Back-to-back tournaments with Team America

[wcm8]

First tournament was Saturday at the Pittsburgh Monroeville convention center, I'm not sure of the exact number of people, but somewhere in the range of 30, give or take. Some of the details are pretty hazy since I didn't really take notes this day, so apologies if I got anything wrong. This tournament had a slightly awkward start time of 9AM registration, 10AM round 1. Like an idiot, I didn't eat breakfast or bring lunch, which may have ended up costing me the game later on as hunger/mental exhaustion set in. NEVER AGAIN!

I was playing essentially the same list as Dan's SCG Open winning list, except -2 Snuff Out, +1 Hymn to Tourach +1 Go for the Throat, with a modified sideboard. I'll post my complete day 2 list in the following post...

Round one vs. Mono black discard
He was playing stuff like Cabal therapy, ravenous rats, smallpox, etc. Game one we both get into top deck mode very quickly, but I eventually land a Tombstalker that is able to get there since he can't find any removal in time. Game two is just bad news for him since I get two Goyfs out quickly who have no problem dealing a collective 20 damage. I think I also Hymned him twice pretty early on.

Round two vs. Team America
This guy was running a mostly stock list except with a few basics to avoid being blown out by Wasteland. In this sort of mirror, going first is a huge deal -- luckily I win the roll. We go back and forth with creatures and removal, but I win with a Tombstalker that sticks. Sylvan Library was VERY helpful here, as I was basically getting to top for free every turn and also paid the life for an extra card once or twice. He beats me game two since he thoughtseized my removal and had more creatures than I had removal. Game three I stifle and wasteland pretty much all of his lands, and manascrew lets me steal the game.

Round three vs. CTop Thopters
Unfortunately I have to face one of the guys I came with, Gordon. Game one he gets the combo out thanks to Academy Ruins recursion and I scoop since I don't really have any maindeck answers to that. I sideboard in various control hate, including three extirpate -- a card I'm kind of on the fence on about its value. Game 2 is a long, grinding control game, he lands Ensnaring Bridge and Humility pretty early, and Meddling Mage on Tarmogoyf -- I get Jace out and end up using all three extirpates over the course of the game to get rid of his Thopter Foundry, Jace, and Tezzeret. Jace's ultimate seals the deal, after having to rebuild his loyalty again due to Oblivion Ring which I removed via explosives. However, we used up pretty much all of the match time and decide to just ID rather than play the 5 minutes remaining for game 3.

Round four vs. Team America
Another matchup vs. a friend (don't you hate when this happens?), this time against Tim piloting the mirror. He wins the dice roll, and proceeds to stifle and wasteland me better than I can handle. G2 I decide to side in a single extirpate along with my other SB options, which I use to hit Go for the Throat (I knew he was playing four). With less removal to worry about, I'm able to get my dudes in for the win. Since I notice he sided out Tombstalkers for Bobs G2, I opt to bring in the darkblasts I have in my sideboard -- big mistake, since he brought back the 'stalkers g3! It's relatively close for awhile, but eventually I can't find any removal for his dudes and he takes the match. Tim eventually goes on to split in the finals, so at least I lost to the eventual winner.

Round five vs. Goblins
This is it -- if I can win this match, I have a shot at breaking into top 8. Goblins isn't by any means an easy matchup, but it's very beatable for Team America. I am paired against perhaps the SLOWEST goblins player I have ever seen, each of his turns taking like literally three minutes as he decides between casting vial or lackey or whatever little green man he has -- I understand since it's for 'all the marbles', I just thought goblins was typically a straight-forward deck to play. Game 1, he overextends into 2 aether vials and a Lackey, which explosives at 1 wipe clear. He warren weirdings my first attempt of a Tombstalker. I am able to stabilize the board with two Goyfs, while he begins amassing a small army. On one of my turns, I Hymn him on my first main phase -- he has two cards in hand and decides to cycle the goblin that does damage to one of my 6/7 Goyfs for non-lethal damage. Fine, whatever, I essentially Hymn for three, right? I enter attack phase with the other Goyf, and then we have a small argument over whether or not the damage was dealt to the attacking Goyf or the one left back to defend or not. I feel that he wasn't very clear as to which Goyf was targeted, but I decide to just let him trade his Ringleader with the Goyf. IDK, maybe I am just an idiot and wasn't paying attention. This would have been very bad for me, but I drop another Tombstalker in my second main phase that is able to kill him in short order. No harm no foul, but lesson learned -- ALWAYS be clear about which permanent is being targeted if there are multiple copies on board.

Game two he pretty much just curb stomps me with a turn 1 lackey followed by all of his goblin friends. I shouldn't have removed Snuff Out from my deck!! GftT is just too slow in this matchup, and I didn't mulligan into force/darkblast since the rest of the hand seemed okay. I soon lose to goblins + lords beatdown.

I obviously don't make top 8, having gone 2-2-1. Ended up 12th. But I learned a couple things and made some changes to my main and sideboard based on those experiences. At the very least, FIVE of the people in my playgroup make it into the top 8, two of which splitted in the finals, so obviously our playtesting is paying off.

Second tournament to follow!! (And better results this time)

[wcm8]

Day two tournament was the Vault's GPT in Greensburg. Unfortunately this tournament had a pretty small turn-out, with like only 15ish players. This might've been due to it being on Sunday and the date was changed -- its possible ppl might not have known. So take this tournament report with a grain of salt since there were only 4 rounds of swiss with a cut to top 4.

Anyways, here's the list I took:

20 Lands (7 duals, 9 fetch, 4 wastes)
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tombstalker
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Stifle
4 Ponder
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Daze
2 Spell Snare
2 Snuff Out
2 Go for the Throat
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Engineered Explosives

SB:
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Engineered Plague
2 Ghastly Demise
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Spell Pierce
2 Perish
1 Null Rod

About my list: Spell snare is very underrated, and I think a 3/2 split of Daze and Snare is a good combination. Games when you're not on the play, Snare is typically awesome wheras Daze is not, and stays relevant in the remainer of the game. I opted to drop Predicts for Jace, simply because Jace serves a similar purpose, but can win you games you wouldn't otherwise. Plus, for predict to work, you need to use another card and mana anyways. I dropped the miser's Sylvan Library since Jace would serve a similar role. Moving Jace to the main also saved me two sideboard slots. 2/2 split of GftT and Snuff Out for removal is correct in my opinion, sometimes you need one or the other. I went with just 1 explosives this time, but think I would go back to either 2 in the main or 1 in the SB.

I think the SB could be reworked some, namely more control/storm hate instead of trying to mitigate aggro so much. Thoughtseize/Duress probably would have been awesome. I also dropped Darkblast and Extirpate from the SB. Darkblast is admittedly NUTS when it's relevant, but far too often it's... simply... not. Extirpate was worth the experiment but ultimately I feel it is not worth the slot. 2 Crypt might just be a wasted slot though, it's not like 2 are really going to help me win against Dredge (well maybe with the Pulses and Plagues on Zombie/Horror...)

Round one vs. Mono blue merfolk
I saw this guy playing Zoo earlier in the day while waiting for the tournament to start, so I figured that's what I'd be fighting against. Instead, I see him lead off with an Island and Cursecatcher. Great -- Merefolk is one of the worst matchups for TA, due to their high threat density and natural trumps to blue-based decks. I am also a little surprised when one of my attempts to fetch gets met with a Stifle! Luckily though, I am able to land a couple Tarmogoyfs who hold down the fort while I gradually Hymn away his hand. I also stifle a few Aether Vial activations to keep his board state limited. A Jace topdeck is able to help me gain card advantage, and eventually a Tombstalker is able to win against his merfolk army. I barely scrape by this game, ending on 3 life and would have lost on the return swing.

SB +2 Demise, +3 Plague, +2 Pierce, +2 Pulse -4 Stifle, -2 Jace, -3 Daze

Ironically, the cards that helped me win game 1 are the first to go. My opponent is unfortunately (for him) stuck on one Island for a couple turns after I waste a Mutavault, and he's unable to recover in time while I get three Tarmogoyfs out that begin to beat down. He stalls by bouncing all three with a timely Echoing Truth, but it's really not enough for me to just come back and win the game.

Round two vs. The Rock/Junk

Have to face a friend I came with, Reid. Sucks doesn't it? We blow up each others hands with discard spells and trade removal for creatures. Eventually I'm able to topdeck a Jace which is a better topdeck than his SDT. Jace helps me find some Lhurgoyfs/Demons who get there.

SB +2 Pulse, +2 Pierce, +1 Plague, +2 Perish -3 Daze, -4 Stifle (not sure if this was correct)

I believe this was another game wherein a timely Jace helps me smother him in card advantage. Small tournaments are always a bummer when you have to face people from your crew.

Round three vs. The Epic Storm

This was piloted by Nate, a nice guy who is new to area and also a very good storm pilot. Game 1 I do what TA (supposedly) does well and destroy him with counters and a fast clock. Stifle and Wastelands were key here to keeping him off of enough mana to do anything.

SB: -2 GftT -2 Snuff Out -2 Jace +2 Spell Pierce +3 Engineered Plague +1 Null Rod

Game 2 I have to mull to 5 and still don't have a very good hand. He kills me with an early Ad Nauseum -> Tendrils.

Game 3 I also have to mulligan, and I think this time he's able to kill me with an Ill Gotten Gains loop that he was able to push through thanks to a Xantid Swarm (Tombstalker blocked it, but the trigger occurs regardless :( ) I am now wishing that I had put more combo hate in my sideboard.

Round four vs. Aggro Affinity

We decide to ID into the top 4 since there are only two 3-0 people that ID'd this round and we have the highest tie-breaker points. We play a game 1 just for S&Gs, and Tombstalker wins thank to his fast clock and evasion. This is why I would never play Bob over TS, even though Bob is better in some matchups -- what are you supposed to do with card advantage if you don't have a good threat? Bob is more fragile, and not that great later in the game.

Top 4 is ANT, TES from earlier, myself and Affinity.

Semi finals vs. Stu with Ad Nauseum Tendrils

Stu's a good local player and nice guy who posts here. I win game one thanks to a Goyf and Stalker who bring him down while he searches with cantrips for the win and fails to find it.

SB: -2 GftT -2 Snuff Out -2 Jace +2 Spell Pierce +3 Engineered Plague +1 Null Rod

Game two he Ad Nauesum's down to 3 life, but has enough to Tendrils for the win. His earlier duresses and thoughtseizes kept me from having answers.

Game three I have to mull to 5 which sucks, but luckily my 5 included Null Rod. This allowed me to buy enough time to start pressuring him with Two Tarmogoyfs. I also get to name "human" when he drops a Dark Confidant -- Plague is actually a pretty versatile card I feel, because even against storm you can name wizard/human, insect, or goblin. I bring him down to 1 Life, and his hand doesn't have any way go for the win (I assume). Onto the finals!

Finals vs. TES (again)

Ugh. Mulled poorly both games, never saw a Hymn, basically just lost. Game two was interesting because he went all in with Empty the Warrens while I was stuck on one land (I kept a one-lander hand with a Ponder and Brainstorm, thinking I could surely find another in time. Nope.) My turn I draw a land, and am holding a Plague in my hand. His turn he swings for 14, putting me at 6. Can I get another land for Plague on Goblin...?

Nope. Draw Force of Will.

Nate wins the tournament and 3 byes for Grand Prix Providence! Alas. Guess I'll have to look for some more close-by GPTs or do some Friday-night grinders. Byes I feel are pretty key to getting to day 2.

Thanks for reading, any questions feel free to ask. I really like the main deck, but feel the sideboard could use some further tweaks.