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freakish777
08-02-2010, 09:20 PM
Fair Phil Stolze and cdr meet up at my place around 10am Friday morning.

We make it to Columbus around 5pm. As we're walking into the hotel we see Dave Price and Anwar, they're 4 rooms down from us. Score. I ask them where the hatfields are, they reply "They've been grinding all day, do you want to come out to dinner with us?" I tell them I want to grind also, Phil says he'd rather go to dinner.

I go over to the tournament site and figure I'll play 1 grinder and reg the night before. I have a couple cards I want to try out for the sideboard and a maindeck choice.

My list is almost the same as the 9th place list from Madrid (it lost out on breakers, and it has no coverage for it so no one knows how to play against it). Also, my friend Eric English has won 3 byes with it (but isn't able to make it to the event, which pushes our hotel and gas expenses up, as Dave Gearheart would say "What a beating!"), a Mox, and several dual lands in the time he's picked it up.

2 Jace the Mind-Sculptor
2 Sower of Temptation
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Brainstorm
2 Ponder

4 FoW
4 Stifle
3 Daze
3 Spell Snare

4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fire/Ice
1 Forked Bolt

1 Crucible of Worlds

3 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
3 Island
6 blue fetches

SB:

1 Null Rod
1 Krosan Grip
1 EE
1 Threads of Disloyalty
1 Pyroclasm
2 Firespout
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Spell Pierce
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus

Pay my money. Grind.


R1 Grinder:

I. Shun (a Japanese player, I apologize I only took down the I in his first name).

He mulligans to 6. Leads with a fetchland, pretty soon he has a bunch of duals that tap for every color but green. We play a control mirror basically, he has Counterspell and Fows for my Goyfs, and we go into topdeck mode. His brainstorm in him into 2 Ancestral Visions which he suspends in the same turn before cracking a fetch (presumably shuffling away lands). At this point I have no cards in hand, and 2 Mishra's Factory in play. Basically my only out is to either draw Goyfs before his Visions go off, or draw burn. His Ancestral Visions go off, he draws 7 cards in that turn, plays a Factory of his own, when I attack with Factories that turn, he Cliques and blocks with Factory and Clique. Then he drops Mutavault and another Clique. We go to game 2.

In game 2, I mulligan to 5. He plays some Epochrasites. I sort of just stair at that creature, then I play a Clique. I start flying over his guys, out racing his little 1/1s. Eventually I brainstorm into Goyf and he concedes.

Game 3, I land Jace, when I fateseel him for the turn, I put his Jace on the bottom of his library. Then he plays EE on 4, and explodes it. Cool. I play my second Jace, he plays his Jace, I Force of Will. Then I play a Goyf. And some more stuff. It's over shortly after that.

R2 Grinder:

Paul, with Dark Depths. His deck is Blue Black, Confidant, CounterTop, Lim-Duls Vault. cdr was watching some of the other matches in my grinder and told me I was basically the worst possible match he could have gotten. I can Waste in response to Hexmage, I can Stifle in response to "Sacrifice Dark Depths" his creatures die in the worst way to Fire/Ice, Bolt, and Spell Snare, etc. His only out basically is to get CounterTop online as quickly as possible and then protect a Confidant.

I 2-0 here I won't get into details, basically he never does anything relevant other than spin his Top a lot, and I mulligan to 6 in game 2 and never feel like I'm in a losing position.

R3 Grinder:

Ian with Zoo.

Game 1, I Stifle his first fetch. Then I Wasteland the second land he plays. 3 turns later or so, I drop Crucible on him and blow up a third land. He drops land 5 and taps out for Pridgemage. I let it resolve. Blow up a fourth land. He activates Pridgemage, I stifle, then I Lightning Bolt his Grim Lavamancer (only creature in play). He scoops them up.

Game 2. My hand has Triple Goyf in it. Lolwut?

R4 Grinder:

Jaron (I might have this name misspelled). He seems like a really upbeat guy. It is kind of a shame he managed to misplace his deck (underneath the table we were sitting at) and get a game loss for not being able to present his deck within 3 minutes.

He's playing Rock, with Gatekeeper, Confidant, Witness, Deed, Thoughtseize, Hymn, Bayous, etc. I assume there's Goyfs in his deck, but I never see them. I think there's some stifle and waste action from my side, and when I hit 3 mana (he has 2 in play) I Clique in his draw step. I see a bunch of 3cc cards, the only 1 I care about is Gatekeeper, so that one can GTFO, he plays Witness that turn, I think he gets back Confidant with it. Anyways, I'm racing up top with Clique, he replays Confidant, I could Fire the Witness and Confidant, but he's on 8. I let it resolve, swing putting him on 5. He peels a land with Confidant, swings and ships the turn, I swing and burn him out.

R5 Grinder:

Justin (MTGTheSource Sunshine) with TES (Justin's managed to take out the 1 deck at the grinder I absolutely do not want to play against, it was a BGW rock deck with Exploration, Knight, Thoughtseize, Loam, Goyfs, Confidants, etc, basically I got the impression that he had enough land to ignore my mana denial, especially with Exploration and Loam).

Justin is one of the nicest players I've ever met (we played in a GPT in Syracuse before). I mulligan to 6 in game 1. My hand is Ok, I think it has Stifle, Spell Snare and Goyf. I don't play Goyf out immediately, I need mana up to do things. Anyways, I manage to draw FoW. He plays Silence, I FoW. I draw another FoW. He plays Silence, I FoW. He goes all in, I Spell Snare his Wish.

Game 2 is similar, except it's a Clique instead of a Goyf. When I cast it Justin shows me his hand full of Mana. I ask the Judge if I'm allowed to target myself (I never declared). She says "You haven't declared a target yet, so yes." It's not a play I enjoy doing, but it gets the job done. I reveal the second Clique and draw a new card. I untap and draw again, tag him with Clique. I play Goyf. Justin draws and says go. I draw Force of Will, attack, he goes to 5. Justin draws and plays Silence, I FoW. He goes all in again, knowing I have Spell Snare (from an early Duress), I play it, he extends his hand. I wish Justin the best of luck tomorrow.


5-0 in matches. 3 byes. Hot.


R4:

Conley Woods playing Aeon Bridge (I think he has a Channel Fireball shirt on):

He's on the play. I have 2 fetches, 2 Stifles in hand, and a FoW I think. I draw the 3rd Stifle. Then the 4th. On his third turn, he plays a third fetch (with two already in play). He goes to fetch. I respond. He responds. I respond, it resolves, I Stifle his fetch, then my next fetch resolves, then I stifle again. He cracks the third fetch and plays Divining Top (I think, maybe he played it turn 4 around Daze). Anyways, this game goes way too long. I end up with 2 Factories in play (1 played that turn and pumping the other), he's on 4. I know Lightning Bolt is on top of my deck, because I have Jace in play and I brainstormed with him last turn. I have FoW and Sower in hand. He has Mosswort Bridge. I completely punt here, and Fateseel myself with Jace (he has Top out Fateseeling with Jace against an active Top is usually bad). Basically there's no reason to not Brainstorm with Jace here. If he has Dreadnought to activate Bridge with Force back up, I can Bolt him for the win. If he activates a fetchland to be able to Duress me before dropping Dreadnought, I can bolt for the Win. There is no reason for me to not want another card in my hand here. If I brainstorm the Bolt into my hand, his only out is non-fetch land + Duress you + Dreadnaught. Also, I'm on 16. Another possibility is just letting Dreadnought resolve and let him get his 15/15 and extra turn, I have something like 9 permanents.

Anyways, game 2, Clique gets in, I board out the burn for REBs, Spell Pierces, and Krosan Grip also, it's good against Top and Needle (which he should be boarding), as well as his back up plan of stifling a Dreadnought.

Game 3, I don't really remember drawing very well. In reflection I misplayed by letting his Needle resolve when I had 2 Wastelands in hand as well as a FoW. If he thinks playing Needle is a priority (he's fetched up basics), then he more than likely has Bridge in hand (as opposed to Show and Tell, if he had Show and Tell, he would spin top looking for Duress and Thoughtseize instead to take out FoW instead of trying to bait with Needle). This is where having a good read on him would have helped, but I didn't. A couple turns later he activates Bridge with Dreadnoughts trigger on the stack.

3-1 (GP)
5-1 (weekend)

R5:

Ben Friedman with Zoo, he's on the play.

Fetch, Taiga, Nactl, go.
Volcanic, Go.
Put you on 17? Sure. Fetch? Sure. Lavamancer? Sure (I'm sitting on Spell Snare waiting for Goyf). End. Endstep, Bolt your Nactl.
Untap, Brainstorm, Fetch (16). Go.
I think he goes for Goyf here. I Spell Snare. Attack with Lavamancer (I think).
From here I wreck his non basics, and drop a 4/5 Goyf, Bolt Lavamancer.
He concedes (his total ends at 14).

Game 2, I don't really remember this game. There's a Swords on one of my Goyfs though (I go up 4 life).

4-1 (GP)
6-1 (weekend)
2-0 (against Zoo)

R6:

John Colos with CounterTopThopters.

Game 1 takes forever. There's one point where he goes into the tank deciding on whether or not to let my Ponder resolve. I'm touching the top of my deck trying to get him to decide whether or not Ponder resolves (he doesn't have Counterbalance out here). This bothers him, he asks I don't touch my deck if I'm not drawing cards. That's fine, I guess. He probably could have been faster on deciding here, I don't really think Counterspelling a Ponder is the right play (almost ever, REB or Spell Pierce on a Ponder though is a different story), granted he knows I play Factory at this point, and he could have been scared that I'll draw a Factory and be able to get in there (he's on 17 though).

He lands Jace eventually, and I scoop them up.

Out: Sower, Bolt, Fire/Ice, Forked Bolt. In: Spell Pierce, REB/Pyro, Grip, Null Rod, EE, 1 Relic.

We play fast, he Swords 2 of my Goyfs. This is also a long game (early in the game I Spell Pierce his Crucible the turn after he Duressed me, not seeing the Spell Pierce which I know is on top from a Ponder, he's not very happy about that one), but there's basically no going into the tank. I land Jace eventually, and alternate between Fateseeling him and Brainstorming (only when I draw a fetch). He concedes with Jace on 9 or so, after having dealt with my Factories (which have taken him to 7, he fetched down to 5, but Jace on 9 basically means he can't win at that point).

Game 3, I think I land a Goyf a couple turns in and manage to protect it.

5-1 (GP)
7-1 (weekend)
2-0 (against Zoo, weekend)

R7:

Guillaume Wafo-Tapa

As pairing go up, I ask Carl Dillahay (who I've had the pleasure of sitting next to just about all day long) if he has any idea what Wafo-Tapa is playing. He thinks for half a second before his eyes light up and says "White Landstill with Top, Counterspells, Jace, no Counterbalance, I think I saw Elspeth."

Guillaume is quiet but a nice guy (completely understandable if English isn't your first language). I win the roll. I decide on Stifle where I can, and Wasting his Factories. I start attacking with my Factories which I play out quickly (never tapping out on blue mana though). Guillaume of course holds his Swords for my Goyfs. I get some cantrip action in, there's also a turn where I end step Clique as counter bait holding Jace. After I land Jace, I start Fateseeling, and he can't recover (if I remember correctly I'm holding FoW backup for when he tries to land his own Jace).

Game 2, plays Island, Top go. I play Land go. He tops and plays Factory. I draw a Stifle, land go, he tops on endstep, draws plays Brainstorm in his main phase, and passes the turn.

I draw land, play it and say go. He tops on endstep, untaps draws, plays Brainstorm, plays Plains, ends his turn. I draw Wasteland, take out Factory. Say go. He tops on endstep, untaps draws, plays Brainstorm, says go. At this point it's basically over. He's forced to play Swords on a Factory that's dropped him 15 later on. The real threats come down shortly there after, and he concedes. I assume he had to have been frustrated with his deck at that point. He was running a lot of land, and I also know he ran Tithe (he played it in game one, just at that point he need Counterspells, or Planeswalkers instead of extra lands since I knew I was going to go for Jace after forcing him to deal with my creatures), with an active top out and 2 Brainstorms he should have seen Tithe, fetches or FoW, (I did Stifle the only fetch he played and it resolved).

I'm fairly positive I didn't make any play mistakes, but it's not like my plays were really all that hard (Waste your Factories, Stifle your fetches, attack as much as possible with Factories, force him to deal with Goyfs and Cliques, then go for Jace with FoW back up), and it's not like he made any mistakes either that I can tell (for the record I don't think his decision to keep his 7 was incorrect, I have to imagine he had both Brainstorms in addition to the Top and basic Island, he just got screwed by the top of his deck by not showing him relevant cards like FoW, lands, or Tithes).

6-1 (GP)
8-1 (weekend)
2-0 (against Zoo, weekend)

R8:

Rich Shay with Dreadstill.

Rich is on the play and plays out a Standstill quickly.

My hand is Mishra's, Wasteland, fetch, Clique, some other stuff. I waste his Factory. I play my Factory. He wastes it. I wait for him to go up to 7 cards in hand (there is 1 factory on each side at this point). My hand has 2 Brainstorm in it at this point and I have 2 fetchlands down. I Brainstorm in his endstep. He draws 3. He says he has a response to Brainstorm and fetches. I say I have a response for his fetch, and Brainstorm again. He thinks for a second and then says that that's fine. I don't draw a stifle. I Fetch again still in response to his fetch, and play Clique. He Dazes. I Daze. He taps Factory. I Daze again. It resolves. His hand is Stifle, Brainstorm, Jace, Trickbind, Spell Snare, Wasteland, Island, Volcanic Island. I tell him he can keep it. With my next brainstorm on the stack still, he notices that my sleeves are very dirty (they are, and they're worn, they should have been replaced before the tournament). Anyways, a judge comes over, looks through my deck, my sideboard, and determines that there isn't a pattern. I receive a warning and am told I will have to change sleeves after the round is finished. Rich appeals, he'd like me to change sleeves now (and I could have, I wouldn't have had a problem doing so, so long as we would be given a time extension, but the head judge says that standard procedure is to have the player receive a warning and re-sleeve after the round in the interest of time).

Anyways, we proceed with me Brainstorming and putting some cards back. Now I draw the Stifle. Anyways, he discards 3, in his endstep, and my hand is sick (he has 2 lands down at this point I think since he Dazed my Clique). I send in for 5 with Clique and Factory, putting him on 12.

He untaps, Brainstorms, fetches, and says go. I send for 5 again. He draws and says go. I activate Factory, drawing the Trickbind out of his hand, and drop inside burn range. I say go.

"Jace."
"Sure."
"-1 on Jace, target Clique."
"Stifle in response."
"Very Nice."

Game 2 involves me resolving and attack with multiple Goyfs simultaneously. I find Alex Bertocini in between rounds and ask him to help me re-sleeve my deck.

"Holy shit, these sleeves are tight, it's like a 12 year old girl!"
(Someone else) "You'd know Alex?"
"Uh... I read a book on... how..."
(Same Someone else) "Dude, you said book instead of Facebook post, so I know that last statement's not the truth"

7-1 (GP)
9-1 (weekend)
2-0 (Zoo, weekend)

R9:

Mike Nyberg with Bant Survival.

We basically deal with threats the other plays and go into top deck mode. He draws a Goyf. I draw a Clique. Awkward. He draws Pridgemage. I draw Clique number 2. Ugh. Play plays Kira. I don't actually see Survival in game 1, but am positive he's playing it.

Anyways, I'm on the play both games, I game 2. My opening hand is Crucible, Factory, Goyf, Force, some lands (I think there's a Wasteland in here). In hindsight this was a very poor keep. I was greedy on the Crucible, and he runs basics. Anyways, I think my Goyf gets Forced. He lands Goyf and RWM and I can't win from there.

7-2 (GP)
9-2 (weekend)
2-0 (zoo, weekend)




Day 2. I'll post the Day 2 report tomorrow (as an edit to this post), it's getting late, and I'm still exhausted from 20+ hours of Magic, and 13+ hours of sitting in a car (without any real AC, both ways) over the past 4 days.




EDIT:


Ok, so before we get to Day 2, I totally left out Fair Phil Stolze being The Man and bringing me dinner right before the final match of the grinder started. I hadn't eaten since noon on Friday and at that point it was about 10:30 pm.


Alright, so after Round 9, I find the Virginians, Alix Hatfield started 8-0-1, beating Eli in the last round of Day 1 off the back of a Krosan Grip targetting Zuron Orb.

RIT people say they're going to a Mongolian Barbeque place. I ask the Virginians if they want to come. Jesse Hatfield strokes his hair for at least 15 minutes while Alix laments not having long hair in the back anymore before they decide to come (I jest, this didn't really happen, but it did take forever to actually get out the door, in part due to the RIT guys needing to get directions from other people).

Something like 20~30 people show up at the Mongolian Barbeque place. Any place that hands you a bowl and says "Pile up as much food as you can into it" is awesome in my book.

We make it back to the hotel.

Someone says "I see those byes served you well."

Then I realize the woman sitting on the curb smoking is the judge from my grinder. I tell her I would have rather finished 8-1 instead of 7-2. She reminds me it could always be worse.


I don't really sleep well that night I don't think. I remember waking up probably 4 or 5 times.


Day 2.

Alarm.

Up.

Alarm.

Up.

Alarm.

Get up already!


Phil Stolze wakes up at this point and complains about it being too early. I tell him at least he doesn't have to stay up.

"And do what? Play Magic for hundreds of dollars? Oh, yeah that's right, you get to do that."

Heh. Guess my heads not in the right place today.

R10:

Tom Raney with Aluren.

Game 1 I keep what is probably an acceptable hand against an unknown deck. It doesn't contain Stifle, Wasteland or Daze though, which are the most relevant cards against decks trying to resolve 4 mana spells.

He eventually goes for Aluren, tapping out, I have Force and a blue card, but he also does. And the Imperial Recruiter.

Out goes the removal spells and Sowers. In comes the REBs, Krosan Grip, Spell Pierces, and 1 Relic of Progenitus.

I keep a hand that has Stifle, Force, Brainstorm, Jace, Wasteland, a blue source and Relic. Much better.

Too bad he's got Thoughtseize (I Brainstorm in response, I put Crucible and Force of Will back both of which I draw with BStorm), he takes Stifle.

And Cabal Therapy (I Force since there are 2 in my hand now seeing as how that's really the only reasonable card for him to name, I guess he could name Jace, but I don't see the point in that). He sacrifices his Wall of Blossoms to flashback Therapy naming FoW.

Then he has another Thoughtseize for Crucible of Worlds. I made a misplay by Wasting his land before playing Crucible, I'm stuck on 2 land for a while (if I don't Waste there, I can cycle the Relic and try to rip the third land). I start attacking with Factroy. When I draw the next Wasteland, I misplay again. His lands are Swamp, Bayou, Trop, Trop. I waste the Bayou, which is completely wrong (and I realize it after I pass the turn). Several turns later he plays Brainstorm and Ponder in the same turn. The turn after that he drops Aluren. Then he plays Cavern Harpy. In response to the trigger he plays Parasitic Strix.

I think this is one of those matches that I really should have a better match up against, they're trying to resolve a 4 mana card that requires their deck to contain about 7 or 8 otherwise way suboptimal cards (Recruiters, Dream Stalker, Harpy, Strix), while I have a mana denial plan, and creatures like Clique that can mess up their hand. Granted they get Therapies and Thoughtseize, but post board I get REBs, Pierces and Grip (REB is actually gigantic here since you let them get 4 Recruiters and then REB the Dream Stalker while it's on the stack, nice 1/1s you've got there).

His hand was sick though, and he didn't make any mistakes, where as I did.

7-3 (GP)
9-3 (weekend)
2-0 (Zoo, weekend)


R11:

Jack Johnson with Dredge.

Game 1 I win the roll, and keep a reasonable hand against an unknown opponent. Land go. Draw, end step, discard Stinkweed Imp. Great. This is basically the same as last time, except the only relevant spell in my main is Stifle (on Narco triggers or Colesium activations) really (assuming your opponent isn't a tool and goes for DDD plan, if they're a tool, then you get to wreck them with Force, Daze and Wasteland also).

At some point he dredges, and flips over a Careful Study that's upside down. I ask him to stop and call a judge and ask the judge if cards oriented in a different direction in his deck could be considered marked. The Judges says yes, Jack explains that those cards are the cards he sideboarded out for last round, I say I don't think he's cheating but that that's the judges decision to make, not mine. The Judge asks if Jack has any warnings for marked cards from earlier in the tournament, he says he doesn't but that he has a warning for something else. The judge writes down a warning for him on our slip after going through and putting the upside down cards right side up.

He wins this one pretty soon after that, and we go to game 2.

My hand is Mishra's Factory, 3 other lands (that aren't Wasteland), Goyf, Pyroclasm, and Crypt. I keep.

I play Crypt. He plays Tireless Tribe (which makes Goyf waaaaaaay worse). He dredges exactly 1 bridge over the course of something like 4 turns. Ugh. This match up is all about your Grave hate taking out bridges (and potentially Narcomeobas with their trigger on the stack when they have Therapy/Dread Return in their yard). Anyways, I draw land for something like 3 or 4 turns in a row at some point, never see Brainstorm/Ponder, and when I finally am forced to activate Crypt (he flashes back Ancient Grudge), the next turn he discards another Bridge (with 2 Ichorids in the grave), untaps, Dredges, plays Breakthrough. I REB (came in for Spell Snare, obviously). He plays the second Breakthrough...

He makes 2 giant GGTs with Dread Return and some tokens. Then he passes the turn, giving me an out of Lightning Bolt (2 stayed in), or Firespout (there's 1 left in the deck) or Brainstorm/Ponder into one of those. I draw a land. I pass the turn. He makes more Zombies and passes the turn. I draw. It's a Spell Pierce.

7-4 (GP)
9-4 (weekend)
2-0 (Zoo, weekend)


R12:

Robert Burkman with Zoo.


Roberts deck has Student of War, Figure of Destiny and Ethersworn Canonist in it, which seem suboptimal. Anyways, I win the roll, mull to 6. His creatures and lands get blown up. Then I drop Jace (I think it's Jace, because he concedes on 18 life).

Game 2, he mulls to 6. He beats me down to 7 before I eventually take control.


8-4 (GP)
10-4 (weekend)
3-0 (Zoo, weekend, 6-0 in games)


R13:

Matt Fisher (Sourcer Jockalhaups) with Zoo.

Matt's a very nice guy. His list is way more standard than the last list. Anyways, I wind up Cliquing him on my main phase while he's tapped out to send a Chain Lightning to the bottom of his library. He lightning Bolts the Clique, and attacks with his Goyf. I play my Goyf. Our goyfs stair at each other for a turn. Then I play Sower of Temptation and steal his goyf. The next turn I play another Sower and steal his Kird Ape also, then I swing for 10 and drop him to 3.

Game 2 I end on 17 life. I'm pretty sure there's multiple Goyfs and Firespouts from my side of the table.


9-4 (GP)
11-4 (weekend)
4-0 (Zoo, weekend, 8-0 in games)


R14:

Chris Allusis with Jace Control (it's basically the same as the UBg deck that made T8 with Jace, Innocent Blood, Loam, Standstill, Deed, and Counterspell).

Chris is a very jovial person, and it's a pleasure to play against him. Game 1 he mulls to 6. I spell snare his Standstill. Sometime after that, I resolve a Clique in my turn (he's tapped down to 2 mana for Deed, I'm pretty sure he has Counterspell, and I want to use my Daze), he Counterspells, and I Daze to get the Clique in, he reveals his hand with 2 FoWs and I say "Target me, I'll send Stifle to the bottom of my library since I'm tapped out". He deeds for 3. This game goes back and forth a little bit after that, but I eventually win it with Factory beats and I think some fateseel action from Jace. I notice the judge from my grinder has walked by our match a couple of times.

Game 2, I mull to 6. He starts attacking me with Factories. I find Wastelands eventually, but he takes this one down.

Game 3 finally sees no mulligans, I only take damage from my fetch lands. This game involves multiple Goyfs from me (one of which sticks).

10-4 (GP)
12-4 (weekend)
4-0 (Zoo, weekend, 8-0 in games)


R15:

Dominic (Sourcer HappyGilmore) with Zoo.

I know if I'm going to lose a Zoo player this weekend, it's going to be someone in the Virginian crew.

Dominic is it. He knows what to do, and he has (and resolves) Sylvan Library both games. Also, I draw more lands than I'd like to.

At some point, I tell Dominic I have an effect in his draw step after his first draw (ie, in response to Sylvan Library, it's a triggered ability that resolves after you draw your first card for the turn). He almost draws two before letting me stifle the trigger. He asks for a judge for the oracle wording on Library and then whether or not it's a triggered ability. The judge from my grinder almost answers our judge call but another judge gets there first. At this point I think she has a crush on me.

Anyways I end up on 1 life and he has Sylvan out, so there's no way I can win (barring him never seeing anything but lands in his top 3 each time).

Game 2, is similar.



10-5 (GP)
12-5 (weekend)
4-1 (Zoo, weekend, 8-2 in games)


R16:


Kevin Kehoe (Sourcer BeastMan) with Zoo.

Great another Virginian with a good Zoo deck who knows how to play it.

Game 1 he mulligans to 5. Kevin is apparently already on tilt from his last round. I blow up his creatures, he eventually lands a 7/7 Knight and attacks with it once. I drop Jace and bounce the Knight. He replays Knight after playing land number 4. I Daze. He pays. I Daze again. Kevin is livid. I play Goyf and attack once. It gets Pathed. I play Factories and beat face.

Game 2. My hand is Force, Force, Stifle, Spell Snare, Goyf, Firespout, Island. This hand is actually absurd. In the worst case scenario I don't draw lands for 3 or 4 turns I still get to Stifle and Spell Snare (and presumably draw other blue cards for my Forces).

He fetchs for a basic land and says go.

Draw Daze (!!!) I play Island, go.

Play Fetch. Go.

Draw Misty Rainforst. Crack it, trop Goyf. Go.

Play fetch, activate both Fetches, Knight. "Daze."

Draw, attack with Goyf, replay Trop. Go.

Land number 4. Choke. "Force pitching Stifle" (he has enough mana at this point).

Draw, attack with Goyf. Go.

Draw, Knight #2. "Force pitching Spell Snare." Kevin is having trouble not completely losing it at this point. He plays Grim Lavamancer.

Draw. Play my Volcanic Island, Firespout your guy away and make Goyf a 5/6, swing (he's on 9).

Draw, Path your Goyf.

Draw, play Factory. Go.

Draw. Roll eyes. Go.

Draw, attack with Factory (7). Go.

Draw. Play a little dude. Go.

Draw, Bolt little dude, attack with Factory (5). Go.

Draw. Of course.... go...

Draw. It's Bolt. Attack with Factory (3). Tap red mana. Before I even play the lightning bolt Kevin has lost it completely and is clearly pissed off about my God hand. He signs the match slip and storms off.


11-5 (GP)
13-5 (weekend)
5-1 (Zoo, weekend, 10-2 in games)



I watch Bryant's T8 match. Even if he'd won that one (which I think he just got unlucky) I don't think he had a chance against Saito's Fish deck (who he would have played after that), or the CounterTop deck (in the finals had he made it), but it's still a little disappointing to see your friend's get unlucky.

Fair Phil Stolze and I hang out with the Virginians afterwards.

We drive about 7 hours the next day.


Still feeling exhausted.



Props:

Fair Phil Stolze for bringing me dinner.
Basically all of my opponents (especially other Sourcers and of course the Virginians).
Bryant Cook. Your ego doesn't have to be any bigger, but we were all rooting for you in the Top 8.
The Virginians for putting basically their entire play group into day 2.
Fair Phil Stolze making his opponents shit themselves when he hard cast Emrakuls, Kozileks, and Sundering Titans.
Eric English for picking this deck up after Madrid.

Slops:

Kyle Dorgan and Eric English for not being able to make it to Columbus and making the hotel twice as expensive for Phil and I.
The AC not working in Phil's car.
Not being able to play the deck correctly that I brought.




EDIT #2: Left off 3 islands from my list.

Neuad
08-02-2010, 09:57 PM
When I cast it Justin shows me his hand full of Mana. I ask the Judge if I'm allowed to target myself (I never declared). She says "You haven't declared a target yet, so yes.

Friend has this happen. Casted clique and his opponent flips his hand down onto the table. He goes, okay I target myself with Clique. Keep all. your turn.

Whit3 Ghost
08-02-2010, 10:05 PM
Did John have abnormally large glasses on?

If so, he's the guy I drew with to knock myself out of day 2 contention. Fuck that guy. Slowest player and an absolute dick.

PS, grats on the finish and for suggesting me the deck. It was a blast to play all day for sure. I wish I could've fit the 7th fetch in somewhere.

juventus
08-02-2010, 11:30 PM
grats on finish and sick photographic memory

Mister Agent
08-02-2010, 11:37 PM
I have always liked this deck because it's pretty consistent and resilient.

Also, good job on the finish Dave! I always enjoyed reading your reports.

freakish777
08-03-2010, 05:13 PM
Bump. Updates in OP.

Wraith
08-03-2010, 05:36 PM
Some of us played with Eric over at Millenium on Sunday and heard that work screwed him out of what would have likely been a good ole GP run. Sucks.

As for the report, that is an excellent finish, though it seems like the rough night cost you a bit. I've noticed Eric run Firespout mb, was there ever a time you wished for it to be in your mainboard or was it perfectly fine the way it was?

freakish777
08-03-2010, 05:56 PM
Firespout was perfectly fine in the side.

Yeah, I know Eric's work wouldn't give him time off, my slops aren't "ZOMG, I HATES YOU" more "Man, I wish that had been different."

A $300 hotel room for 3 nights split 4 ways is perfectly doable. Split 2 ways, it's expensive.

I really wish Eric could have come, I'm fairly confident he would have T16'd with it considering he knows the deck way better than I do and had the byes also.

mujadaddy
08-03-2010, 06:10 PM
At this point I think she has a crush on me.I was waiting for the porn ending.

jakolhops
08-03-2010, 11:32 PM
round 13 here, slight spelling error on my username but thats not important. :)
I liked that deck you played it really wrecks zoo, and it proved it against my list. Im glad to see you placed in the $$.

say no to scurvy
08-08-2010, 08:29 AM
your decklist is missing 3 cards. im assuming 3 islands

freakish777
08-08-2010, 01:06 PM
your decklist is missing 3 cards. im assuming 3 islands

You assume correctly.

Bryant Cook
08-08-2010, 10:41 PM
Props:
Bryant Cook. Your ego doesn't have to be any bigger, but we were all rooting for you in the Top 8.

Too late.

Great report. Well written. I love Forked Bolt, it kicks ass in Standard, but did it ever seem underwhelming?

HAVE HEART
08-09-2010, 01:05 AM
I was waiting for the porn ending.

I was pretty sure this report was ending with a bang (pun intended).

freakish777
08-09-2010, 03:11 PM
Too late.

Great report. Well written. I love Forked Bolt, it kicks ass in Standard, but did it ever seem underwhelming?

It's hard to tell what my thoughts on Forked Bolt are. I think I played it maybe twice all tournament. I definitely sent it back with Brainstorm/Jace more than I played it (but in those situations I'm pretty sure I would have sent back Fire/Ice also).

The thing I obviously am trying to do with it is, when I'm on the play and my opponent goes for turn 1 Heirarch to be able to kill it and still have mana up for Spell Snare/Stifle/pay for an opponent's Daze. Basically I didn't want to take too many risks with the list heading into the GP, and I think I'd need more experience with the card to figure out if it isn't the right card.

I don't think I ever saw Forked Bolt though and thought "Wow, I wish this was Fire/Ice" which is what it would have been instead (I never had to tap Iona/Dreadnought or anything like that).