Finn
06-08-2010, 12:28 PM
Something has changed.
My opponents still have to read my cards, but there is the appearance of familiarity when they do. And more importantly, this feeling of being cheated that I am so accustomed to them feeling has been replaced by nods, chuckles, and some sort of thoughtfulness. It is a new thing for passers-by to see my cards in play and ask me questions about the deck. They seem to know it, but not quite understand how it does anything. I like that.
So this is my second tournament in less than three months. I am becoming a bonafide tourney rat now. My cards are not in particularly good order at the moment, so I can't take the new creation I am fooling with. So I grab Death and Taxes before work and it sits in my car until the tournament at night. Here it is.
4 Mother of Runes
3 Goldmeadow Harrier
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Serra Avenger
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Karakas
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
11 Plains
4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Meekstone
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Runed Halo
2 Wing Shards
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Jotun Grunt
Only 11 participants, but they just started having these tournaments. I hope it grows. A friend of mine said that the week before it was plenty of blue, which bodes well for me. Notice that even more of my ANT protection is missing. I am nearly naked against it. Rolling the dice...
Rd 1
Roman w/Zoo
g1, Roman opens with Plateau, Lynx. Damnit. I just took out the Forge-Tenders from the main for Harriers not 10 minutes earlier. My first turn, I play...Goldmeadow Harrier. His turn, he bolts it and plays a fetchland, fetches, plays Nacatl, bashes for four. Yeah, yeah. I actually began to garner some control with a nice Oblivion Ring-Flickerwisp 2-1 action (which prompted a judge call). But I drew 2 Grunts, and I just could not keep them alive, so they acted like removal spells from vialed in blocking, and no upkeep payment. His Lavamancer kept his gy tight. Not happening.
g2, I brought in Wing Shards and the last Grunt. Plus the Forge-Tenders. I got beat down again, having seen no Forge-Tenders, no Swords to Plowshares, no equipment or even a Mystic in either game. His is an easy deck, but still, Roman played it well...and beat me hard.
(Zoo)
LOSS
0-1
Rd 2
Matt w/Reanimator
g1, he goes turn 1 Entomb Iona and I immediately look at my hand. No Karakas. But I have Goldmeadow Harrier, so I might be OK. My turn I do something that could have really hurt. I play Aether Vial. WTF am I thinking? If he has a counter I will not get another chance to play the Harrier. Well, he did not have a counter. I got lucky. As it stands, I got really lucky anyway since I topdecked Karakas on my next turn. He Exhumes Iona, and I popped her with Karakas, which he had to read. I got Mangara lock on him a few turns later and sent him to prison while I raped him.
g2, he goes turn 1 Careful Study, pitches Iona. No Karakas, but I have a my Crypt. He goes to Reanimate her and I Crypt his yard. I used Wasteland and Port to keep his turns limited to one spell on each, and I eventually killed him with Wing Shards in hand. Matt had borrowed the deck, and was new to Legacy anyway.
(Reanimator)
WIN
1-1
Rd 2
[another] Matt Bant CounterTop/NO->Pro
Not much detail for you here. Gs 1 and 2 were both good games. I won game 1 by making him FoW stuff like Harrier and Aether Vial. That got me some card advantage and I was able to take advantage of it. That deck is low on removal, and Harriers are really good against them. It is so cool to gain advantage by letting your opponent's deck do what it does. If I were playing against me, I would side FoW out, but I doubt most players see it that way. g2, I mulliganed, but it was going well for me until Matt Natural Ordered his Hierarch. I did not see that coming for some reason. Well, I had stuff in the deck to handle it, but nothing in hand. I tried to race him with Sword of Light and Shadow, but no luck. I sided in some extra stuff like the Meekstone and Runed Halos, but not the Tutors for game 3. Too much control, not enough combo for the whole package.
g3, I shut him off of green and then white while pecking at him. When I Ringed his Counterbalance, it was all over in short order. Matt was a really nice guy whom I hope to play again.
(Bant CounterTop/NO->Pro)
WIN
2-1
Rd 4
Rob w/U-Lands
g1 I scooped at some point, afraid that I would not get a game 3 if I fought this one out. I had Mangara, but he has answers for him, and plenty of ways to get them.
-Side in the Tutor package with all the gy stuff. Sided out Mother of Runes and Mystics which do nothing useful.
g2, I went first with Harrier. He Manabonds, Loam goes to the yard. My turn 2, I drop a Relic and activate it. Boom! I have him pinned pretty well from there, even with no additional hate beyond the usual stuff. Serra Avenger and 2 Harriers get it done.
g3, Rob does some additional boarding, and goes first with Exploration. I open with...nothing. I had mulliganed and my six was just good enough to warrant keeping. Still, he does not seem to have a stellar start and I did topdeck Vial on turn 2. But he soon gets Life from the Loam and starts his business. I have no sb hate in sight. Just the same, I am able to keep things almost in hand with Flickerwisp for his Mox and then his Engineered Explosives. When I drew Mangara, I figured I had a chance since I was holding a Karakas with another in play. I got a Sword down on a Harrier and had been plucking his life away while he did...stuff. He Mazed two of my 3 attackers each turn, and had Glacial Chasm on some turns, but I was using Wastelands on it and eventually Mangara. He just kept setting up more and more stuff, and before you know it, I got in with lethal. I think a lot of Lands players would do well to practice this matchup more. They all seem to get caught off guard by stuff like flying creatures at eot and how to handle Mangara, which they should be able to better than most decks. Anyway, Rob was another cool character, smiling the whole match.
(U-Lands)Win
3-1
top 4
Kevin w/BR-Goblins
Kevin is a friend of mine. He was very verbal that he did not want to play me, but I did not think it was as much in my favor as he apparently did.
g1, Kevin opens with Vial. So do I. Turn 2 he plays Piledriver. I play Mother of Runes. He vials in a Lackey, untaps and cycles Gempalm Incinerator at her. I think I Plowed the Lackey and took the Piledriver for 1 or something like that. At any rate, we went on for only a few turns before I was down to 6 life with a few critters out, and he was at 20 with the same. But then, he began to draw only lands. He even blanked on a Ringleader. I stole that one.
g2, He opens with Vial again. Me too. This time he has two Piledrivers and a Lackey early on, and I have Burrenton Forge-Tender. The mission here is to never have him be the only creature in play on my side or else Kevin will nab him with Warren Wierding. If I can do that, he is my winning ticket. But I am stuck on two lands. I took a chance this game and took a 7 point Piledriver to take control of the board. It worked. From then on he never hit me. Eventually, I got a Mystic to fetch me a Sword of Fire and Ice. Once I equipped it on my 3rd Serra Avenger of the game it was a done deal. He never saw a Matron or Weirding that game. And I never got to 3 lands. Strange.
(BR-Goblins)
Win
4-1
Finals
Andrew w/Ugwb CounterTop Control
Andrew calmly came back from 1 life in game 2 against Zoo to win his top 4 in 3 games. He has all the swagger of a veteran.
g1, he mulls to 5 and keeps a zero lander. He Forces my Vial, pitching Force. Damn. He went first and is at 3 cards by the end of my first turn. But then he topdecks a land. He Plows my first offering. Then the second. On turn 4, I resolve Mangara with Karakas untapped. I pick off a Tarmo, then a land, and then another before he scoops. He was just so far behind on cards at that point, and that is my aim against his deck.
g2, my turn to mulligan. I keep my six. I play nothing on turn 1. He Brainstorms at my eot. His turn 2, he Duresses me, takes Swords to Plowshares. I play a Goldmeadow Harrier on my turn. He plays a Tarmo and Duresses me again. He takes my topdecked Swords to Plowshares leaving me with another Goldmeadow Harrier, Flickerwisp, and Oblivion Ring. I play the Harrier, stop his Tarmo with the first. He plays another Tarmogoyf. Then another. I draw another Swords to Plowshares and keep it even. And he is almost out of cards in hand. And there we remain for a few turns. I land a Vial eventually, then another. And we remained in virtual stasis with his two Goyfs forcing me to tap two Plains to tap them each turn. Then I saw my chance. He had one card in hand, and I had 3 lands. I played Oblivion Ring with Vial at 3 and Flickerwisp in hand for some good old fashioned tricks. But his last card was Daze. Darn. Now I was tapped out. Anyway, I took 4 or 5 from the Goyf and Vialed in the Flickerwisp to keep the other from hitting me. Andrew plopped down Counterbalance on his turn, but not a Top. I hit him a few times with the Flickerwisp before he Plowed it. Then he thought a long time before Gripping my Vial @3. Phew. He had learned to fear Vial, but not Stoneforge Mystic. I vialed in the Mystic I had drawn and fetched Sword of Light and Shadow. On my turn, I used Mystic to bring it out, then equipped it, leaving me at one land all with Counterbalance sitting uselessly in play. I took a beating from a Goyf, but he was at 5. He plays a fetchland, (4), Ponders, passes the turn. My turn, I topdeck Oblivion Ring. I tried to play it, but Andrew reveals Pernicious Deed! He had no cards in hand though, and I had counted my mana. I tap the other Tarmogoyf and deal 4 damage with an equipped Harrier and the Mystic to kill him.
30 bucks store credit first prize at coolstuffgames is nothing to brag about, but then entry was only 5 dollars and the store gets nothing from it. I hope I get to attend another one of these Monday nighters sometime soon. Also, I think that I will be sticking with Harriers for awhile. They were, as expected, never dead. The Tarmos would have walked all over BFT in my last game. Wing Shards has to go.
Oh, and Yay to Aether Vial for being so broken that it actually nerfs something as ridiculous as Counterbalance-Top lockdown.
My opponents still have to read my cards, but there is the appearance of familiarity when they do. And more importantly, this feeling of being cheated that I am so accustomed to them feeling has been replaced by nods, chuckles, and some sort of thoughtfulness. It is a new thing for passers-by to see my cards in play and ask me questions about the deck. They seem to know it, but not quite understand how it does anything. I like that.
So this is my second tournament in less than three months. I am becoming a bonafide tourney rat now. My cards are not in particularly good order at the moment, so I can't take the new creation I am fooling with. So I grab Death and Taxes before work and it sits in my car until the tournament at night. Here it is.
4 Mother of Runes
3 Goldmeadow Harrier
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Serra Avenger
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Karakas
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
11 Plains
4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Meekstone
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Runed Halo
2 Wing Shards
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Jotun Grunt
Only 11 participants, but they just started having these tournaments. I hope it grows. A friend of mine said that the week before it was plenty of blue, which bodes well for me. Notice that even more of my ANT protection is missing. I am nearly naked against it. Rolling the dice...
Rd 1
Roman w/Zoo
g1, Roman opens with Plateau, Lynx. Damnit. I just took out the Forge-Tenders from the main for Harriers not 10 minutes earlier. My first turn, I play...Goldmeadow Harrier. His turn, he bolts it and plays a fetchland, fetches, plays Nacatl, bashes for four. Yeah, yeah. I actually began to garner some control with a nice Oblivion Ring-Flickerwisp 2-1 action (which prompted a judge call). But I drew 2 Grunts, and I just could not keep them alive, so they acted like removal spells from vialed in blocking, and no upkeep payment. His Lavamancer kept his gy tight. Not happening.
g2, I brought in Wing Shards and the last Grunt. Plus the Forge-Tenders. I got beat down again, having seen no Forge-Tenders, no Swords to Plowshares, no equipment or even a Mystic in either game. His is an easy deck, but still, Roman played it well...and beat me hard.
(Zoo)
LOSS
0-1
Rd 2
Matt w/Reanimator
g1, he goes turn 1 Entomb Iona and I immediately look at my hand. No Karakas. But I have Goldmeadow Harrier, so I might be OK. My turn I do something that could have really hurt. I play Aether Vial. WTF am I thinking? If he has a counter I will not get another chance to play the Harrier. Well, he did not have a counter. I got lucky. As it stands, I got really lucky anyway since I topdecked Karakas on my next turn. He Exhumes Iona, and I popped her with Karakas, which he had to read. I got Mangara lock on him a few turns later and sent him to prison while I raped him.
g2, he goes turn 1 Careful Study, pitches Iona. No Karakas, but I have a my Crypt. He goes to Reanimate her and I Crypt his yard. I used Wasteland and Port to keep his turns limited to one spell on each, and I eventually killed him with Wing Shards in hand. Matt had borrowed the deck, and was new to Legacy anyway.
(Reanimator)
WIN
1-1
Rd 2
[another] Matt Bant CounterTop/NO->Pro
Not much detail for you here. Gs 1 and 2 were both good games. I won game 1 by making him FoW stuff like Harrier and Aether Vial. That got me some card advantage and I was able to take advantage of it. That deck is low on removal, and Harriers are really good against them. It is so cool to gain advantage by letting your opponent's deck do what it does. If I were playing against me, I would side FoW out, but I doubt most players see it that way. g2, I mulliganed, but it was going well for me until Matt Natural Ordered his Hierarch. I did not see that coming for some reason. Well, I had stuff in the deck to handle it, but nothing in hand. I tried to race him with Sword of Light and Shadow, but no luck. I sided in some extra stuff like the Meekstone and Runed Halos, but not the Tutors for game 3. Too much control, not enough combo for the whole package.
g3, I shut him off of green and then white while pecking at him. When I Ringed his Counterbalance, it was all over in short order. Matt was a really nice guy whom I hope to play again.
(Bant CounterTop/NO->Pro)
WIN
2-1
Rd 4
Rob w/U-Lands
g1 I scooped at some point, afraid that I would not get a game 3 if I fought this one out. I had Mangara, but he has answers for him, and plenty of ways to get them.
-Side in the Tutor package with all the gy stuff. Sided out Mother of Runes and Mystics which do nothing useful.
g2, I went first with Harrier. He Manabonds, Loam goes to the yard. My turn 2, I drop a Relic and activate it. Boom! I have him pinned pretty well from there, even with no additional hate beyond the usual stuff. Serra Avenger and 2 Harriers get it done.
g3, Rob does some additional boarding, and goes first with Exploration. I open with...nothing. I had mulliganed and my six was just good enough to warrant keeping. Still, he does not seem to have a stellar start and I did topdeck Vial on turn 2. But he soon gets Life from the Loam and starts his business. I have no sb hate in sight. Just the same, I am able to keep things almost in hand with Flickerwisp for his Mox and then his Engineered Explosives. When I drew Mangara, I figured I had a chance since I was holding a Karakas with another in play. I got a Sword down on a Harrier and had been plucking his life away while he did...stuff. He Mazed two of my 3 attackers each turn, and had Glacial Chasm on some turns, but I was using Wastelands on it and eventually Mangara. He just kept setting up more and more stuff, and before you know it, I got in with lethal. I think a lot of Lands players would do well to practice this matchup more. They all seem to get caught off guard by stuff like flying creatures at eot and how to handle Mangara, which they should be able to better than most decks. Anyway, Rob was another cool character, smiling the whole match.
(U-Lands)Win
3-1
top 4
Kevin w/BR-Goblins
Kevin is a friend of mine. He was very verbal that he did not want to play me, but I did not think it was as much in my favor as he apparently did.
g1, Kevin opens with Vial. So do I. Turn 2 he plays Piledriver. I play Mother of Runes. He vials in a Lackey, untaps and cycles Gempalm Incinerator at her. I think I Plowed the Lackey and took the Piledriver for 1 or something like that. At any rate, we went on for only a few turns before I was down to 6 life with a few critters out, and he was at 20 with the same. But then, he began to draw only lands. He even blanked on a Ringleader. I stole that one.
g2, He opens with Vial again. Me too. This time he has two Piledrivers and a Lackey early on, and I have Burrenton Forge-Tender. The mission here is to never have him be the only creature in play on my side or else Kevin will nab him with Warren Wierding. If I can do that, he is my winning ticket. But I am stuck on two lands. I took a chance this game and took a 7 point Piledriver to take control of the board. It worked. From then on he never hit me. Eventually, I got a Mystic to fetch me a Sword of Fire and Ice. Once I equipped it on my 3rd Serra Avenger of the game it was a done deal. He never saw a Matron or Weirding that game. And I never got to 3 lands. Strange.
(BR-Goblins)
Win
4-1
Finals
Andrew w/Ugwb CounterTop Control
Andrew calmly came back from 1 life in game 2 against Zoo to win his top 4 in 3 games. He has all the swagger of a veteran.
g1, he mulls to 5 and keeps a zero lander. He Forces my Vial, pitching Force. Damn. He went first and is at 3 cards by the end of my first turn. But then he topdecks a land. He Plows my first offering. Then the second. On turn 4, I resolve Mangara with Karakas untapped. I pick off a Tarmo, then a land, and then another before he scoops. He was just so far behind on cards at that point, and that is my aim against his deck.
g2, my turn to mulligan. I keep my six. I play nothing on turn 1. He Brainstorms at my eot. His turn 2, he Duresses me, takes Swords to Plowshares. I play a Goldmeadow Harrier on my turn. He plays a Tarmo and Duresses me again. He takes my topdecked Swords to Plowshares leaving me with another Goldmeadow Harrier, Flickerwisp, and Oblivion Ring. I play the Harrier, stop his Tarmo with the first. He plays another Tarmogoyf. Then another. I draw another Swords to Plowshares and keep it even. And he is almost out of cards in hand. And there we remain for a few turns. I land a Vial eventually, then another. And we remained in virtual stasis with his two Goyfs forcing me to tap two Plains to tap them each turn. Then I saw my chance. He had one card in hand, and I had 3 lands. I played Oblivion Ring with Vial at 3 and Flickerwisp in hand for some good old fashioned tricks. But his last card was Daze. Darn. Now I was tapped out. Anyway, I took 4 or 5 from the Goyf and Vialed in the Flickerwisp to keep the other from hitting me. Andrew plopped down Counterbalance on his turn, but not a Top. I hit him a few times with the Flickerwisp before he Plowed it. Then he thought a long time before Gripping my Vial @3. Phew. He had learned to fear Vial, but not Stoneforge Mystic. I vialed in the Mystic I had drawn and fetched Sword of Light and Shadow. On my turn, I used Mystic to bring it out, then equipped it, leaving me at one land all with Counterbalance sitting uselessly in play. I took a beating from a Goyf, but he was at 5. He plays a fetchland, (4), Ponders, passes the turn. My turn, I topdeck Oblivion Ring. I tried to play it, but Andrew reveals Pernicious Deed! He had no cards in hand though, and I had counted my mana. I tap the other Tarmogoyf and deal 4 damage with an equipped Harrier and the Mystic to kill him.
30 bucks store credit first prize at coolstuffgames is nothing to brag about, but then entry was only 5 dollars and the store gets nothing from it. I hope I get to attend another one of these Monday nighters sometime soon. Also, I think that I will be sticking with Harriers for awhile. They were, as expected, never dead. The Tarmos would have walked all over BFT in my last game. Wing Shards has to go.
Oh, and Yay to Aether Vial for being so broken that it actually nerfs something as ridiculous as Counterbalance-Top lockdown.