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MSC
01-23-2010, 02:27 PM
It's Time again for Team SPOD stories...

As usualy our story starts at Friday, where we meet at the Z10 (a Students-Bar) to drink beer and talk random Trashtalk. We leave at around 3 o'clock and have a short night of sleep.
The next morning no one is really fit, but we decide, when we allready got up this early we can drive to Mannheim, for the monthly Legacy Tournament. Harald, CZ and me drive there while listening to the Blutjungs, but even this cannot riase the mood. We arrive at the Location very early, so at least we have time to get breakfest before the first round. Teamate Adan also shows up...
Here's what we played:

Stefan "Spirit of the wretch" Czolk: Cats
Harald "Locutus" Herrlich: Dredge with Homarids!
Adan: TES
MSC: Bant Survival


Here's my list:
[SPOD] Bonding Survival
3 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
1 Island
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
4 Forest

4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Jötun Grunt
1 Trygon Predator
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Meddling Mage
1 Rafiq of the Many
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Rhox War Monk

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Survival of the Fittest
2 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Ponder

SB: 1 Genesis
SB: 1 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 4 Spell Pierce
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Malfegor


After some minutes of Trashtalk, the Legacy begins:

Round 1 I play against black Tempo Thresh. I can Force through a early Survival, but my Opponent has 3 Removal and some Counters, so I get nothing to stay on the Board, while I get beaten by double Mongoose. Loosing with an active Survival is hard.
Game 2 I survive the initial Land-Destruction and resolv another Survival. This time I gat an Iona online, which he can't handle.
I don't clearly remember game 3. There was some Explosives involved, which set my board back, but with Survival I could come back and kill him.
He doesn't seem to have boarded Grips against me...

Round 2 I have to play against Harald. Great, against Teammembers again. But it's to early to Draw the Game. I have to mulligan to 5 and he keeps a Hand of 6. While I go first, I have to keep a weak Hand of Forest, Plains, Ponder and 2 RWM. He has keept a Hand of Breakthrough, LED, City, Colosseum, Putrid Imp and something irrelevant. Whats missing here? A dredger? I go Land go, he Land Putrid Imp. I get Land and some Creature, but he has found his Dredger, discards it in my Turn, plays Colloseum in his and goes brekathrough + LED, find dredgers for 4 Dredges + Colosseum...
I scoop at this Point
Game 2 I mull again and have a Hand of Fearie Macabre, Ponder, 2 Lands, Force and RWM. I Ponder but find nothing of Relevance. He goes City, Putrid Imp. I draw a Pridemage and play it. He discards a Thug, which get's eaten by my Faerie. But he topdecks another dredger. I find a Survival, but have to Force his Carefull Study. I find no Creature for my Survival, while he plays a Breakthrough. I have to destroy my own Survival, cause his Dread Return whould heve given him 9 Tokens beside his Gravetroll. I topdeck the Path for the Troll, but get burried under Tokens and Icchorids...

Round 3 I have to play against Braids-Control (how do you call a Deck with Wasteland, Sinkhole, Vindicate, Tabernacle, Braids and stuff?)
First Game I resolv an early Survival and bring Noble Hierarch, while he brings Braids. We play the Game, I sac my Hierarch and get a new one and you sac your lands, till he finds a Karakas to bounce the Braids. I burry him under Creatures and a Trygon Predator wins in the End...
Game 2 I have an Aggro-Hand with 2 Goyfs, Hierarch, Spell Pierceand Lands. I play a lot of Creatures, but get slowed down by Maze of Ith, Ghostly Prison, him having Protection from Goyfs and LD. In the End, I'm able to get through on the back of Survival and Pridemages. If he had drawn any of his Tabernacle in this Game I would surely have lost.

Round 4 against Stefan Czolk. Great, the next Team-Member and again no way to draw. Knowing, that htis Match isn't in my Favor, As Stefan made detailed Notes, I leave this Match for his Report.

Round 5 I got paired against the only person, who won all games. He asks for a draw, but I decline, cause I'm not sure, if I come into prices Range, if I do. My failure is, that I havn't asked my Teammembers, what he is playing. Harald played against him before and would have been able to provide detailed Informatition. If I had asked, I would have known, that my first Hand of Forest, Hierarch, Ponder, Force, RWM, Survival and Goyf is a total keep. I don't know, so I mull down to 5 to keep a bad hand. My opponent plays Faeriestill, and I get to see a lot of Counters and have to break 2 Standstills, which get him even more counters. I die to Goyf-Beats.
Game 2 he has to Mull to five, but even so he has 2 Standstills again. But I'm able to resolv Survival and keep up with his Card-Advantage. And my Creatures are bigger than his...
Before Game 3 we joke, that it is my turn again for Mulligans and to loose because of this. I have to Mull to 6, but have a fair hand. He goes Island go and I decide, not to drop my Hierarch in a Daze. So I play Land, go. Now the **** beginns. He plays: Factory -> Cloud of Fairies -> Standstill. Thanks a lot, Sir! I have to Play my Hierarch and give him tons of Card Advantage. I try to fight him with creatures, but most get countered, while I get beaten by Flyers and Factorys. I resolv a Goyf, but my Teammates seeing my opponents hand just shrug. He has a Sower and I don't find a Removal. He plays another Standstill and I'm not able to resolv another spell. ****!

In the End I'm fifth and get a 10€ Store-Voucher, which I trade for some new Sleeves for the Deck.
Stefan is third and Harald get's the unlucky sixth place, where he get's nothing.


About the Deck:
I really like the List. The Manabase was really solid again and the Deck runs relly well, even with the not perfect plays I'm making more than once.
I'm in the last Steps for Finetuning the List for Madrid. If Worldwake doesn't bring something new, there will be minor upgrades at most. I still work on some Sideboard-Plans against certain Decks. For this I need to attend more Tournaments.
So stay tuned for more SPOD-Reports!

godryk
01-26-2010, 11:30 AM
Nice report! How did those Tops work for you? I can see them being useful when not having Survival online and there are certain synergies betwen both of them but top looks pretty mana intensive for the deck. What are your impressions? Will you keep them?

And also how does it feel running no more permission other than Force of Will (and SB Spell Pierce)? When I see your list I feel that some random silver bullets (Mage, Grunt, maybe Rafiq) could be easily cut in orderto accomodate additional permission.

Adan
01-26-2010, 12:26 PM
Yeah I played TES to have a compairison between it and Ad Nauseam Tendrils. And to prove how Bryant Cook is the only one to open godhands.
However, I did not draw too bad!

Match 1 against Tobias Ball with a kind of UGw Tempo Thresh:

g1 he reveals cards I did not see coming like STifles, Wastelands etc. When a RWM brought him to 28 life, I wasn't able to get it and scoop it up.

g2 I go all in on turn 2 with Ad Nauseam. Resolves.

g3 I Ad Nauseam on Turn 4, he Forces, I Pyroblast. GG

2-1, 1-0-0

Match 2 against Alexander Bleier with Gayfolk

g1 I keep a solid hand and Duress his Aether Vial, he has nothing else of relevance as he kept a 1-land-hand. He topdecks a Aether Vial, then topdecks a land and then runs me over as he cantripped his Silvergill Adepts into 2 Forces.

g2 I just try to go all in on turn 2. I Rit, LED, LED, IT for AdN, he scoops it up.

g3 I keep a solid hand as well but have to slowroll as he cantripped too many Silvergills so the chance that he has counters were higher. I suddenly get alphastriked down to 2 and I Mystical for Chant. He has got a Cursecatcher which I can pay, but Daze would break my neck as I had 2 Cities and a Gemstone with 1 counter. He sacs his Catcher to Chant, I play Dark Ritualk to pay, he reveals me a Daze and apart from that, he had another Force. Hm, k.

1-2, 1-1-0

Match 3 against Fabian Freiberger with Parcher Dredge.

g1 I keep a 1st Turn kill but lost the diceroll. He starts with Land, LED, Breakthrough, Deep Analysis and craps on me from a height I never experienced before.

g2 I Land, go. He starts with LED, Deep Analysis, I pyroblast. I topdeck the missing Ritual and Ad Nauseam ftw.

g3 I am under pressure and have nothing of Relevance beside 2 Burning Wishes and a few Petals and Chrome Moxen. I try to go off via Diminishing Returns. I Draw Rite, Rite, Ritual, Ritual, LED, Brainstorm, Petal. NICE! I just have to find something with Brainstorm and win. I brainstorm into Duress, Land, Land. I lose.

1-2, 1-2-0, drop

I am certain that I did not make any significant mistakes with TES but I still can't figure out how to play Brianstorm correctly. Lucky for me, I always had Brainstorm and Ponders together so I could Brainstorm-shuffle like I was playing Thresh or ANT but still, I find it very confusing.
I'll definitely try that deck again some time.

However, it was the first time I wasn't upset that I lost in such a unfortunate manner, but after I wrote my school-leaving exams the weeks before nothing can wreck my good mood. :-)

Tao
01-26-2010, 01:02 PM
If I had asked, I would have known, that my first Hand of Land, Hierarch, Ponder, Force, RWM, Survival and Goyf is a total keep. I don't know, so I mull down to 5 to keep a bad hand.!

Umm, why in the world would you mulligan this hand against ANY deck?

MSC
01-26-2010, 01:03 PM
Nice report! How did those Tops work for you? I can see them being useful when not having Survival online and there are certain synergies betwen both of them but top looks pretty mana intensive for the deck. What are your impressions? Will you keep them?

And also how does it feel running no more permission other than Force of Will (and SB Spell Pierce)? When I see your list I feel that some random silver bullets (Mage, Grunt, maybe Rafiq) could be easily cut in orderto accomodate additional permission.

The Tops are nice and you always want to have him. The Deck has a lot of Shuffle Effects beside Survival, so you can search for Stuff you need. I've gone to two with this List, cause in some Matchups you want him over Ponder. I will keep them.

I've started with a List with Sprites, then Spell Snares and was never happy with them. The Deck just isnt made to play Control. So I cutted them for more Creatures and try to play the Deck as aggressive as possible. Till now, I haven't looked back for more counters.

badjuju
01-26-2010, 01:06 PM
Brainstorm in TES is merely just a way to see more cards. If you ran Cook's version without any fetchlands, you have pretty much no manipulation other than the Ponders/Mystical/ITs you run (so lucky you). In more cases than not, and this is going to throw off most players, you should Brainstorm on your main phase. Why? More like why not? If you run into multiple acceleration spells or IMS, you can win right then and there. Just be smart about it and leave your important card on top against discard if you cannot win that turn. There is no particular advantage to EOT Brainstorming while playing storm combo.

MSC
01-26-2010, 01:13 PM
Umm, why in the world would you mulligan this hand against ANY deck?

The Problem is, the Land was a Forest. So I'm totally dependent on Hierarch or drawing a second Land.
I have to counter every Removal on Hierarch and find the Second Land with Ponder next Turn.

Against Decks like Zoo or Canadian Thresh this Hand is an automatic lost game...


The Hand would been a keep if the Land was Fetfchland or Tropical, but it's still risky...

Arne
01-27-2010, 02:03 AM
Dredge with Homarids? hmmmm, did he play deep spawn??? :D

flrn
01-27-2010, 05:27 AM
Match 3 against Fabian Freiberger with Parcher Dredge.

g3 I keep a 1st Turn kill but lost the diceroll. He starts with Land, LED, Breakthrough, Deep Analysis and craps on me from a height I never experienced before.

I can feel the pain you've experienced by simply reading that.

MaFF1n
01-27-2010, 05:42 AM
I can feel the pain you've experienced by simply reading that.

Because Parcher's Dredge is just THAT awesome. Especially in the mirror and the combo-matchup the speed of the deck is a huge advantage.
However: Congrats on the finish, MSC! ;)

spirit of the wretch
01-27-2010, 06:07 PM
Ok, someone wrote about CATS in the opening post and I'm pretty sure all of you are asking themselves the same question: „Where is that epic/offensive/obscene/narcissistic report about them? Oh, god my life feels so empty without it.“ Or at least I'm reasonable sure, most of you do!
Sooooo, after the functional analysis exam and the subsequent drinking (and the ensuing hangover), here's finally my report for last saturdays Mannheim event.
As MCS mentioned I played Cats again. Hell, beating and burning is still fun, so no reason to change that plan in the foreseeable future! Some minor changes (the core is pretty fixed, in my opinion) left me with the following list:

[SPOD] Katzenwegwerf.dec AUS DER HÖLLE
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
3 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy

4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Tin-Street Hooligan

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Rift Bolt
3 Fireblast
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard:

4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Price of Progress
1 Krosan Grip

We are 23 nerds resulting in 5 rounds.

Round 1 Lukas with Manaless Ichorid
He top8ed last Hassloch with Ichorid, so I figure he'll be playing it again.
Game 1 Ichorid does, what it's supposed to do and he has to mulligan. And once more for the hilarity. He opens up with two Tireless Tribes but doesn't have a dredger, while I on the other hand have 3 Nacatl by turn 2. I burn his Tirbes (which really is a pain to do!) and overwhelm him with catadvantage, as he can't find a dredger to save his life. Literally!
Game 2 I ship back a 5 land, Goyf, Mancer hand (although the Shotgun mage made me consider that one), for 3 lands, Goyf, shotgun and Crypt... Yeah, that's better! He starts with Pimp into dredger, while I lead with Mage, Crypt. On his first turn he hits the Grudge and is able to force me to pop the Crypt. Dammit, that's not how this was supposed to work. I topdeck and play Lynx and fry his Imp. He continues dredging and attacks with an Ichorid into my Lynx. I sac the cat to remove a Bridge. Arguably a mistake of him: That Bridge would have given me a hard time. We do our little dance for a while (no Bridge → no zombie apocalypse → no pressure on me) until I find a Jitte to end it rather rapidly.

1/0/0 2/0

Round 2 Eric with Ub Dreadnought/Marit Lage
Game 1 I know, he plays a bunch of awefully large guys which I can't handle, so I decide to put pressure on him. And by „putting pressure on him“, I mean tie up his mana. And that obviously means, that he Stifle/Wastes me into obliviation. It's even so bad, that I can't kill a Confidant for one turn, after he plays him. Highly embarrassing, I can tell you. But one of the advantages of playing a deck, that curves out at 2 CC is, that all of your spells are pretty cheap (wouldn't have figured that one out now, would you?). So I draw land, to unleash the business in my hand (more like beastness, amiright?), while he draws land to complement the ones the already has in hand. No obscenely huge monsters => happy kittens. Sometimes Legacy is just adorable.
Game 2 Well turns out, my deck really can't handle a legendary 20/20 flying, indestructable, black avatar token. Who would have thought?
Game 3 This time, the cats realize, that it's better to eat the demon, than to get eaten by him and so they come out of the gates swinging: Nacatl, Pridemage, Lynx (forced), Lavamancer, suspend Bolt in the first three turns. He plays Perish during his turn but a hardcast Riftbolt plus the shotgun take him down. Yeah, that's me still advertising the kitten/burn combo =)

2/0/0 4/1

Round 3 Alex with Merfolk
He just massacred Adan with pretty amazing topdecks. I'm not impressed. Now he whines about his bad matchup... Even less impressed!
Game 1 He forces my first turn Firemage, but in the end his creatures are tiny, while mine are cats. His spells are dead, while mine kill. That sums the matchup up pretty well. I fry one/two lords and go all Brad Pitt on his face... the „Fight Club“-way, if that wasn't obvious.
Game 2 I could give you a complete turn-by-turn rundown of the match (it wasn't exactly that long) but seriously, it's not all that spectacular. In the end I beat down with double Lynx and he scoops when I back them up with a Nacatl. So basically all Edward Norton in a cat costume... still a Fight Club reference.

3/0/0 6/1

Round 4 Martin with Bant Survival
Game 1 Martin keeps a highly risky one lander on the draw, but with double Sword and Force. So evrything happens as it usually does, when Legacy is involved: He doesn't draw a second land for the next 20ish turns, whle I don't draw another threat... In the end my deck has a much better lategame (read: burn against a completely screwed opponent), as in: he has to discard and I bolt him to death. Truely pathetic!
Game 2 This is weird. We trade some early blows: double Catl against EE, Lynx against Path, Goyf against Force and it all boils down to a damage race. A situation I'm usually pretty comfortable with. Then Rafiq shows up, crashes the party, smashes all the dishes, urinates on the carpet (YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS?!) and incites a Qasali cat to smash me for whopping 10 damage... Godda love the legends! Needless to say, I'm a little behind in the race and all the burn in the world can't catch that up. That was funny.
Game 3 Blablabla, active Survival, blablabla... Yeah, that's basically all that happend. I manage to kill four Goyfs but as MSCs sideboard plan involves a Genesis, I simply succumb to the might enchantment. Good times...

3/1/0 7/3

So going into round 5 all three of us, Harald, MSC and me are 3/1/0. If we each win our match we will conquer all of the top3. Yes, we can!

Round 5 ??? with Ugw ???
Game 1 He plays Bant colors, but no Rhox Mox, no Qasalis and pretty much nothing else even remotely scary. When his first play is a Meddling Mage, I know this is going to be fun. I introduce Mr. Mage to a way more powerful colleague of his, crap a petting zoo full of Catls on the board and he does pretty much nothing to stop me. Fair enough!
Game 2 This game he plays a total of THREE Sowers of Temptation. Now guess which faerie has a pretty slim life-span against a red deck? Little hint: it rhymes with Tower of Semptation. So basic rule: 4CC critter with a toughness of 2 won't win you this matchup. Not even a little!

4/1/0 9/3

Obviously Harald and MSC lose and we can't claim the top spots. Top8 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?2587-Top-4-s-Top-8-s-POST-RESULTS-HERE/page42#post423124).

So I end up third, because my opp-score sucked and I wasn't able to beat MSC. Kind of sucks! As a compensation I open a foil Verdant Catacombs in one of the three boosters I buy. Seems fair!

Anyway, short report, a significant lack of self-adulation, good times nevertheless.

See you next Hassloch and afterwards in Madrid!

Wargoos
01-27-2010, 06:21 PM
4 Spectral Lynx!

This is a typo, right?

spirit of the wretch
01-27-2010, 06:45 PM
This is a typo, right?

Oh thanks, it indeed is. Fixed it.

yankeedave
01-29-2010, 10:07 AM
Hell, beating and burning is still fun, so no reason to change that plan in the foreseeable future!

When you are beating and burning, do you use your burn to clear the ground for your troops or is it more of a "I shoot you in the FACE!" strategy? I would be tempted to only clear what can kill my guy and send the rest at the dome, but what is your plan with this sort of thing?

spirit of the wretch
01-30-2010, 06:10 AM
That's pretty much dependent on the situation. If something can't take down the cat, it's usually not worth killing, but of course there are numberous exceptions to that rule: Dark Confidant, Goblin Lackey, everything with Lifelink, every lord, Priest of Titania, Goblin Warchief... Sometimes you have to kill Exalted-dudes to stay ahead in the damage race. I usually kill mana-dudes, if I have the opportunity.
But the "I shoot you in the FACE!" strategy is way more fun =)

flrn
01-30-2010, 02:05 PM
[SPOD] Katzenwegwerf.dec AUS DER HÖLLE
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
3 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy

4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Tin-Street Hooligan

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Rift Bolt
3 Fireblast
2 Umezawa's Jitte

Sideboard:

4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Gaddock Teeg
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Price of Progress
1 Krosan Grip

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=197873&type=card

I believe this is an auto-include, if you're really playing cat-tribal. And a tribal deck always needs some sort of leader to lead the army to a devastating victory. Why the hell isn't Mirri, Cat Warrior included as 1-off. I mean she's totally awesome.

MaFF1n
01-30-2010, 04:27 PM
Why the hell isn't Mirri, Cat Warrior included as 1-off. I mean she's totally awesome.

Obviously not. Mirri is absolutely crap. She's only a 2/3 "beater" for 3 mana. And for 3 mana you can play much better critters, such as Knight of the Reliquary or even Wooly Thoctar.

MSC
01-30-2010, 05:45 PM
Even if the Deck is a Deck full of Cats, it has no need to play bad cards. Kird Ape has been dropped from the Deck for a reason and a white one will not join the Deck, until Wizards prints a 2 or 3 Mana Cat-Lord!

spirit of the wretch
01-31-2010, 07:05 AM
I believe this is an auto-include, if you're really playing cat-tribal. And a tribal deck always needs some sort of leader to lead the army to a devastating victory. Why the hell isn't Mirri, Cat Warrior included as 1-off. I mean she's totally awesome.

If that was trolling (and I tend to believe it was): Nicely done!
If it wasn't... meh, still funny =)

Adan
01-31-2010, 07:41 AM
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=197873&type=card

I believe this is an auto-include, if you're really playing cat-tribal. And a tribal deck always needs some sort of leader to lead the army to a devastating victory. Why the hell isn't Mirri, Cat Warrior included as 1-off. I mean she's totally awesome.

No. Kird Ape has been dropped due to the existence of Steppe Lynx. And yeah, Steppe Lynx outclasses Kird Ape and Loam Lion by far.

flrn
02-01-2010, 09:20 AM
Obviously not. Mirri is absolutely crap. She's only a 2/3 "beater" for 3 mana. And for 3 mana you can play much better critters, such as Knight of the Reliquary or even Wooly Thoctar.

How was the food at your last tournament? I really miss the local food guide at mtgblogs.de. :\


If that was trolling (and I tend to believe it was): Nicely done!
If it wasn't... meh, still funny =)

Where did you find your teammates and who did come up with the team name? I believe it's you, since they don't seem to get the joke.

On a more serious note. After playing several tournaments with the deck, you seem to have played a significant amount of matches to answer the following question:

Did you ever get hit by the inconsistency of not being able to attack with Steppe Lynx due to missing landdrops? And if the answer is yes, did you lose the match due to that or did it work out even without him being able to do huge amounts of damage in the opponents face?

spirit of the wretch
02-01-2010, 10:34 AM
Did you ever get hit by the inconsistency of not being able to attack with Steppe Lynx due to missing landdrops? And if the answer is yes, did you lose the match due to that or did it work out even without him being able to do huge amounts of damage in the opponents face?

I lost some games (never matches though), because I couldn't find a land over the course of a few turns. The Lynx definitely makes the deck less consistant, but I still think the sheer power creature type is worth the trade-off