Hello everybody, my name's Christian, I come from Italy and i'm here to write the report of my top 8 @ Tarmogeddon 12 playing miracles
Tarmogeddon has historically been the second italian eternal tournament for turnout, after the Ovino.
However, this edition had some issues regarding the size of the tournament resulting in only 99 participants (60 players who had preregistered didn't come to the tournament in the end)
The morning of the tournament i leave home with some friends and my girlfriend to reach the tournament location. ( she was the artworker at the event, htps://www.facebook.com/MtgArtWork?fref=ts visit her FB page for more informations)
Once there we enroll and we are ready to start.
In this tournament i play miracles as usually, with this decklist:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Arid mesa
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Pyroblast
1 Counterspell
4 Counterbalance
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
4 Terminus
2 Entreat the Angels
2 Dig Through Time
SB:
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Rest in Peace
1 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn canonist
2 Monastery Mentor
2 Flusterstorm
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Council's Judgment
1 Wear/Tear
I choose to play 2 Pyroblast maindeck and 4 Force of Wills for the mirror match and Omnitell where both these cards are golden, the grave hate split in thse sideboard is probably a mistake, i didn't want to have 2 Rip because of how much that card tax our Digs and snappies, so i choose the 1-1 split and give me another side in vs.Sneak and Show but still covers me form Dredge and has some utility vs. Zenith Decks, Reanimator etc. looking at the number of Dig in the room maybe is just right to play 2x Relic of Progenitus instead.
We get to start the tournament and Round 1 I am paired vs. a friend that plays Gitaxian Jund for the event, ( a particular list of Punishing Jund that exploits the sinergy of Gitaxian-Pyromancer-Cabal Therapy)
The matchup on paper seems brutal and i am also vs. a friend, nice start i suppose!
R1 Gitaxian Jund 2-0 1-0
The first match is a strange one, he starts with Bayou Deathrite, i start Flooded, go, we trade one for ones until he casts a Liliana that i FoW, during that time he keeps on pinging me with deathrite and Punishing Fire eventually after i saw 35 cards i found a Terminus (!) to get rid of the 1 mana Elf Planeswalker and stabilize the board.
Then i get to lock my opponent in Countertop after 2 or 3 attempts and win with Entreat at 1 life.
SIDEBOARD: +1 RiP, +2 Monastery Mentor, +1 Council's Judgment, +1Wear/Tear, +1Engineered Explosives
-4 Force of Will, -2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
g2 he resolves a Sylvan Library, he cabal therapy me twice, he slaughter games my entreat the angels, I kept counterbalance inside because my plan was simply to overload his decays with CBs, RiP, and Mentor, the game Ends with me with double mentor in play, counterbalance and the top loop. He basically lacked pression all the game so this was a pretty easy one.
The problem when playing this matchup is that they have an enormous card quality and there are lots of cards that if left unchecked can end the game on their own ( Liliana, Young Pyromancer, Dark Confidant,) and all this is packed with a good quantity of disruption, especially post sideboard, the plan here is to survive until Entreat wins the game on the spot, as happened in G1 and G2 demonstrates that Mentor really is the best Entreat #3 and #4 one could dream of.
R2 Infect 2-0 2-0
Here i keep a pretty good hand with cantrips, top, a Pyroblast and maybe a FoW, my opponents starts and cast Gitaxian, tropical, Glistener Elf, i cry a little inside because if he has an explosive hand with a minimal protection i'm basically dead, i put on my mask of self esteem and try to gget the best out of the situation, i basically collect poison counter after poison counter, and when i am at like 5 Poisons a Swords to plowshares decide to finally show up.
My opponent attack me with the glistener i repeat again as a mantra " no blocks" and he finally cast invigorate on the elf, i promptly send that pointy ears bitch farming after a little counter war and mange to cast and resolve Dig, Untap and get in Counter top mode:on, the look on my opponent's eyes empties a little bit and i proceed to win that G1 cpuntering basically everything he casts and sending to farm a certain number of poisonous lands.
SIDEBOARD: don't remember well, however +2 Flusterstorm, +2Vendilion, +1Wear/Tear,
-1 Plains, -1 Jace -2 Entreat, -1 Counterspell
g2 my opponent cast a glistener and a Blighted Agent, i Brainstorm in his end of turn and terminus away those baddies in my draw step, after a some 1 for 1 trade i get to lock him in CB Top and he concedes when i reveal Vendilion from the top to counter his Krosan Grip
The plan for this matchup is essentially covered in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9PVmNci36k no more words requested if not PATIENCE
R3 Ant 2-0 3-0
i sit down on table one and my opponent sit in front of me, we shook hnds and we are ready to go.
g1: my opponent mulls down to 5 and starts Tropical ponder shuffle go, i put it on UGx Delver ( Team America or Threshold) and start of island go, my hand is filled with removal except for 2 lands and a Brainstorm, i play Island and say go, my opponent tink a little, play volcanic island ponder and passes at this point i totally put it on RUg that is searching for pressure, i play plains and say go, in turn 3 he play gemstone mine and cast preordain and the blood in my veins freezes out a bit : He's on storm! Fuck, my hand is worthless! and i have a plains on the table! ( fucking plains) i draw top for the turn, cast brtainstorm, and draw FoW tundra and CB, i close counter top the turn later and with a brainstorm i set drops 1 and 2 on top, however in the last turn he manage to tendrils me for 8 even if i conter all of his spells, ( mana flood in storm should be illegal)
SIDEBOARD: -1 Swords to plowshares, -4 terminus, -1 Jace, -1 Plains, -2 Entreat the Angels
+2 Canonist, +2Vendilion Clique, +1 Engineered Explosives, +2 Flusterstorm, +1 Monastery Mentor, +1 Containment Priest
g2 i side in an armory, we start the game and i get to slam Counterblaance on turn 2 after FoWing that little nasty Xantid swarm, he promptl decays my CB and Cabal therapies me naming Top and eating two of them from my hand.
I draw, play land and say go, he draws, cantrip and pass, i Brainstorm in my main phase and found Ponder Snapcasetr and CB, i float Ponder and Snap and cast CB then i pass, he untaps, try duress but i reveal and counter, after my draw step, however he manage to surgical my Tops and my FoWs, long story short some turns later he tries to go off because he is under pressure of vendilion and Snappy and starts with a tutor i reveal a Snapcaster selt there floating two turns earlier, he tries Ad Nauseam from 11 lives i reveal flooded blind, gìhe reveals lots of cantrips and Leds but no tutors, i am ready to fetch and cast dig to have two chance to counter with counterbalance after his Ad Nauseam but he kills himself revealing PiF at 4 lifes.
The plan in g1 is to lock them down with CB top or, for gaining time floating a Fow, Counterspell or Snapcaster for counterspell on top wit Top to protect it form discards, g2 is all about gaining time with an element of lock and applying as much pressure as possible.
R4 Team America 2-1 4-0
I sit and my opponent isn't still there, i wait, he reaches me in 3 minutes right in time to earn a game loss, sad story man, we proceed to a non sideboard g2:
g2: all the game we trade 1 for 1 , i FoW a Liliana, he touraches me one time, i cannot manage to see a top, long story short he has 4 cards in hand since the strat of the game and i won a counter war on a Dig Pyroblasting his FoW, leaving him with no board presence and 2 cards in hand, i didn't cast any decayable permanent yet, so i guess that cards was Dazes, Tourachs or Decays, i rip off my Eot Dig Jace and a land, untap, draw something unrelevant and cast fifth land and Jace, he dazes me once, i pay, he dazes me again... CRAP... Goodbye Jace
he rip off the top Deathrite ( i'm at 7 life i suppose ) i draw ponder, shuffle, draw land, pass, he rips deathrite #2, i draw Entreat and cast it for 3 angels ( why didi i do that? i don't know it yet), he send ma to 5, untap, send me to 1 , i topdeck terminus and kills everything, he cast tarmogof, i die
SIDEBOARD: -4 Force of Will, -4 Counterbalance
+1 Wear/Tear, +1Council's Judgment, +2 Flusterstorm, +2 Vendilion Clique +2 Monastery Mentor
g3: trade 1 for 1 again he makes t1 Thoughtseize, t2 Null Rod, i switch top to regain a card in resp, i plow a confidant, he resolves liliana, i judgment that when he is at 1 card in hand and i have 5 manas, snap Judgment Rod, he liliana again and i resolve Jace 2 Turns later, i Bs two times, after that he ultimates lili killing her and my jace, after a little i manage to kill some creatures witha terminus and win with the last win condition in my deck : the last mentor!
The plan here is to survive his early disruption and keep him off a Liliana when you have no top or ways to deal with that on the spot, after that Jaca ususally beats them hard or entreat works pretty well too
R5 Mentor Deck from GP Kyoto 1-2 4-1
I read the name of my opponent in the pairings table and is one of the strongest italian legacy players, i shrink a little and sit to the table, he's playing the mentor deck from the GP, i saw it from a previous game.
g1: first turns are turns where we essentially sculpt a good hand, in his Eot i cast a Dig, he Digs in response, i let it resolves, and Reb my Dig, i untap and cast CB, he Fows and i Reb, i cast top, i floated the turn before a drop at 3 and one at 2 on top, i pass with one volcanic open, he untaps and slam down mentor, i reveal entreat, he slams cpunterbalance, i reveal snapcaster looking with top in response, he passes, a little turns later he conceed.
SIDEBOARD: I boarded like it was a mirror, that's probably not right, guess something right might be like:
-4 STP, -1/2 Plains, -4 Terminus,
+2 Reb, +Wear/Tear, +Council's Judgment, +Engineered Explosives, +2 Monastery mentor, +2 Vendilion/ Flusterstorm
or:
-4 STP, -1/2 PLains -1/2 Terminus
+2 Reb, +Wear/Tear, +Council's Judgment, +Engineered Explosives, +2/3 Vendilion/ Flusterstorm
g2: He slams Mentor on turn 3, i slam mine too, he do lots of tokens i do so too, i cast top triggers, ponder triggers, shuffle draw, brainstorm triggers, fetch, shuffle, I declare "draw for ponder" and draw a card: GAME LOSS i'm a dork ^^
g3: he locks me on CB Top and resolves mentor, nothing i can do about that.
the matchup is pretty equilibrate in my opinion, is like a miracles mirror, where they have mentor from G1 essentially, still i don't have any clue on how to sideboard properly, however, i guess te key of the matchup is essentially counterbalance.
R6 Jeskai stoneblade 1-1-1 4-1-1
I know the player, is a friend of a friend, we start playing he stornforge for batterskull, i plow it, he resolves nemesis, i start cantrippi to found a terminus, i found one when i am at 1 and kill that thing, he bolts me, i cannot FoW, i have 4 manas and 1 life, i am dead.
SIDEBOARD: -4 FoW, -2 Plains, -2 Swords to Plowshares, -1 ??
+2 Reb, + Judgment, +Wear/Tear, +Explosives, +2 Vendilion, +2 Mentor
g2: he tutors for Sword of Fire and Ice with the first Stoneforge, in resp to the activated ability of the Stoneforge i Vendilion Clique him seeing Sulfur Elemental, Sword, jitte and Batterskull, i remove Sword, he Vials in Batterskull, i resolve counterbalance and leave that mentor on top, we next level each other a little bit until he casts sulfr elemental and i have mentor still on top and counter it, after a lots of Batterskull back and forth i manage to ultimate Jace on hima, he conceedes, we start g3 with 16 minutes on the clock, at the end of the time i have Jace, Mentor and top and he has Batterskull equièèed with Sword of fire and ice and meddling mage naming pyroblast, it's a draw, we compliment each other and promise to see us back in the top 8.
The matchup could go bad in 2 cases: Sword of Fire and Ice not responded or late game Batterskull may create some issues, Counterbalance is a superstar, and mentor can win on his own too
R7 Elves! 2-0 5-1-1
That's my win and in!
I sit towards my opponent and i keep a pretty sketchy hand: a one-lander with top balance, terminus, FOW, Dig, COunterspell my opponent starts Forest, Nettle sentinel, something inside my hand scream: You made it man!, just don't loose from your best matchup) i draw, is not a land, i play island top, he goes combat, then quirion, zenith for dryad, i untap, look in upkeep and see FoW Island, POnder, i draw island play it and pass, play counterbalance with 1 floating the next turn. he keeps dealing damages to me, until i teminus away his board 3 turns later after i FoWed his Natural Order, he fetches back Dryad Arbor, and keep pinging me, i entreat for lethal at 1 life.
SIDEBOARD: -2 Jace, -2 Pyroblast
+1 Judgment, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Wear/Tear, +1 Containment Priest
g2 i resolve top, he cabals away 2 counterbalance from my hand, some turns later resolves Natural order for Ruric Thar and Library, i plow that fatty goig to 9 i suppose, he keeps paying life from library until he's at 4 life, i manage to survive, and terminus his board he cast pithing needle on top, his board is Bayou, Needle, Gaea's cradle, library, mine is lands^^ i cast ponder, draw counterspell and float entreat, he untaps, cast zenith for 0 with only one other card in hand, i counterspell that, untap and cast entreat for 3 angels, he concedes.
TOP 8: i enter as 6th
I have to play versus Claudio, the opponent of round 5,
At this point we start playing again, and after a mass deck check for all the top 8 we sit down.
g1 is basically the copy of the g1 of round 5, i lock him up in cb top plow some mentors and sons and proceed to cast entreat on his end step with brainstorm, puttinco floating a 2 drop with FoW pitch in hand,
SIDEBOARD: see round 5 please
g2 i terminus away some mentros, he plays more, i terminus that again, end of turn i cast entreat for 4, He forces, i counterspell, He dazes O.o i am tapped out and missed that sixth land drop, ( i have island in hand), i proceed to die
g3, He mulls down to 5, Slam CB on turn 2, i Slam mine, he reveals blind counterspell, (OMG) i try again counterspell the turn later he reveals land, counterspell, i flusterstorm that, he rebs my CB, the turn later i manage to destroy that balance with wear, he cast mentro, then Jace, then resolves counterbalance, i cast terminus, he brainstorms in reponse, in response i cast snapcaster giving FB to Flusterstorm, i let BS resolve, he smiles, reveals terminus from the top, i ask him what did that terminus do still in his deck, they were for not losing to Entreat, i die 2 turns later.
Here ends my tournament, a total blast to play, i'm pretty satisfied with the decklist and the result of the tourament, only shame was the two mistakes i made in top8, that byes would have been nice to have in Lille, However i'm sure that the one who got them will do a great job in represent our country at the GP!
Last edited by Gros; 06-09-2015 at 03:58 AM.
Hi Christian, I'm the guy (who also play miracles) who usually find you at turn 1 (or 2) at the PGG, congratulation for the top 8 and for the really nice report; I would ask you some question:
-you played 20 lands in this tournament, do you think that this is enough?
-also why no council judgment mb? (I always love that card)
Hi! Thank you!
I never had a single problem of screw in all the tournament and i guess i mulliganed one time on 20+ opening hands, so it worked quite smooth for me.
council's judgment was removed from the main deck to have room for 2 pyroblast, essentially CJ hits 3 or 4 cards: liliana, counterbalance, Jace, Equipments from blade decks, Jace and CB gets countered/removed from reb, while the numbers of liliana are decreasing, i was more interested in having 2 reb for omniscience and the mirror from the main, reb is essential vs. Omnitell, if they have boseiju you can still have an honest counter war playing like this:
opponent cast Show and Tell via Boseiju, it resolves, you put a creature that has an etb trigger (Snapcaster Vendilion Stoneforge. ..) they usually put omniscience, now in resp to the trigger of your own creature you can get priority to reb that omniscience before they have the chance to cast emrakul and you can have your counter war with the advantage to make your opponent starting to counter so you need one less counter than your oppo...
Sure he can still wish for foremind's foresight in resp to your reb, cast foremind for impulse brainstorm and cunning wish , impulse for an high cc card, bs to put it on top, then wish for release the ants and win in reponse to your reb... but you can still use your counterspell even if they have boseiju
Nice report and congratulations ont he finish.
Also, your girldfriend's aleters are jaw dropping. Massive props!
Thanks for reading, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
oooh nice to see you here!!!! and hear all those good things about me, but i think i was quite lucky i would say!
you've played well for what i saw, and even better than me i think in the mirror....i'm trying to figure out how to improve the mirror MU, and thx to you i have a chance to do it!
i hope to do well at the GP, and i hope to see you there!!!!
all the best and congrats. you were a very good opponent!
Really thank you! It was really nice to play with you! See you in Lille! Make good use of those byes !
Very nice report and very good result!
Thanks for you work.
Great!
It seems the least i can do, given how this forum helped me to get better in playing the deck.Originally Posted by Hrothgar
Glad this can help back!
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