Van Phanel
05-19-2010, 09:17 AM
I guess you guys primarily remember me from my time with Solidarity, but about half a year or so ago I realized that it has two big weaknesses: it wants the game to go long but it can't play Sensei's Divining Top and it is too slow against Zoo. While I still like it against blue decks I began looking for another deck. Despite my hate of Counterbalance I picked up Marius Hausmann's (Wasteland) Dreadstill list and after very moderate success in the beginning I learned how to play the deck and began to actively like it.
My actual report starts a week before BoM at GP Lyon. After misbuilding my sealed deck in the mainevent and deservedly scrubbing out, I chose to play the Legacy sideevent on Sunday as the payout was pretty good (1st: 700€ storecredit, 2nd: 400€ storecredit, 3rd+4th: 150€ storecredit). This is what I sleeved up:
3 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 Trinket Mage
4 Stifle
2 Trickbind
4 Spell Snare
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives
SB:
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Firespout
2 Perish
Splashing black for Perish with only one source of black mana might seem risky but Perish ist mostly for Bant in different versions and they rarely play Wasteland. Credits for the decklist go to Marius Hausmann who finished 41st with the deck at GP Madrid.
Unfortunately I didn't write down any names because I didn't expect a need to write a report.
GP Lyon Legacy sidevent (144 players, 8 rounds of swiss + Top8):
Round 1: Reanimator 2-1
In game one he Exhumes Archon after taking one hit by a Dreadnought and wins. I made a crucial mistake in ignoring Entomb and Forcing Reanimate because Archon is his only creature that actually beats a resolved Dreadnought. In game 2 I set up Counter Top and Red Blast his Show and Tell and he has nothing else and in game three I Force a Null Rod and my graveyard removal prevents him from doing anything.
Round 2: Jace Bant 2-1
In game 1 I can't deal with Trygon Predator, whereas in both games 2 and 3 he does nothing relevant except resolving a useless Jace who doesn't help against Trinket Mages and Factories while Perish, Bolt and Relic deal with his guys.
Round 3: Lands 1-1-1
I lead with Island he has Tropical and I play Standstill with Daze in hand. He smiles and locks me out with Double Port and Maze and then kills me with Factory + Treetop Village. In game 2 I get to Red Blast two Intuitions and remove two Loams with Relic + Crypt and after a lot of stalling my Crucible + Wasteland gets through double Maze + Factory. In game three I get to Explosive away two Mox Diamonds and when I have the Force for his Intuition he is out of gas. Unfortunately I can't find a Dreadnought fast enough and we go to time.
Round 4: Natural Order Bant 2-0
Despite him setting up an early Countertop and adding Goyf + Pridemage he has no solution to my three mana Explosives on two followed by Standstill. In game two he again gets to set up Countertop but has only one open mana, so I can play Standstill and Stifle his Counterbalance. I know I'm going to have to break my own Standstill at some point because he Needled my Factories but I'm all but out of gas and any creature on his side would kill me in short order. Some turns later I break my own Standstill with an Eot Brainstorm and it resolves. I Red Blast his Counterbalance, he tries to tap his Top and I Stifle. When he Forces I have another Red Blast and his Counterbalance is destroyed. I have Explosives for one to destroy his (tapped) Top and Needle and after some time my own Top while he has another Needle and a Goyf. He is down to one card so I play Trinket Mage + Relic + Standstill. Unfortunately his last card is Swords to Plowshares and I have to activate my Relic. Some turns later he finds a Fetchland and I take some hits for one. Then I again break my own Standstill with a Brainstorm. He has to discard and in my turn I resolve Counterbalance thanks to the third Red Blast. Perish deals with Goyf and I have Trinket Mage + Standstill on top to counter all his creatures. I proceed to play Dreadnought and win the game despite breaking my own Standstill twice.
Round 5: Jace Bant 2-0
I don't remember anything about this match except that Jace again proves incredibly useless against Trinket Mage + Bolt and that his Meddling Mage on Dreadnought was really bad as I boarded three of them out anyway while naming Red Elemental Blast would've been really troublesome (I make a mental note to cut one for a Pyroblast and move on to round 6).
Round 6: Landstill 2-0
I start with a Trinket Mage and Force his Elspeth and then land a Standstill. On low life he cycles a Decree of Justice but I have the Trickbind for the tokens with him drawing 3 in the process. He falls to two and has a Wrath for the Trinket Mage but can't deal with my Factory. Postboard I keep Island + 2 Factory and my first drawstep is the third Factory. He plays turn two Standstill and I annihilate him.
Round 7: Imperial Painter 2-0
My opening play is an Island while he has Ancient Tomb + Top. I play Dreadnought + Stifle on turn two and he doesn't find Painter's Servant in time to get his two Red Blast and Grindstone active. In game two a Trinket Mage stops his Magus beatdown while getting the Explosives to deal with Grindstone + Top with a little support of Stifle. When he has the Painter's Servant I'm ready with 3 nonbasics, Bolt and double Red Blast against his 2 Red Blast. I find another Bolt for his Magus and two Trinket Mages protected by Countertop beat him to death.
Round 8: ID
Quarterfinals: ANT 2-0
I can Stifle and Waste two of his lands to give me some time to set up Countertop to which he has no answer. In game two he doesn't find a second land in his first Brainstorm, I have the Red Blast for his Ponder and he is again screwed on one land. Counterbalance shows up and a Factory slowly beats him to death.
Semifinals: Dredge 2-1
Despite a mulligan to four and Force + Daze in my hand he utterly annihilates me with Imp (I Force) + second land + Careful Study + Breakthrough (I Daze) + another Breakthrough on turn 3. Not that I seriously expected to win G1 against Dredge. Postboard I have Force for Tireless Tribe and Red Blast for Careful Study while Trinket Mage finds Crypt on turn 3. He hardcasts Bloodghast but my Trinket Mage is one turn too fast. On two life he plays a second Bloodghast - after attacking me to two. I tell him that the Bloodghst has haste (but not that I had both FoW + pitch and Lightning Bolt in hand) and he is visibly bothered by his mistake. In game three he opens with Imp while I have Relic. He has to Careful Study to find a Grave-Troll, dredges once into nothing and discards the Troll to his Imp in his next upkeep. Still in his upkeep I Bolt his Imp, activate Relic and he never gets another Dredger online whereas I even have a Trinket Mage to search for Crypt.
Finals: Natural Order Bant 1-2
I have to mulligan to five but seem back in the game after Dazing Pridemage and resolving Standstill. Unfortunately though, I only have a Force as answer to his Trygon Predator and a Natural Order saccing Dryad Arbor finds Progenitus to kill me. In game two I get an early Counter Top going aftering Bolting his Hierarch so he doesn't have white mana. He has a Goyf and adds Cold-Eyed Selkie but I have the Perish ready. When my Top finds the second Perish to counter his second Selkie, he concedes. In game three I keep Top + Explosives + Stifle + 4 lands. He leads with Island go and I know that he has Spell Pierce in hand so I don't run Top into it. on turn two he has Tundra, go and I still can't play Top into Spell Pierce. He is screwed on green and has another Tundra but that doesn't stop him from playing Selkie. I can finally play my Top and it shows nothing despite two Fetchlands. The Selkie beats me twice and he adds Jitte. I play Explosives on 3 but take a third hit by the Selkie because the only relevant card I have is a Standstill and by activating Explosives end of turn I play around his second Selkie that I'm sure he has. Unfortunately the draw from Selkie finally gives him the Tropical (not a Fetchland which I could have Stifled) he adds Noble Hierarch and I can't play Standstill because of Jitte. At end of turn I kill his Selkie anyway but he adds another one like I suspected. When I still don't find any solution in my Top after shuffling for the third time I get hit to death by a Selkie with exalted-bonus and Jitte.
Despite my loss in the finals I'm (obviously) really happy with my finish and especially with the fact that game three of the finals was the only sideboarded game I lost all tournament. This was why I decided to play a functionally identical list at Bazaar of Moxen, the only changes I made was adding a Delta and a Strand for the two Rainforest which I lent to a friend and substituting one Red Elemental Blast for a Pyroblast.
The tournament started at 9.30 and a whopping 498 players had registered barely missing the 500-player mark. Thanks to a Trial Win I had two Byes and could start the tournament pretty relaxed.
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: BYE
Round3: BYE … uh … Spring Tide 2-0
He starts both games with land and Brainstorm which doesn't find a second land. I have all the time in the world to set up Countertop and beat him slowly with Mages and Factories.
Round 4: Dave Caplan with Tempo Thresh 0-2
Despite resolving a first turn Top in game one I never get to find a third land and a single Goyf goes all the way. In game two I have enough lands but can't deal with a Mongoose past his Counters. He has Stifle for Explosives, hardcast Force for Perish and another Explosives among others and the Mongoose goes all the way to two or three life where a Bolt finishes me off.
Round 5: Natural Order Bant 2-0
He does pretty much nothing in game one. A pair of Spell Snares is enough until I resolve Counterbalance and play a protected Dreadnought. Game two is harder as he has an early 3/4 Goyf and beats me to 12 with it while I establish Countertop. I play Dreadnought and he has Elspeth and attacks me to six with a flying Goyf. Now I have the choice to either attack him and die to a Force for my Stifle on Elspeth or to attack Elspeth, which means that I still win the race but might have a problem against War Monk. He does have the War Monk and the Force but I find the Force in my Top which means that my Trinket Mage can chumpblock his Goyf, I survive on four life and Dreadnought kills him.
Round 6: Zoo 2-0
In game one he has a 1/1 Nacatl off a Forest after I Stifle + Waste two of his lands and set up a blind Counterbalance. It counters a Goyf after he has found another Fetchland for his Plains but he resolves a second Nacatl. I sit on three lands and resolve my first Dreadnought. He has the Path to Exile and I reveal Trickbind so I decide to not search for an Island in order to play my second Dreadnought in my turn. He has a second Path to which I reveal Trinket Mage and he beats me to six. I again can't search for a land because I need the Trinket Mage for Explosives to survive. I play Trinket Mage, counter a Pridemage with Daze and block one of his Nacatls going to four. On my turn I kill his Nacatl and play the Fetchland I've drawn to make my second Counterbalance relevant. We play draw go for two turns when he finally finds a Red source and plays a Knight of the Reliquary for which I have another Daze. On my turn the revealed Brainstorm draws into the third Dreadnought + Top and I get to kill him within two turns as he only has useless one-mana spells left. In game two he has to mulligan to five and is screwed on a Mountain after I waste his Taiga. When I Firespout his Nacatl + Grim Lavamancer it takes him two turns to find a second land while I resolve Standstill and start beating with a Factory. I have the Spell Snare for his Pridemage and the Standstill finds the Counterbalance to go along with my Top and as he doesn't have a third land he can't even use Grip and dies to Dreadnought after my Top finds a Trinket Mage.
Round7: Baneslayer Control (yes, seriously) 2-0
He starts with Plains, go and I have the Stifle for his second turn Marsh Flats. I have a second Stifle for a Delta and still no idea what he is playing, but I'm suspecting a blue deck. That is confirmed when he Forces a Standstill pitching Glen Elendra Archmage. I don't mind because the Standstill was only bait for the Counterbalance in my hand which resolves. This means he can't Swords my Dreadnought and I win. After sideboarding I resolve Counterbalance past Counterspell with a Spell Snare and Red Blast a Glen Elendra Archmage. I don't have anything in play aside from Countertop, so his Jace looks somewhat scary. While playing his Jace he accidentally dropped a Baneslayer Angel and that piece of information was what allowed me to win the game. I Brainstorm in response to his Jace and then have Factory and Trinket Mage to play on my next turn which is why I decide against forcing his Jace despiting holding double Force. I put one of the Forces on Top to be ready for his Baneslayer and he Brainstorms with Jace (Fatesealing me would be useless as I have Top). I play Trinket Mage without searching for anything and Factory. He Brainstorms again and tries to drop his Baneslayer into play (this time on purpose). I reveal the Force, attack his Jace to death on my turn and the game is all but won.
/Sidenote: I like the concept of that deck, but I believe that the particular build I played against has two serious flaws: the first is that it doesn't play Sensei's Divining Top and this cards wins games and matches on its own. The second flaw is that the list has too many basics. Having ten basics seems nice because they are supposed to make the deck Wasteland-proof but first, it's easier to be manascrewed because you might draw too many of the same basic and, if you draw or have to fetch one of the duals, a Wasteland has an even bigger impact than against normal decks. For more input on this problem look at my Quarterfinals match.
If those flaws were adressed in an updated version of the deck I believe that it could be a serious contender for the top slots in the metagame, because it blanks or nearly blanks many of the relevant cards in the format like Spell Snare, Counterbalance and Baneslayer Angel deals with any creature in the format that has the job of attacking (except Dreadnought and Progenitus)./
Round8: New Horizons 2-0
In game 1 he can't deal with a turn 4 Dreadnought through Force after I Spell Snared his turn 2 Pridemage. In game two he has a 5/5 Terravore which I answer with Trinket Mage for Relic. On his turn he drops Null Rod and attacks me to 11. I attack him back with Factory + Trinket Mage and would actually win the race thanks to a Bolt in hand. When he adds Tarmogoyf on his turn the math changes and I have to decide between Dreadnought and Perish. I settle on Dreadnought, he only has Swords and I get two additional turns. When my Perish resolves the game is won and I'm set up to draw into the Top16.
Round 9: ID
Round 1 of Top16: UGR Aggrocontrol 2-0
This list was pretty interesting, he played Mutavault, Grim Lavamancer, Shackles, Stifle, Spellstutter Sprite and Explosives among the usual suspects like Force, Spell Snare, Goyf. In game one, we both Spell Snare some two drops until I go all-in on a Dreadnought with Force backup against three cards in hand which I have to do because he has active Shackles. He plays Explosives on one, I Force and he doesn't have another solution to my 12/12. In game two we play a very intense game where we trade a lot of resources. At one point he plays Goyf, I Spell Snare, he plays Spellstutter Sprite, I Lightning Bolt the Sprite with the trigger on stack, he Forces, I Stifle the trigger, he Red Blasts and I Force his Force so my Lightning Bolt resolves. We trade some beats of manlands and the game ends up in the following situation: He is on four life and has two Mutavaults and a Tarmogoyf while I am on five and have Trinket Mage, Relic and seven lands, among them two Factories and one Wasteland. He plays Grim Lavamancer which I hardcast Force leaving Wasteland + Volcanic untapped. He attacks with his Mutavaults and I think about the implications of that. As he is dead on the board with only Goyf against three 2/2 attackers he has to have a Lightning Bolt or Krosan Grip in hand for that attack to make sense. I ask him to confirm that he is on four and he thinks he is on five. It turns out he has forgotten to write down the lifeloss from his Force of Will and I just Waste one of his Mutavaults and go to three. When I turn my three guys sideways, he extends his hand and I'm in the Top8.
Quarterfinals: Baneslayer Control 2-0
In game one he has to Spell Snare an early Standstill so I can resolve my Counterbalance to go with my Top. I counter Esper Charm on CB with a Trinket Mage and get some beats in with a Factory. When he taps down to one open mana for Jace I can resolve Trinket Mage and Jace again sits in play akwardly for just one more turn. I have the Brainstorm to put my Force on top of my library in response to his Baneslayer and that was game1. In game 2 I have a Wasteland for his Scrubland and he is sitting on just four Islands. A Brainstorm finds nothing but Ponder that shuffles his library after some thinking so he had seen only a Fetchland. In the meantime I draw some cards with Standstill and get Countertop active. I have the Stifle for his four mana Explosives on two after he finally finds a Plains and then play a Dreadnought in my turn. After he takes one hit down to 8 a second Plains shows up and he goes for Baneslayer Angel which does nothing. He has to chump going to six in the process and when my Top finds the Force for his second Baneslayer the game is over.
Semifinals: Guillaume Wafo-Tapa with UWg Landstill 2-0
Luckily there are already some photos online so I can illustrate the games. I am on the draw and keep Top, Stifle, Counterbalance, Force and Lands while his opening hand is here (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136353194766402). He opens with Strand, fetch Island, go and I play Underground Sea. After some deliberating (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136381398409042) I choose to play Top over keeping Stifle mana open in order to not lose Top to Counterspell because it is the most important card in this matchup. He drops Glacial Fortress in his turn and passes. I draw Dreadnought, play a land and pass the turn. He has Mishra's Factory after an eot Brainstorm and passes the turn. I play a third land and Trinket Mage before he has a chance to land a possible Humility and it resolves and I get a second Top and he uses Swords on the Mage eot. On his turn he just draws and passes while I draw Wasteland, Waste his Glacial Fortress and play Counterbalance which he Spell Snares. He drops a Rainforest and passes again and I use my Top in my upkeep, see a second Counterbalance and Trickbind. I draw Trickbind and pass and he again has no play. In my turn I go for the second Counterbalance. When he tries to fetch in response I have the Stifle ready. He Forces, I Force back and both Stifle and Counterbalance resolve. On his turn (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136431237957218), Wafo-Tapa finds a Flooded Strand and uses it right away to get a Plains and beat me for two. In my upkeep I use Top and find the Stifle for my Dreadnought which resolves (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136509343830274). He can't answer the Nought through Countertop and game 1 is over.
In game two I again have Top and a turn two Relic but when he goes for a turn three Standstill with Factory in play I have to Red Blast it anyway. We are playing draw go for some turns with five lands on his side and three on mine and he gets some beats in (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136657545676450). With five lands his hand (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136686866962834) which I don't know of course looks pretty spicy, but he can't find a sixth land to play his Elspeth with backup. He then finds a second Factory and I Waste both in my turn. He goes for Elspeth, but has no answer to my Force and after some deliberating he plays another Standstill a turn later. I look at my top three cards and decide to let it resolve despite Spell Snare in hand. One turn later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136715520400930). Two turns later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136741651184898). Three turns later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136766697593602). He Krosan Grips one of the Factories one attack later but can't deal with the other two.
Finals: Merfolk 0-2
Knowing that I play against Merfolk I keep Dreadnought + Brainstorm + Counterbalance + 4 lands because game one is only ever winnable with a fast Dreadnought. Neither Stifle nor Trickbind show up and his Fish kill me rather fast. In game two I lead with Top and Counterbalance, but he has the turn one Vial to which I have no answer. I resolve a Dreadnought but after taking one hit (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136796807871938) he can kill it by blocking with a level four Coralhelm Commander + Sovereign + Mishra's Factory with another Sovereign in play. Thanks to a Bolt in hand my Trinket Mage would win the race against his lonely Sovereign, but he finds Silvergill Adept and my Top shows nothing relevant. I have to Bolt the Sovereign and Mage trades against Adept, but he finds a Lord of Atlantis to deal the final pooint of damage before I find anything.
Despite the loss in the finals I'm perfectly happy with the 40 unlimited duals and the performance of my deck throughout the tournament. Every card did exactly what it was supposed to do and I sideboarded every card of my sideboard at least once during each of the two tournaments. Sensei's Divining Top was clearly the MVP and I'd never play less than three again, you're always happy to see it, except if you already have one and even then it's still alright.
Props:
+ BoM and its enormous prize payout.
+ Dreadstill
+ Stifle for being awesome
+ Fabian Moyshewitz for winning Vintage and placing 9th in Legacy
+ Roodmistah and Wasteland for creating and tuning the list
+ Pretty much everything
Slops:
- Losing both Finals
- going 3-3 drop with Dredge in Vintage
- Simon Ritzka
My actual report starts a week before BoM at GP Lyon. After misbuilding my sealed deck in the mainevent and deservedly scrubbing out, I chose to play the Legacy sideevent on Sunday as the payout was pretty good (1st: 700€ storecredit, 2nd: 400€ storecredit, 3rd+4th: 150€ storecredit). This is what I sleeved up:
3 Volcanic Island
1 Underground Sea
4 Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 Trinket Mage
4 Stifle
2 Trickbind
4 Spell Snare
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Counterbalance
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
3 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Engineered Explosives
SB:
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Crucible of Worlds
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Red Elemental Blast
2 Firespout
2 Perish
Splashing black for Perish with only one source of black mana might seem risky but Perish ist mostly for Bant in different versions and they rarely play Wasteland. Credits for the decklist go to Marius Hausmann who finished 41st with the deck at GP Madrid.
Unfortunately I didn't write down any names because I didn't expect a need to write a report.
GP Lyon Legacy sidevent (144 players, 8 rounds of swiss + Top8):
Round 1: Reanimator 2-1
In game one he Exhumes Archon after taking one hit by a Dreadnought and wins. I made a crucial mistake in ignoring Entomb and Forcing Reanimate because Archon is his only creature that actually beats a resolved Dreadnought. In game 2 I set up Counter Top and Red Blast his Show and Tell and he has nothing else and in game three I Force a Null Rod and my graveyard removal prevents him from doing anything.
Round 2: Jace Bant 2-1
In game 1 I can't deal with Trygon Predator, whereas in both games 2 and 3 he does nothing relevant except resolving a useless Jace who doesn't help against Trinket Mages and Factories while Perish, Bolt and Relic deal with his guys.
Round 3: Lands 1-1-1
I lead with Island he has Tropical and I play Standstill with Daze in hand. He smiles and locks me out with Double Port and Maze and then kills me with Factory + Treetop Village. In game 2 I get to Red Blast two Intuitions and remove two Loams with Relic + Crypt and after a lot of stalling my Crucible + Wasteland gets through double Maze + Factory. In game three I get to Explosive away two Mox Diamonds and when I have the Force for his Intuition he is out of gas. Unfortunately I can't find a Dreadnought fast enough and we go to time.
Round 4: Natural Order Bant 2-0
Despite him setting up an early Countertop and adding Goyf + Pridemage he has no solution to my three mana Explosives on two followed by Standstill. In game two he again gets to set up Countertop but has only one open mana, so I can play Standstill and Stifle his Counterbalance. I know I'm going to have to break my own Standstill at some point because he Needled my Factories but I'm all but out of gas and any creature on his side would kill me in short order. Some turns later I break my own Standstill with an Eot Brainstorm and it resolves. I Red Blast his Counterbalance, he tries to tap his Top and I Stifle. When he Forces I have another Red Blast and his Counterbalance is destroyed. I have Explosives for one to destroy his (tapped) Top and Needle and after some time my own Top while he has another Needle and a Goyf. He is down to one card so I play Trinket Mage + Relic + Standstill. Unfortunately his last card is Swords to Plowshares and I have to activate my Relic. Some turns later he finds a Fetchland and I take some hits for one. Then I again break my own Standstill with a Brainstorm. He has to discard and in my turn I resolve Counterbalance thanks to the third Red Blast. Perish deals with Goyf and I have Trinket Mage + Standstill on top to counter all his creatures. I proceed to play Dreadnought and win the game despite breaking my own Standstill twice.
Round 5: Jace Bant 2-0
I don't remember anything about this match except that Jace again proves incredibly useless against Trinket Mage + Bolt and that his Meddling Mage on Dreadnought was really bad as I boarded three of them out anyway while naming Red Elemental Blast would've been really troublesome (I make a mental note to cut one for a Pyroblast and move on to round 6).
Round 6: Landstill 2-0
I start with a Trinket Mage and Force his Elspeth and then land a Standstill. On low life he cycles a Decree of Justice but I have the Trickbind for the tokens with him drawing 3 in the process. He falls to two and has a Wrath for the Trinket Mage but can't deal with my Factory. Postboard I keep Island + 2 Factory and my first drawstep is the third Factory. He plays turn two Standstill and I annihilate him.
Round 7: Imperial Painter 2-0
My opening play is an Island while he has Ancient Tomb + Top. I play Dreadnought + Stifle on turn two and he doesn't find Painter's Servant in time to get his two Red Blast and Grindstone active. In game two a Trinket Mage stops his Magus beatdown while getting the Explosives to deal with Grindstone + Top with a little support of Stifle. When he has the Painter's Servant I'm ready with 3 nonbasics, Bolt and double Red Blast against his 2 Red Blast. I find another Bolt for his Magus and two Trinket Mages protected by Countertop beat him to death.
Round 8: ID
Quarterfinals: ANT 2-0
I can Stifle and Waste two of his lands to give me some time to set up Countertop to which he has no answer. In game two he doesn't find a second land in his first Brainstorm, I have the Red Blast for his Ponder and he is again screwed on one land. Counterbalance shows up and a Factory slowly beats him to death.
Semifinals: Dredge 2-1
Despite a mulligan to four and Force + Daze in my hand he utterly annihilates me with Imp (I Force) + second land + Careful Study + Breakthrough (I Daze) + another Breakthrough on turn 3. Not that I seriously expected to win G1 against Dredge. Postboard I have Force for Tireless Tribe and Red Blast for Careful Study while Trinket Mage finds Crypt on turn 3. He hardcasts Bloodghast but my Trinket Mage is one turn too fast. On two life he plays a second Bloodghast - after attacking me to two. I tell him that the Bloodghst has haste (but not that I had both FoW + pitch and Lightning Bolt in hand) and he is visibly bothered by his mistake. In game three he opens with Imp while I have Relic. He has to Careful Study to find a Grave-Troll, dredges once into nothing and discards the Troll to his Imp in his next upkeep. Still in his upkeep I Bolt his Imp, activate Relic and he never gets another Dredger online whereas I even have a Trinket Mage to search for Crypt.
Finals: Natural Order Bant 1-2
I have to mulligan to five but seem back in the game after Dazing Pridemage and resolving Standstill. Unfortunately though, I only have a Force as answer to his Trygon Predator and a Natural Order saccing Dryad Arbor finds Progenitus to kill me. In game two I get an early Counter Top going aftering Bolting his Hierarch so he doesn't have white mana. He has a Goyf and adds Cold-Eyed Selkie but I have the Perish ready. When my Top finds the second Perish to counter his second Selkie, he concedes. In game three I keep Top + Explosives + Stifle + 4 lands. He leads with Island go and I know that he has Spell Pierce in hand so I don't run Top into it. on turn two he has Tundra, go and I still can't play Top into Spell Pierce. He is screwed on green and has another Tundra but that doesn't stop him from playing Selkie. I can finally play my Top and it shows nothing despite two Fetchlands. The Selkie beats me twice and he adds Jitte. I play Explosives on 3 but take a third hit by the Selkie because the only relevant card I have is a Standstill and by activating Explosives end of turn I play around his second Selkie that I'm sure he has. Unfortunately the draw from Selkie finally gives him the Tropical (not a Fetchland which I could have Stifled) he adds Noble Hierarch and I can't play Standstill because of Jitte. At end of turn I kill his Selkie anyway but he adds another one like I suspected. When I still don't find any solution in my Top after shuffling for the third time I get hit to death by a Selkie with exalted-bonus and Jitte.
Despite my loss in the finals I'm (obviously) really happy with my finish and especially with the fact that game three of the finals was the only sideboarded game I lost all tournament. This was why I decided to play a functionally identical list at Bazaar of Moxen, the only changes I made was adding a Delta and a Strand for the two Rainforest which I lent to a friend and substituting one Red Elemental Blast for a Pyroblast.
The tournament started at 9.30 and a whopping 498 players had registered barely missing the 500-player mark. Thanks to a Trial Win I had two Byes and could start the tournament pretty relaxed.
Round 1: BYE
Round 2: BYE
Round3: BYE … uh … Spring Tide 2-0
He starts both games with land and Brainstorm which doesn't find a second land. I have all the time in the world to set up Countertop and beat him slowly with Mages and Factories.
Round 4: Dave Caplan with Tempo Thresh 0-2
Despite resolving a first turn Top in game one I never get to find a third land and a single Goyf goes all the way. In game two I have enough lands but can't deal with a Mongoose past his Counters. He has Stifle for Explosives, hardcast Force for Perish and another Explosives among others and the Mongoose goes all the way to two or three life where a Bolt finishes me off.
Round 5: Natural Order Bant 2-0
He does pretty much nothing in game one. A pair of Spell Snares is enough until I resolve Counterbalance and play a protected Dreadnought. Game two is harder as he has an early 3/4 Goyf and beats me to 12 with it while I establish Countertop. I play Dreadnought and he has Elspeth and attacks me to six with a flying Goyf. Now I have the choice to either attack him and die to a Force for my Stifle on Elspeth or to attack Elspeth, which means that I still win the race but might have a problem against War Monk. He does have the War Monk and the Force but I find the Force in my Top which means that my Trinket Mage can chumpblock his Goyf, I survive on four life and Dreadnought kills him.
Round 6: Zoo 2-0
In game one he has a 1/1 Nacatl off a Forest after I Stifle + Waste two of his lands and set up a blind Counterbalance. It counters a Goyf after he has found another Fetchland for his Plains but he resolves a second Nacatl. I sit on three lands and resolve my first Dreadnought. He has the Path to Exile and I reveal Trickbind so I decide to not search for an Island in order to play my second Dreadnought in my turn. He has a second Path to which I reveal Trinket Mage and he beats me to six. I again can't search for a land because I need the Trinket Mage for Explosives to survive. I play Trinket Mage, counter a Pridemage with Daze and block one of his Nacatls going to four. On my turn I kill his Nacatl and play the Fetchland I've drawn to make my second Counterbalance relevant. We play draw go for two turns when he finally finds a Red source and plays a Knight of the Reliquary for which I have another Daze. On my turn the revealed Brainstorm draws into the third Dreadnought + Top and I get to kill him within two turns as he only has useless one-mana spells left. In game two he has to mulligan to five and is screwed on a Mountain after I waste his Taiga. When I Firespout his Nacatl + Grim Lavamancer it takes him two turns to find a second land while I resolve Standstill and start beating with a Factory. I have the Spell Snare for his Pridemage and the Standstill finds the Counterbalance to go along with my Top and as he doesn't have a third land he can't even use Grip and dies to Dreadnought after my Top finds a Trinket Mage.
Round7: Baneslayer Control (yes, seriously) 2-0
He starts with Plains, go and I have the Stifle for his second turn Marsh Flats. I have a second Stifle for a Delta and still no idea what he is playing, but I'm suspecting a blue deck. That is confirmed when he Forces a Standstill pitching Glen Elendra Archmage. I don't mind because the Standstill was only bait for the Counterbalance in my hand which resolves. This means he can't Swords my Dreadnought and I win. After sideboarding I resolve Counterbalance past Counterspell with a Spell Snare and Red Blast a Glen Elendra Archmage. I don't have anything in play aside from Countertop, so his Jace looks somewhat scary. While playing his Jace he accidentally dropped a Baneslayer Angel and that piece of information was what allowed me to win the game. I Brainstorm in response to his Jace and then have Factory and Trinket Mage to play on my next turn which is why I decide against forcing his Jace despiting holding double Force. I put one of the Forces on Top to be ready for his Baneslayer and he Brainstorms with Jace (Fatesealing me would be useless as I have Top). I play Trinket Mage without searching for anything and Factory. He Brainstorms again and tries to drop his Baneslayer into play (this time on purpose). I reveal the Force, attack his Jace to death on my turn and the game is all but won.
/Sidenote: I like the concept of that deck, but I believe that the particular build I played against has two serious flaws: the first is that it doesn't play Sensei's Divining Top and this cards wins games and matches on its own. The second flaw is that the list has too many basics. Having ten basics seems nice because they are supposed to make the deck Wasteland-proof but first, it's easier to be manascrewed because you might draw too many of the same basic and, if you draw or have to fetch one of the duals, a Wasteland has an even bigger impact than against normal decks. For more input on this problem look at my Quarterfinals match.
If those flaws were adressed in an updated version of the deck I believe that it could be a serious contender for the top slots in the metagame, because it blanks or nearly blanks many of the relevant cards in the format like Spell Snare, Counterbalance and Baneslayer Angel deals with any creature in the format that has the job of attacking (except Dreadnought and Progenitus)./
Round8: New Horizons 2-0
In game 1 he can't deal with a turn 4 Dreadnought through Force after I Spell Snared his turn 2 Pridemage. In game two he has a 5/5 Terravore which I answer with Trinket Mage for Relic. On his turn he drops Null Rod and attacks me to 11. I attack him back with Factory + Trinket Mage and would actually win the race thanks to a Bolt in hand. When he adds Tarmogoyf on his turn the math changes and I have to decide between Dreadnought and Perish. I settle on Dreadnought, he only has Swords and I get two additional turns. When my Perish resolves the game is won and I'm set up to draw into the Top16.
Round 9: ID
Round 1 of Top16: UGR Aggrocontrol 2-0
This list was pretty interesting, he played Mutavault, Grim Lavamancer, Shackles, Stifle, Spellstutter Sprite and Explosives among the usual suspects like Force, Spell Snare, Goyf. In game one, we both Spell Snare some two drops until I go all-in on a Dreadnought with Force backup against three cards in hand which I have to do because he has active Shackles. He plays Explosives on one, I Force and he doesn't have another solution to my 12/12. In game two we play a very intense game where we trade a lot of resources. At one point he plays Goyf, I Spell Snare, he plays Spellstutter Sprite, I Lightning Bolt the Sprite with the trigger on stack, he Forces, I Stifle the trigger, he Red Blasts and I Force his Force so my Lightning Bolt resolves. We trade some beats of manlands and the game ends up in the following situation: He is on four life and has two Mutavaults and a Tarmogoyf while I am on five and have Trinket Mage, Relic and seven lands, among them two Factories and one Wasteland. He plays Grim Lavamancer which I hardcast Force leaving Wasteland + Volcanic untapped. He attacks with his Mutavaults and I think about the implications of that. As he is dead on the board with only Goyf against three 2/2 attackers he has to have a Lightning Bolt or Krosan Grip in hand for that attack to make sense. I ask him to confirm that he is on four and he thinks he is on five. It turns out he has forgotten to write down the lifeloss from his Force of Will and I just Waste one of his Mutavaults and go to three. When I turn my three guys sideways, he extends his hand and I'm in the Top8.
Quarterfinals: Baneslayer Control 2-0
In game one he has to Spell Snare an early Standstill so I can resolve my Counterbalance to go with my Top. I counter Esper Charm on CB with a Trinket Mage and get some beats in with a Factory. When he taps down to one open mana for Jace I can resolve Trinket Mage and Jace again sits in play akwardly for just one more turn. I have the Brainstorm to put my Force on top of my library in response to his Baneslayer and that was game1. In game 2 I have a Wasteland for his Scrubland and he is sitting on just four Islands. A Brainstorm finds nothing but Ponder that shuffles his library after some thinking so he had seen only a Fetchland. In the meantime I draw some cards with Standstill and get Countertop active. I have the Stifle for his four mana Explosives on two after he finally finds a Plains and then play a Dreadnought in my turn. After he takes one hit down to 8 a second Plains shows up and he goes for Baneslayer Angel which does nothing. He has to chump going to six in the process and when my Top finds the Force for his second Baneslayer the game is over.
Semifinals: Guillaume Wafo-Tapa with UWg Landstill 2-0
Luckily there are already some photos online so I can illustrate the games. I am on the draw and keep Top, Stifle, Counterbalance, Force and Lands while his opening hand is here (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136353194766402). He opens with Strand, fetch Island, go and I play Underground Sea. After some deliberating (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136381398409042) I choose to play Top over keeping Stifle mana open in order to not lose Top to Counterspell because it is the most important card in this matchup. He drops Glacial Fortress in his turn and passes. I draw Dreadnought, play a land and pass the turn. He has Mishra's Factory after an eot Brainstorm and passes the turn. I play a third land and Trinket Mage before he has a chance to land a possible Humility and it resolves and I get a second Top and he uses Swords on the Mage eot. On his turn he just draws and passes while I draw Wasteland, Waste his Glacial Fortress and play Counterbalance which he Spell Snares. He drops a Rainforest and passes again and I use my Top in my upkeep, see a second Counterbalance and Trickbind. I draw Trickbind and pass and he again has no play. In my turn I go for the second Counterbalance. When he tries to fetch in response I have the Stifle ready. He Forces, I Force back and both Stifle and Counterbalance resolve. On his turn (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136431237957218), Wafo-Tapa finds a Flooded Strand and uses it right away to get a Plains and beat me for two. In my upkeep I use Top and find the Stifle for my Dreadnought which resolves (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136509343830274). He can't answer the Nought through Countertop and game 1 is over.
In game two I again have Top and a turn two Relic but when he goes for a turn three Standstill with Factory in play I have to Red Blast it anyway. We are playing draw go for some turns with five lands on his side and three on mine and he gets some beats in (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136657545676450). With five lands his hand (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136686866962834) which I don't know of course looks pretty spicy, but he can't find a sixth land to play his Elspeth with backup. He then finds a second Factory and I Waste both in my turn. He goes for Elspeth, but has no answer to my Force and after some deliberating he plays another Standstill a turn later. I look at my top three cards and decide to let it resolve despite Spell Snare in hand. One turn later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136715520400930). Two turns later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136741651184898). Three turns later (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136766697593602). He Krosan Grips one of the Factories one attack later but can't deal with the other two.
Finals: Merfolk 0-2
Knowing that I play against Merfolk I keep Dreadnought + Brainstorm + Counterbalance + 4 lands because game one is only ever winnable with a fast Dreadnought. Neither Stifle nor Trickbind show up and his Fish kill me rather fast. In game two I lead with Top and Counterbalance, but he has the turn one Vial to which I have no answer. I resolve a Dreadnought but after taking one hit (http://picasaweb.google.fr/joshua.becherel/BOM4#5472136796807871938) he can kill it by blocking with a level four Coralhelm Commander + Sovereign + Mishra's Factory with another Sovereign in play. Thanks to a Bolt in hand my Trinket Mage would win the race against his lonely Sovereign, but he finds Silvergill Adept and my Top shows nothing relevant. I have to Bolt the Sovereign and Mage trades against Adept, but he finds a Lord of Atlantis to deal the final pooint of damage before I find anything.
Despite the loss in the finals I'm perfectly happy with the 40 unlimited duals and the performance of my deck throughout the tournament. Every card did exactly what it was supposed to do and I sideboarded every card of my sideboard at least once during each of the two tournaments. Sensei's Divining Top was clearly the MVP and I'd never play less than three again, you're always happy to see it, except if you already have one and even then it's still alright.
Props:
+ BoM and its enormous prize payout.
+ Dreadstill
+ Stifle for being awesome
+ Fabian Moyshewitz for winning Vintage and placing 9th in Legacy
+ Roodmistah and Wasteland for creating and tuning the list
+ Pretty much everything
Slops:
- Losing both Finals
- going 3-3 drop with Dredge in Vintage
- Simon Ritzka