Gandalf_The_White
07-26-2010, 04:34 PM
So I split for 1st at a mox tourney on Saturday. Here’s the list:
The Apocalypse
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Burning Wish
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
3 Doomsday
2 Ponder
2 Lim-Dul’s Vault
1 Tendrils
1 IGG
1 Meditate
1 Emrakul
1 Shelldock
4 LED
4 Petal
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
2 Island
1 Swamp
SB:
1 Tendrils
1 Doomsday
1 IGG
1 Infernal
1 Empty
1 Pulverize
1 Deathmark
----------------
1 Wipe Away
1 Pithing Needle
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
4 Xantid Swarm
There were 25 people which meant 5 rounds and cut to t8.
Match 1: Chris? (think it was this—def started with a “C”; the guy seemed really nice and complimented me on my Asian cards) with U/B Depths Aggro-Control
Game 1
I put him on mono black because all he plays are 2 swamps, Uborg, Duresses, Sinkhole, and a Bob. The turn after he plays Bob I decide I have to do something before he draws into more hand/land disruption. I don’t quite have the kill so I Empty for 16 tokens (he’s at 17). I could have cast Tendrils for 16 and hoped he died to Bob (at 1 life), but I wasn’t sure if he ran something to kill his own Bob, like Edict or Therapy. All he does is play a Hexmage on his turn and ends up dying to the tokens. I win at 17 life.
Game 2
I Duress him and find out he’s playing Blue. I take his FOW. He has two Hexmages in hand but no Depths. I figure he probably plays more Wastelands than Depths, and I’m afraid of his land destruction slowing me down, so I cast Pithing Needle on Wasteland (probably a mistake, since Waste just slows me whereas Hexmage on Depths can kill me outright). He topdecks a Depths and plays Hexmage+Depths. I draw and have no answer, nor can I kill him. I scoop.
Game 3
He blows up a couple of my lands even though I Duress a Sinkhole. Then he starts beating me down with Mage and Bob. He flips a Stifle with Bob the turn before I can go for the kill. I have the 1 extra mana to play around Stifle, so I build Meditate-Duress-Ritual-LED-Tendrils. Unfortunately, he’s smart and Stifles my STD draw effect. I am holding a Brainstorm but only have 1 mana extra, so I die.
Thus continues my longstanding tradition of losing the 1st match.
0-1
Match 2: Jonathan with Belcher
Game 1
He wins the die roll. Mulls to 6. Plays ESG, Tinder Wall, SSG, Desperate Ritual, Belcher, LED, and activates. He then immediately flips over his whole deck, as he runs 0 Land. GG.
Game 2
He mulls to 5 and has no business. I Duress him 2x and take Chrome and Petal. Eventually he plays an SSG to try to beat me down, while I set up an easy kill.
Game 3
On his T1 he simply passes. My T1 I play Needle on Belcher. On his turn 3 he casts Empty for 16 tokens. I am at 18, so I have a comfortable 2 turns, but on my T3 I cantrip into a Ritual for the mana I need to kill him right away.
1-1
Match 3: Khan with Zoo
Game 1
I play first. He mulls to 5. On his T1 he plays Taiga+Wild Nacatyl. I have Dday and plenty of accel but nothing to draw into the pile, so I go for the sensei-Igg pass the turn pile, dropping to 9 life (since he mulled to 5, I figure it’s unlikely he has double bolt/chain or bolt/chain+fireblast—although 1 bolt could screw me if he leaves mana open). He fetches a Savannah and I breath a sigh of relief as he attacks me to 6. I kill him on my turn.
Game 2
His T1 he plays Loam Lion. My T1 I Thoughtseize him and snag Pyrostatic Pillar. On T2 he plays Goyf. T3 he bashes for 6 and plays Pridemage with 1 mana open. My T3 I go off with Dday, playing around Pridemage. I play LED after Dday resolves, then cast Brainstorm and sac LED in response before passing priority. Meditate stack kills him.
2-1
Match 4: Eugene with Vengevine Survival
Game 1
I sculpt a protected kill with some cantrips. When I try to go off however, he misdirects my Thoughtseize, pitching FOW. I am holding Rit, LED, Doomsday, fetch. I take out Dday cuz I’d just topped and had another Dday or Bwish on top. Then on his turn he plays Survival, so after that I have to go for it or he can combo me next turn. He is holding 2 cards so I only lose if he has a second FOW+blue card. He has Daze but I have 1 extra mana and win with a Meditate stack. He def. would have killed me on his turn with Vengevines.
Game 2
He plays a T1 Hierarch. He plays a turn 2 Wild Mongrel, then pitches Vengevine and Rootwalla to bring both into play and start beating me down. I have to go for it when I’m low life, but I’m 1 mana short of going off with Bwish-->Dday. I am forced to cast Empty for 10 tokens. I trade 4 tokens with his exalted Vengevine and am forced to start chumping his dudes as he attacks with exalted Mongrel/Rootwalla. He plays a Canonist so I keep topping every turn looking for Burning Wish to grab Deathmark. Unfortunately, I never find one and die to weenie beats.
Game 3
I resolve T1 Dday. I’m holding 2x Led so I could easily go for a pass the turn pile, but I’m afraid of possible countermagic or Stifle, so I get Shelldock-Petal-Ritual-Tendrils- Emrakul. He fetches a Trop to Ponder and passes. I play Shelldock. He plays Wild Mongrel. I untap and activate Shelldock for Emrakul and he’s like O.o. He wants to verify with the judge that this counts as casting it (my Isle is Chinese). So I dig an English one out of my binder and the judge confirms that it does. I take my extra turn and he scoops when I attack.
3-1
Match 5: René with Aggro-Loam
Out of the 5 or so people with 9 points, I get paired down against an 8-pointer so I can’t draw in. Thus continues my tradition of going 3-1 and being unable to draw in the last round.
Game 1
He mulls to 6 and has little disruption or pressure so I combo him out pretty easily. However, I screw up horribly, because I forget about having Emrakul in hand. I Bwish for Dday with BBB floating and don’t bother to crack my LED right away since I don’t have to. Then after I resolve Dday for a Meditate stack, and go to crack LED, I realize that Emrakul (my only card left in hand) will fuck up my pile by reshuffling. So I crack LED for Blue, draw with top in response to Emrakul trigger, cast Meditate in response to trigger, draw LED, LED, Petal, Top. GY shuffles. Thankfully I have 1 extra mana so I can cast+spin Top and use both LEDs to cash Wish for Tendrils... if Wish is in the top 3 of my 4 card library. I shuffle up and pass it to my opponent and pray. I look with top and find the Bwish ftw.
Game 2
He mulls again and plays land+go. I T1 Thoughtseize his Chalice, but he topdecks another one and casts it at 1. I fetch Volc and Bwish for Pulverize, but don’t draw another fetch for the Badlands, and can’t dig for one since his Chalice cuts off all my cantrips. He draws a Waste for my Volc and topdecks and plays a Chalice at 0 a couple turns later, and I eventually die to Terravore beats.
Game 3
I cast T1 Thoughtseize and see Land, Land, Diamond, Terravore, Loam, Loam. I take the Terravore figuring that without it he has no clock, although perhaps I should have taken the Diamond to slow him down (and in view of possible topdecks). He plays land, Diamond, Loam. I set up rather easily after this as he has no pressure and no disruption. I combo on turn 3 or 4.
4-1: with 12 points I’m in first place after swiss.
Top 8: Arend with U/W Aggro-Control
Game 1
I Thoughtseize him and see a hand of creatures, including Sea Drake, Serra Avenger, and Fathom Seer. I take the Fathom seer. Then I play out some lands along with Top and Brainstorm. When I’ve sculpted the win in a few turns, I Duress him and he Brainstorms. The only instants in his hand are 2x Spell Snare, so I take 1 and play around the other with a Meditate+Tendrils stack, since I have plenty of mana and storm with (double?) Rit and LED. Because of the cards I’d played so far (Thoughtseize, Top, U/B lands, and Brainstorm), he didn’t realize I was playing combo until the turn I went off.
Game 2
I resolve T2 Doomsday and he morphs Fathom Seer in response (played off 2x land and Diamond). From his reaction as he draws and lets the Dday resolve, I read him as having no counter, so instead of Emrakul I go for a Meditate storm pile to win instantly. My read is correct.
Top 4: Ryan with BUGstill
Game 1
I Duress him 2x, seeing no counters and taking 2x Standstills. I have nothing to draw into my pile, however, so after my 2nd Duress, rather than waiting longer and giving him a chance to draw into multiple counters, I decide to risk a pass the turn pile and hope he doesn’t topdeck one (nothing relevant in his GY). Then on his turn he draws and plays a Brainstorm, which is scary but there’s nothing I can do about it since I’m already committed. On my turn I Brainstorm into Ritual Ritual LED Igg, & play them out. IGG resolves and he returns Brainstorm. I replay Ritual, LED, and Brainstorm. Since he’s double fetched, I decide to cast Tendrils for 18 instead of Bwish (both were in my library) in order to play around Spell Snare. He Brainstorms in response, finds no counter, and scoops. I lucked out on this one.
Game 2
This game was very odd. I Duress his Fow early on (although in hindsight perhaps I should have taken Extirpate), but after that he counters 2 more Duresses. He counters 1 Top and Grips another. Eventually I resolve a Bwish and grab Empty. The next turn I try for Empty but he counters my Cabal Ritual. A few turns later I am able to Empty for 4 copies, but he counters one. His only manland is a Mishra’s Factory, so I am able to kill the 2x Jace he plays by swinging with tokens, and I eventually resolve a Xantid Swarm; however, he’s Extirpated my Brainstorms and Burning Wishes, and Wasted all my Duals with Loam and Cow recursion. I don’t draw anything I can use so all I can do is keep swinging with my 3x tokens left alive while he races with his 1 Factory. He doesn’t Dredge into another manland or find anything else, so I chump his Factory with my Xantid and kill him with Goblin beats at 1 life. I honestly can’t believe I won this game. It dragged on forever and seemed so hopeless at points that I almost considered scooping.
T2 Split--1st prize is Unl Ruby valued at 325, 2nd is 2x Illusionary Mask. I’m fully powered and he needs the Ruby, so he takes it and gives me 160, while we each take 1 Mask.
The deck played really well all day. I loved having 7 Duress effects and might even want to try to make room for the 4th Thoughtseize.
Notes:
-I cast ETW 3 times and it won me the game twice.
-I didn’t cast LDV even once (don’t recall drawing it).
-Only killed with Shelldock/Emrakul once.
-Drew and cast my 1-of sideboarded Pithing Needle 2 times.
Props to all my opponents and the friends I drove down with.
The Apocalypse
4 Brainstorm
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
4 Burning Wish
4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
3 Doomsday
2 Ponder
2 Lim-Dul’s Vault
1 Tendrils
1 IGG
1 Meditate
1 Emrakul
1 Shelldock
4 LED
4 Petal
4 Dark Ritual
2 Cabal Ritual
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
2 Island
1 Swamp
SB:
1 Tendrils
1 Doomsday
1 IGG
1 Infernal
1 Empty
1 Pulverize
1 Deathmark
----------------
1 Wipe Away
1 Pithing Needle
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
4 Xantid Swarm
There were 25 people which meant 5 rounds and cut to t8.
Match 1: Chris? (think it was this—def started with a “C”; the guy seemed really nice and complimented me on my Asian cards) with U/B Depths Aggro-Control
Game 1
I put him on mono black because all he plays are 2 swamps, Uborg, Duresses, Sinkhole, and a Bob. The turn after he plays Bob I decide I have to do something before he draws into more hand/land disruption. I don’t quite have the kill so I Empty for 16 tokens (he’s at 17). I could have cast Tendrils for 16 and hoped he died to Bob (at 1 life), but I wasn’t sure if he ran something to kill his own Bob, like Edict or Therapy. All he does is play a Hexmage on his turn and ends up dying to the tokens. I win at 17 life.
Game 2
I Duress him and find out he’s playing Blue. I take his FOW. He has two Hexmages in hand but no Depths. I figure he probably plays more Wastelands than Depths, and I’m afraid of his land destruction slowing me down, so I cast Pithing Needle on Wasteland (probably a mistake, since Waste just slows me whereas Hexmage on Depths can kill me outright). He topdecks a Depths and plays Hexmage+Depths. I draw and have no answer, nor can I kill him. I scoop.
Game 3
He blows up a couple of my lands even though I Duress a Sinkhole. Then he starts beating me down with Mage and Bob. He flips a Stifle with Bob the turn before I can go for the kill. I have the 1 extra mana to play around Stifle, so I build Meditate-Duress-Ritual-LED-Tendrils. Unfortunately, he’s smart and Stifles my STD draw effect. I am holding a Brainstorm but only have 1 mana extra, so I die.
Thus continues my longstanding tradition of losing the 1st match.
0-1
Match 2: Jonathan with Belcher
Game 1
He wins the die roll. Mulls to 6. Plays ESG, Tinder Wall, SSG, Desperate Ritual, Belcher, LED, and activates. He then immediately flips over his whole deck, as he runs 0 Land. GG.
Game 2
He mulls to 5 and has no business. I Duress him 2x and take Chrome and Petal. Eventually he plays an SSG to try to beat me down, while I set up an easy kill.
Game 3
On his T1 he simply passes. My T1 I play Needle on Belcher. On his turn 3 he casts Empty for 16 tokens. I am at 18, so I have a comfortable 2 turns, but on my T3 I cantrip into a Ritual for the mana I need to kill him right away.
1-1
Match 3: Khan with Zoo
Game 1
I play first. He mulls to 5. On his T1 he plays Taiga+Wild Nacatyl. I have Dday and plenty of accel but nothing to draw into the pile, so I go for the sensei-Igg pass the turn pile, dropping to 9 life (since he mulled to 5, I figure it’s unlikely he has double bolt/chain or bolt/chain+fireblast—although 1 bolt could screw me if he leaves mana open). He fetches a Savannah and I breath a sigh of relief as he attacks me to 6. I kill him on my turn.
Game 2
His T1 he plays Loam Lion. My T1 I Thoughtseize him and snag Pyrostatic Pillar. On T2 he plays Goyf. T3 he bashes for 6 and plays Pridemage with 1 mana open. My T3 I go off with Dday, playing around Pridemage. I play LED after Dday resolves, then cast Brainstorm and sac LED in response before passing priority. Meditate stack kills him.
2-1
Match 4: Eugene with Vengevine Survival
Game 1
I sculpt a protected kill with some cantrips. When I try to go off however, he misdirects my Thoughtseize, pitching FOW. I am holding Rit, LED, Doomsday, fetch. I take out Dday cuz I’d just topped and had another Dday or Bwish on top. Then on his turn he plays Survival, so after that I have to go for it or he can combo me next turn. He is holding 2 cards so I only lose if he has a second FOW+blue card. He has Daze but I have 1 extra mana and win with a Meditate stack. He def. would have killed me on his turn with Vengevines.
Game 2
He plays a T1 Hierarch. He plays a turn 2 Wild Mongrel, then pitches Vengevine and Rootwalla to bring both into play and start beating me down. I have to go for it when I’m low life, but I’m 1 mana short of going off with Bwish-->Dday. I am forced to cast Empty for 10 tokens. I trade 4 tokens with his exalted Vengevine and am forced to start chumping his dudes as he attacks with exalted Mongrel/Rootwalla. He plays a Canonist so I keep topping every turn looking for Burning Wish to grab Deathmark. Unfortunately, I never find one and die to weenie beats.
Game 3
I resolve T1 Dday. I’m holding 2x Led so I could easily go for a pass the turn pile, but I’m afraid of possible countermagic or Stifle, so I get Shelldock-Petal-Ritual-Tendrils- Emrakul. He fetches a Trop to Ponder and passes. I play Shelldock. He plays Wild Mongrel. I untap and activate Shelldock for Emrakul and he’s like O.o. He wants to verify with the judge that this counts as casting it (my Isle is Chinese). So I dig an English one out of my binder and the judge confirms that it does. I take my extra turn and he scoops when I attack.
3-1
Match 5: René with Aggro-Loam
Out of the 5 or so people with 9 points, I get paired down against an 8-pointer so I can’t draw in. Thus continues my tradition of going 3-1 and being unable to draw in the last round.
Game 1
He mulls to 6 and has little disruption or pressure so I combo him out pretty easily. However, I screw up horribly, because I forget about having Emrakul in hand. I Bwish for Dday with BBB floating and don’t bother to crack my LED right away since I don’t have to. Then after I resolve Dday for a Meditate stack, and go to crack LED, I realize that Emrakul (my only card left in hand) will fuck up my pile by reshuffling. So I crack LED for Blue, draw with top in response to Emrakul trigger, cast Meditate in response to trigger, draw LED, LED, Petal, Top. GY shuffles. Thankfully I have 1 extra mana so I can cast+spin Top and use both LEDs to cash Wish for Tendrils... if Wish is in the top 3 of my 4 card library. I shuffle up and pass it to my opponent and pray. I look with top and find the Bwish ftw.
Game 2
He mulls again and plays land+go. I T1 Thoughtseize his Chalice, but he topdecks another one and casts it at 1. I fetch Volc and Bwish for Pulverize, but don’t draw another fetch for the Badlands, and can’t dig for one since his Chalice cuts off all my cantrips. He draws a Waste for my Volc and topdecks and plays a Chalice at 0 a couple turns later, and I eventually die to Terravore beats.
Game 3
I cast T1 Thoughtseize and see Land, Land, Diamond, Terravore, Loam, Loam. I take the Terravore figuring that without it he has no clock, although perhaps I should have taken the Diamond to slow him down (and in view of possible topdecks). He plays land, Diamond, Loam. I set up rather easily after this as he has no pressure and no disruption. I combo on turn 3 or 4.
4-1: with 12 points I’m in first place after swiss.
Top 8: Arend with U/W Aggro-Control
Game 1
I Thoughtseize him and see a hand of creatures, including Sea Drake, Serra Avenger, and Fathom Seer. I take the Fathom seer. Then I play out some lands along with Top and Brainstorm. When I’ve sculpted the win in a few turns, I Duress him and he Brainstorms. The only instants in his hand are 2x Spell Snare, so I take 1 and play around the other with a Meditate+Tendrils stack, since I have plenty of mana and storm with (double?) Rit and LED. Because of the cards I’d played so far (Thoughtseize, Top, U/B lands, and Brainstorm), he didn’t realize I was playing combo until the turn I went off.
Game 2
I resolve T2 Doomsday and he morphs Fathom Seer in response (played off 2x land and Diamond). From his reaction as he draws and lets the Dday resolve, I read him as having no counter, so instead of Emrakul I go for a Meditate storm pile to win instantly. My read is correct.
Top 4: Ryan with BUGstill
Game 1
I Duress him 2x, seeing no counters and taking 2x Standstills. I have nothing to draw into my pile, however, so after my 2nd Duress, rather than waiting longer and giving him a chance to draw into multiple counters, I decide to risk a pass the turn pile and hope he doesn’t topdeck one (nothing relevant in his GY). Then on his turn he draws and plays a Brainstorm, which is scary but there’s nothing I can do about it since I’m already committed. On my turn I Brainstorm into Ritual Ritual LED Igg, & play them out. IGG resolves and he returns Brainstorm. I replay Ritual, LED, and Brainstorm. Since he’s double fetched, I decide to cast Tendrils for 18 instead of Bwish (both were in my library) in order to play around Spell Snare. He Brainstorms in response, finds no counter, and scoops. I lucked out on this one.
Game 2
This game was very odd. I Duress his Fow early on (although in hindsight perhaps I should have taken Extirpate), but after that he counters 2 more Duresses. He counters 1 Top and Grips another. Eventually I resolve a Bwish and grab Empty. The next turn I try for Empty but he counters my Cabal Ritual. A few turns later I am able to Empty for 4 copies, but he counters one. His only manland is a Mishra’s Factory, so I am able to kill the 2x Jace he plays by swinging with tokens, and I eventually resolve a Xantid Swarm; however, he’s Extirpated my Brainstorms and Burning Wishes, and Wasted all my Duals with Loam and Cow recursion. I don’t draw anything I can use so all I can do is keep swinging with my 3x tokens left alive while he races with his 1 Factory. He doesn’t Dredge into another manland or find anything else, so I chump his Factory with my Xantid and kill him with Goblin beats at 1 life. I honestly can’t believe I won this game. It dragged on forever and seemed so hopeless at points that I almost considered scooping.
T2 Split--1st prize is Unl Ruby valued at 325, 2nd is 2x Illusionary Mask. I’m fully powered and he needs the Ruby, so he takes it and gives me 160, while we each take 1 Mask.
The deck played really well all day. I loved having 7 Duress effects and might even want to try to make room for the 4th Thoughtseize.
Notes:
-I cast ETW 3 times and it won me the game twice.
-I didn’t cast LDV even once (don’t recall drawing it).
-Only killed with Shelldock/Emrakul once.
-Drew and cast my 1-of sideboarded Pithing Needle 2 times.
Props to all my opponents and the friends I drove down with.