I'm not used to actually winning at magic, so tournament reports about any success would be a bit truncated. All I have are my life total sheets, with minimal notes being used to put this together.
So here it goes, who needs skill when you can just jam a 15/15 turn two aka sneak and show.
Deck, not typed up because I'm lazy: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=64864
Started off the day leaving Seattle around 8:30 after making Batman walk through the rain to meet me at the McDonalds across from my apartment. I feel like a dick, but he'll get the last laugh by the end of the day. We get there, sleeving up, writing down lists, and contemplating what to put in an acquantance's last SB slot for Omni-Tell, and its soon time for the player's meeting.
R1: Chase playing Reanimator
Chase was someone I was talking to through mutual acquaintances before the tournament, we were joking about his crazy sideboard and he showed it to me while I was having a discussion about some card choices. When we sit down across from each other 20 minutes later, I worry about this mediocre matchup but calmed by knowing his board (not MD though).
G1: Start off by losing the die roll, while my opponent sends back his first hand. He gets down an early hapless researcher and hits for a few points. I avoid that quite nicely, and he only puts up one counter for my Sneak Attack, which I had a counter in response. One turn later emrakul comes down and annihlates his board. I have a black demon to follow it up the next turn.
In: 2 Cage 2 Flusterstorm 1 Ashen Rider 2 Through the Breach
Out: 4 Show and Tell 2 Top 1 Probe
G2: On the draw again, except this time I'm mulliganing. I don't really have much here in what happened, the life totals signal him getting a Griselbrand out, gaining 7, drawing 7, and getting a scoop on my end.
G3: On the play, turn 1 cage comes down, and I feel safe knowing that his board has no real way to take that out (though his MD possibly may) from seeing his sideboard earlier. However, at the cost of Turn 1 cage with FoW backup, my opener doesn't actually have any blue mana in it, leaving the cantrips in hand to be a waste. And cage doesn't stop 1, 2, and then 3 hapless researchers from slowly whittling away at my life total. I keep drawing fattys, with no 4th or 5th mana to get the sneak attack online. Those researchers get me from 20 to 8 before Emrakul wipes out them and his 3 lands, and a couple turns later there's another creature to follow it up.
1-0
R2: Warren playing Omni-Tell
G1: Win the die roll, I'm on the play. His lands signal some kind of show and tell, but I'm unable to tell what exactly. I then find out when he plays Show and Tell for Dream Halls, but with that Halls comes Griselbrand which draws me many more counters than he has in his hand, and when his hand is emptied, we go on to G2.
In: 2 Through the Breach 1 Ashen Rider 1 Wipe Away 2 Flusterstorm
Out: 4 Show and Tell 2 Top
G2: My hand is Sneak Attack, Emrakul, 2 lands, Fow, and Top. I turn 1 top. He turn 2 Show and Tells. We fight over his Enter, but he has 2 counters to my one. He get's a free turn off his emrakul, which hits me first.
G3: Back on the play, I don't remember what my hand was outside of a flusterstorm and pierce. Unfortunately he goes off again turn 2, except I am stuck on one blue mana and he has both a Daze and a FoW for my two copies of flusterstorm.
1-1. Yay, just where I like to be (/sarcasm). I start trying to convince people to go see bull riding at Tacoma Dome when I scrub out in an hour. Sadly there are no takers, I guess I just need to win?
R3: James playing BUG Delver
G1: Lost the die roll, he gets an early creature (I think a goyf, it's the only one that makes sense with my damage sheet). His side of the damage sheet shows Emrakul taking him down, while he only brought Bob for Show and Tell.
In: 3 Blood Moon 2 Pyroclasm
Out: 4 Force of Will 1 Lotus Petal
G2: We have a bit of an attrition war with his discard slowing down my combo, while I keep my cantrips and keep building it up. Finally I'm able to get everything together, while he is conveniently at 14 to be killed in one easy tentacle monster swoop.
2-1
R4: JC playing Belcher
G1: Lost the die roll, again. I have 2 Forces. He's on the Empty plan. 6 goblins vs Griselbrand...the demon gets there. He did also burning wish for Goblin War Strike, which make me have a stupid moment having to ask a judge for the oracle text because I couldn't remember if it's an instant or a sorcery...which is obvious once you realize he got it through burning wish.
In: 2 Flusterstorm
Out: 2 Top
G2: My hand is full of counters, which are pretty good for him going to 6, even though he's on the play. 2 Fow and a Daze to start, and a pierce and the 2 flusterstorms show up in the next 3 turns. I get greedy though and activate show and tell, what could go wrong? I get a griselbrand, he drops a belcher...and kills me the next turn. Whoops. I'm a dumbass. Did I just get greedy and let my opponent combo off right in front of me
G3: On the play, my hand is a turn 2 emrakul off a sneak attack. Only issue - I have no counter backup. Aiming for something crazy, I keep it, and my opponent sends back his 7, while I'm knowing I have a win if I live a turn. However, my opponent becomes aware of this, and doesn't do anything outside of a Mox t1, which I'm assuming was to set up a pyroblast on my counter. He doesn't counter my brainstorm...which goes nowhere, giving him an opening to belch me turn 2. And he does. With no lands in play.
We all know where this is going. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...TAIGA!
I resist the urge to jump out of my chair and do a victory lap around the venue, untap, and a 15/15 sneaks its way onto the field and takes out his board. He scoops at 5 life even though I don't have a follow up creature.
3-1
R5: Seth playing Merfolk
G1: I become 1-4 on die rolls, meaning I'm on the draw, and top it off with a mull to 6. He goes t1 cursecatcher t2 adept t3 mutavault, t4 adept and cursecatcher. No lords luckily, I probe and see a force, daze, tnn, waste, island. Not wanting TNN to drop down, I drop a Show and Tell to force both counters and a cursecatcher dead. The next turn he doesn't draw another counter, swings to drop me to 5, and I'm able to sneak in an emrakul leaving him with nothing but a cursecatcher. Luckily another creature comes through there to get me game 1.
In: 2 Pyroclasm 2 Divert
Out: 2 Force of Will 2 Spell Pierce
G2: T1 Cursecatcher, T2 Lord, T3 Lord, T4 Lord. I tried to get a sneak attack out, he has a swan song, but a flying 2/2 does not outrace 3 lords.
G3: Again, apologies for not knowing what else happened here. I think I got a fast Show and Tell off, dropping an Emrakul against his TNN. I take 3...and turn around and swing for 15. And repeat.
4-1
R6: Issac playing Dark Maverick
Of all the matches, this one is the least memorable to me. Sorry Issac.
G1: Lost another die roll. I think i went off turn 2 here, gambling on him not having a Karakas. He doesn't, and Emrakul gets in.
In: 2 Pyroclasm 2 Through the Breach 1 Ashen Rider 1 Wipe Away
Out: 4 Show and Tell 1 Force of Will 3 Daze
G2: I mull to 5, and all I have for lands is a pair of Ancient Tombs. I get an early top, but he goes Karakas into Knight with Thalia in play, and I can't get anywhere.
In: 3 Daze
Out: 3 Force of Will
G3: I have triple fetches going here, he thoughtseizes me and hits a sneak attack, I'm able to breach in emrakul, taking him to 1, before playing a few turns of draw go until I get Griselbrand and Sneak Attack prior to him being able to rebuild.
5-1. I'm in decent contention, I should probably think about my games more. Luckily I remember them much more vividly from here, even though my notes stay the same poor quality.
R7: Rigo playing Miracles
I see myself at Table 3 right here, which means I get paired up against a 5-0-1 at table 3. Feature matches are tables 1,2,4,5,9,10, so we're basically all alone at this table. A deck check starts things out, while my opponent eats dinner and I contemplate doing the same, but I'm nervous and don't want to distract myself. We make jokes about what each other is on, how neither of us really know what the other is running compared to any of the other top tables. Our decks are returned to us and with no penalties, we start the match.
G1: Surprise surprise, he got the die roll, and starts off with Plains into Top. With him being in the draw bracket, I have a very good guess of what he's running here. I have a slow hand (aka turn 3) with a petal sneak and emrakul, but my ponder doesn't hit a counter, meaning he's unopposed to drop the counterbalance turn 2. He spends his last mana not hitting a land drop to counter my petal, and I go for the Sneak Attack....blind into a Jace on top. He untaps, drops Jace, and starts fate sealing me until I scoop it up.
In: 2 Through the Breach 1 Ashen Rider 1 Wipe Away
Out: 4 Show and Tell
G2: An emrakul from the breach takes him down to 4 early on, but he's still at 4, and my sneak attack got countered. The second one gets there, but a pair of tombs has brought me down to 10, and when I drop griselbrand and go for the swing, he goes for a terminus. I draw 7, going to 3, and with fetches and Fow I get to 1, but griselbrand still gets to swing.
G3: He mulls on the play here, and I go turn 1 top, follow up forcing his top. I'm able to get a daze off the top the next turn, scuplt my hand, and on turn 4 I get a probe to see Jace Jace Humility Thopter Foundry and Academy Ruins. I get a sneak attack off, but my only creature is ashen rider. I take out the Ruins and his tundra, leaving him with 2 lands and a fist full of 4 drops. He top decks a wear/tear which also gets countered. Eventually Emrakul puts him out of his misery.
6-1
R8: Noah playing Goblins
G1: Off camera feature match. But who cares, I WON A DIEROLL!!!! I scream that way too loud in the feature match area. Then I realize that the only die roll I've won prior was the match I lost. Looking through twitter, I've found out that he was on camera with Goblins earlier in the day, knowing what I need to do against him. First play of the game for him is two fetches into a Tin Street Hooligan, followed up by a warchief. Neither are a match for a snuck in Emrakul, with another right behind it the turn after.
In: 2 Pyroclasm
Out: 2 Top
I could take out some Show and Tells to play around Ashen Rider, but he couldn't be that deep into that plan, could he?
G2: Spoilers: He did. Looking at his deck list, 4 Ashen Riders in the board actually. Ashen Rider takes out Griselbrand off the show and tell. Somehow I get an emrakul off in time, I believe through a ancient tomb or two. However, that puts me at 7 by the time I'm there, meaning Ashen Rider and tarfire finish me off exactly as he was able to get to 7 permanents.
In: 2 Through the Breach, 1 Ashen Rider
Out: 3 Show and Tell
G3: Opening 7: Petal Petal Volcanic Emrakul Show do the other 2 actually matter? Noah goes down to 6, I just think hard for how much I want to dive into the deep end against a possible Ashen Rider. A few minutes of math and I just say to go for it. I drop Emrakul and look away to not want to see the bad news....and it's a Warchief. Knowing he can't really do anything about a 15/15, he picks up his goblin. If I knew he had 4 Ashen Riders in the board I wouldn't probably have gone for it, but that was something that I'm just learning now as I type up the report.
7-1. Doing the breaker math seems impossible for me to get to draw in as there would be 11 people in contention for T8 going into the final round. Likely that only tables 1 and 2 can draw it, everyone else is playing it out. And Batman wins as wll, meaning that with us being two of the lowest 7-1s that we're probably playing each other, hopefully on camera, as that would at the least be a great way to go out. Something something miracle?
R9: Adam playing UWR Miracles
Adam is 5th seed going in, I'm sitting in 6th. I get suspicious when I hear feature matches being announced, starting at Table 4, while I'm sitting at 3. A double check at the standings show me at 59% breakers, with the two players at 19 at 56 and 54. Tables 1 and 2 draw, giving 4 slots left. 7th and 8th winner gets one, 9 10 gets another (or if 10 wins, still maybe gets 9th as my breakers are better there), but if 11 wins, there's a chance I draw into 9th. Knowing Adam is on Miracles, I opt to put it to breaker luck at draw here, as I'm 5.5% ahead of him, I have an x-1-1 for my breakers being added, while he would be adding an X-3 if he won.
7-1-1
Luckily after 20 minutes of going over every scenario in my head with people outside and pacing way too much, I come back inside, found out the 11th seed lost, and take my top 8 slot to be guaranteed.
Unfortunately Batman gets the first seed by half a percent, meaning I get to play him in the Quaters.
Quarterfinals: Batman playing Death and Taxes
Andrew Shrout did some decent text coverage of the match here: http://www.starcitygames.com/events/...auman_vs_.html, but I'll at least explain my choices.
G1: My Hand is daze daze fow griselbrand tomb volcanic ponder. I opt to keep it, knowing if I can counter his Thalias I'm in a decent spot G1 until I can get a sneak attack in hand. This doesn't happen, he's on the play so I need to pitch FoW and daze to take out the vial. I ponder into fetch island spell pierce, opt to take the pierce, and set up the fetch to get a basic. I spell pierce the Sword because there's not many threats at all that I care about from him that are hit by it, and that's probably the best target I'd get outside of a second vial. Needless to say, I never get a sneak attack through his ports and take the loss
In: 2 Through the Breach 1 Wipe Away 1 Ashen Rider 2 Pyroclasm
Out: 3 FoW 2 Show and Tell 1 Gitaxian Probe
G2: I keep a hand that has a T2 emrakul off of Through the breach, through double sol lands and a petal. This backfires as even if I go off, I take out....a plains?...at pretty high cost. Instead I drop a top here, and go for the long game, hoping to drop this off turn 2. Long story short, I'm just one mana short for the whole game, I get an opening to drop sneak attack with threatening next turn, but he revokers as his 7th permanent, allowing him to keep the batterskull token, and a followup revoker turns off that plan.
Overall, still a top 8 and going to an invitational, which I guess is pretty good.
Props:
Daniel Nguyen for getting me Jimmy Johns during the top 8 , as well as fruit snacks and a heath bar going into R9.
Batman for being a great player and avoiding having to play each other in round 9 to play each other the round after
Goblin Charbelcher for round 4 game 3
Me for successfully avoiding the camera all day so there's no video evidence of how bad I played. Thanks R2 losses.
Tiebreaker gods for letting me finally draw into a T8, even though it gave me a half hour of nausea and worries.
Batman for losing to TNN in the finals to solidify his hatred of it.
Slops:
Me dropping easy games for really dumb mistakes like letting my opponent show and tell in a belcher
The assholes at the standard open in saturday for making terrible sexist jokes after finding out there was a female head judge.
Standard for being a terrible format
Me losing and now unable to chant "Team Fair" at Batman over and over as I was throughout the day...and the top 8 photos...and our match. But hey, it's emblazoned on my T8 profile forever on the internet.
The judges for not letting me and Batman shuffle our decks together and play the quarterfinals like that. Turn 1 show and tell into Jitte would be a great play, right?
Batman for losing to TNN in the finals to solidify his hatred of it.
Me for being kind of a dick for the second half of the day. Not really playing, just being annoying and paranoid and talking way too much and making way too many jokes when I'm still in competition for top 8.
Tacoma for not being Seattle.
Thanks for the report.
Currently playing:
Affinity
Working on something else...
Don't worry about not getting covered on a SCG feature match. The coverage and commentary wouldn't do anyone justice.
Nicely done.
Nice report and grats on the finish Russell!
And to clarify for the non-Seattle crowd, Batman = David = the dude who played D&T to 2nd place.
Elves Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/2EVsdw2Originally Posted by nedleeds
Congrats on an excellent finish! #teamfair
Let's be real: Your stomach win was your most important victory of the day.
Nice finish. (Although don't you kind of wish the trio of Hapless Researchers would have gone all the way? They wouldn't have been so hapless then!)
Nice report and result
Against D&T, 3 questions.
1) In game 1, why did you keep Spell Pierce + fetch + land instead of reshuffling with Ponder? That surprised me a bit as that seems like a straight brick draw. What were you hoping to gain from those cards? From my perspective, I would think your hand needed to aggressively cantrip into Sneak Attack/Show and Tell instead of staying back on defense with counters. You're the aggressor in the MU, right? D&T is the one that wants to durdle and lock you out forever. In the end I guess it wouldn't have mattered since you were majorly mana-locked all game, but that would have been 2 additional draws to help find a combo piece. For example, if those 2 cards were fetch/basic/petal + SnT, then maybe you could have won. You're the experience Sneak player though so maybe I missed something.
2) In g2, why not play the Lotus Petal earlier? D&T is not boarding in artifact destruction on you. He probably won't Revoker Petal. Ergo, it's not a liability on the field. Was there a reason you were holding it back? Trying to hide that you could combo out so soon? Pretending to hold more counters?
3) In g2, if your opener had 2 sol lands, why didn't you play the 2nd one (city?) on turn 3 instead of playing no land? Through the Breach to take out Thalia + Port + plains actually seems pretty good for you in the long run even if not as flashy as killing 6 things. Killing Port and Thalia is like +3 mana for you and sets him back several turns in laying creatures and lock pieces while you can Top and cantrip into more gas. Were you just hoping to lure out more and then set back when Ancient Tomb got Wasted? I would be worried about letting the D&T player play out too many permanents (not just because he can get to 7 but because his permanents disrupt you from comboing off). Or just getting Ported every turn and not getting to 6 mana again.
Anyway, its a tough matchup either way. Congrats on top 8!
Congratz on your finish, our match (round 1), was just the beginning of my deck refusing to cooperate. I'm glad knowing my board calmed you lol, though I'm not sure what traditional reanimator boards have for you that mine doesn't.
I think Batman won because the donut I gave him to start the day was better than Danyul's Jimmy Johns.
Yup, three stipulations of him beating me:
1. I can not chant team fair unless I'm playing DnT or some other "fair" deck
2. I need to replace my Lotus Petals that look like a dog chewed them up and pissed on them
3. I need to stop calling him Dave/David.
Before round 9, I was seriously worrying about puking on camera from nervousness if I had to play for the T8 there.
1. He led off with Port, which threatened to lock me out of any action as my volc was my only colored mana. With wasteland threatening as well, I needed to get that fetch more than anything else, which I'd rather take over something blind. That allowed me to grab the Pierce as another counter in case there was a followup vial. I was much happier to go with that over a random card, even though it did slow me down on the combo.
2/3: Thinking about it today, my whole plan was terrible game 2. What I should have done was drop the petals ASAP as you said, which is what really cost me being able to breach there. Ideally what I should have done was get the Sneak Attack (which I saw with top) online but not activate it, baiting out the revoker (over thalia, as thalia does nothing when it's already down). After that, I emrakul away his 2 lands and revoker, leaving me with an active sneak attack and a top to dig.
True, the more I think about it the more I think that Reanimator really just doesn't have any artifact removal.
Also because of how the timing was, we didn't get to eat the Jimmy Johns until after our QF match finished. Damn donuts.
Also, thanks to Casey....I don't remember your last name, for just letting me talk through every single possible way I could or could not make T8 outside for ten minutes or so during R9. And kidnapping Greg after he won.
Congrats on the finish! Gotta keep pushin those combo decks!
Primary legacy deck High Tide primer
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Reply With Quote
