Mono-Blue Control - GPT Providence, RI 4/16/11

The Dragon's Den
Poughkeepsie, New York

10 players

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MAIN DECK

2 morphling
1 rainbow efreet

4 force of will
4 counterspell
4 force spike

4 powder keg
4 back to basics
3 propaganda

3 fact or fiction
4 accumulated knowledge
4 brainstorm

23 islands


SIDEBOARD

2 pithing needle
1 propaganda
4 relic of progenitus
4 mindbreak trap
4 hydroblast

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first, i'd like to say that this is my first tournament write up, about the first actual legacy tournament i've taken part of. my apologies for not knowing a whole lot about the format. also, my memory might be a little shaky, as i'm writing this report two days after the event took place. i apologize if any of my opponents are reading this, feel free to call me out on any inconsistencies.

me and my buddy frank (playing a pretty lulzy G/U madness deck) rolled through to the dragon's den in poughkeepsie, new york. we got there a little early, ate some sausage, egg, and cheeses, and registered our decks. commence gameplay.

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ROUND ONE vs. Milton - Team America

GAME ONE: needless to say, i was a little nervous coming into game one, since this was my decks maiden voyage (aside from the limited playtesting i'd done with frank). i lost the roll (i think i got a three, or something pathetically low) and i'm pretty sure he led with "fetchland, go." i wish i remembered what my opening hand was, but i'm pretty sure i was "island, go" as well. milton resolves a goyf, which a powder keg takes care of a few turns later. i resolve morphling on turn six with one open island and no threats on the board. he resolves a bob, and after a few turns swings with both bob and goyf. i block bob (which probably would have sped things up if i let him through), take the goyf damage and from there on in, it was a morphling vs. goyf race, and morphling paid the bills. he scooped prior to lethal damage, and we start sideboarding.

SIDEBOARD (i think) OUT: -4 force spike. IN: +4 relic of progenitus. i might have boarded in my fourth propaganda too, but i can't remember what i boarded out for it, so i might not have.

GAME TWO: this game played out pretty much the same as the first, except this time i resolved a back to basics, which got k-gripped the next turn. two separate kegs took out two separate goyfs and i was able to make up the damage by resolving an other turn six morphling with force of will in hand. morphling did work than game one, and was overjoyed with a 2-0
finish. i didn't see a single relic all game.

despite playing MUC, my match was over first, and i got a chance to walk around and see what everyone was playing. that too, was a good feeling.

THOUGHTS: at one point (i forget if it was game one or two) my opponent stacked a creature kill on top of his library with a brainstorm, waiting for me to tap out, so he could deal with morphling. thinking he stacked a go for the throat, he EOT'd a spell to force me to tap out, and ended his turn. upon realizing he stacked a smother (in korean, or some other language that probably tripped him up) instead, he facepalmed pretty hard, and the game ended. also, i remember reading that this match-up was pretty tough for MUC. i played pretty tight games, and my opponent made a few small errors that probably cost him the match. either way, it all felt pretty good.

RECORD: 1-0

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ROUND TWO vs. James - Solidarity

i actually knew that james was playing solidarity, when i saw him the night before at the dragon's den's FNM legacy event. also knew that his build ran candelabras, and i was a little intimidated.

i also, greatly underestimated this match up, having never actually seen solidarity do it's work before, nevermind play against it. i wasn't sure how to play against the deck, so i just did my best to counter spells that seemed to do business.

GAME ONE: i drew just about every counterspell in my deck, but couldn't find a creature. i tried my best to keep him from resolving spells, which worked for quite a few turns, but eventually i ran out of spells, and back to basics and propaganda sat dead in my hand. he went off uncontested, and we moved to game two.

at this point i admitted to myself that i wasn't really sure how to play against his deck.

SIDEBORD OUT: -4 back to basics, -3 propaganda IN: +4 mindbreak trap, +2 pithing needle, +1 relic of progenitus. i didn't have anything better to board in the place of my third propaganda, so i chose a relic, so i could use it to draw, in the off chance i drew it.

GAME TWO: this was the only opening hand all day i had to mulligan. i opened with five islands and two force spike, and dropped to six, in favor of a hand with a force of will. the game went pretty much the same as game one, but i kept my counterspells for his more business drops. he resolved ponders and brainstorms while i countered everything else i could. i resolve a fairly early powder keg, and left it at one, waiting for candelabras to hit the table. one shows up, he activates, passes priority, and i pop the keg.

at one point, during an upkeep of mine, james casted a meditate which i counterspelled, which he pact of negations in response, and it resolves. i draw, play and island, and end my first turn. as my first turn ends, he taps his lands (i assumed to cast a spell EOT) and draws a card before i have a chance to stop him, effectively skipped my turn, and through a series of legitimate misunderstandings, judge is called. seven minutes later, james earns a warning, and the game resumes, adding the waster time to the end of the clock, which eventually ticks to zero.


my memory gets a little fuzzy here, but i remember resolving a pithing needle, calling candelabra, which got bounced, and he started to combo out, first tapping all of my lands, at this point i was holding: an island, force spike, force of will, mindbreak
trap, and two pithing needles. i put my hand on the table while he did his math, ending with a blue sun's zenith to deck me. i force, pitching force spike, to which he forces in return. i mindbreak the stack, and he forces a second time, so i scoop. i accepted my 0-2 loss, and ran to the bathroom to piss like a race horse, after a match that took a total of 57 minutes.

THOUGHTS: i didn't see a single creature all match, i can't help but wonder, if i was able to resolve an early morphling, or efreet, that i would have been able to edge out this match. either way, i got stomped pretty hard, but i feel like i learned a lot from the match, and i think i'll be ready for solidarity the next time around.

RECORD: 1-1

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ROUND THREE vs. Casey - Countertop

because i got the chance to walk around after the first round, i knew what casey was playing, however i saw him win a game with only thopters on the board, and assumed i was up against a thopter combo win condition, which, i was only partially correct on. little did i know his deck also ran big jace, and a painter/grindstone combo.

GAME ONE: i'm pretty sure casey resolved a turn one top, and it was pretty much all downhill from there. he gets a counterbalance online, and i don't think i resolved a single spell from that point on. and EOT fact or fiction bit the dust to a revealed jace, and it eventually stomped my face in, as i wasn't holding a counter as it hit the board. i accepted my game one loss, but felt a lot better about the match, post-board.

SIDEBOARD OUT: -3 force spike IN: +1 propaganda +2 pithing needle. at this point, i still thought the thopters were his main win condition, so i boarded in the fourth propaganda, and i was pretty confident.

GAME TWO: this was easily the most frustrating game all day, and i'm pretty sure he dropped a top on turn one, and counterbalance on turn two. i managed to get a keg online, which took out a top (to which i wondered why he didn't flip), only to see another one drop the next turn. i got a saving grace (or so i thought) on turn four or five or so, when i topdecked a
back to basics as he was tapped out. blindly, he triggers the counterbalance effect, reveals a vindicate, and i facepalm, groan, probably tear up a little bit, and pass the rest of my turn. he resolves a jace after forcing my force, and gets him all the way up to thirteen counters. here comes my second saving grace, as i topdeck a pithing needle and it resolves, naming jace. i lol, thinking i just saved the game, but next turn he enlightened tutors into an engineered explosives set at one, resolves, and pops. and, that's game, and match.

THOUGHTS: this was another match up i really underestimated. maybe he just got lucky in being able to get his engine online super early each game, but there was really very little i could do all match. again, very much like match two, i didn't see a single creature.

RECORD: 1-2

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ROUND FOUR

i got a bye, which sucked because it was the last round. i watch the only two round four games play out, and left with frank, nursing our wounds, before the top four played out.

even though my last three points came from a bye, i'm counting them as a straight win, given my situation. so, i broke even, not terrible.

FINAL RECORD: 2-2
FINISHED: 6th out of 10.

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given my performance, there are probably a few changes my deck should undergo, and i knew this was probably going to be the case. i'm considering making room for either a third morphling, or a second rainbow efreet, finding other spells to fit in the brainstorm slot, dropping forcespike altogether in favor of some more business. i'm also fully aware that my list isn't running vedelkan shackles at all, and it's simply because i don't own them yet.

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if any other little memories of the tournament pop up, i'll be sure to edit this post, but until then, thanks for reading.

-andrew