Finn
08-26-2010, 02:12 PM
It's ridiculous.
This was my second time going to CoolStuff near Ft.Lauderdale in South FLorida. There were 14 in attendance, a low turnout for them. It was a mix of guys just north of casual and some seriously skilled players. Here is my report.
Death and Taxes
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Karakas
2 Flagstones of Trokair
9 Plains
2 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Condemn
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
board
3 Cataclysm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Aura of Silence
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Runed Halo
4 Enlightened Tutor
The one Oblivion Ring in the main is sort of an experiment. I need one to get with my tutors, but there is no room left in the side board. So there it is.
---------
Rd 1 v. Omar w/Rock
I discovered quickly that Omar is one of the skilled players. This is an awful matchup for me and he said he knew of my deck. Not good.
g1
He played turn 1 land, Diamond, Confidant. I had Plow. I played Vial after that. He played a Top and a Tarmo soon afterward. I Vialed in some stuff like Grunt and Flickerwisp (-> Diamond). He Vindicated my Grunt and got through once or twice with the Tarmo while I also attacked overhead. When he had the mana, he cast Elspeth and got a few turns with her. But I vialed in Mangara when he tapped his Wasteland for Elspeth. I only got the one Karakas activation though because he took care of business right away. But it was enough to put me ahead. We traded cards for awhile longer, but I eventually came out victorious.
Most of my sb came in.
g2
I remember little except that two Tarmos finished me off while I piddled around with insufficient mana to operate properly.
g3
This one went on into extra turns. He had a Confidant almost the entire game drawing him extra cards. But he spent so much time trying to deal with Mangara (who got only 2 activations this game) that I had him all tied up. Stuff like Vindicating Karakas and I save it with Flickerwisp and generally playing conservatively. When time was called, he had a fistful of cards and five mana on the table (no lands in hand). He had a Top, two Confidants, and low life. I had an Avenger with a Light and Shadow sword, Grunt with one counter, Mystic, Mom. And Mangara in hand with Karakas in play. No Vial. I had seen a Deed revealed with Confidant, but I had a Needle on it until his last turn when he Vindicated it. On his next turn he would wipe the table. I attacked, but not for lethal. Then I plopped down Mangara and immediately realized that I had TWO PORTS in play! I grabbed after just a moment and looked at Omar, who nodded. On his upkeep he realized what he had agreed to and conceded the game. BTW, he did not even have Life form the Loam.
Omar, if you are reading this, I can hardly believe I even asked for the take back. That should have been a tie. My bad.
---------
1-0
---------
Rd 2 v. Tom w/Dreadstill
Tom had a bye in rd 1 and was just there for fun.
gs 1 and 2 were both about the same. This is a very easy matchup for D+T. I was able to keep him off green most of the time, and his Dreadnought went down to a Flickerwisp. From experience, I know that this play just takes the wind out of their sail. Furthermore, he was unable to keep my Vial from invalidating his entire hand of counterspells in game 1 as I went Vial -> Mystic -> Sword of Fire and Ice, etc. without actually casting any spells.
---------
2-0
---------
Rd 3 v. Blake w/Dragon Stompy
It must be meta circa 2007 night! This is another really good matchup for me.
g1
Blake goes first and plays a Mountain. I figured I would get a Bolt in a minute, so I played a Vial and passed. Turn 2 he plays a morph. I think I Ported something on his Turn 3, but he plays his entire hand and attacks with the 5/5, equipped with a Sword of Fire and Ice for 9. I took it, but had STP, so I won.
I sided in the Aura of Silence and Runed Halo for a Condemn and a Harrier.
g2
Blake plays t1 Chalice @ 1. Then Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, and Pit Dragon very quickly. On my turn 3, I played a Flickerwisp and his Chalice got reset to zero. I then cast Condemn, then STP, then I won. Man that decks puts all its eggs in one basket.
---------
3-0
---------
Rd 4 v. Alfred w/Ub Merfolk
So...damned...hungry.
Alfred is not an experienced tournament player and takes the advice of others that he should split. He is 2-0-1, and after closer inspection (and following both of us scurrying like rats for food), I figured out that he guarantees himself not making top 4 this way, and I encouraged him to play me. We squeezed in one game. Here it is.
g1
Alfred plays a Vial. So do I. He lays down some beaters and Spell Pierces my removal. Then he plays Standstill. Things looked bad for me until I topdecked a Mystic. I Vialed in a Mystic and won.
brrrrrroken.
---------
4-0
---------
Top 4 v. Brandon w/Ugwr CounterTop
Brandon is an accomplished tournament player locally and at big events. This should be interesting.
g1
It's a bit fuzzy in my memory. But it involved Brandon reading Flickerwisp, Mangara, and Karakas. It took awhile because he countered my precious Vial, but I eventually got out ahead and he scooped.
I only sided in the Pithing Needle and the Aura of Silence for 2 Condemns. Come to think of it, I barely sided in anything all night.
g2
I made a lot of thoughtless errors this night. But this game was not an example of that. He plays a land and a Top. On my turn Mother of Runes resolves. His turn 2 is nothing special. I play Port and pass. Port his green on upkeep. This always sucks, as he can simply activate the Top in response. But non-Legacy players like this are unfamiliar with the entirety of this scenario. They are still in the habit of leaving one open and Top-ing at the end of my turn, so I still net a tapped land every turn (except for this one) since he sees the same 3 cards on his upkeep as he did at the end of my turn. On to turn 4.
I am holding a Jitte, creatures, and Vial. And all I care about is the Vial. I played the Jitte and he used Counterspell after only a moment of thought. I had tapped him down to 3 lands and he has one left, so With 2 lands of my own remaining I played the Vial and I prayed that he did not have Spell Pierce. It sailed onto the battlefield and I am in business. The next turn, he plays Counterbalance and the game is afoot. I got a Grunt into play. Then Mangara. And I have Karakas already in play. I actually had another Mangara in hand and it was a good thing. He aimed STP at Mangara after I took out his COunterbalance. I protected him with Mother of Runes and he responded with another. Karakas was tapped from the last unsummon so I gained one life. He played another Counterbalance and Gripped my Vial on successive turns. With five mana, I cast a Grunt which he used his last mana on to counter - revealing Counterbalance #3. Then I hardcast the second Mangara which resolved. And Brandon's hand was empty. On his turn he played the other COunterbalance and on mine I used Mangara on Sensei's Divining Top. For perhaps the first time ever, I purposely did not immediately respond with Karakas. He looked at his top 3 and said "it resolves". But he had looked, yielding me priority. I used Karakas, and to my astonishment he did not activate the Top. I thought about why he would do that and I think I figured his mind.
I cast Grunt. Resolves. I cast Mom #2. Resolves. Pass the turn. He topdecks and plays Firespout having counted on that to counter Mangara. Yes! He plays it and nabs my new Mom, but the game is over. I cast Mangara on the next turn and he scoops.
---------
5-0
---------
Finals v. Brian w/monblue Merfolk
Brian is far more confident and experienced with his deck than my previous Merfolk opponent, but still - Piece of cake. Come on, it's Merfolk - one of my easiest matchups.
g1
He leads off with a Vial. I play Mother of Runes, which resolves. He plays a Mutavault and passes. I topdeck Vial and play it - it gets Spell Pierced. Damnit. It goes downhill from there and I am soon overwhelmed by Corelhelm Commander and company. Ah well, everyone gets lucky from time to time.
I side board - nothing.
g2
I open with a Vial and he plays Cursecatcher. I then Vial in Mother of Runes and I hardcast Goldmeadow Harrier. He plays Standstill! WTF?! As you might imagine, I was all over him like white on rice. Stoneforge Mystic begot Sword of Fire and Ice which begot big guns, baby. He went to Echoing Truth my Vial, but i responded with Flickerwisp. Before I could even announce a target, he scooped.
g3
I mulliganed. He plays Vial and I do not. Wasteland on my Karakas, Spell Pierce my STP, 2 Cursecatchers and a lot of fish come out swinging. I had a Harrier and a Mom, but still it isn't enough. I played this one poorly right down to my terminal breath. The guy has 2 Mutvaults to attack with and on my turn I play Plains while holding Wasteland. That would have had me at one life after his attack instead of dead, but he would still have had the other one and a Silvergill left after saccing Cursecatchers for my removal. And my field was blank. I had a hand full of creatures that were too slow. Bloody Vial put him way out in front. He had it two games and I had it once. Merfolk sux.
---------
5-1
---------
Second place is just the first loser. Anyway, it was another fun night at Coolstuff. Beyond Vial, just about everyone agreed that Flickerwisp is an amazing card that flat out wins games. Big time "X" on my sb which did nothing all night. Of course, that was because I had choice matchups in five of six rounds so I will call it a wash. On a more serious note, I think it is time for me to acknowledge that Merfolk is not the bye it used to be. Spell Pierce and Coralhelm Commander both make a big difference. And they are both pretty much standard now.
This was my second time going to CoolStuff near Ft.Lauderdale in South FLorida. There were 14 in attendance, a low turnout for them. It was a mix of guys just north of casual and some seriously skilled players. Here is my report.
Death and Taxes
3 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
4 Karakas
2 Flagstones of Trokair
9 Plains
2 Goldmeadow Harrier
4 Mother of Runes
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Jotun Grunt
4 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
3 Mangara of Corondor
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Condemn
1 Oblivion Ring
4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
board
3 Cataclysm
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Aura of Silence
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Runed Halo
4 Enlightened Tutor
The one Oblivion Ring in the main is sort of an experiment. I need one to get with my tutors, but there is no room left in the side board. So there it is.
---------
Rd 1 v. Omar w/Rock
I discovered quickly that Omar is one of the skilled players. This is an awful matchup for me and he said he knew of my deck. Not good.
g1
He played turn 1 land, Diamond, Confidant. I had Plow. I played Vial after that. He played a Top and a Tarmo soon afterward. I Vialed in some stuff like Grunt and Flickerwisp (-> Diamond). He Vindicated my Grunt and got through once or twice with the Tarmo while I also attacked overhead. When he had the mana, he cast Elspeth and got a few turns with her. But I vialed in Mangara when he tapped his Wasteland for Elspeth. I only got the one Karakas activation though because he took care of business right away. But it was enough to put me ahead. We traded cards for awhile longer, but I eventually came out victorious.
Most of my sb came in.
g2
I remember little except that two Tarmos finished me off while I piddled around with insufficient mana to operate properly.
g3
This one went on into extra turns. He had a Confidant almost the entire game drawing him extra cards. But he spent so much time trying to deal with Mangara (who got only 2 activations this game) that I had him all tied up. Stuff like Vindicating Karakas and I save it with Flickerwisp and generally playing conservatively. When time was called, he had a fistful of cards and five mana on the table (no lands in hand). He had a Top, two Confidants, and low life. I had an Avenger with a Light and Shadow sword, Grunt with one counter, Mystic, Mom. And Mangara in hand with Karakas in play. No Vial. I had seen a Deed revealed with Confidant, but I had a Needle on it until his last turn when he Vindicated it. On his next turn he would wipe the table. I attacked, but not for lethal. Then I plopped down Mangara and immediately realized that I had TWO PORTS in play! I grabbed after just a moment and looked at Omar, who nodded. On his upkeep he realized what he had agreed to and conceded the game. BTW, he did not even have Life form the Loam.
Omar, if you are reading this, I can hardly believe I even asked for the take back. That should have been a tie. My bad.
---------
1-0
---------
Rd 2 v. Tom w/Dreadstill
Tom had a bye in rd 1 and was just there for fun.
gs 1 and 2 were both about the same. This is a very easy matchup for D+T. I was able to keep him off green most of the time, and his Dreadnought went down to a Flickerwisp. From experience, I know that this play just takes the wind out of their sail. Furthermore, he was unable to keep my Vial from invalidating his entire hand of counterspells in game 1 as I went Vial -> Mystic -> Sword of Fire and Ice, etc. without actually casting any spells.
---------
2-0
---------
Rd 3 v. Blake w/Dragon Stompy
It must be meta circa 2007 night! This is another really good matchup for me.
g1
Blake goes first and plays a Mountain. I figured I would get a Bolt in a minute, so I played a Vial and passed. Turn 2 he plays a morph. I think I Ported something on his Turn 3, but he plays his entire hand and attacks with the 5/5, equipped with a Sword of Fire and Ice for 9. I took it, but had STP, so I won.
I sided in the Aura of Silence and Runed Halo for a Condemn and a Harrier.
g2
Blake plays t1 Chalice @ 1. Then Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, and Pit Dragon very quickly. On my turn 3, I played a Flickerwisp and his Chalice got reset to zero. I then cast Condemn, then STP, then I won. Man that decks puts all its eggs in one basket.
---------
3-0
---------
Rd 4 v. Alfred w/Ub Merfolk
So...damned...hungry.
Alfred is not an experienced tournament player and takes the advice of others that he should split. He is 2-0-1, and after closer inspection (and following both of us scurrying like rats for food), I figured out that he guarantees himself not making top 4 this way, and I encouraged him to play me. We squeezed in one game. Here it is.
g1
Alfred plays a Vial. So do I. He lays down some beaters and Spell Pierces my removal. Then he plays Standstill. Things looked bad for me until I topdecked a Mystic. I Vialed in a Mystic and won.
brrrrrroken.
---------
4-0
---------
Top 4 v. Brandon w/Ugwr CounterTop
Brandon is an accomplished tournament player locally and at big events. This should be interesting.
g1
It's a bit fuzzy in my memory. But it involved Brandon reading Flickerwisp, Mangara, and Karakas. It took awhile because he countered my precious Vial, but I eventually got out ahead and he scooped.
I only sided in the Pithing Needle and the Aura of Silence for 2 Condemns. Come to think of it, I barely sided in anything all night.
g2
I made a lot of thoughtless errors this night. But this game was not an example of that. He plays a land and a Top. On my turn Mother of Runes resolves. His turn 2 is nothing special. I play Port and pass. Port his green on upkeep. This always sucks, as he can simply activate the Top in response. But non-Legacy players like this are unfamiliar with the entirety of this scenario. They are still in the habit of leaving one open and Top-ing at the end of my turn, so I still net a tapped land every turn (except for this one) since he sees the same 3 cards on his upkeep as he did at the end of my turn. On to turn 4.
I am holding a Jitte, creatures, and Vial. And all I care about is the Vial. I played the Jitte and he used Counterspell after only a moment of thought. I had tapped him down to 3 lands and he has one left, so With 2 lands of my own remaining I played the Vial and I prayed that he did not have Spell Pierce. It sailed onto the battlefield and I am in business. The next turn, he plays Counterbalance and the game is afoot. I got a Grunt into play. Then Mangara. And I have Karakas already in play. I actually had another Mangara in hand and it was a good thing. He aimed STP at Mangara after I took out his COunterbalance. I protected him with Mother of Runes and he responded with another. Karakas was tapped from the last unsummon so I gained one life. He played another Counterbalance and Gripped my Vial on successive turns. With five mana, I cast a Grunt which he used his last mana on to counter - revealing Counterbalance #3. Then I hardcast the second Mangara which resolved. And Brandon's hand was empty. On his turn he played the other COunterbalance and on mine I used Mangara on Sensei's Divining Top. For perhaps the first time ever, I purposely did not immediately respond with Karakas. He looked at his top 3 and said "it resolves". But he had looked, yielding me priority. I used Karakas, and to my astonishment he did not activate the Top. I thought about why he would do that and I think I figured his mind.
I cast Grunt. Resolves. I cast Mom #2. Resolves. Pass the turn. He topdecks and plays Firespout having counted on that to counter Mangara. Yes! He plays it and nabs my new Mom, but the game is over. I cast Mangara on the next turn and he scoops.
---------
5-0
---------
Finals v. Brian w/monblue Merfolk
Brian is far more confident and experienced with his deck than my previous Merfolk opponent, but still - Piece of cake. Come on, it's Merfolk - one of my easiest matchups.
g1
He leads off with a Vial. I play Mother of Runes, which resolves. He plays a Mutavault and passes. I topdeck Vial and play it - it gets Spell Pierced. Damnit. It goes downhill from there and I am soon overwhelmed by Corelhelm Commander and company. Ah well, everyone gets lucky from time to time.
I side board - nothing.
g2
I open with a Vial and he plays Cursecatcher. I then Vial in Mother of Runes and I hardcast Goldmeadow Harrier. He plays Standstill! WTF?! As you might imagine, I was all over him like white on rice. Stoneforge Mystic begot Sword of Fire and Ice which begot big guns, baby. He went to Echoing Truth my Vial, but i responded with Flickerwisp. Before I could even announce a target, he scooped.
g3
I mulliganed. He plays Vial and I do not. Wasteland on my Karakas, Spell Pierce my STP, 2 Cursecatchers and a lot of fish come out swinging. I had a Harrier and a Mom, but still it isn't enough. I played this one poorly right down to my terminal breath. The guy has 2 Mutvaults to attack with and on my turn I play Plains while holding Wasteland. That would have had me at one life after his attack instead of dead, but he would still have had the other one and a Silvergill left after saccing Cursecatchers for my removal. And my field was blank. I had a hand full of creatures that were too slow. Bloody Vial put him way out in front. He had it two games and I had it once. Merfolk sux.
---------
5-1
---------
Second place is just the first loser. Anyway, it was another fun night at Coolstuff. Beyond Vial, just about everyone agreed that Flickerwisp is an amazing card that flat out wins games. Big time "X" on my sb which did nothing all night. Of course, that was because I had choice matchups in five of six rounds so I will call it a wash. On a more serious note, I think it is time for me to acknowledge that Merfolk is not the bye it used to be. Spell Pierce and Coralhelm Commander both make a big difference. And they are both pretty much standard now.