Tinefol
01-26-2011, 09:22 AM
This was my 4th tournament with C/B since the ban of Survival.
Tournament 1 report can be found here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?13716&p=512945&viewfull=1#post512945). I went 4-0-1 winning against Burn, Pox, Food Chain, Aggro Loam and drawing with D&T. There were 25 players
I went 3-1 in the second tournament (23 players), going 3-0 in swiss, winning against TES, CB/Thopters, RB Kiln Fiend + double id and then I lost to Zoo in top8.
Went 3-1 in third tournament (31 players), winning against merfolk, goblins and aggro-loam and losing to Affinity, then id into prizes.
The deck played really smooth. So with some small changes I went in for the Elektrostal Open with the following list:
4 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
3 Counterspell
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
// Sideboard:
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
SB: 2 Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Energy Flux
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
So why exactly do I play this deck instead of a stock lists of Supreme Blue or Natural Order CB? Well, because it takes from both exactly what I like in them - its control-oriented much like 4c, and it has a good early game like NO lists.
There's Noble Hierarch. Probably the best creature ever printed for CounterTop. Hierarch is the king of tempo. It lets you cut on amount of lands, giving more gas mid/late game and lets you maintain a better curve for CB. It accelerates your Counterbalance lock (CB on turn 2 with Brainstorm "back up" anyone?). It enables Dazes, which don't actually blow out your own development. It gives you non-dazeable Counterspells starting from turn 2. It notably weakens the opposing Wastelands (and you know, CB/Top hates getting wastelanded early).
Then, there are big guys. Goyf is Goyf, and KoTRs, while lacking the toolbox shenigans (as much as I'd like to squeeze them in), are Goyfs 5-7, and these girls tend to grow bigger than goyf. There are no 'small' guys, like Qasali Pridemage, Rhox War Monk and Trygon Predator. As much as I like them, this is control deck. More often than not it needs to stop the agression. QPM and RWM are really good at going offensive with multiple exalteds, but they suck at blocking other big guys. As I said, this is control deck, it needs its creatures to serve as big walls and KoTR, much like Goyf does it fine. More so, KoTR shuffles your deck. This is invaluable in a deck with CounterTOP, and do I need to explain why?
There's no Firespout. Sorry, my beloved spell. You make me run awkward 4 color manabase which gets blown out by wastelands. You slow me down, because I can't run Hierarch anymore. You don't really work against half of the format. But I would miss you when I'm facing, say Zoo. There's Shackles to replace you. It is slower, but it can be accelerated by Hierarch. It doesn't take big guys, but neither does Firespout. And it actually is able to steal Goyf once you're in midgame. From my testing, good early game (Hierarch + Daze + 3c manabase) + Shackles had been >>> Firespout against Merfolk. Firespout simply didn't work against the Fish.
There's no Natural Order. Sorry, not enough guys and there's Jace, the Mind-Sculptor, the best planeswalker ever. So powerful and so universal. I haven't actually ultimated anyone yet (usually it gives me enough gas to establish CB lock and 6/6+ KoTRs are simply faster at winning), but it may come handy against heavy control decks.
On to the tournament now. 22 players showed up.
Round 1. Zoo
Game 1. I lose the dice roll, and mulligan into a questionable hand of 4 lands. My opponent starts with Wild Nacatl, then joined by Grim Lavamancer and Qasali Pridmage. I topdeck two more lands, a Top that finds nothing and get finished off miserably with some burn. That was really awful.
Game 2. My opponent mulligans to 5, which gives me some hope. I keep a nice one lander with Noble Hierarch, SDT, C/B and double Goyf. My opponent burns out my Hierarch, then Wastes (OMG, Wasteland in Zoo!) my only land. I proceed to topdeck two more tops before finding another land. All while being beaten by Steppe Lynx and Grim Lavamancer. Top finds me a second land, and I cast Goyf. And have to chumpblock with it, since things are threatening lethal. My second Goyf gets Pathed and enemy gets yet another fetchland to finish me off with Lynx. Such a nice start it was.
Round 2. Dark Horizons (BGW Junk).
Game 1. Lose the dice roll. I keep a solid hand of 4 lands. My opponent keeps a hand full of LD with Mox Diamond accel. He Thoughtseizes my hand for counterspells. Then double wastelands me and double vindicates me. I topdeck an Island and Tropical Island. I hold 2 Swords to Plowshares. I die to huge Knight of the Reliquary in two attacks.
Game2. I begin with SDT turn1, and get Thoutseized and Hymned. However Top lets me install the C/B lock promptly, I counter Vindicate and beat with a KoTR quickly.
Game 3. We both keep sketchy hands, and since he has little disruption I manage to cast Jace on turn4, but I lack green mana. I brainstorm for a couple of turns, STPing some creatures here and there. My opponent loses the gas, despite having a Top of his own on table and some fetching. Apparently he fails to find Vindicate. I finally find a fetchland and cast double goyf, then Force two StPs and beat him to death in two turns. Even got to setup CB/Top lock on the last turn, thanks to Jace.
Round 3. UW Merfolk
Game 1. I lose the dice roll. My opponent starts with Silvergil Adept on a second turn. I lay the top and merely lay the lands, digging into some gas. He then topdecks Vial, and on the next turn I topdeck CB. Great. I manage to dig for some StPs to keep his lords off the table, but that Adept is still hitting me. He ups the vial to 3, and I find the goyf. The goyf is 2/3 and he vials in the Reejery and I have to chump the Adept, since I'm already at 4. The fetchland finds me a goyf and two KoTRs and then anoyher goyf. I manage to stabilize. I start attacking with 9/9 KoTRs. He gets hit once, and then is forced to chump. Vedalken Shackles finishes the dial.
Game 2. Merfolk does what it should - turn one Vial coughs out a bunch of creatures, my first Goyf gets pathed, and second goyf is tapped to Reejerey triggers and I'm alphaed.
Game 3. My opponent apparrently keeps a one lander with vial after muliganning. I try to needle it, which gets FoWed. I try to EE it, which meets a second FoW. I try to cast Shackles, which are FoWed once again. However, that pretty much leaves him with an empty hand. I cast double Goyf and they get there faster than Adept and Sovereign.
Round 4. Bant/NO Aggro.
Game 1. I lose the dice roll. I'm flooded, I don't have Top, nor do I have balance and my opponent gets all the gas off his 3 lands. My KoTR gets StPed, I topdeck 3 more lands (with 5 in play) and I die.
Game 2. My opponent keeps a slow hand, lacking turn 1/2 drops and I'm able to establish the lock, trading my first C/B for a SP (Dazed) and FoW. However I have a second CB. KoTR quickly finishes him.
Game 3. Even more lopsided than game2, I only get damaged with my fetchalnds.
Round 5. Spanish Inquisition.
I get paired down so I have to play.
Game 1. I lose the dice roll once again. I mull a hand of Hierarch, 5 lands, FoW in to a hand of top, 3 lands, FoW and KoTR. He starts comboing on turn1, casting Draw4, however lacks the mana to finish me off and passes the turn. I topdeck a Daze! Next turn he tries to go off with LED/Infernal Tutor, which I Force. Then comes down KoTR, swing, swing, game.
Game 2. He mulls to 5 and begins with Xantid Swarm. I have to FoW it since I've boarded out my StPs. I still have the Counterspell though. I cast Goyf and that's enough to bring him down to 0. Apparently he doesn't get anything but manasources.
Top8. CB/NO Bant
Game1. Lose the freaking dice roll!!! He starts with a Top. I start with a Top. He Dazes, and I Daze back. Then he tries CB which I FoW, and cast CB of my own. Then comes down the Goyf, and I counter everything with CB.
Game2. Much weaker hand this game. My opponent starts with Hierarch, I do the same. Then he casts turn 2 Balance. I have the option of casting Top or Shackles. I choose Shackles, since that has lower chance of getting countered with blind CB or Brainstorm in response. He doesn't have the Brainstorm though and casts Rhox War Monk. I only have two Islands out (boo, basic forest). My Top and two StPs get blind countered, and I have to chump his Rhox with his Noble and then with his Dryad Arbor. He also shows Natural Order on some blind flip and then completes the lock with SDT, and It looks as though I'm in trouble. He doesn't cast Order though, probably fearing FoW of mine (I do have Counterspell and two FoWs). Then I topdeck Grip, Grip his CB, Counterspell Order, and find an Elspeth and 3rd Island finally. I steal the Rhox War Monk and then cast Elspeth. He's at 37 though, and gets a goyf and a second CB. Elspeth lets me attack through his ground and he's forced to spin the top to StP. This lets me cast Goyf and KoTR of my own. Then he dies to 12/12 flying KoTR in two turns.
Top4. Gwu 37 lands with KoTRs.
Game 1. I lose the traitorous dice roll. 7th time in a row. Who would've guessed? My only chance preboard is to establish a quick CB lock and then ultimate with Jace. That doesn't work this game. He manages to get a Loam going for a couple of turns with Exploration out. When I finally get CB/Top online, he already has 3 Maze of Ith, 3 Ports. I try to go for Jace, but I have to tap out fully, it meets Crop Rotation (which I can't counter, since I need a 3rd cost on top for his Witness off Volrath Strongold) into Academy Ruins to bring back EE to destroy me.
Game 2. This time I get my CB earlier and in response to CB he Intuitions into Academy Ruins/Life From the Loam/ Engineered Explosives. Ruins go in his hands and I Bojuka Bog away his graveyard. We start some attrition wars, since I lack the 3rd cost on top and can't find any win condition (had to board out Goyfs). I counterspell another Intuition and Force the EE. I hold the Needle in my hand. Finally I find KoTR, drop Needle, attack for 10. He goes for another Intuition EOT, which I'm forced to Counterspell, then topdecks Academy Ruins (EE already in graveyard). I need to kil him about right now. Top finds me a Noble Hierarch, then I fetch to swing for the exact 12. Phewww. Very long game.
Game 3. Even more Epic. My opponent starts with a quick KoTR, I start with CB. KoTR brings me to 8, and I blow the EE for 3. He stifles. I Etutor for Top in response. Phew. However, he also has 2 Mishra's Factories, which are threatening to kill me quickly. Top finds me a KoTR of my own, but he's able to attack with Mishra's and prevent damage to them with his Maze. I'm down to 3, and then KoTR shuffling finds me another KoTR and the board is stalled. I'm very limited in my mana, since he also has Tabernacle and port. He topdecks a EE and casts it for many to avoid CB, tapping out. I'm forced to ETutor for Needle to cast it on EE. I shuffle with my KoTRs and fetchlands every turn trying to find something relevant. In response to that search he Crop Rrotations (3rd Mishra would kill me). I can't lose the top without a win in hand, and I don't have 1cc on top. So in response I shuffle with another KoTR. Still nothing. I fetch, going down to 1 and finally find a Needle. I counter Crop Rotation with it and switch for a Top. Needle on Mishra's next turn and I attack with two 11/11 KoTRs. One gets prevented, one goes through. He topdecks and extends his hand. Very long and tense match.
I split in top2, since its late and my top2 match took about 1.5 hours to complete.
Tournament 1 report can be found here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?13716&p=512945&viewfull=1#post512945). I went 4-0-1 winning against Burn, Pox, Food Chain, Aggro Loam and drawing with D&T. There were 25 players
I went 3-1 in the second tournament (23 players), going 3-0 in swiss, winning against TES, CB/Thopters, RB Kiln Fiend + double id and then I lost to Zoo in top8.
Went 3-1 in third tournament (31 players), winning against merfolk, goblins and aggro-loam and losing to Affinity, then id into prizes.
The deck played really smooth. So with some small changes I went in for the Elektrostal Open with the following list:
4 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
3 Counterspell
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Counterbalance
2 Vedalken Shackles
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
// Sideboard:
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Wheel of Sun and Moon
SB: 2 Enlightened Tutor
SB: 1 Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Energy Flux
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
So why exactly do I play this deck instead of a stock lists of Supreme Blue or Natural Order CB? Well, because it takes from both exactly what I like in them - its control-oriented much like 4c, and it has a good early game like NO lists.
There's Noble Hierarch. Probably the best creature ever printed for CounterTop. Hierarch is the king of tempo. It lets you cut on amount of lands, giving more gas mid/late game and lets you maintain a better curve for CB. It accelerates your Counterbalance lock (CB on turn 2 with Brainstorm "back up" anyone?). It enables Dazes, which don't actually blow out your own development. It gives you non-dazeable Counterspells starting from turn 2. It notably weakens the opposing Wastelands (and you know, CB/Top hates getting wastelanded early).
Then, there are big guys. Goyf is Goyf, and KoTRs, while lacking the toolbox shenigans (as much as I'd like to squeeze them in), are Goyfs 5-7, and these girls tend to grow bigger than goyf. There are no 'small' guys, like Qasali Pridemage, Rhox War Monk and Trygon Predator. As much as I like them, this is control deck. More often than not it needs to stop the agression. QPM and RWM are really good at going offensive with multiple exalteds, but they suck at blocking other big guys. As I said, this is control deck, it needs its creatures to serve as big walls and KoTR, much like Goyf does it fine. More so, KoTR shuffles your deck. This is invaluable in a deck with CounterTOP, and do I need to explain why?
There's no Firespout. Sorry, my beloved spell. You make me run awkward 4 color manabase which gets blown out by wastelands. You slow me down, because I can't run Hierarch anymore. You don't really work against half of the format. But I would miss you when I'm facing, say Zoo. There's Shackles to replace you. It is slower, but it can be accelerated by Hierarch. It doesn't take big guys, but neither does Firespout. And it actually is able to steal Goyf once you're in midgame. From my testing, good early game (Hierarch + Daze + 3c manabase) + Shackles had been >>> Firespout against Merfolk. Firespout simply didn't work against the Fish.
There's no Natural Order. Sorry, not enough guys and there's Jace, the Mind-Sculptor, the best planeswalker ever. So powerful and so universal. I haven't actually ultimated anyone yet (usually it gives me enough gas to establish CB lock and 6/6+ KoTRs are simply faster at winning), but it may come handy against heavy control decks.
On to the tournament now. 22 players showed up.
Round 1. Zoo
Game 1. I lose the dice roll, and mulligan into a questionable hand of 4 lands. My opponent starts with Wild Nacatl, then joined by Grim Lavamancer and Qasali Pridmage. I topdeck two more lands, a Top that finds nothing and get finished off miserably with some burn. That was really awful.
Game 2. My opponent mulligans to 5, which gives me some hope. I keep a nice one lander with Noble Hierarch, SDT, C/B and double Goyf. My opponent burns out my Hierarch, then Wastes (OMG, Wasteland in Zoo!) my only land. I proceed to topdeck two more tops before finding another land. All while being beaten by Steppe Lynx and Grim Lavamancer. Top finds me a second land, and I cast Goyf. And have to chumpblock with it, since things are threatening lethal. My second Goyf gets Pathed and enemy gets yet another fetchland to finish me off with Lynx. Such a nice start it was.
Round 2. Dark Horizons (BGW Junk).
Game 1. Lose the dice roll. I keep a solid hand of 4 lands. My opponent keeps a hand full of LD with Mox Diamond accel. He Thoughtseizes my hand for counterspells. Then double wastelands me and double vindicates me. I topdeck an Island and Tropical Island. I hold 2 Swords to Plowshares. I die to huge Knight of the Reliquary in two attacks.
Game2. I begin with SDT turn1, and get Thoutseized and Hymned. However Top lets me install the C/B lock promptly, I counter Vindicate and beat with a KoTR quickly.
Game 3. We both keep sketchy hands, and since he has little disruption I manage to cast Jace on turn4, but I lack green mana. I brainstorm for a couple of turns, STPing some creatures here and there. My opponent loses the gas, despite having a Top of his own on table and some fetching. Apparently he fails to find Vindicate. I finally find a fetchland and cast double goyf, then Force two StPs and beat him to death in two turns. Even got to setup CB/Top lock on the last turn, thanks to Jace.
Round 3. UW Merfolk
Game 1. I lose the dice roll. My opponent starts with Silvergil Adept on a second turn. I lay the top and merely lay the lands, digging into some gas. He then topdecks Vial, and on the next turn I topdeck CB. Great. I manage to dig for some StPs to keep his lords off the table, but that Adept is still hitting me. He ups the vial to 3, and I find the goyf. The goyf is 2/3 and he vials in the Reejery and I have to chump the Adept, since I'm already at 4. The fetchland finds me a goyf and two KoTRs and then anoyher goyf. I manage to stabilize. I start attacking with 9/9 KoTRs. He gets hit once, and then is forced to chump. Vedalken Shackles finishes the dial.
Game 2. Merfolk does what it should - turn one Vial coughs out a bunch of creatures, my first Goyf gets pathed, and second goyf is tapped to Reejerey triggers and I'm alphaed.
Game 3. My opponent apparrently keeps a one lander with vial after muliganning. I try to needle it, which gets FoWed. I try to EE it, which meets a second FoW. I try to cast Shackles, which are FoWed once again. However, that pretty much leaves him with an empty hand. I cast double Goyf and they get there faster than Adept and Sovereign.
Round 4. Bant/NO Aggro.
Game 1. I lose the dice roll. I'm flooded, I don't have Top, nor do I have balance and my opponent gets all the gas off his 3 lands. My KoTR gets StPed, I topdeck 3 more lands (with 5 in play) and I die.
Game 2. My opponent keeps a slow hand, lacking turn 1/2 drops and I'm able to establish the lock, trading my first C/B for a SP (Dazed) and FoW. However I have a second CB. KoTR quickly finishes him.
Game 3. Even more lopsided than game2, I only get damaged with my fetchalnds.
Round 5. Spanish Inquisition.
I get paired down so I have to play.
Game 1. I lose the dice roll once again. I mull a hand of Hierarch, 5 lands, FoW in to a hand of top, 3 lands, FoW and KoTR. He starts comboing on turn1, casting Draw4, however lacks the mana to finish me off and passes the turn. I topdeck a Daze! Next turn he tries to go off with LED/Infernal Tutor, which I Force. Then comes down KoTR, swing, swing, game.
Game 2. He mulls to 5 and begins with Xantid Swarm. I have to FoW it since I've boarded out my StPs. I still have the Counterspell though. I cast Goyf and that's enough to bring him down to 0. Apparently he doesn't get anything but manasources.
Top8. CB/NO Bant
Game1. Lose the freaking dice roll!!! He starts with a Top. I start with a Top. He Dazes, and I Daze back. Then he tries CB which I FoW, and cast CB of my own. Then comes down the Goyf, and I counter everything with CB.
Game2. Much weaker hand this game. My opponent starts with Hierarch, I do the same. Then he casts turn 2 Balance. I have the option of casting Top or Shackles. I choose Shackles, since that has lower chance of getting countered with blind CB or Brainstorm in response. He doesn't have the Brainstorm though and casts Rhox War Monk. I only have two Islands out (boo, basic forest). My Top and two StPs get blind countered, and I have to chump his Rhox with his Noble and then with his Dryad Arbor. He also shows Natural Order on some blind flip and then completes the lock with SDT, and It looks as though I'm in trouble. He doesn't cast Order though, probably fearing FoW of mine (I do have Counterspell and two FoWs). Then I topdeck Grip, Grip his CB, Counterspell Order, and find an Elspeth and 3rd Island finally. I steal the Rhox War Monk and then cast Elspeth. He's at 37 though, and gets a goyf and a second CB. Elspeth lets me attack through his ground and he's forced to spin the top to StP. This lets me cast Goyf and KoTR of my own. Then he dies to 12/12 flying KoTR in two turns.
Top4. Gwu 37 lands with KoTRs.
Game 1. I lose the traitorous dice roll. 7th time in a row. Who would've guessed? My only chance preboard is to establish a quick CB lock and then ultimate with Jace. That doesn't work this game. He manages to get a Loam going for a couple of turns with Exploration out. When I finally get CB/Top online, he already has 3 Maze of Ith, 3 Ports. I try to go for Jace, but I have to tap out fully, it meets Crop Rotation (which I can't counter, since I need a 3rd cost on top for his Witness off Volrath Strongold) into Academy Ruins to bring back EE to destroy me.
Game 2. This time I get my CB earlier and in response to CB he Intuitions into Academy Ruins/Life From the Loam/ Engineered Explosives. Ruins go in his hands and I Bojuka Bog away his graveyard. We start some attrition wars, since I lack the 3rd cost on top and can't find any win condition (had to board out Goyfs). I counterspell another Intuition and Force the EE. I hold the Needle in my hand. Finally I find KoTR, drop Needle, attack for 10. He goes for another Intuition EOT, which I'm forced to Counterspell, then topdecks Academy Ruins (EE already in graveyard). I need to kil him about right now. Top finds me a Noble Hierarch, then I fetch to swing for the exact 12. Phewww. Very long game.
Game 3. Even more Epic. My opponent starts with a quick KoTR, I start with CB. KoTR brings me to 8, and I blow the EE for 3. He stifles. I Etutor for Top in response. Phew. However, he also has 2 Mishra's Factories, which are threatening to kill me quickly. Top finds me a KoTR of my own, but he's able to attack with Mishra's and prevent damage to them with his Maze. I'm down to 3, and then KoTR shuffling finds me another KoTR and the board is stalled. I'm very limited in my mana, since he also has Tabernacle and port. He topdecks a EE and casts it for many to avoid CB, tapping out. I'm forced to ETutor for Needle to cast it on EE. I shuffle with my KoTRs and fetchlands every turn trying to find something relevant. In response to that search he Crop Rrotations (3rd Mishra would kill me). I can't lose the top without a win in hand, and I don't have 1cc on top. So in response I shuffle with another KoTR. Still nothing. I fetch, going down to 1 and finally find a Needle. I counter Crop Rotation with it and switch for a Top. Needle on Mishra's next turn and I attack with two 11/11 KoTRs. One gets prevented, one goes through. He topdecks and extends his hand. Very long and tense match.
I split in top2, since its late and my top2 match took about 1.5 hours to complete.