Di
03-17-2010, 06:09 PM
I realize the irony of the thread title. Get over it.
As a Reanimator player for the last ~7 months, I felt rather confident going into Vestal. After seeing Geoff Smelski's performance at the last Vestal tournament, I knew the deck would treat me well. It basically had to. I've helped the design the deck to near-perfection, understand sideboarding very well (a fatal flaw I might add seeing all these other Reanimator players. It's not the deck people, it's you. Learn to sideboard and stop losing.) and happen to just be awesome which helps my case for victory.
Team Left Field Reanimator - by Colin Chilbert/Geoff Smelski
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Sundering Titan
4 Entomb
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Mystical Tutor
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
2 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Show and Tell
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Wipe Away
1 Extirpate
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Faerie Macabre
I naturally kept our maindeck the same as it's arguably the most consistent build of the deck game 1. For some reason nobody else gives love for Ponder, but the card was insane for me. I changed the sideboard a little bit for meta predictions, but the board happened to be pretty awesome.
Round 1: Ray (Iamfishman) playing UWR Countertop Landstill
Game 1: I'm on the play, and lead with fetch, Ponder. He plays a Factory and a Top. I play another land and pass. His turn he plays a Volcanic Island and passes. I cast Mystical Tutor on his end step for Careful Study. On my turn I play Careful Study dumping Iona, and cast Reanimate. He attempts to Force, but I have a Force back (with another one ready in hand. I name Iona on blue. He can't find another colored source of mana and loses in short order.
I'll note here that I don't remember my exact sideboarding for each match, so I'm not going to bother listing it specifically. But I do recall I brought in discard and bounce, and Show and Tell. Generally 8-9 cards came in for blue matchups, something like 4 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, and 4 assorted bounce.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5, he keeps his hand. He leads with a Relic. I Ponder, shuffle, and pass. He plays a Counterbalance. I Thoughtseize him, he flips a land, and take a Top. We play draw-go a little as he hits me a couple times with a Factory. I draw a Duress when I know he has a Force in hand, but he flips a Top with Counterbalance. From there it goes downhill and I can't find answers.
Game 3: I lead with a Ponder, go. He plays a turn 1 Top. My turn I Thoughtseize him to see lands, 2 Spell Snare, and an StP. He draws a Relic off the top. I play cantrips and dig, and find Show and Tell with Archangel in hand. Then he plays a Counterbalance with a mana open. My turn I go for Show and Tell without backup, and it resolves. He can't handle the Archangel and she takes it home.
2-1
1-0
Round 2: John, Monowhite Painter Grindstone
Game 1: He does a lot of irrelevant stuff, and I Entomb on his endstep turn 2 for Iona and play her turn 3. He doesn't play white spells for the rest of the game. It was fun.
I remember bringing in all bounce spells, and that's it.
Game 2: I mulligan, he mulls to 4. I Entomb during his 2nd end step for Iona lacking the animate spell, Careful Study dumping Inkwell, then Ponder and find Exhume on top. He draws Relic, and I frown, as I left only 3 creatures in the deck and 2 were gone. We go back and forth a bit as I'm searching for another Entomb, and find one. He draws another Relic, but I have the bounce spell, and get Iona in play. He then plays a Meekstone, and I frown. He also has Scrying Sheets and a Sensei's Top in play. I manage to bounce the Meekstone once and swing him down to 6, but I never draw another bounce spell for the rest of the game and get slow-grinded out by double Grindstone. It was sad to watch.
Game 3: I keep a risky hand and lead with Careful Study dumping Inkwell. He plays a turn 1 Meekstone and I Force. I have a turn 2 Exhume and get Inky into play. His 2nd turn involved a Sensei's Top and pass. My turn I swing putting him at 13, then Thoughtseize him seeing 2 Painter, 2 Swords to Plowshares. I take a Painter. He tops eot, and on his turn drops a Grindstone. However, he didn't have the land to cast Painter as well. My turn I swing him down to 6, and the Painter he plays has to chump Inky, and it ends up getting there.
2-1
2-0
Round 3: Chris, UBW Landstill
Game 1: I open with a nutty hand. I cast Entomb on his 2nd end step and it resolved, and I also cast a Mystical as well and it resolved, and I got Force. On my turn I cast Exhume, he casts Negate, I cast Force. I also had a 2nd Force in hand, but Iona on white went the distance.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: He opens with a turn 1 Relic. I get him to burn through the Relic by baiting it with an Inkwell. He manages to draw another one and my hand is lacking a bounce spell and I have trouble finding one. By the time I do I'm low on life thanks to a Factory and am forced to Entomb for Empyrial Archangel over Iona as I was using Reanimate. I manage to resolve the Reanimate but the following turn he plays Humility and I I can't find an answer to handle double Factory.
Game 3: My hand is nuts and I have an Iona on turn 2 with Daze backup. It was fun.
2-1
3-0
Round 4: Token, playing GBW Rock
Game 1: I play fetch, go. He plays Thoughtseize, and I respond with Entomb. He takes my Exhume. I Play Ponder and find Entomb and Exhume on top. His turn he plays Bojuka Bog and nukes the Iona I dumped. My turn I draw Exhume and pass. He plays a Tarmogoyf and passes. On my turn I draw Entomb and get Iona naming white into play, and his entire hand is white. Fun.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I keep an odd hand of 3 land, Mystical, and 3 bounce spells. He has a turn 1 Thoughtseize, turn 2 Tidehollow Sculler, turn 3 Tarmogoyf. My draws are bad and I burn bounce spells on the creatures to stall, and by the time I can animate he has a Faerie Macabre ready for it.
Game 3: I keep an amazing hand. I play fetch, go. He opens with Thoughtseize, I respond with Entomb, then Daze it. On my turn I cast Reanimate and it resolves, putting Iona on white. He can't find a Diabolic Edict in time and I win quickly.
2-1
4-0
Round 5: Matt McNally, playing Countertop Bant
Game 1: I open with Ponder, go. He plays a Top. My 2nd turn involves a Careful Study dumping Iona and Empyrial Archangel, then cast Reanimate. He draws with Top, then Dazes. I Daze back. Iona on white. His next turn he replays the top. My next turn I Exhume Archangel into play. That was fun.
Game 2: He leads with a Top, and I lead with a Thoughtseize taking a Counterbalance and seeing he has a Force but an otherwise awful hand. My hand was also awful though and it took forever to find cards. He makes 5 land drops in a row and starts beating with a Dryad Arbor. I finally manage an Entomb on his end step with 5 cards left. He lets it resolve. I also Mystical on his end step, and it resolves, and I get Exhume. On my turn I cast Exhume, and he tops in response. He Tops in response, then attempts to Force, and I Daze. He pays with 1 land left untapped. I then Daze again, and he stops and thinks. He then decides to Top in response again, and I manage to bluff him into letting the Exhume resolve as he put me on triple Daze when the last cards in my hand were land. Iona on white comes into play. However, he untaps and plays Sower of Temptation, and I don't find a bounce spell in time.
Game 3: I open a nutty hand of Sea, 2 Daze, Reanimate, Iona, Mystical Tutor, Exhume. I play land, go. He plays a fetchland and cracks it, and I respond by playing Mystical Tutor for Careful Study. He plays a Hierarch. I play Careful Study, he attempts to Daze, and I Daze back. I draw stuff and dump Iona, then replay the land and play Reanimate. Iona on white. He can't race, and I win.
2-1
5-0
I draw in round 6 and 7 into top8.
Top8: Nick, Dragon Stompy
Game 1: He mulligans. I keep a good hand but it's all 1cc cards (I didn't know what he was playing until game 2). He opens with Mountain, go. I play land, go. He attempts a Chalice for 1, I Brainstorm in response and find the Force of Will. My next turn involves Entombing on my upkeep and Reanimating Iona. It's on red. He can't play spells and loses.
I boarded in all bounce spells and Show and Tell.
Game 2: He mulligans. I open a hand of Brainstorm, FoW, and Sphinx, with 4 lands. A weak hand, but I was on the draw and opened Force. He plays a turn 1 Chalice, and I FoW pitching Sphinx. I draw a land, play a fetch and say go. He plays a Crypt, and I respond with Brainstorm. Brainstorm draws me into 3 lands. I now have 7 in hand. That was great. Naturally, I lose this game as I don't play spells for the rest of the time.
Game 3: I open a hand of 5 land, Iona, and Show and Tell. I debated mulling, but this avoided both Chalice and Crypt so I decided to keep. He mulls to 4, so I'm happy. I play land, go. He plays land, Crypt, go. I draw an Exhume, and play a land. He draws and plays Tomb, removes Spirit Guide, and plays Rakdos Pit Dragon. I frown. My turn I draw Reanimate, play a land, and Show and Tell Iona. He drops Gathan Raiders off it. On his turn he draws a red card, and doesn't swing. My turn I draw Ponder, and Ponder into Rushing River. I attack. His turn he goes to swing, and I River both his creatures. He scoops afterwards.
2-1
6-0-2
Top 4: Jim, Countertop Bant
Game 1: I keep an awful hand on the play of 3 land, 2 Daze, Force, and Sundering Titan. Not sure why I kept, but oh well. He attempts a Counterbalance on turn 2 and we fight over it but I win. I eventually draw relevant cards and Careful Study Titan then Reanimate him, blowing up 3 of his lands and leaving him with a Top and Hierarch. His next turn he drops a land and StP, but I Force. I swing. The next turn he plays another StP. I fall behind after that but start to build my hand, but he gets a Goyf into play the turn before I can Exhume an Iona into play.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I open an interesting hand with no disruption but lots of business. I attempt an Entomb on his 2nd endstep and he Spell Pierces it. On my turn I go for Show and Tell and it resolves. I drop Iona and he drops Counterbalance. He ends up playing 2 Tarmogoyf but they can't race Iona.
Game 3: I don't have notes for this game, but I believe it involves a turn 3 Iona with backup, and he doesn't have a Tarmogoyf to race.
2-1
7-0-2
Finals: Dave Price (Quicksilver) playing NOT New Horizons, but tempo bant with KotR and Terravore.
Game 1: I mull to 5 and he mulls to 4. I open with Ponder and shuffle. He plays a land. I play a Careful Study and dump Iona with Exhume and FoW in hand. He plays a Tarmogoyf. I don't draw a blue card, but go for Iona. He has a Force of Will pitching Force of Will. Nice 4 card hand jackass. I don't find another animate spell and he plays another Tarmogoyf.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I open with Careful Study dumping Iona. He plays Ponder. I go for Exhume with no backup, and he has a Daze. He plays another Ponder, then Crypt. yay. I draw Force of Will for the turn (yeah), Thoughtseize him, and see 2 Brainstorms and another Ponder. wtf. He drops another Crypt, and I Force. He Brainstorms, and plays a Goyf. I lose interest, and let him beat me down with some green creatures as I can't compete with those kind of draws.
0-2
7-1-2
I could've waited a turn game 2 as I had a Thoughtseize in hand, but I was worried he'd have a Crypt or Bog if I didn't go for it then (which it turns out he did the following turn. Overall, I think this build of the deck is about as strong as it gets. The consistency is just absurd. The amount of draw I had really put me ahead all the time. Too bad I couldn't win the entire thing though, but I was happy taking home a set of Tundras and a box of Worldwake, which sadly didn't yield me the Jace I desired.
As a Reanimator player for the last ~7 months, I felt rather confident going into Vestal. After seeing Geoff Smelski's performance at the last Vestal tournament, I knew the deck would treat me well. It basically had to. I've helped the design the deck to near-perfection, understand sideboarding very well (a fatal flaw I might add seeing all these other Reanimator players. It's not the deck people, it's you. Learn to sideboard and stop losing.) and happen to just be awesome which helps my case for victory.
Team Left Field Reanimator - by Colin Chilbert/Geoff Smelski
2 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Sundering Titan
4 Entomb
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Mystical Tutor
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Marsh Flats
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Island
2 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Thoughtseize
1 Duress
1 Show and Tell
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Wipe Away
1 Extirpate
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Faerie Macabre
I naturally kept our maindeck the same as it's arguably the most consistent build of the deck game 1. For some reason nobody else gives love for Ponder, but the card was insane for me. I changed the sideboard a little bit for meta predictions, but the board happened to be pretty awesome.
Round 1: Ray (Iamfishman) playing UWR Countertop Landstill
Game 1: I'm on the play, and lead with fetch, Ponder. He plays a Factory and a Top. I play another land and pass. His turn he plays a Volcanic Island and passes. I cast Mystical Tutor on his end step for Careful Study. On my turn I play Careful Study dumping Iona, and cast Reanimate. He attempts to Force, but I have a Force back (with another one ready in hand. I name Iona on blue. He can't find another colored source of mana and loses in short order.
I'll note here that I don't remember my exact sideboarding for each match, so I'm not going to bother listing it specifically. But I do recall I brought in discard and bounce, and Show and Tell. Generally 8-9 cards came in for blue matchups, something like 4 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, and 4 assorted bounce.
Game 2: I mulligan to 5, he keeps his hand. He leads with a Relic. I Ponder, shuffle, and pass. He plays a Counterbalance. I Thoughtseize him, he flips a land, and take a Top. We play draw-go a little as he hits me a couple times with a Factory. I draw a Duress when I know he has a Force in hand, but he flips a Top with Counterbalance. From there it goes downhill and I can't find answers.
Game 3: I lead with a Ponder, go. He plays a turn 1 Top. My turn I Thoughtseize him to see lands, 2 Spell Snare, and an StP. He draws a Relic off the top. I play cantrips and dig, and find Show and Tell with Archangel in hand. Then he plays a Counterbalance with a mana open. My turn I go for Show and Tell without backup, and it resolves. He can't handle the Archangel and she takes it home.
2-1
1-0
Round 2: John, Monowhite Painter Grindstone
Game 1: He does a lot of irrelevant stuff, and I Entomb on his endstep turn 2 for Iona and play her turn 3. He doesn't play white spells for the rest of the game. It was fun.
I remember bringing in all bounce spells, and that's it.
Game 2: I mulligan, he mulls to 4. I Entomb during his 2nd end step for Iona lacking the animate spell, Careful Study dumping Inkwell, then Ponder and find Exhume on top. He draws Relic, and I frown, as I left only 3 creatures in the deck and 2 were gone. We go back and forth a bit as I'm searching for another Entomb, and find one. He draws another Relic, but I have the bounce spell, and get Iona in play. He then plays a Meekstone, and I frown. He also has Scrying Sheets and a Sensei's Top in play. I manage to bounce the Meekstone once and swing him down to 6, but I never draw another bounce spell for the rest of the game and get slow-grinded out by double Grindstone. It was sad to watch.
Game 3: I keep a risky hand and lead with Careful Study dumping Inkwell. He plays a turn 1 Meekstone and I Force. I have a turn 2 Exhume and get Inky into play. His 2nd turn involved a Sensei's Top and pass. My turn I swing putting him at 13, then Thoughtseize him seeing 2 Painter, 2 Swords to Plowshares. I take a Painter. He tops eot, and on his turn drops a Grindstone. However, he didn't have the land to cast Painter as well. My turn I swing him down to 6, and the Painter he plays has to chump Inky, and it ends up getting there.
2-1
2-0
Round 3: Chris, UBW Landstill
Game 1: I open with a nutty hand. I cast Entomb on his 2nd end step and it resolved, and I also cast a Mystical as well and it resolved, and I got Force. On my turn I cast Exhume, he casts Negate, I cast Force. I also had a 2nd Force in hand, but Iona on white went the distance.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: He opens with a turn 1 Relic. I get him to burn through the Relic by baiting it with an Inkwell. He manages to draw another one and my hand is lacking a bounce spell and I have trouble finding one. By the time I do I'm low on life thanks to a Factory and am forced to Entomb for Empyrial Archangel over Iona as I was using Reanimate. I manage to resolve the Reanimate but the following turn he plays Humility and I I can't find an answer to handle double Factory.
Game 3: My hand is nuts and I have an Iona on turn 2 with Daze backup. It was fun.
2-1
3-0
Round 4: Token, playing GBW Rock
Game 1: I play fetch, go. He plays Thoughtseize, and I respond with Entomb. He takes my Exhume. I Play Ponder and find Entomb and Exhume on top. His turn he plays Bojuka Bog and nukes the Iona I dumped. My turn I draw Exhume and pass. He plays a Tarmogoyf and passes. On my turn I draw Entomb and get Iona naming white into play, and his entire hand is white. Fun.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I keep an odd hand of 3 land, Mystical, and 3 bounce spells. He has a turn 1 Thoughtseize, turn 2 Tidehollow Sculler, turn 3 Tarmogoyf. My draws are bad and I burn bounce spells on the creatures to stall, and by the time I can animate he has a Faerie Macabre ready for it.
Game 3: I keep an amazing hand. I play fetch, go. He opens with Thoughtseize, I respond with Entomb, then Daze it. On my turn I cast Reanimate and it resolves, putting Iona on white. He can't find a Diabolic Edict in time and I win quickly.
2-1
4-0
Round 5: Matt McNally, playing Countertop Bant
Game 1: I open with Ponder, go. He plays a Top. My 2nd turn involves a Careful Study dumping Iona and Empyrial Archangel, then cast Reanimate. He draws with Top, then Dazes. I Daze back. Iona on white. His next turn he replays the top. My next turn I Exhume Archangel into play. That was fun.
Game 2: He leads with a Top, and I lead with a Thoughtseize taking a Counterbalance and seeing he has a Force but an otherwise awful hand. My hand was also awful though and it took forever to find cards. He makes 5 land drops in a row and starts beating with a Dryad Arbor. I finally manage an Entomb on his end step with 5 cards left. He lets it resolve. I also Mystical on his end step, and it resolves, and I get Exhume. On my turn I cast Exhume, and he tops in response. He Tops in response, then attempts to Force, and I Daze. He pays with 1 land left untapped. I then Daze again, and he stops and thinks. He then decides to Top in response again, and I manage to bluff him into letting the Exhume resolve as he put me on triple Daze when the last cards in my hand were land. Iona on white comes into play. However, he untaps and plays Sower of Temptation, and I don't find a bounce spell in time.
Game 3: I open a nutty hand of Sea, 2 Daze, Reanimate, Iona, Mystical Tutor, Exhume. I play land, go. He plays a fetchland and cracks it, and I respond by playing Mystical Tutor for Careful Study. He plays a Hierarch. I play Careful Study, he attempts to Daze, and I Daze back. I draw stuff and dump Iona, then replay the land and play Reanimate. Iona on white. He can't race, and I win.
2-1
5-0
I draw in round 6 and 7 into top8.
Top8: Nick, Dragon Stompy
Game 1: He mulligans. I keep a good hand but it's all 1cc cards (I didn't know what he was playing until game 2). He opens with Mountain, go. I play land, go. He attempts a Chalice for 1, I Brainstorm in response and find the Force of Will. My next turn involves Entombing on my upkeep and Reanimating Iona. It's on red. He can't play spells and loses.
I boarded in all bounce spells and Show and Tell.
Game 2: He mulligans. I open a hand of Brainstorm, FoW, and Sphinx, with 4 lands. A weak hand, but I was on the draw and opened Force. He plays a turn 1 Chalice, and I FoW pitching Sphinx. I draw a land, play a fetch and say go. He plays a Crypt, and I respond with Brainstorm. Brainstorm draws me into 3 lands. I now have 7 in hand. That was great. Naturally, I lose this game as I don't play spells for the rest of the time.
Game 3: I open a hand of 5 land, Iona, and Show and Tell. I debated mulling, but this avoided both Chalice and Crypt so I decided to keep. He mulls to 4, so I'm happy. I play land, go. He plays land, Crypt, go. I draw an Exhume, and play a land. He draws and plays Tomb, removes Spirit Guide, and plays Rakdos Pit Dragon. I frown. My turn I draw Reanimate, play a land, and Show and Tell Iona. He drops Gathan Raiders off it. On his turn he draws a red card, and doesn't swing. My turn I draw Ponder, and Ponder into Rushing River. I attack. His turn he goes to swing, and I River both his creatures. He scoops afterwards.
2-1
6-0-2
Top 4: Jim, Countertop Bant
Game 1: I keep an awful hand on the play of 3 land, 2 Daze, Force, and Sundering Titan. Not sure why I kept, but oh well. He attempts a Counterbalance on turn 2 and we fight over it but I win. I eventually draw relevant cards and Careful Study Titan then Reanimate him, blowing up 3 of his lands and leaving him with a Top and Hierarch. His next turn he drops a land and StP, but I Force. I swing. The next turn he plays another StP. I fall behind after that but start to build my hand, but he gets a Goyf into play the turn before I can Exhume an Iona into play.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I open an interesting hand with no disruption but lots of business. I attempt an Entomb on his 2nd endstep and he Spell Pierces it. On my turn I go for Show and Tell and it resolves. I drop Iona and he drops Counterbalance. He ends up playing 2 Tarmogoyf but they can't race Iona.
Game 3: I don't have notes for this game, but I believe it involves a turn 3 Iona with backup, and he doesn't have a Tarmogoyf to race.
2-1
7-0-2
Finals: Dave Price (Quicksilver) playing NOT New Horizons, but tempo bant with KotR and Terravore.
Game 1: I mull to 5 and he mulls to 4. I open with Ponder and shuffle. He plays a land. I play a Careful Study and dump Iona with Exhume and FoW in hand. He plays a Tarmogoyf. I don't draw a blue card, but go for Iona. He has a Force of Will pitching Force of Will. Nice 4 card hand jackass. I don't find another animate spell and he plays another Tarmogoyf.
See round 1 sideboarding.
Game 2: I open with Careful Study dumping Iona. He plays Ponder. I go for Exhume with no backup, and he has a Daze. He plays another Ponder, then Crypt. yay. I draw Force of Will for the turn (yeah), Thoughtseize him, and see 2 Brainstorms and another Ponder. wtf. He drops another Crypt, and I Force. He Brainstorms, and plays a Goyf. I lose interest, and let him beat me down with some green creatures as I can't compete with those kind of draws.
0-2
7-1-2
I could've waited a turn game 2 as I had a Thoughtseize in hand, but I was worried he'd have a Crypt or Bog if I didn't go for it then (which it turns out he did the following turn. Overall, I think this build of the deck is about as strong as it gets. The consistency is just absurd. The amount of draw I had really put me ahead all the time. Too bad I couldn't win the entire thing though, but I was happy taking home a set of Tundras and a box of Worldwake, which sadly didn't yield me the Jace I desired.