[Deck] TinFins 3: Return of the Onion Burst

[Koby]

After reading Vad_'s post, I just goldfished a Careful Study build around 60 times. It's definately worse at digging for specific cards, but it produces so much more keepable hands. Maybe 2 LDVs can help with the digging part.

Damn, I wanted to play Modern on the next weekend, but I think I have to test the build in a tournament...

I believe part of that is due to 4 Griselbrand, which now turns on Ritual-Discard-Shallow Grave hands. Realistically, that accounts for:

P(Dark Ritual) + P(Discard, but not Careful Study) + P(Reanimation) + P(Griselbrand)
P(4/60) + P(5/59) + P(8/58) + P(4/57)

The increased odds of doubling the Griselbrand count helps to see more "live" hands, but this line in general is less common due so many pieces required. It certainly improves with Careful Study enabling turn 2 kills also.

This comes at a trade-off by reducing the ability to dig due to the removal of Ponders.

I'm not very good with stats, but would the inclusion of the 3rd Griselbrand improves the odds of the traditional list be worth it? Does the statistical gain make enough of a difference?

My current build:

4 Entomb
4 Shallow Grave
3 Goryo's Vengeance
1 Reanimate

2 Griselbrand
1 Emrakul
1 Children of Korlis
1 Tendrils of Agony

4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox

4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Lim-Dul's Vault

4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
1 (Silence/Thoughtseize)

8 black fetches
2 Underground Sea
2 Scrubland
1 Tundra
1 Swamp

Alternate for small events: -1 Scrubland +1 Gitaxian Probe (increases speed at the risk of mana screw).
Alternate for long events: -1 Scrubland +1 Bayou (Reverent Silence in the SB)
Alternate for experimentation: +1 Gitaxian Probe and going to 61 cards with 14 land.

[Finntrinsic]

Hello again,

Played Fins again this weekend at the Milwaukee SCG. Piloted to a 6-2-1 record for a 25th Place finish and my first cash in an SCG. Here is the List I played:

3 Griselbrand
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Children of Korlis
4 Entomb
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Thoughtseize
4 Shallow Grave
3 Goryo's Vengeance
1 Exhume
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
2 Chrome Mox
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
2 LDV
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Duress

4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
2 Boseiju, Who Shelter's All

SideBoard:

4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Silence
1 Pull from Eternity
1 Pithing Needle
1 MindBreak Trap
2 Echoing Truth
2 Massacre


Here is a report from the event:

R1 Rogue G/W Ramp (vs Tyler)

Tyler Wins the die roll, elects to play first

Game 1: I have Entomb/Goryo's in the opener but no accel. Tyler opens on a Plains and a Shield Sphere. I am...optomistic, I fetch my basic swamp and say go. Tyler plays a forest and a G1 Wall and passes back. I entomb on his end step and go-off on turn 2. Find the goods in the first 14 to entomb/shallow emmy and we are on to game 2.

SB: -1 exhume -1 Duress -2 Boseiju
+1 Surgical(really want to know whats in the deck) +1 Pull from Eternity +1 Pithing Needle +1 E-truth

Game 2: Have the shallow, dig, and accel in opener no G-Money, no entomb. Up a game I decide to keep. I see an axebane something-or-other that give mana ramp for dudes with defender, figure its a ramp deck of some type, pull entomb off of ponder in Turn 4 and go off.

1-0

R2 BUG Delver (vs ) David

David plays at my home store and I'm pretty sure he know's what I'm playing. You can find his list here: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=55020

David wins the die roll, elects to play first.

Game 1: I have the T1 go off hand, David plays a Tropical Island casts a Deathrite and passes. I draw a 2nd ritual for T1...hmmm. Play and underground cast 1st Ritual, David tanks for a second (has countermagic) says it resolves. "Here we go." I think I cast Therapy, he picks up his Island and drops the daze. "I pay the mana" I respond, David frowns (Sometimes RUG & BUG players in my observation look at tapped lands to determine if daze is good, forgetting about floating mana). David now Forces therapy pitching Jace, with my last floating black I cast the 2nd ritual. David sighs "Resolves", as do the following entomb & shallow. Swing for 22 Annihilate 6 later and its on to game 2.

SB: -1 Exhume -1 Duress -1 LDV -1 Therapy -1 Children -1 Ponder
+2 E-Truth +1 Pithing Needle +1 Pull From Eternity +2 Silence

Game 2:

I mull to 6 and keep a hand with ritual, entomb x2, boseiju, Flats, and Ponder. He opens again on Deathrite. I draw a Verdant, Fetch an Underground and Ponder. He Wastes the underground and casts 2 delvers. T3 he wastes again and the delvers flip off a revealed daze. Couple swings later and we're on to game 3.

Game 3: I don't remember a lot of the details from this one. I tried to entomb t2 or 3, got forced. Goyf & shaman finish me off.

1-1

R3 Storm (vs ) Jeremy

I win the die roll and elect to play first.

Game 1: I fetch an Underground, Ponder and draw the entomb I was looking for. Jeremy plays a Volcanic & ponders, passes back. I play a Boseiju and pass, Jeremy plays a City of Brass and passes. I entomb on his end step. I cast shallow on my turn 3 off the Underground and the Boseiju. Draw 7 off of Grizzlebees and find the combo, but no mana. Sitting at 10 & staring at 2 untapped red sources and a full grip on the other side...I blink. I move to combat without drawing another 7 and draw my second 7 after combat damage has me back at 17. More combo pieces and dig but light on mana and children. Decide to pull up and play "safe" and pass back at 10 life and a perfect 7 for next turn. His turn 3 he storms out and kills me, lesson learned.

SB: -2 Boseiju, -1 exhume, -1 duress, -1 ldv, -1 Therapy, -1 Ponder, -1 Grizzlebees
+4 Leyline, +2 E-truth, +2 Silence

Game 2:
Game 2 is an odd affair, we rip up each other's hands with disruption early, then have one of those super awkward draw-go exchanges for like 4 turns that combo players don't want to admit they have. Somewhere around T6 or 7 I play a Children of Korlis followed up by a hardcast Leyline of Sanctity. 2 Turns later Jeremy storms up to drop 16 goblins with me at 17 life...hmm this seems bad. I'm almost back to combo grip, only needing an entomb to get rolling. Jeremy's next turn he swings in for 16. I take it and immediately sac child to heal back to 17. Next draw...E-Truth, I'll take it. Jeremy goes to swing in again I E-truth the horde. 2 Turns later and I still have no entomb. Jeremy casts burning wish for "Cabal Therapy"?!?! Jeremy's next turn he storms up a bit and casts Ill Gotten Gains....um ok...I pitch my hand and pull e-truth, entomb, and shallow from the yard. Jeremy then goes to cast therapy on me to pull the e-truth. I point out that therapy targets and that Leyline is still in play. He scoops.

Game 3:
Game 3 was more 1 sided, I had Leyline in the opening grip with lands, goryo's, and ldv. Unable to disrupt me or hit me with the primary combo I LDV bottom of his turn 2 for the goods I need and go off on turn 3.

2-1

R4 Dredge (vs ) Corbin

I win the die roll and elect to play first.

Game 1: I have the combo in the opener, but no accel. T1 I play my only land and ponder looking for a ritual (brick) shuffle and draw a verdant. Get saucy and decide to play the chrome mox from my opener with the only other non-combo black card I have available in my hand Tendrils. This may have been too greedy, but as you will see it hardly mattered. Corbin's t1 he plays Cephalid Coliseum and Lion's eye x2. Sacs the lion's eyes discards his hand with 2 dredgers and activates coliseum...hilarity ensues, facing down multiple therapies from narcomebas resulting in hordes of zombies I opt to scoop before providing any additional information.
SB: -2 Boseiju, -1 Exhume, -1 Duress
+2 Surgical Extraction +2 Silence
Game 2: I mull to 5 looking for the T1. I get the combo, but only 1 land. I entomb on his end step...and draw...Ponder. He goes off Turn 2.
2-2

R5 EsperDeathBlade (vs ) Craig

This one just sucks. Craig is one of my closest friends in the Magic community, we have roomed together on the road for tourneys and we have an uncanny knack for getting paired against each other. I'm also a little torqued that in a tourney of 278 people I have to play 2 people I know in the first 5 rounds. We have seen each other's decklists so there isn't much finesse in this round.

Craig wins the die roll, he elects to play first.

Game 1: Craig mulls aggresively to 4 to get the disruption he knows he needs. His version of Deathblade is very aggro so I know his countermagic is all in the board. Sure enough, he t1 thoughtseizes me and takes my entomb making my t1 powerhouse pretty mediocre. My turn 1 Draw...Entomb. Swamp, Ritual, Entomb, Shallow, Bam! Zip! Pow! you all know the deal.

SB: -1 Duress, -1 Exhume, -1 children, -1 ldv, -1 ponder, -1 Griselbrand
+4 Leyline of Sanctity +2 Silence

Game 2: I have a good opener of Landx2, Leyline, Therapy, Shallow, LDV, Ritual
Craig mulls to 6...smiles (hello thoughtsieze) says keep. I reveal the leyline, Craig stops smiling. Therapy t2 to check the coast is clear go off on t3.

3-2

R6 EsperBlade (vs ) Andrew

I win the die roll I elect to play first

I keep a decent 7 with shallow, therapy, lands and dig. My t1 ponder resolves I find the entomb. Andrew's t1 strand into tundra slows my roll a bit. T2 land +therapy gets a force pitching Jace. His T2 he fetches an island drops the inevitable Stoneforge Mystic searching up Batterskull. T3 play a land Ponder draw Therapy off ponder. Decide to hold it. His turn 3 he makes his land drop passes. My t4 I therapy, he responds by mystic'ing in Skull. Therapy resolves I name force. He reveals Land & Jace...ok by me. His turn 4. He swings for 5 (puts me to 14) plays land casts Jace and Jace storms. 1 Card in hand passes. My turn 5...(Mom says make them have it) I combo off with enough mana to beat daze & pierce he didn't have counterspell or snare.

SB: -1 duress, -1 exhume, -1 children, -1 ldv
+2 Silence +1 Pull from eternity +E-truth

Game 2: I keep the opener with Shallow, Boseiju, Griselbrand x2, land, petal, ponder
T1 Andrew drops an island and passes, I draw my card, discard Grizzle and pass. T2 brings the mystic fetching skull. I play bosejiu and pass. T3 He plays land and brainstorms. T3 I play land activate bosejiu and shallow. No response from Andrew I draw 14, play trinkets, cast silence, ritual, entomb emmy shallow. Swing for the win.

Amusing side note: Person to my right in this round in also playing Fins. He was having similar success against his opponent and their was no small ammount of (filthy combo) grumbling taking place on the other side of the table.

4-2

R7 Lands (vs ) Tom

I win the die roll and elect to play first:

Game 1: I have the T2 combo with dig and lands, no disruption, lets hope we get a sign. T1 in the dark I opt to fetch my basic swamp, no point getting hosed up by a wasteland. Tom's turn 1 he cracks a wooded foothills for a forest. Seems good, I entomb on his endstep. "This is not good" was his reply. He responds by cycling a land (lands or loam) I smile on the inside. T2 go off.

SB: -2 Bosejiu(MISTAKE) -1 duress -1 exhume
+1 Pull from eternity +2 Surgical +1 Echoing Truth

Tom at this point mentions that one of his other losses was vs Fins today. "Seems like a tough matchup." I comment. "Yeah" he responds "I pretty much need a god draw to have a chance"

Game 2: Tom turn 1 land +Mox Diamond Chalice of the Void on 1. ALLLLLLRIGHTY Then. I eventually get to where I can discard Grizzlebees and I have 1 turn to re-animate. By this point he's added ensnaring bridge to the party so I can draw 14 and hope for my 1 of E-truth...Whiff...string it out for 2 more turns just to mine more info on his deck. He finishes me off with punishing fire/grove. Off to game 3.

Game 3: Look at 7, t1? Nope. Mull
Look at 6, t1? Nope. Mull
Look at 5, t1? Yep!

5-2

R8 Dredge (vs ) Benning

Benning wins the die roll he elects to play first.

Game 1: Cephalid Coliseum, LED, LED, (Haven't we been here before?) He dredges a ton his lots of narco's and therapies I snap conceed in response to the first therapy, seeing the inevitable and not wanting to provide any info.

Benning: "I don't know what to sideboard?" Me: "That was kind of the idea"

SB: -2 Boseiju, -1 Duress, -1 Children
+2 Surgical Extraction +2 E-Truth

Game 2: I draw the nuts, I go off fail to find entomb,re-animate,mana in the opening 14. Swing, draw 7 more,play Child, Sac, Draw 21 still no tendrils, Shallow Children, sac, draw 7 finally hit tendrils and finish him.

Me: "One turn 1 deserves another don't you think?"
Benning: "I do! Lets hope for a third!"
Me: "Notsomuch"

Game 3: I pull land x2, Shallow x2, Grizzlebees, Ponder, Chrome Mox. I spend too long tanking on this keep. I know I'm giving away too much, but I'm stuck on throwing away a for sure t2 to try and snag a t1. Finally I just say screw it if I die before t2 I die before t2. KEEP.

His turn 1: Land, Careful Study binning Troll & thug. My turn 1, Bin Grizzle pass. His Turn 2 Dredge, Cast Faithless looting dredge Troll, Dredge Thug, Discard 2 troll. Only business hit on Dredge is 1 Narcomeba and 1 Cabal therapy. "Sac Narco for Therapy targetting you" He says. "Resolves, Naming?" I reply "Goryo's Vengeance" he says.

6-2

R9 Storm (vs ) Tommy

Overall standings had been posted before round 9. My Opponent and I were both aware that X-2 and lower were effectively locked out of top8. "Can we draw out this round to make sure we top 32?" He asked? "Fine with me." We played it out for fun...he roughed me up pretty good (no boarding).

6-2-1


Was very happy with how the deck performed overall. I caught a couple breaks playing the rogue brew in round 1 and Lands in round 7. I also felt like the play-testing my friends and I have been doing at our local store since I started with the deck after the Denver GP has been big. Observations:

PRO:
Convinced LDV is the correct 9-10 dig spell. 2 mana at instant speed just too good.
In a bigger event like this I was always happy to see Leyline. So much disruption & storm.
Bosejiu got me there I think vs the 2nd Esper player in game 2. Will keep 2 main until more data is available.

CON:

Tempo still seems like a nightmare matchup.
Still think 1/2 my sideboard is garbage.
Didn't finish high enough to fan the "Ban G-Money" flames.

Once again thanks to Josh, Richard, and everyone else on the list for your insights and comments. 2 1/2 months playing the deck and I'm still having a ball.

-Finn

[.dk]

Nice report, great finish, and cool list!

Boseiju seems like it did good work based on your report. Interesting... Some other interesting choices I thought from your list as well:

3 Griselbrand vs. 2
2 Chrome Mox vs. 1
1 Duress

Any particular reason that you chose those cards over something like Gitaxian Probe or more Thoughtseize? Was Duress just for budget reasons?

[Finntrinsic]

Nice report, great finish, and cool list!

Boseiju seems like it did good work based on your report. Interesting... Some other interesting choices I thought from your list as well:

3 Griselbrand vs. 2
2 Chrome Mox vs. 1
1 Duress

Any particular reason that you chose those cards over something like Gitaxian Probe or more Thoughtseize? Was Duress just for budget reasons?

Duress was mostly budget (I own 1 thoughtsieze).
The Grizzle & Mox were deliberate decisions made by the playtesting done over the last couple months. Simple truth sometimes you just need to bin a grizzle T1 as your "In" or therapy/seize yourself. Having the extra Grizzle seems to make a difference. Same sentiment with Mox #2 Worst feeling in the world is to combo "Thin" having played your land and used all your mana to go off, only to miss on petal/mox and have a mitt full of business and nothing to play it with.

Meant to mention the extra Grizzle in the report, just forgot. :) think there were at least 2 spots in the tourney where I discarded G-money to get things started.

-Finn

[Joe Eigo]

Dear all,

i took Tin Fin's to GP Strasbourg last weekend, but didn't end too well. At least i won every 1st game of the 6 matches (except vs Miracle) before i dropped out. (2-3-1)

Started 2-0 without Byes and then managed to get a draw against some BUG Control. Game 2 he made some weird play's in extirpating my Underground Sea's and Rituals, so i was a little too mana light to go off efficiently. Should have conceded that game at some point, but i actually couldn't see the clock from the table.... :-/

So i was stuck in the draw bracket, which is just bad if you want to avoid to play all day long against Miracle style decks... Whatever the 4th match was against burn, which i lost to. Why ? Well... it was my own fault. Kept a mediocre hand game 2 with some cantrips and was a little too slow. 3rd game i would just win if i do not drop my 3rd nonbasic to run in exactly lethal PoP. Would have won that, since i already had Grizzle in play and Children + Petal in hand at that point. Horrible loss.... :-(

I guess that caused also a mental break on my part and i wasn't too concentrated anymore... Also got the Miracle matchup afterwards which was like unwinnable. First game he drops Counterbalance and is tapped out. I get a Shallow through next turn but he reveal's a Top on Top of Lib. No Rituals, no Entomb, no Children for me. Next turn i tried to somehow get around his Top/CB action's, but just couldn't get through that....

Apart from the result, the deck felt very strong as usual and my draws were really solid. In the Intuition/LDV experimental slot's i just decided to go with 2x Preordain which felt very good if i drew them, since they either found me more cantrip's or the stuff i needed.

[Baum]

@Koby:

You're right that more Griselbrands raise the percentage to discard one via Thoughtseize or Therapy. But adding Study enables even more starting hands. I'm far away from saying that Study is better than Ponder. The reduced digging ability is a huge downside that can't be measured by just goldfishing. But I think the combination of Study and LDV is at least worth testing.

Interestingly enough, the build seems to shift our winning turn from 1 towards 2. You just get more reasonable T2 hands, that you would have mulliganed if Study were a Ponder. Thus we “lose” the ability to mulligan into a T1 hand. Of course, 60 is not that great of a sample size. Not sure if T2 is where we want to be, since the T1 kill is one of our main advantages over traditional reanimator.

@Finntrinsic:

Is making Shallow Grave and Vengeance uncounterable that much of an issue? In my experience the good players almost always try to counter the Entomb (which is the right play in 90% of the time), which is not affected by Boseiju.

[TraxDaMax]

@Koby:

You're right that more Griselbrands raise the percentage to discard one via Thoughtseize or Therapy. But adding Study enables even more starting hands. I'm far away from saying that Study is better than Ponder. The reduced digging ability is a huge downside that can't be measured by just goldfishing. But I think the combination of Study and LDV is at least worth testing.

Interestingly enough, the build seems to shift our winning turn from 1 towards 2. You just get more reasonable T2 hands, that you would have mulliganed if Study were a Ponder. Thus we “lose” the ability to mulligan into a T1 hand. Of course, 60 is not that great of a sample size. Not sure if T2 is where we want to be, since the T1 kill is one of our main advantages over traditional reanimator.

@Finntrinsic:

Is making Shallow Grave and Vengeance uncounterable that much of an issue? In my experience the good players almost always try to counter the Entomb (which is the right play in 90% of the time), which is not affected by Boseiju.

It is pretty good when they put chalice on 2. Or when you slowroll into 8 cards in hand end of turn discard Grizza.

[atopebenidorm]

Idea:

In green manabases, with decay or reverent silence on sideboard, I will add one Dryad Arbor for Cabal Therapy Flashback.

I Play with 4 grisel and 3 show&tell (You must play it) in maindeck. 2 Boseiju could be a strong option Vs blue decks

[Koby]

Idea:

In green manabases, with decay or reverent silence on sideboard, I will add one Dryad Arbor for Cabal Therapy Flashback.

That seems quite terrible in the 11.4% of the time in which you draw this in your opening hand; or the time that sacrificing it would interfere with Shallow Grave.
Additionally, it would weaken the fetchland manabase by removing the ability to tutor Tundra from Marsh Flats, which would now become Verdant Catacomb.

I would sooner run Thrun the Last Troll as an alternate plan from the SB than run Dryad Arbor.

[Richard Cheese]

This just in: we must play Show and Tell. I'm going to go ahead and edit the opening post.

[Koby]

This just in: we must play Show and Tell.

Oh? What is that? Please elaborate.

Well played, Mr Cheese. Done got trolled.

[.dk]

I Play with 4 grisel and 3 show&tell (You must play it) in maindeck. 2 Boseiju could be a strong option Vs blue decks

@Koby - I think he was referring to this....

[Richard Cheese]

Oh? What is that? Please elaborate.

We Must play it.

[atopebenidorm]

That seems quite terrible in the 11.4% of the time in which you draw this in your opening hand; or the time that sacrificing it would interfere with Shallow Grave.
Additionally, it would weaken the fetchland manabase by removing the ability to tutor Tundra from Marsh Flats, which would now become Verdant Catacomb.

I would sooner run Thrun the Last Troll as an alternate plan from the SB than run Dryad Arbor.

I don´t need a tundra only for play 1 card, I only run 1 children and often entombed or casted with petal. Only one Dryad is very difficult to see in opening hand, I think is a good option if you need use a cabal theraphy to discard our griselbrand.

Playing Show and tell, Dryad add mana, sacrfice to cabal and after use show and tell to win.

[.dk]

Tundra is there more for things like Silence than casting Children. I fail to see how running 5 extra cards (2 griselbrand and 3 show and tell) is better than any of the current configurations, and at this point you've offered no reasons as to why the current configurations are wrong. care to elaborate?

/edit: I'm also a bit unclear as to what this sentence means: "Playing Show and tell, Dryad add mana, sacrfice to cabal and after use show and tell to win."

[Koby]

I don´t need a tundra only for play 1 card, I only run 1 children and often entombed or casted with petal. Only one Dryad is very difficult to see in opening hand, I think is a good option if you need use a cabal theraphy to discard our griselbrand.

Playing Show and tell, Dryad add mana, sacrfice to cabal and after use show and tell to win.

P(1/60) + six other cards = 11.67%, which occurs a non-trivial amount of times. Say, once every nine games.

[Richard Cheese]

Is so good.

[AncientOne]

I went 6-3 with it (having 1 bye (on PlanesWalker points)).
I've been playing TinFins in 7 or 8 tournaments now, usually ending up slightly positive (4-2, 4-2-1, 3-1-1, etc.) but also finishing Top8 twice in two GPT's for GP Strasbourg.
I've tried many (types) of sideboards, using Show and Tell most of the times (MD I've even tried out 3x Dispel or 3x Pact of Negation, but for the 3 flexible slots I've now returned to Gitaxian Probe (which are ALWAYS sided out for games 2 & 3).
This time I went for the anti-hate-hate sideboard, also with 4 Silences SB. I only boarded those in once, in the 9th round against RUG Delver (my nightmare matchup), winning the deciding game on it...
I'll check my notes for the exact matchups tonight (I went 2-0 against regular Reanimator, 0-2 against MUD (no chance whatsoever against it). The other matchups I'll have to check. I only saw RUG Delver once (luckily !).

The second day I tried SneakyShow, which felt more powerful (it plays counters!), but I ended up with a (lot) worse record, going 3-5-drop (there were 257 players, so 9 rounds!). Having to drive 6 hours back home, I called it quits at 3-5.
This more or less proves that disruption is better than counters (which was already clear in this thread), but I was still doubting if a combination of disruption and counters wouldn't be better. I'm now convinced: it isn't! (for TinFins at least - Sneaky Show might profit from disruption: see also one of the winning Last Chance Trial winning decks at GP Strasbourg: Show and Tell with 4 Thoughtseize MD. But my 9th place fellow countryman played SneakyShow without disruption, so it works fine without disruption as well...

So it took me a little longer to find my notes and reconstruct what happened at GP Strasbourg, but here is my report:

My decklist:

TinFins

Creatures [6]
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Children of Korlis
3 Griselbrand

Instants [18]
3 Goryo's Vengeance
3 Brainstorm
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Shallow Grave

Sorceries [16]
1 Reanimate
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Ponder

Artifacts [6]
2 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal

Lands [14]
1 Scrubland
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
3 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand

Sideboard:
2 Echoing Truth
3 Pithing Needle
1 Pull From Eternity
2 Serenity
4 Silence
3 Surgical Extraction


R1: BYE
1-0 in matches
2-0 in games

R2: Marcus from England (very nice guy who won round 1 against Goblins against a bad loser, so he is glad to have a friendly chat with me before, during and after our match)
Reanimator
2-1 Win
Game 1:
He starts. I Thoughtseize him on turn 1, take an Entomb and think I'm playing the mirror. We play two turns draw-go when he Entombs Griselbrand and then plays Animate Dead on it. So he plays Reanimator, not TinFins. Next turn he hits me down to 11, and goes up to 26. He draws 7, Entombs Iona, and not having seen any of my cards, plays Exhume. In response I Brainstorm, hoping to find an Entomb AND a fattie, so I'll still have a chance. But I find neither and scoop, hoping he doesn't know what I'm playing. 1-0
Game 2:
I have the turn 1 kill hand and go for it without information about his hand. Turns out, he doesn't have a counter, so I Entomb and Shallow Griselbrand, draw 14, Entomb and Shallow or Goryo Emrakul and attack for lethal. He adjusts his sideboard and were on to game 3. 1-1
Game 3:
He starts with a fetch for Underground Sea. I fetch one myself and play a Lotus Petal, which he allows and pass the turn. He does nothing relevant again. I play a Thoughtseize on him, seeing nothing relevant. So I go for it, saccing my Petal for B, play Dark Ritual, Entomb Griselbrand and Shallow/Goryo it. I draw 14, going to 3, Thoughtseize him since I found a Children, going to 1. I take something irrelevant again, play a Petal, sac it for W, play and sac Children, going to 17 again. I draw another 14, play a fetchland for Scrubland, play my second Children, going up to 33, draw another 7 and go for the Tendrils kill. 2-1
2-0 in matches
4-1 in games

R3: Andreas from Germany
Shardless BUG
1-2 Loss
Game 1:
I start with Gitaxian Probe on him, seeing 2 Verdant Catacombs, Tropical Island, Underground Sea, Goyf, Shardless Agent and a Deathrite Shaman, which I take. I play Dark Ritual, Entomb a Griselbrand and the Reanimate it, going to 10. He can only play one of his lands. I attack him to 13, and draw 7, staying on 10 life. He plays a fetchland and passes. I play a fetch, attack him to 6, going up to 16 again. I pay 7 to draw 7, he responds with Brainstorm, finds nothing, cracks his fetch but then decides it's no use and scoops. 1-0
Game 2:
He starts and plays Deathrite Shaman. Would have been a good start, if not for my turn 1 Pithing Needle on Deathrite Shaman! The next turns I'm spending on Ponders and Brainstorm, trying to find business. He plays a turn 2 Tarmogoyf, hits me for 2 (to 17) with it and the Shaman, then for 3 with both (to 14). I try an Entomb which he Forces (discarding a Shardless Agent), and he attacks me again with Goyf and Shaman hitting me for 6 damage total (I go to 7 since I fetched away some bad cards after my Brainstorm). I still find nothing and scoop since he played his other Agent which got him another Goyf. 1-1
Game 3:
I start with a fetch for Swamp and play a Thoughtseize. I see an Underground Sea, Polluted Delta, Abrupt Decay, Ancestral Vision, Sower of Temptation, Shardless Agent and Flusterstorm (which I take). He plays a land. I play another fetch, getting an Island and play another Thoughtseize, this time taking the Shardless Agent (of fear of Deathrite Shaman or Thoughtseize) leaving him a Goyf. I'm still looking for the kill when he plays a Deathrite Shaman and the Goyf. I can only play draw-go and he attacks me with his 5/6 Goyf to just 9 life. With his Shaman still active in my turn, he threatens lethal next turn. So in my turn I have to go for it. However, I only manage to play a Petal, Ritual, Therapy and Tendrils for 8 life, which only bought me one more turn. I topdeck nothing and die. 1-2
2-1 in matches
5-3 in games

R4: Jean-Claude from France
Rb Goblins
2-0 Win
Game 1:
I start with Reanimating Griselbrand in my first turn. He can only play Mountain, Goblin Lackey. Next turn I hit him to 13, going to 19. I draw 14, find and play Children, go back to 19, draw another 14, find and play another Children, go to 33, draw 28 and kill him with Tendrils. 1-0
Game 2:
He fetches a Mountain, and plays Aether Vial, I play Swamp, Pithing Needle on Aether Vial. He plays a Wasteland and a Piledriver. I fetch an Underground Sea and play another Pithing Needle on Wasteland. He fetches a Badlands and therapies me, taking an Entomb. I play a Brainstorm and find another Entomb. I Entomb & Shallow/Goryo Griselbrand, draw 14 going to 4. I find, play and sac Children and draw another 7. At that point I already have enough for Tendrils for 18, killing him on turn 3. 2-0
3-1 in matches
7-3 in games

R5: Amadeus from Switzerland
Affinity
2-0 Win
Game 1:
He starts with a mulligan, keeping his 6. He dumps his entire hand into play turn 1. I can only fetch a Swamp, going to 19. He hits me for 9 damage, so I'm at 10. In my turn I Shallow/Goryo Griselbrand, draw 7 and find nothing. I attack and then draw another 7 finding a Children. I sac it going back to 17, draw another 14. Play and sac another Children, going to 31. I draw another 14, play some Thoughtseizes and Probes, loosing 6 life, reanimate and sac a Children going to 59. Then play a lethal Tendrils for a turn 2 kill. 1-0
Game 2:
He starts by dumping 4 cards into play, but without pressure. So although I have a Serenity, I wait until my second turn to play it. He hits me twice for 3 damage per turn, after which his creatures, lands and Springleaf Drum are all destroyed. I fetch (13 life left) and Shallow/Goryo a Griselbrand. I draw 7, find nothing and attack. I draw another 7, fin, play and sac Children for 15 life, going to 21. I draw another 14 and kill him with Tendrils on turn 3. 2-0
4-1 in matches
9-3 in games

R6: Patrick from Austria (nice guy who made day 2 (having 3 byes) and finished just oustide top 32)
MUD
0-2 Loss
Game 1:
I start quite confidently, since he is 'only' 1-1 in matches played (4-1 with 3 byes) and has to take a mulligan. His turn 2 Chalice for 1 (from 2 Rishadan Ports!) quickly tells me this will be an uphill struggle however. After a Steel Hellkite hits me to 13, he makes a lot of mana, plays a Lodestone Golem and a Batterskull, so I scoop, hoping he doesn't know what I'm playing (he only saw Brainstorm, Ponder, Underground Sea, Scrubland and a Polluted Delta from me). 0-1
Game 2:
I start with a fetch, which I don't crack yet because of his Rishadan Ports (and probably Wastelands too). He starts indeed with Wasteland. So I have to choose Wasteland with my turn 2 Pithing Needle. He then plays an Ancient Tomb, Grim Monolith and Trinisphere! So the two Rituals in my hand are dead and the Brainstorm is quite useless and the Lotus Petal that I drew will have to wait some turns. I don't draw any more lands, whereas he draws business: Lodestone Golem and Prhyrexian Revoker (choosing Griselbrand). They finish me quickly. 0-2
4-2 in matches
9-5 in games

R7: Philipp from Austria (I told him I lost last turn to another Austrian. He asks me who, and I tell him Patrick's name. It turns out he only vaguely knows him, but Philipp knows he plays MUD. At that point I realise I given him a little more information than necessary...)
GW Maverick
2-1 Win
Game 1:
He starts by fetching a Savannah and playing a Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor. So I go for it turn 1 by Shallow/Goryo Griselbrand, drawing 14, not finding anything. So I attack, draw another 7, play a Probe on him, seeing Karakas (!) and taking a Green Suns Zenith. After playing a Children he immediately scoops telling me things would have been a lot different if he could have played Karakas... 1-0
Game 2:
He starts with turn 2 Thalia and I realize I haven't boarded in any bounce... His turn 2 Thalia and turn 4 Goyf beat me down to 11 before I can Entomb & Shallow/Goryo a Griselbrand (costing me 5 mana from 3 lands and 2 Petals!). I draw 7, do not find a kill, attack him to 12, going back to 11 myself. I draw another 7, find, play and sac Children, going to 18. I draw another 14, but do not find a kill nor a Children (!). So I have to discard to 7 keeping 2 Cabal Therapy, 1 Entomb, 1 Goryo's Vengeance, 1 Ritual, 1 land and 1 Emrakul. He then hits me from 7 to 3. In my turn I play my 4th land, the Ritual only gives me my 5th mana (because of Thalia), which is barely enough for a Cabal Therapy on myself, choosing Emrakul plus a Goryo on it, but he indeed has the Surgical Extraction I feared and wins. Without Thalia I would have been able to first Therapy his Extraction away, and then win, but now, I didn't have the mana for it. 1-1
Game 3:
I start with a Thoughtseize on him showing me a Windswept Heath, Cavern of Souls, Gaddock Teeg, Mother of Runes, Sigarda and 2 Knights of the Reliquary. I choose his Mother because it could protect a Thalia for which I have an Echoing Truth in my hand just in case. After he hits me to 14 I Entomb & Shallow/Goryo a Griselbrand. I draw 7, find nothing, attack him to 12, draw another 7. I find, play and sac a Children for 15 (I fetched that turn as well), going to 22. I draw another 21, find my other Children, play it and sac it for 36 after which I only have to draw 7 more for the Tendrils kill. 2-1
5-2 in matches
11-6 in games

R8: John from France (very quiet guy, who hardly spoke any English - we communicated by hand signals mostly)
UBW with Geist of Saint Traft, Dark Confidant, Deathrite Shaman, Jace TMS, Liliana o/t Veil, counters and disruption (haven't seen any Lingering Souls)
0-2 Loss
Game 1:
I start with fetch for Swamp, Thoughtseize him, seeing Flooded Strand, Tundra, Deathrite Shaman, Brainstorm, Dark Confidant, Geist of Saint Traft and Liliana o/t Veil which I make him discard, since I follow up with Dark Ritual, Cabal Therapy myself, choosing Griselbrand & Reanimating it (going to 9 life and emtpying my hand). He draws a card and plays ... Karakas (ouch! - nice topdeck!). So he bounces Griselbrand and since my hand is empty I HAVE to draw 7 cards, going to just 2 life, knowing he has a Deathrite Shaman in his hand. In my turn I play Dark Ritual, Therapy myself choosing Emrakul, hit him to 5, killing his Karakas. He plays his Flooded Strand, fetches an Underground Sea and plays Deathrite Shaman. So I have just 1 more turn to find a kill. I do draw a Griselbrand, I already have discard and another Ritual in hand, but no Shallow/Goryo. So I loose after a heartbreaking topdeck... 0-1
Game 2:
I start with fetch for Underground Sea (because of Ponder and Brainstorm in my hand, without any other lands, but with 2 Lotus Petals) and Thoughtseize him. I see Underground Sea, Tundra, Scrubland, Brainstorm, Inquisition of Kozilek, Surgical Extraction and a Deathrite Shaman (which he has to discard). So this will be tough... He then has another good topdeck and wastes my Sea. I end up saccing a Petal for Ponder, find two fetchlands, play one and fetch an Island. He plays land-go, I play Brainstorm which finds nothing, so I crack my other fetchland, but he Stifles it (his 3rd topdeck!)... He then plays a Goyf (4th topdeck), and starts beating me for 3 per turn. In the next 5 rounds he is completely in control, because of his disruption, a FoW, a Jace TMS and a Nihil Spellbomb (all three found with Brainstorm - 'topdecks' 5, 6 & 7). The only thing I manage to sneak in is a Pithing Needle on Jace TMS, the turn after he plays it, just before he plays the Spellbomb... He hits me with his lonely Goyf to 7, 4, 1 and then -2. So I lose to too much hate and WAY too much topdecks... This also means NO day 2 for me... :o( 0-2
5-3 in matches
11-8 in games

R9: Jonathan from Germany
RUG Delver
2-0 Win
Game 1:
I managed to dodge RUG Delver the entire day, but in round 9 it is finally there: my nightmare matchup: in 7 or 8 previous tournament I've lost all my matches against it, only winning 2 games (2-14 or 2-16 in games, 0-7 or 0-8 in matches against it). However I now have 4 Silence in my SB for the first time... I win the toss, have to take a mulligan, keep the next 6 and start with Swamp, Thoughtseize on him, seeing Volcanic Island, Tropical Island, Misty Rainforest, Lightning Bolt, 2 Nimble Mongoose, Daze and FoW (which I make him discard). So I play Petal, Ritual, Entomb a Griselbrand, Shallow/Goryo it and draw 14. I find nothing, attack him to 13, going to 11 myself. I draw another 7, find Children. Play it, sact it for 21 life, which I turn into 21 cards. I play and sac a second Children for 42 life, going to 46. I draw another 7, still not finding Tendrils. At this point I only have 5 cards left in my library. So I play a Chrome Mox, imprint a Brainstorm and play a Ponder. Still no Tendrils, so I shuffle the 5 cards and draw a random one: no Tendrils. I play another Ponder from a Petal: still no Tendrils. Shuffle the remaining 4, drawing another random card: still no Tendrils... So I play all three Probes (for 6 life, going to 33), drawing the remaining 3 library cards. Of course Tendrils is the very last one... I kill him with it. 1-0
Game 2:
He starts with a mulligan, keeps his 6 new cards, plays a fetchland a says go. I fetch a Swamp, Thoughtseize him and see Scalding Tarn, Daze, Lightning Bolt, Spell Pierce and a Flusterstorm which I make him discard. We then play a few turns of draw-go. Then in my 4th turn I go for it. I play a Silence, which is Spell Pierced, I play another Silence, he Dazes, I pay 1 more mana. He bolts me in response and Silence resolves. From my remaining land I play 2 Dark Rituals, then Entomb and Shallow/Goryo a Griselbrand floating 2 black mana. I draw 7 going to 6 and find Petal, Entomb, Goryo and 4 more cards. I play and sac the Petal for another black mana, Entomb Emrakul and Goryo him. I attack him for 22 with both fatties and win my last match of the day. 2-0
6-3 in matches
13-8 in games


My findings about TinFins:
I have been playing 3 Griselbrand since my third tournament with TinFins, since I want to be able to discard it to a Thoughtseize or Therapy on myself. Four is too much, since I end up with 2 Griselbrands in my hand too often. Two is not enough, since I often have several discard spells in hand, but no Griselbrand.
I play 2 Children, since I want to optimize the chance of finding one with the first 14 or 21 cards drawn. If I play just one, I either can't find it, or I would need Entomb + Shallow/Reanimate for it, costing me 1 or 2 more mana than I can afford at that point. The Scrubland and Tundra, combined with 4 Petals and 2 Moxen are enough white mana sources to be able to play it from my hand (and also to play the white SB cards).
I have gone down to 3 Brainstorm, since I think it's just a worse Ponder (!!), in this deck at least. Yes, I play 8 fetches, so I should be able to fetch away unwanted cards. That usually works fine for the 1st Brainstorm, but for the second I often do not have an open fetchland. If at that point you don't find your missing combo piece with the Brainstorm, you know you will be stuck the next two turns, which you can't afford to. If that 2nd Brainstorm is a Ponder however, you still see your next 3 cards, but when they do NOT contain your missing card, you can choose to shuffle and at least draw a random card and get 2 new random cards on top of your library, so you still have a chance of drawing what you're looking for in the next 2 turns. I will NOT go back to 4 Brainstorm, it is even more likely I'll replace 1 with Lim-Dûl's Vault... (!)
The three Gitaxian Probes are there to make my Cabal Therapies better, and to check if it is 'safe' to go off. They also tell me what deck my opponent is playing. I ALWAYS side them out in games 2 and 3, no matter what deck I face, since by then I know what I'm up against and will always have better cards for that matchup in my SB than Probe...
I haven't played Chain of Vapor in my SB since my 4th tournament or so, since it won't bounce a Chalice on 1. Also you can't use it after drawing 7 or 14 cards, before attacking, since your opponent can then just copy it, bouncing your Griselbrand. Echoing Truths work better because of this, and because TES and Belcher can churn out a goblin horde on turn 1 in which case Chain is useless...
The 3 Surgical Extractions in my SB are mainly there for the mirror (at the 3 GP Utrecht big Legacy side events I faced the mirror FOUR (!) times), against Reanimator, ANT and TES. I also often board one in against Control decks (together with the 4 Silences), to extract any previously played counter or hate card.
The Silences have turned out great, especially against RUG Delver, but they also improve other control matchups. Especially in combination with the 7 disruption spells... Once you know the type of hate they play, you can even side (more of) them in, in the 3rd game, in case they play Surgical Extraction or Extirpate (taking out useless Echoing Truths for example).
So far, I have NEVER used my Pull from Eternity, although having it in hand has won me 1 game against Elves in a previous tournament (he found out that his Slaughter Games on my Griselbrands wouldn't help him... (after seeing my Pull (and a Ritual + Shallow/Goryo) with a Probe - instead he opted for the combo kill that turn and failed). Because of that, I went down from 2 in my SB to just 1.
14 lands main deck feels just right. With 13 lands I often was mana screwed, whereas 14 lands feels as if it is 3 more lands than 13... I'm (almost) never manascrewed, 1-land hands on the draw are less awkward and against Thalia you still have a chance.
I'm playing 7 disruption, which, in combination with 3 Griselbrands and 3 Probes, feels exactly right. Because of the Probes I opted for 4 Cabal Therapy, only leaving room for 3 Thoughtseizes (and NO Lim-Dûls Vaults, which I really llike to try sometime, since it is a great tutor).
I haven't played the Bayou/Reverent Silence MD/SB combination yet, since I only once faced the UW Rest in Peace/Energy Field deck... That deck is hated out of the Dutch metagame apparently. Also it will often end up in the draw bracket, because it is slow. TinFins will never be in the draw bracket, since you can easily play 3 games with in within 50 minutes. You either win fast (within the first 4 turns) or you loose quite fast. I have only gone into extra time a few games in 7 or 8 tournaments...

Remaining problems:
Trinisphere still trumps my deck, since I can't find 3 lands in time against it. Also I then have to play Entomb/discard Griselbrand and Shallow/Goryo it over 2 turns, leaving my opponent with the chance to safely surgically extract it... Serenity often is also not a fast enough answer against Trinisphere, but those are great against Affinity and MUD as well as against hate cards like Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, Chalice on 1, Ethersworn Canonist, etc. I'm thinking of going up to 3, taking out the Pull from Eternity.
Against BUG I'm not sure what they best SB-options are. The Pithing Needles against Deathrite Shaman are good, but the Silences are also very good. I can, however, only board 5 cards out (3 Probes, Chrome Mox & Reanimate), so what 5 should I board in? 4 Silence & 1 Peedle, or 3/2 (my current plan), or even 2 Silence and 3 Peedles? I'm still not sure...
Also I would like to test 2 MD Lim-Dûl's Vaults, but I am not sure what to take out. Most likely slots are 1 Brainstorm and 1 Thoughtseize but I'm still in doubt... Any ideas on that?

[dameus]

I can say that until we find an Entomb effect #5+ that costs less than 3, I too am sticking with 3 Griz in the MD (along with Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, and just 1 Careful Study). However, Brainstorm has proven itself so many times in so many decks, that rather than defending it, it's safe to say playing less than 4 is simply wrong.

[Richard Cheese]

So it took me a little longer to find my notes and reconstruct what happened at GP Strasbourg, but here is my report:
Remaining problems:
Trinisphere still trumps my deck, since I can't find 3 lands in time against it. Also I then have to play Entomb/discard Griselbrand and Shallow/Goryo it over 2 turns, leaving my opponent with the chance to safely surgically extract it... Serenity often is also not a fast enough answer against Trinisphere, but those are great against Affinity and MUD as well as against hate cards like Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, Chalice on 1, Ethersworn Canonist, etc. I'm thinking of going up to 3, taking out the Pull from Eternity.
Against BUG I'm not sure what they best SB-options are. The Pithing Needles against Deathrite Shaman are good, but the Silences are also very good. I can, however, only board 5 cards out (3 Probes, Chrome Mox & Reanimate), so what 5 should I board in? 4 Silence & 1 Peedle, or 3/2 (my current plan), or even 2 Silence and 3 Peedles? I'm still not sure...
Also I would like to test 2 MD Lim-Dûl's Vaults, but I am not sure what to take out. Most likely slots are 1 Brainstorm and 1 Thoughtseize but I'm still in doubt... Any ideas on that?

Thanks for the awesome report, sorry you didn't make day 2 but it sounds like overall you did pretty well.

I think against BUG if you have 5 slots, 2 Needle/3 Silence sounds good. They are most likely going to pull Abrupt Decay, so they shouldn't have much that deals with Needle other than counters. I personally would drop the single Reanimate if you want to find room for LDV, but from this report it seems like you use it quite a bit. I also wouldn't run less than 4 Brainstorm. I get your reasoning, but I think having those 8 core cantrips is really important in this kind of deck.

I do think 3 Griselbrand is correct for this deck, until another playable Entomb effect comes along.