Khurtz
07-05-2010, 01:46 PM
Here's my tournament report from the 14-man RIT tournament this past Saturday July 3rd:
I was running a slightly modified version of The Gate which ended up being incredibly effective.
Round 1 vs Eric M English piloting R/U/G aggro-control (not sure what it was)
Game 1: I don't remember a ton here except that I shut off his red mana early on with a wasteland and was able to knock of a factory with Waste as well. I got Bitterblossom online along with a Vampire Nighthawk and I was able to swinging in while chump blocking his goyf with faerie tokens. He resolved Jace at one point but was not able to defend it. Bitterblossom was amazing here.
Game 2: Short game as his deck mana screwed him and I was able to drop threat after threat.
Round 2 vs Bobby Leroy piloting Merfolk
Game 1: I keep an opening hand with 3 Innocent Bloods, things are looking up : ). I managed to weather his initial merfolk onslaught by removing everything he played while sucking up his counters with early threats. He eventually runs out of gas and I'm able to drop some threats to take it home.
Game 2: I don't remember much except that I'm not able to keep up with vial + 3 Mutavaults and I think I didn't hit a few crucial land drops. I get my face smashed in pretty quick here.
Game 3: I'm able to overwhelm him with creature kill and I find that I approve of my choice to run Disfigure in the SB as it nets me a daze and gets a kill in. Once again I run him out of dudes and I'm able to get Persecutor out as well as Bitterblossom and Jitte.
Round 3 vs Terry Vanderwal piloting MUD
Game 1: Terry drops a first turn Sphere of Res off Ancient tomb and passes turn. I Wasteland his Tomb and pass turn. Terry proceeds to draw no land, except a Wasteland, for the next 8 turns and gets pummeled by Nighthawk and Macabre.
Game 2: After an uneventful first turn for Terry I Therapy him and see 3 Bottled Cloisters and a Metalworker + land. I named Bridge so I whiff. I get two more turns of Terry unable to drop anything to slow me down and I'm able to drop a Macabre and flashback Therapy to net all 3 of his Cloisters. He gets Metalworker out and is able to drop a Sphere off of it but I pull Gate to Phyrexia out and start dropping dudes. I knock off his Metalworker and ignore his Sphere and Chalice for 2, since all my stuff was 3 drops at the time, and start to beat face. I get overexcited and play a Bitterblossom right into his Chalice but I still get in mega-beats and end the game before he can recover.
Round 4 vs Brandon piloting G/W Aggro
Game 1: Brandon doesn't get first turn Hierarch and I'm able to drop a bitterblossom. He nails it with Pridemage. He starts to pump out threats but I keep laying down Gatekeepers. He gets Jitte out but can't equip it. After 2 Gatekeepers in a row he dumps out a Troll Ascetic, however unfortunately for him I topdeck my third Gatekeeper and take it out. I proceed to beat in for game with 3 Gatekeepers.
Game 2: Brandon drops a mom first turn I believe and I swing and whiff with a Therapy seeing 2 Knights of the Reliquary while trying to hit Path to Exiles. I'm able to drop a creature however and I nail both of his Knights. Bradon lays the smack down with a Noble Hierarch and Pridemage however I get into position with a Bitterblossom. I drop Jitte and smack in overhead with a Faerie token which then blows up his Mom and Hierarch. I finish it off by Innocent Blooding his Pridemage leaving him with a cleared board and since he had tapped out the turn before he wasn't able to crack my blossom. I get more dudes on the board and end the game fairly fast after that.
Props:
-Wasteland for winning matches for me ; - )
-Bitterblossom for being amazing and actually not screwing me over as a 3 of
-This deck in general for being horribly underrated
Slops:
-Mindbreak Trap as there was 1 combo deck in the meta that didn't do too well
-My bro getting paired up with 2 Dragon Stompy decks while trying to play Burning Bridge : - (
Other decks that I saw in the meta:
W/G Survival Aggro
Ad Nauseum
R/W Goblins
2 Dragon Stompy decks
MBC
Burning Bridge
Hopefully I'll get a decklist up under The Gate thread at some point here.
I was running a slightly modified version of The Gate which ended up being incredibly effective.
Round 1 vs Eric M English piloting R/U/G aggro-control (not sure what it was)
Game 1: I don't remember a ton here except that I shut off his red mana early on with a wasteland and was able to knock of a factory with Waste as well. I got Bitterblossom online along with a Vampire Nighthawk and I was able to swinging in while chump blocking his goyf with faerie tokens. He resolved Jace at one point but was not able to defend it. Bitterblossom was amazing here.
Game 2: Short game as his deck mana screwed him and I was able to drop threat after threat.
Round 2 vs Bobby Leroy piloting Merfolk
Game 1: I keep an opening hand with 3 Innocent Bloods, things are looking up : ). I managed to weather his initial merfolk onslaught by removing everything he played while sucking up his counters with early threats. He eventually runs out of gas and I'm able to drop some threats to take it home.
Game 2: I don't remember much except that I'm not able to keep up with vial + 3 Mutavaults and I think I didn't hit a few crucial land drops. I get my face smashed in pretty quick here.
Game 3: I'm able to overwhelm him with creature kill and I find that I approve of my choice to run Disfigure in the SB as it nets me a daze and gets a kill in. Once again I run him out of dudes and I'm able to get Persecutor out as well as Bitterblossom and Jitte.
Round 3 vs Terry Vanderwal piloting MUD
Game 1: Terry drops a first turn Sphere of Res off Ancient tomb and passes turn. I Wasteland his Tomb and pass turn. Terry proceeds to draw no land, except a Wasteland, for the next 8 turns and gets pummeled by Nighthawk and Macabre.
Game 2: After an uneventful first turn for Terry I Therapy him and see 3 Bottled Cloisters and a Metalworker + land. I named Bridge so I whiff. I get two more turns of Terry unable to drop anything to slow me down and I'm able to drop a Macabre and flashback Therapy to net all 3 of his Cloisters. He gets Metalworker out and is able to drop a Sphere off of it but I pull Gate to Phyrexia out and start dropping dudes. I knock off his Metalworker and ignore his Sphere and Chalice for 2, since all my stuff was 3 drops at the time, and start to beat face. I get overexcited and play a Bitterblossom right into his Chalice but I still get in mega-beats and end the game before he can recover.
Round 4 vs Brandon piloting G/W Aggro
Game 1: Brandon doesn't get first turn Hierarch and I'm able to drop a bitterblossom. He nails it with Pridemage. He starts to pump out threats but I keep laying down Gatekeepers. He gets Jitte out but can't equip it. After 2 Gatekeepers in a row he dumps out a Troll Ascetic, however unfortunately for him I topdeck my third Gatekeeper and take it out. I proceed to beat in for game with 3 Gatekeepers.
Game 2: Brandon drops a mom first turn I believe and I swing and whiff with a Therapy seeing 2 Knights of the Reliquary while trying to hit Path to Exiles. I'm able to drop a creature however and I nail both of his Knights. Bradon lays the smack down with a Noble Hierarch and Pridemage however I get into position with a Bitterblossom. I drop Jitte and smack in overhead with a Faerie token which then blows up his Mom and Hierarch. I finish it off by Innocent Blooding his Pridemage leaving him with a cleared board and since he had tapped out the turn before he wasn't able to crack my blossom. I get more dudes on the board and end the game fairly fast after that.
Props:
-Wasteland for winning matches for me ; - )
-Bitterblossom for being amazing and actually not screwing me over as a 3 of
-This deck in general for being horribly underrated
Slops:
-Mindbreak Trap as there was 1 combo deck in the meta that didn't do too well
-My bro getting paired up with 2 Dragon Stompy decks while trying to play Burning Bridge : - (
Other decks that I saw in the meta:
W/G Survival Aggro
Ad Nauseum
R/W Goblins
2 Dragon Stompy decks
MBC
Burning Bridge
Hopefully I'll get a decklist up under The Gate thread at some point here.