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Thread: [Report] Top 8 with Angel Fish - from the Vancouver, WA GPT

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    [Report] Top 8 with Angel Fish - from the Vancouver, WA GPT

    (I posted this on The Mana Drain, but thought I'd add it here too.)

    Legacy Grand Prix Trial - A Tournament Report
    Vancouver, Washington
    October 15, 2005


    I had planned to bring my updated UWG Threshold deck to the Grand Prix Trial, and had spent a chunk of my spare time in the week running up to the event charting out my sideboard guide for it.

    Here's what I almost played:

    Blue/White/Green Threshold
    aka Three-Color Threshold
    aka The deck formerly known as "Super Grow"

    by Bardo Trout

    4 Accumulated Knowledge
    4 Serum Visions
    4 Brainstorm
    2 Sleight of Hand

    4 Force of Will
    3 Daze
    2 Counterspell
    1 Disrupting Shoal

    4 Swords to Plowshares
    1 Engineered Explosives

    4 Meddling Mage
    4 Werebear
    3 Mystic Enforcer
    2 Nimble Mongoose

    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Windswept Heath
    3 Tropical Island
    3 Tundra
    2 Island
    1 Plains
    1 Forest

    sb 4 Blue Elemental Blast
    sb 3 Seal of Cleansing
    sb 2 Tivadar's Crusade
    sb 2 Armageddon
    sb 2 Phyrexian Furnace
    sb 1 Hyrdoblast

    But while I was waiting for the bus after work on Friday, I had a sudden change of heart. You see, I'd tested my Threshold deck against a buddy's Vial Goblins at lunchtime earlier in the day and the result weren't encouraging (I went 1-2).

    So at the 11th hour, I switched decks and decided to run my modified UW Angel Fish instead. I figured Goblins were going to be everywhere, and I wanted something that could stand up to their smelly onslaught, and still have a reasonable game against the rest of the field. Here's what I registered on Saturday morning.

    Blue/White Angel Fish
    by Bardo Trout

    4 Meddling Mage
    4 Galina's Knight
    4 Cloud of Faeries
    3 Exalted Angel

    3 Umezawa's Jitte

    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Disenchant

    4 Force of Will
    2 Counterspell

    4 Standstill
    4 Brainstorm

    4 Mishra's Factory
    4 Wasteland
    4 Tundra
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Island
    2 Plains

    sb 4 Blue Elemental Blast
    sb 3 Seal of Cleansing
    sb 2 Absolute Law
    sb 2 Tivadar's Crusade
    sb 2 Phyrexian Furnace
    sb 1 Umezawa's Jitte
    sb 1 Stifle

    I've been on the fence with AEther Vial, so it seemed like the logical card to cut when I was looking to make room for four maindeck Galina's Knights, considering I always sideboard Vial out against aggro anyhow. The two Disenchants were added in place of two Counterspells and that served me fine all day. The other cards I dropped were my Old Man of the Sea and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, one of which became Plains #2, and the other becoming Knight #4.

    After I registered the deck I was shooting the breeze with one of the guys there and we decided to play a game to kill some time. He was playing some odd UW Gifts Control with Shackles, Culling Scales, and maindeck Pithing Needles. After 20-25 minutes, I was at 14 and he was at 11, with no end of the game in sight. I mentioned that if we got paired up today, I doubt we'd finish the match in time. (Foreshadowing).

    During the announcements we were told 22 players had registered for the GPT and there'd be 5 rounds of swiss and a cut to the Top 8. Pairings were put up and I found my seat: table 7 -- the table I would play at for 3 different rounds in this tournament.

    (I didn't take any notes, other than in the T8 where my hastily written scrawl reads: "Worst Fucking Game Ever!!!" So all of this is from memory, with some life totals to help fill in the gaps. If I've misrepresented anything, I'm sorry about that. Feel free to correct inaccuracies if you were there.)

    Round 1:
    Dan with Suicide Black

    I lose the die roll here.

    Game 1:
    On the draw, I Force of Will his turn-1 Phyrexian Negator played off a Dark Ritual. On my first turn I play my APAC Singapore Island, and he remarks on my good taste, gesturing to his APAC Swamp. Truth be known, I've always been a basic land snob. :) But despite my best efforts, I'm done in by a Carnophage, Sarcomancy token, Dauthi Slayer, and a Nantuko Shade who keeps widdling away at my life. Dan beats me while he's sitting at a healthy 23 life.

    (sideboard: this wasn't a match I was planning for. I think I boarded in Jitte #4 for a Galina's Knight)

    0-1

    Game 2:
    I'm not really sure what happended here. My life total reads 18, 17 -- which I think was a hit from a Sarcomancy token and a Force or fetchland. I do remember that I put on the beatz with a Jitte'd Cloud of Faeries and a Mishra's Factory. He concedes at 12 life when he sees where the game is headed.

    1-1

    Game 3:
    I remember getting hammered this game, but I held on as long as I could. On the play, he casts a turn 1 Dark Ritual (which I probably should have countered) and plays Sarcomancy and a Nantuko Shade (which I did Force) with the mana. I have some vague memory of the last turn when my hand was shredded by Cabal Therapy, and then Phyrexian Negator and a bunch of his buddies joined the party. It wasn't pretty.

    All the same, Dan was a class act and I wished him the best. He'd eventually make the Top 8 as well.

    I'm not off to the best start.

    matches: 0-1
    games: 1-2

    Round 2:
    Bret with (Instand Speed) High Tide (LinkXwing at The Source)

    Game 1:
    I get Bret down to 1 life before he goes off and Brain Freezes me for 51 cards.

    0-1

    (I scour my sideboard for anything to help and not thrilled when I can only bring in a Stifle for a Galina's Knight. In the future I'd like to bring in at least 2 Arcane Labs.)

    Game 2:
    With a Meddling Mage naming "High Tide" and 2 Factories working him over, this game is over pretty quickly.
    1-1

    Game 3:
    At 2 life Bret tries to go off, but I'm holding a Counterspell and Force (with a stray blue card, likely Galina's Knight) to put an end to any Storm-based shenanigans. I counter the first High Tide, though I've forgotten what I Forced, and his deck turns to a puddle of crap and he fizzles into oblivion. Good old High Tide.

    His life: 19, 17, 16, 7, 6, 3, 2, dead

    matches: 1-1
    games: 3-3

    Round 3:
    Don with U/W Control (AngryTroll at The Source)
    (at table #7 again)

    Game 1:
    Somehow Don gets me down to 11, but after an extremely long first game, he concedes at 11 life when I have a Jitte'd Cloud gaining counters and killing his stuff. Things might have gone better for him if he wasn't so greedy at one point: during my EOT he Cunning Wished for Dismantling Blow, tapping out on his turn to play the Blow with Kicker to nuke my Jitte in his main phase. As he was tapped out I calmly countered the spell. I don't know how this game would have went if he left up the mana to counter my counter -- it would have been longer, but beyond that, it's hard to say. Afterwards, however, Don was kicking himself for his misplay (taken the pun, leave the pun, it's up to you.)

    1-0

    (I don't remember what I sideboard in, but I'm pretty sure it was a Stifle and Jitte #4 for 2 Galina's Knights.)

    Game 2:
    This was an odd game indeed. By the end of turn 2, Don had one card in his hand after playing out two Chrome Moxes when he was on the play. I'm not sure what he was up to, but after some tricks with Jitte to take down his Exalted Angel, I played my own and rode her to victory. My Meddling Mage naming Swords to Plowshares also helped. Thinking back, things got dicey when he resolved a Chalice of the Void for and my hand looked thusly: Meddling Mage, Cloud of Faeries, Standstill, and Umezawa's Jitte. Luckily, it didn't matter.

    2-0

    matches: 2-1
    games: 5-3

    Oh, and I won the challenge round here, so I got a booster of Ravnica.

    Round 4:
    Nick with techy UW Gifts Control

    Game 1:
    This is the guy I played when I arrived at the site. Nice fellow. After an extremely long first game, at least a 1/2 hour, an Exalted Angel sticks to the board and she wins the game for me. This is another round that I had a Meddling Mage chanting against Swords to Plowshares. Though I had two in my hand when I played him at the time, it seemed like the right play, and it paid off. By the end of the game, I was up to 3 StP in my hand. He casts at desperate Wrath of God at the end of the game, but I've been holding back some dudes as a precaution.

    My life total: 19, 18, 17, 15, 14, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 28, 32 * guess where Angel made her appearance? ;)

    His life total: 18, 16, 18, 17, 13, 9, 5, 1, -3

    1-0

    (sideboard: not sure, I think I brought in 2 Seals of Cleansing for two Galina's Knights. I have to say that Galina's Knight were complete and utter crap in this tournament. Their only good use was as pitch bait for Force of Will. And when they mattered most, nary was one to be found.)

    Game 2:
    After a complex second game, during which he resolves two Gifts, time is called and he has five turns to kill me or I'll win the match. He pulls it off on the fourth.

    These were long and complicated games, but we agreed they were the best games of the tournament for us. Control mirrors are what I enjoy most in the game, sick bastard that I am. :)

    matches: 2-1-1
    games 6-4

    I take the break to get some fresh air and find some water in the Safeway across the street.

    Pavement, powerlines, litter, check cashing "stores": life in Vancouver, Washington may well be the sequel to Sartre's No Exit. What a freaking shit hole.

    After my walk and some breakfast bars, I catch my second wind and feel surpringly focused and centered.

    Round 5:
    Chris with URw Landstill
    (at table #7 for the last time)

    Chris was sitting next to me in round three, playing against another Tide player, so I knew what he was playing. I also knew he had a very pretty deck and must have been playing the game for a long time to acquire his pimped out FBB duals and all. Very nice.

    But with all due respect, I was a machine in this round. I was in peak form and feeling very confident; I didn't see how I could possibly lose. Over the course of our two games, he doesn't inflict a single point of damage to me.

    Game 1:

    My opponent concedes at 8 life with Mishra's Factories pummeling away. It was in this round and the previous one (UW Gifts) where I was pleased with my inclusion of maindeck Disenchant.

    (sideboard: +3 Seal, +1 Jitte, +1 Stifle, -1 Disenchant, -4 Galina's Knight)

    1-0

    Game 2:

    My life: 22, 21, 20, 19, 23, 27
    His life: 19, 17, 15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 1, 5, 3, -1

    Despite my temporary god-like MtG-playing powers, I make a huge mistake when I Stifle his cycling of Decree of Justice when my Standstill is on the board. I just didn't see it. I prevent his soldier tokens from hitting the board, but gets to draw three cards. Doh! But Exalted Angel wins the day anyway.

    Seal of Cleansing was gold. The two that I cast held off a Mishra's Factory for a while and then nailed a Standstill and Nevinyrral's Disk when they were needed most.

    My record in the Swiss rounds:
    matches: 3-1-1
    games: 8-4

    My tie breakers are good enough to make Top 8 in 7th place.

    Top 8.

    Here's what made the cut:

    Goblins/g
    Goblins/w
    Goblins (mono Red)
    Sligh
    Suicide Black
    ATS/Survival
    UW Angel Fish * me
    Countersliver * wtf indeed * I believe this guy goes on to win the whole thing.

    At this point in the tournament, I'm pretty much fried. Having consummed only a half-dozen saltines for breakfast and skipping lunch and hitting 6:00 pm in the day, I was out of it at this point. Combine this with some mitigating ailments which I shall only reference by way of anagram in the 'slops' section, things were grim. But I came with the purpose of smashing Goblins and smash I would.

    Only, I didn't.

    Roy with Goblins/w
    You know, I can't even explain what happened here. I suppose being in top form in the previous round somehow compensates for me being so bloody awful this round. It's hard to say.

    Game 1.
    My draw: tundra, wasteland, brainstorm, jitte, cloud, angel, 1 other useless card.

    Here's my first mistake: this is clearly an terrible hand and I should have mulliganed. I foolishly reason that, on the play, I could cast Brainstorm off the Tundra and find some more colored mana. Dumb, I know.

    I was also tempted by the two lands, Jitte and Cloud. If I could keep all of those on the board, I figured I'd have a good chance. Those were some of my thoughts, but my thinking was really muddled.

    I'm on the play, I lay my Tundra and pass the turn. My opponent, Roy, a stand-up guy, plays Wasteland and wastes my Tundra. In response I tap it for U and cast Brainstorm and look at three cards -- none of which are land.

    At this point, I know it's over, but I'm willing to go through the motions and reason my sideboard should carry me through the next two games.

    On my turn, I play Wasteland and pass the turn. On his turn he plays a Plateau and drops Mogg Fanatic. At this point the game is really over, because my whole Jitte/Cloud plan just evaporates in an instant.

    In any event, for some inexplicable reason -- like I'm dumb, for instance -- I waste his Plateau leaving myself with no lands and a hand full of 2+ drops. I don't remember much from here. I just saw red. And no land. And the distant sound of the ocean and cicadas -- nope, it was just a bunch of small children playing Yi-Go-Oh.

    0-1

    My sideboard was designed for this match, and after boarding, my deck looks roughly like this:

    4 Galina's Knight
    4 Cloud of Faeries
    3 Exalted Angel

    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    2 Absolute Law

    4 Blue Elemental Blast
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Tivadar's Crusade

    4 Force of Will
    2 Counterspell

    4 Brainstorm
    3 Standstill

    4 Mishra's Factory
    4 Wasteland
    4 Tundra
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Polluted Delta
    2 Island
    2 Plains

    Not that bad against Goblins. My plan here is to stall with BEB, StP, Tivadar's Crusade and Galina's Knight and win with Angel or Jitte/Cloud when I'm in control. A reasonable plan, but just like the previous game my mind and deck just poop out on me.

    I get stuck on a Mishra's Factory and basic plans while I'm sitting with 2 BEB in my opening hand. I should have mulled this one too. Furthermore, I somehow forget to Force of Will my opponent's first turn Vial (and I need to keep Vial off the table, since Piledriver can only be BEB'd when he's on the stack, and not in play.) Anyway, it all spirals out of the hand, with me never seeing a single Blue source of mana or an StP. I'm still sore today...

    0-2

    Out of the four packs of Ravnica that I receive as a prize: some foil land, Dimir Doppelganger, and Tolsimir Wolfblood. :)

    The Deck, ideas for the present and future
    All in all, UW Angel Fish was very solid, fun to play, and has a good game against most of the decks in the environment. Like other aggro-control decks, Angel Fish is strong against combo, since you're maindecking a lot of relevant disruption and you have much quicker clock than traditional control decks. If you play correctly, your match against Landstill is strong as well; there you just need to focus on forcing your damage through and recognizing when it's safe to cut your losses. And like other control/aggro-control decks, aggro is still your weakest match. I really overcompensated for Goblins, and had my ass kicked by them all the same; but if I were to play this again, I'd replace the Absolute Laws with either Propaganda or Ghostly Prison (which is immune to REB).

    I'd also pack a lunch. :)
    (Hunger + Delirium = 0 - 2).

    The Galina's Knights were complete ass all day. I don't think I even played one, truth be told -- though I sideboarded them out every game, so they weren't often in the deck. Three Exalted Angels were perfect, and while a fourth can be justified, in the maindeck or sideboard, I'm not sure how great of an idea that is. If I played this deck again I'd move Jitte #4 into the maindeck, since I boarded it in almost ever match. For the time being I'd cut Galina's Knight #4 for it.

    Cloud of Faeries, who's only in the deck because of Umezawa's Jitte, was strong all day. He's not spectacular on his own, but in conjunction with Jitte, Standstill, Meddling Mage, and Wasteland/Factory, he really shines. I was always happy to draw them.

    The real reasons to play this deck are its flexibility and strong win conditions. Exalted Angel is a house of bricks and salvages many otherwise unwinnable games. And Umezawa's Jitte is just a retarded card. Plan C is Factory beatdown, and they also help significantly in your aggro matches too.

    If you want to read more about the deck, you can read the article I wrote for Star City Games.

    That's all. Thanks for reading.


    Props: All of my opponents for being awesome.

    Slops: [anagram] Flippantly keen modern anarchism. [/anagram]

  2. #2

    Sorry your deck refused to serve up land in our T8 match. I wasn't even sure whether you were playing Fish or a Landstill variant because I didn't get to see much of your deck. Maybe we'll get another chance to play sometime.

    Here's my report on the same tournament. The winning deck wound up being Counter Sliver (!) which beat an experienced Survival of the Fittest player in the finals.

    -------
    I took Goblins. I felt justified in playing Goblins since I've had a version of the deck together since at least Fallen Empires, if not before. I used to love Goblin Wizard with my old casual Goblins deck, as much for the pro-white as the putting creatures into play ability. Now that Goblins is a Tier 1 deck I couldn't miss my chance to play all the best ones (minus Recruiter---I miss Recruiter).

    Here's the version I ran. With duals and fetch lands there's no reason to go mono red when it's so easy to splash a color. I chose white, partially for the confusion factor and also because I was toying with playing Rule of Law in my sideboard. Combo decks scared me, but I eventually decided that a turn three answer against a blue deck probably wasn't going to get the job done. I wound up with just Disenchant but that was very worthwhile by itself. I should have included Swords to Plowshares and the fact that I didn't wound up costing me.

    Artifacts (4)
    ------------
    4 Aether Vial

    Spells (2)
    ---------
    2 Lightning Bolt

    Creatures (32)
    --------------
    3 Gempalm Incinerator
    1 Goblin King
    4 Goblin Lackey
    4 Goblin Matron
    4 Goblin Piledriver
    4 Goblin Ringleader
    1 Goblin Sharpshooter
    4 Goblin Warchief
    1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    4 Mogg Fanatic
    1 Siege-Gang Commander
    1 Skirk Prospector

    Land (22)
    ---------
    1 Dust Bowl
    9 Mountain
    4 Plateau
    4 Wasteland
    4 Woodland Foothills

    Sideboard (15)
    --------------
    4 Disenchant
    4 Pithing Needles
    4 Pyroblast
    3 Sulfuric Vortex

    Round 1 - Jeremy - rogue blue white toolbox

    I thought I might be in trouble when his first creature was a Mother of Runes. He played a Savannah Lion next so I thought it was just some sort of white weenie deck. I used Lackey and Gempalm Incinerator to kill the Mother but then a Soltari Priest came out. Maindeck pro-red? Ugh, there is a problem with your deck having a big target on it's face after all. I proceeded to the scoop phase.

    Game two I boarded out the Aether Vials and brought in Disenchants. He quickly put three (!) Galina's Knights while I had a Piledriver and a Fanatic. I attacked with the Piledriver and his little known pro-blue ability, and he swung back with the Knights. I eventually found a bunch of friends for the Piledriver and swung for an large amount of unblockable damage.

    He played a Divine Sacrament early in game three and I was tempted to blow it up with one of my two Disenchants but I held them. I don't think I ever did use them, I just kept playing Goblins until they overwhelmed him.

    matches: 1-0
    games: 2-1

    Round 2 - Shane - Solidarity/High Tide

    Shane had gone to the bar across the street and slammed a couple of quick drinks, and he was playing High Tide, so I felt good about my chances. It's a complicated deck when you're sober. Early Aether Vials combined with a relative lack of land, especially in game two and despite my double mulliganning, let to Goblin smashing.

    matches: 2-0
    games: 4-1

    Round 3 - Dan - Suicide Black

    Here's where things got dicey. A couple of early Carnophages applied pressure and I had trouble finding threatening Goblins. When I did find them he Smothered them. He got a Phyrexian Negator on turn three, the Sarcomancy on turn four and I couldn't get out of playing defense.

    Game two I boarded in the Disenchants for the Vials again in expectation of seeing Engineered Plague. Sure enough he played the Plague but I cast Goblin Matron for a Goblin King to save the rest of my crew. I played the King and started building but then he found another Smother which he used to kill the King. That turned into a three for one as the Matron and another 1/1 Goblin died without their King. I cound't get any traction after that and he crushed me again.

    matches: 2-1
    games: 4-3

    Round 4 - Scott - Red Deck Wins

    Scott got off to a quick start with the turn two Slith Firewalker followed soon after by a Ball Lightning. He had me down to 9 before I started to stabilize. I was finally able to kill the Firewalker that I'd been blocking most of the game and then started laying down my own Goblins. Two Goblin Ringleaders on consecutive turns plus two Aether Vials in play put too many little red guys on the board and his life total went 20, 18, 16, 12, 8, 0.

    Game two I boarded in Disenchant for Vial again, this time to take care of Cursed Scroll which was his only long game. I didn't really need it as I had a Fanatic on turn 1 to take care of any Firewalkers or Ball Lightnings, then just built slowly into a Matron for a Ringleader and a bunch more Goblins. It took me awhile to get past his burn but I did.

    matches: 3-1
    games: 6-3

    Round 5 - Brandon - Landstill

    Game one I dropped Wastelands to keep him off blue for several turns and just played Goblins after that. Game two I didn't board correctly. I couldn't take out the Vials as they are gold against blue, but I didn't put in the Disenchants because I'd forgotten about Chill. Unfortunately he didn't, as he played one on turn two and then beat me down with a couple of Mishra's Factories. Game three I fixed my error and took out the two Bolts, a Goblin King and the Skirk Prospector for the Disenchants. I didn't really need them as Wasteland and then Dust Bowl destroyed his land one after the other. He never got going as I just kept hitting him for a couple each turn, slowing building up a Goblin army while Dust Bowl'ing his land away.

    matches: 4-1
    games: 8-4

    TOP 8

    Round 6 - Top 8 round 1 - Dan - Landstill?

    I have a question mark there because I never really saw much of his deck. In game one on turn three there were no permanents in play! We both Wastelanded the other's land away. After that I still had one land and drew more while he was stuck on one Plains for most of the rest of the game. Without blue he didn't have any way to slow me down and he scooped after I dropped a Kiki-Jiki from my Goblin Lackey. Game two I replicated my correct boarding from the last round, leaving in the Vials of course. I had a Vial on turn one and also had a Wasteland, but he dropped a Plains turn one because he didn't want to risk his land. I played a land and dropped a Piledriver. He dropped a Mishra's Workshop and I was tempted to Wasteland it but I didn't, I just kept building my army. He played a Jitte. I dropped a land and said go, waiting with my Disenchant in my hand for him to play a land, equip the Factory and try to attack. He drew and said go a couple of turns in a row as I attacked with a rather small army. Then he drew a Tundra and said go. I played the Wasteland, blew up the Tundra, and he couldn't Brainstorm into more land.

    The only blue spells he played was one Brainstorm each game, after that he was stuck on mono white and no creatures.

    matches: 5-1
    games: 10-4

    Round 7 - Top 8 round 2 - Joel - Survival of the Fittest

    I was curious about this deck because I have a build too but I thought it was too risky to play. I was wrong, obviously. Game one I thought I had him as he played a Mountain, then I Matroned for a Goblin King and started sending Mountainwalking Goblins. Unfortunately he got his SOTF going, went and got a Flametongue Kavu, killed the King, and then started dropping more Kavus and Ravenous Baloths to overwhelm me.

    Game two I boarded out the Bolts and the Vials for four Pithing Needles and two Disenchants. I opened with one Needle and drew another turn two, so I thought I was set. Unfortunately he played a quick Goblin Sharpshooter and I used one Vial on that, then the second on SOTF on the same turn. I figured that would shut him down but he followed with a Baloth and a Sword of Fire and Ice, which made him a 6/6 pro-red monster. I couldn't find a Disenchant as the Baloth crushed me for 6 a turn plus a card plus a dead Goblin. I didn't last long with that combo.

    matches: 5-2
    games: 10-6

    So I finished in third place and won 10 packs, including a Watery Grave and a Birds of Paradise which together are worth twice what I paid to enter the tournament, plus I had lots of fun.

  3. #3
    Member
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    Round 6 - Top 8 round 1 - Dan - Landstill?
    Dude, didn't you read the title? :)

    I was playing Fish with maindeck Galina's Knights and Exalted Angel.

    In your defense you had a solid deck and cool and even play. In my defense, I was an idiot, neglecting to mulligan two terrible hands, and forgetting to do simple things like Forcing your turn-1 Vial. At that point in the day, and in my state of mind, I was in no position to be playing Magic.

    I wish I'd played you earlier in the tournament, when my brain was in the game. :)

    But you were cool even when you smashed me and I appreciate that. In fact, all of the people that I met very cool.

    In game one on turn three there were no permanents in play!
    Yeah, having land would have really helped. :)

    he dropped a Plains turn one because he didn't want to risk his land
    I wish I was being so crafty. Truth be know, I had no blue land and I had drawn two BEB.

    The only blue spells he played was one Brainstorm each game, after that he was stuck on mono white and no creatures.
    In a nutshell, yep, that was our match. I didn't draw any blue mana, even though I had 6 blue fetchlands and 2 basic islands. Not to mention my set of Tundras, which didn't last long...

    You win some; you lose some. :)

  4. #4
    Leroy Rochester
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    Does anyone have a decklist for the countersliver deck that won?
    My only dream is that yours never come true.
    "People played violin as the Titanic sank. Tomorrow they will play Green Day songs with plastic keytars as their Hoovervilles burn."

  5. #5
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    Nice work with the fishes. Questions though:

    1. Why did you play Cloud of Faeries over Flying Men? Knowing Goblins is so big in the metagame, I think the 1cc dude to block Lackey is really important.

    2. Galina's Knight sucked because you barely played Goblins. You sat across from Blue decks all day, which is a surprise. I'd still say it's worth keeping in the maindeck though, because it's a house against Goblins.

    I also knew he had a very pretty deck and must have been playing the game for a long time to acquire his pimped out FBB duals and all. Very nice
    Eh..not all that long. I've gone through FBB duals like bad draft commons :p

  6. #6

    My mini report...

    R/G Goblins

    4 Aether Vial
    2 Umaeze's Jitte
    4 Goblin Piledriver
    4 Goblin Warchief
    4 Goblin Matron
    4 Goblin Lackey
    4 Goblin Ringleader
    4 Mogg Fanatic
    3 Gempalm Incinerator
    2 Siege Gang Commander
    1 Goblin King
    1 Goblin Sharpshooter
    1 Kiki Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    1 Skirk Prospector
    8 Mountain
    2 Rishadian Port
    3 Wasteland
    4 Wooded Foothills
    4 Tiaga

    SB
    4 Naturalize
    4 Red Elemental Blast
    3 Pyrostatic Pillar
    3 Pithing Needle
    1 Gempalm Incinerator


    Round 1 vs Noah Freed - Countersliver

    Game 1: He doesn't draw Crystaline Sliver.. eventually I overwhelm him and win...

    Game 2: I draw alot of land and eventually he beats me with Eternal Dragon...

    Game 3: He gets an early Worship with double FoW backup for my double Naturalize at EoT ... time is called and we draw...

    Round 2 ?? - R/G Goblins

    Game 1: I draw better and win..

    Game 2: He draws multiple Pyrokensis and wins...

    Game 3: He again draws multiple Pyrokensis, all I have left is one goblin token, luckily he has nothing on the board as well... I rip a jitte and go to town with the token, eventually he doesn't draw enough creatures to keep up...

    Round 3 Ian Lindquist - High Tide

    Game 1: I get him one turn away from death he trys to go off but fizzles...

    Game 2: He goes off in response to my lethal attack on turn four and wins..

    Game 3: I draw two REB's and two Pyrostatic Pillar before turn four, he can't win in time..

    Round 4 Chris Buker - R/W Goblins

    Game 1: He goes first and drops lackey, I drop lackey, he untaps and drops Fanatic... It's all academic from there...

    Game 2: I don't draw removal when it counts, he does ... it's over quickly..

    Round 5 ?? - U/W Control

    Game 1: He casts multiple Serum Visions and Brainstorms that's all I see before I kill him on turn five...

    Game 2: This time he plays Culling Scales, Serum Visions, Four brainstorms and a Force of Will! fortunatly for me Culling Scales isn't very good against goblins and I win on or around turn 6...

    Final Record 3-1-1

    Top 8 vs Joel Popick - R/G Survival

    Game 1: Joel gets multi FtK's and then SoFI and it's over..

    Game 2: I get a nutty draw and overwhelm him quickly..

    Game 3: Turn two Troll, turn three SoFI = game over...

    So I made top 8 only to loose to my own R/G Survival deck ... Oh well ... "Sometimes you lose." -- Chris Buker

    Top 8 Matches

    Dan Flanigan Sui Black def Chris Buker R/W Goblins
    Joel Popick R/G Survival def Paul Thompson R/G Goblins
    Roy Z. (Ulrich) R/W Goblins def bardo_trout U/W Fish
    Noah Freed Countersliver def ?? Mono Red Goblins

    Top 4
    Noah Freed Countersliver def Dan Flanigan Sui Black
    Joel Popick R/G Survival def Roy Z. R/W Goblins

    Finals
    Noah Freed Countersliver def Joel Popick R/G Survival

    -----------------------

    This list should be pretty close to what Noah was playing...

    4 Muscle Sliver
    4 Winged Sliver
    4 Crystaline Sliver
    4 PLATED SLIVER!!!!!!
    4 ESSANCE SLIVER!!!!!!!
    4 Swords to Plowsheres
    4 Force of Will
    4 Mana Leak
    3 ETERNAL DRAGON!!!!!!
    3 Aether Vial
    4 Tundra
    4 Savannah
    4 Flooded Strand
    3 Gemstone Mine
    3 City of Brass
    2 Plains
    1 Island
    1 Forest


    4 Chill
    4 Worship
    4 Hydroblast
    3 ?

    -------------------------

    All in all I had a good time... I opened a Sacred Foundry, and a Temple garden from my three packs... and then Joel gave me 3 more packs for loaning him Survival and I opened a Grave Shell Scarab.... In the end I realized I should have been playing R/W Goblins instead of R/G ...

    Props
    Joel Popick who hadn't played magic in 1.5 years...
    Noah Freed who hadn't played in anything more competitive than FNM or a PR as far as I know...

    Slops
    Bret (LinkXWing) -- You really should get a fourth Reset if your planning on winning with High Tide...

    Don (AngryTroll) -- Durka! Durka! Play a better deck next time!! :)
    Team Ugly, Uglier than your team, way uglier.

  7. #7

    Quote Originally Posted by ulrich
    Maindeck pro-red? Ugh, there is a problem with your deck having a big target on it's face after all. I proceeded to the scoop phase.
    You didn't actually scoop it to a single solarti priest, did you? You're playing goblins and he doesn't block... Just race the bitch.
    SOURCE ASSHOLE
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    Buy the ticket, take the ride.

  8. #8

    Quote Originally Posted by bardo_trout
    Round 6 - Top 8 round 1 - Dan - Landstill?
    Dude, didn't you read the title? :)
    Yeah, I did, but this was the tournament report I wrote up before I posted it here and I forgot to edit that for this site. [oops] Sorry about that.

    I was impressed with how well you handled your deck totally abandoning you. Not much you can do in cases like that.

  9. #9

    Quote Originally Posted by TeenieBopper
    You didn't actually scoop it to a single solarti priest, did you? You're playing goblins and he doesn't block... Just race the bitch.
    Ack, I forgot the crucial part of that little story. [oops] The turn after he played the Priest he played Pariah on the Priest. THEN I scooped as I had no maindeck enchantment removal and nothing that could target the Priest. No, I fought through multiple pro-red creatures in that matchup.

    That match and the SuiBlack are the matches where I wished I had StP in the board instead of Sulfuric Vortex. I expected to see either Life.dec or Aluren which is why I chose the Vortex, but they didn't turn out to be useful.

  10. #10
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    (Diabolos) 1. Why did you play Cloud of Faeries over Flying Men? Knowing Goblins is so big in the metagame, I think the 1cc dude to block Lackey is really important.
    Because Cloud has better synergy with with the deck as a whole than Flying Men. Being able to drop Cloud on Turn 2, untap, and drop Jitte is often enough to win a hell of a lot of games. And even something like Turn 2 Cloud, Meddling Mage give you a little more of clock against High Tide, etc. But Flying Men are something to consider. But it's either one or the other since you don't want too many more 1/1 flyers in the deck.

    (Diabolos) 2. Galina's Knight sucked because you barely played Goblins. You sat across from Blue decks all day, which is a surprise. I'd still say it's worth keeping in the maindeck though, because it's a house against Goblins.
    They were shite alright. Things would have gone differently if I wasn't paired against Dan F and his sui black deck in round 1. Losing that round kept me off the top table for most of the tournament where most of the Gobbos players were.

    My deck has a good match against almost everything in the house, so if I got paired against almost anyone else, things might have gone differently and the Knights would have more than FoW-fodder.

    (ulrich) Yeah, I did, but this was the tournament report I wrote up before I posted it here and I forgot to edit that for this site.
    Just messin' with you. Hence the ":)"

    @ PaulT - Thanks for the rundown of the T8. I called The Bat Cave around 7:30 or so to see how the T8 played out, but David (the organizer) had just left. And everyone in the T8 was either drafting or had left as well.

  11. #11
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    4 fit
    4 ftk
    4 ascetic troll
    4 birds
    4 llan elves
    4 baloth
    1 veridian shaman
    1 veridian (2/1 guy)
    3 eternal witness
    1 anger
    1 squee

    some land

    record 3-0-2

    round 1:
    can't remember
    2-0

    round 2: romain playing high tide

    game 1 he stalls on lands i stomp him

    game 2 he stalls on combo i stomp him

    round 3: some guy playing red deck wins

    game 1: he gets me low so i baloth ftw and smash face with ftk
    game 2: same thing

    round 4 and 5 were easy draw with chris and dan.

    first round of finals i smash paul

    second round i play some goblin deck and get good draws game one and two, win. he played really well

    finals
    game 1: i mul to 6 keeping 2 forest 1 mountian eternal witness baloth and ftk, no fourth land, and he counters 7th turn fit
    game 2: i mul to 6 keeping basically the same hand, no fit, and 16 lands this game.

    round one was my first game of magic in about 1.5 years, yay second place.

  12. #12
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    Well, in my defence, the first game, that mistake was the biggest one I made all tournemant.

    In the second game, I mulled, and my hand was land, chrome mox x2, wrath x 2, Chalice. Now, his entire deck costs 2 to play....I have Wrath and Chalice in hand....hmm... I feared taking another mulligan, so I went all in. Turn two I did not get land, so I cast the mox and did some digging with the draw spell I drew....Turn 3 Challice for 2 would have ended the game, but it got countered. Later, I did resolve a Chalice for 2, but it was too late.

    No, I lost the first game when I kickered the Blow, with UU open and Counterspell in hand. I realized as soon as I announced that was how I was doing it that I was in trouble. In my defence, I think the reason I did it on my turn was because he tapped out, and if this resolved my Angel would swing over and turn the game to my favor. If I had held the mana open, I am pretty sure I would have won that game...One face up angel in play, one in hand facing Cloud of Faeries and Meddling Mage naming Swords...he couldn't get rid of the angels, and 1 angel > faerie and mage....2 angels > 1 angel


    EDIT: Yeah, Noah is a friend of mine. His list is something like: (it is hard to be exact, because it is not all 4-ofs)

    4 Plated
    4 Crystaline
    4 Muscle
    2 Winged
    3 Essense
    1 Eternal Dragon

    2 Fact or Fiction
    1 Disenchant
    1 Naturalize
    4 FoW
    4 Mana Leak
    4 Aether Vial
    4 StP

    1 Tropical Island
    1 Savannah
    3 City of Brass
    3 Gemstone Mine
    a couple basics
    a bunch of pain lands
    1 fetch land


    The deck has good game against Goblins, Survival, and most everything else Aggro. It also has game against control, and his sb included like 5 arcane labs and rule of laws, as well as 4 Worships.
    InfoNinjas

  13. #13
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    re: game 1. When you cast Dismantling Blow, I wasn't tapped out, since I countered the Blow with Counterspell. So I had at least two untapped Islands.

    Now, his entire deck costs 2 to play....
    Factories are free and Angels don't cost either. ;)

    one in hand facing Cloud of Faeries and Meddling Mage naming Swords...he couldn't get rid of the angels, and 1 angel > faerie and mage....2 angels > 1 angel
    Here was the game state: I had a Meddling Mage naming "Swords to Plowshares" and one tapped and one untapped Cloud of Faeries (the tapped one was equipped with Umezawa's Jitte, but I moved the Jitte over to the untapped one before passing the turn). The Jitte had six counters on it. On your turn I removed 5 -1/-1 counters to kill Angel #1, leaving one counter on the Jitte. Now if you attacked into my Cloud I would have pumped it to a 3/3; the Cloud would have died and your Angel would have live with 2 toughness. Then after the attack phase, after my Jitte got two more counters, I would have moved both counters to give your Angel -2/-2. It was something like that, the details are a little hazy. :)

    I won when I alpha striked and you didn't realize that you were going to lose before you gained life from your Angel.

  14. #14

    Noah Freed Countersliver def Joel Popick R/G Survival
    Does anyone else wish they saw that game as much as I do?

  15. #15
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    I wouldn't have minded seeing CounterShliver stomping all over a LMF deck, that would have been kickass. Props to that Noah kid, for doing well with a Timmy deck.
    Proud Member of Team Unicorn.

    A unicorn is like a horse, but with a horn on its head. I think that's pretty cool.

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  16. #16
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    Hi, my name is Noah Freed. This is my first post and my first tournament report. I hope you enjoy it!

    GPT Philadelphia Tournament Report
    The Batcave, Vancouver, Washington
    October 15, 2005

    Note: I apologize for any inaccuracies. The only notes I took were life totals and who went first each game, the rest is memory.

    Don Bruss, a high school friend of mine, is going to the GPT and invites me to come along. At one point I ask if he has any Suppression Fields I can use. He does, but thankfully he also points out that Ravnica isn’t constructed-legal yet. He drives up from his college to mine: however, we failed to specify which parking lot we were going to meet at. Fortunately, he sees me and everything is fine.

    On the drive up, we talk about college classes and a bit about Magic. When we get there, Don buys a single Reinforcements for his sideboard. He is playing U/W Control, and wants it as a Wish target. This is a somewhat unusual choice for him, since he ordinarily plays RGSA or TJS. While I’ve played U/W Control at Legacy tournaments in the past, and to good effect, it is not my choice today. For one thing, the deck is currently disassembled, and when it was assembled, it lacked Exalted Angel, Decree of Justice, and Cunning Wish, instead running more card draw and countermagic, with Pristine Angel as the main win condition. My deck choice for today was tried and true, a deck that has been in existence for roughly eight years: Counter-Sliver.

    Main Deck:
    4 Crystalline Sliver
    4 Muscle Sliver
    4 Winged Sliver
    3 Plated Sliver
    2 Essence Sliver
    1 Eternal Dragon
    4 Force of Will
    3 Mana Leak
    4 Swords to Plowshares
    2 Fact or Fiction
    2 AEther Vial
    1 Disenchant
    1 Naturalize
    5 Island
    3 Plains
    1 Forest
    4 City of Brass
    4 Gemstone Mine
    2 Tundra
    1 Savannah
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Brushland
    1 Adarkar Wastes
    1 Yavimaya Coast
    1 Windswept Heath

    Sideboard:
    1 Disenchant
    1 Naturalize
    2 Chill
    4 Worship
    2 Rule of Law
    2 Arcane Laboratory
    3 Chalice of the Void

    Before I showed up at the tournament, the list had 2 more Arcane Lab and 2 less Worship (Ancient Wonders is a 2/3 combo metagame). However, I asked Don to look at my sideboard and share any recommendations. He anticipated an aggro-heavy tournament, and recommended that I run more Worships in the sideboard, cutting down the excessive combo hate. So, I bought two Worships and replaced 2 Arcane Labs with them (I know that Arcane Lab is better than Rule of Law since it can be pitched to Force of Will, but with Meddling Mage and Cabal Therapy as relevant concerns, it seemed to be the correct cut). Before the tournament starts, I play some games with Roy (one of the coolest/nicest regular Magic tournament players), who is running Goblins. We play 3 games unsideboarded, I win two and he wins one. Then, the tournament begins.

    My first round opponent is Paul Thompson, a fellow judge, who is playing Goblins with Taigas. I should mention that I’m wearing my judge shirt from the Champions of Kamigawa prerelease for a bit of coolness/intimidation/authority. At any rate, I lose the first game, Swordsing a Piledriver and letting a Lackey through, which brought out a Siege-Gang Commander. Sideboard: -1 Disenchant, -1 Naturalize, -2 AEther Vial, -2 Fact or Fiction, +2 Chill, +4 Worship. The second game he has Jitte, but it doesn’t matter thanks to multiple Swords to Plowshares, keeping him creature light. I eventually bring out Essence Sliver to seal the game. The third game ended with both of us at 18 life, and me with a Worship, Eternal Dragon, and I believe Crystalline Sliver on the board. Oh well.
    Games: 1-1-1
    Matches: 0-0-1

    Second round a play against Jeremy running W/U Fish-style deck with pro-red creatures and Enlightened Tutor for silver bullets. He wanted to play against Goblins, and said as much, although for whatever reason he lost to Roy in the first round. He brings out a Soltari Priest in the first game and plays Meddling Mage. I had a Swords in hand, but I decided to be gutsy and wait. He seemed unsure of what to name, and eventually settled on Force of Will, after which I Swordsed it. He eventually played Impending Disaster, but I didn’t particularly care, since I could just Swords his shadow creature and attack with my slivers. At some point he tutored out a Jitte, but I destroyed it. Sideboard: -2 AEther Vial, +1 Disenchant, +1 Naturalize. In the second game, he tried playing Pariah on my Plated Sliver, failing to notice that Crystalline Sliver stopped him from doing so. In this game he went for a Winter Orb, which would not have necessarily been that relevant given my deck low curve, but I disenchanted it anyway. He also had Meddling Mages on Swords and FoW, but they could not stop the sliver onslaught.
    Games: 3-1-1
    Matches:1-0-1

    Third round I played against Chris Buker, running Goblins with Plateaus. I noticed that he was very meticulous for a Goblin player. I lost the first game, but was able to control the second well enough (sideboard: same as first round). The third game ended when Chris conceded in the face of Crystalline Sliver and triple Worship.
    Games: 5-2-1
    Matches: 2-0-1

    Fourth round was against a nice fellow name Woj. Though he was playing Goblins, he liked slivers, and was happy to see a Counter-Sliver deck doing well. In the first game I pulled off some silly AEther Vial tricks that let my guys outclass his in combat. Sideboard: same as first round. The second game I lost, but I pulled it through for the third.
    Games: 7-3-1
    Matches: 3-0-1

    Fifth round was against Daniel Flanagan, running Suicide Black. The result of the match didn’t matter except for seeding, since 3-1-1 was good enough for top 8. In the first game, it goes:
    Him: Swamp, Sarcomancy
    Me: Plains, Plated Sliver
    Him: Attack, Swamp, Sarcomancy, Sarcomancy
    Me: Tundra, Crystalline Sliver
    Him: Swamp (Wasteland?), Carnophage, Carnophage
    He attacked his horde of 2/2s, but my 2/3 Crystalline Sliver took one down each time. Backed up with Swords to Plowshares, this withered his assault quickly, and he proceeded to be mana flooded. Sideboard: -1 Disenchant, -1 Naturalize, -2 AEther Vial, -2 Fact or Fiction, +4 Worship, +2 Chalice of the Void. Game two he gets triple Engineered Plague and a Chalice set to one: ironically, what I had expected to set my Chalice to. Sideboard: +2 Disenchant, +2 Naturalize, -2 Worship, -2 Chalice of the Void. He races me with a Dauthi Slayer, but Worship prevents him finishing the job. Engineered Plague and a Chalice for two are both on the table; however, we both fail to notice the Chalice until after I played Winged Sliver and Muscle Sliver. When Daniel notices it and points it out, we both call judge. It is too late to repair the game state, however, so the judge (Dave Noble) gives us both warnings and has us continue play as is. I had an Eternal Dragon in the graveyard to recur, however, so to win Daniel would have needed to draw another Engineered Plague in his next few draws even if the slivers hadn’t ended up in play.
    Games: 9-4-1
    Matches: 4-0-1

    Top Eight! First seed! I realize that skipping lunch and subsisting on granola bars may not be the best idea, so I run to the nearby Safeway, by the first couple things I see (Ritz Crackers w/ Peanut Butter and Chips Ahoy! 99 cent bags), then run back. I was kind of paranoid about getting a game loss for not being back on time. Unfortunately, Don ended up going 1-4. I’ve noticed a tendency for me and the people I go to tournaments with to perform inversely proportional to each other.

    Quarterfinals: Vs. Joel Popick w/ Tiger Sligh
    First game, I misevaluate his threats and get pummeled by Mogg Flunkies. Sideboard: same as first round. Second game is Worship + Crystalline Sliver for the win. Third game, I go second turn Chill, and my opponent only has one Mountain.
    Games: 11-5-1
    Matches: 5-0-1

    I see Daniel Flanagan with four Engineered Plagues on the board against Chris Buker. Yikes.

    Semifinals: Vs. Daniel Flanagan w/ Suicide Black
    Against Daniel again. First game:
    Dan’s first turn: Swamp, ritual, duress (takes mana leak, no other options), ritual, Nantuko Shade, Jitte.
    Dan’s rest of the game: failing to get a second swamp.
    Sideboard: +1 Naturalize, +1 Disenchant, +2 Worship, -2 AEther Vial, -2 Fact or Fiction
    Second game: another Sarcomancy + Carnophage vs. Plated Sliver + Crystalline Sliver, this time w/ a Dauthi Slayer thrown into the mix. I draw just enough men to keep the zombies at bay while racing the slayer.
    Games: 13-5-1
    Matches: 6-0-1

    Roy made it to Top Four!

    Finals: Vs. Scott Mills w/ RGSA
    Both games: I get Crystalline Sliver, he gets Deranged Hermit, he runs out of steam, I win with Eternal Dragon. In the first game, he made the mistake of attacking into two Plated Slivers with a Troll Ascetic after tapping out. My sideboarding was -2 AEther Vial, +1 Disenchant, +1 Naturalize. I wanted to deal with his equipment (Jitte and SoFI) and wanted his probable artifact/enchantment hate to be dead cards. In the second game, I stupidly lost Muscle Sliver, Crystalline Sliver, and Essence Sliver to Pyroclasm because I blocked a squirrel. It didn’t matter though, because I still had answers, he was out of threats due to mana flood, and I had the dragon coming back.
    Games: 15-5-1
    Matches: 7-0-1

    At various points I was tempted to board out Eternal Dragon, but I wanted an unusually high amount of mana for greater consistency, a potential alternate win-condition, and, most importantly, I wanted a cool dragon to stay in my deck. Dragon and Sliver – the two best creature types in the game.

  17. #17
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    He's right about the inverse relationship between our tournament results...I usually finish 3-1 or better, but when he goes to tournaments, I will randomly mulligan every game, or get opponents to do silly things with Ritual Duress Hymn or something else dumb...

    Congradulations on the win! It was sweet to see Slivers smash "good" decks all night....

    Good to have you here at the Source.
    InfoNinjas

  18. #18
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    I think many of us have a soft spot for Counter-Sliver and are glad to see it do well. One of the factors holding it down has been the popularity of Landstill and the high number of Wraths seeing play. Given an aggro heavy meta, it has greater chances for success. Welcome to The Source, Noah!

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