Only 28 people due to the Easter holiday, but still a competitive field.
The list:
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Dark Confidant
3x Kitchen Finks
2x Qasali Pridemage
1x Eternal Witness
1x Progenitus
4x Swords to Plowshares
2x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Pernicious Deed
3x Natural Order
1x Worm Harvest
3x Bayou
2x Savannah
1x Scrubland
2x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Plains
3x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
3x Wasteland
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Maze of Ith
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
SB:
3x Choke
2x Ravenous Trap
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Deathmark
2x Oblivion Ring
3x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Krosan Grip
Round 1: Mystic Bant w/Thopter Combo(1-0, 2-1)
Game 1: I keep a 2 lander with a Wasteland on the hope of knocking off a turn 1 dual and recovering faster since I have more lands. I don't see another for 5/6 turns, multiple Dazes kill my answers and he takes it.
Game 2: Things go according to plan until he Runed Halos my Kitchen Finks which would have been lethal. But I beat him down with more threats when I land Bob and I outdraw him.
Game 3: Fast beats, Explosives keeps his board wiped.
Boarded in Deathmarks and O-Rings.
Round 2: RB Gobbos (1-1, 3-3)
Game 1: I get a decent start that doesn't have enough followup, my one threat gets Weirded and he eventually takes me out.
Game 2: Turn 1 Hierarch allows me to handle his Wasteland on turn 1, I follow up with Goyf and Confidant and he scoops it up quickly.
Game 3: Mull to 6, keep a 3 lander with 3 answers, but Port keeps me off mana too long and he takes it.
Boarded in O-Rings.
Round 3: UW Control (2-1, 5-3)
Game 1: I keep a 1 land, Hierarch hand because of good drops with Goyf and Pridemage, but he Swords it. Fortunately, he's got no pressure on me and, despite no lands over the next four turns, I come back to take it. Twice he played out 2 Baneslayers and they ate Pulses since I had a Maze to keep one locked.
Game 2: Double Finks, backed by an Oran-Rief, go the distance. WoG is not so great there.
Boarded in Grips and Deathmarks.
Round 4: Merfolk (3-1, 7-3)
Game 1: He starts off with Wasteland and Aether Vial, but sees no additional lands for a while. Two beefy Knights take it for me, especially after I topdeck a Deed and clear the board of his two LoA and Vials.
Game 2: His first few turns are Wasteland, Mutavault, Wasteland, Wasteland. Fortunately, I've got lots of fetches for all my basics and a Wasteland for his Mutavault. He Forces my Knight, leaving Natural Order unmolested.
Boarded in O-Rings.
Round 5: Mono Green Chalice (3-1-1, 7-3)
We intentional draw since we are 5th and 6th, so even if the 7 pointers win we've got good enough breakers to make T8 anyways.
Quarterfinals: Merfolk (4-1-1, 9-3)
Game 1: This is a very rough game. Maze saves my bacon against a Vendilion Clique and he eventually misplays, allowing me to blow his only blocker with an Explosives and swing for lethal.
Game 2: Better game for me, he gets mana flooded and my dudes are too big for him to handle.
Boarded in O-Rings
Semifinals: RB Gobbos (5-1-1, 11-4, same guy as before)
Game 1: I start off well, but he stabilizes with a Banneret, a Wort, and a Warren Weirding. I might have been able to make it anyways, but he fetches up a Sharpshooter and demolishes my Worm token army and Hierarchs.
Game 2: Fast beats and some well placed Wastelands keep him down while I swing away.
Game 3: He keeps a risky hand of one land and 2 Vials, hoping they go the distance. I get off a Hierarch and follow it up with a Pulse on his Vials and he scoops it up.
Boarded in O-Rings.
Finals: Mono Green Chalice (6-1-1, 13-5, same guy as before)
Game 1: He has to mull to 6, but is on the play and gets the nuts draw of turn 1 Hierarch, turn 2 Trinisphere, turn 3 Natural Order. I scoop it up.
Game 2: Better start for me. Hierarch goes into Goyf and Confidant, followed by Knight. I Pulse both our Goyfs away, Deathmark a Viper, and swing for the win.
Game 3: He has to mull to 6 and has a rocky start. Turn 1 Forest for him, followed by missing a turn 2 land but dropping a Hierarch. I Swords the Hierarch, which gives me the edge as he misses land for the next two turns and I take the match.
Boarded in Deathmarks.
Mox Ruby for my trouble after a long day, but a solid outing!
Props:
Mono Green Chalice player for the draw into T8 and a hella fun finals matchup.
Deathmark for being awesome.
Slops:
Choke for being such a bad sideboard card.
My manabase, for choking out on me when it makes no sense!
Good job on the finish, but did you see any combo there? Your 75 doesn't look like it could handle any form of combo at all; no Teeg, Canonist, discard effects, etc. 3x Thorn of Amethyst is pretty risky as you have no means to tutor for it and it comes down on turn 2 at the earliest. Was this just a meta consideration or some fortunate pairings?
There were a couple of ANT decks that showed up, and I think one Belcher. Didn't see anything else comboish running around. I'd have no method of tutoring for Teeg or Canonist either, so it was a crapshoot in a way.
Why are you running Progenitus and Bob in the same deck with no Top or anything? I would love to have seen you take 10 to the face, and put him in your hand to boot, where he's useless.
Deck looks good otherwise.
Congrats on the finish, and thanks for the tournament report. It was well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it because you showed what you sided in each time.
Regarding the sideboard, you didn't board in Choke at all, even though you played Blue decks 4 times. Would you cut that the next time for say, maybe more graveyard hate and combo hate, or even something basic like Thoughtseize/Duress?
What would you have done differently with the deck? The Secluded Steppe and Tranuil Thicket seem kind of random, and seem like they might have been better suited as something like Bojuka Bog and Wasteland number 4, or maybe even Murmuring Bosk.
Find me on Twitter at @JMJACO and @EternalCentral. If you have an interest in Vintage Eldrazi, check out my book Eldrazi Meditations.
It's a risk, but I think it's worth it. You need the gas and the curve is low enough that Finks can compensate well enough. Plus Progenitus can just win the game for you sometimes. The trade is worth it IMO.Originally Posted by jrsthethird
Choke is a card that looks great on paper, but is never as backbreaking as you like. Merfolk still has Wastelands to activate Mutas, Vials to get get around the problem, Daze to bounce and replay Islands, and Reejeray to just keep chain untapping Islands. Against Mystic Bant, again it was a matter of Aether Vials and a good split of blue and non-blue duals. Maybe against an overcommitted Landstill deck it would be rough, but otherwise it never pans out.
O-Ring is another card that, while I often boarded it in, I felt could be better served as something else. I'd probably go to a third Deathmark and swap the 2nd O-Ring and Chokes for 4 of something else. I feel like the yard hate is sufficient, especially since I had other outs against Reanimator. Deathmark handles Blazing Archon and Iona, unless they name black in which case Swords does her in.
The Steppe and Thicket were remmnants of the original Loam Rock shell that I started with. It was nice to get some cycling, but you're right in that they could probably be better served elsewhere. 4th Wasteland seems like not a poor choice, though I would probably go with Sejiri Steppe instead of Bog for the maindeck. Serves as a counterspell and useful in more matchups.
Worm Harvest I also found to be underwhelming. I will likely swap it out, possibly for a 4th Finks or 3rd Pridemage.
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