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Thread: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

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    Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Our hero’s journey begins!

    1st = Black Lotus UN ex+ Your name on the Mirkwood Cup and a take home trophy
    2nd = 1 of each blue dual land
    3rd/4th = 2 blue dual lands
    5th-8th = 1 non blue dual land
    9th-16th = 2 modern masters booster packs

    95 players. 7 Rounds + a cut to Top 8.

    THE DECK
    2 Forest
    2 Bayou
    1 Savannah
    2 Dryad Arbor
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Windswept Heath
    4 Gaea's Cradle
    4 Glimpse of Nature
    4 Green Sun's Zenith
    3 Natural Order
    4 Nettle Sentinel
    4 Heritage Druid
    4 Quirion Ranger
    4 Elvish Visionary
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Wirewood Symbiote
    3 Birchlore Ranger
    1 Viridian Shaman
    2 Craterhoof Behemoth

    THE SB
    4 Cabal Therapy
    1 Natural Order
    1 Progenitus
    1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Harmonic Sliver
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    3 Abrupt Decay
    2 Golgari Charm

    Round 1
    Daysean, Shardless BUG

    Game 1
    He knows what I’m on since he has seen me around and he begins the match with a sigh. He knows he is not favored. He plays out his entire hand of DRS x2 and Goyf x2. I Hoof him.

    Game 2
    His hand plays out the same way except this time he plays a Jitte. I abruptly Decay it and Hoof him without contestation.

    1-0 / 2-0

    Round 2
    Lance, Miracles

    Before deck reg, he showed me his SB tech to strike fear into my heart: 4 Engineered Plagues. I politely asked him not to get paired against me. He was not compliant!

    Game 1
    I begin with some beats and play down a few dudes. Then I run out Glimpse and Lance Forces it. I follow with NO into Hoof for lethal.

    Game 2
    He STP’s a couple of my dudes. We both durdle around a bit and I eventually hardcast a Ruric Thar, much to his chagrin. If I had waited a bit, I could have landed Teeg and Thar in the same turn, but I was perhaps a bit impatient. He Terminus’s Ruric Thar away and I land Teeg on my next turn. I get one swing in before he STP’s and then makes four 4/4 Angels.

    Game 3
    I get a fast army up and running and start beating in and using DRS x2 to shock him. I get him down to 11 when he pops a Terminus. I return DRS x2 with my Symbiotes and replay them. He has an E.Plague to answer. I make a couple non-elf 1/1s and start swinging in, hoping he Brainstorms or something so I can shock him. He eventually lands a Jace and I take two turns to beat it to death. Then he lands another Jace and he’s at 5. At this point I decide to ignore the Jace and just fight him with a tree, a bug, and a weakened Sentinel. He can’t find an out in time and my durdly 1/1s get there.

    2-0 / 4-1

    Round 3
    Batman AKA David, Big Zoo w/Punishing Fire

    Game 1
    I make a sizable army and am about to go off with NO. He lands a fast Teeg to shut that down. My life total bounces up and down as I use DRS to eat creatures that are chumping his Knights but I am not able to draw a Teeg-proof wincon in time and his bigass Knights beat me up.

    Game 2
    I get a sick Nettle, Birchlore, Glimpse draw on the play and go nuts on my Turn 2. I’m not able to Hoof him that turn but I have a full grip and another Glimpse. On my Turn 3 I try again and hardcast a Hoof for superlethal.

    Game 3
    He sticks a couple Noble Hierarchs and a Knight or two. I get an early Hoof to put him at 3 life. He plays I think a third Knight and at this point they are pretty huge. He gets a swing in and puts me to 9. I untap and tank. I am actually terrible at math and he has two bigass Knights to block with. He has no hand at this point. So I take some time to play every possible body and squeeze every bit of mana out of my army and make another Hoof for what must have been super lethal. I probably could have taken a shorter turn and swung for Just Enough but that would involve Proper Math. Apologies to Batman for making him watch me durdle.

    3-0 / 6-2

    Round 4
    Pat, Deathblade

    Pat rode up with me to this event so it’s no fun for us to get paired. We are both 3-0 at this point. We were hoping to beat up other people, go 5-0, and sit around for two hours while we drew into Top 8. Alas, it wasn’t to be. :(

    Game 1
    I start laying down an army and he assembles Super Tron (Batterskull equipped with Jitte) after taking some damage. He makes a slight misplay and taps his Wasteland before swinging into my Dryad Arbor/Quirion Ranger. I fog-bounce it and am able to play a Symbiote to fog his Tron long enough for my Deathrites and plinky guys to take the game the old fashioned way.

    Game 2
    I am on a dude-heavy draw and if I can topdeck any spell I should be able to do some crazy stuff. He lands a T3 Geist and starts swinging. Then he sticks a Jitte on it. I am able to fog the Geist with Symbiote tricks but I can’t do anything about the Angel token. I eventually die to it in Turn 3 of overtime.

    3-0-1 / 7-3

    Round 5
    Wes, BUG Food Chain Midrange

    My opponent is 4-0 playing a brew designed to beat the Seattle Stoneforge/Shardless/Jund meta. He has Food Chain to power out recurring Misthollow Griffins and the rest of the deck is basically Shardless BUG. He knows what I’m on and is not super excited to fight the green men.

    Game 1
    He plays some wild spell that lets him tutor for three cards, exile them, and then draw a card. He puts three Griffins away and I get really scared. I start plinking with some dudes. He plays Food Chain on this third turn. I am expecting an Emrakul or something. He just puts all his birds into play and passes. I make a big ol’ Hoof and it resolves.

    Game 2
    He tells me afterwards that the Food Chain/Griffin thing is designed to grind out games against the fair decks that can’t beat recurring 3/3 flyers. But I don’t know that at this point. I just assume he didn’t draw his super crazy combo kill spell. So I open with a Therapy on Food Chain. He Forces. I make a dude, play a fetch, grab Arbor, and flashback Therapy. That gets the rest of his countermagic out of his hand. He has no action and I Hoof him a couple turns later.

    4-0-1 / 9-3

    Round 6
    Chase, Reanimator

    Chase and I fight all the time. He usually wins. But I beat him at the last Mirkwood event due to some especially terrible draws on his part so I kind of expect Karma to pay me back in these games. He is X-1 and despite all my pouty-faced pleas, he declined my generous request to scoop to me.

    Game 1
    He gets a T2 Grizzle and a T3 Elesh Norn

    Game 2
    I lead with DRS. He makes a Hapless Researcher, sacs to pitch a Grizzle. Then Submerges my DRS. I replay DRS and something else and pass. He animates the Grizzle. Boo! I make a Scooze on my turn, tapping my DRS in the process. He makes Pithing Needle, naming Scooze. Then makes bins and animates an Elesh Norn. Boo!

    I go take a dump with all my extra time in the round. The Midround Dump is great tech. Never forget about it.

    4-1-1 / 9-5

    Round 7
    Tim Aten, Sneak Attack

    This event is unsanctioned specifically to accommodate this Wizard and his Wizard pals. Captain Bant, the newest Wizard inductee, sits to Tim’s right, eating a salad that smells strongly of Balsamic vinegar. To Tim’s left stands Max McCall, the designer of the MODO Cube and all-around devious mastermind. His eyes are two dark mirrors from which no light escapes. The only thing they reflect are your play mistakes.

    I need to win this match to have a chance to math my way into Top 8 on some tiebreaker calculus.

    Game 1
    I’m on the play and make some stuff. Tim cantrips a bit and on my T2 I am able to make 5 mana. I cast NO without first floating a mana when I very easily could, and in response to my Nettle’s untap trigger, Tim Dazes my face. I immediately look at Max McCall and say, “Well, that was a fairly obvious misplay.” At this point I’m not actually playing Tim. I’m playing against Max’s cold, dead eyes. And they are hungry for wannabe wizard blood.

    Aside: I have played against Max once before many years ago. I was on UGW CounterThresh and he was on Aggro Loam. He cast a Terravore that will kill me if I let it resolve. He just casts it and stares into my soul. I top in response and although I see a CMC 3 card on top, I somehow forget to put it there. I flip for Counterbalance and it counters nothing. Then I lose and live forever in the shadow of my own lost potential.

    After my NO is Dazed, I pass. Tim cantrips more. On my turn 3 I have another NO. I can feel Max’s dagger-eyes cutting into my soft-serve heart. I cast NO again and again neglect to sequence my tappy guys such that I float a mana when I very easily could have done so. Tim Dazes me again. I feel Max’s dagger-eyes dance around in my chest like a pair of Dancing Scimitar in a zombie’s chest cavity. On Tim’s turn 3 he casts Show and Tell and I have no permanents in hand. He makes a Grizzlebees. I make a sad and die.

    Game 2
    I draw 7 and decide to mull but I’m still slightly tilted about my horrible play earlier. And Max is still standing there like a Deathgazer.

    I decide to mull.

    My opponent does as well.

    He draws 6 and thinks. I draw 7, loudly declare that this hand sucks, and tank. Then I remember that Max McCall practices The Dark Arts and I judge-call myself. I drew 7 on a mull to 6.Our benevolent Judge tells me that this will be resolved by forcing me to mull to 5 by randomly choosing two cards from my 7 and shuffling those into my deck. I frown and tank. I have already told my opponent that my hand of 7 sucks. So how much better could 5 of those 7 be? Does he have too much information already? I have 2 Elves and 3 lands. I decide that I’m an asshole and deserve whatever happens and just keep. Meanwhile, Tim mulls to 4.

    Oh wells.

    He does a bunch of nothing. I do a little less nothing and eventually GSZ for a Ruric Thar. Three legit Wizards chuckle at how adorable my magical spells are and Tim scoops to the Ogre Warrior.

    Game 3
    He mulls and leads with Ancient Tomb, pass. I have a Therapy and the Nettle, Birchlore, Glimpse draw. Not bad. I lead with Nettle. Hoping not to get blown out. He draws and passes. I Therapy him. He Forces pitching Force. I fetch Arbor, flashback saccing Arbor. It resolves and I name Grizzle. He shows me Through the Breach, Emrakul, Show and Tell, and Sneak Attack x2. I swing with Nettle. He draws and passes. I draw and cast Glimpse and start going buckwild. Eventually I draw another Therapy and, rather than continue comboing, play it safe and rip up his hand taking Show and Tell and Sneak Attack x2 with the initial cast and a fetch, Arbor, flashback. After that he couldn’t stop the Hoof.

    I apologize to him afterwards for the derpy games we played. Sometimes winning at Magic simply requires you to derp just a tad less than your opponent.

    But I tell him that I would have taken the win any way I can get it. He tells me he would take the win just the same. Respect.

    5-1-1 / 11-6

    Top 8 is announced and I squeak in at 8th seed. Good enough!

    Quarter Finals - 9:30ish PM

    Tyrone, Shardless BUG, top seed.

    Game 1
    He leads with DRS and has FOW pitching Ancestral Visions for my own DRS. He then plays another DRS and plinks me. I go for Visionary and he FOWs that too, pitching Shardless Agent. Eventually I get the BFF team going and when I go for NO he has no Forces left. I know this match is going to go well because A) the matchup is just bad for him and B) he had to read most of my cards.

    Game 2
    I open with 4 Glimpse of Nature, 2 lands, and 1 elf. I send it back. You wanted me to keep that hand didn’t you? You devious bastard! I keep my six and he starts dropping lands into Hymn. On his next turn he makes Shardless Agent into Brainstorm. I make some stuff too. Then he drops a 3/4 Goyf and passes. I stick a slightly premature NO that resolves and I Hoof him with 2 more elves attacking. He neglects to block and goes to 2. I use Quirion to untap my Hoof for big blocks. He suspends a Visions and passes. I draw dead and swing with the team. He blocks Hoof with Agent and an elf with Goyf, going to 1. I untap my Hoof again to block his now 5/6 Goyf. He draws and passes. I swing with Hoof + elf and he has no answer.

    6-1-1 / 13-6

    Semi Finals - 11ish PM

    We decide to split the Top 4 and cash out the prizes. This equals 540 cash for each of us. Whoohoo! Now I’m gonna be ballin’ when PAX Prime rolls around next weekend. Buttload of meaningless earthly possessions, here I come! But we still have to play out the games because YOU CANNOT SPLIT GLORY.

    Allion, Miracle-Helm

    Allion was once my Elven Apprentice but has since crossed over to the dark side. I will allow it, since I know lost mages must find their own way, even if that path leads them into the evil grips of Terminus, Lord of the Elf-Haters, and Counterbalance, Crown Prince of Self-Flagellation.

    Game 1
    He Terminus’s my board after a Glimpse turn, but I have a full grip again after my combo turn. I play out all my shiz and he Terminus’s me again. We draw,go a bit and I make some dudes. Then, with two lands (sandbagged!), a Glimpse, and a NO in hand, I cast Glimpse. I mention that he can hardcast the Force in his hand with his 5 available mana and won’t have to lose card advantage against me. And that’s a great deal, right? What a crazy Wal-Mart deal of the day! He agrees and casts Force. Then I cast and resolve a NO for Hoof for lethal because I’m so sneaky!

    Game 2
    I am able to plink him with dudes for a bit and he wipes my board after a Glimpse turn. I have enough cards in hand to recover and I continue plinking away. I get him to about 10 life. It’s past Midnight at this point and most of us have to work tomorrow, but YOLO, yeah?

    I resolve a Glimpse and start going off. The fact that I resolved the Glimpse tells me that he doesn’t have the Force. But he has a Top and plenty of mana. He has been letting me Glimpse only to Terminus at the very last second, so I suspect he will do the same thing again. So I start going off, giving him ample time to Terminus anytime he would like. I get about 8 dudes on board and then GSZ for Birchlore to tap my two Nettle Sentinels for B, take one of my many G floating, and Abrupt Decay his Top. This forces his hand and he flips it for Terminus earlier than he would like. In response to that, I tap down all my guys and go to GGGGGG floating. My board is wiped.

    Then I cast a DRS. GGGGG floating.

    Then I drop a NO, saccing DRS. Resolves. Get Ruric Thar! Warrior Ogre! Victory is at hand! I went through all that goddamned trouble and now I have a Ruric in play! My opponent is at around 10 life (notes are fuzzy here) and just recasting his Top will put him within lethal attack range! Wooohoo! Victory for the Horde! Pass the turn, sucker!

    EOT, my opponent taps the Karakas that has been in play for about 250 turns and bounces my Ruric Thar.

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Ruric Thar! You coward!!!!!!!!!!

    I die inside.

    I manage to land a Teeg and, since it's like 1AM, I start beating in and he doesn't remember to Karakas bounce it. Eventually he finds a V.Clique to block me and we trade. Then he gets RIP+Helm at 2 life and boombooms me.

    Boo!

    Game 3 - 12:30ish in the morning!
    He STP’s two of my opening guys. Then he resolves Top. And Counterbalance. Twice. Then he gets an Ethersworn Canonist. Then he gets a Meddling Mage on Natural Order. I die to hatebear beatdown with a Glimpse and a bunch of 1 drops in hand. GG.

    6-2-1 / 14-8

    Props:
    5 of the Top 8 being people I know.
    My sweet FTV Dryad Arbors for being so sneaky.
    All of my opponents for being kindly wizard-folk

    Slops:
    Nothing! I won a bunch of money and I'm gonna spend it frivolously! 'Merica! Fuck Yeah!


  2. #2
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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Nicely done. Now you have $$$$$$$$$$$$$ in your pool.

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13


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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by danyul View Post
    Round 7
    Tim Aten, Sneak Attack

    This event is unsanctioned specifically to accommodate this Wizard and his Wizard pals. Captain Bant, the newest Wizard inductee, sits to Tim’s right, eating a salad that smells strongly of Balsamic vinegar. To Tim’s left stands Max McCall, the designer of the MODO Cube and all-around devious mastermind. His eyes are two dark mirrors from which no light escapes. The only thing they reflect are your play mistakes.

    I need to win this match to have a chance to math my way into Top 8 on some tiebreaker calculus.

    Game 1
    I’m on the play and make some stuff. Tim cantrips a bit and on my T2 I am able to make 5 mana. I cast NO without first floating a mana when I very easily could, and in response to my Nettle’s untap trigger, Tim Dazes my face. I immediately look at Max McCall and say, “Well, that was a fairly obvious misplay.” At this point I’m not actually playing Tim. I’m playing against Max’s cold, dead eyes. And they are hungry for wannabe wizard blood.

    Aside: I have played against Max once before many years ago. I was on UGW CounterThresh and he was on Aggro Loam. He cast a Terravore that will kill me if I let it resolve. He just casts it and stares into my soul. I top in response and although I see a CMC 3 card on top, I somehow forget to put it there. I flip for Counterbalance and it counters nothing. Then I lose and live forever in the shadow of my own lost potential.

    After my NO is Dazed, I pass. Tim cantrips more. On my turn 3 I have another NO. I can feel Max’s dagger-eyes cutting into my soft-serve heart. I cast NO again and again neglect to sequence my tappy guys such that I float a mana when I very easily could have done so. Tim Dazes me again. I feel Max’s dagger-eyes dance around in my chest like a pair of Dancing Scimitar in a zombie’s chest cavity. On Tim’s turn 3 he casts Show and Tell and I have no permanents in hand. He makes a Grizzlebees. I make a sad and die.

    Game 2
    I draw 7 and decide to mull but I’m still slightly tilted about my horrible play earlier. And Max is still standing there like a Deathgazer.
    Also, I thoroughly enjoyed everything written here. Except I have to call shenanigans on Max playing with creatures.

  5. #5
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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    @ESG
    Thanks Mister E. AKA Mystery AKA The International Man of Mystery.

    @lordofthepulpit
    This was back in the day when Aggro Loam was the best way to beat all the Counterbalance decks running around. He may have been especially angry that day because he couldn't play Storm in that meta.

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by danyul View Post
    @ESG
    Thanks Mister E. AKA Mystery AKA The International Man of Mystery. AKA The Most Interesting Man in the World
    Fixed that for you

  7. #7

    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    not bad, nice prize support

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    To be fair, I had a Symbiote in play that could have given me a draw. And I've done crazy things off Glimpse with only one guaranteed draw to start. We will fight another day.

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by danyul View Post
    Then I drop a NO, saccing DRS. Resolves. Get Ruric Thar! Warrior Ogre! Victory is at hand! I went through all that goddamned trouble and now I have a Ruric in play! My opponent is at around 10 life (notes are fuzzy here) and just recasting his Top will put him within lethal attack range! Wooohoo! Victory for the Horde! Pass the turn, sucker!

    EOT, my opponent taps the Karakas that has been in play for about 250 turns and bounces my Ruric Thar.

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Ruric Thar! You coward!!!!!!!!!!

    I die inside.
    Tears in my eyes of laughter!
    Thanks for writing all that down. I enjoyed every bit of it!

    Even considering getting the Elves deck together, even though I own about every other relevant and irrelevant deck in legacy, so I will probably hardly ever play it...

  10. #10

    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Congrats on the great finish Daniel. Here are some questions I have with some of your decisions:

    "So I open with a Therapy on Food Chain. He Forces."
    You don't have to name a card when therapy is on the stack. You can make him second guess whether he wants to force it or not.

    "He mulls and leads with Ancient Tomb, pass. I have a Therapy and the Nettle, Birchlore, Glimpse draw. Not bad. I lead with Nettle."
    I personally would lead with therapy calling SnT. If he topdecks an island or lotus petal, you'll probably lose the game.

    Also, have you tried NO #4 in place of viridian shaman? I haven't really had problems with chalice because NO->hoof usually gets the job done. If you have a lot of jitte in your meta, I can understand shaman.

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by 'Nilla Pac View Post
    Does putrid imp and tireless tribe count? Before he played Storm, Max was notorious for winning tournaments with dredge.
    Only if it falls under "Attacking is Miserable".

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by lordofthepit View Post
    Only if it falls under "Attacking is Miserable".
    Attacking is miserable

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    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by nudon View Post
    Congrats on the great finish Daniel. Here are some questions I have with some of your decisions:

    "So I open with a Therapy on Food Chain. He Forces."
    You don't have to name a card when therapy is on the stack. You can make him second guess whether he wants to force it or not.

    "He mulls and leads with Ancient Tomb, pass. I have a Therapy and the Nettle, Birchlore, Glimpse draw. Not bad. I lead with Nettle."
    I personally would lead with therapy calling SnT. If he topdecks an island or lotus petal, you'll probably lose the game.

    Also, have you tried NO #4 in place of viridian shaman? I haven't really had problems with chalice because NO->hoof usually gets the job done. If you have a lot of jitte in your meta, I can understand shaman.
    I wasn't super clear IRT Therapy. I wrote that report kinda fast and my memory gets a bit hazy when pulling up super specific plays. I played the Therapy properly, without announcing the card to be named before it resolved. But I had intended to grab the Food Chain, assuming Therapy resolved.

    IRT the Nettle Sentinel VS Therapy play - if I were to lead with anything other than Nettle in that situation, it would be Therapy on Grizzlebrand. With the Nettle/Birchlore/Glimpse hand, I can beat everything else he does, assuming he doesn't have a Force. I just need that first turn to set up the land+Nettle. Leading with Therapy, assuming I hit something, leaves me with no real action on my next play - I still need another turn to go craycray. This effectively gives him his 2nd turn + his 3rd turn to draw bombs against me. Leading with Nettle, and hoping he doesn't draw that first bomb or just have it in his hand, allows me to go buckwild on my second turn. I'd lead with Glimpse and, if he doesn't Force that, I have free reign to combo off and Therapy him in the interrim. He if Forces my Glimpse, then I follow up with Therapy off my second land and Attack+sac Nettle for additional discard.

    In either case, I felt that leading with Nettle gave him the fewest draw steps to blow me out. This was assuming he didn't already have the win in hand, and I was taking a gamble there. But I felt it was worth it. Also, I was able to sit across from the guy and stare into his eyes. He clearly wasn't happy with his hand, so I felt confident in leading with a somewhat less safe play because I could tell by the look on his face that he needed an opportune draw step to make his hand really work against me. These are details I could probably include in my reports if I really sat down and crafted the shiz out of them, but usually I'm just trying to hammer out the broad strokes of the match before everything drifts out of my skull into the aether.

    I have not tried the 4th NO at all. I never usually want to see more than 1 per game. Correctly playing my other assets out first, and properly baiting removal/countermagic, has allowed me to typically land my NO's when I choose to cast them. Also, Stoneforge decks are evergreen here in the Evergreen State - people love to play them and I can always expect to see a Stoneforge deck or two running around. Viridian Shaman is my trusted ally and I would never leave home without it.

    Quote Originally Posted by ThomasDowd View Post
    Attacking is miserable
    We need to see you around more, dude. Where have you been?

  14. #14

    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Quote Originally Posted by danyul View Post
    Game 3
    He mulls and leads with Ancient Tomb, pass. I have a Therapy and the Nettle, Birchlore, Glimpse draw. Not bad. I lead with Nettle. Hoping not to get blown out. He draws and passes. I Therapy him. He Forces pitching Force. I fetch Arbor, flashback saccing Arbor. It resolves and I name Grizzle. He shows me Through the Breach, Emrakul, Show and Tell, and Sneak Attack x2. I swing with Nettle. He draws and passes. I draw and cast Glimpse and start going buckwild.
    I was a bit confused as well and was hoping you could clarify that play. In your explanation, I believe you said you wanted to go buckwild turn 2, but you ended up casting therapy on turn 2 instead. I thought the point of T1 nettle was to be able to lead off with glimpse turn 2? Was glimpse in hand, or were you just setting up a big turn 2 in case you drew it?

    2nd dryad arbor main seems pretty sweet. I'd imagine you end up drawing it more often, which could get clunky, though. I am definitely going to test it at the next event.

    Sounds like Ruric Thar was mostly a bummer for you. I've found him to be kind of toothless in the miracles MU. Anyhow, is there a lot of storm up there in washington? Just wanted your thoughts on whether he has good applications outside of storm.

    Thanks for the report and primer.

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    Location

    seattle
    Posts

    966

    Re: Lost in the Woods: Top 4 @ Mirkwood Cup. 95 players. 8/25/13

    Oh.

    Yeah. I dunno.

    I won 540 bucks. And win a lot with Elves.

    But I guess I still suck at reading comprehension.

    I dunno.

    The way I play the deck, I love the second arbor. If you can only beat your opponent when you draw the nut draw, then you will lose often. The deck is powerful enough that occasionally drawing and playing an arbor isn't a huge hindrance.

    And Ruric Thar has been very meh, but I've also been boarding him in too often in an attempt to create a Notion Thief-esque story. He should probably stay in the board more often.

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