3: I open with Drake, he opens with Swords. I drop SoFI which he promptly Needles. Great. Still, I just play Efreet and he once again stumbles on mana. Efreet swings at him and I drop a second Drake. He drops a Wakethrasher while I swing 7 to the dome. He drops Lord of Atlantis and swings at me for 5 with Thrasher and 3 with Muta, dropping me to 14. It's worth noting that I could've played two Islands, but I'm rather sticking to Mox+City for the very reason that a Lord of Atlantis would mean I couldn't chump while racing. I swing him to 3 and drop a Mulldrifter (which also finds a Jitte). He draws, shows me Sygg and points out how he's 2 damage short and scoops 'er up. I figured as much - he'd probably have removal for the blocker, but he wouldn't have removal and lethal - thank god for Chrome Mox not being an Island (and removing the need for a removal spell).
Again, the obligatory postmatch chatter follows with analysis on his build, luck and the universe. Afterwards, I proceed to the 3-0 brackets. I also realize I'm yet to play against any decks from DTB, and I'm in the top tables. WTF?
Match: 2-1
Total: 3-0 (6-2)
Round 4 - Eseph with Food Chain Goblins
Game 1: I win a die roll 7 to 2 (WTF?) and proceed to keep. He follows the suite. I play turn 1 Island and he responds with Taiga-Lackey. Rg(b?) Goblins, figures. I've got a good hand though (with SoFI coming in 2 turns) so I figure this'll be easy beats. He drops turn 2 Lackey though and Efreet is forced to home defense duty, joined by Trinket Mage finding Chalice (at 2, probably). Then he plays turn 3 Food Chain off Tomb. And I go "WTF?!" He proceeds to Matron for Kiki-Jiki, play 3 Ringleaders, Kiki-Jiki some more (he plays 4 Kikis, it seems like) finding 3-4 Gobs with every Ring and vomits his deck on the table, finishing with Lightning Crafter + Kiki.
I side SoLS out for Jitte - I keep Chalices in as I'm on the play and plan on laying one turn 1 if possible.
Game 2: I open with Island vs. his Taiga-go. I drop Trinket for Needle and he only plays a land. Mulldrifter finally sees Warchief, which I promptly Sower. I Needle Kiki to prevent dumb stuff from happening and he Matrons for Pile, while I beat him down to 6, Matron chumping Warchief. He says he wanted to draw Gempalm (he had 4 mana), but I point out to my Force and his Goblin-count, which means he couldn't have killed my dudes in the first place.
Game 3: I side in BEBs for Chalices. I keep 7-card hand with no turn 1 answer to Lackey, but with a solid EE for turn 2. He plays Lackey (sigh) and I respond with Island-go (sandbagging the EE - he probably doesn't see it coming). Indeed, he drops Kiki off (he plays only 2 SGCs so I was fairly certain he wouldn't have that) the Lackey and plays Prospector. With EE, he's left with nothing to copy and I'm a happy camper. Kiki swings, but he has little else in terms of plays and I drop Pestermite>Sea Drake>BEB his Kiki and I Jitte 'er up and win. A short game - he was relying on the Lackey to go all the way and it really would've if it weren't for the EE.
We again chat about his deck, some particular build things (seems he plays too few lands), siding and all that. At 4-0 I should be able to draw in. On to Top 8!
Match: 2-1
Total: 4-0 (8-3)
Round 5 - IBA with The Mighty Quinn
Game 1: So I get the obligatory pairdown. Joy. He has the wrong deck initially, but after some hassle, we get going (with me rolling high again - WTF?). He plays Quinn, I play FS and neither of us is really making a secret out of that. I figure that with Chalice at 1, the match should be relatively easy for me. Indeed, I open up with Trinket for Chalice and he StPs in response to me playing it at 1. Efreet is met with Runed Halo and I go for Drake beats. He drops Painter for white, while I drop another Chalice at 1 as a contingency to not get comboed out. Drake + Sower draws a Wrath and I drop a SoLS. Equipped Pestermite gets there and and draws another Wrath. I drop a Trinket and have it faced by Moat + Servant. After that though, Mulldrifter comes up and knocks him to 4 with another Drifter and Pestermite waiting on the wings. This ends it in short order.
I don't do much siding beyond siding out Sowers for Needle and Jittes, I recall (I should've brought EE in too in retrospect, and kept some Sowers in to counteract Runed Halos).
Game 2: He opens with Top while I open with Chalice. I Mox>Shoreline into Efreet, which gets Halo'd, and Trinket for Chrome to enable more plays in my hand. Indeed, I play-equip SoFI next and while he does the "Top + Sheets Cheat". He drops Painter on Red to knock my SoFI off (and I commend him on the play), but I keep on the beats. He drops Eternal Dragon to stall the beats, and I play Pestermite to tap his Eternal Dragon and swing through. He untaps, I SoLS and win.
Post-match chatter, talk about his weakness to Chalice at 1, match expectations, Legacy, awesomeness and so on.
Match: 2-0
Total: 5-0 (10-3)
Round 6 - Emidln with Fetchland Tendrils
We're both at 5-0 and while I offer the game, he says he'd prefer ID so we don't get paired before the finals and I accept.
Match: 0-0
Total: 5-0-1 (10-3)
Top 8
You may check the decks here (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=132872). The Top 8 by seeds is:
1. Me with Faerie Stompy
2. Emidln with Fetchland Tendrils
3. Mahonen with Dreadstill
4. Avatar of Light with Swan Thresh
5. Marit with Ninja Rats!
6. Eseph with Food Chain Goblins
7. IBA with The Mighty Quinn
8. Nihil with Aggro Loam
I'm quite bamboozled at the weirdness and that 4 of my opponents Top 8d. Anyways, matches 1-8, 2-7, etc. and I'm up vs. Nihil. Normally that would worry me (since Nihil is a friggin' awesome player), but Aggro Loam is quite the good match-up so I'll trust in my deck for this one.