Mostly_Harmless
03-29-2011, 05:01 AM
After much waffling back and forth, I decided to run Doomsday in LA. The other deck under serious consideration was TES, and I also toyed with the idea of joining the Arizona Burn project. (For those who don't know, Adam Prosak got about 12 other people from our shop to play burn in LA, hoping to flood the top 16 with burn decks. Sadly, the only burn deck to make it wasn't from AZ.) I was a little concerned about facing Team America round after round, but I honestly haven't played much besides storm since giving up Landstill and UW tempo a year or two ago, so I didn't feel very comfortable audibling into a different deck. In the end, I decided that Doomsday would give me the best shot at fighting through the tough matchups.
Here's the list (designed by Nemavera on Storm Boards):
4 Doomsday
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Meditate
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Orim's Chant
3 Duress
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip
1 Reverent Silence
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Chain of Vapor
The only slots I debated much were the board chain of vapor (could have been another echoing truth or rebuild) and the 2 grip/1 silence package (could have been shelldock isle, emrakul, wipe away). I decided I didn't need the emrakul, especially with counterbalance so rare, and there were enough enchantress decks around to make the silence worthwhile. Anyways, here's the report. (Also, my notes are fairly sketchy, so I apologize if I get any details incorrect.)
Round 1 vs. Andrew Nagy with Elves
I lost the roll and opened up a hand with 2 lands, 2 chants, IGG, a cantrip and a ritual. He opened on forest, elf. I chanted him on upkeep for three turns (I drew another one) while he attacked for one and I developed my hand, then I played doomsday into meditate for the win. I included a duress in the pile to see what he was playing, and saw a natural order, terastadon and zenith.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -1 Duress, -2 Chant
In game 2, he opened with mana elf into double nettle sentinel. I played top turn one, then chanted him on upkeep and took five, then doomsdayed into meditate again. I could have waited for another mana source and included a duress in the pile, but it's hardly insurance against mindbreak trap, and I've decided to play as if my opponents don't have trap in game 2 unless I know otherwise. It turns out he boarded in 4 but didn't have it anyways.
1-0 matches, 2-0 games
Round 2 vs. Phimus Pan with Burn
I know Phimus from my local shop, so it was a shame to have to play him so early. I won the roll and he led with goblin guide. On his turn two he played flame rift, and between that and two fetches I was down to ten. I still needed a little more mana, so I chanted him on upkeep while topping, then found enough for an IGG loop. He was holding three sorcery bolts and a Fireblast, so I very nearly lost.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Reverent Silence, Out: -3 Chant. (I expected pyrostatic pillar and maybe mindbreak trap).
In game 2, he opened with bolt and I led with top. He flame rifted me down to 13 on turn two, then I doomsdayed into meditate and won at a comfortable 6 life. Once again, he had boarded in 4 traps but didn't find them.
2-0 matches, 4-0 games
Round 3 vs. Joseph Moreno with Dredge
I won the roll, but mulled to 5 with swamp, ritual, cabal ritual, infernal tutor, duress. I led with duress and saw a scary hand of coliseum, careful study, cabal therapy, tireless tribe, dread return, gemstone mine and golgari thug. I wanted to take the therapy to protect my hand, but I figured that if I did he would assume I was playing ANT and take the tutor. I decided to take the careful study to slow him down and hope to draw another mana source while he played tribe. Instead, he therapied my infernal tutor anyways. I drew nothing I could play and in the next two turns he dredged into three narcomebas, two bridges and a zealot for exactsies.
No board.
Game 2 he mulled to 4, but I suspect I could have beaten almost any hand. I led with top, then chanted him on his second upkeep, then doomsdayed into meditate.
I decided duress was awkward and remembered Iona, so I boarded In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -2 Duress
Game 3
I had a turn three kill with doomsday, but he had a turn three zealot with 4 bridges. He actually flipped the Iona first and I was praying that he went for her, since I had the chain in hand.
2-1 matches, 5-2 games
Round 4 vs. Andreas Jonsson with UW tempo/faeries
I won the roll and kept a 6 card hand with duress, cantrips and some mana. I duressed him turn 1 (I know, mistake, but I wanted to know what I was up against) and saw force, swords, mom and lands. I took the force and began building up a hand. On the end of his turn three I played meditate. He played a factory, then V. Cliqued after my draw step on turn 4, seeing a hand of cantrip, mana, infernal tutor and tendrils. He took the tutor and I cantripped one more time, but still couldn't find any more protection. I dropped to ten on his turn and decided to go for it. I brainstormed, then played out dark ritual into cabal ritual. He knew I had enough cards to tendrils him out, so he brainstormed, then brainstormed again, then conceded.
In: +4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Hurkyl's Recall (after seeing mom, I was afraid of canonist), Out: -4 Chant, -2 Cabal Ritual, -1 Rain of Filth, -1 Infernal Tutor, -1 Ponder
In game 2, I led with a ponder, but my turn two top met a spellstutter sprite, which surprised me a bit. I decided to set up a turn 3 meditate, but for some reason I played it on my main phase rather than his EoT. He thought about it for quite a while, but thankfully he didn't have too powerful a followup, so he dazed it. I was getting beaten down pretty hard by two factories, the sprite and a cloud of faeries (surprised me too; I found out later he was playing sword of feast and famine, so it's an interesting choice). I finally found the kill when I was at 6 life, but I had to untap first. He activated both of his factories and went for the kill, but I played hurkyl's recall and killed him on my turn with doomsday.
3-1 matches, 7-2 games
Round 5 vs. Gerald Rhoads with Bant Zenith
I won the roll and opened up a hand with two dark rituals, cabal ritual, infernal tutor and lands. I tanked for a little while counting, which I was sure gave away my deck. I decided to keep and led with land go. He played tropical island and my heart sank a little. I drew IGG, but wanted to try and find protection before I did anything. He played another trop and passed and I drew a LED. I tanked again, and eventually decided I couldn't wait around forever and let him draw more answers. My plan was to lead with the rituals into IGG and see how hard he fought over it. If he forced, I'd still have LED and tutor, otherwise, I'd be able to see his hand and gauge resistance. He dazed the IGG, I paid and saw a hand with some bant cards including Jace, EE and another daze, so I killed him with tendrils.
In +4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Carpet of Flowers, Out: -4 Chant, -2 Cabal Ritual, -1 Rain of Filth
In game 2, I kept a hand with swarm, petal, top, brainstorm, ritual and a couple of lands. He led with trop and I played land, petal, swarm (keeping the petal, I just wanted to avoid daze. He followed up with a null rod. I attacked, then played the top (useless, but I'd probably need it eventually) and a ponder. He brainstormed, then zenithed for an arbor. I brainstormed into a doomsday and carpet and shuffled away an LED, then stuck the carpet. We both sat around for a while, cantriping occasionally. I was digging for mana so that I could doomsday through the null rod, while he was presumably digging for threats. Eventually, he found a Knight. He actually used the knight to find a wasteland and used it on his own trop, making the knight lethal in three turns and keeping me on only three mana (he had wasted me a couple of times before, and I only had one non-carpet blue source). I drew a replacement carpet, but took a big hit from knight. Finally, I found the mana to play doomsday and another cantrip to get into the pile. I put a chain of vapor on top to build up storm and bounce the null rod, then topped into meditate for rituals and tendrils.
4-1 matches, 9-2 games
Round 6 vs. Noel Loya with Elves.
The day before, I lent TES to my friend Mike for a legacy side event and watched him play against Noel, so I knew what he was playing. I was also pretty sure I'd heard him say he only had mindbreak traps for storm. I mulled once, but kept a hand with two chants, some mana and a top. I took one hit from a nettle sentinel, chanted him a couple times, then played doomsday into meditate.
In: +1 Slaughter Pact, -1 Chant.
I opened a slightly slow hand with a chant and some cantrips. He led with wirewood symbiote, and I pondered. He played turn two thorn and I got a little nervous. I could tap out to chant him next turn, but I needed to find a chain of vapor or some cabal rituals, so I brainstormed, finding more chants. He played another thorn and I swore a little in my head. I only had the chain to deal with thorn, so I now had to play through at least one of them (I've done it a couple times, but it requires cabal rituals). I tapped out to cantrip again. Next turn, he played a few elves into a Teeg. I cantripped one more time, not finding anything. He swung me down to 5, I topped one more time, then scooped.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -3 Chant.
I kept a hand with turn two IGG, but he opened with leyline of sanctity. Luckily, I cantripped into doomsday and echoing truth. On turn three, I had top in play, ritual, 2 LED, doomsday and echoing truth with three lands in play. I thought for a long time about whether I should include duress or chain of vapor in the pile. I eventually decided that he hadn't really understood the storm matchup very well, so he was likely to save a mindbreak trap for the tendrils, so a duress would be useful. I was actually pretty sure he didn't have it, since he had shown thorn, Teeg and leyline already, but better safe than sorry. I then made the mistake of playing ritual and doomsday before the echoing truth. Naturally, he trapped the bounce spell and I was dead. It turns out that Mike had talked to him after the match and suggested playing more storm hate, including thorn. I think he may have gone a bit overboard, though, since he played 4 thorn, 3 leyline, 3 trap and a maindeck Teeg.
4-2 matches, 10-4 games.
Round 7 vs. Chris Moreno with Goblin Sligh.
This match was extremely weird, and I found out afterwards that it may have cost me top 16. My opponent didn't show up at the start of the round and a judge told me to wait until ten minutes had passed. He already had a game loss, and if he wasn't there after ten I would win the match. Five minutes later, another judge came back and told me that there had been a clerical error and I had a new opponent. She brought Chris over and we got a time extension. He was extremely loose with his shuffling, flashing me a goblin guide, goblin piledriver and goblin grenade. I mulled once and kept a hand with a chant and a lot of cantrips. The rest of the game was ridiculously frustrating. I dropped to 13 while digging, then chanted him with kicker 4 times while still digging, then had to IGG, getting back ponder, chant and cabal ritual. I chanted him again, and on my turn pondered, then topped into an infernal tutor (my first business of the game, besides the IGG) but didn't have enough mana to use it. I died to his dudes and a goblin grenade. At the end of the game, I had 35 cards in my library and had pondered 5 times, brainstormed 3 times, topped 5 times and shuffled after each brainstorm and most of the tops. I know it happens sometimes, but I was on tilt at this point.
In: +1 Hurkyl's recall, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -2 Duress (He flashed me about half of his sideboard, then sided in a bojuka bog and one other card. He was playing artifact lands, so I figured the recall could buy some time. )
In game 2 I chanted him once, then won with IGG loop and triple LED.
In game 3 I mulled twice and dug hard for mana. At 9 life, I finally found enough mana to use IGG. I kept counting one storm short, but I was pretty sure I was dead on the next turn and a judge told me to make a decision, so I started playing it out. I ended up with ten storm because I had forgotten my brainstorm at the beginning of the turn.
I found out after the tournament was over that Chris ended the tournament at 2-6 (although he told me he was 4-2 in game 1, which is why I didn't find out until later). It turns out that both of our opponents dropped, but were left in the system by accident. Instead of getting a win, we were paired together. This pretty much murdered my tiebreakers.
5-2 matches, 12-5 games
Round 8 vs. Affinity (At this point I was very tired and forgot to write down his name.)
I led with top, and he led with land, drum, memnite, frogmite. I planned to chant him with kicker on his second turn, but accidentally played the misty rather than catacombs, so I couldn't fetch scrubland. I decided to wait one more turn on the chant and brainstormed plus fetched instead. Next turn he played master of etherium. I topped and chanted him, then dropped to 2. I found a doomsday, but was one mana short of winning. I cracked my fetch for the last mana, then began infernal tutoring for rituals to generate enough storm. After using both my tutors, I realized that I was now at 1 and couldn't play doomsday. I used a hail mary meditate and whiffed.
In: +2 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -4 Chant
In game 2, he played turn two ethersworn canonist, but I had the recall. I dug until turn 3, when I dropped to 9, then prepared to play the recall. He scared me by playing a second nexus so that he could potentially replay his canonist, but he instead activated his first nexus and lost all but one permanent to the recall. I doomsdayed for the win next turn.
In game 3, I IGG looped on turn 3.
6-2 matches, 14-6 games
Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the deck. The only cards that didn't pull their weight were grips and reverent silence (although I was happy to side it in against pillar), but there were a few counterbalance and enchantress decks floating around and I wouldn't want to take them out of the board. The deck feels incredible and I would definitely recommend it.
I could certainly use more practice, but I think I played pretty well throughout most of the day. That said, I would love to hear any advice. I suspect my sideboarding strategy was a little weak, and I'm sure I missed some important lines of play.
Here's the list (designed by Nemavera on Storm Boards):
4 Doomsday
4 Infernal Tutor
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Meditate
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
2 Cabal Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
4 Orim's Chant
3 Duress
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
1 Scrubland
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Krosan Grip
1 Reverent Silence
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Chain of Vapor
The only slots I debated much were the board chain of vapor (could have been another echoing truth or rebuild) and the 2 grip/1 silence package (could have been shelldock isle, emrakul, wipe away). I decided I didn't need the emrakul, especially with counterbalance so rare, and there were enough enchantress decks around to make the silence worthwhile. Anyways, here's the report. (Also, my notes are fairly sketchy, so I apologize if I get any details incorrect.)
Round 1 vs. Andrew Nagy with Elves
I lost the roll and opened up a hand with 2 lands, 2 chants, IGG, a cantrip and a ritual. He opened on forest, elf. I chanted him on upkeep for three turns (I drew another one) while he attacked for one and I developed my hand, then I played doomsday into meditate for the win. I included a duress in the pile to see what he was playing, and saw a natural order, terastadon and zenith.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Slaughter Pact, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -1 Duress, -2 Chant
In game 2, he opened with mana elf into double nettle sentinel. I played top turn one, then chanted him on upkeep and took five, then doomsdayed into meditate again. I could have waited for another mana source and included a duress in the pile, but it's hardly insurance against mindbreak trap, and I've decided to play as if my opponents don't have trap in game 2 unless I know otherwise. It turns out he boarded in 4 but didn't have it anyways.
1-0 matches, 2-0 games
Round 2 vs. Phimus Pan with Burn
I know Phimus from my local shop, so it was a shame to have to play him so early. I won the roll and he led with goblin guide. On his turn two he played flame rift, and between that and two fetches I was down to ten. I still needed a little more mana, so I chanted him on upkeep while topping, then found enough for an IGG loop. He was holding three sorcery bolts and a Fireblast, so I very nearly lost.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, +1 Reverent Silence, Out: -3 Chant. (I expected pyrostatic pillar and maybe mindbreak trap).
In game 2, he opened with bolt and I led with top. He flame rifted me down to 13 on turn two, then I doomsdayed into meditate and won at a comfortable 6 life. Once again, he had boarded in 4 traps but didn't find them.
2-0 matches, 4-0 games
Round 3 vs. Joseph Moreno with Dredge
I won the roll, but mulled to 5 with swamp, ritual, cabal ritual, infernal tutor, duress. I led with duress and saw a scary hand of coliseum, careful study, cabal therapy, tireless tribe, dread return, gemstone mine and golgari thug. I wanted to take the therapy to protect my hand, but I figured that if I did he would assume I was playing ANT and take the tutor. I decided to take the careful study to slow him down and hope to draw another mana source while he played tribe. Instead, he therapied my infernal tutor anyways. I drew nothing I could play and in the next two turns he dredged into three narcomebas, two bridges and a zealot for exactsies.
No board.
Game 2 he mulled to 4, but I suspect I could have beaten almost any hand. I led with top, then chanted him on his second upkeep, then doomsdayed into meditate.
I decided duress was awkward and remembered Iona, so I boarded In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -2 Duress
Game 3
I had a turn three kill with doomsday, but he had a turn three zealot with 4 bridges. He actually flipped the Iona first and I was praying that he went for her, since I had the chain in hand.
2-1 matches, 5-2 games
Round 4 vs. Andreas Jonsson with UW tempo/faeries
I won the roll and kept a 6 card hand with duress, cantrips and some mana. I duressed him turn 1 (I know, mistake, but I wanted to know what I was up against) and saw force, swords, mom and lands. I took the force and began building up a hand. On the end of his turn three I played meditate. He played a factory, then V. Cliqued after my draw step on turn 4, seeing a hand of cantrip, mana, infernal tutor and tendrils. He took the tutor and I cantripped one more time, but still couldn't find any more protection. I dropped to ten on his turn and decided to go for it. I brainstormed, then played out dark ritual into cabal ritual. He knew I had enough cards to tendrils him out, so he brainstormed, then brainstormed again, then conceded.
In: +4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Carpet of Flowers, +2 Hurkyl's Recall (after seeing mom, I was afraid of canonist), Out: -4 Chant, -2 Cabal Ritual, -1 Rain of Filth, -1 Infernal Tutor, -1 Ponder
In game 2, I led with a ponder, but my turn two top met a spellstutter sprite, which surprised me a bit. I decided to set up a turn 3 meditate, but for some reason I played it on my main phase rather than his EoT. He thought about it for quite a while, but thankfully he didn't have too powerful a followup, so he dazed it. I was getting beaten down pretty hard by two factories, the sprite and a cloud of faeries (surprised me too; I found out later he was playing sword of feast and famine, so it's an interesting choice). I finally found the kill when I was at 6 life, but I had to untap first. He activated both of his factories and went for the kill, but I played hurkyl's recall and killed him on my turn with doomsday.
3-1 matches, 7-2 games
Round 5 vs. Gerald Rhoads with Bant Zenith
I won the roll and opened up a hand with two dark rituals, cabal ritual, infernal tutor and lands. I tanked for a little while counting, which I was sure gave away my deck. I decided to keep and led with land go. He played tropical island and my heart sank a little. I drew IGG, but wanted to try and find protection before I did anything. He played another trop and passed and I drew a LED. I tanked again, and eventually decided I couldn't wait around forever and let him draw more answers. My plan was to lead with the rituals into IGG and see how hard he fought over it. If he forced, I'd still have LED and tutor, otherwise, I'd be able to see his hand and gauge resistance. He dazed the IGG, I paid and saw a hand with some bant cards including Jace, EE and another daze, so I killed him with tendrils.
In +4 Xantid Swarm, +3 Carpet of Flowers, Out: -4 Chant, -2 Cabal Ritual, -1 Rain of Filth
In game 2, I kept a hand with swarm, petal, top, brainstorm, ritual and a couple of lands. He led with trop and I played land, petal, swarm (keeping the petal, I just wanted to avoid daze. He followed up with a null rod. I attacked, then played the top (useless, but I'd probably need it eventually) and a ponder. He brainstormed, then zenithed for an arbor. I brainstormed into a doomsday and carpet and shuffled away an LED, then stuck the carpet. We both sat around for a while, cantriping occasionally. I was digging for mana so that I could doomsday through the null rod, while he was presumably digging for threats. Eventually, he found a Knight. He actually used the knight to find a wasteland and used it on his own trop, making the knight lethal in three turns and keeping me on only three mana (he had wasted me a couple of times before, and I only had one non-carpet blue source). I drew a replacement carpet, but took a big hit from knight. Finally, I found the mana to play doomsday and another cantrip to get into the pile. I put a chain of vapor on top to build up storm and bounce the null rod, then topped into meditate for rituals and tendrils.
4-1 matches, 9-2 games
Round 6 vs. Noel Loya with Elves.
The day before, I lent TES to my friend Mike for a legacy side event and watched him play against Noel, so I knew what he was playing. I was also pretty sure I'd heard him say he only had mindbreak traps for storm. I mulled once, but kept a hand with two chants, some mana and a top. I took one hit from a nettle sentinel, chanted him a couple times, then played doomsday into meditate.
In: +1 Slaughter Pact, -1 Chant.
I opened a slightly slow hand with a chant and some cantrips. He led with wirewood symbiote, and I pondered. He played turn two thorn and I got a little nervous. I could tap out to chant him next turn, but I needed to find a chain of vapor or some cabal rituals, so I brainstormed, finding more chants. He played another thorn and I swore a little in my head. I only had the chain to deal with thorn, so I now had to play through at least one of them (I've done it a couple times, but it requires cabal rituals). I tapped out to cantrip again. Next turn, he played a few elves into a Teeg. I cantripped one more time, not finding anything. He swung me down to 5, I topped one more time, then scooped.
In: +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -3 Chant.
I kept a hand with turn two IGG, but he opened with leyline of sanctity. Luckily, I cantripped into doomsday and echoing truth. On turn three, I had top in play, ritual, 2 LED, doomsday and echoing truth with three lands in play. I thought for a long time about whether I should include duress or chain of vapor in the pile. I eventually decided that he hadn't really understood the storm matchup very well, so he was likely to save a mindbreak trap for the tendrils, so a duress would be useful. I was actually pretty sure he didn't have it, since he had shown thorn, Teeg and leyline already, but better safe than sorry. I then made the mistake of playing ritual and doomsday before the echoing truth. Naturally, he trapped the bounce spell and I was dead. It turns out that Mike had talked to him after the match and suggested playing more storm hate, including thorn. I think he may have gone a bit overboard, though, since he played 4 thorn, 3 leyline, 3 trap and a maindeck Teeg.
4-2 matches, 10-4 games.
Round 7 vs. Chris Moreno with Goblin Sligh.
This match was extremely weird, and I found out afterwards that it may have cost me top 16. My opponent didn't show up at the start of the round and a judge told me to wait until ten minutes had passed. He already had a game loss, and if he wasn't there after ten I would win the match. Five minutes later, another judge came back and told me that there had been a clerical error and I had a new opponent. She brought Chris over and we got a time extension. He was extremely loose with his shuffling, flashing me a goblin guide, goblin piledriver and goblin grenade. I mulled once and kept a hand with a chant and a lot of cantrips. The rest of the game was ridiculously frustrating. I dropped to 13 while digging, then chanted him with kicker 4 times while still digging, then had to IGG, getting back ponder, chant and cabal ritual. I chanted him again, and on my turn pondered, then topped into an infernal tutor (my first business of the game, besides the IGG) but didn't have enough mana to use it. I died to his dudes and a goblin grenade. At the end of the game, I had 35 cards in my library and had pondered 5 times, brainstormed 3 times, topped 5 times and shuffled after each brainstorm and most of the tops. I know it happens sometimes, but I was on tilt at this point.
In: +1 Hurkyl's recall, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -2 Duress (He flashed me about half of his sideboard, then sided in a bojuka bog and one other card. He was playing artifact lands, so I figured the recall could buy some time. )
In game 2 I chanted him once, then won with IGG loop and triple LED.
In game 3 I mulled twice and dug hard for mana. At 9 life, I finally found enough mana to use IGG. I kept counting one storm short, but I was pretty sure I was dead on the next turn and a judge told me to make a decision, so I started playing it out. I ended up with ten storm because I had forgotten my brainstorm at the beginning of the turn.
I found out after the tournament was over that Chris ended the tournament at 2-6 (although he told me he was 4-2 in game 1, which is why I didn't find out until later). It turns out that both of our opponents dropped, but were left in the system by accident. Instead of getting a win, we were paired together. This pretty much murdered my tiebreakers.
5-2 matches, 12-5 games
Round 8 vs. Affinity (At this point I was very tired and forgot to write down his name.)
I led with top, and he led with land, drum, memnite, frogmite. I planned to chant him with kicker on his second turn, but accidentally played the misty rather than catacombs, so I couldn't fetch scrubland. I decided to wait one more turn on the chant and brainstormed plus fetched instead. Next turn he played master of etherium. I topped and chanted him, then dropped to 2. I found a doomsday, but was one mana short of winning. I cracked my fetch for the last mana, then began infernal tutoring for rituals to generate enough storm. After using both my tutors, I realized that I was now at 1 and couldn't play doomsday. I used a hail mary meditate and whiffed.
In: +2 Hurkyl's Recall, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Chain of Vapor, Out: -4 Chant
In game 2, he played turn two ethersworn canonist, but I had the recall. I dug until turn 3, when I dropped to 9, then prepared to play the recall. He scared me by playing a second nexus so that he could potentially replay his canonist, but he instead activated his first nexus and lost all but one permanent to the recall. I doomsdayed for the win next turn.
In game 3, I IGG looped on turn 3.
6-2 matches, 14-6 games
Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the deck. The only cards that didn't pull their weight were grips and reverent silence (although I was happy to side it in against pillar), but there were a few counterbalance and enchantress decks floating around and I wouldn't want to take them out of the board. The deck feels incredible and I would definitely recommend it.
I could certainly use more practice, but I think I played pretty well throughout most of the day. That said, I would love to hear any advice. I suspect my sideboarding strategy was a little weak, and I'm sure I missed some important lines of play.