Fry
08-14-2010, 11:48 PM
On Saturday August 14th I went to a tournament at Comics Cards and Games in the hopes to win a Library of Alexandria.
This is the list of the deck I played, I call it Pseudo Zoo
Main:
4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Plateau
3x Taiga
3x Mountain
4x Goblin Guide
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Wild Nacatl
3x Sylvan Library
2x Reckless Charge
3x Fireblast
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
3x Price of Progress
Side:
2x Faerie Macabre
1x Price of Progress
3x Krosan Grip
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Tormod’s Crypt
Round One: Matt Cummings playing Zoo
Unfortunately, since it was a 10 man tourney and 5 of us were from Erie it was bound to happen at some point, but I played a friend round one. Matt won the die roll and chooses to go first.
The game starts out with Matt playing a land and passing. I play a steppe lynx and pass.
Matt kills my lynx on his turn, then on my second turn I play my favorite card in the deck, Sylvan Library.
Turn three Matt plays a Burning Tree Shaman. My turn 3 consists of killing his shaman and playing a Grim Lavamancer.
He kills my lavamancer before it becomes active. I have to pass.
Matt then plays 2 Wild Nacatl and I play Price of Progress at the end of turn. On my turn I have a library and two fetches from the Library trigger, and I concede to move to game two.
I side out 2 reckless charge, 1 lynx, and 1 nacatl in favor of the last price in my side and 3 bridge.
I play first and start out with a fetch and nacatl. Matt plays a lynx on his turn.
My second turn I kill his lynx and play a guide, swing 4. Matt’s turn two was killing my nacatl and playing one of his own.
I pass my turn three and Matt plays a goyf and another nacatl on his turn, end of his turn I play a POP for 6.
My turn four I play a fireblast after floating 2 mana, followed by a second POP for the win. My first turn four kill of the tourney.
Game Three goes back and forth a lot and he destroys a library with a pridemage and I fireblast goyf. Though in the long run, even with my making a horrible mistake by blocking with an active lavamancer instead of the new one, I pull the game out because Matt drew 4 or 5 lands in a row.
1-0
Round Two: Jeff Mahaney playing Dredge
Jeff wins the die roll and goes first. His first turn he plays a Cephalid Coliseum and a Careful Study, while my first turn is a Lavamancer.
Turn two Jeff passes his turn. I play a Reckless Charge on my lavamancer and swing for 4.
Turn three Jeff plays a second Coliseum and passes, eot I Bolt him. My turn I flashback the charge on the lavamancer and swing for 4 more.
Turn four Jeff passes, my turn I play Fireblast and POP for the win second turn four kill of the tourney.
Side out: 4 nacatl, 2 pop, 1 library, 2 lynx, and 2 charge. Side in: 2 Macabre, 3 Teeg, 3 Bridge, 1 Relic, and 2 Crypt.
Game two Jeff goes first but mulls first. He passes his turn. My turn I play my top decked Relic of Progenitus.
Turn two he plays a Coliseum. My go I fetch and suspend 2 rift bolts.
Turn three Jeff plays a City of Brass and a Cabal Therapy naming Goyf. I play a fetch then a Bridge on my turn.
Turn four he plays a Tarnished Citadel and a Narcomeba. My turn is a guide and a fetch, he blocks the guide and the narcomeba dies.
Turn five He passes, I swing with the guide and pass.
Turn six Jeff plays Break Through for 1 and I crack the Relic in response. swing with my guide, play a second bridge and another fetch.
Turn seven Jeff plays careful Study, then on my seventh turn I swing with my guide and play Chain Lightning for the win.
2-0
Round Three: Timothy Babcock playing Merfolk
I win the die roll and start with a guide, Tim passes turn and discards for he kept a no lander
Turn two I play a second guide and swing with both, both triggers give him land, I try to play a lavamancer, but he forces it. His turn consists of a mutavault and Æther Vial.
Turn three I play a Lynx, and Charge it. Tim’s third turn is a silvergill adept.
Turn four I fetch and swing with team, then I play chain lightning for the win. The third turn four kill of the tourney.
Side out: 3 pop, 2 nacatl, 1 library Side in: 3 bridge and three grips
Tim goes first and the game starts slowly for us both, though he has a turn 1 vial and he dazes my turn one lavamancer. I get a second lavamancer on turn two, though on his third turn he plays engineered plague on wizards, drat. A couple turns later he has a commander and has blown up a taiga. I bolt the commander and he vials a reejerey. My turn is a suspended rift bolt and pass turn. He gets a mutavault and my upkeep the reejerey dies. I play a lynx, fetch, then a charge. The game continues with another commander with one level counter (that I chain lightning) and another engineered plague, this time on cats… he activates mutavault, it immediately dies due to it being all creature types. I pass my turn, he gets Atlantis , I fetch and play a library. Two turns later he plays a second Æther Vial and standstill. My turn I Fireblast, cracking the standstill, he gets nothing to counter it, I win.
3-0
Round Four I am the only 3-0 player left since my friend who was playing Dream Halls got paired down to his worst match up… Alluren.
I am paired to another friend of mine, Kyle Zaffino playing Eva Green(with what I call a little twist), we did the math and if I conceded to him we would both be in the cut to top 4. We played a couple friendly games to pass the time and since I had conceded I didn’t keep track of what happened during the games, however he did win 2 of 3 games, so it didn’t matter that I had conceded to him anyways
3-1
Semi Finals I play against Timothy Babcock again, which for me is lucky for two reasons. It’s a good match up for me and the other two top four players are friends of mine.
I win the die roll and play first, but after Tim mulls.
I play a fetch and nacatl, Tim passes.
I turn two fetch and lavamancer. Tim plays a mutavault.
Turn three I play a lynx, he dazes, I pay the one. He concedes to game 2.
I side a little differently this time around… I side out 4 nacatl and 2 charge. I side in 3 grips and 3 bridges
This game is a very long one and I only won for a singular reason… I played an Ensnaring bridge on turn four and Tim never finds an answer, and eventually concedes even though he had at least a half dozen merfolk in play, but since they were pumping each other and I had no cards in hand, he couldn’t do anything about it. I play the attrition game then at 4 remaining life he reluctantly concedes, and I move on to the finals
In the Finals I play against Shane Kelley piloting Land… a favorable match up for me so I didn’t want to split like he asked figuring that I would win.
Shane plays first and has an Ith… drat. I fetch and suspend a rift bolt
turn two Shane fetches. I upkeep shoot him three, fetch then suspend another bolt
Third turn he wastelands my taiga. My go I fetch, and he eot cycles thicket.
Turn four Shane forgets that I don’t play goyf and plays Engineered Explosives at two, though he should already know it would only hit my libraries.
Several turns later and in my part being moderately mana flooded Shane has a Zuran Orb, Glacial Chasm and an annoying card called Life from the Loam… I concede.
Side out: 4 guide, 4 lynx, 2 charge, and 2 nacatl Side in: 2 Macabre, 1 pop, 3 grip, 3 bridge, 1 relic, 2 crypt.
I start out with a fetch into a taiga and lavamancer
Shane plays a fetch, Exploration, Wasteland on my taiga, CRAP, I’m in trouble already.
I play the non fetch in my hand, plateau, and a lavamancer. Shane starts going off immediately by playing a factory, life from the loam, wasteland again blowing up my plateau…
my turn I fetch for a mountain and suspend rift bolt. Shane dredges the loam, plays a mox diamond, a trinket mage to get an Orb, wasteland and a Port…. A few turns later and I am completely locked out of the game.
I end up with a playset of counterbalance and tops, Shane got a Library of Alexandria… Who’d a thought I’d lose to one of my favorite match ups? Well it happens to everyone, so you must take the good with the bad, besides it was a friend who won it and no hard feelings, just a little disappointment.
Looking back I realize that I should not have fetched turn one for a duel, but a mountain, and I could have played the ensnaring bridge in my hand and been able to live long enough to get grips and pops in order to kill him. I would not have been decked with the academy ruins because I had the grave hate that could target and remove the artifact in response to the ruins.
This is the list of the deck I played, I call it Pseudo Zoo
Main:
4x Arid Mesa
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Plateau
3x Taiga
3x Mountain
4x Goblin Guide
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Wild Nacatl
3x Sylvan Library
2x Reckless Charge
3x Fireblast
4x Rift Bolt
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Chain Lightning
3x Price of Progress
Side:
2x Faerie Macabre
1x Price of Progress
3x Krosan Grip
3x Gaddock Teeg
3x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Tormod’s Crypt
Round One: Matt Cummings playing Zoo
Unfortunately, since it was a 10 man tourney and 5 of us were from Erie it was bound to happen at some point, but I played a friend round one. Matt won the die roll and chooses to go first.
The game starts out with Matt playing a land and passing. I play a steppe lynx and pass.
Matt kills my lynx on his turn, then on my second turn I play my favorite card in the deck, Sylvan Library.
Turn three Matt plays a Burning Tree Shaman. My turn 3 consists of killing his shaman and playing a Grim Lavamancer.
He kills my lavamancer before it becomes active. I have to pass.
Matt then plays 2 Wild Nacatl and I play Price of Progress at the end of turn. On my turn I have a library and two fetches from the Library trigger, and I concede to move to game two.
I side out 2 reckless charge, 1 lynx, and 1 nacatl in favor of the last price in my side and 3 bridge.
I play first and start out with a fetch and nacatl. Matt plays a lynx on his turn.
My second turn I kill his lynx and play a guide, swing 4. Matt’s turn two was killing my nacatl and playing one of his own.
I pass my turn three and Matt plays a goyf and another nacatl on his turn, end of his turn I play a POP for 6.
My turn four I play a fireblast after floating 2 mana, followed by a second POP for the win. My first turn four kill of the tourney.
Game Three goes back and forth a lot and he destroys a library with a pridemage and I fireblast goyf. Though in the long run, even with my making a horrible mistake by blocking with an active lavamancer instead of the new one, I pull the game out because Matt drew 4 or 5 lands in a row.
1-0
Round Two: Jeff Mahaney playing Dredge
Jeff wins the die roll and goes first. His first turn he plays a Cephalid Coliseum and a Careful Study, while my first turn is a Lavamancer.
Turn two Jeff passes his turn. I play a Reckless Charge on my lavamancer and swing for 4.
Turn three Jeff plays a second Coliseum and passes, eot I Bolt him. My turn I flashback the charge on the lavamancer and swing for 4 more.
Turn four Jeff passes, my turn I play Fireblast and POP for the win second turn four kill of the tourney.
Side out: 4 nacatl, 2 pop, 1 library, 2 lynx, and 2 charge. Side in: 2 Macabre, 3 Teeg, 3 Bridge, 1 Relic, and 2 Crypt.
Game two Jeff goes first but mulls first. He passes his turn. My turn I play my top decked Relic of Progenitus.
Turn two he plays a Coliseum. My go I fetch and suspend 2 rift bolts.
Turn three Jeff plays a City of Brass and a Cabal Therapy naming Goyf. I play a fetch then a Bridge on my turn.
Turn four he plays a Tarnished Citadel and a Narcomeba. My turn is a guide and a fetch, he blocks the guide and the narcomeba dies.
Turn five He passes, I swing with the guide and pass.
Turn six Jeff plays Break Through for 1 and I crack the Relic in response. swing with my guide, play a second bridge and another fetch.
Turn seven Jeff plays careful Study, then on my seventh turn I swing with my guide and play Chain Lightning for the win.
2-0
Round Three: Timothy Babcock playing Merfolk
I win the die roll and start with a guide, Tim passes turn and discards for he kept a no lander
Turn two I play a second guide and swing with both, both triggers give him land, I try to play a lavamancer, but he forces it. His turn consists of a mutavault and Æther Vial.
Turn three I play a Lynx, and Charge it. Tim’s third turn is a silvergill adept.
Turn four I fetch and swing with team, then I play chain lightning for the win. The third turn four kill of the tourney.
Side out: 3 pop, 2 nacatl, 1 library Side in: 3 bridge and three grips
Tim goes first and the game starts slowly for us both, though he has a turn 1 vial and he dazes my turn one lavamancer. I get a second lavamancer on turn two, though on his third turn he plays engineered plague on wizards, drat. A couple turns later he has a commander and has blown up a taiga. I bolt the commander and he vials a reejerey. My turn is a suspended rift bolt and pass turn. He gets a mutavault and my upkeep the reejerey dies. I play a lynx, fetch, then a charge. The game continues with another commander with one level counter (that I chain lightning) and another engineered plague, this time on cats… he activates mutavault, it immediately dies due to it being all creature types. I pass my turn, he gets Atlantis , I fetch and play a library. Two turns later he plays a second Æther Vial and standstill. My turn I Fireblast, cracking the standstill, he gets nothing to counter it, I win.
3-0
Round Four I am the only 3-0 player left since my friend who was playing Dream Halls got paired down to his worst match up… Alluren.
I am paired to another friend of mine, Kyle Zaffino playing Eva Green(with what I call a little twist), we did the math and if I conceded to him we would both be in the cut to top 4. We played a couple friendly games to pass the time and since I had conceded I didn’t keep track of what happened during the games, however he did win 2 of 3 games, so it didn’t matter that I had conceded to him anyways
3-1
Semi Finals I play against Timothy Babcock again, which for me is lucky for two reasons. It’s a good match up for me and the other two top four players are friends of mine.
I win the die roll and play first, but after Tim mulls.
I play a fetch and nacatl, Tim passes.
I turn two fetch and lavamancer. Tim plays a mutavault.
Turn three I play a lynx, he dazes, I pay the one. He concedes to game 2.
I side a little differently this time around… I side out 4 nacatl and 2 charge. I side in 3 grips and 3 bridges
This game is a very long one and I only won for a singular reason… I played an Ensnaring bridge on turn four and Tim never finds an answer, and eventually concedes even though he had at least a half dozen merfolk in play, but since they were pumping each other and I had no cards in hand, he couldn’t do anything about it. I play the attrition game then at 4 remaining life he reluctantly concedes, and I move on to the finals
In the Finals I play against Shane Kelley piloting Land… a favorable match up for me so I didn’t want to split like he asked figuring that I would win.
Shane plays first and has an Ith… drat. I fetch and suspend a rift bolt
turn two Shane fetches. I upkeep shoot him three, fetch then suspend another bolt
Third turn he wastelands my taiga. My go I fetch, and he eot cycles thicket.
Turn four Shane forgets that I don’t play goyf and plays Engineered Explosives at two, though he should already know it would only hit my libraries.
Several turns later and in my part being moderately mana flooded Shane has a Zuran Orb, Glacial Chasm and an annoying card called Life from the Loam… I concede.
Side out: 4 guide, 4 lynx, 2 charge, and 2 nacatl Side in: 2 Macabre, 1 pop, 3 grip, 3 bridge, 1 relic, 2 crypt.
I start out with a fetch into a taiga and lavamancer
Shane plays a fetch, Exploration, Wasteland on my taiga, CRAP, I’m in trouble already.
I play the non fetch in my hand, plateau, and a lavamancer. Shane starts going off immediately by playing a factory, life from the loam, wasteland again blowing up my plateau…
my turn I fetch for a mountain and suspend rift bolt. Shane dredges the loam, plays a mox diamond, a trinket mage to get an Orb, wasteland and a Port…. A few turns later and I am completely locked out of the game.
I end up with a playset of counterbalance and tops, Shane got a Library of Alexandria… Who’d a thought I’d lose to one of my favorite match ups? Well it happens to everyone, so you must take the good with the bad, besides it was a friend who won it and no hard feelings, just a little disappointment.
Looking back I realize that I should not have fetched turn one for a duel, but a mountain, and I could have played the ensnaring bridge in my hand and been able to live long enough to get grips and pops in order to kill him. I would not have been decked with the academy ruins because I had the grave hate that could target and remove the artifact in response to the ruins.