[Report] Dreadstill *GASP* wins Source Anniversary Tournament!!

[Rood]

Friday me and my friend Vanele ( AKA-- guywithbrownjacketwhomakesmockeryoflegacy) set off on what would be roughly a 5 hour trip to Vestall, NY...beating. We must've left at around 7:30PM and arrived in Vestall between 12:30-1:00AM from the Cape. We were pretty drained but were happy to be reunited with our teammates and were ready to kick some seriously ass. So after a long discussion of what deck HammafistRoob and Vanele were going to play it ended up being UGB Thresh the next day(thanks Anwar!) and TES with the broken that is AdN. Anyways we conked out at roughly 4AM that morning...bad times. Also FYI Motel floors are total assholes, I advise against them. We woke up at around 8:30AM and we got to the tournament at around 10:00AM after some magic preperations. The first thing I saw when I pulled into the parking lot was Dave Gearheart...HIGH FIVES!

After we all got registered and whatnot I decided to meet some of the sourcers and got to see some familiar faces again =]. I could not believe at how cramped the room was...it was crazy. Thankfully they moved us all upstairs to a room with wayyyy more space. Round one started around 12:30PM. Since I did not take notes I'll try to give it a valid effort based off of memory. I ended up playing UR Goyfless Dreadstill (WTF HAX NO TARMOWIN 4 REALZ?) Yes, for real. Anyways my matches.

My list:

// Lands
3 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [4E] Mishra's Factory
3 [REW] Wasteland
6 [ARE] Island (8)
2 [U] Volcanic Island

// Creatures
4 [MI] Phyrexian Dreadnought
3 [FD] Trinket Mage

// Spells
4 [SC] Stifle
3 [CS] Counterbalance
2 [TSP] Trickbind
4 [NE] Daze
2 [CHK] Sensei's Divining Top
4 [FNM] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [OD] Standstill
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
3 [DIS] Spell Snare

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [R] Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 3 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 [B] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 2 [7E] Pyroclasm

Round 1: Affinity 1-0
G1: He ends up playing an artifact land and passes possible Seat of the Synod. I had a hand that consisted of 2 Spell Snares so I really didn't have to fear a Ravanger or Cranial Plating. He of course, goes for T2 Cranial after playing a Thopter which I snare. I end up dropping a Standstill right afterwards which he pops. I end up countering his spell and then proceed to chain 2 more Standstills in a row. I basically counter all of his threats and drop a Dreadnought FTW.
[Out -1 Standstill -1 Daze +2 Pithing Needle
G2: He gets stuck on 2 colorless Lands while I get a Dreadnought down. He goes the distance.

Round 2: Goyf Sligh 2-0
G1: I keep a solid hand that I knew had FoW, Brainstorm, Counterbalance, Standstill, Island, Dreadnought, Daze. He leads with Mountain--Fanatic. All I can remember is after digging with Brainstorm I never found my second mana source until about turn 6 which he then had applied serious beats via Mogg Fanatic and was able to burn me out.
[Out -1 Daze -1 Snare +2 BEB]
G2: This match was one of the closest I had ever been in. I managed to get active a CB/Top but he was applying beats and had a decent size grip. It ended up me only having 2 FoWs in hand and CB/Top down. He plays Choke...WTF? So i look at my top 3 cards...Dreadnought, Stifle, Island. Seeing as I had one Island untapped and a Mishra's Factory in play I let the Choke resolve putting everything on the line on Dreadnought to win it for me. I tapped Top after drawing for turn and played Dreadnought. On my oponents next turn he attempts to naturalize him (apparently he didn't own K-grip) which my CB of course would miss. The 2x FoWs are gone from my hand and he packs it in to Dreadnought.
G3: I get CB/Top down again and apply the beats with Factories. He probally had enough to kill me but couldn't play around CB/Top ftl.

Round 3: Aluren 3-0
G1: I end up CBing 3 of his 3CC spells via Brainstorm and Dropping Dreadnought. He dies shortly After.
[Out -1 Daze -1 Dreadnought -1 EE +3 REB]
G2: This game I ended up gaining a ton of CA via Standstill and basically after resolving a Dreadnought kept him on the table and won. I ended up Stifling a Man-a-war i think on Dreadnought too.

Round 4: Aggro Loam 4-0
G1: My turn 4 play was Dreadnought--Stifle Dreadnought--Stifle. He honestly had no outs to it and we moved on to G2.
[Out -1 Standstill -2 Daze -1 Dreadnought +2 Crypt +2 BEB]
G2: Crusher really is painful have I mentioned that? Yeah he does what he does best and I die a painful, horrible death after BEBBing his Seismic assault then Crypting him.
G3: He has very few mana sources because of an EE on mox. I end up getting CB/Top active and just get there with Factory beats. He doesn't draw many lands this game.

Round 5: Mighty Quinn by Clavio 5-0
G1: He ends up making a bunch of land drops while I'm stuck on 1 land. I Daze his Moat and something else which I can't remember. I do remember Stifling his Isochron Sceptor and began applying Trinket Mage/Factory beats. I managed to establish CB/Top lock as well. Towards the end of the game he was at 2 life and plays a Sacred Mesa. I attack him with Trinket Mage which he responds to my making a token. I Trickbind the ability and thats game time.
[Out -1 Daze -1 Dreadnought +2 Pithing Needle]
G2: A Dreadnought with FoW backup for swords on about turn 5 and Trickbind on his Oblivion Ring get there for me. Have I mentioned how good Trickbind is?

So I rejoice with Ben(ForceofWill) after the 5th round seeing as we're both undefeated with Dreadstill at this point and garunteed basically a slot in the T8 with ID.

Final record at the end of swiss 5-0-2

So finally after IDs with AdN TES and Dreadstill (FoW) we begin the Top 8 roughly 2 hours later.

Top 8: Geddon Stax by Afro 6-0-2
I've faced Afro quite a few times in Hadley I'm pretty sure and know how tough he is. He's 6-1 and in 2nd place after the end of swiss so I know I'm in for the battle of my life. After some good luck we're on our way.
G1: A quick Dreadnought with FoW backup on Oblivion Ring ends this game fairly fast. I was hoping to at least steal game one because I knew it would go to three games.
[Out 3 Counterbalance +2 E-truth +1 Pithing Needle
G2: He completely LOCKS me out with 3sphere, Grid, and Stax. I can never manage to draw my 3rd mana source and scoop it up to salvage dignity.
G3: On turn 3 his board was something like Mox, plains, Defense Grid, 3Sphere. After he drew his card and said go I knew he had no land. I had two Echoing Truths in hand and elect to bounce his mox first to lock him under his own 3Sphere. After he draws and passes without playing another land I go turn 3 Trinket Mage for EE. I end up blowing up his Grid with EE and Bouncing 3sphere at EOT with E-truth. Dreadnought finishes soon after.

They were great matches I enjoyed every second of them.

T4: Team America by nitewolf9 7-0-2
G1: I manage to get CB/Top active and I get in there with Factory/Trinket Mage ftw I believe.
[Out -1 Dreadnought -1 Standstill +2 Echoing Truth]
G2: Team America does what Team America does best. I die to a horrible death via Tomb-cave-skuller (Tombstalker) and Tarmogoyf. Oh I do remember Dreadnought being Snuffed out 2 times this match...beating.
G3: After a Trickbind on his fetch and a Wasteland on his U-Sea he is manaless for about maybe 10-15 turns. The only mana he had was one colorless Wasteland. I establish CB/Top but can't find any threats at all after fetching a bunch of times. I eventually drop a Standstill. After a while of nitewolf playing draw ditch go he gets a few lands in play. He pops my Standstill with a Ponder which give me redic card advantage on him. I end up dropping a Dreadnought which he grips but am getting him with Trinket/Factory beats. Eventually he goes down to 4 life and drops Tombstalker. I look at the top 3 cards of my library--Echoing Truth, Echoing Truth- Force of Will...seriously? I let it resolve. He then drops a Tarmogoyf which I tap top to Force it. My turn Top-->draw Bounce Stalker and he dies for exactly 4 damage.

Those were the best games I played all night and nitewolf was an exceptionally good player. TA is a really bright new innovation and I look forward to seeing how the deck progresses.

So after my T4 match I found out Ben (ForceofWill) had lost to AdN TES...WTF? It's one of Dreadstills best matchups and I was kinda surprised it had happened. I was expecting a T2 showdown amongst Dreadstill decks.

Finals: AdN TES 8-0-2
G1: I made a misplay with a Daze on a Dark Ritual which on his next turn he ended up Emptying for 6. I stablized with 1 Mishra's Factory and ended up killing him once I drew another. I also had Counterbalance down but no top =[. I did get lucky with a blind flip of 2cc after he chanted me.
G2: Dreadstill does what Dreadstill does to storm based combo, and I CB/Top locked him and shut him down from the game pretty much entirely. I killed him with manlands I believe.

So that's it...Dreadstill won the tournament and pigs rain down from the sky. I hope that people will take it seriously now as it's seriously the best deck in Legacy at the moment.

Props:
-J.V. for being the man and playing Dreadstill too
-Dreadstill, for being awesome to me
-40 Dual lands for being 40 dual lands
-My team for putting up a room for me and convincing me to come to this
-Dave Gearheart, ALL RIGHT HIGH FIVE!!
-All the awesome Sourcers I met...there were countless
-My oponents for being nice and respectful
-Hammafist for designing the best deck in Legacy

Slops:
-Overcrowded in downstairs
-My teammates for scrubbin early out of the tourny
-Almost getting KO'd by Goyf Sligh
-10-11 hours driving time
-Beatings...what a beating
-Floor of Motels...sucks

See you guys at TML Open 4!

[Bryant Cook]

Congrats for winning with that pile. ;-p

[Whit3 Ghost]

Congrats on the finish and on writing the first of hopefully many reports to come from this event!

[ForceofWill]

I find it funny that in the swiss I played against 5 completely different decks than you. Good report and good win.

P.S. remember to play around shatter from now on.

[J.V.]

Congrats Rood, Great job dude. To bad Zach backed out of the bet huh...? Also beware of Shatter... Teeniebopper and his lackey's are gonna be buying them out!
:Edit: Damn Ben beat me too it.

[beastman]

didnt you topdeck the counterbalance game 2 against jimmy in the finals the turn before he wuld have killed you?

[Rood]

didnt you topdeck the counterbalance game 2 against jimmy in the finals the turn before he wuld have killed you?

Not entirely sure that he would have killed me but I believe I topped and stacked the CB on top and drew it for turn.

[J.V.]

No brainstormed into it and stacked it. He played it the turn before Jimmy would have killed him. Also that 2cc Flip was the best thing that ever happened to you and you didn't even know it Your made a sad face and said resolves about Jimmy's Chant and he's holding LED LED Burning wish, Infernal tutor, Infernal Tutor, seems pretty good.

[Pinder]

Seriously. You should have seen the chat log when that Counterbalance landed. It was roughly:

OMG
gg
that's game
game over
no way TES is winning now
that CB just won Rodney the game
etc.

Again, major props to Gearhart for giving the play by play in the finals.

[frogboy]

The irony is that Dreadnaught was only good for like three game wins.

I'm sort of curious if that Mesa guy is even aware of his punt.

Grats, etc.

[Rood]

The irony is that Dreadnaught was only good for like three game wins.

I'm sort of curious if that Mesa guy is even aware of his punt.

Grats, etc.

If by punt you mean put the triggers on stack before he passes priority back it wouldn't have changed the game. He only had 4 mana open and I had an extra Stifle effect waiting in hand.

[frogboy]

It's not like it's not a mistake just because you happen to have the outs.

[Jak]

Congrats on the finish! Nice report, but people seriously just don't get it. You can't just play 4 shatter and expect to beat 4 Mishra and 4 Noughts, you need to play 4 Shatter and 4 Pillage/Shattering Spree.

(Im just playing Rood :))

[thefreakaccident]

It's not like it's not a mistake just because you happen to have the outs.

I agree with you wholeheartedly... but you also have to put into account that a lot of people would not see that play.

[frogboy]

It's pretty much strictly better unless you have a two mana removal spell in your hand.

[Rood]

Congrats on the finish! Nice report, but people seriously just don't get it. You can't just play 4 shatter and expect to beat 4 Mishra and 4 Noughts, you need to play 4 Shatter and 4 Pillage/Shattering Spree.

(Im just playing Rood :))

LOL, good one =]. But actually I'd scoop it up to The Chubb

[beastman]

i hear that is some kind of nasty against dreadstill, even tho that joke has been kicked to death about a hundred times too many

[nitewolf9]

Nice work winning this thing, you deserve it. We had some good games...maybe I'll get you next time

Perhaps dreadstill gets some respect now?

[Eldariel]

Good show, watching the live feed was hilarious. Quite the irony that the much-maligned Dreadstill wins while Threshold and Landstill fail to even Top 8. Nice going! Although I'm definitely not ready to cram the "best deck" cap on anything yet :P

[rockout]

Congratulations on the finish. Still can't believe UR Dreadstill won and had two Top 4 finishes, I guess it's time to seriously add it to the gauntlet.