PDA

View Full Version : 4-1 with Ug Merfolk, Rochester RIT weekly



cdr
06-19-2010, 09:26 PM
The skeleton of the deck is based on Alex Bertoncini's and tweaked to my own preferences. In particular, I really like the sideboard and feel like I’m getting a decent grasp of it. It's probably the most tuned deck I have at the moment - not that that means much.

It could stand to be tuned slightly yet - maybe +1 Coralhelm -1 Reejerey, and maybe a slight change to the lands. The Jittes are sort of a meta slot - they work well for me, shoring up aggro, but they are on the slow and awkward side. Worth thinking about Kira, Coralhelm Commander, etc there. I only had 2x Waste with me, or I would’ve likely played 3x.

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Coralhelm Commander
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Standstill
4 Aether Vial
2 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
6 Island

Sideboard:
3 Submerge
3 Spell Pierce
1 Disrupt
2 Krosan Grip
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pithing Needle

(Ideally probably -1 BEB +1 Faerie Macabre)

11 players, T4 playoff, prizes to T4.

Round 1 – Bye
I completely luck out here. At first I think I’m going to have to play “Fair” Phil Stolze when he shows (who in typical fashion is late), but Phil has apparently already been pre-enrolled and paired with someone else. Not only would I feel bad playing Phil because he’s part of my usual tournament carpool, he’s also the best player present and playing the self-designed walker deck that he knows cold.

So I get a chance to scout the entire metagame and audible my deck if necessary. With Landstill, MUC, Aggro Walker, Zoo, 2 Goblins, Bant Sur, Loam/Assault, ANT, and Sneak Attack, I decide Merfolk is still better than Zoo, Belcher, Dredge, Enchantress, or Goblins. Enchantress is close, but it’s a dog to the ANT and possibly the Sneak Attack, especially if Sneak Attack has Emrakul at all, and also is poor against Phil. I swap out a Crypt in my sideboard for another REB (the second Crypt should’ve been a Faerie Macabre anyway, but I apparently don’t own any).

Round 2 – GRB Loam / Assault
I start game one by mulling to six and then keeping a slow hand with a single force, a two drop, and a three drop. He starts out by Thougtseizing me, obviously taking the Force, and then Extirpates it. He has Dark Confidant on the next turn. He never finds a Loam, but it doesn’t matter with me doing very little and him having Confidant. An uncontested 8/8 Terravore finishes the game off.

I have trouble sideboarding - I could legitimately side in my entire board, had I enough to legitimately take out. I end up + 2x Spell Pierce, 2x Submerge, 1x Krosan Grip, 1x Relic of Progenitus, 1x Tormod’s Crypt, - 4x Merrow Reejerey, 2x Umezawa’s Jitte, 1 Standstill. It’s almost certainly not correct, but I figure I have to be aggressive since I don’t have enough hate to fight him long-game. Jitte obviously needs to go out for Relic+Crypt, and some number of Submerges need to come in to fight Terravore. Reejerey also can deal with Terravore, but it’s probably the thing to take out for Submerge on the play. He has no sideboard cards for me.

I start game 2 with another somewhat weak hand, devoid of any sideboard cards. I may have mulliganed. He has Loam this time. I have double 6/7 Goyf, but he has a Maze, and only one Goyf can get through once before a Terravore hits play and outgrows the Goyfs. A few turns later I Submerge his second Vore and alpha strike with Lord, Lord, Cursecatcher, Goyf, Goyf, but he has the Lightning Bolt to kill a Lord and go to 2 while a Goyf gets eaten by Vore. It’s possible I should have waited one more turn to swing, but I only had at most one more turn since his Vores were huge and he had just found a Volrath’s Stronghold to get a third. The late Submerge was the one sideboard card I drew the entire game.

Round 3 – Chis Acheson - Zoo
This is annoying. Zoo is not a good matchup, and I lost to Chris in both the swiss and the T4 of the last RIT tournament I played Merfolk. On the other hand, my sideboard is better now and I know how to sideboard better.
Game one I start with a solid nuts draw of Vial, Jitte, 3x two drop, 2 land while Chris wins the roll but mulls to 5. He opens with a Canopy into Nacatl, but I draw Wasteland for my turn. I figure with him on five cards it’s worth Wastelanding on the first turn, and he doesn’t have another land.

+ 3x Submerge, 2x Blue Elemental Blast, 1x Hyrdoblast, - 4x Force of Will, 2x Merrow Reejerey

Chris mulls to 6 or 5 and opens with Taiga, Kird Ape. Not bad. I have Vial. He follows with Plateau and Wild Nacatl, plus a Grim Lavamancer which gets Dazed, but I have Cursecatcher off Vial and a 3/4 Goyf. He swings and trades Nacatl + Bolt for Goyf and plays another Ape, leaving his hand empty. I have a second Goyf to shut off any hope of attacking. He rips Jitte next turn, but can’t equip that turn. I swing with 3/4 Goyf into his Apes, leaving double Silvergill Adept back. He lets it through. On his turn he rips Path for Goyf, but my sandbagged BEB takes out his newly equipped Ape. I play Lord of Atlantis and swing with double Adept for 6, putting him on 10. He draws a Bolt to take out Lord, equips Ape, attacks, and clears my Adepts, but I rip a Jitte of my own and still have guys in hand. GG.

Round 4 – Dave Elrod – UWb Landstill
This really sucks. Dave is part of our car and also usually borrows cards from me to play, and his deck today is indeed built from my cards. This does mean I know his entire list, including his maindeck Abyss which could be a nightmare for me.
Game one my hand is not great (I mulled to 6 or maybe 5), and my only-hope Vial is met with Engineered Explosives on 1. Despite that and a Swords, I am able to put some pressure on, and he plays Abyss on turn 4 when he knows I could have Daze. I do. Later, when I have Lord + Cursecatcher, he taps out and trades a Wrath for the Cursecatcher. He never finds another Wrath despite brainstorming with Jace and fetching like a madman, and dorks take him down. He later admits both the Abyss and the Wrath were a mistake.

+ 3x Spell Pierce, 1 Disrupt, 2x Krosan Grip, - 4x Standstill, 2x Jitte

I come out pretty quick this game, with a Merrow Reejerey on the backend and a steady stream of Folk to tap down a Mishra’s Factory. He plays a Jace and bounces and counters Reejerey, but I have a second Reejerey. He finds a second Factory and then a third, but at that point they’re chumping. He finds a Crucible, but I’ve had a Waste in play the entire time and Wasting a Factory is enough for the win. Krosan Grip was on top, too.

Top 4 – Jon Barber - ANT
Jon is playing something pretty close to Saitou’s ANT. He won the GPT Columbus last Sunday in Syracuse with it.
I win the roll, which is pretty awesome. He Mysticals for Duress and takes out the one Force I have on turn 2, but is apparently short of going off. My turn 2 is Adept, followed turn 3 by Adept. The second Adept draw nets me a Daze, which is very fortunately enough when he goes off next turn with LED + Infernal Tutor and exactly five mana.

+ 3x Spell Pierce, 1x Disrupt, - 2x Jitte, 2x Reejerey

My opener has Force only, but decent pressure. He Duresses turn 1 and I decide to Force pitching Coralhelm, since a) if he sees my hand he knows I have nothing b) if I Force, he may very well assume I still have a counter and wait for another Duress c) I have 3x blue two drops in hand. I’m in an even worse position this game than last, but he apparently draws nothing but land and my double Lord of Atlantis takes him down.

Finals -- Phil Stolze - Aggro Walkers
I scoop to Phil because he cares about the points (for Columbus byes) and I don’t, and I’d much prefer not to play for another hour. Not to mention it’s likely not the greatest matchup.

I’m obviously pleased with the result. Though some luck was definitely involved, I think I generally sideboarded well and mulliganed well.

Rancorous Fool
06-19-2010, 11:03 PM
Its actually a surprisingly strong meta for 11 people.

A level 2 judge, roughly half of the room has top8ed a large event, a couple winning multiple pieces of power. Abnormally high density of good players.

We had a lot of Regulars skip out this weekend sadly. So, I will be getting a sense of attendance for next weekend when we are sure to lose many more to Jupiter's tournaments.

Cabal_chan
06-20-2010, 11:11 AM
Its actually a surprisingly strong meta for 11 people.

A level 2 judge, roughly half of the room has top8ed a large event, a couple winning multiple pieces of power. Abnormally high density of good players.

We had a lot of Regulars skip out this weekend sadly. So, I will be getting a sense of attendance for next weekend when we are sure to lose many more to Jupiter's tournaments.

Next Sat. I should be there.

Not with NLS though. Stupid Wotc.

xTrainx
06-20-2010, 12:40 PM
I should show up next Saturday as well.

@ cdr - Nice report, and very nice job. Your T4 opponent wasn't Jon Barber, it was Jacob Barber, just a clarification.

cdr
06-20-2010, 01:57 PM
You confuse me.

PWiggan
06-21-2010, 02:30 PM
T4 Opponent was Jon Barber, you were correct cdr.

xTrainx
06-21-2010, 02:38 PM
Okay, I'm completely confused now. Forget it.

Rancorous Fool
06-21-2010, 10:11 PM
There is a Jon Barber (won the GPT) and a Jake Barber (won the lotus).

One has a beard one is clean shaven.

xTrainx
06-21-2010, 10:51 PM
There is a Jon Barber (won the GPT) and a Jake Barber (won the lotus).

One has a beard one is clean shaven.

Yeah, Jake hashed out the details for me. I got confused because I thought Jon had gone back home.

Wraith
06-22-2010, 05:53 PM
Nah, quite a few of the regulars have been on vacation or distracted by other tournaments lately, and then last week quite a few of us just flat-out couldn't make it. And yeah, the players that have started coming to the tournament tend to be of an above average caliber, which has been interesting for those of us who are newer to Legacy and can't necessarily afford the stronger decks.

Hopefully not too many people will be pulled away by Vestal this coming weekend and we can have another strong meta. And not, you know, 3-4x Dredge? That was super fun :P