Nightmare
05-07-2007, 09:10 AM
GPT Rochester had a relatively awful turnout of 25 people. At this point, not too many people from Syracuse can go to Columbus, and some of them who can had to work.
I played Hulk Flash, along with 5 other players. There were at least as many decks tuned to beat it, including:
2 UGw Thresh
1 UGwr Thresh
1 Red Death with MD Extirpate
1 Blue Skies (Fish)
1 UBW Fish with MD Leyline
Not to mention the RIT guys playing Goblins with Leyline Maindecked, and the 2 belcher players with Leyline in the board. I was the only Flash player to top 8, but the deck warped this metagame, for sure.
List Withheld by request.
Round 1 - John Pae (unregged) - Mantle Affinity
Newish player, he was basically a session in goldfishing. He definately wan't familiar with the combo, or really many of the cards I was using.
Game 1 - Comboed out on turn 2 with no disruption.
Game 2 - I keep a zero land, lotus petal hand on the draw, and draw ESG then land. I Merchant scroll for FoW backup, and go off turn 3. He tries to Remand the Flash, I Force.
Round 2 - Jeff Folinus (Gekoratel) - Goblins/G with MD Leyline
Game 1 - He opens with Leyline, which I have an answer to in Chain of Vapor. I need to Worldly for Hulk, so I fetch out a Trop with one in hand. I need him to not have 2 Wastelands, and of course he does. I don't draw another mana source, and lose.
Game 2 - He opens with Leyline, I have an answer. I win turn 2.
Game 3 - He opens with Leyline, I have an answer again. Turn two he goes for Chalice at 1, I Force. Turn 3 he goes for another, I bounce Leyline in response. Eventually I have a Marauder beating for 1, he has a Warchief and something else swinging in as well. On the last possible turn I have, I topdeck Flash and win.
Round 3 - Phil Stolze (legacyplayer0) - Aluren
Game 1 - I draw 2 Worldly Tutors, and 2 Protean Hulks, but no Flash, and no way to get one.
Game 2 - I make poor sideboarding choices, including siding out 2 Worldly Tutors. I draw 3 Flashes, and zero Protean Hulks.
Round 4 - David Elrod (Freakish777) - CRET Belcher
Game 1 - He starts to go off on turn 1, I force his Seething Song making him burn for 1 and win on my turn 2.
Game 2 - He opens with Leyline (in Belcher? See what I mean about hate?) We both play the actual beatdown role here, he's swinging with a SSG, I have a 2/2 Marauder cracking back. Eventually I make a 3/3 wall, but he finds his Belcher and wins.
Game 3 - No Leyline this game, but he Land Grants Turn 1 with Wish, DRit, LED, Rite, Petal. He goes for it (I have no Force), and ramps up to 6 mana and BWish on the stack. He gets Infernal Tutor, and goes for Belcher with only a land in play. I think the right play there is Warrens, and winning in two turns, but I have the means to combo before then anyway, if I can draw a mana source. I Brainstormed, and hat to Mystical (fail to find) to clear the chaff. I draw a land, play it, and hope he doesn't draw LED or DRit. He draws a Rite of Flame (Bayou in play), and I win.
Round 5 - Matt Denham - UGw Thresh
I'm paired down with the player at 7 points, meaning I can't draw in. If he wins, he can make top 8, which means he wouldn't just scoop me in. Forced to play it out vs. a terrible matchup.
Game 1 - is a blowout. He gets all the disruption and all the right creatures. MD Meddling Mage + Stifle is a beating.
Game 2 - I open with Leyline after mulling to 5, keeping a no lander with the combo and a Xantid Swarm. He's forced to Force Xantid when I draw land turn 2, and then has nothing to follow it up with when I combo.
Game 3 - No Leyline, but a good grip anyway. I manage to combo out before he can drop Mage, but he stops me. I then get myself a Massacre, and clear his disruption to win.
Top 8 - Shane somethingorother - UGrw Thresh
I tried to get him to give me the win, since he's not entirely sure he's going to Columbus and he has a difficult matchup with everyone else in the top 8. He insists that he's got a good shot, and makes me play it out.
Game 1 - I combo out on turn 2 with Force backup, he has Force and Stifle. No recovery.
Game 2 - I combo out on turn 2 with Force backup, he has Daze and Stifle. I have Worldly still, so I get the combo running again. He drops Mage. I draw Flash, and I have Merchant Scroll. I scroll for Mystical, Mystical for Massacre during my upkeep and cast it. He has 3 cards in grip, which are Force, Force, and Stifle. WTF. It must be pretty awesome to rip all 4 Forces and both Stifles every game. I wish I was that good at Magic.
My opponent then proceeds to play vs. Jason Merwin in the Semis and name Patron Wizard with Meddling Mage. Sweet.
So, I get 7 packs, which contain nothing relavant, and go home extremely miffed. Merwin commented during the semi match, "Adam is seething in anger right now. I can see it in his eyes!" Too true. However, I may have earned myself 1 bye with this and Kadi's together, so it may not be a complete loss.
Top 8 was:
Phil Stolze (Aluren) def. Jeff Folinus (Gob/G)
Shane (UGwr Thresh) def. Adam Barnello (Hulk Flash)
Jason Merwin (Skies) def. David Elrod (Belcher)
Nick Wowelko (Belcher) def. Guy I Don't Know (43land.dec)
Phil def. Nick
Jason def. Shane
Jason def. Phil for the byes.
I played Hulk Flash, along with 5 other players. There were at least as many decks tuned to beat it, including:
2 UGw Thresh
1 UGwr Thresh
1 Red Death with MD Extirpate
1 Blue Skies (Fish)
1 UBW Fish with MD Leyline
Not to mention the RIT guys playing Goblins with Leyline Maindecked, and the 2 belcher players with Leyline in the board. I was the only Flash player to top 8, but the deck warped this metagame, for sure.
List Withheld by request.
Round 1 - John Pae (unregged) - Mantle Affinity
Newish player, he was basically a session in goldfishing. He definately wan't familiar with the combo, or really many of the cards I was using.
Game 1 - Comboed out on turn 2 with no disruption.
Game 2 - I keep a zero land, lotus petal hand on the draw, and draw ESG then land. I Merchant scroll for FoW backup, and go off turn 3. He tries to Remand the Flash, I Force.
Round 2 - Jeff Folinus (Gekoratel) - Goblins/G with MD Leyline
Game 1 - He opens with Leyline, which I have an answer to in Chain of Vapor. I need to Worldly for Hulk, so I fetch out a Trop with one in hand. I need him to not have 2 Wastelands, and of course he does. I don't draw another mana source, and lose.
Game 2 - He opens with Leyline, I have an answer. I win turn 2.
Game 3 - He opens with Leyline, I have an answer again. Turn two he goes for Chalice at 1, I Force. Turn 3 he goes for another, I bounce Leyline in response. Eventually I have a Marauder beating for 1, he has a Warchief and something else swinging in as well. On the last possible turn I have, I topdeck Flash and win.
Round 3 - Phil Stolze (legacyplayer0) - Aluren
Game 1 - I draw 2 Worldly Tutors, and 2 Protean Hulks, but no Flash, and no way to get one.
Game 2 - I make poor sideboarding choices, including siding out 2 Worldly Tutors. I draw 3 Flashes, and zero Protean Hulks.
Round 4 - David Elrod (Freakish777) - CRET Belcher
Game 1 - He starts to go off on turn 1, I force his Seething Song making him burn for 1 and win on my turn 2.
Game 2 - He opens with Leyline (in Belcher? See what I mean about hate?) We both play the actual beatdown role here, he's swinging with a SSG, I have a 2/2 Marauder cracking back. Eventually I make a 3/3 wall, but he finds his Belcher and wins.
Game 3 - No Leyline this game, but he Land Grants Turn 1 with Wish, DRit, LED, Rite, Petal. He goes for it (I have no Force), and ramps up to 6 mana and BWish on the stack. He gets Infernal Tutor, and goes for Belcher with only a land in play. I think the right play there is Warrens, and winning in two turns, but I have the means to combo before then anyway, if I can draw a mana source. I Brainstormed, and hat to Mystical (fail to find) to clear the chaff. I draw a land, play it, and hope he doesn't draw LED or DRit. He draws a Rite of Flame (Bayou in play), and I win.
Round 5 - Matt Denham - UGw Thresh
I'm paired down with the player at 7 points, meaning I can't draw in. If he wins, he can make top 8, which means he wouldn't just scoop me in. Forced to play it out vs. a terrible matchup.
Game 1 - is a blowout. He gets all the disruption and all the right creatures. MD Meddling Mage + Stifle is a beating.
Game 2 - I open with Leyline after mulling to 5, keeping a no lander with the combo and a Xantid Swarm. He's forced to Force Xantid when I draw land turn 2, and then has nothing to follow it up with when I combo.
Game 3 - No Leyline, but a good grip anyway. I manage to combo out before he can drop Mage, but he stops me. I then get myself a Massacre, and clear his disruption to win.
Top 8 - Shane somethingorother - UGrw Thresh
I tried to get him to give me the win, since he's not entirely sure he's going to Columbus and he has a difficult matchup with everyone else in the top 8. He insists that he's got a good shot, and makes me play it out.
Game 1 - I combo out on turn 2 with Force backup, he has Force and Stifle. No recovery.
Game 2 - I combo out on turn 2 with Force backup, he has Daze and Stifle. I have Worldly still, so I get the combo running again. He drops Mage. I draw Flash, and I have Merchant Scroll. I scroll for Mystical, Mystical for Massacre during my upkeep and cast it. He has 3 cards in grip, which are Force, Force, and Stifle. WTF. It must be pretty awesome to rip all 4 Forces and both Stifles every game. I wish I was that good at Magic.
My opponent then proceeds to play vs. Jason Merwin in the Semis and name Patron Wizard with Meddling Mage. Sweet.
So, I get 7 packs, which contain nothing relavant, and go home extremely miffed. Merwin commented during the semi match, "Adam is seething in anger right now. I can see it in his eyes!" Too true. However, I may have earned myself 1 bye with this and Kadi's together, so it may not be a complete loss.
Top 8 was:
Phil Stolze (Aluren) def. Jeff Folinus (Gob/G)
Shane (UGwr Thresh) def. Adam Barnello (Hulk Flash)
Jason Merwin (Skies) def. David Elrod (Belcher)
Nick Wowelko (Belcher) def. Guy I Don't Know (43land.dec)
Phil def. Nick
Jason def. Shane
Jason def. Phil for the byes.