jandax
02-21-2012, 05:20 PM
I took Bryant Cook's pile for a spin after no play testing and simple goldfishing for practice. Helluva deck, I think I found my new muse. It was a GPT side event, five rounds to a Top 4 cut.
Round One, Rosita with B/W Disruption (Dead Guy Ale)
She wins the roll and I fan open a grip of Tendrils, Empty the Warrens (Here on EtW), a couple lands and some artifact mana. Let's put some context around this mulligan decision. My chauffeur Jelmer got the first round bye, and with his free time went by all the matches and recorded names and what they were playing. He made a cheat sheet for us. At the time of this eventual mulligan, I didn't know that, so my head was in a different place. I could hope to play off the top of my deck, or ship this for a random six card hand. Since I was on the draw, anything would be better than praying each draw step.
She led with a Swamp for an Inquisition to Kozilek. Bad for me, for my hand was Petal, Chant, Rite, Brainstorm, Ritual, Ad Nauseum. She takes the Chant and passes the turn. I would have been screwed had she taken the Lotus Petal, and after the match she conceded that she didn't know why she took it either. So I draw a Gemstone Mine.
Mine and Petal cast both Ritual and Rite of Flame, Ad Nauseum draws me down fourteen life and enough cards to chain into a twenty-two point Tendrils. I had only seen the Swamp and Inquisition, and more than one deck can open with that hand. That mistake let me resolve an Ad Nauseum for the win on my first turn of the tournament. Go deck, go!
I doubt she's blue, so I leave the Pyroblasts in the sideboard. For this match I side in the instant speed bounce for a Silence and two Orim's Chant.
In the second game she leads with an Enlightened Tutor for Ethersworn Canonist and sticks that. I had kept a hand with lands and cantrips, Brainstorms to mitigate her discard and Ponder to dig deeper. I came upon some Rituals and finally a business spell but two Wastelands from her and the beatdowns were too much.
No changes in sideboarding, I open another clunky hand but this time I'm on the play. Upon first inspection it seemed clunky, but really it just didn't have any land. That's probably what seemed odd about it. But I could have made a line to poop out a bunch of goblin tokens and I doubted she had any sweepers to get rid of the horde. It was initially a risky hand, but upon retrospect, it was a good choice. I open with Petal, Petal, Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox imprinting Empty the Warrens, Burning Wish and sacrificing the LED for three red mana in response, I get EtW for fourteen little green men. She draws a card and scoops.
1-0, 2-1 in games
Round Two, Goswin playing Delver RUG
Thanks to the list I knew what he was on and kept an opening hand of Duress, two lands, Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nauseum, LED. After him tapping out on his second turn and me not getting my first land eaten up by Wasteland, I go Dark Rituals for BBBBBB, Duress the Daze leaving him with Force of Will and no other Blue card, and Ad Nauseum with no Mana floating at full life. I draw a pile, and win handily from there.
This time I side out the Tutor, Ponder and Mox for three Pyroblasts. I get beat down hard. I kept a hand full of cantrips and just got Wastelanded out of the game.
Game three was pretty epic. I won in extra turns with a massive Empty the Warrens. Most of the game, until overtime, was back and forth. I kept a hand with a pair of Rituals, a Burning Wish, land, and a Duress. The hand needed a Mox or Petal to kick it up a notch but that never came. I miscalculated a chain of spells in the third turn and stopped the combo with little more than a Rite of Flame, Wish and a couple artifact mana in my hand. From there he kept whiffing on his Delver of Secrets, and I had time to draw into a boom-boom hand just as time was called. In the meantime he beat me down with a 3/4 Tarmogoyf and an unflipped Delver. I was at eight. He had me dead the next turn. I had to go for it.
My board was three rainbow lands, a Lotus Petal and I just drew another land. My hand consisted of LED, Wish, Rite, Rite, Duress, Duress. I lead with the Rite of Flames, and then Duress him. He Dazes, Storm count three, and I pay for it to resolve. I nab the Spell Pierce and leave his hand with Chain Lightning, Force of Will and two lands. Safe to proceed.
Rite of Flame for more mana (4), LED (5), Wish (6) crack LED in response for RRR, Past in Flames.
I rebuy all my Dark Rituals and Rite of Flames for infinite mana, but I still don't have a business spell. I've only used Burning Wish until now and that doesn't go to the graveyard. I use my last two untapped lands to Ponder and Brainstorm in my graveyard that I had cast in the opening turns to find the LED that let me cast the EtW I had discarded to another LED activation. That was good for eighteen goblin tokens, and we get there.
2-0, 4-2 in games
Round Three, Sander with Delver RUG
Both games were over pretty quickly. Sander drew way better than Goswin did, and I was under constant pressure from the Insectile Aberrations he kept on playing. I kept hands with cantrips and mana, but never found protection so my combo pieces got countered both games. This is typically an unfavorable matchup, but for a more skilled player I'm sure it'd be less difficult. As we parted I wished him luck in the next round and hoped to see him in the top four.
2-1, 4-4 in games
Round Four, Jelmer with Imperial Painter
Jeez, I don't like playing against friends, especially those in charge of getting me back home. But I had to burst out in laughter when the pairings came up. He was standing off somewhere else, heard me, saw my expression and just knew.
You see, Jelmer and I normally test out all our decks against each other's. We know what the other is playing and how they play it. Now here come the “You're walking home...” jokes, ha ha ha.
Game two was one I'm proud of. There was one way for me to get out alive and it came together.
He leads with a mulligan for hate, Thorn of Amethyst that I knew of, and maybe he brought in the Koths in his sideboard for extra threats. My hand was two lands, Duress, Brainstorm, Ritual, LED and Infernal Tutor. Definitely a keeper.
My Duress nabs his Thorn, phew. Now next turn I can go off and do my thing.
Ha, ha. What's this, another Thorn from the top? Like a champ, he slams it down with a laugh.
Welcome to Purgatory, population: Me.
I start hitting land drops and he finds a Phyrexian Revoker for my Lotus Petal. My hand was full of Rituals, Tutors and an LED, but I needed to get rid of the Thorn and Revoker. Until now he had just beat me down a little. I draw another land and can go for it.
With five lands in play, two of them City of Brass, a Lotus Petal and him with the Thorn and Revoker on my Petal, I Rite of Flames twice for RRR which casts Burning Wish for Shattering Spree. With two Gemstone Mines and a City of Brass, I Shattering Spree with one replication away the Thorn and Revoker. From there I go City of Brass pain down to one life to chain three rituals into a Tutor for Tendrils for lethal. This all took a few minutes to work out but I got there. Against Jelger’s deck I sided in my bounce and Blasts as well. Chants and a Ponder and a Mox came out for those six cards. The Pyroblasts were for if he had a Painter's Servant out, otherwise, they could be used to burn up red mana for Storm count because they can target any spell thanks to that “if” clause. The Bounce would be for hate permanents like the Thorns or what other nasty things he could bring in.
3-1, 6-4 in games
Round Five, Jasper with Natural Order Bant
At 3-1, going into the fifth and final round, I had the third seed in the rankings. Only one person was at 4-0 so I would be playing them, and the second and fourth place would be battling for a place in the top four. Technically, my opponent Jasper could have scooped right there to get me in, but wanted to draw. That wasn't an option for me. While my tiebreakers were good, X-1-1 is always good for 5th or 9th place, respectively. He'd be in no matter what, so when I won the die roll, Duress his only counter and Tendrils him for twenty he just signs the slip 2-0 for me. No need to board, we're both in. I get some food at the bar there, and wait for the others to play their rounds out.
When the pairings were posted, I was first place going into the top four pitting me against Stoneforge Bant, a decent matchup, in fourth place. We decide to split, and we double our entry fee and get some prize packs of DKA. Pulled a Sorin in one of them, so hopefully I can ship it before it drops in price. All in all it was a great day, great deck, and I'm looking forward to next month's tournaments.
Round One, Rosita with B/W Disruption (Dead Guy Ale)
She wins the roll and I fan open a grip of Tendrils, Empty the Warrens (Here on EtW), a couple lands and some artifact mana. Let's put some context around this mulligan decision. My chauffeur Jelmer got the first round bye, and with his free time went by all the matches and recorded names and what they were playing. He made a cheat sheet for us. At the time of this eventual mulligan, I didn't know that, so my head was in a different place. I could hope to play off the top of my deck, or ship this for a random six card hand. Since I was on the draw, anything would be better than praying each draw step.
She led with a Swamp for an Inquisition to Kozilek. Bad for me, for my hand was Petal, Chant, Rite, Brainstorm, Ritual, Ad Nauseum. She takes the Chant and passes the turn. I would have been screwed had she taken the Lotus Petal, and after the match she conceded that she didn't know why she took it either. So I draw a Gemstone Mine.
Mine and Petal cast both Ritual and Rite of Flame, Ad Nauseum draws me down fourteen life and enough cards to chain into a twenty-two point Tendrils. I had only seen the Swamp and Inquisition, and more than one deck can open with that hand. That mistake let me resolve an Ad Nauseum for the win on my first turn of the tournament. Go deck, go!
I doubt she's blue, so I leave the Pyroblasts in the sideboard. For this match I side in the instant speed bounce for a Silence and two Orim's Chant.
In the second game she leads with an Enlightened Tutor for Ethersworn Canonist and sticks that. I had kept a hand with lands and cantrips, Brainstorms to mitigate her discard and Ponder to dig deeper. I came upon some Rituals and finally a business spell but two Wastelands from her and the beatdowns were too much.
No changes in sideboarding, I open another clunky hand but this time I'm on the play. Upon first inspection it seemed clunky, but really it just didn't have any land. That's probably what seemed odd about it. But I could have made a line to poop out a bunch of goblin tokens and I doubted she had any sweepers to get rid of the horde. It was initially a risky hand, but upon retrospect, it was a good choice. I open with Petal, Petal, Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Chrome Mox imprinting Empty the Warrens, Burning Wish and sacrificing the LED for three red mana in response, I get EtW for fourteen little green men. She draws a card and scoops.
1-0, 2-1 in games
Round Two, Goswin playing Delver RUG
Thanks to the list I knew what he was on and kept an opening hand of Duress, two lands, Ritual, Ritual, Ad Nauseum, LED. After him tapping out on his second turn and me not getting my first land eaten up by Wasteland, I go Dark Rituals for BBBBBB, Duress the Daze leaving him with Force of Will and no other Blue card, and Ad Nauseum with no Mana floating at full life. I draw a pile, and win handily from there.
This time I side out the Tutor, Ponder and Mox for three Pyroblasts. I get beat down hard. I kept a hand full of cantrips and just got Wastelanded out of the game.
Game three was pretty epic. I won in extra turns with a massive Empty the Warrens. Most of the game, until overtime, was back and forth. I kept a hand with a pair of Rituals, a Burning Wish, land, and a Duress. The hand needed a Mox or Petal to kick it up a notch but that never came. I miscalculated a chain of spells in the third turn and stopped the combo with little more than a Rite of Flame, Wish and a couple artifact mana in my hand. From there he kept whiffing on his Delver of Secrets, and I had time to draw into a boom-boom hand just as time was called. In the meantime he beat me down with a 3/4 Tarmogoyf and an unflipped Delver. I was at eight. He had me dead the next turn. I had to go for it.
My board was three rainbow lands, a Lotus Petal and I just drew another land. My hand consisted of LED, Wish, Rite, Rite, Duress, Duress. I lead with the Rite of Flames, and then Duress him. He Dazes, Storm count three, and I pay for it to resolve. I nab the Spell Pierce and leave his hand with Chain Lightning, Force of Will and two lands. Safe to proceed.
Rite of Flame for more mana (4), LED (5), Wish (6) crack LED in response for RRR, Past in Flames.
I rebuy all my Dark Rituals and Rite of Flames for infinite mana, but I still don't have a business spell. I've only used Burning Wish until now and that doesn't go to the graveyard. I use my last two untapped lands to Ponder and Brainstorm in my graveyard that I had cast in the opening turns to find the LED that let me cast the EtW I had discarded to another LED activation. That was good for eighteen goblin tokens, and we get there.
2-0, 4-2 in games
Round Three, Sander with Delver RUG
Both games were over pretty quickly. Sander drew way better than Goswin did, and I was under constant pressure from the Insectile Aberrations he kept on playing. I kept hands with cantrips and mana, but never found protection so my combo pieces got countered both games. This is typically an unfavorable matchup, but for a more skilled player I'm sure it'd be less difficult. As we parted I wished him luck in the next round and hoped to see him in the top four.
2-1, 4-4 in games
Round Four, Jelmer with Imperial Painter
Jeez, I don't like playing against friends, especially those in charge of getting me back home. But I had to burst out in laughter when the pairings came up. He was standing off somewhere else, heard me, saw my expression and just knew.
You see, Jelmer and I normally test out all our decks against each other's. We know what the other is playing and how they play it. Now here come the “You're walking home...” jokes, ha ha ha.
Game two was one I'm proud of. There was one way for me to get out alive and it came together.
He leads with a mulligan for hate, Thorn of Amethyst that I knew of, and maybe he brought in the Koths in his sideboard for extra threats. My hand was two lands, Duress, Brainstorm, Ritual, LED and Infernal Tutor. Definitely a keeper.
My Duress nabs his Thorn, phew. Now next turn I can go off and do my thing.
Ha, ha. What's this, another Thorn from the top? Like a champ, he slams it down with a laugh.
Welcome to Purgatory, population: Me.
I start hitting land drops and he finds a Phyrexian Revoker for my Lotus Petal. My hand was full of Rituals, Tutors and an LED, but I needed to get rid of the Thorn and Revoker. Until now he had just beat me down a little. I draw another land and can go for it.
With five lands in play, two of them City of Brass, a Lotus Petal and him with the Thorn and Revoker on my Petal, I Rite of Flames twice for RRR which casts Burning Wish for Shattering Spree. With two Gemstone Mines and a City of Brass, I Shattering Spree with one replication away the Thorn and Revoker. From there I go City of Brass pain down to one life to chain three rituals into a Tutor for Tendrils for lethal. This all took a few minutes to work out but I got there. Against Jelger’s deck I sided in my bounce and Blasts as well. Chants and a Ponder and a Mox came out for those six cards. The Pyroblasts were for if he had a Painter's Servant out, otherwise, they could be used to burn up red mana for Storm count because they can target any spell thanks to that “if” clause. The Bounce would be for hate permanents like the Thorns or what other nasty things he could bring in.
3-1, 6-4 in games
Round Five, Jasper with Natural Order Bant
At 3-1, going into the fifth and final round, I had the third seed in the rankings. Only one person was at 4-0 so I would be playing them, and the second and fourth place would be battling for a place in the top four. Technically, my opponent Jasper could have scooped right there to get me in, but wanted to draw. That wasn't an option for me. While my tiebreakers were good, X-1-1 is always good for 5th or 9th place, respectively. He'd be in no matter what, so when I won the die roll, Duress his only counter and Tendrils him for twenty he just signs the slip 2-0 for me. No need to board, we're both in. I get some food at the bar there, and wait for the others to play their rounds out.
When the pairings were posted, I was first place going into the top four pitting me against Stoneforge Bant, a decent matchup, in fourth place. We decide to split, and we double our entry fee and get some prize packs of DKA. Pulled a Sorin in one of them, so hopefully I can ship it before it drops in price. All in all it was a great day, great deck, and I'm looking forward to next month's tournaments.