[Spellkeeper 1k] April 24, 2010: T8 with UGW Mystic Control (Excalibur)

[BackDr0p]

I played UGW Mystic Control (Excalibur) for 6 rounds at a 46 man tourney this weekend in Montreal, Finishing 8th.
We were playing for a total of 1000$ in prizes (mostly store credit).

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=198383&type=card&options=rotate360

Here's what I sleeved up:

4 Tarmogoyf
4 SpellStutter Sprite
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Qasali Pridemage

2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Aether Vial
2 Ponder

4 Brainstorm
4 force of Will
3 Daze

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Mutavault
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
3 tropical Island
3 Tundra
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains

SB:

3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Spell Pierce
2 Path to Exile
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Krosan Grip
1 Sword of Light and Shadow


Patrice (RW Boros)

G1
I win the die roll. Keep a hand full of Legacy goodness: FoW, Daze, Goyf, BS, Stp, Vial, Trop, Strand, Stoneforge Mystic. After a T1 Vial, followed by T2 Goyf, T3 Stoneforge fetching SoFI, T4 Equip. Goyf takes it all the way. Nothing really relevant was played except for a jotun Grunt (Stp'd) and a Sword to Plowshares targeting my Goyf (Stuttered).

SB: -2 Ponder; -1 Jitte; +1 SoLS; +2 Path

G2
I manage to get all 3 equipments in play attached to a Spellstutter Sprite and just win from there.

1-0 (2-0-0)

Guillaume (Mono U Merfolk)

G1
Game one is a blow out. I fail to counter his Vial and he goes nuts. He manages to drop 4 lords into play before I can stabilize with my lone Jitte equipped Mystic.

SB: -2 Ponder; +2 Path

G2
A resolved T2 Mystic wins this for me after fetching a SoFI. He can't deal with it and loses.

G3
T1 Vial, T2 Mystic w/ Force + Daze backup. GG

2-0 (4-1-0)

Mathieu (Zoo featuring Cursed Scroll)

G1
Nothing really happened G1 except that he has more removal than I have creatures. I end up being killed by a kitten.

SB: -2 Ponder; +2 Path;

G2
Having not seen Cursed Scroll G1, no grips were sided in. He gets me to 14 with an early Nacatl before I Swords it. He baited my force with Price of Progress, which would have dealt me 8 dmg, sneaks a Scroll into play and pings 'till I die.

2-1 (4-3-0)

Andre (U/B CounterTop Thopter)

G1
I win the roll. This was not a fun game for my opponent, as I have answers for everything. T1 Vial, backed by daze puts frown on his face. At one point he does manage to clear my board of Creatures, but Mutavault is too much for him to handle and loses to Changeling beats.

SB: -2 ponder; -4 Swords to Plowshares; +2 Krosan Grip; +3 Spell Pierce; +1 SoLS

G2
I draw into my 3 Spell Pierces while he stays stuck at 3 lands Goyf takes this one.

3-1 (6-3-0)


Felix (Mud Staxx)

He wins the roll and opens with a Metal Worker. All is not lost I say to myself after fetching one of my precious basics and playing a Vial. He tries to drop Ensnaring Bridge, which I Force. I swords his Worker during my turn and Vial in a Mystic during his eot step(fetching SoFI). I keep two Smokestacks and a crucible from hitting the table and win from there.

SB: -2 Ponder; -4 Swords to Plowshares; +3 Spell Pierce; +2 Krosan Grip; +1 Relic of P.

G2
He tries to resolve a Sphere of Resistance, I force. I play a vial and pass the turn. Nothing spectacular happens in this game except that he manages to get two Metal Workers, two Smokestacks (at 1 counter and at 2) a crucible of worlds , two more Sphere of Resistance on his side of the table. A combination of Goyf, Mystic and Spellstutter Sprite get him to a life total of 4. He was forced to ramp the stacks in order to keep up and stay afloat. Eventually, we both lose our entire boards to the chimneys. Luckily for me, I topdeck lands and he doesn't. I find a Mutavault with Ponder and finish him off.

4-1-0 (8-3-0)


Francisco (Combo Elves)

ID

4-1-1 (8-3-1)


T8

Yan (ANT Saito's List)

G1
At this point of the tourney, I know what he is playing and mull to 6 accordingly. I unfortunately lost the roll and he drops a SDT on his first turn. My hand is Jitte, Spellstutter Sprite, Qasali Pridemage, Force of Will, Brainstorm, Tundra, Misty Rainforest. He Thoughtseize's me next turn. I BS in response, hiding my Force and Sprite. He takes Pridemage. He Seizes me. I counter it with Sprite. He play a bunch of ritual effects and Ad Nauseam's that turn, killing me with a Tendrils for 20.

SB: 2- Stp; -1 Jitte, -3 Qasali Pridemage; +3 Spell Pierce; +3 Gaddock Teeg

G2
I open a hand with Pierce, Force and Sprite. He tries to duress me. I play Pierce. Now, the situation is the following: I need to apply pressure otherwise he will just sculpt a god hand, neuter all of my counters and win. It has been 3 turn already. I have Force, Sprite (as the only U card), Jitte, Goyf, Stoneforge in hand + 3 lands in play (I had to keep Sprite mana up). During my end step he Mystical Tutor's, I take the bait and counter it with Sprite. During his turn he draws, plays Rit, Rit, Duress (Force) CRit, CRit, LED, IT. GG. I was quite upset that I did not draw into another blue card to pitch Force to. It would have allowed me to be more aggressive and give me more time to find additional hate.

4-2-1 (8-5-1)


The T8 consisted of:

ANT
Enchantress
UB CounterTop Thopter
Combo Elves
UGW Mystic Control (Excalibur)
G/W Aggro
Reanimator
Zoo

The Finals were split between G/W Aggro and Reanimator.


If I were to play this in a similar meta I would change the following:

-3 Qasali Pridemage, +2 Threads, +1 Vendillion Clique

I needed to up the blue count in order to cast Force with much less difficulty and additional removal for the Zoo MU in particular.

Playing MD Meddling Mages in the Pridemage slot needs to be tested aswell.


Anyhow, thanks for reading the report.

Cheers.

[hyc8028]

Very interesting deck. Congrats to your finish. Do you find it problematic to have almost everything CMC 2? Did you miss rhox war monk?

[Patrick]

"He Duresses me next turn. I BS in response, hiding my Force and Sprite. He takes Pridemage."

First off, when you cast Brainstorm in response to a Duress you should hide your noncreature, nonland cards. Second, when Duress resolves you should only allow your opponent to take a noncreature, nonland card from you hand per Duress' rules text.

[BackDr0p]

He Duressed me next turn. I BS in response, hiding my Force and Sprite. He takes Pridemage.
I meant Thoughtseize, otherwise my line of play would make no sense.


Rhox War Monk, would have certainly helped against my Zoo MU. However, due to its restrictive color requirements, getting it into play is quite difficult without vial. Maybe in a version of the deck that includes Noble Heirarch, I could find space for him.

Concerning my curve: I'm well aware that my mana curve is very linear.

1 CMC x12
2 CMC x20
3 CMC x3
5 CMC x4

This leaves me very vulnerable to EE, Deeds and Counterbalance. For the first two, the rule of thumb is not to overextend too much. A Smart player could preemptively play EE @ 2, this will slow me down significantly. Forcing me to hold back.

As for CB, I run vial, so most of the time their CB doesn't really do much. MD Pridemages, Spell Pierce and Grips from the board, make it a positive matchup. Against a deck like Landstill, Vial + Teeg + SoLS is pretty much GG They are completely locked out.. Even with Humility in play, your equipment makes your creatures fare more imposing than 2/2 Factories or 1/1 Soldier tokens.

[jrsthethird]

Having all dudes at 2 makes playing with Vial very very easy. Flow chart for reference (assuming the trigger is about to resolve):

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/3092/flowchartu.jpg

[aTn]

I finished 10th at the same tournament (went 4-2 in the swiss) with Evangelista Papatsourachas' GP Madrid list (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?16881-[Deck]-Excalibur&highlight=excalibur) with -1 Tundra, +1 Tropical Island and a SB of:

2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Krosan Grip
3 Wash Out
3 Spell Pierce
3 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Path to Exile

Most SB choices were meta-dependent...


"He Duresses me next turn. I BS in response, hiding my Force and Sprite. He takes Pridemage."

First off, when you cast Brainstorm in response to a Duress you should hide your noncreature, nonland cards. Second, when Duress resolves you should only allow your opponent to take a noncreature, nonland card from you hand per Duress' rules text.

Captain obvious to the rescue :wink:

He obv. meant Thoughtseize...

P.S.: LOL @ flowchart.

[hyc8028]

Another thing I caught. Did you miss 2x ponder off your decklist? Your SB doesn't have 15 cards.