phazonmutant
05-31-2012, 03:18 AM
I placed first at a local tournament tonight with a delicious little brew of a storm combo deck I'm calling Count Chocula. The idea is to resolve Yawgmoth's Bargain strapped to a 7/7 flying lifelink. Fair card, right? Active deck development going on right here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23888-Brainstorming-Griselbargain).
The tournament was a weekly tournament in Atlanta, 22 players today, with the vast majority being legitimate (if not necessarily pulled straight from SCG top 8) decks and generally decent caliber of players. The local meta is combo-heavy and tonight was pretty tempo-light. I played a version of the deck with a counterspell protection package and a plan to board into combo-control against control. A friend played the same maindeck except he swapped the counterspells for Duress effects and had Surgicals in the board.
Onto the concoction!
// Chocolate
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Griselbrand
// Crunch
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Show and Tell
// Spoon
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Preordain
3 Lim-Dul's Vault
// The shaft?
4 Force of Will
3 Flusterstorm
// Milk
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
// SB
1 Dispel
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Disfigure
1 Deathmark
1 Infest
1 Virtue's Ruin
2 Thoughtseize
1 Wipe Away
I sleeve up for the tournament in my smooth, black KMC Mattes - good to go!
Round 1:
I face what looks like the only guy without a real deck in the room. He's on unsleeved Dauthi.dec.
Game 1 I keep a hand with no lands, but a Ponder + Chrome Mox + Blue spells, rituals, and Griselbrand. I brick on lands, draw Lotus Petal, hallucinate a Show and Tell in my hand, and proceed to Mind Rot myself. Lost to vicious doubs Dauthi Mercenary. My only gameloss of the tournament!
Game 2&3 I win on turn 4ish then turn 2. Cantrip into Show and Tell into the count into bargain. Game 2 I unfortunately have to ship after drawing 7, then kill him the next turn after gaining 7.
Record = Phantom Tiger
Round 2:
My opponent always plays different combo decks; this week he's on Hypergenesis.
Game 1 - I keep a few lands, Flusterstorm, Force, cantrip, and irrelevant. Island, ship. Land, ship. Cantrip, land, ship. He goes for a Cascade spell, I Flusterstorm. This happens twice more that game while I accumulate rituals in hand and lands on board. Eventually I draw Griselbrand, ritual him out with Force backup, draw 14, and Tendrils him. Wouldn't want to get Iona'd!
I boarded in 2 snapcaster and a land for a S&T and a couple of Petals - I thought I wanted to be the control.
Game 2 - He keeps a "fast" hand while I mull to 5 searching for a hand that has business (cantrips and/or G-Papa / S&T) and lands - and find a tasty one. Force, Griselbrand, Ponder, Island, Dark Ritual. He plays a land and ships, I cantrip into another land, failling to find a blue spell. He very confidently Ardent Pleas, zooms past Leyline of Sanctity and Mindbreak Trap on his way to Hypergenesis, and slams down one solitary permanent - an Empyrial Archangel. I tip Griselbrand into play and he sighs. I battle, mark 7 damage on the flying durdle, draw 21, and kill him with no resistance.
Record = Zombie Mob
Round 3:
I'm playing against Dredge, but this guy has an older build without LEDs. Nice matchups etc etc.
Game 1 - he mulls to 5, Careful Studies, and whiffs (also, poor keep). He bins an Ichorid and a Narc. Meanwhile I brick on cantrips and business with my Ponder and go into topdeck mode. He makes a bunch of 1/1s while hemorrohaging life to his manabase and gets me down to 7ish. I eventually find enough rituals to Tendrils him out from 11 with a S&T rotting in my hand.
I board in...Disfigure. Yeahhhhhh.
Game 2 - He keeps on 7 and seems to be pretty solid with a turn 1 Putrid Imp. And then he had no responses to my naturally drawn Disfigure... He tries to go on the beatdown but I Force another Putrid Imp, and eventually make a man of my own. Griselbrand is pretty large, and also drew me 14 cards.
Record = ... a flipped Ludevic's Test Subject?
Round 4:
Draw into top 8.
Quarterfinal:
I'm playing against a guy who's been playing forever and is good, but only plays, ahem, interesting decks. This week he's on UB tempo with Delver, Serendib Efreet, and Divert all in the main (along with the usual suspects like Force, Daze, Stifle).
Game 1 - He wins the die roll, leads on Thoughtseize, which I Force to protect Griselbrand. I fetch and Ponder, shuffle, draw land (sigh). He plays Delver, no land. He Brainstorms in response to trigger, flips Delver with Snare, and ships, no land. Delver battles me down to a casual 4 life while I lovingly fondle my topdeck for a Show and Tell or multiple rituals and he tries to find lands. He attempted 2 more Thoughtseizes, both of which I Flusterstormed. After he battles me down to 4 I play the Lim-Dul's Vault I had drawn for turn, he Snares (tapping out his one land), I Force (leaving just Griselbrand in hand), praying that he has bricks. It resolves, I bottom one pile then find the Show and Tell. Cast Show and Tell, no mana up...resolves! He puts Tombstalker in play, I put Griselbrand and ship on 2. He tanks, casts another Delver and ships, still no lands. I think whether to go for it, knowing that there's a Cabal Rit and a Tendrils in the top 3 cards, realize the answer is obvious, battle for 7, and draw into multiple rituals and kill him very easily.
I board in 2 Snapcasters, 3 Vendilion Cliques, a Disfigure, and a land for 3 Petals, 2 LDVs, and a Show and Tell
Game 2 - He aggressively leads with a Thoughtseize, revealing Snapcaster, double ponder, disfigure, Flusterstorm, and two lands, takes Ponder. I play draw-go, Pondering into more lands and cantrips, carefully playing Snapcaster a la Silvergill Adept around Daze. He casts a Delver, I battle with Snapcaster, then cast Vendilion, which resolves. He burns a Stifle on the trigger (curious!). He Thoughtseized me a couple more times, but I had poop in hand. Trades Delver with V Clique, keeps on taking Snapcaster beats to 7 until he taps out for Tombstalker. Conveniently, the Lim-Dul's Vault I had found a couple turns earlier combined with my draw step to deliver unto me Griselbrand and Show and Tell. I Show and Tell with 2 mana up, Dark Ritual and Tendrils in hand (can't lose!). He doesn't fight it, puts in Sower, declines to kill himself with his new demon, and dies to Tendrils.
We chop quarters and they give me the points. Woooo, "first"!
The tournament was a weekly tournament in Atlanta, 22 players today, with the vast majority being legitimate (if not necessarily pulled straight from SCG top 8) decks and generally decent caliber of players. The local meta is combo-heavy and tonight was pretty tempo-light. I played a version of the deck with a counterspell protection package and a plan to board into combo-control against control. A friend played the same maindeck except he swapped the counterspells for Duress effects and had Surgicals in the board.
Onto the concoction!
// Chocolate
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Griselbrand
// Crunch
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Show and Tell
// Spoon
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Preordain
3 Lim-Dul's Vault
// The shaft?
4 Force of Will
3 Flusterstorm
// Milk
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
// SB
1 Dispel
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Disfigure
1 Deathmark
1 Infest
1 Virtue's Ruin
2 Thoughtseize
1 Wipe Away
I sleeve up for the tournament in my smooth, black KMC Mattes - good to go!
Round 1:
I face what looks like the only guy without a real deck in the room. He's on unsleeved Dauthi.dec.
Game 1 I keep a hand with no lands, but a Ponder + Chrome Mox + Blue spells, rituals, and Griselbrand. I brick on lands, draw Lotus Petal, hallucinate a Show and Tell in my hand, and proceed to Mind Rot myself. Lost to vicious doubs Dauthi Mercenary. My only gameloss of the tournament!
Game 2&3 I win on turn 4ish then turn 2. Cantrip into Show and Tell into the count into bargain. Game 2 I unfortunately have to ship after drawing 7, then kill him the next turn after gaining 7.
Record = Phantom Tiger
Round 2:
My opponent always plays different combo decks; this week he's on Hypergenesis.
Game 1 - I keep a few lands, Flusterstorm, Force, cantrip, and irrelevant. Island, ship. Land, ship. Cantrip, land, ship. He goes for a Cascade spell, I Flusterstorm. This happens twice more that game while I accumulate rituals in hand and lands on board. Eventually I draw Griselbrand, ritual him out with Force backup, draw 14, and Tendrils him. Wouldn't want to get Iona'd!
I boarded in 2 snapcaster and a land for a S&T and a couple of Petals - I thought I wanted to be the control.
Game 2 - He keeps a "fast" hand while I mull to 5 searching for a hand that has business (cantrips and/or G-Papa / S&T) and lands - and find a tasty one. Force, Griselbrand, Ponder, Island, Dark Ritual. He plays a land and ships, I cantrip into another land, failling to find a blue spell. He very confidently Ardent Pleas, zooms past Leyline of Sanctity and Mindbreak Trap on his way to Hypergenesis, and slams down one solitary permanent - an Empyrial Archangel. I tip Griselbrand into play and he sighs. I battle, mark 7 damage on the flying durdle, draw 21, and kill him with no resistance.
Record = Zombie Mob
Round 3:
I'm playing against Dredge, but this guy has an older build without LEDs. Nice matchups etc etc.
Game 1 - he mulls to 5, Careful Studies, and whiffs (also, poor keep). He bins an Ichorid and a Narc. Meanwhile I brick on cantrips and business with my Ponder and go into topdeck mode. He makes a bunch of 1/1s while hemorrohaging life to his manabase and gets me down to 7ish. I eventually find enough rituals to Tendrils him out from 11 with a S&T rotting in my hand.
I board in...Disfigure. Yeahhhhhh.
Game 2 - He keeps on 7 and seems to be pretty solid with a turn 1 Putrid Imp. And then he had no responses to my naturally drawn Disfigure... He tries to go on the beatdown but I Force another Putrid Imp, and eventually make a man of my own. Griselbrand is pretty large, and also drew me 14 cards.
Record = ... a flipped Ludevic's Test Subject?
Round 4:
Draw into top 8.
Quarterfinal:
I'm playing against a guy who's been playing forever and is good, but only plays, ahem, interesting decks. This week he's on UB tempo with Delver, Serendib Efreet, and Divert all in the main (along with the usual suspects like Force, Daze, Stifle).
Game 1 - He wins the die roll, leads on Thoughtseize, which I Force to protect Griselbrand. I fetch and Ponder, shuffle, draw land (sigh). He plays Delver, no land. He Brainstorms in response to trigger, flips Delver with Snare, and ships, no land. Delver battles me down to a casual 4 life while I lovingly fondle my topdeck for a Show and Tell or multiple rituals and he tries to find lands. He attempted 2 more Thoughtseizes, both of which I Flusterstormed. After he battles me down to 4 I play the Lim-Dul's Vault I had drawn for turn, he Snares (tapping out his one land), I Force (leaving just Griselbrand in hand), praying that he has bricks. It resolves, I bottom one pile then find the Show and Tell. Cast Show and Tell, no mana up...resolves! He puts Tombstalker in play, I put Griselbrand and ship on 2. He tanks, casts another Delver and ships, still no lands. I think whether to go for it, knowing that there's a Cabal Rit and a Tendrils in the top 3 cards, realize the answer is obvious, battle for 7, and draw into multiple rituals and kill him very easily.
I board in 2 Snapcasters, 3 Vendilion Cliques, a Disfigure, and a land for 3 Petals, 2 LDVs, and a Show and Tell
Game 2 - He aggressively leads with a Thoughtseize, revealing Snapcaster, double ponder, disfigure, Flusterstorm, and two lands, takes Ponder. I play draw-go, Pondering into more lands and cantrips, carefully playing Snapcaster a la Silvergill Adept around Daze. He casts a Delver, I battle with Snapcaster, then cast Vendilion, which resolves. He burns a Stifle on the trigger (curious!). He Thoughtseized me a couple more times, but I had poop in hand. Trades Delver with V Clique, keeps on taking Snapcaster beats to 7 until he taps out for Tombstalker. Conveniently, the Lim-Dul's Vault I had found a couple turns earlier combined with my draw step to deliver unto me Griselbrand and Show and Tell. I Show and Tell with 2 mana up, Dark Ritual and Tendrils in hand (can't lose!). He doesn't fight it, puts in Sower, declines to kill himself with his new demon, and dies to Tendrils.
We chop quarters and they give me the points. Woooo, "first"!