UWb_LS: MWS Tourney "ViceChampion"

[klaus]

Here we go:

3 Island
2 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
2 Wasteland

4 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Cunning Wish
2 Decree of Justice
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Force of Will
2 Humility
1 Jace Beleren
4 Standstill
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Wrath of God

SB:
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pulse of the Fields
1 Return to Dust
2 Runed Halo
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Engineered Plague
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 Extirpate
4 Meddling Mage

Round I
VS. Illissius - ITF
Epic games (>3hrs). Sry no notes. semi-fun fact: EE@4 blows my Humilities twice.
Boarding:
- 2 Wish
- 3 Wrath
+3 Extirpate
+2 Runed Halo

2-1 (1-0-0)

Round II
VS. B.C. - Spanish Inquisition
Halo (on Tendrils) and Mages (on Tendrils) are too much for him to handle. He takes it well.
Boarding:
-3 Wrath
-3 STP
-2 Humility
-2 Wish
+4 Mage
+2 Halo
+3 Extirapte
+1 Crypt

2-0 (2-0-0)

Round III
VS Isamaru:
We cannot play cause he doesn’t show. As I later saw, he PMed me about 1 hour before the end of the round (4:30am my time zone) ah well..

(2-0-1)

Round IV
VS. Jaiminho - FetchlandTendrils
MWS keeps crashing on us – so we’re forced to play like 4-5 games. Jaiminho seems to be really well trained with his deck and plays it tight. Overall, I draw enough Mages (->Tendrils, Chant) and Halos (->Tendrils) to pull out a win. He later informs me that Grapeshot (which he hadn’t included yet) would have won him G3 – lucky me!
Boarding:
-3 Wrath
-4 STP
-2 Humility
-1 Engineered Explosives
-2 Wish
+3 Extirpate
+1 Crypt
+4 Mage
+2 Halo
+1 Enlightened Tutor
+1 Pulse of the Fields

2-1 (3-0-1)

Rund V
VS. Wallace - Dredge.dec
He starts strong like expected (0-1).
G2 I board in 2 Halos, 1 Crypt, 4 Magi (Therapy being their main target), 1 Enlightened Tutor (as additional Crypt and Humility copies) and 3 Extirpate.
At one point I have a Crypt online and he’s about 80% through his deck without finding a solution (I probably extirpated either Ichorid or Briges before). He scoops and it’s on to..
G3. This is when things get unfair: Early Therapies tear my hand apart while he slowly gets his dredge machine working. I have virtually no cards in hand when I glamorously topdeck my singleton Crypt and realize I have 1U+Ruins available – there was no way in hell I could have won otherwise.
Boarding:
-4 Standstill
-2 Wrath
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Crucible of Worlds
-2 Wish
+3 Mage (Therapy)
+3 Extirpate
+1 Crypt
+1 E. Tutor (Humility)
+1 Plague
+1 Halo

2-1 (4-0-1)

Round VI
VS. Elfrago - Eva Green
Really close games. G3 we’re in a „no-non-lands-in-play-no-cards-in-hand-sitation“ so I rip a Standstill of the top and take it from there. [We shall have a rematch in top8]
Boarding:
-2 Wish
-1 Jace
-1 Fact or Fiction
+2 Halo
+1 Return to Dust
+1 Enlightened Tutor (EE->Choke, Standstill etc..)

2-1 (5-0-1)

Round VII
VS. Sanguine Voyeur - Wildfire
Both of us had made top8 even before round 7. He felt like battling it out anyway – why not.
G1 he doesnt draw his acceleration and dies to Decree tokens.
G2 I counter his acceleration and win with Factory, I think.
Boarding:
"Sry no boarding notes"

2-0 (6-0-1)


Top8 (best of 5):

Quarterfinals:
VS Eldariel - Faerie Stompy.

Eldariel is a tight player – his playstile is really fast and clean, which cost me my usual confidence G1/2/3. I knew his list in advance (Top8 lists were published ealier) and had spent some time trying to figure out what the game would resolve around. Against my list his major threats would be:
1 Pithing Needle (on EE) – tutorable with an entire playset of Trinketmagi.
4 Chalice of the Void (with the capability to neuter my entire deck)
4 FOW
Post boarding he’d bring in another Needle and 3 Back to Basics

G1: Eldariel starts with turn 1 Chalice, which I let resolve (EE in hand).
I play EE at 0 the next turn and pass.
He drops a Trinketmage fetching another Chalice. EOT, I sac EE.
STP sends Trinket farming, making room for a neat Standstill, which buys me enough time and card advantage to take it home.
Boarding:
-2 Wish
-1 Jace
+2 Halo
+1 Return to Dust

G2: Long story short: I can’t handle an equiped Sea Dragon and die a short and painless death.
G3: Resolves around an Academy Ruins-Crucible-Wasteland-EE-lock – Humility buys me enough time to do all that slick recuring stuff.
G4: I manage to chain 3 Standstills and keep the relevant threats off the table. Humility allowed me to drop my second Standstill with him having 3 (usually big) dudes in play while I’m boasting a lonely Factory. YAY!
3-1

Semi-Finals
VS. Elfrago – still Eva Green
G1: A turn 3 Jace dropped on a clear board turns out to win this game on his own. We go I-draw-3-you-draw-1+I counter-&-destroy-your-stuff for several cycles.
Honestly, I was so going to cut that guy from the list – my mind got changed.
G2: sry no notes. :(
G3: Elfrago draws 90% of his lands and dies - that I remember - sry bro. ggs.

FINAL
VS NIHIL with UGR SwansThresh

G1:
I mull to 4 (no blue mana in 3 hands) and drop a Standstill over a 1/1 Mongoose. Nihil breaks it and I’m back on track. My Humility gets double Dazed next turn. We slowly but surely sculpt our hands with Nihil dropping 2 Geese in the meantime. The nimble Guys get eaten by my Wrath (with counter back up) I’m really low on life by now but manage to drop a Standstill on a clear board. This slows us down for some time until Nihil finally shoots 2 Chains of Plasma to my head.
0-1

Boarding:
-1 Jace
-1 Wrath
+2 runed halo

G2:
I keep a slow and shaky 4 lander against Blood Moon shaz.
Fun play of the day: I drop Standstill over Goyf and Decree 2x soon after with 1 Factory online. We trade forces and clear the board and do pretty much nothing for the next 20 turns due to me having no Factories and him not wanting to break my Anc-like Enchantment (he knows I’m out of Decrees).
At some point I realize I got wacky 10 cards left in my library (3 Factories left - meh)
After dropping the first Factory Nihil breaks my Standstill. Recurring EE (A. Ruins) destroy everything for the next couple of turns while keeping me from decking myself. I manage to drop Crucible of Worlds which brings back my infititly craved Factories and it’s GG!

G3:
This was EPIC: Extirpate on Counterbalace revealed 1 Swan and 1 Chain of Plasma in Nihil's hand. I handle that Swan when it hits, just to have Nihil topdeck and drop another. I handle it again just to have him drop his last copy, which means I’m dead. [all 3 Swans in a row –WTF!]

G4:
Nihil assembles an early CB+Top setup [I thought that was it..] but cannot find anything I cannot deal with. After a single factory beats him down to10 I get the crazy idea that I could still take him down, despite of his CB-Top. The topdecking Gods are with me: Decree +2 more factories wins me G4! And it’s on to G5 showdown time.

G5:
I again consider dropping Standstill on top of a 2/3 Goyf holding Decree and several lands.
Towards the end of the game, which seemed to last forever, Nihil runs out of cards and I have recurring Factory online (Crucible) that gets eaten over and over again by our beloved Lhurgoyf (6/7- while I’m at 4 life). Nihil finds Swans (I’m merely holding 3 lands) and goes for lethal.
GG!
---

Conclusion:
Landstill is the perfect choice for online tournaments – „no time limit“= „no draws by timeout“. This fact alone makes it 20% stronger than irl.

Changes:
+1 Ponder [Props to Citrus God for hyping this neat inclusion] possibly replacing Eternal Dragon (He didnt do shit the entire tournament).
+1 more Ponder possibly replacing Jace (who knows)

I’m also considering adding Mortify to the Wishboard, replacing that single Engineered Plague.

That's it folks,
Klaus
---------------

PROPS:
- Technogeek for superbly hosting our wonderful MWS tournament.
- To everyone else. I love you.
SLOPS:
Ah! Who cares…
---------------

Edit: wtf? - Halos came in like 90% of the time o0...............I gotta find room for #3!

[WiLdFiRe]

Congratulations on your finish! I noticed runed halo's were insane for you - thoughts on more sb/some main?

[kabal]

Congrats!

Regarding Halo, the games you successfully cast it what did you name (other than what has already been told above).

How useful was Cunning Wish for you? The games you actually casted it, what did you grab?

[Citrus-God]

I see a ton of boarding mistakes you made, like siding Cunning Wish out against ITF. This should obviously be kept in against a deck like ITF, which is slow at playing beatdown properly against a control deck like yours. I'd board out
1 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Humilities for 2 Extirpates, 1 Tormod's Crypt. The 3rd copy of Extirpate as well as the 4th copy of Swords can be wished for via Cunning Wish.

Also, I would change your mana base; I'd cut the two Wastelands for a Dust Bowl and the 4th Tundra. If you can also, squeeze in a 2nd Fact or Fiction. It seems the card is slowly dying, but I have always won games off of that card and also came back from games because of the amazing digging + deck thinning power of that card. It's also how you outplay other players.

[klaus]

Congrats!

Regarding Halo, the games you successfully cast it what did you name (other than what has already been told above).

How useful was Cunning Wish for you? The games you actually casted it, what did you grab?

Halo-////-Wish targets:
ITF: -------Goyf, Goyf, Raven's Crime-////-Extirpate
SI: --------Tendrils-////-Extirpate
FT: -------Tendrils, Chant-////-E.Tutor into Standstill
Icho:------ Ichorid (can't name tokens)-////-didnt have time to Wish Ex.
Eva Green:-Goyf, Shade (that Shade one won me G2)-////-E. Tutor into Humility
FS:--------what ever critter he got online-////-E. Tutor into Humility, Pulse of the Fields (maybe)
Thresh:----Goyf, Mongoose (..yes it works)-////-don't remember

Halo works well against Aggro Control due to their low threat diversity (2-4 kinds of creatures, all playsets).
Even against Aggro Halo shines. This is due to the fact that the aggro player will usually not overextend in the face of Wrath - Halo works wonders here - and it is usually better than a 1 for 1 trade.

--
Regarding Cunning Wish:
I boarded it out quite often. Especially since I felt it was too slow or didnt have enough valuable targets G2/3 to justify its maindeck inclusion.
Wish has come to be a G1 fixer primarily and it's still good at that.
--

I see a ton of boarding mistakes you made, like siding Cunning Wish out against ITF. This should obviously be kept in against a deck like ITF, which is slow at playing beatdown properly against a control deck like yours. I'd board out
1 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Humilities for 2 Extirpates, 1 Tormod's Crypt. The 3rd copy of Extirpate as well as the 4th copy of Swords can be wished for via Cunning Wish.

Agreed. It was also the 1st time I faced ITF, actually.

Also, I would change your mana base; I'd cut the two Wastelands for a Dust Bowl and the 4th Tundra. If you can also, squeeze in a 2nd Fact or Fiction. It seems the card is slowly dying, but I have always won games off of that card and also came back from games because of the amazing digging + deck thinning power of that card. It's also how you outplay other players.

- There is really no room for a 2nd FoF. I don't want to make this deck more vulnerable to Daze and slowing it down at the same time. FoF is and remains a lategame winner, but I won 90% of the games in which I got that far.

- Regarding Wasteland: They were pretty good against FT. But that was it pretty much. Going down to 1 Wasteland, the 4th Tundra seems to be the way to go.

- I have yet to test Dust Bowl.

- You said I made "a ton" of boarding mistakes. Please point out some more, since I cannot seem to find anymore obvious ones.

[Citrus-God]

- You said I made "a ton" of boarding mistakes. Please point out some more, since I cannot seem to find anymore obvious ones.

"A Ton," was a typo, sorry. I meant to write "A Few." The other mistake you made was boarding wishes out against fecthland tendrils. It's a slower Ritual-based combo decks than most others, and is even slower post-board, hence you can get away with running Wish maindeck against them.

[Nihil Credo]

Gratz on the finish! Best deck in the format indeed. And welcome to the club of "I Beat Ichorid Just On Singleton Crypt" ;)


Since the thread is going in that direction, here's how I would have sideboarded:

Vs. ITF - Runed Halo doesn't look terribly hot to me since you want to play EE@2 like every other turn, and it's very easily removed. I'd have probably sided at most a singleton copy to fetch with Tutor if the game state makes it feasible. I'd also have left an Extirpate in the side as a Wish target. So, to recap: -2-3 Wrath +2 Extirpate +0-1 Halo.

Vs. SI - Totally +1 E. Tutor, -1 Crucible (you could also make a case for Dragon or Decree). An extra chance at turn 2 Halo is worth it.

Vs. FT - Same as you.

Vs. Ichorid - Totally +1 Halo +1 Mage -1 Jace Beleren, and then -1 Counterspell.

Vs. Eva Green - Probably the same.

Vs. Wildfire - I would guess he's not going to bring in Chalices to replace Trinisphere, therefore +4 Meddling Mage (Burning Wish), +2 Runed Halo (creatures) -2 Cunning Wish, -2 Engineered Explosives, -2 Wrath of God.

Vs. Faerie Stompy - Probably the same. Even against Chalice@1 I'd dearly wish to bring in the Enlightened Tutor, but I wouldn't be sure what to board out.

Vs. Swan/Moon Thresh - Well, we've discussed about that in chat already ;)

[klaus]

Vs. Ichorid - Totally +1 Halo +1 Mage -1 Jace Beleren, and then -1 Counterspell.

Agreed. That'd be the right configuration then:

-4 Standstill
-2 Wrath
-1 Fact or Fiction
-1 Crucible of Worlds
-2 Wish
-1 Jace
-1 CS

+4 Mage
+3 Extirpate
+1 Crypt
+1 E. Tutor
+1 Plague
+2 Halo

[Illissius]

Just to confuse things further, while the deck I played was ITF, it wasn't It's The Fear. More on this later.

Our match: Game one recurring Wastelands, EE, and Tarmogoyf grind him down, game two I board horribly and get raped by Decree of Justice, game three I board correctly and get raped by Decree of Justice. God, Decree of Justice is ridiculous in a control mirror. At least I wasn't playing Standstills.

[xsockmonkeyx]