[report] TES at Brussels, Belgium (48 players)

After some months of papers and exams it’s time to play magic again. Outpost Brussels organizes a legacy tournament and our team decides to participate.

We playtest a lot. I’m playing TES, as usual. The decks performs smoothly as ever and in testing even countertop isn’t able to beat it consistently. It’s my first tournament since my split finals last time at Mol (tournament report can be found http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?18853-[report]-TES-splits-finals-at-Mol-Belgium-%2856-players%29), so I hope to do well again.

I get up at 8 am, take my car and drive to Peter and Johan (RancOr) their place. Together we get to the avenue in Brussels where we meet some other team members, one of them Shaun (citanul), who decided to leave his dark rituals at home for once and pack some counterbalances. He and Johan both play the recent UGWR countertop SGC list. Peter plays Imperial painter.

48 people showed, so we’re off for 6 rounds of magic.

This is what I ended up playing:

MB:
4 gemstone mine
2 city of brass
1 polluted delta
1 flooded strand
1 misty rainforest
1 scalding tarn
2 underground sea
1 volcanic island
4 ponder
4 brainstorm
4 lotus petal
4 lion’s eye diamond
4 dark ritual
4 rite of flame
4 chrome mox
4 infernal tutor
4 burning wish
3 orim’s chant
1 silence
4 duress
1 ad nauseam
1 empty the warrens
1 tendrils of agony

SB:
1 tropical island
3 xantid swarm
2 krosan grip
2 chain of vapor
1 deathmark
1 shattering spree
1 grapeshot
1 empty the warrens
1 ill-gotten gains
1 tendrils of agony
1 diminishing returns

This report is reconstructed from life totals and random notes I made during matches, so I might mix up some matches and details.


Round 1: Next level threshold

G1: I open a quite solid hand of 2 land, brainstorm, ponder, rite of flame, rite of flame, led. However my cantrips fail to find any business and/or protection for some turns. He uses stifle and wasteland to keep my mana tight and stops my final attempt with double force of will.
G2: I mull to 5. He mulls to 6. I open land, land, lotus petal, dark ritual, empty the warrens. 4 cards aren’t going to get much better than this, so 6 goblins on the play it is. He kept a hand full of counters (turn 3 duress sees spell pierce, 2 daze, 2 stifle), but can’t deal with my small army.
G3: I don’t remember this game well. I resolve ad nauseam ad 15ish life and it gets there quite easily. He made a slight error here by using his spell pierce on the wrong moment, it wouldn’t have mattered though.

games 2-1
rounds 1-0

Round 2: GW Beats

G1: I kill him with ad nauseam turn 1 on the play, nothing to say here.
G2: We both mull to 5. He leads vial go. I ponder, setting up a turn 2 iggy loop with the 2 leds in my hand. Turn 2 he plays a phyrexian revoker, naming led. Bummer. I ponder again, seeing chain of vapor and some lotus petals. He’s not putting any pressure whatsoever, but keeps his vial at 2 counters, this is rather awkward since if I bounce his revoker, he’ll just return it to play with his vial. I cantrip into other rituals, but then he goes EOT vial revoker (lotus petal), untap, gaddock teeg. GG
G3: I open 3 land, chain of vapor, ponder, brainstorm, LED. His first 2 turns consist of hierarch, gaddock teeg. My cantrips found me another led and internal tutor. Chain gives me 3 storm while bouncing his teeg, led, led, infernal, iggy him out.

Games: 4-2
Rounds: 2-0

Round 3: UR Painter (SCG list)

G1: He leads mountain go. I mulled to 6, keeping volcanic island, ponder, dark ritual, chrome mox, infernal tutor, led. I play land, ponder… he red blasts it. I’m like wtf. I really needed that ponder. (any other land would give the possibility of turn 1 ad nauseam) Turn 2 he plays ancient tomb grindstone, painter. GG
G2: I lead with ponder, he starts with ancient tomb, painter. I duress turn 2, seeing mox opal, 2 grindstone, red elemental blast, brainstorm, daze. I enter the think tank. My hand had a turn 3 win, but lost to a counter (painter + reb), so I ended up taking mox opal. I’m not sure about my play here, maybe because he topdecked another mox opal like a champ and went grindstone, mox opal, keeping mana open to red blast my combo attempt.

Games: 4-4
Rounds: 2-1

Round 4: Countertop bant

G1: He leads tropical island, top. I duress, he fows, pitching brainstorm. Turn 2, he plays counterbalance. Hooray. I burning wish for empty the warrens. He plays tarmogoyf and starts beating for 3 a turn. I build up to 4 lands. When He taps 3 of his 4 lands for a KOTR, I get my chance: I chant, he activates top in response, in response I play another chant, he taps top in response, I respond with dark ritual (fow), dark ritual. Dark ritual resolves, counterbalance counters my chants. I play lotus petal, lotus petal, empty the warrens for 16. The tokens get there.
G2: He leads hierarch go. I duress away his fow from a hand of land, goyf, brainstorm, daze, daze. Turn 2 he plays goyf. I play land, lotus petal, chant (daze, pay; daze, ritual in response), led, infernal tutor, empty for 16. Tokens win.

Games: 6-4
Rounds: 3-1

Round 5: Enchantress

G1: He leads forest, wild growth, I go underground sea, lotus petal, rite of flame, dark ritual, ad nauseam. I reveal from 20 life and… lose. Sigh. I reveal wishes, tutors, tendrils, chants, but no initial mana sources. I take 16, can’t kill him and just need a chrome mox or lotus petal. I reveal one more: empty the warrens… (the sole 4CC card left in my deck…) One could argue to stop revealing at 4 life, killing him next turn, however I continued because: a) he knew I was playing combo but seemed to be rather happy about his hand and I feared solitary confinement next turn; b) I had like 40 cards left in my deck, 8 initial mana sources, 1 empty the warrens and 2 or 3 wishes and tutors left. So yeah, I dared and failed miserably :D
G2: Turn 0 he plays white leyline. I brainstorm turn 1. He plays land, utopia sprawl. I chain of vapor his lelyline and duress, initially planning to take his leyline but when he reveals his hand I end up taking his elephant grass, leaving him with city of solitude, karmic justice, moat, leyline and other enchantments I don’t care about and create 12 goblins. He plays land, go. I attack him to 8. He untaps, I chant him and he dies.
G3: He leads with land, go. I just play a land and pass back. He plays a second land and an enchantress. I ponder, play my second land and silence him during his upkeep. He passes back. Turn 3 I ad nauseam, revealing from 18 life with B floating. It gets there.

Games: 8-5
Rounds: 4-1

Round 6: UW Landstill

He’s at 13 points and I’m at fourth place with best resistance of all 12 point players, so we draw in.

Rounds: 4-1-1

From our team, Johan made it to top 8 too. Guess who’s my next opponent?

Top 8: UGWR Countertop

G1: We both know each other’s 75, so no secret strategies here. I cantrip turn 1. He leads fetch into tropical, top. Turn 2 I chant (resolves), creating 12 tokens. He plays a goyf and passes back. Tokens attack him down to 8. He plays another goyf. I attack, he blocks, plows his own goyf to put him at 2 life. He draws, tops, but fails to find a firespout.
G2: He leads with land, go. I brainstorm. He plays a land, goyf and passes back. I duress, it resolves, showing 2 firespout, land, reb, beb, fow. I take his fow. I can’t play through his blasts and have to take the goyf beats for some turns. He brings me down to 8 life. I chant (fow pitching beb), duress his reb and diminishing returns with UB floating and no land drop. I draw a new 7 containing a kill through internal tutor and a duress. I duress, seeing a hand of snare, brainstorm and some blanks. He has 3 lands untapped. I take the snare, play out my hand, infernal tutor. He brainstorms in response, finds counterspell and stops me.
G3: I lead with underground sea, duress, seeing a hand of counterspell, beb, snare, counterbalance, 3 lands. I take his counterbalance, as I’m not ready to go off yet. He topdecks a top and plays it. We have some turns of me sculpting my hand, trying to punch through his counterwall and him playing more lands and a goyf. I bait some of his counters with burning wish and some duress/chants, but know that he still has a snare, when he finally finds another counterbalance. I sneak in some petals and chrome moxes, giving me 8 initial mana sources to start with. I have tendrils in hand and will try to storm him out, using his counterspells to fuel my storm. At 2 life, I have to go for it now with 2 chants, 2 dark rituals, rite of flame, tendrils, burning wish, empty the warrens in hand. He has 4 lands untapped. I play rite of flame, he activates top in response, I chant in response, he brainstorms in response, I chant in response, he brainstorms in response, I dark ritual in response, he taps top in response, I dark ritual in response (fow) Nice stack. I had the chance to tendrils him for 14 in between, but It wouldn’t have mattered: I had only one shot. By playing my last ritual, I had only 3 mana untapped, 1 too little to play the tendrils in my hand. I hoped to resolve one of my rituals, combined with some of his spells it would give me a chance to tendrils him out through his counterbalance. However, he played it very tight, countered the right spells during the game and knew my plan. (that’s what you get in return for playtesting a lot against storm) Johan proceeds to split the finals with another TES player.

Top 8:
1/2 UGWR countertop
1/2 3c TES
3/4 UW Landstill
3/4 Sneak attack/Show and tell
5/8 5c TES
5/8 U/R Painter
5/8 mono red sligh
5/8 ????

Metagame: (rough estimate)
6 countertop
6 goblins
5 zoo
5 storm combo (3 TES, 2 spiral tide)
8 GW beats, D&T like decks
6 bant decks (with/without countertop/progenitus)
4 merfolk
Xx other (painter, mono black aggro, landstill, the rock, …)

Props:
The deck, for being awesome
Bryant and other members of team epic for creating this monster
Team members doing well
Winning through active counterbalance

Slops:
None, don’t be such a sad panda

Regards

Quote:

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...White leyline... I duress, taking his elephant

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I think we're missing something here in that enchantress game. Other than that congrats on your results!

Yeah, forgot to mention chain of vapor here. I forgot it because finally I didn't made him discard his leyline, but his elephant grass, since it was the only card in his hard that could stop my goblins. Thanks

Why didn't you go straight for AN turn 1 in round 3 (UR Painter)? Just wondering because that's what I would do if my opponent opens with mountain, go.

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Originally Posted by imRauSch

Why didn't you go straight for AN turn 1 in round 3 (UR Painter)? Just wondering because that's what I would do if my opponent opens with mountain, go.

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Nice catch, when I first read that I thought he was 1 short. Although I don't usually go for the turn 1 Ad Nauseam unless it is against Counterbalance. Normally Mountains means you can take 1 turn making sure you get it 100%. Why he didn't go of the turn after that I don't know.

He dropped a fow while shuffling his deck. Though you can still argue I should have tried it (He has like 40% chance of having it in his openingshand), I waited because he kwows I'm playing TES.

Would other TES players go ad nauseam then?
I would go turn 1 ad nauseam if I could go ritual, ritual, ad nauseam. (spending 3 cards), with this hand I would spend my entire 7 just to go ad nauseam, which means, that if he counters it I'm screwed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diprivan

He dropped a fow while shuffling his deck. Though you can still argue I should have tried it (He has like 40% chance of having it in his openingshand), I waited because he kwows I'm playing TES.

Would other TES players go ad nauseam then?
I would go turn 1 ad nauseam if I could go ritual, ritual, ad nauseam. (spending 3 cards), with this hand I would spend my entire 7 just to go ad nauseam, which means, that if he counters it I'm screwed.

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I would've with that hand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diprivan

He dropped a fow while shuffling his deck. Though you can still argue I should have tried it (He has like 40% chance of having it in his openingshand), I waited because he kwows I'm playing TES.

Would other TES players go ad nauseam then?
I would go turn 1 ad nauseam if I could go ritual, ritual, ad nauseam. (spending 3 cards), with this hand I would spend my entire 7 just to go ad nauseam, which means, that if he counters it I'm screwed.

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I would've with that hand.

Hmmm, I remember why I didn't go for it turn 1. The land was a volcanic island. I'm sorry about that. I'll edit it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diprivan

Hmmm, I remember why I didn't go for it turn 1. The land was a volcanic island. I'm sorry about that. I'll edit it.

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I now agree with your play.

I think most TES players would go for it turn 1. But spending my entire 7, only to horribly lose to fow seems like a big risk to me. Ritual, ritual, ad nauseam anytime, if they fow it, they just use 2 blue cards to stop 3 of mine. Maybe I'm just too anxious:cry:

@Lorddotm: G2 painter, would you have taken the mox opal too with duress? Both taking opal and brainstorm have their benefits, though I think taking the mox was the right play.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Diprivan

I think most TES players would go for it turn 1. But spending my entire 7, only to horribly lose to fow seems like a big risk to me. Ritual, ritual, ad nauseam anytime, if they fow it, they just use 2 blue cards to stop 3 of mine. Maybe I'm just too anxious:cry:

@Lorddotm: G2 painter, would you have taken the mox opal too with duress? Both taking opal and brainstorm have their benefits, though I think taking the mox was the right play.

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I was thinking you were going to take the Blast since it was a hard counter. Like if he goes Opal Brainstorm, you can still win, but if he ever untaps, it is such a beating (REB).

I can see your reasoning.

reb: taking his only hard counter obv has his merits
mox opal: shutting of his reb and brainstorm as long as he doesn't draw a colored land/another mox opal (like 15ish cards in his deck I guess, 1/3 - 1/4 chance of him drawing it in his next draw step) Note: as long as he doesn't draw another mana source he can't activate his grindstone too.

In the end, I think taking mox opal CAN have yield more benefits, but taking reb is a more certain way to reach a (lesser) effect.

You said you had a turn 3 win in hand, I'm assuming you could win through Daze if it came online. So I would have taken his REB, thinking that his odds of drawing a mana source are better than his odds of hitting Force of Will off of Brainstorm. Knowing that he drew Opal, his other out would be to mainphase Brainstorm on his turn 2 and hit colored land plus another REB. Both are less likely than drawing a mana source, IMO.

EDIT: I guess I misread, if he naturally draws a land he just kills you on turn his turn 2.

congratz, I was the sneaky show player :laugh:

hope to see u soon on the begian field.:cool:

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Originally Posted by planarvoid

congratz, I was the sneaky show player :laugh:

hope to see u soon on the begian field.:cool:

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It was nice seeing you play and I hope we'll see you again soon!

Congratulations! You've been doing very well with this list.