Keep on Taxing! Top 4 (Split) in 102-man Tourney in MNL

[mrjumbo03]

Went top4 split (due to lateness) in a 102-man 7-round tourney in MNL, going 5-0-2 in the Swiss, and winning my top8 match.

Death and Taxes
10 Plains
4 Karakas
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

4 Mother of Runes
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Jotun Grunt
3 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

SB
4 Enlightened Tutor
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Stony Silence
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Dismember
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Leonin Arbiter

Round 1 Mono-B discarder 2-0, 1-0
G1: He tells me he's just getting back into the game, and it was an old school list. I smile a little inside, what luck. Then he plays turn-2 Black Knight which gets me down to 10 before I can find a SoFI and kill it. G1 took a long time because I had to explain all the interactions happening. But another Sword later and it's off to G2.
G2: Sided out a revoker for an O-Ring. Won pretty easily as I managed to Mangara Lock him. I remember dropping a Mother of Runes and Thalia which seriously hampers his removal as he can't cast 2 deathmarks in his turn due to him having 4 lands but me having a Port. (Port FTW)

Round 2 TES 2-1, 2-0
G1: The smile turned into a frown as I play against my friend who usually plays TES in tourneys. He mulls to 5, me to 6. Opening hand had Thalia, and a Revoker I think. He can't fight through the MD hate and I win after wasting him and dropping Stoneforge and Jitte, and an Avenger I think.
G2: SB +Storm package(9 cards: 4 Tutors, 1 Revoker, 1 Canonist, 1 Stony Silence, 2 Arbiters), -4 STP, -3 Mangara, -Avenger, -SOFI. He goes of turn2. I had a predicament this game because I had a wasteland in my opening hand, but I decided to play Vial first because I had another turn 2 Thalia. Sadly, I made a wrong decision as he has the exact amount of mana to go off, had I wastelanded, I think I could've pulled that game out.
G3: Opening 7 had 1 Thalia and 2 Revokers, and his first turn thoughtseize could only get my Thalia. Proceeded to play a Vial and 2 Revokers (LED - I almost always go for LED first, and I think the other one is on Petal), I draw another Revoker, but don't play it yet to avoid a possible sweeper. I remember dropping a Stoneforge as well. I drop him to around 10 due to beats and his Brass activations, and he goes Burning Wish for Infest. I vial a Revoker (LED) and play a Stoneforge and attack him to 7, he goes Rite of Flame, Burning Wish for Grapeshot and kills 2 of my dudes. Mom and Grunt finishes him off. DNT 1 STORM 0, take that combo.

Round 3 ANT 2-0, 3-0
G1: I play against another friend who brutally beat me the last time we faced in a tourney (went off on the first turn twice). So my joy from beating combo the last game, turned to sadness yet again. He keeps and I mull, thankfully I got Thalia and Mom. He digs for a few turns, and I managed to set up a Vial at 2 with Mom on board and a port. I had 2 Mangaras in hand so I ticked it up to 3. And managed to remove an LED and a land, while constantly tapping another land. NOTE: Always activate vial on your turn for Thalia, usually they just let you drop it, so they won't be able to respond. I misplayed this when I ported on his upkeep so he responded with brainstorm before I dropped Thalia. I should've went tap Vial and if he says go, I'll drop Thalia and now he's forced to play BS for 2 when I tap his land. He got an extra Preordain that turn because of my misplay but luckily I had a pretty fast clock. Mom and Thalia is strong hate for ANT as they don't have Burning Wishes as far as I know.
G2: +Storm Package, -4STP,-3Mangara,-1Sofi,-1Avenger. He thoughtseizes and takes away a Stony Silence, and leaves me with a Revoker, and an Arbiter as hate, plus I had Mom as well. He drops a confidant on his side, but he can't draw any relevant stuff (he had 3 LED's in hand but I Revoked it), and I just beat him to a pulp. I think I dropped a Grunt in this game as well. DNT 2 STORM 0, yes to the fair deck!

Round 4 Stoneblade 1-0, 4-0
G1: I play against another friend, who beat me the last time we played due to an infinite amount of STP/PTE's via Snap. I mull to 6 and I draw a 1-lander with a Vial, and 2 SFM. I decided to play it and he forces. So I'm screwed. Except I draw 2 lands in a row! Lucky as hell. Problem is he managed to also have 2 SFM and he got 2 Batterskulls (later on I found out he didn't put in Jittes because of the few creatures he runs), he managed to path a Mangara I hardcasted and Snap-path an Avenger I tried to equip with SOLAS. but I'm now up to 5 lands (which was really huge), and I think I drew another 1 as well. I managed to kill off the other germ via SOLAS equipped Flickerwisp, but then he equipped it to his snappy and I had to block with my SFM. Luckily I drew a Swords and I Swords in response to his equipping the other one to SFM. Then I drew another Swords and swords Snappy during his attack phase next turn. I was down to 3 before I stabilized and I think he reached 39. I managed to claw back as now I had Jitte and SOLAS on board, and a Thalia + Flickerwisp and SFM and I think a Vial as well against his board of SFM and 2 Empty Batterskulls. He stalls on his draws, but he manages to WoG me for my 3 creatures, but I proceed to vial in Grunt and equip, and soon after he concedes after a long grueling round.
G2: Sided Revoker, ORing, Dismember, but I can't remember what I took out. Seeing that there was only around 15minutes left. I changed my game plan to survival mode, so I wasn't aggressive and I just kept on being cautious. He gets 2 Batterskulls again, but I Flickered one and blocked the other with a Solas'd Flickerwisp, and time was called.

Round 5 Punishing Mav 2-0, 5-0 (I was paired down this round)
G1: Revoker'd his Hierarch, and he had 2 Hierarchs (1 was much later though), a wasteland and a forest. His savannah got wastelanded when he played a Pridemage (he only had 1 Hierarch at this time). I proceed to play a 2nd revoker so he is forced to blow up my old one, so I named Hierarch once again. Now this is the turn he drops another Hierarch. I managed to SFM into SOLAS into Avenger and proceed to win from there.
G2: Sided in +Dismember, +Revoker, +ORing, -1 Thalia, -1 SOFI (I'm not sure about this), -1 Flickerwisp. He GSZ'd to Arbor, I play another Mom that he P.Fires on his turn but I wasteland his Grove before shenanigans. He drops SOLAS, I play a Mom and a Revoker on SoLAS, he SFM for Jitte, and I play the one in my opening hand. I swords arbor, so he's forced to tap out to put Jitte into play during my turn, so free swing for Revoker. He then double swords Revoker on his turn so he could equip his SFM, me I play an Avenger and equipped her as well. Now he's lands are Plateau, Wasteland, and Canopy, and I tap his Plateau, he draws and drops a Bojuka Bog on his turn. On my turn I waste his Plateau and now his back to having 2 lands on his turn due to me tapping, all the while losing 2 life per turn. I add a Flickerwisp a turn later and win from there. I think he had 2 Knights in hand and he couldn't drop them due to not having the enough mana. Bojuka Bog was clutch in the sense that he could've drawn a land that didn't come into play tapped and dropped a Knight and from there he can drop the other one and so on. He said he sided out an Arid Mesa for the Bog because of the Grunt I dropped during G1. So lucky for me again!

Round 6 Tempo Rug ID 5-0-1
Did the math and we're assured of a top 8 slot. He's another friend, and one that plays at the same shop I play in. I know part of his list and he is running 3 Forked Bolts from when we were playing, and even Grudges in the side for Equipment so it's pretty rough, but based on testing I'm a little confident against RUG except when they get Delver Delver opening. Mom and Vial is problematic for them, and so is a lot of our dudes, flickering the Insect, Grunt eating the yard for Goyf and Mongoose.

Round 7 AnT with PiF ID 5-0-2
Again did the math and assured of a top 8 slot.

Top 8 was in this order, Sneak&Show, Nic Fit, Tempo Thresh (Round 6 ID), AnT with PiF (Round 7 ID), DnT (Me), Stoneblade, Tezzeret Affinity, Punishing Mav (Round 5 opponent).

Top 8 AnT with PiF 2-1
G1: So I was up against another Storm variant, the won I ID'd with in round 7. He kills me turn 2.
G2: Storm Package. I had an awesome hand of E Tutor, Thalia, Arbiter. I played a land then go. He duresses and I Tutor for Canonist. Play canonist. Then Thalia, then Arbiter. He was down to 7 when he made his move. He managed to Pact Canonist, Pact Thalia, then dropped 2 LED's, and he had enough to Infernal + pay for search for Ad Naus (He used Dark Ritual as well. He was already at 6 Storm with a petal available, and it was looking grim. He shuffled and offered his deck for cutting. I cut my usually way and pray. First flip, PAST IN FLAMES. Second flip, WIPE AWAY. Exacties for 7 and I win an Epic game against Storm.
G3: I sided in Tormod's for a Flickerwisp because of PiF. Opening hand was 2 Arbiters and a Revoker. He takes an Arbiter, and I play Revoker, then Arbiter. I beat his face and luckily for me he kept on finding mana, and he had no business. I win this game but he showed me that all he needed was an Infernal, because he has the pact for my Revoker, and I think he had 3 LED's in his hand. DNT 3 STORM 0 I love you Thalia!

Top4 was Me (DnT), Stoneblade, Tezz Affinity, Punishing Mav (all lower seeds). I was supposed to face Punishing Mav again but we decided to just split the prize and go home as it was already getting late. I think my matchups are okay against these 3, (I have Stony in my board to shut out Affinity hehe), and the other 2 would be 50-60 in my favor I think. Overall, an epic day as I managed to lose only 2 games, both against storm doing its thing. Revoker is the bomb and with the amount of combo I played, the 3rd Arbiter would've been awesome as well. I'm still not sure what to make of Dismember but maybe for now it'll stay until I get to use it and if I should add the 4th Thalia to the board (Problem is, she's legendary so I think it'd be better off as a Thorn if you really want an additional Storm Hate). AVR is right around the corner and it looks like Legacy won't be the same after its release due to the new cards or to prospective bannings. Only problem I see is Terminus as that might give rise to various Landstill and board control variants that we have a hard time against. But as long as people stay stubborn and keep on playing greedy manabases, we'll always have a shot. Keep on taxing!

[Curby]

Grats on the finish and on going 3/0 against storm. What do you usually name with Stony? Ramp stuff, Tutor, or Tendrils?

[paeng4983]

(me referring to his RD2 report)
Jumbo really loves me. Thalia and nine others, OH Jumbo, marry me!
Congrats on the finish man! Cheers.

[mrjumbo03]

Grats on the finish and on going 3/0 against storm. What do you usually name with Stony? Ramp stuff, Tutor, or Tendrils?

Stony Silence is the White enchantment Null Rod. I think you're mistaking it for Nevermore as both were released in the same set. Nevermore seemed good in theory however being 3 to cast makes it so much weaker against Storm so I dropped it.

[Curby]

Whoops, yup. Please disregard my brain fart. =)