everythingitouchdies
07-28-2010, 12:55 AM
Sunday July 25th at Knightware in Studio City (LA) CA
5th place with Hypergenesis
I decided about a month ago that I wanted to play something new, a little off the radar, with at least the same strength and power as Reanimator which did so well for me at my last vintage event. I stumbled upon some discussion of hypergenesis, and I set myself to work. I tried an assortment of creature combinations and and even greater assortment of land bases, and finally settled on this list:
2x Hypergenesis
2x Ardent Plea
4x Violent Outburst
4x Show and Tell
4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
4x Emrakul
4x Progenitus
3x Empyrial Archangel
2x Angel of Despair
1x Iona
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Flooded Strand
3x Misty Rainforest
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
1x Savannah
1x Plateau
1x Forest
1x Island
3x City of Brass
3x City of Traitors
Side Board:
3x Form of the Dragon
4x Ingot Chewer
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Iona
2x Llawan
3x Krosan Grip
I didn’t think out the sideboard as well as I should have and I kept changing it, including last minute tweaks of adding Llawan and Clique over Leyline of Sanctity. The only cards out of the board that were used all day were the form of the dragon due to the strength of the maindeck and the lack of any proper boarding against me. I would have been smart to have chosen a Blazing Archon, which I went back and forth on, mainly because he can be targeted by Path and such, while only the angels can otherwise, and he was sorely missed.
The maindeck left me only questioning two choices, first being Iona, who was an underachiever or a win more in every situation, and actually would have won at least once if she would have been the 4th archangel instead like she was supposed to be (I only had three and did not want to purchase another at the same amount as what I paid for the three I had.) The second choice was city of traitors over ancient tomb, which I think I might have done the other way if I played it again. It probably never mattered. I also showed up without yet having a plateau, but I was fortunate enough to be able to get one from the shop, and the deck was ready to go.
To keep it brief, especially since I didn’t win this thing, I will give a snapshot of the six rounds since I didn’t keep notes. I apologize to my opponents for anything I mess up.
Round 1: Nick with New Horizons or Bant something
Game one I kept a hand of six that had the potential to play hypergenesis on turn 2 with progenitus and angel of despair. He tapped out to brainstorm and I attempted, but had to force it through pitching the progenitus and use the angel to destroy his knight of the reliquary. The angel got stp’d and I got beat to death by goyfs.
Game two I went crazy on turn two, cascading into hypergenesis with misdirection back up, putting progenitus and emrakul into play. Wrapped it up to my opponent’s surprise after a rough game one.
Game three went off turn 3 in response to a clique played during my draw step, putting Progenitus, empyrial archangel and Emrakul into play, leaving only force of will for clique to make me put on bottom. My opponent scooped.
1-0
Round 2: Mono U (splash red for sb against zoo)
We discussed his deck before hand and it seemed like a nightmare for me considering the amount of counter magic it ran. But game one I was able to force through a turn 3 Emrakul and Iona off cascade for the win.
Game 2 was even better. He ended up with double counterbalance on board, with two fetches, but could not stop show and tell and I got progenitus. Wins.
2-0
Round 3: Chas with Reanimator
I had the edge in this match, both because my creatures are better and there are more of them. Also because I don’t use the graveyard, I am at least as fast, and I am extremely familiar with his deck and he doesn’t even know what I do. Until turn 3 game one, when I cascade into Emrakul and Progenitus and Angel of Despair
Game two he wins by getting Iona on blue and thoughtseizing my cascade spell.
Game three I go off on his second turn in response to him reanimating Iona, playing 4 big guys and proceeding to my turn.
3-0
Round 4: Combo Elves
I don’t know what he is playing and I keep a hand that has FOW, cascade on two, and both Emrakul and Iona. But I fetch wrong, cant get white mana for ardent plea, and end up getting beat down. Mistakes for the loss.
Game two I mul to five, and on his turn three cascade out a Form of the Dragon because he has enough elves to attack me for lethal. It kills him.
Game three I keep a good hand that can play form of the dragon on one, but I wait because I want to also get a guy, hopefull emrakul or empyrial. He empties out his hand on two, attacks for 10 or so, so I stop the attack by getting out form. I know he boarded in grip game three but I have no real choice. I draw FOW, which I am annoyed with, and he rips grip off the top and beats me for lethal.
3-1
Round 5: Counter Top Bant
I lose game one after mulliganing to six, having a decent hand but cascade early because he has goyf and heirarch and top, and have to pitch the archangel and get only angel of despair, which has to kill a knight of the reliquary. It dies to path, and I have the cards to go off again but don’t draw a guy.
Game two I combo turn two with counter back up and play emrakul and progenitus in response to a turn two counterbalance. I win.
Game three I mull to four. I never play a spell. Lose.
3-2
Round 6: Thopter Sword Counter Top
I lose game one because IONA IS NOT EMPYRIAL ARCHANGEL. I get her out, naming white, he plays Jace and bounces her, I beat him to nine with a spirit guide, he swords’d the second spirit guide, and beats me with Jace after getting moat down to stop my ESG.
Game two I go off pretty quick, his second turn I think, and he plays a bunch of lands and counterbalance off the cascade and realizes my Emrakul still gets there. I had krosan grip if he had humility, but he didn’t.
Game three we both mul to five. He plays turn one top. I play land. He plays turn two counterbalance, I go to my turn, play land, try to cascade. He has a top on the top of his deck and I resolve hypergenesis and put emrakul into play for the win.
4-2
I finished 5th and was pretty happy overall with the deck. I played against a large amount of blue and put up better results than I would have anticipated. I would play this deck again without hesitation, except now I have something else I want to try. I would encourage anyone who is interested to play some games behind this thing, especially anyone who thinks they might play against it, just to see what goes on with it. Besides that, it is a lot of fun, and there is a lot of room for experimenting with it.
Something I wanted to note about all the builds I have seen, all the lists I have seen, and something different I tried. Every list seems to be packing Sphinx of the Steel Wind. I cut him during testing because he is the only path/swords target other than angel of despair, and I wanted those cards to be dead against me. It proved a good strategy, and I would continue to go in this direction. I would even go as far as taking Iona out, but instead of inkwell I would probably just go with another angel or maybe even simic skyswallower to fly over moat.
Thanks to everyone who played me, everyone who showed interest in the deck, everyone who wrote anything about the deck or posted a list I looked at and tested out to get to where I ended up. And thanks again to lori and knightware for another great tournament.
5th place with Hypergenesis
I decided about a month ago that I wanted to play something new, a little off the radar, with at least the same strength and power as Reanimator which did so well for me at my last vintage event. I stumbled upon some discussion of hypergenesis, and I set myself to work. I tried an assortment of creature combinations and and even greater assortment of land bases, and finally settled on this list:
2x Hypergenesis
2x Ardent Plea
4x Violent Outburst
4x Show and Tell
4x Force of Will
3x Misdirection
4x Emrakul
4x Progenitus
3x Empyrial Archangel
2x Angel of Despair
1x Iona
4x Elvish Spirit Guide
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Flooded Strand
3x Misty Rainforest
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
1x Savannah
1x Plateau
1x Forest
1x Island
3x City of Brass
3x City of Traitors
Side Board:
3x Form of the Dragon
4x Ingot Chewer
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Iona
2x Llawan
3x Krosan Grip
I didn’t think out the sideboard as well as I should have and I kept changing it, including last minute tweaks of adding Llawan and Clique over Leyline of Sanctity. The only cards out of the board that were used all day were the form of the dragon due to the strength of the maindeck and the lack of any proper boarding against me. I would have been smart to have chosen a Blazing Archon, which I went back and forth on, mainly because he can be targeted by Path and such, while only the angels can otherwise, and he was sorely missed.
The maindeck left me only questioning two choices, first being Iona, who was an underachiever or a win more in every situation, and actually would have won at least once if she would have been the 4th archangel instead like she was supposed to be (I only had three and did not want to purchase another at the same amount as what I paid for the three I had.) The second choice was city of traitors over ancient tomb, which I think I might have done the other way if I played it again. It probably never mattered. I also showed up without yet having a plateau, but I was fortunate enough to be able to get one from the shop, and the deck was ready to go.
To keep it brief, especially since I didn’t win this thing, I will give a snapshot of the six rounds since I didn’t keep notes. I apologize to my opponents for anything I mess up.
Round 1: Nick with New Horizons or Bant something
Game one I kept a hand of six that had the potential to play hypergenesis on turn 2 with progenitus and angel of despair. He tapped out to brainstorm and I attempted, but had to force it through pitching the progenitus and use the angel to destroy his knight of the reliquary. The angel got stp’d and I got beat to death by goyfs.
Game two I went crazy on turn two, cascading into hypergenesis with misdirection back up, putting progenitus and emrakul into play. Wrapped it up to my opponent’s surprise after a rough game one.
Game three went off turn 3 in response to a clique played during my draw step, putting Progenitus, empyrial archangel and Emrakul into play, leaving only force of will for clique to make me put on bottom. My opponent scooped.
1-0
Round 2: Mono U (splash red for sb against zoo)
We discussed his deck before hand and it seemed like a nightmare for me considering the amount of counter magic it ran. But game one I was able to force through a turn 3 Emrakul and Iona off cascade for the win.
Game 2 was even better. He ended up with double counterbalance on board, with two fetches, but could not stop show and tell and I got progenitus. Wins.
2-0
Round 3: Chas with Reanimator
I had the edge in this match, both because my creatures are better and there are more of them. Also because I don’t use the graveyard, I am at least as fast, and I am extremely familiar with his deck and he doesn’t even know what I do. Until turn 3 game one, when I cascade into Emrakul and Progenitus and Angel of Despair
Game two he wins by getting Iona on blue and thoughtseizing my cascade spell.
Game three I go off on his second turn in response to him reanimating Iona, playing 4 big guys and proceeding to my turn.
3-0
Round 4: Combo Elves
I don’t know what he is playing and I keep a hand that has FOW, cascade on two, and both Emrakul and Iona. But I fetch wrong, cant get white mana for ardent plea, and end up getting beat down. Mistakes for the loss.
Game two I mul to five, and on his turn three cascade out a Form of the Dragon because he has enough elves to attack me for lethal. It kills him.
Game three I keep a good hand that can play form of the dragon on one, but I wait because I want to also get a guy, hopefull emrakul or empyrial. He empties out his hand on two, attacks for 10 or so, so I stop the attack by getting out form. I know he boarded in grip game three but I have no real choice. I draw FOW, which I am annoyed with, and he rips grip off the top and beats me for lethal.
3-1
Round 5: Counter Top Bant
I lose game one after mulliganing to six, having a decent hand but cascade early because he has goyf and heirarch and top, and have to pitch the archangel and get only angel of despair, which has to kill a knight of the reliquary. It dies to path, and I have the cards to go off again but don’t draw a guy.
Game two I combo turn two with counter back up and play emrakul and progenitus in response to a turn two counterbalance. I win.
Game three I mull to four. I never play a spell. Lose.
3-2
Round 6: Thopter Sword Counter Top
I lose game one because IONA IS NOT EMPYRIAL ARCHANGEL. I get her out, naming white, he plays Jace and bounces her, I beat him to nine with a spirit guide, he swords’d the second spirit guide, and beats me with Jace after getting moat down to stop my ESG.
Game two I go off pretty quick, his second turn I think, and he plays a bunch of lands and counterbalance off the cascade and realizes my Emrakul still gets there. I had krosan grip if he had humility, but he didn’t.
Game three we both mul to five. He plays turn one top. I play land. He plays turn two counterbalance, I go to my turn, play land, try to cascade. He has a top on the top of his deck and I resolve hypergenesis and put emrakul into play for the win.
4-2
I finished 5th and was pretty happy overall with the deck. I played against a large amount of blue and put up better results than I would have anticipated. I would play this deck again without hesitation, except now I have something else I want to try. I would encourage anyone who is interested to play some games behind this thing, especially anyone who thinks they might play against it, just to see what goes on with it. Besides that, it is a lot of fun, and there is a lot of room for experimenting with it.
Something I wanted to note about all the builds I have seen, all the lists I have seen, and something different I tried. Every list seems to be packing Sphinx of the Steel Wind. I cut him during testing because he is the only path/swords target other than angel of despair, and I wanted those cards to be dead against me. It proved a good strategy, and I would continue to go in this direction. I would even go as far as taking Iona out, but instead of inkwell I would probably just go with another angel or maybe even simic skyswallower to fly over moat.
Thanks to everyone who played me, everyone who showed interest in the deck, everyone who wrote anything about the deck or posted a list I looked at and tested out to get to where I ended up. And thanks again to lori and knightware for another great tournament.