I need a Miracle - Brazilian Legacy National Champs - Top8

[Shimi]

I played last weekend with UWr Miracles in Brazilian Legacy National Chapionship( 154 players - that got their invites through the year) , making 7-1 ( 1° at standings) on day1 , but losing in the top8 at day2.

I'm too lazy and was too tired to write some kind of report, but since I got sick and can't work on my paper or study for my finals exams I decided that writing something here would help me get better and would be a good use of my "useless time".So don't expect a very detailed report, since I got some really complex games during those two days.

History Time/ Preparation:

The first time I played Miracles it was not even popular, it was at a tournament 5K ( ~2,5K Dollars) on the same store that will be organizing the 2013 GP Rio de Janeiro ( but the store and the tournament is in São Paulo).The field was basically alot of Sneak Atacks + Mavericks + Stoneblades, so I opted for a Uw version with Humility MD and lots of removals and NO Counterbalance MD, it worked as predicted and I won the tournament.Since that tournament I just played Miracles casually or during test sessions, but I knew it was my "safe port" in case I could not find a better deck to play at Nationals.As you guys can imagine I really did not find any better option( except by a mid range BUG Deathrite deck, but I had no time to properly test and play it , so I tuned my Uw winning list to beat Omnitell , Canadian , UW Miracles and still got any chance against Goblins.

The List and some explanations:

At the last week I decided that Volcanics MD and ReB SB was the place to be, and that Counterbalance MD would help in the mirror and against Canadian.So I got some free SB slots that could be used for Show and Tell hate and Goblins hate.On the last minute I cut the 4th Jace, TMS for a 2nd Engineered Explosives and listes the following list:

2 Volcanic Island

2 Vendillon Clique

2 Tundra

3 Terminus

4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Spell Pierce

2 Snapcaster Mage

4 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Plains

1 Karakas

3 Jace, the Mindscuptor

5 Island

1 Glacial Fortress

4 Force of Will

4 Flooded Strand

2 Enginnered Explosives

2 Entreat the Angels

1 Detention Sphere

2 Counterspell

3 Counterbalance

4 Brainstorm

1 Arid Mesa

Sideboard:

1 Terminus

2 Surgical Extraction

1 Supreme Veredict

1 Rest in Peace

3 Red Elemental Blast

1 Path to Exile

1 Oblivion Ring

1 Moat

2 Meddling Mage

2 Disenchant

If I would play it again I would do +1 Tundra -1 Glacial Fortaress , since Maverick(and Chokes) numbers are going down.I really like the SB but if BUG becomes more popular -1 Surgical +1 Rest in Peace would be good.Moat was there just to stop Goblins since I had faith I could deal with Siege-Gang flings.


Tournament Day1:


154 Players, ~8 team mates and over 20 friends so it would be a good but long day with 8 rounds of magic.. 6 or 7 if I could be good enought to I.D into top8 at end.

I'm just waiting for the Parings and wishing to be not paried against any team mate or a good goblin player.. I look fast at the staidings a see thet I'm not just paried against a Goblin deck , but against a friend and good Goblin player.. yeahh nice way to begin the tournament.

Round 1: Goblins - Jorge "Polar"

Game 1:
He probably knows I'm on Miracles, but I'm on play and decide to keep a NON-Swords to Plowshares hand with the following plan: Pierce a Vial, then Jace T4 , Terminus T5 , Entreat T6 and win.I open with island go, he plays vial(!!) and I pierce it(!!) ok.. but at T2 he plays instigator and I'm dead on his T4 after casting Jace and putting Terminus + Entreat on top of my deck.
Game 2:
I mull to 5 , and he plays Matron-> Ringleader -> 3 good Goblins like 3 times in a roll and I lose.

0-1

Ok.. I'm 0-1 , and need to win like 6 matchs and probably ID the last one... seems hard but if there is someone who can make this turn around it is me, I have done it before.. 3 times on 7 round tournaments.

So let the Miracle begin!!!

Round 2: Shardless BUG - Renato Kitagawa

Game 1: We play a draw-land-go game but I got a SDT to hide my juice cards, he tries to win by "him to touraching" me twice and cascading into brainstorming + pressing with goyf , but once I clean the table and fix my Jace before his one I sealed my victory and fatesealed him to oblivion.

Game 2: The game it pure atriction , but I setup an "early" Entreat the Angels for 3 with mana for pierce, and win with 2 atack phases and a Counterspell on his Deed.

1-1

Round 3: Goblins AGAIN - Leonardo Gripp

Game 1: Ok.. there was no game1, he mulls to 4 on play, finds no lands, and I stick a Jace on T4 against his lonely wasteland.Better lucky and good?

Game 2: He opens with lackey, vial, warchief, and I responded with StP , EE for 1 , StP.. after this he plays matron and the "+1/+1 warchieftain" and start clocking me, I play SDT than Snap, StP killing his 2 guys, and finally Jace against his empty board.He plays Ring leader and reveals ReB , ReB , ReB , Thorn of Ametist .. WOW no I have a chance, he hits Jace and pass with only a "Kik-Jik" on hand, I cast terminus and star brainstorming to finish this game.. he draws and plays matron, warchief and bash me for 3 life.. OUCH now things are very dangerous.I StP his warchief and BOUNCE THE MATRON!! so I'm not dead to his matron + "kik-jik" on hand.He plays Matron and search for SGC. I draw , brainstorm Jace, he plays SGC and I wipe his board with Terminus/Supreme Veredict/Path + EE.. we made this play 4 times..yeah... I was alive after many SCG entering the battlefield and matrons searching for the SCG on bottom.. but finally I find and Entreat the Angels that stop his Lackey + Piledrive + matron and swings for lethal.Better lucky and good? Again... I still not find the moat..but I guess at 3 life it would not have done much.

2-1

Round 4: Storm - Bruno Duarte

Game 1: Knowing he is on Storm I keep a CB + FoW + Pierce hand, and my years playing with Storm give me the skill to foresee his plays and setup "blinds" Counterbalances.

Game 2: Same thing but now I have EE and BS + Entreat to stop the EtW plan.

Ok, it is always nice to get a good matchup but there it is a long path until top8.

3-1

Round 5: Belcher - Carlinhos

He is a good player and friend from a near city, so I put him o Belcher with 90% accurency.

Game 1: I keep a Fow hand, and he mull to 6 and pass.. so belcher it is! I stop him from getting the 4th mana and find an unfair CB to seal the deal.

Game 2: Keep FOW , FOW , Detention Sphere , Counterbalance , Island , Plains.. OK.. nice mull to 6.. my first draw is an island and it is GG.

I say sorry for the broken hands and boring game, he says that he is a bit sick and I wish him to get better and a nice returning trip.

4-1

So.. just more 2 matchs and I should ID into top8.. now things start to get dirty.

Round 6 - Diogo Mignon - with a very pimp 43lands deck but without Foil Rishadan Ports , he is a very nice friend with a lovely dog, so I need to crush him!!!

We got the featured Match.. which I would like to link here but it is in HD and the coverage team did not uploaded it yet.. when they upload it I will post here!

Game 1- I play Island go, he plays Mox , Port , Manabound, drops many lands and bins a Loam.. KKK Yugioohh!! gods needs to help me.I play my basics, he dredgs into nothing, and I play SDT , he dredgs into Ports and Wastes and Ghost Quartes.. so I can't let him resolve the fucking loam again.. I play Jace and I fow his 1st attempt , fow his 2nd attempt and if i'm not wrong I counterspell his 3th attempt until I CB lock him out of the game and win with my Jace and STP his Treetop Village(he punts here and forgot to tap my Karakas on his turn).

Game 2- I keep SDT , SDT , Surgical , Rest in Peace , Jace , Lands.He plays land, go (!!) , I play SDT and he plays CoV for 1.Ok.. I rest in peace on t2 and he tries to clock me with a Kotr on T3.. when I'm on 8 life, I Jace, then I CB lock on 3(countering his Oblivion Stone) than I play MOAT and he realizes that treetops and KotR don't know how to fly...for an uber victory I crush him with Angels.

5-1 + winning my Featured Match

Round 7 - Maverick - Rodrigo "Gallahad"

It is the last one!?The win and in?

Game 1 - I know his Team ( SX Team) and I really don't know if he is on Sneak , Maverick or Canadian.. I look at a 2x STP, Snap , BS , 3 lands hand I will take the odds and play with it.I play Island go, he plays savannah, I play a land, he plays GSZ for 1 with a wasteland, and get Sylvan Safekeeper (ouch!), I STP it eating one land, and when I snap + stp on my turn he let me remove the keeper and is on 1 land, he plays noble and craddle, I STP his noble and start beatdown with a snap, then a pierce on GSZ + other Snap.. when he begin to "stabilize" I reveal a topdeck Entreat and it is GG.

Game 2- He begins aggressive and I draw many lands, he plays stone + mothers + jitte and nobles, one Kotr lives and it finish me with 2 blows.

Game 3- I keep , Jace, Supreme , Brainstorm , 4 fecthlands .. so I put all my chips on resolving this Supreme and playing Jace ... I play land go until turn 5 and he plays, mother, teeg , noble , scryb , kotr.. then I play karakas, bounce Tegg, Supreme Veredict and Jace on T6 win the game, with my Karakas dealing with his Teeg and Thalias.It was nice when people asked me how I won this game or if I wn the g3 cause they think this was the g2 and it was a lost one.

6-1

Ok... now I should just ID and go to top8... NOT SO EASY... my tiebreaks are really bad and I'm in 8th so I need to win to get into top8 and my opponent just need to draw.. yeah.. I'm usually a very kind and nice person but my opponent was trying to get and NON-INTENTIONAL Draw...

Round 8 - Death and Taxes - Daniel

Game 1- I keep a risky hand that plays SDT + CB on T2... my opp resolves a mother opf runes the entire game..

Game 2- He begins with multiples Revokers( naming SDT) and Thalias + a jitte.. at the very end I can't see the game line that could have estabilized the board and I'm dead to a single revoker equiped with a jitte, the game line envolved setting up a "blind" counterbalance for two turns but could have saved me if I could read my opponent game plan.

Game 3 -Ok.. I have more 25min to win this game.. this is the first time in the tournament that "time" is a potential issue.My opponent mulls to 5 VERY SLOWLY, I trade removals and fix a Jace, that brings 2 angels that beat him for 3 turns with CB + Jace take his blocks out of the way.At the end I still had more 5 minutes on the round.

7-1

YEAHHH!!! Finally I made it, put myself on the top8, with the bonus that now I'm the only one with 21 points, and would choose to Play or Draw into entire top8.



Tournament Day2 - Top8

I find out that I would be playing against a BUG(Deathrite/Goyf/Snap) midrange so I take a look at his list and go eat some pizza with ScatmanX and other friends!! After eating some pizza I went home and got some sleep to be prepared for day2.

All top8 games would be a best of 5.. so it would be a long day.. or not.

Top8 - BUG Midrange - Burt Lancaster

Game 1- I choose to play and begin with land , SDT.. this games takes VERY LONG.. REALLY. When it finish all other top8 games are on game4/5 or has alreadly ended.It was a grindy battle but SDT helped me remove all his Goyfs and land my Jace.

Finally they posted the videos on YouTube.. so if you want to see the g2 to g4 , go to the 38min. Bonus: You can see ScatmanX playing Goblins at 18min.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA3ICiNVsSU


Game 2- He plays first and I mull to 6, keeping land, fow , fow , StP , PtE , Snapcaster , Pierce. He plays land go, I draw some blue card , play lands and pass. He plays land and try to resolve his unique SDT.. I Pierce, he pierce back, I fow , he fows, i fow.. and at the end he is on 2 cards and 2 lands and i have 1 land and 1 STP + 1 PtE .. I draw some lands and the game become a grindy war again.. but when I find my SDT it is too land and I die to a Deathrite Shaman one turn before stabilizing the board with a Terminus on top.

Game 3- Here I mull to 5, we trade some early resources and he resolves a Jace that is GG for me.

Game 4- Again I see myself mulling to 5, and when I resolve a T3 clique in response to a Inquisition of Kozilek I find out I'm in trouble.. he shows me Jace, FoW , Seize, Abrupt , Deathrite, Goyf against my FoW , STP and Counterspell hand. His IoK took my STP, his seize took my Counterspell , and my Clique took his Jace , but then he starts beating me with Goyf and Shaman.. I resolve a Counterbalance, fight his other cards and lock him with SDT + CB just to find out that my Supreme Veredict is one card too deep on my library.

So that was the end... the BUG matchup is very fair and unfortunatelly who draws better wins the game.At the end it was a good day and I went home with 4 Bayous and alot of good memories.

Ohhh and if you are curious, the Top8 was BUG , UWr Miracles , Goblins , 2x Sneak Atack , Junk , ANT, Canadian. With Sneak Atack winning against BUG in the finals..

Thank you for reading this wall of text.

[.Ix]

Great report and great sig haha!! Congrats on the finish, and it sounds like you had a lot of fun :D

[SilverGreen]

Congratz, Shimi!

[ScatmanX]

Next one we'll get past top8, that's for sure!

[Fuzzy]

Next one we'll get past top8, that's for sure!

Yes, PLEASE.

Congratz Shimi and Scat (Where's your report?)!

(And sorry for this year... )

[maurobad2k4]

Congratz Shimi ! I`m sure you`ll do even better next year !

[ScatmanX]

Congratz Shimi and Scat (Where's your report?)!

Page 213 of the goblins thread.
or here

[Shimi]

Add the Video Link of top8 matchs!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA3ICiNVsSU

[sdematt]

Any chance you can post the Junk list from the Top 8?

-Matt

[ScatmanX]

Any chance you can post the Junk list from the Top 8?

-Matt

There you go. =]
For the rest of the top8: here.